A HISTORY
OF
Sullivan County
Indiana
CLOSING OF THE FIRST CENTURY'S HISTORY
OF THE COUNTY, AND SHOWING THE
GROWTH OF ITS PEOPLE. INSTI-
TUTIONS, INDUSTRIES
AND WEALTH
^■0
THOMAS J. WOLFE
EDITOR
VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
« • e •
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEW YORK CHICAGO
1909
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1 *• « +«,,
, 1912
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FOREWORD BY THE EDITOR
111 assuming the position of editor of the present work we were
aware of the difficulties in the way of producing such a history as that
outhned in the prospectus. As the work progressed we found we had
not overestimated the task, aiifl but for the energy and perseverance of
the chief historian, Mr. Hill, who has so loyally seconded all of our
cflforts we should certainly have come short of our own expectations.
Our readers can scarcely imagine the labor necessary to overcome
the difficulties of such a work where there is so little authentic data.
The original intention of giving a history of Sullivan County, for about
one century, has been adhered to ; but to prepare such a history where
the public records have been destroyed and all those who realh' made
the first twenty-five or fifty years of that history have ceased to speak, is
a difficult task. In a country where annals are kept, and events of each
year are recorded as they occur, it is an easy matter to select, group and
condense those events into a sfeneral historv. No such effort is at-
tempted in this work. Events will not, therefore, be found in chronolo-
gical order, but must be sought under the head of the subject matter
under consideration. No attempt has been made to give prominence to
every little neighborhood event. This would be the work of a daily
newspaper, and if inserted here would make an encyclopedia instead of a
history, and hence only those of general interest have been selected.
Where facts have been recorded they have been consulted, where wit-
nesses are living they have been examined and cross-questioned — ancient
newspapers and private documents have been consulted, and even "tables
of stone," "silent sentinels of the dead" have been visited and asked to
give up their secrets of other years.
iv FOREWORD
The chief value of a history is, not to the generation in which it is
written but to their children and succeeding oenerations. The older
readers may kiioic many of the facts related, the next generation may
have heard of them from living ancestors, and thus Iiistory degenerates
into tradition and in a short time becomes hazy mythology.
The editor and his associates have made special effort to avoid any
partiality or favoritism. For such errors the sources of information are
most to blame. It is so natural for persons to wish to appear a little bet-
ter than they are and especially a little better than their neighbors. \>ry
few have the courage of the old battle-scarred general who, sitting for his
portrait, was asked by the artist if he should not cover up some of the
scars, answered '"no" — and in commanding tone said "jjaint me as I am."
It is to be observed, however, that there is a dift'erence between
partiality and drawing the veil of silence over the errors or mistakes of
the absent or the dead — the one is justice, the other "charity, that covers
a multitude of sins." There is no history, with the exception of the
Bible, that has ever had the courage to rebuke the sins of an individual
or nation in such unmeasured terms as were used in extolling their
virtues.
These things are enumerated, not as an apology, but that the reader
may have a clearer conception of the difficulties that the publishers have
had to meet.
The editor has been in hearty sympathy in the eft'ort to perpetuate
as far as possible the fast departing land-marks of bxgone generations
that made us what we are — to pay, in some small degree, the debt we
owe to them and to hand the same down to future generations. We are
not vain enough to imagine that our work is perfect. We are aware of
manv defects. Xor do we suppose that our eft'orts will be appreciated
in the near future ; but we do believe that it will live and will grow more
valuable as our county grows older and will furnish a foundation for
some future historian on which to Iniild.
The management are indebted to the patrons who have generously
aided their eft'orts and have made possible the success of the enterprise by
FOREWORD V
furnishing much information, and have manifested such patience for
which we have endeavored to reward them hy improvements which re-
quired time to make. We commend the work to you as the best could
be made under ah of the circumstances. We trust our efforts will meet
all just expectations, and realize that the nearest approach to immortal-
ity, in this world, is to be embalmed in printer's ink and be laitl away in
history.
It is manifestly impossible to make individual acknowledgments for
all the sources of historical information which have supplied the contents
of this work. But in one case such acknowledgment is due from the
editor and publishers. The history of the count}- from the beginning of
the Civil war to the present time is largely based on data obtained from
the files of the Sullivan Democrat. These files were loaned for the pur-
pose by Mr. Paul Poynter, proprietor of the Democrat. The task of
reading each issue of this paper for a period of nearly fifty years, and
of collecting and classifying the historical notes was performed with
much care and fidelity by Miss Julia Mason, of the Sullivan Public
Library. The voluminous notes thus obtained ctndd not all l)e utilized in
the preparation of this work, and ihey are in many respects a valuable
historical collection containing a digest of all matters of interest in the
county's life during, the past fifty years.
SULLIVAN, July 5, 1909.
^:)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
The Historic Background i
CHAPTER n
The Old Forts and thi-: First Settlements 7
CHAPTER HI
Organization of Sullivan County 22
CHAPTER IV
The Pioneer Men and Women — Genesis of the, Faria' Settlers 33
CHAPTER V
Military Annals 84
CHAPTER VI
Sullivan Colinty Edltcation 118
CHAPTER VII
Transportation and Communication — The River Trade by
Flatboat and Steamboat — Days of Stage Coach and Ro.ad
Wagon 137
CHAPTER VIII
The Era of Railroads and Electricity 147
CPIAPTER IX
The Town of Sullivan 163
CHAPTER X
Merom 193
CHAPTER XI
Carlisle 198
CHAPTER XII
Shelburn, Farmersburg, Hymera, Paxton, New Lebanon/
Graysville, Pleasantville, Cass, Dugger, Fairbanks 205
viii CONTENTS
CTTAPTF.R XT IT
County Institutions 217
CHAPTER XIV
Bench and Bar 220
CTT AFTER X\'
The Profession of ^Medkixi-: 232
CI [AFTER X\"I
The Press 238
CHAPTER XVII
Development of the Mineral Wealth 245
CHAPTER XVIII
Money and Banking 267
CHAPTER XIX
The Principal Church Organizations 280
CHAPTER XX
Temperance 295
CHAPTER XXI
Fraternal 304
CHAPTER XXII
Libraries 308
CHAPTER XXITI
Drainage 313
CHAPTER XXIV
Fairs — The Grange and Other Agricultural Organizations., 318
CHAPTER XX\'
Telephones 323
CHAPTER XX \' I
Rural Pree Delineky 325
CHAPTER XX\ II
Civil Lists 328
CHAPTER XXVIII
A Sketch of Indiana Through the Territorial r'i:RioD and up
to Organization as a State 333
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORIC BACKGROUND.
During the latter half of the seventeenth century, by the discoveries
and explorations of ^Marquette, Hennepin, Joliet and LaSalle, all the
country drained by the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and their tributaries
were added to the vast claims of the French empire in the new world. For
nearly a century the statecraft and military power of France were tested
and tried to the utmost in strengthening and maintaining the authority of
the empire in the territory between New Orleans and Montreal. During
LaSalle's explorations about the lower end of Lake Michigan and in his
journeyings from there to the Mississippi, he penetrated northwestern
Indiana, going as far east as the site of South Bend. Another result of
his activities was the organization of the various Indian tribes outside of
the Iroquois confederac}- and the concentration of them all about a cen-
tral seat in Illinois, so that in 1685 it is probable that Indiana was no
longer the home of a single Indian tribe.
To secure all the country between the Mississippi and the Alle-
ghanies against English aggression, the French projected and founded
1
2 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
many posts that would command the rivers and the outlets of trade. Sev-
eral forts were established at the lower end of the Mississippi, and a
vigorous policy of commercial development and expansion begun. Other
posts were established higher up the river, Kaskaskia, above the mouth
of the Ohio, becoming a strategic point of much importance. The French
captain, Cadillac, by anticipating the English in the settlement of Detroit,
secured a post of wonderful advantage in dealing with the Indian inhabit-
ants ^vest of Lake Erie and south of Lake Michigan. The Indian tribes
that had been drawn into LaSalle's Illinois confederacy were now drifting
east to the Wabash, the Maumee and about Detroit. To control these
tribes and prevent their being approached by the English, the French
authorities in Canada, who claimed jurisdiction on the upper courses of
the Wabash,* planned the re-location of the tribes and the founding of
posts among them. The principal settlement of the Miamis was then
at the head of the Maumee, at a place called Kekionga (the site of Fort
Wayne). The Ouiatanons lived lower down on the Wabash, and about
1720 post Ouiatanon was established among them (near the site of
Lafayette), this being the first military post on the Wabash. From
this point controlling the ^Miamis and Ouiatanons, was stationed Sieur
de A'incennes. The authorities of Louisiana, very much exercised by
the reported encroachments of Engjish traders within the Ohio valley,
about 1726, won over Vincennes from his service with Canada, and a
year or so later that intrepid pioneer of France founded on the lower
course of the Wabash the post which soon became known as Vincennes.
In a few years some French families from Canada settled around the
post, and thus was established the first European village in Indiana.
^The lower Ohio and Wabash and Mississippi were governed as part of the
Louisiana province of New France. Boisbriant, who had been appointed governor
of Illinois, founded Fort Chartres (sixteen miles above Kaskaskia) for the pro-
tection of the upper colony, in 1720.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 3
Until the close of the French occupation in 1763, Vincennes was included
in the District of Illinois, which, in turn, was part of the Province of
Louisiana. The dividing point between the jurisdiction of Canada and
that of Louisiana was Terre Haute, "the Highlands of the Wabash."
By such means the authority of France was extended throughout
all this country, including the present state of Indiana. \^incennes became
a village of French soldiers and traders and their families. Where
Lafayette now stands was another French post, and another at the site
of Fort Wayne. The inevitable conflict between France and England,
closing with the victory of Wolfe on the plains of Abraham and with
the treaty of Paris in 1763 by which England became the dominant and
principal territorial power in the new world, has only a remote interest
in this discussion. The French and English met at the site of Pittsburg
in 1754, where Fort DuQuesne was built by the former, and this meeting
brought on the war which began with the disastrous defeat of Braddock
by the French and their Indian allies.
After Wolfe's victory the English took possession of Detroit and
the posts on the upper Wabash, but Vincennes continued part of French
Louisiana until the treaty in 1763. The numerous Indian tribes north-
west of the Ohio, though at first treated with much respect by the Engjish,
were later wrought upon by the brusque behavior of the English and the
secret persuasion of the French who still remained in the country. A
powerful confederacy of the western tribes was formed under the brilliant
leadership of Pontiac, and during the spring of 1763 a general outbreak
against the English posts occurred, which has since been known in history
as Pontiac's war. Few of the inland posts escaped capture, the small
English garrisons at Ouiatanons and Miamis (Fort Wayne) surrendering
with the rest. It was not until the following year that such energetic
measures were taken by the English forces as to break the Indians'
4 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
strength and force the Delawares, Shawanees, jMiamis and other bands
to sue for peace. Henceforth until the American revolution, the Indian
inhabitants north of the Ohio gave little trouble to the English, who
maintained an easy and almost nominal jurisdiction over the posts and
settlements along the Wabash and down the Mississippi.
In 1774 all the country northwest of the Ohio was put into the
boundaries of the Province of Quebec, and several years later the lieu-
tenant governor of Detroit assmued title of "superintendent of St.
^'incennes," and took personal command there in 1777. Throughout all
the years since the first exploration of her territory Indiana was but a
part of a province of a province. "For ninety years her provincial seat
of government vacillated between Quebec, New Orleans and ^Montreal,
with intermediate authority at Fort Chartres and Detroit, and the ultimate
power at Paris. Then her capital was whisked away to London, without
the slightest regard to the wishes of her scattered inhabitants, by the
treaty at Paris. Sixteen years later it came over the Atlantic to Rich-
mond, on the James, by conquest ; and after a tarry of five years at that
point it shifted to New York city, then the national seat of government,
by cession. In 1788 it reached Marietta, Ohio, on its progress to its final
location. In 1800 it came within the limits of the state."*
During the Revolutionary w-ar, the danger most dreaded by the
colonists was that which came from across the western frontier, pro-
duced by the Indians and their English leaders. At this time a
considerable population had crossed the mountains from the Atlantic
colonies into the country along the Ohio, and the county of Kentucky had
already been organized as a part of Virginia by George Rogers Clark.
This young Virginian, when it became apparent that a frontier force
must be maintained to subdue the Indians and check their invasions
* Dunn 's Indiana,
HISTORY OF SITJJ\'AX COUNTY 5
under English leadership into the colonies, was selected hy the govern-
ment of Mrginia to organize and command such a force on the frontier.
Owing to lack of money and su])plies, the small number of settlers from
whom his force was to be recruited, and the vast extent of country to
be covered by his force, the success of Clark's campaign has long been
a glorious addition to American annals, and his fame fitly symbolized
with the designation "The Hannibal of the West." Setting out with a
small force of men. recruited largely in Kentucky, and relying, on the
support or at least the neutral attitude of the P'rench settlers, he sur-
prised the post at Kaskaskia, July 4, 1778, and in the course of the same
month Mncennes became an American post, and the American flag was
floated for the first time in Indiana, and the French residents welcomed the
American invaders as friends of their nation. A'incennes was later
captured by the British and again re-taken by Clark, but the details of
his campaign are not here pertinent. Suffice it to say that he held the
vast region of his conquest against all expeditions of the English until
the close of the war, and when the treaty of Paris was signed in 1783
the conquered region became a part of the new American republic. By
the Ordinance of 1787 all this country northwest of the Ohio was organ-
ized as the Northwest Territory, and provided with a temporary
government directed by officials appointed by Congress.
By Clark's conquest, by the Ordinance of 1787 for the government
of the Territory, and by ordinances, dated in 1785 and 1788, providing
for the survey and disposal of the public lands of the Territory, the region
now embraced in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and parts
of others became a part of the United States and opened to the settlement
of the pioneer homemakers who formed the first wave of western expan-
sion. However, the Indian inhabitants were a factor that proved an
6 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
obstacle to the settlement of this region for many years, and it was only
when they gradually yielded, by war and treaty, their rights to the land
that the white men were permitted to come in and possess the fertile
regions north of the Ohio.
CHAPTER II.
THE OLD FORTS AND THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
The first settlements in Sullivan county were made on lands that
the French had obtained from the Indians during the period of the
French regime. These lands were in the vicinity of Vincennes, and were
later known as the Vincennes district. The treaty with the Indians for
these lands was made in 1742, and the general description of the
boundaries was — "lying between the point above, Pointe Coupee en haut,
and the river Blanche below the village, with as much land on both sides
of the Wabash as might be comprised within the said limits." Pointe
Coupee was a mile or so above the mouth of Busseron creek, in the
southwest corner of what is now Gill township. The village referred to
in the treaty was, of course, Vincennes, and the river Blanche was White
river. Thus the lands granted to the French by this treaty comprised
practically all of Knox county, the southern portion of Sullivan county,
besides some lands on the west side of the Wabash.
Some of this land was occupied by the residents of the country
during the French and British control of the territory. After the Amer-
ican conquest, and while Vincennes was commanded by governors from
Virginia, further dispositions of the lands were made under the authority
of the local officials. After the organization of the Northwest Territory
in 1787, the disposal of the lands was regulated by Congress.
7
8 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
In 1791 Congress passed a land law upon which were based subse-
quent titles to the lands of this district. This law provided :
1. That 400 acres of land should be given to the head of each
faniilv residing at X'^incennes or in the Illinois countrv in the vear
■ 1783;'
2. That a tract of land containing 5.400 acres near X'incennes,
which had been under fence and used as a pasture for thirty years,
should be given to the inhabitants of Vincennes to be used by them
as a common until otherwise disposed of by law ;
3. That the governor of the territory be authorized to donate
a tract of lanfl of 100 acres to each man who on the ist of August,
1790, was enrolled in the militia, had done militia duty and had
not received a donation ;
4. That the governor upon application should confirm to heads
of families the lands which they may have possessed and which may
have been allotted to them according to the usages of the government
under which they had respectively settled ;
5. That where lands had been actually cultivated and improved
at Vincennes or in the Illinois country, under a supposed grant of
the same by any conimandant or court claiming authority to make
such grant, the governor might confirm such claim not exceeding
400 acres to each person.
The bodies of land described in the first section have since been
known as "donations ;" those in the third paragraph, as "militia dona-
tions ;" and the last classes are generally known as "siu'vevs."
The status of the lands in the A incennes district at about the time
the first settlements were platted in Sullivan county is described in a
letter from General Harrison to James IMadison in January, 1802. He
said that the governors' courts maintained at Mncennes under the author-
ity of the Virginia commonwealth from 1779 on had assumed the right
to grant land to all applicants ; that they did this for a time without
opposition, and concluded that, as they were not interrupted, they could
continue as they pleased ; that finally the whole country, to which the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY * 9
Indian title was supposed to be extinguished, was divided between the
members of the court and perhaps others^ the lands thus disposed of
extending along the Wabash river from La Pointe Coupee to the mouth
of White river and forty leagues west and thirty east, excluding only
the lands surrounding Vincennes, which had been granted to the old
residents. The authors of this division had later perceived that their
course was illegal, and the scheme was abandoned, but was revived a few
years before 1802, and portions of the land purchased by speculators
and sold fraudulently to eastern settlers. Harrison stated that upward
of 500 persons had settled or would soon settle upon these lands in conse-
quence of these frauds, that the owners pretended that the court had
ample authority from Virginia to grant the land, and that speculators
had gone to Virginia, had secured a deed for a large tract, had had it
recorded and duly authenticated, and had then made their fraudulent
transfers to the credulous.
A large amount of litigation rose from this condition of land claims,
and it was several years before the claims were investigated and settled
bv the government commissioners. A more complete account of the
subject is not pertinent to the history of Sullivan county. But the fact
that much of this land got into the hands of speculators and was offered
for sale in Virginia to prospective homeseekers no doubt explains the
cause that attracted some of the first settlers to the region now included in
Sullivan county.
The lands about Vincennes were, as already stated, ceded by the
Indians to the French in 1742. But on June 7, 1803, General Harrison
concluded a treaty with the Delawares, Shawnees, Pottawatomies, jMiamis,
Eel River Weeas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Kaskaskias, which con-
firmed this cession. The northern boundary of this cession, as described
in the treatv, is a matter of historv in Sullivan county. Pointe Coupee on
10 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
the \\'abash, just above the mouth of the Busseron, was the principal
point on this boundary. The Hne did not run due east and west through
this point, but at an angle of 12 degrees from this direction, its general
course being from northwest to southeast. The treaty also provided that
in case some of settlements and locations of land made by the citizens
of the United States should fall in the Indian country, the boundary
might be altered to include these settlements.
This is the origin of the "Old Indian Boundary" in Sullivan county,
a line that often figures in the land descriptions of the southern portion
of the county. A small portion of the southwest corners of Gill and
Jefiferson townships is south of this Hne, and the greater part of Haddon
township is by this line shown to be in the cession which was confirmed
by the treaty of 1803. In Haddon township the boundary leaves the
straight course at right angles so as to include within the ceded area
a rectangular body of land lying about three miles northeast of the
general direction of the boundary. In this rectangle is the town of
Carlisle. It is probable that when the survey was made this deviation
from the regular course was made in accordance with the clause of the
treaty above noted, in order to include some settlement or settlements that
otherwise would have been left in the unceded Indian country.
TJic Fort Settlements.
In the boundaries of this "Old Purchase," as it was called, were
planted the first settlements of Sullivan county. It is probable that in
1803. at the time of the treaty, some of the lands south of the Indian boun-
dary were in the nominal possession of certain individuals who claimed
them by right of one of the methods above described. So far as can be
learned there was no actual settlement in Sullivan county previous to the
year 1803. The family of James Ledgerwood came to this vicinity in
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY ii
1803, and his is the first pioneer name of prominence in the county. It is
hardly possible that he was the first and only person who deserved the
honor of first making- a home within the limits of the county. Others
came, doubtless, about the same time, but either because they did not re-
main long or because they were not of the prominence to impress them-
selves on the memories of later residents, there is no record of name or
fact concerning them.
The Ledgerwoods settled on the Busseron, as did the majority of the
first comers to this region. In a few years the locality at the northern
edge of the Old Purchase was called, for purposes of distinction, "the
Busseron settlement," and in 1808, when the northern part of Knox
county was set ofif into a single township, it received the name of Bus-
seron. Busseron was the name of one of the leaders of the militia at \'in-
cennes about 1790.
The Ledgerwood family settled west of Carlisle. When they con-
structed a habitation they also made it a castle of defense against the In-
dians. The distinguishing feature of the "block houses" or "forts," of
which there were several in the southern part of the county in the first
decade of the last century, was the projecting upper story, with numerous
loopholes, from which the assailants were exposed to the guns of the de-
fenders above, and all entrances to the building w^ere thus guarded by the
overhanging story.
These block houses were built of the very strongest timbers that
could be obtained, and required both more time and labor for building
than the ordinary log homes of the early settlers. When built they served
not alone for the protection of the individual household, but each became a
central gathering place and fortress for the entire neighborhood during
times of.danger.
In^the vicinitv of Carlisle and within the limits of what is now Sul-
12 HISTORY OF SULLIX'AN COUNTY
livan county there were four block houses during the first decade of the
century, each being- the home of one of the prominent famihes of the
county, and each one serving as a refuge for the other famihes Hving near
by. Fort Haddon was built about 1806, and took its name from the
pioneer John Haddon and family, who came from Virginia in that year.
Those who assisted in the construction of this fort were Frank Williams,
Joel Price, Thomas Holder Sr., John Haddon, William Price, John Mc-
Connell, John Ingle, James Black, Thomas Anderson, Joel Collins, and
Edward Purcell. A block house was also built by the Holder family, who
setted here in 1807, and one by the Lismans. At the time of the Indian
hostilities which preceded and continued through the war of 181 2. these
were the places where all the people of the vicinity gathered on occasion
of an Indian alarm, and they naturally came to be known as Fort Haddon,
Fort Holder, etc.
During the first decade of the last century little direct historical testi-
mony can be found concerning the settlers about Carlisle and along the
Busseron. An examination of the files of the Mncennes JVcsfcni Sun,
which began publication in 1807, brings to light an occasional item con-
cerning the people of this vicinity. These items are often valuable in
fixing the dates of settlement by different families.
At that time Vincennes was the business and of^cial center for this
county, and the inhabitants on the Busseron went there to get their mail
and to transact all business that connected them with the ouside world. A
list of advertised letters at the \"incennes postof¥ice on July i, 1807, dis-
closes two names that belong to the pioneer history of this region — Samuel
Ledgerwood and Robert Gill. The latter was no doubt a member of the
family which gave name to the prairie in the southwest corner of this
county and later to the township. The date when the Gill family reached
Sullivan countv cannot be given with assurance, but it is said that one
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 13
of the name was among the advance pioneers who explored this region
before any of the permanent settlers had arrived. In the advertised let-
ters for October, 1807, appeared the name "Jesse Haden."
.Aiiiother evidence concerning the pioneer settlement was a notice
published in the issue of December 2, 1807, of the incorporation of the
Wabash Baptist church, including the members "residing on Bussroe," the
notice being signed by Newlon E. Westfall.
On April 3, 1809. an election was held for representative of Knox
count}-. The electors of Busseron township, according to the published
notice, were to meet at the house of John Haddon Esq. John Haddon
was himself a candidate for the office of representative, receiving 120
votes in the county. Busseron township at this election cast 94 votes.
Another election was held on May 22, 1809,, for an additional representa-
tive to the legislature, and John Haddon was this time the successful can-
didate. He was probably the only member of the territorial legislatures
who lived within the boundaries of the present Sullivan county.
Up to this time the country north of the Indian Boundary above de-
scribed was not open to settlement, and thus the greater part of our pres-
ent county had not been redeemed from barbarism. But in 1809 was
effected a treaty with the Indians which not only brought into the public
domain a large territory including this county, but was one of the causes
for the uprising of the Indians under Tecumseh which preceded the open-
ing of the w^ar of 18 12.
By the Indian treaty of September 30, 1809, the Indians ceded all the
country between the boundary line established by the treaty of 1803, the
Wabash river, and a line drawn from the mouth of Raccoon creek in a
southeasterly direction to White river. Raccoon creek is a few miles
above Terre Haute, so that by this treaty the United States public domain
was extended from about the localitv of Carlisle to about the northern
14 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
limit of \ igo county. The area gained by this treaty was called the "New
Purchase," in distinction from the "Old Purchase," which lay south of the
Indian Boundary line. These lands were not open for public entry and
sale until 1816, but under land warrants and by actual occupation many
settlers had gone into this region before this time.
But for five or six years after the treaty of 1809 the permanent set-
tlements of this country were greatly disturbed and further influx of set-
tlers much retarded by the Indian hostilities which preceded and accom-
panied the war of 1812. The Indians had not failed to regard with jeal-
ousy the gradual encroachment of the whites upon their hunting grounds,
and when, in 1809, several of the tribes ceded a large tract of territory to
the American government, Tecumseh opposed the treaty, declaring that
one or several of the tribes could not barter away the lands that belonged
to all the Indian nations in the confederacy. Despite the efforts of Gov-
ernor Harrison toward breaking up the confederacy which had its center
about Prophet's Town, the Indians became more hostile every day. Small
parties appeared in different parts of the territory, stealing and occasion-
ally taking, the lives of settlers. Tecumseh and his brother became more
insolent in the conference with the governor, and, on the eve of the second
war with Great Britain, a secret British influence increased the disaffection
of the tribes.
Then followed the campaign of General Harrison against the Indians,
the building of Fort Harrison, the battle of Tippecanoe, which eft'ectually
broke the resistance of the Indian confederacy, the attack on Fort Harri-
son, and the subsequent desultory hostilities which kept all the settlers
within reach of the forts and block houses throughout the duration of the
war. These were events of general history, and only in a few instances
concerned Sullivan county more than other counties. A few items in the
Western Sun mention the movements of the troops through this county
HISTORY OF SULLIX'AN COUNTY 15
and other incidents of the period. In the issue of November 23, 181 1,
it is stated that "on Sunday last the governor arrived with the army on
the Busseron about 20 miles above here, where the troops from the eastern
counties of the territory and Kentucky were discharged." In October,
1812, it is noted that Major General Samuel Hopkins with his army
started up the river toward Prophet's Town, having about 4,000 men,
2,500 of whom were mounted volunteers. This was the unfortunate ex-
pedition which, partly owing to the incapacity of the leader and also to the
rebellious conduct of the troops, left a record along its route of plunder
and destruction among the white residents and against the real enemy
effected little or nothing during the few weeks of the campaigxi. In the
issue of the Western Sun of November 3, 181 2, is the statement that the
Kentucky mounted troops had returned to Busseron, where they were
discharged.
A tax sale advertisement in the Sim of May 26, 1812, relating to delin-
quent taxpayers on Busseron creek, contains the names of some of the
residents of that vicinity — John Dooley, John Culbert, Thomas Barton,
Matthew Dobins, Abraham Huff, Daniel Hazelton, John Johnson, heirs of
James Ledgerwood, and Francis Williams.
Of more interest is the following advertisement, dated May 16, 1814:
— "Grist mill for sale. Will be exposed to public sale on the 3d day of
June next, a saw and grist mill with five acres of land, laying on Busseron
creek, formerly known b}' the name of Ledgerwood's Mill. Twelve
months' credit will be given. — William Ledgerw^ood." This was the orig-
inal mill of Sullivan county, and at this date the only one along Bussero:v
creek except the one in the Shaker settlement.
Another item of civil affairs at this time was mention of the election
in Busseron towmship to be held at the house of John Curry, which is the
i6 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
first mention of that pioneer name in the annals of the county. This elec-
tion notice is in the issue of June 29, 1814.
Recurring to the Indian hostilities of this period, there are a few
brief items in the Jl'cstcni Sun that afiford a contemporaneous view of
some events which have a large place in the Indian annals of Sullivan
county.
In the issue of December 3, 18 14, is reported the fact that the Indians
had again been committing depredations on the frontier. "On Saturday
and Sunday nights last they stole a number of horses from the Busseron
settlement." The paper of March 4, 18 15, gives the report of one man
killed and one wounded on the Busseron, this evidently referring to the
Dudley ?^Iack massacre. The Sun of May 13, 1815, has the following
paragraph : "We have to record the murder of another of our fellow
citizens by our friends the Indmis. On Saturday night last Mr. Davis
from Kentucky was killed by them near Fort Harrison. We have also
learnt that the two boys taken prisoners by them some time ago on Bus-
seron have been murdered." The last of these records of Indian hos-
tilities in this vicinity is in the issue of May 20, 1815. "On the 13th Lieut.
Morrison with 16 men was surprised and his party dispersed by the In-
dians between Busseron and Fort Harrison. Five bodies have been found
and three are missing."
There are several local accounts of the Indian depredations which are
thus briefly referred to in the newspaper items. In the former history of
the county were published the various versions of the Dudley Mack and
other Indian depredations, most of the information on the subject coming,
it was said, from Dr. Helms. These accounts are repeated substantially
as then given.
On Sunday afternoon, February 12, 1815, Dudley Mack and Madison
Collins were on their wav home from Shakertown, and had reached the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 17
east side of Busseron creek, near Lisman's ford, on Survey 20, when they
were surprised by four Indians, who commenced firing upon them, killing-
Mack instantly and wounding Collins severely. When Collins was struck
he fell from liis horse, and, though bleeding profusely from, several
wounds, he ran toward a road nearby, and just as he reached it his horse
came dashing, up to him. With the desperation of a drowning man he
swung his body over the back of the faithful animal. At this instant one
of the Indians ran up and hurled his tomahawk, which struck the horse
in the ear and caused it to dash off at full speed toward the block house,
three quarters of a mile distant. Arriving there the wounded man was
well taken care of, but there being no surgeon nearer than Vincennes, one
of the Haddons was posted off to that point, and hours had to elapse
before the wounds could be properly dressed. Collins eventually recov-
ered. The body of Mack was buried in the Jonathan Webb graveyard,
on the edge of Gill's prairie.
On the same afternoon of the above occurrence, two boys, named
Campbell and Edwards, took their guns with them when they went for the
cows, intending to kill some wolves which had been seen in their neighbor-
hood. They never returned from the woods, and were never heard of
again, though it was reported in the Sitii. as above stated, that they were
murdered.
The most interesting and detailed account of the country along the
Wabash and about Fort Harrison as it was at the close of the war of 1812
and when settlement was just beginning to change the wilderness is
afforded in an old book, entitled "Travels through the Western Country in
the Summer of 1816," by David Thomas. The book was printed in 1819,
and some of the facts have been brought up to 1819, though in general the
diary kept by this industrious and observing traveler describes things as
they were during the summer of 1816. The author had journeyed down
Vol. 1—2
i8 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
the Ohio and up to X'incenncs, and it is after setting out from the old
capital that we will join the traveler as he passes over the country fron^
X'incennes to the northern edge of settlement.
Sliakcrfozvii.
"Eight miles above Vincennes we passed from the woodland flats
into the south end of the prairie that extends up to Shakertown.
. . . .Shakertown, the residence of the Shakers, consists of
eight or ten houses of hewn logs, situate on a ridge west of the bayou,
eighteen miles above Vincennes. The site is moderately elevated.
As we approached, the blackness of the soil, and the luxuriance of
vegetation, was peculiarly attractive ; but much water was standing on
the low ground to the east ; and a mill pond on Busseron creek must
sufifuse the whole village with unwholesome exhalations
The number of inhabitants is estimated at two hundred, who live in
four families. .. .Marriage is prohibited. From dancing, as an act
of devotion, their name is derived. Like several other sects, they
conform to great plainness in apparel, but their garb is peculiar. In
language they are also very distinguishable. . . .In their dealings they
are esteemed as very honest and exemplary. Until within a few
months they entertained travelers without any compensation ; but the
influx has become so great that they have found it necessary to depart
from this practice. . . .The estate at this place consists of about 1,300
acres. The mills which they have erected are a great accommodation
to this part of the country, and to these they have added carding
machines. . . .These people settled here before the late war [1812-15] ;
but after their estate was ravaged by the troops who went with Hop-
kins on his expedition, they sought refuge amongst their own sect in
Ohio and Kentucky, and onlv returned last summer. . . .
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 19
"After procuring some refreshment [at Shakertown], we re-
sumed our journey — turning- eastward, and nearly at right agles to
the river, intending to visit M. Hoggatt, to whom we had been cH-
rected by our friends at Lick Creek. He resides on a farm belong-
ing to the Shakers, at the distance of seven miles .... Our friend has
resided between two and three years on this farm. On his first re-
moval from North Carolina, he fixed his abode at Blue River ; but
came hither to explore the lands of the New Purchase previous to the
sale. These lands have excited much attention, but various circum-
stances have conspired to prevent the surveys from being com-
pleted. . . .
French Lands.
"To satisfy the claims of the old French settlers, the United
States directed to be set apart all the lands bounded on the west by
the Wabash river ; on the south by the White river ; on the east by
the West branch ; and on the north by the north bounds of the Old
Purchase. Four hundred acres was assigned to each person entitled
to a donation. The land has never been surveyed by order of the
government, consequently it has never been regularly performed ;
and the maps of this territory within these boundaries are generally
blank. .. .AH lands held in this quarter are therefore under French
grants (except some militia claims). In locating, it was necessary
to begin at the general boundary, or at some corner of lands, the lines
of which would lead thither ; but no course was given, and the claim-
ant settled the point with his surveyor as he deemed most to his
interest ....
From Shakerfozi'ii to Fort Harrison.
"Accompanied by our kind friend AI. H. [Hoggatt] we com-
menced our journey for Fort Harrison. Our road led northwesterly
20 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
through prairies principally composed of clay, though very fertile and
interspersed with fine farms. . . .At the end of seven miles we crossed
I TUisseron creekj at a mill. . . .We then passed through harrens (so
called), which produced corn of uncommon luxuriance. .. .At the
distance of three miles we came out into the Gill's prairie, where the
extent and heauty of the scene and the luxuriance of the corn excited
our admiration ; hut the driftwood was deposited in lines above the
level of no inconsiderable part of this fine tract. Indeed, we have
seen none except the X'incennes prairie that is free from bayous. . . .
This bayou, ten miles in length, receives its waters from Turtle creek.
"We were now within the limits of the New Purchase, and con-
sequently none of the few inhabitants who have fixed here can have
titles to the land except through the intervention of Canadian
claimants.
"At Turtle Creek the woodland commences. .. .Our route still
led through woodlands. We had five miles further to travel, and
the approach of evening induced us to mend our pace. But it be-
came dark before we arrived at Tarman's [Turman's] where we
lodged. .. .This person with his family resided here before the late
war. A small prairie of 200 or 300 acres, known by his name, and
bordered by thick woods, except toward the river, chiefly contains the
improvements. Last spring, they removed from the prairie to a new
cabin in the woodlands, near the road. The upper story of this
building projects for the purpose of defense; and may serve as a
memorial of the apprehensions which overspread the white settlers
before the late treaty with the Indians at Fort Harrison. A short
time before the approach of those persons who came with Hopkins,
this family, fearful of the Indians, abandoned their dwelling and
retired down the river. In the hurry of removal many articles were
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 21
necessarily left behind. When the band arrived they wasted every-
thing that could be found ; and the sons told me that their hogs and
neat cattle were wantonly shot down, and left untouched where they
fell
"After breakfast we continued our journey. Several families
have fixed their abode one or two miles further north ; and so much
confidence has been felt in the right of possession that a sawmill has
been erected in the present season [1816] on a small creek. We
should be gratified hereafter to learn that such industry and enter-
prise have been respected. In this neighborhood we passed a coal
mine, which has been recently opened, though the work has been but
partially performed .... As the excavation is made in the channel of
a small brook, the torrent, by removing the loose earth, doubtless led
to this discovery. All the strata of this fossil that we have seen in the
western country has appeared near the surface ; and it would not
surprise me, if it should be brought forth in a thousand places where
the shovel and the pickaxe have never yet been employed "
CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
During 1815 and 1816 there was a large immigration into the north-
ern portion of Knox county. Settlement had progressed as far north
as Fort Harrison and with the opening of the land sales for the New
Purchase lands in 181 6 all the desirable tracts were quickly taken up.
There was every reason for the division of the old Knox county and the
creation from its territory of several new civil divisions. The prospect of
the creation of a new county excited considerable speculative activity in
the laying out and promotion of townsites which at the proper time
would be in a position to bid for the privilege of becoming the county
seat of the new county.
The history of the town of Carlisle, elsewhere given, shows that this
prospect was at the origin of that village. Up to this time the settlers
in this vicinity had been grouped in the vicinity of the block houses and
the Ledgerwood mill, but there was as yet no townsite. The first sale
of lots in the townsite of Carlisle occurred June 23, 1815. But other
rivals were also contending for the honors of being the seat of justice
for the county which everyone confidently expected would be formed
within a year.
22
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 23
The town of Busseron was also promoted. The proprietors of the
site were James B. McCall and James Dunkin. Their agent, David Por-
ter, in an advertisement dated at Busseron June 21, 1815, announced:
"This town was first named and pubHshed 'Indiana,' the proprietors for
the sake of conspicuity have changed it to Busseron. The town is laid
out in squares, with 12 lots in a square. In the center is a square reserved
for county buildings. . . . Busseron is situated on the north end of
the beautiful prairie of the same name, twenty miles north of Vincennes,
two miles from the Shaker settlement, one mile from Busseron creek,
and three miles from the Wabash. . . . There is a fine settlement
around this place, . . . two saw and two grist mills within two to
five miles. . . , There is every prospect of this place being the seat
of justice of the new county."
This was not the only townsite laid out as the prospective county
seat. In 1816 Monroe was elected president of the L^nited States, and
two citizens of Sullivan county sought to commemorate his name bv giv-
ing it to a town. These citizens were Benjamin Turman and Thomas C.
Shields. It is known that the former was one of the first settlers on
Turman's prairie, and it is probable that the town of Monroe was in
what is now Turman township. What we know about this townsite is
derived from an advertisement in the IVcstcni Siiji of June 28, 1817.
The proprietors above named advertise that in consequence of the seat of
justice having been located elsewhere, on payment of the first installment
on the lots sold in Monroe and the return of the title bonds, the pur-
chasers would be released from further payments.
The history of the organization of Sullivan county and the location
of its first seat of justice cannot be told in detail, since there are no
county records of the period. An act of the legislature in January, 1816,
directed that the townships of Palmyra and Busseron in Knox county be
24 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
extended north to the "Harrison purchase Hne," meaning thereby to the
hne of the purchase of 1809. This placed, temporarily, all of the terri-
tory later comprised in Sullivan and \'igo counties in the two townships
named, and so it remained until the organization of the new county.
An election notice published in May, 1816, mentions two names one of
\vhich is especially well known as a pioneer of Sullivan county. The
election was designated to be held in the house of William Purcell for
Palmyra township and in the house of Joseph Latshaw for Busseror.
township.
Another item in the Sun is also of interest at this time just before
the organization of the county. The matter of Canadian land warrants
has been referred to in the extract from the Thomas travel journal, in
the Western Sun of May 25, 1816, attention is called to an act granting
bounties in land and extra pay to "certain Canadian volunteers," passed
bv Congress JNIarch 5, 1816. President Madison proclaimed that the
warrants might be located on lands in either the Vincennes or Jefferson-
ville districts.
The firi-t public sale of lands in the New Purchase occurred a few
months before the organization of Sullivan county. It was through this
sale that the belter lands of the county were purchased and a most impor-
tant step taken toward the permanent settlement of the country. Pre-
vious to that time many settlers had located north of the old Indian Bound-
ary line, but their rights in the land were those of actual settle'iient,
without legal title to their homes.
The following paragraph from the Thomas diary concerns the land
sales : "All the best lands near the Wabash river, which have not been
reserved by the government or located by Canadian claimants, were sold
at auction in the 9 mo., 1816. Aluch land of the second and third quality
(and no inconsiderable part of these kinds is very fertile), remained,
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 25
however, for an entry of two dollars an acre payable within four vears,
by installments. One Fourth within two years and the remainder in two
equal annual payments. This condition is the rule ; and ei^^ht percent
interest is added to all payments after such become due, and eight percent
discount is allowed for prompt pay. Thus, lands paid for at the time; of
entry cost only one dollar and sixty-three cents [$1.83?) an acre. To
accomniodate persons who may be unprepared to make a paj-mcnt in full
— or who may wish to secure a lot while they make further discoveries
— lands are permitted to be entered for a certain number of days. This
privilege, however, has been abused. Entries have been made for the
sun^. of sixteen dollars (one-twentieth of the purchase monev). '.vhich
confers the right to remove within forty days every valuable timber tree
from the premises ; and if no other purchaser appears, the term is e\ en
lengthened to 90 days. Last winter (1817-18) from five to ten flollars
was the price of prairie lands, and from two to five the price of wckjJ
lands."
The following list of land purchasers in Sullivan county during the
years 1816 and 1817 preserves the names of some of the pioneer citizens.
Some of those whose names are given were no doubt speculative pur-
chasers, who invested in the lands without intention of permanent settle-
ment. P"or this and other reasons the names on the land patents of these
years do not include all the settlers of the county up to this date. The
names are given by congressional townships :
Township 6, range 8 (principally Jefiferson township) — Robert
Bedwell, Thomas Trimble, John Purcell, S. Shepard.
Township 7, range 8 (north part of Jefiferson and portions of
Haddon and Cass) — John Purdy.
Township 8, range 8 (Jackson township) — \\'illoughby Pugh
and William Pugh.
26 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Township 6, range 9 (the central part of Haddon, and most of
it south of the Indian Boundary and in the area of the Donations
and Surveys) — James Wason, John W. Nash, Stephen Milam, Rich-
ard Maxwell.
Township 7. range 9 (the northeast corner of Haddon, the south
half of Hamilton, and a corner of Gill townships) — Thomas Hamil-
ton, Thomas Pitts, William Purdy, John South, Jesse Haddon, John
Pinkler, Thomas Creager, James Curry, A. N. McClelland, Eli Xew-
lin, John Creager, Charles Hill, Henry South, Samuel Ledgerwood,
Jonathan Batsom, Andrew Wilkins, John Haddon, Moses Milam,
Samuel ]\IcClure. John Sinclair, Andrew Hamilton, John Robbins,
Abraham Johnson, Jr., William Hamilton, George Boon, Morgan
Eaton, H. S. Eaton, Robert Murphy, Titus Willard, Charles Scott.
Friend Lemon, C. & F. Bullett, Patrick Smith, John Hall, Simeon
Smith, Matthew McCammon, Brook Howell.
Township 8, range 9 (north half of Hamilton township, includ-
ing Sullivan)— Paschal Shelburn, W'illiam Pugh. Samuel Smith,
Thomas Hamilton, C. Crabtree, Eli Sinclair.
Township 9, range 9 (Curry township) — Thomas Carrithers,
James Wier, William S. Watson, John Curry, Shadrack Sherman,
William Curry, Calvin Curry, Isaac Hill.
Township 6, range 10 (southwest corner of Haddon and south
part of Gill) — John Campbell, John Wallace, John Bond, Epenetus
Webb, Jonathan Graham, Benjamin Sherman, Eli Joseph, Joseph
Ridgeway, Uriah Joseph, James Duncan.
Township 7, range 10 (north part of Gill township, including
Merom and New Lebanon) — John West, Ephraim West, Smith
Hansbaugh, Edward Neal, James Jones, William Sherman, John
Scott, Elizabeth Shepard, Joseph Warner, Felter & Hedges, William
Lester, James Caldwell, John Booth. John B. Daugherty, C. & F.
Bullett, Anthony and Richard Bumett, John Widener, Evan Rice,
Levi Springer, David Thompson, Samuel Ray, William Hill, Samuel
Elliott, Robert McXair, Samuel Smith, Samuel Ledgerwood, Jona-
than Graham, Robert Polk, William Nudford, William Burnett.
Andrew Wilkins, William Polk, Richard Maxwell, Thomas and
John Bennett, John White, Peter Elliott, Abner \'ickery, Jesse Had-
don, William South, John Hopewell, Aaron Thompson, Abijah and
Joseph Thomas. Henry French, Rankin Chandler, John C. Riley,
HISTORY OF SULLIX'AX COUNTY 27
Jacob Mumay, Thomas Edwards, Silas Dean, John Sproat, Elisha
Boudmot, Alexander Chamberlain.
Township 8, range 10 (east half of Turman township) — John
Flannagan, Jesse Davis, John McKee, Abraham Stagg, William
Johnson, James B. AlcCall, John Miller, William Woods, Thomas
N. White, Isaac Brocaw, John Haddon, Abraham McClelland, George
Kirby, Seth Cushman, David Wilkins, Josiah Bryant, Henry Little,
Benjamin Turman, Richard Posey, W'illiam Harper, James Harper,
Arnold Potter.
Township 9, range 10 (all of Fairbanks township except the
land along the river) — Phillip Frakes, John Gordon, William Mc-
Guire, Samuel Chambers, William Bryant, William Kelsoe, Jesse
Ropel, Thomas Armstrong, Reuben Moore, Shadrack Ernest,
Thomas Robbins, Ludwick Ernest, James Pogue, Joseph Chambers,
James D. Piety, James Lee, I. W\ Drennan, Alexander Clark, Gideon
Long, James Drake, James Patten, Edward H. Ransford, Isaac
Hand, Joseph Thompson, William Sherman, Benjamin Harris, Rob-
ert Wier, William Patten, Elijah Payne.
Township 7, range 11 (fractional along the river) — John W'hite,
John C. Riley.
Township 8, range 11 (fractional, being the west side of Tur-
man township) — John Lester, W. Lawrence, Thomas White, Jr.,
John White, J. C. Haliburt, Arthur Patterson, William WHiite, John
Seaton, Jonathan Lindley, William Harlow, James B. McCall, Ben-
jamin Turman, Samuel Chambers, George Rogers, Clark Sullivan,
Jonah Bryant, Nathaniel Ernest.
Township 9, range 11 (west fractional sections of Fairbanks) —
Ambrose Whitlock, Philip Smoyer, William Patten.
The act for the organization of Sullivan county, quoted at length in
the following paragraphs, was passed in December, 1816, and contained
the following essential provisions : The organization was to take place
in the following January, and the county seat was to be located in the
latter part of February. The area of the new county was much more
extensive than that of the present Sullivan county, but was not so large
as has been frequently stated. The county jurisdiction did not extend
28 mSTURV OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
north as far as the north Hue of the state, but only to the north Une of the
Xew Purchase, a few miles above Terre Haute. The western boundary
was the Wabash river and the state line, and the county extended east
approximately to th;.- White river. The house of James Sproule in the
recently platted town of Carlisle (see history ofCarlisle) was designated
as the first court house, to be used until the permanent location of the
seat of justice and the erection of county buildings. The other and
detailed provisions of the organic act follow :
Aji act for the fonnation of a nczi' county out of the county of Knox.
Section i. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state
of Indiana. That from and after the 15th day of January next, all
that part of the count}" of Knox contained within the following
boundaries shall constitute and form a separate county, viz. : Begin-
ning on the Wabash river where the line dividing townships 5 and 6
crosses the same, thence running east with said line until it strikes
the West Fork of White river, thence up the said fork to the Orange
county line, thence with said line to the Indian Boundary line, thence
with the said boundary line crossing the Wabash river to the line
dividing the state of Indiana and the Territory of Illinois, thence
with said line south to the \\'abash river, thence down the said river
with the meanders thereof to the place of beginning.
Sec. 2. The said new^ county shall be known and designated by
the name and style of the county of Sullivan, and shall enjoy all the
rights, privileges and jurisdictions which to separate counties do or
mav properly belong or appertain: Proz'idcd ahieays. that all suits,
pleas, plains, actions and proceedings in law or equit\- which may
have been commenced or instituted before the said 15th day of
January next and shall be pending in the county of Knox shall be
prosecuted and determined in the same manner as if this act h.ad
not been passed : Provided also, that all taxes which may on the saiil
15th of January next remain due and unpaid within the bounds of
the said new county of Sullivan shall be collected and paid in the
same manner and by the sanie officers as if the said new county had
not been erected.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Sec. 3. Isaac Montgomery and William Harrington, of Gibson
county, John B. Drennen and Andrew Purcell, of Knox county, and
James G. Reed, of Daviess county, be and they are hereby appointed
commissioners agreeably to an act entitled "An act for fixing the
seats of justice in all new counties hereafter laid ofif," whose duty it
shall be on receiving notice of their appointment as hereinafter
provided to repair to the house of James Sproule in the said new
county of Sullivan on the 20th day of February next and proceed to
fix the seat of justice for the said county of Sullivan agreeably to
the true intent and meaning of the above recited act, and it shall
be the duty of the Sheriff of the county of Knox to notify the said
commissioners either in person or by written notification of their
said appointments at least five days previous to the time appointed
for the meeting of said commissioners, and the said sheriff shall be
allowed a reasonable compensation for his services out of the first
moneys in the treasury of said county of Sullivan, to be allowed
and paid as other county claims usuall}- arc.
Sec. 4. The circuit and other courts of the said county of Sulli-
van shall be holden at the house of James Sproule until the public
buildings are in such state of forwardness that the circuit court of
said county shall deem it expedient to adjourn said court to the place
established for the seat of justice of said county, after which time the
said courts shall be holden at the seat of justice established a>
aforesaid.
Sec. 5. The said county of Sullivan shall be attached to and
form a part of the first circuit, and the circuit courts for said countv
of Sullivan shall commence and be held at the place aforesaid for
holding said courts on the Mondays next succeeding the week in
which the circuit courts are directed by law to be held in the county
of Daviess ; Provided, that the agent to be appointed for said county
of Sullivan shall reserve in his hands ten per centum out of the
proceeds of the sale of the town lots at the seat of justice for said
county, and shall pay the same over to such person as may here-
after be appointed by law to receive the same, for the use of a library
for said county; And provided also, that the said county of Sullivan
shall form a part of the representative and senatorial districts for
the countv of Knox, until altered bv law.
29
30 HISTORY OF SULLRAX COUNTY
This act shall be in force from and after the 15th day of Jan-
uary next.
Approved December 30, 18 16.
Jonathan Jennings.
Isaac Blackford,
Speaker of the house of representatives.
Christopher Harrison,
President of the senate.
Carlisle was the county seat for about two years. Perhaps some of
the court sessions were held, as the law directed, at the house of James
Sproule, but there is a well circulated tradition that the judge and lawyers
and litigants often held court in the open air under the shelter of a large
beech tree that once spread its broad shade in the village.
Of the official acts of the commissioners and courts during this inter-
esting period only fragm.entary records remain. One of these is an
advertisement in the Western Sitii. dated November 20. 1817. signed by
B. Johnson. Sheriff, announcing that he will expose certain lots in Terre
Haute for sale for delinquent taxes. "The sale will commence at 10
o'clock at the court house in the town of Carlisle. Indiana." At that time
Terre Haute was within the jurisdiction of Sullivan county, the organiza-
tion of Vigo county being eft'ected the following year.
A similar announcement of delinquent tax sale, dated January 17,
1818. refers to the town of Busseron, which, like ^Monroe, with the col-
lapse of its county seat prospects, had failed to grow. There were 47 lots
advertised for this sale, the owners' names being unknown. This is evi-
dence that these towns, like many other towns laid out in a new countrv,
were founded for speculative purposes, and the lots were largely sold to
non-residents.
The principal institution of the town of Busseron was the old Ledger-
wood mill. Though the court house went to Carlisle, this old mill seat
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 31
for many years continued to supply the residents of this vicinity with
flour, lumber, whiskey and other commodities of pioneer manufacture.
An advertisement in the Jl'csfcrn Sim dated "December, 1816, Busseron,"
and signed by Morgan Eaton, reads as follows: "The subscriber is happy
to inform the inhabitants of Knox county and vicinity that his distillery
is now in complete operation. Orders for whiskey, gin, etc., will be punc-
tually attended to. He will sell corn whiskey at 75 cents a gallon, rye
wdiiskey at one dollar per gallon, until change of market."
There is brief mention of another resident of that time at Busseron
in the issue of April 21, 181 7. James Dunkin advertises lots for sale in
the town, among them three lots with buildings, store and tavern. All
traces of these early business activities have long since disappeared from
the site.
A pioneer of Carlisle and vicinity, who is elsewhere mentioned, was
an advertiser in the Sun in January, 1817, — "Kenewha salt of the first
quality for sale by John Duly, in Busseron prairie, one mile from Carlisle,
which will be sold for cash, furs and skins, or for produce such as corn
and wheat."
