The Indiana quarterly magazine of history

cir:

The Indiana Quarterly
Magazine of History

Volume I--1905

V-W.

George S. Cottman

Indianapolis Indiana
Editor and Publisher

687356

o^4~K/i/v to JjXJCi^Cryi

Indiana's First Historian.

The Indiana Magazine of History

vol. i First Quarter, 1905 no. i

Our Reasons for Being.

BY way of introducing this magazine and justifying its existence
we cannot, perhaps, do better than repeat, in substance, what
was said in a Prospectus recently issued by us.

That the historical material of Indiana has never been ade-
quately preserved and rendered accessible is a fact patent to all who
„ . „ . „ have occasion to deal with such material. The dere-
tarly Neglect Ol liction of the State itself -m the earlier days in caring
Documentary eyen for itg official documents exemplifies a neglect
Material that hag bgen genera} By way of illustration, on the

old statute books stand laws that require the preservation in the
State Library of a number of copies of the general and local laws,
and of the Senate, House and Documentary Journals; that require
the careful indexing of the Documentary Journals; that require the
alphabetical arrangement and binding into volumes of bills, peti-
tions and other legislative papers. No efforts seem to have been
made until later years to obey any of these statutory requirements,
and so far as the culpable neglect has been rectified it was by the
collections and clerical efforts of recent librarians. Even with these
efforts complete sets of our State documents have not been secured,
and much other matter of value has passed away beyond recovery.

Much material not within the jurisdiction of the State has also
passed away and is daily passing. Old men who have had a part in
the history of the commonwealth die, and with them is going the
D D last dwindling remnant of first-hand knowledge of the

Present Freventa- phases of life that have been; they leave papers, jour-
nie LOSSeS. na^s an(^ varjous documents of interest, and these,

descending to indifferent heirs, become irretrievably lost. To gather
from surviving pioneers their testimonies, and to save from oblivion
documents still accessible is a thing to be desired.

An interest in these things in this State sufficient to support a
magazine of local history is only a matter of time. Such interest
is not a sporadic one but a natural growth. Already something like
a score of States are represented by as many periodical historical

2 The Indiana Magazine of History

. , . . publications, a number of them quarterly magazines,
... jL " devoted to the preservation of local material. Some
West 1D mtT of these, such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minne-
sota, are younger States than ours with, perhaps, less
history to record. Most of the publications mentioned have back of
them the Historical Societies of their several States. We, unfortu-
nately can look to no central organization for such support, but
local societies are springing up in a number of counties, and if these
will evince an interest proportionate to the service we can render
them they can go far toward making our publication a success.

To the members of these societies and to others who think an
interest in our past worth promoting as of value to the present,
then, we make an appeal. We have launched the magazine at a
venture and at some sacrifice in the faith that if we can make a
worthy showing the support will be forthcoming. It is not our dis-
position to resort to any foisting or booming method. We assume
that the class we desire and hope to reach will take our effort ex-
actly at its worth, and that if every page we present to them is full
of matter that justifies itself no better advertisement will be needed.
For the first year, if need be, we are willing to make no account of
managerial and editorial labors if the actual cost of publishing, dis-
tributing and associated expenses are covered.

This, of course, is experimental and is by no means the limit of
our hope. If our success justifies it we shall certainly expand our
scheme. One feature much to be desired, but prohibited in the
start by cost, is the reproduction of old maps and cuts of interest,
many of which exist but are lost to all but the delver.

The publication will be strictly what it purports to be at the
start — a magazine devoted to the preservation and collating of
n, . . matter that is of real value to the historical student.

Character and ^, •„ , • , .. . ,, .,

„ . There will be no space given to advertising wnte-

p X. ,. ups, " and no cheap padding. Of matter within its

legitimate field there is an abundance, and outside of
this field it will make no bid for popular favor.

Its intended scope (subject to extension, as may seem advis-
able) is —

i . The seeking out and publishing of hitherto unprinted docu-
ments that have an historical value.

2. The re-printing of valuable and interesting matter that is
buried away and practically lost in old newspaper files. Of this

Our Reasons for Being 3

there is much that is wholly forgotten, and, owing to the absence
of any guide, to be found only after long and patient research.

3. The conducting of a department of bibliography of historical
material now scattered through periodicals and local histories,
and of an indexing system that shall comprehend all important offi-
cial publications besides other matter of interest. We believe that
this will at once commend itself to all who have had occasion to
search out obscure information.

4. The binding together into a co-operative system (and this
is one of the important and hopeful objects) the various local his-
torical societies in the State, as well as the encouraging and pro-
moting of other such societies. The needful thing in Indiana
to-day, in this direction, is the historical "atmosphere," that shall
stimulate work all along the line and inspire the student in his-
tory with a sense of the usefulness of such study. This once
existing there is no reason why much should not be accomplished,
and it is to those who have already started societies and otherwise
manifested an interest that we must look for the creation of such
an atmosphere by the uniting of their efforts.

5. The publication of original studies in Indiana history by
careful and trustworthy students. Some of the best history work
being done at present is intensive, dealing with special aspects
and of limited compass, but, by a corresponding thoroughness,
particularly illustrative of great principles. Of work of this charac-
ter we can secure enough to add a desirable feature to our plan.

6. The promoting of history work, particularly State and local
history, among teachers and in the schools. On this point we wish
to be distinctly understood. The habit of "working" the schools
as a lucrative field with many and various private enterprises is an
evil conspicuous, we presume, to most school officials, and obvious
to us. We have no intention of attempting to persuade teachers
and trustees as to their needs — they themselves should know their
needs better than we do — but this we have in mind: the interest in
home history is making way in the schools; in the development of
this interest and the directing of it to the most useful ends help and
co-operation not available hitherto will surely be a need. Such help
and co-operation we are ready to extend to the best of our ability.

To sum up, we feel quite satisfied that we can carry our
acceptably and well our proposed venture if our friends encourage
it, and we hope to receive this encouragement.

John Brown Dillon

The Father of Indiana History

TT is eminently fitting that we should begin this magazine with a
■*■ sketch of the man who not only ranks as Indiana's first and best
historian, but whose ideals, methods, character and accomplishment
we deem worthy to keep continually in mind as a model to follow
in historical work.

John B. Dillon may fairly be called "the father of Indiana his-
tory," for he was the first to enter that field with any seriousness of
purpose, and his contributions exceed in value any that have come
after. His real merit is best appreciated by those who seek historic
truth and accuracy — who want facts authenticated by the evidences
of thorough, conscientious research, and who like the same told in
simple, direct language, with no sacrifices for the sake of a popular
style. The sense of his perfect honesty and trustworthiness contin-
ually grows upon one that has occasion to use him much, and the
student of the period and locality with which he deals inevitably
comes to use him as the most satisfactory authority. No higher
compliment than this can be paid to a historian. Bancroft, Park-
man, Prescott, Motley were not more devoted to their chosen course
than Dillon, nor brought to their tasks riper qualifications, and had
he wrought in the broader field his name might have ranked with
theirs in the world's estimation. He had certain noble ideas, severe
and simple, as to the office of the historian, and no artist was truer
to his art than he to this ideal. They were not ideas that catered
in any sense to that popular taste that demands the picturesque
whatever may be the fate of truth. It is quite safe to say that he
would not, if he had been able, have heralded his works with a blast
of trumpets; and that, perhaps, is why even his own friends, as has
been affirmed, did not read his books and why he died in poverty.

Mr. Dillon, as a man, was modest to shyness, and so little dis-
posed to talk about himself, even to his nearest friends, that some-
thing like a mystery seems to hang over his life. According to the
... , „ , best authority he was born at Wellsburg, West Vir-

. .., ' , •' , ginia, in the year 1808. He learned the printer's
Lite and Work trade when a lad> afid drifted to Cincinnati, where he

remained ten years, working at the case. During this period he
brought himself into notice as a poet by verses contributed to

John B. Dillon 5

Flint's Western Review, the Western Souvenir, the Cincinnati
Gazette and other western periodicals; but this disposition evidently
wore off with his youth. A few of these poems, among them "The
Burial of the Beautiful," have been preserved in Coggeshall's col-
lection of western poets. In 1834 he migrated to L,ogansport, Ind.
Here he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but law was not
to his taste, and he never practiced.

About this time he seems to have taken up with his historical
studies and to be laying plans for his future "History of Indiana."
His first work was issued in 1843 and was called "Historical Notes
of the Discovery and Settlement of the Territory Northwest of the
Ohio. ' ' This was introductory to and contained much of the ma-
terial for a riper and more ambitious volume which, in 1859, ap-
peared under the title of "A History of Indiana." from its earliest
exploration to the close of the Territorial government in 18 16; to
which was added a general view of the progress of public affairs in
the State from 1816 to 1856. It is this work on which Dillon's fame
chiefly rests. The fruit of the next twenty years was a small vol-
ume entitled "Notes on Historical Evidence in Reference to Adverse
Theories of the Origin and Nature of the Government of the United
States," and a thick 8-vo. on the "Oddities of Colonial Legislation."
These four volumes, together with a few addresses* and a little
miscellaneous writing, represent more than forty years of research.

Few historians escape the charge of occasional mistakes, and
Mr. Dillon, doubtless, was not an exception to the rule; but, as we
have before said, a sense of his trustworthiness grows upon the
student, and the seeker after authentic information learns to regard
him as the most satisfactory authority on early Indiana affairs. It
is not easy to define the quality that begets confidence in a histor-
ian— it is, indeed, somewhat akin to the mystery of personality.
Suffice to say in this connection that Dillon's work throughout
bears the internal evidence of immense industry, unflagging perse-
verance and an ever-present purpose to find and state the truth. Of
his industry and its breadth of scope, too, we have other evidence.
In the preface to his "Historical Notes" he refers to "many official
documents, * * * a very great number of printed authorities, and
many thousand pages of old manuscript records and letters;" and

*One of these addresses. "The National Decline of the Miami Indians," was delivered
before the Indiana Historical Society in 1848, and is published in its collection.

6 The Indiana Magazine of History

in the preface to his History he speaks of ' 'historical researches
which for a period of about twenty years have been perseveringly
extended over a very large field," and adds this paragraph:

"For the privilege of examining valuable and interesting private collec-
tions of manuscripts and other documents relating to the early civil and
military affairs of Indiana, my public thanks are due to Hon. John Scott Har-
rison, of Ohio; Hon. William G. Armstrong, of Clark County, Indiana; the
family of Capt. Robert Buntin, of Indiana; Elihu Stout, esq., of Knox county,
Indiana; the family of Gen. Hyacinth Lasselle, of Indiana; and the family of
Gen. John Tipton, of Indiana. For the use of various important manuscripts
and other valuable documents, and for many interesting verbal statements con-
cerning the public affairs of Indiana, my acknowledgements have been ten-
dered to General Marston G. Clark, Major Ambrose Whitlock, Mr. Joseph
Barron, Prof. Bliss, Dr. Ezra Ferris, Hon. Wm. Polke, Gen. Walter Wilson,
Hon. John Law, Mr. Pierre Laplante, Hon. Williamson Dunn, Dr. Azra Lee,
Gen. Robert Hanna, Samuel Morrison, esq., Mr. Zebulon Collings, Hon. Isaac
Naylor, Major Henry Restine, Hon. Dennis Pennington, Col. Abel C. Pepper,
Hon. William Hendricks, Henry Hurst, esq., Col. John Vawter, Col. William
Conner, Hon. Stephen C. Stevens, Hon. John Ewing, Samuel Merrill, esq.,
Hon. John Dumont, John Dowling, esq., Hon. Albert S. White, Calvin Fletch-
er, esq., Hon. Oliver H. Smith, Hon. John H. Thompson, Major Alexander F.
Morrison, Dr. James S. Athon, Hon. Isaac Blackford, Samuel Judah, esq.,
Hon. Abner T. Ellis, Lawrence M. Vance, esq., Hon. Wm. J. Brown, Col-
Williamt Reyburn, and many other gentlemen who have, at different periods,
manifested a friendly interest in the progress of my historical researches in
the west. In the course of an examination of various old French manuscripts
relating to the early affairs of the country lying northwest of the river Ohio, I
have, at different times, received essential assistance from Rev. A. M. A. Mar-
tin, Dr. Luke Munsell, James W. Ryland, esq., and Col. John B. Duret."

To one familiar with the names of early Indiana notables this
quotation is of interest as showing that Dillon was widely in touch
with the men who were active in the history of the young common-
wealth, and it appears that he diligently improved his opportunities.
In this respect he had the advantage over all historians of a later
day, for not only did there exist for him, as the pioneer, the wealth
of a virgin field, but the venerable men then nearing their ends in-
timately knew the beginnings of the Territory and State.* Even

*In the preface to the Historical Noles he says: "A. list of the persons from whom I have
received rare and valuable manuscripts, and aid and encouragement in the midst of perplex-
ing difficulties, shall be published in the form of an appendix at the close of the second vol-
ume of this work." In his subsequent History no such appendix exists, and the paragraph
above quoted evidently takes its place. In the preface of the first book he mentions Rev.
Mr. Martin, of Vincennes; J. W. Ryland, Esq., of Cincinnati; J. B. Duret, Esq.. of I.ogans-
port, and Dr. Munsell. of Indianapolis, as having rendered assistance in the examination
and translation of French documents. In this preface, also, he gives an extended list of
works consulted.

John B. Dillon 7

the mass of the "manuscript records and letters" alluded to, which
might have been preserved for future students, seems to have passed
away, and in view of this loss we are doubly indebted to Dillon, who
ferreted them out and made such good use of them. General John
Coburn's sketch of Dillon,* which is the best published source of
information, states that when the latter was secretary of the State
Historical Society he prepared and issued many circulars to people
in various counties asking questions bearing upon all the prominent
facts in the history of different important localities. Answers were
received and filed away, and a large amount of data preserved for
future use, but this, Mr. Coburn tells us, ' 'has been stolen or des-
troyed; no trace of it remains." According to this writer Dillon
had supervision of the historical material contained in the large
State and county atlas of Indiana, published by Baskin, Forster &
Co., in 1876.

Mr. Dillon manifestly lacked either the disposition or the tact to
adapt himself to the work that promised most. The writing of the
"History of Indiana Territory" would easily and naturally, one
j,.,, , _, would think, open the way to a history of the State,

Dillon Stnaracter especialiy as that field was entirely new ground. If

PfU" fT he had S° directed his ener£ies he would, doubtless,
ratnetlC M haye supplied a real and much-felt need far more ade-
quately than any who have since attempted it. Of the two volumes
he produced instead, the "Notes on Historical Evidence," and
"Oddities of Colonial Legislation," it might be said that he could
hardly have chosen subjects less inviting to the popular taste. On
the other hand they are conceded to have a distinctive value. The
first- mentioned is searching and fundamental in its aim, and touches
the origin and nature of the United States government, and the
relations of State to Federal authority. Concerning the "Oddities"
it will suffice to again draw upon Mr. Coburn, who describes it as a
work "so full of information and so unique in character, bearing
such indubitable evidences of authenticated and conscientious re-
search that it is without a parallel in American literature, and will
be the perpetual text-book upon this subject. Here may be found
rare specimens of the vain, ridiculous and laughable efforts of the
legislators to patch up the ills of society, as quack doctor's medi-
cines are invented, put on the market and rejected." This book

♦Published in the collection of the Indiana Historical Society.

8 The Indiana Magazine of History

was his last work, being, indeed, unfinished at the time of his death-
It would seem that he found a purchaser for his manuscript before
its completion, for it is said that he received for it some three hun-
dred dollars — and this was his pecuniary return for years of labor !

Mr. Dillon was one of the many in the world's history who have
not prospered according to their deserts. He clove to his work with
that unflagging passion which should distinguish the true worker
in the exercise of his natural talent, but his books brought him
little remuneration. Unworldly, simple-minded and idealistic, with
little regard for self, he was illy qualified to contend for the world's
rewards. A few stanch friends, who were drawn to him by his
ability and worth and beauty of character, exercised over him a
sort of paternal care, and through their efforts he was appointed to
various public offices which for thirty years afforded him a living.
From 1845 to 1851 he was State Librarian, then assistant Secretary
of State and Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, and after that
an appointee to a clerkship in the Department of the Interior at
Washington City, where he lived twelve years. The last four years
of his life he spent in Indianapolis, poor almost to the verge of
want, his friends afterward suspected, although, with characteristic
reserve, he kept that fact to himself. There are many who remem-
ber the retired, gentle old man with the never-absent side-glasses
concealing his eyes. Being unmarried and entirely alone as re-
garded blood ties, he occupied a poorly -furnished room by himself
in the top of the old Johnson block, where the State Life building
now stands. Here he died on the 27th of February, 1879. Not
until his effects were examined was it known that he was so poor.
His very books had gone one by one to the second-hand store, like
household treasures to the pawn-shop, and his friends agree in be-
lieving that the fear of want hastened his end.

Forty years of honest, conscientious devotion; four books that
people would not buy, and death in a lonely garret face to face with
grim poverty because he wrought for the love of truth and not for
dollars — this is the life-story of John B. Dillon. He is buried in
Crown Hill, just west of the soldiers' graves, and the friends who
were kind to him in life have erected a fitting monument to his
memory. That he lies beside the heroic dead is well, for he, too,
gave his life to a cause and did his country a service.

G. S. C.

DOCUMENTARY

The Journal of John Tipton

Commissioner to locate Site for State Capital — 1820

[John Tipton, pioneer Indian fighter, soldier, legislator and United States
Senator, was a striking example of a certain type that has impressed itself
upon the early history of the western country of America. It is the pioneer
type — the uncultured, unlettered man, the product of a rude society, who, by
strong natural gifts has come to the fore and asserted himself with distinction
among the leaders of the land. Tipton, born of pioneer stock on the Tennesee
frontier, came to Harrison County, Indiana, in 1807, when 21 years old, and is
said to have soon taken rank as a leader of the law and order forces in his
neighborhood. Along with a local military company he joined General Harri-
son in the campaign against the Prophet's town in 1811, and in the famous
battle of Tippecanoe acquitted himself notably. That he rose by gradual pro-
motion, after this campaign, to the office of brigadier general is evidence of
his military capacity. With the admission of Indiana as a State and the crea-
tion of State and local offices he was elected sheriff of Harrison County, and
served as such until i8i9, when he was chosen to represent his district in the
legislature; and as representative he was re-elected in 182 1. When, in 1820,
commissioners were appointed to select a site for the permanent capital of the
State, he was considered a proper man for this important task; he was also
appointed a commissioner to act with an Illinois representative in fixing the
dividing line between the two States; and in 1823 President Monroe made him
general agent for the Miami and Pottowattomie Indians within our borders.
In 1831 he was elected by the legislature to fill out the unexpired term of U. S.
Senator James Noble, and in 1S33 he was re-elected for the full senatorial term-
He died in Logansport, April 5, 1839, aged 53 years.

Not the least interesting of Tipton's performances are the journals left by
him, which throw a light on his character, revealing his precise and methodical
habit and his keen attention to practical matters. Two of these journals are
of particular value. These are, the journal of the Tippecanoe campaign and
the one here published. Each is the most circumstantial account in existence
of the events chronicled. Of the commissioners' work in locating the capital,
there is practically no other document existent, the legislative reports being
exceedingly meager. The original manuscripts, once owned by John B. Dillon,
were found among his effects at his death, and are now in possession of Mr.
John H. Holliday, of Indianapolis. They were published by him in the In-
dianapolis News, in 1879, the one here printed in the issue of April 17, and
the Tippecanoe account on May 5. Otherwise they have been inaccessible to
the public. For best sketch of Tipton see W. W. Woollen's Biographical
and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana]

THE JOURNAL.

"on Wednesday the 17 of may 1820 I set out from Corydon in
Company with Gov' r Jennings I had been appointed by the last

io The Indiana Magazine of History

legislature one of the commissioners to select & locate a site for the
permanent seat of government of the state of Ind'a (we took with
us Bill a Black Buoy) haveing laid in plenty of Baker (bacon?)
coffy &c and provided a tent we stopt at P Bells two hours then set
out and at 7 came to Mr Winemans (?) on Blue river, stopt for
the K't (night)

"thursday the 18th

' 'some frost set out early and set out at sunrise at % p 9 stopt
at Salem had breckfast paid $1.00 B &c and Bo't some powder
paper &c paid 2.12^ Set out at n crost muscakituck paid 25
cts and stopt at Col Durhams in Vallonia who was also a Commis-
sioner here we found Gen'l Bartholomew one of the commissioners
Gen'l J. Carr & Cap't Dueson of charlestown who was going out
to look at the country I cleaned out my gun after dinner we went
to shooting

"Friday 19 we set out early stopt at Browntown had Breck-
fast paid 50 cents set out at l/2 p 9 at one stopt at Cap't J.
Shields after Dinner we set (out) Cap't Shield went with us this
evening crost the river at the lower rapids after traveling about
7 miles through good land encamped and stretched our tent near a
pond this is the first time I have stretched or slept in a tent
since 18 14.

"Saturday the 20

Cap't Shields left us and returned home we set out before sun-
rise and at 45 p 6 came to John Reddick who lives on S 19 T 8 N
of R 6 W* fine land fed paid 42^ set out at 8 at 5 p 12 came
to the upper Rappids of Drift at the plaice where we made Bark
Cannoes to carry a wounded man down to vallonia on the 20th of
June 18 1 3 Stopt let our horses graze set out at 1 and 15 p 3
came to John Berry f who lives on S 5 T 10 N of R 5 E good land
good water and timber

♦Obviously a mistake. Range 6 east is meant.

fjohn Berry, whose cabin stood at the mouth of Sugar Creek, in Johnson County, is de-
serving of notice as the man who cut a "trace" into the heart of the wilderness which was
the route of ingress for many of the first settlers of Indianapolis and contiguous territory,
Berry's Trace, as it was called, began at Napoleon, Ripley County, ran north-westward to
Flat Rock and Blue River, thence northward beyond Berry's house, it would seem, for we are
told of its crossing the "Whetzel Trace" near the site of Greenwood. Nineveh Berry, a well-
known citizen of Anderson, was a son of John Berry, and for him, it is said, Nineveh Creek,
in Johnson County was named. See Nowland's Early Reminiscences, pp. tj, 14.

Tipton's Journal n

"Sunday 21 set out at y2 p 4 at 5 passed a corner of S 36 T
11 N of R 4 E passed a plaice where Bartholomew and myself had
encamped in June 18 13 missed our way traveled east then turned
Back at 8 stopt on a mudy Branch Boiled our coffy set out at 9
at }4 p 9 I killed a deer the first I have killed since 18 14 at 10
came on the traice at creek found tree where I had wrote my name
and dated the 19th June 1813 we traveled fast and at 7 encamped
on a small creek having traveled about 45 miles

Monday, 2 2d

"a fine clier morning we set out at sunrise at l/2 p 6 crost fall
creek at a ripple stopt to B (bathe ?) shave put on clean Clothes
<&c this creek runs for between 30 & forty miles perrellel with
White river and about 6 or 8 miles from it in this creek we saw
plenty of fine fish set out at 9 and passed a corner of S 32 & 33 in
T 17 N of R 4 E at 15 p 11 came to the lower Delaware Town*
crost the river went up the n w side and at one came to the house
of William Connerf the plaice appointed for the meeting of the com-
missioners he lives on a Prairie of about 250 acres of the White R
Bottom a number of Indian Huts near his house on our arrival
we found G Hunt of Wayne County John Conner of Fayett Stephen
Ludlow of Dearborn John Gilliland of Switzerland & Thos Emtni-
son (Emerson) of Knox waiting for us Wm Prince and F Rapp
not being up we waited untill late in the evening We then met
and were sworn according to law and adjourned until tomorrow
evening

"Tuesday 23d went to shooting after B (breakfast?) we met
appointed a committee to Draft rule and adjourned untill 12 met
at 12 F Rapp appeared and was sworn We appointed G Hunt
chairman and B J Blythe clerk and adjourned untill tomorrow to
meet at the mouth of Fall creek Bartholomew Durham Con (Con-
ner?) Dueson and myself * * I paid $1.87^ & $1.00 for mocke-
sons set out stopt at the lower town for the Kt

"Wednesday the 24th a dark morning at 9 Gov'r Jennings
with the other comrs came on us set out for the mouth of fall

*See article in this number on Indian towns in Marion County.

tWilliam Conner was an Indian trader who established himself on White River some
four miles south of the site of Noblesville early in the century. He was a brother of John
Conner, one of the commissioners, who was the founder of Connersville. These brothers,
particularly William, were of great service to the government in its dealings with the In-
dians of this region, and they merit fuller biographies than have ever heen written of them.

12 The Indiana Magazine of History

creek the town we are now in is high Dry rich Bottoms very large
one of the most beautiful on the river but Timber scarce we crost
the river x/2 mile below to the S E side * * this Town after trav-
eling some distance along the Traice that led to the mouth of fall
creek Bartholomew myself and some * * turned off at 20 p 11 to
see the river at 12 came on the river at 1 stopt on a bluff near
200 feet high the air cool and pleasant here we took Dinner and
set out at 45 p 1 at 1 5 p 2 crost fall creek then rode through a very
rich piece of land the large timber all Dead we are told it was
killed some years since by worms* the under growth at this time
mostly prickly ash and very thick which makes it very difficult for
us to ride through at )4 p 3 got to Mcormicks who lives on the
river quarter of a mile below the mouth of fall creekf Last Kt I
staid in an Indian Town saw some Drunk Indians this morning
eat at the Table of a Frenchman who has long lived with the In-
dians and lives like them he furnished his table for us with eggs
&c altered times since 181 3 when I was last here hunting the In-
dians with whom we now eat drink and sleep they have now sold
their land for a trifle and prepareing to leave the country where
they have laid their fathers and relatives, in which we are now
hunting a site for the seat of Govrt of our State The Bank of the
river on which Mcormick lives is from 25 to 30 feet above the water
at this time the country Back is high Dry and good soil but the
timber is scarce Govr Jennings Bartholomew Durham Con and
myself went down the river 1 mile to camp

"Thursday 25

"at Y^ p 2 Bartholomew Durham & myself went fishing caught
plenty of fine large fish returned the morning cloudy some rain

*This total destruction of early forest areas by "worms" is not without interest to the
student of arboriculture. In the first days of Indianapolis some 200 acres within the do-
nation known as the "caterpillar deadening" was cleared of brush, fenced in and tilled as
a common field. See Holloway's Indianapolis, p. 9. From Tipton's location at the time of
making his note this deadening was probably the one he saw. A little further on he speaks
of another deadening, mentioning that it was of sugar trees.

tThe McCormick settlement, at the mouth of Fall Creek, was one of three sites that the
commissioners seem to have had in mind beforehand. According to Nowland it consisted of
"four or five families, viz: Hardings, Wilson, Pogue and McCormicks, all of whom had come
that spring. Albert Wilson, a son of John Wilson, has told the editor that his father, in
company with the McCormicks and George Pogue, came from Connersville, following an
Indian trail that led from the Whitewater to a White River ford at the mouth of Fall Creek.
These settlers, as well as those at the "Bluffs" were, of course, "squatters," as the country
had not yet been opened for settlement.

Tipton'' s Journal 13

Bartholomew and me went out to look at the land the comrs came
down we set out for the Bluffs Distance Down the river about 15
miles the Govr started (?) here at McCormicks at )4 p n after
traveling some distance on a small traice at 45 p 12 came to the
river in a wide bottom that is inundated Staid 1 hour set out
very hard rain passed very bad swamp one horse crippled some
of my coleags say the times is very hard came to the traice the
rain fell in Torronts at % p 4 Bartholomew Durham Carr Dueson
& me stopt in some Indian camps after getting fire kindled and
our clothes dry we had a pleasant kt the land here high Dry and
rich Immediately (?) on the River in T 14 N of R 3 E went to Rest

Friday 24

"the morning clier cool pleasant my horse with two more miss-
ing I wrote some letters home while I was riting Col D found our
horses the commissioners that had went to the Bluff last kt re-
turned B D and myself went down to see the Bluffs* they waited
here for our return we found the Bluff in T 13 N of R 2 E in S 1 3
the Bluff is about 150 feet above the river but verry uneven the
water good Genl Carr [and] Capt Dueson started home and left us
out of this Bluff issues a number of fine springs one of which some
distance back from the river has near 20 feet fall Back of this
Bluff runs a beautiful creek they front on the river near 1 mile
if they were level on top it would be the most beautiful site for a
town that I ever have seen Saw the R line between R2&3E
and the carries (?) of S 12 & 13 in T 13 N of R 2 E we then re-
turned to our camp and set out to examine the n w side of the river
crost in an overflowed bottom at 2 came to a plaice where the
river turns to the west making a very short Bend runs hard against
the w shore and seems to be a very difficult pass for boats of burthen
at this plaice the growth is all young timber some remains of oald
cabbins I am told there was once an Indian village here * * Wm
Eander who lives 1 mile back from the river told me that an Indian
said the French once lived here and that the Indian went to school
to a Frenchman in this plaice but they left it about the time of

*At the bluffs of White River, in Morgan County, where Waverly now stands, was a set-
tlement founded by Jacob Whetzel, one of the brothers famous in the annals of Indian war-
fare. Whetzel cut a trace from the Whitewater to this point, and was followed and joined
here by several other families. See Nowland's Early Reminiscences; also, an article in the
Indianapolis News, Sept. 3, 1897.

14 The Indiana Magazine of History

Hardin's Campain which [was] about 33 years ago* the country con-
tinues high and good from some distance back from the river Mr
Lander (?) has planted some corn here the timber very scarce here
that is fit for building &c after viewing this plaice we set out and
traveled up the river the land rolling at 3 crost a Branch at 4
came to a beautiful clier pond or lake about 60 yards wide seeming
nearly from n to sf the water clier the Bottom gravley a plenty of
fish we drank some and continued on our course at 45 p 5 crost
Eagle creekj a beautiful creek sufficient to turn a mill at 6 our co
(company?) became uneasy and at (?) we crost the river to the s e
side and at 7 arrived at the mouth of Fall creek found Govr Jen-
nings had went up to conners

"Saturday 27th

"a fine clier morning venr cool before breckfast we walked
out to look at the Bottom had breckfast &c Durham paid $2.25
at 9 we crost to the n w side we crost at the mouth of Fall creek
the n w side below the mouth of the creek is low and overflows
above is some high land at 45 p 11 came to the river Boiled our
cofly after some time spent on the n w we crost to the s e side
the comrs then met and agreed to select and locate the site Town-
ship 15 north of R 3 K which Township was not divided into sec-
tions but Judge Wm B L,oughlin of Brookville in whose district the
Township lies having been instructed by the Surveyor General to
to give every facillity in his power to the comrs in the completion
of their duty we agreed and hired a man to carry a letter to his
camp for which we gave him $2.00 Bartholomew Col Durham &
Jonathan Woodberry a friend of mine from Hardinsburg with whom
I have just went 1 mile down the river and encamped for the Kt
Some of the comrs came to our camp we had a pleasant evening

"Sunday 28 a cool clier day we met at 6 Judge Loughlin
came on and stated that it would take 10 days to progress so far
with the surveys as to enable us to progress with our business on
motion the comrs then adjourned to meet again on next Monday
week at 45 p 11 we set out for Wm Conners J Conner and G
Hunt two of the comrs went home the rest to Wm Conners we

♦See article on Indian towns.

tProbably the bayou locally known as Lannigan's Lake, near south line of Marion Co.

%Note — Eagle and Fall creeks had received their names at this early date.

Indian Towns in Marion County 15

traveled about 3 miles and crost fall creek the land being levil and
rich from the river to this plaice the most of the timber for some
distance from the river having been sugar tree has been killed abt
2 years since by the worms and is now thickly set with prickly ash
near the creek the timber better after we crost the creek we trav-
eled about 8 miles between the river and creek the land equally
good timber mostly Sugar Buckeye Hackberry Cherry Walnut &c
every quarter section is worth twice the Govert price we crost to
the n w side below the lower (Indian) town Recrost at Conners
Prairie found the men playing favourite game which they call
mockuson which is played with a bullit and 4 mockusons* then
went to view the ground on which Bartholomew and me had in-
camped in June 17th 18 13"

(Concluded next number).

Indian Towns in Marion County

THE reference in the Tipton Journal to two Indian towns on
White River between Conner's trading post and the bluffs, one
in existence at that time and the other a tradition, is a contribution
to an uncertain subject. The existence of a Delaware town in the
north part of Marion County, near where Allisonville now stands,
is recognized by Ignatius Brown and Berry Sulgrove in their his-
tories, and the former tells of an old white woman who remained
there after the tribe had left. This woman had been captured when
a child, had reared a half-breed family, and her forgotten story seems
to have been very like that of the more famous Frances Slocum.
Very little information is to be had about this town, and it is treated,
rather, as a tradition at the time of the first white occupancy. Tip-
ton's statement, however, establishes that it was there in 1820.
The town that once stood where the river crosses the south line
of the county was still more a thing of vague report. Prof. Ryland
T. Brown, in the Indiana Geological Report for 1882 (see p. 97)
affirms, though without giving his authority, that it was the village
of a Delaware chief named Big Fire, a friend to the whites; that it
was destroyed by the Madison Rangers, in 181 2, in revenge for the

*fiee article on the game of Moccasin, in this number.

1 6 The Indiana Magazine of Hittory

Pigeon Roost massacre, and that Governor Harrison had no little
trouble in pacifying the chief. Incidentally it may be surmised
that Tipton, who was, presumably, familiar with the local military
operations of that period, and who had himself campaigned here in
1 813, as evidenced by his journal, would have know of the Madison
Rangers affair; and William Landers' testimony added to this pretty
well negatives Prof. Brown's assertion.

In the Indianapolis News for May 4, 1899, appeared an article
gleaned from C. T. Dollarhide, of Indianapolis, which recounted
the tradition of the neighborhood in question as handed down by
the narrator's grandfather, John Dollarhide, and other early settlers.
Taken in connection with Tipton's information, and by its internal
evidence of traditionary genuineness, it would seem to have more
authenticity than any other statement upon the subject, and so
much of the interview as has a documentary value we here repeat.

Says Mr. Dollarhide: "My grandfather, John Dollarhide, settled
near the meeting point of Johnson, Morgan and Marion counties in
the year 18 19 or 1820. His reason for settling there was that he
found a considerable area of land from which the great forest trees
had been removed. This had again been covered by bushes and
small timber such as the settlers called second growth. That clear-
ing, my grandfather said, had been made by Indians, and that
ground had evidently been cultivated by them. My father said that
after heavy showers he and his brothers had picked up Indian orna-
ments of silver, such as were worn on the breasts of braves (a kind
of brooch) and other trinkets. When my father was a boy this
place was called 'the battle ground', and is so called by some old
people to-day. Tradition said that some time early in this century,
or at the close of the last century, a party of Kentuckians had
come to this Indian settlement and murdered the inhabitants.
It was said that there was at this place (the land, I believe, now
belongs, in part, to the estate of the late Eli Stone) a Catholic
mission of some kind, probably a Jesuit mission; but whether the
Jesuits were there when the massacre took place is not a part of the
tradition.

"In 1876 I became acquainted with Judge Franklin Hardin,
who settled in Johnson County about 1820. When he heard my
name, Dollarhide, he remarked that I must have come from the

'The Game of Moccasin 17

'battle-ground,' and I found that he had known my grandfather in
Kentucky. The Judge said that a relative of his, a Major Hardin,
of Kentucky, had told him of an expedition that was led against
this Indian village; that there was then, or had been, a French
mission there, and that the Indians had been massacred in regular
Kentucky fashion. The Judge said, I believe, that his relative had
told him of this massacre in Kentucky before he removed to Indiana,
and that he (the Judge) had no doubt that the 'battle-ground' was
the identical spot of which the Major had told him. The Major, it
was said, had taken part in this raid, which the Judge thought took
place about the year 1795.*

"In 1863, while making the Indianapolis & Waverly gravel
road, the workmen, digging into a gravel bank, threw out a number
of human bones. It is not too curious to connect these bones with
that massacre. * * My father told me that he had found a piece
of stone- work there — an arch, I believe — and that he was certain
that this piece, which was skilfully cut, could only have been fash-
ioned by a white man, and that it may have formed some part of
the French mission building, "f

The Games of Moccasin and Bullet

The following, written by the late Robert B. Duncan, a well-
known pioneer of Marion County, throws further light on the game
of "mockuson" spoken of by Tipton (see journal, p. 15).

"Bullet, as it was termed, was a gambling game considerably
used in its day; so much so as to cause the enactment [of a law]
making it a finable offense to play it. It was borrowed from the

*"On the 26th of August, 17S9, about two hundred mounted volunteers, under the com-
mand of Colonel John Hardin, marched from the Falls of the Ohio to attack some of the
Indian towns on the Wabash. This expedition returned to the Falls on the 28th of Septem-
ber, without the loss of a man — having killed six Indians, plundered and burnt one deserted
village, and destroyed a considerable quantity of corn." — Dillon, p. 220.

fSince the above was put in type the editor finds the question of this Indian town dis-
cussed at length by D. D. Banta, in the larger history of Johnson County, pp. 2S3-2S6. Judge
Banta's conclusion would seem to be in line with Mr. Dollarhide's version. For further
information touching the white captive of the upper town see The Western Censor (Indi-
anapolis public library), June 11, 1823.

1 8 The Indiana Magazine of History

Delaware Indians,* who were great experts in playing- it, and were
inveterate gamblers. I well recollect frequently seeing them play-
ing the game, which was then called "moccasin," and was played
in this wise:

"The professional gambler would spread upon a smooth, level
grass plat a large, well-dressed deer skin, upon which he would
place in a semi-circular form, within convenient reach of the player,
a half-dozen newly-made moccasins. The game consisted in the
use of a large-sized bullet held in his hands and shown to those
looking on and desiring to take part in the game, and then, in a
hurried and very dextrous manner, placing his hand under each
moccasin, leaving the bullet under one of them. Betting was then
made as to which one of the moccasins the bullet was under. A9
the manner of shuffling the hands under each moccasin was done
so rapidly and skilfully that it was impossible for the by-standers
to see under which the bullet was left, it will thus be seen that the
chances were largely in favor of the gambler.

' 'The few whites inclined in this direction learned this game from
the* Indians, and after the removal of the latter from the country
kept up the game, using private rooms and covered tables in place
of grass plat and buckskin; and for want of moccasins, using caps,
and changing the name from "moccasin" to "bullet." this game
continued to be played to such an extent as to cause the legislature
to enact a law making it a finable offense. This law, with the in-
troduction of the more secret and convenient means of gambling
still in use, soon caused the game of bullet to become one of the
lost arts.f"

♦The game was also a favorite one with the Miamis and Pottowattomies.

^ Query— Is the "shell" game of the present day a surviving form of "moccasin?"

Gleaned from the Pioneers

[Under this heading we will aim to present, from issue to issue, reminis-
cences gathered at first-hand from surviving pioneers, and written in a popular
vein. While the Indian story, immediately below, does not fall precisely
within this scope, it seems as good a place as any to insert it. — Ed.]

An Indian Story

ALONG the Wabash and Mississinewa rivers, in northern
Indiana, where the red man and his traditional lore are not yet
quite forgotten, there lingers many a fugitive story which has never
found the publicity of print. Those who know them are yearly
becoming scarcer, but an industrious collector might still glean an
interesting harvest. Here is a sample which we have picked up
from Gabriel Godfroy, a son of Francis Godfroy, who was the last
war-chief of the Miami Indians. Gabriel Godfroy, the most notable
Indian now to be found in Indiana, lives a few miles east of the city
of Peru, on a small remnant of the ample lands once reserved to
his father.* With the true primitive instinct he treasures the un-
written history of his people as it has been handed down from sire
to son, and this story, told in a quaint style that must be largely
lost in the writing, is only one of many. The narrative is grue-
some, but reflects the Indian life and spirit, and has the ethnic
value — the value of the folk-story.

Once a young Miami brave took to wife a daughter of the Wea
tribe, further down the Wabash, and because of her left his own
people to go and live among the strangers. While the Miami was
still a stranger a marauding band of Kickapoos caught and scalped
a Wea woman, and the cry arose for vengeance. A council was
held, and when the braves sat in circle the head man of the village
passed around with a war club, offering it to each in turn. If one
took the club it signified that he accepted the leadership of a war
party to pursue the enemy; but that not only meant danger — it also
meant disgrace to the leader if the expedition failed. One by one
the braves let the club pass. Ere it reached the Miami he thought
much. To accept it was to risk much, but to let it pass was to show
fear, and he had his reputation to establish among his new friends;
so when it came to him he took it and became chief of the war party,
pledged to avenge the wrongs done his people.

♦Since writing the above we understand that Gabriel has lost even this remnant.

20 The Indiana Magazine of History

Then the armed braves started out on the trail. Ere long they
came to the rude picture of a buck cut on the bark of a tree. This
was the totem sign of the leader of their foes, and the carving was
an act of bravado. When they saw the sign the Weas paused and
spoke discouragingly to each other. They knew the Buck. His
boldness and his craft were notorious, and often before they had
sought vengeance for his deeds, but to no avail. To pursue him
now was of no use, they said, and they would have turned back;
but their Miami leader said no — they must follow and pit cunning
against cunning. So they followed for many miles, the trail grow-
ing hotter, till at length they came in sight of their enemies' smoke.
Then they went warily as wild beasts creeping upon their prey, and
when they had drawn near two of them, disguised as wolves, crept
closer yet and found the Kickapoos lolling beside their fire, the
leader being distinguished by a buck tattooed upon his thigh.
When the two Weas returned to their companions a council was
held. They outnumbered their foes, and it was decided that the
party should creep up and, if possible, kill all but the Buck — him
they would take alive and be revenged for all the trouble he had
caused them. They managed well, and the Kickapoos were shot
down before they could offer fight, but when they came to lay hands
upon the Buck he was so strong that he threw them aside like chil-
dren till one Wea, older and more experienced than the others,
struck him across the muscles of his arms with a war-club, when
his hands fell powerless. So they took and bound him. When the
Buck saw that no further resistance could avail he bade his captors
burn him then and there and save themselves trouble, for he would
not go with them to be sport for their village. This was not what
they wished, for their greatest glory would be to return to their
people leading their prisoner in triumph to be sacrificed before them
all. No cruel forcing that they could devise, however, would make
him go. He taunted them, defying them to burn him there, until
at length they bound him to a tree and piled the fagots about him.
When the fire began to burn he asked for a pipe to smoke. It was
given him, and as the flames licked about his flesh he calmly smok-
ed until, the life slowly driven out, the pipe dropped from his mouth
and he hung limp in his bonds. So he frustrated his enemies at the
last, but they returned in triumph, having ridded themselves of the
Buck, and the young Miami had won glory for himself.

Gleaned from the Pioneers 21

But glory, among the red men as among the white, is sometimes
harder to maintain than it is to gain. In course of time another
hostile band committed depredation upon the Weas, and again the
Miami, who had succeeded so well before, led a party in pursuit.
The trail they followed led across a little swampy place, and from
the end of a log the fugitives had passed over the soft ground, each
leaping in the tracks of the first one. When the leader of the Weas
came to the end of the log he too leapt into the first foot-print made
by their enemies, 'and he found himself out-witted by their cunning;
for in this first track they had skilfully sunken an arrow with the
barb pointing upward and concealed just beneath the surface. On
this he came with all his weight and ran his foot through and
through, so that his party had to carry him back home humiliated
with failure.

