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1778.

HISTORY

•

THE OHIO FAL:

ls err.

[ES

AND THEIR COUNTIES,

WITH

ILLUSTRATIONS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

VOL. II.

CLEVELAND, O. :

L. A. WlLLTAMS & CO.

1882.

Prefatory Note.

The thanks of the compilers and publishers of this volume are cordially rendered to the
large number of prominent citizens, in all three of the counties with which it deals, for their
invaluable aid and co-operation in the difficult labor of collecting, for the first time, the annals
of the region about the Falls of the Ohio. That section of the book relating to the precincts of
Jefferson county has been prepared by Mr. Cole, of Cincinnati ; the Floyd county work was
done by Mr. N. N. Hill, Jr., of Newark, Ohio; that for Clark county by Mr. M. L. Bevis, of
Preston, Hamilton county, Ohio, except the Jeffersonville chapters, which were prepared by
Messrs. A. R. Wildman and Walter Buell, of Cleveland, Ohio. The General History of the
Indiana counties was chiefly written by the compilers in general charge of the work. The
biographical work is by various hand1;. It is hoped that all parts will prove satisfacto-
ry, in the points of accuracy, fullness, and mechanical execution, to the generous patrons of
the enterprise.

Cleveland, Ohio, May 27, 1882.

CONTENTS.

HISTORICAL

PRECINCTS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY.

PAGE

Seatonville

Fairmount

Meadow Lawn

Two Mile

Jeflfersontown .

Middletown

Shardine

Anchorage

Springdale

Cane Run

Fisherville

Harrod's Creek

Spring Garden

Shively ....

Johnstown

Oilman's ....

O'Bannon

Boston ....

Valley

Woods ....

Cross Roads

GENERAL HISTORY OF CLARK AND FLOYD
COUNTIES. INDIANA.

( HAPTER. PACK

I. — Geology of Clark and Floyd Counties . 7
II. — Old Geographical Designations— The Clark

Grant — Congress Lands ... 8:
I II. —Organization of Floyd County . . 8
IV. -Organization of Clark County . . 9
V. — Military Record of Clark and Kloyd Coun-
ties ..... Q-

NEW ALBANY AND FLOYD COUNTY.
CHAPTER.

VI. — City of New Albany — General History
VII. — New Albany — Ferries and Steamboats .
VIII. — Education in New Albany .
IX. — The Press of New Albany
X. — New Albany — The Churches
XI. — New Albany — Bench and Bar .
XII. — New Albany — Commercial Interests
XIII. — Notes of New Albany
XIV. — Mew Albany Township
XIV. — Franklin Township
XV. — Georgetown Township
XVI.— Greenville Township
XVII. — Lafayette Township

CLARK COUNTY AND JEFFERSONVILLE.
XVIII— Bethlehem Township
XIX. — Carr Township
XX. — Charlestown Township
XXI. — Monroe Township
XXII. — Oregon Township
XXIII. —Owen Township
XXIV. — Silver Creek Township

XXV. — L'tira Township
XXVI. —Washington Township
XXVII.— Wood Township
XXVIII.— Jeffersonville— Civil History

XXIX. — Jeffeisonville — Social and Religious
XXX— Jeffersonville — Industrial
XXXI. — Jeffersonville- -Biographical
XXXII.— Notices of leffersouville— ClarksvilU
XXXIII. — Union Township
XXX IV.— Miscellaneous Biographies

XXXV. — Clark County Settlement Notes
XXXVI. —Floyd County Settlement Notes
Appendix

167

173
179
186

262
278
302

318
327
334
356
369
375
383
394
411
422
428
439

45'
469
498
5°3

553
5°9

BIOGRAPHICAL,

Alderson, B. S.
Armstrong. William G.
Armstrong, Colonel John
Brigham, R. S„ M. I>
liarnelt, Allen .
Cartwright, Colonel Noah
Dravo. Frank S.

Dorsey, Elias

487

Dorsey, Leaven I ..

520

DePauw, W. C.

521

Dailey. Reuben

344 and 345

Daily, Hon. David \\

Dean. Argus, .

Dickey, Rev. Jolin M.

230

483

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Field, Dr. Nathaniel .

471

Moorman, Alanson

Ferguson, Dr. H. H.

486

Ormsby Colonel Stephen

5'3

Fogg, William H.

400

Plasket, William

520

Redman, Robert L. .

facing 232

Garr, S. L. .

Read, James G. .

473

Gale, Robert H.. M. D. .

S12

Roach, Edmund

515

Gwin, Josiah

523

Sprague, Joseph W.

473

Herr, A. G.

Shelby Family ....

476

Hobbs. Edward D.

Sands, William

522

Hoke, Andrew

Thomson. James W. .

482

Howard, Captain James

469

Warder, Luther F.

478

Honneus, Frederick H. C.

513

Whicher. Captain James S.

491

Keigwin, William * .

490

Zulauf, John

470

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Map of ]effeii;on county, Kentucky .
"The Turrets" — Residence of Thomas
nedy . . . .

Residence of Frank S. Dravo
Portrait of Colonel Stephen Ormsby .
Residence or Hon. E. D. Hobbs .
Portraits of L. L. Dorsey and wife
Residence of L. L. Dorsey
Portraits of B. S. Alderson and wife .
Portrait of S. L. Gaar
Portrait of John F. Garr
Portrait of John Herr
Portrait of A. G. Herr .
Residence of A. G. Herr .
Portrait of Elias Dorsey
Portrait of Andrew Hoke
Portrait of Alanson Moorman and wife
Map of Clark and Floyd counties, Indi

ana .
Portrait of J. W. Goslee
Portrait of Mrs. J. W. Goslee .

PAGE.
Frontispiece
S. Ken-
facing 17
facing 24
facing 29
facing 33
between 48 and 49
between 48 and 49
facing 60
between 62 and 63
between 62 and 63
between 64 and 65
between 64 and 65
between 64 and 65
between 66 and 67
between 66 and 67
between 68 and 69

between 70 and 71
between 80 and 81
between 80 and 81

Residence of late Captain ]. W. Goslee
Portrait of W. C. De Pauw
Portrait of Robert L. Redman
Portrait of Allen Harnett
Portrait of George Schwartz
Portrait of John Zulauf
Portrait of Joseph W. Sprague
Portrait of James Howard
Portrait of Dr. Nathaniel Field
Portrait of James G. Read
Portrait of Governor Isaac Shelby .
Portrait of L. F. Warder
Portrait of ]. W. Thomson
Portrait of Reuben Dailey
Portrait of H. H.. Ferguson, M. D.
Portrait of William G Armstrong
Portrait of R. H. Gale, M. D.
Portrait of F. H. C. Honneus .
Portrait of David W. Daily
Portrait of Rev. Rezin Hammond
Portrait of Edmund Roach

PAGE.

between 84 and 85
facing 230
racing 232
acing 345
acing 396
acing 459
acing 463
acing 469
acing 471
acing 473
acing 476
"acing 478
acing 482
acing 483
acing 486
acing 488
acing 512
acing 513
acing 514
between 516 and 517
between 516 and 517

History of the Ohio Falls Counties,

PRECINCTS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY,

SEATONVILLE PRECINCT.

The land in this precinct is poor in sections,
the country very uneven, hills and ravines
predominating. The roads are also very irregu-
lar, and generally take the course of the
creeks, the bed of which constitutes the high-
way. Now and then some road angles across
the country, and through the wood land, but in
many places, especially in the southern part,
there are none save some bridle-paths, leading to
and from the neighbors' houses.

The original mistake made in granting patents
to possession of lands on merely paying a fee of
ten dollars, with the privilege of as much land
in lieu of same as the speculator would map out,
has always caused much trouble.

With such liberties it is easy to see how ambi-
tious speculators would seek out this land, blaze
a few trees, as indices to the boundary lines, no
mattrr how irregular that might be, and then
have the same recorded properly in the archives
of the State. The numerous surveys, the irregu-
larity of laid out farms frequently led to serious
trouble. Claims would overlap each other until
as many as twelve or fifteen owners could be
found for one dry spot of earth. No sooner
would some stranger from another State secure
his possessions with a snug cottage than would
come along an owner of some parcel of his
ground with a right prior to his.

These things were tolerated at first with a
patience characteristic of a man always wanting
to be at peace with his neighbor, but the pest of
prior claims was not removed until the shot gun
was called into requisition, and it became a
serious matter for any one to saddle a good

price on his right of priority and claim land or
money.

The early settlers of this precinct left but lit-
tle record of themselves save mere threads of
traditionary events. They usually, as was the
case always at first, settled along the water
courses, or near perennial streams of water. In
an early day attractions were probably as great
in this section of the country as were found any-
where in the county. Louisville had abundance
of water, but good land was found at Seatonville,
and as for the metropolis of the State, there* was
as much likelihood of the latter place being that
city as the former in the minds of the first set-
tlers.

One of the first settlers of this 'precinct was a
Mr. Mills, of Virginia, who came in a very early
day, riding an old gray mare, for which he was
offered ten acres of land, now the central portion
of Louisville city. One of his sons, Isaac by
name, born in 1796, was an early settler of this
part of the country, also.

The Funks — John, Peter, and Joseph — were
early settlers in this precinct. John and Peter
owned a mill near Seatonville, probably the first
in the county. Of this family of brothers,
John and Joe had no children, but Peter has de-
scendants living at the present time.

George Seaton, was born near Seatonville, April
3, 1781, and died July 6, 1835, and from him
the village of this precinct takes its name. They
were a family of marked characteristics, and have
descendants living at the present time, and did
much to advance the interests of the new settle-
ments. George Seaton was one of the first
magistrates of the precinct.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Fielding Wigginton, at thirteen years of age,
came herein 1803, but finally settled in Bullitt
county, where he died. A name to be revered
as among the early settlers was a Rev. William
P. Barnett, a minister of the Baptist church for
over forty years. He was married twice, his sec-
ond wife being the mother of John Wigginton's
wife.

The Bridwells were also very early settlers.
Mr. John Wigginton's mother was one of this
family.

Hezekiah Pound came from New Jersey in
an early day, and settled upon a tract of land a
little southeast of Seatonville, where J. M. Pound
now lives.

At that time there was a sentinel station where
Mr. George Welsh now lives. His son John
Pound was born in this precinct July 31, 1784,
and died August 26, 1851. He married a Miss
Paulina Boyer November 18, 1808, and had
eight children. The grandfather was in the Rev-
olution, and several of his children were in the
War of 1812.

In the southern part of the precinct, on Broad
river, Mr. George Markwell settled in a very early
day. He was a native of Wales, and after com-
ing here entered three or four hundred acres of
land. The stone at the head of his grave on the
old homestead, owned now by John B. Mark-
well, gives his birth date as 1 75 1. He died in
December, 1828. Jane, his wife, died at the
age of seventy-two, and lies by his side. His
sons, born in the 1780's, are also buried in this
yard.

A prominent man of this precinct, from whom
also prominent families have descended, was a
Mr. Wish, who settled near Seatonville at a very
early day.

FIRST MILL.

The first mill built in this precinct was by a
Mr. Mundell, on Floyd's fork, one-half mile be-
low Seatonville. This was probably before the
year 1800. Mr. Mundell operated by the water
power gained by this stream both a saw-mill and
a grist-mill. The Funks finally purchased this
property more than sixty years ago, and operated
these mills for a number of years. The new
mill was built as early as in 1832.

Mr. Isaac Mills worked there as a stone
mason. The mill was in successful operation as
late as in the year 1876, when it stopped.

Mr. Mills built in the year 1866, a saw-mill,
and in 1870 attached to it a grist-mill, both of
which are in good condition. The saw-mill has
a capacity of three thousand feet. The grist-
mill runs two buhr of stones — one for corn and
the other for wheat.

The first church in this precinct was the Old-
school Baptist church on Chenoweth run. This
church was in successful operation by that de-
nomination up to the year 1820.

Rev. John G. Johnson, an old Baptist
preacher, ministered to the people in an early
day. The building was a simple log structure,
probably thirty by forty feet, and stood where the
graveyard now is. Among the very early preach-
ers might be mentioned the names of William
Hub, Zaccheus Carpenter, Rev. Mr. Garrett,
the Wallers, Rev. Andrew Jackson, Rev. A.
Mobley, and Richard Nash. The church
built in 1849 or '850, is a frame, thirty-five by
fifty. The membership at the present time is
about one hundred and sixty. Elder Clif-
ton Allen is at present the preacher to this
congregation. The elders of the church are
Jeff Young, George W. Welsh, and H. C. Mills;
Kenner Mills, superintendent of the Sabbath-
school.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Radham Seaton, the first of that family in
Kentucky, and grandfather of Charles A. and
W. Chesley Seaton, came to Jefferson county
from Virginia. Soon after his arrival he married
Mary Curry, daughter of Thomas Curry, a native
of Virginia, by whom he had four children : Sarah,
Thomas C, Elizabeth, and Kenner, who was
born April 17, 1797. Radham Seaton had four-
teen brothers and two sisters. His wife's mother
was Sarah M'Carthy, whose sister, Margaret Chen-
oweth, was scalped by the Indians at her home
near Linn Station, in the noted Chenoweth mas-
sacre. Radham Seaton died when about forty
years old, from injuries received while logging.
His son Kenner lived on the home place and was
a farmer. He was married September 26, 1833,
and had seven children, of whom four are living.
He died in the room in which he was born on the
26th of August, 1872. C. A. Seaton was born
January 8, 1836, and W. Chesley, October 22,
1847. These brothers were educated in the
common schools, and have until recently been
farmers. In 1872 the elder of these brothers

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

erected a building and engaged in general mer-
chandise business. The brother afterwards be-
came a partner. The village of Seatonville was
founded by them, and the precinct received
their name. C. A. Seaton is now serving a
second , term as magistrate of this precinct,
besides serving as deputy marshal of the
county, an office to which he was elected last
August. January 24, 1856, he married Mary E.
Kelly, a native of Jefferson county, and daughter
of Captain Samuel Kelly, an officer in the War
of 181 2. She has borne him seven children, of
whom one boy and three girls are living. VV.
Chesley, in August of 1878, was elected deputy
sheriff of Jefferson county, and is now officiating
as such. On November 4, 1868, he was married
to Sally Johnson, a native of the county and
daughter of George Johnson. They have but
one child. Dr. John S., son of Kenner Seaton,
was born July 16, 1813, and died August 19,
1879.

Henry C. Mills, a twin brother of Mrs. Mary
Johnson, was born May 7, 1827. He is a son
of 'Squire Isaac Mills, a native of Virginia, who
was one ot the pioneers of Kentucky, a stone
mason by trade, a farmer by occupation, and
long known by the title of 'squire, having
held the office of magistrate. He came to this
county when about sixteen years of age, and
afterwards married Sarah Wilch. He died
November 14th, 1859, and she on February 26,
1875. Henry W. Mills married, during No-
vember, 1853, Elizabeth Seaton, daughter of
Kenner Seaton. This marriage resulted in ten
children, of whom eight are living. She died
November 19, 1880. His occupation has always
been the same as was his father's. In 1866, he
built a dam at Seatonville and erected a saw-mill,
to which, in 1870, he added a grist-mill, which
he has since operated in addition to his farm.

J. VV. Jean was born in Henry county, Ken-
tucky, April 10, 1821. His father came to this
county at a very early day, where, in about 1814,
he was married, and then moved to Henry coun-
ty, and then to Crawford county, Illinois, where
he died in 1828. The mother of J. VV. Jean was
Catharine Myers, who was born in Jefferson
county, Kentucky, March 13, 1798. When eight
years of age he came to Jefferson county, where
he has since resided. He learned the saddler's
trade, beginning when sixteen and finishing when

twenty, and carried on a shop at Jeffersontown
for thirty years. Some eight years ago he moved
upon his farm a half-mile southeast of Seaton-
ville, and has since engaged in farming. On
February n, 1847, he married Sarah Seaton,
who was born in this county March 3, 1828, by
whom he has had eleven children, of whom
eight are living. Her father, Kenner Seaton,
was born April 23, 1781; married Fehruary 3,
1863, and died July 6, 1835. Her mother was
born February 20, 1783, and died December 14,
1863.

A. H. Funk, a son of Peter Funk, was born
October 7, 1822. Peter Funk was of German
descent and was born at Boonsboro, Maryland,
August 14, 1782. He early came to Jefferson
county, and married Harriet Hite, a native of
this county. They had seven girls and five
boys. A. H. Funk was married June 4, 1849,
to Ellen A. Taylor, a native of Spencer county,
by whom he had nine children, of whom two
boys and five girls are living. He was regularly
apprenticed to learn the miller's trade, serving
some five years. For thirty years he worked at
his trade in a mill on the old homestead — one
that has been in existence over a century. He
and his family are members of the Christian
church.

James T. Reid is of English descent, and is
the oldest child of John Reid, a native of Mary-
land. John Reid emigrated to this county when
seventeen years old. He married Esther Gil-
liland, who was born in county Down, Ireland,
in 1825. He was a tailor by trade, but devoted
the greater part of his life to farming. James
T. Reid was born March 25, 1826. On Febru-
ary 24, 1848, he married Rebecca H. Beard,
who was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky,
May 4, 1833. They have had thirteen children,
of whom three boys and seven girls are living.
Mr. Reid's life long occupation has been that of
a farmer, and he is one of the largest farmers of
the eastern part of the county. He is a reading
and a thinking man ; was a few years since
elected magistrate, but resigned after serving two
years.

J. W. Omer was born in Jefferson county on
February 13, 1836. He is the seventh of twelve
children of Jacob Omer, who was born in Penn-
sylvania in 1795, and when one year old his
father emigrated to Kentucky, and preempted

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the land on a part of which J. W. now lives.
The records show that this farm was taken up
by — Hamer. This name was spelled according
to the way it was pronounced, and it became
Araer, and then Omer. Jacob Omer married
Persilla Curry in 1823. She was born May 5,
1804, and died February 10, 1880. They had
twelve children. J. W. has always been a farmer
and is a member of the Christian church. On
December 12, 1869, he married Rebecca Har-
rison, of Jefferson county, Kentucky. She died
September 12, 1878, leaving six children. On
October 8, 1879, he married Alwetta Bruce, of
Gallatin county, Kentucky.

J. M. Markwell was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, on February 15, 1826. He is the
seventh of eight children of William Markwell,
who was also a native of the same county. His
grandfather was one of the first settlers. His
mother was Rhoda Pound, who was born in Nel-
son county, in 1793, but came to Jefferson
county when quite young. J. M. Markwell is a
farmer by occupation. On September 20, 1855,
he was married to Catharine W. Markwell, who
was born in Shelby county, January 7, 1839.
They have seven children, four boys and three
girls. He is a member of the Baptist church.

Fred Pound was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, April 7, 1817. His father, John
Pound, was born in New Jersey, July 31, 1789;
his father coming from Scotland. John Pound
came to this county when a boy, perhaps a
dozen years old, and always was a farmer. On
November 10, 1808, he married Mary Boyer, of
Jefferson county, who was born March n, 1783.
Five of their children lived to maturity. Fred
Pound has followed his father's occupation.
On October 7, 1838, he married Elizabeth C-
Taylor. She was born in Spencer county,
Kentucky, January 27, 1820. She bore eight
children, of whom six are living — two boys and
four girls. Dr. T. P. D. Pound, the second
son, was born May 28, 1844. He attended
McCowan's Forest Hill academy, and graduated
at the Louisville Medical college in 1875, and is
practicing near the homestead, in Seatonville
precinct. He married Alice Stoul, of the same
county, November 27, 1873. R. M. J. Pound
was born June 28, 1841. He was educated in
the same school as was his brother, and in i860
graduated at the Louisville Law school, and

practiced for five years in that city. Since 1861
he has been, save the time spent in Louisville, en-
gaged in teaching. Since 1870 he has been man-
aging a farm in Seatonville precinct. On April
10, 1870, he married Apphia M. Seaton, of Hall,
Morgan county, Indiana. She is the daughter
of Allen Seaton, a native of Kentucky.

J. W. Wiggington was born in Bullitt county,
Kentucky, August 18, 1827. He was the fourth
of nine children of F. Wigginton, who was
born in 1787 in Virginia, and came to Ken-
tucky when about nine years old. He mar-
ried Jane Bridwell, a Virginian, then of Nel-
son county. J. W. Wigginton came to Jef-
ferson county in 1848, where he remained for
five years, and then removed to Spencer county,
and remained several years in this and five years
in Bullitt, and then returned to Jefferson county,
where he is engaged in farming, which has been
his lifelong occupation. In December, 1848,
he married Elizabeth J. Barnett, who was born
in Jefferson county, Kentucky, March 23, 1833.
She is the daughter of Rev. W. P. Barnett,
who was a native of Washington county. His
wife was Sarah H. Royer, a native of Old-
ham county. J. W. Wigginton is the father of
eight children — three boys and five girls. He
and his wife are members of the Baptist church.

'Squire J. W. James is a native of Spencer
county, Kentucky. He was born September 15,
1839, and is the second of three children of W.
James, who was born in Washington county,
Kentucky, in 1804. W. James married Eliza-
beth Markwell, in 1830. She was born in Jef-
ferson county, in 1810. The James were pio-
neers from Maryland, and the Markwells from
Virginia. Mr. W. James was a farmer, as is his
son J. W. 'Squire J. W. James was educated in
the public schools. In 1864 he came to Jeffer-
son county, and began farming in this precinct.
He is now changing his farm into a fruit farm.
In 1857 he married Ellen Reasor, daughter of
James A. Reasor, of Spencer county, who was
formerly a resident of this county, and author of
a valuable work on the treatment and cure of
hogs. In 1874 and 1878 J. W. James was
elected magistrate, and has served with credit
in that capacity. He and his wife are members
of the Baptist church.

Major Simpson Seaton Reynolds was born in
Jefferson county, at Middletown, August 29,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

1842. He is the oldest son of Thomas M. S.
Reynolds, who was born in Orange county, Vir-
ginia, February 22, 1818, and was a farmer by
occupation. He came to Kentucky in 1840,
and settled at Middletown. On July 28, 1841, he
married Elizabeth H. Seaton, daughter of Judge
George Seaton, of Jefferson county. She was
born July 13, 1823, in Seatonville precinct. This
marriage was blessed with thirteen children, of
whom all are living, save William Wallace. The
wife and mother died April 22, 1880. The fam-
ily, in March of i860, moved to Saline county,
Missouri, where they resided for fifteen years,
when they removed to Nebraska, and settled
near Lincoln, where Mr. Reynolds is conducting
a large stock farm. Major Reynolds was edu-
cated in the common schools of Kentucky and
Missouri, but was prevented from taking a con-
templated college course by the breaking out of
the war. He enlisted in General Marmaduke's
escort, with the rank of captain, and was after-
wards promoted to the rank of brevet major.
On October 16, 1864, he married Adah T.
Guthrie, daughter of D. T. Guthrie, then of
Missouri, but a native of Virginia. His present
wife's name is Harriet, a daughter of Colonel
Brown, of Virginia. At present Major Reynolds
is engaged in stock raising, being a partner of
Lieutenant Governor Cams, of Seward, Ne-
braska.

FAIRMOUNT PRECINCT.

This section of the county contains some good
land, an abundance of water, and has' the advan-
tages of the Bardstown pike, which highway runs
through it from north to south. It has also
many good orchards, and all kinds of fruits are
thoroughly cultivated. The yield of fruits and
berries forms one of the staple products and con-
stitutes one of the industries of the people.
Lands once rich in alluvial soil have for a period
of one hundred years been cultivated in corn and
wheat, and other agricultural products, without
rest or recuperation of the soil, and in some
localities the exhaustion has been great. Other
lands have been rested, crops of different kinds
made to alternate in such a way that what was
taken out by one kind of grain was, in part at
least, restored in nourishment by the substitu-
tion of some other kind. These natural ad-

vantages were, however, a detriment during the
late war. Soldiers of either army were fre-
quently on these grounds, not in battle array, but
in camp. The citizens were between the two
forces, and from the circumstances were com-
pelled to support both. Food was abundant,
and the art of cooking well understood, and it
was not unusual for a squad of men, or an entire
company, to march up to a house and make de-
mands for subsistence. To refuse these requests
was but to submit finally under terms more humili-
ating. Raids upon orchards, whiskey, and
horses, were of frequent occurrence, and the oft-
repeated story will be handed down by tradition
in time to come.

THE FIRST STORE

in this precinct was probably built in 1840
by A. C. Hays and his brother Charles. It was
built at Hays' Springs, sixteen miles from Louis-
ville. The partnership of these brothers contin-
ued until i860, their business flourishing dur-
ing the time. At this time one of the brothers
went out, and the business was continued by the
other until 1870. Since that time different ones
have had possession.

The post-office was for many years at Hays'
Springs, for the accommodation of the public in
this precinct. It is now Fairmount.

MILLS.

The first mill was built by John Smith on
Cedar creek. He came to the county as
early as 1780, bought a thousand acres of land,
but afterwards went to Indiana, where he died in
1830. At the time this mill was in successful op-
eration there was but one store and a bakery in
Louisville, and Mr. Smith supplied the town with
flour. He had an overshot wheel, plenty of water
at that time (since then the stream has almost
dried up), two run of stones — one for corn and
the other for wheat, and a good patronage for
many miles around. The city of Louisville
needed but two sacks of flour each week for con-
sumption at that time, which was usually supplied
by strapping a bag of flour on a horse, mount-
ing a boy on top of that, and sending through the
thickets to the village. By starting early he
could usually find his way there and back by
nightfall. Mr. J. B. Smith, when a mere lad ten
years of age, performed this journey twice a
week and carried flour to Louisville for several

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

years. There was attached to this grist-mill a
good saw-mill. The millwright, a Mr. Kirkpatrick,
who was by the way, a good one, also attended
to the saw-mill. The mill was finally purchased
by Mr. Jacob Shaeffer, who run it very success-
fully; but after he turned it over to his son-in-
law, a Mr. John Berne, for some reason it went
down.

Mr. J. B. Smith erected a grist-mill on Cedar
creek in 1851, and two or three years afterwards
a saw-mill. The business was good, but the
troublesome times of the war came on and the
mills were both burned. In 1859 he again built
both mills, putting in an engine and running by
steam this time. But in 1867 the property suf-
fered by fire the second time. Mr. Smith has
been importuned many times by his neighbors
to rebuild, but having suffered twice the results
of incendiarism, at a cost of several thousand
dollars, he declined to do so.

Mr. J. B. Smith married a Miss Nancy Bell,
daughter of Robert Bell, who was one of the
first shoemakers in the precinct. He had no
shop, but would take his awl and last and go
from place to place seeking work.

The old Chenoweth Run Baptist church, es-
tablished as early as 1792, was the original place
of meeting in an early day for religious worship.
The Revs. Waller, Gupton, and Jackson were
some of the first preachers.

About 1820 the Reformed church was substi-
tuted, and that church has now becom# the
Christian church. The division that followed,
however, caused a new building to be erected in
this precinct on Cedar creek, and to which there
have been additions and a growing membership
up to this time. It now aggregates ninety-five
members. Rev. Columbus Vanarsdall is their
pastor; J. T. Bates, Sabbath-school superintend-
ent; Vanarsdall, moderator; J. W. Maddox, clerk.
Mr. Maddox has been clerk of this church for
over twenty years. The deacons are: John T.
Bates, W. V. Hall. Trustees are: R. W. Hawk-
ins, W. V. Hall, J. W. Maddox. The old build-
ing was erected some forty years ago. Mrs.
Maddox, mother of J. VV. Maddox, now dead,
was an untiring Christian worker, both in and
out of church work. She was a member of many
years standing in this church.

The Presbyterian church is an old organization
also, having a history that reaches back to
1800, when Rev. James Vance, one of the
first preachers, ministered to this people. The
Revs. James Marshall, Harvey Logan, James
Hawthorne, William King, William Rice, and
others since that time have preached here. The
new building was erected in 1870. Rev. S. S. Tay-
lor is the pastor in charge. The elders are: Wil
liam Morrison, W. Johnson, Peter Baker, and
Joseph Becker; the deacons are: Moses Johnson,
Thomas Moore, Clarence Sprowl. William Mor-
rison is the superintendent of the Sabbath-
school. The membership is about seventy.
This church has suffered in the bitter contest be-
tween the North and the South, and the division
caused in its membership then still continues to
exist.

The Northern church still continues to hold
services in the same house occasionally. A Rev.
Mr. McDonald is their preacher. The elders
are: Noah Cartwright, William Berry, and Jef-
ferson Rush.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Francis Maddox was born in Culpepper
county, Virginia, July 14, 181 1. His father,
John Maddox, came with his family to Shelby
county, Kentucky, in 1816, where he remained
until his death. He married Mary M. Suther-
land, a Virginian. Francis was the fourth of six
children, four boys and two girls. He received
only a limited education in the subscription
schools, and has always worked at farming. It
was nearly thirty-two years ago that he moved to
his present farm in Fairmount precinct, Jefferson
county, Kentucky. In 1836 he married Harriet
N. Craley, by whom he had ten children, three
boys and three girls now living. John, the oldest
of the boys, is now managing his farm as a fruit
farm. John W. on October 7, 1862, married
Lucretia J. Shaw, daughter of Robert W. Shaw,
of Jefferson county. They have four children.
Mr. John Maddox is one of the teachers of the
county. He began teaching when nineteen, and
has taught more or less since. He was born
December 27, 1840, and his wife October 13,
1845.

L. T. Bates was born in Jefferson county on
June 18, 1843. His father, a farmer, was born
in the same county July 19, 1806. He married
Rebecca Wells, a native of Bullitt county, by

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

whom he had seven children, five sons and two
daughters. L. T. Bates is a fanner, at which he
has always been engaged in Fairmount precinct.
On October 3, 1868, he married Sarah M. John-
son; she was born October 13, 1848. Her father,
Jacob Johnson, was born on the White river,
Indiana, August 6, 1809. He was a blacksmith
by trade, but during later life was a farmer and
nurseryman. Jacob Johnson died in 1875. He
married February 21, 1823, Sarah Guthrie,
who was born in Jefferson county May 4, 1805;
she was the youngest daughter of James Guthrie,
a native of Delaware. James Guthrie came to
Kentucky in 1781. After residing a few years in
Kentucky he returned to the East and married
a Miss Welch, who lived but a short time. He,
about 1786, married Eunice Paul, nee Cooper, a
Jersey woman. They had nine children. She
died in 1850.

J. B. Smith was born in Shelby county, Ken-
tucky, on April 3, 1810, but was reared in Jeffer-
son county. He is the oldest of thirteen chil-
dren of Adam Smith, who was born at Lynn
station. The father of Adam, John Smith,
came from Pennsylvania, and was one of the first
settlers of Jefferson county. Adam aided his
father to erect and run a mill on Cedar creek.
Adam married Sally Ballard in 1809. J. B.
Smith, like his father, is a miller by trade, but
has not milled any since his mills burned some
fourteen years ago. On July 26, 1835, he mar-
ried Nancy Bell, a native of Jefferson county,
and daughter, of Thomas Bell, of Virginia, who
was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. Smith
died March n, 1880.

Frank O. Carrithers was born in Sullivan
county, Indiana, December 25, 1835. When
about two years of age his father moved to
Bullitt county, Kentucky. His father, Charles
T. Carithers was born March 12, 1809, in Spen-
cer county, Kentucky. He married Elizabeth
Dunbar, who was born in that county, January
30, 1810, and died February 19, 1881. There
were five children: John A., Frank O, Nancy J.,
Mary E., and Andrew T. Frank O. was edu-
cated in the home schools and academies and
has followed the calling of his father — farming.
He moved to Fairmount precinct about sixteen
years ago, where he has since managed a large
stock and grain farm. On January 8, 1858, he
married Sidney Ann Mills. She was born April

22, 1837, and was a daughter of Isaac Mills.
Their children are — Charles I., William T., Al-
fred, George E., Adam Clay, Sarah E., Robert
F., and Mary J. He is a member of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church, and his wife of the Re-
formed.

Dr. A. R. Grove was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, June 5, 1835. He is the eighth of
nine children of Isaac Grove, who was born
August 7, 1796. In 1816 he married Celia
Pierpoint. In 1826 they moved from Culpeper
county, Virginia, to Kentucky. When quite
young the medical profession presented attrac-
tions to the doctor, and after receiving a first-
rate academical education he began the study of
medicine, meanwhile' spending considerable time
in teaching. His instructor was Dr. J. S. Seaton,
of Jeffersontown precinct, with whom he re-
mained two years, until 1857, attending lectures
at the Kentucky School of Medicine, and gradu-
ating in the spring of 1857. Immediately after,
he was elected resident graduate of the city hos-
pital, which position he held two years. In
1859 he began to practice medicine in Jefferson-
town precinct, Jefferson county, Kentucky, where
he remained until 1861, when he removed to
Hay's Spring, in the precinct where he yet re-
sides and is still engaged in professional duties.
Besides his practice he is one of the largest
farmers of the county. On August 26, 1843,
was born Frances Hays, whom he married De-
cember 3, 1 86 1. This marriage has been blest
with four children, three of whom are living —
Mary'E, Charles I., and Lillie Belle.

R. W. Hawkins was born in Franklin county,
Kentucky, March io, 1822. His father, Moses
B. Hawkins, was born in Orange county, Vir-
ginia, in 1 79 1, and when eighteen, moved
to Franklin county, Kentucky. He, in 181 6,
married Lucinda Hawkins, by whom he had two
children. In about two years she died, and in
1820 he married Pamelia Alsop, a native of Cul-
peper county, Virginia. By this wife he had
twelve children, R. W. being the second. When
R. W. was a small boy his father removed into the
woods near Memphis, where they remained for
some time. When he was about of age he re-
turned to his native county and attended the
Kentucky Military institute. During these years
he was engaged at teaching also. After leaving
the institute and while teaching he began read-

I 6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ing law, but the business he was then engaged
upon did not permit him to finish this profession.
He after this was engaged in trade at Bridgeport,
and afterwards founded the town Consolation.
In 1852 he came to Jefferson county and has
since been engaged as a fruit grower and farmer.
On December 24, 1850, he was married to Martha
J. Porter, daughter of Dr. James Porter, of Fair-
mount. She was born June 13, 1826. Theyhave
had eight children — four boys and three girls liv-
ing. Mr. Hawkins is of English descent, being a
descendant of Sir John Hawkins, who] was admiral
of the British navy during Queen Elizabeth's
reign. His ancestors were among the first ac-
cessions to the colonies of Newport and James-
town.

H. H. Tyler was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, August 20, 1854. He is the second
child of Answell Tyler, who was born in Indiana
in about 1815, and died in 1865. He was ap-
prenticed to learn the wheelwright's trade, but ran
away and came to Kentucky when about fifteen.
He was a wheelwright and cooper by trade
but worked principally at the first and at farming.
He married Mary, daughter of Robert Welch,
on May 9,1850, and was the father of four boys,
of whom three are living. H. H. Tyler married
Rosa Funk, daughter of A. Funk, of Seatonville,
on December 23, 1875. She was born February
25, 1855. They have two boys and one girl.
Both are members of the Christian church.

MEADOW LAWN PRECINCT.

The general supposition has been that that
portion of Jefferson county lying above Louis-
ville is far more healthy and fertile than this por-
tion. For want of drainage it has not been so
conducive to health, but since the country has
been undergoing a marked change in the way of
improvement, the malarial and other noisome
vapors are disappearing, the land is increasing in
fertility and value, and the former peat bogs and
swamp have become well cultivated farms that
now bespeak prosperity.

The soil, generally medium or fair, can still be
improved by drainage and many of the advan-
tages are yet undeveloped. The precinct is very
irregular in shape, has a breadth in one place of
some eight miles and at the extreme or southern

end of this political division is but about a
mile in width.

One hundred and fifty votes are polled here.
The schools — of which there are some good
ones — are patronized by a floating attendance of
one hundred and fifteen scholars.

Mill creek flows through the northeastern por-
tion of the precinct, but Pond stream, with its
numerous little tributaries, drains most of its soil.
It has also good highways, the Salt River road
being the principal one. A branch of the Louis-
ville, Nashville & Cincinnati Southern railroad
traverses its entire length from north to south,
affording good opportunities for reaching the
city.

Some farms under a good state of cultiva-
tion are found here and there; that of Alanson
Moorman is very large, consisting of some twelve
hundred acres. He also, as do some others,
pays considerable attention to the cultivation of
fruit.

The citizens of this precinct have ever been
zealous of their spiritual welfare and have had
organizations of a religious character since a
time out of mind. The eldest religious society is
probably the Methodist. This- society has
a building near Valley Station, erected some
forty years ago. The membership is large, con-
sisting of some eighty persons.

The Baptist society is not so old, the organi-
zation having been effected only about fifteen
years ago. Rev. Mr. Powers is yet, and proba-
bly was their first minister. The membership is
about one hundred and fifty. They have a good
and handsome church building.

There is also a Campbellite church in the pre-
cinct.

TWO MILE TOWN.

One of the most prominent and useful of the
early settlers of this part of the county was Mr.
George Hickes. Probably no man of Jefferson
county did more for his part of the section of
country, or was more public-spirited, than was
this man. The history of Two Mile Town is, to
a great extent, the history of his life. The first
saw-mill, the first grist-mill, the first carding-
machine and fulling-mill, as well as the first
church organization, were established principally
by his energy and perseverance. He it was who

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

first saw the necessity of cultivating and encour-
aging all varieties of the choicest fruits, and he
early took the opportunity of visiting Pennsyl-
vania to secure plants and trees for this pur-
pose. He had a like desire to encourage the
raising of the best of stock, and accordingly took
measures in this direction, which to-day have
reached results that point to the noble spirit
manifested by a self-sacrificing man.

The people of Two Mile Town revere the
name of this man. He was born in Pennsyl-
vania in 1762; was without resources to gain a
livelihood save his own hands; married in the
course of time, and he and his wife Paulina
moved to Ohio, where he afterwards purchased a
farm, and after putting the same under repair
sold it at a good round figure — such is the re-
ward of industry — and moved to Kentucky and
settled upon a four hundred acre tract of land, the
homestead being where Mrs. Hickes now resides.
He came to this region about 1790. The In-
dians had been troublesome, but the block and
station-houses of so frequent use previous to
this time were less resorted to by the inhabitants.
Buffaloes were still numerous and roved be-
tween the cane brake and the prairie, but they
all disappeared before the year 1817. Bears were
plentiful, and as they made visits up and down
Bear Grass creek, would occasionally pounce
upon a hog. Wildcats and panthers often ex-
hibited their fondness for young pigs, and it was
difficult to preserve sheep from their ravages.

The division of land in this part of the county,
the same as in all Kentucky, was irregular and
always located with reference to the wish of the
proprietor regardless of regularity or of the shape
or form of other tracts adjoining. This not
only occasioned crooked roads and ill-shaped
tracts, but, owing to confusion of titles, much
trouble. This was a matter of so much conse-
quence that it deterred or retarded emigration
rather more than the fertility of the soil hastened
it for a time.

Mr. Hickes having purchased his land, built
a stone house about the year 1796, the first of
the kind in the county. It was built of stone
taken from the creek and quarry near by, and
was so substantially built as to withstand the
storms of nearly a century of time, and is stili
standing as a monument to the enterprise and
industry of that day. In later years an addition

was built to this structure, increasing its size.

The first business enterprise was a carding and
fullingmachine. The mill was built on Bear Grass
creek, on land now owned by E. J. Hickes, Esq.
Previous to this time this whole region of Ken-
tucky, and probably the State itself, had not the
advantages afforded by such a mill. Thecommon
hand-card was used, the spinning-wheel, and
hand-loom. Flax was raised, each family raising
a half-acre or an acre, as family necessity re-
quired, the same pulled in season; then bleached,
afterwards broke, hackeled, and the tow and flax
separated — bags, pants, and coarse cloth made of
one, while the more delicate, stringy fibers of the
other were woven into bolts, out of which a
finer quality of goods was made for sheets, shirt-
ing, etc. This additional enterprise not only
benefited the early settlers of this immediate
neighborhood, but brought custom from other
portions of the State.

The early settlers were also in much need of
some device for grinding their corn and wheat.
Previously the hand-mill was used. This con-
sisted of many devices — any process in which
sufficient friction could be brought to bear on the
grain to pulverize or grind it was in use. Some 1
would own a pair of stones, and by a singular
device would have one fastened to one end of a
pole, the other end being so fastened into the
crack of the wall or ceiling as to allow suffi
cient motion for the upper stone to be revolved
upon the lower. Sometimes a pestle attached to
a swinging pole, was made to descend in a mortar
made of a stone or stump, and sometimes the
corn was parched, then eaten. Wheat was fre-
quently boiled; in short, various were the methods
devised to reduce the raw material to a palatable
state. No greater improvement was needed at
that time than that of a gristmill, and Mr.
George Hikes with his usual foresight erected a
building on the south branch of the Bear Grass
for this purpose.

This mill was patronized by citizens of the
whole country — and yet in that early day the
settlements were so sparse it was not kept busy.
To economize time and at the same time further
the interests of the new settlement in another
and much needed direction a saw-mill was at-
tached, being likewise the first of the kind in the
country.

Previous to the erection of this mill, huts or

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

houses were made of hewed logs or logs un-
dressed and as they came from the forest. The
cracks, if filled at all, were chinked with blocks
of wood or chips, then daubed with mortar made
of mud. The window spaces were rather longer
than broad — there being the space of one log
nearly the length of the house left for a series of
glass, fitted in one continuous chain of window
sash. Beds were improvised by the use of one
forked stick at suitable distances from the sides
of the room and from the corner, into the forks
of which the ends of the railing and end board
or stick were laid, with the other ends mortised
into the side walls of the cabin. Upon these
was laid a net work of wood, and upon the latter
beds of such material as they then had to make.

The saw-mill furnished boards out of which
not only frame houses were in part constructed,
but all kinds of furniture — tables, chairs, benches,
floors, etc. — assumed a neater, more tasteful
form, and many were the uses made of lumber.

George Hikes had four sons: Jacob, John,
George, and Andrew; and three daughters.
Jacob, the eldest son, married and settled just
northwest of the homestead, and received as a
.part of his patrimony the fulling machine; George,
the grist-mill; John, the carding machine; and
Andrew, land, it being part of the homestead
place.

TAN-YARD.

No attempt was made in early days to dress
and cure hides or skins, but in the course of
time William Brown started a tan-yard near Jef-
fersonville — the first probably in Kentucky.
This yard was also of great use and marked an
important event in the improvement of the age.

BREWERY.

From the day Noah got drunk the people of
every clime have tippled at the glass. Whether
or no, the sons of Kentucky would make no excep-
tion to this rule. If they drank much whiskey,
however, they said it was pure and would do no
harm, besides there was no market for corn,
save as it was made into liquor and that was
made for drink. Their beverages were unadul-
terated, and a tonic just before breakfast was a
good incentive to rise early and work till 8
o'clock, and then it became a good appetizer for
the morning meal when taken at that hour.

Colonel Doup, seeing the need of a brewery,

erected one on the Bardstown road, between
'Squire Hikes' and the city. Barley and hops
•unadulterated were used for making beer. In
the course of time — civilization advanced — the
inventive genius of man made rapid progress
in the fine art of murder; why not improvement
in the manufacturing of beverages? Conse-
quently corn or oats was found to serve just as
well, provided beech shavings were used to fur-
nish the color. Corn and oats were not as good
as hops or barley, but they were cheaper, and the
eye was so pleasantly deceived by the appear-
ance of the article that the excuse was substi-
tuted for the taste. Colonel Doup was not
successful, however, and the enterprise in all its
purity went down. His beer was not intoxicating
enough to supply the demands of the frenzied
trade.

In later years George Hikes established a dis-
tillery, but that also failed, for some cause or
other, and since that time Louisville has been
taxed for the miserable little quantity con-
sumed in this precinct. It were better by far
that breweries and distilleries such as were estab-
lished by these men, had succeeded. There
would have been less crime committed than
there is now, in consequence of there being
no poisonous beverages to indulge in. The
pure whiskey then was used extensively and
mixed with herbs and roots as an antidote to
malaria, and the treatment was efficacious.

MAGISTRACY.

Each precinct of Jefferson county is under the
official jurisdiction of two justices of the peace.
It has ever seemed necessary to a true conditicn
of peace that force be at hand. The one is the
complement to the other, and can be used in
enforcing obedience to the other.

The early records belonging to this depart-
ment of county government have been lost, but
tradition points to George Hikes as one of the
first justices of the peace in the precinct. He
held the office for a time, and it is probably
needless to remark that during his magistracy
the people ever found a true friend in the inter-
ests of right and justice. Colonel Doup filled
this position also for a number of years under
the old constitution, and each of these men be-
came sheriff of the county, that office always
bting filled by the oldest representative of the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

magisterial court composed of the justices of
the several precincts.

When the old constitution was changed and
the judges of all the courts were elected by the
people, George W. Hikes, the son of George
Hikes and father of the present' Squire Edward
J. Hikes, was the first justice of the peace of
Two Mile Town, and served in that capacity
twelve to sixteen years. He died in June, 1849.
His father, George Hikes, died in the year 1832.

AN INCIDENT.

The peace of Two Mile Town has had but
little cause for complaint outside of a few cases,
the people having been usually the friends of
law and order; but previous to the war there
crept into the precinct a pest that was short-
ly abated. One Paschal Craddock settled
near where the present George Hikes now
resides. His nature was bold and aggressive,
but his workings were effected through accom-
plices, he himself never participating directly.
The greatest fault this man possessed seems to
have been that of an inordinate desire to steal
and drive off stock of all kinds. The citizens
would miss a hog, a sheep, or a steer from their
drove or flock and the country would be scoured
after the missing animals, but always with no
success — and sometimes not only one animal
would be gone but he would enter premises after
night and frequently take his pick from droves.
As usual, every fault finds the man out, nor was
this an exception. The thefts were so enormous
that they seemed like the operations of band-
its, and the neighbors took steps towards sup-
pressing the evil. The act of driving sixteen hogs
from a neighbor's sty into his own, preparatory to
an early killing on the next morning, was the last
grand theft sufficient to arouse the vengeance of
the precinct. A meeting of the citizens was held
and Mr. Craddock and two of his accomplices
received timely warning that they must leave the
neighborhood within the space of six months. In
view of his property they also accompanied this
order with an offer to buy him out, the people
offering to give him a good price for his land.
This money was raised by subscription.

The two accomplices took the hint and left
the country, but Craddock, with a stubbornness
equal to his meanness, failed to comply, and ere
he lived out his six months a little stray ven-

geance overtook him, and Paschal Craddock was
no more.

COLORED CITIZENS.

The negroes, in number about the same as
previous to the war, are making some advance-
ment over their former condition. The emanci-
pation act found this a people who took no care
of themselves — no thought of the morrow — and
were without parallel imprudent and improvi-
dent. They had been accustomed during their
servitude to have their wants attended to by
others; their sick were visited by hands com-
petent to administer, and nurses were supplied
by their superiors. A due regard was had for
clothing that always kept them comfortable and
warm. Such was their condition before the war,
and after that event their want of a dependence
found them almost helpless.

The negroes, as a general thing, had been
friends to their masters in this precinct. Masters
who regarded them property by right of in-
heritance, and speculated but little in negro
traffic, and who did for these ignorant people
many acts of kindnesses, are remembered
even to this day. This people have made
some progress, and under leadership of a few •
who are above the average, are advancing rapidly.
They built themselves a comfortable church
building in 1870, receiving much help financially
from the white citizens. This building cost about
four hundred dollars, and is situated on the
Newburg road. Their first preacher was a colored
man, formerly a slave for Mr. Kellar. He had
been taught to read by Mrs. Hikes. He was
named after Mr. Kellar (Mrs. Hikes' father), who
was a friend to the colored people. Harry King,
now ninety years of age, bought by Mr. Hikes,
when he was thirty years old, is at present their
pastor. He has been . now sixty years in Mr.
Hikes' employ. The membership of this church
is about one hundred.

The first church in the precinct was built by
the Baptist society about the time George Hikes
came to the county, Rev. Mr. Walker being one of
the first pastors in charge. The question of close
communion was one which gave the organization
some trouble, and was the real cause of the final
overthrow later on. The first building was a
stone structure erected about the year 1798-99,
on the north bank of Bear Grass, on the Taylors-
ville pike. The attendance upon service at this

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

point necessitated the membership coming so
far that when the country got older the congre-
gation divided up, forming out of this one church
three new societies, one of which still retains
the name of Bear Grass, and is located at the
original site.

Jeffersontown and Newburg are the localities
at which are situated the other branches.

A COINCIDENCE.

A remarkable coincidence worthy of record is
found in the history of two women of this pre-
cinct. Their history in brief is this : Mrs. Heck-
embush and Mrs. Bammer, strangers to each
other, left Germany, their native country, at the
same time, sailed over in the same vessel, each
sold her passage way from New Orleans to Louis-
ville, both coming to this precinct; both joined
the Methodist Episcopal church the same day,
and were married the same day. Each had one
son, and both died on the same day.

SCHOOLS.

The school system of Kentucky needs some
improvement before the State can have as
good schools as are found in some of her sister
States. There have been good teachers who
always, in spite of any legislation, succeeded in
working up an educational interest in this direc-
tion, and such has been the case here.

The first school of this precinct, of which the
oldest representative has any recollection, was
taught about the year 1792 by Professor Jones.
The building, a rude affair, was built where the
Bardstown pike makes a turn near the toll-gate,
or where George W. Hikes now lives. The win-
dows were generally long and made by leav-
ing out one log. A big ten-plate stove that
would take wood three feet long, and desks
made of slabs laid on pins put in the wall.

School generally began about seven o'clock in
the morning and was kept up till late in the even-
ing. There was no school law, but each parent
paid a subscription tax in proportion to his finan-
cial ability. Teachers generally boarded "round,"
and in this way one good turn was made to
serve another.

The books in use then were Webster's spelling
book, Pike's arithmetic, Kirkam's grammar,
no geographies or readers, but some history, or
probably the life of Washington, was used as a
substitute for a reader. Afterwards the New and

the Old Testaments were used for advanced
scholars.

The original methods for instructing pupils
were quite severe, it generally being conceded
that what could not be taken in by close applica-
tion of the mind should be "strapped on the
back." This method of applying knowledge,
however, worked in other ways than in
the right. An aged citizen, in speaking of
the schools, says that the fear that attended
the pupils, especially those quite young, was
was so great that in consequence many egregious
blunders were made that otherwise would not
have been. In reading a passage in Webster's
spelling book which reads: "The farmers
were plowing up the field," he made a blun-
der by saying "the farmers were blowing up the
field," the mistake made being due to the con-
stant dread at the time that he would receive a
blow from his teacher's ferrule did he make a
mistake, but like the orator who wished
to say "he bursted his boiler," got it "he biled
his burster."

After the district schools were established, in
1 84 1 or 1842, more rapid progress was made in
the cause of education. Mr. Games Yorston
taught at this time, for a period of seven years.
His methods of instruction were different, as
was also his system of government. The col-
ored people have a school in the precinct also.

The land in this precinct grows the bestof grass.
Advantage has been taken of this fact, and many
of the fields turned into pasture lands for cows.
There are one-half dozen good dairies in Two Mile
Town alone. There are also good orchards, and
some attention is paid to the raising of all kinds
of fruits, the same as vegetables. The market fur-
nished at Louisville is of great advantage to gar-
deners. Early in the season produce is shipped
North ; but as the southern crop is exhausted
first, later in the season products can be shipped
South. This is particularly true as regards small
fruits and vegetables.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Edward J. Hikes was born April 29, 1817, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, and has ever resided
upon the old homestead with the exception of
four years in Illinois. His father, George
Hikes, came from Pennsylvania in 1790. Mr.
Hikes was married in 1838 to Miss Paulina

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Keilar, of Moultrie county, Illinois, daughter of
A. H. Keilar, of Oldham county, Kentucky.
This union has been blessed with ten children,
only seven of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs.
Hikes are members of the Christian church, as
are also their children. Mr. Hikes is magis-
trate at the present time and is highly esteemed
by his fellow citizens.

W. W. Goldsmith, M. D., was born in this
State July 4, 1823. When nine years of age he
went to New York city where he lived till he was
twenty-seven, then came to Kentucky and
located in Jefferson county. Mr. Goldsmith
studied medicine in New York and graduated in
1844. He was married in 1846 to Miss Ellenor
Godman, of Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of
John D. Godman, of Philadelphia. They have
have had five children. Mr. Goldsmith's father,
Dr. Alban Goldsmith, taught the first class in
medicine in Louisville, and was well known in
medical circles. The place where Mr. Gold-
smith now lives was once used as a block-house
by the old settlers when in danger of the Indians.

William H. Fredrick was born March 16,
1820, in Jefferson county, Kentucky, and ever
has been a resident of this State. His father,
Samuel Fredrick, was a native of Jefferson
county. His grandfather, August Fredrick,
came from Germany in an early year, and settled
in Jeffersontown precinct and was one of the pio-
neers of this part of the State. His mother was a
daughter of Abijah Swearinger, who \ias one of
the early settlers on Floyd's fork. Mr. Fredrick
was married, September 24, 1843, t0 Mrs. A.
Voel, widow of Samuel A. Voel, of Jefferson
county. Her maiden name was Chrisler, being
a daughter of Fielding Chrisler, a brother
of Jesse Chrisler, of Harrods Creek. Mrs.
Fredrick has had a family of eight children,
six of whom are living. Mr. Fredrick is a Free
Mason. He has represented the county in the
Legislature two sessions, and is now Senator
from Jefferson county. The district in which he
was elected is composed of Jefferson county and
the first and second wards of Louisville.

Mathew Meddis, one of the old residents of
Jefferson county, was born June 5, 1804, on
Floyd's fork, and has ever resided in the county.
His father, Godfrey Meddis, came from Mary-
land in an early day. He died in New Orleans
in 1815. Mr. Meddis, the subject of this sketch,

was married July 28, 1836, to Miss Effa Seaton,
of Jefferson county. They have six children
all of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Meddis
are members of the Christian church; also two
of the children.

William O. Armstrong was born February 23,
1845, in Louisville, and resided in the city till
1874, when he moved into the country where we
now find him most pleasantly situated on a farm
of one hundred acres of good land. His house
is located on the highest point of land between
Louisville and Bardstown. Mr. Armstrong was
married November 10, 1870, to Miss Sally
Womack, of Middletown precinct. They have
four children : Bessie L., Georgie V., Willie F.,
and Mary E. Mrs. Armstrong is a member of
the Christian church.

Robert Ayars was born May 22, 1804, in Salem
county, New Jersey. He remained here till
1822, when he went to Pennsylvania, where he
was engaged in some iron works till 1829, when
he came to Louisville, and was in business about
three years. He then bought a farm upon which
we now find him. It contains three hundred and
twenty-five acres. He was married June 14,
1832, to Miss Elizabeth Hikes, of Jefferson
county. They have had eight children, five of
whom are living. Mr. Ayars was formerly a
Free Mason, and has served as magistrate nearly
thirty years.

Edward B. Ayars was born July 9, 1843, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky. His father, Robert
Ayars, resides but a short distance from him.
Mr. Ayars was married April 24, 1873, t0 Miss
Georgie B. Hikes, an adopted daughter of George
Hikes. They have three children. Mrs. Ayars
is a member of the Christian church. Mr. Ayars
is a Free Mason. He served four years in the
Federal army in the Second Kentucky regiment.

Paul Disher was born June 7, 1816, in Baden,
Germany, and emigrated to America in (835,
and at once came to Kentucky, and settled near
Louisville, where he resided several years, then
moved into the country where his widow and
family now live. He was married April 19,
1845, to Miss Teresia Huber, of Germany.
They have nine children. Mr. Disher died
August 17, 1872. He was a member of the
Catholic church.

Charles Wetstein was born July 23, 1844, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky. His father, Jacob

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Wetstein, came from Switzerland in about 1825,
and settled in Kentucky.where he lived till 1877,
when he went to Switzerland on a visit and died
in his native country. Mr. Wetstein was mar-
ried in 1 87 1 to Miss Carrie Bannger, of Jeffer-
son county, daughter of John E. Baringer.
They have had two children. One is living.
Mr. and Mrs. Wetstein are members of the
Methodist church. He is also a Knight of
Honor.

Frederick Baringer was born August 8, 1818,
in Jefferson county, and has ever resided in the
State. His father, Jacob Baringer, was a native
of Germany, and came to America in 1817, and
was one of the old settlers. Mr. Baringer has a
farm of seventy-three acres of excellent land. He
was married in 1843 t0 M'ss Catherine Basler,
of Louisville. They had four children. He
was married the second time in 1859 to Miss
Sophia Edinger, of Pennsylvania, daughter of
George Edinger. They had five children by
this marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Baringer are mem-
bers of the Methodist church.

JEFFERSONTOWN PRECINCT.

The history of the earliest or original settlers
of this section is but traditionary. It would be
gratifying always to know who first spied out the
land, afterwards moved to the place; how and
from whence he came; where he settled, and in
order take up each of the new comers and treat
of their arrivals similarly, but the remoteness of
these events precludes such mention. We can
only reach the times of the Revolution, and
learn something in regard to the settlers in
general.

Probably as early, and certainly not long
after the survey made by Captain Thomas Bul-
litt, agent for Mary and William College, in
1773, the Tylers settled in this precinct near
Jeffersontown. There were three of these men
— Moses, Robert and Ned. They experienced
hardships common to all early settlers, and to
Indian warfare.

Nelson Tyler, son of Moses, was born in 1790;
and died in 1874 "X the advanced age of eighty-
four years. One descendant of the Tylers mar-
ried a Shaw, and afterwards, while hunting

horses early one morning, was himself with a
negro servant, captured by the Indians and mur-
dered. His wife was taken prisoner; was treated
very well, and afterwards taken to Canada, where
under the British she received worse treatment
than at the hands of the Indians.

James Guthrie, an old settler in the southern
part of this precinct, was born in 1749. His
father, William Guthrie, was a native of Ireland.
James Guthrie came to Kentucky in 1780; was
an Indian fighter, and as was the custom in those
days, had recourse to his block-house to defend
himself against their wily attacks. He built a
stone house at Fern creek — still standing — in

1794, which in 1812 was badly shaken by an
earthquake, and after many years became unsafe
in consequence.

William Goose, Sr., was also an early settler,
coming to Jeffersontown about 1790, from
Pennsylvania. The Blankenbakers, a large family,
came about the same time. Mr. Goose was
a wagon -maker. The Zilharts were also very
early settlers. Phillip and George erected a
wagon-shop, the first of the kind in Jefferson-
town. Mr. Goose had a family of eight children.
The late William Goose was the first wheel-
wright in the village, and made spinning-wheels,
also chairs, and did cabinet work. Jacob Hoke
was also an early settler, coming here as early as

1795. He purchased of Colonel Frederick
Geiger four hundred acres of land and erected a
stone house, now the property of William O.
Ragland, in 1799. This house is still standing.
At that time there was a block-house on Colonel
Anderson's tract of land, at Lynn Station,
which had been of service to the early settlers, but
the last raid of the Indians was made about this
time, when seeking some horses, after which the
settlers lived without being disturbed. Colonel
Geiger came from Maryland about the year
1796-97. He was colonel in the War of 1812,
and fought at the battle of Tippecanoe. His
regiment was made up of men around Louisville.
He sold here and moved down where Wash
Davis now lives, where he had between three and
four hundred acres of land. He was of some
kin to the Funk family, and married the second
time, his last wife being Margaret Yenawine, who
was also related to A. Hoke's wife. William
Shaw, who was killed, bought one hundred acres
of land off the Sturges farm, and settled on

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Chenoweth run, just above Andrew Hoke. His
son William was taken prisoner when a man, but
escaped, came home and later participated in
the battle of Tippecanoe, where he was shot
and afterwards died from the effects of the
wound. George Pomeroy came in 1791-92. He
was also chased by the Indians but not captured.
He settled near Mr. Hoke's place, on the run.
His son, James Pomeroy, was a distinguished
teacher in the Jeffersontown school for many
years.

Major Abner Field settled here about 1790, a
mile and a half west of Jeffersontown. His
sons, Alexander and John, became distinguished
men in the Government employ.

The Funks were very early and settled at the
Forks of Bear Grass. The son of John Funk
(Peter) was major of the horse at the battle of
Tippecanoe. Joe Funk was a captain at that
time and afterwards a colonel in that war.

James H. Sturges came as early as 1776. He
then owned the place now in the possession of
A. Poke. His name was cut in the bark of a
tree with the date of 1776. His sons became
eminent men. William H. Pope married his
daughter, and was afterward one of the clerks of
the county court.

Martin Stucky, Philip Ziihort, Dr. Ross, and
the Warwicks, were all early settlers in this pre-
cinct.

MILLS.

Funk's Mill on Floyd's fork below Seatonville,
was the oldest one, and was patronized exten-
sively until Augustie Frederick built one just
below Jeffersontown about the year 1800. He
had also a saw-mill near Jeffersontown. The
stream now is hardly strong enough to turn a
grindstone, such having been the effect of clear-
ing the lands on the creeks and rivulets.

CHURCHES.

In a very early day the German Reformed
society built a small log church, very plain in
style, which they used some few years. Rev.
Mr. Zink, a Lutheran, preached to this people for
several years. Sometimes other preachers would
call this way. The old church was torn down
and a union church was built by all the denom-
inations in 1816. This was made of brick.
The walls were not built solidly owing to the
brick not having been burnt as they should

have been, and in a few years the building was
worthless, and a stone church was built by the
same denominations about the year 1820, and
soon after this, the Lutheran denomination, feel-
ing able of themselves, built a church. The
present pastor of this church is Rev. J. E. Lerch.
The church has a membership of about seventy-
eight.

The German Reformed established in 1809, is
still in a flourishing condition. The Lutherans,
established before 1800, is the church that is
non est

The Methodist Episcopal society built a large
brick church building just before the war, and
the society was a flourishing one for a number of
years.

The New-school Baptists bought their church
occupancy in the Masonic hall from the Presby-
terians about ten years ago.

The Presbyterians, who were originally strong,
have about lost their identity.

The Christian church has just put up a large
new building. Their first building was erected
about 1856, but the organization dates farther
back than that.

The colored people have two churches, a Bap-
tist and a Methodist, both of which are flour-
ishing.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The Farmers' and Fruit Growers' association
was established in 1880. The society put up a
shed two hundred feet long at Fern City, on
grounds in all comprising fifteen acres of land,
and fenced the whole. The officers of this asso-
ciation for the present are: President, John
Decker; vice president, E. J. Hikes; secretary,
Bryant Williams ; treasurer, Moses Johnson.
There is also a board of twelve directors. The
success of this enterprise was guaranteed to the
people of Jeffersontown last year, when the
most sanguine expectations were realized.
Fruits, vegetables, and everything, in fact, raised
and manufactured by farmers and their wives,
graced the tables at this fair, and much en-
couragement was given to agriculturists in at-
tendance.

ORIGINAL PRICES.

In early days the people of this part of the
county paid for calico fifty cents per yard, corn
twenty to twenty-five cents per bushel, wheat
fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel, oats twenty

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

to twenty-five cents per bushel, rye fifty cents
per bushel. Hired help could be had for six or
seven dollars per month, and other articles in
proportion.

THE LOUISVILLE AND TAYLORSVILLE PIKE

was commenced in 1849. Mr. Andrew Hoke
was one of the original directors, and still serves
in that capacity. Mr. Ed. Brisco is president of
the company. Dr. Stout is secretary. There is
also a board of directors.

JEFFERSONTOWN

now has a population of three hundred and fifty.
It was laid out in 1805 by Mr. Bruner, and at
first called Brunersville. One of the first settlers
of this town was George Wolf. He afterwards
moved to Indiana, and his sons became distin-
guished men in politics.

THE WAR OF l8l2.

There were many men who volunteered from
this precinct for that war. It would be impossi-
ble to give, with data at hand, a complete list of
those who did go. A company of men was
raised round about Jeffersontown. Captain
Quiry, who raised this company, paid his men
for enlisting, a bounty of fifty cents. A number
of the citizens also participated in the Mexican
war.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

J. A. Winand, son of Jacob Winand, was born
in Jefferson county January 20, 1836. Jacob
was the son of Phillip, who was a Pennsylvanian
and was born in 1798 in Jefferson county. He
married in 1824 Christiana Hoke, daughter of
Adam Hoke. John A. Winand was educated in
the common schools and has always been a
farmer. January 20, 18.57, he married Sarah
Briscoe, daughter of 'Squire Jacob Briscoe, of
Jeffersontown precinct, in which precinct they
live. They have six children — William A., J.
Edward, Blanche, Mollie, Anna, and Lillie P.

William L. Hawes is of German descent and
was born October 25, 1815. His father, Jacob
Hawes, went to Jefferson county from Bourbon
county, Kentucky, when William was six years
old. Jacob Hawes, in 181 2, married Fannie,
daughter of David Omer. William was educated
in the common schools, and his occupation
from boyhood to the present time has been that
of a farmer. In 185 1 he married Matilda,
daughter of John Nett, long a resident of the

county. She was born in Jefferson county in
1825. They have five children, two boys and
three girls. He is a member in good standing
of the Baptist church.

Franklin Garr was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, November 21, 1836. He is the
seventh son and eleventh child of twelve chil-
dren of Benjamin Garr, who was born in Virginia
in 1789. He married Nancy Smith, a native of
that State, January 8, 1815. In 1828 they came
to Jefferson county. Franklin Garr was educated
in the common schools. His occupation is that
of farming. In 1859 he married Mary Cheno-
with, daughter of Steven O. Chenowith. She
was born in 1838. They had but one child,
Charley, born July 29, 1863. Mrs. Garr departed
this life in 1867. Mr. Garr resides upon and
manages his farm in Jeffersontown precinct.

Jacob Wells was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, March 23, 1817. His father was
John H. Wells, a native of Virginia, and a sol-
dier of the War of 1812. He married, in 1813,
Amelia Fox, who was born in South Carolina
July 8, 1793. They had eleven children, of
whom eight grew to maturity. When Jacob was
eleven years old his father moved near Mount
Washington, Bullitt county, at which place he
received his education. He learned the stone-
mason's trade of his father, and worked at this
for many years. For ten years prior to the war
he and his brother, N. P. Wells, carried on a
tombstone establishment in Jeffersontown. At
this time Jacob Wells retired from business.
N. P. Wells was born at Mount Washington
December 17, 1829. He learned the stone-
cutter's trade, and has been in that business since
1850, and now has a shop at Jeffersontown. He
married Elizabeth Leatherman, daughter of
Joseph Leatherman, of Jefferson county. She
was born April 15, 1842.

A. E. Tucker was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, July 10, 1848. He is the third child
of Hazel Tucker, an old-timer of the county and
precinct. Hazel Tucker was born in Spencer
county in May, 1796. He was a farmer by oc-
cupation, and married Nancy Cooper, by whom
he had six children. He was a member of the.
Baptist church. He died May 23, 1875. Al-
bert was educated in the Jeffersontown college,
and like his father is a farmer. On March 12,
1874, he married Mary Jones, who was born in

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

2 5

November, 1848. They have three children —
William, Thomas, and Mabel.

John Nelson Tyler was born in Jefferson pre-
cinct, Jefferson county, on September 28, 1825.
He is the fifth of eight children of Allen Tyler,
a native of the same county. The father of
Allen was Moses Tyler, who, with his brothers,
William and Edward, immigrated into the same
county during Indian times from Virginia.
William was for a time a captive of the natives.
Allen married Phcebe Blankenbaker, daughter of
Henry Blankenbaker, of Virginia. Allen Tyler
was born February 28, 1794, and died Novem-
ber 30, 1874. Phcebe was born November 13,
1792, and died December 8, 1857. John Nel-
son Tyler was educated in the common schools,
and is a farmer by occupation. He married
Rhoda Ann Quisenberry, a native of Jefferson
county, by whom he has five children — Lucy
Ann Beard, Malissie Alice, William Thomas,
Jane, and Minnie Belle.

William Goose is of German descent, and was
born in Tefferson county, Kentucky, December
8, 1804. He is the third son and sixth child
of William Goose, who was a native of Pennsyl-
vania, *and who came to Kentucky about 1796.
Before leaving Pennsylvania he married Catha-
rine Yenawine. He was a wagon-maker by trade,
and built many of the farmers' wagons formerly
used in Jeffersontown precinct, but was also a
farmer. He was the father of eight children.
The subject of this sketch was educated in the
common schools, and when fifteen was appren-
ticed to learn the wheelwright's (spinning wheel)
and chair bottoming trades. He served four
years at Jeffersontown, and then engaged in these
businesses in the same place for about six years.
He then began farming on the place where he
now resides in Jeffersontown precinct, and was
a farmer during the days of flax growing and
hand-spinning. In 1827, he married Fanny
Willard, who was born in Jefferson county, De-
cember 22, 1 80 1, and by whom he has nine liv-
ing children — Preston, Harrison, Anderson,
Luther, Rufus, James, Adaline, Amanda, and
Mary Ann. William Goose has been a member
of the Lutheran church for over sixty years.
James M. Goose was born March 28, 1838; was
educated in the common schools, and is a farmer
by occupation. In 186 1 he married Mary,
daughter of Henry Willard, of Jefferson county

'Squire A. G. Watts, son of Peter Watts, a
Revolutionary hero who came into Kentucky in
1779, was born in Boyle county, Kentucky,
December 16, 1802. The 'squire's education
was received in the common schools and at the
Transylvania college. He has lived in various
parts of Woodford and Shelby counties engaged
at farming, and at Louisville managing hotels,
and at one time was engaged in trade at Cin-
cinnati. He was proprietor of the Beers house,
Fifth street, Louisville, and then of the Oakland
house, at Oakland. He was deputy United ,
States marshal under Blackburn, and continued
for six years under him and Lane. In 1849 he
moved to Middletown, where he was postmaster
and proprietor of the Brigman house, and where
he remained for six years. He then came to
Jeffersontown, where he has acted as magistrate
and police judge. In Shelby and Jefferson
counties he has served as magistrate for thirty-
four years. On May 15, 1822, he married Judith
Ann Ayers, of Woodford county, and in Novem-
ber of the same year his wife died. In June,
1825, he married a Virginia lady, Lucy Robin-
son by name, by whom' he had seven children,
one living to maturity. He and his wife are
honored members of the Methodist church.

George W. McCroeklin was born in Spencer
county, April 23, 1845. He is a son of Alfred
McCroeklin, a native of Nelson county, and his
mother was of the same county. Her name
was Maria Smith, daughter of John Smith.
George was reared upon a farm and received his
education in the district schools. His occupation
has been that of a farmer and stock dealer.
March, 1875, he began farming in Jeffersontown
precinct of Jefferson county, and two years after-
ward became the superintendent of the alms
house. In February, 1870, he married Susan
Maretta, a native of Spencer county, by whom
he has four children: Maria, Agnes, Alfred, and
John. In religion he is a Catholic.

William Cleary was born near Londonderry,
county Donegal, Ireland, November 18, 1818.
He received a classical and mathematical educa-
tion, and was a graduate of the Royal high
school of Raphoe, his native town. When
twenty-two he came to Philadelphia. He spent
the winter of 1840-41 in teaching at Hydestown,
New York, and in the spring of 1841 came to
Louisville. During the next few years he was

2 6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

professor of mathematics in St. Mary's college,
in Marion county, and taught private school in
Cape Girardeau, and afterwards was an in-
structor in St. Vincent's college and prepara-
tory theological seminary, of Missouri, then
under Bishop Kendrick's charge. In 1848,
while sojourning in Shelby county, Kentucky,
he was licensed to practice law, but was en-
gaged in this profession for only a short
time — some four years. In 1849 he married
Mrs. John Kennedy, nee Fannie Thomas, a
native of Spencer county, by whom he had two
sons — William Grerry and James. She was born
May 12, 181 2. In 1849 he bought the farm
where he now lives, in Jeffersontown precinct,
where he has since resided. He conducts his
farm as a grain farm, and makes a specialty of
blooded horses. He has, among other fine
horses, a Hamiltonian stallion, half brother of
Maud S., called Lee Boo, and Desmond, a run-
ning horse.

Frederick Stucky was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, November 13, 1801. He is the sixth
of nine children of John Stucky, a native of
Germany, a resident of Maryland, and one of
the pioneers of Kentucky. His mother was
Mary Meridith, a native of Kentucky. When
quite small his parents moved to Gibson county,
Indiana, where they remained until their death.
This was when Mr. Stucky was about nine years
of age. When twelve he was apprenticed to learn
the tailor's trade in Vincennes, Indiana, serving
seven years. He then returned to Kentucky,
his sole wealth being contained within a
bundle carried in a handkerchief. He for the
next eighteen years worked at his trade in Jeffer-
sontown. His health failing, he moved upon
the farm where he now lives, and where he
has resided for over forty years. This farm is
the same that his father and grandfather lived
on, to which he has added other farms,
and he is now even beyond "well-to-do."
He married Louisa H. Myers, a daughter of
Jacob Myers. She was born in Jefferson county,
April 26, 1808, and died April 30, 1880. They
had twelve children, of whom there are three
daughters and four sons living. He is a mem-
ber of the Methodist church.

Captain C. L. Easum was born in Jefferson
county, Kentucky, December 30, 1832. He is
the second son of Harman Easum, who was

born in the same county October n, 1805.
Harman Easum was a carpenter by trade and
worked at this in connection with farming. On
July 14, 1828, he married Sarah B. Shain, a native
of Bullitt county, but reared in Pleasant Hill,
Mercer county, Kentucky. They had four chil-
dren: John W., Charles L., Sarah J., and Eliza-
beth Ellen. The father was killed October 12,
1875, by a railroad accident in Rockland county,
New York. C. L. Easum was educated in the
common schools and graduated from the law de-
partment of the Louisville university. He prac-
ticed law in Louisville until 1861. In September
of this year he enlisted in company E, Fifteenth
regiment Kentucky volunteers, and at the organi-
zation of the company was elected second lieuten-
ant. He served in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala-
bama, and Georgia, and was mustered out in
January of 1865. During this time he was pro-
moted to the captaincy of the regiment (1863).
Since the close of the war he has been upon the
old homestead farm, which he manages as a fruit
farm. On June 21, 1871, he married Isabella
F. Collins, of Orange county, Indiana. Her
father was Thomas H. Collins, a captain in the
commissary department of the Army *>f the
Potomac. This marriage was blessed with six
children: Mary L, John W., Harman, Julia G,
Roberta T., and Ida P. He, though a Repub-
lican, was elected magistrate in 1875, and again
in August of 1878 — serves till 1883. In 1870
he was theRepublican candidate for county at-
torney against Albert I. Willis.

A. R. Kennedy was born in Jefferson county,
September 15, 1841. He is the third of five
children of John Kennedy, a pioneer of Ken-
tucky from Maryland. He was a farmer by oc-
cupation and after coming to the State married
Fanny Thomas, of Spencer county. He died in
1847. His widow afterwards married William
Cleary, of Jeffersontown precinct. A. R. Ken-
nedy was educated in the common schools and
at Oldham academy. He is a farmer; one also
interested in fine cattle, having a small but
choice herd of Jersey cattle. On May 4, 1862,
he married Josephine Seabold, a native of the
county. She was born July 1, 1844. L. E.
Kennedy is next younger than A. R., and was
born November 8, 1844. He was educated in
the common schools and at the Notre Dame
university, South Bend, Indiana, and is a farmer.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Dr. S. N. Marshall was born in Spencer
county, Kentucky, October 14, 1830. His
father was a pioneer of Spencer county, and a
farmer. Before emigrating from Maryland he
married Drusilla Jenkins. The doctor was the
youngest of six children, three sons and three
daughters. S. N. Marshall was educated in the
Shelby county academy and the St. Mary's col-
lege, Spencer county, finishing his course in
1847. He then road medicine with Dr. A. C.
Wood, then of Shelby, but now of Davis county,
Kentucky. He finished his medical education
at the old Louisville university, receiving his
diploma in 1851. He located at Wilsonville,
on Plum creek, Shelby county, where he
remained for fifteen years. He then removed
to Jeffersontown, where he has since resided, and
practiced his profession. On May 17, 1855, he
married Drusilla Carpenter, a native of Shelby
county, and a daughter of Calvin Carpenter, a
farmer. This union resulted in five children, of
whom four are living — Mollie D., Willie, Thomas
Ti, and Calvin. The doctor is a member of the
Presbyterian church, and his wife of the Chris-
tian.

Samuel Hart was born in Louisville, Ken-
tucky, October 26, 1808. He is the seventh
of nine children of William Hart, who came tp
Louisville from Maryland prior to 1800. His
father was both a tanner and a marble-cutter.
He resided at Louisville till his death, which oc-
curred when Samuel was a small child. William
Hart was married in Pennsylvania to Elizabeth
Hinkle, of that State. Her father John Hinkle,
Peter Yenawine, and others, came down the
Ohio in a flat boat at the same time. He crossed
the mountains with a one-horse cart. After ar-
riving at Louisville, he was offered the Gault
house property for his one old horse, when he
declared to the would-be trader that he "wouldn't

give 'old Bob' for the whole d n town!"

Elizabeth Hinkle Hart married John Miller, and
died at Jeffersontown. Samuel Hart was appren-
ticed to learn the tinner's trade, and after fin-
ishing his trade, carried on a shop at Jefferson-
town for a number of years. He built the Jeffer-
son house at that place, and conducted this
house and a grocery until 1855, when he sold
out and moved upon the farm where he now re-
sides. In 1834 he married Rebecca Frederic,
born November 1, 1817, a native of the county,

and daughter of Joseph Frederic, who was killed
by A. Churchill. By this marriage he had two
children, of whom George is living. In 1837 he
married Sarah Finley, by whom he had four
children. On November 27, 1850, he married
Carthage Swope, by whom he had fifteen chil-
dren, of whom eight are living. He went to
school in the first court-house erected in Louis-
ville. He was an old-line Whig, but never a
Democrat.

J. C. Walker was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, October 29, 1830. He is the second
of nine children of Thomas Walker, who was
born in the same county in 1796. He married
Lucy Garr, whose father's name was Nicholas,
and who came from Virginia in 18 10. J. C.
Walker was educated in the common schools
and is a farmer. On May 18, 1865, he married
Elizabeth Blankenbaker, daughter of Levi Blank-
enbaker. They have four children, three of
whom are now living — William L., Charley M.,
and Thomas W.

Mrs. C. Snyder was born July 8, 1834, on the
ocean when her parents were coming to this
country. John Rechtold, her father, was born
in Kurhessen, Germany. After emigrating to
America he settled in Maryland, and in 1838
came to Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained
but a year, when he removed upon the farm in
Jeffersontown precinct, where his daughter now
resides. He was a shoemaker by trade, but
worked at farming after coming to Kentucky.
Catharine was the second of seven children. In
1 85 1 she married Fred Snyder, a native of Hesse
Darmstadt, Germany. He was born in 18 18,
and came to America in 1844. He first settled
in Indiana, where he remained until his mar-
riage. Here he worked at farming. The union
of Fred and Catharine Snyder was blessed with
six children — Mary E., John W., Emma, Charles,
Martha, and Gussie. Mr. Snyder died in 1873.
Both himself and wife were members of the
Methodist Episcopal church.

William Gray was bom in Shelby county, March
4, 1799. His father, Robert Gray, was born near
Dublin, Ireland, and came to this country when
about eighteen years old, remaining in Pennsyl-
vania for a time. In that State he married Miss
Furney, and then came to Jefferson county
and settled on the Bear Grass, near the work-
house; but on account of the unhealthiness of

HISTORY OF THE OHiO FALLS COUNTIES.

the place he remained there but two years, when
he removed to Shelby county, where he died
some forty-five years ago at the age of ninety-
five. While residing near Pittsburgh he married
Mary Yabo, by whom he had eleven children.
William Gray was reared and educated in Shelby
county, where, also, he spent the greater part of
his life as a farmer. About thirty years ago he
sold out and removed to Jefferson county.
When a few days less than nineteen he married
Sarah Allen, by whom he had thirteen children,
of whom A. J., Amanda, and Matilda are now liv-
ing. The wife died September 8, 1879. He
has been a member of the Baptist church for
fifty-eight yeais.

In 1865 E. Walter Raleigh was married to
Amanda Gray. She was born April 23, 1841,
and he March 30, 1833. Mr. Raleigh was edu-
cated in the Asbury university, Greencastle, In-
diana. He is a carpenter by trade, and served
a three years' apprenticeship. He has engaged in
the mercantile business considerably, at one time
in Louisville. He served two years in company
F, Thirty-first Indiana. After the war he was
for four years superintendent of the alms-house
in Jefferson county. During late years he has
been engaged in farming.

Mrs. J. Landram, daughter of John Barr, was
born in Jefferson county January 4, 1822. Her
father was also a native of the county. He mar-
ried Ellen Tyler, daughter of William Tyler
and sister of Sarah Tyler. They had but one
child, and dying in 1822, their child was reared
by its grandparents. She was married to J.
Landram in 1842. He was a native of Spottsyl-
vania, Virginia, and came to Kentucky about
1839, when about twenty-one years of age. He
was a graduate of Louisville Medical college,
and practiced in Harrison county, Indiana, until
the time of his death, December 31, 1853. They
had three children — Joseph, Mary Francis, and
Letitia Alice.

C. K. Sprowl was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, October 5, 1850. He is the third
child of Dr. R. C. Sprowl, who was born at
Charlestown, Clarke county, Indiana, on January
8, 1820. His father was a prominent farmer of
that county. Dr. Sprowl received a liberal edu-
cation and was a graduate of the Louisville
Medical university. When quite young he settled
in Utica, Indiana, remaining but a short time.

He then located at Middletown, where he prac-
ticed medicine till 1869, when he' removed to
the farm where his son now resides, in Jefferson-
town precinct. On March 30, 1845, ne married
Mary R. Vance, who was born in Jefferson coun-
ty, Januury 31, 1835. She was the daughter of
Dr. Robert G. Vance, an old-time practitioner of
Middletown, also largely engaged in farming.
They had four children : Robert Vance, William
Henry, C. K, and Edwin R. C. K. was edu-
cated in B. H. McGown's academy, at Anchorage,
and at Forest Home. His occupation is that of
a farmer and fruit grower. On November 29,
1876, he married Lula E. Finley, daughter of
George Finley, a well known teacher of the
county. They have two children: Edgar Vance,
and Clarence Irwin. Dr. Sprowl was justice of
the peace for ten years, and a member of the
Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder.
He died July 23, 1876, and his wife in 1859.

A. J. Vogt was born in Germany, in the year
1849. At the age of thirteen he came to Amer-
ica with his father, John Vogt, with whom he
resided till his death, which occurred in 1864.
They settled in Louisville, where A. J. Vogt was
engaged in tanning. In 1881 he purchased a
stock of groceries and began merchandising on
the Taylorville pike, six miles from the city. In
1874 he married Kate Schuler, by whom he has
three children.

Morris Stephens was born in Baden, Europe,
May 10, 1822. His father immigrated to this
country when Morris was about six years old,
and settled in Jackson county, Pennsylvania,
and then went to Indiana. His name was John
Stephens. Morris Stephens served an appren-
ticeship at the bakery and confectionery business
at Philadelphia, commencing when seven years
old and serving seven years. He ran away on ac-
count of difficulty about wages. When sixteen he
came to Kentucky and worked at his trade for
two years; then for twelve years followed the river,
and was employed in the Louisville house for
three years. In 1848 he began business for himself
and built the Bakers' hall at Louisville, which he
managed himself for two years. He then sold
out and moved upon the farm where he now
lives, in Jeffersontown precinct. In 1841 he
married Sarah Seabolt, daughter of George S.
Seabolt, of Jefferson county. Morris Stephens
is a member of the Baptist church.

^e^e/efty^®*™^

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Byron Williams was born in Jefferson county,
April 20, 1839. Moses Williams, his father, was
born in Georgia, and knew not his age, his early
life having been spent with the Cherokee In-
dians. When probably twelve he came to this
county, and when quite a young man enlisted in
the War of 1812 under Captain Kelly. In 1815
he was married to Elizabeth Bishop, who was
born in Bullitt county, August 26, 1798. They
had nine children, four boys and five girls. After
obtaining his education Byron Williams erected a
saw-mill, which he run for about twelve years.
About eight years ago he sold out this business
and bought a store near his home in Jefferson-
town precinct, since which time he has been
engaged in merchandising, and managing his
farm. On June 25, 1863, he married Mary A.
Coe, of Bullitt county, by whom he has had five
children, of whom one boy and two girls are liv-
ing. This wife died September 28, 1878. On
February 5, 1880, he married Nora Johnson,
who was born in this county November 9, 1850.
He has been postmaster since entering trade.

Noah Cartwright was born in Pike county,
Ohio, March 14, 1833. He was the eighth of
nine children of Rev. William H. Cartwright,
who was born in Maryland, but who was brought
to Shelby county, Kentucky, when an infant.
William H. Cartwright was married in 18 14 to
Sarah Stillwell, a native of Shelby county. He
was a soldier in the War of 181 2. Noah Cart-
wright graduated in 1858 from the Miami uni-
versity. He then began teaching in Jefferson
county, Kentucky. In i860 he took charge of
the Columbus Masonic seminary, remaining'in
charge one year, when he left and raised and
armed company E, Fifteenth regiment, of which
he was appointed captain. Afterwards he was
promoted to the office of major. He resigned
on account of ill-health, since which time he has
been an active and efficient worker in the com-
mon schools. Since 1865, save a brief interim,
he has been county examiner. Since 1880 he
has not taught on account of heart disease.
In 1869 he married July T Rush, who was
born in Jefferson county, February 25, 1839.
She is a daughter of Joseph Rush. They have
five boys and two girls living. Mr. Cartwright is
the largest fruit grower of the vicinity. For
twenty-six years he has been a member of the
Presbyterian church.

MIDDLETOVVN PRECINCT.

The most remarkable feature in regard to the
history of this precinct is that it is the oldest one
in the county — at one time the largest — it
being originally very large, and also the center of
commercial activity for this part of the State,
and having the oldest post-office in the State.

Indeed, the citizens of this locality will readi-
ly remind you that in the days of 1800 and
during the War of 1812 the people of Louisville
came here to buy goods and do business; that
commercial products for trade were shipped to
the mouth of Harrod's creek, there reloaded and
transported to Middletown, where dealers in
wares, goods, or produce from Louisville and
other little towns could come and buy at retail
or wholesale rates as they chose.

All was activity then. A number of wholesale
and retail establishments were doing a large busi-
ness. There were manufactures of various kinds
in leather, wood, and cloth; merchants, whole-
sale and retail; grocers, blacksmiths, hatters,
milliners, shoemakers, carpenters, etc., and the
country was thickly settled, which, with the com-
ing in of the farmers to the town, would lend a
smile to the venders of merchandise that must
have seemed, financially, quite significant.

The town is not in an unhealthy locality, al-
though in the low valley of the headwaters of
Bear Grass. It was laid out originally by old
Billy White, a prominent pioneer of that locality,
and who sold out the lots for the erection of
business houses. This little place — once twice
the population it is to-day — increased in size and
importance until the natural advantages of Louis-
ville attracted some attention, and the business
men began to center there. Then it was that
Middletown, in spite of the fact that il was the
most healthy locality of the two places, began to
decline. This new era of the rise of Louisville
and fall of Middletown began about the year
1820, and by 1840 the full destruction of this
commercial emporium, as such, was completed.
This was forty years ago, and the place still wears
the grim visage it did then.

The little village with its two hundred and fifty
population still has pleasing reminiscences, it be-
ing on the oldest pike in the State, and near the
scene of Floyd's massacre (see general history),
and in a locality where stirring events of an

3°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

early day occurred. Since the building of this
pike (1820) the stage coach, the herald of
progress, always brought its full share of news.
The stranger found in his host the person of
Martin Brengman, a native of the town, who
kept the tavern many years. Brengman and
his son John Brengman supplied the traveler with
bed and board, and a good drink, pure and in-
vigorating, for a period of nearly fifty years, be-
ginning about 1800. There was an excuse then
for drinking whiskey, as the making of corn into
whiskey was a necessity to get rid of the corn,
and there was no other way of getting rid of the
whiskey but to drink it. Then it was pure.
People then were not so much civilized as now,
and did not know how to adulterate the
beverage. The regular stage route lay from
Louisville through Middletown to Frankfort
and other points east, and one line of coaches
not being adequate for the business, com-
petitive lines were run, but after the advent of
the railroad this mode of travel lost its usefulness
and was discontinued, since which time there
has been no attempt to renew the iudustries
of the place, save in the building of a turn-
pike a few years ago, connecting this point
with the town of Anchorage, in which work the
placing of the cobble and gravel was successful,
but in face of all travel the weeds and grass
peep up here and there between the pebbles that
seem to contest their right, by usage and com-
mon custom, to the place.

The Chenoweth family were residents of this
precinct, likewise the Williamsons. One son,
John Williamson, now living at the advanced
age of ninety years, run the gauntlet at one
time. This occurred near the present residence of
Dr. Fry. The two walnut trees near the house
mark the starting and terminating points of the
race in this contest, distant fifty paces.

The first physicians of the place were Drs.
Wood and Collins, who practiced litre previous
to the year 1805, and were followed by Drs.
Chew and Glass, who staid until 1830 and 1832,
when Dr. Glass died and Dr. Chew moved to
Connecticut. Drs, Young and Vance practiced
from that time until about 1840, then Dr. Bemis
and Dr. Fry until 1852, when they gave place to
Drs. Witherbee and Goldsmith, who were again
followed by Drs. S. O. Witherbee and Fry.

The Methodist Episcopal church was built.

here about 1800, and was, for a pioneer society,
in a flourishing condition. The oldest resident
pastor of this congregation was Rev. James
Ward, who had served the church for full fifty
years when he died in 1854, eighty years of age.
The society is still in existence, Rev. Alexander
Gross being the minister in charge, but since the
building up of the Methodist societies at Anchor-
age and other places the church is not so strong
as formerly.

The Old Presbyterian church was established
here also in an early day, and flourished until
the society was organized in Anchorage, when
their interests were transferred to that place.

The Christian society have had a representation
here for many years, and have a church building
and an organized society.

Among the prominent citizens of the place
may be mentioned Drs. Fry and Witherbee.

Abraham Fry came from Maryland and settled
here as early as 1795, purchasing at that time
two hundred acres. He came with his wife's
people. Her name was Miss Mary Smizer. He
married again in 1814, his second wife being
Miss Susan Whips.

Dr. William Fry, A. M., M. D., was born in
1S19 ; was educated at the Transylvania univer-
sity, graduating from the literary course and in
medicine in 1834 ; was two years in the city
hospital of Louisville as its resident physician.
He came here in 1840, practiced medicine six-
teen years, then went to Louisiana where he
practiced medicine eleven years, then returned
and has since resided in Middletown. He was
married in 1842 to Miss Margaret Brengman,
who died in June, 1872, and has a family of four
daughters now living.

Dr. Silas Witherbee, M. D., born November
23, 1846, in Northern New York State, was ed-
ucated at the St. Lawrence university and came
to Kentucky in 1865, and has since controlled
the practice of medicine in the Middletown pre-
cinct, and is well fitted in point of ability and
experience to successfully carry out the calling
of this profession. He was married in 1874 to
Miss Mary Beywroth, daughter of Judge Bey-
wroth of Mississippi. Dr. Witherbee has been
for the past four years a magistrate of Middle-
town precinct. He purchased his property in
Middletown in 1876, and has since made exten-
sive repairs upon it.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3«

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Hamilton Ormsby was born in Jefferson
county September 17, 1832. His grandfather,
Stephen Ormsby, a native of Ireland, was among
the first settlers in the county ; was the first
circuit judge in this district, also represented the
district in Congress in the time of Clay. His
son Stephen, the father of Hamilton Oimsby,
was a prominent citizen. He was in the Mexican
war, serving as colonel. He died in April, 1869,
aged about sixty-five years. Hamilton Ormsby
owns four hundred and fifty acres, and does a
large farming business. He married, in 1852,
Miss Edmonia Taylor, of this county. They
have six children — Edward, William T., Nannie,
wife of Robert W. Herr; Stephen S., J. Lewis,
and Edmonia. The family belong to the Chris-
tian church.

Abraham Fry came to this county from Mary-
land about the year 1795, and settled at Fry's
Hill, on Goose creek. His wife, Susan (Whipps)
Fry, bore him a large family of children, only
three of whom are now living, viz: John, Nancy,
and William. The names of those living at the
time of Abraham Fry's death in 1S21 were:
John, Sally, Nancy, Abraham, Elizabeth, Mary,
and William. Dr. William Fry was born in
1819. He was educated at Lexington, Ken-
tucky. H2 was physician to the Louisville hos-
pital two years, commencing in 1S38. He prac-
ticed in Louisiana eleven years; the remainder of
the time he has been practicing in Jefferson
county, where he is widely known and respected.

L. L. Dorsey, Jr., an old and highly respected
citizen, was born in Middletown precinct Febru-
ary 17, 1818. He married Miss Lydia Phillips.
They have six children living, viz: Rosa,
Nannie, Clark, Mattie, Robert, and Lydia.
Mr. Dorsey has a fine farm and a beau-
tiful home. His farm consisted originally of
three hundred acres, afterwards of over one
thousand acres, a part of which he has disposed
of. He has done a large business for many
years, raising high-bred trotting horses. He is
one of the leading farmers of the county, and
socially stands high. His father, Elias Dorsey,
came from Maryland when a boy. The farm of
Mr. Dorsey has been in possession of the family
about one hundred years.

Dr. Sjlas O. Witherbee was born in St. Law-
rence county, New York, in 1846. He was

educated at the St. Lawrence university, Canton,
New York, and at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, New York city. He came to Middle-
town in 1867, and has since practiced here with
good success. He practices in quite an extensive
territory, and is highly esteemed as a man and a
physician. Dr. Witherbee is a member of the
Episcopal church. He holds at present the office
of magistrate.

Joseph Abel came to this county very early.
He married Catherine Hartley, a native of Mary-
land. They had fourteen children, ten of whom
grew up, and but two of whom are now living —
Mrs. Ann Bull, widow of William Bull ; and Mrs.
Margaret Kane, widow of Charles Kane. Mr.
Abel was a prominent farmer and a worthy man.
He died in 1843, in the ninety-fourth year of
his age. Mrs. Abel died in 1822, at the age of
fifty-one.

B. F. Morse was born in Berkshire county,
Massachusetts, in 1S09, and was brought up in
Ashtabula county, Ohio. He came to Jefferson
county in 1836; kept store several years, and
has since been engaged in farming. Mr. Motse
has four hundred acres of good land, well im-
proved. He has about two thousand trees in
his orchards. He raises stock and grain princi-
pally— usually keeps thirty to forty head of cattle,
one hundred and twenty-five sheep, and six or
more horses. Mr. Morse is one of our most
thrifty farmers, as well as a respected and worthy
citizen.

Mrs. Ruth W. Tarbell was born in Dover,
New Hampshire, in iSro. She was the daughter
of Obadiah and Sarah Whittier, her father being
an uncle to the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier.
Ruth Whittier married for her first husband Dr.
S. A. Shute, of New* Hampshire. Her second
husband was Mr. A. Tarbell, a leading and ac-
tive citizen of this county — to which he came
from New York State about the year 1841. For
many years he was extensively engaged in stock-
buying here, and was highly honored as a man
of business enterprise and social worth. Mr.
Tarbell died in 1868, aged sixty-four years. Mrs.
Tarbell resides at Middletown, which has now
been her home for twenty years. Only two of
her children are now living — Maria A. Tarbell,
and Mrs. Ruth A. Blankenbaker.

Stephen M. Woodsmall was born in Jefferson
county, in 1826. His father, Captain John

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Woodsmall, came here from Spencer county, in
1816. He reared seven children, five of whom
are living. S. M. Woodsmall is the youngest
son. He married Miss Cynthia Ji. Baird, of
Spencer county, in 1848. They have five chil-
dren— Sally M., James W., Molly A., Sabina,
Mattie M. Mr. Woodsmall and family belong
to the Christian church. He held the office of
magistrate four years; was census enumerator
in i860 and 1880.

John Downey was born in Jefferson county,
Virginia, in 1810, and came to Jefferson county,
Kentucky, in 1834. He settled on Harrods
creek, where he resided until 1853, when he
moved to his present residence near Middletown.
Mr. Downey has three hundred and fifteen acres
in two tracts, and does a good farming business.
He was married in 1834 to Miss Ruth Owens, of
this county. They had twelve children, four of
whom are living — Lizzie, Charles John, Edward
Hobbs, and Mary Louisa. Mr. Downey and
family belong to the Methodist church. He has
been a Mason many years. He held the office
of magistrate two terms.

SHARDINE PRECINCT.

This precinct presents the form of a regular tri-
angle, having its apex within the city limits of
Louisville, and bounded on the east and west
by the two railroads that run southerly. Its
early history is more traditional than that of any
other political division in the county, the early
settlers having all left, and the once marshy, boggy
lands being afterwards taken up by the thrifty,
well to do German population who now have
highly cultivated farms and live in a flourishing
condition. They have settled in this portion of
the county quite recently, comparatively, and
will in couiseof time have their lands all drained
and their farms fertile and rich.

ANCHORAGE

is a small election precinct set apart a few years
since,.without any magisterial prerogatives, for
the convenience of its citizens when voting for
county, State, or other officers. The municipal
town of this precinct is the village of Anchorage,

formerly Hobbs' Station, upon the Louisville,
Cincinnati & Lexington Short Line railroad,
twelve miles from Louisville. It is a beautiful
little village and has a few good dwelling-houses,
two churches, the Bellwood seminary, and the
Kentucky Normal school.

This station was formerly called Hobbs,
but after the advent of Captain Sosle, in honor
of his services as a captain of a boat it was
named Anchorage. It has the advantages af-
forded by seven daily passenger trains each way
from Louisville, three from Cincinnati, two from
Lexington, together with freight and express
facilities equally advantageous to all points.

For history of early settlements and prominent
citizens of this precinct see biographies.

We give below a history of its schools,
churches, and of the Central Kentucky Lunatic
asylum.

This last named institution had its origin in a
house of refuge, founded in 1870. The author-
ities of the State appointed a committee consist-
ing of Dr. Vallandingham, R. C. Hudson, and
S. L. Garrk who erected the main building — sixty
by thirty-four feet, at a cost of fifty thousand
dollars.

The few cases for discipline, and the increased
demand for suitable accommodations for the
unfortunate persons who became bereft of
reason, induced the State to transform the
house of refuge into an asylum, and the wisdom
of that act has been verified in the number of
inmates it has since received and treated success-
fully. This change was made in the year 1872.
A board of commissioners appointed a medical
superintendent, and erected additional buildings
from time to time, until its capacity is suffi-
cient to accommodate the present number of five
hundred and fifty inmates.

The main building, 60 x 134 feet, was erected
in 1870, at a cost of about fifty thousand dollars.
After being used a short time for the Home for
the Friendless it was converted into an asylum in
1872, and run as it was at that time, until 1875,
when the wings were erected, each one being
120 x 36, and each having a capacity for holding
about seventy patients, but owing to the crowded
condition the superintendent has been under the
necessity of placiug in each wing about one
hundred patients.

The main building with the two principal

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

wings, are in good repair, also the east and west
buildings which are separate structures, entirely
disconnected from the main building and its
wings. The west building has been of late years
entirely remodelled, and is a convenient and
comfortable building, probably the most so of any
about the place, and has a capacity for fifty pa-
tients.

Just north of this west building some one hun-
dren and fifty feet, stands a temporary wooden
building, where some seventy-five persons are
confined, and are as well cared for as possible by
competent attendants. This house is not a suit-
able place for epileptics and idiots, it being a
hot tinder-box in the summer time, and ex-
tremely cold in winter.

The constant watch and care exercised over
these poor, helpless, unfortunate creatures by Dr.
Gale and his assistants, obviates this disadvan-
tage to a degree. Probably no man could be
easily found who has a warmer heart and would
watch over the inmates as constantly with a
singleness of purpose in alleviating their wants,
than the present superintendent. A visit to the
asylum will convince the most skeptical that in
point of cleanliness, diet, cheerfulness, and kind-
ness on the part of the officers towards the in-
mates, and the zealous care exercised over
them to contribute to their happiness and com-
fort, that there is no better institution in the
land.

It is worthy of remark that Dr. Gale is not
only eminently fitted in point of ability to fill the
responsible position he holds, but that his warm
heart toward these unfortunate beings commends
his unceasing labors in their behalf to every
friend of the institution in the State.

There is also another temporary building of a
similar character, built of the same kind of ma-
terial, and heated in the same manner, wherein
are confined all the colored patients of every
class. This is situated some two hundred and
fifty yards further north. These buildings are of
wood, and heated by steam, which makes of
them perfect tinder-boxes; and if by accident a
fire should get started therein no power on earth
could prevent the loss of human life among these
* imbeciles.

The slaughter-house is west of the main build-
ing, covered with a tin roof, well painted, and
with a smoke-stack forty feet high. It has three

rooms — the slaughter-room proper and all neces-
sary appliances for handling any kind of animal;
a hide-room, where all the hides are preserved,
and a soap-room, with a well constructed furnace
and kettles, in which all the tallow is rendered
and soft-soap made. Thorough ventilation is
secured through properly constructed flues con>
nected with the stack. Chutes and garbage
platforms, from which all the offal from butcher-
ing and the kitchen garage are consumed,
which entirely frees the building and surround-
ings from all bad odors. The capacity of this
building is ample for all the wants of the in-
stitution.

The spring house was made out of a cave, just
north of the main building. This cave was still
further excavated and a brick and cement sewer
made, some one hundred and seventy feet long,
through which the water supply for the reservoir
comes, and in which an excellent milk-houses
fourteen by twenty feet, was constructed, having
a natural stone ceiling. The floor was divided
with walks and troughs of brick and cement,
filled with water, ten inches deep, at a uniform
temperature of sixty-five Fahrenheit, in which
one hundred and twenty gallon-jars or cans can
be placed daily, and the milk kept sweet and
fresh throughout the year. The entire floor out-
side the milk-house is paved with brick, and a
brick wall, with a cut-stone coping, mounted with
a neat iron, extends across the mouth of the
cave. This, with the natural stone walls, cov-
ered with overhanging vines and moss, make
this one of the most attractive places about
the premises. The institution has also other
buildings which we need barely mention. An
excellent wooden ice-house, built upon the
most approved plan, with a capacity of four
hundred tons; a wood-house, 20 x 40 feet ;
a carpenter- shop that was formerly used for
storing straw, with a shed of ample dimensions
for storing lumber; a cow-house, with a capac-
ity for forty cows|; this house has been rendered
perfectly dry and comfortable by placing a six-
teen-inch concrete floor, covered with two-inch
cypress boards and a brick pavement, laid in ce-
ment mortar, around on the outside, three feet
wide, which carries off all surface water. There
are other buildings, such as stables, corn-cribs,
ice-houses, shops, etc.

The reservoir has been lately added, and in

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

addition the fire service added, as a precaution-
ary measure for the protection of property and
patients.

The cost of these buildings up to the present
time aggregates the sum of $300,000.

The farm upon which these buildings are lo-
cated consists of three hundred and seventy-nine
acres. The original farm of two hundred and
thirty acres cost $20,000. The grounds in front
are very well improved and in good repair.
Those in the rear are rough, owing to their
natural conformation, as well as to the rubbish
strewn over them. The convalescents are doing
some work leveling down these rough places,
making macadamized roads, etc., and in time,
with the two hundred evergreens and forest
trees which are growing vigorously, will look
beautiful. These trees came from the nurseries
of President S. L. Garr, and Commissioner
James W. Walker — a handsome donation, from
these liberal gentlemen.

Good picket and tight plank fences enclose
and partition off the grounds.

The comfort and good general condition of
the inmates and institution are due largely to
the efficiency and ever watchful care and atten-
tion of the medical superintendent, Dr. R. H.
Gale, whose management the board highly en-
dorses. Many improvements have been added
by him that are worthy of a visit to the asylum
to see. His new and improved coffee apparatus,
in which can be made, in thirty minutes, one
hundred and twenty gallons of the very best
quality of coffee at a cost of less than ten cents
per gallon; his system of heating halls, protec-
tion against epileptics and idiots getting burned;
his wire cribs, etc., etc.; all of which give en-
tire satisfaction, and provide much comfort and
usefulness to the institution.

The officers of Central Kentucky Lunatic
asylum for 1881 are: Board of commissioners
— S. L. Garr, president ; James Bridgford, K.
K. White, A. Barnett, C. B. Blackburn, G. A.
Owen, Wesley Whipps, A. G. Herr, C. Bremaker.
Medical superintendent — R. H. Gale, M. D.; as-
sistant physician, G. T Erwin, M. D.; second as-
sistant physician and druggist, F. T. Riley; stew-
ard, R. C. Hudson; matron, Miss Mary B.
Gale; secretary, William Terry; treasurer, R. S.
Veech.

The following table shows the proportion of

vhite and colored persons who have been in-
nates of the asylum :

7 —

~} —

November ist, 1880 —

2
225

227

157

161

*9
29

49
49

45°
462

Received up to November ist, 1881.

1
49

141

Total

S°

150

Discharged recovered —

1
23

Total

Died—

Paying patients

2
21

1
12

3
35

7
257

264

Remaining November ist, 1881 —

4&
4<

525
536

Total

iSS

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The Methodist people of Anchorage precinct
worshiped at Middletown until in 1876, when
Mr. Hobbs started an enterprise which gave
the members of this society in Anchorage
one of the most beautiful church buildings in
the State, there being nothing like it in the coun-
try. It is a gothic structure covered with slate,
having stained glass windows, and furnished with
the highest wrought black walnut furniture. The
frescoing was done by Z. M. Shirley, deceased,
a donation made by him just before he died,
and a work worthy of a lasting remembrance of
this man. He never lived to enjoy the first ser-
vices in a building in which he took so much
interest.

This building, the Memorial Chapel, should be
seen to be appreciated. It furnishes an ever-
lasting monument to the persons who erected
it. The grounds and the principal donation in
money was made by Mr. E. D. Hobbs. Mr.
Hughes and Mr. S. L. Garr also contributed
largely.

Rev. Gross Alexander is the pastor at this time.
Rev. Mr. Overton was the first minister who
officiated in the new building, and was succeeded
by Rev. G. W. Lyon. The trustees are: Mr.
W. T Lewis, S. J. Hobbs, Ed. D. Hobbs, S.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

L. Garr, and William Hughes ; Stewards : E.
D. Hobbs, S. L. Garr.

THIS BELLWOOD SEMINARY

was originally a school established by Dr. W. W.
Hill about the year i860. Dr. Hill run this
institution about ten years under the chartered
name of the Louisville Presbyterian Orphanage
Asylum, erected the main building and school-
house at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars,
but transferred his interest to another party in
1870, who sold it in turn to the Presbyterians,
who changed the name, added some improve-
ments, employed an able corps of teachers, with
Professor R. C. Morrison as principal and presi-
dent of the faculty, and have been successful in
building up an institution worthy of the name it
bears. They have at the present time ninety-
six boarding pupils, and in all an attendance of
one hundred and twenty-five this term. There
are also one or two other private schools in this
precinct.

The following comprise the faculty and officers
of the Bellwood Seminary: Professor R. C.
Morrison, principal and president of faculty,
Latin and mathematics; Mrs. Daniel P. Young,
lady principal and business manager; Rev. E. W.
Bedinger, chaplain and teacher of moral science
and evidences of Christianity; Miss Emily C.
Kibbe, history and astronomy; Professor T. W.
Tobin, natural science; Miss Lottie Cox, normal
teacher; Miss Lavinia Stone, literature, composi-
tion and elocution; Miss Annie Frierson, instru-
mental music; Miss L. J. P. Smith, instructor in
vocal music; Miss Julia Stone, German, French,
painting, and drawing; Mrs. Mary Kibbe, pri-
mary department; Mrs. Eliza Scott, matron;
Miss Sue Metcalfe, assistant matron; W. M.
Holt, M. D., attendant physician; Bennett H.
Young, Louisville, Kentucky, regent. Rev. Stu-
art Robinson, D. D., R. S. Veech, Esq., Hon.
H. W. Bruce, W. N. Haldeman, Esq., George
C. Norton, Esq., and Bennett H. Young consti-
tute the board of trustees.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

of Anchorage is a fine brick structure erected
about the year i860, under an enterprise carried
out by Dr. W. W. Hill, at a cost of about nine
thousand dollars. The society have from time
to time made additions to the building that has
increased the cost to about fifteen thousand dol-

lars, and has a membership of about one hun-
dred and thirty. Rev. E. \V. Bedinger is the
present pastor. R. C. Morrison and James
Robinson are the elders ; W. Boyd Wilson and
George Hall, the deacons. The trustees are:
Mr. W. B. Wilson, James Robinson, Lewis Mc-
Corkle. This society is an outgrowth of the
Middletown church.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Jefferson Marders was born in this county
June 12, 1803, and lived here all of his life. He
was a farmer when young; afterwards was in the
mercantile business at Middletown several years.
His father, Nathan Marders (born 1772, died
1862), was an early comer from Virginia. Mr.
Jefferson Marders married Miss Ruth A. Glass,
who was born in Middletown, July 30, 1814.
She was the daughter of Joseph Glass, who was
born in 1779 and died in 1826. Mr. and Mrs.
Marders had only one child, Eliza Jane, born
September 23, 1837. Mrs. Marders died June
29, 1859. Mr. Marders died October 11, 1876.
Eliza J. married Dr. E. A. France in 1853. Dr.
France was born in Roanoke county, Virginia,
in 1825, and died in 1855. They had one child,
Mary A., the wife of E. C. Jones, of Louisville.
Mrs. France married James R. Hite in 1857.
They have three children, William M., Albert,
and Hallie.

C. W. Harvey, M. D., was born in Scottsville,
Kentucky, June 6, 1844. He was brought up in
Louisville, attended the Louisville university,
and graduated from the Medical Department
course of 1865-66. Previous to graduation he
practiced two years in the Louisville dispensary.
He commenced practice in Maury county, Ten-
nessee, where he remained four years. He then
practiced ten years at Middletown, and in 1879
removed to Anchorage, where he is now the
leading physician. Dr. Harvey is a member of
the Methodist church. He is Master of Masonic
lodge No. 193, and is the chief officer of the
Foresters.

Captain James Winder Goslee, in his lifetime
one of the most honored and respected citizens
of this county, was born in Henry county, Ken-
tucky, in 1815. He came to this county in 1853,
and resided here until his death, which occurred
April 2, 1S75. He was on the river from the
time he was eighteen years of age until i860,

3<5

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

serving as pilot and commander of different
vessels. When only nineteen years of age he
was commander of the Matamora. He married,
December 31, 1839, Miss Catherine R. White.
She was born in this county February 10, 1821.
They had but one child, Emma, who died in her
twenty-first year. Captain Goslee met his death
in a frightful manner, being killed by a railroad
train. The old mansion where Mrs. Goslee re-
sides has been in possession of her family for
three generations. The place was settled by her
maternal grandfather, Martin Brengman, about
the year 1794. Her father, Minor White, was
born in this county in 1795.

John N. McMichael was born in Chillicothe,
Ohio, December 25, 1800. His parents, James
and Eleanor (Dunbar) McMichael, moved to
Louisville in 1802. John N. is the oldest of
three children, and the only survivor. The
others were named Mary Ann and Adeline. His
father died in 1805, and his mother in the sixty-
third year of her age. J. N. McMichael was ap-
pointed a constable in 1827, served four years,
and then was sheriff for six years. He was next
city marshal for two years. With C. Miller he
started the first coal office in Louisville. He
was quite extensively engaged in this business for
five years. At the end of this time he moved to
the country and has since devoted himself to
agriculture. Mr. McMichael has served as mag-
istrate six years, also as police judge at Anchor-
age two or three years. He and his wife belong
to the Baptist church. He married Miss Nancy
C. Hargin, of this county, in 1832. They have
eight children living, viz: John W., Thomas H.,
George C, Charles C, James G., Nellie (married
William B. Rogers, New Orleans), Nancy C, and
Mollie.

A. Hausman, proprietor of the Star grocery
at Anchorage, was born in Germany in 1842,
and came to this country at the age of seventeen.
He was brought up a mechanic; afterwards
worked at stone masonry and boot and shoe
making. In 1859 he came to Kentucky, and in
1862 to Louisville, where he made boots and
shoes until 1866, when he moved to Anchorage,
continuing in the same business, to which he
added the duties of a country store keeper. Mr.
Hausman was the first merchant in Anchorage,
and still continues the only one. He is a self-
made man. Starting in business with only $25

capital he has prospered well, and is now doing
a good business. The loss of his wife, Annie
(Linnig) Hausman, in March, 1881, was a severe
blow to him. They had lived together happily
for seventeen years and brought up a large fam-
ily of children.

SPRINGDALE PRECINCT.

This precinct received its name in honor of
one of the finest springs in the county, having
an even temperature the year round of fifty-four
degrees Fahrenheit. There is one spring at
Dorsey's camp ground which has an even tem-
perature of fifty degrees. The spring above
mentioned is under the dwelling house of the
old homestead of James Young, who settled
here very early on a large tract of land, com-
prising in all some eight hundred acres; but up
to the year i860 this precinct was a part of
Harrod's Creek.

Mr. Young, upon coming to this part of the
county, decided to build him a dwelling house.
His son, also financially interested, concurred in
the same, but each party decided on grounds or
knolls on the either side of the spot finally chosen,
and not agreeing one with the other, they com-
promised by each meeting the other half way,
where they found rather marshy ground. After
excavating sufficiently for a cellar, they discov-
ered this spring, which has given them since that
time a pure, cold and limpid stream of water.
The house was built in 1828, and is still stand-
ing. The land was purchased by Young from
John Dorothy, who secured it by patent from
the Government.

Among the distinguished settlers of this pre-
cinct was the well known William White, who
was born in Virginia in 1763. He came to Mid-
dletown, which place was surveyed and laid out
under his direction, and was a member of
the State Legislature. His son, Miner White,
was born in the year 1795. He cleared the
lands and also settled upon a tract in Spring-
dale; built mills on Goose creek, near this
little place, being the first of the kind in the
county. One was a saw-mill, to which was after-
ward added a grist-mill. Still later the lower
mill, farther down the creek was built, to which
was added a distillery. These mills have long

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

since gone down, but served the day for which
they were built right well, doing custom work
wholly.

Goose creek is a short, lively stream, having
its headwaters in springs and small streams but
a few miles from its mouth, and furnishes an
abundance of water ten months in the year. A
number of good mill sites are found on this
stream, but, strange to say, no mills are operated
at this time. A man by the name of Allison
built a mill quite early, and run it for many years,
but a score of years and more ago it was used as
a school-house.

Edmund Taylor owned a large tract of land
between the branches of this stream. Dabney
Taylor, a grandson of Hancock Taylor, who was
a brother of Zachary Taylor, is a wealthy, well-
to-do farmer at Worthington, this precinct.

Patrick Bell also settled in Springdale on a
large tract of land, afterwards owned by Dr. Bar-
bour. A Mr. Mayo afterwards owned it.

Lawrence Young, of Caroline county, Vir-
ginia, born in 1793, was a prominent man of this
precinct. He came with his father, James
Young, settled here on a large tract of land, and
became a noted horticulturist, and edited the
Southern Agriculturist many years before he died.
He also had a green-house, and cultivated
flowers, as well as the various kinds of trees and
fruits. He was a noted teacher, and taught at
Middletown such men as Mr. E. D. Hobbs and
L. L. Dorsey, being his pupils. He studied law in
Transylvania college, where he took the full
collegiate course, but was not successful in the
profession, and abandoned it for the school-
room. He was known by pomologists as an au-
thority in that science also. He was married in
1823, and died in 1872. His son, 'Squire Wil-
liam Young, a well-to-do young farmer now re-
siding at Springdale, became the first magistrate
in the precinct when it was organized in 1868.
It was simply a voting precinct in i860, but was
not, by an act of the Legislature, made a magis-
terial peecinct until the year 1868.

There are at present no mills, and but one
church, and but school in the precinct. The
church is a missionary one, lately established,
and is Presbyterian. The school-houseis in
one corner of the precinct.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

William W. Young, an old resident of Jeffer-
son county, was born June 24, 1828, near Mid-
dletown. When very young he came to Spring-
dale in company with his parents, and settled
upon the fine farm where we now find him. His
father and mother came from Virginia in an early
day. Mr. Young was married November 23,
1853, to Miss Ann A. Chamberlain, of Jefferson
county. They have had six children, five of
whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Young are mem-
bers of the Presbyterian church.

Benjamin L. Young, brother of W. W. Young,
was born July 27, 1840, in Jefferson county,
Kentucky. He has always been engaged in
farming, and has a farm of one hundred acres.
Mr. Young was married in 1869 to Miss Clara
Stone, of Louisville, daughter of E. M. Stone.
They have four children. Mr. and Mrs. Young
are members of the Methodist church.

Philip D. Barbour, one of the oldest and well-
known residents of Jefferson county, was born
January 18, 1818, in Orange county, Virginia,
and when an infant came to Kentucky with his
parents, who settled in Fayette county. They
lived here but a short time, when they went to
Oldham county. Mr. Barbour, the subject of
this sketch, resided here twenty-five or thirty
years, and then came to Jefferson county,
Springdale precinct, where he is now living
on a fine farm of six or seven hundred acres.
Mr. Barbour was married in 1841 to Miss
Comfort Ann Dorsey, of Jefferson county.
This marriage was blessed with three children.
Mrs. Barbour died in 1847. Mr. Barbour was
married a second time, in 185 1, to Miss Fannie
Butler, of Orange county, Virginia. They have
had eight children. Mr. and Mrs. Barbour are
members of the Christian church.

William L Harbold, M. D., was born August
13, 1819, in Jefferson county, Kentucky. Mr.
Harbold studied medicine in the Kentucky
School of Medicine, and graduated in 1852.
He has practiced ever since, though he has given
some attention to farming. He was married in
1846 to Miss Fannie Close, of Oldham county.
They have had nine children, five of whom are
living. Mrs. Harbold died in November, 1878.
Mr. Harbold is a member of the Baptist church,
as was Mrs. Harbold before her death. Mrs.
Judith S. Harbold, his aged mother, is now liv-

3«

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ing with her son William. She was born in
Madison county, Virginia, in 1799, and came to
Kentucky in 1805.

James S. Kalfus was born July 14, 1843, in
Louisville, where he lived till 1870, with the ex-
ception of a short time in Texas. Since 1870
he has resided in Springdale precinct, Jefferson
county. He was married in October, 1869, to
Miss Cornelia Warren, of Boyle county. J. W.
Kalfus, his father, was in business a long time in
Louisville, and was well known in the business
circles of the city.

Elijah T. Yager was born May 6, 1 841, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, and has ever re-
sided in the State. His father, Joel, was a na-
tive of Virginia; also his mother. Mr. Yager
married Miss Lydia Mount, January 21, 1864.
She was born in Oldham county, September 8,
1844. They have four children. Mr. and Mrs.
Yager are members of the Christian church.

Hugh McLaughry was born October 17,
1815, in Delaware county, New York, and lived
here during his boyhood. When about twenty
years of age he went to Chicago a,nd Milwaukee,
and lived in these places three years. He then
came to Kentucky, and located in Louisville,
where he was engaged in mechanical business for
eight years. He then went to Oldham county,
where he resided about eighteen years upon a
farm. He then came to Jefferson county where
we now find him. He married Miss Nancy
Cameron, of Clark county, Indiana. They have
had four children — only one living.

John Simcoe was born February 13, 1841, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky. His father, Jerry
M. Simcoe, came from Virginia in about 1810,
and settled upon what is now known as the Clark
farm. Mr. Simcoe has always followed fanning
as an occupation. He was married in 1877 to
Miss Annie White, of Jefferson county. They
have one child. Mr. and Mrs. Simcoe are
members of the Reformed church.

W. D. S. Taylor, a prominent and well known
citizen of Jefferson county, was born July 8,
1806, in what is now called Oldham county.
His parents came from Virginia in a very early
day. His father was a brother of President
Taylor, also of General Joe Taylor. He was
married August 18, 1827, to Miss Jane Pollock
Barbour, daughter of Philip C. S. Barbour, of
Oldham county. Mrs. Taylor was born Nov-

ember 14, 18 1 2, in Virginia. They have had
eight children, five of whom are living: Elizabeth
S., born September 21, 1830; William P., born
January 6, 1833; Margaret A., born March 14,
1835; Hancock, born March 2, 1838; Manlius,
born October 14, 1840; Alice H, born July 28,
1844; Dabney Strother, born August 20, 1851;
Willis H., born in 1846. William, Margaret and
Willis are deceased.

Hancock Taylor was born March 2, 1838, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky. In i860 he went
to Phillips county, Arkansas, and remained there
till April, 1861, when he enlisted in the Fifteenth
Arkansas regiment. After the war he returned
to Crittenden county, Kentucky, where he lived
three years and a half. He then came back to
Jefferson, where he has since resided. He was
married October 12, 1865, to Miss Mary H.
Wallace, of Louisville. They have had seven
children — six living at the present time. Mr.
Taylor is a Master Mason. He represented
Jefferson county in the Legislature in the years
1877 and 1878.

CANE RUN PRECINCT.

The history of this precinct is that of a
few individuals who were prominently identified
in the history of Louisville and the county.
Of these prominent persons may be men-
tioned William Merriwether, his son Jacob, and
his grandson William Merriwether, Major John
Hughes, Judge John Miller, Benjamin Pollard,
and Samuel Garr. Mr. William Merriwether
emigrated from Virginia as early as 1805, and
settled upon a large tract of land consisting of
about eight hundred acres. He was a captain
in the Revolutionary war, and was wounded at
the battle of Monmouth, and after coming here
assisted in building the fort at Louisville. He
settled in the south part of Cane Run, and raised
a family of four sons and one daughter. He
died in 1843.

His son, Jacob Merriwether, now member of
the lower house in the State Legislature of
Kentucky, was born in 1800, in Virginia; came
with his parents to Kentucky, in 1805, remained
upon his father's farm until eighteen years of age,
when he went to St. Louis and performed clerical
duties in the county clerk's office under General

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

O'Fallen. At this time St. Louis was far in the
interior, and a good trading place with the In-
dians. Theie he remained, visiting the various
Indian posts throughout the Northwest, going
up the Missouri river on the first steamboat that
ran on those waters. He remained in the fur
trade with the Indians until 1823, when he re-
turned to Kentucky and married, that year, Miss
Sarah A. Leonard, and settled where he now
lives. He was elected to the lower house of
the State Legislature of Kentucky in 1S35; was
re-elected and held the position until 1840, when
he was defeated for Congress in the hard cider
campaign, and was again defeated for the same
office in 1848. In 1844 he was one of the
Presidential electors. In 1849 he was elected to
draft the new constitution for the State of Ken-
tucky, which position he held until the death of
Henry Clay, in 1853, and was then elected to
the United States Senate. In 1853 he was ap-
pointed by President Pierce as Governor of New
Mexico. In 1857 he resigned, and in 1859 was
elected to the State Legislature, and became
speaker of the House of Representatives in
1861. He was again defeated for Congress by
John Harney, after which he retired to private
life until 1879 when he was again taken up by
the citizens of his county and elected to the
Legislature.

His life has been an eventful one. He is now
an active man eighty two years of age; has ever
been regarded by his constituents as an able,
efficient, and truscy representative of their in-
terests. He has raised a family of four children,
now living.

His son, William H. Merriwether, born in
1825, was reared on the farm, and married in
1857 to Miss Lydia Morselle, and lives on part
of the farm purchased by his grandfather in
1805. He was appointed deputy marshal in
1861, and re-appointed in 1862 and 1863. In
1864 he was appointed marshal by President
Lincoln, which position he held in 1868. In
1870 he was appointed clerk of the United
States court, and held that position until 1876,
when he became interested in a real estate agency,
which business he still pursues. He was origin-
ally a Democrat, but since i860 has been a Re-
publican.

Major John Hughes, a prominent man of this
precinct, served in the Revolutionary war, and

was a settler on the Ohio river six miles below
Louisville, where he had purchased a tract of a
thousand acres of land.

Judge Miller had settled on the upper end,
about four miles from the county court-house,
on a large tract of land.

Benjamin Pollard settled in the southern
part.

The citizens of this precinct never had a
church until the year 1863, when St. James'
was built, about four miles below Louisville, by
the Episcopalians. The society is and has been
small, the membership now being about forty.
Mr. William Cornwall has been the leading and
most active man, probably, in this organization.

FISHERVILLE PRECINCT.

The land in this precinct is generally good.
Along the valley of Floyd's fork it is rich
and well adapted to grain raising. The high
lands are better adapted to the raising of stock.

The capital town of this country is Fisherville,
a neat, white-washed little place on Floyd's fork,
which sometimes in its forgetful and excited con-
dition overflows the whole place. The town
was named in honor of Robert Fisher some forty
years ago, and is in point of appearance above
the average modern village. There are not only
good houses here, but a thrifty looking class
of dwelling habitations are dotted over the entire
precinct, and especially in the valley of Floyd's
fork. The Raglins, Gillands, Beards, Driskils,
and many others might be mentioned. In short,
many of the houses are elegant.

The Louisville, Fisherville and Taylorsville
turnpike winds its length through the precinct
and the town ; also pikes of shorter length made
for the convenience of neighbors are found here
and there.

The Gillands were early settlers of this place,
and became wealthy. John Henry Gilland, one
of the first magistrates, came early and settled
near Boston when Fisherville and Boston were
together. Dr. Reid's father, Matthew, was an old
settler. His wife w_as a Gilland ; also Mike and
Billie Throat, Billie Parns, Allen Rose, who
became quite wealthy, Adam Shake, father, and
the Carrithers and Seatons were among the early
settlers of this place.

4°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The Shroats were German Baptists from Penn-
sylvania, and preached long before the church
was brought to Fisherville from Floyd's fork.
This church was moved about 1852, and is a
frame, two stories in height, the Masons occupy-
ing the second floor. Rev. William Barnett was
one of the early preachers in the old brick church
before it was removed. Following him were
Rev. William Hobbs, Worl, Hunter, Cole-
man, and Fountain. Rev. W. E. Powers is the
present pastor. The church is numerically weak.
The officers are Edwin Shouse, moderator ;
John Davis clerk ; John Scearce and A. J.
Conn, deacons.

The Reformed Church is one-half mile east of
Fisherville, and is a good, respectable building,
erected at a probable cost of twenty -five hun-
dred dollars, in 1881. This organization is an
outgrowth of the old Baptist organization, and
like other churches of its kind had its origin
some time after Campbell made his visit to this
part of the State. The principal actors identi-
fied in the pros and cons of that day on this
question were Calvert, a "hard-shell" Baptist,
James Rose, Joseph Sweeney, and some others.
Rev. Mr. Taylor preaches for this people at this
time twice a month. Robert Taylor, Higley,
and La Master are the elders. William Dribkill
and R. Sando Carpenter and Tyler Carpenter
are the deacons, and Stephen Taylor clerk.

MILLS.

Robert Fisher is the owner of the present
mills in Fisherville. His father owned the origi-
nal mill in this place.

The abundance of water in the creek during
all the months of the year, and the reputation of
the mills throughout the county, brings much
custom to this little place.

EAST CEDAR HILL INSTITUTE

is located twenty miles east of Louisville, and
two miles east of Fisherville, on the Fisherville
and Buck Creek turnpike, in a community
whose people are remarkable for their intelli-
gence and morality. It is in a healthy section
of country, and where there is fine natural
scenery.

The institution was founded in 1869 by Mrs.
Cleo F. C. Coon, a highly educated lady, and of
marked refinement and culture. She is the
daughter of R. R. Clarke, a relative of George

Rogers Clarke. Her grandfather came to the
county as early as 1782, and her father was born
in 181 1, in Nelson county, came here in 183s,
and settled on four hundred and fifty acres
of land. Mrs. Cleo F. C. Coon received her
education in Shelbyville, Kentucky, in the select
school of Miss Julia Tevis, graduating from that
institution in 185 1. She taught at different
places, until, in the year 1869, in her father's
house, a large commodious farm dwelling, she
opened a school with about fifty pupils, and her
success in the work has been increasing from
year to year since that time. The government
exercised in the management of the school; her
course of study, scientific and classical; the so-
cieties and social circles under the guidance of
a marked intellectuality: the low rates of tuition;
the large list of pupils graduated from the insti-
tution, together with the religious features of the
school, compare favorably with similar enter-
prises. Mrs. Coon has, from time to time, been
erectings such building and making such addi-
tions as were found necessary. Her corps of
teachers is competent and experienced. The
names are:

Literary Department — Mrs. Cleo F. C. Coon,
principal, and teacher of higher mathematics and
English branches; Professor H. N. Reubelt,
teacher of languages, mental and moral science;
Miss Mollie E. Grubbs, teacher of algebra, read-
ing, English grammer, and writing; Miss Emma
A. Rose, M. E. L, teacher of higher arithmetic,
and intermediate classes.

Musical Department — Miss Alice M. Bailey,
principal teacher; Miss Katie M. Reubelt, M. E.
L., assistant teacher.

Ornamental Department — Miss Lulie M.
Myers, teacher of drawing, painting, wax, and
worsted work, and lace.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

John B. Sceares was born May 24, 181 2,
in Woodford county, Kentucky. His father,
Robert Sceares, was a native of Pennsylvania
and came to Kentucky in an early day, being one
of the pioneers of the State. Mr. Sceares has
followed farming for several years, though he
was formerly engaged in milling. He was mar-
ried in 1834 to Miss Permelia Sale, of Woodford
county. They had one child. His second
marriage occurred in 1839, to Miss Permelia

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Shouse, of Henry county. He had five chil-
dren by this marriage. His third marriage took
place in 1857, to Miss Juliette Jones, of Scott
county. This union was blessed with eleven
children, four of whom are living. Mr. Sceares
is a member of the Baptist church, also a Free
Mason.

John H. Gilliland was born December 24,
1838, in Jefferson county, Kentucky, where he
has ever resided. He is at the present time en-
gaged in farming, has about three hundred and
fifty acres of excellent land, and a beautiful
home. He married Miss Sally F. Crutcher of
Spencer county, October 12, 1865. They have
had three children, two now living — Thomas B.,
Alice C, Mattie K. Mattie is deceased. Mr.
Gilliland is a Free Mason.

Thomas Gilliland was born June 24, 1813, in
Shelby county, Kentucky, and came when very
young to Jefferson county with his parents. His
father, Thomas Gilliland, was a native of Ireland
and came to America about the year 1800.
Thomas Gilliland, Jr., was married in 1840 to
Miss Margaret Blankenbaker of Shelby county,
daughter of Lewis Blankenbaker. He was mar-
ried in 1876 to Miss Lizzie Townsend of Fisher-
ville precinct. They have one child, Thomas
Hampton, who was born September 12, 1877.
Mr. Gilliland is a Free Mason.

James Robison was born May n, 1835, in
Jefferson county, and has ever resided upon the
old homestead in Fisherville precinct. His
father, William Robison, was born in Pennsyl-
vania in 1 79 1, and moved to Kentucky when
eight years of age, with his parents, and settled in
Spencer county. In 1833 William Robison
moved into Jefferson county, where he died
June n, 1876. Mr. James Robison has fol-
lowed farming the greater part of his life, and
has a good farm of two hundred and fifty acres.
He was married January 12, i860, to Miss Ruth
C. Moore, daughter of Simeon Moore, of Jeffer-
son county. Mr. Robison is a member of the
Presbyterian church ; Mrs. Robison a member
of the Methodist church. Mr. Robison is mas-
ter of the lodge of Free Masons at Fisherville.

William Carrithers was born October 22, 1807,
in Spencer county, Kentucky. His father was a
native of Pennsylvania and came to Kentucky in
an early day. His grandfather, as also his grand-
mother on his father's side, came from Ireland.

Mr. Carrithers is engaged in general farming,
and has about one hundred and eighty acres of
land. He was married January 12, 1830, to
Miss Hannah Y. Davis, of Spencer county. Of
this union one child was born. His second
marriage was to Miss Elvira Fredrick, April 12,
1832. They had eleven children, six living at
the present time. His third marriage was
November 13, 1878, to Mrs. S. E. Burton, of
Boyle county, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Carri-
thers are members of the Presbyterian church.

Elisha Walters, an old and substantial citizen,
was born in Lincoln county, Kentucky, December
1, 1814, where he resided till 1836, when he
went to Spencer county, living there till 1841,
then came to Jefferson county. His father,
Thomas Walters, came from Virginia, as did his
grand-parents, in early times. Mr. Walters was
matried January 6, 1842, to Miss Rebecca Rhea,
of Jefferson county. They have had twelve chil-
dren, ten of whom are living. Mrs. Walters
died February 19, 1881. She was a member of
the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Mr.
Walters is a church member, also a Free Mason.

Daniel McKinley, an old and respected citizen,
was born October 5, 1805, in Shelby county, or
what is now known as Spencer county. He
came to Jefferson county in 1833, and lived in
the county till his death, which occurred April
25, 1881. He was married December 13, 1827,
to Miss Kezia Russell, of Nelson county, Ken-
tucky. They have had thirteen children, seven of
whom are living. Mrs. McKinley was born
November 1, 1808. She is a member of the
Presbyterian church. Mr. McKinley was also a
member.

Daniel B. McKinley was born January 24,
1844, in Jefferson county, Kentucky. He is a
son of Daniel McKinley. He was married in
1869 to Miss Mildred Day, of Spencer county,
daughter of Richard Day. They have had four
children — Carrie, Hallie, John, Lizzie. Lizzie
is deceased. Mrs. McKinley died March 7,
1877. Mr. McKinley is a member of the Pres-
byterian church.

Colman E. Drake was born February 19,
1832, in Spencer county, Kentucky. His father,
Benjamin Drake, was a native of Pennsylvania,
and came to Kentucky when the country was
wild. Mr. Colman Drake came to Jefferson
county in 1869. His farm lies in Spencer and

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Jefferson counties. It contains one hundred
and sixty acres. He was married in 187 1 to
Miss Marietta Stevens, of Garrard county, Ken-
tucky. They had one child, but she died when
very young. Mrs. Drake died September 17,
1872. She was a member of the Christian
church.

Robert Carrithers was born November 19,
18 1 2, in Shelby county, though what is now
Spencer county. He lived there till 1834, when
he came to Jefferson, where he has ever since
resided. His father came from Pennsylvania.
Mr. Carrithers was married in 1833 to Miss
Edna Stalland, of Spencer county. They had
nine children by this marriage. He was again
married, in 1856, to Miss Elizabeth J. Russell,
of Spencer county. They had three children
by this marriage. Mr. Carrithers is a member
of the Cumberland Presbyterian church; Mrs.
Carrithers of the Methodist church.

Squire McKinley was born November 28,
1820, in Shelby county. His father, James Mc-
Kinley, was a native of Kentucky. He died in
1863. Mr. S. McKinley learned the carpenter's
trade when young and followed this occupation
for a short time. He was married in 1844 to
Miss Mary McKinley, of Spencer county. They
had two children by this marriage — James S. and
John W. He was again married, in 1854, to
Mrs. Sophia Drake. They had nine children by
this marriage — Sarah B., George C, Ivanhoe,
Charles E., Cynthia K, Marietta, Benjamin F.,
William F., also a girl not named. Mrs. Mc-
Kinley is a member of the Methodist church.

HARRODS CREEK

is a fertile, rolling tract of land along the river's
edge, north of Louisville, extending from the
suburbs of that city to the northern limit of the
county. Like most precincts, its contour or
form is irregular, being much greater in length
than in width.

It has good advantages in the way of a turn-
pike that runs through it, going from Louisville
to Oldenburg. Also in the Narrow Guage rail-
road, formerly built by the citizens of the pre-
cinct, and which afterwards passed into the
hands of a company. This latter road, with
its reasonable rates of travel, affords the citi-

zens fine opportunities for carrying on mercantile
pursuits in the city.

Among the early settlers may be mentioned
the Wilhites, who were probably among the first,
James Taylor, relative of Colonel Richard Tay-
lor, who came in 1799, and settled near the
present town of Worthington upon a tract of a
thousand acres or more of land. He was early
identified with the political history of the county,
and was clerk of the county court. He had a
brother who served in the Revolutionary war.
He was the grandfather of Dr. N. Barbour, of
Louisville, and was a native of Virginia.

Thomas and Richard Barbour were early set-
tlers here, locating on large tracts of land just
above Harrod's creek. Richard Barbour was
among the first magistrates of the precinct, and
held the office for a long time. Thomas Bar-
bour, his brother, and father to Dr. Barbour, was
an early representative of this county in the Leg-
islature. He married Mary Taylor, a cousin of
Zachary Taylor, and raised a large family, Dr.
Barbour being the only living representative of
the family at this time. He built a large flour-
ing mill (to which was attached a saw-mill) about
the year 1808-09, and 'ater on one was built
lower down by Glover. These mills were greatly
advantageous to the county, furnishing a ready
market for the grain, which would be ground
and then shipped to New Orleans. Mr. Barbour
died in 1820. He had two sons, Thomas and
James, who were in the War of 181 2. The
Barbour mill was run until about the year 1835,
when it went down.

Andrew Mars and his cousin Andrew Steel
were early settlers also, locating on lands oppo-
site Twelve-mile island.

' Dr. William Adams was the first resident
physician of the precinct. He, as was the cus-
tom in those times, obtained a general experi-
ence, mostly by the practice of medicine. He,
however, attended lectures in the Transylvania
college, but never graduated. His advent to
the place was about the year 1825. Ten years
afterwards Dr. N. Barbour practiced the medical
profession there, and continued the practice un-
til in 1872, when he removed to Louisville,
where he has an extensive practice. Dr. Bar-
bour is a graduate of the Ohio Medical college,
Cincinnati, receiving his degree of M. D. from
that institution in 1835. He afterwards took a

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

course of lectures in medicine in Philadelphia.

CHURCHES.

The subject of religion early engrossed the
attention of the people of this part of the
county, but no building or regular society was
organized until about the year 1820.

The Taylors and Barbours were Episcopalians
but the Presbyterians erected a biick church
this year, and they connected themselves with
that organization.

Dr. Blackburn, of Tennessee, a scholarly gen-
tleman, was one of the first pastors of this
society. Some of the names of the corporate
members are here appended — Andrew Mars,
Thomas Barbour, Robert and Edwin VVoodfolk,
John D. Lock, and some of the Wilhites. The
building as erected remained until about the
year 1850, when owing to its crumbled condition
it was replaced by another. The Rev. Dr.
McCowan, a learned'and an excellent gentleman,
preached here some eight years.

The church is not as strong in its membership
as it was at one time, but is still in existence,
the Revs. Thomas Christler and Alexander
Dorson being the pastors at the present time.

The colored people organized a society known
as the Greencastle church in 1875; J. Wilhite
officiating at that time. The building was erected
at a cost of one thousand dollars, and the society
has a membership at this time of one hundred
and nine. They are known as the Mission
Baptists. Rev. E. J. Anderson is the present
pastor.

The town of Harrods Creek was laid off quite
early, and divided up into small lots. It was
formerly known as the Seminary land. It, how-
ever, was never built up and remains to-day only
a few straggling houses.

Harrods Creek Ferry was formerly an import-
ant wharf; this was in the palmy days of Middle-
town and when Louisville was deemed an un-
healthy village. Goods were shipped and landed
at this harbor until, probably, about the year
1810, when the metropolis of the county was
moved to the Falls of the Ohio river, and the
principal trade went there.

Harrods creek and Big Goose creek are the
principal streams of this precinct. They each
furnish an abundance of water the year round,
and near their mouths run close together and
parallel for a mile or so. Harrods creek stream

empties into the Ohio river ten miles above
Louisville, and where it is about forty rods wide.
About a fourth of a mile from its mouth it dips
at an angle of about seven degrees, giving it an
appearance of falls. It has been stated that this
creek, like many others in the State, has subter-
ranean passages, through which a part of its
waters flow without crossing the falls.

Goose Creek waters formerly turned a grist-
mill for Mr. Allison, and still farther down a
saw-mill that was run for many years, but there
has been no mill on this stream for full thirty
years. The old grist-mill, after it was abandoned,
was used for a time as a school-house.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Abraham Blankenbaker was born July 13,
1796, in Mercer county, Kentucky, where he
lived till he was five years of age, when he went
to Shelby county in company with his parents
and resided there till 1822. He went to Louis-
ville and lived there till 1853. He then moved
to Harrods Creek, where his family now reside.
Mr. Blankenbaker died March 22, 187 1. He
was married to Miss Anna Close, of Oldham
county, Kentucky, June 16, 1833. This union
was blessed with five children, though only one
survives. Mr. Blankenbaker was an exemplary
man and was highly esteemed by all who knew
him.

Jesse Chnsler, one of the well known residents
of Jefferson county, was born April 9, 1799, in
Madison county, Virginia, and lived there till he
was five or six years of age, when he came to
Kentucky with his parents. He lived in Louis-
ville about twenty-five years and was engaged in
the grocery and banking business in the mean-
time; he then went to Harrods Creek, where we
now find hin: most pleasantly situated. He was
married December 12, 1838, to Miss Mary L.
Cleland, of Mercer county, Kentucky. They
have had seven children, five of whom are living.
Mr. and Mrs. Chrisler are members of the Pres-
byterian church. Mr. Chrisler is a well known
and respected citizen.

John T. Bate was born December 30, 1809, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, and has ever re-
sided near his old home. He has followed
farming as an cccupation the greater part of his
life, though he was engaged in manufacturing
several years. His farm contains five hundred
acres of excellent land. Mr. Bate was married

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

December 25, 1834, to Miss Ellenor A. Lorke,
of Oldham county, Kentucky. They have had
two children, Octavius L. and Clarence. Octa-
vius is deceased. Mrs. Bate died about forty-
one years ago. Mr. Bate has been magistrate
twenty years and is highly esteemed by all of his
fellow citizens.

James Trigg was born November 17, 1816, in
Oldham county, Kentucky, and resided there till
1849, when he went to southern Kentucky,
where he was engaged in farming till 1863, when
he came to Jefferson county, where we now find
him most beautifully situated on a farm of
ninety-five acres. Mr. Trigg was married April
17, 1849, to Miss Mary W. Harshaw, of Oldham
county. They have had three children, two of
whom are living. Mrs. Trigg died in 1873. Mr.
Trigg is a member of the Christian church.

Alexander B. Duerson was born August 9,
1825, in Oldham county, Kentucky, and re-
mained there until 1856, when he moved to Jef-
ferson county, where he now resides upon a farm
of two hundred and eighty-five acres. Mr. Duer-
son was married in 1855 to Miss Mary A. Lyle,
of Natchez, Mississippi. They have had four
children. Mr. and Mrs. Duerson are members
of the Presbyterian church, as is, also, their
daughter. Mr. Duerson is deacon of the church
at Harrods Creek, and is a most worthy man.

F. S. Barbour was born August 27, 1843, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky. He has always re-
sided upon the homestead farm, which contains
two hundred and sixty-five acres of excellent land,
part of which is on Diamond island, in the Ohio
river. Mr. Barbour was married December 31,
1867, to Miss Annie S. Cleland, of Boyle coun-
ty, Kentucky. They have had four children,
three of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Bar-
bour are members of the Presbyterian church.

T. J. Barbour, a brother of F. S. Barbour, was
born March 25, 1842, in Jefferson county, and
still resides at the old homestead. He has long
been an invalid, being troubled with the spinal
disease. He is a member of the Presbyterian
church.

William Barrickman was born February 24,
1824, in Oldham county, Kentucky, where he
resided until he was twenty-one years of age,
when he went to Jefferson county and lived there
three years. He afterwards resided in different
counties of the State until 1877, when he moved

to Harrods Creek. Mr. Barrickman was mar-
ried in 1870 to Miss Bettie Carpenter, of Bul-
lock county, a daughter of Judge Carpenter.
They have had five children, four of whom are
living. Mr. Barrickman has a farm in company
with Judge DeHaven, which contains four hun-
dred acres of excellent land. He is engaged in
stock-raising, chiefly, and is considered a success-
ful farmer.

Glenview stock farm, one of the largest in the
county, is situated six miles from Louisville, and
is a large and beautiful place. Mr. J. C. Mc-
Ferren, the present owner, bought the place
about thirteen years ago. He does an extensive
business, and is widely known. His farm con-
tains eight hundred and eighty-five acres. He
keeps from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
head of trotting horses. His stock is among the
most celebrated in the country. Mr. McFerren
has one of the most beautiful residences in this
county. His farm, with the stock now upon it,
is worth at least three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. Mr. McFerran is a native of Barren
county, Kentucky.

SPRING GARDEN PRECINCT.

This precinct was formerly called Spring
Grove. It lies adjacent to Louisville and incon-
sequence its history is mostly blended with the
history of that city.

The noted, well known George Rogers Clarke
was a large land holder near the once beautiful
springs of this place. So were the Churchills,
Phillipses, Ballards, Stamfords, and others so
prominently connected with the history of the
county and State. General George Rogers
Clarke, of Albemarle county, Virginia, came to
the county in 1775; was a captain in Dunmore's
army, and was offered a commission afterwards
by the British authorities, but had the interest of
the struggling colonies too much at heart to be-
tray his country. He came to Kentucky to bring
about a satisfactory connection between the two
States. His history will be found in another
portion of the work. He was never married.

Hon. Elisha D. Staniford, M. D., was a native
of this portion of the county. His father also
was a native of Kentucky, and his mother was
of Irish descent. Dr. Staniford was born

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

December 31, 1831. He studied medicine
under Dr. J. B. Flint, and graduated in the Ken-
tucky School of Medicine; was for years presi-
dent of the Red River Iron works, of the Louis-
ville Car Wheel company, of the Farmers and
Drovers' bank, president of the Saving and
Trust company, and held other very important
positions. He was also at one time member of
the Senate, and was also a member of the House
of Representatives.

The Churchills, of Louisville, were also resi-
dents of this precinct. The family is a large
one and formerly constituted one of the most
prominent ones in Virginia, extending back some
two hundred years. William Churchill, being
a church warden, by his last will, made in
17 1 1, left a sum of money, the interest of which
was to be used for the encouragement of the
ministry, to preach against the raging vices of
the times. Samuel C. Churchill came to the
precinct when eight years of age, in 1784.
His father, Armstead Churchill, married Eliza-
beth Blackwell and settled in Spring Garden,
on a large tract of land. His son, Samuel C,
father of S. B., married Abby Oldham, only
daughter of Colonel William Oldham. Colonel
Oldham was a Revolutionary soldier, and was in
command of a Kentucky regiment when St.
Clair was defeated in 1791. Samuel C. Church-
ill was a large and extensive farmer, and devoted
himself solely to his farm. S. B. Churchill was
born in this precinct in 1812; was educated at
the St. Joseph's college, Borgetown, Kentucky;
went to St. Louis and edited the St. Louis Bulle-
tin for many years; was Representative to the
Missouri Legislature in 1840; delegate to the
Charleston convention in i860. He returned to
Kentucky in 1863, and was elected to the State
Legislature from Jefferson county. In 1867 he
became Secretary of State under Governor
Helm, and continued in office under Governor
Stevenson. His brother, Thomas J. Churchill,
was a captain in the Mexican war, a major-gen-
eral in the Confederate army, and after the war
Governor of Arkansas.

Spring Garden precinct, being contiguous to
the city, gives the citizens the advantages of
school and church — ;there being no church
buildings in this portion of the county. The
land is of good quality and the agricultural in-
terests well eveloped. p

SHIVELY PRECINCT.

Among the early settlers of this precinct
should be mentioned the name of Colonel Wil-
liam Pope, who was one of the early settlers of
the State. He arrived at the falls of the Ohio
river in 1779, and, like other adventurers, with
his young family occupied the fort at the
entrance to the canal. He was a native of
Farquier county, Virginia, the son of William
Pope, of Virginia ancestry, whose wife was Miss
Netherton, and by whom he had three sons,
of whom William was also one of the pioneers of
the new State, and lived to a great age, dying in
1825. Colonel William Pope married Penelope
Edwards, and his four sons became distinguished
men. John was at one time Governor of the
Territory of Arkansas and also a member of Con-
gress. William Pope, the second son of the
pioneer, was a wealthy farmer in this vicinity, a
man of splendid business talents and great in-
dustry, and amassed considerable fortune. He
married Cynthia Sturgus, who was the mother of
Mrs. Ann Anderson, the wife of Larz, son of
Colonel Richard C. Anderson, of Revolutionary
fame. Her only son was Richard C. Anderson,
named in honor of her grandfather. The de-
scendants of the Pope families are numerous, and
were many of them quite prominent men.

Major Abner Field was a very early settler in
this portion of the State, and was one of the first
representatives in the Virginia House of Bur-
gesses. He married a daughter of Colonel Wil-
liam Pope. His first son, Dr. Nathaniel Field,
is a prominent physician of Jeffersonville, Indi-
ana.

Christian William Shiveley, was also a very
prominent and early settler of this precinct, and
in honor of whom the precinct was named. He
built his mill about the year 1810. He settled
on a large tract of land, then a wilderness.

Thereweremany other prominent citizens in this
precinct of whom may be mentioned the Kissiger
family, Fulton Gatewood, Squire Thornburry, a
magistrate; Matthew Love, John Jones, who kept
the tan-yard for many years; Amos Goodwin,
Leonard Gatewood, school teacher; the Town-
sly's, and others.

The salt works in this precinct were quite im-
portant in an early day. People come for salt at
that time from a hundred miles distant. Joe

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Brooks, John Speed, and D. Staniford operated
here a long time. Jones' tan-yard, built about
the year 1807, was near the salt works, and the
old Shiveley tavern, on Salt River run, was the
stopping place for the traveler — the stone meet-
ing-house, built about the year 1820, stands
on the Salt River road, and was used by all de-
nominations.

^n an early day religion and dancing occupied
much attention. The earthquake that occurred
in 181 1 seems to have jarred the religious feel-
ings of the community consMeiably. Everybody
then imagined the world was surely coming to an
end and joined the church, but the next winter
the fiddle and not the preacher held sway, and
the heel and toe kept time to the music almost
constantly. The earthquake was severe and pro-
duced considerable commotion.

JOHNSTOWN PRECINCT.

is the same in character and quality of land and
surface of the country as the other precincts
south of Louisville, being marshy and filled with
ponds. This was specially true in an early day
before any draining was done.

While these ponds were not tillable, they fur-
nished the opportunity of much amusement to
the young men who loved sport, and as they
were filled with ducks, these places were of fre-
quent resort. On one occasion, however, they
were the cause of furnishing a bit of Indian
history.

Among the earliest settlers of this portion of
the county was the Lynn family, and on one
occasion the young men left home for a
season of sport, and visited the ponds as usual
for game. Not taking any precaution against
the Indians, they were captured by a roving band
of savages and carried over into Indiana. The
forced visit made in company with the dusky
warriors was not altogether to their liking. But,
making the best of their imprisonment, they
feigned such friendship for their red brothers, and
so much liking to a roving life, that in the course
of a few months they succeeded in gaining the
entire confidence of their captors, and on one
occasion, when left with the squaws while the
warriors were hunting, took French leave, and
came home.

OILMAN'S PRECINCT.

This precinct lies just east of the city of
Louisville, and embraces some of the richest and
most fertile lands in the county, and it may be
truly remarked, some of the finest in the great
State of Kentucky.

It has natural boundary lines on its south, east
and north sides in the streams of Bear Grass and
Big Goose creeks. The former of these streams
skirts the whole of its southern and southeastern
sides, and the latter its northeastern boundary.
The precinct of Harrod's Creek lies just to its
north. The Louisville & Cincinnati railroad runs
through the entire length of this division, having
stations every mile or so apart, giving the citi-
zens an opportunity of living in their beautiful
homes in the country and of carrying on busi-
ness in the city. Trains run so frequently, both
in the morning and evening, th.at a large portion
of these people are professional or business men
whose business is in the city. A ride over the
road through this precinct shows a grandeur and
magnificence of country life rarely beheld.
Large, elegant and costly edifices may be seen
on every side. Here are also large, valuable
farms under the highest state of cultivation.
The Magnolia stock farm established by A.
G. Herr in 1864, is probably as fine a farm
as can be found in the State. It was so
named by George D. Prentice as early as 1841,
from the number of magnolias that grew upon
it. It was not established as a fancy stock farm
until as above stated, when Mr. Herr began
raising the finest thoroughbred stock, for which
this farm has made a reputation throughout the
States and Canada.

The Eden stock farm, under the proprietor-
ship of Mr. L. L. Dorsey, has likewise attained
for itself a reputation not unenviable.

The roads leading to various places in this
precinct are in a better condition and more
direct than in some of the precincts of the
county. The Lyndon and Goose Creek turn-
pike road, put through in 1873, and the one "lead-
ing from Louisville give the people good high-
ways, and with the railroad, excellent opportuni-
ties for reaching Louisville.

The remoteness of settlement renders it im-
possible to give dates of the original patents of
lands taken in this section of the county, but it

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

is known the attention of emigrants to the county
was attracted to this section as soon as else-
where.

The Bullitts, Taylors, Bateses, Herrs, Brecken-
ridges, Chamberses, and a host of others, since
familiar names to every household, settled here
in an early day, opened up the wilderness, raised
large families, and have long since departed.
The record left by these pioneers is mostly of a
traditionary character. We aim to give but the
reliable facts.

The Indians were troublesome to a degree,
and the whites were under the necessity of build-
ing stations and block-houses to defend them-
selves against their attacks. Abbott's station
was one of these points, built in an early
day. It was afterwards owned by Mr. Herr,
who purchased the property of Abbott's widow.
Of the massacres which took place here we
have but little that is reliable. The Indians
would, however, cross the river from Indiana,
steal horses, and sometimes make depreda-
tions upon the whites. They, on one of
these raids, barbarously massacred a white wom-
an and cut off her breasts. This event took
place on A. G. Herr's place. There is also on
this farm in a charcoal pit a place where the In-
dians made their arrow-heads of flint. Where
this stone was obtained by them is not known,
as there are no flint quarries known in the county,
and probably none this side of Canada.

Of the early settlers who came to this section
of the county John Herr was among the first.
He was a yourg man of no means, and came
with Mr. Jacob Rudy. His possessions were in
Continental scrip, $60,000 of which, when sold
brought him but the paltry sum of $14.
Mr. Herr finally amassed a considerable fortune,
owning before he died about one thousand acres
of land. He married Miss Susan Rudy and had
lived, at the time of his death in 1842, to the
advanced age of eighty two years.

Colonel Richard Taylor, father of Zachary
Taylor, was an old settler in this precinct. His
distinguished son lies buried near the old place,
with a suitable monument to mark his last resting
place. Colonel Taylor served through the Revo-
lutionary war. He came from Virginia and set-
tled on a large plantation in 1785, and here it
was that Zachary Taylor spent twenty-four yearsof
his life. His brother Hancock, who had a lieu-

tenancy in the United States army, died in 1808,
and the vacant commission was assigned him.
He was made captain in 1810, and served at
Fort Harrison, and for gallantry was promoted
to major. He served in the Black Hawk war in
1832, and in 1836 in the Florida war, where he
was promoted to general, and in 1840 was made
chief in command of all the forces in the South-
west, and soon aftei took command of all forces
in the Mexican war. He was nominated by the
Whig National convention, assembled in Phila-
delphia in 1848, as a candidate for the Presi-
dency of the United States, and took his seat
March 5, 1849, and died next year (see biogra-
phy). One of the descendants of Colonel Rich-
ard Taylor, bearing the same name, is a real
estate broker in Louisville.

Colonel Stephen Ormsby, one of the first
judges of the county court, settled upon a large
tract of land.

Major Martin, a farmer, was an old settler.
He had a brother who married a sister of W. C.
Bullitt.

David L. Ward was an extensive salt trader,
making trips to New Orleans. He at one time
owned one of the first water mills on Goose creek.
This property was erected by Mr. Leaven Law-
rence, and run by him for some years, being the
first used ; and with its coming a new era was
marked in the advance made over the old fash-
ioned hand or horse mill. It was situated on
Goose creek, north of Lyndon station. After
Ward purchased it he failed.

Alex. P. Ralston owned one on Bear Grass at
an early day, and sold it in 1804 to Colonel
Geiger. These mills received custom for many
miles around.

Edward Dorsey was an old settler. He, how-
ever, did not come to the precinct before 181 2.
He purchased a large tract of land near O'Ban-
non station. He was a native of Maryland.

Colonel Richard Anderson, father of Richard
C. Anderson, Jr., was a distinguished citizen who
settled here at an early period. He was a mem-
ber of Congress, serving with honor to his con-
stituency and credit to himself for a number of
years, and was afterwards honored by a position
as Minister to one of the South American States.
He was married to a Miss Groatheny, and his
only child, now dead, married John T. Gray.
Colonel Anderson settled on the Shelbyville pike.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

William Chambers will be remembered, not
only as an early settler of this portion of the,
county, but on account of his wealth. He mar-
ried a Miss Dorsey, and afterwards, in conjunc-
tion with General Christy, purchased a large
quantity of land near where the central portion
of St. Louis city is now. 'I he increase in value
of his land made him immensely wealthy, and
upon his death he left property to the value of a
million of dollars to his only daughter, Mrs.
Mary Tyler.

Norborn B. Bealle, one of the wealthy citizens
of the pioneer days, was a large land holder,
owning probably a thousand acres of land. He
lived in grand style; owned a fine, large, resi-
dence. He was the father of three children.

Of the earlysettlers who left numerous descend-
ants is Mr. James S. Bates, a very worthy man,
and a good, influential citizen. He was an
exceedingly large man, weighing four hundred
pounds. He also owned a large tract of land,
a great many slaves, and raised a large family of
children, who left many descendants now living.
He was a dealer in real estate, and sometimes
made very hazardous ventures.

PHYSICIANS.

There have not been many professional men
in the precinct, owing to the contiguity of the
place to Louisville. People in an early day
would, however, sometimes need a doctor, and
to supply the demand Dr. Gualt settled among
them and plied his calling. He was their first
physician, and remained some time.

No record has been kept of the magistracy of
Oilman, but we have in tradition the services of
one man, John Herr, Jr., who filled this office
for a period of forty years. He was born No-
vember 20, 1806, and died in 1863. He was a
quiet, unobtrusive man in his manner, but
influential and a very successful man in several
respects. In 1854 he was selected by his dis-
trict to represent them in the Legislature, and ac-
quitted himself with credit. He held various
positions of trust, and owned the fine farm now
the property of A. G. Herr, the noted stock
dealer. He was the son of John Herr, Sr., be-
fore mentioned, and one of four brothers who
lived to an honored, useful old age.

Alferd, the youngest brother of this family, is
the only one living. He is a man of some con-
siderable influence and of property.

There are others who figured quite extensively
in the history of this precinct — the Bullitts,
Breckinridges, Browns, Colonel William Cro-
ghan, father of Major John Groghan, the hero of
the War of 181 2, and others.

CHURCH.

One, if not the first, of the original organiza-
tions of a religious character in the precinct,
was a Baptist society, on Bear Grass. This
society had its place of meeting first in Two Mile
Town — it being encouraged in that precinct by
Mr. George Hikes, who settled there about
1790-94. One of the first pastors was Rev.
Mr. Walker. The congregation was made up
of the citizens, not only of their own precinct
but of Jeffcrs'ontown, Gilman, and other places.
In the course of time the question of close
communion was one which gave the organization
some trouble and caused its entire overthrow.

The first building was a stone structure, erect-
ed about the year 1798-99, on the north bank
of Bear Grass. Rev. Ben Allen was also one of
the divines who ministered to the people spirit-
ually in an early day.

The membership, however, became numerous
and the questions arising concerning communion
made a split, a portion of the church going to
Jeffersontown and a portion to Newburg, but the
old church still retains the name of the Bear
Grass church and remains on the original site.

BEAR GRASS.

This stream of water, so frequently mentioned
previously, is a considerable one, named to retain
the original idea of wealth represented by the
lands and surrounding country through which it
flows. It has a number of good mill sites, and
furnishes an abundance of water ten months in
the year, and supplies water for a number of
grist-mills, and one paper-mill. It rises from
eight different springs, and like other streams in
the State sometimes disappears for a quarter of
a mile or so and then emerges. Near the city
it runs parallel with the Ohio for a distance of
about half a mile, and enters the river at Louis-
ville.

At the mouth of the creek is one of the best
harbors on the Ohio, perfectly safe and com-
modious for vessels of five hundred tons burthen.
During seasons of the year when the waters are
the most depressed there can be found here water
twelve feet deep.

K
9

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Albert G. Herr was born in this county and
has always lived here. His father, John Herr,
was born here, and his grandfather, also named
John, was one of the first settlers. Mr. Herr is
the proprietor of the Magnolia stock farm, so
named by the poet Prentice forty years ago.
His stock and farm are widely celebrated. The
farm contains two hundred and six acres. Mr.
Herr's residence is most beautiful, and his gar-
den is filled with a great variety of choice ex-
otics. Mr. Herr does an extensive business
breeding Jersey cattle, trotting horses, Berkshire
hogs, and Silesian Merino sheep.

Dr. H. N. Lewis was born at St. Matthews in
1856. His lather, Dr. John Lewis, practised in
this county thirty years and was eminently suc-
cessful. He died in 1878, and his son succeeds
him in his practice. Dr. Lewis was educated at
the Louisville high school, and graduated in
medicine from the Louisville Medical college,
also from the Hospital Medical college. He
now does a good business, and is looked upon as
a rising young physician. He is a gentleman in
every sense of word and richly deserves success.

Benjamin Lawrence came to this county from
Maryland, in very early times, and settled on
what is now L. L. Dorsey's Eden Stock farm.
He was an excellent farmer and a prosperous
business man. His sons, Samuel and Leben — ■
the former the grandfather of Theodore Brown,
now residing here — were upright and worthy
men, highly successful in business. Samuel
Lawrence was the father of Benjamin and Elias
Lawrence, who were among the prosperous mer-
chants and most esteemed citizens of Louisville.
Urath G. Lawrence, their sister, became the wife
of James Brown, the father of Theodore and
Arthur Brown. She was a lady widely known
and beloved for her hospitality, benevolence,
and high moral integrity, None but good words
were ever spoken of her.

James Brown came from eastern Maryland
about the year 1800. He was a clerk in the salt
works of David L. Ward, at Mann's Lick, Bul-
litt county. He afterwards bought land on Bear
Grass creek, and became one of the richest men
of the county. At one time he owned nineteen
hundred acres in the county. He was a man of
good judgment, of the strictest integrity and
honesty, and was noted for his benevolence and
public spirit. His modest demeanor and manli-

ness won for him hosts of devoted friends. He
died in 1S53, aged seventy-three years. Theo-
dore Brown was born in 182 1, and lives on what
was once a part of the old farm. He has two
hundred and fifty acres of land and a pleasant
and beautiful home. He has been for forty
years a member of the Protestant Episcopal
church. Arthur Brown, his brother, and the
youngest of the three surviving members of his
father's family, was born in 1834. He married
Miss Matilda Gait, daughter of Dr. N. A. Gait,
who was the son of Dr. William C. Gait, who came
from Virginia to Louisville in very early times.
Mr. Brown has six children — J. Lawrence, Alex-
ander G, Arthur A., William G, Harry L., and
Matilda G. Mr. Brown is now serving his sec-
ond term as magistrate. He is engaged in farm-
ing. Mr. Brown is a member of the Episcopal
church.

John C. Rudy was born in this county in
1822. His father, Daniel Rudy, was one of the
early settlers here, Louisville being but a small
village when he came. Daniel Rudy died in
1850, aged seventy-five, and his wife, Mary
(Shibely) Rudy, in 1852, at the age of sixty-five.
Mr. J. C. Rudy lived upon the old farm until
recently. Rudy chapel was named for his father,
and built chiefly by his means. Mr. Rudy is a
good farmer, and owns two hundred acres of
land. He held the office of magistrate eight or
ten years. He is a member of the Methodist
church. He married Miss Priscilla Herr in
1852. They have four children living — Ardell,
George F., James S., and Taylor.

Mrs. Ann Arterburn, widow of the late Norbon
Arterburn, was born in this county. She was
the daughter of John Herr, an old resident here.
Her husband was also a native of this county.
They were married in 1840, and had eight chil-
dren— Orphelia, Bettie, Emma, William C.,
Edward, Anna, Clifton, and an infant son.
Orphelia, Bettie, Edward, and Clifton are now
living. Mr. Arterburn died April 9, 1878, aged
sixty-five. Mrs. Arterburn still resides upon the
place where she was born. Her sister, Mrs.
Emily Oldham, widow of the late John Oldham,
lives with her.

Joseph Raymond was born in county Sligo,
Ireland, August s, 1804. In 1831 he came to
Quebec, and soon afterward to Kentucky. He
settled in Louisville and engaged in gardening,

5°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

his present business. Mr. Raymond was mar-
ried in 1835 to Miss Margaret Drisbach, a na-
tive of Philadelphia. They have had four chil-
dren— Mary Ann, who died when three months
old; Jacob B., died in his twenty-third year;
George Frederick, resides in this precinct;
Thomas P. lives with his father. Mr. Raymond
is a member of the Methodist church, and of
the order of Odd Fellows.

James Harrison, the oldest man living in this
county having Louisville for a birthplace, was
the son of Major John Harrison, who came to
this county in 1785. Major Harrison was mar-
ried at Cave Hill in 1787 to Mary Ann Johnston.
They had five children — Sophia J. (married
Robert A. New), Benjamin I., Colonel Charles
L., Dr. John P., and James. James is the only
survivor. James Harrison was born May 1,
1799, and has always lived in this county. He
has been engaged in the practice of law in
Louisville since 1842, and stands high in his
profession.

George F. Raymond was born in Jefferson
county, December 4, 1840. He received a good
common school education, and was brought up
a farmer. He was married in 1862 to Miss Eliza
McCarrell, of Washington county, Kentucky.
They had eight children, five of whom are liv-
ing— Margaret, Mary (deceased), Carrie, Ruth
(deceased), George (deceased), Joseph, James,
and William. Mr. Raymond has served as mag-
istrate fourteen years.

Captain William C. Williams was born in
Louisville, April 4, 1802. His father was a
Welshman, who came to this country in 1788.
Captain Williams followed farming the most of
his life. He furnished capital for several busi-
ness enterprises, but took no active part himself.
His residence is an elegant mansion a few miles
out of town. He was one of the wealthiest citi-
zens of the county. He owned twenty-six houses
in Louisville, including some fine business
blocks. He was elected a captain of militia in
1823-24. For fifty years he was a member of
the Masonic fraternity. Religiously he was con-
nected with the Christian church. He married
Miss Hannah Hamilton May 27, 1857. They
had sixteen children, four of whom were: David
M., John H., Mrs. Fannie W. Fenley, and Mrs.
Mary E. Tyler. Captain Williams died in his
seventy-ninth year, September 13, 1880, widely

known and everywhere respected throughout this
section.

I. B. Dorsey, son of L. L. Dorsey, Sr., is a
leading farmer and respected citizen. Edward
Dorsey, father of L. L, came here from Mary-
land about the year 1800. L. L. Dorsey, Sr.,
had three sons, but the subject of this sketch
only, lived to grow up. Mr. I. B. Dorsey has
a farm of two hundred and twenty acres, and is
engaged in raising grain. The land taken up by
his great-grandfather has been held by represen-
tatives of the Dorsey family since the time of
the first comer of that name. Mr. Dorsey was
married in i860 to Miss Sarah Herndon. Their
children are: Susan, Mary, Amanda, Lewie,
Sally, Rhodes, George, and Eveline. Mr. Dorsey
is a member of the Christian church.

O'BANNON PRECINCT.

O'Bannon (originally Williamson) precinct,
was established in 1813-14, the first magistrates
being E. M. Stone and Miner W. O'Bannon.
J. M. Hampton and Miner W. O'Bannon are the
magistrates at the present time.

Bushrod O'Bannon, deceased, and Miner
O'Bannon, now resident of the place, were the
sons of Isham O'Bannon, a native of Virginia, who
was born in 1 767, and came here in 1816, first set-
tling in Shelby county. In 1830 he settled his
estate upon his seven children, three daughters
and four sons; one daughter now being eighty-
one years old, and the average age of the four
children now living being seventy-five years.

J. B. O'Bannon owned here an extensive tract
of four hundred acres ot land, which he im-
proved. He was the first president of the Farm-
ers' and Drovers' bank, president of the Farmers'
Mutual Insurance company, and owned consid-
erable stock in the railroad, was director in the
Louisville City bank, and was the founder of
the Methodist Episcopal church in this place,
which has, however, gone down since his death,
owing to the members of the church dying off
and moving away. It was first called O'Ban-
non's chapel, but against his wish, and was an
outgrowth of the Salem church. It was a neat

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

structure, built in 1869, under the Rev. Mr. Hen-
derson's appointment to this place. Mr. J. B.
O'Bannon died in 1869.

M. W. O'Bannon was born in Virginia in 18 10.
He was the son of Isham O'Bannon, who moved
to Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1816; thence to
Jefferson county in 1831, where he resided until
his death in 1845. Mr. M. W. O'Bannon was a
merchant of Shelbyville from 1834 to 1838. In
1840 he went to Marshall, Saline county, Mis-
souri, where he resided until 1863, farming and
practicing law. During the unpleasantness con-
sequent upon the outbreak of the war, Mr.
O'Bannon was obliged to leave Missouri. He re-
turned to this county, where he has since resided,
a prominent and respected citizen. He has been
thrice married. In 1835 'le married Miss Jane
Richardson, of Lafayette county, Kentucky. She
died in 1838, leaving two daughters, one since de-
ceased— Mary Adelaide, who died in 1847 m tne
twelfth year of her age ; Jane Richardson, born
in 1838, is the wife of J. R. Berryman, Marshall,
Missouri. His second wife was Miss Julia Bar-
nett, of Lafayette county, Missouri. She died in
1843, having borne one son, who died in infancy.
In 1847 he married Mrs. Elizabeth (Harrison)
Payne, formerly from Woodford county, Ken-
tucky, but at that time residing in Missouri.
Mr. O'Bannon has held the office of justice of
the peace six years.

John Williamson was an early settler of this
precinct, owning at one time a couple of thousand
acres of land, also a distillery on Floyd's fork.
He raised his own corn for distillery use. He
was an active, large-hearted, and clever man.
His daughter by his first wife married Bushrod
O'Bannon. His second wife was the widow of
Ed Dorsey, and from this union owned all his
lands except four hundred acres.

In this precinct is the old Chenoweth spring
house, built by Mr. Chenoweth as early as
the summer of 1782. It is near Williamson's
station, and on the farm now owned by John
Williamson, and was built for a fort and as a
refuge for the Chenoweth family in case of an
attack from the Indians. The house was made
of unhewn stone, packed in mortar made simply
of lime, water and gravel. The cement thus
made one hundred years ago appears as durable
to-day as it was when the house was erected, and
the stone, so nicely and evenly laid, presents a

surface as perpendicular and smooth on both
the in- and outsides as most stone houses built
in then ineteenth century, and so solidly are the
walls built it is not improbable it will stand yet
one hundred years longer before the crumbling
process begins.

THE CHENOWETH MASSACRE.

Richard Chenoweth first built Fort Nelson,
which bankrupted him. He was disappointed in
the Government refusing assistance in this mat-
ter, and came here in 1782, after the Floyd's
Fork massacre, and built for himself this fort,
and just above it the cabin where he lived with
his family. At that time there were no out set-
tlements except Lynns, Bear Grass, Harrods
creek, and Boone's stations. The family con-
sisted of himself, his wife Peggy, who was a
brave woman — and who was a McCarthy before
marriage — Thomas, James, Alexander, Millie,
and Naomi, the last named being at that time
about two years old. He had also some few
persons constantly about them as guards, and at
this time Rose and Bayless were with the
family.

About dusk one evening in midsummer, while
this little family were talking over the past at
their evening meal, they were suddenly surprised
by sixteen Indians, belonging to the tribe of
the Shawnees, suddenly opening the door and
rushing in. Rose, being nearest the entrance-
way, jumped behind the door as soon as it was
swung open, and in the dreadful excitement
which followed passed out undiscovered and
effected an escape. Bayless was not killed out-
right and was burned at the stake at the spring
house, just a few feet distant. The old man
was wounded and his daughter Millie toma-
hawked in the arm, but they escaped to the fort.
The old man, however, survived and lived many
years, but was afterwards killed by the falling of
a log at a house raising. James, a little fellow,
was, with his brothers Eli and Thomas, killed at
the wood-pile. The daughter Millie afterwards
married a man named Nash. Naomi, the little
girl, crept to the spring house and took refuge,
child like, under the table. An Indian after-
wards came in and placed a fire brand on it, but
it only burned through the leaf. In the morning
a party of whites were reconnoitenng and sup-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

posed the Chenoweth family all killed, and upon
approaching the scene discovered the little girl,
who stood in the doorway, and told them upon
coming up that they were all killed. The
mother was scalped and at that time was
not known to be alive, but she survived the
tragedy many years and did much execution
after that with her trusty rifle. Her head got
well but was always bare after that.

John Williamson, Jr., owner of the property
upon which the Chenoweth Spring-house fort
now stands, was born in 1796, and still lives at
this advanced age, having a mind and memory
clear as crystal. His father, John Williamson,
came with his father, John Williamson, from
Virginia, and settled at the Lynn station in 1781.
During the massacre of that year the Indians at-
tacked the fort, killed the grandfather, Mr. Wil-
liamson's oldest uncle, and made captive his
father, who was taken that night to Middletown,
where he saw the scalps of his father and oldest
brother stretched, over a hoop to dry, and knew
for the first time of their murder. His legs and
feet being sore, the Indians made leggings of
deer skins and tied them on with hickory bark.
He was then ten years old and remained with
the Indians in all four years before he made his
escape. He was adopted into the Tecurnseh
family, the father of that noted chief being the
Shawnee chief of that party, and the one who
adopted him. He was taken to Chillicothe, and
there granted his liberty on condition that he
could run the gauntlet. A fair chance was given
him, and he would have succeeded had it not
been for a log at the end of the race that pre-
vented his mounting it successfully, and he was
struck by a war-club. He was next taken by
two Indians and washed in the river. This was
for the singular purpose of washing all the white
blood out of him. It was done by two Indians
who alternately dipped and ducked him until
breath and hope were gone, and he was
then pronounced Indian and trained in their
hunting grounds and by their camp fires.
He attempted several times to make his es-
cape, but falling in his purpose would return.
He was finally purchased of the Indians for
twenty-four gallons of whiskey. After his return
to Louisville he fought the Indians for seven
years ; was in Wayne's army and the battle of
the river Raisin, where he was again captured,

taken to- Detroit, and burned at the stake. His
daughter Elizabeth married Major Bland Ballard,
an old Indian fighter and uncle of Judge Ballard,
of Louisville. The second daughter married a
Mr. Smith, who also participated in the Indian
wars. Ruth, who afterwards married a Mr.
Hall, was quite young at the time of the massa-
cre. George and Moses were born after that
time. James was thirteen years old when mur-
dered, and John ten years old when captured,
and his son, John Williamson, is now in the
eighty-seventh year of his age, and although mar-
ried the second time has no children.

PROFESSOR M'GOWN'S SCHOOL.

Dr. McGown, deceased, was a prominent
man in O'Bannon precinct. He was born in
1805, was the youngest child of his father and
the mainstay of his widowed mother. He was
a circuit-rider and preached for a number of
years. He finally established a school here in
1S60, put up large buildings and carried it on
quite successfully until his death, which occurred
in 1876.

BOSTON PRECINCT.

This part of the county is ever memorable in
the Long Run Indian massacre which preceded
the terrible defeat sustained by General Floyd,
who the day after with thirty-four of his men
attempted the burial of the victims of the
massacre. And also will this precinct not for-
get the lamentable disaster which occurred just
one hundred years thereafter, lacking eight days,
in the giving way of the bridge over Floyd's fork,
sending a loaded train of cars twenty feet
into the terrible abyss below, killing eight per-
sons outright and dangerously wounding many
more, many of whom were of the most promi-
nent representatives of this precinct. Floyd's
defeat occurred September 17, 1781. The
names of those who fell are not known, nor is
there much that is definite. The facts given
were furnished by Colonel G. T. Wilcox, a
prominent citizen of northern Middletown pre-
cinct, who is a descendant of 'Squire Boone,
being his grandson, and gleaned some facts rela-
tive to the terrible tragedy from Isaiah Boone,
his uncle, and son of 'Squire Boone.

He was at Floyd's defeat. His father had

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

built at a station on Clear creek two miles east of
where Shelbyville now is. His father, with several
others, had left Boonesboro in 1779 and settled
in Boone's station. There was a station on
Bear Grass called Bear Grass, three miles east of
Louisville, and one eight miles from Louisville
called Linn station was on the place afterwards
owned by Colonel R. C. Anderson.

Boone's station at that time was the only
station between Linn's and Harrods creek. 'Squire
Boone's station was about twenty-two miles east
of Linn's station. Bland Ballard and Samuel
Wells at that time lived in the station and
General Floyd lived in that of Bear Grass.
There were two couple to be married in Linn
station. Bland Ballard and a man named Corris
went from Linn station to Brashear's station,
near the mouth of Floyd} fork, now Bullitt
county, after a Baptist preacher, John Whitaker,
to marry them. This was the first legal marriage
in this part of the county. In going over Bal-
lard discovered an Indian trail and was satisfied
there was a large body of savages. He retraced
his steps to Linn station and sent word to Bear
Grass station, and then went to Boone's station
that night. They held a meeting and agreed to
leave the station and go to Linn station. There
were a number of large families in Boone's sta-
tion at that time, viz., the Hintons, Harrises,
Hughes, Hansboros, Bryans, Vancleves, and
many others. They could not all get ready to
move the next day, but some were determined
to go. Squire Boone was not ready and could
not prevail on them to wait another day. So
Major Ballard conducted this party, leaving
Squire Boone and a few families to come the
next day. When Ballard's party reached Long
run he was attacked in the rear. He went back
to protect that part of the train and drove the
Indians back and held them in check as long as
he could. In going back he saw a man and his
wife by the name of Cline, on the ground. He
told Cline to put his wife on the horse and hurry
on. They were in the bed of Long run. Bal-
lard returned in a short time to find Cline and
his wife still on the ground. He put her on the
horse and gave the horse a rap with his riding
whip, and as lie did so an Indian pulled a sack
from the horse. Ballard shot the Indian and
hurried to the front. Here he found a great
many killed and the people scattered leaving

their cattle and losing their baggage and many
horses. Some reached Linn's station that night,
and a few Boone's. Boone and his party re-
mained in his station several days after that be-
fore they went down to Linn's. A few of the
names of the killed on Long run are the two
Miss Hansboro, sisters of Joel Hansboro, a Mr.
McCarthy, a brother of Mrs. Ric Chenoweth,
and a Mrs. Vancleve, an aunt of Colonel G. T.
Wilcox.

The next day General (then colonel)John Floyd,
Colonel (then captain) Wells, and Bland Ballard
(afterwards major), and thirty-four others from
Linn's and Bear Grass stations went up to bury
the dead When they reached Floyd's fork, Bal-
lard said to them: "You send a few men and as-
certain where the Indians are." He was, however,
overruled, and on they went. At the head of the
ravine they were surrounded, and sixteen of their
men were shot down at the first fire. Fourteen
were buried in one sink. They began to retreat.
Isaac Boone said when \hey reached the fork he
discovered an Indian following him. He raised
his gun, the Indian stepped behind a tree. Just
at that time General Floyd and Colonel Wells
came in sight, Floyd on foot and Wells on horse-
back. Wells said to Floyd: "Take my horse."
Floyd, being large and fleshy, was much ex-
hausted. They took to the bushes, and reached
the place selected should they be defeated. It
was near where Thomas Elder's new house now
stands, on the Shebyville pike, about three miles
above Middletown. For some time prior to this,
General Floyd and Wells were not friendly.
Isaac Boone said: " General, that brought you
to your milk." The general's reply was: "You
are a noble boy; we were in a tight place."
This boy was then but fourteen years of age, and
was at that lime in Sims' station. The occurrence
took place in September, 1781.

'Squire Boone's wife's maiden name was Jane
Vancleve. Enoch Boone, their youngest son,
was born at Boonsboro, October 15, 1777, being
the first white male child born in Kentucky. He
died in Meade county, Kentucky, in 1861.
'Squire Boone died in 1815, and was, by his re-
quest, buried in a cave in Harrison county, In-
diana. Sarah Boone, mother of G. T. Wilcox,
was the only daughter of 'Squire Boone. She
was married to John Wilcox in 1 791, and he
settled upon, surveyed and improved land pat-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ented in the name of Sarah Boone by her father,
four miles north of Shelbyville.

The Wilcox family had a paternal parentage
in George Wilcox, a Welshman, who emigrated
to North Carolina in 1740. He married Eliza-
beth Hale, and by her had six children — George,
David, John, Isaac, Eliz, and Nancy, who came
to Kentucky in 1784. George, Jr., married
Elizabeth Pinchback; David married Sarah
Boone, sister, to Daniel Boone; and John mar-
ried Sarah Boone, daughter of 'Squire Boone,
and mother of G. T. Wilcox.

A WRECK.

The second lamentable disaster which filled
the minds of these citizens with dismay and
horror occurred on the 8th of July, 1881, at
Floyd's Fork railroad bridge. The passenger
trains on the road running between Shelby-
ville and Louisville were unusually crowded, it
being at the time of the exposition in the last
named city. The trair^ returning to Shelbyville
was late, owing to some unaccountable delay,
and was running with more than ordinary speed.
It reached the bridge crossing Floyd's fork about
8 o'clock in the evening. A cow was standing
on the track just in front of the bridge, but before
she could be whistled off the engine struck her,
knocking her off and killing her instantly. The
shock threw the engine off the track, and, being
close to the bridge, struck the corner of that
structure in such a way as to demolish it. The
train was still running at a high speed, all this
happening in less time than it takes to write it.
The bridge went crashing down into the water a
distance of twenty feet or more. The engine, from
the impetus given by its weight and rapid motion,
leaped full twenty feet from where it first struck
the bridge, bringing the tender, baggage car, and
passenger coach down with it in a mingled mass
of timber, its load of human freight, and all.
Heavy timbers from the bridge fell on every
side and on the crumbled mass of coaches,
that now resembled a pile of kindling wood.
The terrible crash made by the falling of this
train was heard for miles around, and instinct-
ively the citizens surmised the difficulty and
immediately set out for the scene of the disas-
ter. Telegrams were immediately despatched to
Louisville and Shelbyville for assistance, and it
was not long before help gathered in from every

quarter, and the work of removing the ruins be-
gan. The heavy timbers had first to be removed
before some bodies could be recovered, and the
night was well nigh spent ere all were secured.
Some were crushed immediately to death, others
injured, and some only fastened in by the heavy
weights over them, and strange to say some were
not in the least hurt, save receiving a jar, incident
to the occasion. Unfortunately this number was
small.

The names of those killed are given below:
Phelim Neil, of Shelbyville, president of the
road; William H. Maddox, city marshal of
Shelbyville; Robert Jones, shoemaker, of Shelby-
ville, and the father of a large family; Walker
Scearce, of Shelbyville, a young man very suc-
cessful in business, whose death was much
regretted; Humbolt Alford, a resident of Boston
and a fine young lawyer of Louisville; James
Hardin, a resident of Boston and a highly re-
spected citizen; a Mr. Perry, of Louisville, a
boarder in the family of George Hall, near Bos-
ton; and a gentleman from California, name not
known.

Among those not hurt was a small girl named
Mary Little, who sat near a gentleman who was
killed. She made her way out unscathed save
in the loss of her clothing, which was greatly
damaged by the water and considerably torn,
presenting herself before her mother's door with-
out a hat, and in a somewhat sorry plight. Mr.
George Petrie, the conductor, was badly hurt
at the time. There were about forty passengers
in all, and but few escaped death or injury.

The officials of the railroad were prompt in
rendering aid to the unfortunate ones, paying off
all claims against them for the loss the sad mis-
hap had occasioned, though the misfortune was
not due in the least to any mismanagement of
theirs.

Boston is a small place of only some ten fam-
ilies. The precinct was formerly a part of
Fisherville. Esquire Noah Hobbes has been one
of its magistrates, serving in that capacity for
sixeen years. His associate is William Raglin.
His son J. F. Hobbes was school commissioner
six years.

The old Baptist chuich on Long run is one of
the oldest churches west of Lexington. This so-
ciety was organized during the pioneer times.

Rev. Henson Hobbes, a Virginian by birth,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and a good man, officiated here as minister
and died in 1822 or 23. He had four sons all
preachers. He was among the first settlers on
the ground. The old church building was a
frame. The one now in use is of brick and was
built full thirty years ago.

The Methodist Epicopal church was built but
four years ago.

The following may be mentioned as among
the early preachers of Boston precinct: Revs.
Sturgeon, Hulsey, Joel Hulsey, John Dale, and
Matt Powers, who has been preaching now in
the Baptist church for twenty years. Rev. John
Whittaker was among the early preachers, being
here during the time of the massacre.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

John L. Gregg was born in Shelby county,
July 7, 1838. His father, William Gregg, was
one of the early pioneers of Kentucky. Mr.
Gregg has a farm of four hundred and eighty acres
of excellent land. He is engaged in general
farming. He was married September 15, 1859, to
Miss Susan Hope, of Shelby county. They have
seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Gregg are mem-
bers of the Baptist church. He is a Free
Mason.

John T. Little was born November 26, 1832,
in Jefferson county, and has always resided in
the State with the exception of six years in John-
son county, Indiana. His grandfather, Joseph
Keller, a native of Virginia, was an early pioneer,
and the old stone house in which he lived is still
standing, and a crevice made by an earthquake
in 1810 or 1812, is yet quite noticeable. His
father, John Little, was born in Maryland, about
forty miles from Baltimore. In 1S66 Mr. Little,
the subject of this sketch, went to Louisville,
where he was engaged in the grocery business
and as manufacturer of plug tobacco about ten
years, then moved to Boston precinct where he
is still in business. Mr. Little was married in
1866 to Miss Eliza Cochran, of Louisville. They
have two children.

A. G. Beckley was born in Shelby county in
1810, and resided here until 1855, when he came
to Jefferson county and settled in Boston precinct
on a farm of two hundred and fifty acres of excel-
lent land. His father, Henry Beckley, was a native
of Maryland, and came to Kentucky in an early
day. He was married December 18, 1832, to

Miss Jane Boone Wilcox, of Shelby county.
Daniel Boone, the "old Kentucky pioneer," was
a great-uncle of Mrs. Beckley. She was his
nearest relative in Kentucky at (he time of his
burial. Mr. and Mrs. Beckley have had six chil-
dren, three of whom are living: Sarah A., John
H., George W., Rasmus G, Edwin C, William
R. Sarah, John, and Edwin are deceased.
George was captain in the First Kentucky regi-
ment. Mr. and Mrs. Beckley are members of
the Baptist church.

Noah Hobbs was born in Jefferson county,
August 12, 1 818. His father, James Hobbs,
was a native of Shelby county. Mr. Hobbs, the
subject of this sketch, worked at the carpenter
trade till he was about forty years of age. He
came upon the farm, where we now find him,
twenty-four years ago. He was married in 1840
to Miss Elizabeth Frazier, of Shelby county.
They have had three children, only one of whom
is living: Alonzo, Horatio C, and James F.
Alonzo and Horatio are dead. James F. is a
Free Mason, and was school commissioner six
years. Mr. Hobbs has served as magistrate
sixteen years.

A J. Sturgeon was born in this county in 1841.
His father, S. G. Sturgeon, an old resident, was
born here in 18 n. Seven of his children are
now living, viz : Sarelda, wife of R. T. Proctor,
of this county; A. J. Sturgeon; Melvina, wife of
David Cooper, Shelby county; Robert S.; Flor-
ence, wife of George Cochran, of this county;
Simpson, and Katie. A. J. Sturgeon married
Miss Sue D. Elder, of this county, in 1866.
They have six children: Maudie, Eugene, Adah,
Nellie, Edward, and Lois. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Sturgeon are members of the Baptist church.
Mr. Sturgeon also belongs to the Masons and
Knights of Honor. He has been deputy assessor
three years.

VALLEY PRECINCT.

George W. Ashby was born in Spencer county,
Kentucky, in the year 182 1. In 1855, or when
in his thitty-fifth year, he came to Jefferson
county and located in Valley precinct near Val-
ley Station on the Cecelia branch of the Louis-
ville & Nashville lailroad. In the year 1857 he
was married to Miss Eliza J. Kennedy, of Jeffer-

5«

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

son county. She died in 1875, leaving besides
her husband a family of three children. The
father of George Ashby was Mr. Beady Ashby,
who came to Kentucky when a boy.

.William L. Hardin was born in Jefferson
county, Kentucky, in the year 1829. He has
been thrice married : in 1854 to Miss Elizabeth
Philipps, a daughter of Mr. Jacob Philipps of
Jefferson county; in i860 to Mrs. Swindler;
in 1875 to Miss Mollie Finley, of Louisville.
They have a family of four children. The first
representative of the Hardin family who settled
in the county was the grandfather of the subject
of this sketch, Mr. Jacob Hardin, who came to
the Falls of the Ohio seventy or seventy-five
years ago. The father of William L. Hardin,
Benjamin Hardin, was born in Jefferson county.
Mr. Hardin lived the early part of his life in
Louisville, where he worked at his trade, that
of a plasterer, since which time he has lived on
his farm near Valley Station.

Mansfield G. Kendall was born in Lower
Pond settlement, near where Valley Station now
stands, September 9, 1815. In 1847 he was
married to Miss Eliza Jones, a daughter of Cap-
tian Henry Jones, of Jefferson county. The result
of this marriage was a family of five boys, two of
whom are still living. Henry J., who lives on
the old homestead, follows the mercantile busi-
ness. The other, Lewis, is a farmer. Mr.
Kendall followed the business of a wagon-maker,
until his retirement a few years since. His
father's name was Raleigh Kendall, who settled
in Lower Pond many years previous to the birth
of the subject of this sketch, "when there were
only four or five families in that region. Mr.
Henry Kendall married Miss Margaret M. Lowe,
of Springfield. Lewis married Miss Frederica
Trinlere, of New Albany.

Lynds Dodge was born in the State of New
York in the year 1829. When yet a young man
he came to Jefferson county, Kentucky, and
contracted for the building of the first ten miles
out from Louisville of the Louisville & Nashville
railroad. He has followed contracting, with the
exception of a short time spent on the river.
He married Gabrella Walker, of Jefferson county.
They have eight children. Warren Dodge is
well known as the merchant and postmaster at
Valley Station.

Frederick Rohr, Esq., was born in Baden,

Germany, in the year 1828. In 1852 he came
to Kentucky. He was married to Miss Mar-
garet J. Smith, who died in 1878, leaving a
family of two daughters. 'Squire Rohr is one of
the foremost men in the neighborhood in which
he lives, and is well deserving the good name he
bears.

Henry Maybaum was born in Prussia in the
year 1833. His father, Charles Maybaum, emi-
grated to America in 1834. He first settled in
Ohio, where he remained until 1847. In that
year he removed to Louisville, where for a num-
ber of years he followed tanning. He died in
Upper Pond, in 1863. Henry was married in
1862 to Miss Mary Toops, of Indiana. She
died in 1S64, leaving one daughter, Emma. He
was again married in 1866 to Miss Sarah A.
Hollis, by whom he has two children. He is in
the general mercantile business at Orel, on the
Cecelia branch of the Louisville & Nashville
railroad.

Elias R. Withers was born in Hardin county,
Kentucky, in the year 181 1. In 1838 he moved
to Louisville, where for thirty-seven years he
lived, acting as a steamboat pilot between that
city and New Orleans. At the close of that
time, or in 1855, he bought the farm which
he still owns and on which he resides near
Orel. He was married in 1838 to Miss M. J.
Davis, of Louisville. They have six children,
five of whom are living.

Alanson Moorman was born near Lynchburg,
Virginia, in the year 1803. He is the youngest
of eight children of Jesse Moorman, who came
from Virginia to Kentucky in 1807, and settled
in Meade county. In 1827 Mr. Moorman was
married to Miss Rachel W. Stith. They have
ten children living. Since coming to this county
he has been engaged principally in farming his
large estate on the Ohio river near Orel. Mr.
Moorman is widely known as a man of ability
and strict integrity.

Mrs. Mary C. Aydelott is the widow of George
K. Aydelott. He was born at Corydon, In-
diana, October 24, 1S20. In the fall of 1843
he moved to Kentucky and located in Meade
county, where he followed farming until the year
1864. In that year he bought the farm which
is still the residence of his family, on the Ohio,
twelve miles below Louisville. On the 23d day
of November, 1843, he was married to Miss

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

5 7

Mary C. McCord, of Strasburgh, Shenandoah
county, Virginia. Mr. Aydelott died December
3, 1880, leaving a family of three sons and one
daughter. The eldest, Robert H, is a member
of the firm of McCord, Boomer & Co., of Louis-
ville. The second, George W., has been five
years connected with the hat trade in New
Albany, but is now running the home farm. The
others are at home.

George Alsop was the first of the Alsop family
in Kentucky. At an early day he -came from
Virginia, bringing with him a family consisting
of his wife and several children. He, however,
left one son, Henry, in Virginia. He there
married Miss Mary Jones, and in the year 1828
followed his father to the West. They had five
children, three sons and two daughters, one of
whom, Gilford Dudley, went to Louisville in 1831,
to learn the cabinet business, he then being four-
teen years of age. He was married in 1842 to
Miss Nancy H. Moore, a granddaughter of Col-
onel James Moore. They have six children
living, all but one married. Mrs. Alsop died in
1876, in her sixtieth year.

The first representative of the Lewis family in
Kentucky was Mr. Thomas Lewis, who came
from Virginia at a very early day, bringing with
him his family, consisting of two sons and one
daughter. The sons were Henry and James,
who lived and died on their farms m Lower
Pond settlement. Henry married a Miss Myrtle,
of Virginia. He died in 1836, his wife following
some years later. They left six children, four of
whom are still living. One of these is Mr.
Thomas Lewis, who was born in 1809; was mar-
ried, in 1837, to Miss Margaret Morris, of Eliza-
bethtown, Kentucky; she died in 1867, leaving
beside her husband a family of seven children,
six of whom are still living; four are citizens of
Jefferson county, one in Florida, and one' in Vir-
ginia.

Edmund Bollen Randolph was born in Jeffer-
san county in 1837. He was married in 1872,
to Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson, of Jefferson county.
She is the daughter of Mr. John Griffith. 'Squire
Randolph is the son of Mr. William Randolph,
who settled in Jefferson county about the begin-
ning of the present century, and who was one of
the county's most prominent early time men.
He was a pensioner of the War of 181 2, and
was one of " Mad " Anthony Wayne's soldiers.

He was killed by being thrown from a buggy in
1859, at the advanced age of ninety three years.
Anthony Miller is the seventh of ten children
of Robert Miller, who came to Jefferson county
in about the year 1800. Anthony Miller was
born February 5, 181 6. He served, when a
youth, an apprenticeship at the plasterer's trade,
and has since worked at it considerably during
the greater part of his life. In connection with
this he has farmed, and has lived on his farm in
Valley precinct for the last thirty-five years. On
the 4th of July, 1842, he was married to Ellen
Camp, a native of Louisville. He is the father
of nine children, five of whom are living — Cas-
sandra, Myra, Anthony, Weeden, and Will.

WOODS PRECINCT.

John Harrison, Esq.. was born in Shelby
county, Kentucky, in 1809. When he was about
eleven years of age his father, William Harrison,
moved to Jefferson county, where he lived until
his death, which occurred about thirty years ago.
'Squire Harrison was married September 4, 1834,
to Miss Mary Ann Kendall, a daughter of
Raleigh Kendall, of Lower Pond. They have
six children living, all married. He was for nine
years a justice of the peace, having been elected
to the office four times. Has also been assessor
of Jefferson county for sixteen years and has
held many offices in the gift of the people.

Captain Eli P. Farmer was born in Monon-
galia county, West Virginia, in 1819. In 1823
his father came to Kentucky and located in Jef-
ferson county. He was, however, a Kentuckian
by birth, being born near Lexington, in 1791,
and was one of the pioneers of the State. He
was married to Miss Sarah Price, of Virginia,
by whom he had six children. Two are still
living ; one is in Texas ; the other, the subject
of this sketch, Captain Farmer, was married
in 1845 to Miss Sarah A. Gerking, of Jefferson
county, by whom he has eight children, four of
whom are married. He was an officer in the
Thirty-fourth Kentucky infantry, and served
about one year in the First cavalry.

5«

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

CROSS ROADS.

Thomas Milton Beeler, Esq., was born in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, in 1833. His father
was John C. Beeler, who came with his father,
Charles Beeler, to Mann's Licks at a very early
day, supposed to have been somewhere in the
nineties. The grandson and subject of this
sketch was married in 1855 to Miss Margaret A.
Standiford, a daughter of 'Squire- David Standi-
ford, who was one of the earliest settlers of
Jefferson county, and for a long time a magistrate.
Squire Beeler has been blessed with a family of
nine children — all now living. He has filled the
magistrate's office for six years.

The first representative of the McCawley family
in Kentucky was James McCawley, who came to
Jefferson county from Virginia, when it was still
included in the State of Virginia. From an ac-
count of provisions purchased for the use of the
fort at Harrodsburg from December 16, 1777, to
October 18, 1778, we find that he was living in
that neighborhood at the time. From there he
came to Jefferson county. In after years he
went back East, and returned, bringing with him
the first wooden wagon ever seen in this region.
His cabin was located on the place now owned
by his grandson, Dr. B. F. McCawley, near the
little creek which still bears his name. He was
frequently attacked by the Indians, and at one
time lost a valuable horse by their cornering the
animal between the chimney and the side of
his cabin. He fired at them, with what effect he
never knew. Colonel William McCawley, son
of James McCawley, was born on McCawley's
creek in 1807, and was a lieutenant colonel, and
afterwards colonel of Kentucky State militia.
He was a farmer by occupation. His wife was
Miss Hench, of a Virginia family, who died in
1838. Colonel McCawley died of cholera at
his home, in July, 1850. They left two sons and
two daughters, the oldest of whom, Colonel
George W. McCawley, was killed while leading
the seventh charge of the brigade he was com-
manding, against Hooker's corps at Peach Tree
creek. The second, Benjamin F. McCawley,
was born at the McCawley homestead in 1837.
In 1858 he graduated at the Kentucky School of
Medicine, since which time he has lived on the
old homestead, practicing his profession. He
was married in 1865 to Miss Teresa Schnetz, of
Kansas. They have five children.

John Terry was born in Virginia in 1810. In
181 1 his father, Joseph Terry, emigrated to
Kentucky, settling on McCawley's creek, in Jef-
ferson county. He was married in 1830 to Miss
Margaret McCawley, daughter of Joshua Mc-
Cawley, of the same county. She died in 1865,
leaving seven children, all of whom are married;
the youngest of whom, Taylor Terry, married
Miss Annie E. McCawley, and now lives on the
home place.

Mrs. Elizabeth Young is the widow of Mr.
Theodore W. Young, who was born in Lexington
in 1818. When he was a young man he came to
Louisville. He was a tanner by trade and began
thetanning business on Pennsylvania run, in Jeffer-
son county. This he followed up to the time of
his marriage to Miss Pendergrass in 1831. He
then settled on the old Pendergrass farm, where
he lived until the time of his death, in 1875.
Mrs. Young is the daughter of Mr. Jesse Pender-
grass, and granddaughter of Colonel James F.
Moore, of Salt Licks fame. Her brother, Com-
modore Pendergrass, died while in command of
the navy yard at Philadelphia during the Rebel-
lion. Her grandfather, Garrett Pendergrass,
was killed by Indians at Harrodsburg when on
his way to Louisville in the year 1777. Mr. and
Mrs. Young were blessed with a family of nine
children, four of whom are married and citizens
of Jefferson county and the city of Louisville.

Mr. Alexander Heatley was born in Scotland
in 1806. In the year 1837 he emigrated to
Louisville, where he lived for a short time, after
which he acted as overseer for Mr. Cocke, near
the city. He was married in 1836 to Miss
Jenette Cockburn, of Dundee, Scotland. Mrs.
Heatley died in 1871, leaving three chil-
dren, two daughters and one son. The latter
is dead. One daughter is at home, the other,
Mrs. Mitchell, in Mississippi. Mr. Heatley now
lives on his farm on the Shepardsville pike, south
of the city of Louisville.

Mrs. Martha Farman was born in Madison
county, Kentucky, in the year 1840. She is the
daughter of Mr. James Logsdon, who came to
Jefferson county in 1850, and made it his home
up to the time of his death, which occurred in
August, 1875. His wife, Matilda, followed him
about four years later. Mrs. Farman is the wife
of Mr. F. L. Farman. They have a family of
four children: Matilda, Emma, Ella, and Annie.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Ann Eliza Brooks is the only daughter of Isaac
and Catharine Brooks. Mr. Brooks was born in
Pennsylvania in 1798, and came with his father
to Bullitt county, Kentucky, when but a boy.
He was married in 1823 to Miss Catharine Fry,
then in her eighteenth year. Mr. Brooks died
of consumption in 1844, Mrs. Brooks surviving
him thirty-five years. They left, besides the
subject of this sketch, two sons, the eldest of
whom, Shepard W., is a citizen of Bullitt county;
the other, James B., lives in Kansas.

Mr. Edmund G. Minor was born in Nelson
county, Kentucky, March 7, 1827. He is a son
of Major Spence Minor, a soldier of 181 2, who
came to Kentucky with his father from Loudoun
county, Virginia, in 1797. His mother was Miss
Mary Guthrie, a daughter of General Adam
Guthrie, who was a soldier against the Indians,
and came to Louisville at a very early day. Mr.
Minor has been twice married — in 1851 to Miss
Sarah Stone, and in 1854 to Miss Mary Wagley,
who was born October 13, 1833. She is the
daughter of George and Eliza Wagley, of Frank-
fort. They have seven children. Mr. Minor's
business is that of a farmer, although he was
marshal of the chancery court in 1880, and has
been deputy since 1875.

Mrs. Susan G. Heafer is the widow of Mr.
George VV. Heafer, who was born in Abottstown,
Pennsylvania, in 1791. In 1812 he emigrated
to Kentucky, stopping at Louisville, where he
lived until 1829. In 1823 he removed to his
farm near Newburg post-office, where he lived
until the time of his death, which occurred in
July, 1877. He was married in 1827 to Miss
Susan G. Shiveley, a daughter of one of Jeffer-
son county's earliest settlers — Philip Shiveley.
They had two children, one son and one daugh-
ter. The son, George R. C. Heafer, was mar-
ried to Miss Julia Jones, of Jefferson county.
Both he and his wife are dead, leaving a family
of three children. The daughter is Mrs. Joseph
Hite, of the same county, and has nine children.
Mrs Heafer is now in her seventy-third year and
still lives on the old homestead.

Mr. William K. Cotton was born in Indiana
in 1805. In 1826 he came to Kentucky, first liv-
ing in Spencer county, where he remained until
his removal to Louisville in 1853. In i860 he
bought the JohnSeabolt farm on Fern creek, nine
miles from the city. He was married in 1828

to Miss Lydia McGee, a daughter of Patrick
McGee, of Spencer county. They had two chil-
dren, a son, Dr. J. P., and a daughter,
Trajetta, wife of Mr. Lyman Parks, who died in
1880. Mr. Cotton died in 1878; his wife in
1879. Dr. James P. Cotton was born in Jeffer-
son county, Kentucky, in 1829. He graduated
at the Louisville university in the class of 1853
and 1854. He practiced his profession until
he arrived at his thirtieth year, since which time
he has been engaged upon his estate in fruit
farming on a large scale.

The first member of the Hawes family who
settled here was Mr. Peter Hawes, who was born
in Maryland, and came to Jefferson county,
Kentucky, at a very early day, settling on Floyd's
fork. His son, Benjamin, was born in 1793 and
died in 1869. Benjamin left a family of eight
children — Isaac \V., James, Benjamin, Jessie R.,
Peter, Harrison, and Mrs. Kyser.

Mrs. Mary A. Johnson is the widow of Mr.
William M. Johnson, who was born in Scott
county, Kentucky, in 1818, and died in 1878.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were married in 1842,
her maiden name being Seabolt. They were
blessed with a family of six children, all of whom
are married.

Mr. William P. Welch was born on Pennsyl-
vania run, in Jefferson county, Kentucky, August
7, 1797. His father, Andrew Welch, emigrated
to that settlement about one hundred years ago.
He had married, before leaving Pennsylvania,
Miss Eleanor Patterson. He left a family of
eight children, of which William is the only sur-
viving member. William was married, in 1848,
to Mrs. Elizabeth J. Cunningham, a daughter of
Mr. Elijah Applegate, of Jefferson county. They
have had one child, Eliza Eleanor, who married
Thomas B. Craig, and died in July, 1880. Mr.
Welch remembers early incidents very well, and
well remembers being in Louisville before there
were any pavements in the city.

The first representative of the Robb family in
Kentucky was Mr. James Robb, who came to
Mud Creek, Jefferson county, from Penn-
sylvania. He was originally from Kentucky.
He left eleven children, all of whom settled in
Indiana excepting Henry, who spent most of his
eventful life of eighty-three years in Jefferson
county, Kentucky. He was born in Pennsyl-
vania in 177S, and was twice married. His first

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

wife was Miss Elizabeth Standiford, by whom he
had one child. After her death, and in the year
1846, he was married to Mrs. Maria Montgomery,
a daughter of Mr. William Pierson, of Jefferson
county. By this marriage he had two sons, Henry
D., and James P. Mr. Robb's younger days were
spent in the salt business, he being formany years
superintendent of the famous Brook's Salt Works.
The elder son, Henry D., was married in 187 1
to Miss Joetta Brooks, daughter of S. M. Brooks,
of Bullitt county. They have three children :Vir-
gie R., Edith Pearl and Henry D. Although so
young a man, Hon. Henry Robb has represent-
ed the people of his district in the Legislature
and filled many offices with honor to himself
and to those he represented. He is one of the
rising men, with the greater part of his threescore
years and ten yet before him.

General Biographies.

B. S. ALDERSON.

B. S. Alderson, one of the successful farmers
of the county, was born near Richmond, Virginia,
April 3, 181 5. When he was about a year old a
colony of his relatives, including his father, John
A. Alderson, moved to Maury county, Tennes-
see. When sixteen he went to Natchez, Missis-
sippi, where for about eight years he was operat-
ing in stocks, trading and bartering with who-
ever would sell or buy. He next went to New
Orleans and took a one-third interest in a pro-
duce house in that city, and became the agent of
the house on the road.

In 1848 he came to Louisville, where he man-
aged the Hotel de Rein as proprietor for a period
of five years. A tornado swept him out, and about
thirty-one years ago he purchased the West Wood
farm, where he has since resided.

February 4, 1843, he married Nancy Seebolt, a
daughter of George S. Seebolt, an old resident
of the county, who was born about 1787, in
Montgomery county, on the 25th of December
of that year. He was a prominent man among
the Indians. His father, George S. Seebolt,

moved upon the waters of Chenoweth run. He
had been in Louisville six years previous to this,
with his family, and entered a large tract
of land, commonly known as the Phelps tract,
but during his absence other parties came in and
settled upon it. It not being in the mind of
Mr. Seebolt to remove them he hunted up other
waters near Jefifersontown, as the main object in
that day was to get near some permanent stream
of water. Mr. Alderson is the father of seven
children, of whom four are living. Mr. Alder-
son's farm consists of two hundred acres of good
land, about two miles west of Jeffersontown, and
is under a very high state of cultivation, as is
shown by the cleanly condition of fences, rows,
and fields, as well as the good repair in which
the buildings are kept. Mr. Alderson has an ab-
horrence of debt, it being a rule with him to
discharge his dues to others with exactness.

FRANK S. DRAVO,
proprietor of the Diamond Fruit farm, of Jeffer-
sontown precinct, is of French descent, but was
born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania,
August 13, 1829. He is the fourth of ten chil-
dren of Michael Dravo, also a native of Penn-
sylvania, his father being born in France. Mr.
Dravo has a good education — receiving first a
good primary education, afterwards graduating
from Alleghany college, Pennsylvania. Upon
leaving school he became associated with his
father and brothers in the coal trade at Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, under the firm name of Dravo &
Sons. In 1856 he came to Louisville, Kentucky,
where he had charge of a branch of the coal
business of J. T. and F. S. Dravo, which he
carried on successfully until i860, when he
sold his interest in this enterprise, and became
from that time on extensively engaged in farm-
ing. Besides the Diamond Fruit farm he owns
several other large tracts of land in the vicinity
of his home. He has the largest fruit farm in
Jefferson county, consisting of thousands of
apple, peach, pear, and other kinds of trees.
His grounds of the manor place are arranged
with a vi~w to utility and beauty, and his home
is one of the most attractive and handsomely
arranged in the county or State.

On February 3, 1857, he married Margaret F.

5fe

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Seabolt, the youngest child of Jacob Seabolt, a
well known resident of the county. By this wife
he had two children — A. B. and George M.
This wife died February 3, 1878.

On January 1, 1880, he married Anna Seabolt,
daughter of John Seabolt.

Mr. Dravo is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church of Jeffersontovvn, and is a
gentleman whose integrity and real worth give
him the esteem of all.

COLONEL NOAH CARTWRIGHT,

of Fern Creek, was born March 14, 1833, in
Highland county, Ohio. His father, William A.
Cartwright, was a native of Maryland. He was
born in 1792 or 1793, came to Kentucky where
he was raised to manhood, then married, and
moved to Pike county, Ohio. He was in theWar
of 1 812, and fought in the battle of the Thames
under General Harrison. He was a cousin of
Rev. Peter Cartwright, and, like him, devoted
his life to the ministry — having during that time
built two churches on his own account, and
preached the gospel fully sixty years before he
died. About the year 18 16 he married Sarah
Stilwell, of New Jersey, and by this union had
ten children, all dead now but Mary Ann, Peter,
Job, Noah, and Elizabeth. Noah, the subject of
this sketch, spent his youth on a farm, and when
twenty years of age began the profession of
teaching. He afterwards attended South Salem
academy, but after being there but one year was
elected an associate professor by the directors
of that institution. After remaining here one
•year and a half he determined to complete
his studies, and according to this purpose en-
tered Miami university in 1856, and was put
into the junior class. He graduated in the
spring of 1858, an honor to himself and to the
institution, having attained an average in scholar-
ship during that time of 99.96, and one of 100
on punctuality, making a general average of
99.98.

After graduating he came to Kentucky, and in
i860 became identified as principal of the Ma-
sonic Seminary in Columbus. The usual suc-
cess heretofore experienced attended him in this
enterprise. Teaching had been selected as his
chosen profession, and he entered into the work

with his usual energy, embarking with capital
to the full extent of his financial ability. Un-
fortunately the war broke out soon after this
time, and Mr. Cartwright was obliged to leave
his adopted town by order of those who opposed
the Union cause, and in so doing lost all his
earthly possessions. He was, however, under
the necessity of entering the Confederate army,
' which he did for a time, doing picket duiy in
the meanwhile. He came to Fern village, in
April, 1 86 1, and immediately went to work and
raised a company, and, with Bryant Williams as
lieutenant, entered the Union army. Being
ordered out of the State when Buckner made
his raid, he was first marched to Bowling
Green, then to Nashville, to Huntsville, and
back on BuelPs retreat and was engaged in the
battle of Perryville, where twenty-nine of his
company were killed and wounded ; he was at
the battles of Stone river, Chickamauga, Murfrees-
boro, and other places. At Chickamauga he was
an officer of the Fourteenth Army corps. At
Stone river he was promoted to major, and in
July was promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy
of the regiment. He also served for a time as
inspector of commissary stores, and was also in
attendance on court martials fo» a time. After
the battle of Chickamaugahe was detailedto take
one hundred wagons into the Confederate coun-
try and get the same filled with corn. After this
hazardous service was performed he resigned his
commission and returned home. Colonel Cart-
wright had seen hard service in the war. He lost
a finger in battle, had the heel of his boot shot
off, holes shot in his sleeve, and his rubber can
teen badly perforated with bullets, but received
no further injury. His health gave way — rheu-
matism being the immediate cause of his resig-
nation.

After returning home he resumed farming and
also teaching, directing his energies in that pro-
fession in the school of Jefferson county, and has
held the office of county examiner since 1876.
In 1880 he completed the building of his large
and elegant residence, a structure beautiful in
appearance and designed by himself, and lives
with his family in the enjoyment of a comfort-
able home.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ELIAS DORSEY.

Elias Dorsey, brother of Leaven Lawrence
Dorsey, was born in Maryland in 1797; and when
a mere youth came with his father to Jefferson
county, where the family settled. Mr. Dorsey
experienced the many inconveniences of living
in a sparsely settled country, but he grew up to
manhood, possessing many valuable traits be-
longing to good citizenship, and became not
only a thorough business man but very influen-
tial. He was always a Democrat, and in view
of his unflinching political qualifications, his
friends at one time forced him upon the ticket
as a candidate for the State Legislature, against
the wishes of himself and of his family. He
was defeated by a small plurality, which ended his
political career. He was a successful farmer, as
the proprietorship of the valuable Eden stock
farm would of itself suggest. There were in
this one tract of land eight hundred acres, the
same afterwards owned by Elias and L. L. Dor-
sey, his two sons. Mr. Dorsey was married
twice. His first wife, Miss Sallie Booker, was
married to him when he was quite young. They
reared a family of thirteen children, of whom all
grew to maturity^save one, who died in youth.
The eldest never married and died at the age of
twenty-seven. Another son also died when about
twenty-five years old, unmarried.

Mr. Dorsey, after the death of Mrs. Sally Dor-
sey, his second wife, went to Illinois, then a wil-
derness almost, and purchased a large tract of
land consisting of twenty thousand acres, where
he lived until he died. His body was brought
back and placed in the cemetery at Louisville.

Mr. L. L. Dorsey, Jr., his son, now living on
the Bardstown pike near the city, was born Feb-
ruary 17, 1819. About the year 1845 he mar-
ried Miss Lydia Phillips, and lived until recently
on the Eden stock farm. He has lately pur-
chased the magnificent house and farm above
mentioned, where he will spend the remainder
of his days in the enjoyment of a retired life.
Mr. L. L. Dorsey, with but a single exception,
has been one of the largest stock raisers in the
country. He* devoted much of his time to this
calling both before and since the late war.

JOHN F. GARR.

John F. Garr, of Cane Run precinct, an early
settler and prominent citizen of the county, was
born February 24, 1806, in Spoltsylvania county,
Virginia. He is a descendant of Abraham Garr,
of German parentage, who with his brothers
John and Andrew emigrated to America and
settled on large tracts of land in Spottsylvania
county previous to the time of the Revolutionary
war. These brothers in course of time separated,
and their descendants are found in most of the
States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They
were of marked traits of character, long lived
and prolific, and have indelibly impressed their
habits of thrift and economy upon each of their
succeeding generations. John Garr, son of
Abraham and grandfather of John F. Garr,
moved to Madison county, Virginia, when a
young man, and settled upon a beautiful rolling
tract of land on Robinson river, a branch of the
Rappahannock near the mountains of the Blue
Ridge. He was an early settler of this county,
and was the first owner of a corn and hominy
mill. He lived prior to the struggle for inde-
pendence, and died comparatively a young man,
his death being caused by a horse throwing him
violently against a tree. He was the father of
six sons : Lawrence, Abraham, John, Aaron,
Felix, and Benjamin ; and three daughters —
Mrs. Rosa Wayman, Mrs. Peggie House (Mr.
Moses House, her husband, was killed in the
battle of Tippecanoe), Mrs. Dina Cook, and
Mrs. Susan Garr. He purchased land near
Danville, Kentucky, where Lawrence and John
settled. Abraham moved to Indiana ; Rosa
Wayman died in Kenton county, Kentucky, on
Sulphur creek ; Benjamin died on Bear Grass
near Chenoweth run; Susan also died near
Louisville; Aaron, the father of John F. Garr,
came to Kentucky in 1835 and settled on a
tract of two hundred and twenty acres of land
near Anchorage, the same being now owned by
Simeon L. Garr, h»6 youngest son. This land
was purchased of John Downey. Aaron Garr
had three sons : John F., Mark F., deceased,
a citizen of California, and S. L. Garr, president
of the board of commissioners of the Central
Kentucky Lunatic asylum.

John F. Garr received his education in a term
of twelve months' school under the professor-

•?« Cjy'- . Jcd/jtz-dic^)

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ship of Tacket, who was proprietor and principal
of a seminary in Virginia. In 1832 he set out
for Jefferson county, Kentucky, in company
with Jacob Garr, his father's cousin, who married
his aunt Susan Garr, and after a four weeks' ride
in a little two-horse wagon reached his destina-
tion, selecting the farm he still owns and on
which he has since that time resided. This
land wa's purchased of a Mr. Morns, who owned
some sixteen hundred acres in this immediate
vicinity at thai time, and was the original of this
farm. Mr. Garr found his land covered with
timber, beech, walnut and poplar predominat-
ing, which had to be cleared, off to make ready
for the cultivation of the soil. Being of a hardy
character and already inured to hardships, he
shouldered his axe and its ringing sound was
heard until sufficient space of ground was made
ready for the plow. Wood at that time was
the only fuel used in the stove and fire-place,
and it was cut into suitable length for that purpose,
hauled to the village and sold at prices then
ranging from two to four dollars per cord.
Soon after his arrival he earnestly set himself
at work to build a house, and one now visit-
ing his present large, commodious and sub-
stantial habitation would little think it was
erected fifty years since. The poplar logs, then
so abundant, were shaped and saddled and
afterwards the whole structure was neatly weath-
erboarded, giving it the appearance of a large
frame house — better than brick, being warmer
in winter and more comfortable in summer.
The work of cutting this timber, hewing the logs,
and fashioning the house, was done by Mr. Garr
himself.

This house was erected just previous to his
marriage, which occurred in the year 1834, his
wife being Miss Lucy Yager, daughter of Jesse
Yager of Oldham county, a prominent pioneer
of Kentucky, and whose native State was Vir-
ginia. This marriage has been blest with four
children. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller, the oldest, is a
resident cf Williamsburg, Indiana. Thomas B.,
the oldest son, is also married. His wife was Miss
Bettie J. Speer, daughter of James Speer, for-
merly sheriff of Oldham county, Kentucky. He
resides in Louisville. The two youngest, James
Polk and Simeon L, are unmarried. Mr. Garr
is a quiet, unostentatious man, and cares little
(or political preferments. He was, however,

sent by voters of his county to the State Legisla-
ture, where he officiated as a member of the
lower house during the first sitting of the Legis-
lature under the new constitution. Mr. Garr is
wholly a domestic man, has been successful in
business, is a good citizen and a man whom his
church, his neighbors and the citizens generally
have reason to be proud of.

The three sons, T. B., J. P., and S. L. Garr,
are very extensively engaged in the manufacture
of the Mahogany Navy, a very fine quality of
tobacco. They operate under the firm name of
the Garr Brothers, 610-616 Hancock street.
Their Eagle Tobacco works are extensive, hav-
ing a capacity of three thousand pounds per day.
They run a force of seventy-five men. Their
building is a large three-story brick ; was for-
merly owned by Samuel Richardson, who used
it as a woolen mill. It was purchased of J. S.
Willett by the Garr Brothers in 1872, and by
them enlarged to its present size.

S. L. GARR,

President of the Board of Commissioners of
Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum and proprie-
tor of the valuable Southern Hope Nurseries,
Anchorage, was born in Madison county, Vir-
ginia, October 5, 18 15. His father, Aaron Garr,
was a native of Virginia and an extensive farmer.
He came with his family to Jefferson county,
Kentucky, in 1835, and died in 1844 at seventy-
two years of age. He was a plain man, made
no ostentatious showing, and lived many years a
worthv member of the Baptist church. His
oldest son, John F. Gair, a farmer living a short
distance east of Louisville, was a member of the
State Legislature in 1857. Mark F. Garr,
another son, now dead, lived in California.

Mr. S. L. Garr, the subject of this sketch, re-
ceived a good education in the common and
public schools of his native county, afterwards,
completing his course in the University of
Bloomington, Indiana.

In 1837 he became united in matrimony to
Miss Eliza Yager, daughter of Jesse Yager, an
old and prominent settler of Oldham county,
Kentucky. By this marriage he became the
father of three children, the oldest, Mrs. Laura
Virginia Gaines, a resident of Jefferson county;

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Preslie Neville Garr, captain of a company in
the Confederate service, was a young man of
more than ordinary nerve and bravery, and was
promoted from the ranks to the captaincy of his
company, the position held in 1864, when he
was killed; he was leading his command in per-
son when making a grand charge on the. enemy.
The youngest son, William O. Butler Garr is also
dead.

Mr. Garr was married to his second wife, Miss
Eliza R. Farnsley, in 1852. She was the daugh-
ter of the well known and extensive farmer,
Alexander Farnsley, below Louisville. The
issue ot this marriage was one child, Erasmus D.
Garr, who died when four years of age.

Mr. Garr has identified himself, in a public
spirited way, with the interests of his country-
men in politics, by his prominence in matters
of public concern, and by his service of
seventeen years as chairman of the county Dem-
ocratic committee, and by the unflagging interest
taken in the Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum.
His superior judgment and good sense have
always commended him to positions of honor
and responsibility, but with a feeling akin to a
repugnance for office has with but few excep-
tions acceded to the wishes of his friends. In
1856 he was nominated by the Democratic party
as a candidate for the Kentucky State Legisla-
ture, but was defeated. He has been frequently
solicited by the Governor of the State to serve the
public inteiest in various capacities, but invari-
ably declined. His interest in the promotion of
the Central Lunatic asylum will leave him a record
in the history of that institution as one of its
founders, and for many years during its early
existence as its warmest supporter.

In 1870, in connection with Dr. Vallandigham,
and R. C. Hudson, was appointed by Governor
Leslie to take measures preparatory to the
erection of a house of refuge. These three
gentlemen took the matter in hand in a business
manner, and after visiting various State institu-
tions of the kind purchased a plan ot the present
building from an architect at Lancaster, Ohio,
and erected the main building, one hundred and
twenty by sixty feet, superintending the work
themselves. In 1872 it was decided by the State
authorities that the house should be changed in
its purposes and made an asylum for the insane
of this portion of the State, since which time

Mr. Garr has been one of its officers, serving in
the capacity of commissioner until 1879, when
the board made him, in honor of his fit-
ness and distinguished services, president of the
institution.

In the capacity of president of the asylum Mr.
Garr serves the interests of the State free of
charge, and devotes much of his time at the in-
stitution. His presence among the inmates is
always a welcome one to them; he has a kind
word and a cheerful manner for them all, and
the interest manifested in their welfare, and the
frequent generous donations made from his
bounty to alleviate. their wants, not only endears
him to them as their worthy friend and benefac-
tor, but entitles him to an everlasting regard on
the part of the great State of Kentucky.

Mr. Garr has also been a successful fruit
grower, some years before and since the war.
His large farm, embracing the Southern Hope
nurseries, is well adapted in soil and means of
propagation to raise thrifty, healthy and vigorous
trees, and his twenty years and more experience
in testing fruits, and in their cultivation, and
careful attention to business, merits the extensive
patronage he receives everywhere. His stock
embraces fruit and ornamental trees, small fruits,
vines, trees, roses, etc., of the most approved
varieties and those most worthy of general culti-
vation, and he recommends nothing till he has
found it worthy, and is satisfied with its merits
after he has tested in his grounds.

A. G. HERR,

proprietor of the fine, large and valuable Mag-
nolia stock farm, is a son of Hon. John Herr,
Jr., once a member of the State Legislature, and
for forty years a magistrate of his precinct, and
grandson of John Herr, one of the most promi-
nent of the early settlers of Jefferson county.
He was born on the Magnolia stock farm, near
Lyndon, December 30, 1840, and although yet
but a young man, has been instrumental in effect-
ing such changes and making improvements
for the public good, that his record of the past
indelhbly stamps him as a progressive and public
spirited citizen of the county. He has spent his
whole life on the place he was born, receiving a

<z^A^/

MAGNOLIA STOCK FARM. Resii*

of A. G. HERR, Lyndon P. O., Jefferson Co., KY:

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

good common school education in his father's
district.

After becoming of age, and having a voice in
those things affecting the public welfare, he
turned his attention to the much needed im-
provements of highways — a matter that should
have received attention many years previous.
He first forced the issue upon the people for the
opening up of a pike from St. Matthews east,
a distance of three and a half miles. He
met with considerable opposition in regard to
this enterprise, but obtained a charter from the
State government, and then undertook to build
it by taxation, then by subscription, but the
burden of the work and outlay rested upon him
alone, and after it was finished at a cost of six-
teen thousand dollars, he donated the road to
the Shelbyville & Goose Creek Turnpike com-
pany, who erected gates, charge toll, and keep it
in repair.

During the same year (1873) he also forced a
county road from Lyndon station, through farms
to Goose Creek turnpike, thence through farms
to Brownsboro pike, thence to the river, a dis-
tance of six miles.

As much as the improvements on highways
were needed, there was not such disposition to
assist Mr. Herr as there probably should have
been at the time, and in these matters he was
left to carry the work through himself, or let it
go by default. He chose to do the former, and to-
day is gratefully held in remembrance for per-
forming his duty.

In 1877, he built an elegant little structure for
a school-house, located it to suit the convenience
of his neighbors, and paid the cost — eight
hundred dollars — out of his own pocket.

Mr. Herr is best known by the people of the
county, and by the fancy stock men of the
United States by the Magnolia stock farm he
owns.

This farm consists of two hundred and six
acres of land of the best quality, and was thus
named by George D. Prentice forty years ago,
from the quantity of magnolias that grew upon
it. Mr. Herr established the farm — upon the
basis it is now run, in 1864, and built the magnifi-
cent mansion in' 1877. It is a double house,
square in form, two stories and attic, with a hall,
eighteen feet in width.

His farm is stocked with thorough breeds from

a horse down to an imported goose. Here may
be found the finest display of Jersey cattle,
Yorkshire hogs, Silesian Merino sheep, as well as
horses for the race track or trotting match, and a
magnificent display of poultry.

He has lately sold two cows for fifteen hundred
dollars each. He also sold, a short time since,
four calves and three cows for the snug sum of
thirty-seven hundred and twenty-five dollars, the
highest price ever paid west of the Alleghanies.

He frequently attends the St. Louis exhibition
of fine stock, and generally carries off rich
rewards in the way of medals and prizes.

He used to regard fifty dollars as a good price
for a hog, but has since that time paid as high as
fifteen hundred dollars for a sow.

In 1879 Mr. Herr was appointed by Governor
Blackburn as one of the commissioners of the
Central Kentucky Lunatic asylum. This appoint-
ment was received after the Governor had made
a tour amongst the various institutions of the
State, and was convinced that the institution and
the interests of the State were being sadly neg-
lected, and determined on making a radical
change in the board of commissioners, and know-
ing A. G. Herr's indefatigable energy as a public-
spirited man, and having every reason to believe
that this neglect would be immediately obviated
by appointing him as one of the commissioners
did so. The wisdom of this appointment we
will soon see.

After Mr. Herr received his appointment he
inspected the premises and its workings, and
discovered that the institution was entirely at the
mercy of the Short Line railroad, as to the trans-
portation of its freights.

On the one article of coal it was not only pay-
ing freight on eighty or ninety thousand bushels
of that commodity per year from Louisville to
Anchorage, but two and a half cents per bushel
to cart it from the latter place to the asylum, a
distance of one and a half miles. The former
board had made the Short Line railroad a prop-
osition to connect the asylum with the road, and
the lowest bid was $13,000. This did not suit
Mr. Herr, and determining to bring the Short
Line to better terms, decided that the institution
should do its own hauling, and that he would
build two and a half miles of pike, and con-
nect tne asylum with the Goose Creek pike,
making in this way good connection with Louis-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ville. This was too much for the railroad, and
the company decided that they would furnish
iron and cross ties and labor to complete the
road to the engine-house at the asylum without
cost, if the institution would do the grading, and
say nothing about the $13,000.

This connection not only saves the State
$9,000 in completing the road (the grading cost-
ing the sum of $4,000), but it is a permanent
saving to the State in carting eighty thousand
bushels of coal each year, which at two and a
half cents per bushel would amount to $2,000
annually.

Mr. Herr was married the 2d of November,
i860, to Miss Mattie E. Guthrie, daughter of
James Guthrie, of Henry county, and has had
by this marriage four children, two boys and two
girls — Ada, Fannie, James Guthrie, and A. G.
Herr, Jr.

' EDWARD D. HOBBS,
engineer, railroad president, and agriculturist,
was born in 1810, in Jefferson county, Kentucky.
He was educated mainly in Louisville, his family
having removed to that city in 1820; from 1830
to 1835 he was engaged as city engineer; was the
founder of the Louisville Savings institution; es-
tablished the first real estate agency in that city;
in 1840 removed to his farm, near Anchorage;
was elected to the Legislature in 1843, a"d was
twice re-elected; was elected to the State Senate
without opposition in 1847, but resigned before
the expiration of the term; was president of the
Louisville & Frankfort railroad company from
1855 to 1867, and administered the affairs of
that road with great ability, being one of the
most successful railroad men in Kentucky.

In 1867 he retired to his farm and has since
devoted his attention mainly to agricultural pur-
suits, giving much of his time to horticulture and
fruit growing. Although an invalid for a great
part of his life, before he was thirty years of
age he had accumulated a considerable fortune.

Religiously he is associated with the Methodist
Episcopal church, and has been noted for his
integrity of character, his sound judgment and
business skill, and is universally beloved and es-
teemed as one of the most energetic and valuable
men in this part of Kentucky.

Mr. Hobbs was married, December 4, 1832,
to Miss Henning, daughter of Samuel Henning,
the brother of James \V. Henning, of Louisville.
In 1839 he was married to Miss Craig, daughter
of John D. Craig, of Georgetown, Kentucky,
and from this marriage has five living children.

ANDREW HOKE.

One of the oldest living representatives of Jef-
fersontown precinct is Andrew Hoke. He was
born in this precinct November 17, 1801, and
although in the eighty-first year of his age he
still continues to make a hand at the plow or in
the harvest field. His health and strength are
living examples to attest the virtue of a life when
temperate in all things. His memory is remark-
ably good and singularly clear for one of his age.
He is a descendant of one Jacob Hoke, who
emigrated to the colonies in an early day from
Germany. His grandfather, Andrew Hoke, par-
ticipated in the battle of Trenton, on that event-
ful Christmas day when Washington crossed the
Delaware and captured a thousand Hessians — a
stroke so bold, an event so important, as to in-
delibly impress it on the student of American
history. He was at Braddock's defeat and
surrender, and saw it all. Andrew Hoke
and his family came to Kentucky in 1795,
in November of that year, and settled, first in a
log hut near where Andrew Hoke now lives, and
afterwards built a stone house. The log house
stood on the old dirt road leading from Louisville
to Jeffersontown. The stone house stlfl stands.
His grandfather, Andrew Hoke, purchased about
four hundred acres of land from Colonel Frede-
rick Geiger, and after building his house lived in
it until 1800, when he died. He had two sons,
Jacob and Peter. Jacob, the father of the sub-
ject of this sketch, who married Catherine Ris-
singer, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, built the stone
house now occupied by William O. Ragland, in
1799. He had three sons — John, now in the
eighty-second year of his age, is deaf and dumb.
Jacob, the youngest, moved to Indiana in 1831,
and died in 1866. John, the oldest, is the pic-
ture of health, and enjoys life, notwithstanding
his affliction. He attended the Danville Institu-
tion for the Deaf and Dumb for a period of

(5/t*f,>yQ?&/> t </

C^foe&i^&dk^

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

three years. He makes his home with his
brother Andrew.

Andrew Hoke has been married four times.
His first wife was Miss Julia Susan Funk. They
were married the 27th of August, 1824, and had
in all six children. Three only are now living —
Mary, Henry, and John. The second wife was
Elizabeth Yenawine, to whom he was married the
5th day of March, 1835. Of this union one
child, Edward, is living. He was married again
on the 8th of July, 1841, to Caroline Hummel,
who died on the 22d of July the year following.
He was married the fourth time to Caroline Ma-
tilda Folk, who still lives. Of these children
Robert H., Fannie L, Emory, and William A.
are living. Robert H. and Fannie L are
married. Mr. Hoke built his house in 1828.
The structure, which was made of brick, is still
in very good condition. Mr. Hoke was one
of the movers in the Taylorville turnpike road,
and is still one of the directors of the company.
He has been for a number of years a member of
the Presbyterian church, and has shown in the
long, eventful life he has lived, the virtue there
is in Christianity. He lives within the quiet re-
treat of his own home circle, owes no man a dol
lar, is in peace with his neighbor, and is ready at
the proper time to pass over.

LEAVEN LAWRENCE DORSEY,

one of the oldest living representatives of Gilman
precinct, was born in Maryland, December 31,
1799. His father, Edward Dorsey, came with
his family to Jefferson county about the year
1 8 10, and settled upon a tract of land at O'Ban-
non station, where Mr. Dorsey also moved after
his marriage with Susan O'Bannon, January 25,
1820. Miss O'Bannon was a native of Virginia.
Her father moved to this State when she was
but ten or twelve years old. She is still living,
but the infirmities of old age have gradually
• crept upon her, until now she is an invalid. Mr.
Dorsey has been helpless during the past eighteen
years.

About the year 1838 they settled upon a
large tract of three or four hundred acres of
land, where they reside at the" present time, one
and a half miles from Lyndon station, and where

Mr. Dorsey erected a large, elegant residence at
that time.

Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey have been members of
the Methodist church for full three score years.
They have always been quiet citizens, unobtru-
sive in their manners, caring aught save living
holy, Christian lives. There are three children
living from this union — Eveline, Mary, and Bush-
rod — all married. The former married Dr. G.
W. Bashaw, and lives near Lyndon station, and
is now enjoying a retired life. The second
daughter is a widow.

Mr. L. B. Dorsey was born January 31, 1828,
and was married October 25, i860, to Miss Sallie
E. Herndon, of Henry county, Kentucky, and
from this union has eight children; the eldest
daughter, Mrs. Susie Winchester, is the only one
married. Mr. Dorsey and family are members
of the Christian church. He resides on the old
Dorsey homestead.

ALANSON MOORMAN,
son of D. Moorman, was born in Campbell
county, Virginia, November 18, 1803, being the
youngest child of four sons and four daughters.
His father was born in Albemarle county, Vir-
ginia, December 15, 1762, and was of English
descent, and of a name purely Saxon in origin,
"Moor," signifying the commons or prairies of
that country, and "man" of, or "Moorman," as
is given in the highest book of British authority
on the derivation of English names. The deriva-
tion of most names is from place or occupation.
In the Royal Heraldic office in London may
be found a certified copy of the heraldry of the
family. This goes to show that the family was
respectable, in what we may term ancient times,
there being no heraldic designs or family records
of the serfs or lower classes. The Moorman
motto on their coat of arms is Esse quam rideri,
"To be, not seem to be." The name is spelled
in the coat of arms as it is now, viz: Moorman.
The descendants of this family are numerous,
and are found both in England and America,
and without exception a very respectable class.
Some are in government affairs, some following
professional pursuits, and others agriculture,
trade, and commerce. Long before the Revolu-
tionary war, to avoid Quaker persecutions, two

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

brothers of this family emigrated to America,
and settled in one of the southeast counties of
Virginia. Their descendants emigrated to the
counties of Albemarle, Campbell, Bedford, and
other counties of the State.

There is a river in Albemarle county known
as the Moorman river.

The family in Virginia is now most numerous
in Campbell and Bedford counties, though many
of the same name live in other counties of the
State, and the numerous heads of families now
scattered through the Middle, Southern, and
Western States, are descendants of the two
brothers previously noticed.

D. Moorman, father of Alanson Moorman, was
married to Elizabeth Heth, February 15, 1785,
and raised from this union a family of eight
children. D. Moorman moved to Kentucky
from Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1807, and
settled on the Ohio river, above Bradenburg,
then Hardin county, now Meade, about forty

miles below Louisville, then a comparative wilder-
ness. The family was large. Then the country
was but sparsely settled, while here and there a
roving band of Indians were seen frequently.
The employment then was for years in clearing
up the forest that they might have corn-meal for
bread. Fish were abundant, as was the wild game
in the woods.

Upon arriving at manhood Mr. Moorman mar-
ried Rachael Steth, daughter of Benjamin and
Phoebe Steth, and has raised up seven sons and
three daughters.

In 1 86 1 he sold out his Meade county posses-
sions, and settled upon a large tract ot land near
Valley Station. He and his son also own an
orange grove in Florida which is now becoming
valuable.

Mr. Moorman has been very successful in
every undertaking in his life. His sons are now
carrying on farming, and he himself has retired
from active pursuits of life.

ajidrti . V%s or / jj/ce<n.

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<Haple ami llorf Counties. Indiana,

I m

GENERAL HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

GEOLOGY OF CLARKE AND FLOYD COUNTIES.'
A GENERAL VIEW.

The counties of Clarke and Floyd are divided
by a line extending from the point of union of
Clarke, Washington, Floyd, and Harrison coun-
ties, in a southeasterly direction to its intersec-
tion with Silver creek, and thence along this
stream to its junction with the Ohio river. They
are bounded on the north by Jefferson and Scott
counties, on the west by Washington and Har-
rison, and on the south and east by the Ohio
river.

The geological series represented within this
territory probably embraces a larger range of
strata than is found in any other portion of the
Stat% Beginning with the upper beds of the
Cincinnati group of the Lower Silurian, as seen
in the northeastern part of Clarke county, it
includes all the intermediate formations to the
pentremital limestone of the sub-carboniferous
at Greenville, in the western portion of Floyd
county. The rock strata of this district were
originally deposited horizontally, but at present
are very much elevated in the northeastern bor-
der on the Ohio river. These formations have
the appearance of having been built up from
the southwest, resting uniformly one upon the
other, the lower always reaching farther east
than the formation immediately above, thus pre-
senting to the geologist, on a grand scale, a wide
field for investigation. The outcrop of so many
different formations in this field is doubtless
owing to the Cincinnati uplift and to the effect
of erosion, which has constantly been doing its
work in wearing away the strata.

Life abounded in the ancient Silurian sea which

•Abridged from the accounts of Dr. E. T. Cox and Pro-
fessor William W. Borden, in the State Geological Reports,
with important corrections by the kindness of Major W. T.
Davis, of Louisville.

once covered the territory through which a portion
of the Ohio river and some of its affluents now
flow, between corn covered hills. The coral
reefs of these ancient seas are now seen as
limestone beds, covered with the stems and
heads, and long, gracefully waving and delicately
fringed arms, which belong to forms of a life so
old that the most exalted imagination of the
poet and geologist can have no adequate concep-
tion of the lapse of time since they were pos-
sessed of life.

DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY IN DETAIL.

The lowest series of rocks exposed in the dis-
trict of Clarke and Floyd counties is seen in the
northeastern part of the former county. The
upper strata of the Cincinnati group here out-
crops at the mouth of Begg's run on the Ohio
river, on tract No. 77, Illinois Grant, one mile
and a half north of Fourteen Mile creek. Begg's
run is fed by springs at the summit of the bluff,
some three hundred feet above the Ohio river.
The stream, by constant abrasion, has worn a
narrow and romantic channel through strata after
strata to the river. In this locality the rock is a
hard, shaly, blue limestone, carrying an abun-
dance of characteristic fossils, which are exposed
at extreme low water. The following section was
obtained immediately below the entrance of this
stream into the river :

Comiferous limestone, 12 feet; yellow rock,
magnesian limestone, 20 feet; "Grandad" lime-
stone, used for building purposes, 4 feet; gray
crystalline limestone, Niagara, 14 feet; crinoidal
bed, 6 feet; magnesian limestone, 20 feet; blue
and yellow clay shale, 8 feet; stratified magnesian
limestone, 75 feet; blue shaly marlite, 100 feet;
dark blue shaly limestone, Cincinnati group, 20
feet — total, 279 feet.

The upper part of this section, from No. 6 up
ward, corresponds with the section at Utica, in
Clarke county, where the rocks are quarried for

1 3

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

lime and building purposes. The bluffs are here
capped with corniferous limestone.

The outcrop of the Cincinnati group here first
exposed is on Camp creek; fourteen miles farther
up the river it is one hundred and eighty feet
above the bed of Camp creek, and two hundred
and fifty feet above low water in the Ohio. The
elevation of the strata from that point to Marble
Hill, six miles distant, and on the line of Jeffer-
son county, will add about fifty feet more to this
number. The magnesian limestone, which com-
prises the bluffs on the river below the latter
point, becomes the surface rock at many places
on the bank of Camp creek, and is in detached
masses fifteen to twenty feet thick, and liable at
any time, as their foundations wear away, to be
precipitated into the valley below.

The characters of the Madison rocks, which
belong to the Cincinnati group as exposed on
the bluffs of Camp creek, are a thin, stratified,
dark-blue crystalline limestone, with intermediate
layers of a lighter-colored, coarse-grained lime-
stone. At this point this formation carries an
abundance of characteristic fossils. The Marble
Hill marble stratum is also recognized here by-
its fossils, although in a disintegrating state. The
beds of the Cincinnati formation are here well
exposed. The dip of the strata in this region is
to the southwest at the rate of about 22 feet to
the mile. In places along the banks of the
Ohio river the rocks show in magnificent cliffs,
some 200 or 300 feet high.

The Marble Hill stone was formerly much
used for building, but has long ceased to be em-
ployed for this purpose. The lines of light yel-
low in the interstices and between the shells,
being composed of a salt of iron, which is oxi-
dized on exposure, destroys the value of this
stone. The best tests of building stone are mois-
ture, atmosphere, freezing, and thawing. Although
this stone has not proven to be valuable for out-
door work, it is well adapted for inside ornamen-
tation, and may be worked into mantels, table-
tops, and other useful articles. It takes a good
polish and is quite handsome, being filled with
fossil spiral shells, which appear in fine contrast
with its dark ground.

THE CLINTON GROUP.

Immediately overlying the rocks of the Cin-
cinnati formation is occasionally found a gray

and yellow stratified sandstone, which probably
belongs to the Clinton group of the Ohio and
New York geologists. It varies greatly. Some-
times it is soft, and at other times hard, and
difficult to work. Its thickness averages twenty
feet. It occurs at the summit of the ridge at
Camp creek, and continues to Marble Hill.

THE NIAGARA GROUP.

The rocks belonging to this epoch are so called
from their appearance in great force at Niagara
Falls. They are conspicuously displayed in
Clarke county along the line of the Ohio river,
and occasionally occur in the neighborhood of
Charlestown, the county seat. The lowest out-
crop of the Niagara is seen at extreme low water
on the falls of the Ohio, near the whirlpool on
the Indiana side. A characteristic Halysites
catenulatus, or chain coral, is here occasionally
obtained. These rocks extend in a northeast-
erly direction to Utica, on the Ohio river, seven
miles above, where they are quarried for the
manufacture of lime. Some further notice of
them is made in connection with our history of
that township. The "yellow rock" here forming
the top of the Niagara appears to be a magnesian
limestone. At the head of Begg's run it is weath-
ered into large, irregularly shaped masses, pre-
senting on the bluffs a columnar and castellated
appearance, which in some instances resembles
the ruins of an ancient temple. One well-poised
block, six feet in diameter, is termed "the head
of the corner." This, with two other limestones
of the Utica quarry, was used in building the
great railway bridge at Louisville.

The gray crystalline limestone of this section
contains immense numbers of corals, character-
istic of the Niagara limestone of the New York
geologists; among which the beautiful chain
coral, Halysites catenulatus, is quite conspicuous.
It presents, wherever exposed on the river, a
good face for quarrying. There is usually but
little stripping required. The stone is easy ot
access, is convenient to the river for transportation,
and is extensively used for building purposes.
Some numbers of it are sufficiently firm and dur-
able to answer the purpose of heavy masonry.
The lime burned from this bed and sold under
the name of Utica lime, has acquired by long
use a high reputation, and wherever known is
used in preference to all other brands.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The upper bed in this section is shaly and un-
stable for building purposes, yet when burned
produces a good article of lime, which is highly
esteemed for the purpose of purifying coal gas.
The crinoidal bed of the Niagara is worked with
the other members of the Utica quarry, and in it
are found many beautiful fossils of interest to
the geologist. The remains of crinoids are abun-
dant, yet perfect specimens are rare. Perhaps
the most notable species is Caryorcrinus ornatus,
as this crinoid is here frequently found in a state
of perfect preservation.

A section of the Niagara at Charlestown
landing exhibits a greater elevation of the strata
on the river than at Sharp's quarry, below the
landing, and the elevation gradually increases to
the Mound Builder's fort, one mile above, to
the mouth of Camp creek, and to Marble hill,
in the edge of Jefferson county. There is an
outcrop of the gray crystalline limestone on .the
southwest side of Fourteen Mile creek, near the
summit of the hill, and on the road from Charles-
town to the Mound Builder's fort, in Tract No.
76, Illinois grant. The fossils characteristic of
this rock can here be collected without difficulty,
as they are weathered out and lie scattered over
the surface. Another exposure may be seen
northwest of Charlestown, at Nine-penny branch,
opposite Tunnel mill, on the road to New Wash-
ington.

CORNIFEROUS LIMESTONE.

This, immediately overlying the be.ds of the
Niagara formation, constitutes in the southwest-
ern part of Clarke county, the falls of the Ohio.
The beds have here a thickness of twenty-two
feet, and extend across the river in a southerly-
direction, forming a series of rapids, on a direct
line of one mile and a half. The river flows
over the outcropping edges of the strata and
along the dip, which is almost west. These
strata belong to the Corniferous and Niagara
series. A section at the whirlpool exhibits:

1. Soil and clay.

2. Spirifergregaria bed 3 feetN>

3. Crinoidal bed, nucleocrinus... 3 Je* I Corniferous 22 feet.

4. Gray limestone, full of corals. 4 feet 1

5. Black coral bed(?) 12 feet;

6. Gray crystalline limestone ) Niaeara

with Halysites catenulatus.. 3 feet J ' **

Total 25 feet.

The general color of this limestone here, as in
New York, is a dark gray ; but disseminated be-
tween the layers more or less bitumen is found,

which gives to the surface in such places a darker
appearance. It is hence called "black rock" by
the quarrymen.

The locality of the falls has long been known
as the collector's paradise. The rocks are the
coral reefs of the Paleozoic ocean, and they
contain myriads of fossil forms which exhibit the
exquisite workmanship of the Creator. The
corals are in the greatest profusion, many
being of an immense size and delicate texture.
The species are very numerous. Crinoids are
comparatively rare.

The dip of the corniferous limestone being
about twenty-one feet to the mile, it disappears
beneath the hydraulic limestone at Beach's mill
below the falls. At Fourteen Mile creek, twelve
to fifteen miles above the falls, it attains an ele-
vation of two hundred and fifty feet, and caps
the bluffs almost the entire length of the creek,
affording a fine field for the amateur collector of
fossils, and a good stone for the manufacture of
lime and the building of fences. In the neigh-
borhood of Charlestown it is well exposed on
the headwaters of Pleasant run, but disappears
one mile below, in the bed of the stream, where
it is replaced by the Niagara. At Skaw's mill
and the Black Diamond cement mill at Silver
creek it is seen beneath the hydraulic limestone.
On the Sinking fork of that stream it outcrops
in various places. This formation has been re-
peatedly found to contain small caves, some of
them one-half to one mile and a half in length,
with an abundance of stalactites and some evi-
dence of cave life. There is no doubt, if the
floors of these caves were dug into, that the re-
mains of extinct animals might be obtained,
with perhaps relics of the Mound Builders.

HYDRAULIC LIMESTONE.

This is the most important rock, in an eco-
nomical point of view, in the district composed
of Clarke and Floyd counties.

The lithological, stratigraphical, and paloeon-
tological characteristics of this stone should be
well understood by the citizens of these coun-
ties, where its outcrop may be seen in the banks
of almost every stream. Its horizon is immedi-
ately above the corniferous limestone and below
a forty-two to forty-eight inch bed of crinoidal
limestone, which is overlaid by the New Albany
black slate. It frequently occurs as the surface

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

rock. The color is usually a light drab, but
sometimes it is of a much darker shade. The
top layers of the hydraulic stone are marked at
various points by a dentritic crystalization of
magnesia or lime. The upper beds contain
cherty or hornstone concretions, with spicula of
sponges and desmids. The characteristic fossils
of the hydraulic or cement limestone are Atrypha
reticularis, Spirifer, Owenii, S. euritines, S. vari-
cosa, hadro phylleim d'Orbignyi. The stone is
without cleavage, and breaks with a conchoidal
fracture. The average thickness of the strata is
about twelve feet, and the bed is divided accord-
ing to its hydraulic properties, into quick, medium,
and slow setting. The quick setting variety is
well marked at J. Speed's quarry, on Silver creek,
by a seven foot stratum, which diminishes in the
time required to set, towards the bottom. The
medium stone is from two to three feet thick,
and imperfectly parted from the slow setting
stone, forming the lower part of the quarry.
The lines of demarcation between the separate
beds, although well marked in some cases, are
rather assumed lines of division.

On the lines where the corniferous or Niagara
are the surface rocks, the cement is wanting,
that is, it has been worn away by erosion. The
beds follow the line of Silver creek from the
falls to the junction of the West fork, bearing
east on the line of Pleasant run, thence west of
Charlestown with a more easterly belt following
the Vernon branch of the Ohio & Mississippi
railroad, as at Watson, and terminating northeast
of Charlestown on Allen Barnett's land, but ap-
pearing again at a few points north of Fourteen
Mile creek on the same line, as at J. McMillan's.
The most western belt follows the line of Sinking
fork, cropping out on that stream, and to the
west of it, as at J. Davie's tract No. 169. West
of this it disappears below the New Albany black
slate. The most workable beds are on tracts
Nos. 169 and 150, lands of L>r. Taggart ; No.
132, lands of Collins McCoy, deceased; ana
Cement mill tract No. 130, Illinois Grant; and on
Pleasant run and a narrow belt east of Charles-
town, thence to the falls. The cement rock ap-
pears on the headwaters of Fourteen Mile creek,
and disappears beneath the New Albany black
slate two miles north of G. W. Matthews' tract
No. 152, also at A. M. Tucker's tract No. 153, of
the Grant. The cement reaches far in the

direction of William Kirkpatrick's, formerly the
residence of Ex-Governor Jennings. The out-
crop of this formation has been traced on fifty
tracts of the Grant, each containing five hundred
acres, making twenty-five thousand acres of ex-
posed workable beds. This estimate does not
include twenty thousand acres more, which may
be reduced by means of shafts and tunnels.
There is but a small portion of the county in
which the hydraulic limestone may not be found.
Indeed, it is in quantity practically inexhaustible,
and, on account of its value for the manufacture
of cement, will always be a source of profitable
industry.

There are at present (1873) m tne county six
firms engaged in the manufacture of hydraulic
cement. The stone was first used for this pur-
pose at Verey's (now Beach's mill) at Clarksville,
on the Falls of the Ohio.

The strata containing it outcrops in the river-
bank beneath the mill, and the hydraulic stone
is here fourteen feet six inches thick, as will be
seen by the following section:

1. New Albany black slate 5 in.

2. Crinoidal limestone 4 ft. 2 in.

3. Dark, impure limestone, con-'

taining concretions of horn-
stone, with spicula of
sponges 11 in.

4. Upper cement

bed 4 ft. 1 in.

5. Middle cement

bed 6 ft.

6. Lower cement

bed 3 ft. 6 in.

Comiferous limestone 6 ft.

Total thickness 25 ft. 1 in.

The dividing line between the corniferous and
the hydraulic is not distinctly marked. The beds
in the quarry are separated by lines of fracture,
making occasional floors. The stone increases
in hydraulic properties from below upwards, and
is designated by the manufacturers as slow,
medium, and quick setting. It has no distinct
lines of cleavage, and breaks with a conchoidal
fracture. The extreme upper beds contain con-
cretions of hornstone, with spicula of sponges.
The overlying crinoidal bed is persistent, and
contains a good many fossils, which are difficult
to obtain in good condition. It cleaves well,
but is hard to work. It is used in constructing
the outer wall of the kilns in which the cement
stone is burnt.

The hydraulic limestone originally extended in
one unbroken stratum across the river, but has

Hydraulic lime-
stone 14 ft. 6 in.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

been eroded, and now only a small portion of
the original mass remains on Rock island, near
the center of the stream. Here there is a good
exposure, and the rock is extensively quarried at
Rock island, which is below Goose island. The
cement rock may be traced, at a low stage of
water, to the Kentucky shore. That used at the
cement mills on that side is obtained from the
bank of the river close by.

HYDRAULIC CEMENT.

The manufacture of hydraulic cement consti-
tutes one of the most important industries of
Clarke county. The cement is shipped to all
parts of the Western and Southern States, and
sold under the name of Louisville cement.

The many uses to which cement has been put
in Europe greatly impressed Professor E. T Cox,
the Indiana Commissioner to the Vienna Expo-
sition, with its importance. There it is exten-
sively used for laying pavements, in ornamenting
buildings, making statuary, and so on. He is of
the opinion that the Indiana cement, commonly
called Louisville cement, may be profitably used
for similar purposes in this country. Occasion-
ally in calcining the cement the rock is over
burned, making what is called a cinder; and it
is here suggested that this cinder, ground in con-
nection with the other stone, will improve the
quality of the cement. The manufacture of
cement opens an interesting and wide field for
investigation. Various grades of cement are
already manufactured, and there can be no doubt
but new combinations of stone may be found in
Clarke county that will equal the Portland or
Roman cement of Europe.

CRINOIDAL LIMESTONE.

This stone immediately overlies the hydraulic,
and is seen at almost every locality where the latter
outcrops or is quarried for cement. It is a hard,
gray, crystalline limestone, containing agreat many
fossils, principally crinoids, and also pentremites
of the carboniferous type, intermediate between
P. florealis (Godenii) and P. pyriformis (Say).
The fossils of this limestone have been carefully
studied and described the late Major Sidney S.
Lyon. Collectors in the neighborhood of the
falls have also enriched their cabinets with the
fossils of this rock. The collection of James
Knapp, M. D., of Louisville, is undoubtedly the
most complete in these fossils, and his collec-

tion of corals made at the falls is the most ex-
tensive in the country.* A very nice collection
of falls fossils is also in the possession of Sam-
uel L. S. Smith, M. D., of New Albany.

The crinoidal limestone seldom attains a
greater thickness than five feet. It is a poor
stone for the manufacture of lime, but serves a
useful purpose in the erection of kilns for cal-
cining cement, and is a reliable guide for denot-
ing the position of the hydraulic.

NEW ALBANY BLACK SLATE.

The black slate is largely exposed at New Al-
bany, and takes its name accordingly. It is
usually of a jet-black color, and occurs in thick
beds; but after being exposed to the weather it
exhibits a thin, laminated cleavage, and assumes
a pink, drab, or mottled color. It contains sul-
phuret of iron in concretionary forms, and also
in needle-shaped crystals and cubes, familiarly
known as "fools' gold," or "sulphur balls." It
is very persistent over a large extent of territory.
It lies at the base of the range of hills known as
the "Knobs," and has been traced from the out-
crop in Clarke and Floyd counties through Ken-
tucky in a semicircle to Portsmouth, Ohio. At
one time it rested uniformly over Clarke and
Floyd counties. The Vernon branch of the
Ohio & Mississippi railroad passes over the
black slate south of Charlestown, and cuts it at
several points below and above Lexington, in
Scott county. On the west of Charlestown there
is an outlier of the formation seventy to seventy-
five feet in thickness. The Jefferson ville, Mad-
ison & Indianapolis railroad passes over the
black slate until it reaches White river in Jack-
son county, Indiana. At Memphis and Henry-
ville, on the line of this road, the black slate is
largely exposed, and may be seen in the bed of
the streams and extending some distance up the
surrounding side-hills. Numerous so-called cop-
peras banks are met with in this formation. One

* Possibly so, when this was written; but not so now. The
active collectors at present are Major William J. Davis.
Henry Nettleroth, W.J. McComathy, J. T. Gaines, and O.
B. Thiess. The collections of the first two are unrivaled.
They are the Paleontologists of the Kentucky State Survey,
and are engaged in the preparation of profusely illustrated
reports on the Fossil Corals and Shells of Kentucky, which
will soon be in print. The Report of Major Davis on Corals
will contain a full description of two hundred and sixty
species found bedded in the rocks at the falls, of which one
hundred and four are new, first found and described by this
investigator.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

of these localities on Silver creek, three miles
from the mouth, is mentioned in the Navigators'
Guide, an old work published at Pittsburgh, in
1813, as furnishing "copperas as good as any
brought to this country." A noted copperas
bank is found on Miller's fork of Silver creek,
below Henryville.

At the foot of the Knobs near New Albany
Dr. Clapp bored through the bed of bituminous
slate, and found it to be one hundred and ten
feet thick. In many places it has been cut
through and entirely removed by weathering and
glacial action, so as to leave exposed the under-
lying encrinital limestone. The valleys of denu-
dation have a general direction of northwest and
southeast. It is being constantly mistaken for
the bituminous shale which is often found asso-
ciated with stone coal; and it is a difficult matter,
in some instances, to convince the people living
within the vicinity of its outcrop that it will not
turn to coal if followed to a distance in the
hills. It contains from ten to twenty per cent,
of volatile matter, and there are found in the
deposit in places thin bands of coal from a half-
inch to one inch thick.

Dr. Newberry thinks that these shales derived
their bitumen from sea-weeds, and calls attention
to the fact of finding in them vast quantities of
fucoidal impressions. So far inquirers have only
succeeded in finding in the New Albany black
slate a few small Lingula and Decina.

In Clarke county there is resting immediately
on the top of the black slate about four inches
of hard, greenish, mottled limestone; and this
is succeeded by the gray argillaceous shales,
with bands of iron-stone. There are also found
resting on the black slate large trunks of limbs
of coniferous trees, the vegetable matter having
been replaced by silica in the form of black
flint. A portion of one of these petrified trees,
fifteen feet long and two and a half feet wide,
has been placed in the Indiana Exposition build-
ing.

Wells have been sunk at various points in
this formation for mineral oil or petroleum; but
without reaching it in any quantity. It con-
tains a small percentage of bitumen, and burns
quite readily when thrown into a hot fire, so
long as the inflammable matter lasts. The bitu-
minous character of the slate has misled a great
many persons, and caused them to expend large

sums of money in searching in it for coal. It
has no economical value whatever at present.
A few years ago it was thought it would make
a good roofing material, ground and mixed with
coal-tar and spread on felt. A mill was erected
at New Albany by Dr. Samuel Reid & Co., for
the purpose of its manufacture, and large quan-
tities of slate were ground and shipped to all
parts of the country. It answered the purpose
for which it was intended for a time; but ulti-
mately it cracked by exposure to the weather. It
was at last discarded as worthless.

In examinations oT the black slate is invari-
ably found a ferruginous limestone capping it,
varying from ten to thirty irlches in thickness.
This limestone is very persistent, and marks the
top of the black slate over a large portion of In-
diana and Kentucky. It has a fetid odor when
struck, and breaks with an uneven fracture. It
is compact and durable, and has been used in
several sections for masonry, as at Memphis and
Henryville, where it outcrops to a large extent.
At Blue Lick post-office, on the land of Thomas
McDeitz, Jr., in the bed of a branch of Silver
creek, is one of the best exposures of this stone.
Characteristic fossils are rarely detected in this
stone, beyond a few crinoidal stems. But, no
doubt, the age of the black slate will be ulti-
mately determined by the discovery of fossils in
this formation, which, from its position, is the
equivalent of the ganoitite limestone of Rock-
ford, Indiana.

IRON-STONE.

From six to ten bands of manganiferous iron-
stone have been traced over a very large area in
the counties of Clarke and Floyd, occupying a
geological position in the gray and greenish
shales immediately over the " New Albany
black slate.* These ore-bands are found also
in Scott and Jennings counties.

They are enclosed in twenty to twenty-five
feet of soft shale, and are from two to three feet
apart, and are from two and one-half to ten
inches thick. The readiness with which these

*A black bituminous shale, similar to that underlying this
ore, is found in Ohio occupying a similar position with refer-
ence to the under and overlying rocks, and Dr. Newberry,
State Geologist of Ohio, has referred it to the Genesee epoch;
but, not feeling quite sure as to the accuracy of the conclu-
sion to which this able geologist and paleontologist has ar-
rived, I have thought best to speak of it, in this State, as the
New Albany black slate. — Dr. Cox.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

shales decompose, under the influence of drain-
age water and atmospheric agencies, has given
rise to numerous cone-shaped hills, commonly
called "knobs," and from this circumstance also
geologists have given to the rock-strata of which
they are composed, the names of knob shales,
knob sandstone, limestone, etc., so that we may,
with like propriety, designate the ore as knob
iron ore.

Owing to the extensive washes which have cut
through the shales, the iron-stone is exposed in
a great many places throughout the knob region,
and it may be mined or collected from the
ravines already weathered out, at a small cost.
Samples from nine distinct bands have been
tested for iron, and complete analysis made from
the bottom and middle bands with the result of
finding 28.48 per cent, of metallic iron in the
former (sample from near Henry ville), and 29.12
in the latter (from Stewart's farm, near Henry-
ville). Other tests yielded the following results,
beginning with the topmost layer or band : No.
1, 26.41 percent.; No. 2, 26.66; No. 3, 30.51;
No. 4, 28.20; No. 5, 29.12; No. 6, 29.74; No. 7,
29.23; No. 8, 27.17; No. 10, 28.48. From these
it will be seen that the raw ore contains from 26.41
to 30.51 per cent, of iron, and the analyses of the
bottom and middle bands also show from 5.124
to 6.928 per cent, of the metal manganese. The
average per cent, of combined iron and man-
ganese in calcined ore is 52.72 per cent., conse-
quently two tons of such ore will make a ton of
pig iron. The great value which attaches to these
ores is mainly due to the large per centage of
manganese which they contain, and, if properly
treated in the smelting furnace they will yield a
highly manganiferous pig iron, if not a true
spiegeleisen, which metal is found to be indis-
pensable in the manufacture of Bessemer or
pneumatic steeL Its value is dependent upon
the quantity of manganese which it contains.
From 7.5 to 10 per cent, is of very fair quality;
and this percentage is fully within the capabilities
of the knob ore.

THE KNOB MEASURES OF KENTUCKY.

These are the Silicious group of the Tennes-
see Geological reports. They extend over the
western part of the district composed of Clarke
and Floyd counties, and constitute the broken
range called the "Silver Hills" by the first settlers.

These hills or knobs extend from a point on the
Ohio below New Albany to the northern line of
Clarke county. At the latter locality the range
is called the Guinea Hills. The knobs, as their
names imply, rise abruptly from the black slate
to a height of four or five hundred feet above
the general level of the country. The margin of
the outcrop of the knob formation is very irreg-
ular, especially on that portion west of Henry-
ville, outliers being seen some distance from the
main body. One of these, called the Round
Top knob, is near the fruit farm of Colonel John
F. Willey, another at Piney point, south of Obe-
diah Nowbind's, Buzzard Roost point to the
east, and also Crow's Nest point to the west of
Nowland's. .The horseshoe range of knobs, en-
tirely disconnected from the main body, are
about one mile in extent, and on land owned by
John Richardson. The prolongation of the
knobs northeast of Henryville comprise several
benches of table-land. Where the base of the
knobs cover a considerable area the top is usual-
ly flat, especially if the harder numbers of the
formation represent their summits.

The New Providence shale ties at the base of
the knobs and immediately above the ferrugin-
ous limestone just mentioned ; and has a
thickness of eighty to one hundred and twenty
feet. As the line of the knobs is followed to
the northwest it becomes thinner, until at the
Guinea hills it is only fifty to sixty feet. It is
a fine, greenish-colored, marly slate, that pulver-
izes when dry without difficulty. It contains a
great variety of fossils identical with those ob-
tained at Button Mould knob, seven miles south
of Louisville. The corals are well represented
by a number of Bryozoans. The shale is fissured
in places, and the cracks are usually filled with
transparent sulphate of lime, or gypsum.

As many as six to ten bands of carbonate of
iron have been found in this formation, in a ver-
tical space of about twenty feet. The lower
band is usually on a level with the drainage of
the country. These bands will average from
four to six inches in thickness, and are separated
from each other by from two to four feet of soft
shale. They have a great persistency, and may
be seen cropping out along the side of all the
ravines. The following partial analysis of a por-
tion of what appears to be the average of these
ore bands, found on the farm of John Stewart,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Esq., north of Henry ville, as taken from a paper
published by the State Geologist, will serve to
show their commercial value: The mass of the
ore is of a bluish gray color, enclosed in a coat-
ing of red oxide of iron one-eighth to one-fourth
of an inch thick. This coating is very rich in
iron, but was entirely excluded from the portion
analyzed, so that the yield of the entire mass will
be a little better than here reported. The net
results are given in parts of ioo; carbonate of
iron, 49.720; peroxide of iron, 2. 171. This
will serve to show its richness. By roasting, this
ore will lose thirty per cent, of volatile matter,
which will increase the iron to thirty-five per
cent., and the manganese to 3.571. A portion
of the sulphuric acid would be eliminated, but
the phosphorus will be increased to about .485,
which is rather large. However, it is not im-
probable that a portion of the latter highly inju-
rious ingredient may be taken out along with the
silica in the slag; and, owing to the large per-
centum ot manganese, if not a spiegeleisen, at
least a valuable Bessemer pig may be made from
these ores. Owing to their leanness, these ores
should be roasted before being shipped to the
furnaces.

Thomas Montgomery has on his land, tract
No. 274 of the Grant, three and a half miles
from Henryville, a good exposure of iron ore.
The ore in this bank was examined 'forty years
ago by an iron master from Pennsylvania, John
Works. He pronounced it good; made prepa-
rations to erect a furnace, but the project was
finally abandoned.

The ore crops out in almost every ravine in this
region, and is everywhere of the same general
character, containing about the same quantity of
iron. Another deposit of considerable extent is on
the land of Allen Barnett, near Broom hill, on the
Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad.
Some of it has rather a peculiar structure, and is
made up entirely of an aggregation of coarse par-
ticles of hydrated brown oxide. It is what is
usually denominated "kidney ore," and is scat-
tered profusely over the surface. The whole
country at the base of the knobs, where the
New Providence shale outcrops, is rich in iron
ore. It accumulates in the ravines and valleys
by the washing down of the formation which con-
tained it, and is generally easy of access.

It is probable that this shale, on account of

its mineral constituents and being highly fos-
siliferous, will make a good fertilizer. A great
number of mineral springs flow from the fissures
occurring in this formation, the waters of which
possess decided medicinal virtues. Some of
their waters have a similar composition to that
from which the celebrated Crab Orchard salts of
Kentucky are manufactured; and their use has
produced good results in certain diseases where
a simple alterative or cathartic was required.

This shale, at the base of Caney knob, below
New Albany, is capped by a thin stratum of fer-
ruginous sandstone, while in the northwestern
part of Clarke county it is covered by a thin fos-
siliferous limestone, composed of an aggregation
of crinoidal stems. Specimens of the stone,
ground and polished, exhibit a fine variegated
surface. Above this hard band of shale is a blu-
ish, friable, micaceous shale, which is recognized
to be the true knob shale. It ranges in thick-
ness from one hundred and twenty to one hun-
dred and .sixty feet, and extends half-way or more
up the sides of the knobs, and in many cases,
where they are conical, it forms the summit. In
other places it is frequently capped with massive
sandstone or beds of impure limestone, contain-
ing crinoidal stems. In these shales are fossil
worm-tiacks, fucoids, and concretions of iron
ore of large size, often containing brachiopods.

The massive knob sandstone, where capping
these shales, is from fifty to eighty feet thick, in
beds of various thickness. The upper part is
composed of ferruginous layers ten to fifteen
inches thick, and contain ripple-marks on the
under side. It hardens on exposure, and is
used about New Providence for doorsteps and
many other purposes.

Above this is the first knob limestone. It has
a gray color with crystalline structure, containing
in some parts concretions of chert, and varies in
thickness from twenty to sixty-five feet. This is
the stone extensively quarried <near Mooresville,
for building purposes about New Albany.

Just above this fossiliferous limestone are
found a number of thin layers of bituminous
shale, containing an occasional coal-plant fossil.
The impure limestone capping these formations
resembles the Devonian hydraulic limestone of
the cement region, and, if properly tested, it will
probably be found to answer the same purpose.
It underlies the white sand which is mined for

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

glass-works in New Albany, near the intersection
of Washington, Clarke, Floyd, and Harrison
counties.

The members composing the knob series do
not retain the same character throughout the
district. They are not as uniform in composi-
tion as the formations below them, and vary great-
ly in thickness and color, and are thicker at the
western than at the eastern outcrop.

The pentremital limestone has a thickness of
twenty-five to fifty feet in the neighborhood of
Greenville, where it outcrops near the summit of
the hills. It contains many fossils. The soil
immediately covering it is a tough, tenacious
clay, colored with oxide of iron. Several good
quarries are worked near Greenville, some of
them developing the true St. Louis limestone.

Near the top of the hill towards Mooresville,
beds of from ten to twelve feet of very soft,
bright-colored, ochreous sandstone are exposed,
portions of which make a good mineral paint.

SOME ELEVATIONS.

Buck creek, a branch of Indian creek at
Mooresville, near the summit of the knobs on
the Vincennes pike, is elevated one hundred feet
or more above New Albany. The Corydon plank
road, just above the eastern portal of the railway
tunnel, is four hundred and fifty-seven feet above
the miter-site at the Louisville and Portland canal.
The elevation of the summit on which Edwards-
ville stands, at the point where the tunnel line
crosses, is five hundred and seventy-one feet
above the same. This is the highest point on
the knobs, and is distant from State street, New
Albany, five and one-half miles. The elevation
of the headwaters of Little Indian creek, at a
point near the western portal of the tunnel, is
four hundred and twenty-nine feet.

NATIVE WOODS.

The timber of the hills consists of chestnut,
white, red, black, and post oak, black and white
hickory, pine, poplar, dogwood, water maple,
sumach, and gum-tree. In the valleys and low-
lands are the walnut, chestnut, white, blue and
prickly ash, shell-bark hickory, beech, elm, syca-
more, wild cherry, sassafras, red and white mul-
berry, pawpaw, persimmon, sugar maple, and
sugar-tree, and many other varieties, some of
which have become almost or quite extinct as
settlement has progressed. Camp and Fourteen-

mile creeks are noted localities for buckeye trees,
many of which measure three to four feet in di-
ameter and go fifty or more feet to their first
limbs. Persimmon trees abound on the clay
lands about Henryville. Beech and white oak
grow numerously on the flats of the slate lands.

SUMMARY.

In the foregoing remarks have been enumer-
ated the lithological, stratigraphical and, to some
extent, paleontological characteristics of the rocks
of Floyd and Clarke counties, including forma-
tions from the Lower Silurian to the Sub-carbon-
iferous. A section from the western line of
Floyd to the eastern part of Clarke, on the Ohio
river, shows these formations well developed in
the following order and thickness:

Soil and clay 20 to 40 feet.

Knob limestone, Keokuk group 80 feet.

Knob sandstone \ Kinderhook group 344

Knob shale f feet.

New Albany black slate ")

Crinoidal limestone >x40 feet.

Hydraulic limestone. J

Corniferous limestone, Upper

Helderberg group 22 feet.

9. Utica limestone I v J 52 ^eel

10. Magnesian limestone j iMagara group | 3o fget

11. Madison limestone Cincinnati group 207 ft.

The minute divisions of the groups in the
above sections are not always accurately defined
and are not everywhere present. They thin out
in some localities to a knife edge. Especially is
the latter the case in the neighborhood of the
falls, where the characteristic fossils of the
Niagara, corniferous, and Hamilton formations
may be obtained within a vertical space of a few
feet.

SOME POINTS OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.

The glass sand, lying in very compact beds
at the summit of the knobs and near the in-
tersection of Clarke, Floyd, Washington, and
Harrison counties, is a fine, white-grained sand,
used in the manufacture of plate glass at New
Albany, by Messrs. W. C. DePauw & Co. This
formation is of very great economical value, and
is destined to play an important part and to add
materially to the wealth of that portion of dis-
trict under investigation. Its geological position
is immediately above the sub-carboniferous hy-
draulic limestone, as already indicated in previous
sections. These beds of sand have been traced
in isolated patches from a point south of Spur-
geon hill, in Washington county, in a southeast-
erly direction, to the present workable beds.
The width of the sand formation increases as

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the summits of the hills become broader and
more level. No doubt the white sand on the
Ohio river hills below New Albany, in Harrison
county, is a part of the New Providence beds,
and that this formation marks the shore line of
an ancient beach, which extended northeast-
wardly in the direction of the Ohio valley.

The sand beds are very uniform in thickness
and quality. The quarry of the Star Glass works
at the summit of the knobs, three and a half or
four miles distant from New Providence, and
three hundred and fifty to four hundred feet above
the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad,
has been worked extensively. Following is a
section of the beds at this quarry: First, soil
of a stiff clay loam, two to four feet; second,
yellow sand, colored by the overlying clay, one
to two feet ; third, white sand, used for glass
manufacture, sixteen feet; fourth, fragments of
chert, with bryozoa, six inches; fifth, hydraulic
limestone, at the bottom of the cut, four
feet.

The surface of the ground above the quarry is
heavily timbered with white oak. The stripping
is continued until the third bed of the section is
reached, where the sand is mined by blasting, in
the same manner as is pursued in quarrying hard
rock. After being thus loosened, it is easily re-
moved with a shovel.

The sand used by the New Albany Star Plate
Glass Work company, of which Mr. W. C. De
Pauw is president, when required for the manu-
facture of plate glass, is washed in an ascillating
trough to free it from a small amount of impuri-
ties. Ten or more men are employed in quairy-
mg and washing the sand, and they can prepare
it as fast as twenty-five wagons can haul it to the
station of New Providence, four miles distant.
The larger quantity is shipped to the Star Glass
Works, at New Albany, but some shipments are
made to Louisville and Cincinnati. A bushel of
sand weighs one hundred pounds or more before
washing, and ninety pounds afterwards.

An outcrop of the sand occurs on the land of
Michael Brock; another on the farm of R. G.
Scott and Mr. Jonathan Miller, all in the same
neighborhood.

The shipment of sand and cement has necessi-
tated the establishment of numerous cooper-
shops through the counties composed of this
district. Some of these shops are operated by

steam and are on a large scale, manufacturing a
large number of barrels yearly.

BRICK CLAY.

The clays of Clarke and Floyd counties fur-
nish the very best material for making brick,
many thousand of which are manufactured every
year in the neighborhood of New Albany and
Jeffersonville. No doubt, if returns were at
hand from all these yards, a very large capital
would be found employed in this business. The
material employed is a clean, tough alluvial clay,
containing sufficient iron to give the bricks a
fine red color. Formerly Louisville was largely
supplied with brick from these yards.

POTTERY.

Another important branch of industry, at New
Albany, Jeffersonville, and Port Fulton, is the
manufacture of salt-glazed pottery, commonly
called stone-ware. The material used is an allu-
vial blue clay obtained from the lowlands in the
vicinity of the works. It is also used in the
manufacture of drain-tiles, an industry yet in its in
fancy in this region.

RUNNING WATERS.

The lands of Clarke and Floyd are well watered
by never failing springs and numerous small
branches, which rise in the knobs and flow into
the creeks that empty into the Ohio. The
creeks are numerous, but few are large. The
chief of them in Floyd county are Falling run,
Middle, Knob, Big and Little Indian, and Buck
creeks. Between this and Clarke county, but
principally belonging to the latter, is Silver creek
with its numerous branches, the finest inland
water of this region. Other streams in Clarke are
Fourteen-mile creek, so called because emptying
into the Ohio fourteen miles above Louisville;
Owen and Camp creeks, below Bethlehem;
Wolf Run creek, Cany and Miller's fork, Cane
run, and Blue Lick, tributaries of the north fork
of Silver creek; Dry and South forks, Persim-
mon, Indian Camp, Turkey, and Knob runs,
affluents of the west fork of Silver creek, and
others too unimportant for mention here.

SOIL, NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, ETC.

That the underlying or outcropping rocks in a
very great measure determine the nature of the
soil, is plainly seen in Floyd and Clarke counties,
where there are extensive outcrops of so many
different formations, each giving rise to a charac-

r#.

v^f

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

teristic soil. A striking illustration of this may
be learned from a passage in our history of
Bethlehem township, Clarke county. A few
miles back from the headwaters of Camp creek,
therein mentioned, the lands are wet, and the
soil is light-colored clay that holds water. In
the vicinity of New Washington the soil is a
light clay and sand, and has a better drainage.
The land here is well adapted for growing grass
and wheat, and in some localities excellent corn.

From the mouth of Fourteen-mile creek, reach-
ing as far down the river as Utica and the Sink-
ing fork of Silver creek, the land is rolling and
much broken, especially on the river. The pre-
dominating rocks are corniferous and cement
limestones, the base of a limestone soil; and this
is the "blue-grass region" of the county.
Charlestown is situated right on the summit of
the corniferous limestone, from which flow
abundant, never-failing springs. The drainage
of the country is excellent. The easy-weathering
limestones render the soil of this region not only
well adapted to blue-grass, but likewise better
suited to a variety of crops than any other part
of the county. Its soil is also well adapted to
clover; and in some localities, especially on the
river, fruits of all kinds are grown in great pro-
fusion.

A part of the land in Utica township has not
only the wash of the corniferous and Niagara
limestone of this region upon it, but is in good
part a river terrace, composed of altered drift,
sand, and gravel, with numerous aboriginal
kitchen heaps. This is a noted tract for maiket
gardens, and it is also favorable to corn and grass.
Wheat does well, and ripens earl)'.