The first general election held in Sullivan county after its organiza-
tion occurred in August, 1817, at which 155 votes were cast for Posey
and 126 for Hendricks, they being the rival candidates for the office of
congressman from this state.
After careful comparison of the existing records relating to the
founding and early history of Carlisle and Merom, it is reasonable to
conclude that Carlisle was never officially selected as the county seat of
Sullivan county. The organic act designated the house of James Sproule
as the temporary seat of justice until the permanent location and until
the new county buildings were ready. For this reason Carlisle held the
honor of being the county seat for a year or more. But in the account of
32 HISTORY OF SULLI\AX COUNTY
Arerom (elsewhere given) it appears that the eounty agent who man-
aged the sale of lots for the county seat issued his announcement of this
sale at Merom in June, 1817, and it is reasonable to suppose that the
commissioners had previous to that time decided upon the location for
the court house. However, it is probable that the actual removal of the
seat of justice to Alerom did not occur until the following year. Tradi-
tional accounts fix 1819 as the date when court sessions and other county
business began to be transacted in Aferom.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PIONEER MEX AND WOMEN— GENESIS OF THE EARLY
SETTLERS.
The preceding pages have narrated the general course of events up to
and inckiding the organization of Sulhvan county. Many individuals
have been mentioned, some more frequently and prominently than others.
Much must always remain unsaid concerning the pioneer citizens of any
locality, the data having long since disappeared. The following para-
graphs represent an effort to place on record, from such material as could
be obtained, the essential facts relating to a large number of individuals
and families who may be classed as pioneers. The classification of pio-
neers in this instance is an arbitrary one. The word is usually an elastic
term, and is here most applied to those persons who came into the county
to reside before the year 1840. Some names will not be found in this
record which would be expected to occur there, for the reason that some
of these characters seem more properly assignable to the chapters on the
bench and bar, the medical profession, and other divisions.
The pioneer member of the Akin family, which has been so promi-
nent in the county and particularly about Carlisle, was Ransom W. Akin,
who was a merchant at Carlisle from 1838 until relieved of active duties
33
Vol. 1—3
34 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
by his sons. He died June i8, 1880, aged about seventy-four. As to the
family origin, Virginia was the native state of his parents, who had emi-
grated to Clark county, Indiana, almost at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. For a few years Colonel Akin was in the banking business at
Bloomington. He left six sons and three daughters, and had lost three
children by death.
The late James L. Allan, who died at Sullivan March 15, 1904, was
one of the county's venerable citizens, having spent nearly seventy years
here as a resident. He was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, February
14, 1818, came to this county with his parents in 1835, was married at the
age of eighteen to Rachel Louise Eaton (who died in 1897), and spent
his life as a farmer. He was a member of the Methodist church.
On July 31, 1876, died at Carlisle the head of one of the most promi-
nent families of the county. Joshua Alsop had been identified with the
business and civic interests of the county many years, but had repeatedly
refused to accept public office, until 1870, wdien he was elected and served
a term in the state senate. He was born in Northumberlandshire, Eng-
land, September 5, 1807. His parents and the three other children left
England May 18, 1818, and after living a year at Walls Corners, New
York, set out for the west, York, Illinois, being their destination. Most
of the journey was made in a flatboat. It is not known in just what year
Joshua Alsop moved to Sullivan county, but he was prominent in the
construction of the first railroad through the county. A charter was
granted to the \'incennes and Terre Haute Railroad in 1851, and when
this line was consolidated with the Vincennes and Evansville he was
elected a director of the new road, the Evansville and Crawfordsville.
While a resident of Carlisle he showed a liberal hand in supporting the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY 35
public schools. He subscribed liberally toward the school building that
was erected in 1857, and when it was completed he offered a loan to
relieve the schoolhouse of the builder's lien. He married, February 14,
1837, ]\Iargaret Calvert, who was born in Washington county, Kentucky,
May 10, 181 1, and died October 10, 1877. They had seven children.
From Kentucky came the Arnetts, of Gill and Haddon townships.
The date of the removal of Levin Arnett to this county is not given
exactly, though his son William was born in Gill township in 1823, and
the family have always been spoken of among the early settlers of the
county.
One of the fine old Christian gentlemen of Curry township was Elder
John Bailey, who died at his home on Palmer's prairie, July 6, 1877. He
was past eighty, having been born September 15, 1795, in Jefferson
county, Kentucky. The family moved to Orange county, Indiana, about
1805. The father was one of those restless pioneers who prepare the
ground for permanent occupation but are satisfied to leave the fruits of
their endeavors to others. It was his practice to clear farms, make
improvements, then sell, and move further back into the wilderness and
begin the process over again. John Bailey assisted hiiu until he w-as
twenty years old when he married Elizabeth Henry, and settled in Law-
rence county on Pleasant run. He was a pioneer, and had to travel thirty
miles to mill. About 1836 he was converted and immersed by Elder Isaac
Martin, an event which changed the whole manner of his life. He was
thereafter one of the strong members of the Christian church, and died in
that faith. He settled on Curry's prairie in 1845. His first wife died in
1863, and the following year he married Elizabeth Harris.
36 HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY
In the issue of the Democrat of January 2, 1878, was announced the
death of Henry Barnard. As first president of the national bank organ-
ized at SulHvan in 1872. he had for several years been a citizen of marked
influence. He was a man of fine culture and attainments, was lavish in
the expenditure of his large means, and showed his generosity in support
of every benevolent enterprise. Failing health had caused his resignation
from the bank several years before his death, and he spent the remaining
years in Bucksport, ]\laine.
Ferdinand Easier was a citizen whose life and services are still well
remembered in the county. A native of Switzerland, he came to this
county in November, 1848, was engaged in business in town and also at
farming; in 1855 was elected justice of the peace of Hamilton township,
served as county auditor from March, 1864, to March, 1868. In 1872 he
became a member of the state board of agriculture, and the following year
was appointed by that board a delegate to the Vienna exposition of 1873.
He assisted in laying out Center Ridge cemetery and was president of the
board of directors at the time of his death, and was president of the county
agricultural society two years.
\\'illiam E. Beard served as a commissioner of the county six years.
He lived in Sullivan countv from 1826 until his death in Turman town-
ship. May 14. 1865. He was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, in 1804.
and was a member of the Christian church.
Among the pioneers of southern origin may be mentioned the Bed-
wells, Elisha and Susan (Hinkle), who came from Kentucky and North
Carolina respectively, the Collinses, Willias S. and Mary (Hoke), who
brought their family from Kentucky to Haddon township in 1837; the
■"■It.
HISTORY OF SL'LLIX AX COLXTV ^-j
Corbins, Vincent Corbin having come from his native state of \^irginia
first to Kentucky, and in 1829 to Sulhvan county ; the Davidsons, of whom
Daniel was the pioneer who moved to this county not long after the war
of 1812-15, one of whose sons was Thomas E.. born in ITarldon township
in 1819 (died February 5, 1895'), 'I'l^l '"'ig known as a i)rosperous farmer.
The Nash family was transplanted from Kentucky to this countv bv
]\Iarvel W. Xash sometime about the '20s. Another Kentucky family,
related by marriage to the X^ashes, was the Shakes, the pioneer David
Shake having moved from Oldham county, Kentucky, to Haddon town-
ship in 1830. Other Kentuckians who belonged to this group of pioneer
settlers in Haddon township were Benjamin Ridgway and John Snvder,
who. with their descendants, have been well known people in the vicinity
of Paxton for the past eighty years. Sometime before 1823 Joseph Trim-
ble brought his family from Kentucky to Haddon township. Luke and
Samuel W'alters each brought families from Kentucky to this countv,
during the early thirties, and the name has been familiar in Haddon
township for many years.
One of the last survivors of the war with Mexico was Willis Bene-
field. who died at his home in Sullivan. March 2;i^, 1902. He was a mem-
ber of Captain Briggs' company in the war, being then a young man of
about twenty-four years. The family have been identified with this
county since 1836. when the mother moved here from Illinois. Willis
was born in Lawrence county. Indiana, in 1822. and in 1850 married
Elizabeth ^1 ax well, by whom there were three children.
During the pioneer days of this county, it was very rare that a set-
tler of foreign birth came to the county. One such was Adam F. Ben-
singer, who was born in Germany in 1787, who came to Sullivan county
38 HISTORY (3F SULLIVAX COUNTY
about 1830, and was the founder of family of honored activities and
connections.
Jesse Bicknell, who died in December, 1882, was clerk of the county
two terms, and had also served as deputy in the office when ]\Iajor Griffith
was clerk. 'Sir. Bicknell was born in Kentucky the latter part of 1829, at
an early age was thrown on his own responsibilities, and about 1855 began
working in the store of John Giles at New Lebanon.
. \\'illiani Blackburn was lieutenant colonel of the Seventh Illinois
Cavalry, having entered the service as captain, August 10, 1861. He was
Avounded in ^Mississippi, May 5, 1863, and died twelve days later. He
was a member of the Presbyterian chvirch at Carlisle, and also Carlisle
Lodge No. 50, I. O. O. F.
A unique distinction belonged to William Bledsoe, who died at his
home in Dugger, November 14, 1905. in his eightieth year. It was as-
serted that he was without doubt the most famous hunter the countv ever
produced. He had lived in the eastern part of the county since he was
grown, and throughout his active life was an ardent and successful Nim-
rod. The claim is made that he killed the last wild deer which was ever
seen in the county. He had a record of killing sixteen deer in three
consecutive mornings. Lie was born in Lawrence county, Indiana. Oc-
tober 29, 1826.
William Alfred Brunker, who died April 8, 1902, had been identified
wnth the town of Farmersburg for nearly half a century. In 1858 he had
established a general store and grain market at that place, during the
sixties was engaged largely in fanning, and then began the manufacture of
a healing compound known as "Brunker's Balsam," the patent for which
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 39
in 1880 he disposed of to an eastern firm. He had served as postmaster at
Farmersburg during the administrations of Buchanan and Lincohi, and
was a justice of the peace three terms. He was a native of England,
born in 1825, had to contend with poverty and had few educational oppor-
tunities, and for a immbcr of years was employed in hospitals and asylums
at Bristol, where he met his wife, Phoebe Say. He came to America in
1 85 1, and began work at a dollar a day, but rapidly rose in prosperity.
Jacob Booker at his death, January 22, 1882, was one of the oldest
residents of the county. He was born in Jefferson county, Kentuckv, in
1798. and had located in Indiana when about twenty-one years old. He
lived many years in the northeast part of Haddon township.
In his reminiscences of the early Indiana courts and bar, Oliver H.
Smith relates the ridiculous experience of State Senator George Boon(e),
in courting a young lady in his neighborhood. \Miether this incident
happened in Sullivan county is not related, but it was probably founded, in
fact or romance, in Kentucky, where Boon's family home belonged. He
claimed relationship with the great Daniel Boone. George Boon was
called in later years the Abraham Lincoln of Sullivan county. He was
nearly seven feet tall, of massive proportions. His large feet came in for
the greater part of the ridicule and jokes at his expense. Despite his un-
gainly body he was a very popular man, and was repeatedly elected to the
legislature. During his service in the assembly the question of internal
improvements was the most discussed and more nearly concerned the
people than any other aft'air. Boon was opposed to the state undertaking
internal improvements on the scale then demanded, and his failure to ask,
or obtain, anything for his county in this direction was the cause of his
defeat by Colonel Haddon for one term, when he was again successful,
40 IIISTORN' e)F SULLIX'AN COUNTY
and he continued in the legislature until his death, at the age of about
5". He wanted to go to Congress, and at one time was in opposition to
John W. Davis and John Ewing, the latter gaining the coveted honor.
Tavner Bowcn, who died December i, 1890, and was buried in the
Indian Prairie cemetery, had lived in this vicinity many years, and was
the first president of the F. M. B. A. Lodge 2903. He was born in Jessa-
mine county, Kentucky, January i, 1818, and at the age of eighteen moved
to Indiana with his parents, settling in Knox county. In 1838 he married
Anna Robbins, and came to Sullivan county, where he passed the re-
mainder of his life. He was the father of ten children. In 1844 he
united with the Indian Prairie Baptist church under Rev. Stephen Ken-
nedy. In February, 1864, he enlisted in Captain Gillman's company (C)
of the 1 20th Regiment and served till the close of the war. He also
served as a justice of the peace in his township.
It was said of James Brewer, who died near Fairbanks, October,
1889, aged si.xty-eight, that he was a prominent man not because of offices
held, but for his virtues. The Masons conducted his funeral, and I. H.
Meteer came from Crawfordsville to preach the sermon. He was a mem-
ber of the Brewer family which has so numerously and actively been iden-
tified with the county, was born in Butler county, Ohio, and came to this
county when he was two or three years old.
William Brewer died at his home in Turman township, October 24,
1899, one of the oldest native citizens of this part of the county, having,
been born near Graysville, March 26, 1826. He was a farmer most of
his life, but was also a member of the firm of Brewer and Burton of Snl-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COLXTY 41
livan. His first wife was Mary Ann Hawkins, wiio died in 1867, and in
1868 he married Amelia Miles of New Lebanon, who died in 1893. In
1895 he married Rebecca Thornberry of Graysville.
The Brewer family, one of whose representatives is Orlando C.
Brewer of Fairbanks township, was founded in Sullivan county before
1820, by John and Mary (Cook) Brewer. John Brewer once cultivated a
farm on land that is now included within the city of Terre Haute, and
from there moved to Graysville, where most of his life was spent, being
a merchant there, and a member of the Methodist church. lie died Mav
20, 1880, in his eighty-fourth year.
At New Lebanon, during the forties, quite an industr}- was carried on
in the building of flat-boats for the Wabash river traffic. One of the
pioneers who engaged in this business at that place was Richard Anderson
Bland. He was a cabinet maker at Carlisle and New Lebanon, and also
had a sawmill. He spent his last years at Sullivan, where he died August
3, 1904, in his ninetieth year. He was a venerable citizen and early resi-
dent of the Methodist community at New Lebanon, and it was his dis-
tinction to have been a member of the church over sixty-five years, and
to have assisted in the building of the old Methodist church at New Le-
banon as also the present church edifice there and likewise the ^l. E.
church at Sullivan. He was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, January
6, 1815, when a boy moved with the family to New Albany, and in 1834
the family home was established at New Lebanon, where, in January,
1835, he married Eusebia Mason. William H. and Thomas F. Bland
were among the nine children of this union. After the death of his first
wife in 1876 Mr. Bland married Amelia x\nn Allen, who died in 1891.
42 HISTORY OF SLLLRAX COUNTY
The Burnett famil\' which belongs to the early pioneer epoch of
Sullivan county was especially identified with Gill prairie and Xew Le-
banon. The date assigned for the settlement of the family on this prairie
was 1813. Joseph Burnett, the son of the original settler, died in the
county February 10. 1876. He was born in Kentucky, September 13,
1809. He was a Democrat and Methodist, and a wholesome citizen of his
time.
John R. Burnett, another member of the family, died at Xew Le-
banon. January 21, 1892, aged eighty-eight years. At one time he owned
all the land on which X'ew Lebanon is built_, but lost most of his property
by going securit\-.
Stephen G. Burton, who died October, 1875. at one time represented
Sullivan county in the legislature.
On September 25, 1890. passed away one of the oldest men of Sulli-
van county. Christian Canary was probably the last survivor of the war
of 181 2 in Sullivan county. Born near Danville, fiercer county, Ken-
tucky, ]\Iay 7. 1792, he married Xancy South, on June 8. 1812, and soon
afterward enlisted for service in the war with Great Britain, under Captain
Lankister and General Carter. In October, 1816, with his father-in-law,
Henry South, he moved to what was then the northern part of Knox
county, but which in the following winter was made Sullivan county.
The name is especially identified with the Gill township neighborhood,
where a son of Christian Canary still lives, himself now an old man. One
of the celebrations of age and family which had more than picturesque
interest was the gathering of relatives, descendants and friends on the
4th of May, 1882, in honor of the ninetieth birthday of this patriot and
pioneer. There was dinner, music by the Sullivan Opera House band.
HISTORY OF SULLUAX COUNTY 43
stories of the old time, and the festivity and i)athos that mark such an
occasion. Christian Canary joined the ALethochst church when eighteen,
was one of that Alethodist community that made New Lehanon a center
of church and echicational affairs fifty years ago, and to the end of his hfe
remained a member of the church.
The name of WilHam Curry has been perpetuated in Currv township,
which was named in his lienor, as the first settler. He came there about
1817 from Kentucky, and was followed by Sanuiel and Robert Currv.
Not only these pioneers, but many of their children have passed away, and
only representatives of the third and fourth generation are now resident
in the county. Thomas Franklin Curry was probably the first of the
family to claim this county as his birthplace. He was born in Curry
township October 4, 1818, and died January i, 1878. leaving ten children.
He was a member of the Presbyterian church 44 years.
Another branch of the Curry family was represented by John F.
Curry, who died at Sullivan, October 30, 1889. He was born near Terre
Haute, in 1824, a son of James Curry, who was a pioneer in the vicinity of
Vincennes. John F. Curry lived for many years at Carlisle, having
learned the tailor business under Peter Hawk there. He was elected
sheriff of the county in 1872, and after his term continued in business at
Sullivan till his death. He was a Presbyterian and a member of the Odd
Fellows order.
On May 16, 1906, occurred the death of William Curry, one of the
oldest citizens of the county, and almost a native son, having come to this
county with Samuel Curry, his father, in 1822, when two years old, and
for eighty-four years had been a resident of Curry township. In 1846 he
44 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
married Rebecca Russell. Joseph Wolfe Curry and Spencer- Russell
Curr\- are two of their four children.
The Calvert family settled at Carlisle shortly after the close of the
war of 1812. They were Kentuckians, and John Calvert, who died Oc-
tober 26, 1883, was born in Springfield, Kentucky, September 16, 1807,
and had lived in the county since he was nine years old. He married,
February 26, 1830, Delilah Pitts, and had eleven children. The family
were Methodists.
Thomas Martin Campbell, who died at his farm north of Sullivan,
February 26, 1884, was born in Knox county. Ohio. March 17, 1820. He
represented an old Presbyterian family, and had himself been a member
of the church since he was twenty-one, and was an elder in the church at
Sullivan at the time of his death.
George Carrithers, who died at Graysville. January 23, 1882, was a
man of note not only because of his sixty-five years' residence in this
vicinity, but for the character and strength that are naturally associated
with the pioneer. "I do not remember," said Rev. J. H. Meteer, "to
have met another man who had so supreme a contempt for idleness, and
whole life so nearly conformed to his theory. . . .Those who were favored
with his intimate acquaintance always gained by his counsel, whether in
matters of business or religion." He was born in Kentucky, in May,
1800, came with the family to this state in 18 17, at which time he and his
brother went into the woods and cut and split 500 rails, w^ith which they
fenced ten acres of ground from which the family raised its first crops.
At the age of 28 he married Jane Weir, and his death broke their wedlock
of fiftv-four vears. Four children were left. He had united with the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 4.:;
Scaffold Prairie I'resbyterian church in 1835, and the same year was
chosen an elder of Hopewell church of Graysville.
Bennett Caffee, whose death occurred at Frankfort. Indiana, March
25, 1896, was at one time identified with the newspaper business of Sulli-
van, having come to Sullivan in 1868 as publisher of the Dcuiocrat. In
1862 he married Belinda Briggs, a daughter of Benjamin Briggs. He
was sixty-five years old at the time of his death.
Joseph Click was born in Kentucky, March 10, 1817, and died Feb-
ruary 27, 1894, having been a resident of Sullivan county since 1865. He
became a member of Mt. Tabor Methodist church. He married Cvnthia
Hays, January, 1851, and had nine children.
Joseph Cunningham, who died suddenly August i, 1893, had been
for several years the efficient superintendent of the Sullivan County Agri-
cultural Society, and shortly before his death had, with \V. H. Crowder,
erected the new mill at Sullivan. He had been held in high esteem by his
fellow citizens, having been first nominated for public office in 1878, when
he appeared on the National ticket for the office of sheriff. Though he
failed of election that time^ after running ahead of the rest of the ticket,
he was nominated for the same office in 1880 and polled double the number
of votes given to any other name on the ticket, though not enough to give
him the office.
William E. Catlin will be remembered as one of the early merchants
on the north side of the square at Sullivan. He established his store in
1850, and for many years carried a general stock of merchandise, dry-
goods, groceries, and liquors. He was born in Washington county. Ken-
46 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
tucky, February 21, 1818, and died at his home in Sullivan May 31, 1906,
leaving a son, William Francis. The family had come to Sullivan county
during the early twenties, living a short distance north of Carlisle. Wil-
liam E. Catlin during his youth taught four years of school in the school-
house that stood on his father's farm. When he first voted for a president,
his ballot was cast for Martin \'an Buren. He married, in 1838, Eliza-
beth H. Ridge.
The name Creager that is owned by numerous persons in this county
was among the early names at the old town of Merom. C3ne of the oldest
of the family was William Creager, who died at Merom. March 30, 1868,
and one of the last of the town's pioneers. He was a native of Kentucky,
and for many years had been a justice of the peace at this locality.
June 12, 1878. \\'illiam Combs, a county commissioner, then serving
his second term, died in Cass township, where he had long been a resident.
He was about sixty years old, was a successful farmer, was known for his
strong practical sense and uprightness of dealings.
In the old Carlisle cemetery, in a small lot surrounded with an iron
fence, stands a plain marble obelisk with a base on which are stated only
these simple facts : "Hon. John W. Davis, born in New Holland, Lancas-
ter county. Pa., April 16, 1799, died at Carlisle, Ind., August 22, 1859,"
together with the name of his wife, x'Xnn Hoover Davis, who died De-
cember 28, 1859. To one who was unfamiliar with the early history of
Sullivan county and of Indiana the monument tells only the mortal facts
about a man who. in reality, for thirty years was prominent among the
men who shaped the history of Indiana. He served in the legislature of
the state six terms, and was three times speaker of the house ; was sent
HISTORY OF SULLi\-AN COUNTY 47
to Congress four times, and was the first of three Indiana men who served
as speaker of the national house of representatives ; was commissioner
to China, governor of Oregon territory, and a judge of the probate court,
besides many other connections with ])ubhc and private hfe. In his
reminiscences, Ohver H. Smith said of him, "few men in this or any
other state have held so many prominent positions or discharged their
duties with greater ability."
Of his family, none now live in Sullivan county, though a son is a
resident of Greene county. An earlier generation would remember iiim
as much for his services as a physician as in public life. He graduated
from the University of Maryland as a physician in 1821, and two years
later arrived at Carlisle with three cents in his pocket and a wife to sup-
port. For five years he practiced as a country doctor, part of the time
being at Terre Haute. He entered politics in 1828, but was defeated for
the state senate by William C. Linton. He became probate judge, and
later was a successful candidate for the legislature. He tried for election
as congressman in 1833, but John Ewing defeated him by two votes.
Two years later he was successful against the same rival by a thousand
votes. Persistency was the strongest element of his character, and
through its exercise he accomplished many things that a less determined
nature would not have attained. In 1841 his opponent was the noted Col.
Dick Thompson of Terre Haute, who was elected. Immediately after
his defeat. Dr. Davis successfully sought election to the state legislature,
and was elected speaker of the house. Two subsequent terms he was
sent to Congress, and during the twenty-ninth session was speaker of
the house.
In 1847 President Polk appointed him commissioner to China, and
on his return two years later he again went to the legislature and was
chosen speaker. In 1852 Mr. Davis was chairman of the Democratic
48 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
national convention which met at P>aUimore in June, 1852. Cass and
lUichanan were the principal candidates for nomination, but the delegates
were so divided that after thirty-five l)allotings had been tried no candidate
had sufificient sup])ort to make liim the nominee. The convention ad-
journed at noon with the understanding that Virginia should bring in a
compromise candidate. Franklin Pierce was the "dark horse" brought
forward, but when the balloting was completed it was found that Pierce
led Davis of Indiana by only one vote, though on the forty-ninth ballot
the nomination was made practically unanimous for Pierce. President
Pierce later appointed Dr. Davis governor of Oregon, and after this he
was elected to the legislature of the state, "by the most flattering vote,"
he said. "I ever received from the good people of Sullivan county." His
last public appointment was by the secretary of war as a member of the
board of visitors to the West Point Military Academy, and he served as
president of the board.
According to an estimate of his life published some time ago. Dr.
Davis was a plain, substantial man, not of extraordinary mental calibre,
but of good sound judgment, and unusually qualified as a presiding
officer. "As a safe and prudent legislator," said W. W. Woolen of In-
dianapolis, "he was the equal of any man in the state in his day. More-
over, no one ever doubted his honesty. He kept his hands clean. With
opportunities for money-making possessed by few, he contented himself
with his legitimate earnings, and died a poor man." He was a Democrat
in politics. While making a political address on one occasion, some one
in the audience annoyed and interrupted by asking him regarding his
advocacy of this and that Democratic measure. At length he said : "My
friend, to save you trouble and me annoyance, I will say now that I en-
dorse everything the Democratic party ever has done, and everything
HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY 49
that it ever will do." He was a large man, over six feet tall, with light
hair, blue eyes and a florid complexion.
In the Palmer's prairie graveyard in Cass township is a slab marking
the grave of Hon. James DePauw, who once represented this county in
the legislature, and whose son, Washington C. DePauw, has perpetuated
the name by his liberal gifts to the university which is now DePauw
University. Harvey Wilson was authority for the statement that James
DePauw made his canvass for the legislature in advocacy of a new tax
law, was elected on that platform, and succeeded in having the law-
changed to conform to his theory. Previous to 1835 the public revenues
were obtained from what were known as "specific taxes," i. e., so much
tax was levied on every horse, so much for each yoke of oxen, so much
for an acre of land, etc., and no distinctions were made between the objects
of each classification on the basis of value. Mr. DePauw was the first
man in this locality to advocate taxation on an ad ivIorcDi basis. The
date usually assigned for the settlement of James DePauw in this county
is 1832. He located at Caledonia, in the vicinity of the water-power mill
on Busseron creek, and did a large business in flat-boating from that
point, being one of the early pork dealers who shipped pork from this
locality down the rivers to the southern market.
A daughter of James DePauw married John Y. Dodd, who was born
in Kentucky in 1802 and died in this county, January 10, 1892, lacking
about two months of attaining the venerable age of ninety years. After
his marriage he began farming near Caledonia, where his father-in-law
then conducted a general store and pork-packery, and was probably pro-
prietor of the mill. Mr. Dodd was a man of considerable strength of
character, warm in his attachments, and extremely firm in his convictions.
Vol. 1—4
50 HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
The older citizens of Gill township recall varied memories of William
F. Dodds, who was postmaster at New Lebanon for thirty years, was a
squire for a quarter of a century, and very well and favorably known in
that community. He was born in Kentucky in 1809 and came to Bloom-
ington, Indiana, when ten years old, and in 1830 located at New Lebanon,
where he lived until his death in August, 1873. He was a member of the
M. E. church thirty-seven years, and was buried w'ith the ceremonies of
the Odd Fellows order, having been a member of the Carlisle lodge twenty
years.
One of the well known merchants of Sullivan was John Davis, whose
death in 1891 removed one of the old citizens of the county. He was
born near Vincennes, September 30, 181 1, and had lived in Sullivan county
since March, 1819.
John Dudley, who served as sheriff for two terms in the seventies,
died in August, 1899, being at the time one of the oldest native sons,
having been born in the county in 1824. His first wife was Anna
Springer, of New Lebanon, and the second, ]\Iary Jane Benefield, of
Sullivan.
A family name that has been associated with Haddon township and
Carlisle during early years was that of Dooley or Duly, as it was also
spelled. There is a stone in the Carlisle cemetery, much defaced by age
and weather, placed there "In memory of John Duly, who was bom
, and died February 18, 1837, aged (63?) years."
A more familiar personage, and one whose name appears on some
of the early official documents to be found in the county, was Henry
Dooley, presumably a son or relative of the above. He served as orderly
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 51
sergeant in Captain Briggs' company of volunteers for the Mexican war,
and after his return was for six years sheriff of the county, and then a
justice of the peace.
The Eaton family was established near Carlisle about 1813, perhaps
a little later. William Eaton, who died near New Lebanon in July, 1873,
was at that time about eighty years of age, a native of Fleming county,
Kentucky. He served, so it was said, in the war of 18 12, and probably
located in this county during and soon after the close of that war. He
married Mary Hunt in June, 181 5, and in 1825 moved to New Lebanon.
He had become a member of the M. E. church in 1817, and held the
office of trustee and class leader at the time of his death.
Probably a brother of William Eaton was the old justice of the peace
at Carlisle, John H. Eaton, who lies buried in the cemetery there. Ac-
cording to the inscription on his tombstone, he was born November 25,
1794, and died March, 1842. During the thirties he was a justice of the
peace in Haddon township, and must have been a man of some promi-
nence. He had the habit of writing the initial of his middle name so
close to the E of the final name that it seemed one word, and to a stranger
his name would seem to be John Heaton. It was so mistaken in several
instances where his name occurred in print. It seems that the chiseler
who cut his name on the tombstone was instructed to carry out this pecul-
iarity, for at first glance the name on the stone seems to be Heaton.
The Ellis family, which is represented in the third generation by
Claude A. Ellis of Carlisle, was of Virginia origin, the grandparents John
W. and Sarah E. Ellis both being natives of that state and coming to this
county some time in the "20s or early '30s. Thomas O. Ellis, a native
son of the county and representing the second generation of the family
52 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
here, is a man of unusual liistorical interest because of his connection,
while a young man during the fifties, with the Nicaraugua filibuster under
Captain Walker, which was one of the romantic episodes of American
history.
William Ernest, who died at his home in Fairbanks, August 29,
1882, had lived in this state since 1827, and joined the Baptist church in
Fairbanks in 1834. He was born in North Carolina in 1804, and came
to this state with his parents.
Alexander Engle, who died December 16, 1904, was for many years a
local preacher of the Christian church, having vmited with that denomina-
tion in 1861. He was born in Sullivan coiunty, October 20, 1826, and in
1849 married Patsy Rose.
Alonzo F. Estabrook was for many years surveyor of the county.
He was born in Reading, Windsor county, Vermont, March 7, 1814, and
came west during the construction of Wabash and Erie Canal, being one
of the surveyors connected with that enterprise. He studied medicine
and practiced for a year but later resumed surveying, and for a long time
resided at Carlisle. He died at the home of a son near Gordon, Nebraska,
April 3, 1892. At the time of his death his son J. Alonzo was living near
Carlisle.
Dr. William A. Fleming, practiced a quarter of a century at
Pleasantville before his death, which occurred July 10, 1892. Dropsy
was the cause of his death. He was born in Jeft'erson county, Ohio, in
1841, read medicine there until this was interrupted by service in the army,
being connected with the hospital service part of the time, and after the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY ^^
war continued his studies in the medical department of the University of
Michigan, coming to Pleasantvihe in the summer of 1866. For fourteen
years he was the partner of Dr. James McDowell, later with Dr. McClung,
and then with Dr. L. C. McDowell.
One of the veterans of the Mexican war, who was also in the Civil
war, was Col. James H. Garrett, who lived at Carlisle a numher of vears,
but who died at Newton, Iowa, January 30, 1877, being fifty-two years of
age at the time of his death.
The Giles family was located in the vicinity of A/ferom about 1830.
At least one member of the family, John Giles, was engaged in the flat-
boat commerce to New Orleans, and was later a merchant and county
treasurer, and president of the Farmers State Bank of Sullivan. Hugh
H. Giles, a native of New Jersey, was the original immigrant to this
county, coming here in 1830. Hopkins Giles died in Gill township August
3, 1867, aged 71. John Giles died in November, 1894.
Robert A. Gilkison and wife, natives of Kentucky, came to Sullivan
county in 1816, not long after the close of the war of 1812. For a number
of years their home was on the prairie near Carlisle, but they spent their
last years on the Gilkison farm a mile and a half west of Sullivan.
John Gilkison (or Gilkerson), who was born in Fleming county,
Kentucky, in 1815, and died at his home in Sullivan, July 25, 1899, was a
year old when brought to this county. For many years he lived on a fine
farm along the Merom road a short distance from Sullivan. He married,
in 1839, Mary A. Canary, who died in 1879, and in 1882 he married Mrs.
Sarah Ann Freeman.
54 HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
A well known and honored citizen passed away on February 6, 1893,
in the death of William H. Griffin. He was seventy-seven years old, and
many years before had located at Fairbanks, where he was a saddle manu-
facturer. He entered local politics, was one of the county commissioners
during- the war, having been elected from the second district in 1862, and
in 1866 was county treasurer and re-elected to that office in 1868. He
was a Mason and Odd Fellow.
^Messages of condolence from Senator D. W. Voorhees and Col. W.
E. McLean of Terre Haute read at the funeral of Major William C.
Griffith, who died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Zerilda Reed, in
Sullivan, February 5, 1892, showed the high estimate placed upon that
worthy soldier and citizen who for more than half a century had been a
resident of Sullivan. He was ninety-four years old at the time of his
death. His father was one of seven brothers who came to Pennsylvania
from Wales and all served in the Revolutionary war, and about 1816
moved to Kentucky. In 1817 William C. Griffith married Fannie Mc-
Grew, and fifty years later they celebrated their golden anniversary, their
wedded life continuing three years longer. During the latter part of the
war of 1812 he recruited a company of volunteers and was chosen major
of the regiment to which it was attached. He was one of the last, if not
the last, survivor of that war in Sullivan county. He had been a member
of the Baptist church since 1823. He was clerk of the Sullivan circuit
court four years.
Some of the older residents will recall the old Irishman, Robert
Griffith, who was the town tailor of Merom for about thirty years, until
his death at that place, December 12, 1875. He was at one time an official
of the county, and at a very interesting period, when the county seat was
removed from the bluffs of the Wabash to a more central location at
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 55
Sullivan. Some time before he had been appointed by the county com-
missioners to the office of treasurer and collector, and was later elected
to that office, and held that office when the county seat moved to Sulli-
van. He was a native of Belfast, Ireland, learned the tailor's trade, and
had worked at Natchez, Mississippi, before coming to Sullivan county.
One of the old teachers of the county who will be readily recalled
by many, especially in Jackson township, where he lived many years, was
Peter Grant. He was a graduate of the L^niversity 6f Edinburgh, Scot-
land, and after coming to this county about 1855 was engaged in teaching
for about twenty years. He died May 16, 1884, aged seventy-six. He
was one of the original members of Claiborne Presbyterian church.
The carpenter and contractor who remodeled the court house was
William Greenlee, a citizen who was well known in Sullivan up to the
time of his death, August 11, 1896. He had lived in Sullivan since 185 1.
He is also credited with having built one of the schoolhouses of Sullivan.
He was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 182 1.
For seventeen years the postoffice at Carlisle was held by David
Hackney, who died there about May i, 1878, at the age of seventy. As
a citizen he had for many years been a leader in promoting temperance
and other moral reforms in his community.
A native of old Shakertown who passed most of his life in this
county in the vicinity of Carlisle was Isacher Hancock, who was born
February 7, 1808, and died September 19, 1877.
Owen C. Hancock, who was sheriff of the county during the seven-
ties, had just completed one term in that office and was on the ticket for
56 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
a second term when he died, September 6, 1876. He was born in Owen
county in 1830. He had six children.
Joel Harris, who was born January 17, 18 18, was said to have been
the first white child born in Fairbanks township. He died July 11, 1890.
He was an enterprising farmer, and had the distinction of raising the
first large acreage of wheat in his township. His first wife was Lydia
Ransford, by whom he had five children.
James Heap, one of the most honored citizens of Curry township,
died August 4, 1892, and was buried at Friendship church. His wife
was Sarah J. Davis, and they had seven children.
John Hammond, who died August 10, 1899, was born in Kentucky
October, 1816, and at the age of sixteen began working on the Ohio river
as steamboat engineer, an occupation he followed until 1854, when he
moved to Sullivan county. For several years he was an engineer in the
Seth Cushman grist mill at Merom. After the beginning of the war he
enlisted in Company I, Sixth Indiana Cavalry, and was made veterinary
of the company. During his residence in the county after the war he
was employed as engineer in some of the flour mills at Sullivan. In 1842
he married Nancy Pinkston, by whom he had eight children, and in 1858
married Louisa J. Kelly.
The late William Hosea Hawkins, who died in October, 1905, served
as 'sheriff of the county from 1888 to 1892, and then under the Cleveland
administration was appointed a United States marshal, a position he held
during the trying months of the strike of the American Railway Union.
When an injunction was issued against interfering with the trains at
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 57
Hammond, he was ordered to serve the order of the court. The Monon
placed a special train at his disposal. The news of the coming of Haw-
kins and his deputies preceded and created the rumor that a train-load of
soldiers was approaching the town. A crowd of five thousand gathered
at the depot, in an ugly mood, but on the arrival of the train Hawkins
quietly left his car, read the order of the court in the presence of the
strikers and their sympathizers, and two days later brought the strike
leaders back to Indianapolis. Marshal Hawkins was the only son of
Jesse Hawkins, a well-to-do farmer of near Graysville, and during his
youth had been a clerk in a general store at Shelburn. During his later
years he became prominent in the Democratic politics of the state. He
resigned the position of secretary of the county central committee to
accept a similar position with the state central committee, which he held
four years. In business he was district superintendent of the Prudential
Insurance Company, with headquarters at Terre Haute, until about a
year before his death, when he became superintendent of the American
Association, with headquarters at Indianapolis.
Philip Hinkle settled in the southeast corner of Sullivan county in
1819, coming from Kentucky. He lived there at a time when it was nec-
essary to take corn to Shakertown to have it ground. The Hinkle family,
of which Philip was the first immigrant to this county, have been well
known and numerously represented since that time.
Nathan Hinkle was a Revolutionary soldier who spent his last years
in Sullivan county. Some of the gray-headed men of the present century,
who were boys sixty years ago, remember an old resident of Jackson
township, who had been voting ever since the beginning of our national
government, and who until his extreme age took a keen interest in elec-
58 HISTORY OF SLXLR'AX COUNTY
tions and was assisted to the ballot box. When he died near Hymera in
December, 1848, he lacked only half a year of having completed a century
of life. He was born in Pennsylvania, and early in 1776 enlisted in the
colonial militia at Lancaster, and for three years served in the continental
armv. In 1832', while living in Lawrence county, Indiana, he applied for
and received a pension for his army services. He lived in Kentucky
before coming to this state, and in 1844 moved to Jackson township, this
covmty, where he made his home for a time with Uncle ^vlartin Hale.
Jackson Hinkle, who died a few years ago. nearly ninety years old.
was a member of the Hinkle family first mentioned above. He was born
in Kentucky and came to this county with his parents when five years
old, in 1819. He lived at first near Pleasantville and later moved to
Farmersburg in order to educate his children. He was a merchant there,
and was also appointed postmaster during the administration of President
Grant. He also practiced as a pension attorney at Washington. He
married, in 1856, Eliza J. Alkire, who died in 1892, the mother of nine
children.
Stephen Hiatt died at Sullivan, November 27. 1907. He was a
native of the county, and in i860 married Miss America Laycock of
Carlisle. Five of their children survived his death. He entered the
army in August, 1862, in Company F, Ninety-first Illinois Infantry, and
was wounded at Sabine Crossroads with eleven balls. He was captured
by Morgan at Elizabeth, Kentucky, and after being released from the
hospital he was detailed to the body-guard of President Lincoln. He was
discharged in May, 1865, at Madison, Indiana.
John Higbee, who represented this county in the legislature by elec-
tions in 1892 and 1894, died at his home north of Sullivan, January 9,
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 59
1902. He was a son of John L. Higbee, of Sullivan, and was born in
Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1843. He married Miss Mary Turman of
Turman township, daughter of Thomas Turman, February 20, 1864,
and they were parents of eight children.
Thomas Allen Hughes, who died in 1903, was born December 13,
1820, in a house that stood just southwest of the site of Sullivan, and
which is now included in the town limits. He served as deputy auditor
after the removal of the county seat from Merom, probably the first to
hold that position. He was a member of the Home Guards during the
war, being one of the influential Union men of this section, and in the
latter part of the war enlisted in the 149th Regiment. He took part in
some of the last marches of the army in the south, and the exposure
and hardship permanently impaired his health. He was one of the ear-
liest members of the Alethodist church at Sullivan, having joined the
church at the age of sixteen, and he helped build the first church, a
frame building that stood on the site of the present church.
One of the old residents in the New Lebanon vicinity, a member of
the Methodist church there and an ardent Democrat ever since he had
cast his first vote for Jackson, was John R. Hunt, who died at his home
there August 15, 1877. He was a son of Meshack Hunt and a native of
Kentucky, born in 1802, and had lived in the county about fifty years.
He married Hannah Davidson and had nine children.
David Hutchinson, who died at Sullivan, January 31. 1892, was one
of the original members of the Presbyterian church of this place, and had
served as elder. Tie had come to the county in the early fifties, and later
moved to Sullivan to take charge of the mill built by AI. E. Chase.
6o HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Venerable Squire Joel Hendricks, who died at his home in Farmers-
burg, where he had long resided, in January, 1892, was one of the well-
known characters of that vicinity. He had been a justice many years,
and was said to have possessed the confidence and esteem of the people
to an unusual degree.
Among the pioneer families that came to Sullivan county before
1840, at least one that has since been prominent, brought to the county's
citizenship some of the excellent qualities of the Pennsylvania Dutch.
The Hoke family has been prominent as farmers and business men in
Sullivan county for the greater part of seventy years, since Jacob F.
and Susanna (Brentlinger ) Hoke settled here some time in the thirties.
They were of Pennsylvania nativity, but they followed the general tend-
ency of emigrants to this county, and lived for a time in Kentucky before
moving to this county.
Jacob Hoke was born in Jefiferson county, Kentucky, June 30,
1809, and died January 25, 1875, on the farm in Haddon township where
he had settled in 1830. He was a man of considerable wealth, and at one
time was a county commissioner. He had been converted in a Methodist
revival in 1839, and wa? connected with that church the rest of his life.
Among the various family claims to priority in Sullivan county, it is
asserted that Thomas Holder, Sr., built the first cabin put up by a white
man north of Knox county and that he located in the vicinity that after-
ward became Haddon township before the Ledgerwood family, though the
latter is usually given precedence in the settlement of the county about
Carlisle. At any rate, Thomas Holder came to this vicinity several years
before the Tippecanoe campaign and the war of 18 12, and was a soldier
in those hostilities under General Harrison. One of the block-houses in
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY Cn
the vicinity of Carlisle was usually designated by the Holder family
name, and there is no doubt that Thomas Holder deserves the prominence
that is due one of the first men who braved the hardships and dangers
of life on the edge of civilization. The Holders were from Virginia, thus
adding another name to the notable list of the pioneer citizens furnished
this county by the south. The pioneer had a large family, one of them
being Thomas, Jr.. who was born in Haddon township in 1828, and
whose associations with the farming and civil activities of this township
are well remembered facts of the past century.
The founder of the Jamison family near Sullivan, and the father of
James and William Jamison, was Matthew Jamison, who died at Sullivan
in August, 1883, at the age of seventy. He was a native of Fayette
county, Ohio, and had lived in this county since 1875.
South Carolina was the state which gave to Sullivan county the
pioneer Jenkins family. Thomas and Nancy (Gill) Jenkins left Chester
county. South Carolina, in 1807, and the former died during the long
journey to the territory of Indiana, but his widow continued on to what
became later Sullivan county and joined the Shaker community, being
identified with that sect the rest of her life. The son, John Jenkins, who
was born in South Carolina the year before the family migration, was
at the time of his death one of the oldest residents of Sullivan county,
and one of the largest farmers of the Carlisle neighborhood.
James L. Johnson, wdio died in April, 1882, at Sullivan, where he
had lived for the past ten years, became a member of the Hopewell
church at Graysville in 1827. and was one of the oldest of that pioneer
congregation. He was born in Tennessee January i, t8oo. and came to
62 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Indiana during territorial days, living first in Knox county and later
moving to the vicinity of Graysville.
One of the early settlers of Jackson township was Wyatt Johnson,
who died at his home near the Greene county line. July 14, 1878, having
come to the township nearly a half a century before.
Robert Kirkham. who died October 5. 1879. at the age of 82, had
lived in this county since 1832. He was a native of Nelson county,
Kentucky.
One of the veterans of the war of 181 2 who afterwards lived in
Sullivan county was James Land, who died at his home near Carlisle,
July 24, 1866. As a Kentucky volunteer he had seen hard service in
Harrison's army, and was under the gallant Dudley at the capture of
Fort ]\Ieig5 by the British. He was born in Jessamine county, Ken-
tucky, October 14, 1792. and settled near Carlisle in 1821.
Jacob N. Land was a native and almost lifelong citizen of Carlisle,
a member of one of the old families, and his life history is strongly per-
vaded with the military activity which has been characteristic of the
family. He was born three miles northeast of Carlisle, December 25,
1838. and died at Battle Creek, ^Michigan, July 26. 1899. He was edu-
cated at Carlisle, and enlisting as a private in the 59th Infantry served
from the first year of the war until 1865, being promoted to first ser-
geant. He was in the drug business at Carlisle, 1870-72, and then
studied law and was admitted to the bar, and being appointed justice of
the peace was for more than twenty years Squire Land. He was a
charter member of the George Rotramel Post, G. A. R.. and was its
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 63
commander at the time of his death. He married in 1868 Mrs. Sarah
J. Milner, and they had six children.
Peter Lisman, of the well-known family of that name, was a soldier
in the war of 1812, and had fought at the battle of Tippecanoe. He died
in July, 1867, at the age of eighty-one. He had been a member of the
Methodist church over forty-five years.
The death of John Lisman, at the home of his son in New Lebanon,
July 8, 1906, removed a native of the county whose name and the cir-
cumstances of his early career connected him intimately with some of
the best remembered traditions of early Sullivan county. He was born
on the Lisman homestead one mile southeast of Carlisle, November 19,
1814, and it is claimed that he was the fifth white child born in the
county. When he was only three or four months old occurred what has
since been known as the Dudley Mack massacre. On that day the parents
of the Lisman baby were busy making maple sugar, and had put the
boy in comfortable yet secret quarters in a hollow tree. When the word
came that the Indians had massacred two boys, the mother left her baby
concealed in the tree until she had roused her immediate neighbors, and
the Lisman block-house was crowded until the fear and excitement passed
over the frontier settlement. Having begun his life in such frontier
scenes, it was the lot of John Lisman to live through all the remarkable
epochs of development during the last century, and in many ways his
life was a link between the period of first things in Sullivan county down
to the twentieth century. He married in 1838 Elizabeth Johnson, who
was born in the county a few weeks earlier than he, and was the fourth
white child born in the county.
64 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUXTY
Hugh ]\Ioore, who died at SulUvan June 24, 1901, was considered
the pioneer in the development of the coal fields of this county. He
was born in Xorthuniberland county, England, in May, 1825, and migrated
to the L'nited States in 1852. He was a practical miner through wide and
extended experience, and after he came to Sullivan county in 1866 he
was identified with several of the important mining properties of the
county. In 1870 he became a member of the Shelburn Coal Company and
had charge of the sinking of the shaft at that point. He was superintend-
ent of the Sullivan mine until it was abandoned in 1879. The daughters
who survived him were ^Slrs. Charles P. Walker, ^Nlrs. William Wilson,
and Mrs. James Hargraves.
One of the active workers for temperance during the seventies was
A\'illiam C. McBride, who died at Sullivan ]\Iarch 11, 1882. A few years
before he had served as a justice of the peace, and had also been a
preacher in the Christian church.
Hugh !\IcCammon, of near Carlisle, was a veteran of two wars. He
was one of the Kentucky volunteers who followed General Hopkins in
the campaign against the Indians during the war of 1812. and over thirty
years later had been a private in Captain Briggs' company in the ^Mexican
war. He was a native of Hickman county, Kentuck}', and came to Sulli-
van county about 18 17. He died at his residence near Carlisle January
17, 1863.
]\Iathew^ AlcCammon. of the same family, and prominent in politics,
who died April 26, 1876. was born on a farm south of Sullivan in 1820.
He had been elected to the office of sheriiT in i860 and 1862. and in 1872
was again the Democratic nominee for the saiue office, but was defeated.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 65
William McCammon, who died at the home of his daughter, Airs.
Cora Gilbert, October 1, 1903. was the thirteenth of the fourteen children
born to William AlcCammun and Jemima St. Clair. He was born six
miles south of Sullivan, March 1, 1841. With the exception of five years
spent in Terre Haute his life was passed in Sullivan, where he was a
successful business man. In 1881 he built the McCammon Hotel, in
which his funeral was held. He married in 1864 Rose D. Pearce.
For two terms the office of county treasurer was filled by Abram
McClellan, a well-known citizen of Gill township, whose death was
recorded in January, 1890, at the age of about 65. After two terms as
trustee of Gill township he was elected to the office of county treasurer in
1875 and again in 1877, and later was again township trustee and also a
justice of the peace. He was a member of the Christian church.
Thomas F. Mackcy, who died October 30, 1889, i'^ ^^^'^^ remembered
for his activity in church work and also for his interest in local politics
in behalf of the laboring men. He had been a member of the Methodist
church since 1849, for many years was an official member, and was
earnest in Sunday school affairs.
James A. Marlow, who w-as elected the first superintendent of schools
in Sullivan county, met accidental death in July; 1896, being struck by
an engine of a passenger-train at Shelbyville. He was a native of Sullivan
county and about fifty-two years of age. Since leaving the office of
superintendent he had been traveling agent for a school book publishing
house.
The Kentucky family named Mann, which had several well-known
representatives at different periods of history, was established in this
Vol. 1—5
66 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
count}- in 1819, their homestead being near Merom. A former circuit
clerk and prominent Democrat in the county was the late Thomas J.
Mann of this family, a grandson of the original immigrant. The grand-
father "judge" Mann, was a prominent citizen of Merom, in and prior
to the forties. One daughter became the wife of the Hon. Henry K.
Wilson and one married O'Boyce, one of the prominent merchants of
that place, who subsequently moved to Terre Haute and engaged in
the wholesale business. "Mann's Tavern," which was on the stage line
between Terre Haute and A'incennes, and gave entertainment to "man
and beast," was a noted hostelry and often entertained many men of note
such as Gen. Harrison, "Dick" Johnson, Lewis Cass and others equally
well known.
A pioneer family who have been in the county since the time of
the war of 1812 and before the county was organized was represented
by John Maxwell, who died July 27, 1882. He was born in Bourbon
county, Kentucky, January 30, 1803, and came with his father to Wayne
county, Indiana, in 1806, and thence to Sullivan county about the close
of the war of 1812. From the south part of the county the family moved
to the vicinity of Caledonia in 1820. There they began the erection of
the usual pioneer dwelling, a log cabin. When the timbers were ready
for the "raising" the son John was sent out to invito the neighbors, and
in order to get a sufficient force it was necessary for him to visit every
home on Curry's prairie. The family tradition is to the effect that at
that time there was not a white man's cabin from the eastern edge of
Sullivan county to the White river. John Maxwell married Polly Polk,
September 11, i82'3, and the following year settled one mile south of his
father's home. His first wife died in 1844, and he then married Mary M.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 67
Lariniore. l-or more than sixty years he was a worker in the Christian
church.
In Kentucky was born Thomas R. McKinney in 1803. The family
migration to the north side of the Ohio river was made in 1815, and
since 1829 the McKinney family has been identified with Sullivan county,
through the residence of Thomas R. or some of his sons.
Elder Thomas R. McKinney gave many years of his active life
to the work of the Little Flock church in Curry township, with the his-
tory of which his name should be associated. His parents were Presbv-
terians, and he was reared in that faith, but in 1834 changed his views
on the subject of baptism and united with the Little Flock congregation.
Being soon after ordained a minister of the gospel, he served as pastor
and moderator of the Little Flock church until 1866. In that year he
moved from Curry's prairie to Haddon township, and from that time
was identified with the membership of the Sullivan church. He died at
his residence near Paxton, April 12, 1877. His wife was Jane McGrew.
Another prominent family whose residence was in Kentucky prior
to the settlement in Sullivan county was the Milams. Henry R. Milam
is one of the conspicuous and aged representatives of this family still
living in Gill township. Several heads of families bearing that name
came from Kentucky to the vicinity of Carlisle about the close of the
war of 1 81 2- 1 5, and the family relationship has always been large in the
county.