Early Days at DePauw

ONE of the sprightliest "recollectionists' ' in Indianapolis is the
venerable John W. Ray, Hoosi'er octogenarian, who during
his long life has been in the thick of things, and whose memory is
good. Some sixty years ago Mr. Ray entered the walls of DePauw
College, or, as it was then called, Asbury University, to equip him-
self for the battle of life, and what he has to say about it will per-
haps be of interest to DePauw folks, and some others as well.

"In those days," says Mr. Ray, "the boy who had his way paid
and his path made easy and pleasant was the exception. The large
proportion of them were of the pioneer type — poor boys, many of
them from the farm, who had to live at the minimum cost and work
at a maximum pressure. Their clothes were generally home-spun,
and fashioned by the loving hands of self-sacrificing mothers. Un-
der-clothes were regarded as effeminate, and were rarely worn, and
such superfluities of toilet as are now worn for the sake of adorn-
ment were but little in evidence.

"When I went there, in the early '40s three of us rented a room
for two dollars per month that was sumptuously furnished with a
stove and two or three chairs, an old bedstead and a straw tick,
which latter we were privileged to replenish at the straw-pile when
we wished. Here we cooked, ate, studied and slept. Our board

22 The Indiana Magazine of History

bills averaged about one dollar per week, and the fare gave us abun-
dant strength to fight our way through Greek, Latin, mathematics
and the applied sciences.

When James Harlan from Parke County came there with his
worldly effects done up in a beggarly bundle no one seemed willing
to trust him for his board, so he went to the president and offered
to do janitor work in the college for the use of a vacant room in the
building. The room was granted him and he managed to live there
and board himself, and in the end was one of those who have hon-
ored old Asbury. When he graduated he had not even a coat to
don, and in lieu thereof wore a calico dressing gown supplemented
by a pair of old slippers on his feet. About that time the Iowa
University was established, and soon after a committee from that
State came to Asbury in search of a good man for their president.
Harlan was recommended to them: he was sent for, and within
thirty days after his graduation in the dressing-gown he was in-
stalled as the new president of the new college. He became a
prominent citizen of his adopted State. In the winter of '45-'46
the Iowa legislature established a Department of Public Instruction,
and Harlan, although he was a Whig and the legislature was Dem-
ocratic, was chosen as superintendent. Subsequently he was hon-
ored with other offices, among them that of the U. S. senatorship.
He was Secretary of the Interior in President Lincoln's cabinet, and
also judge in the Court of Claims. James Harlan was a cousin of
Judge Harlan, of the Supreme Court Bench. He was the best de-
bater, the best logician and the best judge of men I ever knew. He
never wrote his speeches, but filled himself full of his subject and
out of that fulness spoke with eloquence and spontaneity.

"And by the way, do you know that Indiana has furnished
more citizens and more Methodists to Iowa than to any other State
in the west?.

"One of the brightest students of old Asbury, and one who, I
feel sure, would have made his mark had he been spared, bore the
odd name of Greenberry Short. Short came as a homeless wan-
derer to the office of Judge Samuel Hough, of Lafayette, and solic-
ited a job as office boy. Hough employed him, and before long
noticed that the lad spent all his leisure time dipping into the law
books. Becoming interested in him he encouraged him to enter
Asbury, rendering him such assistance as lay in his power. While

Gleaned from the Pioneers 23

there he made his way by doing janitor service and such work as
offered itself. He carried off the honors of his class, and after
graduation returned to study law in Judge Hough's office. But the
confinement proved fatal to him. He fell a victim to hasty con-
sumption and was cut off in the flower of his promise. I remem-
ber that we celebrated, or attempted to celebrate, Greenberry's
twenty-first birth-day in a way all our own. His face was pecu-
liarly soft and smooth, and taking our cue from that, we seized him
and bore him in triumph to a private room where one of the boys
was ready with a big basin and soap, a painter's brush and a huge
pruning knife. His face and head was plentifully lathered prepara-
tory to his maiden shave, but before the pruning knife could be ap-
plied the victim made a break for liberty and escaped down street,
lather and all.

"Daniel W. Voorhees was in the class just before mine. Voor-
hees was good in belle lettres, rhetoric and history, but in mathe-
matics, logic, languages, or in fact anything that took hard work,
he fell short. He was no such man as Harlan. Voorhees' acquire-
ments were on the surface, Harlans' in the depths.

"I may add that in those days there was no football, no baseball
and no college yells. Boys who were hungry enough for knowl-
edge to work their way to it by hands as well as by brains had less
need of those gentle diversions. We did, however, play townball
and cricket somewhat. We were also sturdy ramblers, and as to
our gymnasium it was, practically, all of Putnam County."

"Uncle Joe" Brown Talks

/~\NE of the "walking encyclopedias" of information touching
^'things historic is "Uncle Joe" Brown, who, although bent with
the weight of many years and patiently expectant of the Summons,
still holds his desk in the County Clerk's office, at Indianapolis,
where he does diligent daily service in the rounding out of a busy
life. A well-directed question suffices to start Uncle Joe, and he
will reel you off a medley which turns this way or that as one
theme suggests another.

24 Tbe Indiana Magazine of History

We were nosing among the old records of the Marion County
Commissioners' office, and finding sundry allusions to the office of
' 'fence viewer ' ' we went to Mr. Brown to learn what a fence- viewer
might be. He told us all about it. In early days, it seems, when
there were large unclaimed tracts and much sfock had the range of
the country, there was considerable trouble with animals breaking
into growing crops, what with breachy "critters" and poor fences.
This caused no end of wrangling — so much so, indeed, that a law
was passed defining a "legal fence," or one that in law should be
considered a sufficient guard. Along with this went a functionary
whose business it was to judge whether a man's fence was up to the
legal standard when his neighbor's hungry hordes visited his suc-
culent corn. This was the "fence-viewer." As the county came
to have less waste land and the liberties of the omnivorous cow and
elm-peeler were restricted the services of the viewer fell into desue-
tude and he passed into forgotten history. In importance and dig-
nity the office ranked along with that of road supervisor.

Something in this reminded Uncle Joe of a story of ex-Presi-
dent Tyler. After John Tyler retired from the presidential office
his neighbors of the other party, as a sort of a practical joke, and
also, perhaps, to show their opinion of his capacity, got together
-and elected him road-master; but they wote not they were casting a
boomerang. John accepted the office. The Virginia law gave this
functionary almost unlimited power in calling out citizens for road
service, and the distinguished road-master made the most of his
privileges. For about three months that year, in season and out of
season, he worked his constituency on the public highways till they
wished they hadn't done it. Tyler stood the "joke" better than
they did, and the traveling public got the benefit.

"Did yuu know," queried Mr. Brown, "that Jefferson, Madison
and Monroe were all justices of the peace after serving as President
of the United States?. They were, and they thought the, humbler
office worthy of them — which shows a more democratic spirit than
we find to-day. Besides, Jefferson and Monroe left the presidential
chair poor, and the justice's fees were not to be sneezed at in those
simple days. I don't know about Madison's circumstances — proba-
bly Dolly looked after them with her characteristic vim.

"I remember Dolly Madison. When I was a clerk in the United
States Senate she used frequently to visit that body and sit as a

Gleaned from the Pioneers 25

guest of honor beside the Vice-president. They were wont to show
her every mark of respect. Whenever she appeared business would
be suspended for the moment and she would be gallantly escorted to
her seat, usually by the venerable John Quincy Adams. She was
a fat old woman of seventy then, and he eighty-eight, and as they
marched up the aisle with stately gravity they were a pair to be
remembered.

John Quincy Adams — ah, there was a Nestor for you! He has
been frequently spoken of as 'the Old Man Eloquent,' but that does
not fitly characterize him. He had a squeaky voice, was not pre-
possessing as a speaker, and his power lay not so much in oratory
as in learning. He seemed to have read everything, ancient and
modern, and to have remembered everything. No one ever asked
him about anything but he could make it the theme for an off-hand
dissertation full of erudition. Withal, he knew how to use his
learning with trip-hammer effect. On one occasion Henry A. Wise,
of Virginia, eloquently and scathingly arraigned the abolitionists
for the mischief they were fomenting. Wise was a genuine orator,
and when he was done the abolitionists and their cause looked a
sorry spectacle. Then Adams arose to reply, and he took an hour
at the task. At the end of that hour Wise was simply annihilated,
and his argument, from first to last, torn to tatters. Mere oratorv
and super-heated feeling stood no show at all against countless facts
and sound logic. Wise himself, in response, said, with as much
grace as possible, that Mr. Adams might advocate any proposition
whatsoever and he, for one, would not again venture to enter the
lists against him. I remember one little thing that illustrated

Adams' Yankee caution. It was the custom of the Senate pages
to secure autographs of the notables, which, no doubt, they dis-
posed of to their own profit. I noticed repeatedly that Mr. Adams,
when he honored these requests, had a habit of signing his name at
the top of the sheet or slip, leaving very little margin above. Curi-
ous to know why he did this I once asked him about it, and in reply
he squeaked: 'I do that so no one can write a note over my name.'
I was sitting near Mr. Adams and was one of those who carried him
out of the Senate chamber when he was stricken down. He col-
lapsed in his seat as if shot, but rallied enough to gasp: 'And this
is the last of earth!' And so passed a great man.

26 The Indiana Magazine of History

"What other famous men have I known? More than I could
talk about or think of in one sitting, young man; and witnessed
more changes than most men of the present generation. I suppose
I am the only one now living who was present when the first public
trial was made of the magnetic telegraph. A dispatch was to be
sent from Washington to Baltimore, and the members of Congress
and others were invited to witness the test. Professor Morse had
been the guest of Henry L. Ellsworth, Commissioner of Patents,
and in courtesy he had invited Mr. Ellsworth's daughter, Anna, to
write the first message. She arrived a little late, and stepping at
once to an old desk that stood in a corner wrote this, from the
twenty-first chapter of Numbers: 'What God hath wrought.' Morse
transmitted this over the wire, and in about five minutes the answer
came back, and thus a new factor was introduced into civilization."

We had heard it stated that Mr. Brown had written the first re-
view of a Hoosier book ever written by a Hoosier, and we asked
him about it. "That," he said, "was the Indian poem, 'Elskata-
wa,' by George W. Cutter, better known to fame by his 'Song of
Steam.' I don't remember much about the review now, but one
incident in connection with Cutter I have reason for remembering
very vividly. Cutter fell in love with a Mrs. Drake, an actress,
here in Indianapolis, and, as became a poet, his falling was as deep
as it was sudden. He wanted her to marry, but the lady said nay.
She seems to have been persuaded at the last minute, however, and
just as she was on the eve of a nocturnal flight to make connection
with another engagement. At any rate it was a midnight marriage,
fully up to the standard of the romancist. At that time I happened
to be the clerk of whom people who wanted to amalgamate had to
get their license, and at an hour of the night so late that the
v^ry clocks had stopped running and gone to rest I was knocked
out of bed and haled across town through the grewsome darkness to
the court house to issue the required document. That is why I
have a particularly lively recollection of George W. Cutter.

"Well, well, I must get to work! Yes, young man, the fence-
viewer is an institution of the good old times — you will never see
his like again." And Uncle Joe turned once more to his unfin-
ished page of scribing.

CONTRIBUTIONS

• The Laws of Indiana as Affected by the
Present Constitution

By W. W. Thornton

Author of Thornton's Revised Statutes, The Gov't of the State of Indiana, etc.

THE first Constitution of the State of Indiana was completed
and adopted June 29, 18 16, and the State was admitted to the
Union the nth of the following December. The second Constitu-
tion was completed February 10, 1851, and went into force the 1st
day of the following November.

The Constitution of 1851 was not secured without a struggle
which extended over many years. The Constitution of 1 816 pro-
. j 1 n vided that every twelfth year the question of calling a
Antecedent ri'O- conventjon to revise or amend it should be submitted
V1S10IJS 01 the tQ the VQters at the generaI eiection, held for the elec-
fcCCOUd Ions I n tion of Governor> The first twelfth year came in 1 828,
when only ten counties reported, 8,909 votes being cast on the sub-
ject. Of these, 3,329 were in favor of and 5,580 against calling a
convention. At the election in 1840 only 38 counties reported, and
41,823 votes were cast, 7,489 for and 34,334 against a convention.

This provision of the Constitution requiring a vote every twelfth
year was regarded as only directory, and not to prohibit a vote on
m ,n,, the question of revising at any election held to elect a

1 well -year governor. Under this interpretation of that provision

rroviso, Inter- a yote wag taken in jg^6, votes cast> 620l8j with 33>

pretation Ot i7_ favoring) and 28g43 agajnst. While a majority

of all votes cast on the question was in favor of the convention yet
the Constitution required that the number should be a majority of
all votes cast at the election; and as 126,123 were cast for the
gubernatorial candidates the number voting in favor of the conven-
tion was not a majority of all votes cast at the election. In 1849
the question was a fourth time submitted, the result being a vote of
81,500 in favor of the convention to 57,418 against it — a majority of
6,612 votes over all votes cast at the election for all the candidates
for any one office.

The causes that prompted the calling of the Constitutional Con-
vention of 1850 are reflected in its provisions, and have left their

28 The Indiana Magazine of History

imprint on all subsequent legislation. The territorial laws were
p T ,. often very crude, and not infrequently is this also true

Lauses Leading of those adopted under the constitution 0f 1816. in

... .. ' 1824, 1832, 1838 and 1843 general revisions of these
SUlUtlOD State laws tQok place That of lg24 was aimost

wholly the work of Benjamin Parke, and was a marked improve-
ment over the laws that preceded it, but the revisions of 1832 and
1838 were largely re-prints of laws already enacted, while that of
1843 was so radical in form and introduced so many changes as to
be quite unsatisfactory.

The first legislature after the adoption of the constitution of
1 85 1 revised the entire body of our laws. That instrument required
p 1 p • *ne appointment of commissioners to revise, simplify
, I ' and abridge the rules, practice, pleadings and forms
p ... * of the court, and to provide for abolishing distinct forms

of action then in force, that justice might be adminis-
tered in a uniform mode of pleading and the distinction between law
and equity preserved.* The constitution made it the imperative
duty of the legislature to bring about these changes through the
agency of a commission. It also authorized it to empower the com-
mission to revise the entire body of our statute laws, but this the
legislature reserved to itself.

One of the most noticeable differences in the legislation before
and after the adoption of the new constitution is the manner in
. , which statutes are amended. Under the old constitu-

, ,, t tion they were frequently changed or amended by
p ... .. providing that a certain word or words in a certain

line of a certain section in a certain act should be
stricken out and certain other words inserted. This is the method
still pursued by Congress. The practice creates great confusion,
and it is not always an easy task to determine the effect of statutes
after the amendment is made. Under our present method the
amended section must be definitely referred in the amending act,
and then the section as amended set out in full. Formerly, under
decisions of the Supreme Court, it was necessary to set out in full
the old section, and then in full the section as amended, but a later
interpretation of the constitution by that court permits the oniis-

*This may not express Mr. Thornton's exact meaning. There was some confusion in the
copy here, and it was not possible io submit proof — Ed.

The Laws of Indiana 29

sion of the old section, thus simplifying the process.

Another noticeable change is that the laws with very few excep-
tions are of a uniform and general application throughout the
„ ,n . . State. Prior to 1851 our statute books were loaded
A ! «5p t d°wn with sPecial iegislation. Every city was incor-
Under Uid lonst. porated by a law particularly its own, and there was
no general law for their incorporation until after that date. Towns
were incorporated in the same way. A stranger entering a town or
city was chargeable with notice of the laws of the place, and was
bound to obey them, and yet he could not know what they were
until he had examined the charter of the city or town. It was
nothing uncommon to vacate a street or even an alley by special act
of the legislature. Prior to 1851 a temperance wave had swept over
the State, taking a stronger hold on the people in one locality than
in another. The result was a great patchwork of statutes relating
to the subject. In some counties prohibitory laws were in force,
while in others a license was required. Even in the same county
these differences prevailed, some of the townships being "dry"
while others were "wet".

There was no uniformity in the schools, the laws being as va-
rious with reference to the subject of public education as those
• , .... concerning the sale of intoxicating liquors. The pub-
„ .. ' lie schools were poor — far below the standard prevail-
* ing today. Practice and pleading in our court are

now uniform, but before 1851 such was not the case. In a county
in particular instances a certain practice had to be observed; in an
adjoining one, another, and in a third still another. Even the prac-
tice in several townships of the same county before justices of the
peace was not uniform, and a special law for the election of a justice
of the peace in a particular township was not uncommon. Nor
were the laws of taxation uniform. One county could levy a cer-
tain tax while another could not levy it; and this difference often
extended to townships of the same county, or to cities and towns.

There is also a vast body of legislation, of a date prior to 18.51,
that is called "private" legislation, because it is of a private and
p . . , . - not a public character. Prior to 1847 each corporation
,. , °«,, was incorporated by an act of the legislature pertain -

lion under Uid ing to it alonej cal,ed the <<charter,, At the session

LonstltUtlOU of 1846-7 the first law of a general character for the

30 The Indiana Magazine of History

incorporation of voluntary associations was enacted,, but it was lim-
ited in its scope. Academies, seminaries, colleges, private schools,
libraries, railroads, manufacturing and trading companies of all
kinds, planing mills, saw mills, and even brass bands were incorpo-
rated by private acts of the legislature- This practice became a
great burden to that body. Thus at the five sessions prior to that
of 1843-4 the number of octavo pages of the private laws were res-
pectively 1.80, 301, 365, 431 and 636; while those of the general
laws were respectively only 122, 92, 135, 164 and 125. Within the
eight years prior to 1 846 more than four hundred private acts of in-
corporation were enacted.

Under the old constitution the legislature could grant divorces,
and 83 were granted, 40 of them at the session of 1845-6. Under
the present constitution none can be granted by this method. Un-
der the present constitution each statute can embrace only one sub-
ject, and the subject-matter must be embraced within the title-
There was no such requirement under the old constitution. The
object of this provision is to prevent undesirable legislation slipping
through, and to give all legislation as much publicity as is conven-
iently possible.

Another reason for a new constitution was the resentment in the
it . n breasts of many toward the State Bank and its branch-

Various Reasons , ,, ,. ^ * ,, . * . .

. „ , es, and the monopoly it held in banking matters in

' the State. It had become a very lucrative source of
income to its stock-holders, who were mostly influential Whigs,
and the Democrats dreaded their influence in State affairs. Many
of the latter, therefore, favored a revision of our banking laws so
as to overthrow the bank. Still another reason, growing out of
the disastrous State internal improvement legislation, was to adopt
measures to prevent the lending of the State's funds or credit to
private enterprises.

These were some of the features in our laws that brought about
the calling of the convention of 1850. Others were the election of
the judiciary and all State and county officers by popular vote;
biennial instead of annual sessions of the legislature, and the elec-
tion of members of the general assembly from single dstricts. The
year 1850 was also the end of two decades of constitutional con-
struction and revision in many of the States of the Union. That

Tht Laws of Indiana 31

y. . fact liad a decided influence in bringing about the call

MOVeiMDt ID for m CQnvention> In r830 Virginia had adopted a new
Utner Mates constitution; in 2831, Delaware; in 0*835, Mississippi;
in 1835, Michigan (although not admitted until 1837); in 1836,
Arkansas; in 1838, Pennsylvania and Florida (although the latter
was not admitted until 1845); in 1842, Rhode Island; in 1844, New
Jersey; in 1845, Louisiana and Texas; in 1846, Iowa and New York;
in 1848, Illinois and Wisconsin; in 1849, California; in 1850, Ken-
tucky and Michigan. In Maryland and Ohio the subject had been
so much under discussion that in 1851 both these States adopted
new constitutions.

-. . The laws enacted .at the first session of the legislature

M Laws 1 Under after tbe adoption of the present constitution were a
New Lonstltllt B decided improvement over previous statutes. Of
course there were radical changes required by the new fundamental
law, but even where no changes were so required many were made.
There were many improvements upon the draft of the statutes, for
the legislators had the old statutes before them, and it was an easy
thing to improve upon them. The general body of the law was
made more certain, and in many instances not so complex.
„ „. .„ . The crown of the work of legal reformation was the
New llVlI and twQ oodes_the civil and the criminal. These were
Criminal UaeS ^ WQrk of the Commissioners of Revision, and well
they did their work. New York, in 1846, had adopted a code of
civil procedure — the first in this country — which served as a model
for our revisers, as well as a model for many other States since the
adoption of our code. David Dudley Field, in many respects her
greatest lawyer, had written her code, and the impress of his genius
has been felt in many of the States of the Federal Union. The In-
diana codes — especially the civil code — are models of legal writing.
The commissioners that revised them in 1881 made few changes and
added little to them, but what they did was an improvement. The
new codes introduced great and radical changes in the practice of
the law, sweeping away a brood of fictions and technicalities that
rendered the practice uncertain, cumbersome and unnecessarily
prolix. Strange as it may be, the reformation of our practice in
the courts was brought about largely by the laity, and against the
opposition of a majority of the members of th« legal profession.

3 2 The Indiana Magazine of History

fl th W T Tlie statutes of our State are not as well written as

ud tne writing those of some of the older States> nor as well as those

MatflteS of the United States, but there is a marked improve-

ment in them in this respect over our early statutes. The Commis-
sioners of Revision in 1881 presented to the legislature drafts of
many statutes that failed to pass that body, which would not only
have introduced many reforms into our legislation but greatly im-
proved existing statutory law. Many of our statutes should be
re-written and simplified. This is especially true of the school law,
which is a mere hodge-podge of statutes enacted during the last
thirty-seven years, often so obscure that no man can tell what the
law is upon a particular question. In the writing of statutes one
of the cardinal principles to be kept in view is that a statute with
which the people en masse have to deal should be not only clear in
its language, but explicit and minute in detail. Statutes that
courts deal chiefly with may be more general in terms and omit de-
tails in many instances, the courts having the power to supply the
latter often when necessary to carry out their provisions. Such a
statute will not do, however, where the people en masse deal in mi-
nute particulars directly with its provisions. The civil and criminal
codes are written in general terms, but the tax and Australian . bal-
lot laws are written in great detail, the language used in them being
explicit and clear. They are models of statutory writing. The
laws on taxation and elections are not only a great advancement
over the laws of the past on those subjects, but are much better and
more clearly written than those of the past.

Beginning with 1888 the volume of our legislation has annually
been very large as compared with that of the previous years. Many
f . ... statutes are now in force on subjects where prior to

fft It as i8si n°ne existed- This is due to the cnanse in the

anectea uy condition of the country and the advance in civiliza-

NeW Conditions tion f here have arisen new conditions, new methods
of doing business, new opportunities to commit crimes, and these
had to be met. Necessity in old countries requires the statutes to
be more numerous, more minute in detail, and usually more com-
plicated than in new countries, and for this reason a new revision of
our statute laws can be but a matter of time; though to undertake
to secure such revision now would be a Herculean task. -

The State Library—Its Character and Aims

By W. E. Henry, State Librarian

T

HE history of the State Library at its beginning and for many
years after is a rather sorry story of a perfunctory institution
jr. , . , that existed, not in response to a real demand, but

Historical because the legislature had said it should. It was es-

tablished in 1825 as a department of the office of Secretary of State,
for the purpose of furnishing information for the officers of the
State when at the capital — or, as the law read: for "the members
of the Legislature, the secretaries and clerks of each House thereof,
the officers of the several branches of the executive department of
the State government, the judge of the United .States District
Court, the United States District Attorney, the judges of the Su-
preme Court of this State, and the judges of the Circuit Courts
when they or any of them may be at the seat of government."
Subsequent statutes gradually broadened the scope of the library
and extended its privileges. In 184 1 it became a separate institu-
tion and was removed from the Secretary's office.

The State Library was for many years a political office. It was
understood to belong to the party in power, and the party majority
in the legislature always elected to the office of librarian a man of
the right political faith. It was at once a reward for party service
and an earnest of party support. Men who are put into office for
these reasons are not put in for special fitness, and whatever fitness
there might be is largely accidental. The party-chosen State libra-
rians were, presumably, not an exception to this rule; and the quali-
fications they possessed stood small show of useful development,
what with uncertain tenure of office and miserly allowance of funds.
The latter handicap of itself would have effectually prevented
the usefulness of the library however capable the librarians, and as
a matter of fact the library had practically no growth for the first
fifty years of its existence. At the end of that time the collective
wisdom had got so far away from the idea of the library as a politi-
cal adjunct as to elect women to the office, and it should be noted
that these, so far as can be judged from the evidence at hand, seem
to have been the first incumbents to have the welfare and future of
the library at heart. Sarah A. Oren (1873-5), appealed for a larger

34 ±bt 'Indiana Magazine of History

appropriation and affirmed that "the great' State of Indiana calls
loudly for a well-filled reference library." Maggie F. Peelle (1879-
'81) did a good work by starting the collection of books by Indiana
writers, and it was by her advice that the library of the late Daniel
Hough was purchased; and equal credit must be given to others.

In 1889 Mr. J. P. Dunn became librarian and, through some
seemingly miraculous influence, succeeded in securing a most
liberal appropriation. After two years, however, this fund was re-
duced and remained wholly inadequate until two years ago, when
the people of the State and the legislature began to see the desira-
bility of more liberal treatment. In consequence, the library now
has a much better outlook than at any time in its past.
p ,. . „ In 1895 a law was enacted removing the library from
,. c partisan politics, and its management was placed in

partisan Library the hands of a non.partisan board— the State Board of

a Education. It was not to be managed as part of the

school system, but was so placed because this board was thought to
be as clear of partisan bias as any body of persons in the State, and
at the same time it possessed a special degree of fitness because the
majority of its members were men of the highest educational quali-
fication. This board represents all parts of the State, and no person
on it secures his place by virtue of political or religious affiliations.
It is a board the membership of which can not change rapidly, and
which, through political powers, cannot reward friends or punish
enemies. The policy of this non- partisan and ex officio board has
been from the first, and is, that no person shall enter the service of
the library who has not special qualifications for the work.
„. ,0 The State Library has now a collection of nearty forty

„ y ., " thousand volumes consisting largely of historical ma-

' terial. This is composed of sources rather than sec-

ondary matter, being made up chiefly of State government publica-
tions, the publications of the United States government, and a very
considerable collection of local records in the way of town, county
and State histories, the printed archives from various States, and
the histories of particular movements, institutions, sects and specific
organizations working toward some specific ends. It should be
added that the files of Indiana newpapers, particularly of the ear-
lier years, are, I believe, fuller and more valuable than exists
elsewhere.

I be Shilf Library 35

w . j it (j State and United States publications are received b>
Mate ana U. & deposit an(j exchange, demanding no expenditure of
Publications, money) so that an our purchases are in the lines of
DOW Acquired history, economics and sociology, and, as before said,
mostly in source material. The library especially seeks those pub-
lications which are either too bulky or too expensive to be owned
and preserved by private or small public libraries. This makes it
largely a reference library for historical purposes; yet it is now rap-
idly becoming more than is implied in "reference" or "historical."
., , , , ~. By the provisions of a law enacted by the last legisla-

I f R f tUre the StatC Lihrar-V can now lend an-v but rare
CUlatJDg Books boQks to any responsible citizen of the State if the

borrower is willing to pay transportation charges. By this plan it
is enabled to supplement the local library and to reach a consider-
able number who do not have access to any local library. I hope to
see the time when the State at public expense may place the book,
not merely in the post or express office, but in the hands of the
reader. Any argument that will justify the State in buying the
book for the reader will equalfy justify delivering that^book to him,
whether he be far or near. O© 4 «330

„ • l i j- The State Library makes every possible effort to secure
Special Indiana all printed material that shall in any way throw light
upon the history or present condition of Indiana.
We purchase, so far as possible, every book or pamphlet ever writ-
ten by an Indiana author, upon any subject; or by any author, of
any time or place, upon any subject relating to the State's life.
„ ., .. When we have more funds I hope to see this institu-

tion become a general reference library in all depart-
ments of science and literature, so that almost any rational demand
of the citizens of the State, within these lines, may be supplied;
and I hope to see the State ready to bear all expense to put the
book into the hand of the reader in whatever part of the State he
may be. A larger fund, however, is necessary to these conditions,
and in the securing of such fund all citizens can have a voice. To
every citizen a great and really useful institution of this character
should be a matter of interest and pride. By such interest and
pride you can materially help the library to grow and branch out
into new fields of usefulness. We bespeak your co-operation.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

Works on Indiana History

[The following does not aim to be a complete list of works treating of or
tributary to the history of Indiana. Such a bibliography would include a
large amount of material of an indirect or local character that does not come
within the scope of the present purpose, which is to present a brief account of
such works as may be of use to the casual student having occasion for inquiry
along these lines. We have also, by way of guidance to the uninformed, indi-
cated what we conceive to be the respective values of the works considered. ]

PRIOR to the work of John B. Dillon, whose Historical Notes
was published in 1843, there was, practically, no written history
T \ R TVll °^ Indiana, either as a State, as an American Terri-
tory, or as a French possession — excepting, of course,
the documents from which the orderly history was subsequently
constructed. Dillon entered a virgin field with the prodigious labor
of a pioneer before him, and, single-handed, as it were, worked his
chosen part of this field so industriously and well that he still re-
mains a leading authority upon the period covered by him. His
first book, Historical Notes of the Discovery and Settlement of the
Territory Northwest of the Ohio, was merged in the History of In-
diana, which appeared in 1859. The title has been somewhat mis-
leading to many unacquainted with the work, as it is almost wholly
devoted to the early French occupancy and the Territorial period,
the narrative proper ending with the admission of the State in 1816.
To this is added, however, "a general view of the progress of pub-
lic affairs" up to 1856. In the twenty pages devoted to this is
condensed an amount of information that in the hands of a more
verbose writer might have made a small volume. Not the least
valuable part of Mr. Dillon's book are the appendices of Indian
treaties and other documents.

, „ n In our opinion the little volume by J. P. Dunn: Indi-

ana, a Redemption from Slavery (1896), is, next to
Dillon's book, the most notable contribution to Indiana's historical
records. Like Dillon's work it is not a history of the State, but is,
rather, a study of a particular phase of our earlier history — our
relations to slavery. Incidentally the entire French and Territorial
periods are dealt with, and the subject throughout added to by
original research. Thorough as an investigator, taking full advan-
tage of the researches of other students, and with a keen and search-

Works on Indiana History 37

ing reasoning faculty, Mr. Dunn reveals the genius of the genuine
historian, and has the ability, none too common, to write history
attractively without imperilling his authenticity. His work as a
reference book stands the test of long and frequent usage.

W H 1? rfc The Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River
W. H. JiQglish Qhio and the Lije qj George Rogers Clark, two large

volumes by William H. English (1896), is an exhaustive study of
one chapter in our earlier history. The full scope of Mr. English's
plan was to write a voluminous history of the State, and this work
that saw the light was but introductory to the larger scheme. Of
the particular events with which he deals the two volumes named
are the most thorough study extant, and as such have a value pro-
portioned to the importance of those events. For years Mr. Eng-
lish was a collector of rare and valuable material, and a considera-
ble amount of this appears in the "Conquest of the Northwest."

r j ■ l tT Hi An illustrated history of Indiana issued in 1875 under
bOOdriCh 41 little the names of DeWitt C. Goodrich and Prof. Charles
R. Tuttle, and which, in an enlarged form, re-appeared in 1879
sponsored by Win. S. Haymond, was then the only book in the field
aiming to present the later history of the State, and so, perhaps, its
existence was justified. It is chiefly distinguished by an over-
burdened title-page advertising the phenomenal scope of the work.
It has long since been relegated to the upper shelves where it rests
in an oblivion quite comprehensible to any one who seeks it for
historical enlightenment.

„ Of the "complete" works, The History of the State of

W. h. aflUth Indiana from the Earliest Explorations by the French
to the Present Time, by William Henry Smith (1897), is the most
ambitious and the fullest. The writer unquestionably possesses a
wide and varied fund of information; his subject-matter, made more
attractive, perhaps, by arrangement into numerous topics that fairly
well cover the State's story, is set forth in an easy, readable style,
and it will doubtless hold its place as a popular history. To the
more particular student, who is indisposed and who ought not to be
asked to take things implicitly on faith, the book is less satisfactory.
Mr. Smith tells us a surprising number of new things, but, unfortu-
nately, does not at any time see fit to cite authorities. The possible
suspicion that he prefers a flowing and readable narrative to strict

3& The Indiana Magazine of History

accuracy he has taken no pains to avoid, and for that reason, if for
no other, he will hardly be regarded as a reliable authority.
M „ , . , The Popular History of Indiana, a compilation by
Mrs. HendriCKS various authors, but bearing the name of Mrs. T. A.
Hendricks as sponsor, covers the whole period of our history up to
1 89 1, the date of publication. It may be regarded as a young peo-
ples' history, and was the first published attempt in that line. For
a work of its character it was a creditable product, and served its
purpose for a time, but is about forgotten now.

|M(1 ... The Young People's History of Indiana, by Mrs. Julia
Julia \ LonklU s Conklin (^899), fills admirably the need it aims to
subserve. Within the compass of 375 pages it tells the story of the
State's development in the style of one who knows the juvenile
mind and has the literary skill to appeal to it. The work is con-
scientiously done and, on the whole, is accurate, the few mistakes
in it, so far as we have found, being of minor importance. For use
in the school room it is the best book published so far, and as a con-
venient reference book it is well worth a place on the library shelf.

M T, , Stories of Indiana, by Maurice Thompson, and Young

M. IhompsOD and Folks, Indiana^ by w. H. Glascock, are juvenile
W. &. (ilaSCOCk books designed to awaken in the youthful mind an
interest in our history. The elements that best lend themselves to
attractive narrative are chosen, and these are presented with literary
ability, making a very desirable addition to our historical literature.
W W W 11 Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana,
W. W. Woollen by wiuiam Wesiey Woollen (1883), while chiefly
biographical in character is yet an important contribution to the
history of the State. It deals with personages closely identified
with the State's life, many of whom, important as were their ser-
vices, have no other biographer. Mr. Woollen, personally familiar
for many years with men and affairs in Indiana, devoted long and
arduous labor to collecting the material for this book, which is, and
will always remain the source of information touching many notable
Indianians whose names have all but dropped from public memory.
~. .. _ , The Government of the People of the State of bidiana,

UVll bOVt by w A Rawles (j 897), and The Government of the

State of Indiana, by W. W. Thornton, are two small volumes
dealing with the civil development and the governmental machinery

Works on Indiana History 39

of the State. They are pioneer works in their line, and, if we err
not in reading the signs, point the way to a field where much work
of a high quality and important character is going to be done. We
refer to historical work with a distinctively sociological bearing.
Such work, indeed, is already appearing, and there have recently
been published two notable theses by college men which show the
trend of historical thought in the universities. The thorough-
going scholar, with wide knowledge of historical sources of the
subject in hand, and who begrudges no pains in the attempt to
search out and master complex data, is revealed by both these pro-
ductions, and they should certainly take rank among our really
valuable historical material.
„., , T R The first of these, in date of publication, is The Wa-

filbert J. Benton bask Trade Route in the Devdopment 0f the old

Northwest, by Elbert Jay Benton, Fellow in History in the Johns
Hopkins University, published by that university early last year.
In substance it is a study of the development of the Wabash valley
(and accompanying influences) through the medium of the Wabash
river, the Wabash & Erie canal, and, finally, of the railroads. He
traces the effects of transportation facilities upon industries and
commerce, upon agriculture, upon the distribution of population
and urban growth. In developing his theme he probes deeper into
the State's great internal improvement experiment than any other
writer has yet done, and when that chapter of our history comes to
be adequately treated Mr. Benton's pages will be of considerable
help. Finally, this writer invests his subject not only with interest
but with positive charm; and not the least mission of such literature
is to promote the taste for history in its sociological aspect.
w The Centralizing Tendency in the Administration of

W. A. Rawles indiana, by willim A. Rawles, Ph. D., Assistant Pro-
fessor of Economics, Indiana University, was recently published by
the Columbia University as one of a series of history studies that
constitute part of the advanced work of the university. That the
study is a serious and ambitious one is indicated by the length
of the thesis, which consists of 322 octavo pages of actual subject
matter. The tendencies traced through the separate histories of a
number of governmental activities are an integral part of social de-
velopment, and the data that indicate their true sweep are many

4° The Indiana Magazine of History

and complex, but Professor Rawles' investigation of these goes far
toward proving the thesis he maintains, i. e., that centralization is
really a factor in progress. Aside from his argument and his con-
clusions his book, purely as a collection of historical facts, is no
small addition to our records. Education, Charities and Corrections,
the State and public Health, Taxation and the exercise of Police
powers are successively considered in their historical developments,
and in each branch of inquiry a valuable fund of information set
forth; while in the generalization and grouping of these facts to
show their direction and sociological significance, the author has
doubly justified his labors. It is hoped that this is but a precursor
of much more work of the same character.

m | n ., In our reference above to the work of college men in
o Indiana history we overlooked a thesis which ante-
dated the two just noticed by several years. This is The State
Ba?ik of Indiana, by William F. Harding, published by the Uni-
versity of Chicago in The Journal of Political Economy for Decem-
ber, 1895. This paper of 36 octavo pages, with an appendix of
about equal length, is a careful and instructive study of the State's
financial affairs during the life of the old State Bank, or from 1834
to 1857. T° say that it is a careful study of this important subject
is to say that it is a real acquisition to our historical literature, and
as such is every way worthy to rank along with the work of Mr.
Benton and Mr. Rawles. If published by itself instead of being
merely a feature in a periodical it would, probably, come to the
notice of more people and be surer of a place in the library.
n j 1 n, i 1 The Institutional Influence of the German Element of
the Population in Richmond, Indiana, by Fred J. Bar-
tel, was published within the last year as the second paper of the
Wayne County Historical Society. This is but a pamphlet of 27
small pages, but is decidedly noteworthy as representing a kind of
work which, it seems to us, might easily be promoted through the
higher schools, and which, if so promoted, would certainly result in
great gain. Mr. Bartel has attempted nothing very ambitious or
complex — he has simply performed a modest task well. Studying
at first hand the material lying about him, and chiefly, we judge,
by personal interviews, he has taken up one element of the popula-
tion of his city and carefully traced its history, its influences and its

Works on Indiana History 41

character as an integral part of the community. Mr. Bartel has
done good pioneer work, and when the ideas of history study now
obtaining in our colleges have shifted to another view-point, stu-
dents from these institutions will rescue from their respective home
localities data which, taken collectively, will be invaluable.

P R I 1 a ^e ^ew Harmony Communities, by George B. Lock-
lieo. B. LOCkWOOd WQod) whik a b()ok devoted to a locality, has yet a

much wider interest. The romantic story of the New Harmony
social experiment with the galaxy of remarkable personages it drew
together is unique in our annals. Fuller information touching it
has long been in demand, and Mr. L,ockwood, after long application,
has recently published an extensive study that is brimful of interest.
As intimated at the beginning of this list there are
many works that touch the history of the State in one
way or another, which hardly come under our present caption.
Several of these, however, in addition to those noticed above, may
be casually mentioned. Early Indiana Trials and Sketches, hy
Oliver H. Smith, U. S. senator and one of the State's leading law-
yers in the earlier period, is an oft-quoted volume of reminiscences
which gives many graphic glimpses of the political and legal life
of his day, as well as pen portraits of contemporary notables. Re-
collections of the Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley, by Sanford
C. Cox, is another, exceedingly readable, collection of reminis-
cences that reach back to the early twenties. The New Purchase,
by Baynard R. Hall, represents things in and about Bloomington
seventy-five years ago. Because of the fictitious and fanciful names
given to places and persons, which make it largely unintelligible
without a key, it is now but little read, and few, perhaps, know that
as a circumstantial and vivid account of the life, surroundings and
customs of our pioneer population, few other books compare with it.
Indiana Miscellany, by W. C. Smith, contains considerable interest-
ing matter of a reminiscent and anecdotal character. The His-
tory of Education in Indiana, by Richard G. Boone, is the fullest
study of that subject yet published. The Hoosiers, by Meredith
Nicholsons, while primarily a literary study, yet deals with the
historical forces that have made for literature within the State.
The Indiana Historical Soc. Collection, a number of papers of excep-
tional value, at present is two large volumes with a third in press.

List of Indiana Newspapers

On File in the Indiana State Library at this date

American N on -Conformist, weekly, Indianapolis. Jan. i, '97 to

Sept. '98.
American Tribune, w. Indianapolis. '97 to date.
Anderson Weekly Democrat, June 16 '93 to Dec 28, '94.
Angola Herald, w. June 7 '93 to Dec. 26, '94; Jan. '97 to Dec. '98.
Auburn Courier, w. July 13 '93 to Dec. 27 '94; Jan. 1 '97 to date.
Auburn Despatch, w. May '98 to date.
Bloomfield Democrat, w. Jan. '88 to Dec. '94.
Bloomfield News, w. Jan. '93 to Dec. '94; Jan. '97 to date.
Bloomington Courier, w. Jan. '02 to date.
Bloomington Post, w. Nov. 6 '35 to Sept. 8 '41.
Bloomington World, w. June 15 '93 to Dec 27 '94.
Bluffton Banner, w. June 14 '93 to '94; Jan. 1 '97 to date.
Boone County Pioneer, w. Lebanon, Aug. 25 '55 to July 5 '56.
Brookville American, w. '00 to date.
Brookville Democrat, w. Jan. '97 to date.
Cambridge Reveille, w. Jan 13, '43 to Dec. 28 '50.
Catholic Columbian Record, Indianapolis, w. '93, '94; '97 to date.
Chesterton Tribune, w. '01 to date.

Columbus Herald, w. June '93 to Dec. '94; Jan. to Oct. '97.
Columbus Republican, w. '88 to '94; Jan. '97 to date.
Daily Evening Mirror, Indianapolis, Nov. 25 '6S to Dec. 3 1 '69.
Danville Weekly Advertiser, July 18 '48 to Feb. 18 '51.
Daviess County Democrat, w. Washington, June 24 '93 to Dec. 29 '94;

Jan, '97 to date.
Dearborti Independent, w. L,awrenceburg, Jan. 4 to Dec. 19 '72.
Delphi Times, w. June 16 '93 co Dec. 28 '94.
Democratic Weekly, Franklin, '89, '90.
Democrat, w. Spencer, '94.
Democratic Herald, w. Batesville, '94.
Democratic Register, w. Lawrenceburg, '72.
Democratic Sentinel, w. Rensselaer, June '93 to Dec. '94.
Denver Tribune, w. Jan. '02 to date.
English News, w. '00 to date.
Fvansville Courier, daily, '72.
Evansville Journal, d. July to Dec. '71.
Fairmount News, w. Jan. '97 to May 23 '02.
Partners' and Mechanic's Journal, w. Vincennes. Vol. 1, Dec. 14 '22

to Sept. 25 '23.
Fort Wayne Sentinel, d. July to Dec. '72.
Fort Wayne Gazette, w. '92 to '94; '97, '98.

Fountain Warren Democrat, w. Attica, '92 to '94. Jan. '97 to date.
Franklin Democrat, w. '92 to '94; Jan. '97 to date.
Freeman, w. Indianapolis, '92 to '94; "97 to '98.