On the lands just west of Jeffersonville the
New Albany black slate cuts off the limestone.
The soil here is an ash-colored clay, except when
mixed with decomposed slate, which darkens
its color and increases its fertility. Drainage
is imperfect on the flat land, but good where it
is rolling; and with proper tillage this soil is
very productive.

The slate lands in Clark county are discon-
nected, appearing on one farm and absent from
the next, or even present and wanting on different
parts of the same farm. When in large bodies
they give rise to beech and white oak flats, in-
clined to be wet and difficult to drain.

The land about Memphis is well timbered,

and the bottom lands produce good corn and
grass crops. The highlands here are clay, and
yield generous returns to fertilizers.

South and west of this is the Blue lick region,
whose soils are derived chiefly from the New
Providence shale of the knobs — a soft, light-
colored, arenaceous clay-stone, containing some
sulphate and carbonate of lime, with magnesia.

The soil about Henryville (which is forty feet
below the top of the New Albany slate) is clay to
the base of the knobs, belonging to the altered
drift and alluvium in the creek bottoms, where
the soil is very productive. The clay land is
light-colored in the valleys, but changes to deep
ochre shades towards the knobs.

The New Providence valley is about eight
miles long, and one to two miles wide. The
shifting of the bed of Silver creek, which forms
it, has created a rich surface loam, enriched by
decaying leaves and other vegetable matter from
the hill sides, with a deep subsoil of gravel. It
is well suited to all staple farm products, which
are not here materially affected by drouth. Ap-
ples do well, and strawberries and other small
fruits grow in great perfection. The water in the
streams and shallow wells of this valley is noted
for its softness. It does not even decompose
soap, and is much in request for laundry pur-
poses.

The line of the knobs, and the river bluffs, are
found as the best fruit-growing region of southern
Indiana or the West, as shown by the success of
the orchards situated on the elevated lands below
New Albany, and thence to Morrisville, Scottsville,
New Providence, and as far north as Salem, in
Washington county, and the walnut ridge west of
Salem. This includes the southern and westerp
knobs. The northern range above Henryville,
going toward Vienna, in Scott county, and the
river bluffs, from Utica to Marble Hill, in Jef-
ferson county, are all favorably situated for fruit
growing; especially peaches, for the tender buds
are not liable to be injured by spring frosts,
which are confined to the valleys below, and sel-
dom reach as high up the hillside as the orchards.

Extensive orchards are planted on the hills
above Henryville. The business of peach-grow-
ing is becoming one of the leading industries in
this part of the State. The peach orchards of '
Messrs. Willey and his son-in-law, Mr. Poindex-
ter, at Chestnut flats, have from fifteen to twenty-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

five thousand peach trees. Owing to a good ex-
posure afforded the knobs, the peaches here
growing have a fine color, and no doubt better
flavor than fruit grown in the valley.

CHAPTER II.

OLD GEOGRAPHICAL DESIGNATIONS— THE
CLARKE GRANT— CONGRESS LANDS.

NEW FRANCE.

This is probably the first geographical designa-
tion for any subdivision of the North American
continent including the present tract of Clarke
and Floyd counties. The Ohio and Indiana
country was already claimed by the French, in
the seventeenth century, as an integral part of
their great North American possessions, "New
France," by virtue of the discovery of the Ohio
river by her brave explorer, Robert Cavelier,
Sieur de la Salle, and the earlier voyage (1640)
of the Jesuit Fathers Charemonot and Brebceuf,
along the south shore of Lake Erie. With the
Iroquois also claiming it they were constantly at
war, and the claims of the confederate tribes to
the territory weighed nothing with the aggressive
leaders of the French in the New World. When,
some time in the first half of the eighteenth cen-
tury, the French built a fort on the Iroquois
lands near Niagara Falls, the Governor of Canada
proclaimed their right of encroachment, saying
that the Five Nations were not subjects of Eng-
land, but rather of France, if subjects at all.
But, by the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 17 13,
Louis XIV., Le Grand Monarque, renounced in
favor of England all rights to the Iroquois coun-
try, reserving only the St. Lawrence and Missis-
sippi valleys to France. Boundaries were so
vaguely defined, however, that disputes easily
and frequently arose concerning the territories
owned by the respective powers; and in 1740,
the very year after that in which the Ohio Land
company of the Washingtons, Lee, and others in
Virginia, was organized under a grant from
George II., to occupy half a million actes west of
the Alleghanies, Ue Celeron, the French com-
mandant of Detroit, led an expedition to the
Ohio, dispatched by the Marquis de la Gallis-

soniere, commander-in-chief of New France,
and buried a leaden tablet "at the confluence
*of the Ohio and Tchadakoin" (?) "as a monu-
ment of the renewal ot possession which we
have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all
those that therein fall, and of all the lands on
both sides, as far as the sources of said rivers" —
a sweeping claim, truly. He ordered the English
traders out of the country, and notified the
Governor of Pennsylvania that if they "should
hereafter make their appearance on the Beautiful
river, they would be treated without any delicacy."
The territorial squabble which then ensued led
to the French and Indian war of 1755-62, which
closed by the cession to England, on the part of
France, of Canada and all her American posses-
sions east of the Mississippi, except some fishing
stations. Thus this region at length passed into
the undisputed possession of the British crown.

IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.

In 1766 (though some confidently say 1774*),
the British Parliament insisted upon the Ohio
river as the southwestern boundary and the Mis-
sissippi river as the western limit of the dominions
of the English crown in this quarter. By this
measure the entire Northwest, or so much of it
as afterwards became the Northwest Territory,
was attached to the Province of Quebec, and
the tract that now constitutes the State of Indiana
was nominally under its local administration.

BOTETOURT COUNTY.

In 1769 the Colony of Virginia, by an enact-
ment of the House of Burgesses, attempted to
extend its jurisdiction over the same territory,
northwest of the river Ohio, by virtue of its royal
grants. By that act the county of Botetourt was
erected and named in honor of Lord Botetourt,
Governor of the Colony. It was a vast co'untry,
about seven hundred miles long, with the Blue
Ridge for its eastern and the Mississippi for its
western boundary. It included large parts of
the present States of West Virginia, Ohio, In-
diana, and Illinois, and was the first county or-
ganization covering what are now Clarke and
Floyd counties. Fincastle, still the seat of coun-
ty for the immensely reduced Botetourt county,
was made the seat of justice; but so distant from
it were the western regions of the great tract,

*As Isaac Smucker, in the Ohio Secretary of State's Re-
port for 1877.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

»3

that the thoughtful Burgesses inserted the follow-
ing proviso in the creative act:

Whereas, The people situated on the Mississippi, in the
said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court-
house, and must necessarily become a separate county as
soon as their numbers are sufficient, which will probably hap-
pen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by the authority
aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said county
of Botetourt which lies on the said waters, shall be exempted
from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county
court for the purpose of building a court-house and prison
for said county.

ILLINOIS COUNTY.

Government was still nominal, however,so far as
the county organization was concerned, between
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; and the Indians
and few white settlers within those borders were
entirely a law unto themselves. After the con-
quest of the Indiana and Illinois country by Gen-
eral George Rogers Clarke in 1778, the county
of Illinois was erected by the Virginia Legislature
(in October of the same year) out of the great
county of Botetourt, and included all the territo-
ry between the Pennsylvania line, the Ohio, the
Mississippi, and the northern lakes. Colonel John
Todd was appointed the first county lieutenantand
civil commandant of the county. He perished
in the battle of Blue Licks, August 18, 1782;
and Timothy de Montbrun was named as his
successor. At this time there were no white
men in Indiana, except a few Indian traders and
some French settlers.

The Legislature of Virginia, at the time Illi-
nois county was created, made provision for the
protection of the country by reinforcements to
General Clarke's little army. By another enact-
ment passed in May, 1780, the act of 1778 was
confirmed and somewhat amended, and further
reinforcements ordered into the wilderness.
West Illinois county, however, was not destined
to make any large figure in history.

CONFLICTING CLAIMS.

At the preliminary negotiations for peace in
Paris in November, 1782, between England and
her revolted, successful American colonies, both
France and Spain, for similar reasons of discov-
ery and partial occupancy, filed their protests
against the claim of either of the lately contend-
ing parties to "the Illinois country." It can nof
be too often repeated, to the everlasting honor
of General Clarke, that it was his conquest in
1778 that determined the controversy in favor of

the infant republic, and carried the lines of the
new Nation to the Mississippi and the northern
lakes. Otherwise the east bank of the Ohio, or
possibly even the Alleghanies, would have
formed its western boundary in part. The final
convention signed at Paris, September 3, 1783,
confirmed the claim of the United Colonies as
made good by the victories of Clark.

On the 20th of October, 1783, the Virginia
Legislature, by solemn enactment, transferred all
her rights and titles to lands west of the Ohio to
the General Government. Illinois county was
thus virtually wiped out.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

After the title of the United States to the wide
tract covered by Illinois county, acquired by the
victories of the Revolution and the Paris treaty,
had been perfected by the cession of claims to it
by Virginia and other States and by Indian
treaties, Congress took the next step, and an im-
portant one, in the civil organization of the
country. Upon the 13th of July (a month
which has been largely associated with human
liberty in many ages of history), in the year 1787,
the celebrated act entitled "An ordinance for
the government of the territory of the United
States northwest of the river Ohio," was passed
by Congress. By this great organic act — "the
last gift," as Chief Justice Chase said, "of the
Congress of the old Confederation to the coun-
try, and it was a fit consummation of their glori-
ous labors" — provision was made for various
forms of territorial government to be adopted
in succession, in due order of the advancement
and development of the Western country. To
quote Governor Chase again: "When the settlers
went into the wilderness they found the law al-
ready there. It was impressed upon the soil
itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest."
This measure was succeeded, on the 5th of
October of the same year, by the appointment
by Congress of General Arthur St. Clair as
Governor, and Major Winthrop Sargent as Secre-
tary of the Northwest Territory. Soon after
these appointments, three territorial judges were
appointed — Samuel Holden Parsons, James
Mitchell Varnum, and John Armstrong. In
January the last-named, not having entered upon
service, declined his appointment, which now fell
to the Hon. John Cleves Symmes, the hero of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the Miami Purchase, of which Cincinnati is now
the chief city. The appointment of Symmes to
this high office gave much offence in some
quarters, as it was supposed to add to his oppor-
tunities of making a great fortune in the new
country. It is well known that Governor St.
Clair's appointment to the Northwest Territory
was promoted by his friends, in the hope that he
would use his position to relieve himself of
pecuniary embarrassments. There is no evi-
dence, however, that either he or Judge Symmes
prostituted the privileges of their places to such
ends.

All these appointments being made under the
articles of confederation, they expired upon the
adoption and operation of the Federal constitu-
tion. St. Clair and Sargent were reappointed to
their respective places by President Washington,
and confirmed by the Senate on the 20th of Sep-
tember, 1789. On the same day Parsons and
Symmes were reappointed judges, with William
Barton as their associate. Meanwhile, on the
9th of July, 1788, the Governor arrived at Mari-
etta, and proceeded to organize the Territory.
He and the judges, of whom Varnum and Par-
sons were present, constituted, under the ordi-
nance, the Territorial Legislature. Their first
law was proclaimed July 25th, and on the 27th
Governor St. Clair issued a proclamation estab-
lishing the county of Washington, to cover all
the territory to which the Indian title had been
extinguished between Lake Erie, the Ohio and
Scioto rivers, and the Pennsylvania line, being
a large part of the present State of Ohio. Mari-
etta, the capital of the Territory, was made the
seat of justice for Washington county. The
next civil division proclaimed was Hamilton
county, proclaimed January 4, 1790, with Cin-
cinnati (now for the first time so-called, the pre-
vious name having been Losantiville) for its
county-seat. It was an immense tract, of which
but a small remnant is now left, territorially re-
garded, in the county of that name at the south-
western corner of Ohio. It was named, of course,
from Colonel Alexander Hamilton, the first Sec-
retary of the Treasury.

A few years afterwards, two new counties were
created in the Northwest Territory — Wayne
county, now, as reduced, in Michigan; and
Knox, which is still, as greatly reduced, in Indi-
ana, but then included everything west of Ham-

ilton county, on a line drawn from Fort Recov-
ery, nearly on the present Ohio boundary, to the
mouth of the Kentucky river. It, of course,
included the present teritory of Clarke and Floyd
counties. Vincennes was the county seat.

THE CLARKE GRANT.

This was a reservation made in the deed of
cession by Virginia of her lands in the North-
west Territory, to the United States, of a tract
not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand
acres, to be apportioned to General George Rog-
ers Clarke and the officers and soldiers of his regi-
ment who were at the reduction of "Kerskaskias
and St. Vincent's" (Kaskaskia and Vincennes)
in 1778. The grant was made by the Legisla-
ture of that State January 2, 1781. A sword had
previously, in September, 1779, been voted by
Virginia to General Clarke. In the same act
(of 1 781) reservation for grants to her soldiers
in the Continental line was made of the military
district in Ohio, between the Scioto and the
Little Miami.

The grant was to be laid off on the northwest
side of the Ohio river, in such place as the ma-
jority of the officers entitled to the land-bounty
should choose. They selected the tract adjacent
to the rapids, upon which almost the whole of
Clarke county, and parts of the counties of Floyd
and another, are now laid off; and the reserva-
tion was accordingly made. Many interesting
particulars concerning it will be noticed subse-
quently in this volume, in the history of the
townships of Clarke county.

THE CONGRESS LANDS.

After the second treaty of Fort Stanwix, Oc-
tober 22, 1784, and the treaty of Fort Mcintosh,
January 21, 1785, had confirmed to the United
States the Indian titles to the Western lands,
Congress provided, by ordinance, for their survey
and sub-division. This was the third ordinance
of the kind reported to Congress, and bears date
May 20, 1785, by which time Virginia, New
York, and Massachusetts had ceded their several
claims to the territory northwest of the river
Ohio to the United States. Under this act,
whose principles of survey are still substantially
In vogue, the territory purchased of the Indians
was to be divided into townships, six miles
square, by north and south lines crossed at right
angles by others. (It is an interesting fact that

Anchorage Place, Residence of the late C

W. GOSLEE Anchorage, Jefferson County, Ky,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the first ordinance reported, May 28, 1784, pro-
posed townships often miles square; the second,
brought in April 26, 1785, would have made
them seven miles square). The first north and
south line was to begin on the Ohio, at a point
due north of the western termination of the
southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and the first
east and west line at the same point, and extend
throughout the territory. The ranges of town-
ships thus formed were to be numbered from the
Pennsylvania line westward; the townships them-
selves from the Ohio northward. Each town-
ship was to be sub-divided into thirty-six parts or
sections, each, of course, one mile square.
When seven ranges of townships had been thus
surveyed, the Geographer of the United States
was to make a return of them to the board of
treasury, who were to take therefrom one-seventh
part, by lot, for the use of the late Continental
army, and so of every seven ranges as surveyed
and returned. The remaining six-sevenths were
to be drawn for by the several States, in the pro-
portion of the last requisition made upon them,
and they were to make public sale thereof in the
following manner:

Range first, township first, was to be sold en-
tire, township second in sections, and so on al-
ternately; while in range second, township first
was to be sold in sections, and township second
entire, retaining throughout, both as to the ranges
and townships, the principle of alternation. The
price was to be at least one dollar per acre in
specie, "loan office certificates reduced to specie
value," or "certificates of liquidated debts of the
United States." Five sections in each township
were to be reserved, four for the United States
and one section for schools. All sales thus made
by the States were to be returned to the board of
treasury — a council of three, who had jurisdic-
tion over the public lands, which was subse-
quently, under the Constitution, vested in the Sec-
retary of the Treasury, and finally in the General
Land Office.

This ordinance also supplied the method of
dividing among the Continental soldiers the lands
set apart to them, reserved three townships for
Canadian refugees, secured to the Moravian In-
dians their rights, and excluded from sale the
territory between the Little Miami and the
Scioto, in accordance with the provisions made
by Virginia in her deed of cession in favor of

her own troops. Many points in this law were
afterwards changed, but its great features re-
mained.*

Six land districts were established, with an
office for registry and sale in each. The Jeffer-
sonville district had jurisdiction of all the public
lands east of the second principal meridian and
south of the line dividing the townships num-
bered nine and ten nftrth. The land office was
of course at Jeffersonville.

CHAPTER III.

ORGANIZATION OF FLOYD COUNTY.

When Floyd county was created in 181 9
Corydon was the capital of the State, and the
Legislature was in session there. New Albany
was growing so rapidly, its people, and especially
its proprietor were so ambitious for its success
and prosperity, and its prospects were so flatter-
ing that a determined effort was made to estab-
lish a new county that the young, ambitious
town might be made a county seat. Clarke and
Harrison counties then occupied the territory
now belonging to Floyd, and both were large
counties. The line between them followed the
top of the Silver hills. In the winter of 1818-19
the citizens of the town sent some of their most
influential men to Corydon to lobby for the es-
tablishment of a new county ; among them was
Nathaniel Scribner, who lost his life, dying on
his way home as elsewhere mentioned. They
were successful, however, in persuading the
Legislature that a new county was needed, and
early in the winter commissioners were appointed
by Jonathan Jennings, then Governor of the
State, to designate the bounds of the new county.
This duty was performed, the boundaries of the
county designated, the county divided into three
townships, and their report submitted February
S, 1819.

COUNTY SEAT.

New Albany having thus secured a new
county, the next movement was to secure the
county seat. Its rival for this honor was the
village of Greenville, then the equal in size and
population of New Albany. Strong induce-

*Annals of the West, edition of 1847, 269-70.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

merits were held out by both villages, and for
some time the chances were pretty evenly bal-
anced, the scales tipping a little toward Greenville
as being the more centrally located of the two.
New Albany labored under the disadvantage of be-
ing located at the extreme edge of the county.and
Greenville was also open somewhat to the same
objection, though better located in this respect
than New Albany. The arguments which de-
termined the location of the county seat finally
at New Albany were its situation on the river,
the great outlet for trade and commerce, and at
the foot of the falls, its prospects for becoming a
city, and last but not least, the power of the al-
mighty dollar in the affairs of men. The pro-
prietors of New Albany were not rich, but they
were comparatively so, and were enabled to
bring a greater weight of money, brains, and in-
fluence to bear upon the subject than the Green-
ville parties. If they could not give money they
could give property, and it was through such in-
fluences as these that finally derremined the lo-
cation of the county seat at New Albany.

The following from the earliest records of the
county commissioners will throw some light on
this subject:

At a special meeting of the board of commissioners for the
county of Floyd, and State of Indiana, convened at the
house of Seth Woodruff, Esq., in New Albany, on the 4th
day of March, 1819.

Present — Clement Nance, Jr., Jacob Piersol.

Ordered by said commissioners that the following bond re-
port be entered, to wit:

Know all men by these presents that we, John Eastburn,
Seth Woodruff, Joel Scribner, James Scribner, and Smith
& Paxson, and all of the county of Floyd and State of In-
diana, are held and firmly bound unto Charles Paxson, Cle- |
ment Nance, Jr., and Jacob Piersol, county commissioners
for the county of Floyd, and their successors in office in the I
sum of $25,000, good and lawful money of the United
States. To which payment well and truly to be made to the
commissioners aforesaid we bind ourselves and each of us by
himself, our heirs, executors, and administrators jointly and
severally firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals, and
dated this, the 4th day of March, A. D. , 1819.

Now the condition of the above obligation is such that if
the above bound, John Eastburn, Seth Woodruff, Charles
Woodruff, Joel Scribner, James Scribner, and the firm of
Smith & Paxson, shall, within four months from the date
thereof, pay to the commissioners of said county the sum of
$2,250; and in eight months from this date a like sum of
$2,250; and in twelve months from this date a like sum of
$2,250; and in sixteen months from this date a like sum of
$2,250; and deed or caused to be deeded in fee simple to
said county four lots in the town of New Albany, lying at
corners of Lower and Upper Spring streets, or where they
unite in State street, each lot being one hundred feet square,
two of which are to be disposed of for the benefit of said

county, and the other two to be retained and known as the
public ground for said county for the purpose of erecting a
court-house and other public buildings thereon for said county
— then the above obligation to be void, else remain in full
force and virtue.

The above document was signed by all parties
concerned, and the record continues:

We, the undersigned commissioners, being appointed by
the Legislature of Indiana to fix the permanent seat of jus-
tice for the county of Floyd, do, in consideration of the
aforesaid sum of $9,000 secured to said county.and four lots
within New Albany, by John Eastburn, Seth Woodruff,
Charles Woodruff, Joel Scribner, James Scribner, and Smith
& Paxson, as set out in their aforesaid bond or obligation,
establish the seat of justice for said county of Floyd on the
public ground in said town of New Albany.

Given under our hands and seals at New Albany, this, tbe
4th day of March, 1819.

John Cawter,
William Hoggatt,
Henry Ristine.

The above named commissioners were allowed
three dollars per day each, and were engaged
from six to nine days in fixing the county seat.

This arrangement seemed to be final as to the
location of the county seat, but later, in 1823, as
will be seen further on in this chapter, the matter
was reopened, the above contract not having been
fulfilled. Commissioners were appointed by the
State to relocate the county seat, but the matter
was finally adjusted by the citizens.

During the first years of its existence the
county had little government except that given
it by the county commissioners, and little use
for county records except to keep the pro-
ceedings of the commissioners and an oc-
casional case in Judge Floyd's court. The com-
missioners were Jacob Piersol, Clement Nance,
Jr., and Charles Paxson. Their meetings were
frequent; there was much to do to get the
machinery of the new county in motion and
working smoothly; the larger part of their time
was taken up for several years in the establish-
ment of new roads and the appointment of super-
visors and other necessary officers. Their powers
and duties were much more extended than at
present.

THE FIRST COURT-HOUSE.

The first meetings of the commissioners were
held in Judge Seth Woodruffs tavern, located
on Main street between Upper Third and Fourth.
This was the largest frame building in town at
the time, became the county court-house and
was headquarters for all county business. Wood-
ruff himself was the principal man in the new

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

county. He was a large framed, large brained,
rough, uncultivated, but withal a kind-hearted
man — a Jerseyman — who came west with a
family and plenty of surplus energy, physical
strength, and go-aheaditiveness, and while he
lived made his presence felt in the community.
He was no negative quantity, but a man of force
and fine presence — a Baptist preacher, a tavern
keeper, a plasterer and bricklayer by trade, an
associate judge, a justice of the peace, and in
fact almost everything required by a new county
and a new town. He was a man of strong con-
victions and whatever he believed he believed
with all his might, and could not understand for
the life of him why other people should differ
from hini. He was sure he was right,
and those who differed with him must of
necessity be wrong, and therefore subjects
for his aggressive and powerfully placed argu-
ments. Whatever he did he did with all his
might, and so enveloped his subject and work
that he must necessarily control it or ruin it. His
decisions in court were positive, and the other
judges must coincide with him or there was
trouble; his religion he believed to be the only
true religion, and those who did not accept it
were heretics and on the broad road to death
and ruin. He believed himself capable of run-
ning the new county and town and conducting
all their affairs; and throwing open his house to
the public, the commissioners, the courts, and all
the county officials, he thus succeeded in inject-
ing his opinions and not a little of his surplus
human nature into all the county and town
affairs. His house was two stories in height, and
so arranged up stairs with folding doors that two
or three large rooms could be thrown into one,
which became the first court room in New
Albany and also a place of meeting for the Bap-
tists. Woodruff was the second bricklayer in
town, a man named Smith being the first, and
much of their work is yet standing; Smith was
probably the best workman: Woodruff used to
say that he would take down and rebuild one of
Smith's chimneys for the extra brick he could
get out of it; but it is said that WoodrufFs chim-
neys would smoke sometimes.

Woodruffs tavern was used for a court-house
until the erection of the first court-house in
1823, with the exception of a short time when
the court occupied the basement of the Presby-

terian church. Most of the old tavern stand was
taken down about 1832 and a brick building put
up in its place, but it was known generally as
Woodruff's tavern until 1850, though its proper
name was the New Albany Hotel. After 1850
it was known as the DePauw House. It is yet
standing, a large, square, dirty, dilapidated look-
ing brick building, and has been empty and
deserted for some years.

THE SECOND COURT-HOUSE.

Early in 1820 the people of the county deter-
mined to have a court-house. The Scribners had
placed at the disposal of the town and count)', for
public purposes, four large lots or squares at the
intersection of State and Spring streets, and upon
one of these the new court-house was to be built
in accordance with the afore-mentioned agree-
ment between the county commissioners and
Messrs John Eastburn, Seth Woodruff, Joel
Scribner, James Scribner, and Smith & Paxson,
who had entered into bonds of $25,000 to see
that the work was done. Accordingly, on the
15th of February, 1820, the following entries ap-
pear on the commissioners' records:

Ordered, that the treasurer pay William Norman ten dol-
lars for drawing a plan of the Court House.

Ordered, that the building of the Court House and Gaol be
sold at public sale to the lowest bidder on the 3d Monday in
March next on the public square. Plans of the building can
be seen at the store of Messrs. Paxson & Eastburn.

The commissioners ordered the above notice
to be published three weeks in the Indianian,
published at Jeffersonville, and at the same time
in the Indiana Gazette, published at Corydon,
and one notice to be posted on Seth Woodruff's
door. The manner of publication of this notice
is pretty good evidence that Patrick's paper, the
first one published in New Albany, was not issued
at that early date in 1820. It was, however,
started some time in that year, as it was there in
the fall.

The sub-contractors for the work were Charles
Paxson, Charles Woodruff, Christopher Arm-
strong, and Seth Woodruff. The sale did not
take place on the third Monday in March, as or-
dered, but on the 20th of April, and the job was
bid off by Charles gaxson and others, as above
named, for $7,860. According to the contract,
they were to "well and truly build a good and
sufficient Court House and Gaol in New Albany,"
according to the plan exhibited on the day of
sale. This they failed to do. They had not

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

figured closely enough, and had taken a larger
contract than they were able to complete. They
went forward with the work, but when they saw
that the money would give out long before the
work was done they threw up the job, and it went
back into the hands of the original bondsmen.
Thus the years 1820 and 182 1 went by and the
county had no court-house; the consequence
was the courts complained, and the people com-
plained, which resulted in the reappointment of
commissioners by the State to relocate the
county-seat of Floyd county. This brought the
people of the town to terms, as it was probably
intended to do, and the commissioners imme-
diately entered suit against the original contrac-
tors for $9,000, for the purpose of completing
the court-house. William P. and Joel D.
Thomasson were attorneys for the commis-
sioners.

The commissioners to relocate the county-seat,
appointed by the Legislature April, 1823, were
Allen D. Thorn, Armstrong Brandon, Hugh Mc-
Pheters, John Carr, and Edward Moore. The
people had held public meetings and made ex-
traordinary efforts to raise money for the purpose
of holding the county-seat; and Greenville began
again to hope there was a prospect after all,
through the negligence of the New Albanians, of
seeming the seat of justice. But when the com-
missioners made their appearance at New Al-
bany the people were ready with a large subscrip-
tion (large for those days) to back up their orig-
inal contractors, and go on with the completion
of the county buildings. The amount sub-
scribed by the citizens was $2,456.50, and the
lot or public square deeded by the corporation
to the county for this purpose was valued at
$800, making the total subscription $3,256.50,
which sum, it was thought, would be ample for
the completion of the buildings. A new bond
was given, on which the sureties were James
Scnbner, Ashel Clapp, David M. Hale, Abner
Scribner, Garret McCann, Joel Scribner, Thomas
Sinex, S. C. Miller, I. Starkey, Wicome Halle,
Harvey Scribner, Elias Ayers, Joseph Cannon,
Mason C. Fitch, R. S. Strickland, and Caleb
Newman. These were among the best and
wealthiest citizens of the town, and personally
pledged themselves for the payment of the sub-
scriptions. Thus the commissioners were satis-
fied, and New Albany retained the county-seat.

The following list of names of the subscribers
to the fund for building the first court-house is
given as much for the names of the old citizens of
New Albany, and a desire for their preservation,
as to show the manner in which such things were
done in the early days of the county's history

AMOUNT
NAMES. SUBSCRIBED

Harvey Scribner $ 10.

Henry Rinecking 10.

P. F. Tuley

Joel Scribner, 6 16-100 acres land . . 180.

Mary L. Miller 3.

Lathrop Elderkin 10.

J oseph Cannon 20.

R. S. Strickland, work or materials 10.

R. W. Nelson 10

Elias Avers, in brick or other material 60,

Mason C. Fitch 20.

Henry Weber 1

John Huston 1

James Lyons, in work or material 10.

Willis N. Brown

John Spalding 15.

Francis N. Moore

James Howard, one month carpenter work

Joseph Cannon 10.

Walter W. Winchester 10

Phebe Scribner and Phebe Strong, real estate 45

John Hancock 2.

John Goshart 10.

Thomas H. Letcher, in brick laying 25,

Isaac Brooks 5

Thomas Wright, in labor 1

John Doyle 5.

David M. Hale, in cash or material 50.

Jacob Marcell

Edward Brown, in hauling

Henry Selp, carpenter work 6.

H. Bogert 20

Asa Smith, mason work 10

Jacob Oatman

William Baird

Samuel Wilson 25

Joshua Wilson 30

Daniel Doup 15.

Caleb C. Dayton, in shoemaking 10.

Hiram L. Miller, one week carpenter work 9,

William B. Crawford

Alpheus B. Rowley 50

Joshua Wilson, to be paid at the completion of

building 7°

Joel Leek

Jacob Bence

George Clark 5

Thomas Hancock

James Hancock

Jacob Marcell, smith work 10.

H. Clapp, lot 31, Lower First street 45

H. Clapp, in labor or materials

H. Clapp, in labor 5

James B. Moore

Jesse Hickman 6.

John Shirley 6,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Philip Beamgard

Joseph Day

George McCulloch

John Harkin

Samuel Jackson

Henry Turner, in labor

John Rose

Warren Bucklin

Samuel Marsh

Daniel Seabrook. . .•

H. Bogert

Joel Scnbner, lot 27, Lower First street

David M. Hale, labor

James Besse

Samuel C. Miller

Abraham Brown

Isaac Sproatt

William Drysdale

Wicome Hale

Joel D. Thompson

Abner Scribner, lot 2, Upper Elm, and lot 5, Lower
Elm

Abner Scribner, lots 30 and 37, Upper Elm

Abner Scribner, lot 15, Lower Spring

Francis Vary, in lime or hauling

Levi Vary, labor

Joseph Brindley, mason work

Garret McCan, smith work

Caleb Newman

Seth Woodruff, bell and cupola

Seth Woodruff, lot 37, Lower High (Main) street. . . .

James Scribner, lot 30, Lower Market

James Scribner, one-fourth section land

Obadiah Childs, carpenter work

Darius Genung

Daniel Lane, hauling

John Nicholson, mason work

John Connor, to be paid when building completed. .

John A. Bright

James W. Breden

George Starkey

Benjamin Shreve

Margaret Shelby, to be paid in corn or other produce
at the market price, delivered in New Albany. . . .

Richard Comly, carpenter work

Caleb C. Dayton, shoemaking

Zephaniah Smith

Charles Russell, work or material

Josiah Akin

S. K. Gillchrus

William Smith

John Abbott

John Sanders

David H. Williams

Abraham Brown, labor

M. O. Fitch, administrator of Charles Paxson, de-
ceased

Seth Woodruff for G. W. Barclay

John Miles

Garret McCan, in blacksmithing

Robert Chamberlain

William Beeler. carpenter work

Daniel Wilson, by his agent, A. Clapp

John S. Doughton '.

James McCrum, nails

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 courthouse; his duties, as denned, 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 cujxila, 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

9°

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 1 ith 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; ccpies 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,
five feet 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 sepaiate 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

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, 1801, 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

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 hopelul 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.

, MORE COURT PROCEEDINGS.

At the next day's session of the general court

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 neat 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, $i; and for every other carriage of two
wheels, fifty cents; for goods, wares, merchan-

dise, lumber, etc., $i for each boatload. 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 name 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 Bartholemew, 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-.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

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 YVhitcomb, 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 :

captain Sanderson's company.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain William L. Sanderson.
First Lieutenant Stewart W. Cayce.
Second Lieutenant Thomas S. Kunkle.
Additional Second Lieutenant Henry Pennington.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Aug. M. Jackson.
Sergeant R. F. Freeman.
Sergeant Thomas Gwin.
Sergeant George W. Lapping.
Corporal Benjamin F. Scribner.
Corporal George W. Smith.
Corporal Enos Taylor.
Corporal Thomas V. Stran.

PRIVATES.

William Aikin, William J. Austin, Goodheart Abbott,
William Abbott, George Adams, Frank Bailey, [ames Bailey,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Michael Burris, William Bell, Isaac Buzby, Samuel Buchan-
an, Larkin Cunningham, Hiram W. Catlin, William Cook,
William Canada, Lewis Coulter, Jesse Fox, Samuel Finley,
Thomas Frazier, Berry Gwin, James F. Gwin, Charles H.
Goff, Albert L. Goodwin, John M. Hutchings, Martin
Howard, Daniel Howard, John Howard, Thomas Howard,
Samuel Howard, William Hopkins, John Hitch, Luther N.
Hollis, George Hoffman, August E. Hughes, Henry Hardy,
Alexander M. Jackson, Granville Jackson, William Lee,
William H. Lilly, Edwin R. Lunt, John T. Lewis, Walter
J. McMurtry, John M. Laughlin, Conrad Miller, Joseph
Morgan, Nathan McDowell, John N. Mitchell, fames B.
Mulkey, Henry M. Matthews, Richard S. Morris, Emanuel
W. Moore, John D. McRae, Harvey Paddock, William Pitt,
Wesley Pierce, Hiram J. Reamer, Warren Robinson,
Thomas Raper, David Rice, Apollos Stephens, Luther Steph-
ens, Thomas W. Sinex, James Smith, Calvin R. Thompson,
William W. Tuley, John Taylor, James Taylor, Thomas J.
Tyler, Luke Thomas, James Wininger, James B. Winger,
James Walts, Henry W. Welker, Charles Wright, Miles D.
Warren, Philip Zubrod.

The company was soon called to the field with
its regiment (which, by the way, was encamped
near New Albany. Captain Sanderson here came
near being elected colonel, but, it is alleged, was
cheated out of his election). It encamped for
ten days on the New Orleans battle-ground,
and spent several months at Camp Bel-
knap, a few miles up the east bank of the
Rio Grande, then marched into the interior
and took prominent part in the battle of Buena
Vista, February 22, 1847, in which Captain San-
derson was seriously wounded. Bela C. Kent,
Esq., now a leading citizen of New Albany, was
also on this field as an independent rifleman.
The company was mustered out at New Orleans
in June of the same year, and reached home on
Independence day, where it had a grand wel-
come.

Colonel Tuley gives the following account of
the survivors of this company and of the field
officers of the regiment, so far as he knows of
them :

General Lane, the first colonel, died recently in Oregon.
Of the officers, Second regiment, Major Cravens, of Wash-
ington county, alone survives. All of our commissioned
officers are dead except Lieutenant Pennington, who resides
in this city. The sergeants are all dead except George W.
Lapping, of this city. The corporals all reside in this city,
but Enos Taylor, and he may be living or dead. William
Akin is one of the firm of Akin & Drummond, founders,
Louisville. William J. Austin is in Florida. William Bell
died last year at Oxford, Indiana. Calvin E. Thompson, E.
W. Moore and Sam Finley are in Iowa. William Cook is in
Bowling Green, Kentucky. Berry Gwin, Alexander Jackson,
John McLaughlin, Conrad Miller, Wesley Pierce, H. J.
Reamer. William W. Tuley, James Taylor and Miles D.
Warren are all residents of this county. J. F. Gwin lives in
northern Indiana; John M. Hutchings, the Howards,

William H. Lilly, in Clarke county, Indiana; Nathan Mc-
Dowell, at Glasgow, Kentucky; James B. Mulky is practicing
law at Bloomington, Indiana; Richard S. Morris at Galves-
ton, Texas; William Pitt, dead. Where the others are, or
whether living or dead, I know not.

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

On the 15th day of May, 1861, the second
day after the fall of Fort Sumter and the very
day of the issue of President Lincoln's proclama-
tion calling out seventy-five thousand of the
militia of the States to aid in quelling the insur-
rection. Governor Morton tendered to the
President a contingent of ten thousand men
from Indiana. The quota assigned to the State
under the call, however, was something less
than half this number, being six regiments of
infantry or riflemen, numbering in all, as these
commands were then organized, but four thou-
sand six hundred and eighty-three men who
would be received for a three months' term of
service. The ranks of these regiments were
filled instantly, and a large number of surplus
companies were formed. These were organized
by the Governor upon his own responsibility,
into five more regiments, which were sworn into
the service of the State to be used in its defense,
if necessary, or for the general service, for the
period of twelve months. The Legislature, at its
next session, not only supported the action of
Governor Morton, but went further, and author-
ized the formation of six such regiments.
Meanwhile, on the 21st of May, on the further
requisition of the General Government, three of
the regiments formed from the overflow under
the three months' call had been transferred to
the United States service and were mustered in
for the period of three years. The subsequent
calls by proclamation of the President of July 3
and August 4, 1862; of June 15, 1863 (under
which four regiments of six months' men were
sent to East Tennessee); October 17, 1863;
February 1, March 14, July 18, and December
19, 1864, were responded to most patriotically by
the gallant people of Indiana; and the contin-
gents were in general, rapidly formed and sent
to the several scenes of action. Nearly every
Indiana soldier volunteered. A light draft was
made under an order of October 6, 1862, but it
was afterwards learned that the men drafted
were not then actually due from the State. On
the 30th of November, 1863, under the call of
the Government for colored volunteers, six com-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

panies were raised in Indiana, numbering five
hundred and eighteen men, who were received
into the Twenty-eighth regiment of United States
colored troops.

The rosters, hereafter published, will show that
a full share of these, as of all other troops raised
in the State, went from Floyd and Clarke
counties. In the credits for veteran volunteers
made up March 29, 1865, the former county
had one. If this seem a small number, it
should be noted that seven other counties of the
State had only as many, and four counties had
but two each. We give this figure here, partly
to point the contrast between this isolated acci-
dental credit, as it were, and the hundreds who
became veteran volunteers from the two coun-
ties, and the thousands who enlisted in the Fed-
eral service for longer or shorter periods.
Already, by the 19th of September, 1862, when
the war had been in progress but sixteen months,
it was ascertained that Clarke county had one
thousand six hundred and twelve of her sons in
the field, and that the total enrollment of those
remaining of suitable age for military service was
two thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, of
whom two thousand two hundred and ninety-
seven were subject to draft; and that the corres-
ponding figures for Floyd county were one thou-
sand and sixty seven, three thousand three hun-
dred and twenty-nine, and two thousand eight
hundred and eighty-four, a very honorable
showing, truly. (It may be added just here that
the return of Indiana militia made to the United
States Government after the war, April 6, 1867,
exhibited a total of four thousand, five hundred
and fifty-five capable of doing military service in
Clarke county, and four thousand two hundred
and nine in Floyd). It is very gratifying to be
able to record that so far as is now remembered
there was no disloyal expression at any of the
early war-meetings in these counties, while trea-
son was outspoken in certain of the adjacent
counties.

FURTHER OF THE HOME WORK.

Recruiting for the Union armies was begun
very early and very efficiently in Clarke and
Floyd counties. It was greatly stimulated by
the organization at Jeffersonville of the first
camp made by a Kentucky regiment forming for
the Union army. This offered an excellent op-
portunity to many patriotic Indianians, who were

unable to find places in the first regiments from
this State or for any other reason preferred to en-
list in a regiment in another State, to enlist in
the noble command being recruited by General
Rousseau, of Louisville. As will be seen by
lists published at the end of the rosters of Floyd
and Clarke county commands, a considerable
number of officers in this and other Kentucky
regiments were residents of Jeffersonville or
New Albany. Doubtless a much greater num-
ber of enlisted men from these cities and the
adjacent country went into regiments from Ken-
tucky and other States; but unhappily there are
no means of identifying or naming them; and
their honor must remain unsung, except in a
general way, in this history. We are able to
present the names of Indiana officers in Ken-
tucky regiments only by the enterprise of the
adjutant general of that State, who, in his report
for the war period, took pains to make an alpha-
betical fist of all officers in the service with Ken-
tucky commands, and their places of residence.

THE INDIANA LEGION.

The elaborate report of the adjutant general
of the State of Indiana for the war, in eight
octavo volumes, makes especial mention of Col-
onels John T. Willey and John N. Ingham, of
Clarke county, and Colonels Benjamin F. Scrib-
ner and William W. Tuley, of Floyd, for their
services in aiding to raise the Indiana Legion in
the fall of 1861. This organization of the State
militia was formed under an act of the State
Legislature, passed May nth, of that year, in
view of the war then imminently impending. It
was not, however, put upon a war footing until
the autumn of 1861, on account of the scarcity
of arms, every gun that could be procured up to
that time being needed to equip troops for the
United States service. September 10th Governor
Morton commissioned Major John Love, of In-
dianapolis, major general, and Colonel John
L. Mansfield, of Jeffersonville, brigadier general,
for the purpose of organizing the Legion. Com-
panies were formed in nearly every county. They
were grouped in two divisions, each commanded
respectively, by Major Generals Mansfield and
James Hughes (both promoted from brigadiers).
The regiments of the Legion formed in Floyd
and Clarke counties (full rosters of which will be
found below), were assigned to the Second bri-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

0 7

gade of the Second division of the Legion, com-
manded at first by Brigadier General Hughes,
and after his promotion to the command of a
division, by Brigadier General Henry Jordon.

The admirable report of the adjutant general
of the State (General W. H. H. Terrell) for the
war period, gives the following account of the
organization and services of the Floyd county
regiment :

"seventh regiment, third brigade.

"From the report of Colonel E. A. Maginness,
it appears that this regiment was organized under
command of Colonel B. F. Scribner, during the
spring of 1861, and consisted at that time of
eighteen companies, numbering in the aggregate
nine hundred men, most of whom were uni-
formed, but not more than three hundred armed.

"During the first four months the most satis-
factory progress was made in company and
battalion drill, but protracted delay in procuring
arms and accoutrements created general dissatis-
faction, while the organization of two regiments
of volunteers in this county and vicinity for the
United States service absorbed many of the
officers and men who had been the most active
members of the Legion. Every company contrib-
uted much of its best material to the two regi-
ments, and several of them were thus entirely
deprived of commissioned officers. From these
causes most of the companies were disorganized,
and the efficiency of those who retained their
organization was seriously impaired. Here, as
elsewhere, the Legion served the noble purpose
of educating young men for active service and
in infusing martial enthusiasm into the public
mind.

"Colonel Scribner entering the United States
service as colonel of the Thirty-eighth Indiana
volunteers, the command of the Seventh passed
to Colonel William W. Tuley in September,
1861. During the incumbency of Colonel Tuley
he was requested by General Anderson, then on
duty in Kentucky, to send Knapp's artillery com-
pany of his command to a point opposite the
mouth of Salt river, and to keep it supported by
at least one company of infantry. The request
was complied with, the artillery remaining on
duty at the point designated about three months,
during which time three infantry companies par-
ticipated in the duty of supporting it, relieving
each other from time to time. One company-

was subsequently sent to Indianapolis to assist
in guarding prisoners at Camp Morton, in which
service it continued several months.

"Upon the resignation of Colonel Tuley in
September, 1862, Colonel Maginness was placed
in command. He found the regiment, with the
exception of four companies, 'utterly broken up,'
and 'even these four companies very much shat-
tered'— a condition which was not much im-
proved at the date of his report, in December
following. Colonel Maginness attributes the
early dissolution of the organization to the 'ut-
terly and fatally defective law that gave it birth,'
a law 'which discovers no inducements to allure,
nor penalties to compel men to join the organi-
zation.'"

The following partial account of the services
of the large regiment raised chiefly in Clarke
county is also given in the same document:

"eighth regiment, third brigade.

"No detailed report of the inception and pro-
gress of the organization in Clarke and Scott
counties has been made by any of the officers
commanding, nor has this office been furnished
with reliable data relative to the services per-
formed by this regiment, or any of the companies
attached thereto. Tames Keigwin, of Jefferson,
was first appointed to the colonelcy, under
commission bearing date August 30, 1861,
but almost immediately vacated the office to
accept the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Forty-
ninth Indiana volunteers. Colonel John N.
Ingram held the command from September 6,
1861, to October 13, 1862, when his resignation
created a vacancy which was filled by the ap-
pointment of John F. Willey. This officer re-
ports twelve companies in Clarke and five com-
panies in Scott counties at the close of 1862.
Portions of the command were frequently called
out to repel threatened incursions of Kentucky
guerrillas, and the regiment rendered good service
in guarding the shoals on the Ohio, when the
water was low and the danger of invasion im-
minent. With resident rebel sympathizers, of
whom there were a considerable number in tliese
companies, the Legion unquestionably exercised
a restraining influence. It was a prolific nursery
for the volunteer service, a quickener of patri-
otic impulses, and conservator of genuine loy-
alty."

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Colonel WiUey reports the services of his
command for 1863-64, as follows:

"We had five battalions, and were called into
service by order of the Governor, June 20th, to
meet the raid under Captain Hines. June 21st,
relieved from duty; June 22d, a false alarm; were
sent to guard White river bridge: June 24th dis-
missed the command; July 6, 1863, called into
service by Lazarus Noble, adjutant-general; ren-
dezvoused at Jefferson; July 7th, dismissed the
command; July 8th, met at Jefferson to repel
Morgan raid; were in line of battle, but no enemy
came; July 15th, relieved from duty and com-
mand dismissed; June 9, 1864, called into
service, by order of the Governor, to meet a
raid in Kentucky by Morgan; dismissed June
25th; August 10th, called companies A and H
to picket the Ohio river in the vicinity of the
Grassy flats, to stop guerrillas from crossing under
rebel Jesse; pickets fired on by guerrillas; re-
turned the fire, but no one hurt; dismissed
August 20, 1864. We had two battalion drills
in April, 1864, one regimental drill in May, and
one in October. The regiment is well drilled
for militia, and is ready and willing to turn out
whenever called on."

THE DRAFT IN CLARKE AND FLOYD.

The draft assignment to Clarke county was
very light — only ten to Silver Creek township;
and to Floyd county was not great — but twenty-
four to Lafayette township, and two hundred and
twenty-nine to New Albany. T. D. Fouts was
appointed draft commissioner; John Stockwell,
marshal; and W. F. Collum, surgeon for Clarke
county. The corresponding appointments in
Floyd were Jesse J. Brown, Henry Crawford, and
William A. Clapp.

May 1, 1863, Colonel J. B. Merriwether, of
Jefferson, was appointed provost marshal for the
Second Congressional district, and served until
his honorable discharge, July 31, 1865. His ser-
vices of course, reached far beyond the light
duty connected with drafts in this case, as, it will
be noticed, they also reached some months be-
yond the close of the war.

It should be noted here, to the enduring honor
of both these counties, that there were no de-
serters whatever in Clarke county for the drafts
under the calls of July 18th, and December 19,
1864; and but three from Floyd county.

THE SCARE OF 1862.

The advance of a Confederate army under Gen-
erals Heath and Kirby Smith into Kentucky in the
late summer and early fall of 1862, naturally ex-
cited the liveliest apprehensions in all the counties
of Indiana and Ohio bordering upon the great
river. There was good reason for fear, although
finally no foot of soil of either State was touched
by the enemy during this movement. So close
and threatening, however, were their demonstra-
tions back of Covington, that they gave some
color to the somewhat fanciful title given to this
period in that quarter as "the siege of Cincin-
nati." Many days before this, on the 5th of
August, 1862, a military order had been issued
proclaiming martial law in all the towns and
counties of Indiana on the Ohio river, closing all
places of business in them at 3 o'clock in the
afternoon of every day, and requiring all able
bodied whites between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five in these counties to organize in com-
panies, elect officers, and report to the command-
ing officer of the legion in their respective coun-
ties, armed with such weapons as could be pro-
cured, and paying strict attention to drill and
discipline. These orders were cheerfully and
pretty thoroughly obeyed in most quarters — no-
where more so than in the two counties which
are the subject of this volume; and these meas-
ures, it is believed, were among those which de-
terred the enemy from attempting the crossing of
the Ohio. Among the most noticeable steps
taken in this region, were the planning of works
and the actual planting of batteries upon the
heights of New Albany, under the direction of
Colonel Carrington and Major Frybarger, in
order to cover with their fire the lowlands and
fords of the river west of Louisville.

THE MORGAN RAID.

The next year — in the historic month of July,
1863 — the enemy came vastly nearer, furnishing
by far the most exciting episode of the war to
nearly the whole of southern Indiana and Ohio.
For the first and last time during the long con-
flict, the Confederate was present in armed force
upon the soil of Floyd and Clarke counties,
though only for an instant, as it were, and upon
or near the northern borders of the counties. We
refer to the raid of John Morgan and his bold
riders, which carried consternation through a

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

wide tract of the Northland during a few hurried
days, and then ended in wild flight and utter
disaster on the banks of the upper Ohio. We
give the story from the beginning of the rapid
march to the exit from Indiana into Ohio, as
found in the admirable and truly monumental
work of Whitelaw Reid, entitled Ohio in the
War, and published in 1868 by Messrs. Wilstach,
Baldwin & Co., of Cincinnati. It should previ-
ously be observed, however, that Morgan under-
took the movement against the express order of
his superior, General Bragg, then commanding
the Confederate army at Tullahoma, who had
given him orders to make a demonstration in
Kentucky, capturing Louisville if he possibly
could, and going whithersoever he chose in the
State, but by no means to cross the Ohio. Mor-
gan determined, however, upon his own respon-
sibility, to disregard the injunction, and so in-
formed his second in command, Colonel Basil
W. Duke, now an attorney in Louisville. He
sent scouts to examine the fords of the upper
Ohio, where he thought he should cross on his
return, unless Lee's movement on Pennsylvania
should make it expedient for him to keep mov-
ing eastward until he could unite his force with
the army of Northern Virginia. We now follow
Ohio in the War:

"On the 2d of July he began to cross the Cum-
berland at Burkesville and Turkey Neck bend,
almost in the face of Judah's cavalry, which, ly-
ing twelve miles away, at Marrowbone, trusted to
the swollen river as sufficient to render the
crossing impracticable. The mistake was fatal.
Before Judah moved down to resist, two regi-
ments and portions of others were across. With
these Morgan attacked, drove the cavalry into
its camp at Marrowbone, and was then checked
bythe artillery. But his crossing was thus secured,
and long before Judah could get his forces gath-
ered together, Morgan was half way to Colum-
bia. He had two thousand four hundred and
sixty men, all told. Before him lay three States —
Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio — which he meant to
traverse ; one filled with hostile troops, the
others with a hostile and swarming population.

"The next day, at the crossing of Green river,
he came upon Colonel Moore, with a Michigan
regiment, whom he vainly summoned to sur-
render, and vainly strove to dislodge. The fight
was severe for the little time it lasted ; and

Morgan, who had no time to spare, drew off,
found another crossing, and pushed on through
Campbellville to Lebanon. Here came the last
opportunity to stop him. Three regiments held
the position, but two of them were at some little
distance from the town. Falling upon the one
in the town, he overwhelmed it before the others
could get up, left them hopelessly in his rear,
and double-quicked his prisoners eight miles
northward to Springfield, before he could stop
long enough to parole them.* Then, turning
northwestward, with his foes far behind him,
he marched straight for Brandenburgh, on the
Ohio river, some sixty miles below Louisville. A
couple of companies were sent forward to cap-
ture boats for the crossing; others were detached
to cross below and effect a diversion ; and still
others were sent toward Crab Orchard to dis-
tract the attention of the Union commanders.
He tapped the telegraph wires, thereby finding
that he was expected at Louisville, and that the
force there was too strong for him ; captured a
train from Nashville within thirty miles of Louis-
ville ; picked up squads of prisoners here and
there, and paroled them. By ten o'clock on the
morning of the 8th, his horsemen stood on
the banks of the Ohio. They had crossed Ken-
tucky in five days.

" When the advance companies, sent forward to
secure boats, entered Brandenburg, they took
care to make as little confusion as possible.
Presently the Henderson and Louisville packet,
the J. J. McCoombs, came steaming up the river,
and landed as usual at the wharf-boat. As it
made fast its lines, thirty or forty of Morgan's
men quietly walked on board and took posses-'
sion. Soon afterward, the Alice Dean, a fine
boat running in the Memphis and Cincinnati
trade, came around the bend. As she gave no
sign of landing, they steamed out to meet her,
and, before captain or crew could comprehend
the matter, the Alice Dean was likewise trans-
ferred to the Confederate service. When Mor-
gan rode into town a few hours later, the boats
were ready for his crossing.

" Indiana had just driven out a previous invader
— Captain Hines, of Morgan's command — who,
with a small force, had crossed over " to stir up
the Copperheads," as the rebel accounts pleas-

*Some horrible barbarities to one or two of these prison-
ers were charged against him in the newspapers of the day.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

antly express it. Finding the country too hot
for him, he had retired, after doing considerable
damage ; and in Brandenburg he was now await-
ing his chief.

"Preparations were at once made for crossing
over, but the men crowding down incautiously to
the river bank, revealed their presence to the
militia on the Indiana side, whom Captain Hines'
recent performance had made unwontedly watch-
ful. They at once opened a sharp fusilade across
the stream, with musketry and an old cannon
which they had mounted on wagon-wheels. Mor-
gan speedily silenced this fire by bringing up his
Parrott rifles; then hastily dismounted two of his
regiments and sent them across. The militia re-
treated and the two rebel regiments pursued. Just
then a little tin-clad, the Springfield, which Com-
mander Leroy Fitch had dispatched from New
Albany, on the first news of something wrong down
the river, came steaming towards the scene of ac-
tion. Suddenly "checking her way," writes the
rebel historian of the raid, Colonel Basil Duke, in
his History of Morgan's Cavalry, "she tossed her
snubnose defiantly, like an angry beauty of the
coalpits, sidled a little toward the town, and
commenced to scold. A bluish-white, funnel-
shaped cloud spouted out from her left-hand
bow, and a shot flew into the town, and then,
cranging front forward, she snapped a shell at
the men on the other side. I wish I were suf-
ficiently master of nautical phraseology to do
justice to this little vixen's style of fighting ; but
she was so unlike a horse, or even a piece of
light artillery, that I cannot venture to attempt
it." He adds that the rebel regiments on the
Indiana side found shelter, and that thus the
gunboat fire proved wholly without effect. After a
little Morgan trained his Parrotts upon her; and
the inequality in the range of the guns was such
that she speedily turned up the river again.

"The situation had seemed sufficiently danger-
ous. Two regiments were isolated on the Indi-
ana side; the gunboat was between them and
their main body; while every hour of delay
brought Hobson nearer on the Kentucky side,
and speeded the mustering of the Indiana mi-
litia. But the moment the gunboat turned up
the river, all danger for the moment was passed.
Morgan rapidly crossed the rest of his command,
burned the boats behind him, scattered the mi-
litia and rode out into Indiana. There was yet

time to make a march of six miles before night-
fall.

"The task now before Morgan was a simple one,
and for several days could not be other than an
easy one. His distinctly formed plan was to
march through southern Indiana and Ohio,
avoiding large towns and large bodies of militia,
spreading alarm through the country, making
all the noise he could, and disappearing again
across the upper fords of the Ohio before the
organizations of militia could get such shape and
consistency as to be able to make head against
him. For some days, at least, he need expect
no adequate resistance, and, while the bewilder-
ment as to his purposes and uncertainty as to
the direction he was taking should paralyze the
gathering militia, he meant to place many a long
mile between them and his hard riders.

"Spreading, therefore, all manner of reports as
to his purposes and assuring the most that he
meant to penetrate to the heart of the State and
lay Indianapolis in ashes, he turned the heads of
his horses up the river towards Cincinnati ; scat-
tered the militia with the charges of his advanced
brigade; burnt bridges and cut telegraph wires
right and left ; marched twenty-one hours out of
twenty-four, and rarely made less than fifty or
sixty miles a day.

"His movement had at first attracted little at-
tention. The North was used to having Ken-
tucky in a panic about invasion from John Mor-
gan, and had come to look upon it mainly as a
suggestion of a (ew more blooded horses from
the " blue-grass " that were to be speedily im-
pressed into the rebel service. Gettysburg had
just been fought; Vicksburg had just fallen;
what were John Morgan and his horse-thieves?
Let Kentucky guard her own stables against her
own outlaws!

"Presently he came nearer and Louisville fell
into a panic. Martial law was proclaimed; bus-
iness was suspended; every preparation for de-
fense was hastened. Still, few thought of danger
beyond the river, and the most, remembering the
siege of Cincinnati, were disposed to regard as
very humorous the ditching and the drill by the
terrified people of the Kentucky metropolis.

" Then came the crossing. The Governor of
Indiana straightway proclaimed martial law, and
called out the legion. General Burnside was
full of wise plans for "bagging" the invader, of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

which the newspapers gave mysterious hints.
Thoroughly trustworthy gentlemen hastened with
their 'reliable reports' of the rebel strength.
They had stood on the wharf-boat and kept tally
of the cavalry crossed ; and there was not a man
less than five thousand of them. Others had
talked with them, and been confidently assured
that they were going up to Indianapolis to burn
the State-house. Others, on the same veracious
authority, were assured that they were heading
for New Albany and Jeffersonville to burn Gov-
ernment stores. The militia everywhere were
sure that it was their duty to gather in their own
towns and keep Morgan off; and, in the main,
he saved them the trouble by riding around.
Hobson came lumbering along in the rear — riding
his best, but finding it hard to keep the trail;
harder to procure fresh horses, since of these
Morgan made a clean sweep as he went; and
impossible to narrow the distance between them
to less than twenty-five hours.

"Still the purpose of the movement was not di-
vined— its very audacity was its 'protection.
General Burnside concluded that Hobson was
pressing the invaders so hard, forsooth, that they
must swim across the Ohio below Madison to
escape, and his disposition for intercepting them
proceeded on that theory. The Louisville pack-
ets were warned not to leave Cincinnati, lest
Morgan should bring with them his artillery and
force them to ferry him back into Kentucky.
Efforts were made to raise regiments to aid the
Inciianians, if only to reciprocate the favor they
had shown when Cincinnati was under siege ;
but the people were tired of such alarms, and
could not be induced to believe in the danger.
By Sunday, July 1 2, three days after Morgan's
entry upon northern soil, the authorities had ad-
vanced their theory of his plan to correspond
with the news of his movements. They now
thought he would swim the Ohio a little below
Cincinnati, at or near Aurora; but the citizens
were more apprehensive. They began to talk
about a "sudden dash into the city." The
mayor requested that business be suspended and
that the citizens assemble in their respective
wards for defense. Finally General Burnside
came to the same view, proclaimed martial law,
and ordered the suspension of business. Navi-
gation was practically stopped, and gun-boats
scoured the river banks to remove all scows and

flat-boats which might aid Morgan in his escape
to the Kentucky shore. Later in the evening
apprehensions that, after all, Morgan might not
be so anxious to escape, prevailed. Governor
Tod was among the earliest to recognize the dan-
ger; and, while there was still time to secuie in-
sertion in the newspapers of Monday morning,
he telegraphed to the press a proclamation call-
ing out the militia.

"It was high time. Not even yet had the au-
thorities begun to comprehend the tremendous
energy with which Morgan was driving straight
to .his goal. While the people of Cincinnati
were reading this proclamation, and considering
whether or not they should put up the shutters
of their store-windows,* Morgan was starting out
in the gray dawn from Sunmansville for the sub-
urbs of Cincinnati. Long before the rural popu-
lation within fifty miles of- the city had read the
proclamation calling them to arms, he was at
Harrison (Hamilton county, Ohio, on the State
line), which he reached at 1 p. m., Monday, July
13th."

The end of the terrible race for life is thus
told:

"Until he reached Pomeroy he encountered
comparatively lit tie resistance. At Camp Denni-
son there was a little skirmish, in which a rebel
lieutenant and several privates were captured;
but Lieutenant Colonel Neff wisely limited his
efforts to the protection of the bridge and camp.
A train of the Little Miami road was thrown off
the track. At Berlin there was a skirmish with
the militia under Colonel Runkle. Small militia
skirmishes were constantly occurring, the citizen
soldiery hanging on the flanks of the flying in-
vaders and wounding two or three men every
day, and occasionally killing one.

"At last the daring little column approached
its goal. All the troops in Kentucky had been
evaded and left behind. All the militia in In-
diana had been dashed aside or outstripped.
The fifty thousand militia in Ohio had failed to
turn it from its pre-determined path. Within
precisely fifteen days from the morning it had
crossed the Cumberland — nine days ftom its
crossing into Indiana — it stood once more on
the banks of the Ohio. A few hours more of

•Many thousand men wholly disobeyed the orders, and
kept their stores or shops open through the day.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

daylight, and it would be safely across, in the
midst again of a population to which it might
look for sympathy if not for aid.

"But the circle of the hunt was narrowing.
Tudah, with his fresh cavalry, was up, and was
marching out from the river against Morgan.
Hobson was hard on his rear. Colonel Runkle,
commanding a division of militia, was north of
him. And, at last, the local militia in advance
of him were beginning to fell trees and tear up
bridges to obstruct his progress. Near Pomeroy
they made a stand. For four or five miles his
road ran through a ravine, with occasional inter-
sections from hill roads. At all these cross-roads
he found the militia posted; and from the hills
above him they made his passage through the
ravine a perfect running of the gauntlet. On
front, flank, and rear, the militia pressed; and,
as Morgan's first subordinate ruefully expressed
it, "closed eagerly upon our track." In such
plight he passed through the ravine; and shaking
clear of his pursuers for a while, pressed on to
Chester, where he arrived about i o'clock in
the afternoon of the 18th of July.

"Here he made the first serious military mis-
take that had marked his course on Northern
soil. He was within a few hours' ride of the
ford at which he hoped to cross; and the skir-
mishing about Pomeroy should have given him
ample admonition of the necessity for haste.
But he had been advancing through the ravine
at a gallop. He halted now to breathe his
horses and to hunt a guide. Three hours and a
half thus lost went far toward deciding his fate.

"When his column was well closed up, and his
guide was found he moved forward. It was
eight o'clock before he reached Portland, the
little village on the bank of the Ohio nearly op-
posite Burlington island. Night had fallen — a
night of solid darkness, as the rebel officers de-
clared. The entrance to that ford was guarded
by a little earthwork manned by only two or
three hundred infantry. This alone stood be-
tween him and an easy passage to Virginia.

"But his evil genius was upon him. He had
lost an hour and a half at Chester in the after-
noon— the most precious hour and a half since
his feet touched Northern soil ; and he now de-
cided to waste the night. In the hurried coun-
cil with his exhausted officers it was admitted
on all hands that Judah had arrived — that some

of his troops had given force to the skirmishing
near Pomeroy — that they would certainly be at
Buffington by morning, and that gun-boats
would accompany them. But his men were in
bad condition, and he feared to trust them in a
night attack upon a fortified position which he
had not reconnoitered. The fear was fatal.
Even yet, by abandoning his wagon-train and his
wounded, he might have reached unguarded
fords a little higher up. This, too, was men-
tioned by his officers. He would save all, he
promptly replied, or would lose all together. And
so he gave mortgages to fate. By morning
Judah was up. At daybreak Duke advanced
with a couple of rebel regiments to storm the
earthwork, but found it abandoned. He was
rapidly proceeding to make dispositions for cross-
ing, when Judah's advance struck hin:. At first
he repulsed it, and took a number of prisoners,
the adjutant general of Judah's staff among them.
Morgan then ordered him to hold the force on
his front in check. He was not able to return
to his command till it had been broken and
thrown in full retreat before an impetuous charge
of Judah's cavalry, headed by Lieutenant O'Neil,
of the Fifth Indiana. He succeeded in rallying
and reforming his line. But now advancing up
the Chester and Pomeroy road came the gallant
cavalry that, over three States, had been gallop-
ing on their track — the three thousand of Hob-
son's command — who for nearly two weeks had
been only a day, a forenoon, an- hour behind
them.

"As Hobson's guidons fluttered out in the little
valley by the river bank where they fought, every
man of that band that had so long defied a
hundred thousand knew that the contest was
over. They were almost out of ammunition, ex-
hausted, and scarcely two thousand strong;
against whom were Hobson's three thousand
and Judah's still larger force. To complete the
overwhelming odds, that in spite of their efforts
had at last been concentrated upon them, the
ironclad gun-boats steamed up and opened fire.
Morgan comprehended the situation as fast as
the hard-riding troopers, who, still clinging to
their bolts of calico, were already galloping to-
ward the rear. , He at once essayed to extricate
his trains, and then to withdraw his regiments by
column of fours from right of companies, keep-
ing up meanwhile as sturdy resistance as he

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

i°3

might. For some distance the withdrawal was
made in tolerable order; then, under a charge of
a Michigan cavalry regiment, the retreat became
a rout. Morgan, with not quite twelve hundred
men, escaped. His brother, with Colonels Duke,
Ward, Huffman, and about seven hundred men
were taken prisoners.

"This was the battle of Buffington Island. It
was brief and decisive. But for his two mistakes
of the night before, Morgan might have avoided
it and escaped; yet it cannot be said that he
yielded to the blow that insured his fate without
spirited resistance and a courage and tenacity
worthy of a better cause. Our superiority in
forces was overwhelming, and our loss trifling.

" And now began the dreariest experience of
the rebel chief. Twenty miles above Buffington
he struck the river again, got three hundred of
his command across, and was himself midway in
the stream when the approaching gunboats
checked the passage. Returning to the nine
hundred still on the Ohio side, he once more
renewed the hurried flight. His men were worn
down and exhausted by long continued and enor-
mous work ; they were demoralized by pillage,
discouraged by the scattering of their command,
weakened most of all by the loss of faith in
themselves and their commander, surrounded by
a multitude of foes, harassed at every hand,
intercepted at every loophole of escape, hunted
like game night and day, driven hither and
thither in their vain efforts to double on their
remorseless pursuers. It was the early type and
token of a similar fate under pursuit of which
the great army of the Confederacy was to fade
out; and no other words are needed to finish the
story we have now to tell than those with which
the historian of the army of the Potomac (Swin-
ton) describes the tragic flight to Appomattox
Court House:

" Dark divisions sinking in the woods for a-
few hours' repose, would hear suddenly in the
woods the boom of hostile guns and the clatter
of the troops of the ubiquitous cavalry, and had
to be up to hasten off. Thus pressed on all
sides, driven like sheep before prowling wolves,
amid hunger, fatigue, and sleeplessness, continu-
ing day after day, they fared toward the rising
sun:

Such resting found the soles of unblest feet."

Yet to the very last the energy this daring

cavalryman displayed was such as to extort our
admiration. From the jaws of disaster he drew
out the remnants of his command at Buffington.
When foiled in the attempted crossing above, he
headed for the Muskingum. Foiled here by the
militia under Remkle, he doubled on his track,
and turned again toward Blennerhasset Island.
The clouds of dust that marked his track be-
trayed the movement, and on three sides the pur-
suers closed in upon him. While they slept in
peaceful expectation of receiving his surrender
in the morning, he stole out along a hillside that
had been thought impassable — his men walking
in single file and leading their horses; and by
midnight he was out of the toils, and once more
marching hard to outstrip his pursuers. At last
he found an unguarded crossing of the Mus-
kingum at Eaglesport, above McConnellsville;
and then, with an open country before him,
struck out once more for the Ohio.

This time Governor Tod's sagacity was vindi-
cated. He urged the shipment of troops by rail
to Bellaire, near Wheeling; and by great good
fortune Major Way, of the Ninth Michigan cav-
alry, received the ordeis. Presently this offi-
cer was on the scent. "Morgan is making for
Hammondsville," he telegraphed General Burn-
side on the twenty-fifth, "and will attempt to
cross the Ohio river at Wellsville. I have my
section of battery, and shall follow him closely. "
He kept his word, and gave the finishing stroke.
"Morgan was attacked with the remnant of his
command, at 8 o'clock this morning," announced
General Burnside on the next day, July 26th, "at
Salineville, by Major Way, who, after a severe
fight, routed the enemy, killed about thirty,
wounded some fifty, and took some two hundred
prisoners. " Six hours later the long race ended.
"I captured John Morgan to-day, at 2 o'clock p.
m. " telegraphed Major Rue, of the Ninth Ken-
tucky cavalry, on the evening of the 26th,
"taking three hundred and and twenty-six prison-
ers, four hundred horses and arms."

Salineville is in Columbiana county, but a few
miles below the most northerly point of the State
touched by the Ohio river, and between Steuben-
ville and Wellsville, nearly two-thirds of the way
up the eastern border of the State. Over such
distances had Morgan passed, after the disaster
at Buffington, which all had supposed certain to
end his career, and so near had he come to

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

making his escape from the State, with the hand-
ful he was still able to keep together.

This raid occurred at a perilous time for Jef-
fersonville and New Albany, where $4,000,000
worth of Government stores were deposited ^nd
awaiting movement. These cities were in the
District of Kentucky, and so under the orders
of General Boyle, commanding at Louisville;
but General Hughes assumed to order out the
companies of the Legion and the minute-men,
to defend the threatened district. Before Mor-
gan had reached the Ohio Knapp's batteiy,
from New Albany, the artillery ef Floyd county,
was ordered to move on a steamer to the mouth
of Salt river to prevent Morgan's crossing there.
As he crossed many miles below, they saw noth-
ing of him. General Hughes went to Mitchell,
on the Ohio & Mississippi railroad, and got to-
gether a force of two thousand militia, to resist
any rebel demonstration that might be made in
that direction, moving thence, by rail, eastward
to Vernon, as the march of the rebels passed on.
New Albany was left in command of a Federal
surgeon, Major Thomas YV. Fry. To him Col-
onel Lewis Jordan, who had four hundred men
of the Legion in front of a portion of Morgan's
force near Corydon, appealed urgently for rein-
forcements. Fry referred the request to General
Boyle, in Louisville, at least sixteen hours before
the whole rebel command had come up and con-
fronted Jordan's lines. The latter sent repeated
requests for aid, but no attention seemed to be
paid to them, and after a gallant and hard fight,
the colonel had to surrender his little band.
Morgan then marched his right wing through
Greenville, in the northwest part of Floyd
county, and through New Providence, in Clarke;
while his left wing took the direction of Paoli,
Orange county. Scouts and squads of the
enemy also pushed from the main body south-
ward here and there, and in at least one case
came down even to the Ohio, which they struck
at a point between Jeffersonville and Utica.
Some incidents of that part of the raid which
traversed these two counties will be found in our
histories of the townships.

On the afternoon of the same day that Mor-
gan reached this vicinity, a brigade of infantry
and a battery of artillery, the whole commanded
by General Manson, was placed on board the
cars at Jeffersonville, to be hurried out in the

hope of intercepting or pursuing the raider; but
they were stopped and disembarked by order of
General Boyle before leaving the depot, he
doubtless realizing the futility of pursuit, now
that Morgan had passed, or perhaps thinking
that the force would yet be needed for the pro-
tection of the Government stores and buildings
at New Albany and Jeffersonville.

Little harm seems to have been done by the
raiders in their passage thought Clarke county;
but from Floyd county claims for damage,
amounting in all to $30,291.61, were presented
for payment by the State of Indiana; of which
a little more than one-third, or $11,188.71, were
allowed.

Again, in June, 1864, upon the occasion of
Morgan's last invasion of Kentucky, the militia
of this region were called out, the Harrison
and Floyd counties regiments of the Indiana
Legion, and the two New Albany batteries en-
camped at that place — likewise the Clarke county
regiment at Jeffersonville — ready to move to the
protection of Louisville, or for other service, at a
moment's notice. Adjutant General Noble came
personally from Indianapolis to New Albany to
see that the men of the Legion were in proper
condition, and that the batteries were in good
shape for movement or action; but, happily, the
services of none of them were required.

BOUNTIES AND BENEFITS.

The following is an exhibit from the first
volume of the adjutant-general's reports for
1861-65 of the amounts expended in Clarke and
Floyd counties for local bounties, the relief of
soldiers families and miscellaneous purposes con-
nected with the war:

CLARKE COUNTY.

Townships.

Bounty. Relief.

Jeffersonville (including city) $39,000.

Utica 10,000

Charlestown 8 ,34

Owen 1,820

Bethlehem 1,538

Washington 3.982

Monroe 6,000,

Silver Creek 3. 120

Wood 5<5°°

Oregon 4 ,500.

Carr 2,885

Union 4.500.

Besides $3,680 for bounties, $2,377.52 for re-
lief, and $261.47 for miscellaneous expenditures
on war account, from the county at large, making

$1,565.00

.00

400.OO

552-O0

00
•45

359-45

586.00

OO
OO

150.00

CO
DO

486.00

25.00

176.00

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

io5

several totals of $94,916.45, $6,776.97, and
$261.47, and a grand total of $101,954.89.

FLOYD COUNTY.

Locality. Bounty. Relief. Mis.

New Albany City $ 14.813.74 $ 4.803.76 $930

New Albany township 71,027.90 74,427.50

Greenville township 9,800.00 2,563.00

Georgetown township 1,830.00

Lafayette township 3,500.00 1,325.00

Franklin township 7,970.00 834.00

County at large 17,750.00

Totals $124,861.64 $85,780.26 $930

And a grand total of $211,571.90 for this
county, and of $313,526.79 for the two counties.

Under the act of the State Legislature bearing
date March 4, 1865, for the benefit of soldiers'
families, the State auditor, August 10th of the
same year, provided for the distribution to 203,-
724 beneficiaries, of the total sum of $1,646,-
809.92. Of this amount $19,173.84 fell to
2,373 needy ones in Clarke county, and $18,-
640.56 to 2,307 beneficiaries in Floyd.

It may be noted here that, in the closing year
of the war, Jesse J. Thomas, of New Albany,
was appointed the director from the Ninth dis-
trict for the Indiana Soldiers' Home.

May 9, 1 861, Governor Morton wrote to Gen-
eral McClellan that Louisville ought to be com-
manded by batteries on the Indiana side, as a
security for the good conduct of that city. Two
pieces of heavy ordnance were accordingly sent
to New Albany, but none for Jeffersonville. The
latter place afterwards went to some extent into
the manufacture of gun-carriages, Dawson &
Marsh, of that city, in 1863, furnishing the Gov-
ernment with twelve, at two hundred and fifty
dollars each.

On the 2d of October, 1861, Governor Morton
had all the arms in the arsenal at Indianapolis
sent down to Jeffersonville for distribution to the
Home guards of this part of Indiana and also of
Kentucky.

At one time in the early part of the war, goods
that it was supposed were destined for the
enemy, were stopped in transit at New Albany.

In 1861 the Jeffersonville, Madison & In-
dianapolis railroad carried on war account 6,109
men, exclusive of regiments going to the field,
for which it was paid the sum of $9,413.66.
The Louisville, New Albany & Chicago road
similarly carried 9,105, and was paid $9,149.42.

The Indiana regiments which rendezvoused

and organized at New Albany during the war
were the Twenty-third, under Colonel William
L. Landrum, under authority issued June 24,

1861, mustered into service July 29, 1861, and
out .of service July 23, 1865; the Fifty-third,
under Colonel Walter Q. Gresham, authorized
in October, 1861, mustered in February 26,

1862, mustered out July 21, 1865; the Sixty-
sixth, under Colonel Roger Martin, mustered in
August 19, 1862, and out June 3, 1865; and the
Eighty-first under Colonel William W. Caldwell,
authorized August 13, 1862, mustered in August
29, 1862, and out June 13, 1865. The Jeffer-
sonville regiment was the Forty-ninth, organized
by Colonel John W. Ray, under authority granted
August 23, 1861. It was mustered into service
November 21, 1861, and out of service June 13,
1865. The Fifth Kentucky regiment of infantry,
under Colonel Lovell H. Rousseau, was also or-
ganized here, as before noticed, at Camp Joe
Holt.

The whole number of troops furnished the
Union armies by Indiana during the late war
was 208,367; of these 652 commissioned officers
and 23,764 enlisted men were killed in action or
died of disease; 10,846, sad to say, deserted the
flag; and 13,779 remain unaccounted for.

THE ROSTER.

The distinguished adjutant general of the
State at the close of the great struggle, General
William H. H. Terrell, builded better than he
knew for the local historian in the preparation of
his magnificent report for the war period. This is
in better shape, for the purposes of the historian,
than any other report of the kind that has fallen
under the eye of the writer of this history. It
contains, not only full rosters of the regiments
and other commands that were recruited in In-
diana during the war, but also, where the officers
or clerks of the companies have done their duty,
full memoranda of the residences of officers and
men. It is thus practicable — which it is not
generally possible to do in adjutant generals' re-
ports of the war — to identify soldiers as certainly
belonging, at the time of their enlistment
or discharge at least, to one or the other
county of the State. It is to be regretted, how-
ever, that in some cases the residences of the
men of an entire company or regiment have
been omitted from the rolls; and, if any Clarke

io6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

or Floyd county officer or man does not find his
name in the following lists, when he should be
there, his censure must light upon those who
long ago should have recorded his residence
upon the roster of his command. Every line of
every one of the eight thick volumes of the re-
port has been carefully scanned in the effort to
miss no name which should be embraced in
this roll of honor; and in some cases, when
the residence of officers has been ascertained to
be in these counties, the presumption has pre-
vailed that their commands were also bodily from
the same region, and their rolls have been cop-
ied accordingly. If any one finds that he in
this great catalogue experiences the peculiar sort
of fame of which Byron spoke, "to have your
name spelt wrong in print," he must also refer
the fault to some one back of the compiler and
publishers of this book. Every name has been
copied with care, and it is believed, exactly; and
the proofs of this chapter have been laboriously
compared with the original copy. It is hoped
in this way approximate exactness has been
attained in nearly all cases.

For the substance of the regimental and other
brief histories, and in a few cases for the text
itself, we are also indebted to the admirable
report of General Terrell:

FEDERAL APPOINTMENTS.

The following named officers from Floyd and
Clarke counties were commissioned by the Pres-
ident of the United States:

Walter Q. Gresham, of New Albany, major-general of
volunteers by brevet, commissioned August 15, 1865, mustered
out April 30, 1866.

Benjamin F. Scribner, of New Albany, brigadier-general
of volunteers by brevet, commissioned August 8, 1864, re-
signed August 21, 1864.

John S. Simonson, of Charlestown, brigadier-general of
volunteers by brevet, and colonel in the regular army; com-
missioned March 13, 1865.

DeWitt C. Anthony, of New Albany, brigadier-general of
volunteers by brevet, commissioned March 13, 1865, resigned
as colonel March 24, 1864.

Daniel F. Griffin, of New Albany, brigadier-general of
volunteers by brevet; commissioned March 13, 1865, resigned
as lieutenant-colonel November 8, 1864, now dead.

Augustus M. Van Dyke, of New Albany, major of volun-
teers by brevet; commissioned March 13, 1865; mustered out
as assistant adjutant-general of volunteers September 19,
1865.

Thomas B. Prather, of Jeffersonville, captain of volunteers
by brevet, commissioned May 19, 1865, mustered out June*
29, 1865.

George A. Bicknell, of New Albany, first midshipman on
probation at the Newport Naval academy, from December 2,

1861; son of Hon. George A. Bicknell, Sr. , now a judge of
the supreme court of Indiana.

NINTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

(Three years' service.)

Company D — George D. Box, Jeffersonville; substitute.

Company G — Charles W. Mitchell, New Albany; substi-
tute.

Company I — William Goforth. Clarke county, drafted;
Edward Abbott, James H. White, Noah Brown, Clarke
county, substitutes.

Company K — Columbus Blinkenbaker, Georgetown,
drafted.

ELEVENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

(Three years' service.)
Unassigned recruits — Charles Benson, John Smith,
Clarke county.

TWELFTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

(One year service.)

This' regiment was organized from the surplus
companies that reached Indianapolis in answer
to the call for six regiments of three months'
troops, and was accepted for State service for one
year, on the nth of May, 1861, with John M.
Wallace as colonel. On the nth of June it left
Indianapolis for Evansville, where it occupied
the camp lately vacated by the Eleventh regi-
ment. July 1 8th orders were received from the
War department for its transfer to the United
States service for the rest of its term of service,
and on the 23d it left Evansville for Baltimore.
Reaching that place on the 27th the Twelfth
went next day to Sandy Hook, Maryland, near
Harper's Ferry, where it was assigned to Aber-
crombie's brigade of General Banks' army of the
Shenadoah. While here Colonel Wallace re-
signed, and Lieutenant-Colonel Link was pro-
moted to his place. The regiment remained
in camp in Pleasant Valley, near Maryland
Heights, until the 6th of August, when it moved
with the army to Hyattstown, and encamped
there for a time. General Joe Johnston was re-
poited near Leesburgh, on the opposite side of
the Potomac, with a large force, and this march
was made with a view to prevent his crossing.
The following month marches were made to
Darnestown, Nolan's Ferry, Seneca Creek, and
Tuscarora Creek, and in October to Point of
Rocks, Hyattstown, Urbana, and Frederick.
On the nth the regiment left the last named
place, and advanced through Boonsboro and
Middletown to Williamsport, Maryland. On the
13th the several companies were stationed at

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

107

Williamsport, Dams No. 4 and 5, Sharpsburg,
and other points on the Maryland side of the
Potomac, where they engaged in picket and out-
post duty until March, 1862, during which time
skirmishes and picket firing across the river were
frequent. On the nth of December the enemy
captured a captain and seven men who had
crossed to the Virginia shore at Dam No. 4, to
see if they were really there. They found out.
March 1, 1862, the Twelfth itself crossed the
Potomac and marched to Winchester ; on the
nth had a skirmish near that place, and the
next morning was the first regiment to enter the
town, which had been evacuated the night before.
On the 21st it marched to Berryville and thence
across the Shenandoah and over the Blue Ridge,
through Snicker's Gap to Aldie. After the vic-
tory at Winchester Heights on the 23d it moved
back to the Shenandoah, where it was met with
orders to retrace its steps southward toward Warr-
enton Junction, which it reached on the 3d of
April, crossing the first battlefield of Bull Run
en route. Here it remained until May 5th,
when it moved to Washington and was there
mustered out of service on the 14th of the same
month.

The regiment was reorganized for the three
years' service in the following August, under
Colonel Link, and early took the field again.
As but few Floyd or Clarke county men were
in its ranks, we will not turther follow its fortunes.

COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Thomas G. Morrison, New Albany.
First Lieutenant John W. Moore, New Albany.
First and Second Lieutenant John A. M. Cox, New
Albany.

[All the following-named were also of Floyd county, i

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant William France.
Sergeant Paul H. McDonald.
Sergeant David M. Jordan.
Sergeant Alonzo C. Clark.
Corporal Thomas Beasley.
Corporal James E. Riley.
Corporal Winfield S. Whitman.
Corporal Charles Armstrong.
Corporal Middleton C. Tucker.
Corporal William L. Mullineau.
Musician Marshall Green.
Musician Fernando Taylor.

PRIVATES.

Jacob C. Atkinson, John Oscar Beard, Philip Best, Benja-
min Broker, Walter P. Brown, William D. Carter, William
H. Chapman, Lorenzo A. Clark, William M. Cox, John Dell,

Adam Delord, John S. Detrick, Henry Dillon, Milton C.
Dodson, Levi W. Evans, Andrew H. Fabrique, John Fields,
Andrew Flannigan, Joseph C. Frank, Samuel J. Gardner,
James M. Graham, William J. Glossbrenner, William F.
Haigh, Peter Hallam, William Harley, Eugene Hefferman,
Alexander Hennage, Silas Hill, Alexander B. Hoskins, Ed-
ward G. Hughes, William Jacobi, Lawson H. Kelly, George
Knott, Amos Lang, James H. Lemmon, Francis L. Lipp-
mann, Julius E. Liter, Samuel D. Love, Courtland Marsh,
Zarne Marsh, John N. Meyer, John G. Meyer, Robert F.
Minshall, Joseph C. Monin, William Munz, William Mc-
Gonnigal, Michael Naughton, David Oakes, Eliphalet R.
Pennington, Augustus J. Raignel, Michael Romelsberger,
Thomas Q. W. Sage, Alpha R. Shaipe, William
Sharpe, Henry L. Sherman, John Shotwell, Lewis
H. Smith, John W. Stewart, George Stoker, Charles A.
Thomas, John Thorne, Louis P. Tronselle, Augustus
Wealthy, Joseph Zellar, Louis M. Chess, James W. Chess,
Albert Grove, William Hinton, William Higbee, Henry C.
Jones, Louis Mulholland, Lewis S. Nelson, James H.
Smith.

[Three-years' Service.]

COMPANY C.

Private James Dougherty, substitute.

COMPANY F.
Private Daniel M. Hicks, substitute.

COMPANY G.
Private Charles Frederick, drafted.

COMPANY H.

PRIVATES.

John T. Kelly, John A. Mansfield, substitutes.
COMPANY I.

PRIVATES.

Samuel Price, George Reester, substitutes.
COMPANY K.

PRIVATES.

Enoch Bostwick, John Smith, substitutes. David Ballard,
Clarke county, unassigned recruit.

THIRTEENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

[Three-years' Service. ]

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Quartermaster Thomas H. Collins, New Albany.
Adjutant Saxey Ryan, Jr.

COMPANY E.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second and First Lieutenant Moses M. Gordon, George-
town.

COMPANY H.

PRIVATES.

John Conrad, William H. Howard, Marion Rhotan,
Clarke county, recruits.

[Re-organized Regiment.]
COMPANY C.
Private Jonathan W. Bell, Jeffersonville.
COMPANY I.

PRIVATES.

Henry Lawson, Floyd's Knobs; John G. McKee, New
Albany.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

COMPANY K.
Private James Smith, Jeffersonville.

FIFTEENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

[Three-years' Service.]

COMPANY H.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First Lieutenant Alexander Burnett, New Albany.

SIXTEENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

[One-years' Service.]

This regiment was organized at Richmond,
Indiana, under Colonel Pleasant A. Hackleman,
in May, 1861, for one years' service within the
State. When, however, the news of the Bull
Run disaster fell upon the country, its services,
without limitation as to place, were offered to the
General Government. On the 23d of July it
broke camp, and was the first to march through
Baltimore after the attack made there upon the
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania troops. At
Harper's Ferry it was assigned to Banks' army.
About the middle of August it moved with that
force through the valley of the Monocacy to
Hyattstown, and in the latter part of the month
marched thence to Darnestown. It remained
there until the battle of Ball's Bluff, October 21,
to the sound of whose cannon it moved to Ed-
ward's Ferry, crossed the Potomac in canal-
boats, and joined a force there fronting the
enemy. The pickets were attacked the next af-
ternoon, and two of the regiment killed. It was
soon after placed in line of battle on the bluff,
and took part in a brisk engagement, from which
the enemy retired during the night. On the
23d the Sixteenth covered the retreat of the
Union forces, and was the last to recross the
Potomac, two men being drowned during the
movement. It encamped on Seneca creek until
December 2d, and then took up winter quarters at
Frederick City. In the spring of 1862 it partici-
pated in the forward movement of the army,
and about the middle of March built a bridge
across the Shenandoah at Snicker's Ferry, in the
short space of four hours. March 2 2d the Blue
Ridge was crossed, but recrossed at once after
hearing of the battle of Winchester, and then
crossed again, marching successively to Aldie,
Warrenton, and finally to Washington, where it
was mustered out May 14th. Its reorganization
for three years was promptly undertaken, and
completed August 19th, at Indianapolis; but, as

the Clarke county company does not reappear
in it, we do not continue this sketch.
company c.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain James Perry Gillespie, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Henry B. Austin, Xew Albany.
Second Lieutenant Charles P. Williamson, New Albany.
[The remainder are also of Floyd county. J

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant John Murry.

Sergeant James Albert Noe.

Sergeant Columbus Moore.

Sergeant Wilson Morris.

Sergeant Michael Parker.

Corporal Henry Jones.

Corporal David Moore.

Corporal John C. Roster.

Corporal Robert Parent.

Corporal Seth Hawkins.

Corporal Michael Angelo.

Corporal Donald Cullen.

Musician William H. Isaacs.

PRIVATES.

Thomas Ashby, Lewis P. Baxter, Charles W. Bruder,
Michael Brazelle, John Bowers, William Byland, James
Brennen, James Bush, William Cenida, James M. Chase,
Robert R. Chess, Hezekiah Cleveland, AndrewJ. Constable,
Edward Crandall, George Dorn, Lyman Davis, Asa Dean,
Stephen Dutton, Henry Donnell, Colin Devenish, Jacob El-
lenbrand, William M. Emery, John Englert, Columbus En-
gland, William Finch, James E. Fitzgerald, Philip Golden,
William Golden, William Gardner, Harrison Goins, Michael
Howard, James M. Jolley, Hamilton Kelley, Isaac N. Seffler,
Bartlett Lermond, Lafayette Lindley, George W. Morgan,
Joseph Morris, James McHaugh, Henry Noland, Timothy
O'KiefT, Thomas Paient, John W. Parsons, Charles Pender-
guist, William Pfeiffer, William Rakestraw, Roland Riley,
Elisha Rose, William Rose, Charles Sour, George W. Stout,
John Sims, Harry Seymour, Thomas Teaford, Lorenzo True-
blood, Joseph Weaver, James Williams, Joseph Wild, Wil-
liam Webb, Edward Wells.

SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

The Seventeenth was organized at Indianapo-
lis in May, 1 861; mustered into service June 12th,
and started for Western Virginia July 1st. Most
of its service, however, was with the Army of
the Cumberland. It was at Shiloh and Corinth;
engaged Forrest sharply and routed him at Mc-
Minnville, Tennessee; was in the march to the
Ohio with Buell's army and fought the enemy's
rear guard at Mumfordsville; returned to Nash-
ville in November, 1862; was in the actions at
Hoover's Gap and Ringgold, the desperate fight
at Chickamauga, and the battles of the Atlanta
campaign; captured Macon, Georgia, with three
thousand prisoners, sixty pieces of artillery, etc.,
and did post duty there until mustered out of
service, August 8, 1865. It had a public recep-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

109

tion at Indianapolis upon its return. Its great
services were accomplished with the remarkably
small loss of 30 officers and 66 men killed, 13
officers and 176 men wounded — total 258.

Adjutant Greenbury F. Shields, New Albany.

COMPANY A.
George Allison, Sylvestor Galton, Memphis, recruits.

COMPANY C.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First Sergeant and Second Lieutenant {and first lieutenant
company K) Edward G. Mathey, New Albany.
PRIVATE.
Christopher Bobeiich, New Albany.
COMPANY F.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal Lafayette Carnes, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

Adam Feisner, Charles Feisner, James Holeston, New
Albany; Charles Lougtier, George Shannon, Jeffersonville.

(Three years' service).

Recruits, John P. Boling, Jeffersonville; John Shannon,
New Albany.

COMPANY I.
James Handy, Jeffersonville, recruit.
COMPANY K.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal and Secor.d Lieutenant Henry K. Smith, Green-
ville.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Corporal Anton Hillan, New Albany.
Musician Silas McClung, Greenville.

PRIVATES.

William H. Best, Jeffersonville; John N. Brown, New Al-
bany, Mathew Churchman, Greenville; James Clark, Jefferson-
ville; Jacob Floyd, Greenville; Philo Highfill, Georgetown;
William and Montgomery Ingram, Greenville; George W.
Knasel, New Albany; recruit Charles M. Scott, Greenville.

EIGHTEENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
(Unassigned recruits!.
Thomas Dunlap, John J. West, Clarke county.

TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT (FIRST HEAVY ARTIL-
LERY. )
Thomas Perry, Jeffersonville recruit.

TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

(Three years' service).

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, Charlestown.

This command rendezvoused t Madison,
under Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, of George-
town, then a captain in the regular army, but
subsequently a distinguished division and corps
commander. August 17th it was transported

to St. Louis, where it joined Fremont's army,
and was sent up the Missouri to the relief of
Colonel Mulligan, who was beleaguered at Lex-
ington. It moved with Fremont to Springfield
and Otterville; was in the affair at Blackwater,
and marched in January with Curtis' expedition
against Sterling Price, participating in the battle
of Pea Ridge, in which it bore a prominent part,
losing nine killed and thirty-two wounded, in-
cluding Lieutenant Colonel Hendricks. Its
most famous engagements thereafter were at Per-
ryville, Stone River, and Mission Ridge, and it was
in a number of minor engagements. After the
reorganization as a veteran regiment, it took part
in the Atlanta campaign, the march to the sea,
and the final marches and battles northward. It
was mustered out at Washington early in June,
and publicly welcomed at Indianapolis on the
1 6th of that month.

COMPANY A.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal Eugene Jones, Jeffersonville.
COMPANY D.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain David W. Dailey, Georgetown.

Captain Isaac N. Haymaker (also second lieutenant),
Georgetown.

Captain James M. Parker (also first lieutenant), George-
town.

Captain Thomas H. Dailey (also second and first lieuten-
ant), Georgetown.

First Lieutenant William H. Raits, Georgetown.

The following-named were all of Clarke
county:

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Joseph B. Rowland.

Sergeant David N. Runyan.

Sergeant John B. Watkins.

Sergeant Patrick H. Carney.

Sergeant James Simonson.

Corporal Benjamin F. McEwen.

Corporal William R. Goer.

Corporal George W. Smith.

Corporal Charles C. Winters.

Corporal John B. Butler.

Corporal George G. Taff.

Corporal Wash W. Nandair.

Corporal James H. Wilson.

Musician Maurice Hall.

Musician Edward Phillepy.

Wagoner Martin V. Bridges.

PRIVATES.

George W. Bard, Westerfield Baxter, Loran M. Bartle,

Wesley Bowen, Markius C. Beisbe, Green Burgess, Eleivins

! Burwell, Samuel H. Campbell, Alfred Caughman, William

Christian, Harvey Clapp, Samuel Covert, Silas Covert,

Thomas Cowling, Edward N. Conner, Harman Cously,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

William Crilciifield, Martin L. Critchrield, Thomas H.
Dailey, Henderson Davis, William Deitz, John Q. Dixon,
Thomas Donlan, George W. Eads, William E. Gable,
Martin Gavin, James Gaylord, Andrew J. Geltner, Charles
J. Giles, James A. Guire, Henry Hines, Lewis Harker,
Marion Harrison, Carter Harrison, Walter Harrison, John
F. Haynes, William Harman, Joseph' Hayburn, Ephraim
Harman, Andrew J. Horde, Peter Hoffman, James H.
Kane, Benjamin F. Kenny, Volney B. Kenny, Ebenezer
Kelse, Peter Kizer, Enoch Lockhart, Henry Lonnis, Thomas
J. McMillan, Lemuel L. Mitchell, Thomas Moore, George
W. Montgomery, Nathaniel Montgomery, George W.
Morris, Joseph D. Officer, Calvin R. Ogle, Milton C. Olivar,
Lewis H. Olivar, Joseph C. Overman, Miles B. Patrick,
James M. Parker, Philip Phifer, Alexander N. Rutherford,
James H. Ridge, Benjamin F. Shoots, Henry H. Sickley,
Robert P. Slazdin, Joseph H. Slazdin, William Sooper,
Samuel K. Stearns, William Stone, Harrison Slurdivan,
William A. Steirhem, Charles B. Still, William Stewart,
Belshazer Swinger, George W. Tieman, John Tipps, George
W. Trumbull, William W. Walters, John C. Watterson
Samuel L. Wells, Laban J. Williams, William W. Wheeler.

COMPANY E.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant Samuel H. McBride, New Albany.

COMPANY F.
Daniel Pascall, Jeffersonville, recruit.

COMPANY H.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Corporal Preston Holmes, New Albany.
Musician Thomas P. Knowland, Charlestown.
Private Oliver Grazier, Jeffersonville.

TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

(Three years' service.)
The Twenty-third was almost wholly a Floyd
and Clarke county regiment. It was organized
and mustered into service at New Albany July
29, 1861, under Colonel William L. Sanderson.
Early in August it moved to St. Louis, and thence
to Paducah. In the attack upon Fort Henry it
was placed upon gunboats, one of which", the
Essex, exploded its boilers during the action, by
which several members of Company B lost their
lives. On the second day of the battle of Shiloh
the Twenty-third was engaged as part of General
Lew Wallace's division, losing one officer and
fifty men killed, wounded, or missing. During
the siege of Corinth it formed part of the reserve
stationed at Bolivar, and remained at that point
through the summer of 1862. In September it
went to Iuka, and took part in the re-capture of
that place, when it was ordered to proceed to
Hatchie Bridge, but arrived too late to take part
in the engagement there. In November it
marched down the Mississippi Central railroad,
and after the capture of Holly Springs by Van

Dorn moved to Memphis. February 21, 1863,
it proceeded down the river to take part in the
movement on Vicksburg, and was engaged with
Grant's army prior to the march to the rear of the
doomed city. April 2d, volunteers were called
for from the several companies, and placed on
board the transport J. W. Cheeseman to run the
Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, which was
accomplished without loss of life, though with
considerable harm to the vessel. While moving
to the rear of the place, the regiment was en-
gaged at Thompson's Hill, and again a few days
after, with some loss in both cases. May 12th
it was in the battle of Raymond, and charged
the enemy, taking many prisoners, but losing
one-third of the number engaged. At Champion
Hills it was the first to arrive in aid of Hovey's
division, soon after the battle opened, and took
active part in the battle. May 24th it partici-
pated in the attack and capture of Jackson,
Mississippi. During the siege of Vicksburg it
was upon the front line, and lost in all five
officers and fifty men killed and wounded. It
had then a comparatively quiet fall and winter
until February 3, 1864, when it moved with
Sherman's great raid into Mississippi, and assisted
in destroying the railways on the line of march.
At Hebron, Mississippi, the regiment re-enlisted,
and soon after the raid took its veteran furlough
home. At the expiration of this it was ordered
to Bird's Point, Missouri, and thence to Clifton,
Tennessee. During the Atlanta campaign it was
united with the Seventeenth corps at Ackworth,
Georgia. From this time it was engaged nearly
every day in skirmish or battle until Atlanta
was taken. October 3d it started with the force
in pursuit of Hood, who was marching to the
rear of Sherman, but returned to Atlanta, and
took part in the march to the sea, during which
it was several times engaged in brisk skirmishes.
It accompanied the corps from Savannah to
Beaufort, and thence, in January, 1865, on the
march through the Carolinas. It lost four men
wounded in the battle of Bentonville, the last
fought by Sherman's grand army. On the 4th of
March it reached Goldsborough, North Carolina,
and after the surrender of Johnston's army took
up its line of march for Washington. It was
transported thence to Louisville, and remained
on duty until July 23d, when it was mustered
out of service. On the 25th the regiment ar-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

rived at Indianapolis, and was prominent in the
reception given that day to the Twenty-third,
Thirty-third, Forty-second, and Fifty-third Indi-
ana regiments in the Capitol grounds. Ad-
dresses were made upon this occasion by their
late commander, General Sherman, by Gov-
ernor Morton, and other eloquent speakers. A
few days thereafter the command received its final
discharge, and the men dispersed rejoicing to their
homes. It had suffered mortal loss, during its
entire term, to the number of three hundred and
forty-five killed in battle and died of wounds,
and one hundred and seventy-nine died of dis-
ease— a total loss, by death, of five hundred and
twenty-four officers and men.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Colonel William L. Sanderson, New Albany.

Colonel George S. Babbitt (also lieutenant colonel), New
Albany.

Lieutenant Colonel DeWitt C. Anthony, New Albany.

Lieutenant Colonel William P. Davis (also major), New
Albany.

Lieutenant Colonel George S. Babbitt, New Albany.

Major Henry C. Ferguson, Charlestown.

Major Alonzo Tubbs, New Albany.

Adjutant Eugene Commandeur, New Albany.

Adjutant Shadrach R. Hooper, New Albany.

Adjutant John J. Howard, New Albany.

Quartermaster Isaac P. Smith, New Albany.

Quartermaster Jacob C. Graves, New Albany.

Chaplain John D. Rogers, New Albany.

Surgeon Thomas D. Austin, New Albany.

Assistant Surgeon Nathaniel Field, Jeffersonville.

Quartermaster Sergeant William H. Hale, New Albany.

Commissary Sergeant Christian G. Zulauf, New Albany.

COMPANY A.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Frederick Pistorius, New Albany.

Captain Thomas Krementz (also first lieutenant), New
Albany.

Captain Michael Koch, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Leopold Neusch, New Albany.

First Lieutenant William P. Orth (also second lieutenant),
New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Christian C. Zulauf, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant George Diechert, New Albany.
[The remainder of this company was from Floyd county].

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Adam Schmuck.
Sergeant George Diechert.
Sergeant John Deitz.
Sergeant Henry Lever.
Sergeant Charles Schmick.
Corporal Louis Hoffman.
Corporal William McKinley, Jr.
Corporal Michael Coch.
Corporal Frank Mutz.
Corporal Frederick Dillinger.
Corporal Leopold Neusch.

Corporal Frederick Bruder.
Corporal Charles Goodman.
Musician Julius Blessin.
Musician John Munsch.

PRIVATES.

Edward Adam, Christian Abele, Robert August, Henry
Beararch, Peter Binger, August Bowvier, Frank Briggerman,
Frank Bruner, Andrew Carle, Jacob Deibal, Philip Deis,
Jacob Enderlin, Peter Fillion, Andrew Fox, George Frank,
Anton Graf, Peter George. John M. Graff, George Ger-
shutz, Joseph Heirizman, John Hess, Christian Holschward,
Louis Holhs, John Holler, Tobias Hert, Frederick Heardt,
August Ikey, Felix Knoell, Jacob Koch, Joseph Konig,
Casper Knauer, Henry Kempf, Harman Kresia, August
Krell, John Knunin, Jacob Korns, Henry Kilinger, Frank
Long, Conrad Lotes, Peter Lotz, John Leming, Louis Lehr,
AdamMorsch, Charles Mentz, George Mudwiler, John Mud-
wiler, Frederick Norman, Charles Nestel, John Offerman.John
Prensy, Benjamin Purviance, Robert Porter, Peter Pope,
Samuel Probst, Joseph Pfiefer, Henry Robertius, James
Reardon, Joseph Richart, Frank Rainer, John D. Shirner,
George Seilenfuss, JohnSandlewick, Paul Stein, Fedele Schub-
nell, Frank Schmidt, Henry Stouts, Frederick Silcher, An-
ton Steffan, William Steinberger, Gottlieb Spatig, John
Thran, Philip Trukes, Henry Willard. John Wich, Charles
Wagner, Max'millian Wunsch, Daniel Wolf, John Wood,
William Williard, Christian Widereau, Peter Weber, Jacob
Young, John Zeller.

COMPANY B.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain William W. Caldwell, Jeffersonville.

Captain William M. Darrough (also first lieutenant), Jef-
fersonville.

Captain Michael Whalen (also first lientenant), Jefferson-
ville.

Captain Frederick Wilkins, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant Henry C. Foster (also second lieutenant),
Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant Phiiip Pflanzer, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Daniel Trotter, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Martin Muthig, Jeffersonville.
[This was a Clarke county company throughout.^

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Mike Whalen.
Sergeant Henry C. Foster.
Sergeant Charles Trotter.
Sergeant Frederick Wilkins.
Sergeant Albert Weifels.
Corporal George Mcllvane.
Corporal Eli Triber.
Corporal William Burke.
Corporal John G. Smith.
Corporal Patrick Howlett.
Corporal Oliver Smith.
Corporal George M. Brown.
Corporal Henry Stephens.
Musician John W. Thompson.
Musician Theodore Alpha.

PRIVATES.

James Anderson, Patrick Brown, William Baker, Thomas
Bailey, Henry Brosch, Frederick Bowman, Michael Burns,
Conn Boyle, John M. Comsin, Samuel Crowder, Daniel
Campbell, Anthony Coyne, Patrick Cassedy, Thomas Caugh-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

lin, John Coyne, William Donalos, Lawrence Delaney, Pat-
rick Doyle, Daniel Dwire, Hugh Dennigan, George Ehvell,
Charles Erb, Ottoway B. Evans, Peter Frank, Gottlpib Frank,
John Gouber, Peter Gippert, Jacob Grant, Louis Gauntner,
Alfred Hash, Lawrence Hanley, Thomas Herbert, John
Hahn, Christopher Hahn, William Henry, Frank Holfiner,
Leopold Hess, Henry Harnen, Jerry Hylard, Harrison Hoy,
Louis Habrik, George S. Idell, Jefferson Jones, John Jen-
nings, Hugo Knoth, Joseph Kichner, Peter Kern, Frank
Lyons, Samuel Loninger, Michael Linch, Julius Lamb,
Benjamin Lubeck, John Lavacomb, Thomas Mansfield,
Thomas Murray, Samuel Messenger, Martin Missinger,
Dedrich Matfield, John Miller, Alfred Martin, Martin Mutig,
Samuel McCurdy, Peter McGrery, Sylvester A. McKenzie,
Timothy O'Conner, William O'Neal, Philip Pflantzer, John
Pfoff, Henry Petty, Thomas R. Roach, ]ohn Rader, Charles
Ramin, William Sponci, Christian Seifried, Charles Slefer,
Carl Stacker, John Toolis, James A. Timmonds, John Tobin,
John H. Talbott, Otto Waltz, John H. Williams.

COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain David C. Kay, Greenville.

Captain Marion W. Smith (also first lieutenant), Green-
ville.

Captain William R. Mead (also sergeant) Greenville.

First Lieutenant Hiram Murphey (also second lieutenant),
Greenville.

First Lieutenant William T. Rodman, Greenville.

Second Lieutenant John Jackson {also first sergeant),
Greenville.

Second Lieutenant George B. Spurrier, Greenville.
[The rest of the company were Floyd county men.]

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Isaac H. Easton.
Sergeant John M. Latter.
Sergeant William J. Morris.
Corporal Benjamin F. Morris.
Corporal Jeremiah Monks.
Corporal Benjamin F. Welker.
Corporal Phillip J. Zubrod.
Corporal Philip W. Royse.
Corporal Rufus H. Keller.
Corporal Andrew J. Moore.
Corporal Joseph Merchant.
Musician Harrison H. McClellan.
Musician Charles H. Kepfly.

PRIVATES.

John M. Akers, William H. Ashly, James Ashly, Joseph
Ansley, William J. Berly, David L. Blankenbaker, Elijah
Burton, Henry Bower, James Bovvers, Jacob R. Butterfield,
William Campbell, James M. Campbell, William H. Cum-
mines, Samuel T. Collins, ]ohn H. Cooley, George W.
Cook, William H. H. Dollins, Pleasant C. Dollins, Wood-
ford Davis, Benjamin Dodd, Young D. Davenport, John B.
Dudley, John W. Ellis, John F. Eaton, Miller C. English,
William Fullenlove, John Gross, Samuel Gross, George M.
Henry, Edward Harrison, William B. Hinckley, Granville
Holtsclaw, George W. Harmon, Henry Jones, Robert J.
Johnson, Thomas W. Keffly, Jacob Kentick, John P. Kite,
Joseph Linder, Martin Linder, Stephen Lukenville, Samuel
C. Lukenville, Thomas Lewis, William C. McClelland,
Daniel T. Mclntyre, James A. Mclntyre, Thomas I. Motts-
enger, David Mead, Daniel McKenzie, Andrew Norman,

George W. Newland, Jacob E. Navil, James F. Okes, Geb-
hart Oexinrider, John Pennington, Jonathan Pence, Jacob

A. Palton, Squire S. Riley, James W. Rose, Francis M.
Rozse, William T. Rodman, Newton W. Rodman, Benja-
min M. Rodman, Joseph Sutherland, Andrew J. Sutherland,
Aquilla Standiford, William A. Slater, Lewis Smith, Hiram

B. Stevenson, Bela Spurner, George W. Summers, John T.
Steele, William Stewart, Perry Swain, George B. Sease,
Aaron Smith, George B. Spurrier, James M. Tibbatts, Harbin
H. Waltz, Henry H. Wilcoxson, Willis G. Whittaker,
George L. Walker, James D. Watts.

COM TAN Y D.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain George S. Babbitt, Mew Albany.
Captain John W. Hammond, New Albany.
First Lieutenant William Strain, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Madison M. Hurley, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Garrett E. Riggle, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Nelson T. Gailey, New Albany.
[This was a Clarke county company.]

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergant D. M. Roberson.
Sergeant |ohn W. Hammond.
Sergeant James Totten.
Sergeant Garrett E. Riggle.
Sergeant Charles R. Mesfield.
Corpoial William Dailey.
Corporal George Walker.
Corporal William S. McCluxe.
Corporal William T. Roberson.
Corporal John Osbom.
Corporal John W. Portlock.
Corporal Leonidas L. Ayres.
Corporal Henry Elijah.
Musician J. Angele.
Musician B. M. Bessinger.

PRIVATES.

W. T. Arnas, H. Brown, A. N. Beach, Cyprian Bennett,
Edward Pary, Samuel H. Bell, John Bailey, John Cinna-
mon, Alonzo Chamberlain, Thomas Crawford, John Cole-
man, Francis M. Coleman, Patrick Dewitt, William R. Dodd,
Thomas Dulanty, Andrew Dunn, Jack Doll, Miles Finegan,
Andrew J. Fisher, S. Fisher, Nelson S. Gailey, Haw Gibbs,
Jefferson Gondson, John W. Gondson, John B. Graham,
James P. Gott, Michael Gorman, Timothy Haley, William
H. Harrison, Abraham Hedges, Barney Henrytree, John
Hickey, Thomas S. Harriss, S. Hischlay. Daniel H. Johnson,
Thomas J. Johnson, Stewart Kellems, Fred Kreamer, Mar-
shall Kemp, William H. Long, John R. Longert, Jonas
Longert, David Lance, Joseph McNeely, Frank McKee,
Hugh McMomeany, James Macandaran, James Murray,
John Murray, Richard Murray, Daniel Miseniller, Henry
Mulvaney, James Martin, John Nesbett, Robert Pipes, John
Patterson, Thomas P*. Paniss, S. B. Portlock, James W.
Robertson, John M. Robinson, George Russell, James Shean,
Jerry Shea, Henry Sharps, John Snellbaker, Elijah Shepley,
William Stewart, Samuel Strain, James Tigert, David Ten-
nison, Henry Tennison, George Townsend, Fred Tuikey,
William H. H. Toney, James Tnell, Charles E. Villier,
Alfred Williams, Albert M. Wright, Hampton Wade,
Thomas Walls, Asbury Williams, Alfred Young, Martin C.
Younger.

Recruit — Stewart Kellems, Mew Albany,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

113

COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Captain Thomas Clark. New Albany.
Captain John J. Hardin. New Albany.
First Lieutenant David T. McQuiddy, New Albany.
First Lieutenant David Long. New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Louis P. Berry. New Albany.
(The remainder were from Floyd county).

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Milton J. Lewis.
Sergeant William H. Dean.
Sergeant Thomas P. Moore.
Sergeant John J. Hardin.
Sergeant John W. Edmondson.
Corporal David V. Balthis.
Corporal David G. McCann.
Corporal Shadrach K. Hooper.
Corporal Edward Roberts.
Corporal John A. Morton.
Corporal John B. Baldwin.
Corporal Lafayette W. Pfrmmer.
Corporal J onah L. Reed.
Musician Addison Joselyn.
Musician Richard N. Fox.

PRIVATES.

Hezekiah Allen, Daniel Brooks. Henry L. Boyden, Wil-
liam R. Burton. Alexander S. Banks, Theodore Berwanger,
William H. Brown, Joshua Brown, Joseph W. Barkwell,
Robert B. Benton, Benjamin F. Carby, Jesse A. Carter,
John H. Cramer. Jacob Case. William H. Cisco, John W.
Coffin, Preston Davis, Edward Delaney, Oscar B. Dunn,
Joshua Davis. Edward M. Davis, William Elgen, Jeremiah
Emmery, Nathan Evans, John Fisher, Hugh Farrell, Wil-
liam Flynn, Charles Groves, Frank M. Griggs, Andrew J.
Hampton, John F. Howerton, A. G. Hitchcock, Christian J.
Hurst, Silas F. Hoar. Andrew J. Hays, Francis G. Har-
mondson, Alexis Lemon, Cyrus B. Lewis, David Long, Henry
B. Martin, John L. Martin, Walter R. Mears. Charles F.
Master. George W. Martin, William M. Mix, Benjamin F.
Non-ell, George W. Nutting, William H. Neelv, George
W. Owens, Ichabod Overly, Willis Pruett. Richard R. Pond,
William A. Pond, Edward A. Pond, James Pollock, Robert
H. Patridge, Hezekiah Pray, James Robertson, Matthew
P. Robertson, Bart Robbins, Henry C. Rodgers, Samuel
B. Rogers, Eli B. Stephenson, William M. Spaul-
ding, Ephraim C. Smith, Benjamin C. Smith, Samuel W.
Stratton, Albert A. Show, Zephaniah Sawtelle, William R.
Sidwell, Frederick Stoch, Peter W. Shank, R. H.
Simpson, Christian Strattbrug, Robert W. Tunt. John Troy,
Dennis Teaford, Benjamin W. Wilson, John H. Warren,
Martin B. Warrell, John T. Withers, David Wheat.

COMPANY F.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain William P. Davis, New Albany.

Captain John S. Davis (also first lieutenant), New Albany.

Captain William L. Purcell. New Albany.

First Lieutenant Harvey C. Moore (also second lieutenant),
New Albany.

First Lieutenant Richard Burk (also second lieutenant),
New Albany.

First Lieutenant William H. Hale, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Charles W. Speake (also first sergeant).
New Albany.

Second Lieutenant George W. Grosshart, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant John T. Goodrich, New Albany.
(The rest of the company was from Floyd).

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant James H. Curts.
Sergeant Richard Burk.
Sergeant George W. Grosshart.
Sergeant Jerry Brooks.
Corporal Benjamin F. Cornelius.
Corporal Harvey Long.
Corporal William L. Purcell.
Corporal Daniel Cook.
Corporal Harrison C. Hess.
Corporal John H. McCartney.
Corporal Andrew H. Gochee.
Corporal Charles Rogers.
Musician John A. J. Nichols.
Musician John Gresham.

PRIVATES.

William Bliss, Solomon Blice, John E. Barbee, Paul
Burkhart, James M. Bins, Silas M. Brown, Columbus Bolin,
George L. Bratton, William J. Cearns, William Creamer.
Frank Creamer, Norman Cunningham, Phillip Dietrich,
Francis M. Davidson, Benjamin Dawson, Michael Devainey,
James V. Darkiss, John Duffey, John Funk, Henry P. Fran-
cis, Thomas B. Ferrell, Isaac Free, Simon B. Gresham,
Lewis Gillman, Jacob Graves, John T. Goodrich, Riley Gib-
son, Charles L. Green, Peter Harvey, Thomas H. Haidin,
John Henry. Roger Hartegan, William Hitner, John High-
fill, Deealin S. Jocelyn, George A. Jones, Richard Jones,
Benjamin B. Johns, Thomas Johns, Miles James, Charles
Jarvis, Robert Jennings, Sylvester M. Kron, John W. Kron,
William L. Kerr, George A. Long, Cravan Long, John H.
Long, Thomas W. Lane, Isaac Lefler. Edward Labree,
John S. Levi, Martin J. G. Mowrey, John Mars, David
Mars, Martin Montgomery, John McCullum, Thomas Mc-
Intire, James Mclntire, James McCollan, John Neary, Wil-
liam A. Purkhiser, August Petty, Isaac N. Purcell, Ephraim
J. Potts, Joseph Porter, Smith Reasor. Jr., William Reasor,
Morgan Reasor, Oscar Rager, Henry L. Stinson. Aaron
Suiton, David Sage, Thomas Stewart. William Tirrell,
Charles Tucker, Eugene Vollette, Sebastian Wessell, John
Wooton, Thomas J. Wells, Marion Welton, Thomas Wil-
kinson, Thomas Williamson, George Windling.

COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Alonzo Tubbs, New Albany.
Captain Anthony S. Bauer, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Samuel C. Mahlon, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Abraham D. Graham, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Conrad H. Hiner, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant William McCarty, New Albany.
(It was a Floyd county company throughout).

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant William S. Daniels.
Sergeant James H. Rice.
Sergeant J ohn W. Dermore.
Sergeant Ab. Graham.
Sergeant Robert Gardner.
Corporal Peter C. Edmondson.
Corporal Greenberry Dorsey.
Corporal William J. O'Neil.
Corporal Thomas J. Healstead.
Corporal George \V. Newton.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Corporal John Fogarty.

Corporal Anthony S. Bauer.

Corporal Francis M. Tubbs.

Musician John H. Wade.

Musician Jacob W. Cassell.

PRIVATES.

John K. Blackburn, Conrad Bates, Theodore S. Barton,
Christian Boss, Timothy Bochan, Henry Burt, Salem Centis,
Edward Cozle, John Carter, Patrick Duffy, Isaiah Davis,
James A. Deubo, James B. Dennison, James G. Donlow,
John Freedman, Lewis Ferrir, Barney Flynne, Isaac Green,
Benjamin H. Graham, Patrick Grey, Hazel Gott, John A.
Green, Adam A. Gott, James Hamsten, Edward Harrison,
Walter [. Hippie, Andrew J. Hand, Iraton P. Hungate,
George S. Kendall, John Keeton. Richard W. King,
Alexander B. Lankford, William C. McMahell, William
McCall, Garret McCall, William McCarty, William Mad-
inger, James Miller, Stephen Murphy, Patrick Mansfield,
Jacob T. Myers, John W. Newton, James Newton, Martin
Ohiner, Daniel O'Donnell, Neal O'Brien, James Perry, Wil-
liam S. Potter, Elisha Prime, August Pfeiffer, Henry Robin-
son, Elhannan H. Reynolds, George W. Riley, Frank Seltz,
William H. Stroud, Arthur Sellers, William Sadler, Charles
Spencer, Henry Sharon, James Sherman, Edmund Scott,
John Seve, Noah Syre, John Syre, Charles H. Stewart,
James Taylor, Samuel Thurston, Isaiah Thurston, James
Tussey, Patrick Tobin, Thomas Tobin, Martin Tobin, Wil-
liam Thomas, James Uhlrick, Lyman Warren, William
Wild, James H. Wyble, Samuel N. Wyble, Asa C. Williams,
Thomas Watson, James Whitten, Clemens Wahlbrink,
David Walker.

COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Henry C. Ferguson.

Captain James N. Wood.

Captain Benjamin F. Walter (also first lieutenant).

First Lieutenant Joshua W. Custer (also second lieuten-
ant).

First Lieutenant David Moore.

Second Lieutenant Henry C. Dietz.

Second Lieutenant Frank M. Crabtree.

Second Lieutenant Claiborn M. Delton.

[The foregoing were from Charlestown; the residue were
from Clarke county J.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Henry C. Dietz.
Sergeant Frank M. Crabtree.
Sergeant James D. Rose.
Sergeant Richard Reynolds.
Sergeant James N. Wood.
Corporal Joseph Vanmeter.
Corporal Frank D. Crew.
Corporal Alpha Walter.
Corporal William H. Kimberlin.
Corporal George Hudson.
Corporal George A. Neville.
Corporal David Pratt.
Corporal John Meyers.
Musician James S. Knowland.
Musician George W. Knowland.

PRIVATES.

Andrew Amick, Benjamin F. Andrews. Frank Bowers, John
W. Baldwin, John H. Bane, William A. Barton, Charles F.

Bollawig, John D. Boyd, Geoige Bowman, William Butter-
field, Ambrose H. Caldwell, Richard Clegg, Joseph Cole,
William M. Cory, Milton C. Cory, James Cosgriff,
Thomas Cozzins, William C. Cozzins, John Cozzins,
David Coshaw, William Covert, Elisha D. Custer, James R.
Cunningham, Alexander Davis, William T. Davis, Clai-
borne M. Delton, Joseph Deering, Peter Dexter, John
Dillon, Michael Easter, George Field, Alonzo Francory,
William S. Flood, Louis Goodline, Charles Henrite, Mack
Hooker, John F. Howard, Henry Hopson. Jonathan Hus-
ton, Alexander Holman, Reuben C. Hart, Thomas J. Huff-
man, George W. Idner, David H. Johnson, Jacob Kael-
hopper, Almus Kennedy. Jacob Kimberlin, Benjamin F.
Kimberlin, Alexander Lewis, John Mead, Henry Madden,
Darius Marshall, James Mathis, John R. McDaniel, Peter
L. McDaniel, Daniel B. McDonald, William H. M. Mc-
Donald, John A. McWilliam, David McGregor, George M.
Gawley, Silas M. Neely, Edward Metz, James Mont-
gomery, J osiah Mullen, David Moore, Thomas J. Morgan,
John Pratt, Enoch Pratt, Levin Reed, Joseph Richard-
son, Solomon F. Rose, David Sullivan, William Sibert,
Samuel E. Smith, William St. Clair, Samuel P. Stark, James
Stark, Jacob Steiner, John Stone, Allen Vest, Louis A.
Voegle, Mithew A. Watt, Lafayette Wood.

COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Vincent Kirk.

Captain James F. Stucker.

First Lieutenant Jerome Beers.

First Lieutenant Russell B. Woods.

First Lieutenant Jesse Poe.

Second Lieutenant Silas E. Warden.

Second Lieutenant Samuel C. Collins.

Second Lieutenant John Fess.

[All of New Albany. It was wholly a Floyd company J.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Samuel C. Collins.
Sergeant Charles F. Ross.
Sergeant Edward P. Bruner.
Sergeant Lafayette Frederick.
Sergeant James F. Stucker.
Corporal William H. Kirk.
Corporal Charles Edwards.
Corporal Joseph P. Doubet.
Corporal George W. Nunemacker.
Corporal George W. Evelseger.
Corporal David E. Craig.
Corporal Thomas F. Garrettson.
Corporal Lew W. Johnson.
Musician Russell B. Wood.
Musician George Muir.

PRIVATES.

Charles August, William Andrew, William H. Akers,
Henry L. Benedict, Charles J. Beers, John W. Blake, James
W. Bird, Henry Brock, Frank M. Boston, James Cleave-
land, Adam Clark, Patrick Cunningham, Martin Consory,
Julius Dontaz, Frank Dontaz, James Davis, William H.
Daily, William H. Dawson, Lorenzo D. Emery. Alexander
G. Ewing, Malen James Elliott, John Fess, Ewell Ford,
Jacob G. Ford, Samuel A. Fergitt, C. C. Frederick, George
W. Fox, George Goldsby, Isaac Gibson, William S. Gibson,
Ira C. Gunn, Anthony Gainer, Richard Humdhrey, James
M. Harryman, John Halenback, George Hale, Lewis A.
Hollis, William H. Hillyard, John C. June, William H.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Kirk, William H. H. McDonald, Norman M. McCartney,
Ephraim Muir, Charles W. Muir, Joseph Moran, Conrad
Miller, Jr.. John Murray, Joseph H. Nelson, Thomas H.
Nash, George M. Patterson, George Pfeiffer, John Pilliworth*
Jesse Poe, Burton Parsons, Robert George Ross, Henry H.
Royce, Nelson Roberts, Samuel Roby, Andrew J. Schwartz,
William Seamster, James G. Smith, Jesse Smith, Wilford
Sanders, John O. Sandback, Laban Sittisen, John Slider,
Joshua Swincher, William Thompson, William Turnboy,
Philip Tool, James C. Vanderbilt, John M. Wallace, Charles
W. Wood, James B. Whalen, John Watterman, Joseph P.
Wooley, Thomas J. VVooldridge, Joseph P. Warfield, David
Wyman, John T. White, John Moore, Edward McConnel,
Webster McDonald.

TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant Mahlon E. Williamson.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant and corporal Mahlon E. Williamson, New
Albany.

TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
COMPANY E.
Private John T. Miller, Jeffersonville.

TWENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY C.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant and Captain John T. Boyle.

THIRTIETH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY A.

PRIVATES.

George Andre, Martin T. Byron, Joseph Carrel, Wash L.
Moffitt, Milt W. Miles, August Mainlail, James M. McFall,
Henry Willcutt, all of Jeffersonville.

THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
COMPANY C.
Recruits— John B. Brown, George W. Bimley, John Brewster,
Halbey B. Fransley. James M. Keon, John C. Keon, Jeffer-
sonville.

COMPANY D.*
Private James N. Anderson, New Albany.

COMPANY F.
Recruit Robert McKim, Floyd county.

THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY E.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First Lieutenant Max Hupfaup (also second lieutenant,
company G), Jeffersonville.

COMPANY H.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Franz Kodalle, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Nathan Levy, Jeffersonville.
First Lieutenant Stephen Schutz (also second lieutenant),
New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Ernst Meyer, New Albany.

COMPANY I.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Captain William Seivers, Jeffersonville.

Not a single enlisted man in this command,
either the old or the reorganized regiment, has his
place of residence named in the report. Most of
company H, apparently, were from Floyd county.

THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
COMPANY C.
Recruit John B. McClaskey, Jeffersonville.

THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
COMPANY I.
Recruit William Brown, Jeffersonville.

THIRTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

This regiment was also recruited very largely
in these two counties. Both its colonels were
New Albany men, and most of the other officers
were from that city, Jeffersonville, or Charlestown.
General Walter Q. Gresham, of Corydon, now
judge of the United States district court for In-
diana, was its first lieutenant colonel. The Thir-
ty-eighth rendezvoused at New Albany, and was
mustered into service September iS, 1861.
Three days afterward it moved to Elizabethtown,
Kentucky. The fall and winter were occupied
at Camp Nevin, on Nolin's fork of Barren river,
and at Camp Wood, on Green river, near Mum-
fordsville. In February, 1862, it accompanied
Buell's army in the movement on Bowling Green
and Nashville, reaching the latter place March
6th. After a rest of about twenty days it
marched to Franklin, thence to Columbia, and
thence to Shelbyville, where it staid till May 1 ith,
making from time to time rapid marches to pre-
vent or obstruct the raids of Morgan's cavalry.
Mai 13th it had a skirmish with the enemy near
Rogersville. On the 29th it moved toward Chat-
tanooga, and reached the opposite bank of the
Tennessee June 7th, whence it returned to Shel-
byville, and presently was advanced to Steven-
son, Alabama. Its next movement was to
Dechard, where it remained from August 17th
until Bragg crossed the Tennessee, when it fell
back to Nashville and thence marched northward
with Buell's army. The Thirty-eighth was en-
gaged in the campaign through Kentucky, taking
part in the action at Perryville, where it sustained
the heavy loss of twenty-seven killed, one hundred
and twenty-three wounded and seven taken pris-
oners. It was then sent to Bowling Green, where

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

it arrived November 2d, and was placed in the
First division of the Fourteenth corps. Early the
next month it returned to Nashville, and was
thence pushed to the front at Murfreesboro,
where it took part in the great battle of Stone
River, losing fourteen killed and eighty-six
wounded. After this it encamped at Murfrees-
boro until the Chattanooga campaign opened. It
was engaged in the lively skirmish at Hoover's
Gap, losing one man killed and fifteen men
wounded; and subsequently in the battle of
Chickamauga, where its losses footed nine kille d,
fifty-nine wounded, and forty-four missing, being
a large percentage of the number engaged. Re-
turning to Chattanooga the Thirty-eighth re-
mained inactive until the 23d and 25th of No-
vember, on which days, respectively, it took part
in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission
Ridge.' The following winter was passed at Ross-
ville and Chattanooga. The regiment re-enlisted
at Rossville, December 28, 1863, and on the 3d
of the next January left for home on its veteran
furlough, three hundred and sixty strong. It
reached Indianapolis, January 9th, and returned
to Chattanooga February 26th. The next month
it removed to Tyner's Station, and the next to
Graysville, Georgia. May 7th it started with the
grand army on the Atlanta campaign, and was in
all the skirmishes and battles of that memorable
movement. At Jonesboro the Thirty-eighth
carried the rebel works at a single dash. In the
charge the color-bearer was killed just as he was
planting the standard inside the works, when
Lieutenant Redding, of Salem, seized the color
and carried it through the rest of the day. The
regiment lost one hundred and three killed,
wounded and missing in this campaign. Octo-
ber 4th it marched in pursuit of Hood as far as
Gaylersville, Alabama, whence it returned to At-
lanta, and in November moved with the army of
Georgia on its campaign to the sea. It remained
in Savannah until February 5th, and then started
on the march to Goldsboro. It was in most of
the actions of this campaign, including the af-
fair at Bentonville. From Goldsboro it moved
to Raleigh, and thence, after Johnston's surrender,
to Richmond, Alexandria, and Washington, aver-
aging thirty-two miles a day, and being but six
days on the way. From the Federal capital the
command was transported to Louisville, and
there, after a short period of further service, was

mustered out July 15, 1865. It also had an en-
thusiastic reception at Indianapolis, and was soon
afterwards finally released from its long and ardu-
ous service.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner, New Albany.

Colonel Daniel T. Griffin (also major and lieutenant col-
onel). New Albany.

Lieutenant Colonel James B. Merriwether (also major),
Jeffersonville.

Major Joshua B. Jenkins, Jeffersonville.

Major William C. Shaw, New Albany.

Adjutant Daniel T. Griffin, New Albany.

Adjutant George H. Devol, New Albany.

Quartermaster John R. Cannon, New Albany.

Surgeon William A. Clapp, New Albany.

Assistant Surgeon Thomas C. Mercer, Utica.

Sergeant Major George H. Devol, New Albany.

Commissary Sergeant Michael T. Griffin, New Albany.

COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles B. Nunemacher, New Albany.
Captain William C. Shaw (also first and second lieutenant),
New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Andrew McMonigal.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant William O. Shaw, New Albany.
Musician Alvia Chamberlain, New Albany.
Musician Craven Chamberlain, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

Henry Hunter, George Knight, New Albany; William
Labry, Floyd Knob; Andrew McMonigle, New Albany; Re-
cruits Henry Barker, New Albany; Reuben Edwards, Ed-
wardsville; Henry Hunter, Andrew Huim, Stephen White-
man, New Albany.

[But few of the names in this roll have a place of residence
attached].

COMPANY C.

James Saldkill, Charlestown; recruits Peter J. Morrison,
John P. C. Morrison, New Albany.

COMPANY E.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Musician John Clyne, New Albany.
COMPANY F.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Wesley Conner, Charlestown.

Captain William M. Pangburn (also first lieutenant),
Charlestown.

Captain Joshua B. Jenkins (also first and second lieuten-
ant), Jeffersonville.

Captain Benjamin Parke Dewey (also first lieutenant).
New Albany.

First Lieutenant Stephen L. Cole, Charlestown.

First Lieutenant Thomas R. Mitchell, Charlestown.

Second Lieutenant Thomas H. Adams, Charlestown.

Second Lieutenant Michael T. Griffin, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Elias Daily, Charlestown.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

t'7

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

(This was almost wholly a Clarke county company)
First Sergeant Thomas H. Adams.
Sergeant William M. Pangburn.
Sergeant Robert Watson.
Sergeant John M. Plaskate.
Sergeant Uriah McConnell.
Corporal William Tucker.
Corporal Fred M. Goss.
Corporal Elias Daily.
Corporal Milton Buttorf.
Corporal Robert Latta.
Corporal William P. James.
Corporal Chester Allen.
Corporal Alban V. Huckleburry.
Musician Perry Tucker.
Musician William Rockey.
Wagoner William Eversole.

PRIVATES.

John Abbott, Samuel Amick, George Apperson, A. P. Al-
ford, John A. Bozer, Lewis Bernard, Benjamin Baker, Daniel
Baker, I. T. Baugh, Henry Briggs, James Buttorf, Daniel
Cleveland, Enoch Causey, David Cole, Charles Cole, L. I.
Clapp, James Chappel, Isaac N. Carlin, Edward Carney, H.
S. Carter, Isaac Dailev, Robert Dailey, James Dailey, August
Davis, Elevin C. Elsey, Henry Frank, Isaac H. Flint, James
Ford, Benjamin Ferguson, Bruner Gusgind, Jacob Hartman,
Samuel Helton, Alfred Hamlin, Herman Hammelman,
Alexander L. Justice, John James, Frank S. James, James F.
Jarvis, M. B. Jenkins, John Kemple, Jacob Kemple, Elijah
Kemple, Thomas Kelly, James Kelly, Mortimer Lewelyn,
Samuel A. Lewelyn, B. F. Lewis, A. Lonnesberry, William
H. Marberry, Thomas R. Mitihek, LukeMcMahon, William
Morris, Robert G. Morris, James H. Matthews, John W.
Overman, Levi R. Pettit, William Pitman, Elva Perry (New
Albany), John Rouff, W. R. Roberts, Valentine Steinman,
Jesse Stoutzman, Christian Staffinger, William Stansberry,
John Sanders, Thomas J. Schinler, Thomas ]. Smith,
George Tlrrell, John Vest, Fred Velter, Christian Williams,
Frank Williams, Joseph A.Williams. George Waughman,
A. H. Young. Recruit, George W. French.

COMPANY H.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Gabriel Poindexter, Jeffersonville.

Captain Alexander Martin (also first lieutenant), New
Albany.

Captain Leander C. McCormick (also second and first
lieutenant), New Albany.

Captain Victor M. Carr (also second and first lieutenant),
Jeffersonville.

Captain Andrew J. Crandall (also first lieutenant), Jeffer-
sonville.

First Lieutenant Samuel W. Vance, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Joseph J. Leach, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Andrew J. Howard, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Thomas Cain, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Samuel F. Smith, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant L. C. McCormick, New Albany.
Sergeant Victor M. Carr, Jeffersonville.
Sergeant Andrew J. Crandall, Jeffersonville.
Corporal Thomas Cain, New Albany.
Corporal Joseph L. Leach, Jeffersonville.

Musician James E. Ryan, Jeffersonville.
Wagoner William Marshall, Utica.

PRIVATES.
William Brady, Jeffersonville; James N. Leach, New
Albany; Samuel F. Smith, New Albany; James Williams,
Jeffersonville. Recruits, James F. Crandall, Basil P. Call,
William Holland, William B. Pooley, William Piercey, Jef-
fersonville; William A. McCafferty, Enoch T. Leach, George
J. Schenk.

[Most of the names in this roll are without notes of resi-
dence.]

COMPANY I.

PRIVATES.

Charles F. Roynon, George W. Southard, New Albany.

COMPANY K.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First (also second) Lieutenant George L. Newman, New
Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant George G. Newman, New Albany.
[Many names in this company have no residennce at-
tached.]

FORTY-SECOND REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
COMPANY B.
Recruit, George P. Dantic, New Albany.

COMPANY D.
Recruits, Aaron E. Allane, Dennis Conway, James Dewyer,
Jonathan B. Newkirk, Samuel Pittman, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY G.
Recruit, Charles F. John, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY I.
Recruit, Alvey E. Hodge, Floyd Knob.

COMPANY K.
Recruits, Frank Lauman, Patrick O'Brien, Solomon
Rosenbarger, George W. Sigler.

FORTY-FOURTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).
COMPANY A.
Recruit, George W. Rankins, New Albany.

FORTY-NINTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY.)

(Three years' service.)
This was the first Indiana regiment to rendez-
vous and organize at Jeffersonville, from which
place it was largely officered, especially on its
field and staff. Its commander was Colonel
John W. Ray, son of one of the pioneer Method-
ist preachers, and long a resident of that place,
but since the war an eminent lawyer and public
man in Indianapolis. It was mustered into ser-
vice November 21, 1861, and moved for the in-
terior of Kentucky December nth. On the
13th it reached Bardstown, where a camp of in-
struction was formed. January 12, 1862, it
started for Cumberland Ford, arriving February

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

15th, and remaining there until June. It was
here severely afflicted by sickness and lost many
of its men. On the 14th of March several com-
panies were engaged in a skirmish at Big Creek
Gap, Tennessee, and nine days thereafter in a
fruitless attempt to capture Cumberland Gap.
June 1 2th it marched under General Morgan
again upon the Gap, and occupied it on the 18th,
the enemy having evacuated it without a fight.
Here the Forty-ninth encamped until the night
of September 17th, when the Federal troops in
their turn abandoned the works, as the Confed-
erates had cut off their lines of communication,
and prevented the garrison from obtaining sup-
plies. It was with Morgan's command during
the entire letreat to the Ohio through Eastern
Kentucky, subsisting most of the time upon
green corn. The march continued sixteen
days, when Greenupsburg was reached October
3d. Crossing the river the regiment encamped
and refitted at Oak Hill, Ohio, and pres-
ently was moved to Western Virginia, up the
Kanawha as far as Coal Mouth. Returning
from this expedition it was embarked, November
17th, in transports at Point Pleasant, for Memphis,
which city was reached on the 30th. Decem-
ber 19th it embarked with Sherman's army on
the expedition to Vicksburgh, landing at Chicka-
saw Bayou on the evening of December 26th, and
engaged in the five day's battle that followed.
In that it lost fifty-six killed and wounded.
The attempt to storm the rebel works proved
unsuccessful, and the regiment re-embarked on
transports and left Chickasaw Bayou January 2,
1863, for Milliken's Bend. From this place it
started by steamer on the expedition against Ar-
kansas Post, in the reduction of which place, on
the nth of January, it performed full part. Re-
turning to Young's Point the Forty-ninth assisted
in digging the canal across the Point, and
remained in the neighborhood until April 2d,
when it moved with General Grant to the rear of
Vicksburg, and participated in the battles of
Port Gibson, May 1st; Champion Hills, May
16th; Black River Bridge, May 17th, and the
siege of Vicksburg, including the assault on the
works, May 2 2d. After the fall of the city it
marched to Jackson, being fully engaged in the
seven days' fighting in the movement. It was
then moved back to Vicksburg, and thence to
Port Hudson, whence it proceeded to New Or-

leans, and was there assigned to the Department
of the Gulf. From Berwick's Bay it took part
in the expedition up the Teche, going as far
as Opelousas. Once again at New Orleans it
left in transports for Texas December 10th, on
the 14th reaching Decroe's Point, on the Mata-
gorda peninsula. It then moved to Indianola,
where one hundred and sixty seven men and
four officers of the regiment re-enlisted February
3, 1864. The next month it moved to Mata-
gorda island, where it encamped until April 19th,
and then embarked to reinforce General Banks
at Alexandria, Louisiana. Here skirmishing
went on until May 13th, when the entire force
fell back to the Mississippi. From New Orleans
the Forth-ninth returned to Indiana on its vet-
eran furlough, getting to Indianapolis July 9th.
At the end of its play-time the regiment was or-
dered to Lexington, Kentucky, and remained
there for some months after the close of the war.
Finally, September 13th, 1865, at Louisville, it
was mustered out of service. The next day it
arrived at Indianapolis, with two hundred and
sixty-one men and seventeen officers, and was
finally discharged from military service. It had
marched eight thousand miles, and fought al-
most innumerable battles and skirmishes.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel John W. Kay, J effersonville.

Colonel James Keigwin (also lieutenant colonel), Jefferson-
ville.

Colonel James Leeper (also major and lieutenant colonel),
Charlestown.

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur J. Hawke (also major).

Adjutant James M. Gwin, Memphis.

Adjutant Beverly W. Sullivan, Jeffersonville.

Quartermaster Charles H. Paddock, Jeffersonville.

Quartermaster George W. Pettit, Jeffersonville.

Surgeon Edward F. Bozelt (also assistant surgeon), Jeffer-
sonville.

Assistant Surgeon J. A. C. McCoy, Jeffersonville.

Assistant Surgeon John H. Thomas, Jeffersonville.

Assistant Surgeon William Z. Smith, Greenville.

COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Captain Arthur J. Hawke, New Albany.

LN*o places of residence of enlisted men given. J
COMPANY B.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John W. Kane, Jeffersonville.
Captain James W. Thompson, (also second lieutenant),
Jeffersonville.
Captain David Hogan, Jeffersonville.
First Lieutenant Thomas Bare, Charlestown.
First Lieutenant James M. Waters, Jeffersonville.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

119

Second Lieutenant George F. Howard, Jeffersonville.
Second- Lieutenant Richard F. Dilling, Jeffersonville.

The remainder of this company was mostly
from Clarke county.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant James C. Wheat.
Sergeant David Hogan.
Sergeant Samuel H. Smith.
Sergeant John P. Glossbtanner.
Corporal George W. Pettit.
Corporal Hiram F. Butler,
Corporal William R. Bozer.
Corporal William G. Hilton.
Corporal James Walters.
Musician Mark P. Butler.
Musician Thomas Marbury.

PRIVATES.

Cyrus S. Chapman, John Flackerstane, Michael Fox, Levi
Frailey, Timothy Frooley, Stephen W. Gibbs, Thomas Mc-
Cauley, Charles K. Morgan, Richard Pile, Beverly W. Sulli-
van, William ]. Simons, William J. Sparks, Jeffersonville;
John Wilson, James P. Pettit, William Koons, Charlestown;
Hardin Rasor, William Rackor, New Albany; William C.
Fawn, New Washington; Josephus Lee, Memphis; Lewis
C. Pound, John Richter, J. W. Scott, John Salmon, Jonathan
Wininger, Hibernia; Edwin S. Holmes, David Hoding,
Martin Hurst, Vatchel Low, August Marmur, James Mc-
Williams, Thomas Robinson, Julius Rummings, Clarke
county. Recruits, Thomas B. Hill, Eldrich Ogden, Base
Ogden, John Otter, Chris C. Peasley, Frank Sharp, John
Trotter, Silas Veach, Jeffersonville; Thomas A. Stutsman,
John M. Stutsman, Thomas J. Bozer, Hibernia.

COMPANY C.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John Nafins, New Albany.
Csptain John McWilliams, Greenville.
First Lieutenant Isaac Buzby.

First Lieutenant James Fulvard (also second lieutenant),
New Albany.

First Lieutenant George Denny, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Fred. P. Bethel, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant James T. Wilcoxon, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Fred P. Bethel, New Albany.
Sergeant Henry C. Hopper, New Albany.
Sergeant George Denny, New Albany.
Sergeant George W. Smith, Greenville.
Corporal Edward Session, New Albany.
Corporal James M. Allen, New Albany.
Corporal Isaac Searles, Bennettsville.
Corporaljohn W. Williams, Greenville.
Musician John Denny, New Albany. »

Wagoner John F. Bird, Floyd county.

PRIVATES.

Thomas Alexander, James Bassett, Comodore Bassett,
George Birger. Rufus Bowman, John Cendy, Michael Fisher,
Charles Franconie, Isaac Hendricks, Enoch Jinkins, Joseph
W. Jones, Thomas Morgan, Sr., Thomas Morgan, Jr.,
Franklin Ragin, Jesse Ragle, Charles E. Robertson, James
W. Robertson, Charles Rix, Bennettsville; Asbry Atkins,
David Dodd, John W. Lamb, Galena; John H. Bruner,
James Curns, William Denny, Harrison Devorne, Porter F.

Devorne, Charles T. Jack, Jeremiah Knight, Matthew Raf-
ale, Dennis Shane, Theodore Smith, New Albany; Thomas
Hickman, Georgetown; John P. Nerreyton, David Merry-
wether George Hollis, William T. Kimball, Floyd's Knob;
George W. Layle, Lafayette Miller, Isaac Miller, David
Miller, Greenville. Recruits — William H. Ansel, John H.
Bertsch, William M. Cox, Peter Curns, Ross Cosgrove, John
G. Ealey, Pulaski F. Gathers, Edward C. Greenwood, John
Hogan, Tillani Hollis, Charles W. Utzman, New Albany;
Charles E. Scott, Greenville; Henry Lufft, Edwardsville.
COMPANY D.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain James Leeper, Charlestown.

Captain James R. Ferguson (also first lieutenant) Jeffer-
sonville.

First Lieutenant Upshur S. Reynolds, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant James H. Morgan, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant William H. Sharp (also second lieuten-
ant), Henryville.

Second Lieutenant James A. C. McCoy, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant James S. Ryan, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Henry J. Smith. |effersonville.

Sergeant James S. Ryan, Henryville.

Sergeant Joseph C. Drummond, Memphis.

Corporal William W. Sharp.

Corporal William W. Vanscamper, Henryville.

Corporal Thomas Dillon, Memphis.

Corporal Jones Elbert, Memphis.

Corporal William C. Friend, Jeffersonville.

Corporal William C. Wroughton, Jeffersonville.

Corporal John C. Jasper, New Albany.

Musician Thomas B. Mathers, Memphis.

Musician Joseph M. Hurrell, Blue Lick.

Wagoner William A. True, Jeffersonville.

PRIVATES.

Bennett T. Atkins, John M. Clark, James W. Crummins,
John Enlow, Abel Enlow, Michael Felter, James R. Fergu-
son, John Harris, William McComb, Elias Puckett, James
H. Richardson, Henry J. Smith, John R. Stephan, Reuben
J. Stutsman, John Veasev, AlexanderVeasey, Isaac Wascom,
Henryville; William|Blakely, Noble Blakely, Ira H. Rose, John
J. Rose, John Swagert, Milton Stone, Benson Tevis, Samuel
Yesley, Blue Lick; William O. Wyatt, John Trotter, John Sun-
dry, Samuel F. Smith, Floyd Ross, William B. Powell, Wil-
liam C. Messenger, Josephus P. Hiler, Felix Hanlin, George
Golden, Patrick Fitzgerald, John Edwards, Christian C.
Clark, Jeffersonville; James W. Baxter, Hiram H. Beard,
Jonah E. Cooper, Charles H. F. Jasper, Frank M. Jasper,
Melworth Marlow, New Albany; Henry Woodward, James
F. Smith, Upshard S. Smith, Wesley Middleton, Marshal
England, Henry Coffman, Burnhardt Butt, Memphis; James
H. Covert, Lewis M. Smith, Newmarket; Oliver Robinson,
Andrew J. Mathers, Charlestown. Recruits — Charles Bache,
George W. Broy, Phil. Golden, Andrew J. Golden, Jerome
B. Hiler, William J. McCoy, Frank Milligan, Robert Wyatt,
Jeffersonville; William Zeller, Matthias C. Roach, James
McGregor, Alexander C. Lewis, Samuel D. Lewis, Hender-
son Davis, Robert J. Bigge, Luke S. Becket, Henryville;
David Carroll, New Albany; Hamilton L. Smith, New-
market; John Kelly, Winfield S. Kelly, Otisco; James H,
Davis, Charlestown;. Otheniel Prentice, Blue Lick.

COMPANY E.

NON-COMMISSIONF.D OFFICERS.

Musician Thomas Killick, New Albany.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Musician Joseph Glancer, Jeffersonville.
Recruits— Robert M. Francis, John Wingard, New Al-
bany.

COMPANY k

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First Lieutenant August H. Letourmy (also second lieu-
tenant), Memphis.

COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First (also second) Lieutenant William V. Gross, New
Albany.

First (also second) Lieutenant David Hogan, Jefferson-
ville.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Musician Thomas J. Pugh, New Albany.
Musician George S. Peyton, New Albany.

PRIVATES.
William V. Gross, New Albany. Recruit — Theodore S.
Payton, New Albany.

FIFTIETH REGIMENT.

This was organized at Seymour, September 12,
1 861; Cyrus L. Dunham, of New Albany,
colonel. It left camp October 25th, and marched
to New Albany, recruiting at several places where
it halted. Christmas-day it crossed the Ohio
and marched to Bardstown, where a camp of in-
struction was formed. Thence it moved to
Bowling Green. After Nashville was taken, the
regiment was scattered along the Louisville &
Nashville railroad, and remained on this duty
till September, 1862. August 20th a detach-
ment of twenty men was attacked by one thou-
sand of Morgan's cavalry, in a stockade near
Edgefield Junction; but repulsed the enemy three
times, and finally forced him to retire with some
loss. In September the Fiftieth marched to re-
lieve Mumfordsville, and was there captured with,
other forces by General Bragg on the 14th of that
month. It was paroled and sent to Indianapolis
till exchanged. November 1st it started again
for the field, reaching Jackson, Tennessee, on
the 10th, and there forming part of the Sixteenth
corps. December 31st it was engaged all day
with Forrest's cavalry at Parker's cross-roads, and
captured five hundred prisoners and seven guns.
During the rest of the winter it encamped near
Jackson, moving to Memphis the next spring.
Thence it was transferred to Arkansas, where it
had a skirmish at Little Rock. Marching
thence September 10th, to Lewisburg, in that
State, it there remained in garrison till May 17,
1864. March 2d of that year three hundred and
fifty of its number "veteraned." It was engaged

with General Steele's Camden expedition in the
battles of Terre Noir, Prairie Leon, Red Mound,
Camden, and Saline River. It returned to Lit-
tle Rock May 5th, and staid till the last of July,
when its veteran furlough began, and it was trans-
ported to Indiana. Returning in September, it
did garrison duty at Little Rock for several
months. December 31st the non-veterans were
discharged, and four hundred and fifty veterans
and recruits remaining were consolidated into a
battalion of five companies. January 5, 1865, it
started with General Carr's command on a ten
day's expedition to Saline river. The next
month the battalion left Arkansas to join Canby's
army besieging Spanish Fort, near Mobile. April
10th it took part in the capture of Mobile, and
the next day was engaged at Whistler's Station.
May 26, 1865, it was merged in the Fifty-second
regiment, which remained in service until Sep-
tember 10th, when all were mustered out at Mont-
gomery, Alabama, sent to Indianapolis at once,
and discharged.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham, New Albany.
Major Bannister Compton, New Albany.
Major John Hungate, New Albany.

Adjutant Thomas H. Jones (also adjutant of the residuary
battalion).

COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John Hungate, New Albany.

Captain Isaac A. Craig (also second and first lieutenant),
New Albany.

First Lieutenant Benjamin F. McClintoch, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Thomas H. Jones, New Albany.
[The remainder of the company was from Floyd county. J

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Thomas H. Jones.
Sergeant Henry H. Poison.
Sergeant John S. Cobb.
Sergeant Jere F. Pittman.
Sergeant William M. Holson.
Corporal Thomas I. Truelock.
Corporal William McDonald.
Corporal James Miller.
Corporal Joseph Smith.
Corporal Joseph Smith.
Corporal John R. Rivers.
Corporal James W. D. Bradish.
Corporal William B. Grigsby.
Corporal David E. Rook.
Musician Michael M. Critchfield.
Musician Robert D. Longert.
Wagoner Sarnuel Dougherty.

PRIVATES.

Brazilla Abel, John Abel, William H. Abel, Silas A.
Adams, Mart V. Archer, Leonard H. Archer, William A.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Atkinson, Emmitt Bartlett, ]ohn Bell, Andrew J. Blalock,
Ptolmy Bledsoe, John T. Brown, Henry Brobst, William S.
Buchanan, Daniel O. Burgess, Benjamin B. Case, John A.
Chopot, Obadiah Cleveland, Jesse J. Collier, Nicholas Cook,
Philip M. Cutshall. Thomas B. Cummins, Andrew J. Cum-
mins, Archibald Dougherty, William H. Dougherty, Benja-
min Dooley, Thomas Duysdale, Rasebery Drennen. Alexan-
der Gobbel, Solomon B. Grainger, Wilson S. Gregory, Isaac
Guthrie, Daniel Helmstutlar, Hiram M. C. Hobson, Jediah
Hunter, Robert W. Hughes. George W. Jackman, William
Jenkins, Harrison Johnson, William Kahler, John P. Kirk.
Daniel L. Lambdian, Jonathan D. Leonard, William H.
Longert, William D. Lynch, John Mason, James Marlev,
Elias McDonald. John R. McMickle, Joseph P. Miller,
George B. Miller, Thomas Morgan, James B. Xewkirk,
Thomas Pedo, Bedford Phillips, John Phillips, Robert Pitt-
man, Enoch Prewett, Joshua Prewett, Singleton Rawlings,
Joel O. Ray, Chester C. Rook, John Raverty, John Ruby,
Claudius Standiford, Ephraim Standiford, Alexander Shofe,
George D. Smith, Mart M. Stout. William P. Strain, Wil-
liam M. Taylor, James H. P. Tarr, Lafayette Thorpe, John
Trinkle, Mart Venerable, John S.Walls, Richard N. Wellman.
Jere Wellman, Richard Wheat, Calvin R. Wood, Eanis
Wells, Jason Veitch.

[The list of rectuits includes no notes of residence, and we
are unable to locate any of them in Floyd or Clarke county.]

FIFTY-SECOND INFANTRY (RE-ORGANIZED).
COMPANY A.
Private Arthur H. Neal, New Albany.

COMPANY B.
Private John Fipps, New Albany.
COMPANY D.
PRIVATES.

Obadiah Cleveland, Thomas Morgan, New Albany ; Cyrus
B. Garlinghouse, Bethlehem.

FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT.

The Fifty-third organized in part at New Al-
bany in January, 1862, and was filled up Febru-
ary 26th by recruits raised from the Sixty-second.
Walter Q. Gresham, of Corydon, now judge of
the United States district court, was made
colonel. The first movement of the command
was to Indianapolis, where it guarded rebel
prisoners at Camp Morton till March 15th. It
was then started for St. Louis, and thence went to
Savannah, Tennessee. April 15th it joined the
forces moving on Corinth. After Corinth was
evacuated, marched to Lagrange, and joined ex-
peditions from that place to Holly Springs and
other points. It was then at Memphis until
September, then at Bolivar, then moved again on
Corinth, and, October 5th, participated in the
battle of the Hatchie, during which it made a
courageous crossing of the burning *bridge and
charged the rebel line. It marched under Grant
into Northern Mississippi, returned to Moscow,

Tennessee, and again to Memphis, where it staid
till April, 1863. It then moved to Young's
Point, Grand Gulf, and Chickasaw Bluffs, where
it joined the army before Yicksburg. It took an
honorable part in the siege, and afterwards
marched to Jackson with the force which oc-
cupied that city July 1 6th. Returning to Vicks-
burg, it was sent to Natchez, and quartered there
about three months. August nth, Colonel
Gresham was commissioned brigadier. The
next month the Fifty-third, now in the Seven-
teenth corps, accompaned an expedition into
Louisiana, where an important fort was taken
and other injury done. It was at Vicksburg till
February, 1864, and then marched with Sherman
in the Meridian campaign. On the return three
hundred and eighty-three of its men re-enlisted,
and they took their veteran furlough the next
month.

From Vicksburg the regiment was sent with
its division to Georgia, and joined Sherman at
Acworth, June 6th. During the rest of the At-
lanta campaign it was heavily engaged at Kene-
saw Mountain, Nikajack Creek, Peach-tree Creek,
near Atlanta, July 2 2d. In the last fight it suf-
fered greatly, losing its commander, Colonel
Jones, and many other officers and men. After
Atlanta was occupied it aided in the pursuit of
Hood, but got back in time to join in the famous
march to the sea and through the Carolinas. At
the close of the war it moved from Goldsboro by
Raleigh and Richmond to Washington, and was
thence transported to Louisville, where it was
mustered out July 21st, 1865. It was in the
public reception of returning regiments at In-
dianapolis, July 25th, and was soon after dis-
charged.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Major and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Duncan, New Al-
bany.

Lieutenant Colonel Andrew H. Fabrique, New Albany.
Chaplain William W. Curry, New Albany.

COMPANY B.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain and First Lieutenant A. H. Fabrique, New Al-
bany.

First Lieutenant John M. Austin, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal John M. Austin.

COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFIGERS.

Captain Seth Dailey, Charlestown.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Captain William Howard (also second lieutenant), Jeffer-
sonville.

First Lieutenant John L. Gibson (also second lieutenant),
New Albany.

First Lieutenant James A. Engleman, Georgetown.

[ This company appears to have been raised in Floyd and
Harrison counties, but there are no means furnished in the
roll for distinguishing the men fromeach region.]

COMPANY E.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Rufus A. Peck, New Providence.

Captain John W. Heistand (also first lieutenant), New
Providence.

Captain George H. Beers (also second and firstTieutenant),
New Albany.

First Lieutenant Henry Pennington (also second lieuten-
ant), New Albany.

First Lieutenant Royal M. Gibson, Providence.

First Lieutenant Neville A. Lartigue, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant George H. Beers.
Sergeant William H. Smith.
Sergeant Royal M. Gibson.
Sergeant Neville A. Lartigue.
Sergeant James A. Berkey.
Corporal Ezek. C. Lane.
Corporal Francis M. Miller.
Corporal Oliver Q. Trueblood.
Corporal William Rockwood.
Corporal William J. Morris.
Corporal Palmer Bailey.
Corporal Jeff Potts.
Corporal Larkin Kennedy.
Musician George H. Pennington.
Musician John W. Heistand.

PRIVATES.

James W. Ashings, John Bruce Allen, Robert Allen,
David C. Alois, Lyman Alton, David A. Baker, George N.
Bailey, David Butterfield, Alfred Bagshaw, Napoleon B.
Boss, Jasper N. Brannaman, William H. Baynes, Thomas
Butler, James M. Carnes, George Canner, Richard M.
Clark, Isaac S. Cutshaw, Francis M. Crockett, George W.
Clipper, Samuel K. Darkies, Patrick Dunihue, Alfred L.
Elliott, Martellus M. Evans, Benjamin F. Emery, John
Ebeling, William R. P. Eades, Joseph Fisher, James Gib-
son, Thomas Gibbons, John Hedrick, Jacob Haxton, John
Herral, George W. Hamilton, John Hoke, Michael Jones,
Jacob Volney Jamison, Joseph E. Kite, Martin C. Luken-
bill, Washington Linder, Nathaniel Linder, John Mann,
Joshua T. Morris, Martin H. Miller, Jonathan Minton,
Isaac Minton, William C. Morgan, John McCosky, Samuel
Newby, Thomas Piers, John Overshiner, William H. Pickler,
Hugh T. Prentice, George Powers, John F. Rodman, Moses
Russle, John M. Rutherford, Philip Shadrion, George Shoe-
maker, Frederick Schliecher, Cornelius Standiford, Thomas
C. Stucher, Peter Smith, Thomas J. Smith, William R.
South, Fielding R. Seale, Francis Tartarat, William W.
Taylor, Joshua G. Trueblood, Isaac N. Thomas, John M.
Tatlock, Abram Tatlock, Leonard M. White, Spencer C.
Walker, George Wright, Telle Weeks, Andrew York.

[The roll furnishes no means of determining the residence
of recruits to this company.]

COMPANY F.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Captain Henry Duncan (also second and first lieutenant),
New Albany.

COMPANY K.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Henry Pennington, New Albany.
Captain Eben Knight (also second lieutenant), New
Albany.

PRIVATES.

Additional enlisted men — Thomas S. Dryman, William H.
Duncan, Clarke county; Henry Achord, Floyd county.

FIFTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY B.

PRIVATE.

Recruits, Adolphus Banct, Paul L. Banct, Peter Fatig,
Robert Fenwick, Lawson Stone, New Albany; Orin A.
Searles, Floyd's Knobs.

COMPANY C.
Private Harbin Kepley, J efTersonville, recruit.
COMPANY E.

PRIVATES.

Albert G. Austin, New Albany. Recruits, Joseph Singer,
Joseph Greenor, New Albany; John W. Swartz, Bennettsville.

THE FIFTY-NINTH REGIMENT

was recruited late in 1861, and early in 1862, and
mustered in February 1 ith, at Gosport. At New
Albany it was equipped with Enfield rifles, and
on the 1 8th started by river for Cairo, there em-
barking for Commerce, Missouri. It was the
first regiment to report to General Pope for the
Army of the Mississippi. February 25th it
moved to Benton, and was there brigaded with
four other Indiana regiments. Early in March
it shared in the siege of New Madrid, and was
one of the first commands entering the place.
April 7th it crossed the Mississippi, and marched
to Tiptonville, aiding to capture five thousand
prisoners. Its subsequent movements were to
Fort Pillow, Cairo, and Hamburg, Tennessee,
Corinth, Boonville, Clear Creek, Ripley, Jacinto,
Rienzi, and other points. October 3d and 4th
it was heavily engaged at Corinth. January 3d
to March 1, 1863, it was on guard duty near
Memphis, and then went to Helena, Arkansas.
March 12th it started with the Yazoo expedition,
returned April 10th, and going to Milliken's
Bend on the 15th. On the 24th it started for
Vicksburg, and was engaged subsequently at
Forty Hills, Raymond, and Champion Hills.
Its skirmishers were the first to enter Jackson,
and its battle-worn flag was soon floating from
the State capitol. It joined in the siege of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

I23

Vicksburg^and suffered severely in the assault of
May 22d, when one hundred and twenty-six
men were killed or wounded. July 4th it was
in the column which marched into Vicksburg,
and remained until September 13th, when it was
sent to Helena, and thence to Memphis, Corinth,
and Glendale. October 19th it started for Chat-
tanooga, and shared the glory of the Mission
Ridge victory. It was afterwards in the Atlanta
campaign and the marches to the sea and' north-
ward, and was mustered put at Louisville July
17th. It had received seven hundred and
seventy-seven recruits during its service, and lost
seven hundred and ninety-three, and had traveled
thirteen thousand six hundred and seventy-nine
miles in its various campaigns.

FIFTY-NINTH INFANTRY.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Major Elijah Sabin, New Albany.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Captain Thomas Riley. New Albany.

PRIVATE.
John Byrne, Xew Albany.

COMPANY D.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant William B. Lyons, New Albany.
COMPANY E.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant (also private) Samuel W. Taylor, New
Albany ,

COMPANY F.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Wilford H. Wellman, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Thomas Riley, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

Joseph Self, John E. Stanley.

COMPANY G.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain (also second and first lieutenant) Ephraim J. Hol-
lis, New Albany.

First Lieutenant William B. Lyons, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Paley W. Fitzgerald, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal John Thurston, New Albany.
PRIVATES.

George D. Byorly, Andrew Hogg, James \V. Mahuran,
Ebenezer L. Mahuran, George W. Newman, Lewis N. Rit-
ter, William T. Ritter, David Stover, Joseph Woods, Loren-
zo Wood, New Providence; Paley Fitzgerald, Frederick
Kooek, Alexander Williamson, New Albany. Recruits —
George W. Adamson, William H. Morton, Thomas New-
comb, Luther D. Whitten, New Albany; Thomas M.
Harlin, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY H.
Private George J. Pullern, New Albany.
COMPANY K,

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant Howard Webber, New Albany.

PRIVATE.

Additional enlisted man, William Holmes, New Albany.
SIXTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.

It was raised in the Second Congressional dis-
trict, with the celebrated Lew Wallace, of Crawfords-
ville (already a major general), as its first colonel
under provisional appointment; rendezvoused
at Camp Noble, New Albany; was hastened into
service August 19, 1862, by the danger menacing
Cincinnati, and marched at once for Lexington,
Kentucky. It was in the ill-starred action near
Richmond on the 30th, when most of the regi-
ment were captured and paroled. The entire com-
mand was reunited at New AlbanySeptember 10th
was refitted at Indianapolis in November, and
started for the field again December 10th. At
Corinth, Mississippi, it joined the First brigade
of Dodge's division, and remained in garrison
till August 18, 1863. Six companies (B, C, D,
E, G, and I) were engaged at the battle of Col-
lierville October 11, 1863. Moved October 29th
to Pulaski, Tennessee, and staid till spring.
With the Second division, Sixteenth corps, in
late April, 1864, it went to join in the Atlanta cam-
paign. It was engaged at Resaca, Lay's Ferry,
Rome Cross-roads, Dallas, Kenesaw, before At-
lanta, and at Jonesborough. Near Atlanta its
division was transferred to the Fifteenth corps,
and started for Rome September 26th, returning
in time, however, to join in the "marching
through Georgia." It reached Washington
through the Carolinas and Virginia May 24,
1865, and was there mustered out June 3, 1865.
Upon arrival at Indianapolis it was publicly wel-
comed, June 1 2th, in addresses by Governor
Morton and others. Some of its recruits served
with the Fifty-ninth until the muster-out of that
regiment July 17, 1865.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel DeWitt C. Anthony, New Albany.
Lieutenant Colonel (also adjutant and major) Thomas G.
Morrison, New Albany.

Major John W. Gerard, New Albany.
Adjutant William H. Mahon, New Albany.
Quartermaster Campbell Hay, Jeffersonville.
Quartermaster Thomas C. Hammond, Charlestown.
Surgeon Nathaniel Field, Jeffersonville.

124

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Surgeon James C. Simonon (also assistant surgeon)'
Charlestown.
Quartermaster Sergeant William H. Day, New Albany.
Commissary Sergeant Edward A. Cobb, New Albany.

COMPANY C.

PRIVATES.

James G. Rowth, James N. Rowth, New Albany.
COMPANY D.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant William H. Day, New Albany.

COMPANY E.
Private Aaron Rigler, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY. G.
Private John M. Merryweather.

COMPANY H.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Second Lieutenant David Simpson, New Albany.

PRIVATE.

Harrison T. Gandy, New Albany.
COMPANY I.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John W. Gerard, New Albany.

Captain James N. Payton (also first lieutenant), New Al-
bany.

Captain Charles P. Sisloff (also second lieutenant), New
Albany.

First Lieutenant Winfield S. Whitman (also second lieu-
tenant), New Albany.

First Lieutenant John B. Parker, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Alexander B. Hoskins, New Albany.

[The following named were also of New Albany, with the
exception noted. The residences of many of this company
are not given on the roll],

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Charles R. Sisloff.

Sergeant William F. Haigh.

Corporal Middleton C. Tucker (Jeffersonville).

Corporal James H. Smith.

Corporal Abraham McCoblan.

Musician William K. Shipman.

Wagoner Asahel M. Pyburn.

PRIVATES.

Martin Ashby, Bernard Brady, Walter P. Brown, Henry
H. Baxter, Calvin Carpenter, Ephraim Carnes, Lee Carpen-
ter, Alfred Danton, William Grimes, Dieu. D. Hinneux,
Robert Hinton, Charles E. Jones, John Kelly, Henry B.
Leach, Leonard Leach, John E. Lavey, Harvey Money,
William C. Miller, Patrick O'Brien, William A. Smith,
Michael Shine, Jacob Schester, John Whitten, Robert O.
Whitten, William Whitten, Michael F. Wemyss, Michael
Waters, Joseph Weaver.

SIXTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY COMPANY A.

George W. Townsend, recruit, New Albany.

SEVENTIETH INFANTRY.

John Graves, recruit company H, New Albany.

SEVENTY-FIRST REGIMENT (SIXTH CAVALRY).

COMPANY M.

PRIVATES.

Andrew Hand, William Holmes, New Albany.

SEVENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT (FOURTH CAVALRY).

Organized at Indianapolis August 22, 1862.
Four companies were promptly sent to Hender-
son, Kentucky, and the rest to Louisville, to aid
in the campaign against the Confederate invad-
ers. The former battalion had skirmishes at
Madisonville August ,26th and October 5th, and
another at Mt. Washington October 1st, suffering
some loss. The other battalions encamped for
a time near Madison, Indiana, and presently
crossed near Vevay and marched to Frankfort,
arriving about October 24th. Its next station
was at Gallatin, Tennessee. On Christmas a
fight was had with John Morgan near Munford-
ville, in which he was beaten. January and
February, 1865, it moved to Murfreesboro, and
operated thereabout for several months, having
a sharp skirmish at Rutherford's creek March
10th. The battalions were united this spring,
and took an active part in the Chattanooga cam-
paign under Rosecrans. It was at the battle of
of Chickamauga, and again engaged September
23d, and then November 1st, at Fayetteville,
Tennessee. It was in east Tennessee during the
winter of 1863-64, in advanced position, and
bore conspicuous part in the affairs at Mossy
Creek, Tabbot's, and Dandridge, for which it
was highly praised in the official reports. January
24th, 1864, in a sharp action at Fair Garden, in
which the second battalion of the Fourth
charged the Confederate skirmish line, and the
first joined in a sabre charge on a battery, cap-
turing it and a large number of prisoners, Lieu-
tenant Colonel Leslie, of this regiment, was
killed, but the enemy was thoroughly routed.
In May it moved with Sherman's cavalry against
Atlanta, and fought the enemy at Varnell's Sta-
tion, Burnt Church, and Newman. In October
it was engaged at Columbia, Tennessee; the next
month was on duty near Louisville, in January
at Nashville, and in February at Waterloo, Ala-
bama. It was in Wilson's campaign through
that State, sharing in the battles of Plantersville
and Selma. In May it went to Nashville, and
remained in the Provisional Cavalry Camp at
Edgefield until mustered out, June 29, 1865.
The men were paid off and discharged shortly

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

'25

after, and scattered northward to their homes,
preferring not to return in a body.
company D.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Warren Horr, -Charlestown.

Captain Samuel E. W. Simonson (also first lieutenant),
Charlestown.

Captain Richaid F. Nugent (also first lieutenant), Charles-
town.

First Lieutenant Thomas B. Prather, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Edmund J. Davis, Charlestown.

Second Lieutenant Isaac M. Koons, Charlestown.

Second Lieutenant Albert Taggert, Charlestown.

Second Lieutenant Enoch S. Boston, Jeffersonville.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Thomas B. Prather, Charlestown.
Company Quartermaster Sergeant Isaac M. Koons,
Charlestown.

Company Commissary Sergeant Alban Lutz, Charlestown.

Sergeant John Andrews, Charlestown.

Sergeant William H. Dunlevy, Charlestown.

Sergeant William M. Gibson, Charlestown.

Sergeant Thomas E. Hill, New Albany.

Corporal William Johnson, Jeffersonville.

Corporal John T. Kelly, New Albany.

Corporal George W. King, New Albany.

Corporal William M. Burns, New Albany.

Corporal John T. Littell, New Albany.

Corporal Washington P. Butts, New Albany.

Corporal John W. Cass, Memphis.

Bugler David Ferrier, Charlestown.

Bugler William F. Blankenbaker, Charlestown.

Farrier and Blacksmith Charles H. Harris, Charlestown.

Farrier and Blacksmith Joseph Newby, Henry ville.

Saddler W7illiam D. Teeple, Charlestown.

Wagoner George W. Gibson, Charlestown.

PRIVATES.

Reuben Bottorff, John F. Brown, James W. Bennett,
James H. Cartner, John W. Coons, James R. Demar, Mil-
ton R. Davis, William T. Dawkins, Edward Fitzgerald,
Samuel Ferrier, Thomas Gifford, Newton F. Gibson, Thomas
B. Gibson, Jacob Gibson, Joseph M. Haas, Andrew J
Hackleberry, John J. Hazeburn, Henry Howard, James M
Harris, George W. Kirk, Crassey L. Key, George Littell
John C. Lutz, Samuel Mills, Isaac W. Noe, Richard F
Nugent, Thomas J. Roger, Elijah J. Sommers, Thomas B.
Suttle, Thomas Strieker, Alexander B. Smith. John W. Salt-
kill, William A. Trimble, Albert Taggart, Joseph M. Tillord,
James M. Vanhook, John J. Weber, Jesse Washburn, George
D. Watson, William H. Young, Charlestown; Gideon W.
Ware, George C. Shapard, Anthony Rapp, Henry Miller,
Charles Northam, William Mower, James W. Jacobs,
Thomas J. Jacobs, Worden P. Fields, John A. Blakeslee,
Jeffersonville; Banonia Beggarly, Louis W. Beggarly, James
O. Beggarly, Clinton Beggarly, Thomas Scott, Providence;
Louis P. Bailey, Louis S. Cass, Samuel Harris, Memphis;
James M. Covert, Oregon; Thomas L. Dunahue, Maranna
Dunahue, William H. Defenbaugh, New Washington; El-
wilt Enlow, Whitman Gordon, William E. Jones, James A.
Robertson, Cornelius Sargent, New Albany; John Long,
Bethlehem; Martin L. Prather, Utica. Recruits, James H.
Boyer, William J. Badger, Lewis Badger, James S. Conner,
John Douglas, Andrew J. Gillespie, William H. Gillespie,

Samuel K. Hough, John Massmar, John Wilson, Jackson
M. Thompson, Charlestown; Hugh Bell, Charles Breedlove,
John J. Crawford, Benjamin F. Hedrick, William M. Mass-
ingale, Gideon Spraberry, Jesse F. Spraberry, William R.
Spraberry, William Spearman, William Stamy, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY F.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First (also second) Lieutenant Henry Lodge, New Albany.

EIGHTIETH INFANTRY REGIMENT.

COMPANY K.

PRIVATES.

John Topy, James Topy, New Albany.

EIGHTY-FIRST REGIMENT.

The Eighty-first rendezvoused at Jeffersonville
with William W. Caldwell, of that place, as colo-
nel, and was mustered in August 29, 1862. It
left at once for Louisville, and was there till
October 1st; then joined Buell's army and
rharched against Bragg, but did not take part in
the battle of Perryville, though on the field.
Moving to Nashville it was assigned to the Third
brigade in General Jefferson C. Davis' (First)
division, and staid there till December 26th,
when it moved with the army on Murfreesboro,
and had its first fight at Stone River. It was in
the right wing when the rebels made their head-
long charge upon it December 31st. Its brigade
held the position until both flanks were uncov-
ered by the Federal retreat, when it had also to
fall back. The Eighty-first lost eighty-eight men
in this action, of whom forty-four were "miss-
ing." After the battle it encamped at Murfrees-
boro till June 26th, and then started in the move-
ment on Chattanooga. It was engaged at Liber-
ty Gap and at Chickamauga, where it lost 8
killed, 59 wounded, and 22 missing. It was at
Chattanooga till October 25th; at Bridgeport,
Alabama, till January 26, 1864, and at Ooltewah,
Tennessee, till the opening of the Atlanta cam-
paign. In this the regiment was engaged at
Rocky Face, Resaca, Kingston, Bald Knob,
Kenesaw, Marietta, Jonesboro, and Lovejoy's.
After the occupation it remained in Atlanta till
October 3d, when it joined in the pursuit of
Hood to the rear of Sherman's position. Octo-
ber 31st it left Chattanooga as train guard, and
marched to Pulaski, Tennessee, and thence to
Franklin, where it fought in the action of Scho-
field's forces against Hood's. December 15th
and 1 6th it bore part in the battles before Nash-
ville, and followed in the pursuit to the Tennes-

126

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

see river. Ic then marched to Huntsville and on
to Strawberry Plains, East Tennessee: thence to
Bull's Gap, and April 3, 186=;, started with an
expedition into North Carolina. It was returned
to Nashville on the 22d, and there staid till June
13th, when it was mustered out. Reaching In-
dianapolis two days after, it was the recipient,
with others, of a grand welcam? home in the
capitol grounds. Of the 927 men with which it
began service, there were remaining 250, with
27 officers. Its recruits were transferred to the
Thirty-first Indiana veterans, and served in Texas
till the muster out, in November, 1865.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel (also adjutant) William "W. Caldwell, [effersonville.

Major and Lieutenant-Colonel Leonidas Stout, New Al-
bany.

Major and Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin G. Mathey. New
Albany.

Major William G. Richards, New Albany.

Major William D. Evrilt, Charlestons.

Adjutant Aug Jocelyn, New Albany.

Adjutant Join J. Gallagher, Jeffersonville.

Quartermaster William H. Daniel, New Albany.

Chaplain Peter St. Clair, New Albany.

COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Leonidas Stout, New Albany.

Captain (also first lieutenant) Henry E. Jones, New Al-
bany.

Captain (also first lieutenant) Spencer H. McCoy, New
Albany.

First Lieutenant Thomas W. Teaford, Georgetown.

Second Lieutenant Wilford M. Allen, Greenville.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Thomas W. Teaford, Georgetown.
Sergeant Jesse D. Teaford, Georgetown.
Sergeant Philip Rosenberger, New Albany.
Sergeant William Nance, New Albany.
Corporal James M. Laughlin, New Albany.
Corporal Hezekiah Cleveland, New Albany.
Corporal John W. Speak, Greenville.
Corporal Tilford M. Allen, Greenville.
Corporal Tilford H. Sherlv, Edwardsville.
Corporal John C. Carroll, Memphis.
Musician Josiah T. Little, Sellersburg.
Musician Willard Stockdale, New Albany.
.Wagoner James Williams, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

James M. Akers, Elisha W. Allen, Benjamin S. Bell, John
Blise, Emanuel Blise. Greer W. Davis, James Dicks, George
W. Fisher, John Joyce, John R. Kennedy, Charles G. T.
Leppert, David F. Lewis, Richard McCuffrev, Spencer H.
McCoy, Silas Quick, Hardin B. Roberts, Andrew J. Ross,
George Robinson, William Stoll, David Stepp, John W. Tur-
ner, James W. Turner, Martin Young, New Albany; Wil-
liam H. Wright, Louis T. Teaford, Alexander Sampson.
Robert P. Minton, Eliphalet Hickman, George Burkhart,
Lafayette Burkhart, Georgetown; John T. Adkins. George

\V. Allen, Claiborne Sloan, Thomas Gray, Bennettsville;
John W. Wright, John L. McCoy, Calvin Bottorf, Sellers-
burg; C. E. Fisher, Henry C. Tyler. Edwardsville; Christ
Gaustine, Thomas J. Martin, William H. Tibbets, Green-
ville; William R. Merrill, Blue Lick; Solomon Simpson,
Henry H. Ward, Muddy Fork; George W. Sweeny, New
Providence. Recruit, George W. Teaford, Georgetown.

COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain (also second and first lieutenant) Andrew J. How-
ard, JefTersonville.

Captain (also second and first lieutenant) William H. H.
Northcott, Jeffersonville.

Captain Eugene M. Schell (second and first lieutenant also).
JefTersonville.

Captain Leonard H. Tuttle (also first lieutenant), Utica.

First Lieutenant William H. Morgan, Henryville.

First Lieutenant George W. Alpha, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant James Wilson, Utica.

Second Lieutenant George W. Clark, Henryville.

Second Lieutenant Charles Ashton, Utica.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant W. H. H. Northcott, Jeffersonville.
Sergeant Peter H. Bohart, Henryville.
Sergeant James Mitchell, Henryville.
Sergeant Samuel Gardiner, JefTersonville.
Sergeant Emery W. Bruner, Utica.
Corporal John Gallagher, JefTersonville.
Corporal Eugene M. Schell, JefTersonville. •
Corporal George W. Alpha, JefTersonville.
Corporal Alpin S. Piather. Utica.
Corporal James Wilson, Utica.
Corporal Henry H. Pratt, Henryville.
Corporal Matthew Mahan, Clark county.
Musician C. E. W. Glossbrenner, Jeffersonville.

PRIVATES.

Charles Ashton, Uriah Bennett, Gabriel Bell, William D.
Blizzard, Melvill W. Bruner, George T. Fry, Benjamin Ham-
mond, James W. Hooper, John W. Jacobs. John M. Laws,
Charles McCormick Joseph G. Snider, Amos Summers,
Leonard H. Tuttle. Utica; William T. Young John T.
Sneed, George W. Scott, Thomas Powell, Robert L. Parki-
son, James S. Norris, John S. Midcap, George McCarty,
John Maley, Morton Long, James N. Seclar, Alexander G.
Green, James H. Ford, Michael Fannon John Dunn, Peter
Cosgrove, Dunmick Bishop, JefTersonville; Joseph Byer,
John Cole, John W. Cowling. Francis M. Daily, William
Devansa, William Detrich, Cyrus Decamp. Sargent W.
Evans, Cornelius Fields, Daniel J. Green, Wesley Gross,
Henry H. Gray, James W. Houseworth, William Kemple,
Henry Kemple, Robert Kirk, Joseph Koener, John Lam-
bert, John Laws, George W. Lewellan, Frederick Lotz, Mil-
ton A. Mahan. John O. McClure, Samuel L. McHenry,
Daniel O'Harra, William Sample, Andrew J. Stoner, Levi
Sturdevant, Peter Stein, Daniel Stoner, Amos St. Clair. Ar-
thur St. Clair, Elisha W. Thompson. Louis Thompson, John
P. Walker. Joseph Walker, Henryville.

COMPANY C.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain (also first lieutenant) Anthony Moltwiler, George-
town.

First Lieutenant Daniel K. Starr, Georgetown.

Second Lieutenant Elijah R. Mitchell, New Providence.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant A. Mottwiler, Georgetown.
Sergeant David B. Starr, New Albany.
Sergeant David G. Hudson, New Albany.
Corporal Benjamin Buzby, New Albany.
Corporal John W. Flickner, Edwardsville.
Corporal Zonawine Sloan, Edwardsville.
Corporal Lyman Davis, Georgetown.
Corporal Jesse H. Watts, Georgetown.
Corporal John J. Grandell, Georgetown.
Corporal George W. Wolf, Georgetown.
Musician Francis M. Zonawine, Edwardsville.
Musician Lafayette Lydica, Edwardsville.
Wagoner John Swartz, Edwardsville.

PRIVATES.

Henry Atkins, William Atkins, New Albany; Jacob Baker,
James W. Byerly, Albert Cayce, John Churchman, William
Cochran, Cyrus Crandall, Nathaniel Crandall, George W.
Davis, Samuel Daugherty, Spurgeon Duncan, Jefferson En-
gleman, Adam J. Eddleman, A. J. Fox, J. R. Fox, Jesse B. Har-
mon, Elijah Harmon, George W. Hedrick, John Hedrick,
Moses Harper, Manaples Kepley, Isaac Kepley, Francis M.
Lansford, Lafayette Mosier, Robert C. Miller, William Tip-
ton, Henry Tipton, William Thomas, Hamilton Treswriter,
James P. Tyler, John H. Tyler, William H. Tyler, Roily
Tyler, Jeie Utz, George W. Watts, David W. H. Wolf,
Georgetown; Henry C. Whitson, Martin Stover, Preston
Sparks, Moses Shoemaker, Ezekiel Porter, Ephraim McNa-
mara, Louis A. Morel!, Peter Moody, George M. C. Littell,
Harry Denny, William Coats, George W. Brown, John S.
Brown, New Providence.

COMPANY E.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Edward G. Mathey (also second and first lieuten-
ant), New Albany.

Captain James M. Graham (also second and first lieuten-
ant), New Albany.

First Lieutenant James Wilson, Utica.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal James M. Graham, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

John G. Davis, Newton Gordon, August Jocelyn, John
Johnson, William H. Martin, New Albany.

COMPANY G.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Captain Elijah R. Mitchell, New Providence.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Captain William J. Richards (also first and second lieuten-
ant), New Albany.

COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain William D. Eviitt, Charlestown.
Captain John Carney, Charlestown.
First Lieutenant John C. McCormack, Charlestown.
Second Lieutenant John Schwallier, Charlestown.
Second Lieutenant George T. Peters, Charlestown.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

[The rest of this company, from the residence of its offi-
cers, is presumed to have been from Clarke county].
First Sergeant Edmund T. Bower.

Sergeant Thomas L. Cole.
Sergeant Andrew Dunn.
Sergeant John M. McCormick.
Sergeant George T. Peters.
Corporal John A. Mitchell.
Corporal William H. T. Hostetler.
Corpoial Jackson D. Murry.
Corporal Amos Murry.
Corporal Andrew J. Nicholas.
Corporal Clayland Long.
Corporal John S. Robertson.
Corporal George W. McConnoughy.
Musician James A. Stuart.
Wagoner William A. Mitchell.

PRIVATES.

Henry B. Abbott, John F. Adams, Samuel Adams, Wil-
liam H. Barrett, Conrad Bolls, Dennis R. Bottroff, Martin
B. Bottroff, Nathan A. Bowyer, John A. Bowyer, William A.
Bower, Nathan Brooks, John A." Buchanan, Albert N. Car-
roll, John Canny, JamesJ . Cole, Thomas J. Cole, George
Cook, George W. Conn, William Coons, Benjamin F.
Curtis, John L. Delahunt, Christian Ditsler, David D.
Divine, John W. Edwards, William H. Fifer, Allen Fisher,
Andrew J. Fisher, James Franey, Andrew J. Fullilove, John
Garrick, George W. Gifrin, Charles Green, Charles T. Hall,
George Hall, Michael Hannay, George Harlman, Thomas
L. Henthorn, Amos M. Henthorn, John M. Hostetler,
Elisha Hobbs, William Hooker, Miles C. Hodgin, John H.'
Hutchings, Hanbury Hughes, Andrew J. Izzard, George G.
Jenkins, Thomas J. Jones, James Kelley, Thomas Know-
land, Henry W. Lamppin, Henry Lutz, Albert Matthews,
Hamilton McCormick, Robert W. McMurry, William P.
Miller, Frederick W. Miller, Thomas J. Murry, John Owens,
William C. Patterson, William A. Percy, William Plasket,
James T. Prent, William H. Robertson, James N. Ross,
Jacob A. Salmon, John M. Scott, Henry Shouldis, Elijah F.
Smith, James F. Smith, Alva R. Topflinger, Joseph W.
Topflinger, John M. Vought, William D. Vought, William
A. L Watson, William P. Watson, Isaac Watson, Augustus
Welty, Thomas J. Yarbrough.

Recruits — Milton B. Cole, Martin W. Cowsey, Thomas
W. Gray, John Long, Alonzo M. Starks.

EIGHTY-SECOND REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY A.
PRIVATES.
James A. Robison, New Albany; Daniel Taft, Thomas
F. Warner, New Washington.

COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Lieutenant David B. Adams, Georgetown.

EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT (INFANTRY).

COMPANY C.
PRIVATES.

Charles W. Haxton, Jeremiah Haxton, New Albany.
NINETIETH REGIMENT (CAVALRY).
COMPANY M.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Lieutenant Matthew Clegg, Henryville.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Matthew S. Clegg, Henryville.

128

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Sergeant William A. Craig, Henrvville.

.Sergeant Daniel W. Layman. Henrvville.

Corporal James A. Clegg, Henrvville.

Corporal Charles W. Bailey, Blue Lick.

Corporal Edward W. Bagshaw, Memphis.

Corporal John C. Smith, Memphis.

Blacksmith Benjamin F. Atkins, Blue Lick.
PRIVATES.

William L. Belding, George W. Brooker, Blue Lick ;
Charles R. Durmet, Memphis; Willford Fields, Aaron O.
Good, Joseph B. Layman, James Rillay, Benjamin Pevler,
Nelson Quick, John K. Clegg, all of Henryville ; Christian
Josling, New Albany; Phillip Philbough, Georgetown.

NINETY-FIRST REGIMENT (INFANTRY),

raised in the First Congressional district in
August, 1862 — only seven companies — which
were mustered in October 1st. The battalion
did guard duty at Madisonville and Smithland,
Kentucky, till June 15, 1863, when it went in
pursuit of John Morgan. It then camped at
Russellville. The same summer the regiment
was filled up by the addition of three companies of
six months' men, of which company K was one.
Its subsequent service was mainly with Sherman
in Georgia. It was engaged near Cumberland
Gap, February 2, 1864; at Pine Mountain, New
Hope Church, Kenesaw, Decatur, Peach-tree
Creek, the right of Atlanta, and Utoy Creek, in
the Atlanta campaign. It was in the pursuit of
Hood and the battles of Franklin and Nashville.
Transferred to North Carolina, it aided in the cap-
ture of Wilmington, and moved to Goldsboro
and Raleigh. At Salisbury, North Carolina, it
was mustered out June 26, 1865, and started for
Indianapolis, where it had an enthusiastic public
welcome. It had lost eighty-one killed and
wounded, and returned with nineteen officers
and three hundred and fifteen men, its recruits
having been transferred to other regiments. In
the winter of 1864, the three companies of six
months' men, upon the expiration of their term,
were replaced by three of one year recruits, form-
ing new companies H, I, and K.
company 1.
[One year service].

Private John Archanbau, New Albany.
COMPANY K.

[Six months service.]

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Willett M. Wilcox, New Albany.
First Lieutenant George W. C. Self, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant John P. Smith, New Albany.
j^The rest of this company is presumed to have belonged
to Floyd county.]

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Phillip Miller.
Sergeant Benjamin H. Briggs.
Sergeant John M. Daniel.
Sergeant Henry Friedley.
Sergeant Thomas Griffith.
Corporal Martin Gary.
Corporal Fred Murphy.
Corporal Thomas E. Beard.
Corporal John Johnson.
Corporal Walter Knibbs.
Corporal Peter Richards.
Corporal George M. Miller.
Corporal Luckey Smith.
Musician John P. Brooks.
Musician Charles Barker.
Wagoner William Nesbitt.

PRIVATES.

William Allen, Richard J. Abbott, William Binkley, Ly-
man Brooks, John Boxer, Robert Burns, Henry Bullitt,
Thomas Burton, Miles Berry, Charles H. Bliss, Ewing D.
Carr, David Catner, John Cotrell, John Claspill, Columbus
Duggings, Alfred Derramore, Bnitus Ehrlich, William Eg-
bert, Silas Elliott, George Fultz, August Fisher, Jacob Gabel ,
Andrew Hand, William Howard, Allen Hutchins, William,
Johnson, Samuel D. Johnston, Henry Kelter, William Linn
John Luty, Thomas E. Langdon, John Miller, Elijah Miller
Joel Morgan, Teuch McCeary, Hamilton McCormick, Wil-
liam Minninger, George Moss. Elias Nantz, George W.
Plants, George H. Pennington, Alfred Redform, Henry Rice,
Simon Rice, David Rodeffer, Frank M. Rumington, John
Roney, David W. Rowland, Charles Robertson, Richard
Stringer, Malton Simond, Austin B. Smith, Henry Storm,
John W. Sowers, James Stocksdale, James Shroyer, John
Leib, Polk Turner, Jacob Trice, Thomas Vaughn, John
Veirs, Samuel Wiseman, Peter Wise, William Wilson, Jacob
West. Henry Webster, Harvey Winters.

Recruits — Jacob Anstott, James Kirkham, William J.
Ross.

NINETY-THIRD REGIMENT.

This was raised in the Third Congressional dis-
trict and mustered in at Madison in the fall of
1862. It served in Sherman's army in Northern
Mississippi and Tennessee, and on railroad guard
duty the next February and March near Mem-
phis; in Louisiana with General Sherman's
Fifteenth corps, in the movement on Jackson,
Mississippi, and the siege of Vicksburg: in sever-
al expeditions into Mississippi, and in the dis-
astrous affair at Brice's Cross Roads, June 10,
1864, where it was stampeded with a total loss
of two hundred and fifty-three, of whom one
hundred and eighty-four were prisoners. Trans-
ferred to Nashville in December, it was engaged
in the defeat and pursuit of Hood, and went into
winter quarters at Eastport, Mississippi, till
February 6, 1865. It shared actively in the
siege of Spanish Fort, near Mobile, and the
storming of Fort Blakely. It was then stationed

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

129

at Montgomery and Gainesville till ordered
home. August 10, 1865, it was mustered out at
Memphis. Of its original nine hundred and
twenty-three, it had but eighteen officers and two
hundred men left. Companies I and K were
detained in service till October, i86t;.

Major James F. McCurdy, New Albany.

COMPANY B.
Private William Robinson, New Albany.
Recruit — George W. Dean, New Albany.

COMPANY G.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Lieuter-.ant Campbell Welch, New Washington.
Second Lieutenant Francis Hall, New Washington.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Frank Hall, New Washington.

Corporal William M. Dickey, New Washington.

Corporal Sol D. Rogers.

Corporal James H. Clapp.

PRIVATES.

William J. Turner, Joshua M. Tull, New Washington;
Samuel H. Amrick, Joel Albright, James A. Brinton, Wil-
liam R. Cole, James A. Curtis, William R. Clapp, Henry J.
Clapp, William F. Clapp, John H. Cartner, Robert F. Daily,
William H. Dorman, Chambers Fields, John T. Hutchings,
William R. Laswell, Benjamin F. Lemon, Albert Rush,
James M. Smith.

Recruits — William Cartner, Oregon; William M. Sturde-
vant, Memphis.

COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
George W. Dean, Fidell Shadinger, New Albany.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain I^atayette Frederick (also first lieutenant), Ga-
lena.

Captain William Lamb, Galena.
First Lieutenant Pleasant Lang, Galena.
Second Lieutenant Martin V. Mallory, Galena.
First (also second) Lieutenant Frederick Miller, New
Albany.

First Lieutenant William M. Gregg, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant William F. Brown.
Sergeant Charles Wells.
Sergeant Pleasant Lang.
Sergeant Martin V. Mallorv.
Corporal John B. Compton.
Corporal William H. Merryman.
Corporal Michael J. Naville.
Corporal Harrison C. Lamb.
Musician Alexander Dodd.

PRIVATES.

Richard Dunn, John W. Faulkner, Conrad Hiser, Conrad
Kingberger. Peter Merkel, Benjamin S. McCord, Robert F.
Minshall, August Sperzel, Lewis Sperzel , George W. Slythe,
facob Wells, William Wells, James M. Watkins, David
Williams.

[The following were recruits].

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Corporal William Gregg, New Albany.

Corporal William C. Atkins, New Albany.

Corporal Levi T. Hand, New Albany.

Sergeant Charles F. Roger, Floyld's Knobs.

Musician Joseph Drysdale, New Albany.
PRIVATES.

James N. Revis, Galena; August F. Ambom, Brewer
Bird, Adam Bower, Lewis Bir, Jacob Bailey, William G.
Chamberlain, William P. Cortiner, Valentine Hellwic, Frank
Hatfield, August Kriger, Frank L. Lipman, F.dward
Money, Samuel Morris, Lewis S. Nelson, William H.
Perry, Julius S. Perry, John Rister, Samuel R. Smith, Fred-
erick Sellers, Michael Sohn, Charles A. O. Schrader, William
Wedge, Joseph Zollars, John W. Athon, Samuel McKeek,
New Albany; John R. Yarbrough, William G. Yarbrough,
Jeffersonville; Curtis Atkins, William H. Cochran, Samuel
R. Davis, William Foust, Paul E. Gruguard, Walter Moore,
Jasper Richards, Floyd's Knobs; Isaac Metcalf, Thomas M.
Martin, Greenville.

THE ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEENTH REGI-
MENT

was recruited for six months' service in July and
August, 1863, and mustered in at Indianapolis
September 17th. It was sent to Kentucky, join-
ing a brigade of six months Indiana troops, and
marching thence in October to East Tennessee.
Near Greenville it remained until November.
On the 14th it was in imminent danger of cap-
ture at Church Mountain Gap, but escaped by
leaving all baggage and making a forced march
to Bean's Station. It was then in ganison at
Cumberland Gap, Strawberry Plains, and May-
nardsville until near the end of its term. "The
winter campaign of the six months men in East
Tennessee," says the Report, "for hardships and
real suffering was perhaps more severe than that
of any other winter campaign of the war. The
One Hundred and Seventeenth suffered its share
of these privations, marching over mountains,
crossing streams, and enduring the severest ex-
posure without shoes, and at times living upon
quarter rations." The regiment was discharged
at Indianapolis about the middle of February,
1864.

COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain William H. H. Strouse, Greenville.
First Lieutenant George W. Smith, Greenville.
Second Lieutenant Jona Peter, New Albany.
The promotions of these officers are not shown, no mus-
ter-out rolls having been received by the adjutant general.
The company was wholly from Floyd county.]

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant James S. Hagans.

i3°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Sergeant George W. Lukenbill.
Sergeant Nelson Lukenbill.
Sergeant Robert Lappenfield.
Sergeant George W. Brown.
Corporal Hiram B. Stevenson.
Corporal Leonard Southerland.
Corporal. Josh Win.
Corporal Walter P. Davis.
Corporal Theodore Mosier.
Corporal Jeremiah Floyd.
Corporal Isaac Metcalf.
Corporal John Sigler.
Musician Charles E. Scott.

PRIVATES.

Bennett Andrew, John Arnold. Thomas Byerley. Frank T.
Bradberry, James Buley, James M. Brown, James Bunch,
George Burgess, Robert Boston, Wade Broomfield, Jonathan
Boston, George Barker, Charles H. Dodge, Thomas Dodge,
Oscar F. Davis, Pennington R. Eliphalet, George Elliott,
Levi Elliott, William P. Ellis, John Flemings, Thomas
Flemings, James H. Foster, Marshall Gardner. Jesse Gibson,
Matthew Graham, Charles P. Harmon, Alexander W. Hed-
den, Edward B. Henry, William Henry, Finley A. Hancock,
Thomas W. Hedgecock, William C. Jones, William H.
Johnson, John Lownery, John K. Low, Warden Lincoln,
John H. Mulvania, John Moore, Daniel F. McCrey, George
Mosier, Isaac Moss, William B. Moore. George O'Neal,
William Mylinger. Thomas McKinster, Isaac Nelson, Wil-
liam Palson, Evans Pavay, Volney Phillips, Jonathan Poe,
Elijah Perkiser, James H. Rollens. John W. Rollings, Henry
H. Royce, Alvin C. Roll, Peter Rising, Michael Rising,
Marion Royce, William Redman, John T. Radcliff, Charles
Rowlings, James Suppenfield, Elias Siglar, Thomas G.
Strange, Noah U. Sutherland, William L. Swartz, William
H. H. Smith, Warren Taylor, George Thornbaugh, Isaac
Thackara, Daniel Underwood, Isaiah Williams, Conrad S.
Whitman, John Wright, Moses Wingby, Haw Wingby,
Newton Webb, Joseph Yunt, John Zigler.

ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEENTH REGIMENT

(SEVENTH cavalry).

COMPANY M.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Thomas W. Gibson, Charlestown.
Corporal George Lutz, Charlestown.

PRIVATES.

Benjamin Matthews, Oliver N. Ratts, Charlestown.
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH REGIMENT.
COMPANY I.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal Edward Griffin, Springville.

PRIVATES.

Joshua Winders and Alfred Winders, Springville.
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT

(TENTH cavalry).
This had two camps of rendezvous — at Vin-
cennes and Columbus. February 2, 1863, it was
fully organized, but did not take the field until
May 3d, when, without horses and armed as in-
fantry, it started to Nashville and Pulaski, Ten-

nessee, where, and at Decatur, Alabama, it was
engaged in guarding railroads during the Atlanta
campaign. September 28th it fought the battle
of Pulaski with Forrest, and a detachment at De
catur had a four-days' fight with Hood's men in
October. In that campaign the remainder was
in action at Nashville, Little Harpeth, Reynold's
Hill, and Sugar Creek. After Hood's retreat the
Decatur battalion fought, at Flint River, Indian
Creek, Courtland, and Mount Hope, and cap-
tured a valuable supply train, ten guns, and one
hundred and fifty prisoners. The detachments
joined in February, and went to New Orleans,
and thence to Mobile Bay, where it aided in the
reduction of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. It
then marched through Montgomery and Colum-
bus to Vicksburg, where it did garrison and pa-
trol duty to the end of its service, August 31,
1865. It had twenty-eight officers and five hun-
dred and nineteen men upon arrival at Indian-
apolis September 5th.

COMPANY E.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John W. Bradburn, Jeffersonville.
First Lieutenant Jasper F. Dunlap, Jeffersonville.
First Lieutenant John F. Leftvvick, Jeffersonville.
First Lieutenant John T. Dunlap, Jeffersonville.
Second Lieutenant Franklin G. Wall, Jeffersonville.
[The rest nearly all Clarke county men.]

PRIVATES.

David Adams, James R. Arthur, William A. Boin, John
Boley, John Craswell, Hudson B. Brady, James M. Brooks,
James M. Brown, James C. Bryant, Peter Burke, Leonard
Carr, Gideon C. Childers, James C. Clark, Mart V. B. Clark,
Seymour Clendenin, Thomas B. Cooper, William C. Craw-
ford, Patrick Cruley, William Daniel, James A. Dixon,
Michael Devaney (Floyd county), Rufus Dodd, Thomas
Dowdy, Patrick Dowling, John Dugan, Walt F. Eversoll,
John R. Floyd, Mart Fuly, Eli R. Flurry, James Few, John
Gentry, fames W. Harris, Carter Harris, William Harris,
James Harris, Julius C. A. Hargett, William H. Heasley,
George W. Holt, James Herrel, Alexander D. Huron, An-
drew J. Heckimbottom, Putnam C. Hickman, Patrick
Hines, William Howington, Polk Howington, Lewis Huber,
Robert Humble, James M. Hunt, Daniel Hyatt, Nicholas
C. Jones, Thomas Jarred, Patrick Joyce, Joseph Ring,
James Kelley, Lorenzo D. Solar. John H. Leftwick, Sterling
B. Lucas, -James Mack, Michael Moser, John A. May, Wil-
liam Mann, Thomas McCandless, William McCaw, John T.
McDaniel, Claiborne P. Millican, Hezekiah McGrady, Mart
Mahan, Hugh Murphy, Barney McCardle, James New-
comb, William W. Porter, James Patton, John J. Pritchett.
Zebediah Payne, William C. Reed, James W. Ray, Isaac
Roberts, William H. Robertson, AndrewJ. Rowill, James
S. Sanders. James Sartain, John Squires, James M. Selvage,
Allen Slaten, Samuel Stout. Mart V. B. Smith, William G.
Sprucill, Francis M. Thomas, Powell C. Thompson, Richard
Towns, Franklin G. Wall, Thomas.J. Weatherly. James S.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

131

Wade, John White, Robert M. (or W.) White, William S.
Webster, George Wilburn, Humphrey Williams, John
Willis.

[No addresses are given with names of recruits to this com-
pany.]

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT
(THIRTEENTH cavalry).
This was the last cavalry command raised in
Indiana. Recruiting for it was begun in Sep-
tember, 1863, and continued till April 29, 1864,
when it was mustered into service at Indian-
apolis. It left the next day for Nashville, and
joined a camp of instruction there till May 31st,
when it was sent to garrison duty at Huntsville
Here it was in several skirmishes and on the
1st of October held its position against the en-
tire force of General Buford. October 16th
companies A, C, D, F, H, and I, started for
Louisville, whence they were ordered to Pa-
ducah. In November they moved from Louis-
ville to Nashville, and were presently in the bat-
tles of Overall's Creek and Wilkinson's Pike,
and in twelve skirmishes, with an aggregate loss
of 67 out of 325. The other companies served
as infantry in the battle of Nashville, after which
the regiment was united, and assigned to the
Second brigade, Seventh division of- the Cav-
alry corps. February 11, 1S65, it started on
transports down the Mississippi, and disem-
barked finally at Mobile Bay, where it reported
to General Canby and assisted in the operations
against the forts and defenses of Mobile, also
running a courier line to Florida. April 17th,
after the fall of Mobile, it started on the long
Grierson raid through Georgia, Alabama, and
Mississippi, reaching Columbus, in the last-
named State, May 22d. The regiment then did
garrison duty at Macon and on the railroad till
June 6th, when it returned to Columbus, and
staid till late in the fall, when it moved to Vicks-
burg, and was there mustered out November
18, 1865. A week afterwards it was handsomely
received at Indianapolis, returning with 23 offi-
cers and 633 men.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Lieutenant Colonel (also major) Ranna S. Moore, New
Albany.

Major Leonidas Stout, New Albany.
Quartermaster Edward A. Cobb, New Albany.
Commissary John B. Ruter, New Albany.

COMPANY B.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Jacob Herman, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant (and first sergeant) Jacob Miller, New
Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Company Quartermaster Sergeant William Gehlback, New
Albany.

Sergeant Thomas Crawford, New Albany.
Corporal Gideon B. Vandyke, New Albany.
Corporal George E. Herman, New Albany.
Corporal John W. J. Smith, New Albany.
Corporal David E. Craig, Memphis.
Bugler George H. Cook, New Albany.
Saddler Jacob Sherrer, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

Samuel Aladice, John M. Abbott, Benjamin F. Applegate,
Martin L. Armstrong, Joseph H. Byrns, James M. Blake,
Oscar Burton, Thomas Ferry, William W. Hockersmith,
August Jocelyn, John C. June, William L. Kerr, Andrew
Knoyer, Andrew V. McBarron, Pinckney C. Nance, John
Ryan, Frank M. Rakestraw, William Smith, James Stock-
dale, John Tomlinson, Lewis Weiland, William A. Wood,
Andrew York, New Albany; John Folsom, Thomas J.
Sloan, Memphis; Joseph Briggs, Jonathan T. Burge, Provi-
dence; Jesse Cronk, Galena. Recruits, Albert G. Gibson,
Thomas J. Scott, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY D.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Corporal Harbin H. Moore, New Albany.
' Corporal James R. Appleby. New Albany.
Farrier and Blacksmith John W. Harris, New Albany.
Saddler John F. P. Money, New Albany.

PRIVATES.
Samuel Dennis, Andrew Degnan, Henry T. Francis, Willis
G. Heth, Joseph Hubler, James Hudson, John Keafer,
Michael Lemuel, New Albany.

COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles F Bruder, New Albany.
First Lieutenant (also first sergeant) Charles W. Bruder,
New Albany.

First Lieutenant (also second lieutenant) John Michaels,
New Albany.
Second Lieutenant William Haun, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Company Quartermaster Sergeant John B. Ruter, New
Albany.

Sergeant Joseph L. Hanger, New Albany,
Sergeant John F. Norrington, New Albany.
Sergeant John Mickels, New Albany.
Corporal Frank Curran, New Albany.
Corporal Gottlob Burckle, New Albany.
Corporal Harrison Robinson, New Albany.
Wagoner Lewis H. Milholland, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

William Alvah, Charles Barron, Charles Bowen, Thomas
Butler, James Dunn, George Fishback, James S. Grosehart,
William L. Gilchrist, John Harriott. Eugene Heffman, Fred-
erick Hans, George Howard, John Johnson, John Kelly,
Patrick Kingswell, Daniel Lappe, Jacob Manin, Thomas
McNeal, John Mack, Charles W. Randall, Phineon Sears,
James M. Sneed. John J. L. Thurman, Englebert Volmer,
James H. Yarbrough, New Albany; William Bottoms, Solo-
mon Miller, Josiah T. Mullen, Edwardville; Christ Thomas,
Georgetown.

132

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

COMPANY H.
Private — Thomas Yarbrough, New Albany.

COMPANY L.
Private — Benjamin J. Armstrong. New Albany.

COMPANY M.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Dillon Bridges, Charlestown.
Captain George P. Bunce (also first lieutenant) Charles-
town.

First Lieutenant James M. Ross, Charlestown.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant David Loring.

Company Quartermaster Sergeant Joseph D. Bridges.

Company Commissary Sergeant James M. Ross.

Sergeant Ephraim C. Wilson.

Sergeant Jeremiah A. Powell.

Corporal John B. Miller, New Albany.

Corporal David L. Weir, Memphis.

Corporal Henry C. Farward, Otto.

Corporal William Hardirhan, Otto.

Bugler James H. Wier, Memphis.

Bugler Theodore F. McCletlan, Memphis.

Saddler Frank Temper, New Albany.

Wagoner William Watson, JefTersonville.

PRIVATES.

George Anstall, William M. Barnes, George W. Bradley,
James Fenston, George Haybour; recruit Sylvester A. Mc-
Kenzie, Charlestown; James Andrews, John Benson, John
Holland, John Simon, Thomas Simonson, Clairborne Wooli-
fer, John Woolford, New Albany; Joseph Calivary, Jacob
Sehr, Nicholas Sehr, Alfred Sloan, Moses Pruit, John S.
Sholl, Memphis; John England, Alexander Gorsage, William
H. Harriman, John B. Stoner, Andrew Stoner, Jacob Stoner,
Otto;JosephBoyce, George Rogers, JefTersonville; Enoch M.
Bennett, Jefferson Montgomery, Utica; Mack Hooker, New
Washington; recruits, John R. Brewer, Christ C. Brewer,
Henryville; William Norman, Floyd county.

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.

(One hundred days' service).

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Erastus Baird, Clarke county.
Corporal Henry Sharpe, Clarke county.

PRIVATES.

Benjamin Bawisley, Juan Brayward, Edward Geisert,
Theodore Low, Elmadores Pool, Richard Whitson, Jacob
Whitson, Clarke county.

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.

This was one of eight regiments raised in the
spring of 1864, under a call for hundred-days'
men, to relieve the veterans on garrison and
guard duty, and enable them to take the field.
The One Hundred and Thirty-seventh was
mustered in at Indianapolis May 27th. Five
companies were from the Third Congressional
district, and five from other parts of the State.
The regiment was sent to Tennessee, and with
the other hundred-days' commands from Indiana,

was kept guarding railroads for somewhat more
than their period of service, when, about the 1st
ot September, they were returned to Indianapolis
and discharged from service.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas D. Fouts, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY D.
Private Taylor Miller, Clarke county.

COMPANY E.

PRIVATES.

Joel M. Conn, John W. Cunningham, James F. Cunning-
ham, John C. King, Clarke county.

COMPANY F.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Dennis F. Willey, Clarke county.

PRIVATES.

William Adams, George D. Allhands, Silas Bottorff, Henry
Bowen, John H. Cole, Newton J. Conn, Addison G. Conner,
George W. Crum, William W. Crum, John Davis, John
Francis, James Gusamore, William C. Hanlin, Thomas G.
Harris, John Hudson, Joseph Jones, Pinkenv L. Justice,
George W. Koons, Thomas J. Lewman, William Long,
James P. McGee, Robert McMillan, Thomas L. Mont-
gomery, Anson Nicholson, Isaac M. Perry, James Rush,
Lambert Rush, George A. Smith, Arthur C. Stockwell,
Thomas A. Stutsman, Elisha W. Thompson, Thomas C.
Williams, Clarke county.

[The remainder of the company was from Jefferson and
Scott counties.]

THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH REGI-
MENT

was also recruited for one hundred days, and
mustered in at the State capital June 8, 1864.
New Albany and Metamora consolidated their
recruits for it to form one company (B). It was
shortly sent southward, and performed in Ten-
nessee similar duty with other regiments of its
class during its term of service, and a little more.
(One hundred days' service).

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Chaplain Allen W. Monroe, New Albany.
COMPANY B.

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First Lieutenant and Captain Allen W. Monroe, New
Albany.

PRIVATES.

James T. Adams, Charles Beck, Lewis Bravelt, James Bo-
lander, Marks B. Colvin. Randy Davis, George Decary, Hutch-
ins Barham, George Evans, Victor Emery, Thomas Faurote,
Alexander Hildrath, William Hinaman, Charles Humes,
George Humes, John Lee, Isaac Lockwood. Elmire Mc-
Guire, Clark Mclntire, Hiram Oliphant, John T. Reed,
George Reisinger, Edward P. Smith, John J. Smith, Henry
Seep, Charles H. Trooney, Absalom Wiley, Alfred Wright,
James Wright, Floyd county.

[The rest of the company was raised in Franklin county.]

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

133

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH REGIMENT.

[One years' service].

COMPANY E.
Private Theodore R. Best, Jeffersonville.
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT.

[One years' service].
This was the second of eleven regiments raised
in the winter of 1864-65, for one year's service.
It was recruited in the Second Congressional
district, and mustered in at Indianapolis March
6, 1865. Three days afterwards it started for
Harper's Ferry, where it was assigned to the
First brigade, First Provisional division, Army of
the Shenandoah. It was stationed at Halltown,
Winchester, Charlestown, Stevenson Depot, and
Opequan creek, engaged in guard duty, until Au-
gust s, 1 865, when it was mustered out. On the 9th
it reached Indianapolis, with thirty-seven officers
and eight hundred and forty men, and two days
after shared in a soldiers' reception in the capi-
tal grounds, where it was addressed by Lieuten-
ant Governor Baker, General (now United States
Senator) Benjamin Harrison, and others.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Lieutenant Colonel John T. McQuiddy, New Albany.
Lieutenant Colonel Henry C. Ferguson, Charlestown.
Major Thomas Clark, New Albany.
Adjutant Henry B. Spencer, New Albany.
Assistant Surgeon Thomas C. Neat, New Albany.

COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain 1 homas Clarke, New Albany.

Captain Frank Hopper (also first lieutenant). New Albany.

First Lieutenant Andrew F. O'Neil, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant James Fullyard, New Albany.
Sergeant Gorham Tuffts, New Albany.
Sergeant Thomas J. Reed, New Albany.
Sergeant Isaac Gowen, New Albany.
Corporal John C. Thurman, New Albany.
Corporal James G. Rowley, New Albany.
Corporal George A. Graham, New Albany.
Corporal James H. Faxon. New Albany.
Corporal James L. Miller, Galena.

PRIVATES.

Augustus Bresson, Edward Buckley, James Cooper, Wil-
liam P. Dixon, John Feco, Lawrence Fogle, Thomas M.
Gardner, William S. Gibson, Powell Henn, Joseph Huber,
Wiliiam Higbee, Zachariah T. Hanev, William A. Jackson,
Joseph Kelso, Michael Murphy, Joseph McLaughlin, Robert
G McLaughlin, H. R. McKinley, Andrew F. O'Neil, Elisha
Prime, George W. Phipps, Jefferson Reisinger, Joseph Ran-
dolph, Hugh F. L. Smith. Henry Vance, vVilliam H. Wood,
George Widering, Peter Wise, New Albany; Lewis Baron,
George W. Lyons, Peter Pey, Adam Stumber, Joseph Smith,
Joseph Thomas, Lavia Vevia. Floyd's Knobs; Robert H.

Stroedtham, Charles H. Merryman, Theodore Ingram,
Francis Fatix, Henry Conrad, Galena; James F. Blossom,
Jesse K. Engleman. William N. Hopper, Isham Jones, James
P. Richards, Greenville; Jacob Cook, Sutherland Mayfield,
Lafayette Holmes, Edwardsville; Matthew Rady, Greenville.

COMPANY B.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Henry C. Ferguson, Charlestown.

Captain Floyd G. Ogden (also first lieutenant), Utica.

Second Lieutenant John F. Bullock, Charlestown.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant Lafayette Wood, Bennettsville.

Sergeant Francis J. Steraheim, Charlestown.

Sergeant Solomon F. Rose. Blue Lick.

Sergeant David L. Gwin, Memphis.

Corporal John Williams, Memphis.

Corporal Oscar J . Randall, Memphis.

Corporal Stephen F. Hardin, Muddy Fork.

Corporal William Stone, Muddy Fork.

Musician David D. Coombs, Memphis.

Musician James Hughes, Memphis.
PRIVATES.

Jacob Anslatt, Barney Carney, George W. Crum, Jacob
Doll, William Dawson, Joseph Eichle, Andrew Graves, Wil-
liam C. Hanlin, Frederick Hebner, Allen Hutchings, William
McCombs, Hamilton McCormick, William Masmer, William
L. Noe, James M. Parker, David W. Rowland, William M.
Robertson, Joseph H. Smith, William A. Woirall, Charles-
town; William R. York, William W. Wood, Ogilvie B.
Spencer. Henry T. Sparling, John Miller, Abner McDonald,
John McCarty, Jesse Leeds, George S. Idell, James Huston,
Thomas Holden, William H. Hawkins, Charles E. Carle,
JeffersonviUe; Benjamin F. Alexander, Sellersburg; Eli
Baker, Benjamin Beyle, Benjamin Carter, Elim L. Guernsey,
Memphis; Charles Bassett, William Bell, David Chriswell,
Robert H. King, John Shay, Jasper Wood, Bennettsville;
James W. Wilson, George Maywood, Barney Hamilton,
Utica; Alonzo C. Cooley, Josiah McCory, Henry H. Plum-
mer, Henry Stone, Muddy Fork; George W. Stinson, New-
Albany; Francis M. Dinetz, Blue Lick.

COMPANY C.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant Gordon Warnick, JeffersonviUe.

PRIVATE.

Jacob J. Miller.

COMPANY E.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Wagoner Benjamin Johnson, Edwardsville.

PRIVATES.
Martin Ang, New Albany; Gilbert P. Gunn, Edwardsville;
James Holstclaw, New Albany; John W. Johnston, Dale
Keith, Edwardsville; Enoch S. Lewallen, Theodore Routh,
New Albany; George W. Routh. William H. Sillings. Ed-
wardsville.

COMPANY F.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant William B. Peter, Galena.
Sergeant Robert Sappenfield, Greenville.
Sergeant John W. Brazeman, Galena.
Corporal William D. Morris, Greenville.
Corporal George Hopper, Greenville.

•34

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

PKIVATEb.

fames M. Craig, New Albany; Nelson Lukebill, Philip
Martin, Thomas Taylor, Isaac Woods, Greenville; Aaron
Zigler, New Washington.

COMPANY G.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Henry H. Ewing, |effersonville.

First Lieutenant John F. Wilson, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Joseph F. Place, Providence.

Sergeant Marcus D. French, Jeffersonville.

Sergeant Elisha C. Rose, Jeffersonville.

Corporal William E. Ross, Jeffersonville.

Corporal William Norman, Jeffersonville.

Corporal George W. Ross, Jeffersonville.

Corporal William Mathews, Jeffersonville.

Corporal Henry B. McAkins, Charlestown.

Corporal Alexander Fordyce, New Providence.

Musician James Hilton, Jeftersonville.

Wagoner Franklin Gibbs, Jeffersonville.
PRIVATES.

John Bradley, John H. Beeler, Daniel Cleveland, John
Carr, Asa Chambers, Beechard E. Demming, Edward
Fletcher, Levi Frothingham, Mathew Faucett, William P.
Galvin, George W. Golden. John Gray, Richard Green,
James Kining, John Lutz, James Lang, Robert Lang, Peter
F. Seclar, William M. Minter, Franklin Mason, Greenberry
N. Rose, Taylor Rose, George W. Reed, William Rodgers,
John M. Rodgers, Isaac Ronzee, Samuel Stevenson, Thomas
Sullivan, George Sisum, James A. Stevens, Shades Trammel
George Williams, Richard Wilson, James Whitesell, Andrew
Wilson, John Wallace, Jeffersonville; Jefferson Rice, Isam
Pruett, William E. Mathias, William Hinton, John F'. Ham-
den. Hiram Forrister, Albert Forrister. Lew H. Durking,
Zaehariah Brumsfield, New Albany; George D. Jacobs,
Charlestown; Robert Newman. New Providence; Erasmus
Bennett. Eli Hilton, Utica.

COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Stephen S. Cole, Charlestown.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant John W. Hanlin, Oregon.

PRIVATES.

Joel Amick, Hugh Goben, Andrew J. Maixwell, Jesse
Smith, William Watson, James Watson, Samuel Wagoner,
Samuel N. Hillard, Jeffersonville; Abner Reggs, Henryville;
William L. Carter, Blue Lick; James Conley, New Albany;
Enoch A. Maloy, Memphis.

COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

First Lieutenant James Nicholson, New Albany.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Frank Creamer, New Albany.
Corporal Rolin B. Perry, New Albany.
Corporal Morgan D. Jones, New Albany.
Wagoner Barney Shine, New Albany.

PRIVATES.

William H. Akers, Jerry Brooks, Thomas Eurles, Jacob
Fess, Michael Groshart, Robert Johnson, William Love,
Charles W. Marsh, John Morton, James M. Melton, Ezek
Mezingill, William H. Proctor, James M. Riley, Claiborne
Sigler, Henry H. Sigler, William Sharp, John W. Wells.

Bartlett Witlon, New Albany; Hudson J. Martin, jertersun-
ville.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-KIFTH REGIMENT.

(One-year service. )

COMPANY A.

Private James Jackson.

COMPANY R
Nathan Cooper, David Oliver, Jeffersonville, recruits.
COMPANY F.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant John M. Ratliff, Jeffersonville.
COMPANY G.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant Robert Brown, New Albany.
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.

(One-year service.)

COMPANY A.
PRIVATES.

Elias C. Ball, John Brooks, Joseph Denham, New Albany.
COMPANY I.

PRIVATES.

Elisha Dodge, Robert Phillips, Greenville.

TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT UNITED STATES
COLORED TROOPS.

Six companies of this regiment were organized
at Indianapolis in April, 1864, as a part of the
quota of the State, but were turned over to the
United States as a battalion of the Twenty-eighth.
It left the city April 24th, for Washington, and
was jjlaced in a camp of instruction at Alexan-
dria, where it underwent a series of drills in
preparation for active field service. On the 2d
of June it embarked for White House, on the
Yorktown peninsula, where it took part in an en-
gagement on the 21st. With Sheridan's cavalry
it had a toilsome and circuitous march through
the Chickahominy swamps to Prince George's
Court House, during which it sustained much loss
from frequent skirmishing with the enemy. At
the Court House it was assigned to Thomas'
brigade, Fenero's division, Ninth army corps,
and with it moved to the neighborhood of the
Appomattox, where it took full part in the Pe-
tersburg campaign. > It was in the terrible battle
of'the Crater," and lost nearly half the number
engaged. The shattered ranks were presently
recruited, and four more companies were sent
from Indiana, filling the regiment. At Hatcher's
Run it was prominently engaged, and lost a
large number. It was then transferred to the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

135

Twenty-eighth corps, Army of the James, and
put on duty in the quartermaster's department at
City Point, where it remained until the final op-
erations against Richmond. It was among the
first Federal troops to occupy that city, was de-
tained for three days at Camp Lee, and then
sent to City Point again, to guard prisoners. It
there staid until the corps was ordered to Texas,
and arrived at Brazos Santiago July 1, 1865. It
was disembarked at Indianola on the 5th, and
was on duty at Corpus Christi until November
8th, when it was mustered out of service. It re-
turned by New Orleans and Cairo to Indianap-
olis, reaching there with thirty-three officers and
nine hundred and fifty men. January 8th — Bat-
tle of New Orleans day — a public reception was
given the Twenty-eighth at the tabernacle, where
speeches of welcome were made by Governor
Baker and others, and responses by Lieutenant
Colonel Logan, Chaplain White, and Lieutenant
Holahan. The next day the regiment was dis-
charged from service.

COMPANY A.
Recruits, Charles Bowles, James Botts. Henderson Pete,
Jeffersonville.

COMPANY B.
Recruits, George Con, Henry Daniels, Jesse Gassaway,
Jackson Harriss, Philip Simcoe, Jeffersonville.

COMPANY D. •
Privates, Doctor McClure, Oliver Prine, Joseph Williams,
New Albany. Recruits, Edward Coleman, Levi Hillman,
Thomas Linsey, Charles Williams. Jeffersonville.

COMPANY E.

Private William Scott," Clarke county.
COMPANY G.

Recruits, Thomas Jackson, James Walker, Jeffersonville.
COMPANY I.

Privates, Roily Douglass, James Gibson, Jackson Guthrie,
Edward Johnson, Joseph Robinson, Matlock Spencer, Jack
Towsey. Jeffersonville. Recruits, George Stinson, Charles
Williams, Jeffersonville.

Unassigned recruits — George Coldow, John Harrison,
Thomas C. Jackson, Ed Johnson, John Williams, Edward
Wilson, Samuel Woods, Clarke county; William McAtee,
Jack Robertson, Alexander Samuels, William Wallace,
Richard Graham, Floyd county.

EIGHTH REGIMENT UNITED STATES COLORED
TROOPS.
PRIVATES.

Recruits — William Ayres, Alexander Allen. Alfred Braher.
William Cox, Bill CAiipbell, James Dert, John Foster,
Newton Finley, Phil Gibson, Robert Howard, John Hamell,
Henry Harrison, Joe Hilligoss, Charles Henry, Henry John-
son, Martin Luther, Samuel McHenry. Dansberry Umdock,

Theodore Myers, James M. Ragan, John S. Smith, James
Stewart, John Warner, Joseph Walker, Clarke county;
Jerry Williams. James W. Thompson, George Smith, James
Stewart, Enoch Machum, William Mars, Joseph E. Jinkes,
John Jackson, Elijah Hart, John Foster, Charles Evans,
David Barrett, Floyd county.

THIRTEENTH REGIMENT UNITED STATES COLORED
TROOPS.
PRIVATES.

Recruits — George Christian, William Johnson, Floyd
county; Pleasant Morris, Clarke county.

FOURTEENTH RHODE ISLAND HEAVY ARTILLERY,

UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS.

PRIVATES.

Jeremiah Baker, John Cahill, Nicholas Chinn, Moses Fry,
Richard Howard, Archibald Kelly, Calvin Reed, George
Washington, Edward Wallace, Jeffersonville.

UNASSIGNED COLORED RECRUITS.
PRIVATES.'

Colonel Brown, Henry Clay, John Cosbey, John Turner,
Jacob Dosier, (substitute), Floyd county; Joseph Carroll,
Joe Hawkins, George White, Jerry Willis, John Page (sub-
stitute), Ned Street (substitute), Clarke county.

TENTH BATTERY, LIGHT ARTILLERY.

PRIVATES.

Michael Gessler, Fred. Hammer, John Ruppert, John H.
Southard, New Albany.

TWELFTH BATTERY LIGHT ARTILLERY.

This was recruited at Jeffersonville, organized
at Indianapolis, December 20, 1861, and mus-
tered in January 25, 1862. February 22d it pro-
ceeded to Louisville, where it was temporarily
assigned to General Thomas' division in Buell's
army, and with it marched to Nashville, arriving
on the 6th of March. On the 29th it advanced
across the country with a detachment of Buell's
command to Savannah, on the Tennessee; but
did not reach Pittsburg Landing in time to take
part in the action. Here Captain Sterling re-
signed (April 25th), and was succeeded by Sec-
ond Lieutenant White. In May and June the
battery shared in the movement against Corinth,
and after the evacuation of that place went with
the Army of the Cumberland into Northern Ala-
bama as far .east as Stephenson, and thence
moved to Nashville, getting there August 18.
It was here stationed in Fort Negley, in charge
of the siege guns of the garrison, and remained
there the rest of its term. November 5th the
city was attacked by the united forces of Breck-
enridge, Forrest, and Morgan ; and the men of
the Twelfth, handling skilfully the guns of the
fort, rendered important service in repelling the

136

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

attack. After Chickamauga was fought, half of
the battery, under Lieutenant Dunwoody, was
sent to Chattanooga, and arrived in tim". to share
in the victories of Lookout Mountain and Mis-
sion Ridge, after which it returned to Nashville.
Forty-eight men of the battery re-enlisted in Jan-
uary, 1864. The service of this year was com-
paratively uneventful, except on the 15th and
16th of December, during the battle before Nash-
ville, when it was actively engaged. Thirty non-
veterans were mustered out December 23d, at the
expiration of their term. January 5, 1865, Cap-
tain White resigned, and Lieutenant Dunwoody
was commissioned to his place March 1st. The
battery was kept well recruited, and had more
men at the end of its service than were properly
allowed to light batteries. July 1, 1865, it
reached Indianapolis for muster out and dis-
charge, with five officers and one hundred and
seventy men, and was relieved from further duty
on the 7th of that month.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain George W. Sterling, Jeffersonville.

Captain James E. White (also second lieutenant), Jefferson-
ville.

First Lieutenant Wilfred H. Wilford, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant Adam A. Steadier, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant George Leach, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant James W. Jacobs (also second lieutenant),
Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant Moody C. Dustin, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant George W. Linch (also second lieutenant),
Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant Samuel B. Glover, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant James D. Robinson, Jeffersonville.

Second Lieutenant William Getty, Utica.

Second Lieutenaut Joseph Shaw, Utica.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant George W. Gilson, Charlestown.

Quartermaster Sergeant James E. White.

Sergeant Joseph Kelly.

Sergeant George Link.

Sergeant James D. Robison.

Corporal James C. Richards.

Corporal Squire Gill.

Corporal Moody C. Dustin.

Artificer Marshall White.

Artificer James W. Jacobs.

Artificer Samuel Hanson.

Villa Bucha, William Brendell, Thomas Chambers, Mat-
thew Carroll, Louis Dolfert, Calvin A. Gibson, George
Greene, Charles S. Idell, Pleasant Ingram, Abner Kelly,
Michael Lavey, Aciel B. Morgan, Anthony McGlaird, David
L. May, William Mitchell, Hemy Plister, Richard Powell,
Benjamin Roach, Josiah Reeder, Joseph Snider, David S.
Stafford, John W. Shield.

The following were recruits :

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Corporal Moses Lease, New Albany.
Corporal Joseph Shaw, Utica.
Corporal John M. Cross, Charlestown.
Bugler Webster Marsh, Utica.
Wagoner Thomas Marsh, Utica.

PRIVATES.

William H. H. Fletcher, George M. Goss, James Martin,
Jeffersonville ; Joseph Bier, John Hozier, Jr., Robert Hedge-
cock, George W. McCulley, New Albany; James Briggs, John
Briggs, Charles Herrick, William T. Hutchinson, John
Hooper, Darius G. Hogg, Thomas J. James, Jeremiah
Lewis, John I. Cloud, James D. Irwin, William Getty.
Henry C. Marsh, Benjamin F. Potter, Peter C. Perry. James
M. Swartz, all of Utica ; Peter Bottorf, Anthony Bowers.
Newton F. Gibson, James A. Haas, James B. Jacobs, David
Noftskey, John B. Randals, all of Charlestown; Frank J.
Deitz. Michael H. H. Dillon, John S. Good, Thomas Idner,
James T. Staton, George W. Koons, Clinton Thompson,
James Young, Zachariah Young, Memphis.

FOURTEENTH BATTALLION (LIGHT ARTILLERY).

Recruit — Oscar Galliger, New Albany.

There were probably many Clarke and Floyd
county men in other batteries, but most of their
rolls furnish no means of naming and locating
them.

INDEPENDENT BATALLION.

(Thirty days' service.)
This was composed chiefly of militia men in
the Indiana legion, who volunteered in July,
1862, for thirty days under a special call of the
President, to guard rebel prisoners confined at
Camp Morton, Indianapolis. It was not fully
organized with field and staff officers, but was
commanded by Colonel D. G. Rose, of the Fifty-
fourth regiment, commandant of the military
prison. The following company was altogether
from New Albany.

THE DAVIS ZOUAVES.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Hezekiah Brown.

First Lieutenant William A. M. Cox.

Second Lieutenant Willett Wilcox.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

First Sergeant George W. Celf.
Sergeant Henry C. Wicks.
Sergeant Benjamin F. Brocker.
SergeantWiatt W. Wicks.
Sergeant Theodore Beard.
Corporal John W. Seabrook.
Corporal John March.
Corporal William Garrett.
Corporal George W. Scales.
Musician Benjamin Lemmon.
Musician Charles Griggs.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

i37

PRIVATES.

John Abbott, Miles Ashby, Henry Baxter, Oscar Benton,
James M. Blake, John W. Blake, William Cavender, George
W. Chase, James Cooper, Silas A. Day, Alfred Derramore,
John Donaldson, James Duffy, John Ealy, Nathan N.
Evans, Charles Fits, Charles Frederick, Oscar W. Galhgher,
George Graham, Creighton Humes, James H. King, Henry
Kotter, William Logue, John Luty, George W. Lukenbill,
George Martin. John J. McNally, Charles Marsh. Frank
Meyer. George Minsch, Robert F. Minshall, Frederick
Murphy, Andrew Plowt, Henry Robinson, Dallas Sanford,
Charles Sinking, Edward Smith, James Stockdale, Joseph
Sullivan, John H. Wardrip, George Whiteman, Stephen
Whitman.

FIRST ARMY CORPS (HANCOCK'S CORPS.)

This was raised under an order of the War
department November 28, 1864, for one years'
service, of men who had served honorably not
less than two years, and were therefore not sub-
ject to a draft. The corps was to comprise not
less than twenty thousand infantry, and was
raised from the country at large. The following-
named persons was credited to Clarke county-:

EIGHTH REGIMENT.
Private Nicholas Reuter. •
And the following to Floyd county:

FIFTH REGIMENT.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Corporal Sylvester Webber, New Albany.
NINTH REGIMENT.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant George Deichert .
Corporal Henry Brock.

PRIVATES.

Joseph Gang, George Townsend.

FIRST UNITED STATES VETERAN VOLUNTEER
ENGINEERS.

Organized under act of Congress approved
May 20, 1864, from the volunteers in the Army
of the Cumberland serving or having served as
pioneers, pontoniers, or engineers.

COMPANY B.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Corporal James W. Turner, New Albany.
Artificer Daniel T. Davis.

PRIVATE.

William Coats, New Providence.

COMPANY E.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant William Friend, New Albany.
Artificer Benjamin F. Ferguson, Clarke county.

UNASSIGNED MEN.
Edward P. Curtis, John A- Elkins, George Lehr, James
A. Riley, Floyd county.

William Grimes, Harman Lamb, George W. Lamb, Clarke
county.

SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT (INDIANA LEGION).

This was composed mainly of the militiamen
of Floyd county. Only the names of officers are
given in the adjutant general's report. Some
notice of its history is given in the introduction
to this chapter.

FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner, New Albany.
Colonel William W. Tuley, New Albany.
Colonel Edward A. Maginniss, New Albany.
Lieutenant Colonel James F. Curdy, New Albany.
Major William W. Tuley, New Albany.
Major E. Q. Naghel, New Albany.
Quartermaster Jesse J. Brownoak, New Albany.

ANDERSON RIFLES.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Daniel F. Griffin, New Albany.

Captain Alf B. Collins, New Albany.

First Lieutenant William H. Mahan, New Albany.

First Lieutenant John Creed, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Edward A. Maginniss, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Edward Faucett, New Albany.

CITY GUARDS.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Aug M. Jackson, New Albany.

Captain Frank Lewis, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Eugene Commandeur, New Albany.

First Lieutenant James Lindley, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant James F. McCurdy, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant John Stacey, New Albany.

RINGGOLD ARTILLERY.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John W. Gerard, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Charles W. Cottorn, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant John S. Beggs, New Albany.

NATIONAL ZOUAVES.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Thomas Clark, New Albany.

Captain Lute Tuttle, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Edward L. Pennington, New Albany.

First Lieutenant George W. Carney, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Alonzo Tubbs, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Thomas F. Sage.

NATIONAL BLUES.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John Clelland, New Albany.
First Lieutenant James Nicholson, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Charles Burder, New Albany. -

SANDERSON GUARDS.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Benjamin F. Scribner, New Albany.
Captain Thomas S. Kimble, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Thomas S. Kimble, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Frank A. Lewis, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Frank A. Lewis, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant John W. Renshaw, New Albany.

138

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

GREENVILLE RIFLEMEN.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain David G. Kay, Greenville.

First Lieutenant Marion W. Smith, Greenville.

Second Lieutenant Hiram Murphy, Greenville.

SIXTH WARD GUARDS.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Edward L. Pennington, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Isaac Busby, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Isaac F. Barnett, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Peter Wise, New Albany.

NATIONAL GUARDS.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John P. Frank, New Albany.
First Lieutenant John Dietz, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Edward Volz, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Frank Schmidt, New Albany.

TULEY LIGHT GUARD.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Joseph St. John, New Albany.
First Lieutenant John Stilwell, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Charles East, New Albany.

GEBHART INFANTRY.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain J. F. Gebhart, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Thomas Kiementz, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Lawrence Weber, New Albany.

GERMAN ARTILLERY.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Adam Knapp, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Louis Schneider, New Albany.
First Lieutenant Adam Weimer, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Chris Weber, New Albany.
Second Lieutenant Fred Hammer, New Albany.

STEUBEN GUARD.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Fred Pistorius, New Albany.

Captain John Hahn, New Albany.

First Lieutenant John Hahn, New .Albany.

First Lieutenant Frank Kodalle, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Charles Pfestch, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Charles Pfestch, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant Peter Bock, New Albany.

DAVIS ZOUAVES.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Hezekiah Brown, New Albany.

First Lieutenant Willett M. Wilcox, New Albany.

Second Lieutenant James M. Mason, New Albany.

FRANKLIN HOME GUARDS.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Daniel A. Smith.
First Lieutenant Walter L. Smith.
Second Lieutenant James A. H. Alton.
[Residences not given].

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. JefTersonville.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas D. Fouts, JefTersonville.

Lieutenant Colonel Warren Horr, Charlestown.

Adjutant Josiah W. Gwin, JefTersonville.

Adjutant James Ryan, JefTersonville.

Quartermaster Melvin Weir, Jeffersonville.

Surgeon David H. Combs, Jeffersonville.

JEFFERSON ARTILLERY.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain George L. Key, JefTersonville.

First Lieutenant Reuben Wells, JefTersonville.

Second Lieutenant James Wathen, Jeffersonville.

BATTLE CREEK GUARDS.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Benjamin F. Lutz, JefTersonville.
Captain John F. Willey, Jeffersonville.
Captain Dennis F. Willey, JefTersonville.
First Lieutenant Isaac M. KcJons, JefTersonville.
First Lieutenant George W. Luman, Jeffersonville.,
First Lieutenant Oscar F. Lutz, JefTersonville.
Second Lieutenant Oscar F. Lutz, Jeffersonville.
Second Lieutenant Alban Lutz, JefTersonville.
Second Lieutenant S. L. Jacobs, JefTersonville.

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, JefTersonville.

Second Lieutenant Gabriel Poindexter, Jeftersonville.

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, JefTersonville.
First Lieutenant Thomas Gray, JefTersonville.
Second Lieutenant George W. Brown, JefTersonville.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

139

THE UNION COMPANY.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Benjamin S. Henderson, Hibemia.
First Lieutenant John D. Noe, Hibernia.
First Lieutenant Jacob P. Bare, Hibernia.
Second Lieutenant Aaron Cross, Hibernia.
Second Lieutenant Caiid 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, Henryville.

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 A^ID 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

140

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, Phoebe
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 Fail field 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 181 1. 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, 181 1, 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 Phoebe. 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.

Duiing 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. He inherited
from his grandfather a propensity for milling,
building mills, and looking up mill-sites. His

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 latger 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-
thusiastic 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 Scribner, 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
Scribner 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. Dent," 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

142

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

three, and the only unc 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 bouse 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 journev 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 furnish 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, im-
bued with the spirit ot 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

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

i43

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 Terseyman 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 town. 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 alter we came here, located some two or
three hundred yards this side (west) of ours; and I 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 '.he 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

144

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

from east to west being now from two and a half
to three miles. Its width is not so great, though
the upper part of the city extends northward
more than a mile from the Ohio.

As soon as the Scribners were ready for the
sale of lots, they issued the following in the form
of a poster or handbill :

"NEW ALBANY.

"This town is just laid out, with spacious streets, public
squares, markets, etc. It is situated on the bank of the
Ohio river, at the crossing place from Louisville to Vincennes,
about two miles below the f.ills, in the Indiana Territory, and
affords a beautiful and commodious harbor. The beauty of
the prospect is not surpassed by any in the western country.
The bank adjoining the liver is high, and not subject to in-
undations. At the distance of six hundred and sixty feet
back from the bank is a second rise of about twenty feet,
from which there is an extensive view up and down the river.
There is a sufficient number of excellent and never-failing
springs for the supplying of any number of inhabitants.

"These advantages, together with that of the country
around being dry and clear of any stagnant waters, being a
sufficient distance below the Falls to avoid the fogs and any
noxious exhalement arising therefrom in the warm season,
and the winds generally blowing up the river at that time,
area sufficient reason to induce a belief of the healthfulness
of the situation.

" The advantages New Albany has in point of trade are
perhaps unrivaled by any town on the Ohio, as it is im-
mediately below all the dangers which boats and ships are
subject to in passing over the Falls, and is the only eligible
situation for a depot for all the exports and imports of a
great part of the territory, and may export and import while
the river is low and the market good, as well as when the
river is high.

"From the vast quantity of excellent ship.-timber, the
great abundance of iron ore within a few miles, and the
facility with which hemp is raised, it is presumed this will be
one of the best ports in the United States for the building of
vessels as well as the loading of them. The erection of a
saw-mill to go by steam is contemplated this fall, and a grist-
and flour-mill next summer.

" Lots will be sold at auction on the first Tuesday and
Wednesday in November next. The terms of payment will
be one-fourth ready money, and the remainder in three an-
nual installments, tobe secured by deed of trust or otherwise;
one-fourth part of each payment tobe paid into the hands of
trustees (to be chosen by the purchasers) until such payments
shall amount to $5,000. the interest of which to be applied to
the use of schools in the town for the use of its inhabitants
forever.

"Manufactories of iron, cotton, hemp, wool, etc., are
much wanted, as is all kinds of mechanism.

"The Proprietors.

" New Albany, July 8, 1813."

It will be seen by the above advertisement
what inducement the Scribners were enabled to
hold out to settlers in their town, and what their
own ideas of its future was. The "sufficient
number of excellent springs " proved more valu-
able than they probably then supposed. This

spring water seems to lie underneath the entire
city at a distance of twenty-five to thirty feet,
and the water is pure and exhaustless. Without
doubt, however, there were swamps and more or
less malaria about New Albany, as in every new,
uncleared, and uncultivated country. The
Whitehill tract, now built over by beautiful
residences and by business and manufacturing
establishments, was at that time densely wooded
and contained more or less swampy ground,
which so remained for long years afterwards, to
the great detriment of the health of the city.
There were also spots of marshy ground to the
north of the plat, some of which have not yet en-
tirely disappeared. Like every other new place
in the West, it was for many years an unhealthy
town, but is now, and has been for years, per-
haps as healthy a location as any on the river.

The circular, it will be noticed, sets forth the
great advantages of the place as a trading point,
and its brilliant prospects commercially. In this
the proprietors did not exaggerate, and have not
probably been greatly disappointed, as it grew
rapidly into a manufacturing city, and still con-
tinues such; but the circular indicates that the
proprietors supposed that New Albany would
become headquarters for much of the river trade
below, as well as a great shipping point for pro-
duce bound down the river, on account of being
located below the falls. At the time the town
was laid out but one steamboat, the "Orleans,"
had passed down the river, and although it was sup-
posed the Ohio would become the great highway
of commerce, it was also thought that the falls
would be an insurmountable barrier, and that
the commerce of the river would divide at this
point, Louisville getting the up-river business,
and New Albany all that below the falls. This
beautiful air-castle, however, vanished with the
completion of the Louisville and Portland canal,
which passes around the falls, thus enabling the
largest steamboats with their cargoes to pass in
safety. The canal was not expected nor thought
of when New Albany was laid out, hence there
was much calculation on a great city that could
never be realized.

The quantity and quality of ship-timber found
on the Silver hills caused New Albany to be-
come an important ship-building point, as will be
seen in another chapter.

According to announcement the sale of lots

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

i4S

took place on the first Tuesday and Wednesday
of the following November. The deed, however,
for the land upon which the town was platted
was not made to the Scribners by John Paul
until October 13, 1813.

The following extraccs are from the manu-
script of William A. Scribner:

During the summer of 1813 they had a number of men
hired to cut and clear the plat, build cabins, and grub under-
growth, especially on the streets, and the proprietors began
the building of a steam saw-mill, and afterward connected a
grist-mill with it. This mill was on the lot where the foundry
of Lent, South & Shipman now stands.

[The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis station has
since occuDied this site"].

Of the other buildings, one among the first after the family
residence was a large square cabin for a school-house on one
of the four public squares of the town on each side of the in-
tersection of State and Spring streets, not far from where the
court-house now stands, which said building was also occu-
pied frequently for a meeting-house uutil we could build a
larger one.

The first public sale of lots in the town of New Albany
took place on the 2d and 3d days of November, by which
time there were several log-cabin residences along down
Main street fiom the one we occupied, reaching as far down,
perhaps, as Lower Second street, and in the course of the
summer quite a number of families had moved in.

The first lot sold at the above-mentioned sale
was to William B. Summers, and the deed ap-
pears by the records in the recorder's office to
have been placed there November 15, 1813.
It was lot number nine on Upper Main street, at
the southeast corner of Upper Main and Pearl
streets. Its size was sixty by one, hundred and
twenty feet, and the price paid for it was two
hundred and fifty dollars, " lawful money of the
United States." The lots next recorded are
those of David Poor, six in number. These lots
were located as follows: Lot two, on the north-
west corner of State and Water streets: lot six,
on the northeast corner of Water and Lower
First streets ; lot two, Lower Market street, north
side from the alley to the corner of Lower First
street; and lots two, four, and six, Lower First
street, west side, from the Plummer property to
the alley, between Main and Water streets.
The price paid by Poor for these lots was seven
hundred and twenty-five dollars. A considerable
number of lots were disposed of at that time.

THE NEW ALBANY PIONEERS.

The following names appear among the earliest
settlers of the town: Francis A. Hutcherson,
from Kentucky, 181 5; Stephen Seabrook and
his two sons, 1814; Samuel Marsh, 1814;

Hopson, 1812; McCleary, 1812; James

Crook, 1815; John Jones, 1816; James Mc-
Afee, ; James R., Henry B., and Pleasant

S. Shields, 1817; David Hedden, 181 7; Green
H. Neil, 1 81 7; Howell Wells, 181 7; Matthew
Robison, 1817; John Nicholson, 1810; Dr.
Ashel Clapp, 181 8; and John K. Graham.
These are in addition to the Scribners, and those
already mentioned. Of these, only David Hed-
den and Daniel Seabrook, one of the sons of
Stephen Seabrook, are now living. The latter
resides on Main street, and is a fine specimen of
the early pioneers of New Albany. He has
seen nearly a century on earth, but yet meets his
friends with a cordial shake of the hand, a smile,
and a cheerful "good-day." His step is remark-
ably firm for one of his age, his complexion clear,
and eye bright, giving evidence of a well-spent
life ; but his speech gives evidence of age.

The following is clipped from the New Albany
Ledger as some of the early recollections of
Daniel Seabrook:

August 26, 1814, New Albany, then a village of six log
houses, received three emigrants whom the villagers welcomed
with the greatest cordiality. These were Stephen Seabrook,
Daniel Seabrook, and Samuel Marsh, Sr. They came over
the mountains from New Jersey to Pittsburg, where they
took passage on a flat-boat for Cincinnati. At Cincinnati
they purchased a small skiff, and in this they descended the
Ohio to Louisville. Stephen and Daniel Seabrook came over
the falls in the skiff to New Albany, while Mr. Marsh
walked down on the Indiana side from Jeffersonville, then a
village six years old.

The next day after their arrival, Mr. Marsh and the
Messrs. Seabrook purchased property. Mr. Marsh pur-
chased two lots on Water street, running from Broadway
eastward to the alley; the Seabrooks purchased the lot on
Main street now occupied by Mr. Daniel Seabrook, and lying
between West Second and Broadway. Upon this lot they
built a residence, and on it Daniel Seabrook has resided con-
tinuously for sixty-seven years.

When Mr. Seabrook arrived at New Albany, the village
contained six log houses. The Scribners, the proprietors of
the town, lived in a double cabin on the lot on Main street,
between Slate and Pearl, now occupied by H. N. Devol's
stove and tin-store. Work had been commenced that season
on the present hotel building at the comer of Main and West
First streets, by David Hale, which, when completed, was
called "Hale's Tavern." This was the first frame house
built in New Albany.

Mr. Seabrook worked at carpentering first, and afterward
at boat-building. He worked upon the first steamboat built
around the Falls of the Ohio. He prospered in his business,
for he was industrious and frugal, and accumulated consider-
able property. He says the first post-office in New Albany
was established in 1814, and was kept in a cabin at the south-
east corner of Main and State streets.

Daniel Seabrook is now in the ninety-second year of his

146

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

age. He is quite feeble, but cheerful and happy. He has
seen a large and prosperous city grow up from the wilderness.

The writer of this further interviewed Mr. Sea-
brook, and the following is the substance of what
the veteran pioneer said regarding the early
days of New Albany : The Seabrooks are from
Monmouth county, New Jersey. Stephen and
his two sons, Daniel and James, came here in
1814. James died in a few years after their ar-
rival. The father bought a little property in the
new town, and entered a quarter-section of land
out on the Silver Hills, but did not stay long
enough to become attached to the new country,
and went back to his old home in New Jersey,
where he staid until his death. His sons re-
mained, but Daniel was soon left alone by the
death of his brother. Daniel and James accom-
panied their father, on his return journey, as far
as Cincinnati, the journey being made on foot.
Here they separated forever, and the two boys
walked back to New Albany, where they rented
a log cabin of the Scribners for two dollars per
month, in which they lived until they could erect a
cabin on the lots they had purchased. They built
a hewed-log cabin down on the flat near the end
of Lower Third street, which he says was the first
of the kind in the place. There were five or six
round-log cabins on Main street at the time,
mostly built by the Scribners, for the temporary
accommodation of the incoming settlers.

Joel Scribner was then building a double log
house nearly opposite the stone bank on Main
street. A little log building had been erected
on the rear end of the same lot, in which the
Scribners kept the post-office. The High Street
house was being built at that time by David M.
Hale, who married into the Scribner family, and
when finished was known as "Hale's Tavern."
Another cabin stood on Main street, on the op-
posite side of the street from the Scribners, and
a little further east. The man who lived in it
kept a "doggery," and it was known as the
"Lick." They were then engaged in cutting the
timber out of Main street, and the stumps and
logs were very thick, the latter being rolled to
one side and piled upon either side of the road-
way. Very little if any clearing had been done
anywhere on the plat, except on Main street,
and all the cabins on the plat stood on this
street except a little one down by the river occu-
pied by Stroud, the ferryman. The ferry landed

about where the upper ferry now lands, and con-
sisted of a scow propelled by oars. The Scrib-
ners afterward established a horse-ferry. It was
constructed by fastening together two flat-boats
or scows and laying a deck over both. They
were placed far enough apart to admit a large
wheel or propeller between them, in the center.
This wheel was turned by horses working upon a
tramp-wheel, such as was ordinarily used for grind-
ing corn in those early days. John Nicholson,
one of the earliest pioneers before mentioned,
was the village wag. He could make more fun
in the same space of time than any other man in
the country. He happened on this ferry-boat
one day, and finding on board a rather stolid-
looking personage from some back county in
Kentucky, he pretended that he was captain of
the boat, and in conversation with the country-
man ascertained that he was looking for some-
thing to do, and offered him the position of
"bailer" on the ferry-boat. The man readily
agreed for a stipulated price to occupy his time
in bailing out the "captain's" leaky boat. The
"captain" thereupon lifted the door or hatch that
covered an opening between the two boats and
set the young man to work with a pail to bail
out the Ohio river. It is said the man worked
some "hours before he was made aware of the
joke that had been played upon him.

Nicholson played a great many practical jokes,
and was one *f the queer chaps of the village.
When at a certain party all the young men were
taken suddenly ill, it was generally believed
that Nicholson had placed a little croton
oil in the whiskey bottle, though cer-
tainly nothing could be proven. He was
an unmarried man for a good many years
after he came to New Albany, but finally married
at- the age of forty. His wife had a hard time
to get along, for John didn't believe in work; his
constitution required an immense amount of rest.
He could whittle store-boxes and tell stories with
the best of them; kept a pack of hounds and
several guns, and spent a great deal of time
hunting, which, however, he never turned to any
profit. His wife kept boarders down on the flat
near the river. He came from Salt river, Ken-
tucky, and was a stone-mason by trade, but sel-
dom worked, remaining out in the woods often
for several days at a time with his gun and
dogs.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

147

THE FIRST HOTEL.

Elihu Marsh, who had been here several years
when Mr. Seabrook came, kept the first tavern
in the new town, in a little log house on Main
street, just east of the stone bank. Hale's
tavern opened soon after.

In addition to the early settlers already
named, Mr. Seabrook adds the following names:
Elias Marsh, Mr. Genung, the blacksmith;
Mr. Sproud, the ferryman ; Henry Bogart, whose
daughter, Mrs. Waring, yet resides in the city,
and Benjamin Conner. Elias and Samuel
Marsh were from Staten Island, and the former
was the first blacksmith, and erected a hewed-
log shop near where the Jeffersonville, Madison,
& Indianapolis station now stands, in 1814,
but before he could get fairly to work he con-
tracted the fever and ague from the malaria of
the swampy bottom near the river. An Indian
doctor came along, from whom he was induced
to take some medicine, of which he died in
about an hour. This was probably the first death
in the town. Genung was the next blacksmith,
and is well remembered by all the older settlers.
He was a man of family, and lived on the bluff
overlooking the river about the end of Upper
Fifth or Upper Sixth street. Some of his
descendants are yet living here.

Benjamin Conner had a family and lived in a
cabin just north of the first plat of the town.
His son Thomas became connected with the
ferry, and in time accumulated considerable
property out of the business. This family has
been connected with the fe'ry from that time to
the present, the name ''Thomas Conner," ap-
pearing on the steam ferry-boat now plying be-
tween New Albany and Portland.

When Mr. Seabrook first came to the town he
engaged in making oars and poles for propelling
skiffs and flat-boats on the river. Considerable
trading was then done with New Orleans by-
means of flat-boats or scows; no other means of
transportation for heavy freight had been brought
into use so far down the river. Parties would
load a flat-boat with pork, flour, whisky, and the
products of the chase, and transport the cargo
to New Orleans for sale. These boats would
carry fifty to seventy-five tons. After disposing
of their cargo and boat in New Orleans, they
would return on foot or by stage, or perhaps pur-
chase a horse or mule to ride home. Sometimes

the boat could not be sold or traded to advan-
tage, and in such cases it was often brought back
up the river by means of the poles and oars that
Mr. Seabrook made. There was on each side
of the flat-boat a board about a foot wide, called
a "running board," upon which the men would
walk in "poling" the boat. The poles were
eighteen feet long, with a ball on the end to
place against the shoulder in pushing the craft
in coming up the river. The poleman would go
to the bow and, standing on the running-board,
strike the bottom of the river with one end of
his pole, placing the other against his shoulder,
and walk toward the stern, thus shoving the boat
forward. When the water was too deep for
poling, a party would go ahead with a skiff, carry-
ing a line, which would be made fast to a tree
on shore as far ahead as possible, and thus the
boat would be drawn forward by this line. In
this and various other ways the boat was slowly
and toilfully worked back from New Orleans
to New Albany, the journey often occupying
three months or more. By keeping the boat
closely to the shore, the pole could generally be
used. This flat-boating, however, did not con-
tinue many years before steamboats came into
use and put an end, for the most part, to other
neans of river transportation.

OTHER FIRST THINGS.

Mr. Seabrook thinks the first steamboat built
here was the Ohio, constructed by Joseph Mc-
Clarey for Captain Henry Shreve, in 18 16.
Roberts & Dehart built the second one the same
year.

Paxscn & Eastburn were about the first mer-
chants, their stoie being on the corner of Main
and Pearl streets.

The first brick house in the village was erected
by Sproud, the ferryman, near the river. It was
quite a small building, about fourteen feet square.

The Scribners built the first mill. It stood
where the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapo-
lis station now is.

Mr. Seabrook attended the first election held
in the county. It was at Lewis' house, in the
northern part of the township, and was a very
exciting election, as the people were to decide
whether they should have slavery in Indiana
Territory. Everybody turned out at this election,
Mr. Seabrook and several others going up in a

148

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

canoe, to which they attached horses, there being
snow on the ground. It was an excellent sub-
stitute for a sleigh. (What Mr. Seabrook has to
say about many other matters will be found in
other chapters).

The first post-office stood on the lot on the south-
east corner of State and Main streets, where
Bently's office now is. In those early days they had
but one mail a week, and that every Sunday morn-
ing, when it stopped hereon the way to Vincennes
from Louisville. When the roads were bad, and
they were generally bad in the days before the
country was cleared and bridges made, the mail
was carried on horseback, the carrier having two
horses, one of which he rode, and the mail was
carried on the other, which he drove before him
with a single line.

The Scribner double log cabin was located
where Judge Houk now lives, on Main street
above Sixth, near where Dr. Sloan resides.

The first well dug in New Albany was on the
corner of Pearl and Main streets. It was long
since filled up, as it was in the way of grading
the street.

The first hatter in the town was Isaac Brooks,
who located here prior to 1818. This was a con-
siderable business in an early day, but hats after
a time began to be manufactured so extensively
and cheaply that small manufacturers had to go
out of the business, and such a thing as a hat-
ter's shop has not been known here for more
than a quarter of a century.

Mr. Hedden thinks Genung (before men-
tioned) was the first blacksmith. His shop was
on the northwest corner of Upper Main and
Fourth streets.

THE FIRST CHILD.

It has been repeatedly asserted, orally and in
print, that Mrs. Waring, daughter of Henry Bo-
gert, one of the earliest settlers, was the first
white child born in New Albany. This is a mis-
take according to the testimony of the lady her-
self, who is yet living, her dwelling being one of
the oldest buildings in the city, and occupying
the southwest corner of Lower First and Main
streets. She says (if this be a matter of import-
ance) that several children were born in the town
before she was. Among them she mentions Maria
Strong (now Vandeventer), who is living in Mo-
bile, Alabama ; also Nancy Marsh. Mrs. Van-
deventer is about six weeks older than Mrs.

Waring. The way the story became gen-
erally circulated was from a remark made by
some one at Mrs. Waring's wedding, to the
effect that she was the first while child born,
reared, educated and married in the new town.
This list of accomplishments was soon abbrevi-
ated in popular tradition to "born."

John Austin is said (as appears by a map
of the county published in 1876) to have been
the first white child born within the county limits.
There is little doubt, however, that John Al-
drich was the first, as is narrated elsewhere.

Harriet Scribner was born in New Albany in
February, 1815, and was therefore among the
first children born in the town.

Among the living pioneers, as before stated, is

DAVID HEDDEN,

who occupies a beautiful residence, one of the
results of a long life of honest toil, upon the hill
in the eastern part of the city. The house stands
upon the spot where Epaphras Jones built his
house, and around which he endeavored to
build up the town of Providence. Mr. Hed-
den has given much valuable information regard-
ing the early days of New Albany, which is in-
corporated in various historical chapters on this
city. Among other items he states he had oc-
casion in an early day to return to his old home
in New Jersey, and set out for that place August
10, 1825, being compelled to make the trip by
stage and river. Just before starting he met
Abner Scribner on the street, and the latter in-
forms d him that he had an important message
to send East. Abner was a little under the in-
fluence of liquor, and said in a confidential way:
" Do you know that they have made great im-
provements in the East since we left there ?
They say now their land there is very rich — much
ahead of ours. Why, you remember when we
left that country the honey-bees had to get down
on their knees to reach the buckwheat blossoms,
but they say they cannot now reach them by
standing on tip-toe !" With this'important mes-
sage for his eastern friends Abner limped sol-
emnly away without a smile. Mr. Hadden
always considered Abner a little wild, but very
smart. Joel, he says, was a very excellent man,
but thinks Nathaniel was the business man of
the brothers. Harvey Scribner, a son of Joel,
succeeded his father as postmaster of the village,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

149

and Harvey was in turn succeeded by General
Burnet. The latter received his title from his
connection with the militia. He is still living in
California.

TOWN PLAT ALTERATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS.

It appears by the records that the first plat of
New Albany was not placed on record for three
years after the town was laid out, to wit: Novem-
ber 13, 1816. The record begins thus:

Plat of the town of New Albany, being plat of fractional
sections numbered two and three, in township three, south of
range six east; proved November 13, 1816.

Then follows the plat of the town, from which
it appears that Water street is one hundred feet
wide, extending along the river; the next street
running parallel was called "High" street (now
usually called Main), and is eighty feet wide; the
next parallel street is Market (upon which are
located the two long market-houses), also eighty
feet wide; the next is Spring, eighty feet; the
next Elm, sixty teet; and the next Oak, thirty
feat. Of the streets running north and south,
State extended through the center of the plat,
while the streets below it (down the river) were
called Lower First, Lower Second, etc.; and the
streets above State were designated Upper First,
Upper Second, Upper Third, and so on. Upper
First and Upper Second are now generally known
as Pearl and Bank streets.

The plat was first recorded in the records of
Clarke county, to which this territory then be-
longed, and was sworn to before George Ross,
justice of the peace. Subsequently the Scrib-
ners caused the following "alterations and ex-
planations" to be added to this record:

Alterations and explanations by Joel Scribner, Nathaniel
Scribner, and Abner Scribner, the original proprietors of the
town of New Albany, agreeably to their original intentions
on laying out said town, and not fully expressed and marked
on the original plat, as first recorded.

All those lots which are designated by the word church
written upon them, are to be appropriated to the support of
the First Presbyterian church established in Mew Albany;
and all those lots designated by the word school written up-
on them are appropriated for the support of a school for the
use of the inhabitants of the town. The slip of ground or
square on the bank of the river is reserved by the proprie-
tors, their heirs, and assigns forever, the exclusive right of
ferrying from Upper and Lower Water streets, between the
boundaries of fractional section number two, of town three,
south of range six east, which boundaries are agreeably to
those in the license given by the court to John Paul. All the
narrow spaces running through the blocks of lots are alleys,
all of which are twenty feet wide. The four squares on the
corners of Upper and Lower Spring streets and State streets,

which are blank upon the original plat, are each one hundred
and twenty feet square, and are designed for the benefit of
the public in said town. Joel Scribner,

In behalf of the firm of J., N. & A. Scribner.

The lots marked "church" referred to above
were No. 7, Lower Fifth street; No. 9, Lower
Fourth; No. 40, State; No. 30, Upper First; No.
7, Upper Third; No. 13, Upper Third; No. 29,
Upper Third; No. 26, Upper Spring; No. 7, Up-
per Fourth; No. 15, Upper Fourth; No. 35, Up-
per Elm; No. 35, Upper Spring; No. 30, Upper
Fifth; and a whole squaie of ground between
Lower Matket and Spring streets, on Lower
Third.

The lots marked "school" were two numbered
twenty-eight and twenty-seven, on the Public
Square, fronting on State street, and one num-
bered nineteen on Upper First street. In addi-
tion to the Public Square, upon which the county
buildings now stand, a whole square was reserved
on Lower Third sireet, between High and
Market, and designated as "the Public Prome-
nade and Parade Ground." This spot is still in
use as a public park.

New Albany was very unhealthy for many
years after it was laid out, on account of the sur-
rounding marshy land and the thickets of un-
derbrush and fallen logs, which dammed up the
streams and made continual pools and lakes of
stagnant water; especially was this the case on
portions of the Whitehill tract.

NEW ALBANY IN 1819.

In 181 7 this place had so far advanced in
population that on January 1st of that year it
was made a town, by act of the General Assem-
bly. Dr. McMurtrie, in his Sketches of Louis-
ville, published in 18 19, thus speaks of it:

New Albany is situated opposite or rather below Portland,
in the State of Indiana and county of Floyd, of which it is
the seat of justice. The town was laid out by the Messrs.
Scribner, who were the proprietors, in 1814. It is built upon
the second bank of the river, from which it presents a very
interesting appearance, many of the houses being whitened,
and one belonging to Mr. Paxson, built of brick and designed
with considerable taste, meeting the eye in a most consp c-
uous situation.* The bottom or first bank is rarely over-
flowed, and the one on which the town stands, being twenty
feet higher, there hardly exists the possibility of its ever
meeting that fate.

For some time after it was laid out New Albany, like
other places in the neighborhood, increased but slowly, con-
flicting opinions and clashing interests retarding its growth.

"This house is yet standing, on the southwest corner of Pearl and
Main streets, and belongs to A. M. Fitch, a relative by marriage of
Charles Paxson.

15°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The many natural advantages it possesses, however, have at
length surmounted every difficulty, and its progress of late
has been unequalled by any town on the Ohio of so modern
a date. The good health generally enjoyed by the inhabit-
ants (which I think is partly owing to the excellent water
made use of, which is found in natural springs to the number
of fifteen or twenty within the town plat, and which can
anywhere be obtained at the depth of twenty-five feet), the
great road from this State to Vincennes passing through it,
and the quantity and quality of ship timber which abounds
in the neighborhood, are the principal causes which have
contributed to this advancement.

It contains at present one hundred and fifty dwelling
houses, which are generally of wood, it being impossible to
procure brick in quantities suited to the demand. The num-
ber of inhabitants amounts to one thousand, and from the
influx of population occasioned by the demand for workmen
at the ship-yards, etc., it must necessarily increase in a much
greater ratio than heretofore. The only public work of any
description that is worth notice, is the steam grist- and saw-
mill, belonging to Messrs. Paxson & Smith. Three steam-
boats have been launched from the yards, and there are three
more on the stocks. The inhabitants are all either Meth-
odists or Presbyterians, the former having a meeting-house,
and the latter have contracted for a church, which is to be
built immediately. There* is a free school in this place
which has been partly supported by the interest of five
thousand dollars, a donation from the original proprietors
for that purpose; but increasing population requiring more
extensive modes of education, other institutions are projected.
Upon the whole, New Albany bids fair to be a wealthy and
important town, as it is becoming a depot wherein the inhab-
itants of the interior of Indiana draw their supplies of dry
goods and groceries, and, consequently, to which they send
their produce in return.

In a foot-note the same writer says:

At a little distance from the town, issuing from under a
stratum of greenstone, is a spring of water containing a
large quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, which inflames on
being brought into contact with a candle; and if the spring
be covered with a close box, furnished with a pipe and stop-
cock so as to condense the gas, it continues to burn until it is
purposely extinguished.

This was known as "the boiling spring," and
for many years was considered as very valuable,
whenever capital could be employed to develop
it; but it disappointed all expectations. Dr.
Ashel Clapp and others, about 1824, attempted
by boring to find coal there. They went down
about two hundred feet, but all attempts to
utilize the spring failed and the gas long since
disappeared.

It will be seen by the above extract that in six
years the village had grown to be a place of one
thousand people, and that shipbuilding was then
the most important industry. Indeed, this busi-
ness seemed to have given the village a start it
might never have secured without the proximity
of good shipbuilding timber. It also had "one
brick house." Dr. McMurtrie no doubt over-

looked the little fourteen-foot-square brick build-
ing down near the river — the first one built in
the place. And he says nothing about the

TAVERNS OF THE PLACE

at that time; but as these are always important
in the building up of a new town they must not
be overlooked. There is little doubt that the
first "place of entertainment" on the present
site of New Albany was Mrs. Robinson's tavern,
mentioned in our chapter on New Albany town-
ship, located in what is, now the northern part of
the city. It was there some time before the
town was laid out, and served as a stopping place
for the mail and for all travelers between Louis-
ville and Vincennes. Just when it disappeared
is not known.

The second tavern was that of Elihu Marsh,
as before stated. This was, no doubt, the first
tavern in the new town, and was opened in 1814,
David M. Hale's tavern opening the same year.

Prior to the laying out of the town no license
was probably exacted bf these tavern keepers;
but after the incorporation of the village and the
formation of Floyd county in 18 19, they were
not only required to pay license, but compelled
to enter into bond with security for the faithful
performance of their duties, as the commission-
ers' records show.

Hale's tavern, on High street, was built of logs,
but subsequently (in 1823) a frame addition was
made. The house has been repaired and added
to, and has been used as a tavern from that day
to this. It is on the corner of Lower First and
Main.

Seth Woodruff early opened a tavern on Main
street. It was certainly there prior to 18 19, for
on May 18th of that year the following appears
upon the commissioners' records:

Seth Woodruff, upon petition, was licensed to keep tavern
in New Albany, on entering into a bond of $500, with Wil-
liam L. Hobson as secuiity. The tavern is ordered to be
taxed $20.

The records further show that, "May 19, 1819,
Summers B. Oilman is licensed and permitted to
keep tavern in the town of New Albany, for one
year from the 27th day of March last." Mr.
Oilman also gave a bond of $500 with Anderson
and Elihu Marsh as sureties. His tax was
also $20 a year. The same date "Paul Hoge
is licensed to keep tavern in the town of
New Albany tor one year from the twenty-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

151

fourth day of April last." The bond and tax were
the same as in the other cases, and Henry Tur-
ner, Sr., was security. On the same date David
M. Hale is licensed in the same manner, with
Charles Paxson as security; and Hugh Ferguson
was also licensed at the same time, with Sylvester
Perry as security. Same date (May, 1819)
Wyatt P. Tuley is licensed to keep tavern in
New Albany, with Thomas Sinex and Paul Hoge
as sureties. In November of the same year
Jacob Miller is licensed to keep tavern on the
Vincennes road, probably at or in the neighbor-
hood of the present village of Mooresville. In
1820 John Lamb appears as a tavern-keeper,
with Thomas Aborn and Enoch Townsend as
sureties. Wyatt P. Tuley, Seth Woodruff, and
David M. Hale continue to appear on the rec-
ord as tavern-keepers for many years. Wood-
ruff was probably longer in that business than
any of his contemporaries. After 1820 the
names of James Howard, William Drysdale,
Adam Spidler, and others appear as tavern-
keepers in New Albany.

Mr. Thomas Collins, who came to New Al-
bany in 1827 and is yet a resident, says that in
that year the taverns in active operation in the
town were Hale's, on High street; the New Al-
bany hotel, kept by Charles A. Clark on Main
street, between Upper Third and Fourth streets;
and the Swan, kept by Mrs. Marsh on the cor-
ner of Upper Fourth and Water streets. The
Swan was a good-sized frame building, with
double porches in the front (the style of nearly
all the taverns of that day), and overlooking the
river. It was pleasantly situated, was a very good
house for the time, and commanded considera-
ble patronage. The most conspicuous thing
about it, perhaps, was the sign, upon which a
large white swan was painted. Clark was at that
time keeping the old Woodruff tavern. This
was then the largest house in the town. It was
a frame building, erected by Woodruff, was a
popular place of resort, and became, in fact, the
center of attraction for the town and country.
The commissioners held their meetings here for
several years; the first courts were held within
its walls and all the county business transacted,
as well as being continually open to the traveling
public. Woodruff himself was one of the most
prominent of the pioneers, as will be seen else-
where. Apportion of this building is yet stand-

ing. About 1832 the frame was moved back
and a large brick building erected in front of it,
which is yet standing, though no longer used as
a hotel. More interesting reminiscences of the
early days of New Albany are centered around
this spot than any other in the city. The tav-
erns kept pace with the city in improvement un-
til they became "hotels," and at present there
are several good ones in the city.

MILLS

were probably of even more importance in the
building up of the new town than taverns, and
the erection of a mill was among the first consid-
erations of the proprietors. Abner Scribner was
especially anxious for a mill, even before the
cabins were erected; but a first-class mill, such
as the Scribners desired, could not be put in
operation, notwithstanding all the advantages of
the place, without great labor and no little ex-
pense.

Mr. Trublood's little mill on Falling run
answered the purpose for a time, and was the
first on the town plat.

Mills had been erected at the falls and were
within easy access of the people of New Albany;
but the Scribners determined that their people
should go to no other place to mill. Trublood's
mill was a primitive affair, the buhrs being man-
ufactured of native "nigger-heads," and was in
operation but a few months in the year, owing
either to high water, which would wash away the
dam, or to drouth, which would almost dry up
the stream.

The first two mills erected by the Scribners
were failures. Mr. Daniel Seabrook tells about
these mills. It seems that a man named Parker
came along soon after the town was laid out,
represented himself as a mill-wright, and pro-
posed to build a steam-mill, engine and all, for
the Scribners if they would furnish the money.
He succeeded in persuading them that he under-
stood his business, and they put him to work.
He first visited a primitive foundry, then located
somewhere on Salt river, Kentucky, where he
succeeded in getting cast an iron cylinder and
several heating tubes, both the cylinder and pipes
being cast in two pieces. The pieces were
brought over to New Albany and put together,
but when done it was found that they did not fit,
a large crack appearing in the joints. This crack
Parker filled with lead, thus making the pieces

152

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

tight. His next move was to manufacture a
wooden boiler. Parker employed Daniel Sea-
brook and his (Seabrook's) brother-in-law, Samuel
Marsh, to make this boiler, which they did out
of hewed timber ten inches wide and eight
inches thick. These men were ship-carpenters
and succeeded in getting the boiler water-tight.
It was bolted together and strongly hooped.
Into this the flues, before mentioned, were placed,
they being about twenty inches in diameter.
When the engine was finished, ready for opera-
tion, a fire was built, and as soon as the flues
became heated the lead that filled the cracks
melted and ran out, and the machine which had
cost so much time, labor, and money, was a
complete failure.

Not discouraged with this, however, the Scrib-
ners immediately discharged Parker and went to
Pittsburgh, then the nearest point where steam-
boilers were manufactured, and purchased a
small engine. This was about 1815. They
erected a little mill structure on the spot where
the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis depot
now stands, into which they placed one small
set of buhrs and two saws for sawing lumber.
But this was before the days of steamboats or
steamboat building at New Albany; the mill had
little to do in the way of grinding, and the mills
at the falls doing so much better work, this mill
also proved a failure. Mr. Seabrook says it only
ran a few months, when it was abandoned and
the building was occupied most of the time as a
"roosting-place" for hogs The saw-mill part
was run occasionally, and when it burnt down
some years later, a large pile of logs was left on
the ground to rot.

This was the commencement of the milling
business in New Albany, a branch of industry
which has attained to large proportions, as will
be seen by reference to another chapter of this
work.

ROADS AND BRIDGES.

There was no road through the first plat of
New Albany when it was made; the highway
was the river. The road from the falls to Vin-
cennes passed some distance north of the town.
This road first followed up the old Indian trail
— or, in fact, the trail was the only road through
the country for many years prior to the beginning
of the present century. When settlers began to
gather about Trublood's mill and the spring

there, the road deflected from the old trail so as
to accommodate this settlement, and in a short
time that portion of the old trail between Clarks-
ville and the Gut ford was almost entirely aban-
doned, the travel going by way of Robinson's
tavern, from which the road passed north and
again joined the trail within New Albany town-
ship, not far from the foot of the knobs. After
New Albany was laid out this road branched
into the town and thus became the first outlet
for those in the village, except by river.

A road from Oatman's ferry, which was located
a short distance below New Albany, was also one
of the first made.

The following, from the records of the com-
missioners, dated May 17, 1819, shows what
roads were earliest established in the county, and
the names of a few prominent pioneers in con-
nection with them:

Ordered, that Jacob Bence be appointed supervisor of
the following roads, to wit: Beginning on the road at New-
man's ferry, on the river Ohio, running to Corydon, and con-
tinuing on as far as the county line, and so much of the road
lying in said county as runs from George Clark's to the
Grassy valley, in Harrison county. And all the lands in
Franklin township, lying under the knobs and south of the
road leading from Newman's ferry to Corydon, over the
knobs, including Thomas Smith and William Bailey, north
of said road, do assist him in keeping the same in repair.

Ordered, That Michael Swartz be appointed supervisor
of so much of the road leading from Oatman's ferry to
Vincennes as lies in Franklin township, and the hands living
on Big Indian creek are required to assist him in keeping the
same in repair.

Anderson Long was, in like manner, appoint-
ed supervisor of so much of the road leading
from Oatman's ferry to Corydon as lies in Floyd
county, beginning at the forks of the road on
the top of the knobs. John Merriwether was
appointed supervisor of so much of the road
beginning on the Oatman road and leading to
Greenville as lies in Franklin township. Samuel
Miller was appointed supervisor of so much of
the road beginning at Oatman's ferry and leading
to Vincennes as lies in New Albany township.
William L. Hobson was appointed supervisor of
the road leading from New Albany to and in-
tersecting the State road at Jacob Miller's, or so
much thereof as lies in New Albany township.
John Scott was appointed supervisor of so much
of the State road leading from Gut ford, on
Silver creek, to Jacob Miller's as lies in New
Albany township. David Edwards was appoint-
ed supervisor of "all that part of the road lead-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

153

ing from New Albany that intersects the State
road at Jacob Miller's and within Greenville
township; and also all that part of the State road
beginning at the line dividing the township of
New Albany and Greenville east of the knobs, con-
tinuing on said road west to the line that divides
ranges Five and Six west of said Miller's." Jacob
Frederick was appointed supervisor "of all that
part of the State road beginning at the line di-
viding ranges Five and Six, and continuing west
to the line that divides the counties of Floyd
and Harrison." John Lopp was made supervisor
"of all that part of the road leading from Oat-
man's ferry to Engleman's mill and through
Lopp's land, beginning at the line dividing the
townships of Greenville and Franklin, on said
road, extending westwardly to the line dividing
Harrison and Floyd counties." Maurice Morris
was appointed supervisor "of all that part of the
State road in Floyd county west of Greenville,
and also all that part of the road leading from
Samuel Kendall's to Salem."

Following is a report made by Josiah Akin and
the other commissioners appointed to view a route
for a new road leading out of New Albany, made
to the county commissioners at their session in
August, 181 9:

Floyd county, State of Indiana.
We, the undersigned, having been appointed by the Board
of Commissioners at their May term, held in New Albany,
in order to view and make way for a Public road to be opened
on a route from said Town to John Lopp's — to comply with
said order we viewed and reviewed said route, and do report
that we have marked by Blazes and chops the way as follow-
eth, viz: Beginning at the corner of Joel Scribner's post-
and-rail fence, at the lower end of High street, New Albany,
and running thence on the west side of the line of the out-
lots of said Town, on a direction to the Boiling Spring on
Falling Run; thence with a road laid out by Joel Scribner
crossing the Knobs; thence as near to the straight line as
possible to Isaac Lamb's, running through his improvement
by consent; thence on a direction to said Lopp's, running
through an improvement of D. H. Allison by consent. We
are of the opinion the opening and establishing that as a
Public Highway would be of Public utility.

James McCutchan,
Josiah Akin,
Jonathan Slythe.

Ordered, That Josiah Akin be allowed one dollar for
one day's service rendered in viewing a route for a road to be
opened from New Albany to John Lopp's.

It appears that David M. Hale was appointed
supervisor to open so much of the above-men-
tioned road as lies in New Albany township;
Asa Smith, supervisor to open that part lying in

Franklin township; and David H. Allison, super-
visor to open that part lying in Greenville town-
ship.

In 1820 commissioners were appointed to view
and lay out the line for a portion of the State
road from New Albany to Hindoostan Field.
The commissioners were: F. Shotts, John G.
Clendenin, and John Eastburn; and there the
report was filed with the commissioners Septem-
ber 27, 1820.

In November, 1822, the report of the com-
missioners appointed by the Legislature to view
and mark out the route for the New Albany and
Vincennes road, appears on record. The com-
missioners were : John McDonald and John G.
Clendenin. Several changes were early made in
the road before it was finally located and fixed as
it now stands. Prior to the laying out of New
Albany it followed the Indian trail from Clarks-
ville; after that it passed through New Albany,
and thence up through the woods to the trail
again, as before stated. Subsequently it was
laid out further west, and passed over the knobs
before striking the old trail ; and for many years
this was the customary route of travel between
New Albany and Vincennes. This is now known
as the "old State road," and has been partly
abandoned, though portions of it still remain.
The new road now used was opened about 1832.
It was macadamized and made a toll road, cost-
ing a great deal of money. The section over the
knobs alone is said to have cost $100,000. It
is still a toll road. The old State road is the
one mentioned in the above extract as being laid
out by McDonald and Clendenin in 1822.