With a knowledge of the conditions of a century ago, the limitations
of travel and the meagerness of information about distant localities.
68 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
and the practical absence of all the facilities which now make com-
munication with all parts of the country both easy and rapid, it
seems nothing less than remarkable that men living in the old world
an<l the settled states of the east should assume the risks and hard-
ships of an emigration to the interior of America, there to found
homes and spread the civilization of an older order. That a familv
should remove from the r)ritish Isles, during the first decade of the past
century, and establish itself in the territory of Indiana, under the pro-
tection of the block-house communities of the Wabash valley, co-operating
with others in producing the comforts of civilization and in sharing in
its prosperit}', is a matter worthy of particular note in a historv of Sulli-
van county. Such is the record of the AlcConnel family, which has lived
in Sullivan county for more than a century, and has several well-known
citizens of that name in the county at the present time. A Scotchman of
the name brought his family to America in 1805, ^^'^^^ '^ y^^^ or so after
reaching the eastern states had found his way to the new country of
the Wabash. Andrew ^McConnel, a son of this immigrant, was a boy
here during the exciting years of the war of 181 2. and his son. Bailev
^NlcConnel, is still one of the prominent citizens of Haddon township.
The Alinich family of Haddon township in its earlier generations had
a home in A'irginia, and still further back was of German origin. The
Mrginia ancestor, Adam ]\Iinich. was born about 1791, and served in
the war of 1812, presumably while still a resident of Mrginia. After
that he went across the mountains into Tennessee, and from there came
to Haddon township in 1819 and entered government land. Amid the
changes incident to modern American life and the restlessness that char-
acterizes most men. it is pleasant to remark that this farm has never
passed out of the possession of the iMinichs from the day it was entered
HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY 69
in the government land office, and is still the hume of a son of the
original pioneer, Pleasant A. ]\linich, who was horn on this place over
eighty-five years ago.
Nathan Miles, who died at his home in Sullivan, Septemher 8. 1878,
aged about 70. was born near Lexington, Kentucky, and had lived since
an early age near New Lebanon.
Col. William Minter, who was killed by a runaway team March 15,
1882, was perhaps the only permanent resident of Sullivan count}' who
participated in the. war for Texas independence. AMien about eighteen
years old, in 1836, he had been attracted to the Texas country and had
enlisted in the army raised to repel the invading Santa Ana, being in
the battle of San Jacinto, which l:,rought independence. He soon after
returned to his old home in Shelby county. Kentucky, and in 1840 moved
to Sullivan county. Here he took part in another phase of pioneer life.
During the period before the coming of the railroads he was one of the
carriers who took the mail at Merom and conveyed it on to Terre Haute.
He married Malinda Pinkston in 1845. and after a brief residence in
Missoitri settled near Merom, where he continued to reside until his
death. He was noted for his courtesy and hospitalit}', though his quiet
and unobtrusive manner did not often permit him to mingle in public
afifairs.
On July 5, 1864, Lieut. -Col. Frank Nefif was buried in the Sullivan
cemetery with military honors, some of the veterans and returned volun-
teers forming a squad to accompany the l)ody to its last resting place in
the Sullivan cemetery. Colonel Neff was born in Boyle county. Ken-
tuck}-, in 1832. his parents soon after moving to Hendricks county, this
70 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
state, and he received liis education at Bloomington, graduating from the
law school of Judge AlcDonald and later entering a law office in Dan-
ville. After his marriage he located in Sullivan, and wa^^ among the first
volunteers after the firing on Fort Sumter. From the office of lieutenant
he had filled the intermediate grades in his advancement to the rank of
lieutenant colonel, and served with gallantry at Fort Donelscn, Shiloh,
Stone River. Chickamauga, and at Kenesaw Alountain. where he received
his death wound.
John Osborn was born in Kentucky in 1789, and came to Sullivan
county in 1826, living here till his death in 185 1. His wife, ncc Gardner,
was also born in Kentucky.
"Uncle Billy" Owens, who died at his home in Turman township,
February 25, 1903. was a citizen whose life span h.ad covered nearly
ninety-four years, and since 1837 had been a resident of Turman town-
ship. When a boy he worked in a butcher shop patronized by President
Andrew Jack.son, and this acquaintance with^that rugged champion of
democracy made him one of the most ardent supporters whom "Old
Hickory" could claim. In 1843 Uncle Billy hauled lumber for the
first house in Sullivan. He was twice married and leaves numerous
descendants.
Col. Ed Price was a former county ofificial. and a native of the
county, born at Merom in 1833. and died at his home in Sullivan, June
7, 1893. -■^s ^ boy he worked in the store of James Reed at ]\Ierom. and
during his later employment in the dry-goods store of William Wilson
at Sullivan he gained an acquaintance and popularity that made his can-
didacy in 1858 for the office of county treasurer very successful, and two
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 71
years later he was re-elected. In 1865 he was elected clerk of the circuit
court, and he made H. K. Wilson his deputy and turned his attention to
merchandising. His business enterprise was not successful, and he later
held a position in the state auditor's ofifice under James H. Rice.
James Harvey Reed, who at one time held the office of county
recorder, and later was known about the court house as deputy auditor,
died in January, 1873, then fifty-five years old. Between terms of office
he was a farmer in Fairbanks township. He was a member of the Little
Flock Baptist church.
A numerous family of this county, dating- from pioneer times, are
the Ridgeways. One branch of the family, of which Levi was the settler,
came from Kentucky to the Ledgerwood neighborhood not long after the
war of 181 2. Levi had served in the New Orleans campaign under
Captain Peacock, whose daughter he later married, and then came to
Sullivan county.
James Thomas Reid, who was a druggist at Sullivan in partnership
with Dr. Hinkle during the fifties, died at Denver, Colorado, July 25,
1899. He was born in JeiTerson township in 1842. After leaving the
retail drug business, he was a traveling salesman a number of years, but
in 1875 returned to Sullivan and engaged in the grocery and milling
business. During the Civil war he served as a member of the 85th
Indiana. He was a ^lason and a member of the Methodist church. He
married Miss Sue Lyons in 1866.
One of the soldiers who came to Indiana at the beginning of the war
of 18 1 2 and later effected settlement in Sullivan county was Hezekiah
Riggs, whose grandson, William Riggs, is now a resident of Fairbanks
72 HISTORY OF SULLRAX COUNTY
township. A native of Virginia, he settled at Carlisle wlien he left the
army, and about 1815 married Lydia Ingie, whose ]:)arents, it is said,
became residents of this part of Indiana about 1803.
Commodore P. Riggs, who died December 3, iSyi, was a former
incumbent of the office of county treasurer, having been elected to that
office in 1878 by about a thousand majority, and in 1880 was re-elected
by an even increased majority. He was a native of Fairbanks township,
and after his marriage lived for many years near Shelburn, being a
member of the AT. E. church.
The late Thomas L. Roberts, who died at his home on North Section
street, Sullivan, April 14, 1901, came to Sullivan in 1866, being at the
time in the employ of the E. & T. H. Railroa<l. He is remembered for
his genial temperament and his interest in sciences and literature, and was
a man of broad accjuaintances. He was eighty-five -years old when he
died, and was born at Battletown, near Hastings, England, and was
brought to America when eight years old. He s]ient his youth in New
York, but in 1836 became an engineer on the ^Madison and Indianapolis
Railroad, the first railroad line in the state. He knew personally Gen.
William Henry Harrison, Henry Clay, Zachary Taylor and other noted
men of the time, also the poet O'Hara, who wrote the "Bivouac of the
Dead." He was a member of the Methodist church. He was twice mar-
ried. His eldest daughter became the mother of Senator Beveridge's
first wife, and among the other children William B. was private secretary
of several Indiana governors and of Senator Beveridge.
Charles Scott, who was born on a farm south of New Lebanon,
November 20, 1823, and died at Sullivan, May g, 1908, was an early mer-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY y^^
chant of Sullivan and for several terms county commissioner. He was a
school teacher during his youth, and after coming to Sullivan in 1857
by industry and thrift accumulated enough to enter the clothing and
mercantile business with James Hinkle. In 1867 he sold out and moved
to a farm. He voted for Polk in 1844, and was elected and served as
county commissioner three terms, 1874-77, 1886-92. His first wife was
Mary J. Ryerson and his second Mary J. Carrithers.
The Sherman family came from North Carolina to Sullivan county
in 1816. Samuel and Elizabeth (Lewis) Sherman lived in the county
over thirty years, and left a number of descendants. Thomas K. Sher-
man, a son, was formerly a banker at Sullivan and a well-known business
man. He was born seven miles southwest of Sullivan, September 26,
1829, and when twenty years old began teaching, farming and other occu-
pations, and later went into the dry-goods business at Sullivan. He was
both president and cashier of the Sullivan National Bank, and was also
incumbent of several county offices. His first wife was Sarah Elizabeth
Jewell, and his second, Amanda J. DeBaun. He died in 1903.
C. B. Shepard was one of the county commissioners during the war.
He was born on Shaker prairie March 12, 18 19, and died June 29, 1883. ,
He was an active figure in the politics of the county for many years.
William McKendree Springer, who died at Washington in 1903. was
one of the native sons of Sullivan county who became prominent in the
nation. He was a member of the well-known family of the name in Gill
township, where he was born May 30, 1836, moved to Jacksonville, Illi-
nois, in 1848, but returned to Indiana to complete his education in the
State U^niversitv. from which he was graduated in 1858. He was a
74 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
member of the Illinois constitutional convention in 1870, and was a mem-
ber of the lower house of the legislature in 1872. He was elected to
Congress from the Sprinfield district in 1874. and served in the 44th to
53d Congresses. He is credited with having" led the fight against the
McKinley tariff, which resulted in Cleveland's second election. H2 was
one of the most active leaders in the long movement for the organization
of the Indian Territory and the opening of Oklahoma. After his last
term in Congress he served a while as judge of the United States court
for Indian Territory, and then practiced law in Washington until his
death.
Nathan Thomas, who died April 20, 1905. was for twenty years
county surveyor, and in that capacity had laid oft' a large portion of the
town of Sullivan. He was born near Connersville, Indiana, December
25. 1820. and for a number of years taught school, being a teacher in
this county after he moved here about 1852. He was also a farmer, but
the last ten years of his life were spent in Sullivan. He married Anna
Aloore. ]Mrs. J. ]\I. Lang, Mrs. A. B. Stansil and Dr. Anna T. Sheridan
are his daughters.
One of the prominent men in the aft"airs of Sullivan, whose name
often appears in connection with the enterprises of half a century ago,
was Lafayette Stewart, who died at Sullivan, February 29, 1884. He was
born in Floyd countv, Indiana, in 1826, and after coming to this county
followed the business of cabinetmaker, later was a merchant. He was not
active in local politics beyond holding the ofifice of township trustee. The
editor of the Democrat referred to him as a man of strong convictions
and very earnest in his advocacy of them, and yet very courteous in all
his intercourse with men of variety of opinion. For many years he was
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 75
a deacon in the Presbyterian church, and was long master of the local
Masonic lodge.
Thomas Turman. who was the leading representative of the family of
that name in this county during the first half of the last century, was
born in A'irginia in 1796 and came to Indiana territory with his father
Benjamin in 1810. During the thirties he served in the Black Hawk war.
He built two mills in his community in Turman township, using the
waters of Turman creek, and these were of great benefit to the people of
that vicinity if they were not to the proprietor. He was elected and
served in the legislature in 1843-44. He died at his residence in Turman
township, June 30, 1863.
Wilbur \'an P'ossen, who was captain of Company C, 59th Indiana
Infantry, during the Civil war, and was the first commander of the
Frank NeflF Post, G. A. R.. died at his home three miles west of Carlisle,
November 21, 1899.
Frederick Wilkey, who died at his residence five miles west of Sulli-
van, July 8, 1880, was one of the organizers of the old Methodist society
known as Mt. Tabor, and the church was built on the southwest corner of
his farm. He was born in Clark county, Indiana, October 18. 1819. and
came to Sullivan county in 1837, with his step-father Kelley. who located
and gave the name to Kelley's Landing. Mr. Wilkey joined the Methodist
church soon after coming to this county.
George W. W'alker, founder of a well-known family of Haddon
township, was originally from North Carolina, accompanied the family
migration to Tennessee, and after a brief residence in Kentucky he came
;r,- HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
to Sullivan county in 1826. He died at his home east of Carlisle, Jan-
uary 26, 1882, when past 87 years of age. He had been drafted for
service in the war of 1812. His first wife was Elizabeth Cook, and his
second, Rhoda Blevins.
Tennessee was also an intermediate home for the \\'heeler family.
between the date of its residence in the east and its final permanent loca-
tion in Sullivan county. Hugh Wheeler w-as born in Tennessee at the
beginning of the century, moved to Clark county. Indiana, in 1824, and six
years later established the family home in Sullivan county.
Peter Wilson during his youth left his native state of Mrginia. cross-
ing the mountain barrier into Tennessee, where he lived long enough to
marry and start a family, and in 1828 came to Sullivan county with his
brothers, John, Adam and George. Peter Wilson was the son of a Revo-
lutionary soldier, himself served in the war of 1812. and members of the
familv have served in every important war of the nation. The \\'ilsons
are still well represented in the citizenship of this county.
Henry K. Wilson occupied a place of varied and great usefulness
in the early afifairs of Sullivan county, and his death on November i,
1882, was marked as the passing of one of the eminent citizens. He was
born in eastern Tennessee, January 12, 1815, and being without educa-
tional opportunities he learned to cipher on thin pieces of slate picked up
on the mountainside. The family came to Indiana in 1831. In 1834 his
father took hiiu to }^Ierom and made arrangements with Benjamin Wolfe,
then countv clerk, that the boy should find a place in the office as deputy.
His capabilities w^ere such that on the expiration of Mr. Wolfe's term
it was suggested on the day of election that the deputy should be given
HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY -jy
the office, and almost enough votes were cast to elect him, although he was
not yet of age. When the county seat was moved to Sullivan, Mr. Wilson
was appointed to the vacancy in the clerk's office, lie was clerk of the
circuit court when the court house and its records hurned in I'ehruary,
1850. So accurate was his memory of persons who had annualh- paid
interest to the school fund that he was enabled to notify all borrowers,
and the school fund suffered no loss. In 1855 ^""^ ^^''is auditor. His strict
economy and integrity in all public offices were notable. He served twice
in the state senate, and though he never tried to make a speech he was an
excellent worker in committee. In 1842 he married Mary E. Mann,
daughter of Judge Alann of Aleroiu. His second wife was Mrs. Sallie J.
Pogue. One of his sons was a graduate of the naval academy and served
in the navy.
The late John Harvey Wilson, whose death January 18, 1904.
removed one of the oldest residents of the county and also one of the
finest types of its citizenship, was born near Greenville, Tennessee, Jan-
uary 27, 181 1, the oldest child of Adam and Margaret Wilson. Both his
grandfathers served in the Revolutionary war. The family came to
Sullivan county in 1832, settling at first near Carlisle and later in Cass
township. Harvey Wilson assisted in laying out the town of Sullivan.
He was a teacher in one of the early log school houses of the county.
He had attained his majority before leaving Tennessee, and it was the
custom in the family that that event be celebrated by the father presenting
the grown son a suit of clothes. The suit given to John Harvey was
made by a poor tailor of Greenville, named Andrew Johnson, later presi-
dent of the United States. This is the current version of the story, but
it is probable that the suit was tailored before Wilson reached his major-
ity, since Andrew Johnson was by that time well advanced in his political
78 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
career. In 1832 Harvey Wilson cast his first vote for /\ndre\v Jackson.
In 1840 he was elected sheriff of Sullivan county, and during his two
terms of office the county seat was moved to Sullivan. In 1845 s""^' '850
he represented the county in the legislature. He was a Mason for fort}
years, and for about an equal period was an elder in the Presbyterian
church. He married, November 25, 1862, Mrs. Dorcas Lyons Patton.
On January 22, 1892, death removed John Willis, at the age of sixty-
eight. A highly respected and prosperous citizen, he lived for many
years on a farm north of Sullivan, and for several years before his death
had resided in Sullivan.
Benjamin Wolfe, who died at his home on Shaker })rairie, D.xember
6, 1868, was one of the oldest citizens of the county and had been iden-
tified with official afifairs wdiile the county seat was on the blufifs of the
Wabash at Merom. He came to Sullivan county in 1819. was elected
clerk of the court in 1830, was postmaster at Merom in 1831, was again
elected clerk in 1837, and resigned that office when the county seat was
moved to Sullivan. In 1846 he was elected to the legislature and served
three terms in succession, and was also a member of the constitutional
convention of 1851-52. In 1865 he was again chosen to the legislature.
He was a man of untiring energy and succeeded in accumulating a large
estate.
He was born in Culpeper county, Mrginia, April 18. 1799, the
son of a shoemaker. His father was not a good financier, and. the family
being large, Benjamin assumed responsibilities beyond his years and at
ten years of age was working to keep the family from poverty. He
remained with his father until he was twenty-two years old, helping
to support the family of fourteen children, and he had no time for attend-
ing school and never could recall when or how he learned to read. Later
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 79
he attended school for a few months, and at the age of twenty-eight
entered Miami University, making the trip from liume on foot, and
studied there two years. After leaving home he had engaged in the
principal line of commerce then followed, the shipping of produce in
flat-boats to the southern markets. For twenty years he followed this
business, building his own boats and often directing them to the New
Orleans markets. He was proud of the record that he had never lust a
boat or a cargo. When a member of the legislature he presented the
first bill to charter a railroad from Evansville to Terre Haute. In 1852
he moved lo Bloomington to educate his children, and while there he was
postmaster three years. He married, in 1831, Isabella Shepherd. He
was a member of the Christian church.
Pioneer Reminiscence.
In 1905 the Democrat published some interesting reminiscences by
pioneers of the county. The following paragraphs contain an abstract of
the essential facts covered in these stories :
The first relates to the school days of "Uncle" Len Bailey in the
Gardner schoolhouse on Curry's prairie. The building was of logs daubed
with mud, a puncheon floor, and the ceiling of planks fastened with
wooden pins driven through auger holes into the rafters. The house was
so cold that the knots on the unhewed sides of the benches froze, bulged
out and fell to the floor. The one stove in the center of the room was the
only stove in that section of the country, and was the gift of Willis Bene-
field to the school district. Mr. Benefield owned a valuable horse, Old
Jane, of Kentucky stock, and one of the fastest of her time. One day a
stranger from Kentucky boasted that he had a horse which could outrun
anv horse in this section. He was promptly challenged for a race, and
8o HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
when he insisted on wagering a considerable amount of money on the
result, Mr. Benefield covered the amount, and the race was run on the
pubhc road. Old Jane won easily, and from the winnings was bought
the stove for the school. Old Jane, with the possible exception of Old
Puss, who was brought to this county in the sixties, was the fastest horse
ever owned here. Old Puss was state champion. She was a quarter-miler,
with a record of sixteen seconds for that distance.
Thomas Shepherd, who cast his first vote in 1848, then lived on the
site of the present town of Hymera. The log house used for school and
public meetings stood where the ^L E. church is located. The window
of the old school was merely an opening from which a log had been re-
moved, and the door was an opening only large enough to allow a person
of medium size to enter, and was closed wuth a log which when not in use
was leaned against the side of the building.
Thomas ]\Iorgan, who was born in Gill township in 1830, at the age
of twenty-one helped his father build a flatboat, 80 by 20 feet, with a hold
of seven feet depth. Between the floor and the outside facing of the boat
a space of ten or twelve inches was left in which the water might accumu-
late and be pumped out without damaging the stock. His father received
$150 for building the boat, and it was loaded with three thousand bushels
of corn. Thomas ^Morgan engaged to accompany Captain Springer with
this cargo to New Orleans, and the start was made in March, 18 — . At
Natchez Captain Springer tied up and sold his boat and cargo for $3,000,
which netted a profit of sixty-five cents a bushel for the corn. The return
was made by steamboat as far as Evansville, thence to Princeton over the
railroad that is now the Evansville & Terre Haute, and the rest of the
journey to Carlisle was by stage. Another method by which some of the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 8i
residents of this vicinity carried on a profitable trade was in the Inlying
of kihi-dried apples and peaches from the farmers at fifty cents a bushel,
and then transporting them overland to Chicago or Milwaukee, where
they could be sold at one dollar and a dollar and a half respectively. A
wagon load was about sixty or seventy bushels, and it required two weeks
to make the trip to Chicago and return and a week longer to Milwaukee.
An article in the Democrat of November i6, 1905, by S. H. Silver
contains an excellent description of the implements used in farming and
housekeeping in the early days. His grandfather, Thomas Bennett, was
one of the earliest settlers in his part of the county, owning land in Hamil-
ton township on the Merom road. In house building and the fabrication
of nearly all the implements used on the farm the pioneers seldom used
nails or rivets. Timbers were joined with wooden pins, and where pins
could not be used, hickory-bark withes were employed. Bark ties were
to the farmers of that time what wire and binder twine are now. One man
said that a plow point was the first thing he had found that could not be
fastened with a withe. Another, on being asked at April election if he
had plowed any that spring, replied, "No ; my gears are so broken up that
I could not rig my teams until hickory bark would peel."
e
A fine shirt was seldom seen, but every man or boy who wished to
dress up wore a dickey. This white linen bosom was worn over the shirt
and fastened at the neck and waist with strings. In hot weather some dis-
carded the shirt and wore the dickey and a light coat. At the general elec-
tions in August whisky flowed freely, and one man under its inspiration
threw ofif his coat preparatory to a fight. The laugh that went up when
it was noticed that he wore no shirt cooled his ardor.
Vol. 1—6
82 HISTORY UF SULLIVAN COUNTY
The cooking utensils consisted of a three-legged skillet, Dutch oven,
pots, and a sheet-iron skillet with a handle three feet long, called a fly or
spider, and a smooth board eight inches wide — the johnny board. The
nearest approach to a cook stove that was ow'ned by Mr. Silver's mother
until 1848 was a tin reflector, twenty inches long and fourteen inches wide,
which, before a hot fire, would bake pies and biscuit nicely.
In the harvests, after the cradles were introduced, the wages of an
ordinary reaper were fifty cents a day, while the cradler got one dollar.
In threshing, when inconvenient to use horses for tramping the grains,
flails were used. In winnowing, if the \yind was insufficient, a sheet was
fastened to a stake and flapped up and down to create enough air cur-
rent to separate the chafif from the wheat. Grist mills being few, the
mortar and pestle were used to supplement them. The mortar was made
by setting a log on end and building a fire on top. The drier heart
burned out to the depth of six or eight inches, leaving a smooth cavity.
The pestle was an iron wedge, affixed to the end of a spring-pole. A
handful of corn being thrown into the cavity, the pestle was pounded
vigorously, and after the bran was separated the heavier portions of the
grain were again placed in the mortar and pounded until reduced to meal
of tolerable fineness. Wheat was ground the same way, but it was also
"bolted." Wheat bread among the pioneers of this county was usually
the luxury of the Sunday meal.
Log rollings were also a feature of the life of this pioneer family.
This work lasted twenty-one days in succession one year, Sundays ex-
cepted. After that it was agreed that the rollings should also discontinue
on Saturdays, so that the men might have a day to attend to their indi-
vidual affairs. A feature of all such occasions, and one that only gradu-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 83
ally was abolished, was the furnishing- of whisk}- to all the men who took
part in the work. At log rollings this was called "tapping of the stump."
The jug was placed ahead of the men in a hollow stump, and when in
the course of the work the men reached that point the liquor was passed
around to all who would drink and there were few exceptions in the early
days. Then the jug was moved on to another stump. A jug was also
kept in the barn for the men when they went to their meals.
CHAPTER V.
MILITARY ANNALS.
The first organized military force that went from Sulhvan county
for service in the field was a company organized for the war with [Mexico.
Although the war with ^lexico was not one of principle nor for anv cause
that was likely to stir the patriotism of the whole nation, it excited much
interest in Sullivan county, and when the news came that "war is," a
movement was at once begun to help fill out Indiana's quota. Joseph
W. Briggs was foremost in this activity, and a few meetings at different
points in the county brought out sufficient volunteers to make a com-
pany. About July, 1846. the volunteers left for New Albany, where
they were assigned, as Company H, to the Second Indiana Regiment.
The officers of the company were : Joseph W. Briggs, captain ; Justus
Davis, first lieutenant ; Israel Benefiel, second lieutenant ; Solomon Loud-
ermilk, third lieutenant ; Henry Dooley. R. ^IcGrew. James H. W'ier,
James Hancock, sergeants ; Harvey \\'ilson, John B. Hughes, Hosea C.
Buckley, Thomas E. Ashley, corporals. The privates of the regiment
at the time of the muster out were : Henry Adams, W'ilie Adams, N.
Brower, Phillip Brower, John Borders. Willis Benefiel. ^lichael Borders,
James B. Booker, Nelson F. Bolton, Robert Calvert, Patrick Carley,
Charles Child, Thomas Coulter, George Davidson, Alfred Davis. John
84
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 85
Edds, Joseph Engle, William Essex, Richard Goss, H. M. Gilliam, James
Garrett, Nathan Gatson, King Hamilton, Jonathan Hart, A. A. Hamilton,
James Holsten, John Hill, Joseph Hooten, E. D. Hart, William Ireland,
Henry Jones, J. J. Loudermilk, Preston Mosier, Redmon Alalone, Gabriel
Moots, Levin Nash, Benjamin Plew, John Ravenscroft, Charles Risinger,
Charles G. Readay, Michael Ring, John L. Robinson, Joseph Strong,
Volney E. Swaim. William Shepard. Alfred Smith, Elijah Voorhies,
Mark Wilson, Andrew Winters, William D. Wier, William Wheeler.
Meshack Draper, Thomas Price and Richard Jenkins lost their lives in
battle ; John Shepard, John Marlow, F. J. Copeland, Enoch T. Reeves,
John Vanosdoll and James W. Beauchamp were victims of disease.
Those discharged before the muster out were Edmund Jones. W. R.
Patton, Samuel A. Thompson, John Engle, Benjamin Johnson, John
Mosier, Hugh McCammon, Henry Ransford, William -Readay, Joseph
Wells, Lewis E. Duncan, H. J. A. Burgett, Thomas Evans, Bonaparte
D. Walls, John O. Watson.
The Second Indiana was sent to New Orleans in July, 1846, and
from there to the Rio Grande, where it joined the forces under General
Zachary Taylor. In February, 1847, i^ participated in the decisive battle
of Buena Vista, occupying the extreme left of the American army, which
bore the brunt of the Mexican attack. The regiment saw little active
service after this battle, being occupied at various points in jNIexico till
the close of the war.
Sullivan County During the Civil War.
At the presidential election of i860, the voters of Sullivan county
were divided as follows :
Douglas 1,858 Breckenridge 128
Lincoln 856 BeU 55
86 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
The Douglas Democracy stood for "squatter sovereignty" as a means
of settling the question of slavery or no slavery in the territories ; and
for the preservation of the Union of states. The abolition of slavery was
not an issue expressly presented by any of the political parties.
Aside from its decisive expression of opinion in the election of i860,
Sullivan county continued throughout the following years of war stead-
fast in its adherence to a well defined policy of that period, namely, that
the Union ought to be preserved, that the regularly constituted govern-
ment was superior to all others and should be maintained, that there was
no constitutional authority for secession, but that every peaceable means
should be tried to preserve the Union rather than a resort to arms, and
that no interference with slavery should be attempted.
In December, i860, a meeting was held at Sullivan at which the
"Crittenden Compromise" was favored as the best means for preserving
the L'nion and averting war. The prevailing sentiment was that it was
better that slavery should enter the territories rather than have war.
At this time and throughout the war, Murray Briggs, editor of the
Democrat, was an editor who not only recorded public opinion but exer-
cised a powerful influence in molding, it. At this late day, when most of
the passions aroused by the conflict have been stilled, it is possible to give
full expression to admiration of this editor's independence of judgment
and clear opinions, as manifested in his editorial columns from week to
week. Before the outbreak of the war he said that it was difficult to
concede the right of a state to secede, and thus destroy the government,
but that he preferred secession to bloody, internecine war. April 11,
1861, his opinion was that "if ]Mr. Lincoln supposes that the people of the
countrv will sustain him in any effort to compel the cotton states to re-
main in the L^nion, or return to it, by force of arms, he is vastly mis-
HISTORY OF SULLU'AX COUNTY 87
taken." He was still disposed to peace after Sumter had fallen. This
caused a number of citizens in the southwestern part of the county to in-
form him that he was unpatriotic, and to this he replied: "We reiterate
our remarks of last w^eek, that if the war must come, and nothing will
satisfy the powers of either section but a resort to arms, our wishes are
for the success of the regularly constituted authorities under which we
live." His discriminative allegiance was again mistaken for disloyalty,
and on May 9. 1861^ he restated his principles: "We have never believed
in secession — the right is nowhere acknowledged in our constitution. . . .
Had the hot-spurs of the cotton states waited for this means [the ballot
box] to redress their wrongs, they would have done well. We have no
sympathy for their movement. We have been given to understand that
the leaders in this scheme are sustained by the people with great una-
nimity ; we trust that it is not so, but that when the conflict comes they
will refuse to sustain their self-constituted authorities in this unnatural
w^ar, and return to their old allegiance. Since we must have war, it is
manifestly the duty of every man who professes attachment to the Union
to sustain the president as the legally constituted head of the government.
There must be authority of government, or anarchy will prevail."
Charges of disloyalty and treason were heard on every hand, and it
is not strange that men of the highest and most sincere motives were
sometimes involved in the net of suspicion and slander. The veteran
printer and editor, John Wilson Osborn, who had been a reformer all
his life, and a man of undeniable sincerity, though vehement in his rad-
icalism, was an object of much criticism during the w^ar. His paper,
The Stars and Stripes, which he conducted at Sullivan during the war,
w^as pronounced in its Union sentiment and strong in its support of the
Republican administration. In March, 1862, a card was addressed to the
editor, as follows : "We charge you with giving aid and comfort to the
88 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
rebels by constantly asserting that the Democratic party was disloyal and
sympathizing with them. This you knew to be false, and added that
offense to your treason. How could you more effectually give aid and
comfort to the enemy than by representing that such large numbers of
your fellow citizens were disloyal and desired the success of the
rebellion ?"
The attitude of the two political parties toward the war is shown
in the resolutions adopted at the county conventions in 1862. The
Republicans met about the middle of June. Valentine Moore was chair-
man and James W. Hinkle secretary. They deplored the horrors of war.
but expressed confidence in the existing administration, and then con-
tinued with the following somewhat ambiguous resolution : "While we
repudiate the agitation of the slavery question in and out of Congress
by the anti-slavery men, and the lovers of that 'peculiar institution" out of
slave states, as a firebrand kept alive to divide us, and to consume our
democratic form of government by the destruction of our constitution,
we denounce all sympathy with the originators and leaders of the rebel-
lion, with whom there should be no fraternal feeling by any other than
those who prefer being subjugated and murdered by an American traitor
rather than a less criminal foreign foe."
On July 4th occurred the Democratic county convention. Dr.
Michael Branson was chairman. A. Van Fossen secretary. Willis G.
Neff was indorsed for prosecuting attorney. They resolved that '"the
Democracy of Sullivan county are, as they have ever been, opposed alike
to secessionism and abolitionism." They pledged themselves to renewed
efforts for the preservation of the constitution, and for the election to
Congress of such patriots as Dan Voorhees and his co-laborers in Con-
gress, "who have the nerve to apprise the abolitionists that this govern-
ment was established for white men and not for negroes." They con-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 89
demned the violation of constitutional power by officials and protested
against the use of the people's money either in the District of Columbia
or in the southern states for the feeding or clothing of worthless contra-
bands inside our lines "while our own soldiers have in many cases
suffered for the necessaries of life." Aside from the excitement and
crowd incident to the convention, there were no exercises to commemorate
the Fourth of July. The annual Methodist Sunday-school picnic was
held at Merom.
A rather picturesque demonstration was the Democratic mass meet-
ing in August, 1862. Crowds came in from Greene and Daviess counties
and camped near the town the night before, and on the next day the
throng was so dense that marshals had difficulty in handling them. About
ten thousand people, it was estimated, were present. One of the features
of the day was a procession made up of 1,700 men and women mounted
on horseback, divided into companies, each company representing a state
of the Union. The speaker's stand was in the grove north of the depot,
where Willis G. Neft' presided. The attraction of the day was the bril-
liant orator, Dan Voorhees. In a speech of two hours he denounced
disunionists, both north and south, laid the responsibility for the war
upon the Republican party, not upon Lincoln, who, he said, had been
overruled. The speaker also opposed all schemes for the purchase of
slaves, and laws forbidding the extension of slavery into new territory.
Following Voorhees, Joseph E. McDonald discoursed for two hours, and
the long day closed with recruiting speeches at the court house. It was
about this time that Captain Holdson's company was raised for the
Ninety-seventh Regiment, and recruits were being accepted for other
regiments.
A few days later the Republican delegates nominated their county
ticket — John A. Baldridge for representative, A. W. Springer for treas-
90 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
urer, Fletcher Freeman for sheriff, Seth Cushman for commissioner, and
Charles Harnish for assessor. Mr. Springer refused the nomination,
and Jesse Burton's name was substituted, without his consent, he claimed.
These nominations were made behind- closed doors, a fact that gave
excuse for many criticisms, and it was even suggested that the session
might be a meeting of a lodge of the Knights of the Golden Circle.
The political campaign of 1862 came to a close with the election
in October. The Democrats elected the entire county ticket and an
assessor in each township, and at the same time gave 1,200 majority for
A'oorhees for Congress. Murray Briggs made significant the fact that
if the soldiers had been at home, this majority would have increased to
1,500, since it was notorious, said the editor, that two-thirds of the
soldiers in the field were Democrats and that nearly all of those who
returned supported Voorhees.
An event that indicates the local opinion of the time, and may also
be interpreted as of unusual significance in connection with later events,
was a "citizens' meeting" in January, 1863, held at Antioch meeting
house in Cass township. Thomas G. Neeley presided, and other officials
named were John Bledsoe and Joshua Johnson, James B. Cochran and
William R. Benton. David Usrey, Jesse Powell, William White and
Jeplha Moss addressed the assemblage.
The sentiment of Cass township Democracy on the great questions
of the day was expressed in resolutions that "We, the Democracy of
Cass and adjoining townships, in mass convention assembled, accept the
late elections as judgment of the ripe intellectual manhood of the country,
in which this corrupt and tyrannical administration has been arraigned
and by a just and righteous criticism condemned: for, among other
things, precipitating this country in an unnecessary, unholy and ruinous
civil war — for the many palpable and wicked violations of the constitu-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
91
tion and its most sacred guarantees, in total disregard of the rights of
personal liberty and private property — in its tyranny over our own race
and foolish regard for a servile one — an audacious trampling upon the
rights of our own citizens, with a humiliating crouching to every foreign
demand."
Then the convention demanded that the expressions of the people
through the ballot-box should be regarded, that no money should be
expended for war except to restore the Llnion ; demanded peace without
reference to its effect upon the African ; an inquiry into the financial
conduct of state offices ; that since war is the result of New England
fanaticism, "when we have exhausted every reasonable effort for the
restoration of the LTnion as it was, should New England still stand in the
breach, we, as western men, will consult western interests and western
pride, which alike forbid that the great Mississippi valley should be
divided, and thereby rendered tributary to a ruinous system of Yankee
intolerance, cupidity and class legislation. . . . No, the great Mis-
sissippi valley now and forever one and inseparable. Then we will cheer-
fully say to New England, with all her cupidity, with all her meanness,
fanaticism, follies and moral turpitude, we bid you good-bye, remember-
ing you only for the wrongs you have done us."
Further, the resolutions condemned the efforts to abridge the rights
of free speech ; expressed unbounded confidence in the courage of the
volunteers, no confidence in the president or his advisers ; in favor only
of gold and silver currency ; believed that the adoption of the Crittenden
Compromise (at the time it was offered) would have saved the country.
It was soon after this convention that two Republican citizens of
Cass township received anonymous notices to leave. It was alleged
that these notices were sent by Republicans for the purpose of attaching
odium to Democratic neighbors.
92 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
But the bitterness of politics and war had begun to affect even the
cahnest minds. In an editorial of ^larch 19, 1863. ]\Iurray Briggs said:
"A most significant fact illustrative of the state of feeling throughout
the country is that authorities have forbidden the sale of firearms and
ammunition. The next step will be to take from the people those they
already have. If this is attempted, lookout for bloodshed."
W'hile the weight of public opinion in the county was favorable to
the Union and its preservation, the cause of abolition was never popular.
In 1862 it appears that some abolitionists had dared to preach their
doctrines in Fairbanks township. Their action brought out the following
notice, published in the Democrat: '
Fairbanks. Dec. 2j. 1862.
Notice to Abolition preachers:
We, the undersigned citizens of school district Xo. 5. Fairbanks
township, would most respectfully give notice to the above-named
gentry that we can and will get along without anv more of their
abolition harangues — such as were delivered in our school room on
Sunday night, Dec. 21st, by a certain Mr. Heath. It was not built
for that .purpose, and it sJiall not be used for such a purpose again.
We are willing and anxious for the gospel to be preached in it by
any minister of the gospel, b\it ice don't icaiit OJiy more abolition
lectures by any minister.
D. Crawley, Trustee. L. Fordvce, Director.
A\'. H. Griffin, O. T. Martin, Benj. Earnest.
In the summer of 1863 there were picnics, political speeches, and
some campaigning on the part of the Democrats of the county. A picnic
at Fairbanks the first of August, 1863, was largely attended. Ed Price,
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 93
of Sullivan, presided. The principal speech was by Bayless \\\ Hanna,
of Terre Haute, considered in his time one of the orators of the state
senate, and who was elected attorney general of Indiana in 1870. On
this occasion he discussed the conduct of the war and the arbitrary acts
and peculations of the government. Other speakers were Colonel Cook-
erly, editor of the Journal at Terre Haute, and S. G. Burton. A flag
was presented to the Fairbanks Constitutional Guards on behalf of the
ladies of the township, by Miss Amanda J. DeBaun, and received by
Lieut. William Fordyce. Then there was dancing, and the air frequently
resounded with cheers for Yoorhees, Vallandingham, the county ticket, etc.
A few days after this picnic at Fairbanks "a Democratic basket
meeting'' at the county seat was an occasion for a large assemblage,
despite the threatening weather. James M. Hanna as presiding ofificer
declared the adoption of some resolutions that indicate the progress of
sentiment and the war. zA.fter reaffirming a devotion to the constitution
and the Union, the resolutions condemned Lincoln for attempting by
force to sustain himself in power, although elected only by a third of the
people, and for avowing that the great battles are fought to "place all
men, without regard to race, upon an equality" ; condemning also the
conscription act and approving the course of Yoorhees in voting against
such odious and tyrannical laws. Yoorhees himself was present and
spoke for an hour.
It was about this time that the alleged quotation from a Yoorhees
speech in which he characterized the L^nion soldiers as ''Lincoln dogs"
became current through the country. Editor Briggs, in his issue of
September 17, 1863, declared that this report was "an infernal lie," but
that Republican newspapers had passed it around all over the country.
No report of the speech at Sullivan in which Mr. Yoorhees was alleged
to have used the offensive language is given. Though the specific utter-
94 HISTORY OF SULLRWX COUNTY
ance can not be traced to j\Ir. \'oorhees as author, a speech that he made
at Sulhvan about this time did arouse much bitter feehng among Union
men, the memory of which exists to this day.
The election of October 13. 1863, involved only a few county officers,
and the Democratic ticket was the only one in the field. In the spring
election (April, 1864) for township officials, the ''abs," as they were
called, tried to steal a march on the regular Democrats by waiting till
afternoon to present their tickets. A light vote was polled, but the
Democrats carried all the offices except in Gill township.
The campaign of 1864 opened early, at the Republican convention
of February 25, 1864. Prominent members of the party and citizens of
the county took part in the deliberations. A. \V. Springer presided, with
Dr. J. J. Thompson and Prof. Hall as assistants, and John T. Gunn and
John \V. Canary as secretaries. James W. Hinkle, William H. Crowder
and T. P. Emison reported resolutions declaring it to be the duty of all
loyal Americans to unconditionally support the government in a vigorous
prosecution of the war, condenming all parties who either for political
partisan purposes or in sympathy with the enemies of the countrv
embarrass the government ; also recommending a thorough organization
of townships for the approaching political campaign. The Stars and
Stripes, that had been published during the first year or so of the war
by John W. Osborn, had by this time discontinued, and one of the acts
of this convention was the appointing of a committee to investigate the
practicability of publishing an unconditional Union paper. The com-
mittee consisted of Lieut. Col. F. L. Neff, Dr. John AI. Hinkle, T.
Kearns, Dr. Duval, Dr. Buskirk. R. A. Bland, T. Burton, S. Myers, R.
McClung, D. Baldridge, Lieut. Edward Maxwell and J. W. Hinkle.
The Democratic convention met about the first of June, with IMichael
Alalott as chairman. Xo set of principles adopted or concurred in by
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 95
this convention was reported, though the course of Mr. \'oorhees in
Congress was strongly approved. On the i8th of September a McClellan
Club was organized, based on these general principles : Equal and exact
justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political;
peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations and entangling
alliances with none ; support of state governments in all their rights as
the most competent administrators of our domestic concerns ; preserva-
tion of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor; jealous
care of the right of election by the people ; absolute acquiescence in the
will of the majority ; w'ell disciplined militia ; and supremacy of civil over
military authority.
A camp meeting planned by the Democrats to take place in Jefferson
township on August 19 was interfered with by heavy continuous rain,
but on the following day part of the program was carried out, with
Voorhees, Captain Puckett, of Clay county. Captain \'an Fossen, and
others, as speakers. While detained in Sullivan by the rain, Voorhees
addressed the voters and arraigned the abolition party for their corrup-
tion, extravagance and usurpations, and denounced their impudence in
demanding to know of the Democrats what plan they would follow in
restoring the Union, after the Republicans had made such a miserable
failure of their attempt.
Naturally, the editor of the Democrat speaks slightingly of the
Republican activities during the campaign. On September 29, 1864, he
reports that "Governor Wright 'spoke his piece' last Thursday" (Sep-
tember 22(1), as also Dave Gooding, a renegade Democrat from Hancock
county, and Colonel Washburn, their candidate for Congress. "The fact
that the committee had advertised largely and arranged for meeting in
the grove near town made apparent the smallness of the crowd. We
have heard no one put the crowd on the grounds at more than 700.
96 HISTORY OF SULIJ\\\X COUNTY
Colonel Jaquess made a very low-flung, abusive speech in this town last
Friday (September 30th). having much to say of Jeff Davis/'
The great presidential election of 1864 (in October) passed off
quietly in Sullivan county. A light vote was cast, except in Hamilton
township, where AlcClellan received 448 to Lincoln's 206. It was claimed
that the Democratic soldiers were not allowed furloughs to come home
and vote as were the Republicans in the ranks. But that mattered little
so far as Sullivan county was concerned, since it continued to remain
overwhelmingly Democratic. The vote for the principal state and county
officers was as follows :
Governor — MacDonald, 2.187: Morton. 754.
Congressman — \'oorhees. 2,181 ; Washburn. 750.
Circuit Judge — Eckels. 2.183: Brown. 751.
Prosecuting Attorney — Alalott. 2,175; ^lulkey. 749.
Common Pleas Judge — Patterson, 2,187; ^Maxwell. 749.
Dist. Prosecuting Att'y — John T. Scott. 2.186: Boudinot, 750.
State Senator — B. W. Hamia. 2,185; ^"^- B. Crane. 750.
Representative — S. G. Burton. 2.135; X. G. Buff'. 747.
Sheriff' — Alex Snow, 2.184: William Purcell, 745.
Treasurer — John Giles, 2,181 ; T. B. Silvers, 742.
Coroner — B. B. Xeal, 2,186; Loudermilk, 742.
Surveyor — X'^. Thomas. 2.184: McBride, 743.
Commissioner — I. \\'. Allen. 2,149; J. W. Hinkle. 749.
The economic aspects of the war were not less interesting and impor-
tant than the political. Only those who lived through the conditions of
the time can fully appreciate the stinting and deprivations that were
imposed on the people. On the 3d of February, 1862, when the war
had been in progress less than a year, at a sale of lands held for delin-
quent taxes, the real estate of probably two hundred citizens was put
HISTORY OF SULLRAX COLXTY 97
up for sale to satisfy the taxes. The editor of the Dcuiucnit estimated
that more than half of these persons allowed themselves to he returned
delinquent from sheer inability to raise the money. "There is no actual
suffering- among our farmers, but it would astonish manv to learn of
the retrenchment that characterizes the household economy of the farmers
of this county ; how they use rye coffee, sassafras tea, dispense entirely
with sugar, etc." On another page of this same issue is printed a notice
of the intention of the county commissioners to enforce the old law allow-
ing the treasurer to levy on and sell personal property for taxes.
At a meeting of the citizens of Cass township in Center schoolhouse
(December 8, 1862) resolutions were adopted declaring that in view of
the high prices put upon goods by eastern manufacturers and speculators
and the low prices brought by farm produce, that they would refuse to
sell except when adequate price was paid, and that the}' could in large
measure do without the manufactured goods of the east. They called
upon other citizens of other townships to co-operate with them in this
movement to resist the artificial and speculative business movements
of the east. A humorous comment on this attempt appeared in the
Louisville Journal, being quoted by the Democrat. "We suppose the
women of Cass township," concludes the Louisville editor, "are expected
to substitute tacks for pins, thorns for needles, barrel hoops for steel
ones, and that the men. dispensing with buttons, mean to fasten up their
breeches with tow strings."
One result of the war was the interruption of traffic between the
north and the south. The commodity of all others which was needed by
the north, and which the blockade of the rivers and the seaports pre-
vented the north from getting, was cotton. The lack of this staple caused
the people of Sullivan county to resort to a branch of agriculture which
had long been in disuse, practically since pioneer days. As elsewhere
Vol. 1—7
98 HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY
stated, cotton was raised on a few farms by the pioneers, but its cultivation
had been unknown for many years. In view of this fact, the following
notice in the Democrat of April 24, 1862, is interesting:
]\Ir. Briggs — Sir: You may say that I have a sack of cotton
seed on hand for distribution among the farmers of this county.
All information necessary as to mode of culture will be furnished
by calling at the railroad office. James Kellev.
The same man advertised that he had flax seed to loan to farmers.
These seeds were also distributed among northern farmers by the gov-
ernment, the object being to ofifset the loss of southern production by
grownng these crops in the soil of the northern states that were adapted
to such crops.
In the first months of the war the patriotism natural to every people
and to Americans in particular had swept large numbers into the enlisted
ranks. The enthusiasm of military preparation, the display and pomp
of marching soldiers, and the fascination that war always exercises over
men, were strong influences at the beginning of the war, but when the
reality of military life was brought home, when death and disease and
hardships at the front advanced into prominence and the glories of
war receded, there was a subsidence of enthusiasm, and instead there
arose the sense of duty and grim determination, which were the principal
factors that brought about the final triumph of the north.
As already noted, there was a strong feeling opposed to the war,
not only in Sullivan county, but throughout the state. One of the
immediate causes of the war was the election of a Republican president
in the fall of i860. Admittedly, this had been accomplished by the
division of the Democratic party, the factions of which, altogether, cast
a larger popular vote than that received by Abraham Lincoln. For this
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 99
reason, the war was considered a Republican party measure, and conse-
quently not representative of the majority of the pef)ple.
Then, also, there were two issues that arose at the beginning of
the war — the right of states to secede from the Union, and the abolition
of slavery through federal power. In Sullivan county secession was
regarded as a deplorable evil, one that should be avoided by every
possible means, though perhaps the majority were in favor of almost
unlimited concessions to the south rather than a resort to the coercion
of arms. It was believed by many that rather than plunge the country
into civil war, it was better to allow the southern states to withdraw.
But the abolition of slavery did not make a popular appeal to Sullivan
county people. It was not popular in many parts of the west, and par-
ticularly in all the border states. This was illustrated during the early
months of the war, when the untactful order of General Fremont, as
commander of the Department of the West, freeing the slaves in Mis-
souri, caused a quick reaction of sympathy for the southern cause, so
that the order was quickly annulled by President Lincoln.
Before proceeding to note some of the incidents and manifestations
of this condition of sentiment regarding the war in Sullivan county, a
quotation from W. H. Smith's "History of Indiana" will give a general
view of the subject in the state at large. He says:
"Perhaps there was not a northern state which held so many
persons who sympathized with the south, as did Indiana. At least
two causes existed for this. A large portion of the people of
Indiana, at that time, were either directly from the south, or were
descendants of those who immigrated from some one of the south-
ern states. Also, much of the trade of the people had always been
with the south, the Ohio river furnishing an outlet for the surplus
product of the Indiana farms and factories. This sympathy broke
out almost as soon as the war came, but for awhile it was smothered
under the tide of patriotism which swept over the state, but as soon
5363(54
loo HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
as that gave opportunity, the smoldering fires of opposition broke
out. When the order of the Sons of Liberty [or Knights of the
Golden Circle] was first instituted in Indiana, is not definitely known,
but it is known to have been in existence as early as November,
1861. It was not strong in numbers then, but as the war was pro-
longed, and the burdens on the people became more oppressive, its
membership grew, until early in 1864 it counted forty-five thousand
or more members capable of bearing arms.
"It is just to say that not every one who became enrolled as a
member endorsed the treasonable plans. They had joined it from one
motive or another, but wdien they found what its real aims were,
they ceased attending the meetings or taking any part with it, but
they did not expose it. During the years 1862, 1863 and 1864
numerous outrages were perpetrated, in different parts of the state,
on the persons or property of men known to be active adherents
of the Union. Enrolling and draft officers w^ere assaulted, and in
some cases killed. Early in 1864 Governor Morton became fully
advised of the existence of the order, its strength and its objects. It
had become so bold then as to be in correspondence with southern
commanders, and arranging for invasions of the state. Hitherto it
had confined itself to resisting the draft, encouraging desertions and
concealing deserters, and committing outrages on Union men, but it
had grown strong enough to enter into more active assistance of
the south. An invasion of the state was arranged for, when the
members of the order were to rise and overthrow the state govern-
ment, release the prisoners confined in Camp Morton, and then
march to Kentucky to take possession of that state.
"As has been said, Governor Morton became advised of the
existence of the order and its purposes. He had also received
information that 30,000 revolvers had been bought and paid for,
in New York, to be shipped to this state. They were marked
'Sunday school books.' Thirty-two boxes so marked were found,
and contained 400 revolvers, with 135,000 rounds of ammunition.
Harrison H. Dodd, of Indianapolis, Horace Heft'ren. of Salem.
Andrew Humphreys, of Greene county, Lamdin P. Milligan, of
Huntington, William A. Bowles, of Orange county, Stephen Horsey,
of Martin county, and one or two others were arrested and confined
in the military prison at Indianapolis. Heffren and one or two
HISTORY OF SULLIW-VN COUNTY loi
others were released without trial ; Dock! escaped from prison and
fled to Canada, while his trial was progressing.. The others were
tried before a military commission appointed by the president.
Bowles, Milligan and Horsey were condemned to death, and
Humphreys was released on an order to confine himself during the
continuance of the war to his own county. The three condemned
men received from President Johnson a commutation of their
sentence to life imprisonment in the Ohio penitentiary. After the
close of the war they applied for a writ of habeas corpus, and after
a lengthy hearing, by the supreme court of the United States, were
released. Idic arrest of these men, and the rapid successes of the
Union armies, effectually put a stop to all further direct opposition
to the government, but there was still a strong undercurrent of
opposition existing. After the close of the war a number of suits
were brought against army officers, who had taken part in the
arrest and trial of those charged with opposing the government,
but they all came to naught."
In applying this description to Sullivan county it will be necessary
to consider one or two factors in the situation, which are not mentioned
by Mr. Smithy but which are in fact offsets to the charge of disloyalty,
in this county at least.