Newspapers in State Library 43

Gas City Weekly Journal, '97 to '98.

Goshen Democrat, w. June '93 to Dec. '94; Jan. '97 to date.

Greencastle Star-Press, w. June 17 '93 to Dec. 29 '94; Jan. '97 to date.

Greenfield Herald, w. June 29 '93 to Dec. 27 '94; Jan. '97 to '00.

Hancock Democrat, w. Greenfield, June 8, '93 to Dec. 27 '94.

Hartford City Telegram, w. Jan. '97 to date.

Hobart Gazette, w. Jan. '97 to date.

Hoosier Democrat, w. Charlestown, Jan. '99 to date.

Howard County Tribune, w. Kokomo, '68; '70.

Huntington News, w. '93, '94; '97, '98.

Independent Press, w. Lawrenceburg, Oct. 18, '50 to Aug. 22, '51.
[This paper, so far as we can learn, was the first avowedly inde-
pendent newspaper in the State, and is the legitimate forerunner
of our modern journals of that class. It was exceptionally well
edited, and is one of the most interesting sheets on file in the
State Library.— Ed.]

Indiana American, w. Brookville, Dec. 29 '43 to '50; Dec. 2, '52 to
Dec. 2, '54; March 2 '55 to Oct. 23 '57; Sept. 10 '58 to Dec. 26 '60;
Aug. 17 '70 to Dec. 30 '71.
Became Brookville American.

Indiana Centinel, w. Vincennes. Vol. 3, May 22 '19 to Sept. 8 '21.
Very rare.

Indiana Christian Advocate, w. Indianap's, May 6 '86 to Aug. 11 '88.

Indiana Democrat, w. Indianapolis, Aug. 14 '30 to Aug. 6 '31.
Became the Sentinel.

Indiana Farmer, w. Indianapolis, Jan. '40 to Feb. '41; April '58 to
March '59; '89 to '94; '97 to date.

Indiana Journal of Commerce, w. Indianapolis, '70, '71.

Indiana Radical, w. Richmond, '70.

Indiana Republican, Madison. Vol. 5, Aug. 9 '21.

Indiana Statesman, w. Indianapolis, Sept. 3 '51 to Aug. 20 '52.

Indiana Statts-Zietung, w. Fort Wayne, Jan. to June '72.

Indiana Telegraph, w. Connersville, March 16 '48 to Dec. 28 '48.

Indiana True Democrat, w. Centreville, Feb. 6 '50 to Sept. 4 '62.

Indianapolis Commercial, d. '68 to '71.

Indianapolis Evening Gazette, d. '64; Nov. 18 '65 to June 3 '66; July
4 '66 to Dec. 28 '66.

Indianapolis Journal, w. tri-w. and d. Dec. '41, 42; March '44 to
March '46; Oct. '46 to Dec. '54; July '56 to Dec. '58; Jan. '60 to
Dec. '63; Jan. '65 to June '67; Sept. '67 to Sept. '77; April '78
to date.

Indianapolis News, d. Dec. '69 to date, except: Jan. '76 to June '76;
July '77 to Dec. '77; Jan. '78 to June '78.

Indianapolis Press, d. Dec. 13 '99 to April 16 '01.

Indianapolis Sentinel, semi-w. and d. Semi-weekly from July '41.
Daily, complete to date except: April 28 '51 to March '52; May '54
to June '56; Jan. '61; Nov. '65 to June '68; June '75; July '88
to Dec. '88.

44 The Indiana Magazine of History

Indianapolis Times, w. July 15 '81 to March '82; July to Sept. '82;
'83 to Aug. 9 '86.

Jasper Weekly Courier, June '93 to Dec. '94; Jan. '97 to date.

Kewanno Herald, w. Feb. '97 to '00.

Kokomo Journal, w. '70.

Kokomo Weekly Dispatch, June 8 '93 to Dec. 29 '94; Jan. '97 to '00,

Lafayette Courier, d. Jan. 1, '47 to Dec. 2 '48; '50.

Lafayette Journal, d. and w. Daily, April to Dec. '58; Feb. 15 '59 to
'60. Weekly, Jan. '50 to Dec. '51; June 10 to Dec. 30 '70; May 31
to Nov. 29, '72; '93 to '94.

Lake Co. News, w. Hammond, June 8 '93 to Dec. 27 '94; '97 to date.

Lake County Record, w. Hammond, May 20 '93 to '94.

Laporte Argus, w. June 3 '93 to Dec. 27 '94; '97 to dace.

Lawrenceburg Register, w. '71; '88 to '94; Jan. '97 to '99.

Lebanon Patriot, w. '97 to '01.

Ligonier Banner, w. June 8 '93 to Dec. 27. '94; '97 to date.

Linton Call, w. '00.

Logansport Journal, w. '01.

Logansport Pharos, w. Feb. 2 '48 to Feb. 28 '53; Aug. 29 '55 to July
(6 '56; July 13 '59 to May 30 '60; '66 to '68; '70 to '72; June 14 '93
to Dec. 26 '94; Jan. '97 to '99.

Logansport Reporter, w. Jan. '97 to date.

Madison Tribune, d. and w. Daily, April 7 '51 to Jan. 21 '52. Week-
ly, April 12 '51 to March 23 '53.

Madison Courier, d. and w. Jan. 7 '52 to April 5 '54; '61, 62; '66; '68;
'70; '88 to '94.

Marshall Republican, w. Plymouth, '01 to date.

Miami County Sentinel, w. Peru, '91 to '94; '97 to date.

Michigan City Dispatch, w. June 8 '93 to Dec. 27 '94; Jan. to Oct. '97.

Mishawaka Democrat, June '97 to Dec. '98.

Morgan County Gazette, w. Martinsville, '92 to '94.

New Albany Commercial, d. April 4 '65 to Nov. 27 '66.

New Albany Daily Tribune, Sept. 22 '52 to Sept. 21, '59; March 22
to Dec. 3r '60.

New Albany Democrat, w. July '47 to Aug. '49.

New Albany Ledger, d. and w. Daily, '52, '53; '58 to r6o. Weekly,
Sept. 27 '47 to Aug. 30 '54; Dec. 20 '54 to Aug. 26 '57. Odd num-
bers, Aug. 29 '55 to July 16 '56.

New Albany Ledger Standard, d. '72.

New Harmony Gazette, w. Oct. 1 '25 to Oct. 22 '28. Vols. 1, 2 and 3.

North Judson News, w. '97 to date.

Parker News, w. July 7 '93 to Dec. 28 '94.

People. The, w. Indianapolis, '7r, 72.

People's Friend, w. Covington, Jan. 2 '47 to Nov. 30 '50.

Perrysville Record, w. Jan. '97 to date.

Peru Republican, w. June 16 '93 to Dec. 28 '94.

Plymouth Democrat, w. June 15 '93 to Dec. '94; Jan. to Oct. '97.

Plymouth Republican , w. May '97 to '00.

Newspapers in State Library 45

Political Beacon, w. Lawrenceburg, Oct. 6 '38 to Oct. 19 '39.

Prairie Chieftain, w. Monticello, Sept. 17 '50 to Sept. '54.

Public Press, New Albany, '92 to '94; '97 to date.

Pulaski County Democrat, w. Winamac, June '93 to Dec. '94.

Recorder, w. Indianapolis, Jan. '99 to date.

Referendum, w. Shoals, Aug. 8 '95 to Aug. 10 '99.

Republican, Corydon, '97 to date.

Richmond Palladium, w. Feb. 2 '47 to Dec. '50; '89 to '94.

Ripley fournal, w. Osgood, June '93 to Dec. '94; June '97 to date.

Rockville Republican, w. Jan. '97 to date.

St. foseph Valley Register, w. South Bend, Jan. 7 to Dec. 28 '48.

Salem Democrat, w. '90 to '94; '97 to date.

Saturday Evening Mirror, Indianapolis, Feb. 29 '68 to Dec. 26 '68;

April 30 '70 to Dec. 31 '71.
Silent Hoosier, w. Indianapolis, Jan. 7 '92 to Dec. '94; '97 to date.
Spencer Democrat, w. '92, '93.

Spirit of '76, w. Indianapolis, Feb. 26 to Nov. 28 '40.
Spottvogel, w. Indianapolis, '69; '71, '72.
Starke County Democrat, w. Knox, June '93 to Dec. '94.
State Sentinel, w. Indianapolis, Jan. '02 to date.

Taglicher Telegraph, Indianapolis, '67 to '72.

Tell City News, w. '93, '94; '97 to date.

Terre Haute Daily Express, Aug. 25 to Oct. 3 '51; '56.

Terre Haute Daily Journal, Aug. '71 to '72.

Terre Haute Daily Union, '57.

Union, The, w. Indianapolis, Oct. '77 to date.

Versailles Republican, w. June '97 to date.

Vincennes Gazette, June 15, '33 to May 30, '35; Jan. 20 '48-Dec. 26 '50.

Wabash Atlas, w. Lafayette, Aug. 24 '48 to July 27 '50.

Wabash Courier, w. Terre Haute, Jan. 1 '48 to July 5 '56.

Wabash Express, w. Terre Haute, Dec. 23 '46 to Dec. 15 '47-

Washington County Democrat, w. Salem, Jan. '99 to June 28 '09.

From Jan. to May called Salem Searchlight.
Waterloo Press, w. Jan. '97 to date.

Weekly Journal, Lafayette, Jan. '97 to date.

Western Register and Terre Haute Advertiser, w. July 21 '23 to
Aug. 13 '23.

Western Sun, w. Vincennes. Vol. 1, No. 1, July 11 '07 to Feb. 4 '32;
Jan. 25 '34 to Dec. 23 '43; March 6 '47 to Oct. 6 '49; '88 to '94; '97
to date. Earlier numbers exceedingly rare and valuable.

White County Democrat, w. Monticello, June '93 to Dec. '94.

White River Standard, w. Bedford, Dec. 21 '54 to Dec '20 '55.
Winamac Democrat, w. June '93 to Dec. '94.

Winchester Journal, w. Jan. 7 to Dec 28 '70.

World, w. Indianapolis, '92 to '94; '97 to date.

Worthington Times, w. and semi-w. Weekly, '92 to "94. Semi-
weekly, '99 to date.

Early Wayne Co. papers not yet catalogued. Isaac Julian collection-

Pertinent Comment

By the Editor

On the Teaching of History

' I AHE course of history study prescribed for the elementary
A schools of Indiana, published by the Department of Public
Instruction in the State Manual for 1904-5, should, along with the
other contents of that booklet, be of interest, not only to teachers
but to parents. It was prepared by a committee from the History
section of the State Teachers' Association — Prof. Cyrus W. Hodgin,
Prof. S. B. Harding, Prof. N. C. Heironimus, Supt. Adelaide S.
Baylor and Supt. George H. Tapy. A brief outline here of their
plan is in place.

The First Year is to be devoted almost wholly to object lessons,
to story and to familiar things, beginning with a study of local sur-
roundings, both social and geographical. Indian and pioneer relics
may be brought to the school room and their interest enhanced by
narratives of Indian and pioneer life. In the study of local geogra-
phy the pupil's attention is to be guided to the fact that hills, for-
ests, rivers, etc., offer advantages, and originally induced people to
live in their locality. Food, clothing and ways of living of both
the Indians and white men are to be studied, and the latter part of
this year is to be given to stories of notable American pioneers.

The Second Year begins with an introduction to other famous
Americans, from George Washington to Francis Key; then takes
up Norse life in story form, and Norse legends and beliefs. In
this transition across the sea foreign children in the school, if there
be such, are to be utilized in bringing out the idea of foreign lands
and other peoples. The larger part of the second year is to be given
to this. The Third Year compasses a similar study of Hebrew
and Greek life and heroes, and of the Greek myths. The Fourth
Year takes up Rome, and this year the course follows more closely
the sequence of events, though still by the story method. The
Fifth Year injects, in a measure, philosophy into the study, and
deals mainly with historical personages as determined by environ-
ment and as, in turn, affecting events; the period being that of the
great maratime activity in European histor)^ between 1453 and 1618,
the French and Revolutionary wars in America, and the middle
period of United States history. The Sixth Year is devoted en-
tirely to England. The Seventh and Eighth Years are given to

Pertinent Comment 47

the United States. For each year a list of books is given to be
used as supplementary to the course, besides the suggestions as to
the utilizing of relics and familiar objects, and the whole plan, evi-
dently, contemplates emancipation from the time-honored, cut-and-
dried text-book that has been the detestation of many a pupil.

Introductory to the course as thus arranged by the teachers'
committee is a disquisition setting forth a theory of history and
stating what should be the view-point and aims of the teacher of
this subject in the elementary schools. "History," it is said, "is
the growing life of humanity. * * The subject of history, then,
is the human race and its development, and the purpose of teaching
it should be to lead the child to a broad view of the historic move-
ment, so that he may see many ages, many civilizations, many
stages of the growth, and to be able to compare and contrast one
with another, and thus get a picture of all the struggles and tri-
umphs of men in elevating humanity." History, it is said, is es-
sentially the history of institutions; the institutions of society "do
not exist for themselves; they are only means to an end. That end
is the freedom of man." Finally, biography is but subsidiary to
history, and in teaching it the teacher should bear in mind that the
object is "not that the child may learn about isolated individual
men but to see movements of society through the lives of these men."

Now, the nature and uses of history, its importance in the sum
total of one's education, from which end it shall be approached as a
study, the psychology of its acquiring, etc., are all mooted ques-
tions. Eminent scholars have discussed them searchingly. Emi-
nent scholars, like doctors, have also disagreed, and it follows that
any course prescribed must be, in a measure, experimental, and any
theory should be propounded tentatively — certainly not as a finality,
even in a system of positive instruction such as teachers and pupils
are supposed to be subjected to. Both course and theory should
expect rigid examination.

What we shall have to say about the present Indiana course will
be commendatory rather than critical. It seems to us to have been
the outcome of both thought and experience, and recognizes at
once the difficulties of creating an intelligent attitude toward history
and the natural avenues to the juvenile mind. Its successful appli-
cation, however, depends much upon a preparation more thorough

48 The Indiana Magazine of History

than can reasonably be expected of teachers who have to deal with
a multitude of things, and until the branch has its special teachers
as certain branches now have in the larger centers, the plan of the
course will be hampered. The authors of this course evidently
subscribe to the belief that the true educational method in his-
tory is from the known to the unknown, from the familiar to the
remote. Just how far this idea is adopted by the public school
systems of the country we do not know, but there has been and is
opposition to it. The argument, in brief, is that the small seg-
ment of the near and familiar is so related to antecedents that
these antecedents must be traced before anything like an ade-
quate conception can be had of more immediate conditions. The
State is not comprehensible until led up to by a preparatory knowl-
edge of the nation; United States history is meaningless unless ex-
plained by its forerunners, English and ancient history. This
argument, like some others that are time-honored, does not seem to
be conclusive. By the same parity of reasoning the antecedent
histories insisted upon are meaningless unless viewed in the light
of more remote antecedents, and that involves us in hopelessness,
because beyond all recorded history lies the unrecorded ages where
are buried the real roots of things that are. The truth seems to
be that there is no logical starting-point for historical study. The
utmost we can do is to fix upon a unit (whether it be a single State
or all the records of the nations) that, in a manner, stands complete
and which, within limits, explains its own nature, as all things do
by the syntheses they present. We may choose an immensely large
and complex unit, and feel our way, very much in the dark and but
dimly knowing what we are after, from the outer margin inward,
or we may take a unit that comes somewhat within the comprehen-
sion, and which has the very important advantage of engaging the
interest at the start, and, as the conception of it enlarges by study,
reach out farther and farther into the great sphere of causes and
relations, with the lamp of ever increasing enlightenment guiding
the way. To us it seems that the latter is by far the more hopeful
method. We venture the belief that in a long and completed course
the pupil by this method will gain quite as broad a comprehension
of history and its meanings as by the attempt to lay the broad foun-
dation at the start; while in the many instances where but limited
time is given to the subject, he will, in the first instance, be enlight-

Pertinent Comment 49

ened just so far as he goes, while in the other case he will, perhaps,
have gained but a fragment of a "foundation," which will be of
as much use as foundations usually are without a super-structure.
However, this is but our theory, and maybe we are quite wrong.

With the theory of history above quoted from the Manual we
dissent, and we dissent the more decidedly because it is presented,
not as a discussable opinion, but as authoritative statement from
which, supposedly, teachers are to take their view-point and to
teach accordingly. A theory which aims to have so wide an influ-
ence as this, and which is helped on its way by authority, aside
from its intrinsic merit, certainly ought to stand close scrutiny. We
do not think that this one does. In its definitions of history and
the aims of historical study much, it seems to us, is left out of the
survey. History is not alone the "growing life of humanity;" it is
everything of importance that has ever been recorded in the exper-
ience of man; and the aim of its stud)7 is not alone to appreciate
the grand spectacle of historic movements but to learn whatever of
importance has happened within the experience of man. Among
those happenings has been decadence as well as growth — the power
within ourselves that made for wrong as well as the power not our-
selves that makes for righteousness, and to take cognizance of the
diseases engendered by man in the body politic is, it may be held,
of quite as much importance as contemplating the more pleasing
manifestations. To interpret history wholly in terms of grand pro-
gressive laws, however desirable an exercise that may seem to be
for the school room, reminds one of Emerson's Providence dressed
up "in a clean shirt and white neckcloth," whereas Providence in
history has, to quote the sage again, "a wild, rough, incalculable
road to its end," and sometimes is far from lovely. The contempla-
tion of the historic processes is something other than cultural in the
literary or esthetic sense. The very center of interest, we take it,
is the place of man as a determining agent, and particularly as a
corrective force in the great march of events. To ignore this is
much as if a physician should make a study of anatomy and physi-
ological functions in their ideal forms and pay no attention to the
science of conserving and restoring health. The decline and fall of
the Roman Empire and the causes thereof have in them lessons

50 The Indiana Magazine of History

among the most important of all history, and on the theory that
man is a determining factor in his own fortunes it surely behooves
him to know such lessons well.

Again, history is but the history of institutions, says the Man-
ual in substance. Institutions "do not exist for themselves; they
are only means to an end. That end is the freedom of man."
Hence the study of history is a study of the freeing of man. That,
we fear, is more transcental than true- -it sounds better than it is.
To say that an institution is but a means to an end (impliedly an
extraneous means) is analagous to the assumption, so frequently
made, that work is but a means to an end — which is, the enjoyment
of the fruits of work. And yet those who have no work but have
a super-abundance of the fruits of work, as the idle rich, are among
the most discontented of people. We would submit as a truer
proposition that work, performance, the bringing to pass, the creat-
ing of new forms, is for its own sake a requirement of human exis-
tence, and that institutions, which are necessary forms taken by
work, represent a natural activity so incorporated with man's wel-
fare that to say they are merely means, or in any sense extraneous,
is meaningless. Then as to man's freedom — to what extent is
that true? The mastery of man, collectively, over nature — "free-
ing himself from the limitations of time and space, " as it is put, is
but a small arc in the full circle of freedom. With increasing obli-
gations that come with advancing civilization the individual is shorn
of much of the freedom that goes with the more primitive life — the
rights of others necessarily become more binding. If, on the one
hand, there is an advance toward political freedom, on the other
there is a corresponding movement not only toward social restric-
tions but in the direction of industrial slavefy. Out of the power
of capital issue systems wherein the bread -earner, as never before,
is held like a beast in a tread-mill. Out of the power of labor or-
ganizations issue demands, as never before, that seem to strike at
the very roots of our ideas of freedom. In the face of all this, to
say that the study of history is a study of the freeing of man is
somewhat incomprehensible.

Finally, exception may be taken to the Manual's theory of biog-
raphy and the assertion that the great personage is chiefly of inter-
est as he is the center of a historical movement and an instrument

Pertinent Comment 51

to elucidate that movement by. If there are streams or aggregates
of force there are also units of force, and it is quite permissible to
hold that to the unit for its own sake attaches a very keen interest.
Where man is the unit this is particularly true, for personality and
its mysteries — the possibility of the individual, always has been and
always will be, in its own right, of supreme human interest. This
fact remains true however much the individual is carried along by
the general stream, and in our daily life, wherever we come into
touch with a really strong personality, we realize it. Had Wash-
ington or Lincoln been stricken out of their respective periods the
movements in which they have figured would have gone on — his-
tory would still have been made, but it would have been changed
more than we can realize. In studying these men biographically
the influences they exerted, the qualities they revealed, the native
power residing within them that welled up under the stress of cir-
cumstances, is the very center of interest, and the attempt to trans-
fer that interest to something, however large, outside of them, is,
it seems to us, to wholly misapprehend the real character of biog-
raphy as distinguished from history proper. It is Carlyle, we
believe, who somewhere speaks of man as ' 'the most interesting
little fellow on the planet, ' ' and Carlyle is not yet quite out of
court, though some of us at the present day like to lose ourselves
in the immensity of the universal.

An Old-Time Pleasantry

He:

How comes it, this delightful weather,
That U and I can't dine together?

She:

My worthy friend, it cannot be —
U cannot come till after T.

LITERARY

The Secession of Dixie

A Story

THE "Secession of Dixie" may be taken as story or as history-
just as you choose about that. On this point I will merely say
I have read some history that was further from fact- -and in that I
commit myself to nothing.

"Dixie," indeed, is no myth. From the well- tilled fields now
occupying its site you may see the smoke of Indianapolis, and even,
when that smoke permits, discern the great Soldiers' Monument
which so majestically commemorates the Union that Dixie wanted
to draw out of. I can remember when those fields (just a quarter-
section in extent) were covered by a wilderness so dense that one
who entered there was glad to avail himself of narrow winding
paths that threaded the place, Indian trail fashion. These paths led
to little log cabins here and there, surrounded by as many scant
cleared spaces devoted in a rude way to garden truck, and occupied
by uncouth, half-clad people.

This ground, so runs the tradition, had at an early day been
entered by one John Pogue, a Virginian, who, for some reason, let
it remain in its primitive condition while the country around was
improved. Then when the Rebellion broke out he hied himself
elsewhere; his land was promptly confiscated as the property of an
enemy, and once more it became government territory. Then came
the squatters — the poor folk who are looking for land to live on
without money and without price. A Mr. Jabez Baughman took
the initiative, and others promptly followed; the government was
too much occupied with weightier affairs, just then, to care much
about it, and ere long a score or so of families had established them-
selves here in as many little openings, making a small community,
quite cut off from the rest of the world. Quite cut off, I say, be-
cause something other than mere walls of woodland isolated them.
They were, without exception, Southerners, of the kind known as
"poor white trash" — victims of the vicious labor system of the
South, haters of "niggers," and yet with a warm, unreasoning loy-
alty for their native States that had done so little for them and their
kind. Alienated from their neighbors thus by sentiment it is no
wonder, then, that when so excellent an opportunity offered they
should segregate into a neighborhood of their own, and it was be-

Story — The Secession of Dixie 53

cause of the character of this settlement and the former "secesh"
owner that the place came to be known as "Dixie". And by this
opportunity the squatters found themselves very happily situated,
for while the ' 'butternuts' ' hereabout as a rule had to sing small and
carry their sentiments up the sleeve, these could congregate and
express themselves as often and freely as they chose with none to
make afraid. Stray newspapers carried in like bones into a den to
be feasted on at leisure, passed from hand to hand and so kept
them apprised of the doings of the outside world. When, in the
course of time, the fierce war tide lashed to and fro like the swing
of an angry sea, and the rebellious murmurings of disaffected
Northerners grew more pronounced, Dixie plucked up hope and be-
gan to dream of a day when the chivalry from the southland would
sweep the country like a besom. Then suddenly, borne on the
wings of excited rumor, came the report that the dashing John
Morgan and his gallant battalions were actually bound hither like
gay-hearted knights on a holiday jaunt. The secret order of the
Sons of Liberty, rumor further hinted, would burst its chrysalis and
come forth boldly to the light; the order of things would be all
changed. There was excitement in the air. The whole State set
to buzzing like a vast hornet's nest, there was a swift gathering of
the clans, and on all sides was the busy notes of preparation for
conflict. Something was going to happen.

And now one day Mr. Jabez Baughman "issued a call" for all
Dixieites to convene at his cabin that evening to discuss questions
of moment. Of the resultant meeting no minutes were preserved;
you will find no mention of it in the Adjutant-General's reports,
nor elsewhere, and the only authority I can claim for it is the oral
account of Mr. Andrew Jackson Strickler, a "member of the con-
vention," who afterward became reconstructed and reconciled to the
Government. As faithfully as I can quote him here he is, Tenne-
see dialect and all:

"It was," said Mr. Strickler, "in July of '63. I disremember
adzactly the date, but it was after the hayin' was done an' the
wheat harvest about over. We heerd tell o' John Morgan crossin'
the river an' headin' our way, an' was consid'ble intrusted like, an'
so w'en Jabe Baughman 's boys went eroun' the settlement tellin'
all the men folks their pap wanted us to meet at their house late
that night, we jest natchally fell in with it, kase we knowed from

54 The Indiana Magazine of History

the sly way it 'as done thar was somepin' up. None of us was to
come till after ord'nary bed-time, an' none of us was to carry 'ary
light, an' that putt ginger in it, y' see. Well, w'en night fell the
the weather got ugly, and I mind way about ten o'clock, as I felt
my way through the thickets, how everlastin' black it was, an' how
the wind rasseled the trees erbout, roarin' like a hongry lion seekin'
who he may devour. It made me feel kind 'o creepy, kase it 'peared
like the elerments an' man an' everthing was erbout to do somepin' —
kinder like the bottom was goin' to drap out 'o things, y'understand.

"Well, the fellers come steerin' into Jabes' one by one, an' by
'leven o' the clock ever' man in Dixie was thar. Jabe's young' uns
an' womern folks hed been sent out in the stable to sleep, an' so
ever' thing was clear fer business, but we all set eround talkin' hogs
fer a spell, kase we felt a mite unsartin; but byme-by Baughman,
says he: 'Gen'l'men, I call this yere meetin' to order.' Then my
oldest boy, whose name was Andy, too, and who'd been to two or
three public meetin's before an' felt kind o' biggoty over it, he hol-
lers out: 'I second the motion.' Then young Jerry Stimson says:
'I move that Mr. Baughman take the cheer,' an' my boy seconded
that, too, an' it was so ordered. Then Baughman riz an' said he
hadn't hardly expected that honor (w'ich was a lie), but sence they
had putt it on him he'd try to. discharge his duties to the meetin'.

"After that we made young Stimson secatary, seein' he was
somepin' of a scholard, an' then Jabe he made us a speech sayin' as
how we'd orto stick by the grand old South, w'at was even now
sendin' her conquerin' hosts to our doors, an' how we'uns should be
read)r to receive her to our buzzums. It wa'nt all quite clear to
me, an' I ast how we was goin' to take her to our buzzums. 'W'y,
give her our moral s'port, ' says Jabe. 'How'll we give our moral
s'port, says I,' an' then says Jabe, slow an* solemn like: 'Gen'l'men,'
says he, 'wen our sister States found it was time fer 'em to be up
an' adoin' — w'en they found the Union wa'nt the place fer 'em, w'at
did they do?.' Here Jabe helt his fire, an' ever'thing was stock-still
fer a spell, w'ile the wind howled outside. It 'peared like no one
hadn't the grit to tackle the question, an' Jabe had to do it hisself.
'Gen'l'men,' says he, air we men enough to run risks for our kentry?
W'en John Morgan's histed the flag of the grand ol' Confedercy
over the Injeany State House who's goin' to come to their reward,
them as helt back skeert, or them as give him their moral s'port?.

Story — The Secession of Dixie 55

At this my boy Andy, who was gittin' all het up like with the
idee o' doin' somepin', bellers out: 'Mr. Cheerman, I move 'at we
air all men, an' 'at we ain't afeerd to give the South our moral
s'port. ' Then Jabe grabbed the cow by the tail an' w'ipped her up.
'Do I understand the gen'l'man to mean,' says he, that we'd orto
do w'at our sister States hev done, an' draw out o' this yere Union,
an' ef so, will he putt a movement to that effeck before the house?.

"I make a move then,' says Andy agen, as bold as Davy Crock-
ett, 'that we don't w'ip the devil eround the stump no more, but that
we git out o' the Union an' we git out a-flyin.' I was right proud
o' the boy, not lease I thought he had a durn bit o' sense, but kase
he went at it with his coat off like a man bound to make his mark.
That got all of us spunky like, an' nigh ever one in the house sec-
onded the move. Then says Jabe: 'Gen'l'men, the question is be-
fore you, whether we will lend the Southern Confeder'cy our moral
s'port an' foller our sister States out'n the Union. All in favor of
this yere motion signify the same by sayin' aye'. 'Aye!' says ever
livin' soul with a whoop, fer by that time we shore was all runnin'
in a flock. 'All contrary wise say no,' says Jabe, an' we all waited
quiet fer a minute, kase that 'as the proper way, y' know, w'en all
of a suddent, above the roar o' the wind outside, thar was a screech
an' a tremenjus racket; the ol' house shuck like it was comin' down;
the daubin' flew from the chinks, an' overhead it 'peared like the
ol' Scratch was clawin' his way through the clabboards. Next he
come a-tearin' at the floor of the loft above us, an' a loose board
swingin' down hit Jabe a whack an' knocked the candle off'n the
table, an' the next thing it was black as yer hat. Jabe, I reckon,
was consid'able flustered, kase he gethered hisself up an' yelled:
'The Devil's after us — -git out o' here, fellers !' An' you bet we got.

"It tuck me a full hour to find my way home through the bresh, an' w'en
I did git thar, at last, an' was tryin' to tell w'ich side o' the house the door was
on, I bumped up agin And}' groopin' his way too. 'Andy,' says I, 'I move we
git in jest as quick as the Lord'll let us,' an' says Andy, 'I second the motion'.

"The next day w'en we went back to Baughman's to see w'at we cu'd larn
we found a good-sized ellum had keeled over agin the roof-poles an' poked a
limb down through the clabboards. It 'as never settled among us jest w'at it
meant. Some said it 'as the Lord's way of votin' no agin our goin' out o' the
Union, an' others allowed it was the Lord's way o' savin' us from our brash-
ness, kase, as ever one knows, John Morgan didn't git to Injunoplis after all,
an' as things turned out it wa'nt jest best fer us to be seceded, y' know."

— C. S. C.

Two Graphic Hoosier Pictures

[The two pictures here poetically presented of the Hoosier pioneer home
are so akin that we thus reprint them as a pair. The "Hoosier's Nest," by
John Finley, for many years the mayor of Richmond, was, perhaps, the first
Indiana poem to win fame, and it is further distinguished by its introduction
of the term "Hoosier" into literature. It was first published in 1833 (not in
1830, as commonly stated), according to Mr. J. P. Dunn, as a Carrier's Address
for the Indianapolis Journal, and after some revision by the author, became
fixed in the form from which we here quote. The other, untitled poem, from
a far more famous poet, James Whitcomb Riley, is practically unknown and
is not to be found in any of the author's books. It was read before an old
settler's meeting at Oaklandon, in 1878, and is reported in full in the Indiana-
polis Sentinel for August 5th (or 6th). Both the poems are considerably longer
than here given, and take a wider range than the theme of the cabin home].

The Hoosier's Nest

['M told, in riding somewhere West,
A stranger found a Hoosier's Nest,
In other words, a buckeye cabin,
Just big enough to hide Queen Mab in.
Its situation, low but airy,
Was on the borders of a prairie;
And, fearing he might be benighted,
He hailed the house, and then alighted.
The Hoosier met him at the door.
Their salutations soon were o'er;
He took the stranger's horse aside
And to a sturdy sapling tied.
Then, having stripped the saddle off.
He fed him in a sugar-trough.

The stranger stooped to enter iny

The entrance closing with a pin,

And manifested strong desire

To seat him by the log-heap fire,

Where half-a-dozen Hoosieroons,

With mush and milk, tin-cups and spoons,

White heads, bare feet and dirty faces,

Seemed much inclined to keep their places;

But madam, anxious to display

Her rough but undisputed sway,

Her off-spring to the ladder led,

And cuffed the youngsters up to bed.

o

Two Hoosier Pictures 57

Invited shortly to partake
Of venison, milk and Johnny-cake,
The stranger made a hearty meal,
And glances 'round the room would steal.
One side was lined with divers garments,
The other spread with skins of varmints;
Dried pumpkins over-head were strung,
Where venison hams in plenty hung;
Two rifles placed above the door,
Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor,
In short, the domicile was rife
With specimens of Hoosier life.

The host, who centered his affections
On game and range and quarter-sections,
Discoursed his weary guest for hours,
Till Somnus' all-composing powers
Of sublunary cares bereft 'em,
And then I came away and left them.
No matter how the story ended;
The application I intended
Is from the famous Scottish poet,
Who seemed to feel as well as know it,
That burly chiels and clever hizzies
Are bred in sic a way as this is.

Mr. Riley's Poem

[This poem, we find, is in the Sentinel of Aug. 4, 1.87S.]

E R the vision like a mirage falls
The old log cabin with its ding}' walls,
And crippled chimney, with the crutch-like prop
Keneath a sagging shoulder at the top;
The coon skin, battened fast on either side;
The wisps of leaf tobacco, "cut and dried";
The yellow strands of quartered apples hung
In ricb festoons that tangle in among
The morning-glory vines that clamber o'er
The little clapboard roof above the door;
The old well-sweep, that drops a courtesy
To every thirsty soul so graciously
The stranger, as he drains the dripping gourd,
Intuitively murmurs: "Thank the Lord!"
Again, through mists of memory, arise
The simple scenes of home before the eyes;

5& The Indiana Magazine of History

The happy mother Humming, with her wheel,
The dear old melodies that used to steal
So drowsily upon the summer air
The house-dog hid his bone, forgot his care,
And nestled at her feet, to dream, perchance,
Some cooling dream of winter- time romance;
The square of sunshine thro' the open door,
That notched its way across the puncheon floor.
And made a golden coverlet whereon
The god of slumber had a picture drawn
Of babyhood, in all the loveliness
Of dimpled cheek and limb and linsey dress;
The bough-filled fireplace and the mantel wide;
The fire-scorched ankles stretched on either side,
Where, perched upon its shoulders 'neath the joist,
The old clock hiccoughed, harsh and husky-voiced,
And snarled the premonition, dire and dread,
When it should hammer time upou the head;
Tomatoes, red and yellow, in a row,
Preserved not then for diet, but for show,
Like rare and precious jewels in the rough,
Whose worth was not appraised at half enough;
The jars of Jelly with their dusty tops;
The bunch of pennyroyal, the cordial drops;
The flask of camphor and the vial of squills;
The box of buttons, garden seeds and pills;
And, ending all the mantel's bric-a-brac,
The old, time-honored "family almanack."

And memory, with a mother's touch of love.
Climbs with us to the dusky loft above;

Again we stretch our limbs upon the bed,

Where first our simple, childish prayers were said,

And, while without the merry cricket trills

A challenge to the solemn whippoorwills,

And, filing on the chorus with his glee.

The katydid whets all the harmony

To feather-edge of incoherent song,

We drop asleep, and peacefully along

The current of our dreams we glide away

To that dim harbor of another day,

Where brown Toil waits us, and where Labor stands

To welcome us with rough and horny hands.

The Indiana Magazine of History

vol. i Second Quarter, 1905 no. z

The Wabash and Its Valley

Part I — The Earlier History

/"v NE who delves among old books and documents that bear
^-^ upon early Indiana history is struck by the fact that a
great and, in some respects, a peculiar interest attaches to the
Wabash River and the region that it waters. Next to the
Mississippi and Ohio it, more than any other Western stream,
seems to have commanded the attention of old-time travelers,
its relation to the St. Lawrence water system giving it an im-
portance hardly appreciated to-day by those who are not
students of history and of former conditions.

A glance at the map will show the magnitude of the Wa-
bash, as compared with other Indiana rivers. Traversing the
State in a great arc from the northeast part to the southwest
extremity, it covers, counting its bends, more than five hun-
dred miles. When we reflect that its valley is a tract of that
extent, in some places many miles wide, and originally of un-
surpassed fertility, we can realize its ultimate agricultural im-
portance; but long before that day the river itself had a su-
preme value. Along its course were the very beginners of
Indiana history, and for reasons that are intimately inwoven
with the larger history of the country.

From the lofty tower of the court house in Fort Wayne
one has a fine bird's-eye view not only of the third largest
city in Indiana, but of a much wider sweep of territory which
circles about with a visible radius of perhaps ten miles. Down
in the town, from the midst of trees and buildings, occasional
glimpses may be had of the three rivers — the St. Mary's, the
St. Joseph and the Maumee — that find their union here, on the
summit of the great water-shed. To north and south and east
the eye may trace their three valleys. Westward a level, al-

60 The Indiana Magazine of History

most treeless, depression like the ancient bed of yet another
river, stretches to the blue distance.

To the instructed observer this topography tells a most
interesting story. Eastward of him gently dips the broad
Erie basin, sending its waters to the sea by Lake Erie, Ni-
agara and the St. Lawrence. On the other hand, a few miles
across the prairie-like expanse spoken of, and almost within
sight, lies a tributary of the beautiful Wabash, and beyond it
the vast slope of the Mississippi Valley, down which the lordly
rivers merge in a general highway to the far-off Gulf of
Mexico.

The near approach to each other here of these two great
water systems which thread the land through various lati-
tudes for perhaps three thousand miles, binding together the
remote parts of the continent, must be appreciated to under-
stand the peculiar interest that attaches to the spot. By re-
ferring to a map of this region it may be seen that the St.
Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers, which send their waters to Lake
Erie, do not flow from the west, but toward the west till they
meet, then, by an unusual dip of the surface, they run back
eastward to the Maumee, down a trough that lies between
the two valleys of the first-named streams. The branches
of the Wabash flow from the same direction as do the
branches of the Maumee, but .continue westward. Moreover,
the Maumee and its two oblique tributaries form a sort of
arrow head, which, intruding among the Wabash tributaries,
thus make the two systems interlock and approach at their
nearest points to within a few miles of each other. The im-
portant feature of it is that this interlocking is not of insignifi-
cant headwaters, as usually happens, but the nearest point of
approach is where the streams on both sides are navigable.
Back of all this lies a fascinating geologic story — the story of
a vast retreating glacier, shaped not unlike the prow of a
mighty ship, that, as it halted and retreated and anon halted,
built up successive lines of morainic breastworks that deter-
mined the courses of the rivers and drew together the two
systems as above described.*

* For fullest exposition of this theory see Sixteenth Geological Re-
port of Ind. ; Charles R. Dryer's chapter on Allen County.

The Wabash and Its Valley 61

Under the old methods of transportation, when the naviga-
ble rivers were of paramount importance, the immense advan-
tages of this spot where the seaboard met the Mississippi
Valley were fully recognized by various masters of the place.
Its military value alone was such that through three succes-
sive periods the French, the English and the Americans com-
manded with military posts this portage where, by a carry
of some nine miles, troops might have easy ingress to the ter-
ritory which otherwise was almost inaccessible. Anthony
Wayne, indeed, regarded it as "the key to the Northwest."
Subsequently it came to have a commercial value which made
the early growth of Fort Wayne, and before the white man's
advent his aboriginal predecessors had pitched their lodges
there for similar reasons, the city just named being ante-
dated by a Miami village known as Kekionga. A squaw, the
mother of the Chief Richardville, who had preceded him as
the ruler of her tribe, is said to have amassed a fortune from
tolls exacted from the traders who used the portage ; Little
Turtle, the great war chief, was not less thrifty, and when
the whites succeeded to the holding a flourishing business was
carried on with carriers and pack-horses. At the treaty of
Greenville, in 1795, after the subjugation of the northwestern
tribes by Anthony Wayne, Little Turtle pleaded for a con-
tinued interest in the portage. This region, he contended, had
always belonged to the Miamis, and in one of his speeches
he speaks of it as "the glorious gate * * * through which
all the good words of our chiefs had to pass from the North
to the South, and from the East to the West. * * * This
carrying place," he said again, "has heretofore proved in a
great degree, the subsistence of your younger brothers. That
place has brought to us, in the course of one day, the amount
of one hundred dollars."* The explanation of this is that the
Twightwees, or Miamis proper, the dominant tribe of the
great Miami confederacy, held many councils here with visit-
ing tribes — hence "the glorious gate * * * through which all
the good words of our chiefs had to pass," while for the use of

* Dillon, pp. 368, 369.

61 The Indiana Magazine of History

the portage by traders the holders exacted tribute or toll, thus
levying what might be called the first tariff on imports. Gen-
eral Wayne, in answering this part of Little Turtle's plea,
used an argument not altogether unknown at the present day.
"Let us inquire," he said, "who, in fact, paid the heavy con-
tribution. It is true the traders bore it in the first instance;
but they laid it on the goods, and the Indians of the Wabash
really and finally paid it."*

Another interesting fact in connection with this portage
was the utilizing of beaver dams on Little River. When the
water was low these were broken away and the boats of the
voyagers carried down with the increased floods. The witless
animals would industriously repair the breaches thus made,
quite unconscious of the part they were playing in man's
traffic f

With the coming of the explorer and the fur trader the
Wabash begins a new phase of history. Just when the first
white man's canoe traversed its winding miles is a matter of
speculation. Some historians have put it as early as 1680
and some as late as 1735 and even 1750. Some of the earlier
chart-makers confused it with the Ohio, and on one French
map, dated 1720, we find a stream rising in a good-sized lake
near the east end of Lake Erie, flowing thence through what
is now northern Ohio, and finally trending southwest to the
Mississippi. This is called "Ouabache Autremt Appellee
Ohio ou Belle Riviere." By 1742 the two rivers are differ-
entiated, but flow parallel with each other, not very far apart,
and by 1784 the Wabash is laid down with considerable ac-
curacy. The stream was at one time christened St. Jerome
and is so called on a few of the maps, but the name did not
stick, and it was generally designated as the "Ouabache."
This was the French spelling of an Indian word from an
Algonquin stem, wabi or wapi, which meant whitej In time
it became anglicized into Wabash, which is not far removed

* Dillon, p. 371.

t Dunn's Indiana, p. 114.

X Dunn, p. 14.

The Wabash and Its Valley 63

from the Indian "Wabba-shikka," that is attached to it in
Hough's map, giving the Indian names of rivers.*

Hard after the first explorers came the French fur traders.
The most lucrative and most immediate returns promised by
the wilderness of the new world were in the skins of its
wild animals, and capitalists were swift to draw upon this
source of wealth. Large companies were formed and these
established their agents along with the military posts which
France planted across her vast new territory from the lakes
to the gulf. Three of these settlements, military and commer-
cial, were located on the Wabash — one at the Miami village
of Kekionga, where Fort Wayne now stands ; one called Ouia-
tenon, among the Wea Indians, below the present site of
Lafayette, and one among the Piankeshaws, eventually known
as Vincennes. To these posts the Indians from far and near
brought their peltries, exchanging them for commodities dear
to the savage heart, and from here they were sent to the
great fur houses in upper Canada. Communication between
these remote points was effected by the famous coureurs des
bois, the carriers of the woods, who were the forerunners of
the steamboat and the freight train. The reign of these wild,
lawless and care-free rangers adds a picturesque gleam to the
history of the beautiful Wabash. To quote the words of J. P.
Dunn : "They were the most romantic and poetic characters
ever known in American frontier life. Their every movement
attracts the rosiest coloring of imagination. We see them
gliding along the streams in their long canoes. * * * We
catch afar off the thrilling cadence of their choruses, floating
over prairie and marsh, echoing from forest and hill, startling
the buffalo from his haunt in the reeds; telling the drowsy
denizens of the posts of the approach of revelry, and whisper-
ing to the Indian village of gaudy fabrics, of trinkets and of
firewater. * * * Another night they have reached the little
post and we are overwhelmed by the confusion of chattering,
laughing, singing and bargaining.''^

* Indiana Geological Report, 1882.
t Dunn, p. 91.