The present excellent macadamized toll road
from New Albany to Corydon was surveyed and
established in 1823; the commissioners ap-
pointed by the Legislature being Levi Long,
D. O. Lane, and William Boon. A most ex-
cellent and substantial stone-arched bridge spans
Falling run on this road. This little stream has
here cut a very deep channel, requiring an arch
and bridge of unusual height. Money was ap-
propriated for building this bridge in 1828, and
also for building two other bridges across the
same stream ; one on the new State road, then
in course of construction from New Albany to
Vincennes, and one on the old State road before
mentioned. These bridges were generally com-
pleted within the next five years.

154

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The above-named were the first roads located
in the county, and gave New Albany abundant
outlet to the interior. The roads in the county
will compare favorably with any in the State.
Mr. Cottom, in his work on the interests of New
Albany, thus writes regarding the turnpikes:

While New Albany is well provided with river navigation,
her citizens have not been unmindful of their connections
with such portions of the interior as are inaccessible by river
or rail. With a liberal enterprise that has always been a
characteristic of our wide-awake people, they have provided
excellent turnpikes in several directions, that give the citizens
of the county and neighboring towns facilities for reaching
the city, and afford splendid drives for those having leisure
and inclination to take advantage of these well-paved roads.
More turnpikes are needed, but these will doubtless be pro-
vided in due time, as there is a willingness manifested on all
sides to engage liberally in such public enterprises as mak-
ing good macadamized roads; and the law of the State is
very favorable to such improvements, providing that the
lands benefited by them shall be especially taxed to aid in
their construction.

Regarding the great railroad bridge connect-
ing the two cities of New Albany and Louisville,
the same writer spys :

New Albany is united to Louisville by the magnificent iron
bridge that spans the Ohio river at the Falls. Trains cross
this bridge from New Albany and Louisville, on the Louisville
& New Albany railroad, every hour in both directions, and
so great is the travel by this route between the two cities that
it will be but a short time until the trains are run every half
hour, and perhaps oftener.

The Ohio river bridge is probably the finest structure of
the kind in America, and was built at a cost of over two' mil-
lions of dollars. Another bridge is projected to span the
Ohio between the east end of New Albany and the west end
of Louisville, and there is little doubt that this bridge will be
opened for travel in a few years. It is contemplated to give
tracks for steam cars, street railroad, vehicles, and footmen.
The two bridges will virtually make New Albany and Louis-
ville one city in interest, if not in identity.

The above was written in 1873, and now (Oc-
tober, 1 881) the corner-stone of the new bridge
has just been laid with imposing ceremonies.
There were some six or eight thousand people
present to witness the ceremony, which com-
menced at 3 p. m., October 29th.

Colonel Bennett H. Young, president of the
bridge company, delivered the introductory, after
which Charles W. Cottom, city editor of the
Ledger, was introduced, and delivered the in-
augural address, which was followed by the lay-
ing of the corner-stone by the Masonic Grand
Lodge of Indiana, Right Worthy Grand Master
Calvin W. Prather, of Jeffersonville, conducting
the ceremony. Lieutenant Governor Hanna, of
Indiana; Hon. Henry Watterson, of the Courier-

Journal; Colonel R. M. Kelley, of the Louisville
Commercial; General James A. Ekin, of Jeffer-
sonville; Mr. N. T. DePauw and Hon. J. J.
Brown, of New Albany, and Hon. G. W. Marr,
of Louisville, followed with brief addresses.

THE JONES TRACT.

Epaphras Jones was-one of the most eccentric,
perhaps, of the early pioneers of New Albany.
As before stated he, by virtue of being one of
General George Rogers Clarke's soldiers, owned
one hundred acres of land joining the Whitehill
tract on the east and bounded on the south by
the river. This eccentric person attempted to
build up a town in opposition to New Albany,
calling the place Providence. Of this "neck ot
woods," including also the Whitehill tract, Mr.
Thomas Collins thus writes:

At that time (1822) the town limits were Upper and Lower
Fifth streets for the eastern and western boundary, with the
river on the south and Oak street on the north. The adja-
cent grounds were fields for farming purposes or forest.

The State ofVirginia, just before the cession of the land
belonging to her and known as the Northwestern Territory, by
Legislative enactment made a donation of the lands com-
mencing near what is now Upper Ninth street, on the river
bank, and running north to a short distance beyond what is
known as the Muddy fork of Silver creek, thence north of
east through Clarke county, to within a short distance of the
Scott county line, thence south to the river, to General
George Rogers Clarke and the soldiers of his command. A
considerable portion of these lands remained in a wild state
until within the last few years. The one hundred-acre tract
immediately outside the town limits, originally belonging to
Epaphras Jones, was covered heavily with timber, some of
the trees measuring from five to seven feet in diameter. This
forest in later years afforded delightful promenade grounds
and conveniences for public gatherings of all kinds. In these
woods, and within the two squares above and below Eleventh
street on Main, the Whigs had their barbecue in 1840, just
prior to the election of General Harrison to the Presidency.
In 1842-43 the clearing of the land began, and in 1844 Hon.
Benjamin Hardin, of Kentucky, made the last political speech
upon these grounds and under these grand old trees. The
entire one hundred acres, and perhaps four times as much
more adjoining on the two sides, are now a part of the city.

The spot upon which the barbecue was held is now the
site of some of the finest residences of the city, and the De-
Pauw American Glass Works now covers the ground upon
which Ben Hardin made his speech. On the grounds on that
occasion were George D. Prentice, of the Louisville Courier
journal ; Charles N. Thurston and William P. Thomasson,
both popular lawyers of the Louisville bar, and many other
celebrities. This was in 1844, during the contest between
Henry Clay and James K. Polk for the Presidency, in
which Mr. Polk was the successful candidate. The canvass
of 1840 inaugurated the thorough organization and drilling
of parties, the public processions and gorgeous displays that
have since continued to be the prominent features of both
parties during the canvass prior to a Presidential election.
The organization of parties by the foundation of clubs in

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

155

wards and townships was then first adopted : and the first
club of which the writer of this had any knowledge was
formed in this cily and called the "Tippecanoe Club," in
honor of the battle of Tippecanoe and of General Harrison
and his comrades. Within three months from the time of
its organization there were clubs to be found in every county
in this State and in most of the States of the Union.

Epaphras Jones built his house toward the
northern end of his hundred-acre tract, upon the
hill overlooking the river and a vast scope of
level country in every direction. Such is the
view at present ; but when Epaphras Jones
flourished here, the view was much obstructed by
forest trees in almost all directions. It was a
beautiful spot, however, upon which to build a
house, being a little south of where Graham's
nursery now stands and west of Vincennes
street.

David Hedden's house, as before mentioned,
stands upon the spot. Jones' house was a long,
low frame building. Fortunately, just before its
removal for the purpose of erecting the present
fine and commodious residence, one of Mr.
Hedden's daughters made a drawing of the old
Jones mansion, which the family have carefully
preserved. It is a long, story-and-a-half frame.
It was first boarded up and down, then subse-
quently weather-boarded over this ; some fine old
forest trees stood in front of it. Jones had been
a drummer-boy in the army of Washington dur-
ing the Revolutionary war, and in fact possessed
a good deal of military spirit, having been con-
nected with the army many years, and was with
General Clarke in his Vincennes expedition. For
this last service he received the land, and settling
here he called the place Providence because he
felt himself providentially cast on this spot. He
was eccentric on the subject of religion ; consid-
ered the Indians as the lost tribes spoken of in
the Bible, and consequently almost worshiped
them. He regarded them as far in advance of
the white race in many things. After his retire-
ment from the army and settlement here, he ap-
peared as a " gentleman of the old school" — that
is, he was quite dressy, wore a blue coat with
bright metal buttons, gaiters and knee-buckles,
powdered wig, ruffled shirt-front, cockade, cane,
etc., etc. He had been a traveler in Europe
and nearly every part of the world, was well edu-
cated, a good conversa'.ionalist, polite, genial,
good-hearted, religious, and in every way, bar-
ring a few eccentricities, a companionable and

superior gentleman. He was born in New
England — one authority says in Rhode Island
and another Connecticut — and was twice mar-
ried, bringing his first wife from New England,
who died here. He subsequently married Miss
Ann Silliman, of this place. He was very ener-
getic, fussy, and full of business. He proposed
building up a town in opposition to New Albany,
and considered that, being nearer to Louisville,
he had a better prospect of making his town a
respectable suburb of that city than had New
Albany, then a little village a mile or more below
his residence. But he had the Scribners to work
against, and the opposition was too formidable ;
his town never grew to be anything, hardly a
petty hamlet. He was nervous over the progress
of New Albany, and used to walk down to that
village every morning, ostensibly for a morning
walk, but really to see how much New Albany
had grown during the night ! He cleared a road
through the woods from his house to the river
and established a ferry, which, Mr. Hedden says,
amounted to no more than a skiff for carrying
passengers. He tried hard to make his ferry a
success, however, hoping to get people and
freight from Louisville in the way of crossing
there, instead of at New Albany. He also, after
a time, built a warehouse on the river and a sort
of landing called Jones' Landing ; and a little
later induced some one to erect a saw-mill near
by, which, however, did not prove a permanent
success. In order more effectually to cut off
New Albany, he secured the right of way through
lands to the north of his tract, and attempted to
build a road from his ferry to intersect the State
road or Indian trail in the northern part of the
township. The whole country was then densely
and heavily wooded, and this was no small under-
taking ; but he put hands at work cutting the
trees down even with the surface of the ground,
and making a broad track through the forest for a
distance of two miles from the river. He was
compelled to give up this project, however —
probably it was two expensive. It never became
a road, but Vincennes street, of the present New
Albany, occupies the line of this old road, and
his ferry was at the foot of that street. He had
his town regularly surveyed and platted, and
some of the streets graded. He succeeded in
selling a few lots and gathering a few settlers
around him ; but after a time, when New Albany

156

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

began to grow more rapidly, he gave up this
scheme of building a town.

Later in life Mr. Jones undertook the produc-
tion of silk from silk worms, but death overtook
him before he was enabled to make this a suc-
cess. He was buried on his own ground, and
the place was subsequently known as "Jones'
Graveyard," at the upper end of Market street.
He talked on religious subjects a great deal for a
few years prior to his death, and would get much
excited over the subject of the "New Jerusalem."

THE WHITEHILL TRACT.

During the days of his struggles to build up a
town, the Whitehill tract was lying a desolate
waste, full of frog-ponds and malaria, between
his residence and New Albany. Whitehill never
occupied the land, and died somewhere in the
East. The property was held by his heirs and
continued to increase in value as New Albany-
grew, until the town began to grow around it,
when it was cut up into lots and sold. This was
between 1830 and 1840. It was conveyed by an
agent of the Whitehill heirs named McBeth, and
most of it was purchased at first by Judge
Charles Dewey, of Charlestown (then State su-
preme judge), Mason C. Fitch, and Elias Ayres.
They subdivided it into smaller tracts and lots
to suit purchasers, and the ground, as well as
that of Jones, was long since swallowed up by
the city.

NEW ALBANY IN 1 849.

The following is from the Indiana Gazetteer,
published in 1849, an^ gives a picture of New
Albany at that date:

New Albany, either the first or second town as to popula-
tion in the State, and the seat of justice for Floyd county, is
beautifully situated on the Ohio, two miles below the falls,
in latitude thirty-eight degrees eighteen minutes north, and
longitude eight degrees forty-nine minutes west. It was laid
out in the summer of 1813, with wide streets running nearly
east and west parallel with the river, and others crossing
them at right angles, the most of which have been well mac-
adamized and the sidewalks paved. In 1834 the population
of New Albany was estimated at two thousand five hundred;
in 1840 it was four thousand tw:o hundred and twenty-six;
and at this time is over seven thousand. The number of
houses is about twelve hundred, of which one-fourth are
brick. Steamboat building and repairing is carried on to a
large extent there, and in the different kinds of mechanical
business connected with it, about five hundred hands are
constantly employed. There are in the city three iron foun-
dries and machine shops on a large scale, for the manufact-
ure of 'steam engines and machinery; one brass foundry;
one patent bagging factory for the manufacture of hempen
cloths, which cost fifty thousand dollars; and a marine rail-

way, which cost forty thousand dollars. There are also two
printing offices, a branch of the Stale bank, about one hun-
dred and twenty stores and groceries; two Methodist, two
Presbyterian, one Christian, one Episcopalian, one Lutheran,
and three Baptist churches; and the means to facilitate the
instruction of the young and the communication of knowl-
edge are highly creditable to the public spirit and liberality
of the citizens. Anderson's Collegiate Institute, chartered
by the Legislature; the Old-school Presbyterian Theological
seminary; two large district school buildings, erected at the
public expense at a cost twelve thousand dollars; a city
school endowed by the original proprietors, and a large num-
ber of private schools, are in operation, and all generally well
conducted. The railroad to Salem, and intended to be car-
ried still further, will soon add largely to the business and
prosperity of New Albany. The enterprise, industry, mo-
rality, and public spirit which have heretofore contributed so
much to its growth, will not fail to carry it onward hereafter.

The following extract is from C. W. Cottom's
pamphlet:

In i8t4 a large number of families removed to New Alba-
ny, and from that time forward, notwithstanding the near-
ness of Louisville and the start that town had gained in pop-
ulation and business, the contiguity of Jeffersonville and
Shippingport, and the laying-off and settlement of Portland
on the opposite side of the Ohio, with the active competition
those towns offered, New Albany had a steady and substan-
tial, though not rapid, growth.

July 14, 1839, New Albany was incorporated as a city, P.
M. Dorsey being the first mayor, Henry Collins the first re-
corder, Hon. John S. Davis the first city clerk. Edward
Brown, Sr. , the first treasurer, David Wilkinson the first col-
lector of taxes and city marshal. Of these officials Hon.
John S. Davis only survives, and has risen from the position
of city clerk to be one of the first lawyers in the State.

The first councilmen elected in 1839 were Patrick Crowlay,
James Collins, Israel C. Crane, Edward Brown, Hezekiah
Beeler, Samuel M. Bolin, Henry W. Smith, Randall Craw-
ford, Absalom Cox, William Underhill, Preston F. Tuley,
and E. VV. Benton. Of these Hezekiah Beeler is the sole
survivor.

The valuation of the property of the city for taxation in
1836 was $1,760,735, and the rate of taxation sixty-five cents
on the $100 of valuation. The population was four thousand
two hundred. At this time New Albany was famous, as at
present, for the heallhfulness of her situation, and began to
grow more rapidly, many important establishments in me-
chanics and manufactures, steamboat building, and mercan-
tile interests having sprung up. In 1839 an eminent citizen
of Boston visited the town and wrote back to the leading
newspaper of that city as follows : "The scenery from the
hills surrounding this charming town is beautiful and grand
beyond description, and cannot fail toentiance and enrapture
the traveler. The wide expanse of country, the sparkling
La Belle Riviere, winding tortuously on its course from a
point ten miles distant up the stream, to an equal distance
below the city; the falls, with their never-ceasing yet musical
roar; Jeffersonville and Louisville at their head; broad fields
crowned with the glories of a golden *harvest, and forests
wreathed in carmine-tinted and yellow and green foliage; the
Silver hills stretching away to the northeast, and intervening
slopes and fields, and densely wooded glens, with the river
hills towering from four to six hundred feet skyward to the
west, form a view of grandeur and beauty such as is nowhere
else to be witnessed and enjoyed in Indiana."

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

157

In 1850 the population of the city had increased to eight
thousand one hundred and eighty-one, and the increase in
the material interests of the city was proportionately ad-
vanced; in i860 the population was twelve thousand.
THE STATUS.

At the present time (1882) the population of
the city is about eighteen thousand. The follow-
ing extract regarding New Albany is from a
directory of the city published in 1868:

The city is situated at the foot of the Falls upon a high
bench above the overflow, except by extreme high water,
such as that in 1832. At that time that portion upon the
immediate bank of the rivet was inundated, but all the rest,
forming the greater portion of the city, was then and always
will be free from overflow. At the lower end of Main street
a spur of the knobs overlooks the city and surrounding coun-
try, and would furnish a site for waterworks of unsurpassed
utility and general fitness. * * * * *

New Albany being at the foot of the Kails, it was early
seen that she possessed some natural advantages, in respect
to trade on the river below, which could not be held by her
proud sister at the head of the Falls and on the other side of
the river; and, notwithstanding the many disadvantages
incident to her close proximity to that wealthy and powerful
city, whose shadow chilled and perhaps stunted her growth
for a time, she has gradually grown apace, gained strength,
and developed her proportions. As a shipping point the ad-
vantages of New Albany have long been acknowledged, and
since the completion of the New Albany & Salem railroad to
Michigan City, that branch of business has greatly increased.

INCORPORATED AS A CITY.

The following is an extract from the Act to in-
corporate the city of New Albany, and to repeal
all laws in force incorporating the town of New
Albany, approved February 14, 1839:

Section i. Be it enacted, etc., That so much of the
county of Floyd as lies within the following boundaries, to
wit: "Beginning on the Ohio river at the mouth of Falling
Run creek, thence up the centre of the channel of said creek
to the bridge at the Boiling spring; thence in a right line to
the southwest corner of the Griffin tract; thence with the
west line of said tract to the northwest corner thereof; thence
with the north line of said tract to the northeast corner there-
of; thence in a right line through Leonard's spring on the
Shilby tract, and onwards until it meets with the pro-
duced line of Jones' clay turnpike; thence southerly along
said produced line and the middle of said clay turnpike, to
the Ohio river, and thence with said river to the place of
beginning, extending across said river as far as the jurisdic-
tion of said State extends, and the persons residing within
said boundaries, are hereby created a body corporate and
politic, by the name and title of the city of New Albany, and
by that name may have perpetual succession, sue and be
sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended
against, at law and in equity, in all courts and places, and in
all matters whatsoever, contract and be contracted with."

The above boundaries have been changed and
extended to meet the requirements of the growth
of the city. Changes were made January 26,
1847; February 14, 1853; February 6, 1854;

March 7, 1854; September 4, 1854, and July 22,
1867.

CITY OFFICERS.

The following is a list of the officers chosen by
the people of New Albany to administer its af-
fairs and execute its laws, from the time it was
incorporated as a city until the present:

MAYORS.

P. M. Dorsey 1839-40

Shepard Whitman 1840-43

Silas Overturf 1843-44

James Collins 1844

William Clark 1844-47

William M. Wier 1847-49, 1850-52

John R. Franklin 1852-53, 1859-63

Joseph A. Moffatt 18 53-55

Jonathan D. Kelso '855-56

Franklin Warren 1856-59

Dumer M. Hooper 1863-65

William L. Sanderson 1865-68

William Hart 1868-71

Thomas Kunkle 1871-74

William B. Richardson 1874-75-77

Solomon Malbon 1877-79

Bela C. Kent ' i87_9-8i

COUNCILMEN.

FIRST WARD.

Patrick Crowley 1839-40

James Collins 1839-40, 1855-56

E. W. Benton 1839-40

Leonee Hoover 1840-45

William C. Conner 1841-42

G. C. Shively 1842-43

John Austin 1842-43

John Miller 1842-43

Thomas Sinex 1843-46

James E. Sage 1843-44

George Gresham 1844-48

Oliver Cassell l845"47

Thomas Conner 1846-47

William Clark 1847-48

Peleg Fiske 1847-48

A. P. Willard 1848-49

Alexander McCartney 1848-49

Isaac Hunt 1849-50

James B. Russell 1849-50

Martin H. Ruter 1849-50

James C. Mordy 1850-53

James Montgomery 1850-51

I. P. Smith 1850-51

H. R. Mathias 1851-52

Blaine Marshall 1851-52

Apollos Cassell 1852-53

Stewart Sanford 1852-54, 1856-58

Charles Van Dusen l853-54

Hiram Wilson '854-55

V. A. Pepin 1855-56

J. B. Powell 1855-56

L. G. Mathews 1857-58

Benjamin Lockwood ^1858-60

John McCulloch 1862-64

Daniel Sittason 1862-65

'58

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

E. M. Hubbert 1865-67

Christopher Fox 1867-69

John S. Davis 1869-77

Henry Wagner 1869

James Pierce 1869

George Beck 1872-74, 1877-79

M. M. Hurley 1874-76

George F. Penn t876-8o

A. J. Kistler 1879-81

SECOND WARD.

Israel Crane 1839-40

Edward Brown 1839-40

Hezekiah Beeler 1839-40

P. C. Smith 1840-42

James Brooks 1840-41

Silas Overturf 1840-41

Jacob Loughmiller 1841-42

William M. Wier 1841-45

David Hedden 1842-45

John P. Frank 1843-44

H. M. Dowling 1844-45

P. M. Wilcox 1845-47

Stephen Beers 1845-46

V. A. Pepin 1846-47-1852-53

John S. McDonald 1847-48-49-50, 1852-53

John Loughmiller 1847-48

P.M.Kent 1847-48

Samuel H. Owen 1848-50

Alfred S. Rager 1848-49

Oliver Dufour 1849-50

J ohn S. Davis 1850-52

Francis Jennings 1850-51

GeorgeV. Howk { JS** £jj£g

Henry Turner 1851-52

William S. Culbertson 1851-52

Bela C. Kent 1853-54, 1856-57

Adam Knapp '854-55

George Gresham 1855-56-57-59

David Crane '855-56-57-59

John Renshaw 1859-61, 1863-65, 1869

John H. Lee .' 1861-65

G. C. Carmon 1865-69

Prof. James Brown 1867-69

Edward Ford 1871-73

Edward M. Hubbert 1872-76

Sherman Frisbie l^73~75

Emery L. Ford 1874-76

H. A. Gifford 1875-77

Jacob Hangary 1876-78

William Dunbar 1877-81

Frank Dishman 1878-80

Louis Veinia 1881-

William Dunbar 1881-

THIRD WARD.

Samuel M. Bolin 1839-40

Henry W. Smith , 1839-40

Randall Crawford 1839-40

Peleg Fiske 1840-41

Henry Bogart. ... . 1840-42

William L. Sanderson 1840-42

Thorn us Danforth 1841-42

J. M. Morrison 1842-43

John Sloan 1842-43

John C. Conner 1842-43

John G. Hoff 1843-45

Abram Case , 1843-48

Benjamin Gonzalles 1843-44

N. H. Cobb 1844-46-47-49

William Plumer 1845-48-49-50

Jacob Hise 1846-47

George H. Harrison 1848-49

James Brooks 1849-150

John K. Woodward 1849-50, 1852-53

George V. Hawk 1850-51

John McBnde 1850-52

Peter R. Stoy 1850-51

William B. Lent 1851-53

William H. Fogg 1851-52

L. H. Naghel 1852-53

John S. Davis 1853-54. 1856-57

William M. Wier 1857-59

Augustus Bradley 1854-55, 1857-69

Ed. Q. Naghel 1855-56, 1865-67

P. M. Wilcox 1855-56

John B. Winstandly 1856-57, i867-"7

James M. Rawlins. . ,. 1857-58

Samuel H. Owens 1858-63

Ludwig Hurrle 1863-65

Charles H. Fawcett 1869-71

John Renshaw 1869-70

Wesley G. Hammond 1871-73

John H. Butler 1872-74

P. M. Kepley 1873-75. 1879-81

Alfred Hofield 1874-78

Frank Hoffer '875-77

James G. Harrison 1877-79

Charles E. Schiveley 1878-80

Philip Kepley 1881

Ferdinand Hollman 1881

FOURTH WARD.

Absalom Cox 1839-40

William Underhill 1839-40, 1843-55

Preston F. Tuley 1839-40, 1849-50

David M. Hall 1840-42

John Evans 1840-41, 1848-49

Dumer M. Hooper 1840-41

William Plumer 1841-42

John Thompson 1841-44, 1846-49

Charles Tyler. 1842-43

Seth Woodruff 1843-44

Peleg Fiske 1844-46

John Q. A. Smith 1844-46

Joseph A. Moffatt 184549

Andrew Schollars 1846-47

T. C. Shiveley 1846-47

John B. Anderson 1849-50

Louis H. Brown 1849-50

William Jones 1850-51

John Miller 1850-53

James Pierce '850-53

William B. Lent l854-55

Peter R. Stoy 1854-55

S. S. Marsh 1855-56

John F. Anderson 1855-56

A. W. Bentley 1856-57, 1858-61

C. A. Dorsey 1856-57, 1858-60

E. Q. Naghel 1857-58. 1859-63

Benjamin South '857-58

John W. Girard 1861-62

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

'59

Charles Sackett 1863-67

John H. Dorst 1862-69

John Shrader 1867-69

John B. Winstandley 1869-71, 1875-77

John Endris 1869-70

M. McDonald 1871-73

Lewis Vernia 1872-74

Frederick Wunderlich 1872-73

Michael Doherty 1873-75

Thomas J. Fullenlove 1874-76

Israel P. Parks 1876-78

John J. Richards 1878-79

Reuben P. Main 1877-80

Robert C. Knoefel 1879-81

FIFTH WARD.

James Pierce '853-55. 1863-68

John Bushnell '853-55

John W. Roberts ' 1855-57

Wesley G. Pierce 1855-61

D. M. Hooper 1857-59

W. P. Swift : 1859-63

Thomas F. Jackson 1861-71

Alexander Webster 1868-69

Peter R. Stoy 1869-79

George H. Devol 1871-73

Frank E. Dishman 1873-76

James Slider 1876

Charles E. Jones 1876-80

George P. Hnckely 1876-77

Charles E. Wible 1879-81

John Newhouse 1881

SIXTH WARD.

Jonathan D. Kelso 1853-54

Thomas Humphreys 1853-54

George M. C. Townsend 1854-59, 1869-71

Joseph St. John 1854-5S. 1857-61, 1867-73

Aaron Lyons 1856-57

Dewitt C. Hill 1856-57

William Jones 1858-65

Charles Wible 1861-67

John Busby 1867-69

Epaminondas Williams 1872-74, 1875-77

Joel Cogswell 1873-74

William Terry 1874-75

Jacob Alford 1874-76, 1877-79

Henry Koetter 1876-78

William H. Stephens, Sr 1878-81

Charles C. Jones 1879-81

RECORDER.

Henry Collins 1839-43

Peter A. Roan 1843-47

(Office abolished).

CITY JUDGE.

Henry Collins 1848-52

George V. Howk 1852-53

(Office abolished).

Jacob Herber 1873-74

(Office reinstated and again abolished).

CITY CLERK.

John S. Davis 1839-42

Joseph P. H. Thorton 1842-44

Stewart C. Cayce '844

William A. Scribner 1844-52

Elijah Sabin 1852-55

Robert Williams 1855-56

W. W. Tuley 1856-61

Robert M. Wiei 1861-67

Mathew I. Huette 1867-77

William B. Jackson 1877-81

TREASURER.

Edward Brown 1839-44

Thomas Danforth 1844-50

Abram Case 1850-51

Samuel M. Dorsey 1851-55. 1859-61

Michael Streepy i85<;-56

William M. Wier 1856-57

Theodore J. Elliott 1857-59

George Gresham 1861-67

Solomon Maibon 1867-75

Samuel M. Wier 1875-81

COLLECTOR.

David Wilkinson 1839-40

Peter A. Roan 1841-43

Martin C. Foster 1843-46

Stewart C. Cayce 1846-48

Obediah Childs 1848-50

(Office abolished.)

CITY MARSHAL.

David Wilkinson 1839-40, 1849-51

Jacob Anthony 1840-41

Martin C. Foster 1841-44

Augustus Jocelyn 1844

Robert Mercer 1844-45

James Newbank 1845-48, 1855-56

William B. Green 1848-49

Jeremiah Warner 1851-53

Paul E. Slocum 1853-54

Samuel M. Bolin 1854-55

Berry Gwin 1856-58

Thomas Akers 1858-71

Thomas Kendall 1871-75

David W. Carpenter 1875-81

ASSESSOR.

J. C. Jocelyn 1847-56, 1858-66

Reuben Robertson 1856-58

A. W. Monroe 1866-69

Lyman S. Davis 1869-71

John E. Meyer 1871-73, 1875-77

George Cook '873-75

Theodore Marsh , 1877-79

(Office abolished).

«TY ATTORNEY.

James C. Moodey 1843-46

John S. Davis 1846-47

Theodore J . Barnett 1847-48

P. M. Kent 1849-50

Elijah Sabin 1850-51

William S. Hillyer 1851-52

D. C. Anthony 1852-54, 1855-56

M- c Kerr 1854-55

John H. Stotsenburg 1856-59

F. G. Dannacher 1859-61

Alexander Dowling 1861-65, 1871-75

William F. L. Morgan 1865-67

James V. Kelso 1867-71, 1877-79

i6o

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Jacob Herter '875-77

David W. I.afollette 1879-81

CIVIL ENGINEER.

Horace B. Wilson 1850-56

L. B. Wilson 1856-58

John Taylor 1858-63

George M. Smith 1863-77

Hart Vance 1877-79

Charles O. Bradford 1879-81

STREET COMMISSIONER.

Martin C. Foster 1842-43, 1844-46

Seth Woodruff. 1 843-44

James Newbanks 1846-47

John Bruner 1847-48, 1849-52

G. C. Schively, Sr 1848-49

John Farrel 1849-53

F. A. Hutcherson 1853-55

D. M. Hooper 1855-56

William Bosley 1856-57

Jacob Evans 1857-63

Fred Ailer 1863-69

Charles McKenna 1869-73

John F. Anderson '873-75

Mike Doherty 1875-77

David W. Miller 1877-81

CITY WEIGHER.

A. E. Taylor 1847-48

Isam Key 1848-49

John Watkins 1849-50, 1851-55

C. A. Dorsey 1850-51. 1859-64

Eli Harlan 1855-56

Thomas Boardman 1856-59

Samuel Sisloff 1864-81

CHIEF OF FIRE DEPARTMENT.

V. A. Pepin 1853-54

William M. Wier 1854-55

Charles Wible 1855-56

Peleg Fiske 1856-57

Ed Q. Naghel 1857-59

Jasper Blvthe 1859-62

Thomas Akers 1862-63

John H. Dorst 1863-64

Stephen Stuckey 1864-65

William B. Plumer 1865-67

William Merker 1867-78

Everett Wattam 1879-80

William Merker 1881 —

CHIEF OF POLICE.

D. B. Star P 1870-71 '

Joel D. Smith 1871-73

William A. Carpenter '873-75, 1878-79

Benjamin Bounds 1875-76

David W. Carpenter 1876-78

Thomas E. Spence 1879-80

Thomas Smithwick 1881 —

FIRE DEPARTMENT AND WATER WORKS.

For more than half a century the town and
city were without water-works, and for forly years
the fire fiend was fought by volunteer fire com-
panies in the usual way — first with the old leather

bucket and later with hose and hand engines, and
still later with steam engines. In the early days
when a fire occurred the men ranged themselves
in lines from the fire to the nearest water, and
the leather buckets were passed rapidly along the
line from hand to hand, until the fire was extin-
guished. As the city grew the dangers arising
from fire increased in proportion, as did also the
city's efforts to organize and more thoroughly
prepare for fighting the fiery element. In
1854, it is ascertained that the city con-
tained, five well organized and equipped fire
companies, numbering in all three hundred
and sixty-five members, with $20,500 worlh of
material for the extinguishment of fires, includ-
ing steam and hand engines, hose, hose-carts,
ladders, etc. It was not until 1865 that the city
began to pay its firemen for their services, and
since that time the fire department has been
considered a paid one.

As at present constituted, the material of the
New Albany fire department consists of but one
steamer, which is retained principally for use in
case of possible failure of the water-works dur-
ing a fire; one hook-and-ladder truck, and three
reel-carriages. The department, including all
expenses, is sustained at an annual cost of about
$12,000. Fire-plugs are placed at convenient
distances throughout the city, and the larger
number of families keep in their houses a suf-
ficient amount of hose to put out an ordinary
fire on their premises without the aid of the fire
comj^any. William Merker has been for many
years the chief engineer.

The present water-works were constructed in
1875; the coinjxiny formed for that purpose con-
sisting of Messrs. Morris McDonald, Hiram C.
Cannon, John F. Gebhart, John K. Woodward,
Jesse J: Brown, William S. Culbertson, and Rob-
ert G. McCord. These gentlemen associated
themselves together under the corporate name
of The New Albany Water-Works. The ordi-
nance passed by the city council at that time
stipulates "that the cavjacity of the proposed
water-works shall be such as to supply water upon
demand during any hour of any given twenty-
four, and for three hundred and sixty-five days
of each year during the prevalence of fire in said
city." Hydrants were to be conveniently dis-
tributed throughout the city by the company,
and drinking hydrants to be maintained at each

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

161

of the public parks. The company not being
able to complete the works within the time first
specified in the contract, the time was extended
by the council to July i, 1876, and the works
were finally accepted by the council August n,
1876. The following regarding these works was
published in the New Albany Ledger-Standard
in 1877:

There is no city possessing superior water-works to New
Albany. Thev are on the high-pressure system. The res-
ervoirs, two in number, are located on top of the knobs
about five thousand feet from and about two hundred feet
ahove the city, giving a force to project water to the height
of one hundred and fifty-five feet. The pump-house is about
four thousand feet distant from the reservoirs. The water is
taken from the Ohio river, and is raised two hundred and
sixty-seven feet above low-water mark. The erection of the
works began during 1875, and were completed so far as to
supply the city, July 1, 1876. On July 12th the first test of
the efficiency of the works, as a fire service, was made. At
this test eight streams of water, one inch in diameter, were
thrown simultaneously for one hour to an altitude of one
hundred and twenty-five feet. The capacity of the works is
ample for forty-five thousand people, and can be easily in-
creased when consumption requires it. The engine and en-
gine room are specimens of beauty and substantiality.
The reservoirs are united by one heavy seam, and are ar-
ranged to settle and clean the water before passing into the
city pipes. There areover fourteen miles of distributing pipe
laid, upon which there ire one hundred and thirty fire-
hydrants. The price for water is but half that charged by
other cities in the West and South. This, in itself, is a great
consideration for those using large quantities of water for
manufacturing purposes.

The works are owned by a stock company, and have cost
thus far about two hundred thousand dollars. The officers
are: J. F. Gebhart, president; W. N. Mahon, secretary;
F. Scheffold, superintendent; Charles Fitch, Sr., engineer,
J. J. Brown, W. S. Culbertson, G. C. Cannon, R. G. Mc-
Cord, J. K. Woodward, Morris McDonald, and J. F. Geb-
hart, directors.

While building the works, many persons apprehended that
the pipes would not be sufficient to sustain the pressure, but
all such apprehensions were without foundation. Not a
single break has occurred in the entire distributing system.
The pipes were made by Messrs. Dennis Long & Co., of
Louisville, Kentucky, which is the largest manufactory of its
kind in the United States. * * * *

By the building of water-works, New Albany has obtained
large advantages over other cities. The city being nearly
level, an equal pressure of water is maintained throughout all
its parts. Many of the manufactories have abandoned force-
pumps, and use only the natural pressure of the water to
force itself into the boilers, thereby saving machinery and ex-
pense. In the matter of fire insurance, prices have been re-
duced twenty to fifty per cent, from former rates. Steam
fire-engines are no longer appreciated, fire-hydrants being far
more efficient. Persons wishing to run small machinery, can
do so by the use of water motors, at a cost of not more than
fifty cents per day per one-horse-power. The water is soft
and well adapted for all manufacturing purposes, as well as
for family uses. In short, no city possesses more efficient
water-works than New Albany.

THE GAS COMPANY.

A number of attempts were made to furnish
the city with gas before the work was fully and
finally accomplished. The first company was
formed in April, 1851, with a capital of $50,000;
works were erected, and the city first lighted
with gas December, 1853. The charter of this
company had twenty years to run, and having
expired a new company was formed in 1870,
acting by authority granted by the city council.
By an ordinance passed March 22, 1870, author-
ity was granted to Washington C. DePauw, Nel-
son Fordice, and George V. Howk, and their
associates, who were generally interested in the
old company, to form a new company with the
corporate name of The Gas Light and Coke
company of New Albany. Their charter ex-
tended twenty years from April 1, 187 1. In
1873 Mr/- Cottom thus wrote of the city gas-
works :

There are now nine and one-half miles of main-pipe laid
down, and at nearly every meeting of the city council, peti-
tions for the extension of the gas are received and granted.
Water, Main, Market, and Spring streets, that traverse the
city from east to west its entire length, are lighted by gas;
also a large number of cross streets. This is done at the
public expense and requires three hundred and fifteen street
lamps, lighting one hundred and five squares. All the
churches, public halls, and other public buildings are lighted
by gas. Few cities in the West possess equal, and none
superior advantages in regard to light.

BOARD OF HEALTH.

The first board of health was authorized by
the city council, and organized August 21, 1S55.
Since that time the city has been generally kept
in excellent sanitary condition. At this date
(1881) Dr. John Sloan is president of the board.

BENEVOLENT, SECRET, AND OTHER SOCIETIES.

Societies of every kind are plentiful in the city;
those of a benevolent and charitable character
being especially conspicuous and strong. Head-
ing the list of charitable institutions is the

old ladies' home,
an account of which appears in the Ledger-
Standard of November, 1873, as follows:

Never was there a time or season more fitting than the
present to inaugurate and set into active operation an insti-
tution that will touch all hearts with sympathy and good-will
as the Widows' Home, which opened yesterday in our city.
The very name is suggestive of comfort, good cheer, and
contentment.

Eleemosynary institutions in this or any other country are
rarely conceived and supported and endowed by a single in-
dividual, which is done in the instance which we are about

162

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

to mention. But wherever they are found, they are monu-
ments along the track of the ages to mark the progress of
civilization, humanity, Christianity. A heart imbued, ex-
alted, and sublimed, with plans and purposes to relieve and
rescue suffering humanity in this sin-sick world, lives not only
to some purpose, but carries with him the spirit and precept
of our Divine Lord and Master.

Mr. William S. Culbertson, our esteemed fellow-towns-
man, has to-day, by the erection of this Widows' Home,
reared unto himself a monument that shall be more enduring
than the marble which will decorate his own tomb some dis-
tant day. He is now the prince of gift-makers. He does
this good deed in a quiet, unostentatious manner. We chal-
lenge the parallel in munificence within the boundaries of our
State, or anywhere this side of the Alleghanies.

Mr. Culbertson possesses among his many rare traits, a
quick, intuitive grasp of mind, which reduces everything to a
speedy practical turn, whether it be business or benevolence.
His charity begins at home, where he can see the good it
does. It was no doubt in such a mood as this that he con-
ceived and executed the enterprise which to-day has resulted
in ornamenting our city with a building worthy of the name
of "Widows' Home." The selection of that class of worthy
ladies whose unfortunate circumstances have bereft them of
the comforts of home and made them too often friendless
and alone, was certainly eminently proper and wise. Alas,
how often these truly deserving and praiseworthy women
have suffered the pangs of penury and want, suffered of dis-
ease and misery, suffered for home, suffered for friends, and
"found them not." Each and all of us know many instances
in life, similarly situated, wherein Mr. Culbertson's benevo-
lence would be to them as a beacon light to a home-bound
sailor.

The situation of the Widows' Home, among the costly
and pleasant residences on Main street, was judicious, as
there is nothing to distinguish it from any other large and
handsome private dwelling. Two gates and one carriage
way are entrances, through iron and stone fence of desirable
pattern, which lead to this mansion and abode of widows.
The neatly sodded turf, serpentine and gravel walks, together
with easy rising stone steps, lead up to the doorways. Iron
verandas, bay windows in front, massive balconies in rear,
and ample ground stretching out to view, together with other
conveniences, form no inconsiderable part of the external
surroundings. In the artistic merits of painting, much taste
has been displayed. There are four stories, including the
basement and attic, which are no inferior parts of the domi-
cile. Fifteen or sixteen rooms, high ceilings, large and airy,
comprise the apartments. What renders these rooms more
particularly desirable is the front view given to so many of
them. The kitchen has all the modern utensils usual to such
culinary establishments. A dumb waiter, a cellar full of
coal, wash-room, bath-room, water-closet up stairs, wide
halls, easy flights of stairs, are the features of this establish-
ment. All are papered and painted. The doors are superbly
done. We never saw any before done as these are. Gas
chandeliers and burners are abundant all over the house.
The heating arrangement has been peculiarly regarded,
and nopart of the building in use has been omitted in
this particular. The carpets are of tasteful pattern and
produce a pleasing effect to the rooms. The bedsteads are
iron, of unique pattern, furnished by some Boston firm.
They are single beds three feet and a half wide. The iron
bedstead is the most popular now of any throughout En-
gland. The diBing-room, 26 x 16 feet, is, as it should be,
one of the pleasantest rooms— wainscotted and otherwise

decorated to make it serviceable. The sleeping apartments
are commodious, cheerful, and well ventilated. Very few
people in our city occupy dwellings near so luxurious as our
friends here. The visitor goes over the Home feeling really
this is a home indeed. Nothing stingy, nothing mean, be-
cause it would be cheap, can be detected in any part of the
workmanship, but every part is grand, massive, just the thing
for ages. Mr. Bane, the supervising architect and builder,
has embodied the magnanimity of the generous giver, who
never did anything by halves in his life. The Widows'
Home will accommodate thirty or more inmates. Mr. Cul-
bertson has already endowed it to the amount he deems
necessary, but if, on experience, he finds the amount insuffi-
cient, he will make the provision ample to run it long after
his death. It will not be sectarian in religion, though re-
ligious services will be held therein daily. The rules and
regulations respecting the moral and religious government of '
the inmates certainly seem more generous and tolerant than in
institutions of this kind generally. Miss Mary Baldwin, a
daughter of Captain Baldwin, Sr., will be matron, and the
selection of this lady was very proper, on account of her
many estimable qualities, besides her good judgment in
household matters. Under the advisory counsel of Mr.
and Mrs. William S. Culbertson, who will be sole directors,
we cannot doubt but that the Widows' Home will become
an institution of much good, but the honor which shall be
reflected from so praiseworthy a benefaction as Mr. Culbert-
son's may be imitated in some other form equally substantial
by others of wealth, who are citizens of our city.

Next to the Old Ladies' Home comes the
orphans' home,
a charitable institution which does the city much
credit. It is situated on the southwest corner of
Bank and Spring streets, and was established
three or four years ago by charitably inclined
ladies of the city. It has been since its establish-
ment in charge of the ladies of the different city
churches. The building, a commodious brick, was
presented to the society by Mrs. W. C. DePauw.
It is in charge of a matron, and quite a number
of homeless children are being cared for and
educated here. The officers are Mrs. Augustus
Bradley, president; Mrs. Martha Mahon, secre-
tary; Mrs. Haskins, treasurer, and Mrs. Mary
P. McClain, matron.

Steps are being taken to erect a new home
above Vincennes street, between Oak and Elm,
in which New Albany's philanthropist, William
S. Culbertson, is prominently interested.

MASONIC.

The ancient and honorable fraternity of Free
Masons is in a most flourishing condition in the
city,' twelve lodges of various kinds and degrees
being at present in active operation.

The first lodge of Masons established here
was known as Ziff lodge, No. 8, and was organ-
ized September 14, 181 8. Dr. Asahel Clapp

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

163

was influential in securing the organization, and
was chosen the first worshipful master. Charles
Paxson was the first senior warden, and Lathrop
Elderkin was the first junior warden. The
charter for this lodge was granted by the Grand
lodge then in session at Madison, Indiana, with
W. H. H. Sheets, M. W. G. M., and W. C.
Keene, secretary.

Ziff lodge was sustained a number of years, but
failed for some reason, and far a few years New
- Albany was without a lodge of Masons. The
present New Albany lodge, No. 39, took the
place of the Ziff lode in 1834. The lodge for a
short time worked under a dispensation granted
by the Grand lodge October 3, 1833; the
charter was granted and the lodge regularly insti-
tuted December ir, 1834. The first officers
were Stephen Whiteman, W. M.; William Hurst,
S. W., and Alexander McClellan, J. W. The
present officers of this lodge are J. Peters, W.
M.; Frank Brooks, S. W.j J. J. Richards, J. W.;
M. A. Wier, treasurer; F. D. Connor, secretary;
J. M. Nichols, S. D.; L. R Huckely, J. D.;
Louis Lash, tyler. The times of meeting are on
the first and third Thursdays of each month.

Jefferson lodge, No. 104, came into exist-
ence in 1849, dispensation being granted Oc-
tober 20th of that year. The lodge received
its charter May 29, 1850. The charter members
and officers were Thomas Oscar Johnson, W. M.;
Francis A. Hutcherson, S. W.; William H. Fogg,
J. W.; Peter Tellon, treasurer; Ed F. Shields,
secretary; William Hart, S. D.; A. Baxter, J. D.;
and P. Y. J. Armstrong, tyler. The present of-
ficers of this lodge are Thomas Deming, W. M. ;
J. B. Mitchell, S. W.; B. B. Stewart, J. W.; W. F.
Tuley, treasurer; C. O. Bradford, secretary; R.
E. King, S. D.; Robert Morris, J. D.; and G. L.
Eisman, tyler. The times of meeting are the
second and fourth Thursdays in each month.

The third lodge in the city, known as DePauw
lodge, No. 338, was organized April 27, 1867,
and meets the second and fourth Tuesdays in
each month. The officers are F. M. Tribbey,
W. M.; Joseph Jutton, S. W.; Levi Pierce, J. W.;
Stephen Scharf, treasurer; T. E. Fogle, secretary;
James Atkinson, S. U.; John Pierce, J. D.; and
John B. Crawford, tyler.

Besides those named, there is a German lodge
known as Pythagoras lodge, No. 355, which
meets the first and third Wednesday in each

month. Its officers are A. F. Sharff, W. M.;
Joseph Reibel,.S. W.; A. Hoffield, J. W.; Freder-
ick Wunderlick, treasurer; G. Gerst, secretary;
Jacob Kreutzer, S. D.; Charles Sloemer, J. D.;
and Henry Denny, tyler.

The four above-named lodges are known as
Blue lodges of the Ancient York Masons.

Of the higher masonic bodies, there are the New
Albany Chapter, No. 17, of Royal Arch Masons;
Indiana Council, No. 1, of Royal and Select Mas-
ters; and New Albany Commandery, No. 5,
Knights Templars. The first-named was or-
ganized May 24, 185 1, its meetings being held
the second Monday of each month. The officers
at present are Joseph Jutton, M. E. H. P.; S. W.
Wells, E. K; H. J. Needham E. Scribe; Robert
Brockman,C. H.;F.T. Wilson, P. S.;T. E. Fogle,
R. A. Cap.; L. L. Pierce, G. M. Third V.; W. P.
Davis, G. M. Second V.; D. E. Sittason, G. M.
First V.; Henry Beharrell, treasurer; M. D. Con-
diff, secretary; B. Crawford, G. and J. J. Indi-
ana Council, No. 1, was organized January 7,
1854. It meets the third Monday in each
month. Its officers at present are Joseph Jutton,
master; S. W. Wells, Dep. I. M.; W. P. Davis,
P. C. W. K.; E. E. Sittason, C. Guard; H. Be-
harrell, treasurer; M. D. Condiff, Rec; and T.
B. Crawford, Sen. The New Albany Com-
mandery, No. 5, Knights Templars, was organ-
ized December 22, 1854, and meets the fourth
Monday in each month. Its officers are H. J.
Needham, Com.; W. Breyfogle, Gen.; W. P.
Davis, Capt. Gen.; Robert Brockman, prelate;
Seth W. Wells, S. W.; D. G. Hudson, J. W.; H.
Beharrell, treasurer; M. D. Condiff, recorder; T.
E. Deshinan, sword bearer; Joseph Jutton,
standard-bearer; F. Wilson, warden; T. B. Craw-
ford, sentinel.

The Masonic General Relief committee, for
purposes of benevolence, was organized January
28, 1868.

Added to the above lodges are the following
lodges of Scotish Rite Masons, to-wit: De Mo-
lay Consistory, No. 5; Mount Moriah Chapter
Rose Croix, No. 5; Burning Bush Lodge of Per-
fection, No. 7; and Zerubabel Council Princes
of Jersualem. DeMolay Consistory, No. 5,
meets the first Wednesday in March, June, Sep-
tember, and December. The officers are : J. G.
Shields, 33°, commander in chief; S. Albert, 320,
First L. C; John Nafus, 32°, Second L. C; C. C.

164

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Haskins, 32°, M. and G. O; J. P. Hannan, 32°,
G. C; M. D. Condiff, 32°, G. C.^nd K. of S.;
Henry Beharrell, 33°, G. T.j C. F. Cutter, 32°,
G. E. and A.; George. Ehrhart, 320, G H.; H.
J. Reamer, 32°, G. S. B.; Louis Goodbub, 320,
G. C. of G.; L. L. Gorner, 32°, G. S.

Mount Moriah Chapter Rose Croix, No. 5,
meets the first Wednesday in February, May,
August and November. The officers are:
George H. Koch, 32°, M. W. and P. M.; George
Ehrhart, 32°, S. W.; J. P. Hannan, 32°, J. W.j J.
Losey, 320, G. O; H. Beharrell, 32°, treasurer;
M. D. Condiff, 32°, secretary; H. J. Reamer,
32°, H. O. S. P.; VV. W. Tuley, 32°, M. of C;
L. L. Gormer, 32°, C. G.

Burning Bush Lodge of Perfection, No 7, A.
and A. S. Rite, meets the first Monday in each
month. George H. Koch, 32°, T. G. P. M.;
J. P. Hannan, 32°, B. P., Louis Goodbub, 32°,
G. S. W.j Frederick Wunderhch, 32°, G. J. W.;
C. C. Haskins, 140, G. O.; M. D. Condiff, 32°,
G. S.; H. Beharrell, 32°, G. T.; George Ehrhart,
32°, G. M. of C; John Nafus, 320, G. C. of G;
H. J. Reamer, 32°, G. H. P.; L. L. Gormer,
G. T.

Zerubabel Council, Princes of Jerusalem,
meets first Wednesday in January, April, July,
and] October. The officers are: George M.
Ehrhart, 32°, M. E. Sor. P. G. M.; John P.
Harman, 32°, D. G. M.; Louis Goodbub, 32°,
M. E. S. G. W.; George H. Koch, 320, M. E. J.
G W.; M. D. Condiff, 32°, G. Sec. K of S.
and A.; H, Beharrell, 32°, G. Treas.; W. W.
Tuley, 32°, G. M. of C; H. J. Reamer, 320,
G. M. of E.; L. L. Gorner, 32°, Gen Sen.

All the Masonic lodges above named met at
their hall, located on the southwest corner of
Pearl and Market streets. The Independent
Grand Imperial Council of the Red Cross of
Rome and Constantine, for the State of Indiana,
holds its annual meetings in June in New Albany.

In addition to the above, there is a colored
lodge known as St. John lodge, No. 8, Free and
Accepted Masons, whose meetings are held the
first Monday in each month, at their hall on the
west side of State street, between Elm and Oak.
This lodge claims to work under dispensation
granted by the Grand lodge of England.

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.

There are eight lodges of this order in the
city, and the Mutual Benefit Association.

The first lodge of Odd Fellows here, and the
first in the State of Indiana — New Albany lodge,
No 1 — was organized November 12, 1835, and
was re-organized August 13, 1851. It meets
every Monday evening. Charles W. South, N.
G. ; William Scales, R. S.; J. B. Friend, treasu-
rer.

New Albany lodge, No. 10, meets every Thurs-
day evening. William R. Graves, N. G; George
Larke, V.*G.; J. W^ Buck, secretary; C. E. Jones,
P. S.; I. G. Strunk, treasurer.

Hope lodge, No. 83, meets every Friday even-
ing. E. W. Fawcett, N. G.; R. M. Wilcoxson,
V. G; Andrew Fite, R. S.; J. B. Banks, P. S.; J.
W. Seabrooks, treasurer.

Humboldt lodge, No. 234 (German), meets
every Wednesday evening. Jacob Weber, N.
G; M. Fronmiller, V. G; Jacob Young, R. S.;
Charles Fogel, P. S.; John Irion, treasurer.

Jerusalem Encampment, No. 1, meets every
first and third Tuesday in each month. L. Bir,
C. P.; George Edmondson, H. P.; George Lark,
S. W.j Alexander Webster, J. W.; James Phillips,
S.; W. M. Mix, F. S.; E. Wattam, treasurer.

Pierce Encampment, No. 100, meets every
second Wednesday in each month. Christ
Whiteman, C. P.; George Webler, H. P.; Conrad
Kraft; S. W.; Philip Schneider, S.; Stephen
Scharf, treasurer.

Ruth lodge, No. 1, Daughters of Rebekah,
meets every second and fourth Tuesday in each
month.

New Albany Degree lodge, No. 1, meets every
second and fourth Saturday in each month.

Odd Fellows Mutual Aid Association of New
Albany, meets first Thursday in each month.
J. B. Mitchell, president; Llew Russell, vice
president; William M. Mix, secretary; Charles F.
Jones, treasurer.

The place of meeting of the above-named
lodges is at their hall on Market street, north-
east corner of Bank.

The following colored lodges of the city claim
to work under charter granted by the Grand
lodge of England :

Edmonds lodge, No. 1544, meets first and
third Tuesday in each month at hall, west side
State, between Elm and Oak.

St. Paul's lodge, No. 1540, meets second and
fourth Wednesday in each month at hall, north-
east corner Lower Fourth.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

165

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.

The first society of this secret and benevolent
order in New Albany was instituted in Septem-
ber, 1870, since which time its growth has been
so rapid that there are now three lodges in this
city. Their hall is situated on State street, be-
tween Main and Market.

Friendship lodge, No. 10, meets on every
Wednesday evening. C. M. Nutt, C. G.; John
Stafford, V. C; Thomas Park^ P.; Louis Brown,
K\ of R. and S.; J. B. Banks, M. of F.; Andy
Weir, M. of E.; Theodore Deming, trustee; Nor-
man Campbell, P. C.

Ivanhoe lodge, No. 15, meets every Monday
evening. P. C. Smith, C. C; George H. Ed-
mondson, V. C; Albert Young, P.; H. M.
Cooper, K. of R and S.; R. Robinson, M. of
R; P. H. Barrett, M. of E.; John Seabrook,
trustee; H. Stacy, P. C.

Rowena lodge, No. 28, meets every Friday
evening. Brewer S. Senix, C. C. ; E.A. Graham,
V. C; George H. Beers, prelate; James W.
Buck, K. of R. & S.; W. A. Loughmiller, M. of
F.; James Phillips, M. of E.; E. Wattam, trus-
tee ; W. A. Manor, P. C.

' KNIGHTS OF HONOR.

New Albany lodge, No. 922, meets every
Tuesday night at hall, Cannon block, east side
of Pearl, between Main and Market street.

Osceola lodge, No. 47, meets every Wednes-
day night at hall, Cannon block, east side Pearl,
between Main and Market.

IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN.

Pawnee tribe, No. 37, meets every Wednes
day evening at hall, Market, northwest corner of
Pearl.

TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES.

Red Ribbon Reform club meets every Thurs-
day evening at hall, south side of Main street,
between Pearl and Bank. C W. Cottom, presi-
dent ; W. H. Stevens, secretary and treasurer.

Ladies' White Ribbon club, meets the first
Tuesday in each month, at hall, Bank, southeast
corner of Spring.

Ladies' Christian Temperance union, meets
every Thursday afternoon, at hall, southeast cor-
ner of Spring.

TEMPLE OF HONOR AND TEMPERANCE.

Dudley Temple of Honor and Temperance,

No. 7, organized in 1848, meets every Wednes-
day evening, atjhall, Nos. 273 and 275 Main.

New Albany Council No. 3, Temple of Honor
and Temperance, meets the second and fourth
Mondays of each month, at 273 and 275 Main.

Excelsior Social Temple No. 8, Temple of
Honor and Temperance, meets every Friday
evening of each month, at hall, 273 and 275
Main.

New Albany Puritas lodge, No. 15, Independ-
ent Order of Good Templars, meets every Tues-
day evening, at hall, Pearl, southeast corner of
Spring. Organized in 1856.

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

This society was first organized about 1858, and
made considerable progress prior to the war.
That great struggle caused the suspension of
many enterprises, and among others, the Young
Men's Christian association of New Albany. In
1868 it was again organized, with the follow-
ing officers: D. W. Voyles, president; William
Day, vice president; William C. Shaw, recording
secretary; Charles Stewart, corresponding secre-
tary; and James G. Shields, treasurer. For some
reason this organization was not a permanent
one, and it was a third time organized June 9,
i87r, and became a corporate body October 17,
1871. The association has a large and active
membership, a library, and a public reading-
room, where a large number of newspapers and
periodicals are on file for the accommodation of
the public.

SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY.

This society was organized in 1866, with John
Sloan, M. D., president, and E. S. Crosier sec-
retary. The society has a considerable collec-
tion of specimens of the stone age, shells, fishes,
birds, reptiles, and insects of various kinds, as
well as in mineralogy, fossils, geology, Indian
remains, etc., and the nucleus of a library.

OTHER SOCIETIES.

There are many other secret and benevolent
societies in the city, of which the following are
the principal: American Bible society; Meth-
odist Episcopal Church Extension society; Ger-
man American School society, organized in 1866;
Workingmen's Library association; New Albany
Medical society; New Albany Township library,
with about fifteen hundred volumes; American
Protestant association; St. Joseph's Benevolent

1 66

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

society; United Order of American Mechanics; St.
Patrick's Benevolent society, organized in 1866;
the Druids (German), organized in i860; New
Albany Rifle club; First German Benevolent so-
ciety, organized in 1851; Harugari society; Jae-
ger Verein; French Benevolent society; Inde-
pendent Turner society, organized in 1868; Ship
Caulkers' and Carpenters' union, organized in
1863; Engineers' association; Puddlers' union;
Typographical union; Glass Blowers' union;
Cordwainers' union, and many other unions of
the several trades.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The first society of this character here was or-
ganized in May, 1857. It officers were, Thomas
H. Collins, president; William B. Lent, vice-
president; Noah H. Cobb, treasurer; Peleg Fiske,
recording secretary; W. W. Tuley corresponding
secretary. At their first meeting the members
discussed the propriety of having a field exhibi-
tion the coming fall, and also the propriety of
purchasing ground for that purpose, a committee
reporting that ground suitable could not be had
at less than from $150 to $400 per acre. Sub-
sequently Thomas H. Collins, Martin Verry, and
Thomas Dewey were appointed a committee to
purchase grounds " whenever sufficient money
was subscribed by the citizens of the county to
pay for them." Many members advised against
holding a fair alone, as the county was too small,
and advocated uniting with Harrison or Clarke
counties.

In the spring of 185S the present fairgrounds
were purchased — or sixty-three acres were pur-
chased at that date, nine acres being subsequent-
ly added. The sum of $7,500 was paid for this
ground, or was to be paid for it, and $3,000 were
immediately expended in the erection of suitable
buildings and in preparing the grounds for use.
The first fair was held in the fall of 1858, and
the second in the fall of 1859, neither of which
was so successful as to enable the society to get
out of debt. In the spring of i860 the society
made an effort to get the State fair to the New
Albany grounds, and in order to accomplish this
object agreed to raise $5,000 for a premium list
and give the State fair all the receipts. This was
a bad bargain for the society, and was instru-
mental, together with the breaking out of the
war, in successfully ruining the society. The
State fair did well, taking away $8,000 gate

money. The ground was heavily mortgaged,
and the society was unable to pay for it. No
fairs were held during the war, and nothing done
in the way of settling up affairs; and in 1866-67
the mortgage was foreclosed and the property
passed into the hands of the original owner,
David Hedden. During the war the grounds
were used as a camp for the soldiers. They have
since changed owners, passing from Mr. Hedden
to Bela C. Kent, a/id then to W. C. DePauw, the
present owner. No fairs have been held since
those named, and no agricultural society is at
present in existence in the county. The grounds
are in good shape for a fair, having an amphi-
theater and all the necessary buildings, an ex-
cellent race track a mile in length, and a good
fence around the whole. The grounds are only
partly cleared, and in the grove of fine trees are
held picnic parties and public meetings of
various kinds.

CEMETERIES.

Mr. Cottom thus writes regarding the cem-
etries of New Albany: "There are in the vicinity
of the city four cemeteries. These are the North-
ern burial-ground, under the control of the city,
but really the property of lot owners. This is
a most beautiful cemetery, very finely laid off, and
ornamented with forest trees, evergreens, and
flowering shrubs. It contains a large number of
very fine monuments and other memorials of the
departed, who there await in the silence of death
the great awakening. It has been a public burial
ground for over thirty years. The St. Mary's
cemetery is owned by the St. Mary's Catholic
church, and is a beautifully laid off and orna-
mented burial ground.

"Holy Trinity Catholic cemetery is also loca-
ted near the city, and is a beautiful spot.

"The Soldiers' National cemetery is located
a short distance east of the city, upon an eminence
overlooking one of the finest landscapes around
the falls of the Ohio. Within this cemetery three
thousand galla nt soldiers, who lost their lives in
the late civil war, sleep in death, to hear of wars
no more. The Government has decorated this
cemetery in a manner to make it one of the most
beautiful in the country. An elegant house stands
upon the grounds, in which the sexton of the
cemetery, a soldier appointed by the Govern-
ment, resides. A large number of wealthy and
prominent citizens have formed a cemetery asso-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

167

ciation under the name of Forest Hill cemetery,
and will purchase from two hundred to two hun-
dred and fifty acres of land, which they will plat
and decorate in a manner to make it as attractive
as any cemetery grounds in the country. The
capital stock of this company is $150,000.

THE TAX ASSESSMENT FOR 1 88 I.

Floyd county — Number of polls, 2,481; male
dogs, 1,269; female dogs, m; value of lands,
$1,121,045; value of improvements on lands,
$275,300; value of lots, $1,981,165; value of im-
provements on ' lots, $2,239,433; corporation
stock, $979,275; personal property, $2,546,345;
total taxables, $9,142,565. The total taxes to
be collected on this assessment is $76,117.61.
Of this the city of New Albany has the following:
Polls, 1,498; male dogs,395; female dogs, 152:
value of lots, $1,924,295; improvements on lots,
$2,098,205; corporation stock, $979,275; per-
sonal property, $1,463,350; total $6,465,125,
upon which the taxes are $47,300.87.

POPULATION.

The following table shows in a condensed form
the population of New Albany, at the dates
named: in 1840, 4,226; in 1847, 5>996; in 1&5°t
8,181; in 1852, 10,968; in 1853, 13,500; in 1854,
16,590; in 1870, 15,396; in 1880, 17,570.

CHAPTER VII.

NEW ALBANY— FERRIES AND STEAMBOATS.
FIRST FERRIES.

"Ferry rights" were among the most import-
ant considerations in the purchase of land on the
river bank, and were always mentioned in the
deed conveying the land, and thus transferred
from one owner to another. It was many years
before ferrymen were compelled to pay for the
establishment of a ferry other than as above
mentioned, but during these years there was lit-
tle to be made out of the business. Ferries that
were established prior to the establishment of the
town or county were not compelled to pay
license.

There is little doubt that Moses McCann was
the first regular ferryman in this neighborhood;
but his landing was at Clarksville, then the only

village on this side of the river for many miles.
There was no occasion for any one to cross the
river at any other point for a number of years
after Clarksville was established.

Martin Trublood, son of the old miller, was
probably the first to establish a ferry at New
Albany. This was prior to the purchase of the
ground by the Scribner brothers, and was mainly
for the convenience of the few squatters around
Trublood's mill on Falling run. After the
Scribners purchased the land of John Paul they
had control of all ferry rights along the river at
this point as far as their land extended. It is
probable that the first man to secure the right to
run a ferry of the Scribners was a Mr. Sproud,
and no doubt Martin Trublood retired from the
business at that time. "Sproud, the ferryman,"
was a well-known character for a number of the
first years of the existence of the new town.
Although Trublood's ferry was the first at New
Albany, it was not the second one in this neigh-
borhood ; that honor probably belongs to the
Oatmans, who established their ferry prior to
1 81 1, probably as early as 1808, or even earlier,
below New Albany some two or more miles.
The Oatmans entered some land below the John
Paul tract and were in the habit of carrying emi-
grants across at that place long before there were
any permanent settlers on the site of New
Albany. This subsequently became a noted
crossing place, and "Oatman's ferry" is promi-
nently mentioned in all the early records of the
county.

Stroud's ferry landed about where the ferry-
landing now is, at the foot of Bank street. It
was superseded by a ferry established by the
Scribners themselves, this ferry being propelled
by horses working on a tramp-wheel as before
mentioned.

As all the early ferries have been mentioned
in the early history of New Albany township and
city, it is not necessary to go into details here.
John Connor early took hold of the ferry busi-
ness in New Albany, and. was succeeded by his
son, Thomas, who has continued it to this day.
Epaphras Jones, Caleb Newman, and Charles
Paxson were among the earliest ferrymen here.
After the establishment of the county in February,
1819, the records of the county commissioners
show what ferries were established. The subject
of ferries came up in the following spring, as

i68

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

soon as the ice was out of the river. Then it
was that all the ferries along the river within their
jurisdiction were granted licenses upon applica-
tion, entered upon the records, taxed, and thus
became regularly established and recognized.
Thus it appears that Oatman's ferry, "established
on fractional section number seven, township
Three, south of range Six east," is made a public
ferry, at the third meeting of the commissioners,
in May, 1819. At the same meeting the peti-
tion of "Charles Paxson, Mary W. Smith, Phoebe
Ann Smith, Rebecca Smith, and Catharine
Smith, heirs of Stephen Smith, for a ferry across
the river Ohio at New Albany," was considered,
and the ferry established under the name of
Charles Paxson & Co., John Connor's ferry
having been previously established and made a
public ferry. The records further state that Mr.
Connor, feeling himself aggrieved by the establish-
ment of Paxson's ferry so near to his own, appeals
to the court for redress of grievances, entering
into bond of five hundred dollars, with Sylvester
Perry, Thomas Aborn, William L. Hobson,
Elijah Matthews, Joseph Whitcomb, Abraham
Buskirk, and Thomas Hand as sureties.

At this same meeting Caleb Newman's ferry
was also recognized as a public ferry.

It was during this meeting, also, while the
commissioners were upon the subject of ferries,
that they established the rates to be charged by
ferrymen in carrying passengers and freight.
The following is copied from the records:

Ordered, that the following rates be established and
observed at all the ferries in Floyd county on the Ohio
river, viz: For each four-wheeled carriage and wagon, fifty
cents; for every horse of said wagon or carriage, twenty-five
cents; for a two-wheeled carriage or cart, thirty-seven and a
half cents; for a single horse, mule, or ass, twelve and one-
half cents; for every person except the driver with the team,
twelve and one-half cents; for every head of neat cattle,
twelve and one-half cents; for every sheep, hog, or goat,
six and one-fourth cents; for every barrel of flour or liquids
when taken over without a carriage, twelve and one-half
cents; and all other articles in the same proportion.

Other ferries were established from time to
time, at different points along the river. Thus it
appears that in May, 1827, Peleg Underwood
is granted a ferry-right across the river from
New Albany. In May, 1824, William Wright is
granted a ferry-right across the mouth of Silver
creek, at the place where John Carson and Rich-
ard Aston's old ferry had been, mentioned in an-
other chapter.

In May, 1821, Epaphras Jones sent a petition
to the commissioners asking for a ferry-right
across the river from his town of Providence,
which, however, was at that time refused. In
August of the same year Mr. Jones was more suc-
cessful, and the application is granted with the
statement that "the ferry is to be across the river
Ohio from his land in the town of Providence,
situated on lot letter D in the Illinois or Clarke's
Grant in New Albany township."

In 1824 Caleb Newman's ferry is vacated. In
May, r82i, the following appears on the records:
"Ordered, that the ferries be taxed as follows:
Smith & Paxson's, $15; John Connor's, $15;
George Oatman's, $10; Snider's, $5; Newman's
$5." This record probably includes all the fer-
ries then in existence and within the jurisdiction
of the commissioners. Quite a number of per-
sons engaged in the ferry business from time to
time. At present there are two fine steam ferry-
boats running, and the business is managed by
Moses Irwin. These boats have attachments for
fire purposes, and in cases of fire in the neigh-
borhood of the river banks render most efficient
service. The new bridge, whose corner stone
has just been laid will, probably, somewhat re-
duce the ferry business, and may put an end to it.

STEAMBOATING.

McMurtree, in his Sketches of Louisville,
published in 1819, says the first boat to
pass down the Ohio river was the Orleans,
a small boat of about four hundred tons,
constructed and owned by Mr. Fulton. It
left Pittsburgh, where it was built, in December,
1812, [October, 181 1,], and arrived in New Or-
leans about the 24th of the same month. As it
passed New Albany, some of the inhabitants
who had never seen nor perhaps heard of such a
thing, were greatly frightened at the whistle, as
the little boat let off considerable steam in the
neighborhood of the Falls, it being supposed to
be a somewhat difficult and dangerous undertak-
ing to pass this natural obstruction. At this
time the southwestern country, along the Lower
Mississippi river, was being shaken with the
great earthquake, and the little boat arrived at
New Madrid just in time to witness the great
shaking-up of that place. This great earthquake
began December 16, 181 1, at 2 a. m., and the
earth continued trembling, without much inter-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

169

mission, until about May, 18 12, a period of nearly
five months. The greatest destruction was in
the neighborhood of New Madrid, but the
shocks were very unpleasantly felt at New Al-
bany, and hundreds of other places along the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The Orleans con-
tinued running on the Lower Mississippi, be-
tween Natchez and New Orleans, about two
years, when it was wrecked near Baton Rouge.
Mr. McMurtree gives the name, number, date,
and tonnage of all the boats built on the river
prior to 1819, when his book was published.
From this it appears that but two boats were built
at New Albany prior to 18 r 9; these were the
Ohio (No. 1 8), built in 1 818 by Messrs. Shreve &
Blair, and the Volcano (No. 20) by Robison &
DeHart, in the same year. The first was about
one hundred and forty feet long and a boat of
four hundred and forty-three tons, and the last of
two hundred and fifty tons. The carpenter who
built the Ohio was Joseph McClary, and Samuel
Marsh did the carpenter work on the Volcano, as-
sisted by his brother-in-law, Daniel Seabrook, yet
living in New Albany. Captain Henry Shreve,
of the Ohio, was long and popularly known on
the Ohio river as a successful captain, and as a
builder of many steamboats. Mr. Seabrook says
the lumber for the Ohio and Volcano was sawed
out by hand with "whip-saws," there being, it
seems, no mill in successful operation at that
time.

In the year 1819 two boats were built in New
Albany, but the name has not been ascertained.
From 1820 to 1825 but one boat appears to have
been built here, but from the latter date to 1830
twelve were built. It was about this time ascer-
tained that the very best of ship timber existed
on the bottoms north of New Albany, and there
being a demand for steamboats, the business grew
and developed rapidly. Six of these twelve boats
were built by Washington Garrison, who hailed
from Cape May. He located his establishment
at Gut ford on Silver creek, in the midst of the
best ship timber. It is said his boats were
roughly built, but strong and substantial. As
fast as they were completed he floated them down
Silver creek to the Ohio, where he sold them.

The following table taken from a map of the
county published in 1S54, gives the tonnage,
value and number of boats launched at New
Albany up to the date the map was issued:

No.

Tonnage.

Value.

4
1
12
'7

54
69
59

880

130

2,124

4,381

8,294

15.768

23.087

26,652

$ 75,856

11,206

183,089

377.642

714.942

1,359,202

1,990,099

2,297,403

From 1820 to 1825

From 1840 to 1845

Total

24.,

81.316

$7,009,439

It will be seen from this table how rapidly the
business of ship-building developed, and to what
great proportions it grew. From the following
communication, published in the Ledger-Stand-
ard in 1877, it will be seen this list is continued
until 1867 :

Sometime since we endeavored to set forth the advantages
of an enterprise that was conceived to be practical, which
would prove of immense profit to the city, especially the re-
tail trade, and afford employment to a large number of men.
Reference is made to the revival of the boat-building interests
of New Albany. The former reputation of the ship-yards
located here and the master builders who gave them direc-
tions, was unsurpassed by that of any locality in the country.
In a large degree the characterof the floating palaces, so many
of which at one time plied the western and southern rivers, was
due to the very excellent timber which was to be found north
and west of the city, and which is known to possess qualities
vastly superior to that used in localities farther up the Ohio.
There are various reasons given by practical men for this
superiority, which are unnecessary to rehearse, since the fact
is indisputable. Nor is the timber alone worthy of attention.
The well known reputation of our engine builders will not be
forgotten by those who have a memory of the power which
was obtained and the superior manner in which it was util-
ized in the excellent construction of the great motors, which
was applied in the propulsion of these crafts.

In recurring to this subject again, it is hoped that we shall
be able to present such facts before the public as will satisfy
those interested, not only of the feasibility of the enterprise,
but that shall convince them that other and most important
facts, that the establishment of a well appointed boat-yard
here will prove remunerative. To this end the following table
has been prepared, giving the number of steamers built at
this port, extending over a period of twenty years, including
a portion of the years 1847 and 1867, with the tonnage and
total cost; from which can be drawn some crude notion of
the amount of money annually distributed among the peo-
ple. Prior to the first year named, it is possible that a
greater number of steamers had been constructed at this
port, since the first steamer built here was something over
thirty years before 1847. It is probable that some of these
were not so costly as the latter steamers, as greater speed,
luxury, and comfort have been the prominent objects in the
construction of steamers of late years. Among those built
prior to 1847, may be named such steamers as the Louisiana,
Mississippi, Randolph, Homer, Orleans, Sultana, Diana,
Shakspeare, Belle Sheridan, and dozens of others, some of
which for speed, capacity, and durability, stand without
rivals at the present day. The t#ble below gives the year in
which the boats were built, the names assigned them, ton-
nage, and cost. These facts have been gathered from the

170

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

best data attainable at this time, and will be found suffi-
ciently valuable for all practical purposes, having passed un-
der the revision of experienced men.

1847.

NAME. -TONS.

Luna No. 2 320

Hecla 430

Lowndes, Jr 350

Olive 500

Montgomery 585

Conqueror 630

General Lafayette 600

Daniel Pratt 340

C. E. Watkins 250

Iroquois 580

Monroe t 300

Atlantic 400

Clara 250

Uncle Sam 650

Kouma 275

Tom Brown 275

Forest Monarch 300

Mohican 591

Dove 300

Captain Greenlow 420

Nashville 710

Belle Key 750

Bunker Hill No. 3 550

America 850

Anna 200

B.C. Oglesby 325

Anna Simmington 230

Mary Clifton 330

Isabella 290

Tribune 290

Texas 130

Oregon 610

Empire 650

1850.

Cora No. 2 400

Cherokee 500

Swan 300

Sarah Gordon 300

Julia Dean 400

Cuba 325

Ophelia 250

New Latona 530

Bulletin

43°

Saxton 280

Magnolia 895

Martin Hoffman 310

Brilliant 400

18SI.

Diving-Bell Boat 170

Glendy Burke 620

Fashion No. 2 500

Fashion ' ' Mobile " 530

Bell Gates » 300

Bee 270

J . M. Clendenin 310

COST.

$27,000
36,000
36,000
45,000
50,000
30,000
45,000
32,000
22,000
40,000

$28,000
35,000
25,000
40,000
25,000
25,000
28,000
45,000

$25,000
35,000
55,000
60,000
40,000
65,000
22,000
30,000
22,000
35,000
23,000
23,000
15,000
40,000
45,000

$10,000
45,000
40,000
30,000
22,000
18,000
30,000

NAME. TONS.

Texas Ranger 260

Ambassador, " Mobile" 438

P. F. Kimball 430

George Collins 320

Black Diamond 275

Francis Jones 210

Reindeer 320

l8S2.

Lucy Robinson 300

Eclipse "Extra" 1,288

Volante 275

Argyle 300

E. Howard 537

Octavia 270

Belle Gould 280

Sallie Carson 275

Piota 300

Sallie Sharon 310

Cremona 290

Magnolia "Mobile" 290

Sam Dale 610

H. R. W. Hill 956

Opelousas 220

Eliza Battle 500

Tishomingo 275

I853-

Eastport 587

A. L. Shotwell 1,050

John M. Stockwell 300

Robert J. Ward 800

Sangamon 200

Alida 200

Lucy Bell 250

Laurel Hill 550

Sultana 300

Lucy Robinson 300

Huntsville No. 2 946

Peter Tellon 800

Antelope 700

Four snag boats 18,000

l854.

Eclipse 400

S. F. J. Trabue 650

Belle Sheridan 680

T. S. Archer 500

T. C. Twitchell 610

Fannie Bullitt 550

Judy Towns 300

l8SS-

W. N. Shipman 300

R. W. Powell 450

Rapides 600

Niagara 700

J . E. Woodruff. 270

Republic 300

Choctaw 768

William Dickenson 270

Scotland 300

Kate Dale 300

Pelican 220

$22,000
38,000
35,000
24,000
25,000
15,000
35,000

$25,000
140,000
22,000
26,000
40,000
20,000
27,000
27,000
25,000
25,000
23,000
35. 000
45,000
65,000
20,000
35.000
20,000

|,000

:,ooo
>,ooo
;,ooo
;,ooo
!,ooo
i.odo

$35,000
45,000
40,000
38,000
50,000
3S.ooo
25,000

$25,000
35.000
40,000
45,000
20,000
25,000
45,000
20,000
25,000
25,000
18,000

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

171

NAME. TONS.
I856.

James Montgomery. . . .' 650

Governor Powell 400

White Bluff 250

Henry [ . King 350

J. N. Eaton 300

Saracen 280

Cora Anderson 250

H. D. Newcomb 056

Chancellor 350

John Warner 2S0

Arkansas Traveler 130

Legrande 250

Bloomer 220

Bell Memphis 400

St. Charles 295

St. Nicholas 295

Prima Donna 295

Alice Vivian 295

John Briggs 250

Baltic 737

W. S. Ewing 400

Boneta 200

I857-

Baltic, tow boat 600

Alice Parrott 250

C. W. Dorrance 350

E. H. Fairchild 610

New Uncle Sam 1, 100

B. L. Hodge 400

Vicksburg . . .'. 825

Caddo Belle 300

W. Burtor. 300

Pacific 730

1858.

W. V. Gillam 300

Submarine No. 11 75

Submarine No. 12 75

Bell Boat Southerner 30

J . D. Perry 300

B. J. Lockwood 350

John Raine 700

Piota 200

Aline 200

1859.

Black Hawk 300

Empire Parish 300

Lizzie Simmons 700

Magnolia 900

Cherokee 400

Arkadelphia City 200

Jim Barkman 300

Peytona 650

General Quitman 900

Sennie Kirk 200

i860.

W. S. Berry 400

B. J . Adams 400

James Battle 550

L. C. Ferry 350

W. M. Levy 250

Mary Keene 765

$45,000
35,000
18,000
28,000
2^,000
22,000
20,000
50,000
28,000
22,000
12,000
18,000
18.000
35,000
45,000
45,000
45,000
45 .000
32,000
60,000
35.COO
15,000

$40,000
32,000
40.000
40,000
85,000
45,000
70,000
25,000
25,000
60,000

$25,010
10,000
000
000
000

OOG
OOO
OOO
OOO

$35,000

40,000

OOO
OOO

OOG
OOO

$45,000

45' 00°
50,000
40,000
30,000
75,000

NAME. TONS. COST.

Acadia 200 $20,000

Iberville 400 45,000

Ben South, ferry 75 10,000

Nina Simms. ., 250 30,000

DeSoto 300 35,000

T. W. Roberts 400 45,000

Magenta 940 75,000

1861.

Louisville 300 $35,000

1862.

Glasgow 350 $40,000

Des Arc 350 40 ,000

1863.

Gunboat Tuscumbia 800 $150,000

Huntress 220 28,000

1864.

Woodford 600 $ 60,000

Leviathan I1300 125,000

Magenta 800 80,000

Avenger 240 25,000

Vindicator 200 25, 000

Luna 200 25,000

Burd Levi 220 28,000

Cora S 220 37,000

Huntsville 220 32,000

1865.

St. Charles 400 $50,000

Montana 300 35,000

St. Nicholas 400 50,000

Lucretia 240 25,000

Emma Brown 150 25,000

Sarah 240 25 ,000

Jennie Browne 150 25,000

St. James 400 50,000

1866.

Will S. Hays 300 $25,000

Mary Ament 150 25,000

Frank Bates 450 55 ,ooo

R. E. Lee 1,227 180,000

Empire ■ 300 35,000

1867.
Legal Tender 450 $55, 000

Total cost $7,347,000

The above comprises a list of two hundred and four
steamers built at this point during the twenty years, at a cost
of $7,347,000. Nearly the whole of this vast sum was ex-
pended in this city; and the profit upon the trade which it
indicates went into the pockets of manufacturers, mechanics,
merchants, and laborers. Now let us see who are the parties
that have been benefited by the business. First in the list
we note the ship-yards, of which, during a portion of the
time, there were five, employing in the aggregate four hun-
dred and fifty mechanics and laborers direct. The founders
employing about two hundred skilled mechanics and their
assistants; the cabin builders were another class of contrac-
tors, who gave employment to a large number of workmen:
the furniture men were also largely benefited and gave em-
ployment to numerous mechanics and laborers; the tin and
copper-smiths came in for a liberal share of the necessary

172

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

work in completing an outfit for steamers; while the black-
smiths, with numerous employes, cut a very considerable
figure in the construction of these vessels.

The Chandler's, etc., comprising the many smaller estab-
lishments at which were obtained the various necessary
articles for outfits, employed hundreds of men; and in the
aggregate came into possession of large sums of the grand
total expended.

These are the parties most directly interested in this enter-
prise, giving employment to from two thousand to two thou-
sand five hundred able-bodied mechanics, artisans, and
laborers. Upon the labor of these men depended from eight
to ten thousand of the population for support — no inconsider-
able city as to numbers. Besides, the building of such a
large number of steamers at this point attracted numerous
men who are engaged as officers and employes, so that it is
safe to say that twelve thousand of our population in a large
degree depended upon the business of steamboat building
for support. As a matter of course, this large number of
people collected together gave employment to merchants and
mechanics, who were indirectly benefited by the trade which
arose for the demand for the necessaries of life. It would be
difficult to determine what were really the profits thus directly
and indirectly gained by people of all classes in the city.
But it was large, and those who remember the prosperous
days of fifteen years ago, know that many of the mechanics
had built themselves comfortable homes, and were in the en-
joyment of more than the usual share of happiness. They
will be remembered too, as among the most worthy and
thrifty of our people. In this one branch of industry there
has been a most marked change within the past ten years.
The ship-yards have been idle, the foundries closed, the
smith shops almost gone to wreck, and hundreds of idle men
are wandering around the streets, while others have removed
from our midst.

While this marked decline in the ship-building interest
here has been apparent, it is known that other localities, less
favored, have been busy. There is a cause for this, which is
patent to many of our people. Just prior to the war, the
system of credit was very extensively practiced by the master
builders, and the war caused the loss to these enterprising
men of thousands of dollars, so crippling them that they
were compelled to abandon the business. Had it been pos-
sible that these men could have received temporary aid, they
could have drifted over their calamities and continued their
business.

Now the need is a comparatively small amount of capital,
at either a very low rate of interest, or, for that matter, with-
out interest, to enable them to once more open their yards
and manufactories, with an assurance that they would not be
cramped in carrying out their contracts, which would enable
them to invite owners of steamboat shares to give them a
visit and invite competition for the construction of the large
number of steamers which are annually set afloat on the
western and southern rivers.

A few years ago a feeble effort was made to organize a
company here to renew the business of steamboat building,
but the means were entirely inadequate, and nothing was ac-
complished. If this locality is to be benefited by this prof-
itable business a sufficient sum must be placed at the disposal
of competent men to secure the necessary machinery for the
building of sheds, the erection of ways, and for other modern
appliances, to enable a company to enter in competition with
builders at other points. How much will be required for this
purpose can only be known to experienced men. Probably
.rom $75,000 to $100,000 would be ample. Such a sum judi-

ciously applied would prove more profitable to every business
interest of the city than an equal amount in almost any branch
of manufactures. The mechanics, the skill, the timber, and all
other needed material is at hand, and what is now required
is the necessary capital.

There is not a business man in the city but is interested
in this matter. Every owner of real estate, every landlord,
and in fact all classes have an interest in building up manu-
factories in this city, which will attract population and wealth,
and none of these manufactories are of more importance -
than that of steamboat building. Within a short time
Messrs. Hill & Co. have opened a yard at this point, and
have made one contract. This yard will be supplied with all
the necessary machinery to enable it to compete with the
most favored yards in the country. We understand that it is
the design of the proprietors to connect a ship-joiner's estab-
lishment with the yard, unless some one of our master build-
ers shall undertake it. Messrs. Hill & Co. are accomplished
master builders, and have had large experience, and it is
hoped they will meet with that degree of encouragement and
success to which they are entitled.

It will be seen from the' above table that ship-
building at New Albany advanced steadily until
1856, at which time it reached its zenith, and
from which time it began steadily to decline. In
that year (1856) twenty-two boats were built, and
the business kept up fairly until the war came
and nearly put an end to it. After the war had
progressed two or three years, there was much
demand for steamboats by the Government and
from other sources, and plenty of money to carry
on business of all kinds, and the ship-building
revived in 1864, promising to become as great
as ever; but the collapse of the rebellion caused
a collapse in the ship-building at New Albany,
and it has never revived. The expected revival
of the business, according to the above commu-
nication, upon the advent of Hill & Co. in 1867,
did not occur, and few if any steamboats have
been built since 1867. Messrs. Murray & Co.
are the present ship builders of New Albany, but
they are principally engaged in building flat-
boats and barges for the transportation of coal
and other heavy freight. These boats are towed
by steamers, and carry immense loads.

The steamboat business north of Mason and
Dixon's line has greatly decreased in the last
score ot years, owing in great part to the nu-
merous railroads, and the consequent cutting of
freight rates; and also to the more rapid transit,
and the growing desire of the people to save
time, do business rapidly, and get through the
world as rapidly as possible. Steamboats are too
slow for the age. Men can so utilize their time
now that it becomes of more value than cheap
transportation.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

173

CHAPTER VIII.

EDUCATION IN NEW ALBANY.
THE EARLY SCHOOLS.

The proprietors of New Albany, coming as
. they did from a land of schools and churches,
where the moral and secular education of the
young was considered a matter of primary im-
portance, endeavored from the first to implant
this idea in the wilderness, and immediately set
about laying a solid foundation upon which to
build the educational institutions of the infant
city. The seed thus early sown and carefully-
nurtured has grown and flourished, until the
schools in New Albany have been pushed to the
front rank of the schools of the State.

The first school-house was erected by the
Scribners, and was a large square cabin standing
on one of the public squares of the city. The
site of this building is on State street, opposite
the court-house, the large brick building belong-
ing to John Briggs and John Mann now occupy-
ing the lot. The old school-house is yet in ex-
istence, and should be preserved. It stands on
the corner of Lower First and Spring streets, be-
ing used as a blacksmith shop. John Aston re-
members this building, and says Stephen Beers
taught school here in 181 7. School-houses were
not generally constructed on the lots donated by
the Scribners, but the lots were sold from time
to time for the benefit of the schools. In 1820
a log school-house stood out on the commons
north of the village, in the neighborhood of
Trublood's old mill. It was in use many years,
but caught fire and butned to the ground while
the school was in progress. About this date a
man named Corcelius was teaching a "select"
school in the village, in the upper part of James
Anderson's dwelling, located on the northeast
corner of Pearl and Main streets. Corcelius after-
ward became a doctor, and moved away from the
village. These were the first schools of which
anything is known at present. The first school-
house was used for religious meetings and public
gatherings of every kind.

As a brief history of the schools is given in
a communication which follows, it is only neces-
sary he'e to state that they grew and developed
as rapidly as schools everywhere in the new
country, and perhaps, owing to peculiar advan-
tages, more rapidly than in most other places.

From a map of the county published in 1854, it
is ascertained that there were at that date in the
city, one high school, six primary schools,
twenty-eight teachers, and three thousand one
hundred and two children enrolled. The value
of public school property was $55,000. In ad-
dition to the public schools and the Scribner
high school, there was Ayers' university, then in
a flourishing condition, and three colleges, to-
wit : the Asbury Female college, Anderson's
Female college, and the New Albany Theologi-
cal seminary.

The Directory of 1868 speaks as follows re-
garding the schools of that date :

There are eight schools including the Scribner high school
The cost of school buildings is seventy thousand dollars ; five
thousand five hundred and fifty-five scholars are enrolled,
and there are thirty-five teachers. The schools are graded,
and all classes are taught, the pupil beginning at the A, B,
C, passing through many classes and departments, and final-
ly graduating in the high school, after which he is prepared
to enter the freshman class of any college. In addition to the
public schools of the city there are twelve private schools,
some of them, notably Townsley's academy and Morse's
academy, equal to any private schools in the State. The
St. Mary's (Catholic) high school building is the finest in the
city except DePauw college, it being fifty by seventy feet,
and five stories in height. It cost twenty thousand dollars.
Here pupils are given a thorough scientific course. The
higher branches are also taught in many of the private schools
of the city.

This Catholic school is more especially men-
tioned in the history of the Catholic church, in
another chapter of this work.

AN OFFICIAL HISTORY.

In 1879 H. B. Jacobs, then and now superin-
tendent of the schools of New Albany, furnished
the following at the request of the State superin-
tendent of public instruction :

It is evident that the founders of New Albany were
thoroughly imbued with the idea that the happiness and per-
manent prosperity of a community depend largely upon the
intelligence of its people, and that the education of youth
was an object of the highest importance, for very early in the
history of the town steps were taken to raise funds for edu-
cational purposes. The town was laid out by Joel, Abner,
and Nathaniel Scribner, who purchased the original plat,
comprising an area of eight hundred and twenty-six acres, of
John Paul. Lots were sold by the Scribner brothers at pub-
lic auction November, 1813. In the advertisement of the
sale there was a stipulation that " one-fourth part of each
payment upon the lots sold should be paid into the hands of
trustees, to be chosen by the purchasers, until such payments
shall amount to five thousand dollars, the interest upon
which to be applied to the use of schools in the town, for the
use of its inhabitants forever."

Upon a petition of the citizens of the town the Legislature
passed an act entitled, "An act incorporating the New

174

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Albany school,'' which was approved January 8, 1821. By
this act Seth Woodruff, John Eastborn, Charles Woodruff,
Samuel Miller, and Samuel Marsh were incorporated a body
politic and corporate by the name and style of the "Presi
dent and Managers of the New Albany school." They were
appointed to serve until the first Monday of the following
May, at which time and annually thereafter the citizens of
the town were to meet at the place where the school was
kept and elect five trustees, who were householders and resi-
dents in the town." The provisions of the act referred to,
with several supplements to it, were strictly observed by the
different boards of trustees that were successively elected
during a long series of years. Proper steps were soon taken
to organize a school, employ a competent teacher and in
every way carry out the design of the founders of the town.

The first school was opened in the fall of 1823, with John
A. Spaulding as teacher. It was continued in successful
operation, without much change in the plan at first adopted,
until 1838, when an assistant teacher was employed, ^nd
separate departments for the male and female pupils or-
ganized.

With a part of the accumulation of the interest on the
money donated by the Scribner brothers as a sinking fund
for the use of the schools, the Scribner high school, a neat
two-story brick building on the corner of Lower First and
Spring streets, now known as the Boys' high school of New
Albany, was built during the summer of 1849.

It will be seen by this brief account that the early settlers
of New Albany, even while it was yet a very small forest
town, nestling on the banks of the majestic river that flows past
a now prosperous city, manifested a deep interest in the edu-
cation of the youth within her borders.

The first school established grew in importance and effi-
ciency until 1853, and, together with the district schools or-
ganized under the old district or local school law, furnished
school accommodations for all the children of school age in
the town.

From the time of the passage of the district school law, to
which we have just referred, until 1853, the schools of the
city were controlled by three separate boards of trustees.
The one had control ofthe Scribner school fund, and the city
schools, and the other two bodies, acting under the district
law, had control, in separate districts, of what are now called
common schools. The latter bodies organized a number of
ungraded schools in different parts of the city, and erected
several brick buildings, one of the most substantial of which
is the Main Street school-house, which was built under the
supervision of Hon. John B. Winstandley, who was one of
the trustees when it was erected.

In February, 1853, the city assumed control of the district
or common schools within her borders. During the summer
of the same year the president and managers of -the New Al-
bany public schools passed a preamble, setting forth that they
believed that the intention of the original donors of the
Scribner fund can be carried out as well under the present
law and organization of the common schools of the city as
under their management, and upon the passage of an appro-
priate resolution, all funds, property, books, notes, etc., in
their possession were transferred and assigned to the city of
New Albany for the use of the common schools, since which
time all public schools of New Albany have remained as one
corporate body, and have been under control of one manage-
ment.

The board of trustees, or superintendents as they were
then called, under whom the schools were consolidated, were
Judge T. L. Smith, Charles Van Dusen, Dr. P. S. Shields,

V. A. Pepin, and James Collins. They soon began to make
arrangements for grading all schools under their control, in-
cluding the necessary arrangements for establishing a central
high school, and on the first Monday of September, 1853, a
complete system of graded schools was organized. The
high school, however, was not opened until the first Monday
of the following October. The first teachers of the New Al-
bany High school were George H. Harrison, principal, and
Miss Eunice Elderkin, assistant. The schools thus organized
were continued in session till July, 1854, a period of ten
months; and although numerous difficulties, consequent
upon inaugurating a new system, were encountered, the re-
sults of the year were entirely satisfactory, and the success of
the system was apparent. There were twenty-eight teachers
employed — six males and twenty-two females ; the number
of pupils enrolled was 1,570, with an average attendance of
970.

During the summer of 1854 better and more extensive ac-
commodations were provided for the schools. A new three-
story brick building was erected, and two smaller buildings
rented, and on the eighteenth day of September all the schools
ofthe city were again opened. But in the fall of the same
year the supreme court of the State declared the one
hundred and thirtieth section of the law entitled, "An act to
provide for a general and uniform system of common
school," unconstitutional. By this decision the taxes levied
for the support of the schools could not be collected, and the
superintendents found that the money in their possession was
sufficient to pay the expenses of the school foronlyhalf the year.
They petitioned the common council for aid, but without
success, and Friday evening, February 2, 1855, the schools
were closed until the law was so amended as to enable the
superintendents to reopen them.

It will be observed that the graded schools of New Albany
were commenced under very favorable auspices, but owing to
the decision of the supreme court referred to, and a subse-
quent decision declaring the first section of the act of 1855,
entitled an Act to authorize the establishment of free public
schools in the incoiporate cities and towns of the State, un-
constitutional, they were kept in an unfinished condition for
a long time and could not be made efficient for the want of
funds. The trustees (the school officers were called trustees
after May, 1865,) had no power to levy and called a local tax
for tuition purposes, and hence the length of the term each
year depended entirely upon the amount of funds received
from the State department. The schools were opened at ir-
regular times, and when the money in the treasury was ex-
hausted they were closed sans ceremonie.

August 16, 1855, Charles Barnes, of Madison, Indiana, was
elected to the double office of principal of the high school
and superintendent of all the schools of the city, at a salary
of $1,000 per annum from and after the time his services were
required. He did not enter upon his duties until the open-
ing ofthe schools January 1, 1856. Mr. Barnes was re-elect-
ed in July, 1856, and was connected with the schools unti
May, 1857. July 2, 1867, Professor James G. May, a teacher
of experience and scholarly attainments, was elected to suc-
ceed Mr. Barnes. Professor May he'ld this position over two
years. The schools were opened September 5, 1857, but
were closed January 29, 1858, immediately upon receiving
the second decision of the supreme court mentioned above,
and the rooms were rented to the teachers in which to open
private schools.

In the spring of 1862 a number of the school buildings ot
the city were leased to the United States for hospitals for
sick soldiers by John R. Nunamacher, Esq., president of the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

i75

board of trustees, through Captain W^ Jenks, assistant quar-
termaster of the United States army. The Government oc-
cupied the buildings for a little more than a year, when, upon
the request of the trustees, they were vacated and turned over
to the school officers. They were thoroughly cleansed and
refitted, and on the first Monday of September, 1R64, the
schools, which had been closed for over three years, from ]une,
1861, to September, 1864, were again reorganized; and as
the law in the meantime had been amended so that the trus-
tees were enabled to obtain more funds for tuition purposes,
they have been continued regularly in session a full term each
year ever since.

• At a meeting of the trustees held July 30, 1864, Professor
George P. Brown was elected to fill the position formerly
held by Mr. Barnes, and at a subsequent period by Professor
May. Miss Ada Farrington was elected assistant teacher of
the high school. The duties of the double office held by Mr.
Brown becoming too great for one individual to perform with
credit to himself or justice to the schools, in January, 1865,
the trustees elected Virgil P. Hall assistant principal of the
high school. By the election of Mr. Hall, Professor Brown
was enabled to devote all his time to the general supervision
of the schools. Aptil 17, 1865, Mr. Brown tendered his
resignation as superintendent of the New Albany schools to
the board of trustees, which they accepted, and from that
date until 1873 the schools of the city were conducted without
a general superintendent.

The public schools made slow progress for a number of
years after they were reorganized, and although they kept
open ten months each year, they were not as efficient as they
might have been. During the period of three years — from
1861 to 1864 — that they were closed, a number of private
schools were organized and were in a flourishing condition
long after the public schools were reopened. They were
patronized by many of our best and wealthiest citizens, so
that in 1868 there were only two more teachers employed,
and only about three hundred more pupils enrolled in the
schools than in 1854, yet there were double the number of
children of school age in the city; and as late as 1870 only
twenty-eight per cent, of the school children attended the
public schools.

In the fall of 1870 the male and female pupils of the high
school were separated, and the female high school organized
in another building, which had been especially fitted up for
that purpose with J. M. Bloss as principal and Miss Maggie
Hamilton and Miss Fannie Fawcett assistant teachers. Mr.
W. W. May was elected principal of the boys' h'gh school,
and Miss C. C. Warren assistant. About this period new
life was infused into the schools and they have gradually im-
proved ever since. Each succeeding year has added to their
efficiency and popularity, and to-day all classes of our citi-
zens send their children to the public schools. All the pri-
vate schools, except the parochial (Catholic) schools, have
been closed; and consequently the attendance at the public
schools has greatly increased. As to thoroughness and uni-
formity of instruction, methods of discipline and economical
management we will let others speak. There are in the city
thirteen school buildings — ten brick and three frame. They
furnish accommodations for fully thirty-three hundred pupils.
Three of the buildings mentioned are used for the colored
schools of the city- The number of pupils enrolled in the
schools this year is about thirty-one hundred. There are
fifty-six teachers employed, to wit: One music teacher, six
in the high school, and forty-nine in the grammar, interme-
diate, and primary departments. Since the establishment of
separate high schools for male and female pupils eight classes

have graduated at each school. The total number of female
graduates is one hundred and forty-three. The number of
male graduates is forty-nine.

The people of New Albany point with just pride to the
graduates of their high schools. Three of the male gradu-
ates have gone to the United States Military academy at
West Point, where they have taken honorable positions in
the classes; while a large number have either entered one of
the professions, or are filling responsible positions in banking
or other business houses. Of the female graduates twenty-
eight are now teaching in the schools of the city, and others
are teaching elsewhere, while not a few are at the heads of
interesting and happy little families. Dr. J. B. Reynolds is
principal of the boys' high school, and Dr. George P. Weaver
of the female high school.

The system of graded public schools now in successful op-
eration in New Albany is complete and thorough in every
particular. These schools afford the poor and rich alike su-
perior advantages for giving their children an excellent prac-
tical education, and no man who lives in the city can have the
least excuse for permitting his sons and daughters to grow up
in ignorance.

In the history of these schools some of the most intelligent
and influential men of the city have filled the position of
trustee. In June, 1873, the trustees elected H. B. Jacobs
(the present incumbent) superintendent.

In closing this brief history we wish to state that during
an experience of nearly eighteen years in school work, we
have never labored with school officers who discharged their
duties more conscientiously than those with whom we have
been associated during the last six years, viz: Colonel W_
W. Tuley, Colonel W. P. Davis, E. S. Winstandley, and
Charles H. Fawcett.

Mr. Jacobs is yet (1881) superintendent of the
schools of New Albany, and no important
changes have occurred since the above statement
was made. The number of teachers in the
schools is now fifty-four, a reduction of two in
the high school having been made.

Following is a list of the trustees of the New
Albany public schools from the time it was in-
corporated as a city until the present:

SCHOOL TRUSTEES.

Ashel Clapp 1839-40

Ashbel Steele 1839-40

William Plumer 1839-42, 1844-51

William M. Wier 1839-40, 1853-55

Obadiah Childs I^39-43

Abram Case 1841-42, 1843-52

Seth Woodruff. ■ 1841-44

Israel C. Crane 1841-42

Elias Thomason 1842-44

R. R. Hickman 1842-43

Noah H. Cobb » 1843-52

David Crane 1843-48

Henry M. Doroling 1844-51

Peter A. Roan 1846-47

Salem P. Town 1846-47

John Brunner 1848-51

William A. Scribner 1851-52

Michael Streepy 1851-52

P. S. Shields 1852-53, 1855-57

i76

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

T. L. Smith 1852-53

Charles VanDusen 1852-53

V. A. Pepin 1852-53

James Collins 1852-53

Jesse J . Brown 1853-55

R. R. Town 1853-55

George V. Howk 1853-54

Thomas Humphrey 1853-54

Hiram Wilson 1853-54, 1857-58

Horace B. Wilson 1854-55

Peter R. Stoy 1854-63

John D. Rodgers 1855-58

Charles Wible 1855-61

Thomas R. Austin 1855-61

John Loughmiller 185S-57

William Jones' ! 1855-59

William C. Conner 1855-60

John R. Nunemacher 1855-63

Thomas Rucker 1855-56

I. P. Smith 1856-58

E. Sabin 1857-58

John Q. A. Smith 1857-65

John Culbertson 1858-59

John B. Ford 1858-59

William A. Tabler 1858-61

James A. Doll 1858-59

Joseph St. John 1858-62

James Johnson 1859-65

George W. Laping 1859-61

P. M. Wilcox 1859-61

Augustus Bradley 1859-60

James G. Marshal 1860-61

Daniel Snively 1860-61

D. W. Lafollette 1861-68

William Cooper 1862-65

E. Benjamen 1863-65

Wesley Pierce 1863-65

Elijah N'ewland 1365-72

James V. Kelso 1865-68

George Lyman 1868-72

W. P. Swift 1868-73

W. W. Tuley 1872-79

I. S. Winstandley 1872-79

M. A. Wier 1873-74

W. P. Davis 1874-78

Charles H. Fawcett 1878-81

M. McDonald 1879-82

G. E. Sackett is the present secretary of the school board.

MR. COTTOM'S ACCOUNT.

In 1873 Mr. Cottom wrote as follows regard-
ing the schools :

There are in the city ten elegant and very large brick
school buildings, and one frame school building. The value
of these buildings is about $150,000, and they furnish ac-
commodations for fully three thousand pupils. Eight of the
buildings are used for the primary, intermediate, and gram-
mar schools, and one as a male high school, and one as a
female high school. The system of grading is a most perfect
one, and works admirably and efficiently. Tuition is abso-
lutely free in all departments; and the pupils who pass all
the grades and graduate through the high school receive a
thorough English and scientific education, and are compe-
tent for any department of business, or for any of the pro-
fessions. The city has erected a first-class brick edifice as a

school-house for the colored inhabitants of the city, who have
the same rights to admission in their own schools as the
whites have into theirs — the same law governing both.
Forty-five white and two colored teachers are employed in
these public schools, while the average attendai.ce of pupils
is about two thousand three hundred. The annual cost of
the schools is not far from $30,000, and the total number of
school children in the city entitled to the privileges of the
schools is seven thousand one hundred and thirty. The
schools are managed by a board of three school trustees,
elected by the city council, which secures to them perma-
nency, and the best educators in the way of teachers.
AS THEY ARE NOW.

The following list shows the present number
and character of the schools, and location of the
school-houses :

Male high school — situated on Lower First
street, southwest corner of Spring. J. B. Rey-
nolds, principal; S. A. Chambers, assistant.

Female high school — situated on Spring
street, northeast corner of Bank. Dr. George
Weaver, principal ; Mrs. Maggie Shrader, first
assistant ; Miss Fannie Fauoett, second assistant.

Upper Spring street school — situated on North
side of Spring street, between Upper Fifteenth
and Vincennes. William Rady, principal.

Independent German-American school — sit-
uated on Market street, between Upper Eighth
and Ninth. J. B. James, principal.

Upper Main street school — situated on Main
street, between Upper Seventh and Ninth. John
R. Weathers, principal.

Upper Fourth street school — situated on Up-
per Fourth street, between Spring and Elm.
John T. Smith, principal.

Upper Eleventh street (colored) school — sit-
uated on Market, southwest corner of Upper
Eleventh. William J. Scott, principal.

Lower Second street (colored) school — situat-
ed on Lower Second, southwest corner of Elm.

Lower Market street school — situated on Mar-
ket street, between Lower Fifth and Sixth. Miss
Sue E. Hooper, principal.

Lower Spring street school — situated on Spring
street, between Lower Fifth and Sixth. Jacob
B. Starr, principal.

Lower Albany school — situated on the west
side of Jackson street, between Second and Third.
E. T. Leach, principal.

West Union school — situated on Jackson
street, west of Hildreth. William S. McClure,
principal.

West Union (colored) school — situated on
Pearl street near Union. J. B. Jones, principal.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

177

In the last report of the State superintendent
of public instruction, much valuable statistical
matter is found regarding the schools of the
State and the different counties. From this it is
ascertained that the number of children enrolled
in Floyd county in 1878 was 9,116, an increase
of 629 in the county in the last ten years. There
are in the county 148 square miles: the number
of children to the square mile on an average be-
ing 61. That but little more than fifty-four per
cent, of the children of the county is enrolled
in the public schools seems a somewhat startling
statement, and shows that there is much room
for improvement in the school laws. Out of
the 9,116 children in the county the number who
did not attend school in 1878, was 4,107. This
state of affairs cannot but lead to more stringent
laws, and probably to compulsory education. On
this subject the report contains the following:

It is not enough that the State makes by its laws a system
of schools possible. The system must be a compulsory sys-
tem. The State should compel the location, establishment,
and maintenance of a sufficient number of schools for the
education of all its children.

If it were left to each locality to establish schools or not
at its will, the system would in no sense become a general
system. A permissive system would soon beconie no system
at all.

There were 689 colored children in the
county, of whom less than fifty per cent. (325)
were enrolled in the public schools. The enum-
eration of children in the city of New Albany in
1878 was 6,342. The length of the school year
was 127 days. The number of teachers in Floyd
county was 91. Throughout the State the aver-
age pay of teachers in the city was $3.17, and
the average pay of teachers in the country $1.80
per day; this average of country teachers was ex-
ceeded in this county, it being $2.10. The
amount of Congressional school fund, arising
from the sale of every sixteenth section, was
$14,753-50, or $1.62 per capita.

SELECT SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.

Many schools of this character have been es-
tablished from time to time in New Albany, but
most of them, after a brief career, have either
been compelled to close for want of proper sup-
port, or have been merged into the public
schools.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SEMINARY.

The Methodist Episcopal church started a
seminary here about 1835, with the expectation

of making it a permanent establishment for the
education of young people in their religious
faith, as well as in secular matters. A frame
building was erected on Market street, on the
corner of the alley below. State, west side. The
school was placed in charge of George H. Har-
rison, from Ohio, and was continued with varying
success for something less than ten years. The
building has long since disappeared from this
site, having been moved to Spring street, above
Thirteenth, where it is now occupied as a tene-
ment house.

Anderson's female college.

This was an important educational institution
in its day, but long since disappeared. It was a
private school started by John B. Anderson about
the time the above mentioned seminary went out
of existence. A commodious brick had been
erected fronting the park for a private dwelling;
Anderson purchased it, and, building an addi-
tion, opened at first a school for girls, but after a
few years the building was enlarged and a depart-
ment for young men added. The noted Confed-
erate general, John Morgan, was one of his pupils
at one time. The school was continued until about
1854, when Mr. Anderson went into the printing
business and gave up teaching. The school was
closed, and buildings converted into a board-
ing house, in which condition they are found at
present.

Soon after the closing of Anderson's college
Rev. Mr. Woods started a select school on the
corner of Lower Fifth and Market streets. He
erected here a brick building for this purpose,
and continued the school three or four years.

AYERS' UNIVERSITY.

The New Albany Theological seminary, or
Ayers' university as it was generally called, was
started with the most flattering promises of fut-
ure success about 1847. Elias Ayers was the
founder, and gave $15,000 as an endowment
to the institution. This gentleman was a great
friend of the cause of education, making a
donation of a large sum to Hanover college, lo-
cated in Jefferson county, in this State. Build-
ings for the purpose were erected on the corner
of Seventh and Elm streets. The institution
was intended for the education of ministers of
the Presbyterian church, and was conducted
here several [years,' [but for some reason was

i78

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

moved to Chicago about 1854-55. Rev. Dr.
McMasters was president, and Rev. James
Woods and Dr. Scoville were professors.

Two years after the removal of the school to
Chicago a Mr. Hines occupied the buildings with
a select school, but for many years the buildings
have not been used for school purposes. They
are now occupied as private dwellings, and for
an undertaking establishment.

DE PAUVV COLLEGE FOR YOUNG WOMEN.

This is a living and live institution of to-day,
though it has had its ups and downs in life, and
has only survived by being more fortunate than
its contemporaries above named in finding stead-
fast and powerful friends to assist in time of
trouble. The institution is the property of the
Indiana conference of the Methodist Episcopal
church, and occupies a pleasant and command-
ing situation in the most beautiful part of the
city, being on Main street at the corner of Ninth.
The building, or a portion of it, was erected in 1852
for a young ladies' boarding-school, under the
name of the Indiana Asbury Female college.
The institution struggled along for fourteen years
under many discouragements, its principal
trouble being a debt and mortgage that hung
over it and continually threatened its existence.
During that time five different presidents had
charge of it at different periods, but the accumu-
lation of debt retarded its progress, prevented its
success, and finally resulted, in 1866, in the
transfer of the property to other owners.

In the above-named year the Methodists de-
termined to celebrate the anniversary of Ameri-
can Methodism by a repurchase of their college,
and, through the liberality of the citizens of New
Albany, and especially by the munificence of
Hon. W. C. DePauw, the object was realized
and the college presented, free from debt, to the
Indiana conference, and accepted by that body.
Rev. Erastus Rowley, D. D., a graduate of Union
college, New York, was elected president, and
the college reopened in September, 1866.

Under the stimulus of the good times succeed-
ing the war, the college began a prosperous
career. As the number of students increased,
additional room was much needed, and again
Mr. DePauw came to the rescue, erecting, at
the expense of $10,000, a large, handsome, and
commodious wing to the building, and the name

of the institution was changed to DePauw Col-
lege for Young Ladies. The name has been
since slightly changed, as will be seen above.
Since that time Mr. DePauw, by the donation of
a well-selected and valuable library and other
gifts, has added much to its success and useful-
ness. At the present time the college is free from
debt, and its friends are sanguine of its future
success. About two years ago the building was
partially destroyed by fire; but being refitted it is
more commodious and attractive than before.

The building is of brick, three stories in height,
with main building in center and two wings, its
capacity being sufficient to accommodate seventy
students with room and board, and as many
more day pupils. During the first ten years of
its existence, forty-eight young ladies graduated
at the institution, and since it changed to
DePauw college, seventy-three young ladies have
been enrolled on its graduating list.

At present it is in charge of Mr. F. A. Fried-
ley, a graduate of Asbury University of Green-
castle, Indiana, who is now in his second year.
Revl W. R. Halstead had charge for one year
prior to Mr. Friedley becoming principal. Last
year there were sixty-eight students; this year
about ninety, with eight teachers. There are
five school-rooms and two recitation-rooms in
the building. The rooms for boarding pupils
and teachers are all carpeted and comfortably
furnished.

This is probably, with one exception, the only
strictly Protestant female college in the State.
It is the purpose of its trustees to make this an
institution that shall embrace every advantage of
Roman Catholic schools in discipline, and at the
same time impart a thorough and substantial
education. The very best teachers are employed
to give instruction on the piano, organ, guitar,
and in vocalization, through whom this has be-
came one of the most popular departments of
the institution. The government is of a mild
and parental character, equally removed from
weakness and austerity. Pupils boarding in the
institution are treated as members of the family
of the president, and submit to such wise regula-
tions as will, in his judgment, most promote
their interest and that of the college. The
domestic and social life of the College is com-
mitted to the responsible direction of the resident
lady teachers, under the supervision of the presi-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

!79

dent. The president resides in the college
building, and with his family presides at the same
table with the pupils.

The following-named gentlemen are the pres-
ent officers of the institution : VV. C. DePauw,
president; A. Dowling, secretary; P. R. Stoy,
treasurer; W. C. DePauw, P. R. Stoy, Rev. G.

D. Watson, Rev. J. L. Pitner, S. J. Alexander,
M.D., J. H. Conner, Asa Iglehart, W. H. Sul-
livan, J. H. Forman, M. A. Wier, J. G. Harrison,

E. R. Day, F. E. Dishman, Rev. I. N. Thomp-
son, J. A. Wood, M. Wood, A. Dowling, board
of trustees.

CHAPTER IX.

THE PRESS OF NEW ALBANY.
, THE FIRST PAPER.

The history of the press of New Albany, as
of probably every other city, shows a continued
succession of failures. It would seem that the
business of printing, especially newspaper print-
ing, were one of the most precarious in which
men could engage. It is difficult, perhaps im-
possible at present, to enumerate all the news-
papers that have been started in New Albany
since it was laid out in the woods in 1813.
Nearly all, however, of importance, have left
some record behind, enough to establish the
most prominent fact — that of repeated failure be-
fore final success was assured.

So far as can now be ascertained, Ebenezer
Patrick was the pioneer publisher; but the name
of his paper has been lost. It has been repeat-
edly stated, both orally and in print, that the
Microscope was the first journal published here;
but this has been ascertained to be a mistake.
The first number of the Microscope, at this time
in possession of a lady of New Albany, bears
the date of April 17, 1824. It was then printed
at Louisville, and was subsequently brought to
this place. Mr. David Hedden, yet living, says
he came to New Albany in 1820, and Ebenezer
Patrick was then publishing a paper, his office
being in the upper part of a two-story double
log cabin that stood on the corner of Bank and

Main street, where the stone bank now stands.
He does not remember the name of the paper,
but says it had only been published a few
months when he came, and did not last long —
perhaps a year or two. John Anderson was a
compositor in the office. The lower part of this
cabin was occupied as a saloon, and kept by a
man named Abbot. Patrick's paper failed prob-
ably for want of patronage, as the settlements
were few and far apart at that early period, and
New Albany was a mere hamlet of log cabins,
surrounded by dense woods. Patrick was an
erratic sort of a fellow; he never remained long
in one place or at one business. It is under-
stood that after leaving New Albany he went up
to Salem and tried to establish a paper there
called the Tocsin. He was unsuccessful, how-
ever; after a few years' trial became a Methodist
preacher, and drifted around considerable until
about 1850, when he committed suicide in Tip-
pecanoe county by cutting his throat. He had
a son who went to Kansas, and was somewhat
prominent there during the political troubles be-
fore the war. His son was a Free Soiler.

It is not unlikely, however, that the Micro-
scope was the second paper published in New
Albany, and it has something of a history. The
initial volume, containing the first year's issue, is
now in the hands of Mrs. Waring, of this city.
It was a sensational sheet, and being driven out
of Louisville by a mob, sought refuge in New
Albany. It was a small six-by-ten-inch paper,
publised weekly, by T. H. Roberts, alias "Tim
Tickler, Jr." According to the first number,
dated, as before mentioned, April 17, 1824, it
appears to have been published by "Johnston &
Roberts, No. 12 Van Buskerk's row, Third Cross-
street, Louisville." That the reader may under-
stand somewhat of the character of the paper,
which must be considered one of the pioneer
papers of New Albany, the opening address of
the editor is here given verbatim, as follows :

" To the Public, our Friends and Patrons.'

ADDRESS— Ladies & Gentlemen— Belles & Beaux— Old
& young — Rich & Poor — Wise & Simple — Be on your beauti-
ful guard ! — * * * * — . Here I come
like the point of a Coulter-plough to tear up, root and
branch, Immoral Customs — False principles and Evil habits
— Like so many old rotten roots which have prevented the
growth and vegetation of their opposite virtues, in the field
of Science, of Religion, and Literary Knowledge — See what
rapid strides I make, from Maine to Georgia, and from the
Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains — I level hills and fill up val-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

lies! thus making all a beautiful plain, where the sweet Ivy
may twine round and bloom with the Honey-suckle — the
Rose shed its fragrance and be forever renewed by the life
and mildness of eternal Spring; unsullied by the pestifer-
ous breath of Courtezans, or the exhalations of pestilential
Brothels.

To be serious gentle reader, I wish you to understand, that
I have just furnished myself with a complete set of Optic
glasses, together with the necessary Mirrors and Reflectors to
suit every state of human life, from the school-boy to the
1 Slipper d pantaloon,' by the aid of which I can condense
space, and compress distance, so as to become familiar with
the transactions of men, however remote or concealed. The
proud statesman and cunning office-hunter may smile sarcas-
tically, but 1 can assure them that I have a Concavo-convex,
that will expose their vile machinations to the world.

The enemies of the Union of the American States, shall
have their due : I have a high polished Convex glass to suit
them.

Traitors and political vagabonds of every kind shall be
duly looked after, and a regular account given of them,
through a highly polished Concave glass, invented for the
purpose by Tom Seestraight of Georgia memory
1776.

Libertines, B\a.ck-Legs and Corner-Loungers are informed
that I have a set of Concave glasses purchased expressly to
suit them.

One concave glass of curious workmenship, for the pur-
pose of examining the inside of Magistrate's offices.

One large high-polished Concave»glass with a double Re- '
flector, for inspecting Miscellaneous subjects — such as the
practice of some ill-bred men have of staring at modest
women — peeping under their bonnets — whistling as they pass,
&c.

One neat little Convex glass to inspect the quality of Dirks,
Dirk-knives and Little Bull-Dogs with the intention of carry-
ing them concealed. Invented and patented by Peter Peace-
able, L. L. D. & F. R. S.

The Ladies, O, how I blush for having placed you last;
but though last you are not the least provided for by me, as
I have reserved that highly polished, large and elegant Con-
vexo-concave glass, invented, improved and patented by Jer-
emiah Candid of Sincerity School, Long Knogg, for the ex-
press -purpose of shielding you from the vile aspersions, and
ill demeanor of the other sex.

Thus furnished with the necessary implements of warfare,
I advance to the contest with the zeal of a patriot; well know-
ing the strength of my antagonists. To the good and wise
I would beg leave to drop a word — you have nothing to fear
from the weapons which I carry; they are blunted in your
presence, and if attempted to be hurled at you, they will re-
coil with double force upon myself. To exalt virtue to
her prerogative in the human heart — to award the meed
of praise where merit speaks it due is my ostensible object;
in doing which, I shall tear the flimsy garments from the
hypocrite, and direct the finger of scorn at vice and im-
morality. TIM TICKLER, JR., Esq.

Louisville, April, 1824.

A paper of the character indicated in the
above address is always, to use a common phrase,
"in hot water," and Mr. Timothy Tickler's bed was
not one of roses. Mr. Johnston appears very
soon to have retired from the firm, when the
paper was published by T. H. Roberts, M. D.,

until in September, 1824, when for good and
sufficient reasons the editor concluded to move
his office to New Albany. Such freedom of the
press as Mr. Roberts desired was not to be found
in Louisville; he soon got into all sorts of trou-
ble, and his life was openly threatened. But in
proportion as his troubles grew the circulation of
his paper increased, until its patronage was quite
extensive, considering the sparseness of the
population. Quite a number of citizens of New
Albany took it. It had no regular subscription
list, but people bought it freely, in order to find
out what Tim Tickler had unearthed during the
week.

In the issue of September 22, 1824, the editor
places the following paragraph at the head of his
editorial column:

Distant editors who exchange with us will please forward
their papers to New Albany, Indiana.

He then proceeds to explain the reason of the
change, the first paragraph of the explanation
reading as follows:

Be it remembered that on the night of the 4th of Septem-
ber, 1824, a mob of unprincipled vagrants made an attack
upon my office in the town of Louisville, broke open the
door of the printing office, then and there did rob me of a
POCKET-BOOK containing $12 Commonwealth Paper,
ONE DOLLAR on the bank of the State of South Carolina,
and sundry papers; broke my printing press and destroyed
my type; broke down the door of my bed-chamber and
struck several times at me with an axe, forced me from a
sick bed, dragged me to the, river, where they proposed hid-
ing their diabolical deed by sinking my body in the river with
a stone ! ! ! And but for the interference of one man, they
would have completed their deed of cruelty, and put Turks
and Indians to blush ! !

Mr. Roberts had the leaders of the mob ar-
rested and although the evidence appeared con-
clusive, they were cleared by the jury, and fail-
ing as he thought to obtain either justice or pro-
tection at Louisville he removed his establish-
ment— what was left of it — to New Albany. He
claimed damages in money stolen and type and
material destroyed to the amount of two hun-
dred and sixty dollars and seventy- five cents, and
remarks that the good citizens of Louisville
"kindly subscribed a sum nearly sufficient to
repair all my losses and relieve me from the dis-
tress incident on the destruction of my office
and the stoppage of my business."

Thus under adverse circumstances did the
second paper appear in the future city. The
tone of the Microscope appears to have been
rather low, and probably Mr. Roberts received

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

his just deserts; at least but little if any sympa-
thy was shown by the better classes of people at
his unceremonious removal.

Roberts continued the publication of the Mi-
croscope at New Albany a year or more, during
which time he went so deeply into the private
affairs of people, especially in Louisville, that he
came near being again mobbed. A party came
over from that city for that purpose, but Roberts,
being apprised of it, secured a sufficient force in
New Albany to protect him, and the would-be
mobbers were driven again to the other side of
the river. Roberts died some thirty years ago.

TWO OTHER PAPERS.

During the next few years after the Microscope
went out of existence, two or more papers were
published here. One was calied the Crescent,
and one the Aurora. The latter was edited
by Edward P. Shields, who afterwards became
professor in Princeton college. The Crescent
probably followed the Microscope, and was
conducted by Settle & Nelson, Cooper Nelson
bein^ the editor. Reuben W. Nelson was prob-
ably also interested in the paper. He was a
practicing lawyer, and a smart, sprightly, go-
ahead bachelor, who died in 1828 or 1829. Settle
was originally from Ohio but came to this place
from Kentucky. He died in Louisville within
the last decade.

VARIOUS WHIG AND REPUBLICAN PAPERS.

(jThe next venture in the newspaper business
was by the Collins brothers — James, Henry, and
Thomas — the latter of whom is yet living in
New Albany, an old and much respected citizen
and a justice of the peace. They called their
paper the New Albany Gazette. It was Whig in
politics, and the first really political paper started
in the town. It continued to be published many
years under various names — as the Gazette, the
Bulletin, and the Commercial — and by many dif-
ferent owners, and finally ceased to exist in New
Albany about 1870. It supported the Whig
party as long as that party existed, then was kept
up as a Republican paper.

The Gazette was started in November, 1830,
the same week in which the first number of the
Louisville Journal (now the Courier-Journal)
made its appearance. The Collins brothers were
originally from Virginia, but came here from
Kentucky. Henry Collins was a lawyer, and

seemed to be the principal manager of the paper
for several years. He died here in 1S52. After
a few years the entire establishment was pur-
chased by Thomas Collins, and in 1837 Mr.
Collins started the Daily Gazette, the first of the
kind established in the State. The daily and
weekly Gazette grew quite prosperous under his
management, notwithstanding the competition of
the Democratic paper, the Argus, which came
into existence about this time.

In 1839 Ignatus Mattingly came to New Al-
bany from Lexington, Kentucky. He was a
practical printer, and, forming a partnership with
William Green, they purchased the Gazette of
Mr. Collins, and Messrs. Matungly & Green
continued editors and proprietors of the same
until 1845, when, being unable to pay for it, the
office went back into the hands of Thomas Col-
lins, who was an endorser on their paper. Mat-
tingly is still in the printing business at Ply-
mouth, Marshall county, Indiana. Mr. Collins
kept the paper only a few months, when, in
January, 1846, he sold it to Leonard Green, his
brother-in-law and a* brother of William Green.
The new editor employed Theodore J. Barnett
to edit the paper until he sold it in 1849 to Col-
lins & Green — Thomas Collins and William
Green. Under Leonard Green the name of the
paper was changed to the Daily and Weekly Bul-
letin. The Greens were Hoosiers, born in Clarke
county, Indiana, and after leaving New Albany
they established a paper in Bedford, in this
State. Leonard died in Texas in 1855 or 1856,
and William is now publishing a paper in Brook-
ville, Indiana.

In 1852 Collins & Green sold out to Milton
Gregg & Sons, who changed the name of the
paper to the Tribune. Gregg was from Law-
renceburg and Madison, in both of which places
he had been publishing papers. He was a
strong, vigorous writer, a man of a good deal of
ability, and a staunch Whig. The Greggs con-
ducted the paper with considerable success four
or five years, when the family nearly all died,
and the paper went out of existence. Subse-
quently J. P. Hancock, a man of literary tastes
and habits, who had also married a literary
woman, undertook to revive the paper, but with
indifferent success. Mrs. Hancock was the
author of two or three works of fiction, and in
their hands the paper assumed a literary rather

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

than political character, so it was not a success.
They conducted it perhaps six months, when it
again became extinct.

During the greater part of the war the Repub-
licans were without an organ in New Albany;
but in the summer of 1864 a joint stock company
was formed, principally through the efforts of J.
P. Luse, since connected with the Indianapolis
Journal, for the purpose of establishinga Republi-
can paper in New Albany on a sound basis. Some
of the material of the old paper was probably used,
but new type and new presses were purchased,
and the New Albany Commercial established. Its
first editor was William B. Curry, an energetic
young man, a Universalist preacher, a gentle-
man, a scholar, and a vigorous writer. He did
not, however, succeed in making the paper pay
largely, and it became financially embarrassed at
one period, so that it was compelled to suspend
for a time. Mr. Curry took sick, and retired
from the editorial chair. He subsequently went
into politics, became a high officer in the -State
government, and is yet living at Indianapolis.
At that time the office was on the corner of State
and Main streets, where the stocking factory now
is. After Curry left and the paper had been
dormant a few weeks, J. P. Luse took hold of it
with Messrs. Schuyler and Harriott, and the
paper was conducted by these gentlemen with
considerable success for two or three years, when,
about 1870, it was removed to Louisville, where
it is yet published as a Republican paper, and
known all over the country as the Louisville
Commercial.

Mr. Luse is a Hoosier and a graduate of the
State university at Greencastle. When Andrew
Johnson became President he was appointed
collector of customs at Louisville, and has since
been engaged in newspaper enterprises in In-
diana. His partners in New Albany, Schuyler
and Harriott, came from Lafayette together.
Mr. Harriott is now living in the northern part of
the State.

The Republicans cf New Albany and vicinity
seem not yet to have recovered sufficiently from
the blow given by the removal of the Commercial
to start another paper, devoted principally to party
interests. Democracy being in the majority here,
is able to sustain a paper; but the Republicans
still look to Louisville for their nearest political
reading.

DEMOCRATIC JOURNALS.

The first paper to support Democratic princi-
ples in New Albany was started in the fall of
1836, and was called the Argus. Dennison &
Hineline were the editors and proprietors. They
were from New Jersey; the former was club-
footed, a fair but not a high-toned writer. Hine-
line was a man of considerable ability; and after
getting through with the Argus, which he did in
only two years, he went back to New Jersey and
published a paper there, and subsequently be-
came a member of the Legislature of that State.
They purchased new type and material for the
Argus, and established their office on High street,
above Third. About 1838 they sold out to
Hutchens & Thompson (Charles W. Hutchens
and George W. Thompson). This partnership
continued only a few months, when Hutchens
sold his interest to a brother-in-law named Virden,
and retired from the paper. Mr. Hutchens was
a practical printer from Ohio. He went from
New Albany to Louisville, where he worked at
his trade awhile. The last that was heard of him
by his friends here he was in Paducah, Ken-
tucky. Thompson was a Virginian, and also
went to Louisville, where he worked some years
in the Democrat office. Virden & Thompson
conducted the paper a few months, when the
former sold out his interest to the latter, who be-
came the sole proprietor. Virden got into some
difficulty with Prentice, of the Louisville Journal,
which very likely caused his retirement from this
vicinity. For something published in the Jour-
nal he threatened to shoot Prentice on sight.
The latter heard of the threat but paid no atten-
tion to it. One day he saw Virden sitting in an
eating-house, and walked in to see whether Virden
would "shoot him on sight." Courage was one of
the well-known characteristics of Prentice. Vir-
den did not appear to see Prentice at that time,
thus showing the white feather so conspicuously
that he was not able thereafter to live comforta-
bly in the community. Thompson continued
publishing his paper until 1841, when he was
compelled to suspend. Not long after Jared C.
Jocelyn used the press and materials for a time
in an effort to establish a literary sheet, which
was, however, unsuccessful. This paper was
called the Register, and was issued for nearly
two years. Jocelyn was a Connecticut Yankee,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

183

but came here from Ohio. He was subsequently
a magistrate, and died here about 1868.

In 1843 or 1844 the press and material were
purchased by P. M. Kent, and the name of the
paper changed to the Southwestern Democrat.
Kent was a Marylander, but came here from
Vevay, Indiana. He is yet living, and is in
White county, in this State, farming. He con-
nected the Democrat only a short time, when
(about 1844) he sold out to Charles D. Hineline,
who in turn soon sold to Bradley &: Lucas (Au-
gustus Bradley and Oliver P. Lucas). This firm
conducted the paper but a single year, when
they sold out to Norman & Bosworth. Mr.
Bradley is yet a citizen of New Albany, the pro-
prietor of a large flouring-mill, a man of much
ability and experience in public affairs, having
been county auditor and member of the Legis-
lature, and held also other offices of trust and
profit. He was the first president of the New
Albany & St. Louis Air Line railroad. Mr. Lu-
cas has been a member of the school board of
Louisville for the last twenty years.

Norman & Bosworth changed the name of
the paper to the Ledger, a title that has clung to
it to the present time. Bosworth soon retired,
and Phineas M. Kent took his place, putting in
considerable capital; and the firm became Nor-
man & Kent. John B. Norman continued with
the paper up to the day of his death, and con-
tributed greatly to its permanent success. He
was an Englishman, but came here from Indian-
apolis. His partners changed frequently, among
them being L. G. Mathews and James M. Mor-
rison. The latter continued with the paper un-
til his death. He had been a chair-maker to the
time of engaging in the printing business. When
he died the surviving partners purchased the
widow's interest, and the firm became Norman
& Mathews.

In 1877 the following history of this paper
appeared in the Ledger-Standard :

With the present issue of the fifty thousand copies of the
Ledger-Standard, it is deemed proper to speak fully of the
advantages New Albany possesses in the industrial and
manufacturing points of view. While other interests are
spoken of elsewhere in these columns, none are of greater
importance in a community than the printing-press. In almost
every business in which there has been achieved , by enterprise
a nd energy, instances of success so marked as to excite imi-
tation and competition, it may be safely asserted that ten
failures may be recorded for each such conspicuous success.
Of no business does this statement hold good with more

emphasis than of newspaper undertakings. The failures are
numerous, and not seldom ruinous ; the average successes
are but moderate ; and yet there are instances ol exceptional
and brilliant success in newspaper enterprises that are worthy
of note. Among the most marked and prominent of these in
the West is the Ledger-Standard. The history of this paper
affords a prominent illustration of what enterprise, liberality,
and correct business management will achieve.

The first number of the Daily Ledger was issued on the
21st of September, r849, from the second-story of an old
building which was then situated on the northeast corner of
Pearl and Main streets, and the present site of the Mer-
chants' National bank. It was established by Phineas M. Kent
and John B. Norman, and was nearly the size of the Daily
Ledger-Standard. The location of the office, for the space
of about twenty-five years, was changed but three times, and
in that time there were but few changes in proprietorship.
For over twenty years John B. Norman gave his undivided
attention to the paper, and was the leading spirit that gave
it tone and character. He was editor and chief proprietor
from its birth until the time of his death, wrhich occurred
October 30, r86o. The interest of Mr. Norman was dis-
posed of to L. G. Matthews, junior partner in the firm, who
in June, r872, transferred the paper to Merrill & Moter, and
they consolidated it with the Standard August 14, r872, and
a stock company was formed, composed of C. E. Merrill, C.
R. Moter, Josiah Gwin, ]. V. Kelso, and Charles E. John-
ston.

The Standard was born in troublous times — almost in the
midst of the greatest and«nost depressing panic that has ever
swept over this country, but, Minerva-like, it sprang into be-
ing full grown, equipped for work, and shoulder to shoulder
with the veterans of newspaperdom. Its firing was heard all
along the line, and its thousands of readers felt that a new
power had arisen. With the staunch and trustworthy old
Ledger it was at once a worthy competitor in circulation, a
model of typographical neatness, editorial ability, and dash
as a local newspaper. The first number of the Daily
Standard was issued July 3t, 187T, from our present quarters,
and the weekly issue began August 9th following. The
Standard was established and owned by Josiah Gwin, James
V. Kelso, and Charles E. Johnston, who continued as pro-
prietors until the Ledger material was removed to the office
of the former, corner of Main and State streets. The two
papers combined were then named .

THE LEDGER-STANDARD.

A short time after the consolidation, Messrs. Merrill,
Moter, Kelso, and Johnston retired from the company, their
respective stock being purchased by Messrs. James P. Apple-
gate, Jonathan Peters, Josiah Gwin, and Adam Himer. An
election of officers was held, resulting as follows: Jonathan
Peters, president; James P. Applegate, secretary; Josiah
Gwin, manager and treasurer. There has been no change in
the officers of the company, all having been re-elected from
year to year since. Shortly after the consolidation of the
two papers, very extensive additions were made to the ma-
terial of the office throughout, and much of the earnings of
the concern have been added to the original capital stock, in-
creasing it from twenty-one thousand dollars to thirty thou-
sand dollars, about twenty-five thousand dollars of which is
paid up. Among the most extensive additions was a com-
plete bindery, which furnishes something like fifteen counties
in the State with records and blank books. New type was
also furnished for the job and news department; and it can
be said without boasting that the Ledger-Standard, in all its

1 84

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

departments, is one of the most complete blank-book manu-
facturing, printing, and job offices in the West.

The building is" probably better adapted for the business
for which it is used than any other in the city. The dimen-
sions are 20 x 95 feet, four stories high, including the base-
ment. The basement is used as a newspaper and job press-
room, and is excellently lighted. Here is a ten-horse-power
engine, used for running two large cylinder presses, of the
Cottrell & Babcock and Taylor patterns, and a quarto Gor-
don. Besides, there is a large stock of paper, fuel, and ap-
paratus used in running the presses, cleaning the forms,
etc., etc.

The floor above the basement, or properly the first story,
contains the counting-room, which is about 20 x 40 feet in
size, and the job-room, 20 x 55 feet. The counting-room is
supplied with all necessary furniture, and the shelves are
well filled with printers' stock, blank books, and articles used
in job printing and blank-book manufacturing. The job
office contains hundreds of fonts of type, from agate to the
largest poster size, cabinets, stands, cases, imposing stones,
proof press, a Gordon press, and many other needful articles,
too numerous to mention.

Upon the second floor are the editorial rooms, completely
furnished with furniture, extensive and valuable libraries of
books pertaining to the newspaper business. On the same
floor the bindery and stock rooms are situated. The bindery
is complete in every respect, and is supplied with ruling ma-
chine, large power paper-cutter, presses, board-cutters, tools,
and in fact everything used in the manufacture of blank
books. The stock room contains' a large stock of papers
and readv-made records of the various sizes and patterns.

The upper story is occupied as the news-room. It is
large, roomy, and probably the lightest in the city, being
lighted from both sides and front and rear by large windows,
and not obstructed by other buildings. The room contains
stands, cases, imposing-stones, type, and other material to
run half a dozen ordinary papers. A hoisting apparatus
connects with the lower rooms, and the forms are lowered
four stories safely and rapidly to the basement.

That the condition of the company may be known, we
hereby submit the annual report of the company for the year
ending December 31, 1876:

Capital stock authorized $30,000 00

Amount of capital stock subscribed and paid up
to date (including all engines, presses, materi-
al, material and fixtures in said printing office
and machinery and fixtures in bindery, and fix-
tures, furniture and library in editorial rooms

and counting rooms) 25,300 00

Material on hand not included in above 850 00

Bills and accounts receivable !5.542 36

$41,692 36
LIABILITIES.
Bills and accounts payable $ 5,216 08

Total surplus over all liabilities $36,476 18

THE "LEDGER" AGAIN.

August 15, 1881, the name of the Ledger-
Standard was changed to the Ledger. The
change called forth the following letter from Mr.
John W. McQuiddy, who ran the first power-
press and first steam-press in New Albany. The

letter is full of interesting reminiscences of the
later days of the Ledger :

Immtors Ledger: — The recent change made in the name
of your excellent paper calls up some reminiscences which
may possess some interest.

During the winter of 1853-54 Mr. John B. Norman, then
the proprietor and editor of the Ledger, purchased a power-
press of the cylinder pattern, known as the Northrop press —
a cheap affair and very difficult to manage. In February,
1854, I was sent by Mr. George Thompson, then foreman of
the Louisville Democrat, with a letter of introduction to Mr.
Norman, in which I was recommended as a qualified and
competent power-pressman. I was received by Mr. Nor-
man in his characteristic quiet style. The result of the inter-
view was an engagement to run the presses in the office,
which at that time consisted of the power-press and a hand-
press.

I was then living in Louisville. On Monday morning,
February 3, 185^, I came over and went to work. I was an
entire stranger in the city, but soon became attached to those
with whom I came in daily contact in my duties about the
office, and have ever since held them in the highest esteem.
Mr. Norman was editor, book-keeper, put up his mails, and
made a hand on the paper. Mr. C. W. Cottom was local
editor, type-setter, and general utility man. Sam William-
son was job workman, D. Mcintosh, Henry Heath. William
Hardy, and Edward W. Sinex compositors. Of these ail
are living except Mr. Norman and Mr. Williamson. Mr.
Sinex is still with the Ledger, and has been continuously in
the service of its various proprietors since the first issue of the
paper. In the spring of 1874 Mr. Hugh Gordon, who had
during the winter been employed on the steamer Peter Tel-
Ion, returned to the office and continued to act as foreman of
the news and job department until his death in 1868 — a faith-
ful employe and a true friend.

The office in 1853-54 was located on Main street, on the
north side, between Pearl and Bank streets, in the two upper
stones of the three-story building on the corner of the alley.
The paper was small, had been established but a few years,
and was by no means a pronounced success as a dailv. The
proprietor worked hard, and the result was the establishment
of one of the best papers and one of the most flourishing
printing-offices in the State. Mr. Norman was a practical
printer, and never hesitated to take a case when necessary.
Before he died the office had immensely increased in patron-
age, and the old power- and hand-press had been superseded
by two new and improved power-presses.

Before, however, this success had been reached, Mr. Nor-
man associated with him Messrs. James M. Morrison and
L. G. Matthews, and a large share of credit is due those
gentlemen, to whom the business affairs of the office were
entrusted. The office was moved to Pearl street, to the
three-story building in the rear of the New York store, occu-
pying the entire building. Soon the business increased so
rapidly that the late David Crane wras induced to add a third
story to his building, and the presses were moved in and
steam power introduced to the establishment. The business
continued to grow, and soon it became necessary to rent the
third story of the corner building and the one next below,
and when no more buildings in that locality were to be ob-
tained, DePauw's Hall, corner of Pearl and Spring, was
fitted up expressly for the Ledger, and the office moved into
it*. This building was used from the cellar to the garret.
Messrs. Norman and Morrison having died, Mr. Matthews
became sole proprietor, who shortly after the last removal

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

185

sold the newspaper to Merrill and Moter. These gentlemen
consolidated the Ledger with the Standard, and the paper
was called the Ledger-Standard.

During the sixteen years I was connected with the Ledger
many fellow-craftsmen were employed on the paper and in
the various departments; among them I may mention Aug.
Jocelyn. as foreman of the job department; A. M.Jack-
son, foreman of the news department, and afterwards assist-
ant editor; William Bodenhammer, afterwards editor of the
Noblesville Ledger, and Dewees Heneks, all good workmen
and men of intelligence. Mr. Heneks was something of a
poet. On one occasion the carriers were unable to get a New
Year's address written. But one day was left before it was
needed. Heneks, ascertaining the trouble, said he would
get them up one. He immediately went to his case, and in
the course of an hour produced, without copy, one of the
best addresses ever published by the paper. All of these are
dead.

The best years of my life were devoted to service on the
Ledger. My relations with its proprietors were always pleas-
ant, and I became closely attached to it; and the restoration
of the old name struck a responsive chord, which induced
me to write the foregoing. May the paper profitably con-
tinue to furnish the news for the good people of Floyd coun-
ty and surrounding country for many years to come.

Mr. W. C. Cottom still continues to do faith-
ful work on this paper in the editorial depart-
ment.

GERMAN PAPERS.

The German element in and around New
Albany is a strong one, thus creating a demand
for a paper printed in the German language.
Several of this kind have been started from time
to time, and two are now in existence in the city.

The first German paper was started here about
1850. It was called the Sun, but soon became
permanently eclipsed and nobody seems able to
tell when or where. In 1861 a second German
paper made its appearance, called the New
Albany Democrat. It was published by.Messrs.
Weiss & Lauber, at the southwest corner of
State and Market streets. It closed about six
months after the first issue, for the reason, it is
stated, that it could not get compositors on
account of the war. The office of the Democrat
was transferred to Evansville in 1862, and there
became the Evansville Democrat, which is still
a flourishing paper.

The third German paper to make its appear-
ance in New Albany was the Deutsche Zeitung,
the present paper. It is a weekly, eight page
sheet, and was started June 28, 1875, by Otto
Palmer, a wide-awake, active German, who is
editor, proprietor, publisher, compositor, etc.,
and fills all these positions in the front room of
his own dwelling on Pearl street, between Elm

and Oak. His paper is Democratic in politics,
the Democratic German population in the county
being about five thousand, including children.
It is a five column quarto, printed in the German
language, and has remained in Mr. Palmer's
hands since it was established.

About a year after the Zeitung was established
another German paper was started by F. W. A.
Reidel, of the German Protestant church. It is
called the New Albany Das Echo der Gegenwart
und der Zeitgeist, and is a liberal Christian, unde-
nominational journal, printed in German, and
devoted to a record of religious progress and
other matters interesting to the German commu-
nity. It is semi-monthly. Mr. Reidel, who
came here from Cincinnati, where he had been
connected with a paper, began his labors in the
German church about 1870. He purchased a
press and the type, and for the first three years
had his paper printed in Louisville; after that it
was transferred to his own dwelling in this city,
on Bank street, between Elm and Spring, from
which place it is yet issued.

OTHER PAPERS.

In 1875 J. H. and W. S. Conner started a
job-printing establishment in the rear end of J.
H. Conner's drug store, on Spring street. After
confining themselves to job printing about two
years they issued the Saturday Herald, simply
an advertising sheet, which has since been con-
tinued. In 1880 the office and material were
purchased by J. H. Conner, who is at present
sole proprietor.

The next year (1881) was a propitious one for
the establishment of newspapers in New Albany,
two entirely new ones having made their appear-
ance. The first of these is the Weekly Review,
the first number of which was issued February
19, 1881. It is a six-column folio, and devoted
to the interests of the colored people. It is is-
sued by the Review Publishing company, a
stock association composed entirely of col-
ored people. The Rev. Richard Bassett is the
business manager, and W. O. Vance the editor.
It is Republican, but makes neither politics nor
religion prominent specialities. It is compar-
atively prosperous, having a circulation of about
eleven hundred.

The Public Press was established June 22,
1881, by Messrs. Josiah Gwin & Sons. It is a

1 86

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

weekly eight column folio, and Democratic in
politics. It is published at No. 61 Pearl street.
Mr. Gwin has long been connected with the
press of New Albany, and it will be remembered
started the Standard in 187 1, which was sub-
sequently consolidated with the Ledger. Mr.
Gwin retained his interest in the Ledger-Stand-
ard until February 14, 1881, when he sold it to
Captain John B. Mitchell, now clerk of the
county. Mr. Gwin was county recorder nine
years and has been prominent in the affairs of
New Albany. »

Mr. Thomas Collins started an agricultural
paper here in 1858, called the Review of the
Markets and Farmers' Journal; which however,
he only published about six months. No doubt
other efforts were made from time to time to es-
tablish papers in New Albany, but the above re-
view includes all the publications that amounted
to anything.

CHAPTER X.

NEW ALBANY— THE CHURCHES.

There are at present in the city twenty-three
churches, viz: nine Methodist, four Presbyterian,
two Baptist, two Christian, two Catholic, one
Episcopal, one United Brethren, one German
Evangelical, and one Universalist. As intro-
ductory to the history of these churches, it may
be well to give the following extract from Mr. C.
\V. Cottom's Material Interests of New Al-
bany, published in 1873:

New Albany may justly be termed the city of churches.
Ever since the city was founded it has been distinguished for
the religious character of its citizens and its church privileges.
The first religious meeting held in the city was under the
auspices of tire Methodists. It was held in a little log cabin
in which spruce beer and ginger cakes were sold by a widow
woman named Reynolds, and the meeting was brought
about in a very singular manner. A gentleman named Elam
Genung started out one moonlit evening, after the day's labor
had ended, to take a walk in the forest, in the midst of which
the few cabins then constituting the town were built. He
heard the widow lady who kept the cake and beer shop sing-
ing a (to him) familiar' religious hymn. He was attracted by
her sweet voice to the cabin, and as he entered it she ceased
singing. He requested her to repeat the hymn, and as she
did so joined with her in singing it. At its close he asked
her if she was a church member. She replied she had been

in the East, before she came to Indiana Territory, a member
of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

"I, too, was a Methodist before I came here," replied
Genung, "let us pray."

The singing had drawn a dozen or more of the settlers to
the cabin, and had touched every heart by its sweet tender-
ness, waking memories of homes far away in the East, and
religious privileges that were held dear and sacred, and when
prayer was proposed all entered the cabin, and there, under
the giant trees, the silver moon pouring down a flood of
mellow light over the scene, the first public prayer was
offered in New Albany. One who was present at that meet-
ing says of it : "It was an occasion to be remembered for
a long lifetime, for God came down among us in his first
temples, the trees, and all were blessed."

There is but one survivor of that first religious meeting in
New Albany, and her feet are still traveling the "straight
and narrow pathway " she that night, now more than fifty-
five years ago, found it so pleasant to walk in. At the close
of this meeting another was announced for the night of the
same day the following week. At that meeting a Methodist
class was formed, and this continued to meet until June, 20,
1817, when the Methodist Episcopal church was regularly
organized in New Albany by Rev. John Shrader, and the
first sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered by him in
a hotel kept by a widow lady named Hannah Ruff. On No-
vember 25, i8t7, the first Methodist church in the town was
dedicated by Rev. John Shrader. There are now in the city
ten Methodist church buildings, two of them Methodist mis-
sions.

The next church organized here was the First Presbyter-
ian. The organization was effected on the 7th of December,
1817, with nine members. The first meeting was held in
Mrs. Scribner's residence, being now a portion of what is
the Commercial hotel — formerly High Street house. The
first communion of the Pi esbyterian church of New Albany
was solemnized on the day of the organization. Rev. D. C.
Banks officiating at the ceremony. The first baptism
solemnized in New Albany was that of the infant daughter
of Dr. Asahel and Elizabeth Clapp, Lucinda Ann, yet living
in this city, and the wife of Mr. W. C. Shipman. There are
now in New Albany three Presbyterian churches and two
Presbyterian Mission churches. The next religious society
organized in the city was the Baptist church, the organiza-
tion taking place, as near as we can learn, in the autumn of
1821. From this brief sketch it will be seen that the pioneers
of New Albany were scarce installed in their log cabins when
they commenced the organization of churches. This early
religious work gave a moral and Christian tone to society in
the then village, which has "grown with its growth and
strengthened with its strength." Now New Albany can
boast nearly thirty churches, and in the superior cultivation
and moral and religious character of her society is not sur-
passed by any city in America.

THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
The following embraces a full list of the several religious
denominations of the city, and the number of church edifices:
Presbyterian, three regular and two mission churches, valued
at $125,000: Methodist (white), seven regular, one German,
two mission, colored two; property of all valued at $140,-
000; Baptist (white), one ; colored, two; value of property,
$30,000; Protestant Episcopal, one regular and one mission
church, valued at $25,000; Lutheran German Evangelical,
and German Evangelical (Salem), with property valued at
$50,000; Catholic, two large churches, one German, the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

187

other Irish, and with property valued at $135,000; Christian
church, valued at $30,000; United Brethren church, valued
at $3,000; Universalist church, valued at $20,000. The
Southern Methodist church worship in the Universalist
church. There is a society of Spiritualists in the city that
meets in one of the public halls. There is also a small
society of Second Adventists.

WESLEY CHAPEL.

This proves to have been the first church in
the city, of any denomination, though it did not
receive its present name for more than twenty
years after it was established, or until after the
separation which took place when the Centenary
church came into existence. During all the first
years of its life it was simply known as the
Methodist church of New Albany, the Method-
ists of this place worshiping in one building for
nearly a quarter of a century. Aaron McDaniels,
the father of Rev. William McDaniels, at present
residing in New Albany, came to the town in
December, 181 7. There was, says the son, no
Methodist church here at that time, but within a
few months, that is during the year 18 18, a
church was organized. He says that Widow Ruff
then occupied a large frame dwelling, the best
house in the town at that time, and in her house,
she being a devoted Methodist, the first Method-
ist class was organized. This statement differs
somewhat from that in the extract above quoted,
but is probably correct, as Mr. Daniels has all
his life been a devoted Methodist, the greater
part of it being spent in preaching, and probably
understands the history of the Methodist church
in this city better than any other person now
living. The year was probably 181 8 instead of
181 7, as stated in the above extract. Mr.
Daniels' father was one of the members of this
organization; he was a ship-carpenter and came
from Philadelphia to Maysville, Kentucky,
thence to New Albany where he found employ-
ment in the ship-yards. Peter Stoy, Henry
Pitcher, Edward Brown, and Obediah Childs
were also members of this class. Stoy and
Pitcher were also from Philadelphia, and carpen-
ters too, and worked at ship and house building.
Mr. Brown was from Baltimore and was engaged
in buying and selling cattle and other stock for
many years. Their place of meeting was usually
at Widow Ruff's house, but was sometimes at
the house of Obediah Childs, and it was here,
says Mr. Daniels, that the first Methodist prayer

meeting in New Albany was held, being led by
Aaron Daniels.

Among the first ministers of the Methodist
church through this region were Revs. John
Schrader, John Strange, Peter Cartwright, Charles
Holliday, George Locke and William Shanks.
These were all pioneer Methodist preachers, and
during the greater portion of their lives were
found in the front rank of advancing pioneer
settlers. Their labors were in the wilderness
among wild beasts and savages, encountering
always great danger, hardship, and suffering for
the purpose of advancing their religious views
and establishing churches. The name of Peter
Cartwright is especially well known in Ohio and
Kentucky, and indeed throughout the Ohio val-
ley, and his charactei and power as a preacher
are well known. He was "a diamond in the
rough," a natural orator, a man without educa-
tion or polish, but a giant in intellect as well as
physical strength. Indeed, the same may be
said of most of these early preachers, of other
denominations as well as Methodist, but Cart-
wright was probably superior to most of them,
and so fearfully in earnest in his religious labors
that he left an imperishable memory behind.

Rev. John Schrader, as above stated, organ-
ized the first Methodist class in New Albany.
He was perhaps one of the best known of the
pioneer Methodist pieachers in this county, as
he spent most of his life here. He subsequently
organized a church in Greenville township in this
county, which built a log church known as Schra-
der's chapel, one of the oldest in the county.

It must have been soon after the first Method-
ist class was organized that the church was erect-
ed. It was a small frame building and stood on
the lot where the Wesley Methodist church par-
sonage now stands. It was probably built in
1818, for it was standing there in 18 19, accord-
ing to McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville, pub-
lished in that year. Speaking of New Albany
he says: "The inhabitants are all either Meth-
odists or Presbyterians, the former having a meet-
ing house, ard the latter have contracted for a
church, which is to be built immediately."

The native forest trees had to be cleared away
for the erection of this first Methodist church,
which cost, perhaps, five hundred dollars, though
most of the labor upon it was voluntary. This
building was in use by all the Methodists of the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

town and country around for a dozen years or
more, when they erected a brick church on the
corner of First and Market streets, which is yet
standing. A frame addition has been placed in
front of it and it is used for mercantile purposes
by Dr. August Kncefel. In. this building the
Methodists worshiped for twenty years or more.
During the years between 1830 and 1840 it in-
■ creased so in numbers, and the town grew away
from it to the eastward so rapidly that it was
thought best to have another church building.
The town became ? city iti 1839, and those liv-
ing in the upper part of the city desired the new
church to be erected in that direction for their
accommodation. This was accomplished in
1839, when the Centenary church was erected.
Both congregations continued under one charge,
however. Two years later, when they separated,
two churches were organized, and the old church
was thereafter known as Wesley chapel. They
continued worshiping in the old brick church on
the corner of First and Market until 1854, when
the congregation had grown so large that it was
necessary to erect a new building, and the pres-
ent beautiful and substantial brick structure was
put up on the north side of Market street, be-
tween Lower Second and Washington streets.

From the forty-ninth annual report of the In-
diana conference, which held its session in New
Albany commencing September 8, 1S80, the fol-
lowing facts regarding Wesley chapel are gleaned:
Total number of members, 482; value of
church, $20,000; value of parsonage, $1,500;
improvements during the year on church and
parsonage, $1,306. The church gave tor mis-
sion work $80.25, and the Sunday-school gave
for the same $19.89. The church gave for other
benevolent purposes $59.20. The current ex-
penses of the church — sexton, gas, fuel, etc. —
were $366. Rev. Joseph S. Woods is pastor.

The Sunday-school was one of the first es-
tablished in the city and is yet in a flourishing
condition.

CENTENARY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The origin of this church appears in the his-
tory of Wesley chapel above given. In 1875
this church had printed in a little paper called
the Centenary Advocate such items in her his-
tory as it was desirable to have preserved. These
items are here given in part as follows:

One hundred years alter the opening of the Old Foundry in
London, 1739, Centenary church was built. Methodism had
extended herself, in the mean time, over England, Scotland,
Ireland, and the whole of the United States and Canada.

The old society, since called Wesley chapel, then worshiped
in the quaint old building now occupied by Dr. Aug. Knaefel
as a warehouse for drugs.

Both churches united in the building of the new house,
the division not taking place till two years after it was com-
pleted. The original construction of Centenary differed
somewhat from the present appearance. There was then no
recess in the rear, and no vestibule in front. The stairways
to the main audience room ran up on the outside with no pro-
tection from the weather.

A wide gallery ran across the front end inside. As first
built the church had no spire and no bell, there then being a
strong prejudice on the part of many persons against such
things.

The stand, the altar-railing, the seats and even the windows
and doors were of quite a different style of architecture from
what they now are. The pulpit was quite high, and minis-
ters ascended to it by a considerable flight of steps.

All this seems quite curious and out of taste to the youth
of this day (1875), bw. at that time, Centenary was con-
considered to be, and really was a great improvement on the
church buildings that preceded it. Our Puritan fathers, in
the reaction against the fripperies and fopperies of the Eu-
ropean churches, had gone to an absurd extreme of plainness
and severity. Their houses of worship were unadorned
within and unpainted without; even a stove or a fire-place
was not allowed to invade their sacred precincts, it being
supposed that the fire of God's love would keep truly pious
worshipers warm, ana all others deserved to freeze. A re-
action against this unreasonable plainness has taken place;
but, at the time of which we speak, it was in the first stages
of the transition.

After the church was completed the two pulpits,— those of
Wesley and Centenary, — were occupied alternately by the
preacher in charge, and his assistant. This arrangement,
however, closed at the end of the second year, since which
time Centenary has been an independent charge.

The following are the names of the pastors
of Centenary church from the first to the present
time: John C Smith, two years; William
Knowles, assistant, one year; Silas Rawson, assist-
ant, one year; Richard Robinson, two years;
Isaac Crawford, two years; Allen Wiley, two
years; T. H. Rucker, two years; Williamson Ter-
rell, two years; C. B. Davidson, two years; John
C. Smith, one year; L. C. Berry, Thomas H.
Lynch, one year; B. F. Rawlins, two years; S. J.
Gillett, two years; Daniel Mclntire, two years;
Elijah Fletcher, one and one-half years; R. L.
Cushman, one and one-half years; N. P. Heth,
two years; James Hill, three years; H. R. Nay-
lor, three years; S. L. Binkley, two years; J. S.
Woods, two years; W. F. Harnard, one year; Dr.
James Dixon, one year; Dr. George D. Watson,
two years; E. T. Curnick, present pastor.

L. C. Berry, having been elected to the presi-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

dency of a college, his year was filled out by Dr.
Lynch, then president of Asbury Female college,
now DePauw college, of this city. Jatnes Hill
was the first preacher after the pastorate was
changed from two years to three. One of the
most notable revivals in this church took place
under his administration. Other churches also
had an unusual awakening about this time, such
a one as the cit> had never before witnessed.
Though some have fallen away, there are very
many persons in the various churches who date
their religious life from that period, and whose
conduct has evinced the sincerity and reality of
the change. James Hill has been a remarkably
successful minister.

The presiding elders who have served the
church in this district are as follows: \V. McK.
Hester, Daniel Mclntire, William C. Smith,
John Kerns, William V. Daniels, John J.
Hight, C. B. Davidson, John Kiger, Edward
R. Ames and Enoch G. Wood. During the
years the first of these were in active service
there were no railroads in Indiana; they went to
their various appointments on horseback, carry-
ing the needed clothing and books in their sad-
dle-bags behind them. Many of the most noted
preachers composed their sermons while slowly
making their way through dense forests along
some Indian trail. From an old manuscript it
is ascertained that the salary of the pastors, in-
cluding rent of the house, for the years 1840-45
averaged $461. The rent was $65 per annum.
The salary of Bishop Ames, then a presiding
elder residing in New Albany, was about the
same. The amount paid by Wesley chapel as
her share of his claim in the year 1845 was

$55-4°-

The Indiana conference then included the
whole State, and a district was, in some cases,
halt as large as the conterence now is.

Weddings in churches were not so common in
the earlier years of the church as at present. Prob-
ably the first marriage in the Centenary church was
that of Mr. Augustus Bradley, yet living, and
with his worthy wife still a faithful worker in the
church. This event took place September 13,
1846. Calvin Ruter, then superannuated, and a
very noted minister, officiated at the wedding.

The location of the church is on the north
side of Spring street, between Upper Third and
Fourth.

CENTENARY SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Immediately on the opening of Centenary
church the Sunday-school was organized. The
first superintendent was Robert Downey. He is
still living and resides at Chicago, Illinois. He
was an old superintendent, having filled that
office in Wesley chapel as far back as 1829.
The following is a list of the superintendents,
though probably not in the exact order in which
they served: Robert Downey, Dr. E. S. Leon-
ard, James E. Sage, James Johnson, Dr. R. R.
Town, George A. Chase, John N. Wright, M. M.
Hurley, John C. Davie, Jefferson Conner, Henry
Beharrel, Sr., Dr. Thomas H. Rucker, Jared C.
Jocelyn, John D. Rodgers, J. H. Conner, James
Pierce, William W. May.

The first secretary of Centenary Sunday-school
was Louis W. Stoy, and the first librarian was
J. R. Parker. Andrew Weir was secretary for
about five years, but by lar the senior in this
office is J. R. Parker, who served the Sunday-
school as secretary about twenty years in all,
leaving that place and assuming the one he now
holds about a year since.

For a number of years the Sunday-school was
held in the basement, but the room was so dark
and uncomfortable that, for a few years, the
school was held in the audience room above.
In the year 1867 the floor of the old room was
lowered about four feet, iron columns were sub-
stituted for the old wooden ones, and the whole
interior refitted, so that it is now one of the
neatest Sunday-school rooms in the city.

The managers of the school from the begin-
ning took an active part in the uniform lesson
movement, at once adopted the system, and lent
their in influence introducing it elsewhere. Cen-
tenary is entitled to the credit of having one of
the oldest and best sustained teachers' meetings
in the State of Indiana.

MAIN STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This is an offspring of Wesley chapel, and
was established about 1847, being first called
Roberts' chapel, in honor of Bishop Roberts,
who was serving in this part of the State at that
time, and who was a very popular and earnest
worker in the church. As the old church,
Wesley chapel was generally known, before it
received its present name, as the "Old Ship," so
this little chapel was often called the "Yawl."

190

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

At first it was a "mission," or simply a Sunday
school, established here because there were many
children in the neighborhood that the good
people of the church hoped to bring under the
influences of the church. The church owned a
lot here, and about the date above mentioned, a
small frame house was purchased, moved upon
the lot and a Sunday-school opened. This
school was continued with marked success for
several years, and meanwhile preaching was oc-
casionally had at the house. As Methodism
grew and strengthened, and the other two
churches became filled with members, regular
preaching was maintained at Roberts' chapel and
a separate church organized there. By the aid
of the present church and the people generally
the present neat brick church edifice was erected
in 1877, at a cost of something more than four
thousand dollars. The total value of church
property now here, including parsonage, is about
six thousand dollars. The membership at pres-
ent is one hundred and twenty-eight, and the
Sunday-school, established in 1847, is still in a
flourishing condition.

The church is located on Main street, between
Lower Fifth and Sixth streets.

VINCENNES STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH.

This church is located on the corner of Mar-
ket and Vincennes streets, and was formerly
known as the Ebenezer church. This church
was erected to accommodate the Methodists of
the town of Providence, mentioned elsewhere.
Epaphras Jones undertook to build a town here
and gathered about him a few settlers, among
them the family of Grahams, who were Method-
ists. For many years the Methodists of this
part of the town and city attended the Wesley
chapel and the Centenary, but the nearest of
these two churches was a mile away, and a de-
sire was thus created for a church nearer home ;
and the Methodists up here especially .felt the
need of a Sabbath school in the neighborhood.
There were many children who could not or did
not go to the Sabbath school down town, so
Mrs. Ferdinand Graham (now Mrs. Inwood and
yet living) determined to try starting a Sabbath
school in her own house. This she successfully
accomplished, about 1850, with about fifteen
children to start with. This was the beginning
of a Sabbath school that has kept up in this

neighborhood from that day to this. The school
soon increased to foity or more scholars; more
than her dwelling could well accommodate, and
thus it was determined by the people of the
neighborhood to erect a church, not only for the
accommodation of this flourishing school, but for
preaching also. A subscription paper was circu-
lated and the money for building the present
frame church soon raised. It was erected in
1 85 1, and since that has been repaired and
added to somewhat. This church grew and
flourished, and became a large church compara-
tively, but probably received its death blow when
the Johns Street church was erected, about
1857. This latter church, standing between the
Vincennes Street church and the Centenary,
drew to it the larger part of the congregation.
One pastor served both churches for a time.
After some years this church was unable to pay
its pastor and the society disbanded. After this
the church building was rented to the German
Methodists for five years, and they undertook to
build up a church here, but also failed, keeping
it only two years. There has been no preaching
by the Methodists here for several, years. The
Sabbath school has for some years been in the
hands of the Presbyterians, who rented the
church and established a mission. The school
numbers about forty or fifty scholars and is reg-
ularly attended. One of the earliest preachers
in this church was an eccentric character named
Garrison. One of his peculiarities was that he
would not accept any pay for preaching ; he did
not believe in ministers laboring for money ; he
thought the Lord would provide for him if he
was faithful in preaching the gospel. He was
frequently urged to take pay for his preaching
but refused it ; the consequence was he was
very poor and was compelled to give up preach-
ing for fear of starvation.

JOHNS STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This building is located on Eleventh street,
between Spring and Market. It is a substantial
brick, and was built about 1857. Mr. John
Conner donated the lot upon which it stands,
and its first members and originators were mem-
bers of Centenary and Ebenezer churches. The
donation of the lot and the number of Method-
ists living in the neighborhood were the induce-
ments for building the church, though its estab-
lishment probably caused the downfall of Eben-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

191

ezer. Its first minister was William B. Mason,
and some of its first members were Mrs. William
Akin, Miss Sue Shively, Mrs. Genung, Mrs. Kate
Petre, James Turner, Mrs. Martha Turner, and
others. Eleventh street is sometimes known as
Johns street, so named in honor of Mr. John
Conner, the donor of the church lot. At the
time the church was built Rev. John Krciger was
presiding elder on this circuit, and the same gen-
tleman is at this time acting in the same capacity.
J. Ravenscraft and Robert Kemp, both now
ministers, were also among the original members,
as was also James Forman, who was the first
Sabbath-school superintendent. Mr. Kemp was
also among the first superintendents of the Sab-
bath-school.

The ministers of this church have been as fol-
low: William B. Mason, J. H. Ketcham, Joseph
Wharton, Lee Welker, Benjamin F. Torr, George
Telle, Charles Cross, J. J. Hite, John Julian,
J. H. Klippinger, George F. Culmer, William
McKee Hestor, T. D. Welker, Ferdinand C.
Iglehart, Henry J. Talbot, Hickman N. King,
Francis Walker, E. T. Curmick, and Dr. Walter
Underwood, the present minister. The present
membership of this church is about two hundred
and thirty.

The organization of the Sabbath-school was
coeval with that of the church, and has been
kept up with a good degree of success, the mem-
bership at present being about one hundred and
twenty.

KINGSLEY MISSION.

This religious institution was established
through the munificence and great interest in the
Methodist church of Hon. W. C. DePauw, a
wealthy and influential citizen of New Albany.
In 1864 the Episcopalians, desiring to build a
new church, sold their old one to the Lutherans,
who in turn sold it to Mr. UePauw, who caused
it to be moved out on Vincennes street, where
he is the owner of considerable properly. He
placed the building on one of his vacant lots,
put it in good repair, and opened a. "mission
school," or Sunday-school. There were many
children in this part of this city that did not at-
tend the Sabbath -schools down town, and Mr.
DePauw hoped that much good could be ac-
complished here by the establishment of a
school. He has not, probably, been disap-
pointed, having labored faithfully himself for the

establishment and permanent success of the
school. He has been the superintendent of the
school since it started, attending every Sunday
afternoon, with Mr. J. H. Conner as assistant.

The mission was named in honor of Bishop
Kingsley. Meetings tor preaching and prayer
are frequently held at the mission house, and
like the other mission mentioned it may, as it is
hoped, become an established and regularly or-
ganized church.

THE GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The organization of this church occurred
prior to 1850. Before this the German Method-
ists had never felt themselves strong enough to
support a church, and had been attending the
English churches. The originators of the first
organization were the Dirkings, the Meistors, the
Ehrharts, and probably some others. The fol-
lowing list of names appears on the church rec-
ord: Frederick Dirking and his wife Anna, John
G. Smith, Frank Graf, Agnes Graf, Christian
Dirking, Catharine Dirking, Eva Graf, Frederick
Sieveking, Christiana Sieveking, William Arns-
mann, Catharine Arnsman, George Ehrhart, Anna
Ehrhart, Gerhard Niehaus, Anna Maria Niehaus,
Adelheit Neihaus, Barbara Newbaur, Catharine
Fuhrmann, Conrad Helm, Barbara Helm, Simon
Knauer, Anna M. Knauer, John Knauer, An-
dreas Menzinger, Gotleib Menzinger, John Mor-
gen, Elizabeth Morgen, Anna C. Zeilmann,
Henry Jesberg, Phillip Seitz, Jacob Green,
Phillip Sharf, T. Seitz, and Frederick Dauber.

The few German Methodists at first met for
prayer and conference at each other's houses,
and after forming a class, their meetings were
held in one of the city school-houses until 1863,
when their present church edifice was erected.
They have had but three regular pastors, the first
being Rev. Mr. Heller, the second, Rev. Mr.
Moot, and the third and present pastor, Rev. C.
Fritchie. The church building is a neat, sub-
stantial brick located on Fifth street, between
Market and Spring. It is 40 x 70 feet in size,
high ceiling, and comfortably furnished. The
society is in a flourishing condition, having, at
present, about one hundred and seventy-five
members.

The Sunday school was organized in the early
days of the church organization, and still contin-
ues in a flourishing condition, with a membership
of one hundred and fifty.

192

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

COLORED METHODIST CHURCHES.

In addition to the above Methodist churches
there are in the city two colored churches of this
denomination, known as Jones chapel and Cros-
by chapel. The colored element has always
been an important one in the city. In an early
day there was quite a community of.colored peo-
ple in what was known as West Union, north of
the town of New Albany. Here the first colored
Methodist church was organized about 1840, and
flourished more than a quarter of a century.
Their services were conducted in the houses
of the members for a few years, when they erect-
ed a frame church, known as Bridges chapel.
In 1859 a few colored people of this congrega-
tion having located in New Albany, determined
to establish a church here. They first organized
with ten members, and their meetings for several
years were held in their houses and in the school
house. About 1872, the old church in West
Union having been abandoned, was taken down,
and a portion of it used in building the present
church, known as

CROSBY CHAPEL,

so named in honor of Bishop Crosby. It is located
at the corner of Lower Second and Elm streets.
The first pastor of this church, after locating in
New Albany, was Rev. W. A. Dove. He was
succeeded by Rev. Charles Burch, F. Myers, R.
K. Bridges, J. W. Malone, T. Crosby, Jesse Bass,
Morris Lewis, Richard Titus, A. Smith, and H.
H. Thompson, the present pastor. The present
church building cost about one thousand dollars.
The present membership is about one hundred.
The Sunday-school of this church was organized
in West Union about the time of the church or-
ganization, and has been kept up since.

JONES CHAPEL,

named in honor of Bishop Jones, is located on
the corner of Lafayette and Spring streets, the
proper name being Zion African Methodist Epis-
copal church. Mr. Jones is at present and has
been for years a very popular bishop. An old
colored preacher from Louisville, known as
Father R. R. Briddle, was the principal organizer
ot this church, meetings for organization being
held on the corner of Lower Fourth and Main
streets, in what is known as London hall. He
remained with the church four years, and was
followed by Elder Bunch, during whose pastor-

ate the present church building was erected in
1872. The ministers who followed Mr. Bunch
were Elders Foroaan, J. B. Johnson, Samuel
Sherman, and William Chambers, the present in-
cumbent. The membership of this church is
about one hundred and fifty, and the church
property is valued at $2,000. The organization
of the Sunday-school was coeval with that of the
church, and now numbers about forty scholars.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The following history of this church is chiefly
abridged from a centennial sermon delivered
June 25, 1876, by the pastor, Rev. Samuel Conn,
D. D.:

In 1816 there was but one settled Presbyterian
pastor within the limits of Indiana and Illinois
Territories, and half a dozen missionaries. New
Albany was a village of three years old with a
population of about two hundred. On the 16th
of February, 1816, the few Christians of the
Presbyterian faith and order living at New
Albany and Jeffersonville met at the latter place
and organized the Union church of New
Albany and Jeffersonville. The minister offici-
ating was Rev. James McGready, a Scotch-Irish-
man from Pennsylvania, who, after laboring in
the Carolinas and Kentucky, had been commis-
sioned by the general assembly to do missionary
work and found churches in the Territory of
Indiana. The Lord's supper was administered,
and the following members were enrolled: Gov-
ernor Thomas Pos°y and wife, John Gibson and •
wife, James M. Tunstall, James Scribner, Joel
Scribner, Phoebe Scribner (the mother of Joel),
Esther Scribner (the sister of Joel and afterward
Mrs. Hale), and Anna M. Gibson. Thomas
Posey and Joel Scribner were chosen elders.
A little later Mary Meriwether (wife of Dr.
Meriwether) and Mary Wilson (a widow) were
added to the number.

Within a short period the Jeffersonville mem-
bers all withdrew. Thomas Posey and wife re-
moved to Vincennes; John Gibson and wife
removed to Pittsburg, and united with the church
there; and James Tunstall, Mary Wilson and
Anna M. Gibson joined the church at Louisville;
leaving only four members, all of whom resided
at New Albany, namely: Joel, James, Phcebe,
and Esther Scribner.

The church having thus lost the character of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

193

a "union church," it was proper that it should
be re-named and re-organized. The members
assembled, therefore, on the 7th of December,
181 7, in the back parlor of Mrs. Phcebe Scrib-
ner's house, being what is now the middle part
of the old High Street house, or Commercial
hotel. The moderator of the meeting was the
Rev. D. C. Banks, pastor of the church at Louis-
ville, by whom many of the earlier churches of
Indiana were organized. It was then "Resolved
that, as all the members of this church residing
at Jeffersonville have withdrawn, and all the
present members reside in New Albany, the
Union church shall, from this time, be known as
the First Presbyterian church of New Albany."
At the same time Jacob Marcell and Hannah,
his wife, were received as members of this
church, from the church at Elizabethtown, New
Jersey; and Stephen Beers and Lydia, his wife,
and Mary Scribner (wife of Joel), were received
on letter from the church at Louisville, Ken-
tucky. The church then proceeded to vote for
two additional elders, and Jacob Marcell and
Stephen Beers were unanimously elected and
subsequently ordained and installed as ruling
elders. These, together with Joel Scribner, con-
stituted the session.

The Lord's supper was administered as is
usual, in connection with the re-organization, and
"there being no communion service, two large
pewter plates, belonging to Mrs. Phcebe Scribner,
were used for the bread, and, being of a very
fine quality, were considered very appropriate."

The church closed the year 181 7 with nine
members, whose names have all been mentioned.
The church had no regular preaching until the
autumn of 18 18, but were dependent upon occa-
sional supplies from missionaries and others. In
October, 1818, Rev. Isaac Reed began his labors
as stated supply with this congregation, and
remained until October, 18 19. During his min-
istry twenty-five members were received, and at
the close of 1819 there were thirty-two in com-
munion. Up to the time of Mr. Reed's arrival
there had been no additions to the church from
the world, but his work was so greatly blessed
that of the twenty-five received during his stay
fourteen were admitted on profession of their
faith, the first of such additions being Calvin
Graves, received on examination October 3,
)8i8. Mrs. Elizabeth Scribner — then the widow

of Nathaniel Scribner, and afterward the wife of
Dr. Asahel Clapp — and the late Dr. William A.
Scribner, were among those who were received
in 1819, upon evidence of a change of heart.

Under Mr. Reed, a small church building was
also erected — a very plain frame structure, about
forty feet long and thirty feet wide, having un-
plastered walls, and with rough board floors, seats,
and pulpit. The congregation had been occu-
pying it only a few months when it was destroyed
by fire. After this they worshiped, for a time,
with the Methodist brethren, and at the house of
Mr. Joel Scribner — the present home of Mrs.
Dr. Scribner. The congregation becoming too
large for Mr. Scribner's house, they afterward
went to the old court-house — a rough, half-fin-
ished building, which remained in that condition
until it was replaced with a new one.

In February, 18 19, a confession of faith and a
solemn covenant were adopted by the congrega-
tion, and these were to be subscribed by all ap-
plicants for admission. The confession included
all the points of the Calvinistic system, in its
strict integrity. A few years later a simpler and
briefer confession was substituted, but, like the
former one, it contained the main doctrines of
the confession of faith.

In this year, also, a Sabbath-school was organ-
ized in connection with this church, which is
believed to have been the first Sabbath-school in
Indiana, and was certainly the first in New
Albany. The distinguished honor of inaugurat-
ing this enterprise belongs to Mrs. Nathaniel
Scribner and to Miss Catharine Silliman — after-
ward Mrs. Hillyer, and a sister of Mrs. Lapsley.

At the close of Mr. Reed's year he was com-
pelled to abandon the field on account of the in-
ability of the church to support him, Nathaniel
Scribner, the principal supporter, having been
removed by death. The church was again
dependent upon occasional supplies until 1822.
The congregation, however, met regularly for
worship on the Sabbath, one of the elders lead-
ing and reading a sermon. These meetings were
said to have been very profitable, and were
remembered with the greatest interest by those
who engaged in them. At the close of the year
T820 there were thirty-five members; in 1821
thirty-three, and the same number at the close of
1822.

After various unsuccessful attempts to secure

194

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

a minister, the church succeeded in employing
the Rev. Ezra H. Day. He commenced his
labors as stated supply in October, 1822, and
died at his post, September 22, 1823. At the
end of that year the number of communicants
was reduced to twenty-four.

The month following the death of Mr. Day
the congregation met with another grievous blow
in the loss by death of Joel Scribner, a ruling
elder from the beginning, and the life and main-
stay of the church.

The church was now seeing its darkest days,
the loss of nine prominent members by death
and removal leaving it in a truly destitute and
afflicted condition. Of the twenty-four mem-
bers remaining there was not one, actually re-
siding in New Albany, who would pray in public.
It was then that the female members came to the
front, and several ladies, among whom were Mrs.
Hale, Mrs. Ayers, Mrs. Robinson, and Mrs. H.
W. Shields, met in Mrs. Hale's room at the High
Street house to organize a female prayer-meeting
and gather up whatever material might be left.
This prayer-meeting has been a source of blessed
influence and spiritual power during almost the
whole of our church's history.

The church remained without the regular ser-
vices of a minister from the death of Mr. Day
until July, 1824, when the Rev. John T. Hamil-
ton became stated supply, and acted in that ca-
pacity until February, 1828. ' Mr. Hamilton gave
the congregation one sermon in two weeks and
received a salary of $160 a year, of which $100
were contributed by Mr. Elias Avers. Near the
close of his ministry here, Mr. Hamilton re-
moved his family to Louisville, where he engaged
in teaching, and preached there three times while
he preached once here. Thirteen members were
received under him, of whom seven were ad-
mitted upon profession of faith and six upon
certificate from other churches. At the date of
his resignation there were twenty-seven members
in the communion of the church.

It was during Mr. Hamilton's ministry that the
Female Bible society of this church was formed,
an institution which has had a vigorous and use-
ful existence and which still survives. It was
organized at the house of Mrs. Phoebe Scribner,
September 20, 1824. The first officers were
Mrs. Margaret Robinson, directress; Mrs. Ayers,
treasurer; Mrs. Hannah W. Shields, secretary.

Mrs. Joel Scribner, Mrs. Abner Scribner, and
Mrs. Jones constituted the executive committee.
The names of sixty-six ladies appear upon the
original list of subscribers. At first it was nom-
inally a union society, but soon passed entirely
into the hands of the Presbyterians, although
the name of The Female Bible Society of New
Albany, was not changed for that of The^Female
Bible Society of the First Presbyterian church
of New Albany, until 1844. From the beginning
until now, this society has been the means of
great good, and a very large amount of money
has been raised for the dissemination of the
word of God. Besides the regular annual col-
lections, extraordinary offerings were frequently
made. I may mention a jubilee offering of $100
in 1866, in thankful acknowledgment of the com-
pletion of the fiftieth year of the American Bible
society; and one of $267 in 1868, for the pur-
pose of sending Bibles to Spain, then happily
opened for the first time for the free circulation
of the Scriptures.

The next installed pastor was the Rev. Ashbel
S. Wells. He was born in Vermont in 1798;
was graduated at Hamilton college, New York,
in 1824. After a short course in Auburn Theo-
logical seminary, he was ordained as an evangel-
ist by the presbytery of Oneida, and came with
his wife, as the pioneer of the Western Fraternity
in Auburn seminary, and as a missionary of the
American Home Missionary society, and under
the direction of the Indiana Missionary society,
to the village of New Albany, where he arrived
in May, 1828. He was warmly welcomed by the
few remaining members of the church, and
earnestly desired to stay and labor with them. At
a meeting in the court-house Mr. Ayers proposed
that Mr. Wells' salary should be raised by sub-
scription, and the whole amount of four hundred
dollars for the first year was subscribed upon the
spot. There were at this time only twenty-seven
members and very little wealth.

After laboring among the congregation for six
months, Mr. Wells was installed as pastor, by
Salem presbytery, December 17, 1828, Rev. John
T Hamilton preaching the installation sermon.
Mr. Wells' ministry was the turning point in the
history of this church. He received one hun-
dred and thirty-eight members into its com-
munion; at the close of his pastorate, the num-
ber of members was one hundred and thirty-one.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

'95

The new church having been so far completed
that it could be used, was dedicated February 26,
1830. The dedicatory sermon was preached by
the Rev. J. M. Dickey, the father of the Pres-
byterian church in Indiana; and Rev. Leander
Cobb assisted in the service. The church was
situated on State street, between Market and
Spring, on the ground now occupied by Mr.
Mann's mill, and Mr. Loughmiller's store. It
was a one-story brick building, with a steeple and
a bell, and was very creditable to a small place
and congregation.

In April, 1832, Mr. Wells requested leave of
presbytery to resign his pastoral charge, and the
relation was accordingly dissolved. At the same
time Messrs. Ayers and Adams resigned their
office as ruling elders.

After Mr. Wells' departure the church secured
a new minister almost immediately. On Sabbath,
i2thof June, 1832, the congregation met after
public worship, and gave a call to the Rev.
Samuel K. Sneed to become the pastor of the
church, and he entered immediately upon his
duties. Mr. Sneed's ministry was a period of
great activity and continuous growth, but a time
also in which there was frequent occasion for
discipline. Under his ministrations one hun-
dred and thirty-nine members were added to the
church.

One of the first things to be done was to
strengthen the session, William Plumer being the
only active elder remaining. On October 7,
1832, six additional elders were chosen, viz:
James R. Shields, Jacob Simmers, Harvey Scrib-
ner, Charles Woodruff, John Bushnell, and
Mason C. Fitch.

In November, 1835, ^r-' Sneed began preach-
ing at a private house in the neighborhood of
the present Mount Tabor church; usually, on
every alternate Tuesday evening. At the same
time he formed a Bible class of young persons,
who met on Sabbath afternoon. Many serious
impressions were produced by these means, and
in a short time almost all the members of the
class were indulging in hope in Christ. In the
summer of 1836 a few of the members of the
New Albany church purchased three acres of
ground for about $60; and an acre more was
donated by an unconverted man whose farm
adjoined. This plat of ground was set apart as
a camp-ground and solemnly named Mount Ta-

bor, in commemoration of the place where our
Saviour was supposed to have been transfigured.
Camp meetings were held here annually, and
sometimes twice a year, until 1843. 1 ne f"rst
camp-meeting was held in June, 1836, when
quite a number were awakened and converted,
among them the donor of part of the land. An-
other was held in September, 1837; and, as the
result, thirteen persons were received into the
church upon examination. Upon the division
of the church the camp-meetings were continued
under the auspices of the Second church, and
the direction of Mr. Sneed, and a house of wor-
ship was erected at Mount Tabor in 1838.

Although Mr. Sneed had received a call at the
beginning of his labors in this church, he was not
installed as pastor until June 14, 1837. Diffi-
culties and dissatisfaction, chiefly of a personal
nature, and involving a difference of view be-
tween the pastor and a portion of the people, led
to a division of the church in November, 1837.
The presbytery granted permission for the organ-
ization of a Second church; and one hundred
and three of the members, including Jacob Sim-
mers, one of the elders, went into the new enter-
prise. A committee of presbytery was appointed
to make an equitable distribution of the church
property. The Second church became con-
nected with the New School body. An excellent
state of feeling has always been preserved, how-
ever, between the two churches; and into the
same brotherly circle came the Third church,
upon its organization, in 1853.

Mr. Sneed remained with the Second church
until 1843, when he removed and took charge of
the Walnut Street church, in Evansville, as stated
supply.

At the division, the First church was left with
seventy-one members, including Elders William
Plumer, M. C. Fitch, J. R. Shields, Charles
Woodruff, and John Bushnell. Elias Ayers and
Benjamin Adams, who had retired from active
service in the eldership, were also among the
number.

December 18, 1837, Rev. W. C. Anderson, of
the presbytery of Washington, was unanimously
elected pastor, at a salary of $800; and a call
was forwarded to him, signed by Rev. W. L.
Breckenridge. On the first Sabbath of February,
1838, he entered upon his duties as stated sup-
ply, but seems never to have been installed pastor.

196

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The church was entirely united and ready for
work. At the end of the first pastoral year
thirty-six persons had been received into mem-
bership, and the number of communicants
amounted to one hundred and two; the attend-
ance at Sabbath services and prayer-meetings had
doubled; the tone of piety in the church was
plainly elevated, and the benevolent contribu-
tions were greatly increased. The second year
was likewise prosperous; twenty-seven members
were added to the church; perfect union pre-
vailed in the session and congregation; no exer-
cise of discipline was required; and, though it
was a year of great financial embarrassment, the
contributions of the church were larger than
ever before, amounting to $2,865, including
$1,500 for the support of the minister. The
third year, however, was one of great deadness,
the pastor being sick and unable to attend to his
duties during a large part of the time. Ninety-
seven persons were added to the roll during Mr.
Anderson's connection with the church. Ill
health compelled him to resign his position in
November, 1841, and his loss was deeply re-
gretted by all.

Upon Mr. Anderson's departure the church
was without a pastor for a year, but was supplied
by Drs. Wood and Matthews, professors in the
theological seminary. Through their faithful
labors, this year of vacancy was one of the rich-
est in results in the history of the church, forty-
nine members being received, chiefly upon pro-
fession of faith.

In December, 1842, Rev. F. S. Howe was
unanimously elected pastor, at a salary of $600.
He never accepted the call, but continued to
supply the church until April, 1844. During his
stay twenty-three persons were added to the
church.

The Rev. Daniel Stewart was elected pastor,
with the usual unanimity of this church, June 6,
1844, the salary being increased to $800. Mr.
Stewart was graduated at Union college, New
York, in 1833, and at Princeton Theological
seminary in 1838; and, previous to coming to
New Albany, he had passed through a short
pastorate at Balston Spa, New York. During
his pastorate here one hundred and three mem-
bers were received, the last year being one of
precious revival.

With the sanction of the session, the pastor

began, in 1848, giving two lectures a week in the
theological seminary, upon ecclesiastical history.
In 1849 he made application for a dissolution of
the pastoral relation, that he might accept a reg-
ular professorship in the seminary; and the con-
gregation, expressing the highest regard for him
and undiminished confidence, reluctantly acqui-
t esced in his decision. He remained in the the-
ological seminary until 1853, when the professors
resigned and gave the institution, which had been
under synodical control, into the hands of the
general assembly.

Rev. John M. Stevenson, D. D, was the next
pastor. He was born May 14, 181 2, in Wash-
ington county, Pennsylvania; was graduated at
Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, in 1836, and was
ordained April 14, 1842, while professor of Greek
in Ohio university. He resigned his professor-
ship and took charge of the Presbyterian church
in Troy, Ohio. Having lost his health at Troy
he resigned his charge in 1846, and accepted an
agency for the American Tract society. He ar-
rived at New Albany September 15, 1849, an(i
began his labors at a salary of $i,ooo.

An outpouring of the spirit began in De-
cember, 1853, which lasted for several months,
and resulted in the addition of a large number
of members to the church.

A new church edifice began to be spoken of as
early as 1850, and preliminary steps were taken
for its erection. The old church on State street
was torn down in the spring of 1851; and the
congregation worshiped through that summer in
the second story of Mr. James H. Shields' iron-
store, on State street, between Main and the
river. In the fall of 185 1 they began holding
services in the lecture room, which had been fin-
ished. The present church building was com-
pleted, with the exception of the spire, in 1854,
and dedicated in the spring of that year. The
spire and bell were added fifteen years later,
during Dr. Anderson's second term of service.

The whole number of members received un-
der Dr. Stevenson was two hundred and one.
His pastorate was the longest in the history of
the church, lasting nearly eight years. He re-
signed in June, 1857, in order that he might ac-
cept the position of secretary of the American
Tract society. He was an excellent preacher
and a man of superior executive ability.

Dr. Thomas E. Thomas occupied the pulpit

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

197

for several months after Dr. Stevenson's resigna-
tion, but relinquished his position and left the
town in April, 1858, to the great regret of the
congregation. During his stay James W. Sprowle
and Silas C. Day were chosen elders, and were
inducted into office January 10, 1858. On the
same day the first deacons of the church were
ordained and installed. These were Thomas S.
Hall, William C. Shipman, Alfred W. Bently,
James H. Shields, and Miles D. Warren.

Rev. R. L. Breck was unanimously elected
pastor July 19, 1858, and was installed on the
17th of April, 1859. He was a man of most
gentle and courteous manners, a good pastor,
and highly successful and popular, until the
beginning of the war. His feelings, however,
were with the South, and, on this account, a con-
tinuance of the relation became undesirable, and
it was dissolved, in May, 1861. During his
pastorate one hundred and five members were
added to the roll.

After an interval of more than a year, in
which Rev. S. S. Potter supplied the church, Dr.
J. P. Safford took his place in the succession,
being chosen pastor in October, 1862. His elec-
tion was unanimous, like that of all his prede-
cessors and successors. He was born at Zanes-
ville, Ohio, September 22, 1823; was graduated
at Ohio University in 1843, ar>d at Princeton
Theological seminary in 1852, and was ordained
pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Frankfort,
Kentucky, February 19, 1855. He began his
work in this church in December, 1862, and was
installed on the 23d of April, 1863. One hun-
dred and thirty-four members were received by
Dr. Safford into the church by examination and
certificate.

A short time before Dr. Safford's arrival, the
Mission chapel Sunday-school began its career.
It was organized by A. W. Bentley, May, 1861,
in the United Brethren church, corner of Spring
and Lower Seventh streets, and was intended for
soldiers' children and the destitute classes. In
August, 1862, the school was compelled to seek
new quarters; it was held for a few weeks in the
lecture room of this church, and afterwards in the
second story of a building on the corner of Main
and Lower Fourth streets. In 1866 a small
building, which had been attached to one of the
Government hospitals, was donated for its use;
and about thirteen hundred dollars were con-

tributed by various persons in the city, for the
purpose of moving it to its present location,
making additions to it and fitting it up. After
1866 the school was supported by this church,
which also supplied its officers and most of its
teachers; but it did not come under the control
of the officers of this church until 1870, when
they purchased the ground and assumed all the
responsibilities. From its beginning until 1870
Mr. Bentley was the efficient superintendent.
Since then it has had a series of excellent
superintendents and a corps of devoted teachers.
The Mission-school bell is the same one which
formerly summoned the worshipers to the old
State Street church, and it has lost none of its
music. It was the first large bell cast in New
Albany, and is said to be one of the best bells,
for its weight, in the country.

Dr. Safford gave up the pastoral charge of this
congregation in June, 1867, and removed to
Ohio.

In August, 1867, Dr. W. C. Anderson, a
former minister of the church, returned and re-
mained as stated supply until July, 1869. Eighty-
three members were received during his term of
service. A rich outpouring of God's spirit was
received in 1868.

Dr. Anderson was a man greatly beloved. He
was a wise expounder of the word of God and an
interesting preacher. Upon his removal from
New Albany, he spent some time in Europe in
the unavailing search for health, and died in
Kansas, August, 1870, much lamented.

Rev. Samuel Conn, D. D., began his regular
labors with this church on the first Sabbath in
July, 1870, and was installed on Sabbath even-
ing, October 30, 1870, Rev. Dr. Lapsley, of the
Presbytery of Nashville, preaching, by request,
the installation sermon. Within this pastorate,
to July, 1876, ninety-four members were added,
of whom fifty-one were received upon examina-
tion, and forty-three upon certificate. Hand-
some and commodious church parlors were at-
tached to the lecture-room; additions have twice
been made to the Mission-school building, and a
comfortable parsonage was purchased. The
present membership of the church [January,
1882,] is about two hundred and twenty-five,
and the strength of the Sabbath-school one
hundred and forty members. The officers of
the church are as follows : Pastor, Rev. J. W.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Cloakey ; ruling elders, John Bushnell, Silas C.
Day, Harvey A. Scribner, James M. Day, and
John F. Gebhart; deacons, James R. Riely,
Robert G. McCord, Samuel W. Vance, James
W. Snodgrass, and John E. Crane; trustees,
John Bushnell, William S. Culbertson, and Silas
C. Day.

William H. Day is superintendent of the Sab-
bath-school, with Mrs. Mary L. Bragdon as as-
sistant. Of the Mission Sabbath-school John F.
Gebhart is superintendent, and Mrs. Charlotte
P. Needham assistant.

Forty young men or more, who subsequently
became ambassadors for Christ, were members
of this church for a longer or shorter time. Some
are scattered over the United States, and others
laboring on missionary ground. A majority of
them were connected with it only during their
course in the Theological seminary. Among
this class the most conspicuous name is that of
Dr. Jonathan Edwards, a man of commanding
intellect, who has occupied various high posi-
tions. Others, although brought to Christ else-
where, had their home here and were connected
with the church for a longer time. It does not
take a long memory to recall Dr. S. F. Scovel,
for some time chorister here, afterwards the able
pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, and Joseph S. Potter, a
missionary in Persia. Still others were trained
here in the knowledge of Christ, and here made
their profession of faith in His name. The first
of these was Allan Graves, who was received
upon examination in 1828. The next was Dr.
Charles W. Shields, pastor for some years of the
Second Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, and
then professor in the College of New Jersey.
"A scholar, and a ripe and good one."

The next was Dr. John M. Worrall, pastor of
the First Presbyterian church, Covington, Ken-
tucky, one of the ornaments of the American
pulpit. Then comes Edward P. Shields, who,
after spending one year in the New Albany
seminary, went to Princeton to have the best
possible back-bone inserted into his theology,
and fell so in love with the Jersey flats that he
has clung to them ever since. He became pas-
tor of the Presbyterian church, Cape Island,
New Jersey. Others are Edward P. Wood and
John R. Wood, sons of Dr. James Wood. The
atter of these two brothers was a man of sweet

and gentle nature, who died in the bright day-
dawn of a most promising ministry.

The total number of communicants in this
church to July, 1876, was 1,252, of whom 714
were received upon examination, and 538 upon
certificate. Four hundred and thirty-five were
males, and 817 females.
» The following is a complete list (to the middle
of 1876) of those who had held the office of
ruling elder in the First church, with dates of
their election:

Thomas Posey, 1816; Joel Scribner, 1816; Jacob Marcell,
1817; Stephen Beers, 1817; Elias Ayers, 1827; Benjamin
Adams, 1828; William Plumer, 1831; Mason C. Fitch, 1832;
Charles Woodruff, 1832; Harvey Scribner, 1832; Jacob Sim-
mers, 1832; James R. Shields, 1832; John Bushnell, 1832;
W. A. Scribner, 1847; Pleasant S. Shields, 1847; David
Hedden, 1847; James W. Sprowle, 1858; Silas C. Day, 1858;
F. L. Morse, 1870; Thomas Danforth, 1870; Harvey A.
Scribner, 1870, James M. Day, 1875; John F. Gebhart,
1875-

THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

As has been observed from the record of the
First church, this church came into existence in
November, 1837. It was organized on the 24th
of that month by authority of the undivided
Presbytery of Salem, in session at Livonia, and
was originally composed of one hundred and
three members, who had been connected with the
First church. Of the causes of the serjaration
Mr. Conn, in the history of the First church,
merely says: "It is enough to say that difficulties
and dissatisfaction, chiefly of a personal nature,
and involving a difference of view between pastor
and a portion of the people, led to a division."
This church became what is known asNew-school
Presbyterian.

On Sunday, December 3, 1837, the church
first met for public worship in the court-house.
Rev. S. K. Sneed, who had been for some time
pastor of the First church, was the pastor in
charge, and so continued until 1843. The
second meeting of this church was held at the
house of Mr. James Brooks on the 4th of De-
cember, 1837, at which time the officers of the
church were elected. On the 5th the presbyterial
commission appointed to divide the church
property, assigned to the Second church the fe-
male seminary on Upper Fourth street, in which
building, suitably remodeled, religious services
were held nearly twelve years. This building
was subsequently disposed of to the German Pres-
byterians, who used it as a place of worship,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

199

until their church was merged into other organi-
zations, after which it was occupied as a German
school.

The first communion season of this church
was observed January 7, 1838, and for several
years the Lord's Supper was administered every
month with occasional exceptions, after which it
was celebrated bi-monthly on the second Sabbath 4
of the month, beginning with January.

Camp-meetings were favorably regarded dur-
ing the earlier history of this church, and were
repeatedly held amid the beautiful groves of
Mount Tabor, during which many members
were added to the church. The church con-
tinued to increase rapidly in strength until in
1849 it became evident that more ample accom-
modations were needed, and the building of the
present beautiful church on the corner of Main
and Upper Third streets began that year. It was
enclosed in this year and the basement first oc-
cupied for services in the spring of 1850. August
1, 1852, the whole building having been finished
and paid for, it was publicly dedicated to the
service of God, Rev. W. S. Fisher, D. D.,
preaching the dedicatory sermon. The church
edifice is of brick, one of the finest in the city,
having a clock in the tower, and cost $24,500.
In 1853, the growth of the city and congregation
having made it desirable that the Third Presby-
terian church should be organized, twenty-four
members of the Second church were, on the 31st
of October, at their own request, dismissed for
that purpose and efficient aid was rendered them
by the Second church in erecting a house of
worship.

In i860 the benevolent efforts of this church
were thoroughly systematized ; certain causes
being specified for public presentation at stated
periods, and in addition a monthly payment be-
ing solicited from every member in behalf of
home and foreign missions. The system exer-
cised has, beyond doubt, greatly augmented the
charitable gifts of the church.

A female prayer-meeting was formerly an ele-
ment of considerable strength in the church,
and the continued weekly prayer-meeting is a
never-failing source of spiritual comfort. For
many years, also, the church has observed a
week of special prayer near the beginning of the
new year, and at different periods of its history
there have been times of more protracted effort.

It is said that during the great revival of 1842
one hundred and fifty persons were converted,
of whom, however, but eighty joined this church,
the remainder following their preference for
other denominations. As the fruits of a revival
in 1849, over fifty new members were received;
in 1853 seventy-six were received, and in 1867
thirty-six persons joined during a revival. Up
to that time the church had received seven hun-
dred and forty-two persons in all into the church
since the first organization. Up to the present
time the whole number enrolled on the church
books is about one thousand. The present
membership is about three hundred and sixty.

It has been customary to grant the pastor an
annual vacation of six weeks, during which the
pulpit has usually been filled by ministers resi-
dent in the city. It was occupied in 1865 for
several months by Rev. D. M. Cooper, while the
pastor was in Europe. The church partly sup-
ported the Rev. T. S. Spencer from February to
September, 1862, as a city missionary; and in
February, 1867, they jointly, with the First
church, employed Rev. William Ellers in that capa-
city. In seasons of revival, when pastoral cares
and duties were greatly multiplied, the temporary
services of many different clergymen were se-
cured. The eloquence of Rev. Lyman Beecher,
D. D., gave its charm to some of the camp-meet-
ings held at Mount Tabor. Rev. J. T Avery
rendered essential aid during the protracted
effort in 1842. Similar help was given by Rev.
James Gallagher in 1849; the Rev. Henry Little,
D. D., in 1853; Rev. W. W. Atterbury in 1858,
and Rev. F. R. Gallagher in 1867.

A Sabbath-school has been maintained from
the beginning, and has ever been regarded as
the nursery of the church, from whose classes its
choicest accessions have been received. The
management of this institution has always been
in the hands of the session, and under the care
of the pastor, through the more immediate con-
trol of its interests has been exercised by a suc-
cession of superintendents. In addition to the
school held every Sabbath in the year in the
church, mission schools have attracted the con-
tinual attention of the congregation, and several
have been established at different times. A
mission school, which had for some years been
sustained as a union school by the various
churches in the city, was, by unanimous consent

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

of its officers, placed under the especial care of
the Second church in 1861. This was probably
their first effort in this direction. A great many
children were thus reached who might otherwise
have been neglected.

A mission Sabbath-school for the benefit of
the colored children was formed by authority of
the session in 1867, which did much good work
among those for whose benefit it was organized.
In 1872 a third mission was started, which, un-
der its present management, is known as

STATE STREET CHAPEL.

It is located at the corner of State and Clay
streets. A zealous Presbyterian, Joseph W. Gale,
now of Boston, Massachusetts, has the honor of
originating this mission school. He was an
agent for the establishment of Sunday-schools in
the New Albany presbytery (then the Salem pres-
bytery), and believing the neighborhood of the
present school a good one for Sunday-school
work, he secured an empty house in which the
school was first opened. The building was a
small one, and at the end of six months Mr.
Gale found his efforts so successful that a larger
house was necessary to accommodate his scholars.
He went to some of his brethren of the Presby-
terian church, among whom were John Lough-
miller and William E. Allison, and together they
leased of W. C. DuPauw a vacant lot for ten
years, upon which the present building was
erected. It is a frame building, about thirty-five
by fifty feet in size, and cost $2,400, the money
being mostly contributed by the Presbyterians.
William E. Allison became superintendent, and
has continued in that position ever since. Satis-
factory progress has been made, and the mem-
bership of the school is at present about one
hundred. It is thought that a fourth Presbyte-
rian church will soon be established at this place.

The regular Sabbath-school of the Second
church now numbers about two hundred mem-
bers.

Following is a list of officers of the Second
Presbyterian church from the first to the present:
Pastors — Samuel K. Snead, frofn November,
1837, to May, 1843; E. R. Beadle, D. D., from
August, 1843, to Jul)' l845J John Black, D. D.,
from August, 1845, t0 August, 1846; John M.
Bishop, from November, 1846, to October, 1850;
John G. Atterbury, D. D., from August, 185 1, to

July 1866; Horace C. Hovey, Dr. Daniel Stew-
art, Dr. Dickson, Charles Little, and Rev. Good-
low, the present incumbent. Elders — Jacob
Simmers, from 1837 to 1848; John Loughmiller,
1837; James Brooks, from 1837 to 1866; Wil-
liam C. Conner, from 1837 to i860; Ralph H.
Hurlbut, from 1844 to 1857; James M. Haines,
,. from 1852 to 1853; J. N. Graham, from 1852 to
1857; Charles N. Hine, from 1857 to i860;
Walter Mann, i860; Edward H. Mann, i860;
Charles A. Reineking, 1866; William H. Lewis,
W. M. Lewis, A. S. McClung, W. E. Allison.
Deacons — James M. Hains, 1848 to 1852;
Jesse J. Brown, 1848; Walter Mann, 1848 to
i860; Charles A. Reineking, 1852 to 1866;
John M. Renshaw, 1852; John T. Creed, 1859;
John Mann, 1859; W. Henry Lewis, 1867; S.
Addison McClung, 1867; C. H. Conner, G. C.
Graves, John Hutton, W. J. Hisey.

THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

This church originated in the Second church,
and was organized in November, 1853. Rev.
John G. Atterbury was then pastor of the Second
church, and on the evening of the 6th of Novem-
ber, just prior to the separation, he preached a
sermon which was subsequently published in
pamphlet form, and from which a few extracts are
taken. In a prefatory note the reasons of the
separation are fully set forth. In the summer of
1853 it seems to have become the general con-
viction of the officers and membeis of the Second
church that it was their duty to make a contribu-
tion to the evangelical instrumentalities of the
city. The church had greatly prospered, there
having been continual and steady accessions to
their numbers and increase of their means. The
population of the city had increased until it was
largely beyond the measure of church accommo-
dation. An entirely new suburb in the north-
eastern part of the city was rapidly filling up, in
which there was no house of worship. An eligi-
ble lot in that quarter had recently been do-
nated to the church by the heirs of the late
Judge Conner in fulfillment of the intention of
their venerable father. The money was prompt-
ly subscribed to build a house upon this lot, and
its erection at once begun. As the completion
of this building drew near, the pastor and session
made application to the presbytery for the ap-
pointment of a committee to constitute a new

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

church of such of their numbers as might volun-
teer for that purpose. Up to this time it was
not known who would offer themselves for this
enterprise, with the exception of one or two per-
sons who had early agreed to lead in it. A nat-
ural reluctance was felt by the members to leave
the fellowship with which they were so pleasantly
connected, and the pastor under whose ministra-
tions they were sitting. The obligation of the
church to colonize was obvious enough, but not
so the obligation of any particular persons to go
off in the execution of the enterprise. Necessa-
rily it was left to the individual sense of duty.
On Monday evening, October 31st, a meeting
was called in the lecture room of the church, at
which time twenty-four persons, members of the
Second church (ten males and fourteen females),
offered themselves in the formation of the new
church; and having received the proper certifi-
cates of dismission, were thereupon formerly
constituted a separate church, under the name of
the Third Presbyterian church of New Albany.
It appearing in the course of the week that
these members would not be able to occupy the
new house, as had been expected, on the follow-
ing Sabbath, Mr. Atterbury took occasion to
preach the printed discourse before referred to
before the whole congregation as they worshiped
together for the last time before separation.
The following extracts are from this sermon:

Two churches that have hitherto been one are worshiping
together this day (November 6, 1853) for the first and last
time ere they separate to their respective fields. Since last
Sabbath a portion of your number have solemnly covenanted
to walk together and labor together as a separate church of
Jesus Christ, and henceforth will not form a constituent part
of this congregation.

Sixteen years since this church began its distinctive history
with little that was promising in human judgment. The
feeble band came out from the parent church under the in-
fluence of domestic alienation, bringing with them little else
but faith in God and devotion to principle. They were most-
ly poor in this world's goods, but some of them, we believe,
were rich in faith and heirs of the promises. They brought
with them little social influence. They had none of that
prestige whose power is felt in churches as in all other so-
cietias. All this they left behind. They were viewed as an
insignificant band, not so much for number as position, and
little was anticipated for them but a struggling existence.

To-day the church is "two bands," not divided by strife
or alienation, but separated in love. Every step and turn in
its history has been attended with tokens of Divine favor.
It has waxed strong unexpectedly each year. Crises that
threatened it with disaster have been overruled for its pros-
j6

perity. The spirit of the Lord has been poured out upon it
repeatedly, and multitudes have been added by conversion
from the world; multitudes of others from churches abroad
and at home have united themselves with its interests. At
this time, after all the removals and deaths and diminutions
that spring from various causes of change incident to human
society, it numbers over three hundred members. .

It is asked why this division? Why not remain together in
one body? I answer, because God has so greatly prospered
and enlarged us that it has become expedient for the spiritual
interests of the whole and all its parts to divide the body. I
answer again, because by. a division we can hope to accom-
plish more in behalf of the great object for which God has
established a church in the world and has so greatly pros-
pered this particular congregation.

Let me add a few words in reference to our separation.
We are now become ' ' two bands, " each henceforth having
its distinct and separate field. Let there be no strife between
us, for we are brethren. Let us not forget that though two
bands we are of one family. Our strength will be found in
our affectionate oneness. Though our specific fields are
separate, the interests we prosecute are identical. We regard
you who go out, not as expatriating yourselves, not as be-
coming aliens, not as occupying a position of rivalry, but as
going forth in the name of the whole church to do a work
which the Lord has called upon his church to do. It is men-
tioned in the history of the church at Antioch that "As they
ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I
have sent them." And the church promptly gave up these
brethren and sent them away on their missionary field. So do
we, the pastor, officers, and members of this church feel, that in
obedience to the voice of God, speaking to us in his provi-
dence, we have separated you, dear brethren, and now send
you away to the work whereunto you are called. It will ever
appear upon the records of our presbytery, that, at the
instance of the pastor and session of this church, their com-
mittee was appointed to organize this band.

The present pastor of this church is Rev. C.
Hutchinson. The church is in a flourishing
condition and maintains a large, healthy Sabbath-
school, with a library of over five hundred vol-
umes connected with it. The church edifice is
of stone, very substantial, and cost something
more than twenty-thousand dollars.

THE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

After the Methodists and Presbyterians the
Baptists were probably next to cultivate the field
of religion in New Albany. Preachers of this
denomination were among the first religious
teachers in the county, but were not sufficiently
numerous in New Albany to form a church until
some years after the Methodists and Presby-
terians. The pioneer Baptists came to be known
in later times as "Hard-shell" from the peculiarly
stern and unyielding quality of their religion.
The Baptists in New Albany were largely from
Kentucky and other Southern States, though not

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

a few were from the East. Among the latter was
Seth Woodruff, a leader in this denomination in
New Albany, and he might also be called a repre-
sentative man among the Hard-shell Baptists, as
well as a representative pioneer. He was from
New Jersey, and was a man of considerable
natural ability and force of character, but en-
tirely uncultivated. He was comparatively with-
out education, but made his way in the world
through the superabundance of his physical and
mental energy ard great will-power. He became
a Baptist preacher and held the Baptist church
here in his iron grasp for many years, running it
pretty much to suit himself. He was also promi-
nent in county affairs and his name became the
most familiar one on the early county records.
It was Woodruff who organized the

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

of New Albany, about the year 1825, and it was
mainly through his efforts that a large and active
church was built up here, and which continued
fairly united and prosperous until 1835, when
trouble came which divided the congregation.
Soon after the organization the society erected a
frame "meeting-house" on one of the public
squares of the town. This building was in use
until 1853, when it was destroyed by fire, and
was never rebuilt by the old church society,
which was at that time weak, having been torn
to pieces by the dissensions of a few years be-
fore.

As Mr. Woodruff had been instrumental in
building up the church, so he was probably the
cause of its division and downfall in 1835. He
had been a trusted and honored leader, his will
had generally been recognized as law in the
church, and he was able with his native elo-
quence and strength of mind, for many years, to
hold his followers together; but there came a
time, after the church had grown strong in num-
bers and intelligence, when men grew tired of
listening to the sermons of Mr. Woodruff, or at
least desired a change. They wished the Gospel
presented in a new and perhaps more attractive
way, and therefore voted for a new pastor. This
was borne for some time with ill concealed im-
patience by Mr. Woodruff and some of his de-
voted followers, but after a time produced a
division in the church. Mr. Woodruff declined
to abdicate the position he had filled so many
years, or the power he had struggled so hard to

possess. It is said that he often insisted on
occupying the pulpit to the exclusion of the
regular pastor. This state of affairs could not
be long endured and a large portion of the mem-
bers withdrew and formed what has since been
known as Park Christian church. Forty-three
members were engaged in this enterprise, as
appears by the records of the latter church.
The church building was sold at auction, and
purchased by the Baptists for $1,010. After the
secession of these members the First Baptist
church struggled along for ten years more, when
trouble came again, and in 1844 the

SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH

was organized. But few, if any, facts can be
gleaned from the records of the Baptist church,
and properly so, perhaps, regarding the troubles
of the church or the history of the causes that
not only led to divisions, but nearly swept the
old church out of existence; but the above lets
simply a glimmer of light upon these causes. The
following regarding the formation of the second
church is taken from the records:

The members of the regular Baptist church of New Al-
bany, whose names are hereunto annexed, after mature de-
liberation, came to the conclusion that a second Baptist
church of the same order and faith, situated in the upper
part of tiie city, would be a most efficient means of promot-
ing the dissemination of the Gospel and religion of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

It was, therefore, resolved that we present our considera-
tions to the church for a hearing. It was accordingly done
at one of the regular meetings of said church, and after dis-
cussing the subject at several church meetings it was finally
resolved, on the third Saturday in October, 1844, by said
church, that the following members have the privilege of
forming themselves into a new church to be styled the Second
Baptist church of New Albany, Indiana.

Following is the list of names of the members at the or-
ganization of this church: Oliver Cassell, John Knepfly,
Charles Barth, Charles Roose, Alfred Scott, Caroline Cas-
sell, Mary Montgomery, Martha J. Johnson, Magdaline
Knepfly, Nancy Barth, Hannah Hutching, Mary Tubbs,
Elizabeth Murphy. .

The record further says:

On Saturday afternoon, November 23, 1844, the following
brethren assembled as a council with reference to the forma-
tion of a Second Baptist church in New Albany:
«Rev. G. G. Gates, from the First Baptist church of New
Albany; C. Van Buskiik and Absalom Cochell, Irom the First
Baptist church of Louisville, Kentucky; Rev. T. S. Mal-
com, C. Forbes, A. S. Woodruff, and C. C. P. Crosby, from
the Second Baptist church of Louisville, Kentucky; Rev.
William C. Buck, from the East Baptist church of Louis-
ville, Kentucky; John McCoy, and Thomas E. Veatch, from
the Baptist church of Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Rev. William C. Buck was appointed moderator, and Rev.
T. S. Malcom clerk. Prayer was offered by Rev. T. S. Mai-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

203

com. A letter of dismission was read dismissing thirteen
members of the Baptist church in New Albany for the pur-
pose of constituting a new church of the same faith and
order, of whom the following ten were present: Oliver Cas-
sell, John Knepfly, Charles Barth, Caroline Cassell, Mary
Montgomery, Martha Johnson, Magdaline Knepfly, Xancy
Barth, Mary Tubbs, and Elizabeth Murphy.

The articles of faith, church covenant, and rules of de-
corum were read, to which the members of the proposed
church gave their assent ; thereupon it was moved and sec-
onded that we proceed as a council to re-organize this as a
separate and distinct church of Jesus Christ. The right
hand of fellowship was given by the members to each other
and to the council.

Prayer was offered by Rev. G. G. Gates for the blessing of
God upon the new- church.

This closed the proceedings, and the Second
Baptist church entered upon its career. Soon
after the organization the following members
were received by letter: Susan Knight, Aman-
da Tubbs, William Pusey, Rev. Sidney Dyer,
Abigail T. Dyer, and Ann Wilson. .

The first preaching was November 26, 1844,
by Rev. T. S. Malcom, of Louisville.

A second meeting was held December 1, 1844,
at which Elder Smith Thomas preached.

The first deacons were John Knepfly and
Oliver Cassell; the latter was also the first clerk,
and the former the first treasurer, and is yet liv-
ing in New Albany.

The first permanent pastor was Rev. Sidney
Dyer, chosen at a meeting held January 31,
1845, the compensation being $300 per annum.
He was from the South Baptist church, New
York.

The society secured a room on Main street,
where its meetings were held. The separation
of the churches did not seem to end their
troubles; both congregations were rendered too
weak to sustain two regular pastois, and both so-
cieties felt that something was wrong, and that
the cause of Christianity was not being advanced
as it should be by a Christian church, so in
November, 1845, propositions were made look-
ing to a reconciliation and to the reuniting of the
two churches.

Nothing came of this effort, however, and
again, as appears by the record July 12, 1846, a
committee from the First church made a proposi-
tion to the Second church to again unite with
them ; the proposition was considered, but the
matter was again postponed. These frequent
failures created ill feeling, and the churches be-
came more widely separated than ever. Many

of the members of both churches desired to re-
unite, but others were stubborn, and this feeling
produced the present or

BANK STREET BAPTIST CHURCH,

now the only white church of this denomination
in the city. May n, 1848, as appears by the re-
cords, several members belonging to both
churches, presented the following memorial:

Several members of the regular Baptist church in New Al-
bany, being for a long time under a painful conviction that the
cause was not advantageously, nor the denomination fairly
represented before the community by that body ; believing
also that the recent exclusion of their minister and one of
their deacons was not only hasty but without sufficient cause,
being effected by the zeal of a few prejudiced persons; and
having frequently seen points of discipline and other business
transactions decided in the same manner by that body to the
grief of many, believed themselves, in humble reliance upon
God, called upon by his providence to constitute a new
Baptist church in this city.

-As several ot these members, at one of the meetings of the
church, did ask for letters of dismissal, but were refused such
letters, though acknowledged to be in full fellowship and
regular standing, they thereupon agreed to organize them-
selves into a regular Baptist church to be called the Bank
Street Baptist church.

The organization of this church was effected
by choosing for pastor Rev. George Webster;
for deacons, Oliver Cassell and John Knepfly;
clerk, John Woodward; treasurer, Benjamin
Williams; trustees, Samuel Montgomery, John
Knepfly, and John Woodward.

This organization seems in a short time to have
absorbed the best elements of the other two, and
resulted in their dissolution.

The old First church, however, continued to
hold its organization for a number of years, and
had occasional but no regular preaching. In
1878, under the preaching of Rev. William
Hildreth, of the Bank Street church, the two
churches were united, the old church turning
over its property to the Bank Street church.
This church seems to have been united and
harmonious since its organization.

As soon as organized,- the society purchased
a lot, 48x60 feet in size, on the corner of
Bank and Spring streets, and during the sum-
mer of 1848 erected thereon a brick church,
which served the purposes of the congregation
until 1878, when the present beautiful brick
structure was erected. 1 he old church was sold,
and is now in use as a warehouse. The new
church was dedicated January 4, 1880, the de-
dicatory sermon being preached by Rev. John A.

204

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Broadus, of Louisville. The church is said to
possess the finest auditorium in the city, and
cost about ten thousand dollars. The church
membership is at present about two hundred and
sixty.

The Sabbath-school was established many
years ago, and now has an active membership of
about one hundred and forty.

THE SECOND BAPTIST (COLORED) CHURCH.

This is located on Upper Fourth street, be-
tween Main and Market, and was organized
March 28, 1867, by Rev. C. Edwards, a colored
minister of considerable ability, who continued
its pastor nine years. Some of the original mem-
bers of this church were George Cole, David Cole,
Isabella Williams, Unitary Murphy, E. Howard,
A. McCrutcher, G. D. Williams, M. Sales, and
Simon Hall. The organization took place in
Woodward hall, on Main street, where meetings
were held until a lot was purchased on Second
street, where the society erected a frame church
about 1868, which cost about $1,800. This
church building was occupied until 187 1, when
they purchased of the Lutherans the old brick
church on Fourth street, erected about 1840 by
the Presbyterians, which they have since oc-
cupied, and which cost them about $2,500. The
society still owns both church buildings, renting
the first one for a private residence. The society
has been a prosperous one, and now numbers
about three hundred members. Rev. Richard
Bassett is the present pastor, succeeding Rev.
C. Edwards.

The Sabbath school was organized in the fall
of 1867, and now numbers about one hundred
members.

st. Paul's episcopal church.

This was the next religious society to organize
after the First Baptist church. The following
extract is taken from the first records of this
church:

At a meeting of the citizens of New Albany, held at the
house of Lathrop Elderkin in said town, on the nineteenth
day of July, 1834, agreeably to a notice given and in con-
formity to an act of the Legislature ol the State of Indiana
friendly to the Protestant Episcopal church— was formed the
Parish of St. Paul's church, of New Albany, county of Floyd,
and State of Indiana; subject to the powers and authority of
the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States of
America, and subject to the laws of the same. Rev. Dexter
Potter was called to the chair, and L. Elderkin appointed
clerk.

At this meeting the following officers were also
elected: Lathrop Elderkin, warden; Joseph
Franklin and A. S. Barnett, vestrymen; and
Joseph Franklin, Alexander S. Barnett, and La-
throp Elderkin, trustees. This ended the pro-
ceedings of the first meeting for the organization
of St. Paul's church.

Prior to this meeting occasional services had
been held at the houses of the members, and fre-
quent meetings for prayer and conference.

Two days after this first meeting (July 21,
1834,) the following appears on the record:

We, whose names are hereunto affixed, deeply impressed
with the importance of the Christian religion, and earnestly
wishing to promote its holy influences in the hearts and lives
of ourselves, families, and neighbors, do hereby associate
ourselves together under the name, style, and title of the
Parish of St. Paul's church, in the town of New Albany,
county of Floyd, and State of Indiana, and by so doing bind
ourselves to be entirely subject to the power and authority of
the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States of
America, and subject to the laws and canons of the same.
At New Albany this, the 21st day of July, 1834.

L. Elderkin,
A. S. Burnett,
Joseph Franklin,
C. H. Bessonett,
William White.

Among other names signed to the above, and
who thus appear as the original members of this
church are the following, who are yet living:
Mrs. Anastasia Robinson, Mrs. Elizabeth Senex,
Mrs. Charlotte Riddle, Charles L. Hoover, and
George Lyman.

At a meeting of the trustees held in Septem-
ber, 1834, it was resolved to purchase lot twenty-
six on State street for $250, paying half October
1st and half January 1st following.

At a meeting held April 20, 1835, C. H. Bes-
sonett and Lathrop Elderkin were elected war-
dens, and Joseph Franklin, William White, and
C. H. Bessonett trustees. These meetings were
generally held at the hotfsis of the members.
The following is the report of an important bus-
iness meeting taken from the church record:

At a meeting of the congregation of St. Paul's, in the
village of New Albany, held at the office of W. Griswold on
Easter Monday, March 27, 1837:

Present, Rev. Ashbel Steele, Messrs. Franklin, Robinson,
William White, Brown, Griswold, Beers and S. White.

On motion, Rev. Steele was called to the chair, and W,
Griswold appointed clerk.

On motion, resolved that we proceed to elect by ballot five
trustees agreeably to the laws of Indiana, who shall be con-
sidered as vestrymen of this church for the ensuing year.

Whereupon the Rev. Ashbel Steele, Stephen Beers, Joseph

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

205

Franklin, William Robinson and Whitney Griswold were
elected trustees.

On motion, resolved that we proceed to elect by ballot two
wardens for the coming year; whereupon Stephen Beers and
William Robinson were duly elected.

On motion, the following preamble and resolutions were
unanimously adopted:

Whereas, The general convention of the Protestant Epis-
copal church of the United States of America have appointed
the Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, D. D. , missionary bishop
of the States of Missouri and Indiana; and

Whereas, The board of Domestic Missions of said
Church have designated New Albany as a missionary sta-
tion and appointed the Rev. Ashbel Steele as missionary to
said station, therefore

Resolved, That we hail with delight and gratitude to Al-
mighty God the new impulse given to the cause of missions
and the church in our western land, and that we do consider
ourselves as under the supervision of the Right Rev. Jack-
son Kemper as missionary bishop.

Resolved; That we gratefully recognize the appointment of
Rev. Ashbel Steele as missionary of the station, and that he
be the pastor of St. Paul's church, New Albany, according to
the canons and usages of the Protestant Episcopal church of
the United States of America.

Resolved, That we will cheerfully co-operate with the said
general convention, board of missions, bishop, and pastor in
the great and good work in which they are engaged.

At a meeting held in March, 1837, Rev.
Ashbel Steele, Stephen Beers, Joseph Franklin,
S. White, and W. Griswold were appointed a
building committee, and empowered to adopt a
plan for a new church, and proceed to the erec-
tion of the same. They sold the lot on State
street and purchased a lot on Spring, between
Bank and Upper Third streets, where they pro-
ceeded to erect their first church. It was a frame
building, very comfortable and commodious for
the time, and cost about five thousand dollars.
This church building was occupied from 1837 to
1864, when they, having determined to erect a
new church building, sold the old one to the
Lutherans, who in turn disposed of it to Mr. W.
C. De Pauw, who moved it out on Vincennes
street and established the Kingsley mission.

The church had previously secured the present
lot, on Main street, between Upper Sixth and
Seventh streets, where the present St. Paul's
church was erected in 1864-65, the corner-stone
being laid by Bishop Smith, of Kentucky, the
senior bishop of the United States at the time.
It was consecrated by Bishop Joseph C. Talbot.
It is frame building, and cost about fourteen
thousand dollars. There are at present about
three hundred members of this church in the
city, but only about one hundred and fifty regu-
lar communicants.

The Sabbath-school was organized soon after
the organization of the church, George Brown
being the first superintendent. This school has
greatly prospered and numbers now some three
hundred members. It is divided into two
schools, called the mission school and the parish
school. Both schools are conducted at the
church, the parish school in the morning and
the mission school in the afternoon of each Sun-
day. The former is under the immediate charge
of the rector. The mission school was for many
years held in the lower part of the city. Charles
L. Hoover was superintendent of the school
about thirty years. The following list comprises
the names of the rectors of St. Paul's Episcopal
church: Ashbel Steele, J. B. Britton, B. \V.
Hickox, William K. Saunders, Edward Lonsbery,
T. H. L. Laird, J. B. Ramsdell, J. N. Goshorn,
John Martin, John A. Childs, J. S. Wallace,
J. E. Purdy, Dr. Thomas G. Carver, D. D., Dr.
David Pise, D. D., John A. Gierlow, F. B.
Dunham, and Walter Scott, the latter just called
to the charge.

PARK CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

The organization of this church followed close-
ly that of the Episcopal, being organized May
19, 1835, by forty-three members (or rather se-
ceders) of the First Baptist church of New Al-
bany. The causes of the division of the Baptist
church were numerous, and some of them have
been mentioned in the history of that church;
but among others the following extract from an
address of Elder Hobson, of Louisville, may be
mentioned:

It is claimed by the members of this church that they dis-
card all human creeds and rely alone upon the Bible as the
rule of faith and church government; and that obedience to
all that is required of man in the New Testament is necessary
to salvation. This and some minor considerations caused
the split between this people and what is known as the Reg-
ular Baptist organizat on.

The following is a list of members of the first
organization of the first Christian or Disciple
church in New Albany:

Isaac S. Ashton, Samuel C. Miller, Robert Luckey, John
Miller, Ashbel Smith, Henry Moore, Nathaniel Webb, Mary
Ann Wells, Elizabeth Beck, Nancy Miller, Mary Ann Smith,
Hannah Garvey, Matilda Duncan, Lucy Brazleton, Caleb C.
Dayton, Elizabeth Dayton, Elizabeth Beebe, Perry Garvey,
Edward C. Duncan, Peter Sallkild, Eli Brazleton, Isaac
Ramey, D. W. Voshall, Sophia Moore, Charlotte Carter,
Melinda Sassel, Rebecca Akin, Charlotte Scribner, Abigail
Brown, Lydia Shanon, Elizabeth Akin, Priscilla Akin, Mary
Ramey, Sophia Ashton, Sarah Hallock, Nancy Draper,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

.Sarah Lacan, Lovina McCoy, Sarah Monroe, Amelia Webb,
John Bell, Sarah Bell, Isaac Hough, Julia Hough, Matilda
Hough, Jacob Cassel, Thomas J. Murdock, Julia Ann Mur-
dock, Nathaniel Price, Ann Price, Mary Ann Montague, B.
O. Austin, Cynthia Rickey, James G. Spalding, Ann Cham-
berlain, Sarah Sowards, Sarah Anthony, Elizabeth Guffey,
Sister Sanford, and Nancy Luckey.

The first forty-three on the above list seceded
from the First Baptist church.

The following regarding the origin of this
church is taken from the church record :

State of Indiana, New Albany, May 19, 1835.

WHEREAS, The Baptist church of the town of New Al-
bany did, on the 1st day of December, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, for divers
causes as to the then members did appear, amicably and
unanimously enter into the following agreement, as appears
from records found recorded in the record book of said
church, in the words following, to wit:

Whereas, There has been existing in this church for some
time past some difficulties which seem to threaten the peace
ot the church, to remedy which we have agreed to unite upon
the Scriptures alone as the only infallible rule of our faith
and practice, and from this day do agree to exercise in our-
selves a spirit of Christian forbearance and recognize in each
other the same fellowship that existed in the church twelve
months ago when we met together in love and hailed each
other as brethren and sisters in the Lord; and

Whereas, It has been made manifest that some of our
brethren have not lived in accordance with said agreement,
but have been living at variance with the spirit of the same,
and have used their influence to separate or divide said
church, which has rendered her, as a body, and as individu-
als, a distressed people for many months past; and

Whereas, Said church, in her distress, at her stated
meetings on the 16th day of May, A. D. 1835, did agree to
divide the time as relates to the use of the meeting-house, as
appears from a copy of said proceedings in the words fol-
lowing: •

"The reference respecting the house was taken up, there-
fore, and we have agreed to divide the time, brother Wood-
ruff to let us know which time he would occupy on Sunday,
the 24th inst.

"The above is a true copy from the minutes.

"Isaiah Townsend,
"Clerk of the Baptist church of New Albany.

"B. O. Austin, Recorder."

Now be it known that we do lament that such a division of
time has appeared necessary, notwithstanding we do enter-
tain toward those brethren who have thus destroyed our
peace and have drawn away some of our brethren and sisters
from the preceding agreement as aforesaid, the most friendly
regard, and stand ready, whenever circumstances will admit,
to walk with them upon principles set forth in the first above-
mentioned agreement, and recorded as aforesaid, and are re-
solved, by the help of the Lord, to live in accordance with
the same, and in order that we may know what persons —
members of said church — are still resolved to keep in good
faith the above and first-named agreement, have mutually
agreed to enroll our names this the 19th day of May, A. D.
1835-

The forty-three members of the Baptist church
who signed the above agreement soon after pro-

ceeded to organize a Campbellite or Disciple
church as they were then called, but now known
as the Christian church. A special meeting was
called for June 27, 1835, over which Samuel C.
Miller was chosen to preside, and the body then
ptoceded to the election of officers. Isaac S.
Ashton was chosen bishop, John Miller deacon,
and B. O. Austin clerk. During the next few
months the following were the chosen officers of
the church: Nathaniel Price, bishop; Ashbel
Smith and Caleb C. Dayton, deacons; D. G.
Stewart, elder; and Henry Moore, deacon.
Thomas J. Murdock was given a certificate as
minister of the gospel.

A question of some difficulty was now to be
settled — the division of the church property, in
which both congregations (Disciple and Baptist)
were interested. Conference committees were
appointed by both congregations, and August
23, 1836, it was agreed that the property should
be sold at auction to the highest bidder, the two
churches to be the only bidders. The agreement
stipulated that the successful bidder was to have
possession of the church and to pay for the same
within one month from the date of sale. It was
ratified by both churches, and signed by Thomas
Herndon, Isaiah Townsend, and Thomas B.
Walker on the part of the Baptist church; and
Ashbel Smith, Caleb C. Dayton, and John Mil-
ler on the part of the Disciples. In accordance
with the agreement the property was sold Sep-
tember 1, 1836, to the Baptist church for $1,010,
and the Disciples immediately made prepara-
tions for the erection of a new church. The
following is from the records :

New Albany, September 28, 1836.

After the committee had settled with the Baptist church
concerning the meeting-house and given them full and entire
possession, the brethren met to consult and make the neces-
sary arrangements for building a convenient and comfortable
house of worship. For the furtherance of the same the
following brethren, viz., Isaac S. Ashton, Jacob Cassel, D. G.
Stewart, and John Miller were chosen a committee for the
purpose of selecting a suitable lot that could be obtained for
the above named purpose. Said committee found one situ-
ated on the corner of Lower Third and Market streets and
purchased the same for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars,
said lot being sixty feet front and running back from Market
street one hundred and twenty feet. The lot contained two
small frame dwellings which were moved to the rear of the
lot, fitted up and sold to |oseph Underwood for the sum of
nine hundred dollars, with sixty by sixty feet off the rear end
of the lot, reserving the front on which to erect the church.

The brethren then proceeded to collect material with
which to build. They also drew up a subscription paper to

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

207

be circulated for the purpose of raising funds for building
purposes, but not being able to raise a sufficient sum by sub-
scription to complete the house the brethren called a special
meeting foi the purpose of devising the best means to effect
that object. After various plans were proposed and rejected,
they finally agreed that each one should be taxed according
to his property, or what he was worth, and that each brother
should estimate his own wealth. The whole being added
together it was ascertained that three per cent, on the sum
total would pay the debt. The brethren thereupon executed
their notes individually payable to C. N. Shields, Jacob Cas-
sel, and Isaac N. Ashton, committee for the three per cent.,
and the committee were to attend to the liquidation of debts
arising from the building of the meeting-house.

The work of building the new church went
forward rapidly during the fall of 1836, and
when completed it cost $4,667.87, which amount
was made up from the following sources: From
the sale of their portion of the Baptist church
property, $1,010; from the sale of a portion of
the church lot to Mr. Underwood, $900. Some
private subscriptions were obtained, and the re-
mainder was made up from the three per cent.
fund, so that the church was paid for as soon as
finished. The following extract is from the rec-
ords of the church :

Lord's DAY morning, January 15, 1837.
The Deciples of Christ met for the first time in the new
brick meeting house situatedton the corner of Lower Third
and Market streets in the city of New Albany, Indiana.

Elder D. G. Stewart was the first minister,
though not regularly appointed. He resigned
November 12, 1837, and Thomas Vaughn was
authorized in his place December 24, 1837.
Vaughn was followed by J. E. Noyes, who in
turn was succeeded by James Shilder. None of
the above named were regularly appointed pas-
tors. It was not until 1858 that the first regular
pastor, J. J. Moss, was called.

The old brick church was used until 1867,
when it became necessary to build anew, and it
was taken down and the present beautiful struct-
ure erected, the congregation, meanwhile, wor-
shiping in the Universalist church, which they
rented for two years, from September 1, 1867.
The building committee was John E. Noyes, D.
W. Lafollette, Isaac Craig, T. F. Jackson, and
A. D. Graham. Davis R. Robertson and O.
Sackett were subsequently added to the commit-
tee, and in May, 1869, the contract was made
with John F. Anderson to do the brick work,
and with McNeff & Sackett for the carpenter
work. The old building was somewhat unsafe,
and for the two years the church occupied the

Universalist's building the members were some-
what divided as to the manner of disposing of
the old church; hence the building committee
was not appointed until April 7, 1869, after
which the building of the new church went rap-
idly forward. The corner-stone was laid with
imposing ceremonies July 13, 1869, Elder Dr.
Hobson, of Louisville, preaching the sermon.
The following list of articles was deposited in
the corner-stone: One copy of the New Testa-
ment (Anderson's translation) ; Christian Record
of June, 1869; Christian Standard, of July 3,
1869; Apostolic Times, of May 20, 1869;
Christian Pioneer, of May 27, 1869; American
Christian Review, of April 20, 1869; New Al-
bany Evening Ledger, of July 12, 1869; New
Albany Commercial, of July 13, 1869; a list of
the members of the church, three hundred and
eighteen in number, and one silver and one
paper dime.

The building is a beautiful gothic structure,
forty feet front on Market street, by ninety-five
feet in depth, with ceiling twenty-four feet in
height, and cost about twenty thousand dollars.

The church and Sabbath-school are healthy
and well sustained at the present time.

CENTRAL CHRISTIAN CHAPEL.

On the 17th of January, 1875, this churchheld
its first anniversary, a short sketch of the pro-
ceedings and of the church history being pub-
lished at that time. • From this it appears that
the church was organized on the evening of
January 15, 1874, with thirty members, and its
first regular meeting held on the succeeding Sab-
bath. Overseers and deacons were chosen at
this meeting, and J. L. Parsons was selected as
its first regular pastor. The Universalist church
edifice was rented for a time until the new church
could be built. A lot was soon purchased on
Upper Spring street, between Fourth and Fifth,
upon which the present beautiful and com-
modious house of worshiD was erected in the
months of May and June, 1874. But fifty-five
days were occupied in building this church. It
is a frame Gothic structure, with stained glass
windows of beautiful pattern, baptistry, dressing
rooms, and study. It is carpeted and other-
wise handsomely furnished. It was formally
dedicated July 12, 1874, John C. Miller, of In-
dianapolis, preaching the discourse. The property

:o8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

with furniture cost $6, ioo. The cunent ex-
penses of this church are defrayed by voluntary
contributions, hence the seats are all free. Up
to the present time the church has had but
two regular pastors, Rev. John P. Tully suc-
ceeding Mr. Parsons and being the present
pastor. Mr. Tully is now in his fourth year of
service. One hundred and thirty-nine persons
were added to the church during the first year of
its existence, and the membership is at present
two hundred and twenty-seven.

The officers of the church at present are A.
C. Williamson and Ozem Sackett, overseers;
George E. Sackett, James S. Peake, Isaac Craig,
Joseph Pratt, J. W. Bracken, C. Ellis, and W.
T. Ellis, deacons.

A Sunday-school was organized immediately
upon the organization of the church, and great
interest has been kept up, so that at present it is
one of the most efficient in the city. It secured
the prize — a beautiful silk banner — in 1879 at
Columbus, Indiana, for general efficiency. The
school numbers at present two hundred and
sixty scholars.

GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN AND REFORMED
CHURCH.

This was the next Protestant church organized
in New Albany after the Park Christian church.
It was organized in October, 1837. The first
meeting for organization was held on State
street at the dwelling of one of the members,
where the church was organized by Henry Evers,
who became the first pastor. The first trustees
were John Plies, Henry Kohl and John H.
Radecke; these, with thirty others, were the orig-
inal members, and nearly if not quite all of them
have passed away. The names of a few are yet
prominent, however, in New Albany, among
them being Niehaus, Frank, Merker, Bertsch,
Reineking, Meyer, Schaffer, Lindner and others.
The first property of this congregation was on
State street near the bridge over Falling run,
where a lot was purchased upon which a small
brick church edifice was erected, in which the
congregation worshiped about twenty years. At
the end of that time they purchased of the Epis-
copalians the lot and frame church belonging to
that denomination, situated on the site of the
present German Lutheran church, on Spring
street, between Bank and Upper Third. In this
frame building services were held until 1S69,

when the present beautiful brick building was
erected at a cost of about $18,000. The old
brick church building remained in possession of
the congregation a number ot years, but was sold
and is now used as a business house. When
preparations were made for building the present
church the old frame building was purchased by
the Methodists, who moved it to Vincennes
street where they established a mission Sunday-
school. The neat frame parsonage attached to
the present church was erected in 1873, at a cost
of $2,500.

The following pastors have been connected
with this church: Henry Evers, George Brau-
dan, Carl Daubert, Henry Trulsen, Frederick

Dulitz, Carl Blecken, Alois Anker, Kling-

sohr, F. A. Frankenbery, Carl Mayer, Frederick
Abele, Christopher Uroung, F. W. A. Riedel,
Carl Nestel, John Bank, and Gottlob Deitz, the
present incumbent.

The membership is at present about two hun-
dred, only about half of whom are full members.
The congregation has been a member of the
American Evangelical Synod of North America
since 1865, in which year it was united with a
small German Presbyterian congregation which
had been struggling along for several years. A
. Sunday-school has been connected with the
church nearly ever since its organization, and is
yet in a flourishing condition with a membership
of one hundred and sixty. The present superin-
tendent is John Baer.

UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.

This society, known as the United Brethren
in Christ, was organized in 1848, and a church
building erected on Spring street at the corner of
Lower Sixth, which is yet standing, a weather-
boarded, weather-beaten frame on a brick founda-
tion. The first pastor was Rev. Daniel Shuck, and
during his pastorate about forty people were mem-
bers of the church. Mr. Shuck was succeeded
by Rev. John W. Bradner, under whose preach-
ing the membership increased to about one hun-
dred. Subsequently the interest in the church
declined until at present there are but twenty-
eight members. No regular preaching and no
Sunday-school has been held here for a number
of years. Occasionally services are held and
hopes entertained that it may yet start into new
life.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

209

UNIVERSALIST CHURCH.

This church was organized at' Woodward hall,
corner of First and Main streets, in 1857. Quite
a number of people holding this religious belief
early settled in and around New Albany, most
of them being from the Eastern States and
among the most intelligent and cultivated of the
citizens. When the Rev. Mr. Moss was preach-
ing for the Disciples, he made a remark intended
for the ears of the Universalists, that he intended
to make them renounce their doctrine or the
Bible; or, in other words, he would create against
them a public sentiment that would compel them
to join an orthodox church or be considered in-
fidels. The Universalists were not at that time
organized, but they were people of means and
education. They immediately sent to Louisville
for W. W. Curry, a Universalist preacher of that
place, and withal a very smart man, subsequent-
ly an editor and at present in one of the depart-
ments at Washington. Mr. Curry responded to
the call and came over to New Albany to defend
their faith. A public discussion took place at
the Disciple church lasting some ten days, and
then was continued some time in Louisville, al-
ways to crowded houses. Neither denomination,
however, received a death blow by this discus-
sion, but the Universalists certainly became
stronger and more aggressive, and out of it grew
the organization of their church and the erection
of the present church building. The church
edifice is located on Spring street between Upper
Third and Fourth, and cost ten or twelve thous-
and dollars. W. W. Curry was their first pastor,
and so continued until the war called him into
the service of his country. Among the principal
originators of the church were John Kemble,
Benjamin Lockwood, John Noyes, Dr. Lewis
Nagle, Edward Nagle, John W. McQuiddy (the

old newspaper man), Kelso, and a few

others. The church was erected about i860,
and preaching continued more or less regularly
until 1879, since which time there has been no
Universalist services held in the house, with an
occasional exception. The building has been
frequently rented to other denominations, and it
is now in use by a society calling themselves
"Southern Methodists."

THE HOLY TRINITY (CATHOLIC) CHURCH.

The Catholic church of New Albany came

into existence about 1836 ; prior to this time,
however, and, indeed, at a very early date, Catho-
lic services had been held at the houses of the
Catholic people by priests traveling from one
point to another. The first Catholic church in
the county was the St. Mary's, located in Lafay-
ette township near Mooresville, and to this the
early Catholics of New Albany resorted. The
Rev. Father Neyron was one of the earliest
Catholic priests engaged in the establishment and
building up of St. Mary's church. It is believed
that Father Badden who, it is said, was the first
Catholic priest ordained in America, was the first
to say mass within the limits of this county.
He was a Frenchman, and traveled much
throughout the United States, but especially in
the West, establishing Catholic churches and
schools. He did not have any particular abode
during many years of his life, but lived about
among the brethren. Later his headquarters
were in Kentucky. He and Father Louis Neyron
secured the site, and established Notre Dame
college at South Bend, Indiana. Father Abel,
of the church at Louisville, was also one of the
earliest priests to visit New Albany, and minister
to the religious requirements of the few Catholics
in the town. For many years Father Badden
came to New Albany at least once a month, and
held mass, and after a time, when Father Neyron
and Father Abel came, services were held at the
houses of the Catholic members at New Albany
once a week or oftener.

Among the first Catholics in New Albany was
Louis Brevette, a Frenchman, who kept a grocery
on the corner of Lower Fourth and Main streets,
at whose house Catholic services were generally
held in New Albany. Another of the first
Catholics in town was Nicholas Specker, also a
Frenchman and groceryman ; another was Mr.
Ferry, a laborer, and a little later came Henry
Trustage, a shoemaker. There were some others
whose names cannot now be recalled. All were
poor and unable to raise the means to build a
church, and therefore contented themselves with
regular attendance at St. Mary's church, and oc-
casional meetings at each other's dwellings.

In 1836 they had grown sufficiently numerous
to be able to erect a church building, which, with
some help by the Catholics of other churches,
they succeeded in doing on the corner of Seventh
and Market streets. It was a long, low, frame

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

building and is yet standing on the rear end of
the same lot, and is used by the sisters as a
school building. This lot is about one hundred
feet front. When this church was built there
were quite a number of Catholic people in town,
among whom were the following: Jacob Massie,
Nicholas Cortz, Henry Trustage (who owned
property and kept a shoe store on State street),
John Gladden, Henry Cotter, Henry Vohart,
Coonrod Broker, Adam Knapp, Charles Mc-
Kenna, John Gerard, John and Michael Dough-
erty, John Mullin, Timothy Flannagan, Mathias
Flannagan, Patrick McGuire, Gasper T. Yoke,
John Thy, Barney McMannus, Daniel Orman,
Lawrence Orman, John Pendergast, James Or-
man, Patrick Leyden, Thomas O'Brien, Thomas
Riley,1 and probably a few others, all of whom
were heads of families.

It was not until 1850 that the Catholics of
New Albany were strong enough to contemplate
the erection of a new and more commodious
church edifice. Father Louis Neyron was at
that time the officiating priest. He was a live,
active, energetic Frenchman, who had been en-
gaged in the Napoleonic wars, and it was princi-
pally under his management, guidance, and
assistance that the present building known as the
Holy Trinity church was erected. So deeply
was he interested in the success of the under-
taking that he put about eight thousand dollars
of his own money into the building, and is yet
receiving a yearly income from this investment.
He is now quite aged, and for many years has
been connected with the Notre Dame college at
South Bend. Holy Trinity church probably
cost thirty thousand dollars, which at that date
was a large sum of money to put into a building.

At the present time about three hundred fam-
ilies are connected with this church, and more
than three hundred children attend the Catholic
schools, five teachers being engaged. There are
three school-houses and two dwellings, one of
the latter for the teachers and one for the sisters.
Both the church and the parsonage are situated
on one lot, and both are brick, the latter costing
about five thousand dollars. It was erected in
1871.

The Catholic church had a rapid growth from
the date of the building of the new church
edifice, and was probably nearly equally divided
in nationality between the Irish and Germans.

About 1854-55 the German Catholics, feeling
themselves strong enough to support a church of
their own, established

the st. mary's German catholic church.

The building is located on the corner of
Spring and Eighth streets and is one of the finest
and most substantial churches in the city. Prior
to the building of Saint Mary's church meetings
were held several years in the parent church,
Father Weitz being the priest during the greater
portion of the time services were held here,
though Father Monsheno was the first pastor of
the German organization.

After a few years upon appeal by the Ger-
mans, the bishop divided the church property,
giving one half of it to the Germans and requir-
ing the parent church to pay for the same. With
the fifteen thousand dollars thus secured they
erected their present building, and have since
made some additions. This is at present the
largest congregation of any denomination in the
city, there being about five hundred families con-
nected with it. Father Edward .Fealer was very
active in the building of the new building and
was the first officiating priest. He was suc-
ceeded by Father Casper Doebenir, who in turn
was succeeded by the present pastor, Father I.
Cline.

In 1879 this church erected a very fine school
building for boys on Eighth street, between Elm
and Spring, costing them about $8,000. On the
same lot upon which the church stands, but
fronting on Elm street, stands what is known as
St. Mary's Female academy, a first-class Catholic
institution under the charge of the society of Sis-
ters of St. Francis to whom the building belongs.

It is a commodious brick building five stories
in height and cost originally $24,000, but was
purchased by the Sisters for $18,000, and is kept
for the sole use and benefit of the German Cath-
olic church, under whose supervision and general
control it remains. A large number of Catholic
children, not only of New Albany, but the sur-
rounding country and from distant points are ed-
ucated here. The male and female apartments
of the different Catholic schools are separate, the
larger boys being under charge of male teachers
while the smaller children and the girls are under
charge of the sisters.

The entire property of this church is probably

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

valued at $50,000 or $60,000. Both churches
maintain several schools and are very prosper-
ous.

CHAPTER XI.

NEW ALBANY— BENCH AND BAR.
FROM THE RECORDS.

The following extracts from the proceedings
of the commissioners regarding early court mat-
ters and early legal proceedings are deemed
proper in this connection. The duties of the
commissioners were varied and much more ex-
tended than at present, and included much busi-
ness now belonging exclusively to the courts.

At a regular meeting May 17, 1819, S. Hob-
son and John V. Bubkirk were appointed con-
stables for one year for New Albany township,
Patrick Leyden for Franklin, and Syrenus Em-
mons for Greenville township. At the same
date the first lister of Floyd county made his re-
turn of the county levy for the ensuing year.

Ordered, That Dr. Ashel Clapp be appointed overseer of
the poor for New Albany township, in place of C. Woodruff,
who is absent.

May 19, 1 819, the first county seal was pro-
cured by Joel Scribner, as appears by the follow-
ing entry:

Ordered, That the county treasurer pay Joel Scribner
ninety-six dollars and seventy-five cents when in funds, it be-
ing for books and county seal procured by him as per bill
rendered.

At the regular meeting at Seth Woodruff's,
August 9, 18 1 9, it was —

Ordered, That Caleb Newman be allowed sixty-five cents
for his services at the polls of election.

At the February session of 1820 the treasurer
was ordered to pay Clement Nance, Sr., $12 for
his services as probate judge at the last Decem-
ber term.

November 10, 18 19, the county treasurer,
James Scribner, submitted his report of the re-
ceipts and expenditures of the county during
the year. The receipts were $251.11, and the
disbursements $208.97, leaving a balance in the
hands of the treasurer of $42.14. The total
amount of the tax levy was $803.29, Sheriff Bes-
ser being the tax collector.

The first grand jurors of the county were
Charles Paxson, James Hickman, Ashel Clapp,
Jacob. .Yenawine, James B. Moore, Absalom
Little, Joseph Whitcomb, Joseph Benton, Isaac
Wood, Joshua Cooper, Thomas Akers, Wyatt P.
Tuley, Apollos Hess, Robert Stewart, Mordecai
Childs, and George McDougal. Each of them
received $3.75 for his services at the December
term of court in 1819.

At the February session of 1820 Seth Wood-
ruff was paid $14 for services as judge of the
probate and circuit courts; he was also paid $30
for the use of his house for the meetings of the
commissioners for the year 18 19.

At the May term of 1820 Sheriff James Besse
was ordered to take the enumeration of the in-
habitants of the county over twenty-one years of
age.

At the August session of 1820 the county
treasurer was ordered to pay "James Besse, sheriff,
$197.50 for services of two men to guard the
gaol," from May 28th to August 15th, or at the rate
of $1.25 per day. At this term Daniel H. Al-
lison appears as commissioner.

May 22, 1821, "Ordered, that the county treas-
urer pay the trustees of the Presbyterian church
$10 for the use of their house for the meetings
of the commissioners during this term." At this
session a poll tax of fifty cents was levied on all
male citizens over twenty-one years of age, and
twenty-five cents on each work ox in the county.

The August session of 182 1 was held at the
Presbyterian church, where they also met in No-
vember of the same year, but "for convenience"
adjourned to the house of Seth Woodruff, then
kept by Apollos Hess. Wyatt P. Tuley is al-
lowed $10 for house rent and firewood for the
September and December terms of the Floyd
county circuit court, which was held at Seth
Woodruff's.

At the February session of 1821 Preston F.
Tuley is paid $12 for his services as an officer
of the circuit court of the September and De-
cember terms. Clement Nance is paid $10 and
Seth Woodruff $14 for services as associate
judges at the previous September term of court.

At the August session of 1823 Harvey Scrib-
ner was appointed treasurer in place of James
Scribner deceased. Harvey Scribner was, there-
fore, the second treasurer of the county. He did
not seem to like the place, however, and resigned

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

in November of the same year, and Edward
Brown was appointed in his place. Brown held
the place but a short time when he was suc-
ceeded in February, 1824, by Richard Comly,
who served as treasurer of the county until 1828.

In August, 1824, Walter W. Winchester ap-
pears as a commissioner in place of Mr. Nance.

In September, 1824, by an act of the Legisla-
ture, the office of county commissioner was
abolished, and the justices of the peace in each
county were required to take the place of the
commissioners by meeting and organizing for
business as a body. This organization was
known as the county board of justices. The
first body of this character that assembled in
New Albany was composed of Chailes Woodruff,
David Sillings, and Jacob Bence, of Franklin
township; David S. Bassett, Rowland S. Strick-
land, 1 and Lathrop Elderkin, of New Albany
township; and William Wilkinson, of Greenville
township. They met at Seth Woodruffs tavern
on the 6th of September, 1824, and organized
by electing Lathrop Elderkin president. Their
second meeting, in the following November, was
at the new court-house.

November 8, 1825, John K. Graham is au-
thorized to make a map of New Albany, provided
the corporation will bear half the expense, the
whole expense being $6.

The board of justices did not last long, and
was again superseded by the commissioners,
which office has been continued to the present.

THE FIRST COURT.

The following is the first entry in the records
of the Floyd county circuit court:

Be it remembered, that this, the ioth day of May, A. D.
1819, being the day appointed by an act of the Assembly, en-
titled an act to amend the act entitled an act to divide theState
of Indiana into four circuits, and to fix the time for holding
courts; and an act entitled an act for the formation of a new
county out of the counties of Harrison and Clarke, which
last-mentioned act directed that the court should be holden
at the house of Seth Woodruff, Esq., in the town of New
Albany, on the day and year above mentioned.

The Honorable Davis Floyd, president of the second cir-
cuit, appeared, and

Present the Honorable

Davis Floyd.

The proceedings of this court were not ex-
tensive at this sitting, the court contenting itself
by merely appointing the necessary officers to
get the machinery in motion, and admitting to
practice the few attorneys present.

Isaac Van Buskirk appeared and produced a
commission signed by Governor Jonathan Jen-
nings, appointing him judge of the circuit court.
Joel Scribner appeared with a similar commission
appointing him clerk of said court, and James
Besse with a commission appointing him sheriff
of the county. These were the first officers of the
county.

The lawyers admitted to practice in this court
at the first session were John F. Ross, Reuben
W. Nelson, Isaac Howk, Mason C. Fitch, Wil-
liam P. Thomasson. James Ferguson, John A.
Dunbar, Hardin H. Moore, Experience P. Storrs,
Timothy Phelps, Henry Hurst, and John H.
Farnham. Mason C. Fitch was appointed the
first prosecuting attorney of the county.

EARLY TRIALS.

One of the most important trials in this court
in the beginning of its history was that of Dah-
man for the murder of Notte, an account of
which appears elsewhere.

In the early days of New Albany there were
many trials, generally before justices of the
peace, in which the defendant was a runaway
slave, or at least generally supposed to be. So
near was it to the borders of a slave State that
slaves were frequently escaping across the river,
and many others who had been freed by their
masters became residents of the place, and some
of these were occasionally arrested and attempts
made to force them back into slavery, which
caused trouble. So many people from Pennsyl-
vania and the New England States were settled
here that the general sentiment of the people
was averse to slavery, and inclined to assist the
slave to freedom rather than retard his efforts in
that direction.

In the spring of 182 1 a negro named Moses
was arrested here by a party of Kentuckians,
who were about taking him across the river as a
runaway slave. The negro protested that he was
a free man, born in the adjoining county of
Clarke, but his protestations were of no avail,
and he was taken to the river bank to await the
arrival of the ferry-boat. It happened that
Judge Seth Woodruff had been across the river
and was returning on the same boat that was to
convey the prisoner across. Immediately on
landing the prisoner sought Mr. Woodruffs pro-
tection. The judge was something of an abo-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

213

litionist, and a man with a keen sense of justice
and of great physical strength. He immediately
informed the Kentuckians that the man could
not be taken across the river in that way; he
must have a hearing — a fair trial before he could
be given up. He was not opposed to men
claiming their own property, but the question as
to whether the negro was their property must be
thoroughly investigated. Woodruff was backed
by a few friends, and the Kentuckians, not being
strong enough to resort to force, were compelled
to return with their captive and stand trial. The
trial was at Woodruff's tavern before 'Squire Bas-
sett, and the negro was able to prove very con-
clusively that he was born in Clarke county, and
had never been a slave. He was declared by
'Squire Bassett to be a free man. Meanwhile
other Kentuckians had arrived, and all were well
armed and determined to take the negro right or
wrong, so when the decision was rendered a
general and desperate fight took place for his
possession, but the excitement had been consider-
able, and the New Albanians had gathered in
considerable numbers to see that 'Squire Bassett's
court was not overawed. The Kentuckians were
beaten and compelled to retreat without their
man. Quite a number were hurt in the melee,
but fortunately nobody killed. Subsequently
the negroes, understanding that they would find
protection in New Albany, flocked in there in
such numbers that they became a nuisance, and
the people at one time gathered and shipped a
squad of them down the river with positive in-
structions not to return.

THE LAWYERS OF THE COUNTY.

The following regarding the bar of New Al-
bany is, substantially, from a manuscript on the
subject furnished by Mr. Thomas Collins, one
of the oldest residents of New Albany, he hav-
ing settled in the place in 1827:

When the county of Floyd was formed the
first court was held at Seth Woodruff's tavern,
Judge William Floyd presiding. The lawyers in
attendance were from the adjoining counties of
Harrison and Clarke, and of those in attendance
Reuben W. Nelson was the first to locate in the
town. He was a good lawyer and highly es-
teemed. He was editor of the Crescent. His
death occurred a short time after his settlement
here.

About this time Lathrop Elderkin located
here and began the practice of law; he was
elected justice of the peace, and continued in
office several years until he died. He was a
gentleman of good education and many good
qualities, but a careless manager. He had the
good will of the citizens in a great degree.

Hardin H. Moore early established himself
in practice here. He was better qualified, both
by education and inclination, for politics than for
law, though he was very successful in his prac-
tice, and was considered almost irresistible be-
fore a jury. As a politician he was usually suc-
cessful among those who knew him, and fre-
quently represented his friends and neighbors in
the State Legislature, but his efforts for higher
positions were always failures, always receiving,
however, respectable support. His last canvass
was made against Hon. John Carr, of Clarke
county, for Congress, and failing he left this sec-
tion and went to New Orleans in 1833, where he
died.

Randall Crawford came to the town about
1827-28; he was a scholar and a well read law-
yer, perhaps the peer of any other in the State;
a close student, and a man of good habits, but
he lacked those social qualities so necessary to
rapid advancement. Sternly honest and loyal to
his clients, he slowly but surely made his way to
a large practice and a handsome competence.
He was an ardent Republican, and was placed
upon the electoral ticket for Fremont in 1856,
and industriously canvassed the district in the
interest of his party. He was not an orator,
though the matter of his discourses was always
good and sound; his delivery was cold, impas-
sive, lacking that spirit and fire that are neces-
sary to carry a political audience with the
speaker. He died about the close of the war.

Henry Collins came to the town in 1830, and
established the Gazette newspaper. He was a
lawyer, and, in addition to his editorial duties,
practiced his profession. He continued thus
five years, when he gave up the paper, and ap-
plied himself solely to the practice of law. He
was a straightforward man, rather blunt in his
manner, but with his friends social and jocose.
He was exceedingly careless in his dress, rarely
paying attention either to his own or other peo-
ple's clothes. At one time when he was called
to Bedford in some case, he met some of the

214

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

first lawyers in the State, among whom were
Richard W. Thompson, late Secretary of the
United States Navy, and Major H. P. Thornton,
who was his friend and former preceptor. The
major, who was somewhat fond of dress, and al-
ways wore his best, thus accosted him:

"Henry, why the deuce do you not wear better
clothes when you go away from home?"

"Well," replied Mr. Collins, "it makes no
difference; nobody knows me here."

"But you do not wear any better clothes at
home?" retorted the major.

"It makes no difference again," replied Mr.
Collins; "everybody knows me there."

Henry Collins was elected recorder of the
city under its first charter, and continued in this
office until he died in 1852.

James Collins, a brother of Henry, came to
New Albany in 1833, from Orange county, where
he had commenced the practice of law. He
was the opposite of his brother in most all things
except devotion to his friends. He and Randall
Crawford had the bulk of the law business in
New Albany for several years; they being on one
side or the other of three-fourths of the cases
before the courts. He was a good speaker and
well read in his profession, but like most men of
his time and profession gave much of his time
to politics. He served six years in the Legis-
lature— two years in the lower House and four
years in the Senate. He was elected by the
Legislature agent of the State in 1848, and after
the expiration of his term settled down again to
the practice of his profession. In 1869 his
health failed him and he retired to his farm in
Washington county, where he died in 1881.

Major Henry P. Thornton, one of the
oldest lawyers in the_State, settled in New Albany
in 1836. He was a man of great physical
powers, and when sixty-five years of age would
mount his horse and ride forty miles a day on his
circuit without apparent fatigue. He was a
lawyer of considerable ability but not enough of
a student to keep pace with the more studious of
the profession, yet he was fairly successful. He
was several times elected by the Legislature to
the clerkship of the House of Representatives,
and also to the position of secretary of the Sen-
ate. He removed from this city to Bedford
about 1853, where he died at the age of nearly
ninety years.

John S. Davis also came to this place in 1836
and engaged in book-keeping for the large gro-
cery house of Tuley & Brother, a position he
held until he formed a partnership with Major
Thornton in the practice of law. He always
managed his cases with great shrewdness, and
ranked high as a criminal lawyer; but with him
as with others in the profession, he dabbled too
much in politics to make a complete success as a
lawyer. As a politician he was noted for his
ability in organizing his party, and always man-
aged his canvass so well that he generally secured
a majority, or, at least, greatly reduced the ma-
jority of his opponents. He was several times
elected to the Legislature from this county. In
1847 he was a candidate for Congress against T.
J. Henley, who had been elected two years pre-
viously, and was now a candidate for a second
time. The majority in the district was largely
Democratic, being about seventeen hundred, but
Davis was only defeated by forty-seven votes.
An indefatigable worker in the party harness, his
vote always exceeded the vote of his party. Al-
though filling many positions his friends were
unable to give him the position he most desired.
In 1876 he was a candidate before the nominat-
ing convention for Congress in opposition to
Judge Bicknell, but was defeated. The same
convention nominated him for judge of the cir-
cuit court, to which office he was elected and
retained until his death in 1880. He was a man
of positive character and had many warm friends
and some enemies. His loss was greatly de-
plored by a large circle of friends and acquaint-
ances.

Theodore J. Barnett came to New Albany
in the same year (1836), and was engaged on
the editorial staff of the New Albany Gazette,
and practiced law at the same time. He was a
man of splendid attainments — an excellent writer,
a fine speaker, and a superior scholar. He was
ever ready to write an essay or make a speech,
and his efforts in either direction would always
command readers and listeners as would no
other speaker or writer of his time, unless, per-
haps, Joseph S. White, on the forum, or George
D. Prentice on the tripod. He went from New
Albany to Indianapolis in 1841 and assumed the
editorship of the Indiana Journal. Remaining
there only a year or so he returned to New Al-
bany, where he remained a few months, then

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

215

took his departure for New York city, and has
since resided in the East, part of the time in
Washington city. He was a genial, kind-hearted
gentleman, and with his talents and industry
should have occupied a high position in the
State and Nation, but his erratic or vacillating
disposition was the stumbling-block in the way
of his advancement, and thus his splendid talents
went for nothing. This defect in his disposition
destroyed all the good that a genius like his
might have accomplished. He is yet living,
though quite aged, and retains the respect and
good wishes of all who know him.

It was also in the same year, 1836, that a
young lawyer by the name of Groves settled in
New Albany. He remained but a short time
when he removed to the northern part of the
State. He was here long enough, however, to
find himself a wife in the person of Miss Dorsey,
a daughter of P. M. Dorsey, then mayor of the
town.

The year 1836 seems to have been prolific
in the advent of lawyers into New Albany.
Young Mr. Griswold also came in this year. He
was a most amiable and cultured young man,
well read in his profession, and a graduate of
one of the best law schools in the country; but
his somewhat aesthetic tastes and fine moral sense
were not calculated for the profession of law in
a backwoods town, and he remained in New Al-
bany but a short time. Returning to New York
he prepared himself for the ministry, and in
1 844 went to St. Louis to take charge of a church
in that city. He was a thorough gentleman and
a Christian.

William McKee Dunn, at present advocate-
general of the United States Military court, came
to this city from Madison, Indiana, in 1838. He
was a good lawyer, fine speaker, and did good
service for the Whigs in the canvass of 1840.
He made many friends here, but removed to his
old home in 1842, since which time his career
has been one of usefulness to the country.

Peter A. Roane, a young man of good nat-
ural ability, but uneducated, began the study of
law with John S. Davis in 1836, and was admit-
ted to practice in 1840. In 1839 he was elected
city recorder, and held the office one term, after
which he devoted his entire time to his practice
until his death, which took place after a practice
of four or five years.

Thomas L. Smith located in New Albany
about the year 1839, and was immediately taken
in hand by the Democratic party, being the only
lawyer of that faith in the city except Mr.
Groves, to whom an old farmer said one day,
"Groves, you may have been bred to the
law, but I be blessed if the law will ever be
bread to you." But Mr. Smith was a lawyer as
well at a politician, and soon obtained an excel-
lent practice in his profession, as well as made
himself popular with his party. He had some
literary taste and ambition, also, and wrote a text
book for schools in which the rudiments of law
were explained, and which became a valuable
acquisition to the teachers' and pupils' library.
He was several times before the people as a can-
didate for office, and as the parties were pretty
nearly tied hereabouts he would sometimes be
elected and at other times defeated, but at all
times he received a flattering vote. He served
as judge of the supreme court of the State one
term, at the expiration of which he retired to
private life, his health having failed. He died
at a ripe old age much lamented by a large circle
of friends.

Phineas M. Kent settled in New Albany in
1841 ; went into the printing business and also
opened a law office. He, however, paid little
attention to the law, his tastes leading him into
editorial life.

Ashbel P. Williard was teaching school in
Kentucky in 1844. Having some reputation as
a ready and forcible speaker he was invited by
the Democracy to make public addresses during
that political campaign in which Henry Clay and
James K. Polk were the opposing candidates.
Mr. Williard so pleased his party that he was
urged by the Democracy of New Albany to lo-
cate here. This he did and began the practice
of law, forming a partnership with Randall Craw-
ford. It was not long, however, before he
yielded to the political siren and left his practice
for the hustings. He was elected to the Legisla-
ture and afterward made Lieutenant-governor.
In 1856 he was elected Governor over Oliver
P. Morton, and died during his term of of-
fice. Mr. Willard was an ardent friend and
liberal enemy. He had his faults, but he also
had his virtues, and no one retained a atronger
hold on his party than he. When he died the
Democracy felt that they had lost a champion.

2l6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

James C. Moody came here from Washington,
Pennsylvania, in 1842. He was a lawyer of fair
ability and a gentleman of good address; his
success in his chosen profession, however, was
somewhat retarded by his desire to accumulate
wealth rapidly, or make his fortune at a dash.
He consequently indulged considerably in specu-
lation. Becoming dissatisfied here he removed
to St. Louis, where he subsequently became a
judge of one of the courts. In later years he
gave way to the vice of intemperance, which has
destroyed some of the brightest minds of the
country. He died from his excesses soon after
the close of the war. When himself he was
companionable and kind.

George V. Howk removed to New Albany from
Charlestown in the adjoining county in 1849. He
was a young man of promise and has occupied
many positions of trust, having been elected to
the offices of city attorney, councilman, Senator
in the State Legislature, and is at present one of
the supreme judges of the State. He is a man
of ability and an indefatigable worker.

Robert A. Wier studied law with Judge
Howk, and after completing his studies was
admitted into partnership with his preceptor in
1854. He was very popular but died before his
powers were fully developed.

William T. Otto, a practicing lawyer, came
to the city in 1848, and began practice in con-
nection with John S. Davis. He had been here
but a short time when he was made presiding
judge of the circuit court, the district embracing
the counties of Washington, Scott, Clarke, Floyd,
and Harrison. The terms of holding court were
one and two weeks in each of the counties except
Floyd, the term in this county being extended to
three weeks. Judge Otto was a man of fine
attainments, a first-class lawyer and an upright
judge. Personally he was very popular, but
being a Whig in politics, and there being a large
Democratic majority in this judicial district, he
was defeated for a second term by Hon. George
A. Bicknell. He resumed the practice of law
and continued at the bar until 1861, when he
received an appointment in the Interior depart-
ment at Washington, to which place he moved
and where he has since remained. Judge Otto
was a gentleman of easy and polished manners,
much respected for his many good qualities as a
man, and was rated by his contemporaries as one

of the best lawyers among them. He was origi-
nally from Philadelphia.

Judge George A. Bicknell came from Phila-
delphia and settled in Lexington, Scott cpunty,
Indiana, where he remained a few years in the
practice of his profession, when he removed to
New Albany, 'and soon took first rank in his pro-
fession in this place. In 1854 he was elected
judge of the circuit court for this district, and
continued to serve in that capacity until 1876,
when he was elected to Congress from the Third
Congressional district. He served two terms in
Congress, but was defeated for the third term in
the nominating convention of his party by Mr.
Stockslager, of Harrison county. At the session
of 1 88 1 the Legislature passed an act creating a
commission to bring up the business of the
supreme court of the State, which was very much
in arrears. Judge Bicknell was appointed on
this commission, a position he yet holds. Judge
BicknelPs retiring and rather exclusive habits
peculiarly fitted him for the position of judge,
and it is questionable if any other ever gave more
general satisfaction. His decisions were received
with confidence and quietly acquiesced in.
Socially he was a good conversationalist and a
man of pleasant manners.

Michael C. Kerr was a native of the Keystone
State, and came to New Albany in 1848, while
yet a young man just entering upon the practice
of his profession. He had studied law at Louis-
ville, and when he came here he became as-
sociated with Judge Thomas L. Smith in the
practice. His inclination, however, led him into
politics, and his law business was in consequence
somewhat neglected. He was a hard student,
and did not confine himself in this regard to the
law; he was ambitious, intellectually bright, ener-
getic, but with more of these qualities than of
physical strength. He was quite popular with
the people, and his first office was that of prose-
cuting attorney for the city, being elected by a
handsome majority over his Whig opponent,
though the Whigs at that time had a clear ma-
jority of two hundred in the city. Subsequently
he was selected to represent the county in the
State Legislature. From 1862 to 1864 he was
reporter for the State supreme court. In the fall
of 1864 he was elected to Congress from the
Third Congressional district, and continued in
the National House of Representatives four con-

.HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

217

secutive terms. He was re-elected in 1874 for a
fifth term, and in December 1875, he was made
Speaker of that body, which position he held at
the time of his death. He was a genial, kind-
hearted gentleman, full of noble impulses, and
his death was a severe loss to his friends and his
country.

Thomas M. Brown, then located at Memphis,
Tennessee, and John H. Stottsenberg, of New
York, both young men, formed a partnership and
opened a law office in New Albany in 1854. Mr.
Brown was one of the most persevering of stu-
dents, devoted to his profession, and determined
to make of himself a first-class lawyer. He was
quite successful. After he was fairly established
in his business he married the daughter of Hon.
John S. Davis, who lived but a few years after-
ward, and died leaving two daughters to his care.
Mr. Brown continued steadfast in his profession
and in devotion to his family, caring little for
political honors, though once elected to the Leg-
islature. He was in love with his profession, and
quite successful. His death was distressingly
sudden, though not entirely unlooked for. For
several years he had been suffering with disease
of the lungs, and the day of his death was in his
office attending, as usual, to his duties, and in
the afternoon started for home. Reaching the
upper part of the city, and when within a few
blocks of his home, he fell, and expired before
those who were conveying him to his house
could reach it. He was a Christian gentleman,
an honest, faithful advocate, a good neighbor
and steadfast friend.

John H. Stottsenberg, who is still a resident
of the city, is much the same type of a man as
his partner, Mr. Brown. In this partnership,
which was dissolved only by the death of Mr.
Brown, there seemed to be a mutual feeling of
regard and respect, a unity of sentiment, and a
similarity of tastes rarely found in a partnership.
The business was conducted so quietly and
earnestly as to become the subject of remark,
and to bring a large patronage. Mr. Stottsen-
berg continued the practice of his profession af-
ter the death of his partner, and soon became
one of the leading members of this judicial cir-
cuit. Two or more years ago he was appointed
by the Legislature one of the commission to re-
vise the State laws, and has been constantly em-
ployed in this labor since that time. He is a

gentleman of superior business qualifications,
pleasing manners and strict integrity.

The foregoing rather imperfect sketches in-
clude those lawyers whose nativity was not with-
in the limits of this judicial circuit, but who
came from a distance and settled here for the
purpose of prosecuting their business. The fol-
lowing are brief sketches of those of the same
profession who are to the manor born, and among
them will be found some of the most talented
and reliable in the profession :

DeWitt C. Anthony, now about fifty-two or
fifty-three years of age, is a well read lawyer and
a good political speaker. He studied under
Randall Crawford.

Judge D. W. LaFollette is a son of Robert
LaFollette, who is said to have been the first
settler of Floyd county. He was born Septem-
ber 13, 1825, and graduated at the law school of
the State university; was admitted to practice in
1849, and settled in New Albany, soon after
forming a partnership with James Collins. In
1858 he was elected judge of the court of com-
mon pleas of Floyd county, and in 1872 was ap-
pointed by the Governor judge of the circuit
court, but declined this honor and became prose-
cuting attorney of the district. In 1873 he was
appointed one of the law professors in the State
university and filled the chair one year. Since
that time he has devoted himself to the practice
of his profession in New Albany, where he sus-
tains a good reputation as a lawyer and citizen. -

Alexander Dowling stands in the first rank
of lawyers m the city. His father, Dr. Dow-
ling, removed to this city in 1836, when the sub-
ject of this paragraph was a child. Mr. Dowling
studied law under Judge John S. Davis, and be-
gan the practice in 1868 or 1869. He is a fair
speaker but relies more upon his thorough
knowledge of the law than upon his forensic
powers.

Thomas L. Collins and Alfred B. Col-
lins about the same time, having studied law
under their father, James Collins, were admitted
to practice. They soon after removed to Salem,
the county seat of the adjoining county of Wash-
ington, where A. B. Collins was twice elected to
the Legislature, and in 1877 Thomas L. Collins
was appointed judge of the circuit composed of
the counties of Washington and Jackson.

James Gh"ormley was a student in the office

2l8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

of Hon. M. C. Kerr, and was admitted to the
bar in 1S65. He was a young man of promise,
but after a few years' practice died of consump-
tion.

Simeon K. Wolf, son of George I. Wolf, one
of the first settlers of the county, and who twice
represented the courty in the Legislature, studied
law in Corydon, and was elected to the Legis-
lature from Harrison county. In 1870 he re-
moved to New Albany, and entered into partner-
ship in the practice of law with James V. Kelso
and Alanson Stephens. In 1872 he was elected
to Congress, and after serving one term settled
down to the practice of his profession.

William W. Tuley is a native of New Al-
bany, and among its best lawyers. The name
Tuley has long been a familiar one in the place,
the family being among the earliest settlers.
Mr. Tuley's father was one of the first sheriffs of
the county, and represented the county in the
State Senate from 1837 to 1S40. Colonel W.
W. Tuley was elected clerk of the circuit court
in 1863, and retained that office eight years,
when he began the practice of law with Judge
Howk. When the latter was made judge, he
formed a partnership with Judge LaFollette,
where he is found to-day in the successful practice
of his profession.

Judge Cyrus L. Dunham was a colonel in
the late war, and at its close settled in New Al-
bany, where he practiced until elected judge of
the criminal court. During his term of office
he removed to Jeffersonville, where he died in
1874. Judge Dunham was very popular with
the people, and was sent to Congress three terms.
He was kind-hearted and generous in his dis-
position, but at one time yielded to his appetite
for drink to such an extent as to lose his popu-
larity, although he reformed and continued stead-
fast to the end.

James V. Kelso, when a small boy, came
with his father to New Albany from Madison,
Indiana. He has, by perseverance and close
study, secured a prominent position among the
attorneys of the city.

Jacob Herter came to this city during the
war, and became a student in the office of Judge
Dunham. He began practice with his preceptor
and continued in this connection a few years,
when he was elected to the office of city judge,
which position he filled very satisfactorily to the

people and with credit to himself. At present
he is deputy city attorney.

Thomas J. Jackson is not a native of ihe
city, but studied his profession here. He is a
young man of social habits and kind disposi-
tion.

Edwin G. Henry, an educated and studious
young man, located here about 1870, and is
steadily working his way to a practice.

Jacob Hisey came to the city from Corydon;
studied law with Hon. M. C. Kerr; was admitted
to practice a few years since, and is building up
a profitable business.

Samuel B. Kerr, son of the late M. C. Kerr,
began the practice of law here since his father's
death. He was elected to the Legislature in
1880, and made an industrious and promising
member of that body.

Seth Woodruff, one of A. Dowling's pupils,
and son of Israel C. Woodruff, of this city, after
a short term of practice here removed to Texas,
where he is building up a lucrative practice.

George B. Cardwell studied under John H.
Stottsenberg, and has been practicing three or
four years. He promises a successful career.

Many other lawyers located here from time to
time, but remaining only a short time they did
not become identified with the interests of the
city. In every city there is a floating population
representing every trade and profession, whose
doings cannot properly be entered in the city's
history.

murder trials.

Quite a number of trials for murder have oc-
curred in the county, and a number of convic-
tions have been secured, but only three persons
have been hung, the others escaping the extreme
penalty of the law by means only known to the
parties most directly interested.

Dahman was the first person hung after the
formation of the county. A Norwegian named
Notte had established himself in the bakery
business on the southeast corner of Upper High
and First streets, where he was frequently vis-
ited by Dahman, who was also a Norwegian.
They were on intimate and friendly terms. One
night they temained together until a late hour,
and when the world outside and in were asleep
Dahman murdered the baker for some reason
known only to himself, probably for money and
the little property he possessed, and putting the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

219

body in a large coffee-sack sunk it in the river.
The next day Dahman asserted that Notte had
gone over the river (which was true in one sense)
and began removing Notte's goods and effects
from the room he had occupied.

A few days after some fishermen were hauling
in their lines and drew to the surface the sack
and body of Notte. This led to an investiga-
tion, and Dahman was arrested. He made his
escape, however, and for some time nothing
could be heard of him. In an incautious mo-
ment he attempted to communicate with his fam-
ily, and his whereabouts was discovered. He
had made his way to Canada. James Besse was
then sheriff of the county, and he and John
Eastburn went to the Canada border to try to ar-
rest him. Arriving there they ascertained that
Dahman was in the neighborhood, but how to get
him across the river and within the jurisdiction
of the United States, was the problem. As the
Norwegian had communicated with his wife, and
might reasonably expect a visit from her, Besse
dressed himself in women's clothes and walked
up and down the river bank in plain view of the
opposite shore, while Eastburn went across and
informed the murderer that his wife was waiting
to see him. Dahman, seeing a woman on the
opposite shore, as he supposed, fell into the trap,
made his way across, was arrested, brought to
New Albany, tried in May, 1821, and sentenced
to be hung July 6th following. He was accord-
ingly executed near the site of the present jail.
His wife subsequently married a colored man
named Joshua Wilson, who owned a fine farm on
the river bank about three miles below the city.
This place is now occupied by Cecilia B. Stoy.
The jury in the trial of Dahman were John Chew,
Joseph Kirk, Charles Berkshire, John Hickman,
Elihu Tharp, Levi Brown, Hubertus Schmidt,
Joseph Thackery, Henry Weber, Thomas Burns,
Patrick Burns, and Thomas Thomas. Mason
C. Fitch was the prosecuting attorney, and Wil-
liam P. Thomasson attorney for the prisoner.
This was before they had any court-house in New
Albany, and the trial was held in the basement
of the Presbyterian church.