In the first place, the acts of lawlessness cannot be charged to any
political party, nor to the element opposed to the continuance of the
war, nor even to the disloyal order above mentioned. There can be no
doubt that the divided state of opinion with regard to the war produced
conditions in which such acts were more easily committed and more
easily escaped of sure punishment. But so far as the testimony shows,
the lawdessness in Sullivan county may be traced to the viciousness
which, in civil peace, is suppressed, but in war rises to the surface of
society. There were outlaws in Sullivan county during the war. and
for the accomplishment of their purposes and to cloak their crimes they
professed afifiliation without regard for principles. The cause of law
I02 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
and order was supported by citizens generally in the county, irrespective
of their political affiliation or attitude toward the war.
Without condoning the treasonable designs of the Knights of the
Golden Circle, so far as they were directed to the invasion of Indiana
by southern troops, it must be said as a matter of justice that the secret
nature of the order, which was considered so offensive, was also char-
acteristic of the Loyal League organizations which existed in the county
and state. Both orders were conducted in a manner to do more harm
than good to the causes they represented, and they served to increase
the alarm and feeling of insecurity in the county.
The drafting of men for military service was the most unpleasant
feature of the war, and it resulted in disturbances in every state of the
Union. In Sullivan county the draft, the arrest of deserters, the out-
breaks of lawlessness, resulted in a number of incidents which belong
to the history of the period, and which are more important features of
Sullivan county during the war than the operations of the armies on the
battlefields of the south.
September i, 1862, was the first day for the draft commissioners
to examine those claiming exemption from draft. The Democrat says
that the day was characterized by the most disgraceful scenes that ever
occurred in this town. Probably one thousand people were in town.
Not being a "public day," the saloons were open, and riotous conditions
prevailed. A man named Hammond beat an old man seventy years old,
and this engendered a number of fights. Sheriff jNIcCammon was unable
to quell the disturbance, and was himself very roughly handled.
The results of the enrollment of the county military showed that
the county had, by September, 1862, furnished 1,098 volunteers to the
war. At the same time the militia of the county (that is. men under
HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY 103
forty-five who were liable for military duty ) numbered 2.276, the exemp-
tions reducing- this number to about 1,760.
The men appointed in Sullivan county for the task of enrolling
and drafting were: William Wilson, draft commissioner; W. D. j\Ioore,
provost marshal; John AI. Hinkle, surgeon; and a deputy for each town-
ship — Fletcher J^"reeman for Cass, Lafayette Stewart for Hamilton, Mr.
Watson for Jefferson, J. Davis for Haddon, J. W. Reed for Fairbanks,
Robert Carrithers for Turman, G. H. 0'l'.0}le for Cill, James T. Spencer
for Curry, and W. N. Patton for Jackson.
The first draft was made in the early days of October, and passed
off without special incident. Blindfolded, F. Easier drew lots from the
militia list for the required number to fill the quotas. But six men were
drafted, four from Cass and two from Jefferson township, the other
townships filling their quotas without recourse to this method.
It was not until 1863 that the unrest and opposition to the war began
to result in serious disturbance. The principal events growing out of
these causes, so far as recorded in the files of the Democrat, will be given.
The arrest of Daniel Case, in March, 1863, on charge of desertion
from the Ninety-seventh Regiment, at his home in Cass township, caused
criticism of certain men in that township on the charge that they were
aiding deserters. This incident had a partisan political aspect. At a
meeting of citizens, the resolutions passed declared that the Democratic
party did not wish to encourage desertion ( as evidently had been charged )
and would not protect any deserter nor interfere with his arrest by the
proper authority. It was reported that 500 people attended the meeting.
Andrew Humphreys, of Greene county, made a speech characterized by
calmness and moderation in discussing the attitude of citizens toward
the government and the war.
In a few days (April 10) the county was aroused by the arrest
104 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
of nine citizens residing about the nortlieast corner of the county. The
arrest followed an indictment by the grand jury of the United States
district court of Indiana on the charge of conspiracy. A deserter had
testified that these men belonged to an organization, one of whose objects
was to prevent arrest of deserters and aid them if arrested. The indicted
men were taken to Indianapolis and released on bail. A few days before
this occurrence James Herriford. ^like Evans and Fletcher Freeman had
been arrested on charge of desertion. Some irregularity in their dis-
charge papers was the cause of the arrest.
The general distrust that prevailed in the countv is shown in the
arrest, in April, of Nelson Osborn. who. having returned to Sullivan
after an absence of two or three years, was supposed to be a spv from
the Confederacy. Fle was of a somewhat roving disposition, and his
return at this time was regarded with suspicion of secret motives that
would never have occurred to anyone in times of peace. After being held
about a month. C)sborn was released, nothing having been found to con-
firm the charge.
Some deserters found refuge in Sullivan county. Also some crim-
inals from civil justice kept their haunts about the county during the
war. At various times parties of soldiers were dispatched to the county
for the purpose of arresting deserters, to preserve order, and to guard
against infractions of military discipline. ( )ccasionally the soldiers con-
ducted themselves with the insolence and license that often characterized
detached squads when not directly under the restraint of strict discipline.
In nearly every case the enforcement of a military order in the county
was accompanied by disturbance of the civil comnnmity and left wounds
and bitterness that many years failed to entirely heal.
An aft'air occurred in Cass township that illustrates this point.
About the first of June. 1863. reports reached .Sullivan that the brothers
HISTORY OF SULLIWVX COUXTY 105
of a deserter named Bennett had shot two solcHers sent to arrest him,
but later reports showed tliat tlie brothers had only threatened to shoot
and that the soldiers had desisted from their object. A few davs later
a party of sixty soldiers were sent down, presumably for the purpose of
arresting- Bennett. Instead, they conducted a search throu.qh Cass town-
ship and parts of Greene count}' for United States arms. The intrusion
produced a great commotion in the eastern part of the count}'. Xo doubt
the actions of a searching party, however decorously conducted, would
have aroused resentment, but the soldiers were charged with several acts
that apparently went beyond the warrant of their duty. Some provisions
■were taken, it was said, a horse was impressed for the use of a sick
soldier. Houses along the route were searched for arms. Horses were
picked up along the road and taken with the company. As Joseph Pigg
passed by the spot where the troops were encamped for the night, he was
stopped, but was allowed to proceed when he explained he was on an
errand for a sick child. Galloping on, he was shot at by another sentry
because he did not halt at once. This brought the people together in an
excited assemblage to defend their rights. A deputation was sent to the
camp, and at their demands the stolen horse was returned with apologies.
The Democrat editor stated that the consensus of opinion in Cass was
that wdien troops who conducted themselves properly were sent for
deserters, the aid of the citizens would be afforded the troops, since the
presence of prowlers from the army was not desired.
Another incident, illustrative of certain political bitternesses that
sometimes became acute and cankered the relations of an entire com-
munity, was described in the Democrat of June 11, 1863, under the title
of "Disgraceful Afifair." "At a largely attended funeral at the Little
Flock meeting house last Sunday, as the body was being lowered into
the grave a woman named Jewell seized the opportunity to snatch a
io6 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
bnttermit ornament fr(Mn a yonng man named Rurch. A big strapping
fellow immediately commenced an attack on a boy who wore a similar
badge oi his Democracy. We are mortified to say that a regular fist
fight ensned. One of the champions of the ring handed the woman who
had so unsexed herself a dollar as reward for her conduct." Other
occurrences of this nature were not infrequent.
From the facts that have been observed concerning the state of
feeling in Sullivan county, the causes that produced the most tragic event
in the county during war times are readily understood. The death of
Fletcher Freeman will always be associated with the political discord
and the opposition to the war and draft that marked this period in
Sullivan county.
Fletcher Freeman, as above noted, was deputy enrolling officer for
Cass township. On the morning of June i8, 1863, he was shot from
ambush and killed, though at that time he was not actively engaged
in duties pertaining to his military office. He had started for a rendezvous
of road hands, a summons having been issued for the working of the
roads in that particular district. Meeting two men, Shaw and Rusher,
who were bound on similar business, he sent them back to his house
for tools. They had retraced their steps by a short distance when they
heard the report of a gun. One of them, having been in the army,
recognized the cries as those of a man who had been shot. Hurrying
back, they found Mr. Freeman lying in the road, in the agonies of death.
A brief examination of the surroundings showed that a blind of branches
and brush had been built near the roadside about twenty or twenty-five
feet to the side. Scraps of meat and bread and piles of whittlings indi-
cated that the place had been occupied by perhaps three persons for one
or two weeks. There was no clue to the murderers. ^Nlr. Freeman had
seveial years before been proprietor of the American Hotel at Sullivan,
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 107
and was a former Republican nominee for tiie office of sheriff. He had
assisted in raising- the Thirteenth Rattery of hght artillery, and expected
to be commissioned an officer. He was declared unfit for dutv and was
honorably discharged. One of the men who had Ijeen induced to enlist
by Mr. Freeman deserted, and because compelled to remain in the service,
he threatened to shoot Freeman, who had escaped duty. This was a
possible cause of the assassination, but whether it was a case of individual
malice or was in part the result of the prejudice existing against the draft
act and all agents connected with carrying it out, was never determined.
Several threatening letters had been sent because of his work as enrolling
officer.
On the Saturday following the tragedy a hastily called meeting was
held in the court house. James W. Hinkle was chairman, A. A'an
Fossen secretary. Those participating in the proceedings on this occasion
indicated the general condemnation passed upon the (.\ii(;i\ by all the
representative class of citizens. Addresses were made by James C.
Allen, a member of Congress from Illinois, and Willis G. Neff. The
committee on resolutions were H. K. Wilson, George Parks. William
Stansil, Daniel Herbert, Joseph W. Wolfe, IMurray Briggs and John
T. Gunn. The resolutions as adopted say Mr. Freeman was shot in con-
sequence, "as we have every reason to believe, of the recent faithful
discharge by him of the duties of em-olling officer under the conscript
act." The committee urged the necessity of appealing only to the ballot
box and the courts for relief from the burdens entailed by the acts of
war ; that the duty of every law-abiding citizen was to endeavor to dis-
cover and aid officers of justice in arresting the perpetrators of this
crime.
^Mention has been made of the formation of companies of home
guards in different parts of the state, many of which were secretly
io8 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
termed to offset the seeret organizations of the Sons of Liberty. Little
can be said of the home guards beyond the fact of their existence and
their formation (hn-ing the summer of 1863. The Graysville Guards
was the first, the officers of which were R. H. Crowdcr, captain ; Addison
]\IcKee, 1st Heutenant ; Sherrod Burton, 2d heutenant. This company
was mustered in as part of the Indiana Legion, and was suppHed with
arms b\' the state. In September the Graysville company had the mis-
fortune to lose several musket.s, stolen, perhaps, by their enemies. In
endeavoring to arrest the guilty parties an encounter followed in which
some shots were exchanged, but no one was injured, nor were the guns
recovered.
In the issue of August 31, 1863, the Democrat says: "We have
heard for several months that an organization of Loyal Leaguers was
formed in Sullivan. Such has been kept very secret. General Wilcox
having issued an order against such societies, it was changed to 'Union
Riflemen,' a company of the Legion. The success of the Graysville
company in securing arms last week raised the spirits of the men. and
they met at the court house to elect officers. Jesse Burton of Graysville
presided. Sewell Coulson explained the purpose of the meeting and
the necessity of militia. Indiana had allowed the militia system to fall
into disuse ; he dwelt at length on the fact that the Legion would not be
required to leave the state."" The officers of the Sullivan company were
Captain Walls, Stewart Barnes, ist lieutenant; Rev. Taggart, 2d lieu-
tenant. A little later a similar company was formed at Merom. under
Captain B. F. Stover and another at Carlisle under Captain David
Edmiston.
To supply comforts for the wounded soldiers in the hospitals of
the south, and to aid the families of enlisted men who, while in the
army, were unable to properly support those dependent upon them at
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUXTY io;j
home, a practical charity was necessary which, in thoroughness, has not
been duphcatcd since the war. Organized charity, in the modern sense
of the term, was unknown forty }ears ago, and in consequence the first
efforts were largely individual donations and private relief. I'ut as the
war continued and the needs became more pressing, aid societies were
formed, and the contributions were systematically directed to the points
of greatest want. The Sanitary Commission was a national organization,
with branches throughout the country, and the various local bodies,
ladies' aid societies, etc., co-operated with this larger bodv.
The women, and citizens generally, of the county began this form
of charity in the first year of the war. It became necessary to relieve
distress during the first winter after the beginning, of the war. The
first great battles of the war in which many of Sullivan county's soldiers
took part were those of the western campaign including Corinth in the
spring of 1862. By this time the sanguinary character of the war was
realized, and in anticipation of the struggle at Corinth, in April, 1862,
a meeting was held at Sullivan to collect materials for the relief of the
soldiers. Rolls of bandages, lint, half-worn shirts, muslin and money
for the purchase of same to the amount of 150 yards, were collected,
and forwarded to the field of war.
Individual cases of want were relieved during the winter of 1862-63,
but in the latter part of November, 1863, the first society was organized
for this purpose. The organization took place in the court house, George
Parks being made president and Daniel Lang.don secretary. x\ com-
mittee of twelve were appointed to canvass the town and vicinity, taking
subscriptions, and ascertaining what families were in need and reporting
to the committee of distribution. The members of the latter committee
were Murray Briggs, George Parks and James W. Brodie. The can-
vassing committee were Tvlrs. F. D. Neff, Mrs. Dr. Thompson, Mrs. M.
no HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Aialott, Mrs. William Griffith, Miss Mattie Stark, Aliss C. M. Reed,
J. H. Weir, J. II. Wilson, Matthew McCamnion, James \\\ Hinkle, \\'.
G. Neff, William Griffith. .
About the middle of December, 1863, the Democrat reports that the
wood hauling demonstration was not a success owing to the rain and
bad roads. However, enough was brought to relieve present necessities,
and a liberal supply of beef, molasses, meal, apples, etc., was received.
One of the incidents of the rebellion which occurred in Sullivan
county was the accidental death of Professor Miles J. Fletcher, state
superintendent of education. Early in May, 1862, Governor Morton
and a party of friends were on their way to visit the battlefield of Corinth
in anticipation of the great battle. Just above the Sullivan station their
train ran into a box-car standing on a switch. At the noise of the
collision, Professor Fletcher put his head out of the window, and was
struck by the edge of the car and the top of his head lifted ofif. The
dead man was cared for at Sullivan, and the governor's party then pro-
ceeded on another train. The state of feeling at the time is well
illustrated in the charges that were freely made then and for a long
time afterward, that the car had been placed on the track to wreck the
governor's train. The testimony at the coroner's investigation proved
that Milton Belser, a young soldier of the Thirty-first Regiment, re-
turning with a friend from making an evening call, had loosed the
brakes and started the car "to get a ride." The car ran off the switch
and on to the main track, and was not discovered before the governor's
special came along. Belser was arrested near Evansville while on his
way to the army, but the jury failed to find an indictment against him.
The following is a list of the battles and campaigns participated in
by the various regiments containing, soldiers from Sullivan county.
Some of the enlisted men from this county were scattered through other
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY m
regiments, only a few in each, but those named here were the principal
regiments containing enlisted soldiers from this county.
Seventeenth Regiment.
Belle Plain road, Georgia, June, 1864.
Chattahoochie River, Georgia, July 7, 1864.
Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19-20, 1863.
Coosaville, Georgia, October, 1863.
Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April 11 to May 30, 1862.
Ebenezer Church, Alabama, April i, 1865.
Elkwater, Virginia, September 12-13, 1861.
Farmington, Tennessee, October 7, 1863.
Flat Rock, Georgia, October, 1862.
Goshen, Georgia, October, 1864.
Greenbrier, Virginia, October 3, 1861.
Hoover's Gap, Tennessee, June 23-30, 1863.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864.
Leesburgh, Georgia, August, 1864.
Macon, Georgia, April 20, 1865.
Marietta, Georgia, July 3, 1864.
McMinnville, Tennessee, October 4, 1863.
Munfordsville, Kentucky, September 14-16, 1862.
, New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864.
;, • Pumpkin Vine Church, Virginia, June, 1864.
Rome, Georgia, May 17, 1864.
Selma, Alabama, April 2, 1865.
: Stone Mountain, Georgia, July, 1864.
Thompson's Cove, Tennessee, October 3, 1863.
112 HISTORY OF SULLIX'AX COUNTY
Tz<.'Ciity-first Rci^^iniciif.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 5, 1862.
Cornet Bridge. Louisiana, December, 1862.
Des Allemands, Louisiana. September 8, 1862.
Fort Gaines, Alabama. August 5-8, 1864.
Fort Morgan, Alabama, August 5-13, 1864.
Lafourche Crossing, Louisiana, June 21, 1863.
^Mobile, Alabama (siege), ]\Iarch 2/ to April 11, 1865.
P'ort Hudson, ^Mississippi (siege), ]\Iay 21 to July 8, 1863.
Sabine Cross Roads, Louisiana, April 8, 1864.
Spanish Fort, Alabama (siege), ]\Iarch 27 to April 19, 1865.
Thirty-first Regiment.
Atlanta, Georgia (siege), July 21 to September 2, 1864.
Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19-20, 1863.
Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April 11 to ]\Iay 30, 1862.
Fort Donelson. Tennessee, February 13-16, 1862.
Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 2y, 1864.
Nashville, Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864.
New Hope Church, Georgia, ]\Iay 25, 1864.
Resaca, Georgia, Alay 15, 1864.
Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6-7, 1862.
Stone River, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863.
Forty-first Regiment of Cavalry.
Corinth, ^Mississippi (siege), April 11 to ^^lay 30, 1862.
Fair Garden, Tennessee, February 19, 1865.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 113
Gallatin, Tennessee. Aug.ust 21-27, 1862.
Mc]\Jinnville, Tennessee, x\ugust 9, 1862.
Newman, Georgia, Jnly 31, 1864.
Pea Ridge, Tennessee, April 15, 1862.
Perryville (or Chaplin Hills), Kentucky, October 8, 1862.
Scottsville, Alabama, April 2, 1865.
Talbott's Station, Tennessee, December 29, 1863.
Triune, Tennessee, June 11, 1863.
Tuscumbia, Alabama, ]\Iay 31, 1862.
Varnell's Station, Georgia, ]\Iay 9, 1864.
Vinegar Hill, Kentucky, September 22, 1862.
West Point, Georgia. April 16, 1865.
Forty-tJiird Regiment.
Fort Pillow, Tennessee, June 5, 1862.
Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863.
Island No. 10, March 10 to April 7, 1862.
Marks Mills, Arkansas, April 30, 1864.
New Madrid, Missouri (siege), March 3-14, 1862.
Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864.
Prairie Leon, Arkansas, April 10, 1864.
Red Alound, Arkansas, April 17, 1864.
Terre Noir, Arkansas, April 2, 1864.
Fifty-ninili Regiment.
Champion Hills, Mississippi, May 16, 1863.
Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April 11 to May 30, 1862.
Corinth, ^Mississippi, October 3-4. 1862.
Island No. 10. March 10 to April 7, 1862.
Vol. 1—8
114 HISTORY OF SULLRAX COUXTV
Missionary Ridge, Georgia, November 25, 1863.
New jMadrid. Missouri (siege), March 3-14, 1862.
\'ick,sburg. Mississippi (siege). May 18 to July 4. 1863.
Thirteenth Battery.
Hartwell, Tennessee, December 7, 1862.
Monterey, Kentucky, March, 1862.
!Munfordsville, Kentucky, September 14-16, 1862.
Versailles, Kentucky. October 5, 1862.
Seiriity-firsf Regiment of Coz'olry.
Cassville, Georgia, Alay 19, 1864.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 2y, 1864.
Knoxville, Tennessee, November 17 to December 4, 1863.
Lost Mountain, Georgia, June 17, 1864.
Muldraugh's Hill, Kentucky, August 28, 1862.
Nashville. Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864.
Pulaski, Tennessee, September 27, 1864.
Richmond, Kentucky. August 29-30. 1862.
Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864.
Eiglity-tifth Regiment.
Atlanta, Georgia (siege), July 21 to September 2, 1864.
Averysboro. North Carolina. ]\Iarch 16, 1865.
Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865.
Cassville. Georgia, 'Slay 19. 1864.
Gulp's Farm, Georgia, June 22, 1864.
Dallas, Georgia, May 27, 1864.
Golgotha Church, Georgia, June 15, 1864.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 115
Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864.
Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864.
Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864.
Thompson's Station, Tennessee, March 5, 1863.
Ninety-scventli Regiment.
Atlanta, Georgia (siege), July 21 to September 2, 1864.
Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865.
Big Shanty, Georgia, June 14, 1864.
Dallas, Georgia, May 2y, 1864.
Graysville, Georgia, November 2y, 1862.
Island No. 10, March 10 to April 7, 1862.
Jonesboro, September i, 1864.
New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864.
Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864.
One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment.
Blue Springs, Tennessee, October 10, 1863.
One Hundred and Tzventy-sixth Regiment of Cavalry.
Franklin. Tennessee, November 30, 1864.
Nashville, Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864.
Pulaski, Tennessee, September 27, 1864.
Sullivan county furnished a large quota, in proportion to population,
for service in the Philippines following the Spanish-American war. On
the return of some of these soldiers in 1901 a home-coming celebration
was made the feature of the Independence day of that year, and it was
ii6
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
notable for the presence of a great crowd in Sullivan and for the many
evidences of niililary patriotism. The veterans of three wars were pres-
ent, there being three Sullivan county survivors of the ^Mexican war —
\\'illis Benefield, Joe Ingle and John Stanley. A list of the soldiers from
this county who had enlisted for service in the Philippines, as prepared
bv the committee on reception, contained the following names :
x'Vndrews, Boyd, Carlisle.
Austin, Alva E., Sullivan .
Barcus, George, Hymera.
Ba}s, Harold C, Sullivan.
Bose, Frank, Jackson Hill.
Boles, Benjamin, Sullivan.
Buff, John, Merom.
Bunch, John, Sullivan.
Cook, Edward B., Hymera.
Coyner, Earl, Merom.
Cleveland, Herbert, Carlisle.
Crynes, John, Jackson Hill.
Day, Homer, Sullivan.
Denny, Charles W., Sullivan.
Dooley, Stephen J., Sullivan.
Dorsey, Arthur, Sullivan.
Ednionson, Stephen, Jackson Hill.
Everhart, William S., Jackson Hill.
Foster, \A'illiam E., Sullivan.
Freeman, Benjamin N., Sullivan.
Gardner, Fred, Sullivan.
Groves, Charles, Merom.
Haddon, Jesse, Dugger.
Hammack, John, Sullivan.
Hammond, Elmer, Sullivan.
Hawhee, James H., Carlisle.
Higbee, Ray, Sullivan.
Johnson, Robert W., Sullivan.
Keene, Samuel, Hymera.
Kelly, Harry H., Sullivan.
King, James A., Alerom.
Kircheval, William, Farmersburg.
Leach, Marshall, Sullivan.
Lester, Arthur H., Merom.
Lucas, Charles E., Sullivan.
Luzader, Claude, Sullivan.
McCamnion, Herbert, Paxton.
McCloud, Fred, Sullivan.
McCloud, John, Sullivan.
McClure, John, Sullivan.
McClure, Orlando, Sullivan.
Morris, Bert, Merom.
Neal, John J., Sullivan.
Neal, Bert, Sullivan.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
117
Norton, Nelson, Sullivan.
O'Haver, Arthur, Sullivan.
Pinkston, Arthur, Merom.
Purcell, John E., Paxton.
Sanders, Earl, Hymera.
Sankey, Jesse, Fairbanks.
Shake, Norris, Carlisle.
South, Levi, Sullivan.
Spilkey, James F., Sullivan.
Terwilliger, Louis A., Sullivan.
Thompson, Frank H., Merom.
VVible, John W., Merom.
Wilson, Perry, Jackson Hill.
West, Thomas E., Sullivan.
Yeager, James E., Graysville.
Young, Walter, Sullivan.
Daniels, Will, Merom.
Lee, George, Merom.
Wilson, James, Carlisle.
Jenkins, Lee, Carlisle.
Rotramel, Charles, Carlisle.
McGrew, Finley, Sullivan.
CHAPTER VI.
SULLR'AN COUXTY EDUCATIOX.
The academies and select schools were the chief source of education
for the children of this county until about forty years ago. The average
public school was hardly worthy of the name, as compared with the
modern system. There were no public funds available to support com-
mon schools for more than a brief term, and the people learned only
slowly to provide for schools by taxation.
The first constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, provided for
education. Yet in an early day the cause advanced slowly. There was
no school law under the territorial government, nor any state law on
common schools until 1S24. Nearly all the schoolhouses built both before
and for some time after that date were erectefl by voluntary efforts of neigh-
borhoods : and all schools were supported by agreements between teachers
and patrons. The one definite provision for education made by the
national government, in planning the disposition of the public domain.
set aside section 16 in every congressional township for the maintenance
of public schools. When Indiana became a state the care of these school
sections was intrusted to the state government ; so that, while the other
sections of the township were entered at the government land ofifice,
this section 16 was disposed of by the state, and the proceeds turned
118
HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY 119
over for the support of schools in that particular township. Hence was
produced what is known as the congressional township school fund.
There are fifteen townships and fractional tcjwnships in the area of
Sullivan count}-, and the total amount realized from the sale of section
16 in each was over $17,000. The largest amount realized from any
one section was $3,403.25, for the section in town 6 north, range 10 west,
in the southwest corner of the countv. Evidently many of the school
sections proved of little value, while others sold for a high price, thus
causing a wide divergence between the amounts derived from the various
sections. In Indiana, since the proceeds of the school section were
devoted to the benefit of the schools in the congressional township where
the section was located, the inequity of the system proved one of the
greatest weaknesses of the common school system during the first half
of the century. One township would receive a disproportionately large
income for the schools, while perhaps the one adjoining, because section
16 had sold for only a few dollars, had no income for the support of
schools except the local tax.
In 1824 the general assembly passed an act to incorporate congres-
sional townships and provide for public schools therein. The act pro-
vided for the election in each township of three persons of the township
to act as school trustees, to whom the control of the school lands and
the schools generally was given ; and for the building of schoolhouses.
Every able-bodied person in each school district who was over twenty-
one years of age must work one day in each week, or else pay thirty-
seven and one-half cents in lieu of a day's work, until the schoolhouse
was built. Almost every session of the legislature witnessed some addi-
tion to or modification of the school law. Provision was made for the
appointment of school examiners, but the examinations might be private,
and the examiners were quite irresponsible. Under such circumstances
I20 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
it could not be expected that competent teachers be employed. Often
the most trivial questions were asked a teacher, and this was called an
examination. In many instances there was no examination at all — the
teacher was simply engaged to teach.
A free school system was not provided for until after 1850. Each
district had complete jurisdiction over its school affairs, deciding every
question concerning the building of a schoolhouse and the regulation of
local school affairs. The taxes for building the schoolhouse and for the
support of the teacher were assessed by the authority of the district, and
the amount of tuition to be assessed against each child attending school
was fixed by the local board. There was no considerable state school fund
until after 1837, so that the annual distribution of school money by the
state had little effect on the individual schools. With local taxation kept
down to the minimum amount by nearly all the counties, the school
system of Indiana soon became a reproach to its free institutions. It
was during this depressing period of educational backwardness that the
word "Hoosier" became a term of derision, denoting the uncouth and
ignorant countryman that the inhabitant of Indiana was supposed by most
easterners to be.
In 1840 one-seventh of the adult population of Indiana could not
read nor write, and many of those who could were densely ignorant.
While one out of seven was illiterate in Indiana, the proportion in Ohio
was only one out of eighteen. Ohio raised $200,000 in 1845 for common
schools, while Indiana had no means of raising such tax. In the matter
of literacy, Indiana stood sixteenth among twenty-three states in 1840 ;
in 1850 she was twenty-third among twenty-six states, "lower than all
the slave states but three," as Caleb Mills expressed it.
With such alarming statistics before them, the people of Indiana
were soon awakened to their educational necessities, and as a result
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 121
of the agitation the question of free schools was presented to the voters
in concrete form in the general election of 1848, when the vote was taken
on whether a law should be enacted "for raising by taxation an amount
which, added to the present school funds, should be sufficient to support
free common schools in all the districts of the state not less than three
nor more than six months each year." At the election 78,523 votes were
cast in the affirmative; 61,887 against it. But before the legislation which
resulted from this election became effective a new constitution was
adopted by the people, followed by the passage of the school law o'f
June 14, 1852. This marked the passing of the district system of schools
and the beginning of the era of actual free schools. It abolished the
congressional township as limiting school organizations, and made the
civil townships into school corporations. Cities and incorporated towns
were made school corporations distinct from the townships in which
located.
For many years there was a lack of uniformity among the various
townships in school affairs, resulting from the absence of anything like
a central county supervision. It was not until 1873 that an important
step was taken toward unity in school management, by the creation in
that year of the office of county superintendent, a county board of edu-
cation and of township institutes.
Until 1837 the trustees of each congressional township had examined
applicants for teaching positions. From 1837 to 1853 the circuit court
appointed three persons as examiners ; this appointing power was trans-
ferred to the county commissioners in 1853. In 1861 the number of
examiners was reduced to one, with service term of three years. The
first to hold the position after the law of 1861 was Murray Briggs, the
editor of the Democrat, who held the office two terms, until 1867. He
was succeeded by Charles R. Allen. In 1871 George W. Register became
122 HISTf^RV OF Sl'LLlX AX CCJL'XTY
oxaniiiKT. and after tlie law of 1873 continued in office as the first county
superintendent. Any account of the schools of Sullivan county ought
to make acknowledomcnt of the work of ]\Ir. Register. His numerous
reports in regartl to the schools visited, the work in the county as a whole
and of eacli township, his records of county and township examinations,
well written and timely articles on school buildings and grounds, on the
relations of parents to the schools, on the necessity of more schools,
longer terms, more efficient teachers, all show that he put far more time.
energy and thought into his official work than could be paid for by the
miserable pittance of $80 a year that constituted the wages of the school
examiner.
With the law of 1873 the county b<3ard of education was made to
consist of the town>hip trustees, the presidents of the school boards of
towns and cities, and the county superintendent. The county superin-
tendent was elected b_\- the township trustees, for a term of two years,
and the trustees and the superintendent have complete oversight of the
schools of the county. By the same law the township institute became an
effective instrvmient for securing unity in school work and raising the
standards of the teaching body.
The first regularly elected county superintendent after the passage
of the law was James A. Marlow. elected by the county board in June,
1875. He served sixteen years, and was followed by C. W . Welman,
who served four years, .--ince which time, for fourteen _\ears. ]\Ir. Richard
Park has been superintendent. In 1809 the term was lengthened to four
years.
In 1858 the total school population of the county was 5.414. In
1861 this had increased to 5.836. and the total school fund distributed that
year was $7,936.88. Aside from tuition and taxation, the amount avail-
able for the education of each person of school age in the county at the
HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY 123
beginning of the Civil war was about a dollar and a quarter. In 1866
the enumeration was 6,303, and the fund $14,632.86. In 1870 the
enumeration was 7,049, fund, $14,980.25. In 1880, enumeration, 7,349,
fund, $15,790.82.
The report of George W. Register in 1873 showed that the enumera-
tion in the county for 1872-73 was 7.520. Of these there were enrolled
in the schools 5.974, but the total attendance averaged only 3.472, being,
about 46 percent of the enumeration. The average term of school then
was 83 days. "'Can it be expected that the youth of our country will
become educated if only 46 percent of them attend school 83 days
in the year?" It was also shown that the average per capita cost of
education per year in the state at large was $5.53, Sullivan county being
below the average with an annual cost of $4.72. In the superintendent's
report for 1873-74 the attendance was shown to have increased to 52
percent of the enumeration, the average length of the school term being
four months and ten days, and the average daily pay of teachers, $2.15.
There was considerable rivalry among the township trustees over
the length of the school term. In the Democrat for March 13, 1872, it
was noted that James Spencer of Curry township claimed credit for
running schools in his township longer than in any other, schools being
maintained over six months and no teacher receiving less than two
dollars a day.
But select schools still supplemented the free schools, as proved by
the following resolution adopted at the meeting of the county board of
education in September, 1874: "In view of the fact that teachers who
have taught private schools in the township houses have failed in almost
everv instance at the close of their schools to make the reports required
b\ law, be it resolved by this board that any teacher who has failed or
124 HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
mav hereafter fail to make the required reports shall forfeit his or her
right to the use of the houses hereafter for private schools."
The first aiuiual report of Superintendent ]\Iarlo\v. in 1876, states
that there were 1 14 district schools in the county, and that while the
school term was increasing, in many cases it was only four or five
months long. Since 1873 the average wage of teachers had fallen from
$2.1 s a dav to $2.11. He reported increased interest and attendance at
the township institutes. The district schools, he said, were without any
system or course of study. 'Tf one of our higher schools were conducted
on this principle for a single term, it would be declared a nuisance and
disbanded." The compensation of teachers in 1879 ranged from $1.50
in Jackson township to $5.00 in Sullivan, for men. and from $1.48 in
Jackson township to $2.25 in Merom for women. Cass township had
school but 90 days, while the school ran 170 days in Carlisle, the average
length in the townships being 116 days, and in the towns 140 days.
In 1882 Superintendent Marlow submitted to the county board a
scheme for the graduation of pupils from the district schools. A series
of questions were to be submitted by the different teachers, and a general
average of eighty was necessary for graduation. In ]\Iarch, 1886,
occurred the first graduation from the district schools, w'hen the superin-
tendent granted twenty-five diplomas.
In 1887 there were 71 colored school children in the county. In
the colored settlement near Carlisle a separate school was maintained
for these children, and for a time it seemed that the school must disband
because no competent teacher could be found, as the supply of colored
teachers was very limited. The Carlisle school had about 25 or 30
enrolled. After much difficulty a man was obtained to teach, but he
was unable to secure a license. Then an old man who had taught some
twenty-five years before was sought, but he had never had a license and
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 125
could not pass the examination to get one. Finally John Bass of Carlisle
was installed as teacher.
In September. 1902, Trustee James Scott of Fairbanks township
took the first step toward the consolidation of schools, when he closed
two schoolhouses and conveyed the pupils of the districts to the school
at Fairbanks. This was not "consolidation" in the legal sense of the
term, it being possible to abandon a district without surrendering, its
separate identity, which is the result when two or more individual dis-
tricts become a consolidated district. The central school at Fairbanks
is now used by five districts.
At Graysville is one of the model rural schools of the consolidated
type. Its manual training department has attracted wide attention from
educators. The district schools about Graysville were abandoned from
1904 to 1907, and two more in 1908. Eight wagons are used to convey
the children from the distant parts of the consolidated district, care
being taken in all consolidated schools that the children shall not be
compelled to ride in the hacks longer than an hour and a half each way.
The school building at Graysville was erected some five or six years
ago. About 230 children are in attendance, and a three-year high school
course is maintained both at Graysville and at Fairbanks. An article in
the Democrat in March, 1906, stated that George Bicknell's school at
Graysville had attracted the attention not only of the state superintendent
of instruction but also of many other prominent educators. Toward
the end of the first year's work, the hand-designed books, hand illu-
minated texts and symphonies, the book-cases, table and stools, leather
sofa pillows and other efforts of the children were brought in and a
display made which astonished the community. A printing outfit is also
in the equipment, and practical work done in both printing and binding.
The Paxton consolidated school district comprises five original
126 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
sin.c:le districts in Iladclon township, live wagons being employed to
carrv the children. The schoolhouse at Paxton is a new four-room brick
building. There are at this writing 130 pupils, 95 of whom are brought
to school in the wagons. There is a one-year high school at Paxton.
At Carlisle the town school is also attended by the children of
adjacent districts in iladdon township. Three wagons convey 47 pupils
to town.
At New Lebanon is one of the largest consolidated rural schools.
This is one of the most modern examples of school building in the county
likewise. The front half of the schoolhouse is about ten years old, while
the addition was erected about two years ago. It is a 12-room building,
with good heating plant and modern equipments. Six districts were
abandoned and merged with this central school, and seven wagons are
used to carry the 133 children. The high school has seven teachers.
In Jefferson township the pupils of one district (about 24) are
carried to Pleasantville. and in Hamilton township the 14 or 15 pupils
of the Creager school are taken to the Brodie school.
Altogether, twenty-nine wagons are in service for the conveyance
of school children. The county has six incorporated towns, each with
its school system, while in the country outside are 99 individual schopls.
The report of Superintendent of Schools Park for the year ending
in ]\lay, 1908, showed the enumeration of school population for the
county to be 0.4'^8. the townships showing a net loss of 157 and the towns
a net gain of y^^- i'^*^ average daily attendance for the year was 6,969.
The graduates from the district school were 188, not including the
graduates from the eighth grade in the towns having, commissioned
schools. The average length of the school year in the county was 147
days, being 139 days in the townships and 160 in the towns. The total
number of teachers employed in the county schools were 191, 24 of them
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 127
being in the high schools. Of the schoolhouses in the county, 76 were
brick and 49 frame buildings, all of which were valued at $319,000. The
average daily wages of teachers in the county at large was $2.92, that
for grade teachers being $2.87.
In one of the monthly bulletins published by the state superintendent
in 1908, the Mammoth school, four and a half miles northeast of Sulli-
van, was declared "an ideal district school." The following description
of the school is given :
Last October and November the writer visited several rural
schools. The best district school visited is located in Sullivan
county, about four and one-half miles northeast of Sullivan. This
school was visited late in October. The county and city superin-
tendents, the township trustee, three rural school teachers and a
minister visited the school at the same time. It is located in a mining
district and there were fifty-seven children in the room. The
building is a modern one-room structure, with two vestibules or
cloak rooms and a basement for the furnace. The light in the room
comes from the north side, which is taken up with windows reaching
nearly to the ceiling. The lighting, heating and ventilation are as
near perfect as they can be made. The building has been in use
three years and is free from abuse. It looks entirely new. Every-
thing was in neat order. The boards were well kept because the
pupils take a pride in keeping them neat. The assignments on the
board were neat and definite. The order was as good as anyone
may ever want to see, because every child was busy at work all
afternoon. The instruction was excellent, the work in reading being
unusually strong. "Spinning a Top" was made the basis of the first
year reading work. The children furnished the material for this
128 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
reading- lesson. There was no estrangement between the teacher and
pupils, hence they gave the most natural expression to their childish
experience with the top. As the teacher wrote their stories on the
board they realized that "language is the symbol of their actual
experiences." The assignment in this lesson found its subject matter
in the child's world, and as a result the expression was natural. The
work in geography and spelling was of the same character.
But best of all was the fine spirit of the school. Every child
was happy and was doing his best. Every child seemed to realize
that it was his school and that its success depended at least in part
on him. And when they sang their closing song and started home
their hearty good-night showed that they believed in the teacher.
And what was the secret of it all? The teacher, to be sure. He is
Sfenuine. He is in love with his work and he is not afraid to work.
He lives in the community and knows the people. He is a great
blessing, to the community, but he can not stay there. Not because
he does not want to stay nor because the people do not want him to
stay — but because there is a larger field of service for him. No
wonder the trustee pays him $90.00 per month !
Those residents of Sullivan county whose memory goes back to
the forties and fiftes recall a brick building that stood in Sullivan and
was known everywhere as the County Seminary. It was the capstone
of the public educational system of the time, since its range of useful-
ness and benefit was larger than the state tmiversity because the majority
of the counties in the state had such institutions. The funds accunuilated
from the fines, forfeitures and delinquencies, which by an early state
law were to be converted into a seminary fund, had reached about a
thousand dollars in 1845, ^'^<^^ the county board then proceeded to erect
HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY 129
a seminary building. The seminary was designed as an institution
between the common schools and the university^ and located at the
county seat was open to all pupils in the county.
For seven or eight years the seminary maintained its place in the
educational system of the county, ^^'ith the adoption of the constitution
of 1851, the policy of keeping up county seminaries was abandoned; and
the grounds, buildings and other property of the seminaries were ordered
to be sold and the proceeds turned over to the common school fund. The
people had become satisfied that it was impracticable to carrv on county
high schools, and that all the energies of the state in relation to popular
education should be concentrated in the support and improvement of the
common schools.
The first purchaser of the old seminary building failed to liquidate
his purchase, and the building reverted to the county and continued to
be used as a schoolhouse for a number of years. In 1856 L. Leroy Booth
advertised that he would begin a select school in the seminary building at
Sullivan on January 7th, teaching Latin, Greek, German and the higher
branches of mathematics in connection with the common branches. The
ground occupied by the seminary was sold to the Sullivan school board,
and in turn sold, in 1872, to the Masonic lodge.
For some time in the fifties the village of New Lebanon was the
educational center of the county. This was largely on accoimt of the
activities of Professor A. P. Allen, principal of the New Lebanon
Academy, which had been founded in 1853 and was under the manage-
ment of the Methodist church. The school was taught in the church
building until the academy building was completed in 1855. The school
flourished until shortlv before the war, and during its existence manv
young people received training in branches that were above the grade
of the average school of that day. There is the flavor of the older
Vol. 1—9
130 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
educational ideals in the following list of the branches then taught in
the school — algebra, chemistry, composition and rhetoric, outlines of
history, natural philosophy, natural theology, botany, trigonometry, logic,
mental philosophy, moral science, surveying, astronomy, geolog}% ele-
ments of criticism, mechanical philosophy, and history of English
literature. Does a modern curriculum produce better men and women
than this old-fashioned one did?
An advertisement in the Democrat, December, 1855, states that the
building of the Indiana Conference Male and Female Academy had just
been completed, and names the teachers as follows : Professor A. P.
Allen, assisted by Mrs. R. J. Allen, and Miss Mary Brock. Massom
Ridgeway was president of the board of trustees.
Union Christian College.
In the Sullivan Democrat of September 20, 1856, is a card announc-
ing that the Merom Bluff Academy, a new institution, will open October
I St, with Mr. E. W. Humphreys as principal. He and his wife were the
faculty, and the old court house building, abandoned on the removal of
the county seat a dozen years before, and which stood on the site now
occupied by the Merom town school, was the quarters of the academv.
The academy was conducted with success for several years, until the
proprietor, while on a trip abroad, conceived the plan of making a col-
lege out of his school.
A convention of delegates of the various conferences of the Christian
church met, November 4, 1858, at Peru, Indiana, "to consider the interests
of the Chirstian church in the west and the propriety of erecting an insti-
tution of learning in the state of Indiana." The convention decided to
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 131
"recommend the establishment of an institution of learning- in the state
of Indiana, to be under the control of the Christian conferences in the
state and vicinity." A committee was appointed to decide upon a loca-
tion and to take all necessary steps to carry out the recommendations of
the convention. The committee decided upon Merom as the location,
and the name Union Christian College was adopted as the name of
the new institution.
The first sessions of the new college were held in the old court
house, as the five-story brick building was not completed until 1862.
Thomas Kearns, of Merom, was credited with the skill and executive
ability which resulted in the successful construction of this building.
N. Summerbell was the first president after Mr. Humphreys, and was
succeeded by Thomas Holmes, and he by T. C. Smith. The last named
resigned in 1882, and was succeeded by Rev. Elisha Mndge.
In 1902 the college received $50,000 endowment, as a result of the
will of Francis Asbury Palmer, formerly president of the National
Broadway Bank, of New York City, who ofifered the college $30,000
provided $20,000 was raised by other subscriptions. Dr. J. C. Jones,
president of the college, worked with others vigorously to secure the
funds. The death of Dr. Jones occurred in 1907, and he was succeeded
by O. B. Whitaker, who is now president of the school. Union Christian
College is an accredited normal school. Its average attendance is about
125, the students for the most part living within a radius of forty or
fifty miles of Merom. Recently there has been completed a handsome
dormitory for the women residents of the school. The school is on a
fairly prosperous basis, and its half century of active educational and
moral influence has been felt in the lives of hundreds of men and women
whose names are synonymous with civic and business integrity.
132 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Ascension ScJiiiiiary.
To sav I hat Ascension Seminary is now but a memory is to miss
the- fnier and real appreciation of the influence of an institution of this
kind. The material existence of this school ceased nearly a third of a
century ago. vet the hundreds who, if opportunity were ofl:'ered, would
rise and protest their loyalty to the institution and their sense of gratitude
for the benefits received within its walls would efi:'ectually prove the
enduring character of its work. The old seminary still lives for the men
and women who attended it, and with the passing of their generation,
others will continue to inherit the good influences set in motion at an
earlier period.
It is claimed that the Ascension Seminary was the pioneer normal
school of Indiana, and its work is said to have inspired the erection of
the state normal school at Terre Haute. The origin of the school was
described a few years ago by Alurray Briggs (Democrat. July 2. 1903).
In 1861 Prof. William T. Crawford, then scarcely twenty years old,
began teaching a common school at Farmersburg. The editor of the
Doiiocrat was then superintendent of instruction for the county, and
was so pleased bv the results exhibited during a visit to this school that
he recommended all the teachers of the county to close their schools for
one day and take an opportunity to visit the school at Farmersburg.
Professor Crawford's services at once became more valuable as an
instructor of teachers than in his former capacit}-. and the importunities
of those who desired to place themselves under his instruction led him
to open a small normal school in a building which in 1903 was a buggy
shed. He also began the erection of a building of suitable dimensions
for his proposed school, but when it was well under way he left it to
raise a company and go to the front. On his return in 1865 he refitted
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 133
the building, engaged an assistant in Prof. David Shoemaker, and for-
mally opened the Ascension Seminary as a normal school for the training
of teachers. By 1872 the school had outgrown its building, and Captain
Crawford then arranged to consolidate his school with the high school
of Sullivan, to which he was summoned as superintendent. From that
time until 1876 he conducted this department as a normal institute in
connection with the regular town schools. In the opinion of Mr. Briggs,
the chief forte of Professor Crawford lay in his ability to impart his
wonderful enthusiasm to others, and hundreds of students became suc-
cessful teachers because of this faculty. To have been a student in Pro-
fessor Crawford's school was considered an "open sesame" to emplov-
ment as teacher, and the fact that over two thousand of his former pupils
followed teaching as a profession would tend to prove this assertion.
Some of his associates in conducting his normal school, besides ]\Ir.
Shoemaker, already mentioned, were Charles W. Finney, John T. Hays,
A. P. Allen and W. H. Cain. An interesting advertisement of the
seminary in 1869, while it was at Farmersburg, is the following: "The
schools will open the fall and winter term on Monday, Aug. i6th, 1869.
Young men and ladies desirous of obtaining a good Practical education
or of taking a Scientific course will do well to attend this institution,
as the aim of the instructors is to elevate the standard of teaching.
Lectures will be given each term by the Principal William T. Crawford
on the 'Theory and Practice of Teaching,' also lectures on Moral Science
by Drs. J. Barbre, C. W. Finney and D. L. Shoemaker. . . . Also
instrumental music on Piano or Melodeon if a class of ten desires to take
lessons. Tuition $10. Miss Alice S. Hawkins, teacher. . . ."
After the normal school was transferred to Sullivan the attendance
in this department was about one hundred and fifty, many of whom
came from the surrounding country and boarded in town during the
134 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
school term. One of the early observances of the arbor day custom
occurred in April, 1874, when, at the suggestion of the editor of the
Dciiiocraf. the students of the normal department met to plant the school
yard with trees. Chiefly evergreens were brought, and after the planting
dinner was served on tables set the length of literary hall. The sessions
of the normal school were held on the third floor of the recently com-
pleted Sullivan school building.
At the opening of the Sullivan schools in 1872, after the consolida-
tion of the seminary with the graded schools, the faculty under Professor
Crawford consisted of Professors Cain and Allen, Aliss Sarah Cain, ]\Iiss
Doris and Miss Debaun. At the close of October, 1872, the principal
reported the total attendance of the Sullivan schools to be 501 pupils,
ninety-one of whom were of foreign birth or parentage. The number
in the normal department was 174, in the grammar school 105, and 220
in the primary department.
Two interesting reunions of recent years have had the associations
of the old seminary as the binding tie of the occasion. In August, 1902,
at the old settlers' picnic in Bennett's grove at Farmersburg, a reunion
of the old students was held, and among them the following : John C.
Chaney, Rev. W. R. Halstead, Hon. ^^^ A. Cullop, I. H. Kelley, Dr.
George F. Plew, L. F. Donham, Rev. J. H. Strain, Prof. H. W. Currv.
Hon. R. H. Catlen, A. A. Beecher, S. Stark, H. Z. Donham. William
'M. Moss, D. W. Henry. L. K. Stock. The following year another
reunion was held, this time in the old frame seminar}- building itself,
which had been converted in the meantime into an amusement place
known as Brunker's Hall. Of those present, fourteen were residents of
Farmersburg, and eighty-seven were from other places.
Many former pupils of the Sullivan and Carlisle schools remember
William H. Cain, who was principal of the Sullivan schools for several
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 135
}-ears in the seventies, and later filled a similar position at Carlisle until
advancing age caused him to resign, and he retitrned to Sullivan, where
he died, August y, 1896. He was seventy-five years of age, and had
lived in this county about twenty-five years. He was a member of the
Masonic order.
A few years ago, when the first examinations were held in the United
States for the Rhodes scholarship prizes, Frank Aydelotte, one of the
young students from Sullivan county, was among the successful com-
petitors. He went to Oxford in 1905. He had already acquired his mas-
ter's degree from Harvard, and had taught in the California state normal
and at Indiana University. Since his return from his studies abroad he
has joined the faculty of the University of Indiana.
As a scientist and educator, one of the most distinguished citizens
of Sullivan county was John W. Spencer. He was born in Salem,
Indiana, in 1824, and \vas one of the first students of Indiana State
University, though he was unable to complete his course. While Dr.
D. D. Owen was making his "Geological Reconnoisance" through Indiana
in the late thirties Mr. Spencer was carrying mail from Lawrence county
to Greencastle. The eminent geologist traveled in company with the
mail carrier, who proved to be not only a capable guide but also an
enthusiastic disciple of the science of geology. This early association
and training furnished Mr. Spencer with the special branch of learning
to which he afterward gave much attention and in which his labors
were effective in the advancement of geology. He was one of the pioneer
school teachers of Sullivan county, taught subscription schools until free
schools were established in the fifties, and continued in the practical work
of education for over forty years. He assisted in the geological survey of
Sullivan county in 1870, and in 1871 was elected a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and later was
136 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
chosen a fellow of the association. He was called "one of the most
diligent, deserving, and. in certain lines, accomplished scientists in the
state of Indiana." He was the first secretary of the Sullivan countv
teachers' institute.
CHAPTER VII.
TRANSPORTATIOX AND COMAIUNICATIOX— THE RI\^ER
TRADE BY FLATBOAT AND STEADIED AT— DAYS OF
THE STAGE COACH AND ROAD WAGON.
The subject of means of communication and transportation recurs
again and again in tlie history of the county. Ever since men began to
hve on the eartli, the matter of going" from place to place and carrying
things from place to place has been of vital importance ; and the higher
the development of society the more perfected become the methods of
such communication.
It would be impossible to conceive of our country in its present state
of civilization without the facilities for movement and transportation which
men have devised and improved during the last hundred years. The
problems now presented in the moving of material and persons from
place to place are among the most serious and perplexing which engage
the attention of communities, states and the naticm.
Cities and towns grow in population accordingly as the}- are conve-
niently situated with respect to transportation facilities, or as these facili-
ties are supplied when needed. An agricultural district, however fertile,
will be improved to the point of profitable production only when means
137
138 HISTORY OF SULLRAX COUNTY
are at hand or are provided by wliich the products may be readih- and
economically taken a\va\- to the markets.
These economic principles hnd many illustrations in the history of
Sullivan county. The county has had its Indian trails, its paths blazed
through the woods, its primitive state and local highways, its water
routes, its graveled pikes, its railroads, and its electric lines, each accom-
panying a new degree of development and marking a new era in the
welfare of the people.
During the pioneer era of Sullivan county, the Wabash river was the
great artery of transportation-. From the records of the pioneers it will
be found that many of the early settlers used the river route for at least
a part of their migration. Some came up the river in canoes or other
light craft. \"incennes was at the time the intermediate station for set-
tlers, who usually stopped there before making their final selection of land.
The journey to \'incennes was often made by water, and from that point
the emigrants struck inland to their new homes on the prairies.
But the Wabash river was of less importance to the actual settle-
ment of this county than as a commercial liighway after the people were
permanently located and had begun to produce the crops of the soil in
C[uantities greater than the demands of local consumption. The problem
of sending produce to the markets and of bringing home the commodities
which supplied the wants of a pioneer community was largely solved, in
this county, Ijy the transportation facilities of the Wabash river.