64 The Indiana Magazine of History

With all this gaiety, however, the lot of the voyageur was
by no means an easy one. His food was such as few civilized
men could live on, a day's ration being simply a quart of
hulled corn and a pint of bear's grease, while a ceaseless ply-
ing of the paddle from dawn till dusk could not have been
less laborious than the toil of the Roman galley slave, whose
task has become a synonym for hard work.

The favorite craft of these carriers was the pirouge, a
large canoe made from the hollowed trunks of trees, propelled
with paddles by four men. Coming they bore coarse blue
and red cloths, fine scarlet, guns, powder, balls, knives, hatch-
ets, traps, kettles, ribbons, beads, vermilion, tobacco, spiritu-
ous liquors, etc.* Returning, they carried back, as a load,
some forty packs of skins weighing about one hundred pounds
each, and that the exchange of the cargoes proved profitable
to the traders we can readily believe when told that the In-
dians were charged at the rate of four dollars a hundred for
bullets.

Of the three Wabash settlements named, two, Ouiatenon
and the one at Kekionga, were never more than mere posts,
consisting of traders and their families, and the little garri-
son maintained by the French government. An old document
published by the Indiana Historical Society, which has been
called "The First Census of Indiana," gives the names of the
heads of families at these points, there being nine at Fort
Miami (Fort Wayne), and twelve at Ouiatenon. These, with
sixty-six names at Vincennes, represented the white popula-
tion of our territory in 1769. Colonel Croghan, an officer in
the British service, who was captured by the Kickapoo In-
dians and carried up the Wabash in 1765, describes Kekionga
as forty or fifty Indian cabins and nine or ten French houses
occupied by a runaway colony from Detroit.

Of Fort Ouiatenon, which, in all probability, was the first
settlement in Indiana, information is so meager that the his-
torians have waged a spirited controversy as to its site. A few
years ago a skeleton in the remnants of a French uniform,
along with some silver crucifixes, utensils and various frag-

* Dillon, p. 20.

The Wabash and Its Valley 65

ments of military equipments were dug up on the north bank
of the river near the mouth of Wea creek, which would seem
to determine the spot. During the French occupancy this
post, situated in the very heart of the fur country, did a thirv-
ing business, the annual trade being estimated at £8,000, but
after the English conquest it was gradually abandoned.

The date of the founding of Vincennes is also involved in
obscurity, and there has been not a little ingenious but barren
speculation upon the subject. Dillon suggests 1702, Dunn
1727 and Bancroft about 1716. The names that attached to
it in the earlier days were various. It is first mentioned as
the "Post du Ouabache," which became contracted into au
poste, and this in turn, when the American settlers came, was
corrupted into Opost. It has also been referred to as "the
post of Pianguichats" and "L. (little) Wiaut." Sometimes it
took its name from St. Ange, the first commandant, and from
this was anglicised into Fort St. Anne, or Fort Anne. It
finally became Post St. Vincent, and then Vincennes, in honor
of its founder, Sieur De Vincennes. Vincennes was not a sur-
name, but a title appertaining to one of the Canadian fiefs,
this successor to it being Francoise Morgane.

Unlike Ouiatenon, Vincennes, almost from the first, had in
it the elements of permanence. Peopled by emigrants from
New Orleans, Kaskaskia and various parts of Canada, it was
an agricultural community in a crude way, and here, shut off
from civilization by untrod leagues of wilderness, they led a
shiftless, indolent, contented life, still retaining the customs
and gaieties of La Belle France and adding to their costumes
and house furnishings a picturesqueness borrowed of the In-
dians. There were few iron workers among them, and their
implements of husbandry were of the most primitive kind.
The rich Wabash lands returned them a subsistence with a
minimum of toil; the more well-to-do class held slaves who
relieved them of that little toil, and so there was an abundance
of time for the consumption of tobacco and snuff and home-
made wines; for the keeping of holidays and the indulgence
of the French passion for social intercourse and amusements.
Among other things we learn, incidentally, of billiard tables

66 The Indiana Magazine of History

among them, though how they were transported thither we
are left to imagine. Being of the Roman Catholic faith, these
easy-going souls were not called upon to solve religious prob-
lems, and they were quite as free from responsibility and
worry in political affairs. The commandant was king in a
small way and the grand arbiter in all matters pertaining to
the community. They carried on some commerce with New
Orleans, sending thither flour, pork, hides, etc., and bringing
back sugar, metal goods and fabrics.

For more than half a century this isolated little community
flourished, or rather, perhaps, "vegetated" here, untouched
by outer influences, but the English acquisition of the West
was the beginning of the end for them. Their first realiza-
tion of the seriousness of the change, perhaps, was in 1772,
when General Gage, commander of the English forces in
America, issued a proclamation which, treating them as mere
squatters, ordered them to leave the Indian country and rer
tire to "the colonies of his Majesty." The poor French, in
great consternation, returned a remonstrance, claiming that
they had their lands by "sacred titles." Gage, with a show
of justice, demanded circumstantial proof of the validity of
each title, and as the careless holders had not taken the pains
to preserve their documents they were put to their wits end.
Eventually, the British ministry not supporting Gage's meas-
ures, the matter was ajusted and his Majesty's new subjects
allowed to remain on their old claims, where, in time, they
were all but obliterated by an alien people; though to the
present day there are reminders in Vincennes of the old
French occupancy. Of these three French settlements, Ouiate-
non and Fort Miami were in the territory of Canada and sub-
ject to that government, while Vincennes was in Louisiana,
the border line crossing the Wabash about where Terre Haute
now stands.

When, in the fullness of time, the country again changed
hands, and, after the stirring events of the Revolution, atten-
tion was turned to the great new territory west of the Alle-
ghenies, the importance of the Wabash was still recognized.
General Wayne, according to the knowledge current in his

The Wabash and Its Valley 67

day, was sagacious and far-seeing. In his famous Indian
campaign he planted a fort at the head of the Maumee where
the French and English had built their forts before ; and in
the treaty at Greenville, following that campaign, he stipu-
lated for a tract six miles square where Fort Wayne stood;
one two miles square on Little River (the Wabash tributary),
at the other side of the portage ; one six miles square at Ouia-
tenon, and lands lying about Vincennes to which the Indian
title had been extinguished. In addition it provided for a free
navigation of the Wabash, believing that to be of the greatest
military importance to the territory the river threaded. The
control of the portage at the head of navigation was the con-
trol of the door to that territory, and hence his designation
of the spot as "the key to the Northwest." Had not the loco-
motive become a factor in the trend of aflairs it is more than
probable that Wayne's wisdom would have been proven by
time.

A word of post-mortem history touching the doughty vet-
eran who wrested this spot from the red man and established
his name here may not be amiss. Wayne, as may be learned
from any standard biography of him, died where Erie, Pa.,
is now located, not long after his conquest of the Northwest-
ern tribes. There he lay buried for thirteen years, when his
son removed the remains to the old home place in Chester
county, Pennsylvania. Further particulars are not, I believe,
given in any of the "lives," but some twenty-five years ago a
fugitive article afloat in the press added some gruesome de-
tails to the established account.* According to this the son
came over the mountains on his sepulchral errand in a small
sulky. When his father's body was disinterred it was found
to be in an excellent state of preservation. To transport it
thus on the sulky was impossible, and a Dr. John C. Wallace,
one of Wayne's old companions in arms, overcame the diffi-
culty by boiling the body, thus separating the flesh from the
bones. The flesh was returned to the original grave and the
bones, strapped in a box to the sulky, were taken home and
re-buried. Thus the dust of the hero of Stony Point has the
anomalous distinction of occupying two graves. Over the
bones a monument was erected. The first grave was forgot-
ten for many years, when some digger for relics unearthed
a coffin lid, with the initials A. W. and the figures of Wayne's
age and date of death formed by brass-headed nails.

[Concluded Next Number.] Vj« ^- v^«

68 The Indiana Magazine of History

Revolutionary Soldiers in Putnam County

By W. H. Ragan

From the Papers of the Putnam County Historical Society.

TT is rather remarkable that Putnam County should have fur-
"■■ nished a home for any survivorof the Revolutionary strug-
gle. When we remember that a period of more than forty
years intervened between the close of the Revolutionary War
and the pioneer settlements in Putnam, and when we remem-
ber, in addition, that Putnam County is situated almost a
thousand miles from the scenes of that great struggle, it is,
as I have stated, rather remarkable that veterans of that war,
the youngest of whom must have been nearing his sixtieth
year, should have made their way across the mountains and
through the wilderness to found new homes in our then sparse-
ly settled country. That some did thus migrate in their old age
to become citizens of our county is beyond the question of
doubt.

It is with the hope of stimulating investigation that may
lead to the discovery of all those who once had their homes
within the limits of our county that I have consented to pre-
pare this paper, in which I shall speak of those only of whom
I have some personal or well-authenticated knowledge. There
is a small section of country lying immediately north and east
of the village of Fillmore and embracing but a few square
miles of territory, at least not exceeding a half dozen, in which
five survivors of the Revolutionary War spent their last days
on earth, and in which their sacred ashes still remain. Three
of the five the writer very distinctly remembers, the others
dying but a short time before his recollection.

I doubt if there is an area so small within the limits of the
county, or even the State, where so many patriots of our War
of Independence spent their last days. This is, perhaps, a mere
coincidence, as I know of no community of interests that could
have thus brought them together. Indeed, they had been,

Revolutionary Soldiers in Putman County 69

for aught I know, entire strangers to each other. Certainly
there were no close ties of consanguinity existing among
them. Hence, I conjecture that their settlement in such near
proximtiy was not by design or purpose on their part.

The area in which the patriots resided embraced a small
portion of the adjacent townships of Floyd and Marion. Three
of them resided in the former, and two in the latter-named
townships. At least three of the five came to this county
with their families, the others perhaps coming with children
or friends. Abraham Stobaugh, Silas Hopkins, Samuel Den-
ny, John Bartee and Benjamin Mahorney were the worthy
patriots of whom I shall speak. Their deaths occurred in the
order in which they are named.

Abraham Stobaugh came from Montgomery County, Vir-
ginia, in company with his son, the late Jacob Stobaugh, and
settled in the southern portion of Floyd township. He was
the grandfather of Mrs. Anderson M. Robinson, of Filmore,
and of the late Mrs. Owen, the deceased wife of our fellow-
townsman and ex-County Recorder, George Owen. From
Mrs. Robinson I learn that this patriot died in September,
1836, and that he was buried with the honors of war. A mili-
tia company from Greencastle, commanded by the late Col.
Lewis H. Sands, fired the salute at the grave. He was buried
in a private cemetery on the old Gorham farm in Marion
township. There is to-day no trace of this grave remaining,
none at least that would indentify it among those of numerous
friends and relatives. Mr. Stobaugh left quite a large number
of descendants, some of whom still remain in the neighbor-
hood of his former home.

Silas Hopkins, if tradition may be credited, was a native
of the city of Baltimore, and a supposed relative of the late
millionaire merchant and philanthropist, Johns Hopkins,
whose name will go down to posterity in connection with
the great university his beneficence endowed. Silas Hopkins
was the father of the somewhat noted John Deroysha Hop-
kins, whose eccentric characteristics will be remembered by
many in Putnam County. He was also the father of the late

70 The Indiana Magazine of History

Mrs. Thomas Gorham, with whom he made his home. Patriot
Hopkins was in some particulars not unlike his eccentric son.
His death occurred near the close of the fourth decade of this
century.

How long, or when, and at what period of the Revolution-
ary struggle, and in what branch of the service, or under what
command these patriots served, is perhaps unknown to liv-
ing mortals; but that they were Revolutionary soldiers there
is not the shadow of a doubt. Jacob Stobaugh, the son of
Abraham was a veteran of the war of 1812, and some of the
descendants of Silas Hopkins laid down their lives to preserve
that government which he gave his best years to the estab-
lishment of. Even his eccentric son, John D., was for a time
a Union soldier in the War of the Rebellion. Although at the
time beyond the age of military service, he enlisted in Com-
pany C, 70th Regiment, and served a part of the second year
of the war as a member of that regiment, which was com-
manded by the only living ex-President of the United States.
At least four grandsons served in the Union Army, two of
whom, Silas and Thomas Gorham, laid down their lives in
their country's service, and now rest side by side in the village
cemetery at Fillmore.

There is something sadly pathetic in the story of the death
of these patriotic grandsons of Silas Hopkins. They had sur-
vived the mishaps of war from 1861 to 1865, when one of the
brothers began to decline in health. The war was over, and
they really were needed no longer at the front. So the sick
brother was given a furlough to his home, and for company
the well one was sent with him. On the Vandalia train, while
halting at the Greencastle station, and within six miles of
home and friends, the invalid brother quietly breathed his
last. The survivor tenderly supported the lifeless form of
his brother in his arms until the train reached Fillmore, where
kind and loving friends performed the last sad rites. But one
short month elapsed until the remaining brother was gently
laid by his side "in the shadow of the stone."

In those early days most every farm had its private burial
place, in which the members of the family and friends were

Revolutionary Soldiers in Putman County 71

interred. The Gorham family was not an exception to this
general rule. On the north end of this farm, known to the
older residents as the Judge Smith or Gorham farm, and now
owned by Albert O. Lockridge of this city, and the first land
in the township conve3^ed by the government to a private
individual, is one of these neglected burial places. The loca-
tion is obscure, and but for a few rough stones, one of which
bears the indistinct inscription "W. B.," there is naught to
indicate that it is a pioneer cemetery in which many of the
early settlers sleep their long sleep. Here rest the mortal re-
mains of Abraham Stobaugh and Silas Hopkins, of Revolu-
tionary memory. But a few years will elapse until this little
grave yard will be entirely unknown and forgotten, and pos-
terity will then have naught but tradition as a guide to this
spot where lie two of the founders of our Republic.

Samuel Denny resided in the southern part of Floyd Town-
ship on what is now known as the Gravel Pit Farm, which is
owned by the Big Four Railway. His home was with an
adopted daughter, Mrs. Isaac Yeates, he having had no chil-
dren of his own. Mr. Denny first settled in Warren Township,
where his wife died and was buried. He was the great uncle
of our fellow-townsman, James T. Denny, Esq. Patriot Den-
ny had long predicted that his death would occur on the 4th
of July, which prediction was verified by the fact. In the
early summer of 1843, ms rapid decline was noted and on the
Nation's sixty-seventh birthday, his gentle spirit took leave
of earth. I well remember Mr. Denny, and have him pictured
in my mind as a most venerable personage. Indeed he was
highly respected and honored by all who knew him. I have
already referred to the fact that he had no children of his
own. It is, however, a well-verified tradition that he reared
thirteen orphan children by adoption, thus showing the great
benevolence of his character. He was buried in Warren Town-
ship, at what is known as Deer Creek Baptist Church, by the
side of his deceased wife, and, I have no doubt, with the hon-
ors of war so well befitting the day and the occasion.

John Bartee's home was on a fraction of the same farm on

72 The Indiana Magazine of History

which Patriot Denny died, and to which he had, in some way,
acquired a fee-simple title. There were ten acres of the little
homestead on which he resided. He lived in an humble log
cabin, .with but one room. Here in company with his feeble-
minded second wife, and still more imbecile daughter, he spent
his last days in extreme poverty. The family were objects of
charity. Through the exertions of the late A. B. Matthews,
himself a member of the Board of County Commissioners,
that body made a small appropriation, I am unable to say just
how much, in support of this superannuated veteran ; but with
all this, only a small share of the good things of earth fell to
the lot of our worthy patriot in his declining years. At the
early age of sixteen, he participated in the siege of Yorktown
and the capture of Lord Cornwallis. His death occurred in
February, 1848, and he was buried in the little graveyard
on the Yeates farm near by his former home.

Benjamin Mahorney, the fifth and last survivor, and perhaps
among the very last of his race, died in the summer of 1854,
more than seventy years after the close of the great struggle
in which he was an active participant. His home, like that of
Patriot Hopkins, was in the northern portion of Warren town-
ship, and immediately on the line of the Big Four Railway,
one mile east of the little station of Darwin. He resided with
his son, Owen Mahorney, who made him comfortable in his
last days. He was a most venerable object, known to the peo-
ple of the neighborhood as worthy of veneration and respect.
His hair was white as the driven snow. Patriot Mahorney
was a Virginian, and enlisted from Farquire county, in that
State, in the spring of 1779, for a period of eighteen months.
He served under Captain Walls, in Colonel Buford's regiment
of Virginia militia. His regiment met the British cavalry,
under Colonel Tarleton, at Waxham, North Carolina, and were
repulsed with great loss in killed, wounded and prisoners.
Patriot Mahorney was one of the few who escaped injury or
capture. His term of enlistment closed on October 25, 1780,
nearly seventy-four years prior to his death in this county.
From the records of our County Clerk's office, I learn that he
made application for a pension at the April term of court in

Revolutionary Soldiers in Putman County 73

1833, and that he was at that time seventy-three years of age.
From this record I also learn the above facts concerning his
enlistment and service in the patriot cause.

At the time of Benjamin Mahorney's death there was in
the neighborhood, a military company with headquarters at
the village of Fillmore, and commanded by James H. Sum-
mers, a Mexican War veteran, and afterwards Colonel of an
Iowa regiment in the War of the Rebellion. Captain Sum-
mers called his company together and fired a salute over the
open grave of the last survivor of Revolutionary memory in
that neighborhood. The interment was at what is known as
the Smythe graveyard, and one mile east of Fillmore. It is
probable that the grave of Mr. Mahorney might still be
identified. If so, it should become an object of public care and
attention for all time to come.

An incident occurred after the burial of Patriot Mahorney,
when Captain Summers, with his company, returned to Fill-
more to store their guns in the company's armory. A mem-
ber of the company, Noah Alley (also a Mexican veteran, and
afterwards killed at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, as a member
of the 27th Indiana Regiment) through an awkward mishap,
thrust the fixed bayonet of his musket through his leg just
above the ankle, making a serious and painful wound. The
village boys out of juvenile curiosity had gathered about the
military company, and were many of them witnesses to this
unfortunate accident. The writer well remembers the im-
pression it made on his youthful mind, and this incident will
go down in his memory, associated with the death and burial
of the last survivor of the Revolutionary struggle in that part
of the county, if not in the State.

Of these five Revolutoinary patriots, two only, Hopkins
and Stobaugh, have living descendants in our midst. Denny,
it will be remembered, had no children of his own. Bartee's
wife and daughter are long since dead, and the younger Ma-
horney, after his father's death, together with his family, re-
moved to Fountain County, where they have been lost to
sight, in the busy throng that now throbs and pulsates
throughout our land.

74 The Indiana Magazine of History

The Journal of John Tipton

Commissioner to Locate Site for State Capital — 1820

(Concluded.)

[Note. — The first installment of this journal was copied from Tip-
ton's original manuscript. This part is a reprint from the Indianapolis
News, as published by the owner of the MS., Mr. John H. Holliday
(see the News, April 17, 1879). In this newspaper version some of Tip-
ton's illiteracies have been dropped.]

Monday 29 a fine clier morning, after breckfast I paid
$3.00 for the co's bill (viz) Bartholomew Durham and my-
self with Bill the negro. We then set out to look at the coun-
try down to the town of Spencer, the seat of justice of Owen
county. At 12 stopt on small Branch. Boiled our cofry, 45
p 12. Set out at 15 p 3, crost Fall Creek, continued down the
river, at 7 stopt at some Indian camps. Had a pleasant K't,
having good ( ?) shelter and ( ?) Bark to sleep on.

Tuesday 30th

Couldy morning. Some rain. We set out at 6. At 45
p 7 the Bluffs. Stopt at Whetsalls for B. Paid 37^. Set
out at 9. Some rain. Stopt at 12. Found the corner of S
22 & 23, 26 & 27 in T 11, Nor R 1 E. The ground hilly. Good
timber. I went out hunting, could not kill anything. Set out
at y2 p 1. Saw some clay that we think would make brick.
Past a house. Saw a beautifull lake, 1 mile long & 100 yds.
wide, clier water, sandy bottom. I am told the river in a
high stage runs into it. W'ent y2 mile west, saw corner of
of S 5 & 6, 7 & 8, T 1 1 N of R 1 E. Land and timber good.
Crost the river at y'2 p 4, at small prairie through which 2d
p meridian runs. We traveled west through a good bottom.
Saw a large field new (?). Stopt for the K't with a Mr. Har-
ris who lives on the n. w. qr. of S. II, T 11, north of R I, W.
Staid 3 days in this neighborhood to rest ourselves and horses.

Wednesday 31. Set out at 5. Traveled west down the
path, at 7 came on the river; made coffey. At 10 passed L,

The Journal of John Tipton 75

Gass, sec 31, t 11 n, r 2 w; y2 p 12 came to J Harts on sec 21,
t 10 n, r 3 west.

Saturday, 3d June. 1820. We paid nothing. Set out from
Mr. Harts at 3^2 p 9 for the mouth of Fall Creek, having been
furnished with everything necessary for our journey. The
land rather broken, tho' good soil. At ]/2 p 12 came to a
section line. Found the corner of sections 21, 22, 27 and 28
in t 11 north of range 2 west. The north west quarter of sec-
tion 28 is good land; the timber, sugar, beech, cherry, At
y2 p 2 came to the river, Stopt to boil coffy. Staid untill 45
p 3. Set out and traveled through a large bottom, most of
which is good land, some part overflowed. The bottom seems
to be 10 or 12 miles long and very wide. The timber, sugar
beech, walnut hackberry. The under growth is mostly prickly
ash, some spice and pawpaw, as is most of the bottom on this
side of the river. At 15 p 6 came to the river opposite a very
high bluff. Turned up it, and at 54 p 6 crost one part of the
river into an island. I shot 147 yards at a turkey and killed
it. Here we encamped. The river here is divided into several
small shutes or channels. I went on the bluffs to examine
them but found them to be from 100 to 200 feet in height,
and very uneven on the top. The river at these islands, 7 in
number, is very much choked and one part of the old bed for
about 250 yards is entirely dry, the water passing through
small channels from northeast to southwest, as follows, (One
page of the diary has a rough drawing of these seven islands)
as near as I could take it down with my pocket compass,
which we called the seven islands. This obstruction entirely
prevents the pass of any water craft, even the smallest canoe
can not pass them at this time, and I am told that the river
has been lower than it is at this time.* Here we spent the
evening and kt.

Sunday the 4. The morning fine, cool and clier. General

* In the Baskin and Forster atlas map, of 1876, a series of four
islands are shown in the southwest corner of Morgan County, some miles
below Martinsville. These would seem to be the ones Tipton describes.
Of the lake spoken of further on, in the s. e. qr. of s. 5, in T. 11 north,
R. 1 E.. (which would be immediately southwest of the site of Martins-
ville,) no trace is now given.

y6 The Indiana Magazine of History

Bartholomew and me set out as soon as light to view those
islands to enable me to make the above and foregoing rough
draft, whch is only to be for my own satisfaction, believing
the State legislature will take the earliest opportunity to re-
move this great obstruction to the navigation of this beauti-
ful stream. We levelled island No. 5, found it about ten feet
above the water at the present time. Set out at y2 p 11.
Came to the lake on the S E qr of s 5 in T 1 1 north of R 1 E.
I rode out to the east, Found section 4 all level, rich soil and
am told that the north half of 9 is also good land.

South half of 34. (?). On the S. E. qr. of 34, T 12 north
of R 1 E a house — good spring. Sec. 35 good land." The
timber on this land is white and black walnut, cherry, sugar,
hackberry, mulberry, and some beech and hickory. We then
traveled s 21 and 16. Both good land with the best of black
walnut timber I have seen. Crost a high bluff on the river
and at 15 p 4 crost the river to the n w side and stopt to boil
our coffy. Set out at 15 p 5 came to the sections 34 & 35 in
T 12 n of R 1 E. The south e quarter of s 34 is good land
and the n e of 13 T 12 R 1 E. The s e qr of s 35 is the best
I have seen, the corner on the bank of White lick creek on
which we encamped at dark near a good lick.

Monday the 5 — Before I was up Gen'l B and Col. D. went
to the lick. The Col. killed a deer.f

We had a good breakfast and set out at 7.
Traveled y2 mile over poor hills then level back land.
Some sugar, ash and walnut. At 8 came to the corner of
sections 13 & 24 in T 13 north of R 1 E. We then traveled
n e l/2 mile and crosst White lick creek. The land good. We
crosst the creek on a ripple. It is a fine creek and has the
appearance of being a fine mill stream. The land mostly
level. For some distance the timber, beech, sugar, ash &c.
Came to the river at J/2 p 9 at a place where the river runs
near a hill about 50 feet high. Turned up the bottom. Trav-

* These various sections lie in the immediate vicinity of the Mar-
tinsville site.

f This lick, from the description, was about 1^2 miles south of Cen-
terton, near the "Blue Bluffs."

The Journal of John Tipton 77

eled near the hill, which is 30 to 50 feet in height of a gradual
ascent. The top good upland, the bottom the best soil for
duration I have seen on White river. The soil very fine
mixed with clay. The timber hackberry, buckeye, sugar,
walnut, ash. At ]/2 p 10 saw a spring which pleases me the
best of any I have seen on the river, which I intend to pur-
chase at the sale. A Mr. Brown lives on it; from the hill
issues a number of fine springs. At ^2 p 11 came to the camp
of a Mr. William Sanders (or Landers), covered with young
timber. Here I am told was once a French village once oc-
cupied by the Delaware Indians, but evacuated by them about
33 years ago.* The land is rich and level; staid y2 an hour.
Set out at 15 p 12; stopt at small branch to boil our coffy and
venison of which we have plenty. We set out and saw the
range line between 2 & 3 east in town 14 north. At 20 p 4
crosst a fine large creek. Eagle creek; large a-plenty to turn
a mill. Saw fine land, good timber, crosst the river one mile
below the mouth of Fall creek at y2 p 6. where we found the
commrs., Gov. Jennings etc., waiting for us : Went to see
the surveyor, found his work so much forward as to enable
us to finish our business.

Tuesday 6th. A very cool morning. This day we spent
in reading and walking around the lines of the sections that
we intend to locate, and in the evening returned to our en-
campment, having removed to the n w side of the river this
morning, above the mouth of Fall creek, and stretched our
tent on a high bank which we called Bartholomew's bluff,
on fractional section number 3, which is part of our location.

Wednesday, 7th, a fine, clear morning. We met at Mc-
Cormicks, and on my motion the commissioners came to a
resolution to select and locate sections numbered 1 and 12,
and east and west fractional sections numbered 2, and east
fractional section 11, and so much off the east side of west
fractional section number 3, to be divided by a north and
south line running parallel to the west boundary of said sec-
tion, as will equal in amount 4 entire sections in r 15 n. of

* See "Indian Towns in Marion County," No. 1 of this Magazine.

78 The Indiana Magazine of History

R, 3, E, We left our clerk making out his minutes and our
report, and went to camp to dine. Returned after dinner.
Our paper being ready, B. D and myself returned to camp at
4. They went to sleep and me to writing. At 5 we decamped
and went over to McCormicks. Our clerk having his writing
ready the commissioners met and signed their report, and
certified the service of the clerk. At 6 145 the first boat landed
that ever was seen at the seat of government. It was a small
ferry flat with a canoe tied alongside, both loaded with the
household goods of two families moving to the mouth of Fall
creek. They came in a keel boat as far as they could get it up
the river, then reloaded the boat and brought up their goods
in the flat and canoe.* I paid for some corn and w ( ?) 62^2.

Thursday 17th — A fine cool morning. We rose early. I
paid for commissioners $1.25 and for supper $1.12^. Col. D
paid one dollar and we set out at 15 p 5 for home in company
with Ludlow, Gilliland, Blythe, Bartholomew, Durham, Gov-
ernor Jennings and two Virginians. At 8 stopt on a small
creek to boil our coffy for the last time as we boiled the last
we had. Set out at 15 p 9. At 45 past 9 crosst a creek. At
y2 p 11 crosst a creek. At 1 stopt to boil our baken. Staid
until Yz p 2. Set out and at 7 came to John Berry, having
traveled about 45 miles over a bad path.

Friday, 9. Clier morning. We set out at 15 p 5. At y2
p 7 came to the upper rapids of drift river. Stopt to let our
horses graze. Set out at 9. At 12 stopt at Mr. J. Radcliffe's.
Had some bread and milk for our dinner and some corn for
our horses. Paid 37^2 by B, and set out at y> p 5 Stopt at
Capt. J. Shields, staid all night.

Saturday 10. Clear and very hot. Set out at ^4 p 5. Stopt
at Brownstown. Had breakfast; paid 50. Stopt with Col.
Durham in Vallonia, who had left us last kt and went home.
Stopt at Wm. Grayham's, staid 1 hour. Stopt with Gen. De
Pauw, had dinner, and at dark stopt in Salem.

Sunday the 11 — Cloudy, some rain. Set out at y> p 4. At
15 p 6 stopt at Wilcoxes. Had breakfast, paid $2 by me.

* Who these two families were is nowhere recorded.

Some Early Indiana Taverns 79

Stopt at Major Arganbrites (?), had dinner, etc. At dark got
safe home, having been absent 27 days, the compensation al-
lowed us commissioners by the law being $2 for every 25
miles traveling to and from the plaice where we met, and
$2 for each day's service while ingaged in the discharge of
our' duty, my pay for the trip being $58 — not half what I could
have made in my office. A very poor compensation.

John Tipton.

Some Early Indiana Taverns

From the Papers of the Late J. H. B. Nowland

r-T* HE writer commenced traveling through the State at the
■"• age of ten years, and has kept it up pretty well for near-
ly fifty, which has given him an opportunity to learn some-
thing of the different taverns and their proprietors.

Prerequisite to securing a tavern license was the certifi-
cate of a free-holder testifying that the applicant had two
spare beds, and two stalls that were not necessary for his own
use. Included in the tavern privilege was the right to retail
spirituous liquors — this being the only form of liquor license
issued in the earlier days. An old man I knew, wishing a
license, rented two beds in a neighbor's house and two stalls
in his stable. This the neighbor certified to and the license
was procured.

There was a class of houses of which no license was re-
quired, and these were usually announced on their signs as
places of "Private Entertainment."

On the different roads radiating from Indianapolis were
many taverns, well known in their day, a few of which may
be mentioned. On the Michigan road, south, was Goble's,
near Pleasant View; Adkin's, just this side of Shelbyville;
Mrs. Louden 's, just beyond the latter place; Boardman's, in
Dearborn County. On the Madison road were Isaac Smock's,
Mrs. Adams', Widow Thompson's, Chauncey Butler's (this
was Ovid Butler's father), and many others. On the Michi-
gan road, north, were George Aston's and Widow Davis'; on
the National road, east, were Fuller's, John Hagar's and Beck-

80 The Indiana Magazine of History

ner's. On all the roads, indeed, were numerous well-known
taverns where first-class entertainment could be had for "man
and beast" — for the man, ham and eggs, fried chicken, light
biscuit and buckwheat cakes with honey; for the beast, a
warm stable, with plenty of oats and hay — and all for 75
cents.

The signs before the taverns were sometimes as odd and
catching as the modern advertisement. I remember one
which hung in West Washington street that was made like
a gate with slats, and on the slats was painted :

"This gate hangs high and
hinders none,
Refresh and pay then travel on."
John Fernley.

Another on Washington street, opposite the court house
read on one side: "Traveler's Ray House, Cheap," and on
the other, "Traveler's Ray House, Cash."

The first sign painter in Indianapolis, Samuel S. Rooker,
put before the public gaze some samples of his handiwork
that I well remember. Mr. Rooker came at a very early day,
and his first order was from Caleb Scudder, the cabinet maker.
When the sign was done it was in flaming red letter and read,
"Kalop Skodder, Kabbinet Maker." His next was for the
"Rosebush" and "Eagle" Taverns, which he executed to the
satisfaction of his patrons, but the critics said the picture of
the royal bird on the latter sign was a turkey. A tavern-
keeper on the National road ordered a life-sized lion on his
sign, but when Mr. Rooker had finished his job he had hard
work proving that it was not a prairie wolf. Rooker's most
notable work of art, however, was one that stood on the Mich-
igan road about six miles southeast of Indianapolis. This
was a portrait of General Lafayette in full uniform. The
board on which it was painted was not long enough for the
heroic scale on which the picture was begun, so the legs were
cut short and the put on where the knees should have been.
Mr. Rooker's own advertisement long stood on the northeast
corner of Washington and Illinois streets, and read: "Sam-
uel S. Rooker, House and Sine Painter."

An Early Indiana Educator 81

An Early Indiana Educator

John B. Anderson

Tf OR nearly a quarter of a century, dating from 1840, John B.
Anderson was a resident of New Albany, and for nearly
twenty years he was principal of two famous classical schools
— schools which had then not their equal in the Middle West,
and which will always live in local history as not having been
surpassed even in this present era of progressive education.

In 1840 Mr. John B. Anderson, a graduate of the historic
Washington and Jefferson College, came from Washington,
Pa., to Brandenburg, Ky. There he engaged in educational
work and there also he was married to Miss Cecelia Geraldine
Alexander. At New Albany in 1840, appeared Mr. Anderson,
a man of impressive presence, unusual height and size, of fine
character and rare scholarly attainments. He was accompa-
nied by his wife, a woman possessing all the grace and cul-
ture of the representative Southern woman of that day, and
an unmarried sister, Miss Nancy Anderson, also a woman of
elegance and accomplishment. In this year was founded 'An-
derson's High School for Boys," designed as the catalogue
stated, to be "a permanent English and classical school, in
which young men might be prepared for the advanced classes
in college, or for entering upon the business of life, profes-
sional or otherwise." An able body of professors was secured,
a fine curriculum in English, Latin, Greek and mathematical
studies established — Monsieur Picot in charge of "the French
language and literature," and the school at once began to
flourish. It drew patronage from many towns in Kentucky
and Indiana, also from Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and
Ohio, and even from far New York. In the prospectus issued
by Mr. Anderson, New Albany was highly commended for its
healthfulness, the gentral morality and industry of its inhab-
itants, and as a place offering fewer inducements to vice than
most other towns in the country.

In compliance, no doubt, with "the general pecuniary em-
barrassment of the times," as mentioned in the prospectus,

82 The Indiana Magazine of History

the educational rates were surprisingly moderate; tuition and
board, including fuel and lights, per quarter of eleven weeks,
costing only $31.25; French lessons, $5 extra; vocal music,
under Prof. S. W. Leonard, $1 per quarter, and washing, per
dozen, 38 cents. To this early school of the Anderson regime
came, from Fort Smith, Ark., two boys named Hickory and
Pinckney Rogers — known among their classmates as "Hick-
ory" and "Pickory." From Arkansas also came several Indian
lads of the Chickasaw tribe : Zack Colbert, son of the chief
of the Chickasaw nation, and two half-breeds, David and
John Vann, one a blonde, the other a typical brown Indian,
sons of Capt. John Vann, of the ill-fated Ohio River steamer,
Lucy Walker. Among other Anderson school boys of this
period were Gerard Alexander, of Kentucky, nephew of Mrs.
Anderson, known to his classmates as "Ohio Piomingo Alex-
ander," and William H. Hillyer, afterwards a colonel and a
member of Gen. U. S. Grant's staff during the war. Further
on in the chronicles are found other names now prominent in
various ways : Charles W. Shields, professor at Princeton
College; Hon. Jesse J. Brown, Hon. Alexander Dowling, of
New Albany; Mr. Henry Crawford, of Chicago, and the name
of Vinton Nunemacher — dead at twenty-three — who once
won intellectual spurs among the "Old Seminary Boys," of
Indianapolis.

For the establishment of Anderson's Female Seminary, in
1843, a lar8'e> old-fashioned, red brick mansion on the corner
of the public square was chosen by Mr. Anderson, and a corps
of eight instructors was secured, which was afterwards ex-
tended to thirteen. In 1850, 103 pupils were in attendance
and in 1853, 132 names were registered in the catalogue. Of
the quaint old residence in which this seminary flourished a
word must be said. It once ranked as "the finest dwelling
in New Albany," but in 1895 was torn down, having degener-
ated into a troublesome and unprofitable tenement house.
In the thirties, it was built by Mr. Erastus Benton, a wealthy
Pittsburg man, interested in the New Albany iron factories.
This pretentious house, with its great walls and gables, broad

An Early Indiana Educator 83

porches and unusual architectural adornments, demanded an
elegant interior. The handsome furnishings called for costly
entertainments, and in a few years, the owner was disastrous-
ly involved in debt, the fine residence was sold and became
rental property, locally registered as "Benton's Folly." Its
large halls, commodious drawing room and parlors, airy gal-
leries and unusual number of bed-rooms rendered it especially
adapted to the needs of the female seminary, which occupied
it for a long and flourishing term of years.

The girls' school was but a few minutes walk from the
boys' school, and Mr. Anderson held both in careful superin-
tendence. In addition to solid attainments the young women
were taught French and German, with piano, guitar and harp
lessons, vocal music, drawing and painting in oil and water.
Plain and ornamental needle work were also taught. Girls
held lower rank financially than boys in that epoch, as tuition
was billed at $75 per season, with washing 50 cents per dozen.
Piano and guitar lessons were 25 cents each, while French and
German lessons, and lessons in painting and drawing were 10
cents each; a lesson in oil coloring was rated at 15 cents, and
vocal music at 2 cents per lesson. From North and South,
East and West, came young women to this noted classical
school for girls ; many of the instructors were from New York
State, and pupils were on the records from Oswego and Sara-
toga, from Mobile and New Orleans. Among the teachers,
at one time, was Miss Caroline Cornelia Cooke, of New York,
afterwards the wife of Indiana's Governor, Ashabel P. Wil-
lard. Mr. Willard, it is related, was assiduous in his attend-
ance during leisure hours at Anderson's Seminary, and some
of the young women who were pursuing the deep sciences
and the elegant graces, did not fancy his physical peculiarities,
his neck being notably longer than that of the average man.
Girls will be girls, even with all the classics at their beck and
call, and one staid matron now vividly recollects being repri-
manded and incarcerated ignominiously for calling down the
corridor to another girl, as Mr. Willard, on a prancing steed,
drew rein at the pavement: "Look, look; there comes Neck."

84 The Indiana Magazine of History

"Regulations," in the Anderson schools, although de-
scribed in the catalogue as "kind, though firm and decided,"
were really almost a minus quantity. Among other quaint
features of the catalogue of 1850-51 is the name, on the list of
instructors, of Miss Rhoda B. Byers, monitress. Certainly,
the "power of presence" was never more strongly exemplified
than in this instance, Mr. Anderson's amplitude of gracious
authority, Mrs. Anderson's genial bearing and Miss Nancy's
friendly stateliness operating in all cases as potent disarma-
ment of unruliness and insubordination. Godliness, too, abode
in the Anderson classical schools, pupils being required to
attend worship, either in the churches of their choice, or with
the family of the principal. Mr. Anderson came of a family
of clergymen, his father, Rev. Dr. John Anderson, and his
brother, Rev. Wm. C. Anderson, being prominent in the Pres-
byterian Church in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Kansas.

Among the attractive features of these old-time schools,
the family atmosphere is described as having been unusual
and most atractive. Out of harness Mr. Anderson was al-
ways a popular social center, the girls clustering about him
with fearless and animated devotion. The New Albany pu-
pils consisted of the flower of the town, and now, in all old
New Albany families, eyes kindle and words of praise are
spoken at the mere mention of the Anderson family. Several
years ago, down in French town — Porr'entrury — I came upon
an elderly Frenchman, a farmer and a wagon maker, whose
dignity of bearing, choice language and general information
impressed me as unusual, until the fact was elicited that he
had been educated in John B. Anderson's school, walking to
town, and paying for his tuition by serving as janitor boy.
On his table was the New York Tribune, to which he told
me he had been a subscriber since 1853.

In 1853 Mr- C. C. Hine and lady, of New York, became
associated in the management of the seminary, and at this
date more than fifty graduates, with twelve resident
graduates, are noted in the catalogue as the fruits of
the preceding scholastic years. Mr. and Mrs. Hine were
notable additions to social New Albany, and the for-

An Early Indiana Educator 85

mer afterwards became prominent in New York bank-
ing and insurance circles. Mrs. Hine was a woman of much
culture and many accomplishments, and her presence gave
additional zest to the care with which feminine deportment
was molded in the Anderson Seminary. In those days mem-
bership in this classical institution was, in itself, passport to
the upper intellectual and social life of the town ; and, even
at this day, can be set apart, as a class formed on old-school
models of punctilious gentleness and courtesy, the New Al-
bany men and women who enjoyed such privileges and ex-
ample. A true "great heart" in many ways was John B. An-
derson, and on the register of his good deeds is noted one most
interesting incident. From Louisiana to these schools in far
Indiana came a little group of two boys and a girl. For one
year their tuition bills were promptly met, but after that ap-
peared a financial vacuum. Mr. Anderson, however, kept the
children in the school several years at his own expense, and it
has never been known whether or not this outlay was made
good to him by their derelict guardians. In 1850, 185 1, 1852
and 1853 the Indiana girls in the Anderson schools, outside of
New Albany were Eunice Meberd, Vincennes ; Mary E. Hall,
Princeton ; Annie J. Vance, Corydon ; Elizabeth and Cordelia
Devin, Princeton ; Nannie Fabrique, Pilot Knob ; Eliza J. Fos-
ter, Evansville; Olivia Mitchell, Evansville; Arabella D.
Wise, Vincennes ; Sarah Ann Devin, Princeton ; Sarah Devol,
Terre Haute; Clarinda Mitchell, Evansville; Mary E. Rice,
Corydon; M. J. O'Riley, Evansville; Ellen M. Brackenridge,
Newburg; D. M. Dietz, Charlestown; Mary Hurd, Bedford;
Nannie Johnston, Evansville; Glen J. Mcjunkin, WashingT
ton; Mary Miller, Bono; Emma Riley, Orleans, and Helen
Von Trees, Washington. At the Chicago Beach Hotel this
summer two ladies who had just met investigated an instinctive
friendliness which they felt for each other and found the bond
to be that they were both graduates of the Anderson Seminary
at New Albany — one having been graduated in 1850, the other
being probably the last graduate to whom the school had
given a diploma. Owing to ill health in 1858, the master of
the Anderson schools retired from collegiate labor and entered

86 The Indiana Magazine of History

upon a long and successful career as builder and manager of
railroads. During the war Secretary Stanton recognized his
fine grasp of affairs, his cool judgment and remarkable execu-
tive ability, and pressed him to accept a position as brigadier
general. This honor was declined, but he did accept an ap-
pointment as general manager of the United States military
railways, serving faithfully and retiring at his own request in
1864. Mr. Anderson was a wonderful reader and book lover,
and at the time of his golden wedding assisted in founding at
the College of Emporia, Kan., an Anderson memorial library,
instead of accepting for himself and wife the usual gifts which
such celebrations evoke. Mrs. Anderson survives him. No
children were ever born to this couple, whose domestic rela-
tions were otherwise ideal, but in the remembrance of many
school children and school children's children shall their lives

and works be perpetuated. _ „

Emma Carleton

Note. — For further information about John B. Anderson by the same
writer, see The Book-Lover Magazine, July-August, 1903. In this sketch
Mrs. Carleton credits Anderson with having directly inspired the munifi-
cent library gifts of Andrew Carnegie.