The execution of Lamb was the second in the
county. He lived in the neighborhood of Green-
ville in this county, and was making his way
home one hot summer day when he overtook a
man about two miles from Greenville and the

two traveled together some distance when
they sat down to rest in the shade of some
trees at the roadside, about one mile from
where the toll-gate now stands, on what is known
as the Shirley road. While here they began
playing cards, apparently for amusement, but
soon got into a quarrel which resulted in blows
during which Lamb seized a club and striking
the man a heavy blow on the head felled him to
the earth, and he did not rise again. After a
little while Lamb started to go away when
hearing the man groan he returned and taking
off his coat put it under the man's head for a
pillow and left him. The man died and when
the body was discovered Lamb's coat was recog-
nized and led to his arrest. He was sent to
Charlestown for safe keeping, but with three
other prisoners broke jail and escaped. Instead
of going away, however, he returned immediately
to his home, where he was recaptured and re-
turned to jail. At the next term of court he was
tried, found guilty, sentenced, and subsequently
hung. Nothing is at present known of his fam-
ily.

The next case in which capital punishment
was administered in the county was that of Peter
Gross for killing a man in Clarke county. He
was brought here for trial on change of venue.
The trial lasted but a short time, the evidence
being conclusive; he was condemned and hung
in 1849 near tne turnpike bridge on the Vin-
cennes road.

In the earlier days of the court some of the
best legal talent in the State were found in at-
tendance; among them such men as Charles
Dewey, Isaac Howk, father of Judge Howk, of
the supreme court; John W. Payne, Jeremiah
Sullivan, Samuel Judah, William P. and John H.
Thomasson, and others of note both from this
State and Kentucky.

CHAPTER XII.

NEW ALBANY— COMMERCIAL INTERESTS.

Regarding the mercantile, manufacturing, and
other business of New Albany much has been
written; and very much more may be said than
space can be found for in a work like this. It

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

has proved itself by far the 'argest manufacturing
city in the State and its capacities in this direc-
tion are unlimited. From the day the town was
laid out in 1813 to the present the fact of its ex-
cellent situation for a manufacturing city has
been kept continually before the people, and this
has, in a great measure, perhaps, determined the
location of some of its largest manufacturing
establishments. The shrewd, far-seeing Yankee
who laid it out and settled it knew that the im-
mense commerce of the "Beautiful river" would,
in a great measure, divide at the falls, and that a
city located below the falls would, to a certain
extent, become a natural terminal point. Upon
this subject Mr. Cottom writes as follows, in
1873:

For at least seven months in the year New Albany is the
head of navigation on the lower Ohio river. The falls are a
barrier to navigation during all seasons of the year except
that of high or ordinarily high water, and steamboats are
unable to pass over them. With the grand railroad system
that centers here (of which particular mention is made else-
where), New Albany is bound to become, within a very short
time, the most important shipping point on the Ohio river
below the falls; and this fact, and the existence of the ob-
struction of the falls above referred to, must compel all
steamers, except those running in the local packet trade (and
those, too, to some extent,) to make New Albany the port at
which they receive all southern bound cargoes and discharge
for re-shipment all eastern and northern bound freights. The
high rates of toll upon steamboats charged by the Louisville
and Portland canal around the falls precludes all, or nearly
all, steamboats from the use of that improvement. Freights
from the East, southward bound, are brought here by rail for
re-shipment by boat southward, while freights from the South,
the great staples of tobacco, cotton, sugar, and molasses, in
particular, are brought here by boat for re-shipment East
and North. This gives to New Albany an immense com-
mercial advantage, which will continue to increase each year
as the prosperity of the South becomes more fullv developed
and permanently established. It will add, too, very largely
to the wealth and importance of New Albany, as this city
will not only become noted as a re-shipping point, but by
the very force of circumstances, not to mention the well
known enterprise and energy of her citizens, will become
equally noted as a place for the interchange, the purchase
and sale of the commodities, agricultural and manufactured,
of the two sections of the Union. The city is located upon
the verge of both sections, and will become a great entrepot
to the trade of both.

The river trade of New Albany will compare favorably
with that of any western city of equal population. The Sec-
retary of the United States Treasury gives the river trade of
the city for 1869 as twelve millions of dollars; for 1871?, as
thirteen million five hundred thousand dollars; for 1871, as
fifteen millions of dollars. This, we are told, does not in-
clude the local packet business, which, if added, would
swell the aggregate for 1871, to not far from sixteen millions
of dollars, while the value of the trade for 1872 will reach not
far from seventeen millions. Here, of itself, is an immense
trade; but to this is to be added the railroad, manufacturing,

mechanical, mercantile, live stock, and produce, and general
trade of the city, and not least, by any means, its coal and
other mineral trade.

EARLY BUSINESS MATTERS.

Like every other city, in its infancy New
Albany struggled through many years of hard-
ship and adversity before it developed into a
business town, and its struggles did not end even
with its development into a business city. It
was fortunate at the start in securing a class of
settlers that were educated business men, who
came here because they found an opening on
the highway to wealth and prosperity. There is
little doubt that its first merchants and traders
were Messrs. Paxson & Eastburn, both from the
East and both influential and highly honored
citizens, and always taking part in every move-
ment for the development of the place. East-
burn was a young man from Bucks county, Penn- .
sylvania ; Charles Paxson was from Philadelphia,
where he had been engaged in merchandising.
He purchased some lots in the new town and
settled here in 181 7 with his family, the children
being Catharine, Stephen, Phoebe, and Anna
Maria, who are all living at this time except
Stephen. One of the daughters married Mason
C. Fitch, a prominent lawyer of the place, else-
where mentioned, and is yet residing in New
Albany. This family journeyed to Pittsburgh and
thence down the Ohio in a pirogue to New Albany.
They were accompanied by a German with his
two sons, the boys having been bound to the ser-
vice of Mr. Paxson for three years in considera-
tion of his having paid their passage to America.
In coming over the falls their "dug-out" became
unmanageable and the Dutchman, father of the
boys, fell overboard and was drowned. Mr. Pax-
son purchased a lot on the corner of Main* and
Pearl streets, southwest corner, where he built a
combined brick store-room and dwelling house.
When he began this brick building there was no
structure of that character in the town, but before
it was completed Stroud, the ferryman, had erect-
ed a small brick building, the first in town. The
Paxson building is yet standing ; the family lived
in the upper part of the building while the lower
was occupied as a store. Paxson & Eastburn
continued business here several years, trading
largely with New Orleans, shipping furs, peltry
and whatever produce the country afforded,
and bringing back goods for exchange, as money

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

in those days was very scarce and exchange was
the rule with the merchants. On one of his
business trips to New Orleans Mr. Paxson died
of yellow fever in that place. Mr. Eastburn's
health at this time was in a delicate condition
and the business was closed up, the goods
being disposed of at auction, the son-in-law of
Mr. Paxson, Mason C. Fitch, being administrator.
At the sale while Mr. Eastburn was bidding on a
book against Fitch, he became so much excited
that he dropped down in the room and died in a
few minutes. He had been sick some time with
chills and fever, and was much reduced in
strength. He was about thirty-five years of age,
with no family. This ended the first mercantile
venture in New Albany.

Elias Ayers was also one of the first mer-
chants of the place, and came here from Louis-
ville, where he had been in the same business.
His store was located on Main street near that
of Messrs. Paxson & Eastburn. Mr. Ayers was
here in the mercantile business many years, and
became wealthy, very influential, was identified
with all the material interests of the place, and
was considered a large-minded, liberal-hearted
gentleman; being much associated in later years
with educational matters, and a liberal contrib-
utor to all educational and benevolent institu-
tions, not only in New Albany but other places.

Mr. Oliver Cassell, who came to New Albany
in 1826, and who is yet a resident, says at that
date New Albany was not much of a town. It
consisted of a cluster of houses on Lower Fourth
street and in that neighborhood — the bulk of the
town being below State street. Straggling houses,
however, extended as far as east as Upper Fourth
street, beyond which point it was all woods; the
woods including all the eastern part of the city,
now the most beautiful part. The business was
mostly on Main street, between Lower First and
Upper Second streets. There was also a little
business on State street. The principal business
firms at that time were Elias Ayers, James R.
Shields & Brother, Alexander S. Burnett, after-
wards mayor of the city, and James Brooks, all
on Main street. These all kept what was then
known as country stores; that is, they carried
general stocks — everything needed by a miscel-
laneous community.

Steamboat building was also largely engaged
in for that early date. Peter Tolone and Martin

Himes were the principal men in the business.
Morton & Cox, from Cincinnati, established the
first foundry here some time prior to 1826, as it
was in full blast at that time, though, as a matter
of course, not doing a large business. This es-
tablishment was the pioneer of a business that
has since been much extended, and which at
present gives employment to a large number of
hands and a large amount of capital. They
erected a building for their purpose on the cor-
" ner of Front (River) and Bank streets. It was
a frame building about 40 x 60 feet in size.
They manufactured castings and machinery and
did a repairing business.

Mr. Thomas Collins, who came to the city in
1827, says the merchants at that time were Elias
Ayers, near the corner of Pearl and Main, on
Main street; William Drysdale, on Main, below
Upper Second; William and Jefferson Conner,
on north side of Main, between Upper First and
Second; Alexander S. Burnett, on the north side
of Main, between State and Upper First; Henry
B. Shields, noith side Main, between State and
Upper First; Hale & Fitch, southwest corner of
Pearl and Main; James R. Shields, south side of
Main, between Upper First and Second. These
were all engaged in the dry goods and general
merchandising business. The only drug store
was kept by Robert Downey on the northeast
corner of Pearl and Main streets. Those en-
gaged in a general grocery and produce business
were James Comby, on Pearl, between Main and
Market streets; Dorsey & Stephenson, on the
south side of Main, between Lower First and
State streets; James Lyons, on the southwest
corner of Market and Pearl, and Henry B. Wil-
son on the southwest corner of Main and Second
streets. Charles Woodruff was engaged in the
hardware business on the south side of Main,
between Lower First and Second streets, and
Bartlett Hardy kept stoves and iron castings next
door to Woodruffs. These were about all that
were engaged in the mercantile business at that
time, and all these carried more or less mixed
stocks.

A year later Ralph and Crovel Richards es-
tablished a dry goods store at the southeast
corner of Upper Second and Main streets, and
James Conner one of the same character on the
south side of Main, between Upper First and
Second streets.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Henry Bogert was among the first business
men of the place, settling here in 1814. His
daughter, Mrs. Waring, still resides here.

STAR GLASS WORKS.

John B. Ford probably has the honor of
originating the manufacture of glass in New Al-
bany. Prior to his appearance in New Albany
Mr. Ford was a resident of Greenville, in Green-
ville township, where he was prominently con-
nected with various enterprises for the building
up of that village. His residence there being in
close proximity to the great sand bed that lies in
Washington county near the Floyd county line,
probably led to inquiries by him concerning the
manufacture of glass from this sand, and culminat-
ed finally in the establishment of the glass works of
John B. Ford & Co. in 1865. He was a good
talker and succeeded in persuading some capi-
talists in New Albany that this sand bed should
be utilized, and that New Albany was a most ex-
cellent point for the manufacture of glass. They
secured a block ot ground on the river bank be-
tween Upper Ninth and Tenth streets, upon
which they erected a frame building and began
the manufacture of window glass. The works
were soon disposed of for some reason to Messrs.
Samuel Montgomery and Henry Hennegan in
whose hands they burnt down in 1866. This
firm soon rebuilt the works and resold them to
Mr. Ford, taking the steamer Dexter in the
trade. The manufacture of glass at this time
was not a success, however, owing probably to
lack of both experience and capital, and the
works were soon abandoned.

In February, 1867, Mr. Ford having secured
help in the way of capital again established the
works on a very much larger scale than before.
These works were known as the New Albany
Glass works. John B. Ford & Co. purchased
ground on the river bank between Eleventh and
Thirteenth streets, where the firm erected some
very extensive buildings. The following extract
from a directory of New Albany, published in
1868, gives a fair idea of the extent of these
works:

New Albany Glass works, John B. Ford & Son, proprietors,
were established in February. 1867, and occupy six build-
ings, three of which are brick. The one used in the manu-
facture of window glass is sixty-five by eighty-five feet; an-
other for cutting the same is fifty by one hundred and fifty-
four feet; then there are two buildings each twenty by one
hundred feet, one used for a warehouse, and the other for

silvering and finishing plate-glass mirrors; then another ware-
house forty by one hundred feet, and a bottle-house sixty-five
by eighty feet, which is entirely new. The firm employs one
hundred and twenty hands, four teams, and consumes in their
year's work (ten months) one hundred and sixty-five thousand
bushels of coal; five hundred tons of soda ash; one thousand
five hundred tons of sand; nine thousand bushels of lime, and
six hundred barrels of salt. This does not include the stock
in use in the manufacture of hollow ware. Value of manu-
factured goods $300,000 per annum.

It will be seen from the above that the New
Albany Glass works were established on a some-
what extensive scale. In 1873 Mr. Cottom thus
writes of these works:

The New Albany Glass works have suspended, and part of
the buildings converted to the use of other manufacturing com-
panies. They were upon an extensive scale, and the last year
operated employed a capital of $100,000, gave employ-
ment to one hundred and sixty-five workmen, paid in yearly
wages $75,000, and turned out an annual product of the
value of $250,000.

In 1872 the buildings and grounds of the New
Albany Glass works passed into the hands of W.
C. De Pauw, and became a part of the Star
Glass works, which had been established by Mr.
De Pauw. The Star works thus became the only
glass manufacturing establishment in the city,
and so remains to-day. With the addition of the
grounds and buildings of Messrs. Ford & Co. it
became one of the most extensive establishments
of this character in America. In 1873 Mr. Cot-
tom thus writes of these works:

They cover an area of fifteen acres with their buildings and
necessary grounds, and manufacture the best quality of plate,
glass, m all respects equal to the very best French and En-
glish plate, and also window glass, fruit jars, and bottles.
The manufacture of plate-glass in America is yet an experi-
ment 50 far as it relates to profitable returns upon the very
large investment of capital it requires to operate such works.
There can, however, be little doubt that the experiment now
making in New Albany in the manufacture of first quality of
plate-glass will prove successful, inasmuch as the capital em-
ployed, the extent of the buildings, and the amount and
superiority of machinery used, will compare favorably with
the like conditions in the extensive plate-glass works of
Europe.

The buildings of the Star Glass works are as follows :
Main building 580 by 115 feet indimensions, containing eight
smoothers and eight polishers, twenty-one furnaces and
ovens, cutting and p icking-rooms and offices; one building
(in the course of erection) 300 by 125 feet in size, for a cast-
ing-house; one building 40 by 50 for ovens for roasting and
calcining gypsum, and for crushing and pulverizing emery
and limestone, and a warehouse 260 by 46 feet. Tne Plate-
glass works have a capacity for the production of 1,000 feet
per day of the finest quality of polished plate, 92 by 180
inches in size. The window glass houses, two in number,
are 60 by 80 feet in size. There are two bottle and fruit jar
houses, each 60 by 80 feet; one flattening-house, 80 by 130
feet; cutting-house, 20 by 80 feet; pot-house, 40 by 100 feet;
mixing-house, 40 by 40 feet; sand-house, 50 by 50 feet;

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

223

house for grinding fruit jars, 20 by 30 feet; warehouse, 30 by
no feet; steam box factory, 70 by 130 feet; store-house, 16 by
16 feet; office, 20 by 40, feet.

Four large steam engines, receiving power lrom eight large
boilers, are required to run the machinery for this vast es-
tablishment. These extensive works have a capital $550,000;
employ 250 opeiatives; annually pay $125,000 in wages, and
the value of their products the past year was $720,000, and
will probably considerably exceed $1,000,000 for the year
1873. These works are the only ones of importance in
America at present engaged in the manufacture of polished
plate-glass. W. C. DePauw, the wealthiest and most enter-
prising capitalist in Indiana, is president of the company.

Regarding the manufacture of glass at these
works the following is taken from the Ledger-
Standard of 1877:

The Star Plate-glass works of New Albany, Indiana, are the
most extensive and elaborate on the American continent, em-
bracing three divisions of glass-making, viz: Polished plate,
window glass, and fruit jars.

The works are established on what was originally supposed
to be an abundantly large property upon the bank of the
river, but which has since been added to, until the present
area — which is as completely covered with buildings as is safe
— includes about fifteen acres and even this has not proved
sufficient, but to use a common expression is still growing.

The plate-glass department, which includes the melting
furnaces and annealing ovens, the beds on which the glass is
formed into plates, the ovens for re-calcining the plaster of
Paris, the ovens for calcining and preparing the polishing
material, the rooms for grinding and preparing the emeiy,
the grinding, smoothing and polishing rooms, the cutting
rooms and the plate-glass warerooms, are all contained in
one building.

Glass is the result of the combination by fusion of silex,
pure sand with an alkali, and sdme ingredients for purifying,
coloring, or tempering. These materials are subjected to an
intense heat in fire-clay vessels called pots, which are placed
in huge furnaces, where they can be closely watched. When
the fusion is complete the glass-blower inserts the lower end of
a straight hollow iron rod into the molten mass, to which a
portion of the waxy material adheres. Now withdrawing
the rod, he blows a huge bubble of glass. By constantly
twirling the rod and other manipulations only understood by
the blowers, such as inverting it in the air, swinging in a circle,
etc., the brittle bubble assumes the shape of a long evenly
formed cylinder, or huge bottle, the neck being fast to the rod.
Now, by heating the other end, while the thumb closes the
mouth-piece, the bottom of the bottle is softened, the air in
the cylinder is expanded , and the glass opens at the other
end. A few more twirls and the cylinder is ready to be sepa-
rated from the rod. This is accomplished by rubbing the
junction of the glass and rod with a small bar of cold iron,
the sudden, uneven contraction breaking the glass at that
point. Another separation is made at the shoulder or neck,
by encircling the cylinder with melted glass. A perfect cylin-
der or tube of glass is thus left, from ten to fourteen inches
in diameter, and from sixty to seventy-two inches in length.
This is now split from end to end on the top, and carried to
the flattening oven, when it is placed upon a revolving table.
The heat softens the glass, which soon assumes the form of
a flattened sheet, and is carefully smoothed down by means
of a long-handled block of wood. It is then placed in a
cooling oven or "leer," where it gradually cools, and it is

then cut with diamonds into the required sizes for window
panes.

The fruit jars are handled similar to window glass, except
that it is blown into iron moulds. When the bubble is of the
proper size, the blower places it within the open mould,
closes the latter by stepping upon a lever, and blows with
sufficient force to perfectly fill all the indentations of the
mould, at the same time withdrawing the pipe sufficiently to
weaken its hold upon the jar. Removing the foot the mould
opens, and the jar is raised by the pipe. A V shaped recep-
tacle lies near by, with an iron edge at its farthest extremity,
into which, with a dexterous movement, the jar is dropped,
the thin glass being broken by the iron edge. The assistant
now steps forward with a rod, attached to which is a metallic
case, and this is slipped over the jar. The jar is now ready
for the annealing oven, and from thence is taken to the filers,
who rasp off the rough edges from the top, when they are
wheeled to the grinding room and run through the grinders,
then washed, and are ready for packing, preparatory to ship-
ment. ,

Plate-glass is properly poured, or cast glass. A smooth
iron table with adaptable guides for size and thickness re-
ceives the melted glass, as it is poured in mass from the pot.
A hugh, heavy roller then travels the length of the table,
and the mass is uniformly spread like dough under a rolling
pin. It is now pushed upon a traveling table, wheeled to
and slid into the annealing oven, to remain until properly
cooled. It is now "rough plate." It then goes through the
process of grinding, smoothing, polishing, cutting, etc.
This completes it as polished plate. Many Similar establish-
ments started in this country have failed in attempting the
manufacture of polished plate-glass. Men of large means
and possessed of abundant brains, have experimented for a
number of years and lost fabulous sums of money, and after
all were obliged to abandon the enterprise. The science is
new in this country; but it has been left to W. C. DePauw
to demonstrate the fact that polished plate-glass can be made
equally successful here as in Europe. Mr. DePauw has in-
vested fully a 'million dollars in his enterprise and it is gener-
ally understood that he has at least succeeded after years of
incessant toil and investment, to make as good plate-glass as
may be found in the world.

His employes are the most experienced men that can be
found, his machinery and appliances the very best, and with
the same facilities (and in some instances better) that Euro-
pean manufacturers have to make their polished plate, Mr.
DePauw duplicates their1 glass and sells it to the American
market at a cheaper rate than the imported glass is offered.
The reward that the gentleman so richly deserves is certainly
not far off if it has not already arrived.

Important improvements are constantly going on about
the glass works. A new dock has been built to admit the
large coal and sand barges that are being constantly unloaded
to supply the furnaces. Over two hundred and fifty men are
employed about the different departments, each person mov-
ing under the direction of experienced directors, a hive of in-
dustry that is seldom seen, even in cities of large metropoli-
tan proportions.

The following from the Courier-Journal of
August 24, 1881, gives a picture of the present
Star Glass works:

DePauw's American Plate-glass works of 188 1 is not what
it was a year ago. It has been increased from year to year
until now the buildings cover twenty-five acres of ground.

224

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The greatest manufactory in New Albany, or in Indiana, is
DcPauw's American Plate-glass works, owned and operated
by W. C. DePauw. Take the glass works out of New Al-
bany and every man, woman, and child who works for a liv-
ing would feel its loss. The merchant who sells his goods to
the workman, and the farmer who sells to the merchant
would all feel it sensibly. But it is hard to tell whether this
loss would be greater than that of Mr. DePauw him-
self, whose money and business tact are used in every great
enterprise in this city. Constantly improving his manufac-
tories, never curtailing their capacity, he is, beyond doubt,
a great benefactor to New Albany, and the nerviest business
man in Indiana. Always helping to start some public im-
provement, or great enterprise, he invests his money as fast
as he earns it, giving the workman employment and remun-
eration for his services. Mr. DePauw has stock in every
manufactory in New Albany, and he has frequently invested
in enterprises which other men would dare not touch, and in
most instances has made money.

The largest of his enterprises is the New Albany Star
Glass works, which annually pays out more money than any
institution around the Falls, keeping hundreds of men em-
ployed, and distributing its wares to all parts of the world.
The class of workmen engaged are mostly mechanics, who
do much to build up a city, erecting neat little homes here
and there.

Although Mr. DePauw has an interest in all the great
manufactories of New Albany, he takes particular interest
in the glass works, this property being his own. The works
employ from 1,500 to 2,000 men. The capacity is 1,400,000
feet of polished plate-glass per annum, 150,000 boxes of
window glass,. and 30,000 gross of fruit jars.

MILLS.

The early mills of New Albany have been
mentioned in another chapter, Trublood's
"little log mill" on Falling run being the first.
Water-power mills being the only ones that
could be brought into use during the very early
days of New Albany, not many were erected in
its immediate vicinity on account of the want of
good water power. True, the falls would fur-
nish good power of this kind, but the cost of
utilizing them was too great for the limited
purses of the pioneers. Silver creek and Falling
run both furnished sufficient water for running a
mill a portion of the year, and upon these streams
the earliest mills were built. Abner Scribner
was the first to introduce steam for milling pur-
poses, but his first mill was not a success, as will
be seen elsewhere.

A steam flouring mill was erected in 1847 in
the city, which is still running, and is known
as the

STATE STREET MILL,

now owned and conducted by Augustus Bradley
and I. P. Leyden, who purchased it two or three
years ago of J. F. Leyden & Co. The mill is a

large three-and-a-half-story brick, and cost, with
all necessary machinery, about $75,000. It is
80 x 120 feet in size, and was erected by Marshall
& McHarvy. It has four run of buhrs and a
capacity of turning out about two hundred bar-
rels of four in every twenty-four hours.
The next mill erected in the city was the

PHCENIX MILL,

in 1848, Lee & Hoyle proprietors. Its dimen-
sions were 80 x 80 feet, four stories in height,
with four run of buhrs and capacity about the
same as the State Street mill. The third mill
was erected in 1856, and is yet in successful
operation. It is known as the

CITY MILL,

Peter Mann proprietor. This mill is located on
State street, between Market and Spring, and
when first erected was a very fine brick mill with
three run of stone. It was destroyed by fire
December 4, 1870, but Mr. Mann immediately
■built in its place the present fine brick mill, four
stories and a basement in height, and again be-
gan operations in August, 187 1. The present
mill has five run of buhrs. The machinery was
remodelled and reconstructed in 1881, and it is
now one of the finest mills in the city. It turns
out about one hundred and ninety barrels of
what is known as general reduction, patent
process flour every twenty-four hours. It has
three pairs of rolls, one porcelain roll, one chilled
iron roll, and one corrugated brand roll.

" THE NEW PROCESS MILL

of McDonald & Co. was established in 1877, by
Morris McDonald, Lewis Hartman, and F. W.
Armstrong. This is a frame mill located one
block west of the present depot of the New
Albany & Salem railroad. Warehouses for this
mill have been established at 169 and 171 Pearl
street, where its products are on sale. The mill
was formerly a slate mill, but this business be-
coming unprofitable the building was furnished
with the most improved machinery for the manu-
facture of flour. It has four run of buhrs, and
turns out about one hundred barrels of flour
daily. The dimensions of the building are 50 x
60 feet on the ground, and three stories in height.
Mr. Cottom writes as follows regarding the
milling interests in 1873:

The Louisville, New Albany, & St. Louis Air Line road
passes through the very best wheat and corn growing counties

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

225

of Southern Indiana and Southern Illinois; the Louisville, New
Albany & Chicago railroad passes entirely through the State
from north to south, penetrating a famous wheat growing
country ; the Jeffersonville, Madison, & Indianapolis road
and its branches reach into the central, eastern, and northern
counties of the State, all excellent wheat growing counties;
while the Ohio river taps every county on the lower borders of
Kentucky, Indiana, and a portion of Tennessee, and its tributa-
ries reach far up the valleys of the Wabash , Green, Cumberland
and Tennessee livers. Thus New Albany is placed in speedy
and cheap communication with the best wheat and corn
growing sections of the West. There are already five large
mills in New Albany — three flour and two corn mills. The
flour mills have a capacity as follows: Phcenix mill, R. P.
Main proprietor, 212 barrels in twenty-four hours, consum-
ing 1,050 bushels of wheat, and operating a capital of $50,-
000. State Street mill, of J. F. Leyden & Co., with a capac-
ity of 200 barrels in twenty-four hours, consuming 1,000
bushels of wheat, and operating a capital of $60,000. The
City mill of Peter Mann, with a capacity of 250 barrels in
twenty-four hours, consuming 1,250 bushels of wheat to the
twenty-four hours, and operating a capital of $70,000. If
these mills were run to their full capacity six days in the
week for fifty weeks in the year, it would give an annual prod-
uct of 202,600 barrels of flour, which at $7 per barrel would
amount to $1,418,200 as the value of the product, aside
from offal ; and to manufacture this would require 990,000
bushels of wheat per year, allowing five bushels to the barrel
of flour, which at $1.25 per bushel would cost $1,272,500,
leaving a profit (not counting the offal) of $145,700, or an
equal average to each mill of $48,566.66. The two corn
mills turn out an annual product of not far from $25,000.
With the advantages in favor of the milling business at New
Albany, that interest must largely increase.

COTTON AND WOOLEN MILLS.
The first cotton mills in New Albany was
started in 1820 by Messrs. Badger & Jarvis,
both from the East. A man named Garside was
the practical man about this mill, but the busi-
ness was not a success at that time. This mill
was located at the corner of West First and
Market streets, on ground afterwards covered by
Wesley Chapel, and at present occupied by Dr.
August Kncefel's drug store, and Mr. Frank
Smith's clothing store. The mill was, in its
day, the pride and boast of the New Albanians,
and the manufacture of cotton fabrics, it was
thought, would become an immense business in
New Albany. The machinery for cotton manu-
facture in those days was very crude as compared
with that of the present day, but that of this New
Albany pioneer mill was sufficient for the produc-
tion of cotton cloth and cotton yarns. The ma-
chinery was propelled by bull power. A large in-
clined wheel known a tread wheel, and elsewhere
described, was used in place of the steam power
of to-day. Upon this wheel a pair of bulls or
oxen were tied to an upright post, and furnished

the power by constantly trying to walk up the
wheel.

But two persons are now resident of this city
who worked in this mill. One of these is Mr.
John B. Winstandly, the other a lady residing on
East Elm street. The wages paid were not ex-
travagant. Mr. Winstandly, then a boy, received
one dozen of spun cotton per week, the value of
which was thirty-seven and a half cents. This
cotton yarn he and his brother — who also worked
at the mill — allowed to accumulate until they
had enough to work up into cloth, and this cloth
they had made into clothing. Even at the very
low wages paid to employes and the economical
manner in which the business was conducted the
mill did not pay at New Albany, and was, after
a few years trial, moved to Doe run, Kentucky.
The building in which the business was done is
yet standing, having been moved to the corner
of Upper First and Main streets, where it is used
as a dwelling by Mrs. Waring.

THE M'CORD AND BRADLEY WOOLEN MILL COM-
PANY

was incorporated in 1866, and the main building
erected in the following year. Its dimensions
were 65x180 feet, and subsequently an addition
was built 30x40 feet. It is three stories in height,
and cost, with machinery, about one hundred
thousand dollars. Mr. Cottom speaks as follows
regarding the manufacture of woolen and cotton
fabrics in 1873:

The wool and cotton, and woolen and cotton fabric inter-
ests of New Albany are of very considerable importance.
Not less than three hundred thousand pounds of wool are
annually purchased here This was the amount for 1871,
and the average price per pound paid was sixty cents. This
would give the total yearly business, in this one staple alone,
at $180,000. Probably as large a woolen mill as there is in
the West is located at New Albany. It has a capital of
$250, 000, employs one hundred and seventy operatives, annu-
ally pays out $75,000 in wages, and produces goods valued
at $450,000. This would give the total annual value of the
wool and woolen fabric business of the city as $639,000.
There is also in the city, owned by the Woolen Mill company,
an extensive cotton mill. This mill has a capital of $150,000,
and annually produces cotton warps and sheetings of the
value of $275,000. The yearly consumption of raw cotton
is 600,000 pounds, which, at twenty cents per pound,
would cost $120,000, thus giving the annual value of the
business in cotton fabrics and cotton at $395,000. The mill
employs one hundred and ten operatives, and pays out in
wages to operatives $32,000 per annum. The aggregate of
the annual business in wool and woolen fabrics, and cotton
and cotton fabrics, reaches the large sum of $r, 034,000.
These interests, by the employment of capital and the use of
discreet enterprise, could be indefinitely extended. Both the

226

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

woolen and cotton mills enjoy a most satisfactory prosperity.
Mr. J. F. Gebhart, a thoroughly competent and most enter-
prising gentleman, is superintendent of both the woolen and
cotton mills.

The following regarding the manufacture of
woolen goods in the city is from the Ledger-
Standard of 1877:

The manufacture of woolen goods at this city was inaugu-
rated by Mr. J. T. Creed & Co., in the building how owned
by the Louisville, New Albany & St. Louis Railroad com-
pany, corner of State street and Railroad avenue. Mr. J.
F. Gebhart, the present superintendent, was the other mem-
ber of the firm forming the company. Mr. Creed was a na-
tive of this city and had a small amount of capital, but in-
domitable energy and pluck. Mr. Gebhart was a stranger
here, coming from the East, where he had a large debt hang-
ing over him. but wnich he had resolved to liquidate, if indus-
try and economy could accomplish it. The writer of this
sketch formed his acquaintance at that time, and calls to
mind the assiduity with which he labored. The factory had
but fairly been put in operation, when the interest of
Mr. Creed was seized and sold to liquidate debts con-
tracted while engaged in another line of business. This left
Mr. Gebhart to struggle alone against old and new debts,
compelling him to borrow money from day to day on the
streets. But he met these difficulties bravely, convinced that
success must finally crown his efforts. This condition of
affairs continued until one of New Albany's noblest men,
one of capital, seeing the unequal struggle of the proprietor,
and having confidence in his integrity, came to the relief
of the establishment. From that period may be dated the
days of prosperity which have since been the lot of the con-
cern. The firm having established itself on a firm basis, it
began to attract the attention of capitalists, and the present
company was organized, the machinery purchased, and build-
ings erected, which they now occupy. Its growth since that
time has been almost marvellous, and it is now one of the
largest and most prosperous woolen mills in the West or
South, fully justifying the faith of the original proprietor of
the enterprise, that here was one of the best points in the
country for a manufactory of this character.

A few years ago the company resolved to erect and put in
operation a cotton-mill upon their capacious grounds. This
was almost a necessity, to furnish yarns for the manufactory.
This enterprise proved as remunerative as the woolen-mill.
The capacity of this mill when first erected was two thou-
sand five hundred spindles. But this soon proved inad-
equate to supply the demand for their own use and the mar-
ket, and a large addition was made, increasing its capacity to
more than double the original requirements. The yarns
manufactured are chiefly made into jeans warp, and it is but
justice to the establishment to state that they rank among
the best in America. Mr. W. H. Dillingham, of Louisville,
Kentucky, is the sole selling agent for these yarns, and he
has at no time since their introduction into the market been
able to supply the demand for them in his trade. A portion
of this cotton yarn is wove into brown sheetings, which is
equal to the best and most popular brands in the market.

The unbounded success which has attended this enterprise,
when the embarrassments and difficulties which surrounded
it at its inception are considered, has demonstrated most
clearly that New Albany possesses excellent facilities for the
manufacturing of woolen and cotton goods. The city is
favorably located, both in regard to the raw material, and

the procurement of fuel. The wool crop of southern Indi-
ana and a large portion of Kentucky, finds a market at these
mills, and the company has the immense territory west and
north to draw upon in addition to the home supply. Coal is
to be procured cheaply and abundantly, while cotton can be
laid at the doors of the mills at less prices than in the East-
ern cities.

These mills are situated in the eastern portion of the city,
and occupy a large space in that locality, one of the most
pleasant in the city, as though the proprietors were studying
the personal comfort and health of their employes in the
selection of the grounds for their buildings. The buildings
were erected with special reference to convenience in the
various processes in the production of woolen and cotton
goods. They are all of brick, and substantially built. The
machinery is first-class in every particular, and was selected
and erected under the careful supervision of Mr. J. F. Geb-
hart, who has had large experience and possesses such skill
as makes him the " right man in the right place." The chief
products of the mill are flannel and jeans, but there is com-
plete machinery for the manufacture of blankets, fancy cover-
lets, cassimeres, and stocking yarns. All the goods bearing
the brand of these mills are appreciated and command the
highest prices among dealers from New York to California.
Tiie capacity of the mill aggregates ten complete set, which
the intelligent reader will readily comprehend enables the
company to turn out large quantities of their various prod-
ucts. The machinery is all of the best employed in any
manufactory in the world.

The paid up capital of the company is $350,000, which
will give the public some idea of the character of the works.
Upon this capital the company is enabled to pay fair annual
dividends, probably the largest dividends paid by any similar
institution in the country. The present officers of the com-
pany are L. Bradley, president; J. M. Haines, secretary; and
J. F. Gebhart, superintendent. It is hardly necessary to
speak of these gentlemen as they are all well and favorably
known among the people and in a wide district of the coun-
try as thorough-going and enterprising men, who are fully
equal to manage the affairs of this great mill. The board of
directors is composed of the following named gentlemen:
W. C. DePauw, R. G. McCord, J. M. Haines, and J. F.
Gebhart, under whose direction the affairs of the company
are managed. This is the present status of the New Albany
woolen and cotton mills.

The woolen mills mentioned in the above ex-
tract were first firmly established in 1801, under
the firm name of J. F. Gebhart & Co., and lo-
cated on Vincennes street. The main building
then erected was brick, 50x120 feet in size, and
three stories in height. A twenty-five horse-
power engine was put in, and the machinery
cost $35,000. The present officers are: Law-
rence Bradley, president; J. M. Haines, secre-
tary and treasurer; and J. F. Gebhart, superin-
tendent.

BANKING.

This business in New Albany dates back about
half a century; even prior to this time some little
miscellaneous banking was done by the earlier
merchants of the place. In 1832 the New Al-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLSTCOUNTIES.

227

bany Insurance company was incorporated, with
a capital of $100,000, which for those days was a
very large capital. Although organized for the
purpose of carrying on a general insurance busi-
ness, it was an independent corporation, and in-
cluded other legitimate business in its transac-
tions, among which was the business of bank-
ing.

The original incorporators of the New Albany
Insurance company were James R. Shields,
Matthew Robinson, Charles Woodruff, Ashel
Clapp, Harvey Scribner, Elias Ayers, and
Robert Downey. Elias Ayers was presi-
dent and Harvey Scribner secretary. The
charter was granted for seventy -five years. The
powers of this company were much greater,
probably, than companies incorporated at a later
day; it not only was authorized to insure against
loss by fire, lightning, or any other destroying ele-
ment or agent, but could also insure the life of a
man, dog, cow, horse, ox, or any other living
creature or thing. Its charter also gave it other
powers and liberties not now granted to corpora-
tions, among which was the privilege of loaning
money at whatever rate of interest could be
agreed upon between the parties.

The business was successful, and gradually
grew in the direction of banking until, in 1857,
the Bank of Salem was organized, its charter
having twenty years to run. It was at this time
that Mr. John B. Windstandley became con-
nected with the institution, and has remained its
leading spirit from that time to the present. He
was made assistant cashier January 1, 1857, and
subsequently cashier, which position he held un-
til the expiration of the charter in 1877, when he,
with others, organized the present bank known
as the New Albany Banking company. The
first location of this institution, in 1832, was at
the corner of State and Main streets, in the old
Bendy building, yet standing. The bank was
removed to its present location, on the corner of
Pearl and Market streets, about 1870. It is only
during the last four or five years that this institu-
tion has done an exclusive banking business.
Its present officers are J. B. Winstandley, presi-
dent; Isaac S. Winstandley, secretary and cashier;
Alexander Dowling, W. W. Tuley, Louis Vernia,
Paul Reising, J. B. Winstandley, and G. C. Can-
non, directors. The present cash capital is
$100,000.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK.

This was the first regular banking institution
organized in New Albany. It began business
in 1834, as a branch of the State bank of Indi-
ana. Its first location was on the south side of
Main street, between Bank and Pearl streets,
where Conner & Sackett's insurance office is at
present located. The first officers were: James
R. Shields, cashier; Mason C. Fitch, president;
General Alexander Burnett, Mason C. Fitch,

John Brown, Frank Warren, and Franklin,

directors. The present substantial stone bank
building on the corner of Main and Bank streets
was erected in 1837 by the above named
parties, at a cost of about $40,000 the stone
being taken from the knobs. To this build
ing the bank was transferred in the latter
part of the year 1837 and early in 1838; its
capital stock was $200,000 and its charter
had twenty years to run. After the expira-
tion of the charter in 1854, the bank was
merged into the Bank of the State with the
same capital as before. It settled with the
stockholders paying to them a handsome divi-
dend, and began business anew with the same
officers and managers.

In 1863 the bank was merged into the First
National bank of New Albany, and again a satis-
factory settlement of its affairs was made. In
the new bank Walter Mann was cashier, and John
J. Brown, president. The directors were : J. J.
Brown, William S. Culbertson, Peter R. Stoy,
Walter Mann, and John S. McDonald. The
present officers are: J. J. Brown, Morris Mc-
Donald. W. S. Culbertson, P. R. Stoy, Alexander
Dowling, directors; J. J. Brown, president; W.
N. Mahon, cashier; Ben B. Stewart, .teller.
Dividends for 1881 twelve percent. The capital
stock is $300,000; surplus $85,000. This bank
has always been largely successful, its stock
being worth at present $1.35.

About the close of the war in 1S65, two banks
were organized here; one, the

NEW ALBANY NATIONAL BANK,

was organized January 4, 1865, its location at
that time being on the corner of Pearl and Main
streets, where the Merchants bank is now located.
The officers were — James M. Hains, president;
Harvey A. Scribner, cashier; and W. C. DePauw,
James M. Hains, Randall Crawford, Clark

228

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Devol, and John Briggs, directors. The present
directors are W. C. DePauw, James M. Hains,
John Briggs, John McCulloch, Silas C. Day,
Moses Irwin, and N. T. DePauw. The other
officers are unchanged. This bank did business
at their first location until 1869, when, having
purchased the brick block on Main, between
Pearl and State streets, the bank was moved to
its present location. The capital stock of this
bank was at first $300,000, but in July, 1874,
was increased to $400,000. This was found,
however, to be more capital than could be
profitably employed, and in January, 1880, the
capital stock was reduced to $200,000.

It is a safe and successful institution. Divi-
dends for 1 88 1 twelve per cent.

THE MERCHANTS NATIONAL BANK

was established three days after the New Albany
National above mentioned — that is, January 7,
1865 — its officers being A. S. Burnett, president,
and James R. Shields, cashier; and the directors
A. S. Burnett, James R. Shields, Lawrence
Bradley, J. Hangary, and Robert G. McCord.
Mr. Shields is a son of Patrick Shields, the first
settler of Georgetown township, and one of the
first in the county. James R. Shields had been
connected with the bank at Corydon for several
years, of which Judge Thomas C. Slaughter was
president. The Merchants National bank was
first located on Main street, between Pearl and
Upper First streets, and remained there until
they purchased the present location on the cor-
ner of Pearl and Main streets. The brick build-
ing on this corner was destroyed by fire in 1868,
and the bank erected the present brick at a cost
of $12,500. The capital stock was then $200,-
000, but February 23, 1878, it was reduced to
$100,000. Directors — J. H. Butler, N. T. De-
Pauw, C. H. Fawcett, J. K. Woodward, Jr., Ed-
ward C. Hangary. Officers — President, John H.
Butler; cashier, Edward C. Hangary; teller,
Charles E. Jones. The total dividends of the
current twelve months' business will aggregate
twelve per cent. The surplus fund is $48,000.

THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK

was chartered August 12, 1874, and began busi-
ness in the basement of the Merchants' National
bank building. Lawrence Bradley was presi-
dent, M. A. Wier cashier, and Lawrence Brad-
ley, M. A. Wier, R. P. Main, Robert G. McCord,

and S. W. Waltz, directors. There has been no
change in these officers up to the present time.
About two years after starting in business the
bank purchased its present location on the north
side of Main street, between Pearl and State
streets. The building is a substantial brick, and
the bank is doing a safe and paying business, a
regular semi-annual dividend being paid to its
stockholders. Its surplus is $20,000, and its
capital $100,000. The directors at present are:
Lawrence Bradley, M. A. Weir, R. P. Main, R.
G. McCord, S. W. Waltz. Officers: President,
Lawrence Bradley ; cashier, Merrill A. Weir;
teller, Edward B. Lapping. Total dividends of
the year twelve per cent, or six per cent, semi-
annually.

The following from Mr. Cottom's pamphlet
shows the number and condition of the banks of
New Albany in 1873, just before the panic:

New Albany ha: five regular banks, three of them National
banks, and therefore banks of issue. These banks have a
united capital of $1,300,000, as follows: First National
bank, capital $300,000; New Albany National bank, capital
$300,000; Merchants' National bank, capital $200,000; Bank
of Salem, capital $200,000; Savings bank of Brown, Culbert-
son & Co., capital and deposits $300,000. The last regular
quarterly report of the First National bank showed its total
resources to be $937,512.03, showing the very large business
transacted. The quarterly report of the Merchants' Nation-
al bank shows its assets to be $483,528.35. The quarterly re-
port of the New Albany National bank gives its entire re-
sources at $813,357.38. The total resources of the Bank of
Salem foot up $450,000; while the total resources of the
banking house of Brown, Culbertson & Co. are $300,000.
The total circulation of the New Albany banks is as follows:
First National bank, $522,400; Merchants' National bank,
$178,422; New Albany National bank, $268,500. Total cir-
culation of the three National banks, $969,322. Total re-
sources of all the banks of New Albany, $2,984,397.76. The
individual and United States deposits of the National banks
of the city are as follows: First National bank, $189,898;
New Albany National bank, $141,842.50; Merchants
National bank, $52,263.65. From these figures it will be ob-
served that the banks of New Albany are not only upon a
most solid and substantial basis, but that their resources are
sufficiently ample to enable them to meet all the demands of
business, and aid in those manufacturing enterprises that are
so rapidly giving this city reputation abroad. Every banker
in New Albany of any note, whether as a large shareholder
or officer (except two officers), is also a large stockholder in
one or more of the manufactories, and the money of the
banks is liberally furnished in loans to aid these industrial
establishments and build them up.

MEDICAL.

Probably no city in the State or among the
river cities of the West has less use for physi-
cians than New Albany. The health of its in-
habitants is proverbial ; and this is without

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

220

doubt owing in a great measure to the very ex-
cellent water that the people of New Albany use.
As a general thing the river towns and cities of
the West are supplied with water from the stream
upon which they are located, which, with all its
impurities, would seem to be a sufficient cause of
disease, as water enters so largely into the com-
ponent parts of the human system. Not so with
New Albany ; her people are as free from the
destructive influences of river water as any in-
terior town ; and not only this, but the water
they use is exceptionally pure and wholesome.
It is a soft spring water resting upon beds of
limestone, and is found under every part of the
city. This of itself is enough to discourage the
medical fraternity ; yet there are doctors here as
elsewhere, and no doubt they find something to
do, for even the good water and pure air is not
proof against old age, abuse and ignorance.

The place has been considered a healthy one
ever since it was established in the woods, in
181 3, yet in those earlier years there was consid-
erable sickness arising from the swampy, and
therefore malarial nature of the adjoining
grounds ; from the fogs that rested on the river ;
from the great amount of decaying vegetation
prior to the clearing up and draining of the
country, and probably from some other causes.
Contagious diseases have occasionally made
their appearance, and although, probably, not as
malignant or fatal as in other places, have caused
considerable distress.

One of the most notable and best remembered
periods of this character was in 1822, when the
little town was nearly depopulated by a severe
and, it seemed, almost uncontrollable fever. The
same disease would probably make but little im-
pression to-day with the greater experience of the
doctors and their better insight into the nature
and causes of disease, but the disease was at that
time illy understood and it became very fatal.
Louisville was likewise afflicted, and people who
could get away from these places left and went
into the interior, or into the country, until the
disease should subside. This disease disap-
peared with the disappearance of the hot weather,
but while it lasted it was probably the severest
season of sickness ever experienced by New
Albany.

The cholera which swept over the entire coun-
try in 1832-35, taking almost every city and

town in its course, and depopulating many, did
comparatively little damage in New Albany. It
visited the place but did not get the firm hold
that it did in other places, especially on the river,
as the river towns generally suffered exceedingly
with this scourge. Again in 1850 and 1851,
when the river cities and towns suffered exceed-
ingly from diseases, mostly of a bilious and in-
termittent character, New Albany was compara-
tively free and healthy. The mortuary statistics
of the city will compare favorably with those of
any other city of the West.

The first resident physician of New Albany
was Dr. Ashel Clapp, who made his appearance
in 1818. He was a young man of ability and
energy and came to the then backwoods village
to stay. He secured boarding in the family of
one of the proprietors of the town, Joel Scrib-
ner, and was not long in making up his mind to
marry one of the Scribner girls. He soon be-
came a prominent, influential, and much respect-
ed citizen, and a successful practitioner. He
identified himself with the material interests of
the town and city, built up a large practice, and
remained in the place until his death. He
reared a family, and his son, the present Dr.
William A. Clapp, succeeded him, and has main-
tained the reputation of his father to the present
time. William A. is now a gray haired man
with a large practice. Dr. Ashel Clapp's first of-
fice was opened on Main street, between State
and Pearl, where the New Albany National bank
is at present located, and his son's office is at
present but a few doors from this same place.

Of the physicians who successively located in
New Albany and became permanent and suc-
cessful practitioners may be mentioned Dr. P. S.
Shields, Dr. S. E. Leonard, Dr. W. C. Cooper,
Dr. Stewart, Dr. C. L. Hoover, and Dr. Dow-
ling, father of Alexander Dowling, one of the
ablest lawyers in the State, all of whom are dead.
These were all men of superior ability, culture,
and attainments.

Of those living who have been residents long
enough to indicate permanency, there are Drs.
John Sloan, a gentleman of much skill and large
practice; W. A. Clapp, S. J. Alexander, John Lem-
on, E. P. Easley, S. C. Wilcox, C. N. Nutt, H. B.
Lang, and George H. Cannon, all of the allo-
pathic school and all thorough practitioners,
though the two first named are the oldest in the

23°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

profession in New Albany. Dr. Burney, a col-
ored physician, is also of this school. He has
established a fair practice and is much respected
by the members of the profession.

As a matter of course the eclectic and homeo-
pathic schools are also represented in New Al-
bany, Dr. W. M. Wilcox being a prominent
and permanent representative of the former, and
Dr. T. Meurer of the latter. These gentlemen
have established a successful practice. There
are several other practitioners in these two divis-
ions of medical science who have yet a business
and a reputation to make, though some of them
are becoming popular and are on the highway to
future success.

Biographical Sketch,

W. C. DE PAUW.

Washington Charles De Pauw, of New Albany,
was born at Salem, Washington county, Indiana,
on the 4th of January, 1822. As the name indi-
cates, Mr. De Pauw is a descendant from a noble
French family, his great-grandfather, Cornelius,
having been private reader to Frederick III., of
Prussia, and author of several works of note.
Charles De Pauw, the grandfather of W. C. De-
Pauw, was born in the city of Ghent, in French
Flanders; when he arrived at the proper age he
was sent to Paris to complete his education, and
there became acquainted with Lafayette. At
that time the struggle for American independ-
ence was just beginning. He became infatu-
ated with the American cause, joined his fortunes
to those of Lafayette and started with that
renowned commander to this country. He
served throughout the war and by the close be-
came so thoroughly imbued with the love of
America, he sought a wife in Virginia. Thence
he moved with the first tide of emigration to the
Blue-grass region of Kentucky. In that State
General John De Pauw, father of W. C. De-
Pauw, was born. On arriving at man's estate he
removed from Kentucky to Washington county,

Indiana. As agent for the county he surveyed,
platted, and sold the lots in Salem and purchased
four acres of the high ground on the west side
upon which the family mansion was erected.

He was by profession an attorney at law, and
became a judge. He was also a general of
militia. No man in his day enjoyed more of the
confidence and good-will of his fellow-men than
General John De Pauw. His wife, whose
maiden name was Elizabeth Batist (the mother
of W. C. De Pauw), was a woman of superior
mind, and a strong and vigorous constitution.
She died in 1878, at the advanced age of ninety-
two years.

At the age of sixteen Mr. De Pauw was
thrown upon his own resources by the death of
his father. He had only the meagre education
which that period and the surrounding circum-
stances would allow his parents to give. But
though young he desired to be independent of
relatives and friends and accordingly set to
work. He worked for two dollars a week, and
when that was wanting worked for nothing
rather than be idle.

That energy and industry allied with character
and ability bring friends proved true in his case.
Major Eli W. Malott, the leading merchant of
Salem, became interested in the young man. At
the age of nineteen he entered the office of the
county clerk, and by his energy and faithfulness
he gained confidence, and soon had virtual con-
trol of the office. When he attained his major-
ity he was elected clerk of Washington county
without opposition. To this office was joined,
by an act of the Legislature, that of auditor.
Mr. DePauw filled both of these positions until
close application and the consequent severe
mental strain impaired his health. After several
prostrations, and through fear of apoplexy, he
acted on the advice of his physicians and gave
up his sedentary pursuits.

His extraordinary memory, quick but accurate
judgment and clear mental faculties fitted him
for a successful life. His early business career
was like his political one. He was true and
faithful, and constantly gained friends. His first
investment was in a saw- and grist-mill. With
this business he combined farming, merchandis-
ing, and banking, at the same time investing largely
in the grain trade. It is hardly necessary to
state that he was fortunate in each investment,

-s/o&cocts:

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

23J

and his means rapidly increased until on the break-
ing out of the war he had a large mercantile in-
terest and a well established bank. He was at
the same time one of the largest grain dealers in
the State of Indiana, and his knowledge of his
trade and his command of means, rendered him
able to materially assist in furnishing the Govern-
ment with supplies. His patriotism and confi-
dence in the success of the Union armies were
such that he also invested a large amount in
Government securities. Here again he was suc-
cessful, and at the close of the war had materi-
ally augmented his already large fortune. Mr.
DePauvv has used his wealth freely to encourage
manufactories and to build up the city of New Al-
bany. He has made many improvements, and
is largely interested in the rolling mills and iron
foundries of that city. He is now the proprie-
tor of DePauw's American Plate-glass works.
This is a new and valuable industry, and the in-
terest of our country requires that it should be
carried to success. It is a matter of national
concern that American glass should surpass in
quality and take the place of the French article
in the markets of the world. Mr. DePauw is
now doing all in his power to promote this great
end, and at present everything points to the suc-
cess of the undertaking. He has about two
millions of dollars invested in manufacturing en-
terprises in the city of New Albany.

Mr. DePauw has taken but a small part in
State affairs for many years, having devoted his
time to his business, and to his home interests,
to the advancement of education, and to religion.
He has been often forced to decline positions
which his party were ready to give him, and in
1872 he was assured by many prominent Demo-
crats that the nomination for Governor was at
his disposal. In the convention he was nomi.
nated for Lieutenant-governor. In order to
show the purpose and character of the man, let
us quote a few words from his letter declining
the nomination:

My early business life was spent in an intensely earnest
struggle for success as a manufacturer, grain dealer, and
banker. Since then I have found full work endeavoring to
assist in promoting the religious, benevolent, and educational
interests of Indiana, and in helping to extend those advan-
tages to the South and West. Hence I have neither time
nor inclination for politics. In these chosen fields of labor I
find congenial spirits whom I love and understand. My
long experience gives me hope that I may accomplish some-
thing, perhaps much, for religion and humanity.

These are noble words and a true index of
Mr. DePauw's character. He has expended
thousands of dollars in building churches and in
endowing benevolent institutions throughout this
and neighboring States. He has assisted many
worthy young men to obtain an education, and
has founded and kept in operation DePauvv
college, a seminary of a high order for young
ladies, at New Albany.

Mr. DePauw was for years a trustee of the
State university at Bloomington, Indiana, and is
at present a trustee of the Indiana Asbury uni-
versity, the leading Methodist college of the
West. He is a member of the Methodist church
and has served as a delegate of the church in
1872 and 1876. He is a member of the Ma-
sonic and the Odd Fellows orders, and is beloved
and respected in both. The part of his life
most satisfactory to himself is that spent in his
work for Christ in the church, in the Sunday-
school, in the prayer-meeting, and in the every
day walks of life.

He has been throughout life a thorough busi-
ness man, full of honesty and integrity. He
sought a fortune within himself and found it in
an earnest will and vast industry. He is emi-
nently a self-made man, and stands out promi-
nent to-day as one who amid the cares of busi-
ness has ever preserved his reputation for
honesty, integrity and morality ; who has never
neglected the cause of religion but has valued it
and still values it above all others.

CHAPTER XIII.

NOTICES OF NEW ALBANY.

It may reasonably be supposed that this
flourishing village, and afterwards city, received
a full share of attention from visitors to the Falls
of the Ohio, and in the gazetteers as well as
books of travel. The first printed observation
we have found concerning it is embraced in Mr.
Palmer's Journal of Travels in the United States,
published in 18 17, and is not over-compli-
mentary. It is merely the following:

New Albany, a short distance below Clarksville, has been
puffed through the Union, but has not yet realized the
anticipations of the proprietors.

232

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Two years afterwards many and better things
were said of New Albany. Morse's American
Universal Geography of 1819 says: "It has had
a rapid growth, and is still increasing." Its front
"commands a most beautiful view of the river."

The Geographical Sketches of the Western
Country, published by Mr. E. Dana the same
year, gives New Albany a good notice, from
which we extract only the following:

From the first settlement of this town, its progress was
rather slow, until within two or three of the last years, since
which period it has flourished greatly. The front street is
more than three-fourths of a mile in length, the number of
houses, of which several are spacious and elegant, are sup-
posed to exceed one hundred and fifty; a steam grist- and
saw-mill, each of which performs extensive business, are a
great advantage to the town and surrounding country. A
spirit of enterprise and industry seems generally to animate
the inhabitants, and to exhibit the appearance of a brisk,
business-doing place.

Mr. W. Faux, who wrote his book of Memorial
Days in America as "an English farmer," turned
a disgusted back upon the opposite shore more
than sixty years ago, but had some good things
to say of this point :

27th [October, i8iq\ — At sunrise I left Louisville, in Col-
onel Johnsons carriage and pair, for Vincennes, in Indiana,
well pleased to turn my back on all the spitting, gouging,
dirking, dueling, swearing, and starving of old Kentucky.

I crossed the Ohio at Portland, and landed at New Albion
[Albany], a young rising village, to breakfast, where, for the
first time in America I found fine, sweet, white, home-baked
bread. The staff of life is generally sour, and, though light
and spongv. very ill-favored, either from bad leaven or the
flour sweating and turning sour in the barrel.

He had previously mentioned this place, which
he mistakenly calls "Albion," as a flourishing
new town on the other side.

Dr. McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville was
also published this year, and he takes the oppor-
tunity to give the following kindly notice to the
rising young rival on the other shore, below the
falls :

It is built upon the second bank of the river, from which it
presents a very interesting appearance, many of the houses
being whitened, and one, belong to Mr. Paxson, built of
brick and designed with considerable taste, meeting the
eye in a most conspicuous situation. The bottom, or first
bank, is rarely overflowed, and the one on which the town
stands being twenty feet higher, there hardly exists the possi-
bility of its ever meeting that fate.

For some time after it was laid out. New Albany, like other
places in the neighborhood, increased but slowly, conflicting
opinions and clashing interests retarding its growth. The
many natural advantages it possesses, however, have at
length surmounted every difficulty, and its progress of late
has been unequalled by any town on the Ohio of so modern
a date. The good health generally enjoyed by the inhabit-
ants (which I think is partly owing to excellent water made

use of which is found in natural springs,* to the number of
fifteen or twenty, within the town-plat, and which can any-
where be obtained at the depth of twenty-five feet), the great
road from this State to Vincennes passing through it, and
the quantity and quality of the ship timber which abounds in
the neighborhood, are the principal causes which have con-
tributed to its advancement.

It contains at present one hundred and fifty dwelling
houses, which are generally of wood, it being impossible to
procure brick in quantities suited to the demand. The num-
ber of inhabitants amounts to one thousand, and, from the
influx of population occasioned by the demand for workmen
at the ship-yards, etc. , it must necessarily increase in a much
greater ratio than heretofore. The onlv public works of any
description that are worth notice, is the steam grist- and saw-
mill belonging to Messrs. Paxton & Smith. Three steam-
boats have been launched from the yards, and there are three
more on the stocks. The inhabitants are all either Method-
ists or Presbyterians, the former having a meeting-house,
and the latter have contracted for a church, which is to be built
immediately. There is a free school in this place, which has
been partially supported by the interest of $5,000, a donation
from the original proprietors for that purpose; but increasing
population requiring more extensive modes of education, other
institutions are projected. Upon the whole, New Albany
bids fair to be a wealthy and important town, as it is becom-
ing a depot wherein the inhabitants of the interior of In-
diana draw their supplies of dry goods and groceries, and
consequently to which they send their produce in return.

A Massachusetts traveler, Mr. George W. Og-
den, who was here in the late summer of 1821,
left this memorandum in his book of Letters
from the West:

The town of New Albany, at the foot of the rapids, on
the west side of the river, is in Indiana, and bids fair to be-
come a place of some importance.

The thriving village seems to have deserved a
place in Darby's edition of Brooks' Universal
Gazetteer, published at Philadelphia in 1823,
which included the following notice:

New Albany — handsomely situated town, and seat of jus-
lice of Floyd county, Indiana. It is situated on the right
bank of Ohio river, four miles below Louisville and two be-
low Shippingport in Kentucky. It contains about two hun-
dred houses and one thousand inhabitants, a steam saw- and
grist-mill, and a ship-yard.

Five years later Mr Flint's second volume of
Geography and History of the Western States,
added this notice:

New Albany is the seat of justice for Floyd county, and is
four and one-half miles below Jeffersonville. The front street
is three-quarters of a mile in length, and makes a respectable
appearance from the fiver. Many steamboats that cannot
pass the falls are laid up for repair at this place during the

" Dr. McMurtrie's foot-note : At a little distance from the town,
issuing from under a stratum of greenstone, is a spring of water
containing a large quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, which inflames
on being brought into contact with a candle, and if the spring be
covered with a close box, furnished with a pipe and stop-cock, so
as to condense the gas, it continues to burn until it is purposely ex-
tinguished.

Robert Redman was born in Louisville, Jefferson county,
Kentucky, December 5, 1822. He located with his parents
in Floyd county, Indiana, when he was but four years old.
His father, Isaac Redman, was a farmer of note, and owned
one of the finest farms in Floyd county; he also owned a
tannery and grist-mill at Greenville, Floyd county. Robert
Redman entered college at Greenville, Indiana, at the age of
fifteen years. After taking a thorough course, he returned to
Greenville and commenced his apprenticeship with Captain
John B. Ford, as a saddler. After learning his trade he went
to Salem, Indiana, and was there employed as a journeyman
in a large establishment. Then going to Mount Vernon he
worked at the same business for Mr. Floyd. He afterwards

gave up this business and was employed at different times as
clerk on some of the largest steamers on the Ohio and Mis-
sissipi rivers. Mr. Redman loved to travel, and was very
fond of fishing and hunting. He visited the East and West
Indies. In 1854 his father died, leaving him sole manager of
his affairs.

Mr. Redman married Miss America Avery, July 5, i860.
In politics Mr. Redman was a Republican, and well posted
on the issues of the day, being a highly cultivated and well-
read man.

Mr. Redman, after being an invalid for ten years, died
September 7, 1878, at Greenville, Indiana.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

233

summer. It has a convenient ship-yard for building boats.
It is a thriving and busy village.

The second edition of Flint, in 1832, adds,
"containing nineteen hundred inhabitants."

In Flint's Geography and History of the Mis-
sissippi Valley, published in 1832, the following
paragraph is devoted to this place:

New Albany, the seat of justice for Floyd county, is four and
one-half miles below Jeffeisonville. The front street is three-
quarters of a mile in length, and makes a respectable appear-
ance from the river. Many steamboats that cannot pass the
falls are laid up for repair at this place during the summer.
It has a convenient ship-yard for building steamboats, and is
a thriving and busy village, containing nineteen hundred in-
habitants.

The State Gazetteer, or Topographical Dic-
tionary, for 1833, says of this place:

New Albany, a large and flourishing post-town, and the
seat of justice of Floyd county. . , . This town

contains about two thousand five hundred inhabitants, and
has been, for some years past, increasing in population at
the rate of about one hundred and fifty annually. It has a
printing office, sixteen dry goods stores, nine grocery stores,
a ship chandlery store, two drug-stores, a hardware store,
twenty liquor stores, an ashery, a rope-walk, three ship-yards,
two boat-yards, two iron-foundries, a brass-foundry, a steam
engine manufactory and finishing shop, and a merchant mill,
on an extensive plan, propelled by steam-power, capable of
manufacturing one hundred barrels of flour in twenty-four
hours. A public school is established in this town, to which
a donation was made by the original proprietors of $5,000,
the annual interest of which is applied to the support of the
school; in addition to which there are five private schools, de-
signed to be permanent establishments. A charter for a col-
lege has recently been procured at this place, which is desig-
nated by the name of University college. A lyceum is es-
tablished and in operation, consisting of about sixty mem-
beis, with a library of one hundred volumes of valuable
books, and the necessary apparatus for illustrating the dif-
ferent sciences. There are also in the town three meeting-
houses, which are regularly attended by the Baptists, Meth-
odists, and Presbyterians. •

New Albany has a good paragraph upon its
location and conditions of health in Dr. Daniel
Drake's Treatise on the Principal Diseases of
the Interior Valley of North America. He says :

The position ot this town is below the falls, nearly opposite
Portland. Silver creek enters the river between New Albany
and Jeffersonville, which are about six miles apart. Of this
stream Doctor Clapp (by whom I have been favored with
facts for this description) says: "It presents no ponds or
marshes within ten miles of New Albany, except mill-ponds,
and they cause but little overflow of the surface." As to the
town site, a narrow strip near the river, not very much built
upon, it has been entirely overflowed but twice in thirty
years. The upper terrace is fifteen feet above the highest
freshets, and four hundred and twenty-six above the sea.
Immediately to its west is a small stream called Falling run,
up which the back-water of the river ascends a short distance
and about once in four or five years overflows a few acres.
The bed of this stream is rocky and its descent rapid. It

flows at the base of the bold rampart called Silver creek
hills, which rises to an altitude of nine hundred feet over the
sea, and four hundred and eighty feet above the terrace on
which the town is built. This terrace consists of a bed of
alluvion thirty feet deep, resting on black or Devonian slate,
which emerges from underneath the hills.

Of all the towns around the falls, New Albany is the least
exposed to the topographical causes of autumnal fever, and
from the best data 1 have been able to collect it suffers least.
From 1817 to 1822, the first five years of Dr. Clapp's resi-
dence in it, those fevers prevailed extensively, but have ever
since been diminishing.

In 1848 the first directory of New Albany was
published by Gabriel Collins, of Louisville, in
connection with the directory of that city. About
fifteen hundred names appear in it, which, at the
estimate made by the compiler in calculating the
population of Louisville, of five persons to each
name, would give a population this year of 7,500.
The churches of the city were the Baptist, Rev.
George Webster, Lower Third street, between
Main and Market, with 196 members; Methodist
Wesley chapel, Market, between State and Lower
First, Rev. James Hill, 390 members; Methodist
Episcopal church Centenary, on Spring street,
between Upper Third and Fourth, Rev. Thomas
H. Rucker, 404 members; Presbyterian, State,
between Market and Spring, Rev. Daniel Stew-
art, 150 members; Presbyterian, Upper Third,
between Main and Market, Rev. J. M. Bishop,
140 members; Episcopalian, Market, between
Upper Third and Fourth, Rev. Francis Laird,
46 members; Christian, Lower Third, corner
Market, Rev. E. Noyes and Dr. Stewart, 180
members; Lutheran, State, corner Oak street,
Rev. C. H. Bleeken, 75 members; Catholic,
Upper Seventh, between Market and Spring,
Rev. Edward Nixon, membership not enumer-
ated. The Masons had a lodge, with Stephen
Bear as master; the Odd Fellows, New Albany
lodge, No. 1, meeting at their hall on the north
side of Main, between State and Pearl, Alexan-
der McCarty, N. G.; and the Sons of Temper-
ance had two divisions, with a Temple of Honor
and a Union of the Daughters of Temperance.
The branch of the State Bank of Indiana had
Mason C. Fitch for president, and James R.
Shields cashier; the New Albany Insurance com-
pany, William Plummer, president, and T- Dan-
forth, secretary; and the New Albany & Salem
Railroad company, James Brooks, president,
George Lyman secretary, and L. B. Wilson, resi-
dent engineer.

234

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Later notices of New Albany in general pos-
sess too little interest to make their insertion
here desirable.

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW ALBANY TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION.

The following appears on record as part of
the business of the first meeting of the county
commissioners, February 8, 1819:

At a meeting of the Board of County Commissioners for
the County of Floyd, began and held at New Albany, Slate
of Indiana, at the House of Mr. Seth Woodruff, agreeably
to law, this the 8th day of Febiuary, 1819. Present

Clement Nance, Jr.,
Jacob Piersol.

Ordered, that all that part of Floyd County, beginning
at the mouth of Falling Run, running with the line which
formerly divided the counties of Harrison and Clark to the
top of the Knobs, thence northeasterly with the meanders of
the same to the line which divides Floyd and Clark Counties,
thence with said line southeast to Silver creek, thence with
said creek to the Ohio river, thence down said river to the
place of beginning, be set apart for one township in said
county, to be known and designated by the name of New
Albany Township; and that the elections in said township be
held at the house of Seth Woodruff, Esq.

At the same meeting it was

Ordered, that Seth Woodruff, Esq., be appointed In-
spector of Elections for New Albany township for the term
of one year.

Mr. Woodruff thus became one of the first
officers in the new county, after the commission-
ers, and the first inspector ot elections.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

It seems to be proper here to give the first
proceedings of the commissioners, who appeared
for some time to be the only lawgivers of the
new county. They seem to have been clothed
with considerable power and discretion, and
went rapidly forward putting the machinery of
the new county in motion. Fortunately, the
records of the commissioners for several of the
first years of the existence of the county are leg-
ibly and beautifully written in clear cut characters
by Joel Scribner, and in language of unusual ex-
cellence. He seems to have been a gentleman
of education, and able to express his meaning
clearly and forcibly in the records.

At the first meeting of the commissioners the
county was divided into three townships, after
which appears the following:

Ordered, that the Sheriff of Floyd County issue writs of
election to be holden on the 22d day of this month in the
several townships of the county, for the purpose of electing
Justices of the Peace as follows, to wit: Three in New Al-
bany Township, two in Greenville Township, and two in the
township of Franklin.

Ordered, that James Scribner be appointed Treasurer
for the County of Floyd, by his complying with the law in
that case made and provided.

This ends the first day's proceedings. The
next day, February 9, 1819, the following busi-
ness was transacted:

Ordered, that Isaac Stewart, of Greenville, be appointed
Lister for the County of Floyd, by complying with the law in
that case made and provided.

Ordered, that Caleb Newman be appointed Superintend-
ent of the school section numbered sixteen, in township
number three south of range number five east, for the term
of two years, and that he take the oath required by law.

Ordered, that Thomas Pierce be appointed Superintend-
ent of school section numbered sixteen, in township number
two, south of Range — East for the term of two years, and
that he take the oath required by law previous to entering
upon the duties of the office.

Ordered, that Stephen Beers and Charles Woodruff be
appointed Overseers of the Poor for the County of Floyd for
the term of one year, for New Albany township.

Ordered, that Samuel Kendall and Frederick Leather-
man be appointed Overseers of the Poor for Greenville town-
ship.

Ordered, that Josiah Akin. Gabriel Poindexter, and
Jeremiah Jacobs be appointed fence viewers for the township
of New Albany, in said County, for one year.

The next entry appoints Jacob Yenawine,
Thomas Smith, and Joseph Benton fence viewers
for Franklin township, and John Irvin, David
Edwards, and Isaac Wood for Greenville town-
ship.

Ordered, that Samuel Kendall be appointed Supervisor,
until the May term, of all the public roads passing through
Floyd county, beginning at the line dividing townships one
and two, at the corner of Harrison Counly east of Green-
ville, thence north to the County line, including all the
roads westwardly in said County; and that all hands in said
County in the above-mentiond bounds assist the said super-
visor in keeping said roads under repair.

This ends the second day's proceedings. On
the third day (February 10th) rates were estab-
lished for the observation of tavern-keepers
throughout the county. Joseph Green was ap-
pointed constable for New Albany township for
one year, and Jacob Garrettson, Jr., was ap-
pointed supervisor for the State road from Gut
ford, on Silver creek, to the top of the knobs.

Thus ends the business of the first session of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

235

the first commissioners of FloyrJ county. The next
regular meeting was held on the 4th of March,
1819, and Charles Paxson's name appears on the
records as commissioner in addition to the other
two. This meeting was mostly taken up with
matters relating to the establishment of a seat of
justice.

MORE LEGISLATION FOR NEW ALBANY.

April 19, 1819, there was a special meeting of
the commissioners for the purpose of changing the
boundaries of townships, and New Albany town-
ship was bounded and described as follows:

It is ordered that all that part of Floyd county beginning
at the Ohio river on the line which divides fractional sections
numbered twenty-nine and thirty-two, m town Three south
of range Six east, running thence west to the corners of sec-
tions numbered twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-
two, in said town; thence north to the corners of sections
numbered nineteen, twenty, twenty-nine, and thirty in town
Two, south of range Six east; thence east to the corners of
sections numbered twenty, twenty-one, twenty-eight, and
twenty-nine, in said town; thence north to the corners of sec-
tions numbered sixteen, seventeen, twenty, and twenty-one,
in said town; thence east to the corners of sections numbered
fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one, and twenty-two, in said town;
thence north to the corners of sections numbered nine, ten,
fifteen, and sixteen, in said town; thence east to the corners of
sections numbered ten, eleven, fourteen, and fifteen, in said
town; thence north to the corners of sections numbered two,
three, thirty-four, and thirty-five, in said town; thence east
with the section line to the Grant line; thence up the Grant
line to the line that divides the counties of Floyd and Clark;
thence down the county line of Floyd to Silver creek; thence
down said creek to the Ohio river; thence down, with the
meanders of said river, to the place of beginning, be, and the
same is hereby made one township, to be known and desig-
nated as New Albany township; and it is further ordered that
the bounds of said township called by the name of New Al-
bany township, which was made an order at the session in
February last, be and the same is hereby made void and of no
effect.

As thus described, this territory forms one of
the most irregularly shaped townships in the
county, being some twelve miles in length and
five in its greatest width. Its edges are indented
on all sides by the Ohio river, Silver creek, and
the various townships bounding it on the west.
Its boundaries have been changed slightly from
time to time, but its western boundary line has
generally followed the knobs, and it may be said
to include all the territory in the county east of
this range of hills. The object of the commis-
sioners was to create a territory, all parts of
which would be within easy reach of the city of
New Albany, which was a matter somewhat diffi-
cult, on account of the location of the city, the

latter being, from the necessities of the case,
located on the Ohio river, and thus at one edge
of the township and county.

TOWNSHIP APPOINTEES.

The following from the commissioners' records
continues the names of some of the first officers
appointed by the board to perfect the machinery
of organization: For the year 1820 Seth Wood-
ruff was re-appointed inspector of elections for
New Albany township, and Moses Kirkpatrick
for Greenville township. The fence viewers for
the same years were Henry Sigler, Sr., James
Akers, and Robert Brown, for Greenville, and
David M. Hale and Ashel Clapp for this town-
ship. John B. Howard was appointed constable
for Greenville, and David H. Allison lister.
Absalom Littell was appointed lister for New
Albany township. At the May session of the
same year Thomas Kurtz was appointed con-
stable for this township; and John Quackenbush
and John R. Kendall for Greenville. Absalom
Littell is allowed $25 for his services as lister of
this township for the year. At the February ses-
sion of 182 1 Paul Hoye is appointed constable
of this township.

TOPOGRAPHICAL.

Like nearly or quite all of the county of
Floyd, this township was found to be heavily
timbered at the date of the first white occupa-
tion. The bottom lands along the Ohio were
especially noted for the immense size and vigor-
ous growth of the timber. Giant sycamores,
black walnut, hickory, and all other varieties of
hard wood, except oak and chestnut, grew lux-
uriantly and wonderfully large on the rich, broad
bottoms where are now cultivated farms and
gardens, and the city of New Albany. Oak and
chestnut grew abundantly on the high ground
and upon the knobs.

There is more level land in this township than
in any other in the county. In fact, nearly all
of the township, lying as it does at the foot of
the "Silver hills" (the musical name given the
knobs by the Indians), is level or "second bot-
tom " land. That part of the township which
lies south and southwest of New Albany extends
beyond this range of hills, and includes within
its limits a beautiful tract of comparatively level
country west of the hills and joining Franklin
township. By climbing the knobs north and

236

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

west of the city, the larger part of the township
— all of the northern part — comes into view.
A beautifully undulating country spreads out in
every direction as far as the eye can reach, and
the view is grand. The cities of New Albany
and Louisville are in view, and a great
expanse of country far beyond these. Silver
creek, the eastern boundary line of the township,
winds like a silver thread through the cultivated
farms, lost here and there behind green patches
of woodland, and reappearing again and again
until it touches the horizon and is gone. The
Ohio makes a broad sweep and disappears be-
yond the city of Louisville. Bald knob, referred
to in the history of Lafayette township, is the
usual place of resort for an extensive view in that
direction; but there is a knob near it, known as
" Big knob," that is superior to it as a lookout
station to the east, being higher by fifteen or
twenty feet and standing in a rather isolated po-
sition east of the main range of hills. For a
view westward, however, Bald knob is probably
superior.

Prior to the date of the first white settlement
the bottom land in the neighborhood of the pres-
ent city was an almost impenetrable wilderness.
Along the banks of the Ohio was a rank growth
of canebrake and willows, and these, mingled with
drift-wood and fallen timber, rendered a landing
almost impossible. Were it possible to reach the
bottom and second bottom upon which the city
stands, the bold explorer would find himself
stopped by the dense growth of underbrush, inter-
laced over every portion of this bottom with
wild pea-vines. Great numbers of fallen trees,
some or them of immense size, blocked his way.
The forest was dark, the sunlight being almost
obscured by the density of the foliage above his
head. Grape-vines of great size were here and
found their way to the tops of the highest trees,
often spreading over many of them, and at the
proper season were loaded with rich clusters, that
had perchance for centuries been dropping and
wasting. Other wild fruits and nuts were very
abundant. Wild animals of every variety known
to the American forest at that date, roamed
through these silent woods undisturbed. The
foot of the hunter or explorer was in continual
peril of being bitten by venomous reptiles creep-
ing under the wild pea-vines, wild flowers, and
other abundant and luxuriant vegettion.

Rapidly, indeed', this condition of things dis-
appeared before the axe of the pioneer and the
steady encroachments of civilization, about the
beginning of this century, until in a few years
the transformation was complete, and beautiful
farms, villages, cities, and homes took the place
of the wilderness. The southern part of the
township, between the river and the knobs, pre-
sented the same densely wooded and wild ap-
pearance; but in the northern part the woods
were more open and more easily penetrated.
Perhaps this is the reason why the old Indian
trail from the Falls to Vincennes passed north-
ward along Silver creek and through the north-
ern part of the township, instead of taking the
more direct route immediately west from Fort
Clarke; and this, too, may be the reason why
the northern part of the township contained the
earliest settlers — they dreaded the miasmatic
bottoms and the long and fearful struggle that
must ensue before a home could be hewn out of
this dense forest. The Indian trail cannot be
definitely located by description, but it passed up
the east side of Silver creek after leaving the
Falls, crossing that creek at what was called by
the first white settlers "Gut ford," and crossing
the level bottom land between that and the
knobs, through the more open woods, passed up
north along the foot of the knobs, crossing them
somewhere in the northern part of the township.
It is stated by some of the oldest settlers who
are yet living — among them David Lewis — that
the main trail did not pass over Bald knob, but
passed near the foot of it, and crossed further
north.

SILVER CREEK

is a rapid, beautiful little stream, rising in the
northern and western part of Clarke county and
pursuing generally a southward course to the
Ohio. It forms about one half of the boundary
line between Floyd and Clarke, and generally
runs over a hard rock bed. In places it seems
to have cut it way through solid layers of lime
and sandstone, so that its banks form solid walls
of stone and are often nearly perpendicular. At
the point known as the Gut ford the land on the
Clarke county side slopes gradually to the water,
but on the Floyd county side there appears to
have been a solid wall of rock, through which,
however, was cut by natural causes a narrow
gorge, or cut, or ravine, about wide enough for a

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

237

wagon to pass, which the emigrants denominated
a "gut." This "gut" had a natural slope for
sixty or seventy yards to the water's edge, and
hence assisted in forming an excellent ford.
Here the old Indian trail crossed, and here the
earliest settlers, following the trail, crossed into
what is now Floyd county, and in later years the
trail grew into a great State road, which con-
tinued to cross at the "gut."

"springer's gut."

There was in an early day another "gut" or
narrow cut in the rocks by the action of the
water, in this township, which came to be known
as " Springer's gut." Its location was within the
present limits of the city of New Albany. There
was a beautiful spring at the head of this cut
(now on ground owned by the Star Glass works),
and the latter seemed to form an outlet to the
river for the surplus waters of the spring. What
caused this washout or gully is unknown, as it
appeared to have been cut through layers of soft
slate and sand rocks; but there was probably a
break in the rocks which was filled with loam or
soil, and this was gradually washed out by the
action of the waters of the spring, assisted by
the rainfall.

David Lewis is authority for the following
statement as to the manner in which this gut re-
ceived its name: A man named Moses McCann
owned and operated the ferry across the river
from the somewhat ancient town of Clarksville —
probably the first ferry established at the falls, as
it was in operation some time prior to the begin-
ning of the present century. It was his daugh-
ter, Sarah McCann, who made the statement to
David Lewis that a man named Springer was
killed by the Indians in the gut. Springer, who
lived at the fort at Clarksville, was out hunting
on the west side of Silver creek, in the dense
thicket where New Albany now stands. It was
in the days when the Indians were hostile, and
Springer was discovered and pursued by a party
of them. In his flight toward the fort he came
suddenly to this ditch, and either fell into it ac-
cidentally or fell into it in the attempt to leap
across it, and was here overtaken by the savages,
killed, and scalped. McCann was one of the
party that went in search of Springer's body, and
assisted in bringing it to the fort, where it was
buried. The place has since been known as
Springer's gut. It is now mostly filled up.

This is probably the only known instance of
the killing of a white man by the Indians within
the limits of this township, though others may
have been slaughtered on its soil, and doubtless
were, as it was in close proximity to the fort, to-
ward which the Indians were very hostile for
many years prior to the first settlement. This,
and the killing of the white hunters in what is
now Greenville township, are the only known
instances of Indian barbarity in Floyd county.

OTHER WATERS IN NEW ALBANY.

The whole northern part of this township is
watered by the tributaries of Silver creek, the
two principal ones being little brooks, each known
as Slate run. They rise in the knobs, and cross-
ing the township in a general course southeast,
empty their waters into Silver creek about a mile
apart.

The principal streams in this township are
Falling run and Middle creek, the former passing
through the western and central portion, and the
latter and its tributaries watering the southern
part. Middle creek, rising in a spur which the
knobs throw out to the westward from near the
city of New Albany, runs eastward until it
reaches the Ohio river bottoms, then hugs the
foot of the knobs, running parallel with the Ohio
southward until it passes out of the township.

Falling run also hugs the foot of the knobs in
the greater part of its course from north to south
through the township, receiving nearly all its
waters from the eastern slope of this range of
hills. Near New Albany it makes a bend sweep-
ing around the principal part of the city. Its
waters fall rapidly over a rocky bed — hence the
name. In an early day there was very near the
bank of this creek, and within the present limits
of New Albany, a spring known as Boiling
spring, which issued from a stratum of greenish-
colored rock. This spring emitted a gas which,
when confined, would readily burn until extin-
guished by artificial means. The young town re-
ceived considerable free advertising on account of
this spring; but if it contained properties of any
value they have never been utilized. It is not
unlikely that gas in considerable quantities might
be obtained here at little expense, and this ground
may yet become valuable.

loop island. ,

Near the mouth of the Silver creek is a small
island, known as "Loop island," formed by the

238

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

waters of the creek, which here make a bend in
the form of a loop before reaching the Ohio.

Numerous springs are found all over the town-
ship, but more especially along the knobs, while
the city of New Albany is favored in every part
of it with as fine drinking water as any in the
world. It is underlaid with limestone, in which
is found an inexhaustible supply of the purest
spring water, which may be had at any point in
the city by digging from twenty to thirty feet.
Prior to the clearing of this ground this water
came to the surface in a score of places, and the
whole tract of John Paul, the first owner, was
covered with these springs.

This very excellent water was an inducement
for the Indians to encamp in the vicinity and
make this their hunting ground; and in the days
of peace, about the beginning of this century,
their camps might be seen all along Falling run
and Silver creek. Here they hunted the bear,
wolf, wildcat, buffalo, and elk in the bottoms,
and the deer among the oaks on the higher
ground and on the knobs. It must have been a
very paradise for the Indian hunter. Numerous
beaver dams were found on Falling run and Sil-
ver creek, and the trapping was excellent along
all the little streams, while the great river afforded
an excellent means of getting their furs to market
up the river at Fort Washington or Fort Pitt.
The Indians were numerous until the war of
1812, when they disappeared from this region
forever.

THE CLARKE GRANT.

This township occupies nearly all the territory
in this county that once belonged to Clarke
county, and more than one-half of all the town-
ship lying north of New Albany was originally in
the Clarke Grant. As the larger part of this Grant
lies in Clarke county, it is more properly con-
sidered in the history of that county found in an-
other part of this work. It may be said here,
however, that the western line of the Grant passes
north and south through the entire length of this
township. The line may be found on nearly all
of the present maps. Entering the city from
the northeast, it makes a sharp bend beyond the
cemetery and crosses the city in a diagonal di-
rection to the southeast, striking the Ohio river
at the foot of Upper Ninth street. This being
the first of the surveyors' lines in this county, it
formed a base-line for the continuance of sur-

veys; hence there are many three-cornered and
curiously-shaped tracts of land in the township.
The township has a gradual slope to the south-
east from the knobs to the Ohio river and Silver
creek.

ANTIQUITIES.

There do not appear to be any archaeological
remains in the township, unless a few of the
stone implements frequently found may be con-
sidered such. There is a bench running for a
mile, perhaps, along the side of the knobs, and
bending around their face overlooking the Ohio,
that has a suspicirus look, as if it might have been
an ancient roadway. There seems to be no
explanation of it, except that it might have been
caused by a landslide; but this seems improb-
able, from the regularity of the depression. It
averages about twenty feet in width, and passes
with great regularity along the side of these hills,
gradually nearing their tops as it approaches the
bluffs overlooking the river, until it finally ends
near the top of the hills, where they again begin
to recede from the river. Part of this bench has
been utilized as a public highway.

AREA.

The township contains a little more than
fifteen thousand acres of land outside'the city of
New Albany.

TIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT.

The question of the first white occupation of
this territory is one difficult of solution at this
late day. No authentic records have been pre-
served and there is no possible means of verify-
ing the statements of the "oldest inhabitant."
Authentic history rests upon a very slim founda-
tion indeed, when it rests upon a memory de-
cayed and broken by the "disintegrating tooth
of time;" therefore statements as to who was the
first permanent white settler, either of this town-
ship or county, cannot be positively made. The
best that is left for the historian is to place upon
record the traditions that have been handed
down.

Much has been written regarding the early
settlement of the whites around the falls of the
Ohio, and much more regarding the military
expeditions sent to conquer this then savage
wilderness; yet details regarding the exact spot
upon which any of these pioneers settled are
somewhat meagre and unreliable.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

239

Captain Thomas Bullitt is said to have been
the first pioneer at the falls. This was in 1773,
about a quarter of a century before a permanent
settlement is thought to have been made within
the present limits of Floyd county.

The six families who settled on Corn island in
1778, formed a nucleus around which gathered
the rapidly advancing tide of immigration which
finally overspread this entire region and settled
the great cities of Louisville, Jeffersonville, and
New Albany. The details of this settlement will
be found elsewhere in this work.

About the beginning of the century this settle-
ment began to make explorations down the
river, and a few of them landed in what is now
Harrison county and made locations perhaps
prior to any settlement of Floyd county.

The following extract regarding the settlement
of Floyd county is taken from a Directory of the
Falls Cities published in 1868. Part of it appears
to have been gleaned from Dr. McMurtrie's
Sketches of Louisville, published in 1819:

The first settlements made in the neighborhood of the
Falls on the Indiana side, were made in what is now Clarke
county, at Clarksville (the first county seat of Clarke connty),
Jeffersonville, and Chailestown. No settlements were made
below Clarksville, or on the west side of Silver creek, in
what is now Floyd county, until November 5, 1804. Prior
to this time, however, several families had moved from Ken-
tucky into what is now Harrison county, settling below Knob
creek, and in the neighborhood of Corydon.

The first resident white woman to cross the knobs below
New Albany, was the daughter of Clement Nance, after-
wards the wife of Patrick Shields, an Irish pioneer settler, in
what is now Georgetown township.

In considering the question of first settle-
ment, it is important to know what routes were
open by which settlers could enter the township
with their families, baggage, cattle, etc., and,
secondly, the proximity and location of the set-
tlements from which the first white settlers un-
doubtedly came. As to the first, then, the Ohio
river was the great route, or highway of travel;
and as this township touches the river for many
miles, it would be reasonable to suppose that the
first settlers came by that route. The next great
highway was the old Indian trail from the Falls
to Vincennes, which crossed this township, and
it is also reasonable to presume the first settlers
might have followed this trail. The very earliest
pioneers in this township advanced by both of
these routes, and it is a question whether, as be-
tween the two, the Oatman family on the Ohio

were the first settlers, or the Lewis family and
others, who settled in the northern part of the
township on the Indian trail.

As to the proximity of the white settlements,
the nearest was at Clarksville, situated at the
mouth of Silver creek on the east side of that
stream, and consequently within a stone's throw
of the line between Clarke and Floyd counties,
as subsequently established. Not only did
Clarke's Grant include a large portion of this
township, but the village of Clarksville, itself, as
laid out within the Grant, extended across Silver
creek into this township. From this fact it is
also reasonable to argue that the first settlement
may have been made in the neighborhood of
Clarksville. It is not only reasonable, but prob-
able, that such was the case, though there are no
written records to establish the fact. It is
argued by those who believe that no settlement
was made here prior to that made by Mr. Lafol-
lette in 1804, in Franklin township, that the fort
at Clarksville was surrounded by hostile bands of
Indians up to that time, and that consequently
no settler ventured to establish himself on the
west side of Silver creek. This is plausible, and
may be true ; but such evidence as has been ob-
tainable to offset this theory is here given, that
the reader may be able to judge as to the facts.

Mr. John Aston is now a resident of New
Albany, and upon his memory alone rests the
tradition, handed down by his ancestors, that his
grandfather, John Carson, was not only the first
settler of this township, but of Floyd county.
He says that his mother was Mary Carson,
daughter of John Carson, and was born in 1786 ;
that she came with her father from Kentucky to
Clarksville, either in the fall of 1799 or the win-
ter of 1800, settling or " squatting " immediately
at the mouth of Silver creek on the west side,
where Mr Carson erected the first cabin in
Floyd connty. This cabin was not so far away
but that it was under the guns of the fort. Mr.
Carson was a " squatter," and brought with him
a good-sized family, among them a son, Jonathan,
who afterwards settled in a cabin that had been
erected by a nonresident named Shanty, who
owned the land, upon which there was a fine
spring ever since known as Shanty spring. John
Carson died in 1804 in this cabin, which stood
on a rise of ground overlooking the Onio and
near the creek. He made it his business while

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

here to keep a boat, not only for his own use in
crossing the creek to the fort, but also for the
purpose of ferrying the Indians over the creek
when the waters were too high for them to cross
at the Gut ford. In 1806, when his mother was
twenty years of age, she married Richard Aston,
Jr., and the young couple immediately took up
their residence with the widow Carson. The
Aston family was from England, but came to this
place from North Carolina.

David Lewis so far confirms the story of John
Aston as to say that when he came to this Terri-
tory in 1809, he remembers seeing the Carson
cabin at the mouth of Silver creek, and that
Richard Aston occupied it at the time. It is
true that Mr. Lewis was at the time his father
came here only three years of age; but Mr. As-
ton lived in the cabin several years, and long
enough to enable Mr. Lewis to remember the
fact. The recollection he has of the cabin is
that it was an old one when he first knew it,
and he knew of it some years later when it was
going rapidly into decay. As neither Mr. Car-
son nor Mr. Aston owned the land there, the
cabin was probably abandoned between 1815
and 1820, and both Mr. Aston and the Carson
family settled on other land which they had
entered.

Mrs. Mary Aston, who, it thus appears, was
the pioneer woman of Floyd county, died a few
years ago in New Albany. The Carson children
were : Jonathan, Jane (who married a Mr. Lynn)
Sarah, and Elizabeth. Jonathan, while living in
the Shanty cabin, followed boating. He resided
in this neighborhood several years, then moved
into an adjoining county.

In October, 181 1, while Mr. Aston was one
day absent from the cabin, and Mrs. Aston was
alone with the children, she suddenly heard a
strange noise that had never before greeted her
ears. She was very much alarmed, as she could
not make out what it meant, or whence it came.
She thought it might be some signal made by the
Indians who were about to make an attack upon
the infant settlement, as the Indians were then
inclined to hostility. She immediately bolted
and barred her door and windows, and put the
cabin in a state of defence; then tremblingly
awaited the result. The noise continued for
some time; and as there was no window in the
cabin on the side from which it came, she was

unable to make out anything. She soon learned,
however, the cause of her fear to be the little
steamer "Orleans," on its first trip down the
Ohio. The steam whistle produced the noise
that had alarmed her. "It went very slowly
down the river," says Mr. Aston, "and was at
New Madrid when the great earthquake shock
came." One of the Carsons was at New Madrid
at the time, and saw the boat lying in the river
while the earth was being rent by the earthquake.
A very interesting account of this voyage of the
Orleans will be found in the general introduc-
tion to this work.

A PIONEER DOCKET.

Mr. Aston has in his possession an old
docket, kept by his father, which is undoubtedly
the first docket in the territory now embraced in
Floyd county, and there is little doubt that
Richard Aston was the first justice of the peace
in the territory now occupied by both Clarke and
Floyd counties. He was appointed by the State
of Virginia or by the United States — probably
the former — and held the office when this was
yet Indiana Territory. He seems to have kept
in some measure a Federal court — nowadays a
high-grade sort of tribunal. Many cases on his
docket begin with "The United States vs.," etc.
The first date is in 18 12; whether his official
services dated further back than that is not
known. It appears from this docket that Rich-
ard Aston, Jr., was not an educated man, though
it is said his father, Richard Aston, Sr., was not
only well educated, but a highly cultivated gen-
tleman, and one of the first teachers, if not the
first school teacher, in this part of the country.
From this old docket something may be gleaned
regarding the early settlement, and the names of
many of the earliest settlers are recorded on its
worn and faded pages. A few entries from it
are here given as specimens of the manner of
doing business in early days. It is probable that
the greater amount of the business, as shown by
this docket, was transacted while Mr. Aston oc-
cupied the old cabin at the mouth of Silver
creek :

August 11, 1812. Be it Remembered that this day I have
Joined togeather in the honerable State of Matrimony Win'
Arnold & Sally Trublood

Rhd Aston, ]. P. C. C.

"Sally" Trublood was the daughter of Mr.
Trublood, a well-remembered early settler on

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

241

ground now occupied by the city of New Albany,
and the owner of the first mill.

Oct. 15th, 1812.
Be it Remembered that this day I Joined togeather in honera-
ble State of Matrimony Jonathan Carson & Jane Lewis.
Rhd Aston, J. P. C. C.

The old record continues in the same style to
join "togeather" other parties, as follows: "John
Scott & Persilla Lewis," February 12, 181 3;
"Stevon Strong & Pheby Warring," February 27,
1814; "Hugh Carey & Nancy Freeman," March

1, 1814; "Joseph Turner & Polly Withers,"
March n, 1814; "Thomas Davis & Elizabeth
Trublood," March 20, 18 14; "William Smith &
Catrene Hoke," October 2, 1814; "Jeremiah
Sanders & Prissilla Samuell," April 14, 1815;
"Jeremiah Boshers & Marget O. Strout," April

2, 1815; "John Wood & Susanna Whitker,"
May 10, 1815; "Ezekiel Cannaday & Leannah
Davis," June 15, 1815; "John Aston & Prisilah
Hoke," June 25, 1815; "Abraham Romine &
Liddy Rizaly," July 2, 1815.

Performing a very brief marriage ceremony
according to the above form is about all the busi-
ness Esquire Aston seems to have been called
upon to do during the first few years of his offi-
cial career; then comes a break in the monotony
of marriages by the following:

Nov. 12, 1814. Taken up by Benjamin Sprout one Bay
mare 7 years old, 14 hands high, a few whight hars on hear
weathers, a long switch Tail, appraised to Twenty Sixe Dol-
lars, no other marks or Brands, & one Colt of the same
Collour no whight a Bout it, supposed to be one year old
Last spring, appraised to Eight Dollars By Anthony Lewis
& And. Long.

Nov. 12, 1814. Taken up by Gab Poindexter one Brown
mare 14% hands high, Branded on the Near shoulder thus
J. P. & on the of shoulder thus f, some few saddle spots, a
star left Ere out, apprased to Thirty-five Dollars, supposed
to be Ten years old, apprased By Jas Shannon & Elige
Green.

The above are specimens of a score or more
of similar ones. Philip Beamgard "takes up a
Bay horse," which is appraised "to 25 dollars"
by Benjamin Sproat and John Aston; Jonathan
Lewis takes up a gray horse, appraised by John
Conner and Elnathan Jennings; Daniel Nichol-
son takes up a sorrel mare, appraised by Alexan-
der Richards and Jacob Burkhart, etc., etc.

The following entries give an inside view of
Esquire Aston's court :

"Sept ( James Taylor \ Summons ishd
21 < vs. > Cunstable

1813 ( Chailes Boyles )

Returns Ex Cuted
Subpeno ishued for Josiah & Rebeckey Taylor
after hearing the Alle gations on both sides

judgment for the Plentif for 2.65

Justis fees 43

Cunstable fees 77

3-85
the Plantif acnoledge him Self security Pd 95

Repleven 2.90

Execution Ishued for 2.90

Satisfide by B. Sproatt to the Plantif
on the 2r December.

Jan'y'l the U. S. vs Ezekiel —
20 > on complaint of Henry Hoke
1815 j su'd for Hog Stealing — warrant Ish'd
Const. Returns Executed. Anthony Denning George
Hoke and Phillop Beam gard was sworn and after hearing
the Proof and alle gations Bound the Defendant to our Next
Cirket Cort to be held in Charlestown.

just fees 93

Const Do 138

181- "1 United States \

w J I By James Taylor I Warrant

' ( vs C ishued

25 ) James McFall J

summons ishued for John munnyhan & Jane Gibson & for
Rebeckey Taylor for the U. States.

the Cunstable Returns Executed Jane Gibson & James
Taylor was sworn in Behalf of the united states & Gabriel
Rive & Rachel Aston & ElizaBeth aston for the Defendant.

After hearing the Evidence on Both sides it Is judged that
the Deft, is fined in one dollar & fifty sints for abreach of the

Pease 1. 50

justis fees 81

Cunstable fees 1.46

3-77
Satis fied this n day of June.

This docket is quite voluminous, and space
cannot be given for further quotations. There
is much similarity in them, and the above will
serve to show how justice was administered
among the pioneers, and give something of an
insight into the character of the "court."

The administration of justice by Mr. Aston
seemed to have given satisfaction, as he con-
tinued in the office many years, and solemnized
a majority of the early marriages of this and
Clarke counties. The names of other old set-
tlers appear in the history of this township and
the city of New Albany.

A ROLL OF PIONEERS.

In the following list of names, taken from this
old docket, will probably be found those of a
majority of the earlier settlers of this county:

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

John Scott, Bartholomew Jenkins, Levi Jenkins, Gabriel
Poindexter, Benjamin Sproat, Elijah Green, Jacob Pearsol,
Isaiah Mise, George Livers, * Susannah Cannady, Philip
Beamgard, Charles' London, Richard Lewis, Nathaniel
Livers, Joseph Cunningham, Jonathan Lewis, Allen Rich-
ards, George Long, Jacob Brookhart, William Smith, An-
thony Denning, Abraham Romine, Isaiah Kimble, Thomas
R. Johnston, *Mary Thompson, Abraham Razer (or Kazer),
*[ane Mawning, William Cochran, *Deborah Edwards, An-
drew Gilwick, Anderson Long, Josiah Taylor, Benjamin
Fields, William Brown, Landon Rich, William Wood, Rob-
ert Lewis, James Mise, John Wales, Fisher R. Bennet, James
Haldeman, "Matilda Dobson, John Conner, Harvey Swift,
John Allen, James Shannon, Daniel Jackson, Richard Yena-
wine, Johnston Yenawine, G. Carson, Wilson Weaver, Joseph
Gipson, John Noles, J. T. Breman, Abraham Narington,
*Darkis Elbany, James Demster, Jeremiah Clark, * — Jen-
nins, George Slater, *Sarah Roberts, David Lewis, George
W. Wells, *Maria Blackwell, Frederick Hobner, "Frances
Neat, Henry Hawkins, *Mary Ann Clark, Josiah DeWitt,
"Sarah Hickman, William Duncan, "Ellen Edwards, John
Nicholson, Joseph Linn, John Kearns, Silas Kearns, Gasper
Pope, William Roberts, Wyatt P. Tuley, John McCrindly,
Lewis B. Cattle, Robert Stewart, Carey Rich, Nathaniel
Heath, "Elizabeth Brown, Robert Grayson, James Blair,
Thomas Taylor, "Hetty Smith, David Boyles, "Margaret
Landerbach, Thomas Harrison, William B. Thompson,
Lewis Wicks, Felix Lane, John Yates, William Harvey,
Joseph Mulary, David Kelley, Adam Peck, Edward Prince,
George W. Garrison, Severn Warwick, Joseph Green, James
A. Palmer, "Mary Linn, Daniel Lane, "Rachel Taylor, John
White, John Ball, Joseph Gibson, William Craig, John Run-
nels, Richard Boyles, John Boyles, Robert Raney, William
Druesdell, Nathaniel Case, Alexander Dunn, Henry Aborn,
Henry Self, Asa Smith, M. Bloom, Samuel Bates, Hugh
McCulloch, John Eldridge, S. T. Beeman, E. Shelby, Sam-
uel Marsh, George Baird, Elnathan Gilbert, John Williams,
Charles Shirley, Jacob Leiss, Garrison Vincent, Jeremiah
Sanders, Joel Scribner, Abner Scribner, Nathaniel Scribner,
Elihu Marsh, Alexander Marsh, D. P. Underwood, John
Pate, William Griffith, Alexander Martin, Harvey S. Elliott,
Daniel Lippingcutt, Jesse Michum, John Poindexter, Charles
McGrew, Benjamin Chamberlain, Joseph Hite, Thomas
Douglas, Wayne Brown, Albert Bogert, William B. Sum-
ner, Robert Woodward, Joseph Turner, George Oatman,
Henry Hoke, Asher Cook, Joseph Pearson, James Demster,
David Irvin, Josiah Trublood, Joseph White, Daniel Picket,
James Ferguson, Peter Thompson, John Freed.

The above were all settlers in this region prior
to 1817, and a majority of them were here as
early as 1812. County lines in this State were
then few and far apart, and Richard Aston acted
as justice of the peace for a large scope of coun-
try, his jurisdiction extending, no doubt, over
several of the present counties. It is not, there-
fore, claimed that these were all settlers in what
is now Floyd county, but no doubt a majority of
them were settlers in what are now Floyd and
Clarke counties, and most of the names will be
recognized by the older inhabitants.

"This lady was married by Squire Aston to the gentleman
whose name immediately precedes hers.

THE PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT.

About the beginning of this century a num-
ber of hunters and squatters resided for a time
in what is now New Albany township. Settle-
ments were rapidly increasing along the Ohio at
various points, and numerous trading-posts were
established, so that a market was created' for the
products of the chase. These hunters built
temporary dwellings, or "hunter's cabins," where-
ever they desired to locate, but traveled about
from place to j^lace, never remaining long in one
spot. They cannot, therefore, be called settlers,
though some of them afterwards became such.
One of these hunters was William Lewis, in the
northern part of the township; another was John
Aldrich, Sr., whose pole cabin was erected on
Falling run, within the present limits of the city
of New Albany. This pole shanty may have
been the first white habitation upon the plat of
the future city. McGrew's cabin was erected
on "McGrew's point" in those early days, and
it is impossible to tell at this late period which
was the first to erect a cabin, Aldrich or Mc-
Grew. But it matters little: both were in the
wilderness where no white man lived, probably,
at that time but themselves. Aldrich's cabin or
tent was made almost wholly of bark. Four
forks were driven into the ground, or a conven-
ient tree probably answered for one or two of
the forks; poles were laid on, and upon these
other poles were laid, supporting a covering of
bark. The sides were formed by setting up
sticks and bark against the poles, one end of
these pieces resting on the ground. Three sides
only were closed; the fourth side was left open,
and in front of it was always a log-heap fire for
cooking and other purposes.

Here John Aldrich lived for a time with his fam-
ily. How much of a family he had is not known;
but his wife was with him, and his son, John
Aldrich, Jr., was born here, being, without much
doubt, the first white child born in Floyd county,
and the first born upon the plat of the future
city, within whose limits children may now be
numbered by thousands. John Aldrich's "tent"
stood near a fine spring, of which there were a
number in the immediate neighborhood, about
where Lower First street intersects Elm, not far
from the present flouring mill. How long Aid-
rich lived here is not known, but not probably
longer than was necessary to enable his wife and

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

243

child to follow him to some other hunting ground.
He lived and died, it is said, a hunter and trap-
per.

John McGrew's cabin stood at the foot of
Lower First street, on a point of land that then
jutted into the river, and very close to the water's
edge. A considerable ravine (now filled up)
then ran down to the river bank, coming out at
McGrew's cabin and making something of a point
of land ever since known as "McGrew's Point."
It is very probable that McGrew's cabin was the
first regularly built cabin upon the site of New
Albany. It was a little log pen, regularly built
and enclosed, but covered, like Aldrich's, with
bark. It had, however, a door and greased paper
windows. McGrew was a squatter, hunter, tiap-
per, and fisherman, and had no family. A negro
man named William Morrison lived with him —
probably a slave he had brought over from Ken-
tucky. McGrew did not live long after the set-
tlers began to arrive; but Morrison occupied the
old cabin many years, and after New Albany be-
gan to be settled he went about among the peo-
ple, doing washing wherever he could get work.

It is impossible to tell who was the next set-
tler in this territory, after Carson and McGrew,
whether it was Mr. Trublood, Richard Aston,
Sr., George Oatman, William Lewis, or some
other person, but the above named were all here
very early, less, probably, than half a dozen
years after the beginning of the present century.
John Aston says his grandfather, Richard Aston,
Sr., came here in 1804 or 1805, but is not cer-
tain about the date. Others, whose names are
unknown, may have been here equally early.
Where so many were passing and repassing up
and down the river, and trappers and hunters
continually coming and going, and no record
kept of any event, all must be more or less veiled
in uncertainty.

Richard Aston came from England and reared
here a large and influential family of children.
He first settled in North Carolina, or, at least,
came from that State to this wilderness, settling
in what subsequently became the town of Max-
ville, now within the limits of the city of New
Albany. His sons were Jesse, John, Samuel,
Richard Jr., and David. The old gentleman
cultivated a little land, and besides school-teach-
ing he added to his occupations that of making
splint-bottomed chairs. He also assisted John

K. Graham in surveying, and traveled over
nearly all of Floyd county and some of the ad-
joining counties in this work, while all was yet in
a wildcrnrss state. Richard, Jr., after a resi-
dence of some years in the Carson cabin, pur-
chased what was known as the London property,
and moved upon it after Charles London died.
The latter was among the earliest settlers. He
had been a soldier under General George Rogers
Clarke, and was granted the land upon which he
settled. Just what time he settled here is un-
known, but it was prior to 1809, and at that date
he was living in a little cabin not far from where
the county infirmary now stands. He built a
cooper-shop near his cabin — probably the first
shop of this kind in the township or county —
and worked at his trade whenever he could get
anything to do. At other times he cleared and
cultivated a little piece of land, raising corn,
potatoes, and other garden vegetables. He was
a bachelor and came from Virginia, and nearly
all the time he occupied this place he had a
family living in his cabin, with whom he
boarded. It is believed he left his property to
this family upon his death. He was buried upon
his own land, which subsequently passed into the
hands of Richard Aston, Jr.

"squatters.''

The eight thousand acres of land now occupied
by the city of New Albany joined "the Grant''
(as the land given to Clarke and his soldiers is
known), on the west, and occupied all that por-
tion of the bottom land within this township be-
tween the knobs and the western line of the
Grant. Consequently any persons who settled on '
the river below the fort in an early day were
"squatters," as the whole of the tract then be-
longed to John Paul, of Madison, Indiana, who
purchased it of the Government. The conse-
quence was that those who sought permanent
homes were compelled to settle away from the
river, as John- Paul's land does not appear to
have been for sale in small quantities — at least
it was not for sale at figures that pioneers could
afford to pay, or cared to pay, when land all
around it could be had at Government price.

PERMANENT SETTLERS.

One of the first to settle permanently just out-
side of the John Paul tract was old Mr. Tru-
blood. He purchased at the first tax sale in

244

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Indiana Territory the forty acres upon Falling
run, immediately north of and adjoining the
John Paul tract, for sixty-two and a half cents an
acre. He subsequently sold this lot to the Scrib-
ners, and it is all now far within the city limits,
and worth thousands of dollars per acre. Here,
upon Falling run, Trublood erected his cabin
and the first mill within the present limits of this
township, if not in this county. Falling run was
then a much larger stream than at present, and
the little log-mill was kept busy from the start,
except when the stream was frozen over or the
dam washed away by a flood.

THE FIRST POST-OFFICE AND HOTEL.

Not far from the cabin and mill was a spring,
near which a Mrs. Roberts lived with her
family some years later. Her boys supported
the family mostly by hunting. After a time,
when the mill was in operation and a few settlers
gathered in the neighborhood, a mail-route was
established through here, and Mrs. Roberts kept
the first post-office on the site of New Albany.
She also opened a " tavern," where she accom-
modated the traveling public and boarded the
first mail contractor. No doubt Mrs. Roberts'
tavern was the first on the site of the future city.
The mail was then carried from the falls to Vin-
cennes, and the mail-carrier usually stopped over
night at Mr. Roberts' tavern on the first night out
from the falls.

The neighborhood of this tavern was an im-
portant one in those early days, and became al-
most a village. Dense woods then covered all
the bottom land where the city now stands,
and Mrs. Roberts' tavern and Trublood's mill
were the last of the white settlements on the road
west for a score or more miles at least. It was
long a resort for the Indians and white hunters
and traders. The bar was, of course, the prin-
cipal attraction, and the strolling Indians and
hunters from the fort found here a place to drink
and lounge away their few leisure hours.

LATER SETTLEMENTS.

Naturally the white settlements extended
north and west along the Indian trail beyond
the tavern and the mill; though before any
permanent settlers had located some hunters and
trappers had squatted along the base of the
knobs. But few of these are now remembered;
but William Lewis was among them.

In the southern part of the township the Oat-
mans were probably the first settlers. About
1805 they came floating down the Ohio from Vir-
ginia, hunting for a place to land and locate.
Reaching the fort at Clarksville, they remained a
few days, then went on down the river, finding
no Government land until they had passed the
John Paul tract. After passing this tract they
landed in what is now the southern part of New
Albany township, on a beautiful level bottom
which stretched away from the river bank for a
short distance, until stopped by the picturesque
Silver hills. This bottom was not so extensive
as that further up the river upon which the city
stands, but, like it, was covered with the rankest
growth of timber and wild pea-vines. The river
bank was lined with canebrake. In this dense
wilderness the family landed and erected a tem-
porary bark and brush cabin, until they could
hew out a better home. They entered some land
here, and the three boys, George, Jesse, and John,
immediately began clearing. They were shortly
followed by the Nances, Sniders, Wilsons, Hick-
mans, Hursts, and others. The Nances and
Sniders settled in what is now Franklin township.

OATMAN'S FERRY.

The Oatmans were hunters and spent a good
part of their time in the woods. After working
here two or three years, living meanwhile near
the river bank, they found that they were so
frequently called upon to carry people across the
river that they concluded to establish a ferry;
and thus "Oatman's ferry" came into existence.
People frequently appeared on the Kentucky
side of the river and desired to cross; and as the
settlers began to arrive in the new country they
frequently desired to bring over cattle and other
domestic animals. The Oatmans for a long time
carried settlers, their families, and goods over
free; but the demand upon them finally became
so great that they constructed a flat-boat, which
they used for wagons and heavier freight, and
used a skiff for passengers, charging a small fee
for the work. After the county was established
in 18 1 6, they obtained a ferry-right; and Oat-
man's ferry is frequently mentioned in the early
records of the county.

From this point the first roads in the county
started, after that which clung to the Indian trail
before mentioned; and it was at Oatman's ferry
that a large majority of the early settlers of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

245

Franklin, Georgetown, and Greenville townships
crossed the river. The flat-boat would hold
two wagons with the oxen attached, and the load
carried by the wagons, besides a number of
people, and was worked across by a stern pad-
dle.

Jacob, John, and Anthony Snider settled in
Oatman's neighborhood, and after some years
purchased and conducted the ferry. Jesse and
John Oatman became tanners.

Oatman's ferry was the only one on the river
below the falls, except that of Moses McCann at
Clarksville, for many years. The next one was
probably that of Martin Trublood, established
just before the laying out of the city of New
Albany.

AN INTERESTING EXTRACT.

The following, regarding the early settlement
of this township, especially the southern part of
it — referring also to other early matters of im-
portance— is taken from the before mentioned
Directory, published in 1868:

The settlements now rapidly increased along the river bot-
tom below the city, and in what are now Georgetown and
Greenville township. In March, 1812, Samuel Miller crossed
the ferry which landed in the woods at the foot of what is
now Upper Fifth street, and settled on the Miller farm one
mile below the city, on the Budd road.

At this time the only persons who lived within the present
limits of New Albany were James Mitchell and Martin Tru-
blood, the ferryman, whose cabin stood where the Conner
house now stands, at the foot of Upper Fifth street; the old
man Trublood, the father of Martin, who had a small log
mill on Falling run, near he present depot of the Louisville,
New Albany & Chicago railroad; a man named Magrew [Mc-
Grew], whose cabin stood at the corner of Lower First and
Water street, on the site of the large warehouse of Captain
J. H. Reamer; and a man named Marsh, whose cabin oc-
cupied a place near Trublood's mill. Marsh left soon after,
and did not return.

Trublood's little mill did not last long to grind the corn for
the few settlers, as a flood in the creek in 1812 washed away
the dam, and it was never repaired. A few of the logs of
the old dam may yet be seen sticking out of the bank of the
creek, in which they were imbedded over fifty-five years ago.

When Mr. Miller arrived in 1812 the following persons
lived on the bottom — that is, on the road been Middle creek
and New Albany; John Hickman, George Oatman, Widow
Oatman, Johfl Oatman, Beverly Hurst, Joshua Wilson, and
Jesse Wilson.

George Oatman lived on what is known as the Stoy farm;
John Oatman on the Mrs. South farm; Beverly Hurst on the
Collins farm; and the two Wilsons below, not far from Middle
creek. Joshua Wilson afterward bought George and John Oat-
man's farms, Jesse Wilson bought Beverly Hurd's farm, and the
two Wilsons built the brick house on the Stoy farm and the
one on the Collins farm, both being commenced in 1817 and
completed in 1820. These were the first brick houses built in

Floyd county, and both are now occupied and in excellent re-
pair, though over fifty years old.

The news of the Pigeon Roost massacre, which occurred
September 3, 1812, was received in this section of what was
then Clarke county, some thirty hours after its occurrence,
and created much consternation among the settlers. All
those who resided between Falling run and Silver creek, those
who lived back toward the present sites of Greenville and
Galena, and some of the settlers on the river below the
mouth of Falling run, fled into Kentucky. There were a
number of others, however, who had become accustomed to
"Indian scares," as they were called, and refused to run.
Among these were the Lafollettes, the Millers, the Hick-
mans, the Nances, and the Oatmans. These determined to
fight it out with the savages, if such they proved to be, if they
visited the settlements in the vicinity. Some of them did not
believe they were Indians, but white horse-thieves and rob-
bers painted and disguised as Indians. Most of the men be-
longing to the families we have named accordingly set off for
Jeffersonville, the rendezvous of the Clarke county militia, to
join in pursuit of the murderers. The men and women left
at home barricaded their houses as securely as possible,
gathered in groups, and prepared for defense.

Theie was, however, one woman in the neighborhood,
Mrs. John Hickman, whose husband was away from home
some twenty miles to mill. Mrs. Hickman was not willing
to leave her house unprotected in case of a raid, and yet
feared to stay alone. There was but one room in the cabin,
as in most other cabins in those days ; and deeming it there-
fore immodest for her to remain alone all night in the cabin
with a man in no way related to her, she went to the cabin of
Samuel Miller, and asked Nancy Miller to come and stay all
night with her and help guard the house.

It was now dark, but the brave woman agreed to go, and
setting out they both soon reached Mrs. Hickman's cabin.
The door and window were each closed and securely bar-
ricaded, and then Mrs. Hickman proceeded to the rifle-rack,
that necessary and always provided article of pioneer furni-
ture. It was dark in the house, and when she reached up for
the rifle she found it gone, which frightened her very much.
Her husband had taken it with him to mill. She did not,
however, faint or scream, but armed herself with the iron
flax-hackle and a butcher-knife. She gave the knife to
Nancy Miller, and during all that long night these two brave
women sat in the darkened cabin in the woods, not knowing
what moment the yells of the savage foe would call them to
action. Few men would have shown more courage; for in
those days it was not an uncommon thing for wandering
bands of savages to sneak into a neighborhood and commit
deeds of violence, and even bloodshed. The savages did not
make their appearance, however; but the bravery displayed
by these pioneer women made them the heroines of the
neighborhood.

HORSE-STEALING AND LYNCHING.

From the same source comes the following,
regarding the depredations of horse-thieves in
this township and county:

Horse-steahng from about 1810 to 1817 was followed in
this part of Indiana by a band of men regularly and well or-
ganized. They made an occupation of this species of rob-
bery, and came to be a terror to the settlers. In 1810 two
of these horse-thieves were caught near the present upper
limits of the city of New Albany, by a party of settlers from
Clarke county, whom they had robbed. As the courts were

246

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

seldom held, and the few laws existing were not very opera-
tive, a council was held by the captors to determine what
should be done with the prisoners. The proof of their guilt
was positive, for the stolen horses were found in their posses-
sion, and a verdict was soon reached that they should suffer
death.

The names of these thieves were Aveline and Morris.
They begged piteously for their lives; but so many horses
had been stolen and the settlers had become so exasperated
at their losses. — for they were all poor, — that no appeal
moved them from their purpose. The prisoners were accord-
ingly taken to a point on the west side of Silver creek, oppo-
site the site of the old Very mill, allowed one hour in which
to prepare for death by prayer, then shot and their bodies
thrown into the stream, which at that time was very high.

This was the first execution by lynch law in the territory
now included in Floyd county. It had a most salutary effect
upon the horse-stealing fraternity.

At another time, in 1813, a youth aged about seventeen
years stole a horse from the Lafollette settlement, near the
Harrison county line. He was pursued and captured near
Greenville. His captors stripped him and informed him that
in consideration of his youth they would only give him a little
whipping. He was tied to a small tree with a bridle-rein,
his face toward the tree. His captors then cut a dozen or
more stout switches, and with these laid one hundred and
ten lashes upon his bare back. The boy's name was Parrish,
and he lived at Louisville. After the whipping he was unable
to stand on his feet, and was therefore lifted upon a horse,
upon which he was held until the party reached the ferry at
New Albany, where he was placed upon the boat and sent
over to the Kentucky side. He died before reaching Louis-
ville.

A new plan of operations was subsequently adopted by the
horse-thieves. They would swing a bridle on their arms,
and wrap a rope or two around their bodies, and start out
hunting what they claimed to be their own estrayed horses.
Whenever they found a horse running at large they would
"take him up, " and if pursuit were made and they were
overtaken, they would declare that they thought the horse
their own, as he answered exactly the description of the ani-
mal they were seeking. This plan worked well but a short
time, however, when the settlers began to wreak vengeance
upon these "horse-hunters'' to such an extent that it be-
came absolutely dangerous for a man to go into a strange
neighborhood with a bridle on his arm, even in search of his
own horses, unless he could bring some one to identify him
as an honest man.

Instances of lynch law by the most summary
and speedy processes were not uncommon in the
pioneer days of Indiana. Many may form harsh
opinions of the character of the early settlers on
this account; but when it is remembered that
there were but few laws then in force, and but
few officers to enforce even these; when not a
dozen courts in the entire Indiana Territory,
embracing now several States, within the year,
and those most frequently at remote points from
the settlements; when there were no jails, and
but three or four organized counties in the Terri-
tory; when it is remembered, too, that the few

officers of the law were frequently in league with
the thieves, and that it was consequently almost
impossible to capture the latter and compel them
to suffer the penalty of the law ; — there is little
wonder, indeed, that the thieves were thus sum-
marily dealt with. Frequently the thieves were
handed together, and so overawed the settlers by
their numbers, audacity, and boldness, that they
were enabled to carry on their nefarious calling
for years with but little disturbance; the law and
law officers failed to reach them. But the day
of reckoning would finally come, and the out-
raged and long-suffering settlers would rise in
their wrath, and woe be to the man or clique that
stood in their way! The thieves were caught
and summarily shot or hung; and any com-
munity, however, civilized, would to-day follow
the same course under the same conditions.

MORE OF THE IMMIGRANTS.

Those who followed up the old Indian trail
and settled first in the northern part of this town-
ship, were mostly from Kentucky and the Caro-
linas, though a few were from Pennsylvania and
further east. Among them were Richard Lewis,
John Scott, John K. Graham, Joseph Day (the
blacksmith), Jeremiah Jacobs, — Leech, James
Hey, a colored man named Goins, the Turners,
Green Neal, and others whose names are not
now recollected.

Richard Lewis was from North Carolina, and
brought with him a considerable family. His
sons were — Jonathan, Richard, Jr., David, John,
Crawford, and William; and the daughters were
Priscilla, Lovina, Jane, and Lydia. William,
who was a great hunter, preceded the remainder
of the family several years. He seemed to have
followed the business of hunting and trapping,
and erected his lodge in the northern part of this
township, at the foot of the knobs, to the left of
and not far from the Indian trail, on land now
owned by his brother David. William was, no
doubt, influential in inducing his father to come
here and settle, which he did in 1809. William
was only a squatter, but cleared a small patch of
ground near his hunter's cabin, and raised a crop
or perhaps several of them, then "pulled up
stakes" and moved to Washington county after
white settlers became more plentiful around him
than he considered advantageous to his business.
David is the only one of the Lewis children now
living, and is one of the few surviving pioneers

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

247

of the township. He has labored as a farmer all
his life, and now in his declining years is a large
land owner, with his children settled around
him.

THE FLOYD OF FLOYD COUNTY.

The spot of ground upon which William set-
tled passed into the hands of Davis Floyd, and
was by him transferred to Mr. Lewis. Mr Lewis
says that this county was named for this man
Davis Floyd.

Regarding the naming of the county Mr. C.
W, Cottom says, in his pamphlet regarding the
interests of Floyd county, that "the county was
named in honor of Colonel John Floyd, of a dis-
tinguished Virginia family of that name, who
was killed by the Indians on the Kentucky side
of the river, nearly opposite the present site of
New Albany." Mr. Lewis, Mr. Thomas Collins,
and other old pioneers believe the above to be
an error, and that the county took its name from
the above-mentioned Davis Floyd, who was a
noted character in his day. He was a lawyer,
and Mr. Lewis says that when they lived in a
log hut in the woods Mr. Floyd frequently
stopped over night at their cabin, while on his
way from Charlestown to Corydon, to attend
court. He lived at Charlestown, but frequently
traveled on horseback through the woods to
Corydon, having considerable legal business in
both places. He describes him as a very re-
markable man, and one who could have made
a considerable mark in the world had he felt dis-
posed. He was a bold, daring fellow, consider-
ably above the medium height, " very dark for a
white man," full of fun, anecdote, and good
sense, always ready for anything that promised
excitement or adventure, full of fight in his
chosen profession, and able to cope with the
best intellects of his time or of any time. He
was the first judge of the county, and was influ-
ential and prominent in the affairs of the county
until his death.

OTHER PIONEERS.

John K. Graham, who settled in the northern
part of this township at a very early date, will be
longer remembered than most of his contempo-
raries. He was probably more widely known
than any other man in the county, having been
a surveyor for many years, when surveying meant
continued application and hard work. He sur-
veyed most of the lands in this county and a good

deal in Clarke and other counties. He came
from Pennsylvania, was a man of education and
good sense, and soon wielded a great influence
in his neighborhood. He settled first on the
east side of Silver creek, in what is now Clarke
county; but soon moved across and purchased a
farm in the woods on the extensive bottoms,
about a mile from the foot of the knobs and four
or five miles north of the site of New Albany.
Here he lived until his death, rearing a large
family. Many of his descendants yet reside in
the county. He was a member of the Legisla-
ture, and also a member of the convention that
framed the first constitution for the State.

Joseph Day was a blacksmith, probably the
first one in the township, and settled at the foot
of the knobs, three or four miles north of New
Albany, where he built a cabin for a dwelling
and one for a shop, and carried on his business
many years, getting considerable work to do from
the travelers on the great highway from the Falls
to Vincennes, and from the settlers who gradu-
ally gathered atound him.

Jonathan Romine was one of the first settlers
in the central part of the township. He built a
little cabin of round beech logs, with the bark
still adhering to them about where the fair-
ground gate is located. He was a squatter from
North Carolina, and subsequently removed to
Washington county.

One of his neighbors, who came about the
same time, was Archibald O'Neal, an Irishman,
and also a squatter. His family consisted of his
wife, three boys, Samuel, Jonathan, and John,
and one girl, Nancy. Samuel enlisted for the
campaign against the Indians, and was with Har-
rison at Tippecanoe. O'Neal subsequently
moved further west, and settled on Whiskey run.

David Goss was also in the battle of Tippe-
canoe. He came from North Carolina, en-
tering land and settling with his family on Elk
run, in the northern part of the township. This
stream rises in this township, but soon passes
into Clarke county. Goss' land was on the line
between what are now Floyd and Clarke coun-
ties. Below him on the run, at the time of his
settlement, were the widow Jenkins, Morris, her
son-in-law, and a man named Nugent; but the
last three were within the limits of what is now
Clarke county.

All the above-mentioned settlers, and prob-

248

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ably some others, were in this part of the town-
ship in 1809, — how long before this date cannot
be ascertained; hence it is impossible to fix ex-
actly the date of the first settlement of the town-
ship or county. Some of these settlers may
have been here even prior to the beginning of
this century, though it is not likely, as the In-
dians were so hostile that settlers kept pretty
close to the fort. There were, however, a few
hardy pioneers and hunters that were not afraid
of the Indians and managed to live in peace
with them, even when they were in a hostile at-
titude toward the Government.

THE BLOCK-HOUSE.

When the massacre at Pigeon roost occurred,
most of the settlers in this part of the township
became greatly alarmed for their safety, and a
little block-house was erected on Elk run, in
which Mr. Goss and family, the Nugents, and
others living in this neighborhood, sought safety.
Mr. Lewis had at this time lived some years on
the farm where the family yet reside, and al-
though urged by his neighbors to go to the
block-house, refused to do so; at the same time
preparing his cabin for defense by barricading
and chaining the doors and windows, and mak-
ing loop-holes for guns, etc. His son Richard
was then a man grown, and his oldest daughter,
Jane, could handle a rifle equal to almost any
one. Accordingly they determined that, with
the help of the dogs as sentinels, they would fight
it out with the savages if they came that way;
and without doubt they could have made a vig-
orous defense. They had no occasion, how-
ever, for a further display of their combative
faculties.

Mr. Lewis' cabin was not the only one that
was thus transformed into a temporary fort upon
that occasion. Dozens of them all along the
frontier, in this and Clarke counties, were thus
prepared; though many of the settlers gathered
into the block-houses, and others fled across the
Ohio river, remaining until the scare was over.

GAME

was wonderfully plenty here in those early days.
Mr. Lewis says he has stood in his father's cabin
door and seen deer, bears, and turkeys all at one
time. Hardly a day passed without seeing bears.
These animals were in great numbers on the
knobs, where there were annually large amounts

of chestnuts, of which they are very fond. They
would get very fat on these; but at certain sea-
sons of the year, when there were no chestnuts
to be found, the animals would descend to the
bottom lands in search of pigs and other pro-
visions that might be picked up in the vicinity of
the settlers' cabins.

One of the most celebrated hunters in the
northern part of the township, or in all this part
of the country, was one Thomas Hopper, who
lived in the edge of what is now Clarke county.
He even outrivaled William Lewis, probably be-
cause he lived here more years. He was an in-
veterate hunter, keeping his dogs, guns, and
horses for the sole purpose of securing game,
which he found market for at Clarksville, and
other places on the river. His favorite hunting-
ground was in the knobs, and to get to it he was
compelled to cross the northern part of this town-
ship. In his journeys back and forth for years he
made a clear-cut, deep path which may be seen in
places even yet, and has always been known as
"Hopper's trace." He had a brush cabin, or
temporary abode on the knobs about the head-
waters of Indian creek, where he would remain
for days at a time hunting in the vicinity, gener-
ally or always alone. He took two horses with
him, and when he secured game enough to load
them, would return to his cabin in Clarke county.
It was not an unusual thing, it is said, for him to
kill from thirty to fifty bears during the winter
and several hundred deer. Settlements finally
ruined his hunting-grounds, and he followed the
game further west, as did most of the hunters
and squatters of that time.

THE FIRST ELECTION

within the limits of this county was held in Rich-
ard Lewis's house. This was in 1816, and there
was only one other voting place in this part of
the country — at Corydon. To these two places
all the voters in the tract occupied by the pres-
ent counties of Clarke, Floyd, and Harrison re-
paired. Slavery was then the main issue, and
the election was an exciting one, as it was well
known that the parties were very evenly divided.
A majority of the settlers through the country
were from the South, and these were largely in
favor of slavery; but in New Albany, then three
years old, were many New Englanders and other
Eastern settlers brought there through the influ-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

249

ence of the Scribners. The latter were strong
anti-slavery people, and used all their influence,
which was not inconsiderable, at this election.
They came up to Lewis's to vote, and brought
with them all their own party in the neighbor-
hood. Few elections were more exciting or
more closely contested; but the anti-slavery
party were victors by one vote.

PIONEER MILLS.

Few if any mills were erected in the northern
part of the township, except here and there a
small saw-mill. The streams were not of suffi-
cient strength for successful milling. The set-
tlers generally went to Trublood's mill, on Fall-
ing run, or to Bullitt's mill above the falls, or to
a little mill in Clarke county, on Muddy fork,
erected at an early day by a Mr. Hoagland.

THE FIRST SCHOOL

in the northern part of the township and, in fact,
in this part of the country, was on Elk run, with-
in what is now Clarke county, in the Goss neigh-
borhood. The school-house was a strange one,
even for that day, not many of the same pattern
being in existence. It was built of round logs
and was eight square, or had eight corners and
eight sides. It contained two large fire-places,
located at each end in the angles, the end cor-
ners being made on purpose to accommodate
the fire-places. The pupils in the winter sat on
rude benches between two huge log-heap fires,
and were thus enabled to keep from freezing,
even if they did not succeed in getting ahead in
their studies. Very few books were used — the
ABC class having paddles upon which the let-
ters were pasted, and which were occasionally
used advantageously by the teacher for other pur-
poses, supposed in those days to be connected
with school-teaching.

Jonathan McCoy, an Irishman, was the first
teacher here, and it is said spent most of his time
during school hours in pacing the floor with a
long hickory "gad" across his shoulder as if he
was engaged in driving oxen. His whip was so
long that he could stand in the middle of the
room and reach any pupil under his guardian-
ship, and he managed to keep good order; hence
his school is said to have been a success.

The principal qualification of a teacher in
those days was physical strength, and the ability
to "wollop" the largest scholar in his school.

He was never known as "teacher," but as
"master." This school-building had greased-
paper windows, and was often used for a church,
the first religious meetings in the neighborhood
being held here.

Richard Aston, Sr., also taught one of the first
schools in the township, a few miles north of the
site of New Albany, in a deserted cabin that had
been used by lumbermen. It was a "select"
school, and said to have been very successful.
The school on Elk run, Mr. Aston's school, and
that over on the west side of the knobs, in what
is now Lafayette township, in the English settle-
ment, were the first three schools in this part of
the county. Mr. Lewis first attended school at
the latter place, the distance being about two
miles.

GRAYSVILLE.

No towns or villages of consequence exist in
the township, although many villages were started
and grew rapidly around the present city of New
Albany; but most of them were so near that
city that they have become absorbed in it. A
small cluster of houses, about a dozen, stands at
the junction of the State road from Jeffersonville
west, and that from Charlestown to New Albany.
The hamlet is locally known as Graysville. A
blacksmith named Gray built a shop at this
point about 183 1, and tried to build up a town,
but it never came to anything, though he induced
a few people to come and settle there. A Mr.
Stiles started a shoe-shop there soon after Gray's
advent, and these two shops, with the two dwel-
lings, constituted the town for some time. At
present the business of the place consists of a
wagon and blacksmith shop and a grocery. It
may never have had large expectations, but
came naturally to be called Graysville, from its
leading spirit.

smith's mill,

or Six Mile Switch, is a station in the northern
part of the township, on the New Albany &
Salem railroad, being the firsc stopping place
north of New Albany. When the railroad was
in course of erection a man named Barney had
a contract for leveling the road-bed and laying
the ties on this part of the road. He purchased
at this point one hundred and twenty-five acres
of land — good timber land — for the purpose of
getting the ties from it, and to facilitate matters
he erected a saw mill at what is now Six Mile

25°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Switch for the purpose of sawing the ties. A
switch was also constructed here at the same
time, for convenience in loading cars at the mill.
After completing his contract he sold the land,
all but ten acres, to David Lewis, and Messrs.
Smith & Searles purchased the mill and ten
acres of ground, concluding that it would be a
good point to continue the business. It never
paid, however, and was taken away after a time.
Peter Worley bought a little ground there, and
for a time kept a grocery, but this business did
not pay, and was abandoned. The trains, or
some of them, stop here for the convenience of
passengers, but there is no station house.

RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

Five churches have an existence at present in
this township outside of the city, viz: Two
Methodist, one United Brethren, one Disciple or
Christian, and one Presbyterian. It will be
noticed that no New Light or Baptist societies
now exist in the township, although these were
among the first religious denominations to or-
ganize when the country was new. The earliest
religious teachers were here, as elsewhere in the
county, Clement Nance and the Rev. Mr.
Gunn, subsequently of Franklin township, and
Rev. Mr. Schrader, the founder of Schrader's
Chapel, in Lafayette township. When they first
began preaching her*1 Nance was a New Light,
Gunn a Baptist, and Schrader a Methodist; and
their meetings were, as was usual in those times,
held in the cabins of the settlers and in the log
school-houses. A religious sentiment was a
prominent characteristic of a large portion of the
early settlers here, and a preacher of the gospel
was always welcome, no matter to what denomina-
tion he belonged; and the settlers all turned out
to "meeting," whether believers or not. It is
not unlikely that the first religious meetings for
the people of the northern part of the township
was held at the eight-cornered school-house be-
fore-mentioned. After the establishment 01 New
Albany, the churches which soon grew up in that
city drew to them the greater portion of the peo-
ple of the township, so that churches outside of
that city have not flourished as they would prob-
ably have done, but for this influence.

If any of the earliest preachers succeeded in
organizing a permanent society, the fact does not
appear at present.

THE DISCIPLE CHURCH.

Jacob and John Wright were also among the
first ministers of the Gospel through this part of
the county, and left permanent foot-prints behind
them by organizing a church, which has at least
a nominal existence to-day. The Wrights were
known in those days as "Campbellites." They
lived in Washington county, and came through
here preaching, generally in the cabins of the
settlers, as early as 1825. They established the
church at Mooresville, and probably exerted the
strongest influence in the establishment of the
Disciple church in this township, which is located
at present on section sixty-three.

The first regular preacher to this society, how-
ever, and one who did more, perhaps, than any
other person to infuse life into the infant society,
was Absalom Little, one of the first settlers of
Clarke county. He was a man of fair ability, it
is said, and drew large crowds to his preaching
during the summer, when he was in the habit of
preaching in the woods near the old Very mill,
on Slate run.

The church was organized about 1832, but has
had a hard struggle for existence, and may be
said to be practically dead at present. Among
its earliest converts were Mr. Mulliken, Thomas
Hutchison, William Stites, and others of the
neighborhood. The building of the church edi-
fice, a frame building, was coeval with the or-
ganization of the society, and was largely ac-
complished by voluntary labor, with the help of
about $500 in cash, raised in exceedingly small
amounts among the settlers. The society has
apparently perished several times, and has gener-
ally led a sickly existence. A Sabbath-school
has been held here at various times, but had also
a fickle existence. They have had no preaching
in the church for several years, except occasional-
ly. The Rev. Dr. Fields, of Jeffersonville, was
the last regular minister. The church has a lone,
deserted appearance, answering only the purpose
of a monument to the inconstancy and fickleness
of humanity.

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

One of the earliest churches in this part of the
township was the old Methodist Episcopal
church, known as "Jacobs chapel," from its chief
promoter, Nelson Jacobs, long since dead.
There were living in this neighborhood (now sec-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS'COUNTIES.

25i

tion eighty-six) at that time Nelson Jacobs, two
brothers named Leech — Bowman and Joshua —
James Walker, the Youngs, Joseph Ashabraner,
John Smith, and perhaps some others, who de-
termined to unite their capital and labor, and
build up a church. Joshua Leech is yet living,
a very old man; all the others are dead. His
brother Bowman gave the ground upon which
the church edifice was erected about 1840. The
old building, a frame, is yet standing.

Rev. Messrs. Snyder, Kinnear, and ,Sinex were
among the early ministers here. They first or-
ganized in a school-house about 1835, where
services were continued some years. The church
flourished more than a generation, and probably
exerted considerable influence in shaping the
character of the people of the neighborhood; but
finally, like its neighbor, the Disciple church,
broke down, and no regular preaching is
now maintained. The Sunday-school, however,
which was organized here soon after the church
was erected, yet has a healthy existence, the
membership at present being sixty or more.

THE PRESBYTERIANS

early succeeded in organizing a church in the
northern part of the township, and have main-
tained it to the present time. It was first brought
into existence, probably, through the zeal and
ministerial labors of the Rev. Mr. Snead, a gen-
tleman whose name will be found connected with
the early Presbyterian organizations of New Al-
bany. The Mount Tabor Presbyterian church
was organized by Mr. Snead about 1830, and the
church edifice erected, on what is now section
sixty-two, a year or so later.

The place was at that time surrounded by a
dense forest. A few Presbyterian families had
moved into this neighborhood; among them the
Hands were prominent and were among the
founders of this church. Lewis Mann, Jacob
and Thomas Hand, and Jacob Straw and their
families, with a few others, constituted the first
membership of this church. It has had a con-
tinued existence, with very little interruption, for
more than half a century, and now numbers
about 'twenty members. A Sunday-school has
been maintained almost uninterruptedly during
the summer months from the organization of the
church to the present time.

THE UNITED BRETHREN.

Probably the last church organized in the
township is known as "Friendship," a United
Brethren church, which stands on section eleven,
in the northern part of the township. Quite a
number of people of this faith were scattered
through the northern part of the township and
in Lafayette township adjoining on the west; and
among them was a local preacher, Mr. Abraham
A^abraner, who was the principal promoter and
organizer of the church. The first organization
was effected in 1870, in a school-house near the
present church edifice; and the building was
erected two or three years later, at a cost of $500,
exclusive of the voluntary labor bestowed upon
it by the members. The ground was donated
by Mr. John Smith, one of the prominent mem-
bers. Joseph Smith, a brother of John, Mr.
John Wake, with their families and many others,
were members of the first organization.

The Rev. Henry Jackson, from Jackson
county, was the first regular preacher. Jacob
White was also among the first who ministered
to the church. Mr. Ashabraner preaches fre-
quently, in the absence of the regular pastor.
The church building is beautifully located on a
rise of ground, in the midst of a fine grove of
young oaks near the railroad, and with the pic-
turesque Silver hills immediately in its rear as a
back-ground.

The corner-stone of this denomination seems
to be, in this county at least, the suppression of
secret societies. It wages a ceaseless war upon
Masons, Odd Fellows, and kindred societies.

THE M'KINDRY CHAPEL.

In the southern part of the township there is
but one church outside the city of New Albany;
this is the Methodist Episcopal church, known
as McKindry chapel, located two miles south of
the city, on the river road. Religious matters
received considerable attention in this neighbor*
hood from a very early date. From the time of
the advent of the Oatmans, Nances, Sniders, and
other settlers, some kind of religious worship has
been conducted in the neighborhood; at first in
the cabins of these settlers, afterwards in the old
log school-house, and then in the church. Sev-
eral religious societies flourished in the neighbor-
hood at an early day, but went down in the pro-
gress of time, except the Methodists, who, though

252

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

failing occasionally, have regained their foothold,
and now own and occupy the only church build-
ing in the neighborhood.

The first church building erected was of logs,
and being put up by the voluntary labor of all the
citizens of the neighborhood without regard to
creed, it was known as the Union church, and
was used as occasion required by all denomina-
tions— at first, however, mostly by the Baptists
and New Lights.

There were for a long time two Baptist socie-
ties in the neighborhood, differing somewhat in
matters of minor importance, and holding meet-
ings at different times in the old church. These
two societies finally ceased to exist; but the Meth-
odists held their organization intact, and erected
the present church building just prior to the war
on the site of the old log structure. A colored
man named Wilson, one of the early settlers in
lhe neighborhood, was one of the first members of
this church, and made a gift of the land upon
which the old building stood. Samuel Angel
was also among the prominent early members.

This church is well sustained at the present
time, the membership being about fifty. A Sun-
day-school has been maintained here since the
early days of the church, and still continues in a
flourishing condition.

VALEDICTORY.

Much that is interesting regarding the early set-
tlement and other matters connected with the
growth and development of this township, will be
found in the chapter on the city of New Albany.

CHAPTER XIV.

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

At the first meeting of the county commission-
ers, February 8, 1819, that body divided the
county into townships, and after designating the
boundaries of New Albany and Greenville town-
ships, the record reads as follows:

Ordered, That the residue or remainder of said county,
which has not been heretofore laid off. form one other town-
ship, to be known and designated as Franklin township ; and
that the elections for said township be and the same are here-

by ordered to be held at the house of Mr. John Bowman, in
said township.

The territory embraced in this township, and
also that in Greenville township, prior to the
formation of this county, had belonged to Harri-
son county, the east line of the latter county
then extending along the knobs, beginning at the
mouth of Falling run. That part of Floyd county
west of the knobs was divided into two townships,
Greenville and Franklin.

At a special meeting of the commissioners,
held April 19, 18 19, the boundaries of this town-
ship were changed somewhat, and were more
specially defined as follows:

Ordered, that all that part of Floyd county beginning on
the line which divides the counties of Harrison and Floyd, at
'the corners of sections numbered fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one,
and twenty two, in township No. 2, south of range No. 5
east, thence east with the sectional line to the corners of sec-
tions numbered seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, in
township No. 2, south of range No. 6 east; thence south with
the sectional line to the corners of sections numbered twenty-
nine, thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-two, in township No. 2,
south of range No. 6 east; thence with the sectional line to
the corners of sections numbered twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-
one, and thirty-two, in Town 2, Range 6 east; thence east to
the Ohio river; thence with the meanders of said river to the
line which divides the counties of Harrison and Floyd, thence
with said line to the place of beginning, be and the same is
hereby made one township, to be known and designated by
the name of Franklin township.

And it is further ordered, that the bounds of the township
called Franklin township, which was made an order at the
session in February last, be and the same is hereby made
void and of no effect.

The next month, at the regular meeting (May
17, 1 819), the following appears on the rec-
ord:

Ordered, That fractional sections number twenty-eight
and twenty-nine,, in township No. 3 south of range num-
ber Six east, now in New Albany township, be attached to
Franklin township.

At the May session of the commissioners, in
182 1, it was further

Ordered, That the west half of section five, of township
No. 3 (New Albany township), south of range Six east, be
and the same is hereby attached to Franklin township.

At the same session it was still further

Ordered, That the north half of section twenty-two, town-
ship No. 2 (Franklin), south of range Five east, and the
northwest quarter of section twenty-three, in said town,
be taken from Franklin township and attached to Greenville
township.

Other but unimportant changes in the boun-
dary lines of this township occurred from time
to time until 1837, when Georgetown township
was created from its northern part, thus reducing
it to its present dimensions.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

253

TOPOGRAPHY.

This township forms the southern part of the
county, and touches the Ohio river below New
Albany township. The surface is generally
broken and hilly, in places the hills assuming the
altitude of small mountains; it is therefore not
good farming land, except along the Ohio river
and the narrow bottoms of Knob creek, where
may be found some of the finest farming tracts
in the county, or even in the State. These
valleys are, however, comparatively narrow, that
along the Ohio being from half a mile to a mile
wide, though opening out in places and extend-
ing back among the knobs for a mile and a half
or more, while the valley of Knob creek is very
narrow and enclosed by lofty, precipitous hills.
Six miles' front of the township is washed by the
waters of the Ohio; and here gardening and
farming are carried on extensively and success-
fully. This beautiful bottom is enclosed by the
knobs on the northeast and the river on the
southwest, the former extending in all their wild
and rugged beauty from northeast to southwest
across the township. Nature seems to have
taken special delight here in presenting to the
astonished gaze her most rugged aspects. But
these hills do not appear as one continuous
chain, as they do further north, along the borders
of New Albany township; but are much broken
by little streams that find their way into the
Ohio, and by deep, dark gorges and canyons,
making them appear sometimes in groups. It is

Where the hills huddle up in disorder,

Like a fold in mortal fear,

And the mountains are out at the elbow.

Some of these groups or hills have received
distinct names, such as " Rock House hill,"
" Sampson's hill," " Blunk knob," etc.

When the first settler crossed the Ohio and
landed in this township, he found along the
river bank a dense jungle, such as might be met
with in the wilds of Africa. Along the immedi-
ate bank of the river was a heavy growth of
canebrake that could only be penetrated with
difficulty, and in the rear of this a rank growth
of the heaviest of timber — all hard wood of
many varieties, though sycamore, the different
varieties of ash, black walnut, and sugar-tree
probably predominated. The undergrowth was
so dense as to be almost impenetrable to man
until the axe was brought into requisition. Great

tree-trunks which a man could not see over, were
lying upon the ground, and smaller trees were
piled promiscuously in every direction, while
still smaller ones and bushes growing up among
them made of this beautiful bottom one vast
thicket, which was filled with wild animals and
venomous reptiles. Beyond this bottom the
character of the soil and timber suddenly
changed ; the knobs sprang suddenly out of this
level, and some of them reached away up into
the clouds, as if saying to the beautiful river
that once, no doubt, washed their very feet,
"Thus far and no farther." These hills were
then, as they are to day, covered principally with
the different varieties of oak, together with much
chestnut, and a few of the evergreen varieties of
wood. In places the rock formation comes to
the surface, and the face of the hills is rugged
and bare. To the north and northwest beyond
this line of hills, the country stretched away in
hills and valleys, often broken and abrupt, and
at other times undulating ; but the soil was thin,
clayey, and not particularly desirable for agricul-
tural purposes, while the timber was of smaller
growth, and consisted of scrub oak and bitter
hickory, with some beech, sugar and other varie-
ties of hard wood.

The township is well watered by numerous run-
ning streams and springs. Middle creek, coming
out of New Albany township, crosses a small por-
tion of this township before it reaches the Ohio.
Knob creek is the principal stream in the town-
ship, and has its source in a little spring that
bursts from the side of the hill, so near to the
little village of Edwardsville that the people there
resort to it for water when their wells and cisterns
fail, as was the case during the great drouth of
the summer of 1881. From a little rivulet at
this spring Knob creek goes along, gathering
strength from the numerous springs and brooks
among the hills, until it becomes a considerable
stream by the time it gets through Franklin town-
ship and reaches the Ohio. It tumbles down in
a winding, tortuous course through a wild and
rugged country, passing through the central and
eastern part of the township. The hills hug it
pretty closely until it nears the knobs, where
there is a comparatively wide, free opening to the
river. The Ohio river bottom here spreads out
to its greatest width, and extends some distance
up Knob creek. After passing the knobs and

254

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

entering the river bottom, Knob creek seems to
be undecided whether to lose its identity imme-
diately in the Ohio or cling to its native hills,
and pursues a tortuous course in a very tantaliz-
ing manner between the two until it passes be-
yond the boundaries of this township into Har-
rison county, where it soon joins la Belle Riviere.
The hills of Knob creek form a distinct range
by themselves, running directly north, and unit-
ing again at Edwardsville with the main range of
knobs, thus leaving a beautiful and fertile little val-
ley to the east of them, and between them and
the main range that follows the Ohio. This val-
ley, however, is mostly in New Albany township,
though extending occasionally for short distances
into this township. Beyond the range of hills
that bound Knob creek on the west there is a
ridge extending parallel with these hills, beyond
which the waters fall off to the westward; and
here are found the headwaters of Buck creek
and some of the numerous tributaries of Indian
creek that quickly pass into Harrison county.

Nearly one-half of this township yet remains
in timber, and probably will so remain for many
years to come as a great part of it is untillable.
Much that is now in timber may, however, in the
distant future be utilized for vineyards and past-
urage. The whole number of acres in the town-
ship is 14,469, and the products are principally
the same as those of other counties in the State,
viz: wheat, oats, barley, rye, corn, potatoes, and
fruit of different varieties.

ARCH/EOLOGY.

No traces of the mound builders at this time
appear in this township. If they ever occupied
its soil, as most likely they did, temporarily at
least, they disappeared without leaving behind
them monuments sufficiently enduring to with-
stand the ravages of time during the centuries
that have intervened since their occupancy.
Very few evidences of the red men also appear;
but they were upon this soil, as is well remem-
bered by the oldest inhabitant, and many of their
implements of war and the chase, in the shape of
stone-hatchets and arrow-heads have been found,
and even yet the plow now and then turns up a
curious stone that had long years ago been"
deftly fashioned by the red-handed warrior.

The Indians were known to have occupied
thisterritory for hunting purposes, having tem-

porary camps along Knob creek and near the
many beautiful springs that burst from the hill-
sides. They came from further north, along the
Wabash, where their principal villages were situ-
ated, and where they engaged in raising corn; at
least this was the occupation of the female por-
tion and the prisoners, while the young warriors
were absent hunting or marauding. They do
not appear to have encamped even temporarily
along the Ohio, but kept well back among the
knobs. This is probably accounted for by the
malarious and marshy condition of the Ohio
bottoms at that time. These bottoms, however,
formed an excellent retreat for wild game, and
were no doubt much visited by the Indians while
temporarily encamped on Knob creek.

No murders are known to have been com-
mitted by them within the limits of this town-
ship, but the earliest settlers lived in continual
fear and dread of them, and some of these
settlers are known to have fled to Kentucky for
safety on one or two occasions when an Indian
raid was feared. The raid never came, however,
and the settlers lived to see their red neighbors
all disappear toward the setting sun.

FIRST WHITE OCCUPATION.

The following list embraces most of the early
settlers in what is now Franklin township:
Robert LaFollette, Clement Nance, Thomas
Gwin, Thomas Smith, Gilbert Budd, Caleb New-
man, Michael Swartz, Frederick Mosar, John
Merriwether, John Flickner, John Welch, Cap-
tain William Wright, George Lidikay, Frederick
Hanger, Joseph Walden, Joseph Decker, David
Gunn, John Bowman, John Snider, James
Tabler, William and Jerry Clark, Joseph Blunk,
William Sampson, and no doubt others whose
names are not recalled.

A few of these early settlers squatted on the
river bank in what is now New Albany towhship,
near Oatman's ferry, but subsequently became
settlers of Franklin.

The following, regarding the first settlement
of this township, and also of this county, is
taken from a Directory of New Albany, pub-
lished by Bailey & Co. in 1868:

The first white settler in what is now Floyd county was
Robert Lafollette, father of Judge D. W. Lafollette, of New
Albany. Robert Lafollette was a Kentuckian, and on the
4th day of November, 1804, was married in that State. On
the next day after his marriage, accompanied by his young
wife, he crossed the Ohio river into the then Indiana Terri-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

2.S5

tory, and the same night pitched his camp about three-quar-
ters of a mile east of the mouth of Knob creek, a location
he had selected prior to his marriage.

, Here he remained, living in his camp until he had chopped
down the trees, cut the logs into proper lengths, cleared off
a small spot of ground, and erected his humble log cabin —
the first house built within the present limits of Floyd county
— and then removed irom this temporary tent into the
cabin.

This house was built in the most primitive style. It was
one story high, and contained but one room. The cracks
between the logs were " chinked " with small slabs of wood
split from logs, and then daubed with mortar made of clay
and water. There was no window in it, for at that time a
pane of eight-by-ten window glass, that now sells at five
cents could not be bought for less than seventy-five
cents, and the early settlers were too poor to indulge in so
costly a luxury. A large fire-place, extending half the width
of one end of the house, and from which a chimney made of
sticks and daubed with mud conducted the smoke, supplied
the place now usurped ' by our modern health-destroying
stoves, and answered the double purpose of furnishing heat
by day and heat and light by night. Even tallow candles
could not be afforded, except by a few, in those early days.
The roof was of clapboards, split from the oak timber that
composed the principal growth with which our hardy pioneers
were surrounded; and as nails were then worth sixty-two and
a half cents per pound, their purchase was impossible, and
heavy poles were laid upon the clapboards and pinned with
wooden pins into the house-log, at either end. This made
an excellent roof.

In the way of furniture Mr. Lafollette had nothing besides
some bedding, a few rude cooking utensils, and a scanty sup-
ply of cupboard-ware. For a bedstead holes were bored in-
to Ihe logs on the inside of the house, and long wooden pins
driven into them. Upon these pins were placed two or three
puncheons hewn out by Mr. Lafollette, and on these pun-
cheons the bed was placed. This rude bedstead, thus impro-
vised, was quite common among the early settlers of Indiana,
and upon such bedsteads have our fathers and mothers passed
hundreds of nights in the sweetest and most invigorating
repose after a hard day's labor. Thus slept Robert Lafol-
lette and his*\vife many a time and oft; and on such a bed
their first-born was ushered into existence, and though his
birthplace was so humble, he now lives honored and respected
by all who know him. For a table plain boards were fastened
upon wooden legs with wooden pins. No leaves were re-
quired, and but two or three narrow and short boards were
necessary for a top, and the table was complete. Wooden
benches supplied the place of chairs, and a few wooden
shelves placed upon wooden pins driven in the logs answered
for cupboard, bureau, and clothes-press. The floor was of
puncheons. This was the home and furnishings of the first
settler within the present limits of Floyd county. It was fin-
ished and first occupied in December, 1804.

Mr. Lafollette's nearest neighbors at this time lived about
teo miles below him in Harrison county, and twelve miles
above him at Clarksville, opposite the Falls. He brought
with him from Kentucky a few sacks of corn, and getting
out of meal about Christmas he took a small sack of the
grain in a canoe and paddled his little vessel and grist up to
Tarascon's mill at the falls. But a few hours after arriving
at the mill, and before his com could be ground an im-
mense field of ice from above began moving down the river
over the falls. The ice continued to increase in amount, and
for twelve days completely blockaded the river and rendered it

impossible to cross. All this time Mr. Lafollette was de.
tained at the mill.

During his absence Mrs. Lafollette's scanty store of provis-
ions gave out and for five or six days the only food she had
to subsist upon was parched corn. In those days the only
meats used were what was afforded by the wild game, and
this was generally easily killed as it was required. Mr.
Lafollette has frequently stated that he could almost any
morning kill all the game he needed in half an hour, within
fifty yards of his house. Bears, deer, wolves, panthers, and
wild-cats were numerous in the woods around him. and the
hills back of Knob creek seemed to be a favorite resort for
these wild animals. Bears and wolves not unfrequently came
within his enclosure and close up to his cabin door; and so
plenty were wild turkeys, and so tame, that he often shot
them from his own door-yard.

This section of the State was, at that early day, frequently
visited by wandering gangs of Shawnese and Miami Indians.
Mr. and Mrs. Lafollette had for their nearest neighbors a
small party of Shawnese. They lived on the most amicable
terms with these Indians; and whenever the marauding
Miamis and Shawnese came from White river and the
Wabash into the white settlements along the Ohio, for pur-
poses of robbery and murder, Mr. Lafollette was at once in-
formed of the danger by his friendly Indian neighbors, and
his wife would be sent over the river into Kentucky for
safety, while he would join the expeditions of the settlers
above and below him to aid in driving back the savage foe.

Mr. Lafollette continued to reside where he first settled
until the division lines between the counties of Harrison and
Clarke had been definitely run, and Charlestown fixed as the
county seat of Clarke county. He resided within the limits
of Clarke county, and paid his proportion of the special tax
levied to build the first court-house at Charlestown. A few
years later he removed to Harrison county, and there paid a
special tax levied to build the court-house at Corydon. When
Floyd county was organized in 1819, he was thrown into this
county, and when the court-house was built at New Albany
he paid his proportion of the tax levied to build it. He thus,
in the period of fourteen years, paid special taxes to build
three court-houses.

Mr. Lafollette continued to reside on the farm to which he
removed from the vicinity of Knob creek until his death,
which occurred in January, 1867. At the time of his death
he was eighty-nine years old, and had resided within the ter-
ritory of what is now Floyd county sixty-two years and two
months. His wife died about one year earlier, at the age of
seventy-nine, and sixty-one years after her settlement here.

In all the relations of life Robert Lafollette was a good
man. He was cqnscientiously religious; his house was for
many years a preaching place for the Regular Baptists, and
the pioneer ministers of that denomination, as well as of all
others, always made his home a stopping-place, and ever
found there a cordial welcome. He subscribed for the first
newspaper ever published in Floyd county, and continued to
take a paper up to the day of his death. He is now with the
companion of his youth's pioneer life, enjoying the rewards
of a well-spent life in that house not made » ith hands— eternal
in the heavens.

Mr. Lafollette's family was followed into this section by
Clement Nance, Sr. , and his family, who settled on what is
known as the Oatman farm, a few miles below New
Albany, on the river road. It was his daughter, afterward
married to Patrick Shields, who was the first white woman
who ever crossed the Knobs. Mr. Nance lived to a ripe old
age, and was always identified with the interests of the

256

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

county, holding a number of important and responsible
offices, all of which he filled with honor.

The Oatman family followed that of Nance, from the best
information we can glean, shortly after. An old settler tells
us a little love affair between Oatman and one of Mr. Nance's
daughters, and what came of it. Oatman fell in love with
Miss Nance, but for some reason his suit did not meet the
favor of her father, and his visits to the young lady ceased.
Now Nance had not taken the precaution to preempt his land
when he "squatted " upon it, because he had to go to Vin-
cennes through an almost unbroken forest to do so. Set-
tlers were coming in slowly, and he did not fear that his
claim would be "jumped." Oatman found out that the land
was not entered, and so determined, if he could not get the
girl, he would have the land. Accordingly, in company with
John Paul, he 'quietly left for Vincennes one fine morning
early in 1807, entered the land and received the patent for
it. At the same time John Paul entered and received the
patent for all the land upon which the present city of New
Albany stands, except that lying above the " Grant line."

On returning home Oatman produced his patent for the
" Oatman farm," and took possession of it, In consequence
of this an ill feeling always existed between Mr. Oatman and
Mr. Nance. To say the least of it, Oatman 's act was not a
very gallant one.

This matter of "jumping " a claim, or dispos-
sessing a squatter of his rights, was considered
a very serious matter among the pioneers, and
often led to the bitterest of feuds which contin-
ued many years among neighbors, and was often
continued by the children for several generations,
breaking out occasionally in bloodshed and mur-
der. From this fact and the further fact that
land was plenty — there was enough for all — it
was seldom resorted to, unless for spite, as ap-
pears to have been the case in this instance.
Sometimes, however, when a squatter had occu
pied and partially cleared a piece of desirable
land, the temptation to possess it was too strong,
and it was entered by some stranger, regardless
of consequences. Such was the case with Mr.
Lafollette, probably the first settler of the coun-
ty. After toiling upon his farm in the woods for
several years, building the cabin, clearing off fif-
teen or twenty acres of the heaviest of woodland,
and otherwise improving it, he suddenly became
aware that some other person had entered it and
was owner of it, and all his years of labor were
going for naught. The distance to Vincennes
being great, and having no way to get there, ex-
cept on foot, he had neglected going, not think-
ing any one would be mean enough to dispossess
him, or hoping that the fact of his not having en-
tered it would remain unknown until he' could
go to Vincennes and perform that duty. He
was disappointed, and was accordingly compelled

to start anew on another farm in the wilderness,
leaving all his improvements behind.

There is a dispute regarding the first settle-
ment of this county, as there may easily be, and
generally is about the first settlement of any par-
ticular territory. So many circumstances are to
be considered; and when it is taken into account
that the counties and townships of to-day had no
existence at the time of the first settlement, that
all surveyors' lines were few and far apart, that no
one at that time seems to have been thoughtful
enough or public spirited enough to keep a
record of events, and that, consequently, such
matters as the first settlement must depend
entirely upon tradition, the difficulties and doubts
in the matter will be understood.

There is little doubt that Robert Lafollette
was the first settler on the territory now embraced
in Franklin township, and may have been — he
probably was — the first settler of Floyd county,
though it is believed by some that John Carson,
who is said to have settled at the mouth of Sil-
ver creek, on the west side of that stream, as
early as 1800, was the first settler. The settle-
ment of Mr. Carson cannot, however, at this
late date be verified, while the settlement of
Robert Lafollette comes pretty straight, and there
can be no reasonable doubt that the settlement
was made in this township at the date stated.
As the history of New Albany township contains
some additional notes regarding the settlement
of John Carson, the subject will not receive fur-
ther attention here.

There is another statement in the foregoing
extract thnt may be taken with some grains of
allowance, considering all the circumstances —
that is, that Mrs. Patrick Shields, the daughter
of Clement Nance, was the first white woman to
cross the knobs. She may have been, and
doubtless was, the first resident white woman to
accomplish that journey; but it must be borne in
mind that a settlement had existed at Clarksville,
within four miles of the foot of the knobs, for
more than twenty-five years prior to the advent
of the Nance family. There were many families
in this settlement; is it possible that none of the
females ventured beyond the knobs during all
those years. Again, there was a great Indian
trail from the falls of the Ohio to Vincennes,
passing over the knobs. This trail had been a
great thoroughfare for the Indians and white

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

257

traders about Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and other
points in the West, for perhaps a century or
more. Is it possible that no white woman, either
captive or otherwise, passed over this trail during
all those years? It is impossible to say, and
therefore impossible to state as a positive fact,
that Mrs. Shields was the first white woman to
cross the knobs.

The Nance family became residents of this
township after being dispossessed of their land,
as stated in the foregoing extract, and the Oat-
mans took possession of their old place, which
is now within the limits of New Albany town-
ship.

Clement Nance came from Virginia and set-
tled here about 1805 or 1806, with a family of
six sons and five daughters. The sons were
William, Mathias, Clement, Jr., James, Giles,
and John Wesley. The daughters were Dorothy,
Nancy, Mary, Elizabeth, and Jane. The place
where the family first settled, near Oatman's
ferry, was so heavily timbered that the larger part
of an ordinary lifetime would be required to clear
it, and the family suffered much from fever and
ague, as was the case with all the early settlers
who settled near the river. After losing this
place they removed to the western part of this
township, not far from the village of Lanes-
ville, where Clement Nance continued to reside
until he died, his death occurring at the age of
seventy-two years. He was a man of consider-
able force of character, and wielded not a little
influence among the settlers in his immediate
neighborhood. He joined the Methodist church
when seventeen years of age, but seems to have
changed his belief quite often, as he appears at
different times as a Methodist, Campbellite or
"Christian," and New-light believer. He be-
came a local preacher, and occupied the pulpits
of the neighboring churches pretty regularly for
many years. He enjoyed a high Christian char-
acter, and is spoken of as a "good man, without
fault."

Mrs. Welch, a granddaughter of Clement
Nance, yet living in the township, says it was
about the first of March, 1805, when they
reached the south bank of the Ohio, on the way
to their new home. The weather was cold, with
almost continual storms of rain and snow.
When Mr. Nance first came from Virginia he
settled on the Kentucky river, where he re-

mained about eighteen months. He then con-
structed a flat-boat (having determined to push
on to Indiana Territory), upon which he placed
a part of his family — all the women and small
children — and all his household effects. Upon
this boat they floated down the Kentucky and
Ohio, landing near that part of the river where
the Oatman ferry was afterwards established. A
portion of the family came overland with their
cattle and horses, they being possessed of quite
a 'number of cattle, which, by browsing upon
the canebrake and the wild grasses that giew
abundantly, kept fat.

Clement Nance had a large family, which he
thus landed in the wilderness, without house or
even shelter. It is said the mother cried pite-
ously when she found herself, surrounded by a
helpless family of children, brought to this
dreary, desolate region, and landed in a cold
March storm of sleet and snow, without shelter
of any kind. They soon, with stiong arms and
brave hearts, erected a three-sided pole shanty,
with the open end from the storm, and soon had
a log-heap fire in front of it; and in this little
eight-by-ten open camp, covered only with bark
and brush, the family lived many days, until a
permanent cabin could be erected. The cattle
were ferried over on the flat-boat, and allowed to
roam at large in the woods. Fortunately they
did not suffer for provisions, as the cows fur-
nished milk and the woods were full of game
that could be had almost without hunting for it.
One of the boys, Giles, was the great hunter of
the Nance family, though all the family, even
the girls, were expert with the rifle. Giles Nance
probably killed more deer than any other of the
early settlers in this part of the county. In later
years he kept a tame doe that he was in the habit
of using successfully as a decoy, the doe fre
quently going into the woods and returning in
company with several of the wilder animals of
the same species, which thus became victims to
Giles' unerring rifle.

The boys nearly all became farmers and hunt-
ers. Mr. Nance entered a large tract of land
where he finally settled, enough to give his chil-
dren each a farm. In after years James and
Mathias were engaged in distilling, a very com-
mon and respectable business in those days.
Giles and William went to Illinois. Clement,
Jr., became a prominent and influential citizen,

258

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

was one of the first board of county commis-
sioners, became associate judge, and held other
offices of trust and profit in the county. He
was one of the judges when Dahman was tried
and found guilty of murder, an account of which
appears elsewhere. Notwithstanding the feud
between the families, Nancy Nance seems to
have married John Oatman, son of the old ferry-
man, a tanner by trade, and a preacher by pro-
fession. They moved West.

Dorothy Nance married Joseph Burton, also a
Virginian, who with Patrick Shields came here
about the time or immediately after Clement
Nance. Shields and Burton, however, settled
further north in what is now Georgetown town-
ship.

But little is known of the Gwin family,
who came to this township soon after Clement
Nance. They certainly arrived prior to the es-
tablishment of the Oatman ferry; for upon their
arrival on the opposite side of the river, they
called over to the Nances to come and ferry
them over. The river was full of ice at the
time, and it was a dangerous and difficult task;
but the solid flat-boat belonging to the Nance
family, driven by strong, practiced arms, was
probably equal to the emergency. No doubt
this flat-boat was the foundation of what shortly
afterward became Oatman's ferry, which appears
on the earliest records of the county, and con-
tinues to be mentioned for some years. Thomas
Gwin was the school-teacher, and probably
taught the first school in what is now Franklin
township. He taught several years at what is
known as "Sycamore corners" (so called from
a number of large sycamore trees that grew
there). It was near the line of Harrison county,
in the' southern part of this township. A log
school-house was built at this place, it being near
the center of a thriving neighborhood. Four
influential pioneers, Joseph Decker, Thomas
Smith, Captain Wiight, and another whose name
is forgotten, put up this house where their farms
cornered, and supplied, for a time, a majority of
the children that were taught here. Next after
Gwin, the pioneer pedagogue in this part of the
county, was Joseph Walden, a Connecticut
Yankee, who taught here many years. He was
a single man. One of the first school-houses
was also erected on the Nance farm, and Gwin
taught here also. Both of these log school-

houses have long since disappeared; schools and
teachers have scattered, grown old, reared fami-
lies, and mostly passed away, and the world has
moved forward nearly three-fourths of a century
since they were built.

Thomas Smith was here prior to 1815. He
appears as one of the "fence viewers " in 1819,
the first in this township, the other two being
Jacob Yenawine and Joseph Burton, both settlers
in what subsequently became Georgetown town-
ship. Mr. Smith was from Pennsylvania and
settled in the southern part of the township,
where he reared a family of ten or twelve chil-
dren, and many of his descendants are yet living
in the neighborhood. He was a farmer and a
blacksmith, probably building the first shop of
that kind in the limits of this township. He did
not live long after his arrival here.

David Gunn came from Virginia, entered land
in the woods, and settled in the central part 01
the township, west of the Knob Creek hill, about
1814. His children were Ira W., Mnthew, Fin-
ley, and Nancy. The two first-named are now
living in this vicinity at an advanced age. Gunn
was a Methodist preacher, one of the first in this
part of the country, and followed preaching and
farming until his death. He preached wherever
and whenever he could get a few people to-
gether, in a school-house, under a tree, or in his
own cabin.

Captain William Wright, whose farm joined
Mr. Smith's in the southwestern part of the town-
ship, was from Kentucky, and came here about
1 8 18 or before. He had eight or ten children,
one of whom, Mrs. Cole, is yet living in this
vicinity.

Colonel Gilbert Budd settled here prior to
1819, and his name is perpetuated in what is
known as the "Budd road," a road crossing the
center of the township east and west, and
furnishing an outlet to New Albany. Colonel
Budd was no doubt mainly instrumental in hav-
ing this road pushed through, and must have as-
sisted very materially in clearing the way through
the woods. He owned a farm on Knob creek, the
one now occupied by his son-in-law, John B.
Hancock. Colonel Budd came from Kentucky,
bringing his title with him, was an influential
farmer, and remarkable as having had five wives,
at different periods during the years of his resi-
dence here.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

259

William Sampson came from Kentucky to this
township, settling in the western part of it, in
what was known as the " Flat woods," and was
among the earliest settlers. The land he entered
was a beautiful, level tract of woods ; and the
cabin erected, and in which he lived some years
with a numerous family, is yet standing, one of
the oldest landmarks in the township. Mr. Samp-
son was one of the earliest school teachers, and
a justice of the peace for sixteen years. Some
of his descendants are yet living in the town-
ship. He died of cholera in 1833.

The southern part of the township was settled
largely by people from Kentucky, North Caro-
lina, and other Southern States. Among them
were the two colored men, William and Jerry
Clark, who were successful and influential
farmers.

SOME FIRST THINGS.

By the commissioners' records it is ascertained
that Patrick Leyden was the first constable of
this township. He was appointed at the May
session of 1819, three months after the forma-
tion of the county.

Elijah Cresswell and Gilbert Budd were the
first overseers of the poor, and Caleb Newman,
of ferry memory, the first inspector of elections.
Frederick Mosar, John Flickner, and George
Lidikay were the first "fence viewers" of the
township, and John Conn the first "lister."

The first election htld in the township was
on the second Monday in March, 182 1. It was
held at the house of John Bowman, and was
for the purpose of electing a justice of the peace
to succeed Allen Kendall, who had been ap-
pointed by the commissioners, and who was the
first justice in the township.

Jacob Yenawine's house was used for elections
as early as 1823. Mr. Yenawine was an early set-
ler in what is now Georgetown township. A little
later (1826) the elections were held at the house
of George Lidikay; and when Georgetown town-
ship was created elections for Franklin were held
at the house of John B. Hancock, where they
continued to be held until James Tabler erected
an "election house" on his place and presented
it to the township for the purpose of holding
elections.

BUCHANAN VILLAGE.

Tabler's land was located near the center of

the township, where the roads cross; one going
north and south along Knob creek, and the other
east and west from New Albany to Elizabeth-
town. Here Mr. Tabler determined to try to
build up a village, as nothing of the kind ex-
isted in Franklin township. He caused a small
piece of his land to be surveyed and platted,
and erected the election house as an induce-
ment for the people to congregate there, both
for elections and other public meetings. This
was when Mr. Buchanan occupied the Presi-
dential chair; and being a stanch Democrat
and an admirer of the President, he named the
place Buchanan. His town never came to any-
thing, however. He failed to get anything more
there than a blacksmith's shop and a small gro-
cery. It is situated at the foot of what is known
as "Blunk's knob," so called from the fact
that Joseph Blunk settled on the top of a knob
or hill there. "Rock House hill" is also not
far away. Nature has formed out of the rocks
on the top of this hill something resembling a
house; hence the name.

THE EARLY MILLS.

Mr. Blunk had a horse-mill on his knob
farm, and he and Clement Nance, who had a
similar mill, did the grinding for the early settlers
for many years. The very first settlers went
across the river to Kentucky to mill, or up. to
Bullitt's or Tarascon's mill at the Falls; but it
was not alwa\s possible to get to these mills,
especially in winter, and the horse-mills were
well patronized. The Nance mill was made to
run by horse-power attached to a "sweep," and
was in use about twenty years.

Clement Nance, Jr., whose farm adjoined his
father's, early erected a carding- and fulling-mill
on his place, and for many years made the rolls
from which the pioneer mothers of Franklin and
the adjoining townships wove the cloth that was
used by the settlers for clothing.

Clement Nance, Jr., subsequently erected a
steam flouring-mill on his place, and after con-
ducting it several years it burnt down, and was
not rebuilt. But few mills have been erected in
this township, the people doing their milling
mostly at Lanesville, Corydon, and other points.
A few saw-mills have been built at different times
along Knob creek, but have not generally pros-
pered.

260

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Little business is carried on in the. township
except farming. There is an occasional black-
smith shop, cooper-shop, and hostelry or small
country inn, where a few groceries and liquors
are kept and travelers are welcome for the night.
Jacob Welch started a store in the northern
edge of the township, about a mile south ot
Edwardsville, in 1873, and kept it going until he
died in March, 1880, since which time it has
languished, and is about to be closed up. He
was a son of John Welch, who came from Au-
gusta couniy, Virginia, in 181 7. Most of the
early settlers of this township who came from
Virginia were from Augusta county, and were
either blood relations or personal acquaintances;
so that the trials and hardships of a life in the
new country were somewhat alleviated.

CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS MATTERS.

The first religious teachers who came through
this part of the county were residents of this and
the adjoining townships. They were Clement
Nance, David Gunn, George Oatman, and Seth
Woodruff. The first two have been mentioned
as residents and among the first settlers in this
township. Mr. Oatman settled on the bank of
the Ohio, in what is now New Albany township,
and Mr. Woodruff was a resident of the town of
New Albany, and a prominent actor in all the af-
fairs of the new town. He was associate judge,
justice of the peace, and a man of great activity
and good natural ability, though uneducated.
He was what was known as a "Hard-shell"
Baptist, and established some of the first churches
of that denomination in the county. These
men preached the doctrines of the Methodists,
New-lights, Christians, and Baptists. Oatman
was the Campbellite or Christian preacher; the
latter name was not, however, attached to the
denomination at the date of his ministry in this
township. All of these men preached in this
territory before there were any churches or public
buildings of any kind, their meetings being held
in the woods when the weather permitted, other-
wise in the cabins of the settlers.

William Sypher's name should also appear
among the pioneer preachers, as he began preach-
ing here about 1814, though a boy at that time.
He was a Baptist.

It is impossible at this date to ascertain which

of these pioneer preachers succeeded first in se-
tablishing a church organization, but the honor
probably lies between the Methodists and Bap-
tists. David Gunn succeeded in organizing a
Methodist class here about 1818, at his own
house. When he settled here in the woods he
built one of the largest log cabins in the
neighborhood, and being a man of strong relig-
ious convictions, soon gathered his few neigh-
bors together in his hou'se, conducted religious
services, and after a time organized a class which
has grown and prospered until the present
Mount Zion church is the result. Meetings
were held in Mr. Gunn's house probably twenty
years or more, until the society grew strong
enough to erect a hewed-log church about 1845.
One of the sons, Ira W. Gunn, gave the land
upon which the building was erected. Among
the pioneers who formed this class at Mr.
Gunn's were William Bailey and wife, Thomas
Smith and wife, Joseph Decker and wife, Wil-
liam Carter and wife, Philip Smith and wife,
Samuel Smith, and a number of the young peo-
ple of the neighborhood. Nearly or quite every-
body attended this church, whether members or
not, for many miles around. William Penning-
ton and Edward McKown came over occasion-
ally from Lanesville in an early day, and
preached for this class.

A Sunday-school was early organized here, and
has been generally well sustained. The church
is not as prosperous at the present time as form-
erly.

The Methodists very early erected a log church
building and organized a class in the southern
and eastern part of the township. Jerry Clark,
one of the colored men before mentioned, made
a gift of land upon which the building was
erected, and in which the Methodists of that
vicinity worshiped many years. This class,
however, was not kept up, and no services have
been held in the church for many years. Last
year the old log building, gray and decayed with
age, was pulled down and taken away. Nothing
remains to mark the spot but the few weather-
beaten tombstones in the little grave-yard. For
many years the Methodists in this part of the
township were without an organization, and at-
tended church either at Mount Zion or over on
the Ohio river, at the church located within the
limits of New Albany township.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

261

About 1869 Frederick Hartman and some
others succeeded in establishing a Sabbath-school
in the election-house that Mr. Tabler had
erected at his would-be town, Buchanan. This
school grew and prospered to such a degree that
it laid the foundation of the present Embury
Methodist church, a frame building located
near No. 1 school-house, about a mile north of
Buchanan, on the Elizabethtown road. The
Sunday-school was after a time removed to and
continued at the school-house, where preaching
was had occasionally, both being so well sus-
tained that it was deemed advisable to erect a
church building. William Z. Aydelotte was one
of the principal workers in collecting funds for
the erection of this church, and gave liberally of
his means for that purpose. Mr. Hiram Bence
also gave liberally, and all the people of the
neighborhood contributed according to their
means, and the church was erected with the
understanding that it was to be open to all
denominations freely, though really belonging
strictly to the Methodists. The building cost
about $5,000. The church and Sabbath-school
are strong and active at present.

The Hopewell Baptist church is located in the
centre of a Baptist neighborhood, near the west-
ern line of the township and south of the Eliza-
bethtown road. The organization is known to
this day as the "Hard-shell" or " Iron-side-two
seed" Baptist, believing that one generation is
born to go to hell and another to heaven. Wil-
liam Sypher was the man who established this
church. He was a rather remarkable person in
some respects, beginning the ministry, it is said,
at the tender age of thirteen years. At that age
he preached George Parker's funeral sermon, and
stood upon a chair in the cabin for that purpose.
Mr. Sypher lived and preached in that and the
adjoining neighborhoods all his life, living to the
age of eighty years. For many years prior to
his death he had been familiarly known as "Lit-
tle Billy," as he was a very small, withered-up
specimen of humanity, but a man of considera-
ble force of character and natural talent.

The old log church was erected so long ago
that no one now living remembers about it, and
there is no written record ; but Mr. Sypher suc-
ceeded in building up a pretty strong church
here having the right kind of materials for his
purpose. It prospered until 1858, when there

was a split in this ancient body. The members
got into a dispute among themselves as to
whether Christ was real flesh and blood or a
spirit, when he made his celebrated visit to this
little world. Sypher took the spiritual view, and
carrying with him about half of his congregation,
repaired to what is known as the "Onion" school-
house, where he continued his preaching until
his death. This was a hard blow to old Hope-
well; but she stood it nobly and yet keeps up
her organization. The school-house in which
Sypher preached and organized his separate
church is located on Hardin Onion's land, in an
Onion neighborhood, and his congregation was
known as the "Little Billy party." After Mr.
Sypher's death in 1879, Benjamin F. Williams
took his place and has continued the preaching
at the same place up to the present time. These
churches do not believe in Sunday-schools.
Each of these two Baptist churches now num-
bers about twenty or twenty-five members.

Robert Lafollette was a member of Sypher's
church for fifty years or more.

The Campbellites or Christians have an organ-
ized church at Number 4 school-house, and
hold services once a month. It was organized
in 1867, by William Edwards and Moses Smith,
both of Edwardsville, who officiate as ministers
of this congregation. The principal members
at the date of organization were Peter Blunk,
George Carpenter, Amanda Lafollette, Marion
Tabler and wife, and some others. A Sunday-
school was organized about the time the church
came into existence, and it is yet well sustained.
The present membership of the church is about
thirty.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

James Tabler was born in Pennyslvania, June
19, 1806. His father, Peter Tabler, came to this
county when James was but an infant, though
remaining a short time in Harrison county. He
was a farmer by occupation, and settled in Frank-
lin county. James was educated in the com-
mon schools and was a farmer by occupation
though he was a pilot on the Yazoo river for a
number of years. On May 12, 1837, he was
married to Lydia Page, a native of Norwich,
Norfolk county, England. She was born Febru-
ary 27, 1822, and came to New York city when
but a child. Her mother dying when she was
a child her father led a roving life. She had

262

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS, COUNTIES.

thirteen children, the names of those living be-
ing William, Elizabeth (Hines), Josephine (Mur-
phy), Margaret, Milvina, Eliza. James Tabler
died January 23, 1879. He was a member of
the Catholic church. Mrs. Tabler manages the
farm as a stock and grain farm.

CHAPTER XV.

GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

This was the last township created in Floyd
county, and appears to have been made almost
wholly out of the northern half of Franklin
township. The latter township was much too
long for the width of it, which rendered it very
incunvenient for the settlers in the extreme north
and south parts to reacli the place of holding
elections. The settlements were not extensive,
however — the township settling up very slowly,
on account of the rather inferior quality of the
land — until after the establishment of the village
of Georgetown, in 1833. All new towns are am-
bitious, and if they cannot become county seats,
may at least aspire to be the center of the town-
ship business. This was the case with George-
town village. The farming land in the vicinity
of the village is very fair; the first settlement was
made there, and people settled more rapidly and
numerously in that than in any other part of
Franklin township. These and other ciicum-.
stances led to the petition for a new township;
hence the following very imperfect record is
found upon the county commissioners' books,
under date of November 6, 1837 :

Ordered, that Frankltn township, in Floyd county, be di-
vided as follows: From the corner of John Ross'

land to the corner of John Bill's land, corner

of Frederick Hanger's land , and the north

■ part of said lines, to be called Georgetown township,

and the south part Franklin township; and the place

of holding elections in Georgetown township to be at some
house in Georgetown, and that of Franklin to be at the house
of John Snyder.

Why the above entry on the commissioners'
record was never perfected, or why it was made
at all in this imperfect condition, remains a mys-
tery; but Georgetown township was thereafter a
fixed fact. Franklin was cut in its narrowest

part from east to west, and this act severed from
Franklin township the best portion of it, agri-
culturally considered.

TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.

Georgetown is fairly an agricultural district.
It is gently rolling and in some places hilly, but
the surface is mostly tillable. The soil is light
clay — light not only in color, but in weight — and
contains but little grit or sand. It is by no
means a strong soil, but produces fairly of all
the crops usually produced in other townships of
the county. With careful cultivation and favor-
able seasons, comparatively large crops can be
produced.

The range of hills known as "the knobs"
throws out a spur to the westward from the lower
end of the city of New Albany, which extends
across New Albany township and penetrates the
eastern part of this township, the western ter-
minus of this spur being at Edwardsville, where
it connects with the Knob Cteek hills. These
latter hills extend in a general way south from
Edwardsville, and join the main range of knobs
in the southern part of Franklin township. Down
through this spur winds the headwaters of Mid-
dle creek, which has its rise in the numerous
springs around the head of the sput upon which
Edwardsville is built. It is said that the same
spring near the village that forms one of the
sources of Knob creek, also contributes to the
waters of Middle creek.

The only untillable part of this township is in
the vicinity of Edwardsville, where this spur of
the knobs enters it. The surface here is very
much broken and heavily timbered. Beyond
this spur the whole surface of the township falls
off gradually to the westward and northward, un-
til it ends in the valley of Indian creek.

The township is watered by the numerous
tributaries of Indian creek, which generally flow
northwest. The surface of the township is high-
est near its southern line, from which the waters
flow north and northwest into Indian creek and
south into the Ohio river. Most of the tributa-
ries of Indian creek retain the name "Indian,"
as "Big" and "Little" Indian, "South," "West,"
"East," or "North" branch of Big or Little Indian,
as the case may be; the main cieek in this town-
ship, although known to many as the Little
branch of Big Indian, is usually called Whiskey

HISTORY OF. THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

263

run, from the fact that in an early day a large
number of distilleries were in operation on its
banks. This stream rises in the knobs in the
vicinity of Edwardsville, and, taking a general
westward course through the central part of the
township, passes through Georgetown village,
and turning northwest enters Big Indian creek
within the limits of the township. When the
county was new and uncleared this was a fair-sized
creek; but it is now nothing but a brook, and is
almost or entirely dry during a portion of the
year. The first settlement in the township, and
about the first in the county, was made on this
stream.

The northeastern portion of the township is
drained by Little Indian creek, which, rising in
the knobs in the northern part of Lafayette
township, bears south, or southwest, until it
reaches the eastern line of this township, when
it makes a great bend, turning northwest and
north, passing across the northeastern corner of
this township, entering Greenville township, and,
turning again to the west, joins Big Indian in
the southern part of the latter township. It
sends out a few small branches into the northern
and eastern part of this township.

The Big Indian passes across the northwest
corner of the township, entering Harrison county
and pursuing a very winding way, generally
southwest, to the Ohio in that county. At Cory-
don it is joined by Little Indian creek No. 1.

THE RAILWAY AND TUNNEL.

This township is favored by the passage
through it of the New Albany & St. Louis Air
Line railroad, which is at this time in process of
construction, a large number of workmen being
employed along the line in this and New Albany
townships. The well known tunnel on this road
is wholly in this township, and furnishes the exit
through which the train will escape from the
valley enclosed by the knobs. The railroad fol-
lows up the valley of Middle creek, winding
about among the hills, valleys, cliffs, and crags of
the spur before mentioned, until it reaches the
vicinity of Edwardsville. Here the spur coming
to an abrupt and rugged termination, compels
the company to tunnel it. This tunnel was com-
menced several years ago, when the first com-
pany was formed for the purpose of putting this
road through. That company did a great deal

of work on it — in fact, nearly completed it — but
failed before the work was wholly done. The
tunnel is 4,689 feet long; and but twenty feet of
this distance remained when the first company
was compelled to abandon the work for want of
funds. Edward Cummings was the first con-
tractor, and continued drilling and blasting
through this solid limestone rock for nearly three
years. The work was renewed in April, 188 1,
and promises success. Daylight shone through
the tunnel for the first time September 2, 188 1.
The present contractors are Hay, M;yer & Co.,
Mr. George Simmons being the company and
the active man in the construction of the toad
in the eastern part of this township. This com-
pany have the contract for building three miles
of the road along here, and have sub-let the fin-
ishing of the tunnel to Messrs. Murphy & Brad-
ford, residents of Edwardsville. The work is
continued night and day by about thirty work-
men, the drilling and blasting being done without
machinery. The excavation is eighty-nine feet
below the surface at the highest point, and two
air shafts over seventy feet in depth have been
sunk from the surface of the hill. The tunnel
is about fifteen feet wide and twenty-four feet
high, and will cost, when completed, in round
numbers, about $1,000,000.

A sad accident occurred in this tunnel on the
15th of October, 1881, while it was in process of
construction, by the caving in of a portion of the
tunnel roof. Two of the employes, Robert
Decker and Con. Sullivan were killed, and
Joseph F. Wier received some injury.

All along the line of the road through this
township is heard and seen the busy notes of
preparation for the laying of the track and the
coming of that great civilizer, the railway train.
Very soon the scream of the locomotive and the
thunder of the rushing train will be heard in the
land, and the Air Line, that has for so many years
been in the thoughts of the people, and which
has failed and come up through much tribulation
and labor, will be an accomplished fact. It is
already scattering its blessings along the line by
disbursing the millions it takes to build it among
those who earn it by their labor. A new tele-
graph line has recently been put up along the
entire line of the road, and trains are already
running on its western division.

The railroad enters the township from the east

264

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALL£ COUNTIES.

over the eastern line of section Thirty-one, and
enters the tunnel almost under the northern edge
of the village of Edwardsville, coming out near
the church about a half mile distant, where it
is proposed to erect a station. It then bends a
little south and striking the valley of Whiskey
run, follows it to Georgetown, where it leaves
the stream and twining south passes into Harri-
son county.

TIMBER AND UNDERGROWTH.

When the first settlers entered this township,
near the beginning of this century, it was en-
tirely covered with timber ; there were no
swamps of any extent, nor any waste places or
prairie. The timber was not so rank in growth
as that along the Ohio river, nor so dense ; the
woods were more open and consisted mostly of
oak, sugar, beech, and hickory, though oak pre-
dominated. There was also plenty of chestnut
and many other varieties of hard wood. The
chestnuts and acorns were the principal attrac-
tions of the deer, which were found here in great
numbers. The animals also love to resort to the
open woods and feed on the small oak bushes
and other undergrowth that continually spring
up. In many places the ground was covered to
considerable depth with wild pea-vines, and the
leaves of the trees and stray branches falling
upon these, often formed a thick, almost impen-
etrable covering for the ground. When the
deer could be driven into this covering they
could be captured as easily as if driven into a
deep snow, for their sharp feet would penetrate
the mass and become entangled in the vines. In
places it was very difficult for the hunter to get
through, as well as his game ; the trees " ap-
peared like stakes driven into the ground, no
sign of roots being visible."

INDIANS.

Mr. L. Yenawine, whose father was among
the earliest settlers, says that a party of fifteen or
twenty Indians came every fall for some years
after the family settled here, and camped near a
spring where Mr. Yenawine had erected his
cabin (and near which his son now lives) for the
purpose of hunting the deer. "They were a
jolly lot of young bucks, and seemed greatly to
enjoy their lives." They would take turns re-
maining in camp, two of them attending it while
the remainder were hunting. This fine spring

now furnishes water for the family, as three-
fourths of a century ago, when it was in the
midst of a dense forest, it poured forth its waters
for the red man and the deer. In front of Mr.
Yenawine's house and near the bank of the
creek (Whiskey run) have been found great num-
bers of arrow-points, stone hatchets, and other
implements of Indian manufacture, indicating
an old camping-ground of the red man. With-
out doubt this was a favorite and perhaps per-
manent camping-place, on account of its prox-
imity to both the spring and the creek.

WILD BEASTS.

Deer, bears, and wild turkeys were the most
numerous of the wild animals of these woods at
the date of the first settlement; though wolves,
panthers, wild-cats, and other wild animals were
by no means scarce. There were also great
numbers of snakes of all kinds known to this
climate and soil. These were especially plenty
along the knobs, among the rocks; even yet rat-
tlesnakes and other serpents are occasionally
killed there. At that date, or just prior to the
first settlement, buffalo and elk were numerous,
especially the former. This animal then mi-
grated from north to south at certain seasons,
the same as it does to-day on the great prairies
of the West. The buffaloes probably had ex-
tensive feeding-grounds on the prairies of Ken-
tucky and numerous crossing places along the
Ohio. A herd of buffaloes in its migrations was
not to be deterred by a river in its course.
None of these animals were found in this imme-
diate vicinity at the date of the first settlement,
but one of their paths, deep and well-marked,
led up the valley of Middle creek from the
mouth of Falling run, showing that they habit-
ually crossed the Ohio river at that point, near
the nairows. The trail came up over what has
ever since been known as "Buffalo ridge," and
bore generally northwest.

TEMPORARY INDIAN CAMPS

for hunting purposes were known to exist in
this township at different points on the little
streams, but no Indians were permanently
located within its borders, so far as is remem-
bered. Moses Harper, one of the earliest set-
tlers and yet living near Georgetown, remem-
bers when it was considered necessary to gather

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

265

the few families of the neighborhood into one of
the stronger cabins, barricade the door, and
otherwise prepare for a night attack from the
savage foe. This was about the beginning of
the War of 1812, when there was much alarm
among the frontier settlers, they fearing a general
Indian upiising. The settlers thus met for protec-
tion every night, and separated every morning to
their respective cabins. Mr. Harper remembers
seeing the famous Sac chief Black Hawk, when
in Louisville, on his way to Washington to trans-
act some business with the Government relative
to Indian affairs.

GREAT CHANGES

have been wrought in this as well as other town-
ships of the county since those days, though they
are not so far away but that the space of a man's
life still connects them with the present age.
Now there are finely cultivated farms where the
forest once held full sway, and comfortable brick
and frame dwellings have taken the places of the
cabin and the wigwam of the savage. Here and
there, however, the cabin still remains and is oc-
cupied as a dwelling.

AREA.

There are in the township 9,732 acres of land,
of which nearly two-thirds are yet in forest.
There is still much good ship-building timber,
as well as a plentiful supply for other purposes
for many years to come.

FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENTS.

The early settlers of this township came largely
from Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky,
though a few were from Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and different parts of New England.

Among those who settled in this township
prior to 1812 were the following: Patrick and
James Shields, Joseph and Levi Burton, Freder-
ick and John Hanger, William Shaw, Philip
Cook, William Smith, the Utz family, Jacob
Yenawine, James and Jesse Hickman, Mr. Bur-
kett, Philip Mosar, Philip Sisloff, David Sillings,
John Barkshire, Daniel Keller, and probably a
few others.

The following additional settlers were here as
early as 1820: George Lidikay, John Flikner,
William Sloan, John Rice, Michael Swartz,
Joseph Moore, John Russell, John Tresenriter,
the widow Harper, George Wolf, George Waltz,
Milton Bufford, John Thomas, Abraham Engle-

man. Craven Flynn, George Foote, Jonathan
Baird, David Tyler, John League, John Evans,
George Zimmerman, Jacob Fisher, George Bay-
ler, Mr. Fowler, John Sowers, and others.
About twenty of the above families came from
Augusta county, Virginia, between 1816 and
1820, constituting a second emigration and buy-
ing out many of the first settlers, who moved
on further West. Many of the earliest emigrants
to this territory were merely hunters and squat-
ters, a class of people always forming the advance
guard of civilization. Many of them came here,
built temporary brush or pole cabins, and some
even substantial, permanent habitations. They
cleared a little piece of ground for a "truck-
patch," and remained a few years until the in-
coming white settlers began to crowd out the
game, when they "pulled up stakes," and retired
with the game and the red man to the Far West.
These were mostly squatters, with no intention of
settling anywhere permanently. Many of the
early settlers were, however, squatters, and came
with the intention of permanent settlement, first
squatting upon the land, building a cabin, and
making permanent improvements with the inten-
tion of entering and possessing the land at the
first opportunity. Settlers who came in a little
later could easily buy out the squatters, especi-
ally if the latter were inclined to follow the life
of a hunter and trapper; and the substantial
cabin in the wilderness, with the little clearing
around it, was a temptation to the emigrant, who,
if he could purchase it, would thus be saved the
great labor of immediately building and clearing.
Here was a place ready made to his hand, a
shelter tor his family, worth a little more than
land in the unbroken forest; and though he
might have entered this same piece of land at
the land office and thus dispossessed the squatter,
he generally preferred purchasing the claim and
it afterward, thus saving trouble to both parties.
There is little doubt that Patrick Shields was
the first settler in this township, and probably
the second settler in the county. A rather re-
markable fact connected with this settlement is
that the log cabin Mr. Shields erected when he
settled here is vet standing and in fair condition,
though erected in the spring of 1805, seventy-
seven years ago. This cabin stands near and
east of Georgetown village, on the road to New
Albany, and near the bank of Whiskey run, or

266

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Burton's branch, as it was then called. The new
railroad passes very near the old cabin. It is
evident from this cabin that Patrick Shields was
a man of considerable means, energy, and force
of character, as it is a much better cabin than
was generally erected in those days. It was built
almost entirely of blue ash logs, and is nearly
two full stories in height. The logs were hewn
and the cabin in every way a superior one.
Shields, in a short time, gathered about him a
settlement of some size, and wielded consider-
able influence among the settlers. His cabin,
being the most commodious in the neighbor-
hood, became the public house of the neighbor-
hood, where religious and other general meetings
were held. This building is one of the very few
original cabins yet standing in this part of the
Stale, and is now owned by Mr. T. Crandall. It
has generally been occupied as a dwelling since
it was built.

Patrick Shields went to the defense of the
border when the Indians threatened a general
massacre, and was a private in Harrison's army
at the battle of Tippecanoe, where his horse re-
ceived a bullet in the head, but lived to be
brought home by his owner. Mr. Shields sub-
sequently became a magistrate and associate
judge, and in later years was known as Judge
Shields. He was a man of good natural ability,
a kind-hearted citizen, and a true friend.

The following extract regarding the settlement
of Shields is taken from a map of the State pub-
lished some years ago:

When Patrick Shields came there were no mills, and he
and his neighbors were compelled to go over to Kentucky
for their grists and provisions. At the foot of what is now
State street, in Georgetown, Mr. Shields, by the aid of a
negio, brought with him from Virginia, cleared his first patch
of ground (about two acres) and raised his first crop— or
rather attempted to raise it, but it was destroyed by a severe
frost in autumn.

There is no doubt that Patrick Shields was
the pioneer of all that band of Virginians, a
score or more of families, that subsequently fol-
lowed his lead and became citizens of this town-
ship. James R. Shields, a son of this first set-
tler, subsequently became prominent in the affairs
of the county, and especially of the city of New
Albany.

William Shaw followed Shields very closely in
his settlement here, but died soon after coming,
his death being the first among the white settlers
within the limits of this township.

The Burton family, from North Carolina, were
probably the next settlers in point of time, com-
ing here about 1806. They settled on the north
side of Burton's branch, on a section adjoining
the one on which Jacob Yenawine settled and on
which Mr Lafayette Yenawine now lives, near
the central and eastern part of the township.
The Burtons seem altogether to have disappeared
from this locality.

About the same time (1806) other emigrants
came from North Carolina, among them being
the Hickman, Mosier, Sisloff, Burkitt, and Bow-
man families; and it is not unlikely that these
families all came together in the spring of that
year, following closely the Burtons. They all
settled along Burton's branch, between the
Shields settlement and what is now Edwardsvilh.
James Hickman squatted on the farm upon
which Mr. L. Yenawine now lives, and cleared
ten acres there, then sold out in 181 1 to Jacob
Yenawine. His brother, Jesse Hickman, settled
on an adjoining section. These Hickmans sub-
sequently became, by immigration and increase,
a numerous family in the county, most of them
settling further north on Little Indian creek,
within the present limits of Lafayette township.
One of this family, Mrs. Summers, yet resides
in this township. Philip Mosier and Philip Sis-
loff both reared large families on Whiskey run,
and helped to give it that name by erecting dis-
tilleries on its banks — a very respectable and lu-
crative business in those days, and one which
was engaged in foi many years by the early set-
tlers of this township. David Sillings was one
of the earliest of these distillers. There were,
perhaps, a score or more of such establishments
along this little creek at one time; and, indeed,
there has never been a time, even down to the
present day, that some kind of fermented liquor
was not manufactured on this stream. Silas
Baird, a descendant of Jonathan Baird, still man-
ufactures "apple-jack," and according to the
statement of an old resident he made a "power"
of it last year, and used "right smart apples" in
the process. In consequence of these establish-
ments there was a good market for corn in pio-
neer days along this stream, and great numbers
of hogs were fattened at the distilleries from the
refuse. The business created considerable activ-
ity, and kept in circulation the little money there
was.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

267

William Smith, one of the pioneers, was from
New Jersey, and in that very early day was rather
solitary and alone in his Yankee ways and opin-
ions. He was a soldier in the War of 18 12, and
had been living here some years at that date.

The Utz family were from the South, and Mrs.
Utz, who lived to relate many incidents of pio-
neer life, used to tell with particular satisfaction,
in the more prosperous yeirs of the family, how
poor they were on their arrival and settlement in
the woods — how her husband was occasionally
compelled to leave her alone in the cabin and go
across the river into Kentucky with his sack of
corn, to get it ground into meal and to get other
provisions for the family larder. On one of these
occasions, when he was absent longer than usual,
she was compelled to live for a few days on let-
tuce and salt, so near were they to starvation;
and on another occasion, believing that Indians
were prowling about the cabin with hostile
intent, she cautiously left it, and gaining the
shelter of the surrounding forest, ascended a
tree, in the top of which she secreted herself and
remained during the night.

The Hanger family was from Virginia and
settled rn the Shields neighborhood, having, no
doubt, been induced to move thither by the rep-
resentations and influence of Patrick Shields.

Philip Cook settled about a mile west of what
is now the village of Edwardsville, in the Hick-
man and Yenawine neighborhood. He was
from Virginia, and had an extensive family.
Three of his sons are yet living in the township
— William, Hall, and Charles, all farmers.

Jacob Yenawine was one of the most influen-
tial and active of the early pioneers of this town-
ship. He came from the solid Dutch families
of Pennsylvania, and like nearly all the first set-
tlers of this region, reared here a large family of
sturdy, steady-going, healthy children, who have
assisted materially in moulding the character of
the people of the township. He came from
York county, Pennsylvania, and settled about
one and a half miles west of Edwardsville in
181 1, purchasing, as before stated, the improve-
ment of James Hickman. His son, Mr. L. Yen-
awine, now occupies the farm. The sons were:
Daniel, George, John, Samuel, Shelby, and La-
fayette. The girls were Nancy and Elizabeth.
The latter died a few years ago, but Nancy is yet
living in the township, occupying the old Burton

place. The boys are all dead but three — Sam-
uel, who lives in California; Shelby, in George-
town; and Lafayette, occupying the home place.

The wife of Jacob Yenawine, mother of these
children, is yet living on the old place where she
settled nearly seventy years ago.

David Sillings, from North Carolina, and John
Barkshire, settled near Mr. Yenawine about the
same date (181 1).

John Tresenriter, a settler of 1818 in this
township, was also a Pennsylvania Dutchman.
His parents were from Germany, but he was born
in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, from which place he
emigrated to Kentucky, where he remained but
a short time. He first settled about one mile
south of Georgetown. There were nine children
in this family, viz: Wesley, William, Gideon,
Sarah, Nancy, John, Samuel, Hamilton, and
Henry. Two only are now living in this town'
ship, Samuel and Nancy.

Moses Harper, yet residing about a mile north
of Georgetown village, was born in 1805 in North
Carolina, and came to this township with his
widowed mother and her son-in-law, John
Thomas, in 1808, the family settling near where
Mr. Harper now lives. There were three chil*
dren — Samuel, Nancy, and Moses. The first
two .are dead. Mr. Harper is an interesting
talker, and his memory of pioneer days and in-
cidents is somewhat remarkable. He says at the
lime they came John Smith and John Russell
were here, both from North Carolina. Smith
was a settler within the limits of what is now
Franklin township, and had a family of ten
children. Russell was twice married, and had a
family of twenty-one children, but one of whom,
Elizabeth Case, is now a resident of this town-
ship. Mr. Harper was for many years a neigh'
bor of Patrick Shields, and says of him that he
was one of the best men he ever knew. Shields,
Russell, William Nance (a settler in Franklin),
Henry Waltz (a son of George, the founder of
Georgetown), and Milton Bufford, were all with
Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. The
Waltz family were Pennsylvanians, and settled in
1807 where the village of Georgetown stands.
Bufford settled a short distance west of George-
town and reared a large family, none of whom
are now living in the township. He kept a dis-
tillery.

Abraham Engleman was a settler in the north-

268

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

em part of this township soon after the Harpers
came. He was one of a numerous family of
brothers who came here among the pioneers and
settled mostly on Indian creek, in what are now
Greenville and Lafayette townships. Abraham's
son Levi now occupies the old place in this
township where his father settled. The Engle-
mans were industrious, prosperous, and influen-
tial citizens. "Jake" Engleman owned and con-
ducted a distillery in the northern part of the
township, on Little Indian; but the greater num-
ber of distilleries on the streams of the county
were located on Burton's Branch, and of these
Jonathan Baird's was the most extensive. David
Tyler, one of the early settlers from North Car-
olina, was among the numerous distillers on this
creek. Even yet Georgetown township apple-
jack is not unknown in Louisville and New Al-
bany.

The northern and southern parts of the town-
ship were settled later than the central portion,
which is traversed by the stream and occupied
by the most desirable land ; but it is probable
that all the land in the township was occupied
prior to the date of the formation of the town-
ship. The few pioneers now living are fine spec-
imens of that departed and never-to-be-forgotten
age, and the memory of each is a store-house of
pioneer incidents. Indeed, the recollection of
that olden time, when they could stand in their
cabin doors and shoot turkeys and deer, when
they crept through the silent forest in pursuit of
game and fished in the beautiful streams, will
cling to them when the memory of all other
things fades away forever. In recalling these in-
cidents and adventures the dimmed eye will
brighten, the withered cheek flush with excite-
ment, and the aged and bent pioneer will live
over again in memory the days that are gone
forever.

THE PIONEER TANNERY.

Among the early institutions in this township,
and one which benefited the pioneers probably
more than any other, was the Duncan tannery,
erected more than fifty years ago by James T.
Duncan, on Whiskey run, near Georgetown.
This establishment has been in operation since
that time, as upon the death of Mr. Duncan it
passed into the hands of his son Charles.

NO DOCTORS OR LAWYERS.

One of the pioneers remarks the entire absence

of doctors or lawyers among the early settlers.
There was no business for either. He often
wondered in his own childish mind what a doc-
tor was — whether he was a wild or domesticated
animal ; whether he walked on all fours or up-
right like a man, or whether he lived in a hollow
log or a cave — in fact, he had no idea at all of what
a doctor resembled. He sometimes heard his
parents speak of the doctor, but never saw one in
his childhood days.

MILLS.

The first inhabitants of this territory were
compelled to repair to the Kentucky side of the
river for their milling. Hominy blocks were
used to some extent, but as mills had been es-
tablished at the falls near Shippingsport, and
others at various points in Kentucky prior to the
first settlement, the settlers repaired to these
whenever possible to do so. Sometimes, how-
ever, the river was impassable or the weather
severe, so these mills could not be visited; and
then the hominy block was used, and very soon
the horse-mill was substituted. The settlers in
this township first resorted to the horse-mill
erected by Clement Nance, mentioned in the
chapter on Franklin township; but it was not
long before Mr. Nance had a competitor in the
milling business. This was Mr. Isaac Bowman,
who caused to be erected on his place, not far
from the village of Edwardsville, the first horse-
mill in this township. It was a treadwheel mill,
and was put up by Daniel Keller, who was a mill-
wright and came here among the earliest settlers.

Engleman's mill, on Little Indian creek, was
probably the first water-mill in this vicinity, and
was located in what is now Greenville township.
The first water-mill erected in this township was
by Daniel Yenawine on Whiskey run. It was of
logs and was conducted by him in connection
with his distillery. These water-mills were very un-
certain, however, not always to be depended upon;
were stopped entirely by a drouth, and frequently
washed away by high water; consequently the
horse-mills were by no means deserted after the
erection of water-mills. The former were the
more reliable, and were in operation here as late
as 1845.

Mr. Yenawine's log mill was in operation
about twenty years or more. It was once washed
away by a flood, and rebuilt of logs. It finally
burnt down about 1840, when Mr. Yenawine

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

269

purchased the old Bowman wheel and erected a
horse-mill near where the school-house now
stands, about half a mile west of Edwardsville,
which was in operation several years.

About 1825 Patrick Shields built a water saw-
mill near Georgetown, or rather the future site of
that thriving village, which was the foundation
of the present Summers grist-mill. The saw-
mill has been continued at or near that place
until the present day. About 1835 this mill
came into the possession of Levi Summers, who
ran it until 1848, when he, with hundreds of
others, became infected with the California gold
fever, sold out, and went to that then far-off re-
gion. Meanwhile he had erected near the saw-
mill a frame grist-mill, with two run of buhrs.
Mr. Summers sold out to Harmon & Brother,
who, after four or five years of successful busi-
ness, sold in turn to Solomon Bierly. The mill
went down in the Iatter's hands, became decayed,
and was never rebuilt by him. In 1853 Levi
Summers returned from California and erected a
saw-mill on the site of the present mill, which he
conducted until 1867-68, when he added the
present large frame grist-mill. In 1876 it came
into the possession of Albert Buckhart, and the
firm has since changed to Buckhart & Summers,
one of Levi Summer's sons having an interest.
Steam-power was added many years ago, and the
mill does an extensive business.

The present fine, large frame grist-mill on Lit-
tle Indian creek, in the northeastern part of the
township, known as "Cook's mill," was estab-
lished about fifty years ago by John Eddleman,
who first built a little log saw-mill at this spot,
and subsequently added a small frame grist-mill,
which he conducted until his death, when the
property passed into the hands of Samuel Cook.
He, after a proprietorship of a few years, demol-
ished the little frame building and erected the
present structure. The present proprietors are
D. Cook & Son. The mill contains three run
of buhrs, and may use both water and steam
power. The business of the firm is quite exten-
sive, as, besides doing a large custom business,
they manufacture considerable flour which they
ship to foreign markets.

Portable steam saw-mills are now somewhat
extensively used through the township, as there
is yet much valuable timber to be reduced to
lumber, and the portable mill can be convenient-

ly located. The old-fashioned water saw-mill,
with its heavily framed up-and-down saw has al-
most disappeared from this territory as elsewhere
for want of water, which few of the creeks of to-
day furnish in sufficient quantities.

EARLY SCHOOLS.

Mr. Craven Lynn, an early settler in this town-
ship from North Carolina, was probably the first
school teacher, as well as the first preacher, in
this part of the county. He and Clement Nance
preached in Judge Shields' cabin long before any
house of worship was erected. Lynn was a fair-
ly educated man, and married Patsy Foote, a
daughter of George Foote, also an early settler
from North Carolina. Mr. Lynn seemed to be
about the only one among the early settlers
qualified and willing to undertake school teach-
ing, and the few settlers in the western part of
this township and in the adjoining county of Har-
rison came together and built for him a log
school-house, to which children resorted for
many miles around. This county was not then
in existence; and when the line was run in 1819
it left the old school-house on the Harrison
county side. The building was of rough, un-
hewn logs, with the bark on, greased-paper win-
dows, and in all other respects as primitive as a
house could well be. It was a fair specimen of
all the school-houses of those days, which have
been so frequently described.

Another one of the very early school-houses
was located further east, on John Flickner's
place. It was a log building, and was known
for forty years as the Union school-house. It
served not only for school, but for church pur-
poses. A man named Sargent was among the
first teachers. When it was considered best to
erect a new building, the location was changed,
the new house being placed on the highway from
Edwardsville to Georgetown, and near the former
place. The township now contains six school-
houses, conveniently located and constructed.

GEORGETOWN.

The settlement which grew up around Patrick
Shields and his saw-mill on Whiskey run, was the
foundation of the present village. This settle-
ment was nine miles from New Albany, and in
its establishment ante-dated that now thriv-
ing city by half a dozen years. Clarksville,
Corydon, and Louisville consequently furnished

270

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the base of supplies for the Shields settlement
some years; but after 1813 the nearest trading
point to the settlement was New Albany. As
the settlement grew the demand for supplies of
all kinds naturally increased; and this demand
caused the building of two blacksmith shops
on the "Whiskey Run road," where the present
village is located. These shops were erected
and the business conducted by Andrew Huff
and Absalom Barnaby, and were the beginning
proper of the town. Huff was from Virginia,
had a small family, did business here several
years, and removed to northern Illinois, where,
at last accounts, he still resided. Barnaby was
a Hoosier by birth, and also emigrated to Illi-
nois, where he died.

George Waltz, as before mentioned, had, in
1807, entered the land at this point lying on the
north side of the Whiskey Run road, and being
a somewhat public-spirited man, he gave to these
blacksmiths the land upon which their shops
were erected. The shops naturally brought the
settlers for many miles around to this point to
get their horses shod; and Waltz was, after some
years, persuaded by his blacksmithing neighbors
to lay out a portion of his land into lots, which
he did, and the place came naturally to be called
"Georgetown." John Evans at that time owned
the land on the opposite side of the road from
George Waltz's tract. He had purchased it from
Patrick Shields, who entered it. It took some
years to convince Evans that Georgetown would
be a success; but he was finally persuaded to lay
out a portion of his land into lots, and thus the
town began to assume proper shape. It was not
properly surveyed and platted until December
10, 1833, at which time the following entry ap-
pears on the records of the county:

Plat of Georgetown.

The above are lots and plat of a town laid off by George
Waltz, lying on Whiskey Run road, nine miles from New
Albany.

It is situated in the southeast corner of the
northeast quarter of section Thirty-two, township
No. 2, south of the base line, range Five east.
Gamaliel Garretson appears as surveyor. The
town has grown but little beyond the original
plat. Two additions have since been made; one
by Jacob Meiley, in October, 1834, and one by
James Burger, April 8, 1850.

The first building erected on the town plat,
after the blacksmith shops, was by one of the

blacksmiths, Absalom Barnaby, who built a
hewed log dwelling near his shop. This building
stood a good many years, but was torn down by
William Harmon, who came into possession of
the property, and erected in its place the present
large frame building. Soon after the cahin was
erected John Hanger and James Waltz built a
small frame store-room to the east of and near
it, in which they placed a small but general stock
of goods, and opened the first store. Their
principal articles of sale were whiskey and to-
bacco, though they kept other necessary articles
in limited quantities.

Messrs. Hanger & Waltz continued this busi-
ness four or five years, when they closed out the
stock and quit business. Mr. Hanger died at
Vicksburg since the close of the war, and Mr.
Waltz is at present keeping store at Springtown,
Crawford county, in this State.

William Harmon started the second store in
his large frame, built on the site of the first
cabin, and was the principal merchant of the
place for many years, and until he died. He
had previously taken his son James into partner-
ship, and the latter continued the business until
recently, when he died and the business passed
into the hands of his brother-in-law, Hardin
Crandall, by whom it is yet conducted.

The third store in the village was started by
John Tresenriter, who, however, kept it only two
or three years, when he sold out to John Thomas,
the present owner, who has long been one of the
most prominent business men of the place. He
carries a general stock.

In 1875 John Bailer came to the place and
erected immediately opposite the old Harmon
store-room the present fine, large, three-story
frame building, putting in a very large stock of
general merchandise, and still continues to do a
prosperous business at that stand. The second
floor of this building is occupied by the Masonic
fraternity, and their hall is one of the finest in
this part of the State.

The first tavern in the vicinity of the village
was opened by Henry Waltz, a son of George
Waltz, proprietor of the town. Henry Waltz
lived at that time about three-fourths of a mile
south of the site of the present village. When
the latter became a desirable place for his busi-
ness, he came to town and erected a small frame
building where Mr. Thomas's store now stands,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

27.i

and, putting up the old fashioned sign-post and
swinging thereon a large sign on creaking iron
hinges in front of the door, opened the first hotel
in the future town. Mr. Waltz continued in busi-
ness here several years, when he sold out and,
removing to the south end of town, purchased
another building, which he converted into a
tavern and continued to keep a house of enter-
tainment several years more. He was the prin-
cipal tavern-keeper in the village during many
years of its early life, but retired from the busi-
ness and died some years ago. His successor
was Nicholas Motwiler, who continued as the
village landlord several years. During the war
of the Rebellion he was a captain and subse-
quently died in Texas.

James Keithley was a tavern-keeper for several
years in the eastern part of the village.

The present hotel building was erected many
years ago by James Burgher, who continued as
landlord many years, and was succeeded by his
son. He removed to the northern part of Il-
linois, where he died. The son was succeeded
by Dr. Tucker, who in turn was followed, after
several years, by George Summers. After the
latter came the present proprietor.

This building was erected for a country tavern;
and through all the years of its existence, and
the various changes of ownership and landlords,
it has remained essentially an old-fashioned inn.
It has never assumed the dignity of a "hotel" of
the present day. Though, as a general thing,
houses of public entertainment are no longer
"taverns," but "hotels," this yet remains a
tavern, and those who desire to enjoy the com-
forts, advantages, and special blessings of a
pioneer place of entertainment, can stop here.
It is an unpainted frame building, standing close
to the street, with a wide, open porch extending
along the entire front, upon which are a rude
bench or two and a few rickety chairs for the ac-
commodation of the guests and the swarm of
loafers who make this a place to rest, smoke, and
distribute tobacco juice promiscuously. The great
square sign squeaks on its iron hinges in front
day and night. There is plenty of dirt and to-
bacco remains around the square box stove in
the bar-room ; there is one long table in the din-
ing-room at which everybody takes a seat when
the big bell rings, and where the guests are ex-
pected to struggle with the flies and each other

for whatever is within reach. Boiled meat and
potatoes, coffee without milk or sugar, and
hot soda biscuit, form the staples of diet
morning, noon, and night, while "apple-sass"
of doubtful ingredients, onions, and other
vegetables from the "truck-patch" in their sea-
son, sometimes form the side-dishes. But the
crowning comfort of this "place of entertain-
ment" is the great sleeping-room up stairs, the
"potter's field" where everybody, old and young,
rich and poor, high or low, is laid away to rest
on straw beds that are painful reminders of the
great dearth of straw in the country. The beds
are partly on the floor, and partly on rickety
wooden bedsteads; a single blanket is the cover-
ing, and here the weary, mud-bespattered stranger,
after a fifty-mile ride in the middle, backless seat
of the stage, is expected to stretch himself beside
some stranger (for the beds are always full) to
pass the never-ending night; if he is nervous,
listening to the intolerable and heart-rending
sounds from the throats of a score or two of
heavy, phlegmatic sleepers, to say nothing of the
infected air, and not unlikely the vermin that
may infest the place. Such is a very faint picture
of a "pioneer place of entertainment;" and the
fare for supper, lodging, and breakfast is "six
bits, sir, if you please" (seventy-five cents). The
new railroad now constructing will probably so
improve the place that it will support a modern
hotel, even the lower grade of which is an im-
provement on the pioneer "tavern.''

The cabin that George Waltz built when he
first came to this place is yet standing. It is not,
probably, as old as the Shields cabin by one or
two years, but is sufficiently ancient to become
the subject of remark. It is about a quarter of
a mile north of Georgetown.

Henry Waltz was the first postmaster of the
place, and it is a rather remarkable fact that in
this long since settled and civilized region the
old stage-coach has carried Uncle Sam's mail
from pioneer times to the present day. For
nearly three-fourths of a century it has been the
principal mode of ingress and egress from the
place; but its days are now almost numbered.
Within another year it will be superseded by the
iron horse.

Since Mr. Waltz, the postmasters (or post-
mistresses) have been James K. Harmon, John
Thomas, John Tresenriter, Miss Sarah Tresen-

2.72

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

riter, and Elizabeth Mottwiler, the last of whom
is the present incumbent.

The present business of Georgetown is em-
braced in the following list: Three cooper
shops, three blacksmith shops, four stores carry-
ing general stocks, one wagon shop, one tavern,
and perhaps one or two other business establish-
ments of minor importance, including a saloon
or two. The doctors are Lewis Levi, William
Kirkwood, and Dr. Tucker, the last of whom
lives a short distance east of the village. As
usual, great expectations are placed on the ad-
vent of the railroad, so far as the business of the
place is concerned.

THE MILITARY RECORD.

The village and township have been interested
in all the wars of the country, some of those
who served in the Indian wars and the War of
1812 having been mentioned. Some of the
Geo'getown citizens still remembered as volun-
teering during the war with Mexico were Jeffer-
son Tyler, William Welker, and Samuel Steele,
all of whom returned safely, but are all now
dead. In the last war the people of George-
town were not behind in patriotism, and, in com-
mon with the whole country, contributed their
share of blood, muscle, and money in putting
down the great Rebellion. John Morgan gave
them something of a scare, and many of the
citizens went to Corydon in arms to oppose him.
A number of horses were lost but no lives.

LOCAL INSTITUTIONS.

The village is blessed with churches and an
excellent school. About one hundred scholars
attend the latter, and two teachers are employed
in the two school-rooms of the building. The
latter is situated on the north side of town, cost
about $1,500 and was erected in 1879.

Georgetown lodge of Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, No. 480, was instituted in 1875. The
charter members were Silas Beard, Thomas J.
Engleman, Thomas J. Burkhardt, Jesse Sum-
mers, John S. Evans, George W. Waltz, Samuel
Thoma's, Henry Brock, William Henson, Wil-
liam M. Burkhardt, Francis M. Hall, and
Francis R. Curtis. The first officers were :
Silas Beard, W. M.; Thomas J. Engleman, S.
W.j Thomas J. Burkhardt, J. W.; Jesse Sum-
mers, S. D.; John S. Evans, J. D.; William
Henson, treasurer ; Samuel Thomas, secretary :

George W. Waltz, chaplain, and Henry Brock,
tyler. The lodge was organized in Henry Wolf's
hall, and remained there three or four years,
when the present hall was occupied. It has en-
joyed a fair degree of prosperity, the member-
ship being now about thirty. This is the only
secret society at present in the village.

Georgetown is not unpleasantly situated, and
the farming country around it is rather above
the average in the county. The population of
the village is now about three hundred. It was
incorporated about a year ago, and has since en-
joyed the advantages of a local government.

EDWARDSVILLE.

The traveler westward from New Albany
passes over a very picturesque and beautiful
country on the New Albany, Louisville & Cory-
don plank road (or rather macadamized road
now) for five or six miles, or until he reaches the
top of the knobs at Edwardsville. The stage-
coach is generally full to the brim, and running
over ; indeed it is sometimes impossible to get
passage at all, for considerable travel and baggage
passes over the road for the several little villages
and farm-houses by the way, and the daily stage
mnst do all the carrying business. It leaves
New Albany at 10 a. m., with its two or four
horses, which are allowed to trot briskly along
the hard road, passing over level, beautiful bot-
toms ; around sharp, jutting, precipitous hills,
up long, winding, heavily wooded, dark ravines ;
along the sides of the young mountains, where in
places the solid limestone rock has been blasted
away to make the road ; and so on, winding,
twisting, turning as it hugs the narrow valley of
Middle creek, it finally emerges on the top of
the knobs at Edwardsville, where instead of de-
scending again it reaches away over a compara-
tively level expanse of country until it passes
out of the county. It is said that $100,000
were expended in making this road over the
knobs. The New Albany & St. Louis Air
Line railroad crosses it several times, ascend-
ing rapidly in its endeavors to get over these
natural obstacles, but finding that impossible as
it reaches the head of Middle creek, and not to
be outdone or stopped in its grand career by so
small an obstruction as a mountain, it plunges
into the heart of it, running almost under the
little village, and emerging some distance be-
yond, it sweeps away to the westward.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

273

Charles Paxson, a very prominent resident of
New Albany during its earlier years, once owned
and, very likely, first entered the land where
Edwardsville is situated. He probably did very
little in the way of improvement on it, however,
and upon his death it was disposed of at public
sale, and a Mr. Nelson became the owner. The
farm was the first on the plank-road after that
road reached the top of the knobs, and although
not as fertile as bottom land, it was nearly all
tillable, and therefore a rather desirable tract.
Isaac Bowman became the next owner after
Nelson, and he in turn disposed of it to William
Hancock. The latter died and the property
passed into the possession of his heirs — thirteen
in number. Samuel Tresenriter purchased the
entire tract (one hundred and fifty-four acres) of
these heirs, paying them $100 each, or $1,300.
Mr. Tresenriter very soon disposed of it to
Henry Edwards for $1,700, and the latter laid
out, in 1853, the village which perpetuates his
name. Henry Edwards was a Hoosier. His"
father, also named Henry, came from Kentucky
to this township among the pioneers, with a large
family of children, not many of whom are now
living, and only one, William, is now living in
this vicinity.

At the top of the knobs a road branched from
the turnpike, called the Milltown road. It
passes through the valley of Whisky run and
Georgetown, and on to Milltown. Henry Ed-
wards lived at the forks of the road, in a cabin
built there long years before Edwardsville came
into existence; and the town being platted
around it, this cabin became the first human
habitation in Edwardsville. The building is yet
standing, and is occupied by a Mr. Wininger.
The old two-story frame house, with the usual
porch extending along the entire front, now oc-
cupied by Mrs. Forman, is probably the next
oldest house in the village.

The first blacksmith shop established here was
by "Jake" Miller, and the first cooper shop by
Frederick Gilbauche. The latter also kept a
saloon and a few groceries, and may therefore be
termed the first merchant in the place. George
Forman opened a small grocery soon after and
succeeded in obtaining the first post-office about
1856. He did business in his dwelling at the
forks of the road.

The village was laid out on the northeast

quarter of section One, township No. 3, south of
range Five east. The surveyor was James Bur-
ns. The plat was recorded by Henry H. Ed-
wards in September, 1853.

The place never quite grew up to the expecta-
tions of its enthusiastic supporters, and is not
particularly a notable business place at present,
though it promises to be something more than it
is as soon as the new railroad establishes a sta-
tion. It will be compelled to fix this three-
fourths of a mile from town, on account of the
great tunnel. The present business is comprised
in a blacksmith-shop, kept by George Kronskill,
and two stores, kept by Joseph Thomas and
James Murphy, respectively. The working at
present of a large number of hands in the
vicinity, on both the tunnel and railroad, renders
the village more lively than usual.

The next postmaster after George Forman was
James Thomas, who was succeeded by James
Routh, and he in turn by his son, William War-
ren Routh. The next was the present incum-
bent, Joseph Thomas.

No school-house or church was ever erected
within the town limits. In an early day, before
the town had an existence, the children of this
neighborhood went to school at what was known
as the Union school-house, about two miles north,
which has been before mentioned — a log build-
ing. Soon after the town was laid out (in 1856)
they erected a school-house within half a mile of
town, on the Georgetown road; and in 1879 this
was removed, and the present comfortable build-
ing built in its stead. This continues to be the
place where the youth of the village are edu-
cated. The Christian church stands near it.
There are two rooms in the building, two teach-
ers are employed, and about one hundred and
twenty-five pupils are registered.

The principal water supply of this village,
especially during the present drouth (1881), is a
beautiful spring whose waters gush from the hill-
side on the south side of town — the same spring
mentioned as forming the sources of both Middle
creek and Knob creek.

From the summit of the knobs upon which the
town stands, the view is extensive and grand.
The air is pure and bracing, and probably no
more healthful place for a residence could be
found anywhere. The village itself overlooks a
great gorge to the south and southeast, so large

274

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and deep that a dozen such villages might easily
be buried there. Rugged, heavily wooded hills
extend in a range north and south as far as the
eye can reach. The country in the vicinity is
somewhat noted for fruit culture, some of the
finest fruit-farms in the county being found here.
At present the village contains about fifteen
dwellings and about seventy-five people.

RELIGIOUS MATTERS.

A majority of the first settlers of this township
belonged to some church in the community from
which they emigrated. Those from North Car-
olina and other parts of the South were gener-
ally Methodists, United Brethren, or Baptists ;
while the Pennsylvania Dutch were Lutheran or
Reformed. The former brought with them the
religious superstitions of their time and country.
Many of them were illiterate — perhaps a ma-
jority could neither read nor write; a few were
not entirely ignorant of the primary branches of
learning, and fewer yet were fairly educated.
The Pennsylvanians on the other hand, though
not learned or thoroughly educated, were yet
none of them entirely without knowledge of the
primary branches; many of them had laid the
foundation of an education by which their chil-
dren profited.

■ The earliest religious teachers through this re-
gion were unlettered, though like their hearers
they were men of natural force of character, great
energy, perseverance, and will force, as well as
great physical powers. They were religious by
instinct rather than by education, and often ex-
pounded their views with great force and elo-
quence, but with language not entirely polished.

Clement Nance and George Oatman were
among the earliest preachers in this part of the
county ; they have been referred to in the his-
tory of Franklin township.

Judge Shields' cabin, which was ever open for
religious meetings, without regard to denomina-
tion, was the first preaching place in the town-
ship. To this spacious cabin the few settlers
came from far and near, to listen to the fervent
but unpolished oratory of Clement Nance, who
preached in those very early days the doctrine of
a sect known as the New-lights, now very nearly-
extinct. Craven Lynn, the first school-teacher,
was also one of the first preachers, often holding
services at Mr. Shields', and afterwards at the

log school-house where he officiated as teacher.

The Lutherans of the early days of this town-
ship generally worshiped at the old St. John's
church, in the southern part of Greenville, the
history of which will be found in the chapter
on that township. The United Brethren had no
church in an early day, but occasionally held
services in the cabins of the members.

The Methodists, being the most numerous,
probably erected the first church building in the
township. This was for many years known as
the Swartz meeting-house, and was built about
1820, or earlier, in the northern and eastern part
of the township, on the farm of Michael Swartz.
The latter was a zealous Methodist, and not only
gave the land upon which the building stands,
but did, perhaps, more than his proportion of the
labor in erecting it. The latter was of hewn
logs, and was erected by the volunteer labor of
the pioneers of the neighborhood, without re-
gard to religious feeling. This church was used
by the Methodists a great many years, and is yet
standing, though much decayed, and has not
been used for a long time. The yard about the
building was for years the burying-ground of the
neighborhood, but is no longer used for that pur-
pose. A few gray, moss-covered stones yet mark
the graves of pioneers buried there, but the place
has a deserted appearance, as if the hand of
time was resting heavily upon it. All the Meth-
odists in this part of the county worshiped either
here or at the old Schrader chapel in Greenville
township. Those further south and west, even
within the limits of this township, went to Lanes-
ville, Harrison county. The Rev. Messrs. Rut-
ledge, Strange, and Hamilton, were among the
earliest ministers. After the old meeting-house
began to decay, the members attended church
at Georgetown, where a church was organized
about 1840; and in later years Hill's chapel has
been the place of meeting.

The Tresenriter family were among the first
Methodists in the vicinity of Georgetown. John
Tresenriter was in the habit of entertaining
all the itinerant ministers of the Methodist per-
suasion, and they often preached at his cabin, as
well as at Shields's. Later the old school-house
that stood at the east' end of Georgetown became
the preaching place; and it was probably here
that the first Methodist class was organized,
which subsequently became the foundation of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

275

the Methodist church of Georgetown. It was
not until about 1845 tnat tne class grew strong
enough to build a church. This building, a
frame, is yet standing. Among the earliest mem-
bers were John Tresenriter and wife; Nancy
Tresennter, yet living in Georgetown; Gideon
B. Tresenriter and wife; Dolly Zimmerman, and
George Welker and wife. Probably there are
others, whose names cannot now be recalled.
Rev. Messrs. Rutledge and Craven Lynn were
among the first ministers remembered. The
church edifice cost $800 or $900 when first
erected, but has been frequently repaired and
probably as much more money spent on it. Wil-
liam Harrison and Henry Duncan organized the
first Sabbath-school in Georgetown, just prior
to the war. It was at first a union school, but
became divided in time into several sections,
which had the effect of weakening it very much.
The town will not at present, probably, support
more than one good school of this kind.

Hill's chapel, so called for the reason that a
Rev. Mr. Hill was on this circuit at the date of
its organization, and was influential in establish-
ing it, was organized about the close of the war
in what is known as Link's school-house. Mat-
thew Link and David Swartz were among the
earliest and most influential members. This
class succeeded in erecting a small but neat
frame church, and though the church is not a
Strong one, it is well sustained, and a Sabbath-
school is maintained. The Methodists are not
nearly so strong in the township as they were some
years ago. For some reason this ancient and
honorable religious society seems to be rather on
the decline in this part of the country.

The United Brethren church, of Georgetown,
is one of the oldest religious societies in the
township. It was organized, probably, as early
as 1830. Rev. Messrs. Antrim, Frimmer, and
Bonebrake were the early missionaries through
this part of the country in the interest- of this
denomination. The first-named was probably
the earliest; and he organized a society at George
Wolf's cabin. Mr. Wolf lived directly west of
Georgetown, in the edge of Harrison county,
and was one of the earliest pioneers. Rev. Henry
Bonebrake is the best known and best remem-
bered among the pioneer preachers of this neigh-
borhood; and the United Brethren society grew
and prospered greatly under his energetic man-

agement and eloquent preaching. He continued
preaching in this vicinity some thirty years, then
moved to Iowa, where he died.

The first church erected by this society was a
smail brick, located in the lower end of George-
town. This was about 1840. The congrega-
tion grew so rapidly under Mr. Bonebrake's
preaching that the little brick church would no
longer answer the purpose. It was disposed of
for a dwelling, and the present frame erected in
the upper part of town in 1869. It cost about
$2,600. The present membership of this church
is seventy-five or eighty. The organization is in
a prosperous condition. A Sunday-school has
been maintained for many years.

This denomination has also organized a so-
ciety which worships at Hill's chapel.

The Christian or Disciple church of George-
town was organized about 1850. The first meet-
ings were held in the school-house. Rev.
Leonard Morton was one of the earliest preach-
ers of this denomination in this vicinity, minis-
tering to the few Christians here before any house
of worship was erected.

The present church edifice was put up soon
after the organization of the society. The
church was fairly prosperous for many years, but
is somewhat weak at present, having a member-
ship of but twenty or more. Rev. Moses Smith,
of the same church, located near Edwardsville,
frequently ministers to this congregation. A
Sabbath-school has been fairly sustained for
many years. Mathias Harmon, William Miller,
and Andrew Motwiler were among the original
members of the church at Georgetown.

The little white frame church, located half a
mile west of Edwardsville, near the mouth of the
railroad tunnel, is known as the Tunnel Hill
Christian church, and was erected in 1S63.
Rev. Moses Smith, who has been a minister of
the gospel about forty years, and who was born
within two miles of where he now resides, near
the church, was the leading spirit in the organi-
zation of this society, and has been its pastor
since it came into existence.

The first meeting for organization was held at
the school house near the present location of the
church, in 1855-56. There were present at that
meeting William Lidikay, Moses Smith, Philip
Cook, Joseph Jennings, William and Paul Cook,
James Loyd, George Lidikay, and some others,

276

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

with their families, who constituted the first or-
ganization. Meetings were regularly held in this
school-house until the church building was
erected, in 1863. The building cost $1,200 or
$1,500, besides the voluntary labor that was be-
stowed upon it.

This has been one of the most prosperous
churches in the township, and now boasts a mem-
bership of nearly one hundred. It is the only
church in the vicinity of Edwardsville; and there
being no church in that village, a large scope of
country makes this a place of worship.

About a year after the church was erected a
Sabbath-school was organized in it, which has
been kept up to the present time, and has greatly
prospered. The present membership is about
one hundred. Rev. M. Smith and Messrs.
Coonrod and Krosgill were the earliest superin-
tendents of this school. Mr. Smith and Marion
Yenawine are the present superintendents.

This church first started with a membership
of sixteen or eighteen, and no church in the
county can show a better record.

The turnpike which passes across the south-
east part of this township was first called the
New Albany, Lanesville and Corydon plank-road,
having been planked and toll-gates established
in 1853. Thus it continued many years, until
the planking was badly worn, when it was
thought best to macadamize the road, excellent
stone for the purpose being found in the knobs.
It is now, and has been for years, one of the best
of the many good roads in the county, and is
the main thoroughfare westward from New Al-
bany. The old country inn still has an exist-
ence at several points along this turnpike, where
the stage always stops to water the horses and
dispose of sundry packages and casks, and where
the passengers may get out for five minutes to
stretch their weary limbs, buy a cigar, and perhaps
a "nip" of whiskey or apple-jack. The railroad
will probably put an end to these, as it has to
many another old institution. This road was
established in May, 1823, by Levi Long, D. O.
Lane, and William Boon, commissioners ap-
pointed by the State Legislature.

SETTLEMENT NOTES.

Mr. Mathew Rady was born in Harrison
county, Indiana, in January, 1829. His father,
Mathew RadySr., emigrated from Ireland when
a young man and settled in Floyd county about

the year 1830. He had before this time worked
on the Portland canal. He died in 187 1. His
wife was a Miss Leady. Mr. Mathew Rady Jr.,
was married in i860 to Miss Sarah Martin, of
Georgetown. They have three children. Mr.
Rady is a cooper by occupation. Has been
assessor of Georgetown township since 1869.
He served in the army during the Rebellion six
months.

Rev. David A. Wynegar is a native of High-
land county, Ohio, being born there in the year
1838. He received his education at Middletown
and Delaware colleges. He is a minister in the
Methodist Episcopal church, and was married in
Stark county, Indiana, to Miss Mary McCune.
His family consists of four children — two sons
and two daughters. He is at this writing pastor
of the Methodist Episcopal church at Edwards-
ville, Floyd county, Indiana. The old original
family of Wynegars were Virginia people.

Mr. Moses Harper was born in North Carolina
in 1 806. When a boy of only a few years he
came to Floyd county with his mother in com-
pany with Mr. John Thomas, her son-in-law.
Mr. Harper has been married three times. At
the age of twenty he married Miss Mary Har-
man, by whom he had eleven children. His
second wife he married in 1851, her name being
Mrs. Elizabeth Hammond, of Pike county,
Indiana, by whom he had three children. His
third wife was Mrs. Rebecca Friar, of Harrison
county, Indiana. They were married in 1870.
Mr. Harper was a county commissioner for three
years, and has held several positions of trust,
though farming has been his occupation princi-
pally. He has seen much of life, and. had a
great deal of experience with the Indians.

Mr. Albert Bullard was born near Springfield,
Massachusetts, February 29, 1824. In 1845 he
came to Indiana, and moved to New Albany in
1846. In 1S50 he went to California, where he re-
mained five years. Upon his return he engaged
in farming and running a saw-mill. He was
married in 1847 to Miss Mary A. Wilkinson,
daughter of Mr. David Wilkinson, of New
Albany. She was born in Cincinnati in 1827.
They have one son, William P. Their home is
at present upon a farm near Edwardsville. In
December, 1879, he was elected to the office of
county commissioner.

Mr. Charles Duncan was born in Jefferson

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

277

county, Kentucky, in the year 1827. His father's
name was James T. Duncan, who was also born
in Jefferson county, Kentucky, in 1804. His
avocation was farming and teaming. He was a
man of prominence in his community, and died
in the fifty-third year of his age. Charles Dun-
can, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch,
moved to Kentucky previous to 1800, and was one
of the earliest settlers of this section of country;
he was a native of Virginia. His wife was a Miss
Music, born in North Carolina. James T., the
father of the subject of this sketch, married Miss
Catharine Bateman, of Jefferson county. They
raised a family of seven children, four of whom
are residents of Floyd county. A son resides in
Illinois, and one in Montana, and a daughter in
Texas. Mr. Charles Duncan was twice married.
His first marriage took place in 1852; his wife's
name was Miss Maria Ross, a resident of Floyd
county, who lived but a short time. In 1855
he married his second wife, Miss Mary J. Greene,
a daughter of Mr. James Greene, of Lanesville,
Indiana. They have one son, Charles Edwin.
In 1855 Mr. Duncan was elected county com-
missioner, which office he filled three years; was
elected treasurer of Floyd county in 1859; held
the office four years. He is a man who bears
the traits of a true Kentucky gentleman.

Dr. William W. Tucker was born in New Phil-
adelphia in 183 1. He studied medicine in his
native town and graduated in the Commercial
college of Indianapolis, Indiana, and in the
Louisville Medical college in 1853. In the
year 1861 he and Miss Elizabeth Tresen writer,
of New Albany, were united in marriage. Her
father, Mr. John Tresenwriter, was one of
the first settlers of Floyd county, Indiana. The
doctor's family consists of three children. In
justice to energy, pluck, and ability, we must say
the doctor commenced the practice of medicine
in Georgetown in the fall of 1861 without a dol-
lar in his pocket and is now a wealthy man.
His father was one of Washington county's pio-
neers.

Mr. Francis R. Nelson was born in Dutchess
county, New York, in 1818. His father, Harvey
Nelson, came to Clarke county, Indiana, in
1 82 1, and settled in Jeffersonville and remained
until his death, which occurred in 1840. His
wife and mother died in Marietta, Ohio, while
on their way to this county. Francis was reared

by his uncle, Reuben W. Nelson, a lawyer of
Jeffersonville. Mr. Francis Nelson has been
married three times. His first wife was Miss
Mary. J. McClintock; the second, Miss Rachel
Morgan ; the third, Miss Mary Walker, of Har-
rison county, Indiana. By his first wife he has
one child living, and by his last wife he has four
living children.

Mr. David Hanger was born in Augusta coun-
ty, Virginia, in 181 5. His father, Frederick
Hanger, came to Floyd county in 1820, and
died in 1871 in the seventy-sixth year of his age.
Mr. David Hanger was married in 1840 to Miss
Nancy Tyler, of Georgetown. Their family con-
sists of ten children. Two sons, Thomas and
William, reside in Floyd county; and Hamilton
C. and Jesse B. reside in Clarke county; Fred-
erick still resides at home with his father. Mrs.
Hanger's father, David Tyler, is one of the pio-
neers of this county.

Mr. George Waltz was born in Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1816. His father was Mr. Henry
Waltz, a farmer and tavern-keeper at George-
town. The grandfather, George, came from
Pennsylvania and settled in Floyd county with
its first settlers. He laid out part of the town of
Georgetown, and gave it its name. George
Waltz was twice married — in 1837 to Miss
Susana Harmon, of Harrison county. She died
in 1850, leaving a family of six children. Again
in 1 85 1 to Miss Evaline Kepley, of Harrison
county. By this marriage Mr. Waltz has two
children. This family, more than any other of
our acquaintance, has cause for remembering the
trying times of 1861-65, when so much of our
best young blood was spilled to teach men that
"this was a Nation." In that terrible struggle
Mr. Waltz lost a brother, three sons, a son-in-law,
and two brothers-in-law. Jesse H. was a corpo-
ral in the Eighty-first regiment, Indiana volunteer
infantry, and died at Nashville, Tennessee;
James H., Fifty-third regiment, and died of
wounds received at Atlanta, Georgia; George W.,
Eighty-first regiment, died at home of disease
contracted while in service; Jesse D. Teaford
(son-in-law), Eighty-first regiment, killed at
Chickamauga, Harbin H. (brother) was mortally
wounded at Thompson's Hill; Isaac Kepley,
Eighty-first regiment, died at Nashville, Ten-
nessee; Mennefee Kepley, Eighty-first regiment,
died at Murfreesborough, Tennessee.

278

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

CHAPTER XVI.

GREENVILLE TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

This was one of the three original townships
of which the county was composed when first
formed, and was at that time part of the territoiy
embraced in Clarke county. It occupies the
northwestern part of the county, and originally
contained much more territory than at present,
as the following from the record of the county
commissioners makes apparent. This record is
dated February 8, 1819, and is part of the pro-
ceedings of the first meeting of the commission-
ers, which body then consisted of Clement Nance
and Jacob Piersol :

Ordered, That all that part of Floyd county lying above
the road and north of the knobs, leading from New Albany
to Vincennes, until it strikes or intersects the county line,
form one township, to be known and designated as Greenville
township ; and that the elections for said township be held at
the house of John R. .

The boundaries thus established formed the
second township in the county, New Albany being
the first. At the same meeting it was

Ordered, That Mr. James McCutchan, Sr. .be appointed
Inspector of Election in the township of Greenville for the
term of one year,

He thus became the first officer in the town-
ship. It was also ordered at the same meeting
that the sheriff issue writs of election for two
justices of the peace for Greenville, the election
to be held on the 22d of February, 1819.

A second meeting of the commissioners was
held February 9, 181 9, at which the following
business was transacted:

Ordered, That Isaac Stewart, of Greenville, be appointed
Lister for the County of Floyd for the year 1819.

Ordered, That Samuel Kendall and Frederick Leatherman
be appointed Overseers of the Poor in the County of Floyd,
for the Township of Greenville, for the term of one year.

Ordered, That John Irvin, David Edwards, and Isaac
Woods be appointed Fence Viewers for the township of
Greenville in said County of Floyd, for the term specified by
law.

Samuel Kendall, of Greenville, was at the
same meeting appointed supervisor for all the
roads in Floyd county. " These were few and far
apart, however, at that time.

At a meeting of the commissioners, held
March 4, 18 19, at the house of Seth Woodruff,
in New Albany, the boundaries of Greenville
township were changed, and the territory reduced,
as follows:

Ordered, That all that part of Floyd county beginning at
the corners of sections numbered fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one,
and twenty-two, in township No. 2, south of range Fifth
east, on the line dividing Harrison and Floyd; thence east
with the section line to the corners of sections numbered
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, in township No.
2, south of range Sixth east; thence south with the section
line to the corners of sections numbered nineteen, twenty,
twenty-nine, and thirty in said township; thence east with
the section line to the corners of sections numbered twenty,
twenty-one, twenty-eight, and twenty-nine in said township;
thence north with the section line to the corners of sections
numbered seventeen, sixteen, twenty, and twenty-one, in
said township, thence east with the section line to the
corners of sections numbered fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one,
and twenty-two, in said township; thence north to the
corners of sections numbered nine, ten, fifteen, and sixteen,
in said township; thence east to the corners of sections
numbered ten, eleven, fourteen, and fifteen, in said town-
ship; thence north to the corners of sections numbered two,
three, thirty-four, and thirty-five, in said township; thence
east to the Grant line; thence up with said line to the line
which divides the counties of Floyd and Clarke; '.hence with
the county Mne of Floyd to the place of beginning, to form
one township, to be designated by the name of Greenville
township.

And it is further ordered , that the bounds of said township,
called by the name of Greenville township, which was made
an order at the session in February last, be and the same is
hereby made void and of none effect.

The above is an exact copy of the record
which established the boundaries of this town-
ship, though they have since been somewhat
changed.

TOPOGRAPHY.

In its wilderness state this township was gen-
erally covered with a rank growth of hard-wood
timber of nearly every variety, although oak was
perhaps the prevailing timber, as the larger por-
tion of the township was considered upland.
The lower lands along the streams were occupied
by sugar, hickory, beech, black walnut, and in
places covered with a dense undergrowth of
paw-paw, spicewood, and other varieties of
underbrush, while the ground was for the most
part literally covered with wild pea-vines, thus
making the forest impenetrable to the white set-
tler until he had hewed his way with his axe.
Grape-vines also grew rankly, climbing to the
tops of the highest trees, and in places shutting
out the sun-light, making the woods a perpetual
gloom. Wild animals of every description known
to the American forest, and creeping things,
filled these woods and met the hardy pioneer at
every turn.

Wolves, bears, deer, and turkeys were not to
be numbered; but the buffalo and elk had pro-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

279

bably entirely disappeared when the first white
man planted his wigwam. Elk-horns were fre-
quently discovered in the woods, showing that
this noble animal had been an inhabitant of this
forest; and it is known that the buffalo roamed
through these woods prior to the beginning of
this century, as it is occasionally mentioned in
the history of those times.

An occasional patch of cleared ground was
found by the first white settlers along the
streams where the Indians had planted corn,
and an opening in the forest sometimes appeared
where there was a swamp or swail (the settlers
called it a "ma'sh") covering sometimes several
acres. These swails were generally covered with
water the whole year, and produced a rank
growth of wild grasses, making excellent feeding-
grounds for deer and elk, and also • for great
numbers of wild geese and ducks.

The township is abundantly watered by num-
erous creeks, running brooks, and springs; the
latter are especially abundant, and furnish excel-
lent water.

Indian creek is the largest stream in the town-
ship. Its two forks in this township are termed,
respectively, the Big and the Little Indian. The
headwaters of the Big Indian are in the north-
eastern part of the township, its course being
generally southwest across the township until it
joins Little Indian near the southern boundary.
It has several tributaries, one of which is termed
the North fork of Big Indian, and in an early
day was a stream of considerable magnitude;
but since the clearing up of the country it has
dwindled to a small brook. The Little Indian,
with numerous tributaries, waters the southeast-
ern part of the township.

In the western part of the township are Corn
run and Richland creek; the former a small
stream, rising in the northwestern part of the
township, passes south more than half-way across
the township, and, making a turn west, it enters
the adjoining county. Richland creek has its
source in a beautiful spring, known as Cave
spring, near the northern line of the township.
Its course is almost due south until it crosses
the southern line of the township.

A little creek known as Bear creek enters the
northwestern part of the township, and, after
passing a short distance through the township,
re-enters the adjoining county on the north.

At the date of the first settlement of the
county, the hills along this creek were noted for
their numerous hiding-places for bear and other
wild game; hence the name. The region was
much frequented by hunters long after game had
disappeared from other parts of the adjacent
county. The last bear seen in Floyd county
was near this creek about 1830, or perhaps a
few years later, by Harrison Wilcoxen. It
crossed the road ahead of him, but, as he was
unarmed, he did not pursue. Probably the last
deer killed in the township was by Joseph Lug-
enbeel in 1845. Later, about 1852, a large buck
was seen near Greenville village, and pursued by
several hunters, but made its escape. It is be-
lieved this was the last wild deer seen in the
township. Turkeys were the last of the large
wild game to disappear. The last known to have
been killed in this township was by John Sap-
penfield, in 1863, though they did not probably
disappear entirely until some years later.

The land in this township is generally rolling,
and in places even hilly; nearly all of it is culti-
vated, and the larger proportion of it is under a
high state of cultivation. Timber is yet abun-
dant, occupying generally the most inaccessible
and undesirable lands; though considerable
heavy timber is yet found on the bottom lands
along the streams.

There is a ridge north and northeast of Green-
ville, whose general course is northwest and
southeast, dividing the waters of Bear creek from
the other streams mentioned. The soil is most-
ly clay, and is of drift formation. Along the
two Indian creeks considerable bottom land is
found composed of black loam, and is very valu-
able to the agriculturist. The cultivated land of
the entire township is quite productive, especially
of the smaller grains, such as wheat, oats,
rye, etc.

The following remarks regarding the agricul-
tural productions in this township, are taken
from the Agricultural Report of 1880:

Acres of wheat, 2,042; bushels of wheat, 22,462; acres of
corn, 1,936; bushels of corn, 37,648; acres of oats, 1,237;
bushels of oats, 24,740; acres of meadow, 1,090; tons of

hay, 1,362; acres of potatoes, ; bushels of potatoes,

2,960; acres of sweet potatoes, 5; bushels of sweet potatoes,
300.

Franklin is the only township in the county
that averages more wheat to the acre than this.
Oats, however, is the principal crop, the amount

2 So

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

of acreage in this township being more than five
hundred in excess of any other in the county,
and the bushels about ten thousand in excess of
any other in Floyd.

The number of acres of land in the township
is 20,960, of which about 13,000 are improved.
The population by the census of 1880 was 1,589.

ARCHEOLOGY.

Evidences of the Mound Builders and archae-
ological remains are very meagre in this town-
ship, and, indeed, in the county. If the "lost
race" occupied this territory extensively, but
little evidence of the fact remains. Three small
mounds or hillocks having the usual appearance
of mounds, appear near the village of Galena,
on what is known as Knob run, a small tributary
of the Little Indian creek. They are situated
very near each other, have the usual oval form,
and are overgrown with timber, which fact prob-
ably accounts for their preservation. Two of
them are, perhaps, five feet in height at the pres-
ent time, and the third about ten feet. They
have never been opened. It is a well known
fact that the Mound Builders' works are gen-
erally found on loamy, sandy ground.and as
this is very scarce in Greenville township, it
is not probable that they occupied this territory
as a place of residence to a great extent. Nu-
merous stone hatchets and other stone imple-
ments have been found in various parts of the
township, but, as these were in use by both
Indians and Mound Builders, they may have
been the production of the former.

INDIANS.

The red man held undisputed sway over this
territory when the first settlers made their ap-
pearance, though the evidences of their occupa-
tion yet remaining are not numerous. They built
no monuments, raised no temples, nor planted
any imperishable thing to perpetuate their mem-
ory here or elsewhere, as did the Mound Builders;
and, had they passed away as a race without
being actually seen by the eyes of intelligent
beings, their existence might have remained for-
ever a secret. In this township the stone imple-
ments largely in use among them prior to the
beginning of the present century, are found in
considerable quantities ; and there are a few
pioneers yet living in the township who can
point out the locations of their camps along the

once wild and still pretty banks of Indian
creek. Arrow-points, stone hatchets, chisels,
wedges, and other evidences of the "stone age"
have been turned up by the plow; and, though
often cast away by those who do not appreciate
their value, many of them are preserved and are
being gathered into the cabinets of relic hunters.
Without doubt a regular factory for making
arrow-points, and perhaps all the other stone im-
plements in use by the Indians, existed on Bear
creek, near the northern line of this township,
in Clarke county. A large bed of flint chips was
found here, covering an acre or more of ground
to a considerable depth.

Here the ancient arrow-maker
Made his arrow-heads of quartz-rock.
Arrow-heads of chalcedony,
Arrow-heads of chert and jasper,
Smooth and sharpened at the edges,
Hard and polished, keen and costly.

Hither the red men resorted, perhaps from
many miles around and perhaps for years, it may
be centuries of time, to purchase of the "arrow-
maker" the necessary "point;" and here, later,
when the Indians were disappearing forever from
the hunting-grounds of their fathers, the roaming
white man resorted for the necessary flint for his
rifle.

No doubt the numerous Indian camps on the
principal stream in this township led the first set-
tlers to call it Indian creek. Half a dozen or
more camps were situated in various places along
this creek and within the limits of this township
at the date of the first settlement. At that date
this stream contained more water at all times
than at present. Before the forest was cleared
away, and when the wild pea-vines and other
vegetation covered the ground, the water seeped
slowly through these into the creek, which was
thereby supplied more regularly than at present.
The numerous swamps also assisted in keeping
up the supply of water, and the Indians found
along the stream good fishing and trapping.
Beaver, muskrat, otter, mink, etc., were in great
abundance. The clearing of the country and
the draining of swamps has produced a great
change in this stream, as in other streams. It is
now an insignificant water, except immediately
after a heavy rain-fall, when for a short time it is
a raging, foaming torrent.

One of the Indian camps was located on land
subsequently owned by Amos Davis, on Indian

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

creek, about one and one-half rr.iles from the
present village of Greenville. It was here that
Sullivan, a white hunter, was killed by the In-
dians. Near this camp was a deer-lick, and in-
deed many licks were located at various places
along the stream. These were so called because
salt water continually oozed from the soft earth
on the bank of the creek, and they were much
frequented by deer. They were continually
watched by the Indians, and the deer easily se-
cured. The Indians probably looked upon the'
deer-licks as their peculiar property, and when
Sullivan and his party killed a deer at one of
them, their indignation was naturally aroused.
However this may be, a small party of them
came upon Sullivan and his three or four com-
panions while skinning their deer, shot Sullivan
on the spot, and would have murdered the entire
party, but his companions succeeded in making
their escape; they were hotly pursued, however,
and one of them, Frederick Smith, only saved
his life by leaping from a high bank into the
creek. Sullivan was buried upon the spot where
he fell, and where his grave may yet be seen; and
the salt water of the deer-lick yet oozes from the
ground, as it did a century ago, when the stealthy
savage, with his flint-pointed arrow, crept upon
the unsuspecting deer or white man.

There was also, at the date of the first settle-
ment, quite a large camp on Big Indian, on land
now owned by Franklin Collins; another at what
is known as Raccoon spring, about half a mile
southwest of the present village of Galena; and a
third on Knob run, on land now the property of
John Stewart. Near this latter camp were the
mounds before mentioned.

Paths or trails connected these various camps,
and led off through the woods in different direc-
tions to other Indian towns. The main trail —
the trunk line as it were — from the Falls of the
Ohio to Vincennes, passed through Greenville
township. This trail entered what is now the
eastern edge of the township, near the line of
the old Vincennes road; indeed, when that road
was established, it followed this well-marked trail
for some distance in the county, leaving it, how-
ever, a short distance east of the present village
of Greenville. The trail passed south of the
present site of the town, but within about half a
mile>or less of it, through the land of George
Collins, close to the end of his barn as it now
36

stands, continuing on west, through the lands of
Phcebe Keithley, Daniel Boston, and Mordecai
Fresh, into Harrison county. It is said that this
trail is yet plainly marked where it passes through
the native forest. It was much traveled and
deeply worn, being in places a foot in depth in
the hard soil when the settlers first came. Many
of the earliest settlers of the township and county
followed this great trail to the end of their
journey.

White men passed over the trail and through
this territory long prior to the first settlement of
this part of the State. It is quite impossible, at
this late date, to tell when the first white man
trod the soil of this township, or who he was ;
but it seems probable that, whoever he was, he
must have passed along this ancient Indian trail.
As early as 1779, when General George Rogers
Clarke took the post at Vincennes from the
British, some white captives among the Indians
are known to have passed over this trail to Vin-
cennes, where they arrived just in time to be res-
cued by Clarke. The circumstances of this
capture and the result are quaintly detailed in
the following extract, taken from Major Bow-
man's journal. Bowman was then a captain in
Clarke's command, and it was while the latter
and Governor Hamilton were negotiating for the
surrender of the fort that the Indians with their
captives made their appearance. Major Bow-
man says:

A party of Indians came down the hill behind the town,
who had been sent by Governor Hamilton to get some scalps
and prisoners from the Falls of the Ohio. Our men having
got news of it, pursued them, killed two on the spot, wound-
ed three, took six prisoners, and brought them into town.
Two ot them proving to be white men that they took prison-
ers, we released them and brought the Indians to the main
street before the fort gate, there tomahawked them and
threw them into the river, during which time Colonel Clarke
and Governor Hamilton met at the church.

Here is another extract from the same journal :

March 7. Captain Williams and Lieutenant Rogers with
twenty-five men set off for the Falls of the Ohio to conduct
the following prisoners, viz: Lieutenant-governor Hamilton,
Major Hayes. Captain Lamoth, Mons. Dejean, Grand Judge
of Detroit, Lieutenant Shifflin. Doctor McBeth, Francis
McVille, Mr. Bell Fenilb, with eighteen privates.

There is little doubt that these British prison-
ers, captured by Clarke at Vincennes, passed
over the great trail and through the present
boundaries of Greenville township, on their way
to the falls of the Ohio.

The Indians remained in this township until

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

during the war of 1812, when, a murder having
been committed by some of them in one of the
adjacent counties, they feared retaliation by the
whites, and suddenly disappeared, never again
re-appearing in this part of the county.

Several block-houses were erected during that
war in this township as protection to settlers in
case of an uprising of the Indians and British or
an invasion by the combined Indians and British.
One of these stood near the turnpike, where it
crosses Little Indian creek ; another was erected
on the Boston farm, not far from the site of the
village of Greenville. They were built of rough
logs, with port-holes for guns ; but the settlers
never had occasion to use them, except to take
shelter in them occasionally in times of appar-
ent danger.

FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.

In the search for the first settlements in any
county it is natural to look along the lines of
the only routes of ingress and exit in those days
— the Indian trails and water courses In the
days of the pioneer these were the great high-
ways^ of travel, and were generally followed by
these advance guards of civilization, who con-
tinually penetrated further and further into the
wilderness, erecting their cabins and settling by
the wayside. The trails generally followed the
water-courses, branching off here and there to
some beautiful spring that made a resting-place,
or crossing from the headwaters of one stream
to those of another, or crossing the country
where the stream made a great bend to shorten
the distance, or winding through the dense forest
to the higher ground to avoid a swamp. They
never seemed to be in error in locating their
trails, and many of the public highways of to-
day were thus located by the red men.

From the fact that no one in this township
seems to have thought of the necessity of pre-
serving the early records, and the further fact
that nearly all the first settlers are either dead or
have moved away, it is a difficult matter at this
late day to get at the facts of the first settlement
of the township. The only records of facts and
sources of information lie in the imperfect mem-
ories of the oldest of the present inhabitants.
These are like ancient manuscripts with the dust
of ages and the withering breath of time upon
them — hard to decipher. The gray-haired and

bent pioneer, leaning upon his staff, willingly
turns his eyes backward upon that far-off period
in his life; but his light is like the moonlight on
the waters, revealing only the outlines. From
this meagre and imperfect source it has been
ascertained that the first settlemen t within the
present limits of Greenville township was made
about 1805, or the year before, by the Boston
family, from North Carolina, which is yet repre-
sented in the township. The earliest settlers
were largely from the South — North and South
Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.
A few were from Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
and fewer still from New England. Thus the
mixture of blood has made the present inhabit-
ants a rather homogeneous race, but the charac-
teristics of the different sections of the country
adhere to them with wonderful tenacity, and the
careful observer will, by listening, make a very
close guess as to what part of the country their
ancestors were from.

There is no doubt that the Bostons, Wellses,
Browns, Andrew Mundell, the Clarks, Collinses,
and VVoodses were the first settlers of this town-
ship. The first settlement was made on Indian
creek, above the forks, not far from the present
village of Galena. Those who immediately fol-
lowed them were Mordecai Collins, John and
James Taylor, Madison Martin, William Wil-
liams, Jacob Garrison, Ludlow Hand, Judge
Mills, William Ferguson, Jacob Miller, Amos
and Jonathan Davis, Thomas Hobson, Adam
Smith, John Daniel, John Smith, Abraham Coff-
man, Major Stewart, James Alward, Joseph
Woodville, John Moore, John McKown, Jacob
Floor, Morris Morris, Major Lucas, Benjamin
Bower, Daniel D. Porter, William Foster, Benja-
min Haines, Reuben Smith, Mathias Sappen-
field, and Alexander Hedden. The above were
all settlers in this township prior to 1826, and
some of them came as early as 1810 or before.

Next to the Boston family, of which there were
Robert and his brother, both of whom entered
land, were the Browns, who came about 1806.
Two brothers, John and William Brown, came
first from South Carolina to Kentucky, and from
the latter State removed to Greenville township,
settling near the Bostons, on Indian creek. Both
brought their families with them, entered land,
erected their cabins, and became permanent set-
tlers. It is believed that none of the members

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

283

of these families now reside in the township.

John Clark was also a settler of 1806, coming
from Kentucky. He subsequently married and
reared a family, and one of his sons, John, yet
resides in the township.

These settlers were followed by William Wells,
in 1809. This family was from South Carolina,
but came to this township from Kentucky, in
which State he had resided a few years, where
Joseph B., a son, nowa resident of this township,
was born in 1801. The family consisted of Wil-
liam Wells, his wife, and five children, none of
whom are now living except Joseph. The four
families above mentioned settled near together
on Indian creek. When they first came the
whole country was a wilderness, with no settle-
ment nearer than Corydon. The site of New
Albany, Mr. Wells says, was then a wilderness,
with but a single settler, a man named John
Spratt, an Indian trader, who occupied a pole
cabin and kept a few trinkets for barter with his
red neighbors.

Mordecai Collins, from Virginia, settled in the
southern part of the township about 1809, or be-
fore, and reared quite a family, two of his chil-
dren being yet residents of the township.

Isaac Woods settled northwest of the present
site of Greenville village, about 18 10. Mr.
Woods was from North Carolina.

Wells was a carpenter and millwright, and as-
sisted in building most of the first mills in the
township.

Andrew Mundall was also among the first set-
tlers, making his appearance some time before
1809. He entered land and settled on the
present site of Greenville, building his cabin near
a spring in the western part of that village. He
subsequently, with the assistance of Benjamin
Haines, laid out the town. He had a wife and
several children, but has no living representative
in the township at present. He was a school-
teacher in Kentucky prior to his removal to this
place.

James Taylor was among tha earliest settlers
in the southwest part of the township. One of
the family now occupies the old homestead.

Madison Martin was a settler in the same
neighborhood, reared a family of some size, and
passed away at an advanced age about four
years ago.

William Williams was also a settler in the •

same neighborhood with Taylor and Martin. He
reared a family of several children, one of his
sons, Thomas Jefferson, being yet a resident up-
on the old place.

Jacob Miller was among the early settlers on
Indian creek, and subsequently represented the
county in the Legislature. One of his sons still
resides on the home farm.

Amos and Jonathan Davis, Thomas Hobson,
Adam Smith, Jacob Garrison, Ludlow ("Lud")
Hand, John Daniel, Judge Mills, and John
Smith, were all settlers on Indian creek. The
Davises were from one of the Carolinas, and
have representatives yet living in the township.
Hobson was likewise a Southern man, reared a
family, and died in 1847, of heart disease while
eating his dinner. Smith was from Pennsylvania,
and also died in 1847. One of his sons is now
engaged in milling in Greenville village. Garri-
son was a Yankee and son-in-law of Adam
Smith. His widow is now living in Galena.
Hand was also a Yankee, and a son-in law of
Jacob Garrison. Daniel and Mills were Vir-
ginians. Both were intelligent and influential
farmers, and the latter became something of a
politician, and was made an associate judge.
Neither has any representatives living in the
township. John and Peter Smith were cousins,
and came from the South. The latter is yet liv-
ing, at an advanced age, in the neighborhood
where they first settled.

William Ferguson was an Ohio man, and
reared a family, of whom one, Mrs. Nancy
Wood, a widow, is yet a resident of Greenville
village.

Abraham Coffman was among the earliest set-
tlers of the village. He was a Pennsylvanian,
and reared a family of seven children, some of
whom are still living and have accumulated con-
siderable property. Coffman was the proprietor
of a horse-mill in a very early day, and one of
the first millers in the township. Mrs. Coffman
is yet living, having been a resident of the town-
sh:,p since 1823. One of the boys, a rather ec-
centric gentleman, now conducts a fine dairy
farm near the village, and is somewhat noted for
the quality and quantity of butter produced on
his farm.

Robert Brown, Major Stewart, James Allward,
Joseph Woodville, John (better known as "Jack")
Moore, John McKown, and Jacob Floor were all

284

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

early settlers in the village of Greenville. Stew-
art was an influential man, and one of the first
merchants. He was also a bit of a politician,
and was looked up to and consulted in regard
to voting by those who made no pretensions to the
study of politics. The evidence of this lies in
the fact that, upon different occasions, when a
certain resident of the town was asked for whom
he intended casting his vote at the coming
election, would reply: "Well, I do not know;
I must see Major Stewart first."

James Allward was a Yankee and one of the
village doctors, probably the first one. However,
Messrs. Conkling and Hayden were also Yan-
kees and doctors, and all three were in practice
here at the same time. Dr. Reuben C. Smith
came in a little later, and is yet living and prac-
ticing in the village. Hayden was probably the
best read doctor in the village while in practice;
but he took to preaching, then to drinking, and
he latter habit killed him.

Woodville was from Pennsylvania, and en-
gaged in milling.

Moore was a somewhat eccentric character,
with a club-foot, lived " from hand to mouth,"
and indulged a good deal in drink. It is said
that he once became impressed with the idea
that his eyes were failing, and went to one of
the merchants to select a pair of "glasses." After
looking the lot all over, and being no doubt a
little clouded intellectually on account of having
imbibed too freely of his favorite beverage, he
selected a pair without glasses, and putting them
on, observed that they were satisfactory and pur-
chased them. The defect was discovered by his
wife.

McKown was of Irish descent; some of the
family are yet living in the neighborhood.

Floor was one of the first tanners in the vil-
lage.

Morris Morris was a Welshman, and one of the
first settlers on Richland creek. Isaac Wood,
before mentioned, was also a settler on the creek,
his land adjoining that of Morris. He entered
his tract, then all covered with timber, and spent
his first winter with his family in a bark house.
As the winter happened to be an extremely cold
one, the family suffered considerably, not only
from cold, but from lack of provisions and
clothing. Mr. Wood succeded in getting work
at a considerable distance from his cabin, in

what is now Clirke county, and for this he was
paid in wheat, which he brought home on his
back, and in the same manner transported it to
what was known as Bullitt's mill, located on a
small island at the head of the Falls of the
Ohio, where it was ground. This was the only
mill then in that part of the country, except one
on Blue river, further away, owned by Governor
Harrison. Mr. Wood had only an ox-cart in
which to bring his family and household goods
to the new country. The wild pea-vines and
undergrowth were so dense that it was with the
greatest difficulty he could get to his land. He
was compelled to hew his way with his axe, and
in the same way to cut paths in different direc-
tions from his bark cabin. Once, when near the
point of starvation, he shot a buck from his cabin
door. The log beside which his hut was built,
proved to be the receptacle for a large number
of snakes, which had crawled in there for the
winter. Mrs. Wood often remarked in after
years, when they were in comfortable circum-
stances, that her first pair of shoes was her wed-
ding shoes.

The struggles of this family simply illustrates
the hardships of nearly all the pioneers of that
time. Those who came to the country destitute
of the means of living during the succeeding
year (and very many did) often greatly suffered.

Major Lucas was also one of the pioneer set-
tlers on Richland creek, in the Wood settlement.

Other pioneers are mentioned in the history
of the village of Greenville. Most of those
named have passed to the silent land, and —

How few, all weak and withered, of their force
Wait on the verge of dark eternity.

MILLS

were among the most necessary things in the new
country, and at the same time among the most
difficult of construction, considering the tools in
the hands of the pioneers. The settler could
support himself and family for a time with his
rifle, his fishing rod, and his "truck patch," but,
after havesting Wis first crop, whether it were
corn or wheat, some kind of a mill for reducing
it to flour or meal was indispensable. The first
resort was to the "hominy block," many of which
were in use among the pioneers of Greenville
township, as elsewhere. It was the most simple
of all machines for the purpose, and easily con-
structed, requiring as tools only an axe, a

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

285

hatchet or a gouge, or, in the absence of either,
a firebrand would do the work — anything that
would make a hole a foot deep and six or eight
inches in diameter, in a log or the top of a good,
solid stump, was all that was required. In this
receptacle the corn or wheat was placed and
pounded with a pestle until pulverized, when the
mass was taken out, sifted, if desirable, and was
then considered ready for use.

These machines were very unsatisfactory, how-
ever, and but a short time elapsed until they en-
tirely disappeared, and the horse-mill took their
place. This was also a very primitive and clumsy
affair. Two or three of these mills were in
operation at different times on the present site of
Greenville, one by Mr. Coffman, before men-
tioned, which stood on or near the site of the
present steam mill; and one by James Gregg, at
the west end of the town. Probably the first
mill of this kind erected in the township was by
a Mr. Morris, about a mile west of the site of
the village. His mill stood upon four posts and
a long, crooked sweep came down to within two
or three feet of the ground, to which the horse
was attached. The mill was entirely constructed
of wood, except the buhrs, which were made by
the miller himself out of native " nigger-heads."
It was merely a corn-cracker and unsatisfactory
in its operations, but still a great improvement
over the hominy block. Gregg's mill was differ-
ently constructed, though its results were about
the same. His was the latest style of horse-
mill, being propelled by the horses tramping
upon an inclined wheel. A large wooden wheel
was fastened securely at an angle of less than
forty degrees, and upon the lowest part of it one
or two horses were placed, and as they attempted
to travel around it the wheel began to turn, thus
keeping the horses all the time on the lower
part and the wheel continually in motion. Some
iron was necessary in this mill. The gearing
was placed underneath the large wheel. The
buhrs were similar in construction to those in the
Morris mill. They made poor flour and meal,
but were well patronized for a time, and were
looked upon as the wonder of the age. No
bolting was done at these mills; that must be
done by hand by the customer, if done at all.

Prior to the erection of these horse-mills, and
while hominy-blocks were yet in use, a mill had
been erected on an island at the head of the falls to

which the early settlers for some years resorted,
even after the horse-mills were in operation, as
they could get better work at the island mill. This
mill was conducted at that time by a man named
Bullitt, and was situated upon the island where
General George Rogers Clarke was encamped
with his troops, about 1778, just prior to his
famous expedition against Kaskaskia and Vin-
cennes. Another early water-mill, to which the
settlers of Greenville township sometimes re-
sorted, was the one on Blue river, within the
present limits of Harrison county, which was
owned, at that time, by Governor Harrison.
Neither of these mills, however, could run the
whole year around. In winter they were frozen
up, and often they were out of repair for weeks
at a time. i\t such times the only recourse was
to the hominy-block or horse-mill ; these were
generally ready to do the work.

Probably the first water-mill in the township
was erected on Indian creek by Adam Smith.
It was a very primitive affair, built of logs, and
could not do much in the way of grinding. The
buhrs were home-made, and the mill coulcl only
run a portion of the year; but it was quite a
convenience to the settlers. Quite a number of
mills of this description were erected along
Indian creek, in various places, and at various
times. The creek was in those days a steady,
honest, sober, business-like stream, but since the
country has been cleared up it has grown eccen-
tric, and occasionally gets into a towering rage,
at such times sweeping every thing before it. It
soon subsides, however; its waters run rapidly
away until a duck could cross it at many points
without being required to swim. For this reason
the mills on its banks and depending upon it for
power are no more.

Adam Smith's old log mill continued in oper-
ation quite a number of years, when it was taken
down and a frame erected in its place. Dr. R.
C. Smith, now of Greenville, did the carpenter
work on this mill, which stood until 1850 or
later, when it was purchased by John G Tomp-
kins and removed to Galena. Mr. Smith
erected a saw-mill in 1832, which he also con-
ducted in connection with this grist-mill.

One of the earliest mills was known as Engle-
man's, and was located on Knob creek. It has
long since passed away, but Mr. Jean Engleman
still conducts a saw-mill on its site.

286

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Two other early mills on Indian creek were
those owned by Peter Smith and Jonathan Em-
mons— both "corn-crackers." Smith's mill dis-
appeared in a few years, but Emmons improved
his and made a very good flouring-mill of it.
He sold it to John S. Coffman, who had been
engaged somewhat in the horse-mill. Mr. Coff
man erected a brick mill on its site about 1850,
and continued doing a prosperous business for
some years, but, getting tired of it, he let it go
down. He subsequently took part of the brick
from the walls to build his present very fine dairy.
A portion of the wall of the old mill is yet stand-
ing.

Among the other primitive mills in this town-
ship in an early day were the carding and full-
ing mills. These were not required until some
time subsequent to the first settlement, after the
settlers began the raising of sheep. James Gregg,
who was a live business man, conducted one of
these mills in connection with his "corn-cracker"
in Greenville. Another stood on the site of
Reason Smith's cocper-shop. Several others
were in operation in different parts of the town-
ship, and continued in use for many years.
They were indispensable to the clothing of the
settlers. The wool was brought to these mills
where it was manufactured into rolls ; and when
the cloth was ready it was brought here to be
"fulled." Prior to the erection of these mills
the carding was done in the cabin of the settler,
as were also the spinning and weaving. The
fulling was accomplished by a process known as
"kicking;" and in early days "kicking bees"
were much in vogue. Half a dozen young peo-
ple would gather at a cabin and, putting their
chairs in a circle on the cabin floor and lashing
them together to prevent recoil, would divest
themselves of their boots or shoes and stockings,
and the cloth being placed in the centre of the
circle, the dozen feet would begin the kicking,
while some one poured hot soap-suds on the pile
of cloth. This was continued, the cloth being
driven round and round until it was shrunk as
much as desired.

At present there are two very excellent flour-
ing mills in the township, one in Galena and one
in Greenville village.

The first mill erected on the site of the Green-
ville flouring-mill was the horse-mill before men-
tioned, conducted by Mr. Coffman. The pres-

ent substantial brick structure was erected about
1840, by John B. Ford, since somewhat noted
in connection with the manufacture of glass at
New Albany. After a few years he sold out 'to a
German named John Korb, and while in his
possession it was burnt to the ground. It was
soon again rebuilt by Mr. Korb, who conducted
it'successfully eight or ten years, when he sold
to the present proprietors, Messrs. Keithley &
Brown. Having a surplus power, these gentle-
men added the manufacture of staves and head-
ings for barrels. The business of barrel-making
has been quite extensively engaged in for many
years in various parts of the township. Cooper-
shops were among the first shops erected, and
ever since the earliest settlement quite a number
of the people have secured a living by coopering.
Of late years, however, these shops are growing
less in number, partly because the coopers can
no longer compete with machinery, which man-
ufactures barrels so much more rapidly than
they, and partly because first class timber for
coopering is rapidly disappearing, and in some
parts of the township has disappeared entirely.
The process of steaming timber before cutting
the staves by machinery — which process is in
operation in Greenville — enables the manufact-
urer to use many kinds of timber that could not
be used by the old process. Formerly the
cooper must have straight-grained wood that
would split easily, and generally used oak; now,
however, beech and other hard woods are used
in this shop and others with success, regardless
also of the splitting qualities, as the staves are
simply cut out with a sharp knife, driven by
steam, after the wood has received a thorough
steaming and has thus been rendered soft and
pliable.

Near the eastern suburbs of the village of
Galena was, and is, a fine spring, which deter-
mined the location of the steam mill. This is a
large brick structure, and was erected about 1857-
58 by John G. Tompkins. This mill is the succes-
sor of the old mill built by Adam Smith on
Indian creek, before mentioned as having been
transferred from that place to Galena. Mr.
Tompkins brought the old frame up from the
creek, placed it over the spring, and added
steam-power. In a few years he tore it down
and erected the present building. About 1861-
62 the property was purchased by John Swartz,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

287

who subsequently sold it to his brother, the pres-
ent owner. The firm is at present D. B. Swartz
& Son. The mill has two run of stone, makes
an excellent quality of flour, and is doing a large
business.

Last year, 1880, Mr. Henry Roub erected a
steam hominy mill about two miles west of
Greenville, which is now in full operation. He
has also a shingle-cutting machine attached, and
a machine for making staves and barrel-head-
ings.

Brick for buildings, iron and steel machinery,
and steam for power, has here, as everywhere in
the State, superseded the log structure, wooden
machinery and water-power. The same inexora-
ble law of improvement rules even the milling
interest.

CHURCHES.

In the pioneer days of Greenville township
churches, religious matters and religion appear
on the surface to have occupied more of people's
thoughts than they do at the present day.
Whether the people are degenerating, whether
growing more wicked than in those " good old
days," or whether today they are gathered into
fewer churches, is a question for others than the
historian to discuss ; he can only give facts as
they appear. It seems as if there were more
church organizations in proportion to the num-
ber of people in those days than at present ; and
also that more people belonged to some church
organization then in proportion to the whole
number of inhabitants. Whether this be true or
not, one fact in the religious history of this town-
ship— and the same is probably true everywhere
in the country — the religion of the people has
changed very materially. Some of the older de-
nominations have almost entirely disappeared,
and others, with different names and doctrines
have taken their places. For instance, what has
become of what was once so familiarly known as
the " Hard-shell " Baptists ? This was probably
the pioneer church in this township ; but, so far
as can be ascertained, it has entirely disappeared.
The New-lights and Universalists were once quite
numerous, but seem to have generally disap-
peared; at least, if they exist, they do not appear
in an organized body. The old Lutheran church
seems to be on the decline, and even the Meth-
odist church doctrines are not in as much favor
as they once were. This latter church was once

a powerful church, as well as generally the pio-
neer religious society ; but it has seen its best
days,, apparently. Among the new churches that
have superseded the older institutions may be
mentioned the Congregational and New-school
Presbyterian. The reason of this seems to lie
largely, if not altogether, in the fact of the greater
latitude and more liberal creeds of the latter.
The world of to-day is more given to liberal
views and freedom in religious matters as in
other things. Whether this is for the best is
quite another question.