It was only a few years after the organization of the county that the
inhabitants of the Wabash valley witnessed the unusual spectacle of a craft
propelled by steam against the current of the river. The first steamboat
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 139
passed np the river as far as Terre Haute in ]\Iay, 1823. and that event
signaHzed the beginning" of an important commerce both up and down
the river, which continued until the railroad era. Previous to that time
the only boats that could make progress up the river were light hand-
propelled craft, hardly serviceable for regular commerce.
Flat Boats.
The magnitude of the Wabash commerce in 1832 is described in a
quotation from "The Emigrants and Travelers' Guide," published in that
year. "Hundreds of flat-boats annually descend the Wabash and White
rivers. . . . The trade of the \\'abash river is becoming immense.
In 1831. during the period between March 5th and April i6th. fifty-four
steamboats arrived and departed from A'incennes. It is also estimated
that at least one thousand flat-boats entered the Ohio from the \\'abash
in the same time. In February, March and April of this }ear there were
sixty arrivals of steamboats at Lafayette." This writer tells us that one-
tenth of the flat-boats, according to estimate, were "loaded with pork at
the rate of 300 barrels to the boat," — another tenth said to be loaded with
lard, cattle, horses, oats, cornmeal, etc., and the remainder with corn on
the ear. The value of produce and stock sent annually to market from
the valley of the AX'abash was estimated by one authority at nearly
$1,000,000.
The flat-boat was an ideal craft for the times and purpose for the
Indiana rivers, from its light draft, its capacit}' and cheapness. The flat-
boats were made in the fall and winter, ready for the spring waters.
Trunks of poplars, sometimes 90 to 100 feet long, without a splice, were
140 HISTORY OF SL'LLIXAX COUNTY
used for the gunwales. The tree was squared In- hewing, and then
mounted on "bucks" so that two men could whip-saw it from end to end.
The two timbers were then about eight inches thick and from two to three
feet wide. These formed the two sides or gunwales. Xear the lower edge
of each gunwale, a groove was cut a depth of two or three inches to allow
tlie flooring to be set on, and tlie planks were bolted by wooden pins.
The pins were made by the barrel. Spikes were not used because of
expense and scarcity of iron. The seams were calked with hemp or flax.
Uprights were set at intervals along the gunwales, and the sides were
boarded up to the required height, depending upon the draft of the vessel.
A thousand bushels of corn were often the contents of one cargo.
The boats were built bottom-side up. and when tinished were turned
over bv block and tackle. Sometimes they were built on a slope at the
water's edge so that turning was easier. Another method was to turn the
boat right side up in the water, sand being piled on one side until the
weight was sufficient to careen the other side, and a little skilful maneuver-
ing put the craft upright.
Corn was shipped in the ear. The southern planters preferred it
so to being shelled and sacked, since it was less liable to spoil. One of the
staples brought back from the south was Xew Orleans sugar. Of course,
sugar was a luxury, and until the steamboat era reduced the cost of trans-
portation the pioneers generally depended nu maple sugar and other home-
made substitutes. Even after the steamb(!at traffic became general, a large
proportion of the imported merchandise used in Sullivan county was
broueht in overland from Louisville and Evansville. For a number of
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 141
vears a man namcfl \\'ebb, of Merom, carried on an extensive business in
lianling goods overland. Uq had several fine teams in which he took
much pride.
Ihisseron creek was also considered a navigable stream during the
flat-boat era. Owing to the presence of forest growth and lack of drain-
age, the waters of this and similar tributaries were greater in volume anrl
less fluctuating than in later \ears, and during the spring freshets it was
possible to fioat boats loaded with produce down the current of Busseron.
Caledonia was once a center for the flat-boat traffic, and boats were also
loaded at Carlisle and other points.
Malls and Stage Roads.
For the transportation of mails and passengers, the pioneer epoch
had few regular facilities. Mails were carried overland from \'incennes
to Merom and to Terre Haute usuall}- by horseback. Travel was U'^ually
li}- the same means, and the individual traveler depended on his own liorse
and followed such roads as he found through the wilderness. \\ hen
steamboats began nmning up and down the river, mail and passengers
were conveyed on the boats, and about the same time the state road was
constructed from \'incennes north through Merom to Terre Haute. For
many }-ears this road was the princi])al thoroughfare for all kinds of
traffic up and down the Wabash valley. The river was not navigable at
all times of the year, and consequently the stage road was more to be
depended upon for transportation the year around. A line of stage
coaches ran over this route even for a year or more after the building of
142 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
\\\v railroad north and south. Alerom was a reg-ular station on the Hne,
which ])asscd on through (iraysville and Fairbanks into \'igo county.
The state road was so called because it was laid out in accordance
\vith the provisions of a special act of the state legislature. Still other
highways were confined to the county itself, although generally connecting
with other thoroughfares at the boundaries. vSuch highways were under
the sole jurisdiction of the county commissioners and known as county
roads. A large part of the time of every session of the county board
during the early period of the histor}- of the county was taken up with
hearing petitions for these county roads, appointing viewers to lay them
cnit, hearing and approving the reports of the viewers and establishing the
roads, or in listening to remonstrances and appointing reviewers. In
time, however, all the necessary roads have been laid out, and it is not
often now that petitions for new roads are presented to the commissioners.
Modem Rood Buildin
The attention of the county board and of the township road authori-
ties is now, and has been for years, chiefly given to bridging, draining,
grading, graveling and otherwise improving the highways already laid
out. Although when first laid out and improved, the various highwa}"s
were for a time distinguished as national, state, county and even township
roads ; yet now, and for a long time, all roads are improved and cared for
under the countv and township road authorities, and the laws in relation
to highways apply uniformly to all public roads, no matter by what
authority they were originally established.
It is said that the L^nited States postal authorities in charge of the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 143
free delivery mail routes have recently pronounced the highwavs of
Indiana the best in the Union. In Sullivan county the process of perma-
nent road improvement is not more than twenty years old. At the present
time there are about 400 miles of "improved" roads in the county, that is,
roads that have been traded and surfaced with rock or gravel, so that
their condition is comparatively speaking" one of permanent improvement.
Certain portions of highway in the county, especially what have been
known as "Busseron bottom roads," became subjects of special work an.d
expense some forty years ago. There is record of a meeting at the court
house in 1867 of those interested in the improvement of the Linton road
across the E'usseron bottom. J. C. Brodie was chairman. The sum of
$800 was subscribed for the repair of this highway.
Aside from these special efforts to make passable roads, the good
roads movement in this county began during the latter decade of the '80s.
In 1886 it was estimated that the total amount of taxes for roads col-
lected during the preceding ten years was $57,373-39. this being the net
amount after deducting expenses of collection. The amount expended
on roads in 1876 was $2,665; 1878, $3,393.64; in 1879, $2,608.72, while
during the last four years of this decade the annual expenditure had
reached over nine thousand dollars per year. And yet a very small ])art
of this sum had been expended with a view to permanent results, and the
roads were considered as bad if not worse than before.
About 1890 a new law was enacted providing for the construction of
gravel roads, to be paid for by township taxation. In Sullivan county
the building of gravel roads met strong opposition. The newly organized
F. M. B. A. directed its power against this form of community under-
144 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
taking', and when these lodges began to oppose it the public agitation in
Iielialf (il the movement was ])artl}- nullified. The Democrat had little to
say in its cohuuns except to call attention to the depth of nuul on the
various roads and the consequent loss of business to Sullivan.
Hut the good roads movement made an appeal to business interests
that made its ultimate success inevitable. In January, 1892, a meeting at
the court house resolved imanimously in favor of building a road from
Sullivan to the gravel beds in Turman township. The executive com-
mittee appointed by this meeting consisted of Claude Crowder, Robert
Dudley, John H. \\'elling. Jacob I'illman and J. L. Higbee, while a com-
mittee U) furnish estimates of cost was composed of t^. H. Blue, Ilarrv
Pittman, C. L. Davis and T. J. \\'olfe. About the same time a session of
the farmers' institute devoted an entire afternoon to the road question.
A resume of the road situation was published in Februar\-. 1892, in
whicli it was shown that from 1875 to 1890 the sum of $90,805.84 w^as
paid out for roads, an average of six thousand dollars a year, exclusive
of salaries to trustees and supervisors and the sums paid for road scrapers,
graders and plows ; also it did not include the sums paid out of township
funds nor work done by road hands who were warned out b}' the road
supervisors and required to work a certain number of days. All this
monev was declared to have been wasted so far as any permanent iiuprove-
ment in the condition of the count}"s highways was concerned.
About the middle of that decade, however, the construction of gravel
roads became general in different parts of the county. An item in March,
1896, states that in nearl\- all the townships petitions for improved roads
w^ere circulating, and that the survevor and viewers had been at w-ork
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 145
in Haddon, petitions having been circulated for the grading of roads in
ahnost all directions from Carhsle.
In July, 1897, a contract was awarded by the county commissioners
for the construction of 77 miles of road in the county, for a total sum of
$137,000. Other contracts followed each }car, until within ten years the
county had about four hundred miles of road. While many of these
roads have been surfaced with gravel, in recent years the commissioners
have awarded large contracts for crushed stone roads. There are no
large gravel deposits available in the count}', and it has been found to be
more economical to bring in crushed stone for road making. The cost
per mile of a stone road is between four and five thousand dollars.
The building of these roads has been a heavy drain upon the
resources of the county and townships. Several years ago it was found
that some of the townships had reached the limit of their indebtedness,
and were unable to contract further improvements. In JNIay, 1906, it was
announced that the county commissioners would entertain no petitions for
graveling roads until the different townships became able to assume their
share of the financial burdens. Every township was then bonded to its
legal limit, and no funds would be available for road making during the
next two years. It was charged that this condition was largely the result
of the abuse of the privilege of building short roads. Every resident had
interested himself in the construction of a road past his farm, but this did
not promote a thorough system of roads, laid out for the best welfare of
all concerned.
Bridges.
The building of bridges has been one of the important functions of
A'ol. I — 10
146 HISTORY OF SULLT^'AN COUNTY
the board of county commissioners from the time of the settlement of the
county. At the present time it would be difficult to find in the countv a
highway crossing over a stream that is not bridged. Along the principal
roads, especially those traversed by the stage and mail lines, bridges were
built at an early date, though until within the memory of the present
generation a customary method of getting over a stream was to ford it,
and the roads often turned aside from the straight line in order to strike
the stream at a fordable point. Likewise a great change has occurred in
the type of bridges used. Formerly the wooden bridge was altogether in
use. the superstructure resting often on wooden pillars, but sometimes on
stone columns. ^lost of the larger bridges erected within the last twenty-
live years have been of iron or steel construction, though the cement arch
and the reinforced concrete type has rapidly come into favor during the
past ten years.
One of the early iron bridges of which there is record was a bridge
built over Buck creek in 1883, the King's Iron Bridge Company of Cleve-
land having the contract. The supports for this bridge were four iron
columns about twenty inches in diameter, filled with rock and cement.
and the fifty-foot span was of iron. In 1886 the county commissioners
contracted for the building of two iron bridges, one over the Busseron at
Paxton and one at Carlisle.
The commissioners reported, in Xovember, 1894. that 31 iron bridges
had been put up in the county as a result of orders from their office.
Each year a considerable part of the county expenditures have been
devoted to the construction of bridges, the sum expended in 1901 being
nearlv eleven thousand dollars.
I
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ERA OF RAILROADS AND ELECTRICITY.
Following the era of river and canal and stage-coach transportation
came the railroads. During the stirring epoch of internal improvements
of the early thirties, railroads and canals were planned to supplement each
other. Eight railroads were chartered by the Indiana legislature in 1832,
and during the next five years twenty-eight charters in all were granted
for proposed lines. But for the time the canals w'ere pushed with greater
energy, and the era of railroads in Indiana begins with the middle of the
century.
The first railroad in the state was a mile and a half long, at Shelby-
ville, as part of the Lawrenceburg and Indianapolis line. It cost $1,500 a
mile, and was opened July 4, 1834. Its traction equipment was one
liorse, which "was found able to draw forty or fifty persons at the rate
of nine miles an hour." A few miles of the line from Madison to Indian-
apolis was opened in 1838, and marked the real beginning of the great
railroad system of the state.
After the collapse of state enterprise in promoting internal improve-
ments, the Madison road was turned over to a private company. The
147
148 HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY
first train steamed into Indianapolis on Oetober i, 1847, and at this date
the ^Madison & hKhanapohs Railroad was the only one of importance in
the state. The progress of railroad building during the next few years is
indicated in the figures for 1850, when five short roads comprised only 212
miles in the aggregate, and for 1852-53. when twenty roads were in
operation in the state. Railroads ruined the canal enterprises, and it is
also noteworthy that the towns which grew during the second half of
the century were those located on railroad lines.
The first railroad between the Wabash and Indianapolis was built
between Terre Haute and the capital, largely through the enterprise of
Chauncey Rose, who was the first president. This road (now the \'an-
dalia) was completed at the close of 1851. Up and down the Wabash
valley the freight traffic was still carried by the canal and river packets.
On the south the nearest railroad to Sullivan county was a line that had
been started from Evansville about 1850. and after progressing as far as
\'incennes halted there for lack of means. Chauncey Rose saw the value
of a southern connection for his east and .west road, had the line surveyed,
raised founds, and W. D. Griswold built the first railroad through Sullivan
county and was placed in control of its management.
This was the origin of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad, which
was completed through Sullivan county in 1854. The first train passed
through Sullivan over this line Xovember 25. 1854. For several months
preceding passengers had been conveyed between Sullivan and Carlisle
by stage.
It is not surprising that the advent of the first railroad to a com-
munity was made the occasion of celebration, and the year 1854 was
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 149
marked by several gatherings in Sullivan and Carlisle and elsewhere in
the county to give proper distinction to an event of so much significance
to the whole welfare of the county and its people. The construction of
railroads at that time partook more of the character of a popular enter-
prise than is true of present undertakings. Large subscriptions were
raised in the country tributary to the roads, and without this assistance
few of the earlier roads could have been built. It is estimated that Sulli-
van county contributed about $100,000 to the building of its first railroad,
and that over half of this amount was paid in 1854, a year which was
marked by an almost total failure of crops. Carlisle gave the largest
amount of any town in the county. The first survey located the road
three miles west of the village, and rather than lose the great prize some
sixteen public-spirited citizens subscribed over thirty thousand dollars to
the railroad company.
The railroad did not solve all the problems of transportation for the
people of Sullivan county. Either the railroad management proved
somewhat arbitrary in its dealings, or the people were slow to accustom
themselves to the new conditions. There is curious evidence of this atti-
tude toward the railroad in a brief article in the Democrat of January 24,
1857, in which complaint is made of the exorbitant railroad rates and of
the lack of depot facilities. The wagoners of Sullivan had met a few days
previously, with Isaac Voorhiss chairman and John Carico secretary of
the meeting, and had resolved to establish a wagon line to Terre Haute
for transportation of freight at not higher rates than those charged by
the railroad company, with the advantage to the customers in saving
drayage charges at both ends of the line. Whether the wagon men were
150 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
successful in ^ettini;' a considerable share of the traffic is not known, but
it is certain that C()ni])etition between the railroad and the wagon road
would soon result in complete victory for the former.'''
In the election for representative for the legislature in 184 — , the
charge against the re-election of Benjamin Wolfe was made that he had
voted to charter the E. and T. H. R. R. at the previous session, which
had failed to pass; that if re-elected and the charter was granted, that the
horses, now worth fifty to seventy-five dollars, would not be worth more
than twenty-five or thirty. The issue failed. 'Sir. Wolfe was elected and
the charter was granted.
For twenty years the county had the one railroad as the central com-
mercial artery. Some time after the war arose discussion and agitation
over the construction of what was known as an "east and west railroad,"
the principal terminal points of the proposed line being St. Louis and
Cincinnati. The career of this east and west line has been a checkered
one. and in its original construction it was an example of certain railroad
enterprises which were projected in different sections of the country and
nearlv all of which were principally productive of expensive litigation and
the unloading upon counties, townships and individuals of large obliga-
tions with a few miles of railroad to show for them.
The proposition was first brought to practical consideration l\v the
voters of the county early in 1870, when a vote was taken on the matter
of laying a tax of two dollars per hundred on all personal and real prop-
erty of the county for the benefit of the projected railroad line. Anti-
* "An increase of freight has justified the putting on of an extra train, so that
we now have an acpomniodation train each way daily." — Democrat, April 10, 1862.
HISTORY OF SL'LLIX'AX COUNTY 151
donation meetings were held at Carlisle and elsewhere, and when the
election was held in April, only a little more than five hnndred votes were
cast in favor of the tax, and nearly 1,900 against it. (iill township voted
for the tax and in llamiltcm the vote was close, bnt elsewhere the people
showed themselves nnmistakably opposed to any snch connty snbsidy.
The Cincinnati and St. Lonis Straight Line Railroad was the name
of the enterprise which received most snpport in the connt}-. The }ear
1872 was frnitfnl of railroad projects, frequent election notices appearing
in the Democrat of that year. Support for these undertakings was sought
not only from the county as a whole but from the individual townships.
Thus twenty-five freeholders of Fairbanks township petitioned that ten
thousand dollars should be appropriated by the township to aid in the
building of the Terrc Haute and Southwestern, the appropriation to be
invested in the stock of the railroad, and a condition of the appropriation
was that the line should be built from the northern limit of the township
to a point not further north than the Narrows. At the same time the
Cincinnati and Terre Haute Railroad was asking aid from the county, to
the amount of $73,000 from the county, and at the same election Hamilton
township and Cass and Gill townships were asked individually to contrib-
ute two dollars for each one hundred dollars of taxable propertv for the
construction of the east and west railroad. The election was held Feb-
ruary 12, and the county tax defeated by a large majority, but the three
townships mentioned each voted the subsidy asked for by the C. &
St. L. S. L.
In the following July the tax voted by the three townships was
assessed and collected, at the rate of 60 cents on the hundred dollars.
152 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
For over two years nothing is heard of these railroad enterprises. In
October, 1874, mention is made of a meeting held at the court house in
the interest of the east and west railroad, and it is reported at the time
that work was being pushed on the section between the I. & \'. and Bloom-
field. In November, 1874, a meeting of Cass township citizens was held
in the Center schoolhouse to aid in making arrangements to secure the
east and west railroad, and the committee appointed for that purpose con-
sisted of William Bledsoe, Dan Case, Jefiferson Alumbaugh, Thomas G.
Neeley, Wiley Gambill, Flemmon Keen, and J. AL Stansil. In the follow-
ing month the township voted a two per cent tax for the purpose.
In 1875 the east and west railroad made considerable progress.
Those interested in the enterprise met at Sullivan in July, and at the
time it was reported that a contract had been entered into for the con-
struction of the entire line from the Wabash river to Bedford, the con-
tractors being Buell, Clark and Company. The section from Switz City
to I. & A', was to be completed by October ist, and the rest of the line
by July I, 1876. In September Gill township gave a large majority in
favor of a two per cent tax for this railroad, provided it was built on the
specified route.
The work progressed slowly. In April, 1876, an item states that the
narrow-gauge trains were to run into the Evansville and Crawfordsville
depot, a third rail to be laid in the track for that purpose. But the first
definite announcement of operation of trains to Sullivan by the new line
was a paragraph in the Democrat of July 15, 1877: "The long expected
locomotive of the narrow-gauge railroad arrived in town last Monday.
It is a very handsome little engine, and is named the Joseph W. \\'olfe.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 153
Iron is on hand for track-laying, and a frog is to be put in on the track
of the E. & T. H. at the junction."
Henceforth for many years the narrow-gauge hue becomes a popular
subject for the shafts of ridicule from the editor of the Democrat. One
of the amusing arraignments appeared in an issue of July, 1877, when a
bold leader announced a "Strike on the Narrow Gauge," the continuation
being: "The following communication was handed to us by one of the
committee with request for its publication. We hope the matter will be
amicably adjusted without calling upon the president for troops. 'Mr.
Joseph W. Wolfe, president. Sir: We, the undersigned, a regularly
constituted committee of the employes, including engineers, firemen,
brakemen, conductors and yard hands on your road, demand fifteen per
cent advance on our wages, to take effect from and after July 24, 1877.
If our modest request is not promptly complied with we will strike at
12 o'clock AI. tonight. We have the assurance of a strong alliance and
co-operation of the Crawford and Lockwood Bysickle What-is-it Line.
Our language should not be construed as intimidating, but if our wages
are not increased, we will tear up the track, ditch the engines, burn your
round-house, pull up your piling and plant your road-bed in sweet pota-
toes, as productive industries must prevail if the railroads go under. \n
early reply is respectfully solicited. — John Flannagan, Buncomb O'Flint,
John Stout, Child Fairweather, Bumpres Hobbs, committee.' " A little
later it was reported that the strike had subsided without trouble.
A more serious review of the condition of this road appears in the
issue of October 10, 1877: "The narrow-gauge road has failed again.
We do not know how many times this has happened in the past two or
154 HISTORY OF SULLIX'AN COUNTY
three years. A numljer of different eontraetors have taken hold of it,
work to the animint of $ii,ooo has been done in grading and pile-ch'iving.
ties have been furnished, a neat httle locomotive is here but not paid f(jr.
J. W. Wolfe has guaranteed orders until he finds himself involved for
considerable amounts. The last collapse is due to the refusal of the sub-
scribers to the bonus to give their notes payable on completion of the
road. The contractors evidently expected to get the subsidies before work
was done."
In November of the same year a public meeting was held at Sullivan
in the interest of the narrow gauge. A technical error by which the lan-
guage of the election notice did not correspond with that of the petition
threatened to invalidate the collection of the taxes voted two years before.
yir. Wolfe, the president of the enterprise, addressed the meeting, explain-
ing the error and reviewing his work for the enterprise undertaken on his
part without hope of personal benefit.
Early in Jatmary, 1878, it was announced that General Lyon and
other citizens of Quincy, Illinois, had assumed the obligations of the road
and had undertaken to complete the line so that cars would be running
from the Wabash river to Linton by the first of July. The Dcuwcrat
urged that all taxes and subscriptions should be paid at once.
It was the summer of 1880 before the county began receiving an\-
benefit from this railroad. In July it was announced that the narrow
gauge was making preparations for business, having already hauled con-
siderable wheat from the east side of the county. \\"\\\ Stark was
appointed first agent at Sullivan. Early in August the first excursion to
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 155
Sullivan over this road was run on account of the Democratic mass
meetincr.
Another chapter in the Instory of the narrow gauge is told in the
issue of the Democrat of I"\-hruary i, 1882. Acting according to the
directions of the court, Judge Black, who had been appointed receiver for
the Cincinnati, Effingham & Ouincy Construction Company, sold the
assets of that corporation at the court-house door in Sullivan. The pur-
chaser was John B. Lyon, the principal creditor of the bankrupt company.
The assets brought considerably more than their appraised value. Among
the assets were the subscriptions and the taxes voted in the different town-
ships. Suits were brought for the collection of the taxes in Cass. Hamil-
ton and Gill townships, and (Jill township succeeded in evading the collec-
tion for some years.
Financial difficulties were not the only ones that assailed this railroad.
In November, 1883, heavy rains caused iioods that did great damage to
all the railroads, but were specially disastrous to the narrow gauge, the
road-bed and bridges in the river valley being entirely destroyed, and it
was not until the following August that the track was built down to the
river bank. The condition of the line is shown in some items in the
Dciiiocraf that appeared in the spring of 1885. On one occasion, as the
train was pulling into the station, about fifty feet of the track gave way,
the engine, tender and a heavily loaded coal car crushed through the
rotten ties, and was left embedded in the mud. A few days later another
section of track gave way about a mile east of Sullivan, and three flat-
cars were left in the mud. In the following summer it was stated that
Air. P. H. Blue had taken charge of the road and would put it in good
156 HISTORY OF SULLIVx\X COUNTY
conditioii. In 1886 the general offices were moved to Sullivan, a bridge
was constructed over the Wabash, and some additions were made to the
rolling stock. The first train crossed the Wabash river in April. At this
time the full title of the road had become the Indianapolis and Illinois
Southern, though locally it was always referred to as the "narrow gauge."
In June, 1886, the road was mortgaged to W^ R. [NIcKeen and John S.
Alley, trustees, for half a million dollars, to secure a bond issue of that
amount. A portion of tlie proceeds of these bonds were used for paying
off matured bonds, while the remainder was to be devoted to the rehabili-
tation of road-bed and rolling stock. By the first of July, 1886, through
trains began running over the line as far as Effingham.
A statement of the road's condition in October, 1887, enumerated
between five hundred and six hundred employes, reported that the road
had been made standard gauge as far as Palestine, and that the gauge
would be uniform throughout to Effingham by the close of the year, that
almost every bridge was new, that a new iron bridge was being con-
structed over the Embarrass river, and that a hundred new freight cars
had been ordered.
Another stage in the tedious chronicles of this road was reached in
January, 1890, when a foreclosure sale of the I. & I. S. R. R. was held,
and the property was bid in by the first-mortgage holders. In August,
1892, as reported by the Indianapolis Nczvs, the board of state tax com-
missioners listened to a most pathetic tale concerning the helpless, hope-
less poverty and bankruptcy of this road. John T. Hays of Sullivan was
the pleader before the board in behalf of the I. & I. S. He reviewed its
historv as a narrow-gauge line, built by a construction company which
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 157
got all the stocks and bonds. The rails used were but thirty-five to forty
pounds a yard and were second-hand at that, and yet since that iron was
laid in 1880 less than ten miles of it has been replaced. The ties were for
a narrow-gauge line, but were not changed when the gauge was broad-
ened. The rails are, claimed the pleader, absolutely worn out, and not
over 25 per cent of the ties can be used when the new track is laid, and
the right of way is too narrow for a standard gauge. The only portion
of ballasted track on the entire road is about half a mile near Sullivan.
The length of the entire road in Indiana and Illinois is eighty-eight miles,
and the total earnings for the past year were $8i,2"8i, and the net earnings
did not suffice to pay one cent of interest on the obligations. The four
locomotives w^ere bought second-hand from the A'andalia in 1887 at
$4,000 apiece. The rails are so small that the flanges of the engine and
car wheels cut out channels in the rotten old ties, these grooves being a
sort of protection, since they prevent the rails from spreading. The
engines are in the ditch scores of times in a year, and some of the wheels
are on the ground more da}s than not. At this point of Mr. Hays' speech,
according to the version of the Nczvs, the blare of a brass band was heard,
and all recognized its melody as "Listen to my tale of woe." The woful
description was then continued by the Sullivan attorney, who said that
the railroad shops consisted of a blacksmith shop, and that the one pas-
senger coach was a survival of the narrow-gauge period, and its width had
not been changed, and standard-gauge trucks had been placed underneath.
Not until the close of the decade did relief come to this much ridi-
culed railroad. In September, 1899, articles of incorporation were filed
at the clerk's office for the Illinois & Eastern Railroad Company, which
158 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
was thought to be the final move in the purchase of the I. & I. S. Ijy the
llhnois Central, antl in the following" year the Indianapolis Southern and
the Illinois and Indianapolis were consolidated under the former name,
both being Illinois Central lines. In Xovember, 1906, the line between
Effingham and Indianapolis was finally completed, and service established
between those cities.
In January. 1872, it was announced that passengers were carried
without change from Sullivan to Chicago, over the E.. T. H. & C. L'p to
that time this railroad had always been referred to as the Evansville &
Crawfordsville, which was the original name, but about this time it
assumed the title of Evansville and Terre Haute, which has since been
borne bv that portion of this line south of Terre Haute. The opening" of
the road to Chicago was regarded as of special advantage to the industrial
interests of Sullivan county, as it undoubtedly was. It opened a direct
trade for the coal mines, and stimulated that industry to a great develop-
ment during the next few vears.'^'
The northeast quarter of Sullivan county is a network of railroad
' The Democrat of August 6, 1903, gives the following historical outline of
the E. & T. H. Railroad: It was chartered in 1847 as the Evausville & "Wabash,
];eing the tliird road Iniilt in the state. It was first intended to build the road
from E\'ansville to Olney, Illinois. Crossing the ri\er at Mt. Carmel. The stock-
holders were Evansville people who took shares of fifty dollars each. Sam Hall
was the first president. After ten miles of the road had been constructed, the
route was changed with Vincennes as thf objective point. Among the later
presidents of the road were John Ingle and John Martin, and in 18S2 U. J.
Mackey was made president. Capt. G. J. Grammer became president in 1893,
and during his term many extensive improvements were made. The consolidation
of the road with the C. & E. I. under the Eock Island management occurred
during the presidency of H. C. Barlow, who assumed the office in 1900.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 159
lines wliich carry off the output of the coal mines. These short lines are
all branches either of the E. & T. H. or of the Southern Indiana. The
latter railroad, throughout its entire length, is essentially a coal road, and
until recently has made no attempt to accommodate passenger traffic,
and has done little business outside of handling the enormous coal tonnage
which originates along its lines.
The main line extended southeast from Terre Haute to Linton and
beyond, passing through only the northeast corner of this county. What
was known as the Sullivan count}- branch was built from a point about a
mile south of Jasonville. In ^la.y, 1901, its construction was said to be
progressing rapidly. This branch resulted in the establishment of the
railroad station of Gilmour. which was named for the superintendent of
the Alum Cave mine. In January, 1900, it was reported in the paper that
John R. Walsh had driven from Jasonville to Sullivan over the route of
the proposed extension, and that it was definitely decided that the branch
should be brought to Sullivan. \\'ork on the Black Hawk-Sullivan exten-
sion was begun early in 1902, and at the same time the final scheme of
the lines in this county was adopted, including a branch from Glendora to
Shelburn, and thence northeast to the Sullivan extension. It was Ijelieved
that these different roads would practically control the choice coal fields
of this county.
The opening of passenger trafific over the Southern Indiana for Sulli-
van did not occur till the end of 1905. Trains began running on Xo\-em-
ber 13th, though some trains had been running on the shorter branches
i6o HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
from Sullivan since the latter part of August. The route to Terre Haute
by this line is about five miles longer than by the E. & T. H.
Electric Railroads.
At the meeting of the town board of Sullivan on December ii, 1902,
four companies were heard with regard to franchises for electric lines.
R. G. Haxton wanted a franchise for the Black Diamond Railroad, to con-
nect Evansville and Indianapolis, via Sullivan. Parties in Sullivan asked
for an interurban franchise, the Indiana Traction Company proposed to
build a road from A'incennes to Terre Haute, and the Sullivan Light, Heat
and Power Company protested against the granting of license for the
time being, on the ground that they were considering a local street rail-
way to operate in connection with any interurban lines. All the petitions
were tabled. In the following January the Indiana Coal Belt Traction
Company was incorporated to build a line from Sullivan to Linton, btit
the town of Sullivan refused to grant them a license in the following
April. In June, 1903, the Sullivan town board granted franchises to the
Indiana Coal Belt Traction Company and to the Western Indiana Trac-
tion Compan}-, the latter being a Mncennes corporation. Both were given
franchises for the use of certain streets for a period of fiftv vears, their
lines to be completed by the end of ]\Iay, 1908. Farmersburg also
granted a franchise to the ^^'estern Indiana Company.
]May 26, 1904, it was annoimced that a company backed by Chicago
capital and known as the Terre Haute Southern Electric Company was
given a franchise by the county commissioners, the line to run from Terre
HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY i6i
Haute to Sullivan, Linton, \'incennes, Jasonville, Alerom and intermediate
points. The actual construction of an interurban line had not yet begun,
though there was much discussion of the undertaking and the granting of
franchises. Early in HJ05 it was said that three electric lines were seek-
ing entrance to Sullivan streets, and that in the competition for traffic
the new Southern Indiana Railroad would also prove a formidable oppo-
nent of these interurban lines, since it ])roposed to run ten accommodation
trains a day, with low fares.
In the spring of 1905 the Terre Haute Traction & Light Companv
made public their plans to build an interurl)an line to Sullivan, and earl\-
in April the company began actual work along the route of survey south
of Terre Haute. In October of that year the Sullivan town l)oard
granted the company privilege of constructing tracks on either Court,
Section, State or Broad streets, for a period of twent_\-five years, for a
consideration of $1,000. Shelburn had granted the franchise free, and
Farmersburg received five hundred dollars for the grant. Work of con-
struction continued during 1905 and through the spring of 1906, and the
first interurban car running on a regular schedule left the public square
at Sullivan on June 24, 1906, at 7 a. m. A large crowd of passengers
took this first ride. A majority of the local passenger traffic between
Sullivan and Terre Haute is now cared for by the interurban line.
In the spring of 1907 the Terre Haute and ]\Ierom Traction Com-
pany was formed, and a line surveyed for an interurban road from Terre
Haute through Prairietown. Middletown, Fairbanks, Staffordshire, Scott
City and Alerom. At the November election of the same year the propo-
sition of granting a subsidy to this company was submitted to the voters
Vol. I— 11
i62 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
of the townships through which the road would pass. It indicates the
emphatic attitude of the people on this subject as contrasted with their
sentiments and actions of thirty or forty years ago that all the townships
defeated the movement by heavy majorities. During 1908 some work was
done along the proposed route, but the original company went into a
receivership in ^lay, and at this writing the townships of Fairbanks and
Turman are still without transportation facilities.
Chronological Notes.
Feb. 28, 1872 — Meeting called to consider proposition from the
Terre Haute and Cincinnati R. R. Co. to run their road through Carlisle
provided a two per cent tax is raised. The meeting vmanimously in favor.
June 26, 1872 — Terre Haute and Southwestern will cross the Wabash
at Chenowith's ferry. Cross ties already contracted for.
Sept. 10, 1873 — A branch railroad to be built from the E. & T. H.
from Shelburn to the coal fields in Jackson township.
Sept. 2, 1874 — The railroad company is planning to move the Sulli-
van depot either three-quarters of a mile north or south of present
location.
Alarch 21, 1876 — The Indianapolis and Sullivan Narrow Gauge Coal
Railroad has been organized.
August 28, 1888 — A strike of engineers on the E. & T. H., but the
trouble was settled by restoring two men who had been discharged.
Nov. 5, 1889 — The St. Louis, Indianapolis & Eastern Railroad incor-
porated. First directors, P. H. Blue, C. P. Walker, F. E. Easier, J. T.
Hays, S. R. Engle, C. R. Hinkle, John Giles.
CHAPTER IX. ;
THE TOWN OF SULLIVAN.
The town of Sullivan was founded as the result of the selection of
the site as the county seat, and in this respect was a made-to-orcler town.
Members of the Walls family had entered the land in this vicinity only
about three years before the site was chosen by the county commissioners,
so that the place now occupied by the court-house square and all the sur-
rounding ground was little changed from its state of virgin wilderness.
William Reed, Samuel Brodie and Abraham F. Snapp were the
county commissioners who selected the site. They were free to exercise
their own discretion in the matter of selection, provided their choice was
fixed upon a place for the court house within a mile and a half of the
geographical center of the county. The comparatively high ground
between Buck creek and Busseron on which they determined to locate
the seat of justice would appear to have been the most eligible place
within those limits.
It is an interesting fact, and one that is confirmed by numerous bits
of evidence throughout this history, that the site of the central portion of
Sullivan was formerly wet and swamp_\' notwithstanding the slope toward
163
i64 TTTSTORY OF SULLRVVX COUNTY
the beds of the creeks on either side. It is said that in 1843 water some-
times stood to a depth of two feet on the court house square.*
The townsite was deeded to the county agent ( who was the legal
agent for the transaction of the business connected with the estabUshment
of the seat of justice), to be divided into town lots, and such as were not
reserved for official purposes were to be sold. Of the proceeds, one-sixth
was to be given to the former owner of the land, that being a condition of
the deed, and the balance was to be used for the erection of a court house
and other purposes connected with the county seat.
The survey of the original site was completed May 25. 1842, and the
first sale of lots occurred the following day. The thirty-five lots sold on
that day brought prices ranging from $20 to $100 apiece. The original
plat of Sullivan was four blocks square. On the north it was bounded
by Beech street, on the east by Broad, on the south b}- Harris, and on the
west by Section. From north to south the streets were Beech, \\'all,
\\'ashington, Jackson, Harris; from east to west they were. Broad, State,
Main, Court and Section. Altogether there were 136 lots in the plat.
In 1842 it is said that the principal houses of the new town were the
log dwellings of Hugh S. Orr, ]\Iason F. Buchanan, George Smith and
Squire [McDonald and a little blacksmith shop owned by the first named. f
* The Democrat (July 31, 1885,) reported that in digging a cistern on the
northwest corner of the square, about three feet below the surface the workmen
found the stump of a small tree, and when it was removed a vein of water was
discovered which was believed to flow from a spring which about forty years
before had been situated about where Julius Hatry's store stands. It was thought
that the stump was of a swamp willow, many of which once grew on the ground
now covered by the business houses of the town.
t ' ' Hugh Orr, who bought the first lot in the sale of town lots 23 years ago,
is moving to Greene county. His smithy, the oldest building in town, will soon be
gone." (Democrat, April 5, 1866.) Hugh S. Orr died May 19. 1873.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 165
After the removal of the county records to Sullivan and the building of
the first court house, this soon became a center of business and residence.
A description of the village in 1848 mentions a number of well-known
citizens of the county and town. On Section street in that year were
some one-story frame houses occupied b}- James C. Allen, then a young
lawyer but later congressman from Illinois ; John H. Wilson, who was
sheriff of the county at the time the county seat was moved from JMerom ;
James W. Hinkle, who had just moved to town and was teaching school;
and Drs. John E. Lloyd and James H. and D. B. Weir, also Elias Albert-
son, John Bridwell and A. J. Thixton. Joseph Gray was one of the few
residents of that time who lived in a two-story house. On the corner of
Section and Washington streets was Howard's tavern stand, which the
proprietor had enlarged to two stories, and of which Washington Lilley
became proprietor about this time.''' Another two-story frame hotel,
owned by John R. ]\Iahan, stood on Court street near the corner of the
square. On Washington street near the northwest corner of the square
were two small store buildings which had been built by Major Stewart of
lumber sawed by whip-saw. Maj. Isaac Stewart, Dr. William M. Crowder
and James H. Reed also had their dwellings on Washington street. Daniel
Turner and F. C. Freeman (a cabinetmaker) were among the few who
then lived on the south side of the square. The village was better sup-
plied with physicians at that time than with merchants, artisans or law-
yers. James, Samuel and John J. Thompson were practicing here in
addition to those already mentioned.
* In 1855 this was called the Eailroad House, and J. P. Diifficy was propri-
etor.
i66 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
For a nninlier of years the affairs of the county seat were conducted
in the (|uiet manner which leaves Httle record on the page of history.
Considerable business was done by the early merchants, who had their
small shops around the square and brought their stocks of merchandise
overland from Louisville or from some of the river ports. The county
officials for the most part lived in the village, and the court sessions and
the annual payment of taxes brought a large part of the population of the
county into town at least once a year. The county seat was a natural
focus of interest during political campaigns. In 1843 James W'hitcomb,
then candidate for governor, made a speech in Sullivan, which was the
first of many successive occasions at which the people have congregated
from different parts of the county to listen to political oratory. Besides
the social activities that centered around the churches, there were special
occasions that brought the people together in social pleasures, and at the
homes of the principal families of that day there reigned a hospitality and
cheerful ease that compensated for many of the inconveniences that would
seem intolerable in this twentieth century.
Municipal GroictJi.
Altogether it was a period of individualism, softened by the firm
adherence to justice antl the general spirit of kindly neighborliness which
characterized the people of the time. The churches, the schools, and the
countv institutions themselves were products of the instincts and habits
of a people who had always been accustomed to the forms and usages of
self-government. But the citizenship of Sullivan had not yet advanced
far in those activities of a social communit\- which characterize
HISTORY OF SULLR AX COUNTY 167
the well organized and highly efificient town government. The growth and
im])rovement of Sullivan as a town corporation may be observed with
profit by those who desire to understand the development of municipal
affairs.*
It will be understood that for a number of years after the founding
of the town there existed practically n.o regulations upon the ])eaceful
vocations of the citizens. People lived in town and experienced no more
responsibilities and likewise few more conveniences than the rural inhabit-
ants. The streets were not different from the highroads through the
country, except that increased travel upon them made them more nearly
impassable. For many years there were no sidewalks, except the paths
on the sides of the streets, and here and there a few boards or some
gravel or cinders to keep the feet from burying in the mud. The ragged
Sfleams of an old-fashioned lantern or torch, carried in the hands of those
fe
* Sullivan was incorporated as a town oovernmcnt December S, IS.'SS, by act
of the county commissioners, who at that date were William Beard, Levi Maxwell
and Jacob Hoke. The population within the corporation limits at that time were
enumerated as 'AoO, and the signers of the petition for incorporation, which was
dated August 20, 1S53, were the following, who may be considered in the light of
charter citizens: John J. Thompson, H. S. Hanchett, Eobert M. Griffith, John
Bichards, James Martin, John Bridwell, William C. McBride, Elias Walls, H. S.
Orr, Alfred Turner, Alex Talley, William P. Hale, James McKinley, John T.
Turner, Thomas J. Carey, John T. Gunu, William E. Catlin, B. Hasselbaclf,
William Wilson, Chester O. Davis, James W. Hinkle, John Eaton, James H.
Chase, Craven Reed, S. O. Eeed, G. W. A. Luzader, C. W. Eaton, Squire McDonald,
John B. Hughs, M. E. Chace, James H. Eeid, B. C. Sherman, Pleast. Miller, E.
Bowyer, Alex. Snow, Daniel Brickcy, John S. Davis, Milburu Reed, Eli Shepherd,
Andrew Turner, S. Nichols, J. P. S. Eeed, W^. N. Humphreys, B. V. Wible, Benja-
min Stice, W. B. Ogle, A. Mcintosh, G. W. Hanchett. W. Griffith, Isaac Copeland,
John E. Lloyd, M. Kirkham, William R. Benton, Isaac Stewart, L. H. S. Orr,
James Mcintosh, B. H. McGrew.
i68 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
whom business or pleasure led abroad at night, were the only illumination
out of doors. The town pump in the public square and the wells and
cisterns in private homes were the only sources of water supply. The
slops and garbage were disposed of after the fashion of each individual
home, and while each citizen had ample space about his doors it was not
a matter of grave concern whether his home and premises were strictly
sanitary.
But in time, as population increased and as the sense of responsibility
of the individual to the community grew, all these matters began to
receive attention, and it is a subject of considerable interest to trace the
gradual evolution of the present municipality through the many stages
of public sentiment and custom.
One of the earliest references to be found concerning the municipal
condition of the town is contained in the issue of the Democrat for
November 24, 1864, and pertains especially to the town burying ground
(which was still in the town limits). The citizens were accused of a
most lamentable deficiency in public spirit. "Our graveyard (though the
public commons in which our dead are interred does not merit the name)
has never been enclosed ; hogs wallow above the neglected graves ; cattle
roam through it and eat oft' what little shrubbery the hands of affection
have planted there : no care is taken to protect the stones and monuments
from defacement, and the graves are huddled together without order
and in utter confusion." A few citizens had made repeated ettorts to
convene the public and get some action on the matter, but so far without
success. I
The sidewalks were also declared to be a matter of reproach to the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 169
town. A year or two ago, said the editor, a few temporary plank
walks ]iad been constructed on several leading- thoroughfares, but they
were imperfectly made at tirst and have now become almost worthless.
The schoolhouse was called "a complete old rookery," which had never
been suitably arranged and had now become almost worthless.
The next items that are found relating to the status of the town are
more optimistic. A letter that was quoted under date of December, 1864,
vaunted the population of Sullivan to be about 3,000, and summarized its
business as comprising the well filled stores of eleven merchants, three
jewelry shops, two merchant tailors, mechanics of all kinds, three hotels,
one flouring mill, sawmill and woolen factory and a steam stave and
heading factory. In October, 1865, the editor finds the sidewalks and
streets to have been put in good order, and a new fence had been built
around the court house. It is stated that the town officials have deter-
mined that there shall be an equal number of schoolhouses and churches,
but the saloon-keepers, not to be outdone in this regard, have called for
two more saloons, so that there might be four churches, four school-
houses and eight saloons.
At a meeting of the town board June 5, 1866, A. F. Estabrook was
employed as town engineer to survey and fix the uniform grade of the
streets. Work on the streets had hitherto been done under the direction
of the supervisors, and the same amount required of each poll. Now it
was proposed to put a commissioner in charge and to tax the inhabitants
for street maintenance according to their property values. Evidently
the year following the close of the war witnessed considerable improve-
ment of the streets. In October, 1806, it was stated that within the pre-
I/O HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
viuiis three months about 4,000 feet of plank waUvs, four feet wide and
uniform in appearance and grade, liad been constructecb and that on the
business streets 2,500 square }ards of brick pavement had been laid A
short time before the sidewalks to the railroad station had been completed.
Some new phases of the street improvement question appear to have
arisen during the seventies. A paragraph in August, 1878, calls attention
to the fact that a few days before some hogs had been turned into the
court house yard to act as scavengers in cleaning up the large quantity
of decaying rinds and remnants of melons with which the ground was
littered. A few months later public sentiment seems to have been aroused
against the running- at large of hogs. In June, 1880, the Democrat
estimates that not less than five hundred hogs were running loose in
town without rings in their noses, contrary to the ordinances in such
cases. A little earlier in the year a doubt had been expressed whether the
town council had the power to prevent by ordinance hogs at large. Their
ordinance required that hogs at large should have rings in the nose, but
provided no penalty of impounding for animals without the rings. So
far as regarded the littering of the court yard with melon rinds, the
council imposed a fine of five dollars for eating melons in the square,
which proved efi^ectual.
Cows shared the privilege^ of the public streets with hogs. The
ordinance prohibiting cows running at large was unpopular with many,
and in March, 1882, the board was asked to repeal it. There was much
discussion of this matter during the following summer, but the ordinance
seems to have fallen into desuetude since during the winter months com-
plainis were heard from the farmers who had made their wagons and
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 171
sleds comfortable with linings of straw that during their absence in thj
stores stray cows browsed along the line of vehicles and stripped them of
all their forage contents. The cows and hogs continued to have their
freedom for a year or more, until in July, 1885, a stock ordinance was
passed and a pound was built on the north side of the engine house, after
which the subject of straps ceases to attract attention.
The first attempt to sprinkle the streets of Sullivan seems to have
been made during the very dry summer of 1864, when the merchants
around the square tried to use some sort of sprinkler for that purpose,
though the scarcity of water rendered the effort almost futile. No
evidence of street sprinkling is found until the summer of 1879, when an
item states that a machine w-as to be started by Gilbert Bond.
One of the first subjects to demand the attention of a town community
is facilities for fighting fire. Fire being the greatest destructive agency
that threatens property, it is naturally the first to be guarded against.
In fact, public sanitation and comfort generally receive attention only
after a community has advanced far in civic importance, but a fire depart-
ment of some sort is always among the first institutions. In a rural com-
munity fire brings loss to but one individual, but the business interests
of a town require that buiklings shall be placed on adjacent lots, so that
a fire at one point endangers the entire adjoining neighborhood. Thus
it is to the interest of the entire town that a fire be extinguished quickl}-,
and for that purpose organization and discipline become necessary. In the
early stages of a town's growth this organization is usually voluntary,
and though the spirit of willingness is seldom absent, efifectiveness is
sometimes sacrificed.
172 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Thus during- the first years of SulUvan's existence, a fire brought the
citizens together with buckets, which were used to carry water from the
nearest welL A fire well started could seldom be quenched by such
methods, and it was fortunate if the blaze could be kept from spreading.
Sullivan has a long record of destructive fires, and the organization
and equipment for fire fighting have never seemed to be adequate for the
occasion. No account can be given of the earlier efi:orts at co-operation
in preventing fires, and aside from the purchase of a few ladders and
other supplies of a primitive sort there was no organized system in the
town until within comparatively recent years. In January, 1870, a meet-
ing was held at the court house, presided over by Lafayette Stewart,
for the organization of a hook and ladder company, but the movement
did not succeed. A paragraph in the Democrat in 1879 says: "The
damage to the Van Fossen and Hunt property, both burned recently, is
enough to purchase the best hook and ladder apparatus in the state." The
ladders that had formerly been purchased were lost.
In January, 1882, a petition was circulated, asking the town l)oard
to issue bonds to the amount of $7,000 for the purchase of a fire engine
and other apparatus, to build cisterns, and to purchase propert}' m which
to keep the apparatus and the street tools. The purchase of some hose and
a building on Alain street during the following summer shows that the
agitation had resulted in some good. The hand engine which was ordered,
how-ever, was refused by the town lioard in April, 1883, and it is probable
that the town continued without apparatus for a year or two longer. In
June, 1885, the board paid five hundred dollars for a lot west of the
McCammon Flotel (which is still the site of the engine house). An issue
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 173
of bonds ($6,000) had been ordered, and were sold to a Sullivan County
])ank at a premium after the council had provided that interest on them
should lie ]iaid semi-annually. The next month, plans and specifications
for the engine house and city hall, as prepared by Kent Conlson, were
accepted b}- the council, and a contract let to Hoke & Co. for the building
at $1,942. The contract for building fire cisterns was awarded to Ben
Hubbard, who began digging them at the corners of the square. About
the same time a hand engine arrived, and a steamer was ordered from
Cincinnati ($2,650). It was guaranteed that twelve men could pull the
engine without difficult}-, that it could pump fourteen barrels a minute.
Two hose carts and 1,200 feet of hose were also bought. ' On August
31st the town board selected Elliott Hamill for chief of the fire depart-
ment. Ben Briggs was chosen captain of the fire company and Charles
Crawley first lieutenant, while John Glass became foreman of the hook
and ladder. January 12, 1886, is chronicled the arrival of the first steam
fire engine in Sullivan. Ed Devol was chosen engineer.
Little improvements were made in the town fire department from this
time imtil the building of the water works. The establishment of water
works is a notable event in the history of every town. While a center
of population consists of little more than a collection of individual homes
and the stores, churches and schoolhouses, every detached dwelling may
have its well, and the town pump aft'ords a general supply. While people
live without crowding, after the manner of a village, there is slight danger
of contagious disease, and sanitation is left largely to individual care.
But as population increases and concentrates, there comes the necessity
to take more and more the care of these details from the individuals and
174 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
entrust thcMii to the collective management of the community. This is
clone for the better health, the greater convenience and comfort, and. in
the end, the superior economy of all who live in the community.
October 29, 1895, a petiti(in of more than a hundred Sullivan tax-
payers was filed, asking for an election to take the sense of the town on
the subject of increasing the municipal debt for the j^urpose of establish-
ing water works. The following November 22d the citizens voted on this
question, casting 267 votes for and 197 votes against the proposition.
Early in the following year a civil engineer was employed to prepare plans,
which were adopted by the council on the iSth of March. In May supple-
mentary specifications were adopted for the dam across the Busseron, and
on June 4th the council entered into a contract with the Howe Pump and
Engine Company for the construction of the plant. The latter undertook
to construct a complete system of water works according to the plans,
to hold the town harmless from all damages in case of overflow, to
procure the consent of the county commissioners to dam the Busseron.
The contract also provided for the formation of a water company, to
procure all real estate, right of way, and to purchase and pay for all
material to the amount of $18,000, as specified, and to issue bonds to the
amount of $18,000 on the property and franchises, and eventually all the
property of the water company was to be conveyed to the town of Sullivan
and also all the company's stock fully paid up. For the establishment of
water works, the town board issued bonds to the amount of $22,000, with
interest at five per cent payable semiannually
Under this contract the company at once began the work of con-
' struction. In August, 1896, the Democrat reported the failure of the
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 175
Howe Pump Company, through a "flattening out" of the market for
municipal bonds, of which the company had a large amount on hand, and
the work was suspended for some time, leaving the streets in a damaged
condition. The plant was finally completed, the total cost being $41,857.61.
The cost was more than the constitutional limit of municipal indebtedness
allowed, and it was for the purpose of evading this limitation that a
private company was organized, known as the Sullivan Water Works
Company, which took title to the property and franchises and gave a
mortgage on the system for $18,000.