Origin of the Word Hoosier

[The many and varied accounts of the origin of the term "Hoosier"
mostly have in common one thing — improbability. These stories are too
well known to give space to here and may be found elsewhere — for in-
stance in Meredith Nicholson's "The Hoosiers." So far as we know
Jacob P. Dunn is the only one who has made anything like a thorough
study of the question, and because his conclusions seem to us the most
reasonable theory in the field, and, in addition, are but little known, we
think they will be of interest here. The following article is the second
of two that appeared in the Indianapolis News (see' Aug. 23 and 30,
1902), and contains the substance of Mr. Dunn's argument, the first being,
mainly, a discussion of the current stories. The entire study in a revised
form will probably be published before very long in the collections of the
Indiana Historical Society.]

In 1854 Amelia M. Murray visited Indianapolis, and was
for a time the guest of Governor Wright. In her book, en-
titled "Letters from the United States, Cuba and Canada"
(page 324), she says: "Madame Pfeiffer (she evidently meant
Mrs. Puslzky, for Madame Pfeiffer did not come here and

Origin of the Word Hoosier 87

does not mention the subject) mistook Governor Wright
when she gave from his authority another derivation for the
word 'Hoosier.' It originated in a settler's exclaiming
'Huzza/ upon gaining the victory over a marauding party
from a neighboring State." With these conflicting state-
ments, I called on Mr. John C. Wright, son of Governor
Wright. He remembered the visits of the Pulszkys and Miss
Murray, but knew nothing of Madame Pfeiffer. He said : "I
often heard my father discuss this subject. His theory was
that the Indiana flatboatmen were athletic and pugnacious,
and were accustomed, when on the levees of the Southern
cities, to 'jump up and crack their heels together, and shout
'Huzza,' whence the name of 'huzza' fellows.' We have the
same idea now in 'hoorah people,' or 'a hoorah time.' "

It will be noted that all these theories practically carry
three features in common :

1. They are alike in the idea that the word was first
applied to a rough, boisterous, uncouth, illiterate class of peo-
ple, and that the word originally implied this character.

2. They are alike in the idea that the word came from the
South, or was first applied by Southern people.

3. They are alike in the idea that the word was coined
for the purpose of designating Indiana people, and was not in
existence before it was applied to them.

If our primary suspicion be correct, that all the investiga-
tors and theorists have followed some false lead from the be-
ginning, it will presumably be found in one of these three
common features. Of the three, the one that would more
probably have been derived from assumption than from ob-
servation is the third. If we adopt the hypothesis that it is
erroneous, we have left the proposition that the word "hoos-
ier" was in use at the South, signifying a rough or uncouth
person, before it was applied to Indiana ; and if this was true
it would presumably continue to be used there in that sense.
Now this condition actually exists, as appears from the fol-
lowing evidence.

In her recent novel, "In Connection with the De Wil-

88 The Indiana Magazine of History

loughby Claim," Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett refers several
times to one of her characters — a boy from North Carolina —
as a "hoosier." In reply to an inquiry she writes to me : "The
word 'hoosier' in Tennessee and North Carolina seemed to
imply, as you suggest, an uncouth sort of rustic. In the days
when I first heard it my idea was also that — in agreement
with you again — it was a slang term. I think a Tennesseean
or Carolinian of the class given to colloquialism would have
applied the term 'hoosier' to any rustic person without refer-
ence to his belonging to any locality in particular. But when
I lived in Tennessee I was very young and did not inquire
closely into the matter."

Mrs. C. W. Bean, of Washington, Ind., furnishes me this
statement : "In the year 1888, as a child, I visited Nashville,
Tenn. One day I was walking down the street with two of
my aunts, and our attention was attracted by the large num-
ber of mountaineers on the streets, mostly from northern
Georgia, who had come in to some sort of society meeting.
One of my aunts said, 'What a lot of hoosiers there are in
town.' In surprise I said, 'Why, I am a 'Hoosier.' A horri-
fied look came over my aunt's face, and she exclaimed, 'For
the Lord's sake, child, don't let anyone here know you're a
hoosier.' I did not make the claim again, for on inspection
the visitors proved a wild-looking lot who might be suspected
of never having seen civilization before."

Mrs. Mary E. Johnson, of Nashville, Tenn., gives the fol-
lowing statement : "I have been familiar with the use of the
word 'hoosier' all my life, and always as meaning a rough
class of country people. The idea attached to it, as I under-
stand it, is not so much that they are from the country, as that
they are green and gawky. I think the sense is much the
same as in 'hayseed,' 'jay' or 'yahoo.' "

Hon. Thetus W. Simes, Representative in Congress from
the Tenth Tennessee District, says : "I have heard all my
life of the word 'hoosier' as applied to an ignorant, rough, un-
polished fellow."

The following three statements were furnished to me by

Origin of the Word Hoosier 89

Mr. Meredith Nicholson, who collected them some months
since.

John Bell Henneman, of the department of English, Uni-
versity of Tennessee, Knoxville, writes : "The word 'hoosier'
is generally used in Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee as an
equivalent for 'a country hoodlum,' 'a rough, uncouth coun-
tryman,', etc. The idea of the 'country' is always attached
to it in my mind, with a degree of 'uncouthness' added. I
simply speak from my general understanding of the term as
heard used in the States mentioned above."

Mr. Raymond Weeks, of Columbia, Mo., writes : "Pardon
my delay in answering your question concerning the word
'hoosier' in this section. The word means a native of Indiana,
and has a rare popular sense of a backwoodsman, a rustic.
One hears : 'He's a regular hoosier.' "

Mrs. John M. Judah, of Memphis, writes : "About the
word 'Hoosier' — one hears it in Tennessee often. It always
means rough, uncouth, countrified. '1 am a Hoosier,' I have
said, and my friends answered bewilderdly. 'But all Indi-
ana-born are Hoosiers,' I declare. 'What nonsense !' is the
answer generally, but one old politician responded with a
little more intelligence on the subject :" 'You Indianians should
forget that. It has been untrue for many years.' In one of
Mrs. Evans's novels — 'St. Elmo,' I think — a noble and phil-
anthropic young Southern woman is reproached by her
haughty father for teaching the poor children in the neighbor-
hood— ' a lot of hoosiers,' he calls them. I have seen it in
other books, too, but I cannot recall them. In newspapers
the word is common enough, in the sense I refer to."

It is scarcely possible that this wide-spread use of the
word in this general sense could have resulted if the word had
been coined to signify a native of Indiana, but it would have
been natural enough, if the word were in common use as
slang in the South, to apply it to the people of Indiana. Many
of the early settlers were of a rough and ready character, and
doubtless most of them looked it in their long and toilsome
emigration, but, more than that, it is an historical fact that

90 The Indiana Magazine of History

about the time of the publication of Finley's poem there was
a great fad of nicknaming in the West, and especially as to
the several States. It was a feature of the humor of the day,
and all genial spirits ''pushed it along." A good illustration
of this is seen in the following passage from Hoffman's "Win-
ter in the West" (published in 1835, Vol. 1, Page 210) referred
to above :

"There was a long-haired 'hooshier' from Indiana, a couple
of smart-looking 'suckers' from the southern part of Illinois,
a keen-eyed, leather-belted 'badger' from the mines of Ouis-
consin, and a sturdy, yeomanlike fellow, whose white capot,
Indian moccasins and red sash proclaimed, while he boasted
a three years' residence, the genuine 'wolverine,' or nauralized
Michiganian. Could one refuse to drink with such a compa-
ny? The spokesman was evidently a 'red horse' from Ken-
tucky, and nothing was wanting but a 'buckeye' from Ohio
to render the assemblage as complete as it was select."

This same frontier jocularity furnishes an explanation for
the origin of several of the theories of the derivation of the
name. If an assuming sort of person, in a crowd accustomed
to the use of "hoosier" in its general slang sense, should pre-
tentiously announce that he was a "husher," or a "hussar,"
nothing would be more characteristically American than for
somebody to observe, "He is a hoosier, sure enough." And
the victim of the little pleasantry would naturally suppose
that the joker had made a mistake in the term. But the sig-
nificance of the word must have been quite generally under-
stood, for the testimony is uniform that it carried its slurring
significance from the start. Still it was not materially more
objectionable than the names applied to the people of other
States, and it was commonly accepted in the spirit of humor.
As Mr. Finley put it, in later forms of his poem :

With feelings proud we contemplate
The rising glory of our State,
Nor take offense by application
Of its good-natured appellation.

It appears that the word was not generally known
throughout the State until after the publication of "The Hoos-

Origin of the Word Hoosier 91

iers' Nest," though it was known earlier in some localities,
and these localities were points of contact with the Southern
people. And this was true as to Mr. Finley's locality, for the
upper part of the Whitewater valley was largely settled by
Southerners, and from the Tennessee-Carolina mountain re-
gion, where the word was especially in use. Such settlements
had a certain individuality. In his "Sketches" (page 38) the
Rev. Aaron Wood says :

"Previously to 1830 society was not homogeneous, but in
scraps, made so by the eclectic affinity of race, tastes, sects
and interest. There was a wide difference in the domestic
habits of the families peculiar to the provincial gossip, dialect
and taste of the older States fro mwhich they had emigrated."

The tradition in my own family, which was located in the
lower part of the Whitewater valley, is that the word was not
heard there until 'along in the thirties." In that region it al-
ways carries the idea of roughness or uncouthness, and it de-
veloped a derivative — "hoosiery" — which was used as an ad-
jective or adverb to indicate something that was rough, awk-
ward or shiftless. Testimony as to a similar condition in the
middle part of the Whitewater valley is furnished in the fol-
lowing statement, given me by the Rev. T. A. Goodwin :

"In the summer of 1830 I went with my father, Samuel
Goodwin, from our home at Brookville to Cincinnati. We
traveled in an old-fashioned one-horse Dearborn wagon. I
was a boy of twelve years, and it was a great occasion for me.
At Cincinnati I had a ftp for a treat, and at that time there was
nothing I relished so much as one of those big pieces of gin-
gerbread that were served as refreshment on muster days,
Fourth of July and other gala occasions, in connection with
cider. I went into a baker's shop and asked for 'a ftp's worth
of gingerbread.' The man said, T guess you want hoosier-
bait,' and when he produced it I found that he had the right
idea. That was the first time I ever heard the word 'hoosier,'
but in a few years it became quite commonly applied to In-
diana people. The gingerbread referred to was cooked in
square pans — about fifteen inches across, I should think — and

92 The Indiana Magazine of History

with furrows marked across the top, dividing it into quarter
sections. A quarter section sold for a ftp, which was 6%
cents. It is an odd fact that when Hosier J. Durbin joined
the Indiana Methodist Conference, in 1835, his name was
misspelled 'Hoosier' in the minutes, and was so printed. The
word 'hoosier' always had the sense of roughness or uncouth-
ness in its early use."

At the time this statement was made, neither Mr. Good-
win nor I knew of the existence of the last four lines of Fin-
ley's poem, in which this same term "hossier-bait" occurs,
they being omitted in all the ordianry forms of the poem.
The derivation of this term is obvious, whether "bait" be
taken in its sense of a lure or its sense of food. It was simply
something that "hoosiers" were fond of, and its application
was natural at a time when the ideal of happiness was "a
country boy with a hunk of gingerbread."

After the word had been applied to Indiana, and had en-
tered on its double-sense stage, writers who were familiar
with both uses distinguished between them by making it a
proper noun when Indiana was referred to. An illustration
of this is seen in the writings of J. S. Robb, author of "The
Swamp Doctor in the Southwest" and other humorous
sketches, published in 1843. He refers to Indiana as "the
Hoosier State," but in a sketch of an eccentric St. Louis char-
acter he writes thus :

"One day, opposite the Planter's House, during a military
parade, George was engaged in selling his edition of the Ad-
vocate of Truth, when a tall hoosier, who had been gazing at
him with astonishment for some time, roared out in an im-
moderate fit of laughter.

"What do you see so funny in me to laugh at?" inquired
George.

"Why, boss," said the hoosier, "I wur jest a thinkin' ef I'd
seed you out in the woods, with all that har on, they would a
been the d — dest runnin' done by this 'coon ever seen in them
diggins — you're ekill to the elephant ! and a leetle the haryest
small man I've seen scart up lately."

Origin of tf\p Word Hoosier 93

Unfortunately, however, not many writers were familiar
with the double use of the word, and the distinction has grad-
ually died out, while persistent assertions that the word was
coined to designate Indiana people have loaded on them all
the odium for the significance that the word has anywhere.

The real problem of the derivation of the word "hoosier"
is not a question of the origin of a word formed to designate
the State of Indiana and its people, but of the origin of the
slang term widely in use in the South, signifying an uncouth
rustic. There seems never to have been any attempt at a ra-
tional philological derivation, unless we may so account Mr.
Charles G. Leland's remarks in Barriere and Leland's "Dic-
tionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant," which are as follows :
"Hoosier (American). A nickname given to natives of Indi-
ana. Bartlett cites from the Providence Journal a story which
has the appearance of being an after-manufacture to suit the
name, deriving "hoosier from'husher — from their primary ca-
pacity to still their opponents." He also asserts that the Ken-
tuckians maintained that the nickname expresses the exclama-
tion of an Indianian when he knocks at a door and exclaims
'Who's yere?' However, the word originally was not hoosier
at all, but hoosieroon, or hoosheroon, hoosier being an abre-
viation of this. I can remember that in 1834, having read of
hoosiers, and spoken of them, a boy from the West corrected
me, and said that the word was properly hoosieroon. This
would indicate a Spanish origin."

The source of Mr. Leland's error is plain. "Hoosieroon"
was undoubtedly coined by Mr. Finley to designate a Hoo-
sier child, and what the boy probably told Mr. Leland was
that the name to apply properly to him would be Hoosieroon.
But that alone would not dispose wholly of the Spanish sug-
gestion, for "oon" or "on" is not only a Spanish ending, but
is a Spanish diminutive indicating blood relation. In reality,
however, Mr. Finley did not understand Spanish, and the
ending was probably suggested to him by a quadroon and
octoroon, which, of course, were in general use. There is no
Spanish word that would give any suggestion of "hoosier,"

94 The Indiana Magazine of History

The only other language of continental Europe that could be
looked to for its origin would be French, but there is no
French word approaching it except, perhaps, "huche," which
means a kneading trough, and there is no probability of deri-
vation from that.*

In fact, "hoosier" carries Anglo-Saxon credentials. It is
Anglo-Saxon in form and Anglo-Saxon in ring. If it came
from any foreign language, it has been thoroughly anglicized.
And in considering its derivation it is to be remembered that
the Southerners have always had a remarkable faculty for
creating new words and modifying old ones. Anyone who has
noted the advent of "snollygoster" in the present generation,
or has read Longstreet's elucidation of "fescue," "abisselfa,"
and "anpersant" (Georgia Scenes, page 73), will readily con-
cede that. And in this connection it is to be observed that
the word "yahoo" has long been in use in Southern slang,
in almost exactly the same sense as "hoosier," and the latter
word may possibly have developed from its last syllable.
We have a very comomn slang word in the North — "yaP" —
with the same signification, which may have come from the
same source, though more probably from the provincial En-
glish "yap," to yelp or bark. "Yahoo" is commonly said to
have been coined by Swift, but there is a possibility that it
was in slang use in his day.

It is very probable that the chief cause of the absence of
conjectures of the derivation of "Hoosier" from an English
stem was the lack in our dictionaries of any word from
which it could be supposed to come, and it is a singular fact
that in our latest dictionaries — the Standard and the Cen-
tury— there appears the word "hoose," which has been in
use for centuries in England. It is used now to denote a dis-
ease common to calves, similar to the gapes in chickens,

* Mr. Dunn is sometimes over-positive in his statements. Mrs. Emma
Carleton, of New Albany, calls our attention to the old French word
huissier, as used by Sir Walter Scott in "The Abbott" (Chapter 18).
The "hussier" was an usher ; hence Mrs. Carleton suggests, with some
plausibility, that the word might have attached to the first French occu-
pants of Indiana, as the ushers of civilization, or that the use of it by
them "might have been the lingual forefather of Hoosier." — The Editor.

Origin of the Word Hoosier 95

caused by the lodgment of worms in the throat. The symp-
toms of this disease include staring eyes, rough coat with hair
turned backward, and hoarse wheezing. So forlorn an aspect
might readily suggest giving the name '•hooser" or hoosier"
to an uncouth, rough-looking person. In this country, for
some reason, this disease has been known only by the name
of the worm that causes it — "strongylus micrurus" — it sounds
very much like "strangle us marcus" as the veterinarians pro-
nounce it — but in England "hoose" is the common name.
This word is from a very strong old stem. Halliwell, in his
"Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial words," gives "hooze"
and "hoors," and states that "hoos" occurs in the "Cornwall
Glossary," the latter being used also in Devonshire. Palmer,
in his "Folk-Etymology," says that "hoarst — a Linconshire
word for a cold on the chest, as if that which makes one
hoarse," is a corruption of the old English "host," a cough,
Danish "hoste," Dutch "hoeste," Anglo-Saxon "hweost," a
wheeziness ; and refers to Old English "hoose," to cough, and
Cleveland "hooze," to wheeze. Descriptions of the effect of
hoose on the appearance of animals will be found in Arma-
tage's "Cattle Doctor," and in the "Transactions of the High-
land Society of Scotland," fourth series, Vol. 10, at page 206.

There is also a possibility of a geographical origin for the
word, for there is a coast parish of Cheshire, England, about
seven miles west of Liverpool, named Hoose. The name
probably refers to the cliffs in the vicinity, for "hoo," which
occurs both in composition and independently in old English
names of places, is a Saxon word signifying high. However,
this is an obscure parish, and no especial peculiarity of the
people is known that would probably give rise to a distinctive
name for them.

There is one other possibility that is worthy of mention
— that the word may have come to us through England from
the Hindoo. In India there is in general use a word com-
monly written "huzur," which is a respectful form of address
to persons of rank or superiority. In "The Potter's Thumb,"
Mrs. Steel writes it "hoozur." Akin to it is "housha," the title

96 The Indiana Magazine of History

of a village authority in Bengal. It may seem impossible that
"noosier" could come from so far a source, and yet it is almost
certain that our slang word "fakir," and its derivative verb
"fake," came from the Hindoo through England, whither for
many years people of all classes have been returning from
Indian service.

As a matter of fact words pass from one language to an-
other in slang very readily. For example, throughout Eng-
land and America a kidnapper is said in thieves' slang to be
"on the kinchin lay," and it can scarcely be questioned that
this word is direct from the German "kindchen." The change
of meaning from "huzur" to "hoosier" would be explicable by
the outlandish dress and looks of the Indian grandees from a
native English standpoint, and one might naturally say of an
uncouth person, "He looks like a huzur."

It is not my purpose to urge that any one of these sug-
gested possibilities of derivation is preferable to the others, or
to assert that there may not be other and more rational ones.
It is sufficient to have pointed out that there are abundant
sources from which the word may have been derived. The
essential poin is that Indiana and her people had nothing
whatever to do with its origin or its signification. It was ap-
plied to us in raillery, and our only connection with it is that
we have meekly borne it for some three score years and ten,
and have made it widely recognized as a badge of honor,
rather than a term of reproach. J. P. Dunn.

The Primitive Hoosier

' I ' HE following enthusiastic bit of writing, copied into the
Journal from the New Orleans Picayune more than sixty
years ago, gives a picture of the Hoosier of that period who
came down the river with his flatboat load of produce. Says
the Picayune writer :

"There is a primitive and pristine simplicity of character
and independence of mind about a Hoosier that pleases us
much. His step is as untramm'eled by the artifice of fashion

The Primitive Hoosier 97

and as free from the constraint of foppery as the mighty rivers
of the West are from obstruction in their impetus course
to the ocean, or as the path of the buffalo herd over the wild
prairie. Born on the fructuous soil of freedom, and unchecked
in his growth by avarice and dissimulaion, he rises to man-
hood with a mind unwarpt and a spirit unbent like the trees
of the forest around him. He loves liberty — loves it in his
heart's core — he would fight — he would die for it. * * * He
cries from his soul, 'Long live liberty !' because the instinct
of his free and unsophistocated nature tells him that it is the
inalienable birthright and heritage "of man, and he thinks that
to live without it is impossible as to exist without the free air
that wantons round his Western home. He may be ignorant
of the use of the eyeglass, but is his aim with his rifle less
deadly? He may not be able to discuss the merits of the last
novel, but thinkest thou that he is ignorant of the cardinal
principal of liberty? In a word, he may not be a thing with
his face hid in a stock, long hair and a shirt collar, but might
not more confidence be placed in his brawny arm in time of
war than in a whole regiment of such men of doubtful gender?

"We do love to see a Hoosier roll along the levee with the
proceeds of the plunder of his flatboat in his pocket. It is the
wages of industry, and no lordly ecclesiastic or titled layman
dares claim a cent of it. See with what pity he regards those
who are confined to the unchangeable monotony of a city life,
and observe how he despises uniformity of dress. He has
just donned a new blue dress coat with silk linings and flow-
ered gilt buttons. His new pants look rather short for the
present fashion, but this is easily accounted for — they were
of stocking fit or French cut at the instep, and thinking they
pressed rather close he has curtailed them of some six inches
of their fair proportion. * * * He glories in still sporting
the same unpolished peg boots, and the woolen, round-topped,
wide-leafed hat in which he set out from home. The Hoosier
says, or seems to say —

" 'A life in the woods for me,' and his happy and independ-
ent life attests the wisdom of his choice."

98 The Indiana Magazine of History

Local Historical Societies

TN the introductory article to the first number of this maga-
-*■ zine we expressed the hope that we might do something
toward promoting the work of local historical societies. We
cannot say at this writing that we are particularly encouraged.

So far as we have been able to learn local societies have,
at one time or another, been organized in the following coun-
ties : St. Joseph, Henry, Randolph, Delaware, Hamilton,
Carroll, Wayne, Martin, Putnam, Parke and Clark. Our at-
tempts to gather information concerning the origin, history
and accomplishment of these societies resulted with most of
them, in nothing. Some of them, we know, have ceased to be.
The Putnam County organization, for instance, has been out
of existence some ten years, but its archives are still preserved
by one of the original members, and from them we secured
the article on "Revolutionary Soldiers" published in this
number. In similar collections esewhere there are doubtless
many valuable papers which should not be wholly lost, and
which would not be if those having them in custody would
but render a very small service. On another page we explain
a plan of the State Librarian to collect as exhaustive a bibli-
ography as possible of Indiana material, both published and
unpublished. Upon application he will send copies of a
printed form on which the description and location of such
material may be set forth for the benefit of any student along
certain lines who may be interested in it. If these papers
of non-existent societies were handed over to the keeping of
the State Library it would much increase their chances of use-
fulness. But even a knowledge of them in private possession
is desirable.

From societies now existing, which we tried to reach with
letters of inquiry, there were but few responses. The most
circumstantial informaton received was from the Wayne
County organization, and for this reason, and because it would
seem to be an excellent model for those contemplating new
organizations, we here deal fully with it.

Local Historical Societies 99

This society has rooms in the court house, where it has
begun the collection of a library and historical museum ; and
contributions, such as old letters, manuscripts, pictures, books,
pamphlets, relics, or anything that will illustrate the history
and progress of the country, are solicited. It holds four meet-
ings a year, at various places in the county, and to these the
general public is invited. The program of 1904, which is be-
fore us, gives an idea of the character and scope of these meet-
ings, and we here copy it in substance.

February 2.J (in the rooms of the society in the Court
House, Richmond). 1 — The Early Railroads of Richmond, by-
Mr. James Van Dusen. 2 — Original Poem, by Rev. Luke
Woodard. 3 — Report of the New Orleans meeting of the
American Historical Association, by Mr. Jesse S. Reeves.
4 — Report of a visit to the Henry County Society, by Mrs.
Helen V. Austin.

May 21 (High School, Cambridge City). 1 — The Whisky
Frauds of 1876, by Dr. Joseph W. Jay. 2 — History of Dairy-
ing in Wayne County, by Mr. W. S. Commons.

August 2~j (Meeting House, Fountain City. All day
meeting, devoted to the Pioneer Industries of the county).
1 — Papers on Field Industries. 2 — Papers on Household In-
dustries. 3 — Papers on Industrial Amusements.

November 10 (Rooms of the Society). 1 — Prominent Ed-
ucators of Wayne County, by Prof. Lee Ault. 2 — The Wayne
County Argonants of '49 and '50, by Prof. Cyrus W. Hodgin.

Other noteworthy papers, given in 1903 were on the Old
National Road; Historic Houses of Centerville ; Early Mills
of Wayne County and the Geological History of Wayne Coun-
ty. These papers, as we understand, are all carefully pre-
served by the curator of the society in its room, and a number
of them, doubtless, contain interesting historical data not to
be found elsewhere.

Another feature of the Society's work is the publishing
once a year of a historical pamphlet contributed to its ar-
chives. Two of these, thus far, have been issued, "The Nam-
ing and Nicknaming of Indiana," by Prof. Cyrus W. Hodgin,

ioo The Indiana Magazine of History

and ''Institutional Influence of the Germans in Richmond,"
by Fred J. Bartel. The membership dues are fifty cents a
year.

The Constitution of this society may be secured by send-
ing to Prof. Cyrus \V. Hodgins, Richmond, Ind.

Since writing the above we have received reports from
the Henry and Monroe County societies, through the kindness
of Mr. Benjamin S. Parker, of New Castle, and Prof. J. A.
Woodburn, of Bloomington, whose letters we add. The first
of these organizations is among the oldest, and the latter the
newest, we believe, among our local societies.

Henry County Historical Society

The Henry County Historical Society held its 19th annual
meeting at its building in Newcastle on Saturday, April 29th,
1905. As the above statement indicates, this society was or-
ganized and began active work in 1887. Its constitution pro-
vides for two meetings with papers, addresses, discussions,
music, etc., in each year. As with other similar societies, it
has been indebted, during much of its career, to the efforts
of a few persons for its continuous existence and progress.

The hope of its founders, and those who have since carried
forward its work, has been to collect and preserve in an easily
accessible shape, the history of every township, town, village,
and country neighborhood, from the first setlement forward.
The society also seeks to illustrate the life of the country and
its people, through the various changes and steps of progress,
by a collection of earlier and later industrial implements,
household and kitchen utensils, natural history specimens, and
whatever may serve to give to the present and future genera-
tions, correct ideas as to the method by and through which
the county has been improved and the people have progressed.

Taking advantage of the law passed by the State Legis-
lature in 1901, the society applied to the Board of County
Commissioners and County Council for an appropriation to
purchase or build a home for the society and its collection.

Local Historical Societies 101

An appropriation of $5,000 was promptly made. Soon after
an unexpected event occurred. In order to close up and set-
tle the estate of the late General William Grose, the adminis-
trator offered at a very low figure the splendid residence prop-
erty of the General. Upon the appearance of the advertise-
ment the late W. H. Adams began a movement to secure the
home, including one acre of ground for the use of the society.
The Commissioners were called together, then the County
Council met in special session, and in about a fortnight, the
county of Henry became the owner of the property for the use
of its Historical Society. The fine mansion not only furnishes
large space for the society's collection and library (which now
contains about 800 volumes), but also provides a residence
for the custodian. While a full historical collection is sought
for, the managers are taking great care not to cumber the
space with mere "old junk." A place must have some other
merit than age to make it worth preserving. It must be part
of an illustrative chain that elucidates some branch or portion
of the country's life, past or present, to be acceptable. Small
appropriations have been made, year after year, to this soci-
ety, but up to the present a considerable per cent, of the ap-
propriations thus made have gone back to the county treasury
unused, so that the cost of maintenance has, thus far, been
but trifling to the county. The society pays its own running
expenses except the cost of light, water and fuel, and the
maintaining of buildings and grounds.

The 19th annual meeting was a very enjoyable one and
very well attended. Its principal features consisted of a
fine address upon the preservation of local history by the re-
tiring President, Mr. John Thornburgh ; an exceedingly inter-
esting letter from Mrs. S. A. Pleas, (now of Florida) widow
of the naturalist, Elwood Pleas, one of the promoters of the
society ; a splendid address delivered by Judge L. C. Abbott,
of Richmond, representing the Wayne County Historical So-
ciety, upon '"Life in Washington Fifty Years Ago;" a local
paper, entitled a "History of Clear Spring," a well-known
neighborhood of the county, by Miss Orabell Shaffer, and a
unique series of caricatures and illustrations of the early life,

102 The Indiana Magazine of History

dress and manners of the people of the county by Clark
Gordon, the Spiceland artist.

A musical program furnished by local talent proved a
popular feature. The fine dinner served by the ladies of New-
castle and Spiceland, free to all, was one of the features of the
meeting which commanded undoubted popular approval.

The officers chosen for the ensuing year are : President,
Clark Gordon, of Spiceland ; Vice-President, Nathan T. Nich-
olson, of Newcastle; Secretary, Miss Linnie Jordon, of New-
castle; Treasurer, Benjamin F. Koons, of Mooreland; Chair-
man Executive Committee, John Thornburgh, of Newcastle;
Trustees, Eugene H. Bundy, Newcastle; Henry Charles,
Spiceland; Robert M. Chambers, Newcastle.

Benj. S. Parker.

Newcastle, Ind., April 30, 1905.

Monroe County Historical Society

On April 6, 1905, after previous conferences, a Monroe
County Historical Society was formed in the lecture room
of the Christian Church of Bloomington. Mr. Amzi Atwater,
formerly professor of Latin in the University, was elected
President, Mr. W. B. Seward, an old and well-known citizen
of Bloomington, was made Vice-President, Mr. J. A. Wood-
burn was appointed Secretary and Mr. Dudley Smith Treas-
urer. Prof. S. B. Harding, of the University, Miss Minnie
Ellis, teacher of history in the Bloomington High School, and
Miss Margaret McCalla were made advisory members. The
Constitution and By-Laws of the Wayne County Society were
adopted for the use of the new society. The Monroe County
Society expect to meet once a month and have papers from
various members. At this first meeting of the Society Pro-
fessor Atwater read a paper on "The University of Forty
Years Ago." At the May meeting Judge H. C. Duncan, of
Bloomington, will read a paper on Hon. James Hughes, one
of the leading public men of Monroe County forty years ago.
Mr. Seward will prepare a paper on "Old Water Mills of Mon-
roe County," and other papers of local interest are under way.

An Indiana Bibliography 103

The outlook for the society is good and it is hoped that there
will be found a growing interest in its work.

J. A. Woodburn, Secretary.
Bloomington, Ind., May 6, 1905.

In addition to the above we have received a copy of the
Constitution of the Wabash County Historical Society. This
society was organized in 1902. As we understand, it has at
present no definite plan of active work, but in its room in the
Court House it is gradually accumulating appropriate ma-
terial.

No doubt there are other local societies of which we have
not been able to learn, and fuller information from any or all
of these is solicited.

An Indiana Bibliography

A S THE result of a paper read before the Indiana Library
Association at its last meeting by W. E. Henry, State
Librarian, a movement has begun which has for its purpose the
collecting of material for a bibliography of Indiana. Blank
cards requesting information concerning bibliographical matter
of interest to the State has been sent to editors, librarians and
others interested in this matter over the State, and it is the
intention of the authorities of the State Library to publish
this information as it is collected.

Mr. Henry was chosen by the association to act as Chair-
man of a committee whose duty it was to organize and pro-
ceed in the work outlined. This committee consists of W. M.
Hepburn, librarian at Purdue University; Arthur Dransfield,
of New Harmony; J. L. Smith, of Winchester; Miss Anna
Nicholas, of this city ; Col. R. S. Robertson, ex-Lieutenant-
Governor; Arthur Cunningham, librarian at the State Normal;
Miss Merica Hoagland, organizer for the public library com-
mission; Miss Minnetta T. Taylor, Greencastle; Miss Eva N.
Fitzgerald, librarian of the Kokomo public library; George 5.
Cottman, of Irvington, and Miss Jennie Elrod, reference libra-
rian of the State Library.

104 The Indiana Magazine of History

The card blanks that are being sent over the State have a
place for the enumeration of the writings of the individual of
any city, county or town ; church publications are asked for,
as are the publications of associations and societies. Special
attention is given to references to local history, and the enu-
meration of the newspapers of any community, together with
the date of establishment, and the location of the most com-
plete files. Directories or gazeteers of each town or county
are also asked for, and the list closes with a request for a list
of the official reports of towns or counties or any officer of
either.

Mr. Henry points out that the success of the attempted
bibliography depends upon the care with which these card
blanks are filled out by those to whom they are sent. If the
matter is attended to carefully the result as published by the
State Library will be invaluable to students of local history.
— Indianapolis News.

To this we append the following scheme, outlined by Mr.
Henry, and sent out by him as a guide to those assisting him
in the work :

OUTLINE FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.

This should include any item written concerning Indiana or its peo-
ple, and any item on any subject if written while the writer recognized
Indiana as his or her place of residence.

Unit for collecting information : Town, County and State.

1. Writings of individuals, viz:

a. Books.

b. Pamphlets. (If title is not descriptive, state subject in note.)

c. Articles or series of articles in newspapers or magazines.
Note. — Give name of author in full with date of birth and place of

residence if living; date of death if not living. Concerning each of these
items give : Title in full, publisher, date and place of publication, and
number of pages. Illustrations.

2. Church publications.

Note. — Minutes of yearly meetings, Synods, Conferences, Associa-
tions, etc. Any manuscript record of births, marriages and deaths ; if such
record exists, where it may be found.

3. Educational institutions.

a. Catalogues, year books, bulletins.

b. Reports of original investigations.

The Robert Dale Owen Memorial 105

4. Publications of associations and societies.

a. County fairs.

b. Historical or other societies.

5. Local history.

a. County or town history.

b. Social organizations, secret societies, etc.

c. Family history and genealogy.

d. Biographies.

c. Club papers containing local history or biography, either printed

or manuscript.
f. Club programs and year books.

6. Newspapers.

a. Name of paper. Editors. Politics. Subscription price.

b. When established.

c. If suspended, give date.

d. Give inclusive dates of the most complete file known to exist

and where it may be found. Other important or accessible
files.

7. Directories or gazeteer of town or county.

8. Official reports of town, county or any particular officer in either
town or county. If published regularly indicate date of first issue and fre-
quency of publication. If not issued regularly, give date of each issue.
Where files are preserved. Include manuscript journals, diaries, etc., if in
public library or otherwise made available.

The Robert Dale Owen Memorial

' I ' HE Women's clubs of Indiana have individually, from
time to time, turned their attention to the study of the
State and its notable citizens, and this growing interest has
now taken the form of a definite movement expressive of a
more substantial appreciation. It is the attempt to raise a
fund of $2,000 or $2,500 for a bust of Robert Dale Owen, to
be placed in the State Capitol. This fund is to be contributed
exclusively by the women of the State "as a lasting memorial
to the man who for many years persistently labored to secure
just laws concerning the educational and property rights of
women." Last year a circular was issued setting forth in
brief the claim of Owen to the proposed honor ; since then the
promoters have been vigorously carrying on a "campaign of
education," and the public generally is being enlightened as

io6 The Indiana Magazine of History

never before concerning the services of one of the most dis-
tinguished men Indiana has produced. Entertainments of
various kinds by the women's organizations for the benefit of
the fund have been urged. Mr. George B. Lockwood, author
of '"The New Harmony Communities," and an authority on
Owen, lectured in Indianapolis for the benefit of the fund, be-
sides contributing fifty autograph copies of his book; the In-
diana State Federation of Women's Clubs and the Indiana
Union of Literary Clubs, as organizations, endorse the move-
ment, and the desired sum bids fair to materialize. The chief
movers representing the Memorial Association are : Chair-
man, Mrs. Julia S. Conklin, Westfield; Secretary, Miss Esther
Griffin White, Richmond; Treasurer, Mrs. S. E. Perkins, In-
dianapolis. Art Committee, Mrs. D. O. Coate, Shelbyville ;
Mrs. Rose Budd Stewart, Muncie; Miss Esther Griffin White,
Richmond. Finance Committee, Mrs. S. E. Perkins, Indian-
apolis; Mrs. J. T. McNary, Logansport; Mrs. Eva O'Hair,
Greencastle; Mrs. J. N. Studebaker, South Bend; Mrs. Mary
D. Maxedon, Vincennes; Miss Minnetta T. Taylor, Green-
castle.

Robert Dale Owen, son of Robert Owen, who founded the
famous New Harmony Community, was the most noteworthy
of a family of notable brothers. Legislator, Congressman, re-
former and public-spirited citizen, he was intimately identi-
fied with the life and progress of Indiana and of the nation
as well. In Congress he was a promoter of various important
measures and was recognized as a man of capacity and force.
As a Legislator and a member of the Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1850 he left a deep and lasting impress. His most im-
portant service, perhaps, was in behalf of the legal rights of
women, whose status, when he championed their cause, was
incredibly inferior and unjust. The serfdom and helplessness
of the wife of sixty or seventy years ago is not remembered
or known now by the thousands of to-day, who, whatever re-
strictions still remain, are, by comparison, immeasurably ad-
vanced. For that advancement Robert Dale Owen, more than
any other man, deserves recognition, and it seems altogether

Gleaned from the Pioneers - 107

fitting that the women who are concerning themselves with
the broader field of thought should accord the recognition and
acknowledge their debt in the manner proposed.

Gleaned from the Pioneers

A Humble Life Story

A RECENT item in the newspapers announcing the
■^ critical, probably fatal illness of Mrs. Elizabeth Mc-
Clay, centenarian, of Indianapolis, brings to the mind
of the writer certain pleasing recollections of a very
obscure and humble, but, as he thinks, a quite remarka-
ble person. Some years ago Mrs. McClay made her home
with a relative of the third generation on a farm within
sight of the roofs of Irvington, and here the Rambler
(as we will designate ourself), found her, was inter-
ested to the point of fascination, and returned more than once,
to sit a spare hour with her in her homely but tidy room over-
looking the country spaces ; to hear her low, placid talk and
to solve, if maybe, the secret of her attraction.

Mrs. McClay seemed wholly un-at-home amid the people
and scenes of to-day, as though her lapping over into an alien
period was a chronological misfit. The Rambler apprehended
this from many things half said and things not said at all. If
his guessing was true, earth had seemed denuded and unnat-
ural to her ever since the great forests had melted away, and
the inhabitants thereof had undergone strange transformations
that separated them from her. So her function now was to
live fondly in the past and most expectantly in the future,
and to wait with the mute patience of nature while the slow
seasons ran their rounds. Meanwhile, the feeble hands, that
had long since earned rest, rarely knew an idle moment. Serv-
ice was as much a part of her being as was breathing. The
newspaper item referred to stated that she had that year made
twenty-five quilts that others might be warm. Doubtless this
was so.

108 The Indiana Magazine of History

Mrs. McClay wore, indoor and out, an old-fashioned sun-
bonnet with paste-board stays, and under this a little linen
cap. From the depths of that bonnet, framed by the cap's
white frill looked out a wrinkled face so calm and peaceful
that one wondered if its owner ever could have known bit-
terness and sorrow. To show so little sign of weariness and
wreckage at the end of a long century of existence surely must
have argued a pleasant journey. As to this, let her simple
little story testify. It is here given as nearly ver batim as the
Rambler could reproduce it at the time. Let it be added that
the quaint pioneer dialect with its barbarisms, which is here
modified somewhat, did not, somehow, seem uncouth in her,
nor discrepant with her gentle voice and personality.

"If my daddy and mammy came traveling past here to-
day,' I'd drop everything, old as I am, and follow them,"
avowed the aged reminiscent. "Oh, how I did love my
daddy and mammy ! — who could be nearer to me than they
was? where they went I went; their God was my God. I
remember plain as yesterday when my daddy went off to
fight the British and Injuns in 1814. The morning he went
there was his shot pouch and powder horn and gun all ready
for him, and he said to us : 'Now, when I go I don't want any
of you to say a word to me.' So when he was all ready and
had put on his pouch and horn he kissed us children and then
went to mammy, who was sitting by the fireside looking in
the coals, and laid his hand on her shoulder and kissed her,
but never said a word, and she never said a word. After that
he took up his gun and went straight out, but my little baby
brother crawled on the floor after him, crying for daddy to
take him up, and I looked out of the window after him, and
called out 'good bye, daddy !' but he never looked back once.
Six months later he came back again, and oh ! but we was a
joyful lot. That was way down in Tennessee.

"When I was a woman grown and married with children
of my own, my man and daddy took a notion they'd try In-
jianny. So we all came, with just one wagon to carry our
things and the children, while the rest of us walked, me tot-

Gleaned from the Pioneers 109

ing my baby. We didn't seem to do well here, and by'n by
daddy wanted to go back, and we went with him. Then we
seemed to do worse than ever there, and daddy said he'd try
Injianny again, and we come. Injianny didn't 'pear to be
much better than Tennessee, after all, and back we tromped.
Then after while it seem like there was no chance at all in
Tennessee, and daddy took a notion again. I was getting
despret tired of the travel, but daddy coaxed me and mammy
coaxed me, and this time they promisel they would stay, and
seeing they were bent on it, I agreed. So five times I walked
back and forth between Tennessee and Injianny, kase I would
have followed my daddy and mammy to the ends of the earth.

"My man sickened in Injeanny and took to his last bed,
and kase we were so pore it looked like I would have a despret
time raising the children. In them days, when pore folks
couldn't care for their own flesh and blood they would bind
'em out to strangers till the children were of age. My man
had been a bound boy, and he called me to his bedside, and,
said he, 'promise me that no child of mine shall ever be bound
out;' and I said, 'so long as I can lift a hand to work for
them they shall not be bound out; and daddy and mammy
promised, and that seemed to take a great load off his mind.

"After he was gone I kept my promise to him. I worked
out by day, indoor and out ; I spun and I wove. I pulled flax
and piled brush ; all kind of work that's done by woman or
man I done, and I kept my children together. Two of the
little ones died, but the rest of 'em and daddy and mammy
I kept together. Then my daddy, that I loved so, went, and
it was harder for me, but still I worked and kept them to-
gether till all were old enough to take care of theirselves.
Next my Janey, who was married, was smitten by the hand
of the Lord, and on her death bed she mourned and grieved
bekase of her babies. 'Oh, my precious little ones ! what will
become of them?' she cried out once, when the end was draw-
ing nigh. 'Never mind, darling, said I, 'mammy will take care
of your little ones — she has took care of you and she will take
care of them, and that give her comfort before she passed

no The Indiana Magazine of History

away. And me and my old mammy took charge of the little
ones, but it wan't long before the good Lord gathered them
one by one, and oh ! I rejoiced, bekase then I knowed my
darling Janey had them again. Then my mammy died, and
so all them that was nearest to me left me, and as they went
I was glad, kase I knowed their troubles were all over, and
I had only to wait. If I could bring them all back to me with
a word I wouldn't speak it, kase they're happier where they
are and I can go to them."