This township had its pioneer preachers of al-
most every denomination. Brave, hardy, ad-
venturous workers they were, coming into the
great woods sometimes on horseback, sometimes
on foot, and generally preaching the Gospel ac-
cording to their best light, freely, " without
money and without price." The earliest preach-
ers were missionaries sent out by some society
among the " heathens " of the Western wilder-
ness to convert them to their way of thinking,
and build up churches that would stand forever
to the honor and glory of the Master they de-
sired simply and humbly to serve. Sometimes
they were paid a mere pittance for their services;
more often they only received their board and
lodging. Whether the pioneer was a professor
of religion or not, his "latch-string was always
out," and he freely gave the best he had to every
stranger that passed his door, be he preacher or
layman, or neither.

The larger proportion of the pioneers were
members of some church organization prior to
appearance in this township; therefore the
preachers always found a large religious element
in every community to sustain them in their
labors. Indeed, all were glad to have a preacher
come among them, whether church members or
not; and all went to hear the preaching. The
first religious services were held either in the
open air or in the cabin of some settler, until the
old log school-houses began to spring up here
and there in the woods, when services were
generally held in these until organizations were
effected and church buildings erected.

Among the earliest preachers in this territory
may be mentioned the Rev. Messrs. Reuben
Smith and Frederick Reasor, both Baptists; E.
B. Mann, a Universalist; Richard Lane and
John and Jacob Wright, of the Christian or Dis-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ciple church; Ashabel Wells and Reed, of the
Presbyterian; Hester of the Methodist Episcopal;
and Glenn, of the Lutheran denomination.
These pioneers of Christianity all succeeded in
organizing societies and building up churches in
this township, but many of them have since dis-
appeared. While the religion of a few took root,
grew, and flourished, others flourished for a time
and then died; and quite a number of old grave-
yards now alone mark the spot where once
stood a prosperous church.

SCHRADERS CHAPEL.

Very early in the present century the Method-
ists erected what was long known as Schrader's
chapel, on Indian creek; and in the northwest-
ern part of the township the same denomination
erected what was known as Roberts chapel.
The New-lights erected near the line of Lafay-
ette township a church since known as Mt.
Eden, and yet standing. The Baptists erected
two churches, one on Indian creek, and the other
about one and a half miles west of the site of the
village of Greenville. Of all these churches, it
has not been ascertained which was first erected.
All were built very early in the present century,
and most of them have rotted down and disap-
peared. All were log structures.

The pioneer Amos Davis gave the land upon
which Schraders chapel was erected. The old
church was built of rough logs, and stood on
the bank of the creek near where the Indian
camp was anciently located — the same camp
near which Sullivan, before mentioned, was
killed. Among the earliest members of this
church were John and Amos Davis, with their
wives; Isaac and Jacob Miller, and their families;
John Taylor, John Roberts, and John McKown,
and their families. As long since as 1830 this
church was going to decay, and it disappeared
entirely many years ago. Even the spot upon
which it stood is overgrown with grass. Most of
its first members have long been sleeping beneath
the little grassy knolls in the little churchyard,
among whose leaning and silent stones, black-
ened by the hand of time, the wind sings a
requiem to their departed spirits.

ROBERTS CHAPEL.

The other ancient Methodist church, Roberts
chapel, in the northwestern part of the township,
must have disappeared thirty or forty years ago;

and here, too, the only mark for the spot is the
silent tombstones of the once healthy and happy
throng that gathered beneath its roof to listen to
religious teaching, as understood and preached
by that good old Methodist, the Rev. Mr. Hes-
ter. This gentleman preached many years in
both these churches. These two Methodist so-
cieties were organized and kept up by the
pioneers until others were organized, and the
buildings erected in the towns of Galena and
Greenville, to which churches most of the living
members repaired.

THE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

In a very early day many of- the pioneers of
the township belonged to what was known as
"Hard-shell" Baptists; and two organizations of
this denomination sprang up here and flourished
for some years. The Crooks, Reasors, Ran-
soms, Ellises, Brocks, and others were connected
with these churches. Two church edifices were
erected — both of hewed logs — one in the ex-
treme western part of the township, and the
other on Little Indian creek, near where the old
Vincennes road crosses it. The land on which
the latter church stands was originally owned by
Phillip Engleman, who probably donated the lot
for the building, and was himself an early and
influential member. There were a number of
families of Englemans in this neighborhood, who
supported the church. This building has also
long since decayed and disappeared, the grave-
yard alone marking the spot.

The same may be said of that formerly existing
in the western part of the township. It, too,
has long since disappeared, and the members, if
any are yet living, belong to other churches or
to none. A grave-yard also marks the spot
where this church stood, the land belonging at
present to Alexander Hedden. Stephen Hed-
den entered this land, and probably was instru-
mental in erecting the church. Dates as long
ago as 1812 appear on the blackened tomb-
stones.

THE MORMON CHURCH.

In the northeastern part of the township, on
the road from Greenville to Scottsville, and near
the line of Lafayette township, stands an ancient
hewed log building that is now — strange as it
may seem — occupied by a church calling itself
the "Latter Day Saints;" in other words, in this

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

blessed land of religious liberty, a Mormon
church. It is a remarkable fact that this particular
church seems to be almost indigenous to the soil
of Greenville township. It is not the relic of a
great Mormon community established in the wil-
derness; but the seed was dropped here compar-
atively few years ago, and the soil seemed to con-
tain the elements of vigorous growth and devel-
opment. That the ways of the Salt Lake Mor-
mons are here practiced and carried out fully is
not pretended; but the doctrines of the Mormon
church are here actually preached and listened
to by an apparently intelligent audience, and by
some are adopted as the foundation of their re-
ligious faith.

As to the old log building in which these
"Latter Day Saints" worship, it was in use for
some time by a denomination once generally
known as "Campbellites," but which, after the
death of its founder, Alexander Campbell, was
more generally known as "Disciple." These
people, however, seem a little hard to please in
the way of a name, and for several years past
have called themselves "Christians." The latter
name will probably please the community equally
as well as the other two, if those who take the
name upon themselves make themselves worthy
of it.

This building was among the first erected in
the township. It is on land now owned by Mr.
C. Emmons, and has quite an interesting history.
It is called Mt. Eden. The New-lights were
the builders of it, but they did not survive the
ravages of time, like the monument they erected
to the memory of their departed denominational
life, and after flourishing a few years they disap-
peared. The Christians used it until they erected
their present church, known as Chapel Hill ; then
the old log church was abandoned. This was
during the Rebellion, when almost everything
was abandoned except the concerns of the war.
The old church stood silent and deserted, with
the winds of summer and winter moaning around
its gables, its logs settling into mother earth, and
seemed as if its days of usefulness on earth were
ended, until there came into the neighborhood
a man named Blair, one of the " Latter Day
Saints" and a preacher of their peculiar doctrines.
Blair seized upon the old church. It did not
seem to belong to anybody in particular, nor in
general; and although Mr. Blair was at first

looked upon with some suspicion, and his audi-
ences were not large, he succeeded, by dint of
perseverance, bad grammar, and a smooth tongue,
in establishing the present church. It so hap-
pens that in that neighborhood are several fami-
lies (all belonging to the same stock) of Scotts;
hence the little village of Scottsville, which,
however, is not within the limits of Greenville
township. The Scotts are very clever, nice peo-
ple, but some of them may be called a little ec-
centric, and in this eccentricity is found the
ground in which the seed of this Mormon
church took root and grew. The Scotts are
members of this church, as are also some other
people. It may be difficult and even unneces-
sary to explain the reasons each individual mem-
ber might give for his or her connection with
this society; but it is presumed that each is
satisfied that he or she has found the true re-
ligion, the only religion that will guarantee beyond
any reasonable doubt the possession of true hap-
piness and everlasting life in the world to come.
These people are no doubt honest in their be-
lief; but the firm belief in this peculiar doctrine
leads to some eccentricities among the members,
to use no harsher term. As an instance: One
of the female members at one time became im-
pressed with the idea that she had received a
revelation to the effect that she was forever to re-
main in the house; in no case during her life was
she to cross the threshold into the sunlight of
heaven. Now, for a practical farmer, with half
a dozen cows to milk, and butter and cheese to
make, and numerous other out-of-door chores
that farmers' wives are expected to look after,
this revelation might have been embarrassing to
the husband. But not so with this gentleman;
he had adopted this peculiar religion with as
much intensity as his wife, and was apparently
satisfied to allow her plenty of religious freedom
and remain in the house. It is fortunate for the
children of this family that the father did not
also receive a revelation to remain in the house, as
it is not likely that the fields would have tilled
themselves, and the family larder might have be-
come uncomfortably empty. This lady, it is said,
did not cross the threshold of her house for
about one and one-half years. In consequence
of her long seclusion, some people in the vicinity
of Greenville — painfully practical people — con-
cluded to visit the deluded female in a body and

290

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ascertain what her aversion was to out-door exer-
cise. Some of them were impressed with the
idea that foul means were being used to compel
the woman to remain in the house; but these
were soon undeceived. They approached the
house to the number of forty or more, and were
met by the husband, who strongly protested
against their entering his house. He even stern-
ly forbade their entrance; and, when he found
they were determined, he invoked the assistance
of heaven, and declared that the first man who
crossed the threshold should drop dead; that he
would call down the vengeance of heaven upon
them, and that fire from heaven would surely
destroy them if they entered his house. His
daughter, a young lady, also came out and made
frantic appeals to them not to come into the
dwelling. This opposition, however, only made
the party more determined. They entered the
house, and found the woman lying on the bed.
She appeared to be well enough, with the excep-
tion of being possessed with this strange infatua-
tion. She could give no reason for her conduct,
except that she had received a divine revelation
that required her to remain during her lifetime
in the house. This family subsequently sold out
and removed to the West; but returned again
after a time, and it is presumed that in these re-
movals the infatuated lady was compelled to give
up her intense desire for seclusion.

The above instance is given simply to show to
what extremes people are sometimes led by their
faith in a so-called religious doctrine. Other
instances could be cited in connection with this
church, but the above is one of the most promi-
nent.

It is said the members of this church now
number less than fifty, and that it is on the de-
cline, at they have had no preaching there for
several years. It is hard to destroy such institu-
tions, when they once get root in a soil that is in
the least inclined to perpetuate them. The only
thing that will do it is the common school. The
continual hammering of this grand American in-
stitution is continually crushing such errors
everywhere, and it will eventually kill Mormon-
ism in all the land, when once allowed to reach
it; all other agencies having so far failed.

ST. JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH.

Among the oldest churches in this part of the

county is the St. Johns Lutheran church, as it is
called, located on Richland creek, near the
southern line of the township. A Lutheran
organization was erected here prior to 1820,
among the organizers being the following named
pioneers : Mordecai Collins, wife and children ;
Jacob Summers and family, Jacob Engleman
and family, Jacob Yenawine, John Engleman,
Jacob Buckhart, Phelix Blankbeker, Phillip
Bierley, and the Martin and Zimmerman fami-
lies. Rev. Glenn was their minister. He was a
stern old Christian, but a man of a good deal
more courage than prudence. When John
Morgan made his raid through here, he hap-
pened to march past the door of the old clergy-
man. The latter was so incensed that he could
not or did not restrain his passions. He stood
in his door and raved and stormed at the rebel
raiders, and, upon some slight provocation, took
down his gun and shot one of them. This very
indiscreet and it would seem, under the circum-
stances, almost criminal act brought upon the old
Unionist the vengeance of Morgan's command.
No sooner had he shot the soldier than he was
himself shot in his own door, and instantly
killed. Not only this, but the rebels burned his
house and barn, and destroyed and carried off
all that was valuable on the premises. Glenn
had been a preacher in this old Lutheran church
a good many years, but the organization that he
was mainly instrumental in forming and building
up, went to pieces long before his death. The
Lutherans erected the church, which is yet stand-
ing, about 1820.

About this time a Universalist preacher by
the name of E. B. Mann, a speaker of much
eloquence and persistence, came into the coun-
try and preached wherever he could get an audi-
ence. Mr. Mann made trouble in this Lutheran
church. He preached through this section of
country twenty years or more, and used to travel
about in a one-horse wagon. He was a very
good man, much respected, and came near con-
verting the entire community in the neighbor-
hood of the old Lutheran church to his way of
thinking. It was about 1840, during the pas-
torate of Rev. Mr. Hinkle in this church, that
the society was divided, many of the members,
including the pastor himself, adopting the doc-
trine of universal salvation. Mr. Hinkle became
a Universalist preacher, and finally nearly the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

291

whole church went over to Universalism. The
Lutheran organization at least was broken up.

The old church was now, for some years, used
by all denominations, and various churches held
their meetings here; but it was principally used
by the Universalists, until that denomination also
began to dwindle away — its master spirit having
departed for other fields of labor.

About 1855 the United Brethren organized a
church here. This society was made up, in part
at least, by Joseph Summers, wife, and children,
Jacob Stearns, John Utz and family, David Mo-
sier, his wife, and some of his children. Those
who are living of these families are yet members.
This organization holds meetings occasionally in
the old church, but it is not a strong society.

About 1868 the Presbyterians organized a so-
ciety in the southern part of the township, call-
ing themselves, after the old church, the St.
Johns Presbyterian church, and have since held
their meetings here. The Rev. Phillip Bevan, a
Welshman, was instrumental in organizing this
Presbyterian society, the original members of
which were Madison Martin and family, Sarah
Martin and daughter, Augustus Engleman, John
Smith, wife, and son, J. B. Kepley, T. J. Wil-
liams, Phillip Martin and wife, and perhaps a
few others. Other members have been added
from time to time, and the church is in a pros-
perous condition.

A union Sabbath-school has usually been
conducted at this church, but there is none at
present.

Through all the changes and vicissitudes in
human affairs the old church still stands little
changed, though somewhat the worse in appear-
ance for the ravages of time.

THE UNION CHURCH.

In addition to the above-mentioned United
Brethren society, there is another in this town-
ship, which worships in what is known as the old
Union church, now located on section Eight, on
land owned by Mr. T. Hobson.

Some fifty years ago or more a school-house
was erected at the cross-roads here, in which
building this United Brethren society was organ-
ized. It was never a strong church, but kept its
meetings going pretty regularly. Other denom-
inations also occasionally occupied the old
school-house for religious purposes, and the

place seemed to be rather a center of religious
interest. About the end of the war the people
of the district took a notion to have a new
school-house, and donated to the United Breth-
ren organization the old school-house. Mr. T.
Hobson generously donated a lot upon the op-
posite side of the road from the school-house
site, and the old building was moved across to
the lot, where it underwent some repairs and ad-
ditions, and was remodeled into a church. The
people generally assisted in the expense and
labor of construction, and although the United
Brethren hold the deed to the property, it is yet
considered a Union church, and open to all re-
ligious societies. Mr. Hobson, before men-
tioned, and his family, were original members
and strong supporters of this church. Among
its first members were also William Williams and
wife, and Joseph Summers and wife. The so-
ciety was probably organized by Rev. Henry
Bonebrake, a very excellent gentleman who lived
in the neighborhood and preached for the so-
ciety occasionally. Other ministers who occu-
pied the pulpit at different times were the Rev.
Messrs. Chittenden, Jacob Abbot, and Isaac
Heistand.

The church has not prospered lately, and ap-
pears to be on the decline. The preaching is
not regular. A lively Sabbath-school was main-
tained there for several years, but it has gone
down.

METHODIST CHURCHES.

About 1830, or before, the Methodists in and
around the village of Greenville and Galena be-
gan agitating the erection of churches in these
places. At this time the two old log buildings,
Schrader's and Robert's chapels, were beginning
to decay, and both were a little too far for the
members in the towns. They, therefore, in the
course of time, obtained sufficient subscriptions
from the people of the vicinity, and erected the
two buildings now standing. The Methodist
church of Greenville was organized about 1830,
and for several years held its meetings in the old
school-house. John McKown and family were
probably the nucleus of this church. Mr. Mc-
Kown was a staunch old Methodist, and gave
freely of his means to promote its interests. He
gave the lot upon which the present building
was erected about 1838, and also gave his labor
and money toward its erection freely. The or-

292

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ganization was first effected at his house, and
meetings were held there occasionally. The
church has met with rather indifferent success
in its career, and at the present time is in an un-
desirable condition. The membership is about
sixty or seventy, and there is said to be much dis-
sension and division among them. Regular
preaching is, however, maintained, and the Sab-
bath-school is kept up.

The origin of this Sabbath-school, as well as
that of all others in the town, dates back to 1838,
when that estimable lady, Mrs. Henry Fisk, or-
ganized the first Sabbath-school in Greenville.
It was formed at the house of the Rev. Henry
Fisk, a Presbyterian minister. The building is
yet standing, and is occupied by Dr. Davis.
This, of course, was a union Sabbath-school,
and was maintained during several years. The
first Sabbath-school of the Methodist church was
organized in 1843 by Joseph W. Gale. William
Thompson was the first superintendent.

The first building erected by the Methodists
in Galena was a brick, but it was so poorly built
that it was taken away in a few years and the
present frame erected. The building now stand-
ing was put up about forty-five years ago or more.
Probably the first members of this church, or at
least among the first, were Jacob Swartz and
family, Joseph Ashby and family, and the King
family, consisting of Elias, John, Isaac, and
William. Among the early ministers were the
Rev. Messrs. Reuter, Rutledge, and Ray. The
latter was probably the first minister, and assisted
in the church organization.

Mr. John Hancock was very energetic in rais-
ing funds to erect the present church, and was a
leading and influential member. Mr. Clark
Ramb did the carpenter work on the building.
This church is in a more prosperous condition
than the one at Greenville, and the Sabbath-
school is also in a flourishing condition. It
seems, however, as if Methodism had seen its
best days in this vicinity. There is no longer
the same active interest taken as formerly; the
old-fashioned revivals in this church, that once
stirred the hearts of people with wonderful power,
appears to have passed away (or all time, or, if
they are occasionally held, they no longer possess
the attraction and power of the old days.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.

The first of these in the township was organ-

ized in 1833, 'n tne village of Greenville. At
that time there were living in and near the vil-
lage thirteen persons who had been members of
this church in other places before coming to this
new country, and the question of organizing
their church was agitated. They held frequent
meetings for prayer and conference in the
houses of the members. The names of these
persons were Cyrus Bradford and wife, Robert
Scott and wife, R. C. Smith and wife, Martin
Crim and wife, Jesse Crim and wife, and three
others whose names cannot be recalled. The
church was finally organized, and meetings were
held for several years in the old school-house.
The Rev. Richard Lane was their first minister,
and continued preaching to the society twelve or
fifteen years. He was well liked by the congre-
gation, and was considered an able man.

The present church, and the only one ever
erected by this society, was built about 1840-45.
It is a frame and cost about $1,600. Two gen-
tlemen by the name of Little, from Clarke
county, Indiana, preached to this congregation
several years, and under good management it
became one of the most flourishing churches in
this part of the county, having at the height of
its prosperity more than one hundred members.
This church is not so strong now, and seems
also, like the rest, to be rather on the decline.
A good Sunday-school has for many years been
maintained in connection with this church, and
is yet in a prosperous condition.

The other Christian church in this township
is located about two miles northeast of Green-
ville, on the road to Scottsville, and stands on
land now owned by Mr. Frederick Goss. It is a
frame building, standing upon a hill, and is
known as the Chapel Hill church. The build-
ing cost about $1,000. This church has been
mentioned as having been organized at the old
Mount Eden church, now occupied by the Latter-
day Saints.

The original and influential members of this
organization were different families of Gosses —
Frederick, James, and Calvin, with their imrtle-
diate families. Some others in the neighborhood
were also connected with it, among whom were
Reason Scott and family, Dallas Brown and
family, the Millers, and others. The member-
ship must have reached at one time about one
hundred, and is probably nearly as strong at

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

293

present. The Sunday-school is kept up only
during the summer.

THE PRESBYTERIAN- CHURCH.

This society was organized in Greenville in
March, 1843, by the Rev. Benjamin Nice, a
Yankee. The founders of the church in this
place seem to have been a family of Loughmil-
lers, some of whom are yet residents of that
region. John Loughmiller came to this place
with a large family, from Tennessee, in 1829.
The family were Presbyterians, and much de-
voted to their religion. The old gentleman (said
one of the sons) had made a solemn vow that if
the Lord would bring him and his family safely
to the free soil of Ohio, he would do something
here for his honor and glory. It was in fulfil-
ment of this pledge that John Loughmiller,
almost without aid except from his sons, built the
present Presbyterian church of Greenville. The
old gentleman was a carpenter, and did nearly
all of this kind of work on the building. Finan-
cially he was assisted by contributions of a few
dollars from those interested in church matters;
but he paid most of the expense out of his own
pocket.

The Rev. Messrs. Reed and Ashabel Wells
were the first Presbyterian ministers through this
part of the country, and the first meetings of this
society were held in the old school-house and
in the Methodist church. The Loughmillers
who were members of this church were John,
Jacob, William, Joseph, A. R. (now a merchant
in Greenville), Christina, and Matilda. Mary
Kepler and Lydia Porter were also among the
first members. The building, a frame, erected
in 1849, *s >'et standing, and cost about $1,300.

This church, like most others in the township,
seems also to be on the decline, the membership
being at present only eighteen.

The Sabbath-school is very well sustained. It
was first organized about 1850. Mr. A. R.
Loughmiller has been superintendent for the last
thirty years.

SAINT MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH.

This was organized about 1840, by Father
Neyron, who came from New Albany for
that purpose. It is located on section thirty-
four, in a settlement made up largely of
French and Germans. It is about three
miles northeast of Greenville, on the land of

M Kingsbrurger. The church is a hewed-log
building, and the organization has not been a
very prosperous one. Among the original mem-
bers were the Kingburgers, Kresners, Peter Mil-
ler, Daniel Missey, J. Naville, M. Naville, T.
Keifer, the Stangles, and others. The society
flourished' for a time, but the church has been
on the decline for a number of years. Preach-
ing is only had at this place occasionally. The
Catholics built a brick church east of this one,
in Lafayette township, which is attended by the
members of this church principally. They have
a parochial school in connection with the church
in Lafayette.

THE TOWN OF GREENVILLE.

This township boasts of two towns, which is
more than can be said of some other townships
in the county.

Greenville was ranked as a village for more
than half a century, but was only recently pro-
moted to the dignity of a town and clothed with
the powers of a municipal government. It is
not a large place, but is the second town in size
in the county, and once had the honor of com-
peting for the county-seat with the now consider-
able city of New Albany. Mr. C. W. Cottom,
of the latter city, in his very excellent publica-
tion on the industries of the county, thus writes
regarding this :

It was proposed, so tradition runs, that of the two towns
(New Albany and Greenville), the one that made the largest
subscription in the way of a donation to the county, should
have the county-seat. The contest was an animated one; but
finally New Albany bore off the prize by offering a few dol-
lars the larger sum, and then adding the donation of a bell
for the court-house. This offer of the bell was irresistible,
and vanquished the Greenville people.

And so the future of the would-be city was
pretty evenly balanced in the scales of fate at
one period of its existence, having only the
weight of a court-house bell against it. What
great events turn upon little things! How differ-
ent might have been the fate of Greenville had
her citizens put a few more paltry dollars against
the seductive charms of a new bell! Instead of
being an insignificant town, unsought, unhonored,
and almost unknown, it might now be a flourish-
ing commercial city, with all the advantages of
wealth and influence, and other good things that
are supposed to belong to county-seats in gener-
al. But it is as it is; and, though its people may
have heaved a sigh occasionally over what "might

294

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

have been," there is no evidence that their gen-
eral health or longevity suffered, and its people
now seem entirely satisfied with a very pretty town
in a very healthy location, undisturbed by the
scream and thunder of the locomotive or the
excitement generally attending the administration
of justice.

The location of the town is a little west of the
geographical centre of the township. What
could have been the motive or incentive for
starting the place in its present location is one of
the mysteries, as there is no stream near by for
water-power and no natural advantages visible to
the naked eye. Probably, like Topsy, "it jes
growed," without any previous arrangements as
to its existence. Fate or fortune or chance
seems to govern some things in this world, and
among others the location of towns. There
must be a town, or some thing resembling a
town about every six or eight miles along every
railroad and turnpike in the country, else there
is a screw loose in the universe; and this law is
enforced whether there is any necessity for the
town or not, or whether there is any suitable site
upon which to build a town, or anything to sus-
tain one after it is built. And so, along this
great turnpike, over which the commerce of half
a continent was to pass (had not the railroads
interfered) from Louisville to St. Louis, the
country must have the specified number of
towns, at specified distances apart, all along its
course. If Greenville had not been built, some
other, town with some other name would have
been at or near the same place, in obedience to
this inexorable law. But the fact is, it is an old
town, and possesses, for that reason, some rights
to existence not held by later towns. It was here
before the turnpike, and therefore the latter can-
not exactly claim the honor of bringing it into life;
but the road was here, and the old Indian trail
was here, before the road. These, no doubt,
had an influence in determining the location.
The road generally followed the Indian trail, but
at this point ran a little to the north of it.

Andrew Mundall, a school-teacher from Ken-
tucky, came over here about 1806-7, and> follow-
ing up the old Indian trail, located one hundred
and sixty acres of land, upon part of which the
town now stands. His contemporary, Benjamin
Haines, soon afterwards purchased the adjoining
section, and some years later they became part-

ners in the laying-out of the town. Mundall had
a good spring on his land, and it was very
natural for him to erect his cabin near this
spring, which yet produces its sweet, sparkling
water at the west end of town. Mundall's cabin
was the first house in the new town, and the only
house on its site for some years prior to the lay-
ing out of the place.

The turnpike was then a mud road, and a
very poor one, winding among the trees and
stumps, with nothing to relieve the monotony of
its way through the deep, dark, almost impene-
trable forest. After Mundall and Haines had
been here several years, and cleared off a little
patch of ground on their respective pieces of
land, they concluded to join and lay out a town,
dividing the plat and the profits and losses be-
tween them. The town was accordingly laid out
in May, 1816, the territory at that date being in
Clarke county. It was laid out in the form of a
parallelogram, on each side of what is now the
turnpike, the length from east to west being much
greater than the width. There was a public
square in the center, and a street, which was ap-
propriately called Cross street. The public
square, through some misunderstanding, has
been enclosed by a fence. Several additions
have been made from time to time, and the town
now extends into sections thirty-one, thirty-two,
and five. The first addition was made by Isaac
Stewart, December 10, 1831; the second by
William M. Foster, August 20, 1834; and the
third by the same gentleman December 1, 1836.
Several other additions have been made, yet the
town is not extensive.

The old road was an important thoroughfare
at that time, and became more so as the country
settled, and it assisted materially in settling the
country in this vicinity. Like the old Indian
trail, it united one of the oldest towns in the
western country, Vincennes, with the Falls of the
Ohio, upon which the great commercial cities of
Louisville and New Albany were already spring-
ing into vigorous life. All the towns along this
great road, therefore, hoped to become great
and important places ; and most of them might
have realized their expectations to a certain de-
gree, if the railroad had not interfered. Over
this road from New Albany to Vincennes passes
the old-fashioned stage-coach every day, the dis-
tance being one hundred and four miles. West

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

295

one day and east the next, every day, rain or
shine, cold or hot, the stage made this journey,
carrying its passengers and Uncle Sam's mail.
What a wealth of fact and romance was connected
with those old stages, and with the old "taverns"
that sprang up all along the road, and at which
the four mud-bespattered and weary horses^ the
drivers, and travelers were " entertained " for the
night. And around these old taverns often
gathered a town in after years. Rather the
most surprising thing about this stage-route is that
it is still kept up. Notwithstanding the numer-
ous railroads, the old-fashioned stage-coach yet
passes every other day through Greenville, not
going as far, however, as it once did, but from
New Albany to Paoli, a distance of forty-one
miles, where the turnpike ends. For nearly
three-quarters of a century this conveyance has
been on this road. It began when the wilder-
ness was full of wild animals and wilder men,
when it must find its way among the stumps and
trees, over roots and through mud-holes and
streams, has held its own through all the mighty
changes of the time, and now rocks easily along,
drawn by two horses, over a smooth macad-
amized road, through pleasant, cultivated fields,
pretty farms and villages, over streams spanned
with iron, and still carrying the mails for our
good Uncle Samuel. When Greenville first
sprang into existence the roads were frequently so
bad that the coach had to be abandoned and the
mail carried on a heavy two-wheeled cart drawn
by four horses.

The post-office at Greenville was the first one
established within the present limits of the town-
ship. Here the stages were compelled to stop
to change mail. A log tavern was erected on
the public square, where the north and south
road crosses the turnpike, and here a man
named Donahue opened the first tavern in the
new place, probably in the second building on
the town-plat and the first in the new town. It
stood where the hotel of Christian Mosier now
stands. From the time of the erection of this
tavern the town had a steady growth for a few
years. One of the first to settle was a man
named McClure, a brother-in-law of Haines, one
of the proprietors of the town. He kept one of
the necessities of pioneer life (and it seems to be
also of the life of the present day), a saloon ; and
if selling whiskey and its accompaniments can be

called merchandising, was probably the first mer-
chant in the new town.

Isaac Stewart, who made an addition to the
town as has been stated, was a very early and in-
fluential settler in it. He was one of the first
regular merchants, and afterward represented the
county in the State Legislature. He subse-
quently removed to St. Louis.

James Gregg was also one of the most im-
portant of the early pioneers. He was from New
Jersey, and came into the little backwoods town
full of life, energy, and work. He conducted at
one and the same time a tavern, a tan-yard, a
horse-mill and a carding and fulling mill, was
subsequently a merchant, and was generally full
of business. In 1817 he was appointed a lieu-
tenant in the militia of the State by the Gover-
nor, Jonathan Jennings, and afterward held a com-
mission as colonel in the same. He was known
by his title of colonel as long as he lived. He was
something of a carpenter, and built many of the
first houses in the new town. It may here be
said that one of these first houses is yet stand-
ing, having the date "1816" cut in one of the
logs. It is weather-boarded over the logs, is now
owned by Christian Hampel, and is used as a
paint-shop and warehouse combined.

A man named Kirkpatrick was one of the first
merchants in Greenville, and was probably the
first postmaster.

Benjamin Bower, father-in-law of John B.
Ford, previously mentioned, was one of the first
settlers of the place. He was from Ohio, and
a carpenter. He reared a good-sized family,
none of whom are now living in the vicinity.

Daniel D. Porter, a Yankee, and also a tavern-
keeper, was one of the early settlers in the new
town. He was followed from New England in a
few years by his brothers, James and Julius R.
The former was a doctor, and the latter a tavern-
keeper (taking his brother's place in that busi-
ness) and merchant. This family has entirely
disappeared from the neighborhood, although
prominent in connection with the business inter-
ests of the town for many years.

William Foster was for a long time an influ-
ential business man in this vicinity. He was a
Kentuckian, and moved to the town of Livonia,
where he kept a tavern, and subsequently re-
moved to Greenville and engaged in the same
business. Nearly every other cabin in those

296

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

pioneer days was a tavern. There was consid-
erable travel along the "pike," and these were a
necessity. People were coming and going, look-
ing at and purchasing land, surveying, and pass-
ing through to homes further west; and these old
taverns had plenty to do. Each one had a bar;
no tavern could be complete without this, and it
will be seen by the following extract from the
first journal of the county commissioners that
the charges for "drinks," as well as some other
things, were regulated by that important and, at
that time, powerful body. At the meeting Feb-
ruary 10, 1 81 9, it was

Ordered, That the tavern-keepers within the county of
Flovd observe in their taverns the following rules, to-wit:
for the term of one year — For breakfast, 31^ cents; for
dinner, yj% cents; for supper, 25 cents; peach or apple
brandy and gin, 18 Ji cents a half-pint; whiskey, I2}i cents a
pint; wine, 87% cents a pint; spirits, 37 % cents a pint;
lodging, izy2 cents a night; corn or oats, 12J4 cents a gallon;
stabling and hay for one horse a day or night, %]% ; for two
horses for the same time, 62 % cents.

Arbitrary powers are no longer delegated to
county commissioners to establish prices in busi-
ness of any kind; nor is it necessary to protect
the traveling public that this should now be done.
Competition accomplishes the desired result.
The tavern-keepers dare not overcharge, or
their business will cease. A dinner or breakfast
can be had at the country hotels to-day cheaper
than in 1819, though "drinks" are higher in
price now and more deadly in their results. The
whiskey of those days was honest whiskey — to-
day it is poisoned whiskey.

William Foster kept his hotel some years, and
then engaged in merchandising. He died a
number of years since. His son Martin is now
a resident of New Albany and superintendent of
the turnpike.

As before mentioned, Mr. Kirkpatrick, one of
the first merchants, kept the post-office when
the village was first started, and for several years
thereafter. He was probably folio ved by Daniel
P. Porter, who was a merchant and postmaster
in 1826. Mr. Porter kept the office in the build-
ing immediately east of where it is now kept.
Isaac Stewart, better known as Major Stewart,
succeeded Porter, and was postmaster in 1829.
He was succeeded by D. P. Porter for a second
term, and he, in turn by Julius R. Porter. The
latter was succeded by William Steele, whose
son Martin holds the office at present.

When Dr. Reuben C. Smith came to Green-

ville in 1826, he says there were about a dozen
buildings in the place, all log cabins but one;
that was a frame building occupied by Major
Stewart, then in the mercantile business. Daniel
P. Porter was the other merchant at that time.
These were the only stores, and they carried
pretty fair stocks of all classes of goods, and
traded much in produce, as money was a scarce
article. They exchanged their wares for the
products of the truck-patch, farm and chase.
Their goods were purchased at Louisville, as
they are to-day, and hauled up in wagons, these
wagons returning loaded with produce from this
then backwoods village. Porter's store stood on
the corner of the square, on the north side of
Main street.

There was also a clock factory at that time,
kept by a Yankee named Haines, a single man.
The manufacture of wooden clocks in various
parts of the new country was then quite a busi-
ness, and netted the manufacturer a handsome
profit, as the clocks sold rapidly. Some of these
old wooden clocks are yet to be seen, and are
still quietly marking the time. Haines died in
the village, and quite a number of his clocks
were sold at auction, with other effects.

John Daniel kept store here in all twenty-five
or thirty years, and Mr. Smith was also engaged
in merchandising, with Charles Sample as part-
ner, a number of years. The business of the vil-
lage at present may be summed up as follows:
There are three hotels (there are no "taverns"
nowadays) kept by Christian Mosier, Emil Kram-
er, and John Fleisher. Matilda Hemble keeps
a dry-goods and fancy-goods store; Alexander
Loughmiller,a general grocery and provision store;
Marion Steele, a general stock; Roger Comp-
• ton, a general stock; J. N. Smith, a grocery,
Mrs. J. N. Smith, a millinery store; Tames Sap-
penfield, a shore store; Charles E. Scott, a gro-
cery; Henrietta Smith, millinery; Mathias Sap-
penfield, grocery; Christian Hemble and James
Lipscum, blacksmith shops; John Norris, Sr., an
undertaking establishment; Smith & Keethly,
Robert Scott, G. W. Morris, James Scott, and
John L. Graam, are the coopers. The profes-
sions are represented by David Sigler, lawyer,
and James Davis, Robert Kay, James Murphy,
and Reuben C. Smith, doctors. The latter is
the oldest, having been in practice here since
1826.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

297

Jacob Sheets was one of the oldest and long-
est continued blacksmiths. He now resides on
a farm near town. There have been a number of
tanneries, but there are none at present. Jacob
Floor may have been the first tanner, but Gregg's
and Major Stewart's tanneries were also in opera-
tion in 1826, all in the little ravine that passes
north and south through the town. George
Sease bought Floor's tannery, and conducted the
business many years until he died. Samuel
Sease, a brother, subsequently owned and con-
ducted a tannery west of town for twenty years
or more. David Lukenville was here in the
same business a number of years.

James Taylor, who is yet living, is an old resi-
dent of the town, and a surviving veteran of the
almost forgotten Mexican war. He enlisted in
New Albany in a company known as the Spen-
cer Grays, recruited by Captain William Sander-
son. Those who went from this township, under
the first call for volunteers, were James Taylor,
Jesse Fox, Edward R. Lunt, and John Jackson.
Those who enlisted under the second call were
Jesse Stroud, Anderson Moore, and John Gib-
son. Mr. Taylor is the only one now living in
the township. John Gibson was in the battles
around the city of Mexico, was reported missing
and has never since been heard from. All others
are believed to have returned, but some have
since died.

SCHOOLS OF GREENVILLE.

The first schools in the village were subscrip-
tion schools; that is, someone who felt qualified
to teach passed around a paper among the peo-
ple and obtained subscriptions at so much per
scholar, for a term of perhaps three months, no
public money being available for school purposes
during the years of the first settlement of the
township. These schools were taught wherever
a vacant room or cabin could be obtained for
the purpose, and although "select" schools, were
very indifferent in quality.

The first school-house was probably the small
frame building erected on the public square.
When the town was laid out the proprietors re-
served a lot near where the Methodist church
now stands for school purposes, and this frame
building was removed to this lot, where the
schools were kept many years, or until the house
went into decay. The building was also used
for church purposes and public meetings. Among
38

the early teachers remembered were a German
named Huffman and Mr. Roland May.

THE SEMINARY.

Many years ago the Legislature passed a law
authorizing the building of a county seminary in
each county in the State, to be paid for out of
funds to be raised by taxation; and, if Greenville
had failed to secure the county seat, it was more
lucky in the competition for the seminary. The
location of the seminary was to be determined
by the amount of money subscribed towards the
erection of the building by the different towns in
the county. Greenville subscribed $500, and
thus secured the location of the building. A lot
of one acre in the town was donated for the pur-
pose by Mr. Isaac Redman, upon which the
building, a brick, was erected at a cost of $2,800.
William Loughmiller was the contractor, and the
building was two stories in height and 30x50
feet in dimensions.

In 1852, when the graded-school system came
into operation, the Legislature authorized the
selling of the county seminaries at public auction.
The seminary at Greenville was accordingly sold,
bringing $1,000, Jesse J. Brown being the pur-
chaser. The district then purchased and used it
for common-school purposes until it became un-
safe, when it was taken down and the present
building erected. At present there are about
one hundred and twenty scholars and three
teachers in this building.

The first teacher in the new seminary building
was Norman J. Coleman. He taught two or
three terms and then removed to St. Louis, where
he began the practice of law. He subsequently
edited a rural paper in that city, and three years
ago became Lieutenant-governor of the State.
He married one of his pupils at Greenville, Miss
Clara Porter.

The township contains nine school-houses at
present.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

Among the first of these in the town were the
Sons of Temperance and Good Templars. The
former organization was in operation as early as
1845. The charter members of the first lodge
organized were A. R. Loughmiller, Thomas
Bower, Rev. John Peck, Dr. S. Payne, Philip
Dosh, William D. Morris, John Russell, The-
ophilus Russell, and William Loughmiller. This

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

lodge flourished a number of years, and con-
tained at one time nearly half a hundred mem-
bers. It did a great deal of good, being the first
organized resistance to intemperance here. The
society grew, flourished, decayed, and died, like
all other things mortal, having at least partially
fulfilled its mission by implanting in the minds
of the people the necessity of restraint in the
use of intoxicating liquors. Many a middle-aged
man of to-day will point to this good old society
as the means by which he was saved from be-
coming a drunkard.

The Good Templars flourished a little later
than the Sons of Temperance, and were really
an off-shoot from the old organization — the ob-
ject being the same, the only difference being
in the ceremonials.

Probably the late war did as much as as any-
thing to break up the temperance organizations.
People became absorbed in that great struggle,
and lost interest in all ether things — indeed all
else, even life itself, was considered of minor im-
portance.

After the war temperance organizations were
revived to a certain extent, but have not generally
succeeded in effecting much.

The Greenville lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons, No. 416, was organized in 1868 in the
village. The charter members were Thomas J.
Williams, Jonathan Davis, Seth M. Brown, John
G. Armbroster, Robert T. Keithley, George W.
Lugenbeel, Robert Standerford, Samuel Thomas,
Samuel W. Waltz, and Charles Hemble. The
first officers were Samuel W. Waltz, M.; Thomas
J. Williams, S. W.; Jonathan Davis, J. W.; Sam-
uel Thomas, S.; Seth M. Brown, T,; John G.
Armbroster, S. D.; George W. Lugenbeel, J. D.;
and Robert Standenford, T. The present officers
are George W. Morris, M.; James Taylor, S. W.;
John Taylor, J. W.; George W. Smith, secretary;
James T. Smith, treasurer; Jonathan Davis, S.
D.; John W. Kepley, J. D.; Seth M. Brown,
tyler; and John W. Keithley and Washington
Pectol, stewards. The present membership is
forty-four. The lodge owns a hall in the upper
story of the brick flouring-mill.

The Greenville Lodge No. 344, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, was organized March 17,
1870, the charter members being James Beck,
Samuel Milligan, Albert McQuiddy, James
Banes and James Pierce. It was organized in

Steele's hall, where its meetings are yet held.
The first officers were Mathias Sappenfield, N.
G.; Jacob J. Miller, V. G.; M. W. Smith, record-
ing secretary; James M. Davis, permanent secre-
tary, and Thomas Allen, treasurer. The charter
members of the lodge were all members of the
lodge at New Albany, who only came out for the
purpose of organizing this one. The number of
members at the organization was seventeen, as
follows, besides the officers already named : A. S.
C. Miller, J. M. Smith, Elmore Smith, Isaac
Wood, C. E. Scott, T. J. Allen, W. L Allen,
William Steele, F. M. Miller, G. H. Buss and S.
M. Brown. The present officers are James Sap-
penfield, N. G.; E. F. Morris, V. G.; James A.
Brown, recording secretary ; M. W. Smith, per-
manent secretary, and G. W. Smith, treasurer.
The lodge numbers seventy-one members at
present.

THE CEMETERY.

Greenville cemetery was laid out December 6,
1852, by Samuel Sease, Julius R. Porter, Reuben
C. Smith, C. S. Sample, and Jacob Sheets. There
were one hundred and forty-four lots, each fifteen
feet square, with convenient alleys four feet wide,
and an avenue through the center, north and
south, forty-three feet wide.

NOTES OF THE VILLAGE HISTORY.

Greenville was surveyed by George Smith,
county surveyor, and incorporated October 28,
1879. The number of voters at that date was
one hundred and two, and the number of in-
habitants four hundred and one. The village
has not improved for many years, having attained
to its present dimensions about >835, when the
great woods were yet closely gathered around it.

GALENA.

When the question of making a turnpike out
of the old New Albany and Vincennes road be-
gan to be agitated in 1836, or before, this little
village came into life. It was first called Ger-
mantown, and retained this name many years,
until the post-office was established, about i860,
when the name was changed to Galena. It was
laid out and platted by George Sease, May 27,
1837. The streets were appropriately named
Floyd, Main, First Cross street, Second Cross
street, and Third Cross street.

Mr. Sease owned the land upon which the
village was platted, and thought perhaps he could

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

299

make a fortune by building a new town on this
great thoroughfare and turnpike.

The first building in the town was a frame
store-room, erected on the lot where Norton
Brown's store now stands. Joseph B. Wells, yet
living, did the carpenter work. Isaac Parks
moved into this room as soon as it was finished,
opened a stock of goods, and became the first
merchant. He also moved his family into it,
and lived there until his dwelling could be put
up. This was also built by Joseph B. Wells,
and was the first dwelling-house in the town.
Mrs. Williamson now occupies the house. The
store-room stood until about 1876-7, when Mr.
Norton Brown took it away and erected his pres-
ent store-room. The old, gray-looking, broken-
backed building on the north side of Main street,
where the road from the south crosses it, was
erected among the first by Charles Frederick,
and kept many years by him as a hotel. It is a
fair specimen of the old-style tavern, being a
long, two-story, unpainted frame. Like all of
its class, it is going into decay. It has not been
used for hotel purposes for a number of years.
One of the first houses in the town was the brick
dwelling now owned by George Buss, and the
second brick building was that now standing on
the corner and occupied by Frank Lamke as a
hotel and store. Lamke and Brown are now the
only merchants in the place. There is a black-
smith-shop, a coopering establishment, a mill,
and the usual number of mechanical establish-
ments. The inhabitants number considerably
less than a hundred There is a church, a school,
three doctors, and a lodge of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. The latter occupies the
upper story of a neat white frame building.

The coopering business was once the leading
business in the place, but has declined greatly in
late years. It is rather a drowsy little village,
and like nearly all others of its kind, the daily
batch of neighborhood gossip, retailed gratis
from corner dry-goods boxes and much-whittled
chairs and stools, forms about the only entertain-
ment of a portion of its people.

morgan's raid.

The raid of John Morgan through Indiana
and Ohio made but little more impression on the
people of the whole country at the time of its
execution than would a bucket of water on the

great ocean. It merely caused a ripple in its
immediate vicinity, and so passed away. To
the people of distant States it was nothing; to the
soldiers in front, if they heard of it at all at the
time, it would cause no more than a smile or a
passing remark; but in the States immediately
concerned it created considerable feeling and
talk, and to the people immediately along the
line of march, who witnessed it, the raid was one
of the great events of their lives, and the story of
John Morgan will be rehearsed to their children
and grand-children for several generations.
Three-quarters of a century from now some old
man, tottering on the verge of the grave, will
point out to the awe-struck children the place
where Morgan's men camped, the tree, perhaps,
under which the great Morgan himself sat and
smoked his cigar, and will rehearse the story of
the great raid while the little ones listen with
open eyes and mouths, and look upon the old
man as one of the greatest of the earth, because
he had seen General Morgan with his own eyes.
Although the main body of Morgan's troops
did not touch Greenville township, it passed so
near as to cause a panic among the people, and
a small party of flankers gave the village of
Greenville a call. Had his main army passed
their very door it could not have caused greater
consternation. There is something fearful, even
dreadful, in the thought, especially to women
and children, of a large body of desperate men
armed to the teeth, between whom and them,
they are well aware, no law and power at hand
can stand for a moment. Utterly and complete-
ly at the mercy of an apparently lawless and irre-
sponsible band of men, whose business it is to
kill, and whose only business seems to be to
hunt other men to shed their blood, what wonder
is it that men turned pale when they stand help-
lessly in their own doors, and the wife and
mother weeps and presses her little ones closer
to her and prays to the only power that can help
her? It is impossible to imagine the feelings of
people in such a situation. Experience is the
only true test. The people in this township,
especially along the turnpike, were put to the
test; they were compelled to endure, for a few
hours at least, the agony of suspense and expec-
tation. The dreadful raiders might pass around
them, as dreadful storms had often done, or they
might sweep over them — they could not tell;

3°°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

whatever the result, they were helpless, and could
only wait with bated breath.

The whole of Morgan's command crossed the
Ohio, with Morgan himself, at Brandenburg,
Kentucky, about fifty miles by river below New
Albany, on the 8th of July, taking possession of
the steamer Tariscon, which he found there, for
that purpose; and, while the good people of
Greenville were rejoicing over the victory at
Vicksburg, came the startling information that
the raiders had crossed the river and were com-
ing in the direction of their village. This was
entirely a new phase of war; the conflict was to
be brought to their own doors, and was the more .
startling because unexpected. There was a gen-
eral scramble to make property and life as secure
as possible before the appearance of the raiders
in the neighborhood. Money, silverware, jew-
elry, and every valuable thing of the smaller
kind was hastily buried, just as the people of the
South buried their valuables before the advance
of our armies. What could not be buried was
taken to the woods and elsewhere and secreted.
Fine horses, for which Morgan certainly had a
partiality, were taken hastily to the darkest
depths of an adjacent thicket; cows and all other
animals were driven away to the woods. Some
families even, after hiding securely all their valu-
ables, went to the woods themselves for safety.
A few men mounted their horses, took down
their old rusty shot-guns and squirrel-rifles, and
rode hastily away in the direction the raiders
were supposed to be taking, ready to join any
concerted movement by the citizens against
them. Others quietly continued their labors in
the field, first preparing themselves as well as
possible for emergencies. Morgan passed up
the river to Corydon, where he had a slight skir-
mish with citizens, and one or two men were
killed and a few wounded on both sides. He
then marched north, passing through the town of
Palmyra, seven miles west of Greenville, this
being the nearest point to the latter village. His
flankers, scouts, and stragglers were spread out
over the country for great distances. Forty-six
of his men in a body — probably a foraging and
marauding party — encamped one night about
half a mile east of the village, in the woods; and
during the evening a few of them visited the
town, went to a saloon and drank, but did not
disturb any one. Their presence was unknown

until the following morning, when they quietly
departed. Many valuable horses were taken by
Morgan's command, and here and there a few
valuables secured, but he was compelled to
march too rapidly to secure much plunder.

A squad of his men, about one hundred in
number, crossed the river at Utica, but these
were mostly dispersed or captured by the citizens
befere they could join their leader.

WAR POLITICS.

Matters politically during the war were in a
delicate condition in Greenville township, as well,
of course, as everywhere else, but peculiarly so
here and all along the southern portion of Indi-
ana, on account of its proximity to slave terri-
tory. People were very much divided on the
great questions of the day, and a very bitter
feeling prevailed. A secret society existed,
known as the Knights of the Golden Circle. It
was political in its nature, and its members were
known to sympathize with rebellion. Its meet-
ings were held at night in the woods and in vari-
ous deserted cabins in the neighborhood, and
the lines were very sharply drawn between the
two parties. Every man in the community was
"spotted" by one party or the other. The politics
of every man was well known; every man's name
was on record somewhere, and every man's every
move was watched. Neighbors were spies upon
neighbors. Every man stood, as it were, in the
attitude of war, and war to the knife, with his arm
continually raised to strike. No stranger could
enter the community and remain long a stranger,
at least politically; he must identify himself with
one party or the other, and that speedily. Men
had no confidence in each other. Neighbor
watched closely the neighbor whom he had always
trusted before but who was now his almost
deadly enemy.

In this delicate condition of the political pow-
der-magazine, there was danger of explosion at
any moment. When, therefore, John Morgan
came in this direction, there were a few who
secretly rejoiced and looked upon this as a long-
wished-for opportunity for revenge. The feeling
in the whole community was intensified, and
there was an inclination to use violence on the
slightest provocation. Many things were said
and done at this critical period to make men en-
emies for life, and their children enemies, it may
be feared, for generations.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

301

The man who created the most consternation
among the people of this township, upon the ap-
proach of John Morgan, and rendered himself
famous (or infamous) thereby, was one William
Harper, who mounted his horse and rode swiftly
down the turnpike through Greenville to New
Albany, shouting at the top of his voice to the
people by the way that John Morgan was com-
ing down the pike, with an army of fabulous size
at his heels, to attack New Albany. It created
the greatest excitement and consternation ; but
meanwhile Morgan was moving swiftly in another
direction. It is believed that Morgan himself
had something to do with this extraordinary ac-
tion of Harper — that it was a ruse to distract the
various squads of troops gathering in different
directions, as to his purposes. ,

Dr. Smith, of Greenville, says that he buried
$600 in money, and kept a fine horse hid in the
woods during the passage of the troops through
this part of the country, and that one night, dur-
ing the greatest excitement, when every man
was feeling for the throat of his neighbor, as it
were, he was called from his bed in the middle
of the night, and, upon cautiously opening the
door, not knowing whether it was a professional
call, or whether his time had come to be taken
out and hanged as a Union man, he peered into
the darkness, and saw that the street in front of
his house was filled with armed men on horse-
back. Visions of John Morgan's raiders flashed
through his mind, and he was about to retire
hastily, when some person whispered mysteri-
ously that he was wanted to guide a party of the
citizens who had organized, armed, and mounted
themselves, to pursue a party of Morgan's men
who were crossing" the river near Utica.

In the skirmish which ensued between these
parties and others who joined them, and this
squad of Morgan's men, several men were
wounded, and the rebels were dispersed. A few
of them were captured. A young Confederate
named Collins was wounded and brought to
Greenville, where he was kept a few days, then
sent to New Albany, where he was cared for in
the hospital.

It is believed that many recruits for the rebel
army were made in this vicinity by the Knights
of the Golden Circle, and many young men pre-
vented from enlisting in the Union army by the
same society.

Greenville furnished her quota of ttoops for
the Union cause in the great Rebellion; but this
is referred to elsewhere in this work.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

The following items are from the earliest rec-
ords of the county commissioners:

At the meeting held May 17, 1819, Syrinus
Emmons was appointed constable for Greenville
township. He was the first to hold that office.
At the same meeting a petition was'presented
from the citizens of Greenville township, asking
for an additional justice of the peace, which
was granted, and an election ordered to be held
at the house of John Kearnes, on the first Mon-
day in June. At the same meeting James Mc-
Cutchan was continued as inspector of elections.

At the meeting of May 18, 1819, the commis-
sioners ordered the following taxes for State pur-
poses: On every one hundred acres of first-rate
land, $1; on the same amount of' second-rate
land, 87^2 cents; and on the same amount of
third-rate land, 62^ cents. Also for every
bond-servant over twelve years of age, $3 per
year. For county purposes the following taxes
were levied: For every one hundred acres of
first-rate land, 50 cents; for the same amount of
second-rate land, 43% cents; and for the same
amount of third-rate land, 31^ cents. Town
lots in Greenville were taxed fifty cents on every
$100 valuation.

There is but little to record in the history of
the State road, upon which Greenville is situ-
ated, and over which the larger part of the produc-
tions of the township must always pass. The road
was surveyed about 1836, by the State, with the
intention of converting it into a turnpike from
Louisville to St. Louis. The work of breaking
the stone began soon afterwards, and the con-
tracts were let for macadamizing the road.
Plenty of stone for the purpose was found within
the limits of the county. The road was graded
as far as Vincennes, but macadamized only to
Paoli, a distance of forty-one miles from New
Albany. Upon this part of the road tolls have
ever since been levied. The S^ate, through the
machinations of a strong lobby, it is claimed,
turned the road over to a company, or rather sold
out to a company for $50,000, though the road
had originally cost $275,000. This company
yet owns the road, but there was some agitation

302

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

recently in the State Legislature looking to the
State again taking possession of it.

Before the days of railroads in this part of the
country, about 1845, a telegraph line was put
up along this turnpike from New Albany and
Louisville to St. Louis. Charles Cartwright (of
Jeffersonville at that time, but now of Granville)
Samuel Howe, of Clark county, and Mr. Tay-
lor, of Ohio, were the contractors for furnishing
the poles for this telegraph line. They received
"three bits" (thirty-seven and a half cents) apiece
for the poles. Another set of contractors dug
the holes, and a third furnished the wire. The
line was kept up until railroads came, when it
was abandoned. There is not at the present
time a railroad or telegraph line in the township.

Before the days of railroads the freight busi-
ness along this pike amounted to considerable.
Goods were brought to the Falls of the Ohio by
boat, and from there they must be taken by
freight wagons westward along the road to sup-
ply the numerous little towns and trading places
that were continually springing up, not only im-
mediately along the line of the road, but at
various distances on either side. The commerce
of a large belt of the country must pass over
this road, and consequently wagons were em-
ployed, especially as freight wagons. They were
large and heavy, with tires an inch thick and
several inches broad, and drawn by four horses.
When the road was in good condition they would
carry almost as much as a common freight car of
to-day. They would travel slowly, freely patron-
izing the various taverns by the way.

Jacob Miller then kept a tavern on the road,
the first one east of the east line of Greenville
township. This was between 1820 and 1830.
His tavern was a rather spacious one for those
days, being a two-story log building. Josiah
Lamb kept the next one west, and about five
miles east of the village of Greenville. Robert
Lewis kept the next one west of Lamb, and
within half a mile of the village. The next one
was in the village. From the multiplicity of
taverns it will be inferred that weary drivers and
travelers were not allowed to remain thirsty for
a great length of time ; and it is intimated
(though there can be no truth in the story) that
some of these honest tavern keepers got rich
selling whiskey out of a pint cup with an inch of
wood fitted in the bottom of the cup.

CHAPTER XVII.

LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

At the first meeting of the commissioners of
Floyd county, February 8, 18 19, the county was
divided into three townships, to wit: New Albany,
Greenville and Franklin. Greenville occupied
all the northern part of the county, and it was out
of this territory that Lafayette was formed nine
years later. The boundaries of this township
were defined at a meeting of the commissioners,
then called the " Board of Justices," held May 5,
1828.

In 1824, by a law of the Legislature, the jus-
tices of the peace in the counties of Indiana were
to constitute a board of justices, to take the
place of the commissioners, and transact the
business usually delegated to that body, the law
going into effect in September of that year.

The following is the record of the board of
justices upon the formation of the township :

Ordered, That all that portion of Floyd county situate
and lying between the following boundaries be hereafter
known and designated by the name and style of La Fay-
ette township, to wit: Beginning on the county line at the
corners of sections twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five and
twenty-six, in township number one, south of range five, east
from thence running south on the sectional line to the corner
of sections twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five and twenty-
six in township two, south of the range aforesaid; thence east
to the corners of sections twenty, twenty-one, twenty-eight
and twenty-nine in township two, south of range six east ;
thence north to the corners of sections sixteen, seventeen,
twenty and twenty-one in said township and range last men-
tioned; thence east to the corners of sections fifteen, sixteen,
twenty-one and twenty-two in said last mentioned township
and range ; thence north to the corners of sections nine, ten,
fifteen and sixteen in said last mentioned township and range;
thence east to the corners of sections ten, eleven, fourteen and
fifteen in said last mentioned township and range; thence
north to the line dividing townships numbers one and two
thence east to the Grant line; thence with the line of the
said Illinois Grant- to the county line, and from thence west,
with the county line to the place of beginning.

At the same meeting the board of justices
transacted other business regarding the new
township, as follows:

Ordered, That elections in the township of La Fayette be
holrien at the house of Jacob Miller, and that William Wil-
kinson be appointed inspector of elections in said township
for the present year; and that Samuel Miller and Francis R.
Porter be appointed overseers of the poor in said township
for the present year.

Ordered, That an election be holden in the township of La-
Fayette for the purpose of electing one justice of the peace
therein on Saturday, the thirty-first day of the present
month. David M. Hale,

President of the Board.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

303

At a meeting July 7, 1828, it was

Ordered, That David Edwards be appointed inspector of
elections of La Fayette township until the first Monday in
January next, vice William Wilkinson, Esqr., who declines
serving as such.

David Edwards was subsequently appointed
assessor, and probably the first one in the town-
ship.

1 The township of Lafayette, as above bounded
and described, was taken out of the east half of
Greenville township. Its boundaries have not
since been changed. It is very irregular and
ragged as it appears on the map, its eastern line
following gradually the course of the "knobs," a
range of high hills whose general course is south-
west and northeast. It is bounded on the north by
Clarke county; on the east and south by New
Albany township; on the south and southwest by
Georgetown township; and on the west by Green-
ville township.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Its surface is generally broken and hilly, but
the larger proportion of the land is cultivable, a
large portion of it being at the present time un-
der a high state of cultivation.

To the first settlers the territory embraced in
this township appeared as a vast wilderness, with
scarcely an opening to relieve the monotony of
the great woods. Wolves, deer, bears, panthers,
and other wild animals contested the ground
with the Indian, and both were to be extermina-
ted or driven away On the bottoms the ground
was largely covered with wild pea-vines, beneath
which lurked venomous reptiles of every kind
known to the American forest. All the first set-
tlers were compelled to clear the ground before
the cabin could be erected or the truck-patch
cultivated. Indian camps were found at fre-
quent intervals along the streams', and here oc-
casional small clearings had been made; but these
were neither numerous nor extensive. The red
man lived by hunting, fishing, and trapping, and
made few attempts in this vicinity to cultivate the
soil.

The only streams in the township are Big and
Little Indian creeks and their tributaries; but
these furnish thorough drainage, while water for
domestic use is abundantly supplied by numer-
ous and beautiful springs that burst from the hill-
sides in every direction.

Big Indian creek rises in the northeastern part

of the township, its general course being south-
west across the northwestern part of the town-
ship. It passes through sections twenty-nine,
thirty-two, thirty-one, six, one, and twelve, cross-
ing into Greenville township, near the center of
the last named section. Before the country
was cleared it was a stream of considerable
depth, and the flow of water was steady and con
tinuous, but since the country has been cleared
in its vicinity it is an insignificant stream, being
almost dry at times during the summer. It is
subject to frequent freshets, when it becomes a
raging, foaming torrent, carrying almost every-
thing before it. On its southeast side this stream
is generally hemmed in by a high range of hills,
which are yet covered with a rank growth of
hard wood timber, while on the opposite side
beautiful level bottoms stretch away, making
some of the finest farms in the township.

Springs of pure, cold water are to be found
among these hills in considerable numbers; and
probably nowhere in the township are the settlers
compelled to dig more than from ten to thirty
feet to procure the finest of drinking water.

The Big Indian contains so little water in
summer that a wagon-road follows its bed a good
portion of the way across the township, and
bridges are not needed even for footmen.

Little Indian creek also has its source in the
northeastern part of the township among the
knobs, and, clinging closely to the foot of this
remarkable range of hills, passes southwest across
the township, through sections thirty-five, three,
four, nine, eight, seventeen, twenty, and
thirty, entering Georgetown township about the
center of the last named section. After passing
across a portion of Georgetown it joins the Big
Indian in Greenville township, where together
they form Indian creek, which finds its way
southward into the Ohio. It puts out numerous
tributaries, and draws its water largely from the
knob springs.

There is a good deal of valuable bottom-land
along this stream, also, yet the bottom-lands on
these creeks cannot be called first-class ; that is,
they will not compare, for instance, with the
Wabash bottom or the Miami bottoms in Ohio.
They are largely composed of sand and clay,
mixed in places with vegetable mold, and pro-
duce excellent crops of corn, wheat, oats, etc.
The lands of the entire township may, however,

304

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

be classed as clay lands, and therefore not alto-
gether first-class.

The wonderful range of hills called the
"knobs" forms the eastern boundary of the
township, making that line somewhat irregular.
Occasionally a section breaks over these hills and
occupies a portion of the beautiful valley beyond.
Section ten is largely taken up by the knobs.
These hills are a continuation of the bluffs that
all along hem in the Ohio river. They leave the
river at Madison and, making a large circuit,
reach the river again below New Albany. With-
in the circle of these hills is some of the finest
bottom-land in the West. The hills also recede
from the river much the same on the southern
side, the river passing for many miles here
through an extensive bottom, which supports
the cities of Louisville, Jeffersonville, New Al-
bany, and others. These knobs have always
been covered with a dense growth of timber,
and it will doubtless be many years, perhaps a
century, if ever, before they are cleared and cul-
tivated. A few farms partially cleared are now
found along the sides and on the top, but they
are, probably, generally owned by parties who
have bottom-land for cultivation, and who pre-
served them for woodland. What is rather un-
usual, however, about this range of hills, consid-
ering their height and ruggedness, is that there
is very little land not capable of cultivation, were
the timber cleared away. Some time within the
next century, when the cities of Louisville, Jeffer-
sonville, and New Albany have spread out over
the beautiful bottoms on which they are located
until they virtually form one great city, the
southern slope of these knobs will be one vast
vineyard for supplying that city with grapes and
wine. Even now, in places, vineyards are being
cultivated, and it would seem as if there were no
better opening in this country for those who un-
derstand this business than to purchase a few
acres of this high land now to be had, probably,
for about $10 per acre.

A place of considerable prominence in the
knobs, within the limits of this township, is
known as "Bald knob," a hill standing somewhat
above the others referred to hereafter in this
chapter. Iron ore is said to exist in consider-
able quantities in the knobs; but the extent of
this deposit is not yet known.

These hills appear to be composed principally

of sandstone and limestone, separated by layers
of blueish shale, and covered to a considerable
depth with drift. The soil is clay, and produces
well of all the smaller grains.

Mr. Cottom thus speaks of the knobs :

A high range of hills known as the knobs, but called by the
Indians Silver hills, run through the county from north to
south, coming to the Ohio river near New Albany. These
hills present an uneven surface, but are nevertheless covered
with a soil peculiarly adapted to fruit-growing, and are es-
teemed the very best orchard lands in Indiana, and among
the best in the entire West. The severest winters known in
this climate have but slightly affected the orchards on these
hills, and their fruitfulness and the certainty of the crops up-
on them have given these fruit-growing lands a wide and
justly merited celebrity. They are esteemed the best lands
in the West for ttie cultivation of the vine. These hill lands
sell at very low prices, are easily and cheaply cultivated, and
yield very large profits to those engaged in growing fruit up-
on them. They readily grow, and in great perfection, the
pear, peach, apple, grape, plum, quince, cherry, and all the
small fruits. Grain of all kinds also yields remuneratively to
the toil of the husbandman.

These hills contain iron ore in large quantities, and the
best quality of sandstone and limestone for building pur-
poses.

The knobs, in an early day, were noted resorts
for wild animals of all kinds; and, long after the
game had disappeared from the other parts of
the township and county, it was still good hunt-
ing in the knobs. Foxes, wolves, panthers, and
wildcats were more numerous here than in other
parts of the township. When the first settlers
came these animals were found plentifully every-
where ; but, as the lower and better lands were
settled, they retired to these hills, where they
found holes and small caves for hiding places, in
which they were secure from hunters and dogs.
Many wild animals remained here after the town-
ship was entirely settled, and even yet foxes are
occasionally found; so that this is considered fair
hunting ground. There is an abundance of
squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, quails, and other
small game, while an occasional turkey or fox
are secured. Raccoons, opossums, skunks, and
other night-prowlers are plenty, and " coon hunt-
ing " is a favorite pastime with the young men
and boys. They are sure, also, to resort to the
vicinity of the knobs. The corn-fields at the
foot of these heights suffer more or less from the
raids of the raccoon.

The timber on the knobs, and in other parts
of the township, especially on the hills of the
Big Indian, is heavy, and much of it of fine
quality. Unlike the larger portion of the State,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3°5

and also of Ohio, timber is abundant for all pur-
poses for which it is needed. On the lower
lands it grows to a great size, and consists of two
varieties of hickory — shell-bark and pig-nut —
poplar, white and black walnut, maple, blue and
black ash, mulberry, cottonwood, and sycamore.
At the date of the first settlement, this variety of
timber on the bottoms was further augmented
by a dense undergrowth of dog-wood, iron-wood,
paw-paw, black-haw, sassafras, spice-bush, willow,
and many other species. Wild grapevines, and
trailing vines of every description, spread over
the ground and clung to the trees, climbing to
the tops of the highest. Beautiful clusters of
grapes in endless quantities were suspended from
the tree tops, and the forest was darkened, even
in daylight, by the density of the foliage.

Upon the undulating lands and on the hills
the timber was, and still is, chestnut, red, white,
and burr oak, hickory, beech, sugar, wild cherry,
black locust, cedar, and an occasional pine. The
woods in pioneer days were more open on the
upland, and here, under certain circumstances,
the hunters resorted for deer. Starting out from
his cabin, securely anchored under one of the
hills, he would make a circuit of the 'knobs to get
the lee of his game; and he knew just what time
of day and during what season of the year he
would find it among the oak bushes and under-
growth on the knobs. The oak timber, which is
of excellent quality, is now being rapidly used
for steamboat building and for hubs, spokes,
etc. Much of it has also been used in barrel-
making; for a large number of the first settlers
were coopers, and were kept busy making barrels
for the distilleries, which in an early day had an
existence along all the streams in the township
and county.

Fine sugar orchards exist in various places in
the township, and the making of maple sugar
has always been considered among the local
industries.

There are in the township 17,611 acres of land,
of which about one-half is improved, the other
half being woodland. From an historical atlas
of the State, published a few years ago, the fol-
lowing remarks regarding the mineral resources
of this county are taken. Minerals of whatever
kind are mostly found in the knobs:

The mineral resources of Floyd county comprise iron ore,
manganese, New Albany black slate, hydraulic limestone,

St. Louis limestone, knob sandstone, silica, mineral springs,
etc. Iron ore and manganese are found in their strata along
the Silver Hills. The New Albany rolling mills obtain a por-
tion of their ore from these beds. A few years ago it was
thought that the New Albany black slate, mixed with coal-
tar, would make an excellent roofing material; but experi-
ments have not justified anticipations.

The hydraulic limestone is found under the New Albany
black slate, but not in all places. The color of this lime-
stone is a light drab, and it is classified as quick, medium,
and slow-setting. This stone, in an economic point of view,
iione of the most valuable in the county. The St. Louis
limestone is quarried by several parties near Greenville, where
it has a thickness of from twenty-five to fifty feet. It is a fine
building stone, and is used considerably in New Albany. It
is also converted into road material, and used quite exten-
sively in the county.

The knob sandstone is in many places from fifty to eighty
feet in thickness. It hardens on exposure, and is used for
doorsteps and many other purposes with success.

Near the tops of the hills in the vicinity of Mooresville,
there are beds twelve feet in thickness, of a soft, bright-col-
ored, ochreous sandstone, exposed portions of which make an
excellent mineral paint.

Lying in compact beds near the intersection of Clark,
Harrison, and Washington counties, is a fine-grained white
sand, used in the manufacture of plate glass at New Albany.
This formation is very extensive, of great economic value,
and destined to play an important part in adding to the
wealth of Floyd county.

Mineral springs are found in various parts of the county,
possessing decided medicinal properties, and there are nu-
merous noticeable mounds and other relics of a prehistoric
race.

ARCHAEOLOGY.

The first inhabitants in human form to occupy
the territory above described were, so far as can
be ascertained by historical research, the Mound
Builders, a race of people which seems to have
been greatly given to throwing up little mounds
of earth, which yet remain to mark their exist-
ence and abiding places in various parts of the
country.

Few, if any, traces of this mysterious people
remain in this township; but, as evidences of the
existence of this people are all around, both in
this and other counties, there can be no doubt
that they once occupied this territory, and pos-
sibly had it cleared and cultivated to a greater
extent than it is to-day. Of this, however, the
present generation know nothing.

One of their most remarkable works in this
part of the State has an existence in the ad-
joining county of Clark, at the mouth of Four-
teen mile creek.

Stone implements of various kinds, used by
the Mound Builders, have been found in this
township.

3°6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

INDIANS.

Whether the Ihdians were contemporaneous
with the Mound Builders, or whether the latter
were driven out by the former, may never be
known ; but they have been considered by his-
torians as following the Mound Builders in their
occupation of the country. There is, however,
no doubt that the red man occupied for centu-
ries the territory now embraced in the limits of
Lafayette township ; but, as they were much like
other wild animals of the woods, they did little
or nothing to change the face of the country.
They cleared occasionally a small patch in the
woods for corn ; but, for the most part, they lived
by devouring other animals of the woods, and
on the fruits and berries that grew spontaneously
everywhere. It is not probable that the Indians
cleared land or cultivated corn until the advent
among them of the French traders, who taught
them this manner of getting a living.

One or two very small patches of cleared land
appeared in this township at the date of its first
settlement by the whites, which signified the
former existence of an Indian camp. It is not
believed, however, that any permanent, camp of
Indians existed in this township; though this
cannot be ascertained to a certainty. Upon the
advent of the first settlers there was an Indian
graveyard a short distance from the village of
Scottsville, in the northwestern part of the town-
ship. An acre or more of ground was here occu-
pied, and indicated the presence of an Indian
village for a considerable length of time. The
road which enters Scottsville from the south
once passed through this Indian graveyard, but
has since been turned to one side. The house
of Mr. Alexander McCutchan stands exactly in
the midst of these ancient graves, and a gentle-
man named Stoner lives near. Upon the ad-
vent of the first settlers these graves were plainly
marked, and consisted of small hillocks arranged
in rows, much after the manner of white burials.
The ground has since been plowed over, and the
graves have entirely disappeared from sight. It
is known that the Indians used this territory ex-
tensively as a hunting-ground and camped much
along the Big and Little Indian creeks, and in
the vicinity of some of the springs. Warriors
from the tribes scattered along the Wabash
doubtless came here in the fall and winter to
hunt, and some of them may have remained here

continuously for years, returning occasionally to
their villages or permanent camps.

An Indian trail once led from the Falls of the
Ohio across the extensive bottom east of the
knobs, and up along the foot of the knobs to
Bald knob, over which it passed, thus entering
the present limits of this township at that point.
Passing down the western slope of the knobs,
the trail took a line through the woods in a south-
easterly direction, until it joined the main trail
from the Falls of the Ohio to Vincennes, some-
where, probably, within the present limits of
Greenville township. One of the first roads
through the county subsequently followed this
trail over Bald knob, but has since been changed.

The significance and purpose of this trail
seems very clear; it was to enable the red men
to use this knob as a lookout and signal station.
Any one who has visited this place can fully
realize what a grand lookout station it would
make. The view is entirely unobstructed as far
as the eye can reach to the south, east, and
northeast. One of the most beautiful and fertile
valleys in the West lies spread out in a vast, un-
dulating ocean of green, covering hundreds of
thousands of acres, and the Ohio river can be
distinctly traced for many miles. What a grand
signal station for both Mound Builders and In-
dians! and without doubt it was used by both
during many centuries. The trail leading di-
rectly from the Falls to this point is certainly suf-
ficient proof that it was used by the latter. The
Indians looked to the Ohio river as the great
highway-for the approach of their enemies from
the east; and from this secure lookout they
could receive and transmit signals to great dis-
tances both east and west. Mount Moultrie, in
Kentucky, nearly fifty miles to the south, may be
seen on a clear day; and here the ancient dweller
probably established a corresponding signal sta-
tion. It may be remembered that it was near
this mountain that the forces of Generals Rous-
seau and Buckner met early in the war and en-
gaged in some skirmishing.

The old trail has long since disappeared, with
those who made it, and the beautiful bottom,
once covered with heavy timber, is cut up into
farms, dotted with farm-houses and villages, and
the forest has given place to cultivated fields,
with the exception of little patches here and
there, like oases in a great desert.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3°7

The Indians occupied this territory until about
the time of the War of 181 2, when they disap-
peared, and never afterward made their appear-
ance here as a tribe, but an occasional straggler
came to revisit the grave of his ancestors and to
behold for a short time his well-known and well-
remembered haunts.

The Indians disappeared very suddenly at the
time of the Pigeon Roost massacre, which oc-
curred a few miles northeast, in what is now
Scott county, September 3, 1812. A party here
murdered one man, five women, and sixteen chil-
dren, and then made their esca'pe. The Indians
in this part of the country, fearing retaliation by
the whites, made all haste to get out of the
country.

Several block-houses were erected on the two
Indian creeks during that war, and at least one
within the limits of this township. It stood on
Little Indian creek, near where the village of
Mooresville now stands — a little below it, on the
west side of the creek. An orchard now occu-
pies the site. These houses were erected near
each other all along the old Vincennes road;
but the settlers never had occasion to use them,
except as places of refuge in case of alarm.

FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.

It is comparatively easy to find the location
of the first settlement in this township, as of
others in the county. It is natural to look along
the first highways of travel for the earliest settlers
in any country; and in this case the natural high-
way was the great Indian trail leading from the
Falls of the Ohio to Vincennes. The first white
settlers in this region crossed the Ohio near the
Falls, from the fact that in searching for new
homes in the wilderness they first came to the
frontier settlements, and then followed the only
highways — the streams and the Indian trails.
The frontier settlements at the beginning of this
century were along the Ohio river, naturally — at
Louisville and other points further up the river.
The first settlers followed down this great natural
highway in flat-boats, or pirogues, and, landing,
pursued the red man's trail until it crossed the
Indian creek, in this county. Here they found
rich lands and made their settlements. They
followed each other slowly at first, and entered
land all along Indian creek, penetrating further
and further into the wilderness, and continuing

on up the creek until they finally reached the
limits of Lafayette township. The pioneers of
this township found settlers on the creek, and
pushed further until they found wild land upon
which no foot of the white race had ever trod.
Here they drove their stakes, cleared a little spot,
built their cabins, and began to hew out of the
dense wilderness their future homes.

The valley of the Big Indian, therefore, re-
ceived the first settlers in this township. These
were probably the McCutchans, some of whom
yet reside in the neighborhood. The Wellses
settled in the same neighborhood, but are now
within the limits of Greenville township.

As near as can be ascertained, the pioneers of
this township were as follows: William Mc-
Cutchan and his two sons, Samuel and James,
in 1806. Those immediately following were the
Nugents — Nathan, Levi, David, and Benedict;
the Emnionses — Syrinus and Samuel. Others
following about this time and later, were Eb-
enezer and Henry Searles, Peter Quackenbush,
John Galloway, Gideon Adkins, with his sons,
John and Henry; Thomas Pierce, Patrick La-
den, Michael Kinsey, Louis Vernie, John Cole-
man, James Moore, a large family of Hickmans
near Mooresville, John Kelley, the Carters, Gib-
sons, and Edwardses, the Byrn family, consist-
ing of the mother, five sons, and three daughters,
Patrick Duffey, Joseph Hay, Robert Fenwick,
Howard Walker, the Smiths and Shacklebons,
John Sherley, the Errickses, Charles Byles, John
Worls, Mr. Donnahue, John and Moses Scott,
with large families, Robert Stewart, Captain
Keydon, James McFall, William Graham, Mr.
Roberts, the Welshes, and probably some others
whose names have not been ascertained.

Before the advent of these permanent settlers
there were, as remembered by the oldest pioneers
now living, a few squatters or white hunters who
were living here in huts, associating with the In-
dians and living in the same way — that is, by
hunting, trapping, etc. They moved away with
their red neighbors, and their names have passed
out of the memory of those now living. An oc-
casional log hut, however, standing many years
after the first settlement, marked the temporary
abiding place of these semi-civilized white sons
of the forest, and the little patch of cleared
ground about the cabin showed that the contents
of the "truck-patch" were appreciated, and that

3o8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

something was necessary to health and happiness
besides venison hams and wild fruits.

THE MCCUTCHANS

first settled on the Wabash river very early in
the present or possibly at the close of the last
century, but subsequently removed to this
county and purchased land upon Big Indian a
little in advance of other settlers of that time.
The family was originally from Ireland, but set-
tled in Virginia and subsequently in Tennessee
before removing to Indiana. A deed now in
possession of Samuel McCutchan shows that
the family were residents of Augusta county,
Virginia, it being given by Governor Brooke, of
that State, and dated October i, 1782. Part of
the family removed to Tennessee, where they
remained but a short time. James moved from
Virginia with his family directly to the Wabash
country, where he lived a short time and was
engaged in the Indian war of that period, being
in the battle of Tippecanoe. Having had six
horses stolen from him by the Indians, and
being otherwise harassed by the savages, his
family and himself being in continual danger of
massacre, he left that country and determined to
return to Virginia ; but reaching his brother
William, who had settled meanwhile in this
county, he remained with him and subsequently
purchased land and became a permanent resi-
dent. He taught school in after years, and was
probably the first teacher on Indian creek within
the limits of this township.

THE NUGENTS

were from Kentucky. Penetrating the wild and
rugged hills of the Big Indian, they went over
and settled near a beautiful mineral spring not
far from the Little Indian creek, where they built
a cabin and cleared a little ground, but lived
mostly by hunting and trapping. This spring is
on the farm now owned by Joseph Campion,
and is yet known as Nugent's spring, .the marks
of the old cabin being still visible. The family
long since disappeared, and has not at present a
representative in the township.

OTHER PIONEERS.

Howard Walker and the Welshes were also
settlers in this neighborhood, among the first,
and all hunters. Walker was from Kentucky,
and purchased his land of Robert Stewart, who
had preceded him a short time, and was a settler

in the vicinity of Bald knob. Stewart had a
large family, but all moved away early.

John Galloway was also a Kentuckian. He
remained but a short time on Indian creek, when
he sold out and moved to Oregon.

These settlers were scattered over considerable
territory, yet considered themselves near neigh-
bors in those days. They obtained a living
mostly by hunting and trapping, and looking for
bee-trees. There was a number of deer-licks
along the foot of the knobs, and in the hills of
the Big Indian, which were closely watched by
these hunters. The salt water still continues to
ooze from the ground in places. One of their
favorite hunting grounds was what was known as
the "Big Rough," a kind of "windfall" on the
hills west of the Big Indian. Big Rough had
been made by a wind-storm, which prostrated
the trees over a large tract of ground, at some
period sufficiently remote from the date of the
first settlement to allow time for a rank second-
growth of underbrush and small trees of every
description. This undergrowth, with the creep-
ing vines and fallen timber piled in every con-
ceivable direction, formed in places an impassa-
ble barrier, and everywhere most excellent
hiding-places for deer, bear, and a great variety
of smaller game. Several hunters with dogs
would conceal themselves around the outer
edges of Big Rough, and, sending the dogs
through it, would wait for the game, which was
sure to make its appearance. Many a bear was
tracked to the Big Rough, where it was compar-
atively safe from the rifle of the hunter. Panthers,
wild-cats, and wolves generally occupied the
knobs and remained here in limited numbers as
late as 1840 or 1850. Bears disappeared about
1840, but wild-cats, wolves, and wild turkeys re-
mained to a much later date. The latter may
be found occasionally even yet.

The settlers were in the habit of blowing the
horn whenever assistance was wanted. The
sound of a heavy dinner-horn could on a still
day be heard several miles. It was quite a
convenience also in calling together a party of
hunters for any special occasion ; or, if any one
was sick, help could be summoned in a short
time. There were no doctors among the earliest
pioneers, and little need of them ; but occasion-
ally some one took sick, and then the teas which
every pioneer mother understood how to make

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3°9

from the herbs growing in the woods, were
brought into requisition, and generally effected a
cure. It is said that Mr. Walker at one time
blew the horn vigorously and continuously until
he had all the settlers for many miles around at
his house, the trouble being simply that Mrs.
Walker had an attack — somewhat severe, of
course — of the stomach-ache. The old gentle-
man never heard the last of it, as it was consid-
ered a serious matter to give the peculiar signals
of distress and danger on the horn, and no one
was expected to do it unless something decidedly
calamitous was apprehended. Neighbors ar-
ranged signals of different kinds on the horn, and
it was used to convey special messages between
neighbors, or to arouse the neighborhood ; and
the signal-horn thus came to be an important
musical instrument in the settlement.

Among the worst enemies of these pioneers
were the numerous venomous reptiles ; and they
frequently suffered from their fangs, as did also
their cattle and other domestic animals. Rattle-
snakes of two or three varieties, copperheads,
vipers, and massasaugas were the poisonous ser-
pents. Rattlesnakes were less feared than the
others, because they generally gave warning of
their presence, while the presence of the others
was only ascertained by their deadly sting. The
pioneers, however, understood the treatment of
snake-bites, and few deaths occurred from this
cause. Venomous reptiles have not yet entirely
disappeared from this region, but are not numer-
ous at the present time. Mr. William McCutchan
was bitten about one year ago by one of them,
and, as he neglected the wound, being in doubt
about the character of it for some time, he yet
suffers from it.

Gideon Adkins was a settler on Big Indian in
18 1 6. Several of his descendants yet reside in
the township. The family came from the vicinity
of Bardstown, Kentucky. In later years Mr.
Adkins kept a store and conducted a saw-mill
for five or six years on Big Indian, a short dis-
tance below the Bethel Presbyterian church. He
died there some years ago, and in the settlement
of his affairs the enterprise of store-keeping at
that place was abandoned. His widow is yet
living. The old store building is now used as a
dwelling.

Several families of McCutchans yet reside on
Indian Creek, engaged in farming.

The principal industries along the creek at the
present time, besides farming, are coopering, burn-
ing charcoal, and blacksmithing.

ANOTHER EARLY SETTLEMENT

in this township, and apparently entirely distinct
from the settlement just described on the Big
Indian, is known as the "Foreign or Catholic
settlement." It is located on Little Indian, two
and one-half miles north of Mooresville. A
few Irishmen were among the earliest settlers
here, though it is believed they generally came
later than those on Big Indian, and most of
them did not arrive until after the War of 181 2.
Among these were the Pierces, the Byrns,
Nicholas Duffey, and others. Some members
of this settlement bought out the Nugents and
the lands of some other settlers before men-
tioned.

Thomas Pierce and the family of Byrnses prob-
ably came from Ireland together, leaving that
country about 1818, and, stopping on the way in
Pennsylvania, settled here in 1820. Pierce was
a farmer and surveyor, and quite an influential
man. It is said he assisted John K. Graham
frequently in surveying. Graham was probably
the first surveyor in this county, and surveyed
nearly or quite all the lands in this township.

The Byrnses were from the county Loud, Ire-
land. The family consisted of the mother, five
sons, and three daughters. These children sub-
sequently all married and settled in this neigh-
borhood, thus adding considerable strength to
the Catholic church, which was organized here
in an early day by Father Abraham, a Catholic
priest from Bardstown, Kentucky. The boys
were John, Thomas, Patrick, James, and Owen;
and some of these are yet residing here, as are
also the girls. The mother lived to the ripe age
of ninety-two years. The family has been an
influential and prominent one in the county.

Nicholas Duffey was also from Ireland, and
brought with him a family of seven children,
settling here in 1821. His son, Patrick Duffey,
yet resides in the township, near Mooresville,
and although quite an aged man, is still engaged
in farming.

John Coleman, also from Ireland, settled here
in 1825, and is one of the oldest living pioneers
of the county, being in his ninety-eighth year.
The Byrnses and Pierces had preceded him, and

3io

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

were his nearest neighbors when he first settled
where he now resides. Pierce was living down
the creek, near the old log Catholic church. Mr.
Coleman was fairly educated and became one of
the first school teachers in this part of the county.
He was also one of the first justices of the peace
in the county, and held that position many years.
He made little or no money out of the office, as
he generally succeeded in getting together his
neighbors, who had troubles to adjust, and
assisted them in settling their difficulties without
resort to the law. He remarks that the only
money he ever made out of his office was when
the turnpike was in course of construction. One
of the contractors on that road, whose wife was in
Philadelphia, married here another woman, and
when the Philadelphia wife suddenly made her
appearance, the contiactor as suddenly left
the country, leaving his business in a very unset-
tled condition. In settling this business Mr.
Coleman made the regular charges for such ser
vices. Notwithstanding his age he attends mass
at the Catholic church, nearly a mile distant,
regularly every morning, always going on foot.
He says the first settlers in this neighborhood
did their milling at the mill on the creek, near
the site of Galena, in Greenville township.

The French, as well as the Irish, had also
quite a lepresentation in this settlement. Among
them were Michael Kinsey and Louis Vernie.
The former brought from his native country a
family of two sons and three daughters, all of
whom married and settled in this neighborhood.
Vernie was also a man of family and one of the
first members of the Catholic church here.

This settlement received many additions from
time to time, mostly from Ireland, France, and
Germany, and now constitutes a large settlement,
nearly all the members of which are members of
the Catholic church, a very strong and influential
society, which has grown with the growth of the
settlement, and strengthened with its strength,
until it is now one of the largest in the State
outside of the cities.

THE FIRST POLLING PLACE.

Probably the first voting place in this town-
ship was in this settlement, in a cabin which
stood near the present residence of Abraham
Litz. The place was then owned by Thomas
Byrns. The first settlers in the township, how-

ever, went to New Albany to vote. This was
prior to the formation of the county. After
the formation of the township of Greenville,
the voting place of the settlers was at the
house of Jacob O. Frederick, near Galena.
David Fannin, of Scottsville, was probably the
first justice of the peace in the township. James
McCutchan and Levi Nugent were among the
first.

A THIRD SETTLEMENT

in this township is known as the "English settle-
ment," to distinguish it from the Catholic com-
munity, and joining the latter on the north.
These settlements were probably contemporane-
ous both being made about the close of the War
of 1 812.

The English settlement was established by an
Englishman named Joseph Hay, a Sweden-
borgian in religion, a weaver by trade, and a man
of considerable ability, influence, and means. In
England he had been largely engaged in the
manufacture of cloth, running a number of
looms, and had amassed considerable money.
He came to this then wild country with about
$60,000 in cash, an astonishing sum for those
days. He purchased twelve or fifteen hundred
acres of land, and endeavored to establish an
English colony, inducing several other English
families, to settle near him, among whom were
the Smiths, the Shackletons, and the Fenwicks.
These people were mostly Swedenborgians, and
erected a log church about 181 5. Hay and a
a man named Roberts were the leaders. Hay
came here without a family, except a wife. The
latter died shortly after arriving here, and he sub-
sequently married a second wife. Mr. Hay died,
however, about 1825, and his property passed
into other hands.

The Adkinses moved up the creek into the
" English settlement," where they reside, and
where they established the United Brethren
church, on the ruins of the old Swedenborgian
society.

THE FIRST SCHOOL

in this settlement was taught in the old log
Swedenborgian church by a man named Abra-
ham McCafferty, who, it is said, could hardly
write his own name. It was a "subscription
school." McCafferty carried around a paper,
representing himself as a school-teacher, and se-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

cured six or eight scholars at so much per term
of three months. He taught several terms.

THE EARLY MILLS.

These settlers first did their milling at Utica,
and at Bullitt's, at the head of the Falls, until a
man named Henry Putoff erected a mill on
Muddy fork, in Clark county, near where that
stream empties into Silver creek, when they re-
sorted to this mill.

A fourth settlement was made about the same
time as the other two, or a little later, in the
vicinity of the present village of

MOORESVILLE,

on Little Indian creek. The first to enter this
part of the township were the Moores, Kelleys,
Carters, Edwardses, Hickmans, Smiths, and
others. These settlers came in along the old
New Albany and Vincennes road, which crossed
the creek some distance below Mooresville, and
was, during many of the earlier years, the only
highway in this part of the county. When the
turnpike was constructed this road was partially
abandoned.

Phillip Engleman built a mill on the creek
where this road crosses. It was the first water-
mill in this part of the county, and was patron-
ized many years by the early settlers around
Mooresville. Engleman also kept tavern there,
and the place .was something uf a resort for the
pioneers. As Indian creek was somewhat fickle,
even in those days, his mill was idle about one-
half of the year, and the other half generally
had more than it could do. Customers who
came with grists were frequently compelled to
wait from one to three days for their grists, liv-
ing meanwhile at the tavern without charge.

John Kelley, Mr. Gibson, and a Mr. Hickman
entered the land where the village now stands.
Gibson did not live long, and the farm upon
which he settled was always afterwards known as
the Widow Gibson place.

Kelley was a Virginian, and brought his family
here with the intention of remaining; but after
a few years, hearing of his father's death in Vir-
ginia, he sold out here and started back for the
old home. He employed a man to transport
himself and goods in a wagon. Mr. Kelley died
on the way, and it was believed by many that
he was murdered by the man who accompanied

him, as he had a considerable sum of money
with him, the proceeds of the sale of his farm.
The man who went with him disappeared from
the community and escaped, the matter not be-
ing thoroughly prosecuted.

The Hickmans were quite numerous in this
neighborhood. Perhaps half a dozen families
of them were located along the creek. They
were Southern people, and were generally farm-
ers and hunters. One of them started a comb-
factory here — probably the first manufacturing
business of any kind in the township. It is
said that he made excellent horn combs, using
horse-power for the purpose, and finding a mar-
ket for them in Louisville and Cincinnati.

Mooresville was named for James Moore, a
native of the Empire State and a very active and
influential man. He came here from Orange
county, New York, a single man, and purchased
or entered some land about two miles below the
present site of Mooresville, in 1815. His widow
is still living, and says she came here "the June
following Jackson's battle of New Orleans." She
was a young lady at that time, and a daughter of
Asa Smith, who was a Connecticut Yankee. She
says her father stopped in New Albany, or rather
on the site of it, and helped to clear the land
upon which it stands.

At that time there were only four houses in
the place. Joel Scribner lived in one. He had
a family, and kept the post-office. Abner and
Nathaniel Scribner lived with their mother in
another house. Samuel March, a ship-carpenter,
with his brother, also of the same trade, and his
family, lived in the third house; while the fourth
house was a tavern, kept by a man named
Leibers.

Mr. Moore first purchased one hundred and
sixty acres of land down the creek, but continued
to buy land from time to time, until he became
the owner of many, hundred acres in the vicinity
of Mooresville. He subsequently started a store,
built a grist- and saw-mill, and engaged in many
other business enterprises, doing all he could at
all times to build up the town and community in
which he lived.

Mooresville never was platted, and never had
any recorded existence as a town ; and therefore
it is hard to get at the date when it came into
existence. But it must have been after the turn-
pike was built, and therefore could not have been

312

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

far from 1840, as the road was graded in 1836-37.

A man named Erricks, who resided in Louis-
ville, happened to own a quarter-section of land
upon the side of the knobs, near where the new
road was laid out; but, in order to have the ben-
efit of the road, he was under the necessity of
buying from the Widow Gibson a strip of land.
This strip of land was two acres wide, and in
length extended across a quarter-section. ^This
gave Mr. Erricks an outlet from his land into the
turnpike; but it was an awkward piece of land to
cultivate, and after Mr. Erricks died his heirs di-
vided it into lots and sold them out to whoever
would buy. This is the way the town came to be
started, and this is the reason why it is strung
along on either side of the turnpike for half a mile
or more. If the place could be gathered together,
it would make something of a village ; but it
does not strike the traveler by stage as much of
a place in its present shape.

Moore built about the first building in the
place ; it was a log store-room. His mill stood
exactly where the bridge now stands, and did the
grinding and sawing for the people many years.
Mr. Moore did not keep tavern ; but his latch-
string was always out, and a great many people
stopped with him. He was a very industrious
man, and succeeded in securing in all five quar-
ter-sections of land, most of which he cleared of
timber. He had a family of ten children, seven
of whom lived to rear families of their own ; and
to each of the living he gave one hundred and
twenty acres of land. He died in 1834, and his
goods were sold at auction. His store and mill
must have been in operation here many years be-
fore the Errick heirs laid out the town. Chancy
P. Smith purchased most of Mr. Moore's goods,
and opened a store in the place. After a time
Ebenezer G. Danforth came from New York and
purchased an interest in Mr. Smith's store. This
firm was unsuccessful in business.

Peter Burney was probably the next merchant,
but only remained a short time, when he sold
out to a Mr. Hollis, and moved to New Albany.
Subsequently Nicholas Speaker was a merchant
in the place, as was also John Barber. Charles
Byles was the first blacksmith, and kept his shop
near the creek. Moore induced him to settle
here. Ebenezer Danforth, after his unsuccess-
ful mercantile venture, kept a blacksmith and
wagon shop.

Thomas Edwards and the Carters came to-
gether from the South. They were farmers.

John Worls was the hatter in Mooresville, long
before the town had an existence. Making hats
was a leading business among the pioneers, and
no town or community was without its hatter.
Worls died fifty years ago or more.

Jesse Hickman, the comb-manufacturer, sold
out after a time to Mr. Moore, and a man named
Donnahue moved into his house, and opened
a tavern. Donnahue was the first school-teacher
in this part of the country, and taught two or
three winters in an old, deserted cabin that stood
on Jesse Hickman's place on the creek below
town. The building had been used as a dwell-
ing until the proprietor became able to build a
larger and better cabin, which he did in the same
yard. A Mr. Arnold followed Donnahue as a
teacher. The old block-house, before men-
tioned, was near this school-house.

"Jake" Miller kept the first tavern on the
" old road," in the direction of Mooresville. His
stand was at the foot of the knobs, on the op-
posite side from the site of the village. John
Sherley's tavern was the next, located on the top
of the knobs, but these old-time institutions
have long since disappeared. They are not
needed in this country at this time, and even in
Mooresville there is not sufficient patronage now-
adays to support a tavern, or hotel, as they are
modernly called.

At present there are three stores in the place,
kept by Henry Parrott, Frank Speaker, and Mrs.
Fenton. Mr. Lamke, of Galena, kept store here
several years before removing to that place. The
blacksmith-shop is kept by John Shuman. The
post-office has been established but a few years,
and is known as "Floyd Knobs." But little
business, more than that mentioned, is transacted
in the place. It is a somewhat sleepy village,
lying in a rather romantic and very healthy lo-
cality at the foot of the knobs. The old-
fashioned stage coach, with its four foaming
horses, its great leathern springs, its dust-begrimed
appearance, easy rocking motion and stern,
muscular, devil-may-care driver, with his long
whip, passes daily along the road, just as it did
half a century or more ago. Often the old coach
can hardly be seen at all for the amount of bag-
gage and merchandise that is piled on top and
fastened all around it. For half a century the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3i3

driver has cracked his whip on the top .of the
wood-crowned knobs, and dashed down their
steep sides along the hard, winding road, his
horses' steel-clad hoofs ringing sharply on the
flint) highway, until he brings up at the town-
pump in the village at the foot of the knobs,
where the horses are always watered, the mail,
changed, and the weary passengers allowed to
stretch their limbs and rest or warm before rat-
tling away to the next station. It is half a mile,
perhaps more, from the top of the knobs to
Mooresville. On the other side the road winds
about for more than a mile before reaching the
foot of the hills.

The schools of Mooresville have somewhat im-
proved since Donnahue's time. A fine brick
school-house was erected some years ago, and
two teachers are employed. All the children in
the neighborhood, without regard to color or con-
dition, are here instructed in the rudimentary
branches of learning without money and without
price. Education is as free as the water that
flows down the hills.

SCOTTSVILLE.

The fifth and last settlement to be mentioned
is that in the vicinity of the village of Scottsville
in the northwestern part of the township. A
settlement was made here by two brothers named
Moses and John Scott, in 18 12. They were
from Kentucky, and brought with them large
families. Moses Scott's children numbered ten,
as follows: America, Melinda, Catharine, In-
diana and Louisiana (twins), George, Robert,
Elizabeth, Moses, and Mary Jane. These chil-
dren married and scattered, and only America
and George are now living in the township.

John Scott's family consisted of wife and
twelve children — Reasor, Emily, James, Vard-
man, Robert, David, Herbert, Wesley, Moses,
and three others who died young. He settled
upon the present site ot Scottsville, where he re-
mained until he died. The Scotts were especial
supporters of the Mormon church, which still
maintains a quasi-existence in that neighborhood,
and some of them removed to Salt Lake City,
where they now reside. One, at least, is a Mor-
mon elder. The old log church, which stands
in Greenville township, receives attention in the
history of that township elsewhere in this divis-
ion of our work.

David Fannin was also an early settler in this
part of the township, and owned a horse-mill in
a very early day — probably the first mill in the
township.

The village of Scottsville was laid out on the
east half of the northwest quarter of section
twenty-five, town one, range six east, March 23,
1853. It was in the form of a parallelogram,
with only two streets — West and Main. It
never had any great expectations, and it is not at
all in danger of becoming a great city. A black-
smith and repair-shop, a store, and a few dwell-
ings have always, so far, constituted the town.
The post-office was established here about i860;
John Williams was the first postmaster, and
Wesley Scott the next and present incumbent.
Mr. Scott is also the village blacksmith. The
store is at present kept by Nicholas Keiffer.
There are seven or eight dwellings, and forty or
more people in the village.

It was probably as late as 1840 before all the
land in this township was entered for settlement.
It was not entered as early as other lands further
south, lying near the highways of travel, and,
though the most desirable land in this township,
that lying along the streams, was entered and oc-
cupied quite early, there is much land not de-
sirable for general farming purposes in the town-
ship that remained unoccupied many years after
the first and later settlements were made. Until
the turnpike was made in 1836-37, the
township was considerably on one side of any
line of travel, and consequently remained in a
wild and unsettled condition long after those
further south and east of the knobs were well
settled.

The farms are now generally well cultivated,
the farm-houses largely frame and in good con-
dition. Quite a number of log houses, however,
are yet used as dwellings. The people are gen-
erally sober, honest, industrious, religious. They
are prosperous, and their children go to school.
There are eight good school-houses in the town-
ship, conveniently situated, so that every child
of school age can attend.

The first school in the Scott settlement was
probably taught by James McCutchan, in a log
house near the site of Mt. Eden church, now in
Greenville township. The first school on Big
Indian creek was also taught by James Mc-
Cutchan. The first school-house in the town-

314

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ship, in this direction, was built in 1820, on the
place now occupied by Mr. Crawford Searles ;
William Graham was the first teacher here.

The building of the turnpike through the
township assisted the settlement of it very
materially. No railroad as yet touches the town-
ship, though the New Albany and Chicago road
runs closely along its eastern edge. The only
station near the township limits is the Six-mile
switch, near the northeast corner of the town-
ship. No telegraph has an existence at present
within the township limits, though before the ad-
vent of railroads one was built along the turn-
pike, which was abandoned after the building of
iron ways through this part of the county.

CHURCHES.

As usual in this part of the country, it is ascer-
tained that the Methodists and Baptists were the
pioneer preachers, coming first into Ihe wilder-
ness to proclaim the gospel to the rough back-
woodsmen, long before any churches were erect-
ed. They held services in the old log school-
houses that soon sprang up here and there in the
woods, in the cabins and barns of the settlers,
and under the spreading trees in the open air.

Amortg those who are retnemhered as preach-
ing first in the valley of the Big Indian, where
the first settlement occurred, were the Rev.
Messrs. Absalom Little, Thompson, Montgom-
ery, and McCafferty. The two former were
Baptists, and the two latter Methodists. Mr.
Little was from Kentucky, and a very able min-
ister.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

The Catholics were also very early on the
ground, and organized one of the first societies,
if not the first one, in the township. Mr. Cot-
tom thus mentions this Catholic church, now lo-
cated on Little Indian creek, on section nine :

It was an Irishman who first planted the cross in Floyd
county, then a wilderness, establishing a little church not far
from the present site of Mooresville, in Lafayette township,
where the rites of his religion, the Catholic, were adminis-
tered to the few white settlers and the Indians then inhabit-
ing that section of the country. This self-denying father
and faithful priest of the church thought no sacrifice on his
part too great, so that good might come out of it to his
rough congregation of frontiermen and wild Indians. To-day
the beautiful Catholic church of St. Mary, with its no less
beautiful church-yatd, dotted over with the white marble in-
signia of affection for the departed, and under which sleep
many of the pioneers of Floyd county, remind us of the days
when the faithful Irish priest came to proclaim ' ' good tid-

ings " to the hardy woodsmen, and serveto keep green in the
souls of the people the memory of the faithful soldier of the
cross.

The writer of the above fails to give the name
of this priest, but there is little doubt that it was
Father Abraham, from Bardstown, Kentucky,
assisted probably by Father Mulholland, who
were instrumental in establishing this Catholic
church, planting it in a soil that seems to have
been favorable for its growth and development,
as it is now one of the most flourishing Cath-
olic churches in the country.

Thomas Pierce may be called the founder of
this flourishing church. He was the son of a
Catholic, and a man much devoted to his religion,
infusing good part of his enthusiasm into his
neighbors. He it was who gave the land, an
acre of ground, upon which the first church edi-
fice was erected; and he was, while he lived, a
leading member of the congregation. Among
his contemporaries in the establishment of this
church were Owen Daily, Thomas, Patrick, and
Owen Byrns, John Coleman, Michael Kinsey,
Patrick Laden, and others, with their families.
After the establishment of the church this be-
came an attractive neighborhood for Catholic em-
igrants seeking homes in the wilderness. The
consequence was that the neighborhood, for
many miles around, filled up gradually with for-
eigners and Catholics; and it remains to-day an
essentially Catholic community.

The society was formed soon after the arrival
of the above-named gentlemen in this neighbor-
hood, or soon after the War of 18 12. The first
meetings for several years were held in the cabins
of the members. About 1820 the log church was
erected on Little Indian creek, at the foot of the
knobs, on second bottom land, a short distance
soulh of the present beautiful edifice. The old
church was built by the voluntary labor of the
settlers, and stood seventeen or eighteen years,
or until the present building was erected, after
which it was taken down and the logs put into a
school-house on 'the new lot. A graveyard grew
and extended around the old church, but the
contents of this were also removed to the new
church burying-ground on the hill. Nothing now
remains but the lot, covered with weeds and
bushes, and still the property of the church.

The new church edifice, known as St. Mary,
or the Assumption, was erected in 1837, —

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3IS

mostly, too, by the voluntary labor of the mem-
bers. Money to build churches, or for any pur-
pose, was scarce in those days; but willing hands
were plenty, and a fine brick edifice soon rose
from the ground, crowning the crest of a hill over-
looking the valley of the Little Indian. Fathet
Neyron was the priest at that time — a genial,
brave, whole-souled Frenchman. He infused
much of his own energy and spirit into the en-
terprise, and also labored much with his own
hands in the erection of this building. Neyron
had been a surgeon in the army of Napoleon
Bonaparte, and was with that army in the famous
march across the Alps. He was a learned, en-
ergetic, and able man. It is said that he built
the Holy Trinity church, of New Albany, with
his own money, organizing, building up, and es-
tablishing that church on a solid foundation, and
remaining pastor of it for more than twenty
years. It was while acting in this capacity that
he organized the St. Mary church and several
other Catholic churches in the surrounding
country. After leaving this part of the State he
became a teacher in the University of Notre
Dame du Lac, near South Bend, Indiana, where
at this date (July, 1881) he still resides, though
quite aged and feeble.

The bricks for the new church were made
near the building by Patrick Byrns and Patrick
Duffey, two zealous members of the church. A
neat and comfortable parsonage was subsequently
erected on the church lot, and an addition was
built to this parsonage in the summer of 1881,
costing about $800.

Father James Strembler is the present priest.
The strength of the church is now about one
hundred and forty families. The school con-
nected with the church numbers about seventy-
five children, wiih two teachers.

The scenery about this site is picturesque and
beautiful. The traveler up the valley of the
Little Indian will see the white cross of the
church among the trees for a long distance.
The rods skirts the foot of the knobs, which
rise to a considerable eminence on the right,
covered with a dense growth of timber,
while to the left lie some of the best farming
lands in the township. The church fronts the
rugged knobs and the valley of the creek, while
in its rear stretches away a vast expanse of na-
tive woods, cut with deep, dark ravines, and

broken occasionally with small cleared patches
and neat farm-houses.

A short distance below the church, running
into the knobs, is a deep, cavernous-looking
hollow known as "Wolfen hollow," where, in an
early day, wolves congregated in great numbers
to make night hideous, where many of them
were trapped and killed in various ways, and
where the hunters resorted when they wished to
find them.

Many other places along the knobs have pe-
culiar and special names, given to them by pe-
culiar circumstances and surroundings. One,
not far from the church, is known as "Nova
Scotia," from the fact that the snow never melts
from the place from the time it falls in the early
winter until the spring is far advanced, often as
late as May. It is simply a great bend in the
hills, shaped like a horse-shoe, with the toes
pointing to the north; and being surrounded and
overspread with a heavy growth of timber, the
sunlight is not able to reach it, and snow gener-
ally occupies the hollow during about six months
of the year.

Near the church is the residence of Joseph
Campion, a liberal minded gentleman, who owns
a large farm and a capacious farm house, which
he opens to boarders and Catholic friends. It
is a sort of Catholic summer resort. The house
will accommodate forty to fifty people, and a
number of residents of the cities of Louisville
and New Albany often escape from the heat and
dust of those cities and spend a few days or
weeks at this quiet place in the great woods.
The air is pure, dry, and bracing, and a few days'
residence there is invigorating in an astonishing
degree. There is a mineral spring upon the
farm — the same spring beside which the Nugents
settled — which is still known as Nugent's spring.
The water has not been thoroughly tested, and
its medicinal properties are as yet unknown.
East of the spring a short distance in the woods,
not far from A. Lipz's dwelling and about a mile
east of Campion's house, is "the cave," quite an
extensive subterranean opening, which has never
been thoroughly explored, and may at some
future day prove one of the chief attractions of
the place.

The native forest comes up very near the front
door of Mr. Campion's house, which stands far
from the public road, upon a hill overlooking

316

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the valley ol the Little Indian. The host is a
genial, whole-souled Irishman, who came to the
place six years ago from Louisville, where he is
well and favorably known, having been employed
for many years as United States mail agent be-
tween the cities of Louisville and Cincinnati.
He has in his possession a queer document, of
which the following is a copy, and which, as the
years go by, will become more and more a curi-
osity, and interesting at all times, at least to those
who are immediately concerned:

Know all men by these presents that I, James Alexander,
administrator of Eliza Cochran, deceased, have this day
sold to Joseph F. Campion for Eight hundred dollars, the
receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, a Negro man
named Abraham, about nineteen years of age. I warrant
said man to be sound in body and mind, and a slave for
life.

Witness my hand and seal this day of January, 1852.

James C. Alexander, administrator
of Eliza Cochran, dee'd, with will annexed.

The above, it must be remembered, was exe-
cuted in the State of Kentucky.

THE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.

The old Swedenborgian church, before men-
tioned as having been established by Toseph
Hay, was one of the earliest churches in the ter-
ritory now embraced in this township. It was
established, organized, the building erected, and
the church generally sustained, by Mr. Hay and
the colony that he brought with him from En-
gland. This church, however, never a very
strong one, weakened and died after the demise
of its founder, and the old log church stood
empty and decaying several years, used, however,
occasionally for religious purposes and public
meetings of various kinds. Ministers of any de-
nomination who happened along, were allowed
the use of the building for holding meetings.

In 1847, several members of the United Breth-
ren church having removed into that neighbor-
hood, a church was organized by John Adkins,
a minister of the gospel, a farmer, and a son of
one of the earliest settlers of the township.

For more than thirty years thereafter the old
church served the purposes of the United Breth-
ren; but in 1878 it was taken away, and the
present building erected.

The original members of the society in this
neighborhood were John, Henry, and William
Adkins and their families, George Mitchell, and
some others. Thomas Conner was their first

minister, and occupied the pulpit in 1847. John
Adkins has been their leader and minister for
many years, and the church is known as Adkins'
chapel. The new church edifice, which stands
on the site of the old one, is a neat, white, Irame
building, and cost about $1,000. Much of the
labor upon it, however, was contributed by the
people ol the neighborhood.

The Sunday-school was organized in 1866, by
Miss Ulissa Adkins, a daughter of the minister,
and has continued in a flourishing condition
ever since. Its meetings are regularly held, and
the scholars number sixteen. The membership
of the church is at present fifteen.

Henry Adkins came from Jefferson county,
Kentucky, settling here in 1816. He was a sin-
gle man, and married Nancy Chew, by whom he
had eleven children, to wit : John, Preston, James,
Emily, Aaron, Joseph, Amos, William, Sarah
Ann, Margaret, and Henry. These are all dead
but five, who are still residing in the township.
William was killed at the battle of Guntown,
Mississippi. Henry was also in the army, but
came back safe at the close of the war. This
township did its share toward putting down the
great Rebellion, but the war history of the
county appears elsewhere in this work.

Adkins's chapel is not a strong church, as has
been seen, but it is live, active, and well-sus-
tained.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Down the creek, about three miles below Ad-
kins's chapel, stands a little, unpainted, desolate,
deserted-looking frame building, known as the
Bethel Presbyterian church. This church stands
in the McCutchan neighborhood, where the first
settlement in the township was made. Samuel
McCutchan owned the land here, and gave the
ground upon which the church stands. The
McCutchan tract is now owned by George Scott.

The Big Indian branches near this church,
and the settlers for some distance up and down
the creeks, come here to public meetings, to vote,
and to attend church, though no regular preach-
ing is maintained at present.

The originators of this organization were the
McCutchans, John Mackles, Gideon Adkins
and wife, Joseph Minchell and wife, and some
others. These were the earliest members, and
but few of them are now living in the neighbor-
hood. The present building was put up about

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3i7

thirty years ago. The Rev. Mr. Stewart was the
first minister, and occupied the pulpit for many
years. A Sabbath-school was maintained for a
number of years, but for some time past has
not been kept up. Indeed, it would seem that
the neighborhood has not advanced much of late
in a religious point of view, but has retrograded.
The old church has not been occupied for sev-
eral years, except by an occasional itinerant
minister; the moss is growing over the steps,
the weeds are taking possession of the grave-
yard that surrounds the building; the creek
winds about in front of it, the woods straggle
around it, and the surroundings impress the mind
with general decay and dilapidation.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

This church is located near the village of
Mooresville and was established by Rev. John E.
Noyes, being organized in the old brick school-
house that stood on a lot given by James Moore
for school purposes. The first ministers of the
Gospel through this region were Methodists and
United Brethren, the Rev. Mr. Elkenhaunch
representing the former, and the Rev. Mr. Bone-
brake the latter. The old brick school-house
was used for religious purposes, and was the only
church in the neighborhood for many years. The

Methodists and United Brethren both organized
societies here; but they long since disappeared
under the preaching of Rev. Mr. Noyes, who or-
ganized a Christian church on their ruins. For-
ty or fifty members joined the society at its or-
ganization, and it has continued a flourishing
church. The Rev. Lemuel Martin afterwards
preached for this congregation many years. The
church edifice which stands upon the hill on the
turnpike west of the village, is brick, and was
erected in 1859. Walter Moore made the brick
for this church. A Sunday-school is regularly
sustained, and the membership of the church is
about one hundred.

THE ADVENT CHURCH.

The only remaining church in this township is
the Advent, located about a mile south of Scotts-
ville. It is a neat frame, painted, and was built
about ten years ago. The original members
were Robert Scott, Thomas Ferrell, James
Brock, Richard Thompson, Mahala Adkins, and
their families. Robert Scott is the leader. He
was instrumental in establishing the church, and
preached for the congregation many years. The
Rev. Messrs. Morris Little and George Green
were also among the ministers. There is no reg-
ular preaching at present.

TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES OF CLARK COUNTY.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION.

Lying in the extreme northeastern corner of
Clark county, wholly outside the famous Grant,
is Bethlehem township. It was organized in the
spring of 1816, being one of the four townships
which were formed by the county commission-
ers of that year. Its boundaries are somewhat
different now from what they were then, as
many, perhaps, as fifteen hundred acres of the
original township now lying within the township
of Owen. The first boundary lines ran as fol-
low :

Commencing on the Ohio at the upper line of the Grant,
and running out with said line until it strikes Little Bull
creek; thence up said creek to the head thereof; thence with
the dividing ridge between Fourteen Mile creek and Camp
creek until it strikes the upper line of the county, and thence
with said line to the Ohio river; which boundaries will com-
pose one township, to be known by the name of Bethlehem.

Like Washington township, it derived its name
from a village which had been laid out within it
before there was a separate organization and
township lines were fixed definitely. That vil-
lage was Bethlehem, platted in 181 2, and situ-
ated on the Ohio river. The township is bounded
on the north by Jefferson county; on the east by
the Ohio; on the south by the Ohio river, Owen,
and Washington townships.

Bethlehem has some of the most remarkable
features of any similar division of land in the
State. The climate is all that a mild and equa-
ble atmosphere could make it. Heavy dews
are almost unknown, while fogs are uncommon,
even in that part farthest from the Ohio. People
are generally healthy.

The country in the interior, a short distance from the river,

is an alluvium flat, which soon changes to fine, rolling lands.

That the underU ing or outcropping rocks, in a very great

measure, determine the nature of the soil, is plainly seen in

3.8

Floyd and Clark counties, where there are extensive out-
crops of so many different formations, each giving rise to a
characteristic soil. In the northeastern part of the county of
Clark are the rich but narrow bottoms of Camp creek, lead-
ing to the large but very fertile " Bethlehem bottom " on the
Ohio river. These soils were enriched in ages past, and are
destined to be for all time to come, by the weathering of the
fossil corals and shell-beds of the Cincinnati group, which
rocks, in this region, are from one to two hundied feet thick,
and capped by magnesian limestone beds one hundred feet
thick. These lands will ever remain productive, as they are
continually enriched by the disintegration of the rocks above.
The soil is a dark loam, partaking of the shade of the lime-
stones.

The streams running into the Ohio [in Bethlehem town-
ship] are tortuous in their course and diminutive in size,
their fountain-heads being only two or three miles from the
river, and they have worn their way with difficulty through
the rocks. The inclination of the strata is to the southwest,
carrying the drainage a few miles west of the Ohio river into
the headwaters of Fourteen Mile creek. The dip of the strata
in this region is to the southwest, at the rate of about twenty
feet to the mile. In places along the Ohio river the rocks
show in magnificent cliffs some two or three hundred feet
high. From the northeastern corner of the county the river
flows along the line of strike in a southerly diiection until it
reaches a point near Utica, where it is abruptly deflected to
the west, and runs nearly with the dip of the strata as far as
New Albany, where it is again deflected to the south.*

Little creek, one of the branches of Camp
creek, heads in the extreme north line of the
township, and flows in a southerly course through
the center of the tract. Knob creek empties in-
to the Ohio a short distance above Bethlehem
village. It is a short stream, and has a rapid
current as it comes out of the bluffs. Camp
creek skirts the township on the west, and near
its mouth forms the boundary line between
Owen and Bethlehem.

Along the margin of the streams and on the
bluffs the timber consists of beech, white oak,
buckeye, poplar and black walnut. Camp creek
and Fourteen-mile creek are noted localities for

•Professor William W. Borden, in State Geological Re-
port for 1873.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3i9

buckeye trees, many of which measure from
three to four feet in diameter, and attain a height
of fifty feet or more to the first limbs.

On the high lands above the creek bottoms
there was, in the earliest times, a thick growth of
bushes. As the settlers worked their way into
the interior of the township, many of these sap-
lings were used for various purposes, but usually
for hoop-poles, of which thousands were shipped
to Louisville and the Ohio Falls cities. The
rich alluvium soil was peculiarly adapted to the
growth of briars, bushes, and undergrowth; but
it was the upland which grew the thriftiest small
hickories.

ROADS.

The village of Bethlehem had been laid out
several years before it had any regularly estab-
lished highway connection with the towns up
and down the river. The Ohio river was the
great outlet, and served a hundred purposes
which are to-day almost unknown. Madison,
which lies some twenty-five miles up the river,
was of more commercial importance to the first
settlers of Bethlehem township than either
Charlestown or Jeffersonville. This resulted
mainly because the roads which led to it were
decidedly better than those to the latter towns,
and because it was some larger and more active
during its early history than the towns in the
southern part of the county. Consequently, as
early as 18 18, a road was established, leading to
Madison from Bethlehem, which was the first in
the township. It ran over the best and highest
land between the two places, following the river.
As it approaches the village of Bethlehem, an
interesting picture presents itself. The road
begins its descent to the bottom, from a bluff of
perhaps two hundred feet above low-water mark.
The productive bottoms lie stretched out at ease,
proud of their unwritten history, except from
what we learn in geology. The river goes crawl-
ing off lazily, while the steamboat and other
craft occasionally remind you that civilization is
near at hand. Soon after Charlestown and New
Washington were laid out, roads were made con-
necting with these places. That to the former
place follows down the bottom until it passes
Camp creek. Here it crosses a substantial iron
bridge, and ascends a hill about a quarter of a
mile in length, and so steep that only very light
loads can be hauled up it. Camp creek is three

miles south of Bethlehem village. It enters the
Ohio between immense hills, with rocky ledges
devoid of all vegetation, from whose sides flow
constant springs of water. A half-dozen houses
and a district school stand in the narrow bottom.
The road leading to New Washington and into
the interior of the township follows up Camp
creek at this point, soon ascending the high hills
out of the creek bed, over which it passes in many
places. It is located on the north side of the
stream. The Madison road forks near the
county line; or rather there are cross-roads go-
ing from the river to New Washington, and from
Bethlehem village to Madison. Roads in this
township are among the best, if not the very
best, of any in the county. This is owing to its
excellent drainage and its underlying limestone
foundation.

FERRIES.

When the township was organized in 18 16,
Westport, which lay across the river in Kentucky,
was one of the most enterprising ferries in Clark
county. Eight years before it was the only regu-
larly established ferry in the township. A Mr.
Sullivan was in charge of it. In i8ri, one year
before the village of Bethlehem was laid out, a
ferry was established at this place, which has
continued ever since, but with varying degrees of
success. In 1812, one mile below Bethlehem,
Aaron Hoagland kept a ferry. These three fer-
ries include those used first by early emigrants.
When people began to settle more rapidly along
the river it was often found very convenient to
have a family ferry, or one used by the neighbor-
hood generally. From these wants many ferries
have come and gone. The Indian has taken
his departure too, with his narrow canoe, which
often darted down the Ohio with the lightness of
a feather.

MILLS.

While the first ferry was in operation, in 1808,
Jacob Giltner erected a horse-mill on the north-
west corner of section six. Here he worked on
his farm and ground corn, buckwheat, and what-
ever else the scattering farmers desired. In
1820 he put up a saw-mill near where Otto post-
office now is. This mill was used by Mr. Gilt-
ner and his sons till 1848, when his son George
and Samuel C. Consley took possession of it, and
carried on the business for a few years. Since
this time it has passed through several changes,

320

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and is now owned and run by Mr. Samuel
Stansbury. The old horse-mill has long since
passed away. Peter Mikesell's horse-mill, which
stood near the old Antioch church, was erected
about the year 1828. For many years it ground
all the grains of the country, and it was not until
1844 or 1845 that it entirely ceased to run.
Few of its beams and sills are now remaining.
Levi Ogle's water-mill, which stood on one of the
branches of Camp creek, was there in 1835, and
probably some time before.

Bethlehem township has no favorable mill
sites. Her streams are small and have either
tortuous or rapid currents. The Hatsell mill, on
Camp creek, which is just on the border of the
township, grinds most of the flour and meal for
farmers in the western part of Bethlehem, while
Jefferson county and Owen township mills divide
almost equally the trade in the northern and
southern half.

STILL-HOUSES.

It seems that distilleries were as necessary to
the early settlers as mills. Joseph Jones was
among those who began the manufacture of
whiskey in this township. Jacob Giltner, also,
in connection with his horse-mill, ran a small still.
George Sage, an early settler, made whisky and
brandy. David Glass, immediately on the hill above
Bethlehem village and close to the Ohio river,
more than forty years ago carried on distilling. It
was at this still-house that the first blackberry
brandy in the county was manufactured more than
thirty-five years ago. Blackberries were plenti-
ful that year, and this fact induced the distillers
to make the experiment. The result was entirely
satisfactory, and since that this time has been a
leading industry with many small farmers in the
township.

Still-houses in the township, like those in all
others of the county, were numerous and varied.
Many of them were short-lived, while some pros-
pered, and returned handsome dividends to the
proprietor.

POTTERY.

During the early times there were potteries in
several portions of the township. They were
begun by Mr. Samuel Youkin, in Bethlehem vil-
lage; and after their success was assured, many
of the farmers and tradesmen in the surrounding
country engaged in the same business. The old
Youkin pottery was transported to a Mr. Deitz,

who ran it for some time, and later sold it to a
Mr. Suttles. Both these gentlemen made the
business a success. The old establishment is
now used for other purposes. Isaac Brownslpw
engaged in the pottery business about forty years
ago, in the northwest corner of the township.
The business and fixtures were sold to Mr. John
Giltner finally, who did considerable work. In
1840 there was another established at Otto by
Mr. Eli Giltner. All have succumbed to time
and the changes which modern civilization neces-
sarily brings.

THE PIONEER STOCKADE.

There was never more than one well timed
effort made to secure protection against the In-
dians in Bethlehem township. The people of
the surrounding country assembled and erected,
shortly after the Pigeon Roost massacre, a stock-
ade on the high land overlooking the Ohio river,
on Robert Simington's place. The house was
made of logs, and around it were placed small
posts set in the ground so as to act as a complete
barrier. In these posts, or rather between two
of them, holes were cut, through which the men
could shoot. When the massacre took place it
gave great alarm to the people of the country,
and many of them were not long in crossing the
Ohio into Kentucky. Much of the excitement
was created by flying rumors. After a few weeks
the people returned, and as time went by natur-
ally settled down again to hard work and money
making.

MOUNDS.

On the old Simington place are two or three
mounds which belong to an extinct race. They
were pronounced by Professor Cox as belonging
to the age of the Mound Builders. The larger
one is about twenty-five feet one way and forty
feet the other, on its base. Its height is from
five to six feet. The site is well adapted for a
view of the Ohio river in both directions. Also,
on the old Bowman place, are four or five other
mounds, from eight to ten feet in diameter and
about half the distance in height. Two miles
below Bethlehem, on the old Thomas Stephens
place and one mile from the river, are more
mounds. They all serve to awaken thoughts of
prehistoric races, and to remind us that other
people traversed these valleys long before we en-
croached upon the rights of the red man.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

321

During the pioneer age schools were imper-
fectly managed, and school-houses were rude
affairs. But a few years elapsed after the town-
ship was organized before people began to look
after their educational interests. Schools were
generally the forerunners of churches, at least in
the case at hand. Before the Antioch church had
been thought of, a school was carried on near
where the church now stands. The house was
16 x 18 feet, and had a door which swung to the
outside — a very rare thing, even in those back-
woods days. Cyrus Crosby was the first teacher.
After him came Thomas J. Glover; Ur. Solomon
Davis, who now resides in Lexington; Rev. Ben-
jamin Davis, a local Methodist preacher; and
perhaps a few others. In 1832 Mr. Martin
Stucker taught in a new hewed-log house. Then
came Charles Smith, of New York State; Sam-
uel C. Jones, of Kentucky, but a't this time a
citizen of the county, and who had been here as
one of the very earliest teachers. Joel M. Smith
came soon after Jones; he was a native of New
York, but came with his father's family when
a boy and settled near Charlestown. Thomas
S. Simington taught in 1839 and 1840, and it
was during his term that the old school-house
burned down. Very soon thereafter another
building was put up, in which Mr. George Mat-
thews acted as teacher. After the new school law
came into force a new district was created, and
another building erected in a different place.

Bethlehem township has six school districts,
about two hundred and fifty school children, and
nearly eight hundred inhabitants. Her schools
are admirably managed, and are really the bright-
est institutions of a public character in the town-
ship.

CHURCHES.

The Methodist church in this end of the
county sprang from a long series of successful
revivals. On the same section where Jacob
Giltner ran his horse-mill in 1808, but on the
northeast corner, lived Melsin Sargent. His
house stood on the road which led to New
Washington, one and one-half miles from the
present post-office of Otto. Sargent was one of
the first Methodists in this end of the county,
and at his house the services of the denomina-
tion were held for many years. His house was

always open to preaching, and was the regular
place of worship up to 1836. Sargent moved to
Tefferson county, Indiana, and died about thirty
'years ago. The people who gathered at Sar-
gent's were of various religious professions.
Many of the richest experiences of this class
were enjoyed here, while the church was just be-
ginning to feel the healthful currents of a sound
body politic. From these meetings the New
Hope Methodist Episcopal church sprang into
existence ; but during the time which elapsed
previous to 1836, the year the church building
was erected, services were often held in the
dwelling houses of Michael Berry and Eli Wat-
kins. The church is 30 x 40 feet ; was erected
in the year above-mentioned, and was the first
church of this denomination put up in the town-
ship. The old house was used till 187 r, when
it was replaced by another frame, 30 x 42 feet.
Rev. Calvin Ruter was probably the first preacher.
He was a man of great influence among the
members, and afterwards became presiding elder.
Rev. Samuel Hamilton succeeded Mr. Ruter as
presiding elder. He also was much admired for
his excellent character. Rev. James L. Thomp-
son, John McRunnels, Thomas Scott, Allen
Wylie, James Garner, and George Lock came
in succession after Hamilton. Then came
Enoch G. Wood, a person of great influence and
possessed of an unblemished character. Rev.
Joseph Taskington and John Miller were here
in 1833 and 1834, the latter a man of many fine
parts. Rev. Zachariah Games and Thomas
Gunn came next, Mr. Gunn preaching in 1835.
Revs. George Beswick and McElroy (the latter
an Irishman and by profession a sailor), John
Bayless, W. V. Daniels, were all here in 1836-
37-38. Rev. John Rutledge served one year.
After him came Rev. Isaac Owens, who preached
in 1839-40-41. In 1843 Charles Bonner served
the people. Rev. Constantine Jones was their
circuit preacher for one year. Rev. Lewis Hul-
burt, assisted by Elisha Caldwell, was the preach-
er in 1844.

Then came Revs. William McGinnis, L. V.
Crawford, John Malinder, Dr. Talbott, E. Flem-
ming, Amos Bussey, and William Maupin.
These latter persons bring it down to 1854.
The first members were Eli Watkins, Melsin
Sargent, John Tyson, Daniel Ketcham, Levi
Ogle, Michael Berry, John W. Jones, and Samuel

322

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Whiteside, all with their wives and a portion of
their families.

The New Hope Methodist Episcopal church
belongs to the New Washington circuit. There
is a Sabbath-school connected with it, the largest
in the township. The success of the Sunday-
school was due mainly to the efforts of Mr. Wil-
liam Davis, a promising young man of the neigh-
borhood, who died while earnestly engaged in so
noble a work. He left behind him a character
which is worth imitating by the young men of the
school.

The Baptist church, known as the Elizabeth
chapel, was erected in 1827. The size of the
house was 24 x 34 feet, and it was built of logs.
The members were known as the Hard-shell
Baptist, the class being organized in the neigh-
borhood several years before the church was
erected. Their first minister was Rev. James
Glover, who resided near the church, and acted
as pastor till 1856, when he died. Among the
first members of the Elizabeth church were
Thomas J. Glover and Nancy his wife, John
T. West and wife Catharine, Thomas West and
Ann his wife, also Mary West his mother, now
an old lady ninety-six years of age, John Ran-
kins and wife, both of whom died of cholera in
1833, and were buried in the same grave, and
Thomas Scott and his wife. Abput forty years
ago a division took place in the church, one-half
of the members going over to the Christian
church; and in 1848 the old building was
abandoned and a new log house was put up one
mile and a half further north. In 1871 the old
class united with the Zoar chapel, of Washington
township. Since this time there has been con-
siderable progress made in the way of adding to
the church. There is a Sunday-school held in
the old building at Zoar, which is well attended
by the neighbors.

The Christian Antioch chapel, erected some
time in the thirties, stands on the road leading
to Madison from Bethlehem. It is a frame
building, capable of jseating three hundred
people, is situated handsomely, and has a small
burying-ground in the rear. It was an offshoot
of the New-lights and Baptists, and probably was
put up about the time the accession was had from
the latter denomination. The New-lights had
preachers in the township as early as 1815, but
the class gradually went down, till at length it

was absorbed entirely by the Christians. These
two factions — one from the Hard-shell Baptists,
the other from the New-lights — combined, and
built Antioch chapel. Among the first preach-
ers were Elders Henry Brown, a Mr. Hughes,
and John McClung. James and William Ran-
kins were members, with their families; also Mr.
Brown and family. Some eight or ten years ago
the old Antioch chapel was abandoned on ac-
count of its weakness in membership and finan-
cial matters, and the class-book and furniture
taken to Bethel chapel, east of Otto. This
church is in a flourishing condition, and since
the accession from Antioch chapel has been
very successful in receiving new members.
To it is attached a good Sunday-school, well
sustained and led by competent officers. Anti-
och chapel has all the appearances of dilapida-
tion. A few years more of ill-usage, and it will
fall a prey to the invincible enemies, rain, snow,
and freezing. It marks a site of many happy
associations. The old school-house, the old
church, the old graveyard — all will soon be
among the things of the past. Their day is done,
and their usefulness at an end.

BURVING-GROUNDS.

Before Bethlehem had been laid out, two
brothers with their families, by the name of
Wood, settled on the northeast corner of section
thirty-one. One of their children died and was
buried on their farm. This was the first white
funeral in the township, if funeral it can be called.
Sermons were then very rare, and preachers
scarce. Funeral discourses were generally
preached some time after the burying took place.

On the farm of John W. Ross a graveyard
was enclosed many years ago, and has met the
wants of those in the neighborhood for a long
time.

At the mouth of Camp creek a burying-place
was early established by the settlers. For many
years it, too, has received the dead. On the farm
now owned by J. C. Davis an old graveyard is
in existence. These three are now but little used
by the public. Their fences are old ; briars and
bushes grow spontaneously where lie the dead of
former generations.

At Otto a burying-place is attached to the
church, as also one to the church at Bethlehem.
These two places are used most by the general
public.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

323

Many evidences of ancient burials have been
found near the mounds which we have men-
tioned. They are insignificant, however, com-
pared to those found at the mouth of Fourteen-
mile creek, in Charlestown township. Grave-
yards have always been a necessity. We all
need them, and it seems the Mound Builders
were not excepted.

VILLAGES.

As one approaches Bethlehem village from the
west, on the road which leads to New Washing-
ton, winding down a long and steep hill for half a
mile, a scene of rare grandeur greets the eye.
A bottom of more than a thousand acres lies
stretched out, divided into farms, well improved,
with buildings and fences. Up to the left lies
Bethlehem village, on the Ohio river. It is one
of those scenes which would delight the eye of
an artist; a picture of nature assisted by art —
the finest in the county with one exception, and
that on Camp creek, three miles below.

Bethlehem was laid out in 181 2, four years be-
fore Indiana became a State, and the same year
of the memorable Pigeon Roost massacre. In
the original plat there were one hundred and
twenty-four lots. Near the center of the village
is a public square, lying between Second and
Third, and Main and Walnut streets. The
streets begin their numbers from the Ohio as
Front, Second, and so on.

The Indiana Gazetteer for 1833 gives the place
this notice :

Bethlehem, a pleasant village on the bank of the Ohio
river, in the county of Clark, about fifteen miles northeast of
Charlestown. It contains about three hundred inhabitants,
amongst whom are mechanics of various kinds.

It was not till 1873 that the village made ap-
plication for incorporation. During all this time
it has seen the varying changes of fortune. All
its life seemed to be within itself. Flat-boats and
packets have made it a landing from the earliest
times. Here gathered men of various temper-
aments and tastes. But it was the storekeeper
who first began business of a commercial nature.
In 1 8 15 Willis Brown dealt out the coarser gro-
ceries and some of the old kinds of dry goods.
In 1824 Samuel Runyan met the wants of the
people. Soon after him came Armstrong &
Plaskett, who had a number of years before run
the ferry. The firm was afterwards changed to
W. G. & T. P. Plaskett. In 1826-28 James

Lemmon kept a store, and also a tavern. J. C.
& S. I. Burns were storekeepers soon after Lem-
mon. Abbott & Baker came next ; then Abbott
& Holby in 1837; then Abbott & Woodfill.
In 1836 James Gilsin kept store; and since
then have been many who established them-
selves for a short time, and when a good trade
could be made or a profitable sale, the business
would be closed out.

Bethlehem has had a peculiar experience in
storekeepers. They were often men who had
run the river a great portion of their lives, and
who could entertain their customers by stories
which now seem stranger than fiction. Such
men gathered about them the boys of the vil-
lage, the idle men, the farmer who was often in
town on a rainy day, the hunter who scoured the
bluffs and uplands for game, and who came
down to the store to get a half-pound of powder
or shot. Everybody enjoyed theK company, and
it was their stories which often brought in many
a sixpence. There are now five stores — those of
B. W. Rice, John M. Steward, Richard Nash,
Edward Parnett, and Louis Borschneck. There
is considerable business done, but the profits are
still small.

Bethlehem was never a noted crossing place
for emigrants on their way to this and the upper
counties. Thye travel was of a local nature
mainly, and came from the interior of the county
and crossed the river on the ferry or took the
boat for Louisville. Hezekiah Smith, however,
was early engaged in tavern keeping here. In
connection with his tavern he kept a few knick-
knacks, and perhaps a place where the traveler
might satisfy his thirst by a nip of toddy or apple-
jack. John Fislar came next, who was succeeded
by Smith in 1834. He carried on business for a
number of years. In 1850 David E. Parnett
met the public on hospitable grounds. Since
1850 there have been numerous places of enter-
tainment. B. W. Rice is most prominently en-
gaged in tavern keeping at the present time.

Blacksmiths were of little use to the settlers
fifty years ago. Iron was scarce and difficult to
obtain; so horses were left unshod, wagons often
had tires made of saplings, and axles were known
by the name of "thimble-skein." Robert B.
Henry, who now resides in Kentucky, was the
first man who hammered iron in Bethlehem vil-
lage for a living. Twelve years after the place

324

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

was founded John McQuilling, a man of consid
erable mechanical skill, carried on the black
smithing business in connection with a saw- and
grist-mill, near town. Elijah Cummings and
Samuel C. Gracy, the latter a good smith, were
here before 1838. Blacksmithing has never
been a very profitable trade in Bethlehem.
There is now one shop under the management of
Mr. James W. Jackson.

There were always professional men in Bethle-
hem after its success as a village had become
assured. Drs. Fowler and McWilliams were
among the early physicians; also Drs. Goforth,
Hugh Lysle, and Andrew Davis, the latter of
whom located in the village in 1828. Dr. Davis
died in Bartholomew county, Indiana, about the
close of the late war. Dr. Taylor piacticed
medicine in the surrounding country in 1834.
Dr. Gilpin located in the village in 1837, but re-
mained only for a short time. The next year
came Dr. George O. Pond, of Massachusetts.
In 1840 was Dr. Cummings, who married while
here, and removed to Chicago in 1846. In 1868
he returned to Bethlehem, and died soon after.
In 1852-53 Dr. John Y. Newkirk was a
practitioner of medicine, but died in Bedford,
Kentucky. The present physicians are Drs.
McCaslin and Fritzlen.

There are a few churches here, erected by
different denominations or used jointly, and
large enough to hold congregations without
quarreling. But there are some who grow dis-
satisfied, even before the church debt is paid off.
This was the case with the Union church in
Bethlehem. It was the Presbyterians who were
first at this end of the township in establishing a
Sunday-school; and it was the same class which
had held meetings in one of the old school-
houses in the neighborhood of Bethlehem many
years before. Four different classes — Presbyteri-
ans, Baptists, Methodist Episcopalians, and
Protestant Methodists, united in 1835, and built
the old Union chapel. It was a commodious
brick house, 35 x 55 feet. Things moved rather
harmoniously until 1851, when the crisis came.
The Presbyterians pulled off and erected a
church edifice of their own, a frame 36 X45 feet,
and added a small but neat belfry. In the
meantime the Baptist members had become few,
and connected themselves with the Zoar chapel,
of Washington township. The class, made up of

the Zoar, Elizabeth chapel, and the Baptists of
Bethlehem, now worship in a neat frame building
in Jefferson county, on the road leading to the
Ohio from New Washington, which follows the
line dividing Clarke from that county for several
miles. The Protestant Methodists had met
with many reverses, and their numbers were re-
duced to less than a score. For some time they
prospered, but it was only outside persecution
which bound the members together. They are
now few in numbers, and have no regular place
of worship.

The old Union church was maintained by the
Methodist Episcopal class. It was used up to
May, i860, when a violent storm tore out one
side and rendered it unfit for services. Eight
years afterwards the same class erected another
church, 20x40 feet, out of the debris, putting
on a second story for a Masonic hall. On ac-
count of failure to secure a charter, the lodge-
room was never used. The Grangers have oc-
cupied it to a certain extent; but that society,
too, has gone the way of most other like institu-
tions of the county.

The Methodist Episcopal church stands in the
southern part of the village. No special care is
given to its fences, weather-boarding, or furniture.
The class is disorganized, and many of its wheels
are motionless.

Bethlehem had a good school in 1826, of
which Samuel Cravens was teacher. The house
was of brick, 24x30 feet, and stood in the out-
skirts of the village below the present school
building. Cravens was from Pennsylvania.
Frederick D. Hedges, of Virginia; Mr. Sous,
and a Mr. Arnold; Thomas P. Armstrong, a resi-
dent and brother of William G, the founder of
the village; and Mr. Daniels, were all here before
1833. Daniels was from Massachusetts. By
this time the boys who had been scholars were
able to take charge of schools. The Eastern-
educated teachers therefore had few offers to
teach after 1834, the year in which Daniels
taught. Andrew Rodgers, a brother of Moses
Rodgers, an old citizen of the township, was the
first home-educated, teacher. He came from
Tennessee when a small boy. Samuel Rodgers
taught soon after; as also did Joel M. Smith,
from Charlestown. So far he was the best
teacher who had been in Bethlehem. He spake
not with the exactness, however, of a college

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

325

professor, but father with the ease of a well-edu-
cated gentleman. L. D. and C. P. Clemmons,
brothers, followed soon after Smith. They were
boys of the village. Mr. Samuel Manaugh be-
gan teaching in 1841-42. For forty consecutive
years he has been a teacher in the townships of
Bethlehem, Owen, and Washington. Mr. Man-
augh is modest, has a generous nature, and
knows more of pioneer schools than any other
teacher within the present boundaries of Clark.

During early times schools were held only for
a few months in the year. After the public
school laws came into effect the old- house was
found too small to accommodate all the pupils,
hence a new building, the present one, was
erected in 1862 by Mr. Isaac Ross. It cost
$700, exclusive of the brick used in the former
building. It stands a few rods northwest of the
old school site.

On the road leading to New Washington,
more than forty years ago, an academy was
erected and set in motion by Mr. Thomas Ste-
phens, a wealthy farmer. The house can be seen
now, standing on the right of the road at the
foot of the hill as one comes off the hills to the
bottom. For ten years the Stephens seminary
was very successful, but only as long as the Ste-
phenses were scholars. After a short trial to make
it a township, and even a county affair, the proj-
ect was abandoned. Mr. Stephens soon moved
to a different region, and the old seminary was
converted into a dwelling house. It is now
occupied by the widow, Mrs. L. D. Clemmons.

It is a brick building, two stories high, and
has a number of rooms. But no one, unless told
of it, would suspect himself so near the old Ste-
phens seminary.

The original mail-route had for its termini
Vevay and Jeffersonville. The mail-carrier
passed through Charlestown, Bethlehem, and
Madison. This route was begun about 1827,
and lasted till 1840. Mr. Cole, of Vevay, who
rode a horse and behind him carried the familiar
saddle-bags, was perhaps the first mail-carrier on
this route. Mr. George Monroe, of Saluda
township, Jefferson county, carried the mail in
1834-38.. Soon after the mails came from New
Washington, which belonged to the Lexington
route. In 1864 the Otto post-office was estab-
lished. After the Ohio & Mississippi branch was
opened and the post-office established at Otisco

the mails came from that point. The first
postmaster at Otto was Jacob G. Consley;
second, John B. Acree ; third, Miss Lucinda Mc-
Farland; fourth, William H. Boyer, who is the
present incumbent.

William G. Armstrong was probably the first
postmaster in Bethlehem village. In 1835 the
office passed into the hands of Asa Abbott; in
1840 Milburn T. Abbott acted as postmaster;
P. P. Baldwin was in charge at the beginning of
i85i;JohnG. Newkirk in 1853; John T. Baker,
Samuel Parnett, and B. W. Rice came in succes-
sion; then Parnett again; then Miss Adeliah H.
Dailey, then Rice, and now the present post-
master, John M. Stewart. The old Armstrong
post-office was kept in the frame building which
is now occupied by Parnett's grocery. Asa
Abbott kept the office in the store now occupied
by B. W. Rice, and Milburn Abbott in various
places, but for the longest time in the house
now used by Mr. Borschneck as a shoe-shop.
Milburn Abbott had a deputy, Mr. Armstrong,
who did most of the work. For some time he
kept the office in a building known as the Fislar
house, which burned in 1856; also for a few
months in a dun store-house standing on the
corner of Second and Main streets. Newkirk
kept the office in a room over Fislar's tavern.
Baker kept down on Walnut street, in a brick
store built by Asa Abbott in 1852 or 1853,
and which was the largest house in Bethlehem.

Later years have found the post-office in vari-
ous places, but geneially in the house where the
postmaster lived. Since 1827 there have been
many changes in the postal system of the United
States. The saddle-bags have been displaced by
the locomotive with its train of cars. "Star
routes" have largely become facts of history, and
all the later and more rapid modes of transit are
now used by the general public.

In 1856 a violent fire burned down one en-
tire block in Bethlehem, including the old busi-
ness houses named above. Since that time all
but four of the families who were there then
have moved away or passed to that "bourne
from whence no traveler returns." The four are
as follows : Abram Smith, John Parnett, Mrs.
Ross, and Mrs. Radley.

EARLY SETTLERS.

Jacob Giltner, Sr., came from Kentucky to
Clark county about 1S08, but was born in Penn-

326

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

sylvania in 1767, and was what is known as a
Pennsylvania Dutchman. His wife, Elizabeth
Donagan, was from Lancaster county, of the
same State. When the family came to Clark
county there were four in the household — two
daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, and Mr. and
Mrs. Giltner. George Giltner, the only son,
who now lives in Washington township, was born
the 3d of June, 1818. Elizabeth lives in Wash-
ington township with one of her sons; Mary lives
in the Bethlehem bottoms with one of her chil-
dren.

Jacob Giltner bought three quarter-sections of
land at the land office in Jeffersonville. For
many years after becoming a resident of the
township he ran a distillery in connection with
farming. By trade he was a linen-stamper, when
goods were made of that kind by the pioneers.
During the War of 1812 he was drafted, but on
account of a physical disability was exempted.
He was a member of the Lutheran church, and
died in 1859. Mrs. Giltner died a few months
after her husband, in the same year.

William Kelly, Sr., was born in Virginia, but
was taken to Kentucky by his parents when a
child, and came to Clark county in 1806. He
married Margaret Kelly, who bore him thirteen
children, four dying in infancy, the remaining
nine growing up to maturity. There are only
four of the family alive — Mary, William, John,
and Harriet. He located one mile and a half
northwest of Bethlehem village, before the land
was surveyed. When the surveys were com-
pleted he attended the public sales in Jefferson-
ville in 1809, but previously h.id made no clear-
ing, on account of the uncertainty of getting the
land desired. He bought two quarter-sections,
and began the work of improvement. He died
June 27, 1837. Mrs. Kelly died September 13,
1854.

William Kelly, Jr., was born August 12, 181 2,
and married Elizabeth Starr, whose maiden name
was Hammond, May 4, 1858. There are but
few ot the Kellys left in the county.

William, son of Archibald and Sarah Hamil-
ton, was born near Franklort, Kentucky, Oc-
tober 10, 1790. When twenty-two years of age
he emigrated with his mother and two sisters to
Bethlehem township, landing at the mouth of
Knob creek March 25, 1812. The Ohio river
at that time made landing easy by the backwater

up these small streams. He immediately opened
a tannery on one of the branches of Knob creek,
which he ran till his death in 1845. His son
John T. continued in the business of his father
up to 1865, when the old tannery was abandoned
for more lucrative employment. William Ham-
ilton married Margaret Byers (who was born
near McBride's Mill, Woodford county, Ken-
tucky, April 4, 1795, and who came to Jefferson
county, Indiana, in 1816), October 30, 1821.
Mrs. Hamilton died May 9, 1875, near Otto.
By this marriage seven children were born — John
T, William F., Robert B., Susan B., Susan Ann,
Archibald, and one whose name is not given.

John T. Hamilton was born August 14, 1822.
He has never married. In the various walks of
life he has taken an active part. In pioneer his-
tory he is the best-informed man in this end of
the county, with the exception of Colonel Adams.
For sixteen years he has been a riotary public.
He also is correspondent of several newspapers
for his section. Robert B. Hamilton was born
March 1, 1830. Susan B. was born August 19,
1 83 1. These two brothers and one sister live
together, none of whom ever married.

Robert Simington was a settler and an owner
of land in the township in 1805, though his
claim was subject to dispute after the public sales
in 1809. He owned seven hundred and fifty
acres in fractional sections thirty-two and thirty-
three. In 181 1 William Hamilton purchased of
him one hundred and eleven acres. He also
sold two hundred and twenty acres to Joseph
Bowman, and one hundred and sixty acres to
John Boyer, a blacksmith, who opened a shop
on the southeast corner of -section thirty-one.
This land is now covered by fine orchards,
peaches being the principal fruit. Simington left
in 1 81 7, after selling most of his property, and
settled one mile beyond Hanover, in Jefferson
county, Indiana, where he died in 1849.

The Abbotts were among the first men of
their day, considered in the light of sportsmen.
John Abbott was the ancestor of the Abbotts in
this county, and from him descended many of
the same name.

John Thisler began clearing off land below
Bethlehem at an early day. The old farm now
runs up close to the village; but he is dead.

Moses Rodgers was among the first and most
successful of the early settlers.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

327

Lucas and William Plaskett, the latter a flat-
boatman, were here seventy odd years ago.

All these men, with their wives and families,
took an active part in preparing the way for
future generations ; and to their credit it can be
truly said, they did their work well. Let us see
that posterity shall improve on the past.

CHAPTER XIX.

CARR TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

This township lies in the western half of the
county. It was organized in 1854, being struck
off almost entirely from the eastern side of Wood.
It has an area of nearly twenty-seven square
miles, or over seventeen thousand acres. It is
bounded on the north by Wood, Monroe, and
Union townships; on the east by Union and
Silver Creek townships: on the south by Floyd
county; and on the east by Wood township.
The boundaries are very irregular on the north
and east sides. They are set forth in language
something like the following:

Beginning on the line which divides Clark from Floyd
county, and on the line which divides sections nineteen and
twenty, and from thence running north until it strikes the
southwest corner of section thirty-two; thence east and
thence north to where tracts numbers two hundred and fifty,
two hundred and thirty-four, and two hundred and thirty-five
corner; thence south, with variations, till it strikes the Muddy
fork of Silver creek; thence with that stream, with its mean-
derings, to the south side of tract number one hundred and
sixty-six; thence west, with variations, to the county line of
Floyd, near St. Joseph's hill; and thence with the dividing
line between Clark and Floyd counties to the place of begin-
ning.

This township is composed mostly of sections,
though there are four or five of the Grant tracts
lying along the eastern side of the township.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The knobs strike Carr close to the southeast
corner and trend with Muddy fork, passing into
Wood township. Then they return again after
making the circle above New Providence to en-
ter the township on the north, a mile or so south
of the base line, north of Muddy fork, and
bend off toward the township of Monroe. In
the southwest corner of the township are more

than four thousand acres occupied entirely by the
knobs, and perhaps in the northeastern corner as
many as three thousand acres, almost worthless,
for the same reason.

But what the knobs lose in productiveness
they have gained in the beauty of their scenery.

These knobs are the striking natural features
of the county, as well as the township. The
Muddy Fork valley is possibly the line of the
drift extending from the upper counties, and the
summit from which the icebergs began their
rapid descent into the great Ohio and Mississippi
valleys. The country around the Falls is very
rich in opportunities for geological research.

Nearly half a century ago John Works, the fa-
mous miller of Charlestown township, exam-
ined the iron ore in this section, and pronounced
it of excellent quality. The ore crops out in al-
most every ravine in this region, and is every-
where of the same general character, containing
the same quantity of iron. The Geological Re-
port says :

Another deposit of iron ore, of considerable extent, is seen
on the land of Allen Barnett. near Broom hill, on the New
Albany & Chicago railroad. Some of this ore has rather a
peculiar structure, and is made up entirely of an aggregation
of coarse particles of hydrated brown oxide. It is what is
usually denominated "kidney ore," and is scattered pro-
fusely over the surface. The whole country at the base of
the knobs, where the New Providence shale outcrops, is a
rich iron ore. It accumulates in the ravines and valleys-by
the washing down of the formation which contained it, and
is generally easy of access.

The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis, the Louis-
ville, New Albany & Chicago, and the " V " of the Ohio &
Mississippi railroad are about ten miles apart in the county.
They all pass through the district containing these ore seams,
and afford a ready means of shipment to the blast furnaces
now in operation in this State.

It is probable that the New Providence shale, on account
of its mineral constituents, and being highly fossiliferous,
will make a good fertilizer.

Mr. Allen Barnett, of whom the Assistant
State Geologist speaks, bought land in the New
Providence valley to a considerable extent sev-
eral years ago, and intended to open a furnace;
but on account of old age and declining health
the scheme was never carried into execution.

The geologist says of the county that it " has
unlimited quantities of superior iion ore, cement
rock, beautiful marble, the best of building rock,
superior lime-producing rock, and excellent glass
sand;" and nowhere is this more true than along
the knob system of the Muddy Fork valley.

That part of the township included in the

328

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Muddy Fork valley is not generally productive.
Formerly, however, all the cereals were raised in
abundance. The soil is cold, and its fertility is
very much impaired on account of long service.
Many farms in the neighborhood of Broom Hill
and Bennettsville have been in constant use for
more than fifty years. It is here that many of
the early settlers began agricultural pursuits; and
here, too, their children have remained, follow-
ing, in most cases, the vocation of their parents.

STREAMS AND SPRINGS.

The Muddy Fork of Silver creek passes
through the township very nearly in an easterly
course, dividing the township into halves. On
either side a valley follows, from one half to
three-quarters of a mile in width. Muddy fork,
in Carr township, has many characteristics pe-
culiar to the Nile in Egypt. Its tributaries are
small and generally unimportant. The most
noticeable are Stone lick and Turkey run, both
flowing from the north. In the southwest corner
of the township Big Indian creek flows off into
the county of Floyd. Along the base of the
knobs there are many evidences, to a traveler on
the railroad, indicating that a pretty large stream
flows thereat. This deception is a subject of
frequent remark by persons unacquainted with
the surface of the country.

Many springs of decided medicinal qualities
flow from the fissures previously mentioned as
being overlaid with seams of iron. "One of the
most noted of these springs is situated on tract
number two hundred and thirty-four of the Grant,
in the extreme northwestern corner of the town-
ship. The water has been analyzed by the State
Geologist, and found to contain the following :
Alumina and oxide of iron, 2.001 grains ; sul-
phate of lime 71.806 grains; sulphate of
magnesia, 429.66 grains; chloride of sodium,
286.09 grains ; sulphate of sodium and potash,
204.4 grains; total 993.957. This mineral
has a similar composition to that from which
the celebrated Crab Orchard salts of Kentucky
are made. It is in good demand and has been
shipped to the cities about the falls and to other
parts of the State."

The results produced from the use of this
water have been remarkable. This is especially
true where a simple alterative or cathartic is re-
quired. To the cure of scrofula and some of the

skin diseases it is peculiarly adapted. The future
of these springs depends largely on the enter-
prise of the owners. Their shipments are con-
stantly increasing as the reputation of the waters
spreads, and within a quarter of a century these
springs may become notable health resorts.

Another spring, of equal medicinal qualities, is on the
farm of John Stewart, north of Henryville. Augustus Reid,
of Monroe township; and Parady Payne, a short distance
from Blue Lick post-office, have springs, the waters of which
also contain the same medicinal properties. This medicinal
water, as predicted by Professor E. T. Cox, has been found
at New Providence by deepening the well at Mr. T. S.
Carter's stave factory, and, no doubt, will be found over the
entire shale of the region.

TIMRER AND UNDERGROWTH.

The first growth of timber was composed of
oak, white and red; button- woods, more com-
monly known as sycamore; chestnut, which grew
mainly on the knobs; white and blue ash; poplar,
though never in large quantities; a good many
birch, some few sugar and maple trees, and a
sprinkling of others, peculiar to this climate and
soil. During the first half of this century a very
large business was carried on in cutting timber
for steamboat building at the Falls. The rail-
road also contracted for large supplies in ties
and bridge timber. Cooper shops also are, and
have been, continually using the best of the oaks
for barrels, cooper shops being scattered over
the township in every direction. Much of the
finest timber is already cut. The forest has un-
dergone very great changes during the last three
decades. Rails for fences are being considered
of more value than formerly, and every caution
is taken to prevent their untimely destruction.

The undergrowth, during the early times, was
not particularly noticeable. The nature of the
soil seemed to preclude any rank growth of
bushes, briars, weeds, or anything tending to
obstruct the view in the forest. There was,
however, always a sufficient growth of vegetation,
which when it decayed affected the health of the
people materially. The forest of sixty or seventy
years ago in the Muddy Fork valley was open ;
the top of the ground was covered with a thick
coating of leaves, and in many places the fallen
timber .made traveling, even on foot, almost im-
possible. There were also in the spring large
bodies of water spread out over the level upland.

IMPROVEMENTS.

The first road led from Jeffersonville to Vin-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

329

cennes, and from Charlestown to Salem. The
former crossed the township in the southwestern
corner, and passed over but a few miles of its
territory ; the latter entered the township on the
eastern side, and passed westwardly by New Prov-
idence. The Jeffersonville and Vincennes road
was the great thoroughfare between these two
points. It was traveled a great deal before rail-
roads came to be generally recognized as a means
of transit. Judges, lawyers, ministers, team-
sters, and the tide of emigration which was then
moving on toward the Wabash and Illinois rivers,
were constantly passing over it. There was never
any well-graded track. At first the road led up
ravines, across clearings, and through patches of
timber, and then, perhaps, for a mile or more
followed down a stream into a bottom, thus con-
tinuing to its terminus.

The Charlestown road had more a local char-
acter, though it was used much by the citizens of
the county-seats. Before the courts were taken
to Jeffersonville, this was the road to reach the
offices of the county at Charlestown.

In building the Louisville, New Albany &
Chicago railroad through the township the peo-
ple generally granted the right of way. In some
few instances objectors delayed its success.
It brought the people of Carr township into
closer communication with the outside world,
from which all their lives they had been stran-
gers.

There are in the township six and eighty-three
hundredths miles of railroad. The railroad en-
ters the township at the southeastern corner, fol-
lows up the Muddy Fork valley, and passes
through the center of it, as does the Muddy
fork, though in a more direct route. In the
township there are four stations, named in order
from the east: Bennettsville, which is the most
prominent; Wilson's, about two miles above;
Petersburgh, or Muddy Fork post-office ; Broom
Hill, which lies very nearly on the line between
Wood and Carr. Trains are run with consider-
able regularity, but on account of the road-bed
fast time is seldom made. One of the remarka-
ble features of this railroad is that it has no
branches of any size between Louisville and Chi-
cago. Neither of the above stations is a great
shipping point. Bennettsville is of little impor-
tance; Broom Hill is the more prominent. Here
are cooper shops and a stave factory.

MILLS.

It will be remembered that Carr is a compara-
tively new township. What belongs to the town-
ships of Wood and Charlestown is particularly
applicable to Carr — especially so in reference to
mills and still-houses. Among the first mills was
one owned and run by J. Merrill. It stood in
the northeast corner of the township, and was
familiarly known as Merrill's horse-mill. Merrill
came from New York State. He was a man well
known on account of his wit, which came finally
to be a proverb, as, "You are Jay Merrill witty."
The old mill remained in its position until about
1850, when it was torn down, and the same sills
or beams were converted into other houses, pig-
pens, stables, and so on.

The Shoemakers engaged in milling in Carr
township quite early, as also did John Jackson.
The latter owned an overshot mill on Muddy
fork, one-half mile below Bridgeport, more than
forty years ago. Jackson's mill is now non-exist-
ent.

Lewman Griswold had an overshot mill on
Muddy fork two and a half miles below Bridge-
port, as early as 1830. The old building is yet
standing and in running order. Owen Shoe-
maker has it in charge. Griswold's mill has
many associations which naturally make it inter-
esting to youth. The old-fashioned overshot
wheel, as it turns slowly but surely with a creak,
a sort of jerk, excites many strange notions of
pioneer life. Young men with their future wives,
picnics made up of boys and girls of the country,
often assemble here to view about the only re-
maining memento of pioneer days in this end of
the county.

The old Shoemaker steam flouring- and grist-
mill, standing on the Louisville, New Albany,
& Chicago railroad, at Watson's Station, and
also on Muddy fork, was erected about twelve
years ago by Harmon Shoemaker. It was thought
the country could support one first-class mill on
this side of the county, but the experiment was un-
satisfactory. After three or four years of varying
success the mill was abandoned, the machinery
taken out and placed in a more favorable loca-
tion. Shoemaker's mill was the only steam flour-
ing-mill ever in the township. Just below the old
building, a handsome iron bridge spans Muddy
fork. The road leads to the Blue Lick country,
and the village of Memphis, in Union township.

33°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Many of the first settlers engaged in distilling.
Corn, however, was never a great staple. It is
only along the bottoms that a good crop is
generally raised. These being narrow, they-
have always been divided in raising wheat, rye,
some oats, a little barley, a good many potatoes,
and garden vegetables, the latter being marketed
to the cities at the Falls.

"There was a time when our people thought
they could not live without whiskey. That time,
however, is past. Farmers now regard the cus-
tom of treating harvest hands as out of date.''
"Whiskey," says another early settler, "was one of
our staple productions. It was a source of in-
come, and we depended to a very great extent
for our living upon its sale. But our whiskey
was pure then, compared with what it is now;
we had nothing but the purest, and one in drink-
ing it was generally benefited!" Many of the
first settlers regarded the bottle as a necessary
part of the household. All the ills of the chil-
dren were dosed by the whiskey bottle. All
prominent farmers, and men who possessed a few
thousand dollars, had a barrel of good brandy, or
its equivalent, in their cellar. A long glass tube,
from three to eight inches in length, with a string
tied around the upper end below the shoulder,
was always on hand. The special friend was
taken into the cellar or an out-house, the proof-
bottle, as it was called, was dropped into the bar-
rel from the bung-hole, and drawn forth filled
with the most delicious of drinks. People then
regarded drinking in a far different light from
what they do now. It was customary for the
preachers themselves to indulge in drinking.
Many of them even carried on distilling. Many
of them, too, were considered true, unaffected
Christians.

Perhaps the most prominent of all the dis-
tillers in the township was Charles Goatman.
His still-house was south of Bridgeport three-
fourths of a mile. It was here during the late
war, when the increase of taxes necessitated a
suspension of business. Distilleries in Clark
county, as well as in Carr township, are now a
nullity.

TAVERNS.

John Slider was perhaps the original tavern-
keeper in the township. His place of business
was on the Jefferson ville and Vincennes road, in
sight of Bennettsville. He was here in 1825.

The original tavern was built of logs. As busi-
ness increased, Mr. Slider made a frame addition
to the log house, converting the only room above
into six sleeping compartments. The style of
public houses in those days was to have but one
room in the upper story. Here all travelers were
put, and among the promiscuous sleepers there
was always some notorious rake, who delighted
to disturb the tired and worn-out emigrant. The
old " Slider Hotel," as it was called, was the last
of a prominent list of stopping places on the
road between the two above-named towns.
Slider was here fifteen or twenty years. During
that time all the marketers, teamsters, hog-drivers,
many of the public men, and the public gener-
ally, stopped with "Old John Slider."

On the New Albany and Salem road, near
Bridgeport, James Warman kept tavern. War-
man's tavern was a great place for travelers. In
the language of another, " it resembled very
much the country fairs of later date." Nothing
was more common than to see, a few hours be-
fore sunset, a four-horse, white-covered wagon,
with arched bows, drive up before the tavern
and make inquiries for the " old man." The
old man was Mr. James Warman. The wagon-
yard, with its complement of turkeys, geese,
ducks, a drove of speckled chickens, old broken
dishes, and very often a supply of mud, a little
beyond what many look for now in similar
places, made the place rather amusing, even to
the hog-drover. Warman was a favorite with his
guests. His table had the food which most of
his guests liked, and his feather beds were de-
lightful places for a weary teamster to sleep.

SCHOOLS.

In the township there are six school districts
and over four hundred school children. The
educational affairs are manged admirably. Peo-
ple are advanced as far educationally in Carr as
in any township in the county.

VILLAGES.

Bennettsville is the only place in the township
which claims to be a village, and it has but forty
or fifty citizens. It was laid off in September,
1838, by H. O. Hedgecoxe, county surveyor, for
Baily Mann. The first name given to the new-
born village was New Town. After several years
the name was changed, Bennettsville being
thought preferable to the name of New Town.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

331

Benedict Nugent, who was the first store-keeper
in the village, probably had much to do indirect-
ly with the changing of the name. The evidence
is that Mr. Mann removed to some other locality,
and that Mr. Nugent being the most prominent
man in the place, the citizens, for some reasons
peculiar to a pioneer people, almost unawares
gave it the name of Bennettsville, a prolongation
of Mr. Nugent's given name.

The original plat does not give the width of
the streets and avenues. In finding the direc-
tion which Washington street takes with refer-
ence to section lines, subtract the variation 5° 50'
from field note north 30° 45' west.

Bennettsville is located on the railroad. It
has few features which attract attention. There
is no station, except a platform, which furnishes
a place for boarding or alighting from the cars.
The knobs, only a mile or a mile and half west
of the village, add a sort of picturesqueness to
its surroundings. Muddy fork goes crawling off
lazily toward the Ohio. The railroad cuts the
village in twain. A few straggling houses along
the railroad are about all there is of Bennetts-
ville. Most of the citizens are Germans or of
Irish extraction, engaged mainly in coopering
and working on the railway section. There is a
post-office, one store only, no blacksmith's shop
or saloon.

Benedict Nugent, the first storekeeper, dealt
out dry goods, groceries, whiskey, powder, and
ball in a little frame house which stood on the
east side of the railroad, but outside of the village
limits. Baily Mann was also an early store-
keeper. His place of business was on the
west side of the railroad, in a little frame house,
but the inside of his building was of logs — a log
house weather-boarded. In 1848 a Mr. York
was here engaged in store-keeping close to
Mann's. Elias Struble followed soon after,
keeping in Mann's old store-room. C. P. Wha-
len was here in 185 1, also in the old Mann
building. The present store is kept by Mr.
Charles Burr.

Schools in Bennettsville were established soon
after the village was platted. The first school-
house stood on the road leading hence to Little
York, in Washington county. It is yet standing,
but is used for a residence. The present school-
house was erected in 1875. It stands near the rail-
road, in the southeast corner of the village. It

is a pretty white frame, and has one room.
Among the first teachers here were Messrs.
Boiles and Lipscom; also Misses Hall and
Nesbit.

The Baptist church of Bennettsville was erect-
ed in 1848. It stood on the west side of the
railroad, in the village. The house was a frame,
capable of seating three or four hundred people.
Andrew Nugent and wife ; Bryant Deton's family,
including himself; John Jackson and family; and
L. B. Huff and family, were among the first
members. The old church is yet standing, but
in a dilapidated condition. It is seldom used,
except for an occasional sermon or a temperance
lecture — the latter hardly needed by the people
in this vicinity.

At one time Bennettsville had a thriving pop-
ulation of one hundred to one hundred and fifty
inhabitants. They were engaged in various pur-
suits, such as coopering, dealing in railroad sup-
plies, selling goods to the hands employed by the
railroad, and in barter generally. The village
has now all the evidences of death — death which
comes from a lack of energy and disposition to
upbuild and maintain the interests of society.
The village needs a thorough renovation and a
complete change to make it prosperous and
happy.

Broom Hill lies in the western part of the
township, in the southeast corner of section five
and the northwest corner of section eight, on the
Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad. It
was begun in 185 1 by Thomas Littell, who lived
in this immediate neighborhood. Here he
began the making of brooms, and from this
circumstance the village derived its name. But
Littell was not the first settler in this locality by
any means, though he built the first house in the
village and opened the first store. Littell's house
stood on the north side of the railroad. Previ-
ous to Littell, about the year 1809, one Michael
Burns, of Connecticut, settled here and built a
cabin on the site of Broom Hill, on the south
side of the railroad. Austin Rowe was a store-
keeper after Littell, in the same building which
is now occupied for store purposes.

Broom Hill has had many small manufact-
ories. William Leighton, in the former part of
its history, put up a shingle machine. He also
erected a grist-mill and afterwards attached to it
a stave factory. At one time a thriving portable

332

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

saw-mill was run by the Bussey brothers. It
lasted for a few years only. After the Bussey
brothers William McKinley and Michael Burns
erected a saw-mill. The business done at this
mill was considerable.

Blacksmith shops, shoemaker shops, and the
various trades have been carried on in the vil-
lage, though never on a very extended scale.
Broom Hill is noted as once being the seat of
extensive railroad supplies. During the first few
years of the railroad the village furnished more
wood than any other station on the road. The
introduction of coal as fuel on locomotives dam-
aged this trade considerably, though it is still a
successful branch of business. Broom Hill has
forty-five inhabitants.

Bridgeport, much like Broom Hill, came into
existence about the time the railroad was built.
The section hands created a demand for many
of the coarser wares, and hence, as a resTilt,
Samuel Plummer, of this section, began to sell
various things, such as shovels, picks, spades,
drills, and crowbars, to the men employed by
the railroad. Mr. Plummer died before the road
was completed, and the store fell into the hands
of his brother Charles. Soon after it was fin-
ished James Warman erected a warehouse on
the north side of the track. Here were stored
various grains, the house serving as a kind of
"depot for supplies" for the people round about.
Wesley Warman was a storekeeper here about
this time, or soon after the old warehouse was
erected. After many changes in the old ware-
house, it was remodeled so as to be used for
store purposes alone. A few years after Mr.
Charles Warman's death, in 1870, his son Albert
put up the present store-house.

More than thirty years ago a log school-house
stood in Bridgeport, in the southern side of the
village. Messrs. Marcus Story, James O. P.
White, and McKinley, were among the first
teachers. After the new school laws were en-
forced the old school-house gave place to a new
frame, and the district was changed so as to
bring the new site outside of the village limits.

There are two churches in the village — the
United Brethren and the Church of God. The
former of these was organized in 1873, two
years before the present house was elected. The
first members were William Jackson and family,
Jacob Hemelheber and wife, and William Ward.

Rev. Thomas Lewellen, the famous circuit
preacher of Monroe township, was the first min-
ister in charge, as really he was the organizer of
the class. There are about fifty members on
the register; the church belongs to the New
Albany circuit; it stands one-fourth of a mile
south of the village. It is a frame building. A
thriving Sunday-school of thirty or forty mem-
bers is held regularly, and is non-sectarian.

The Methodist Episcopal, or, as it is often
called by those who are not members of any
church, the Church of God, was organized in
1869. Dr. Fields was very active in the move-
ment. The first members were: John Mc-
Corey, Willey Warman, Polly Warman, William
S. Peyton, and Rev. George W. Green. Some
sixty or seventy members are on the class reg-
ister, and the church is in a prosperous condition.
No Sunday-school is held, on account of the
school in the United Brethren church, which is

for all sects.

OLD CITIZENS.

The oldest of all the pioneers in Carr was
General John Carr, after whom the township
was named. He belongs to that class of men
who indelibly stamped their characters upon the
rising generation. The Southern Indianian, a
county paper published at Charlestown in 1845,
by William S. Ferrier, said of General Carr:

It becomes our painful duty in this week's paper to an-
nounce the death of General John Carr, who died on the 20th
instant [January 20, 1845], after a long and very painful ill-
ness. His death created a space which cannot soon be filled.
General Carr was a man of no ordinary character. He had
long occupied an elevated standing among his fellow-men.
He was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 6th of
April, 1793, and had at the time of his death nearly completed
his fifty-second year. He emigrated from that State with
his father to the then territory of Indiana, in the spring o
1806, having been a citizen of this county ever since — a period
of thirty-nine years. During the summer of 1811 he was en-
gaged in several scouting parties on the frontier, and in
watching and guarding against the approach of the Indians,
who were then known to entertain hostile feelings toward
the settlers. At this time he was but eighteen years of age.
In the fall of the same year he joined the Tippecanoe expedi-
tion, with Captain Bigger's company of riflemen, and was
engaged in that memorable and bloody conflict, which oc-
cured on the 7th of November of that year. On the declara-
tion of war in 1812 he was appointed a lieutenant of a com-
pany of United States rangers, authorized by an act of
Congress and organized for the defense of the western front-
iers. During the years of 1812 and 1813 he was actively en-
gaged in several important and fatiguing campaigns, which
were attended with extreme hardship and peril. The Mis-
sisinewa and Illinois or Peoria campaigns were particularly
distinguished for their many privations, difficulties and hair-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

333

breadth escapes ; in all of which he participated. During
much of his time the command of his company devolved upon
him, in consequence of the absence of the captain. Though
then but a youth he was equal to any emergency.

After the war he filled successively several military offices.
Among these were Brigadier and Major-general of the Militia
of Indiana. The latter office he held at the time of his death.
General Carr was repeatedly honored with the confidence of
his fellow-citizens in the election to several civil offices of trust
and honor. He filled at various times the offices of recorder,
agent for the town of Indianapolis, clerk of Clark County
Circuit Court, to which he was re-elected, and Presidential
Elector on the Jackson ticket in 1824. All these duties he dis-
charged with honor to his country and himself. In 1831 he
was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the
Twenty-first Congress of the United States, and continued to
serve in this body for six consecutive years. In 1837 he re-
tired, but but was re-elected for the fourth time in 1839, and
served two years more, making in all eight years' service in
that body. His Congressional career was noted for industry,
efficiency, and usefulness. He originated the sale of lands in
forty-acre lots, thus bringing within the reach of all the home
that so many needed. He assisted in passing the pensiouact,
by which so many of the old Revolutionary soldiers received
pensions, and afterwards aided many of them in establishing
their claims to this hard-earned bounty of their Government-
In private, as well as in public life, he was distinguished for his
nice sense of honor and the uprightness of his conduct. Of
him it may be said in truth that he was one of God's noblest
works, an honest man. In his intercourse with his fellow-
men, he was modest and unassuming. He was at the same
time frank and open, yet courteous. He had but few if any
personal enemies. Among his neighbors he was beloved and
esteemed by all. In the family circle he was a kind and
tender husband and parent. Although General Carr was not
a member of any church, we are happy to learn that during
his last illness he sought Christ, and found pardon. He ex-
pressed a perfect resignation to die, and met death as became
a Christian. His wife had preceded her consort to the
grave ; and in a few short weeks the domestic hearth has
been bereft of its parental head, and those who were happy a
few days ago under parental control and protection, are now
orphans. He left behind him five children, numerous rela-
tives, and a host of friends. He was followed on yesterday by
a large concourse of people to his place of interment in this
town. He has been snatched from his friends, almost in the
meridian of life, thus verifying the great and solemn tiuth,
"in the midst of life we are in death."

We continue the brief biographies. Richard
Slider was born in Maryland, and came to Carr
township by way of Kentucky, about 1800. He
settled one mile southeast of Bennettsville with
his wife and two sons. Here he put up a hewed
log house, which was very uncommon for settlers
in those days, and began to prepare for living.
In the house, which was about 18x20, Slidei
made port-holes so as to be used in case of In-
dian attacks. The boys and girls who were born
occasionally as the years rolled away, often
peered out of these holes early in the morning,
to see if there were no lurking savages to molest

their little home in the wilderness. Here, too,
they often mingled in games with the Indian lad
as he visited them in his strolls over the bottoms.
The old Slider mansion — for a mansion it can
now be truly called — is yet standing on its
original site. It is probably the oldest dwelling
remaining in the county.

John Slider, the second son, was born in 1797
in Kentucky. He was one of the first distillers
in Carr township. He resided on the old home-
stead until his death in 1877, loved and respect-
ed by everybody.

James Warman, Sr., came from Kentucky to
Carr township in 1809 and settled in the Muddy
Fork valley, on the New Albany and Salem road,
one mile and a half above Bridgeport. For a
few years after arriving he worked at Harrod's
grist-mill, on Silver creek and in Silver Creek
township. Warman was a prominent man in
surveying and engineering in the township. He
took an active part in locating roads, and in sev-
eral cases contracted for their building. In
the various neighborhood questions — churches,
schools, public gatherings, and the like — he bore
an honorable and respected part. He died in
Arkansas more than twenty years ago.

GAME.

Fifty years ago the deer, bear, wolf, fox, thou-
sands of pheasants, squirrels, wild turkeys, and
game generally, made it their pleasure to live in
the knobs of Carr township. The pioneer at
early break of day was often seen climbing the
steep side-hills in quest of game. Paths led in
winding courses along the knobs or followed the
summit of some ridge until the desired hunting-
ground was reached; there they stopped. Along
these paths the old buck frequently strolled; and
often did he meet his fate without a moment's
warning from the unerring rifle of the back-
woodsman. The black bear browsed lazily in
the thicket during the fall; or when hunger
pressed him too closely, he visited some farmer's
pig-pen in search of food. Here he frequently
met opposition, and a free hand-to-hand fight en-
sued, in which the bear sometimes escaped or the
old-fashioned axe and handspike came off vic-
torious.

334

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

CHAPTER XX.

CHARLESIOWN.

A prominent Western writer on the incidents
and reminiscences of pioneer life in Indiana, has
well said that to write the history of Clark county
properly, access should be had to the state
papers of England and those of the United States
and of Virginia. Its history embraces a period
of uncommon and thrilling interest. The Revol-
utionary struggle was in active progress. Eng-
land was using the French and Indians as allies
in ravaging the settlements along the borders of
the Great Lakes and the Northwest territory.
Early pioneers were suffering under a predatory
warfare, the most atrocious in the annals of our
Republic. There was an almost unknown tract
of land lying where are now the three great States
of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. New Eng-
land was tried to the utmost in order to save
the honor of her beloved territory. Virginia
was in a bad financial condition. Constant
drainage had depleted her treasury and thrown
the State into a critical condition. After due de-
liberation, much expenditure of time and money,
and the loss of many brave soldiers, there came
a change. The English posts of Vincennes and
Kaskaskia, on that body of land lying between the
Wabash and Ohio rivers, were wrenched from the
enemies of American liberty. To tell the story
with exactness, much diligent research would be
necessary. It would involve more time than can
be commanded by the county historian. This in.
formation must be found in histories of more gen-
eral or rational scope. This work is to deal with
local facts.

It was on the ioth of December, 1777, that
Colonel (afterwards General) George Rogers
Clark laid before Patrick Henry, Governor of
Virginia, a plan to take the British posts of
Vincennes and Kaskaskia. After mature con-
sideration, and after being advised, strongly and
favorably, by his most intimate friends, Governor
Henry acquiesced in Clark's proposition. But
Pennsylvania and Virginia were strongly opposed
to the theory that all States are members of one
confederation, and that none have a right to
secede without the consent of the General Gov-
ernment. This feeling necessitated much se-
crecy on the part of Clark in recruiting his regi-
ment, though this was really what he desired.

His wish was to surprise the garrisons by secret
movements. The story which he told was that
the expedition was going to make explorations
up the Mississippi river. Finally he received
five hundred pounds of powder and $4,000 in
depreciated currency, with which to hire recruits
and buy ammunition at Pittsburg. He also re-
ceived a colonel's commission. In the moun-
tains of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, East Tennes-
see, and Virginia he gathered his little army, and
departed for the Falls of the Ohio. Here he
went into camp on Corn island; and here, in-
forming his men of the primary object of the ex-
pedition, many of them deserted. "On the 24th
of June, 1778, during a total eclipse of the sun —
a sad foreboding, as the party thought, of their
future success, but which ultimately proved the
' sun of Austerlitz ' — this patriotic band of four
companies under Captains Helm, Montgomery,
Bowman, and Harrod, crossed the Ohio on their
apparently forlorn expedition." His intention
was to march directly to Vincennes; but the de-
sertion of his troops and the want of all the ma-
terials necessary for an attack upon a fortified
town, induced him to abandon this object and to
prosecute that originally intended by his superior'
officer, the Governor of Virginia. On the 4th
of July, 1778, Kaskaskia surrendered. February
2S> 1779, Vincennes gave up to the Spartan
band of Clark; the British ensign was hauled
down, and the American flag waved above its
ramparts. Henceforward the British posts in
the Northwest Territory ceased to exist.

A few months after the cessation of hostilities,
General Clark and his soldiers were dismissed
from the service. Owing to the imperfect con-
dition of the finances of Virginia, there was no
way of rewarding the officers and privates in dol-
lars and cents. But there was another way open.
Virginia owned a tract of land north of the Ohio
river, which was yet the hunting ground of the
Indian. A resolution was presented to the
Legislature of that State to provide the men in
the late war with homes, by giving them a
tract north of the Ohio, anywhere in her terri-
tory which they might select. The offer was
accepted. The grant was to contain one
hundred and fifty thousand acres, including one
thousand acres for a town. The patent is dated
1786, and is signed by Edmund Randolph, Gov-
ernor of Virginia, and is to Colonel George

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

335

Rogers Clark, and the "officers and soldiers who
assisted in the reduction of the British posts in
Illinois." The Board of Commissioners, who
were to determine the position of said land, was
composed of "William Flemming, John Ed-
wards, John Campbell, Walker Daniel, gentle-
men; and George Rogers Clark, John Mont-
gomery, Abraham Chaplin, John Bailey, Robert
Todd, and William Clark, officers in the Illinois
regiment." The claimants had to hand in their
claims on or before the ist of April, 1784, and if
accepted, $1 was to be paid for every one hundred
acres, in order simply to defray the expenses
of surveying, making the deeds, and any other
necessary papers for titles. The commissioners
had power to select their own surveyors. They
were to proceed at once to locate and lay off the
land, whose length could not exceed double its
breadth. There must also be a town located in
the first place. This in the course of time be-
came Clarksville. The act relating to the town
reads as follows :

That a plat of said land (one thousand acres) be returned
by the surveyor to the Court of Jefferson [which was then in
Louisville], to be by the clerk thereof recorded and
thereupon the same shall be and is hereby invest-
ed in William Flemming, John Edwards, John Camp-
bell, Walker Daniel, George Rogers ' Clark, John Mont-
gomery, Abram Chaplin, John Bailey, Robert Todd, and
William Clark. The lots are to be laid off into one-half acre
each, with convenient streets, and the same shall be and is
hereby called Clarksville. '

Lots were to be sold out by advertisement two
months in advance at adjoining court-houses.
On each lot there was to be built a good dwelling
house, at least 18x20 feet, with a brick or stone
chimney, to be completed three years after the
deed was received. If these terms were not
complied with the commissioners had the right
to sell again the lot and use the money in pub-
lic improvements. After some time, however,
it was found necessary to enlarge this provision
in order to give the young colony a chance to
grow, and induce early settlers to make it their
residence.

We have mentioned Clarksville here, to show
the first conditions of the Illinois Grant. The
particulars belong to another chapter.

The State of Virginia appointed William
Clark, a cousin of the general, as surveyor. He
selected his assistants as follows: Edmund
Rogers, David Steel, Peter Catlett, and Burwell
Jackson. This cession or grant was made by

Virginia; but she relinquished soon after her
right to the United States, on condition that the
previous donation would be respected. From
this time Virginia has not retained ownership of
land north of the Ohio river.

The surveying party began their surveys a
little above the Eighteen-mile island in the Ohio,
running a line at right angles to the river. Per-
haps it is well here to explain the few intricacies
of surveying. In all first surveys a base line is
established running east and west, or that is the
intention. From this line principal meridians are
run, north and south, beginning anywhere on the
base line the surveyor may choose. The base
line in the Illinois Grant is at the head of Eigh-
teen-mile island, and for some reason does not
run in a true westerly course. William Clark
and his party divided themselves into companies.
Some of his men were poor engineers, and many
mistakes occurred. Peter Catlett was especially
notorious for inaccuracies. He surveyed that
portion of the county now occupied by Oregon,
a row of five-hundred-acre tracts off the west
side of Washington, and the greater part of
Owen. From his mistakes resulted many law-
suits, when in later days land became more val-
uable. Says William Clark: "I discovered sev-
eral errors by Catlett in going into his district to
subdivide some of the five-hundred-acre tracts."
They were principally made in laying down water
courses.

David Steel surveyed that part of the county
now occupied by Charlestown,<Jtica, and Union
townships; and his surveys are almost without
errors. Burwell Jackson surveyed the township
of Silver Creek, a part of Monroe, and besides
assisted in laying off Clarksville. Edmund
Rogers and William Clark surveyed the remain-
ing part of the county.

The boundaries of the county in 1801 were
as follow :

Beginning at the Ohio river at the mouth of Blue river;
thence up that river to the crossing of the Vincennes road;
thence in a direct line to the nearest point on the White
river; thence up that river to its source and to Fort Recovery;
thence on the line of the Northwest Territory to the Ohio
river, at the mouth of the Kentucky river ; and thence to
place of beginning.

Formerly boundaries existed which are now
changed. The county has been cut up, and new
counties formed entirely or additions made to
older ones.

336

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Clark county was named after General George
Rogers Clark. There are in the county two
hundred and forty-nine five-hundred-acre tracts.
All of Wood and Bethlehem townships are laid
off into sections of six hundred and forty acres
each. The remaining ten townships are partly
in sections and tracts. There is a row of sec.
tions in the west part of the county that gradually
widen until they join the Grant line. The largest
of these has four hundred and thirty-seven acres
for a quarter. The base line crosses the Grant
in latitude 380 30' north, leaving the Ohio river
at the upper end of Eighteen-mile island, and
strikes the Illinois Grant about half-way from the
beginning. Of course no base or principal merid-
ian lines were used in making the original sur-
vey. The five-hundred-acre tracts were laid off
by running lines at right angles to the Ohio.

The county has to day nearly four hundred
square miles. There are twelve townships. The
original deeds to the grantees call for five hun-
dred acres, more or less. This was necessary,
for some vary from three hundred and seventy
to seven hundred acres. The division of tracts
was made by lottery, and we are told that those
who received land in the rich bottoms of Utica
envied those whose lots fell in the knobs of
Wood. This was because game was scarce in
the lands adjacent to the Ohio. Now the bot-
toms are worth $100 per acre, while that on the
knobs seldom brings a dollar.

Simon Kenton, the famous Kentucky pioneer
and Indian fighter, received a tract north of
Charlestown, but among all the records his signa-
ture is not found. Among the various officers
and privates the apportionment was made as
follow: To the major-general, 15,000 acres; briga-
dier-generals, 10,000; colonels, 6,66673; lieu-
tenant-colonels, 6,000; majors, 5,6662/3; cap-
tains, 4,000; lieutenants, 2,66673; non-commis-
sioned officers, 400; privates, 200.

After the allotments were made, Louisville
was the seat of justice until Virginia ordered the
records taken to Clarksville. In 1779 and 1800
Congress passed laws for the government of the
Northwest Territory, including Clark's Grant.
In May, 1800, Indiana Territory was created,
and soon after Knox county was divided, and
Clark county organized.

We have given the foregoing facts in order
that a better understanding might be had con-

cerning the origin of so historical a county. It
may serve the purpose of explaining, partly, what
few of the younger men know, and probably
clear away some of the mists in the minds of older
people.

During the first few years there were but
three townships in the county, viz: Clarksville,
Spring Hill, and Springville. The boundaries
of these, severally, have been defined in
our chapter on the organization of Clark county.
This division was soon altered, and more
townships established. In 1816 Springville town-
ship was changed for the convenience of voters.
In 181 7 the county commissioners made further
changes, and among the new townships one was
Charlestown. Within the same year a township
called Collins, in the northwestern part of the
county, existed. A few years afterwards new di-
visions were made and the township lost its orig-
inal name, receiving that of Monroe. Zebulon
Collins was an early settler in this section, and
after him the original township was named.
Lemmon township had an existence in 1824, and
was named after John M. Lemmon, one of the
county commissioners. There was also a New
Albany township in what is now Floyd county.

Without further general outlines we begin the
history of Charlestown proper, though it must be
remembered that all land now lying in Clark
county and divided into sections was bought
from the Government, and as time went by was
annexed to the Grant for convenience.

Charlestown township was organized in the
spring of 181 7, and was cut off from what was
originally Springville. The records do not show
that the latter township ceased to exist after the
new divisions were made, though it is likely
such was the case. The boundary lines ran as
follows: Beginning on the Ohio river, near
Twelve-mile island, and running west in a zigzag
course until it struck Silver creek; thence up that
stream with its meanderings as far as Monroe;
thence east into Washington township one tier of
five-hundred-acre tracts; thence south to the Ohio;
and thence down the river to the place of begin-
ning. From the time Clark county was organ-
ized, until 1817, Charlestown township included
the central and most promising portion of the
Grant. There were no other places at that early
day so well adapted to all the affairs of county
business. It was centrally located; people from

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

337

adjoining townships were about equally distant
from this point. But as time and age added
more population to its lists, and as distance was
something of an item when it came to traveling
ten and fifteen miles to vote, changes were made
to accommodate the citizens.

There are, in round numbers, thirty-seven
thousand acres in the township, or fifty-nine and
seventeen-hundredths square miles. The im-
provements are valued at $1,268,264. The
voters average about seven hundred, the Demo-
crats having at present a small majority in a par-
tisan contest. One precinct is at Charlestown,
the other at Otisco.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The general surface of Charlestown is undu-
lating. Along the Ohio a fine belt of bottom
land, from two to three miles wide, produces all
the cereals in abundance. A fine growth of tim-
ber formerly covered the lowlands, made up
mostly of walnut, blue ash, poplar, white oak,
and a sprinkling of the other forest trees. A
dense crop of pea-vines was found here very early;
but as continued pasturing was kept up they soon
became extinct.

The western side of the township, as it ap-
proaches the knobs, is rather hilly. The farms
are often unproductive, and yield under the most
careful treatment. Passing through the center
from north to south, the land varies in fertility
and general appearance. South of Charlestown
it is level, and in some places slightly broken.
From the old county-seat to the extreme north
end, the soil and surface gradually lose their
value in proportion as the distance increases.
Beyond the railroad westward the first indica-
tions of hills appear. Little creeks and small
tributaries of Silver creek cut up the land into
irregular farms, making it somewhat disagreeable
to cultivate. Much of the country east is an
elevated plateau. The farms are large, and the
general appearance indicates thrift.

But it is around Charlestown that the attrac-
tions are greatest in number. All the beds of
streams, the bottoms of wells, the roads, and in
many places the foundations of small houses, are
on solid rock. In fact, this is partly true through-
out the entire township; but nowhere else is it
so noticeable as about Charlestown.

When the forest trees stood unmolested and
the whole country for miles in any direction was

uncleared, the winds were such as to give a pe-
culiar flexibility to the climate. The breezes
from the Ohio river in summer tempered the
surroundings with a coolness which is now almost
a total stranger.

Most of the soil is productive. The unprec-
edented drouth of 1 88 r, however, reduced crops
to less than one-half their usual yield.

It is a limestone loam, mixed with sand.
Along the bottoms of Fourteen-mile creek, which
are never more than a few hundred yards in
width, excellent corn, wheat, potatoes, and
vegetables are raised, the number of bushels per
acre varying according to circumstances. Up-
land furnishes fine pasture. Here are immense
herds of stock, composed mostly of cattle and
sheep.

When the settlements began on the Ohio and
in the interior of the township, the people de-
voted themselves to growing corn principally,
selling it to still-houses, fattening hogs, or flat-
boating it to New Orleans. But this time has
gone, never to return. Steamboats have long
since ushered in a new era of commerce. A flat-
boat now would be to some almost as much of a
curiosity as the first steamboat was when Fulton
made his trip up the Hudson or the Orleans
went down the Ohio.

On the east and west sides of the township
are quite large streams. Fourteen-mile creek,
which received its name because it empties into
the Ohio fourteen miles above Louisville, runs
through the eastern side, and Silver creek, with
its tributaries, intersects the western. Both have
branches of considerable consequence.

Pleasant run, so named from its lively and hap-
py way of falling over the rocks, which form its
bottom, begins in the vicinity of Charlestown,
flows past the old site of Springville in a south-
westerly direction, and enters Silver creek, in
Utica township. It is perhaps six or eight
miles in length, and during the greater part of the
year is dry.

Sinking fork traverses the same side of the
township, and is of much larger size. It heads
in Monroe, and meanders till it strikes the
main stream near the township of Union. Its
sides are lined by ledges of rock which ascend
in some instances fifty to a hundred feet. Along
the stream are trees of large size, including those
kinds mentioned before.

33«

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Fourteen-mile passes directly south through
the east side and empties into the Ohio about
midway between the northern and southern lines
of the township bordering on the river. Its en-
trance into the northern side is marked by abrupt
cliffs. All the way down through the township
hills with monstrous rocks border it. A pleasant
little valley follows most of the time, though it
is frequently lost in the rocky ledges.

During the early times, when salt was about as
precious as coffee, there was accidentally dis-
covered a salt spring on Fourteen-mile creek,
above Work's mill. Some citizens were induced
to dig for salt here, with the intention of erecting
a manufactory for separating the water into its
component parts and extracting salt. Discover-
ing that the quantity and quality were insufficient
to justify the expenditure of much money, the
scheme was abandoned. In penetrating the
rock a bed of gypsum was passed through, which
may some day be made profitable. On the
same creek is found excellent limestone suitable
for building purposes, and in the immediate
neighborhood a species of marble fit for tables,
sills, posts, lintels, and other appendages to
buildings.

Fountain spring, south of Charlestown, comes
out through a rocky cliff, and furnishes water
enough for a woolen mill. The water has a pe-
culiar flavor, and its medicinal qualities have
been strongly recommended.

Buffalo lick, on what is called the Lick branch
of Fourteen-mile creek, lies one mile and a half
east of Charlestown. During the periods when
the Mound Builders and the Indians traversed
this land, great numbers of wild animals visited
this spring. On the east side is a fine sugar-tree
grove. The three remaining sides are bounded
by a hill, which curves gradually from the north,
and ends in an abrupt ledge of rock on the south.
The timber here is mostly stunted oak, beech,
and ash. The spring proper, which has been
blasted out, making a sort of cistern six or seven
feet deep, is full of old boards, stones, and rub-
bish generally. Just below, in a shallow basin,
an opportunity is offered to try the water. It
has a delicious sulphur taste, and is peculiarly
adapted to certain classes of invalids. Some
years ago a stock company proposed to buy the
property on which it is located and erect a hos-
pital in Charlestown, running a street-car convey-

ance back and forth ; but for good reasons the
enterprise never came to a successful trial, and
hence there has been nothing done in this direc-
tion. Around this spring and up Lick branch
for some distance is a limestone of a bluish tint.
In this bed of rock are hundreds of footprints.
Some are ten to fifteen inches across, and the
same distance from the heel to the toe. The
indentations in many places are six inches deep,
and resemble the footprints of prehistoric ani-
mals. They are distinct, and easily measured.
A few years ago the footprints apparently of a
man could be seen, but now the running water
has left no trace of so remarkable a vestige of
antiquity. Hundreds of smaller tracks are scat-
tered about. They appear to be those of deer,
buffalo, elk, and other animals of the forest.

Barnett's cave, one mile west of Charlestown,
is of much historic interest. The entrance is
about five feet high by three in breadth, and is
on a side hill facing east. Above thirty or forty
feet is a clump of old cedars, which need some
trimming to look respectable. The visitor de-
scends a steep plane of half a dozen yards, pulls
away an old door without hinges, and enters.
He is immediately attracted by nothing unusual
for such places. A room large enough for a
score of sleepers is the first attraction. Stalag-
mites and stalactites are scattered around in pro-
fusion. The bottom, as one walks along, is wet,
and hard in most places, though sometimes mud
is found in abundance. Avenues lead off in
various directions, two hundred feet from the
door. Some fifty yards within is a scalloped
spring four to five inches deep and from three to
even feet in diameter. A huge rock hangs over-
head, so as to compel the visitor to stoop in pass-
ing, while an old quart fruit-can affords an oppor-
tunity to taste the water. The walls are covered
by coral formations, and the ceilings by ponder-
ous flat slabs of a wavy appearance.

This cave has many stories connected with its
history. On one point there appears to be con-
clusive evidence. The red man at an early day,
when pursued by the pioneers of Charlestown
commonly made it a shelter. Human bones are
frequently found, which on exposure to light
crumble into dust. The real part it played in
the Indian warfare is not known, however. The
hardy frontiersman has left but few traces by
which to read its experience and rehearse its life

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

339

to the villages of to-day. But there is a tinge ot
romance connected with its existence which will
always serve to make it interesting. As to its
exact length there is considerable doubt. Per-
haps a thousand yards would be something near
its convenient traveling distance, though it cer-
tainly extends much further in lesser dimensions.
East of the village of Charlestown is another
cave. It is considerably larger than Barnett's
cave, and yet has a less interesting history. The
entrance is easily reached and the passage fol-
lowed without much difficulty. Young people
in their picnics and excursion parties often make
it a stopping-place where they rest their weary
limbs, drink of its cool water, and wonder that
such places ever were made. Its length is several
hundred yards ; its height and width often
changing — sometimes widening, and then again
becoming almost so narrow as to make progress
a trifle unpleasant for people of large size. There
is nothing to show that it was ever used by the
Indians.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS — SPRINGVILLE.

The same influences which affected the Indian,
as he traveled from the Falls of the Ohio to the
headwaters of the White river, seemed to affect
the first settlers in this township. An Indian
trace, which was simply a path running up
ravines, over plateaus, and down side-hills,
formerly ran west of Charlestown near the old
site of Springville. All of the county in 1800
was indefinitely bounded, and many of the five-
hundred-acre tracts were unsettled in reference
to their ownership. Their first owners, in many
instances, had failed to have their deeds recorded
and proper arrangements made to sell their prop-
erty, if so desired. Yet there were some who
had moved onto their land, and begun the work
of clearing off the forest and preparing for the
requirements of life. These persons were
among the first settlers. As early as 1800, on
tract one hundred and fifteen, a town sprang up
from some cause or another, as the township
began to receive its first citizens. This settle-
ment included men who have long since passed
to their reward, leaving behind them nothing by
which to know their names. Near the village
was a spring, which furnished good water for
household purposes; also a small stream, which
was fed mostly by other springs, farther up in the
township. From these circumstances the settle-

ment took the name of Springville. The place
grew to some size, perhaps numbering in its
most prosperous days, one hundred inhabitants.
Here the first courts were held in the county,
beginning on the 7th of April, 1801. The jus-
tices were appointed by General W. H. Harrison,
Territorial Governor of Indiana, and were called
Justices of the General Court of Quarter Sessions,
and were as follows: Marston G. Clark, Abraham
Huff, James N. Wood, Thomas Downs, William
Goodwin, John Gibson, Charles Tulley, and
William Harrod. The court-house was simply a
large room in one of the business buildings. It
had no claim to any of the modern style of
temples of justice. Close by a still-house was in
active operation, furnishing the traders a brand
of whiskey of remarkable purity. Several stores
or trading-posts came into existence, which
necessarily made it a great rendezvous for
Indians.

One mile and a half west of this settlement
the first Governor of the State of Indiana, Jona-
than Jennings, lived. He, too, engaged in mak-
ing whiskey, but on a larger scale than his kins-
man at Springville. John Bottorff carried on
the milling business a short distance up the
stream — which, as before noted, was called
Pleasant run, from its gentle way of tumbling
over the rocks, though to an insignificant amount
at best. His mill was of the horse-power kind,
and, from outside circumstances, soon went
down. Jennings had a mill also in connection
with his farm and still-house, and for many years
furnished the neighborhood with corn-meal and
buckwheat flour.

But there came a dark day. The land on
which the settlement was located became the
subject of dispute in reference to its ownership.
Trials were had, many enemies made, and a
quarrel set in motion which continued to revolve
with varying degrees of velocity till the village
ceased to exist. All these transactions took
place within eight years. During this time the
settlement had been founded; it grew to be the
most important place in the central part of the
county, and then had died a natural death.
The village had all the characteristics of pioneer
settlements. In fact, it gave birth to a class of
men who in after years played a prominent part
in the affairs of county and State government.
It is also a fact worthy of note that one of the

34°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

signers of the Declaration of Independence —
Judge James Wilson, of Pennsylvania — is buried
in the old Springville burying-ground. His exact
resting-place is not precisely known, though it is
supposed by the side of other old residents who
lie in the same ground.

Many years ago the town died. The place
where the stalwart judges dispensed justice is for-
gotten, except by a few old settlers, whose heads
have seen the frosts of nearly a hundred winters.
At the present time the summer months find the
original site covered by a luxuriant growth of
corn, oats, grass, fruit-trees, and the farm prod-
ucts generally. The lurking savage, who watched
the hamlet spring into existence and then retire
into nothingness, has passed away, and new
homes are built upon fields where their genera-
tions sleep. Peace be to their ashes — the town
and all its happy recollections, and the people
who devoted themselves to making a garden out
of a wilderness.

THE MOUND BUILDERS.

At the mouth of Fourteen-mile creek, and
about three miles from Charlestown, is one of
the most remarkable stone fortifications in the
State. The stream here entering the Ohio forms
a sort of peninsula. This body of land is very
high, and terminates in an abrupt bluff, com-
manding a splendid view up and down the river.
It has many natural advantages, making it im-
pregnable to the opposing forces of prehistoric
man. Fouiteen-mile enters the river a short dis-
tance below the fort. The top of the ridge is
pear-shaped, the part answering to the neck being
at the north end. This part is not over twenty
feet wide, and is protected by precipitous natural
walls of stone. It is two hundred and eighty
feet above the Ohio, and slopes gradually toward
the south. At the upper field it is two hundred
and forty feet high, and one hundred steps wide.
At the lower timber it is one hundred and twenty
feet high. The bottom land at the foot of the
south end is sixty feet above the river. The ab-
rupt escarpment along the Ohio and a portion
of the northwest side of the creek cannot be
easily scaled. This natural wall is joined to the
neck by an artificial wall, made by piling up loose
stone — mason fashion, but without mortar —
which have evidently been pried up from the cor-
niferous layers within a short distance of the

walls. This wall is about one hundred and fifty
feet long. It is built along the slope of the hill,
and had an elevation of seventy-five feet above
its base, the upper ten feet being vertical. The
inside of the wall is protected by a ditch, and is
drained by a sort of tiling. The remainder of
the hill is protected by an artificial stone wall,
built in the same manner, but not more than ten
feet high. The elevation of the side wall above
the creek bottom is eighty feet. Within the arti-
ficial walls is a row of mounds, which rise to the
height of the walls, and are protected from wash-
ings by a ditch twenty feet wide and four feet
deep. The top of the enclosed ridge embraces
ten or twelve acres. There are as many as five
mounds that can be recognized on the flat sur-
face, while no doubt many others existed which
have been obliterated by time and the agency of
man in his attempts to cultivate the ground.

Many attempts have been made to learn the
correct history of this mound. Into one of the
mounds a trench was cut in search for relics. A
few fragments of charcoal and decomposed bones,
and a large, irregular, diamond- shaped boulder,
with a small, circular indentation near the middle
of the upper part, that was worn quite smooth by
the use to which it was put, and the small pieces
of fossil coral, comprise all the articles of note
which were revealed by the excavation. The
earth of which the mounds are made resembles
that on the side hill, and was probably taken
from the ditch. That side of the mound next
to the ditch was protected by slabs of stone set
on edge and leaning at an angle corresponding
to the slope of the mounds. This stone shield
was two and a half feet wide and one foot high.
At intervals along the great ditch channels were
formed between the mounds, that probably
served to carry off surplus water through open-
ings in the outer wall.

On the top of the enclosed ridge, and near to
the narrowest part, there is one mound much
larger than any of the rest, and so situated as to
command an extensive view up and down the
Ohio, as well as affording an unobstructed view
east and west. It is known by the name of
Lookout Mound. There is near this mound a
slight break in the cliff of rocks, which furnishes
a narrow passage-way to the river.

The locality affords many natural advantages
for a fort or stronghold, and one is compelled to

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

34i

admit that much skill and ingenuity were dis
played in rendering its defense as perfect as pos-
sible. Stone axes, pestles, arrow-heads, spear-
points, totems, charms, and flint flakes, have been
found in great abundance in plowing in the fields
at the foot of the old fort. No one can view
the remains of an extinct people without feeling
a deep reverence for their customs and modes of
living. But, after all, we know little of their
everyday life. It is a doubtful question, at best,
to those who are most conversant with archaeol-
ogy, and the sciences which deal with the origin
of man.

In other portions of Charlestown township
are mounds, though of such slight importance
as not really to deserve even passing notice.
However, everything which relates to antiquity is
always interesting. It causes us to think of our
origin and of our destiny, the sphere we are oc-
cupying in the affairs of the universe, and the
final winding up of all material things.

INDIANS AND WILD ANIMALS.

From prehistoric times until the date of the
first white settlements at Clarksville, Springville,
and other posts on the frontier, the red man and
the beasts of the forest roamed in all the sim-
plicity of savage life where are now prosperous
farms and manufactories. The savage found no
trouble in taking game; deer, wild turkey, bear,
and occasionally buffalo cantered over the ravines
and gobbled a welcome to the bow and arrow.
The first white settlers kept their families sup-
plied with meat in all necessary quantities by the
rifle. Bears were killed in great numbers, and
their shoulders and hams smoked for summer
eating. The fat was extracted and often was the
only oily substance kept in the house.

One kind of dangerous animal was the wild
hogs. They ran through the woods in droves,
and when met gave no quarter to the unfortunate
hunter or traveler. However, they were quite
easily shunned. Their sense of smell was not
acute, and for this reason, mainly, an active and
experienced hunter found them of little conse-
quence, if properly avoided.

CHARLESTOWN.

During the troublesome times which afflicted
Springville, another village was ushered into ex-
istence, which in after years comes to play for a
time the most important part in the history of

Clark county. Unlike its predecessor, it was well
located for all the material and spiritual things
of backwoods life. We refer to Charlestown.
From it a mine of information has been gleaned,
a story of remarkable clearness and perspicuity,
a foundation upon which all other township his-
tories of the county depend.

The town was laid off in 1808. It is situated
upon tract number one hundred and seventeen,
of the Clark Grant. The original proprietors
were Barzilla Baker and Mr. McCampbell; John
Hay and Charles Beggs served as surveyors.
McCampbell owned the western half of the
tract, and Baker the eastern. The latter had a
cleared field of ten acres, which extended as far
westward as where the Christian church now
stands. McCampbell, who was the father of
Samuel McCampbell, well known in the later
history of Charlestown, owned a meadow, the
northeastern line of which ran from near the
old graveyard on the hill to M. P. Alpha's cor-
ner, thence again with the line of Market street
to a point not far from the site of the old acad-
emy. All that part of the town between these
two fields, including most of the public square
and the business part of the town, was in the
woods when the village was laid out.

Charlestown, like some other places, derived
its name from one of its surveyors — Charles
Beggs, by adding the frequent termination
"town" to "Charles," his first name; hence the
designation, one appropriately fitted to the new
settlement. What induced the founders to lay
off this town in the woods will perhaps never be
known. It may have been the peculiar idea that
many young and inexperienced pioneers have,
that all places naturally adopted for a trading-
post will ultimately become a great city. If this
were their idea, however, in if they certainly
failed.

In the original plat there were one hundred
and fifty-nine lots and about ninety-five acres of
land. They were eighty by two hundred feet.
McCampbell and Baker donated the proceeds
from the sale of thirty lots for public buildings.
In the central and best building part of the town,
a public square was laid off, comprising about
three acres. As the years went by and the town
limits began to be taken up in houses and man-
ufactories, additions were made to the original
plat. Mathias Hester and D. Tilford made the

342

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

first addition, lying north of Thompson street,
and comprising twenty-two lots, or about thirteen
acres of land. James Ross added eighty-two
lots, or forty-two acres, some time after. James
McCampbell made an addition of forty-nine
lots, or twenty-nine acres. John Naylor added
twenty lots, or twelve acres. Barzilla Baker again
made an addition of forty-seven lots, or twenty-
eight acres; and last, and least in quantity, came
James Garner with ten lots, or six acres. The
railroad addition, including five acres, is not in-
corporated, and therefore is not properly within
the town limits. The cemetery, which has nine
acres, also lies outside of the corporation. Most
of the lots are of the same size, and, taking the
whole number, there are three hundred and
ninety-nine lots, or about two hundred and forty
acres, included in the corporation.

From the beginning there were many things
which contributed toward making the new settle-
ment vigorous. It had the spirit of enterprise
which marks all primitive county seats. The
court-house at Springville, if such it could be
called, was replaced by a more commodious
brick building on the public square in Charles-
town. To be sure, these facts soon induced in-
telligent men to make it a stopping-place or to
locate permanently there. It can be truly said
its first citizens were generally men of moral and
steady habits. They came mostly from the New
England States, and were tolerably well edu-
cated.

A PIONEER TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

But in process of time retail liquor establish-
ments, the bane then as now of nearly eveiy com-
munity, were set up; and lamentable was their
influence on the people of the town and its
neighborhood. To correct this evil, efforts were
early made to organize something like a tem-
perance society. For this purpose the Rev. Mr.
Cable, pastor of the Presbyterian church, Judge
Scott, an elder in the same church, and Rev.
George K. Hester, had a conference in the
house of the latter. After consultation a paper
was prepared setting forth the general principles
and purposes of the temperance cause, and it
was circulated in the community in order to pre-
pare the public for a temperance meeting. Mr.
Cable, having had little experience in such mat-
ters, was in doubt as to the best way to conduct

the meeting. Mr. Hester referred him to Rev.
John Strange, at that time Methodist presiding
elder in the Charlestown district, who had organ-
ized several temperance associations. Soon after
this Mr. Strange held a camp-meeting in the
Robertson neighborhood, and here these two
Christian gentlemen had a consultation in
reference to the matter, resulting in the appoint-
ment of a temperance mass-meeting in Charles-
town. The assembly was accordingly held, and
was addressed by Rev. Mr. Strange, Dr. Adams,
Judge Ross, and several Presbyterian ministers
whose names are not remembered. At the close
of the meeting a number of persons signed a
total abstinence pledge, and thus was laid the
foundation of the first temperance society in
Charlestown.

TAVERNS AND STORES.

It must not be presumed that the county-seat
was without the necessary places of rest for the
traveler, or other places where the villager might
secure coarse boots, a pound or two of coffee —
which always came by way of New Orleans
from abroad, or any other of the thousand
and one things which country stores keep. As
the road leading from Charlestown Landing on
the Ohio, passed through the town, it was in the
line of considerable travel to pass through the
village. The ferries were kept busy at certain
times of the year in carrying passengers across
the Ohio, who, in most instances, were bound for
the upper counties of Washington, Bartholomew,
Scott, and Jefferson. The emigrants usually
crossed at McDaniel's and Wood's stations.
They commonly had wagons, but often the en-
tire household furniture was carried on pack-
horses. The route led through a dense forest of
oak, poplar, beech, and smaller timber.

Among the early tavern-keepers were Charles
Pixley, Stephen Ranney, Evan Shelby, John Fer-
guson. Their places of entertainment were
usually ill-contrived — not such as we find now,
by any means. The second story was often
thrown into one room, where the lodgers re-
posed in sweet complacency, indifferent to all
their surroundings. Corn-bread, pork, hominy,
a cup of strong coffee for breakfast, and some-
times warm biscuits just from the stone oven,
cabbage, potatoes, and so on, made up the fare.
There was always enough to eat, but it was pre-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

343

pared quite differently from the cookery of to-
day.

On the 5th of July, 1842, during the Harrison
campaign, M. P. Alpha's present brick store was
used for a village hotel — at least, that is the title
it bore on the sign-board. There was a porch in
front, and on it General Harrison addressed the
people of Charlestown on the political issues of
the day.

Richard M. Johnson came, too, in the course
of the fall, and delivered his speech to attentive
listeners. He was received by a committee, and
from here went to Salem, in Washington county.
At the foot of the knobs he cut hickory canes
for the committee, which were preserved as relics
of much value. Thomas J. Henly delivered the
reception speech in behalf of Clark county.

But of the taverns. From 1808 they were
common — indeed, so much so as to make it
tedious to follow all their upward tendencies and
downward grades. They seemed to thrive best
when the town was in a healthy condition, and
when the traveling public went by horse, and not
steam power. The old-time tavern days in
Charlestown are past and gone, never to return.
Their time of greatest activity will live only in
history.

Strange as it may appear, the store-keeping
business in Charlestown was of a very extraordi-
nary kind. John L. P. McCune came here in
1816, opened a shoe-shop, and supplied his little
room with a stock of goods.

In 1822 he located permanently, and for many
years afterwards plied his awl and measured the
feet, for coarse boots, of most of the lawyers,
judges, and physicians at the county seat.
Messrs. Parker & Handy were early merchants,
but after an experience of several years in the
place, they moved to Louisville, where they
finally became very wealthy in the same business.
What is most surprising is the great number of
tailors and hatters who kept shops in Charles-
town at the same time. There were here forty
years ago thirty-five hatters, mostly Germans,
and as many tailors. The former made most of
their goods, and it was a familiar sight to see a
good-natured German measuring the head of
some distinguished lawyer or judge. Tailors
delighted in making fits, which they regarded as
good advertisements when the traveling judge
was visiting other courts. Today, instead of

taverns, we can see a dozen saloons, meat shops,
and drug stores.

MILLS AND FACTORIES.

There is no county in southern Indiana so pre-
eminently important in matters relating to me-
chanical ingenuity as Clark. Here, by way of
parenthesis, let it be known that the county is un-
pretentious. She relates her history in a modest
way, which carries conviction and wins the ad-
miration of all lovers of early reminiscences. It
is true, also, that Charlestown is the banner
township. Its milling history is without a paral-
lel in the annals of grinding corn, wheat, and
the various grains of this section. The honor
belongs to Mr. John Work, a gentleman from
Pennsylvania, who came here late in the eight-
eenth century, of handing down to posterity one
of the most remarkable mills in the State. He
settled in the vicinity' of Charlestown on Four-
teen-mile creek, above where Green's flouring-
mill now stands. Of his early life we know lit-
tle, except that he sprang from humble and re-
spectable origin. Nature had fitted him pecu-
liarly for the work of his life. His natural
mathematical talents were great. Education had
left the block rough and advised experience to
make it shapely. The great, predominant traits
of his character were an indomitable will and
obedience to conscience.

The work he performed in making calcula-
tions without a compass is almost incredible.
With most of his friends he was considered a
prodigy. On the bank of Fourteen-mile creek
he erected a stone mill as early as 1800. Here
he found opportunities to release the powers of his
mind. The Indians, as well as the white man,
gave him corn to grind, and pestered his good
wife by petty thievery. But as the years rolled
away and business grew to larger proportions,
and as his road to Charlestown was inconvenient
and water-power uncertain, he planned a work
which has made his name famous for all time to
come. Fall, winter, and spring were busy sea-
sons. His mill was recognized as the best in the
county. After fifteen or twenty years of con-
stant use the old stone mill needed repairing ;
but he had already decided on a new place of
business, which was even to outrival the proprie-
tor himself. A tunnel was to be made which
was to act as a mill-race, and therefore always give

344

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

a full supply of water. Fourteen-mile makes a
long curve in the form of a pear, leaving a body
of land resembling a peninsula, which included,
perhaps, twenty acres. The distance through
at the narrowest point was a little over three
hundred feet. But the obstacles were of mam-
moth proportions. The hill, for such it was,
rose to one hundred feet from the bed of the
creek. It was made up of solid rock. After ma-
ture deliberation and a few surveys he began the
work. From the old mill-site he began tunnel-
ing, and also at the same time on the opposite
side, or where the new mill was to stand. His im-
plements were rude; his experience in blasting
and making powder limited. The work began in
18 1 7 and lasted three years. During this time
three men were constantly engaged. Six hun-
dred and fifty pounds of powder were used, and
the cost of the work is estimated at $3,300.
The race was six feet deep and five wide, and
was ninety-four feet below the summit.

As we said, the tunnel was through solid rock.
No bracing or scaffolding was required to pro-
tect the workmen ; and when completed no arch-
ing was erected to preserve the roof from falling.
The day of completion was a gala day for the
surrounding country. John Work invited all his
customers to partake of his hospitalities. A great
dinner was provided. A man who weighed over
two hundred pounds rode through the tunnel on
horseback. At each end was a barrel of prime
whiskey, with the head knocked out. Speeches
were made and a glorification had which to this
day is remembered with many affectionate re-
gards.

Henceforward this was called the Tunnel mill.
At the end of the race an overshot wheel was
put up. The two buhrs ran by a never-failing
water-supply, with a fall of twenty-four feet. The
mill is frame, and is 50 x 35 feet. The wheel is
twenty feet in diameter, though twenty-six feet
could be used, if necessary. John Rose acted
here as second engineer, and Woodrun Procter
as tool-sharpener and gunsmith.

John Work died in 1832. After his death his
son John took possession and continued in the
business till 1854, when Mr. Wilford Green pur-
chased the property. Since this date the mill
has been in use, Mr. Green being proprietor and
miller. It has a capacity of two and a half bar-
rels per hour.

Sixty-odd years have rolled away since John
Work began to establish the milling business per-
manently on Fourteen-mile creek. His energy
gave a prominence to grinding wheat, corn, and
buckwheat, which is eminently characteristic of
the times. An incident which belongs to the
old stone mill will illustrate his character. In
the spring of 181 1, while engaged in dealing with
a company of Indians in his mill, a renegade,
who belonged to the same crowd, stole a piece of
flaxhnen which was drying on the outside. Mrs.
Work soon discovered her loss after their depart-
ure, and informed her husband. He immediately
mounted a horse and started in pursuit. After
a short ride Mr. Work overtook the band, and
informing them of his loss, demanded the prop-
erty. A short parley ensued, upon which the thief
refused to turn over the goods. Mr. Work dis-
mounted for the purpose of using force, but was
prevented by a stroke on the head near the ear
by a tomahawk. His scalp was peeled off in a
frightful manner, and his life was saved only by the
appearance of white friends who followed, well
knowing the intrepidity of the famous miller. He
now lies in the family burying-ground near the
old mill-site, his resting-place marked by nothing
indicative of his example and the part he bore in
rescuing this county from the red man. '

Of course there were other mills in Charles-
town township at an early day. McDaniel's mill,
on Fourteen-mile, was in operation for a long
time. It was above the Tunnell mill. Years
ago it succumbed to the elements, and now noth-
ing remains to connect its past history with the
experiences of to-day.

Adam Howard also had a grist-mill on the
same stream. He ground the grain as it came
to him, took out his toll and returned the re-
mainder, believing that the best way to carry on
business was to have a special regard for one's
own interests.

Among the horse-mills — and the very first
ones, too — was Jesse Pardue's, half way between
Charlestown and Strieker's corner. It was in
active operation in 181 7, but, like many other
pioneer contrivances, had but a short life.

Near Buffalo lick, on the Lick branch of Four-
teen-mile creek, is one of the early landmarks
of this county. Here John Denny erected an
overshot mill, and for several years met the
wants of the neighboring people.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ALLEN BARNETT
was born in West Hanover, Dauphin county,
Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1799. He was the
fifth of a family of nine children, all deceased, he
being the last. His father, James, and mother,
Mary Allen, were both natives of Pennsylvania.
His grandfather, Joseph, was born in 1726,
whose father, John, was the son of John, who
was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1678, and
emigrated to Hanover township, then Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania, prior to 1730. This is
undoubtedly the principal source from which
most of the name originated in this country.

He received his early education in the com-
mon schools of the country. His father and
mother dying while he was quite young, he was
early in life thrown upon his own resources. In
the year 18 19 his eldest brother, Samuel, emi-
grated West, bringing his brothers and sisters
with him. The subject of this sketch was left in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and apprenticed to leain the
trade of a coppersmith. After completing his
term of service he went to Shippingport, Ken-
tucky, now a part of Portland, Kentucky, where
he began to lay the foundation of his future
successes.

Owing to the unhealthiness of the location he
was forced, after a sojourn of a year or two, to
leave, and he established himself in Louisville,
Kentucky, where, in connection with his brother
James, they began business in earnest on Fourth
street, between Main and Market.

In 1826 he was married to Margaret Elizabeth
Shafer, by whom he had six children, all of
whom are still living, with one exception — his
son George, who died from the effect of a wound
received in the battle of Stone River, Tennessee.

With his characteristic energy, perseverance,
and industry, his business grew up rapidly, so
that it was extensively enlarged. His promptness
in business, his integrity in action, attracted to
his side the older merchants, who aided and en-
couraged the rising young man by their advice
and patronage. After a time his physical frame,
naturally weak, gave way under the great strain
of his extensive business, and in 1836 he retired
from business, hoping by travel and rest to re-
gain his lost health.

But his restless energy would not be quieted.
In 1838 he, in company with Judge Read, Felix
Lewis, and another party, purchased the steamer

Lady Morgan, and went into the Arkansas river
trade, and afterwards into the Ohio and Wabash
river trade.

Getting tired of this he sold out, and in 1840
purchased a farm in Clark county, Indiana,
to which he removed his family in the spring of
that year, his object being two-fold : the better
enjoyment of health, and to get the advantages
of the schools in Charlestown for his children.

In the year 1841 his wife died, and in 1847
he married Edith Jacobs, by whom he had six
sons and three daughters, all of whom are still
living, with the exception of his son Oscar, who
died in infancy.

In 1843 he united with the Presbyterian
church of Charlestown, of which he was a faith-
ful and consistent member, always ready with
his good advice and purse to advance its in-
terests.

The management and improvement of his farm
was not enough to occupy his active mind. He
invested largely in Government lands, and after-
wards became interested in the First National
bank of Jefferson ville, of which he was a director
for a number of years.

As the infirmities of age came upon him his
desire for business grew less, and he sought the
quiet and retirement of his home, and enjoyed
the visits of his children and their families.

On September 19, 1879, he died of injuries
received from the kicks of a mule, after three or
four hours' suffering, in his eightieth year.

In the words of his pastor, " his life was a
long one, full of activity and diligence in every-
thing to which he put his hand. His industry,
integrity, and clear business insight were mani-
fest to all who knew him. He was more than
usually prospered in his business, and had by
faithful labor and wise management — as honest
as it was wise — accumulated a large estate. He
was modest, retiring, and quiet in his manner,
and yet warm-hearted and earnest in his feelings.
As a husband and father he was most tenderly af-
affectionate and kind. The whole community feel
the loss, but that sustained by his family none can
estimate but themselves. The church of which
he was so long a consistent and worthy member
feels that a gap has been made in its ranks that
cannot soon be filled. His interest in the church
was constant, and his gifts to. it frequent and
liberal."

sr>; ,~i

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

345

Above the spring two or three hundred feet,
was a dam, from which a race carried the water
to an overshot wheel, half a hundred yards be-
low. The traces of an old road are yet plainly
seen, as it ran winding off toward the Ohio river.
It went out of public use many years since. The
mill-site was romantic, and yet well suited for
business. Caves, rocks, the famous sulphur
spring, and the peculiarities of the early age
combined to make it a resort for the youngsters
of the township. Some of the walls are yet
standing, with tops knocked off half-way up, a
sill or two, almost ready to fall into their original
elements, still hanging in a peculiar position. It,
too, is dying. Its work is done, and the period
of its active existence at an end.

To traverse the ground occupied by the
numerous horse-mills of Charlestown township
would be impolitic. They were almost as com-
mon as private stills, sugar-camps in the Utica
bottoms, or even log cabins themselves. The
county seat has a milling experience of its own,
to which we must give a suitable paragraph.

The old village of Charlestown was never par-
ticularly noted for its mills. Captain J. C. Cald-
well erected a house for grinding purposes very
early. The mill was of the horse-power kind,
with the cld-fashioned sweep, and stood east of
the court-house. It burned down in 1825. Bar-
zilla Baker and McCampbell, the founders of
the place, had each a mill on his land. Parker
& Carr many years ago had a mill near the
Ohio & Mississippi railroad trestle-work; but
failure overtook the firm, and the building was
torn down. At one time an overshot flouring-
mill was built on Pleasant run by John Trickett,
but a hard wind some time after blew the build-
ing over and it was never rebuilt. During the
seventy-odd years through which the village has
passed, mills have sprung up almost spontan-
eously, and apparently went out of existence
with the same easy mode of life. In the place
now there are two good flouring- and saw-mills.
Both do a good business, but much of their
wheat is shipped to them from other counties.

Charlestown was noted at one time for a coffin
factory, which did a large amount of work.

East of the village, in a valley, is the Spring
Valley creamery. It has a capacity of two
thousand gallons of milk per day. Many far-
mers in the neighborhood sell their milk to this

establishment. Another cheese factory is in
operation north of Charlestown, the stockholders
in which reside in the village. Its capacity is
somewhat larger than the Spring Valley.

Among the early tanners was a firm known as
Todd & Vance, whose place of business was
east of the court-house. James McCarley was
in the same line across the street (Main) in 1820.
The tanyard of Samuel McCampbell, the son of
James McCampbell, who owned the western
half of the town, stood on Pleasant run for
several years. In the village a firm started up
about 1835, by the name of Krieger & Schuff.
The same effects are noticeable in this branch of
trade as in many other branches of business.
At this time the local tanneries are among the
things numbered with the past.

RAILROADS AND TURNPIKES.

It was natural, after the county seat was per-
manently located at Charlestown, for roads to
diverge from it to all parts of the county. Hence,
in the commissioners' proceedings we find numer-
ous petitions for roads. The old road to Jeffer-
sonville ran through Springville, making a curve,
avoiding some rough land as well as taking
in the old settlement. On the Ohio was Charles-
town Landing, where steamboats received
and unloaded freight and passengers. An old
road led to this point, and was one of the first in
Clark county. It is yet in use, though not of
much consequence. The landing was a lso
known by the name of McDonald's Ferry — the
founder who gave it the name coming here in
1796. A Mr. Daily owned tract number fifty-six,
and sold one-half of it to McDonald, who was to
have his own time for payment. Some years after-
wards trouble arose and a quarrel ensued, in
the course of which Peter McDonald suffered
severely.

There was a road which led to Salem, in
Washington county; another to Madison, in Jef-
ferson county ; and one to the county seat of
Scott, which borders Clark county on the north.
Besides, all the townships had roads leading to
the place of paying taxes and securing marriage
licenses. No grades were made. Roads led
through tangled vines, among trees — broken off
half-way up and toppled over, down ravines and
up hill sides. It was unnecessary to establish
toll-gates; bridges, there were none; and as far

346

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

as crossing creeks was concerned, it was of little
importance whether the water was high or low.
The tax-payer made it a rule to meet his lawful
obligations, and considered hindrances the best
way to secure a name for honesty, provided ob-
stacles were always overcome.

As Charlestown increased in population and
importance, the different companies which were
taking into consideration the propriety of build-
ing railroads in this quarter, included the county-
seat in the list of stopping places. The first at-
tempt to construct a railroad was made about
forty years ago. The proposed route led from
New Albany to Sandusky on Lake Erie. But be-
fore the road was completed, the company went
into bankruptcy. Embankments and cuts may
be seen yet west of the town, where the road was
to cross Pleasant run.

In 1854 another company, known as the Fort
Wayne & Southern, began the work of grading
from Louisville. The road-bed was almost com-
pleted as far as Charlestown ; and for twenty or
thirty miles northward, reaching up to the neigh-
borhood of North Vernon, much work was done.
But this company failed, too. Charlestown
township had contributed liberally, but was des-
tined to see its cherished enterprise fall a victim
to bad management and perhaps avaricious
views.

• Not till 1870 did the place truly realize that
the locomotive, with all its accompaniments, was
an every-day visitor. The Ohio & Mississippi
railroad, whose main line runs between Cincin-
nati and St. Louis, desired a branch to Louisville.
After some necessaiy negotiations the old* com-
pany sold out its road-bed, and the new company
laid its track to the river. This road passes the
village on the east side. Trains come and go
over the Ohio & Mississippi branch from Jeffer-
sonville to North Vernon regularly. As they
check up here, an old, dilapidated station or tel-
egraph office and waiting-room may be observed
on the west side of the track. It is not more
than 20 x 30 feet, and hardly able to support
itself on a half-dozen posts, which act as legs, as
it were. It too, like most other public houses,
except churches and schools, is rapidly going to
decay; though as long as the railway continues
to pass by the village, the company will probably
have an office of at least common respectability
at Charlestown. A tank, into which an engine

pumps water, stands on the east side. Here the
iron horse supplies itself before pushing ahead
to stations beyond.

PIONEER SCHOOLS.

Immorality prevailed to a fearful extent among
the early settlers in this part of the county.
Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, horse-racing, and
dancing, were their common pastimes. The
neighbors would seldom gather for mutual as-
sistance in their domestic or farm affairs, without
more or less disturbance during the day, followed
by a dance through good part of the night. But
even then there were a few who stood aloof from
the prevailing vices of the day.

The manners of those times were character-
ized by simplicity in dress and conversation.
The poverty of the people prevented the intro-
duction of superfluities, and their mutual de-
pendence served to endear them to each other in
their various relations. This was especially so
in the more religious communities. Pastor and
people seemed to be bound together by the
strongest ties of friendship.

Facilities for obtaining an education were then
very meager. Probably the first school ever
kept in this part of the county was in 1803, one
and a half miles south of the old Hester farm, on
a place now owned by Mr. Johnson. It was re-
peated in 1804. Among the pupils were George
and Craven Hester, the former later in life occu-
pying a distinguished position among his fellow-
citizens. The school was taught by a Mr. Epsy.
Teachers then began with the rudiments of the
language in Dilworth's spelling-book. Epsy
was rather deficient, even in the knowledge of
correct reading and pronunciation. His pupils
were taught to give nonsensical names to vowels
whenever one of them formed the syllable of a
word. Reading-books furnished little useful in-
formation, and were in no sense adapted to be-
ginners. Two books which were used as read-
ers were Gulliver's Travels and a dream-book.
The rigid discipline exercised, the cruel penal-
ties inflicted upon delinquent pupils, and the
long confinement to their books — from a little
after sunrise to near sunset — are all now con-
sidered as detrimental to intellectual as well as
physical advancement.

Schools in Charlestown village have always
been well supported. The first school-house, or

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

347

among the early school-houses in the place, stood
on the hill in the western half of the town. It
was situated in what is now the old burying-
ground, then Mr. Ferrier's yard, near the present
grave of ex-Governor Jennings. Judge Willis
Goodwin was one of the teachers, and his broth-
ers, John and Amos, were scholars. General
Dodge taught in Charlestown more than sixty
years ago, the same who afterwards acquired
celebrity in the Black Hawk war. The village
had a brick school-house soon after the old log
building. Silas Davis, Mr. Denean, B. W.
James, and Nancy Maddox, the latter mother-in-
law of the Hon. Judge Samuel C. Wilson, of
Crawfordsville, were teachers here. The house
was 20 x 35 feet.

CHARLESTOWN SEMINARY

is a name which has associated with it some
of the happiest recollections in all the experiences
of life. County seats generally bring together a
class of men who live by their intellect. Settlers
early learn to admire the educated man and
make arrangements for a thorough system of
education. It was so in this case. As early as
1830 Mr. D. Baker, an Englishman by birth,
opened a select school in the old Masonic hall.
He was the father of the Hon. E. D. Baker, after
wards Comgressman from Illinois and United
States Senator from Oregon, but who was killed
in the late war, at the battle of Ball's Bluff. All
fines for misdemeanors committed within the
corporation limits were turned into the seminary
fund. Finally the property was sold, and the
money placed to the credit of the common
schools. Among the teachers were Byron Law-
rence, Isaac McCoy and his brother William,
and William W. Gilliland, of Georgetown, Ohio,
who was appointed by the Governor to fill a
vacancy as common pleas judge.

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 frr 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 senr.nary 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 irrthe

348

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

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 societies 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 1801. 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-
GuirP 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 by Asa Shinn
and Moses. Ashworth. In the fall of 1806
Joseph Oglesbyand 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.

Ashworth's year on the Silver Creek circuit, as
it was then culled, was closed with a camp-meet-
ing in the Robinson neighborhood. William
Burke, afterwaids 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 preachers 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.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

349

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 buildiug. 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, Alexanders. 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 membeis 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 cr^rch

35°

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 ot 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,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3Si

but survived, and some time after was elected
brigadier-general of the Territorial militia. In
1 819 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 18 16 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 again elected to Congress, where
he served till 183 1, 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

352

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

citizen, was a room-mate with Edgar A. Foe 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, 181 7; 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
1st 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 Us 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.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

353

On account of the unfavorable location and the
long distance people from the northern part of
the county had to travel to attend, the three
counties of Scott, Jefferson, and the upper por-
tion of Clark began to hold a fair within a short
distance of New Washington. It was kept in
running order as a consolidated exhibition for
ten or twelve years. In the meantime Charles-
town had been favored again by the presence of
the old fair; and this proved to the cause of the
suspension of the fair at New Washington.

For a number of years the society was finan-
cially unprofitable. Fifteen acres of land under
its control were mortgaged, and many other
things made decidedly against its success.
Practically, the Clark County Agricultural society
was dead. The property was worth perhaps
$3,000. Shares in the society were valued at
$100 each. In the midst of these unfavorable
circumstances Mr. M. P. Alpha, a gentleman
who had always contributed largely of his means
and ability, bought the old property, and re-
organized what is now the Clark County Central
Agricultural association. Its fairs are held here
yearly. People bring their grains, fine stock,
farming implements, household goods, and fabrics
to exhibit, and to see each other in discussion of
all the facts and fancies of agricultural life.

WAR RECORD.

Were we to follow all the Indian skirmishes of
olden time; the organization of State militia for
English and Mexican wars; the equipment of
the soldier boys foj the late Rebellion, and the
exciting times caused by John Morgan's raid,
enough matter would be obtained to form a
good-sized history by itself. The devotion of
Charlestown's citizens to the cause of liberty and
the preservation of the Union was never doubted.
She had a class of men who knew the price of
freedom from experience — who had felt the In-
dian's scalping-knife, had dodged the deadly ar-
row— If such a thing were possible — and seen
the tomahawk fly through the air with the pre-
cision of a modern rifleman's bullet; who had
seen the savage stand in the court-house yard
and reel in drunkenness on Main and Market
streets; who had fought Indians in sight of
Tulleytown and at Pigeon Roost. Young men
and women of today turn away with a shudder,
wondering that such atrocities could have been

perpetrated in a land of so much present pros-
perity.

Perhaps there was never another man in
Clark's Grant who so narrowly escaped with his
life as the Rev. George K. Hester. His father,
John Mathias Hester, was born in Hanover, Ger-
many, July 4, 1767. The family settled at
Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1772, consisting of
father, mother, and three children. When about
nineteen years of age George K. Hester took
passage on a flatboat for the then far West. In
those days it was no uncommon thing for lurking
savages to fire on the whites as they floated to-
ward the gulf. During the passage Mr. Hester
had several narrow escapes; but it was after
landing near where Louisville now stands that he
was almost miraculously saved. While in the
woods of Kentucky a party of Indians attacked
his party, and after leaving him for dead he man-
aged to gain a place of refuge and finally to re-
gain his health. Some time during the bloody
tragedy Mr. Hester was struck with a weapon on
the back of his head, which rendered him un-
conscious; but during the time of taking his
scalp he was entirely conscious of everything
which transpired. He never fully recovered
from the effects of his wound, and it was
the ultimate cause of his death thirty years after-
wards. John Mathias Hester, his father, died
at his residence near Charlestown on the 2 2d of
November, 1823. Eighteen months after his
son's misfortune George married Miss Susannah
Huckleberry, to whom he was engaged before his
injury.

The practical patriotism of Charlestown during
the late war, as manifested by liberal enlistments
and otherwise, is sufficiently illustrated in our
military record of Clark and Floyd counties. It
may there be seen that she did her duty in the
great crisis. An interesting incident occurred
here on the 9th of April, 1S63, in the sale at
auction of a considerable tract of land and some
railway stock, confiscated by the United States
Government, as the property of Colonel William
Preston, of Kentucky, who had gone into the
service of the Confederate States.

But let us shift the scene. The history of
Charlestown village and township has been
traced from aboriginal times down to the present
day. The hamlet has passed through stormy

354

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

years, but is now entering a period of quiet and
satisfactory ease. Its most prosperous days
have been passed, and it now lives the life of a
retired and respectable county-seat.

Going north on the Ohio & Mississippi branch
from Charlestown, the traveler passes through a
somewhat broken country. The soil is not like
the fine bottoms of Utica. It is of a yellowish
tinge, and though it generally produces very well,
the drouth of 1881 reduced crops to less than
one-half their usual yield. An ugly growth of
forest-trees is conspicuous — beech of a knotty
nature, ash that looks out of place, and scrubby
oak, prevail. About half-way between Charles-
town and Otisco the railroad passes through a
cut of fine slate-stone. On the cliff stands an
old Catholic church, a frame building much out
of repair, which was erected in 1854. Across
the railroad in a northerly course, an old German
graveyard is partly walled in by a stone fence,
while the briars and bushes seem to have taken
possession of the ground. If the locomotive had
failed to pass through this section, it would soon
go the way of other old places, having hardly
enough enterprise to give it prominence. Land
ranges from a low figure upwards according to
improvements.

The site of Otisco was formerly owned by
Thomas Cowling; but after his death his son
Samuel inherited the property. They were of
English extraction, and came here almost fifty
years ago, when the upper part of the township
was a dense forest. Immediately after the rail-
road was built, which was in 1854, the village
was laid out. During its twenty-seven years of
inactive life, there have been no taverns — nothing
to afford food and shelter but a private residence.
The town has two churches — Methodist Episco-
pal and German Unitarian, the former having
services every three weeks. There is also preach-
ing every now and then by United Brethren
preachers.

One thing worthy of note is the attention
given to education. A handsome school build-
ing stands in the eastern part of the village,
where the surrounding country children, in con-
nection with those in the hamlet, get the rudi-
ments and otherwise learn to lay a foundation
for a successful education.

There is in active running order a saw-mill
and stave factory combined, owned, and operated
by Mr. D. S. Conner.

S. W. Evans carries on an extensive cooper
shop and heading-mill, and runs also a set of
buhrs for grinding corn and buckwheat.-

The present physician is Jacob Somerville,
and the school teachers are George Badger and
Belle Enlow. A German burying-ground is
situated near the Unitarian church. In the vil-
lage there are two hundred and thirty-four peo-
ple, mostly Germans.

Otisco's first postmaster was Hiram Ne-
ville. The second and present officer is C.
P. Maloy. Their storekeepers were Milo Lit-
tell, Barzilla Guernsey, Martin Hartz. Now
there are two stores, of which S. W. Evans and
John Maloy are proprietors.

REMOVAL OF THE COUNTY SEAT.

We have now reached a portion of history
which will perhaps never be satisfactoiily settled.
It touches the private interests of so many
prominent men that even if the most impartial
judge should decide its validity, objection would
be made to his decision. In the matter of
which we now speak there will follow a candid
statement of facts as the writer found them to
exist while collecting historical information.

The commissioners of Clark's Grant at first
held their sessions at Louisville. When Clarks-
ville was laid out the seat of justice was changed
to that place. On the 7th of April, 1801,
Springville was made the place of holding court.
In the meantime the present town of Jefferson-
ville was pushed into existence, and on June 9,
1802, the courts of the Grant were taken to the
town of Ohio Falls. Here they were kept for
ten years. Charlestown at this time attracting
considerable attention, on account of its rapid
growth and central location, became anxious to
have the courts held within its boundaries.
Hence, on December 14, 18 12, the county seat
was taken to this place, where it remained until
October 30, 1878, when it was once more taken
to Jeffersonville.

While the county seat was at Springville,
Samuel Gwathmey was appointed clerk of the
court of quarter sessions of the peace and of the
orphans' court; Jesse Rowland was probate
judge; Peter McDonald, coroner; Samuel Hay,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

355

sheriff; Marston G. Clark, surveyor; Thomas
Downs, treasurer; David Floyd, recorder. On
May 26, 1802, Benjamin Park, the forerunner of
all lawyers in southern Indiana, was licensed to
practice law. In 1803 the first regular Falls
pilots were appointed, David Floyd and John
Owens 'being their names. While the courts
were held in Jeffersonville everything in the
county worked harmoniously. It was considered
fair that the county seat should be changed, by
most people in the Grant, to a more convenient
situation.

The first and original court-house in - Charles-
town was built of brick, erected in 18 13. For
many years it served all the wants of a new
county. At the time of the Pigeon Roost mas-
sacre the people placed around it a line of
pickets for self-preservation, but no serious at-
tempt was made to molest the citizens. During
the interim between 1813 and 1819 there was no
regular jail; a sort of calaboose was used to in-
carcerate prisoners. February 26, 1819, the
county commissioners advertised for bids to
build a jail. The notices were circulated
through the Indiana Intelligencer, a paper in
existence at that time. All the necessary out-
buildings were to be included with the jail, such
as barn, corn-cribs, and so on, which the jailor
would actually need. Bids were received and a
comfortable and well supplied jail and out-build-
ings were erected by Daniel P. Faulkner.

Thirty-odd years ago the original court-house
was replaced by a new and larger building. It
yet stands, and is now used for school purposes.

Such is the history of material things relating
to county seat matters. But during the sixty-six
years while Charlestown remained the county
seat, there had sprung up the more prosperous
and larger town of Jeffersonville, which envied
the old village her only great possession. Several
times moves had been made to have the courts
held at Jeffersonville, but the indignation in the
northern part of the county was so violent that
every attempt signally failed. It was not till the
1st of January, 1876, that notice was given
through the columns of the Charlestown Record
that the county seat would soon be changed, and
that the people must prepare to accept the situa-
tion gracefully. The Record is a paper of fifteen
hundred subscribers, is edited and owned by
William F. Ferrier, and was established in 1869.

From this time thenceforward there was a sea of
turbulence ; the two sections boiled with rage,
and all manner of intrigue was practiced to
secure the desired end. February 12th, the
citizens of Charlestown and vicinity assembled
in mass meeting to protest against the outrage,
as they held it. Colonel Thomas Carr was
chosen chairman, and Dr. C. Hay, secretary. A
number of spirited addresses were made, and
tremendous excitement prevailed. Mr. W. S.
Ferrier offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That all members of this meeting make use of
all honorable means to retain the county seat at Charlestown.
That we throw into the scales our united efforts of influence
and labor, and such financial aid as may be necessary.

The Indianapolis Sentinel of the same date
says:

They are having a lively war in Clark county over the re-
moval of the county seat from Charlestown to Jeffersonville.
Jeffersonville makes an offer of $30,000 for the privilege ofhav-
mg the courts held there, but the balance of the county pro-
tests. Clark is one of our largest counties, and not being well
provided with good roads, it is not probable the farming
community will consent to have the county-seat removed
farther from the center.

The New Albany Ledger-Standard of February
15, 1876, says editorially:

Clark county is again thrown into a perfect turmoil of ex-
citement on the county-seat question. These things used to
come up every few years in some shape, but it was thought
that when the Ohio & Mississippi railroad built a branch
through Charlestown the question would at least be settled
for many years. But it seems that Jeffersonville is deter-
mined to make one more effort with what success is yet to be
determined. Jeffersonville is on the verge of bankruptcy, all
her manufactories and mercantile interests are paralyzed, and
she cannot carry much greater burden. If it is true— which
is doubtful, to say the least of it — that she has raised $30,000
and deposited to the credit of the commissioners, how much
of it will be left by the time she has paid for petitions; paid
the expenses of inevitable law suits; paid for the present Court-
house and County jail, and paid for removing the offices?
She will find her $30,000 well-nigh expended before a single
stone is laid in the foundation.

The anti removal committee, which had been
appointed at the Charlestown mass-meeting, pre-
sented the following remonstrance to the citizens
of the county:

Jeffersonville has her emissaries in every township and
neighborhood in the county, and some even outside of the
county and State, securing names to petitions by every
means, fair and foul. When argument fails, money and
whiskey are freely used. When legal signatures are not to
be had, those of women and non-residents are put in their
place. We may expect more names presented to the com-
missioners than the statutes require. It behooves the tax-
payers and citizens of the county to stand by their rights,
and to demand and enforce a legal investigation of all the
questions involved m this important matter.

356

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

For some time after the first outburst the
court-house question was not discussed pub-
licly, on account of local politics. On Monday,
March 3, 1876, the county commissioners re-
assembled, to continue the consideration of the
removal question. A large number of citizens
from Jeffersonville, and people from the sur-
rounding country, were in attendance. A mo-
tion was made to strike out the fictitious names
in the petitions ; which was lost. At this a ter-
rible storm of indignation burst forth, which
threatened to disperse the meeting. After the
excitement had somewhat subsided, the title of
the ground which Jeffersonville promised to give
was ably discussed. On Thursday following an
agreement was made to adjourn informally till
April ioth, allowing the board to meet in the
meantime and consider evidence which might
have been collected, but not to arrive at any
definite conclusion. At the expiration of the
month the commissioners met again. They
finally decided that the right of removal be-
longed to the majority of the citizens. This
virtually settled the matter. From this time till
the records were actually taken to Jeffersonville
the people considered the question settled.
Charlestown accepted her inevitable fate with
resignation. Citizens residing in the townships
of Oregon, Washington, Bethlehem, Owen,
Monroe, and Wood, considered the change an
outrage. They were compelled to take two days
in many instances to pay taxes or to answer a
summons. But county seat quarrels are always
productive of trouble. People in one part of
the county mistrust those in the other, and hence
hand down to generations a feeling similar to
that which formerly existed between the North
and the South.

NOTICES OF CHARLESTOWN.

This place, although in the interior, and for
nearly all its long career off the great thorough-
fares of travel, has not been wholly neglected by
travelers and writers of gazetteers. Mr. Palmer,
the Englishman who journeyed through the Ohio
valley in 1817, has this to say in his subsequent
book of Travels in the United States:

Charleston, the seat of justice for Clark county, is situ-
ated in the centre of a rich and thriving settlement, thirty-
two miles southwest from Madison, two miles from the Ohio
river, and fourteen from the Falls. This village, like many
others in the Western country, has sprung up suddenly by the

magical influence of American enterprise, excited into action
by a concurrence of favorable circumstances.

The following notice of the place is contained
in Dana's Geographical Sketches on the Western
Country, published in 1819:

Charlestown, the county-seat of Clark, is situated two
miles from the Ohio, twenty miles south of west from Madi-
son, and fourteen miles above the Falls. It is one of the
most flourishing and neatly built towns in the State; contains
about one hundred and sixty houses, chiefly of brick, a hand-
some court-house, and is inhabited by an industrious class of
citizens. There are numerous plantations around this town,
consisting of good land, and better cultivated, perhaps, than
any in the State. This tract is within the grant made by the
State of Virginia to the orave soldiers, etc., etc.

The village further receives the following
notice in the Indiana Gazetteer, or Topographical
Dictionary, for 1833:

Charlestowk, a post-town and seat of justice of Clark
county, situated on a high table-land between the waters of
Fourteen-mile creek and those of Silver creek, about two and
a half miles from M'Donald's ferry, on the Ohio river,
from which there is a diiect road and well improved, to the
town, thirteen miles from the Falls of the Ohio and one hun-
dred and six miles south-southeast of Indianapolis. It is
surrounded by a body of excellent farming lana, in a high
state of cultivation. Charlestown contains about eight hun-
dred inhabitants, seven mercantile stores, one tavern, six
lawyers, lour physicians, three preachers of the gospel, and
craftsmen of almost all descriptions. The public buildings
are a court-house, a jail, an office for the clerk and recorder,
and a market-house, all of brick; in addition to which the
Episcopal Methodists, the Reformed Methodists, the Bap-
tists, and the Presbyterians have meeting-houses, all of brick,
and an extensive brick building has lately been erected for
the purpose of a county seminary. In the immediate vicinity
of the town a flouring-mill and oil-mill have been recently
erected, which are propelled by steam power. The situation
is healthy, and supplied with several springs of excellent
water. There are in Charlestown about sixty-five brick dwell-
ing-houses, and about one hundred of wood. There are also
carding-machines, propelled by horse- or ox-power.

CHAPTER XXI.

MONROE TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION.

Monroe is a township lying in the northwestern
corner of Clark county. The first mention made
in the records of this, the second largest town-
ship in the county, which has over thirty-five
thousand acres, is under date of January 1,
1827, when Andrew McCombe and I. Thomas
were appointed fence-viewers. Previously, and

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

357

in fact for a number of years afterwards, the
boundaries were indefinite. The surface pre-
cluded strictly established lines. It was known
that the upper side of the township bordered on
the line between Scott and Clark counties, and
that the south side was adjacent to Charlestown
township. Beyond this there seemed to be no
fixed boundaries. The west side was described
as "extending to the county line," but even that
line was imaginary. On the dividing line be-
tween Wood and Monroe there was no dispute.
That question was settled in 1816, when the
former township was organized. The reason why
boundary lines were so indefinitely located was
in the hilly surface, poor soil, few settlements,
and general unimportance of the township. On
its first organization it went by the name of Col-
lins township; and it was only in 1827 that its
name was permanently settled. It was probably
named in honor of President Monroe, who had
only vacated his office a few years before ; or,
what is more likely, the township name was
changed about the year 1826, but no mention of
it was made in the records until a year after,
when we find record of the two men above
named as fence-viewers.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The surface of Monroe township is diversified
in the extreme. It reaches from the low bot-
toms to the highest knobs in the county. It is
about twelve miles long by six wide, lying in part
in the famous Silver Creek valley. It was the
great hunting-ground of the savage, rendered so
on account of its excellent cover for all kinds of
game. The early settlers saw many remains of
the wigwam in this valley, though much decayed.

Says Rev. Mr. Guernsey, of Henryville :

These knobs have their peculiarities. Standing upon the
highest peak, such as Round Top, so called on account of its
small round top, and being cut off from the main chain, one
can see to the Ohio river and Louisville without any obstruc-
tion, and so far as the vision can extend. On a summer day
the writer was on this knob, when his attention was called to
a beautiful scene below. The sun was shining with all its
brilliancy, but a little below where I stood there was spread
out toward the south a cloud which looked as level as a
house-floor. I had often looked on the under side of clouds,
but never before had it been my privilege to see the upper
side. As I stood there a heavy shower of rain fell, and
I could distinctly hear the thunder and see the flash of the
lightning.

Round Top knob diflers from the other high elevations, by
not being in the chain ; and in its ascent it differs in its irregu-
lar rise by steps, or one rise after another, each one getting

higher than the last until the summit is gained. Then there
is a dividing ridge running down from it, between two
branches of Blue Lick creek, which finally end in the level
ground below. About midway there is a barren waste where
sound scarcely ever falls upon the ear from bird or beast.
There desolation reigns, while unmistakable signs of some-
thing having the appearance of art is plainly to be seen,
which has never been satisfactorily explained to the writer.
Some have called them buffalo stamps, but what have
these animals had to do with the barren spot? Being
on the southwest side of a white oak ridge, with now and then
a scrabby tree, and the ground dry and hard, .vith excava-
tions at least a foot deep, much like the removal of the earth
for the foundation of a house, as smooth and level as human
hands could make it, they must certainly have been made
by some race of people. Then there are trenches or paths
about a foot wide and deep, running from one of these larger
ones to another, all over the hillside, with such regularity as
no beasts would be likely to make.

The northern side of the township is com-
monly called the Summit. The knobs terminate
here, to a certain extent, in a sort of tableland.
On the east side the surface is rather hilly, and
in many places totally unfit for anything except
grazing. Around the village of Henryville the
general appearance is pleasing, while the knobs
in the west render the scene grand and pictur-
esque. There is no township in the county,
which has so many diversities of surface ; and
from these diversities naturally springs a soil of
various degrees of fertility.

On the farm of Thomas Montgomery, on
other branches of Silver creek, there are strong
indications of silver. The stratum is about four
feet below the surface, and spreads out over
several hundred acres. The ore has been ana-
lyzed and found to be of considerable richness,
but not in sufficient quantities to pay for mining.
The region round about is wild and uninviting,
and the soil cold and stubborn.

These facts, extracted from the geological
surveys of Clark county, show, better than any
attempt of a stranger, the nature of the soil.

Monroe township has several sulphur springs
of note ; among them is one on the farm of
John Stewart, north of Henryville. But it is in
the Blue Lick country that these waters have
gained the greatest prominence. The water is
composed mainly of epsom salts, magnesia, and
tincture of iron. It has qualities well adapted
to scrofula, and among numerous cases has never
been known to fail. The sulphur springs, how-
ever, will be treated more fully in the history of
Carr township.

In the eastern part of Monroe there are salt

353

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

springs on one of the tributaries of Silver creek.
Many of the early settlers made salt here during
the first few years of the present century.

Monroe is drained by a number ot streams,
more or less important. Union township, which
lies on the south, has few streams except Silver
creek proper, which heads on tract number two
hundred and twenty-one, by several tributaries
from Monroe. Preston's fork rises in the ex-
treme northeastern corner, flows entirely through
the township, and has for an affluent the North
fork of Silver creek. Miller's fork heads in the
region of the Pigeon Roost, but its waters, like
those of all other branches in the township, flow
in an easterly direction. It passes by the village
of Henryville, and supplies water for milling pur-
poses. The general course of all the streams is
south. "Silver creek bears a little west of south,
and until it strikes Si'ver creek township is a
beautiful, clear stream, retaining its peculiarities
and identity through Monroe and Union. From
its rise down so far, it runs on slate bottoms with
a high hill on the east side and a gentle rise on
the west. Hence there are no tributaries on the
east but Sinking fork. Miller's fork has many of
the characteristics of the main stream. Lick
run empties into Cane or Caney run. This stream
gets its name from the amount of cane which
grew upon its bottoms many years in the past.
Here the order of the hills is reversed. In place
of being on the west side of the streams, they
are on the east side."

This Silver Creek valley was formerly called
the Pea-vine country by the settlers. Previous
to 1816, when the State was admitted, the valley
was almost destitute of underbrush. Pea-vines
literally covered the fjce of the earth, much as
clover does now, and furnished excellent pasture
for cattle. But it must be remembered that no
great crop of pea-vines ever grew upon the bot-
toms of Monroe as it is to-day. The township
at that time extended down into what is now
Union for as Ynuch as two miles, and it was here
that such a luxuriant crop was produced.

Much of the soil in the northwestern part of
the county is almost worthless for agricultural
purposes. The land is washed into gutters, and
in many fields no amount of care or artificial ap-
pliances can restore them to a state of fertility.
Land sells at from $2 to $10 per acre; and few
sales at that price. The value of the land de-

pends more upon undiscovered resources than
any present strength which is known only on its
surface.

Much of the timber, originally of fair quality,
has been cut away. It is now made up mostly
of small white-oak. Hundreds of acres are cov-
ered by white-oak bushes and small, scrubby
trees. This is especially true in the six miles of
the township lying north of Henryville, next to
the county line.

Half a century ago there were few pine-trees
on the knobs. Then they were confined to the
sides of the most elevated knobs; now they are
scattered over the whole surface and spreading
rapidly in every direction. " Until lately these
knobs were considered of little use except for
timber, and timber grew very sparsely on the
south side." But they have been found to be
very excellent for peach-growing, and there are
many orchards in this locality.

MOUNDS.

On Thomas Montgomery's farm, in the east-
ern part of the township, on one of the tributa-
ries of Silver creek, have been found some inter-
esting relics of the ancient Mound Builders. A
few years ago a skeleton was dug up in a dense
thicket among the forest-trees. It measured
about eight feet in height, but upon exposure
soon crumbled into dust. Close by another
grave was discovered, apparently that of an in-
fant, protected on all sides by limestone. No
bones were in a state of preservation, but the ev-
idences of burial were conclusive.

WILD ANIMALS.

All kinds of wild animals abode here during
the age of the Indian. The deer, bear, black
and gray wolf, black and gray fox, the panther,
catamount, raccoon, opossum, the otter, mink,
and the black and gray squirrel, were numerous,
and in some cases so abundant as to be a posi-
tive nuisance. The migratory fowls were the
wild-goose, the paroquet, the brant, sand-hill
cranes, and wild ducks of various kinds. Fish
in the streams were numerous. Deer were better
provided for here than in many other places.
The knobs afforded excellent protection from
the bow and arrow and the old-fashioned flint-
lock rifle, while the pea-vines in the valley below
supplied an abundance of food. " Formerly as
many as twenty in a row could be seen showing,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

359

not the white feather, but the white tail, as fugi-
tives from what the white man called justice."
Bears were numerous here, but have been exter-
minated for more than half a century. Yet they
have left their marks, which can be plainly seen
on many of the trees of the forest. Panthers
were not often seen here by the white man;
still they were here, and sometimes made their
appearance most unexpectedly.

THE PIGEON ROOST MASSACRE.

This is the most notable event in the annals
of the Indian period upon the Clark Grant. Its
memories of this day are almost as thrilling and
painful as are those of the massacre of Glencoe
or of Cawnpore. The following account is ex-
tracted from one of the older narratives of the
dreadful tragedy :

For some time previous to the year 1811 the Indians of the
Northwest had manifested no little unfriendliness toward the
whites of the frontier. This enmity was encouraged and
aggravated by the British, in prospect of the war that soon
after broke out between this country and England. Tecum-
seh, the leader among the disaffected Indians of Canada and
the Northwest, visited the tribes of the South and Southwest
for the purpose of stirring them up against the whites, and of
securing their co-operation in striking a terrible blow upon
the frontier settlements. Governor Harrison, being informed
of the schemes of this cunning Indian warrior, and knowing
his influence with the various tribes, proceeded up the
Wabash with an armed force for the purpose of enforcing
the treaty of Greenville, or of making some new treaty by
which the frontiers should be protected from Indian depre-
dations. He was successful in driving them from their towns
and in destroying their property. But when the war with
England began in 1812, they renewed their hostilities. Being
supplied by the Britishers with arms and ammunition, they
were enabled to wage a much more destructive warfare upon
the whites than they had done before.

Monroe township was at that time thinly set-
tled. The old county seat was the central point
from which the county people came and went.
All the northwestern part of the county, now in-
cluded in Monroe and a portion what is now
Scott county, was hardly known to the people of
Clark generally. The county lines were yet
imaginary. Many of the original claims were
under dispute. The settlers were of that peculiar
cast which always marks backwoodsmen.

These circumstances rendered the frontier
very unsafe. The attack on the 4th of Septem-
ber, says a local historian, on the fort named in
honor of General Harrison, was simultaneous
with that of Pigeon Roost. Another gentleman,
a person no less in experience than Colonel Wil-
ley, says the attack was made on the evening of

the 3d of September. These general attacks, it
is presumed, though not positively known, were
a part of the same regular plan of attack. They
were "made at the same time to distract the at-
tention of the whites and to prevent the citizens
of the Grant from going to the assistance of those
on the Wabash." It was this attack which threw
the people of the county into such excitement,
caused block-houses to be erected and forts to be
built. For our information we are indebted to
the manuscripts of the late Rev. George K. Hes-
ter, of Charlestown, which were kindly furnished
by his son, Judge M. C. Hester.

Monroe was the slowest of all the townships
in filling up with settlers. The summit was a
favorite hunting ground, and here the first set-
tlements began on the northern side of the town-
ship. The Pigeon Roost neighborhood was so
named because pigeons had made it a roosting-
place for many years. The land was high and
the water passed or ran in both directions to the
headwaters of Silver creek and the streams in
Scott county. When the county line was after-
wards settled by actual surveys, the neighbor-
hood where the massacre took place was thrown
into Scott county, where it now is. Many of
the trees, the smaller ones, and the branches of
those that were stronger, were broken down from
the accumulated weight of these birds. "The
stench from their excrements was readily per-
ceived at a very great distance. Such was the
fertility of the soil, imparted to it by these
dungs, that many persons who visited the settle-
ment after the massacre, admitted that these
white-oak lands were as productive as the richest
bottoms of Kentucky. The soil and abundance
of game in this locality had induced several
families to settle there," to engage in the chase
and live upon the meats of the forest. Among
the first, if not really the first, who came to this
neighborhood was William E. Collins, a gentle-
man from Pennsylvania, but who settled at
Louisville before there was a substantial log
cabin within the present city limits. Several
years before the massacre he removed to this
locality from the interior of Kentucky, and dur-
ing the troublesome times which followed was an
eye-witness to all the cruelties of Indian war-
fare. These settlers were often visited by roving
bands of Shawnees, Delawares, and Pottawato-
mies, who always professed to be very friendly.

360

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Their treachery, however, was often discovered
after their departure, when a piece of flax linen,
toweling, or woolen goods was found missing.

The first victims were ;i Mr. Pain and Mr. Coffman. These
two persons were about three miles from the settlement, and
wholly unarmed. The Indians came upon them byaccident,
and murdered them on the spot. Coffman lived in Ken-
tucky, and was on a visit to Pain. They next found a Mrs.
Collins, the wife of young Henry Collins, who had been visit-
ing a neighbor living near the present site of Vienna. She
w-as killed while returning home. The family which they fel'
upon was that of Pain, consisting of his wife and four chil,
dren. It appears they killed them in different directions
from the house, and then dragged their bodies, trailing the
ground with their blood, and threw them into the house. Af-
ter plundering the house they set fire to it and burned it to
ashes. Nothing remained of the bodies but a mass of of-
fensive matter. This attack was made in the evening, the
sun being only about an hour and a half high. Richard Col-
lins' family consisted of his wife and seven children, who were
all brutally murdered. Their bodies were found in different
places, as they were cut down while attempting to make their
escape. Mr. Collins was absent from home at the time. He
belonged to a company of rangers, and was then at Vin-
cennes. At the same time they killed the family of John
Monis, composed of his wife and three children. These two
families lived but a short distance apart. Mr. Morris was
also from his home. He had been drafted on the call of
Governor Harrison for service on the Wabash, and was' at
that time at Jefferson ville.

The firing of the gun by which Henry Collins was killed
was not heard by any of old Mr. Collins' family. The Indians
advanced upon his house. As they drew near they dis-
covered a lad, a member of the family, who had just caught a
horse and was in the act of starting after the cows. The boy
fled upon seeing them and concealed himself in a briar
thicket. The Indians ran around and through it time and
again, but without finding him. The little fellow said he
could see all their maneuvers from under his covert of mat-
ted briars and bushes. Sometimes they would seem to be
coming directly upon him, and then would turn in another
direction. There he lay until after the Indians had attacked
the house; and then, in the midst of the attack, he rushed up
and was let in.

A few minutes before Henry Collins was shot, Captain
Norris, from the neighborhood of Charlestown, had arrived
at the house of old Mr. Collins. He had gone there on some
business and to persuade Mr. Collins to remove from his
dangerous situation. Mr. Collins had just brought in a fine
lot of melons. While they were feasting upon these, their
attention was arrested by the appearance of a strange dog.
Mr. Norris looked up the road and discovered eight or nine
Indians, with war-paint on their cheeks, approaching the
town. He exclaimed: " Here they come now." "Not to
kill," said Mr. Collins. "Yes, to kill," Mr. Norris replied.
With the utmost haste they set to work to make a defense.
Mr. Collins having at hand two loaded rifles, directed Mr.
Norris to take one and station himself by the side of the
door, while he guarded the window with the other. The In-
dians had been discovered in their approach by a Mr. John
Ritchey and his wife, a newly married couple who resided
near Mr. Collins; they instantly fled into a corn-field and
escaped. As the Indians entered the yard, a part of them
stationed themselves behind a corn-crib, a part passed on to
Ritchey's house, and one presented himself at the door of

Collins's house and was about to push it open. At him Nor-
ris pulled trigger, when the muzzle of the gun was not more
than three feet from his breast; but unfortunately the gun
flashed. The door was quickly closed. Collins, perceiving
through the cracks of the door the Indian's body, fired his
rifle at him, and he immediately disappeared. Blood was
seen the next day in the yard. Collins reloaded his gun,
and seeing an Indian standing in Ritchey's door, he took de-
liberate aim at him and fired. The Indian fell back into the
house, and the door was closed. Collins was an expert
marksman, and he felt sure that this shot made one of the
redskins bite the dust.

A part of the Indians were now in Ritchey's house, and a
part behind the corn-crib. Collins and Norris supposed they
would wait until dark and then set fire to the house. As the
house was a double cabin, with no inner passway from one
to the other, the inmates thought they could easily effect
their object. The only possible chance for them to escape
was to gain a cornfield close by. To do this they knew they
they would have to pass under the fire of the Indians behind
the corn-crib. But as it was evidently death to remain, they
resolved to escape, hazardous as the attempt certainly was.
Just as twilight set in they opened a door and started, Nor-
ris in advance, closely followed by the two children. Collins
brought up the rear with his gun in his hand, cocked and
presented before him. As they passed out with a quick step,
Collins was fired at. The ball struck his gun about the lock,
and violently whirled him around. At this moment he lost
sight of Norris and the children. He then ran some distance
into a cornfield, and halted to see if the Indians were in pur-
suit. To be prepared for them, he examined his gun, but
found it so damaged he could do nothing with it. He then
hastened to the woods, and made good his escape. The In-
dians were now heard to give a most hideous yell, indicating
their intention to proceed no further — that their hellish thirst
for blood had been glutted.

Some little time after dark Mrs. Biggs, daughter of Mrs.
Collins, having heard the firing of the guns at the distance
of half a mile, started with her children to go to her father's
house. Her husband was at that time in Jeffersonville, in
the drafted military service. When she came near the house
she left the children by the roadside and proceeded to the
house alone. When she reached the house she pushed open
the door, but the smell of gunpowder was so strong that she
became alarmed and quickly returned to her children. She
traveled with them about six miles to Zebulon Collins's and
gave the first alarm to the older settlements.

The absence of the Indians in Mr. Collins's house at the
time Mrs. Biggs entered it, is enveloped in mystery ; for it
was only a little time after this that it was seen burning, the
Indians having evidently returned and fired all the houses.
It was conjectured that Collins had killed one or more
of them, and that they were engaged in concealing their
bodies.

Norris and Collins, having been separated on leaving the
house, were unable to come together again that night.
Norris proceeded with the children in the dark, through
brush and briars, avoiding every road and pathway, climbing
hills and crossing valleys, frequently falling with the children
into deep ravines, until he at last lost his course. After sev-
eral hours of fatiguing travel, he came up near the farm
from which he had started and behind the burning buildings.
Again he started for the older settlements. He traveled until
a late hour in the night, but being wearied out he and the
children lay down on the ground until the morning star
arose. They then resumed their journey, and finally sue-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

361

ceeded in reaching one of the older settlements. The little
girl was found so badly bruised that it was found necessary
to call in a physician for her relief.

Before day a runner was sent to alarm the citizens of
Charlestown. I well remember hearing him as he passed my
father's residence, just after daylight, crying at the top of his
voice, "Indians! Indians!!" The whole country was thrown
into the wildest excitement and confusion. Before sunset of
that day vast numbers of the citizens of the Grant had hur-
ried across the Ohio river into Kentucky for safety. A con-
siderable number of men were immediately raised to pursue
the fiends; but theyeffected nothing. The Indians must have
left soon after finishing the work at Mr. Collins's, as they
were seen the next day by a scouting party from Washington
county, on the Chestnut ridge, in Jackson county, going in
the direction of Rockford. Had the commanding officer of
that company possessed any skill, he might have dealt
them a heavy blow. When the Indians were discovered, a
part of them were walking, and a part riding the horses they
had stolen, heavily laden with the property of their mur-
dered victims. This officer, instead of having his men con-
ceal themselves and fire upon the Indians from their places of
protection, commanded them to "charge. " This gave the
Indians upon the horses an opportunity of preparing for flight
by lessening their burdens, while the footmen in real Indian
style quickly jumped behind trees and logs, and opened fire
on our men. The rangers then attempted the same mode of
fighting, but while one of them was drawing sight from the
wrong side of a tree, his exposed bpdy was pierced by an
Indian bullet. He was removed to a station, but soon after
expired. There were in this company about twenty Indians,
more than were supposed to have been at Pigeon Roost.

In the spring of 1813 another party of Indians, or the
same that were at Pigeon Roost, came into the neighbor-
hood of Zebulon Collins, about nine miles northwest of
Charlestown. They concealed themselves behind the bank
of Silver creek, and shot Mr. Huffman, who at that moment
came to the door to look for his two sons, who were playing
in the bottom below the house. The old gentleman was
killed instantly, and the ball passed through the body of his
wife. She recovered from this wound, although it was thought
at first to be fatal. They took one of the children into cap-
tivity, and kept him for a number of years. His relatives
afterwards, through the aid of the General Government, as-
certained his whereabouts, and secured his release. During
the time of his captivity he had become so uncivilized and so
attached to the Indians and their manners, that it was with
no little difficulty his friends succeeded in persuading him to
leave the savage tribes and return to his home and relations.

A company of soldiers were stationed at this time at Zebulon
Collins's, which was only a few hundred yards from Huff-
man's house; and had they attended to their duty they could
have protected the Huffman family. It being the Sabbath
day, they had abandoned their posts and gone off to enjoy
the society of some young people in the neighborhood. As
soon as they returned and learned what had happened, one
of them, a Mr. Perry, started about dark to carry the intelli-
gence to the settlement about Charlestown. In passing down
Silver creek, when about a mile and a half from Collins's, he
was intercepted by seven Indians. They shot at him and
ran some distance through the bottoms of Silver creek", but
he succeeded in making his escape and made his way back
to Collins's. Some time after dark he made another attempt
to pass over the same route and succeeded. As soon as the
older settlements had received the information, men were
46

raised to pursue the Indians. It was thought best to notify
families most exposed of their perilous condition. For this
purpose a Mr. Reed attempted to go to Mr. Elliott's. He
wore around his waist a belt, which he had used on the Tip-
pecanoe expedition. When he had come within sight of
Elliott's house he was fired upon by a company of eight In-
dians, who had concealed themselves behind a fallen tree,
doubtless for the purpose of awaiting a favorable opportunity
of murdering the family. Five discharged their guns at him
at almost the same time, but fortunately without doing any
serious harm. Some of the balls passed through his clothes,
one cutting his belt nearly in two. One or two hit his horse,
but he succeeded in making his escape. A company of men
were soon in pursuit, but the Indians made good their
escape.

From the number of depredations committed by the In-
dians it was evident they had sallied forth in different parts
of the country at the same time. To defend the settlers
from these raids it became necessary to station companies of
men at the various points most exposed. This unhappy con-
dition of affairs continued until the restoration of peace be-
tween this country and England.

Thus concludes the most remarkable Indian
massacre in the annals of Clark county. It threw
the whole country into such a feverish state of
excitement that for a number of years afterwards
the least sign of Indians caused a general panic.
And it was this massacre which caused the erec-
tion of so many block-houses and forts in the
county at this time, of which we have spoken in
the histories of other townships.

At present there is nothing that would indi-
cate to a stranger that any memorable occurrence
took place in this vicinity. The pigeons have
taken their flight, seemingly, with the red man.
A few trees, whose limbs have been broken off
and whose ends are rotten from long contact
with the elements, are yet standing. The soil,
by constant use for over sixty years, has lost
much of its early strength, and good crops can
only be raised by the most careful attention.
Two things combine, however, to make the place
ever historical — the roost of the pigeons and the
massacre of the whites by the Indians. People
in this locality refer to it to this day with feelings
of deep concern, and remind you that you are
treading upon historic ground.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first settler in the township of whom there
is any definite knowledge was Mr. Robert Biggs,
who came here in 1806 from Kentucky, but was
a native of Pennsylvania. He settled on Miller's
or Biggs's fork of Silver creek, one mile above
Henryville. His wife, whose maiden name was
Miller, bore him a large family, of which the

362

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

children are scattered in all the States and Terri-
tories. Biggs was of Scotch-Irish extraction. In
character he was as good as the majority of early
settlers, and held the faith of the Seceders'
church of England. Biggs lived and died in
sight of Henryville. He took much pleasure
in hunting, and was considered a superior marks-
man.

A family settled in the extreme southwest cor-
ner of the township, who were probably from
Kentucky, by the name of Eson. The Pigeon
Roost massacre caused them to return to their
old home, and they never came back.

Joseph Miller settled in sight of Henryville
about 1806, or, what is more probable, a year or
two afterwards ; for Robert Biggs must have
married one of his daughters. Miller was from
Kentucky; his family consisted mostly of daugh-
ters, the only son dying many years since, and
of course the family name is now extinct. He
died about 1830.

Nicholas Crist, a brother-in-law of Abner
Biggs, both of whom we have mentioned as kill-
ing the last bear but one in the township, settled
about one mile west of Henryville in 1808 or
1 8 10. He was born in Pennsylvania, but came
here from Kentucky. He married a daughter
of Mr. Robert Biggs. Crist removed to Clay
county, Indiana, in 1830 or i83i,and died at an
extreme old age.

Robert Cams, who was from Pennsylvania by
way of Kentucky, settled one mile east of
Henryville about 18 10. He carried on farming
and was a clever gentleman.

Zebulon Collins, who was no doubt a brother
of the famous scout and hunter, William Collins,
settled a year or two before the Pigeon Roost
massacre, one mile and a half east of Henry-
ville. Here he began to operate a still-house,
and finally a way tavern on the Charlestown and
Brownstown road. During a part of his life he
was chosen as a justice of the peace. It was at
his tavern that the first polls were opened in the
township, and from this fact the township de-
rived its first name, that of Collins. In the af-
fairs of the township he took an active part. It
was here that a company of soldiers were sta-
tioned in 1813 when Mr. Huffman was killed by
the Indians, to protect the frontier. Collins was
originally from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Huffman, of whom we have spoken re-

peatedly, was an immigrant from Pennsylvania
and settled on the west bank of Silver creek, one
and a half miles from Henryville, three or four
years before his death, in 1813. He was killed
on a bright Sunday morning by the Indians
while standing in his door watching his children,
says one historian, and another, a grandchild, and
one of his sons, at play in the bottom near the
house. The ball passed through his breast; and
after running around the corner of the house he
dropped dead. The arm of his wife was grazed
by the same bullet. One of the boys was car
ried into Canada ; the other escaped by crawl-
ing into a hollow log. His wife lived to an ad-
vanced age in the neighborhood, and was buried
by the side of her husband on the old place.

A Mr. Cook lived two miles east of Henry-
ville very early, and left about the time of or
soon after the massacre.

Another family by the name of Connel, settled
about 18 1 1 on the West fork of Silver creek,
but remained only for a few months.

Among the later settlers who came after In-
diana was admitted as a State, were James Allen
and David McBride, brothers-in-law, ftom Penn-
sylvania. Juda Hemming, who emigrated from
Kentucky, and Islam McCloud, of South Caro-
lina, were the only early settlers in the township
in the extreme south side.

The most prominent family in the extreme
west was that of Lawrence Kelly, who came from
Pennsylvania, and was here as early as 18 10.
His sons were Hugh, John, Abram, William, and
Davis, who lived in the township till their deaths.
Martha Kelly married John Lewis, Sr., of Mon-
roe township. Another daughter married Wil-
liam Blakely, a Virginian, but here from Ken-
tucky. One of the daughters married Mr. Wil-
liam Patrick, whose descendants are quite nu-
merous in the county at this time.

John Deitz and wile, both Germans, came to
Monroe from Kentucky, while the Grant was yet
in its infancy.

On the west side of the township, near the
Oregon line, William Beckett, of Pennsylvania,
settled about 18 10. His family was very large,
and consisted mainly of sons. He died many
years ago. There are now but few of the fami-
ly, with then descendants, in this section:

Josiah Thomas settled in the same section
years ago, marrying one of the Beckett girls.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

363

A Mr. McCombe settled in the eastern part of
the township very soon after the massacre. He
left a small family, of which the members are
now scattered in other States.

During the years when the other townships
were filling up with settlers rapidly, Monroe
was left out in the cold. There were no early
permanent settlers between Henryville and the
Pigeon Roost settlement.

William E. Collins, by birth a Pennsylvanian,
was one of the first white men in the neighbor-
hood of the northwestern corner of the township.
He came secondarily from the interior of Ken-
tucky, whither he had gone from Louisville in
quest of game. Learning that game was abund-
ant in this region — the Pigeon Roost ground —
he came hither. His son Henry met his death
from the hands of the Indians. Kearns, one of
the oldest sons of the family, settled near the old
battle-ground in 1813, where he resided until his
death. His wife, Catharine Cooper, bore him
four sons and six daughters. Kearns Collins,
Jr., resides near where he was born, a prominent
farmer, and possessed of many of the character-
istics of a frontiersman. He has been married
twice. His last wife is one of those old time
women who yet remain in the township, who
manufacture their own clothing.

Seymour Guernsey was born in Connecticut,
and emigrated to Utica township, Clark county,
in 1817. From Olean Point on the Ohio river,
about one hundred and fifty miles above Pitts-
burgh, the family took passage in a boat, on
which they made the entire trip to their place of
landing. Mehetabel Beardsley, his wife, was
born in New Haven, Connecticut; and bore him
before arriving here two sons — Burritt and Sey-
mour— and one daughter — Malinda Ann. After
remaining in the vicinity of Utica for one year
and raising a crop, he removed to Monroe town-
ship, where he and his wife died. The marriage
produced four sons and two daughters, of whom
three sons and one daughter are living. The sons
are all citizens of this county; the sister, Mrs.
Mitchell, resides in Hamilton county, Indiana.
The elder Guernsey was bom October 9, 1786;
his wife, March 25, 1785. Soon after their mar-
riage they moved to New York State. Ruth,
the second daughter, was born in Utica town-
ship; Daniel was born in Monroe, in the Blue
Lick country; Elam B., the present county

auditor, in the same section with his younger
brother, Daniel. Ann, one of the sisters, and
Burritt, a brother, are dead. After buying a
tract of two hundred acres of land near Blue
Lick, the family made it their permanent home
from 1818 till about 1856, during which time
they farmed and engaged in grinding corn with
one of the old style of horse-mills. Seymour
Guernsey, Sr., was one of those men who gave
tone and decision to the character of the county.
In education he was far above the average, his
father, Daniel, being a graduate of Yale. He
died January 19, 1872; his wife, February 5,
1871.

Thus we have seen the characters, though only
in a cursory manner, of the men and women
who rescued this township from the red man,
and began the work of clearing off the forests,
preparing the way for the present thriving gener-
ation.

Among the old stock of settlers who are yet
living in the township is Samuel Williams. He
was born in 1799 in east Tennessee and came to
Monroe in 1835. By trade he is a carpenter,
but most of his life has been engaged in agricul-
tural pursuits. He is the father of eight chil-
dren, who were born of two wives. Mr. Wil-
liams in religion is a Presbyterian of the strictest
sect ; educationally he has little of the polish of
colleges, but possesses abundance of good com-
mon sense, which is more valuable than all ac-
quired possessions. He lives on the banks of
Silver creek, and is the oldest man in the town-
ship.

Seymour Guernsey, Jr., was born in New
York in 18 13, and came to this county in 18 17,
landing at Utica with his father's family in the
month of August. His first wife was a niece of
Colonel Willey, of this township. She died
September 10, 1870. March 10, 1873, he mar-
ried Celestia Sanderson. Mr. Guernsey has
farmed most of his life on tract number two hun-
dred and fifty-three, near Henryville. He has
been actively engaged upon all the religious
questions of his time. He is a regularly or-
dained Methodist minister, and perhaps has a
better acquaintance with religious matters than
any man in the township. In 1873 he was dis-
abled, and now lives in the village of Henryville.
His memory is retentive, and his fund of pioneer
incidents inexhaustible. Many of the young

364

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

men of the township will find in him a character
fit for imitation.