In a few years the water works were found to be inadequate, and the
supply was insufficient and of poor quality. In 1901 private capitalists
oflfered to buy the municipal plant and assume the bonded debt, promising
to furnish an an]ple supply of pure water. The town found that it was
operating the plant at a loss of one thousand dollars yearly. Various
proposals have been made within the past few years by private companies
to buy the plant and supplement the supply either by wells or by bringing
water from the Wabash. In the winter of 1902-03 the town sunk a well
which it was estimated yielded about 350 gallons a minute, but this was
insufficient. In 1905, the Commercial Club oflfered a solution of the
problem. It organized the Sullivan Water Works Co., which was to
assume the franchises, property and debts of the municipal plant, in
return for which the town should retain a controlling share of the stock
of the company. Much enthusiasm was aroused over this enterprise,
and the Commercial Club undertook, with much energy, to carr\- out the
details of the plan. However, the test wells at New Lebanon and else-
where, which were expected to furnish the water supply, proved dis-
176 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
appointing", and tlie decision of the snpreme cotirt. early in January. 1906,
that the mortgage on the water plant constituted a part of the town indebt-
edness, blocked the way for all the improvements planned by the town
board. The available credit as a result of the decision was reduced to
$12,500 instead of $25,000. upon which basis the board had proposed the
improvements.
At this writing the water works problem is still before the people
of Sullivan. During the drouth of 1908 onlv the most stringent regula-
tions of the use of city water maintained a sufificient quantity of water in
the standpipe to afford fire protection. This failure of the system, how-
ever, cannot be charged entirely to the plant, since the severity of the
season was such that few towns in the state escaped water famine.
L'ntil about twenty years ago, the streets of Stillivan were as dark as
the highways of the country. An item dated in August. 1883. records
the failure of an eft'ort to induce the business men to proctire lamps to
light the streets in front of their stores, but only two firms adopted the
suggestion.
Early in 1888 the lighting of the streets began to receive more seriotis
consideration. By that time electricity had become popular as a source of
municipal lighting, and it is of interest that Sullivan was among the most
progressive towns of the state to use this kind of lights. In April of this
year a local company contracted with the town board to supply thirty
lights for the streets, at $208.33 per month, and in the following July the
company arranged for the construction of the power house on the west
side of Court street, near the mill pond. The plant was completed, the
d}-namos installed, and on October 8th a public test of the lights was
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 177
made, wliich took the form of a celebration, large crowds of people
gathering- on the streets, entertained by music from the Sullivan band,
and with speeches delivered from the band stand by Judge Buff, John S.
Bays, John T. Hays, and John T. Beasley. The electric light companv
had not carried out its contract without considerable opposition. After
the contract had been made between the company and the tow-n board,
suit was commenced to enjoin the town treasurer from collecting the tax.
iMeantime the company had bought its plant, commenced building the
engine house, putting up poles. When Crowder and McCammon forbade
the company to dig holes in the pavement near the bank and hotel, the
company replied by seeking an injunction to prevent these parties filling up
the holes, etc.
The contract between the company and town expired at the end of
1893, and in anticipation of a renewal of the contract a new company was
formed and erected a plant to supply the town with arc lights for street
lighting. The new company oft'ered thirty arc lights to the town for $50
each, which was a saving of over thirty dollars per lamp over the former
price. The plant was completed and a test of the lights made in April,
1894. Two months later the new company had failed, the engine and
equipment being replevined by the firms which had installed them. The
town could not agree with the old company on satisfactory terms for arc
lights, and in September contracted with N^oah Crawford to furnish lights
at $63 each, the contract to run seven years, including the remaining four
years of the contract with ]\Ir. Cluggage, of the company which had failed.
In May, 1901, the Sullivan Light, Heat and Power Company purchased
the Citizens Electric Light and Power Company, which was tlie company
Vol. 1—12
178 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
(nvncd and contn^llcd by Mr. Crawford, the consideration being $10,000.
Both companies had continued in competition until that time, but the
plants were now consolidated. In April, 1907, Michael McMonan, of
Sullivan, and C. R. ]\IcGaughey, of Brazil, purchased the electrict light
plant, and after operating it for less than a year, on petition of William F.
Poole, the plant was put into receivership in February, 1908.
Sullivan Schools.
The old county seminary was a central institution of the school sys-
tem at Sullivan for many years, and the building was used for the town
schools long after it was sold by the county authorities. The public funds
were insufficient to support free schools more than three or four months
each year, and during the remaining months of the year some teacher
would usually conduct a private school. Airs. Jane Booth was one of the
teachers of the fifties and sixties who taught both public and private
schools. For the fall term of public school in 1864 Mrs. Booth was chosen
principal ; jNIiss Lizzie Aloore, first assistant ; ]\Iiss Dora Brouillette, second
assistant, and Miss Laura Parks, primary.
The seminary building was hardly habitable at the close of the war,
and there was not enough money to pay for repairs and the maintenance
of school, too. Yet the district was unable to provide better accommoda-
tions for several years. The seminary building was last used during the
year 1871-72, when a free school of seven months was taught, with 434
pupils enrolled, and one principal and five assistants.
In 1872 school was first taught in the new^ building. That year was
also notable for the removal of Professor Crawford's seminarv from
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 179
Farmersburg- to Sullivan. The public schools and the normal department
were conducted together for several years, but this arrangement, although
it brought a large number of students here from out of town, proved a
burden upon the common schools, and the partnership between Ascension
Seminary and the public schools was dissolved.
O. J. Craig was selected as superintendent of the schools in 1880, and
for the first time in the history of the town there was promise of sufficient
funds to continue the public schools for nine months. In May, 1882, the
first class was graduated from the Sullivan high school, consisting of
James R. Riggs, Addison E. McEneny and C. R. Hinkle.
The school accommodations became very inadequate during the
decade of the nineties. In May, 1901, the citizens defeated by a vote of
327 to 297 a proposition to issue $20,000 in bonds for the building of a
new schoolhouse. But in January, 1904, an overwhelming majority was
given in favor of the erection of a high school building, and in the follow-
ing September the cornerstone of this building was laid. Sullivan now has
excellent school buildings, both ward and high school.
Sullivan Landmarks.
By the processes of time, decay and fire and ruin, our American
towns quickly cover up the past, and in Sullivan it is hardly possible to
find any buildings that bear the dignified marks of old age. The court
house itself is the oldest building of any note, having stood at the center of
the square for more than a half century.
In December, 1878, fire destroyed the old National House, about
which many of the early associations of visitors to Sullivan gathered. It
i8o HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
liad been in existence since shortly after the founding of the town, and
had known various proprietors, Sc[uire \'an Fossen being- the last.
The Hotel ]\IcCammon, which was recently burned, was of much
later date than the National. It is stated that at the formal opening of
this hotel, February 14, 1882, nearly all the business men and leading
citizens of town were invited to a sumptuous dinner.
The two-story building on the east side of the square, with its double
balconies, was built by Dr. Coffman in 1897, an old frame building being
removed from the site.
The Davis House, which is the most modern hotel of the town, was
built by the Davis brothers, the plans being accepted in the summer of
1897 and construction work begun shortly afterwards. Its ground dimen-
sions were 90 by 35 feet, and it was designed to have 48 sleeping rooms on
the second and third floors. The front is of stone and pressed brick.
The business block on the south side of the square, which was subject
to the ravages of the fire of January, 1909, was built more than thirty-five
years before. The laying of the foundation of this block, according to an
item of September, 1873, was commemorated with a salute of thirteen
guns, one for each business house in the row. The salute was in cliarge
of Colonel McBride, chief of the local artillery corps.
To those who have been familiar with the growth of buildings about
the square, the folio \\ing paragraph from the Democrat of ^lay 13, 1884,
will prove of some interest: The store room now occupied by T. K.
Sherman & Son was the first brick business house in Sullivan. It was
built by William Wilson. It has been remodeled for its present purposes.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY i8i
large plate glass windows put in, vestibules and side lights, and handsome
walnut doors.
The passing of another landmark drew forth the following comment
from Mr. Briggs in the issue of June 28, 1876: The old tavern on the
corner of Section and Washington streets is being torn down, the present
proprietor, James B. Patten, intending to remodel the main building and
to move off the attachments. At an early day this locality was a focus
of business and trade. Air. Gray had a store house on the opposite corner.
and John Bridwell a store on the west side of Section street, while the
Bamberger store was on the corner south. When we first knew the
tavern ]\Ir. Dufficy was proprietor, and it was then in its palmiest days.
Afterwards it passed into the hands of Maguire, who opened a bar in the
office, and later Scjuire Van Fossen conducted it semi-occasionally until
within the last few years, when it failed to pay.
This corner was visited by fire in September, 1884, resulting in the
destruction of the old house on the southwest corner and the warehouse
of Crawlev and ]\IcKinley. "If there was an older house in town than
the two burned last Saturday night, we don't know where they are,"
remarked the Democrat. "Thirty years ago the dwelling was occupied
by John S. Howard. The other was erected by the late Joseph Gray for
a store house, and upstairs was located the Democrat office for the first
two or three years of its existence."*
* Eeferriiig to the time when the Democrat was publishing in this old
building, in an issue of 1890 the proprietor of the paper mentioned the use of
the Washington hand press for printing, and said that copy for the paper Avas
sometimes cut from an almanac. Mail was still carried on horseback from Merom,
there were no sidewalks in town, and a polished boot or shoe was rarely seen.
Except the courthouse, there were only two or three brick houses in the place.
i82 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
For over fifty years Barnett Saucerman followed the trade of gun-
smith in Sullivan, and hunters came from miles around. I^ring-ing- him
their defective or broken firearms. With the tearing down of his old shop
at the corner of Broad and Beech streets, in the summer of 1901. passed
a landmark that had stood for nearly forty years. A few days before the
old shop was knocked to pieces the venerable gunsmith was photographed
at the door of the shop. ha\ing a trusty old rifle on his knees. The
proprietor of the gunshop died June 2J, 1902. at the age of eighty-one.
He was a native of Coshocton county. Ohio, had learned his trade as a
boy, and came to Sullivan county in 1847. his first home being on a farm
near Abbey Mill in Cass township. He served in the 85th Indiana
Infantry, and was with Sherman's army in the campaign to the sea.
Chronology of Siillizxin Fiirs in Recent Years.
April, 1885 — Fire destroyed the Alasonic building, corner of ^lain
and \\'ashington. and so quickly that the records of the lodge on the third
floor could not be saved. The town was still without fire protection. The
loss was between $30,000 and $40,000, the Times office, the American
House, and the Calvin Taylor law library being among the list of damage
and ruin.
September 12, 1886 — Livery stables of Lucas, Russell & Joyce, at
rear of brick building on the north side of the square, burned. Other
attempts to start fires indicated incendiarism.
October i, 1886 — Burning of two frame buildings at the south end
of the west side of the square causes talk of establishment of fire zone.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 183
October 29. 1886 — Fire destroyed Johnson's photo gallery on north
side of square. October 31 — Crowder's hay press and a barn at rear of
buildings on the west side of the square burned.
January 11, 1887 — South side corner of Court and Jackson streets
ruined by fire. July 5 — Planing mill of Hoke & Co. burned; loss, $7,000
to $ 1 0,000.
December 14. 1889 — Bauer & Son's flouring mill, near depot, Ijurned,
total loss being $18,000 to $20,000.
September 25, 189 1 — In early morning fire l^roke out in Leach ware-
house, near E. & T. H. depot, extended across right of way to freight
depot, north to warehouse owned by P. R. Jenkins and ^liss Jennie
Thornhill, south to the Snow warehouse, and two box cars burned. Total
loss about $20,000, wdth only $3,000 insurance.
February 10, 1892 — Sawmill of Mahley and Co. burned, after being
in operation two years. February 26 — Stivers and Bland pork packing
house burned, at a loss of several thousand dollars.
August 12, 1892 — The Sullivan expert fire company disbands after
seven years' existence. The members have always responded promptlv
to fire arms, even going beyond the city limits. Dissatisfaction because
of failure to remit their taxes as provided b}- law.
November 23, 1899 — Jacob Mahley's sawmill burned; total loss,
$10,000.
October 21, 1906 — National Bank building damaged by fire to extent
of several thousand dollars.
August 13, i9o8^The McCammon Hotel, on the corner of Wash-
ington and State, gutted by a fire that burned for four hours, leaving all
i84 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
of third and most of second and first stories in ruins. Loss on building,
$12,000; to the proprietor, jNIrs. Hinkle, $4,000.
September 9, 1908 — Fire of unknown origin, beginning in the hvery
barn of J. Ed. Blume, on South Alain street, destroyed the hvery stable ;
loss $2,000, insurance $2,000. The Colonnade Theater, loss $14,000,
insurance, $8,000; Baptist parsonage, loss $2,200, insurance, $1,600;
J. B. I\Iullane"s hardware and furniture store, loss $4,600, covered by
insurance; F. J\I. Douthitt clothing store, loss $8,000, insurance $4,000;
Central store, loss $4,000, covered by insurance. Total amount of prop-
erty destroyed was about $40,000. The severe drouth of this season and
limited water supply accounts for the destructiveness of this fire.
January 31, 1909 — Fire starts in Herman Schmidt & Co.'s hardware
store from stove or crossed wires. The water plugs were frozen, much
time lost in getting them to work, and a strong northeast wind carried the
fire on until property to the value of more than one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars was consumed. The detail loss was : J. B. ]\Iullane,
$30,000 stock, $15,000 building; Central Store Co., $25,000 stock; Ben
Davis and Joe K. Smock, $12,000 building; F. ]\I. Douthitt, $16,000;
C. H. Edwards, building, $5,000; Herman Schmidt, $8,000 stock; Ella
Dix, $4,000; Herschel Ford, $4,000 stock, building owned by local com-
pany, loss $4,000 ; Leonard & Goodman, $4,000 stock, $4,000 buildings ;
Reed and Batey, $4,000 stock; Dale and Son, $2,000 stock; Sullivan
Light & Heat Co., $4,500 fixtures and equipments. Insurance carried
amounted to about $52,000.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 185
Public Improvements and Grozvth.
November 3, 1864 — Sidewalk mania is prevailing to an alarming
extent. Almost every individual }ou meet has a subscription for the
construction of a plank walk out his street. The most important
one projected is to reach to the depot and will cost $500.
March 2^, 1865 — There has never before been such a demand
for houses to rent, not only dwellings, but business houses, shops, etc.
February 3, 1875 — J. C. Briggs petitions for continuance of
Harris street west, and R. H. Crowder for a new street between his
lot and Charles F. Briggs', due north to a point west of Jackson
street, thence east to west end of Jackson. (These are the streets
that meet at the library).
August 6, 1879 — Court house has no janitor. The sheriff is
employed to clean up the court room previous to each term of court,
but it becomes foul before the term ends and thus remains until the
succeeding term. September 15— Bill Joyce enters upon duties as
janitor.
May 5, 1880 — Contract awarded for excavating, grading, slag-
ging and graveling the streets around the square.
June 29, 1883 — Most exciting case in court last week was dam-
age suit of John Fordyce against town for opening Harris street
west ; was awarded $373 damages.
July 17, 1883 — Nice brick sidewalks have been put down on
Court street, south from the square.
October 12, 1883 — Town board has ordered sidewalks on the
east side of Broad street and the south side of Gray to the depot.
The property owners on West Washington street have presented a
petition agreeing to grade and slag that street next spring if the
board will rescind order for sidewalks. A petition generally signed
by property owners in the southeast part of town states that Broad
street is simply a deep ravine and receptacle for all kinds of rubbish.
July 4, 1884 — The town has undertaken to put in tile along the
i86 HISTORY OF SULLRAX COUNTY
streets where property owners pay cost of the material. (This order
rescinded August 15).
Septenilx-r 26, 1884 — Trouble arises over the order of the board
to widen the south end of Court street. The town marshal in pur-
suance of an order from the town board proceeded to remove the
fences which obstructed the widening. One woman whose grounds
were exposed by this action penned up all the stock that trespassed
on them, and among other strap's thus taken in were some hogs be-
longing to one of the town trustees. (The case got into the courts,
and by change of venue went first to Greene and then to Knox
county, and was eventually compromised except with one party).
April 24. 1885- — A\'est \\'ashington street, after many vexing
delays, has been graded and graveled. The residents along the street
are grading the space between the sidewalks and the street, and are
sowing it with grass seed. The effort will not prove successful if
cows and hogs continue to roam the streets.
July I, 1887 — County commissioners have contracted for stone
walks from the court house to each entrance of the park, to be of
sawed Bedford stone.
November 18. 1887 — Contract let for sewer on Broad street
from Washington street to a point south of the I. & L S. R. R. To be
built jointly by town and county, at a cost of about $4,000. The
county is taking part in order to secure drainage for the jail, injunc-
tion proceedings having been begun to restrain the emptying of
sewage on a near-by lot.
August 30, 1888 — The grading of Main street preparatory to
graveling begun.
September 9, 1890 — Town board has an engineer employed to
straighten boundary lines of streets in east part of town. There is
some antagonism from men whose fences must be removed, but
fences are useless and unsightl}' since cattle have been kept oft' the
streets.
February 13, 1891 — ^Misfortunes of town in way of damage
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 187
suits have aroused the trustees, and the marshal is now ordered to
inspect crossings and streets once a week.
]\Iarch 13, 1891 — The town Ijoard has ordered the improvement
of Court street, the engineer heing ordered to survey and estabhsh
the grade and a committee being appointed to determine the style in
which the work will be done. [March 31 — Town board and com-
mittee decide to pave Court street with brick, contrarv to the wishes
of the property owners, who want gravel.
April 10, 1 89 1 — Bids were received by the town board on April
10 for the extension of the Broad street sewer. The sewer was made
necessary by threats of the property owners south of the woolen
mill to sue the factory owners for allowing the waste to run down the
ravine.
August 4, 1891 — The town board has let the contract for gravel-
ing the streets in the southwest part of town — Jackson from Court to
Crowder, Crowder street, and Johnson street from Crowder to Bell.
August 18 — Brick walks ordered on the south side of Jackson street,
both sides of Crowder street, and both sides of Johnson, west from
the intersection of Crowder. December 15 — Graveling of Thomp-
son street and brick walks ordered.
May 24, 1892 — Contracts let for grading and graveling Court
street. June 28 — Contract let for graveling from head of Alain
street to depot.
August, 1894 — Contract let for graveling North Court and
Thompson streets. Thanks to energy and management of John L.
Thompson, West Washington street has been graded to the bridge,
and \'ineyard hill has been cut down and the bottom filled. Mr.
Thompson collected some of the money and donated his own time and
money to the work.
June 25, 1895 — Graveling ordered done on State street, south
from Washington to Marion and north from Cochran ; on Section
street, south from Harris to corporation line ; on Sylvan Dell, from
Crowder street to corporation line.
i88 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
July 13. 1897 — Town board votes to pave with brick the alley
back of the buiklings on the north side of the square.
January 30, 1902 — J. 11. Mullane has placed on sale a number
of lots north of town. April 17 — Town is growing rapidly, changes
being especially noticeable on East Washington street, where houses
now extend beyond the old fair grounds.
July 23, 1903 — Silver Chaney, John C. Chancy, and L. A.
Stewart purchase for ten thousand dollars 134 acres south of town,
with the intention of making a new subdivision.
September 3, 1903 — The town board decides to pave the square
with brick and remove the hitch racks. (A protest follows against
brick paving).
August 4, 1904 — At recent town board meeting, the city engi-
neer, Richard L. Bailey, made a report of his survey of the sanitary
and storm sewerage system for that part of town lying west of State
street. The report has been accepted, and the work will be per-
formed under the law empowering a city to assess the cost of such
improvements against property owners. September 8 — The board
having set a time for hearing objections to the proposed sewerage
construction, not a citizen appeared to enter his objection.
September 15, 1904 — Auction sale of lots in South Sullivan
results in sale of 99 at total of $7,592.50. November 3 — Walks of
vitrified brick to be built from Court street to new Southern Indiana
depot.
January 19, 1905 — Sewer system, after many revisions and the
protest of many citizens, adopted. February 23 — All bids from con-
tractors for construction of sewer system rejected.
August 17, 1905 — Street Commissioner Scott appears before the
county commissioners asking that they keep the hitch racks clean
and put in cement curb, gutter and sidewalk around square.
Jul}- 5, 1905 — The district around the E. & T. H. depot becom-
ing quite a business section and new buildings going up. Some
older residents remember when this was the principal business part
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 189
of town, and trade centered in and around the half dozen stores
near the depot. Recently only shacks have existed in "depot town."
September 21, 1905 — The town board decides to pave with brick
Washington street from Section street to the E. & T. H. railroad,
Jackson street from Section to State street, and also the pulpit square ;
and to lay cement walks on the north side of Beech, from section to
Broad, on the west side of Court, from Graysville to Wall, and on the
east side of Cross, from Gra}-sville to Washington streets.
April 25, 1907 — Town board orders the paving of North Court
street with brick, and the improvement of Troll street with crushed
rock, cement walks, gutters and curbing.
Siillk'aii Cemetery.
The first cemetery of Sullivan was abandoned over forty years ago.
It was located within the corporation limits. It is said that when Sullivan
was platted, no provision was made for a burying ground. The first
death was in the family of H. K. W'ilson. It was suggested, as the only
suitable place at the time, that the child be buried in broken ground
southeast of town.
The site was out-lot No. 12, of the original town plat, a little less
than two acres. Broad street was on the west side, and the cemetery
ran south from Harris street.
After a quarter of a century the old ground was filled up. The
location was unsatisfactory, as the town had by that time grown around
it. An association was formed to locate and lay oil a new cemeter}-, and
in the spring of 1867 selected the ridge west of town on the old Hughes
farm. This point, when the county seat was located at Sullivan, had been
190 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
designated as tlie exact geograpliical center of the county. This fact
suggested the name fi)r the lnn\ving ground, "Center Ridge," the name
which now apjjcars carved in the stone arch of the new entrance tn this
heautifid God's Acre. In the southwest corner of Center Ridge is a
row of stones marking the graves of some who had tirst rested in the
old cemetery. The bodies were removed from tlie old to the new ceme-
tery, but in some cases the relatives and friends of the deceased could not
be found and the town trustees bought the lots in the southw^est corner
of the cemetery for the graves of those w ho had no relatives and friends
to attend to the removal.
Center Ridge occupies a high ground above lUick creek. There
are many native trees, and little artificial landscape gardening was needed
to produce the cjuiet beauty that should adorn the home of the dead.
Several years after the cemetery was laid out, rose bushes and other
shrubbery were set out, and the beginning thus made has been continued.
A sidewalk was built from town to the bridge over Buck creek, and at
the present time a cement walk leads to the new' gateway, and a new
concrete bridge will also be constructed over Buck creek. In December,
1893. it was reported that the trustees of the cemetery association liad
expended between three and four thousand dollars in grading and gravel-
ing drives in the cemetery, in making lots with stoneware posts and
clearing the north end of the grounds. The following year, the manage-
ment of the cemetery was made more systematic, rules being made for
the lining and grading of lots, planting of vines, shrubs and trees, all to
be done under the supervision of the superintendent.
About 1896 twelve acres additional ground was bought, on the west
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 191
side of the first plat. The cost of this new ground was $3,584.75. ar.d the
cost of surveying", fencinq- and planting of trees was about $250 more.
A few years ago there existed in Sullivan an organization known as
the Literature Club. Rev. Bartlett, pastor of the Presbyterian church,
was the leader in the movement. The members studied and read the
standard works of English poetry, drama and fiction. The last meeting
of the club was held in June, 1890. In 1893 a meeting at the home of
Judge Briggs took steps to reorganize, but the plans seem to have been
somewhat changed, for during the following winter the Sullivan His-
torical Club took its place and studied the history of the United States.
It is of interest that on the occasion of the club banquet at the home of
Judge Briggs, in February, 1894, Mr. A. G. McNabb introduced a dis-
cussion of the needs of library facilities for the work which the club was
doing, and this was followed by a talk from Judge Briggs, in which he
suggested an organized movement to obtain a library. The topic was a
favorite one among the club members during their subsequent meetings.
The coming of the Van Amberg circus to Sullivan in i9or) recalled
an interesting bit of pioneer history. The original circus of this name was
the first traveling show, it was said, to exhibit in Sullivan. The story
was that when the advance agent appeared to engage a site for the tent,
he found none available that was large enough, but he ad\ertised the
circus and went away. When the wagons of the circus drove into town
on the appointed day, they could find no place to pitch their tent. The
county commissioners were just beginning to clear the ground for the
court house, and the versatile circus manager offered to clear the site if he
192 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
might be allowed to pitch his tents there. The bargain was made, and
some of the citizens took part in the arduous frolic which the circus men
made of clearing of¥ the brush and trees.
The pioneer days of Sullivan \vcre recalled in an issue of the Demo-
crat in February, 1906, in speaking of ^Ir. William Catlin, whose parents
had moved to the county about 1823. Air. Catlin recollected seeing In-
dians pass along the trail which crossed the site of Sullivan town. This
route was sufificiently used by the Indians, who. of course, walked single
tile, to keep the trail worn hard and smooth. At the day of the first sale
of town lots in Sullivan a large crowd of settlers stood on the northwest
corner of the square. The day was rainy and it was difficult to find a
spot which was not covered with w'ater, and Air. Catlin. with others, took
their stand on a log which lay across a pool of water near the auctioneer.
CHAPTER X.
MEROM.
David Thomas in his "Travels in the West," writing about 1818. has
the following about the county seat of Sullivan county: "The beautiful
bluff above Turtle creek, now called Alerom, has become the seat of
justice for Sullivan county; and was selected by commissioners appointed
under an act of the legislature. The agent, who was authorized to sell
the lots, makes the following remarks in his advertisement :
'' Tt is situated on the east bank of the river, thirty-five miles
above Vincennes, on that elevated ground known by the name of The
Bluff', the highest bank of the Wabash from its mouth to the north
[here the author explains that it should have been written east "line
of the state"] line of the state. The river washes the base of this
high land one mile. Freestone [sandstone] and a equality of [im-
pure] limestone appear in the bank in great abundance. Springs in
every direction around the town are discovered.
" T<>om the most elevated point of the bluff', the eye can be
gratified with the charming view of La Alotte prairie, immediately
below in front ; and with Ellison and Union prairies on the right
and left ; the whole stretching along the river a distance of not less
than thirty miles, and all now rapidly settling. In the rear of this
193
Vol. I— I'',
194 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
beautiful site, is a flourishing settlement of twenty or thirty farmers,
three miles east of the town.
'' 'Gill's prairie, south three miles, has at present a handsome
population of industrious farmers.
'* 'A mile and a half from the town, a mill will soon be erected on
Turtle creek by a ]\Ir. Bennett. — June 27, 1817.' "
Such was the beginning of the quaint old town on the east side of
the Wabash, which during the early years of Sullivan county was the
"port of entry" and chief emporium of the county. One is impressed by
the natural advantages of the site as a stronghold of defense. Had the
settlement of the count}- been followed by wars for the possession and
defense of the country, this site w"ould have proved a capital "burg" or
citadel, such as have proved scenes of glorious military achievements in
different epochs and other lands. From the towering bluft' the guns of the
defenders could not only have swept the river, but would have commanded
the approaches on all sides.
The original plat of ]\Ierom was on the plateau along the river.
The first street on the west was called High, and then came Second,
Third, Fourth and Fifth. On the south side of the first plat was Kane
street, and north in succession lay Walnut, Market, Fetter, Poplar, White,
Cherry, Coleman.
Of the early history of Merom few definite records exist. During the
twenty-five years, until 1842, when it was the county seat, it was the
most important town between Terre Haute and A'incennes. The periodi-
cal sessions of court brought lawyers and citizens to the court house, and
on these occasions Merom was a scene of much activity and social plea-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 195
sures. The export and import commerce of the time was transacted
largely through the port of Merom. Here was the headquarters for the
fleet of flatboats which the merchants of the day had built each season,
and which in the spring were sent down stream loaded with grain,
pork and other products of this locality. Business and official importance
combined to make Merom a commercial, social and political center,
around which have gathered associations that will always lend a special
charm and interest to the locality.
Some fanciful explanations have been made in explanation of the
name Merom. The choice of the name seems, however, to have been
both a natural and happy one. Merom meaning high ground, and the
name of the highest lake along the Jordan and the scene of Joshua's
battle with the assembled kings, was not inaptly chosen to designate the
high sandstone bluff by the Wabash.
The removal of the county seat in 1842 and the building of 'the
Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad in 1854 were two events which com-
bined to deprive Merom of much of its former prestige. Each year after
the railroad came saw a decrease in the river traffic, and soon the town
had only its mills and stores as the nucleus of former prosperity. The
Merom mills were long an institution, attracting the patronage of hun-
dreds of farmers from far and near. Cushman and Huff built the saw-
mill here in 1845, ^"^l the following year added the grist mill. During
the fifties the plant was owned by Seth Cushman, son of the original
proprietor, and was operated after a time only as a flour mill. This
enterprising miller did much to sustain the commercial reputation of
Merom during the years when the town was isolated from railroads. The
196 ]TTST(1RY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
establislinicnt of L'niou Christian College in the late fifties also created an
institution that has had an important bearing upon the subsequent pros-
perity of the town.
Meroni was incorporated as a town in 1866. The petition for incor-
poration was laid liefore the commissioners in Jnne of that year. The
preliminary census gave 350 inhabitants in the proposed corporate limits.
The plat of the town showing the limits of town jurisdiction included the
"island," in the river near the foot of the bluff, and containing thirty-
three acres. This island was the alleged rendezvous of a whiskey peddler
and his patrons, it being his practice to sell bad whiskey from "the gun-
boat moored at the foot of the island." The bootlegger claimed to be out-
side of municipal, state and federal law, and hence the inhabitants of the
proposed town thought to eliminate his nefarious business by extending
the jurisdiction over his haunts.
The narrow-gauge railroad was completed to the Wabash in 1886,
and the first trains crossed the river in that }ear. The bridge is over a
mile south of Alerom, and the railroad station established for the benefit
of the townspeople is so far away that Merom is still practically isolated
from the railroad. In November. 1887, the county surveyor laid out a
town near the bridge, and this has since been known as Riverton. though
it IS really a suburb of the old town* on the bluff.
The crown of the Alerom bluff", overlooking the river, has always been
a town commons, though the ownership and control of the propertv were
subjects of litigation in the courts a few years ago. A grove of walnut
and other lofty forest trees, standing in their native prime, is the chief
adornment of the site, and a more picturesque natural park could hardly
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 197
be imagined. The spot has many associations for the native residents of
the town, and has been the scene of picnics, political meetings, and other
celebrations from almost the first years of the county's history.
This park has for several years been the grounds on which the
Merom Bluft Chautauqua is held. If we except the Union Christian
College, the Chautauqua may be considered the principal institution of
the town at this time. Every year thousands of people gather in these
beautiful surroundings, and amid the perfect influences of nature enjoy
the best in literature, oratory and music and intellectual and religious
culture. The first Chautauqua was held during August, 1905. Among
the speakers and entertainers at these assemblies may be mentioned Eu-
gene Debs, Eli Perkins, William J. Bryan, Joseph Folk, LaFollette, Till-
man (pitchfork Ben), Governor Yates, and others of note in the political
and literary world. In 1908 it was estimated that nearly fifty thousand
people visited the Chautauqua.
CHAPTER XI.
CARLISLE.
An advertisement in the A'incennes JVcsfcni Stiii, in the issue of
June 10, 1815, makes it possible to assign a definite date for the founding
of the town of Carhsle. This advertisement is a document of much his-
torical value, and reads as follows :
Carlisle.
Lots in the town of Carlisle will be sold on Friday, the 23rd
inst., sale to commence at 9 o'clock a. m. This town is situated in
the flourishing settlement of Busseron — the public scjuare is spacious,
laid off at right angles, well accommodated with streets and alleys.
The town is within one mile of Eaton's mill (formerly Ledger-
wood's), twenty-five miles from A'incennes — the country, water, and
the special command of situation as to centrality, has long been
looked forward to as the most eligible site for a flourishing [town]
in this section of country.- — The crowded population of the neighbor-
hood gives superior advantages, and as to land, water and navigation
no situation in the territory will bear a comparison — the lengthy
credit of two years, viz: one-half at the expiration of one year and
one-half at the expiration of two years, will be given. — Due atten-
tion at the town of Carlisle will be given on the dav of sale bv the
proprietors. — June 7, 1815.
James Sproul,
Samuel Ledgerwood^
WiLLiA:\r McFarland.
198
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 199
The site of Carlisle was originally owned by Samuel Ledgerwood,
and was sold to the two other proprietors named for the purpose of
founding a town. A survey and platting would naturally precede the
sale of lots, and hence it is possible to fix the date of the founding of
Carlisle as the early summer of 181 5, only a few months after the close
of the second war with Great Britain.
The original plat of the town covered twenty-five blocks, the streets
being laid out at angles of 45 degrees. The public square in the center
was dedicated for the use of the court house, but no such building was
ever erected there, and after many years it is now occupied by the hand-
home two-story school building, accommodating the school children of the
town and the adjoining districts. Beginning on the northeast side of
the plat, the street bounding the original townsite is Saline. Then came,
parallel to it, Hackett, Lewis, Eaton, Harrison and Vincennes. From
northwest to southeast the streets are — Turman, Gill, Ledgerwood, Alex-
ander, Singer and West. The railroad station is at the east corner of the
plat.
The first store was opened in this town in 181 5, that being the tra-
ditional date. No exact record of institutions and affairs of that period
is now obtainable, but its position as county seat and the presence of the
milling industries nearby on Busseron were sufficient to cause a steady
growth of village activities during the years following the founding of
the town. The building of a frame Methodist church in 1818 was another
milepost in the town's history. But the removal of the county seat to
Merom about that time proved a serious obstacle to the increasing pros-
perity of Carlisle, and for over thirty years the annals of the town consist
200 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
chieriy in tlie life and daily activities of that gronp of leading families who
durins;- the past century have been identified with this town.
The most important event in the history of Carlisle after its founding
and its brief importance as county seat was the building of the Evansville
& Crawfordsville Railroad in 1854. This brought to test the real public
spirit and enterprise of the inhabitants. The railroad was built with the
aid of large subscriptions from all the counties through which it passed,
and after the people of Carlisle and vicinity had already taxed themselves
for the amount first demanded, the builders of the railroad announced their
decision to run the railroad by a route whose nearest point was three
miles from town. It was probably in the nature of a threat, made to
secure more money. When protests proved unavailing, some of the
wealthier citizens of Carlisle subscribed a fund of $30,000 as an additional
subsidy. Their action secured the railroad. The names of the sixteen
men who subscribed to this fund are a representative list of the business
men and leading citizens of that time, and are as follows : Joshua Alsop,
William D. Blackburn, James D. Riggs, James K. O'Haver, James H.
Paxton, Garrett Bros., Smith Greenfield, Alonzo Cotton, Joseph W.
Briggs, William Alsop, William Collings. \\'illiam Price, Josiah Wolfe,
Benson Riggs, Jacob Hoke, Alurphy & Helms.
An era of progress following the advent of the railroad, which made
the village a shipping point for the rich agricultural region lying about
the town, and resulted in the establishment of new lines of business and
the general improvement of town. The next step was the incorporation
of the town. The petition which was presented to the board of commis-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
20 1
sioners in ^larch, 1856, asking for
following citizens :
Henry Hill
Peter E. Warner
Samuel J. Ledgerwoocl
Benson Riggs, Sr.
J. D. Whitaker
Franklin Deckerman
W. A. Watson
Mayo Jones
James S. Brengle
W. M. Akin
Chester O. Davis
H. N. Helms
William Alsop
J. S. McClennan
Peter Hawk
Smith Greenfield
John Buckley
Thomas E. Ashley
W. H. Mayfield
\Y. R. Hinkle
Benson Riggs, Jr.
incorporation, was signed hy the
A. W. Springer
F. J\I. Akin
Hugh S. Ross
J. A. Curtner
Isom Shannon
John F. Curry
Spencer C. Weller
W. D. Blackburn
John Ledgerwood
J. A. Beck
J. ]\I. Parvin
Alexander Trigg
Lewis Gott
S. M. Curry
John Martin
John S. Davis
James D. Riggs
John Trigg
John D. Simerell
Joshua Davis
Joshua Alsop
Hosea Bucklev
Josiah Wolfe
John ^I. Hinkle
The vote of the citizens residing within the limits of the town on
202 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
the question of incorporation, which was held ]\Iarch 25, showed an al-
most unanimous sentiment in favor of town government. Sixty votes in
all were cast, 57 being- affirmative, and only one in direct negative, the
other two being somewhat non-committal. The first town officials, elected
in the following April, were : Smith Greenfield, James ]\I. Parvin, Aaron
W. Springer, John S. Davis, and John F. Curry, trustees ; John Alartin,
clerk ; Smith W. Buckley, marshal.
The first important undertaking of the new town government v.as
the building of a suitable schoolhouse. Up to that time the school chil-
dren of Carlisle attended a district school, but henceforth the town school
system was to prevail. The board of trustees accepted plans for the
building of the town school in July, 1856, and the four-room brick school
building which stood on the public square until supplanted by the present
building was completed in 1857.
The money for constructing the schoolhouse of 1857 was raised
partly by taxation and partly by private donations. A few years ago
when the present building was in process of construction, the Sullivan
Democrat published some historical reminiscences concerning the first
schoolhouse, and also some documents in the possession of jNIrs. James
E. Speake, among which was the following receipt issued to John Alartin :
"$120. Town of Carlisle in Sullivan county, Ind. Received of John
Martin one hundred and twenty dollars in John Davis receipts, it being
the amount subscribed by him and wife as loan to build a schoolhouse in
the town of Carlisle, which amount is to be refunded without interest,
either in the way of paying special taxes assessed by the board of trustees
of said town, or their successors in office, or a pro rata proportion of
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 203
each year's special taxes collected. Done by order of the board of trus-
tees of the town of Carlisle, Oct. 15, 1858. (Signed) James M. Parvin,
Pres. Attest : John ]\Iartin, clerk.''
The first school register, also in the possession of Mrs. Speake,
showed that school was first held in the new building, December 14, 1857,
and the enrollment of male scholars was of the following, some of whom
are now dead and others well known citizens of this and other communi-
ties : William Lewis, Harvey Ford, Elliott Halstead, Aaron Holder,
Richard Parvin, \\'illiam Jenkins, Anthony Springer, John Warner, John
Henderson, Charles Riggs, William Simpson, Lewis Benefield, Marcellus
Benefield, Charles Alayfield, Richard Mayfield, Henry Ott, Elijah Ott,
Oscar Hall, Emory Ashley, Ransom Akin, John Owen, Quinc}' Ashley,
Jacob Hasselbach, John Rodenbeck, Richard Jones, William Riggs, David
Jones, Fleming Jones, Henry Hill, Charles Hill, Charles Davis, William
Parvin, Lucian Johnson, John R. Adams, Edward Adams, John Wolfe,
Alonzo Penzen, Eldridge Ellis, John Timmerman, John Curtner, Robert
Ellis, Alelvin Ellis, George Gannon.
The brick work on the old building was done by Jacob Starner, who
was noted at that time for his skill as brick mason. The brick was made
on the Starner farm, near Morris Chapel, and their excellent condition
when the building was torn down to make room for the new one, nearly
half a century later, showed how well brick could be made at that time.
John Runkles and John Scanting did the carpenter work on the old
building.
In May, 1903. the citizens of Carlisle voted to erect a new school
building, of modern proportions and design, which might accommodate
204 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUXTY
tlie school population of this vicinity for years to come. The building
was planned with two stories and basement, pressed brick and stone trim-
mings, with an assembl}' hall 30 by 75 feet. The construction of the new
building began with the close of the school year, and early in 1904 it was
completed and ready for use.
^^'ilhin the present centur}- much prosperity has come to Carlisle as
a result of the coal mining industry. In 1905 the Carlisle Clay and Coal
Company was organized, largely of eastern capital, and with Solomon
Dieble general manager. Its large purchases and leases of mining lands
and the sinking of a coal shaft near the town caused the building of many
new houses in the town, and a general revival and improvement in busi-
ness affairs.
CHAPTER XII.
SHELBURN, FARAIERSBURG, HY.AiERA, PAXTON, NEW LEB-
ANON, GRAYSMLLE, PLEASANTVTLLE, CASS,
DUGGER, FAIRBANKS.
The town of Shelburn was named for Paschal Shelburn, one of the
early settlers of Curry township, who had purchased a large tract of land
when he came here in 1818, and lived there until his death at the age of
eighty. He was a bachelor. In 1855, al^out a year after the completion
of the railroad, he platted a town on some of his land. There were 33 lots
in the original plat, 24 being on the east side of the railroad and the
remainder on the west side.
The coal mining industr)- has always been the main source of profit
and support for the town, and the .'shelburn Coal Company a quarter of
a century ago was one of the large companies of the county. The town
had been incorporated, a graded school had been organized, and there
were a grist mill and the various stores and professional interests of a
village of several hundred population. During the nineties the impression
prevailed that the coal deposits of this vicinit}- were worked out, and
the progress of the town was seriously checked until it was discovered
205
2o6 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
that the better veins of coal la}^ deeper than those already worked. Since
then a considerable part of the coal industry of the county has centered
about Shelburn, and the population has grown rapidly during the present
century. The Mammoth Coal Company was one of the large concerns
that gave employment to many miners, for whose accommodation nearly
a hundred houses were built south of the old town.
During 1904 and 1905 several notable developments occurred. An
addition \\as built to the old school house, making the building nearly
three times its original capacity. A chemical fire engine was bought for
the protection of property. In the fall of 1905 the Presbyterian and
Christian denominations efifected church organization. The oldest
churches are the i\Iethodist and the Baptist, the latter having been organ-
ized about 1 87 1. In February, 1906, the Baptist Sunday school celebrated
its 36th anniversary, commemorating its organization in the old school-
house with forty members, of whom the only survivor at this time was
J. P. Siner, who was the first secretary. This was the first religious
organization in the town, and was followed about a year later by the
organization of the Baptist church.
Shelburn has been rather in advance of the towns of its size in
municipal improvement. It has made the beginning of a sewer system,
its streets are lighted, and with good schools and churches it afifords many
advantages to its residents. Shelburn has had several destructive fires —
that of July 7, 1885, when the Linn and Cuppy buildings were burned;
on December 22, 1893, burning Siner's hardware store; and November
15, 1905, which caused a loss of about $5,000.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY ' 207
Farmcrsbiiri^.
^'
Farmersburg as a business and population center originated with
the building of the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad. James Cum-
mins and George Hopewell laid out the village in 1853 on forty acres of
land which lay west of the railroad. The founding of the Ascension
Seminary here just before the war was the principal institution of the
town, and the basis of its growth and prosperity. The word Ascension
was used to designate the place quite as often as Farmersburg. Heap and
Crawford laid out an addition to the village east of the railroad, and
about that time the town was incorporated. When Captain Craw^ford
moved the seminary in 1872, the departure almost caused the death of
the town. One member of the Jennings family moved to the town about
1872, and a little later ran for the office of councilman. Only twentv-
two citizens were entitled to vote, and he received 21 votes, the other
suffragist remaining at home. There were about fifteen or sixteen
families in town then. Some of the town lots which a few years before
had brought a good price came near reverting to farm land. About 1903
Church Tavlor laid off an addition of fortv acres west of the original
plat, and soon afterward Farmersburg began to grow, and has since been
on a permanent basis of steady prosperity.
On the site of the old seminary stands the present Farmersburg
public school building, constructed of brick and concrete, the cornerstone
of Mhich was laid September i, 1905, and which was dedicated for use
on Washington's birthday. 1906, the principal address being delivered by
Capt. W. T. Crawford. At the close of 1907 a comparative review of the
2o8 HISTORY OF SULLI\AX COUNTY
public scliools included the contrast between the old crowded four-room
buildino- and the new schoolhouse of ten rooms, the increase of enroll-
ment from zy^ to 385, from 35 high school pupils to 85, and a faculty of
eip^ht teachers.
In 1892 the Presbyterians of the village and vicinity erected a small
church just east of the railroad, the dedication services being held about
November ist. In 1906 the church had increased so that a new building
was needed, and with the expenditure of about four thousand dollars the
church was remodeled into a pretty little edifice of Bedford stone with
cathedral glass Vvindows, and in May was dedicated by the Rev. George
Knox.
On January 20, 1907, the new Central Christian church was dedi-
cated. This is a stone church, of modern design and pleasing archi-
tectural lines.
In 1902 were organized the two banks of the town, the Citizens
State Bank and the Farmersburg Bank, \\'. S. Baldridge being at the
head of the former organization.
Hymcra.
Hymera, the principal center of Jackson township, was platted as
a townsite about 1870. The site had during the pioneer period of the
county been selected by the Alethodists for the Bethel church, and a log
building once stood within the limits of the present town, where the early
settlers assembled for religious worship. On Busseron creek, southeast
of the town, was a grist mill, said to have been erected in 1829. The first
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 209
school of the townshi]) was probably held in a building in the vicinity of
the town. On the west was one of the first coal mines of the county,
owner by H. K. and Harvey Wilson. The coal was used chiefly by
blacksmiths, and was hauled in wagons to all parts of the county.
William Pitt was the owner of the land on which Hymera was
founded, and when Xathan llinkle platted the site the name Pittsburg
was selected, in honor of the local resident and also perhaps suggested
by the great coal center of Pennsylvania. Coal operations on a more ex-
tensive scale than in pioneer times had begun here when the town was
laid ofif. Robert Linn had a general store, and for some years the store
and postofifice, and two or three shops, comprised the business of the
place. Linn's store was on the site now occupied by the Odd Fellows
block. When the postoffice was established the name Pittsburg was not
accepted by the department. The origin of the name Hymera is credited
to John Badders, who was postmaster. He had an adopted daughter
wlaose name was Alary and who was tall in figure, and the name he
suggested for the postofifice was significant of these facts. The change
of name for the village was accomplished in 1890. In April of that year
a petition from nearly all the voters of Pittsburg was laid before the
county commissioners asking that the name of the town as recorded on
the plat be changed to Hymera. A short time previously, on the opening
of the new mine at Alum Cave, the new town laid out there was called
New Pittsburg, while the Hymera community in distinction was referred
to as Old Pittsburg. The resulting confusion brought about the change
in name. About this time a branch line of railroad reached up to the coal
Vol. 1—14
2IO TFTSTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
mines in this vicinitw and since that time the coal industry has been su-
l)reme here, and Ilymera has grown rapidlw
With the consoHdation of the coal mines and the heavy o])erations
which began with the opening- of the present decade, Hymera expanded
into a town. In 1902 it was incorporated, and in July the first election
for town officers was held.
One of the memorable days in the history of Hymera was the cele-
bration in October, 1904. known as "Mitchell day."" in honor of the presi-
dent of the national mine workers. The crowd in town was estimated at
over seven thousand. A delegation met Air. Mitchell at Terre Haute,
and the local procession was made up of the K. of P. band, the labor
organizations, the school children. The ceremonies of the day centered
about the unveiling of a monument to Xath.an Hinkle. the Revolutionary
soldier (see sketch) who was buried in the ]I\mera cemetery. About a
year before the movement had been started to raise funds for stich a
•
memorial, and the subscriptions had been gathered and the monument
set in place for this occasion. Hon. James S. Barcus, a great-grandson
of the patriot, delivered an address, and Miss Mamie Asbury. a great-
granddaughter, assisted in the unveiling. The monument is fifteen feet
high, representing a Revolutionary soldier at "parade rest." The inscrip-
tion is "Nathan Hinkle. born June 7, 1749. died December 25, 1848."
The other events of the day were held in the Zink grove, where speeches
were made by Rev. x\. P. Asbury and Robert W. Miers and John C.
Chaney, and the principal address of the afternoon was delivered by
John Mitchell.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 211
In the fall of 1905 John Mitchell was reported to have said that
Plymcra was the neatest mining town in America, with more and better
sidewalks according to its size than any town in the cotmty, and many
improvements indicating a progressive spirit among the citizens. There
were five church organizations, the ^lethodist. Baptist, Presbyterian,
United Brethren and Christian, the first two having good buildings, while
the Presbyterians and U. B. were preparing to build. A tive-ruom school
building had proved inadequate, and a four-room addition was added in
the summer of 1905. The Hymera State Bank, which had been organized
in December, 1903, as the Bank of Llymera, by S. AI. Patton and R. L
Ladd, was reorganized as a state bank in January, 1906, with Mr. Ladd
as president and Mr. Patton cashier.
Paxton.
The railroad station between Carlisle and Sullivan, established a few
years after the Ijuilding of the railroad, was given its name in honor of
an early merchant and physician of Carlisle. The town was platted in
t868 by W. P. Walter. A newspaper item of July. 1870, stated that the
village contained one store, one cooper shop, a blacksmith, wagon and
shoe shop, and some eighteen or twenty dwellings. Also a graded school
was to be opened in the fall. A mission branch of the Sullivan Baptist
church was organized at Paxton, June 27. 1886, by Rev. D. B, Miller,
with A. R. Angle moderator and W. S. Smith clerk. The Church of
Christ was built at Paxton in 1896, this being a branch of the Providence
church south of town. The brick schoolhouse, which is a central school
212 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
accommodating" several districts, was erected in 1906. In June of that
year, just before the commencement exercises of the schools of the town-
ship were held in the Providence church, the former schoolhouse was
burned. This building- was in bad condition, and for some years had
been a fruitful source of contention in the neighborhood.
Kczc Lchaiion.
The village of New Lebanon, though little more than a cross-roads
hamlet and railroad station, with a few stores, churches and school, has
had a noteworthy history and in other ways than commercially has in-
fluenced and wrought upon the social and moral welfare of the county.
For many years its relations to the county at large comprehended a well
defined and etTective position as an educational center, and also a promi-
nence derived from its acknowledged place as the center of Methodist
activities and influence in the county. These relations have been else-
where described, but aside from them New Lebanon's history may be
briefly recalled.
The site of the town was originally owned by James !Mason, Jesse
Haddon, Robert Burnett and Thomas Springer, each one giving ten acres
to make the plat. Thomas Springer kept the first store, and in 1836 was
established the first postoffice. At one time a saloon existed in the town,
but it was the only one and had a brief existence, being inconsistent with
the moral attitude of the town.
After the academy ceased to exist many of its ideals were continued
in the public schools. The building, itself in which the academy was
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 213
taug-lit was used l)y the township for the village schoolhouse, and is still
standing haek of the handsome hriek sehoolhouse that was erected a few
years since. During the seventies the old academy building was con-
sidered one of the most commodious school buildings in the county.
Graysvillc.
About 1850 Lafayette Stewart established a store four miles from
jNIerom on the State road. He also procured a postoffice for this vicinity,
and he became postmaster and delivered the mail at his store. Joseph
Gray, Sr., was the owner of the land in this vicinity and was probablv
owner of the store. He was also proprietor of a woolen mill near by,
and for these reasons the postoffice was named Graysville. The village
has never been incorporated. During the seventies it had a population
of about 100. Robert Carrithers was the merchant of that time. At an
earlier date more than one store was kept at a time. The physicians of
thirty years ago were A. N. and S. D. Weir and Arbaces Cushman.
Graysville has always been a religious center. The Methodists built
a church there during the fifties, and the Presbyterians were established
there over thirty years ago. The Presbyterian church was dedicated
December 10, 1871, by Rev. J. P. Fox of Carlisle.
Plcasantvillc.
During the present decade the town of Pleasantville in Jefiferson
township has become an active center for the coal mining industry. Sev-
eral companies secured acreage in this vicinity, and a considerable num-
ber of miners lived and worked in the shafts in and about Pleasantville.
214 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
The workin.y- of the coal deposits in this locahty is an old story, coal hav-
ing- heen taken ont hy "slope" and "stripping" processes by some of the
early residents, among- them lacing- the O'Havers and Timmermans. Jesse
Beck, James Maytield, James Harvey, Nathan Hinkle, Elias Newkirk were
among the other first residents of this vicinity. Elias Newkirk bnilt a
blacksmith shop jnst sonth of the village site many }-ears ago. and his
son. F. AL Newkirk, was the village blacksmith until within recent years.
A steam mill was constructed early in the sixties, and this was the real
nucleus of the village of Pleasantville.
\Mien the townsite was laid ofif a few years later it was named for
Pleasant O'Haver. who was the first postmaster and who also at the time
had become owner of the mill. Jackson Hinkle and W. P. O'Haver were
also early postmasters and merchants. In 1871 a two-story brick school-
house was built. The citizens took much pride in their school, and the
record of the township in education stood high at a time when free school
facilities were very imperfect in the county.