This was old Mrs. McClay's brief and simple story, very
simply told — a story too humble, doubtless, to find many lis-
teners. To the Rambler it seemed far worthier of interest
than many a one that unravels itself more imposingly, for in
the heroism and endurance, the patience and calm, rock-like
faith of it, and in the strength of human ties revealed as she
told it, was something elemented and essentially great.

OROROK WINTER— The Cati.in of Indiana

The Indiana Magazine of History

vol. i Third Quarter, 1905 no. 3

George Winter, Artist
The Catlin of Indiana

MANY times, to the knowledge of the present writer, a query
has been made as to the fate of a certain large oil painting
that once belonged to the State of Indiana, and was kept in the
State House. The picture was that of the Tippecanoe battle
ground, and was particularly valuable not only because of the
importance of that battle and its prominence in the State history,
but also because of its political and civil bearing on the common-
wealth in subsequent days. Although the painting came to the
State as a gift, the State did not think highly enough of it to
guard it, and it has long since gone the way of all rubbish. One
informant tells me the last time he saw this picture it was stowed
obscurely away in a little room off the Supreme Court chamber,
in the old State House. It was unframed, with canvas broken
and lopped over, when the contents of the old Capitol were re-
moved the painting seems to have disappeared for good. That
is about all that is known of the treasure. Where the picture
came from — who painted it — not one in hundreds, even among
those who remember it, could tell; and yet that inquiry leads to
a fund of interesting information.

In the newspapers of forty or fifty years ago one may find an
occasional communication signed "George Winter," and as often
a paragraph about this individual, whose name, except among
the older residents of the locality where he lived, is now sunk in
oblivion. From these fragmentary scraps one gathers that Mr.
Winter was a pioneer artist of the Wabash Valley — honored as
such in his day — and with tastes and interests that stimulate
curiosity about the man and his work.

George Winter, the painter of the Tippecanoe picture, was
well known in northern Indiana for nearly forty years. He can
hardly be called the first professional painter of note in the State,

ii2 The Indiana Magazine of History

since Charles A. Lesueur and others of the New Harmony group
antedate him, while Jacob Cox of Indianapolis was his contempo-
rary. In a history of Indiana's art movement, Winter would
take conspicuous rank among its beginners. The foundations
for his work were laid in England, under favorable circumstances.
Born at Portsea in 1810, of a cultured family, he lived in an art
atmosphere from childhood. His talent was fostered and en-
couraged. After a preliminary course of private instruction he
went to London, entered the Royal Academy, and lived and
worked with artists for four years. When twenty years old he
came to New York City. Seven years later — 1837 — found him
at Logansport, and most of the remainder of his life was spent
in the Wabash Valley.

After residing thirteen years in Logansport, he removed to
Lafayette and lived there until 1873, when he went to California.
In 1876 he returned to Lafayette, and soon after died of apo-
plexy while sitting in a public audience at the opera-house.

During these years Mr. Winter earned his livelihood with
his brush, in a new country which was supposed to have very
little appreciation of art — something of a mystery when we con-
sider how meagerly our present artists fare in the midst of a more
advanced culture. One of these latter who, when a young man,
knew Winter, testifies to his business enterprise. Being an in-
dustrious painter he accumulated a great number of canvases,
and once a year, about holiday time, would put them up at a
' 'grand raffle. ' ' It proved a popular method. People who would
not dream of paying a hundred dollars for a ' 'mere picture, ' ' did
not mind risking a dollar or two for a chance; and as a conse-
quence, these raffles being well attended, art found its way to the
walls of the people. Many of these pictures are now preserved
in Lafayette, Logansport, Peru and other Wabash River towns.
The late Judge Horace P. Biddle of Logansport had five of them
which gave a fair idea of the character of those that caught the
popular taste. They represent local scenes on Eel and Wabash
rivers, the realism, in one or two instances, being modified with
touches of fancy.

In a private letter written in 1841 and now in possession of
the Wisconsin Historical Society, the artist speaks of six different

George Winter 1 13

pictures of the Tippecanoe battle ground and of two of these as
having a dimension of "152 square feet each." According to
his description all were taken from different points of view, and,
taken together, conveyed one idea not only of the battle ground,
but of the "surrounding romantic country."

These pictures were painted in 1840, and the immediate in-
centive seems to have been the great Tippecanoe campaign of
that year. There are indications, however, that this attempt to
benefit by the fleeting public interest was hardly successful, for
further on in the letter he writes:

"Although I have been defeated in getting these views be-
fore the public eye at the time when political excitement ran
high, yet I have often indulged in the consoling hopes that
Harrison would be elected, and that an interest would still be
felt. * * * I think if I could get these pictures to Cincin-
nati some time before the General sets out for the White House
* * * that it would be a favorable time to exhibit them. I
have also thought that it would be a propitious time, too, either
at the inauguration or during the spring to exhibit them at
Washington."

Nothing, probably, ever came of these plans; the pictures
have passed away from human knowledge, and of one only have
we the meager record. This one was presented to the State and
the State threw it away.

The most noteworthy and the most valuable work left by Mr.
Winter was a collection pictures that was never sold by him.
All are now in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. C. G. Ball of
Lafayette. When he came to L,ogansport, in 1837, to quote his
own statement, he was "allured to Indiana to be present at the
councils held by Col. A. C. Pepper, at the village of Kee-waw-
nay, in regard to the Pottawattomie immigration west of the
Mississippi." He had an artist's romantic interest in the pictur-
esque red man. What George Catlin was to the Indians in gen-
eral George Winter was to the Pottawattomies and Miamis of the
Wabash, and this rare collection, still preserved by Mrs. Ball, is
the result. Presumably he valued them too highly to raffle them
off miscellaneously, and the fortunate fact that the collection is
still intact, together with much valuable manuscript matter, is

114 The Indiana Magazine of History

certainly one of which the State of Indiana ought to take ad-
vantage. They represent a phase of life on Indiana soil which
has been little recorded, and no literary records could convey a
more graphic idea of the present inhabitants' barbarian prede-
cessors and their characteristics.

According to my careful count, there are nine oil paintings
and thirty-eight water colors in the collection. Of the oils, four
canvases are filled in with groups of heads, representing in all
thirty-three Pottawattomie chiefs and women. One is a life-size
head of Francis Godfroy, the last war chief of the Miamis, and an-
other of Joseph Barron, the famous interpreter, who served Gen-
eral Harrison for eighteen years, and was an important personage
in the Indian transactions of General Tipton and Abel C. Pepper.

The water colors are mostly of uniform size, the cards perhaps
a foot square. The greater part of them are portraits with
landscape backgrounds. They are beautiful color studies, the
Indian costumes of that day, with their rich riot of hues and the
finery furnished by the traders making rarely picturesque sub-
jects. Some of these are of Indian chiefs, prominent in their
day, but now lost to memory, while a number are of Indian
women, belles of their tribes, gorgeously apparaled. Several rep-
resent modes of burial, manner of traveling, etc., and two are of
Frances Slocum, the white captive, whose strange story has been
repeatedly published.

Along with this collection is a mass of manuscript matter
which undoubtedly has a decided historic value, and which prob-
ably offers a more intimate description of the Wabash Indians
than has been preserved elsewhere. Among these records a large
number of folders of stiff paper are neatly bordered and carefully
filled in with writing. This is a descriptive and biographical key
to the water colors; the sheets correspond in size to the pictures,
and the whole makes a large portfolio, which should certainly be
procured and placed where the writers of our history can have
access to them. — G. S. C.

Note— Since the above was written two interesting pictures by George Winter have
been found. One, of the Tippecanoe battle-ground, is now being re-touched, and will
probably come into possession of the State Library. The other, of William Digby, the
founder of Lafayette, was rescued from a second-hand store in that city and will be
hung in the Lafayette library building.

George Winter 115

Winter's Description of Frances Slocum

[The following letter from the pen of George Winter is re- printed from
a proof-sheet furnished us by Mrs. C. G. Ball, of Lafayette, Mr. Winter's
daughter. It was written as a communication to the Philadelphia Press —
date not attached. The picture referred to is one of two oil portraits by
this artist now, as we understand, in possession of Slocum families at
Wilkesbarre, Pa. This one is reproduced in Meginness' book on Frances
Slocum, and the other in Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."]

SIR: A few days since my attention was called to your inter-
esting reminiscences published in the Washington Chronicle,
since reproduced in the Lafayette Courier.

Your allusions to Frances Slocum, the "Lost Sister," are of
peculiar interest to me, as I am familiar with her history, being
at the time of her discovery, a resident of Logansport, and inti-
mately acquainted with Colonel G. W. Ewing at the time he
wrote the letter that led to her discovery, which you published
so long ago.

In the year 1839, at the request of the Slocum family, I visit-
ed the "Deaf Man's Village," for the purpose of sketching the
likeness of Frances which is the only effort of the pencil of her
executed from life. Her history being so romantic and interest-
ing I availed myself of the opportunity then and there of making
sketches of the Captive's home from several points of view, and
other surroundings that I thought would be of general interest.

My visit to the Captive's home was attended with many inter
esting circumstances. It was a potent auxiliary in satisfying a
desire of seeing and knowing the red races in their aboriginal
homes, I having been allured in 1837 to Indiana to be present at
the councils held by Colonel A. C. Pepper at the village of Kee-
waw-nay, in regard to the Pottawattamie emigration west of the
Mississippi.

There have been several notices of the history of Frances
Slocum during the time intervening between her discovery and
the present. They are, however, marred by many inaccuracies.

Having known Frances Slocum personally, and being fa-
miliar, too, with her Indian family, will you accept the follow-
ing statement of personal appearance, which I extract from my
journal (unpublished) of a visit to the"Deaf Man's Village,"
A. D. 1839.

n6 The Indiana Magazine of History

I will, however, premise that Colonel Ewing was not an
Indian agent. Colonel A. C. Pepper was the agent at the time
of the discovery of the "L,ost Sister." Colonel Ewing was an
Indian trader of considerable prominence and success. He was
of the well-known firm of Ewing, Walker & Co. Ewing, as a
trader, knew Frances Slocum for many years, but it was not un-
til the captive woman was in deep affliction — hopeless of re-
covery, and in the conviction of mind that the realities of life
were about to close upon her — that she revealed her history to
Colonel Ewing. Her anticipations of death at that time did not
receive their fulfillment, for she did not die until 1847.

The following are the extracts from the journal:

"Preparations were then made for the 'sitting.' An old split-
bottom chair was brought in by 'Kick-ke-se-quah' from the ad-
joining room, which I placed near the little window, so as to ob-
tain the best angle of light to fall upon her. Frances Slocum
presented a very singular and picturesque appearance. Her
'toute ensemble' was unique. She was dressed in a red calico
'pes-mo-kin,' or shirt, figured with large yellow and green
figures; this garment was folded within the upper part of her
'mech-a-ko-teh,' or petticoat, of black cloth of excellent quality,
bordered with red ribbon. Her nether limbs were clothed with
red fady leggings, 'winged' with green ribbon; her feet were
bare and moccasinless. 'Kick-ke-se-quah,' her daughter, who
seemed not to be without some pride in her mother's appearing
to the best advantage, placed a black silk shawl over her shoulders
pinning it in front. I made no suggestions of any change in
these arrangements, but left the toilette uninfluenced in any
tme particular.

"Frances placed her feet across upon the lower round of the
chair. Her bands fell upon her lap in good position. Frances
Slocum's face bore the marks of deep-seated lines. Her forehead
was singularly interlaced with right angular lines and the muscles
of her cheeks were of ridgy and corded lines. There were no in-
dications of unwonted cares upon her countenance, beyond times
influences, which peculiarly mark the decline of life. Her hair,
originally of a dark brown, was now frosted. Though bearing
some resemblance to her family (white), yet her cheek bones

George Winter 117

seemed to have the Indian characteristics — face broad, nose bulby,
mouth indicating some degree of severity, her eyes pleasant and
kind.

"The ornamentation of her person was very limited. In her
ears she wore a few small silver earbobs, peculiarly Indian style
and taste. Frances Slocum was low in stature, being scarcely
five feet in height. Her personal appearance suggested the idea
of her being a half-breed Pottawattamie woman rather than a
Miami squaw. The Miamis and Pottawattamies have very dis-
tinctive characteristics in regard to stature and conformation of
head and facial appearance."

The above description of the personality of Frances Slocum is
in harmony with the effort of my pencil.

Allow me to add that she had three daughters, one only ot
whom is now living. She is residing on the Mississinnewa, the
wife of the Rev. P. Bondy, a Miami Baptist preacher, who was
converted to Christianity under the missionary zeal of George
Slocum, a Baptist, son of Isaac Slocum, who settled in the Miami
National Reservation. Mrs. Bondy was a widow when I knew
her, in 1839; her name then was "O-sou-pak-shin-quah."

''Kick-ke-se-quah," the oldest daughter, was the wife of
Captain Jean Baptiste Brouillette. He died three years since.
The Captain was a distinguished Miami; he was a medicine man
(not a juggler), an orator of great volubility and force; he was
also a convert to Christianity, and preached among the Miamis
with success. The other daughter died before the discovery of
Frances Slocum. Her death was associated with very painful
and startling circumstances. The story runs that the son of a
chief wooed her, but did not win her heart; her affections were
bestowed upon another champion for her love. Her happiness,
however, was not consummated by marriage. She drooped and
died; and suspicion, ever active, suggested, and, it was feared, too
truly, that she was the victim of poison.

The wigwam upon the Mississinnewa, at the "Deaf Man's
Village," was a large, double log cabin, of comfortable capacity ;
such as characterizes the thrifty farmer's home in the West. A
smaller cabin was attached to it, in which a very aged squaw
lived" There was also a small bark hut, separated from the

n8 The Indiana Magazine of History

main log, by a distance of a few rods. In addition to these
structures, were a tall corn crib and stable, all of which, unitedly,
constituted the famous "Deaf Man's Village" — the home of Mon-
o-con-a-qua, the "Iyost Sister," Frances Slocum. "She-buck-o-
nah" was the name of the deaf chief, the second husband of the
heroine of whom we have written so long an epistle. Hoping it
may not be considered obtrusion upon your active engagements,
I remain yours very truly,

George Winter.

Sketch of Frances Slocum

THE story of Frances Slocum, the "White Rose of the Mi-
amis," as some one has poetically styled her, has been often
told, but in connection with the preceding description of her by
George Winter, the romantic and curious incidents of her career
will bear repeating here.

Frances Slocum has now been dead some fifty -eight years.
Born to the white man's heritage she began life under the loving
care of white parents. She ended it a squaw among the Miami
Indians, a thousand miles from her birth-place, the wealthy
widow of a chief and alienated utterly from her own race, from
whom she had been separated more than sixty-eight years. The
account of this transformed life is one of the most remarkable to
be found in all our Indian annals.

The Slocums were Quakers who came from Rhode Island to
the Wyoming valley, in eastern Pennsylvania, when Frances was
four years old, and settled where the city of Wilkesbarre now
stands. This was in 1777. The next year occurred the historic
attack and butchery by the British and Indians which has so often
been the theme of prose and verse. The Slocum home was
assailed and pillaged by three Delaware Indians when the men
were absent. The mother and most of her children fled and
concealed themselves in the woods, but little Frances, who, in
the consternation of the moment seems to have been overlooked,
secreted herself under a flight of steps leading to the loft till one
of the Indians discovered her feet protruding, and dragged her

Frances Slocum 119

out. A lame brother had also been left in the house, and as the
marauders made off with the children their mother, forgetful of
her own peril, came out and pleaded for their release. The boy
was left, but the last she saw of her little girl she was thrown,
bag- wise, over her captor's shoulder, and, with one hand out-
stretched, the other trying to keep the long, luxuriant hair from
her face, was calling piteously to her mother for help.

The sorrows of this unfortunate woman were great. Francis
was her favorite child, the pet of the household, and the memory
of the little one's last heart-rending appeal never died away. To
fill her cup to the brim, a month or so after the abduction both
her husband and father were shot down, tomahawked and scalped
by the savages. This new grief, terrible as it was, time assuaged,
we are told; but the fate of her child, from its very uncertainty,
haunted her till her death, more than twenty-eight years after
the separation.

During those years repeated efforts were made to find the
lost daughter. Her brothers made trips as far westward as Ohio
and Detroit to meet Indians, agents and traders, hoping through
them to get trace of their sister. Mrs. Slocum herself, then
fifty-three years old, braved the difficulties of wilderness travel
to attend a gathering of Indians who were to return captives to
their families. To facilitate the search liberal rewards were
offered, but all of no avail, and in this connection one or two
interesting facts come to light, indicative of the Indian character.
In the first place the family and tribe into which Frances was
adopted accorded her an unusual regard, as was revealed by her
subsequent account. One reason given for this was the color of
her hair, which is described as reddish or auburn, and which to
the Indians was so unusual as to be esteemed a mark of dis-
tinction. Hence, they were not willing to give her up. Again,
the indications are that her foster-people knew of the search that
was being made for her, and the further supposition is that the
Indians far and wide knew who had this particular auburn-haired
captive, yet, despite the proffered rewards, never a one would
reveal her whereabouts — an illustration of the fidelity with which
a red man will keep the secrets of his fellows. Until the day of
her death Mrs. Slocum believed that her daughter still lived, and

[20 The Indiana Magazine of History

fen- years after that the family clung to the hope and instituted
occasional search and inquiry, but finally the question was laid
at rest as one of the mysteries never to be solved.

Now comes another chapter of this romantic story. Fifty-
seven years after little Frances Slocum had been carried off in
eastern Pennsylvania, Colonel George W. Ewing, a well-known
fur trader of the Wabash Valley, made an interesting discovery.
He was traveling on horseback from Ft. Wayne to Eogansport,
and stopped over night at an Indian habitation known as the
"Deaf Man's Village," on the Mississinewa River. This "vil-
lage" consisted of a log cabin residence and various outbuildings
that had been the home of She-pan-can-ah, a deaf Indian, then
deceased, who was the war chief of the Miamis before Francis
Godfroy. The place was now occupied by the venerable widow
of She-pan-can-ah, Ma-con-a-qua, together with her family.
They were quite wealthy, from the Indian point of view, owning
a great number of horses, cattle, hogs and fowls, and a large
reserve of land. Several things about the old woman led Mr.
Ewing to suspect that she was really not an Indian, and, gaining
her confidence, he got from her the story of her life and her ■
abduction in early childhood. She remembered her Christian
name — Slocum — and that her father was a Quaker, but where
her old home was she did not know, further than that it was
somewhere along the Susquehanna River. Her story impressed
Mr. Ewing deeply, and he resolved to communicate his inform-
ation to some one in eastern Pennsylvania in hopes of reaching
some of Ma-con-a-qua' s family. To whom or where to write
was a puzzling question, but finally selecting Lancaster as an
old and important town on the Susquehanna, he sent a letter at
a venture to the postmaster of that place.

Then happened one of those curious little freaks of fate which
sometimes occur outside of the novelist's pages. It chanced
that said postoffice was in charge of a woman, owner of the
La?icaster Intelligencer. It further seems that this woman had
not journalistic sense enough to know that Mr. Ewing's long
and circumstantial letter made a good "story," to say nothing of
the humane considerations involved. Instead of publishing it
she cast it aside among a lot of old papers, where it lay forgotten

Frances Slocum 1 2 r

for two years. It chanced again that it was not destroyed, and
that in the course of time it was discovered by some one who
recognized its importance. It now found the light in the Intelli-
gencer, which had changed hands, and fate this time ordained
that it should be published in a large extra edition of the paper,
which was widely distributed. A copy found its way to Joseph
Slocum, one of the brothers, at Wilkesbarre. The family there
at once opened up a correspondence with Colonel Ewing, and
this resulted in two brothers and a sister, all old then, meeting
at Peru, Indiana, to identify their sister.

Accompanied by an interpreter the trio followed an Indian
trail ten miles up the Mississinewa to the rude home of Ma-con -
a-qua. They were received by a stolid woman to all appearances
a thorough Indian, with the coolness and reticence of her adopted
race. She had been apprised of their coming, but showed no
feeling, either of gladness or curiosity. She asked no questions
concerning either them or her parents, and during their visit
treated them with a civil indifference. When they invited her
to visit them at Peru she would not promise till she should con-
sult with Francis Godfroy, the chief, but when he assured her
that it was safe to make the visit, she and her two daughters
and a son-in-law came, a picturesque cavalcade riding their
ponies single file and "decked in gay, barbaric apparel." In
accordance with the formal Indian etiquette, they bore with
them a haunch of venison, and this being solemnly presented as
a token of confidence and received in the same spirit, their reserve
gave place to an open friendliness, and Frances talked of herself
at length. To the request that she go back East to her kinfolks,
even for a brief visit, she would not consent. To her resolution
she firmly adhered, and her people, after this successful issue to
their long quest, went sorrowfully back to their homes.

The "white captive" lived ten years after this visit from her
kindred, and died at her home on the Mississinewa in March,
1847, aged seventy-four years. Her life presents an interesting
study of that much-mooted question, environment versus heredity .
While she became in all her tastes an aborigine,y thoroughly
alienated from the aspirations of her native race, she seems to
have retained certain Caucasian qualities, among them a strt-ngth

122 The Indiana Magazine of History

of character and a dominating mentality which gave her among
the red people that prestige which the whites that mingled with
the Indians have almost invariably commanded. She was free
from the vices that are particularly common among the Indians,
notably that of intemperance, and her cleanliness and orderly
housekeeping were contrary to the slovenly habits of these dirt}^
people. She had the Indian's fondness for picturesque apparel,
and her industry and skill to this end is most interestingly shown
by some of her clothes still preserved by Gabriel Godfrey, a well-
known Miami, now living east of Peru. These garments, some
of them of the finest broadcloth procurable of the traders, are
beautifully ornamented with designs worked with narrow silken
ribbons of different colors, the needlework looking like machine
stitching.

Of a piece with the story of the "White Rose of the Miatnis"
is the account of her marriage to She-pan-can-ah, the chieftain,
which is as romantic as the fond fabrications of the Indian legend
writers who love to talk about "dusky mates." Ma-con-a-qua
found the young warrior by the wayside badly wounded, and he
was taken to the lodge of her foster parents and nursed back to
health. For a time he remained with them and, being a skilled
hunter, furnished the family with meat. When he prepared to
seek pastures new they prevailed with him to stay permanently,
and the presumably fair Ma-con-a-qua was given him to wife.

Some years ago the question of preserving in a permanent
way the memory of Frances Slocum and of the vanished race
with which she was linked was agitated, and on the 17th of May,
1900 a handsome and substantial monument of white bronze was
unveiled over her grave, near the village of Peoria, Miami
County, Indiana. The branches of the Slocum family were
represented by many members from Michigan, Ohio, and States
further east, and remnants of the Miami tribe of Indians gathered
for the occasion, some from their distant reserve in Kansas. In
addition a large attendance from the surrounding country made
the occasion the more memorable and served to promote a senti-
ment which we of Indiana might well cultivate.

G. S. C.

The Wabash and Its Valley 123

The Wabash and Its Valley

Part II— Settlement and Early Development

^T^HK treaty of St. Mary's, made in 1818, which gave to the
-■■ United States government the whole interior portion of Indi-
ana, threw open to settlement the greater part of the upper Wa-
bash valley. In the "New Purchase" there were, according to a
writer of that time (Dana), some 8,500,000 acres, and emigration
could not spread over that vast area in a day; but by the early
twenties, nevertheless, the "land hunter" had penetrated to the
Wabash bottoms, attracted thither by the wonderful fertility and
other advantages of that region. A tract receding twenty to
forty miles from the river on either side comprised the "valley,"
and throughout this tract were magnificent forests interspersed
with beautiful prairies luxuriant with growths of waving grass,
prodigally gay with countless flowers, and with a soil practically
bottomless. More than that, the noble Wabash promised com-
munication with the remote outer world, and all things pointed
to an opulent future. In 1824 the land office for the sale of
Wabash lands was opened at Crawfordsville, then the only settle-
ment between Terre Haute and Fort Wayne. A mixed population
from the eastern and southern portions of the State and from
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and other sections, came pouring in,
and the coveted localities were rapidly taken up at the govern-
ment price of $1.25 per acre. Among these pioneers the honest
home-seekers were so far in the ascendency that speculators were
obliged to be wary and content themselves with second choice,
but they were amply in evidence, nevertheless. Immediately on
the heels of these first purchases came the craze for the establish-
ment of towns that were to be future emporiums, and for the
following decade they sprang up like mushrooms along the river,
each big with ambition and hope, and each envious of the others.
The founding of a prospective city seems to have been a ver}r
simple performance, consisting chiefly in laying off one's purchase
into "town lots," and booming the same in various and divers
ways. The first requisite was that the location be at a ford of
the river as a likely place for the establishing of a steamboat

124 The Indiana Magazine of History

dock. The beginning of Lafayette is an example. William
Digby purchased a piece of land so thickly grown with hazel,
and plum brush, and grape vines that the surveyor had great
difficulty in doing his work. After creating a "town" by laying
out this ground and naming it Lafayette, in honor of the illustri-
ous Frenchman, Digby sold most of the site to Samuel Sargeant
for the sum of $240, and Sargeant began his little "boom" by
getting some of the influential Crawfordsville citizens interested
in it. A few cabins went up, but it was uncertain for a good
while whether the embryo city would live through its beginning.
An ironical wag of another settlement jeeringiy dubbed it "Lay
Flat," or "Laugh At," and threatened to "grease it with a bacon
rind so that the next dog that came by might eat it." Time
and unforseen circumstances, however, turned the tables, and
eventually Lafayette looked proudly down upon all of her rivals.
Of these ambitious towns some have passed, not only from ex-
istence, but from the very memory of the succeeding generation,
and others, overborne by the trend of events, have long since
ceased to aspire.

The making of Lafayette was the fact of its location at the
head of navigation. Steamboats from New Orleans, bringing
commodities to the heart of this new country, could not penetrate
beyond the mouth of the Tippecanoe, and so "Lay Flat" became
the great receiving and distributing point for the country about,
which drained into it a vast surplus of grain and hogs. During
the thirties it was the largest and most important city northwest
of Cincinnati; its streets were crowded with teams; some coming
from as far east as the Ohio state line, and one writer tells us of
no less than sixteen steamboats lying at her wharves at one time.

Despite the thrift at this point, however, the country above
developed slowly because of inadequate communication with the
outer world. Towns farther up the river, such as Logansport
and Peru, were constrained to "play second fiddle" to their more
fortunate rival, and the desire of these places to have navigation
reach them was so desperate as to be ludicrous. A bonus of
several hundred dollars was offered to the first steamboat captain
who would prove such navigability, and heroic efforts were made
to that end. In June of 1834, the water being high, a little

The Wabash and Its Valley 125

steamer called the Republican "set sail" from L,afayette, bound
for IyOgansport. She proceeded without trouble as far as Delphi,
then began to stick on various sandbars, at each of which delays
the passengers would render assistance by getting out into the
water and pushing, or by extending a long rope to shore and
pulling. Several days were expended at this arduous toil, much
to the entertainment of throngs of Indians, men, women and
children, who loitered along the banks admiring the strange craft.
Eventually, a dozen yoke of oxen were brought down from
L,ogansport and the Republican hauled bodily over ripples and
sandbars to her destination. The boat was ruined and left to
rot in the bottom of the river at the newly-established head of
navigation, and whether the bonus received compensated the
captain for his loss history does not say. A year later another
boat, the Science, made the attempt. The water being unusually
high, lyOgansport was safely reached. Here a lot of additional
passengers were taken on, and the Science went merrily on and
up. Trying to ascend a rapids the swift current got control of
the boat, which, carried helplessly backward, narrowly escaped
being battered to pieces, much to the terror and panic of those
on board. Returning to L,ogansport, they unloaded about two
hundred barrels of flour and salt; then the passengers walked
around the rapids, meeting the boat above, and at length Peru
was made. Here a fracas occurred between some of the Peruvians
and a part of the L,ogansport contingent; a crowd of bellicose
Irishmen, who were working on the canal there, unable to resist
this opportunity to indulge their favorite passion, came to take a
hand, and the capain of the Science, deeming prudence a virtue,
"put to sea" again, leaving part of his passengers to find their
way back home as best they could. Excursions in those davs
were even more delightful than they are now.*

But the day of glory for this region was yet to dawn. The
grand scheme for the internal improvement of Indiana, projected
as early as the twenties, contemplated, first of all, a navigable
waterway that should connect Lake Erie with the lower Wabash,
and in time this dream became a fact. In 1843 the great Wabash

*Much of the above information is got from Sanford Cox's "Recollections of the
Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley"— one of our best and most entertaining book?
of local reminiscences.

i 26 The Indiana Magazine of History

and Erie canal, after long labor and many ups and downs, was
completed, and the occasion duly commemorated by barbecues,
speeches and general rejoicings. A large number of freight and
packet boats at once made their appearance, infusing new life
into all the little river towns. The abundant agricultural wealth
of the Wabash country now found comparatively cheap and easy
transportation directly to the East; the regions north and south
for a distance of fifty to a hundred miles gravitated to this outlet,
and from the Illinois country, westward, to Lafayette came flock-
ing the great prairie schooners laden with their contributions to
the world's marts. Westward, in turn, came the capacious
freight boats laden with merchandise of all kinds, and the packets
with emigrants who, now having access to this land of promise,
came in an uninterruped tide, adding to the new currents of life.
Towns along the river which, heretofore, could have only a
broken and restricted intercourse with each other, were now reg-
ularly connected, and traveling was made possible to the multi-
tude. And it was idyllic and picturesque traveling. People not
given to the frantic haste of the present day were content to
spend leisurely hours sitting in pleasant company on the deck or
in the cabin of the smoothly-gliding packet. Passengers got
acquainted and fraternized, played games, discoursed, argued,
and, no doubt, made love, and when the boat was delayed it was
quite common for congenial couples or groups to step off and
stroll on ahead, gathering wild flowers as they went. Yet
movement, bustle and excitement, were not lacking. The speed
of the best packets was about eight miles an hour, and one writer
gives us a picture of the swaggering driver in a slouch hat and
top boots, lashing his team to a sharp trot. On approaching a
town there was a great blowing of horns from the deck, and
when dock was made everybody went ashore to mingle with the
townsmen, to ask and answer innumerable questions, and to
descend upon the public houses, presumably for fluid refresh-
ments. When the boat was ready to go a horn was blown again
to warn the passengers aboard, and on they fared to the next
stopping place.

. An Englishman named Beste, who, with his family, traveled
through here early in the fifties, describes his trip from Terre

The Wabash and Its Valley 127

Haute to the lake and gives interesting glimpses of the people.*
Being an Englishman of position this traveler could not under-
stand the rather brusque an ti- aristocratic notions which fre-
quently shocked and pained him. The children, according to
him, were independent and pert, while their elders were inordi-
nately jealous of their doctrine of equality and rights, and he
dwells with some severity on their rudenesses and crudenesses.
Among other things, he mentions that the chewing of ' Burgandy
pitch" was a universal habit among the women.

The ordinary course of travel was sometimes retarded by
mishaps to the canal, which, at some points, ran between levees
or dikes, instead of through an excavated channel, and not in-
frequently these levees, springing a leak, let the water uncere-
moniously into the low lands without, in which case the boats
lay in the mud tiil the break was repaired. Among the unusual
happenings recounted is that of the wreck of the packet boat.
Kentucky, in 1844. A mili-dam giving way in the high country
back from the canal let loose a great flood which, sweeping down
to the canal, broke through the tow-path at one of these embank-
ed points. The packet mentioned was carried bodily through the
gap, washed down into the river bottoms, which were submerged
with a freshet, and broken to pieces among the trees. Three of
the passengers were drowned. The others were rescued by the
people of the vicinity, but the baggage and mails were swept
away and lost.

The canal was continued south to Evausville, but the lower
part never attained an importance comparable to the upper, and
soon fell into disuse. And the upper part, incalculably im
portant though it was in its time, was destined to speedily have
its day. It was some eleven years in the making, and thirteen
years later the Toledo & Wabash Railroad was completed along
its line to Lafayette. The ushering in of the railroad era gave a
new turn to the tide of affairs; now all is changed, and the old
picturesque phase of life which formed so interesting a chapter
in our State's history is all but forgotton, save by the lingering
remnants of the past generation. — G. S. C.

*"The Wabash, or, Adventures of an English Gentleman's Family in the Interior
of America," by J. Richard Beste, Esq.

128 The Indiana Magazine of History

Some Letters of John Gibson

[The following letters of John Gibson are not published, we believe, in
in any existing sketch of him. They were written in September, 1812,
when Gibson was Acting-Governor of the Indiana Territory. War with
England had been declared the previous June, the frontier of the northwest
had become involved, Fort Harrison on the Wabash, commanded by Captain
Zachary Taylor (afterward President Taylor) had been invested by a formi-
dable body of Indians, and these official fragments show Gibson's prompt
steps in the exigency. Copies of the letters were found among the papers
of the late William Wesley Woollen.]

A I AHE day after the Indian attack on Fort Harrison (Sept. 4,
■*■ 1 81 2), and before the news of it reached Governor Gibson,
he had written "To the officer commanding the quota of militia
of Kentucky destined for Vincennes" requesting that Kentucky
troops, conformable to the orders of Governor Harrison, be sent
as expeditiously as possible to Vincennes. This was in anticipa-
tion of Indian troubles. Brigadier General J. Winlock, com-
manding the forces at Louisville, replied to the letter stating that
one of the regiments called for had been taken ' 'on toward Fort
Wayne by Governor Harrison," and that he lacked the necessary
equipage for the remainder of his troops, there being but 300
muskets, 200 pounds of powder, 20 camp kettles and 300 flints
for upward of six hundred men. Having no public money at
his command he found great difficulty in supplying the deficien-
cy, but hoped to be able to march by Sept. 10.

Before the latter date Gibson, then apprised of the Fort
Harrison investment, wrote again, as follows:

Vincennes, September gth 1812.

Sir: — On the 4th inst. I wrote you requesting the immediate
march of the troops destined for this place, and on the following
day I sent a verbal message by Lieut. Whitlock requesting you
to have all your heavy baggage under the charge of a guard and
proceed with all possible dispatch to this place, as the Indians
have invested Fort Harrison and commenced an attack on the
frontiers. It is indispensably necessary that no time should be
lost in your march hither, as there can be but little or no danger
feetween this and Louisville, except from small skulking parties.

Some Letters of John Gibson 129

If your baggage should in the least retard your march leave it to
come on under a safeguard, and proceed yourself with the troops
under your command with all the speed you can.

Yours,

John Gibson,

Acting Governor.

On the twentieth of September General Winlock wrote from
his encampment on "White River, 16 miles from Vincennes,"
that he would be at Vincennes on Tuesday, at 12 o'clock with
640 men, and that some 600 more, mounted, would be with him
the next day; for which force he wished some provision would be
made.

At the same time he wrote to General Winlock Gibson dis-
patched the following letter to General Samuel Hopkins, "or the
officer commanding the militia of Henderson County, Kentucky."

Vincennes, September 9th, 18 12.

Sir: — The Indians have invested Fort Harrison, and have
attacked the frontiers of one of the counties and killed upward
of twelve persons. From the number of hostile Indians within
the reach of the frontiers of this and the adjacent territory, a
general attack is greatly to be apprehended. But a small force
has yet arrived from the State of Kentucky, and the thinness of
our population and the extent of our frontiers render it difficult
if not impossible, to raise such a force here as is necessary to
protect our settlements. Under the circumstances we must look
to volunteers from Kentucky for assistance. The exigency is
such as to preclude the possibility of applying for aid from your
quarter through the proper channel. But if there are any in
your county or the settlements adjacent to it, who are disposed
to volunteer I do not believe that the Governor of the State of
Kentucky would object to it. May I therefore ask the favor of
you to use your best endeavors to raise as many volunteers as
can be conveniently obtained. I shall apprise the Governor of
Kentucky of this application.

I am respectfully, Sir, your obt. servt.,

John Gibson,

Acting Governor

130 The Indiana Magazine of History

In response to this Col. Philip Barbour, commanding the 6th
regiment of Kentucky volunteers, dispatched to Gibson 241
men under Major William R. McGary, "armed as well as the
nature of the case would admit of." Arms and ammunition for
this force were secured by impressment, and the balance of the
regiment was promised as soon as equipment was supplied.

The following letter is to Col. William Russel, of the United
States atmy:

Vincennes, September 16, 1812.

Sir: — Yesterday at 4 o'clock in the afternoon a Sergt.(?) of
Capt. Taylor's company arrived here express from Ft. Harrison,
who informed us that he had left the fort on the 13 inst. in the
night. I also rec'd two letters from Capt. Taylor. He informs me
that after a severe attack made on him by the Indians, which
lasted seven hours, he was still able to maintain his garrison. It
will be unnecessary to give you the particulars of the Captain's
Letters, as I expect before this reaches you you will have seen
him. I expect to load in a few days a number of wagons with
flour and whiskey. These with 25 beeves for the garrison will
start immediately. Major McGary who arrived here yesterday
with 240 men of Col. Barbour's Regt. of Ky. Militia will take
command of the escort which goes with the provisions and cattle
destined for Ft. Harrison. The escort will consist of thirty
mounted riflemen and one hundred infantry. I have directed
the Major to proceed with the utmost precaution to Ft. Harrison;
that, should he meet you on the way or at Ft. Harrison, he is to
obey any orders you may please to give him. I rec'd a letter from
General Winlock dated at Louisville Sept. 12. He informs us
that he would march with all possible speed to this place. The
Ranger who brought the letter informs me that General Winlock
on the 13th was two miles on this side Jefferson vi lie. Major Mc-
Gary informs me that one thousand mounted horsemen from Ken-
tucky would randezvous at Red Bank on Sunday next, and were
to proceed to this place under the command of General Hopkins,
and that the remainder of Col. Barbour's regt. would also march
to this place as soon as they recieve arms, which were hourly
expected to arrive at that place. I am in great hopes before you

Some Letters of John Gibson 131

receive this you will have entered Ft. Harrison and been able to
clear your way to that place.

I enclose a number of letters which I rec'd by mail and by 2
rangers which I sent express to Gov'r. Edwards and to you.
I have the honor to be very respectfully your humble svt.

Jno. Gibson,

Acting Governor.

One other letter among these MSS., dated a few days
previous, and addressed to Col. Robert Robertson, concerns the
protection of the Clark County frontier.

On the 1 2th of September 18 1 2, Governor Gibson addressed
Colonel Robertson, as follows:

Vincerines, September 12, 1812.

Sir: — If the company ordered from your regiments should
not have marched to this place, you will immediately order that
company or some other to the frontier of Clark County to act in
conjunction with one ordered from Harrison County. I shah
leave it to your own discretion to dispose of the men to the best
advantage, taking care to have an eye to Iyinley's settlement and
the Drift Wood and Pigeon Roost Settlements. Should there be
no person authorized in your county by the Contractor to furnish
provisions you will please have them furnished and they will be
paid for at the contract price.

You will give particular orders to the officers commanding to
employ their men continually in reconnoitering and scouring
through the country or the frontier and should anything extra-
ordinary or alarming occur, you will give me the earliest infor-
mation thereof by express.

I am respectfully your obt. servt. ,

Jno. Gibson,

Acting Governor.

132 The Indiana Magazine of History

Historical Relics the State should Own

' I AHERE are in our State, in private possession, at least a few
■*• collections of historical value which should, if possible, be
made public possessions and be accessible to all that are interested
in such. Two of these collections we particularly have in mind.
One is the paintings of George Winter, the Lafayette artist,
spoken of elsewhere in this number. When we saw these they
were held by Mr. Winter's daughter, Mrs. C. G. Ball, of Lafay-
ette, and were of unique interest. Being, in large part, portraits
of notable Pottawattomie and Miami Indians and of their dress
and customs, and being accompanied by keys and much informa-
tion in manuscript form from Mr. Winter's pen, it is altogether
desirable that they be owned by the State as relics of the pictur-
esque race that once owned and trod our soil.

The other collection is that of Mr. Charles B. Lasselle, of
Logansport. Mr. Lasselle, who, we believe, is still living, is of an
old French family, which has been intimately identified with the
Wabash region since Revolutionary times. His grandfather was
a trader at the Indian town of Kekionga (Fort Wayne) long
before Anthony Wayne's subjugation of the Northwestern tribes.
His father, Hyacinthe Lasselle, during his life was a substantial
citizen of Fort Wayne, Vincennes and Logansport, and this scion
of the third generation has himself helped make the history of
the great valley since pioneer times. The historic instinct, and
the disposition to preserve what might be of possible future value,
seems to have inhered in the Lasselles. As the result of long
hoarding the present member of the family has in his possession
enough documents and relics of real historic interest to astonish
one. First, there are hundreds of letters, business accounts and
miscellaneous papers, reflecting trade and life along the Wabash
since the last century. It is the kind of material that the
thorough historian, working to modern methods, is most in search
of — the kind that throws sidelights and reveals intimate glimpses
of past conditions. Here, for example, is an old account-book of
Francis Bosseron, storekeeper at Vincennes when Captain Helm
under the instruction of George Rogers Clark, held that post.
In it is a page devoted to Helm"s private purchases, such as "one

Relics the State should Own 133

chapeau," "one capote," playing cards, and frequent bottles of
"taffia" and "eu de vie." There is also a page charging the
State of Virginia, through Captain Helm, with divers articles
and services, among them "five ells of red silk," and "3^ ells
of green silk for a flag, ' ' and along with this the claim of one
Madam Goderre for making the flag. Full of interest are these
few words touching this red-and-green flag which was, perhaps,
the first symbol of the nation ever planted in Indiana.

Apropos to this place and period there is, also, the liquor
chest of General Hamilton, the English Governor of the Vin-
cennes post, who captured Helm, and was in turn captured by
Clark. It is a mahogany box about eighteen inches square,
partitioned into nine smaller squares for as many liquor decanters.
Of these only one now remains — the apple-toddy bottle. Those
familiar with Clark's famous siege, will remember the story of
Hamilton and his prisoner, Helm, sitting sociably together by
the open fire, watching an apple toddy brew, when the rifle
fusillade began and the bullets pecking at the chimney threw
down dirt and spoiled the brew. This antique piece of glassware-
is, most likely the identical bottle used on that memorable oc-
casion. General Hamilton gave the chest to Francis Bosseron,
and after various changes of ownership, carefully recorded, it was
secured by Mr. L,asselle.

Along with these may be mentioned a plat of Vincennes,
made in 1792, each lot marked with the holder's name, also
original document relating to French families of Vincennes,
genealogical tables of Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and many other
papers of similar character. Not the least interesting of the
many relics is the great parchment treaty document, given by
the United States to the Miami Indians at the treaty of St. Mary,
in 1 8 18, when the central portion of the State, as far north as
the Wabash River, was purchased. This instrument, bearing
the signatures of Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin
Parke, commissioners; William and John Conner, interpreters,
and the marks of the various chiefs that represented their tribe,
was delivered to John B. Richardville, the Miami head chief, and
finally came into the L,asselle family through marriage relations.