Colonel John Fletcher Willey, one of the most
remarkable men, both physically and mentally,
in Clark county, as well as in Monroe township,
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the mouth of
Mill creek. His father, Barzilla Willey, who was
a soldier of the Revolution, was born in New
York, and came to Cincinnati in 1808 from
Utica, in that State. All the land below the
city at that time belonged to the Harrisons and
Sedams. After remaining here for two years, ac-
cumulating a boat-load of produce, he started for
New Orleans. Arriving at the Falls of the Ohio,
he found them impassable, and anchored on the
west side. After waiting here some time for the
river to rise, and having his merchandise dam-
aged considerably by the cold weather, he sold
his load to the best advantage possible, and made
Jeffersonville his home for one year. In 181 1
he moved to Monroe township and settled near
Memphis; but at that time there was no such
township as Union in the county. After a life
of much hardship and ripe experience, he died
at the residence of his son, Mr. J. F. Willey, in
the township of Utica, in 1854. Colonel Willey
has been one of the most influential men of his
time. His indomitable will-power renders ob-
stacles of little consequence, and his command-
ing appearance and well-known character secure
universal respect. His home is on section six-
teen, which borders on the Scott county line,
where he is engaged prominently in growing
fruit — peaches being the principal crop. Colonel
Willey formerly lived in the Urica bottoms, but
removed to the knobs to engage in raising fruit,
and to escape the malaria which seemed to affect
the health of his wife.

The view from Fowler's gap and the Round Top knob, on
the farm of Colonel Fletcher Willey, and north in the direc-
tion of Henryville, is one of very great interest. From the
summit of Round Top a view of the surrounding landscape
may be obtained in all its variety. The highlands of Ken-
tucky are again seen, appearing like a cloud sinking behind
the distant horizon. The Ohio is assuredly entitled to the
name originally given to it by the French, La Belle Riviere,
and from points above noted is seen meandering, like a silver
stream, through the valley to the southwest. The view gives
a succession of hill and dale, woodland and cultivated fields,
streams and rocks, most magnificently blended in a panor-
amic picture of which the eye does not weary.

Colonel Willey's son-in-law, Mr. Poindexter; is
actively engaged with him in growing peaches,

and it was through the skill and persevering
industry of these two gentlemen that the knobs
were found to be good localities for fruit. Mr.
Willey and his son-in-law are what might be
called scientific horticulturists, for their orchards
resemble much the garden of some marketer.
Future orchardists in the townships, which are
made up to a great extent of knobs, will have to
accord to Mr. Willey and Mr. Poindexter the
honor of first making these long considered
worthless hills valuable for raising a staple fruit.
The shipping point is at Memphis, in the town-
ship of Union.

ROADS.

On account of the slowness of settlement, the
township had few thoroughfares at an early day.
The first two roads ran from Charlestown to
Salem in 1817, and were known as the Upper
and Lower Salem roads. The lower road ran
almost on the dividing line which now separates
Carr township from Monroe. The other ran
through the Blue Lick country, and yet climbs
the knobs in the same old place. At this date
there were no cross-roads running either to Jef-
fersonville or Louisville. The Brownstown and
Charlestown road ran about one mile from
Henryville, and was laid out in 1825 or 1826;
it was not till many years afterwards that the
grade was made sufficiently light to admit of
heavy hauling. Another road was located about
1830, which led to the county-seat of Washing-
ton, and which was thought to be a more direct
and a shorter route. It intersected the Charles-
town road near Henryville. As the wants of the
people increased, other roads were laid out, —
all, however, leading to the center of the town-
ship and the caunty-seat. The nature of the
soil prevented any well-developed plan of macad-
amizing; and besides there were no gravel pits,
or even stone which could be broken and con-
verted into a solid road-bed. Many small
streams bisected the roads; where they were not
evenly cut they often followed up some ravine in
the creek-bed to gain at last the top of the knobs.
It was impossible to follow section lines, and
naturally sprang up a system of roads of all di-
rections and degrees of importance.

Monroe township has more roads, probably,
in proportion to its tillable soil, than any other
township in the county. This is accounted for
by the fact that it lies in the northwest coi ner of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

365

Clark, and is in the line of passage between it
and the interior counties.

Upon the building of the Jeffersonville, Madi-
son & Indianapolis railroad through the town-
ship, the people here took much interest in
the enterprise. The proprietors of Henryville
gave a site for a depot, and contributed in va-
rious ways toward its success. It was the build-
ing of this railway which brought the township
to the notice of the various manufacturing estab-
lishments throughout the country. Its great
forests of oak were rapidly turned into ties and
cut into stuff for building cars. Tan-bark was
for a number of years a staple article. Cooper-
shops sprang up all over the township, and
turned out barrels by the thousand. The rail-
road company reduced its rates ol freight for
those who carried on an extensive business with
them, and made large contracts with farmers and
agents for supplies. There is in the township
exactly seven miles of railway track. The only
station in the township is that of Henryville; but
another on the summit serves as a shipping
point for the farmers and stock-growers in the
northern part of the township.

MILLS AND STILL-HOUSES.

Monroe was never noted for its mills. The
surrounding townships furnished many of the
mills necessary to a new and thinly settled coun-
try like that of which we speak. Vincent Pease,
who resided in the northern part, near the sum-
mit, ran a little mill on one of the branches of
Silver creek about 1820. He also gave some time
to making fanning-mills, which were probably the
first in this end of the county. In 1830 a flour-
ing-mill of considerable capacity stood on Silver
creek two and a half miles from Henryville. The
position the township took in the matter of mills
and the grinding of corn, wheat, and so on in
early times is still retained ; and the township can
scarcely yet boast of a first-class mill within her
boundaries.

Good authority says there was never more than
one still-house in Monroe township. This was
owned by Zebulon Collins, on the Charlestown
and Brownstown road, and stood on the bank of
Silver creek. It was here in 1823. After a few
years it went down, probably on account of the
scarcity of corn, which was grown very scantily on
the bottoms. Ex-Governor Jennings, however,

had a still-house close by; but in Charlestown
township, where those who needed spirituous
drinks could be accommodated. Soldiers who
were in this district about this time, or a few
years previous to it, often resorted to the then
non-elect Governor's warehouse for whiskey sup-
plies. These soldiers belonged to that system
of protection which was adopted after the
Pigeon Roost massacre. The old Collins fort,
where the rangers were stationed, was situated
about one and a half miles southeast of Henry-
ville, on the Silver creek branch of Silver creek.

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

Daniel Guernsey was the first school-teacher
in the western part of the township. As has
been said, he was a graduate of Yale college,
and, for many years after coming into the Blue
Lick country, engaged in school-teaching. In
surveying Clark county he did much service; and
in subdividing and apportioning the land among
the heirs of the original tract-owners, he was for
many years actively employed.

Burritt Guernsey, one of his sons, taught fre-
quently during the winter terms after he had ar-
rived at maturity. He had been educated mainly
through the efforts of his father. Wages were
then insufficient to support a family. The tuition
was made up, generally, on the subscription plan,
each scholar paying about $2 for a term of three
months. The teacher often boarded with the
parents of the scholars, as was always in such
case previously arranged.

Schools never came to be regarded, by the
people who settled in the township at first, as of
very great importance. It was not till after the
State school laws were enacted that a successful
system of schools was encouraged. People then
became much interested in the proper education
of children, and hence have at present schools
and school-houses that will compare favorably
with any in the county. There are eleven
school districts and about seven hundred and
fifty school children in the township.

Many years elapsed before there was erected
in this township any regular church building.
Services were held in school-houses and the
homes of the pioneers. The prevailing denom-
ination was the Calvinistic Baptist, which was
composed mainly of emigrants from the South.
The Pennsylvania settlers were mainly of the

366

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Presbyterian faith; but being in the minority,
in the course of several years they almost
unconsciously fell in with the stronger class.
Among the early Baptist preachers was Rev.
Thompson Littel, who lived on Muddy Fork
creek. He was a characteristic man, and in ad-
dition to his natural abilities he had acquired
many religious and historical facts fitting him
admirably for his work. During his time he was
the most prominent of all the early ministers
here, and it seemed his influence was almost
without a limit. When the Christian church,
founded by Dr. Campbell, attracted so much at-
tention in this country, he left the doctrine
espoused in boyhood and took up the new faith.
Ever afterwards he eloquently advocated the new
religion, but many of his old parishioners could
not forgive him for his radical change. His salary
was often meager, and, much like that of a
school-teacher, was too small to support his
family.

Preaching in early times was widely different
from what it is now, preachers often riding a
circuit extending from the Wabash and its tribu-
taries to the Great Miami. Between these rivers
there were dense forests, wild beasts, low, wet
land, through which roads led, and tangled un-
derbrush of various descriptions. Appointments
were often left two and three months in advance,
and the punctuality with which they were kept
always ensured a large attendance. It required
no small amount of energy to meet these engage-
ments, and it often happened that the arrival of
the minister was distinguished by the number of
marriages he performed and the good time every
body had, even to the babies, during his stay.
There was a sincerity in religious matters and
the marriage ceremony then, which neaily always
prevented divorces and the loose moral atmos-
phere which now disgraces so many religious
assemblies. The simple-hearted earnestness of
the pioneers was often a subject of remark by
those who came from the East and were here to
see the sights of,a new country.

In the eastern part of the township a United
Brethren class was organized more than fifty
years ago. Rev. Thomas Lewellen, a man who
rode the circuit for more than fifty years, and
who died November n, 1881, was the most
prominent preacher of this denomination in the
township. He was eighty-six years of age at the

time of his death. There was in this section a
church standing on the road which curves out
into Monroe, as it goes from Otisco to the
interior of the townships and returns again to
the county seat of Scott. The old class, how-
ever, is in a disorganized condition. Mr. Lewel-
len came from Kentucky. He had little except
natural ability; his strength lay in the earnest
expression which always characterized his ser-
mons.

A Rev. Mr. Wilson, whose residence was in
Washington county, near the line, preached here
very early.

Rev. Mr. Washburn preached in this section
of country, as also did Rev. Mr. Hosey, a man
famous in the religious affairs of the county.
Mr. Hosey's remains lie in the Little Union
cemetery. Rev. Mr. McConnell, who lived east
of Henry ville, on the bank of Silver creek, was
an active participant in the religious affairs of
the township. Rev. Mr. Applegate was an early
preacher, though not regularly paid. The Rev.
John Clark, who came from Virginia at an early
date, was an active religious worker. Nature had
made him a good speaker, and he was one of the
great men of his time. Mr. Clark was after-
wards a local elder in the Methodist Episcopal
church. These men made up the ministers of
a half-century ago, — all of them now numbered
with the dead.

The first church erected in the township was
Bower chapel. It was put up in 1830, and
stood in the lower part of Monroe, near the
line which divides the townships. The house
was of logs. Barzilla Willey and wife, Calvin
Ruter and wife, and Mrs. Townsend were among
the first members. The first preachers were
transient; among these were Revs. Messrs.
Willey, Ruter ; John Strange, who was from
Ohio; Joseph Armstrong; William Cravens, a
blacksmith, and a great anti-temperance and
anti-slavery man, and Allen Wyle. All these
men were here before 1825, and before any
church was erected, and when preaching was
held in private houses.

The Mount Moriah Methodist Episcopal
church is located in the eastern part of the
township. It was organized as early as 1830.
The Beckett family composed a goodly number
of the members. Messrs. Anderson and Thomas
were members also. This church belonged to

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

367

the Charlestown circuit, and had the same
preachers as those previously mentioned. Mr.
James S. Ryan, who lives one-half mile west of
Henry ville; Colonel J. F. Willey, and Mr.
Seymour Guernsey, Jr., are all prominently
identified with the religious matters of their
township. Mr. Ryan is an unordained Method-
ist minister; so also is Colonel Willey. Mr.
Guernsey is a regular preacher, and has devoted
the greater portion of his life to the field. His
travels have carried him into the by-places of
humanity, and have rewarded him with rich re-
sults for time and eternity.

BURYING GROUNDS.

The Mountain Grove graveyard, in the west-
ern part of Monroe, in the Blue Lick country, is
one of the old burying places in the township.
Mr. Lawrence Kelly and wife, who died on the
same day, and were buried in the same grave,
were the first persons interred in it. The land
was donated for this purpose, and is located on
a high point overlooking the level country below-.

Little Union burying-ground, west of Henry-
ville one-half mile, is very old. It took its name
from the fact that all denominations at this place
of worship buried in it. There is a school-house
there now; occasionally a sermon is preached or
a few months of Sunday-school held in it.

Perhaps the first person buried in Monroe
township, who died a natural death, was Hannah
Guernsey. She was interred in the private grave-
yard of the Guernseys in the Blue Lick country.
Another burying took place soon after in the
neighborhood of Memphis, but then in this
township. An infant child died by the name
of Walker, and here it was buried.

The graveyard connected with the Mount
Moriah chapel, is an ancient one. Mrs. Wilson
was among the first buried in it. She was re-
moved a number of years ago, and was found to
have petrified. Everything about the old burial
place is rapidly going to decay. A few more
years, and many of its associations will be swept
away with the things of the past.

In early times the better physicians came from
Charlestown. Drs. Layman and Cass lived in
the Blue Lick country, and practiced in all direc-
tions about 1825 to 1830. Dr. Bear lived near
Henryville. He also was well and favorably
known throughout the various townships.

CIVIL AFFAIRS.

The first justices of the peace in the township
were Guy Guernsey and William Keynon. Bur-
ritt Guernsey vvas one °f the first trustees. The
present trustee is Lawrence Prall, who resides
near Henryville.

The old post-route between Charlestown and
Salem passed through the Blue Lick valley. It
was not till about 1835, however, that a post-
office was established in this neighborhood.
The Pine Lick office was near, and for a number
of years it answered the wants of the people.
Finally the office vvas changed so as to be more
convenient for the general public. It was taken
to Blue Lick, and since has remained in this
locality. Thompson McDeitz was the first post-
master. Mails were carried once a week. The
building of the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indi-
anapolis railroad discontinued the old route, but
it was some time before the office could be estab-
lished at Blue Lick, with Memphis as a terminus.

TAVERNS AND BLACKSMITHS.

Those who made tavern-keeping a part of their
business were Zebulon Collins.no doubt the first in
the township, who also had a store; and Thomp-
son McDeitz. In the valley of Caney fork were
William Martin and David Huckleberry. They
were store-keepers also; generally those who kept
tavern kept store, and vice versa. Powder was
always procurable in various places, as also was
lead, two things very necessary in supplying the
larder of the pioneers.

Robert Jones was one of the first blacksmiths
in the Blue Lick country; but he was never very
permanently settled. John Northam had a small
shop in the same section, and though the busi-
ness which brought to him his living was never
very extensive, he managed to meet the wants of
the people very satisfactorily.

A MURDER.

In 1 87 1 one of the most atrocious murders in
the annals of crime was perpetrated in Monroe
township. Mr. Cyrus Park, an old gentleman,
with his wife, son, and daughter, were murdered
by' three negroes in their house, by chopping open
their heads with an axe. The negroes were ar-
rested, one of them turned State's evidence and
revealed the manner of killing; they were taken
to Charlestown and incarcerated in the county
jail, but, owing to some delay in finding an in-

368

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

dictment, were taken from the jail by a mob and
hanged a short distance from town. Intense ex-
citement followed in the township, but the gen-
eral verdict was the final result was merited.

The village of Henryville is situated in the
center of Monroe township. Many years before
the place was laid out there was an old Indian
trace running through the village, much as the
Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad
now runs. It is located on Wolf run and Mil-
ler's fork of Silver creek, the former a tributary
stream of Silver creek, which derived its name
from the great rendezvous it furnished wolves
forty years before Henryville was platted. The
village lies in a beautiful valley, with hills on
the east side, and in sight of the famous
mounds. A little further east, on a high hill,
is where the red man of the forest manufact-
ured his darts, implements of war, and hunt-
ing utensils. They can be seen in large num-
bers now at the residence of J. L. Carr, in
Henryville. Formerly the village was known
by the name of Morristown, which name it re-
tained for three years. It was laid out in 1850,
and in 1853 was named Henryville, in honor
of Colonel Henry Ferguson. The Jefferson-
ville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad passes
through the village, going almost due north, and
leaves the place in a very irregular shape.

Mr. Joseph Biggs was the first storekeeper in
Henryville. He kept his stock in a little frame
house on the west side of the railroad. A Mr.
Overman came next, but staid only for a short
time. He kept in a little frame on the east side
of the railroad. Henry Bussey & David Fish
followed. Their place of doing business was
where the present post-office now is. The pres-
ent storekeepers are James L. Carr, Guernsey &
Biggs, Augustus Schagven, James Ferguson, and
Mr. Metzger, the latter of whom keeps tavern on
a small scale.

Henryville has two saloons and three black-
smith shops.

The post-office was established immediately
after the railroad was built. The first post-
master was Mr. Overman ; second, Harvey Bus-
sey ; third, Mr. Lewis; fourth, John Bolan, who
acted in this capacity two years. The mails are
now carried once a day each way.

The township had tanneries, as most others
had, but they have now been reduced to one, and
that in the village of Henryville. This is owned
by the Ebberts brothers, and is in fine running
order, often employing as many as ten hands.

The village can boast of a stave factory, owned
by Steinburg & Company. There is one saw-
mill, owned by Lewis H. Morgan. Both of the
above establishments are busy during the fall,
winter, and spring. Business houses are mainly
on the east side of the street, while factories and
mills are on the west side. The station is toler-
ably commodious, and seems to show considera-
ble enterprise under the management of the
railroad company.

The first school-house was erected after the vil-
lage was laid out. It stood in the north corner of
the town, was a frame building, had two rooms,
and was occupied by two teachers, Miss Wilkins
being one of the first. The new and present
house was put up ten or twelve years ago. It is
a frame, perhaps 35 x 20, and looks neat and
commodious. It also has two rooms and two
teachers.

Henryville has two regular physicians — Drs.
William VVisner and H. H. Ferguson; also a gen-
tleman properly belonging to the transient class
of professional men.

There are members of the various secret or-
ders in the village, which is made up of about
two hundred people. A thriving lodge of the
Knights of Honor is in town. The society
building is on the east side of the railroad, oppo-
site the station. It is a handsome brick struc-
ture, two stories high, the lower of which is used
for commercial purposes. The lodge was organ-
ized ten or more years ago.

The Methodist Episcocal church of Hen-
ryville was erected in 1839. It stood on
the farm of Mr. Seymour Guernsey, near
the village. The class, however, was or-
ganized in 1828 at the house of Mr.
Robert Biggs, who lived southwest of town.
The first preachers came from the Charlestovvn
circuit, and were the Rev. Messrs. Lock and
Wood. Among the early members were Abner
Biggs and wife, David McBride and wife, James
Allen and wife, Robert Cams and wife, Mrs.
Miller, and Mrs. Townsend. The old church is
yet standing, but is not used for church pur-
poses. A burying-ground is connected with it,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

369

which was not begun till some time after the
house was built. During all the church history
a Sabbath-school was maintained. Some twenty
years after the present house of worship was
erected in the village the original members,
many of whom had died, and some changed, as
was then a very common occurrence, to a differ-
ent faith — becoming followers of Dr. Campbell —
the old-fashioned enthusiasm subsided somewhat,
and left the church in straitened circum-
stances. Now, however, it is in a well organized
condition. Revs. James S. Ryan and Seymour
Guernsey have been instrumental in bringing
this church to the position she now proudly oc-
cupies.

The St. Francis (Catholic) church in Henry-
ville was built ten or a dozen years ago. Rev.
Father John Francis was the first Catholic
priest in the township. It was through his efforts
that the church building was erected. The pres-
ent priest is Rev. Father Schenck, who has a
good class, composed mostly of Irish and Ger-
mans. The building is tasty and kept in good
order, both externally and internally. It shows,
as Catholic churches generally do, that the mem-
bers give liberally of their means to its support.
The Methodist church stands near it. Both of
them are on the west side of the railroad. It
also looks neat and orderly.

CHAPTER XXII.

OREGON TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION.

Previous to 1852 the citizens of what is now
Oregon were included in the township of Charles-
town. People residing in the northeastern part
of the latter township found it inconvenient to
attend elections at the county seat, or even
nearer home. The old, original place of voting
was constantly losing much of its regular busi-
ness, and other towns and villages were gaining
what she lost. So the residents naturally de-
sired to be struck off from the old township, and
to have a separate organization of their own.
These, and many more influential, finally induced
a petition to be circulated for signers, and to be

presented to the honorable board of county com-
missioners, praying for a new township organiza-
tion. The petition was written by Dr. John
Covert, a distinguished resident of New Market,
and mainly through his efforts the plan suc-
ceeded. Within the same year, 1852, the county
commissioners granted the request; and hence
the present township of Oregon. It was struck
off the northeastern side of Charlestown, and is
four tracts wide from northeast to southwest and
ten from northwest to southeast, making in all
forty five-hundred-acre tracts, if they were wholly
in Clark county. But the county line between
Scott and Clark cuts off the northeastern corner
of the township, and throws three or four tracts
into the county of Scott. From this fact, the
tract which would naturally belong to Oregon ex-
tending further in a northeasterly direction than
any of those in other townships, the name was
derived. The Territory of Oregon was then the
most distant body of land lying in the northwest
which belonged to the United States; since there
seemed to be a striking coincidence between the
two sections, it was mutually agreed that the new
township should be named after the new Terri-
tory.

Oregon township is compossed entirely of five-
hundred-acre tracts — or at least is so intended.
Peter Catlett, the original surveyor, made some
wretched mistakes, and there are differences of
from fifty to one hundred acres in some tracts,
though the deeds are generally for the same
amount. Why there are such glaring irregulari-
ties is, perhaps, a difficult question. The best
evidence conflicts; however, the general supposi-
tion is that whiskey and inexperience had much
to do with the imperfections. There were no
high hills or dense undergrowth to prevent ac-
curacy. That hindrance lay in the townships of
Utica, Monroe, Union, and Charlestown.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Oregon township is bounded on the north by
Scott county; on the east by Washington town-
ship; on the south by Charlestown and Owen
townships ; on the west by Charlestown and Mon-
roe townships.

Oregon township soil is churlish. It has a
stubborness peculiar to itself. The lands are
light-colored clay, wet during a great portion of
the year, and invariably cold and ill-tempered.

37°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Some of the farms in this township have been
under cultivation for many years, and except
where the crops have been frequently changed,
their productiveness has been perceptibly im-
paired. The soil is well adapted to clover, and
excellent fruit is grown in that part nearest to the
river. The easy-weathering limestones render
the soil in many places well adapted to blue
grass. The prevailing rocks are corniferous and
cement limestone.

Most of the township is level. That part ad-
jacent Owen and Charlestown townships is slight-
ly broken, but not enough to render it untillable.
In the neighborhood of Marysville and New
Market, the one has an opportunity to spread in-
definitely over the flat country; the other is sur-
rounded by land unfit for a well-arranged town.
Marysville is situated on a sort of summit, as you
pass from Clark to Scott county — a kind of
plateau which has few streams to give it a rolling
nature or add to its general appearance. One
little branch leads off into the upper country, at a
sluggish gait; another turns its course toward
Silver creek, which heads, in part, in this end of
Oregon township. Fourteen-mile creek passes
directly through the township from north to
south. Its course is meandering. It has few
tributaries of any size, except Poke run. This
branch enters Fourteen-mile in the vicinity of
New Market. It rises in the lower end of Ore-
gon, and flows in a slow, tortuous way till it
unites with the larger stream. From its current
it derives its name. Many years ago it was
slower than now, because the timber along its
banks held the water and prevented it from run-
ning off rapidly. Its course lies through a nar-
row valley, and its bed is composed mainly of
limestone rock.

Timber in Oregon township was originally
made up of scattering walnut, large numbers of
oak, a plentiful supply of ash, elm, and beech,
with a few trees of hackberry and poplar. Much
of the land was cleared by deadening, which gen-
erally required less work but more time than the
regular way of preparing land to farm. There
was no undergrowth of any consequence. The
soil made bushes short and thick, and, as far as
pea vines were concerned, there was not enough
strength in the ground to furnish them susten-
ance. After the township had begun to fill up,
and timber demanded a better price, consider-

able cord-wood was furnished the steamboats. It
was placed along ths river bank, and boats took
it in as they ascended or descended the Ohio.
This trade caused considerable competition.
Finally boats were built which were anchored to
the shore and loaded with wood. As steamboats
came along they took them in tow and unloaded
the wood without loss of time in stopping. After
supplying themselves, the woodboats drifted
down or poled up to their landing, to load again
and wait for another ascending steamer, and to
strike, if possible, a more lucky bargain. It was
not till coal came into general use that this de-
partment of trade fell into neglect. Now it is
numbered among the things of the past.

CAVES.

On the west bank of Fourteen-mile creek is
Shipstern cave. It takes its name from the
striking resemblance the opening has to the stern
of a,ship. The bottom is covered with a soft
limestone, but soon turns into a hard, brittle,
and compact body on exposure to the light for a
few days. In this stone are found many of the
crinoidal formations; also, on its surface are
marks of dozens of cloven-footed animals. Of
course these footprints go to show that it was
frequented ages ago by the wild beasts of the
plains and forest. Its extent is not great, and it
takes little of the peculiar romance of such
places unto itself.

On the eastern side of Oregon township, in the
bed of Fourteen-mile creek, is a spring, which in
early times furnished the settlers with salt. Dur-
ing the first quarter of the present century there
was a great scarcity of this much needed article.
For a number of years it was worked, but as salt
began to be brought down the river, it lost its
importance.

ROADS.

The original roads ran to Charlestown, and to
the ferry at the mouth of Bull creek, on the
Ohio. There was no well-graded track. Roads
followed the general direction of the place in
view.

Oregon has four miles and a half of railroad.
The Ohio & Mississippi branch passes through
the township from north to south, and has but
one station here — that of Marysville. Otisco is
immediately on the line between the townships
of Charlestown and Oregon, and serves the pur-
pose of an interior station.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

37*

Going down toward the Ohio from New Mar-
ket, on the road that leads from Vienna, in Scott
county, it crosses Fourteen-mile creek on one of
the best bridges in the county. It is a substan-
tial iron structure, with solid abutments, and is,
perhaps, ten years old. Above the bridge is an
old," dilapidatedYamily grist-mill. It is a small
concern, and never did anything in the way of
serving the public generally.

New Market crossing, half-way between Otisco
and Marysville, is the great spot for railroad ties
for the Ohio & Mississippi railroad. It is where
the Vienna & New Market road crosses the
Ohio & Mississippi branch. Here thousands of
ties are brought yearly and scattered along the
road in all directions. Otisco and Marysville
are also noted for their railroad supplies.

MILLS.

Owing to the few streams of any size, except
Fourteen-mile creek, there were but few mills in
Oregon township at an early day. Besides, the
township was a part of Charlestown up to 1852,
and it was a necessary result that much of its
history would be like that of the parent. Houk's
mill, which was among the first in the county,
occupied a site fifty-odd years ago on Fourteen-
mile creek, grinding flour and meal for the sur-
rounding country. It was of the undershot pat-
tern, and ran one set of buhrs. Nothing remains
of the structure now, except an old mill-stone,
lying rather lonely in an out-of-tbe-wa* place,
and one or two old walls, which are rapidly fall-
ing to pieces. The old building was a frame,
and after years of service was finally abandoned.
In the western part of the township a saw mill is
in active operation, under the control of Mr.
Shafer. The township has had many portable
saw-mills, which were moved from place to place
as the timber was cut up and lumber demanded
a better price. Much of the oak timber was
used for the steamboats which were built at Jef-
fersonville. East of Marysville a saw-mill is act-
ively engaged.

TANNERIES AND STILL-HOUSES.

Oregon township was never noted on account
of tan-yards and distilleries. Of the former there
were few, so few that even the oldest settler does
not recall them to mind. Still-houses had a
transitory existence. A few of the larger farmers
managed to have private stills that supplied the

demands of the family; but, like mills, they were
few and far between.

In a primitive age the educational system is
necessarily imperfect. Teachers are often unfit
for their trust, possessing few traits that endear
them to their scholars. The log houses resem-
bled the hog-pens of to-day more than anything
else with which they can be compared.

Among the first school-houses ever put up in
Oregon township was one that stood on Poke
run, about one mile from New Market. Wes-
ley Browning, William Pitman, and William
M. Murray were the first teachers. These men
taught their scholars to teach, and from 1836
to i860 they carried on the educational inter-
ests of this section. Dr. John Covert was per-
haps their most successful scholar. He taught
for twenty-one years. J. VV. Haymaker, James
A.Watson, Elias Long, Dr. James Kirkpatrick,
Allen Hill, Ambrose Fitzpatnck, and the Wil-
liams brothers, Jonas Albright, Asa Martin,
George Matthews, and Jefferson Neal were
from the early schools, and they afterwards de-
voted most of their younger years to school-
teaching.

CHURCHES.

The United Brethren church, commonly
known as the Beswick chapel, stands on the New
Market and Lexington road. It came into ex-
istence through the efforts of Revs. Thomas
Lewellen (a pioneer preacher who afterwards
rode the circuit for over fifty years), Jacob
House, and Isaac Echels. Their services were
first held in the dwellings and school-houses of
the neighborhood. After several years of active
labor, at which all persons labored faithfully, the
promiscuous preaching was abandoned, and a
comfortable meeting-house erected. The best
evidence places the first preaching at the houses
of James Smith and Robert Henthorn. Among
the members were William N. Pangburn, John
Donnan, David Courtner, and James Smith,
who are all dead. Many years ago a great camp-
meeting was held on the New Market and Lex-
ington road, one half-mile from New Market vil-
lage. Many people attended and great good was
accomplished. Its effect was felt in the commu-
nity for many years afterwards. Since the old
log school-house, which served a double pur-

372

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

pose, gave up to the elements, the class put up a
neat frame building, 35 x 50 feet. To it is at-
tached a burying-ground, but is not inclosed by a
fence. The church is in good running order,
and has a well-supported Sabbath-school.

On the Charlestown and Lexington road a
United Brethren church, built of logs, has a
scattering attendance. It was erected about
1858. The furniture is old fashioned, and re-
minds one very much of pioneer religion. God-
trey and Frederic Koener were the founders.
They came from Germany, and belonged to the
strictest sect of this respectable denomination.
The southwest corner of Oregon township is
made up mostly of Germans. From these peo-
ple is derived much of the present prosperity of
the township.

Beswick chapel is also used for the Methodist
Episcopal denomination. Rev. Mr. Tucker was
their first preacher, and Alexander McClure,
Oliver Mahan, and Abram Vest their first mem-
bers. This ancient and most honorable body of
worshipers appears to be losing much of its
former energy in this neighborhood.

Above Beswick chapel, on the same road, a
German Methodist Episcopal church was erected
in 1858. It is a hewed-log house, 20x40 feet.
On the inside the logs were hacked and plastered.
It presents a very respectable appearance. The
Rev. John Helser aided more than any other
person in its establishment. He was a prominent
and distinguished member of this sect for many
years. John Amick, Jacob Strack, John Fuchs,
and Jacob Lindenmyer were very influential, too,
in having this church erected, and for twenty or
more years since managed so as to give credit to
the cause of religion.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

The only society now in successful running
order in the county is the grange on Dry run.
It holds its meetings in the Brenton school-
house. Here the members meet regularly and
discuss the social and agricultural interests of
the farmer, and about once every month hold a
session of feasting and speech-making.

NEW MARKET.

This village was laid out by Robert Henthorn
in 1839. The streets are sixty feet wide, avenues
thirty feet, alleys ten feet. It is situated in the
southern part of survey or tract number one

hundred and ninety-six on the west bank of
Fourteen-mile creek. In 1850 Gabriel Phillippi
made an addition of twenty-two lots on the
southeast corner of the original plat. Round
about the village the country is rolling. In the
northern part of the first plat the ground is
broken and not well adapted for a thriving busi-
ness place. The eastern half of the village juts
out on the high banks of Fourteen-mile creek.
Here the road leads up the bluffs as it follows up
the dividing line between the tracts.

For many years previous to 1839 New Market
was a rendezvous for market wagons, which made
it a stopping point on their way to the towns on
the Falls. People soon learned to bring their
produce here, — eggs, butter, poultry, calves, and
dressed hogs, — and to receive in exchange gro-
ceries and dry-goods. From this fact the village
derived its name of New Market. The first man
who engaged in buying and selling country pro-
duce, and who lived in New Market and sold all
the articles common in country stores, was An-
derson Ross. After him came Wesley Bottorff,
Mr. Garner, J. W. Haymaker, Dr. Benson, and
Alexander Ruddell. Between 1840 and 1850
there were three stores in the town at the same
time. There was an old-fashined saloon here
about 1845, which dealt out all kinds of drinks,
from hard cider to the Kentucky bourbon. A
prosperous blacksmith and cooper shop about
the same time gave the village an appearance of
considerable business. In the place now there
is but one store, keps by Joel Amick, who also
is the postmaster.

POST-OFFICE.

New Market became a post-office about 1845.
Mails were formerly carried through the eastern
end of Oregon township on their way to Bethle-
hem and Madison, from Charlestown. Poke
Run was the only office for many years in the
township. Dr. John Covert was postmaster here
for fourteen years. The way of carrying mails
was on horseback with a pair of saddle-bags; or
in summer, a light vehicle was sometimes used,
when a passenger might be picked up along the
route. After the Ohio & Mississippi branch was
built, Poke Run ceased to be a post-office. New
Market had grown sufficiently to gain the right of
having an office within her limits. Accordingly
the old route was abandoned and and a new one
established, which ran from Charlestown to New

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

373

Washington via New Market. The first post-
master was John W. Haymaker. After him
came Sisney Conner, D. M. Turner, and James
A. Watson. These men filled their positions
satisfactorily. It was only a change of President
that could make a new appointment. Now the
mail-route begins at Otisco and goes via New
Market, Otto, and Bethlehem. It is tri-weekly.

CHURCHES.

The Christian or Campbellite church at New
Market has a history of variable circumstances.
It is made up of so many parts that nothing but
an extended review would present all the troublous
times through which it has passed. This church
sprang from a combination of influences. The
Arians or New-lights, the followers of Stone and
Marshall, and the Dunkards, had a church early
in this century in what is now Owen township.
It is known by the name of Olive Branch
chapel. Revs. Messrs. John Wright and Mr.
Hughes, the former a Dunkard and the latter a
New-light, united, and formed a union which
afterwards became the Christian church of New
Market. Rev. John Wright, who came from
North Carolina, had but few followers, and of
course it was an easy matter to go over to the
new faith. The great hindrance to a coalition
with the Dunkards was their mode of worship.
But the union dispensed with triune baptism, or
dipping three times, which according to their
discipline was a necessary part of their religion.
Feet-washing, too, was discarded by Rev. Mr.
Hughes, and between them both a satisfactory
settlement of conflicting views was made. Since
this adjustment the Dunkards and New-lights
have never regained their former strength.

The first preaching of these two denominations
was held in the homes of the pioneers. During
the summer months big meetings were often held
in groves. The people came from all sections.
It was not till 1845, a^ter a series of meetings at
Olive Branch church, that the Christian church
in New Market was placed on a substantial
foundation. Revs. Milton Short, Byron, Josiah,
and Thomas Walter, brothers, created much ex-
citement about this time in the townships of
Oregon and Owen in regard to religionv There
sprang up several thriving classes throughout this
section, but which have in time succumbed to
the inevitable influences of loose morality. Ex-

cellent preachers have frequently addressed
themselves to congregations in New Market.
David Lewis was among this class. Joseph
Hostetler, a graduate of Lane seminary, near
Cincinnati, was a powerful speaker, and carried
everything as if by storm. He is now dead.
John Ribble was also a man who aided much in
lifting humanity to a higher plane of living.

The present condition of the Christian church
in New Market is disorganization. The house
stands south of Main street, on a rather pretty
building spot; it is of frame and perhaps twenty-
five by forty feet. There are about forty names
enrolled on the register, but no regular services
are held. A traveling minister frequently comes
along and holds meetings for a day or two, and
then goes on to more energetic and determined
localities.

However, there is a Sunday-school held regu-
larly, which does much to redeem the old, inac-
tive members and inspire the young people with
a pure Christian faith.

To the church is attached a burying-ground of
venerable antiquity. Before New Market hardly
became a place for marketers, the fences looked
old, and the limestones which marked the rest-
ing place of some early settler, were covered
with moss and lichens. Now, the marble grave-
stones and the several monuments need sand-
paper and some of the modern appliances to
make them conform to later notions of ceme-
teries.

Presbyterianism in Oregon township has an
age which always brings respectability. Rev.
Enoch Martin preached to the pioneers in this
locality more than fifty years ago. Soon after
the village was laid out, a handsome frame build-
ing, capable of seating five hundred, was built on
the site of the present church. It was organized
under the Louisville Presbytery. Peter Amick,
Peter Covert, Abram and John Courtner, and
Valentine Clapp, were the first preachers. It is
owing to the labors of these men that the unity
of the Presbyterian church was preserved, and
the code of morals which she so untiringly main-
tains, kept to a respectable grade.

The present church was built five or six years
ago. It stands on the old church site. It will
seat three hundred and is well furnished.

During the summer months a Sunday-school
is kept up. Since July, 1881, there has been no

374

HISTORY OF THE OHlO FALLS COUNTIES.

regular service. In all there are thirty-odd
members. Taking the history of the Presby-
terian church in Oregon township, it is in keep-
ing with the principles of right and those ques-
tions of law and order which all good people de-
sire to see respected.

MARYSVILLE.

This little village of perhaps one hundred in-
habitants is situated on the Ohio & Mississippi
railroad, three miles from Otisco. It was laid
off for Patrick H. Jewett by VV. VV. Trevis, civil
engineer, in 187 1. It is on both sides of the
railroad and has forty lots. The village is lo-
cated on the south side of tract number two
hundred and forty-eight, about midway from the
north and south line. Marysville was named
after Miss Mary Kimberlain, now the wife of A.
Q. Abbott, of Oregon township. During the
ten years which have elapsed since the village
was regularly platted, very little has been done
in the way of improvement. There is nothing
to make the place very enterprising; nothing to
stimulate trade, except the produce which is sold
and received and the shipping point it furnishes
for stock. A cooper-shop employs a half-dozen
hands, who turn out cement barrels and kegs in
large numbers. The railroad company has never
erected a station. A platform answers the pur-
pose of telegraph office, ticket office, and freight
and passenger depot.

The post-office is kept in a little room ten by
twelve. It answers all the purposes of a more
commodious building. Extensive offices are not
always an indication of business prosperity.

Marysville has no churches or Sunday-schools.
But it has one other thing which is next to it, a
good public school. The first school-house
which afforded a place to learn the rudiments of
an education for the boys and girls of Marys-
ville, was built on John Park's place in 1848,
one mile due west of the village. Ambrose
Fitzpatrick was the teacher. Many years ago
the old house was torn down ; a new log build-
ing was erected in 1852, one and one-fourth
miles west of the old site. In 1863 it burned.
The country school is now three-fourths of a
mile west of Marysville and is known as Parks
district. It was built in 1872.

The Marysville public school has as many as
one hundred scholars, and is taught by two
teachers.

The village stores supply the people with to-
bacco, sugar, coffee, and groceries and dry goods
generally. In this section are many opossums.
They are caught in large numbers and sold to
the storekeepers, who in turn ship them to the
towns around the Falls. Such sights remind
one unaccustomed to such scenes — skinned
opossums hanging in bunches of half a dozen
at the side of a store — very forcibly of the South,
where the negro ate Johnny cake, danced with a
slice of opossum meat in one hand and one of
corn bread in the other, around the Southern
plantation camp fire. Marysville will never
amount to greatness. A village, to rise into
prominence, must be surrounded by a soil of
considerable fertility, and at least have some
wealth in timber or other natural resources.

AN OLD GRAVEYARD.

At the confluence of Dry Branch and Four-
teen-mile creek is the oldest burying ground in
Oregon township. No reliable information as to
who were buried here first can be obtained.
Trees, one foot in diameter, have grown on the
graves; the bushes are thick and vigorous, and
the briars in a healthy condition. There are no
fences or tombstones. Every thing is in a di-
lapidated condition, and it seems as if Nature
was left to take her course. The pioneers who
rest here, certainly deserve some attention from
those who are now enjoying the fruits of their
labors.

EARLY SETTLERS.

The Henthorns, who settled in the vicinity of
New Market, came from Virginia. Robert
Henthorn, the founder of the village, was a
prominent man in the affairs of his time. He
carried on the huckstering business for a number
of years at New Market, keeping a produce ex-
change in connection with his wagon, which
scoured the country in all directions.

Valentine Clapp, who now resides north of the
village, is among the oldest men in the township.
He came from North Carolina. His brothers
were John, Lewis, and Henry, and from them
have descended a long line of respectable citizens.

The Coverts came from Pennsylvania in 1798,
and settled near the old site of Work's mill.
The family was composed of Bergen, Daniel,
Peter, and John Covert. These brothers are all
dead. The remainder of the family was born in
Kentucky and in Clark county. After settling on

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

375

Fourteen-mile creek, the Indians became so
troublesome that the family moved to Limestone
(now Maysville), Kentucky. After residing here
for two years the family returned to the Grant
again. The family, of which Dr. John Covert
was a part, was composed of two sons and
eight daughters, six sisters and one brother be-
ing dead. Dr. Covert was born April 23, 1816.
His first wife was Miss Rachael Turrell; his
second Mary J. Clapp. Most of his life has been
spent in teaching school and practicing medicine.
He is a well-educated gentleman, and possessed
of an abundant store of pioneer reminiscences.

James A. Watson was born May 3, 181 1, in
Maryland, and came to Kentucky in 1813; four
years later to Clark county on tract number fifty-
nine. He moved to Oregon township in 1850,
and settled on the bottoms of Poke run, where
he has resided ever since. Mr. Watson is among
the distinguished old residents of this township.

One of the early and most prominent families
in Oregon was the Henlys. They rose to oc-
cupy some of the highest positions in the gift of
the people. Thomas J. Henly represented the
Third district of Indiana in Congress for two or
three terms. In 1842 he and Joseph L. White
fought a hard battle for Congressional honors.
This district being overwhelmingly Democratic,
it was almost impossible for a Whig to secure
a prominent office. White lost the election
and Henly went to Congress.

In the northwest corner of Oregon township,
the early settlers were made up of John Taflinger
and family, John Todd and family, Alexander
McClure, and James Beckett, with their wives
and families. Many of their descendants are
now living in this part of the township well-to-do
farmers and artisans.

CHAPTER XXIII.

OWEN TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

The commissioners of Clark county in 1824
were John Owens, John M. Lemmon, and Robert
Robertson. From the surname of the first

of these men the township derived its name. As
nearly as can be ascertained Owen township was
organized a year or two after Owens vacated his
office, which makes it about 1830. The minutes
of the commissioners of the Grant are obscure
up to 1 81 6. The old-fashioned paper has lost
nearly all its retaining power, and dates and min-
utes of regular meetings are very difficult to de-
cipher. Nothing is indexed. Town plats are
stowed away carelessly, and nearly all original
documents and legal papers are torn or dis-
figured. From these circumstances the exact
year the township was placed under a separate
organization cannot be positively fixed. Old
settlers place the time within a year or two of
1830 — it may be either way.

TOPOGRAPHY.

This township is located in the northeastern
part of the county. It is bounded on the north
by Oregon, Washington, and Bethlehem town-
ships; on the north of the Ohio river and
Charlestown township; on the east by the
run, and on the west by Oregon and
Charlestown townships. There are in the
township sixteen tracts of the Grant. Eigh-
teen-mile island is entirely south of Owen.
Here, as stated in the history of Charlestown
township, the base line was established, begin-
nin at the head of the island and running due
west, or that was the intention. It seldom hap-
pened that the original lines were properly fixed,
there were so many things which prevented ex-
actness. Undergrowth, fallen timber, the pecu-
liar sicknesses which are always lurking in the
lowlands, and the fogs along the river, made
ague and fever very common, and a long stay
in the new country sure to end in ill-health.
Then besides, the Indians and wild animals
made great caution necessary. When the sur-
veying party went into camp pickets were put
out. It was only after 181 2, when the final
treaty had been made after General Harrison's
victory at Tippecanoe, that the settlers were left
undisturbed in this region.

The base line, as it was established, formed
the basis for the survey of the upper portion
of Indiana, extending to the surveys which
belonged to the Cincinnati district on the east.
Townships were laid off into squares, by run-
ning lines from the base line north and south

376

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and east and west, every six miles. They made
the townships six miles square; section lines
further divided the townships into thirty-six sec-
tions of six hundred and forty acres each. Base
lines were frequently established. This was nec-
essary to allow for the rotundity of the earth's
surface. As the Grant line began at the upper
end of Eighteen-mile island, as well as the base
line, there was necessarily a little tract between
the two, shaped like a triangle. In this body of
land there are seventy-one acres. It is owned
by three persons.

Owen township has sixteen of the five-hun-
dred-acre tracts. The Grant line cuts the town-
ship into halves, but throws the larger one on
the south side. All that portion of the township
north of the Grant line is divided into sections.
Within the limits of Owen, as it is now bounded,
there are twenty-two and seventeen hundredths
square miles. The total valuation of property
is placed at $298,000. There are about eight
hundred people in the township.

SOIL.

Early settlers lived economically. Corn, whe»t,
some rye, potatoes, and pumpkins were the com-
mon products. The soil produced tolerably well.
Its wetness generally prevented extraordinary
crops. It required the most careful treatment to
make it yield, even when the timber was first
cleared off. Along the creek bottoms it was
non productive. Now, after many years of
continued working, it seldom furnishes a paying
dividend for the labor expended.

SURFACE.

The eastern half of the township is mostly level.
No streams of any size lead off to the river or
toward the larger creeks of Fourteen-mile and
those in Jefferson county. Poke run heads in the
western part of Owen, and flows slowly through
Oregon township into Fourteen-mile. Yankee run
begins in the southwest corner of the township,
and enters the same stream with Poke run, buc fur-
ther down toward the river. The timber in this
part of Owen is composed mostly of beech, ash, an
*oak now and then, and thousands of hoop-poles.
Some farms are under good fences, well supplied
with dwellings and out-houses generally. But
the improvements are far behind the times.
People now there seem to have few of those
qualities which go toward making up a prosper-
ous farming community.

The southern side of Owen township is drained
by Bull and Owen creeks. Bull creek is a noisy
little stream which rises altogether within the
township, and flows in a southerly course to the
Ohio. Like many other natural features of
Clark county, it derived its name from early asso-
ciations. Nearly one hundred years ago a large
buffalo bull was killed at its mouth, after a hard-
fought battle. This fact, combined with its rapid
current over falls, down cascades and rocky bot-
toms, induced the pioneer people to call it Bull
creek — a name which is certainly very appropri-
ate. Bull creek flows between hills from fifty to
two hundred feet in height. This water-course
seems to have been cut through the rocks many
years before the white man made his appearance
in this neighborhood, by an agency unknown at
this period of the world's history. Above the
creek on the west side, the surface is gently un-
dulating. Owing to the long and continuous ser-
vice to which the soil has been subjected, it is
rather unproductive.

Owen creek, which is about two-thirds the
size of Bull creek, runs through the southwest-
ern part of the township and empties into the
Ohio in the very extreme corner of Charlestown
township. It has a current of average rapidity,
drains a tract of country generally level, and is
mainly supplied with water from springs. In
some places the water enters openings in the
rocks which form its bed, and runs under them
for quite a distance. Then it escapes to the
main channel, again to go through a similar per-
formance. As early as 1800 Major Owens dwelt
on or near its banks in the wilderness. He, by
hard work and economy, grew to considerable
prominence in the affairs of his county. This
was especially true in the township where he
lived. It was from Major Owens and his de-
scendants that the township and the creek of
Owen derived their names. Mr. Owens died
many years ago. His legacy was an unspotted
character, full of Christian virtues.

The tract of land lying between Bull creek
and the Ohio, and which has the form of a pe-
ninsula, is laughingly and somewhat scientifically
prominent. The area includes about one thou-
sand acres. It is an elevated plateau, from one
to two hundred and fifty feet high. In the early
history of the township the land was especially
productive, rendered so on account of the lime-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

377

stone, which is very prominent in this locality.
Formerly this land was sprinkled with log shan-
ties, old stone fences, turnip patches, and black-
berry bushes. From the time when Pettitt and
Armstrong kept their ferries on the Ohio, the
little opossum made it a rendezvous. The
crevices in the bluffs of Bull run supplied them
with comfortable homes, where disturbance was
never expected. It was on this body of land
where the little, cowardly creature frisked inno-
cently, climbed pawpaw bushes in sweet com-
placency, and ate fruit in safety. He gave to
his haunts a name which will ever be spoken
with a smile — "Possum Trot." On this same
tract of land is a district school, where the chil-
dren meet to learn of the world. But few, per-
haps, know how the little, old school-house de-
rived its peculiar name, and the fun the 'possum
had here before education took possession of his
favorite resort.

TIMBER.

Along the Ohio river on the bluffs, the first
growth of timber was made up of walnut, blue
ash, sugar-tree, oak, and hackberry. But this
class of trees extended only for a few miles
from the river. As soon as the level upland was
reached, the soil and timber changed. Beech
took the place of most other trees. In fact this
was so universally true that even four-fifths of all
the timber was beech. Its growth was firm and
the bodies made excellent fire-wood when split
into sticks of four or five feet. The character of
the soil was necessarily changed on account of
the timber of one hundred years ago being cut
away and a new growth allowed to take its place.
Soil is generally determined by the kinds of
forest trees which grow upon it. So it is in this
case. The timber and soil in the eastern part of
Owen township are medium.

Below the mouth of Bull creek about one-half
mile is a remarkable union of two sugar-trees.
They are eighteen inches in diameter and are
situated on the farm formerly known as the old
Crawford place. Twenty feet from the ground
they unite and form an arch. The union is per-
fect and resembles a forked stick turned upside
down. After uniting, the single trunk runs up to
the height of seventy-five feet

CAVES.

The counties of Floyd and Clark, and those
which follow up the river but' circle north of
48

Cincinnati, says an old geologist, are noted cave
systems. Clark county is peculiarly interesting
from the caves which are found in nearly all the
townships. Hutchinson's cave, on that nerk of
land between Bull creek and the Ohio which is
known as "Possum Trot," is surrounded by
rocky scenery, romantic and interesting. The
entrance way is on the river side, a little above
where Bull creek discharges its water into the
Ohio. From the starting point it curves north-
ward in the direction of Bethlehem, passes under
the "Possum Trot" school district, and, if tradi-
tion be true, emerges again on the opposite side
of the hill more than a mile from the river. The
cavern varies from forty feet high and twenty
wide to a narrow passage-way. In wet weather
traveling is difficult on account of the dampness
of the atmosphere and the water which flows
through it. On the dividing ridge between the
river and Bull creek sinks are quite common.
They serve to carry off much of the water, and,
perhaps more than any other factor, aid in pro-
ducing good crops.

FERRIES.

Three miles above the mouth of Bull creek,
on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, in Jefferson
county, is a little village called Westport.
Seventy-five years ago this settlement made con-
nections with Clark county by means of a ferry.
Levi Boyer had charge of transportation for
many years. The boat was propelled by horse-
power, when traveling was indulged in by every-
body. People came from the interior counties
of Kentucky and the Blue Grass region, crossed
at Westport, penetrated the Indiana counties,
bought stock, and returned to their farms. It was
this trade that brought Westport landing into
such prominence during the successful period of
steamboat navigation. For a number of years
Westport was almost as noted a landing as
Charlestown. After railroads began to take the
place of steamboats the old treadwheel ferry-boat
was abandoned. Instead of horses standing
on an inclined platform which ran from under
them as they walked, men were substituted.
But the ferry and landing are now among those
things which belong to early history.

Bull Creek ferry held considerable prominence
during pioneer civilization. Ever since the first
white settler began to cross the Ohio to scour
the Grant for missing claims, a ferry was kept at

37»

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the mouth of Bull creek. At first the starting
point was from the Kentucky shore. After
several years the settlers asked for a change, and
a transfer was made to the opposite side. This
ferry originated with the Pettitt family, and there
it has remained ever since. John Pettitt was the
first regular ferryman. From him it has de-
scended to John Pettitt, a grandson of the old
gentleman. Like the Westport ferry it has little
to do now in the way of a crossing business.

A good bear story is told, with which the elder
Pettitt had to do, and which is vouched for as
true. On a certain occasion one of the old
mothers of the township was hurriedly called
across the river. Mr. Pettitt was tiot at that
time, it seems, very anxious to make the trip. It
was during the days of the hand-ferry. 'After
some motherly persuasion the boat pushed off,
and the landing was reached in safety. On the
return trip, when half-way across, a bear, two-
thirds grown, climbed over the side of the boat
and took a seat in the hind end. Mr. Pettitt
left bruin and bruin left Mr. Pettett undisturbed.
As the ferry struck the landing on the Indiana
side, he jumped out, cantered up the bank, and
disappeared.

FORTS.

In 1812, the year of the Pigeon Roost mas-
sacre, many families crossed the run and awaited
the cessation of hostilities. Others combined
and built block-houses or forts. The people in
the neighborhood where school district number
three now is, built a block-house at the cross-
roads. It was picketed. The building was ar-
ranged so that when Indians approached to set
fire to the house the men above could shoot
down through the joists, which projected over
the sides three or four feet and on which the
ends of the rafters rested. This old fortification
was never found necessary for protection. The
Indians left the country immediately after their
first assault, pursued by a band of minute-men.

On the road leading from New Market to the
Ohio, four miles, air measure, from Grassy flats,
* on Mr. William Bullock's old farm, a fort was
erected in 181 2. It was soon abandoned. The
disappearance of the savages left little fear of
further trouble. But it frequently happened,
during those uncertain times, that a reoort would
pass over the country like wildfire, saying Indians
were coming, and that everybody able to bear

arms must prepare to fight. Bullock came from
the East and settled one mile from the Tunnel
mill. He changed his residence after a few
years and located in Owen township.

ROADS.

There were no regularly established highways
when the Indians made their attack at Pigeon
roost. People traveled promiscuously. They
often walked to the county seat and hunted on
their way. Horsemen went through the woods
regardless of anything but distance, and, if pos-
sible, shot a buck or bear, to carry him home on
their return. It was in this way that the best
route for a road was found out. After several
years of going and coming, and when the loca-
tion became pretty generally fixed, a petition was
presented to the county commissioners and the
desired result obtained. The roads all con-
verged at Charlestown. And here, too, the peo-
ple went from the country every Saturday, to
listen to trials and hear the news of the day. It
was a kind of an epidemic among the settlers.
The courts were always attractive, and drew
many of the people from the townships to hear
lawyers parley and argue fine points of law.

MILLS.

Owen township was settled without any at-
tempt to form a little neighborhood. Where the
land and the price suited, there the emigrant
made his home. This gave rise to serious dis-
advantages. Mills were only small affairs from
their situation. When Leonard Troutman erect-
ed the first water mill in the township, on Bull
creek, there was not enough custom work to
keep him grinding all the time. From 1820,
the year of its erection, until 1825, it ground
most of the grains for the farmers in this region.
After that date Jacob Bear put up a horse mill
in the "Possum Trot" district. Here he carried
on his trade for ten or more years. Previous to
the abandonment of the horse-mill Mr. Bear
had erected an overshot grist-mill on its mouth,
one mile above Bull creek. This was about
1826 or 1827. He engaged in milling on this
site for a number of years. As time went by
and the Tunnel mill rose to be considered the
best on the northern side of the county, mills in
Owen township were left to struggle with a small
income. Trade was uncertain. Business was
unprofitable, and this branch of industry soon

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

379

went into non-existence. It was useless to com-
pete with John Works, the founder of the famous
Tunnel mill.

DISTILLERIES.

It seems that the early settlers regarded still-
houses about as we, of the present age, regard
woolen factories. Every farmer had something
to do with the manufacture of whiskey or brandy.
Levi's still, near the Westport landing, was prob-
ably the first in Owen township. Its exact date
cannot be positively fixed, but is placed near the
year 1810. A Mr. Needham carried on the
same business very early in the extreme west
corner of Owen. Mr. Samuel Struseman was in
the business, in the central part of the township,
about the same time. Says an old citizen :
"All the neighbors had little stills and made
their own whiskey and apple brandy. It was
not such whiskey as we get nowadays. There
were no adulterations ; and even the preachers
drank it with a relish. After the Government
began to tax its manufacture, people could not
still profitably, and hence- whiskey-making is now
unknown in this township." We might add, there
is not a distillery or brewery in Clark county.

TANNERIES.

Tan-yards were about as common as still-houses,
but varied greatly as to their usefulness. They
shipped their goods to Cincinnati or Louisville.
As bark became a branch of trade, it was sent up
or down the river to supply orders from the large
cities. Hides were bought up by traveling agents
at a price greatly in advance of that paid by the
home merchants. These things worked destruc-
tion to the small establishments in the townships.
John Cavin was one of the first tanners in the
township of Owen. Jacob West's tan-yard, six
miles southeast of New Market, was perhaps the
most noted in its time. Both of these were here
more than fifty years ago. Tanneries in this part
of the county are scarce, but the bark business
is carried on quite extensively along the river.
The bark is loaded on barges or flat-boats, and
floated down to the cities situated on the banks
of the Ohio.

SCHOOLS.

The oldest school in Owen township stood on
the Bethlehem and Bull Creek road. It had all
the features of backwoods life. The stone
chimney, large fire-place, puncheon door and

seats, greased paper for window glass, the noisy
boys and girls, — all made the old log building
very interesting. It passed away half a century
ago; the scholars have many descendants in this
county, but the boys and girls then are now old
men and women. John Troutman taught at the
Shilo school-house in 1825 and 1826. Stephen
Hutchings, Robert and James Perry, William
Allen, John and Henry Anderson, Samuel and
Robert Applegate, George Hutchings, and Jacob
Ingram were the first teachers in this end of the
township. They also taught in most of the ad-
joining school districts. Stephen Hutchings was
one of that class who used the whip pretty freely.
His left hand frequently took an unruly school
by surprise, by whipping a dozen or more at the
same'time. None of his scholars ever rose to
distinction in the public affairs of county, State,
or nation.

The Possum Trot district was composed main-
ly of the Boyers, Adamses, and Wardells. Rob-
ert Wardell was a Revolutionary soldier, the
father of the boys who made this school famous.
Possum Trot school has always borne a name for
everything else but docility.

Larkin Vaught's district is situated in the
southeastern part of the township. It is well at-
tended. In Owen township there are five school
districts. They are the redeeming features of this
as well as all other divisions of land; and Owen
may well take an interest in her social and edu-
cational systems.

CHURCHES AND SECRET SOCIETIES.

The Olive Branch Christian church was formed
out of the Dunkardsand New-lights. Its history
is given principally in the sketches of Oregon
township. Revs. John Wright and Mr. Hughes,
the former a Dunkard, the latter a New-light,
were instrumental in forming the union. Both
made concessions. Church disciplines weie dis-
carded and the religion of Dr. Campbell taken
instead. Campbeliite religion, as it was jeeringly
called, has risen from obscurity in this township
to be the most prominent of all. The old Olive
Branch chapel was built of logs, and was 18x24
feet. It was used till 1852, when the old build-
ing was sold and a frame erected. It is now oc-
cupied with some degree of regularity.

The Shilo Methodist Episcopal church, be-
tween Westport landing and Hibernia, belongs
to the New Washington circuit It is one of

38o

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

those temples which we all turn to intuitively ;
one whose history awakens the happiest and
tenderest emotions. Its first members were
Thomas Allen and wife, John Lever and wife,
Job Ingram and wife, Jacob Bottorff and
family, John Hutchins and wife. Calvin and
John Rutter were the first preachers. They
were brothers, men devoted to the work they
had chosen. In 1854 the old house of worship
was replaced by a better building. This class is
managed tolerably well, but needs some of the
early enthusiasm of its members to place it on
good, solid footing.

More than forty years ago a Masonic lodge
was organized at the mouth of Bull creek in the
store of William Pettitt. Dr. Frank Taylor and
Esquire Spenser were among the first members.
The meetings were held in an upper store room.
After a term of singular prosperity the lodge was
left to take care of itself. The charter was re-
voked and the regalia of members called in ; but
this all took place after the death of the organ-
izers. Now there is nothing left to mark even the
site of the old store.

Owen township can boast of having had three
Granges, viz: Number Four district, Shilo, and
Washington. They seem to have done compar-
atively little good and are now apparently in a fit
condition for the graveyard.

BURVING-GROUNDS.

On the road leading from West Point landing
to Hibernia, on Mr. Levi's farm, is one of the
oldest burying-grounds in this end of the county.
It was here that many of the old settlers were
buried. There are no fences now to separate it
from the outside world. Briars and bushes have
everything their own way.

Two miles from Hibernia, on the Bethlehem
road, is the old family burying-ground of Allen
Perry. It is off the left a quarter of a mile, and
is rapidly going the way of many other such
places. The Perrys do not own the place at
present.

In the old Patterson neighborhood, three miles
above Hibernia, on the right of the Bethlehem
road, is another of very great age. It is also
overgrown with briars and bushes. Everything
borders on dilapidation.

Captain John Armstrong founded a burying-
ground at Armstrong's station, in the southeast

corner of the township. It was about 50 x 60
feet. The situation is picturesque, as the mourn-
ers overlooked the Ohio while depositing their
dead in the tomb. Captain Armstrong was a
distinguished pioneer in this part of the Grant.
His name is perpetuated by a station or steam-
boat landing on the Ohio.

PHYSICIANS.

All the doctors in the surrounding township
practiced medicine in Owen. From Charlestown
came Dr. Hugh Lysle on foot. He treated his
patients by staying with them until death or re-
covery was the result. Drs. Andrew and Camp-
bell Hay came from Charlestown, Dr. Goforth
from New Washington. But Owen township
never had any very thorough-going physicians.
Her settlements were too small for any ambitious
practitioner of medicine.

VILLAGES.

Herculaneutn was surveyed for William S.
Pettitt in 1830, by John Beggs. It is situated
on tract number fifty seven of the Illinois Grant,
below the mouth of Bull creek. The streets run
at right angles with the river. There are twenty-
two lots, which number from the lower right hand
corner.

Germany was laid out by Jacob Bear, Sr., in
1829. It has nineteen lots and is crossed by
two streets, Main and Main Cross streets. Both
these villages are now of little consequence. Bull
creek with its high bluffs passes close by, and
almost makes one village out of two — if villages
they can be called. Neither has a blacksmith
shop. Germany has a grocery. The main bus-
iness of the station is to ferry people across the
river, as they come from New Market and Striek-
er's corner.

These villages took their names from the
German people who early made the narrow bot-
toms their home. Standing on the high banks
of Bull creek and looking down in the valley
which follows it, the places can hardly be called
either neighborhoods or hamlets. They are just
between the two, and will, apparently, stay
where they are for a number of years to come.

HIBERNIA.

David Hostetler, who came from Kentucky,
was an early settler in this village. He owned a
tract of land: the Charlestown and Bethlehem
and Boyer's landing and Otisco roads crossed at

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

38i

the corner of his property. From these circum-
stances a village naturally sprang up, though it
never had a town plat. The Grant line was used
for the course of the road to Boyer's landing. It
passes directly through the village and forms the
principal street.

Hostetler came here in 1828 and bought
land of Daniel Kester from tract number one
hundred and five. Thomas Applegate and Wil-
liam Pangbum were neighbors. After a few
years others gathered here, and hence the place
naturally took the form of a village. Hostetler
soon opened a store, and was the first to car^y
on this branch of industry in the village. He
was also the first postmaster, as the mails were
carried to Bethlehem from Charlestown. His
store was used many years as the voting-place
for Owen township. John Roland, Leigh Striek-
er, and Isaac Crumm were storekeepers during
the early experience of Hibernia. All these men
kept in the same house — that used by Mr. Hos-
tetler. It stood on the northwest corner of the
cross roads, and in 1879 was torn down. Another
was erected in the Grant. It is now the only
public house, except churches and schools, in the
village.

Walter Pangburn was their first blacksmith.
He was really the first man who made black-
smithing a business, in this part of the county.
The village now has one store and one black-
smith shop. The former is kept by W. H. Som-
mers.

Schools in Hibernia were always similar to
those of other little places or settlements.
Houses were built of logs, generally without
hewing. The first school-house in Hibernia
stood pretty nearly where Sommers' store is now,
but back from the road two or three rods. It
was used until 1865, when a frame building was
erected. The children of the neighborhood
attend here, as well as those from the village. It
is conducted systematically, and is the brightest
ornament of the place.

The Christian church in Hibernia is the out-
growth of the Hard-shell Baptist. These two
denominations erected a meeting-house in 1835,
jointly. It was used up to i860 by the two
classes. In the meantime many of the old Bap-
tist members had died. The Christian church
had continually added to its membership. Twen-
ty-five years after the old log church was put up,

the followers of Dr. Campbell found themselves
in entire possession of the church property. The
old church being unfit for services, they deter-
mined to erect a new house. It is a handsome
brick building, capable of seating three hundred
persons, and stands on the Boyer landing road,
on the Grant side. To it is attached a burying-
ground, which dates from the beginning of the
organization of the Baptist church. There is
about one and a half acres in the enclosure.
Calvin R. Pangburn was the first person buried
in it. Among the first members of the Baptist
church were William Pangburn and wife, Daniel
Kester, wife and family, Levi Boyer and wife.
Some of them finally changed their names to
the Christian class book. Lathan Boyer and
wife, Allen Boyer and wife, Benjamin Hawkins
and wife, Richard and Nancy Hawkins, belonged
to the Christian church. Revs. Mordecai Cole,
from Charlestown, Thomas Waller and Elder
Byron were their first preachers. This church
now has preaching occasionally. A good Sun-
day-school holds its exercises here every Sabbath.
The Christian church in Owen township is
more prosperous than any of the denominations.

Hibernia needs renovating. It is simply the
cross-roads which makes the village. The church
is the most noticeable of all the houses. About
the settlement the country is poor, and of course
agricultural interests are not thriving. In the
hamlet there are but six or seven houses. The
little store is post-office, tavern, loafers' corner,
barber-shop, voting precinct, and all. Harry
Scott, the township trustee, lives in a large brick
house in sight. He, probably, has more to do
with the successful working of the village school
than any other man.

What the villages of Owen township ought to
have, is some of the crust scraped off, some of
the fogy notions discarded, and more interest
taken in all the spiritual and temporal resources
which tend to upbuild and maintain society.

OLD SETTLERS.

The oldest man in Owen township is Mr.
George Allhands. He was born December 10,
1798, in Jefferson county, Kentucky. John All-
hands, his father, and Catharine, his mother,
raised four sons and seven daughters. His
brothers' names were as follows: John, Garrett,
and Silas, the former of whom died more than

382

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

fifty years ago. Polly, one ot his sisters, is eigh-
ty-six years of age. She lives in Illinois.
Catharine has now been dead eighteen years.
She died in Arkansas. Elizabeth died in this
county. Rachael lives in Clark county at an ad-
vanced age. Susan lives in Iowa. Nancy lives
in Bartholomew county, Indiana. Naomi has
been dead twenty-five years. Sarah lives in
Owen township. When the family came to the
Grant, they settled on tract number one hundred
and three, and here the children were raised.
The girls married young. The boys made their
living by hard work and some hunting. Clark
county was then almost unknown, except by hear-
say. The country around Strieker's corner was
a dense wilderness. The family began to clear
off a small tract for growing potatoes and coin.
At this time, the years previous to 1812, there
were no mills in this part of the county that did
good custom work; most of the grinding was
done in the State beyond the Ohio. In some
families there were hand-mills which were run
by a staff placed horizontally, and which ground
about one peck per hour. But the meal was
coarse. These mills often took the place of
water-power in the very earliest civilization.
Hominy mortars, made out of gum logs, with
a shell two or three inches in thickness, and
which held a gallon or two of corn, were in every
farm-house. They were burned out of good
gum logs; the inside was conical-shaped, so as
to allow the corn to run into the lower end.

Mr. Allhands remembers when Louisville was
hal' the size of Charlestown, and when it took
six months for dry goods to come from New York,
by way of New Orleans. The money received
was carried on horseback through the wilderness.
One of the remarkable lacts of the times was that
a highway robbery was never known to take
place during these journeys.

William Strieker, the largest real-estate owner
in Owen township, came to Clark county in 1816
from Virginia, when only eight years of age.
The family settled first in Washington township.
In 1833 he moved to Owen township, where he
has resided ever since. He accumulated prop-
erty fast by boating and dealing in real estate,
though seldom selling a piece of land when once
it came into his possession. Mr. Strieker owns
twenty-three hundred acres, lying mostly along
the river in the southeastern part of the township.

He is a gentleman of much experience, speaks
with the ease of a firm business man, and treats
his neighbors kindly.

Dr. William Taggert was born in Virginia.
His father and mother were from Ireland. He
owns tract number eighty-one. On the west side
of his property a splendid stone fence, the long-
est in the county, extends for a half-mile along
the Bethlehem and Charlestown road.

Rev. Thomas Allen was a Methodist preacher.
He lived in sight of Hibernia, and made his liv-
ing by a carding machine. Preachers who took
no regular circuit seldom received a salary; so
it was with Mr. Allen.

Jacob Bottorff came from South Carolina and
settled on the road leading from Hibernia to
New Washington. He was by faith a Dunkard,
but in the Methodist church took an active part,
and died leaving behind him an admirable pos-
terity.

William Pangburn came originally from New
Jersey. The family settled first in Pennsylvania,
then in Ohio, then in Indiana. There were five
sons and one daughter. Two of the sons are
dead. This family has taken a prominent part
in all the enterprises of the couuty.

Robert Lucas Plaskett came from Cincinnati,
and settled near Strieker's corner in 1800. Here
he bought one hundred acres of land from Col-
onel Armstrong. His life was spent to a great
extent on the river, making considerable money
by his natural fitness for commercial pursuits.
There are now few of the Plasketts living in this
part of the country; most of them have scat-
tered throughout the West. The Plasketts were
originally from Pennsylvania.

John Hutchings was born in Virginia April 7,
1802, in Frederick county, of which Winchester
was the county-seat. He came with the rest of
his father's family from Pittsburg to Louisville on
a flat-boat. Joseph, his father, was strongly op-
posed to slavery, and on this account left Ken-
tucky, and moved to Washington township on the
line of the purchase. The younger Hutchings
married Lydia Fisher in 1825. She came from
North Carolina, Fayette county, about 1814.
John Hutchings is the only one left out of a
family of six sons and three daughters. He be-
longs to that class of men whose character is
worthy of imitiation.

Henry Lampin, an Englishman by birth, was

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

383

born January 30, 18 15, and moved to Owen
township in 1845. He came here from New
York. Since settling in this township he has en-
gaged himself in farming. Mr. Lampin belongs
to the younger class of pioneers.

John Giltner, the father and grandfather of all
the Giltners in Owen township, was born in Penn-
sylvania and came to Clark county from Ken-
tucky. He married Hannah Wilson in Kentucky,
who bore him twelve children, viz: Elizabeth,
Mary, Francis, Jacob, Solomon, Joseph, Daniel,
Eli, William, Andrew, Susan, and Sarah. He set-
tled on Camp creek, entering one hundred and
sixty acres of land, and began to prepare for farm-
ing by clearing off the timber, and shipping it to
Louisville in the shape of cord-wood. Both he
and his wife died at the age of eighty years. Jo-
seph and William Giltner are the only brothers
who live in this county. The former was born
June 2, 1821.

Among the early settlers in the eastern part of
Owen township, whose biographies are of that
class which are interesting, and yet without the
scope of an historical sketch, was Mictiael Utzler,
Chrisler King, and Patterson East. They were all
farmers, took an interest in funny things, and
made the cares of life light and easy to carry.

But the age when frontier characters occupied
the stage is fast passing away. Daily events wilj
in a quarter of a century be facts of history.

CHAPTER XXIV.

SILVER CREEK TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

The first mention made of this township in the
county records is under date of February, 18 15.
It seems to have come into existence after
ClarksvilleandSpringville townships, and for some
reason unknown, its boundary lines are not given
in the minutes of the county commissioners.
The latter townships have gone out of existence
by subdivisions, the townships created from
them bearing other names. In the records the
first mention of the township is made in the
following words, dated February 15, 1815 :

On petition of a number of inhabitants of Silver Creek
township, praying for a public road to be opened, commenc-
ing at the town of New Albany, running thence north twelve
degrees east to the uppermost fork of Camp creek, on the
line between numbers sixty-four and eighty-five ; thence
north thirty-eight degrees east (nearly), crossing Silver creek
near Abraham Littell's ; from thence to Charlestown on or
near the line of the Grant numbers, directly passing on the
east side of Springville.

This road, it may be mentioned, was finally
obtained, and for many years was used by the
surrounding country.

Originally Silver Creek township embraced a
very large portion of the western part of the
county. On the 24th of January, 1803, the
boundaries of the county were changed, that
part lying west of Silver creek and running up
to the corner of Silver Creek township being
placed in Floyd county for the convenience of
voters. This change lessened the area of the
township eight to ten thousand acres. The main
reason for the change was the high water in
Silver creek during the spring, at the time when
the township officers were elected. The voting
precinct was in what is now Clark county.

Silver creek township is bounded on the north
by Carrand Charlestown townships; on the east
by Jeffersonville, Utica, and Charlestown town-
ships; on the south by Jeffersonville township
and Floyd county; on the west by Floyd county
and Carr township. Area, 9,789 acres, or fifteen
and twenty-nine hundredths square miles. It is
smaller by three thousand acres than any other
township in the county ; but while the next larg-
est, Union, has a total valuation of $123,000,
Silver Creek has $143,000 worth of property.
The township is irregular in shape. It resembles
an isosceles triangle, compressed from all corners.

There is considerable speculation as to how
Silver Creek derived its name. Says one au-
thority: "About 1775 a band of roving Indians
buried on the banks of Silver creek a keg of
silver. From this incident the stream was named.
The township gained its name from the stream
early in 1800, or thereabouts." This statement
is to be considered in a negative sense. The
probabilities are, and there is much evidence to
substantiate the statement, that the early naviga-
tors gave the stream its name. Many of the
flat-boatmen, while on their way down the Ohio
river, were heard to remark that " yonder range
of hills," pointing to the knobs, " is supposed to
be rich in silver ore." From this circumstance,

3«4

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and probably from the striking appearance the
knobs presented as they circled out into the
country, resembling much the silver bow in In-
dian fable, the navigators gave the stream which
flows down through the valley and empties into
the Ohio near the ancient site of Clarksville, the
name of Silver creek. At any rate, we find no
well-authenticated statement to show anything
to the contrary. How the story of silver being
found in the knobs originated, is a mystery.
The Indians probably had much to do with it, or
perhaps the original surveyors under Clark picked
up specimens of something which, for want of a
better name, they called silver. However, there
has been found, though not in paying quantities,
silver in this valley. The reader can combine
the above statements and deduce his own con-
clusion as to the derivation of the township
name.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The climate of this township is mild and equa-
ble. There are few of those great diversities
which result from the extremes of soil and surface.
In winter the average temperature is about the
same as in some of the colder climates. This
fact results mainly from the unobstructed surface,
and the complete destruction of the old forests.
The level country, also, which extends continu-
ously to the Ohio river, allows the winds which
always follow water-courses, to spread out over
this township and impart to the atmosphere an
exhilarating quality. But it must be remembered
that there are only a few degrees' difference be-
tween this and the adjoining townships. A
township of a few thousand acres can never be
greatly affected, or differ materially from similar
adjacent divisions of land, on account of climatic
changes.

Some good agriculturist has well said, "the
bottoms of Silver creek were never noted be-
cause of their fertile soil." The original crops
generally produced well. But that was before
the ground had been tampered with and mal-
treated so sadly by later farmers. Many farms in
this township have been under cultivation for
more than fifty years. A greater portion of this
time every means has been taken to have them
produce good crops. The soil is not naturally
rich. It is made up of a kind of cold loam, mixed
with washings from the knobs, perhaps ground to
impalpable powder centuries ago. The valley of

Silver creek is fine farming land. Corn is the
staple. Fruit grows in very scanty quantities, and
the flavor is not always the best. There are few
farmers who are now considered wealthy, who
made their wealth out of their farms. Their
fathers in many instances settled here during the
emigration fever in the South, and, buying land
at the Government office or at secondhand,
waited for the increase in the value of real estate.
It was in this way that many of the now well-to-
do farmers became wealthy.

The surface of Silver Creek township is level.
It is unbroken by any hills of more than or-
dinary height. The knobs do not enter the
township. The smallness of its extent prevents
any great diversity of surface.

When the first settlements were made in the
township, three-quarters of a century ago, a fine
growth of timber covered the whole scope of
country, properly called the " lower end, or level
country, in the southern part of the county."
Many of the first settlers describe the timber as
marvelous in its growth. Oaks from four to six
feet in diameter, and reaching the nineties in
height, were very common. Poplar trees larger
than the largest oaks were encountered all over
the township. Tall hickories, which ran up as
high as sixty and seventy feet without a limb,
stood in great numbers along the low bottoms
and the higher uplands. Beech-trees grew in
profusion ; there was no end to their numbers.
Few of those trees which are peculiarly adapted
to the soil of the knobs grew here during these
early years. Since the forest has been cut away
they have become somewhat acclimated. Buck-
eye, maple, walnut, hackberry, and dogwood
are now quite common.

The original forest furnished a great source of
income to the first settlers. When steamboat
building was engaged in so extensively by the
cities around the Falls, thousands of feet of
sawed lumber were shipped yearly to these
points. Nothing but the finest of timber could
be used to good advantage, and in cutting no
pains were taken to preserve the noblest of the
trees. An unsparing hand cut them without a
thought of the present scarcity, even of good
rail timber. Trees from fifty to sixty feet in
height, and as straight as a die, fell promiscu-
ously.

There was never a dense undergrowth in the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

385

Silver creek valley. Ten or twelve years after
the township was established, a fine crop of pea-
vines completely covered the face of the country.
For several years it was unnecessary to provide
for the winter stock. All that was required was
to turn loose the cows, and they lived in luxury.
The vines were nutritious and for quite a while
supplied all the necessary food for stock. Con-
stant pasturage on account of their tenderness,
caused them to decline rapidly, and after 1820,
they ceased to grow.

An early resident, the oldest living woman in
the county, Miss Rachael Fleharty, says the
country when she came here was an unbroken
cane-brake from the Ohio river at Utica to the
foot of the knobs in Floyd county. A few paths
led in circuitous routes to some of the principal
springs or licks, but there was no well-defined
track in any direction. The cane grew from fif-
teen to twenty feet high, and so thick as so be al-
most impenetrable. These cane-brakes were
fairly alive with game. Bear, deer, wolves, foxes,
and panthers roamed in complete possession of
the forest. There seemed to be no end to their
numbers. It was foolhardy to venture far from
home without the best of protection and a com-
plete mastery of the situation. The cane was
generally got rid of by fires in the spring or a
dry hot month during the summer. It was only
by continual burnings that it could be kept down.
There are left yet a few patches along the small
streams, as reminders of a day long gone by.

Aside from the peavines and canebrakes, there
was never a growth of saplings or briars to a great
extent. After the first clearings were made, very
little trouble was had on account of sprouts,
bushes, and young briars springing up to harass
the husbandman.

Silver creek is the principal stream in the
township, also the principal one in the county.
It forms the eastern boundary of the township.
Its tributaries are few, the largest being the Elk
run.

The Jeffersonville and Salem road passed
through the township at an early day. It has
been particularly described in the history of the
township of Carr.

THE CEMENT BUSINESS.

The following extract from the State Geologi-
cal Report for Clark and Floyd counties, made

in 1873 by Professor W. W. Borden, will illus-
trate the extent of this industry in this region,
although some of the facts and figures given
have since changed in measure:

On the Indiana side of the river, in Clark county, six
miles from Jeffersonville, on the J., M. & I. railroad, on the
bank of Silver creek, is the cement-mill of Hohn & Com-
pany. The hydraulic limestone outcrops in the bank of the
creek, and presents the same characteristics as at the Falls.
This mill has four kilns and two run of stone. A short dis-
tance farther down the creek, near the railroad bridge, on
tract number forty-eight, is the Black Diamond mill of Dex-
ter, Belknap & Company. This mill has sufficient capacity to
manufacture seventy-five thousand barrels of cement per an-
num. It contains two sets of burr-stones and three kilns, and
furnishes employment to thirty men. The fuel used is Pitts-
burg coal. The sales of the company amount to thirty thou-
sand barrels of cement per annum, and it is shipped in bulk,
sacks, and barrels to all parts of the country. The hydraulic
limestone used is obtained from the bank of Silver creek,
beneath the mill. A section measured here exhibits : i,
alluvium, 4 feet; 2, dark-colored hydraulic limestone, six to
eight feet; 3, hard, dark-colored cement stone, seven feet;
4, corniferous limestone in the creek, six feet. The four-foot
bed of crinoidal limestone usually capping the hydraulic
being absent in this quarry, the only stripping required is the
removal of the earth. The stone, as a general thing, is con-
siderably harder and of a darker color than at the exposures;
but the quality of the cement manufactured is of the best
brand.

About eight miles from Jeffersonville, near the Jefferson-
ville, Madison, & Indianapolis railroad is D. Belknap & Co.'s
Falls City mill. The hydraulic limestone here attains a
thickness of thirteen feet, with no overlying crinoidal lime-
stone. The quarry is very extensive, and furnishes all the
limestone the mill is capable of grinding. The buhrs are of
the best quality and four and one-half feet in diameter. The
fuel employed in the four kilns used for calcining the stone is
bituminous nut coal.

At Petersburg, near the crossing of the Jeffersonville, Madi-
son & Indianapolis railroad over Muddy fork of Silver
creek, and at Watson, on the Vernon branch of the Ohio &
Mississippi railroad, Messrs. J. Speed & Co. have two of the
largest mills engaged in the manufacture of cement. The one
at Petersburg has the capacity to produce one hundred thou-
sand barrels per year, and employs about sixty men. There
are four sets of French buhrs, four feet and a half in diam-
eter. The kilns are eight in number, built of the crinoidal
limestone which overlies the hydraulic, and lined with fire-
brick brought from Pomeroy, Ohio. They are each capable
of producing from fifty to one hundred and twenty-five bar-
rels per day.

.During six days of August, 1873, six kilns at this mil
made 2,395 barrels of cement. A section of the quarry ad-
joining showed the soil to be from four to six feet deep. The
companies manufacturing cement on both sides of the Ohio
river, in Indiana and Kentucky, have formed a co-partner-
ship under the name of the Union Cement association, and
have appointed Philip Speed, Esq., agent, with an office at
No. 113 Main street, Louisville. To this association all the
mills make returns, and are apportioned a certain amount of
cement to manufacture, so as not to glut the market. From
data obtained at the office we tabulate the following statis-
tics :

386

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

List of Firms. Brands. Capacity. Sales.

W. F. Beach,

Clarksville, Ind. .Red Brand 50,000 22,350

W. S. Hohn & Co.

Cementville Ind. .Silver Creek 75.000 35.245

Dexter, Belknap &

Co. Cementville. . Black Diamond ~)

Dexter, Belknap &

Co., Sellersburg. .Falls City j- 300,000 137,471

Dexter, Belknap &

Co., Louisville. ..Crescent City J

J. Speed & Co.,

Shippingsport,. ..Louisville Cement Co.~|
J. Speed & Co.,

Watson, Ind Louisville Cement Co. ^400,000 166,100

]. Speed &Co.,

Petersburg, Ind. .Louisville Cement Co. I
The month of December sales not included 30,000

Total barrels 391,166

This statement was made in 1873. Since
that time there have been marked increases in
capacity as well as sales. The future of the
township, taken from the stand-point of the
economic geologist, is one full of promise.
Louisville cement, improperly so called, has a
national reputation. It is safe to say that one-
fourth of the cement used in the United States
is manufactured in these two counties, but mostly
in Indiana, as the table will show. Future his-
torians must tell the story of what has been ac-
complished within the next half century.

IMPROVEMENTS.

Before the boundary lines of the county were
changed so as to throw that portion west of Silver
creek into Floyd county, there were few roads of
general importance. Perhaps it is safe to say
there were no roads in the township, before that
mentioned in the first paragraph of this sketch.

The Utica and Salem road ran from the Ohio
river by New Providence and the way villages to
its terminus. One authority places the date of
this road at 18 10, but it is improbable, because
about this time the canebrakes in the Silver
creek bottoms certainly prevented any regularly
established road in this section. The date of
the Utica and Salem road can be safely placed at
1820. Several years after the first roadway was
laid out, the route was made more direct by leav-
ing New Providence to the south three or four
miles.

In regard to the railroads of the township,
they are all adapted to develop the resources of
the country. The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indi-
anapolis railroad enters the township at the south
side, by crossing Silver creek, and thence pass-
ing directly from one side to the other, mak-
ing altogether about five miles and a half of rail-

road in the township. The Louisville, New Al-
bany & Chicago railroad strikes the township
in the extreme western corner, and passes through
it from one quarter to half a mile. This latter
railroad has a station in the township — St.
Joseph's Hill.

MILLS.

The history of Silver Creek township, as
related to mills, is very extended. It comprises
many of the first and foremost mills of the county. .
Silver creek and Muddy fork were admirable
streams for mill sites, and here many of the first
mills in the county sprang into existence. There
are few months of the year when these creeks
fail to supply a sufficient quantity of water to
carry on milling, but on a somewhat limited
scale. Silver creek is fed by streams which take
their rise among the knobs, and the numerous
springs which gush forth from the extensive lime-
stone formations in the county. For these rea-
sons there is always a plentiful supply of water.

Spencer Collins, one of a family intimately
connected with the first settlements in Monroe
township, built a grist-mill on Muddy fork as
early as 1800, near where the village of Peters-
burg stands. Here he worked at his trade for a
number of years, until the mill finally came into
the hands of Samuel and Peter Bottorff, in 1815.
The original Collins mill had two buhr stones,
and was of the undershot pattern. In 1816
Henry Bottorff gained possession of the mill,
which he continued to run until 1850. During
its history of three-quarters of a century it has
been rebuilt three times, changed names often,
and passed through several hands.

One year ago it stopped running on account
of several causes, and yet stands idle with all
the machinery in it. There is a plan on foot,
however, to set the old mill to work, and let it
terminate its existence in 1900 — one hundred
years from the time of its birth.

"The old Redman mill," as people are wont
to call it, occupies a fine site on Silver creek,
east of the center of the township. It was here
as early as 1815. It was of the undershot kind,
and for many years did a large amount of work
for the pioneers. Like its predecessor, the Col-
lins mill, it has undergone many changes, both in
rebuilding and proprietorship. During its event-
ful experience it has been actively engaged, and
is now owned and run by Mr. William Straw.

HISTORY Of THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

387

Steam power is used to a considerable extent,
but more particularly when the busy season
brings in a large country trade. There is also a
steam saw-mill attached to the flouring depart
ment.

Montgomery's mill, one and three-fourths of a
mile above Petersburg, on Elk run, was one of
the first mills built in this end of the county. Its
capacity ranged from two to three bushels per
hour. It was kept busy during the fall and
spring; but when summer came the supply of
water fell short, and grinding had to be sus-
pended for a few months. At last it went down,
the natural result of all similar enterprises which
belong to a pioneer age, and which are left to
maintain an existence against modern mill-
wrights.

An early writer says:

Many of the best citizens of the township had still-houses.
The manufacture of whiskey was a paying business; and
preachers, or those who took more interest in religion than
anything else, considered it an honorable as well as a profit-
able industry.

SCHOOLS.

Owing to the earliness with which the town-
ship was settled, some of the first schools in the
county were originated in the Silver Creek valley.
They were like most other schools of that day,
which have been minutely described in other
township histories. The school which, perhaps,
more than any other, deserves mention, was one
kept by Richard Slider, or on his farm, on the
bank of Elk run, as early as 1801. Of course
the house was a rude affair. Scholars were sent
from the thin settlements roundabout, and were
only in attendance from six to eight weeks within
the year. Among the first teachers were James
McCoy, Andrew McCafferty, George McCulloch,
and Spenser Little. The old Slider school was
kept in running order for a number of years,
after which, on account of untoward circum-
stances, it ceased to exist.

Mr. Wells's school, on Camp run, was early set
in motion. It was not so ancient as the Slider
school, but is generally recognized as of pioneer
relationship by many of the settlers. Mr. Ballard
was one of the first teachers. After the State
school laws came into force, the first of what are
now called district schools was the John A
Smith school-house. There are in the township
at present six schools and about four hundred
and twenty-five scholars.

Mr. James Brown, now of Wood, but who for
many years was a citizen of Silver Creek town-
ship, engaged in farming and whip-sawing,
speaks of the early schools thus :

The first school-house of which I have any knowledge was
built on Camp run, a quarter of a mile above where the ' Jef-
fersonville, Madison &• Indianapolis railroad crosses the
creek. The house was built of logs ; and the windows,
which sufficed for light, were made by cutting a log partly
out on each side of the house. Across the holes were pinned
perpendicular sticks, with greased paper pasted over them,
which served for glass. A large mud-and-stick chimney was
at one end of the house. Long, rude puncheons, with the
upper side smoothed by means of a broad-axe, and legs put
in the outer side, served as seats when turned upside down. '
Another house, pretty much after the same fashion, and
built about the same time, was the Cunningham Settlement
school, a quarter of a mile above where Hamburg now
stands, on the State road leading from Jeffersonville to Terre
Haute. Around this house at one time was quite a large
graveyard ; but it with the house has long since disappeared,
with now but a single evergreen to mark the old site.

Mr. Brown says also of the old Redman mill :

The first mill I have any knowledge of was an old-time
water-mill, with a saw-mill attached to it, about two and a
half miles from where the Jeffersonville, Madison & In-
dianapolis railroad crosses Silver creek. It was built and
owned by Rezin Redman, a Tippecanoe veterans.

The same gentleman, in speaking of other
things, says :

Great changes have taken place since then in regard to the
forests of the township. Many of the settlers, the pioneers
of the forest, those who came here before the canebrakes
were cleared off, have passed away, leaving, however, im-
pressions which time can never erase.

In speaking of fruit he says :

Wild fruits in the forest at that time (r8io) were quite
common. Towards the fall of the year apples lay profusely
on the ground in different places, also wild plums and
grapes. Now there are scarcely any left.

TAVERNS.

John A. Smith's tavern on the old State road,
one mile and a half southeast of Bennettsville,
was one of the first siopping-places for travelers
in the township. It was on this highway that a
stage made regular trips between Salem and
Jeffersonville; and here at Smith's tavern horses
were changed and passengers given time to alight,
stretch themselves, take a nip of whiskey or a
bowl of toddy, and again take their seats for the
rest of the journey. The buildings were of logs
— dwelling-house and all. A part of the old
building is yet standing, though a few years more
will convert the logs into their original elements.

CHURCHES.

Religiously, Silver creek township is promi-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

nent. It was from within the narrow limits of
this little body of land that many of the most
striking incidents in this county were enacted.
There emanated from this valley a succession
of religious tenets which resulted in a vast
amount of good. Thete was, probably, no
township in the county which was so admirably
adapted to thorough religious growth. The set-
tlers were made up of men well balanced and
incapable of being led astray by fanatical theories
on theological subjects. Church members were
careful in the observance of law in spirit as well
as in form; hence the result.

The old Hard-shell Baptist church northwest
of Hamburg, one half-mile, was erected in 1820,
or thereabouts. It was a log-house, fashioned
after the style of churches in those days. The
Littells, Absalom and Thompson, brothers, were
the first preachers of this denomination on this
side of the county. Their influence extended
for miles in all directions, where they were well
and favorably known. For their members there
were the Cunningham family, some of the Bot-
torff' s, and others. When Dr. Alexander Camp-
bell created so much excitement in 1832-35, the
old church divided, the major portion of its
members going over to the new faith. The old
log-house, with most of its first members, those
who came here attracted by curiosity and a lova
of display, everybody who helped to make up
the audience, mostly have passed away.

At an early day the Methodists had no regu-
lar place of worship in the township. The first
appointment of the Rev. William McMahon, one
of five brothers who were Methodist Episcopal
preachers, after his admission on trial at the Ohio
conference of 181 1, was to the "Silver Creek
circuit, on Clark's Grant, in the territory of Indi-
ana." This was a year of Indian troubles, dur-
ing which the battle of Tippecanoe was fought,
and as much of Mr. McMahon's large circuit
was on the frontier, he found the people very
much alarmed, fortifying themselves in block-
houses and forts, and himself thought it expedi-
ent, if not necessary, to carry his gun constantly
as he traveled from station to station preaching
the Word. It was also the earthquake year, and
this combined with the Indian terrors to make
his early ministry very effective. He soon in-
creased the membership in his circuit from three
hundred and eighty-one to five hundred and

fifty-five. He was afterwards the chief human
instrument in establishing Methodism in northern
Alabama, and became very celebrated. He was
still living in 1869.

Mr. Henry Bottorff's home on Muddy fork was
always a stopping-point for traveling preachers.
Here services were held for a number of years
once every month, to which everybody came re-
gardless of doctrine. Mr. Bottorff was a man
of great religious zeal, and aided in many ways
in promoting the cause of Methodism.

Revs. John Garner, Mr. Garner (probably the
father of the former), and Cornelius Ruddell,
were early preachers. These men traveled the
country for miles in all directions, but mainly be-
tween the Big Miami and the Wabash rivers.
Mr. Brown, of Wood, says again:

The first church of which I have any knowledge was the
Silver Creek church, on the bank of Silver creek, between a
quarter and a half-mile above where Harrod's mill now
stands. It belonged to the Regular Baptist denomination.
About 1826 it divided into three classes: the Missionary Bap-
tists, the Christians or Campbellites, and the Regular Bap-
tists. The leaders of the various denominations were as
follows: Of the Regular Baptists, Rev. Isaac Wherl and
Mr. M. Sellers; of the Missionary Baptists, John McCoy
and others; Christians, A. Littell. The house was held by
the last of these; but they have since removed their place of
worship near Charlestown to a place called Stony Point.
The old church has long since been removed, as far as I
know.

In speaking of the establishment of Sunday-
schools, he says:

Among the oldest farms of Silver Creek township was one
owned by a Mr. Neal. He had cleared the ground, culti-
vated it, lived, died, and was buried on the farm where he
first settled. After his death it came into possession of a
Mr. Clayton, who about fifty years ago opened a Sunday-
school at his house and held it for over three years. He
either furnished the books himself or they were presented to
the school by the Presbyterian church of New Albany. This
school was of great advantage to Silver Creek township, and
is the first Sunday-school of which I know, although it is
said there was one held at Utica previous to this time by the
Methodist order.

Among the most efficient and intelligent
preachers of the township and county is Nathan-
iel Fields, now of Jefferson ville. "He has been
an earnest exponent of the Scriptures for over
fifty years, and a journalist ot more than ordinary
ability."

Rev. A. N. Littell gives this choice bit of
church and biographical history:

In 1799 that part of the county known by the name of Sil-
ver Creek township was inhabited only by the red man of the
forest There was no song save the savage chant, no prayer

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

3$9

save that offered to the Great Spirit under the shadows of the
tall oaks.

In the latter part of the year 1799, Elder Absalom Littell,
of the Presbyterian church, emigrated from Pennsylvania to
what was then the far west, settling on the west side of Silver
creek, in Clark's Grant, in the Northwest Territory. Indiana
at that day was sparsely settled. There were no settlements
between the Territory and the Rocky mountains except a few-
French settlements or forts, containing but a small number of
Americans. In 178S, twelve months preceding the emigra-
tion of the Littells, the first Protestant congregation was
organized in the State. This was a regular Baptist church,
composed of four members and established on the Philadel-
phia confession of faith. The organization was effected a
few miles northeast of the Littell settlement, but the first
house of worship was subsequently erected on the east bank
of Silver creek, near the Littell farm. It afterwards became
widely known as the Regular Baptist church at Silver creek,
the oldest Protestant church in the State. The sons of Ab-
salom, Sr., Absalom, Jr., and John T. became members.
They afterwards became ministers, and as such preached for
their church many years. In consequence, however, of some
theological difference, the church split, one part retaining the
old name. But before this trouble it had attained to a
goodly number of members, among whom we might men-
tion Moses W. Sellers, who aftenvards became a preacher,
and Elder John McCoy. The other part renounced all
creeds and confessions of faith, taking the Bible alone for
their guide. Upon this platform the Christian church was
organized, with Absalom and John T. Littell as leading spir-
its. They occupied for a while alternately the same house
with the Baptists. Afterwards a regular class was organized
at a small school-house on Camp run, with Elder A. Littell
as pastor. He had as co-laborers Jacob Cris and John Mar-
vitz, with John Adams and George Campbell as deacons.
Here they continued from 1832 to 1837, but in the meantime
Rev. Solomon Jacobs (Methodist) had preached to good
profit. A good Sunday-school was organized, with William
Hartley and A. N. Littell as superintendents. In 1837 the
Camp Run Christian church concluded to build a church at
Hamburg. The house was a brick, built on lot number
three, School street, and had a seating capacity of three hun-
dred. In 1840 the class removed to their new house. In
the year 1859 Absalom Littell, nephew to Elder Absalom
Littell, was ordained for the ministry, having been licensed
to preach one year before. In 1861 the younger Littell was
chosen elder of the church, and was ordained as such.

About the year 1828 the Regular Baptists organized a
church in the town of Sellersburg, building a frame house
capable of seating four hundred. M. W. Sellers, assisted by
John McCoy, was in charge. After some years of use the
house was burned, which greatly afflicted the church. But
by the zeal and undying energy of Moses W. Sellers and
others, the house was re-built — a fiame, on the other side of
the street. It had a seating capacity of four to five hundred.
Mr. Sellers still remains as pastor. A Sunday-school was
organized, with A. N. Littell as superintendent. It was com-
posed of all denominations.

The Regular Baptists, as they were then called, continued
to worship in their house for several years. Finally they
changed their name from Regular to Missionary Baptists,
worshipping as such for quite a time. For some cause they
got in the background, and continued to go down, In the
meantime Rev. George K. Hester, of Charlestown, preached
occasionally, followed by Rev. Peter H. Bottorff and others.

Their labors were continued in a school-house for a short
time, until finally, being assisted by a liberal community,
they succeeded, by the zeal of their pastor, Rev. George W.
Green , in the year 1875, in building a neat little house of wor-
ship. It is a frame structure, and has a capacity to seat
three hundred people. Rev. Mr. Green remained wilh the
church two years, and was followed by others. It is now in
a flourishing condition, with Rev. F. Tincher as a worthy
preacher, through whose labors the church has enjoyed some
seasons of refreshment.

We now notice more fully the Christian church in Ham-
burg. Absalom Littell continued to preach and act as elder
of the church, being assisted by Elders M. T. Littell and C.
A. Robertson. The church prospered, and the Lord blessed
their labors. The little house proved to be too small for the
congregation; and as the village appeared to have reached
its zenith and was now going rapidly into decay, the class
concluded to build a church at Sellersburg. This place was
then a thriving little village. But the plan met with opposition
and the project was given up for a while. The Baptist
church heretofore mentioned was leased and occupied for
some years, when the house was bought. This church is
now known as the Christian church of Sellersburg. It has a
membership of one hundred and seventy-five, with J. J. Lott
and A. N. Littell as elders and J. M. Crim and Thomas
Thompson as deacons. Mr. Crim is also clerk and treasurer.
Preaching is held alternately; and be it said to the credit" of
the Christian and Methodist Episcopal churches, that love
and charity abound. A Sunday-school is conducted by both
denominations in the same house — one in the morning (the
Methodist, with Enoch Leach as Superintendent) and one in
the afternoon (the Christian, with Thomas Thompson superin-
tendent).

There is also a German Lutheran church in Sellersburg,
capable of seating one hundred and fifty. Its members are
good workers, and carry on a well-attended Sunday-school in
connection with the church. We also mention as local
preachers the Revs. William Bear and S. M. Stone, both of
the Methodist Episcopal church; also to the credit of the
township, five schools, which are taught regularly.

Rev. Mr. Worrell was an early minister in this
section of country. He belonged to a class of
traveling preachers who often made arrange-
ments to preach at farm-houses five or six weeks
in advance. These engagements were kept with
a punctuality which would surprise many minis-
ters of to-day. A zeal characterized their work
which undoubtedly came from on high.

st. Joseph's hill.
This is a German Catholic settlement, situated
in the extreme western part of the township.
From its surroundings one can see that it has
little chance of ever becoming of much import-
ance, except in a religious way. A half-mile
west the knobs stand out like turrets or old
Spanish castles, circling off toward New Prov-
idence in a handsome manner. Soil in this
locality is not very strong, but good fruits are
raised in considerable quantities. A note ad-

390

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

dressed to the Rev. Joseph Dickman, the minis-
ter in charge, gives as a reply the following:

St. Joseph's Hill is situated on the Louisville, New Albany
& Chicago railroad, near the line of Clark and Floyd coun-
ties. The people living at that place, profess the Roman
Catholic faith. The early settlers were from Germany, com-
ing to this country in 1846, and by their industry gained a
home. After having provided for their bodies, they provided
for their souls, mindful of the words of our Saviour, "What
does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and loses
his own soul?" by erecting a church in their midst. The
building was of frame, 80x30 feet; it was commenced on the
nth day of June, 1853. and finished the same year. Martin
Koerner and Joseph Eringer were the carpenters and con-
tractors. They received for their labor $275. The leading
men were Peter Biesel, Sr., Peter Renn, Sr., Frank Acker-
man, Andrew Rank, Sr., Philip Strobel, and Ludwig Her-
big.

Rev. Father Neyron, the well-known priest and physician,
was the first missionary attending to their spiritual wants.
He resided at St. Mary's, Floyd knobs. Father Bessonies,
now vicar general, attended to them afterwards. St. Joseph's
was then attended by Rev. Ed. Faller, of New Albany.
After the congregation numbered about seventy families,
they petitioned the Right Rev. Bishop for a residing priest;
but their petition was not heard immediately, for the want of
priests. In the year i860 the first resident priest, Rev. An-
drew Michael, arrived at St. Joseph's Hill. His arrival was
announced by the ringing of the bells, and the people re-
joiced at the arrival of their spiritual director. He remained
with them for four years. During his time he erected a large
two-story brick parsonage, valued at $1,500, he himself work-
ing like a laborer quarrying rock. His successor was Rev.
Father Pauzer. He remained with them nearly nine years,
and erected two large frame buildings, the one for a school-
house, and the other for a teacher's dwelling.

In the year 1873 Rev. Joseph Dickman, a native of Indi-
ana, took charge of the congregation. He paid all outstand-
ing debts, and made preparations to erect the present splen-
did church, the old one having become too small. In 1880
he took up a grand subscription towards that building; he
next had the members quarry rock for the foundation and
haul logs to Peter P. Renn's mill, only a few hundred
yards from the church, where all the lumber for the building
was sawed. Peter P. Renn is a man of great enterprise.
Besides his large farm and mill, he finds time to make han-
dles for four or five railroad companies. During the summer
of 1880 half a million brick were made and burned near the
church by George Cheap, of this county. On the 18th day
of October, 1880, the corner-stone was laid of the new
church with great solemnity, by the Right Rev. Bishop.
The foundation was completed that fall by Joseph Zipf, of
Clark county, and Louis Zipf, of Floyd county. The work
was done in a very satisfactory mrfnner. The new edifice,
which is 114x52 feet, and crowned by a spire of one hun-
dred and thirty feet, was completed in 1881. It was dedi-
cated by the Right Rev. Bishop, assisted by Rev. Joseph
Dickman, the pastor; Rev. J. Stremler, D. D., of St. Mary's;
Rev. J. P. Gillig, of St. John's, Clark county; Rev. Ubaldus,
O. S. F., of Louisville; and Rev. J. Klein, of New Albany,
on the 20th day of November, 1881. The cost of the build-
ing is estimated at $20,000, all of which, except $2,000, is
paid. The congregation numbers one hundred families.
The trustees who assisted the pastor deserve credit for their
activity. They were Mathias Renn, Jacob Strobel, Lorenz

Weidner, Joseph Zipf, Max Zahner, and J. C. Schmidt, all
well-to-do farmers. Mathias Renn does a great business,
along with his farm work, in turning chair rounds; Max
Zahner is the owner of the largest vineyard in the county. He
has more than twenty-five different varieties of grapes. The
church record shows eight hundred and eighteen baptisms
since 1853, two hundred and sixty-seven deaths, and eighty-
seven marriages.

St. Joseph's is the largest Catholic church in
the county, outside of Jeffersonville. The situ-
ation is well adapted for regular religious growth.
Everything is in a prosperous condition. Indus-
try and public-spirited enterprise have made for
St. Joseph's Hill a name which many other re-
ligious communities may well strive to attain.
About the only thing which mars the scene is a
pair of saloons — things not necessary in any
well-balanced neighborhood. The train makes
it a stopping-place only when signaled.

BURYING-GROUNDS.

As early as 1816 the old Cunningham burying-
])lace, one-fourth of a mile north of Hamburg,
was used by the family whose name it bears. It
was located, when laid out, on the Salem and
Jeffersonville road, but since the various changes
in the location of this highway, the old yard has
been thrown into a field, which at present is
under cultivation. There is nothing to mark the
resting-place in this graveyard of many of the
first settlers of this township. Some few of the
farmers deny that there is any difference in the
growth of crops on the old burial site and the
field outside of the original enclosure.

The Bottorffs had a family burying-ground on
the old Henry Bottorff place. Mr. Henry Bot-
torff's family were buried here first. It is now
but little used.

Fifty years ago the Wellses established a grave-
yard on their farm. It was used only by their
families. It is now of little service, the Wells
graveyard, like many others, having almost dis-
appeared. These old private grounds are going
out of date. People begin to see the necessity
of some permanent public place where their
dead can be interred.

The Hamburg cemetery, donated for burial
purposes by Absalom Littell, is of considerable
note. Many of the dead are buried here, it be-
ing considered one of those places fit for public
interment.

VILLAGES.

Hamburg is the oldest village in the township.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

39i

It is located on tract number one hundred and
eight of the Grant, on the old Salem and Jeffer-
sonville road. It was laid off by Abram Littell
and Thomas Cunningham, in January, 1837, and
comprises thirty-one lots of various sizes. The
original plat resembles a triangle, and the ordi-
nary size of the lots is sixty by one hundred and
twenty feet. " Lot number three, on School
street and in the forks of the same, is donated to
the Christian congregation, or the Church of
Jesus Christ (sometimes called, by way of dis-
tinction, Reformers) for a meeting-house, and
for that use forever, never to be transferred. Lot
number four is donated for school purposes, and
for that use forever, the same given by Absalom
Littell." The proprietors also donated land for a
market-house — a good idea, but never realized ;
they also gave land for school purposes, " and
for that use forever."

Mr. Littell, who was a Christian minister and
who owned quite a large tract of land in this
vicinity, a man of considerable foresight and re-
markable energy, was the first to bring the idea
of founding a town at this point to a successful
termination. A combination of influences de-
cided the matter. The old stage route between
Jeffersonville and Salem, established as early as
1830, had for a stopping-place John A. Smith's,
two miles above the present site of Hamburg.
This line made three trips each way every week.
Four horses were used, and the business done
was considerable.

These circumstances induced Mr. Littell to
lay off the town. But previous to 1837 the post-
office had been established, with William Wells
as first postmaster. His office was in a little log
house on " Jeff street," as it was generally called
by the people. Sometime after he kept the office
in a frame building on the southwest corner of
the cross-roads. Both these buildings are yet
standing, though in a very imperfect condition.
The year the town was laid out David Young
served as postmaster. His place of doing busi-
ness was in a small log house on Jeff street.
William Thompson came next, keeping the office
in Wells's old place. Then came John W. Jen-
kins, in the same building. Reuben Hart fol-
lowed Jenkins in a frame house on the northwest
corner of the cross-roads. Thirty-odd years ago
Mr. A. L. Beck served as postmaster. He was
probably the last postmaster at Hamburg, for, im-

mediately after the Louisville, New Albany &
Chicago railroad was built, the Jeffersonville
and Salem mail-route was discontinued. For a
year or two the mail came from Bennettsville,
but as soon as the Jeffersonville, Madison & In-'
dianapolis railroad was built the office was estab-
lished at Sellersburg; hence the office at Ham-
burg was not necessary, people getting their mail
at the former village. The office at Sellersburg
was established about 1852.

It will be seen that the above-named postmas-
ters included a considerable number of the early
citizens. Outside of those not named were John
Adams, Joseph Summers, David Thomas, and
William S. Thompson, the latter here in 1847.
Mr. Wells, however, was the first storekeeper,
dealing out groceries and the coarse dry goods
in the same house in which he kept the post-
office. Adams was engaged in marketing, and
was a sort of "jack of all trades." Summers
was a mechanic and had some reputation as a
cabinet-maker. Thomas was the first blacksmith
in the village. William S. Thompson was a store-
keeper, as was also Mr. A. L. Beck.

Hamburg, ever since it was laid out in 1837.,
has offered entertainment. In this Mr. Wells
was the first, as he was in the post-office and
store business. Thompson was also engaged in
tavern-keeping during his time; so also were
John McCory and A. L Beck.

The church history of Hamburg has been
given in general, elsewhere. The old Christian
church, a brick, was erected in 1838, or there-
abouts. Among the first members were Messrs.
William Wells, John Bloor, Robert Pruett, John
Adams, and a number of the Littells. Absalom
Littell was the first preacher. After him came
Thompson Littell, Elders Harkley and Kellogg,
and Dr. Nathaniel Fields, of Jeffersonville.
About 1872, on account of the old house be-
coming unfit for services, the class bought the old
Baptist church at Sellersburg, and from this time
has met there for worship.

The land, or lots donated for school purposes,
were early used by those having authority in such
matters. First, a frame house was erected,
which stood near the Christian church. It was
finally moved and is now used for a dwelling-
house. In 1870 another frame house was put
up, having one room.

The old Greenwood school-house was erected

392

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

not less than fifty years ago, by a Mr. Wright,
who contracted for its erection. The old house
s now gone, but another not far distant takes its
place.

At an early day, before the State school laws came into
force, a school was taught near John A. Smith's, on the
Salem road. There were others scattered throughout the
township, which, after the new system came in vogue, have
entirely disappeared.

Among the first physicians in Hamburg were
Drs. James L. Wallace, of Missouri, but born in
North Carolina; Kirkwood, of New Albany; and
Applegate, of Scott county; also John A. Oatley.
These men practiced in both Clark and Floyd
counties.

Hamburg has at present two stores, and con-
nected with them two saloons. They serve all
the purposes of the place. There is little or no
business done in the village. It is only a matter
of time with the village, its final disappearance
from the list of towns on the slip of the census-
taker.

In the original plat the town of Sellersburg is
spelt with an "a" in the second syllable. This
little error, or perhaps the correct spelling of the
surname of Mr. Sellers, the founder of the place,
was discovered by Mr. James Van Hook, of
Charlestown, a very excellent gentlemen, who a
few years since had charge of the preparation of
a county map. It is but just to say of Mr. Van
Hook that he has a more thorough acquaintance
with the county records than any man within
the present limits of Clark. He prepared the
most accurate map of the county ever completed,
and at a very small cost to the publishers.

Sellersburg is very irregularly laid off. None
of the forty-two lots have a right angle. It resem-
bles an isosceles triangle pressed together from
its base. One writer says, "Sellersburg resembles
a box twisted and squeezed together." The vil-
lage was laid out in 1846 by Moses W. Sellers
and John Hill. It is situated on the Jefferson-
ville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad, about
twenty miles from the county-seat. The railroad
passes by the east side of the village and has for
a station the smallest house for a waiting-room
of any village in the county. It is not over 7x10,
and when the train is about due is packed full
to overflowing by travelers bound for the cities
about the Falls. The station is a noted shipping
point. Here are the famous cement-mills spo-
ken of in preceding pages.

Moses W. Sellers was the first man in Sellers-
burg who kept a store. His place of doing bus-
iness was in the brick house now occupied by
Mr. W. H. Harrod, on the north side of New
Albany street. After M. W. Sellers came his
son, A. L., who kept in a frame house opposite
his father's. He is yet doing business at the old
stand. John A. Eisman has been engaged in
commercial pursuits in Sellersburg for many
years. He has always done much in the way of
keeping a saloon and furnishing a place where
the boys of the village and country could meet
and spend the evening and have what they called
a good time. He keeps what may properly be
termed a general country store.

John Shelters was a store-keeper in the town
not less than thirty years ago. He was born in
Floyd county. His place of doing business was
on the northwest corner of New Albany street.
The house is now out of existence.

Frederic Dold kept a store in town twenty or
thirty years ago, on the south side of New
Albany street. He left the village long since.
The present store-keepers are Messrs. A. L. Sel-
leis, Jr., William P. Miller, John A. Eisman, and
W. H. Harrod.

The village has never done much in tavern-
keeping; Christopher Eisman, however, has been
engaged in this business for more than forty
years. Aside from this house there has never
been any regular place of entertainment. "In
the village there is a would-be tavern with a large
sign and post, which reads, 'Union Hotel.'"
Presenting yourself at this house for entertain-
ment you are told — "For your dinner, go to the
first cottage below the blacksmith shop on the
left of New Albany street."

Among the most prominent of all the black-
smiths of Sellersburg has been Anton Rentz,
who is described by Mr. Harrod as a "wheel-
horse." The present smiths are A. J. Mabsey
and John Beck, " who have as good shops as are
in the county."

Probably the first physician in Sellersburg was
Dr. Stage, now of Scott county. Drs. John
Poindexter and Meek were practitioners in this
vicinity for a number of years. The physicians
now are Drs. Covert, Houtz, and Sallee.

Mr. Moses W. Sellers was the first postmaster
in Sellersburg. The office was established soon
or immediately after the Jeffersonville, Madison

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

393

& Indianapolis railroad was completed. It was
on the southwest corner of New Albany and
Utica streets. The house is now occupied by
Mr. Harrod as a dry goods and grocery store.
Mr. A. L. Sellers was next in succession. He
had his office on the southeast corner of the
same. W. H. Harrod was the third postmaster,
in the same house where Mr. Sellers had his of-
fice. The incumbent is W. P. Miller, .who
has been in charge of the office for about
one year. John Schellers was postmaster for
about eight years, beginning in 1872. His office
was on the northwest corner of New Albany and
Utica streets. Mails were carried at first once a
day each way, then twice a day, now three times
a day.

The first school-house in the neighborhood of
Sellersburg was built in 1835, or soon after, on
the Utica and Salem road one-half mile west of
town. The means for building the house were
raised by subscription. The land on which the
house stood was donated by Mr. Jeremiah Jack-
son. After the school was taken to Sellersburg,
making the village the center of the district, the
land on which the old school-house stood re-
verted to the original owner. The first teachers
were Messrs. Veach, Arthur Bills, Spenser, and
Joshua Smith.

Sellersburg has a pretty frame school-house
with two rooms. It stands on New Albany
street, in the northern part of the village.

In the village there is a flouring-mill, built in
1874-75, by a company under the name of H.
Williams & Co. This is the only flouring-mill
ever built in Sellersburg.

Among the first settlers of the village were M.
W. Sellers; John A. Smith, who, however, lived
near by; John Anson, Henry Bottorff, Peter Mc-
Kossky, and Absalom Pettijohn. There are in
the village now about three hundred people,
three churches, two saloons, three dry-goods
stores, one grocery, two blacksmiths, two shoe-
makers, and three physicians.

Many of the citizens are employed by the ce-
ment companies. These mills furnish employ-
ment regularly to from one hundred to one hun-
dred and fifty hands. Many of the hands are
German, and are people of steady habits and
economizing industry. Many of them own the
houses in which they live. There is no need of
being a loafer in this busy little place. People

are bent on living well, and strive to attain a
position which will, during old age, release them
from hard labor.

Petersburg, one of the little villages of Silver
Creek township, was laid out about the year
1854 by Lewis Bottorff. The survey was made
by Daniel H. McDaniels. Owing to some irreg-
ularity in the recorder's office the plat was never
recorded. There were eighteen lots fifty by two
hundred feet, and the village was named in
honor of Peter McKossky, a Russian who lived
near by on the Muddy fork.

Petersburg has the appearance of a modern
Western hamlet. The Louisville cement mills
attract much notice, and the citizens are engaged
mainly in working for this company, wages rang-
ing from $1.20 to $1.50 per day. Muddy fork
divides the village into halves, but otherwise
leaves it unmolested. An old grist-mill, with
great, gaunt arms, gazes down wistfully as the
locomotive rushes past, a reminder of the pio-
neer age. At present the old house is used for a
saw-mill, supplying material for much of the
building in this section of country.

Many of the houses are after the tenement
pattern. Weather-boarding is poorly done. In
the village there are perhaps sixty people. One
store, which serves as the station, and in fact for
all other resorts — such as loafers' corner, a place
for telling stories and spinning yarns — stands in
the southern half of the village, on the west side
of the railroad. Health in the town is good.
Work is always found at a good price, and none
suffer because of want, unless too lazy to earn a
living.

John McCoy was an early settler in Peters-
burg. He lived on tract number one hundred
and thirty-one. In religion he was a Regular
Baptist, and was considered an exemplary mem-
ber. Mr. Manning, who was from one of the
New England States, was an early store-keeper in
sight of Petersburg. His store was near Muddy
fork, above the old mill. As a partner he had a
Mr. Baldwin, who many years ago removed to
North Vernon.

EARLY SETTLERS.

James Brown was born in North Carolina in
1787, and came to Silver Creek township in
1824, renting a tract of land of Absalom Littell,
Camp run passing immediately through the
place. Some few years afterwards Mr. Brown

394

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

purchased forty acres of land from James Wells,
of the same township, on which he lived the
greater portion of his life. In character Mr.
Brown was a man who held conscience in the
highest esteem.

The journey from North Carolina was made in
one of the carts peculiar to the Southern States
during the period of British interference in
American affairs. One horse was hitched in
front of the other, and in the cart were placed
furniture, cooking utensils, wearing apparel, and
the family. In crossing the Ohio river at Jeffer-
sonville the last half-dollar was expended in pay-
ing the fare. During the later years of his life
he frequently spoke of the immense growth of
timber which covered the Silver Creek bottom
when he came here in 1824. He lived to see
much of the original timber cleared off, and rich,
well-developed farms take its place.

C. S. Poindexter, a native of Virginia, was
born in 1797, and came to New Albany with his
father's family at an early age. After remaining
in New Albany for a short time, he removed to
the vicinity of Sellersburg, where he had previ-
ously bought a tract of land from Absalom Lit-
tell. Nancy (Holland) Poindexter, his wife, was
born in Virginia and died in Sellersburg in 1854,
at an advanced age. By this marriage were born
seven children, five sons and two daughters, one
daughter being dead. The sons are among the
most noted men in the county, one of them
having filled the honorable office of State Sen-
ator.

The Littell family came from Pennsylvania
and settled on Silver creek, one mile east of Pe-
tersburg. There were five sons and two daugh-
ters.

The Wellses were from North Carolina. They
settled on Camp run as early as 1800. There
were four daughters and five sons.

William Adams was of Scotch-Irish extraction.
He had a large family, and settled on Camp run.
An early statistician says there were five hun-
dred voters in Clark county in 1840 by the name
Bottorff. John Bottorff was the father of twenty-
six children. 'I hey were long-lived people, and
from them descended a numerous posterity, who
now live in nearly every State in the Union.

CHAPTER XXV.

UTICA TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION AND TOPOGRAPHY.

This is a township which lies in the southeast-
ern corner of the county, organized some thirty-
five years ago out of those larger similar divisions
of territory by which it is surrounded. It took
its name from the village of Utica, and is bounded
on the north by the township of Charlestown ;
on the east by the Ohio river, which flows in a
southwesterly direction and washes from eight to
nine miles of its territory ; on the south by the river
and Jeffersonville township; and on the west by
the townships of Jeffersonville and Silver Creek.
There are few extremes of soil or surface,
streams or timber. The climate is mild, similar
to that of most of the other townships. There is
a pleasant breeze during most of the summer,
which makes the residences along the river, on
the Utica and Jeffersonville turnpike, healthy
places in which to live. Many years ago, before
the present high state of cultivation was reached
by the settlers, there was a good deal of ague and
fever in the bottoms. The lowlands along the
river were formerly somewhat badly noted, on ac-
count of the malaria which seemed to hover over
the country for many years. Sickness is now
seldom produced by reason of decomposed veg-
etation. The surface is level. It is properly an
extended bottom, beginning at the Ohio river,
and after rising in one or two terraces west of the
village of Utica, continues without any marked
interruptions until it reaches the knobs. It
spreads out into the finest farming lands in the
county. Fine dwelling-houses, with all their
necessary out-buildings, dot the country all over
the township. On the pike leading to Jefferson-
ville this is especially true; also on the Charles-
town pike — if a pike it can be called. The
township above Utica is somewhat more elevated
than that part lying below the village on the
river. It is along these bluffs, where so much of
the famous Louisville lime is burned, of which
we shall speak more particularly in coming
pages.

Prof. Borden, in the State Geological Report,
says of the soil:

A part of the land in Utica township has not only the.
wash of the corniferous and Niagara limestone of this region
upon it, but is in good part a river terrace, composed of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

395

altered drift, sand, and gravel, with numerous aboriginal
kitchen heaps. In the gravel or altered drift of this region
are found mastodon remains and recent wood at as great a
depth as thirty feet, which seems to indicate the situation
of an old nver or lake bed. Some of these deposits belong
to the Champlain epoch, and these ancient waters must have
washed the h ghlands about Charlestown, as on several oc-
casions, in sinking wells in the old court-house yard and other
elevated positions in that town, pine or cedar wood has been
exhumed.

Utica township is a noted market-garden locality, supply-
ing Louisville and the cities about the falls with a large quan-
tity of garden products — melons, sweet potatoes, Irish pota-
toes, and a great variety of fruits. The soil is also favorable
to the growth of corn and grass. Wheat does well and ripens
early.

The geologist should have added that stock-
growing forms a leading industry among the
many wealthy farmers, and also that dairying is
a source of much income. Some of the land
around Utica is admirably adapted to grazing,
many of the farmers dealing in stock almost en-
tirely. One dairyman, living beyond Utica on
the Charlestown pike, makes the run daily to
Louisville, doing an immense business. There
is certainly a fine opportunity for making money
in this line of business in this section.

The original forest here was very dense and
fine. All the country between the river and the
knobs was covered by a splendid growth of oak,
poplar, with some walnut, button-wood or
sycamore, hackberry, blue and white ash, and
buckeye. When the Woodses settled at the
present site of Utica, nearly one hundred years
ago, pea-vines covered the whole face of the
country from the river to the knobs, extending
as far north as the ancient hamlet of Springville.
They, however, only lasted for a few years after
the settlements became pretty well established.
Constant pasturage by the cattle which were
turned out to range, soon destroyed their spon-
taneity. These vines resembled very much the
growth of clover nowadays. They were very
nutritious, and during the fall stock lived without
the least care from their owners, except that they
had to be called in at night and turned loose in
the morning.

Utica township had, early in the century, an
almost impenetrable canebrake, which covered
the lower lands, those more particularly known
as the "wash of the corniferous or Niagara lime-
stone." These fastnesses were alive with all
manner of game, from the otter and muskrat to
the bear and the deer. Cane grew in great

abundance along the creek bottoms. It was
along these streams, in later years, after the
"pea-vine country," as the emigrants called it,
had totally disappeared, that the great hunters
of the county delighted to watch for an unlucky
fawn or black beai. Many hard-fought battles
were had in that wilderness, which will never be
recorded in history. The State Geologist, in
speaking of prehistoric animals, has this to say:

Some years since Mr. McWilliams, Colonel J. F. Willey,
and J. Coons obtained in a sand bank, on track number fifty-
five of the Grant, the skeleton of a mastodon (A/, giganteus).
A part of the bones were sent to the old Louisville museum ;
the remainder are in possession of Mr. J. Coons, who pro-
poses to forward them to the State cabinet. A tusk six feet
in length, which was taken out at the time, crumbled to pieces
soon after being exposed to the air. Mastodon remains have
frequently been found in the bank of the river at New Al-
bany, in the same geological position.

When the surveying parties laid off the tracts
— supposed to contain five hundred acres —
"more or less," as the deeds said, but which
nearly always had "more" — the Grant abounded
in game of all kinds. Those who by chance re-
ceived their tracts in the rich bottoms of Utica
were displeased, because at that time game was
more plentiful in the knobs. The land itself had
no value to the soldiers of General Clark, except
for the game which it provided. It is said that
some of those who received their land in the
bottoms made even exchanges with some of their
friends for land in the knobs. The former is
now worth $100 per acre; the latter from $1.50
to $10.

Miss Rachael Fleharty tells many wonderful
stories of pioneer life in Utica township at an
early day. Not only did the fox, the panther,
the wild-cat, the bear, and wolf infest the pio-
neer's premises, but the red man was not always
on terms of the friendliest intimacy. Before
1800 there was no time when it was considered
safe to venture far from home without weapons
and a complete confidence that one white man
was equal to two Indians. Bands of roving sav-
ages prowled around, often causing much alarm
among the settlers at Utica.

GEOLOGY.

This is one of those rich geological fields
where both the amateur and the experienced
geologist can find many things of interest in their
science. The Cincinnati group, of which we
have spoken more particularly in the history of
Bethlehem township, outcrops here in fine order.

396

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The following section corresponds with the
stone at Utica: "i, corniferous limestone, 12
feet; 2, yellow rock, magnesian limestone, 20
feet; 3, "grandad" limestone, used for building
purposes, 4 feet; 4, gray crystalline limestone,
Niagara, 14 feet; 5, crinoidal limestone, 6 feet.
Total, 50 feet." This section is quarried exten-
sively for building purposes and for making lime.

From the time the Woods families settled at
Utica to the present day, lime has been manu-
factured in this vicinity. It was not until 1868
or 1870, however, that lime-burning was con-
sidered a profitable industry here. The burnings
previous to this time were on a limited scale.
Within the above-named year the Utica Lime
company, with headquarters at Louisville, erected
two kilns, with a capacity of one hundred barrels
per day, and valued at $10,000. This company-
has been actively engaged during the last fifteen
years in burning lime, employing from ten to
twenty hands regularly. Wages average $1.50
per day. The lime stratum is fourteen feet in
thickness.

The first gentleman prominently engaged in
the manufacture of lime at Utica was Mr. M. H.
Tyler, who had built a kiln and made additions
until at last its capacity was about two hundred
barrels daily. In 1870 the Louisville Cement
company bought out Mr. Tyler, also the firm of
H. C. Emerke, whose capacity for burning was
about one hundred and twenty barrels per day.
This company has four kilns, two for coal, which
turn out one hundred barrels daily, and two
which burn wood, making in all a capacity of
five hundred and twenty barrels a day. Lime is
now selling (December 1, 1881) at fifty-five cents
per barrel. The cost of burning is twenty-five
cents, not including the stone. The property is
valued at $25,000. Thirty-five hands are em-
ployed, wages ranging from $1.40 to $1.75 a day.

The rocks used for lime belong to the Niagara
epoch. The following section of the Niagara
group was obtained at Speed's quarry: Cornifer-
ous limestone, twelve feet; yellow rock, impure
limestone, twenty feet; building stone, four feet;
gray crystalline limestone, burned for lime, four-
teen feet; upper bed crinoidal limestone, two feet;
crinoidal bed containing Caryocrinus ornatus,
etc., etc., four feet; gray limestone, eight feet;
magnesian limestone, five feet; total, ninety-six
feet.

The limestone one, two, and three, taken in their order
from the above, were used in the construction of the Ohio
river bridge at Louisville. This bridge is one of the finest
structures of the kind in the United States, and was built at
a cost of over $2,000,000. The following communication
concerning it is from the Louisville Bridge and Iron com-
pany:

Louisville, Kentucky, November 25, 1873.
William W. Borden, Esq.,

Assistant Geologist, Indiana.

Dear Sir. — Yours of the 25th instant is at hand. We
made no detailed expeiiments of the crushing strength of the
Utica stone which is used in the Ohio river bridge, having
been perfectly satisfied with its character, appearance, and
chemical composition, that there was no doubt of its being
able to do all that would be required of it in this respect.
We compared its ability to withstand the action of the frost
with that of five or six other stones with which we were ac-
quainted, by the method given in Millan's Civil Engineering,
page eleven, and found it perfectly satisfactory. We did
not allow the ledges with blue seams to be used in the face
work. Regretting that I am unable to give you more definite
infqrmation, I am

Yours respectfully,

J. W. Vaughn, Vice-president.

J. Speed, Esq., has erected at Utica two of Page's patent
kilns, each producing one hundred and twenty barrels of
lime per day. At Robinson's landing, a few miles above
Utica, Mr. Jacob Robinson burns of the same stone ten
thousand barrels per year. The fuel used is wood, and it re-
quires four cords to burn one kiln. The Utica Lime com-
pany use a mixture of wood and coal, and have two kilns,
each producing ninety barrels of well-burnt lime per day.
The Louisville Cement and Lime company, the Utica Lime
company, and Mr. Jacob Robinson, burn one hundred and
twenty-five thousand barrels of lime per year, employing in
the business a large number of hands.

The Niagara limestone is seen again a short distance
above Utica, at Charlestown landing. This is one of the
oldest landings on the river. It was selected by the early set-
tlers as being free from danger, which might occur upon
landing their arks near the Great Falls, of which they had
heard so much and knew but little. The outcrop at Charles-
town landing is on the lands of Capt. S. C. Rucker and J . K.
Shaipe, Esq. Here are several extensive quarries, and the
stone has been extensively worked for building purposes and
for making lime.

STREAMS AND LICKS.

There are no streams of any size in the town-
ship. Pleasant run, which heads in the vicinity
of Charlestown, flows across the western side for
a distance of two and a half or three miles, and
joins Silver creek near Straw's flouring-mill.
Lick run, a very insignificant stream, which takes
its rise in the bluffs, a mile or more from the
river above Utica, flows with a rapid current and
enters the Ohio below the village. The only
stream which amounts to anything is Silver
creek; but it does not enter the township. It
forms the northwestern boundary for a distance of
about three miles, making some remarkable

e&-i,(?.e -<^?c/i'mez4'£z

T=>

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

397

curves before it passes out into or between
Floyd county and Jeffersonville township. At
Straw's mill this stream makes a circuit of about
three miles, forming a sort of peninsula, similar
to that on Fourteen-mile creek at Work's old
mill, but much larger in its circle. The stream
runs for a distance of about one mile at this
point without making any perceptible curve —
the most striking feature in the creek at the
lower end of it. The township is subject to wet
weather somewhat, presumably so on account of
its drainage. The Ohio forms the entire eastern
boundary; and at both the upper and lower ends
of the township, an island of considerable im-
portance lies opposite or midway in the river.
The former is known as Diamond or Twelve-
mile island; the latter as Six-mile island, to
Louisville.

More than forty years ago, while a company of
men were engaged in digging a well on E. B.
Burtt's place, salt water was found. A move-
ment was made to utilize it so as to produce salt,
but for want of proper encouragement the proj-
ect never succeded. On the same farm is a
noted buffalo lick, which has every indication of
constant use by the denizens of the forest and
plains a century ago. Before the canebrakes
were wholly destroyed, many of the hunters of
this region watched here for game. It is related
that a famous fight was had at these licks about
the time the first settlements were made in the
township, between a bear and a buffalo, both of
whom had come here for salt, and that the battle
was watched by a hunter, who dared not disturb
the contestants for fear of his own safety.

MOUNDS, CAVES, AND FORTS.

There is scarcely another branch of study
which is now attracting more scholarly attention
than the races of prehistoric man. And there is
no field so rich in remains of this extinct people
as the country around the Falls of the Ohio.
Centuries ago this race must have congregated
here in great numbers to hold councils of war, or
to decide what we now call questions of interna-
tional concern. They were attracted here be-
cause it was a point almost midway between the
pineries of Maine and the plains of the South,
and because it was easy of access. The ancient
Silurian sea had left the country about the Falls
in an admirable state for thriving tribes or clans

of people. This race undoubtedly was driven
toward the southwest, much in the same manner
as the Indian has been dispossessed of his coun-
try. Whether or not the Mound Builder crossed
Behring's strait, and by a succession of advances
during an indefinite period of time peopled the
whole present area of the United States, is a
doubtful as well as very interesting question.
This part of archeology and paleontology must
be decided by future scientists. It is certain,
nevertheless, that a very enterprising people in-
habited this beautiful country centuries before
the red man. It is true, also, that the sciences
were raised to a degree of sound practicability,
especially that part of mathematics which relates
to angles and the knowledge of enclosing in a
circle an area equal to that of a square. The
old fort at the mouth of Fourteen-mile creek was
a striking example of this kind. Along the sec-
ond or upper terrace are remains of ancient
kitchen heaps. Bones of some race previous to
the Indian are frequently taken troni the mounds
in this vicinity. There seems to be no definite
information as to what has become of the Mound
Builders; the supposition is, however, that they
degenerated until, finally overcome by a hardier
race of people, they were driven down into Mex-
ico, where we now find them, but in a much im-
proved state of civilization.

Their mode of warfare was radically different
from ours at the present time. The situation of
their mounds is proof of this fact. War then
was probably carried on by incursions into the
enemy's country ; but the advances were doubt-
less made on water, under some system of mari-
time warfare with which we are not conversant.
Mounds were evidently used for at least two pur-
poses, as points of observation and as places of
sacrifice or worship. The former are generally
found on higher points of land and commanding
a view up and down a river or valley from the
northeast to the southwest. Sacrificial mounds
are distinguished by their smallness and the de-
posits frequently found in them, and also by the
femur, pelvis, and temporal bones being the
most common.

Their system of signaling was perhaps by
lights or rockets. There is no evidence which
appears conclusive that it was otherwise. Food
was gathered from the rivers, the woods, and the
plains. Clothing is a question still open to spec-

39$

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ulation. In fact, there is much doubt in refer-
ence to all the daily transactions of this prehis-
toric race. One thing, however, is true, viz : A
race of people inhabited this country centuries
before the red men, and that the Indian himself
could give no information as to the origin or
disappearance of this remarkable race which is
satisfactory to the whites.

Among the mounds of note in Utica township
is one on the farm of David Prather. It often
gives up bones, pottery, and articles which are
evidently implements of war. On Mr. David
Spangler's place, in the forks of Battle creek
is an ancient burying-ground. It is undoubtedly
the place where many of the Mound Builders or
the Indians buried their dead. No information
was ever obtained as to when it was first used.
It may be worth while for some of the archaeolo-
gists in the cities of the falls to make it a subject
of excavation. The stream between whose forks
it lies took its name from the burying-ground as
early as 1800. Many bones are found here,
which are pronounced by good authority as be-
longing to an extinct people.

On the old McCauley farm, on tract number
fourteen, is a cave of considerable dimensions.
Many years ago the Indians, in frequenting this
section, made it a place of shelter. It has a
spring of delicious water, which cools the in-
terior so as to make it an excellent place for dairy
purposes. The water empties into Lacassagne
creek, which is near by. This stream derived its
name from an old settler, who lived on its banks
more than three-quarters of a century ago, by the
name of Lacassagne.

When the first ferries began to carry passen-
gers across the Ohio at Utica, there was much un-
easiness among the settlers on account of the In-
dians. The different tribes of the frontier were
making a decided stir among the thinly settled
districts between the Ohio and Vincennes. When
the news came that the settlers at Pigeon Roost
had been massacred, the greater part of the pop-
ulation hastened across the river into Kentucky.
Not only was this true of Utica township, but
the entire country bordering on the river was for
a time almost without citizens. These circum-
stances induced a goodly number of the settlers
to erect a fort or blockhouse in 181 2, where the
new chapel Methodist Episcopal church now
stands. There are no remnants left to mark

the exact site. It is safe to say that not one who
aided in its erection is now living — a reminder
that the pioneers have nearly all passed away.

FERRIES.

In 1815 there were ten ferries in the county
regularly licensed. At that time all ferrymen
were taxed by the county commissioners in pro-
portion to the business done. The amount of
the tax was from $1 to $10 each. The ferries
were kept by the following persons: Joseph
Bowman, William Clark, Marston G. Clark,
Peter McDonald, John Pettitt, Richard Astor,
Robert Patterson, N. Scribner, James Noble
Wood, and (William) Plaskett. Rates of fare
were established by the " honorable board of
county commissioners," as witness these:

For each man, woman, or child, twelve and one-half cents;
for each animal of the horse kind, eleven and one-half cents;
for each head of neat cattle not over three years old, eleven
and one-half cents; for all cattle under that age, nine cents;
for each sheep, goat, or hog, four cents; for each four-horse
wagon (in addition to charge for horses) and the load there-
in contained, one dollar; for each two-horse wagon or two-
wheeled carriage and horse, and the load contained therein,
fifty cents.

The above rates were established for the year
1821. James Noble Wood was in 1794 an
acting ferryman of Utica, whither he had come
from Louisville immediately after his marriage
to Miss Margaret Smith, on the 27th of Septem-
ber of that year. The mode of conveying trav-
elers was simple. A canoe, large enough to
carry from three to five passengers, was the rud-
est boat in existence. The ferryman sat in the
center, and with a pair of oars brought the boat
across. Considerable skill was necessary in or-
der that the little bark should be safely managed.
Any violent action by the passengers might cause
some unnecessary floundering in the water, from
which all, however, were likely to escape.

During the interim between 1800 and 1825
the ferry at Utica did an immense business.
The earliness with which this crossing point was
established caused it to be known far and wide.
Emigrants were streaming into the interior of the
central counties like bees. The white-covered -
wagon was as familiar then to the citizens of
Utica as the steamboat is now.

Utica had the advantage over any of the other
crossing points, in that it was first above Louis-
ville, the latter place being considered dangerous
by the emigrants and those who knew it best.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

399

Many boats with their cargoes have gone to the
bottom on the Falls, the result of inexperience
and lack of care. This was truer during the first
half of the century; hence the importance of
the ferry at Utica.

Emigrants took the Charlestown road, passed
by way of New Washington or near the Pigeon
Roost settlement and on to the Wabash or the
Muscatetack. These regions were then covered
with a dense forest. Chills and fever prevailed
to a fearful extent, and it was no uncommon
thing to ferry across the river again within a year
the same family on their way back to their old
home. Few of the immigrants escaped the ma-
laria. Even those who settled in the Grant suf-
fered terribly the first few years.

As will be seen, the first road led to Charles-
town. As soon as the county records were taken
there (emigrants, by some silent force which im-
pels people to travel and pass through, if possi-
ble, on their way, all the towns of any impor-
tance, and especially county seats), this road
grew into considerable importance. At first it
was a track which led through the underbrush,
canebrakes, pea-vines, around hills and up ra-
vines, until the county seat was reached. From
this point there were several roads leading to the
interior of the State. The New Providence
road was the one to take if Washington county
was the destination. If Bartholomew and the
adjacent counties were points of settlement, the
New Washington road was generally taken ; like-
wise for any other place.

Formerly the old Utica and Salem^road ran
by the Franklin school-house, passing east of
Watson about one mile. This highway was used
considerably by the Washington county people.
Perhaps the most useful as well as the earliest, in
some respects, was the Jeffersonville and Charles-
town road, laid out about the year 1810. It
passed through the Fry settlement, and on to
Charlestown by way of Springville. This road
was petitioned for by the citizens of this little
village, in language found in the History of
Charlestown Township.

Before the township of Utica was' organized,
there were three roads leading from Charlestown
to Jeffersonville, all of which passed through the
township as it now is. They were designated as

the Western, Middle, and Eastern roads. The
Fry settlement road was known as the Middle
road; the Eastern road passed through Utica
village and down the Ohio by Port Fulton.
That which led to Springville cut off a small
slip of the northwest corner of the township. It
has long been discontinued.

Utica township has more miles of turnpike than
all the rest of the county. The Charlestown and
Utica pike was surveyed in 1866. It is ten miles
in length, and unites with the Jeffersonville and
Charlestown turnpike four miles from the old
county seat. Originally the stock of this com-
pany was valued at $60,000. The company, for
some reason or other, failed. Eleven years after
the first macadamizing, the road was completed
and open to the public. Mr. M. P. Howes is
the present superintendent. The value of the
road is put by a good judge at $30,000. More
grading and a thorough macadamizing will be
necessary before this road can be considered
equal to the best.

Utica township has seven and three-quarters
miles of railroad of the Ohio & Mississippi
branch. It is part of that system of roads which
has been described elsewhere. There are two
stations in the township — Watson, which is also
a post-office, and Gibson. Both are of little im-
portance, except the former, from which are
shipped large quantities of cement, manufactured
by the Louisville Cement company.

MILLS AND STILLS.

Ferguson & Yeo'cum's horse-mill, which stood
on the Charlestown and Jeffersonville road, was in
operation as early as 18 15. It was used for
more than twenty-five years. Corn was ground
principally, though wheat was often put through
a kind of crushing machine or cracked so as to
make tolerable flour. The farmer came to Yeo-
cum's mill with his corn, hitched to the long
sweep his own horses, and bolted the flour or
meal with his own hands.

One of the oldest mills in the township was
put up sometime between 1802 and 1804, by
John Schwartz, on Six-mile creek. At first a
flouring mill was erected of the overshot pattern.
In a few years a saw-mill was attached to the
grinding department, of the undershot style,
which continued to run with different degrees of
velocity until 1821, when it was discontinued on

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

account of the scarcity of timber. The flouring-
mill was run for twenty-five or thirty years. It
long since passed away, with other things of an-
tiquity.

Aaron Prather was a miller in the vicinity of
Utica at an early day; also William Prather,
whose mill stood on Six-mile, three miles below
Schwartz's. The style of the mill was undershot.
It was used altogether for grinding corn. After
changing hands a number of times, it finally
came into possession of Mr. John Prather. He
made various changes in the old structure, so
many as to leave it almost unrecognizable by
those who knew it best. Mr. Prather also at-
tached to it a saw-mill. For a number of years
he did a very large business, but at last the old
mill was abandoned. It is yet standing, but
looks deserted.

Straw's mill, on Silver creek, was erected by
Rezin Redman. When first built, it was an
overshot mill. It has been repaired a number
of times, and has also changed proprietors often.
A large business is done there now. Both water
and steam are used. This is the principal mill
for the •western side of Utica. It is in Silver
Creek township.

The Prathers were evidently men of a me-
chanical turn; for we find Samuel Prather en-
gaged in milling on Middle run with the old-
fashioned horse-power mill, quite early in the
first quarter of this century. Prather's mill-site
was one mile and a half from the river. He
also had a still-house — the famous copper still
and its corresponding parts — in connection with
the mill. The capacity of the distillery was
about one barrel of whiskey per day. From two
to three gallons were obtained from each bushel
of corn. There is nothing left to mark the old
site of the mill. A large spring furnished water,
which escaped from a cave near by.

Perhaps the first still-house erected in the
township was built by the Woods family seventy
or more years ago. The house was of stone, and
is now standing. It was about 20x30 feet.
Water was furnished by a spring close to the
house. A few more years and this distillery will
also be named as belonging to the past.

Mr. Adam Coons was one of the first and
most successful tanners in the township. His
tannery was situated on the east branch of Battle
creek. It was in operation for eight or ten

years. The leather was of superior quality, and
was shipped to Louisville.

To many of those who have no acquaintance
with the management of mills and still-houses,
they appear simply as money-making establish-
ments. But to the pioneers they were something
more — real necessities. Corn had to be ground
into meal before it could be used even for mak-
ing whiskey. As to meal, we let a writer on the
first settlements of this country tell its worth.
What he says is so fittingly true of the Utica
bottoms that none can read it, we trust, without
thanking our Creator for furnishing a grain so
admiiably suited to the prime wants of the fore-
fathers.

On the frontier the diet was necessarily plain and homely,
but exceeding abundant and nutritive. The "Goshen of
America" furnished the richest milk, the finest butter, and
the most savory and delicious meats. In their rude cabins,
with their scanty and inartificial furniture, no people ever en-
joyed in wholesome food a greater variety or a superior qual-
ity of the necessaries of life. For bread, Indian corn was
exclusively used. . . . . . Of all

the farinacea, corn is best adapted to the condition of a
pioneer people; and if idolatry is at all justifiable, Ceres, or
certainly the goddess of Indian corn, should have had a
temple and worshipers among the pioneers of this country.
Without this grain the pioneer settlements could not have
been formed and maintained. It is the most certain crop,
requires the least preparation of the ground, is most con-
genial to a virgin soil, needs only but little labor in its culture,
and comes to maturity in the shortest time. The pith of the
matured stalk of the corn is esculent and nutritious; and the
stalk itself, compressed between rollers, furnishes what is
known as corn-stalk molasses.

This grain requires, also, the least care and trouble in pre-
serving it. It may safely stand all winter upon the stalks
without injury from the weather or apprehension of danger
from disease, or the accidents to which other grains are sub-
ject. Neither smut nor rust, nor weevil, nor snow-storm will
hurt it. After its maturity, it is also prepared for use or the
granary with little trouble. The husking is a short process,
and is even advantageously delayed till the moment arrives
for using the corn. The machinery for converting it into
food is also exceedingly simple and cheap. As soon as the
ear is fully formed, it may be roasted or boiled, and thus
forms an excellent and nourishing diet. At a later period it
may be grated, and furnishes in this form the sweetest bread.
The grains boiled in a variety of modes, either whole or
broken in a mortar, or roasted in ashes, or popped in an
oven, are well relished. If the grain is to be converted into
meal, a simple tub-mill answers the purpose best, as the mea
least perfectly ground is always preferred. A bolting cloth
is not needed, as it diminishes the sweetness and value of
the flour. The catalogue of the advantages of this meal
might be extended further. Boiled in water it forms the
frontier dish called mush, which is eaten with milk, honey,
molasses, butter, or gravy. Mixed with cold water it is at
once ready for the cook; covered with hot ashes, the prepar-
ation is called the ash cake; placed upon a piece of clap-
board and set near the coals, it forms the johnny-cake; or

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

managed in the same way upon a helveless hoe, it forms the
hoe-cake; put in an oven and covered over with a heated lid,
it is called, if in a large mass, a pone or loaf; if in smaller
quantities, dodgers. It has the further advantage over all
other flour, that it reqnires in its preparation few culinary
utensils, and neither sugar, yeast, eggs, spices, soda, potash,
or other et ceteras, to qualify or perfect the bread. To all
this it may be added that it is not only cheap and well-tasted,
but it is unquestionably the most wholesome and nutritive
food. The largest and healthiest people in the world have
lived upon it exclusively. It formed the principal bread of
that robust race of men, giants in miniature, which half or
three-quarters of a century ago was seen on the frontier.

The dignity of history is not lowered by this enumeration
of the pre-eminent qualities of Indian corn. The rifle and
the axe have had their influence in subduing the wilderness
to the purposes of civilization, and they deserve their eulo-
gists and trumpeters. Let paeans be sung all over the mighty
West to Indian corn ; without it the West would still have
been a wilderness. Was the frontier suddenly invaded ;
without commissary, or quartermaster, or other sources of
supply, each soldier parched a peck of corn ; a portion of it
was put into his pockets, the remainder into his wallets, and
throwing it across his saddle and his rifle over his shoulder,
was ready in half an hour for the campaign. Did a flood of
emigrants inundate the frontier with an amount of consum-
ers disproportioned to the supply of grain, the facility of
raising corn and its early maturity gave promise and guar-
anty that the scarcity would be tolerable and only temporary.
If the safety of the frontier demanded the services of every
adult militiaman, the boys and women themselves could
taise corn and furnish ample supplies of bread. The crop
could be gathered next year. Did autumnal intermittent
fevers confine the family or the entire population to the sick-
bed (as it often did in the Utica bottoms), it mercifully with-
held its paroxysms till the crop of corn was made. It re-
quired no further care or labor afterwards. The frontiersman
can gratefully say : ' ' He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. Thou pre-
parest a table before me in presence of mine enemies. "

SCHOOLS.

As soon as the township had made a few steps
in clearing off the forest, arrangements were made
to educate the children. The pioneer system of
schools was very imperfect. Teachers were in
most instances from New England. They often
came to their calling quite unprepared to meet its
obligations. Some teachers, however, were ad-
mirably adapted to their work. The growth of
the public schools in this township, as well as in
the county, is a subject of very extended and
variegated aspect. In 1S11, on the farm now
owned by James Spangler, a log school-house was
erected, the first, no doubt, in the township.
This was a time, says an old citizen, when treats
were extorted from the teachers on any legal hol-
iday. Treating was customary with most of the
teachers; but a penurious, ill-tempered sort of
man would often decide that customs were other-

wise and refuse to furnish the necessary eatables
and drinkables for the big and little boys and
girls. The reader must imagine the teacher sur-
prised some frosty morning, on his arrival at the
school-house, to find doors barricaded and the
pupils in possession of the house. The latter
were generally successful in these sieges. Teach-
ers recognized the importance of having the good
will of their scholars, and as a matter of course
usually yielded to their demands. Among the
first teachers in this old school-house were
Messrs. William Crawford, Blackburn, and
Scantlin. These men had for some of their
scholars John Epler, a son of Abram Epler, the
first nurseryman in Clark count)', and John Fle-
harty, a relative of Miss Rachael Fleharty, well
and favorably known throughout the central and
southeastern portion of the Grant. The old
house was worn out by constant service, and it
has altogether disappeared from the face of the
country.

On the Charlestown and Utica turnpike, sixty-
odd years ago, a private dwelling was converted
into a school-house. It stood near the present
residence of Peter Henry Bottorff, a very excel-
lent gentleman in this locality. A Mr. Kincaid
was a teacher in it. The house was finally torn
down and the logs used for other purposes.

Perhaps the next school-house in the township
was one put up on E. B. Burtt's place sometime
in the '30's. The teachers who taught here were
Messrs. Brown, Fellenwider, John Randolph,
Jonas Raywalt, and George Ross, though not in
this order of succession. For scholars they
had the Espys, Patricks, Jacobses, Schwartzes,
Spanglers, Ruddles, and Prathers — names now
familiar to nearly every household in the county,
The old building, after fifteen or twenty years'
of use, was removed, and is now used in part as a
stable. Its style of architecture was much like
that of other similar structures in the county at
that day.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.

Churches, like schools, have an interesting
history in this township. The date of the New
Chapel Methodist Episcopal church is not pre-
cisely known, but the best authority places the
year of its organization as early as 1800. It is
also known as belonging to the oldest circuit in
the State.

As early as 1793 a preaching- place had been

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

maintained about one mile above Utica; and
several Louisville Methodists, as Judge Prather,
William Farquar, and John Bate, in the absence
of a church, or even a class at home, had their
membership here.

The "oldest circuit," above mentioned, is the
Silver Creek circuit, formed in 1808, in the
"Kentucky district." The Rev. Moses Ains-
worth was first placed in charge of it. An ac-
count of the Rev. Mr. McMillan, another early
preacher to it, is given in the history of Silver
Creek township. The organization of the Utica
class was effected at the residence of Basil R.
Prather, whose house for a number of years be-
fore had furnished a place of worship. Bishop
McKinley was the minister in charge on the day
of ordination. About 1804 a round-log house was
erected on an acre of land in tract number thirty-
seven, deeded to the Methodist Episcopal church
by Jeremiah Jacobs and Walter Prather. It was
built by subscription, and worth when completed
about $250. It had but one window, clap-board
roof, and theoldstyle of stone chimney. In 181 1
the house was torn away, and a new hewed-log
house erected 22x36 feet, one and one-half
stories high. It had four windows, a shingle
roof, stove, pulpit, comfortable seats, and so on.
This house was built also by subscription, and
cost $200. In 1836 the hewed-log house was
torn away, and a third, built of brick, 45 X55
feet, took its place. It had eleven windows, was
one and one-half stories high, had three doors,
and an altar and pulpit. This house was also
built by subscription, and cost $1,382. The
building is yet standing in good condition; the
class is out of debt, and the church machinery in
good running order. In 1867 the chapel was
repaired, at a cost of $1,400.

Among the first preachers at the new chapel
of the Methodist Episcopal church were Revs.
Josiah Crawford in 1808, Silas Payne in 1809,
Isaac Linsey and Thomas Nelson in 1810-n,
William McMahan and Thomas Nelson in 1812,
James Garner, Elijah Sitters, Shadrick Rucker,
Joseph Kincaid, Joseph Powel, John Shrader,
David Sharpe, C. W. Ruter, Robert M. Baker,
and William Cravens, all before 1820.

The Utica Methodist Episcopal circuit was
formed in 1843, w'tn William V. Daniels as the
first presiding elder. Rev. Charles Benner was
the first traveling preacher. He was followed by

Emmaus Rutledge in 1845 an^ James Hill in
1846; Rev. Elijah Whitten was in charge in 1847,
and then for one year each the following per-
sons: Revs. Lewis Hulbert, John A. Brouse,
Jacob Myers, and Jacob Bruner. These men
were all here before 1852. Rev. Mr. Daniels
served as presiding elder until 1850, when he
was succeeded by Rev. John Herns, who acted
for one year. Revs. C. R. Ames and William
Dailey were presiding elders in ^51-52.

Connected with the New Chapel church is a
handsome cemetery, enclosed by a stone wall on
the east side and at both ends. A number of
fine monuments are scattered about. The grave-
yard looks decidedly neat, more so than any
other in the county as far from Jeffersonville.
The yard is a rectangle; has about four acres of
land, and is in keeping with the church of which
it forms a part. There is also a good Sunday-
school carried on at this point during the year.
This church and Sabbath-school are fair expo-
nents of the people in this region. They are
located about one mile north of east of Watson
post-office.

The Union Methodist Episcopal church, in
the northwest corner of the township, was com-
posed formerly of members from the Lutheran
church, by whom really the Methodist church
was formed. Among the first members of the
Lutheran church were Jacob Grisamore and
wife, and David Lutz, Sr., and wife. Rev. Mr.
Fremmer, of New Albany, who traveled the en-
tire county, was one- of the first preachers.
The original church building was a log structure.
Some few years after 1830 a brick church was
erected by the neighborhood, the old Lutheran
members having moved off or died in many
instances. This church derived its name from
the fact that all denominations worshiped in the
first house. After forty-odd years of use and
much repairing, a proposition was made to buy
or sell by both the Christian and Methodist
Episcopal people, who were the leading de-
nominations. At the sale the Methodists paid
$250 for the undivided half. The church was
then repaired and used for a few years more, until
it needed repairing again. At last a movement
was made to build a new house. Money was
solicited, a kiln of brick was burned on the
ground, and now a handsome building is situated
almost on the old site. The property is worth,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

463

including the cemetery, $8,000. The land on
which the church stands, was originally deeded
to the Lutheran denomination by Jacob Gris-
amore, but it has since become the property of
the Methodists. Mathias Crum and wife, David
Spangler and wife, Charles Ross and wife were
some of the first members of the Methodist
class. For preachers they had, before 18 10,
Revs. Josiah Crawford, Silas Payne, Thomas
Nelson, and others, who preached at the New
Chapel church. This class has now about one
hundred members. A Sunday-school is carried
on during the favorable months of the year.

After the Methodist and Christian classes dis-
solved partnership, the latter erected a house of
worship in Charlestown township. Larkin
Nicholson and several relatives and others, with
their wives, were the most prominent in the
Christian church.

Attached to the Union Methodist Episcopal
church is a burying ground. People began to
bury here as early as 1820, and ever since it has
been connected with the church, which was made
a place of worship for all classes, regardless of
belief. In the ground there are a number of fine
monuments. A stone wall encloses the lot.

The first place of interment in the western
part of the township is now under cultivation.
It was located on the farm originally owned by
Abram Epler. There are buried here, of the
Summers and Sage families, more than fifty per-
sons. No traces of the ground are left. The
future must tell the story of those who now sleep
here in peace. Many of those hardy pioneers,
father and mothers, grandfathers and grand-
mothers of the present generation, could they
come forth from their graves, would be surprised
to see the changes in the Utica bottoms since
last they trod upon its soil. Peace be to their
ashes!

VILLAGES.

From 1794, the year James Noble Wood and
his wife settled at Utica and established a ferry,
to 1816, the embryo village formed a part of
their hopes and aspirations. It was no difficult
matter to see that the site which had been se-
lected for a home would also be a good place for
a town, or even a city. Not, however, till twenty
years after the beginnings did the founders at-
tempt any undertaking which resulted in perma-
nence. In the meantime there had been a com-

bination of influences at work, destined at last
to result in a village of no little consequence.
The tide of emigration which had been pouring
into the interior of the State had made Utica a
crossing point on the Ohio. No doubt, for ten
or a dozen years before the place was laid out,
the ferryman was busily at work ferrying passen-
gers across the river. On the 9th of August,
1816, the long-anticipated project was carried in-
to execution. In the original survey there were
two hundred and twenty lots, one hundred feet
square. Lot number one was in the southwest
corner, from which all the rest numbered. The
survey began at the southeast corner, on the
Ohio.

Five lots were given for public purposes by
those having the matter in charge — James Noble
Wood, Samuel Bleight, and John Miller. The
shape of the town is that of a rectangle. The
streets run parallel with the river. Front street
is seventy feet wide; Walnut street, forty-three
feet wide; Mercer and Warren are thirty feet
wide; all others are sixty feet in width. The
proprietors forbade the erection of any buildings
between Front street and low-water mark, unless
the town trustees saw fit to allow it. All benefits
arising from the sale of land between high and
low-water mark were to be appropriated to the
use of the town. The first addition was made
in 1854 by James H. Oliver on the northwest
corner of the town. It resembled a right-angled
triangle, with its top cut off two-thirds of the dis-
tance from the base. Oliver's second addition
extends along the Ohio in the shape of a wedge,
and, like the first addition, is separated from the
original plat by Ash street. In the centre of the
town is a public square 212x260 feet; and on
the north is a burying-ground 212x233 feet.
Both. bodies of land were donated by the propri-
etors, Wood, Bleight, and Miller, for these pur-
poses. It can be readily seen that the founders
had planned well for a thriving and populous
town; or peihaps they saw in the dim future a
city here with her half million of inhabitants.
Such things often come into the minds of men,
and even to those who first began to make the
forest fade away, but who cherished hopes that
they thought sometime might be realized.

Pioneer life is admirably adapted to call into
vigorous action all the faculties of the human
mind. And nowhere were surroundings more

404

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

favorable to the full and systematic growth of
the imagination than here in Utica. The first
few years of life at the Woods ferry had many
accompaniments now wholly or quite forgotten.
In referring to them there comes up a train of
recollections which awakes the happiest and ten-
derest emotions. It seems now, after more than
three score and ten, aye, four score years, have
passed away, that the every-day transactions at
Utica are nothing but legends. All the mythol-
ogy of Greece and Rome does not seem half so
strange. The cabins, the log barns, pigpens,
ox-sheds, a few scattering corn-cribs and fodder-
piles, were real, not mythical. They had an exist-
ence, as much as the jimson-vveed, the dog-fen-
nel, the rag-weed, and thistle, that lined the
roads leading to and from the village. James
Noble Wood can properly be called the Pericles,
and his venerable wife the Aspasia, of Utica.
They were surrounded, too, by men and women
no less devoted than the citizens of Greece were
to their leaders.

Mrs. Nancy (Wood) Noel, in the Clark County
Record, gives some interesting facts of Utica life
during the primitive age of that hamlet, from
which we make subjoined extracts: James
Noble Wood and Miss Margaret Smith were
married on the 27th of September, 1794, in
Louisville, but immediately came over with the
residue of their families and settled on tract
number seventeen, where Utica was afterwards
laid out. The tract embraced seven hundred
acres (two hundred more than was intended by
the surveyors) of as fine farming land as the sun
ever shone upon. On the east side the
beautiful Ohio river, covered with flocks of wild
ducks, geese, and brants, crawled lazily off to-
ward the "Great Falls" — the name by which
they were known throughout the West. At this
time there was no settlement in this part of
Clark's Grant. From the river bank, opposite
Harrod's creek, in Kentucky, west to Silver
creek, was one vast and dense canebrake.

Mrs. Noel was born where Utica now stands,
on the 3d of August, 1796. Her father, J. N.
Wood, with Marston Green Clark, and Abram
Huff, was appointed by Governor W. H. Har-
rison as justices of the court of general quarter
sessions and of the court of common pleas of
Knox county, which at that time embraced
nearly all the southern part of the State.

There was an Indian chief by the name of
Cowman, who frequently visited Utica. Once
he made his appearance accompanied by six
warriors and as many squaws. It had been rain-
ing during the afternoon, and Gowman and his'
companions came into the house of Mrs.
Wood, and, shaking off the rain, asked for
her husband. They also asked for soap and
whiskey, and seated themselves around the fire,
Gorman next to the wife. At that time the
mother and Mrs. Noel were ironing. As the lat-
ter stepped backward she accidently dropped an
iron on Gowman's toe. The Indian immediately
began a series of maneuvers not altogether suited
to friendship, which somewhat excited Mrs.
Wood. She soon despatched her daughter for
two men, who came with butcher-knives and
tomakawks in their belts, and guns in their hands,
with blankets thrown over their shoulders. One
of the men took Gowman by the arms, shook
him, and told him to go to his camp, as all the
provision had been eaten. In the meantime the
remaining twelve had fallen asleep, and the two
men for the rest of the night stood on guard.

Mrs. Noel says of the Pigeon Roost massacre:
"On the 3d of September, 181 2, when twenty-
four were killed, mostly women and children, the
neighborhood of Utica was thrown into the wild-
est excitement." Many people crossed the river
to Kentucky, but returned within a few weeks.
"Another alarm was in the spring of 1813, when
a party of Indians came within nine miles of
Charlestown, concealed themselves behind a
bluff bank of Silver creek, and shot into the
house of old Mr. Huffman, killing him and
wounding his wife."

The issue of the marriage of James N. Wood
and Miss Margaret Smith was thirteen children,
eight of whom died under seven years of age.
Miss Wood says of her father that he was "a
great hunter, and for a long time supplied the
family with all their meat. Buffalo, elk, deer,
and bear were numerous in Indiana and Ken-
tucky at this time. He once killed seven deer
in four hours within the sound of his rifle from
his house. He killed many bear and buffalo,
and at one time was in great danger of losing his
life from a wounded buck." Wood made three
trips to New Orleans, the first in 1805, when the
whole country from Louisville to Natchez was an
unbroken wilderness. On returning he walked

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

405

through the country of the Choctaw and Chicka-
saw nations. The second trip was made in 1806,
and the third in 1807. James Noble Wood was
present when most of the treaties were made
with the Indians at Vincennes. He saw Tecum-
seh and his brother the prophet, Tuthnipe, and
the chief Meshecanongue. In 1805 he met
Aaron Burr at Jeffersonville, and with him was
much pleased.

In 1795 Judge Wood established the first
ferry near Utica. The boats were, made by
lashing two canoes together. Horses and cattle
would stand with their hind feet in one canoe
and their fore feet in the other. Wood kept a
ferry here for a considerable time, so as to es-
tablish this place as a crossing point from Ken-
tucky and the Grant, there being none nearer
than eight miles in both directions. "James M.
Woods [or some would have it Wood] set out
the first orchard in Clark county in 1790."
Where the orchard was, his daughter does not
say. If in the region of Utica, he must have
visited the place four years before he removed
here, which is very likely ; but whether or not
the orchard was planted in 1790 is quite another
question. Miss Wood, perhaps, is correct in her
statement, though it is hardly supposed the
orchard was planted in the neighborhood of
Wood's future home.

Judge Wood (or Woods) died near Utica
March 25, 1826. He was a fine historian, a
faithful citizen, a devoted husband, and withal
a man of many excellent parts. Margaret Wood
was of fine physique and very handsome. She
had musical talents of no ordinary degree; she
was also a fine swimmer. Her heart seemed to
overflow with kindness and generosity, and in the
world she had no enemies.

Samuel McClintick, a soldier in the battle of
Tippecanoe, built the first brick house in Utica,
which he occupied till 1823. He sold out
and removed to Polk county, Indiana, where he
died in 1826. His wife was Nancy Wood, whom
he married in 1815.

Robert George Wood was born in 1803, just
below Utica. He died in 1876, having lived all
his life in the vicinity of his native place. He
married Miss Juliett M. Chunn in 1827, daugh-
ter of Major John Thomas Chunn, who com-
manded in the battle of Tippecanoe, and who
also took an active part in the War of 181 2. In-

diana Wood was born in 1806, and married a
daughter of Noah C. Johnson, of this county,
in 1824. Mr. Johnson took an active part in the
Indian wars, and also represented Scott county
in the Legislature. Margaret Wood married
John Potter, a pilot on the river, now dead. She
was born in 1811, and is now a resident of Louis-
ville. Napoleon Bonaparte Wood was born at
the old homestead in 181 3. He married Miss
Lucinda Hay, a daughter of Samuel Hay, the
first sheriff of this county, in 1836. Mrs. Wood
died in 1873. N. B. Wood has lived most of
his life in sight of his birth-place.

The character of Judge Wood is evidenced
by the active part he took in the affairs of his
time. It is impossible for any careful reader to
go through these short biographies without de-
ciding that the Woodses were a family of many
unusual qualities. It was this family, and those
who were brought around them through that
power which we all feel but cannot see, that real-
ly made Utica a place of some importance.

Whether it was a blacksmith-shop, a store, a
tavern, a school, or a church, which followed
first after the town was laid out, no one can tell.
It is pretty certain, though, that Wood kept a
kind of store, or rather produce exchange, while
preparing for his trips down the river. But
stores were radically different then from what
they are now. The greater bulk of the trade
was in a few articles — first, last, and all the time,
powder and ball; then a little sugar and coffee,
tobacco and whiskey; and the post-office was
also kept there. . Judge Wood was probably the
first tavern-keeper also. Indeed, it seems that
he was the embodiment of all there was in the
village for ten or a dozen years. People had
grown up about the judge, and respected and
expected of him much as the people of Floyd
county did of Judge Shields.

Jonathan Clark was, without doubt, the first
man in the village who made store-keeping a
vocation. He kept a regular country store. His
place of doing business was on the corner of
Ash and Fifth streets. One man says, "he had
a No. 1 store, but no whiskey." A few years
after he had secured considerable trade, he built
a large house down nearer the river, moved
into it and opened up business on a more ex-
tended scale. He also supplied boats with
wood, which at that time was a large business.

406

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The flood of 1832 drenched his house with from
four to six feet of water. This discouragement
induced him to sell out to Mr. Jeremiah Keys,
of Kentucky. The latter acted the part of com-
mercial man for several years, at the expiration
of which he sold to House & Tyler, who were in
possession for some time. The building was
finally vacated, on account of its unfavorable
situation, and is now standing idle.

Samuel Starkworth was also a very early store-
keeper. He did business on the corner of Lo-
cust and Front streets, and was also prominently
engaged in pork-packing. The old store build-
ing is yet standing, as the dwelling house of John
Mackey. Since Mr. Starkworth have been vari-
ous men. The town is now specially active in
commercial pursuits.

The first blacksmith in Utica was Abram Ash-
ton, whose shop stood on the corner of Fourth
and Ash streets. Ashton was one of the early
settlers, and probably Ash street had its name-
sake in this gentleman. He came here about
the year 1816. He was the father of one child,
Philip. After following his trade in the village
for eight or ten years, he died in 1827.

In the spring of 1832 there were no shops
nearer than Charlestown and Jeffersonville.

The Indiana Gazetteer for 1833 gives the
place this notice:

Utica, a pleasant, thriving post-village in Clark county.
It is situated on the bank of the Ohio river, about eight miles
south of Charlestown. It contains about two hundred in-
habitants, three mercantile stores, and a variety of me-
chanics.

William J. Tyler, who • came from Jefferson
county, Kentucky, in 1828, found Robert Mc-
Gee carrying on the trade of a blacksmith here.
He made arrangements at the age of sixteen to
learn his trade with McGee, who had been h'ere
since 1823. McGee's shop stood on Fourth
street, lot number one hundred and twenty-four.
The house was a log structure. It burned, but
was replaced after a few years by a frame house.
In 1841 McGee sold out to William J. Tyler,
who sometime in 1851 or 1852 put up a new and
larger shop, a frame 48 x 50 feet. The business
in the new shop was very extensive. People
came for miles around in all directions with their
work. Wagons and plows were made and
shipped to Jackson and the other counties.

John Hazzard learned his trade with Mr.
Tyler. He afterwards opened a shop on Fifth

street, where he has remained for twenty odd
years.

The old Black Horse tavern was one of the
first places of entertainment in the village. This
house took its name from the fact that on the
sign was displayed the picture of a large black
horse in all the elegance of backwoods art. The
tavern stood at the upper end of the town, and
was kept by Peter Mann, of New York State.
Artistically, the house was a sight of itself. It
was a log structure, with double porches. The
stairs went up on the outside through the upper
porch, leading td one room, where all travelers
slept, unmindful that each was surrounded by
a score of other sleepers. The Black Horse
tavern is one of the early features of Utica,
which the old settlers recall with a smile. It is
one of those things that are connecting links be-
tween the past and the present, the reminder
that all things must pass away.

The Traveler's Home, another place of public
entertainment, had a reputation for good cook-
ing, good whiskey, and a good place for dancing.
It was kept by William Brindle, and was a frame
building two stories high. It is yet standing.
Like the Black Horse tavern, it had a horse dis-
played on the sign.

One of the most modern taverns in its mode
of entertainment was that kept by Mr. Benjamin
Taff, on the corner of Ash and Second streets.
For a sign was displayed a set of crossed keys.
The house was of brick, and one of the best in
Utica. It is yet standing, and is occupied as a
dwelling.

Peter B. Dorsey was about the last of a fa-
mous list of tavern-keepers. His house was on
the corner of Fourth and Locust streets, and
was also of brick. At present there is no public
place of entertainment in the village.

Ashton's mill, above Utica in 1832, where
whiskey was made, sawing done, and flour and
meal were ground, was one of the most prosperous
enterprises ever in this locality. After a success-
ful existence, the buildings were torn down. A
part of them is now used in the village as a mill
for grinding corn in a limited way.

John Lentz was a miller here in 1834. He
had two sets of buhrs which were run by steam
power. Mr. Lentz sold out to a gentleman who
afterwards moved the milling machinery to
Louisville.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

407

Three years after Utica was laid out, in 181 9,
a school-house was erected at the head of Fourth
street. Mr. Guernsey, a name familiar in the
school history of Monroe township, was the first
teacher. After six or seven years of use the
house was abandoned, another taking its place,
a hewed-log, opposite the Black Horse tavern.
Mr. Samuel Morrison, a gentlemanly person, was
the first teacher here. He also taught school in
various other places, and is now a resident of
Indianapolis. Among the pupils under Mr.
Morrison were George Schwartz, Thomas Pra-
ttler, Joseph Ashton, Jacob Lentz, and Joseph
Brindle.

In 1826 was built a brick house, which served
the double purpose of church and school. The
house was one story high, had one room, a pulpit
in one end and a fire-place in the other. This
house was used for at least twenty years. In
1845, or thereabouts, it was torn down and a
better one erected, 20 x 40 feet. The terms of
the contract were that the old brick should be
used, and that three hundred dollars additional
should be paid to the contractors. The teachers
here were Messrs. Spillman, Guernsey, Morrison,
Lane, Symms, and Keyton.

The new school building erected about eight
years ago, consisting of four rooms, and two
stories high, is one of the handsomest structures
of the kind in the county. The three acres of
land, on a part of which the building stands,
cost $1,000. Before the contract was taken,
the specifications called for about $7,000. After
the contract was taken and the workmen set to
work, an additional amount of $6,000 or $8,000
was claimed by the trustees. In the erection of
this building there were expended nearly $20,000
— a sum, to say the least, far beyond what was
expected.

Religious services were held in the neighbor-
hood of Utica at first in a shanty, built out of
a flat-boat torn to pieces. Rev. Enoch G. Wood
was one of the first preachers. The house was
situated on Fourth street and was owned
by the Methodist Episcopal denomination.
Calvin Ruter, the Ashtons, and the Clarks
were active members. Rev. Mr. Hamilton was
one of the early presiding elders. The next
house occupied was the school building on the
public square. This place of worship belonged
to the Utica circuit, and had for preachers those

given in the history of New Chapel. In 1847
the present brick house was erected, through the
efforts of Elijah Whitten. This now has services
in it every fortnight, but the class is not in a
very prosperous condition. It has connected
with it a good parsonage and Sunday-school.
Their present minister is Rev. W. W. Reynolds.

As in many other places, the Universalists
early began to have preaching in this locality.
They soon formed a class and conducted ser-
vices regularly. Now they seldom have preach-
ing.

In 1847 tne present Presbyterian church was
erected. During the first few years after the
class was organized services were conducted in
the school-house on the public square. The or-
ganizers of the church were Robert McGee and
wife, Theopolis Robinson and wife, with Revs.
Messrs. Cobb, Remley, Martin, Cambrun, and
Josiah Crawford as preachers. John Lentz gave
all the churches in Utica lots on which to build
houses. This church stands near the public
square, and is a frame, with a belfry and bell,
and makes quite a respectable appearance.

The Baptists held their first preaching in the
public square school-house. Among the first
members were Robert Tyler and wife, and Mer-
riett Alloway and wife. For preachers there
were Rev. Messrs. Mordecai Cole, of Charles-
town, Mr. Porter, and William McCoy. This
denomination, several years before the late war,
erected a frame house capable uf seating four or
five hundred people. It also has a good bell and
belfry. There is now no regular seivice in this
church. The Christian church stands on a lot
in Oliver's addition, and was erected in 1877.
It is a brick structure, and cost $7,000. This
class was organized about the year 1857, with
Elder Eli Rose and wife, Eli Burtt and wife,
Larkin Nicholson and wife, and John Coombs
and wife as members. Rev. Messrs. Eli Rose,
Absalom Littell, and his brother were first
preachers. This organization never held services
in the school-house. Their first house of wor-
ship was a little frame dwelling converted into a
church, now standing opposite the post-office.
The membership numbers seventy-five, and the
class is flourishing; Rev. Thomas Wilds is their
pastor.

The Utica burying-ground was given for this
purpose by James Noble Wood, and it dates

4o8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

from the beginning of the town in 1816. It
comprises about four acres, additions having
been made to it by various purchases.

An Odd Fellows lodge was organized in Utica
thirty-five or forty years ago. Four of the charter
members were M. H. Tyler, Samuel Bushfield,
Fred Trindell, and Joseph McRayniond. Their
first place of meeting was in the old Washing-
tonian temperance hall, which they afterwards
bought. There are now about thirty members,
but the society seems to be rapidly falling into
decay.

The Masonic lodge is of more recent date.
It was organized in the Odd Fellows' hall. There
are few members, and the condition of the lodge
is not very prosperous.

In the way of secret orders the later Knights
of Pythias are the most flourishing of all. The
Utica branch was organized in November, 1874,
with Stephen Belknap, John R. Tyler, Leroy
Canter, M. H. Tyler, W. T. Tyler, as a part of
the charter members. Officers: Stephen Bel-
knap, P. C; Jesse Grimes, C. C.J J. T. Guntner,
V. C; John Worthington, P.; James Snider, K.
R. S.; John Tyler, M. E; J. E. Deark, M. A.
There are now thirty members on the roll, every-
thing is in good order, and the future is prom-
ising.

Abram Ashton, in 1820, was the first postmas-
ter in Utica. The office was in a little brick
house on Ash street. In 1827 Mr. Ashton's son
came in charge of the office, and then 'Squire
Johnson, who held the position only for a short
time. Samuel Starkweather and William Tyler
were next in succession, both before 1845. The-
opolis Robinson came next, but the office under
him was tended principally by deputies. Wil-
liam Henry Snider served the people well for
fifteen years or more. The present postmaster
is Stephen Belknap, the office being kept on
Fourth street, between Ash and Locust.

Utica had for its first outlet the Ohio river.
After Charlestown was laid out in 1808, connec-
tion was soon made with that town, by the road
already described. The Jeffersonville road was
soon established, perhaps as early as 18 18. In
the shape of roads or ferries, the latter was by
far the most important of all public concerns.
Judge John Miller, of Utica, New York, was
very prominently engaged in ferrying people
across the Ohio. It was after the former home

of Judge Miller that the village, and subsequently
the township, was named. The growth of
Louisville caused in later years many emigrants
to cross at that point; hence Utica gradually fell
into the rear ranks. Jonathan Clark, one of the
early settlers, was the last man who had charge
of the ferry, which was about twenty-five years
ago.

The oldest houses in Utica are on Second
street. One is an unoccupied log-house, weather-
boarded; another stands on the river bank,
owned and occupied by Frank Flight. Samuel
McClintick built the first brick house in Utica in
1818, on lot number nineteen. It is yet stand-
ing.

Among the store-keepers in Utica not before
mentioned were Charles Murphey, in 1847;
Horatio Schriver, who kept in a little house op-
posite Starkweather's, soon after; and then fol-
lowed Rose & Symms, Holman, and Belknap.
Whiskey has always been obtainable here. The
first drug store was kept by Joseph Ashton. The
druggists in town now are J. Holman and Dr.
Williams.

We sum up the present status of Utica in these
words: The general appearance is one of in-
activity. Streets are in a poor condition, without
care. Sidewalks are hedged in by weeds and
woodpiles, and the gutters are full of rubbish
and grass. Houses look old and timeworn;
many fronts show signs of old age; gates bow
ungainly as you pass back and forth. A dilapi-
dated sign-post in the eastern part of the town
reads, "Salem blacksmith shop," and all houses
of a public nature are in keeping with this one.
Utica has many of the features of Charlestown,
and both are of about the same age. Both have
passed through seasons of prosperity and adver-
sity. Their past glory, however, is unimpeacha-
ble— nothing tarnishes their luster. We leave
Utica in the enjoyment of a record full of many
golden results. May she live long and enjoy
life; may her vices be few and her virtues many!

This village was laid out in 1876 by J. B.
Speed, W. W. Ferris acting as surveyor, who at
that time was county engineer. The plat was
never recorded. Watson lies in tract number
thirty-six of the Grant, is on land owned by the
Louisville Cement company, and lies on both

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

409

sides of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad. The
first enterprise in this vicinity of any importance
was the Louisville Cement mills, erected in 1871.
It was this mill which brought the town into
being. Workmen were gathered here employed
by the firm engaged in manufacturing cement.
There sprang up the necessity for a town, some
place where the laborers could go and call it their
home; hence this result. Mr. W. H. Snod-
grass superintended the building of the mills,
since which time he has been continually in the
service of the company. They have a capacity
of three hundred and twenty-five barrels per
day. Forty hands are steadily engaged about
them, and they have four kilns and two buhrs.
The property is valued at $75,000. There are
about two hundred inhabitants in the village
within a radius of a quarter of a mile, many of
whom are but temporarily settled.

Thomas J. Gilligan was the first storekeeper
in the village. He was here in 1873, and his
place of business was near the railroad, on the
west side. A Dane by the name of Peter
Christensen followed, dealing in groceries and dry
goods generally. At present (1882) there are three
general stores and one drug-store in the village.
Mr. Henry Struckman, now of Jeffersonville,
was the first blacksmith. After him came
Messrs. Dawson and Fox. For their present
smith they have John M. Williams.

Watson has two schools, one white and one
colored. The former stands on the Charlestown
and Jeffersonville road, is a good brick building,
erected in 1875 under the trusteeship of Mr.
William Goodwin, cost $1,000, and has sixty
pupils in regular attendance. The colored school
has about forty regular scholars.

There is here a lodge of the Knights of Honor,
organized in 1877. The number of the lodge is
749; membership, 35. Its hall is 20 x 40 feet,
and was erected in 1873.

Originally there was an Odd Fellows' lodge
in Watson, organized in 1875. On account of
the membership being held mostly at Gibson,
the place ot meeting was taken there, and is now
at Prather's. There were also formerly two other
orders, viz: The Ancient Order of United Work-
men and the Independent Order of Working-
men. Both have disappeared.

An Odd Fellows' lodge is maintained by the
colored people ; also an African Methodist Epis-

copal church. There are two Sunday-schools in
Watson — white and colored. Both are con-
tinued throughout the year.

Watson post-office was established in 1872,
with Mr. James W. Stewart as postmaster.

The second officer was W. H. Snodgrass, who
also is the incumbent. Mr. Snodgrass is one of
the storekeepers, many of the cement-mill hands
dealing at his store.

What Watson has been, is, and perhaps will
be, depends greatly on the excellent gentleman
who superintends the cement-mill. Through his
efforts saloons have been kept away, churches
erected, Sunday-schools established, and every
laudable scheme calculated to foster and encour-
age the good of society carried into execution.
We bespeak for this little place a very happy
existence.

OLD SETTLERS.

Utica township has had a score or more of
the oldest settlers in the county. Their names
are somewhat familiar to attentive readers of pre-
ceding pages. The Prathers, the Schwartzes,
the Lemons, the Crums, the Robinsons, the
Bottorffs, all have taken a prominent part in
peopling the township with good citizens. We
give short sketches of the older ones :

Basil R. Prather, the father of all the Prathers
in the township, came here from North Caro-
lina in 1 80 1. His sons, Thomas, William, Wal-
ter, Basil R., Jr., Judge Samuel, Lloyd, John,
and Simon, were all married when they came
here, except the last-named. They settled
throughout the township, and formed a class of
men possessed of many admirable qualities.

Jeremiah Jacobs came here with his family
from North Carolina in 1800, and settled near
the old fort. His family was large, and its in-
crease steady. A goodly number of his descend-
ants are now living in this vicinity, respected,
and hospitable citizens.

William Patrick was a North Carolinian, com-
ing here in 1800. He settled on Six-mile creek.
His family all disappeared from the township.
Mr. Patrick was a man of many excellent quali-
ties. He had no enemies among his neighbors.
He testifies : "What one knew, all knew, and
our lives here were the happiest in my experi-
ence." Says an old pioneer : " I have the
most distinct recollection of our first neighbors.
They were men and women who worked long

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and hard, and who brought up around them the
best class of boys and girls I ever knew."

In the fall of 1802 Matthew Crum, from Vir-
ginia, settled within one half-mile of the Union
Methodist Episcopal church. He married his
wife, Miss Margaret Spangler, near Louisville
in 1800, who bore him one child, William S.,
born October 28, 1801, before coming to this
township. William S. Crum is now a citizen of
Charlestown township, just over the line from
Utica. The marriage of Matthew Crum and
Margaret Spangler resulted in a family of ten
sons and two daughters, viz: Polly, who is now
dead; Christian, James, David, who is also
dead; Gordan, Joseph, Samuel, Elizabeth, Abra-
ham, John. When Mr. Crum settled in the
township, there was not a half-acre cleared on
the land which he owned. He immediately be-
gan the work of clearing, and lived to see great
advancement in the pursuits of the people. He
died at sixty-five years of age. Mrs. Crum lived
ten years longer than her husband.

William S. Crum, the oldest of the family, is
one of the pioneers of the county. He asso-
ciates with the Methodist Episcopal church, and
walks in the paths of truth and sobriety. He is
now apparently on the decline, and must soon
pass away.

John Lewman was born in 1802 in North
Carolina, and came to Utica township in 1819
with his father's family, settling near where Peter
H. Bottorff now lives. He assisted his father in
clearing off the land, and in many other ways
aided in successful business enterprises. In this
family there were four brothers and three sis-
ters. Mr. Lewman was married September n,
1829, to Miss Mary Grisamore, the issue being
nine children, six of whom are living. In Jan-
uary, 1866, he was married the second time to
Catharine Howard. Mr. Lewman is a success-
ful farmer, and is the possessor of a handsome
competency, gained by hard labor.

Hezekiah Robertson was born in Maryland,
and came with his father's family to this town-
ship when fifteen years of age. In the family
there were six brothers and two sisters. They
immediately began the work of clearing, living
here the most of their lives. Fletcher Robert-
son, one cf the oldest citizens of the township,
was the sixth child, moving here in 1843, when
twenty-four years of age. He married Malinda

Carr in 1843, a relative of the Carrs, General
John, Colonels John and Thomas Carr being
her uncles. Mr. Robertson is a successful far-
mer, residing within one mile and a half of Uti-
ca, on the Charlestown turnpike. He is sur-
rounded by all things temporal and spiritual
which tend to make man happy and respected.

John and Elizabeth Schwartz came from Penn-
sylvania in 1802, with a family of four children,
and settled five and a half miles above Jefferson-
ville. His vocation was farming. In Indian
wars he took an active part, but on account of
his age did no fighting. His death was caused
by an accident in June, 1824. Mrs. Schwartz
lived to be over seventy years of age. George
Schwartz, one of the good men of the county,
resides near the old homestead. He associates
with the Methodist church, and stands high as a
successful farmer and business man in the com-
munity.

The Bottorffs settled in Utica township about
the year 1815. In all affairs of the township
they took a prominent part, and are now among
the substantial people of the county. One of
the notable events in the family history is that
Mrs. Bottorff melted bullets for her husband,
when he was preparing to fight the Indians at
Tippecanoe, while the wolves howled around the
cabin door. There are at least three hundred
voters of this family alone in the county at pres-
ent.

The original family of Lutzes was from North
Carolina. David Lutz was father of this very ex-
tensive generation. They are now scattered
over the county in considerable numbers. All
are respected and cultured citizens.

REMARKABLE EVENTS.

In 1800 the seventeen-year locusts made their
appearance in Utica in such numbers that the
proprietors conjectured a plague similar to that
of Egypt. But they soon passed away, doing
no damage save killing the small branches of
forest trees where they had deposited their eggs.

In 1801 immense numbers of squirrels crossed
the Ohio from Kentucky to Indiana Territory.
To protect crops from the little animals, hunts
were instituted on a large scale, and prizes were
awarded to the person killing the greatest num-
bers. In order that foul means should not be
employed, every hunter was required to produce
at night the head of each squirrel taken.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Early in September, 181 1, a comet passed over
Uticafrom northeast to southwest, causing much
consternation among the people of the village.

The first steam Doat passed by Utica, between
nine and ten o'clock at night, in October, 1811,
creating great alarm. After it had passed, the re-
ality appeared more like a dream. On its arri-
val off Louisville, about twelve o'clock, the boat in
letting off steam brought many people from their
beds to witness the novel sight. The general im-
pression was that a comet had fallen from the
heavens into the Ohio.

December 16, 181 1, occurred the first of a mem-
orable series of earthquakes, which affected the
entire Missisippi valley, They were preceded by
a rumbling noise, resembling that of distant can-
nonading followed by its echo. These interrup-
tions continued up to the 1 st of March, 1812.
Judge Wood says, "We were much startled. I
arose and went out of doors, and observed the
branches of the trees waving as if pat in motion
by a heavy wind. In the house dishes, cups,
saucers, and cupboard-ware were generally shaken
from their places, and some broken. The cor-
ners of our log houses creaked, and everything
indicated a terrible ordeal going on within the
earth. Boatmen from the Falls, who were in
the vicinity of New Madrid, declared their boats
were carried up stream several miles in conse-
quence of the upheaval of the Mississippi."
These remarkable facts are none the less strange
because happening in a pioneer age. To us to-
day they would be as startling. Many things
are likely to happen in a new country, which to a
pioneer people seem unexplainable with their
superficial education; and, in many instances, a
touch of the mysterious has much to do with
their conception of the real. It can be truly
said, however, of the people who settled here
near one hundred years ago, that they were pos-
sessed of many admirable qualities. The luster
which gathers around them is undying ; we hope
the future will be as glorious as the past.

CHAPTER XXVI.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

The county commissioners met at Charles-
town in the spring of 1816 and proceeded to
separate the northeastern part of the Grant, and
that portion of territory which had been annexed
to it, into four townships, one of which was
Washington. The following are the boundaries
established by the commissioners, and found in
the minutes which they kept:

For the second and back township, commencing at the
mouth of Poke run and running thence with the dividing
line between Poke run and Flag run, until it strikes the divid-
ing ridge between Fourteen-mile creek and Camp creek;
thence with said ridge to the upper line of the county, which
shall compose the back township, to be called by the name
of Washington.

First dividing lines were to a great extent im-
aginary. It was not till after the township be-
came filled up tolerably well that the boundaries
were fixed definitely. Early settlers often, dur-
ing the first few years of preparation for farming,
care little for anything except the real necessities
of life. The gun supplies both want of food
and pleasure. After land begins to reach some
degree of value, they find out that deeds and
legal papers are a necessity.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Washington township possesses no remarkable
features. The surface is slightly broken along
the streams. On the dividing ridges, from which
the headwaters of the creeks flow, the land is
level, sometimes even to wetness. Between
Poke run and Flag run, a distance of two to
three miles, the surface gently slopes toward each
stream, though only enough to cause the water
to flow in either direction. In the vicinity of
New Washington village the drainage of the
country is excellent. This part of the township
is not far from the summit of the corniferous
formation of limestone, so common in this . part
of the county. The East and West forks of
Fourteen-mile creek give the northwestern part
of the township a surface of various kinds; farms
are generally tillable and often remarkably well
provided with springs and streams, which supply
an abundance of water for stock. There is a
dividing ridge in the eastern part of the town-
ship, from which flow the streams that enter the
Ohio without becoming tributaries to larger ones

412

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and those which empty into the East fork of
Fourteen-mile creek. It is elevated and well
adapted for grazing purposes, but not specially
productive in the grains.

The surface of the township had much to do
with its boundaries. Lines were drawn easier
by following up streams or along the dividing
ridges from which they took their course.
These circumstances combine to give the town-
ship a very irregular shape. It is composed
mainly of sections, except one tier of the Grant
tracts, which lie along the south side and which
extend up into Scott county for perhaps a half-
mile. There are in the township 22,690 acres.
Total valuation of property about $450,000.
The township is bounded as follows: On the
north by Scott and Jefferson counties; on the
east by Bethlehem township and Jefferson
county; on the south by Oregon and Owen town-
ship; and on the west by Oregon township. "A
few miles back from the headwaters of Camp creek
the lands are wet, the soil is light-colored clay
that holds water." The northern side of the
township is well adapted to grazing, the soil pro-
ducing good varieties of grass. " In the vicinity
of New Washington, the soil is light-colored clay
and sand, and has a better drainage than the
lands last mentioned. The line of the drift
reaches but a few miles' south of the road from
New Washington to Knabb's Station, on the Ver-
non branch of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad,
at the line of Scott county. An occasional
bowlder is seen as far south as the Charlestown
and Henryville road. The land about New
Washington is well adapted for wheat, and in
some localities excellent corn is grown."

Camp creek, which skirts the eastern side of
the township, and which derived its name from
the fact that many of the traveling bands of In-
dians encamped near its mouth, in what is now
Bethlehem township, flows slowly out into the
Ohio, river. As it approaches the river it begins
to pass through a sort of chute, which no doubt
was formed during the glacial epoch. It is in
Bethlehem township, however, that the line of
drift appears most striking. Camp creek heads
in Jefferson county.

Flag run takes its name from an aquatic plant
which formerly grew in great abundance along
its bottoms. Many of the early settlers used
these plants for chair-bottoms, matting, and some-

times for a rope or halter. For the latter it was
of little service. This stream flows in a westerly
course and empties into Fourteen-mile below the
junction of the East and West fork.

Poke run drains the southern part of the town-
ship, through only in a very limited way.

On section thirty-six the East and West fork
of Fourteen-mile unite, foiming the main creek.
The West fork is much smaller than the East
fork. It rises altogether in Clark county. Its
tributaries are few and small, fed generally by
springs, which are very common in this vicinity.
The East fork takes its rise in Jefferson county
and flows diagonally through the township until
it reaches the junction. It has a number of
tiibutaries, one of the largest of which is Dry
run, which also heads in the upper country. Both
these creeks have a good supply of water during
the fall and winter months. During the months
of May, Juhe, July, and August they are almost
dry. This was especially true during the sum-
mer of 1 88 1, when vegetation'and stock suffered
so much on account of the drouth. Years ago,
before the timber was cut away, mills on the
East fork ran all the year round. It was only
after a quarter of a century, when the settlers be-
gan to consume the timber in various ways and
prevent the water from standing in ponds and
settling through the leaves, did these streams fail
to supply a plentiful quantity of water for milling
purposes. They are now only made useful by
dams and races. The bed of these creeks is
made up mostly of the crinoidal and corniferous
formation of limestone. Wells are from fifteen
to fifty feet in depth. The water is pure, crystal-
like in appearance, and has a delicious taste.
Springs often gush forth from the limestone,
which is frequently of a cement character, and
supply families and stock with a drink as cool
and refreshing as any in the county.

"The growth of the timber in the eastern part
of the township is beech and white oak." Camp
creek is noted for its buckeye trees. On the
low, narrow bottom, sycamore and sugar-trees
are found from two to three feet in diameter.
In the region of New Washington village white
oak, beech, and in some localities most excellent
poplar, are found. "The latter timber is more
abundant to the south, where the land becomes
rolling and the limestone begins to show.'' There
was never a dense undergrowth. The swampy

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

4i3

nature of the soil prevented a luxuriant growth
of vegetation. Pea-vines were never peculiar to
this township. Thousands of hoop-poles are
cut yearly and turned into a paying business
close at home. Railroad ties are also taken in
large numbers, hewed from the best trees, and
often sacrificed to agents and speculators at a
poor, little sum.

CAVES.

New Washington cave, more commonly known
as Copple's cave, is situated on the east fork of
Fourteen-mile creek, lying within a farm owned
by David Copple. The opening is about 6 x 20
feet, and narrows down "rapidly until a passage
between shelves and rocks is reached, where a
stream of water makes exploration unpleasant.
There are no stalagmites or stalactites to amount
to anything, but calcareous deposits are found
on the rocks in the form of flowing drapery.
One hundred and fifty yards from the entrance
the ceiling rises to some height, and climbing up
one sees upon the left a large chamber not more
than three feet high. In this sort of basin large,
iocky pendants make exploration difficult and
somewhat dangerous. Here are bear-wallows,
evidently made when the red man traversed this
scope of country. Farther along one comes
upon a sink-hole obstructed by rocks. It has
never been opened, and may communicate with
a larger cave below. Following the course of
the cave, one presently comes to a larger low
opening, similar to the first. The floor is of
clay, and in it are numerous bear-wallows, other
marks of the animals being plainly visible on
the low ceilings. This chamber has never been
fully explored, on account of the low ceiling.
Standing here, one can see on either side to
the distance of thirty feet. Soundings made by
Professor Elsom, of Pennsylvania, show that
there are other passages, but as yet no one has
ventured to make decisive explorations.

Close to Copple's cave is Spring cave. It was
discovered by a dog crawling into the ground
many years ago. The ground was dug away and
a fine cavern for spring-house purposes was thus
disclosed. This cave is not very large, but there
are two or three bear-wallows in it. The en-
trance is a room about fifty feet high and fifteen
feet wide, with a stream of water passing through
it. An open sink-hole at the end communicates

with some other passage below; but it has never
been fully followed out.

On the Taylor farm is another cave, closely
resembling Spring cave. About thirty yards in
is a dome-like opening in the ceiling. The hole
is about five feet in diameter and ten feet in
height. At the end of this cave are more bear-
wallows. There is still another cave on the same
farm, but the opening is covered with rubbish.

On Arbuckle's and Robinson's farms are two
more caves, of which Robinson's has been ex-
plored several hundred yards. The passage is a
narrow aisle, with a running stream of water in
its bottom. In it are numerous red lizards.
Arbuckle's has a stream also, and a large cham-
ber, from which a devious passage leads further.
The mouth of this cave was used for shelter by
the Indians. Marks of encampment are yet
plainly visible. In this region are springs which
issue from rocks, run a short distance, long
enough to afford splendid water, and then disap-
pear. To "Bart," of the Jeffersonville Daily
Evening News, we are indebted for much of the
above information.

SETTLEMENTS.

The pioneers of Washington township settled
promiscuously. Among the first settlements
was that of the Robinson neighborhood, on the
east Fork of Fourteen-mile, about two miles
above where it unites with the West Fork and
forms the main branch. It was here that a mill
was early set in operation. About it the people
naturally gathered and began clearing. After
New Washington village was laid out in 18 15,
settlers generally located so as to be within a few
miles of the place. Roads were established to
connect with Charlestown, the Ohio river, and
the counties of Scott and Jefferson. The early
traveler went to Louisville from the counties
lying above on the tributaries of the Wabash and
White rivers, by way of New Washington. Most
of the emigrants took the same route, ^"hey
passed through the village on what was known
as the Charlestown road, or else, crossing the
Ohio at Westport landing, took a different road,
but passed through the same village after leaving
the county. People migrated thus for various
reasons. Southern people changed their homes
mostly on account of soil, climatic influences,
and slaver)-, and these emigrants were, in most

414

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

cases, from the South. The Westport road was
the first in the township. In passing through
the country it pronged to different settlements,
which acted as a kind of feeders. It ran from
the Ohio river to Pervine's mill.

A few years afterwards a road was laid out con-
necting with Charlestown at Work's mill, on
Fourteen-mile creek, in Charlestown township.
Another road made connection with Bethlehem,
on the Ohio. As the township gradually increased
in number of inhabitants, new roads were estab-
lished to meet the wants of the people. From a
few dozen in 1800 it has risen to about fourteen
hundred in 1881. The crossing of the Charles-
town and Westport roads, about two miles and a
half from New Washington, was the stopping-
place during the night for many of the emigrants
before the little village beyond supported a tav-
ern. Flag run flows immediately over the cross-
ing of the two roads. A little bottom on the
northeast corner made a good camping-ground,
and the stream supplied teams with water and the
women for cooking purposes. The road-track is
but little worn, as it passes over the hard lime-
stone, which in many places forms the only pro-
tection against mud, and a good protection it is
too. These roads are used much, and are in tol-
erably good condition. The sandy soil absorbs
the water in this vicinity, and for this reason
roadways have little grading. During the sum-
mer months they are even better than turnpikes;
when winter and spring comes they are frequently
impassable, except on horseback. The guide-
board at the Charleston and Westport crossing
reads: "Charlestown, ten miles; Westport land-
ing, six miles."

Washington township is cut by the Ohio &
Mississippi branch so as to throw nearly a mile
of railroad within her boundary lines. Knabb's
Station is in the very extreme part of the town-
ship. From it many of the stock-growers ship
their Rattle. As the station is small, it presents
little matter of importance. The county line
really cuts the place into very uneven parts, by
far the larger of which lies in Scott county.

As all townships are subject to excitement on
questions of public concern, so is Washington.
The fall of 1881 found the people much inter-
ested in a proposed railroad from Cincinnati to
New Albany. It is to be built probably by some
Fastern capitalists. The indications are that it

will pass through the township in the country
about New Washington, on the level upland, or
lower down, in the bottoms of the Ohio. A
connecting line between these two points, the
link of a great thoroughfare, would give such life
and business to Washington township as would
startle the opponents of public enterprises.

As has been said, the first road in the town-
ship ran from Pervine's mill on Fourteen-mile
creek to Westport landing, ont he Ohio. William
Pervine, who was next to John Work in the mill-
ing business, settled on tract number one hundred
and ninety-eight of the Grant, as early as 1808.
He erected a grist-mill on the present site of
Walker's mills, below the junction of the East
and West fork. This was four years before the
Indians threw the country into such excitement
by their massacre at Pigeon Roost. Pervine
carried on his business successfully for a number
of years, in the meantime adding to his establish-
ment an overshot carding manufactory. The
site was well adapted lor the business. Many of
the New Washington and New Market people
came here to get their grists ground. Custom
work was then the only kind. Such a thing as
buying grain and grinding it into flour or meal
was unknown. Shipments were consequently
small. A consignment of goods was sometimes
made later in the century.

Pervine's mill stood on the right bank of Four-
teen-mile creek. The dam was made of brush.
After Walker came into possession of it, about
the year 18/5, he changed the dam so as to
make it of more service, by using stone instead of
brush for an obstruction. There is now both a
grist- and a saw-mill combined. During the sum-
mer months it is run by steam power. Water
supplies the motive power during fall and winter.
The site is a good one, and considerable work is
done for farmers in this section. The mill is old
and has the appearance of age and use. Below
Walker's mill a few hundred yards a handsome
iron bridge crosses Fourteen-mile creek, on the
road leading to New Washington.

Fifty-five years ago, on Camp creek, two miles
east of New Washington, Jacob Bear, who came
from Virginia, carried on the milling business.
His sons, however, built the mill, he coming on
after it was erected. The mill was of the over-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

4i5

shot style and was used at first for grinding pur-
poses only. The old mill site is still used, but
the motive power is steam. It is now known as
the Hutsell mill, and has been in running order
for more than twenty years.

After a few years, in which Mr. Bear supplied
the people generally by his Camp Creek mill,
another, known as the Robinson Settlement
mill, sprang up on the east fork of Fourteen-mile
creek, about two miles above the junction. The
best authority on milling history in Washington
township, Mr. Jacob Tafiinger, says that the
workmen came from the East several times to
assist in mill erection. Mr. Bear probably had
control of the Robinson Settlement mill at first,
though by various changes it passed out of his
possession. Finding out in a year or two that
the water supply was irregular, a mill-site was
selected further down the stream at the head of
Fourteen-mile creek proper. The first mill put
up at the junction was built by James Atwood,
about 1823 or 1824. Mr. Jacob Tafiinger, who
was a millwright and carpenter by trade, came
into possession of it in 1830, but not before it
had passed through several hands successively.
The bargain was made so as to include a piece
of land. Since 1830 the Tafiinger mill has been
in operation, though at various times stopped
temporarily during the summer months. It is
owned by Jacob and Daniel Taflingur jointly,
who came here with their father's family many
years ago. There is a saw-mill attached to the
grist-mill, run in summer by steam-power.
Grinding and sawing are done four days each
week.

In 1820, one .mile and a half south of New
Washington village, Fifer's horse-mill did con-
siderable custom work. It was larger than most
horse-mills of that time. Two, three, or four
horses were hitched to a long sweep, and in this
way supplied the power for grinding. It was in
operation for four or five years.

STILL-HOUSES, ETC.

The distillation of whiskey and brandy was
among the first undertakings of the pioneers.
Their manufacture was often made profitable by
trading with the Indians for furs, who, at this
time, belonged to the disaffected tribes in the
region of Vincennes and Kaskaskia. Still-houses
were always common. Many of the mills had

stills attached to them; they often did much to
draw custom. The majority of them were lo-
cated on Fourteen-mile and Camp creek, the
only streams of any size in the township. Jacob
Bear had a still-house, or, at least, manufactured
whiskey in connection with milling on Camp
creek. Near Walker's mill Fitch and Helter-
bridle, though different proprietors, carried on
distilling. They were here more than fifty years
ago. Samuel Montgomery, William Fisher, and
many others engaged in the same business. Ja-
cob Cobble manufactured whiskey on Fourteen-
mile creek, near New Washington village, at an
early day. Jesse Henly, a prominent man in the
affairs of township and county organization, had
a public still-house. His was of the cold-mash
kind, and had from fifteen to twenty tubs. It
was used mostly by the country people, who paid
a certain per cent for toll. The old site is now
marked by what is known as the Cave spring,
from which Henly's still-house received its sup-
ply of water. In connection with the copper
stills he ground wheat and corn for the New
Washington people with an overshot water-wheel
thirty feet in diameter. Cobble's distillery was
also used by the public. Corn at this time pro-
duced about three gallons of whiskey per bushel.
James Owens, Andrew Bowers, and James Smith
were among the first distillers. They were
located mostly on Fourteen-mile creek. One of
the interesting features of Smith's still-house was
a water-wheel with cow-horns attached to it, so
as to carry the water up into a trough which car-
ried the water to the interior of the house.

Peach brandy was largely manufactured in this
township by the early settlers. Peaches grew in
abundance when the township was cleared and
agriculture was first turned to attentively. They
now have little success in quantity or quality.

Perhaps the oldest and most profitable tannery
of pioneer history was one owned and run by
Abram Kimberlain, in 1812-13, and for a few
years afterwards, at what is now Knabbs Station,
on the Vernon branch of the Ohio & Mississippi
railroad. Tanyards were not quite as common
as still-houses ; yet they were scattered through-
out the country in great numbers. It would re-
quire a statistical table to give them properly.
Lawrence's tannery in New Washington, how-
ever, was a very successful one. It ran from
1820 to 1840.

4i6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

FORTS.

In this age it seems strange that our forefathers
would engage in whiskey-making before any
general action should be taken to protect them-
selves against the barbarities of the red man.
But such was the case. It was not till the
Pigeon Roost massacre in 1812 that people be-
gan to realize that they lived on the frontier ;
that decisive measures must be employed, if their
homes and farms were to be preserved against
the Indians. Pigeon Roost is not more than
six or seven miles from Knabbs Station. It was
natural people should become alarmed on ac-
count of their safety, when such atrocities were
committed so near home.

Jesse Henly, assisted by his neighbors, erected
a block-house on what is now the Charlestown
and New Washington road, two miles and a half
south of New Washington village, in 1812. The
house stood near the mouth of Henly's cave,
from which a plentiful supply of water was fur-
nished. After the excitement went down, and
the people who had crossed the Ohio into Ken-
tucky returned to their homes and began once
more the old way of living, the block-house was
abandoned. It has entirely disappeared. The
old Henly farm is now owned by Mr. William
Works.

Mr. Pervine put up a fort on Fourteen-mile
creek near his mill. It, too, has long since
passed away.

On Frederic Fisher's farm, one mile north of
"New Washington, a block-house was erected in
1 81 2. There was one also where Colonel Mar-
tin Adams now lives in a little settlement called
Hookertown, but which has entirely disappeared.

Colonel Adams himself put up a private block-
house. In it the family lived for a year or two,
and then returned to their old but more comfort-
able log cabin.

The Indians seldom gave the white settlers in
Washington township any trouble, except a few
pretty thefts which they committed, and which,
fortunately, the settlers were always able to bear.

CHURCHES.

After the excitement caused by the Pigeon
Roost massacre had passed away, people began
to turn more of their attention to religious and
educational matters. The Universalists were
among the first religious bodies in the township,

but they never had any thoroughly organized
class. As early as 181 2, Adam Bower, who
lived two and a half miles west of New Wash-
ington, had preaching at his house by Universal-
is! preachers from Kentucky. After the Christian
church was established in this community, they
became members of that denomination.

The Presbyterian church on Camp creek,
three miles east of New Washington, known as
the Pisgah chapel, was erected more than forty
years ago. For some time before and after the
congregation built their house of worship, the
class prospered. When the controversy came
up which afterwards divided the members into
two congregations, the enthusiasm of both sides
resembled the worship of Baal more than the
Lord God of Elijah. The Old School Presbyte-
rians went to New Washington, and the New
School retained possession of the church build-
ing. Among the first members were Alexander
Walker, John Henderson, and John Matthews,
with their wives and families. Parson Todd,
who came from Virginia, Revs. John Dickey
and William Robinson, the latter of whom came
from Madison, Indiana, were early preachers.
The old members have died; the old church
has succumbed to time and the elements, and is
no more. A school-house in the neighborhood
affords a place of worship and, in the pleasant
months of the year, a room for holding Sunday-
schools. The first members of the Pisgah chapel
were true, devoted Christians, men who were
guided by a conscientious regard for law and
justice.

BURY1NG-GROUNDS.

On the Charlestown and New Washington
road, on a little eminence near Flag run, Jesse
Henly laid out a small graveyard as early as
1807, on his farm. At this time there were few
graveyards in the country. The health was gen-
erally good, except some fever and ague, which
was often quite common in the fall. There is in
the inclosure perhaps a quarter of an acre. It
has been filled up almost to its full capacity, but
yet people bury their dead in it frequently. Mrs.
Jesse Henly was the first person who was buried
in it. A good stone fence protects the evergreens
and flowers from the outside world. Everything
looks tasty and in conformity with modern ideas.
A number of handsome monuments are particu-
larly attractive.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

4i7

The old Walker graveyard, which is now on
Colonel Martin Adam's place, was used as early
as 1814. It was then surrounded by the woods,
having been located in the midst of a strong
growth of beech timber. The location was
probably determined by the death of Mary Polly
Adams, who was the first person buried within
its present limits. William Pervine and his
daughter were the next who were laid to rest
under the shady beech and oak. This old grave-
yard is now but little used. Its like is seldom
met in the history of Clark county.

Fouts's grave-yards, now known as the Barnes
burying-grounds, on the forks of Fourteen-mile
creek, were used by the settlers fifty or sixty
years ago. Squire Jacob Fouts, who lived near
the East fork of Fourteen-mile, had at first a pri-
vate burying place. It was afterwards used by
the neighbors and came to be regarded as pub-
lic property. The other, laid out by a relative
of Mr. Fouts, perhaps a brother, was situated on
the West fork of Fourteen-mile creek. Both sus-
tained about the same relation to the public.
They are now among those things of bygone
days which in history must ever be regarded with
affection, and which are reminders that we must
all pass away.

The first school which was kept in the vicinity
of Colonel Martin Adams, was taught by Stephen
Hutchings and a Mr. Reed. Its location is now
fixed by the old Walker burying-ground. All
the Adamses, Bottorffs, and Needhams gained
their education here. John Reese, one of the
Baptist preachers of early times, frequently
preached to the people in this school-house. He
also preached in the school-house which belonged
to his district. William Gulick, who married
Miss Sallie Adams, was the first teacher, or
among the first teachers. He taught for many
years afterwards in the adjoining townships, and
belongs to that class of men who first brought
the public-school system to rules.

On the Charlestown and Westpott cross-roads,
at the northwest corner, a district school is well
filled with the boys and girls of the community.
On the northeast corner a saw-mill, owned by
Mr. Godfrey Bradley, runs most of the time.

It was on this little body of bottom land that
the northern-bound emigrant rested during the

night, while on his way to the upper Indiana
counties.

Washington township has nine school districts
and about four hundred and fifty school children.
Educationally, it is well up with the other town-
ships. Her school-houses were always rude af-
fairs during the pioneer age. Since the State
school law came into force, school-houses have
been fashioned after more modern patterns.
They invariably look well.

VILLAGES.

There never was more than one regularly laid-
out village in Washington township. Its isolated
situation seemed to preclude any idea of future
greatness. But there naturally sprang up a de-
sire to have a township center, a place where
people could vote, where ammunition and gro-
ceries could be bought, and where Christmas
shooting-matches could be held. David Copple,
Bala Johnson, and Adam Keller, who owned
land in the vicinity of New Washington, were
the first persons who made a successful attempt
to found a village. New Washington is admir-
ably situated. It was laid out in 181 5 by the
three persons above-mentioned. There were
one hundred and twenty-eight lots, each 90x150
feet. Eight lots were given for public purposes,
and the proceeds of their sale turned into a
fund for churches, schools, and the grading of
streets. They were located on the first square
northeast of the center of the town— for it was
a town of size which they had planned. In 1819
Johnson made an addition on the west side of
nine lots of the same size as those surveyed at
first. Mr. Todd made an addition of thirty-
three inlots and twelve outlots, in 1879, on tne
south side, the former 90x100 feet.

Adam Keller, who came from Wales, with his
wife and a part of his family, was one of the
first citizens of New Washington. He after-
wards moved to Shelby county, Indiana, where
he died.

Bala Johnson came from Kentucky, farmed for
a living, and, after a life of much fruitfulness, died
near his ideal village.

David Copple was a farmer. He came from
one of the Carolinas. Absalom Frazier, another
early citizen, a wheelwright and edge-tool-maker,
was here before 1S20. He erected a steam grist-
mill sixty odd years ago in the village, to which

4i8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

he afterwards attached a saw-mill. He was a
man of considerable ability, and aided much in
the improvements of New Washington.

Five years after New Washington was laid out,
it had grown to be a thriving village of perhaps
one hundred inhabitants. This resulted mainly
from its location on the great thoroughfares
which led to Madison and Lexington, over which
hundreds of emigrants passed yearly. At one
time there were striking evidences of a brilliant
future. The knobs on the west and the Ohio
river on the east, almost compelled the traveling
public to take this route. Of course taverns
sprang up with stores and produce exchanges.

John Lowder, who came from Kentucky, was
among the first who kept a house of entertain-
ment. After him came Joseph Bowers, Jacob
Duges, Robert Tilford, William Robinson, and
others. Their public houses were in various
locations, but all had striking resemblances to
each other.

Mr. Elijah Prewett, who came from Kentucky,
was the first storekeeper. The kind of a store
which he kept, was a general produce exchange,
a place where butter, eggs, chickens, hides, and
so on, were given for groceries and a few of the
coarser dry goods. Esquire Bower dealt out
groceries to the pioneer citizens for a number ot
years. Solomon Davis, who was here in 1840,
carried on storekeeping on a large scale. At
that time the village had as many as six different
firms who were engaged in the same business.
Christopher C. Cole and Berlin Spooner had a
small stock of tobacco and groceries in connection
with the post-office which they kept, about three or
four years after the village was laid out. But
stores in New Washington have always been
governed by varying circumstances. They gener-
ally change hands every few years. It can be
truly said no one ever made an independent for-
tune by commercial business within the bound-
aries of New Washington village.

Blacksmiths have always found steady employ-
ment in the village, if industrious. Five years
after the town was platted, Charles Downey, of
New York State, opened a shop and attended to
the wants of the public. James McHenry fol-
lowed soon after, as also did William Charleton
and Andrew Robinson. G. L. Harper, a good
artisan, and one whom everybody respected, was
here for a long time. He died only a year or

two since. Blacksmith shops here, like the
stores, were often temporary. They depended
to a great extent on the social qualities of the
smith, as well as the excellent work which he did.
Thomas Colvin is the present village smith,
though another shop can be used if business
should demand it.

As one enters the village coming in on the
Charlestown road (the old county seat lies twelve
miles south), the traveler is struck by nothing of
decided importance, except the Presbyterian and
Christian churches. The former stands in the
eastern part of the town. Its fences are in a
needy state, the weather-boarding needs paint,
and the whole building a thorough going-over.
There is no bell. This class is that part of the
Pisgah Presbyterian church which was designated
as the Old-school.

The Christian church is a little more modern
in appearance, as well as younger in years. It
has a tin-covered cupola, with an oval-sha'ped
crown, which glitters in the sunlight. The
cupola can be seen for several miles, if standing
at an angle so that the rays of the sun strike the
observer properly. The Christian church is
larger than the Presbyterian. It was organized
about the time of Alexander Campbell's refor-
mation, and its first members came mostly from
the other denominations.

The Baptist church in New Washington was
built in 1820, and was the first house of worship
in the village. It was made of hewed legs. Its
furniture was old-fashioned, and its members
more zealous in good works than anxious to
have easy seats and polished discourses. It was
the Baptist church to which most of the early
settlets belonged. Jacob and Lewis Fouts,
Jacob Woods, and their families were early mem-
bers. Many of their preachers came from the
adjoining counties. John Wright, a man of
much natural and acquired ability, was perhaps
the most distinguished of all their ministers. He
came from Washington county. Preachers who
rode the circuits — many times extending over a
tract of country fifty to two hundred miles in
length — always made New Washington a stop-
ping place. It was then this church was in its
prime. Its members were generally from the
best people in the country, people who were
known by their common, hard sense, who paid a
debt as readily without as with a note. After

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

419

the old log building became unfit for use, a neat
frame was erected to take its place.

John Reese was an old Baptist preacher in the
country about New Washington. He preached
mostly in school-houses and the houses of the
pioneers. Joseph Reese and Charles Johnson
were members; but they, with a number of
others, were finally taken into the Christian
church. It seems that the first preaching of this
old denomination was begun in the neighborhood
of Colonel Martin Adams's large farm — at least
John Reese did considerable preaching in this
section before New Washington was laid out.
After the village had grown to some size, the class
naturally located centrally — hence the church of
1820. Sixty-odd years have made many changes
in the regularity of this ancient sect. The
church in New Washington is in a semi-conscious
state, many of its first members having died,
moved off, or become connected with other re-
ligious organizations. But it leaves behind it a
legacy richer than the wealth of Croesus.

The Methodist Episcopal church, a small brick
building, was erected in 1833-34. It was never
powerful either in numbers or wealth ; but it had
a spiritual strength which has survived to this
day. William T. Lawrence and Thirston Davis
were two of the first and most influential mem-
bers. Their preachers were generally those who
addressed the people of Owen, Bethlehem, and
adjoining townships. It is in the Methodist
church that the only Sunday-school of New
Washington is held. Here all classes go regard-
less of creed, and the school is tolerably well sus-
tained. It was organized twenty-five or thirty
years ago, but has during that time passed through
many changes.

Sunday-schools in the village were at one
period very prosperous. When the place was
thriving and business returned good dividends,
Sabbath-schools flourished. When business
lagged, Sunday-schools dragged. The time will
come, probably, when they will be revived and
be made to take a firmer stand than ever before
in the religious matters of New Washington.

The Seceders' church, an offshoot of the estab-
lished Church of England, was at an early day
quite successful in the village. Its members
came from England and were mostly grown
when they arrived here. For a few years preach-
ing was held occasionally in the neighborhood.

After the old members died, their children, who
generally connected themselves with some other
denomination, let the church of their parents
pass out of existence in this community, as far
as any regular body was concerned. In Jeffer-
son county this denomination is quite numerous,
and from this territory a preacher will come oc-
casionally and address the people in this sec-
tion. There are thr§e things about which all
persons like to think for themselves — politics,
religion, and love; and it is to be regretted that
few care so little for moral questions and all
things which lead us to think more of God and
the future.

The first school-house in the neighborhood
was built of logs. But it was not long until a
very decided move was made to establish a
school which would furnish a thorough educa-
tion. In the original plat there was a public
square. It was soon divided into lots, which
were sold at auction, and the money turned into
a fund for building a seminary. As the square
was well situated, a handsome amount was re-
alized from its sale. A good brick building was
erected, 40 x 50 feet, with a cupola, good fences,
and other necessary attachments. But the en-
thusiasm which more than anything else caused
its erection, soon subsided. The founders of
the village could not risk too much to accom-
plish the desired result. After a number of
years of varying success, the school began to
lag in interest and numbers. Parson Brownlow
and David Graham, the latter a son-in-law of
Colonel Martin Adams, were the first teachers,
and did much to place the seminary on a sub-
stantial foundation. The classics and all the
sciences were taught, and it seemed at one
time that the road to fame was wide and easily
traveled.

After about ten years of use as a seminary
the building was taken by the public school
authorities, and since 1840 has been under their
control. There are now two teachers and from
seventy-five to one hundred scholars.

Twenty-five years ago a Masonic lodge was
organized in New Washington. Among the
charter members were John and Dougan Fouts,
Robert Tilford, and Barney Campbell. The
lodge prospered for a time — as long as the vil-
lage prospered— and then began to droop.
There are now some thirty members. A. M.

420

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Fouts is W. ML; John C. Fouts, secretary. The
Masonic hall has been used recently by the
Granger society. But it, too, is not active and
full of that spirited determination which charac-
terized the early life of this order.

When Pervine carried on milling on Fourteen-
mile creek, before New Washington was laid out,
the post-office was kept at his mill. It had few
wants to meet. People wrote few letters, and
newspapers were almost unknown. One of the
best authorities on post-office affairs says that the
mail was delivered here as early as 1800; but it
is improbable, because it was not till 1808 that
Pervine's mill was erected. As soon as New
Washington had grown to have fifty or sixty in-
habitants, the post-office was located in the vil-
lage. It was near the year 181 7 that the change
was made. Christopher C. Cole and Berlin
Spooner were the first postmasters. The office
was in the east end of the town, in a little log
house. Joseph Bower was postmaster for more
than twenty years. He was a justice of the
peace at the same time, which office he held for
more than forty years. Mails were carried at
first on horseback, and went by way of Charles-
town, New Washington, and Madison, though
the starting point was Jeffersonville. As the
mail-carrier went along, he distributed letters at
way offices. They were often of little import-
ance, but had to have communication with the
great, busy world on the Ohio, and the thorough-
fares in other parts of the county. A stage-route
was established about twenty years after the vil-
lage was laid out, which took the same road as
that followed by the horsemen. For some time
it paid well. The prosperity of this enterprise
was also determined by the prosperity of the vil-
lage. Robert Tilford acted as postmaster for a
while. He belonged to the new era of post-
office life. The mails of New Washington are
now carried three times a week on a route starting
at Otisco and ending at Bethlehem.

New Washington at first was the rival of
Charlestown. Its situation in the northern part
of the county, however, was a great hindrance
to its final result. Charlestown was located near
the centre of the county, and for this reason had
a decided advantage. Many of the first and
foremost physicians, nevertheless, made it their
home. Lawyers she had none. Dr. Samuel
Adair, who came from Ohio, was here soon after

the village was platted. His practice was in the
adjoining and home counties. Dr. Philip Jolly,
who came from the same State, was here about
1828 or 1830. He was an excellent physician,
and his practice extended for miles in all direc-
tions. A familiar remark was, "Yonder goes
Dr. Jolly again." Dr. Solomon Davis was here
for a number of years, but his practice was not
extensive. In the village now there are three
practicing physicians — Drs. Samuel Adair, David
Haymaker, and David Allhands.

The Indiana Gazetteer for 1833 had something
to say of this village, with its name somewhat
abridged, as follows:

Washington, a post-town in Clark Co., about 12 miles
N. E. from Charlestown. It has about 150 inhabitants, 2
taverns, 3 mercantile stores, and several mechanics of various
trades.

New Washington village has now about two
hundred and fifty people, engaged mostly in ag-
ricultural and mercantile pursuits. There are
two main streets, which are those leading to
Charlestown and Madison. Four stores are
in operation, doing considerable business in the
way of exchange and cash sales. It may hap-
pen that the new railroad, which will probably
be built before a great many years, will pass with-
in a mile or less of the village. If so, there will
be an awakening in trade, and the oldest citizens
may yet see their birthplace taking a proud posi-
tion in the commercial and social affairs of the
world.

OLD SETTLERS.

Colonel Martin Adams came from Kentucky
with his father in 1808, and made improvements
on a small tract of land near where he now lives,
two miles south of New Washington. They re-
turned in the spring of the following year, and
with the family moved to Terre Haute, Indiana,
where they resided till 181 1. There were thir-
teen in the family. General Harrison was en-
gaged at that time in trying to conciliate the In-
dians on the frontier. It was on this account
that the family moved to Washington township.
In the spring of 1813 Mr. Adams enlisted as a
ranger to fight the Indians on the borders, and
made several campaigns. On the 18th of August,
1825,, he married Miss Jane H. Davis. The
Davises came from Kentucky and settled in Jef-
ferson county, Indiana. There is but one of her
brothers, out of a family of twelve children, living

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

in this township at present. He resides on the
New Washington and Bethlehem road.

Colonel Adams gets his title from the office
which he held during the mustering times of the
State militia. He held it till the law which gov-
erned these gatherings was repealed. In all pur-
suits which bring wealth and pleasure, Mr.
Adams has taken a prominent part. He was en-
gaged as a flatboatman on the Ohio for twenty-
five years, in the meantime accumulating a hand-
some competency. There is no other man in
Washington township so thoroughly acquainted
with pioneer incidents as Colonel Adams. His
record is worthy of imitation by the youth of
to-day; his character, as also his wife's, is with-
out blemish.

Jacob Taflinger, Sr., was born in Virginia, and
came to Clark county in 1829. Two years pre-
vious to moving he had bought a tract of land
on the line now dividing Oregon from Washing-
ton townships. His family consisted of his wife,
whose maiden name was Barbara Kline; his
sons, Joseph, Daniel, John, and Jacob, and
daughters Elizabeth, Sarah, Lydia, and Nancy.
The journey was made in a four-horse covered
wagon, with the familiar white top. After arriving
on the ground, it was found to be unprofitable
for agriculture on account of the slough and
undergrowth. During the night in which they
encamped on the ground, a violent storm set in
and almost drowned the family. On the follow-
ing morning they proceeded to Charlestown
township, stopping at the residence of James
Worrel, who at that time lived one mile and a
half west of Charlestown. Arrangements were
soon made to visit other parts of the county, and
to secure, if possible, a site favorable for a mill
and also convenient to form the first purchase.
After some search land was bought in the neigh-
borhood of Robinson's settlement, one mile and
a half above the head of Fourteen-mile creek.
In a few days the family moved and began the
work of clearing. Jacob Taflinger, Jr., was by
trade a carpenter and millwright. He assisted
in rebuilding the old Robinson settlement mill,
and did considerable work in building houses
and barns. He was born on the 2d of August,
1800, and has traveled much and learned by
experience what the early schools failed to im-
part. The greater part of his life has been em-
ployed in erecting and rebuilding mills through-

out the United States. He became noted as a
man of strong passions, but of generous heart.
He speaks with much pleasure of his milling
experience and the achievements which he has
made during his eventful life. Daniel, his elder
brother, was by nature of a more retired disposi-
tion, but' none the less characteristic. Both
these brothers live at the head of Fourteen-mile
creek; Joseph resides in the west; Lydia and
Sarah are married; the remainder of the family
are dead.

Jacob Ratts, an old settler, came from Wash-
ington county, Indiana, more than fifty years ago.
He married John Fouts's sister, and has re-
mained in this township ever since.

John Russell lived in Washington village in
181 1. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and died
many years ago.

Henry and William Robinson came from Nel-
son county, Kentucky, in 1814, in company with
father, mother, five brothers, and three sisters.
The former was born December 31, 1803; the lat-
ter February 9, 1806. The family settled on
the road leading from New Washington to Beth-
lehem on their arrival. Since this time they have
been residents of this township. At times they
were citizens of New Washington village and deal-
ers in groceries and dry goods, and then again
farmers. Both have retentive memories, and re-
late many incidents with pleasant recollections.

Jesse Henly was one of the wealthiest men in
the township in 181 1. He bought this land in
most instances from the Government. At the
time of his death he owned twenty-one hundred
acres.

William Montgomery, a man who took much
interest in all township questions, was the father
often sons and three daughters. A large number
of his descendants are now living in this county.

Joseph Robinson, a powerful man, six feet tall
and two hundred pounds in weight, belonged to
the early settlers.

The Foutses came from North Carolina; their
descendants are scattered in many parts of the
United States.

There has been a marked change in Washing-
ton township within the last fifty years. The men
and women, who did so much in clearing off the
forest and preparing the way for the present gen-
eration, have nearly all died. The gray-headed
men of to day were boys when the above men-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

tioned reminiscences were present facts. The
time will soon come when old pioneers will be no
more ; when old mills, still-houses, tanneries, tav-
erns, and all those things which made up the ear-
ly history will pass away.

CHAPTER XXVII.

WOOD TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

Wood is a township which lies in the ex-
treme western side of the county. It is
bounded on the north and west by Wash-
ington county; on the east by Carr township,
except one tier of sections along the north side,
which lies adjacent to sections in Monroe; and
on the south by the county of Floyd. The
township was established in 1807, the date of the
first settlement, but it was not till 1816 that the
boundaries were set forth as follows, as recorded
in the report of the count} commissioners:

Ordered, that a township be struck off, commencing on
the Grant line where 250, 235, and 234 corner; thence south
forty degrees east with the line of Charlestown township ;
thence with the line of Jeffersonville township to the top of
the knobs ; thence with the knobs to where the lines of
Washington and Clark county intersect ; thence with the
said line crossing to the line crossing the road leading from
Charlestown to the town of Salem, in Washington county,
via Jonathan Watkins ; thence with the road aforesaid
mentioned to the township line of Charlestown, which shall
compose and form one township, called Wood.

The township, as it was bounded in 181 6, dif-
ferred much from its present size and shape.
From its east side Carr township has been
taken off almost entirely. Since the county lines
have been straightened up, especially that one
described as following the "knobs to where the
lines of Washington and Clark county intersect,"
a much better understanding has been had in
reference to the general lie of the country.

TOPOGRAPHY.

This township has nearly all kinds of soil, ex-
tremes of warmth and cold, hills and valleys, tim-
ber, and wealth hidden among the bowels of the
earth. Says the Geological Report of Clark and
Floyd counties:

The New Providence valley, lying at the base of the tall,

cone-shaped knobs, which were called "Silver Hills" by the
early settlers, extends from hill to hill in graceful curves.
This valley is about eight miles long and one or two wide. In
this valley may be recognized two distinct deposits. The
older layers belonging to the Champlain epoch originally gave
the valley an elevation twenty to twenty-five feet above the
present level. The more recent deposits are from the shifting
of the streams and washings from the side hills. A section
of the older deposits taken from the surface would be as fol-
lows: First, alluvium soil; second, ochreous beds of many
colors; third, fine-grained sand, suitable for colored glass;
fourth, coarse gravel and sand, with fossils and limestone.

The bed of Silver creek, in this valley, was at one time on
a higher level than at present, and has shifted its course and
cut down the clays of the valley to its present position. The
weathering of the knobs, shales, and sandstones has fur-
nished pebbles which have been borne down by the floods
from the hills, and, filling the bed of the creek, has altered
its course from time to time. The spurs at the foot of the
knobs, called points, indicate the former level of the valley
and the course of the lateral washings. The shifting of the
creek has thus created a rich surface loam, enriched by the
decaying leaves and other vegetable matter from the hillsides
with a deep subsoil of gravel. This soil is well suited to
the growth of all the staple farm products, and the growing
crops are not materially affected by drouth. Apples do well,
and strawberries grow to great perfection, as well as all other
small fruits. The water in the streams and shallow wells of
the valley is noted for its softness. It does not decompose
soap, and is as much used as rain-water for laundry purposes,

The forest growth of the valley comprises the red mulberry,
the white mulberry, the pawpaw, the persimmon, sugar
maple, and sugar-tree. Among the original growth of timber
of the valley was walnut; of the hills chestnut, which was
very abundant, and the nutting time of the year was a real
harvest. But now. on account of the waste of timber, the
chestnut crop is small. We hope the time is not far distant
when the ruthless hand will not lay waste the noble forests as
formerly. There were found also white and blue ash and
prickly ash, beech and wild cherry, elm, sassafras, sycamore,
and many other species.

The timber of the hills consists of chestnut oak, white oak,
red oak, black oak, post oak, pine, black hickory, white
hickory, dogwood, poplar, water maple, gum, and sumach.

STREAMS.

The Muddy fork of Silver creek is the princi-
pal stream in the township. Its tributaries are
the Dry fork, Giles branch, Morris branch, and
Kelleys branch. Mr. Bellows says:

Once thick woods bordered the banks of these streams,
woods almost impenetrable; and once, too, the settler dared
not venture upon them after nightfall, lest a wolf, or bear, or
catamount, or wild Indian might pounce upon him too sud-
denly to admit of defense; or, perhaps, a coiled serpent
might be in waiting for him in the rank weeds that carpeted
his pathway. When I see no more the herds of deer which
once pastured upon these hills and in this valley, making
great roads to the licks and springs, I am astonished, lost,
can scarcely believe in its reality. Likewise I am astonished
that the stream which winds its way down our valley ever
received the appellation of Muddy. One thing is certain, it
deserves not the epithet. Its waters are pure and silvery and
no stream can boast of purer water.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

423

SETTLEMENTS.

The exact date of the first permanent white
settlement in the township is uncertain — at least
we have no satisfactory record by which it can be
determined. Whether George Wood was the first
white man who settled in the township we cannot
say; but it is quite certain he was among the
first. Wood emigrated north in 1802 and set-
tled near Charlestown, where he resided till
1807. » He then removed to the Muddy Fork
valley, and settled for life one and a half miles
below where New Providence was afterwards lo-
cated. George Wood was a native of South
Carolina ; he died ten or twelve years after re-
moving to this township.

Soon after Wood came John and Robert Burge,
James Smith, Matthew Barnaby, Moses Harman,
Elijah Harman, James Warman, and Simon
Akers. To protect themselves from the savages,
a block-house was erected on George Wood's
farm in 1808. After this means of defense be-
came generally known, John Giles, Jonathan
Carr, and Samuel Harrod came, accompanied
by their families. In 18 10 John McKinley, of
Shelby county, Kentucky, settled in the same
valley; in 181 1 Samuel Packwood came from
Shenandoah county, Virginia. The Burges,
Harmans, Smith, and Barnaby emigrated from
North Carolina; Giles and Akers were from
Kentucky; likewise Warman and a man named
Frederick Gore and others. Carr and Harrod
were from Pennsylvania. Harrod had two sons,
William and Henry. The former was by trade a
miller, and for many years owned a notable mill
on Silver creek. Henry for several years was
clerk of Clark county.

Again in 1813 came James McKinley, brother
to John, whose name we have already mentioned.
William Packwood, brother to Samuel, came in
1819. These were the parents and grandparents
of many sons and daughters, now in this region,
and well known far and near.

We also mention others who acted their part
well. Of these we will name Charles Robert-
son, James Baker and brother Jesse, Micah
Burns, Thompson Littell, William Kelly, Michael
Borders, Christopher Morris, William Gibson,
James Johnson, and brother Lancelot, James
Brown (who came from North Carolina in 1824
at six years of age and settled in the Silver Creek
valley with his father's family), John Bell, George

Brock, Isaac Baggerly, Cyrus Bradford, George
Goss, and David his brother, John Goss, Mat-
thew West, Thomas Halow, mostly from the
South. Robertson was from Virginia, and the
Bakers from South Carolina; Burns was from
Vermont; Littell and Bradford were from New
York State; the remaining ones whose names
have been mentioned, were from North Caro-
lina.

Esquire Samuel Hay, grandfather to Miss Ada
Hay, a well-known school mistress of Clark
county, settled in the Dry Fork valley, near the
confluence with Muddy fork. He was the first
magistrate of the township, who, by the way,
while hearing charges against offenders, sat on a
large beech stump in front of his house, which
he denominated the " seat of justice." The
Gosses settled on the hills some three miles west
of the block-house. The Packwoods settled
principally in the valley of Muddy fork, but
two or three miles above the block-house ;
Messrs. Littell, Warman, the Baker brothers,
Robertson, John Burge, and Burwell Gibson,
with several others, from one to two miles below
the block-house; the McKinleys, Bells, John-
sons, Akers, Bradford, and a few more, on the
hills some two miles south of the central point.

Elijah Harman was bitten by a rattlesnake
near Fowler's gap, where he was found dead,
and was here buried. Samuel Harrod died soon
after his arrival in the county. His grave is one
mile above New Providence, on the hill east of
the barn and near the base line on the farm now
owned by J. D. Hum. Giles settled on that
tributary of Muddy fork called Giles branch, after
whom it was named. When settlements began to
increase he, having a roving disposition, "pulled
up stakes " and went farther west. A few others
of like disposition followed.

Morris settled on the branch bearing his name,
where also he lived to a good old age, leaving
many children and grandchildren. Kelley set-
tled on the hill at the source of the branch bear-
ing his name, where, also, not far below the house
in the valley he had a salt well, from which for
several years, though weak in minerals, he made
salt. The well at present is filled with debris, as
it has been since the death of Kelley, many years
ago.

The tributary called the Dry fork was so called
on account of its almost destitution of water in

424

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

summer. Frederick Gore settled on the hill near
its source: so also did others, and several immi-
grants in the valley.

Many of the early settlers were of a roving
disposition. After the township had filled up so
as to have from three to five hundred citizens,
the emigration fever overtook them, and many
were induced to remove further west.

John Borden, his brother Stephen, and Henry
Dow took the lead. The Bordens were from
Rhode Island ; Dow from Connecticut. This
was in the spring of 1817, soon after the Terri-
tory of Indiana had been admitted into the sis-
terhood of States. The Indians, too, had taken
up their line of march and found a home further
west. Block-houses were therefore now no more,
nor of any serious consequence. Dow purchased
land; so also did John Borden. Dow returned
to his home in Connecticut. Borden having laid
out the town of New Providence, naming it
after Providence, Rhode Island, returned home
also. In 1818, leaving his children, two or three
in number, with relatives in his old State, ac-
companied by his wife and Joseph Cook — a
young man of influence and respectability, and
by trade a blacksmith — he removed to this
so-called land of promise. Dow came in 1819,
bringing with him John Fowler, a son-in-law, and
an unmarried daughter, also two sons unmar-
ried, and Henry, a son who was married — alto-
gether about sixteen men, women, and children.
William Brannan, a man of wealth and respect-
ability, with a large family, came soon after
Dow, from New York. Banannel Shaw and
family from Rhode Island, soon followed Bran-
nan. Then came Thomas Bellows. His family
was composed of his mother, then a widow;
two sisters, Lydia ajid Laura; a brother, David;
and of course his wife and children. The com-
pany in which the Bellowses came was composed
of Samuel Hallett and Silas Standish, with their
families; Joseph Durfy and Peleg Lewis, with-
out families, all from New London county, Con-
necticut.

IMPROVEMENTS.

Roads abound, as do meeting-houses and
schools. Outside of these, says Mr. Asa M.
Bellows, we have very little of which to boast.
Churches were generally erected by individual
donations; school-houses by a provision made by
law for appropriating a limited per cent, of the

State school fund to this use. School-houses in
early times were constructed of round logs; sub-
sequently of hewn logs, and finally of sawed
lumber, framed. The first school-house built in
the township was of round beach logs, erected
in New Providence in 1818, on the public square.
The second school-house in the village was put
up in 1827, and the third in 1868.

Roads are established chiefly by the county
authorities, under the regulations of the State
"laws for the establishment and support of pub-
lic highways." Originally these highways were
mainly bridle-paths. One was a State road,
rough and stumpy, leading from Jeffetsonville
through New Providence to Salem in Washing-
ton county. Until some time in the forties, when
our Legislature gave it to the railroad company,
it was of almost infinite value. Subsequently it
has been of very little worth, the railroad having
monopolized the travel and transportation of
almost every article of trade.

George Wood was the proprietor of the first
grist-mill. It was known as a draft corn-mill, and
was built in 1808. The second was a tread-mill,
built by Henry Dow in 1828; the third, a steam-
mill, built also by Henry Dow, Sr., in 1833; to
it was attached a carding machine. In 1868
Christopher Fisher built a first-class steam flour-
ing-mill, which at present belongs to James A.
Burns.

The first saw-mill in the township was erected
by Henry Dow, Sr., in 1820. It was of the over-
shot pattern, and was erected on Kelley's branch,
about one mile and a quarter from its confluence
with Muddy fork, at New Providence. A good
steam-mill is at present the property of James A.
Burns.

POST-OFFICES.

The New Providence post-office was estab-
lished in 1826. Tilly H. Brown was the first
postmaster. Mr. Brown was a Presbyterian
minister, a man of respectability and many fine
natural abilities. His attention was turned in
this direction, and through his efforts the office
was secured. Brown's term of office lasted for
one year, at the expiration of which Samuel Hal-
lett became postmaster, serving until 1829.
Joshua W. Custer came next, who probably
served until 1837. Then came Isaac Shaw,
who served until 1853. Maxwell Littell and
James McKinley followed, each serving about

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

425

four years, or until 1861, when Mr. Shaw re-
ceived the appointment again. He served till
1863. Charles Robinson and Samuel Day fol-
lowed, and in 1867 T. S. Carter, who served
about four years. Mr. Carter delivered his office
to Prosper. Henry, who served until 1876, when
he turned it over to Thomas A. Myers, who is
the incumbent, January 1, 1882.

TAVERNS.

As pertains to tavern-keeping Mrs. Lydia
Borden, consort of John Borden, deceased, took
the lead. From 1824, the time of her husband's
decease, she continued the business under her
own auspices until her decease in 1851. Subse-
quently traveling by horseback and in vehicles
has been almost entirely superseded by railroads,
and tavern-keeping rendered a nullity.

STORE-KEEPERS.

The first store-keeper was John Borden, Sr.,
who when he came from the East in 18 18,
brought goods with him, and for several years
supplied the citizens with such articles in the
dry-goods line as they needed. Isaac Shaw fol-
lowed, with a few others from time to time, but
Shaw held the ascendency and maintained his
position. Although himself poor, beginning
with a mere pittance, compelled to purchase very
few articles at a time, only what he could bring
from Louisville on horseback in a pair of saddle-
bags, he became at last a trader of very large
experience and of considerable wealth. Mr.
Shaw died in 1868, in his sixty-eighth year. At
present there are two dry-goods stores — one kept
by T. S. Ransom, the other by H. Shoemaker;
also a first-class provision store, kept by George
W. Miller, a drug store by Drs. Stalker &
Jones, and a shoe-shop by Edward McKinley.

SALOONS.

Once, says another, it was thought that man
could not live and be a man without the use of
whiskey; consequently whiskey shops were li-
censed for man's sake. Of late, however, our
citizens have been trying the experiment of living
without saloons. The names of licensed dealers
we dare not mention.

COOPERING

has ever been a leading trade in this township.
Thomas Goss is now prominently engaged in
making barrels, and ships extensively to Chicago
and other points.

TANNERIES.

Samuel Packwood, Sr., was the first tanner in
the township. This was in the year 1812, or
soon after. In 1823 a regular yard was opened
by John Borden, Sr., with Butler Dunbar as
principal workman. Soon afterwards it passed
into the hands of James McKinley, who carried
on the business several years. After the elder
McKinley came John McKinley, Jr., and finally
Samuel McKinley, who is at present carrying on
the tanning business quite extensively.

BLACKSMITHS.

William Howard and Joseph Cook took the
lead. John Akers, Wesley Breedlove, andElihu
W. Daskies followed, but we have no reliable
data by which to determine when or how long
each one served. At present (1882), and for
several years past, John K. Vance, William H.
Mayes, and Thomas Bell have been serving the
people. Vance and Mayes have connected with
their shops, wagon and carriage-making depart-
ments.

PHYSICIANS.

Mr. Bellows says:
No physicians of note ever came among us to settle as practi-
tioners untill i860 or thereabouts. About that time came Drs.
Francis and M. Mitchell, both of New Albany. Prior to that
time the people when sick were compelled to send to Green-
ville, in Floyd county, or to Martinsburg or Salem, in Wash-
ington county, the distance to the former being eight miles,
to Martinsburg five miles, to Salem twelve. Mitchell having
remained with us about four years, returned to New Albany,
and Dr. William Bright of Martinsburg took his place. Dr.
Bright remained a short time, returned to Martinsburg, and
in 1866 was succeeded by Dr. Christopher C. Clark, of
Washington county. Clark, having remained with us several
years, became desirous to go west. He sold out to Dr. Ben-
jamin F. Stalker, of Washington county, who in company
with Dr. Cadwallader Jones, of Washington county, has
opened a drug store in our village.

MISSIONARY.

The Rev. Mr. Dickey, a minister belonging
to the Presbyterian church and a resident of
Charlestown or vicinity, was the first, or among
the first of these, his labors dating from 1819.
Others followed, ministers of different denomina-
tions, among whom were William Shanks, of the
Methodist Episcopal church; Elder Thompson
Littell, who at that time was a Missionary Baptist ;
Revs. Aaron Farmer, Benjamin Abbott, Thomas
Ellrod, and others of the United Brethren
church; James Blackwell, John A. McMahan,
George W. Edmondson, and others, of the Cum-
berland Presbyterian church — all residents of

426

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Indiana, and all, or nearly all, now gone to their
reward. But their labors followed them. The
bread cast upon the waters returned in due sea-
son. Many professed their faith in Christ, and
hence sprang up regular church buildings.

CHURCHES.

The Baptists took the lead in time and mem-
bers, and with Elder Thompson Littell as
preacher, it thus continued for twenty years, or
until 1832, when the reformation under Dr.
Alexander Campbell carried it, as if by storm, to
utter extinction. The organizations made up of
United Brethren and Presbyterians, not being
able to support a pastor, have finally become ex-
tinct. The Methodists and Missionary Baptists
each have a small house. The Baptists have for
their preacher Elder William McCay ; the Meth-
odists are supplied by itineracy or circuit preach-
ing.

The Reformers or Campbellites have three
large congregations in the township — one at New
Providence, with Elder Enoch Parr pastor; one
at Pleasant Ridge, two miles south of New Provi-
dence, without a regular pastor; and one at Mud-
dy Fork, three miles below, with Elder Absalom
Littell, Jr., as pastor. In early times, or during
the pioneer age of this church, Thompson Lit-
tell, Absalom Littell, Sr., John Wright, Jacob
Wright, and Lemon Martin distinguished them-
selves as "wise master builders," or what they
called the church. But long since they left the
field.

Mr. Bellows says of the Sunday-schools:

The first Sabbath-school was founded here in 1824 or 1825
— a long time ago, when we were ten years of age. For our
school-room we had a house of round beech logs. Mrs.
Sarah White and Miss Laura W. Bellows were teachers.
Both were Presbyterian^ Having the love of God in their
hearts, they were induced to gather together the urchins of
the village ar.d teach them how to live and how to die. Thus
a nucleus was formed, a kernel, which has already produced a
tree of ample dimensions, which is destined to flourish yet for
generations. Rev. Tilly H. Brown, of the Presbyterian
church, who came here in 1826, took charge of the Sunday-
school during that year. He also took charge of our district
school, and preached for $100 a year, wood and provisions
found. And to encourage the pupils red cards were pur-
chased, also a library. Red cards were valued at a cent each,
blue ones at six for a cent. Six verses, memorized from the
Bible or sacred poetry, entitled the pupil to a blue card. Six
blue cards would entitle him to a red card, with which, when
he had a sufficient number, he could purchase a book. But
this system gave the preference to the large scholars, the
small ones not being able to compete with them ; hence it
was abandoned. At present the international system is fol-

lowed. Subsequent to 1826 the school flourished, but al-
ways under adverse circumstances. At intervals it was
necessarily suspended. In 1850 I became superintendent,
and conducted it some three years almost alone. Among the
Christrian fraternity of those times there were many to op-
pose. Subsequently, or from 1854 to 1856 or thereabouts,
Professor W. W. Borden took the lead as superintendent
and teacher, with myself as assistant. Then fof a time John
A. Littell, followed by Dr. Benjamin F. Stalker, who up to
1882 is yet serving.

SCHOOLS.

Parents, even in those early times, believed
that the best legacy was a good education.
Hence, in after years, when settlements were add-
ed and neighbors settled in close proximity to
each other, the spirit of the age was largely in
favor of schools and school-houses. It affected
the whole country; therefore the present genera-
tion have benefits, privileges, and suitable text-
books, which their grandparents and parents
knew nothing about.

Mr. Moses Wood, a brother to George, the
founder of the township, taught the first school
in 1811.

Many of his scholars were in for Christmas fun. A plan
was arranged by which the teacher was to be ducked in the
creek unless he treated to whiskey, apples, cider and cakes.
The boys took possession of the school-house before day-
light, and awaited the arrival of their teacher. Wood ar-
rived and demanded admittance. The boys said: "No, not
till you treat." Other pupils arrived; some were in favor of
their teacher, and some in favor of the chaps within. And
thus day after day passed, until the holidays were well nigh
ended, when the master did treat, and school began again
Those who were on the teacher's side were scoffed at by those
who gained the victory, and also by the teacher, because they
were not heroic enough to stand up for their rights. And we
will add, this practice of turning out teachers continued unti
1825, when a man named Rnnsom was in charge. His pu-
pils took possession of the house and demanded a treat
Ransom raised the alarm ; his employers came to his assist-
ance, and finally an old man named Burritt succeeded in
breaking in the door with a large pole. Burritt ordered the
teacher to march in, reminding him that if the boys con-
tinued unruly, to send for him and he would settle them.
This broke up the fun of turning out school teachers. Never-
theless those parents who supported the fun became quite
saucy and threatened to "secede " and set up a school of their
own. Upon due consideration it appeared that there were
not enough to support a new school; consequently the boil-
ing heat subsided, and the fire went out. Neighbors became
more and more allied to each other, and in 1829 they joined
hearts and hands and erected a respectable hewed-log school-
house. It stood upon the public square, and until 1868 served
as a school- and meeting-house jointly.

Tilly H. Brown followed Ransom in 1826,
teaching one year. During the winter of 1827 a
man named William Sparks, from North Caro-
lina, taught. In the winter of 1828 Joshua W.
Custer, of Virginia, taught for three months; and

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

4*7

then in 1829 for one year, or a school season; in
1830 Charles A. Carpenter, of Virginia; and
after this, at different times, Asa M. Bellows,
Evan Baggerly, and many more whose names
cannot be recalled.

VILLAGES.

New Providence was laid out in 1817, by
Stephen, John, and Asa Borden. In the center
of the village is a public square, which lies at
right angles with the Muddy fork of Silver creek.
It is situated on the Louisville, New Albany &
Chicago railroad, eighteen miles from New Al-
bany; and in north latitude 38° 23' 41"; west
longitude 8° 32' 46". There are about three
hundred inhabitants in the village at present, with
two dry-goods stores, a first-class provision store,
a drug store, two millinery shops, one tavern,
one tan-yard, one shoe shop, three blacksmith
shops, a cooper shop, one saw-mill, one grist-
mill, two churches, one belonging to the Bap-
tists, the other for all denominations, one school-
house, two physicians, and one dentist. As a
shipping point it is not exceeded by any station
of proportionate size along the railroad.

But the most intersting history of New Provi-
dence is in the people who made up its early
residents. The Wood family, of which we have
spoken, was here early and took an active part in
laying the foundations for the future greatness of
the little settlement. In this household there
were five boys, Benony Paxton, James Noble,
John Milton, George, and Sharon, and four
girls, Millie, Nancy, Sarah Ann, and Margaret,
all of whom are dead. Benony married and
raised a family, but it is scattered; George emi-
grated to Arkansas; James Noble and Sharon
died unmarried in young manhood.

John Milton Wood was the first white child
native to the township. He was born June 25,
1808, and died March 28, 1869. Millie married
Dr. James Porter, by whom she had one child, a
daughter, but that daughter has a home in the
sunny South, parents both dead. Nancy married
Joseph Cook, by whom she had two sons, Wil-
liam and George, who also lived to have families.
The children are mostly in the Far West. Sarah
married Manoah Martin, by whom she had two
sons, Richard R. and George W., who at present
occupy the old homestead. Margaret married
William Hallett, and raised several children, but
with their parents they are all dead.

When the Woods came to this country the
site which New Providence occupies was a dense
beech forest. After the town was platted it was
increased about once every year by a log barn,
ox-shed, or pig-pen. Here and there were open-
ings wherein was erected a round beech-log
house, covered with clapboards, and round logs
placed upon them for weight poles. Floors and
doors were made of puncheons split from logs,
about four or five inches thick and hewn straight.
The doors were made by pinning with wooden
pins transverse bars to the puncheons, and
swinging them on wooden hinges. Fire-places
were large and spacious, made mostly of small
timbers notched at the ends and well daubed on
the outside with mud. On the inside a wall was
built of stone. The spaces between the logs were
chinked and daubed so as to keep out the cold.

There was a dense growth of noxious weeds
and plants, which caused an almost fatal malaria
for several years. The climate was not congenial ;
chills and fever prevailed; and, worse than all, a
bilious fever of a fearful, malignant type, from
which very few had the good fortune to escape.
Thomas Bellows and his brother David were the
first to become its victims. Only two months
had elapsed after their arrival in the country to
the death of Thomas, and less than five to the
death of David. These deaths threw the family
into destitute circumstances. Asa M. Bellows,
who was at that time but five years of age, the
oldest male member in the family; his -mother,
Mrs. Thomas Bellows; his grandmother Bellows,
two aunts, Lydia and Laura; Thomas S., his
brother, aged three years; and a sister, Louisa
S., aged about seven months, made up the family.
"They were left in the wilderness without a home
and poor prospects of obtaining one." Time
passed; the winter of 18 1 8 came and went, the
mildest, perhaps, the family had seen since cross-
ing the Alleghanies. The next year a bountiful
harvest was produced, and the family hencefor-
ward began to prosper.

But it was the Borden family who played the
most important part in the history of New Prov-
idence. They too met with sickness. Mrs.
Borden died in 1820, about eighteen months after
her arrival in the township. William Branson
and his son George, with three of his daughters,
soon followed. Perils, however, did not discour-
age the Bordens, made up as they were of men

428

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

who possessed determined characters. On the
contrary their lives were full of enthusiasm and
inspiration. The forest, weeds, and underbrush
were removed, letting in the sunshine and invit-
ing the pleasant breezes. Health came to reward
their toil. In the midst of the wilderness corn-
fields sprang into existence; gardens, meadows,
and orchards followed, and cattle were soon
seen feeding in the valleys and on the side-hills,
in great numbers.

Samuel Hallett and Silas Standish purchased
farms and acted their part well. Peleg Lewis
married Mrs. Thomas Bellows, and purchased
land one mile from New Providence. Here they
lived together fifty-two years, raised a family, and
died octogenarians. John Borden married Lydia
Bellows, by whom he had two sons — William W.
and John, both of whom are living. Professor
W. W. Borden was assistant State geologist under
Professor E. T. Cox, and to him we are much
indebted for valuable information. Both of his
parents are dead. Mrs. Professor William W.
Borden died in the fall of 1881.

New Providence is one of the neatest villages
in the county. It lies in the Muddy Fork valley,
midway between the knobs. Everything looks
tasty and substantial. The future is certainly very
promising, with such an abundance of natural
wealth, which lies hidden in the hills within sight.

OFFICERS.

We give below a list of civil magistrates, begin-
ning with Micajah Peyton and Samuel Hay, the
first in the township, from 1816 to 1824; Sam-
uel Hallet and George Akers, served from 1824
to 1830; Isaac Shaw, 183010 1851; Lancelot
Johnson, 1823 to 1827; John McKinley, 1852
to 1856; William Hallett, 1848 to 1856; Thomas
S. Bellows, 1856 to i860; W. Porter, 1864 to
1870.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

JEFFERSONVILLE— CIVIL HISTORY.

Clark County — Early Court Records— The Bar — Erection of
Jeffersonville Township — The City — Civil List.

Clark county was organized February 3, 1801.
Soon after, on the 7th of April, 1801, the first
court in the new county, the court of quarter ses-
sions of the peace, was held at the now aban-
doned town of Springville, a short distance below
Charlestown. The persons present at this court
were Marston G. Clark, Abraham Huff, James
N. Wood, Thomas Downs, William Goodwin,
John Gibson, Charles Tuley, and William Har-
wood, Equires. The county boundaries had
been defined in the proclamation of Governor
William Henry Harrison convening the court.
The persons present produced a general com-
mission appointing them judges of the court of
general quarter sessions and took oath accord-
ingly. At this court General W. Johnston, gen-
tleman, produced his license as an attorney, and
was admitted to practice before the court.
Samuel Gwathmey was qualified as clerk of the
court and prothonotary of the court of common
pleas and clerk of the orphans' court of the
county.

But one case was brought before the court,
that of Andrew Spear and Robert Wardell,
charged with having stolen sundry goods from
the house of John and James S. Burtis, but the
evidence proving insufficient they were dis-
charged.

At this session of the court the boundaries of
the three original townships were defined. These
townships were Clarksville, Springville, and
Spring Hill. As the section of the county now
being considered is comprised within the original
boundaries of Clarksville, the boundaries of that
township only are given in this connection, as
follow :

Ordered, That the county be divided into three town-
ships, the first to begin on the Ohio opposite the mouth of
Blue river; thence up the Ohio to the mouth of Peter Mc.
Daniels' 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 Clarksville
township.

Constables for the three townships were ap-
pointed as follows: For Clarksville, Charles

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

429

Floyd ; Springville, William F. Tuley ; Spring
Hill, Robert Wardell.

On the second day of its session the court ap-
pointed Joseph Bartholomew, Peter Stacy, and
James Stewart as commissioners to levy a tax for
the county, they to serve respectively one, two,
and three years. Appraisers of property were
Isaac Holman and Charles Bags for Clarksville ;
William Coombs and Absalom Little for Spring-
ville; and John Bags and John Owins for Spring
Hill. Supervisors of public roads and highways
for Clarksville were Leonard Bowman and Wil-
liam Wilson. Commissioners, George Hughes,
James Davis, and Francis McGuire. In addi-
tion to these were appointed house viewers and
overseers of the poor.

Uniform rates of ferriage across the Ohio river
were established to prevent extortion, and ferry-
keepers were required to attend to the duties of
their place or their license would be revoked.
The rate established at this time was as follows:

Ordered, That the ferry-keepers of the ferries now estab-
lished in this county across the Ohio river, observe the fol-
lowing rates for the transportation of the following persons
and property across the river, viz: For a man, woman, or
child, 12 J£ cents ; for each horse kind, 12^ cents ; for every
head of neat cattle three years old or upwards, 12^ cents ;
for all cattle under that age 9 cents ; for each sheep, goat, or
hog, 4 cents ; for every wagon or four-wheel carriage, $1 ;
and for every other carriage, of two wheels, 50 cents ; for
goods, wares, merchandise, lumber, etc., $1 for each boat
load.

At the same time rates were established gov-
erning the ferry across Silver creek, which
empties into the Ohio below the town of Clarks-
ville.

Ordered, That the keeper of the ferry across Silver creek
at the mouth thereof observe the following rates for persons
and property ferried across said creek, viz : For every man,
horse, or neat cattle, 9 cents ; for each sheep, hog, or goat,
6J^ cents ; for every wagon or four-wheel carriage, 50 cents ;
for every other carriage of two wheels, 25 cents ; for goods,
wares, merchandue, lumber, etc., 5olcents for each boat
load.

The ferry across Silver creek, kept by George
Hughes, was taxed twenty-five cents for the year;
that across the Ohio, kept by Major Robert
Floyd, was taxed $7 for the year; that across the
Ohio, kept by Richard Terrel, $4 ; that by Sam-
uel Oldham, $4 ; and that by James Wood
at $5.

A road was opened from Clarksville down the
river to a point convenient to cross the Ohio
above the Falls.'which was surveyed by William
Wilson.

The years following were fruitful of roads,
which were laid out from various points of set-
tlement to strike the river at some one of the
several ferries already in operation, and from the
town of Springville to various points.

The first session of the court was not of long
duration, and made but a beginning in organiz-
ing the' work to be accomplished in the future.
The second term commenced in July, 1801, at
which time occurs the record of the first licenses
for tavern keeping. Already travel to this Terri-
tory had became brisk, notwithstanding the
many hardships to be encountered before the
Indians and wild beasts could be driven away or
exterminated, and the weary wayfarers needed a
place where some of the conveniences of life
could be obtained. The early taverns, like the
cabins of all the early settlers, were rude affairs
at the best, built in a substantial manner, afford-
ing protection from the inclemency of the
weather and little more. They were generally of
hewed logs, chinked and daubed with mud, the
roof of clapboards held in place by means of
logs laid lengthwise of the roof and securely
pinned to their places. The floor was of pun-
cheons split from some smoothed-grained tree,
rough wooden benches for seats and tables.
The bed in one corner of the house, raised from
the floor by means of a crotched stick at one
corner, the other corners resting on the logs at
the sides of the building. A large fire-place
usually occupied nearly the whole of one end of
the room, with a stick and stone chimney to
carry off the smoke. When a bright fire burned
in the wide open hearth the weary travelers could
find such sweet repose on an improvised couch
on the floor as many of their descendants might
envy. Hard work and coarse fare made the
pioneers healthy, and dyspepsia never caused a
sleepless night. Such as this were the homes of
the settlers and the taverns for the wayfarers.
Generally a barrel or jug of whiskey was con-
sidered an indispensable adjunct to a well kept
hostelry, and when the teams were cared for all
gathered around the blazing fire and enjoyed a
short evening of rest.

Licenses for keeping taverns were granted by
the court, in which the applicant was recom-
mended to the Governor of the Territory as a
proper person to keep a tavern. The first person
so licensed by this court was George Jones, who

430

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

kept tavern in the house he occupied in Clarks-
ville, and which was the property of Horace
Heth. Davis Floyd was also licensed at the
same time to keep a tavern in the same place,
the fees for the same being deducted from his
pay as a member of the board of commissioners
of the county.

At the April term of court in 1802 Philip
Hart was appointed constable in Clarksville
township in place of Charles Floyd; and Leon-
ard Bowman and Charles Baggs were appointed
supervisors of public roads and highways of the
township; William Smith and John Douthart
were constituted appraisers of property, to list
for taxation all property valued at $200 and over.
To settle the accounts of the supervisors of
highways- the court appointed William Smith,
John Douthart, and Benjamin Redman. The
fence viewers appointed were Abraham Epler,
Francis McGuire, and Thomas Furgerson.

In 1802 the seat of justice for Clark county
was removed to Jcffersonville, and on petition of
the inhabitants most interested a road was laid
out from Springville to Jeffersonville. This road
crossed Mill run below Leonard Bowman's, to
intersect the road from Esquire Wood's ferry to
Springville, passing to the left of Peter Stacy's.
At this session of the court, held in July, it was

Ordered that on Saturday, the 4th day of August next,
the court will receive proposals for building a jail for this
county agreeably to a plan which will then be exhibited.
That a copy of this order be stuck up in the most public
places in this county.

A special session of the court of general quar-
ter sessions for Clark county was held in Jeffer-
sonville on Saturday. August 14, 1802, at which
were present Marston G. Clark, James N. Wood,
and William Goodwin. A plan for a jail was
adopted and filed with the clerk of the court
until the 19th of August, at which time the con-
tract for the construction of the buildings was
let to the lowest bidder. William Goodwin be-
ing the lowest bidder, to him was awarded the
contract, with Davis Floyd as surety on a bond
of $900. Mr. Floyd was deputed to select the
site for the building.

The next regular session of the court was
held at Jeffersonville on Tuesday, October 5,
1802, at which time Roadomick H. Gilmer was
admitted on his certificate to practice as coun-
sellor at law. The next day Aaron Bowman was
recommended to the Governor of the Territory

as a suitable person to keep tavern in the town
of Jeffersonville, his bond being $200.

At the session of January 5, 1803, a contract
was awarded William Akins to build a jailor's
house adjoining the county jail on the north.
This house, as well as the jail, was built two
stories in height, of hewed logs, with plank
floors, stone chimney, and a fire-place in each
room.

George Jones was licensed to keep a tavern in
Jeffersonville, at the April session of the court.

John Barnaby was appointed constable in
Clarksville township in place of Philip Hart ;
Isaac Holman and John Douthitt, supervisors;
R. K. Moore and Leonard Bowman, overseers
of the poor and appraisers of property ; John
Ferguson, William Smith, and B. Prather, com-
missioners ; and* Abraham Epler, Thomas Fergu-
son, and Peter Ater, fence viewers.

A change was made in ferry rates allowing
keepers of ferries across the Ohio river in this
county seventeen cents for each single horse, or
horse without a rider, and twelve and one-half
cents for cattle of any description. Ferries this
year were taxed from fifty cents to $5.

A road was surveyed from the west end of
Market street in Jeffersonville to Clark avenue
in Clarksville.

SOME EARLY TRIALS.

In early days life was held to be of small
value, if the records of the court be taken as
evidence. Particularly was this the case if the
life sacrificed was that of an Indian. At the
court of oyer and terminer and general jail de-
livery held for the county of Clark, in Indiana
Territory, on Thursday, April 1, 1802, one Moses
McCan was presented for trial on charge of
killing an Indian. The indictment preferred by
the grand jury is given below:

That Moses McCan of said county, yeoman, not having
the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced
by the instigation of the devil, did on the 16th day of Jan-
uary in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and two, at the hour of five in the afternoon of the same day,
with force and aims at Clarksville, in the county aforesaid,
in and upon an Indian man of the Shawnee tribe, in the
peace of God and the United States then and there (the said
Indian not having any weapon drawn, nor the aforesaid In-
dian not having first stricken the said Moses McCan) felon-
iously, maliciously, and of his malice aforethought did make
an assault, and that the aforesaid Moses McCan, with a
certain tomahawk made of iron, of the, value of $2, which
the said Moses McCan in his right hand then and there had
and held, in and upon the head of the said Indian

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

43i

strike, giving to the said Indian one mortal wound of
the breadth of two inches and of the depth of one inch, of
which said mortal wound he, the said Indian, on the day
aforesaid died ; and so the jurors aforesaid do say that the
said Moses McCan him, the said Indian, on the said 16th
day of January in the year aforesaid at Clarksville aforesaid
in manner and form aforesaid, feloniously, maliciously, and
of his malice aforethought did kill against the peace and
dignity of the United States; and the said jurors further
present that the said Moses McCan not having the fear of
God before his eyes but being moved and seduced by the
instigation of the devil, on the 16th day of January, in the
year first mentioned, at the time of five o'clock in the after-
noon of the same day . . . make an assault,
and that the said Moses McCan with a certain poking-stick
made of the value of five shillings, which the said Moses
McCan in his right hand there and then held, in and upon
the head of the said Indian . . . did strike,
giving to the said Indian and there with the said poking-stick
aforesaid in and upon the head of the said Indian one mor-
tal wound of the length of two inches and of the depth of
one inch, of which he, the said Indian, on the day aforesaid
died; and so the jurors aforesaid upon their oaths aforesaid,
do say that the said Moses McCan, him then said Indian on
the said 16th day of January in the year aforesaid at Clarks-
ville, in the county of Clark in manner and form aforesaid
feloniously, maliciously, and his malice aforethought, did
kill, against the peace and dignity of the United States.

The prisoner was bound in the sum of $100,
and two sureties in the sum of $50 each, to keep
the peace for the term of one year. George
Wood and George Huckleberry became his sure-
ties and McCan was released. Such was justice
at that time.

At the same term of court William Fitzgerald
was brought before the grand jury charged with
killing an Indian man, one Quatansaugh, by
striking him on the back of the head with a
wooken stake. Fitzgerald was indicted and his
trial set for the next session of the court, Sep-
tember30, 1802, at which time he entered into
bonds to keep the peace, in the same manner as
McCan, and was discharged from custody.

There was among certain of the inhabitants a
feeling of hostility against the Spanish posses-
sions in the South, and we find that Major Davis
Floyd, and others, rested under suspicion of be-
ing instigators of an armed expedition to take
possession of that portion of the country. This
was at the time Aaron Burr was connected
with the conspiracy to found an independent
republic. On the journey down the river he
made a short stop at Jeffersonville. Major Floyd
and John Berry were brought before the court
charged as above, but on trial were declared not
guilty.

The first person naturalized under the laws of
the United States in this portion of Indiana Ter-
ritory was Nicholas Coster, a native of Holland,
who produced proof before the session of court
held July 5, 1808, that he had resided in the
United States since the year 1800, and in this
Territory four years. He was therefore admitted
to all the privileges, rights, and duties of a citi-
zen of the United States.

The crime of horse-stealing was deemed a great-
er offense than that of murder, as is shown in the
trial of John Ingram, November 8, 1809. He
was charged with stealing a bay horse of the
value of $10, said horse being the property of
Richard Dean. The case was duly tried, and
evidence of the crime being conclusive, a verdict
was rendered as follows :

United States'!

vs. > An Indictment for feloniously stealing a

John Ingram. J horse, etc.

The defendant was brought into court to receive his sen-
tence, and it being demanded of him whether he had any-
thing to say for himself why the court to judgment and
execution of and upon the verdict and premises should not
proceed, the said defendant, by James Ferguson, Esq., his
counsel, moved the court to set aside the verdict, because
the prisoner had been remanded to jail after the jury had re-
tired to consider of their verdict, and was not personally
present in court at the time the jury delivered their verdict
into court in the presence of the prisoner's counsel, which
motion being maturely considered of by the court is over-
ruled.

It is therefore considered by the court that the said John
Ingram is guilty in manner and form as the jury in their
verdict have declared; by reason whereof this court do sen-
tence the said John Ingram to be remanded to the jail from
which he came, there to continue until Friday the first day of
December next, between the hours of ir o'clock in the fore-
noon and 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and from thence to the
place of execution; that he be hanged by the neck until he
be dead, dead, dead.

The record further states that John Ingram
came into court and voluntarily made confession
of his guilt, and a disclosure of the persons who
were his accessories; the court therefore recom-
mended him to the clemency of the Governor.
An order was at the same time issued to the
sheriff to' cause a gallows to be erected at some
convenient place, not on individual property.
The prisoner was brought to the gallows at the
appointed time, in a cart, his hands pinioned,
and the rope placed about his neck, when a
horseman was seen riding rapidly from the ferry
waving a paper in his hand and shouting "a
reprieve, a reprieve." It was just in time. The
prisoner was taken to Kentucky where he was

432

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

proved to be a deserter from the army, to which
he was returned. He afterwards died at the
hands of the Indians when the military post to
which he was attached was attacked.

Henry Bannister, of Harrison county, was in-
dicted and tried in that county, charged with
the murder of Moses Phipps, and on a change of
venue was brought before the Clark county court
in Jeffersonville, at the August session, 1811;
where he was convicted of manslaughter and
sentenced to be branded in the hand by a red
hot iron with the letter "M," which sentence was
duly executed.

John Irwin, of Springville, was also tried for
the murder of Joseph Malott by a rifle shot.
He was sentenced to be branded in the left hand
by a red hot iron.

THE COUNTY SEAT.

The seat of justice of Clark county has sev-
eral times been changed. At the organization of
the county it was established at Springville, near
the present town of Charlestown, though no one
would now recognize the place of its early loca-
tion. Hardly a vestige is left of what was at
one time a busy little town. The buildings have
been suffered to go to decay and nothing more
than a pile of old brick where once stood a chim-
ney now marks the spot. From Springville it
was moved to Jeffersonville in 1802, and here
many of 'the early cases at law were tried and
difficulties adjusted; county roads were ordered
and the various details of county government in-
stituted. To the great disappointment of the
embryo city, .and at that time thriving town, an
act of the Legislature in 181 1 transferred the
seat of justice to a point nearer the geographical
centre of the county, Charlestown being desig-
nated as the place for holding courts. In 1838
the question of again removing the county seat
to Jeffersonville became a vital issue in local
politics, the anti-removal party placing in nomi-
nation for the State Senate Benjamin Ferguson,
and for the lower house General John S. Simon-
son and Mr. Henley, while those in favor of the
removal made choice of William G. Armstrong
for the Senate, Dr. Nathaniel Field and Major
William H. Hurst for the lower house. A stir-
ring canvass followed these nominations, speeches
pro and con being made by the respective candi-
dates, the result being the election of the men in

favor of removal. The Legislature having just
decided a similar case in another county declined
to take action on the question, and Charlestown
retained its advantage. The idea of a change
having taken firm hold of the people in the
southern part of the county, was quietly nursed
until 1877, when the population of this section
had so increased as to demand renewed action.
The question was accordingly again brought be-
fore the people at the April election of 1878,
and the numerical strength of Jeffersonville and
the surrounding country carried the day. This
was a gratifying result to the people hereabouts,
and particularly accommodated the legal profes-
sion, many of whom resided at Jeffersonville. A
modest court-house, jail, and sheriff's residence
were erected in the northeastern part of the city,
where was the only available square of ground,
in close proximity to the Jeffersonville, Madison
& Indianapolis railroad, and on its completion
the records of the county were removed to this
place, and the officers settled in pleasant and con-
venient rooms.

The change of the county seat was finally or-
dered by the commissioners in September, 1878,
and the building being completed the records
were transferred in October of the same year.
The lot for the erection of the county buildings
was donated by the city, which also built the
court-house and jail, expending in all for this
purpose not far from $100,000.

The removal of the county seat, as was natural
under the circumstances, engendered a bitter
feeling in remote parts of the county, it increas-
ing the distance to be traveled by those having
business at the county seat, and it will take years
to eradicate this feeling, but time levels all things,
and eventually will reconcile its most bitter op-
ponents to the removal.

While the county is strongly Democratic, ow-
ing to differences among the leaders of the party
the offices are equally divided between Demo-
crats and Republicans, at this time, 1882.

THE BAR OF THE COUNTY.

We are able to make but brief mention of some
of the men who have had a part in the legal af-
fairs of the county. Several of the earlier law-
yers are mentioned in the records of the court
as given in the preceding pages; but little is
known of them, however.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

433

Perhaps the most prominent member of the
bar in Clark county was Jonathan Jennings, the
first Governor of Indiana under the State consti-
tution. He was a native of Rockbridge county,
Virginia, and was born in 1784. When a youth
his father emigrated to Pennsylvania, and the
boy having obtained some knowledge of Greek
and Latin, commenced the study of law, but be-
fore being admitted to the bar removed to the
Territory of Indiana, and was employed as clerk
by Nathaniel Ewing, of Vincennes. In 1809 he
was elected delegate to Congress, and remained
as such until the formation of a State constitu-
tion. He was chosen president of the constitu-
tional convention, and at the first State election,
in 1816, was the choice of the people for Gov-
ernor. He was again elected to the office in
1819, and in 1822 was returned to Congress
from the Second district, continuing its repre-
sentative until 1 83 1, when he failed of a re-
election. He died on his farm about three
miles west of Charlestown in 1834, and was
buried in the old graveyard in Charlestown. No
monument has been erected to mark the spot
where lies the body of the first Governor of the
State of Indiana.

Major William Henry Hurst was a member of
General Harrison's staff and accompanied that
commander on his campaign against the Indi-
ans, performing valiant service at the battle of
Tippecanoe. Early in the present century he
practiced law at Vincennes, and when the Terri-
torial government was removed from that place
he came to Jeffersonville, where he continued
practice in the courts of Clark county. He was
a man of fine presence, and an able advocate.
During his residence here he became cletk of
the United States courts, making the journey to
Indianapolis to attend his duties there on horse-
back. He represented his county in the State
Legislature in 1 838-1 839, and was a prominent
man here until his death about 1854, at the age
of nearly eighty-four years.

William H. Hurst, Jr., son of Major Hurst,
practiced law with his father some years. He
was receiver of public moneys for the land office,
under General Jackson, and died about 1866.
Samuel Gwathmey was register of the land office
at the time Hurst was receiver.

Charles Dewey was practicing law in Clark
and adjoining counties about 1815, and traveled

the ciicuit some twenty-five years, his residence
being at Charlestown. He was on the supreme
bench from 1840 to 1844, and is said to have
been the ablest lawyer of his day in Indiana.
He was a native of Massachusetts, and at his
home acquired a more than average knowledge
of law, besides a fund of valuable information
on various subjects. In his personal appearance
he much resembled Daniel Webster, particularly
so in his massive head. The resemblance was
further carried out in the massive intellect he
had. Unlike Webster he never became a great
political leader, but .was a bright light in legal
matters. He died in 1862.

Judge William T. Otto, who served as circuit
judge from 1847 to 1852, was a man of strong
mind, great legal knowledge, and a worthy and
upright judge. Previous to his service on the
bench he was professor in a law school at
Bloomington, Indiana. During the civil war he
was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior
by President Lincoln. He is now reporter of
the United States courts at Washington, District
of Columbia.

Judge Ross was prominent among the early
lawyers of the county. He served as judge from
the year 1828 to 1835, residing in Charlestown.

Following Judge Ross came Judge James C.
Thompson, a good speaker and a man of fair
abilities, though not a brilliant lawyer. He was
engaged in practice as early as 1828, and after
his retirement from the bench removed to In-
dianapolis, where he died.

Judge George A. Bicknell, of New Albany,
succeeded Judge Thompson on the circuit. He
was a good lawyer, and an exemplary judge.
After retiring from the bench he represented his
district in Congress for two terms, and was suc-
ceeced in 1880 by Mr. Stockslayer.

Judge John S. Davis, of Floyd county, suc-
ceeded Judge Bicknell as circuit judge. He
was quite a politician, a good party organizer,
and several times represented the county in the
Legislature. In 1847 he was a candidate for
Congress against T. J. Henley, and though the
Democratic majority in the district was seven-
teen hundred he was defeated by but forty-seven
votes. In 1876 he ran against Judge Bicknell
for Congress in the nominating convention, but
was defeated. At the same time he was nomi-
nated circuit judge, to which office he was

434

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

elected, and served with fidelity until his death
in 1880.

Judge Amos Levering occupied the bench as
first judge of the court of common pleas, in
which office he served four years. At one time
he had quite an extensive practice in the county.
His residence was in Jeffersonville some years,
but after his retirement from the bench he re-
moved to Louisville, where he passed the re-
mainder of his days, dying in great want.

Isaac Howk, an Eastern man and a capab'e
lawyer, practiced in this county and on the circuit
from about 1828 to 1840, in which year he died.
He had the reputation of a good advocate. His
son, George V. Howk, attained some eminence
at the bar, and was elected to the supreme
bench in 1876, and is still serving as judge of
the supreme court. His reputation as a lawyer
is of the best.

Thomas Ware Gibson, a native of the State,
came to Charlestown from Dearborn county
about 1835, and remained in practice until 1852,
when he removed to Louisville and there died.
He was a man of marked traits of character and
great ability. During his residence in Louisville
he continued his practice at the bar of this
county, where his services were in demand many
years. Mr. Gibson was a graduate from West
Point Military academy, and during the Mexican
war served as captain of a company, distinguish-
ing himself at Buena Vista. One of his sons
was also educated at West Point, and after a
varied service in the United States army as an
officer, died recently in California while at the
post of duty.

Another of the early judges of Clark county
circuit was Judge Thompson, who retired from
the bench about 1846. During his legal service
he had the name of being a just judge. Of his
career alter his retirement from the bench little
is known.

Joseph G. Marshall was a giant at the bar.
He was large, brawny, rough, a powerful man
physically and in debate. Few men cared to
rouse him in argument, for in intellect he was
almost unapproachable, and as for rousing the
fierce spirit in him, most men would prefer to
beard the lion in his den. He practiced at the
bar quite a number of years.

Judge Cryus L. Dunham practiced in Floyd
and Clark counties during the latter years of his

life. He served several terms as criminal judge,
and removed to Jeffersonville about 1870, while
on the bench. He represented the district in
Congress six years, and for his fourth term was
defeated by George G. Dunn in 1854. Several
times after this his name was presented before
the conventions, but his personal habits had be-
come such that he was never again able to secure
a nomination. He was a man of more than
ordinary ability, a fluent and forcible speaker,
powerful in debate. But for his habits he might
have attained to higher office than he ever held.

John F. Read, the oldest practitioner of the
law in JeffersDnville, is a son of James G. Read,
and a native of Indiana. He pursued a course
at law with Major William H. Hurst, and was
admitted to practice in 1850. He soon afier
opened an office, and practiced alone until
1867, when he formed a partnership with J. G.
Howard, who read law with him, and has since
continued this connection.

Judge C. R. Ferguson, who has served several
terms as circuit judge, is a sound lawyer, a forci-
ble thinker, and well versed in legal lore. His
reputation on the bench is that ol an upright
judge, both litigants and lawyers being willing to
submit many of their cases to his decision with-
out calling a jury. Since the removal of the
county-seat from Charlestown he has resided in
Jeffersonville, and occupies a pleasant and sightly
residence on the river front.