Cass Village.
The village of Cass, in the township of the same name, was laid out
along the line of the narrow-gauge railroad in the summer of 1880. The
postoffice from the first has been known as Cass, but the village for some
vears was called lUiell, named in honor of a railroad man. The "'eneral
store of Pope and Usrey was the principal business establishment for a
number of years. Dr. N. H. Brown, as postmaster and physician, was
also prominent in the early afifairs of the village. It was four years after
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 215
the founding- of the village before a religious service was held there. Rev.
J. H. Meteer preaching there in September, 1884.
Diigger.
Dugger, near the east line of Cass townshiji, originated in the popu-
lation and community growth that often center about coal mines. A coal
operator named Dugger had a large mine on the "narrow gauge" railroad
about twcnt}'-hve years ago, and his name was given to the little village'
that was formed at that point. Dugger has ever since been a coal town.
The X'andalia Coal Company about the beginning of this century ac(|uired
control of most of the mines in this vicinity, and about 1903 the village
entered upon a period of great progress. A movement was begun to in-
corporate the village, and the census, taken in August, 1903, preliminary
to the election, showed the population to be 757, there being 172 heads of
families. The townsite, to which some extensive ad(litit)ns had been re-
cently made, covered about four hundred acres. \\'hen the matter of in-
cor]~)oration was submitted to the voters in October, it was defeated b}- a
majority of sixteen, said to be the result of opposition on the part of the
saloonkeepers.
Some of the important improvements in the village made about this
time were the erection of the Odd Fellows' building, the founding of the
Dugger Enterprise (October 2, 1903), and the dedication of the M. E.
church (June 19, 1904). It was estimated in the summer of 1905 that
the population of the village was 1,200, most of it the result of the growth
of the previous four years. There were then about twenty stores and
2i6 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
merchandise houses, and the Christians and ^Methodists both had churches.
The State bank was estabhshed in July, 1904, by Joseph Moss.
The movement to incorporate the village has recently succeeded. At
an election held January 2, 1909, 147 votes were cast for and 40 against
incorporation, and Dugger has now a town government.
Fairbanks.
The village of Fairbanks originated during the lively days when the
old state road from Mncennes to Terre Haute was the route for a con-
siderable commerce and the daily passage of stage coach and road wagon.
Benjamin Ernest, James Pogue and Samuel Myers were the men who,
about 1840, set aside a tract of twenty acres which was surveyed and
platted as a townsite. The town was given the name of the township,
which was bestowed to honor a lieutenant who was massacred by the
Indians while escorting a train of supplies toward Fort Harrison.
Fairbanks because of its inland situation has grown little since the
railroad era. At the present time and for several years past the residents
of this vicinity have indulged in the prospect of railroad or electric inter-
urban facilities, which, when realized, will at once give a heavy impulse
to business activity in this region. At the present time the village has its
graded school, one or two churches, and the stores and professional activi-
ties of the small center.
CHAPTER XIII.
COUNTY INSTITUTIONS.
The central portion of the present courthouse at Sullivan has stood
for over half a century. It was built immediately after the fire of Febru-
ary 7, 1850. It was the seat of government during the war, and was the
arsenal from which the first militia company was supplied with muskets.
To an old resident, manv memories clinof about the old brick courthouse.
The building is about as old as the recorded official history of the county,
since no record remains of the transactions of the county officers before
the fire.
Courthouse.
The county commissioners (Joseph W. Wolfe, Jesse Haddon, Levi
Maxwell) took action on March 15, 1850, toward the erection of a new \
seat of government. In the meanwhile the clerk's office was in a store
building, and circuit and other courts were convened in the ^Methodist
church building. In April an appropriation of $2,500 was made to begin
work. It was October before the lumber and brick were delivered on the
square, and the county contracted with James F. Pound and William Reed
to erect the structure for $7,853. The ground dimensions were 40 b}- 60
feet. When it was completed on January i, 1852, the courthouse had cost
the county nearly $9,000.
217
2i8 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
' Jail.
The first jail after the removal of the county seat to Sullivan stood
on Broad street, just south of the present jail. It was a two-story build-
ing;, with double walls of logs, the ground dimensions being about t,2 bv
1 6 feet. The south end of the lower floor was intended for the residence
of the sheriff. In the jail portion of the lower floor was one window, and
in the upper story were three windows, each about eighteen inches square,
latticed with iron bars riveted at their crossings, leaving open squares of
about two inches through which came light and air. Heavy wooden shut-
ters were used to close the windows.
In 1858 a new jail was built on the same lot occupied by the one just
described. The contract price for the brick and wood work was $2,750,
and for the iron work. $2,462. The building was completed in October,
1858, and was in use for over thirty years. The county commissioners
began considering the building of a new jail in 1885, but did not act until
1889. In June of that year the bid of B. B. Harris, of Greensburg, was
accepted for $24,875. The commissioners decided to locate the new build-
ing on the corner north of the former jail, buying two lots on Washington
street for $1,860. The contractor began the construction of the brick and
stone building at once, and it was completed in the following spring and
accepted b}- the commissioners in April. A bond issue of $30,000 provided
the funds for this building. The old jail building was sold to Joshua
Beasley for $881.
Poor Asyliiin.
Sullivan county did not have a poor farm and asylum for the destitute
and helpless until 1855. Previous to this time there was a county ofifiicial
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 219
who looked after the poor, but the few paupers in his care were assigued
to some individual who, for a certain amount each year, agreed ti) house
and feed the unfortunates, at the same time getting the benefit of their
labor so far as he was able to utilize it. The amount bid for tlic care of
the poor in 1852 was $35 for each person.
in the summer of 1855 the county b(jard bought from Heur}- K. Wil-
son eighty acres of land l>ing in sections 35 and 26, of town 8, range 9,
for $1,825. 1'"^^ little house on the farm was to be the asylum, and was
improved for that purpose. In that year the pauper contract was let to
Thomas Hale at $20 per person and the use of the poor farm.
The first asylum building was erected during the last year of the
Civil war. The bids were received on July 27, 1864. The accepted bid
was $4,480 for a two-storied front, 18 Ijy 45 feet, and a one-story rear
structure, 25 by 48 feet. The building was complete at the time called for
in the contract, \Yhich was September 1, 1865. A frame building put up
in 1877 was used for an infirmary. In 1885 a new infirmar\- was com-
pleted. In 1896 plans were laid by the commissioners for the erection of a
new building, modern in arrangements and sanitary conditions. The
l)uilding was designed 120 feet long by 95 feet wide, the front to be for
the use of the superintendent and family and the center and rear to con-
tain twenty sleeping rooms and two sitting rooms and two dining rooms
for the inmates. Steam heat, electric light and the most approved plumli-
and ventilation were provided. The contract for the building was let in
May to Briggs and Freeman of Sullivan for $15,307, without plumbing,
which was a separate contract, bringing the total up to $18,554.
CHAPTER XI\'.
THE BENCH AND BAR.
The seventh article of the constitution of 185 1, as originally adopted,
provided that "The judicial power of the state shall be vested in a su-
preme court, in circuit courts, and in such inferior courts as the general
assembly may establish." Under the power so granted, the legislature,
by an act approved Alay 14, 1852, provided for a court of common pleas,
to consist of one judge, elected by the voters of the proper district, who
should hold his office for four years.
This court was given the jurisdiction of the old probate court, with
certain additional civil and criminal jurisdiction, inferior to the jurisdic-
ton of the circuit court. It was the old probate court greatly improved,
and with its powers and usefulness much enlarged.
By an act approved June 11, 1852, provision was made for the election
of a district attorney in every common pleas district. The duties of this
officer in the court of common pleas were quite similar to those of the
prosecuting attorney in the circuit court, except that his jurisdiction, like
that of the common pleas judge, was in general limited to prosecutions for
misdemeanors. As in case of the old probate court, appeals might be
220
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 221
taken from the court of common pleas either to the circuit c(nu"t or to the
supreme court. Appeals from justices of the peace might be taken to the
court of common pleas or to the circuit court. There were four terms of
court each vear. At fir>t these terms were fixed for the first Monday in
January in each Acar. and for the first Monday of every third month there-
after. The length of each term was made to depend upon the population
of the count} , varying from one to three weeks. The clerk, however, in
the absence of the judge, was, for many purposes, required to keep the
court open "on every judicial day of the year."
The common pleas court was abolished by the act of ?\Iarch 6, 1873,
its business being transferred to the circuit courts of the respective
counties.
Probate Courts.
Acting under the provisions of article fifth of the constitution of 1816,
authorizing the establishment of courts inferior to the circuit court, the
legislature, by an act approved Februarv 10, 183 1, provided for the or-
ganization in each county of a probate court, consisting of one judge, to be
elected every seven years by the voters of the county. The court was
given "original and exclusive jurisdiction in all matters relating to the
probate of last wills and testaments" — granting letters testamentary, let-
ters of administration, and of guardianship ; including also "the protection
of minors, idiots and lunatics, and the security and disposition of their
persons and estates." The probate court was also given concurrent juris-
diction with the circuit court in actions "in favor of or against heirs, de-
visees, legatees, executors, administrators, or guardians, and their sureties
222 HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
and representatives" ; also "in the partition of real estate," and some other
like cases.
The procedure as to pleadings, writs, trial, judgment, executions, etc.,
was in all respects similar to that in the circuit court, including the right
to trial by jury. There might be an appeal either to the circuit court, or
directly to the supreme court. The clerk of the circuit court and the
slierifif of the county were alike officials of the probate court. As finally
fixed by statute, the court met regularly on the second ^Mondays of Febru-
ary. i\Iav, August and Xovember — except in case the circuit court or the
board of countv commissioners should be in session on such day, when the
probate court was to sit on the succeeding ^Monday. The sessions of the
court were limited to six days, and the compensation of the judge was
three dollars per day.
Circuit Court.
By article fifth of the constitution of 1816, it was provided that '"The
judiciary power of this state, both as to matters of law and equit}-, shall
be vested in one supreme court, in circuit courts, and in such other inferior
courts as the general assembly may from time to time direct and estab-
lish."
The same article of the constitution further provided that the circuit
courts should consist each "of a president and two associate judges";
that the state should be divided into three circuits, for each of which a
president should be appointed, who should reside within his circuit ; that
the legislature might increase the number of circuits and presidents as the
exigencies of the state might from time to time require; that all judges
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 223
should "hold tlieir offices during- the term of seven }-ears, if they shall so
long behave well, and shall -at stated times receive for their services a com-
pensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in
office" ; and that "The presidents of the circuit courts shall be appointed
b}' joint ballot of both branches of the general assemblv ; and the associate
judges of the circuit courts shall be elected by the qualified electors in the
respective counties." There was this further provision, that "The presi-
dent alone, in the absence of the associate judges, or the president and one
of the associate judges, in the absence of the other, shall be competent to
hold a court, as also the two associate judges, in the absence of the presi-
dent, shall be competent to hold a court, except in capital cases and cases
in chancery."
In the act approved January 24, 1831, the legislature provided that
the ]:)resident should receive a salary of seven hundred dollars a year, to
be paid out of the state treasury ; and that the associate judges should
receive two dollars a day, while attending court, to be paid out of the
county treasury. By an act approved February 15, 1838, it was provided
that, in the absence of any presiding judge of the circuit, any other pre-
siding judge of the state might hold court in such circuit. This was, in
eiTect, a provision for a change of venue from a judge, and was so in-
tended by the legislature as shown by the preamble to the act. Express
provision was afterward made for changes of venue in case the presiding
judge should be disqualified for any cause. In such case the special judge
was allowed three dollars a day for his services.
By article seventh of the constitution of 1851 the judiciary system
was completely changed. The associate judges were discontinued, and
224 HISTORY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
provision was made for the election for six years of one judge for each
circuit. By an act approved June 17. 1852, the state was divided into ten
circuits. With increase of population the number of circuits has grown,
thirty-eight being established by the legislature in 1873, and the number
beins" now' over sixtv.
'&
The Bar.
Sariniel Judah. who came to ^Nlerom about 1819-20, and lived in the
county about three years, was one of the lawyers of Indiana who adapted
the principles of general and statute law to the usage of the state. He was
a native of Xew York, of Jewish stock, wa> educated at Rutgers College,
and was admitted to the bar in 1819, when only twenty years old. He
traveled west to Mncennes, wliich was then sufficiently supplied with law-
yers, and in consequence he continued on to almost the edge of civilization
and located at ]\Ierom. His practice Avhile a resident of Sullivan county
was confined to the usual routine cases entrusted to a young lawyer, but
in later years, when he resided at A'incennes. he was frequently engaged
in the suits that reached the highest state courts, and was not unknown
as a lawyer to the nation at large. He possessed great power as a public
man. and was once speaker of the house of representatives of Indiana, and
in 1840 came within one vote of election to the United States senate.
The most interesting memorial of ]\Ir. Judah's residence in this county
is a letter which he wrote to his sister, dated at ^Nlcrom, August 24, 1821.
The village of Carlisle and some of its people seem much closer to the
present as we read these lines : "To me there is nothing so amusing as the
conversation of men of general information and practical knowledge.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY 225
During a three months' sickness last fall at Carlisle, a neighboring village,
I should most certainly have fretted myself to death had not the periods
of intermission and the time of convalescence been relieved by exceedingly
good company and books. Two young lawyers, two young doctors, one
of whom had served in the ^Icditerranean. the other my friend McDonald,
blessed with a fine mind and possessed of much knowledge and very pleas-
ant manners, an editor of a newspaper whose genius was only excelled
bv his lightness of heart, a gentleman who as a commission merchant had
resided in many of the cities of continental Europe, a disbanded United
States major, absolutely the most pleasing and best natured companion I
ever met with, and two old sea captains who had been all over the world,
formed an assemblage affording more pleasant amusement and enlivening
conversation than I expected to find in the backwoods among ten persons,
laboring under the effects of sickness, at a season almost unexampled-
strangers and assembled at the same place by chance. Captain Wasson
lived in Carlisle, and when the others were gone, in company with him
or his books, I enjoyed much pleasure and spent the time pleasantly."
The judges of the old court of common pleas, though not residents of
Sullivan county, were well known to the bar of this county. One of the
best known men of the time in this part of Indiana was Chambers Y.
Patterson, who was the second judge to serve in the common pleas district
comprising Sullivan county. He was born in \'incennes in 1824, studied
law with Griswold and Usher at Terre Haute, and graduated from Har-
vard Law School. He married the daughter of Hon. John Law, one of
the circuit judges of southern Indiana. When in 1859 the legislature
made a new common pleas district of Vigo, Sullivan, Parke and \^ermilion
Vol. 1—15
226 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
counties, he was elected judge. He was defeated in 1864 by Samuel F.
Maxwell, this being his only defeat during his career. He was later
elected judge of the eighteenth circuit, when it was composed of Ver-
milion, Parke, Sullivan and A^'igo counties. He continued as circuit judge
in A igo and Sullivan counties (which in 1878 were made the fourteenth
circuit) until his death in 1881. Concerning his character as a judge, it
has been said: "He was not a close student of the law, and consequently
his knowledge of the law acquired from books was limited. He possessed
a good judicial mind, and gave close attention to the evidence in causes
tried before him, and decided according to the natural equity or the right
of the case. . . . He transacted business rapidly and impartially.
His decisions stood the test in the supreme court far above the average of
judges."
James AI. Hanna, who died on his farm in Curry tow'nship, January
15, 1872, was distinguished by service on the supreme bench of the state
from 1858 to 1866, and thereafter lived in Sullivan county till his death.
He served a term as state senator from this county. He was born in
Franklin county, Indiana, in 1816. His son, Burton G. Hanna, was born
in Clay county in 1840, graduated from the State University, entered the
law and served a teim as prosecuting attorney, and was prominent in
Democratic politics.
A former member of the Sullivan county bar whose acquaintance with
the members of the profession and whose personal standing gave him the
distinction of leadership was Sewell Coulson. He came to Sullivan county
in 1856. Born in Pennsylvania in 1825, of Quaker parentage, he studied
law in Ohio and had attained considerable reputation in Hardin county
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 227
before his removal to Sullivan county. He was a partner of Israel W.
Booth for several years. He was retained as counsel on one side or the
other of the most important criminal trials in Sullivan county courts. His
ability as a lawyer never secured recognition in public office for the reason
that he was a Republican, but he was long a man of influence in the pro-
fession and as a citizen. In a former history of Sullivan county he was
the author of the chapters on the bench and bar, and thus preserved to
memory many interesting and valuable facts concerning the former law-
yers and courts of this county.
Mr. Coulson died at his home in Sullivan, December 6, 1884. At a
meeting of the bar, of which Judge Buff was chairman, speeches paying
tribute to him were made by Murray Briggs, J. T. Hays, J. W. Hinkle, W.
and C. E. Barrett, T. J. Wolfe, Alex. Massic and James B. Patten, and
among the resolutions adopted was one that "in the death of Sewell Coul-
son the bar of the Sullivan circuit court has lost its ablest member and the
profession one of its brightest lights." The editor of the Democrat esti-
mated him as one who was never known to hold malice, and in his practice
was remarkably tenacious of his clients' rights, and was never accused of
being untrue to those who employed him.
The present congressman from the Second Indiana district, John C.
Chaney, is closely identified with Sullivan county. When a boy he at-
tended the Ascension Seminary and was an honor graduate. He taught
school while preparing for the law, and after a course of study in the
office of John T. Gunn he entered the Cincinnati Law School and gradu-
ated in 1882, after which he returned to Sullivan to begin practice in part-
nership with his old preceptor. Judge Gunn. The Chaney family have
228 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
been well known in the public life of the county for many years, yet po-
litically they are Republicans and have gained honors against normal ma-
jorities of the other party.
The sitccessor of C. Y. Patterson as jitdge of the circuit court was
George \\'. Butt, who was elected to that office in 1882. He was born in
Darke county, Ohio, in 1843, his parents moving to a farm near ]\Ierom in
1862. He studied law with his brother, N. G. Buff, in Sullivan, and be-
gan the practice of law in 1870, at first with his brother, and later with
John T. Hays, and then with James B. Patten.
During the latter part of his career, Judge James C. Allen was a
prominent member of the Illinois bar, was a judge of the supreme cotirt
of that state, member of Congress, and very prominent in Democratic
politics. He began his career in Sullivan county when twenty -one years
old. Born in Kentucky in 1822, lie was a young lawyer at Alerom during
the last months of that town's position as county seat, and followed the
court to Sullivan. In 1845 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and after
his term in that office moved to Illinois to continue his upward progress
in law and politics.
7dic ]Moneer. Rev. Joseph Williams Wolfe, was a versatile and very
active man. In i860 he was admitted to the bar. For some years before
and for a long time afterward he was a familiar figure in the office of the
circuit clerk, serving as a deputy through various administrations after
he had been circuit clerk himself for eight years. At a still earlier period
in the county's history he had been an active minister of the Christian
church, and his name appears in many church records. He was also a
large propertv owner. He was a \'irginian, born in Frederick county in
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 229
1810, of German descent, and the family located in Sullivan county in
1819.
In later years the name Hamill has been familiar in the history of the
bar of Terre Haute. The late S. R. Hamill, Jr., figured prominently in
the trials of John R. ^^"alsh, the Chicago banker and railroad promoter.
M. C. Hamill is a prominent attorney of Terre Haute. A little over thirty
years ago the father of these men, Samuel R. Hamill, was himself an
active member of the Sullivan county bar. When death through heart
failure took him awa}' on June 22, 1875, he had been serving about a year
as prosecuting attorney of the judicial circuit of Sullivan and \ igo coun-
ties. He had lived in this county about twenty-five years. He was born
at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, about 1820, studied law and moved first
to Newark, Ohio, to practice, and then to Evansville, Indiana, and also
lived a while in Wisconsin. After his niarriage to Miss ]\Iartlia Wood,
member of a distinguished family of Terre Haute, he came to Sullivan
county. At one time he served as school examiner for the county, and for
some years had been a trustee of the schools of Sullivan. He was a fluent
and forcible speaker.
From 1854 to 1884 one of the bar's most thoroughly qualified mem-
bers was John T. Gunn, who excelled as a practitioner, who studied all
the precedents and authorities and relied upon logical and carefully pre-
pared argument to win his cases. He was noted for his precision and
methodical manner of doing business. He died January 19, 1884, at Jack-
sonville, Florida, where he had spent several months in the vain effort
to restore health. At a citizens' meeting resolutions on his character and
career were prepared by a committee of associates consisting of Judge
230 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Buff, J. T. Hays, J. C. Briggs, D. Crawley, J. T. Mann, J. C. Bartlett and
Dr. Thompson. Mr. Gunn was born in England, April i6, 1826, and
located at Sullivan in 1853, being admitted to practice in May of the fol-
lowing \ear. He was one of the oldest members of the bar at the time
of his death.
The military spirit ran high in the members of the Briggs family. It
is said that Benjamin Briggs, the first American of this family, came to
the colonies from England about 1770, and a few years later mortgaged
his estate to raise a company of patriots to fight against the mother coun-
try, and, besides sacrificing his estate, lost his left arm at Monmouth and
his right leg at Yorktown. David, his son, raised a company for the de-
fense of Baltimore in the war of 1812, and was always known as "Alajor"
Briggs. Joseph W. Briggs, a son of the major, was one of the few men
who came to Sullivan county during pioneer times possessed of a college
education. He was a graduate of Dickinson College of Carlisle, Pennsyl-
vania, and had been admitted to the bar of that state before he came west
to Carlisle, Indiana. In this county he was a merchant and farmer for a
time, was elected probate judge, in 1836 state representative, and soon
afterward began the practice of law, which he continued until his death.
Following the example of his father and grandfather, when the Mexican
war broke out he raised a company, largely of Sullivan county men, and
led them to battle in the campaigns of southern Texas and Mexico. He
was noted for his scholarship, his fluency as a speaker, his readiness in
argunient, and his broad knowledge of the world.
On the death of Judge John C. Briggs, at his home near Sullivan,
April 14. 1901, the Sullivan county bar declared that, "as a soldier, a
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 231
legislator, a judge, and a lawyer, he had met each responsibility with credit
to himself and honor to the country. ... In cross-examination he
was exceedingly strong, so also in summing up a case before a Sullivan
county jury. His mind was masterful and his memory wonderful. . . .
In the death of the Hon. John C. Briggs the state and county have lost a
useful and distinguished citizen, the Sullivan county bar has lost a leading
member, and his wife has lost a devoted husband."
Judge Briggs, who was a member of the well-known family of that
name in Sullivan county, was born at Carlisle, September 2', 1841, and
came to Sullivan at the age of fifteen to study in the old seminary. When
the war came he enlisted in the Fourteenth Indiana Infantry, was later
transferred to the cavalry and made quartermaster. For personal bravery
in battle he was promoted to captain. At the close of the war he was lo-
cated for a short time at Eastport, Mass., but in the winter of 1867-68
returned to Sullivan. He was a while in the dry goods business with
James W. Hinkle. In 1869 he began reading law in Dan Voorhees' office
at Terre Haute, and the following year was admitted to the bar. At the
fall election of the same year he was elected prosecutor for the circuit then
composed of Vermilion, Parke, Vigo and Sullivan counties. Until 1873
the firm of Voorhees & Briggs shared a large practice at Terre Haute,
and the partnership continued for several years after J\Ir. Briggs' removal
to Sullivan. In 1878 Mr. Briggs was elected to the state legislature, but
declined re-election, and from 1880 to 1888 achieved his highest honors
as a lawyer. In 1888 he was elected judge of the circuit court, and after
leaving the bench his health gradually declined until his death.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PROFESSION OF MEDICINE.
The Sullivan County iMedical Society was organized at a meeting of
the physicians at the courthouse at Sullivan, May 19, 1858. The first
set of ofilicers consisted of : H. N. Helms, president ; S. R. Youngman,
vice president ; John J. Thompson, secretary, and John M. Hinkle, treas-
urer. The only other members present at this time were Eli Bowyer and
W. R. Miller, who were chosen censors. The objects of the society were
most commendable. The association was "for the purpose of mutual
recognition and fellowship : the maintenance of union and good govern-
ment among its members ; the promotion of the interest, honor and use-
fulness of the profession ; and the cultivation and advancement of medical
science and literature, and the elevation of the standard of medical educa-
tion."
The names of several additional members of the profession appear
in the list of those in attendance at the second annual meeting. They were
A. J. Miller, Ziba Foote, A. N. Wier, J. K. O'Haver, Harvey Brown and
W. G. Stout.
The Civil war interfered with the activity of the society, and the
232
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 233
physicians did not reorganize until the late sixties, at which time they be-
came a branch of the state medical society.
Another organization of the physicians of the county into an associa-
tion was efifected at Sullivan, April 23, 1895. The officers elected at that
time were: R. H. Crowdcr, president; Dr. Cushman, vice president; Dr.
Pirtle, secretary ; Walter N. Thompson, treasurer.
A physician whose connection with the soutliern part of the county
a quarter of a century ago will be readily recalled was Dr. Richard ^1.
Whalen, wdio died at his home near Carlisle, July 7, 1899. His son, J. R.
Whalen, succeeds him in the practice of the profession at Carlisle. The
elder Dr. \\'halen was physician to an older generation. The family is a
prominent one. A forefather was born in Ireland, and later generations
have lived in North Carolina and Tennessee, and for more than three
quarters of a century the name has been identilied with Haddon town-
ship. The late Dr. Whalen did not take up the study of medicine until
about thirtv-five vears old, having spent a year in selling clocks about the
country, and his life was further diversified by an experience in teaming
during the early days in Kansas. His preparation for the practice of
medicine was completed by a course in the Rush Medical College of Chi-
cago, in 1867, and he then returned to practice in his native county. Some
years ago he was proprietor of a drug store at Carlisle. He was an
honored member of his profession, a fine type of the country doctor.
Dr. Andrew N. Weir began practice about 1858 and for twenty-five
years visited the sick about Graysville, and later had a drug store and
established a practice in Sullivan. During the war he was with the Sev-
enty-first Regiment, at first as captain of the Sullivan company, and in
234 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
1863 was commissioned assistant surgeon and in the following year pro-
moted to surgeon of the regiment, with which he remained to the close
of the war. He was born in Washington county, Indiana, November 9,
1832, and died at Sullivan in September, 1885. He was a Mason and
Odd Fellow.
It is said that Dr. John J. Thompson, when he came to Sullivan in
1848, had but fifty cents. He w-as then twenty-four years old, had been
practicing medicine for a while, and after getting well established in
Sullivan became, in time, known as a wealthy man. He had completed
his professional course at Rush Medical College, and was an able man in
every wa}-. He married Miss Mar}- A. Langston.
A physician whose practice in Sullivan county covered the middle
decades of the last centur}- was Alexander Marion Murphy, who about
1841 formed a partnership with Dr. J. K. O'Haver at Carlisle, and for
thirty }ears or more was cjuite actively identified with the profession. He
was one of the early physicians whose education was along the broad lines
that characterize the modern physician's training. He had begun his
studies in Bloomington, continued them in the medical college at Louis-
ville, Kentucky, and after practicing for several years took other courses
in the L'niversity of New York. He was a surgeon in the Ninety-seventh
Indiana Regiment from 1862 to 1864.
Dr. Jesse M. Mathes, who was born in this county in 1841, was a
soldier in Company D of the Twenty-first Regiment and Company I of
the Ninety-seventh, until his discharge in the latter part of 1864 on ac-
count of a wound received at Kenesaw Mountain, studied medicine after
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 235
the war and began practice at Carlisle about 1868. He was a graduate of
Rush [Medical College of Chicago.
The career of one of the old physicians deserves special mention be-
cause of its associations with the life and affairs of the county during the
central period of the last century. Dr. Hamet N. Helms, though born in
New York state in 1814, came with his parents, Jacob and Anna Helms,
to Carlisle in 1817, and for half a century was identified with the county
in a way that is worthy of note. His life's future was determined by an
event when he was ten years old. His mother dying about that time, he
was subsequently reared to manhood in the home of the eminent citizen
and physician, Dr. John W. Davis. In consequence of this association he
took up the study of medicine, and during the winter of 1837-38 attended
medical lectures at Lexington, Kentucky. Among the incidents of his
early career he is said to have piloted flatboats from the shallow w^aters of
Busseron creek, down the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans.
In 1839 he began a partnership practice with Dr. Davis, and during his
professional experience was associated with several physicians who have
helped make medical history in Sullivan county, among them being Dr.
A. M. Murphy, Dr. John M. Hinkle, and Dr. W. R. Miller. Dr. Helms
was a fine type of the old-style physician, a friend of every patient, and
beloved in the community which he served. His later years were devoted
to farming, on a fine country estate near Carlisle. The Methodist church
at Carlisle owed much to his efforts as a contributor and active worker,
and the philanthropic direction of his enterprise was also shown in his
appointment during later life as a trustee of the Indiana Reform School
for Boys. He died at Carlisle, September 16, 1892. He was first mar-
236 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
ried to ^Fary A. Davis about 1839 and three ehildren were born to them,
Benjamin k., Margaret D. and Ann R. His wife dying about 1851, short-
ly after her death he made an overland trip to California. After his re-
turn he was luarricd to !Mrs. Amanda Sollee and by this marriage three
ehildren were born, Samuel D., Albert G. and Daniel W. V.
Benjamin Rush Helms, oldest son by the first marriage of Dr. Hamet
N., spent nearly all his life at Carlisle and was also a physician. He was
born in 1840 and died in 1887. A schoolbo}- in the Carlisle Academy when
the war broke out, he enlisted in Company D of the Twenty-first Indiana
Infantry, and was promoted to second lieutenant. He studied medicine at
Rush Medical College, and practiced at Carlisle until 1882, when he moved
to Henderson, Kentucky. His first wife was Lola Jenkins and his second,
Ella Letcherer.
Robert H. Crowder, whose father was a physician, was this well
known family's representative in the field of medicine in Sullivan county.
He began practice at Graysville some time during the war, but gave it up
to enter the army, first as captain of a company, and later as surgeon of
the Eleventh Indiana. After being mustered out in 1865 he re-entered
Rush Aledical College at Chicago, and, graduating in 1866, returned to a
permanent connection with Sullivan as a physician.
A physician who began practice at Sullivan a short time before the
war, and was thereafter prominent in his profession as also in Democratic
politics, was Dr. S. S. Coft'man. He was born in Indiana in 1828. and
prepared for his profession in the Kentucky School of ]\Iedicine and in
the medical department of Transylvania University at Lexington. He was
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 237
active in Democratic politics and during the seventies represented the
county in the legislature.
James Newton Young, who died at Carlisle, August 16, 1894, was
for twenty-eight years a leading practitioner of that place. He was born
in Gibson county. May 16, 1842, and after attending the schools at Prince-
ton began the study of medicine in the Ohio Medical College in the fall
of 1863. He was graduated in March. 1865. and was then appointed sur-
geon in the United States volunteer navy, and received the thanks of the
department when he was discharged in 1866. He was in charge of the
vessel Gazelle until the war closed, when he was given charge of the
naval ordnance depot at Jefferson barracks. On leaving the service he lo-
cated at Carli>le.
CHAPTER XVI.
^THE PRESS.
The first newspaper in this county was pubhshed at Carhsle. Jeremiah
Young came from Daviess county about 1844 and estabhshed the Jack-
sonian Democrat, but continued it through only a few numbers. James C.
Ahen, at that time a lawyer of this county, with Thomas ]vlarks, used the
same plant for the publication of the Carlisle Messenger, but probably
this lasted only through the political campaign, since the newspapers of
that time were conducted largely as an instrument of politics. The Mes-
senger was, however, the first regular paper in the county. A copy is still
preserved by the Helms family, being No. 41 of Volume I, dated Novem-
ber 19, 1845. At that time George W. Bee & Co. were editors and pub-
lishers.
This paper is chiefly interesting for its advertisements, which tell
some of the business and professional interests of Carlisle at that time.
Peter Hawk and Company were tailors, I. Shannon had a saddlery and
harness shop, the general store of J. D. Riggs was an important establish-
ment, and J. and J. Alsop advertised dry goods and groceries and "old
rectified whisky, always on hand and for sale by the barrel." A. ]\I.
]\Iurphy and H. N. Helms were partners in medicine and had their office
238
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 239
one door south of Riggs' store on Leclgerwood street. Dr. J, H. Paxton,
who had closed out a store, had his office at Mrs. Hall's residence. Thomas
Marks and James C. Allen were local attorneys, while three Sullivan law-
yers also advertised — A. J. Thickstun, L. H. Rousseau and R. A. Rous-
seau. D. H. Hancock was at that time the sheriff, his name appearing
in the notices of settlement of the estates of William S. Cruft and Robert
Boyle, deceased.
The Democrat.
In 1854 J. J. Mayes, of Vincennes, came to Sullivan and proposed
to start a paper. Joseph W. Wolfe, John S. Davis, Isaac Stewart, Joseph
Gray and William Wilson advanced $25 a piece to make payment on the
press and material and endorsed notes for the remainder. The press
was capable of printing a sheet five columns to the page. The editor and
proprietor took a walk over town the day his first issue was circulated,
carrying a gold-headed cane. Whether his style was unpopular with the
Democrats of the day, or whether his inspection of the town was unsatis-
factory, is not known. However, he left Sullivan at once and returned to
Vincennes. In September the Democratic leaders secured a printer named
Farley and got out two more issues, Samuel R. Flamill writing the edi-
torials. When the election was over the editorials ceased and the paper
suspended.
The chance which brought to the attention of ^lurray Briggs a stray
copy of the Terre Haute Journal gave Sullivan its best known editor, who
for over thirty years was identified with the fortimes of the Sullivan
Democrat and really founded and developed that newspaper to its place
240 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
of inriuencc in the press of the county. In 1854 Murray Briggs, who had
been a printer since the age of fifteen, having entered that employment
after breaking hrs leg, was pursuing his vocation in the usual manner of
journeyman printers, without remaining long in one place. The copy of
the Terre Haute paper which he happened to pick up one day contained
a marked paragraph headed, "An Editor Wanted," and signed with the
name of Joseph W. Wolfe. The editor of the paper at Sullivan, Indiana,
so the paragraph stated, had disappeared without leaving any securitx- to
his numerous creditors except the printing office, and to make this an
available asset an editor was needed to continue the paper. Mr. Briggs
soon afterward came to Sullivan, bought the office, and from that time
forward was proprietor and publisher of the Sullivan Democrat. Born in
Licking county, Ohio, April 26, 1830, Murray Briggs lived on a farm till
the accident which turned him to the printer's trade. In Sullivan county
he was a man of prominence. In public office he served as a school exam-
iner, as county auditor, on the town school board, and for a number of
years was on the board of trustees of the State Normal School, being-
president of that body.
When ]\Ir. Briggs came to Sullivan the town contained some frame
and log dwellings and three brick houses. Business was confined to Wash-
ington street between Court and Section, the five merchants being William
Wilson, Merwin and Kelley, Major Isaac Stewart, John Bridwell and
James W. Hinkle. Mail was received three times a week from Terre
Haute via F"airbanks, Graysville, Merom and New Lebanon. !Mr. Briggs
rode from Terre Haute as far as Farmersburg on a freight car loaded
with ties, the railroad not yet being completed to Sullivan. The line from
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 241
the south was at CarHsle and the two ends were joined in November,
1854. The old star mail route was continued about half a year longer,
owing to a disagreement between the postmaster general and the railroad
company for the transportation of the mails.
The Democrat office was then in the upper room of a frame building
on the southeast corner of Section and Washington street, the first floor
being occupied by Bridwell's general store. Across the street was the
Railroad House, kept by J. P. Dufficy. In the spring of 1855 a number of
new buildings were erected on the north and west sides of the square, and
some of the trees now in the square were planted, each citizen bringing a
tree, planting it and afterwards caring for it, the editor of the Democrat
setting out one near the edge of the north side of the square. In 1859
the Democrat was moved to a frame building, and in 1870 the editor build-
ing the brick building near the center of the north side of the square,
moved the office to the second floor (building now occupied by Button's
store).
At the close of the first volume the Democrat was increased to a six-
column folio, and later to seven and then to eight columns. In 1869 a
cylinder press was put in, and in 1881 a Campbell press with steam power.
The first year Mr. Briggs did all the work, of editor, pressman and printer.
Fourteen columns of news matter had to be set up each week, about six
columns being advertising. Plate matter was then unknown. On making
up the forms, if it was found there was not enough matter to fill the col-
umns, the type was left standing until the editor could secure sufficient
copy, and he frequently did not take time to write out his new material
but set his news directly into type. The forms were inked with a hand
Vol. I — 16
242 IIISTURY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
ixiller, Uic sheet, first dampened, was placed upon the form, and b\- means
of a lever the platen was lowered, the same process being gone through
twice for each copy of the paper. The mailing took half a day. since
each address had to be written by hand.
j\Ir. Briggs continued as editor until his death, September i8, 1896.
Xo other editor in the state had a record of so long continuous service on
the same paper. For about a year the Democrat Avas issued by ]\Iurray
Briggs' sons, but with the issue of July 19, 1897, passed into the pro-
prietorship of S. Paul Poynter of Greencastle, Avho has since conducted
the Democrat. F^rom July, 1883, until Mr. Poynter took charge the Demo-
crat was issued semi-weekly. At the latter date the price was reduced
from $1.50 to $1 a year, the weekly issue was resumed, and the size in-
creased. In 1901 the business of the paper had outgrown the old location,
and the proprietor erected the brick building on the south side of Jackson
street and moved the office to the first floor. July 17, 1905, was issued
the first number of the Sullivan Daily Times, this having since been the
daily edition of the Democrat.
Sullivan Union.
About April i, i860, F. AL Browning began publishing a little paper
at ]\Ieroni called the Stars and Stripes, largely devoted to the interests of
the college. The same year the material was moved to Sullivan and "the
venerable John \\\ Osborn, one of the pioneer newspaper men of western
Indiana, issued the Stars and Stripes as a loyal administration and Union
paper. It was continued only a short wdiile. At the county Republican
convention held at the courthouse in February, 1863, a committee was
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 243
appointed to consider the propriety of establishing- an "unconcHtional
Union"" newspaper, but none was established during the war.
The first number of the Sullivan Union was issued in August, 1866.
The publisher was Isaac ]\1. Brown, a veteran newspaper man of Terre
Haute. The subscription price was $2.50 a year. This was the Repub-
lican organ of the county, l)ut was not successful financially. At the edi-
torial convention held in Sullivan in 1882 Mr. Briggs, in a review of local
newspaper histor}-, assigned various causes for this — too frequent changes
of compositors and a superfluity of editors of differing political views.
On one occasion, it was said, the paper contained two editorials on the
tariff', one favoring free trade and the other advocating protective duties.
jMr. Briggs often called attention to the fact that the publisher of the
Union and the incumbent of the Sullivan postoffice was the same man,
inferring that the postoffice was in some way a perquisite of the Republican
newspaper.
In October, 1872, the Unioji was sold to Uriah Coulson, and in
3>Iarch. 1874. James A. Hays became proprietor. Uriah Coulson again
bought the Union in the spring of 1883. and conducted it a few years.
iNIr. lames Cluggage was proprietor of this paper until ^larch, 1891,
when he sold to Arthur Holmes. P. D. Lowe became editor at that time.
W. R. Nesbit became proprietor of the Union in 1902, and in March, 1904,
sold the i)lant to D. C. Chancy and Robert P. White, the present pro-
prietors.
The Sullivan County Banner was established July i, 1874, by M. B.
Crawford and S. B. Marts, as the organ of the independent party. In
about a year it was sold to J. H. Stark and T. H. Evans, but in Septj:n-
244 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
ber, 1875, was suspended, and the material was taken by ]\Ir. Crawford to
Boonville.
The Carhsle Register^ estabhshed in July, 1876, was largely devoted
to the affairs of the Grange. Its founder was William Herron, whose son
George was an amateur printer. E. H. Bailey was later employed as
printer and in a few months took the entire plant for his pay. He changed
the name to the Carlisle Democrat^ and his brother, W. W. Bailey, became
editor. They continued their paper until August. 1879, when they moved
the plant to \'incennes and consolidated with the Reporter.
In January, 1878, a prospectus was issued for the True Democracy,
of which George \\\ Easier was proprietor. The publication was begun
in February following; and Colonel Taylor, a writer of ability, furnished
the editorials. This was the organ of another faction of the Democratic
party. In 1881 the office passed into the hands of Dr. J. C. Bartlett, who
changed the name to the Sullivan Times. D. O. Groft" was a later pro-
prietor, who sold the Times in the spring of 1888 to C. W. Welman, who
continued as editor and manager of the Times until 1896.
The Carlisle Acivs is now the principal journal in the south part of
the county. Edley ^^'. Rogers, one of the young newspaper men of the
state, bought an interest in this paper in April, 1907, and since April,
1908. has been sole proprietor. The A'czvs is well edited, and is capably
n-ian.aged for the best interests of Carlisle and vicinity.
The Dugger Journal was established about 1906. the first numbers be-
ing printed in Sullivan. The first issue printed at that town was in Feb-
ruary, 1906. Joseph F. Ferry was owner and manager, and in February,
1907, sold the Journal to ^Maurice Shirley, formerly of the Sullivan Times.
CHAPTER XVII.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINERAL WEALTH.
Sullivan county is one of the great coal bins of American industry.
For years the railroads and factories have been getting their fuel from
the rich stores that underlie the green fields and wooded uplands of this
county. Every mile or so along the E. & T. H. Railroad a switch opens
a little line that runs back into the country to the mines. And every
few hours a train of coal-laden cars is drawn out from this spur to
the main road and hurried away perhaps hundreds of miles to factory
furnaces. Coal is the larger part of the freight which originates in this
county, the labor of producing it is the largest single industry, and the
occupation furnishes to the county its most diverse and problematical
social elements.
While the coal fields of Sullivan county have been known to exist
and have been under development more or less for more than half a
century, the fortunes of industrial progress have been such that the
county has always been only a fuel storehouse, not also a manufacturing
center. A group of factories located at the doors of the mines would
seem an economic result, since it would appear to be cheaper to transport
tiie finished material of manufacture rather than the bulky fuel with
which to make it. But seemingly no fixed laws govern such matters,
and sometimes the raw material of manufacture is brought to the coal
245
246 HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUxXTY
supply, sometimes the fuel is conveyed to location of the raw material,
and again factories are located at convenient railroad and labor centers,
remote from both sources of fuel and materials of manufacture. With-
out inquiring into the reasons in this particular case, it is sufficient to
state that Sullivan county has been content to produce and send away its
millions of tons of coal to manufacturing plants at a distance. At the
time of this writing a new phase in these problems has appeared. The
plan has been favorably discussed of converting the coal into power at the
mines, and conveying the product through electric wires to the factories.
By this plan the cost of fuel transportation would be practically
eliminated, and it is possible that in a few years the coal on being drawn
from the ground will be converted at the mouth of the mine into electric
current, and thence flashed across the country to the motors of the cities
and factories.
In the account given by David Thomas of his travels up the Wabash
valley in 1816 (elsewhere quoted at length), after describing the Turman
settlement and prairie, the writer says: "In this neighborhood we have
passed a coal mine, which has been recently opened, though the work
has been but partially performed ... As the excavation is made
in the channel of a small brook, the torrent, by removing loose earth,
doubtless led to this discovery. All the strata of this fossil that we have
seen in the western country has appeared near the surface ; and it would
not surprise me, if it should be brought forth in a thousand places where
the shovel and the pickaxe have never yet been employed."
This is the earliest known mention of coal mining in Sullivan county.
A general knowledge of the existence of the mineral throughout the
^^'abash valley was of an earlier date. The use of coal in these early
}cars was entirely local. Occasionally someone would open a surface
vein on his farm, and use its product as a substitute for wood. Or a
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 247
blacksmith would sometimes burn the mineral coal instead of charcoal,
ikit at that time the timber supply was abundant, and except in these
individual instances the burning of coal had not come into vogue. An-
other obstacle to the general use of coal at that time was the fact that
stoves were not yet introduced, and that a practical method of burning
coal without the attendant inconveniences of dirt and smoke had not
been devised.
Along, in the thirties some coal from this vicinity was sent down
the river bv flatboat to Xew Orleans. The coal traffic had alreadv begun
l:)etween the ports of the upper Ohio and the lower Mississippi, and the
Wabash valley coal sent downstream was said to command as high a
price as the IMttsburg coal.
The railroads and factories are the principal consumers of coal. For
domestic use the favorite fuel until within recent years was wood. There
was accordingly little use for coal until the era of manufacturing and
railroads. The development of the coal industr}^ is closely involved with
the evolution of transportation. Until the superior facilities of the rail-
roads were afforded, the production of coal for distant markets was
unprofitable, and on the other hand the railroads themselves soon became
the largest users of coal. Though it is evident that coal was mined in
this county during the first half of the nineteenth century, and that it
was transported down the Wabash and perhaps overland for some dis-
tance before being placed on the flatboats, it may be stated that the
history of coal mining as an industry began with the opening of the first
railroad lines through this region. Of some interest in this connection
is the statement contained in the report of the president of the Terre
Haute & Indianapolis Railroad (Vandalia) in 1852, calling attention to
the need of coal cars, since the coal traffic, in his judgment, was certain
to be a large part of the railroad's business.
248 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
The first railroad in -the county was put in operation in 1854. The
following" year an advertisement in the Democrat mentions the first
practical coal mine in the county, the property of Hanchett & Kelly, of
Farmersburg. This enterprising firm took the coal from a bank several
miles from the railroad, and in order to obviate the transportation by
wagon from mine to railroad, they built in the latter part of 1855 a
wooden railroad, of a three-foot gauge, over the three miles to Farmers-
burg. Their cars were each of twenty-five bushels capacity, and it was
of course necessary to reload into the regular railroad cars. Som'e years
later the mining companies were able to persuade the railroads to build
switch tracks out to the mines.
The development of the mining industry went on gradually during
the following years. It is only within the past decade that this county
has risen to rank among the leading counties of the state in amount of
coal production. A newspaper item that appeared in the fall of 1863,
while the war was in progress, states that large quantities of coal were
being shipped from this county, and that in the machine shops of the
Evansville & Crawfordsville Railroad, where the coal was chiefly used, it
was considered of a very superior quality. The adjacent counties were
far in advance of Sullivan twenty-five years ago in the coal industry.
The report of the department of statistics in 1883 gives the total pro-
duction of the twelve mines of this county as 87,470 tons. In the same
y.ear Clay county mined 661,410 tons; Daviess county, 240,000 tons;
Parke, 119,567 tons; and Vigo county, 96,710 tons. The average number
of employes in Sullivan county in 1883 was 239, and the amount of
capital invested was $74,050.
The remarkable rise of Sullivan county to first place among Indiana
counties took place during the present decade. At the beginning of the
century it ranked third or fourth, then advanced to second place, and
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 249
the state geologist reported (August, igo6) that this county was first,
with Greene second and Clay fifth. Estimates which were published in
January, 1907, showed that the thirty-seven mines of this county pro-
duced an aggregate for the preceding year of 2,262,428 tons. Greene
and Vigo counties were next, each having twenty-eight mines in opera-
tion. The total production of Greene was 2,243,584 tons, and of Vigo,
1,868,465 tons. The number of miners in the respective counties in the
order just mentioned above was 3,666, 3.679 and t,^^^--"^"
When it is considered that the population of Sullivan county in 1900
was about 26,000, with allowances for the increase of the following six
years, it is evident that the 3,666 miners are a large and important ele-
ment of the total population, and that with their families and dependants
they are capable of exerting a very great influence on the social and
political life of the count)'.
Some interesting statistics on the Sullivan county coal deposits are
contained in the state geologist's report for 1898. On that authority, it is
not difficult to understand the pre-eminence of the coal industry in this
county, since it is estimated that 440 square miles of the county area (the
whole of it) is underlaid with coal deposits, and that of this the area of
workable coal is 365 square miles. In other words, four-fifths of the
* During 1907 Sullivau county fell to second place in total production, being
again passed by Greene county. The figures for that year are contained in the state
geologist 's report :
Tons. Wages.
Greene county 2,704,408 $2,189,153
Sullivan county 2,660,333 2,263,994
Vigo county 2,581,379 2,246,366
The thirty-four mines mentioned in the inspector's report had a total of 4,016
employes. The principal mining companies of the county at the time of this report
were: The Indiana Southern Coal Company, Consolidated Indiana Coal Company,
the Vandalia Coal Company, Bering Coal Company, Jackson Hill Coal Company,
Shirley Hill Coal Company, Southern Indiana Coal Company, Sullivan County Coal
Company, Carlisle Coal and Clay Company, etc., there being sixteen companies in all.
250 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
surface of the county has" coal deposits underneath which may be made
to yield fuel wealth. The estimated total of tons in the deposits was
placed at 4,650,000.000 tons, and at the time of the report the estimated
amount of workable coal still unmined was 950,000,000 tons. The total
annual output of the county at the present time is about three million
tons. Unless the demand or the working facilities make possible a pro-
duction luany times as great, it seems probable that Sullivan county will
produce coal for several centuries to come. In the report for 1898, the
greatest thickness of a coal vein in the county was coal 5 at Alum Cave,
rane:ine from nine to eleven feet.
'?->'
Chronoloo-ical Xotcs on Coal Iiidiisfrx.
■b.
Jan. 25, 1866 — Apparatus is placed for sinking coal shaft at
Currysville.
Sept. 20, 1866 — Superior quality of coal 5 feet thick is dis-
covered at a depth of 173 feet.
Feb. 10, 1870— Hon. James ~Sl. Hanna deeded 160 acres in Curry
township to his son B. G. Hanna and son-in-law Henry Overholser,
who formed the Standard Coal Co., with a capital stock of $24,000.
Nov. 22. 1 87 1 — A meeting was held at Paxton preparatory to
prospecting for coal in that vicinity. In October, 1872, Jasper Davis
opened a bank of coal of good quality.
[March 2, 1872— Organization of the Carlisle Coal Prospecting
Co. completed, with William Orr. president, John Speake, secretary,
and James M. Parvin, treasurer. Active work soon after begun.
March 30, 1872 — Harry Stipes, ]\Ir. Russell and Jonas Ladson
behind a movement at Paxton to open a coal mine. The Paxton
Coal Company organized, with capital of $4,500. Preparing to sink
a shaft on farm of Jonas Ladson where the railroad crosses the
Caledonia road.
March 12, 1873 — Hinkle and Plough sinking a shaft at Pittsburg
in Jackson township ; Stansil & Co. to commence hoisting coal on
Usrey farm; coal of good quality struck at Paxton at depth of 157
feet.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAX COUNTY 251
May 21, 1873 — Mr. Daniel Case working a mine in Traders
Hollow, in Cass township, with 7-foot vein of solid coal, a little
better than the Silver Fork coal, hitherto the best in the conntv.
S. R. Hamill and a Mr. Thomas in this township recentl}-, consider-
ing the building of a switch from the E. & C. Railroad to the mines.
Aug. 19, 1874 — Prospecting shaft at Shelburn, sunk below coal
K, was a failure, a vein of inferior soft coal 2 feet i inch thick
being the prize of their labor.
Aug. 19, 1874 — After nine months of work without cajjital
except their own industry and perseverance, the Handford brothers,
having dug 201 feet, discovered a vein of good coal 3^/2 feet thick.
In August, 1878, an item stated that the Sullivan shaft vf the Hand-
ford brothers employed 18 or 20 miners, and that wages had been
advanced 10 cents a ton. Their original shaft had been sunk con-
siderably deeper and the}- were then working a much better vein of
coal. Nov. 21, 1878 — About 4 p. m. explosion at Handford mine
killed eight men, including Thomas and Samuel Handford. The
explosion took place in the lower vein and was caused bv a careless
miner who used powder instead of a pick in opening an air passage,
after having been warned of the presence of gas in the passages.
Nov. II, 1874 — x\nnouncement made that special coal trains
were being run over the E. & C. R. R. between Terre Haute and
Shelburn.
Feb. 26, 1879 — Coal in 4-foot vein, at a depth of 75 feet, found
in Turman township on the land of F. M. Brown.
Aug. 15, 1884 — Currysville Coal Co. of Sullivan county has
been incorporated under the laws of the state, the purposes being
to develop mining lands and utilize clay in the manufacture of brick.