These are but a part of the things treasured up by Mr,

134 The Indiana Magazine of History

Lasselle. Whether or not they are now for sale, we are not
authorized to say; but the indications are that some day they
will be scattered and lost. The point to be made is that the
collection now exists, that its value is such the State could well
afford to make a generous bid for it, and that no step whatever
is taken to secure it.

In this connection it may be said that the State quite un-
necessarily lost the large collection of books and relics of the late
Judge Horace P. Biddle, also of L,ogansport. Besides the relics
and pictures which Mr. Biddle had long been collecting his library
consisted of some 8,000 volumes, representing a money value of
$15,000. At least 3,000 of these volumes were rare works not to
be easily found elsewhere, which students came from afar to con-
sult. When James I). Williams was Governor Mr. Biddle proposed
that the State agree to take his entire library at his death at 10
cents a volume. Governor Williams, according to Mr. Biddle,
twice recommended in his messages that the Legislature take
advantage of the offer, but no notice whatever was taken of the
proposition.

The Howe Collection

THE "Howe Collection," now in possession of the Indi-
anapolis Public Library, consists of books and pamphlets
relating to Indiana and affairs in Indiana, and is in itself a library
of rare value. The collector, Judge Daniel Waite Howe, has
been one of the few who realize that not only old and scarce
books are worth securing but that the seemingly valueless records
of to-day have a value on the morrow; much that others threw
away he had the foresight to save; as a result much of this
collection, particularly the pamphlets, is not, as a collection,
duplicated anywhere, and of many of the individual pamphlets
it would be exceedingly difficult to now find other copies. The
gathering up of these has been the work of years, and they were
donated to the Indianapolis library on the condition that they be
kept intact and designated as "The Howe Collection." There
are 534 volumes, many of which are pamphlets bound together,
and 52 unbound pamphlets.

The Howe Collection 135

A complete catalogue of this material occupies too much space
to be given here, but its general character, briefly indicated, may
point the way to matter some student is in search of. A full and
separate catalogue is furnished at the library.

Of the laws of Indiana there is a complete set of Laws of the
Governors and Judges, from the 1st to the 4th sessions (i8oi-'o3);
also Territorial L,aws from 1805 to 1815, with revision of 1807.

Of other works of a legal and legislative character there are
Court Reports, Digests, Citations, General and Special Compila-
tions, Session Daws, Pleading, Practice, etc., Ordinances of Indi-
anapolis, Journals and Proceedings of the Constitutional Con-
ventions, House and Senate Journals almost complete from 18 16,
Documentary Journals and Annual Reports, Brevier Legislative
Reports, complete (1852-1887), and Reports of State Officers.

Of miscellaneous works there are State and local Directories
and Gazetteers, many State and County Atlases and Histories,
Church and College Histories, and rare books too varied to specify.

Of the large number of pamphlets, bound and unbound, there
are many Biographies not to be found elsewhere, Addresses,
Papers, Sketches, Reports of Conventions, Church and College
Documents, Proceedings, Records and Reports of Societies,
Essays, Articles preserved from Magazines, and many publi-
cations of various kinds relating to Indianapolis. To the coming
historian who essays to bring the story of the city down to date
these Indianapolis pamphlets, indeed, will afford invaluable
material, reflecting, as they do, the thought and movements
of the times even more circumstantially than does the news-
paper press. It is the kind of material that is essential to accu-
racy and that is yet more ephemeral, even, than the newspapers,
for preserved files of the latter usually can be found, whereas
pamphlet literature is rarely deemed worth the collecting.

A particularly valuable volume for one making a study of
the State's internal improvement system of seventy years ago, is
a compilation made by the late John B. Dillon of official reports
and other documents, which form much of the material for a
history of that movement.

136 The Indiana Magazine of History

Betsy Ross Descendants in Indiana

[Since these descendants have been traced some of them, it is probable,
have changed their locations.]

"HP HE story of the first Stars and Stripes has been repeatedly
■*■ told in periodical literature, though if one refers to the
general histories, it is surprising how little is found. Even the
"Archives of Pennsylvania" and "Watson's Annals of Phila-
delphia, ' ' which aim to rescue from oblivion all the minor events
of interest, tell us nothing of the woman who lived and died and
made the first flags for the Union in Philadelphia. The Story,
told briefly, is as follows:

In June of 1777 the American Congress adopted our national
flag of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars. The very first one
made embodying this design was the handiwork of sundry patri-
otic ladies of Philadelphia, and it was flung to the breeze from
the mast-head of Commodore Paul Jone's ship, the Ranger. In
this flag the stars were six- pointed. Then a committee was
appointed by Congress to select an official flag maker.

This committee, accompanied by General Washington, waited
on Mrs. John Ross, a young woman noted for her skill in needle-
work, and a niece, by marriage, to Colonel George Ross, one of
the committee. Washington drew the design of the flag for her,
but she objected to the six-pointed star, terming it a "British"
star. Folding a piece of paper, she produced one of five points,
as preferable. The amendment was accepted, and such a star it
has been since.

There, in a little brick house built two centuries ago and still
standing (unless recently torn down) in Arch street, Philadelphia,
the earliest flags used by the nation were made. The first of
these floated over Washington's victorious army when Burgoyne
surrendered in October, 1777. Among the relics that have been
preserved is an official order to pay Betsy Ross £14 12s 2d for
making flags for the fleet in the Delaware river.

Betsy Ross was married three times, her last husband being
John Claypole. Three daughters are mentioned, at least two of
whom were full sisters, Claypole by name. These two sisters
represent two lines of descendants. One of the branches, tracing

Betsy Ross Descendants in Indiana 137

its ancestry to Clarissa Sidney Claypole, has members in Phila-
delphia, New Orleans, Charleston, S. C, and in Indianapolis,
the latter being Mrs. J. L- Jackson and her children.

The other branch, which has been traced by Mrs. M. C.
Thayer, of Indianapolis, daughter of James Conwell, has con-
tributed considerably to the population of this State. Rebekah
Walpole, the other sister, married Abraham Conwell, and four
grandsons of this couple — James, William, Isaac and A. B.
Conwell, came to Indiana at an early day. All settled in the
Whitewater region — James in Franklin county, near where Laurel
now stands; William at Cambridge City; Isaac at Liberty, and
A. B. at Connersville. All were merchants and successful
business men.

James Conwell, who was married twice, had a large family,
chiefly daughters. Of these no less than eight married in
Indiana, and their children and grandchildren are to be found
in a number of Indiana towns. So far as we can determine, there
are in Richmond, 2 — Mrs. C. S. W. Ross and her daughter, Miss
Ella Ross; in Fairland, Franklin County, 9 — Louise Burnside,
Lynn Burnside and three children, Mrs. Winnie B. Carson and
two children, and Mrs. Nora B. Enyart; in Rushville, 9— Mrs.
Fannie Smith, Dr. Will Smith and one child, Walter Smith, Mrs.
John Frazee and two children, Mrs. Will Percy and one child;
in Indianapolis, 8 — Mrs. Maria C. Thayer and daughter, Miss
Laurel Thayer, Mrs. J. C. Smith and three children, and Mrs.
J. E. Fish and one child; in Anderson, 3— Mrs. Charles T. Dox-
ey, Thomas N. Stillwell and Horace Stillwell. Of the William
Conwell branch there is one grandson at Portland. Of the Isaac
Conwell branch there are two daughters — Ann Rebecca Conwell
and Mrs. Mary Jones, in Anderson, and Dr. Horace Jones, Dr.
William Jones and a sister, either at Anderson or Noblesville.

A. B. Conwell, the fourth of the pioneer brothers, who
settled in Connersville, is now represented there by not less than
twelve descendants — one daughter, Mrs. Anna Merril; four grand-
children, John Merril, William Merril, Conwell Merril and their
sister, and seven great-grandchildren. There is also another
sister, a Mrs. Havens, in Rushville.

In addition to these we are informed of Mrs. Andrew J. King

138 The Indiana Magazine of History

and her son, G. Ray King, of Brookville.

In tracing this family tree, it is interesting to note that
individuals of musical and poetic talent have cropped out all
along the line, and in the Clarissa Claypool branch there has
been at least one representive in each generation who seems to
have inherited Betsey Ross's talent for needlework.

Revolutionary Soldiers in Indiana

IN our last issue we published an article on the Revolutionary
soldiers who ended their days in Putnam County, this State.
Apropos to the subject we here reprint from the India?iapolis
News a condensed account of Revolutionary graves in southern
Indiana as located by the researches of Piankeshaw Chapter,
D. A. R.

"Piankeshaw Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution,
of New Albany has been one of the most active chapters in the
State in marking the graves of Revolutionary soldiers. The mem-
bers have been for several years delving into village cemeteries
and private burial lots to discover these graves, and at the present
time a total of thirty have been found in Floyd and the adjoining
counties. Harrison county leads with nineteen; Floyd has six;
Washington, two, and Crawford, Scott and Orange one each.
A cluster of Revolutionary graves was found in Clark county,
and with the organization of Anne Rogers Clark Chapter, at
Jeffersonville, Piankeshaw Chapter courteously placed the graves
under the care of that chapter. Of the nine graves in Floyd
county, four are in Fairview cemetery, New Albany. They are
the last resting-places of Joseph Bell, a light infantryman, who
fought seven years in the Continental army.

"He was born in Pennsylvania and moved to New Albany in
1 818, dying in 1848, at the age of ninety years. Not far from his
grave is that of Joshua Fowler, who died March 18, 1820. On his
headstone is the inscription, "A Patriot of the Revolution." In
another grave rests Richard Lord Jones, who enlisted at the age
of thirteen years as a drummer. He was born in Connecticut in
1761, and died in this city in 1852. The last of the four is

Revolutionary Soldiers in Indiana 139

Benjamin Buckman, born in Hadly, Mass., in 1759, and died near
Salem, Ind., in 1842. He was buried at Salem, but years later
his body was brought to New Albany. He was a prisoner at
(Quebec for six months and was with Washington when he crossed
the Delaware. For several years before his death he walked from
Salem to Vincennes to receive his pension. The other graves in
Floyd county are those of Jacob Garrison, buried at Galena, and
Gabriel Poindexter, at Floyd Knobs.

In Harrison county are the following graves: Charles Dyer,
one miles southwest of Crandall; Joshua Bennett, Samuel Raugh
and Patrick Hunter, at Rehobeth; Hinsonn Johnson, Webster
township; Peter Deatrick and George Kron, at Elizabeth; Charles
George, Indian Creek; David Trout, at Luther's Chapel; John
Williams, near Fredericksburg; John Smith, near Corydon; James
Cooper, near Hancock's Chapel; Henry Funk and Daniel Funk,
near New Amsterdam; Abraham and Joseph Harman, near Cory-
don, and John Long and Philip P. Stine, near Highfill. In
Crawford county is the grave of Jeremiah Wight, who is buried
near Fredonia. Jacob Doau represents Washington county, and
is buried near Hardinsburg. Scott county has the grave of one
veteran, Amasa Mitchell, who is buried in Friendship cemetery,
near New Frankfort. He was the youngest of seven brothers who
served in the Revolution. The grave in Orange county is that of
William Moore, who is buried near Livonia. "

To this we may add that Marion County claims several
Revolutionary graves. Isaac Wilson, who came to Indianapolis
in 1820 and died in 1823, is said to have been a veteran of both
the Revolutionary war and the war of 18 12. He was buried in
the front yard of his residence at the spot where North and
Maxwell street now intersect.

It has been stated that Wilson was the only Revolutionary
soldier buried in Indianapolis, but in a communication to the
Indianapolis News, August 10, 1898, Mr. J. H. B. Nowland claims
four others — "Mr. Oliver, father of the late Dandridge H. Oliver;
Mr. Taffe, father of the late Hannibal Taffe; John George and
Edmund C. Johnson:"

All these, Mr. Nowland says, were buried " in or around this
city," and adds that he collected the pension of John George.

140 The Indiana Magazine of History

Indiana University Forty Years Ago

By Amzi Atwater

{Read before the Monroe County Historical Society)

The Early Courses — The Faculty a?id its Heavy Work — Literary

Societies — Chapel Exercises — Old-time Mischief— Estimate of

Faculty — Traits of the Old Professors — Elisha Ballantine.

pOMING to take pastoral care of the Christian Church of
^^ Blooming-ton in January, 1865, I enrolled at once as a student
in the University classed as a Junior. It was not an unusual
thing, in those days, for a student or a professor to fill a pulpit
in one of the churches. My ministerial predecessor James H.
McCollough was also a student. Doctor T. A. Wylie, at the
time professor of Latin and Greek, was the regular minister of the
Reformed Presbyterian church which stood where the U. P.
church now stands. Professor Elisha Ballantine, when he returned
to the University in 1867, preached some for the New School
Presbyterian people, and President Cyrus Nutt, who had once been
paster of the Methodist church here and later a Presiding Elder,
preached much of the time somewhere on Sundays.

Our present High School building is the same in outward
form and nearly the same in internal structure that it was when
it stood as the only University building on the campus at the
south end of College Avenue. I use the term University, for that
was its official designation, but there was little about the insti-
tution to differentiate it from the ordinary western college except
its small law class of seven Seniors and eight Juniors taught by
Professor Bicknell. The smallness of college attendance was
partly caused by the war of the rebellion which was then in full
career and had drawn away many both actual and prospective
students to the Union army.

There were two regular courses each leading to graduation
and a degree, the one "classical," with Greek and Latin as chief
studies and the goal of A. B., the other "scientific," which re-
quired one year less time and was generally supposed to be easier.
There were 79 in the four regular classes that year. Adding the
15 law students and it made 94. Summing up preparatory and
all, the catalogue of 1865 announced an attendance of 189.

Indiana University Forty Years Ago 141

The faculty as shown by the catalogue of 1865 consisted of
six members: Rev. Cyrus Nutt, D. D., Professor of Mental,
Moral and Political Philosophy; Rev. Theophilus A. Wylie, A.
M., Professor of Greek and Latin; Daniel Kirkwood, L,. L- D.,
Professor of Mathematics; Richard Owen, A. M., Professor of
Natural Philosophy and Chemistry; George A. Bicknell, L- L- D.,
Professor of haw; James Woodburn, A. M., Adjunct Professor of
Languages and Principal of the Preparatory Department. These
six men men covered the whole ground of University instruction
as then provided for. Doctor Wylie besides teaching the ad-
vanced Greek and Latin classes served the institution as librarian.
The library, having lost heavily by the fire a few years before
(1854), was quite small, consisting of a few hundred volumes
(possibly a few thousand) procured since that disaster, the "Derby
Donation" and about a thousand volumes loaned to it by Dr.
Richard Owen. This diminutive library found plenty of space
in the room on the second floor, west wing, which I think Prof.
Kirkwood later on used as a recitation room. Dr. Owen, while
carrying all the Physics, Physiology, Geology and Chemistry
also (since Professor Marquis had lately resigned), taught all the
German and French that was called for, and the History, too,
and was Secretary of the faculty besides. There was no need of
a Registrar as each professor recorded his own grades in a record
book with his own hand, and performed any other clerical work
that was necessary.

The contrast between then and now appears most striking
when President Bryan lately announces the University in an
advertisement thus: "Twenty Departments, co-educational, seven-
ty-one members of the faculty," and the enrollment this year is
found to be 1538.

If you wish to be impressed still further with the change,
pass through the present admirably equipped chemical de-
partment in Wylie hall, then go down to the High School and
peer into the little dark basement furnace room at the east end
of the building where Dr. Owen taught chemistry. But no doubt
many a good scholar got his chemical start there under the
teaching of that admirable man.

The catalogue of 1865 mentions three literary societies, but
I have no recollection of a third. The two that chiefly occupied

142 The Indiana Magazine of History

the ground were the Athenia?i and Philomathean, the one having
a room in the east wing, third floor, the other in the west. There
was little difference in the merits of these organizations. Be-
lieving as I then did (and do now) that a literary society offers
the student an excellent means of culture, I hastened to attend
their meetings and soon found myself enrolled as an Athenian.
I was greatly surprised on entering the Athenian hall at seeing
rows of boots (many of them cow-hide) standing around the room.
Some of the owners had put on slippers, others had socks as their
only foot wear. I must explain that boots were the regular thing
for men in those days. Only women wore shoes. On inquiry I
learned that the society had lately bought a fine carpet and as
Bloomington walks were bad, they had adopted a protective rule
that members should remove their boots on entering the hall and
attached a fine of ten cents for non-compliance. It was expected
that they would provide themselves slippers and some did so.
The state of the atmosphere with a hot stove and a score or two
of empty boots and a lot of stocking-footed youngsters sitting
around may easily be imagined. Just before adjournment the
program provided for the assessment of fines which the president
announced and the treasurer recorded unless the house by vote
excused the offender. The regular exercises of the society
consisted chiefly of essays, declamations, debate, and sometimes
of extempore speaking. In this last named, the member would
be called out and given a subject after reaching the floor. It
was the effect of this practice to teach a young man to invent
his material and think on his feet. Finally the critics report
bestowed praise or blame (chiefly the latter) upon each per-
formance.

It must be admitted that there was much of boyish crudity
about the whole thing, but that was to be expected. Some
members would not be prepared and would be fined for failure.
Some would take a perfunctory part to avoid the fine. But there
was always a goodly number of ambitious men who did their best.
The essays, probably, were the weakest part; the debate, perhaps,
the strongest. But here too, was a weakness. The program
committee would sometimes report for debate one of those com-
parative old questions (peurile to begin with and already worn
threadbare) such as "Resolved (every proposition for debate had

Indiana University Forty Years Ago 143

to begin with a 'resolve'), "That Columbus was a greater man
than Washington" — in debating which the great discoverer
would be praised and the first president belittled by the affirm-
ative and vice versa as to the negative — or again "Resolved,
That the Indians have been treated worse than the Negroes,"
or still again, "Resolved, That the pen is mightier than the
sword." I remember ridiculing such questions and may have
partially succeeded in getting them discarded.

The miscellaneous debate and contention over parliamentary
rules and over the excusing or remitting of fines would often
hang on so long that the janitor, acting under instructions,
would come up at midnight and put out the lights, turn out the
society, and lock the door.

The fraternities were few in number and made but a compara-
tively small showing in those days. I think the Betas, the Phi
Delts and the Sigma Chis were all that were in existence. These
had been running for a few years. Their great aim, so far as an
outsider could see, was to secure honors for their members. This
they strove to do through the literary societies of which they
were members the same as "The Barbs." They would have their
candidates for "Twenty-Second-of- February Orator" and "Spring
Speakers" and for the society "Valedictory Exercises" just before
commencement. "The Spring Speakers" were the orators at
the annual literary society exhibition. For these honors the frats
combined and contended often with success since they, though in
the minority, were well organized. Sometimes" they were beaten
when the Barbs had a strong leader. I think the fraternities
had literary exercises of their own the evening before the
meeting of the regular literary society and drilled themselves in
debate to enable them to better meet their opponents next
evening. They surely had more literary ambition that the frats
have to-day.

An idea of the chapel exercises on both week days and
Sundays will best be obtained from the catalogue of 1865.
Under the head of "Religious Services," you read:

(1). The duties of each day, during term time, commence with
religious services which all are required to attend.

(2). Every Sabbath at 3 o'clock p. m. a lecture on some

144 The Indiana Magazine of History

moral or religious subject is delivered in the University chapel,
and it is expected that all the students will attend. It is also
recommended by the faculty that the student attend some other
place of public worship on Sabbath morning according to the
direction or preference of his parents or guardian.

(3). At all chapel exercises students are expected to be in
their seats when the bell stops tolling. As this rule of chapel
attendance did not seem to be strictly in accord with the theory
of our State and country — no State religion and no compulsion as
to attending its ministrations — an exception was made in the case
of those students who themselves or whose parents were opposed
to religious exercises. These were granted perpetual non-
attendance. Perhaps there were always a few such, not many.

I think that mischief was more common forty years ago than
now. It would be idle to attempt to mention the various forms
of trickery by which the restless student amused himself and
annoyed the authorities of college and town. If there has been
a change for the better, how has it been brought about? The
general growth of the college away from crude and boyish con-
ditions, and its development into a higher University life has been,
we may say, the chief general cause. The coming of the young
ladies has made a great change. It has developed the social
element — a thing that may easily be carried too far if it has not
already been so — and has naturally tended to greater polish of
manners and refinement, drawing the young men away from the
ruder and more outlandish sports, and has brought them more
and more to the social reception, the dance, and the banquet.
In some respects this appears to be a good thing, in some an evil.
Can you eliminate the evil and retain the good?

But perhaps the chief cause has been the rise of college
athletics and the athletic spirit. This has given the young men
(yes, and the young ladies too) a new ambition for physical
development — surely a great desideratum. It has largely stopped
the unhealthy bending over books for eighteen hours of the
twenty-four, as Tilghman H. Mallow did who, though he won
high scholarship, destroyed his own life in so doing. Futhermore
vigorous young men have mostly ceased to plot some base trick,
and are filled with an eager desire to outclass and overcome their
opponents at home and their rivals abroad in physical force and

Indiana University Forty Years Ago 145

skill. They talk it at table and in their rooms, and they yell it
in chapel and on Jordan field and make it one of the chief things
in University life. This also may be overdone.

As I come to speak of the faculty, I must think of them first
as my teachers and then as my associates.

I took logic and mental philosophy with Dr. Nutt, Greek
and L,atin with Dr. Wylie, and physiology and history with
Dr. Owen. I found President Nutt a kind and fatherly man.
He received students in a friendly manner and always proved
himself a friend and did everything for them that he could. He
had a good memory and was a fair teacher.

I found Dr. Richard Owen an enthusiastic teacher of science.
He had wall charts nearly covering the sides of his recitation
room presenting to the eye the great geological formations
and periods and the classification of the animal and vegetable
kingdoms. No student of his will ever forget with what en-
thusiasm he would start from his desk and with long pointer in
hand pass rapidly round the room and review his class upon the
outlines— the Stratified Rocks and Unstratified Rocks; the terms,
Mesozoic, Paleozoic and Azoic; the classification of mammals,
birds, reptiles and fishes; the vertebrates, articulates, mollusks
and radiates. The names of great scientists were often on his
his lips — Cuvier, Linnaeus, Audubon and the rest and, later,
Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall and others, busts of whom he placed in
the new building that was afterward built and burned. If it
is a part of a teacher's business to force idle and indifferent
students to learn, willing or unwilling, you would not class Pro-
fessor Owen as an ideal or even a good teacher. He was too
unsuspicious for that. It was his custom to call the members
of the class alphabetically for recitation and if he was half down
the roll one day (and that was frequently the case) he would
begin the next day at the same point and go on in order to the
end; so that the shirking student, knowing what to count on,
made his calculations and omitted preparations for the day that
he did not expect to be called out. The doctor was a most
charming and instructive talker upon any subject that had come
under his wide observation. On that account students often
asked questions (some did it, doubtless to consume time) in an-
swering which he was occasionally led far from the topic in hand.

146 The Indiana Magazine of History

But in most cases, the ideas, the information and real science
acquired by the digression was of more value than the regular
book lesson of the day.

My own experience as a student under Dr. Theophilus Wylie
in L,atin and Greek confirms what has so often been said as to the
versatility of his scholarship. He seemed perfectly at home in
the classics, as if they had been his life-long specialty; but when
Professor Ballantine returned to the University in 1867 as pro-
fessor of Greek and Prof. Cyrus M. Dodd was elected professor
of L,atin, Dr. Wylie took the chair of Natural Philosophy (or
Physics as now named). At his entrance into the faculty in 1837
his chair was called Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.

But all the later years of his teaching were spent in the chair
of Astronomy. Professor Kirkwood never, so far as I remember,
taught a class in that science, in which he had a world-wide
reputation. But later on, in the seventies, when Saturday morning
lectures became the order, Professor Kirkwood gave the students
lectures on comets, meteors, etc., which were highly appreciated.
A student who should have met Doctor Wylie on the street in
those days — a man of small stature and weak voice and half diffi-
dent, unworldly manner certainly far from self-confidence — would
hardly have been able rightly to estimate him. In order to do
so, he would need to visit him in his rare old home and see him
in the midst of his most interesting family and accept their
generous hospitality. He would thus see him surrounded by
every indication of old time learning and refinement such as few
have enjoyed. He would see him in the midst of his books, his
pictures, his ancestral portraits and paintings and mementos of
other times and scenes. Only thus would he realize his hereditary
touch with scholars, divines and great missionaries and the noble
forces leading to the world's advancement.

On the death of Professor James Woodburn September 8, 1865,
I was chosen to fill his place. The salary of the position was
$800. The regular professors, Dr. Wylie, Dr. Owen and Dr.
Kirkwood had $1100, President Nutt (I think) $1400 or $1500.
If any one wonders at the smallness of these salaries, let him
remember that the fixed income of the University was only about
$8,000, that the first professors, Baynard R. Hall and John M.
Harney received only $250 per year and that our common country

Indiana University Forty Years Ago 147

school teachers in the forties received only about ten to fifteen
dollars a month for three months school, lady teachers often
getting but $1 per week.

The examinations held by the faculty (as far as I remember)
were entirely oral and were not very rigid. In language it would
be required to translate some selection from an author and answer
pertinent questions in parsing and construction. Visiting
members of the faculty would be invited to quiz the class to test
their scholarship. On subjects which would admit of it, numbered
topics would be made out to be drawn by lot from the professor's
hat or hand. The student, when his number was called, respond-
ed and went to talking on his topic. It was a pleasant way to
examine and be examined but it readily lent itself to the cheating
tendency as students sitting close together could easily swap
topics in the hope of getting one less difficult than the one they
had drawn. No professor was more easy and yielding than
Professor Kirkwood. I call to mind his report (probably made
just before commencement of 1866) of a student who had been
away in the war. He said: "I asked him two questions; he
couldn't answer either of them. I didn't ask him any more —
I knew he couldn't answer." But when the decision finally
came as to placing his name on the list of Seniors, the indulgent
professor voted for his graduation — and he was passed.

In June 1868 I was chosen Professor of Latin and Greek in
Hiram College (President Garfield's old institution) where I had
been a student some years before. Returning to Indiana Uni-
versity as professor of L,atin in September 1870 I found quite a
change had taken place in college — the salaries had been increased
and new and able men were being added to the faculty. Professor
Elisha Ballantine was now (after a four years temporary absence)
in the chair of Greek since 1867. Professor George W. Hoss,
who had lately been Superintendent of Public Instruction, was
now since 1868 the Professor of English literature. Judge B. E.
Rhoads was Professor of L,aw and Colonel James Thompson, lately
from the Army, had just been elected to the chair of Military
Science and Civil Engineering; and a little later (November 1870)
Herman B. Boisen became Professor of Modern Languages.
There was also young Scot Butler, later President of Butler

148 The Indiana Magazine of History

College, who was doing preparatory teaching with the sub-
freshman class. His work lasted through the year 1870-71.

The new men brought in a tide of new life. Being
usually younger they were more aggressive and full of plans for
reconstructing and improving old conditions. Some men have a
natural liking and ability for business administration. Such were
Professor Hoss, Colonel Thompson, Judge Rhoads, Professor
Boisen and Scot Butler. Dr. Wylie and Professor Kirkwood (the
latter was seldom called Doctor then) now took but little part in
Faculty discussions, though Professor Ballantine and Dr. Owen
held their own. Dr. Wylie often sat through the faculty
meeting with only an occasional remark. But he would have a
pencil and paper in hand with which he would seem to be
scribbling in an absent-minded way. Look over his shoulder, if
it will not be thought impolite. Why, he has drawn a picture,
perhaps a human face, with the hand of an artist. How often have
I seen him sit down with a pamphlet or catalogue and cover it
over with such sketches. He seemed to do this work almost
unconsciously. I think he could have drawn a good group picture
of the whole faculty at one sitting. Professor Kirkwood was a
good listener as he sat with his cane in hand supporting his arm.
He said but little, but occasionally we heard a bit of grave humor
from him. Once when we were talking of our hotel accom-
modations the Professor told a little experience: "A man on the
train," said he "asked me about Bloomington hotels, I told him
we had two hotels in Bloomington — whichever one he went to he
would wish he had gone to the other."

Professor Kirkwood was the main reliance in moving an
adjournment. So much was this the case that when some other
member thought to do so he, perhaps, would begin: "Begging
Professor Kirkwood' s pardon, I move we adjourn."

In those days cases of discipline came before the whole faculty
for investigation and decision. Those who were accused of some
misdoing and the witnesses were cited to the faculty room. There
are doubtless men now in public life — congressmen, judges,
doctors, lawyers, etc., who can remember being called before the
faculty in some of these troublesome cases. Though sharp
questions were fired at the accused, the discipline on the whole

Indiana University Forty Years Ago 149

was just and mild. It was too mild, sometimes for our military
professor, Colonel Thompson. On one occasion when some
offender was let off "quite easy against his protest he remarked
"Our Catalogue says 'the discipline of the University is strictly
paternal.' I suggest that we change the wording for the next
catalogue and make it read "strictly maternal."

KLISHA BALLANTINE.

There is one man whose name has not been sufficiently dwelt
upon either in these memories or by the many eulogists who
have written of the old faculty. We have had good teachers in
the University but Professor Ballantine was among the best;
other good scholars we have had but he was among the very best.
He was, I think, more on his guard against cheating and deception
than was Doctor Owen, Doctor Kirkwood or Doctor Wylie. We
have had and now have many men of noble character but none
in this respect could be placed higher than EHsha Ballantine.
For cultivation of mind, for accuracy of scholarship and ability
to instruct; for literary style, for refinement of culture, for deep
and true conscientionness; for purity of heart and simple Christian
dignity of manner and of life Professor Ballantine stood on the
highest plane. "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright,"
says the wise old scripture, "for the end of that man is peace."

He had resigned his chair of Greek but after a little had been
recalled and had been made President pro tem. to meet an
emergency. After the election of President Jordan he continued
to teach Greek. On the last day of his life (March 31-1886) he
was at College as usual and conducted chapel exercises. Coming
in from his garden that afternoon with some felling of distress at
the heart he dropped into his easy chair. His faithful daughter
came at call and ministered to him. But almost before she was
aware he had passed from earth.

150 The Indiana Magazine of History

A Pleasing Morristown Custom

LITTLE Morristown, in Shelby county, enjoys the distinction
of having developed a fraternal spirit all its own, and of keep-
ing alive an interest in the past in an unusual and pleasing way.
For a third of a century the older generation have come together
the fourth Sunday of each May to spend the afternoon singing,
as of yore, from the famous old "Missouri Harmony" song book.
Sixty or seventy years ago the singing school, with its expert
instructor, was a favorite form of social diversion, and the
"Missouri Harmony" was a particularly popular book in these
schools. Then, with a newer generation, the singing classes
passed away, but with the elder folks the ancient melodies,
presumably, had imperishable associations, for in 1872 the old
Morristown class, was reorganized under its first leader, Dr.
D. S. McGaughey. Ever since then they have held their annual
meeting; the whole country-side makes it a gala occasion and
turns out in force to hear the sonorous bass and quavering
treble of the aged singers. The venerable Dr. McGaughey has
long since joined the choir invisible, and year by year the ranks
of the "charter members" are thinning, but younger recruits
have caught the spirit of the occasion, and the class bids fair to
continue.

Still another observance of the same character, and in this
same Morristown, further indicates the spirit of the place! This
is the periodical reunion of the Dr. Fitch pupils. Dr. O. F.
Fitch, now nearing his ninetieth year, was an educator, in
Morristown and elsewhere in the State, for many years, and it is
his proud boast that upward of six thousand pupils have been
enrolled under him. It is like a capping sheaf to his labors that,
toward the end of a life of faithful service, a goodly number of
these sometime pupils should come gathering back to give him
greeting. This they did a few years since, bringing with them
their resurrected school books; men and women, then themselves
growing old, stood up before their former preceptor once more
and went through their "exercises," subject to his criticism.
"School" was followed by much feasting, after a picnic fashion;
and this was the inauguration of a series of reunions that, at the
last account we had, bade fair to continue as long as Mr. Fitch
lives. May Morristown 's pleasing custom be emulated elsewhere.

The State Seal of Indiana 151

The State Seal of Indiana

A RECENT discussion in the Indianapolis News of the origin
of the State seal of Indiana (see News for January 28 and
February 22, 1905), brings out some interesting facts touching
that rather obscure subject, though it leaves it as obscure as
before.

The first State Constitution provided that "There shall be a
seal of this State, which shall be kept by the Governor, and shall
be used by him officially, and shall be called the seal of the State
of Indiana," and on the 13th of December, 18 16, the first
legislature enacted that "The Governor of this State be and he
is hereby authorized to provide a seal and also a press for this
State, and that a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars be and
is hereby appropiated for that purpose, to be paid out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropiated."

These brief records have hitherto been regarded as about our
only source of information concerning the origin of our State
seal, which has repeatedly been commented upon for its inappro-
priateness as an emblem for Indiana. The familiar picture of a
man felling a tree, a fleeing buffalo, and a sun half hidden by a
mountainous horizon is manifested incongruous as regards the
buffalo and mountains. The latter have been variously explained
as the Allegheny mountains, as the Rockies and as "the hills
lying east of Vincennes," and the orb beyond them has been
both the rising and the setting sun — the emblem of a rising
prosperity and of the star of empire taking its way westward.
All of this, however, has been mere guess-work.

One of the newspaper writers above referred to has found
that the House Journal of 18 16 records a discussion of the
proposed seal which thus specifically defines the design: "A
forest and a woodman felling a tree, a buffalo leaving the forest
and fleeing through the plain to a distant forest, and the sun
setting in the West, with the word Indiana." In this description
the idea of the "setting" sun is explicitly stated, but no mention
whatever is made of mountains. Why they were introduced, if
the seal was originated then and in accordance with the law of

152 The Indiana Magazine of History

the first legislature, is nowise apparent. But the fact seems to
be that the seal, despite the evidence of the legislative records,
was not originated at that time; for it is affirmed by Mr. J. P.
Dunn that on a slavery petition in the archives at Washington,
dated 1802, is a copy of the seal of Indiana Territory which has
the same general features as the present emblem — woodman
cutting a tree, buffalo, sun and mountains, with the word
"Indiana" on a scroll in the branches of the tree. A reprint
of this document with a description of the seal may be found in
the publications of the Indiana Historical Society, Volume II,
pp. 461-469. This removes the whole question backward, and
the first State legislature, by this statement, did not originate the
seal at all. As the seal on the slavery papers antedated the
Territorial legislature, and in the records of the first territorial
authorities there is no light on the subject, the question of origin
will probably always be mere speculation — particularly as the
papers that might have established the facts were long since
destroyed. Mr. Dunn argues that the device was ordered in the
east and brought to the new territory by either Governor William
Henry Harrison or Secretary John Gibson, more probably the
latter, as he conducted the government of the territory before the
coming of Governor Harrison.

Some ten years ago the legislature undertook to ascertain the
origin of the seal and the authority of the device, because of the
various and different forms in use, whereas it was desirable that
the public business of the State should have a well-defined, and
legally authorized seal. R. S. Hutcher, the leading clerk of the
Senate in 1895, an expert in such studies, was appointed a special
commissioner to investigate the matter and learn whether the
State "has any legalized, authorized great seal." The result of
Mr. Hutcher' s investigation was but to prove that little or
nothing could be known. There was even no record to show
that the design agreed upon by the two houses in 1816 had ever
been formally adopted. Hutcher recommended that a more
definite seal be established by legislative action, but no such
action was taken.

Some Self-made Indianians 153

Some Self-made Indianians

OF the Indianians whose names are identified with the State's
history an interesting proportion has been composed of ' 'self-
made men," if by that definition we mean those that started as
poor boys and, without any aid or opportunities other than what
they created by their own efforts, made their way to the front.
Of the twenty-five men, from Jennings to Hanley, who have
occupied the Governor's office, at least one third may be fairly
considered as coming within this category. Ratliff Boone, our
second chief magistrate, was a pioneer boy of Kentucky, who,
in lieu of going to school, took up the gunsmith's trade. Noah
Noble also grew up in the wilds of Kentucky, and was largely
self taught. James Whitcomb was a farmer's son, and his
portion was "hard work and coarse fare," but he borrowed books
and read them and made for himself a neighborhood reputation
for learning. By perseverance he fitted himself for college, and
after entering school maintained himself by teaching during vaca-
tions. Joseph A. Wright was a poor boy who aspired to a college
education. He entered the State University and paid his way
by ringing the college bell and doing janitor's work, by toiling
in a brickyard, and even by gathering nuts from the woods. He
also did odd jobs of masonry, as is shown in the old college
records. As an impecunious young lawyer, after leaving college,
he submitted a bid for carrying the mail from Brownstown to
Terre Haute, offering to do it for $334 per annum, but he was
too obscure to be considered, and a better-known man, though
now utterly forgotten, got the job at $398. Ashbel P. Willard
taught school and did cheap clerical work as a stepping-stone to
politics. Oliver P. Morton was of a poor family. He began life
as a hatter's apprentice, and later, by frugal management, part
of the time cooking his own meals in his room, succeeded in
getting two years of college training. James D. Williams was
reared as a pioneer farmer's boy, accustomed to hard manual
labor, with but very little schooling, and throughout his life he
retained the character of a sturdy, homely son of the soil, although
almost continuously in the public service for nearly forty years.
Isaac P. Gray, before entering public life was a dry goods clerk;
Alvin P. Hovey, a brick mason; Ira J. Chase, Claude Matthews

154 The Indiana Magazine of History

and James A. Mount, farmers. The two last named were farmers
to the end, and took pride in reckoning themselves of that class.
Mr. Mount began with no capital but a pair of willing hands
and a will to do, and first made himself an eminent agriculturist.

Of the men who have represented Indiana in the United States
Senate a number were of the type under consideration. James
Noble, like his brother Noah, was a Kentucky pioneer boy,
accustomed to labor, who "grew up strong and self-reliant."
John Tipton, as a young man, was a woodsman and Indian
fighter, illiterate, but a man of native intelligence, a keen
observer and a natural leader. Jesse D. Bright, with but little
claim to education, made his way by sheer will and his unusual
talent for leadership. Daniel W. Voorhees, born of pioneer
parents, had his mother and himself to thank for his advancement,
and the life of Albert J. Beveridge is but the old story of a success
which had for its antecedent the hard and humble life of the farm .

Of those otherwise prominent in our public service many
might be cited as victors over adverse conditions. James Rariden,
lawyer and legislator, and one of the eminent men of the old
White-water region, started with but meager schooling, and the
qualifications that gave him an exceptionally high rank as a legal
light were acquired in his contact with men. Charles H. Test,
began as a surveyor's assistant, and while earning his livelihood
at this business he read law at odd hours and by the the time he
was twenty years old had qualified himself for admission to the
bar. William W. Wick, one of the best-known of Indiana's
early judges, acquired some schooling as a boy, and when
eighteen years old left his home in Pennsylvania to seek his
fortunes. He made his way westward by degrees, supporting
himself by teaching here and there, and satisfying his thirst for
knowledge as he could. He first studied medicine, then read
chemistry, as he said, "principally by the light of log heaps in
a clearing," and also read law "of nights and Sundays." By
his twenty-fourth year he had drifted to Connersville, Indiana,
and there settled himself as a practicing lawyer. John Wesley
Davis, judge, legislator, foreign minister, Governor of Oregon
Territory, Congressman and one of the three Indianians who
have been Speaker of the House in Congress, spent his boyhood
on a farm, then was bound out as an apprentice to a clock-maker.

Some Self-made Indianians 155

After that he was a store-keeper, and then practiced medicine
until, when thirty years old, he found his proper sphere in politics.
Tilghman A. Howard, prominent in politics in this State for
fourteen years, and regarded. as an exceptionally able man, is
said to have received about a year's schooling all told, yet when,
at the age of nineteen, he left his North Carolina home to make
his way in the world, the first vocation he took up was that of
teaching, and his biographer tells us t that although he "never
attended an academy or a college, he was a very learned man.
He was acquainted with the civil law, with theology, history,
politics, geology, mineralogy, botany, philosophy and the occult
sciences. His mind was a vast storehouse of knowledge, it being
questionable if there was another man in the State of equal
information." Cyrus L,. Dunham, lawyer, legislator, Congressman
and judge, paid for his early schooling with the money he earned
working out, and later, by taking service on a fishing smack,
saved enough to give himself a short course in a seminary.
Michael C. Kerr, the second Indianian who was Speaker in
Congress, was "mainly self-educated," and "mastered the funda-
mental principles of jurisprudence and political philosophy," in
the knowledge of which he afterward became a master, while
teaching school. Schuyler Colfax, our other Speaker in Congress,
Vice-President of the United States, and Congressman, began
earning his living as a store clerk at the age of ten years, and
from that time made his own way. George W. Julian, well
known in Indiana for half a century, was born to a lot as hard
and unpromising as that of Abraham Lincoln. With an indomi-
table will, however, he overcame the difficulties, laboring with
his hands and teaching a country school while making the most
of his precious books and laying the foundations for his future
public career. Walter (,). Gresham lost his father in infancy,
and received but little schooling as a boy. Joseph R. McDonald,
United States Senator, left the farm when twelve years old to
learn the saddler's trade, and Franklin Landers and J. P. C.
Shanks, prominent Indiana politicians, both hewed out their own
fortunes. William A. Woods, Joseph A. S. Mitchell and Asa
Iglehart, eminent jurists, were all poor boys, born to toil, who
worked their way to the front by persistent effort.

156 The Indiana Magazine of History

"The Northern Indiana"

A Lake Steamer of 1852

[The following sketch, found in an old periodical, was kindly sent to
us by Mrs. Emma Carleton, of New Albany.]

IN 1852, on Lake Erie, was a passenger steam-boat named
"The Northern Indiana." This boat is mentioned in a sketch
entitled "An Excursion of One Thousand Miles Out West,"
published in "The Literary World," of July 10, 1852, and
written by a New York participant in a "Stockholders' Excursion' \
over the "Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad."
Says this writer:

"The company, when assembled at Dunkirk pier, numbered,
we believe, some four hundred, all of whom found ample room
and accommodation in the splendid and spacious cabins of the
'Northern Indiana' * * * Soon after we were settled on
board, dinner, pleasant word to the traveler, was announced.
Those of the gentlemen who were happy enough to have ladies
in charge, were soon summoned to the dining-cabin, where tables,
tastefully decorated with flowers, awaited their approach. * *
It was well remarked by a gentleman that the bill of fare
furnished a most gratifying argument in favor of railroads, for by
no less potent an agent than steam could the varied excellencies
of the fish, flesh and fruits of so many distant regions be brought
together.

"The Northern Indiana is the 'crack' boat of the lake, having
lately beaten her powerful rival, the Mayflower, in a run for the
purpose of testifying their respective powers, from Buffalo to
Cleveland. She is sharply built for speed, with engines of great
power, and, large and beautifully decorated cabins."

Of the country in northern Indiana, as seen from the new
railway, the writer said:

"The vast wheat fields of Indiana and the general look of
thrift and prosperity of the region through which we passed
excited universal admiration."

Chicago was then seven years old.