J. G. Howard read law with John F. Read
and was admitted to practice in 1852. He prac-
ticed by himself until i860, when Simeon S.
Johnson, at that time justice of the peace, occu-
pied the office with him until 1867, when John
F. Read became his associate, which relation is
still continued.

Judge P. H. Jewett came from Scott county
about 1872, served as district prosecuting attor-
ney several terms, and for eight years as judge of
common pleas for Scott, Floyd, Washington,
Harrison and Clark counties. After the expi-
ration of his term of office he remained here.

James B. Meriwether read law with Jesse
Bright and James W. Chapman, at Madison, In-
diana, and remained in partnership with them
for a time. Afterwards Bright retired and with
Mr. Chapman he continued two years. He
went to Louisville in 1857, and practiced with
Charles G. Wintersmuth. At the breaking out

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

435

of the war he entered the service, in which he at-
tained the rank of colonel. In April, 187 1, he
engaged in practice in Jeffersonville, and has
since served two terms as city attorney.

George S. Voight, one of the younger members
of the bar, was a student at the Louisville Law
school, and has been in practice about two
years.

Simeon S. Johnson came to Jeffersonville about
i860, at which time he entered the law office of
J. G. Howard, and remained some eight years,
serving during a portion of the time as justice of
the peace. He now practices law by himself.

James K. Marsh read law with Judge C. L.
Dunham, and has practiced at the bar since 1868.
Some eight years since he removed from Charles-
town to Jeffersonville, where he is now practicing.

M. Z. Stannard read law with Howard & Read,
and afterward graduated from the Louisville Law
school. After his admission to the bar he en-
tered the firm of his preceptors, the firm name
now being Howard, Read & Stannard.

James A. Ingram, also a law student under
Howard & Read, opened an office and has prac-
ticed before the courts of the county about five
years.

Frank B. Burke, the present prosecuting attor-
ney for Clark county, was elected to that office in
1880. He was a student at the Louisville Law
school, and has been in practice but a few years.
He bears promise of great usefulness in his chos-
en profession.

John L. Ingram has been a lawyer some ten
years. About the time he engaged in practice
heVas elected clerk of the circuit court, in which
he served some four years. He then went to
Texas, and 1880 returned and again opened an
office.

JEFFERSONVILLE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

The township now known as Jeffersonville
was established February 10, 181 7, and at that
time included a much larger area of territory
than now. The original boundaries were as fol-
lows:

That one other township be struck off and formed ot that
part of Clark county commencing on the river Ohio at the
line dividing lots Nos. 17 and 27, and running thence with
the line of Charlestown township until it strikes the mouth of
Muddy fork of Silver creek; thence with the Muddy fork of
Silver creek until it strikes the line dividing lots Nos. 166 and
183; thence with the said line to the top of the knobs to the
county line; thence with the said line to the river Ohio;

thence with the meanders thereof to the place of beginning;
which shall constitute and form one township, to be called
and known by the name of Jeffersonville township.

The first election was ordered for the second
Monday of March next following, to be held at
the house of Charles Fuller, in the town of Jef-
fersonville, and James Lemon was appointed
inspector thereof. The officers to be elected
were three justices of the peace.

On the 1 2th of May of the same year the
boundaries of Jeffersonville were changed on the
west by the formation of a new township as fol-
lows:

Ordered, That all that part of the said townshipf Jeffer-
sonville] west of Silver creek, lying and being between the
said creek and Greenville township, do constitute and form
one new township, and that the same be called and known as
New Albany township.

William Hobson was appointed constable, and
Ebenezer McGarrah and Andrew Galwick, Esq.,
listers of property for Jeffersonville for the year
1817.

May 12,-1819, the boundary line between
Charlestown and Jeffersonville was changed, be-
ginning at the mouth of Pleasant run, thence in
a direct line to the upper corner of lot seventeen
on the Ohio river opposite the lower end of Dia-
mond Island.

The township of Utica was established No-
vember 7, 1831, the line adjoining Jefferson-
ville being as follows: "Commencing on the
Ohio river on the line dividing Nos. 5 and 6;
thence on a straight direction to the line of No.
13, at the corners of Nos. 22 and 23; thence on
the line dividing said Nos. 22 and 23, and on
the line between Nos. 35 and 36, 49 and 50,
and 67 and 68 to Silver creek," etc.

JEFFERSONVILLE CITY.

A description of the Illinois Grant, on which
this city is located, will be found in another
chapter of this work, and it will be but repetition
to define its boundaries in this connection. The
plan of Jeffersonville was one devised by
Thomas Jefferson, from whom the place was
named. The town was laid off in squares
similar to a checker-board, with streets crossing
diagonally through each alternate square, leaving
four triangular spaces for parks in each square
through which streets passed. The original plan
looked well on paper, but does not seem to have
been followed in practice, as all the squares are
now occupied by dwelling or business houses.

436

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

When first platted the city occupied but a
small part of number one in the Grant. This
was land owned by Isaac Bowman, of Shen-
andoah county, Virginia. To sell his tract he
disposed of this poTtion through his attorney,
John Gwathmey, of Jefferson county, Kentucky,
June 23, 1802, to Marston Green Clark, William
Goodwin, Richard Pile, Davis Floyd, and Samuel
Gwathmey as trustees to lay off a town and sell
lots, all monies accruing from such sales to be
used in establishing ferries and improving the
facilities of the new town. John Gwathmey
laid off the town, consisting of one hundred
and fifty acres on the lower part of number
one of the Grant. The boundaries as platted
were as follow :

Beginning at a stake on the bank of the Ohio river, run-
ning thence up the river and binding thereon north seventy-
seven degrees east seventy-five poles, to a stake on the bank;
thence north forty-eight degrees east one hundred and fifty-
two poles to a small locust; thence from the river north
thirty-seven and one-half degrees west one hundred poles to
a stake at the northeast corner; thence at right angles south
thirty-two and one-half degrees west one hundred and seven-
ty-four poles to the northwest corner; thence south thirteen
degrees east poles to the beginning.

Two acres of this plat were reserved for use
as a public square, adjoining lots seventy six and
seventy-eight on the west ; lots eighty-nine and
seventy-seven on the east, lots one hundred and
four, one hundred and five, and one hundred
and six on the north, and Market street on the
south.

In 1836 an association of several persons was
formed, called the Jeffersonville association,
which made an addition to the town, of land
owned by Peter G. Fore. A second addition
was made in 1839. The eastern division was
platted by the same association in 1841, and
Benson's addition was platted by Samuel Church
in 1848. The latter two were a part of survey
number two, and comprised sixty-one acres.
Jeffersonville city now occupies the whole of
number one of the Illinois Grant, containing five
hundred and forty acres, besides the sixty-one
acres already mentioned as belonging to number
two.

The original plan of the town was changed by
act of the Legislature in 181 7, which allowed the
alternate lots that were reserved on the Jefferson
plan to be sold.

The streets of the city are unusually wide,
being sixty feet in most cases, with forty feet

driveway between the curbing, and nearly all
paved and macadamized. Court avenue and
one or two other streets are one hundred feet in
width. By action of the city council an ordi-
nance was passed in October, 1881, requiring
property owners to plant and maintain shade
trees in front of their respective lots throughout
a great part of the city. The old Market square,
at the northeast corner of Spring street and
Court avenue, was ordered improved, and a thirty
foot street laid off on the north side of the park,
which has just been done. The park has been
graded, walks laid out, fences built, trees and
shrubs planted, and has been christened Warder
Park, in honor of the present mayor of the city.

The town of Jeffersonville was laid off in 1802
by John Gwathmey and others, its government
being vested in a board of trustees, which ap
pointed its own successors. Under this govern-
ment it remained until January, 1839, when a
resolution was introduced in the State Legisla-
ture by the then representative of Clark county,
Dr. Nathaniel Field, authorizing its incorpora-
tion as a city. An act in conformity with this
resolution was passed, and on his return to Jef-
fersonville, Dr. Field, as president of the board
of trustees, called a meeting, at which an elec-
tion was ordered to be held in April for the
choice of mayor and ten councilmen. The city
was divided into five wards. The election re-
sulted in the choice of Isaac Heiskill as mayor,
at a salary of $50 per annum. The trustees
turned their records over to the city authorities,
and as a power in the government they ceased
to exist.

The population of the city in 1839 was five
hundred and eighteen. The present population
is something over ten thousand. Previous to
the war it was about seven thousand.

In the suburbs of the city proper are several
small towns. Port Fulton on the east, Ohio Falls
city on the west, and Claysburg on the north.
The latter was platted by Dr. N. Field, who
owned eight acres of land at that place, Colonel
William Riddle two and one-half acres, and Ed-
mund Schon, seven acres. It received its name
in honor of Cassius M. Clay. These suburban
towns add much to the apparent size of Jeffer-
sonville, but as they are not included within the
present corporate limits, do not count in an es-
timate of the population of the city.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

437

OFFICERS OF THE CITY FROM 1 839.
MAYORS.

Isaac Heiskell, 1839 to 1843; Christopher
Peasley, 1843 to 1845; William Cross, 1845 to
1848; W. F. Collum, 1848 to 1854; John D.
Shryer, 1854 to 1855, 1858 to 1861; U. G. Dam-
ron, 1855 to 1856; T. J. Downs, 1856 to 1857;
William Lackey, 1857 to 1858; O. C. Woolley,
1861 to 1865; Gabriel Poindexter, 1865-186710
1869; John Ware, 1865 to 1867 ; Levi Sparks,
1869 to 1873; B. C. Pile, 1873 to 1875; Luther
F. Warder, 1875.

TREASURERS.

John Mitchell, 1848 to 1852; David A. Fen-
ton, 1852 to 1853; \V. A. Buchanan, 1853 to
1855; James Keigwin, Jr., 1855 to 1858; J. D.
D. Woodburn, 1858 to 1859; R. S. Heiskell,
1859 to 1865 ; Robert McGill, 1865 to 1867 ;
A. J. Howard, 1867 to 1875 > James Burke,
1875 t0 l88li James S. Whicher, 1881.

CLERKS.

Thomas Wilson, 1840 to 184T, 1848 to 1855,
T863 to 1865 ; Isaac Cox, 1841 to 1844; Jonn
McCoy, 1844 to 1848; Eli McCauley, 1854 to
1855, l856 t0 l857; w- H- Dixon, 1855 to 1856;
J. Johnson, 1857 to 1859; A. J. Howard, 1859
to 1861; C. R. McBride, 1861 to 1863, 1865 to
1869; John H. Anderson, 1869 to 1875; Theo-
dore Bachley, 1875 to 1879; James W. Thomson,
1879.

MARSHALS.

Jackson Hulse, 1847, died in office; Barnabas
Golden, 1848, resigned; S. P. Morgan, 1849 to
1850; Benjamin P. Fuller. 1850 to 1851; Wil-
liam Rea, 185 1 to 1853, 1855 to 1859; Blakesly
Hulse, no date; S. P. Bell, 1853 to 1854;
George Green, 1854 to 1855; William Howard,
1859 to 1861 ; Dennis Kennedy, 1861 to 1863;
M. G. C. Pile, 1863 to 1865; George W. Baxter,
1865 to 1871; James Kennedy, 1871 to 1873;
James H. Lemon, 1873 to 1877; William H.
Northcutt, 1877 to 1879; John M. Glass, 1879.

ASSESSORS.

L. B. Hall, 1848 to 1849; N. L. McDanald

1849 to 1850, 1857 to 1858; Joseph E. Moore,

1850 to 185 1 ; John D. Shryer, 1851 to 1854
Lod. W. Beckwith, 1854 to 1855; T. J. Downs
1855 to 1857; Ephraim Keigwin, 1858 to 1859
Felix R. Lewis, 1859 to 1869, 1871 to 1875

George D. Hand, 1869 to 187 1; Lee S. Johnston,
1875 to 1879; Charles I. Eccles, 1879 to 1881.

COUNCILMEN.

First ward — L. B. Hall, 1839 to 1840; James
G. Read, 1839 t0 l84Ji T. J. Howard, 1840 to
1841; Joshua Phipps, 1841 to 1842, 1843 to
1844; John McCoy, 1841 to 1843; John F.
Gibbs, 1842 to 1843; James Keigwin, Sr., 1843
to 1844; D. T Jackson, 1844 t0 l845i Lloyd
White, 1844 to 1845; Alexander Christian, 1845
to 1850; James T. Davis, 1850 to 185 1, 1853 to
1854; M. R. Mitchell, 1850 to 1851, 1852 to
1854; Cyrus Wright, 185 1 to 1852; John F.
Read, 185 1 to 1853; John W. Ray, 1854 to
1857; Charles Moore, 1854, resigned; Charles
Friend, vacancy to 1855; George W. Twomey,
1855 to 1857; Frank Potter, 1857 to 1859; W.
L. Merriwether, 1857 to 1858; George W.
Lampton, 1859 to 1865; Charles J. Keller, 1859
to 1867; John N. Ingram, 1865 to 1869, 1877 to
1879; James Keigwin, Jr., 1867 to 1871, 1872 to
1876; William A. Ingram, 1869 to 1870; B. F.
Burlingame, 1870 to 1872, 1873 to 1875; H. T.
Sage, 1871 to 1873; William Lee, 1875 to 1877;
Samuel P. Rodgers, 1876 to 1877, died in office;
M. A. Patterson, vacancy; William H. Carter,
1878 to 1880; George T Anderson, 1879 to

1 881; W. A. C. Oakes, 1880 to ; F. A.

Young, 1881 to .

Second ward — John D. Shryer, 1839 to 1841,
1843 to 1844; Samuel Merriwether, 1839 to
1840, 1842 to 1850; B. C. Pile, 1840 to 1841,

1848 to 1849, 1850 to 1855, 1857 to 1859; Ben-
jamin Hensley, 1841 to 1842; Christopher
Peasley, 1841 to 1842; T. J. Howard, 1842 to
1843, 1852 to 1853; Robert Eakin, 1844 to 1845,

1849 t0 l85j; Daniel Trotter, 1845 to 1848;
Alexander Christian, 1851 to 1852; Joseph Lane,
1853 to 1854; George W. Ewing, 1854 to 1857;
S. P. Morgan, 1855 to 1857; John N. Ingram,
1857 to 1859; J. G Howard, 1859 to 1863; J.
H. McCampbell, 1859 to 1865; William H.
Fogg, 1863 to 1867; Cornelius Beck, 1865 to
1870, 1877 to 1879; George W. Davis, 1867 to
1869; J. E. Plumadore, 1869 to 1873; Reuben
Wells, 1870 to 1874; Alexander Sample, 1873 to
1875; M. A. Sweeney, 1874 to 1878; Ephraim
Keigwin, 1875 to 1877; Floyd Parks, 1878 to

; Frank Deitz, 1879 to 1881; Frank X.

Kern, 1881 to .

Third ward— A. Wathen, 1839 to 1845; J- B-

43§

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

McHolland, 1839 to 1840; Benjamin Hensley,
1840 to 1841; Abraham Miller, 1841 to 1844; N.
L. McDanald, 1844 to 1848; William F. Collum,
1845 t0 1848; Thomas J. Downs, 1848 to 1851,
1852 to 1853, 1854 to 1855, 1S5S to 1859; J. S.
Bottorff, 1848 to 1850; Mathew Tomlin, 1850 to
1851: George F. Savitz, 1851 to 1852;]. H. Hal-
stead, 1851 to 1852; Joseph Lane, 1852 to 1853:
V. W. Rose, 1853 to 1854; J. D. D. Woodburn,
1854 to 1855; H. N. Holland, 1855 to 1857;
Delaney Wiley, 1855 to 1857; Levi Sparks, 1857
to 1869; Reuben Deidrick, 1857 to 1858; G. W.
Atr.sden, 1859 to 1861; B. A. Johnson, 1861 to
1865; Frederick Bleyle, 1865 to 1869; S. B. Dif-
fenderfer, 1869 to 187 1; W. A. Steele, 1869 to
1870; Joseph Baker, 1870 to 1872; Abel W.
Hall, 1871 to 1873; L. F. Warder, 1872 to 1876;
J. C. Dorsey, 1873 to 1875, 1876 to 1880, 1881

to ; Simon Goldbach, 1865 to 1881; John

S. McCauley, 1880 to .

Fourth Ward — Nathaniel Field, 1839 to 1840;
James Slider, 1839 to 1840; Henry French, 1840
to 1843; William Dustin, 1840 to 1841; William
Hart, 1 84 1 to 1844; H. McClaran, 1843 to 1844;
William Bowman, 1844 to 1845; Basil Prather,
1844101845, 184810 1849; M. Tomlin, 1845
to 1 851; Robert Curran, 1845 to 1848; D. M.
Dryden, 1849 to 1850; U. G. Damron, 1850 to
1851, 1852 to 1853; J. H. Halstead, 1851 to
1852; Henry French, 1851 to 1852; J. H. Fen-
ton, 1852 to 1853; Myron Stratton, 1853 to 1854,
1857 to 1873; William Logan, 1853 to 1857; M.
W. Veatch, 1854 to 1857; G. Poindexter, 1857
to 1859; George W. Sterling, 1859 to 1863;
James Burke, 1863 to 1872; Thomas J. Stewart,
1872 to 1876; S. B. Hally, 1873 t0 1875; Jonn
L. Delahunt, 1875 to l8Sl; J- E- Finch, 187610
1880; Jacob Schwaninger, 1880; A. I. Frank,
1881.

Fifth Ward— Daniel Trotter, 1S39 to 1843; C.
W. Magill, 1839 to 1842; William Cross, 1842 to
1845; R.G. Parker, 1843101848, 1849101851; T.
E. Veatch, 1845 t0 l848, 185 1 to 1852; Samuel
Cash, 1848 to 1849, l852 to 1853; Myron Strat-
ton, 1848 to 1852; William Logan, 1852 to 1853;
H. S. Barnaby, 1853 to 1855, 1865 to 1869,
1872 to 1874; John Ware, 1853 to 1858, 1861
to 1865, 1880; William G. Armstrong, 1855 to
1857; Lyman Dolph, 1857 to 1861; G. Poin-
dexter, 1858 to 1859, 1870 to 1872; Edward
Moon, 1859 to 1863; C. R. McBride, 1863 to

1864; James Howard, 1864 to 1867; John R.
Armstrong, 1867 to 1869; George W. Lewman,
1869 to 187 1; Jabez R. Cole, 1869 to 1870; W.
H. Northcutt, 1871 to 1877; Edward J. Howard,

1874 to 1878, 1879 to 1881; Samuel C. Day,
1877 to 1879; Maurice Coll, 1878 to 1880; Wil-
liam Pollock, 1881.

COLLECTORS.

T. M. Welsh, 1848 to 1849; Milton W. Veatch,

1849 to 1852; W. A. Buchannan, 1852 to 1853.

MARKET MASTERS.

Alex Christian, 185 1 to 1852; William Rea,
1852 to 1856, 1857 to 1859; Joel H. Sylvester,

1856 to 1857; Samuel Bottorff, 1859 to 1866;
George W. Baxter, 1866 to 1867.

WHARF MASTERS.

C. C. Young, 1849 to 1850; J. P. Wilson,

1850 to 1851; William Rea, 1851 to 1855; C.
H. Paddock, 1855 to 1859, i860 to 1861;
Joseph Runyan, 185910 1 860; George W. Lamp-
ton, 1861 to 1865, 1867 to 1871; A W. Hamlin,
1865 to 1867; Frederick Bleyle, 1871 to 1873;
Joseph Reeder, 1873 to 1875; David Beal, 1875
to 1878; Levi Reeder, 1878 to 1881; J. F. Dor-
sey, 1881.

CHIEFS OF FIRE DEPARTMENT.

E. S. Moon, 1855 to 1857; William Northam,

1857 to 1858; James Keigwin, 1858 to 1859;
John W. Barker, 1859 to 1863; William Hagarty,
1863 to 1865; Sam T Day, 1865 to 1867; S. R.
Bottorff, 1867 to 1869; James McQueen, 1869
to 1870; William Patterson, 1870 to 1871; B. A.
Johnson, 1871 to 1872; Dennis Kennedy, 1872
to 1873; William Chrisman, 1873 to 1881;
George Deming, 1881.

CIVIL ENGINEERS.

C. Hensley, 1849 to 1850; R. H. Green, 1853
to 1854, 1855 to 1859; Peter Wilhem, 1854 to
1855; J. Johnson, 1859 l0 l863, 1867 to 1869;
James Applegate, 1863 to 1865; Edward J.
Howard, 1865 to 1867; William H. Howard,
1869 to 1871; J. P. Jones, 1871 to 1873; O. A.
Clark, 1873 to 1875, 1878—; Charles E. Clark,

1875 to 1878.

ATTORNEYS.

John Borden, 1849 t0 '853; J. G. Howard,
1854 to 1855, 1871 to 1873, l875 to 1879; D. 0.
Dailey, 1855 to 1857; John F. Read, 1857 to
1863; S. S. Johnson, 1863 to 1869; O. C. Curry,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

439

1869 to 1871; J. B. Merriwether, 1873 to 1875;
James A. Ingram, 1879 to 1881; G. E. M.
Liston, 1881.

BOARD OF HEALTH.

William F. Collum, 1855 to 1857, 1859 to
1865; Robert Curran, 1855 to 1856, 1859 to
to 1863; N. Field, 1855 to 1865, 1872 to 1873;
T. A. Clark, 1856 to 1857; U. Wiley, 1857 to
1859; H. N. Holland, 1857 to 1859; W. W.
Goodwin, 1863 to 1872; David McClure, 1865
to 1877; D. Mercer, 1865 to 1870; L. W. Beck-
with, 1870 to 1875; F. A. Seymour, 1873 to

1875; T. A. Graham, 1875 to 1879, 1880 to ;

W. D. Fouts, 1875 to 1881; C. B. McClure,
1877 to 1880; W. N. McCoy, 1879 to 1881;

W. H. Sheets, 1881 to ; David Field, 1881

to .

SCHOOL TRUSTEES.

J. G. Howard, 1853 to 1855, 1869 to 1876;
Thomas E. Veatch, 1853 to 1854; W. L.
Merriwether, 1853 to 1855; Myron Stratton,
1854 to 1861; W. M. French, 1855 to 1861;
Nathaniel Field, 1855 to 1863, 1865 to 1870;
G. Poindexter, 1861 to 1863; William H.
Fogg, 1 86 1 to 1863; John N. Ingram, 1863 to

; Robert Curran, 1863 to 1865; C. Leon-

hardt, 1863 to 1865; Thomas S. Crowe, 1865 to
1867; J. H. Campbell, 1870 to 1873; Charles
Rossler, 1873 to l875; Hugo Albin, 1875 t0
1880; William Lee, 1876 to 1879; O. O. Stealey,
1879 to ; George Pfau, 1880 to .

CITY JUDGE.

Nicholas Mathews, 1869 to 1873.

WEIGHERS.

Thomas Wilson, 1849 to 1855; W. L. Merri-
wether, 1855 to 1856; Eli McCauley, 1856 to
l8S7; J- Johnson, 1857 to 1859; John D. Shryer,
1859 to 1861, 1863 to 1865; O. C. Woolley,

1 86 1 to 1863; Joseph McCormick, 1863 to ;

William Jones, 1865 to 1866; George W. Belote,
1866 to 1867.

CITY GAUGER.

Ed. Lott, 1879 t0 l8Sl-

CHAPTER XXIX.

JEFFERSONVILLE— SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS.

Post-office — Physicians — Schools — Churches — Cemeteries —
Societies.

POST-OFFICE.

When the plat of Jeffersonville was surve"ed
and the land offered for sale a land office and
post-office were established in the town. Samuel
Gwathmey had charge of the land office, but the
name of the first postmaster is lost. The first
name recalled is that of Mr. Raymond, who held
the office sometime about 1820. Mr. Staley,
then an old man, administered the office in 1829.
At that time the mail could be placed in a hat.
The old gentleman had poor sight and frequently
sent letters and papers to Louisville when they
should have gone in another direction. The
clerks in Louisville used frequently to try his pa-
tience at such times by returning the article and
offering to furnish him a pair of leather goggles.
There may have been one or two persons who
followed Mr. Staley in the office, but the next
postmaster remembered is William L. Levison,
who had charge in 1836. At that time the
office was kept in a building on Front street,
near the location of the present ferry office.
Levison died while in charge of the office, and
was probably succeeded by Levi Sparks, who was
appointed by the then President, James K. Polk,
some time in 1844 or 1845. He kept the office
some two years, in his store, but his business de-
manding his entire time he resigned, and T. M.
Elmer was appointed in his place. He was in
turn succeeded by Mr. Gresham, who held the
office under President Pierce, and soon after the
election of James Buchanan as President, W. W.
Caldwell was appointed. He held the office
during that administration, and in the beginning
of the war entered the service in Colonel San-
derson's regiment, as captain. Subsequently he
was commissioned colonel of the Eighty-first Indi-
ana infantry, and did excellent service [throughout
the war, at its close locating in Chicago. Thomas
J. Downs succeeded Caldwell in 1861, and ad-
ministered the affairs of the office some four
years, but being unpopular with many patrons of
office he failed df a reappointment and was suc-
ceeded by George W. Tpomey, who was appoint-
ed during Lincoln's second term as President. On
the accession of Andrew Johnson to the Presi-
dency James N. Patterson was appointed to the

44°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

office, but failing in securing confirmation, after a
year, was succeeded by William Ingram. James
Ferrier followed Ingram and administered the
office some nine years, and in April, 1878, was
succeeded by the present incumbent, A. M.
Luke. Mr. Luke entered the army as a lieuten-
ant in the Seventh Indiana infantry in the early
part of the war, and after serving with distinc-
tion was promoted to a captaincy. During the
terrible battle of the Wilderness, May 25, 1864,
he was seriously wounded. On his recovery he
was transferred to the Veteran Reserve corps, in
which he served eighteen months, and until the
volunteer soldiers were discharged.

PHYSICIANS.

When first settled, and for many years there-
after, this portion of the Ohio valley, like all
others, was infested with malaria, which became
the worse as the growth of cane and underbrush
was removed, so that the rays of the sun reached
the mass of decaying vegetation underneath. It
was many years before the cause of frequent
fevers, agues, and bilious complaints was re-
moved, and in those days physicians were
needed to exercise all the skill they possessed in
the preservation of life and health. For some
years medical attendance was had from Louis-
ville, but the growth of the place demanded and
warranted the settlement of a physician in Jeffer-
sonville.

As near as can now be ascertained, Dr. Samuel
Meriwether was the first physician to settle in
Jeffersonville. He was a native of Jefferson
county, Kentucky, and pursued his medical
studies in Philadelphia under Dr. Rush. He
married his cousin, Mary Meriwether, in Ken-
tucky, and soon after marriage entered the army
as surgeon's mate, serving during the War of
181 2. For some time he was stationed at Vin-
cennes, and for a period of three months was
unable to communicate with his young wife, who
was greatly alarmed for his safety. Finally, ob-
taining a short leave of absence, he visited his
home and on his return to Vincennes was ac-
companied by his wife. The hardships of that
lonely ride through the forest can only be appre-
ciated by those who have had a similar experience,
and they are few in these days of steam cars and
steamboats. Mounted on a safe horse, her hus-
band preceding her, and a faithful servant fol-
lowing, they rode until late at night before reach-

ing a frontier post, where she was obliged to
sleep in a room filled with the rough soldiers, yet
the first ray of light from that lonely post in the
woods was one of the most welcome things she
ever saw. Dr. Meriwether remained in the ser-
vice until 1815, when he resigned on the urgent
entreaty of his wife, though offered permanent
service. Soon after resigning he settled for
a time in Jeffersonville, remaining until 1823
or 1824 when he removed to Louisville. In
1830 he again returned to Jeffersonville and
made this his permanent abode, becoming one
of its best respected and most prominent citizens.
As a medical practitioner he was very successful,
and in addition to being well-read in matters
a time to the healing art, he possessed the
happy faculty of bringing relief to many sick
beds by means of his cheerful ways. When a
young man he became the owner, through inher-
itance, of several slaves, but believing the system
wrong he gave them their freedom. He was
an earnest Christian and a prominent member of
the Presbyterian church, of which he was one of
the first members and founders. His family
consisted of four children, three daughters and
one son. The latter, Walter Meriwether, yet
lives, at the present time with a son in another
part of the country. But one daughter, Mrs.
McCampbell, wife of Mr. J. H. McCampbell,
now lives. Mrs. Meriwether died in 1847. Dr.
Meriwether survived until 1853. A case of sur-
gical instruments used by him during the War of
1812 is now in the possession of Dr. Beckwith,
of Jeffersonville, who was his pupil.

Dr. Stephenson came to Jeffersonville as early
as 1821, and perhaps several years previous to
that date. He continued in practice until the
excitement consequent on the discovery of gold
in California, when, with a party of some twenty-
five persons, he departed on the overland route
for the land of gold. Not long after leaving St.
Louis cholera attacked several members of the
party and they were obliged to make a stop in
Independence, Missouri, where they remained
in a miserable hovel until the scourge spent its
strength. Quite a number of the men died, and
among them Dr. Stephenson. They were buried
near the place of their death, a part of the sur-
vivors returning to their homes and the re-
mainder pushing on across the plains. Four
lived to return to their native place.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

441

Dr. Nathaniel Field came from Jefferson
county, Kentucky, and settled in Jeffersonville in
1829. His home was near Louisville. He has
remained in the former place since his settle-
ment, and has seen the ups and downs of pro-
fessional life in this place, witnessing its growth
from a small town to a busy manufacturing city.
His practice has been regular throughout these
years, and now, in the decline of life, he can
look back on a life spent for the best good of his
fellow-men in ameliorating the ills to which both
flesh and spirit are heir, as in addition to being
a physician for physical ills he is a worthy min-
ister of the gospel. A more extended biography
of Dr. Field appears in another part of this
work.

Dr. Holiday made his appearance sometime
about 1831. He came from Virginia in a boat
containing his family, and on his arrival in Jeffer-
sonville was in destitute circumstances. Chanc-
ing to call at the office of Dr. Nathaniel Field,
he offered for sale some of his medical books, in
order to procure funds to carry him to his desti-
nation in Illinois. He was persuaded to relin-
quish this plan, and instead, with the advice of
Dr. Field that this was a good point for a physi-
cian, located in Jeffersonville, where he remained
some five years. At that time he went on down
the river and settled in Mississippi, where he
died soon after.

Dr. H. N. Holland, one of the oldest practi-
tioners in Jeffersonville, came here in 1849, in
which year he graduated from the University of
Kentucky. Originally a practitioner in the allo-
pathic school, he became convinced that he
could do humanity better service by giving medi-
cine in small doses than in large, and after a few
years' practice embraced homeopathy in 1853.
Before coming to the city he was a resident of
Scott county for nine years. In 1846-47 he
was elected from that county to the State Legis-
lature, and served with ability. He was first to
introduce homeopathy into Jeffersonville, and
has been successful in building up an extensive
practice, which he has retained. He has served
here as school trustee and member of the coun-
cil.

Dr. Farnsley, formerly a resident of Kentucky,
located in Jeffersonville soon after 1840, and re-
mained for a short time.

Dr. William Stewart settled here about 1850, j

and a few years later removed to other parts.
He is now inspector of marine hospitals and
lives in Washington, D. C.

Dr. William F. Collum, an excellent surgeon,
came here in 1838 or 1839, and practiced suc-
cessfully until his death in 1870. His death
was a particularly sad one, being caused by the
absorption of poison from a wound made in a
post-mortem dissection of a man who died of
sudden disease. A slight cut on the hand ab-
sorbed the poison, which spread throughout his
system and could not be eradicated.

Dr. W. H. Sheets, a graduate from the Cincin-
nati College of Medicine and Surgery, entered
the military service of the United States as act-
ing assistant surgeon, and was assigned to duty
at the United States hospital at Madison, Indi-
ana, in 1862, immediately after leaving college.
There he remained until the close of the war. In
1865 he came to Jeffersonville, where he soon
established a lucrative practice, to which he is
still attending. Since his location here he has
served for five years as physician to the Indiana
State Prison South. In 1880 he was appointed
pension examiner for this section of the State.
To this business he has proved faithful, being
strict in the performance of the duties connected
therewith. At the present time he is a member
of the board of health of the city.

Dr. C. R. McBride is a native of Clark county,
and passed the early part of his life on a farm.
At the age of twenty he entered the office of Dr.
Field, for the purpose of pursuing a course in
medicine, and in 1849-50 attended lectures at
the Medical University of Louisville. He then
engaged in practice in the vicinity of Jefferson-
ville until the winter of 1865-66, when he at-
tended a second course of lectures and was
graduated. Since that time he has practiced in
this city. He has served as township trustee,
and was city clerk six years. He was also physi-
cian to the penitentiary for two years. In the
fall of 1868 he was elected on the Democratic
ticket as member of the State Legislature, and
served in that body at the regular and at a special
session.

Dr. L. W. Beckwith obtained a literary educa-
tion at Greencastle, Indiana, and in 1849 read
medicine with Dr. Samuel Meriwether. In the
spring of 1856 he entered the University of
Louisville. He afterwards oracticed in Harrison

442

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

county, from whence he went to Chicago, where
he practiced for a time. Soon after the begin-
ning of the war he received a commission as
assistant surgeon in the Thirty-eighth Indiana
volunteers, with which regiment he served until
the close of the war. In 1865 he came to Jef-
fersonville, where he has since remained. He
served the State as physician at the penitentiary
some five years. In 1881 he established a drug-
store in Jeffersonville, for the purpose of an
office, and placed it in the care of Mr. Hugo
Alben, a master in compounding medicines.

Dr. Davis L. Field may be said to have grown
up a physician, his father being Dr. Nathaniel
Field, the veteran physician of the place. After
reading w.ith his father he pursued his studies
with Drs. Bigelow, Todd, and Harvey, of In-
dianapolis, and graduated from the University
of Louisville in the spring of 1868. He imme-
diately began the practice of his profession in
Jeffersonville, and in 1880 opened a drug-store
on West Market street, from which he conducts
his practice. He is a member of the board of
health of the first district of the city.

Dr. W. N. McCoy pursued a course of med-
ical study with Dr. Samuel Reid, of Salem, In-
diana, and attended lectures at the University of
Louisville in i860. In his youth his opportuni-
ties were meager, and only by close application
and persevering industry was he enabled to over-
come obstacles that would have daunted many
a man situated as he was. Early left with the
care of a family resting on his shoulders, his suc-
cess in his profession is all the more wonderful.
After attending a course of lectures he engaged
in practice in this county, at which he was quite
successful. He entered the medical service of
the United States as acting assistant surgeon, and
was assigned to duty at New Albany. From
that place he was sent to Jefferson baaracks,
Missouri, and thence to Mound City hospital at
Cairo. He resigned in the spring of 1864, and
soon after opened an office in Jeffersonville,
where he has since practiced. In the winter of
1869-70 he attended a course of lectures at
Bellevue Hospital Medical college, New York,
from which he was graduated. In 1866 he was
surgeon in charge of the military hospital at
Jeffersonville, in which he remained most of the
time until the hospital was condemned, and the
business connected therewith closed. Dr. Mc-

Coy now has a fine practice in Jeffersonville,
which he well deserves.

Dr. David McClure, a native of New York,
pursued his medical studies and was graduated
from Fairfield and Geneva Medical college in
1837-38. In 1839 he came to Indiana, and in
1864 located in Jeffersonville. He has had the
confidence of the public to the extent that in
1843-44 and 1853-54 he represented Scott
county in the State Legislature, and in 1880 was
elected as a Democratic joint representative of
Clark, Scott and Floyd counties in the Legisla-
ture, which office he still holds. Two sons of
Dr. McClure, S. C, and J. D., are also physi-
cians in Jeffersonville.

Dr. H. J. Holland read medicine with his
father, Dr. H. N. Holland, and attended a course
of lectures at the Homeopathic college at Lan-
sing, Michigan, since removed to Detroit. After
practicing for a time in Ovid and Lansing,
Michigan, he went to Yazoo City, Mississippi,
and remained two years. In 1876 he came to
Jeffersonville and entered practice with his fath-
er. They have a stock of remedies used in their
branch of the profession, and keep the only
homeopathic drug store in the city.

Dr. W. D. Fouts was born in Scott county,
Indiana. He read medicine with Dr. A. A.
Morrison, of Lexington, near his home, and at-
tended medical lectures at the University of
Louisville in 185 1. During the war he was sur-
geon of the Eighty-first Indiana volunteers, from
which he was promoted to brigade and division
surgeon. He was captured while in the service,
and confined five months in Libby prison. At
the close of the war he came back to Lexington
and engaged in practice, in 187 1 removing to
Jeffersonville.

Dr. Isaac N. Griffith was a student with Dr.
Field in 1834 or 1835. He married a Louisville
lady and settled in Louisiana, where he died
eighteen months after commencing his practice.

Dr. T. A. Graham is a native of this county.
He pursued medical studies with Dr. D. S.
Armer, at New Washington, in 1868-69-70, and
attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio,
in Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 187 1 ;
he took the ad enndem degree at the University
of Louisville in 1872. In 1871 he practiced in
the town of Oregon, and in 1872 came to Jeffer-
sonville, where he started a drug store the next

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

443

year, associating with him his brother, J. A.
Graham, who had studied at the Louisville Col-
lege of Pharmacy. Dr. Graham is health officer
for the county, to which office he was appointed
by the State board of health.

Dr. A. McNeil is one of the younger members
of the medical profession of the city. He was
a student of Dr. Younghusband, at Mt. Clemens,
Michigan, and graduated from the Homeopathic
college at Lansing in 187 1. During the past
winter he located here.

Dr. E. W. Bruner read medicine with his
father at Utica, in this county, and attended lec-
tures at the Miami Medical college in Cincin-
nati in 1866-67. After practicing in Sellersville,
New Albany, and Utica, he came to Jefferson-
ville in 1879.

Dr. Gustav Fernitz is a native of Germany,
and a student at the University Albertina, in
Kcenigberg. He came to the United States in
1866, and became editor of the German Volks-
blatt in Louisville, which position he occupied
ten years. He then established the Daily New
Era, of which he was editor one year. In 1880
he graduated from the Louisville Medical col-
lege, and in July, 1881, located in Jeffersonville
as a physician, his office being on lower Spring
street.

JEFFERSONVILLE SCHOOLS.

Prior to the establishment of the public
schools (1852), education was obtained in Jeffer-
sonville as elsewhere: in private schools, taught
by persons who came principally from the East,
and who would teach from two to five months,
then move to other places.

Among these early teachers was a Mr. Stewart
and a Mr. Bushman, who believed in "nolickin',
no learnin'." About forty years ago a private
school for girls was established in a building
called the Jeffersonville hotel, near the present
site of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad depot.
This school was in charge of Miss Alice Morgan,
who has continuously taught private schools in
the city to the present time. Not long after this
a school was established' for boys on Maple, be-
tween Spring and Wall streets, under the care of
Godfrey Belding, as teacher. The meager de-
tails to be obtained concerning these private
schools are conflicting as to names and dates;
and, as there was nothing worthy to be called a

system, we are obliged to be content with begin-
ning this account at the year 1852, when the
public school system of the city was established.
The first school building was erected in that
year, and still stands at the corner of Maple and
Watt streets, being now occupied as a colored
school. Who was the first principal of that
school cannot be learned.

In 1853 the first board of school trustees was
elected, and consisted of J. G. Howard, T. E.
Veatch and W. L. Meriwether.

The growth of the system and attendance has
been steady save during the years of the war,
when the military occupation of Jeffersonville al-
most suspended the schools.

In the summer of 1869 the trustees purchased
the ground now occupied by the Chestnut-street
school and began the erection of the building,
which was ready for use at the opening of the
school-year of 1870. It was intended and has
since served for the accommodation of the
Chestnut-street graded school and the Jefferson-
ville high school. The first principal of the high
school then established was H. B. Parsons. John
L. Winn and M. C. Ingram were assistants.

In 1866 the city built the New Market school
building on Court avenue, and in 1867, when
separate colored schools were established, this
building was relegated to that use.

In 1874 the Rose Hill school building was
erected and a portion of it was occupied at the
opening of the school year. W. B. Goodwin
then assumed charge as principal, and still holds
the place.

Up to the year 1874 a separate female high
school was maintained. John M. Payne had
succeeded Mr. Parsons as principal of the male
high schools. In 1874 he gave way to E. S.
Hopkins, now principal of the Chestnut-street
graded schools, in the same building, and, in
1876, Mr. R. L. Butler, the present principal,
took charge of the united schools.

In addition to the schools named there are
two others conducted in the city, the Mulberry-
street school, taught by Miss F. C. Addison,
and the "Engine House school," taught by Miss
Lizzie Hertsch.

In order to gain some idea of the growth of
the Jeffersonville schools the following statement
is appended:

For the year 1866 number admitted to schools,

444

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

823 ; average attendance, 287 : number of
teachers, 9.

For the year 1870 number of pupils admitted
to graded schools, 871; to high schools, 71;
average, 528.

For the year 1875 number of pupils admitted
to graded schools, 1,235 > t0 ^igh school, 82 ;
average, 803.

For the year 1880 number of pupils admitted
to graded schools, 1,541 ; to high schools, 82 ;
average, 1,157.

For the year 1882 number of pupils admitted
to graded schools, 1,800; to high schools, 77;
teachers employed, 32.

The following is a full list of the school trus-
tees of Jeffersonville from the beginning, with
their terms of service: J. G. Howard, 185355,
1869-76; Thomas E. Veatch, 1853-54; W. L
Merriwether, 1853-55; Myron Stratton, 1854-61;
W. M. French, 1855-61; Nathaniel Field, 1855-
63, 1865-70; Gabriel Poindexter, 1861-63; Wil-
liam H. Fogg, 1861-63; John M. Ingram, 1863;
Robert Curran, 1863-65; C. Leonhardt, 1863-65;
Thomas S. Crowe, 1865-67; J. H. McCampbell,
1870-73; Charles Rossler, 1873-75; Hugo Alben,
1875-80; William Lee, 1876-79; O. C. Stealey,
1879; George Pfau, 1880.

DARMAN S. KELLY,

the present superintendent of instruction at Jef-
fersonville, was born in Owen county, Indiana,
June 25, 1852.

He was educated at a private academy at
Patricksburg, in the same State, at Ascension
seminary, at Sullivan, Indiana, and at the Indi-
ana State Normal school at Terre Haute. He
began teaching a country school ; he was later
two years in charge of his old school at Patricks-
burgh. In February, 1876, he became principal
of a ward school at Evansville, Indiana, and in
1877 became assistant superintendent of the
Evansville schools under John M. Blass. That
place he retained until March, 1881, when he
was elected superintendent to fill the place of
Mr. Bears for the balance of the year. He then
came to Jeffersonville in his present capacity.

CHURCHES.
METHODIST.

The Wall-street Methodist Episcopal church
is oldest in years of any church in Jeffersonville.
Preaching services were held as early as 1808,

in which year a class was formed, of which Rev.
William Beaman was the leader. It met for
some years in a private house on the site of the
present church building, and was under minis-
terial charge of Rev. Moses Ashworth, who at
that time traveled the Silver Creek circuit. The
original class contained twelve members, all of
whom are long since dead. Richard Mosely was
one of the first members, and his daughter, who
became Mrs. Tuley, was the last among the early
members. She died in 1873. The members were
poor and had to worship wherever there was a
house containing rooms sufficiently large to ac-
commodate the audience. The old court-house
was used as a house of worship for all denomina-
tions, and with others the Methodists shared its
hospitality. Among the early preachers were
Moses Ashworth, Josiah Crawford, Bela Raine,
Isaac Linsley, William McMahon, Thomas Nel-
son, Charles Harrison, Shadrack Ruark, James
Garner, Joseph Kinkaid, Joseph Purnell, John
Cord, and David Sharp, all of whom preached
here before 1820. The present pastor, who has
served the church since 1879, is Rev. John S.
Tevis. He was also at this station in i860.

The German Methodist Episcopal church was
organized about 1845. A small brick church
was built on Locust street, which was used until
1877, when the present substantial and neat brick
building was erected on the corner of Maple and
Wall streets. In 1881 a neat parsonage was
built adjoining the church, the two buildings, with
lot costing not far from $13,000. There is a
membership of about one hundred and twenty,
and a Sunday school of about ninety.

Some years later the Methodist church South
organized a church which is still continued. The
house of worship is on Market street west of
Spring.

An African Methodist Episcopal church was
organized in Claysburg about 1842, where quite
a settlement of colored people had gathered.
Preaching had been held for some years in pri-
vate houses, before a church was formed. The
first house of worship was a log building; the sec-
ond, a frame, was built on Prison hill, the congre-
gation having changed to that part of the city.
This building was burned, as was the third, which
was built near by, on the public square. The
present church was built in 1880, on Court ave-
nue, near Ohio avenue, and is not finished.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

445

Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal church
was organized about 1867, and soon built a
small frame house, which was used until 1876,
when a new building was erected near the Gov-
ernment store house, and is now occupied.

EVANGELICAL REFORMED.

St. Lucas German Evangelical Reformed
church was organized in May, i860, the first
members being J. L. Rockstroh, Louis Henzler,
Andrew Bauer, Herman Preefer, Henry Sittel,
John Ruehl and others. A small church was
bought from the Presbyterians, opposite the city
hall, which is yet occupied. In 1870 a lot adjoin-
ing was purchased and a parsonage built. The
membership is about one hundred and eight
families. The pastor is Rev. H. M. Gersmann.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The Jeffersonville Presbyterian church was
organized May 22, 1830, by Rev. Messrs. Cobb,
Cressy, and Sneed. The first members were
Warwick Miller, Mrs. Martha Miller, Samuel
Meriwether, Mrs. Mary Meriwether, Miss Sarah
L. Meriwether, Mrs. Sarah Stephenson, Mrs.
Jane Gilmore, Mrs. Ann Wade, Mrs. Eliza
Weathers, and Miss Sarah Armstrong, all of
whom came from the church of Louisville
to establish a church in this place. There were
also received on examination Mrs. Rebecca
Reeder and Miss Sarah Rue. Samuel Meri-
weather was chosen ruling elder, and also acted
as clerk of the church. June 1, 1830, Rev.
Michael A. Remley was received as stated sup-
ply. Meetings were held at the old court-house,
but the church felt the need of a permanent
home, and the corner-stone of a church edifice
was laid September 24, 1832. On the 1st of
December, 1833, Rev. E. P. Humphrey suc-
ceeded Mr. Remley as stated supply, and was
followed in August, 1835, by Rev. Mr. Russell.
January 1, 1836, Rev. P. S. Cleland came and
served the church one year. Rev. H. H. Cam-
burn succeeded Mr. Cleland, and two years later
came Rev. John Clark Bayless, who also minis-
tered two years. Then followed Rev. William
H. Moore, Rev. R. H. Allen, Rev. S. F. Scovel,
Rev. Dr. Thomas Crowe, and in 187 1 the pres-
ent pastor, Rev. J. M. Hutchison.

The first church edifice, a brick, of one story,
was used until i860, when the necessities of the
congregation demanded additional accommoda-

tions, and the present brick church was erected
on the corner of Chestnut and Walnut streets.

The present membership is about three hun-
dred and forty. A Sabbath-school of two hun-
dred and fifty is sustained, besides a mission
school of two hundred members.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

A church of this denomination was organized
in Jeffersonville in 1830, by Dr. N. Field, who, in
addition to being a medical man, is a preacher of
considerable note. The first members were
Christian Bruner and his wife Mary, Fanny Mc-
Garrah, Mary Riker, Mary Philips, Elizabeth
Wright, and Mrs. Sigmond. In the afternoon of
the day of organization, which was Sunday,
March 1st, the church admitted Mrs. Sarah A.
Field, wife of the pastor, and Sarah Phillips,
who were at that time baptised into the faith.
Meetings were held at the old court-house, which
was the general meeting place for all denomina-
tions for some years. A church was built in
1840, which remains in use. Dr. Field was the
pastor for eighteen years. The present member-
ship is about one hundred and seventy-five. A
Sunday-school is well sustained.

THE SECOND ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

Differences regarding doctrine and church
discipline arose in the Christian church, which
culminated by the withdrawal of the pastor, Dr.
Field, with quite a portion of the flock, and the
third Sunday in August, 1847, a new church was
formed, which was designated the Second Advent
Christian church. Their meetings were held in
a hall until 1850-51, when a church building
was erected, which is yet occupied. Of the one
hundred and thirty members now connected with
this church, some sixty or seventy came out from
the Christian church. Dr. Field, now a venerable,
but hale and well preserved man, has been the
pastor for thirty-five years. A Sabbath-school is
well sustained, and is industriously instilling the
principles of Christianity into the minds of the
youth of the church.

st. paul's episcopal church.

Some few years before 1836 preaching services
were held here under Episcopal forms, and a
church organized with a few members, nearly all
of whom were women. In 1837 a small frame
church was built on Spring street, which was
used as place of worship many years. Occasional

446

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

services were held by ministers who came over
from Louisville for that purpose. The first reg-
ular preacher was Mr. Page, a school teacher
from Louisville, who administered to the needs
of the church for several years. He recently
died in Washington, District of Columbia. After
his retirement services were very irregular for
some time, when Mr. Chapman came as rector.
He remained a short time, as did his successor,
Mr. Totten. The next preacher was Mr. Austin,
from New Albany, who afterwards went to Terre
Haute. The present rector is Rev. Mr. Carey.
For some eleven years after the tormation of the
church a home was provided for the minister at
the house of Mr. S. H. Patterson, who, though
not a member of the society, knew the members
were not able to make such provision for his
comfort as they would like. After the close of
the war the old church building was removed,
and the then rector, Mr. Austin, bought one of
the barrack buildings on the breaking up of
Camp Joe Holt, and moved it to Mulberry street,
where it was transformed into the neat church
now occupied by the congregation.

BAPTIST CHURCHES.

The first Baptist church was organized in 1836
by Rev. William C. Buck, at that time editor of
the Baptist Banner, which was published at
Louisville. Thirteen members were present at
the organization. L. B. Hall and wife, James
Gill, William McCoy, Frank King, and Mis.
Halstead were of the number. A church was
built on Market street, between Wall and Elm,
the same year. This church was occupied until
some time after i860, when it was burned. The
congregation then bought the old Episcopal
church, and used it until the present house on
Maple street, between Mulberry and Ohio ave-
nue, was built in 1868.

The Enon Baptist church was formed by a
split from the First church on matters of doc-
trine, and built a house of worship, which was
occupied perhaps two years, but the congrega-
tion being unable to pay for the building, it was
sold by the sheriff to satisfy creditors and the
organization was given up.

The First Colored Baptist church was organ-
ized about 1861 by Philip Simcoe, who became
its pastor. A church building was erected on
Illinois avenue, between Seventh and Eighth

streets soon after organization. This was occu-
pied until rebuilt by the present pastor, W. M.
Miller, in 1881.

The Second Colored Baptist church was also
organized by Philip Simcoe about 1865, by a
split from the First church. A building was put
up on the corner of Indiana avenue and Sixth
street, which is yet used. The pastor for some
time past has been Harvey Johnson, who preach-
ed his farewell sermon in April last.

ST. ANTHONY'S AND ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCHES
(CATHOLIC).

At quite an early period in the history of
Jeffersonville a number of Catholic families
settled here, and mass was celebrated in private
houses. The first visit of a priest recorded is
that of Father Daniel Maloney, who celebrated
mass at a private house on the bank of the river,
at that time owned by Mr. Wathen. It was
known as the Hensley house, and was a three-
story brick building. Soon after a German
named Zapf raised money by subscription, and
a brick church, 25x50 feet in size, was built.
The corner-stone of this building was laid with
appropriate ceremonies, by Bishop Spalding, of
Louisville, August 10, 185 1. Father Otto Jair,
a Franciscan monk, of Louisville, said first mass
in the unfinished building. In March, 1854,
Father August Bessonies came to take charge of
the parish, accompanied by the bishop of Vin-
cennes, Dr. St. Palais. Father Bessonies re-
mained until November 5, 1857, during the time
attending a congregation on the knobs back of
New Albany, besides seven surrounding stations.
He was succeeded by Father William Doyle, and
he by Philip Doyle, his brother. In i860 Father
Philip Doyle was removed, and the congrega-
tion was without a settled minister for a year, but
was visited on Sundays by a Franciscan from
Louisville. In December, 1861, Father Ostlan-
genberg was appointed pastor, and remained in
charge until 1863, when Father Philip Doyle was
returned. In April, 1864, Rev. J. A. Michael
succeeded him. The English-speaking portion
of the Catholics then resolved on building a
chuich for themselves. Father Ostlangenberg
took the first steps toward laying the foundation
of the new church, on land donated by the
bishop of Vincennes and Father Bessonies, at
the northeast corner of Locust and Chestnut

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

447

streets, Bishop Spalding, of Louisville, officiating
on the occasion of laying the corner-stone, Octo-
ber 8, 1863. This was during the war, and many
Catholics were encamped as soldiers in and
about the city. The foundation of the church
was built by Father A. Michael, but the build-
ing was not completed until after he left in 1867,
when Father James Mougin, of New Albany, at
the request of the bishop of Vincennes, under-
took to put up the walls. This was done in time
to have it blessed on St. Patrick's day, March 1 7,
1868. The congregations were attended by
Father Mougin until December, 1868, when the
present rector, Rev. Ernest Audran, formerly
rector of the cathedral at Vincennes, came and
took charge, and has since completed the church,
improved the grounds, and built a school for
boys, which has an average attendance of about
one hundred. This school is in the care of
the Sisters of Providence, seven in number.
They also opened a school for young girls some
years since, in the pastor's residence, which was
vacated for their use, until the Community to
which they belong bought a lot opposite the
church, and established the school there, with a
membership of about one hundred and ten.

Among the first members of the Catholic
church were John Burke, Thomas Bow, D.
Bow, Mrs. Kennedy, Theobald Manning, C.
Lausman, E. Spinner, Frank Voigt, E. Hurst,
and others. The present number of families is
about three hundred and fifty, besides thirty fam-
ilies of colored members.

St. Anthony's was the name of the first church,
and its history is largely included in that of St.
Augustine's. After the English-speaking members
formed a new congregation, the Germans re-
mained in the old church until 1878, when the
present church edifice was built by Father Leop-
old Moczigamba. He was succeeded by Father
Joseph, Father Avalinus Sczabo, Father Clement,
and again by Father Moczigamba. The present
pastor is Father Anthony Kottever. Since the
second church was organized the Germans have
purchased a cemetery, near the Eastern cemetery,
in which members of both churches are buried.

The schools of St. Anthony are conducted by
the Ursuline Sisters, three in number. The con-
gregation comprises some one hundred and thirty
families.

CEMETERIES.

The first general buiying-ground known was
located on the river front, between Spring
and Pearl streets. It was between Front street
and the river, for, strange as it may seem to the
people of to-day, there were reserved between
Front street and the river a row of lots fronting
nearly the entire original plat of the town. Next
adjoining the river, and on the bank, was Water
street, which if still accessible would be not
far from the present ferry wharf-boat at low
water. The river encroached so rapidly on the
bank at this point that it was thought best to
grade down the bluff and pave a levee. The
contract for this grading was let to Mr. J. H.
McCampbell, who prosecuted the work to com-
pletion. Many bodies were found buried during
the grading, the hard walnut cases having with-
stood the action of the soil through some forty
years. The remains were carefully gathered to-
gether and moved to the old cemetery, between
Market and Maple streets, west of Mulberry,
were they were again buried, the city procuring
an appropriate monument, which was placed on
the spot.

The old cemetery between Chestnut and Mar-
ket streets has been used so many years that no
one can now tell when the first burial took place
in it. This ground has not been used since
1862, an ordinance passed in May of that year
forbidding its further use.

Long before this time Walnut Ridge cemetery
was located in the northern part of the city,
where the dead were buried. In 1864 a tract of
five acres was bought adjoining the eastern limits
of the city, which was set apart by action of the
council in August, the management being vested
in a board consisting of five directors. In addi-
tion to this the members of the Catholic church-
es purcahsed grounds near by where the dead of
that faith are buried.

SOCIETIES.
MASONIC.

The first lodge instituted in the county of
Clark was Posey lodge No. 9, Free and Accepted
Masons, which was organized under dispensation
in 18 1 8, and the following year received a char-
ter. In 1820 the Grand Lodge of Indiana met
with Posey lodge. The representatives to the
Grand Lodge at this time were Reuben W. Nel-

448

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

son and John H. Farnham. Visitors were
Samuel Peck, James Nesmith, Thomas Wilson,
Charles M. Taylor, Israel Gregg, William Wilkin-
son, and James McNeal. This probably repre-
sented nearly the entire membership of Posey
lodge, which remained small during its existence.
In r828 the lodge surrendered its charter, it be-
ing found impossible to sustain it at that time.

Clark lodge No. 40, Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, was chartered December 17, 18 18, and was
so named in honor of General George Rogers
Clark. Its first officers were Thomas D. Lemon,
M.; B. C. Pile, S. W.j and Robert A. Heiskell,
J. W. This lodge is still in a flourishing condi-
tion and has raised many worthy Masons in the
sixty-four years of its existence. Meetings are
held in the Masonic hall, on the corner of Spring
and Chestnut streets.

Jeffersonville lodge No. 340 is of compara-
tively recent date, its charter having been issued
May 29, 1867, the officers appointed by the
Grand lodge to open the lodge being William H.
Fogg, M.; Theodore W. McCoy, S. W.; and
William Beard, J. W. The officers of this lodge
for 1882 are: Harry T. Sage, W. M.; William
B. Hayes, S. W.; Isaac McKenzie, J. W.j Alfred
O. Schuler, treasurer; John R. Shadburn, Jr.,
secretary; Nate E. Heinsheimer, S. D.; Daniel
M. Austin, J. D.; William H. Isgrig, tyler;
George W. Lukenbill and William Powers,
stewards. Calvin W. Prather, who was master
of the lodge in 1870-71-72-73, was elected
grand master of the State in 1880, which office
he now holds.

Jeffersonville council No. 31, Royal and Select
Masters, was chartered October 29, 1869. The
members to whom were granted the charter were
William H. Fogg, James G Caldwell, Robert S.
Heiskell, Simeon S. Johnson, John G. Briggs,
Thomas Sparks, Reuben Wills, Matt A. Patter-
son, W. H. Snodgrass. William H. Fogg was
first T. I. G. M.; James G. Caldwell, D. I. G.
M.; and John G. Briggs, P. C. ot W.

Jeffersonville commandery No. 27, was insti-
tuted April 26, 1876, with Simeon S. Johnson,
E. C; Richard L. Woolsey, G. ; and Calvin W.
Prather, C. G.

Horeb chapter No. 66, was chartered May 23,
1867, by W. H. Fogg, T. W. McCoy, W. H.
Snodgrass, J. W. Sullivan, J. G. Caldwell, and
others. The officers were J. G. Caldwell, H. P.;

T. W. McCoy, K.; W. H. Snodgrass, scribe.
All Masonic bodies hold meetings in their hall
on the corner of Spring and Chestnut streets.
This lodge hall has been leased for a long term
of years, and is comfortably, though not extrav-
agantly furnished for the purpose.

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.

Jefferson lodge No. 3, I. O. O. F., was char-
tered September 4, 1867, by C. H. Paddox,
Thomas Humphries, John Applegate, Benjamin
Riggles, and Nicholas Kearns.

Excelsior encampment No. 14, I. O. O. F.,
was chartered July 14, 1848, by John Dixon,
William Rea, Alexander Christian, T. J. Howard,
John G. Frank, Samuel H. Patterson, and David
Dryden.

Tabor lodge No. 92 was chartered January
23, on application of John Dixon, R. H. Gresham,
LeRoy Woods, ar.d others.

Tell lodge No. 52 (German) was instituted
May 22, 1867, the charter members being A O.
Schuler, Jacob Roos, Christian Seeman, A.
Kleespies, Ph. Miller, John Weber, Louis Henz-
ler, Leonard Carl, Jr., William Strauss, John Sit-
tel, and Henry Sittel.

Thomas Degree lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F.,
was instituted May 22, 1867, on application of
John N. Ingram, A. J. Howard, O. N. Thomas,
G. W. Rose, Herman Preefer, J. Johnson, H.
N. Holland, and others. The degrees formerly
conferred by this lodge are now conferred by
the other lodges, and the Degree lodge is now
extinct.

Rebekah lodge No. 8 was instituted March
1, 1869, with Herman Preefer, Mary Preefer, R.
H. Timmons, M. C. Timmons, H. N. Holland,
J. T. Davis, James W. Jacobs, and others, charter
members. This lodge is for the benefit of the
wives and daughters of members of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and it gives the
ladies the benefit of the fraternal ties that bind
their husbands and brothers in the bonds of
Friendship, Love, and Truth.

Some years since William Beach erected a
two story brick building on the corner of
Market and Locust streets, to which the
lodge of Odd Fellows added a third story
for use as a lodge hall. This was completed
about 1856. On the death of Mr. Beach the
fraternity purchased the building, the lower part

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

449

of which they lease for other purposes, reserving
the upper part for their own use. Their room
is neatly carpeted and furnished, the ladies tak-
ing great interest in its appearance. It is now
occupied by eight lodges, which includes the
United Order of the Golden Cross.

UNITED ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CROSS.

This is a benevolent organization, and was
originated in Tennessee within the past decade.
It admits to membership both males and females,
and since its first inception has had a marvelous
growth, lodges having sprung up in all sections
of the country. Two lodges have been insti-
tuted in this city.

Clark commandery No. 57 was chartered
June 7, 1870, on application of D. L. Field,
T. T. Thompson, James D. Wilson, Sarah L.
Thompson, E. M. Goodrich, J. H. Miles, and
fourteen others. It includes three degrees, Gol-
den Star, Golden Rule, and Golden Cross.

Bain commandery No. 15, U. O. G. C, was
chartered October 2, 1879, by R. E. Curran,
Lee S. Johnson, V. D. Jackson, Sallie C. Jack-
son, F. A. Seymour, Charles D. Shell, E. B.
Jacobs, and fourteen others.

These societies meet at Odd Fellows hall, on
the corner of Market and Locust streets.

TEMPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS.

Two lodges of Good Templars have been es-
tablished in Jeffersonville, both of which have
done much good in the temperance cause.

Ohio Falls lodge was organized April 27,
1866, with Rev. A. N. Marlett, VV. C. T, and
Mrs. Heaton, W. V. T. Its meetings are held in
Becht's hall, on Spring street. Since its organi-
zation it has received a total membership of
three thousand. The course of many of these
members has been followed after they left this
lodge to engage in work in other and distant
places, and a very large number have adhered to
the pledge taken here.

Jeffersonville lodge No. 122 was organized
April 7, 187 1, with V. D. Jackson as W. C. T.,
and Mrs. M. A. Johnson, W. V. T. This lodge
also meets at Becht's hall. During its existence
it has received over two thousand members.

On the 12th day of February, 1874, a large
number of ladies met at the Methodist church
to take concerted action against the growing evil
of intemperance. The call for the meeting was

issued by Mrs. Sallie C. Jackson. At this meet-
ing an organization was perfected, which was
known as the Women's Christian Temperance
Union, and was one of the first, if not the first
organization of this name established. On
Saturday of the same week the crusade was be-
gun in earnest. A band of near a hundred
women passed along the streets, stopping at each
saloon, singing, exhorting, and praying, urging
the dealers to abandon their traffic. Some im-
pression was made, but aside from deterring per-
sons from enteiing saloons after drink, but little
apparent progress could be seen. A week later
more than two thousand saloon-keepers and
their parasites came over from Louisville deter-
mined to frighten the women away. They brought
with them plenty of beer, which was passed in
kegs over the heads of the praying women, the
roughs singing vulgar German songs to try and
drown the voice of prayer. The services were
kept up by the ladies until darkness caused them
to withdraw. The result was almost a drawn
battle, the ladies having maintained their ground
as long as they cared to hold it. The warfare
was kept up with the local saloon-keepers to
their manifest disadvantage. Several were
starved out, and one sold his stock to a commit-
tee of the ladies, and removed to Lexington,
Kentucky, where he again opened a saloon.
During the progress of the crusade and after its
close many signed the pledge and have remained
sober men.

KNIGHTS OF HONOR.

Eureka lodge No. 3, K. of H., was instituted
November 6, 1873. The charter members were
James W. Jacobs, Dr. J. Loomis, John W.
Weber, Henry A. Horn, Max Edelmuth, C.
Kreutzer, and George Eyrish. This is the third
lodge of this order organized, No. 1 and No. 2
being instituted in Louisville. The organization
has had a marvelous growth since its inception,
lodges being now established in every State in
the Union. The grand secretary for this State,
James W. Jacobs, has his office in Jeffersonville.

Harmonia lodge No. 88, K. of H., was insti-
tuted March 19, 1875, with I. E. Plumadore, E.
V. Staley, S. S. Cole, W. G. Raymond, and
nine others as charter members.

Barbarossa lodge No. 146, K. of H., was in-
stituted August 24, 1875, with L. Becht, A.

45°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Laun, F. Dietz, M. Killgus, and six other charter
members.

Mystic Tie lodge No. 7, Knights and Ladies
of Honor, was instituted December 12, 1877,
and received its charter April 1, 1879. The
first members were E. V. Staley, Eva Staley,
Mary A. Dean, C. M. Carter, Leslie Carter, and
twenty-seven others. This organization came
into existence a few years later than the Knights
of Honor, and was designed to provide a sys-
tem of insurance in which the wives and daugh-
ters of the members of the former organization
might also have a part.

Eden lodge No. 240, K. & L. of H., was insti-
tuted January 17, 1880, the charter being issued
on petition of Maigaret S. Jacobs, Sarah S.
Thompson, Elizabeth J. Moore, Dr. Thomas A.
Graham, E. W. Berry, Nancy Berry, and thirteen
others.

Helvetia lodge No. 306, K. & L. of H, was
instituted March 3, 1880, by J. W. Jacobs.
The charter members were J. W. Weber, Theo-
dore Bachly, Michael Bourk, James Pierson and
seventeen others.

All the above lodges meet at the hall on the
corner of Spring and Maple streets.

ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.

Anchor lodge No. 39, Ancient Order of United
Workmen, was instituted March 20, 1878.
Charter was issued to Thomas J. Edmonson, P.
M. W.; William H. Shaffer, M. W.; J. M. Wil-
liams, G. F.; Thomas V. Hewitt, O.; William K.
Gray, recorder; D. L. Field, F ; John M. Tot-
ten, receiver; L H. Jenks, G; Henry Resch, I.
W.; William P. Finn, O. W.

Falls City lodge No. 8, Ancient Order of Unit-
ed Workmen, was organized November 13,
1866, with the following officers: G W. Finley,
P. M. W.; C. L. McNaughton, M. W.j W. H.
Langdon, G F.; George Green, O.; W. H. Balti-
more, G; A. A. Mallingro, F.; Simeon Resch,
R.; I. W. Robinson, O.

These lodges meet in the hall occupied by the
Knights of Honor, corner of Spring and Maple
streets.

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.

Hope lodge No. 13, Knights of Pythias, was
chartered July 25, 187 1, the members being H.
Preefer, C. H. Kelley, W. H. Northcott, S. B.
Halley, W. S. Bowman, and twenty-five others.

Myrtle lodge No. 19, Knights of Pythias, was
chartered July 24, 1872, by A. L. Eggleston, C.
H. Kelley, W. H. Bowman, J. B. Piper, O. W.
Rodgers, G W. Prather, W. E. Rose, and thirty
others, who came out from Hope lodge to or-
ganize an additional lodge.

Samson lodge No. 32, Knights of Pythias, was
also organized by members of the two previous
lodges, July 22, 1873. The members were Wil-
liam H. Myers, VV. S. Bowman, W. W. Crocker,
R. M. Hartwell, J. E. Finch, Charles Rossler, G.
W. Ware, E. A. Barnett, and M. Myers.

Endowment Rank No. 59, Knights of Pythias,
was organized December 29, 1877, by William
T. Myers, R. M. Hartwell, Alexander Sample,
Charles H. Kelley, and ten others.

AMERICAN LEGION OF HONOR.

Eureka lodge No. 271, American Legion of
Honor, was organized by M. Cohn, W. M. Staley,
Sarah Tibbets, Thomas B. Rader, and eleven
others, August 26, 1880. This is purely a social
and benevolent society, and admits members of
the gentler sex.

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS.

Court Morning Star No. 3, Independent Or-
der of Foresters, was instituted under special
dispensation granted Seprember 14, 1877. . Its
charter is dated October 19, 1877. No list of
charter members or officers is given in the charter.

Court Cohn No. 4, Independent Order of
Foresters, was chartered September 17, 1880,
with sixteen members. The officers were I. B.
Walker, C. R. ; James McPherson, V. R. ;
George Sigler, treasurer. The lodge received its
name from Mr. Morris Cohn, who has been in-
strumental in organizing a number of benevolent
secret orders in Jeffersonville. Meetings are
held at the Ohio Falls school-house.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

4Si

CHAPTER XXX.

IEFFERSONVILLE— INDUSTRIAL.

Newspapers — Banks — Ferries — Canal — Woolen M ill — Ship
Building — Railroad.

NEWSPAPERS.

The first paper issued in the county was pub-
lished before 1820 by George Smith and Na-
thaniel Bolton. The name of this paper cannot
be recalled, and it is probable not a copy is
now in existence. Their office was in their resi-
dence on Front street, near the river. In 182 1
they removed to Indianapolis, where they estab-
lished the first paper in that city.

In about 1848-49 Joseph Usher published a
paper called the Jeffersonville Democrat, which
he controlled a year or more. In 1850-51 Wil-
liam S. Ferrier published a paper here, but
whether he continued Usher's paper is not
known. Ferrier sold to William M. French in
1854, who remained in charge until about 1856.
Mr. Ferrier went to Charlestown where he now
publishes the Record.

THE JEFFERSONVILLE REPUBLICAN,

a weekly political journal representing Demo-
cratic principles, was established in Jeffersonville
about the year 1837, by Robert Lindsey. Not
having means sufficient to carry out this enter-
prise, Dr. Nathaniel Field and others became
his sureties for the payment of the material
needed, and at the end of five years of alternate
disappointment and encouragement he was
obliged to abandon his paper, which came into
possession of Dr. Field as the principal surety.
The doctor continued its publication some three
years at a financial loss, though making a very
acceptable journal. He then closed the estab-
lishment and sold the press to J. M. Mathews,
of Bloomington, who moved it to that place,
and for some time Jeffersonville had no paper
published within its borders.

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRAT.

In 1 854 William Lee established a weekly news-
paper in Jeffersonville with the above title, which
he conducted with ability two years. At the end of
that time he sold to T. J. Howard, and the pub-
lication was continued by his son A. J. Howard,
the present warden of the Indiana State Prison
South. Mr. Howard retained its management
two years when he sold to H. W. Rogers, and
some years later it came into possession of Henry

B. Wools. During his possession Rogers had
the entire legal advertising of the county, and
made money from the publication, as there was
at that time no other paper in the county.
Reuben DaJey purchased the office from Wools
in 1872, and has since continued the paper, en-
larging and improving it. He was not satisfied
with a weekly edition, and on November 18,
1872, issued the first number of the

DAILY EVENING NEWS

in the form of a hand-bill, the sheet being printed
on one side only. It had but three columns of
reading matter and advertisements, and was
published at the price of five cents per week. It
was not long until the paper was enlarged, extra
help procured and steam presses employed. Now
the paper is printed on a sheet 22x30 inches, in
a six-column folio form, at a yearly subscription
price of $5.00. The weekly is published at
$1.50 per year.

THE DAILY EVENING TIMES,

edited and published by Armstrong & Fitzpatrick,
was first issued in February, 1880. The editors
are workers, and are using their best endeavors
to build up a good paper. They also publish a
weekly edition of the Times from their office,
corner of Chestnut and Spring streets. The first
Monday of January, 1882, they issued a double
sheet, containing much information concerning
the business interests of the city. The subscrip-
tion price of the daily is ten cents per week, and
$5.00 by the year. The weekly is $1.50 per
year.

BANKING.

The fact that a bank was started in Jefferson-
ville in 181 7 is known to but few of the present
citizens of the place, but such is the case. In
that year Beach & Bigelow established a bank
here, and issued currency that was a great con-
venience to the people of the county at the time.
The bank was continued until after the failure of
the canal, and strange as it may appear, re-
deemed all bills that were presented, and some
came in many years later. It is said that a pas-
senger on one of the ferries enquired of a boat-
man if a ten dollar note he held on that bank
was good. He was informed that he would do
well to enquire of one of the original members
of the firm, and on presenting it it was cashed
without hesitation. Mr. Beach came to this

4S2

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

vicinity from New Jersey, and to the time of his
death was known as Judge Beach, though he
never held that office here.

Jeffersonville suffered through the unlimited
circulation of "wild cat" money for many years,
and it is not an uncommon thing for bills on
some of the banks of that time to be sent to one
of the banks now located here, with an inquiry
as to its value. But the history of these institu-
tions is too well known to need repetition here.
Their day is long past, and it is devoutly to be
hoped that the time may never again come when
such a system will be allowed to exist.
citizens' national bank.

A branch of the Bank of the State of Indiana
was established at Jeffersonville in 1857, with a
capital of $100,000. The officers were Captain
James Montgomery, president ; W. H. Fogg,
cashier. James Montgomery, Thomas L. Smith,
H. N. Devol, S. H. Patterson, and Dr. W. F.
Collum, constituted a board of directors. Under
the system of State banks this branch was in ac-
tive operation eight years, when it was incor-
porated into the Citizens' National bank, which
is now represented by John F. Read, president ;
John Adams, cashier; F. W. Poindexter, assist-
ant cashier.

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK

was organized in April, 1865, with J. H. Mc-
Campbell president; W. H. Fogg, cashier; Sam-
uel Goldbach, Abraham Fry, S. C. Taggart^ John
Biggs, and J. H. McCampbell, directors. The
capital stock is $150,000. The bank is located
in the finest block in Jeffersonville, which was
built for the purpose. The second story is ar-
ranged for offices, and the third is fitted as a fine
hall. This story was originally intended for use
as a Masonic hall, but for some reason is not so
used, and at this time is unoccupied.

FERRIES.

Among the first and most important industries
was the establishment of numerous ferries across
the Ohio river for the transportation of immi-
grants and viewers of land from one shore to the
other. Jeffersonville had a full share of these
ferries. Though Isaac Bowman, in his sale of
the original one hundred and fifty acres compris-
ing the old town, reserved the exclusive right of
ferriage from the town across the river, he seems
never to have claimed the right for himself and

heirs. Consequently nearly every person who
purchased a lot bordering on the river, claimed
the right to establish a ferry. During the first
few years of the existence of the town licenses
were issued to several persons by the court,
granting the right to run a ferry. The first of
these licenses recorded was granted to Marston
G. Clark in October, 1802. In 1807 Joseph
Bowman was granted a ferry license, and in 1820
George White was also granted a license. Clark
sold his ferry right in 1816, to James Lemon.
Dr. Meriwether also owned a ferry fight across
to the mouth of Beargrass in the same year.
These ferries were very simple affairs, in many
cases being a skiff or flat-bottomed boat. The
larger ones were flat-bottomed, and easily ear-
ned a team and loaded wagon, the propelling
power being oars and poles. An improved ferry
was run by horse power, some employing two
horses, and others four, a large cog-wheel under
the deck communicating power to the wheel.
In times of high water it was frequently a hard
task to propel the loaded boat across the swift
current.

Soon after obtaining his ferry-right in 1820,
George White went to Corydon, at that time the
capital of the State, and procured the passage of
an act consolidating the several ferries at Jeffer-
sonville. The same kind of boats were used
under the consolidation until about 1831, when
a single steam ferry-boat was placed on the route.
This boat was used a portion of the season, but
in the fall exploded its boiler, killing three men,
and wounding several others. This boat was re-
placed by another. In 1832 the ferry was
owned by Wathen & Gilmore. In 1838 Shall-
cross, Strader and Thompson bought Gilmore's
interest, and about 1850 placed on the route
two steam ferry-boats. As the city of Jefferson-
ville increased in size, the ferry became more
important, for many years everything being trans-
ported across the river over this route. During
the war the traffic was great. The building of
the railway bridge across the river at the rapids
has taken off some of the passenger traffic, but
the ferry does a large business at the present
time, and probably will continue so to do.

Some years since an effort was made to es-
tablish a rival line, but the projectors were bought
off, some receiving stock in the Jeffersonville &
Louisville Ferry company, as it is now called.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

453

The first ferry was run from the foot of Spring
street directly across the river to Keiger's land-
ing, the island now located near the Kentucky
shore at that time being no obstacle, a small
sand bar only being visible at extremely low
water, where the boys used to go hunting after
turtles' eggs, the waters near by being a favorite
bathing place.

FORT FINNEY.

As early as 1786 the work of constructing a
series of forts extending down the Ohio river to
Louisville, "for the purpose of securing the settlers
from attacks by predatory bands of Indians, was
begun. Major Finney, an officer of the United
States army, was employed in the construction of
several of these works of defence, and from him
the old fort at the Falls of the Ohio derived its
name. Another fort in the chain having the
same name, this was soon called Fort Steuben,
and as such is known in history. A map of the
Falls of the Ohio, published in London, England,
in 1793, shows the location of the fort, which is
there designated as Fort Finney. This was an
important post for the defence of the growing
settlement of Louisville in 1786, and was from
that time until 1790, in command of Colonel
John Armstrong, who was an officer in the regu-
lar service. In 1790 three hundred Virginia
militia were gathered here to go to the attack on
Vincennes. In 1791 it contained a garrison of
sixty-one soldiers. The fort appears to have
been abandoned not long after that date, as no
further record can be found regarding it.

This old foit was situated on the river front,
at the foot of Fort street, a commanding location,
from which a full view of the rapids was had, as
well as a view of the river for some distance
above. Colonel Armstrong, when in command,
erected works of defence farther up the river,
commanding the crossing at Eighteen-mile island,
which furnished still further protection against
savage marauders crossing the river to attack
frontier settlements in Kentucky.

The site where stood the old fort cannot be
traced, though a very few of the old residents
remember playing among the ruins when children.

THE CANAL.

In 1 81 8 the project of building a canal through
Jeffersonville to a point on the Ohio river below
the falls at the mouth of Cane run was decided

upon. Just who was the originator of the
scheme it is hard to say, but John Fischli and
Messrs. Bigelow and Beach were interested in
its success. The Legislature authorized a lottery
by which to provide funds, and a large amount
of -money was secured from the sale of tickets.
Contracts were awarded for opening the canal,
Michael I. Myers being engaged to do the work
of removing the grubs, etc., from Spring street
to the old corner post of the town allotment.
The ditch was opened and a strong dam built
across Cane run, which backed up the water that
was to wash out the bed of the canal to its upper
end near Barmore's mill. Several ponds were
also tapped to contribute their contents to the
same purpose. The waters carried out a small
quantity of loose dirt, but when the blue clay
was reached had no effect, and had it continued
running to this day would not have made a
canal. The project was finally abandoned, and
the old ditch is mostly filled up. What became
of the lottery drawing is unknown, but certain it
is, a considerable sum of money was expended
with no practical results.

BRIDGING THE OHIO.

As early as 1837 a project was started for
building a bridge across the Ohio river to con-
nect Indiana with Kentucky. Who were the
formulators of this enterprise it is now hard to
tell, but it took such definite form that work was
commenced down the river near the ancient
town of Clarksville, and a foundation made on
which to lay the abutments. This was near the
old mill, which is also a thing of the past. Great
enthusiasm was shown when the laying of the
abutments was commenced, but lack of funds
soon forced a cessation of work. This was in-
tended to be a carriage and foot-bridge, no rail-
road being thought of at that early time.

During the war the Government built a pon-
toon bridge across the river, the end on this side
being near the foot of Fort street. This was
built about the time Bragg's army was threaten-
ing Louisville, and was used only for the trans-
portation of military stores and troops. As soon
as the emergency passed it was abandoned.

WOOLEN MILL.

The first manufacture of woolen goods was at
the penitentiary, during the years 1849 t0 l856.
when Mr. S. H. Patterson contracted for the

454

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

labor of twenty convicts, and engaged in the
making of coarse jeans and linseys for the South-
ern market. This class of goods was much
used as clothing for slaves, it being made very
strong and firm, capable of long wear.

In 1858 Mr. Patterson built a large two-story
brick building for use as a woolen mill, near the
old pork house beyond Canal street, and sup-
plied it with machinery. This mill he placed in
the hands of Mr. J. W. L. Mattock, who had
formerly managed a mill of like kind in Dan-
ville, Indiana. In 1863 the mill was sold to
Moses G. Anderson, who run it some two years.
In 1865 it was bought by J. L. Bradley, Dillard
Ricketts, and S. H. Patterson, who conducted it
under the firn name of Bradley & Co. During
the following year and a half the firm lost con-
siderable money, and closed up the mill, selling
the machinery to various persons. Since then
the building has remained vacant a portion of
the time, and at others has been used as a storage
room and workshop.

SHIP-YARDS.

From an early day Jeffersonville has held a
prominent position as regards the ship-building
interests of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
Many of the finest steamers that ever floated on
the rivers were built and furnished here. The
first large steamer built was the old United
States, which was launched in May, 18 19. She
was a famous vessel in her day, and has been
well represented by others since that time.

In 1 83 1 or 1832 Robert C. Green had a small
yard at the upper end of the city, where he
made a few boats, but did not continue the bus-
iness long. Green started a foundry where the
glass works now are, and paid more attention to
making engines and machinery than to boat-
building.

David Barmore and James Howard also built
vessels here in 1834-35, and after a year's con-
tinuance of the business failed.

William, George, and Henry French engaged in
ship-building in 1829, and turned out some fine
boats. They were in the business several years,
and ranked high as builders. Henry French
and Peter Myers engaged in the business in
1847, and turned out considerable good work in
the five years they were associated. Mr. French
attended to the ship-yard while Mr. Myers had

charge of the saw-mill. The business was finally
divided, Mr. Myers retaining the saw-mill, which
he rented to French, Stratton, and Logan, and
some years later it burned. Logan, who was
connected with the saw-mill, died, and Stratton
sold to David S. Barmore in 1864.
barmore's ship-yard.
David S. Barmore was engaged in the busi-
ness with Samuel King in 1856, and in the firm
of Stuart & Barmore in 1864. In 1869 Mr.
Barmore bought Stuart's interest, and has since
continued the business alone. He +iad a con-
siderable yard and turns out many fine boats.
During the war he built a number of boats for
the Government. When first in business alone
he built four boats, the Coosa Belle, Julia, Swan,
and Jesse K. Bell. Since that time he has built
the following steamers, some being side-wheel,
stern and others center wheel boats:

Lilly, Warren Belle, Sam Nicholas, Atlantic, Dexter, Belle
Lee, John Lumsden, Mary Houston, Lizzie Campbell, W.
S. Pike, Grand Era, Belle Yazoo, Seminole, Bradish John-
son, Wade Hampton, M. J. Wicks, C. B. Church, A. J.
White, Lightest, Southwestern, Lucy Kevin, Ouichita Belle,
Katie, Capitol City, Fannie Lewis, Emma C. Elliott, Maria
Louise, Carrie A. Thorne, Sabine, Business, Silvertthorn,
Fowler, Fannie Keener, Mary, W. ]. Behan, Yazoo, Ozark
Belle, W. J. Lewis, Mattie, Belle St. Louis, May Bryon,
Mary Lewis, Sunflower Belle, Lilly, Tensas, Tallahatchie,
Baton Rouge, Barataria, Osceola Belle, Calhoun, Yellow-
stone, Southern Belle, Gold Dust, Little Eagle, J. Don
Cameron, General Sherman, John Wilson, Alvin, Carrie
Hogan, Mary Elizabeth, Little Bob B., New Mary Houston,
Whisper, John H. Johnson, E. C. Carroll, Jr., Sunflower,
Leflore, Deer Creek, St. John, Maggie F. Burke, Shields,
W. P. Halliday, General Barnard, Richard Ford, Kwasind,
E. H. Barmore, Napoleon, E. W. Cole, J. Bertram, Jack
Frost, John F. Lincoln, City of St. Louis, Iohn, Belle
Crooks.

Besides the above Mr. Barmore has built the
following wharf-boats, barges, coal boats, etc. :

Wharf-boat, Hettie, Mary, Essetelle, Flat-boat Eva, Coal
float, Missouri No. i, Missouri No. 2, Charlie Hill, Saline
No. 1, No name, Little Eagle No. 2, No. 60, 61, 62, 63,
64, 65, 66, Lime barge, Nos. 57, 58, 59, Engineer No. 1,
Engineer No. 2, Khedive, Egypt, Saline No. 2, No. 67, 68,
69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, Saline No. 3, Barges
No. 26, 37,36, 79, 80,81, 82, 83, 84, 85, Saline No. 4, Barges,
86, 87, Landing barge, Four grading boats, Eight pile drivers
for the Government.

Besides the above, twelve pile drivers are now
in course of construction. About one hundred
and sixty men are employed in the yards.

THE HOWARD SHIP-YARD.

The Howards, James and Daniel, engaged in
ship-building in 1848. During the seventeen

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

455

years they were connected in the business they
built up a very large trade, and made the finest
boats ever run on the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers. Previous to the war their boats were
mostly used in the Southern trade, though some
were made for the smaller streams emptying in-
to the two great rivers. The outbreak of the
war found the brothers in good financial shape,
though much was due them from Southern pur-
chasers. Work was continued uninterruptedly,
and the yard gradually enlarged, until at this
time there is none larger on either of the large
rivers. In fact, Jeffersonville is the principal
ship-building place for the river trade. In 1865
Daniel Howard withdrew from the firm. The
next year James was accidentally drowned from
a ferry-boat. He had driven his horse on the
boat, and was sitting in his carriage, when the
horse backed to get out the way of a team, and
the gate being unfastened the carriage was over-
turned in the water, drowning its unfortunate oc-
cupant. Daniel Howard in early life was a
ship-carpenter, and afterwards engineer on Mis-
sissippi river boats. While engaged in vessel-
building the brothers built over two hundred
boats at a cost of $35,000 each, or a total of
over $7,000,000. In the early years sawing of
lumber was done by means of whip-saws, and
hewing by axes. Since then the saw-mills pre-
pare most of the timber.

On the retirement of Daniel Howard the firm
became James Howard & Company, the com-
pany being represented by a brother, John C,
and a son, Edward J. The present firm is
Howard & Company. For many years the firm
built only the hulls of vessels, the cabins and in-
terior work being done by contract with other
parties, but for some time all work except the
machinery has been done at the yard. Boats
are-built of various degrees of displacement, the
lightest drawing but ten inches of water.

The land on which this yard is located was
formerly the property of Mr. Zulauf, but is now
owned by the Howards. The number of men
employed is two hundred and fifty. At present
six boats and five barges are in course of con-
struction; a large steamer, the City of Cairo, hav-
ing lately been completed, made her trial trip the
latter part of March, 1882.

The Howards have built and launched the
following-named boats and barges:

In 1834 and 1835, at Jeffersonville— Steamers Hyperion,
Black Locust (ferry), Tecumseh.

In 1836 and 1837, at Madison — Steamers Irvington, Liv-
ingston, Argo, Robert Fulton; barges Hard Times, Natchez.

In 1843, at Madison — Steamer Montezuma.

In 1846, at Shippingsport, Kentucky — Steamers Courier,
Mobile, Major Barbour, General Jessup, Lavacca, James
Hewett.

In 1848, at Jeffersonville, Indiana — Steamers Emperor,
Louisiana, Mary Foley, Prairie Bird (ferryboat); dredge boat
for Louisville and Portland canal.

In 1849 — Steamers St. Charles, Isabella, Falcon, Fanny
Smith, Lexington.

In 1850, at Louisville — Steamers Empress, Helen, Cuba,
Music, Blue Wing, John Simpson, Wade Allen, Terrebonne,
S. W. Downs, Swan ; barges No. 1 and No. 2.

In 1851, at Jeffersonville — Steamers Lucy McConnell,
Cllendy Burke, Southern Belle, Frank Lyon, Peter Dalman,
W. B. Clifton, Trinity, Dr. Smith, Kate Swinney.

In 1852, at Jeffersonville — Steamers Brunette, Octavia,
Sallie Span, Jennie Beale, Magnolia, H. M. Wright, Mes-
senger, Sam Dale, A. Wathen, St. Francis, Empress, W.
P. Swinney.

In 1853 at Jeffersonville — Steamers George W. Jones,
S. S. Prentiss, Southerner, Gopher, C. D. Jr., Runaway,
Alice W. Glaze, Josiah H. Bell, Lucy Bell, Ceres, James H.
Lucas.

1854 — Steamers Fannie Bullitt, Rainbow, Ben Franklin,
Capitol, National, Marion, David Tatum.

1855 — Steamer P. C. Wallis, barge Parker, steamers John
Tomkins, Victoria, R. L. Cobb, R. M. Patton, Carrier, Scot-
land, Diamond.

1856 — Steamers N. J. Eaton, John Warner, Dove, Ptin-
cess, Pete Whetstone, Kate Howard. Woodford, Governor
Tease, Uncle Ben, W. R. Douglas, Colonel Edwards, Silver
Heels.

1837 — Steamers Joseph G. Smith, Twilight, Alonzo Child,
Southwestern, New Orleans, Jefferson, Diana, Music, Platte
Valley, John D. Perry; barges, Nos. 1 and 2.

1858 — Steamers St. Francis, Rescue, Aline, Judge Porter,
and Grand Duke.

185c) — Steamers D. F. Kenner, Laurel Hill, Lafourche,
Bayou City, J. M. Sharp, J. D. Swain, and James Woods.

i860 — Steamers Isaac Bowman, Mary T. , Little Sallie,
Memphis, Accachie, J. F. Pargood, Robert Campbells, and
John A. Colton.

1861 — Steamer Major Anderson.

1862— Steamers General Buell, Wren, Ruth, and James
Thompson.

1863 — Steamers Julia, Olive Branch, Bostonia, Tarascon,
and Blue Wing.

1864 — Steamers Ida Handy, Morning Star; wharf-boat.

1865 — Steamers Virginia, North Missouri, Stonewall.

1866 — Barge Galveston; steamers Belle Memphis, Birdie
Brent; barges William Dwyer, W. R. Jarmom; steamers
Jessie, H. M. Shreve.

1867 — Steamers Dove No. 2, Governor Allen, Early Bird,
Frank Pargoud.

1868 — Steamers Belle of Alton, East St. Louis, Thomas M.
Bagley, Trade Palace, St. Francis.

1869 — Steamers Ben Franklin, Gladiola, La Belle, Texas,
Trenton, Texarkana, Big Sunflower.

1870 — Steamers Idlewild, Grand Tower, Cherokee, City of
Vicksburgh, Diana, City of Chester, Lessie Taylor; barge
Howard; steamers James Howard, John Howard; barge

456

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Bayou City, Gulf barge Paul; steamer J ames Wathen; barge
Dixie.

1871— Barges Houston, Otter, Beaver, Terny, Lee, Rusk,
Tarascon. Grey Eagle, and No. 1; steamers, Grey Eagle,
Lizzie, City of Helena, St. Mary, John Howard; wharf-boat,
Shawneetown.

1872— Steamers Concordia, R. T. Briarly, John S. Brans-
ford, Longfellow: barges No. 2, No. 47, No. 48, Little Fay-
ette; two wharf-boats.

1873— Barges Atlantic, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 50, Little
Nell, and John Howard; steamers, Dolphin, Three States,
Arch P. Breen, Z. M. Sherley, H. S. McComb, Red Cloud,

B. H. Cook, and Ida.

1874— Barges Emerke, Utica, Relief; steamer Fawn.

1875— Barges Porter White, Jim Black, Chicago, Pin-
hook, and Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20; steamers Junius S. Morgan,
Bonnie Lee, Rene McCready, Timmie Baker, Assumption,
and Statie Fisher.

1876— Steamers Celina, Walker Morris, Robert E. Lee,
Yazoo Valley, C. W. Anderson, Alberta, and E. B. Stahl-
man.

1877— Steamers Headlight, Delver, John G. Fletcher;
barges Louis Hite, Allen Hite; steamers Mattie Hays, G.
Gunley Jordon, Dora Cabler, Fashion, James Howard ;
barges No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4; wharf-boat; barge Stella
Clifton; steamers Winnie, James Guthrie.

1878— Steamers John W. Cannon. J. M. White, New
Shallcross, Laura Lee, Jewel, B. S. Rhea; model barges
No. 5, No. 6, Herbert, Ed. Richardson.

!87g — Steamer City of Greenville; barge Victor; steamers

C. N. Davis, City of Yazoo, Rainbow, William Fagan,
Churner, Jesse K Bell, Wash Gray; wharf-boat.

!88o — Steamer Milwaukee; horse ferry boat ; steamers Gus
Fowler, City of Providence, Concordia, Joseph Henry; An-
chor Line barge No. 1; steamer Alberta; Anchor Line barge
No. 2; steamers Clyde, Thomas D. File, Belle Memphis (2d);
railroad transfer barge.

1881— Steamers W. Butler Duncan ; Jeffersonville ferry
dock; steamers Ella, L. P. Ewald, City of Vicksburg, J. P.
Drouillard, City of New Orleans, City of Baton Rouge;
barges Hermit, Guy Clark; three crane boats; steamer City
of Nashville; barge No. 4; steamer City of Cairo; barge No.
1, Barge No. 2.

On the stocks are an Anchor Line steamer, four barges,
one ferry boat, and a Cumberland river steamer.
FLOURING MILLS.

In the early day a flouring-mill was built on
Cane run, near Clarksville, operated by water-
power, and kept busy until about 1840. It was
at one time run by the Longs. The foundation
finally became undermined and the building was
abandoned.

Another grist- and saw-mill was built at Silver
creek, which was in operation before 1838. It
was at one time partially destroyed by the
stream, but was rebuilt and is yet running.

In 1847 S. H. Patterson and James Callahan
erected a brick flouring-mill on Spring street, in
Jeffersonville. This was the first steam flouring-
mill in the city, and was run by them some two
years, when Mr. Patterson bought the interest of

his partner, and soon after sold the entire mill
to John F. Howard, a merchant of Louisville,
who, in company with Dr. Warren Horr, keptit
in operation about two years, and the business
failing to meet their anticipations they sold the
machinery and closed the mill. The building
is now occupied with store rooms.

The only flouring-mill now in the city is that
of Henry Same, which contains two run of
stones, one for corn, the other for wheat. This
has been in operation since 1868, and does a
moderate business.

In 1812 a mill site was granted to General
George Rogers Clark in Clarksville, which he
seems never to have used, but soon sold to
Fetter & Hughes, who built a mill below the
railroad bridge which now crosses the Ohio, and
kept it in operation when the state of the water
would permit, for many years. A large ware-
house was built on the second bank, for the
storage of grain. This mill was an important
one to the people of that day, and did an excel-
lent business, but was allowed to go to decay
previous to 1831. The old mill-stones remained
in existence many years, but are now gone.

In 1850 Smith & Smyser built a mill above
where the bridge now stands, which was in active
operation until 1869, when it was burned. A
new mill was then built just below the bridge,
and put in operation in 1870. The power used
is a turbine water-wheel, though an engine has
since been placed in the building for use when
the water is too high for the wheel. The mill is
now called the Falls Power mill, and is owned
by R. O. Gathright, who bought the building,
including the race-course made by the Ohio Falls
Hydraulic & Manufacturing company, in 1880.
This mill now has eleven run of stone and seven
set of rolls for making patent process flour,
and can now turn out four hundred barrels of
flour daily.

TANNERY.

In 1 84 1 James Lamair, a Frenchman, started
a tannery in the north part of Jeffersonville, at
the corner of Broadway and Eleventh streets.
The buildings he occupied were of frame. Here
he carried on the business of dressing leather
until 1848, when J. M. Ross and John Ingram
bought the business. Ross died a year or two
later, and in 187 1 Mr. Ingram sold the buildings
and land to the Ohio & Mississippi railroad com-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

457

pany, who now have a pumping station at that
place. Mr. Ingram then bought land and in
1872 erected buildings in Claysburg, near the
Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad
track, where he continues the business. Some
years before selling the original site he had
erected brick buildings, and when he made his
new purchase he also erected a substantial brick
building, which has a capacity for $25,000 of
business per year. Previous to and during the
war the tannery was run to its full capacity, but
for some years business has been dull, and it sel-
dom reaches that amount. The raw material is
mostly procured from slaughterers here and at
Louisville, bark for the works being obtained
from the knobs. A market for the product is
found at Louisville to some extent, but mostly
in the West. For a time in 187 1, Mr. Ingram's
brother, William A., was associated with him in
the business until his death.

FOUNDRIES.

The first foundry started in Jeffersonville was
located on the ground now occupied by the glass
works, and was owned by Robert C. Green, who
had formerly owned a large foundry and machine
shop in Cincinnati. He came here in 1832,
built a shop and carried on the business a num-
ber of years. Where he located his works was
then timber, which had to be cleared away to
make room for the buildings. Here Mr. Green
built several steamboats, constructing the engines
at his machine shop. After a few years he left
and engaged in business at some other place.

THE JEFFERSON FOUNDRY.

Charles C. Anderson came here from Cincin-
nati with Robert C. Green, with whom he learned
the foundry business, and remained until the
latter removed elsewhere. About 1840 Mr.
Anderson started a small machine «shop a short
distance above Howard's ship-yard, which he car-
ried on about four years, when he formed a part-
nership with Hamilton Robinson, Richard Goss,
and James Keigwin, and removed to an old car-
riage shop situated on the lot adjoining the City
Hotel on Spring street. Here the firm carried
on business a number of years, when a change
was made in the business and a shop was built
on Watt street between Maple and Court avenue.
In i860 this shop was burned, and Mr. Ander-
son, who was at that time sole proprietor, lost
5a

most of his property. His friends came to his
assistance, and in about six weeks he had erected
a temporary building and resumed business..
Since then he has added to his buildings and
stocked his foundry with tools, so that he can
and is doing a good business. The name of the
establishment has been the Jefferson foundry, but
it is generally called Anderson's foundry.

Sweeney's foundry.

The foundry now owned and conducted by
Michael A. and James Sweeney, on the upper
part of Market street, was originally established
in 1869 by Michael A. Sweeney and Chris.
Baker, who opened a small shop on Pearl street,
near the present Court avenue. Mr. Baker re-
tired from the firm in 1870, Mr. Sweeney con-
tinuing the business alone. In 1872 he moved
to Court avenue, and in March, 1876, admitted
James Sweeney as a partner. The business was
continued here until March, 1881, when the firm
purchased nine acres of ground from Guthrie,
Marlin & Company, of Louisville, and as soon
as buildings could be erected moved their works
to the place they now occupy. They have a river
frontage of nine hundred and sixty-five feet, and
since their purchase of this ptoperty have made
many valuable permanent improvements. Their
machine shops are 200 x 80 feet, foundry
44x130, blacksmith shops 120x44, pattern
house, three story, 100x40, office 'and store-
room 1 20 x 30, frame warehouse 200 x 60. They
also have an extensive boiler shop, which is one
of the most complete this side of Pittsburg. At
the present time they employ one hundred and
twenty men, and will in time, if prospered as they
hope, have in their employ four times the pres-
ent number.

The principal work of this firm is engine
building, though they make all kinds of machin-
ery. Their engines are in use on many boats
that ply the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their
tributaries, among others the steamers Milwau-
kee, Ella, C. N. Davis, Kwasind, Richard Ford
— the two latter Government snag boats — the
Wichita, Saline, Belle Crooks, and J. A. Wood-
son. They have also rebuilt the machinery for
the Government steamer General Barnard, and
are engaged on machinery for a Government
tow-boat, and for a boat to be run on the St.
Joseph's river. They also do repairing of loco-

45«

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

motives, of which they have two under way at
the yards of the Jeffersonvilje, Madison & Indi-
anapolis railroad.

This firm has a leading place in the industries
of Jeffersonville.

GAS COMPANY.

In 1859 a company was chartered for the pur-
pose of furnishing the city of Jeffersonville and
such private citizens as desired to avail them-
selves of its privileges, with gas. Pipe was laid
and within a year streets were lighted. Since its
organization the company has laid some seven to
eight miles of main pipe, and lights one hundred
and sixty public lamps. The gas is also used to
some extent in private houses, as well as in busi-
ness places. The city at present pays $1.50 per
one thousand cubic feet for gas, $20.00 per year
for each street lamp, the company caring for and
keeping in repair all lamps furnished by the city.
They are allowed to charge private parties $2.00
per one thousand feet. The present officers of
the Gas company are H. D. Fitch, president, and
F. W. Poindexter, secretary, the office being at
the Citizens' National bank.

THE JEFFERSONVILLE PLATE-GLASS COMPANY

was chartered in 1877, under the name of the
Ford Plate-glass company, with a capital stock of
$125,000. The city donated five hundred feet
of ground on Market street, east, extending to
the river front, to secure the location of this in-
dustry in Jeffersonville. John F. Read was
chosen president of the company. In February,
1880, the name was changed to the Jeffersonville
Plate-glass company, the incorporators being at
this time John F. Read, S. Goldbach, Felix
Lewis, Edward Howard, James Burke, Edward
Ford, Warren Horr, Joshua Cook, Frederick
Herron, Abraham Frye, Jonas C. Howard. S.
Goldbach was elected president, H. T. Sage
secretary and treasurer, and E. L. Ford superin-
tendent. After the reorganization of the com-
pany one hundred feet front was added. Two
hundred men are employed, and the business is
confined to the manufacture of plate-glass.

The manufacture of plate-glass in the United
States is of comparatively recent date, the first
establishment of the kind, a small one, being
located at Lenox, Massachusetts. The quality
of glass there made was rough, suitable only for
sky-lights and walks, no effort being made to

grind and polish the plates. The second works
were started at New Albany in 1869, by J. B.
Ford, who may be called the originator of plate-
glass manufacture in this country, as he was the
first person to attempt the polishing of glass. To
obtain an insight into the art he imported ex-
perienced workmen from England, and profiting
by what he saw has materially improved the pro-
cess since that time. After being connected
with the New Albany works for a time he was
instrumental in establishing works at Louisville,
and soon after at Jeffeisonville. At this time he
is engaged in building the largest works of the
kind in this country, at Pittsburg. Before en-
gaging in this enterprise, however, he conceived
the idea of manufacturing glass pipe for use in
cisterns and other places where it is desirable to
have for a conducter a tube that will not permit
the accumulation, nor engender causes of dis-
ease, and in this succeeded. A patent was ob-
tained, and a company formed in New York for
the manufacture of glass tubing, but owing to
other interests of the incorporators demanding
their attention for a time, the works are not yet
in working condition.

In addition to the glass works already enumer-
ated, there is another establishment at Crystal
City, Missouri, which makes five in this country.
So great is the demand for plate glass that the
works in Jeffersonville are driven to their fullest
capacity, and find it difficult to fill their orders.
They have two large furnaces, each with a ca-
pacity for eight crucibles holding fifteen hundred
pounds of melted glass. One furnace is opened
in the morning, the other in the afternoon, and
sixteen large plates are rolled each day. As
soon as possible after pouring the plates are re-
moved from the iron bed on which they are
made and transferred to the annealing ovens,
where they ar,e allowed to gradually cool. They
then pass through the various stages of grind-
ing, polishing, and cleaning, and are ready to be
packed The entire process requires the great-
est care and accuracy, owing to the brittle char-
acter of the article, and breakages are not infre-
quent.

The table on which the molten mass is poured
is 11x22 feet, and glass can be made of nearly
this size, the largest being no x 230 inches. The
time required to melt the metal in the crucibles,
and allow it to cool sufficiently to pour, is twenty-

J/iswW ^wtatt/czs

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

459

four hours. The sales of this company during
the past year amounted to $250,000. The fin-
ished plate is estimated to be worth $1.60 per
square foot.

JEFFERSONVILLE ORPHANS' HOME.

In the fall of 1876 a supper was given by the
Masons of the city, and at the close of the even-
ing's entertainment it was found quite an amount
of eatables and some money was still in the
hands of the committee. This was distributed
to the widows and orphans. From this Mrs. S.
H.' Patterson, Mrs. Dr. Caldwell, and Mrs. Dr.
McClure became interested in caring for the
orphans of the place. A meeting was held at
the home of Mrs. Patterson, where she was
chosen president, Mrs. McClure secretary, and
Mrs. Caldwell treasurer. In this manner was
perfected the organization of the orphan asylum.
The self-appointed officers rented a house on
Front street — the same now occupied by Mrs.
Toomey as a boarding-house — for a term of three
years, and opened the institution with a little
foundling. In two weeks two more children
were received, and during the three years of this
lease quite a number of children had been as
sisted. At the expiration of the three years'
lease sixteen children were inmates of the home.
A noble-hearted lady, Mrs. Zulauf, donated to
the cause three building lots, and on this a two-
story brick house was built, which is large enough
to accommodate sixty children. At present
it has thirty-seven inmates, under the care of a
matron and assistant. The cost of the asylum
and improvements has been nearly $10,000.

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

For many years after the settlement of the
town dependence was had on the "bucket
brigade" in the extinguishment of such fires as
occurred. The houses were scattered through-
out the town, and little danger existed of a gen-
eral conflagration. In about 1837 a fire com-
pany was formed and a hand fire engine pur-
chased. It was not supplied with suction tubes
and like apparatus, as are the modern engines,
but had more the appearance of a tight box on
trucks like a wagon, and with levers at either
side which eight or ten men could work. The
water was poured into the box by buckets, and
pumped out with much force. Two improved
hand engines were afterwards obtained, which

were sufficient for the subjugation of any fires
that occurred at that time.

In 1867 the Legislature passed a general law
giving to common councils of cities power to
procure steam fire engines and other necessary
apparatus for the extinguishing of fires. On the
6th of July, 187 1, the city council passed an or-
dinance providing for a steam fire department,
to consist of one engineer, two drivers, and four
hosemen for each engine and hose-cart. In
September of the same year a committee was ap-
pointed to buy the necessary engine, hose-cart,
hose, etc. An Amoskeag engine was bought at
a cost of $4,500; hose cart, $550; one thousand
feet of hose and three horses, $600; and harness,
$84.25, making a total cost of $7,224.25. Since
that time more expense has been incurred in the
purchase of extra hose, furnishing engine house,
etc. Four men are now employed — a chief, en-
gineer, engine driver, and hose-cart driver, with
salaries as follow: $775, $750, $600, $600. The
engine house is a two-story building on Maple
street.

The report of the department for 1881 says
nine fires occurred during the year past.

The men belonging to the department are not
uniformed, economy being exercised by the city
in this as in other departments of the city gov-
ernment. In case of destructive fire the engine
owned by the Government and kept at the mili-
tary depot responds to a call. Several of the
manufactories of the place have fire hose that can
be coupled to the engine or pump used in their
work, and an incipient fire extinguished without
calling on the department. The present chief
(1882) is George Deming; engineer, James Fen-
ton; drivers, P. M. Rose and Pat Cronan.

THE JEFFERSONVILLE, MADISON AND INDIANAPOLIS
RAILROAD.

The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis
railroad, as it now exists, is the result of the con-
solidation of the Madison & Indianapolis rail-
road with the Jeffersonville & Madison railroad,
later organized.

The survey of the former road was commenced
in April, 1836, under the provisions of an act of
the Indiana Legislature, passed in January of
that year, providing for various internal improve-
ments, among others "a railroad from Madison,
through Indianapolis and Crawfordsville, to La-

460

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Fayette." For the construction of this road the
sum of $300,000 was appropriated. The act
gave the road the right to lay its track upon any
turnpike or State road, under certain conditions.
The survey was made by John Woodburn, con-
struction commenced, and the road completed
on April 1, 1839, seventeen miles north from
Madison. Then work was suspended. This
seventeen miles of road, equipped with two
locomotives, two passenger cars and thirty four-
wheeled freight cars, was leased by the board of
improvements to Messrs. Branham & Co. for
sixty per cent, of its gross earnings:, until June 1,
1840; again, to Messrs. Sering and Burt until
June 1, 1 841, at seventy per cent, of its gross
earnings. In the meantime the line had been
extended by the State, first to Vernon, then to
Griffiths, which latter point it reached June 1,
1841, giving it a length of twenty-eight miles
from Madison. It was operated from June,
1841, until February 3, 1843, by William Mc-
Clure, as agent for the State. At the latter date
the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad company
was organized, and, in accordance with an act
passed January 28, 1843, the road was turned
over to the new corporation. This transfer was
made in pursuance of determination on the part of
the State to abandon the prosecution of internal
improvements at the public expense, and to sell
such as were then owned, to private corporations
which should give a satisfactory guaranty as to
their completion.

On the 17th day of June, 1842, the organiza-
tion of the new company was completed by the
election of James P. Drake, James Blake, Na-
than Kyle, Zachariah Tannahill, John C. Hub-
bard, John M. Given, James D. Ferrall, Adolph
W. Flint, James Cochran, S. S. Gillett, John
Lering, Nathan B. Palmer, and Harvey Bates as
directors. These directors thereupon elected
Nathan B. Palmer president, and George E.
Tengle secretary.

Certain formalities being complied with the
company took possession of the road. The con-
ditions of this transfer are interesting, considering
the present importance of the road. According
to the terms of transfer, the company bound
itself to complete the road to Indianapolis on or
before July 1, 1848, and to pay as annual rental
until January 13, 1853, a sum equal to the net
earnings of the road for 1841, namely, $1,151,

and from that time until July 1, 1868, divide
the profits with the State according to the length
of road built by the State and company respect-
ively. It was also provided that the State might
redeem the road at any time previous to 1868,
by paying the amount actually expended by the
company, with six per cent, interest, less the
company's net profit. The road was completed
to Indianapolis October 1, 1847, and on April
1, 1 85 1, the company issued its first mortgage,
for $600,000. On the 28th day of February,
1852, the State absolutely sold the road to the
Madison & Indianapolis Railroad company.
This arrangement was, however, delayed by the
failure of the company to fulfil its part of the
contract to pay for the road $300,000 in four
equal annual installments, and was not carried
into effect until February 26, 1856.

On the 27th day of March, 1862, the road
was sold, for purposes of reorganization, for
$325,000. On the 28th day of March, 1862,
the company was reorganized with the following
officers: Frederick H. Smith, Nathan Powell,
William M. Dunn, Jacob B. McChesney, Peter
McMartin, E. H. Miller, Elihu Day, John Fer-
guson, and E. Cauldwell, directors; Frederick
H. Smith, president; Thomas Pollack, secretary;
Thomas P. Matthews, treasurer. The capital
was placed at $850,000, in seventeen thousand
shares of $50 each.

The Jeffersonville Railroad company was incor-
porated by an act approved January 20, 1846,
with power to build a railroad from Jeffersonville,
Indiana, to Columbus in the same State. The
road was expressly granted the right to run its
trains over the tracks of the Madison & Indi-
anapolis road. The company organized under
the name of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad com-
pany, on the 17th of March, 1848, with James
Keigwin, Samuel Meriwether, William G Arm-
strong, A. Walker, Woods Maybury, Benjamin
Irwin, J. B. Abbott, J. D. Shryer, W. A. Rich-
ardson, W. D. Beech, and Samuel McCampbell
as directors, and William C. Armstrong, presi-
dent, Samuel McCampbell, secretary, and J. G.
Read, treasurer, as its officers. The name of the
corporation was changed to the Jeffersonville
Railroad company in 1849, and, in the fall of
1852, the road was completed.

The two roads were consolidated subsequent
to 1862 as the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indian-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

461

apolis Railroad company. This consolidation
was a practical absorption of the older by the
younger road, as the officers and directors of the
Jeffersonville Railroad company were retained in
office.

The entire road is now operated by the Penn-
sylvania company as lessee, under a lease dated
February 21, 1873, with the following directors
and officers representing the stockholders: John
P. Green, William Thaw, J. N. McCullough,
Thomas D. Thessler, G. S. McKiernan, Jesse D.
Brown, Robert McKrees, James L. Bradley, J. H.
Patterson, J. H. McCampbell, D. S. Caldwell,
and Joseph J. Irving, directors; and George B.
Roberts, president; George S. McKiernan, sec-
retary and treasurer; D. W. Caldwell, general
manager.

JEFFERSONVILLE IN THE CIVIL WAR.

Probably few cities in the United States be-
yond the limits of the actual scene of conflict,
felt the effect of the civil war so acutely as did
Jeffersonville. It was, from its situation, natur-
ally a property-room for the theater of war.
There three Northern railroads met the Ohio
river, and disgorged men, horses, arms, ammuni-
tion, commissary and quartermasters' stores, all
to be borne down the river or by the single
track of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad to
the armies of the South and Southwest. Re-
turning, the boats and cars brought their loads
of moaning wounded for the hospitals at that
point, and their long lines of dusty and travel-
worn prisoners en route for Camp Douglass and
Camp Chase. Louisville was the only point
which possessed advantages equal to those of
Jeffersonville as a point from which to teed,
arm, equip, and reinforce the Federal armies to
the southward, and Louisville had the river in its
rear instead of its front, which was a fatal ob-
jection. As a result of this conjunction of cir-
cumstances there grew up at Jeffersonville, early
in the war, a small city of store-houses, shops,
and hospitals, added to, from time to time, as
the exigencies of the service demanded, until
the importance of the place to the army and to
the North became enormous. There was no or-
ganization, as there is of a military depot in time
of peace. The place was under command of
various officers detailed from time to time by
heads of the various branches of the service, and
its history and records are buried in those of the

Quartermaster, Commissary, Ordnance, and
Hospital departments of the United States army.
All that can now be ascertained on the subject of
Jeffersonville's war record, comes to us from the
personal recollections of men who were then
residents of the city. Certain it is that the Jef-
fersonville of that day was very different from
the quiet city we now know. Its streets and
squares were crowded with wagons by day, and
infested by lawless hangers on of the army by
night. Crime and vice were rampant, and, daily
and hourly, there was the monotonous movement
of the sinews of war to the front, and the pitiful
return of its victims to the rear.

Probably the first military occupation of Jef-
fersonville was early in 1862, when Lovell Rous-
seau raised two Federal regiments and established
a camp, pending his movement to the front, on
a farm owned by Blanton Duncan, the well
known Kentuckian who had entered the Con-
federate army. This farm is on Spring street,
close to the Springs property. Rousseau chris-
tened his camp " Camp Joe Holt," and it held
its name after it had ceased to be a camp and
become a hospital, passing throughout the war
as "Joe Holt Hospital."

Not long after the establishment of " Joe Holt
hospital " the Government took possession of the
Jesse D. Bright farm, three miles east of Jefferson-
ville, and erected thereon a chapel and very com-
fortable hospital buildings. The Bright hospital
contained three thousand cots ; the "Joe Holt
hospital," though smaller, was an excellent one,
and had also a chapel, and these chapels now re-
main among the few tangible reminders of the
war, the former standing on Scott street and
occupied as a church by the colored Baptists ;
the latter owned and occupied by the only Prot-
estant Episcopal church in the city. Dr. Gold-
smith had general charge of the hospitals during
a large part of the war.

Throughout the city there grew up, in addi:
tiod to buildings named, and without pretence
of order, a large number of warehouses, shops,
and offices. They came into being as circum-
stances demanded their creation, and again
passed away, after the war, leaving only the re-
port of their existence behind them.

In a piece of timber known as "Taylor's
woods" was erected a barrack for the accommo-
dation of the military guard of the place. Upon

462

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the square now occupied by the Clark county
court house were extensive army stables and
blacksmith shops. In the square now enclosed
as a city park were erected four large bakery
buildings, where hard-tack by the car load was
made for the army. Not far from the bakery
buildings and on the line of the Jeffersonville,
Madison & Indianapolis railroad, stood the row
of buildings used for keeping quartermaster's
stores. The commissary department also had
large store-houses on the river front for receiving
supplies shipped by water. In addition to the
buildings named there were structures occupied
by the ordnance department and a provost mar-
shal's office.

The Government was, of course, compelled to
purchase largely in advance, and the close of the
war found an enormous accumulation of stores
of every description at Jeffersonville. Such of
these as were perishable were sold at auction,
and it became necessary to find a place for the
storage of such as were retained. The hospital
buildings on the Bright farm were selected, and
from that time until 1870 the stores remained in
that place, awaiting the establishment of a per-
manent depot for their reception.

THE MILITARY DEPOT.

In January, 1870, the city of Jeffersonville
purchased, at a cost of $11,000, and deeded to
the Government of the United States the land
now occupied by the great military depot, from
which the entire army of the United States is
furnished with quartermaster's stores.

By joint resolution of the General Assembly
of the State of Indiana, January 31, 1871, all
jurisdiction over the property was ceded to the
United States, making it a military reservation,
and it may be said to be controlled by the quarter-
master-general of the army, under the authority
of the honorable, the Secretary of War.

The immense building having been planned
by Major-general M. C. Meigs, quartermaster-
general of the army, and who still occupies that
position, was begun in the spring of 187 1, and
completed for occupancy in February, 1874.
Since that time, from year to year, improvements
have gradually been made, especially upon the
inside grounds, making the entire premises very
attractive.

The building is fire-proof. The available

space for the immense storage under roof is
2,700,000 cubic feet, the exterior dimensions
of it 3,205 feet 4 inches, and depth of the same
52 feet 2 inches. The interior corteil is 696 feet
square. The area covered by the entire depth is
four squares, and fronts upon four struts. With
the tower building in the center, seen a long dis-
tance, it is one of the most conspicuous struc-
tures about the falls of the Ohio.

The depot, in its temporary and permanent
form, has been commanded, since the war, by
the following officers, in turn : Captain Tucker,
assistant quartermaster United States volunteers,
1865; Captain J. N. Breslin, assistant quarter-
master United States volunteers, 1866; Colonel
R. C. Rutherford, quartermaster volunteers,
1866; Captain R. N. Batchelder, assistant quar-
termaster United States Army, 1867; Major H.
C. Ransom, quartermaster United States Army,
1868; Major J. A. Potter, quartermaster United
States Army, 1869; Captain C. H. Hart, assistant
quartermaster United States Army, 1870-72;
Colorftl James A. Ekin, assistant quartermaster
general United States Army, 1872-82.

The present officers of the depot, military and
civil are: Colonel James A. Ekin, commanding;
Captains Hull, Rodgers, and Barrett, military
storekeepers; R. L. Woolsey, chief clerk; James
G. Hopkins, superintendent; L. A. Allen, chief
clerk to military storekeepers.

THE AVERAGE PAY-ROLL

uf regular employes per month amounts to $5,000.
The stores handled since July 1, 1881, received
into the depot up to December 1st of the same
year, amounted in value to the round sum of
$273,420. There was paid to female employes,
in the manufacture of clothing and equipage,
from July 1 to December 1, 1881, $25,193.80.
This last is a leading feature of the establishment,
and gives employment to several hundred women
of the city, which number, at times, when heavy
and continuous orders for clothing and equipage
are on hand, has run to over a round thousand.

THE OHIO FALLS CAR COMPANY.

The Ohio Falls Car company, the largest con-
cern engaged in the manufacture of both freight
and passenger cars in the United States, is
located within the town of Ohio Falls, ad-
jacent to the corporate limits of the city of
Jeffersonville. The business was established

•

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

463

June 1, 1864, at which date the Ohio Falls Car
and Locomotive company was organized, with a
capital stock of $300,000, afterwards increased
$428,500. The following were the first officers
of the company : President, D. Ricketts ; secre-
tary and general manager, Hiram Aldridge ;
treasurer, J. L. Smyser. Its first directors were:
D. Ricketts, A. A. Hammond, J. L Smyser, W.
P. Wood, and H. Aldridge.

On October 1, 1866, Mr. Joseph W. Sprague
took charge of the works as president and gen-
eral manager. The business of the company
was not then of the best, its credit was question-
able, and its stock selling far below par. Under
Mr. Sprague's judicious administration a great
change was wrought, the company was pressed
with orders, the stock was brought up to par,
and there was every prospect for a continued
and increased prosperity.

So matters stood when, one night in 1872, the
works caught fire, and, before anything could be
done to prevent such a result, were completely
swept out of existence. Fortunately a heavy in-
surance was carried, and the building of the
present magnificent system of fire proof and
isolated structures was commence. These were
still incompleted and the business of the com-
pany barely resumed, when came the panic of
1873, which, with the long period of financial
depression that followed, completely paralyzed
the building and equipment of railroads in the
United States, and compelled the company to
suspend, and ultimately to dissolve and offer its
property for sale to cover its indebtedness.

On the 7th day of August, 1876, was organ-
ized the present Ohio Falls Car company, with
Joseph W. Sprague as president and general
manager, and R. M. Hartwell secretary and
treasurer. Its directors were J. W. Sprague,
S. A. Hartwell, J. L Smyser, J. H. McCamp-
bell, and S. Goldbach, and its capital stock
$88,300, later increased to $400,000. The offi-
cers have since remained the same, with the ex-
ception of the appointment of R. S. Ramsey as
general manager, made September 27, 1881, to
relieve Mr. Sprague from overwork. The com-
pany purchased the lands, buildings, machinery,
stock, and tools of the old corporation, and at
once began operations, first in a comparatively
small way, gradually increasing to its present
enormous proportions. The new company is

made up of nearly the same stockholders as the
old, and any losses made by the former failure
have been retrieved ten fold. The success of
the institution has been largely due to the enter-
prise and business tact of its managers, but not a
little to natural advantages of location. The
works are located about five hundred feet from
the Ohio, and, being outside the city limits, a low
rate of taxation is permanently secured.

The Ohio river affords the cheapest class of
transportation for iron, coal, lumber and other
supplies. The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indian-
apolis railroad and the Ohio & Mississippi rail-
road enter the premises by switches. By means
of the railroad bridge over the Ohio river, located
half a mile below the works, immediate connec-
tion is made at Louisville with the southern net
work of railroads of five feet gauge. Within a very
small radius an ample supply of the quality of
white oak, white ash, yellow poplar and black wal-
walnut used in construction can be obtained at
reasonable prices. Empty cars returning from
the South insure very low rates of freight on yel-
low pine, and the various brands of irons made
from the rich ores of Alabama. Considering the
convenience of receiving supplies and of the
distribution of products, this location can hardly
be surpassed for almost any branch of manu-
facture.

The real estate upon which this extensive in-
stitution is located embraces a large territory.
The buildings which were first built are situ-
ated upon out-lot No. 34, containing an area of
about nineteen and two-thirds acres. Part of
out-lot No. 23, containing about five and a half
acres immediately west of out-lot No. 34, is
used as a lumber-yard. The Falls View hotel,
belonging to the works, is located upon this lot.
Rivef%lip, containing about 13,800 square feet,
lies opposite the works on the river bank. On
this are located the engine-house, engine and
pump for furnishing the water supply. Lot No.
9, Jeffersonville, containing about 5,060 square
feet, secures a connection with the Ohio & Mis-
sissippi railroad blocks Nos. 18, 19, 49, and 80,
situated on the west side of Missouri avenue, were
recently purchased by the company, upon which
to construct new shops.

The buildings of the company, about fifty in
number, are all nearly new, are of brick, and,
with the exception of the cupola and pattern

464

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

lofts, are only one story high. The roofs are all
covered with the best quality of slate. These
buildings are arranged with high gables, with
ample spaces between them, and are substan-
tially fire-proof on the outside. The buildings
are all thoroughly lighted, and most of them are
amply provided with skylights of heavy plate
glass. The machine shops in the freight and
iron departments are provided with gas from the
city mains of Jeffersonville.

Since Mr. Sprague took charge of the institu-
tion in September, 1866, he has labored faith-
fully for the interests of the company. He has,
until recently, assumed personal charge of all the
departments, having a knowledge of everything
manufactured in the institution and knowing just
when it is well done. The business of the
company since 1876 has been unprecedently
large. The company is at present employing
between one thousand eight hundred and one
thousand nine hundred men, and its pay roll
amounts to nearly $55,000 per month. A num-
ber of mechanics employed reside in Louisville
and New Albany, coming to work on .the early
morning train over the Jeffersonville Short Line
railroad, but, practically, the entire benefit aris-
ing from the presence of the works is enjoyed by
Clark county.

THE INDIANA STATE PRISON SOUTH.

For purposes of penal confinement the State
of Indiana is divided into two districts by a line
intersecting it from east to west about midway.
All persons convicted of crime in the norihern
jurisdiction are liable to confinement in the Indi-
ana State Prison North, which is located at
Michigan City; those from the southern division
are sent to the Indiana State Prison South, sit-
uated upon one of the outlots of the extinct
town of Clarksville, just beyond the line of Jef-
fersonville. This institution was established in
the year 1822, with the very small capital of one
prisoner. The prison system of the State had
not at that time been made the subject of any
considerable amount of theorizing; it was, on the
other hand extremely simple, being governed by a
rule not unlike the famous recipe for cooking a
rabbit — first catch your man, then find a person
who has nothing better to do, who will take him
as a boarder and guard against his changing
hotels. Such a man lived at Jeffersonville and,

as Abraham Lincoln, when postmaster of a
small Illinois town, had his office in his hat, so
this early citizen probably made a kind of porta-
ble jail of himself and carried this first Indiana
convict about under guard. What crime led to
this peripatetic incarceration, history relateth not
— probably it was neither murder nor horse-
stealing, for murderers were wont in those days
either to die in their boots or go to Congress,
and the horse-thief who took full swing in life,
had full swing of a different order in punish-
ment. We simply have the words of the record
which give us this terse legend :

"For the year ending November 30, 1822, re-
ceived, 1 ; remaining in prison, 1 ; daily average,
1." We are justified in believing that the man
who was received, the man who remained, and
the man who constituted the daily average was
one and the same individual.

The prison of to-day is of very different order.
The daily average of prisoners confined for the
year ending October 31, 1881, was 524; the
number remaining in the prison on that date, 563.

The first lessee of the penitentiary was a man
named Westover, who was killed with Crockett
at the seige of Fort Alamo, in Texas. He was
succeeded by James Keigwin, who continued in
charge for eight years. Mr. S. H. Patterson be-
came the lessee of the penitentiary, associated
with Benjamin Hensley, in 1836. Their lease
ran for five years. At that time there were 56
prisoners confined in the prison, and in 1841, at
the close of their term there were 165. At the
expiration of their lease they retired, and in 1846
Mr. Patterson contracted the entire prison work,
for $10,000 per year. Under his contract, he
built most of the old cell house. The prison
was then located on West Market street, below
the old Governor's house, and beyond the orig-
inal plat of Jeffersonville. At the beginning of
his second term, Mr. Patterson had 205 convicts
under his charge, and when he gave it up in
1856, there were 307.

Since 1822 the State of Indiana has developed
from the embryo of organization and civilization
to the full glory of its present greatness. With
this advance in resources and intelligence has
come an influx of foreigners ; with the growth of
cities and the vast increase of facilities for trans-
portation, there has come to be a class of profes-
sional criminals within the State, and a daily

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

465

coming and going of the most skilful and
desperate criminals of other cities and States.
All these facts have combined to necessitate the
organization and equipment of large and safe
prisons on a basis which, at the least possible
net cost to the honest tax-payers of the State,
should insure the safe keeping of a large body
of prisoners, with a reasonable regard to their
physical and moral welfare.

The prisons of Indiana have been conducted
on three different principles. The first, adopted
at their inception and above referred to, was
suited to the days when but a small number of
persons were convicted, or confined, and may be
designated as the boarding system. During its
continuance the keeping of every prisoner was
at the direct cost of the State, without any re-
turn and without any sufficient check upon the
dishonesty and rapacity of keepers, who could
abuse the men committed to their charge by
semi-starvation and other measures of "econo-
my."

So soon as the number of convictions in the
State had so far increased as to warrant the
change, prisons were erected at the cost of the
people. In these the convicts were confined,
building, prisoners and all, leased to private in-
dividuals who fed, clothed and maintained the
prisoners, and paid a certain gross annual sum
in addition for such labor as they could extract
from them.

The third system, now in force at Jeffer-
sonville, is the one common to nearly all
the Northern States, of renting the labor of the
convincts to contractors, who pay a certain per
diem for each man employed, while the dis-
cipline, control, and personal care of the men is
in the hand of a warden and other officers repre-
senting the State. This is commonly designated
as the contract system. One of the chief objec-
tions to our boarding system has already been
noted ; another, scarcely less serious, was the
keeping of the men in complete idleness, thus
leading to the still greater hardening of confirmed
criminals, while it led to the complete eradica-
tion of any germs of decency remaining in the
younger offenders.

The curse of idleness was removed by the
lessee system, but only to give place to abuses so
horrible that it is a matter of congratulation that
so many States have abandoned it, In Indiana

a warden was appointed by the State for each
prison, whose duty it was to see that the contract
of the lessee was lived up to, but the con-
victs were body and soul in the hands
of the contractors, and the warden had
little power and too often less inclination to re-
strain those whose interest often led them to com-
mit the greatest cruelties. The one aim of most
of the lessees was to obtain from the convicts un-
der their control the greatest possible amount of
labor at the least expenditure for maintenance.
Men were ill-fed, ill-clothed, punished by the
lash with the utmost severity, for trivial derelic-
tions, or for a failure to perform in full the daily
allotment of labor, often when sickness and in-
firmity made it an impossibility to fulfil the re-
quirement. The sick and disabled were neg-
lected as if the consideration of life weighed
lightly in the balance against the few cents daily
necessary for their maintenance. The cells and
corridors were foul, damp, and unwholesome ;
swarms of vermin infested every corner, and thus
overwork, cruelty, starvation, filth, the pistol and
lash of .the guard, all contributed to a wholesale
murder of the weak, and to brutalizing the strong
beyond the hope of redemption here or hereafter.
The horrors of the prison systems before the
lessee ceased to be the guardian of convicts were
such as to better befit the days of the Spanish
Inquisition than the enlightenment of the nine-
teenth century.

Against the contract system now in force the
principal argument advanced is based upon the
competition of prison with free labor. Whatever
may be thought of this, it is assuredly true that
the convicts in the Indiana State Prison South,
were never so well cared for in body and mind,
never so orderly and well disciplined, and never
so small a draft upon the treasury of the State as
now.

The present prison buildings were commenced
many years ago, and have been constantly im-
proved and enlarged since that time, until they
represent an investment of not far from $400,000.
Of late the number of convicts have so far ex-
ceeded the proper capacity of the prison as to
render it impossible to avoid certain objectiona-
ble and injurious overcrowding. To give point
to this statement and also to illustrate the effect
of increased population and the improvement in
the machinery of justice upon the prison, the av-

466

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

erage yearly population of the Southern peniten-
tiary since 1822 is extracted from the exceed-
ingly careful and valuable table prepared by
Warden A. J. Howard, and embodied in his last
report :

1822 .
1823..
1824. .
1825..
1826..
1827..
1828..
1829.,
1830. ,
1831..
1832..
'833-
1834-
1835-
1836.
1837.
1838..
1839-
1840.
1 841.
1842.
1843.
1844.

1845-
1846.
1847.
1848.
1849.
1850.
1851.

1 1852.

3 i8^.

16 1854.

29 1855.

35 1856.

28 1857.

27 1858

34 1859.

1862.
1863.

44 1864.

43 1865.

si 1866.

S3 1867.

37 1868 .

65 1869.

1870

100

1871

1872

1873

1874

187S

187ft

122

1877

129

1878

.120 1879.

.212
.223
•259
.260
.277
.304

•397
.484
.410
.281
.202
.214
-245
•247
•■399
..420
..387

•393
..380

..381
•■399
•■395
..388
..456
■■531
•■*3
..626
..624
..600
••524

To provide for the great increase in the com-
mitments to the prison, indicated in the forego-
ing table, the Legislature made an appropriation
of $50,000 for the building of a new cell house.
The work was at once undertaken, and the
spring of 1882 finds it substantially completed.
The building contains cell accommodations for
four hundred prisoners, and will quite do away
with the unfortunate crowding which has com-
pelled more than three hundred inmates of the
penitentiary to sleep upon cots closely placed in
the corridors of the old cell house. It will
readily be seen that no ordinary guard system
would be equal to the task of maintaining disci-
pline and preventing communication between
convicts, the formation of plots, and the foment-
ing of discontent among the men, when they
are thus crowded together, and, worse still, as
every man inhales and throws out in a poisonous
condition from three to four hundred cubic feet
of air per hour, it is obvious that the death rate
of the prison, though now quite low, will be

largely decreased by the change. As an evi-
dence of the truth of this statement it may be
said that for the year ending October 31, 1880,
with an average of six hundred convicts in the
prison, there were seven deaths. One of these
was from the effects of a wound inflicted by a
fellow-convict. Of the remaining six, five died
of pulmonary diseases of one or another form.
The mere fact of confinement inclines a man to
consumption, but the number of deaths from
lung troubles in the prison is certainly in an un-
natural proportion.

The system of discipline in the Southern
prison has passed through every phase from the
extreme severity of the earlier years of the cen-
tury, keeping pace with the public sentiment of
the day until the administration of corporeal pun-
ishment has been reduced, under the adminis-
tration of Captain Howard, to the minimum
consistent with the maintenance of any degree
of discipline. Captain Howard may be said to
represent the advanced practical school in his
effort to secure at once obedience, order, and
humanity in the prison. He has no sympathy
with the brutal and brutalizing system which
destroys every remnant of self-respect in the
convict by constant and cruel bodily punishment,
and almost as little with the sickly sentimentalists
who believe that the life of an imprisoned crim-
inal should be made a sort of perpetual Sunday-
school picnic. His desire is that a change in
the prison system may be made which will iso-
late the prisoners and render reform as well as
punishment possible. Under the congregate
system he does not regard the former as to any
considerable degree practicable. In his report
to the Governor for the year 1880 he gives his
views on the subject in these words :

"These men are here mainly because of an un-
willingness to conform to the laws of the State.
It could not be expected of them that they would
render a voluntary submission to the laws of the
prison. As it requires the dread of punishment
to restrain them outside, and even this has not
been sufficient, it follows as a matter of course
that to maintain good order, and obedience to
the prison laws, there must be maintained a
deterrent system of punishments within the insti-
tution. Associated together for work, an aver-
age of forty to the guard, there is the occasional
opportunity to break over the rules without de-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

467

tection. This leads to more or less frequent
infractions. But for the dread of punishment if
apprehended, the whole mass would become a
howling mob. It would be sheer nonsense to
talk about regulating the conduct of these con-
gregated outlaws, simply by kind and generous
treatment or by moral influences of whatever
kind. If they could have been reached by such
influences, the great bulk of them would not be
here. The enforcement of the necessary disci-
pline under such conditions, is not promotive of
the moral reformation of the convicts.

"The conclusion follows, that the congregate
prison as here, is not in any considerable degree
a reformatory institution. Being neither re-
formatory in its effects upon the inmates, nor
sufficiently deterrent in its influence upon the
criminal classes generally, it fails to accomplish
the purposes of its creation, and should be
abandoned whenever any better system of penal
institutions may be found.

"Any attempt at reformation in the prison sys-
tem that does not look to making the institution
more deterrent in its character, with increased
facilities for the reformation of the convicts,
would, in my opinion, be utterly barren of re-
sults."

The underlying principle of the system of dis-
cipline which has been made so largely to re-
place the lash is the time allowance for good be-
havior, which secures to the convict maintaining
a certain standard, a shortening of the term of
imprisonment. The law of Indiana provides
for an abatement which renders it possible for a
man constantly keeping to this standard to gain
time for various sentences, as follows:

In 1 year 12 days.

In 2 years 36 days.

In 2j£ years 54 days.

In 3 years 92 days.

In 4 years 120 days.

In 5 years 180 days.

In 6 years 252 days.

In 7 years 336 days.

In 8 years 432 days.

In 9 years 540 days.

In 10 years 660 days.

In 1 1 years 790 days.

In 12 years 936 days.

In 13 years 1092 days.

In 14 years 1260 days.

In 15 years '. 1440 days.

In 16 years 1602 days.

In 17 years 1836 days.

In 18 years 2052 days.

In 19 years 2280 days.

In 20 years 2520 days.

In 21 years 2772 days.

In addition to this inducement to good be-
havior, Captain Howard has made a rule which
requires every guard to report daily the conduct
of the men under his charge, according to a
system of plus and minus marks — the highest
plus marks for behavior beyond suspicion; the
lowest minus mark for extremely bad deport-
ment. These reports are daily recorded and a
report for each convict made at the close of
every month, and upon this report are based the
grading of privileges, as for example for the use
of tobacco and corresponding with friends. If
the convict fails to reach a certain percentage,
his allowance for "good time" is denied, and if
he falls to a certain lower range, he loses a pro-
portion of the time already credited to him, if
any there be. This system has already, in the
short time of its enforcement, produced good re-
sults, and much is hoped for it. The lash is
contemplated as an agent in the prison disci-
pline, but it is only used for the punishment of
prisoners guilty of the most serious offenses, and
its greatest value lies in the effect of its presence
as a passive agent for awing such prisoners as are
not amenable to more gentle influences.

A new chapel and hospital building have re-
cently been completed and the moral and relig-
ious instruction of convicts will now be prosecuted
with more effect than when facilities for proper
teaching were lacking.

An excellently selected library is also a feature
of the prison, and its books are eagerly sought
and read by the convicts. The hospital facilities
and surgical attendance are of the best, as the
low death rate in the face of so many disadvan-
tages attests.

The food of the prisoners is plain, nourishing,
abundant, and well cooked. It is carefully se-
lected with a view to its quality and variety, that
in dietary, as in other matters, the health of the
prisoners may be preserved. That this is done
is sufficiently attested by the fact that, while the
prisoners largely represent the idle classes and
are required to work hard and submit to confine-
ment while in the institution, the average increase
in weight between commitment and discharge is
six and one-half pounds.

Warden Howard is certainly entitled to great
credit for his humane, careful, and wise adminis-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

tration, which has resulted in placing the institu-
tion upon so excellent a footing in point of
health, discipline, and expense, though so much
of his labor has been in the face of so serious
obstacles. That his efficiency is appreciated is
evident from the fact that though opposed in
politics to the present administration of the State,
no one has desired to disturb him in his tenure
of an office sufficiently important and profitable
to be regarded as a very desirable acquisition by
the place-hunters.

The Southern prison, since the adoption of
the contract system, has in the main represented
the average of discipline in institutions of its
class. There has, however, been one notable
exception, which in itself furnishes one of the
strongest arguments in favor of a system which
involves some form of hard and nearly constant
labor. The panic of 1873 and the great finan-
cial stringency which followed, was so disastrous
to business men that some of the contractors for
the labor of the prison became insolvent, and
others, so fast as their contracts expired, refused
to renew them. Hence the labor of the prison
went begging, and, during the year 1876, with a
daily average of five hundred and thirty-one
prisoners, there was no employment for any,
save such as the routine work of the prison
afforded. This, with cell accommodation for
only about one-half the prisoners, made the
temptation to escape and the opportunity for
perfecting plans to that end, quite exceptional.
This state of affairs soon began to bear fruit in
repeated and well organized attempts to escape
— attempts so well organized as to leave no
doubt in the mind of Captain A. J. Howard,
then newly installed as warden, that a constant
and systematic communication was being kept up
among certain prisoners. The further fact that
whenever such an attempt was made, the men
engaged were well armed and equipped, pointed
beyond a doubt to a communication with the
outer world as well. Captain Howard resolved,
at whatever cost of time and trouble, to make
himself master of the situation by solving the
mystery. At last, upon searching a convict who
was about to go out on the expiration of his sen-
tence, a cipher letter was found concealed under
his shirt, and this, after infinite pains, the warden
succeded in deciphering. Its contents were
such as to clearly show that the suspicions of the

prison officers were well founded, and that Bill
Rudifer, a professional bank robber and one of
the most desperate men in the prison, was at the
head of the conspiracy. Rudifer had, previously,
in July, 1875, made an effort to escape, which
was only frustrated after he had been shot in
two places. For this and subsequent breaches
of discipline he was, at the time of the discovery
of the letter in question, confined in a cell by
himself, securely chained, and, as the prison au-
thorities supposed, deprived of all writing ma-
terials.

The warden discovered that Rudifer had made
the convict boy who carried water to the cells his
messenger, and under threats of punishment this
boy was compelled to deliver each letter to the
clerk of the prison. It was then kept long
enough to permit of its translation, when it was
returned to him and delivered. In this way the
facts were developed that many convicts, includ-
ing Kennedy, Ryan, Applegate, and Stanley, who
killed a guard in an attempt to escape during
that year, were interested in the scheme — that
Rudifer had invented and taught to the others
and to persons outside, no less than twelve
separate and very ingenious alphabets, and that
the communication between convicts and their
friends without the prison was kept up by the
writing of cipher letters in invisible ink made of
onion juice and water, on the inside of the
envelopes which enclosed the ordinary letters
which inmates of the prison were allowed to
write to and receive from their friends. In the
manner indicated no less than thirty-two letters
were intercepted and read, before Rudifer be-
came aware that his operations were known, and
a number of bold and ingenious plans for escape
were frustrated. Rudifer was the originator of
all the projects and the inventor of all the alpha-
bets, and the accomplishment of so much by a
man heavily ironed, confined in a solitary cell
and closely watched, makes the series of occur-
rences sufficiently notable to entitle them to rank
among the celebrated cases of prison conspiracy.

Of the prisoners confined in the penitentiary
during the present year (1882) about eighty per
cent, are at work for contractors and are con-
stantly contributing to the income of the State.
The contractors are: Peren, Gaff & Co., manu-
facturers of shelf hardware ; the Southern In-
diana Manufacturing company, boots and shoes;

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

469

Rider & Hyatt, cooperage; and J. R. Gathright,
horse collars.

Following are the present directors and officers
of the prison: Thomas Shea, J. J. Finney, P. L. D.
Mitchell, directors; Andrew J. Howard, warden ;
John Craig, deputy warden ; Matthew I. Huette,
clerk ; W. F. Sherrod, physician ; Thomas G.
Beharred, moral instructor ; William Royce,
captain of night watch ; David M. Allen, store-
keeper ; Jesse D. McClure, hospital steward.

CHAPTER XXXI.

JEFFERSONVILLE— BIOGRAPHICAL.

Captain James Howard — John Zulauf — Dr. Nathaniel Field
— James G. Reed — Joseph W. Sprague — The Shelby
Family — Mayor L. F. Warder — James W. Thomson —
Reuben Dailey — Dr. H. H. Ferguson — William G. Arm-
strong— William Keigwin — William H. Fogg — James S.
Whicher.

CAPTAIN JAMES HOWARD.

This well-known ship-builder was born near
Manchester, England, December 1, 1814. His
father, a wool-carder and cloth-dresser, emigrated
with his family to the United States in 1820, and
settled in Cincinnati, where he engaged in busi-
ness. James worked with his father in the mill
from the age of eleven until he was fifteen, when
he was apprenticed to William Hartshorn, a
steamboat builder in the same city, to serve until
he attained the age of twenty-one. He was an
apt scholar, and soon mastered the details of
the business, proving an efficient workman.
When nineteen years of age he came to Louis-
ville, determined to make a start in the world for
himself. After remaining in this place a week
or two he secured a contract to build a steam-
boat. He went to Jeffersonville, where was a
good bank from which to make a launch. Here
he procured material, employed the necessary as-
sistance, and built the hull of a boat, which gave
perfect satisfaction to the owners. The follow-
ing spring he was importuned to return to Cin-
cinnati and serve the remainder of his appren-
ticeship, but decided that he could do better to
remain where he was, and declined to return to
Mr. Hartshorn's service.

In 1835 he commenced business life in earn-
est, with no capital but his experience of a (tw

years, but with a strong determination to perse-
vere until he should stand at the head of the
boat-building industries of the interior rivers.
Being possessed of industry, energy, and ability,
he overcame all obstacles, and time brought the
distinction in his line of business that he de-
sired.

A few years spent on the river as an engineer
gave him an insight into the working of boats,
and proved where the strength was most tried.
In 1836 he went to Madison, Indiana, where he
remained several years, and in that time built
sixteen boats. In 1846, at Shippingsport, Ken-
tucky, he was engaged in the building of six
steamers. The flood of 1847 swept his yard
clean. From Shippingsport he went to Louis-
ville, and, in company with John Enos, was in
business a year, during which time they built
several boats. Mr. Enos died, and in order to
settle his estate the property was sold. Mr.
Howard, not feeling able to purchase the mill
and yard, came to Jeffersonville, where, in 1849,
in company with his brother Daniel, he engaged
in ship-building, at which they continued un-
interruptedly until 1865, when Daniel Howard
withdrew from the partnership, and James as-
sociated with him his younger brother, John, and
his son Edward, the firm being James Howard
& Co.

From the year 1848, when the first extensive
boat-building was engaged in, most of the steam-
ers built were designed for the cotton trade on
the lower Mississippi, and its tributaries, though
boats were also built for Ohio river and upper
Mississippi river service.

The outbreak of the civil war was a heavy
blow to the Howards, much of their means being
invested in boats that proved a total loss, or at
best brought in at the time no returns. The
business was continued, though with reduced ca-
pacity, for some years, but the building interests
soon increased and the yard was busied to its
fullest capacity.

Before the change in the firm by the with-
drawal of Daniel Howard, some fifty boats had
been completed and launched, and during his
life Captain James Howard saw two hundred and
fifty of his boats floating on the inland rivers,
engaged in all branches of the carrying trade,
and transporting a large part of the wealth of the
country to profitable markets.

47«

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The death of Captain Howard was a peculiarly
sad one. October 14, 1876, he left home to
drive to Louisville. He reached the ferry safely,
drove on the boat, where his team became un-
managable, caused by another team crowding
them, and the gate being unfastened his carriage
was run back precipitating him into the river,
where he was drowned.

On the occasion of his funeral a large proces-
sion was formed on First street, Louisville, the
workingmen taking the head, then followed the
pall bearers, the hearse, and the long line of car-
riages. The procession marched silently up
First street, Market, Jackson, and Broadway, to
Cave Hill cemetery, where the remains were de-
posited. The procession numbered fully fifteen
hundred persons. From the time it left First
street until the cemetery was reached the bells of
the fire department tolled the knell of death.

The funeral services were conducted by Rev.
J. Craik, rector of Christ church, who says:

It was the grandest and most imposing funeral I ever wit-
nessed. There were no societies, no music, no military dis-
play, the usual trappings of an imposing funeral, to mark the
obsequies of this boat-builder. We have buried from this
church the commander in chief of the United States. And
all that the power and majesty of the great Government
could do to make the occasion grand and honorable was
done, but it was nothing in comparison with the funeral
solemnities of the simple, untitled citizen, James Howard.

The Courier-Journal said of James Howard :

He was a man of medium height and good figure. His
head was large and long, with a high, broad forehead, and
all the other features prominent and expressive. In his man-
ners he was unassuming and cordial to all persons. He was
strong in purpose and action. The whole energy of an ac-
tive, comprehensive mind, and of an almost tireless physic a
organization was given to whatever scheme or duty he ever
had in view. His battle in life has been no easy one, but he
stood true throughout to the principles of honor and integ-
rity, and, having an industry and mechanical knowledge
which he has suffered no man in his occupation to excel, he
gained both success and distinction.

JOHN ZULAUF.

John Zulauf, deceased, of Jeffersonville, was
born in Thurgan, Switzerland, on the 27th day of
December, 1818. His father was a miller. He
gave his son a good education in the public
schools of his native country and in the college
of Murten, Switzerland. After graduation Mr.
Zulauf spent several years performing clerical
duties in some of the largest manufacturing

houses and banks in different parts of Europe,
and which so eminently fitted him for discharging
the responsible duties afterward awaiting him on
this side of the water. He spent one year at
Marseilles bank, France, then several years in a
large manufacturing establishment at Birming-
ham, England, when he returned to Switzerland
on account of ill-health, where he afterwards
performed the duties of head bookkeeper three
years for the large firm of Benziger & Co.
Other and more responsible duties, however,
awaited him, that changed his entire plans for
the future. A Mr. Fischli had purchased large
and extensive tracts of land where the city of
Jeffersonville now stands, and at different places
throughout the State of Indiana. Mr. Fischli
was a native of Switzerland, and had his property
left to his heirs, seventeen in number. The
amount of property and the great number of per-
sons falling heir to the same complicated matters
so much that it necessitated an executor of more
than ordinary abilities to make an equitable dis-
tribution and disposition of the estate. This
responsible position and trust of business affairs
was given to Mr. Zulauf. He set sail for the
New World in 1846, intending to return to his
native country once this whole matter was
settled. The extent of his business was not
fully realized, nor even surmised at that time,
and all claims were not fully adjudicated up to
the time of his death, which occurred in 1873.

As time advanced he began to comprehend
the situation of affairs, and in 1848 opened up a
store on Fourth street, and becoming more iden-
tified with the people, and his worth as a business
man appreciated, was appointed as the Swiss
consul to the western States by the Government,
as a representative of his country. This position
was held for several years, but desiring to return
to his native country, the office was finally relin-
quished.

He was also selected soon after this as presi-
dent of the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianap-
olis railroad. He had by a timely business fore-
sight seen the ultimate need of the road, and
upon its partly going down, invested capital him-
self in the enterprise, and was chosen by the
stockholders as its second president. He held
this position for a number of years.

He had never determined to make America his
home, and returned again to Switzerland, where

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

47i

he remained five years, but the vast amount of
patrimonial lands left in his trust necessitated his
return to America at the expiration of that time.
He was married in 1857 t0 Miss Wilhelmina
Schoch. Her father was a prominent Govern-
ment official of Bavaria, her native country,
where she was raised, and received a liberal edu-
cation.

There have been born to this union four chil-
dren, two of whom are dead. John and Johan-
nah are living. Mr. Zulauf was a member of
the Protestant church; was a Republican in pol-
itics, an esteemed citizen, and his death, which
occurred November 7, 1873, occasioned not only
a loss to his devoted family, but to his neighbors
and to the citizens of his adopted country in
general. He was a finely educated gentleman,
spoke in all six different languages, and was well
read in ancient and modern lore.

DR. NATHANIEL FIELD

is one of the oldest physicians in the State of
Indiana, a graduate of Transylvania Medical
school, founded at Lexington, Kentucky, in the
early part of this century, and the only one west
of the Alleghany mountains. He was born in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, on the 7th day of
November, 1805, located in Jeffersonville, Indi-
ana, in September, 1829, where he has since re-
sided. His father was a native of Culpeper
county, Virginia; was a soldier in the Revolu-
tionary war; was at the siege of Yorktown, and
after the surrender of Cornwallis emigrated to
Kentucky in the spring of 1783, taking up his
quarters in the fort at which was afterward Louis-
ville, near the head of the canal. He was the
first delegate from Jefferson county to the Vir-
ginia Legislature. He resided in that county
until his death in September, 1831.

Dr. Field is in some respects a remarkable man,
is an original thinker, forming his opinions inde-
pendently of popular sentiment or the authority of
books. Whatever he believes to be right he advo-
cates boldly and fearlessly, regardless of conse-
quences to himself. Though born in a slave State,
and in a slave-holding family, at an early age he
contracted a dislike to the institution of slavery,
and wrote an essay against it entitled Onesimus.
He was one of the first vice-presidents of the

American Anti- Slavery society; was president of
the first anti-slavery convention ever held in In-
diana, and president of the Free-soil convention
held in Indianapolis in the summer of 1850.

Notwithstanding his anti-slavery principles, he
never would take any advantage of the slave-
holder by advising his slaves to leave him and
make their escape to Canada; nor did he take
any part in what was called the "Underground
railroad." In a contest between the slave and
his master on the question of freedom, he was
neutral. He determined to abide by the law
creating and maintaining the institution, until ab-
rogated by the moral sense of the masters them-
selves. He opposed slavery on moral and relig-
ious grounds, and appealed to the reason and
conscience of the slaveholder and the slave.

As an illustration of his uncompromising devo-
tion to the right, in June, 1834, he voted against the
whole township of Jeffersonville on the question
of enforcing one of the black laws of the State at
that time. At a township election in the month
mentioned the following question was submitted
to vote: "Shall the law requiring free negroes
now in the State, and such as may hereafter emi-
grate to it, to give bond and security for their
good behavior, and that they will never become
paupers, be enforced or not?" The law had
been a dead-letter on the statute book, and this
new-born zeal for its enforcement was not
prompted by any fear that the negro might be-
come a pauper or a criminal, but by hatred of
the Abolitionists. At that time pro-slavery
mobs were wreaking their vengeance on anti-
slavery men, destroying their printing presses,
burning their houses, and driving them from their
homes, culminating in the cowardly murder of
Elijah Lovejoy, at Alton, Illinois.

The mob spirit at that time was epidemic, and
was never at a loss for a pretext to make war on
the negroes. After scanning the paper sub-
mitting to him the question, and on which he re-
quested to vote, the Doctor noticed that every
voter in the township, saints and sinners alike,
had voted for enforcing the law. It was near the
close of the polls and the voting place was in-
fested by loafers and roughs, indignant at the
idea that the Abolitionists were trying to put the
negroes on an equality with them. They were
anxious to see if Dr. Field would take sides
with the negroes, knowing that he was an anti-

472

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

slavery man. He knew very well that hatred of
the negroes would make it impossible for them
to give the required security, and that their ex-
pulsion at that time in the year would be at-
tended with loss of their crops and great suffer-
ing. He tried to reason with the excited crowd,
asking for an extension of time until the poor
creatures could make and gather their crops,
pay their rent and leave the State in peace. But
he might as well have tried to excite the com-
passion of a herd of hyenas. After giving his
reasons for delay he voled in the negative, the
only man that had the moral courage to vote for
mercy. As might have been foreseen, the ne-
groes could not give security nor had they the
ability to get out of the State as their enemies re-
quired, and consequently they were driven from
the town and neighborhood by mob violence.
For three weeks there was a perfect reign of terror.
The negroes were shamefully abused, and fled in
every direction for safety, leaving most of their
property behind them. No magistrate or con-
stable pretended to interfere with the mob. Dr.
Field was notified that he would have to leave
town with the negroes whose cause he had
espoused. Without a moment's delay he made
preparations for defence, resolving to stand his
ground, and, if necessary, sell his life as dearly
as possible. He provided plenty of ammunition,
and fire-arms, and fortified his house. One
brave man volunteered to assist him in defend-
ing his castle. Each of them had a large knife
for close quarters. When all arrangements were
made the mob was notified that they could com-
mence the attack whenever it suited their con-
venience. But fortunately for some of them,
and the doctor too, the invitation was declined.

Notwithstanding the perils of those days that
tried the strength of a great moral principle, Dr.
Field has lived to see its triumph, the downfall
of American slavery, and the enfranchisement
of the negroes. But very few of the men of that
day are now living. They nearly all passed away
without witnessing this wonderful change in the
status of a once oppressed and down-trodden
race.

In 1854, by the death of his mother, Dr. Field
came into possession of several valuable slaves,
whom he immediately emancipated, thereby prov-
ing the sincerity of his professions and his con-
sistency. In July, 1836, he represented Jefferson-

ville in the great Southern Railroad conven-
tion which assembled at Knoxville, Tennessee,
for the purpose of devising ways and means to
make a railroad from Charleston, South Caro-
lina, to Cincinnati, with a branch to Louisville,
from a point somewhere west of Cumberland
Gap. He represented Clark county in the State
Legislature in the session of 1838-39. He was
chairman of a select committee to investigate
charge against Andrew Wylie, D. D., then presi-
dent of the State university. He made an elab-
orate report, completely acquitting him of the
charges preferred against him. He was surgeon
of the Sixty-sixth Indiana volunteer infantry in
the late civil war, and rendered important ser-
vice on several battle-fields and in improvised
hospitals, having charge of hundreds of wounded
men, and performing nearly all operations known
to military surgery. He is an excellent operator,
and is acknowledged to be among the best sur-
geons of the State. In 1868 he was president
of the Indiana State Medical society. His con-
tributions to medical literature consist of papers
published in the transactions of the society, and
also articles for the State Medical Journal, be-
sides essays on various medical subjects read
before the County and District Medical societies.
He has also written quite a number of scientific
papers entitled Moses and Geology, The Chro-
nology of Fossils, The Antiquity of the Human
Race, and The Unity of the Human Race.
Also lectures on miscellaneous subjects, viz: The
Arts of Imposture and Deception Peculiar to
American Society, The Financial Condition of
the World, Hard Times, and Capital Punish-
ment.

One of the most extraordinary circumstances
in his life is, that he has been a pastor
of a church in Jeffersonville for more than a
half century, without a salary, making a gospel
free of charge to the world. He has strictly fol-
lowed the example of John the Baptist, Christ
and the Apostles, who never made merchandise
of the gospel. He has baptised nearly one thou-
sand persons in the Ohio river; has held several
theological debates, one of which was published
in 1854, an octavo work of three hundred and
twenty pages. The subject was the State of the
Dead, involving the doctrine of the natural and
inherent immortality of the soul. His opponent
was Elder Thomas P. Connelly, a graduate of

Jxas?ned.S2% . c¥^eae/z^>

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

473

the State university. The doctor is now far ad-
vanced in years, but possesses a remarkable de-
gree of intellectual and physical vigor for one of
his age.

JAMES G. READ.

This well known and prominent citizen of Jef-
fersonville, was born in Washington county, Ken-
tucky, in 1793. When a lad he went to Nash-
ville, Tennessee, and there served an apprentice-
ship in a printing office. In 1816 he came to
Indiana and settled in Davis county, where he
founded the town of Washington. Starting in
life with no other capital than a strong constitu-
tion and indomitable will, he gradually accumu-
lated a fortune and became an extensive land
owner, having property in Davis, Clark, Jeffer-
son, Washington, Scott, and many other counties
in the State. He was appointed receiver of the
land office at Jeffersonville under President Jack-
son, and served in that capacity during his ad-
ministration. In politics he took an active part
and was a strong candidate for Governor against
Noble and Wallace, suffering defeat, however, in
each instance. After the expiration of his term
as receiver of the land office, he represented
Clark county several terms in the State Senate
and House of Representatives; was president of
the Senate one term and speaker of the House
two terms. He was a clear headed, far seeing
financier, and during his service in the Legisla-
ture, was principal in taking action for the sale
of the interest of- the State in the Wabash and
Erie canal, to the bondholders, which sale paid
$7,000,000 or $8,000,000 of indebtedness of the
State. The canal had already cost the State
some $15,000,000, and was now in good work-
ing condition, but this clear-headed man saw be-
yond his time, and anticipated the building of
railroads, which soon made the canal of no value
to its purchasers. He was a man of enterprise
in building up the State, a strong advocate of the
railroad system, but opposed to State investment
in works of that kind, believing private enterprise
should forward and control the industries of the
country.

When a resident of Washington, Davis county,
he was engaged in mercantile business, and
wherever he dealt his word was his bond. He
was a man kind and unassuming, of strict integ-

rity in all the affairs of his busy life, social with
his equals and inferiors, and charitable to the
poor.

In his family he was a kind husband and
father. He left a widow, who yet survives, and
four children, John F. Read and Sarah A. Ran-
som, of Jeffersonville, Mary J. Randall and Mar-
tha A. Meriwether, of Fort Wayne. On his
death, which occured in 1869, he left $1,000 to
the poor of the city, and the balance of his large
estate to his widow and children.

JOSEPH WHITE SPRAGUE.

Joseph White Sprague was born in Massachu-
setts, January 18, 1831. His youth was passed
in the family homestead, at Salem, standing on
the street which Hawthorne in his Scarlet Letter
describes as "long and lazy, lounging wearisomely
through the whole extent of the peninsula, with
Gallows Hill at one end" — this same Gallows
Hill being historic as the place where more than
two hundred years ago took place the famous exe-
cutions for witchcraft. The old house stands as a
relic of pre-revolutionary times; its chambers,
with their quaint furniture and tiled fire-places —
the latter illustrating, in one instance, the fables
of ^Esop; the old parlor, in one corner of which
a rare old clock, made as a gift to the Pope, and
captured by the patriots of the war of Independ-
ence, has for more than a hundred years marked
the hours and quarters by the playing of popular
airs of a century ago. Everywhere is, in its
original form, that which the exponents of mod-
ern aestheticism have striven to imitate, and, be-
yond all, as it may not be imitated, a savor of
age, and an historical interest that few man-
sions now standing can boast.

Joseph W. Sprague was the son of Hon.
Joseph E. Sprague and Sarah L. Bartlett. His
father was graduated from Harvard college with
the class of 1804.

A complete statement of the genealogy of the
Sprague family, as it exists in Joseph W. Sprague,
and others of his generation, would be interest-
ing, did the limits of this biography permit of
following the authentic and comprehensive rec-
ords of the various branches; as it is, a quotation,
here and there, will not be amiss.

In the Higginson fleet, which reached this

474

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

country in June, 1629, were three brothers, sons
of Edward Sprague, of Upway, in the county of
Dorset, England. The father died in 1614, and
the sons, when they emigrated, did so entirely at
their own cost, an exception at that day, when
so large a share of those coming to America
owed much or little to the holders of the patents
of the King. President Everett records of them
that "they were persons of substance and enter-
prise, excellent citizens, and general public ben
efactors." Although they disembarked at Salem
they did not long remain there, but selected a
home in the woods, at a spot which the Indians
called Mishawaum, but which every school-boy
knows as Charlestown. Ralph, an ances-
tor of J. W. Sprague, took the freeman's oath in
1630, and, with his wife Joanna, was first to
enter the covenant of the church in 1632. In
November, i666; Ralph Sprague was chosen
representative to the general court, and filled the
seat during seven different sessions.

The descendants of the Spragues lived in
Charlestown and Maiden until 1769, when Ma-
jor Joseph Sprague, sixth in lineal descent from
Edward Sprague, removed to Salem.

On Sunday, February 26, 1775, before the
struggles at Concord and Lexington, this same
Major Sprague was wounded by the British,
under Colonel Leslie, who were moving to seize
some cannon in the neighborhood of Salem.
The residents of Salem had raised a drawbridge
to prevent Leslie from crossing the North river.
Major Sprague owned a distillery and gondola
which lay in the river near by. It was while en-
deavoring to scuttle this craft, to prevent the
British from crossing the river, that he received
his wound, one of the first inflicted in the war of
Independence.

The great grandfather of the subject of this
sketch resided, and the grandfather was born, in
the house since doubly famous, as the first revo-
lutionary headquarters of Washington and as the
late home of Longfellow, and the place of the
great poet's death.

Mr. Sprague is the tenth in lineal descent
from John Rogers, of London, the martyr preb-
endary of St. Paul's and vicar of St. Sepulcre,
who was burned at the stake at Smithfield, Feb-
ruary 14, 1555. John Rogers, fourth in descent
from the famous divine, was the fifth president
of Harvard college.

James Leonard, who came to America in
1652 and settled at Taunton, Massachusetts, was
also an ancestor of Mr. Sprague. Leonard es-
tablished a forge at Taunton, which was in suc-
cessful operation two centuries later, and his
house, razed in 1851, stood at that time as one
of the oldest in the United States. The New
England Leonards were supposed to be descend-
ants of Leonard, Lord D' Acre, made a baron in
1297, for bravery shown at the time when the
Knights of St. John were compelled by the Sul-
tan of Egypt to evacuate St. Jean D'Acre, in 1291.

The Leonard family was one of the most
distinguished in the nobility of the United King-
dom, being descended in two lines from Edward
III., through his sons John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, and Thomas Plantaganet, Duke of
Gloucester.

John Johnson, who came to Haverhill, Mass-
achusetts, in the fall of 1657, was likewise an
ancestor of Mr. Sprague. He was murdered in
an Indian foray in 1708, and his wife was killed
at the same time, her infant child, however, be-
ing found alive at her breast.

Mr. Sprague also traces his descent from Adam
Barttelot, esquire of Brean, a knight, who came to
England with William the Conqueror, fought at
Hastings and received as share of the spoils of
conquest grants of land at Stopham, Sussex.
This estate is now owned by Sir Walter B. Bart-
telot, created a baronet by Victoria, June 1,
1875. The family had its representatives at
Cressy and Poictiers, subscribed for the defense
against the Spanish Armada in 1588; one of
them, Sir John, commanded at the capture of the
castle of Fontenoy, in France. Before the be-
ginning of the Sixteenth century and even to
this time, the family carries a castle in its crest.

Richard Bartlett, the first American represen-
tative of the family, came to this country in
1635, and settled at Newbury, Massachusetts.
Hon. Bailey Bartlett, of Haverhill, Massachu-
setts, maternal grandfather of Mr. Sprague, was
fifth in lineal descent from him. Mr. Bartlett
was a man of significance and prominence. He
was present when the Declaration of Indepen-
dence was first proclaimed; he was a member
of the last Congress holden at Philadelphia, and
of the first at Washington, and a member of the
convention which adopted the first constitution
of the United States.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

475

For forty years from 1789 this sterling 'Bartlett
was high sheriff of Essex county, Massachusetts,
being appointed by Governor Hancock, with the
unanimous approval of his council. He died
in 1830, leaving behind him eleven of a family
of fifteen children. One of these, Edwin Bart-
lett, was for many years United States consul
at Lima, Peru, and, returning, built at his country-
seat, "Rockwood" on the Hudson, a villa then
esteemed the handsomest in the United States.
The grandson of Bailey Bartlett, General Wil-
liam F. Bartlett, of Boston, was the youngest
general in the Federal army during the war of
the rebellion. He lost a leg at Yorktown ; at
Port Hudson he was severely wounded; at
Petersburg he led the brigade which assaulted
the lines, and when the mine was exploded every
officer of his staff save one was killed, his
brigade was almost annihilated, his wooden leg
shattered and he taken prisoner.

From an obituary notice of Joseph E. Sprague,
published at the time of his death, in 1852, is
extracted the following:

Mr. Sprague' s political writings during the existence of the
old parties, when he was actively engaged as one of the
prominent advocates of the Republican cause, were numer-
ous, able, and efficient. Few men probably were more in-
fluential or more efficient in carrying the measures which
they espoused. Of late years his contributions to the press
have been mostly biographical and historical, tributes of
affection from his warm heart to personal friend, or reminis-
cences from his well stored memory, enriched by drawing
upon a valuable and extensive correspondence relative to
public characters and public services of historic interest. We
do not think there is a man living who has made so many
and varied contributions of this character to our biographi-
cal literature as Mr. Sprague, and for his task he possessed
the amplest materials, not only in his thorough knowledge of
local and public events, but from his long and intimate asso-
ciation with our most active citizens and politicians, and con-
fidential correspondence with a large circle of eminent states-
men, whose friendship he prized among his most cherished
recollections.

In a notice which he wrote of his friend Tudge Story, he
stated that, for a quarter of a century, he was a member of a
social club of a dozen members of his political friends, which
met every week at each other's residences, all strangers being
invited to share their hospitalities. Here every political
question was discussed, and from these discussions arose
those measures which placed Massachusetts in the hands of
the Republican party, and subsequently elevated that ac-
complished and upright statesman, John Quincy Adams, to
the Presidency. Judge Story and Mr. Sprague were the
leading spirits of this political club.

The father and maternal grandfather of Joseph
W. Sprague for sixty consecutive years filled the
office of high sheriff of Essex county in Massa-
chusetts ; the father was the friend and corre-

spondent of John Quincy Adams, Daniel Web-
ster, Henry Clay, Edward Everett, and other
prominent statesmen of his day, and their letters
to him are now a cherished heritage of his son;
to these and many other of the foremost men of
the time — statesmen, judges, lawyers, scientists,
and literati, the hospitable home at Salem was
always open, and the benefit of such a social
atmosphere was enjoyed by the subject of this
sketch during those formative years when its
value was greatest.

Mr. Joseph W. Sprague had from his youth a
strong natural love for mathematics, mechanics,
chemistry, etc., and, as a boy, experimented in
the last named science to the sad detriment of
the carpets and furniture of his home. He pur-
sued his preparatory studies at Salem, entered
Harvard college in 1848, and was graduated, with
the degree of bachelor of arts, in 1852. This
was supplemented, in 1855, by the degree of
master of arts. After graduating in the academic
department Mr. Sprague pursued his scientific
studies for two years in the Lawrence Scientific
school of Harvard college, taking, in 1854, the
highest of the three classes of degrees conferred
upon graduates of that department. Before his
second graduation he was for a short time en-
gaged in making solar calculations for the United
States Nautical Almanac, and also for one year
acted as instructor in the highest mathematics,
in the engineering department of the Scientific
school.

Upon leaving the school Mr. Sprague entered
upon his chosen life work — that of a civil en-
gineer— and for many years was constantly em-
ployed in important and responsible places in
his profession. From the close of 1854 until
1862 he was most of the time engaged as en-
gineer on the enlargement of the Erie canal,
with a residence at Rochester; this work was for
a time interrupted by his making the preliminary
surveys for the Chesapeake and Albemarle
canal through a portion of the Dismal swamp.
In 1858, representing the board of trade of St.
Louis, Mr. Sprague investigated the obstruction
to the navigation of the Mississippi river, caused
by the piers of the railroad bridge at Rock
Island. The subject had already received the
attention of some of the most prominent en-
gineer experts in the country, who had made
careful computations to determine the extent to

476

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

which it affected the current in the channel.
Mr. Sprague, though a much younger man than
the engineers who had preceded him, pro-
nounced all their calculations wide of the mark,
and submitted others, which were later fully
verified and sustained by a board of engineers
appointed by the Government. A series of
articles on the subject was afterward published
by Mr. Sprague in a scientific journal, he having
been at an earlier day, as he was later more ex-
tensively, a contributor to current scientific litera-
ture.

From 1862 to 1866 Mr. Sprague was em-
ployed as a civil engineer on the Ohio & Missis-
sippi railroad, residing during two of those years
in Cincinnati and two in St. Louis.

In 1866 the Ohio Falls Car and Loco-
motive company, di which, as of its successor, a
full account is given at another page of this
work, located at Jeffersonville, Indiana, was seri-
ously embarrassed and Mr. Sprague was engaged
at the instance of Eastern stockholders, to exam-
ine into its condition. While making this inves-
tigation he was requested by the Louisville stock-
holders to assume charge of the works, and, as a
result of this request, was elected president of
the company in September, 1866. At that time
the stock of the company was selling at thirty
cents on the dollar; under Mr. Sprague's man-
agement a slow but steady appreciation of its
value began, until, in 1872, it reached par and
the business of the company yielded large profits.
During the five years preceding March 20,
1872, the works of the company were materially
enlarged; on the latter day they were swept out
of existence by fire. The losses being well cov-
ered by insurance, the building of the present
and splendid system of works, of which it is un-
necessary to speak at length in this place, was
commenced, carried well to completion and busi-
ness was prosperously resumed, when came the
panic of September, 1873, which proved so de-
structive to the business interests of the world.
This compelled the company to go into liquida-
tion and to dispose of its assets for the benefit of
its creditors.

In 1876 the works were purchased by the
Ohio Falls Car company, composed mostly of
the stockholders of the old corporation. From
the organization of this company Mr. Sprague
has been its president and its manager in prac-

tice as well as in theory. The works have been
completed, the business rendered largely profita-
ble, and so increased as to make the company
the largest concern in the United States manu-
facturing both freight and passenger cars, and
still the increase and improvement go on. Mr.
Sprague deserves the success the company has
won through his efforts, and is fortunate in see-
ing so rich a fruition. From the time of taking
charge of the works until 1879 Mr. Sprague re-
sided in Jeffersonville; since the latter date he
has made Louisville his home.

THE SHELBY FAMILY.

Evan Shelby was among the first settlers of
Clark county, and descended from that patriotic
family who distinguished themselves in the
French and Indian wars, and the Revolutionary
war. In giving a history of the Shelby family
it is necessary to go back to General Evan Shel-
by, who emigrated from Wales one hundred and
fifty years ago with his father, General Evan
Shelby, the father of Governor Isaac Shelby,
and settled near North Mountain, in the prov-
ince of Maryland. He possessed a strong mind
and an iron constitution. He was a great hun-
ter and woodsman. He was appointed captain
of a company of rangers in the French and In-
dian war, which commenced in 1754. During
the same year he made several expeditions into
the Alleghany mountains, and was afterwards ap-
pointed a captain in the provincial army for the
reduction of Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg. He
was in many severe battles in what was called
Braddock's war. He laid out the old Pennsyl-
vania road across the Alleghany mountains, and
led the advance of the army under General
Forbes, which took possession of Fort Duquesne
in 1758. His gallantry was particularly noticed
in the battle fought at Loyal Hanning, now Bed-
ford, Pennsylvania. In 1772 he removed to the
Western waters, and commanded a company in
1774 in the campaign under General Lewis and
Lord Dunmore, against the Indians on the
Scioto river; he was in the battle on the 10th of
Octobei, 1774, at the mouth of the Kanawha.
Near the close of the action he was the command-
ing officer, the other officer being killed or dis-
abled. In 1776 he was appointed by Patrick

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

477

Henry, then Governor of Virginia, a major in
the army commanded by Colonel Christian,
against the Cherokees. In 17.77 ne was aP'
pointed colonel of sundry garrisons posted on
the frontier of Virginia ; and a commissioner to
treat with the Cherokees on the Holstin. In
1779 he lead a strong expedition against the
Chickamauga Indians, on the Tennessee river,
which resulted in the destruction of their towns
and provisions, which occurred at the time Gen-
eral George Rogers Clark captured Governor
Hamilton at Vincennes. By the extension of
the boundary line of Virginia and North Carolina
in 1779, he was included in the latter State, and
was appointed brigadier-general by the Gover-
nor.

He left three sons : Isaac, James, and John.
Isaac, who was justly termed the hero of Kings
Mountain, and the first Governor of Kentucky,
was born on the nth day of December, 1750,
near the North Mountain, in the province of
Maryland, where his father and grandfather set-
tled after their arrival from Wales. In that early
day the country was annoyed during the period
of his youth by Indian wars. He obtained only
the elements of a plain English education. Born
with a strong constitution, capable of enduring
great privations and fatigue, he was brought up
to the use of arms and the pursuit of game.
He was lieutenant in his father's company in the
battle on the 10th of October, 1774, at the
Kanawha, and at the close of that campaign was
appointed by Lord Dunmore to command a
fort that was built where this battle was fought.
He continued in the garrison until it was dis-
banded in 1775, and served in different capacities
during the Revolution ; never shirking from
danger. When acting as commissary he furnished
commissary stores on his own reputation. The
Legislature of North Carolina voted him a sword
for his heroic conduct at the battle of Kings
Mountain, in the campaign of the fall of 1781.
He served under General Marion in 1782, and
was elected a member of the North Carolina
Legislature ; was appointed one of the commis-
sioners to settle the preemption claims upon the
Cumberland river, and to lay off the lands
allotted to the officers and soldiers of the North
Carolina line. He performed this service in the
winter of 1782-83, and returned to Boones-
borough, Kentucky, in April following, and was

married to the second daughter of Captain Na-
thaniel Hart, one of the first settlers of Ken-
tucky. He was a member of the early conven-
tions of Kentucky, held at Danville, for the pur-
pose of obtaining a separation from the State of
Virginia ; was a member of that convention
which formed the first constitution of Kentucky
in April, 1791, and in the following year was
elected the first Governor and was inaugurated
at Danville in a log-house, which was the first
State house for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
He was several times elected a presidential
elector ; was again elected to the executive chair
of Kentucky in 1812. His second administra-
tion commenced at the time that the Western
frontier was menaced by savage foes and by
British intrigues. The surrender of Hull and
the defeat of Dudley left the Michigan Terri-
tory in possession of the enemy. At this period
it required all the energies of his character, and
at the request of the Legislature of Kentucky
he organized a body of four hundred cavalry
volunteers, which he led in person at the age of
sixty-three, under General Harrison, into Canada
in the fall of 18 13, and but for the unauthorized,
though judicious step which he assumed upon
his own responsibility, of calling out mounted
volunteers, the favorable moment for operation
at this crisis of the campaign would have been
lost and the Nation deprived of the important
results of the victory of the Thames. His gal-
lantry and patriotism on that occasion was ac-
knowledged by the commanding general and
President Madison, and' in resolutions by the
Legislature of Kentucky, which recognized his
plans and the execution of them as splendid
realities, which exact our gratitude and that of
his country, and justly entitle him to the ap-
plause of posterity. His conduct was also ap-
proved by a vote of thanks from the Congress of
the United States, awarding a gold medal as a
testimony of its sense of his illustrious services.
In March, 181 7, he was selected by President
Monroe to fill the office of Secretary of War, but
his advanced age and his desire to remain in
private life induced him to decline the appoint-
ment. In 1 818 he was commissioned by the
President to act in conjunction with General
Jackson in holding a treaty with the Chickasaw
tribe of Indians, for the purchase of their land
west of Tennessee river. This was his last pub-

478

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

lie act. In February, 1820, he was attacked with
a paralytic affection, which affected his right side;
he died on the 18th of July, 1826, of apoplexy.
His mind remained unimpaired to his death.
He was not unprepared, for in the vigor of life he
professed it to be his duty to dedicate himself to
God, and to seek an interest in the merits of the
Redeemer. He had been for many years a mem-
ber of the Presbyterian church, and in his latter
days he was instrumental in erecting a church on
his own farm. He died at the advanced age of
eighty-six years.

James Shelby was also an officer of the Revo-
lutionary war. He was with his brother Isaac at
the battle of Kings Mountain. He was a brave
soldier. He never was married, and was killed
by the Indians near Crab Orchard, Kentucky,
while emigrating to Kentucky with a company of
emigrants. After the company had arrived at
Crab Orchard, the first place of safety, at the ter-
minus of the old wilderness road, some stock
was found missing, and James Shelby being a
brave, resolute man, returned for the purpose of
finding the missing stock, when he was killed.

John Shelby, also a brother of Isaac and
James, settled in Kentucky at an early day; was
the father of Evan Shelby, who was mentioned in
the first of this sketch.

Isaac Shelby, a brother of Evan Shelby, came
to Clark county about 1800, and settled on the
farm now owned by Joseph McComb's widow,
near what was then called Springville; was
elected the first clerk of the Clark circuit court
in 1816. He served as clerk previous to the
adoption of the State constitution, having pur-
chased the time of Samuel Gwathmey, who was
then clerk of the court, giving in exchange for
the clerk's office five hundred acres of land. He
was appointed inspector and muster master of
the Clark County Territorial Militia. He aided
materially in building up Charlestown. He was
the owner of considerable property, and was one
of the early merchants. He moved to Lafayette,
Missouri, in 1845, where he purchased a large
tract of land, and spent the remainder of his
days. He left several children, who now reside
in Missouri.

Evan Shelby came to Clark county at a very
early day; was one of the first settlers, and set-
tled near Springville, one mile south of Charles-
town, then a trading post. He came down the

Ohio river with Colonel Blue, who was moving
to the lower part of Kentucky. When he ar-
rived at Jeffersonville he was married on the boat
to Margaret, daughter of Colonel Blue, by Gen-
eral Marston G. Clark, then a justice of the peace
for Clarksville township. He was a man of fine
business capacity, and was the owner of several
fine tracts of land in Clark and Floyd counties.
Part of the city of New Albany is on the Shelby
land. He contributed largely toward improving
Charlestown; was one of the first surveyors of
Clark county; was one of the early judges of the
court for Clark county, and one of the first mer-
chants of Charlestown, having the reputation of
being strictly honest in all his transactions. He
left four children — William, John, Uriah, and
Margaret.

The sons were all business men, engaged in
merchandise in Charlestown. John moved to
Memphis, Tennessee, in 1842, and engaged in
merchandise there. Margaret, his only daughter,
was married to Newton Laughery, a nephew of
Colonel Laughery, who was killed on the Ken-
tucky shore of the Ohio, opposite to Laughery
creek on the Indiana side of the river. The
creek derived its name from what was called
Laughery's defeat. Evan Shelby has no children
now living. Evan Shelby, his grandson, and the
son of Uriah Shelby, is the present recorder of
Clark county. The widow of William Shelby
now resides on the farm that Evan Shelby first
settled on, and is known as the old Shelby home-
stead. The widow of Uriah Shelby resides in
Charlestown. William Shelby was in Captain
Lemuel Ford's company of rangers that was
raised for the Black Hawk war in 1832.

LUTHER FAIRFAX WARDER,

mayor of Jeffersonville, is among the most prom-
inent citizens of that place, and the remarkable
life here presented should be read as a lesson of
encouragement to the youth of the county.

Mr. Warder, although as yet but a young man,
represents to an eminent degree the true type of
a self-made man ; is an original thinker and pos-
sesses a versatility of talent no less remarkable
than his zeal, energy, enterprise, and persever-
ance, manifested in all his undertakings.

We find him beginning life under difficulties,

&o a/

<Z<C^L.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

479

when a mere youth, embarking in commercial
pursuits, and before attaining to the age of ma-
jority, although having an interest in slaves, rais-
ing a company for the Union army, which he
afterwards commands in person, and since the
war rising step by step, filling so many and
varied positions of honor and trust that to-day
he is regarded as the recognized representative
citizen of this portion of the State.

He was born in Fleming county, Kentucky,
December 2, 1840. His parents, Hiram K. and
Mary Wallingford Warder, were both natives of
Fleming county, that State, their father and
mother having emigrated from old Virginia, and
were among the early settlers of Fleming county,
in the pioneer days of Kentucky.

Mr. Warder's boyhood days and early life
were spent in the usual monotony and labor of a
farm life, on his father's farm, attending school
during the winter months. Kentucky at that
time was as famous for her imperfect school sys-
tem as she was for the chivalry of her sons and
loveliness of her daughters. The tedium of a
farm life with the poor advantages of an educa-
tion and opportunities for securing fame or for-
tune, grew irksome and he longed to leap into
the arena amid the conflicts of life and take his
chances in the intellectual and business world,
trusting to his own energy, perseverance and
judgment for success.

He, therefore, at the age of eighteen years,
left home and embarked in the dry goods busi-
ness with his uncle, George C. Richardson, at
McCarmel, in his native county, where he re-
mained but eighteen months. In i860 he
opened a branch store at West Liberty, Morgan
county, Kentucky, and ran it until 1861, at which
time the excitement incident to the war of the
Rebellion was at its climax. West Liberty was
a hotbed of secession, and had quarters for re-
cruiting soldiers for the Confederate army. Mr.
Warder's convictions were strongly in favor of
the maintenance of the Union, and finding this
community uncongenial he closed his store and
returned to his home, and being thoroughly im-
pressed with the necessity of prompt action, he
at once actively engaged in recruiting and organ-
izing company B, Sixteenth Kentucky infantry,
the first company of Union troops mustered in
from Fleming county. Captain Warder entered
the ranks without stripes or shoulder-straps —

a private not yet of age, but being vigorous, pat-
riotic, and full of enthusiasm for the old flag,
was soon promoted to the first lieutenancy of the
company and as such took part in the battle of
Ivy Mountain, on the Big Sandy, under the
command of the late lamented General William
Nelson, in whom he always entertained great
confidence and admiration. He was soon after
promoted to the captaincy of the company, and
was the youngest man in that company, and com-
manded it in person through all the campaigns
of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and until
the winter of 1863, when, on account of a loss
of his health he was forced to resign. He re-
turned home and not recover until the close of
the war.

On the 1 6th day of November, 1865, Mr.
Warder was married to Elizabeth A. Lewis,
daughter of Felix R. Lewis, of Jeffersonville,
Indiana, a member of one of the oldest families,
connected with the early settlement and history
of Jeffersonville.

Her grandfather, Major William R. Lewis,
was register of the land office at Jeffersonville,
for many years. Her mother, Patience Wood
Robinson, was born in Belmont county, Ohio,
and removed with her father, Ira Robinson, to
Jeffersonville at an early day. Mr. Warder re-
turned to his native county after his marriage,
and settled in Mt. Carmel, where he had first
commenced life on his own account, and carried
on the business of stock-raising and trading
until he received the appointment of assistant
assessor of internal revenue, appointed by An-
drew Johnson for the Ninth district of Ken-
tucky, which position he held until the district
was consolidated, leaving his district vacant; he
then removed to Flemingsburg, the county-
seat of the county, and engaged in the hotel
business, and in 1868 he received the appoint-
ment of internal revenue store-keeper, and was
placed in charge of an extensive bonded ware-
house, located at Flemingsburg, for the bond-
ing and safe-keeping of all the spirits manu-
factured by a large distillery there, and also
of the spirits made from the peach and
apple product of that region. This position he
held until all the goods were removed from bond
during the spring of 1870, when he was induced
to enter the political arena in the canvass for
county offices of that year. He received the

480

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

nomination of the Republican party for the office
of county clerk, and made the race against M.
M. Teager, the nominee of the Democratic party,
and an ex-Confederate soldier. The issue being
squarely made, both as to politics and the Blue
and the Gray, together with the prejudice against
the negro, who was then for the first time exercis-
ing the right of suffrage, combined to make it a
very exciting contest. The county being largely
Democratic, Mr. Warder was of course defeated.
He then concluded to take the advice of Horace
Greeley and "Go West," and having settled up
his business, he left his native heath in February,
187 1, but changed his first determination, and
located in Jeffersonville, where he engaged in
the railway service of the Jeffersonville, Madison
& Indianapolis railroad for two years. In 1872
he was elected to the common council of that
city, and re-elected in 1874.

He was admitted to the bar at Charlestown,
Indiana, in January, 1873, ancl 's now a practic-
ing attorney in Jeffersonville. In May, 1875, he
was elected mayor of the city of Jeffersonville,
and has been re-elected in May every two years
for the fourth time, making eight years in all.

Here it becomes necessary seemingly to refer
personally to the history of Mayor Warder's ca-
reer, as the present thriving, prosperous condition
of the city of Jeffersonville owes its existence of
prosperity to a great extent to the untiring indus-
try and energy he put forth in matters of public
concern. To better understand this we need to
say that Mayor Warder is a man of strong con-
victions and an original thinker, forming his
opinions entirely independent of popular senti-
ment. He never was known to truckle to opin-
ions contrary to his own judgment. Whatever
he believes to be right and just, or whatever policy
he believes to be best for the public interest he
advances boldly, regardless of consequences to
himself, and his bold, honest, and fearless devo-
tion to his own opinions gives him an influence
in the city of Jeffersonville that few men ever
possessed. To his great enterprise, vim, energy,
brains, will-power, and perseverance, is due the
present growth and prosperity of the city.

One of his first official acts after being elected
mayor of the city in May, 1875, when there was
only about six thousand of a population and so
many of the citizens out of employment, was to
offer and advance to the car works $20,000 out

of the city treasury to encourage them to again
start up, and it is a fact that but lor that $20,000
given by the city, the present car works would
have been abandoned, whereas to-day it is the
most important manufacturing institution around
the Falls of the Ohio, and gives employment to
two thousand men.

He next conceived the idea of establishing a
plate-glass manufactory in Jeffersonville. There
were at that time but three works of the kind in
the United States. One at New Albany, one at
Louisville, and one at St. Louis. And upon his
suggestion the city donated real estate costing
$20,000 to encourage the building of the Jeffer-
sonville Plate-glass works, and again when that
institution failed, after running two years, Mayor
Warder was bold and fearless enough to have the
city advance them $25,000 more on their bonds,
which saved them from bankruptcy, and to-day
it is a prosperous institution, employing two hun-
dred men and women.

So also when Captain B. S. Barmore's ship-
yard burned, leaving him so crippled he could
not rebuild without assistance, and Madison,
New Albany, and other points were offering him
inducements to go to them, Mayor Warder
stepped forward and made an offer of $10,000
for ten years without interest to rebuild in Jef-
fersonville. The proposition was strongly op-
posed by certain dyspeptic elements (which are
found in every large community) and the loan
was very bitterly opposed, but Mayor Warder's
positive character so strongly impressed the peo-
ple that it was eventually triumphant, and its
rapid growth and prosperity vindicates his ad-
ministration of affairs, his clear foresight, and
broad views in all municipal affairs of public
moment.

No previous administration of any mayor of
of this city has been marked by such boldness of
enterprise and breadth of view, and it is not
likely that sny successor will make a more bril-
liant record or erect so many lasting monuments
to his memory.

Says a prominent man of his city: "Mayor
Warder understands the magnitude of his office,
the scope of his influence, and the future welfare
of the city, and has handled none of its interests
with littleness or pigmy ideas." He further says:
"As long as the Ohio Falls Car works, the ship-
yard, and the glass works remain in the city of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

481

Jefferson ville they will stand as a public monu-
ment to the sagacity, foresight, and judgment of
his administration of municipal affairs."

He was also the advocate and prime mover,
and took an active part in the erection of the
present and first city hall built in Teffersonville,
and it is due to Mayor Warder to state that he
was in favor of, and strongly urged and advocated
its location on Market square, corner of Court
avenue and Spring street, and also wanted to
build a $40,000 or $50,000 hall, which would
have answered for many years to come, and been
a credit and an ornament to the city. He was,
however, defeated in both the style and location
of the structure. He then set about at once to
establish, endow, and beautify Market square for
a public park, and like all other enterprises re-
quiring the expenditure of money for public
development, comfort, and beauty, he encoun-
tered opposition, but only to overcome and be
successful, and Market square was duly and for-
ever dedicated as a public park, with sufficient
appropriation placed in the hands of a regular
committee of the council, of which the mayor is
chairman, to carry out and perpetuate the de-
sign, and in honor of Mayor Warder, his public
services and public enterprises, the common
council adopted as a suitable and proper testi-
monial to him the name of Warder Park.

In politics and religion Mayor Warder might
be termed in the true sense and meaning of the
word, a liberal. He was, in infancy and early
life, taught and trained by his father in the Jef-
fersonian school of Democracy, but on account
of his devotion and service in the cause of the
Union, he cast his first vote in 1863 for the Re-
publican party, and continued to act and vote
with that party until the memorable campaign
of 1872, when he declared for Mr. Greeley, in
whom he had great confidence, and for whom
he did valuable service in the contest. He still
believes that Mr. Greeley was not only one of
the greatest and truest and best men America
has produced, but that his nomination at that
time by the Democratic party did more to liber-
alize their party and restore it to the confidence
of the country than any other event in its history.
Since that time Mr. Warder has belonged to
that party, and been elected mayor the fourth
time as the nominee of the Democratic party,
always leading his ticket, and the last time

the only Democratic candidate on the ticket
who was elected, the majority being nearly
two hundred. He also took an active part in
all the campaigns, both State and National, ren-
dering much valuable service to his party.

He is a forcible speaker, and possesses rare
talent for organizing and conducting campaigns.
His energy and zeal when confronted by strong
opposition is the more earnest and aggressive,
and his political sagacity and personal popularity
combined, render him a potent factor in the
politics, not only of the city and county, but of
his Congressional district. In his administra-
tion of city affairs he has never been controlled
or influenced by politics, and has as many warm
friends among the Republicans as he has in his
own party.

He does not belong to any religious denom-
ination, has no creed or tenet in his views of
Christianity — believing that religion consists in
doing right and all the good we can for the hap-
piness of our fellow-men. His wife is a member
of the Episcopal church, to which he is a con-
tributor on her account. He has two daughters
and two sons, none of whom have been baptized
in any church.

The history of Mayor Warder's administration
would not be complete without allusion to the
removal of the county-seat. The county gov-
ernment had been located at Charlestown, twelve
miles northeast of Teffersonville, for sixty years,
and this township containing nearly one-half of
the population of the county the citizens naturally
desired the seat removed to this city. For many
years the project had been discussed, the transfer
asked for, but the political expediency had always
interfered. But Mr. Warder's bold and fearless
spirit, his devotion to the interests of the people,
were just the qualities necessary for a leader in
the removal. He was further supported by the
consciousness that removal would be eventually
to the interest of the entire community. Accord-
ingly, calling a meeting of the leading citizens,
he infused his dauntless spirit into the people, set
the ball rolling, and the contest commenced in
1876, and it was long, bitter, and fiery, and was
costly to both sides, the city expending $70,000.

The long fight entailed upon Mayor Warder
prodigious labor, and a constant stream of har-
rassing anxiety, which a man of less physical
health could not have endured. The result of

482

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

this movement is another enduring monument
to Mayor Warder's ability as a public executive,
and, with the other public-spirited acts of his,
help to link his name with the most important
events in the history of this beautiful and pros-
perous city.

JAMES WILLIAM THOMSON,

the present clerk of the city of Jeffersonville,
Indiana, is a descendant of the earlier settlers of
the Ohio Falls cities. His mother, Amanda
Shannon Thomson, was born in Louisville, Ken-
tucky, October 12, 1813. Her parents moved to
New Albany, Indiana, in 18 14, where they raised
a large family. Amanda Shannon was married
to William S. Thomson, November n, 1832.
Soon after marriage Mr. Thomson established a
residence in St. Louis, Missouri, and engaged in
mercantile pursuits.

James William Thomson, the subject of this
sketch, was born in that city June 4, 1835. In
the year 1844 the family returned to Jefferson-
ville, and the father shortly afterwards died in
Helena, Arkansas. The mother, Amanda
Thomson, applied herself to providing for the .
support and education of her four children, and
by energy and toil she succeeded in establishing
a lucrative notion and millinery business, by
which she acquired some property.

James William Thomson, who is now the only
survivor of the family, received a fair English
education at St. Aloysius college, Louisville,
Kentucky. In 1855 he became connected with
the clerical department of the Jeffersonville rail-
road. His services in this capacity were highly
appreciated by the management, which was man-
ifested by his rapid advancement in the line
of promotion. In 186 1, being an honest sup-
porter of the Government in its acts for the sup-
pression of the rebellion, he gained considerable
notoriety by informing the Government authori-
ties of the manner of smuggling contraband sup-
plies passing over that road into Kentucky, and
by aiding in the capture of the same. His action
in this matter, however, caused unfavorable criti-
cism by the officers of the railroad company,
which so conflicted with his ideas of duty as a
citizen of the United States that he at once sev-
ered his connection with the railroad company

and shortly afterwards enlisted in the volunteer
service and turned his whole attention to assist-
ing in raising and organizing the Forty-ninth Indi-
ana volunteer infantry. He was commissioned
second lieutenant by Governor Morton, October
18, 1861, was promoted and commissioned cap-
tain February 2, 1862. Being on duty in south-
eastern Kentucky about this time, he was selected
to command one hundred picked men, who,
together with a force under the command of
Colonel Carter, made a perilous and fatiguing
night march across the Cumberland mountains,
surprising and capturing a Confederate force,
which was encamped near Big Creek Gap, in
Tennessee, after which he with his regiment par-
ticipated in the capture of Cumberland Gap.
While encamped here he contracted malarial
fever, and being in the hospital at the time of
the evacuation of that place by the Federal forces
under command of General Morgan, he fell into
the hands of the Confederate forces. After lin-
gering for several weeks upon the verge of eter-
nity he recovered, was exchanged, and rejoined
his regiment at Young's Point, on the Mississippi
river, in April, 1863.

The campaign against Vicksburg was now
fully organized, and active operations were being
inaugurated. Captain Thomson was not per-
mitted to remain long with his regiment, he being
detailed April 28, 1863, by Brigadier-general P.
J. Osterhaus, then commanding the Ninth divis-
ion of Thirteenth army corps, and put upon his
staff as acting assistant adjutant-general and
chief of staff. In this campaign he participated
in the battles of Thompson's Hill, May 1st,
Champion Hills, May 16th, Black River Bridge,
May 17th, and the assault on Vicksburg, May
19th and May 21st. He was complimented for
meritorious conduct on the fields of Thompson's
Hill, Baker's Creek, and Black River Bridge by
General Osterhaus, in his official reports of those
engagements. After the surrender of Vicksburg
he, as acting assistant adjutant-general of the
Ninth division, took part in the movement which
resulted in driving Major-general J. E.Johnston's
command beyond Jackson, Mississippi, and the
capture of that place. He then returned to his
regiment, which was now in the Department of
the Gulf, under command of General Banks.
Here again he was at once ordered on staff duty
and accompanied the reinforcements to the Red

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

483

River campaign. His duties here were perilous
and arduous, he being placed in command of
the pickets and outposts of the retreating army
of General Banks, upon which the Confederate
forces, flushed with success, were vigorously
pressing. He was soon afterwards transferred to
Kentucky, where he remained until the close of
the war. When mustered out he returned to
Jeffersonville, where he has since lived. He was
married to Miss Jennie Campbell, August 22,
1866, and now lives in the central part of the
city in a modest home, his family consisting of a
wife and two children. He was elected clerk of
the city in May, 1879, and re-elected May, 1881,
by creditable majorities, considering that he is in
politics a consistent Republican, and the Demo-
cratic party having at that time a conceded ma-
jority of about one hundred and fifty votes. In
his present official relations to the city he has
made for himself a commendable record. He
has not only been efficient in his prescribed
duties, but has been earnest and aggressive in
introducing reforms and systems which are felt
and appreciated throughout the various depart-
ments. It is principally due to his earnest ap-
peals "that the city provide for itself a suitable,
safe, and convenient place of business, where its
books and valuable papers could be securely and
systematically kept," that steps were taken to
build the present city hall, which is a credit to
the city. He is a long sufferer from dyspepsia,
and delicate in constitutional vigor, which at
times makes him appear morbid and morose, but
when aroused is equal to the emergency, either
in business, politically or socially. This charac-
teristic the biographer is confident will be in-
stantly recognized by Captain Thomson's inti-
mate friends.

REUBEN DAILEY.

Reuben, son of Nicholas A. and Hannah
Dailey, was born in Tottenham, Middlesex coun-
ty, England, March 6, 1844. His maternal
grandfather was William Bird, an Englishman,
and shoemaker by trade, of a very religious
character, and composer of sacred music. Wil-
liam Bird's wife was Sarah Singleton. His
paternal grandfather was Michael Dailey, a native
of Queens county, Ireland, and a pronounced

Roman Catholic. Michael Dailey's wife was
Miss Gibson, a strong Protestant, who reared all
her boys in the Protestant faith.

Reuben was one of a family of eight boys and
one girl. Four of the boys reached maturity
with the sister. Each of the boys had peculiar
talents, all of which were duly encouraged, with
the exception of Reuben's. This was not be-
cause of any favoritism, but simply because the
bent of his mind was early directed towards the
ministry, and his father was violently opposed to
educating a preacher, believing implicitly that if
a man was called to preach the gospel he would
receive supernatural aid, and therefore education
was entirely superfluous; certainly a very errone-
ous opinion.

While at school he received such impressions
in favor of American citizenship that he became
ardently attached to his adopted country, and
frequently expressed his regrets that he had not
lived in the Revolutionary days that he might
have been a participator in the struggle for
American Independence.

Having come to this country in 1848, living
from that time variously at Cincinnati, Ohio;
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Newport, Ken-
tucky, up to the outbreak of the war, the time at
length came when his patriotic yearnings were to
be fully satisfied. And upon the very outbreak
of the war he was among the first to march to
the tread of war's dread alarm. He first joined
company G, Fifth Ohio infantry, but on account
of his youth, being only seventeen, he could not
pass muster, but managed by a tight squeeze to
get into company F of the same regiment, under
Captain Theophilus Gaines.

Although slender and without robust constitu-
tion, and very light of weight, he endured the
hardships of a soldier's life much better than
many men of large stature and symmetrical pro-
portions, whose very appearance would seem to
promise all the traits and abilities of true soldiers.
On the march, with but one exception, he never
failed to keep up, and in addition to his accou-
trements and rations, carried with him many hun-
dred miles a set of short-hand books. These he
studied often at a temporary halt, and continu-
ously in camp, determined to fit himself for a re-
porter by the time he should receive his honora-
ble discharge. A marked trait of his character
while a soldier was his devotion to the Christian

484

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

religion; and because of his determination in
this respect, he avoided cards, drink, profanity,
and all associations calculated to taint his char-
acter with immorality, and besides, frequently
tried to return good for evil, and he was
an object naturally of ridicule, and not infre-
quently imposed upon by swine before whom he
had unwisely cast his pearls.

During his three years and two months service
he was frequently employed as company clerk,
and was a good part of the time clerk to the
surgeon-in-chief of the brigade, and after being
wounded in the face, August 9, 1862, at the bat-
tle of Cedar Mount (Culpeper Court House),
he was detailed from the Armory Square hospi-
tal as a clerk to General Halleck.

During his stay in Washington he professed
religion in the Methodist church, with a request
for immersion, and was subsequently baptized
into the Christian church at Fulton, Cincinnati,
Ohio. He never had any fixed denominational
belief, regarding one branch of the Christian
church about as good as another, and for this
reason generally united himself with any church
most convenient.

From the age of fourteen he never relin-
quished the hope of being a minister of Christ,
and was, after the war, at Memphis, Tennessee,
before the deacons of the Baptist church for
license as a local preacher. His examination
was not satisfactory because he was indoctrinated
with the "soul-sleeping" doctrine, and did not
believe in everlasting punishment. It was under-
stood that he was to be instructed and set right
upon this point, when he was to receive license.
The delay was fatal. In the meantime his brother
John had sent him Theodore Parker's works,
which entirely changed his views, and to this
was added Paine's Age of Reason, which entirely
destroyed his faith in the supernatural nature of
the Christian religion, and left him a Unitarian
for awhile, but the bonds being loosed he at
length became totally skeptical as to any form of
worship whatever, believing that all man's
thoughts and energies should be devoted entirely
to the glorifying of man, to the developing of his
moral and intellectual faculties, and to a reason-
able, healthful, and decent enjoyment of every
faculty which man possesses.

Mr. Dailey is agnostic in his views, neither
affirming that there is a personal God, nor that

there is not, holding that the subject is too deep
for him, and that the more a man tries to obtain
a tangible idea of Deity, the worse and worse he
flounders, and furthermore, there is plenty of
room for the exercise of human intellect, and
human goodness in this world. "One world at
a time, and that world done well," is his motto.

Mr. Dailey entered the field as a journalist,
after being engaged some time as official short-
hand reporter of several courts-martial and mili-
tary commissions, as river reporter of the Mem-
phis Argus in April, 1865. When he entered
the army in 1861, he had not finished even a
common school education, having preferred to go
to work as an errand-boy or in any other capac-
ity; in Pitman's Phonetic Institute as a "devil,"
and also as a sales-boy in a dry goods store. But
there were two things he possessed, first, sense
of his lack of education, and second, industry
and energy. With a natural disposition to acquire
knowledge, as illustrated by the fact that when
but ten years of age, while working as errand-
boy in a shoe store in Pittsburg for fifty cents a
week, he attended night school, and again, after
partially recovering from his wound, and while
acting as nurse in Armory Square hospital, at
Washington, District of Columbia, he there
attended night school.

He began reporting without even having read
such well known works as Macauley's History of
England, Shakespeare, or any of the standard
poets; indeed, in his youth his parents had di-
rected his mind entirely to the reading of works
of religion, and forbade the reading of fiction of
any kind. Nevertheless, he possessed a natural
aptness of speech, remembered words well, and
being fond of elocution, frequently memorizing
choice compositions, which, with the reading of
Macauley's elegant diction, gave him the basis of
style which he now possesses as a writer, that
always makes him clear, perspicuous, and forci-
ble, and at times, when deeply interested, elo-
quent.

Mr. Dailey says he now often wonders how he
ever managed to hold a position as a reporter,
when he knows how very scant was his knowl-
edge of the English language ; how entirely un-
versed in the principle of the laws of his coun-
try he was at the time he fiist entered upon the
duties of river reporter. For this reason he
says no youth who has industry and determina-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

485

tion need fear of success, if to this he add a
life of virtuous habits and unbroken sobriety.

Mr. Dailey remained but three and a half
years in Memphis, and becoming disconnected
with the press there, first, because of the desire to
devote his energies to short-hand reporting, and
second, on account of prejudices which he had
inherited from his father, an old-line Aboli-
tionist of the most radical type. He was once
a magistrate in the city of Memphis, and also
held the position of United States Commissioner
by the appointment of Judge Trigg, but being a
pronounced radical, young and ardent, and ex-
pressing himself openly, the Memphis climate
was uncongenial, and he left there determined to
locate at Cincinnati and there seek a position on
the press as reporter. By a mere accident he
obtained a position on the Courier-Journal as re-
porter, and in January, 1869, was made the New-
Albany and Jeffersonville reporter for that excel-
lent paper.

By this time his constant reading began to
give him a good style of writing, and his industry
had not forsaken him. Mr. Norman, editor of
the Ledger, pronounced him the most energetic
reporter the Louisville papers ever had in New
Albany. His idea of reporting was to fill his
columns with personal as well as the other class
of news. Hitherto only generals, colonels, ma-
jors, or prominent citizens were "personaled,''
but Mr. Dailey insisted on making brief, spicy
personal notes of all classes of citizens. The
columns of all papers, especially Sundays, now
attest that his ideas were correct.

He read law for a period of eighteen months
in spare hours, and intended to make that his
profession, but in an evil hour he bought the
National Democrat at Jeffersonville, under the
hallucination that he could edit a paper and
study law at the same time. The paper took the
field entirely.

November 18, 1872, he started the Evening
News in a hand-bill form, about 6x 10, since which
time he has been engaged as a journalist, editor,
and publisher. The News was the first daily
paper published in Jeffersonville. The idea of
publishing small local dailies had not occurred
to publishers of weekly papers in small towns,
but since the establishment of the News by Mr.
Dailey, this idea has been adopted, and in all the
cities in Indiana of five thousand and upwards

there has grown to be little local dailies.
His success has always invited opposition, and
one after another his journalistic competitors
have fallen. In 1878 he publicly avowed
through his columns his skeptical views, which
excited the most intense opposition from the
churches, and a strong attempt was made to
crush him by the establishment of a rival Dem-
ocratic paper, but Mr. Dailey has thrived on op-
position, and the attempt to destroy him has only
developed him more, and made him a better
journalist and more careful economist, and dem-
onstrated that in his position he is impregnable.
He is a practical temperance man, but at one
time greatly excited the opposition of the tem-
perance people because he would not support the
crusade. He would be for prohibition if pro-
hibition would prohibit, believing the great good
to be derived from the banishment of intoxicat-
ing drink would more than compensate for the
infringement on personal liberty. On this ques-
tion an attempt was made to run him out, but
this likewise failed.

Mr. Dailey changed his politics when he left
the South, because he believed the party in
power to be corrupt, and because he fully be-
lieved all the objects of the war were secured,
and that to keep the Republican party in power
was to continue sectional questions in politics
and to materially injure the whole country. He
fully accepted the teachings of Jefferson, and
felt that the war demonstrated that even with
the most ultra States Rights doctrine, the people
were capable of preserving the Union against the
assaults of ambitious and disappointed men. As
to the war for the Union, he was for it in i860,
and would be for it again under the same cir-
cumstances. But he did not regard the people
of the South as traitors. They acted from the
same impulse the North did. The leaders were
to be blamed for their haste, but nothing was
more natural than for the slaveholders to fight to
sustain the institution that was to them a source
of such great profit and power. All the great
questions at issue before the war were open ques-
tions. They are closed now. They were ques-
tions on which men could honestly differ and
did differ, and the prowess and bravery of both
North and South in that unhappy struggle is the
common heritage of the great people who are
destined yet to accomplish greater things for

486

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

humanity, who are yet to demonstrate the capac-
ity of man for self government, whose contribu-
tions to the world of literature, science, juris-
prudence, and statesmanship, and fraternity will
eventually extinguish race distinction and ulti-
mate in the entire concord of all nations.

Mr. Dailey was married December 26, 1865,
to Ann Eliza Devinney, at Newport, Kentucky.
His wife is a native of Louisville, and the only
surviving child of Captain Madison Devinney.
She is thoroughly Democratic and Southern in
all her principles and sympathies. They have
two living children, Mahura and Clarence, a girl
and boy, aged respectively eleven and eight
years.

We do not know of a man in the cities of the
Falls who is more generous than Mr. Dailey.
While he is very exact in business, and said to be
the best and closest collector in Jeffersonville,
yet he will give more than his share to a charita-
ble purpose. No needy person has ever been
turned away from his door without receiving lib-
eral assistance. The moral character of Mr.
Dailey is as bright and pure as good people could
wish. He has never been addictpd to any vice,
and in this respect he is the peer of the best citi-
zens in and out of the church. In all of his
writings he has advocated sobriety, honesty, and
virtue, and has written hundreds of columns of
good moral advice to the rising generation, which,
if accepted, would make many young men happy
and prosperous. Indeed, all of his lectures con-
tain the best moral and wholesome thoughts, and
prove conclusively to the reader that his moral
character is without a blemish.

Mr. Dailey has many peculiarities, but none
of them can be justly regarded as offenses. His
greatest fault, or rather it might be called weak-
ness, is his misguided judgment in "affairs about
town." All of a sudden, like unto a clap of
thunder in a cloudless sky, he will startle the
politicians and the community by taking an ex-
traordinary and radical position upon some pub-
lic question. He will make an earnest and
brilliant fight for his own peculiar views of the
subject matter. In the meantime, those who do
not agree with him in his opinions have only to
convince him that he is wrong, which is not such
a hard task, as he is very susceptible to influence,
and he will turn his paper square around and
make as good a fight on the other side.

He is perhaps one of the most conscientious
men alive, and therefore easily imposed upon.
Let the most unprincipled scoundrel in the
country go to Mr. Dailey, and, with tears in his
eyes tell him that he is the victim of persecution,
and he will immediately gain his sympathy,
and he will write a card vindicating him from
any aspersions that may have been made upon
his character.

It is hard to find a man who has more energy
than Mr. Dailey, and with his energy he has
wonderful capacity. He has been known to put
in twelve hours at his business and then go home
and study until past midnight. This he would
do day after day and apparently suffer but little
from the exertion.

In summing up, Mr. Dailey is really a good
man and a man of much mental ability. He is
a stronger man intellectually than he has ever
had the credit for in Jeffersonville. For one
who has secured his education through such dis-
advantages it is something remarkable that he is
so accurately informed upon so many important
topics. There is hardly a subject that he cannot
converse upon intelligently.

DR. H. H. FERGUSON.

Colonel Henry Ferguson was the only child of
William Ferguson, who came from the Highlands
of Scotland, and was one of the early settlers of
Washington county, Pennsylvania, where Henry
was born on the first day of January, 1804. He
lived with his father until his twenty-third year,
at which time he was married to Nancy Young,
from which union eight children were born, six
sons and two daughters. At an early age he
manifested a great liking for the military, and was
early enrolled among the Pennsylvania militia;
his proficiency gave him rapid promotion and he
soon received a commission (from the Governor
of Pennsylvania) as colonel of his regiment,
which he held until 1843, at which time he left
Washington county, Pennsylvania, and removed
to Clark county, Indiana, and purchased land
and engaged in farming at the place where
Henryville now stands. He took an active part
in the building of the Jeffersonville, Madison &
Indianapolis railroad, and he was for a number
of years paymaster and general agent of the

' XyyO1^^

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

487

road. He laid out the town of Henryville and
called it Morristown, but there being another
town of the same name in the State the name
was afterwards changed by the board of county
commissioners, and in honor of him was called
Henryville. He was always active in advancing
the general welfare and prosperity of the com-
munity, making liberal donations to all enter-
prises of merit. He was for many years one of
the influential and energetic citizens of the
county, noted for his generosity, hospitality,
high sense of honor, and other good qualities.

Dr. Henry H. Ferguson, the subject of the
present sketch, was his youngest child, and was
born at Henryville, Clark county, Indiana, on
the 26th day of May, 1845, and has continued
to live there, except at short intervals, to the
present. He received his education principally
at the Barnett academy, in Charlestown, under
the instruction of the principal, Mr. Z. B. Stur-
gus, a justly celebrated educator. His course of
study preparatory to entering Hanover college
was almost completed when the death of his
father, in November, 1860, necessitated his leav-
ing school ; he was then only fifteen years of
age. He was now thrown upon his own re-
sources. During the winter of 1861, at the age
of sixteen, he commenced the study of medicine,
and attended lectures in Louisville the following
winter, after which he stood a satisfactory exam-
ination and was appointed a medical cadet in
the United States army, and stationed in a hos-
pital at Louisville, Kentucky.

He continued to hold this position for two and
one-half years, during which time he attended a
second course of lectures and graduated as a
doctor ol medicine at the Kentucky School of
Medicine, in the spring of 1865. On the 16th
day of October, 1865, he opened an office and
commenced the practice of medicine at Henry-
ville, his native town, not yet being twenty-one
years of age. During the winter of 1866-67 he
again attended a course of lectures and gradu-
ated at the Medical University in Louisville.
After practicing five years he visited the city of
New York and for six months devoted himself
to the diligent study of his profession at the
Bellevue Hospital Medical college, at which
celebrated institution he also graduated. During
his stay in that city he took private courses of in-
struction in medicine and surgery from some of

the most eminent men of the profession now
living, Frank Hastings Hamilton, Lewis A. Sayer,
and Austin Flint. After his return from New
York city he continued to do a large and suc-
cessful practice, during which time he success-
fully performed many of the most difficult opera-
tions known to surgery. He performed success-
fully the operation for strangulated hernia on a
man sixty-five years of age, and when the patient
was in a condition of collapse, it being the only
successful operation of the kind ever performed
in the county. He continued in active practice in
a constantly enlarging field until 1878, when he
was nominated and elected treasurer of the county
over three competitors for the office, and in
1880 he was re-elected to the same office by the
largest majority of any one on the ticket. He
is now discharging his duties as treasurer.

WILLIAM GOFORTH ARMSTRONG.

William G. Armstrong was born February 4,
1797, at Columbia, Ohio, six miles above Cin-
cinnati. He was the son of John and Tabitha
Armstrong. John Armstrong, his father, was
the son of Thomas and Jane Armstrong, and
was born April 20, 1755, in New Jersey.
Thomas Armstrong was born in the Parish of
Donahada, in the county of Tyrone, in the
north of Ireland. His father's name was John
Armstrong.

Jane Armstrong, wife of Thomas and mother
of John (father of William), was born in the
county of Derry, north Ireland. Her father's
name was Michael, the Duke of Hamilton.
Alderman Skipton, of Faughnvalle, was the
grandfather of Jane Hamilton, who married
Thomas Armstrong. Thomas and Jane Arm-
strong came to the United States about the year
1754, and died at Northumberland, Northum-
berland county, Pennsylvania.

Tabitha, mother of William G. Armstrong
and wife of John Armstrong, was the daughter
of William and Catharine Goforth. She was
born February 27, 1774.

William Goforth, father of Tabitha, was born
April 1, 1 73 1, and was the son of Aaron Go-
forth, who came from Hull, in Yorkshire, Great
Britain, at an early period. He was married to
Mary Pool, daughter of Nathaniel Pool, by

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

whom he had five children — Tabitha, Elizabeth,
Nathaniel, Mary, and William. On the 18th
day of May, 1760, William Goforth was married
to Jemima Meeks, daughter of Michael Degree,
a French. Protestant, who fled from France at
the persecution of Paris. She was born Febru-
ary 26, 1744.

Nathaniel Pool was the son of John Pool,
and was born in Bristol, England, and came to
America in the next ship that arrived after Wil-
liam Penn, at which time two houses were be-
gun, but only one finished, where the city of
Philadelphia now stands.

William Goforth, father of Tabitha, who mar-
ried John Armstrong (father of William G.), was
one of the framers and signers of the original
constitution of the State of New York, and was
an early settler of the West, having reached Co-
lumbia, on the Little Miami, early in 1790. He
was soon after appointed a justice of the peace
for the county of Hamilton, being the first ap-
pointed magistrate in that county, and afterwards
was made one of the judges of the Territorial
courts of the Northwest Territory, being commis-
sioned by President Washington.

At the commencement of the Revolutionary
war, John Armstrong having gone to Philadelphia
to dispose of a load of wheat for his father,
found that recruits were enlisting for service in
the United States, and on his return home told
his father that with his approbation he intended
to enlist as a private soldier. The next morning
he joined the army at Philade'phia. In a short
time he was made sergeant, and from September
11, 1777, to the close of the Revolution he
served as a commissioned officer in various
ranks. On the disbanding of the army he was
continued in the service ; was commandant at
Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) in 1785-86 and from
1786 to 1790 of the garrison at the Falls of the
Ohio, at Fort Finney, afterwards called Fort
Steuben. In the spring of 1791 he returned to
Philadelphia to recruit his force with a view to
the approaching campaign in the Northwest,
under command of Colonel Josiah Harmar, and
reached Fort Washington (now Cincinnati) in
August of that year, and marched with the main
body of the troops against the Indians. He
was afterwards with General St. Clair in his cam-
paign, and was in command at Fort Hamilton
until the spring of 1793, when he resigned. Dur-

ing the Revolution and Indian wars he served a
period of seventeen years, was in thirty-seven
skirmishes, four general actions, and one siege,
among which were the battles of Stony Point,
Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth, and the siege
of Yorktown in Virginia. While stationed at
the Falls of the Ohio at Fort Finney, afterwards
called Fort Steuben, where the city of Jefferson-
ville, Indiana, now stands, he and his little force
in the garrison rendered essential service in pro-
tecting the inhabitants of Kentucky from the
depredations of the savages. At one time he,
by his fortitude and exertions, saved the garrison
at Vincennes from starvation. While stationed
at Fort Finney, with a view of preventing the
Indians from crossing into Kentucky, he built a
block-house at the mouth of Bull creek, which
commanded'a view of their crossing places at
Eighteen-mile island bar and Grassy flats, which
were fordable at a low stage of the Ohio river.

While his men were engaged in building the
block-house, he with his tomahawk girdled the
timber on about three acres of land on top of
the hill opposite the Grassy flats, and planted
peach seeds in the woods. When the first settlers
came to the Illinois Grant, and landed at the
" big rock," designated as their landing place, in
the fall of 1795, after Wayne's treaty, they found
the timber dead and fallen down, and the peach
trees growing among the brush, and bearing fruit.
The settlers cleared away the brush, and for
many years this woody orchard furnished them
with fruit. On the 20th of February, 1790,
General Harmar notified Colonel Armstrong
that he was to make a tour among the Western
tribes of Indians, and from his memoranda,
found among his papers, it seems he was at the
Falls of the Ohio February 27, 1790; at Vin-
cennes, March 18, 1790; and at Fort Washing-
ton (now Cincinnati) July 28, 1791. He made
an extensive trip to St. Louis, and through Illi-
nois, Indiana, and Ohio, and was gone several
months with only two friendly Indians as his
companions. This was a tour of great hazard
and exposure of constitution. The notes taken
by him of the country, the quality of the soil,
and water courses, are evidence he anticipated
that ere long the country would be peopled with
white men. Soon after his retirement from the
army he was appointed treasurer of the North-
west Territory. His first commission was dated

Itl-'mJcCZ' . L>72!WiW^

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

489

September 3, 1796, another bears date Decem-
ber 14, 1799. He served as one of the judges
of Hamilton county, and many years as magis-
trate at Columbia, where he resided from 1793
to 1814, when he removed to his farm opposite
Grassy flats, in Clark county, Indiana, where he
died February 4, 1816, after a confinement of
five years and twenty-four days with rheumatism,
during which time he was unable to walk unless
supported by persons on either side of him. He
was buried on that farm, where a monument
marks his last resting place. John Armstrong
#as married to Tabitha Goforth, January 27,
1793, and had five daughters — -Ann, Catharine,
Mary Gano, Eliza, and Viola Jane, and three
sons, William Goforth, Thomas Pool, and John
Hilditch.

The country was sparsely settled and ad-
vantages for an education being few, William
Goforth Armstrong had but few opportuni-
ties for going to school, and only attended
school nine months, and three months of that
time walked three miles and crossed the Ohio
river opposite Columbia (where his father lived)
in a canoe every day, and as he came home at
night gathered hickory bark in order that he
might have light to study by at night.

At an early age he was placed in the clerk's
office at Hamilton, Ohio, with Colonel Reilley,
and apprenticed to him for three years, the first
year receiving his board and two suits of plain
clothing and $5 in money, the second year his
board and clothes and $10, the third year $15
and his board and clothing. He went to the
office at 6 o'clock in the morning, built fires,
cleaned the office, and did such work as he was
called upon to do until six in the evening. After
that he was permitted to use his time as he
thought best, and he improved it by read-
ing and studying until late into the night, and
being anxious to learn he acquired not only a
good knowledge of reading, writing, and mathe-
matics, including surveying, but of the law and
business forms generally, and became very care-
ful and systematic in his business habits. After
leaving Hamilton he assisted his father in the
management of his business and of his farm,
and on the 22d of April, 1817, married Deborah
Halley, daughter of Samuel Halley and Margaret
Halley, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and settled at Beth-
lehem, Clark county, Indiana, and cleared up a

farm near that place, and at the same time
opened a store, where he sold such goods as were
needed by the people in that vicinity. He still
pursued his studies, and soon became noted for
his knowledge of law, and being a man of fine
judgment was often applied to by his neighbors
for counsel in their business affairs. This soon
made him acquainted with the people, and in a
few years they elected him to a seat in the House
of Representatives, where he served eleven years,
and two years in the Senate. This was between
the years 1822 and 1840.

He was a stanch and firm Whig, and Clark
county was strongly Democratic, but being a man
of fine social qualities and of a high order of
talent, and thoroughly informed as to the wants of
the people whom he represented, they felt that he
was the person to look after their interests, and
knowing that he would do all in his power to
serve their welfare in an honorable manner, they
were willing to trust him.

He remained at Bethlehem until August io,
1841, when he moved to Jeffersonville, Indiana,
having been appointed receiver of public moneys
in the land office for that district by President
Harrison, but he only held the office until the
following March, when he retired and com-
menced merchandizing, and continued at that
business up to 1847, when he and others became
interested in building a railroad from Jefferson-
ville to Indianapolis. He threw all his energies
into this enterprise, and after a severe struggle,
succeeded in getting a charter for what was
known as the Jeffersonville railroad. This char-
ter is very liberal, and grants privileges which
were not given to any other road in the State of
Indiana, and which have been of very great ad-
vantage to this company. At the time the
building of the Jeffersonville railroad was com-
menced, there were not many persons of wealth
around the Falls of the Ohio, and capitalists had
not then begun to seek investments in that class
of securities, and it was difficult to raise means
for that purpose, but Mr. Armstrong had studied
well the geography of the country, and knew
that this road, if built, would be an important
connecting link between the North and South,
and although the way looked dark, and those
associated with him in the enterprise often gave
up in despair, he never lost faith in the work
&ut pushed steadily forward, and by his energy,

49°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

perseverance, hard work, and management,
finally accomplished the great work which he
had undertaken, and in 1852 the road was com-
pleted, and trains ran through to Indianapolis.

It is but simply justice to say that he deserves
a great deal of praise for the energy, persever-
ance, tact, and financial skill, as well as for the
hard work he did in building this road, and the
fine business which has been done over this line,
and the cheapness with which it can be operated,
and the important connections which it makes,
show that the arguments which he used and the
plans which he pursued with such determination
were good ones, and show what a clear-headed,
far-seeing man he was. He was the first president
of the Jeffersonville railroad, and was the presi-
dent until 1853, when he retired, after having
given several of the best years of his life to this
work. From this time until his death, which was
on the 29th of July, 1858, he devoted himself to
his private business and to his family, but always
doing all he could to advance the interests of
the community in which he lived, serving in the
city council of Jeffersonville, and aiding by his
wise counsels and clear head in developing this
city.

WILLIAM KEIGWIN.

William Keigwin came from Norwalk, Con-
necticut, in 18 18, settling at Jeffersonville, where
he opened a blacksmith-shop on Market, between
Mulberry and Clark streets. The house which
he then built still stands. At his shop he made
the first plows and axes ever made in the town,
and probably in the county. When Westover,
the first lessee of the penitentiary, relinquished
charge of it, Mr. Keigwin leased it, and con-
tinued to control it for eight years. He then went
into the Jeffersonville Insurance and Banking
company as president and secretary. After
leaving this post he devoted the remainder of his
life to the care of his property in Jeffersonville
and Louisville, removing to the latter city in
1844. There he died April 30, 1861. His
wife, whose maiden name was Jane Christy, sur-
vived until December, 1876.

The children of the couple were: William
Keigwin, who went to Texas in 1844, and there
died; he was a member of the Legislature and
clerk of the court in that State. Mary Keigwin,

the oldest daughter, married John Woodburn,
and is now deceased. Eliza married Judge
Read, of Jeffersonville, and is also dead. Mrs.
Rebecca Keigwin Meriwether; Colonel James
Keigwin, who raised and commanded the Forty-
ninth Indiana volunteer infantry during the late
war, and now lives in Jeffersonville; Ephraim
Keigwin, now and for years a magistrate in Jef-
fersonville; Mattie, deceased wife of Otto Ver-
hoeff; Rev. Henry C. Keigwin, pastor of the
Presbyterian church of Orlando, Florida; Rev.
A. N. Keigwin, pastor of a Presbyterian church
in Wilmington, Delaware; Susan Keigwin Elfr
ott, of Louisville; Emma Keigwin Webster, of
Louisville, and Harriet, who died in infancy.

WILLIAM H. FOGG

was born in Manchester, England, on the 24th
day of June, 1816. He left home in 1836 to
visit the United States, with a boy's thirst for ad-
venture and love of travel. He arrived in Phil,
adelphia a stranger in a strange land, friendless
and alone. He lived in that city about eighteen
months, and learned the trade of a machinist
with a Mr. Brooks. He finally left Philadelphia
for the Far West, and was about three weeks
making the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
Arriving at Pittsburgh he fell in company with
an old gentlema n named Leavenworth, of the town
of Leavenworth, Indiana, on his way home with
a stock of dry goods, and engaged with him to
work his way down the dry bed of the river with-
out pay, so anxious was he to see and reach the
great Far West. It took thirty-three days to go
from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, working sixteen to
eighteen hours per day. Mr. Fogg became a
membei of Mr. Leavenworth's family, staid with
him several years and made several trips on store
boats for him, running from Louisville to New
Orleans, the trip consuming usually about nine
months in the year. Subsequently he engaged
in steamboating, and was in that capacity some
eight or nine years, mostly as clerk and assistant
pilot, but being of a handy turn could lend a
helping hand in any capacity — mate, assistant
engineer, etc., — in fact, could fill temporarily any
situation on a steamboat.

Mr. Fogg was married to a Miss Morgan, of
Leavenworth, Indiana. Her father was clerk of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

49 »

the county of Crawford, Indiana, which position he
had held for twenty one years. After a year of mar
ried life he came ashore and was engaged as clerk
and financier of the American foundry, New
Albany, which position he held for eight years.
On the rechartering of the bank of the State of In-
diana a branch was located at Jeffersonville,
of which Mr. Fogg was elected cashier, and
moved to Jeffersonville in the severe cold winter
of 1857. At that time there was no railroad be-
tween New Albany and Jeffersonville, and he was
obliged to walk from his home to Jeffersonville
and back all through the severe winter. He
staid in the branch bank until the year 1865,
when becoming pleased with the National bank-
ing system he organized a company and estab-
lished the First National bank of Jeffersonville;
was elected cashier and has held the position
ever since. While living at New Albany he
served two years in the city council, and has
served in the same position for two or three
terms in the city of Jeffersonville. In 1866 he
was elected a member of the board of trustees of
the town of Clarksville, and shortly afterwards was
elected secretary of the board, which position
he still holds. Mr. Fogg has in his possession
the old record book of the board, which is a rare
and valuable relic of ye holden times, dating
back to the year 1780.

Mr. and Mrs. Fogg joined the First Presbyte-
rian church in New Albany about the year 1854,
under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Stevenson.
After his removal to Teffersonville he joined the
First Presbyterian church in that city, and was
unanimously elected a ruling elder, which office
he continues to hold, as well as being a member
of the common council. He also served for a
term or two on the board of school trustees.

In politics Mr. Fogg is a Republican of the
strictest sort, serving one term as a member of
the State central committee. Mr. Fogg is a man
well known, beloved and respected by all who
know him; as he himself says, never without a
friend, or a dollar to divide with the needy and
those in distress. His life has been an eventful
one, full of interest, and he is in the strictest
sense of the word a self-made man. Some thir-
teen years ago he made an extended tour of
Europe. His description of what he saw and
heard would fill a volume. Mr. Fogg, from his
good habits, being a strict temperance man, is

well preserved for one who has lived so long a
sedentary life.

CAPTAIN JAMES S. WHICHER,

the present treasurer of Jeffersonville, Indiana,
was born June 8, 1836, near Pontiac, Livingstone
county, State of Illinois, his father having re-
moved to that State from Indiana in 1834,
becoming a squatter sovereign on the pub-
lic domain. The captain came to Indiana in
1 85 1 ; enlisted as a private in the Second In-
diana battery, which was organized at Rising
Sun, Ohio county, and was mustered into the
service August 14, 1861, at Indianapolis, by
Lieutenant-colonel T. J. Wood, United States
Army. After the battery was fully organized and
equipped it was ordered to report to General
Hunter, at St. Louis, for duty in the West, in
which department it remained until the close of
the war, participating in all the battles that took
place up to and including the last fight at Nash-
ville, Tennessee, during which time the subject
of this sketch never missed a day's duty or a
single engagement. He was promoted succes-
sively from private to corporal, sergeant, quarter-
master-sergeant, orderly-sergeant, second lieu-
tenant, first lieutenant, and captain, and was mus-
tered out of the service at the close of the war>
July 3, 1865. In 1862 he was appointed drill-
master of artillery in General Solomon's brigade.
In 1863 General John McNeil appointed him
judge advocate of the District of Southwest Mis-
souri, headquarters at Springfield. The battery
having been ordered to Fort Smith, Arkansas,
he was released from duty as judge advocate.
Arriving at Fort Smith Colonel Cloud, com-
manding the post, appointed him post-adjutant,
which position he filled until the organization of
the District of the Frontier, General John M.
Thayer commanding, when he was appointed
judge advocate of the district, headquarters at
Fort Smith. He participated in the march and
skirmishes on the road to reinforce General Banks
on Red river, and was then transferred to the De-
partment of the Cumberland. After the fight at
Nashville he was put in command of Fort Mor-
ton, at which post he remained until the close of
the war. - On his return he went into the grocery
Business at Martinsville, Morgan county, but his

492

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

health having broken down was compelled to quit
business — was bed-fast for eighteen months; re-
covered sufficiently to come to Jeffersonville,
broken in health and purse; obtained employment
in the Quartermaster department, afterwards ap-
pointed deputy postmaster by Major A. W. Luke,
and elected city treasurer on the Republican
ticket May 3, 1 881, to serve two years from
September 1, 1881.

SETTLEMENT NOTES.

Richard Pile came originally from Virginia,
and settled in Kentucky with the foremost pio-
neers. About the year 1798 he removed to In-
diana, then included in the Northwest Territory,
and made a home at the long since abandoned
town of Springville. Before 1802 he came to Jef-
fersonville, and was made one of the trustees to
sell and convey title to lots in the town. He was
a prominent man in the affairs of the new coun-
try, but lived to see only a beginning made in
redeeming the wilderness and fitting it for man's
habitation, his death occurring in 1816. Two
of his children, Mrs. Margaret Powell and B. C.
Pile, are now living, and are almost the only re-
maining links connecting the past with the pres-
ent. B. C. Pile was born in Jeffersonville in
1805, and has witnessed the slow growth from a
town whose streets were encumbered with trees,
or a simple path in the forest, to a city of more
than ten thousand population, with paved streets,
and the habitation of a great number of working
men who find employment in the busy manufac-
tories of the present day. Mr. Pile had few op-
portunities for mental culture in his early life,
but such as he had were well improved. A strong
mind and vigorous constitution has carried him
through the years of toil and privation between
that day and this. Had he enjoyed the privileges
the youth of this generation possess, his would
have been one of master minds of his day and
generation. His life has been spent at hard
labor at what his hands could find to do, in the
forest, the brick-yard, and elsewhere, the last
business he engaged in being a stone-ware pot-
tery, where he labored ten years. He has en-
joyed the confidence of his fellow-townsmen,
and has served as mayor of the city, besides
holding minor places of trust.

Davis Floyd was an officer under General
George Rogers Clark, and achieved distinction
in the border Indian wars. He became one of
the first settlers here, but the exact date of his
arrival is unknown. He probably settled here
before the beginning of the present century, as
he was one of the trustees of the town of Jeffer-
sonville at its inception. He was a leading citi-
zen, and prominent in early affairs. At the time
of Burr's conspiracy, Major Floyd, with others,
was brought before the court at Jeffersonville
charged with being an instigator in an enterprise
against the Spanish possessions in America, but
on trial nothing could be proven to tarnish his
fair fame, and he was acquitted of the charge.
His home in Jeffersonville was on the lot now
owned by John Adams, where he died. He was
buried in a corner of the lot, near an alley, and it
is doubtful if his grave can now be found. Major
Floyd kept one of the first ferries across the Ohio
at this place. He was licensed to keep tavern
here in 1801.

Among the early school-teachers was Charles
R. Waring, a man of considerable education ob-
tained in the East. His school was held at
various places at different times, and was well
patronized in those days. He lived on the lot
now owned by Charles Friend, on Front street,
between Clark and Mulberry, and there he died,
and was buried on the same lot.

John Fischli, a man of. some means, came
here early, and became the owner of five hun-
dred acres of land north and west of the city.
He was energetic in pushing various enterprises,
among others the Jeffersonville canal, which
never succeeded, and could not on the plan pro-
posed, though had the matter been engineered
right and brought to a successful issue it would
have proved of much more benefit than the one
constructed on the opposite of the river.

Among early merchants the name of Rhoder-
ick Griffith is remembered as a dealer in the
articles kept in those days. He had a store on
Front street, near Clark.

Alexander Thomas and John Wilson built a
large brick house on the corner of Mulberry and
Front streets in 1813, for use as a store. The
brick for this building was made on the same
square, and near by. This old building is now
owned by the heirs of Judge Reed.

Charles Fuller was a member of the Fourth

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

493

Massachusetts regiment, which came to the West
to assist in protecting the frontier. He partici-
pated in the battle of Tippecanoe, and afterwards
came here and received a license to keep tavern,
which was located on the corner of Clark and
Front streets. This place was once known as
"buzzard's roost," and was then a notorious den.
Mr. Fuller became a victim of the seductive
influences of his own bar, and died from the
effects of drink.

Basil Prather had a store on the corner of
Mulberry and Front streets in 1813.

Governor Thomas Posey was the last of the
Territorial Governors. He came to Jeffersonville
in 1813 or 1814, and built a house on lot No. 1
of the old town. His dwelling was considered
a good one in that day. The lower story was of
brick, and the upper a frame. It had a porch
sixty or seventy feet in length, and was well ap-
pointed. The Governor went to Harrison county
after the election for the first State Governor,
which was decided in favor of his competitor,
Jennings. Governor Posey was commissioned
Territorial Governor after Harrison received the
appointment of general of the Western armies.
He came originally from Tennessee.

Charles Sleed was one of the pilots of the
Falls as early as 1810. He married into the
Bowman family. A brother, Reuben Sleed, was
also a pilot. He went to New Orleans during
the War of 18 12, was present at the battle of
New Orleans, and never after heard from.

Andrew Gilwick was here early, and was a
magistrate many years. He was by trade a tan-
ner, and had a yard in Jeffersonville.

James Fisher married a daughter of one of the
Bowmans and kept an early tavern here. He is
said to have built the first three-story building
erected in the State.

Peter Bloom, a Pennsylvania German, lived
below the cement mill, at the Falls. He was
killed in Jeffersonville at an early celebration of
Independence day, by the bursting of a cannon
he was firing.

Thomas Pile was also among the first to settle
here, some time about 1798. He was a river
man, and had charge of flat-boats trading with
New Orleans.

William Patrick was a ferryman, laborer, and
at the time of his death a Falls pilot. He also
came with the early settlers.

The Ingram family, James and Nancy, came
from Kentucky to Jefferson county, Indiana, in
1816, and there raised a family of three sons and
two daughters. William Ingram came to this
county in 1841, and located in Jeffersonville in
1864, where he died in 1871. He lived some
years in Charlestown, where he held the office of
sheriff and recorder. James N. Ingram served
one year in the Mexican war, participating in the
battle of Buena Vista. In 1848 he came to Jef-
fersonville, where he has since lived. Before the
breaking out of the civil war he was captain of a
militia company, most of the members of which
entered the service. In 1862 he was commis-
sioned colonel in the Eighth Indiana Legion,
which was organized for home protection at the
time General Kirby Smith made his raid into
Kentucky, but soon after resigned his commis-
sion. He has served as member of the city
council several years, and is now serving his
nineteenth year as school trustee.

Ebenezer Morgan came from Connecticut to
Utica in this county, in 1820 or 1821. A few
years later he removed to Jeffersonville, and en-
gaged in mercantile business, keeping a general
stock of everything from a goose yoke to a
second-hand pulpit. Here he reared a family
consisting of two sons and two daughters. The
eldest son, John K., was a river pilot for a num-
ber of years, and then became connected with
the ferry, continuing there ten or twelve years,
when he moved to the country and died in 1856.
His son, William H. Morgan, has been township
trustee for five years, retiring from that office the
spring of 1882. The wife of John K. Morgan
was Indiana C. Bowman, daughter of Captain
William Bowman. Of the remaining children
of Ebenezer Morgan, Mary married Charles
Keller, and after his death John H. Anderson.
Sarah married Sylvester P. Morgan, member of
another family of the same name. William A.
was a cripple and died when forty-two years of
age.

S. H. Patterson was born in Tennessee in
1806, and in 1826 came to Indiana, living at
Paoli and Indianapolis ten years. At the latter
place he married Mrs. Sarah Ann Ray, and they
have had a family of ten children, of whom four
now live. In 1836 they came to Jeffersonville,
where they have since lived. Mr. Patterson has
been connected with many of the business in-

494

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

terests of the city, and has done much toward
building it up. During his residence in Indi-
anapolis he built the first three-story business
house in that city.

Among the early settlers along the Ohio river
were the Prathers, who came from Maryland in
1 80 1, and settled above Jeffersonville, in the pres-
ent township of Utica. There Basil Prather liv-
ed and died. Aaron Prather passed many years
of his life there, and then went to Putnam county,
where he yet lives, having witnessed the changing
scenes of life in this country nearly a century.
Isaac Prather was born in Utica in 1805, where
he endured the hardships and reaped the rewards
of a pioneer's life. The last four years of his life
were passed with his son, Calvin W. Prather, in
Jeffersonville, where he died in 1875. During
his life he amassed a comfortable fortune. Born
in the wild woods, and brought up amid hard-
ships, he died surrounded with every comfort.

Gates Thompson came from the State of New
York and settled in Memphis, this county, in
1 810, where he died in 1876, having passed his
life as a farmer. Three of his sons are now in bus-
iness in Jeffersonville: G. R. Thompson in gro-
ceries and produce, M. R. in a feed store, and
E. M. in the boot and shoe trade. Their stores
are side by side, on Spring street near the corner
of Eighth.

Morris Cohn is a native of Germany, and
came to America in 1861. Soon after he arrived
he enlisted in the Sixth Missouri cavalry, and for
three years and three months did service on the
frontier. After the war he went to Cincinnati,
and from that city to Jeffersonville, where he en-
gaged in selling dry-goods, notions, boots and
shoes, and now has a clothing house. He
manages three stores here, and has built his busi-
ness up by his own exertions seconded by a faith-
ful wife.

M. V. McCann, a native of Baltimore, Mary-
land, came to Cincinnati in 1840, and in 1855
settled in Franklin county, Indiana, where he
followed farming. In 1858 he engaged in the
mercantile business in Henry ville, and in 1868
was elected auditor of the county. During his
term of eight years in office he lived in Charles-
town. He was succeeded by his son, and on
his retirement came to Jeffersonville in 1876,
where he engaged in the coal business after a
year's leisure. He now has a large coal trade,

his principal office being on the corner of Mar-
ket and Pearl streets.

Major William Lewis, a Virginian, settled on
the "high bank" near Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1800.
In 1 82 1 he removed to Indiana and made a
home in Union county, where he remained
eight years. In 1829 he came to Jeffersonville
and served as register of the land office under
President Andrew Jackson, after which he retired
from active life. Felix R. Lewis, his son, has
been an active and prominent citizen of the place
during his life, taking great interest in every
project that promised to aid in building up the
industries of the city. In the course of his
active life he has accumulated a competence.

Isaac H. Espy was born October 27, 1822, in
this county. His father, Hugh Espy, one of the
first settlers in this section, participated in the
battle of Tippecanoe, serving under General
Bartholomew. General Bartholomew was the
grandfather of Isaac Espy on the mother's side.
Mr. Espy has a good farm, and is a worthy citi-
zen. He is a sound Republican. In 1847 he
married Miss Ann Sabine, of Clark county.

Mrs. Mary E. Austin was born in 18 14, and
has always resided in this vicinity. Her father
was William Bowman, an early settler in this
county. Mary E. Bowman was married in 1833,
to Henry Harrod, of Clark county. He died in
1841. They had three children — William,
Thomas, and Sarah. William and Thomas are
deceased. Sarah married Jesse Crook, and re-
sides in Jeffersonville township. Mrs. Harrod
was married again in 185 1 to John Austin, a na-
tive of Virginia. She resided at New Albany
from 185 1 till 1874, and has since lived in Jef-
fersonville township.

E. S. Dils was born September 15, 1824, at
Parkersburg, Virginia, and came to Indiana in
1829 with his father, Peter Dils, who died the
same year. Mr. Dils has farmed all his life, with
the exception of five years, when he was mining in
California. He married, in 185 1, Miss Nancy E.
Stockton, daughter of Robert Stockton, of Ship-
pensburg, Pennsylvania. They have had ten
children, nine of whom are living. Mr. Dils is
a Free Mason. He has recently been elected
county commissioner.

William Stauss was born in Hesse Darm-
stadt, Germany. In 1847 ne came to the
United States, and located in Louisville, Ken-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

495

tucky, where he remained some eight years, when
he moved to Jeffersonville, which has been his
home ever since. Here Mr. Stauss has been en-
gaged in keeping a boarding house, which is today
one of the oldest in the city. He now occupies
a large brick building on the corner of Front
and Spring streets. Mr. Stauss has been very
successful since he came to Jeffersonville, owning
to-day some very valuable real estate.

John Craig, deputy warden of the Southern
Indiana State prison, was born in the cojnty of
Mayo, Ireland, May 4, 1840. In 1843, ln com-
pany with his parents, he emigrated to America,
landing in Quebec. He went to Kingston, thence
to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he remained
for some seven years, then to Wheeling, West
Virginia. Here he engaged in superintending the
mining of coal and iron. At the breaking out of
the late civil war he enlisted in company A, First
Virginia volunteer infantry, taking an active part
in recruiting this company, which was made up
principally of a fire company known as the Rough
and Ready Fire company, afterward the Rough
and Ready Rifle company, and was mustered
into service May 10, 1861. Our subject entered
as a private, was soon after made first sergeant
of his company, and participated in the en-
gagement where Colonel B. F. Kelly was killed.
After serving three months he re-enlisted in the
First Virginia, company E, of which company he
was made second lieutenant, then first lieutenant,
and soon after captain. Captain Craig has been
in thirteen prominent battles, besides numerous
smaller engagements. He took an active part
in the battles of Bull Run, Port Republic, Win-
chester, etc. He was slightly wounded at the
battle of Winchester. He was taken prisoner in
West Virginia in a skirmish in 1863, confined in
Wilmington (North Carolina), Libby, and Dan-
ville prisons, and released at the close of the war
in 1865. While captain of company E he was
presented with an officer's sword by the com-
pany; he also has a bronze medal of honorable
dischage as a brave soldier. At the close of the
war he returned to Wheeling, and soon after en-
tered the iron business in Newcastle, Pennsylva-
nia, where he remained up to 1870, when he en-
tered the contracting business, taking an active
part in building the Louisville, New Albany &
St. Louis air line railroad. He was then made
superintendent of the Southern Indiana Coal and

Iron Mining company, located at Shoals, Indi-
ana. In 1875 Captain Craig was made deputy
warden under Captain Howard, which office he
has filled ever since with acknowledged ability.
Captain Craig married, in Wheeling, West Vir-
ginia, Miss Mary Dorsey, by whom he has had
five children.

B. Lousman was born in Baden, Germany,
January 5, 1823, where he learned the shoemak-
ing trade. He then, in 1847, came to the United
States, landing in New Orleans, and thence to
St. Louis, working at his trade. In 185 1 he
moved to Jeffersonville, and engaged in the man-
ufacturing of boots and shoes, which business
he carried on up to 1871, being the oldest shoe-
maker of this place. He came here very poor,
but with hard work and good management he is
to-day in good circumstances. Mr. Lousman
married, August 16, 1847, Miss G. Schenler, of
Germany, and has five children. Mr. Lousman
has been a resident of his present place ever since

1853-

Ed Austin, master car builder, Jeffersonville,
Madison & Indianapolis railroad, the subject of
this sketch, was born in New Albany, Indiana,
where he received his early education. He soon
after set out in learning his trade as a carpenter,
working in Hardin county, Kentucky. We soon
after find him in the employ of the Jeffersonville,
Madison & Indianapolis railroad, working in the
freight car department in building and repairing
freight cars. He was then transferred to the .
passenger car department, afterwards accepting a
position as foreman of the truck department of
the Southwestern Car works. After remaining
there several months he accepted a position as
yard master of the Louisville, Paducah & South-
western railroad, located at Paducah. He re-
turned to the Southwestern Car works and was
made foreman of the works. In 1876 he ac-
cepted the position as foreman of the freight car
building department. In 1880 he was made
master car builder, filling this position since, and
to-day is recognized as being one of the finest
car builders around the Falls. Mr. Austin is a
son of Dr. Austin, one of the old pioneers of
New Albany, Indiana.

William Swanston, master mechanic of the Jef-
fersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad, was
born in Scotland, where he learned his trade as a
machinist. In 1848 he came to America and soon

496

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

after located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he re-
mained for some seventeen years, during which
time he was in the employ of the Little Miami rail-
road, entering as a machinist and soon after made
foreman of the machine shops. He then went to
Sandusky, Ohio, and was master mechanic of
the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland railroad
for several years. He then went to Iowa and
filled some position with the Burlington, Cedar
Rapids &: Northern railroad for one year. He
then returned to Sandusky and engaged in the
manufacturing of wooden ware, employing some
thirty hands, which he found not profitable. He
then returned to railroading, and was connected
with the Little Miami railroad. In 1876 he was
made foreman of the department of the Jeffer-
sonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad at In-
dianapolis, where he remained for some four
years, when he was transferred to Jeffersonville
as master mechanic, filling this place with ac-
knowledged ability.

George Holzbog, blacksmith, the subject of
this sketch, is one of the oldest blacksmiths in
Jeffersonville. He was born in Germany, where
he learnt his trade as a blacksmith. In 1853 he
came to America and located in Louisville, Ken-
tucky, and in 1854 moved to Jeffersonville,
where he has continued at his trade ever since,
being to-day one of the leading blacksmiths of
Jeffersonville.

L. Henzler, wagon-maker. Among the promi-
nent and industrious Germans of Jeffersonville is
the above named gentleman, who was born in
Germany, having learned his trade there; he
came to America in 1851, and located in Buffalo,
New York, then to Louisville, Portland, and
New Albany, finally, in 1857, came to Jefferson-
ville, where he has continued in the wagon-mak-
ing business ever since, being to-day the oldest
in this line in Jeffersonville, and located in the
present brick building, two stories high, 24x40
feet, for the last fifteen years, where he is pre-
pared to turn out the best of wagon-work.

Mrs. Mary Oswald was the wife of the late
William G. Oswald; he was born in Ireland and
came to the United States. He learned his trade
as a brass moulder in Hartford, Connecticut; he
came to Jeffersonville and was in the employ of
the Ohio Falls Car works as brass moulder for
some nine years, being a very faithful worker in
their employ, taking a contract to do the brass

castings for this works; he was very successful,
giving entire satisfaction. Mr. Oswald was a
soldier in the late civil war, being a member of
a New York regiment, serving faithfully until the
close of the war, being honorably mustered out
of service; he was a brave soldier, participating
in a number of engagements with the Army of
the Potomac. Mr. Oswald died in 1879,
respected and honored by all. Since the death
of Mr. Oswald Mrs. Oswald has been carrying on
the brass foundry business, meeting with good
success.

A. Dreidel, cooper shop. Among the leading
cooperage works of Jeffersonville is that owned
and operated by Mr. A. Dreidel, who was born in
Germany, where he learned his trade as a baker.
In 1852 he emigrated to America, and remained
for a short time in New York, and Cincinnati,
working at his trade. In 1861 he came to Jef-
fersonville and has been one of its industrious
and respected citizens ever since. Coming here
in meager circumstances he entered the grocery
business, which he has continued ever since. In
1878 he engaged in the cooper business, and to-
day is doing a large business in that line, manu-
facturing all kinds of barrels. Starting with
fifteen hands, he now employs as high as thirty-
five hands in his cooper business.

Joseph Zuerner, M. D. and druggist, was born
in Baden, Germany, in 1847; came to the United
States and located in Louisville in 1852. In 1853
he came to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and has been
one of its honored citizens ever since. He read
medicine under Dr. A. Seymour; graduating
from the Medical University of Louisville Feb-
ruary 28, 1878, he began his practice of medicine
in Jeffersonville in 1879. Dr. Zuerner engaged
in the drug business which he has carried on
since, meeting with a good custom.

Professor George Nahstoll was born in Ger-
many, December 15, 1849. After receiving an
education he began teaching school in his native
country at eighteen years of age. In 1867 Pro-
fessor Nahstoll came to America, and soon after
located in Jeffersonville, where he has been very
prominently connected with its schools. He
taught for several years as principal of the Ger-
man Catholic schools, since which he has con-
nected himself with the public schools of Jeffer-
sonville, being principal of the German depart-
ment, filling the place with ability. Profes-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

497

sor Nahstoll is the organist and leader of the
choir of the German Catholic church of Jeffer-
sonville.

J. H. Ballard, M. D., was born in Lorain
county, Ohio, near Oberlin, March 3, 1852,
moving to DeKalb county, Illinois, when young,
where he prepared himself for school, entering the
Oberlin, Ohio, school, where he remained about
three years ; soon after going to Nashville, Ten-
nessee, and graduating from the Central Ten-
nessee Medical college with high honors in 1879.
Dr. Ballard in 1872 located in Jefferson ville,
where he has been very prominently connected
with the public (colored) schools as principal,
filling this place with acknowledged ability.

William B. Cox was born in Clark county,
March 4, 1824. Mr. Cox by profession is a
pilot. He has followed the river for thirty-seven
years, and has been a pilot on some of the largest
steamers on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Mr. Cox is a genial gentleman. His beautiful
home is on the Utica pike. His father, Isaac
Cox, was one of the first settlers of this county.
He was a man of influence. Mr. Cox did the
first printing in this State at Corydon, once the
capital of this great State.

F. C. Beutel located here in i860, and has
been in the grocery business ever since. His
father printed the first German paper ever pub-
lished in Louisville, Kentucky. His father died
July 5, 1876.

Martin James located in Clark county in 1837.
He has been a successful farmer. He was a
supervisor for a number of years.

Valentine Kelly was born in Clarksville, Clark
county, Indiana, June 15, 1827. He is a suc-
cessful farmer and a man of influence. He has
been trustee of the Ohio Falls city for a number
of years, also school trustee, and supervisor.

John Beutel was born in Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania, September 12, 1837, and has been
a resident of this county since 1867. When the
late war between the North and South broke out,
Mr. Beutel enlisted as a private soldier in the
Third Kentucky cavalry, Major Murray com-
manding, now General Murray, Governor of
Utah. Mr. Beutel was in fifteen battles, and
always proved himself to be a daring and brave
soldier, and always at his post of duty. Mr.
Beutel by trade is a blacksmith and printer. He
prefers his present business, a grocery merchant.
63*

He is a man of influence, and is genial and
charitable.

J. D. Applegate was born February 16, 181 2,
in Clark county. He has been a successful
farmer, with the exception of twenty years, when
he was connected with a tobacco market in
Louisville, Kentucky. He is a hospitable gentle-
man. His father, Aaron Applegate, was one of
the first settlers in this county. He was engaged
in the War of 1812.

John McCullough was born in Floyd county,
Indiana, January 3, 182 1, and located in Clark
county in 1872. He started in life a poor boy.
He is to-day one of the wealthiest men in Clark
county. He started as a teamster, and then a
farmer. He then erected a saw-mill. He is
largely interested in the rolling mill, gas works,
and the largest flour mill in the city. He is one
of the largest stockholders in the New Albany
National bank. He served as councilman from
the First ward for eight years. He served
his ward and city well. Mr. McCullough is also
president of the Jefferson ville and New Albanv
turnpike. He is at present county commissioner
of Clark county, and one of the most successful
farmers. He owns in fine land over a thousand
acres.

Anderson Stewart, born in Jefferson county,
October 30, 1812, located in 1822 in Clark
county. Mr. Stewart is a successful farmer. His
father, Robert Stewart, settled here when this
was a Territory. He was ninety-six years old
when he died.

C. E. Clark was born in Jefferson county,
New York, October 7, 1827. He located in
Clark county in 1864, where he has been all his
life on public works. Mr. Clark was the Sand
Island dam builder, which cost $90,000. Mr.
Clark was a contractor on the western division
of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad. He has
made several fortunes but by his good nature
has lost them all. At present he is street con-
tractor in Jeffersonville.

I. F. Whiteside was born in Clark county.
Mr. Whiteside is a grocery merchant, and a
young man of great business qualities. He is
very successful in his present business. He suc-
ceeded his father in business, and still occupies
the old stand. Mr. Whiteside was for a number
of years a member of the stock company at Ma-
caulay's theater. He has supported some of the

493

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

leading stars of the country. He also supported
Mrs. Rachel Macaulay on her tour West.

E. W. Bruner, M. D., was born in Lawrence
county, Indiana, October 12, 1841, and located
in Clark county in 1869. Dr. Bruner has prac-
ticed medicine for fifteen years. He has made
the lungs a specialty. Dr. Bruner was a soldier
in the Eighty -first Indiana volunteers, and was
engaged in quite a number of battles. His
father, J. Bruner, M. D., has practiced in this
county twenty-seven years. His father is seventy-
one years of age.

G. F. Deming was born in Manhattan county,
New York, November 25, 1841; located in Clark
county in 1869. Mr. Deming was con-
nected with the fire department at the United
' States Goverment depot up to the time he took
charge of the fire department of the city of
Jeffersonville. Mr. Deming served five years in
the late war. He was a brave color bearer of the
Twentieth regiment New York volunteers, or New
York State military; engaged in fifteen battles,
always at his post of duty, leading his gallant reg-
iment on to victory. He was also connected with
the volunteer fire company at Kingston, Ulster
county, New York. Mr. Deming is making a
good chief of the fire department of Jefferson-
ville. He is always at his post of duty.

B. F. Burlingame was born in Oneida county,
New York, June 5, 1833, located at Jefferson-
ville in 1869. Mr. Burlingame was up to his
death general superintendent of the Ohio Falls
Car works. He was a man that was loved by
all who knew him ; generous to all, ready to ex-
tend a helping hand to the poor. Mr. Burlin-
game from boyhood had been a great advocate
of temperance, always working in its cause. He
was a member of high standing in his lodge of
Masons, also in his lodge of Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Burlingame was a brave soldier in the late
war. He shot the rebel General Garrett, being
the first rebel general killed during the war. He
was at once promoted to first lieutenant of his
company. In politics he was a Republican.
He was a true lover of his country.

CHAPTER XXXII.

NOTICES' OF JEFFERSONVILLE— CLARKSVILLE.

Some of the most graphic and otherwise val-
uable observations of a town, at various stages of
its growth, may be had through the eyes of intel-
ligent travelers and compilers of gazetteers, who
have made contemporaneous notes of the place
under survey of the historian. Jeffersonville has
not lacked for this sort of attention; and for this
closing chapter concerning the city we select a
number from the many pleasant paragraphs that
have been given it in the books. The first is
that of Mr. Josiah Espy, whose travels hereaway
in 1805, after long repose in manuscript, were
handsomely published a few years ago byRobeit
Clarke & Company, of Cincinnati, in the volume
of Miscellanies comprised in the Ohio Valley
Historical Series. Said Mr. Espy only this:

30th September, I rode into jeffersonville, a flourishing
village at the head of the rapids opposite Louisville. Here
it is proposed to take out the water of the river for the con-
templated canal.

Thomas Ashe, the lying and swindling English
traveler of 1806, made a brief visit here in Sep-
tember of that year, and noted the following in
his book:

Previously to leaving Louisville, I crossed the river and
visited the town of Jeffersonville, which is also seated about
two miles above the Falls. It is yet very small, but the in-
habitants appear determined to add to its character and opu-
lence, being now employed in forming a canal, by which nav-
igators may avoid all dangers and proceed down the river at
all seasons of the year. I surveyed the line of the canal, and
think it much more practicable than that marked off on the
opposite shore. I entertain no doubt of the commerce of the
river being adequate to the support of both undertakings,
and that the proprietors will be hereafter amply remunerated.

Mr. Christian Schultz, Jr., was the next "chiel
amang 'em takin' notes." He was here in 1808,
and in his Tour on an Inland Voyage he records
the following :

Immediately opposite Louisville, in the Indiana Territory,
is situated the flourishing little town of Jeftersonville, consist-
ing at present of forty houses ; it bids fair to become a place
of considerable importance. At the foot of the Falls, and in
the same Territory, is another village, of the name of Clarks
ville, consisting of four or five houses only, and situated a
little above the mouth of Silver creek, a small stream which
there empties into the Ohio.

The following is from Mr. John Melish's book
of Travels Through the United States of Amer-
ica in 1811:

Jefferson [sic] is situated on the opposite side of the river,
a little above Louisville, and is the capital of Clark county,
in the Indiana Territory. It was laid out in 1802, and now

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

499

contains about two hundred inhabitants, among whom are
some useful mechanics. The United States have a land
office at this place, but the pitncipal objects of my inquiry
being more to the eastward, I did not visit it. There is a
good landing at jeffersonville, and as the best passage is
through what is called the Indian shute, it is probable that
this place will materially interfere with the trade of Louisville,
unless it be prevented by a plan to be hereafter noticed, in
which case, each side will have its own share of the valuable
commerce of this river, which, as it is yearly increasing, can-
not fail to convert both sides of the Ohio here into great set-
tlements.

Mr. Palmer's note in 1817 is as follows:

Jeffersonville stands on the banks of the Ohio, nearly op-
posite Louisville, and a little above the Falls. It contains
about one hundred and thirty houses, brick, frame, and hewn
logs. The bank of the river is high, which affords a fine
view of Louisville, the Falls, and the opposite hills. Just
below the town is a fine eddy for boats. A post-office and a
land office, for the sale of United States lands, are estab-
lished, and it promises to become a place of wealth, elegance,
and extensive business. The most eligible boat channel is on
the Indiana side of the Ohio.

The following notice is made of the village on
this side the Falls in Cutler's Topographical
Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Terri-
tory, and Louisiana, published at Boston in 1812:

On the Indiana side ot the Ohio there are only some scat-
tering settlements, excepting Jeffersonville and Clarksville,
two small villages at the rapids, one hundied and fifty miles
below the Great Miami. Jeffersonville is situated in the bend
of the river, on a high bank just above the rapids, where
pilots are taken off for conducting vessels over them. It is a
post town, but contains only a small number of inhabitants,
and probably will never be a thriving place [!]. Clarksville
is another small village immediately below the rapids and op-
posite the elbow at Shippingport. In time it may become a
place of considerable business [! f.

This Mr. Cutler, "a late officer in the United
States army," was a very intelligent gentleman,
and wrote a readable and useful book; but he
obviously had not the gift ot prophecy.

The year 1 819 abounded in notices of the ris-
ing town. Among others, Morse's American Uni-
versal Geography of this year uttered the safe
prophesy : " If the canal is completed, Jeffer-
sonville will be a place of considerable import-
ance."

The following notice of the village, as it then
was, appears in Dr. McMurtrie's Sketches of
Louisville, published that year :

Jeffersonville is seated on a high bank of the Ohio, nearly
opposite Louisville, from which it affords a charming pros-
pect, and immediately above the Falls. The town was laid
out in 1802, and has increased considerably since that period,
but it does not seem to progress in the same ratio at present.
It contains a market-house (which is never attended, the in-
habitants procuring their beef, etc., ftom Louisville), a land-
office, court-house, and a private bank, named the Exchange

Bank of Indiana, J. Bigelow, president. About a mile from
this town are several valuable springs, mineralized by sulphur
and iron, where a large and commodious building has lately
been erected by the proprietor, for the reception of those
who seek relief either from physical indisposition, their own
thoughts, or the disagreeable atmosphere of cities during
the summer season. In a word, he is preparing it for a fash-
ionable watering place, to which there is nothing objection-
able but its proximity to Louisville; its being so near requires
neither equipage nor the expense of a journey to arrive there,
things absolutely required to render every place of the kind
perfectly a la mode. It is, however, one of the most power-
ful natural chalybeate waters I have ever seen or tasted, and
will no doubt prove very serviceable in many complaints,
particularly in that debility attended with profusely cold
sweats, which are constantly experienced by the convalescent
victim of a bilious fever, so common to the inhabitants of this
neighborhood.

Jeffersonville contains about five hundred souls, and
should a canal be cut there, in despite of the many natural
obstacles that are opposed to it, its population must inevita-
bly have a rapid increase.

Mr. E. Dana's Geographical Sketches on the
Western Country, published at Cincinnati the
same year, gives some of the commonplace in-
formation concerning this place, but adds these
remarks :

The non-residence of the proprietors (of whom many are
minors) of town lots of the adjacent country, has hitherto
much checked the prosperity of this delightful spot. Of the
buildings, which are not very numerous, some are designed
and executed in a neat and elegant style, particularly the
mansion which was the residence of the late Governor Posey.
A land-office, a post-office, and a printing-office, are estab-
lished in the town.

The canal around the Falls on this side was
now actively under way, under the charter
granted the "Jeffersonville Ohio Canal com-
pany," in January, 1818. Mr. Dana says the
excavation, begun in May, 181 9, "continues to
be prosecuted with spirit and the fairest prospects
of success." . . . The perpendic-
ular height of the whole extent of the Falls be-
ing about twenty-three feet, the canal is expected
to furnish excellent mill-seats and water-power
sufficient to drive machinery for very extensive
manufacturing establishments.

Mr. James Flint, a Scotchman, who was here
during several months of 1819-20, wrote to his
friends abroad of this place :

Jeffersonville contains about 65 houses, 13 stores (shops),
and 2 taverns, the land-office for a large district of Indiana,
and a printing-office that publishes a weekly newspaper, and
where the American copy of the most celebrated of all re-
views is sold. A steamboat is on the stocks, measuring 180
feet long and 40 broad, estimated to carry 700 tons.

May 19, 18 1 9, he writes:

The steamboat Western Engineer, and a number of keel-
boats descended the Falls to-day, with a considerable body

S°o

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

of troops, accompanied by a mineralogist, a botanist, a
geographer, and a painter. Their object is to explore the
Missouri countrv and to form a garrison at the mouth of the
Yellowstone river, about 1,800 miles up the Missouri river.

I shall conclude this with mentioning two singular occur-
rences—the passage of a steamboat from Pittsburg to Louis-
ville, 700 miles, in fifty hours, and the mairiage of a girl in
this place at the age of eleven years and three months.

He was here during the reception of Presi-
dent Monroe, and wrote thus of the occasion:

On the 26th [June] the President arrived. A tall pole with
the striped flag was displayed on the bank of the river, a
salute was fired, and a large body of citizens waited his coming
on shore. To be introduced to the President was a wish al-
most universal, and he was subjected toa laborious shaking of
hands with the multitude. A public dinner was given. This,
too, was an object of ambition. Grocers left theirgoods and
mechanics their work-shops to be present at the gratifying 1 >•-
jpast. The First Magistrate appears to be about sixty years
o( age. His deportment is dignified, and at the same time
affable. His countenance is placid and cheerful. His chariot
is not of iron, nor is he attended by horse-guards or drawn
swords. His protection is the affection of a free and a repre
sented people.

In 1820 Jeffersonville was remarked in Gille-
land's Geography of the States and Territories
west and south of the Alleghany mountains,
appended to the Ohio and Mississippi Pilot,
published at Pittsburg, as " the largest town in
the State, and from the advantages of its situa-
tion will probably continue to be so."

This place was by no means neglected, in-
deed, by the early geographers and compilers of
gazetteers. In Mr. William Darby's edition of
Brooker's Universal Gazetteer for 1823, appears
the following notice:

Jeffersonville, post town, Clark county, Indiana, a
the head of the rapids, and nearly opposite Louisville, Ken-
tucky. As at Louisville, pilots reside, who skilfully convey
boats through the rapids. Where necessary, carts or wagons
can be also procured to transport goods by land. A good
road extends from Jeffersonville to New Albany. This town
contains about six hundred inhabitants.

Worcester's Geographical Dictionary of the
same year notes Jeffersonville as " a flourishing
town," containing about 130 houses.

In 1828, Mr. Timothy Flint's Condensed Ge-
ography and History of the Western States, vol-
ume II., gave the place this interesting paragraph :

Jeffersonville is situated just above the Falls of the Ohio.
The town of Louisville on the opposite shore, and
the beautiful and rich country beyond, together with the
broad and rapid river, pouring whitening sheets and
cascades from shore to shore, the display of steamboats,
added to the high banks, the neat village, and the noble
woods on the north bank, unite to render the scenery of this
village uncommonly rich and diversified. It is a considerable
and handsome village, with some houses that have a show of

magnificence. It has a land-office, a post-office, a printing-
office, and some of the public buildings. It was contem-
plated to canal the Falls on this side of the river, and a com-
pany with a large capital was incorporated by the Legislature.
In 1819 the work was commenced, but has not been prose-
cuted with the success that was hoped. The completion of
the canal on the opposite side will probably merge this proj-
ect, by rendering it useless. One of the principal chutes of
the river in low water, is near this shore; and experienced
pilots, appointed by the State, are always in readiness to con-
duct boats over the Falls. Clarksville is a small village just
below this place.

The State Gazetteer for 1833 has the following
notice :

Jeffersonville, a town on the Ohio river, in Clark
county. It is a beautiful situation, on a high bank above
the highest water-mark, and extends from the head of the
Falls up the river, so as to include a deep eddy, where boats
of the largest size can approach, at all stages of the water,
within cable-length of the shore. From this town there is a
delightful view of Louisville and of the landing at the mouth
of Beargrass. It also affords the most advantageous land-
ing for boats descending the river and intending to pass the
Falls through the Indian chute. It is laid out on a large and
liberal plan, and must, from its local advantages, become a
place of great commercial importance. The State prison is
located at this place; and there are in its immediate vicinity
two steam mills, a ship-yard, an iron foundry; and in the
town there are six mercantile stores, three taverns, and a
steam grist- and saw-mill, and numerous mechanics of all
trades. •. . Its present population amounts to

about six hundred or seven hundred inhabitants, three of
whom are physicians.

In Dr. Drake's celebrated treatise on the
Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North
America, published in 1850, the following notice
is taken of Jeffersonville and its sanitary condi-
tions :

It stands about a mile above the Falls of the Ohio, on a
terrace, the south or river side of which is forty feet above low
water, and about four hundred and twenty above the sea.
This terrace, like most others along the Ohio, declines from
near the river and is liable to inundations, so that in high
floods the town becomes insulated. Both above and below it
there are small streams entering the Obio, which are the
channels by which these overflows are effected. To the north
and northeast, near the town, there are ponds skirted with
marsh, one of which has lately been drained. The surface,
like that of the plain on which Louisville stands, on the op-
posite side of the river, is argillaceous, and retains the water
which rains or flows upon it. It will be observed that all the
insalubrious surface lies to the summer leeward of|the town,
but the flats and stagnant waters near the mouth of Bear-
grass creek, on the opposite side of the Ohio, are directly to
the windward of this town, with only the river intervening.
Jeffersonville is also to the leeward of the Falls, and exposed
therefore to any insalubrious gases which may be liberated by
the agitation of the waters. Two miles north of the town a
water-shed, between the Ohio river and Silver creek, com-
mences and runs to Charlestown, thirteen miles north. At its
commencement this terrace is sixty feet above the level of the"
town, and its rise afterward is about ten feet per mile. Doc
tor Stewart, to whom I am indebted foi several of the facts

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

S01

in this article, informs me that autumnal intermittents and
remittents are decidedly prevalent in Jeffersonville and its
vicinity.

The penitentiary in the State of Indiana stands in the
western part of Jeffersonville. Dr. Collum, its physician, in-
forms me that the convicts are every year invaded by
autumnal fever, but in a degree rather less than the inhabit-
ants of the town.

Charles Mackay, the English poet, traveled
through this region in January, 1858, on his way
to St. Louis, and made some memoranda of the
visit here in his book of travels, entitled Life and
Liberty in America. He seems to have been in
particularly ill humor just at that time. He re-
marks :

After no less than four accidents to our train on the Ohio
& Mississippi railway, happily involving no other evil conse-
quences than the smashing of the company's engine and two
or three cars, the sacrifice of many valuable hours, and the
loss of an amount of patience difficult to estimate, though
once possessed by all the passengers, myself included, we
arrived at the miserable village, though called a city, of jef-
fersonville, in Indiana, nearly opposite to Louisville, in Ken-
tucky, on the river Ohio. The train was due at an early hour
of the afternoon, but did not reach Jeffersonville until half-
past nine in the evening, long before which time the steam
ferry-boat had ceased to ply, and the captain of which re-
fused to re-hght the fires of his engines to carry the passen-
gers across. We saw the lights of the large^ty gleaming
temptingly across the stream, but, there bein^Pb means of
conveyance, we were all reluctantly compelled to betake our-
selves to the best inn at Jeffersonville— and bad, very bad,
was the best. We had had nothing to eat or to drink all
day, in consequence of the accident to our train having be-
fallen us in an out-of-the-way place and in the very heart of
the wilderness; and such of us as were not teetotalers looked
forward to a comfortable supper and glass of wine or toddy,
after our fatigue and disappointments. But, on asking for
supper and wine at the hotel, we were told by mine host that
we were in a temperance State, and that nothing in the way
of drink would be served except milk, tea, coffee, and lemon-
ade. A thoughtful friend at Cincinnati had given us on
starting a bottle of Bourbon whiskey twenty years old; and
we told mine host that, if he would provide us with glasses,
hot water, sugar, and a corkscrew, we should enjoy his meat,
find our own drink, and set Fate at defiance.

CLARKSVILLE.

In the appropriation made by the State of Vir-
ginia in 1783, when it had jurisdiction of the
Indiana country, of one hundred and forty-nine
thousand acres of land to the officers and sol-
diers of General Clark's army who had aided in
the reduction of the British posts at Vincennes
and in the Illinois region, it was provided that
one thousand acres should be laid off into lots,
with convenient streets and public grounds.
This proposed town was fitly denominated, in
the Act of Assembly making the grant, as
Clarksville, from the eminent hero of the ex-

pedition of 1778-89. A tract nearly opposite
and a little below the site of Louisville was ac-
cordingly selected, reaching from near the head
of the Falls to a point not far from the mouth
of Silver creek, including the spot adjoining an
eddy and also a landing below the rapids. The
lower part of this site has superior beauty of
position, but was subject, as it still is, to fre-
quent inundation, while the upper part was
thought to be free from overflow at all times.

The boundaries of Clarksville were as fol-
lows:

Beginning on the bank of the Ohio at a small white thorn,
white oak, and hickory, a little below the mouth of Silver
creek, running thence north, crossing Silver creek twice, one
hundred and seventy poles to a sweet gum, beech, and sugar
tree ; thence east crossing said creek again three hundred
and twenty-six poles to three beeches ; thence south forty da^
grees east eighty-six poles to a beech and sugar tree ; thence
east one hundred and seventy-six poles to a large sweet gum,
sugar tree, and dogwood, on the bank of Mill creek ; thence
south crossing said creek one hundred and eighty poles to a
sugar and two white ash trees ; thence east one hundred and
fifty-eight poles to three beeches ; thence south crossing Pond
creek two hundred and eighty poles to the Ohio, at two white
ash and two hickory trees ; thence down the Ohio with its
meanders to the beginning.

About the year 1786 settlement began here —
the first of white men in the present State of In-
diana next after that made long before at Vin-
cennes. Only a few adventurers, however, were
upon the ground; and they were so much ex-
posed to the attacks of the savages that little
progress was made. The Indiana Gazetteer of
1833 says:

Other settlements were formed, and rival villages sprang
up in different places and drew the attention of emigrants,
while Clarksville was left in the background. The plan of
the town does not extend up the river far enough to include a
harbour and landing-place for boats, above the Falls; any
advantage, therefore, which might be calculated to accrue
from the river trade is, at least in part, intercluded by Jeffer-
sonville. But, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which
this town has labored, it possesses commercial facilities which
must, at some period, perhaps not very distant, raise it to im-
portance. It contains, at this time, a population of about
two hundred, and increasing.

The prophecy of fifty years ago has never been
realized. The rise of other towns about the Falls
soon completely overshadowed the hopeful vil-
lage of-Clark. He himself abandoned it after the
sad accident to him in r8i4, and spent the brief
remainder of his years with his sister, Mrs. Wil-
liam Croghan, above Louisville. His Clarks-
ville home was a double log-cabin, where he re-
sided alone (having never been married) with his

502

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

servant and, it is said, one of his old drummers
of the campaign into the Illinois country. This
house, with nearly all others of the old Clarks-
ville, has totally disappeared. The place is now
a mere country neighborhood, memorable only
as a traditional site and by association with one
of the greatest of Revolutionary heroes.

It will be interesting, however, to note the ob-
servations of travelers to the Falls in the better
days of Clarksville. Almost every one who was
here and wrote a book of his travels, had some-
thing to say about it. The English scientist,
Francis Baily, who saw it in 1797, remarks it as
"a little village, consisting of about twenty
houses," and as chaiacterized by "the almost
perpetual presence of an immense cataract of
#ater."

Mr. Josiah Espy, who was here in 1805, found
Clarksville or Clarksburgh, as he calls it — already
in its decadence. He says in his journal:

At the lower end of the falls is the deserted village of
Clarksburgh, in which General Clark himself resides. I had
the pleasure of seeing this celebrated warrior at his lonely
cottage seated on Clark's Point. This point is situated at
the upper end of the village and opposite the lower rapid,
commanding a full and delightful view of the falls, particu-
laily the zigzag channel which is only navigated at low water.
The general has not taken much pains to improve this com-
manding and beautiful spot, having only raised a small
cabin; but it is capable of being made one of the handsomest
seats in the world.

General Clark has now become frail and rather helpless,
but there are the remains of great dignity and manliness in
his countenance, person, and deportment, and I was struck
on seeing him with (pel haps) a fancied likeness to the great
and immortal Washington.

Immediately above Clark's Point it is said the canal is to
return to the river, making a distance of about two miles.
There appears to be no doubt but that this canal will be
opened.

Espy's prognostication as to the ship canal on
the Indiana side was destined to share the fate
of the brilliant hopes entertained of Clarksville.

Ashe, the English romancer, gives this place
in 1808, a brief note in his book of Travels in
America, as "a small settlement lying near the
eddy formed by the recoiling flood. It is as yet
a village of no importance. However, if it forms
the mouth of the intended canal, its rise is cer-
tain." •

Mr. John Palmer, in his Journal of Travels in
the United States, recording his journeyings of
181 7, said:

Clarksville lies at the lower end of the falls, and, although
commenced as early as 1783, does not contain above forty

houses, most of them old and decayed. It has a safe, capa-
cious harbor for boats.

In Dr. McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville,
published in 18 19, the following not over-flatter-
ing notice is given of Clarksville:

Although this was one of the earliest settled places in the
Stale of Indiana, being established in 1783 by the Legisla-
ture of Virginia, as part of the Illinois Grant, yet it is at the
present moment far behind them all in every possible respect.
A few log-houses of one story comprise the list of its dwell-
ings, and from their number and appearance I should sup-
pose that they do not contain altogether one hundred inhabit-
ants. It is, however, pleasantly situated at the foot of the
Indian Chute, and immediately opposite Shippingport. It
is said to be very unhealthy, which is more than probable,
from the number of marshes that are in the vicinity.

The very next year, however, when the Ohio
and Mississippi Pilot was published, Clarksville
was deemed of sufficient importance, as com-
pared with its neighbors, Jeffersonville and New
Albany, to be marked upon the chart of the
falls inserted in that book as the only town upon
the Indiana side.

OHIO FALLS CITY.

The growth of the manufacturing interests at
and near the west end of Jeffersonville naturally
broughtJfche vicinity many workmen, and in
1874 a prat was surveyed extending each side of
the fill made for the Jefferson, Madison & In-
dianapolis railroad as it approaches the river.
This plat was made in 1874 by Smith & Smyser,
and during the same year L- S. Shuler and John
B. Temple laid out additions to the original plat.
The town was duly established and incorporated
as Falls City, but a decision of the supreme court
of the State prevented the continuance of the
incorporation, as it encroached on the original
plat of Clarksville. It is, therefore, a question
whether there is such a place as Falls City in In-
diana, though the settlement retains that name.

In Ohio Falls City are located the extensive
works of the Ohio Falls Car company, the State
Prison South, the Falls Power Milling company,
and other minor works. The population is more
than one thousand, and is made up of an in-
dustrious, hard-working class of men, who are
not able to make a show of fine residences, but
most of whom occupy comfortable little homes.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

5°3

CHAPTER XXXIII.'

UNION TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION.