The capital stock, $50,000, the incorporators being George C. Rich-
ardson, Isaac Woolley, M. B. Wilson, John C. Chaney, Henry
Hafer.
June 8, i888^The board of equalization has been wrestling two
days with attorney of the New Pittsburg Coal Co. over raising the
valuation of the company's property from $9,000 to $20,000. The
board have raised the valuations of other coal companies several
thousand dollars each. The coal plant of the Pittsburg company,
including the coke ovens, has cost about $50,000, and being new,
would sell for at least two-thirds of that amount.
252 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Feb. 7, 1883 — ]\Ii"ners employed by the Shelburn Coal Co. at
Sullivan and Shelburn are out on a strike. The price paid here has
been $1.06 a ton, at Shelburn 90 cents. On Feb. ist price was
reduced at Sullivan to 86 cents and 69 cents at Shelburn because the
railroad refuses to pay over one dollar a ton : price has been $1.25.
The difference in price is caused by the difficulty of getting at the
coal both here and at Shelburn.
June 15, 1886 — Company has been organized to work the mine
on the farm of Noah Crawford in Jackson township near the Cla\'
county line. A contract has been made with the E. & T. H. R. R.
by which that railroad company binds itself to construct and have
in running order by September ist a branch line from the mine to
a point on the main line about one mile south of Farmersburg. The
mine was near Alum Cave, at which a house was erected for the
miners.
Jul}^ 12, 1886 — Excitement created by the announcement that
the drill at the gas well had gone through an immense vein of
cannel coal.
Nov. I, 1887 — Stock company has been organized at Pleasant-
ville to mine coal. The town is underlaid with coal of superior qual-
ity, and coal that was mined here took the gold medal at the New
Orleans exposition.
Feb. 8, 1889 — Options have been taken on large bodies of land
near Pittsburg in Jackson township by a syndicate of capitalists in
which Pres. Mackey (E. & T. H. R. R.) is interested. A branch is
to be run from the coal road now in operation between Farmersburg
and Alum Cave to Pittsburg.
Feb. 12, 1889 — The Superior Coal Company had sunk shaft on
Shoefstall farm in south Cass township, built a house for the miners,
and put in approved machinery. A branch of the I. & A\ R. R.
was constructed to the mine, but the coal has since been found to be
defective and the mine is to be abandoned. Oct. 25, 1889 — Reported
that Superior mine is to resume work after idleness of about a year.
May 17, 1889 — Town of Pittsburg is surveyed and lots platted.
Feb. 10, 1891 — Citizens' meeting held at office of I. H. Kalley
to consider the propriety of testing the 22-foot vein of cannel coal
said to underlie the town (Sullivan) at a depth of 500 feet. Sev-
eral committees appointed. March 13 — Meeting at the town hall on
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 253
March iitli was addressed by Thomas i*. Fry of Chicago on subject
of boring with diamond drill to test the existence of this coal vein.
Dr. Crowder, C. VV. Welman, Charles Padgett, C. L. Davis,
\Vm. Wilson, Stewart Barnes appointed a committee to canvass for
subscriptions.
Feb. 27, 1 891 — The New Lebanon people are prospecting for
coal. At Pleasantville a meeting was called in the M. E. church
on the 1 8th to consider the advisability of organizing to drill for
coal.
Oct. 20, 1893 — The coal company that has lately opened a mine
at Star City have bought 2,400 acres of land in the vicinity. The
railroad is building a track from Hardersville to the mine.
Jan. 6, 1894 — The 84,000 bushels of coal shipped daily from
Jackson township require 140 cars of 600 bushels each.
May 19, 1893 — The Island Coal Company loses its buildings at
the Superior mine by fire on the early morning of May 14th. The
loss included a block of coal weighing 5,700 pounds, mined at great
expense for exhibition at the world's fair. The mines are the largest
in the county. Loss, $50,000.
Feb. 7, 1893 — Jackson Hill Coal Co., or members of that com-
pany, who own land in all directions around Hardersville, are sinking
another shaft at a point four miles west of Hardersville.
Feb. 17, 1893 — First-class coal can always be bought in Sullivan
for two dollars a ton.
May 12, 1893 — The Sentinel of May 9th reports that articles of
incorporation of the West Jackson Coal Mining and Transportation
Co. were filed ; capital stock, $500,000 ; directors, John T. Hays,
Sullivan, Emerson B. Morgan and W. F. Nisbet of Evansville.
July 4, 1893 — ^ force of workmen have been put at work on
the extension of the branch railroad to Hardersville, which will fur-
nish an outlet for coal from the new mine being opened up near the
King postoffice, where a town is being laid out to be called Star
City. W^hen completed ( ?) the line will make a loop from Farmers-
burg circling through Hymera, Hardersville and Star City, striking
the main line again at Currysville. The coal business along the line
of the I. & I. S. also being developed. A new mine has been
opened on the edge of Busseron bottom, another near Dugger,
254 HISTORY OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
^vhile the Hancock and Conkle mine is to be improved ^vith new-
machinery.
Feb. 13, 1894 — The Jackson Hill mine at Hardersville \vas
tlooded on the 9th by the bursting of the reservoir used to furnish
water for running the compressor. Over two hundred men were in
the mine at the time, and alarmed by the roar of the water all
started for the shaft. In order to reach it they had to cross the
sump, in which the water had risen to within 18 inches of the roof.
George Sargent, pit boss, took a position near the sump and remained
standing in the water until he had seen the last man across.
July 20, 1899 — Scarcely a week passes without news of invest-
ments in coal lands or of improvements in different plants in the
county. The output of 1898 was the largest in the history of the
county, nearly 700,000 tons, which is an increase of nearly fifty per
cent over 1897. Miners have had steady employment at good wages,
and no trouble of importance between them and the operators. All
the old companies are running mines at full time. Xew shafts are
being sunk one mile south of Dugger b}- Ingle and Co. of Evans-
ville, who will employ 100 men and ship 500 tons daily ; by the
Hymera Company, to a recently tested vein seven feet thick and said
to be of first-class Cjuality ; by the Jackson Hill Coal and Coke Com-
pany, near Eagle, who are lining their shaft with steel and equipping
the plant with the latest electrical machinery ; at Farmersburg, Xoah
Crawford, president of the company, is putting in new machinery and
enlarging the plant. The E. & T. H. R. R. is building branches to
the new mines.
Xov. 9, 1899 — The Bunker Hill mine, owned by W. H. Crow-
der, to be improved with a 160-horsepower electrical mining engine.
Sept. 5, 1901 — Seven-foot vein opened at depth of 300 feet at
Jackson Hill No. 3, three miles west of Jackson Hill postoffice.
March 6, 1902 — ^^'alter Bogle, coal operator of Chicago, has
taken options on three or four thousand acres of land northeast of
Sullivan, and purchased part of the land.
July 10, 1902- — The United Coal Co. incorporated last week,
with $100,000 capital, own 1,200 acres in Cass township along the
I. C. Railroad. John T. Hays, Judge D. \\'. Henry and C. J. Sher-
man, directors.
July 10, 1902 — The United Coal Company are paying cash for
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 255
the lands bought in Cass township. In the past week John T. I lavs
and Judge Henry have paid out $30,000 and have $10,000 more to
complete the deal for the 1,200 acres.
April 17, 1902 — Little Giant Coal Co. organized with a capital
of $100,000, the incorporators being John S. Bays, Cuthbert J.
Sherman and Lee F. Bays. Their lands located one mile north of
Pleasantville. Walter S. Bogle Coal Co. has been incorporated,
directors being Walter S. Bogle, Norman S. Birkland, Charles W.
Gilmore, of Chicago, and John S. Bays and Walter S. Bogle, Jr..
of Sullivan. Home office at Sullivan. The mine is two miles north
of Sullivan, on the Southern Indiana, on land formerly owned by
Dan. S. Herbert, and the company has bought 1,700 acres northeast
of Sullivan.
July 10, 1902 — The Ehrmisch Coal Co. of Brazil is buying 1,000
acres from D. E. Everhart, Austin Everhart, and T. C, J. H. and
Airs. W. H. Alagill, at fifty dollars an acre. Of the 400 acres sold
by D. E. Everhart at $20,000, half of it was bought by him a few
years ago for $2,000, and he paid for it through hard work and
thrift.
Aug. 28, 1902 — J. D. Terhunc made payments yesterda}- on 800
acres south of the White Rabbit mine, in Cass and Jefferson town-
ships. The stockholders of the new company being mosth- residents
of Jefifersonville and New Albany, they have called their company
the Jefiferson Coal Co.
C)ct. 2, 1902 — Almost the entire east half of the county is now
either sold or under option to coal companies. The largest mine is
the Bogle, northeast of Sullivan, which is now prepared to ship coal.
The shaft is 180 feet deep. This mine wall employ 400 men.
Nov. 13, 1902 — Another attempt to organize a coal trust fails.
The project was in the hands of A. M. Ogle, J. Smith Talley, J. K.
Siefert, Jacob Kolsem and other well-known operators, who designed
to organize all the mines of the state. The profits of the coal industry
for the previous months had been so large that the properties were
held at inflated values, and investors would not btiy.
Dec. 20, 1902 — The largest deal in coal lands yet closed in the
county was transacted when the Manufacturers Mining and Fuel Co.
secured 1,200 acres of coal lands in Hamilton township, about a mile
north of Sullivan. Anderson and Aluncie capital behind the deal.
256 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Test drillers had been working there night and day for three months,
the tests showing a thickness of five feet in No. 6 vein, five and a
third feet in No. 5, and a fair vein of No. 7, with good roof. The
Southern Indiana Railroad was projected to pass through the middle
of this land, and it was also accessible by the Illinois Central.
Dec. 25, 1902 — All the coal lands east of the E. & T. H. R. R.
said to be taken np. Jackson township except in the extreme north
is honeycombed with the mines of Harder and Hafer, wdio also
operate 1.200 acres for the E. & T. H. R. R., the Ehrmann Coal
Company, the Fairbanks Land & Improvement Co., and the New
Pittsburg Coal & Coke Co. Cass township has many small operators.
D. J. Terhune and the U. S. Steel Corporation have 1,200 acres.
The largest mine is now the Wolford in Curry township. Job,
McDonald and Alatson have 1.200 acres for the ^Mammoth Co. in
Hamilton township, Keller Mining Co. has 1,400 acres. Bogle Mining
Co. has 1.280 acres. Green Hill Coal and Mining Co. has 1,000 acres
— all in Hamilton township. Drilling has also begun west of the
railroad. Land selling at double the price of a year ago.
Jan. I, 1903 — Louis Hicks, representing a syndicate of Indian-
apolis men, has ordered abstracts of 900 acres just west of the South-
ern Indiana Coal Co. at Gilmour. William Zellars of Brazil, who
recently bought i .000 acres, has purchased another thousand. Some
land is bought complete, at $50 for "the top," and $40 for the
"bottom."
Jan. 8, 1903 — U. S. Steel Corporation is engaged in securing
2,000 acres between Farmersburg and Shelburn. The most serious
obstacle now with operators is scarcity of miners.
Jan. 22. 1903 — Manufacturers and Consumers Fuel Co. of
Anderson has purchased 2,700 acres of coal land in Hamilton town-
ship. The coal is badly needed in the gas-belt factories, and shafts
will be sunk at once.
Jan. 22, 1903 — The Fairbanks Coal Co. has been organized to
supply that township, whose residents now have to go east of the
E. & T. H. R. R. for their coal, sometimes waiting 24 or 48 hours
for their turn. The capital of $6,000 is all subscribed, and the drill-
ing commenced Monday.
March 5, 1903 — The Indiana Harbor R. R. Co. buys 1,980 acres
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 257
west of Farmersburg ; must mean that that railroad is coming to the
county ( ? ) .
April 16, 1903 — Shaft to be sunk for the E. & T. H. R. R. five
miles northeast of Sullivan. New York capitalists buy 6,000 acres
in Cass and Fladdon townships, and four mines to be opened at once.
It is expected that the Monon will run its Summit-X'incennes exten-
sion through this tract.
May 28, 1903 — James Epperson, state mine inspector, estimates
that the mining capacity of coal mines will be increased about 20
])er cent this year, due to the increase of facilities. This increase is
almost entirel)' confined to (ireene and Sullivan counties.
July ]6, 1903 — J. K. Dering of Chicago gets 4,000 acres from
Paxton to the Jefferson township line. County Assessor Francis
E. Walters estimates that 50,000 acres of mineral land in this county
have been sold at an average of $30 per acre. In nearly all the deeds
inflated values have been assigned, and according to the considera-
tion named in the deeds about $3,000,000 has been paid into the
countv. At the present time the sales average about 2,000 acres a
week.
Aug. 13, 1903 — Eleven mines are now under construction within
a radius of seven miles north and east of Sullivan.
Aug. 20, 1903 — J. Smith Talley, Charles J. Barnes, F. T. Dicka-
son and others have incoporated the Shirley Coal Co., $650,000 capi-
tal, to work in Cass township.
Sept. 10, 1903 — According to the state mine inspector, Mr.
Epperson, nine-tenths of the coal development in the state is in
Sullivan and Greene counties, though fourteen counties ship coal.
The Southern Indiana Railroad has done much to give facilities.
The annual output in these two counties reaches about 5,000,000
tons.
Oct. 15, 1903 — The coal company of Fairbanks have laid out a
town of 26 lots, and have voted to call it Dixie, but as there is another
postoffice of that name in the state it will have to be changed.
Nov. 19. 1903 — Mining operations handicapped by great scarcity
of cars, especially t)n the Southern Indiana.
March 3, 1904 — The Indiana & Chicago Coal Co. will sink two
shafts to veins 3 and 4. One shaft north of Dugger will ship over
the I. C. and Southern Indiana, while the one south of Dugger will
Vol. 1—17
258 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
use the Indianapolis Southern and the IndianapoHs and Vincennes.
The sinking of so man_y shafts puts Sullivan county in good condi-
tion to stand a strike.
Aug. II, 1904 — The Fairbanks Coal Co. about read}- for busi-
ness. Their coal is surpassed in point of combustible matter by only
one mine in the state.
Jan. 12, 1905 — The largest deal in coal mines yet consummated
in Indiana has been or will be closed within the next few days.
Twelve or more big mines along the C. & E. I. and the E. & T. H.
railroads have been acquired by the Bering Coal Co. of Chicago,
formed under the corporation laws of Delaware and capitalized at
$5,000,000. It is understood that the Frisco System is back of the
enterprise. Nearly every mine acquired has a capacity of two
thousand tons a day. Some of the mines lie near Clinton, and two
are in Illinois.
Feb. 2. 1905 — Report of state geologist: New shafts sunk
in Indiana, 37; in Sullivan county, 10; Clay county, 6; Greene
county, 6 ; abandoned in Indiana, 11; in Sullivan county, o. Tons
mined in Sullivan county for past year, 1,553.338, giving this county
third place. Powder used in Greene county, 51,633 kegs; in Vigo
county, 71,669 kegs; in Sullivan county, 23,526 kegs. One keg
mines 43 tons in Greene county, 24 tons in Meo, and 65 tons in
Sullivan. Sullivan county employs 275 pick miners, 178 machine
miners anrl helpers, 908 loaders, 476 inside day and monthly men,
and 283 outside day men. Seventeen mines in operation in Sul-
livan county. Nine fatal accidents in this county, out of 55 in the
entire state.
Feb. 16, 1905 — Bering Coal Co. absorbs the Willfred mine in
Jackson township, of which Paul Wright was president and largest
stockholder.
Feb. 23, 1905 — A Chicago syndicate has closed deal for 1,500
acres of land in Curry township, northeast of Shelburn. Market
• for coal lands is now Axry dull, owing to the depressed condition
of the coal trade.
jNIarch 30, 1905 — The mining company at Alum Cave is pre-
paring to move its property. The mine has now been burning for
three years.
April 6, 1905 — Nine mines owned by a company of which J.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUXTY 259
K. Seifert of Chicago is the head have been transferred to the In-
diana Southern Coal Company of which D. W. Cummins is presi-
dent. Rumored that John R. Walsh is at the head of the new
company. The nine mines, which brought $2,000,000, include the
Shelburn, Citizens, Cummins, Alum Cave, Gilmour, Green Hill, In-
diana Hocking and the mines of the Forest Coal Company and
the Pittsburg Coal Co. — The mines of the Bering Company have
contracts to furnish coal to the C. & E. I., Frisco, part of the Rock
Island System, and some plants of the U. S. Steel Corporation.
May 4, 1905 — A New York syndicate has bought seven of the
largest mines in the county for about $2,500,000, John S. Bays
having managed the deal. The properties include the St. Clair
mine of the North Jackson Hill Coal and Alining Co., the White
Ash mine of the Hymera Coal and Mining Co., the Star City mine
of the Harder and Hafer Coal Mining Co., the Union Coal Co., the
Glendora mine of the W. S. Bogle Coal and Mining Co., and the
Kellar Coal Co. Ten thousand acres are involved in the trans-
action, with an annual output of about two million tons. It is
certain that the railroads are behind the deal.
j\Iay 4, 1905 — Indiana Southern Coal Co., of which D. W.
Cummins is president and J. K. Seifert secretary and treasurer,
has closed deal for 2,200 acres of undeveloped coal land lying south
of Jackson Hill in Cass and Jackson townships.
May 19, 1905 — John S. Bays is named as the Indiana agent
of the Consolidated Coal Co., a Maine corporation capitalized at
$4,000,000, of which $3,400,000 is the amount represented in In-
diana. The company owns eight Sullivan county mines in opera-
tion and has leases over several thousand acres in the county. This
company is one of three large ones which have been fighting the
past year for control of that field. (Indianapolis News.)
May 19, 1905 — R. B. Harder and Hymera Coal Co. pay out
more than $80,000 to farmers for coal lands in Jftckson township.
May 25, 1905 — Thousands of acres in Haddon, Turman, Fair-
banks and Gill townships have been optioned for coal in the last
few months.
June 22, 1905 — Lattas Creek Coal Co. buys out Keystone Coal
Co. and about $80,000 worth of coal lands besides, all in northern
Cass township. Indiana Southern Coal Co. supposed to be back of
the transaction.
26o lilSTURY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
July 13. 1905 — The \'andalia Coal Co.. the largest of six big
combinations and capitalized at $7,000,000. is buying in Sullivan
county the Island A'alley Coal Co.. the Indiana & Chicago, the In-
dianapolis and Sullivan, the Superior mine, and the property of the
J. Smith Talley Coal Co.. containing 2,200 acres of undeveloped
land.
July 20. 1905 — Seventy mines in Indiana have now been
merged into six big operating companies.
July 2~ . 1905 — Pennsylvania capitalists have drill at work on
the Joe Akin farm near Carlisle. The Frisco System has leased
2.000 acres near there.
Sept. 7. 1905 — Alines Xos. i and 2. or Consolidated 31 and ^2,
at H}mera, were shut down a day or two ago, and it is reported
they will not resume work for thirty days. The only reason so far
as the public knows is that there is no market for the coal and that
the company can not get it hauled into Chicago. The Hymera
people hope that when Walsh gets his road into Chicago that such
difficulties will be solved.
Sept. 14. 1905 — Better times are predicted as result of merger.
The A'andalia Coal Co., which is the holding, company of the A'an-
dalia Railroad, assumes control of eighteen coal companies dis-
tributed in A igo. Clay. Greene. Sullivan and Knox comities.
Nov. 20. 1905 — Coal mining industry looks brighter at Dugger.
Keeley mine, which has been closed since last August for repairs,
has opened with a small force. New shaker screens and endless
rope system of haulage have been installed so that capacity of mine
has been increased. New steel tipple at Caledonia soon to be com-
pleted.
Dec. 21. 1905 — Secretary of the U. Al. W. of A. reports that the
mines in the iith district work only about four days a week.
Jan. 6, 1906 — The blockades are lifted and car shortage felt at
only a few places. The railroads handled more Indiana coal in
December than in the same month last year.
Jan. II. 1906 — The Paragon Coal Co.. capitalized at $5,000.-
000. has been organized at Terre Haute with headquarters there.
To operate mines about Shelburn and Farmersburg.
Jan. 2^, 1906 — The coal trade in Illinois and Indiana less
satisfactorv than last vear. The shot-firers bill caused a shut-
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUX'^^' 261
down of eight days througlunil llie state, the tirst general shut-
down since 1897.
Feb. I, 1906 — Government tests at St. Louis show that Indiana
coal is the greatest steam-producing coal in the country.
Feb. 15, 1906 — -The Consolidated Indiana Coal Co. sell some
large mines in this county to the Bering Coal Co. Understood to
mean that the Rock Island interests have assumed control of both
companies.
The Strike of 1906.
April 5. 1906 — The miners working in the mines owned by
members of the operators' association were all out on a holiday •
April 2. Many were in town making the most of what is expected
to be a few days' strike. No Sullivan county operators have yet
signed the 1903 scale, but some have signified their willingness, and
operators in other parts of the state are signing.
April 19, 1906 — Miners have been idle two weeks, and business
men complain. There is not the usual amount of drunkenness.
Squire High of Fontanet asked the brewing companies not to fol-
low their former custom of sending free beer to aid the miners, and
the brewers heeded the request. In former years there was much
carousing during a period of idleness among the miners. The
Sullivan County Coal Co. at Dugger has signed the scale, being the
third member of the operators association to do so, and for this it
will ]irobably be expelled from the association. The Carlisle Clay
and Coal Co. had signed previously, and both mines are open and a
full force at work.
May 10. 1906 — The fear that the railioads would refuse to
furnish cars deters many small operators from signing scale. Dis-
trict President O'Connor furnishes statement to show that at least
ten large owners have signed.
May 24, 1906 — The joint convention of miners and operators
fails to agree. The miners declare that it would be unfair to arbi-
trate as long as enough operators have signed to produce one-fourth
of the regular output of the state.
June 14, 1906 — Agreement is reached by the strike committee
of the Indiana miners and the operators on June 13th, after a ses-
262 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
sion of 17 days. Four hours after signing of the agreement the
whistle of Citizens Mine announced work to begin following day.
The men to get the 1903 scale, but agree to some changes of con-
ditions. The 1903 scale means an increase of five and a half per-
cent over the scale of 1904-05. About 52 mines had agreed to the
scale between April i and June i, and about 3,000 miners were at
work before the final agreement.
July 19, 1906 — The Carlisle mine resumes work after being
closed two weeks, new machinery having been installed to increase
the output from 200 tons to 2,000 tons a day.
Aug. 2, 1906 — -There is no demand for coal, and the miners of
the nth district are practically without work. The only mines
working, are those under contract to supply manufacturing concerns.
Oct. 4, 1906 — The government reports five important mining
consolidations in Indiana during 1905. The Vandalia took the
Island Coal Co. in Sullivan and Greene counties, the Indiana &
Chicago Coal Co. in Sullivan county, as well as many mines in
other counties. The Bering company bought the J. Wooley Coal
Co.. Brouillets Creek Coal Co., Wilfred Coal Co., Indian Fuel Co.,
\\\ S. Bogle Coal and Mining Co., Willow Grove Coal Co., in Sul-
livan, Vigo and \ ermillion counties. The Consolidated Indiana
Coal Co. merged the properties of the North Jackson Hill Coal
]\Iining Co., the Sullivan County Coal Mining Co., the Union Coal
Co., Harder and Hafcr Coal Mining Co., Hymera Coal Mining Co.,
and Kellar Coal Co., all but one being in Sullivan county. The In-
diana Southern Coal Co. took over the Indiana Hocking Coal Co.,
the Citizens Coal Co., the Cummings Coal Co., the Rainbow Coal
Co., New Pittsburg Coal and Coke Co., Greene Hill Coal and Min-
ing Co. in this county. Many other properties were brought under
one management by the transactions of the large companies in ad-
joining counties.
March 14, 1907 — Nearly every mine in the nth district run-
ning on half time on account, it is claimed, of no demand for coal.
Miners are facing one of the most serious propositions in the his-
tory of the district.
April 23, 1907 — AH joint traffic rates on coal existing between
the Southern Indiana and the Big. Four railroads to sixty cities on
the latter road have been suspended. It is understood that many if
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 263
not most of the thirty mines on the Southern Indiana wih be com-
pelled to cease operations. Many mines are already closed for re-
pairs, lack of work, great amount of coal on hand, and no market.
Because of the withdrawal of the rates no coal from the nth district
is sent into the gas belt.
March 14, 1908 — 16,000 miners in the nth district vote to
strike. The fining system, docking, delivery of powder, and top
wages are the subjects of contention. Miners claim that they are
fined for failure to live up to contract, when there is no correspon-
ding penalty for the operators. It is considered an inopportune
time for strike, since there is no demand for coal.
June 30, 1908 — T. E. Willard, the government expert in the
employ of the geological survey, has visited and examined all the
mines in the county except a few small ones. He thinks the mines
in Indiana far superior to those of other states in methods used.
West Virginia is the only state outside of Pennsylvania where he
has seen mines in the same class with those in Sullivan county so
far as methods go.
Oil and Gas.
During the present decade Sullivan county has attained to some im-
portance in the production of oil and gas. Its oil wells have proved
comparatively small as measured with the oil districts of adjacent coun-
ties, both in this state and in Illinois, but the discovery of gas about two
years ago has earned for the county the title of the "Sullivan county gas
field."
Shortly after the close of the Civil war some interest was taken in
the deposits of oil which were disclosed in the Wabash valley. At Terre
Haute a deep well, being sunk by Chauncey Rose, struck oil in small
quantities, but the discovery was not appreciated. This was in 1865, only
a few years after Drake and his associates had begun the development
of the oil regions about Titusville, Pennsylvania. The use of the new
fuel and its appearance in the markets of the world were regarded with
much interest, and the discussion of the oil deposits, the methods of ob-
264 IIISTCIRY OF SULLR'AX COUNTY
taining" it from wells, and its value as a natural resource attracted atten-
tion everywhere. So it is not strange that the possibility of oil deposits
in Sullivan county was often considered, and evidences of oil would at-
tract popular attention. The first published item of this kind so far as
known w'as contained in the Democrat of February 9, 1865, in which it
is stated that a well of drinking water on the lot of Air. Otto is afifected
by the taste of petroleum, and that indications of oil appear on the sur-
face of the water after it has stood for awhile. An intention w-as ex-
pressed to bore for oil in that locality.
The following year (1866) proved to be one of much excitement
over the oil development in this county. In January it was reported that
the Oil and Mining Company of Celina. Ohio, had leased 1,100 acres of
land about ten miles northwest of Sullivan with the purpose of boring for
oil. M. Beardsley of Merom was one of the incorporators of the
company.
A little later two companies were formed to test for oil. In one of
the bores made, gas was discovered in such cjuantities that the work could
not be continued and the well was plugged. Natural gas was not yet in
favor as fuel.
In May the Sullivan County Oil and Mining Company secured the
lease of a well which had been bored by the railroad company some six
or eight years before, near the Sullivan depot. After being sunk about
600 feet, the well was abandoned. At this depth, stated the Democrat, a
peculiar substance had been found which at the time was unknown, but
which was now believed to be petroleum.
The interest in oil soon died out, and the work of prospecting, was
not productive of any practical results. More than three decades passed
before attention was again paid to the oil and gas deposits of this section
of the state.
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 265
The renewal of the efforts to develop the oil and gas deposits of
of the county began with the opening of the present century, alwut
coincident with the opening of the western Indiana and eastern Illinois
fields. But actual operations in this county are still more recent, x^t the
close of 1904 what was known as the Sullivan Gas and Oil Company
(J. P. Johnson, of Princeton, president ; F. J. Biggs, Princeton, secretary,
and Sam A. White, of Sullivan, treasurer) leased a large amount of land
in the western part of the county, and test wells were sunk in some
places. Oil was discovered on the McGrew farm east of Farmersburg,
and gas was struck at a depth of 250 feet by Harder and Hafer, south-
east of that town.
The most important development of gas, which brought into general
use the term "Sullivan county gas field," centered in the striking of gas
on the Jamison farm about two miles west of Sullivan, where the pres-
ence of derricks, the working of the pumps and the pipes at the roadside'
are evidence of a prosperous gas field. On the night of April 16, 1907,
the drill penetrated to the gas, and all night long the well continued to
blow out oil and stone. A few days later tests showed 300 pounds rock
pressure, said to be within 50 pounds of the strongest well in the state.
The lamison farm has since continued the largest scene of operations in
this county, both for gas and oil. During the year half a dozen wells
were put down, and in November wells 4, 5 and 6 were reported to yield
about forty barrels of oil a day.
The following items from the Democrat indicate the progress
of the oil and gas development :
Aug. 17, 1905 — The Jones Oil and Gas Company, the largest
independent operators in the state, have leased 2,100 acres near
Dugger, and 5,000 acres near Carlisle; boring to begin soon.
Dec. 28. 1905 — Gas has been struck at a depth of 535 feet by
the Fairbanks Gas and Coal Co. ; Jan. 4, 1906 — the gas has been
piped to the engine boiler and boring continued, in search of oil.
266 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Alay 3, 1906 — The well on the farm of J. W. Bowen near Fair-
banks was shot at depth of 440 feet, and said to have a capacity of
ten or fifteen barrels a day.
June 7, 1906 — Articles of incorporation of the Carlisle Oil and
Cas Co. filed; $10,000 capital at one dollar per share. To drill on
the farms of Finley Collins and William R. Colvin southeast of
Carlisle.
July 16, 1906 — Egypt Oil and Gas Co. files articles of incor-
poration to work in Indiana and Illinois. Sullivan men backing the
company.
Dec. 2"/. 1906 — Company formed at Farmersburg'. Its first
test well at depth of 1,900 feet yields few indications of oil.
Feb. 21, 1907 — A little gas and some oil found at the well on
the Julius Hoseman farm southeast of Merom. Well was drilled
to 1. 1 00 feet, then plugged to 700 feet where a layer of oil sand
had been found, and was then shot; April 11 — estimated that from
10 to 25 barrels of oil are now flowing from this well, with a large
quantity of salt water.
April, 1907 — Work has begun on T. H. jMason farm, south
of the Jamison farm, and a company of local men leased about
1,100 acres near Sullivan and began drilling on the Frank Mason
farm south of town.
Jan. 9, 1908 — Hamilton Oil and Gas Co. has sold 1,000 barrels
of oil to a Terre Haute firm from the Jamison wells.
April 25, 1907 — Good flow at the Barnard well 100 feet south
of the Jamison.
May 23, 1907 — Oil sand struck at the Park Osborne well five
miles northwest of Sullivan at depth of 527 feet. — Bailey McCon-
nell, president of the Carlisle Oil and Gas Co., has sig-ned over all
the leases held by them on 4,000 acres southeast of Carlisle to the
Union Oil Co. of Pennsylvania.
April 9, 1908 — The Big Four Oil and Gas Co. of Bridgeport,
Illinois, has leased hundreds of acres near Farnsworth and begun
the building of the biggest rig in the county.
May 7, 1908 — The Crawford Oil Co., after spending thousands
of dollars and months of time, is about to abandon the territory
east of Paxton.
June 18, 1908 — A corps of surveyors now at work in Sullivan
county for the Tide Water pipe line.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MONEY AND BANKING.
Sullivan count}- has no banking institutions within its boundaries
(luring the pioneer history. Yet the residents of the county were not
without banking facilities, though to get them it was necessary to go to
Terre Haute on the north or Vincennes on the south.
The absence of a bank in any considerable center of trade would
in this modern age be felt as a serious drawback. It is almost a daily
occurrence for the merchant and business man of Sullivan county to buy
the credit of his local bank for the purpose of transacting business with
distant centers. Instead of using his individual credit to pay for goods
in the wholesale markets of Chicago or St. Louis, he uses the official
paper and name of the local bank, which is a recognized medium for
such transactions. An}- other method of doing business would result in
delays and losses that would not be tolerated in this commercial age.
It was very different in the early years of Sullivan county. The
business of the community was then primitive and simple ; now it is
complex.
What constituted the business activities of the county during the
years following its first settlement ? It is possible to answer this question
without omitting any important interest.
The supply and demand which comprehended the trade and industry
267
268 HISTURV OF SULLR'AN COUNTY
of the time were limited to the articles that are needed by society in a
frontier condition. The demand was for things to eat; clothing and
shelter: and the implements that were used in the field, in the house and
in the mills. The local production of things included under these heads
was almost sufificient to satisfy the demand. The farmer grew his wheat
and corn, from which his bread was made; raised the hogs from which
came his supply of pork or obtained a considerable portion of his meat
from the wild game in the woods. The forest supplied material for
building and furniture. The flax, and in early days, the cotton, raised in
the fields, was converted by housewifely diligence and skill into garments
for all members of the family.
\\dien the simple economy of the pioneers is considered, it is sur-
prising that the amount of trade was as large as it was. Like many
Robinson Crusoes, the settlers lived by consuming only what nature
and their own efiforts produced.
Nevertheless, there was some degree of classification of industry.
The individual pounded or ground his corn with his own crude imple-
ments only until the first mill was built. The flour mill was the most
important institution in the new country, and with its establishment came
the miller, who depended on the patronage of his neighbors to supply him
with the means of subsistence.
Though so much was grown and wrought on the farm, there was
still necessity for a central place where the rarer articles of common use
might be ke])t for sale. The stock in trade of the early merchant was
limited in variety, yet the trade in staples was sufificient to make many
a fortune for men who engaged in such trade during the early years.
This limited business was carried on mainly upon the principles of
barter and exchange and credit. The merchant had more accounts then,
comparatively, than now. And wdien settlement was made, instead of
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 269
satisfying the account with a check or cash, the debtor very usually dis-
posed of his wheat or corn, or live stock, through the merchant, and
accounts were' squared with very little money being used in the trans-
action.
It was of course necessary that "a balance of trade" should be
maintained — that the goods imported for use in the county should be
balanced by goods of equal value exported from the county, or the dif-
ference had to be made good by cash payment. But for a number of
years the balance was kept very even. The amount of grain and peltries
and lumber, etc.. sent down the river to the world markets, measured
very exactly the amount of goods that would be brought back in return.
Capital came in slowl\" and was very quickly absorbed.
The result of all this was that very little money — meaning by that
silver and gold and its substitutes — circulated in Sullivan county. The
wealth of the country was held in the forests, in the fields and granaries,
and in the stores. There was no surplus, no large amount of coin kept
on hand to meet the exigencies of daily commerce ; hence there was little
need for a bank as a place of safe deposit. And since the few merchants,
who did the business for the community, had individual credit at the large
trade centers, there was little need for an institution that would furnish
exchange and credit to distant cities. Money being unknown, banks
had no cause to exist.
Savs W. H. Smith in his "History of Indiana": "In the early set-
tlement of the territory, such a thing as money was practically unknown,
peltries being used as the only currency. All values were based upon
what the article would bring in coon skins, muskrat skins and other furs.
Such a state of affairs could only exist in a sparsely settled country,
where manufactures were unknown, and where the only trading done
was for the actual necessities of life. In those early days the settlers
270 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
raised on their little farms about all they needed to sustain life, and their
purchases were limited to salt, iron, dye-stufifs and a few articles of that
character. For those they exchanged wheat, corn, hogs and peltries."
As population increased and the social and industrial organization
becaiue more complex, came a demand for currency that would represent
values, and could be subject to the flexible uses of exchange without the
more cumbersome and primitive methods hitherto in vogue. The gold
and silver medium could not be obtained. A paper currency was sought
instead. Originally intended, on its face value, to represent actual
wealth. Practice soon produced a wide variance between the shadow and
the substance, and instead of representing wealth actually existing, this
paper currency soon came to represent only "a promise to pay," wath
no security as a basis.
Though such currency might be honestly issued to represent current
values, it often happened that the security declined in value, so that when
the "promise to pay" returned to its author, the latter found no resource
to satisfy his note, which could be redeemed only at a large discount.
Thus the period during the war of 1812 was one of prosperity,
owing to the increase of values caused by the war and the large sums
disbursed by the government. At the close of hostilities, the war values
suddenly declined and the enormous issue of notes representing such con-
fidence and prosperity became nearly worthless paper in the hands of the
holders, who had no recourse against the issuing institutions, which were
in large number swept away during the panic.
State Bank.
In 1814 the territorial legislature of Indiana had chartered a banking
institution at Vincennes, with a capital stock of five hundred thousand
dollars, and one at Madison, with a capital of seven hundred and fifty
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 271
thousand dollars. The bills issued on this capital were returned during
the panic, but only a small part was redeemed.
In the first constitution of the state of Indiana appeared a provision
that "there shall not be established or incorporated in this state any bank
or banking company, or moneyed institution, for the purpose of issuing
bills of credit or bills payable to order or bearer: Provided that nothing,
herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the general assembly
from establishing a state bank and branches."
Here was the legal sanction for the State Bank of Indiana, one of
the most notable institutions in the early history of banking. The bank
at Vincennes was allowed to retain its charter, but on Janaury i, 1817,
this bank was adopted as a branch of the state bank.
The career of the first state bank is described by W. H. Smith in his
"History of Indiana" : "The bank thus enlarged and with such increased
powers, at once entered upon an era of mismanagement that soon
wrought widespread ruin. In 1821 its reckless management caused the
general assembly to authorize legal proceedings to cancel its charter.
Among other things charged and proved were, the contracting of debts
to double the amount of the deposits ; the issuing, with a fraudulent pur-
pose, of more paper than the bank had means for redeeming; the de-
claring and paying of large dividends to the stockholders, while the bank
was refusing to pay specie for its notes ; and embezzling $250,000 de-
posited by an agent of the L'nited States in the bank for safe keeping.
The notes of the bank and its branches, except those of the bank at
Madison, became wholly worthless."
The failure of the first state bank occurred during a period of
profound financial depression during the early "20s. For ten years or
more the circulating medium in Indiana consisted largely of what were
272
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
called "shinplasters," being the individual notes of local merchants and
business men, and the bills of banks in other states.
During this period the state sought to give aid to the financial situa-
tion by entering, upon a great plan of internal improvements, consisting
of canals and railroads, that would provide a magnificent system of
transportation. In the speculative era that followed, when values were
advanced with little regard for actual substance, the second state bank
of Indiana was founded.
'During the whole of its existence from 1834 to 1857, the credit of
the State Bank of Indiana was not exceeded by any bank in the L'nited
States. Its notes went current from lakes to gulf, and its capital and
credit were used to develop business and agricultural resources of the
state. Its regular annual dividends for twenty years averaged ten to
twelve percent, and at the expiration of its charter there was a surplus
of one hundred percent to divide among the stockholders.
The State Bank was chartered in the winter of 1833-34. It was
not a central bank with numerous branches, but the institution consisted
of the dififerent branches under control of a central governing body.
Thirteen branches -in all were organized, each branch having its own
president and other officers. The semi-annual examinations by the state
president was very searching, and kept the branches in a safe and
healthy condition, with the result that only one case of fraud was ever
found in all the thirteen banks. The capital of each branch was $160,-
000, one half of which was furnished by the state. As there were no
capitalists in the state at that time, the charter provided that every stock-
holder who paid $18.75 *^" each $50 share, should receive as a loan from
the state the remaining $31.25 so as to fully pay up the stock. The loan
was secured by bond and mortgage on real estate, at six percent interest.
The full amount of the annual dividends was then credited on the loan,
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 273
and in one of the branches at least the loan was thus paid off seven
years before the expiration of the charter, and the borrowing stock-
holder received for that period the full amount of the dividends on
his shares. To pay for its half of the stock and its advances to stock-
holders, the state had issued and sold in London its coupon bonds at
five percent, these being secured by the state stock in the banks and
liens upon borrowers" stock. The state could have retired all these
bonds before maturit}-, Imt although the state credit was very low in
and after 1837, these bonds commanded a handsome premium and could
not be reached. The state's share in the banks, bonds and mortgages
and sinking fund was so well managed that not a dollar was lost and the
state made a net profit of nearly $3,000,000 by its connection with the
bank revenues which became the basis for the large school fund.
The capital of the thirteen branches was a little over two millions,
but the aggregate of the loans sometimes amounted to ten or fifteen
millions in a year. There was one president, cashier and board of
directors for the whole state, this central body having, absolute control
over the branches with power to put any branch in liquidation, which was
exercised but once, with only a temporary suspension. The general
board was composed of splendid men and able financiers, and through
their management the bank had a career such as few banks of the
country surpassed. The State Bank of Illinois, chartered in the same
vear, disastrously failed in 1837. The Indiana Bank suspended specie
payment in 1837, as did every other bank in the country except the
Chemical of New York, but it always furnished its customers with New
York exchange at one percent premium for its own or other bankable
notes, and also never failed to supply the home demand for coin, which
was then silver.
The State Bank of Indiana, iDeing a monopoly, there was a great
Vol. I— IS
274 HISTORY OF SULLI\ AX COUXTY
demand as its charter wa? expiring for a free bank act. Such banks
were authorized by the new constitution. The agitation for a new bank
law also resulted in a bill providing for the establishment of the "Bank
of the State of Indiana." as the title was then made to read. The bill
was vetoed and passed over the governor's veto, and became a law in
1855. The state could not be a stockholder in the new institution.
There were to be twenty branches, each with Sioo.ooo capital. It was
a good franchise, but those who had procured it did not intend to
operate a bank, and it passed under the control of the former managers
of the old State Bank and other citizens, with Hugh ^McCuUoch as
president. The new bank began business in 1857, and started out under
the most favorable auspices, but the panic of 1857 tested its integrity to
the utmost. Only one bank in the east, and in the west the Bank of
Kentucky and the Bank of Indiana alone escaped the necessity of sus-
pending specie payment. The Indiana bank's notes commanded a
premium, but the result of that was a drain on the bank's specie from
the notes coming from other states. To have declined to redeem notes
in specie on demand would have caused the forfeiture of the charter,
which was too valuable to sacrifice. The branches made a gallant strug-
gle, and had nearlv exhausted their cash resources when on the fifth
week of the panic there was a change for the better in the financial out-
look, gold declined in the east, and the Indiana notes ceased to come
home for redemption. The charter was safe. The efifects of the panic
were overcome in from two to three months, and the business of the
branches was prosperous until the war broke out. Then ensued a great
depression and a renewed demand for gold. Under the direction of ^Ir.
^NlcCuUoch. the branches proposed to weather the storm, drew in their
circulation as much as possible, arranged with depositors that deposits
in gold should be paid in gold and in bank notes with notes. The issue
HISTORY OF SULLIX'AX COUNTY 275
of legal tender notes in 1862 made them a substitute for coin, and the
question arose, could the bank save its charter by redeeming with legal
tender notes instead of gold. A test case was hurried through the circuit
court and supreme court of the state. The decision of the courts was
that legal tender notes was lawful money in the terms of the bank's
charter.
The Bank of the State of Indiana successfully passed through all
financial storms, and when Mr. McCulloch resigned in 1863 to become
comptroller of the currency it had upwards of three million dollars in
gold coin in its vaults. \Mth the passage of the National Banking Act.
all notes of state and private banks were taxed ten percent, which was
practically prohibitive and caused nearly all these banks to surrender
their charters and either go out of existence or take out national
charters.
The Civil war made enormous demands upon the national treasury-,
and the government within a few months after the beginning of the
war was seriously embarrassed by the difficulties of providing funds
from the regular sources. Permission to duly empowered organizations
upon certain conditions to put into circulation bills furnished them by the
government, their redemption in specie to be guaranteed and regulated
bv the government, was the means of making the national debt an avail-
able capital for banking purposes that was proposed by Secretary Chase,
and out of which grew the National Banking. Act. In order to give the
national currency thus created preference over other forms of credit
currencv. it was proposed to tax the issues of state banks to such an
extent that these institutions could not profitably issue notes. Xaturally
the state banks opposed the measure. But the necessit>- of sectu-ing "'one
sound, uniform circulation of equal value throughout the countr>- upon
the foundation of national credit combined with private capital," forced
2/6 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Congress to act, and a bill passed the senate February 12, 1863, and
the house eight days later, and the National Currency act received the
signature of the president, February 25, 1863. While the practical re-
sults of the act did not realize expectations during the war, the national
banking system eventually remedied the great financial bills from which
the country suffered under the miscellaneous and loose methods of state
banking.
In Sullivan county, during the period which has been discussed,
there were no banks. In Terre Haute a branch of the State Bank had
been established in 1834, and its bills and facilities were without doubt
employed in the transaction of business in Sullivan county. A^incennes
was also a banking center for this county.
Sulli7'an Banks.
The history of the oldest banking institution of Sullivan county
involves the names of some of its oldest citizens and business men. The
Crowders, the Hokes, the Buttons and Crawdeys are family names that
have at various times been associated with the oldest bank, and Jacob F.
Hoke and William H. Crowder, Sr., have been identified w ith the Sullivan
State Bank since the original institution was established as the Sullivan
County Bank. Mr. Crowder was president of the bank from 1875 until
1897. In the latter year, the Farmers State Bank of Sullivan and the
Sullivan County I]ank having been consolidated, JMr. Hoke, who had
owned a controlling interest in the State Bank since 1892, became president
of the new institution. Mr. Hoke shares with Air. Crowder the honor of
being the oldest bankers of Sullivan county, and while Mr. Hoke is presi-
dent of the bank, the elder Air. Crowder is a director and W. H. Crowder,
Jr., is cashier of the Sullivan State Bank.
The charter for the first national bank in this county was granted in
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 277
January, 1872, and on the 9th of lliat month the bank was organized at
Sulhvan by the election of five directors, wIkj chose as their executive offi-
cers, Mr. H. J. Ijarnard president, and Mcdford B. Wilson cashier. In
April, 1874, Air. Wilson on leaving Sullivan sold his stock to Thomas K.
Sherman, who became cashier in his stead. The three-story bank building
on Washington street was built in 1873. The First National Bank of
Sullivan went into voluntary liquidation January 8, 1878.
After the liquidation of the First National, the Farmers National was
established and was operated under national charter until 1884, when it
became the Farmers State Bank, and continued thus until merged in the
Sullivan State Bank.
The Sullivan County Loan and Trust Company filed articles of incor-
poration, July 28, 1903, the directors for the first year being C. L. Davis,
A. E. Hazelrigg, C. J. Sherman, J. K. Smock, J. R. Riggs^ C. H. Ed-
wards, W. C. Jamison. The capital stock of this institution was placed at
$100,000.
The People's State Bank of Sullivan was organized in the fall of
1906, the principal stockholders being George R. Button, formerly cashier
of the Sullivan State Bank, and Joshua Beasley, of the abstract firm of
Beasley and Brown. The first directors, elected in October, 1906, were
John T. Hays, William Powell, Joseph T. Akin, Joshua Beasley and
George R. Button.
The National Bank of Sullivan was organized in 1900, and has a capi-
tal of $100,000. Charles L. Bavis is president of this bank.
Carlisle.
Carlisle had no banking facilities until 1892. In that year E. W.
Akin, Sr., Joseph T. and Charles T. Akin, all members of the well-known
old family of that name, organized the People's Bank of Carlisle. A pri-
278 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
vate bank, it lias filled a large want in the business community and has
received the hearty support of all citizens, whose confidence in the integ-
rity and reliability of the owners is complete. Originally the bank had a
capital of $25,000. but on the reorganization in 1902 this was raised to
$35,000. and in 1907 again increased to $50,000. Edgar W. Akin, Sr.,
has been president since the foundation of the bank, and his son, E. W.
Akin. Jr., is cashier.
During" the past decade banks have been organized in other centers
of the count^•, though previous to that time it was customary for one or
more of the business men of the town to manage a small private banking
business. At Shelburn is the First National Bank, organized in 1904.
The Hvmera State Bank was organized in 1906, R. L. Ladd being presi-
dent. At Farmersburg two private banks were organized about 1902, and
in 1905 one of them became the Citizens State Bank, with \\'. S. Baldridge
president. The Dugger State Bank was organized in 1904, Joseph Moss
and William R. Dugger being those chiefly interested.
Building and Loan Associations.
The first organization of a building and loan association in Sullivan
county was effected at Sullivan in February, 1883. Its capital stock of
$200,000 was divided into shares of $200 each. The directors for the first
vear were: \\". H. Crowder, Joseph P. Stratton. ^klurray Briggs, AT B.
Wilson, \\\ G. Young. The executive officers were [Murray Briggs, presi-
dent ; \\'illiam H. Crowder, vice president : James Burks, secretary ; Pat.
McEneny, treasurer.
Two years after the organization it was reported that the stockholders
had paid $26.40 on each share, the present value of the individual shares
being estimated at $34.83, and that an aggregate sum of $10,000 had been
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 279
loaned. At the end of six years, about $80 had been jiaid on each share,
and the vahie of the sliares had risen to about $125 apiece.
In the latter part of January. 1889, a l)uildin^-, sa\ings and loan asso-
ciation was formed on a new ])lan. known as the Bedford plan of issuing
stock in different series. Nine directors were to be elected each year, those
chosen for the first beino- \\'. H. Crowder, B. F. Knotts, 1. 1 1. Ivalley, C. J.
Sherman. Jv. II. Crowder, A. U. Williams, William Willis, A. J. Stewart.
Sol T. Wolfe. About two years later, in September, i8(ji. it was voted
that borrowers in the old association could Ikivc tlieir mortgages can-
called In' pacing thirty dollars on each share, and that those who had
stock which had not been used as a basis for borrowing could surrender the
saiue and receive $162 a share.
The report fif the new association, three years after its organiza::on.
stated that 1,33'' shares had been issued, loans had l)een made on 454,
and the present capital was represented in first-mortgage notes of face
value $45,400. Through the means afiforded b\- the association, 49 persons
had purchased homes, 42 had built new dwellings ; and of the loans for
these purposes, 'J2 had lieen made in Sullivan and 19 in the surrounding
towns and countr}-.
A building and loan association at Farmersburg was incorporated in
February, 1893. with a capital stock of $100,000. The first directors were :
W. S. Baldridge, William Lash, R. H. \'an Cleve, T. W. Kennedy, W.
Foote, S. W. Brown. George Heap.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE PRINCIPAL CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
Methodist Cluii-chcs. — In 1885 Rev. M. S. Heavenridge, then pastor
in charge of the Alethodist church at Snlhvan. prepared an historical paper
which reviewed the work and growth of the Methodist church in this
county from the beginning of the century. This paper, which was pub-
hshed in the Dci>iocrat of August i8th, is the basis for the fohowing
account.
Up to 1818 the country all along the line of the E. & T. H. Railroad,
from A'incennes to Terre Haute, was almost an unbroken wilderness.
Among the families then settled here w^ere some jSIethodists, most of
whom had been converted in the great revivals in Kentucky and Tennes-
see, and who were formed into circuits which were visited at great inter-
vals. Peter Cartwright, the famous itinerant evangelist, had organized the
Vincennes circuit in 1808, which in 181 1 extended from the Ohio river
north as far as there was any white population on the Wabash. In 1821
the \'incennes circuit was divided, and the newly formed Honey Creek
circuit embraced all the country on the \\'abash from Terre Haute to the
Knox county line. The appointments in this circuit in 1825 were — Car-
lisle, Johnsons', Robbins', Walls'. \\'eir's, Wilkins', Merom. Bonds', and
Graham's, in Sullivan county, and Jackson Jr., Jackson Sr., Ra3's' and
Barns', in \ igo county.
280
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 281
At the session of the Missouri conference in 1821, Samuel Hamilton
was appointed presiding elder for Indiana, and David P. Chamberlain
was sent to the Honey Creek circuit, being succeeded in the fall of 1822
by Hackaliah Verdenbergh, who remained one year. In 1823 William
Beauchamp was appointed presiding elder and Samuel Hull preacher in
charge. At the quarterly meeting of April 17, 1824, at Jonathan Gra-
ham's, a committee consisting of Joe AI. Baker, John Jean, Bailey Johns-
ton, Jonathan Webb and Meshack Hunt was appointed to meet the trustees
of the Carlisle meeting house for the purpose of making a purchase there
if possible. In October, 1824, William Beauchamp died at Paoli, and
James Armstrong succeeded him. Charles Holliday was appointed pre-
siding elder in 1825, and Richard Hargraves preacher in charge. About
this time the Honey Creek circuit was again merged with the Vincennes
circuit. The total amounts paid by the different classes in this year was
$34,371/,, the salary of the presiding elder for the year was $50 and $5
house rent. Stephen R. Beggs was the next preacher in charge and S. C.
Cooper assistant preacher. In 1827 John Miller and Ashael Risley were
appointed to the circuit.
In 18