This township, covering an area of nearly
thirteen thousand acres, occupies the central por-
tion of the county, and according to the census
of 1880 has a population of more than eight
hundred souls. It was organized in September,
1858, mainly through the efforts of Colonel John
Carr. It is the newest of all the townships of
the county, and takes its name from the fact
that it was made up from a union of parts of
other townships. Monroe bounds it on the
north, except a narrow strip on the east side,
where the township of Charlestown forms also
the eastern boundary ; the townships of Carr
and Charlestown bound it on the south; Monroe
and Carr from the western boundary. The
township as it now is, was created out of Monroe,
Charlestown, and Carr townships. The extreme
northern end of Silver Creek township and the
extreme southern corner of Union unite in the
middle of Silver creek near the southwest corner
of tract number one hundred and sixtPfcix ; also
the extreme portions of Carr and Charlestown
townships — the only instance of the kind in the
county.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The township can hardly be said to have a
generous supply of rich soils, fine forests, or con-
tinuity of surface. There has always been a
scarcity of good timber from the earliest times
on the uplands, though oak, poplar, ash, and
hickory grew in tolerable quantities along the
bottoms. The climate is admirably adapted to
good health, deduced from the fact that there is
but one physician in the township. West of
Memphis, in the Blue Lick country, the soil is
favorable to the growing of grass, where also
large dairies are in active operation. Farther be-
yond, but still within the township, the ascent is
begun to reach the top of the knobs. From
their summits a wild and picturesque view pre-
sents itself. South of the township village the
country is mostly level, but the soil is stubborn.
For some reason or other these bottoms are not
productive unless cared for very kindly. All the
land east of Silver creek is gently undulating,
except perhaps a few hundred acres in the north-
east corner, where the surface is hilly and the

soil of the poorest quality. Some portions of
the township, however, are quite productive,
but only of small areas, where hay, oats, corn,
wheat, rye, potatoes, patches of tobacco now and
then, and apples, are the chief products. Stock-
growing has been made quite successful by some
of the citizens of Union, while others have found
the production and sale of milk equally profit-
able. The Blue Lick country is underlaid with
the slate formations which form so large a strata
in this and adjoining townships. West of tract
number one hundred and sixty-nine, the New
Albany black slate appears in great force and
continues' in an unbroken leaf in the direction
of Memphis, were the north branch of Silver
creek, as at Eben Coomb's mill, cuts through it
to the depth of eighty-five feet. The highlands
around Memphis are visibly affected by the slate
strata. The soils in the Blue lick region are de-
rived mainly from the formation designated as the
New Providence shale. This is a soft, light-
colored arenaceous clay stone, containing some
sulphate and carbonate of lime and magnesia.
It is well exposed at Thomas McDeitz's tract,
number two hundred and nineteen, and on Blue
Lick branch, Cany fork, and Cane run of Silver
creek, at the base of the knobs, and at Allen
Taylor's, Esq., the foot of Round Top knob, at
Sampson King's, and at William Stone's. In
many of these localities this shale is rich in frag-
ments of crinoidal stems and fossil shells, and
several species of very delicate Bryozoa. The
thin sections of crinoidal stems are disks with a
hole in the center, resembling button-molds.
These fossils are found in great abundance on
the surface, where the shale has been cut through
by small streams. Such places are commonly
called "Button-mold Washes." This formation
also follows the North fork and Miller's fork of
Silver creek, north and west of Henryville. The
best sulphur spring known in Clark county is lo-
cated on the land of J. A. Boyer, tract number
two hundred and forty-one, one and a half miles
east of Henryville, the village of which is situ-
ated forty feet below the summit of the New
Albany black slate. The soil in this region, so
far as it relates to the knobs is clay, belonging to
the altered drift and alluvium in the creek bot-
toms. Persimmon trees abound in the low
lands, as also they do in many other parts of the
county. The altered drift is here characterized

S°4

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

by containing a number of thin markings of
black sand, which are seen in the cuts after a
washing rain.

Union township is noted for its purity of
water. Many fine springs gush forth from under
the slate strata; during the excessive dry weather
of 1 88 1 there was generally a plentiful supply of
water found in the Blue Lick country. There is
scarcely a farm of any size in this section without
running water during an ordinary season. The
mineral water mentioned under the head of New
Providence shale, issues from this slate at the
foot of the knobs. Almost all the water in this
horizon is impregnated more or less with mineral
salts derived from the overlying New Providence
shale. Water entirely free from medicinal prop-
erties is the exception, and pure water for culinary
purposes is difficult to obtain. It can only be
found by sinking shallow wells in the sand and
gravel along the streams. A very good quality
of this mineral water is found on the land of
Parady Payne, west of Blue Lick post-office,
tract number two hundred and sixty-six. Another
medicinal spring, containing similar properties
to that at Mr. Payne's, is found on Mr. Hosea's
land south of the springs in Monroe township.
On the lands of Augustus Reid and Sampson
King are to be found springs of the same min-
eral water; also on the lands of William Stone
and Washington P. Butts, in Carr township; also
west of Henryville, on the land of John Stewart.
The New Providence shale is eroded on tract
number two hundred and sixty-six to the depth
of sixty to seventy feet, and is entirely wanting
at various points three miles east.*

STREAMS.

Silver creek is the principal stream in the
township, flowing entirely through it from north
to south. Blue Lick creek is the largest tribu-
tary. It flows easterly through the northern por-
tion of Union, and takes its name from the blue
slate which forms its bottom. Land in this sec-
tion sells from $35 to $50 per acre, and much of
it when cleared would not be profitably product-
ive. Sinking fork of Silver creek, in the eastern
side of the township, has a peculiarity in the dis-
appearance of its water into a hole about four
feet in diameter, which leads to a subterranean
cavern below. The run is for about one mile

* These notes are in part from the Geological Survey of
the county.

under ground, when it again appears and empties
into Silver creek. If history be true, two men
several years ago made a trip through the cavern,
and came out safe with an experience which few
scientists can claim. Half way from the en-
trance a sink-hole leads to the stream twenty
feet below the surface. Here is a large room,
but which soon diminishes as you approach the
lower end. From the mouth to the sink-hole
the way is clear and easily traveled by ordinary
persons. It was from these peculiarities that the
stream was called Sinking fork. Another fact
relating to the streams of this township, which is
also true in the rest of the county, is that in early
times Silver creek was seldom known to over-
flow its banks. The timber formed basins which
held the water for several days after a severe
rain, to run off in time in a gradual manner.
Crops were never damaged sixty years ago on
account of high waters. As the forests are
cleared away, the streams continually widen.
There was a time when Silver creek could be
stepped over at almost any time of the year, or
at least the flow of the water was regular and
uniform, wf

COPPERAS BED.

One of the most remarkable copperas beds in
the county is found in the vicinity of Memphis.
It is located on Silver creek, two miles ^bove
the township village. The creek, in passing by,
is bounded by a slate bluff some sixty or seventy
feet high. On this bluff are spruce pines, per-
haps the only natural growth in the county. From
between the crevices of the slate the copperas
exudes in a liquid state, to crystalize in lumps.
In early times the pioneers used it for coloring
purposes when making their clothing. The
quantity was never thought sufficient for working.
Above in the banks is a substance which often
takes fire and burns for months. It is perhaps a
poor quality of coal which is sometimes found
in this county.

INDIANS.

Previous to General Harrison's victory at Tip-
pecanoe, the Indians were frequent marauders
in this township. However, there were never
any open hostile demonstrations, except those
already mentioned in the history of the Pigeon
Roost massacre found in Monroe township. In
1794, when General Anthony Wayne defeated
the Indians at Fort Recovery, the border in this

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

SOS

county was exposed to the ravages of the red-
man. These and other circumstances caused
much uneasiness on the part of the settlers from
time to time as to their personal safety. It was
no unfrequent thing to lose a horse, and to have
the safe keeping of stock disturbed in numerous
ways.

One of the forts erected to protect the frontier
stood on the farm now owned by William Reed,
south of Memphis two miles. Another occupied
a site east of the same village one mile. A large
block house was erected, during the troublesome
times of the Pigeon Roost massacre, on the farm
of Jonathan Jennings, two and a half miles south
of Memphis. The old homestead formerly be-
longed to Charlestown township, but now to
Union. Harrod's fort was on Silver creek, on a
little eminence close by the present iron bridge.
Many of the people lived here, taking in their
horses and cattle. There are now no remnants
of the old fort left. A few apple trees mark the
location.

ROADS.

The Charlestown and Salem road, from the
county-seats of Washington and Clark %3unties,
was one of the oldest in this end of the State. It
passed through this township near the center,
rather north of Memphis, which point was mace
quite a stopping place for travelers. Before
there were any highways established by the State
or county an Indian trace ran from the Falls of
the Ohio past the ancient village of Springville,
which place was a great trading-post in an early
day, on to Memphis, on the east side of the vil-
lage, passed through the neighborhood of the
Pigeon Roost settlement, and terminated on the
White river near where Indianapolis now stands.
This was simply a path which led in a devious
way from one point to another, and which was a
great thoroughfare to the Ohio river and the
Falls. There was another trace a mile west of
Memphis running from the Ohio to Kaskaskia.
These two roads, if such they can be called in
this age of steamboats, railroads, and electricity,
had much to do with the building and location
of Memphis. Besides the Charlestown and
Salem road, there was another which ran to
Brownstown in Jackson county. Quite soon
after this road was built a road was created leav-
ing the Charlestown road and intersecting the
Brownstown road near Henryville.
64*

This intersection made the distance from
Charlestown to Brownstown more direct. The
road was built in about the year 1835. At this
time there are roads diverging from Memphis in
all directions. The Jeffersonville road is used
perhaps more than any other in the county.
Most of the travel from the counties of Washing-
ton, Scott, and Jackson take this thoroughfare to
the cities of the Falls.

The Jeffersonville, Madison it Indianapolis
railroad, which passes directly through the town-
ship from north to south to the distance of five
miles, was surveyed several times before its final
location. There were made by the citizens
along the route donations of land and money,
and the people in this township were not far be-
hind in the work. Many, however, considered I
the locomotive an intruder, and have never re-
alized the benefiting influences which it brought.
The success of this railroad is due largely to the
war, for which it did a great business — at that
time the only direct line from the interior of In-
diana to the Falls, and from thence to the heart
of the enemy's country.

At an early day Seymour Guernsey, Sr., built
a horse-mill in the Blue Lick settlement. People
who lived miles away were compelled to take
their corn to this mill to have it ground ; and it
sometimes happened when the mill was thronged
that persons living at a distance of several miles
could not get their grinding the same day. In
staying over night they often passed their time
in an adjoining hay-loft.

Many amusing incidents occurred at this mill,
one of which we will relate: Charles Durment
and Richard Branam found it convenient one
time to stay over night. It was warm weather.
A setting hen happened to occupy the hay-loft
on the same occason, and they not knowing it
laid down to sleep. During the night Branam
received a savage peck on the back of his hand.
He supposed it was a snake and became terribly
frightened, imagining he could see his arm swel-
ling by the light of the moon. He said to Dur-
ment: "I want to see my wife and children
once more before I die. Let's go home." About
this time Durment's hand happened to come in
contact with the hen, and he received a peck.
Immediately he caught the old hen by the neck,

5°6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

throwing her out of the loft with the remark:
"Here, Branam, is your snake." His reply was:
"Dang the old hen! "

Guernsey's horse-mill is a thing of the past.
Horse power in this respect has been superseded
by water and steam. During the first years of
settlement large quantities of buckwheat were
raised by the Yankees, who in many places made
up a large portion of the settlers. All this grind-
ing was done in a manner similar to that of corn
and wheat. The yield was often as much as
forty bushels per acre, but the average was about
twenty bushels. Buckwheat was often used for
feed in the place of corn, many farmers claiming
it was better and cheaper. The old-fashioned
stationary saw-mill, of which there have been
several, have been replaced by circular saw-mills.
If we contrast the present and the past, improve-
ment is to be seen in every direction. Log cab-
ins have given way to the neater and more con-
venient dwellings of today. Horse-mills are
superseded by merchant mills, driven by water
and steam. We no longer haul our logs for
miles to the sash saw-mills. The portable saw
is taken to our lumber forests. The farmer no
longer employs the old sickle or reap hook to
harvest his grain, but cuts it by horse-power.
The mower and the sulky rake make his harvest
a pleasant task. And the tools used by our me-
chanics have also been greatly improved. The
motto of to-day is improvement. Let the citi-
zens of Union be thankful that their lots have
been cast in a pleasant place, and live striving to
make each other happy.

Another of the first grist-mills in the township
stood on the bank of Silver creek, erected by a
Mr. Bullett. It has long since disappeared.

In 1825 George Barnes carried on distilling
on Silver creek east of Memphis. His principal
hand was William Patrick, a man of recognized
ability throughout the neighborhood in which he
lived. Mr. Barnes finally sold out the machin-
ery, and the distillery has long since disappeared.
"A most remarkable circumstance," says one
authority, "is that there were no private stills in
this township in 1825," which, perhaps, is hardly
to be accepted.

About 1832 a Mr. Sickles built an undershot
grist-mill on Silver creek, opposite the copperas
banks. After several years of work, during
which time it was repaired and changed proprie.

tors, it came to be known as Carr's mill. This
mill did the custom work of the neighborhood
for forty years. The last miller was John Burk-
ett. The house is yet standing, except the saw-
mill, which is partly gone.

The first mill in sight of Memphis was built
in 1845 °y Joseph Carr, one of the early settlers
of the county. It is said that Mr. Carr made
the first powder in southern Indiana. Carr's old
mill site is now occupied by the firm of John D.
Coombs & Brother, with one of the best mills in
the country. The Carr mill passed through vari-
ous hands before it arrived at its present owner-
ship.

Ezra Leeds built a saw-mill in the western part
of the township in i860. He ran it for several
years, grinding some corn along with the sawing.
The mill went down in 1870, and now nothing
remains but the skeleton or framework.

In the pioneer period of this county flour was
bolted by hand. There was no system of ele-
vators. After the flour was ground it was car-
ried up stairs on the backs of men and emptied
into the bolts, which were turned by hand-power.
When tMfe work of bolting was completed the
flour was taken out of a box below; the bran
ran out of the lower end of the bolt. The mode
of making flour has undergone a radical change
during the last fifty years.

POST-OFFICES.

There are three post-offices in the township,
viz : Blue Lick, Memphis, and Slate Cut. Many
years before Memphis was laid out a post-road
ran from Charlestown to Salem in Washington
county. A number of citizens living in the
vicinity of Blue Lick desiring more convenient
facilities for securing their mail, applied for a
post-office by petition, and the request was grant-
ed. The first office in the township was at Sylvan
Grove, one-quarter of a mile south of Memphis,
on the route which led from Charlestown to
Bedford, in Lawrence county, Indiana. The
orifice was established in 1847, w'tn John Y. Wier
as the first postmaster, and who held the office
for many years. Some time in i860 this route
was abolished and the office taken to Memphis.
The old route now extends from the township
village to Chestnut Hill, in Washington county,
with a tri-weekly mail. The first postmaster in
Memphis was J. F. McDeitz; then came U. S.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

S°7

Reynolds, A. P. Jackson, Daniel Guernsey, and
John D. Coombs, who is the present incumbent.

Slate Cut post-office was established recently,
with Isaac Perry as postmaster.

Blue Lick was established about 1842 by the
efforts of the Thompsons, Guernseys, McDietzes,
Kelleys and Hawses, with Thomas McDietz, Sr.,
as the postmaster. Thomas McDietz, Jr., is in
charge at present. This office accommodates a
large scope of country, but the people are gener-
ally not great letter-writers, relying mostly on the
weekly newspaper for information.

CHURCHES.

There are two societies of the Methodist Epis-
copal church in the township; one meets at
Ebenezer, in the western part of the township,
and the other at Memphis. The class at Eben-
ezer was formed about 1840, under the labors of
Rev. Isaac Owen. Among the first members
were George Durment, William and James
Whitesides, and Francis Durment. Somewhere
about 1840 a Methodist class was organized at
Bowery chapel, near Blue Lick, but it is now
disbanded.

There are three Christian churches in the
township: one worships at Macedonia, in the
western portion of Union; one at Gum Log, and
the other at Memphis. The society meeting at
Macedonia was organized in 1854, under the
ministerial labors of Elder Wesley Hartley.
Some of the original members were John D.
Carr, Reiley Harrell, and John Brooks. The
Gum Log class was organized in i860, under the
labors of Elder Wardman Scott. Both of these
churches are in a flourishing condition.

SCHOOLS.

The law enacted by the State Legislature in
1859, providing for one township trustee, ushered
in a new era of governing schools. Previous to
this time when the first board of trustees entered
upon their duties, the schools in what is now
Union, were included in the adjoining townships.
In 1825 a hewed log school-house stood one
mile southeast of Memphis, on the Charlestown
road. It went by the name of the Websterian
school. The first teacher was James L. Harris.
Harlow Hard followed for three or four years.
From this time there were various teachers,
many of whom have already been mentioned in
the school history of adjoining townships. In

1858 or i860 the house was sold to Joseph Lee,
who, in making the turn, used the logs for build-
ing a stable. The law creating school districts
changed the location of the Websterian school.
It is now known as district number one, of Union.

Pennsylvania district number two was practic-
ally located about thirty-five years ago, the original
building being a log house. The present school-
house is a frame.

Fairview school comes next in age, which is
known as district number five. District number six
was then set apart, followed by Palinview number
three. The village of Memphis is known as
district number seven. All the school buildings in
the township are frame.

BURYING-GROUNDS.

One mile northwest of Memphis, near where
Rev. Barzilla Willey formerly lived, is an old grave-
yard, established about fifty years ago. Mr.
Willey gave the land for the church also, which
occupied a site near the burying-ground. This
church belonged to the Methodists, Mr. Willey
being one of their early preachers in this section.
The old church is now used for a dwelling-
house.

Southeast of Memphis a private yard was
begun about 1840 by Mr. Wier. It soon took
the nature of a public institution, since which
time it has assumed that character.

Alongside of the Wier yard the colored peo-
ple have a burial-place of about one-half acre. It
is handsomely situated and neatly fenced.

VILLAGES.

Memphis is the only village regularly laid out
in the township. It was platted by Thompson
McDeitz in 1852. The lots are at right angles
with Main street. There have been several ad-
ditions made, the most important of which is
J. F. Willey's, of very awkward shape, made so
because of the location of the land. Generally
the town is shaped ungainly. The railroad
passes through the principal street, while the
business houses are on either side. Memphis is
wholly in tract number two hundred and three of
the Illinois Grant. Neither of the founders of
the village ever lived here permanently. Mc-
Deitz was a resident of Blue Lick, and Colonel
Willey of Utica township.

Tract number two hundred and three was
originally owned by heirs in Virginia. David

So8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Gray, who came from Pennsylvania about 1816,
bought the tract of an agent in Louisville, moved
immediately and began the work of clearing.
Mr. Gray resided here until 1840, when he re-
moved to Morgan county, Indiana, where he
died in 1872 or 1873. He was the father of a
large and influential family of children, many of
whom still reside in this community.

Basil Bowel came here from Pennsylvania in
181 1 and settled east of Memphis in the bottom
of Silver creek, where he lived until his death in
April, 1871. He married Catharine Pounstone
in Pennsylvania, which was also her native State.
This union produced four sons and three daugh-
ters. Mr. and Mrs Bowel were people of more
than ordinary ability. They lived and died sur-
rounded by a large and admiring circle of rela-
tives and friends. Along with several others
Mr. Bowel carried on distilling in this neighbor-
hood.

Somebody says: "When this township was
first cleared up the soil was very productive,
being especially adapted to the growing of corn.
And as there was no turnpike or railroad, nor
any means of rapid transportation, the crops had
to be consumed as much as possible at home,
consequently much of their corn was manufact-
ured into whiskey. At that day, on account of
its purity, it was a common beverage ; so in order
to do the work (the writer no doubt means man-
ual labor) many distilleries were required, Union
township having a full quota."

Robert Wier came to this neighborhood from
Virginia in March, 18 10, settling one mile south-
east of Memphis. His wife was Sarah Mc-
Campbell, a cousin of James McCampbell, one of
the founders of Charlestown. Mr. Wier farmed
all his life.

George Barnes took up his residence in 1809
on the Charlestown and Salem road, one mile
southeast of Memphis. He owned one of the
first horse-mills in the south side of the county.
The site of the mill gave the name to the hill,
which is now known as "Barnes hill" through-
out the country.

Ex-Governor Jonathan Jennings resided two
miles southeast of Memphis, where he had a
large mill and still-house on the Sinking fork of
Silver creek. Very soon thereafter a number of
others came : William Coombs, from Pennsyl-
vania; James Drummond, from Virginia; Thomas

Carr, from Pennsylvania, who was afterwards a
member of the first constitutional convention
which sat at Corydon, Harrison county; Colonel
John Carr from Pennsylvania, who settled about
one mile west of Memphis, and John Williams.

John G. Wier, one of the oldest men in this
township, was born in 1814 in sight of Memphis,
residing in the county ever since. He was raised
a farmer, but has followed coopering for many
years. In 1849 he was elected a justice of the
peace, which office he held continuously till
1862. At different times he has also filled the
office of township assessor.

George W. Bowel was born in 181 7, near the
township village. By trade Mr. Bowel is a
painter, but since 1862 has been engaged in the
manufacture of'shingles. Of the various small
township offices he has filled several.

George Coons came from Pennsylvania among
the later settlers. He died in 1881.

William and George Reed, though not in any
way related, were here tolerably early. The
former was from Pennsylvania, the latter from
Kentucky.

William Harrod came here from Virginia
among the early settlers. He died several years
ago in Owen county, this State. Mr. Harrod
was well educated, and in all the educational
questions of the township and county took a
leading and consistent part.

Before Memphis was laid out an old school-
house stood south of the station, on Main street.
When the village began to assume moderate
proportions, the house was virtually abandoned,
and as a result the present building took its place.
There are two schools in the village, one colored.
The graded school, where some of the higher
branches are taught, was erected about 1870
by a special tax. In both schools there are
one hundred scholars, divided in the ratio of one
to four in favor of the whites. Among the
teachers have been James Taylor, Zachariah
Young, William C. Coombs, Allen Carmon, and
others. The teachers for the year of 1881-82
are W. C. Coombs and Frederick Whitesides.

John F. Deitz was a store-keeper in what is
now Memphis before the town had a lawful ex-
istence. Quite soon after came U. S. Reynolds
and William Davis, father of General Jefferson
C. Davis of the late war. Guernsey and A. P.
Jackson were here in 1865. The present store-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

5°9

keepers are Madison and Daniel Coombs, Fran-
cis J. Stutesman, and William Matthews. Mem-
phis is a successful business point, from which
are shipped large quantities of hoop-poles, staves,
barrels, and sawed lumber.

Reuben Smith was the first tavern-keeper in
the village after it was regularly platted. He
was here in 1815 5 in a frame house on the north-
east corner of Main street. Samuel Applegate
was next in order ; his place of entertainment
was in a frame building on Railroad street.
George W. Bowel is here for the winter of 1881-
82, opposite the station. During early times
there were no large tavern-stands in Memphis.
This was true because the village was too near
Charlestown to make it a stopping place, and
because the road passed north of the town quite
a goodly distance; also because Memphis did
not come into existence until 1852.

Henry Berishaber was the first blacksmith in
town; he was here in 1855. Jacob Miller was
here second, but he left in a few months, to re-
turn after a lapse of ten or twelve years. The
present and only smith is Stephen Buchanan.

Memphis has been a place of physicians from
its origin. Many years before the village was
laid out Dr. F. M. Carr practiced in this neigh-
borhood and throughout the country. Dr. Carr
now lives at New Mark, Indiana. Dr. Hill was
here thirty years ago. Dr. William E. Wisner,
now of Henryville, and Dr. George Applegate,
pacticed here among the first residents. Dr. J.
M. Reynolds is the present physician. Dr. Rob-
ert Tigart lived one and a half miles south of
town and practiced in the adjoining townships.
Dr. M. C. Ramsey lived near the village, and
was called to all parts of the township and to
Floyd and Washington counties. Dr. W. W.
Ferris was a practitioner here at one time. He
is now a farmer. Memphis has always been
noted for its good health. The surrounding
timber, the water, which is in nearly every in-
stance tinctured with sulphur, the business, and
general character of the town, all combine to
make disease almost unknown. Dr. Reynolds is
the only physician in the township, the only in-
stance of the kind in the county.

The first and only church in Memphis was of
the Baptist denomination, organized under the
efforts of Rev. Reuben Smith. Among the first
members were William McClelland, wife and

family, the Hoseas, and others. The conditions
under which the building was erected were that
non-members contribute of their money and
labor, and that the house be open for all denomi-
nations. After the church was built the prosper-
ity of the Baptists was not so marked; they have
since gone from this community altogether.
This church at present belongs to two denomi-
nations', the Methodist Episcopal and the Chris-
tians, of which the Christian is by far the
strongest.

The Missionary Baptist church, south of Mem-
phis, was built in 1855, or thereabouts. This
house is a frame building, capable of seating
three hundred people. James Worrell and fam-
ily, Mr. Perry and family, were among the orig-
inal members. For five or six years this church
has not been used, owing in part to the death
and removal of many of the elder people. When
the Grange came into existence, this organiza-
tion used the house, agreeing to keep it in re-
pair. The Grange is now a thing of the past,
and the church stands idle.

The colored Methodists and Baptists hold
services jointly in their school-house.

Religiously, Memphis is tolerably active; peo-
ple are harmonious generally in their church rela-
tions, and Sunday-schools are prosperous.

The Memphis or Eclipse hominy mill manu-
factory was begun in 1869, by A. P. Jackson &
Co. During the Indianapolis exposition of
October, 1869, Mr. Jackson was killed by the
explosion of a boiler, while there exhibiting his
machinery. This accident dissolved the original
partnership, and a new company was formed,
with an improved mill, composed of Coombs,
Gray & Coombs. After a few years the younger
member of the firm, Eden Coombs, died, since
which time the company has continued as
Coombs & Gray, making on an average about
twenty mills every year. The mills are shipped
mostly to the Western States; prices range from
$100 to $150.

Formerly the hominy-mill manufactory was an
old still-house, under the proprietorship of
Coombs & Jackson. The capacity was large.
The stoppage occurred on account of the exces-
sive tax which the Government imposed.

Memphis possesses a barrel factory which
turns out four or five hundred barrels per day.
The work began several years ago, when the

5io

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

cement mills of the county went into active op-
eration in their line of business. The proprietors
are Hall & Guernsey, and employ about twenty
hands regularly.

In the way of tan-bark, Memphis formerly did
a large and lucrative business. Since the coun-
try has been cleared up and the timber has be-
come scarcer, less shipments are made. This
year there will be about five hundred cords
delivered and shipped to the Louisville and In-
dianapolis tanneries. Many railroad ties are also
gathered here and sent to the various points
along the great net-work of steam thoroughfares
which span the country. Prices range from forty
to fifteen cents apiece.

One of the noticeable features of the village
is the station or waiting-room, an old, dilapidated
structure, which seems to have taken unto itself
the habiliments of age. Nothing appears to
indicate taste or chivalry. Benches are whittled
and besmeared with, tobacco juice, the stove
looks rusty and careworn, the windows grimy
and unhealthy, and the platform loose and un-
gainly. People grow careless in respect to ap-
pearances in many instances, when in the hot
pursuit of money. This appears to be the case
with the ticket office and the waiting-room of the
Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad
company at Memphis.

In the matter of public halls, taverns, stores,
saloons, and so on, Union township is not in any
way pre-eminent. Township elections are held
in a little room scarcely large enough to accom-
modate a decent municipality. Memphis is the
only voting precinct in the township. The voters
are three-fourths Republicans, and of course,
have all the petty offices to themselves. Politic-
ally, Union has always been Republican. Her
citizens are intelligent, quiet, and orderly, indus-
trious and frugal. The industrial resources of
the township have not yet been fully developed.
In the southern part of her territory is found
vast beds of hydraulic cement, which must nec-
essarily, in time, add greatly to her wealth.

Memphis has at present four stores, two black-
smith shops, several cooper shops, one shoe
shop, and a union church building, where a Sun-
day-school is held every Sabbath.

Blue Lick village, on the Charlestown and
Salem, road about one mile and a half from
Memphis, is a place of about fifty or sixty in-

habitants. The most striking fact connected with
the village is the curative powers of the water
found in this locality, described in the foregoing
pages of Union and elsewhere. Blue Lick is
also noted for the extensive cooper-shops carried
on here under the management of J. J. Hawes.
There is also a good country store found here.
Many cases of scrofula have been known to be
cured by drinking the water from these wells —
the principal one of which is fifty feet deep,
situated on a high hill, and owned by Mr. Samp-
son King. Mr. Hosea has a well sixteen feet
deep near by, but the reputation of the water is
not so great as Mr. King's. Professor Cox pro-
nounces the waters as having fine curative
qualities.

GENERAL MATTERS.

Messrs. William Davis, George Townsend,
and John T. Wier were the first township
trustees; Daniel Guernsey was the first township
treasurer ; John T. Wier was the first justice of
the peace; T. T. Wier and Joel McRose are the
present justices; the trustee is John S. Carr.
The trustees of the township since 1859 have
been Andrew P. Jackson, E. V. Erickson,
Charles F. Scholl, John W. Slider, John D.
Coombs, and William Hancock. Under these
gentlemen the business of the township has been
skilfully managed and prosperity is the result.
This of course is a source of gratification to the
citizens. E. V. Erickson, George Townsend,
John Carter, Jesse Coombs, John T. Wier, and
Isaac Hawes are believed to be the oldesi citi-
zens in the township. The resident ministers
are Elder George W. Green (whofcrnished much
material for this township history, in manuscript
form), Adventist, and Elder Charles W. Bailey,
Christian. William C. Coombs, James F.
Whitesides, Charles M. Taylor, John Gates,
Lillie Carr, Hettie Meloy, Walter Russell, Frank
Park, Harry Park, Edwin O. Green, and John
L. Beyl are the resident licensed school teachers.
Citizens of Union township took a lively interest
in the removal of the county-seat. Many of
them preferred that the courts should be held at
Charlestown, while others desired a change, so
that while on business of another character at
Louisville or Jeffersonville, taxes could be paid
without any extra trouble. The result of the
long and exciting controversy is generally ac-
cepted by the people of Union in good faith, who

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

5ii

believe that while Charlestown has lost a valuable
contributor to her wealth the city of Jeffersonville
has been the gainer, and that time will rule all
things well.

In 181 2, an Indian who was-traveling on the
trace east of Memphis, from the Falls to the
headwaters of White river, camped one night on
Cany fork of Silver creek. Here he professed
to have found a lead mine, and while on his way
to Memphis, or the neighborhood where the vil-
lage now is, sold some bullets to a school-
teacher, who at this time was teaching in this
section. The Indian succeeded in making the
sale of the mine for two horses, and immediately
went off. When the gentleman went to look for
his expected mine it could not be found, and
after giving the ground a thorough going over,
concluded that he had been swindled. The
Indian escaped and was never seen in the neigh-
borhood again.

Mr. Green says, "The wild animals of the for-
est were by no means the worst foes of the early
pioneers. The Indian war-whoop was no new
thing, and the pioneers knew full well that it
meant blood, and that they must constantly be
on the watch to defend themselves. They knew
that the war-whoop meant that they might be
called upon to defend their homes against a
midnight attack of the murderous savages.
Little do we of to-day realize the perils of those
days. Imagination falls far short of actual reality.
Surely those pioneers were brave ; and where
are they to-day ? Numbered with the sleeping
dead! And, alas, some of their names are for-
gotten, but the* heroic deeds will ever mark a
bright spot in the memories of a grateful and
admiring posterity."

William and Celia Green, the parents of Rev.
George W. Green, came to Indiana from Iredell
county, North Carolina, in 1819, and settled
near Utica. In 1833 they purchased a farm in
what is now Union township, to which they
moved the same year and on which they resided
until their death. Their son was born April 9,
1837. Fourteen years of his life were spent in
the school-room as a teacher, and he is now con-
sidered one of the best educated men in the
county. On the 16th of November, 1859, he
married Catharine Whitesides, and in 1861 was
ordained as a minister of the Church of God, or
the Adventists. Mr. Green has held several dis-

cussions on the articles of his faith, and has
traveled largely as evangelist. In performing
marriage ceremonies and preaching funeral ser-
mons he has taken a leading part. He has as-
sisted in building up churches in Floyd, Clark,
Jackson, and Ripley counties, and at home is
recognized as the leader of the community where
he lives.

The Jeffersonville Daily Evening News of Fri-
day, November 25, 1881, says:

Sheriff Davis yesterday received a telegram from Memphis
announcing the death of his mother. Mrs. Davis received a
fall some time since, of a serious nature, but she recovered
and all the danger was supposed to be over. Yesterday
morning she was suddenly taken ill and died at 3 o'clock p.
M. Mrs. Davis was over eighty-one years old, and was the
mother of General Jeff C. Davis and Sheriff Davis. She was
a member of one of the pioneer families of Clark county.
Her maiden name was Drummond; her father settled one
and a half miles from Charlestown, where he raised a large
family; his children in turn raising large families, thus mak-
ing Mrs. Davis largely connected with the history of this
county. It is said she was a member of the most numerous
family in Clark county. She has a brother living in Iowa,
probably the last living representative of the family, who is
now eighty-five years old. Mr. Davis was one of the original
pillars of the Democracy in this county. He was known to
belong to the ' ' hew to the line " Democrats. The deceased
was one of the kindest of old ladies, and had perhaps as large
a circle of friends and acquaintances as any one in the
county, and she will be greatly missed. She will be buried
on Sunday. It can be said in memory of her traits of char-
acter: "would that we had more women like unto Mother
Davis."

It will be seen from the sketch of Mrs. Davis
that she gave birth to a character who played a
very important part in the rebellion — none other
than General Jefferson C. Davis. General Davis
was born in this township; he received his ap-
pointment in the army for the Mexican service
June 30, 1848, but at that time the "war was
over, and the fiery and intrepid, as well as gen-
erous nature, had no opportunity to win laurels
on the field of battle." General Davis will be
remembered as the man who shot General Nel-
son at Louisville, September 29, 1862, during
the exciting times of the late war. His brothers
are now prominent United States officers, enjoy-
ing fine salaries and the emoluments of their
offices.

One of the oldest residents of Clark county is
Miss Rachel Fleharty, who was born in Virginia
about 1775, and came to Clark's Grant when
thirteen years of age. Joshua, her father, was
born in Virginia, and Margaret Lazier, her
mother, was born in France. Her father was a

5»2

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

soldier in the battle of Yorktown, taking part at
the surrender of Cornwallis; he was also a spy of
great note in the Continental armies. Rachel
came down the Ohio river from Pittsburg, land-
ing at Utica, where for a number of years she
engaged in fancy work. During the succeeding
years she took a leading part in the growth and
development of this county. She has many
recollections of pioneer life, and at one time was
the best informed person in the Grant on early
history. Of late her memory has failed rapidly.
She is well known and respected by a host of
friends. There are few people who know what
great changes have taken place since 1794,
and she is one of them. Her record is full of
many choice parts, and her race is nearly run.
She is the oldest living person in the county.
Her residence belongs properly in Carr township,
but of late years she has had no permanent home.

CHAPTER XXXIV, •

MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES.

DR. ROBERT HARDIN GALE, M. D.,
physician and surgeon, of Anchorage, was born
January 25, 1828, in Owen county, Kentucky.
His father was a physician and surgeon for many
years in that county and enjoyed a widespread
reputation, having performed some original and
successful operations in surgery. He is of
Scotch-English origin. He attended school in
his native county for a number of years, and
finished his education at Transylvania university
at Lexington.

He studied medicine with his father; went to
Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, in 1848,
and subsequently graduated with great credit,
receiving his degree in medicine. He soon after
commenced the practice of medicine in Coving-
ton, Kentucky ; was appointed on the medical
staff of the Commercial hospital, of Cincinnati.
After one year's service in that capacity, he re-
turned, through the solicitation of his friends, to
his native county, and practiced with great success
for several years. He was twice elected probate
judge before he had reached his twenty-fifth
year ; became a candidate for the Legislature in

1859, and was elected by a majority of seven
votes in a voting population of two thousand and
four hundred. He served in that body on several
important committees and took an active part in
its work during the troublesome times prior to
the initiation of the civil war. From the first he
took a decided stand for the South, and was a
prominent member of the Democratic conven-
tion which met at Charleston and afterwards at
Baltimore in i860. When the war came on he
entered the Confederate service as surgeon of
Colonel D. Howard Smith's regiment, remain-
ing on active duty until failing health compelled
him to return to his home.

In 1873, at the solicitation of General Eccles,
president of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexing-
ton railroad, he accepted the position as agent
and surgeon for that company.

In 1874 he received a similar appointment
under the Louisville, Paducah & Southwestern
Railroad, still holding both positions. In 1876
he was elected as secretary of the American
Mutual Benefit Association of Physicians, whose
offices are located at Louisville; became a mem-
ber of the State Medical society in 1873; was
a delegate from it to the American Medical as-
sociation which met at St. Louis in that year;
at that meeting was made one of the judicial
council on the code of ethics for the profession,
and serving the short term was re-elected the
following year at Detroit, and now serves in that
connection. In May, 1874, he was elected
surgeon on the visiting staff of the Louisville
City hospital, and has been annually re-elected ;
in 1876 was made president ofcthe board of
medical officers of that institution. In 1879
was elected medical superintendent of the Cen-
tral Kentucky Lunatic asylum, which position he
still holds. [See History of the Asylum.] He
was the first physician in Owen county to give
ice water in fever where the patient had pre-
viously been on mercurial treatment; has been
particularly successful in numerous cases of
lithotomy ; is quick in his conceptions, and bold
and vigorous in carrying them out, and as such
stands as a pioneer in some of the most success-
ful surgical operations. He is a writer of force,
is a man of strong convictions, considers his
position and maintains it; a man of fine per-
sonal appearance, easy and winning in his man-
ers, stands deservedly high in the community,

■■'■"■

. ^U. ~&. J?U??Zsri&XJ.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

5i3

and is one of those characters who would take a
place in the front rank of any profession. Dr.
Gale was married December 31,* 1846, to Miss
M. C. Green, and has eight children, three of
whom are now living. His wife died in 1880,
and was matron of the Central Kentucky Lunatic
asylum at the time of her death.

COLONEL STEPHEN ORMSBY.

Stephen Ormsby, one of the ablest, most hos-
pitable, generous and useful citizens that Jeffer-
son county, Kentucky, ever had, was born upon
the beautiful farm called "Maybera Glass," sit-
uated near Ormsby Station, upon the Louisville
Short Line road, and now occupied by his son
Hamilton Ormsby. His father, Stephen Ormsby,
Sr., was a native of Ireland, whence he deemed
it advisable to emigrate in some haste, immedi-
ately after the Emmet rebellion. He settled at
once in Kentucky. A gentleman by birth and
education and a lawyer, by profession, he speedily
became a successful practitioner, in the midst of
competitors seldom surpassed in talent and legal
attainments. From the bar he was removed to
the bench and, as judge, maintained the charac-
ter of an able lawyer, by his probity, industry,
and distinguished talent, paving the way for new
honors.

He was chosen representative in Congress for
the Jefferson district at a very alarming period —
just before the War of 181 2 — and was one of the
staunchest friends of the administration during
that trying season.

During the war he served for a short time as
aide-de-camp to General Armstrong.

In 181 7 Judge Ormsby was one of a com-
mittee of gentlemen selected by the citizens of
Louisville to visit Philadelphia, and solicit the
establishment of a branch of the United States
bank at the former place. The mission was
successful, and Judge Ormsby became the first
president of the bank. After several years in the
latter situation, he withdrew to private life forever.

Colonel Ormsby found himself, at his father's
death, in the possession of a magnificent estate.
He had received a liberal education at Lexing-
ton, and had prepared himself for the profession
of the law, of which his father was so distin-
guished an ornament, but he found the care of

this property so engrossing a responsibility as to
compel the devotion of his entire time. Hence,
though a man so well fitted for public life, the
world knew him only as a quiet country gentle-
man, whose money was always freely devoted to
the aid of the needy; whose servants preferred
slavery with him to freedom with another master,
and whose family was devoted in its attach-
ment to him.

At his death, which occurred on the same farm
where he was born, and his life spent, at the age
of sixty years, Colonel Ormsby left nine of a
family of twelve children, by his wife, Martha
Sherley Ormsby.

Of these the eldest, Mr. Hamilton Ormsby, is
now the owner of the home farm. He married
Edmonia Taylor, daughter of Edmund Taylor,
and has six children: Edward and William
Ormsby, twins; Nanine, married R. W. Herr;
Stephen S. and J. L Ormsby, and a second
daughter named Edmonia for her mother.

Colonel Ormsby is, like his father, a farmer;
like his father, also, he is a hospitable, liberal and
cultivated gentleman.

FREDERICK*H. C. HONNEUS.

The subject of this sketch was born in Ger-
r. any on the 24th day of March, 1824. In 1833
he came to the United States with his mother
and step-father — his father having died during
the early infancy of the boy. After remaining
in Baltimore, where they landed, for about one
year, the family came to Indiana and settled on
a farm about three miles from Charlestown. The
family at that time consisted of Frederick and
two half-sisters, and he, as the only son, was
called upon to assist to a considerable extent in
the work of the farm. Hence his early educa-
tion was to a degree fragmentary, being obtained
at the schools of his district in the intervals of
labor. When old enough, the young man sub-
stituted teaching for study, assuming charge in
turn of the school near Charlestown, which he
himself had attended, and of another near Utica,
Indiana, at a place called Dark Corner. The
death of his step-father, which occurred about
two years after the settlement in Indiana, placed
heavy responsibilities upon the boy, and he bore
them manfully, never, however, for a moment

5'4

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

faltering in his determination to acquire a liberal
education and profession. In pursuance of this
resolve he entered the college at Bloomington,
Indiana, remaining but a portion of the course,
then removing to Louisville to pursue his med-
ical studies. After his graduation from the med-
ical college he settled in practice at Bennetts-
ville, Clark county, where he remained in active
employment until his death.

In 1865 Dr. Honneus was elected to the Leg-
islature of Indiana almost without opposition,
and at the expiration of his service was earnestly
urged to become again a candidate, but de-
clined so to do. He was at that time, and for
many years thereafter, a Democrat, but in 1873
he became an Independent. On March 7,
1873, Dr. Honneus married Emily Robertson
Prether, widow of John L. Prether. By her he
had two children — Frederick, born November 2,
1875, and Emma, born February 18, 1877.

During the latter months of his life Dr. Hon-
neus was an invalid. He was compelled, in
November, 1878, to succumb to weakness, and
from that time until January 6, 1879, was con-
fined to his bed. On the last named day he
died, a victim to cancer of the stomach. His
widow and children now ^side at New Albany.

HON. D. W. DAILY.

The father of David W. Daily removed from
Kentucky to Indiana in the year 1796, settling at
a point some two and one-half miles south of
Charlestown, in the then wilderness of this
locality, which was chiefly inhabited by Indians.
At that time all of the country lying between the
mouth of Fourteen-mile creek and the Falls of
the Ohio was covered by forest and dense under-
growth of cane. Not only savages, but wild
beasts made their abode here. The panther,
bear, and wolf added to the dangers which met
the hardy and brave pioneers on the threshold of
their frontier life in those days. On the 16th
day of August, 1798, David W. Daily was born
in a log house in which his father lived, on what
is called the old homestead. A few years later,
about 1 80 1, his father commenced to build a
new house — the first hewed log in this portion of
Southern Indiana. In this house Mr. Daily
spent his early days. The house is still standing

and in very fair repair, although over three-
quarters of a century have elapsed since its
construction. The first school he attended was
situated on what was called "Bald hill," near
what is now called Buffalo lick, or Denny's
lick, about one mile and a half from this place,
and about three miles from where the "old
homestead" is situated. The danger was so
great from wild animals that his mother was ac-
customed to go with him a part of the way to
school, and to meet him on his return in the
evening, carrying a younger child in her arms.
He subsequently attended another school near
where the union church stands. It was only in
the winter time, and but for a very limited time,
that he was permitted to attend school at all.
School facilities in those days were very limited
at best, and of a very inferior character. It was
amid the toils and hardships and dangers which
surrounded the first settlers and native born
inhabitants of this country that Mr. Daily spent
his boyhood and developed into a vigorous
manhood. It is related of Mr. Daily that in 1809,
at about eleven years of age, when the first sale
of lots in the town of Charlestown took place, he
attended that sale with a stock of nice apples
procured from the orchard planted by his father
on the old homestead — probably the first orchard
in this part of the country — which he sold to the
people attending the sale. This was his first
experience in trade. He was married to Miss
Mary A. Shirely, the daughter of a pioneer who
lived near to his father's place of residence,on
the 30th of August, 1818 — the day of his funeral
being the sixtieth anniversary of his wedded life.
He became the father of eleven children, five
boys and six girls, all of whom lived to be grown.
Captain D. W. Daily, who died a few years since,
forms the only break in the circle of children.
There are thirty-one of his grandchildren and
eighteen of his great-grandchildren living. He
has also two sisters living.

He made several trading excursions to New
Orleans in flat-boats before engaging in busi-
ness at Charlestown, on one occasion piloting
his own boat over the Falls of the Ohio. At one
time he took Mrs. Daily and his oldest son, Col-
onel Harry Daily, then a lad, with him, remain-
ing South about eighteen months.

In 1826 he removed to Charlestown and en-
gaged in merchandising. His first stock of goods

Wyi

?su&

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

S'S

was purchased at auction in Cincinnati. Al-
though inexperienced in business of this kind,
his natural good sense served him in this as in
many other emergencies all through his varied
business experience. He closely inspected the
various business men competing for bargains at
this sale, selecting as his guide the one his judg-
ment pointed out as the most reliable, and when
a lot of goods that suited him were up cautiously
kept a shade in advance of his shrewd competi-
tor. By this means he obtained a stock of goods
upon which he was enabled to make a fair profit,
and deal justly with his customers. In his long
and successful experience in merchandising, he
always maintained his integrity and retained the
confidence of all who dealt with him by honora-
ble and fair dealing, and by pursuing a liberal
policy towards his customers. By his financial
ability and his disposition to accommodate he
became a tower of strength and usefulness to the
community in which he did business. In all of
his long business life as a merchant and trader,
and subsequently as a man of means to loan to
his neighbors at reasonable rates of interest, no
men can say that D. W. Daily ever oppressed
them, or took any legal technical advantage of
them. On the other hand, there are numerous
instances of his having offered voluntary and time-
ly financial aid to struggling and poor men — in-
stances where men who needed money, and could
not find men who were willing to join in their
notes as surety, were not coldly rebuffed by him,
but kindly assured he would confide in their hon-
or, furnishing the needed help without security.
In the death of D. W. Daily this community uni-
versally and deeply realize that one of the best
and most useful of men has been removed from
them.

The high esteem in which his fellow-citizens
held him caused them to make demands upon
him as a public servant. He was elected sheriff
of Clark county in 1828, and was re-elected to
the same office in 1830, serving two terms. In
1835 he was elected to fill the unexpired term of
John M. Lemon in the State Senate, Mr. Lemon
having been appointed receiver in the land
office. At the expiration of this term Mr.
Daily was re-elected to the State Senate from the
joint district composed of Clark and Floyd coun-
ties. During this term of service the notorious
and fatal internal improvement bill passed the

Legislature of Indiana. Mr. Daily, to his lasting
honor, with but ten other members of the Senate,
bitterly opposed its passage. Finding themselves
in a hopeless minority, they determined to bolt
and thus prevent the passage of the measure by
breaking a quorum. Their horses were ordered
for their departure from the State capital, when,
through the influence of Tilghman A. Howard,
one of the eleven bolters, they finally deter-
mined to remain and make the best fight possi-
ble in the Senate against the measure.

Mr. Daily died Thursday, August 29, 1878,
aged eighty years and thirteen days. He was an
extremely kind and indulgent father and affec-
tionate husband, a good citizen in every true
sense of the word, a most faithful friend and ac-
commodating neighbor.

EDMUND ROACH.

Edmund Roach (deceased), of Charlestown,
was born November 4, 1 795, in the State of Ken-
tucky. His parents were natives of Virginia and
came to Kentucky in an early day, settling in
Louisville, where they owned property.

Mr. Roach received his education in Bards-
town and afterwards learned the hatter's trade,
which he followed successfully many years, or
until the importation of hats injured his business
and he quit. He was, during this time, in Bards-
town, and at this place became united in matri-
mony to Miss Sarah Sturges, December 30, 1830,
and had seven children by this marriage, all of
whom are now dead. This wife was born De-
cember 2, 1809, and is now dead also.

He was married to his second wife, Miss Edith
Hammond, January 29, 1850, by the Rev. Gates,
of Louisville. She was born in Virginia, Feb-
ruary, 1 81 7, but her parents came to Clark coun-
ty very soon after, and settled near Charlestown,
where she was raised and received her education.

After this marriage Mr. Roach carried on bus-
iness in Jeffersonville for a number of years, was
a good business man, and an honest, upright,
Christian gentleman, and had been for many
years a useful member in the Baptist church of
that place.

By this marriage he had two children, only
one of whom, Charles Cecil Roach, is living.
He was born January 5, 1851, was raised and

5*6

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

educated in the Charlestown schools, and fol-
lows farming, living upon the old homestead,
near Charlestown. He was married, in April,
1873, to Miss Laura Stuard, relative to the well-
known and prominent family of Hedges, of
England. Her father, John C. Stuard, was a
prominent settler of the county.

Mr. Charles Roach, the only living representa-
tive of Edmund Roach, is most comfortably sit-
uated on a good, large farm, the old Hammond
homestead, and is a thrifty, energetic, and well-
to-do farmer.

Mr. Edmund Roach lived in Louisville after
his second marriage, until about the year 1852,
when he removed to Jeffersonville and where he
died in 1861. After Mr. Roach's death, Mrs.
Roach removed to the town of Charlestown,
where she owns considerable property, and where
she has since resided. Mrs. Edith Roach is the
daughter of Rev. Rezin Hammond. He was
born in Libertytown, Frederick county, Maryland,
April 15, 1788. He was a descendant of Major-
general John Hammond, of the Isle of Wight,
Great Britain, and emigrated to America be-
tween the years 1680 and 1690, and settled near
Annapolis, Maryland. He was buried in 1833,
on a farm owned by Brice Worthington, which
is about seven miles from Annapolis.

Rezin Hammond's father was Vachel, his
grandfather was John H., his great-grandfather
was Thomas John, his great-great-grandfather
was John H., and his great-great-great grand
father was Major-general John Hammond.

Rev. Rezin Hammond joined the church
when twelve years of age, and was licensed to
preach and joined the Baltimore conference
when nineteen years old, was ordained deacon
and elder at the usual period both times by
Bishop Asbury, traveled nine years under the
following charges: Ohio, Fellspoint, Stafford, and
Fredericksburg, at the last named place with
Beverly Waugh as junior preacher; Stanton,
Frederick, Annapolis, Montgomery two years,
and then located. He was married to Miss Ann
T. Williams by William Cravens on New Years
day, 181 1. He moved to Indiana in 1821 and
settled in the vicinity of Charlestown, and it is
said preached the first sermon ever preached in
Indianapolis. He was of commanding appear-
ance, possessed a fine voice and was a very pop-
ular preacher, and was a man of far more than

ordinary ability, and if he had continued in his
regular work no doubt would have ranked high
in the church, as many of his compeers have
lived to see the entire race of his membership
and preachers of his generation pass away, and
see the Methodist Episcopal church and her off-
shoots increase from 144,599 to 3,000,000, and
the annual conferences from seven to seventy-
two, not naming the branches. What a history
of events in a lifetime. He died at his residence
in Charlestown, Indiana, November 5, 1871,
after a lingering and painful sickness, but always
confiding in the merits of his Lord Jesus Christ,
and sometimes breaking out in expressions of
joy in contemplating his rest in Christ.

Mrs. Ann T. Hammond, the wife of Rev.
Rezin Hammond, was born in Rockingham
county, Virginia, Septemper 16, 1794. She
joined the church and was baptised by Bishop
Asbury in her twelfth year. She was married
January 1, 181 1, and after sharing the toils and
privations of the itineracy of that early day, set-
tled in the vicinity of Charlestown in 182 1.
She died Sabbath, March 24th, and was fifty-seven
years a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church in Clark's Grant, as it is called, and thus
saw the church, in its infancy and was identified
with its growth, bearing a large share in its strug-
gles and rejoiced in its triumphs.

When because of age and infirmity no longer
able to attend upon the public means of grace,
being a great lover of the Bible, she made it her
daily companion, and from it received great en-
couragement during her last years of suffering
and failing strength. Warmly attached to her
church, her house was ever the welcome and
pleasant home for the ministers of "good news,"
and her hands ever ready to minister to the
wants and comforts of the needy. She would
often remark during her last years of suffering
that it would not be long until she would be re-
leased and go to be with Christ, which is far bet-
ter.

Out of fourteen children seven are now living.
Her daughter, Mrs. Roach, has also been for
many years a member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church. She resides in the house where
her father lived fifty years since, and like her
parents is devoted to the church and cause of
Christ.

JiK

REV. REZIN HAMMOND.

)c/mi*-m/ CW<?^C^Z)

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

5'7

ARGUS DEAN,

the pioneer fruit-grower of this section of Indi-
ana, is a son of William Dean, a native of
Dutchess county, New York, and Sary Manly
Dean, of Burlington, Vermont. After marriage
they emigrated to Steubenville, Ohio, where their
son Argus was born August 17, 1810. In 1811
the family removed to Cincinnati by flat-boat,
and thence by land to Franklin county, some
ten miles east of Columbus, Ohio, where Wil-
liam D%an engaged in farming and quarrying.
The stone in this quarry proving of an inferior
quality a removal was made, and stone obtained
from a quarry from which Cincinnati was then
supplied. In the fall of 1829 Argus Dean and
his elder brother Minturn, floated a boat load of
stone down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to
Natchez, where their cargo was sold at what was
then considered a fair profit. They returned by
steamer, the round trip occupying about six
months. This business was continued until
1850, stone being prepared and loaded at Madi-
son, Indiana, after 1832. During these years
the father and his two sons had bought farms
near Madison, which they managed in connec-
tion with the stone business.

On the 27th of October, 1836, Argus Dean
was married to Abigail Stow, of Switzerland, In-
diana, a daughter of Jonah and Livia Stow. She
was born in Cayuga county, New York, July 4,
181 6, and came to Indiana with her parents in
1820.

In the summer of 1849 a deposit of marble
was found near the line of Jefferson and Clark
counties, Indiana. The following year Argus
Dean moved his family to the vicinity of this
quarry. By the opening of 1852 he had a large
steam mill erected and was prepared to saw stone
on a large scale, fifty men being employed, and
at times as many as one hundred saws in opera-
tion. But unforeseen circumstances conspired
to defeat his purposes. The only outlet for this
quarry was the Ohio river, and at the time the
greatest demand existed for stone the water was
low and transportation could not be had, while
railroads were built to competing quarries, giv-
ing them an outlet at all seasons. The enter-
prise was therefore abandoned in 1856.

Mr. Dean for many years has taken much in
terest in the subject of river improvement, and

first suggested the plan that was later appropri-
ated by Captain Eads, for deepening the chan-
nel at the mouth of the Mississippi river.

After giving up the business of quarrying, Mr.
Dean traveled through several States with the
object in view of engaging largely in fruit culture,
but could find no place that seemed better
adapted to this business than southern Indiana.
In the spring of 1857 he set out sixteen hundred
peach trees, comprising more than thirty varie-
ties. From these in the years that followed he
selected those best adapted to his purpose. It
was several years after planting these trees that
fruit was sent to Cincinnati, but since that time
the peaches from Indiana have taken the highest
place in the market.

Large canning and preserving works have been
established in connection with these orchards,
and the surplus product is thus cared for. Be-
sides peaches, large quantities of apples are used,
being made into jellies, apple-butter, apple mar-
malade, vinegar, etc.

At the present time three of Mr. Dean's sons
are married and in business for themselves.
William has a fruit farm near his father's resi-
dence in Clark county. Frank lives in Cincin-
nati. Hiram P. has a fruit farm of his own near
the old homestead in Jefferson county. The
youngest son, Charles E., is at home, and sdper-
intends the cultivation of the orchards, and in
the summer, in connection with Frank, has
charge of the sales of peaches in Cincinnati.
Two daughters, Mary and Abbie, are also at
home.

The wife and mother died of consumption on
June 1, 1880. She was a woman of great en-
ergy of character, possessing a mind remarkable
for good judgment, and taught, both by precept
and example, habits of industry and economy.

REV. JOHN M. DICKEY.

John McElroy Dickey was born in York dis-
trict, South Carolina, December 16, 1789. His
grandfather, of Scotch-Irish descent, came from
Ireland to America in the year 1737. His
father, David Dickey, was twice married, first on
March 28, 1775, to Margaret Robeson, who
died four months after marriage; afterwards to
Margaret Stephenson, September 4, 1788. John

5*8

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

was the first and only son of the latter marriage;
he had four sisters, one of whom died in infancy.
His parents were in humble circumstances, but
of excellent Christian character.

David Dickey was a man of unusual intelli-
gence; foryears he taught the neighborhood school
and when John was three years old carried him
to it daily. Of such a man his wife was a true
helpmeet. Like Hannah of old she had given
her son to God and devoted him to His service.
Under such home influence the children all grew
into habits of piety, and were unable to fix
the time when their early religious experience
began. It is said that John had read the Bible
through at four years of age, and not much later
he was acquiring considerable knowledge o f
mathematics under his father's instructions.
When still quite young he became familiar with
the Scriptures, the Confession of Faith, and
Form of Government of the Presbyterian
Church, the reading books of those days. He
eagerly improved his humble opportunities for
study, until new[advantages opened to him by the
removal of the family northward in 1803.

David Dickey, though reared in a slave State,
looked upon slavery as a curse, and sought to
deliver his family from its influence, but he found
himself obliged by circumstances to remain in
Livingston county, Kentucky. After assisting
two or three years to clear and cultivate his
father's farm, John went to study under the di-
rections of his cousin, the Rev. William Dickey,
about one mile from his home; here he read
Virgil and the Greek Testament, remaining with
his cousin eighteen months.

About this time a school was opened by the
Rev Nathan H. Hall, two hundred and fifty
miles distant, whither he determined to make
his way. Though his father was quite unable to
assist him, he mounted a pony that he owned,
with a few dollars in possession, and set out
upon the long journey.

After arriving there he sold his horse for board
and lodging, and entered with zeal upon his
studies. Soon he became an assistant teacher,
thus supporting himself, and at the same time
working hard at his own course of study. Here
he remained two years, when he entered upon
the study of theology with the cousin who had
previously been his instructor, and with the Rev.
John Howe, of Glasgow, Kentucky.

He was licensed to preach by Mechlenburg
Presbytery in the year 1814, August 29th. Pre-
vious to this, in the twenty-fourth year of his
age, he had been married to Miss Nancy W.
McClesky, November 18, 18 13, of Abbeville,
South Carolina.

In December, after his licensure, he made a
visit to Indiana, and spent a few Sabbaths with
a church — what is now Washington, Davis coun-
ty— that had been constituted in August, 1814,
by the Rev. Samuel Scott, Indiana's first resi-
dent Presbyterian minister. W

There were but two other organized Presby-
terian societies within the limits of Indiana Ter-
ritory. He engaged to return to the Washing-
ton congregation; accordingly, in May, 1815, he
set out for his home in the wilderness, with his
wife and infant daughter, the family and all their
goods carried on the backs of two horses. His
library consisted of his Bible, Buck's Theolog-
ical Dictionary, Pilgrim's Progress, and Fisher's
Catechism.

After arriving at his destination the struggles
and self-denials of pioneer life began. Corn was
ground in mortars, wheat flour seldom seen, fruit
rare, except what grew wild.

Mr. Dickey aided the support of his family by
farming on a small scale, teaching singing-school,
writing deeds, wills, advertisements; he also
surveyed land, and sometimes taught school.
He was handy with tools, and often made farm-
ing implements for himself and neighbors. Much
of this work was done gratuitously, but it secured
the friendship of the people. Music he read
with great facility, often supplying the lack of
notes with his own pen, and on special occasions
he would compose both music and hymns for the
use of the congregation.

But Mr. Dickey's cheerful labors were at times
wholly interrupted by the alarming diseases in
such new settlement, and before one year had
passed his family were prostrated, and on Octo-
ber 23, 1816, Mrs. Dickey died. He remained
in the field four years and then moved to New
Lexington, Scott county, Indiana. Previously,
however, April 2, 1818, Mr. Dickey had married
Miss Margaret Osborn Steele. He became
pastor of the New Lexington and Pisgah
churches.

His installation over these two churches was
the first formal Presbyterian settlement in the

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

519

Territory. He served these two churches a
period of sixteen years, at the same time was
home missionary for the southwestern portion of
the State, and often his mission work extended
to the " regions beyond." His custom was to
make a tour of two weeks, preaching daily, and
then for an equal length of time remain at home
laboring in his own parish. For these sixteen
years he received a salary averaging $80 a year.
In some way he secured forty acres of land near
the center of Pisgah church, and subsequently
added iighty more.

His wife shared his trials and successes for
nearly thirty years, and was the mother of eleven
children. Much of his usefulness must be at-
tributed to her, for the maintenance of the
family she gave her full share of toil and self-
denial, often living alone with her children for
months together, disciplining them to industry
and usefulness, while their father was absent upon
long and laborious missionary journeys. She
made frequent additions to the exchequer from
the sale of cloth manufactured by her own hands.
She cultivated a garden which supplied house-
hold wants. In every work she was foremost,
gathering supplies for the missionaries, caring for
the sick or unfortunate at home. In the absence
of her husband the family altar was maintained,
and the Sabbath afternoon recitations from the
Shorter Catechism by no means omitted. Such
was her trust in God, fear never seemed to dis-
turb her peace. Her death occurred October
27, 1847.

Of the children nine are still living — Margaret
W. (by his first marriage), wife of Dr. James F.
Knowlton, Geneva, Kansas; Jane A., wife of
Dr. W. W. Britan, on the homestead, near New
Washington, Clark county, Indiana; Rev.
Ninian S. Dickey, for eighteen years pastor in
Columbus, Indiana; John P. and James H.
Dickey, in Allen county, Kansas; Nancy E.,
wife of Mr. Mattoon, Geneva, Kansas; Martha
E., wife of Thomas Bare, Esq., Hardin, Illinois;
Mary E., wife of James M. Hains, New Albany,
Indiana; William M. Dickey, a graduate of
Wabash college, a student of medicine, a pris-
oner of Andersonville, and now a resident of
Oregon. The oldest son died at the age of
seventeen while a student for the ministry.

The character of the man was indicated in his
early and bold advocacy of temperance reform.

It has been asserted that he preached the first
sermon in Indiana against intemperance.

He was also an earnest anti-slavery man; for
several years he cast the only ballot in his town-
ship for free-soil principles.

He was famous for discussing these questions
in private and debating societies, and ultimately
won over nearly all his people to temperance
and anti-slavery sentiments. The name of "the
old Abolitionist," which those of the "baser sort"
gave him, rather pleased him. He said it would
one day be popular.

The services Mr. Dickey rendered to the
cause of education were important. His own
opportunities for study had been secured amidst
manifold difficulties, and he sought to provide for
his children, and neighbors' children, an easier
and better way.

Chiefly through his influence a wealthy Eng-
lishman, Mr. Stevens, a member of Pisgah
church, and now a resident of Louisville, Ken-
tucky, was induced to establish and maintain a
female seminary near Bethlehem, Indiana. In a
suitable building erected for that purpose by Mr.
Stevens, Mr. Dickey resided several years,
providing a home for the teachers, and securing
educational privileges for his children, and much
was accomplished by the school for the whole
surrounding region.

There was no subject engaging the attention
of the world that he did not ponder thoroughly.
He was informed on questions of policy, and
sometimes addressed communications to those
in power, urging that "righteousness exalteth a
nation." These communications were kindly re-
ceived, and often elicited respectful replies. It
is not surprising that a life so variously useful,
and a character so strikingly symmetrical elicited
affectionate eulogies. Says one: "He was al-
ways spoken of with great reverence." "I met
him in presbytery," writes another, "and I well
remember that the impression of his goodness
derived from others was heightened in me by the
first day's observation." "I was never with one
whose flow of feeling savored so much of
Heaven," says another. He has left a name
which suggests a wise counsellor, a true worker,
a thoroughly honest and godly man.

Mr. Dickey was for twenty-five years afflicted
with pulmonary disease, but his endurance was
remarkable.

S20

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

He had published, under the directions of the
synod, a brief history of the Presbyterian church
of Indiana. This small pamphlet it was his
earnest desire to enlarge and complete. At the
last he was feeble in body but vigorous in mind,
and sat at his table and wrote as long as he was
able. " Industry was his characteristic," so says
his son; "I never saw him idle an hour, and
when forced to lay down his pen it cost him a
struggle. At his request I acted as his amanu-
ensis, and prepared several sketches of churches,
of which he said no other man knew so much as
he." All was, however, left quite unfinished.
He lived but a day or two after laying aside his
pen. Though suffering intensely in the closing
hours his peace was great. He finally fell asleep
November 21, 1849.

The Rev. Philip Bevan, at this time supplying
the New Washington church, officiated at the
funeral. On the following Sabbath the Rev.
Harvey Curtis, of Madison, preached in the New
Washington church a commemorative discourse
— text, Acts xi : 24.

His remains lie besides those of his second
wife and three of his children in the cemetery of
Pisgah (now New Washington) church. His
tombstone is a plain marble slab, inscribed with
his name, age, date of his death, and the text of
the commemorative discourse. He was a good
man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and
"much people was added unto the Lord."

COLONEL JOHN ARMSTRONG.

Colonel John Armstrong was born in New
Jersey April 20, 1755, and entered the Conti-
tinental army as a private soldier at the com-
mencement of the Revolutionary war; was in a
short time made sergeant, and from September
11, 1777, to the close of the war served as a
commissioned officer in various ranks. On the
disbanding of the army he continued in the ser-
vice. He was commandant at Wyoming in
1784, at Fort Pitt in 1785 and 1786, and from
1786 to 1790 commanded the garrison at the
Falls of the Ohio, the fort being known as Fort
Finney and afterwards as Fort Steuben. He was
in the expeditions of Generals Harmar and St.
Clair against the Indians, after which he was in
command at Fort Hamilton until the spring of

1793 when he resigned. During the Revolu-
tionary and Indian wars he served seventeen
years, and was in thirty-seven skirmishes, four
general actions, and one siege. Among these
were the battles of Stony Point, Monmouth,
Trenton, and Princeton, and the siege of York-
town.

In 1797, Colonel Armstrong, with several
other families, made a settlement opposite the
Grassy flats (eighteen miles from Louisville) at
what was called Armstrong's station, but in a
short time he returned to Columbia, Ohi«, where
he resided until the spring of 1814, when he
moved back to his farm at the station, and
died February 4, 1816, and was buried on the
farm.

While in command at Fort Finney (situated on
the Indiana bank at the bwer end of what is
now known as the old town of Jeffersonville),
the Indians made frequent incursions into Ken-
tucky, and with a view to prevent the savages
from fording the Ohio at the Grassy flats and
Eighteen-mile Island bar, at both of which, par-
ticularly at the Flats, the river was fordable at a
low stage, Colonel Armstrong built a block-house
at the mouth of Bull creek, on the Indiana shore.
While his men were engaged in building the
block-house, he, with his tomahawk, girdled the
timber on about three acres of land on top of
the hill opposite the Grassy flats and planted
peach seeds in the woods. When the first set-
tlers came to the Illinois Grant and landed at
the big rock, or Armstrong's station, in the fall
after Wayne's treaty, they found the timber dead
and fallen down, and the peach trees growing
among the brush and bearing fruit. The settlers
cleared away the brush, and this woody orchard
supplied them with fruit for some years.

WILLIAM PLASKET

was a member of one of the five families that
made the settlement in 1797 at Armstrong's sta-
tion, and was one of those sturdy, reliable, brave
men who assisted in settling Clark county and
lived to see the fruit of his labors, dying at an
advanced age in 1854, at Bethlehem, the town
which he had assisted in laying out in 1800.

In a letter dated September 9, 181 2, Mr. Plas-
ket, writing from the station to Colonel Arm-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

521

strong, refers to the attack made by the Indians
on the settlement on the frontier of the county
(known as the Pigeon Roost massacre) on the
3d instant, in which he states twenty-one persons
were killed and one wounded. The killed were
mostly women and children, only two men being
killed, some seven men making their escape, who
supposed they killed two or three Indians before
they left the ground. Six houses were burned
by the Indians. The Indians fled in haste, but
were followed and overtaken the next evening by
a party of rangers at the Driftwood fork of the
White river, who killed two Indians and wounded
one and recaptured three horses loaded with
plunder that had been taken the evening before.
"The alarm was so great the people fled in every
direction. The cowards fled across the river;
the heroes flew to the field of battle. There
were a hundred good fellows there in a few hours
after the alarm was spread."

R. S. BRIGHAM, M. D.

R. S. Brigham, M. D., of New Albany, In-
diana, was born in Bradford county, Pennsyl-
vania, June 16, 1832, and grew up among the
hills of that rough and mountainous region of
the State. His father was a farmer, and like
many of the owners of small farms in this rough
and rocky country, wa; unable to give his chil-
dren many of the advantages of an education,
and the doctor being the eldest of a family of
nine children, was early trained to hard daily
work upon the farm ; but this sort of a life being
illy suited to his tastes, he, at an early period in
life, resolved to acquire an education, fully realiz-
ing the great task before him, and that he must
depend upon his own resources and energy, and
also must aid in supporting his younger brothers
and sisters, as his father was a poor man and in
poor health. But having inherited from his
mother a great desire for knowledge in regard to
the phenomena ever being displayed in the beau-
tiful physical world around us, and therefore with
enthusiasm and determination to succeed, he
commenced the study of various branches of
philosophy. In early youth, being compelled to
work hard all day upon the farm, and though at
night weary and needing rest, he would neverthe-
less study late and early. And often after a hard

day's work, when puzzled with abstruse questions
in his algebra or geometry he would walk over
three miles to talk with and get instructions from
a teacher friend, and return in the morning in
time for the day's work. He worked on in this
way until he had fitted himself to teach public
school. His studious habits now well established,
enabled him to fit himself for college, and at the
age of twenty-one entered college. And he recol-
lects no happier period in all his past life than
when riding on the railroad toward old Dickin-
son college. After leaving college Dr. Brigham
engaged again in teaching in high schools for a
year or two, and then spent several years in giv-
ing public lectures upon scientific and philosoph-
ical subjects, in the meantime spending all his
leisure in studying his chosen profession, that
of medicine. He attended his first course of
medical lectures at the Medical college of Ohio
in Cincinnati.

In 1857 he made the acquaintance of Miss
Mary Goe, daughter of one of the leading
farmers of Greene county, Ohio. The amiability
and genial character of this young lady won his
heart, and he gave her his hand in marriage,
and April 10, i860, their fortunes were united,
and they have journeyed along life's pathway as
husband and wife from that day to this, and so
happily that his love is more earnest than when
first they started, for his truly good and noble
wife. Six children have been the fruit of this
union, five of whom are now living — four boys
and one girl

During the war of the Rebellion Dr. Brigham
enlisted in the United States navy on the Missis-
sippi river, and by promotion was made an act-
ing assistant surgeon. After the war closed, and
after graduating in the Homeopathic Medical
college of Missouri, he established himself in
general practice of medicine in Cairo, Illinois.
Close attention to business made him successful,
and enabled him to accumulate a handsome
property in the course of ten years. A seeming
tempting offer came to him now to go to Indi-
anapolis, Indiana, and here, though successful
in the practice of medicine, he committed the
greatest financial mistake of his life by permitting
himself to become involved with a fellow-phy-
sician to such an extent as to cause the loss of
all his property, which so discouraged him that
he quit for a time the practice of medicine, and

522

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

went to Cincinnati, Ohio, as agent for a loan as-
sociation, which proved a sham, and while in
Cincinnati he improved the time by attending
the hospitals and colleges, both allopathic and
homeopathic, and received a general brushing up
in the medical sciences in this Athens of the
West. He now determined to return to the
practice of medicine, and upon looking around
for a field and writing to his many friends in
reference thereto, he concluded to cast anchor in
New Albany, Indiana, being advised to do so by
his friend, the eminent Dr. W. L. Breyfogle,
of Louisville, Kentucky.

He came to New Albany in April, 1880, and
by his affability as a gentleman, and skill as a phy-
sician, very soon obtained a large and lucrative
practice which is constantly growing.

Dr. Brigham is truly a self-made man, having
in his youthful days not only to educate himself
but to aid his father in the support of a large
family, because of the poor health of his father
who was^also a poor man, and over $2,000 of
money, his first earnings, were freely given to aid
in supporting and educating his brothers and
sisters. He has ever maintained an unsullied
reputation as a gentleman, and always been a
highly respectable citizen in whatever community
he has resided. He is a progressive man who,
by hard study and careful reading, endeavors to
keep apace with the advancement of medical
science and the general scientific progress of the
day. He has been a lecturer upon scientific
subjects, and frequently by invitation read papers
before scientific and literary bodies upon physi-
ology, astronomy, biology, evolution, and kindred
topics. He is a member of the American
Institute of Homeopathy, the Indiana Institute
of Homeopathy, and the Morris County Home-
opathic Medical society, and also has been a
member of many literary and scientific associa-
tions.

He has never felt it necessary or best for him
to unite with any church organization, always
believing that a religious life was best set forth
in an uniform devotion to becoming better and
wiser every day of life, and that all humanity
must work out salvation by deeds instead of
creeds; that is, show the Christian virtues by
works, fit offerings upon the altar of a true and
upright life. He has endeavored to be a kind
husband and father and true friend.

WILLIAM SANDS,
born in Harrison county, near Laconia, February
20, 1838, located in New Albany, Indiana, Floyd
county, in the year 1865. Mr. Sands was raised
upon his parents' farm, until he was twenty years
of age. He then married Miss Margaret Spen-
cer, of Harrison county, and located in the
southern part of Illinois. He then embarked in
the wagon-making business, and remained in
that business a short time. He then taught
school for one session. The late war broke
out between the North and South. Then Mr.
Sands came back with his family to his old home
in Harrison county. Mr. Sands then enlisted as
a soldier in the Thirty-eighth regiment Indiana
volunteers, Colonel Scribner commanding. Mr.
Sands took part in quite a number of hard fought
battles. Amongst the principal ones were Stone
River, Chickamauga, battle of Perryville, battle
of Missionary Ridge, battle of Peach-tree Creek,
and the siege of Savannah. Mr. Sands was a
true soldier, always ready for duty, and battled
bravely as a good soldier for his country and its
flag. Mr. Sands then returned in 1863, one
year before his term had expired in his first en-
listment. In 1864 his regiment came home on
a furlough, and remained a short time, and then
returned back to the field of battle. He was
with General Sherman on his march to the sea.
The last battle that Mr. Sands took part in was
at Jonesboro. It was a hard fought battle. It
lasted eight hours. He witnessed the surrender
of General Johnston's army, the flower of the
Southern Confederacy. He took part in the
grand review at Washington, D. C, which was
one of the United States of America's proudest
days. Then the Fourteenth army corps came to
Louisville, Kentucky, in which Mr. Sands be-
longed. Then his regiment went to Indianap-
olis, and was mustered out of service. He then
received his honorable discharge, July 15, 1865.
He then returned home in Harrison county, and
remained a short time. He then came to New
Albany and located permanently, in 1865, and
embarked in the huckster business. He carried
on that business for some time, then, in 1868, he
established a grocery and produce business, which
he still carries on. His business house is located
on Main street, between Lower Eighth and
Ninth. Mr. and Mrs. Sands have had nine chil-
dren, three of whom are dead.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

523

JOSIAH GWIN.

Josiah Gwin was born in the village of Lanes-
ville, Harrison county, Indiana, January 28,
1834. At the age of eight years he removed to
New Albany, Indiana, with his father's family.
His education was limited to the grammar grade
of the common schools of the city, and in 1850
he quit school to join a surveying party un-
der Captain E. G. Barney, who was employed
by the then New Albany & Salem railroad to
extend the road to Michigan City.

In the spring of 1852, at the death of his
father, Thomas Gwin, then sheriff of Floyd
county, the subject of this sketch accepted em-
ployment under Martin H. Ruter, as clerk in a
grocery store. In the year of 1853 Mr. Ruter
was appointed postmaster of New Albany under
Franklin Pierce's administration, but died shortly
after his appointment and before he had accepted
the place. Phineas M.- Kent was appointed in
Mr. Ruter's place, and Josiah Gwin was selected
as his clerk. Mr. Kent held the office but a
short time, and Frank Gwin, a cousin of Josiah
Gwin, was appointed, and the latter was con-
tinued as clerk until the year 1856, when he was
nominated as the Democratic candidate for
county recorder. Mr. Gwin was elected by a
majority of one vote, but owing to the intensity
of party spirit and the closeness of the vote, the
election was contested, and Mr. Gwin was un-
fairly defeated.

In the fall of 1856 Mr. Gwin accepted the city
editorship of the New Albany Ledger, and con-
tinued in that capacity until the summer
of i860, when he was again nominated for
recorder of Floyd county. He was elected
over his opponent, who contested his election
four years before, by a majority of nine hundred
and eighty-one votes. In the fall of 1864 he was
re-elected by a large majority and held the office
until November 16, 1869.

In the spring of 1871 he was appointed ap-
praiser, to fix the value of real estate of New
Albany.

During the latter part of July, 1871, in con-
nection with James V. Kelso and Charles E.
Johnson, Mr. Gwin established the New Albany
Daily and Weekly Standard, which paper, about
one year afterwards, absorbed and consolidated
with the Daily and Weekly Ledger. The paper

was named The Ledger-Standard. Mr. Gwin
was editor of the paper until the spring of 1881,
when he sold his interest therein and for awhile
retired from journalism.

On the 22d of June, 1881, Mr. Gwin again
entered the journalistic ranks by founding the
Public Press, a weekly newspaper, at New Al-
bany, and is at this time its editor and pro-
prietor.

Mr. Gwin was the first president of the South-
ern Indiana Editorial association, which organ-
ization was effected at Columbus, Indiana, in
May, 1875. He was afterwards chosen as its
treasurer.

In January, 1881, at the organization of the
State Democratic Editorial association, Mr. Gwin
was elected as its treasurer (or one year.

CHAPTER XXXV.

CLARK COUNTY SETTLEMENT NOTES.

John L. P. McCune, a native of Jessa-
mine county, Kentucky, came to Clark county
in 1 816, engaged in making shoes and boots;
was engaged in farming part of his tirae.had a
farm near Memphis on which he resided part of
his time; was one of the gallant young Kentuck-
ians that responded to the call of Governor
Shelby, and marched to the Canada frontier, and
was in Colonel Trotter's regiment, which was the
first regiment in the battle of the Thames, on
the 15 th of October, 18 13, when Proctor was
defeated and Tecumseh was killed, which gave
peace to the Northwestern frontier. Mr. Mc-
Cune has arrived at the advanced age of eighty-
nine, and is uncommon sprightly for a man of
his age.

John Lutz was born in Lincoln county, North
Carolina, in 1802. He came to Clark county in
1806 with his parents, David and Catherine
Lutz, who were among the first settlers here.
He has resided continuously in Charlestown
township since 1806. He married Miss Barbara
Dellinger, also of Lincoln county, North Caro-
• lina. They have had ten children, five of whom
are still living, viz: David (deceased), Nor-
man (deceased), Albion, Oscar, John (deceased),
Anna (deceased), Isaac, Frank, Mary (deceased),

524

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

George K. Mr. and Mrs. Lutz have been mem-
bers of the Methodist church for many years.
In politics Mr. Lutz is a Democrat.

Avery Long was born in Scott county, Ken-
tucky, in 1808, and came to Clark county, Indi-
ana, in 181 6, with his father, Elisha Long, who
settled on the farm now occupied by Avery,
the only surviving son. In 1829 Avery Long
married Miss Mary Goodwin, daughter of Judge
Goodwin. She died in 1839. She was the
mother of two children, Catherine and Willis,
both deceased. In 1851 Mr. Long married Miss
Sophia Bottorff. They have two children —
Martha Jane, wife of James H. Peyton, of this
township, and John Elisha. Mr. Long is a
strong Democrat. He has held several local
offices; was county treasurer nine years, town-
ship trustee three years, and county commis-
sioner six years. Mr. Long has a large farm
well improved.

James C. Crawford was born in Clark county
in 181 7, and has always resided here. His
father, William Crawford, came from Virginia in
1814. He had married, pievious to coming,
Miss Sarah McCormack. They had three chil-
dren born in Virginia and four in Clark county.
Of these only three are now living, viz: Josiah,
Mrs. Mary Ann Taggart, and James C. Mr.
Crawford is one of the oldest of the natives of
Clark county.

Sam P. Lewman, of Clark county, was born
in Charlestown July 30, 1834. He early lived on
a farm, and was educated in the country schools
and in Oberlin college, Ohio; taught school two
years. Was trained in the Jeffersonian school of
Democracy, but under the exciting contest in
the Kansas troubles, experienced what might be
termed a change of heart, and voted and worked
for free speech, free Kansas, and Fremont.
Studied law under Thomasson & Gibson, in
Louisville, Kentucky ; took the junior course of
lectures in the law department of the university
of that city. He was married April 3, i860, to
Ann E. Holman, of Charlestown township, and
then abandoned the law and went to farming.
Was elected justice of the peace in 1864, and
held that office seven years. Was nominated by
the Republicans of his county for the State Leg-
islature of Indiana, and in the contest reduced
the Democratic majority from 1,290 to less than
700. During the war he was a private in the

Eighth regiment, and served in the Legion.
In this family there has been as yet no death in
his own or that of his father.

Thomas J. Henley was one of Indiana's distin-
guished sons; was the son of Jesse Henley, who
emigrated from North Carolina to Clark county
about the year 1800; was an enterprising farmer
and accumulated considerable property; raised a
large and respectable family. Thomas J. Henley
was born in 1808; after having the advantages of
the schools of that day, he entered the Indiana
university, then presided over by Dr. Wiley.
After leaving the university he was elected a
Representative from Clark county, and re-elected
for several years ; elected Speaker of the House
in December, 1842 ; was one of the leading
members of the Legislature; was one of the
strongest opponents of the internal improvement
system that was inaugurated in 1835-36. In
1836 he established the Indianian, a newspaper
that advocated the election of Martin Van Buren
and Colonel Richard M. Johnson. In 1843 he
was elected a Representative to Congress, from
the Second Congressional district of Indiana ;
was re-elected in 1845-47. Went to California
in 1849, for speculating purposes, and returned
in 1853, when he moved his family to San Fran-
cisco, California. Was appointed postmaster by
President Pierce for the latter place, and was
appointed afterwards naval agent for the same
place; was a member of the California State
Senate. Mr. Henley was an able debater, and
possessed a strong mind. Joseph G. Marshall
once said that he would rather meet Robert
Dale Owen and Andrew Kennedy than Thomas
J. Henley, in political discussion. Mr. Henley
had a great many warm personal friends; he was
a man that never forgot his friends; as a notable
instance we refer to Mr. Henley's kindness to
Mr. W. S. Ferrier, the publisher of the Clark
County Record. In the spring of 1843 Mr.
Ferrier engaged in the publication of the South-
ern Indianian, which had been discontinued by
John C. Huckleberry in 1841; during the sum-
mer of 1843 Mr. Henley made his first canvass
for Congress, running against Joseph L White,
the former incumbent. The Southern Indianian
sustained Mr. Henley, who was elected. It was
Mr. Ferrier's desire, who was then in his eigh-
teenth year, to have an appointment as cadet at
West Point. Mr. Henley recommended him, and

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

525

the War department tendered to him the ap-
pointment to take effect at the expiration of the
time of the then incumbent, Thomas Rodman,
of Washington county, since General Rodman,
and inventor of the Rodman gun. Prior to the
expiration of Mr. Rodman's time, in the fall of
1844, circumstances developed which determined
Mr. Ferrier to decline the cadetship. This ap-
pointment was tendered to Mr. Ferrier not only
on the account of personal friendship, but on
the score of Mr. Henley's estimation of the per-
sonal merits of a boy who had not a relative, or
influential connections to wield an influence in
his favor. Mr. Henley was selected on the 8th
ot January, 1840, as the Van Buren elector for
the Second Congressional district of Indiana,
and made a great many political speeches in In-
diana and Kentucky.

Captain John Norris was one of the early
settlers of Clark county, and had all the trials
incident to a frontier life. He commanded a
company at the battle of Tippecanoe. General
Harrison, in his official report, complimented
him and his company. He was also at Pigeon
Roost when the Indians made the attack, and
assisted old Mr. Collins in defending his house
until night. When the Indians commenced to
fire the neighboring cabins, Captain Norris and
Mr. Collins left the house, Collins being killed.
Captain Norris then took two children to a place
of safety, went to Charlestown, gave the alarm, and
then assisted in burying the bodies of those who
were massacred. Captain Norris was a good
citizen, an honest man, and a sincere Christian.

W. R. Kirkpatrick, an experienced and effi-
cient teacher in Clark county, Indiana, was born
in June, 1857. His father was chief of police
in Louisville, holding that office very efficiently
for several years. He was also superintendent of
the workhouse for some ten or twelve years, and
in all was a very prominent man. He died in
September, 1880. W. R. Kirkpatrick received
his education in the Bloomington college, Indi-
ana, and has been teaching in all five years. His
work as a teacher has earned for him some rep-
utation, which he well deserves.

James Carr was born and raised in Clark
county. He is the son of Joseph Carr, and a
nephew of General John Carr; his mother was a
daughter of James Drummond, one of the first
settlers of Clark county. The mother of Mr.

Carr having been left a widow, with a large
family of children, managed the farm, and ac-
cumulated considerable property. Mr. Carr is a
well-to-do farmer.

John Robertson is a grandson of Samuel
Robertson, one of the early pioneers of Clark
county, who settled near what was called the Gas-
away church. He married a daughter of the
late James Beggs, and is now living on the Beggs
farm. He is a well-to-do farmer.

William J. Kirkpatrick was born and raised in
Clark county, resides on the farm formerly owned
by Governor Jennings, is a farmer and trader,
has been engaged in teaching school, is a bache-
lor, stayed with his mother and sisters as the
head of the house, has been successful in trade,
and is in good circumstances. He is an upright,
honest man, and possessed of good conversational
powers.

James Crawford came to Clark county, with
his father, from the State of Virginia, in the
spring of 1830. Mr. Crawford, by industry and
economy, is now the owner of a good farm.
He is a cousin of the Rev. Josiah Crawford.

C. C. White was a son of Tohn White, who
emigrated from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in
the year 1804, and settled near the Sinking fork
of Silver creek. Mr. White was a tanner and
carried on the tanning business for a great many
years; raised a large and respectable family. He
assisted in burying those who were killed at the
Pigeon Roost massacre. C. C. White was born
and raised in Clark county, and resides on the
farm that was owned by his father. He is a well-
to-do farmer, a well informed man, and a cordial,
genial gentleman, and is highly respected by his
fellow-citizens.

Professor John F. Baird is a native of Clark
county, the son of Dr. John Baird, whose
father emigrated from Ireland. Professor Baird
was a graduate of Hanover college, is a Presby-
terian minister, and now professor in Hanover
college. He was an exemplary young man, and a
close student, and bids fair to be useful in any
position that he may be placed.

Mrs. Mary Ramsey was born and raised in
Charlestown. She is the daughter of D. W.
Daily; was married to Howard Ramsey in 1847,
is now a widow, and resides on a farm two miles
south of Charlestown, it being her share of the
large tract of land owned by her father.

526

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

George Huckleberry, Sr., was a native of Wurt-
emburg, Germany. He came to America, and
settled in Pennsylvania until the year 1784, when
he moved lo Kentucky, Jefferson county, near
Abbott's station, where he had one son captured
by the Indians. When the Indians found that
they were pursued they killed the boy near the
Twelve-mile island, which was the cause of the
creek on the Kentucky side being called Huckle-
berry. In the year 1796 he moved to Clark
county, Indiana, near Charlestown Landing,
where he purchased a large tract of land. He
had seven sons and two daughters. His sons
performed military duty on the frontier: Martin
was in Captain Wells' company at St. Clair's de-
feat; Henry was in the battle of Tippecanoe;
George was one of the volunteers that went to
the relief of Fort Harrison when Major Zachary
Taylor, afterwards President Taylor, was besieged
by the Indians. John C. Huckleberry was a
son of George Huckleberry, Jr., born in 1810.
He was a member of the Legislature several
terms; .was proprietor and editor of the Southern
Indianian; postmaster from 1838 to 1841; was
sheriff of Clark county from 1845 t0 '^47 > re-
moved to Missouri in 1867, and thence to Reno
county, Kansas, and died August, 1879. George
Huckleberry left five children, two boys and
three girls. William P. Huckleberry, his youn-
gest son, was born in 1819, and is now acting as
a claim agent and notary public.

Andrew J. Carr is a well-to-do farmer near
Charlestown, and was born in this county March
22, 1822. After completing his education in
Greencastle and Hanover colleges he studied
law, but never practiced the profession. He
served as lieutenant in the war with Mexico, un-
der Captain Gibson; was private secretary under
Governor Whitcomb; was a member of the State
Legislature ; and about the time of the war was
treasurer of Clark county four years. He was
married to Miss Sarah Whiteman about the year
185 1, and had by this union four children, three
sons and one daughter. The oldest son, Joseph
L. Carr, married Miss Ida Baldock.

M. B. Cole, merchant of Charlestown, was
born in 1825 in Clark county. His father,
Christopher Cole, born in 1802, moved here in
1822, and was, during a period of sixteen years,
assistant sergeant-at-arms in the House of Rep-
resentatives. He also followed mercantile pur-

suits in Charlestown, but retired in 1846. Mr.
M. B. Cole was educated during his early life
to close business habits, and has, during his
whole life, been a successful merchant, having
followed that pursuit for forty years. During the
war his sales run to almost an unprecedented
figure, and since that time have continued good,
and now he is ready to retire from active service
for a quiet life. He owns a farm adjoining town,
where he lives. In 1848 he was married to Miss
Margaret Long. His two sons are married and
in business with him.

Joseph McCombs, deceased, was born in 18 14
in Clark county. His father, William McCombs,
came to the county before the year 1800. In
1845 Mr- McCombs and Martha Simpson were
united in marriage, ana afterwards moved upon
the farm now owned by Mrs. McCombs. This
is a beautiful farm, consisting of one hundred
and twenty eight acres of land under a high state
of cultivation, with an elegant dwelling house
upon it. By this marriage Mrs. McCombs is the
mother of six children, three married and three
single. Mrs. Mary Eweng, one daughter, lives
in Missouri. Mrs. Anna Carr and Mrs. Adahne
Wilson live in Clark county. One son and two
daughters are as yet unmarried.

John Morrow, one of the successful and ex-
perienced teachers of Clark county, was born in
Charlestown June 16, 1837, in which place he
grew to manhood, in the meantime receiving his
education and qualifications as a teacher. He
began his profession during the winter of 1858-
59, teaching in Charlestown, since which time he
has had the principalship of those schools. His
father, William Morrow, came from Kentucky
about 1820. He was a man of more than ordinary
ability, and served as magistrate of the town about
thirty years. He died in 1873 at the advanced
age of eighty years. His second wife, Jane
Manly, mother of Professor Morrow, died in
1859. Mr. Morrow was married in the spring of
1859 to Miss Lucy Jane Collins, and has three
sons and one daughter.

General John W. Simonson, lately deceased,
was many years in active service in the United
States army, but was retired many years ago.
He had been a citizen of Clark county thirty-five
years, and was well and favorably known
throughout the State, and especially in South-
ern Indiana. For several winters the General

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

527

spent his time in Florida, that climate being
more favorable to his health. He was a
gentleman of the old school, ever courteous,
polite, and kind to all with whom he came in
contact. After an illness of some time he died
in December, 1881, at the advanced age of
eighty-two years.

William McMillen was born in Winchester,
Virginia, July 7, 1793; when eighteen months old
he was brought by his parents to Fayette county,
Kentucky. When eighteen years of age he
learned the cabinet trade, and in 181 3 became a
member of Colonel Dudley's regiment to serve
on the Canadian frontier; was captured by the
Indians, sold by them to a Frenchman, and
turned over to the British, and with sixty others
exchanged after Perry's victory after an imprison-
ment of one year and eight days. Returned to
Lexington, Kentucky, and followed his trade.
In 1817 came to Charlestown, where he con-
tinued his calling until 1841, and then went to
his farm where William C. McMillen was born
in 1837. The latter, in 1854, married Miss
Mary F. Brentlinger, and by this marriage is the
father of four children. He owns a farm of two
hundred and eighty-five acres of good land.

Professor A. Campbell Goodwin, superintend-
ent of Clark county schools, was born in Utica,
Clark county, June 3, 1846. He received his
education in the schools of his township, and in

1863 was placed in charge of Number Seven
hospital, Jeffersonville, as hospital steward. In

1864 he resigned and took a course in Boyd's
Commercial college, Louisville, Kentucky, and
completed the course in half the usual time, and
was offered a principalship in the institution, but
refused, and became clerk in the freight depot of
the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis rail-
road. He afterwards spent one year in the Ken-
tucky university, and then taught in the Jefferson-
ville schools. In 1869 he taught a district school
with marked success, and was afterwards solicited
by the patrons to remain at the same salary,
$75 per month. He afterwards taught again
in the Jeffersonville schools with great success.
He also served as county examiner, and in 1873
was elected county superintendent, and with an
exception of one year has filled the office down to
the present. His official career has been in
every particular satisfactory as well as successful.
The length of the school term under his super-

intendence has been extended from fifty-five
days to sixty-eight, and the standard of qualifica-
tion has been gradually exalted. His Teachers'
Manual and blanks for teachers' reports have
been warmly praised by some of the best educa-
tors in the land. In 1880 Professor A. C. Good-
win became the Democratic nominee for the
office of State superintendent.

James L. Veazey, a farmer in good cir-
cumstances, lives above the town of Charles-
town on Fourteen-mile creek. Mr. Veazey was
married a few years since to Miss Sarah Walker.
He is a good farmer, and has every convenience
to promote ease and comfort. He has closely
attended to the wants of his business, and has
taken no part publicly in politics.

Judge Melville C. Hester, of Charlestown, is a
grandson of John Mathias Hester, who was born
in Hanover, Germany, July 4, 1767, emigrated
to Philadelphia in 1772. His father not being
able to pay for this family passage (price sixty
pounds), they were sold into servitude for a term
of years to pay the debt. The family remained
in hard and cruel bondage for the space of
twelve months, and after serving a year, the cruel
tyrant compelled him to pay the sixty pounds
money he had borrowed before he would
grant him and his family their freedom. John
Mathias Hester emigrated to Kentucky when
nineteen years old, and descended the Ohio
on a flat-boat, making narrow escapes from
the Indians. On one occasion a party of
them headed by a white man, after failing
to decoy them ashore, fired many shots into
their boat. After arriving in Louisville, Mr.
Hester teamed a great deal, and on one occasion,
in removing two families from the Pond settle-
ment to Shelbyville, were fired on at a place
called Benny Hughes station, by a party of
Indians, two of #the company wounded, and Mr.
Hester shot above the left eye with a rifle ball,
which broke his skull, but did not enter the
brain. He immediately dismounted, and would
have escaped, being fleet of foot, but the stream-
ing blood from his wound obstructed his sight,
and after a run of one hundred and seventy-five
yards he was overtaken, tomahawked,* and scalp-
ed, from which he, however, survived. Eighteen
months after this event, he was married to Miss
Susan Huckleberry, and in 1799 moved to a
* The ax glanced, only chipping the skull.

5**

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

tract of land adjacent to the present site of
Charlestown, and a mile and a half from Tuley-
town, known afterwards as Springville. He raised
a large family of children, of whom Rev. George
K. Hester, the father of Judge Hester, was the
oldest son. He became a minister of the gospel
in the Methodist Episcopal church, and con-
tinued as such until his death, a period of fifty-
six years. He died September 2, 1874. Craven
P. Hester, the second son, became a distinguished
lawyer, and judge of the circuit court in the
State of California. Uriah A., another son, was
a physician. Milton P., another son, became a
farmer in Illinois. There were also two daughters
who married prominent men. Rev. George
Knight Hester married Miss Briggs in 1820, and
had seven sons, two of whom died in infancy.
Four of them, Francis A., Mathias A., William M.,
and Andrew B., became Methodist minisers, and
have served with a zeal worthy of their calling.
Judge Hester, the youngest of the family, was
born in Scott county, Indiana, January 20, 1834.
He was educated at Asbury university, Indiana,
in 1855, and attained to the highest average
class standing for scholarship and deportment,
but graduated at the University of Bloomington,
Indiana. He studied law, and engaged in the
practice of his profession in 1857, in partnership
with Judge Baker, afterwards Governor Baker,
and in 1859 removed to Charlestown, where he
has since remained. In 1870 he was appointed
by Governor Baker as prosecuting attorney of
the Twenty-seventh judicial circuit, and after-
wards appointed judge of that circuit court to
fill an unexpired term of six months. He was
married to Miss Mariah S. Williard, of Vander-
burg county, Indiana, December 27, 1855, and
his children by this marriage are all living. His
mother, Bence Briggs, was born in Scotland,
December 12, 1789, and died at his house Sep-
tember 9, 1878. In 1820 she and Judge Scott
organized a Sunday-school, said to have been
the first in the State, in the old court-house.
She was a well-educated woman, and had a re-
markable intellect, and was held in high esteem
by those who knew her.

S. Conner, of Otisco, owner of the Otisco
Champion mill, was born in Clark county,
March 24, 1837. Learned the blacksmith trade
and followed that pursuit until April, 1863, then
with the earnings saved started a general store,

which he kept in operation until 1879. He
then built the large Champion mill, for the man-
ufacture of staves and heading, and put in the
latest and most approved machinery, his saw
being the largest used. He runs a force of six-
teen men in this shop, also sixteen men in his
shop at the Louisville Cement company, for
whom he is manufacturing this year on a contract
forty thousand barrels. In i860 he was mar-
ried to Miss Mary A. Reid, and has eight chil-
dren. He is a self made man and has always
been successful in business.

Dr. W. W. Faris, a native of Clark county, was
born in 1822; received a good education at
the academy of Charlestown, afterwards gradu-
ated in Hanover college; attended the Louis-
ville Medical university in 1849 and 1850, and
practiced his profession for two years, after which
he carried on farming. He served his county as
surveyor from 1856 till 1874, and is deputy
county surveyor at this time. He was married
in 1850 to Miss Sarah Comb and has three chil-
dren. His maternal grandfather was John Work,
one of the earliest settlers of the township and
the builder of the famous tunnel at his mill, one
of the first in the county. He also originated the
name, the Nine-penny mill, by building it him
self, taking, as help from his neighbors, but nine-
pence from each.

Charles Long, a native of Clark county, is a
son of Benjamin Long, an old resident born and
raised in the county. About the year 1843 he
was married to Miss McCormick and from
this union has thirteen children, four of whom
are now married. Mr. Charles Long is an active,
industrious young man, twenty-three years of
age, and still remains on his father's large farm,
consisting of some four hundred acres of choice
land near Charlestown. He is unmarried.

C. Hufford was born in Woodford county,
Kentucky, January 1, 1806. His parents died
when he was quite young. At the age of four-
teen he came to Indiana, settling soon after in
Bethlehem. He received a common school edu-
cation, and afterwards learned the blacksmith
trade, though his principal occupation was that
of a farmer. He was married in 1827 to Mary
Cameron, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth
Cameron, who came at an early date from Ken-
tucky. Their family consisted of six children,
four only of whom are living — Elizabeth, Isabelle,

HISTORY OF .THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

529

James, and John. About the year 1840 he went
to Iowa, where he remained about five years.
His wife died in the year 1S50. On the 28th
day of September, 1852, he married Elizabeth J.
Bell, a native of Kentucky, who was born there
April 21, 1827. They had a family of two chil-
dren; Francis A. is still living. Politically he
was a Democrat, and was a member o( the Pres-
byterian church. He was retiring in disposition
and honest and upright, and possessed the
esteem of all. He was a kind father and good
husband. He died October 10, 1880.

John Hufford, the youngest son of G. and
Mary Hufford, was born in Clark county, Indi-
ana, March 25, 1841. He was educated in the
common school, and is by occupation a farmer.
He resided in Bethel township, Clark county,
until about the year 1868, when he moved to
Missouri, where he farmed about nine years. At
the expiration of this time he sold his property
there and moved to Switzerland county, Indiana,
where he has lived until the present time. No-
vember 10, 1 86 1, he married Margaret, daughter
of Franklin and Sarah Bradley. Their family
consists of eight children: Elmer, Cornelius,
Emma, Oscar, Walter, Sarah, Alice, and Mary.

Jacob Boyer was born near Lexington, Ken-
tucky, March n, 1803. When he was a boy his
father, Philip Boyer, who was a saddler by trade,
emigrated to the farm where his daughters now
reside. Philip's wife was Barbara Liter. They
reared a family of six children, Jacob being the
eldest. Jacob Boyer was a shoemaker by trade,
but devoted most of his time to farming. He
was educated in the common schools, and spent
the greater part of his life on the homestead.
In November, 1833, he married Jane Kelly,
daughter of Captain William and Margaret Kelly.
She was born January 6, 181 1. They had a
family of eleven children, ten of whom lived to
maturity. He was a consistent Christian and
elder in the Presbyterian church. He was a
man of rather retiring disposition, and though a
Republican he never mingled much in politics.
Mr. Boyer was an honored and respected citizen.
His wife survived him only a short time, dying
August 26, 1879.

William Kelly, Jr., was born in Bethlehem
township August 26, 1812. He is the ninth
child of William Kelly, who was born in Vir-
ginia in 1773, and emigrated with his parents at

(■7'

the age of five years to Kentucky; there they
remained in a fort nearly five years before they
dared go out to locate farms. Though his ad-
vantages for an education were those only
afforded by backwoods schools, he certainly im-
proved his opportunities. Was raised a farmer ;
married Margaret Kelly, a cousin, and a Virgin-
ian by birth, and who was raised in Knox county,
Tennessee. They have had born to them thir-
teen children, four of whom died when they were
small. At this writing two sons and two daugh-
ters are living. In March, 1806, he emigrated
to Clark county, Indiana, and entered the tract
of land in Bethlehem township where his son
William now lives. He was a Whig in politics
and a man of worth and influence, and was a
prominent factor in the settlement and organiza-
tion of the county. He died. June 27, 1837,
his wife surviving him until September 13, 1854.
William Kelly, Jr., being the son of a pioneer,
had poor opportunities for schooling, devoting
all his time, from childhood up, to farming. On
the 4th day of May, 1858, he married Elizabeth
Ann Starr. They have one child, Rhoda G.,
born January 25, 1864. Mr. Kelly is politically
a Republican. He is a consistent Christian and
commands the highest respect of his neighbors.
John T. Hamilton was born in Bethlehem
township, Clark county, Indiana, August 14,
1822. He is the oldest child of William Ham-
ilton, a native of Franklin county, Kentucky,
who was born in 1790. His father's name was
Archibald Hamilton, and a native of Rockbridge
county, Virginia. William received a common
school education, and learned the tanner and
currier trade, of his older brother, Robert. Wil-
liam and his mother, whose name was Sarah,
and two sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret, came to
this county in 1812, landing March 25th. At that
time it was in the woods. They located on the
place where John now lives. He erected a tan-
nery and engaged in that business, at the same
time looking after the interests of the farm. In
this he engaged till his death, which occurred
March 19, 1845. Though he took an active
part in politics as a Whig, he never sought nor
held an office. He was an active man, and did
well his part in building up the new county. On
the 30th day of October, 1821, he married Mar-
garet Byers, who was born near McBride's mill,
Wootlford county, Kentucky, April 14, 1795,

53°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and emigrated to Jefferson county, Indiana, in
1816. She died at the homestead May 9, 1878.
Of her seven children there are living only the
subject of this sketch; Robert B., born March 1,
1830; and Susan B., born August 19, 1831.
John received a good common school education
and learned the tanners trade with his father.
John and Robert have never married. They are
both true blue Republicans.

William S. Dean was born in Jefferson county,
Indiana, August 3, 1840. He is the oldest of
the family of Argus and Abigail Dean, which
consisted of six children. He received his edu-
cation in the common schools of Jefferson county.
In the month of August, 1862, he enlisted in com-
pany A, Eighty-second Indiana; was in the Army
of the Cumberland till July, 1864. On his return
he engaged in fruit culture. Has added to his
orchards from time to time till now he has eight
thousand peach trees bearing fruit and five thou-
sand young ones, and some two thousand apple
trees. A part of his fruit each year is manufact-
ured into butter. He is also engaged rather ex-
tensively in general farming. On the nth day
of March, 1869, he married Elmira Richardson,
daughter of John H. and Rebecca Richardson,
of Kentucky. She was born in Bartholomew
county, Indiana, June 5, 1846. They have a
family of three children — Alice, aged ten;
Albert H., aged eight, and an infant. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Dean are members of the Baptist
church, and Mr. Dean belongs to that party
which saved the Union.

William Abbot was one of the very earliest set-
tlers of Bethlehem township, he and his wife
emigrating from Kentucky at an early period.
Asa Abbott was the fourth son of William, and
was born in Clark county, September 20, 1808.
Was educated in the common schools and was a
teacher by occupation during his younger days;
and from the time of his marriage till 1856 he
engaged in the mercantile and wood business in
Bethlehem. He married, November 1, 1828,
Miss Anna Baker, a native of Charlestown.
She was the daughter of Barzilla and Nancy
Baker. She was born October 25, 181 1. They
had but one child — Athanathice O., born August
10, 1830. Asa Abbott was for many years one
of the county commissioners, and was foreman
of the grand jury when he was taken with an
illness which terminated his life, November 18,

1872. He was a consistent Christian and very
successful business man, always proving that
honesty was the best policy. His estimable wife
died May 8, 1875. Athanathice married Isaac
Ross on the 7th of December, 1850. He was a
Kentuckian by birth. Their family consists of
three children — Asa Phillip, Anna Bell, Charles
G. The sons are residing with their mother.
Anna Bell married A. W. Shidler, and died in
1862.

'Squire S. G. Consley was born in Clark
county, Indiana, January 24, 1827. He is the
oldest child of John Consley, who was born in
Kentucky March 6, 1800. When he was ten
years old his parents emigrated to Jefferson
county, Indiana. He was educated in the log
school-houses of pioneer days. Has made farm-
ing his life occupation. On the 13th day of
March, 1823, he married Elizabeth Giltner,
daughter of Jacob, a pioneer who came to this
State in 1808 from near Lexington, Kentucky,
though formerly a resident of Pennsylvania.
Their family consisted of six children, four of
whom lived to maturity. The subject of this
sketch was educated at the same school and has
followed the same occupation as his father. On
the 27th day of March, 1849, 'le married M.
Henderson, a native of Decatur county, Indiana.
She was a daughter of William and Martha
Henderson. She was born April 28, 1824.
Their family now consists of five children, hav-
ing buried four. They are all members of the
Presbyterian church. Before the war Mr. Cons-
ley was a Democrat, but since that date has
been a Republican, but never a politician. He
has been the justice of the peace many years,
and is now serving in that capacity in Bethlehem
township.

William Boyer, son of Jacob Boyer, was born
March 27, 1839. He was educated in the com-
mon schools and reared on a farm, and has been
engaged in that avocation all his life until within
the last year, when, on account of failing health,
he engaged in the mercantile business in Otto,
where he is now postmaster. On the 2d of Feb-
ruary, 1875, ne married Annette E., daughter of
'Squire S. G. Consley, of Bethlehem township.
She is a native of Clark county. He is a Re-
publican, though never has sought or held office.
Both are members of the Presbyterian church.
Their family consists of three children.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

531

George Giltner was born in Clark county, In-
diana, June 3, 1818. He is the third child and
oldest son of Jacob Giltner, Sr., who was born
in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. He
went to Kentucky when a young man and settled
in Fayette county, where he soon married Eliza-
beth Donacan. She was born in Pennsylvania
April 27, 1780. To him she bore three children
— one son and two daughters. Several years
prior to the birth of George they moved to
Bethlehem township, Clark county, Indiana, and
settled upon the farm upon which he was
afterwards born, and has since lived. Jacob,
Sr., was a farmer by occupation, a member of
the Lutheran church, and in politics a Demo-
crat. He died September 14, 1857. His wife
died November 24, 1857. Jacob, Jr., had
brothers, John, Andrew, and David, who are old
residents of the county. John was educated in
common schools and is by occupation a farmer.
On May 7, 1858, he married Sarah J. West.
She was born March 31, 1838, and is the daugh-
ter of Thomas and Ann West. Their family con-
sists of nine children, four sons and five daugh-
ters. He is a member of the Christian church,
and is politically a Republican.

J. M. Stewart was born in Dearborn county,
Indiana, May 12, 1839. He is the fifth child of
a family of six. His father's name was Jabe
Stewart, a native of Rising Sun, Ohio, who was
born in 1806. By occupation he was a farmer,
and moved to Indiana in 1827 to engage in
farming. He married Priscilla Stewart, daughter
of Stephen Stewart. She was born in 1808.
Their family consists of six children. John, one
of the family, has a good education and is en-
gaged in the mercantile business in Bethlehem,
Clark county. He is doing a good business and
constantly adds to his trade. On the 4th day
of August, 1 86 1, he married Massy Brown,
daughter of Joe and Nelly Brown. She was born
in Switzerland county, Indiana, September 10,
1837. They have had five children, four of
whom are living — Estella, Julia, Mathew, and
Josie. He is a member of the Methodist
church and is a Republican.

Dr. S. L. Adair was born in New Washington,
Clark county, Indiana, December 8, 1842. He
is the seventh child of the late Dr. Samuel
Lowery Adair, who was born in Virginia in
T7Q8. He was well educated and a graduate

of the Cincinnati School of Medicine. He came
to Indiana when he was twenty-four, and began
the practice of medicine at New Washington.
On November 29, 1827, he married Eleanor,
daughter of William Roe, of his adopted home.
He was the father of nine children, of whom three
sisters and the subject of this sketch are living.
Isabella A. married Dr. L. E. Eddy; Maria J.
married Dr. T. W. Field, of Louisville; and
Mary T married Dr. R. B. Eddy, of Otisco, In-
diana. The father of these children was the
first physician of central Clark county, and a
gentleman whose long career brought only honor
and respect. He died in 1852. Dr. S. L.
Adair, Jr., was educated in the common schools,
early embraced the profession of his father, and
in 1 868 graduated from the Kentucky School of
Medicine, receiving also a diploma from the Hos-
pital School of Medicine. He located at New
Washington, where he has practiced with suc-
cess to the present time. In 1873 he mar-
ried Sarah J. Shrader, by whom he has three
children — Mary E., Fannie Belle, and Samuel
Lowery. Himself and wife are members of the
Presbyterian church.

Alexander Montgomery was born in Clark
county, Indiana, on August 2, 1808. He was
the youngest of thirteen children of William
Montgomery, who came to the county a short
time before the birth of Alexander. He entered
a large tract of land, which he cleared, lived, and
died upon. His wife was Mary Johnson, and
both lived to a ripe old age. All of their chil-
dren lived to maturity, and all now have passed
away. Alexander received a pioneer boy's edu-
cation and training, and always lived upon the
homestead, working at farming. In about 1828
he married Catharine Baker, who was born in
Bedford county, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1807.
They had ten children, all but one living to ma-
turity. He died in 1870, leaving a wife, who yet
survives him.

Dr. W. W. Britan was born in Leominster, Mas-
sachusetts, February 22, 1814. His father was
William Britan, a native of Massachusetts, a
clothier during his earlier life and then a farmer.
He married Eunice Newton, by whom he had
seven children. W. W., the fourth of these, was
educated in the Teachers' seminary of his native
place. After spending three years at this insti-
tution he came to Jeffersonville, Indiana. After

53*

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

engaging for over a year at teaching he attended
lectures at Cincinnati, remaining from 1837 to
1840. He then taught two years at Lebanon,
Warren county, Ohio, and then began practicing
medicine at New Providence, Indiana. Here he
remained but one year, when he went to Martins-
burg, Washington county, where he remained
twelve years; thence to New Albany for two
years, and then moved upon his farm and home
in Washington township, Clark county, Indiana,
where he now resides. On February 20, 1840,
he married Jane A. Dickey, a daughter of Rev.
John M. Dickey. Her mother was Margaret
Steele, of Kentucky, and her father of South
Carolina. He was the pioneer Presbyterian
minister of southern Indiana, arriving at the
scene of his labors and triumphs in 18 15. Mrs.
Jane Britan was born September 8, 18 19. She
is highly educated, and was for a time one of the
successful teachers of the county. She is the
mother of eleven children, of whom Annie L.,
George W., Waldo A., Willis W., Harlan N., and
Nellie A. are living. Both parents are steadfast
members of the Presbyterian church.

James D. Robison was born in Clark county
February 23, 181 2. He is the oldest child of
Joseph and Christena Robison. His father was
a native of Ireland, born in 1783. James' grand-
father first settled in Pennsylvania, and when
Joseph, the father of James, was about seventeen
he removed to Kentucky. James D. has fol-
lowed farming almost within a " stone's throw "
of the place where he was born. In 1832 he
married Sarah, daughter of Lewis Fouts. She
was born February 18, 1816. She is the mother
of two children, William M., and Albert N.; the
former resides on the home place and the latter
in Jennings county. Mr. and Mrs. Robison
have for nearly forty years been members of the
Presbyterian church, and they are conscientious
and Christian people. Mr. Robison is a man of
intelligence and remarkable memory. He is one
of the old and highly esteemed residents of
Washington township.

McGannon Barnes was born in Jefferson
county, Indiana, July 29, 1809. He is the old-
est son of John Barnes, who was a Virginian.
He married Sarah Law, a Kentuckian. They
had seven children. He moved into Jefferson
county about the year 1807, where he died.
McGannon first farmed for himself on his father's

place, but from the time of his marriage until
nineteen years ago he has lived on the farm he
now occupies. He married Rebecca Fouts De-
cember 26, 1833. Her father was born October
17, 1775. He came to Clark county in 1805.
His first wife was a Mrs. Dongan, and his sec-
ond was Susanna, daughter of Jacob Fouts, Sr.,
and a sister of Captain Jacob Fouts. By the
union of McGannon Barnes and Rebecca Fouts
there were ten children born, of whom eight
lived to maturity. Mr. Barnes is one of the pio-
neers of the county, a practical farmer, and a
gentleman of worth and intelligence.

James M. Staples was born in Jefferson coun-
ty, Indiana, September 3, 1814. His father was
a Virginian, and a brickmaker by trade. He
made the first brick burnt in Jeffersonville. He
was the father of thirteen children, twelve of
whom grew to maturity.. Jac. b received his ed-
ucation in the old-fashioned log school-house,
and has followed farming. He was married Jan-
uary 23, 185 1, to Julia H. McGannon, a daugh-
ter of John McGannon, a native of Culpeper
county, Virginia. He was born February 9,
1793. He removed to Jennings county, Indiana,
in 1820, where he married Mary Carney. He
had a son, James, who was killed by the Indians.
He died May 25, 1875, in Meeker county, Min-
nesota. He was a worthy man and highly re-
spected. Mr. James Staples and wife are Bap-
tists, and are people of strict integrity, respected
and honored by all who know them. They have
had nine children, four of whom are living —
John F., Thomas J., Carney M., and James H.
Mrs. Staples was born July 10, 1826.

Jacob Ratts was born in Rowan county, North
Carolina, April 14, 1806. He removed to Indi-
ana in 1824, where he remained until 1837.
When a young man he learned the hatter's trade,
but never followed it after his removal to Indi-
ana, but engaged in farming. His father, Colonel
Henry Ratts, was a native of Pennsylvania, and
was by trade a hatter. His wife's maiden name
was Barbary Wyngler. They had nine children,
all of whom are dead except Jacob. Colonel
Henry Ratts was a military man of some note.
He was a justice of the peace for many years
and was highly respected. Jacob was married
December 24, 1829, to Cynthia Fouts. She was
born in Washington township February 14, 1810.
They have six children living — Thomas, David,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

533

Henry, Mary, Sarah, and Maggie. Mr. Ratts
and wife have for almost half a century been
members of the Christian church, but believe
that Christ was the Saviour of all mankind. He
was originally a Whig, but since the organization
of the Republican party has acted with it. He is
a great reader and a man of intelligence. He is
respected and honored by all who know him. .

Mrs. Mary Walker was born in Clark county,
Indiana, February 12, 181 1. She is the daughter
of William Provine, a native of Bourbon county,
Kentucky. He came to Clark county in 1806,
and settled on the place where his daughter now
lives in Kentucky. July 30, 1801, he was mar-
ried to Mary Buchanan, a native of Virginia.
Their family consists of five boys and two girls.
He was a farmer and a miller. He accumulated
a good property through industry and thrifty
management. During the War of 181 2 he was
twice returned from the service, as he could best
serve his country's interests in the mill, which
was the only one this side of the river. He died
October 9, 181 5; his wife died July 30, 1847.
WilliamC. Walker, of Kentucky, was born August
25, 1802; he married Mary, daughter of William
Provine,April7,i839. Mr. Walker was a carpenter
by trade, and after 1830 managed the mills on
his place. He died December 10, 1870. For
thirty-five years he was an elder and a member
of the Presbyterian church. He was an intelli-
gent man, and for over twenty years was a justice
of the peace. He was the first school teacher
in this part of the county. His widow is a lady
of intelligence, and highly respected and honored
by friends and neighbors.

Mrs. Catharine G. Graham was born in Clark
county, Indiana, July 30, 1823. Her father's
name was Robert Patterson, a native of Penn-
sylvania, who moved to Kentucky during the
early time, and then to this county. His first
wife's name was Henderson, and his second
Mary Fisher, by whom he had one child — the
subject of this sketch. October 13, 1840, she
was married to William Graham, who was born
in Pennsylvania, June 17, 181 7. His father,
Jonas, moved to Ohio and thence to Jefferson
county, Kentucky, by flat-boat, where he died.
William was a farmer, a member of the Presby-
terian church, a man respected by all for his in-
tegrity and worth. He died May 12, 1873, leav-
ing a wife and family to mourn his loss. The

family consisted of seven children — Mary L.,
Emma D., Robert L, a resident of Kentucky,
Dr. Thomas A., of Jeffersonville, James M.,
John A , a druggist of Jeffersonville, and Oliver
P. James M. and Oliver P. reside on the home
place. Mrs. Graham is a member of the Pres-
byterian church, a lady much esteemed and
respected.

Andrew Bower was born in Rowan county,
North Carolina, February n, 1799. He is the
son of Andrew Bower, Sr., who was a native of
Reading, Pennsylvania, but moved to North
Carolina before his marriage. He married Mar-
garet Fisher, of North Carolina, by whom he
had a large family, eleven of whom grew to ma-
turity. When Andrew, Jr., was sixteen his father
emigrated to Clark county, and settled in Wash-
ington township. His father was educated in the
common schools, and was a blacksmith and
farmer by occupation. He worked at his trade
after coming to this county. He was a member
of the Baptist church at the time of his
death, which occurred September 6, 1858;
his wife died June 5, i860. They were among
the pioneers of the county, and were widely
and favorably . known. Andrew, Jr., began
farming for himself about the year 1821, and
has lived upon his present farm since 1833. In
1820 he married Mary Lawrence, a native of
North Carolina, whose father, William Lawrence,
came to Clark county about the year 1810. She
died May n, 1839. In 1842 he married Mary
Feefer, a native of North Carolina, and a daugh-
ter of Walter Feefer. He is a consistent mem-,
ber of the Presbyterian church, an industrious,
active man of strict integtity, and a highly re-
spected and honored neighbor.

Naman Hooker was born November 15, 1817.
He is the second child of Jacob Hooker, a native
of North Carolina, who came to this State with
his father when about twelve years old and set-
tled in Washington township, Clark county, In-
diana. Jacob was educated in the common
schools, but had but little time to avail
himself of an education. He married Elizabeth
Pool, a native of North Carolina, by whom he
had seven sons and four daughters. Soon after
his marriage he moved to Scott county, where
he lived on his father's place, and when Naman
was about eleven years old he came to Clark
county (Washington township), where he spent

534

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the remainder of his days. He died at New
Washington in his sixty-fifth year. Being a
farmer's son Naman never had excellent oppor-
tunities for an education, and, like his father, has
always been a farmer. He has lived on his
present farm some seventeen years. October 1 1,
1848, he married Catharine Graves, daughter of
David Graves, of Clark county. She died in
the year 1855. January 12, 1866, he married
Martha Dongan, daughter of Thomas Dongan.
By this wife he had one son and a daughter.
Mr. Hooker is an old and respected citizen, a
kind husband and father, and a man whose
character stands untarnished. The present Mrs.
Hooker was formerly the wife of Jefferson
Graves. She was born November 20, 1833.

John Calvin Fouts was born in Clark county
November 28, 1828. He is the youngest child
of Captain Jacob Fouts, who was born in Ran-
dolph county, North Carolina, January 14, 1782.
He was a farmer. Soon after his marriage, in
January, 1806, he, with his bride, emigrated to
Clark county and entered and bought three hun-
dred and sixty-two acres of land, on a part of
which the subject of this sketch now lives. The
Indians at this time were still numerous in this
section. The land was densely covered with
heavy timber, but by the 1st of July he had
cleared and planted a number of acres of corn.
He was a hard worker, a practical farmer, and
one of the very earliest and best known citizens
in that part of the county. For a great many
years he was a justice of the peace. He united
with the Universalist church in 1845. He mar-
ried Mary Dongan October 2, 1806, who was the
daughter of Thomas Dongan, a native of North
Carolina. She was born March 19, 1788, and
died in October, 1869. She was the mother of
nine children. Jacob Fouts died October 25,
i860. He was endowed by nature with more
than ordinary strength of mind and body, and
having used the powers of the former to the
study of the Bible he became so familiar with it
that he was known as the "walking concordance."
He lived an irreproachable life and had a blame-
less and spotless character. The oldest child of
Jacob Fouts died in infancy. The rest of the
children grew to maturity. John Calvin was
educated in the common schools of New Wash-
ington, attending the Dunnery high school. He
has always followed farming upon the old home-

stead, and overseeing a saw-mill for some six
years, which he erected on his place. December
i, 1857, he married Hester A. Prather, of Clark
county. She was born near Jeffersonville August
15, 1836, and is the daughter of Isaac Prather
and sister of Calvin Prather, a merchant of Jef-
fersonville. They have had five children. Mr.
Fouts and wife are members of the Universalist
church and are highly respected and esteemed
by their friends and neighbors.

William A. Pearcy was born in Virginia, Sep-
tember 6, 18 1 6. He is the fifth child of Edward
Pearcy, who was a farmer by occupation, and
who emigrated to Clark county in 1819. He
first settled in New Washington, and in 1836
bought the farm on which his son now resides.
He married Margaret Kelly, a Virginian, by
whom he had eleven children, nine of whom
lived to maturity. He died in 1844, and his
wife in 1847. William A. Pearcy was educated
in the old log school-houses, which were used in
those early times, and taught one term in one of
these primitive buildings in 1848. He is a
farmer by occupation, and having a good musical
talent, has paid some attention to the teaching of
music. He commenced life with but little
capital, but by industry and strict attention to
business he has accumulated a large and fine
property. In 1850 he married Rebecca Bu-
chanan, a native of Clark county, and a daughter
of William Buchanan, of Charlestown. They
have six children living, and two dead. Silas is
a college professor. Ella, Lizzie, Jennie, and
Allen are all teachers. Mr. Pearcy is the lead-
ing Democrat in his part of the county. He has
been a justice of the peace since 1865, and for
over forty years an active member of the Chris-
tian church. He is a gentleman of determina-
tion and intelligence, of strict integrity, and highly
respected by all who know him.

Tobias Bower is of German descent, and was
born in North Carolina, July 3, 1810. He is
the sixth of twelve children, and the son of
Andrew Bower, who came to Clark county,
Indiana, in 1820, and settled on the place where
the widow of Tobias Bower now resides. He
had three brothers, Andrew, John, and Edward,
and six sisters. He was educated in the com-
mon schools, and followed farming as an occupa-
tion for over forty-five years. January 10, 1833,
he married Mary A. Pearcy, a native of Virginia,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

53;

and daughter of Edmond Pearcy, who came to
Clark county about 1820. She was born Nov-
ember 25, 1 810. They have had ten children,
seven of whom are now living: Silas, Caroline,
Julia, Jane, John, Belle, and Mary Alice. Mr.
Bower was a consistent member of the Christian
church for over forty years, a kind husband and
father, and respected by his neighbors. He died
February 9, 1878, leaving a wife and family to
mourn his loss.

J. H. Pottorff was born September 25, 1822, in
Clark county, Indiana, on the place where he
now resides. He is the youngest child of Jacob
Pottorff, who was born in Hagerstown, Maryland,
February, 1786, but when Jacob Pottorff, Sr., was
six years old his father, Martin Pottorff, emi-
grated to Beargrass creek, Jefferson county, Ken-
tucky, where he procured five hundred acres of
land which he cleared and moved upon, and lived
there for many years. Jacob Pottorff, Sr., being
a pioneer, did not have the advantage of even a
good common school education. He com-
menced life without anything, and when a young
man worked a small farm in Oldham county,
Kentucky, where he remained until 1815, when
he moved upon the farm where his son now re-
sides. By industry and sobriety he accumulated
a large property. May 12, 1805, he married
Rhoda Allen, a daughter of William Allen, a
Virginian, who came to Nelson county, Ken-
tucky, in 1781, and afterwards was a resident of
this county. They had six children. Mr. Pottorff
died July 12, 1870, and his wife February 17,
1879, at the remarkable age of over one hundred
years. She was born January 28, 1779. They
were both consistent members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and highly respected. Jacob
H. Pottorff was educated in the public schools of
Clark county, and by occupation is a farmer,
having tilled the same farm all his life. Febru-
ary 8, 1849, he married Mary Jane McGee,
daughter of Robert and Rebecca McGee, who
were pioneers in this county, coming from
Washington county, Pennsylvania. Of this union
there were four children. December 1, 1862,
his wife died, and March 2, 1875, he married
his present wife, by whom he has had two chil-
dren. Mr. Pottorff is one of the old pioneer
stock, and an honest, upright, and respected cit-
izen.

William H. Work is of Scottish descent. His

ancestors left Scotland on account of religious
persecution in 1690 and came to Holland, and
in 1792 emigrated to Pennsylvania. Mr. Work
was born August 30, 18 17, in Clark county,
Indiana. He is the son of Samuel Work, who
was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania,
October io, 1787. When about fifteen his
father, Henry Work, emigrated to Beargrass
creek, Jefferson county, Kentucky, and died
there the first season. The family remained
here but two years when they purchased a large
tract of land near Work's landing, near Charles-
town. Captain Samuel Work married Elizabeth
Henley, daughter of Jesse Henley, who was
born July 3, 1796, and came to Clark county
from North Carolina and settled on the place
where William H. Work now resides. She was
a sister of Colonel Jefferson Henley, who was
elected to the Legislature when just past twenty-
one years of age, the first native "Hoosier"
elected to Congress and the first postmaster in
California. Captain Samuel Work was a farmer
by occupation, and a member of the Christian
church at the time of his death. He was a prac-
tical and successful farmer, and a man whose
many virtues endeared him to all and caused his
death to be a general bereavement. He died
December 28, 1871. His wife died July 5,
1850. William H. Work has always followed
farming, and has been living on his present farm
since 1853. April 22, 1841, he was married to
Mary Fouts, daughter of Captain Jacob Fouts.
The fruits of this union were three children,
Frank, Lizzie, and Dr. William T. Work. The
daughter was married June 21, 1866, to W. H.
Mcllvaine, a native of Henry county, Kentucky.
In politics Mr. Work has been a Democrat, and
though an earnest worker for his party's success,
he has never sought or held office. Both him-
self and wife are members of the Christian
church. The house in which he resides was
built in 18 1 9, and the mud of which the brick
was made was tramped by one barefooted man.
Our subject is an intelligent and worthy citizen.
Silas Bottorff was born in Nelson county,
Kentucky, November 9, 1808. Silas was the
second of four children, three boys and one
girl. Jacob Bottorff, the father, was a native of
Pennsylvania. He moved into Kentucky at an
early day, and came to Clark county in 1816.
He was a farmer, and settled on the place where

536

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

his youngest son, Jacob H., now lives. He died
in 1870, in his eighty-seventh year. Silas was
educated in the common schools, and was a
farmer by occupation. He worked on his father's
place, having his part of the proceeds until after
his marriage, when he moved upon the farm
where his family now reside. He managed his
large farm as a stock and grain farm. He was
married to Isabella Fouts October 26, 1837. She
is the fifth child in a family of nine children.
Her father, Jacob Fouts, was a native of North
Carolina, and was born January 14, 1782, and
was married, in 1806, to Mary Dongan, a native
of North Carolina. They came north when the
country hereabouts was a wilderness. He died
October 26, i860, and his wife October 29, 1869.
Silas Bottorff was the father of five children —
William A., Mollie, Carrie, Belle, and Jacob F.
He was a prominent member of the Democratic
party. He died January 6, 1881. He was a
man of good moial character, a kind husband
and father, and a man whose many virtues com-
mended him to the respect and esteem of his
many friends and acquaintances.

Aquilla Hutchings was born in Frederick
county, Virginia, December 16, 1803. His
father, Joseph Hutchings, came to this (Clark)
county in 181 1, but died before leaving the boat
on which he came. He was the youngest of
thirteen children — his brother John, of Owen
township, being the only surviving member of
the family. Aquilla was educated in the com-
mon schools, and was a farmer and trader by
occupation. He first began farming about a
mile north of the present home of his family.
Some fifteen years after marriage he bought the
place on which he lived when he died. Septem-
ber 16, 1824, he was married to Margaret Law-
rence, who was the youngest in a family of six
children. She was born October 17, 1808. This
union was blessed with nine children, six of
whom are living. Mr. Hutchings died May 17,
1879, of congestion of the lungs, in his seventy-
sixth year. He never recovered from an attack
of congestive chills brought on in 1855. In
1863 he was prostrated with pneumonia, and was
an invalid until his death. His disease was
greatly aggravated three years previous to his
death by being thrown from his horse, which
broke a thigh bone. William F. and Joseph L.
Hutchings, two well-known citizens of Washing-

ton township, are his sons. The other surviving
members of the family are: Sarah Ellen Grubb,
Isabella Ann, Mary Catharine, and Louisa Vir-
ginia Pound. Mr. Hutchings was a faithful
member of the Methodist Episcopal church for
many years, and was a zealous and honored
member of the Republican party. He was a
man of sterling worth, whose honesty and integ-
rity, conscientious Christianity, and gentlemanly
bearing brought him the esteem and love of all
and caused his death to be a general bereave-
ment.

Mrs. Eliza J. Colvin was born in Clark county,
Indiana, January 18, 1835. She is the fourth
child in a family of eight children. Her father,
William Park McGee, was a native of Pennsyl-
vania, and was born November 29, 1796. He
moved at an early day into Kentucky and while
yet a young man came to Clark county, Indiana.
He was a saddler by trade, and was engaged at
this in Owen township, where he was also en-
gaged at farming. He died April 27, 1862.
His wife died Apiil 17, 1873. Both were mem-
bers of the Presbyterian church. Eliza was edu-
cated in the common schools. September 17,
1857, she was married to Cyrus Bottorff, who
was the son of John Bottorff, a native of Penn-
sylvania. He was born November 5, 1829, in
Clark county, and grew to manhood in the vicin-
ity where he was born. He followed farming as
an occupation. Soon after his marriage he moved
on the place where his wife now lives. He died
March 17, 1864. Mr. Bottorff was an honest,
upright man, who depended upon no society to
carry him through life's various duties. He was
a kind husband and father, a good neighbor,
and a man whose many virtues endeared him to
all. He left a wife, a daughter, and two sons, as
follows: William Park, Charles, Monroe, and
Amand Leonora. The widow and her two sons
managed the large farm until her marriage De-
cember 4, 1879, t0 James Colvin, a native of
Ireland. He was born about the year 1820.
When he came to this country he learned the
cabinet trade at Lexington. Mrs. Colvin is from
one of the oldest and most, respected families.
She is a consistent member of the Presbyterian
church and a lady of refinement.

Martin Adams, Jr., was born in Mercer
county, Kentucky, November 28, 1797. He was
the third child in a family of eleven children.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

537

His father was born November 5, 1766, in Mary-
land. He came to Kentucky five weeks after his
marriage in 1793. He was married to Jane
Mathews, who was born July 2, 1769. He clear-
ed up a farm and remained upon it until 181 1.
In this year, on account of not being able to pro-
cure a good title to his farm, he moved to Clark
county and entered the land on which the sub-
ject of this sketch now resides. In 181 1 his
father and himself went into Indiana as far as
Terre Haute, and with other families planted
eighty acres of corn, but in June were obliged
to return on account of the unfriendliness of the
Indians who then roved over that territory.
Martin Adams, Sr., lived on the place until his
death, which occurred August 18, 1832. His
wife died January 9, 1864. Mr. Adams' educa-
tional advantages were limited, his early school-
ing being received in the curiously contrived old-
fashioned log school-house. When of age Mar-
tin Adams, Jr., bought the home place from his
father, but for twenty-five years followed the
river, engaged in the flatboat business. During
this time he superintended his farm, and after-
wards and to the present time has followed that
occupation. He manages his large farm as a
stock and grain farm. August 18, 1825, he mar-
ried Jane H. Davis, who was born in Wood-
ford, Kentucky. Her father, Solomon Davis,
was at one time a resident of Jefferson county,
Kentucky. They have had nine children, of
whom Sina is dead. James H., Clarenda, Caro-
line, Thomas, William, John, Charles, and Ada-
line are still living. Mr. Adams has never sought
or held any office, but has always been an ardent
supporter of the Republican party. Mrs. Adams
is a member of the Presbyterian church. In
the spring of 1813 Mr. Adams enlisted in Big-
ger's company of rangers, which was to guard
the frontier. He was three months at the fort.
He served twelve months, getting one dollar per
day and furnished everything. Mr. Adams is a
gentleman of intelligence, of strict honesty and
integrity. He is one of the oldest and best
known citizens of northern Clark county ; is a
consistent Christian and an esteemed neighbor.

William King was born in Jackson county, In-
diana, in 1837. He was a son of James King,
a prominent farmer and citizen of that county,
who died in 1862. William King, when a young
man, received a good English education. He

was married, at the age of twenty-two, to Miss
Nancy Love; they have a family of nine chil-
dren, all living and make their father's house
their home. Mr. King served his country dur:
ing the late rebellion. His interests have been
turned principally to agricultural pursuits. He
has always owned a farm, and in connection with
overseeing it has taught school considerably and
been engaged in different businesses. In the
year 1878 he was elected justice of the peace by
his fellow townsmen, which position he honora-
bly occupies. For the past seven or eight years
Mr. King has devoted much attention to the
study of law. He became a resident of this
county in 1875. He is a member of the order
of Knights of Honor. He joined the Baptist
church at the age of fourteen; his wife joined at
the age of twenty.

Dr. W. E. Wisner was born in New York
State, Yates county, in 1832. He was a son of
Mr. H. Wisner, a prominent, active farmer of
that county. When a young man the doctor be-
came infatuated with the medical profession. At
about the age of twenty-six he commenced
studying under Dr. Samuel H. Wright, of Dun-
dee, New York, with whom he principally read.
He attended his first course of lectures at
Geneva, New York. Several years were spent in
pursuit of his medical education and in teaching.
In the year 1862 he commenced his practice
proper in Memphis, Clark county, Indiana. In
1863 he came to Henry ville, ~nd has since been
dojng a very large practice with great success.
His practice extends almost to Charlestown, and
he receives calls to adjoining counties. As
a surgeon his skill has always successfully
met everything that came in his practice,
curing cataract, etc., etc. In 1880 he added to
his practice a fine stock of drugs. In 1866 Dr.
Wisner and Miss Mary M. Jackson were united
in marriage; she was a daughter of Jeremiah
Jackson, a pioneer settler of this county, and a
native of Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Wisner is
a member of the Knights of Honor, also of the
Methodist church; his wife is a member of the
Christian church.

Thomas Lewis was born in Monroe township,
Clark county, November 9, 1819. He is a son
of Mr. John Lewis, formerly from Pennsylvania,
but latterly a_prominent citizen and farmer of this
county, who became a citizen of the same when

S3S

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

this State was a Territory, and was a soldier of
the War of 1812. Thomas Lewis' early life was
spent in the interests of coopering, working
twenty years at the same business in this county.
He afterwards learned the carpenter trade, at
which he has been more or less employed, in
connection with farming, ever since. He has re-
sided upon the farm where he still resides, in
Henryville, for the past thirty years. In the
year 1842 he and Miss Jane Marsh, of Barthol-
omew county, were united in marriage. She
died in 1846, leaving two children, a daughter
and son, who died while young. Mr. Lewis
married his second wife, Miss Eliza Jane Mc-
Gregor, March 27, 1856. They have a family
of five living children — Eliza (teacher), William
B., Martha E., George Elta, Thomas H. Mr.
Lewis has nearly all his life been serving his fel-
low-townsmen in offices of trust, such as assessor,
township treasurer, justice of the peace, etc.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are members of the
Protestant church, Mr. Lewis of the Christian
church and Mrs. Lewis of the Methodist church.

Dr. W. P. McGlenn was born in Louisville,
Kentucky, in December, 1852. He is a son of
William McGlenn, who was identified with the
interests of that city twenty-five years in the
foundry business. At the age of sixteen Dr.
McGlenn engaged as drug clerk in his native
city, at which he was employed about two years.
He afterwards spent four years in Chicago in the
same avocation. At this period of his life he
turned his attention to the study of medicine.
In the year 1875 he commenced the study under
the instruction of Dr. Satterthwaite, a distin-
guished strgeon, and Dr. John Goodman, a
noted physician and professor in the Louisville
Medical college. Dr. McGlenn graduated at the
Louisville Hospital of Medicine in 1877, and
was one of nine of his class, which numbered
seventeen, whose grade reached ninety. The
year following his graduation he spent in the
Louisville hospital. The year following he prac-
ticed in Louisville. In the year 1879 he located
in Henryville, Clark county, Indiana, where he
is enjoying the undivided confidence of the
people and a very fine practice. His success
has been marvelous in quite a number of interest-
ing and complicated cases.

Mr. Lawrence Prall was born in Monroe town-
ship, Clark county, Indiana, in 1847. He is a

son of Cornelius Prall, who was a prominent
farmer and citizen of this county up to his death.
He has made farming his principal occupation,
received a good common school education, and
attended the More's Hill college one academical
year. In the year 1880 he was elected township
trustee by his fellow-townsmen, which position
he is honorably filling. In the year 1868 he
married Miss Louisa Kelhoffer, a native of
Germany, and they have a family of five chil-
dren— three sons and two daughters. Mr. Prall
is a member of the Knights of Honor. Both
Mr. and Mrs. Prall are members of the Method-
ist Episcopal church. Politically he is a Demo-
crat.

James S. Ryan, born in Monroe township,
Clark county, in 1820, is the son of Thomas Ryan,
who became a citizen of this county in 181 1,
and was a soldier in the War of 1812. His death
occurred in 1852. Mr. J. S. Ryan's early life
was occupied in farming. He learned the car-
penter trade with his father, and afterwards
learned the cooper trade, at which he worked
about twelve years, some of the time near
Charlestown, and part in Henryville. Since the
year i860 he has made the carpenter trade his
principal occupation, working in adjoining coun-
ties and cities, and also in the State of Kentucky.
He has served as justice of the peace seven
years, to his honor. In the year 1844 he married
Miss Cynthia Friend, a native of Jeffersonville,
who died in 1861, leaving a family of five chil-
dren, all of whom are grown up. The four
daughters are married — two reside in this county,
one in Scott, and one in New Albany. The son
is making his home in Jeffersonville, being em-
ployed in the car works and ship-yard. Mr.
Ryan married as his second wife, in 1864, Miss
Margaret Newry, by whom he has one child, a
son. She died in 1866. Mr. Ryan married his
third wife, Miss Margaret Allen, in 1875. They
have one little daughter. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Ryan are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. He is politically a Republican.

Dr. T. V. Noakes was born at Cloverport,
Breckinridge county, Kentucky, in 1849. He
is a son of Dr. T. J. Noakes, a noted physician
of Breckinridge county. When Dr. T. V.
Noakes was a mere boy the medical profession
had its charms for him, and having already re-
ceived a good academical education he entered

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

539

the office of Dr. Wizner at the age of twenty-one,
and remained with him as a student two years.
In the meantime he attended lectutes at the Cin-
cinnati hospital, and was at the same time con-
nected with the School of Medicine and Sur-
gery at Cincinnati. He graduated at the Louis-
ville university in 1874, and immediately after
commenced his practice in Otisco, Indiana,
Clark county, where he met with splendid suc-
cess, but at the expiration of one year, not liking
the location, he went to Laprairie, Adams county,
Illinois, where he practiced with great success
till the fall of 1880, when he gave up his practice
for a time on account of his health. In the
month of February, 1880, he purchased a farm
two miles southeast of Henryville, where he ex-
pects to eventually make his home.

Mr. Thomas D. Lewellen was born in Wash-
ington county, Kentucky, February 4, 1796. At
the age of eight he moved with his father, Samuel
Lewellen, to Louisville, where Mr. T. D. Lewel-
len worked in a brickyard the summer he was
nine years of age, at $4 a month. He made
Louisville his home till he was twenty-three years
of age, making the brick business his chief avo-
cation. At this period he moved to Clark county,
Indiana, where he leased land and cleared a farm.
Purchased his farm, where he resides, in Mon-
roe township in 1825, where he has since
resided. About this date he entered the minis-
try of the United Brethren church, and traveled
five years on the circuit, which he enjoyed very
much, and feels that he did the will of his
Father. In the year 1818, April 16, he was mar-
ried to Miss Anna Adams, who is still living, and
is lacking only one day of being one and a half
years older than Mr. Lewellen. They have a
family of five children — two sons and three
daughters. Four children are deceased. The
children are all married and advanced in years,
the youngest being forty-eight years of age. Mr.
Lewellen claims to be a Democrat, but not of
the present stock. He says that when the party
fired on Fort Sumter the party left him, and the
Republican party has taken the place of loyalty.
He lost one son in the Rebellion and two
grandsons. His love for the Northern rebel is
less than that for the Southern. He is now
an old, feeble man, but his views are sound and
judgment good, and his love for the soldiers who
preserved the country is very strong.

Mr. George Sohn was born in France in
1826; came to America in 1847; spent a few
years at New Orleans and Cincinnati, at the
blacksmith's trade; purchased his farm in Mon-
roe township, this county, in 1858; moved upon
it in 1861; was married in Cincinnati in 1863;
has seven children, four daughters and three
sons; is a good, sound Republican.

James Montgomery become a resident of this
county at the age of eighteen. He died Thursday,
January 2, 1881, at the age of ninety-three years,
nine months, and one day; was born in Septem-
ber, 1787. Thomas, his son, was born in Illinois
in 1820, June n; has made this county his home
for the past thirty years; has nine boys living,
and one daughter. Mr. Montgomery was drafted
in 1864, September 20; served his country nine
months. James was a soldier in the War of
1812. Both Thomas and wife are members of
the Baptist church.

Mrs. Jemima Largent was born in Pennsyl-
vania in 1832. She was a daughter of Jesse St.
Clair; she is one of a family of four, two boys
and two girls. In 1839 she and Gideon Enlow
were married. They had one child. He died
in 1868. Her second husband, John Largent,
she married in 1871, by whom she had one son.
Mr. Largent died in 1877. She is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church. Owns one
hundred and nine acres.

Mr. George L. Page was born in Salem, Mas-
sachusetts, in 182 1. At the age of eighteen he
went to sea, and roamed about six years, making
the rounds to the coast of Africa, Sandwich
Islands, northwest coast of America^and South
America, and around Cape Horn, ^.t tillage
of twenty-five he came to Louisville, Kentucky,
where he engaged in business off and on for
about twenty years, in the meantime residing
upon his farm in Monroe township, Clark county,
Indiana, where he has resided since the war
Was connected with the commissary department
during the war. Was married in 1S45 to Miss
Esther I. Berry, of Salem, Massachusetts. Their
family consists of four children, having buried
three; two were grown up at time of death. One
son is married and is farming in this township;
the other son is single and farming in Illinois.
The daughters are single, and reside at home.
Both members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. Politically is a Republican.

5^°

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Mr. George McClure was born in Ireland
April i, 1800. At the age of twenty-two he
came to America, locating first in Baltimore,
Maryland, where he engaged as clerk for the
firm of George & Hayes, grocers, with whom he
remained eleven years. In December, 1833, he
went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he and Wil-
liam Ross, a young man who clerked for George
&: Hayes at the same time, engaged in business.
These young men continued in business in Louis-
ville twenty years. In 1857 he moved upon his
farm in Monroe township, Clark county, where
he has since resided. Was married in Ireland,
in 182 1, to Miss Biddie Hayes, a sister of one of
the firm in Baltimore. She died in June, 1868.
Both were members of the Presbyterian church.
Politically he is a Jackson Democrat. In the
year 185 1 his brother, Thomas McClure, came
from Ireland and lived .upon this farm till his
death, which was in the year 1866, at the age of
sixty-three, leaving five children, three of whom
are dead.

Mr. George McClure, son of Thomas, was
born in December, 1839. Farming is his prin-
cipal avocation. In the year 1866 he and Miss
Lizzie Crum, of Nelson county, Kentucky, were
united in marriage. They have a family of four,
two sons and two daughters. Owns a nice farm
of two hundred and eleven acres in Illinois
Grant. Politically is a democrat.

Mr. William McClure was born in Ireland in
1827, and came to America in 185 1. Made his
home with his brother till he was married, which
was in 1858, to Miss Margaret Ann Bodine,
who was hern in Pennsylvania in 1841. They
hav^a family of six living children, five sons
and one daughter. He purchased a farm of
eighty-one acres in 1856, where he resides in
Monroe township, Clark county. Recently pur-
chased one hundred acres in same township.
Has always been a farmer. Is a member of the
Knighcs of Honor, and his wife is a me Tiber of
the ladies association of the same order. Both
his wife and family are members of the Presby-
terian church.

Mr. A. J. Reed was born in Washington
county, Pennsylvania, in 1815, January 5th,
where he remained till July 6, 1828, when he
came to Louisville, Kentucky, where he lived
only a short time when he went to Washington,
D. C, and lived with his grandfather, who was

at that time a member of Congress. He accom-
panied his grandfather to West Virginia, where
he lived till the fall of 1832. Saw General Jack-
son sworn in each term. Returned to Louisville
in November, 1832, and worked at brick burning
during the season of 1834. In August of the
same year he became a citizen of Clark county,
Indiana, which he has called home ever since,
though he spent the year 1848 in Cincinnati,
during the time of the cholera. From there he
went to Nashville, Tennessee, and remained
till September, 1850, where he also found
the cholera very bad. At this date he returned
to this county, where he has since resided. In
the year 1858 he purchased the farm where he
now resides, in Monroe township, comprising in
all three hundred and sixty acres and a beautiful
home. Mr. Reed married his wife on this place
February 18, 1847, her maiden name being Miss
Ann Dunberry, born in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, January 8, 1823. They have five
children living and seven deceased. Of the liv-
ing children there are two sons and three daugh-
ters. Mr. Reed and his wife are members of
the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been
assessor for ten years, and six years commis-
sioner. Politically he is a Democrat.

The firm of Hawes & McDietz was organized
March 1, 1880, consisting of Joseph J. Hawes
and Thomas McDietz, the latter having con-
trolled the business from from 1865. Mr. Mc-
Dietz was born in Blue Lick, in 1847, a son of
Mr. T. McDietz, who was born in Springville,
this county, in 181 1, and carried on the mercan-
tile business at Blue Lick from 1834 to 1863,
which was the date of his death. Mr. McDietz,
Jr., was married in 1867 to Miss Mary R. Town-
send. They have six children, two sons and
four daughters.

Mr. Hawes was born in this county in 1838.
Since he became a young man he has been
on the railroad; was conductor on the Louisville
& Nashville railroad but gave it up and engaged
in the mercantile business. He was married
December 31, 1863, to Miss Mary B. Dietz.
Both are members of the lodge of Knights and
Ladies of Honor.

J. Leander Carr is the son of Mr. Milford
Carr, who was the son of Colonel John Carr,
one of the pioneers of Clark county. I.eander
was born in this county in 1836. In 1867 he

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

S4i

and Miss R. Eva Ryan, daughter of James
Ryan, of Henryville, were united in marriage.
Mr. Carr was born in Clark county in 1854.
They have one son. Mr. Carr is one of the
leading merchants of Henryville.

Mr. John C. Stuard was born in Hamilton
county, Ohio, in 1819. He is a son of Mr.
Isaac Stuard, a farmer of the aforesaid county.
He was married in 1845 t0 Miss Virginia
Hedges, of Boone county, Kentucky. Mrs.
Stuard was born in 1828. Their family consists
of three sons and three daughters, all of whom
reside in the State of Indiana. In 1847 Mr.
Stuard came to Jeffersonville, where he remained
in business until 1868, when he moved to
Henryville, where he still resides. At present he
is engaged in farming and the stock business.

Augustus Schlamm was born in Prussia in
1829. He came to America in 1 85 1. He lived
in New York one year, and came to Indiana in
1852. He was married in Indiana in 1857 to
Miss Barbara Bollyn, who was born in Switzer-
land in 1833. Mr. Schlamm is a leading busi-
ness man of Henryville. Has been township
trustee for the past ten years.

Mr. Fredric Metzger was born in Baden, Ger-
many, in 1833. He came to America when
nineteen years of age, first settling in Maryland,
thence to Virginia. In 1853 he came to Indi-
ana. Since 1864 he has been in the coopering
business in Henryville. He was married in 1856
to Miss Ellen Nununaman, of Davenport, Iowa.
Their family consists of six children.

Captain James R. Ferguson was born in
Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, and
was married in 1879 to Miss Minnie Connor, of
Danville, a native of Maryland. They have one
son, Wallace, who is in the mercantile business
in Henryville. He served four years in the
Forty-ninth Indiana volunteer infantry as captain
of company D.

Mrs. Mary N. (Edmonson) Stark is the widow
of Mr. Thomas L. Stark, formerly a resident of
Louisville, where he was engaged in the mer-
cantile business many years. He was born in
Greencastle, Indiana, in 1828. He was married
September 3, 1850. Mrs. Stark is a daughter of
Mr. Norris Edmonson, a millwright of Oldham
county, Kentucky. Mr. Stark served through
the war in the Fifty-third volunteer infantry, and
died January 1, 1866, of disease contracted

while in service. He left a family of three chil-
dren— Walter, Lillie B., and Cora F.

Eberts & Brother, proprietors of the Henry-
ville tannery, consisting of J. and C. Eberts, are
sons of Mr. C. Eberts, who came to America
from Germany in the year 1853 and located at
St. Louis, Missouri. These brothers joined their
interests in business from the first of their deal-
ing with the public on their own responsibility,
it being in Bullitt county, Kentucky, in the town
of Shepherdsville, where they rented a tannery
and controlled it very successfully for two years,
when they changed their location to their pres-
ent place of doing business. They purchased the
tannery property of Mr. August Schlamm, and
have since been doing a very satisfactory busi-
ness, dressing as high as four thousand hides a
year. In the year 1877 Mr. J. Eberts and Miss
Eliza Baumberger were united in marriage. They
have one child — John. Mr. C. Eberts and Miss
Margaret Gernhart were married in October,
1875. They have three children — Olga C, Ed-
ward C, and Minnie A.

Mr. Peter Huffman, with his family of five
children and wife came to Monroe township,
Clark county, Indiana, in 1811. He, however,
had other children who were married and had
homes of their own, one of whom was the wife
of Mr. Henry Collins. They were both killed
in the Pigeon Roost massacre. Mr. Huffman
settled on Silver creek, Monroe township, Clark
county. Indiana, where he commenced the life
of a pioneer in the woods. In March, 1813, he
was killed in what is known as the Huffman de-
feat. With the same ball that Mr. Huffman was
killed Mrs. Huffman was woundedlln thq^reast,
the ball lodging in the shoulder-blade. His sons
settled in Jackson county. Andrew J. Huff-
man is a grandson of this famous Indian hunter.
He was born in 1819; was married in 1841, on
the day of General Harrison's inauguration, to
Miss Eliza McComb, of Monroe township, born
in 1823.

Mr. Joseph H. Guernsey was born in Monroe
township in 1823. His father was Mr. Guy
Guernsey, who came to Clark county at an early
day. He was married in 1844 to Miss Margaret
Paterson, of Clark county, and has five children,
three sons and two daughters. One daughter is
Mrs. Mary Williams.

Mrs. Margaret Mc Williams is a widow of David

542

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

McWilliams, deceased. He was a Virginian by
birth, but was a citizen of Monroe township from
his boyhood up to his death, which occurred in
1871. Mrs. McWilliams is a daughter of Captain
T. B. Payne, of Louisville. Mr. McWilliams'
family at his death consisted of nine children.
Birdsall, a son, has since died. One daughter
and two sons are married and reside in the
county. Mrs. McWilliams came from Louisville
to Clark county at the age of six.

Mr. John Carter was born in Shelby county,
Kentucky, in 1814. His father, Edward, came
to Monroe township, Clark county, in 1816,
and lived here until his death, which occurred
about 1830. His third son (the subject of this
sketch) was married in 1838 to Miss Louise Guth-
rie, of Woodford county, Kentucky. She died in
187 1 at the age of fifty-five years, leaving eight
children, all of whom are citizens of Clark
county, and mostly in Monroe township.

L. B. Guernsey, postmaster at Henryville, is a
native of that town, receiving his education in
that place and in the schools of Charlestown.
He remained on the farm until nineteen years of
age, when he followed teaching two or three
years. Since 1855 he has been in the mercan-
tile business, and with the exception of about
five years of that time has been salesman for
Guernsey & Briggs. In 1876 he became post-
master of his town, and has held the position
ever since. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and formerly superintendent
of the Sabbath-school for several years. In
1858 he married Emma Morgan, daughter of L.
H. Morgan. His children are Louis M., Ca-
dence^., anJPErmina Sage.

William King, justice of peace of Henryville,
Clark county, Indiana, was born in Jackson
county, near Seymour, June 16, 1837. He was
raised a farmer and when seventeen years of age
began teaching, which profession he has followed
since; graduated in Brownstown academy in 1858.
He entered the army in 1862, as a member of
the Eighty-second Indiana volunteer infantry; was
mustered out of the service as brevet lieutenant of
his company in 1865. Before returning home
he was engaged as a teacher and is now teaching;
is a member of the Missionary Baptist society.
He is now the justice of the peace in his town-
ship. His father was justice of the peace for
fifteen years and was a very prominent man in

the Baptist church. He was married in i860 to
Miss Nancy Love, of Jackson county, and is the
father of seven children.

Thomas Montgomery, of Henryville, Clark
county, was born in Polk county, Illinois, June
n, 1820. When he was five years old his father
moved to Lexington, Scott county, Indiana,
where he spent the early part of his life working
on a farm, and in winter driving team. He was
married to Mary E. Blizzarel, a native of Clark
county, Indiana, on the 26th day of December,
1847. They moved to Clark county, Indiana,
December, 1850, and settled on a farm four miles
from Henryville, where he has lived ever since.
He is the father of eleven children, two of whom
are dead. He, his wife, and most of the family
are members of the Baptist church. His father
was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania,
September 1, 1787. He moved to Polk county,
Illinois, about the year 1806, and settled on a
farm; was a member of the Presbyterian church;
served as a soldier in the War of 18 12, and lived
to an advanced age, dying in the year 1880.

Andrew J. Huffman was born April 25, 1819,
in Clark county. He spent his early life like
most 'farmers' sons, in working on a farm in
summer and attending school in winter. He
was married, March, 1841, to Elizabeth Mc-
Combs, a native of Clark county, Indiana, and
has twelve children. Mr. Huffman and wife are
constant members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. His father was a native of Virginia and
moved to this county in 181 1. His grand-
father was killed and his grandmother was
wounded by the Indians, in the war in 1813.
Mr. Huffman is one of our most quiet and law-
abiding citizens.

Norman Hosea, of Henryville, was born in
Washington county, Indiana, February 14, 1824.
His boyhood days were spent in working on the
farm in summer, and attending school in winter.
At the age of twenty he commenced the cooper-
ing business, and worked at that until 1861,
when he entered the army as a private in com-
pany D, Forty-ninth Indiana volunteers. He
was honorably discharged from said service, after
which he settled on a farm on Blue Lick, four
miles west of Henryville, Indiana, where he has
resided up to the present time. He was married
to Jeanetta McWilliams, a native of Rockingham
county, Virginia. Mr. Hosea and wife are both

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

543

members of the Christian church. Mr. Hosea
is owner of one of the famous mineral wells with
which the country abounds.

Major Daniel Bower emigrated from North
Carolina to Clark county with his father, and
settled near New Washington, when there were
but few settlers. He married Catharine Hostet-
ler. Major Bower was a man of considerable
influence and had the confidence of his fellow
citizens. He served as a member of the Legis-
lature and also as county commissioner. He
was the owner of several hundred acres of land;
was a farmer and trader, often trading South
with boats of produce. He died at Natchez,
Mississippi, in 1843. His widow still lives at
the old homestead.

Mrs. Annia E. Hikes, widow of George Hikes,
Jr., was formerly from the East. She spent some
time in Illinois, and was a school-teacher. Her
husband was reared in Jefferson county, Ken-
tucky. The Hikes family were early settlers in
Jefferson county, Kentucky.

Jacob Lentz was born in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, in 1807. In October, 18 18, he came
with his father, John Lentz, to Clark county, In-
diana. Since that date he has made this county
his home. His wife was Miss Mahala Prather,
who died leaving a family of seven children, five
daughters and two sons. One daughter has
since died. All the rest are married except the
youngest daughter, Fannie V., who resides at
home. Mr. Lentz, some years after the death
of his wife, was married to Miss Nancy Fry, by
whom he has one child, John, now nine years
old. Mr. Lentz owns a fine farm of eighty-three
acres situated on the Ohio river. Politically he
is a sound Republican.

Mr. Joseph Ashtcn was born in Chester coun-
ty, Pennsylvania, in 1806. His father, Abraham
Ashton, came to Utica, Clark county, Indiana,
in 1818, where he died in 1827 at the age of
forty-six. His wife, Hannah (Cloud), survived
him thirty-eight years. They only left one son,
the subject of this sketch. He was married in
1829 to Miss Lorinda Prather, of Clark county.
She died in 1880 at the age of sixty-nine years,
leaving a family of three sons and four daughters,
most of whom are citizens of the county. Two
of the sons served their country as soldiers for
the Union — Joseph Edwin in the Fifty-seventh
Indiana volunteer infantry, and Charles B. in

the Eighty-first regiment. Joseph died at Jeffer-
son barracks, Missouri, in 1863.

David H. Combs, M. D., was born in Clark
county, Indiana. He is a son of Mr. Jesse
Combs, one of the pioneers, who died in 1857.
Dr. Combs remained at home till seventeen
years of age when he entered Charlestown acad-
emy, where he attended six sessions. From the
time of his leaving this institution until his
twenty-first year he spent in teaching and going
to school. At that age he entered the office of
Dr. James S. Athen, of Charlestown, with whom
he remained three years as a student. He was
one year in Louisville Medical university, and
graduated at Jefferson Medical college, Phil-
adelphia, in the spring of 1850. His first year
he practiced in Salem, Indiana, after which, until
1876, he lived in Charlestown, where he enjoyed
an extensive practice, more especially in the line
of surgery. In 1876 he moved to his wife's farm,
in Utica, and follows his profession. On the
4th day of November, 1851, he was married to
Miss Sarah, youngest daughter of Colonel Good-
man, who died in March, 1880, leaving a family
of seven children.

George Schwartz was born January 13, 1803.
He is the son of Mr. John Schwartz, who came
from Pennsylvania in the fall of 1802, and set-
tled in Utica township, Clark county, Indiana,
on a farm adjoining the one now owned and
lived upon by the son. On this pioneer farm
young George was brought up and made familiar
with all the privations and hard labor of the
times. He married, August 21, 1823, Miss
Nancy Fry, of Jefferson count)', Kentucky, who
was born March 29, 1804. In the*' fall oi 1824
he purchased a tract of wild land, and the follow-
ing winter put up a double cabin, in which, on
the 1st of April, 1825, the young couple com-
menced housekeeping. They have had twelve
children, all of whom they raised to man and
womanhood, though some have since died.
Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz still live on the old farm,
but in a new house, and surrounded by all the
comforts of life.

Abraham Fry was born in Clark county, Indi-
ana, September 17, 1832. He is a son of John
Fry, a very prominent citizen of this county,
whose biography will be found in this work.
Abraham Fry made his home with his father till
he was married, which was October 24, 1854,

544

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

his wife's maiden name being Sarah E. Parks,
who died July 18, 1859, leaving two children, a
son and daughter. The son only is living; he
is now married and resides on his farm, in sight
of his father's house. Mr. Fry married his sec-
ond wife, Maggie R. Mann, September 5, i860,
by whom he has had seven children, three sons
and four daughters. In the year 1855 Mr. Fry
purchased his farm; it consists of one hundred
and eighty-one acres of very fine land. In 1856
he built himself a good brick residence, which he
has recently put into a perfect state of repair.
His premises, besides being naturally fine, are
adorned with shade trees, etc., in tasty order,
making one of the grandest homes in the
county. Mr. Fry makes farming his principal
occupation, dealing at the same time extensively
in stock. He is a director in the First National
bank of Jeffersonville, also a stockholder and di-
rector in the plate glass works in the same place.
He is a member of the order of Masons, and
is a Knight Templar.

John F. Fry is a son of John Fry, Sr., one of
the most prominent citizens in former years.
He was born in Clark county, Indiana, in 1836.
He was married, in i860, to Miss Catharine
Lentz, of Clark county. They have four chil-
dren.

George T. Fry was born in Clark county in
1838. He was married, in 1864, to Miss Edith
J. Lentz, of Clark county; she died in 1879, leav-
ing two children. Mr. Fry was married, in 1881,
to Mrs. Shrader.

Jacob Fry, another son of the well-known
John Fry, was born in 1844, in Clark county.
He was married to Miss Sarah Robertson in
1866. They have four children.

Samuel P. Lewman was born in Utica town-
ship, Clark county, Indiana, July 30, 1834. He
is a son of Milas Lewman, a prominent citizen
of Clark county. Mr. S. P. Lewman was mar-
ried April 3, i860, to Miss Ann Eliza Holman.
They have a family of seven children, three sons
and four daughters; all single and make their
father's house their home. An item of interest
worthy of notice is that there has never been a
death either in his or his father's family. ' In
1862 Mr. Lewman was elected magistrate, and
served his neighbors in that capacity seven years.
Was a candidate for the Legislature on the Re-
publican ticket in 1868. Mr. Lewman has al-

ways been a sound Republican, and a pioneer
Abolitionist. While at Oberlin college, Ohio,
he cast his first vote for Salmon P. Chase. Mr.
Lewman owns a fine farm of one hundred and
sixty acres situated in Utica township. Made
farming his principal avocation till the year 1864,
when he commenced the dairy business, which
he has increased till now he makes it a very
profitable business, and which commands his at-
tention principally. He furnishes the city of
Louisville with milk; hauling last year to that
city twenty thousand gallons.

Dr. L. L. Williams was born in Jefferson
county, Kentucky, July, 1855. He is a son of
Mr. Jeff Williams, a prominent farmer and citi-
zen of Jefferson county. Dr. Williams made
his home with his father and attended school till
he was eighteen years of age, at which time he
graduated at the Louisville High school. Read
medicine under Dr. J. M. Keller, a distinguished
surgeon of Louisville at that date, but at present
a noted physician at Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Graduated at the Louisville Medical College in
1878. Since that date has practiced medicine
in Louisville. In April, 1881, he purchased a
stock of drugs and medicine in Utica, Clark
county, Indiana, where he is at present engaged
in the drug business, and at the same time en-
joys a very pleasant practice.

Mr. M. H Tyler was born in Jefferson county,
Kentucky, in 1824; was a son of Zachariah
Tyler, whose father was born in Virginia, and
was a member of the old Tyler family of that
State. In 1827 Mr. Tyler's father died, leaving
a wife and six children, three now living —
William J., a blacksmith by trade, resides in
Utica, and Lucinda M., who is a widow, and
makes her home with her brother M. H. Mr.
Tyler's mother is eighty-eight years of age and
has been an invalid for the past fifteen years,
during which time she has made her home with
her children. When about fourteen years of age
Mr. Tyler entered Greencastle college and re-
mained till 1840. He afterwards engaged in the
mercantile business, but finding its effects detri-
mental to his health he learned the blacksmith
trade with his brother and remained with him
seven years. Between the years 1848 and 1866 he
engaged in the mercantile business in Utica with
considerable success. In 1868 he built a lime
kiln in the upper edge of Utica. He run this

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

545

two years, when he sold out to the Louisville
Cement company. Since that time he has been
their superintendent. Mr. Tyler is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
Knights of Pythias. In religion he is a Presby-
terian.

Dr. J. Bruner was born in Greene county,
Tennessee, December 6, 1811. When five years
of age he moved to Floyd county with his father,
Jacob Bruner, who made that county his home
three years, when he moved to Lawrence county,
Indiana. His son accompanied him, and re-
mained at home until he was thirteen years of
age, when he went to Biownstown, Jackson
county, Indiana, and entered upon the study of
medicine under Dr. Samuel P. Wirt, remaining
two years, at the expiration of which time he
engaged in the practice of medicine with great
success. After a few years' practice he became
a minister of the Methodist church and traveled
on the circuit ten years, the town of Utica being
his last appointment, in 1849. At this date he
again resumed the practice of medicine and
continued it nineteen years, when he gave up his
practice on account of ill health. He has since
turned his attention to overseeing his farms. The
closing of Dr. Bruner's practice was a matter of
much regret to this community. His success in
restoring to health the severely afflicted was re-
markable. His competitors acknowledged his
ability, and his practice was the largest in the
county. He maintained the love and confidence
of his patrons that only a faithful physician can
possess. Dr. Bruner married his first wife, Eliza
Shaw, in 1838, who died in 1862, leaving a
family of seven children, all of whom received a
good classical education. E. W., the eldest son,
is a successful physician, practicing in Jefferson-
ville. M. W., the second son, is a prominent
lawyer in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Elizabeth, the
eldest daughter, is married and resides in Ala-
bama. Cornelia, the second daughter, is mar-
ried and resides in California. Mary, the third
daughter, is married and resides in Illinois.
Martha is single and resides with her sister in
Alabama. Olive, the youngest, is married and
resides in Ohio. Dr. Bruner married his second
wife, Mary E. Jacobus, in 1864, by whom he has
three children, one son and two daughters.

L. A. Canter was born near Charlestown,
Clark county, Indiana, in 1842. He is a son of

69*

George Canter, who came to this county when a
young man, and made it his home till the time
of his death. He remained at home till he was
about twenty-one years of age, when he engaged
as a dry goods clerk in Utica, at the expiration of
which time he engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness, and has since continued in the same very
successfully. He was married, January, 1878, to
Miss Jennie Brendel, a resident of Utica.
They have two children, Carlie L. and Shirley;
aged two and one. Mr. Canter is a member of
the Order of Free Masons and Knights of
Pythias.

Larkin Nicholson was born in Trimble county,
Kentucky, June 22, 1808. At the age of six
he came to Jefferson county, Indiana, with his
father, Thomas Nicholson, who died March 30,
1830. In the month of November, 1837, Mr.
Nicholson became a citizen of Clark county.
In 1848 he made his first purchase of land on the
Utica & Jeffersonville road, and now owns one
hundred acres of the finest land in the county.
He formerly owned two hundred acres, but his
advanced years made it impossible to handle that
amount. He was married, October 29th, to Miss
Ann H. Spangler. They have had a family of
four children — two only are living, a son and
daughter, both of whom are married. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Nicholson are members of the Christian
church. Mr. Nicholson was a pioneer in the
reformation, and has lived a Christian life for the
past forty-one years.

G. W. Swartz was born December 26, 1827, in
Utica township, Clark county. He was a son of
George Swartz, a prominent citizen of Clark
county. He made his home with his father till
he was sixteen years of age, when he engaged
as dry goods clerk in Jeffersonville with Simon
and John Bottorff, with whom he continued as
salesman for ten years, at the expiration of which
time he engaged in the mercantile business upon
his own responsibility in the same town, and
continued in trade for nearly ten years, meeting
with satisfactory success, but on account of poor
health he closed out his business in the fall of
1863, and the same year purchased his beautiful
farm on the Ohio river. In the fall of 1877 he
had the misfortune to have his house burned
down. In 1878 he built his present fine resi-
dence, situated on a ridge, overlooking the river
and the surrounding country, presenting a grand

546

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

view indeed. In the year 1853 Mr. Swartz and
Elizabeth Butler were united in marriage. She
was taken away by death in 1861, leaving a
family of four children — all daughters, two of
whom are now married ; another deceased, and
one resides at home. In 1862 he married his
second wife, Maria Lentz. They have a family
of four children — two sons and two daughters.
They are both members of the Methodist Epis-
copal church. Politically Mr. Swartz is a Demo-
crat, and is also a member of the order of Free
Masons and Odd Fellows.

Mr. Nathan W. Hawes was born in Clark
county June 13, 1834. He is a son ol Mr.
Isaac Hawes, an early settler and pioneer of
Clark county, whose sketch will be found in this
work. On the 3d day of February, 1859, Mr.
N. W. Hawes and Miss Sarah E. Biggs were
united in marriage. They have a family of five
children, as follow : James M., Alphenas E.,
Beatrice E., Joseph H, and Katie B. Ages
twenty-one, nineteen, seventeen, fifteen, and
thirteen, respectively. Mr. Hawes is a member
of the Knights of Honor and a sound Republi-
can. Both he and his wife are members of the
Christian church. He owns a beautiful home
which he purchased in 1866; owns in all two
hundred and sixty-seven acres.

Mr. George H. Townsend was born in New
York State, June n, 1811. When he was a
child eight years of age his father, Isaac Town-
send, moved, with his family, to Clark county,
Indiana, where he made his home till his death,
which was June 17, 1875, at the age of eighty-
five. In 1826 Mr. G. H. Townsend's father
gave him fifty acres, where he still resides;
owns in all, at this writing, two hundred acres.
In 1832 Mr. G. H. Townsend and Miss Sarah
M. Thompson were united in marriage. They
had six children, three of whom are still living.
She died June 10, 1845. Mr. Townsend mar-
ried his second wife, Miss Elizabeth Heart,
August 31, 1847. She died April 20, 1879.
They raised a family of ten children; eight are
still living. Mr. Townsend is a Republican, and
he and wife are Baptists.

Mr. Adolph Sagebill was born in Europe in
1816. At the age of eighteen he came to
America. About four years afterwards his father
started to join him but died at sea. Mr. Sage-
bill spent his first five years in this county in the

State of Ohio. In 1840 he became a citizen of
Clark county. In 1843 he purchased the farm
where he still resides, in Union township. In
1842 he and Miss Cynthia Ann Griswold were
united in marriage, and they had two children,
both of whom are now deceased. She died
in 1846. Mr. Sagebill married his second wife,
Martha L. McDoland. Their family consists of
six children, three married and three single.
Mr. Sagebill is a member of the Christian church
and politically is a Democrat.

Colonel John Carr was born in Pennsylvania,
July 3, 1784, moved to Kentucky in 1797, and
remained about three years, when he moved to
Silver Creek township, Clark county, where he
married in 1806. In 1807 he moved upon the
farm where his son M. W. resides and still owns.
Here he moved into a small log-house, where he
resided until his death, the time being sixty-one
years. He reared a family of ten children, five
sons and five daughters, four of whom are still
living — M. \V. and John D. are the only surviving
sons, and Mahala and Marilda are the surviving
daughters. John D. is married, has five chil-
dren, and is farming with his brother, M. W.,
who is still single; Mahala is the wife of Robert
Gray, and resides near Crawfordsville — their
family consists of ten children ; Marilda is the
wife of Norris Rittler, resides in St. Louis, and
has four children.

Isaac Haws was born in New York State in
1809. At the age of eight he came to Clark
county with, his father, Jason Haws, who made
that his home till his death, which was in 1856,
living to the age of eighty-nine. He reared a
family of ten children, only two of whom are
living, the others dying before they reached ma-
turity. Mr. Haws and his brother Elijah, who
resides in Utica township, comprise the family
left. When Mr. Isaac Haws was twenty-two
years of age he and Miss Elizabeth McGuire
were united in marriage. They lived happily to-
gether till death broke the tie in 1874. They
reared a family of eight children, seven of whom
are still living, five sons and two daughters.
They are each married, and taking an active part
in the great battle of life in different parts of the
United States. Mr. Isaac Haws is a member of
the Christian church, and he and his five sons
are all sound Republicans.

Mr. J. J. Haws, son of Isaac Haws, was

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

547

born in Union township, Clark county, in 1838,
and made his home with his father until he was
sixteen years of age, when he commenced the
life of railroading, commencing on the old New
Albany & Salem railroad when strap iron was
used for rails. Here he served as brakeman one
year, and then engaged with the Louisville &
Nashville road as brakeman for the same length
of time, then was baggage-master for one year,
after which he took charge of a train as con-
ductor. He remained with the company twenty
years, three years of that time being employed
as passenger agent in Louisville. At the expira-
tion of this time, it being March, 1878, he re-
signed his position and turned his attention to
other avocations. The first year he engaged in
farming where he still resides in Blue Lick.
The second year he joined his interests in the
mercantile business with T. McDietz, and started
a cooper-shop, running ten hands at home. In
the spring of 1881 he started a cooper-shop at
the Ohio Valley Cement mills, where he runs
twenty-four hands. In the western part of Mon-
roe township he is running a saw-mill and stave-
factory, where he makes a sufficient number of
staves to make all his barrels, which number
about three hundred per day, and furnishes the
Ohio Valley Cement company with barrels. He
has in his employ forty-five men and runs sev-
eral teams. In the saw-mill and stave factory he
has for a partner Colonel J. T. Willey. He is
also raising blooded cattle. In the year 1863
he and Miss Mary Dietz were united in marriage.
They have no children. He is a member of the
order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. James M. Gray was born in Union town-
ship, Clark county, Indiana, in 1839. He is a
son of Jonathan Gray, who was also born in
Union township, Clark county, in 181 3. His
father's name was David Gray, and cam: to
Clark county from Pennsylvania some time previ
ous to 1800. Mr. Jonathan Gray made this county
his home till his death, which was in 1856. He
married, in 1836, Miss Matilda Carr, who died
in 1 87 1 at the advanced age of sixty. Their fam-
ily consisted of three sons and two daughters, all
of whom are living. J. M., the oldest and the
subject of this sketch, married, in the year 1865,
Miss Maria Guernsey, who was born in Monroe
township, this county in 1843, daughter of Mr.
Burrett Guernsey, a very prominent citizen of this

county till his death, which was in 1868. Mr. J.
M. Gray has one son, now fifteen years of age,
Edgar L. Mr. Gray's early life was turned to
farming and he still oversees his place, the
old homestead south of Memphis. In the year
1870 he united his interests with his present
partner, Mr. W. C. Coombs, in the manufacture of
hominy mills, meeting with reasonable success.
Both Mr. Gray and wife are members of the
Christian church. Politically he is a good, sound
Republican.

Mr. H. H. Coombes was born in Clark county,
Indiana Territory, in August, 18 10. He was a
son of Joel Coombes, who became a citizen of
this county in 1801, formerly a resident of Penn-
sylvania. He was married in Kentucky and
moved to Washington county in March, 1816,
where he lived about three years and returned to
Clark county and resided there till his death,
which was in 1853. In 1847 H. H. Coombes
moved upon his farm, where he still resides in
Union township. His father's family consisted of
four sons and two daughters, Mr. Coombes being
the only surviving member. His brother William
was killed at the battle of Buena Vista. The
others died at different ages. In the year 1837
he and Rachel Hougland were united in mar-
riage. They have had a family of fourteen chil-
dren; three only are living. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Coombes are members of the Christian church.
Politically he is an old Jackson Democrat, for
whom he cast his vote. Mr. Coombes' father
was a Tippecanoe soldier and appointed captain
of a company of sixty men and stationed at the
block-house at the Pigeon Roost massacre. Mr.
Coombes served his county as sheriff during the
years of 1857-58-59.

George W. Bowel was born in Clark county in
March, 181 7. He is oldest son of Mr. Basil
Bowel, who emigrated to Indiana from Pennsyl-
vania in 181 1. He was at that time a single
man. In 1814 he and Miss Catharine Pown-
ston, a native of Pennsylvania, were united in
marriage. They began life together in Union
township, where they raised a family of seven
children. George W. Bowel, the subject of this
sketch, was married in 1847 to Miss Martha
Williams, whose father came to the State in a
very early day. Mr. Bowel's family consisted of
four children, two of whom are living.

William C. Coombs was born in Clark county,

548

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Indiana, in September, 1831. He is a son of
Jesse and Mary Coombs, who were married in
1809. JeSSe Coombs came from Kentucky in
1808. His father, Jesse Coombs, Sr., was killed
by the Indians about the year 1790. William
C. Coombs was married, in i860, to Miss Re-
becca M. Nugent, of Charlestown. Their family
consists of three children who are still living.
Mr. Coombs is one of the patentees of the
Coombs & Gray Eclipse Hominy mill, which
they are now manufactuiing in Memphis.

C. H. Coombs was born in Clark county, In-
diana, in 1848. He is the fifth son of Jesse J.
Coombs, an early settler of the township. Mr.
C. H. Coombs was married in 1878 to Miss
Alice Dietz, of Union township. He is a mem-
ber of the firm of J. D. Coombs & Brother, pro-
prietors of the Silver Creek Flouring mills, of
Memphis, Clark county, Indiana.

Madison Coombs was born in Clark county,
Indiana, in 1835. He is the third child of Jesse
Coombs. Madison Coombs was married in
1856 to Miss Mary White, daughter of Absalom
White, of Memphis. Their family consists of
four children, all of whom are living. He has
for the last ten years been a leading merchant in
Memphis, and is at present station master of the
Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad
at Memphis.

Dr. Joseph C. Drummond was born near
Charlestown in November, 1835. His father,
David, came from Kentucky to Indiana, in 1800,
he being only three years of age. His grand-
father, James, emigrated from Pennsylvania
some time previous to 1 800. His family consisted
of twelve children, who are now numbered among
the first settlers of Clark county, Indiana.
David Drummond, father of Dr. Drummond, is
now living with his third wife in Mt. Pleasant,
Iowa. Three of his sons are living. The Doc-
tor is the youngest living child. He was mar-
ried in 1858 to Miss Sarah E. Carr, who died in
1873, leaving a family of six children. He was
married again in 1875 to Miss Narcissa Gasa-
way, of Jefferson county, Indiana, by whom he
has one child. He is now a resident of Indian-
apolis, engaged in the practice of dentistry.

Mr. J. T. Hiestand was born in Washington
county, Indiana, September 26, 1846. At. the
age of twenty -five he commenced doing business
for himself by engaging in carpentering, which

he pursued for about five years, at times running
a steam thresher. At the expiration of this time
he commenced the saw-mill business, which he
has since followed, and carried on a stave factory
in Jefferson county, Kentucky, six months in
1880. In October, 1880, he purchased a fine
portable saw-mill, with all the late improvements,
costing about $2,000. He was married, March
12, 1873, to Miss Katie Dietz. They have two
children, Harry and Jennie, aged seven and four
respectively. In politics he is a Republican, and
is a member of the Knights of Honor.

In 181 7 Mr. Daniel Guernsey came from New
York to Clark county, Indiana, bringing his
family of nine children with him. He was an
educated man, being a graduate of Yale college.
His second son, Seymour, was a married man at
the time of their emigration to Indiana. His
wife was Miss Mehetable Beardsley, of a Con-
necticut family. They raised a family of four
sons and two daughters. Of the sons Seymour,
Daniel, and Elim B. are living, and one of the
daughters, Mrs. Anna Mitchell. Elim B. is the
present auditor of Clark county; Seymour is a
prominent farmer and citizen of Henryville.
The latter was married in 1832 to Miss Jane
Evans, who died in 1870, leaving a family of
four children. The oldest is the present post-
master at Henryville ; Daniel, the other son, is a
farmer living on the old homestead. The
daughters are in Kansas. Mr. Guernsey was
married again in 1872 to Mrs. Celestia Sander-
son, of Clark county. Daniel (second son of
Seymour Guernsey, Sr.,) was born in Clark
county, Indiana, in 1821. He was married in
1842 to Miss Elizabeth Biggs, of the same
county. She is a daughter of Mr. Abner Biggs,
and was born in 1823. They have six sons and
two daughters. Mr. Guernsey has most of his
time paid attention to farming, but was four
years postmaster at Memphis during President
Lincoln's administration.

Dr. James Madison Reynolds is a descendant
of one of the early settlers of Union township,
Clark county. His grandfather, Mr. Richard
Reynolds, moved with hi§ wife Sarah from Ken-
tucky. About the year 1858 he was killed on
the railroad. His family consisted of nine chil-
dren. One of his sons, James Madison, Sr.,
was the father of the subject of this sketch. He
was born in Clark county in 1831, and died in

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

549

1850. His wife was Miss Catherine Smith, who
after the death of Mr. Reynolds married Mr.
Hancock. Dr. Reynolds was born in 1 85 1, nearly
six months after the death of his father. He
graduated in the Ohio Medical college at Cin-
cinnati in 1873, since which time he has prac-
ticed medicine at Memphis, Indiana, with suc-
cess. The Doctor was married in 1870 to Miss
Matilda A. Combs.

J. A. Burns was born May 24, 1826, in Carr
township, in Clark county, and has ever lived in
the State with the exception of six years in
Iowa. His father, Micah Burns, a native of
Vermont, came to Indiana in an early day and
located in Clark county, where he died in 1877,
in his eighty-second year. Mr. J. A. Burns is
engaged in milling at New Providence and does
an extensive business. He was married in 1848
to Miss Christina Baker, daughter of Jonas
Baker. They have five children: Sarah J.,
Micah, Charles P., Adaline, and Emma. Mr.
and Mrs. Burns are members of the Christian
church.

T. S. Ransom was born December 12, 1839,
in Harrison county, Indiana. His father, Hiram
R., a native of New York, came* to Indiana in
an early day. He died in 1874. Mr. Ransom,
the subject of this sketch, came to Clark county
in 1866 and went into- mercantile business at
New Providence, where we now find him. He
was married September 4, 1867, to Miss Laura
Kelly, daughter of Franklin Kelly. They have
one child, William E., born September 27, 1874.
Mr. and Mrs. Ransom are members of the Chris-
tian church.

Samuel Denney was born September 30, i8r7,
in Washington county, Indiana. His father
came from Virginia in an early day, and was
among the pioneers of this part of Indiana.
Mr. Samuel Denney is a cabinet-maker and
carpenter by trade. He was married May 5,
1875, to Mrs. Shaw, widow of the late Isaac
Shaw. There is one child, Elizabeth1 F. Shaw.
Mr. and Mrs. Denney are members of the Baptist
church.

Samuel McKinley was born April 27, 1836,
in Wood township, and has always resided in
the county. His father, James McKinley, came
from Kentucky to Indiana in 1810 or 1812.
Mr. Samuel McKinley is engaged in a tannery
at New Providence. He was married in 1858

to Miss Louisa Schleicher, of Clark county.
They have ten children. Mr. and Mrs. McKin-
ley are members of the Christian church.

Richard L. Martin was born July 14, 1844,
in Washington county, Indiana. His father,
Manoah Martin, died in 1866. Mr. Richard L.
Martin came to Clark county in 1850. He has
a farm of three hundred and seventy-five acres.
He was married in 1871 to Miss Angeline Rob-
inson, daughter of James Robinson. They have
one child, Ora, born May 8, 1875. Mr. and
Mrs. Martin are members of the Christian church.

William Burns was born February 6, 1820, in
Carr, Clark county. His father, Micah Burns,
came to Indiana in 1814. Mr. William Burns
was married in r84r to Miss Sarah M. Dow,
daughter of Henry Dow. They have four chil-
dren. Mr. and Mrs. Burns are members of the
Advent church.

Joel Amick was born September 26, 1839, in
Oregon township, Indiana. His father, Riley
Amick, a native of Carolina, was an early settler
in Clark county. Mr. Amick, the subject of this
sketch, followed farming till 1873, when he went
into business at New Market. He was married,
in t86o, to Miss Nancy J. Coctores, daughter of
Elias Coctores, of Clark county. They have
three children — Rosa A., William P., and Charlie
G. Mr. and Mrs. Amick are members of the
United Brethren church.

Francis M. Carr, M. D., was born January 3,
1 83 1, in Charlestown township, and has ever
since resided in the county, with the exception
of three or four years in Washington county.
His father, Absalom, was a native of Fayette
county, Pennsylvania. He came to Clark coun-
ty in 1806 and was one of the early pioneers of
Indiana. He was a brother of General Carr, and
was a Tippecanoe soldier. He died in 1876.
Mr. Carr graduated at the University of Louis-
ville in 1855, and has ever since practiced in
Clark county. He was married, in 1854, to Miss
Martha E. Coctores, daughter of Daniel Coctores,
of Oregon township. They have had eight boys,
seven of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Carr
are members of the Presbyterian church.

John Scott was born in the State of Virginia
in the year r79r. During the War of 1812 he
went into Tennessee, volunteered, and went out
with a company of militia, and was at Mobile
when the battle at New Orleans occurred, Jan-

550

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

uary 8, 1815. At the close of the war he went
back to Virginia, but soon after came to Clark
county, Indiana. He was married in the year
1818 to Jane Lawrence, who was born in 1792.
She came to this county with her father, William
Lawrence, a native of North Carolina, in the
year 1814. Mr. Scott and wife were members
of the Baptist, or what is now called the Chris-
tian church. They were both consistent Chris-
tians. He made himself familiar with the teach-
ings of the New Testament, and could quote
many of the passages contained therein. He
was the father of nine children — two died in
infancy, two after they had grown up, and five
are yet living, whose names are as follows: Fin-
nety, Candace, Terah, Caled, and Kerrenhap-
puck. Finnety was born February 2, 182 1, and
married Milton Beaver; Candace was born Oc-
tober 16, J 823, and married Jeremiah Noe;
Terah was born December 8, 1825, and was
married to Mary Ann Henderson, and they live
in Owen township ; Caled, the fourth of the
Scott family, was born November ig, 1828, and
was married to Sarah J. Covert, and they live in
Oregon township; they have six children — three
boys and three girls — Dora Belle, Idella Maud,
Homer Clay, Jennie Ellen, Virgil Bryant, and
Chester Raphael. Kerrenhappuck was born June
16, 1835, and was married to James W. Hen-
derson. John M. Scott, the youngest son of
John and Jane Scott, was born February 24,
1838. He was a Union soldier and died at
Nashville in the hospital, of typhoid pneumonia.
The Scott family are farmers by occupation or
the wives of farmers. Terah Scott has been
justice of the peace for Owen township for sev-
eral years, and has the confidence and respect
of his fellow citizens. The Scotts came of good
stock and are highly esteemed by their friends
and neighbors.

John Covert was born April 23, 18 16, in Ore-
gon township. His father, Daniel Covert, came
to Clark county in 1798, and died in 1842.
John Covert has been engaged in teaching the
greater part of his life. He served in the army
in the Fifty-fourth Indiana infantry a short time.
He was married in 184910 Miss Rachel Gifford,
of Clark county. His second marriage, in 1866,
was to Miss Mary J. Clapp, daughter of George
Clapp, of Oregon. They have one child, Cora,
born March 11, 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Covert are

members of the Christian church. Mr. Covert
is a Mason.

Henry Covert was born in Oregon township
May 15, r8i8. His father, Peter Covert, a
native of New Jersey, was an early settler in
Clark county. He was a flatboatman; a man of
strong constitution. He died in 1857. Mr.
Henry Covert is a farmer and has one hundred
and seventy acres. He was married in 1842 to
Miss Mary Cotton. She died in 1862. Six
children were born to them. His second mar-
riage occurred in 1865, to Mrs. Sarles, of Floyd
county. They have one child. Mr. Covert
belongs to the Presbyterian church, and Mrs.
Covert to the United Brethren.

David Phillipy was born in Guilford county,
North Carolina, October 6, 1809. He came to
Indiana about the year 1830 and settled in Clark
county. He resided here three years and then
returned to North Carolina for three years, when
he came to Charlestown township, where he re-
sided until his death, which occurred March 28,
1861. He was married in T840 to Miss Anna
Coble, daughter of John Coble. They had ten
children, eight of whom are living, viz: John
A, William Gi, Mary E, Henry F., Sarah O.,
David M., Samantha J., Edward T., Charity A.,
Daniel W. The oldest two are deceased. Mr.
Phillipy belonged to the Presbyterian church,
and Mrs. Phillipy a member of the Christian
church.

Francis Veazey was born in Beaver county,
Pennsylvania, August 10, 1809; came to Indiana
in 1857; settled in Charlestown township, and
engaged in farming. He had previously been a
tanner. He was twice married, and was the
father of eleven children, five by the first mar-
riage. He is a member of the Presbyterian
church. His son, James C, is now living on
the old homestead. He married Miss Sarah E.
Walker, of Washington township, in 1875. They
have had two children — Myra (deceased) and
Oma. THey are members of the Presbyterian
church.

Riley Amick was born in Guilford county,
North Carolina, September 15, 1815, where he
lived but a short time, when his father, Peter
Amick, moved to Clark county, where he re-
sided until his death. Mr. Riley Amick has
always been a farmer; was married in 1836 to
Miss Melinda Fields, daughter of Abner Fields.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

55i

They have had thirteen children, nine of whom
are living. Mrs. Amick died about five years
ago. Mr. Amick belongs to the United Brethren
church, of which his wife also was a member.

George B. Bower was born October 15, 1834,
in Owen township, Clark count)', Indiana. His
father, Daniel Bower, was a native of North
Carolina. Mr. George Bower has always fol-
lowed farming. He was married in 1864 to
Miss Margaret Haymaker, daughter of John
Haymaker. They have seven children. Mr.
and Mrs. Bower are members of the Christian
church.

Dr. William Taggart was born in the north
of Ireland November 4, 1806, and came to
this country in 1817, in company with his
father, Samuel Taggart, who settled in Tennes-
see. He resided there but four years when he
moved to Indiana and located in Clark county.
He died in 1822. Dr. Taggart studied medicine
in Fayette county, Kentucky, and graduated at
the University of Louisville in 1844. He has
had an extensive and successful practice over the
entire county. He has a farm of five hundred
acres of excellent land. He was married in
1835 t0 M'ss Sarah Faris. They'had three chil-
dren by this marriage : John, Mary, and Wil-
liam. Mrs. Taggart died in 1841. His second
marriage, in 1844, was to Miss Mary Ann Craw-
ford. They have six children: Eliza, James,
Josiah, Samuel, Sarah, and Henry. Mr. and
Mrs. Taggart are members of the Presbyterian
church.

William J. Bottorff was born May 3, 1824, in
Charlestown township, Clark county. He has
always lived in the county with the exception of
three years in Jackson county, where he was en-
gaged in farming. His father, John Bottorff,
was a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. William
Bottorff was married in 1850 to Miss Eliza J.
Nett, daughter cf John Nett, of Jefferson county,
Kentucky. They have had eight children, five
living. Mr. and Mrs. Bottorff are members of
the Methodist church.

Rev. Josiah Crawford was born in Brook
county, West Virginia, March 23, 1S09. His
father, William Crawford, a native of Pennsylva-
nia, came to Indiana in 1818, and settled in
Charlestown townstiip, where he lived till
the time of his death, which occurred in 1871.
Rev. Josiah Crawford graduated at Hanover

college in 1836, and from the Theological school
in 1839, and has preached since then — for four
years in Jefferson county, Indiana, and the rest
in Clark county. He was married in 1839 i0
Miss Amanda Stewart She died in 1842, and
in 1848 Mr. Crawford married Miss Phoebe H.
Crosby, daughter of Theophilus Crosby, of Mas-
sachusetts. They have had seven children. Mr.
Crawford is a Presbyterian.

Terah Scott was born December 8, 1825, in
Clark county. His father, John Scott, was a na-
tive of Virginia, and came to Indiana in 1806.
Mr. Terah Scott has ever been a farmer. He
was married in 1851 to Miss Mary A. Henderson,
daughter of William Henderson. They have
three children — William C, Benjamin S., John
P. Mr. Scott is township trustee and highly es-
teemed by all who know him.

Mr. John A. Eismann was born in Carr town-
ship, Clark county, in the year 1841. He is a
son of Mr. Christian Eismann, who came from
Germany in 182 1, locating in New Albany, where
he remained about twenty years, engaged at the
shoe trade. At this date he moved on Muddy
fork, Clark county, where he lived about three
years, when he returned to New Albany, remain-
ing about one year, when he moved to Sellers-
burg and engaged in the boot and shoe, and
grocery, and liquor business, which he continued
up till his death, which was February 22, i860.
His wife was Miss Louisa Sampson, who is
still living and is sixty-seven years of age.
They raised a family of four children, three sons
and one daughter. John A., the oldest son and
the subject of this sketch, succeeded his father
in business after he reached the age of twenty-
four, and has since continued it. At the age of
twenty-one he engaged in the railroad business;
afterwards worked as carpenter three years.
He is now the oldest citizen of his town. In
the year 1875, November 12th, he and Mrs.
Margaret Sellers (widow of A. Le Sellers) were
united in marriage. They have three children,
two daughters and one son. Politically he is a
Democrat. He is a member of the Knights of
Honor.

Mr. Lewis Bottorff was born in Utica town-
ship, Clark county, March 31, 1812. His father,
Henry Bottorff, was born in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, in 1790; emigrated to Kentucky,
Jefferson county, where he married Miss Catha-

552

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

rine Hikes in 1809. In 18 10 he moved to Utica
township, Clark county, Indiana, and settled on
the farm that Fletcher Robison now occupies.
Here he made his home fifteen years. He was
a soldier and lieutenant in the battle of Tippe-
canoe under General Baggs. His wife run the
bullets while he was preparing to start to the
affray. In 1816 he moved to Silver Creek town-
ship and resided there till his death, which was in
1859. In the year 1830 Mr. Lewis Bottorff and
Miss Sarah Harrod were united in marriage.
She died in 1841 leaving three children, all of
whom are living and married and all doing for
themselves. James resides in Charlestown
township, this county. George VV. resides in
Silver Creek township. Sarah Catharine is now
the wife of Dr. J. C. McCormack and resides at
Bunker Hill, Illinois. Mr. Bottorff married for
his second wife, Mary C. Congelton, who is still
living. They have a family of five living children :
Peter H., married, and a farmer in Charlestown
township, this county; Nancy A., the wife of
William Smith, also a resident of Charlestown
township; Sarena R. is the wife of Mr. James
Wier, and resides in this county; Lewis F., mar-
ried and resides in Charlestown, also a farmer;
Moses E., married and resides in Utica township.
Politically Mr. Bottorff is a sound Republican,
and also his sons. Besides the fine residence
Mr. Bottorff owns in Pittsburg, he owns in Clark
county nearly one thousand acres of land. Each
one of his sons is on his land.

Mr. Leander C. McCormick was born in
Clark county, Indiana, in 1835. He is a son of
Thomas McCormick, a native of Virginia, where
he was born in 1804. He became a citizen of
Clark county in 1824, where he resided till his
death in 1878. His family consisted of four
children, all still living — Mahala, the oldest,
resides with her brother L. C; John C. is mar-
ried and resides in Clark county on a farm ; L.
C, the subject of this sketch, is a resident of
Petersburg, and farms; Joseph C. resides in
Bunker Hill, and practices medicine. In the
year 1859 Mr. L. C. McCormick and Miss
Catherine Guinn were united in marriage. They
have a family of six children — Stella, wife of
John Bartlow, a printer, resides in Frank-
lin, Johnston county; Cara, Robert, Anna,
Mattie, and Thomas. Mr. McCormick's avoca-
tion was farming up to 1875, when he moved

was born in Floyd
He is the youngest

to Indianapolis, where he engaged in the milk
business two years. He afterwards returned
to his former home, and has since been engaged
in the saw-mill business. Both he and his wife
are members of the Baptist church. He is a
member of the order of Masons. In Septem-
ber, 1 86 1, Mr. L. C. McCormick enlisted in
company H, Thirty-eighth Indiana infantry.
He served his country twenty-two months,
resigning at last on account of sickness. He
entered as a private, was promoted to second
lieutenant, then first lieutenant, and afterwards
captain of the company. He was engaged at
Perrysville, Stone River, and several severe
skirmishes.

Rev. Seth M. Stone
county, Indiana, in 1833.
of the three children of John and Sarah Stone,
who came to this county from Cincinnati, Ohio,
in 183 1. Mrs. Stone was a Miss McCallin,
whose forefathers, the Duskeys, gave the name
to Sandusky, Ohio. One of the sons is a citi-
zen of this State, and one of Missouri. Mr.
Stone has been twice married. The first time in
1857 to Miss Elizabeth S. Van Cleave, who died
in 1866, leaving a family of four children; he
married again in 1868 Mrs. Samantha Ger-
man, who by her first husband had two children.
Rev. Stone is a local minister in the Methodist
Episcopal church.

REV. GEORGE SCHWARTZ
was born on the 13th day of January, 1803, in
Utica township, Clark county, Indiana. His fa-
ther, John Schwartz, was a native of Pennsylvania,
and came to Indiana and settled in Utica town-
ship in 1802. He had come a few months pre-
vious to spy out a suitable location in the wil-
derness, and finally selected two hundred and
seventy acres in this locality, which proved to
be very valuable land.

His wife, Elizabeth Oldweller, was a sister of
George Hikes' wife. They reared a family of
ten children: Elizabeth, Ann, John, Jacob,
George, Sallie, Nancy, Mary Ann, Leonard, and
Sophia. His two sisters, Mary Ann and Sophia,
and George, are the only members of this family
now living.

Mr. John Schwartz was an earnest pioneer, la-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

553

boring with a zeal worthy of his mission to build
up the country. He was also an earnest worker in
the church, taking an active part in the organiza-
tion of the first Methodist Episcopal society in
the State of Indiana. He was killed in 1824 by
a runaway team while returning from Jefferson-
ville to his home.

Rev. George Schwartz remained at his father's
home until he was united in matrimony, which
event occurred when he was twenty years of age.
His wife was Miss Nancy Fry, a daughter of
Abram Fry and half-sister of Dr. Fry, of Middle-
town, and has borne to him ten children, five
of whom are dead and five are living. They all
grew to manhood and womanhood, and ail were
married but Peter Henry. The names of these
children are Mary Elizabeth, Susan Ann, George
Wiley, Abram Fry, James Benton, Peter Henry,
Sarah Sophia, Eliza Ellen, Hester Rosella, Laura
Virginia. The last mentioned is not married.
Susan Ann, Abram Fry, James Benton, Peter
Henry, and Sarah Sophia are dead. George
Wiley was for a number of years a successful
merchant of Jeffersonville, but declining health
necessitated his selling his store and purchasing
a farm, upon which he now lives.

Mr. Schwartz began active life in buying seventy
acres of land (a part of the farm he now lives
upon), then all in woods. His muscle and axe
were the capital brought into active operation
until a clearing was made and a log house for a
habitation was erected. He has since added to
his effects in the way of more land and a good
brick house, and is now retired from the active
pursuits of life. When Mr. Schwartz was seven-
teen years of age he joined the Methodist Epis-
copal church, of which society he has been
a member ever since. He was afterwards licensed
a local preacher, and has filled the pulpit many
times during the last half of a century, and has
been the principal man in building up his church
society and in erecting their building. He
has been a Democrat all his life, and was
elected to the lower House of the State Legisla-
ture in the fall of 1850. Jesse D. Bright was at
the same time Congressman for his district. Mr.
Schwartz has also taken an active part in the cause
of education. Before the days of the free public
school system he and a few others built a school-
house of themselves, he donating the land for
that purpose. He possesses a good mind, and

physically is remarkably well preserved for one
of his age.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

FLOYD COUNTY SETTLEMENT NOTES.

Benjamin Y. Hines was born in Philadelphia,
April 7, 1815. His father, Martin Hines, was a
boat builder, and came to New Albany when
Benjamin was yet a boy. He and his sister Re-
becca, wife of Captain C. H. Meekin, of New
Albany, were the only children. Martin, in
about" 1 844, married Mary Young, of Philadel-
phia. Benjamin Hines was educated in the
public schools of New Albany, and was a boat-
moulder and builder by trade. On September
28, 1837, he married Elizabeth Bell, who was
born in Harrison county, Delaware, March 3,
18 16. This marriage was blessed with seven
children — Mary, Susan, Martin, James, Theodore,
Alonzo, and Leonid as. He moved upon the
farm where his wife now lives in 1838. He died
August 19, 1854. She belongs to the Metho-
dist church, of which she has been a member
some thirty years.

Ira \V. Gunn was born in Pittsylvania, Virginia,
January 18, 1806. He is the oldest of five chil-
dren of David N. Gunn, who was bom in Virginia
in 1782, and who married Eleanor Sparks in about
1802. David came to Floyd county in 181 5,
coming across the country and stopping two
years in Mercer county. He was a farmer and
a minister of the Methodist Episcopal denomina-
tion. He died in i860, and his wife the ensuing
year. Ira was educated in the common schools,
and is a farmer. On March 9, 1826, he married
Elsie Beech, a native of Belmont county, Ohio.
She was born February 29, 1808. By her he had
three children. She died November 5, 1840. On
March 4, 1841, he married Mary Ann McCarthy.
Her father was born in Ireland. By this wife he
has had seven children, four of whom are living.
Both he and his wife are old-time members of
the Methodist Episcopal church.

Louis Schmidt, born in Prussia December 10,
1853, located in New Albany in 1878. When

554

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Mr. Schmidt came to this city he was employed
by Paul Reising, as foreman of his brewery, for
one year, when he embarked in business for him-
self, as importer of wine and fine liquors. He
then sold out his business to Mr. Paul Fein.
Mr. Schmidt then erected a large brewery on the
corner of Main and West streets. He is one of
the leading brewers around the Ohio Falls. He
learned his trade in the old country. Mr.
Schmidt married Mrs. Margaretta Meuter Sep-
tember 2, 1879. Mrs. Schmidt died July 15,
1880; he then married his first wife's sister, Miss
Tillie Fein, October 18, 1881.

Benjamin P. Jolissaint, born in Switzerland
July 21, 1840; located in Floyd county in 1848.
Mr. Jolissaint is by profession a dairyman and
farmer. He has been in that business twelve
years and eight months. He has one o'f the
largest and most convenient barns in Floyd
county. As a farmer he has met with great
success. Mr. Jolissaint married Josephine Hular
January 10, 1865. They have had born unto
them six children, four living. He bought this
farm from his father in 1863. His father, Peter
J. Jolissaint, settled on this farm when he came
to this country. He lived and died on the farm.
When he came to this country he brought with
him seven children; the youngest, Benjamin P.
Jolissaint, is now the proprietor of the old home-
stead. His father was seventy-three years of age
when he died. His mother was sixty-six when
she died.

John G. Shellers, born in Germany, Septem-
ber 1, 181 1, located in Floyd county in 1833.
Mr. Shellers has been a farmer from his boyhood
days. He is one of the most successful and
prominent farmers in Floyd county. Mr. Shellers
married Miss Nancy McCurdy July 10, 1845.
They have four children, one dead. His son,
William Shellers, died in 1875; he was a noble
son, and his death was a great loss to his father.

Paul Reising, so well known in this city, emi-
grated with his wife to this country in 1854, and
like many of his countrymen had but a small
amount of this world's goods. He came direct
to Louisville, where he remained for two years,
and then came to New Albany twenty-one years
ago, when his first venture was to rent the old
brewery on Main street, which was known as
Metcalf's. When, after four years of industry
at this brewery, one day he heard the call

of the Floyd county sheriff, selling away the
last vestige of an unfortunate brewer (for it must
be remembered that New Albany, twenty years
ago, had twice the numbers of breweries that
it has at present), Mr. Reising offered the
highest bid for the brewery he now occupies.
When he took posseesion, he found that the
brewery was only 20 x 60 feet, with a capacity of
making but fifteen hundred barrels per year.
Here Mr. Reising rolled up his sleeves, and re-
solved to make a bold fight for success. Year
by year he struggled, and by strict attention to
his business, and with a thorough knowledge of
the brewing interests, he has finally succeeded in
establishing for himself the name of one of the
leading brewers of his adopted State.

Robert Kay, M. D., was born in Harrison
county, Indiana, October 10, 1833, and located
in Floyd county in 1861. He practiced medi-
cine in Georgetown, Floyd county, one year.
He was then appointed assistant surgeon of the
Twenty-third Indiana volunteers by Governor
O. P. Morton, and then he was appointed assist-
ant general surgeon of the post hospital at
Paducah, Kentucky; from there he was ordered
to Savannah, Tennessee; from there he came to
Louisville, Kentucky, in charge of a boat load
of sick and wounded soldiers. He was then
ordered to Nashville, Tennessee. He remained
in Nashville but a short time, and then resigned
his position in the army as surgeon, and returned
home. He at once took up his practice of medi-
cine in Lanesville, Harrison county, Indiana.
After practicing in Lanesville for one year, he
was appointed by Governor Oliver P. Mor-
ton surgeon in the One Hundred and Forty-
fourth Indiana volunteers. He remained with
his regiment until the close of the war. He
then began practicing medicine at Galena
in this county. He remained there six years,
and from there located at Greenville, where he
now resides. The doctor has a large and lucra-
tive practice. He graduated at the Louisville
Medical college. He married Miss Mary Jane
Johnson, June 20, 1856. Ten children were
born unto them, three of whom are dead.

Edward F. Smith was born in Strasburg,
France, January 25, 1849; located in New Al-
bany, Floyd county, Indiana, with his parents in
185 1. At the age of seventeen Mr. Smith was
apprenticed to Mr. Hurshbeal, marble and stone

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

555

cutter; served three years, and then commenced
business for himself. His marble works are situ-
ated on the corner of Seventh and Graveyard.
Mr. Smith is a very talented sculptor and marble
cutter, and has few equals about the Falls in his
business. Some of the finest monuments in the
Northern burying grounds are of his workman-
ship, and testify as excellence as an artist

Jacobed S. Hand was born in New Jersey
July 2, 1806; located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1818 with his parents. Mr.
Hand was raised upon his father's farm. His.
father lived to the age of sixty-three. Mr. Hand
is one of the oldest farmers in Floyd county.
He was married to Miss Sallie H. Graves, of
New Albany, Indiana, April 27, 1828. Out of
a family of eight children five are living.

Daniel Cline was born in Berks county, Penn-
sylvania, September 23, 1824; located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1848. Mr.
Cline was an honored and successful business
man. He first was a contractor and builder, but
engaged in the lumber business, and in connec-
tion operated a large hardware, door, sash and
blind business. He was a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows No. 10 and En-
campment. Mr. Cline married Miss Mary J.
Nunemacher August 23, 1853, in Pottsville,
Pennsylvania. Five children were born unto
them, one of whom is dead. Mr. Cline died
July 2, 1877.

A. S. Rager, Sr., was born in Frederick
county, Virginia, February 6, 1805; located in
New Albany, Indiana, May 5, 1828. He is a
builder by trade, and followed this profession
for some time, but afterwards worked as a steam-
boat cabin joiner. His work embraced labor on
some of «he largest steamboats. He has served
in the city council, and was superintendent of
the Northern burying grounds. When Mr.
Rager first located here, New Albany was but a
village. He is an honored and esteemed citizen.

George F. Penn was born in Louisville, Ken-
tucky, May 2i, 1847; located in New Albany,
Floyd county, in 1866. Mr. Penn was a soldier
in the Confederate army under General Early.
He was connected with the first glass works that
were ever started around the Ohio Falls. He is
now connected with the largest glass works in the
United States, known as DePauw Glass works,
as superintendent of the window department.

Mr. Penn has served as councilman from the
first ward for a period of six years.

Benjamin F. Tuley was born in New Albany>
Floyd county, Indiana, December 14, 1833.
Mr. Tuley is by trade a steamboat cabin joiner.
He served as deputy in the various offices of
city and county, having been in the offices of city
treasurer, city clerk, county clerk, and county
sheriff; has been a river clerk, and served as
United States mail agent for some time. He
is at present in the saw-mill and lumber business,
being associated with Mr. Kistler, as Kistler &
Tuley. Mr. Tuley is a member of one of the
oldest families around the Falls, and is classed
among the first citizens.

George Hood was born in Germany March 22,
1822, and located in Baltimore, Maryland, July
27, 1840. Upon his arrival in Baltimore he fol-
lowed his trade of shoemaker; remained in Balti-
more but a short time, removing from there to
Quincy, Pennsylvania, and opened a boot and
shoe store. He lived in Quincy six years, when
he came west and settled in New Albany in the
year 1852, and here also established a boot and
shoe store. He has followed this business in
New Albany ever since (thirty-one years), and
has workea in the business since he was fourteen
years old. He is an old citizen and a highly
honored one. He was married to Miss Margaret
Wool July 27, 1847, and out of a family of
twelve children two are dead.

Louis L. Pullen was born in Bourbon county,
Kentucky, September 6, 1803. He located in
New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, February
20, 1832, and upon his locating here he em-
barked in the confectionery business. New
Albany was then but a very small village. He
pursued this business ten years, then retired and
commenced river trading. Mr. Pullen, with Mr.
Elliot and Mr. Childs, bought the small steamer
Sandusky to go into the Green river trade. He
was at various times interested in quite a number
of steamboats, and followed the river as a busi-
ness for a number of years, but is now retired
from active business. He is a much esteemed
and honored citizen ; and he has seen New
Albany increase and prosper. He was married
to Miss Ruthy L. Elliott, of Georgetown, Ken-
tucky, April 29, 1829. Of a family of five chil-
dren but two are living.

William A. Burney, M. D., was born in Wayne

556

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

county, Indiana, May n, 1846, and located in
New Albany September 21, 1877. Dr. Burney
is one of the leading colored citizens and the
only physician of color in the city. He is a
graduate of the Medical College of Brooklyn,
New York, where he received complimentary
honors. His practice is very large and lucrative.
He is also one of the founders and proprietors
of the New Albany Weekly Review — a sprightly
and spirited paper which has a very extensive
circulation among the colored people. During
the war of the Rebellion he enlisted in company
F, Twenty-eighth United States Colored regi-
ment. He was but seventeen years of age at
the time of his enlistment; served in the army
two years and took part in numerous battles.
He was present at the surrender of Lee's army
to the Union forces.

Joseph Renn was born in Prussia July 19,
1829; located in New Albany, Floyd county, In-
diana, in 1836. He has witnessed the growth of
the city from a village. At the age of sixteen
he commenced a river life, but in 1853 he
quit the river and engaged in the grocery and
produce business. He remained in the business
until 1870. He then commenced the manufact-
ure of mineral water and ale, in which business
he remained until 1878, when he retired from
active business.

R. Wanderlick was born in Germany January
11, 1845; located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1872. Mr. Wunderlick learned his
trade as a tanner under A. Barth & Co. In 1875
he embarked in business for himself on Eighth
street, where he erected a tannery. He has a
large trade in Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri.
He is a young man full of enterprise and very
energetic, and his manufacture of leather is equal
to any made around the Falls.

Henry Batt was born in Bavaria May 26, 181 7;
located in New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana,
in 1846. Mr. Batt is one of New Albany's old
German citizens. He has been employed in dif-
ferent branches of business during his residence
in this city, and is at present proprietor of the
New Albany stock-yard.

Rev. Francis A. Friedley was born in Harrison
county, Indiana, December 15, 1847; located in
New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1880.
Mr. Friedley is president of DePauw college ;
graduated at Asbury university, Greencastle, In-

diana, with high honors ; is a self-made man,
and a fine instructor.

Robert Brockman was born in London, Eng-
land, July 2, 1832; located in New Albany,
Floyd county, Indiana, in 1873. Mr. Brockman
is superintendent of the DePauw Plate-glass
works. Before assuming charge of the DePauw
Plate-glass works he was superintendent of the
Thames Plate-glass company in England. He
is a thorough and competent glass man.

Henry Clay was born in Bourbon county,
Kentucky, June 4, 1806; located in New Albany,
Floyd county, in 1827. Mr. Clay is an old,
honored, colored citizen. He is by trade a black-
smith. He learned his trade under Mr. Charles
Pearce, of Rockport, Indiana. Upon his loca-
tion in New Albany he was employed by Mr.
Garriot McCann in his foundry. He then was
employed as blacksmith on the steamer New
York. He followed the river for a number of
years, and was also employed in the Louisville,
New Albany & Chicago railroad shops.

Albert Butler was born in New Albany, In-
diana, February 27, 1840. Mr. Butler is a lead-
ing colored citizen. He has served on the New
Albany police force and made an excellent of-
ficer, and has been employed in various capacities
around the Falls. He is a member of the Masons
and Odd Fellows.

Charles C. Jones was born in Hendricks coun-
ty, Indiana, November 25, 1835; located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, with his parents
in 1844. He learned his trade, that of ship car-
penter, with the Howards, of Jeffersonville; has
served in the city council, and is an esteemed
and honored citizen.

James A. Wilson was born in the State of
Pennsylvania May 20, 1828, and located in
New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1862.
In the same year Mr. Wilson established a pho-
tograph gallery, and is recognized as one of the
leading photographers around the Ohio Falls and
in New Albany. He is much esteemed, and is a
very enterprising citizen.

Samuel S. Marsh was born in New Albany,
Floyd county, Indiana, January 17, 1819. Mr.
Marsh is a very prominent blacksmith, a
much respected citizen, and has done much to
add to New Albany's prosperity. Mr. Marsh
has carried on the business of blacksmithing for
twenty-eight years at the same stand. In con-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

557

nection with his blacksmithing he manufactures
bolts and machinery, and is very enterprising.

John W. Saunders was born in New Albany,
Indiana, September 18, 1822. Mr. Saunders is
one of New Albany's oldest citizens, and has
witnessed its growth from a village into a pros-
perous city. By profession he is an engineer,
and his been employed on some of the largest
steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Nicholas Ruppert was born in France August
20, 1826, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in the year 1853. Mr. Ruppert
is an honored citizen, enterprising, and wide-
awake. He is a member of a number of benev-
olent institutions. He represents quite a num-
ber of insurance companies, and devotes most
of his time to the insurance business. He is a
member of Saint Mary's German Catholic
church, and was the first president of the Saint
Joseph's Benevolent society.

William H. Keach was born in Kentucky Sep-
tember 7, 1823, and located in New Albany,
Floyd county, Indiana. Mr. Keach is an old
and honored citizen. He is a trader and farmer
by occupation. He started in life for himself at
the age of nineteen, and has had many vicissi-
tudes, but has pulled through all right, and
stands high in the community.

Simon Stroebel was born in Germany October
27, 1835, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1854. He is the leading
merchant in this city in leather, hides, shoe find-
ings, etc.; has occupied the same business house
for twenty-four years; carries a very extensive
stock, and does a very large business.

William H. Stephens was born in Ireland Jan-
uary 11, 1829, and located in New Albany,
Floyd o»unty, Indiana, January 2, 1865. He is
an enterprising citizen and a member of the city
council, and looks well to the interests of his
ward and city. He is general superintendent of
the New Albany Rail-mill. He was raised to
the iron business and has been employed in
some of the largest rolling-mills in this coun
try.

George Reisinger was born in Pennsylvania,
February 2, 18 14; located in New Albany,
Floyd county, Indiana, in 1844. He is an old
citizen and was at one time connected with
the old express company of this city. He was
also connected with the Louisville, New Albany

& Chicago railroad for a period of twenty-three
years and has always filled his positions with
honor and fidelity.

William H. Lansford was born in Floyd
county, Indiana, December 16, 181 3, and
was raised upon a farm, but left at the age of
eighteen to learn his trade as mill-wright at
Greenville, Indiana, and then located in New
Albany, Indiana, and was employed in different
departments of the ship-yard. He finally went
into business for himself as steamboat cabin
joiner. He is an old and honored citizen and
came here when this city was quite a village.

Edward Gardner was born in Pennsylvania,
December 10, 1812, and located in New Albany,
Floyd county, Indiana, in 1853. By trade he is
a ship-carpenter and has worked on some of the
largest and finest steamers on the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi rivers, and is one of New Albany's old
and esteemed citizens.

D. S. Maxwell was born in Fayette county,
Ohio, November 30, 1851; located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1881. Mr.
Maxwell is principal of the Coloied Grammar
school. He graduated at Xenia, Ohio, Colored
High school with honor and is an able and ac-
complished teacher.

John B. Hatfield was born in Virginia Febru-
ary 25, 1807, and located in New Albany with
his parents in 181 6. Mr. Hatfield is one of the
old settlers of Floyd county, and in the early set-
tlement of this part of the State carried the mail
between New Albany and Corydon, Indiana's
first capital. He resided with Governor Jen-
nings at one time, the first Governor of the State.
He was married to Miss Malinda Davis, of
Orange county, Indiana, April 1, 1829, and had
seven children, five of whom are living.

Henry Erdman was born in Germany April 13,
182 1, and located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1848. Mr. Erdman is one of the
old brickmen of this city and has been in the
business for a number of years.

Ernest Hoffman was born in Germany May
28, 1855, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1878. Mr. Hoffman is a
leading sculptor and engraver and ranks favor-
ably with any around the Ohio Falls. He is a
very fine artist, his works of art are grand and
beautiful. His work can be seen in Jefferson-
ville, Cincinnati, and Louisville, also at his home

558

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

in this city. He graduated with high honors at
the Vienna School of Art in 1873.

Theodore Meurer, M. D., was born in Ger-
many August 27, 1822, and located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, November 14,
1856. Before locating in New Albany Dr.
Meurer practiced in Louisville, Kentucky, for
several years. He has practiced in New Albany
for twenty-five years and is recognized as one of
the leading homceopathic physicians in the city
and around the Falls. When Dr. Meurer located
in New Albany he was in rather straitened cir-
cumstances but owing to his ability and close at-
tention to his practice he has accumulated some
wealth and property. Dr. Meurer was married
to Miss Johanna Pfetsch August 5, 1845, m
Germany.

Philip G. Schneider, born in France, January
1 8, 1834, located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1863. By trade he is a carpenter,
and has one of the largest saw- and planing-mills
in New Albany; also one of the largest builders
and contractors in New Albany. Mr. Schneider
was married to Miss Annie Schuler in France,
May 6, 1&55. Out of a family of ten children
born to them six only are living.

George Helfrich, Sr., born in Baden, July 20,
1 83 1, located in New Albany, Floyd county, In-
diana, in 1848. He is by profession a car builder,
and was master car builder in the Louisville,
New Albany & Chicago railroad shops for a
number of years. He is classed among the best
car builders in this section of country. During
his connection with the above company he turned
out some very elegant coaches. He was at one
time a contractor and builder. He is at present
in the lumber business on Oak street, and has one
of the largest yards in the city, and is a wide-
awake, enterprising business man.

Robert Johnson, born in Virginia, September
9, 1818, located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1842. He was first employed by
Thomas Stevens to superintend his large farm.
He remained with Mr. Stevens five years. He
then commenced farming for himself, but soon
gave up the business and adopted for his profes-
sion that of river pilot. He was employed on
some of the largest and finest steamers on the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was pilot on
the flag ship Black Hawk. He was also on
other men-of-war in the United States navy, and

always at his post of duty. He took part in all
the battles on the Mississippi river; also some
up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers.
Among them were Fort Donelson, Pittsburgh
Landing, Island Number Ten, Memphis, Vicks-
burg, and Red River. He was a brave pilot, ex-
posed to much danger, but never failed in his
duty. He died May 3, 1881.

Bernard Klaholn, born in Prussia, December
29, 1826, located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in the year 1875. Mr. Klaholn gradu-
ated with high honors at the Teachers' seminary,
Prussia. He is now the principal of St. Mary's
German Catholic school, and has built up the
school until it ranks among the first around the
Ohio Falls.

Ulrick Van Allman, born in Switzerland, June
10, 1805, located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1833. Mr. Van Allman is one of
New Albany's old and honored citizens. He
has been a farmer all his life, and has witnessed
the growth of New Albany from a small village
to a prosperous city.

C. A. Brown was born in England, January 28,
1828. At the age of nine he was employed in
the Lancaster cotton mills, in different depart-
ments. By giving close attention to the details
of his work he was at an early age made super-
intendent. He was superintendent for a number
of years ; resigned his place and emigrated to
the United States; landed in Philadelphia in
1851, and immediately assumed charge as super-
intendent of William and Robert Greer's exten-
sive cotton mill. He had charge of this mill
eighteen years, when he resigned his place and
located in New Albany, in 1872, and became
superintendent of the New Albany cotton mills.
He has greatly improved and enlarged these
mills, and employs double the hands employed
when he took charge. He is a very enterprising
and energetic citizen.

Edward Crumbo, born in Saxony, November 5,
1841, located in Floyd county, Indiana with his
parents in 1848. At the age of twelve Mr.
Crumbo commenced learning his trade as a stone
cutter under his father, Henry Crumbo. After
learning his trade he left New Albany and located
on a farm in Pulaski county, Indiana. After
farming five years he returned to New Albany to
resume his trade. He was employed on the
great Ohio Falls biidge for a period of three

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

559

years, and then embarked in business for himself
June 20, 1870. Mr. Crumbo has one of the
leading stone yards around the Falls. His work
will compare with any, and is of the latest style
and of very superior workmanship. His partner,
Joseph Melcher, was born in Bremen, November
26, 1845; located in New Albany, Indiana, in
1868. His trade is that of stone cutter, engraver,
draughtsman, and sculptor, and he is first-class
in all these departments of stone-work. Mr.
Melcher's specialty is rustic stone-work, in which
he has no equal in New Albany. He learned
his trade in Bremen. The above gentlemen
comprise the firm of Crumbo & Melcher, and
are located on the corner of Oak and Pearl
streets, opposite the Louisville, New Albany &
Chicago Railroad depot. They have erected
some of the grandest monuments in the North-
ern burying ground, also in the German Cath-
olic ground, also vaults, headstones, rustic and
sculptured work, stone fronts, etc., etc. In fact,
they are experts in stone-work of any descrip-
tion.

Austin Hough was born in the State of New
York, July 2, 1824, and located in New Albany
in 1858. He is a leading sign-painter, and has
considerable reputation as an artist, his work be-
ing very effective and satisfactory. He is an en-
terprising citizen.

Charles N. South was born in New Albany,
Floyd county, January 18, 1855. Mr. South is a
boilermaker by trade, and a first-class business
man. He at present represents one of the wards
as councilman, and is much esteemed.

John Trunk was born in Germany September
2, 182 1, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 185 r. He is an old and es-
teemed resident, and has witnessed New Al-
bany's prosperous growth. Mr. Trunk was mar-
ried to Miss Catherine Wassel, October 18, 1848.

Dr. Thomas YVindell was born in Harrison
county, Indiana, December 13, 1820, and lo-
cated in New Albany, Floyd county, in 1858.
Dr. Windell is a leading dentist, and has no
superior around the Falls. He was married to
Miss Mary Hogan in Harrison county, Decem-
ber 6, 1846.

Daniel E. Sittason was born in Jefferson
county, Kentucky, October 24, 1822, and lo-
cated in New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in
18^. By occupation Mr. Sittason is a con-

tractor and builder. He has in his time erected
some of the finest business houses and private
residences in the city. He was at one time a
steamboat builder, and has worked on some of
the finest and largest steamboats on the Western
waters. He has served in the city council and
other places of honor and trust, and is an enter-
prising and honored citizen.

Professor Louis Wunderlich was born in the
kingdom of Saxony, January 22, 1844, and lo-
cated in New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in
1869. Mr. Wunderlick is a professor of music,
and is ranked as one of the leaders in the pro-
fession around the Ohio Falls. He is the leader
of the German music society, the Maenntrchor,
and has been since 1869. It 13 the oldest
mannerchor in the State. He is the leader of
the choir and organist of the German Lutheran
church. Mr. Wunderlich was married to Miss
Marguerite Gatden, in 187 1, and is the father of
five children.

John B. Laden was born in Belgium February
19, 181 3, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1835. Mr. Laden was em-
ployed in various business pursuits &Q to 1843,
when he engaged in the grocery and produce
business <5n Pearl street, which business he fol-
lowed for a number of years. He finally left
this stand and erected a building on the corner
of Upper Fourth and Market, at which place he
has remained in business for thirty-seven years.
Mr. Laden began life a poor boy, but by strict
attention to business and the exercise of economy
he has accumulated some property, and has wit-
nessed the growth of this city from a village.

James Slider was born in Clark county, In-
diana, April 14, 1804, and located in Floyd
county, city of New Albany, in 1850. When
Mr. Slider first located in New Albany he took
the contract for grading the streets of New Al-
bany. He did the first grading ever done in
the town. He also constructed the first culvert.
In 1856 he engaged in the grocery and produce
business, in which he continued for a long time.
He then changed his business and opened a
lumber-yard, in which pursuit he also remained
for a number of years. He served as justice of
the peace and in the city council, and was much
admired for his enterprising character. He was
married to Miss Eliza Howard, of Clark county,
June 23, 1825, by whom he had ten children,

S6o

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

seven now living. Mr. Slider died September
27, 1876.

Edward C. Murray was born in the District of
Columbia January 10, 1826, and located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1880. Cap-
tain Murray has been in shipyards steamboat
building for thirty-five years. He has built some
of the finest and largest steamers that float on
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Before open-
ing a shipyard in New Albany he was connected
with a shipyard in Louisville, known as the
Murray Brothers' shipyard. He constructed for
the Confederate navy, during the late Rebellion,
several noted gun-boats. He was the builder of
the famous Merrimac. Captain Murray is an
enterprising citizen, and is one of the most re-
liable builders on either the Ohio or Mississippi
rivers. He, in connection with Mr. Hammer,
established a shipyard in New Albany in 1880 at
the old and famed Dowerman shipyard.

O. A. Graves was born in New Jersey Decem-
ber 25, 181 1. Mr. Graves located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, with his parents
when he was a child seven years of age. Mr.
Graves' fa^lr lived to the ripe old age of eighty-
eight years. Mr. Graves is an old and honored
citizen, and has seen the prosperous growth of the
city. He was married in New Albany June 2,
1836, to Miss Ellen Simmers, and of twelve
children born to them but two are living.

Captain Edward Brown was born in Baltimore,
Maryland, in December, 1806. He located in
New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, with his
parents in 181 9. Captain Brown is one of the
oldest rivermen around Ohio Falls. He has
been engineer, and has had command of some
large and fine steamboats. He saw the first
spade struck into the ground to excavate the
Louisville and Portland canal. But few steam-
ers plied the Western waters when Mr. Brown
located in New Albany. He is an old and es-
teemed citizen.

Casper Feiock was born in Pittsburg, Pennsyl-
vania, February 1, 1841, and located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1862. Mr.
Feiock is one of New Albany's young and enter-
prising citizens. He is the originator of a beer
bung and of the stave cooper crows. In invent-
ing this second patent he was assisted by Mr.
Joseph Applegate. He embarked in the brew-
ing business, buying a half interest in the

Spring brewery. He remained in this business
fifteen months \\..en he met with a loss of $3,750,
which caused his suspension. Nothing daunted,
he again began business, this time entering
the grocery and produce trade. He followed this
for some time and then traveled in the interest
of his patents. JBecoming tired of this and not
finding it very profitable, he engaged with Mr.
Joseph Renn in the manufacture of ale and min-
eral water. He remained in this business six-
teen months and then dissolved partnership. Mr.
Feiock assisted to build the great American
Plate-glass works in this city, as he is by trade a
first-class carpenter. He is at present in the
saloon business and is proprietor of the St.
Charles.

Charles Hedgewald was born in Saxony, Sep-
tember 18, 1832, and located in New Albany,
Floyd county, in 1854. He was foreman for the
following firms between the years i860 and 1873
inclusive : Parson & Jarrett, J. B. Ford, Stucky,
Torney& Co., and D. C. Hill & Co. He com
menced business for himself in 1873 in connec-
tion with W. C. De Pauw. In 1878 Mr. N. T.
De Pauw purchased his father's interest in the
firm, and the firm name is Hedgewald & Co.
Mr. Hedgewald is also connected with the large
boiler yard of Leir & Co. The firm of Charles
Hedgewald & Co. was established in 1873, and
has done a very successful business, and by their
superior workmanship and honorable business
dealings have acquired a very extensive trade in
the North, South, and West. Their business trans-
actions amount to over $200,000 yearly. They
employ from one hundred to one hundred and
fifty hands, with an annual pay-roll of $50,000.

Herman L. Rockenbach was born in Germany,
June 5, 1844, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1869. By trade a tanner,
and a first-class one. In 1869 he rented the old
Lockwood tannery, and carried on the tanning
business there until 1876, when he was dislodged
by fire. He at once, in the same year, erected
a large tannery on Oak street, and called it the
Eagle tannery. He is one of the most enter-
prising German citizens, wide awake, energetic,
and industrious. He has a large trade, selling
leather to all the principal points in the United
States.

Frederick William Adolph Kammerer was
born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, November .19,

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

56i

1846, and located in New Albany, Indiana, in
1868. He was an enterprising and energetic
business man, and by close attention to business
was very successful. He was the proprietor of
the Glue and Fertilizing factory. Mr. Kammerer
started in life a poor boy, but with the deter-
mination of being a successful man. He made
a name among the manufacturers of this vicinity
as an honorable man. After a hard struggle,
that was finally crowned with success, he de-
parted this life before he could fully enjoy the
fruits of his hard toil. His death occurred Oc-
tober 5, 1877. He left to mourn his loss a wife
and three children. His widow, Nannie W.
Kammerer, is the daughter of S. F. Ruoff, Esq.,
the first proprietor of the New Albany Glue
works. Mrs. Kammerer retains an interest in
the factory, and is a lady of fine business qual-
ities. She was born in New Albany, Floyd
county, December 25, 1853.

Eugene B. Dye was born in New Albany,
Floyd county, Indiana, August 1, 1864. He is
one of New Albany's rising young business men,
and is wide-awake, enterprising and energetic.
He embarked in the grocery and produce busi-
ness in 1 88 1. He is the son of Mr. Kenneth
Dye, of New Albany. Eugene B. Dye attended
a full course at the New Albany Business col-
lege, and is a thorough business man.

John Dietz was born in Germany, June 18,
1825, and located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1834. He has been engaged in
various branches of trade since his residence in
New Albany. He served in the late war between
the North and the South, and was a brave soldier.
He was a member of company A, Twenty-third
Indiana volunteers. He took part in many
hard-fought battles, and was always ready for
duty. He was wounded at the battle of Pitts-
burgh Landing, and was known by the title of
Sergeant Dietz.

H. C. Thurman was born in Augusta, Virginia,
May 3, 1832, and located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1835. He was raised on a
farm. His start in life was early, and in poor
circumstances, but close attention to business
has given him the name of being one of the best
judges of stock in Southern Indiana. He is
known all over the North, East, South, and
West as an honorable stock trader and dealer.
He is established in the stock and livery business

on State street, and is fully alive to his interests.
He is energetic and enterprising. He is a mem-
ber of the Odd Fellows and Masons.

Reuben Robertson was born in Murray county,
Kentucky, May 30, 1812; located in New Al-
bany, Floyd county, in 1847. Mr. Robertson
has been engaged in quite a number of business
pursuits since his location in New Albany. He
was elected trustee for New Albany township
in 1861, which office he held until 1878. Dur-
ing his trusteeship he made a most excellent of-
ficer, as his long term indicates. He is a mem-
ber of Hope lodge No. 83, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Knights
of Pythias.

Isaac T. Barnett was born in Harrison county,
Indiana, October 14, 1818; located in New Al-
bany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1843. Mr. Bar-
nett began his struggle in life at the early age of
fifteen; learned his trade as steamboat joiner un-
der an apprenticeship to Peter Story, the well-
known steamboat joiner. Mr. Barnett has
worked and superintended the cabin joining on
some of the largest and finest steamers afloat,
and is classed as one of the best ra^hi joiners
around the Falls. He has done much for the
growth and improvement of New Albany, and is
a highly esteemed citizen.

Joseph H. Alexander was born in Columbia
county, Kentucky, July 17, 1841; located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1881. He is
a very able colored minister, and belongs to the
Indiana conference. He is pastor of the Colored
Methodist Episcopal church of New Albany, and
has been preaching the gospel since 1863.

Wesley G. Scott was born in Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1832. He cultivated the ingenuity
and skill of farming until he was nineteen
years of age, and afterwards went to the black-
smith trade, which he completed in 1858.
He is the seventh son of John Scott, Esq., who
was among the first settlers of Floyd county.
Mr. Scott is now canying on blacksmithing in
Scottsville, Lafayette township. He is a man
who is honored by his neighbors for his abilities
and fine traits of character. He was honored by
the Democracy of Floyd county with the nomi-
nation for sheriff.

Professor William O. Vance was born in
Memphis, Tennessee, May 15, 1853, and located
in New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in 1880.

562

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Professor Vance graduated with high honors at
the Keokuk (Iowa) Colored high school. He is
now principal of the New Albany Colored high
school. He is also one of the proprietors and
founders of the New Albany Weekly Review (a
colored newspaper). He is one of New Albany's
leading colored citizens.

Andreas Danz was born in Germany May 9,
1829, and located in New Albany, Floyd county
in 1850. When Mr. Danz arrived at New
Albany, he was employed by Mr. Frank in the
soap, candle, and lard oil business. After Mr.
Frank's death, he became sole owner of the
manufactory, and carried on the business up to
his death. He started out in life a poor boy,
but by strict attention to his business, he soon
came out victorious. He was an enterprising
and honorable citizen. Mr. Danz married Miss
Barbara Frank November 21, 1856. Mr. Danz
died in 1877.

G. Moser was born in Baden, Germany, Feb-
ruary 27, 1850; located in New Albany, Floyd
county, Indiana, in 1866. By trade Mr. Moser
is a tannet He learnt his trade under A. Barth
& Co. 9-\. Moser has been employed in some
of the largest tanneries in the United States. He
is a first-class workman in every respect in his
line of business. In 1877 he erected a tannery
on the well-known Lockwood grounds, called
the Eighth street tannery, where he is now carry-
ing on business on a large scale the demand for
leather being great. Mr. Moser is one of New
Albany's young, wide-awake, enterprising busi-

ness men.

Austin I. Kistler, the subject of this sketch,
was born in Marion county, Ohio, May 21,
1839, and located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1863. Mr. Kistler commenced life
a poor boy, but by hard work and close attention
to business he soon became one of the leading
business men of New Albany. Mr. Kistler has
been in the hotel and lumber business for a
number of years. He sold out his interest in
the hotel to Captain James N. Payton, and
erected a large saw-mill on the banks of the Ohio
river, corner of Fourteenth and Water streets.
He also carries on a large lumber-yard connected
with the saw-mill. Mr. Kistler ranks as one of
our foremost business men. He is an enter-
prising citizen, an honor to ' New Albany.
Mr. Kistler has been elected to the city council

twice from the First ward. He has served his
ward and city faithfully, looking well to their in-
terests; he is now on his second term. Mr.
Kistler married Laura M. Anderson April 19,
i860. They have had six children; five are
living.

John G. Betman was born in Saxony, Germany,
November 14, 1834, and located in Floyd
county in 1852. Mr. Betman, as soon as he
located here commenced farming, then he en-
gaged himself to Mr. Jacob Korb as florist for
nine years. Mr. Korb sold out to Mr. F. C.
Johnson, and Mr. Betman superintended the
floral department for Mr. Johnson five years,
then engaged extensively in the floral de-
partment for himself, embarking in this busi-
ness in 1864. He has now one of the most
extensive floral establishments around the Falls.
He has all the choice flowers and plants imagin-
able. He learned his trade as florist in the old
country and has the confidence of the public. It
is his pride to let none equal him in his depart-
ment as a florist.

Thomas Cannon was born in Livingston, New
York, April 1, 185 1, and located in Floyd
county in 1854. Mr. Cannon has been con-
nected with the city government for a number of
years. He was on the police force for five years
and has made some of the most important ar-
rests around the Falls. He is considered a
shrewd detective; he has also been constable for
three years, and is a most excellent officer. In
politics Mr. Cannon is a Democrat and true to
his party.

George Forman was born in Harrison county,
Indiana, July 26, 1845; located in Floyd county
a number of years ago. Mr. Forman was a
farmer up to the time he was appointed super-
intendent of the poor-house and farm in 1880.
Mr. Forman has given satisfaction to the tax-
payers of Floyd county, and is a good officer.
He married Miss Caroline Keithley February 26,
1864. They have five children.

Thomas B. Crawford was born in Canada
February 10, 1832; located in Floyd county
March 22, 1847. Mr- Crawford is a mechanic
by trade. His wife, Mrs. Ellen Crawford, is by
profession a florist, located on Charter street.
She has a grand display of choice flowers and
plants, and ranks high as a florist. She has made
her profession a study for a number of years.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

S63

Mrs. Ellen Crawford was born in Ireland Nov-
ember 15, 1834.

Captain Robert J. Shaw was born in England
April 22, 1837; located in Floyd county in 1865.
Captain Shaw commenced life a poor boy. He
taught school at the age of sixteen at Beech
Springs, Ohio. He then went to Fulton, Mis-
souri, and commenced the study of law. He
was there but a short time when the war broke
out. With a true patriotic feeling, he laid aside
his studies and went to Ohio and enlisted
in the army to battle for his country's flag. He
was a brave and gallant soldier, taking part in
many hard-fought battles. He was wounded at
Muldroe's hill, and so disabled there that he
could never again return to his regiment. When
the late war closed he took up the study of law
again, under. Colonel Dunham, one of the most
prominent lawyers in. southern Indiana. Cap-
tain Shaw then left Colonel Dunham and took
up the practice of law. He was elected prose-
cuting attorney two terms. He was a bright
lawyer and had a good practice, and was always
true to his clients. He belonged to Jefferson
lodge No. 104, F. & A. M. He was deputy
grand master of Indiana. He also belonged to
he Thirty-third Scottish Rite; also an honorary
member of the supreme council. Captain Shaw
married Miss Emma M. Piler July 31, 1866.
He died August 21, 1875, leaving a widow and
two children.

James B. Murphy, M. D., was born in Floyd
county, November 30, 1854. Dr. Murphy
taught school five years in Floyd and Clark coun-
ties. He is the son of James Murphy, Esq.
He was always a close student ; is generous to a
fault. He graduated at the Louisville Medical
university in 1881, with honors, and commenced
practicing at his old homestead at Greenville,
meeting with great success. Dr. Murphy is a
polished gentleman. He married the only daugh-
ter of George W. Smith, Esq., and granddaugh-
ter of Dr. R. C. Smith, Miss Kate A. Smith,
June 2, 1881.

Jacob Heyd, born in Germany, September 24,
1824, located in Floyd county in 1859. Mr.
Heyd by trade was a cooper. He worked at his
trade for a number of years. He then started a
large grocery and dry goods store. Mr. Heyd
was a successful merchant. He died July 7,
j 880, leaving a wife and six children.

Jacob Korb, born in Germany, June 25, 182 1,
located in Floyd county in 1849. Mr. Korb
commenced business as a dairyman and a flor-
ist, meeting with great success. He then went
into the business of manufacturing star candles.
Mr. Korb was burned out and met with a heavy
loss. He never rebuilt, but he is at present farm-
ing and running a dairy.

David Lewis, born in North Carolina, Novem-
ber 3, 1806, located in Floyd county in 1809.
Mr. Lewis commenced life a poor boy. By
trade he is a ship carpenter. He has got out
timber for some of the finest and fastest steam-
ers on the Ohio and Mississippi. At present
Mr. Lewis is a successful farmer. He resides at
Six-mile Switch. In politics Mr. Lewis is a
Jackson Democrat. His first vote cast was for
General Jackson. Mr. Lewis had nine children,
of whom seven are now living. His wife died
some years ago.

Benjamin F. Cline, born in Pennsylvania, Jan-
uary 18, 1835, located in New Albany in 1857.
Mr. Cline by strict attention to business and
hard work has made one of New Albany's lead-
ing business men. He is by trade a buiroer. He
embarked in the produce business with Mr. C.
P. Nance. He engaged in this business six
years, and then went into the lumber business,
in which he is now engaged. His lumber yard
is situated on Market, between upper Seventh and
Eighth streets. He is one of the largest dealers
in lumber in the city. Mr. Cline is a member of
the Odd Fellows, Hope lodge No. 83, the
Knights of Pythias, Rowner lodge No. 27, For-
esters No. 1 ; also Jerusalem encampment. Mr.
Cline married Miss Delia DeLinn in 1872.
There have been born unto them two children —
Edward M. and Mary B.

George Brod, born in Loraine, France, March
28, 1834, located in Floyd county March 8,
1854. Mr. Brod, when first located in Floyd
county, was connected with the New Albany &
Salem railroad, now the Louisville, New Albany
& Chicago railroad. Also he was a river man.
He then carried on a farm up to the time he was
appointed superintendent by the county com-
missioners, of the poor-house and farm. Mr.
Brod made a most excellent superintendent.
He was economical in all things. The tax payers
of Floyd county were well pleased with Mr.
Brod's administration. He was appointed super-

5<M

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

intendent in 187 1, and held the office until 1881.
He was superseded by Mr. George Forman.
Mr. Brod left his position to the regret of many
of his warm and personal friends. He is now a
successful farmer. He married Miss Katherine
Kamapel, July 28, 1857. He has seven children.

Francis M. Tribbey, the subject of this sketch,
was born in Oxford, Butler county, Ohio, April
5, 1837, located in New Albany, Floyd county,
Indiana, in 1859. Mr. Tribbey is the proprietor
of the leading carriage manufactory of this city,
and one of the leading ones around the Ohio
Falls. He is a wide-awake, enterprising citizen.
His work is sold throughout this part of the coun-
try. By close attention to his business he has
achieved a wide reputation as a carriage-maker.
Mr. Tribbey bought his apprenticeship at the age
of nineteen. While he was learning his trade as a
carriage-maker, he gave close attention to the
business that he had marked out for his future
course, which has proven a success. Amongst
the manufacturers he stands first-class. Mr. Trib-
bey as a citizen of New Albany is honored for
his many^ood traits of character. His manufac-
tory has cnanged proprietors many times since jt
has been established ; Mr. Tribbey always re-
maining at his post, never changing. The
following have been the firms since it was
established : First, it was Tribbey & Eldridge;
second, Tribbey, Eldridge & Co.; third, Tribbey
& Foote; fourth, Wyrrian & Tribbey; fifth, F. M.
Tribbey ; sixth, Tribbey & Hydron ; seventh,
F. M. Tribbey; eighth, F. M. Tribbey & Co.;
ninth, F. M. Tribbey, who is now sole proprietor.
Mr. Tribbey is a member of high standing in the
following lodges: New Albany lodge Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows; Jerusalem encamp-
ment No. 1, Odd Fellows; Rowner lodge No.
28, Knights of Pythias; De Pauw lodge No. 338;
Grand lodge of the State of Indiana, Accepted
Masons; New Albany Roval Arch chapter No.
14, Free and Accepted Masons; and New Albany
commandery No. 5, Free and Accepted Masons.
Mr. Tribbey married Miss Emma Cole, June 21,
1863. Born unto them one daughter, Clara
Alice. His wife died May 11, 1865. He was
again married to Miss Arabelle Mitchell, Au-
gust 14, 1865, by whom he has seven children.

Valentine Graf, born in Baden, Germany,
February 12, 1823, located in Floyd county with
his parents in 1846. Mr. Graf commenced life

a poor boy. His trade was that of a saddler.
He commenced his business career in New
Albany as a journeyman saddler, with James
H. Marshall. Mr. Graf was a most excellent
workman, learning his trade in Germanybefore he
came to this country. He worked with Mr. Mars-
hall up to 1847; he then commenced business
for himself at No. 311 Main street, in a cottage.
By strict attention to business Mr. Graf became
the leading saddler in New Albany. His work
compared with any in the West. He built a
handsome business block, where his two sons,
L. A. & G. S. Graf carry on the old business in
a most successful manner. Mr. Graf was elected
treasurer of Floyd county in 1866, and served
two terms. He was a generous hearted man.
He was one of the leading Germans in this dis-
trict. He had many true friends. Mr. Graf was
well-known throughout southern Indiana as an
honest and noble man. He was sought after by
his many German friends through his district for
advice, and German emigrants who came out
this way to settle would always go to Mr. Graf
for advice and acts of kindness. He was one of
the founders of the German Catholic church.
Mr. Graf lost most of his fortune that he had
labored so long for, by going security. Mr. Graf
married Elizabeth Bowman, of Floyd county,
April 24, 1847. Eight children were born unto
them, two of whom are dead. Mr. Graf died
November 6, 1877.

John L. Stewart, M. D., the subject of this
sketch, was born in Switzerland county, Indiana,
November 28, 1834. His father, John Stewart,
was of Scotch parentage, born in Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, in 1810. He came to
Indiana in 1821 and settled in Switzerland
county, where he lived until his death, which oc-
curred in February, 187 1. His mother, Mar-
garet Stewart, was born in Essex county, Connec-
ticut, in 1812. She came to Switzerland county,
Indiana, in 1814, where she is still living. She
is strong and active, with a full head of brown
hair very slightly tinged with grey, and in con-
versation gives a vivid description of frontier
scenes in Indiana. John L. Stewart was next to
the eldest of a family of twelve children. He
was reared on a farm amid the vicissitudes of
active farm life up to the age of twenty-one
years, receiving such education only as the pub-
lic schools afforded. At the age of twenty-one

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

565

he entered a high school at Vevay, Indiana,
where he took an academic course of study, after
which he took up the study of medicine, and to
obtain means for the prosecution of his study
taught in the public schools. His medical pre-
ceptor was Dr. William C. Sweezey, of the vil-
lage of Bennington, Switzerland county. While
thus engaged the war of the Rebellion broke out
and he enlisted in company E, Fiftieth Indiana
volunteer infantry. On the 23d of September,
1861, he was made first duty-sergeant and served
with his regiment until February 1, 1862, when
he was detached from his regiment by special
order number twenty-nine of Brigadier-general
Buell, then in command of the Department of
the Ohio, for special duty as acting hospital
steward at Bardstown, Kentucky. He continued
to serve in that capacity until November 15,
1863, when upon his application he was dis-
charged from the volunteer service and enlisted
in the United States army as hospital steward, in
which position he served to February 1, 1866,
when upon his application he was discharged
from the service. His soldier life was charac-
terized by systematic obedience and promptness.
He has now carefully on file every written order
which he received during his term of service.
The last two years of his service was performed
in the New Albany and Jeffersonville hospitals.
While thus situated he by permission of his im-
mediate commanding officer attended the Ken-
tucky School of Medicine at Louisville, Ken-
tucky, and graduated in March, 1865. The
conditions upon which he was allowed to attend
were that he was to perform all his duties as
hospital steward, the self-imposed task involving
active work almost day and night, and demon-
strated power of endurance seldom equaled.
After his discharge from the army he located in
New Albany and engaged in the drug business
and the practice of medicine. He carried on
the drug business for ten years, since which
time he has devoted himself exclusively to the
practice of his profession.

Enoch Wood King, M. D., born June 24,
1845, at Rollington, Oldham county, Kentucky,
was the youngest child of Dr. Elisha B. King,
who practiced medicine at Galena, Floyd county,
from 1835 to 1840. When Enoch was nine
years old his father removed to Bradford, Harri-
son county, Indiana. A few months subse-

quently his father died, leaving the widow and
two children dependent upon their own efforts
for support. Enoch spent much of his time
working on a farm during the summer, and at-
tending the public school in the winter up to
the age of fifteen. At the breaking out of the
war of the Rebellion his heart was fired with de-
voted patriotism and youthful enthusiasm to go
forth in the battle for his country's life. In Au-
gust, 1862, he enlisted in company C, Sixty-sixth
Indiana volunteer infantry, and served three
years as a private soldier. He was wounded
through the right lung in the battle at Resaca,
Georgia, May 15, 1864. Although a serious
wound, he was fortunate to get to a hospital
in New Albany, and permitted to go home,
where he rapidly recovered. He was then trans-
ferred to the Veteran Reserve corps and assigned
to duty at post headquarters, Indianapolis, In-
diana, where he served oilt his term of enlist-
ment. After his return from the army he took
up the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Ellis,
at Bradford, teaching school in the winter to de-
fray expenses and assist his mother and sister.
In October, 1867, he was appointed medical
cadet at the Freedmen's Bureau hospital in
Louisville, Kentucky, with the privilege of at-
tending medical lectures. He matriculated at
the medical department of the University of
Louisville, and in March, 1869, received his di-
ploma as Doctor of Medicine. In June, 1869,
the hospital was disbanded and Dr. King located
at Galena, Floyd county, Indiana, in September
of the same year, where he soon built up a very
fine country practice. In November, 1879, he
removed to Kansas City, Missouri, but not be-
ing encouraged with his prospects there he re-
turned and located at New Albany, Indiana,
where he is now engaged actively in the
practice of his profession. He was mar-
jied November n, 1870, to Miss Alathan
Hooper, of Spencer county, Kentucky, who has
shared with him the bliss of domestic happiness
and the pleasures incident to making their own
position in the world by economy, frugality, and
honest industry. Two children, Claude Bernard
and Walter Wood, have been born unto them.

Jilson J. Colman was born in Scott county,
Kentucky, June 2, 1859, and located in Floyd
county, in 1880. Mr. Colman is the manager of
the New Albany Street railway. When he as-

566

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

sumed control of the road they were running six
cars; they are now running ten, doing three
times the business per car the old road did, and
employing twice the number of men. The road
under Mr. Colman's administration is kept up in
a most excellent condition. Mr. Colman is a
most genial gentleman, and stands high in the
community.

Thomas McN allay was born in the county of
Dublin, Ireland, November n, 1802, and lo-
cated in New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, in
1832. At the age of sixteen he ran away from
home, and went on board the sail-ship William
Eliza, and bound himself under apprenticeship
until he became a thorough sailor. He followed
the sea as a sailor for a number of years. He
has been to the East and West Indies, South
America, up the Baltic seas, and two voyages
up the Mediterranean. He has witnessed many
startling events to trie eye, and gone through
many of the hardest storms ever known on
the seas. When Mr. McNallay located at New
Albany, it was then but a small village. Then
he started out as a steamboat man. Mr. Mc-
Nallay has been mate of some of the largest and
finest boats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
He was mate on the grand and elegant steamer
Lockwood when she pushed out on her trial
trip from this port and "was destroyed by fire.
During one year of the late war between
the North and South Mr. McNallay com-
manded the gun-boat Switzerland. He then
resigned and came back to New Albany, and es-
tablished the grocery and produce business on
Market street, between Third and Fourth, in
which business he has been for twenty-five
years. Mr. McNallay started in life a poor lad,
but after a hard struggle, close attention to busi-
ness, and prompt to duty, he has come out vic-
torious. He is a self-made man, and one of
New Albany's old and honored citizens. Mr.
McNally married Miss Nancy Peters, of the
State of Maine, in 1832. They had five chil-
dren— one living.

Obadiah Terwillegar was born in Orange
county, New York, in the year 1835. After a
short residence in Ohio he came to Louisville,
where he lived until 187 1. In that year he
moved to Floyd county, Indiana. He was mar-
ried, in 1859, to Miss Jane Prunier, of Louis-
ville, who was born in France. They have had

one child, which died in infancy. His business
while in Louisville was in connection with the
Louisville Transfer company. He is now farm-
ing, and is also deputy sheriff of Floyd county.
His grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution.
His father (Henry) died when Obadiah was but
four years old.

Mr. Joseph Atkins was born in Bullitt county,
Kentucky, in August, 1800. In 1816 he came
with his father, Rev. William Atkins, to Floyd
county, Indiana, and bought a piece of Govern-
ment land, on which the son Joseph still resides.
In 1825 he was married to Miss Nancy Lamb, of
North Carolina. They have a family of six
children, all married. He has followed farming,
and been township trustee.

Samuel McCutchen came to Indiana from
Tennessee in 1815, and settled on land which
still belongs to his son William S. His grand-
father came to America before the Revolution,
and served as a soldier in General Washington's
army, and his father in that of General Harrison
in 1812. Mr. McCutchen was born in Tennes-
see in 1807; was married, in 1831, to Miss
America Scott, of Floyd county, Indiana. They
have three children, two of whom are married.
William S. has for several years held offices
of trust in the gift of the people of his township.
The other son, Alexander, is a farmer of Lafay-
ette township.

J. H. Miller, M. D., was born November 10,
1846, in Princeton, Kentucky, where he resided
till 1879, wnen he moved to Galena, Indiana,
where we now find him as a practicing physician.
He graduated at the Louisville School of Medi-
cine in 1878. He was married September 28,
1870, to Miss Lucy M. Miller. They have one
child, Pearl, who was born September 2, 1876.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller are members of the Catho-
lic church. He was formerly a Free Mason.

William J. Taggart, M. D., was born June 16,
1846, in Clark county, Indiana. His father,
James Taggart, was a native of Ireland, and
came to this country in 181 7. William Taggart
studied medicine at Charlestown, Indiana, and
graduated at the school of medicine at Cleve-
land, Ohio, in 1876. He came to Galena in
1 880, and has succeeded in obtaining a good prac-
tice. He was married April 16, 1873, to Miss
Martha Haskell, of Bellevue, Ohio. They have
two children, Eliza R. and Harriet B. Mr. and

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

567

Mrs. Taggart are members of the Presbyterian
church.

Charles Frederick was bom February 2, 1809,
in Bedford county, Virginia, and came to Jeffer-
son county, Kentucky, in 18 18, in company
with his parents. His father, James, was a native
of Pennsylvania. Charles Frederick was married
in 1833, to Miss Eletha Miller, of Floyd county,
daughter of Jacob Miller. This union was
blessed with ten children, seven of whom are
living. Mr. Frederick was married the second
time to Miss Effa Harris, of Floyd county,
and has one child by this marriage, Caleb T,
born March 8, 1877. He is a member of the
Christian church. His wife is a member of the
Presbyterian church.

M. N. Steele was born September 29, 1850, in
Greenville, Floyd county, Indiana. His father,
William Steele, was a native of East Tennessee,
and came to Indiana when he was about five
years of age and resided in the State till his death,
which occurred September 2, T879. He was
married November 23, 1849, to Miss Francis C.
Piatt, daughter of Andrew Piatt, of Washington
county. Mr. M. N. Steele is engaged in mercan-
tile business, following the occupation of his
father and grandfather before him. He is post-
master at the present time and is a live and ener-
getic young man.

R. M. Compton was born November 23, 1851,
at Salem, Washington county, Indiana. His
father, George W., was a native of Virginia and
came to Indiana in an early day. He was a
shoemaker by trade. Mr. R. M. Compton went
into business at Greenville, Indiana, in 1873.
He was married November 14, 1875, to Miss
Alice Williams, daughter of James Williams, of
Floyd county. They have one child, Fannie M.,
born August 22, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Compton
are members of the Methodist church and are
highly esteemed by all.

Isaac Miller was born March 2, 1837, in
Franklin township, Floyd county, Indiana. His
father, Henry Miller, was a native of Virginia,
and came to Indiana when he was eleven years
of age. Mr. Isaac Miller, in i860, went to
Martin county, where he was engaged in teach-
ing two years, then went to Monroe county,
where he was foreman of a spoke and hub factory
for three years; he then returned to Floyd
county, where he has been engaged in teaching

and public service ever since. In 1869 he was
elected township assessor, which office he held
till 1876, when he was elected county supervisor.
In October, 1880, he was elected county treas-
urer. Mr. Miller was married December 13,
1855, to Miss Barbara E. Engleman, daughter of
Enoch Engleman, of Floyd county. They have
had nine children, six of whom are living. Mr.
Miller is a Free Mason, also an Odd Fellow; was
formerly a member of the Universalist church.

Charles Nichols was born April 24, 1852, in
Philadelphia. His father, Joseph, was a native
of Pennsylvania and came to Indiana in 1866,
and located in New Albany. He was engaged
in the lumber business in Alabama two years,
and died in 1877. His son Charles has been
teaching at Greenville for six years and is now
principal of the graded school. He was married
in 1874, to Mrs. Hattie A. Miller, of Floyd
county. They have four' children. Mr. and
Mrs. Nichols are members of the Methodist
church. He is a Free Mason.

Seth M. Brown was born December 3, 1835,
in Greenville, Indiana. His father, John S.
Brown, a native of Kentucky, came to Indiana
when he was but two years of age, and was there-
fore among the earliest settlers of the county.
Mr. Brown is engaged in millinery and does an
extensive business. He was married, in 1866,
to Mrs. Rebecca Rasper, daughter of Enoch
Engleman, of Floyd county. They have one
child. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are members of the
Christian church. He is a Free Mason, also an
Odd Fellow.

George Collins was born October 1, 1825, in
Floyd county, Indiana, and has ever since lived
within a half mile of his old home. His father,
Mordecai Collins, was a native of Virginia, and
came to Indiana in 181 7, though he had entered
land in 181 1, and was one of the early settlers.
Mr. Collins has ever since followed farming.
He has a farm of five hundred acres and one of
the largest farms in the State. He was married,
in 1857, to Miss Christina A. Martin, of Floyd
county. They have had five children ; four
of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Collins are
members of the Presbyterian church.

James Williams was born March 5, 1828, in
Greenville, Floyd county, Indiana. His father,
William Williams, was a native of North Caroli-
na, came to Indiana in 181 1, and settled in

568

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Clark county, where he lived till 1822, when he
came to Floyd county, and lived here till the
time of his death in 1877. Mr. James Williams
was married in 1854 to Miss Martha G. Clipper,
of Floyd county, daughter of Samuel Clipper.
They have three children.

John Murphy, Sr., was born November 16,
1815, in Hampshire county, West Virginia, and
came to Indiana in 1835. He learned the car-
penter's trade before leaving West Virginia,
which occupation he followed for some years in
Indiana. Mr. Murphy lived in New Albany for
eight years, and was engaged in the express busi-
ness. In 1854 he moved to Greenville and be-
gan farming, though at the present time he is in-
terested in the 'bus line between Greenville and
New Albany. He was married in 1835 t0 Miss
Elizabeth Summers, of Floyd county. They had
eleven children. He was married the second
time in 1854 to Miss Serrilda Clipp, of Har-
rison county. They have had ten children. Mr.
and Mrs. Murphy are members of the Christian
church.

Henry M. Sigler was born October 16, 1830,
in Greenville, Floyd county, Indiana. His
father, Henry Sigler, was a native of Tennessee,
and came to Indiana in an early day, and was
engaged in farming till the time of his death,
which occurred in 1830. Mr. Henry Sigler has
followed teaching twenty-eight years, working at
his trade vacations, which is that of a cooper.
He was married in 1850 to Miss Mary Bolen,
daughter of Larkin Bolen, of Tennessee. They
have eight children.

Morris Morris, Jr., was born, in 1818, in
Greenville township. His father, Morris Morris,
a native of Virginia, came to this State at an early
day. M. Morris, Sr., died in September, 1876;
he was killed by the upsetting of his carriage. He
was a farmer by occupation. M. Morris, Jr.,
married, in 1849, Miss Laura Foster, of this
county. They have three children — Edward F.,
William F., and Harry M. Mr. Morris is a
member of the order of Odd Fellows, and a re-
spected citizen.

Alexander Hedden was born in Newark, New-

Jersey, July 5, 1809; went to Cincinnati in 1821
with his father, Stephen Hedden; thence to In-
diana in 1822. Mr. Hedden has followed
blacksmithing and farming principally; worked
at his trade in New Albany five years. Has now
three hundred and ten acres, and does a good
farming business. He was married, in 1833, to
Miss Amelia Steward, daughter of David Stew-
ard, of Clark. They have had eight children,
five of whom are living.

Samuel Williams was born November 29, 181 3,
in Clark county. His father, William Williams,
a native of North Carolina, came to Indiana Jan-
uary 1, 181 1, and settled in Clark county; re-
sided there till 1822; then moved to Floyd
county. He died April 7, 1876, in his eighty-
fifth year. He held numerous lesponsible posi-
tions; was associate judge, Representative to the
Legislature, justice of the peace, colonel of mi-
litia, etc. Samuel Williams has been a teacher,
a cooper, and is now a farmer; was married in
1837 to Miss Lavina Lewis, daughter of Robert
Lewis, of this county. They had ten children,
nine of whom are living. Mrs. Williams died in
i860; Mr. Williams married, the same year,
Mrs. Lydia McClellan.

John G. Tompkins was born, July 23, 1809,
in Clark county, Kentucky, and came to Indiana
in 1850, locating in Floyd county. His father,
John Tompkins, a native of Virginia, was an
early settler in Kentucky. John T. Tompkins
died April 17, 1875. He was married, April 5,
1840, to Miss Nancy P. Young, daughter of
William Young, of Jefferson county, Kentucky.
They had six children, Martha, Abbie (de-
ceased), Ellen, Charlotte, Annie, and Margaret.
Mrs. Tompkins and family belong to the Method-
ist church.

Dallas M. Brown was born October 29, 1844,
in Greenville township, and has a farm of eighty
acres. He married in 1869, Miss Eliza Gib-
son, daughter of Jesse Gibson, of Clark county.
They have had seven children, six of whom are
living. Their names are Lottie M., Lolie D.,
Orpheus, Tullius C, Nellie G., Etta G., and
Clovis (deceased).

APPENDIX.

Add the following settlement notes to Shirely
Precinct :

Anthony Wiser, the subject of this sketch, is
son of John Wiser, who came from Prussia about
1814, and settled in the present Wiser neighbor-
hood. About 1821 he married Lusanna Arnold.
They had thirteen children, of whom there are
now living five sons and two daughters. Anthony
Wiser is the oldest son. He married Margaret
Ann Snawder in 1845. They have living five
children, John, Eliza, Frederick, Alexander, and
Joseph. Mr. Wiser has a fine farm of one hun-
dred acres, situated about seven miles below
Louisville, at Round knob. He is engaged in
farming and fruit raising, and is a live, wide-
awake man, interested in doing all he can for his
children. He is now acting as magistrate of his
precinct, having served one term and now serv-
ing on his second term.

Guilford D. Alsop, Jr., is a son of Guilford D.
Alsop, Sr., who moved to this county from Vir-
ginia about 1820, had ten children — seven sons
and three daughters — only six of whom are now
living, viz: Susan, now Mrs. Knadler; Mary,
now Mrs. Waller; Guilrord D., Jr.; George M.;
William N.; and Hiram. Guilford D. married
Mollie Morris in 1874. He has three children,
Bruce, Grace, and Jessie. Mr. Alsop is magis-
trate of his precinct, serving his third year. He
has served as overseer of roads fifteen years. He
has a fine farm of one hundred and eleven acres,
situated about six miles below Louisville. He
deals in stock, besides raising some on his farm.
He is a pleasant gentleman, and a very neat
farmer.

Dr. J. D. Ewing, the subject of this sketch, is
the son of John G. Ewing, who lived in Owens-
boro, Davis county, Kentucky. He is the oldest
of five children and the only one now living
John G. Ewing married Mary J. Crawford, of

the same county. The doctor was born April 3,
1837. He received a common school education
until fifteen years of age ; he was then obliged to
leave school to take the support of his mother and
sister, his father and one brother and sister hav-
ing died in 1844. At nineteen years of age we
find him working at the painters' trade in Louis-
ville. He married, at twenty-two, Miss Amelia
Cocke, and settled in Louisville, and pursued
painting until the war of 1861 broke out. He
then enlisted in the First regiment, company C,
of the Kentucky cavalry, serving about four
years, or until about the close of the war. Re-
turning home in February, 1865, he worked at
his trade until 1871, when he took up the study
of medicine in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After
taking a course at Ann Arbor he took a full course
at the University of Louisville, graduating in
March, 1873. After graduating he removed to
Harrison county, Indiana, and practiced three
years, when he removed to his present place of
residence, six miles below Louisville, where the
writer finds him pleasantly situated. The doctor
has no children.

Ex-Governor D. Meriwether was born in 1800.
His father was a native of Virginia, and a lieu-
tenant in General Clark's expedition, and accom-
panied this division on its famous expedition
against the French and Indians. He was in this
service about three years, until the close of the
war of the Revolution, when he was honorably
mustered out at Louisville. He then went back
to Virginia and lived until 1805, when he moved
to Louisville, descending the Ohio in boats and
landed in Louisville in 1805. He settled about
eight miles below Louisville, on the bank of the
river, where the subject of this' sketch now re-
sides. Governor Meriwether is the third son of
this family of five sons and one daughter, all of
whom are now deceased, except the subject of

570

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

this sketch, who is now in his eighty-first year.
In 1818 he embarked in the fur trade up the
Missouri, where he remained about three years,
and built the first house at " The Council Bluffs "
(so called from the council here held with the
Indians), on the Nebraska side of the river from
which the city in Iowa takes its name. In 1820
he made an expedition over to Santa Fe, New
Mexico, being the first white man, as he believes,
who ever crossed over this route. He was taken
prisoner by the Spaniards and detained about
one month, but was released after the treaty was
signed. He then returned to Council Bluffs.
In 182 1 he returned to Kentucky, and married
Sarah H. Leonard, of Indiana, and settled where
he now resides. To this couple there have been
born thirteen children, of whom the following
are now living : William A., now living in Louis-
ville; O. R., now living on the old homestead;
James B., who resides in Jeffersonville (attorney
at law); Catharine A. Graves, of Louisville; Eliza-
beth W. Williams, of Louisville; and Mary L.
Bartlett, of Taylor county, Kentucky. All the
others died in early life. Mr. Meriwether was
elected to the Legislature of Kentucky in 1831,
serving in all about fifteen terms in this body,
of which he is now an honorable member, his
present term not having yet expired. He was
sheriff of this county when elected a mem-
ber of the convention which framed the
present constitution of Kentucky. In 185 1
he was appointed Secretary of State, in which
office he served about one year, when, on the
death of Henry Clay, he was appointed by the
Governor to fill out the unexpired term in the
United States Senate. In 1852 he was appoint-
ed by President Pierce as Governor of New
Mexico, and served in that capacity between four
and five years, then being elected to the Legisla-
ture of Kentucky. He was elected speaker of
the House, in which office he served until 1861.
He has served as justice of the peace for twenty-
four years. His wife is dead. Governor Meri-
wether is a consistent member of the Episcopal
church, and though now so old, is smart and
active. His eye still glows with the fire of youth
as he relates the thrilling events and narrow
escapes of his long life, and he reads without
glasses. His house contains many curiosities of
Indian and Mexican make, and hours may be
spent in his hospitable' home in viewing these

things, and then one is loth to leave, so pleasant
has been his stay.

The Miller family, of Cane Run precinct, are
descendants of Isaac Miller, who came here
from Virginia, in 1804, and settled on the place
now known as the old place. He had two chil-
dren, Warrick and Robert N. He died in 1844.
Warrick Miller had three sons that reached
maturity. Dr. John Miller is the third son.

Christian Shirely, the first to settle in the pre-
cinct now known as Shireley's, moved here from
Pennsylvania, and settled about five miles south
of the court-house in Louisville, on the place
now divided into several house gardens. He at
one time owned the land where the alms-house
now stands. He had four sons and five daugh-
ters, viz: Philip, William, Henry, and John.
Henry, the father of William Henry and James
Philip, now residing in this neighborhood, was
born November 20, 1792, and died March 26,
1847. He married Mrs. Maria Parker, in 1829,
who still lives here with her son. Mrs. Parker
was a native of Virginia and came to Kentucky
in 18 16. They have by this union only two sons,
William Henry and Philip, now living. Wil-
liam Henry was born on January 4, 1830, and
Philip March 15, 1846. William Henry married
Margaret Jones, and has five children now living
viz: Maria E., born October 26, 1854; Mag-
gie, born January 31, 1857; Harry, born January
11, 1862; Susan E., born November 17, 1863;
Sarah L., June 7, 1866. James Philip married
Emily E. Sandles in 1872, and now has two chil-
dren, Maria J. born the 22d of September, 1873,
and Mary F., born the 28th of March, 1876.
They are well-to-do farmers, .owning good farms,
and are well spoken of by all their neighbors and
friends. William Henry owns eighty acres of
fine land and is a genial gentleman. He has
been appointed deputy sheriff three different
times and served in all about seven years in this
office; was deputy assessor for three years.

The following notes of old settlers came too
late for insertion in their proper place:

Captain Adam Knapp, Sr., born in Germany
May 18, 1817, located in Louisville, Kentucky,
in 1845. By trade Captain Knapp is a cabinet
maker, learning his trade in Germany. In 1846

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

57i

Captain Knapp enlisted in the Louisville Legion
and went to Mexico. He took part in a number
of hard-fought battles. He proved himself a
brave and true soldier, always ready for duty.
After the Mexican war Captain Knapp returned
to Louisville, Kentucky, and embarked in his
trade. In the year 1848 he permanently located
in New Albany, Floyd county, Indiana, and en-
gaged in the grocery business, in which business
he remained until 1867 ; he then purchased a
farm and has been farming ever since. During
the late war Captain Knapp was in command of
the first German artillery company of the In-
diana State Legion. Captain Knapp is one of
Floyd county's old and honored citizens. He
has served in the city council and other places
of trust. Before Captain Knapp came to this
country he served as a soldier in Germany seven
years.

Andrew P. Eichler was born in Louisville,
Kentucky, May 11, 1855. Among the enter-
prising business men of Louisville, none deserve
worthy mention in history more than Mr. Eichler.
Only four years ago (in 1878), with a capital of
only three hundred dollars, Mr. Eichler began bus-
iness for himself, in gentlemen's furnishing goods
and the manufacture of shirts, and by untiring
energy and natural qualifications for this partic-
ular business, he is to-day worth not less than
$6,000. When Mr. Eichler engaged in business,
there were but four other stores in this line in
Louisville, but to-day there are fifteen furnish-
ing goods stores in the city. This exceed-
ingly large increase in this branch of business is
undoubtedly due to the success of Mr. Eichler.
Finding his business was becoming too large for
him to manage alone, he associated with himself
about three months ago, Mr. H. Alexander, the
firm now being Eichler & Alexander. They are
located on Jefferson street between Third and
Fourth. The display in the front windows of
this store is by far the finest in the city, and the
many daily passers-by find it almost impossible
to pass without stopping to admire their mam-
moth display. February 14, 1876, Mr. Eichler
was married to Miss Emma Rathsfeld, of Louis-
ville. They have two children — a son and a
daughter. Mr. Eichler's parents came to Louis-
ville from Nassau, Germany, some forty years
ago, and are both living in Louisville.

Theodore Day was born in Rein, Prussia,

February 12, 181 1, and located in Lanesville,
Harrison county, in 1838. Mr. Day bought the
tannery of a Mr. Haler and commenced busi-
ness for himself. Before he came to this country
Mr. Day served his apprenticeship in Treer,
Prussia. He then traveled and worked in all
the leading cities in Europe where first-class
tanning was done. While he was working at
Paris he was employed by Ogearean, the tanner.
In 1851 he located permanently in New Albany,
and erected a tannery out in West Union, where
he continued in business up to 1863, when he
bought the well-known tannery of Henry
Ranicke, on Upper Fourth street, between Oak
and Sycamore, where he now carries on his busi-
ness. Mr. Day managed his business up to 1871,
when his son, Antonio T. Day, became superin-
tendent of the tannery and managed the busi-
ness until 1875, when he was admitted as full
partner. The firm is now known as Theodore
Day & Son. Since that time Mr. Day has not
taken any active part in the business, leaving full
control to his son. Mr. Day is now well ad-
vanced in years. He is a wide-awake, enterpris-
ing citizen. When he came to this country he
had a few thousand dollars, but lost it all in a
short time. With firmness and courage he again
started out with the determination to conquer,
and has met with success. Mr. Day has also
two sons employed in the tannery business —
Theodore, Jr., and Henry Day. Theodore Day
& Son have adopted in their business as a spe-
cialty, the tanning of harness leather. Their
tannery is the oldest one around the the Ohio
Falls, and ranks first-class. Antonio Day was
born in Lanesville, Harrison county, Indiana,
May 15, 1843.

Captain W. R. Reeves was born in South
Carolina, April 23, 1826. He located in Floyd
county June 15, 1866. Captain Reeves com-
manded company K, Fifty-third Indiana volun-
teers, in the late war. He took part in several
hard-fought battles. Captain Reeves was also a
soldier in company D, Second Indiana volun-
teers, during the Mexican war. He was a brave
and true soldier.

Captain James R. Payton was born in Harri-
son county, Indiana, August 15, 1820. He
located in Floyd county in 1846. Captain
Payton commanded company I, Sixty-sixth In-
diana volunteers, in the late war. He was in a

572

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

number of hard-fought battles. He was a good
officer and brave soldier. For a number of
years he has been in the hotel and lumber busi-
ness. At the present he is deputy United States
marshal. He has also been deputy sheriff of
Floyd county.

Captain Thomas Krementz was born in Ger-
many September 18, 1839. He located in New
Albany, Floyd county, Indiana. In 1862 Cap-
tain Krementz commanded company A, Twenty-
third Indiana volunteers, in the late war. He
took part in quite a number of hard-fought bat-
tles. He was wounded at the siege of Vicks-
burg. He was an excellent officer and a gallant
soldier. He was honorably discharged from the
army in the year 1865. He was appointed
superintendent of the soldiers' cemetery by Sec-
retary of War W. W. Belknap. Captain Kre-
mentz is making an excellent superintendent.

To Chapter IV. — The following memoranda
of officers from Clark and Floyd counties, serv-
ing with Union regiments recruited from Ken-
tucky, was inadvertently omitted from the mili-
tary history of these counties :

FROM NEW ALBANY.
First Lieutenant | antes Albertson, Fourth cavalry.
Second Lieutenant James Barnes, Fourth cavalry.
Second Lieutenant John O. Beard. Thirty-fourth infantry.
First Sergeant John D. Bird, Fourth cavalry.
Lieutenant-colonel vV. B. Chisler, Fifth cavalry.
Captain Joseph Cowell, Fourth cavalry.
Assistant Surgeon Edward A. Cooper, Thirteenth infantry.
Chaplain, Rev. John H. McRae, Third cavalry.
First Lieutenant Samuel McAlee, Sixteenth cavalry.
Captain Roland K. Shuck, Fourth cavalry.
Captain Seth W. Tuley, Second infantry.

FROM JEFFERSONVILLE.
Lieutenant-Colonel Chesley D. Bailey, Ninth infantry.
Captain Oliver T. Booth, Second cavalry.
Colonel George H. Cram, Ninth infantrv.
First Lieutenant Edward B. Curran, Second cavalry.
Captain D. M. Dryden, First infantry.
Quartermaster Joseph Kerby, Eleventh infantry.
Major Sidney S. Lynn, Fourth cavalry.
Captain Asoph A. Quigley, Twenty-third infantry.
Captain Charles H. Soule, Fourth cavalry.
Captain John H. Wheat, Ninth infantrv.

FROM HENRYVILLE.
First Lieutenant Squire S. Roberts, Fourth cavalry.

The following partial list of old-time marriages

in Floyd county, compiled from the records for
the New Albany Public Press of December 14,
1881, has permanent value and interest:

August 14th— William Speake and Mary Lapping.
September 4th — Charles Woodruff and Ruth Collins.

1829.

April 16th— Alexander S. Burnett and Eliza Gamble.

May 12th — Charles S. Tuley and Susan Adams.

May 21st — John Hickman and Dicey Waring.

June 13th— Levi M. McDougal and Elizabeth Sanders.

June 27th— Joseph A. Moffitt and Mildred Jones.

July 9th— James H. Edmondson and Carolina M. Saltkeld.

July 18th— Oliver Cassell and Rachel Baird.

August 4th— John Crawford and Mahala Hutchinson.

August nth — Jefferson Connor and Jane Daniels.

August 19th— Jonn Hedrick and Anna Waltz.

August 22d — Elijah Campbell and Nancy Mitchem.

August 25th — Solomon Byerly and Barzilla Martin.

September 18th— John S. Doughten and Adell J. Arm-
strong.

September 28th — William Ferguson and Elizabeth Hat-
field.

November 9th — Matthew Gunn and Susan Lafollette.

December 29th — Calvin Hollis and Priscilla Hand.

1830.

March 15th— Henry W. Welker and Elizabeth Burger.

April 17th — John Angel and Nancy Snyder.

May 20th — Nathaniel R. Wicks and Elizabeth Tuley.

1831.

April 14th — Nathaniel S. Waring and Harriet Bogert.
August 16th — John I. C. Sowle and Abigail Hinds.

1832.

January 24th — James H. McClung and Mary Collins.
January 31st — Smith Reasor and Nancy Johnson.
August 25th — Wicome Hale and Elizabeth Snyder.
August 30th— Jacob Byerly and Rachel Jenkins.
August 30th — John Lidica and Matanda W. Davis.
October nth — Hugh Nesbit and Mary P. Shellers.
December 7th — Ed. L. Comley and Nancy Byrn.
December 12th — W. M. Aiken and Emeline Genung.
December 29th — Victor M. Tuley and Mary Flickner.

I833-

February 25th — Isom Mitchem and Catharine French.
April 8th — William Lidica and Nancy Yenewine.
May 22d — Jesse Oatman and Martha Watson.
July 3d — George B. Spurrier and Sarah Adams.

1834. JT

January 23d— Matthew Rady and Mary McKinqf^
March 3d — Thomas H. Hindman and Martha McCutchen.
March 29th- Louis Bir and Margaret Houin.
May 29th — J. S. Teaford and Phebe Hickman.
May 29th — Theodore Elliott and Polly A. Hughes.
August 21st — Noah H. Cobb and Susan R. Shellers.
September 4th— Aaron S. Armstrong and Margaret Ann
Lyons.
October 2d — John B. Winstandley and Penina Stewart.
October 30th — Abraham Case and Rebecca Elliott.
November 12th — Joseph Piers and Mary Coleman.
December 27th — Charles Meekin and Rebecca Himes.
December 30th — Jacob Mitchem and Polly Finley.

.&'

^ ■**

..,-,*>

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Full text of "History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches"

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