Some Books at Hand 157

Some Books at Hand

By the Editor

The New Harmony Movement*

TN reading The Netv Harmony Movement one marvels that so
J- much rich material has lain so long, practically un worked.
Mr. Iyockwood is to be congratulated that he has so large a field
almost wholly to himself; and, on the other hand, the interested
reader is to be congratulated that the man who took up the subject
had the patience and ability to do it thoroughly and well. He
has not grudged giving years to the task. Originally, we believe,
he essayed the work as a college thesis, which was subsequently
published in The Republican, of Peru, Ind., and in that form it
was by far the fullest treatise on the New Harmony experiment
that had hitherto appeared. Further research in the voluminous
material available resulted, some years later, in The New Har-
mony Communities, a handsome, profusely-illustrated volume
published by the author; and the Appleton book, bearing the date
1905, though in cheaper form, represents still further additions
and revisions.

Many are familiar, in a general way, with the story of Robert
Owen, the Welsh philanthropist, who invested his fortune in a
great social experiment in the wilderness of Indiana more than
three-quarters of a century ago. The soaring social and edu-
cational aims of that experiment, the impracticable dreams, the
signal failures, and the unique life and remarkable personages
connected with the little town of New Harmony on the Wabash,
all have passed into the limbo of vague and dimly known things;
but, as often happens, the things thus imperfectly remembered
are not at all the more important facts of the occasion — the facts
that should be remembered. Robert Owen was not a mere
impracticable theorist who squandered his energies for want of
ballast. He was one to have been loved and one to be loved
now. His errors of judgment (and some of them, no doubt, were
remarkable) were as nothing compared with the spirit that moved
the man from first to last, prompting him to sacrifice himself and

*"The New Harmony Movement," by George B. Loekwood, with the collaboration
of Charles A. Prosser in the educational chapters. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.

158 The Indiana Magazine of History

his world's goods on the alter of a noble idea. In the carefully-
studied facts presented by Mr. L,ockwood we nowhere find evi-
dence that Owen sought self-aggrandizement or expected gain.
Contrariwise there is continuous evidence that he was controlled
by a desire that may be called an abiding passion to aid and
uplift his fellow-men. This benevolence was broad and universal,
extending to all men regardless of color or creed, and concerning
itself alike with the helpless child facing its future and the helpless
adult who was a victim to social conditions. In the face of loss,
of the faithlessness of associates, of disappointments of many
kinds; in spite of indifference, opposition and ingratitude, even
from those he sought most to benefit, he persisted in carrying
out ideas that, always, were deep rooted in and sustained by the
craving to aid humanity. He was a true lover of his fellows.
In a world where the struggle for self even to the point of
superfluity and grasping gain is the recognized normal thing it
ill-behooves those who have any strain of nobility to remember
with a cynical or a superior smile only the failures of a man like
Robert Owen. Yet it seems to be one of the ironies of fate that
he who rebukes men by departing from the beaten track will be
remembered by his failures when his successes are forgotten.
Owen's successes were of no mean character and scope. Before
he came to America he had, by the exercise of a paternal
philanthropy, and as a cotton-mill operator, so transformed for
the better the tcwn of New Lanark, Scotland, that "represen-
tatives of royalty, philanthropists, educators from all parts of
Europe journeyed thither to study the processes Mr. Owen had put
in operation for the betterment of the working people in his mills."
He had found there the drunkenness, shiftlessness and dishonest)^
that were inseparable from the conditions that prevailed among
the working classes of that day — conditions of ignorance and its
accompanying vice as dense as obtained among the black slaves
of America. By meliorating those conditions he so far lifted the
community out of its vices that a traveler who visited the place
wrote: "There is not, I apprehend, to be found in any part of
the world a manufacturing community in which so much order,
good government, tranquillity and rational happiness prevails."
He sought the confidence and co-operation of his employes; he
established for their children schools far superior to most then

Some Books at Hand 159

existing in the United Kingdom; he promoted comfort in the
homes, and set up a store where goods could be secured at cost,
thus relieving his people of the exorbitant middleman's profits.
In short, he did so much for them that his partners in the mills
refused to keep pace with him, even though the better class of
employes resulting from his methods made the business more
lucrative than ever. Twice he dissolved the partnership, each
time forming a new one, and proceeded with his philanthropic
work. With tongue and pen, as well as with money he fought
the fight of the working man and particularly of the working
child, who then from tenderest years was doomed to factory
servitude. Unfortunately for his cause he felt impelled to intrude
upon the public his religious, or, rather, anti-religious views —
a crime beside which all mere philanthropic effort counted as
nothing, and it succeeded in forcing him out of the L,anark mills,
and undermined his influence in all circles. After this he stood
for Parliament in Lanark borough. The working men whose
good he had promoted for nineteen years and who then had the
opportunity to send their best friend to court, saw fit to defeat
him in favor of one who ' 'more loudly swore his fealty to the
common people." Had it been otherwise Owen would never
have established his colony at New Harmony. As it was, on
the heels of this defeat came the proposition to purchase in
America, at a comparatively low figure, the great estate of the
Rappists, where he might put his social ideas into effect under
what seemed ideal conditions. His acceptance of the proposition
and his ensuing experiment, together with that of his associate,
William Maclure, is one of the pathetic chapters of history, and
is a most interesting study of certain aspects presented by man,
individually and collectively. The mingled wisdom and folly of
the New Harmony movement; the noble aspirations turned awry
as if in jest by the hidden hand of a power that willed othewise;
the strange spectacle of what may be called a salon of the world's
elect gathered here in the heart of the pioneer west, and the
influences that have radiated and spread from this first wave set
in motion by Robert Owen are, as we have already implied, well
and fully dealt with in Mr. Lockwood's book, and the social
student will be well repaid by a careful study of it.

160 The Indiana Magazine of History

Address on the Pottawattomie Indians*

This Address, written and delivered in support of a biil before
our last legislature, failed in its immediate object, as the bill did
not pass, but as a monograph on the Pottawattomie Indians of
northern Indiana it is of such interest and value as to merit a
place in any historical collection. Mr. McDonald is regarded as,
perhaps, our best authority on this particular subject. He has
long been a deeply interested, a conscientious and a sympathetic
student of the vanished aborigines as presented by the records
and traditions of the locality where he was reared. And a study
of this tribe in its passing is a study of the Indian question in
little. The story has in it much that was pathetic and tragic,
particulary to a large band located on Twin Lakes (Marshall
county) under a chief called Menominee. Menominee was an
Indian of unusual character, a friend to the whites, a convert to
Christianity, and a zealous promoter of good among his people.
By a treaty of 1832 twenty-two sections of land had been reserved
to him and three other chiefs. When the whites came for the
reserved remnants (as they always did) Menominee declined to
be tractable, and sign away his land. As the other chiefs signed
it, however, that was held to be sufficient, and at the end of the
time stipulated by the treaty the recalcitrant chief and his people
were unceremoniously ousted; their cabins were torn down,
their mission chapel dismantled, and the whole band, numbering
nearly a thousand, put under a strong military escort commanded
by General John Tipton, to be conveyed to a reservation beyond
the Mississippi river. Amid tears and lamentations they took
their departure. It was in September, the weather hot, the season
dry and sickly. Suffering from the swelter, dust and thirst the
hapless Indians sickened like sheep and the long route was
marked with their graves. Particularly was there mortality
among the small children; the ailing, jostled along under the
burning sun in rude army wagons, suffering for water and with no
relief from the hard ordeal, stood little chance, and almost every
day some wronged mother surrendered her offspring to earth.

♦Address of Representative Daniel McDonald, of Marshall county, delivered in the
House of Representatives, Indianapolis, Feb. 3. 1905, on the bill to erect a monument to
the Pottawattomie Indians at Twin Lakes, Marshall county.

Some Books at Hand 1 6 1

In this Address of Mr. McDonald's, and particularly in
another brochure issued by him some years since {Removal of the
Pottawattomie Indians from Northern Indiana) the reader finds
a circumstantial account of the matters here touched upon. In
the eariier publication there is also much information regarding
individuals, both Indians and whites, connected with our earlier
history. The booklets, we believe, can be had by addressing
Hon. Daniel McDonald, Plymouth, Ind.

Lake Maxinkuckee.

The History of Lake Maxinkuckee, by Daniel McDonald, to
which is appended "Fishes and Fishing in the Lake," by Judge
A. C. Capron, "The Maxinkuckee Lake Association," by W. T.
Wilson, and "The Aubbeenaubbee yacht Club," by T. H. Wilson,
Jr., is a handsome booklet designed to promote interest in what is
regarded as one of Indiana's finest lakes. The historical part
contains considerable interesting lore about the first settlers and
the Indians who were located about the lake. Of particular
interest are some authoritative letters touching the name of the
place. These letters, written to Mr. McDonald in response to
queries we here give:

Department of the Interior,

Washington, D. C, Sept. ij, 1889.

Dear Sir: — In reply to your letter of the 18th, I have to say
that the lake referred to is spelled "Muk-sin-cuck-u" in the
official field notes of the survey of the township in which the
lake is situated.

Respectfully yours,

W. M. Stone, Acting Commissioner.

Auditor of State,

India?iapolis, Ind., Sept. 27, i8py.

Dear Sir: — On examination of our field notes I find in the
survey made by Deputy Surveyor David Hillis he spells it "Mek-
in-kee-kee." In another place in a survey of a small fraction of
land on the lake Jerry Smith, deputy surveyor, spells it "Muk-
sen-cuk-ee." This is all the field notes show as to the name.
Very truly yours,

A. C. Daily, Auditor of State.

1 62 The Indiana Magazine of History

County Surveyor s Office,

Plymouth, Ind., Fed. i, 1898.

Dear Sir: — On examination of the records of the surveyor's
office of Marshall county, containing copies of the original field
notes, I find the following in regard to the orthography of Max-
inkuckee lake. On page 43 of the survey of towns 32 and 33,
David Hillis, deputy surveyor, makes the following note: "There
are also several lakes in the county. The Max-in-kuck-ee lake
is large and beautiful," * * *

In a survey of section 32, range 1 east, Jerry Smith, deputy
surveyor, on page 48 says "Set post on Muk-sen-cuck-ee L,ake."
Yours, John C. Butler,

Deputy Surveyor Marshall Co.

Hartford, Mich., Feb. 5, 1898.

My Dear Sir: — Your inquiry of February 3d, relative to
the meaning and pronunciation of the word Muck-sen-cuk-ee, at
hand. I have written it as nearly correct as the white man's
o-daw-naw (tongue) can pronounce it. It means, in the Algon-
quin dialect, "There is grass." * * *

Simon Po-ka-gon.*

On page 705 of the revision of the Indian Treaties of the
United States, in a treaty made at Nees-wau-gee Camp, in 1838,
the word is spelled Max-ee-nie-kee-kee. Only in the records of
Marshall county is it spelled Max-in-kuck-ee. This is but a
copy of the original field notes at the State Auditor's office, and
whoever transcribed these notes made a mistake in the spelling;
and thus was established the form that has become fixed. The
present name, says Mr. McDonald, "lacks a good deal of being a
pure Indian word. 'Max' is German, and the balance of the
word is made up of Scotch, Irish, American and Algonquin."

THE FIRST OLD SETTLERS' MEETING.

Mr. Isaac H. Julian, of San Marcos, Texas, sends us a copy
of the "Memoir of David Hoover," a pamphlet now rare, pub-
lished in 1856. David Hoover was one of the earliest and best-
known pioneers of Wayne county. The pamphlet contains an
account of the first Old Settlers' Meeting of Wayne county, held
in September 1855. Mr. Julian thinks this was the first of these
meetings held in the State. If any reader of this knows of a
previous one we will be glad to be informed.

*Simon Pokagon, an educated Indian, was the last of the Pottawattomie ehiefs in
this part of the country. He and his band remained in Michigan.

The Indiana Magazine of History

vol. i Fourth Quarter, 1905 no. 4

Folk-Speech in Indiana

By Paul L,. Haworth and O. G. S.

[The following, published in The Indianapolis News for August 15,
1900, is by far the best study we have seen of this interesting subject, and
as such we here give it space]

T N the cities of our State, the schoolmaster, the newspaper and
J- the railroad have long since wrought such changes from the
Indiana of Edward Eggleston, that the English heard in Indi-
anapolis or Fort Wayne differs but little from the English of New
York or Philadelphia. But this can not be said of our rural
districts, for there the forces that tend to produce uniformity of
speech operate much more slowly.

Yet even in the country there has really been much change
in the language spoken ; and, in view of the rapid extension of
electric lines, the growth of better schools, and the increased
reading of books and newspapers, it is probable that the change
will be much more rapid in the future. If the old Hoosier dialect
is ever to be studied and the results recorded, the work must be
done soon; even now it is almost too late.

The Hoosier dialect has never been uniform the State over.
There have always been local variations, not only in peculiar
expressions, but in accent. Occasionally there are slight differ-
ences even between adjoining counties.

Particularly marked is the dissimilarity between the folk-
speech of the northern part of the State and that of the southern
part. The settlers in the north came mainly from New England,
Pennsylvania, New York and northern Ohio, and, in consequence,
there exists in the north a strong Yankee twang. Those in the
southern part came mainly from Virginia, Maryland, southern
Ohio, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee; and the dialect
shows the Southern influence, containing some points of similarity
to the negro and the "poor white" or "cracker" dialect. The

164 The Indiana Magazine of History

expression "right smart," as in the sentence: "He has a
a right smart chance of corn, ' ' is an illustration of the dissimilarity.
The expression is used generally in central and southern Indiana,
but is rarely met with farther north. It is worth noticing in this
connection that while "right," in the sense of "very," is so much
used in the South as to be considered by some writers as a
Southern provincialism, it is as well descended as most English
words. The Psalms have, "I myself will wake right early."

Not only has folk-speech never been uniform throughout
Indiana, but exact geographical bounds can not be given to the
Hoosier dialect. It does not end with State lines, but extends
beyond them into Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, gradu-
ally becoming modified and shading off into other dialects. Much
the same may be said in regard to the other dialects extending
into Indiana. Doubtless, also, in many States farther west there
are colonies of transplanted Hoosiers where the dialect is spoken
in almost its original purity; while all over the United States
expressions of Hoosier birth have become domiciled.

The fact is, it has always been true, and never more so than
in these days of rapid communication and shifting population,
that in nothing is the student of folk-speech so liable to error as
in assigning geographical limits to a word or phrase. Our local
dialects, as well as the local English dialects from which we get
many of our folk-words and phrases, are pretty thoroughly mixed.

For example, take the familiar word, '.'tote," a word which
we know did not originate in Indiana, yet which has become a
part of Hoosier dialect nevertheless. Most persons, if questioned
as to the origin and range of this word, would doubtless connect
it with the negro, and certain it is that the-negro — especially the
negro in dialect stories — uses the word freely. As a matter of
fact, however, the word was in use in Virginia at least as early
as 1677, when there were four times more white bond-servants
than there were negroes; there are old, abandoned postage roads
in Maine, where negroes were unknown, that went by the name
of "tote roads"; and, furthermore, the word "tote" was a common
one in England during the seventeenth century. The conclusion
must therefore be that "tote" is not of African origin, nor is its
use confined to localities where negroes are found.

"Cantankerous" is another word often met with in Hoosier

Folk-Speech in Indiana 165

dialect, but by no means confined to the narrow bounds of our
State, Thackeray speaks of a "cantankerous humor." Charles
Egbert Craddock (Miss Murfree), in her story, "The Casting-
Vote," puts into the mouth of the coroner the sentence: "He's
ez hard-headed, an' tyrannical, an' perverse, an' cantankerous a
critter ez ever lived." Even Chaucer makes use of the word
"conteke," from which "cantankerous" is probably derived.

So wide, indeed, is the geographical distribution of most folk-
words and phrases that, while taking the United States over,
one can collect great numbers of colloquialisms, it is extremely
difficult to find words or phrases that are confined to a single
dialect. The fact is, the mixing process has been so effective
that most provincialisms have ceased to be provincial. The
writers of this article are compelled to confess, and they take no
shame to themselves for so doing, that, in spite of considerable
search, they have been unable to find a single provincialism
which they would be willing to assert is at present confined to
Indiana alone.

"Wants out" and "wants in," in such sentences as "the dog
wants out," that is, "wants to go out," have been pointed out
as peculiar to our State. Possibly so, but the elision occurs in
other phrases, e. g., "they let me in for a nickel," "the hired
man wants off," and is so simple and useful that its use is
probably wide-spread.

A native of Massachusetts once asked one of the writers about
the word "ornary," saying he had never heard it out of Hoosier-
dom. The word is a simple and natural variation of "ordinary"
through the shortened pronunciation of "ord'nary," and its
present meaning has become, through successive steps, common,
mean, low-down. Its use is by no means confined to Indiana.

The word "mosey," frequently heard in such expressions as
"He moseyed off down the crick," has the Hoosier stamp, but
it is met with elsewhere. The dictionaries which define it are
curiously in error as regards its meaning. According to them it
means to move off quickly, to get out, to light out, to hustle.
But in central Indiana, at least, it means to saunter along, to
walk slowly along, as if with no particular destination in view,
and is rarely or never used in the sense given by the dictionaries.
Most accounts of its derivation are equally erroneous. One

1 66 The Indiana Magazine of History

author tells a story of a defaulting postmaster, named Moses, who
left between two days, and he absurdly connects the word with
the name and manner of flight. The word possibly comes from
the Spanish imperative verb, "vamos," go; i. e., it is a variation
of "vamoose," which is so derived, and which has some of the
meanings ascribed to "mosey."

Probably some, if not all, of the following words and phrases
are more frequently used in Indiana than elsewhere: "Heap-
sight," as in "more ground by a heap-sight,"; "juberous," as
in "I felt mighty juberous about crossin' the river"; "jamboree,"
in the sense of a "big time"; "flabbergasted," i. e., exhausted;
"gargly," i. e., awkward; "I mind that," for "I remember that" ;
"bumfoozled," i. e., "rattled"; "whang-doodle," as in "Are you
going to the whang-doodle tonight''?

But the individuality of a dialect is, in fact, far more a result
of accent or of pronunciation than of the possession of expressions
peculiar to itself. As has just been pointed out, Indiana has but
few provincialisms that are peculiarly her own. But where else
than in Indiana would one hear the long-drawn flatness of the
"a" in such words as "sassers," "saft," "pasnips," etc.? Or
where else would one hear such a sentence as ' 'I swum straight
acrost the crick, an' kep' a-goin' right ahead through the paster,
an' clim plum to the top of yan ridge over yander, an' wuz
considerable tired-like comin' down t'other side, but at last got
to that air road," pronounced as a citizen of "Hoopole kyounty,
Injeanny,'' would have pronounced it forty years ago.

Perhaps the most marked characteristic of incorrect as com-
pared with correct speech consists in the abbreviation or con-
tortion of words. In Indiana it is common to hear "fur" used
for far, "furder" for further, "kin" for can, "quare" for queer,
"purty" for pretty, "drap" for drop, "seed" for saw, "kinder"
for kind of, "sheer" for share, "tuck" for took, "sumpin" for
something, "ole" for old, "biler" for boiler, "shan't" for shall
not, "ain't" for am not, etc., "kittle" for kettle, "h'isted" for
hoisted, "j'int" for joint, "ruinated" for ruined, etc.

It is worth noticing, however, that some abbreviations once
looked on as in bad form are rapidly gaining in favor. "Isn't,"
"doesn't," "didn't," "I'll", "he'll," "don't-" "won't" and some
other such words are now generally regarded as permissible in

Folk-Speech in Indiana 167

conversation and informal writing. "Ain't," "shan't," etc., are
still considered bad.

Notwithstanding the admonitions of the grammer-makers,
our people in large majority insist on using "lay" instead of lie.
More than this, the word can be found so used by good writers.
As a very recent example, let me quote from Bret Harte's "A
Jack and Jill of the Sierras" (McClure's for July, 1900): "Then
every man laid down again, as if trying to erase himself."
Chaucer uses it in the prologue. Robert L,ouis Stevenson more
than once uses "eat" (pronunciation et) instead of ate. Addison
says "I lit my pipe with paper." "It's me," or "it is me," is
coming to be universally used instead of "it is I," and the usage
is sanctioned by such an authority as Barrett Wendell, of Harvard.
The truth is, easy and convenient expressions, despite gram-
matical rules and the ravings of purists, are like Banquo's ghost;
they will not down.

Most persons have heard their illiterate neighbors use such
seeming contortions as "becaise" (because), "j'ine" (join), "bile"
(boil), "seed" (saw), "deaf" (like leaf), "jist" or "jest'' (just),
"shet" (shut), "chaw" (chew) and "techy" (touchy). At first
blush these seem hopelessly bad, yet in reality they are but the
older forms of the equivalent words now in use. Pepys quotes a
letter written by the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth's favorite,
concerning the sudden death of Amy Robsart, in which the form
"becaise" occurs. Johnson says in his dictionary: "Bile; this
is generally spelt boil, but, I think, less properly." Pope and
Dryden rhyme "join" with "line," or some such word:
" 'Tis not enough taste, judgment, learning join;
In all you speak let truth and candour shine."

In fact, "jine" was at one time considered the best pronun-
ciation. Shakespeare uses "tetchy" three times. "Kiver,"
"deaf" and "chaw" are good old English words. Concerning
the last, Scheie de Vere quotes the following from a private letter:

"The late eloquent Watkins Leigh was asked by a friend
what he thought of James Buchanan (the President), and
answered that he had one serious objection to him, and |when
pressed to name it, said that once, when he and Mr. Buchanan
were sitting together in the United States Senate, the latter

1 68 The Indiana Magazine of History

asked him for a chew of tobacco instead of. a chaw." Evidently
Mr. Buchanan "put on a little too much dog" to suit his con-
frere. The use of chewing-gum threatens to make chew the
universal term, though the old form still prevails among those
who now and then take a "chaw of tobacco."

Numerous other expressions have a better justification than
most people would guess. The Bible gives us ' 'with the skin
of my teeth," Job, XVIII, 20; "clean gone," Psalms, 77, 8; a
"howling wilderness," Deuteronomy 32, 10. "Gumption" and
' 'hustle' ' are both of ancient use. Shakespeare speaks of a ' 'deck
of cards," and uses "fire" in the sense of to thrust out. Gower
uses "to let slide" ; Ben Jonson, "to swop," and "bulldoze" occurs
in Scott. The "them" in such expressions as "them books" is
a survival from the old dative plural, "thaem bocum." Fielding
uses "limb" for "leg."

A frequent source of error is the use of a good word in a wrong
sense. Judged by the standard of the Queen's English, "mad,"
"scholar" and "fix" are words often misused in Indiana. Very
often we hear a person utter such an expression as "I was mad
at him." If the speaker means to say that he was so enraged as
to be well-nigh insane, "mad" is the word to use; but if the
feeling was of a milder sort, he should say, "I was angry at him."
It should be observed, however, that "mad" in the sense of
angry occurs in the Bible and elsewhere. "Scholar" is by
many people used interchangeably with student or pupil, but,
strictly speaking, while all scholars are students and some are
pupils, the vast majority of students and pupils are not scholars.
Scholar is more properly used to designate a person of high
intellectual attainments. "The teacher sent all the scholars
home" is incorrect. "To fix," which means to fasten or make
permanent, is often misused in the sense of to mend or repair, as
in the sentence, "I have just fixed the fence" — i. e., "I have
just repaired the fence." "Smart," in the sense of intellectual,
e.g., "He's a real smart boy"; "clever," in the sense of good-
natured or kindly, e. g., "He's been mighty clever to me," and
"mean," in the sense of bad or wicked, e. g., "He's awfully
mean to her,'' are also colloquialisms frequently heard in
Indiana.

Persons who have lived in the rural districts of the State will

Folk-Speech in Indiana 169

recognize the following very common expressions: "All-git-out,"
as in "It's a-rainin' to beat all-git-out"; "passel," as in
"They're jist a passel of fools"; "hump your stumps," as in
"Hump your stumps, old woman, and git me up a snack";
"galluses," for suspenders; "fixins," as in "pie, an' cake, an'
chicken, an' sich fixin's" (said to be common in Pennsylvania);
"mitten," to give the "sack" or the "hooks"; "sculdugery,"
i e., trickery; "piece of calico," i. e., a woman; "finicky," i. e.,
finical; "slather," as in "He just slathers away and says any-
thing"; "shenanigan," to cheat; "thing-a-majig," as in "What
kind of a thing-a-majig have you got there?"

"Socdolager, " an expression frequently heard in some locali-
ties, is said to be connected in its derivation with doxology.
The doxology comes near the end of a "meeting," and when a
man or a boy gives another a "socdolager" ( the similarity in
sound must be apparent ), the end of the fight is at hand.

A student of Indiana folk-speech meets with many striking
and forcible expressions. "He's rich, he has heaps of money,"
is used by persons in some rural districts to convey the idea of
wealth. Others substitute "sights" or "gobs" for "heaps."
Yet others use a ranker word still: "He's rich, he jist has gaums
of money," as though the gold were smeared over the person of
the fortunate possessor.

"Between you and me and the gatepost" is a formula used in
impressing the necessity of secrecy. "When he gits a dollar
it's got home." is an admirable description of a stingy man. "I'll
sure git there or bust a biler" is a forcible expression, to say the
least. An old woman from the hills of Brown county once ex-
pressively described to one of the writers the feelings experienced
after a night spent in dancing by saying: "When I'uz goin' home
in the mornin,' both sides of the road 'u'd belong to me."

An examination of some of the folk-words and phrases that
have been current in Indiana will reveal many things of historical
interest. Think, for example, of the testimony on former
economic conditions contained in the expression "sharp bit." In
the early days there was but little or no small change in the
country, nor was it convenient for traders coming from New
Orleans and elsewhere to bring with them any other than the

170 The Indiana Magazine of History

larger coins. In order to make smaller change, the settlers cut
these coins into pieces, and these pieces were known as "sharp
bits." The demand for words and expressions to relieve over-
wrought feeling seems to be felt by all humanity — Hoosier
humanity as well as otherwise.

The blood of the Hoosier is less easily heated than that of his
neighbor across the Ohio. Yet, if one is to judge from the
number of swear words and exclamations in use in our State, it
would seem that even we occasionally feel their need. Of the
following list of exclamatory expressions, all are considered in
good form on certain occasions, at least, in some parts of the
State: "Jerusalem crickets," "shucks," "byjing," "by cracky,"
"dinged if I don't." "jeeminy-criminny-whiz," ''gosh danged,"
"gosh a'mighty," "I swan," "gee whiz," "gee whilliken,"
(formed on Jerusalem), "by gravy," "by grab" "dad zooks,"
"dad burn," "by gum," "great scott," "all-fired," "I'll be
dogon'd," or "dagon'd" (Barrie uses a similar form, "dagont"
in "Sentimental Tommy"), "for the land's sakes," "my goodness,"
"oh, my," "the dickens," "laws-a-mercy," "plague take it, "
"oh, foot," "oh, sugar." Many of these phrases, apparently
inoffensive, in reality mean much more than may appear at first
glance. Possibly the woman who said that the three authors
she was accustomed to remember when she got her finger against
the stove were, "Dickens, Howitt, Burns" was not aware that
"dickens" means little devil (it is a contraction of the old
diminutive devilkins). Change the r in darn to m and }7ou have
the original of this word. "Dinged if I don't" means "damned
if I don't," while "gosh danged," "gosh a 'mighty," etc., are
stronger still. And so it goes.

A few words concerning writers of Indiana dialect will perhaps
not be out of place here. Of all these the two greatest are, of
course, Edward Eggleston and James Wbitcomb Riley — Eggles-
ton in prose and Riley in verse. Of the two, Eggleston is more
distinctively Hoosier than Riley. As most persons are aware,
the dialect in Riley's poems is "doctored" somewhat to meet the
exigencies of meter and rhythm ; he occasionally manufactures
a phrase to slip off the tongue easily. Some harsh criticisms
have been made of Riley on this score, but, we think, entirely
without justification — certainly with none if there be such a

Folk-Speech in Indiana 171

thing as poetic license, or if success justifies means.

Eggleston, to the other hand — despite some serious defects in
his literary style — reproduces with remarkable fidelity the real
Hoosier dialect of the southern part of the State. Of course, it
may occasionally occur to some of his readers that the talk of
such characters as Mrs. Means, or of the Rev. Mr. Bosaw, the
hardshell Baptist, in "The Hoosier Schoolmaster, " is overdrawn,
but any one that is acquainted with even the Mrs. Meanses and
the Bosaws of to-day knows that in this respect he "underdraws"
rather than overdraws. Eggleston does, however, overdraw some
of his characters. In most cases he is moderately skilful in his
use of the various methods by which a speaker may be made by
the language he uses to betray his own character or to reveal
that of another. Every one that has read "The Hoosier School-
master" must have felt the effectiveness of the iteration and
reiteration of "no lickin', no larnin', says I," by Pete Jones, and
of "we're all selfish akordin' to my tell" and "to be sure" by the
basket maker, who "fit" the British at Lundy's lane. But, on
the other hand, some have felt that an excessive use of such
methods has often resulted in a caricature rather than a character.

From the title one would naturally expect that the author of
"The Gentleman From Indiana" was a writer of Hoosier dialect.
As a matter of fact, Tarkington is not to be so classed. "The
Gentleman From Indiana," in the first place, is not a dialect
story; and further, so far as the individuality of the dialect it does
contain is concerned, the scene of the story might just as well
have been laid in Illinois, or Ohio, or even Kansas. The book
has numerous excellent qualities, but they are not such as come
from a skilful use of dialect. Certainly if the author possesses a
tithe of the knowledge of folk-speech possessed by Riley or
Eggleston, he has not displayed it. To a genuine Hoosier, "The
Gentleman From Indiana" is unreal. Such an one much prefers
the author's less labored and really delightful story, "Monsieur
Beaucaire."

Before closing, we quote the substance of some very pertinent
remarks bearing on the subject of Hoosier dialect in literature,
recently made to one of the writers by Dr. Weatherly, of the
State University. "A few months ago," said he, "I met a

172 The Indiana Magazine of History

typical Hoosier in New York city. He was perfectly natural,
perfectly individual; but you will not find him in any of the
books, for, the truth is, no one has yet succeeded in getting a
real, live Hoosier into a book. Eggleston has given us his talk,
and Riley has occasionally given us some delightful and promising
mirror-like glimpses, but neither has quite succeeded. If we
look long enough, we see that the man himself is not there. A
certain indefinable something is wanting."

Doubtless many persons have had much the same feeling.
Some moderately good Hoosier dialect stories there undoubtedly
are, but the characters in them have too often been either cari-
catures or else mere automatons.

[Berry Sulgrove, speaking with authority on this subject (see History
of Indianapolis and Marion County, p. 89), credits the young poet Riley
(this was more than twenty years ago) with presenting the old patois "more
fairly than any other delineator", but speaks of a distinguishing raciness
and quaintness, with a tone and turn of humor similar to that of the Low-
land Scotch dialect, that had measureably disappeared before Mr. Riley's
day. Among other expressions he cites "stobbed" for .stabbed, "daunsy"
for stupid, and "hone," to long for, still retained in our slang. Another
word once in vogue but now wholly forgotten, and not given by the above
writers, was "gostrate. " To gostrate, as nearly as we can learn, was to
talk windily and superfluously, as, for example, a certain type of orator
does. This style of talking not being yet obsolete, and no term in the
received vocabulary quite fitting it, "gostrate" should have been preserved.

It should be noted that the so-called "Hoosier dialect," especially at the
present day, is more or less in the imagination of writers who are seeking
the picturesque. In a word, something more than 15,000 school teachers at
work in 10,000 schools, and nearly a thousand local newspapers that reach
almost every home, along with numerous other educational forces, such as
institutes, societies and many kinds of meetings, have very decidedly modi-
fied speech as well as general intelligence. Furthermore, what passes as
Hoosier speech is not only the rural language elsewhere, but it by no
means has the distinctiveness and fixity of the Yankee or Southern speech.
For example, a Yankee, particularly of the rural type, may be known
anywnere and always, by his cyow or hyouse for cow or house; the South-
erner by his antipathy to the letter r, but the Hoosier can not be identified
by any such peculiarity — Ed.~\

Reminiscences of James Shoemaker 173

Reminiscences of James Shoemaker

[The following reminiscences were contained in a manuscript left by
James Shoemaker, of Putnam county, now dead some years. In a some-
what altered form it was published in The Indiana Farmer, Dec. 10, 1898.]

1\ TY parents, Evan and Eve Shoemaker, moved from East
-L ' A Tennessee about the year 1809, and settled in Salisbury, a
small village midway between where Centerville and Richmond
now are, in Wayne county. There I was born July 30, 1812.
My parents remained in the vicinity of Salisbury until after the
ratification of peace between the United States and Great Britain
in 1815. In the fall of 1816 my father, in company with three
or four other pioneer famalies, settled in what is now Randoph
county. They pitched their tents in an almost impenetrable
wilderness, surrounded by wild beasts and savage Indians. The
nearest white man's cabin on the north was 60 or 70 miles (at
Fort Wayne); the nearest settlement on the east was 15 or 20
miles. All west belonged to the Indians.

Our pioneer fathers had all their provisions (except meat) to
procure in the old settlement, until they could raise the same at
home, and that could not be done until they cleared, fenced and
cultivated their ground. Trie roads over which they had to
convey their provisions I will not describe, for they had none.
The west line of my father's land was the dividing line between
the old and the new purchase. Here (in the new purchase) the
Indians were the bonafide owners of the soil, not having as yet
ceded their lands to the United States. Notwithstanding the
Indians professed friendship and came daily either to beg or
exchange baskets, moccasins, leggings or different kinds of
embroidery for salt, meat, tobacco, meal, flour, or anything you
had to dispose of, yet they viewed each white person with jealousy
and wished for an opportunity to do an injury. I recollect one
day an Indian chief came to my father's house in his absence.
He wanted some milk and butter. He had a deer skin ke'g to
put his milk in. After getting his milk, he wanted a saucer to
carry his butter in. Mother refused to let him have the saucer,
whereupon he became very angry, brandished his tomahawk and
swore he wished it would be war again, so that he could get to
scalp my mother and a man named Jordan.

174 The Indiana Magazine of History

At that time (1816) the Indians had a stake or post, around
which they burned their prisoners, in the adjoining count}7 of
Delaware. It was then near where Muncie now is. I saw this
post in 1833. It was considerably burned and charred for several
feet above the ground, and a rise or mound of 18 or 20 inches
around the post was overgrown with blue grass. It was then a
standing monument of savage cruelty.*

When I was a lad six or seven years old I would go to the In-
dian camps and play with the young Indians. Sometimes I would
find them at their favorite sport — shooting with bows and arrows.
At other times there would be a score or more young Indians
lying in their camps, or in the shady grove, in a state of perfect
nudity. In the morning the adult Indians would take guns,
tomahawks and butcher knives, the younger class their bows and
arrows, and start in pursuit of game, leaving the old squaws to
perform the drudgery of the camp. They always went armed.
From noon until dark the hunters would keep strolling in ; one
with a deer lashed on his back, another with a turkey, a third
with a ham or shoulder of meat, or hog with the hair on, and
still another with a raccoon, oppossum, porcupine, ground-hog, etc.

The Indian men, women, and children, and the dogs would
occupy the same tent. The dogs generally slept on the meal
sacks as they made them a nice soft bed. I have seen them bake
their bread in this manner. They would first burn a brush pile,
then rake off the coals and ashes, then roll out their dough, lay
it down on the hot ground and cover it up with hot embers and
coals, and it would soon bake, and the dog hairs would keep it
from crumbling or falling to pieces.

If I were to tell you how annoying the horseflies and mos-
quitoes were in the summer and fall seasons, you would not
believe me, therefore I will not tell you. Wild animals such as
the bear, panther, wolf, catamount and wild cat were numerous
arid annoying. The settlers had to pen their hogs and sheep in
their door yards around their cabins every night, and even then
the wolves and wild cats would often carry off the pigs and lambs,
and even young calves, notwithstanding each settler was provided
with a good rifle and from one to three dogs. The cows were
belled and turned out to range, the horses were belled and hobbled

*See article on Torture Stake in Delaware County.

Reminiscences of James Shoemaker 175

Each settler could identify the peculiar tinkle of his bells among
20 others. In the spring of the year we had different kinds of
tea — tolbit, spicewood, sassafras, and the chips of the sycamore,
all which made excellent tea for the spring of the year. While
home-made sugar lasted, store tea, sugar and coffee were not in
common use. From 1815 to 1823 there was many a young
housewife who could spin, weave, cut out, and make her husband
a decent suit of clothes that did not know how to make a cup of
store tea or coffee. * * * * When I was a boy six or seven
years old I heard my uncle say that after dancing with a large
Dutch girl the night before, he took a seat on a three legged stool
and invited her to take a seat on his knee. She did so. He
gently laid his arm around her shoulder, when she turned her
head and looked him full in the face. Half affrighted and half
delighted she said: "You hug mine mamma; she is bigger as I."
I will now give another instance where the lady thought she
was big enough, but the change was lacking. One morning Esq.
Jones saw a young gent ride up with a young lady behind him.
They dismounted; he hitched his horse and they made for the
house and were invited to be seated. After waiting a few minutes
the young man asked if he was the 'squire. He informed him
that he was. He then asked the 'squire what he charged for
tieing the knot. "You mean for marrying you?" "Yes sir."
"One dollar," says the 'squire. "Will you take it in trade?"
"What kind of trade?" "Beeswax." "Bring it in." The young
man went to where the horse was tied and brought in the
beeswax, but it lacked 40 cents of being enough to pay the bill.
After sitting pensive for some minutes the young man went to
the door and said, "Well, Sal, let's be going." Sal slowly
followed to the door, when turning to the justice, with an
entreating look, she said: "Well 'Squire, can't you tie the knot
as far as the beeswax goes anyhow," and so he did, and they
were married

I moved to Putnam county October 25, 1839. At that time
Floyd township was as thickly settled, except in Groveland, as
at present. There were then (1839) 240 taxpayers; now there
are 262 in the township. * * * * When we commenced
growing wheat it was sown in the corn among the standing trees

176 The Indiana Magazine of History

and stumps. It was cut with a reap hook and either threshed out
with flails or tramped out in the field on the ground with horses.
In either case there was always dirt or gravel enough left in the
wheat to sharpen your teeth, if not your appetite. When the
wheat was threshed it was winnowed with a sheet, taken to a
water mill on horse back, ground on a corn cracker, bolted by
hand and taken home to be baked in a skillet for breakfast on
Sundays. In the fall season we took our wheat to Crawfordsville,
where we got good flour. From 1837 to 1842 or '43 times were
extremely hard. Everything we had to buy, except sugar and
coffee, were very high. For our surplus produce we had almost
no market. In 1839 and '40, prior to the completion of the
Wabash and Erie canal, we hauled our wheat to different points
on the Ohio river, where we received from 38 to 40 cents per
bushel. In 1841 I hauled a load of wheat (25 bushels) to
Hamilton, O., from Floyd township, Putnam county, a distance
of about 150 miles, for which I received 38 cents per bushel. In
the fall of 1839 Capt. John Roberts of Jackson township, Maj.
Ash of Greencastle, and John Allen of Floyd township, bought
and packed hogs for which they paid $1.25 per cwt. gross. They
sold their bacon in New Orleans for $1.50 per cwt. Roberts and
Ash broke up. Allen said he saved himself but lost his money.

Indian Torture Post in Delaware County

THE allusion in the foregoing reminiscences to the old Indian
torture stake that stood within the present bounds of
Delaware county is one of the few testimonies to the existence of
that barbarous relic. Of the various local histories and books of
reminiscence only one, as far as we know, makes mention of it.
This is the Rev. W. C. Smith's Indiana Miscellanies. Mr. Smith
describes the stake as of oak, about ten feet high, with the rough
outline of a human face cut on either side. The fires, according
to this writer, had been kindled in a circle around the stake at a
distance of some five or six feet. When he saw it the ashes
formed a perceptible ridge, and an outer circle, where the Indians
had danced, was packed so hard that nothing would grow there.

Torture Post in Delaware County 177

By inquiring through the columns of the Indiana Farmer, the
present writer elicited three communications that contained
considerable interesting information touching the all but forgotten
tradition of the old torture post, and these we reproduce in the
order in which they appeared in the Farmer.

Mr. Cartwright.

At the suggestion of friend George S. Cottman, of Irvington, I
would with your permission add my testimony in regard to that
old Indian stake in Delaware county. Sometime in the summer
of 1 84 1 or '42 father, mother and myself visited relatives then
living in Yorktown, a small village about five or six miles west of
Muncie. On our return home, then in Union county, Indiana,
we were accompanied by Israel Shoemaker, brother of the late
James Shoemaker before referred to, who was well acquainted in
the vicinity, and when about half wa}^ from Yorktown to Muncie
he pointed out to us the historic place now under consideration.
The surrounding grounds were to some extent grown up with
timber and underbrush, leaving a space of some 25 or 30 feet in
diameter destitute of any growth except a little grass. The
stake or post had been about seven or eight feet high and about
16 or 18 inches in diameter, but had rotted off at the top of the
ground and fallen down. A much used path led from the road
to the post. There is no betrayal of memory in the above
statement. Although many are the years that have come and
gone, my recollection of the scene is as vivid as those of yesterday.
As to how late this post was used I am unable to state.

Isaac Cartwright.

Fillmore, Ind.

Mr. Eddy.

At your request for information about the old Indiana torture
stake in Delaware county, I will give you and your readers the
facts as I saw them in the year 1842. In the fall of that year, in
company with my father and uncle, I journeyed to Delaware
county from Fayette county. As we arrived within three or four
miles south from Muncie my father asked me if 1 wished to take
a look at the torture stake where the Indians used to torture their
prisoners. As I was anxious to do so we left the team in care of
my uncle and walked a short distance south from the main road
through a beautiful grove of wild plum tiees and underbrush.
No doubt this was the same path that friend Isaac Cartwright
speaks of. We found the circle with a carpet of fine blue grass
growing over the ground. The post was lying on the ground in
the center of the circle on a heap of fine coals. The post I should
suppose had been about eight feet high from the ground. About

178 The Indiana Magazine of History

five or six feet from the ground there was a portion of the post
cut out or rounded out, as my father explained to me at the time,
for the purpose of fitting the prisoner's head in at the time of
torture; as the Indians bound their prisoners fast to the stake at
all times of burning.

A few years after this date I saw an old black and charred
stake in the court house at Muncie, and was informed that it was
the same torture stake that I saw in the. circle south of Muncie.
No doubt some pioneer of Delaware can give you a more full
explanation of it than your humble servant.

Geo. W. Eddy.
Columbia, Ind.

Mr. Cecil.

Mr. Chas. Fullhart handed me a copy of the Indiana Farmer
of February 4, 1899, and cited me to an article written by Mr.
Isaac Cartwright, concerning the location of the old Indian
torture stake, and requested me to correct some mistakes in the
article, as I am the owner, for more than fifty years, of the
land on which the historic stake stood, three miles south-east
of the city of Muncie in Center Township, Delaware County,
Indiana, on the old Richmond and L,ogansport State road. I
first saw the stake in 1832. It was then standing, but somewhat
inclined to the south-east. It was some charred by the burning
of the fagots. It stood near the center of the Indian village
named Munsey, after the Indian chief. The place is now called
Old Muncie or Old Town Hill. Soon after the tragedy, the
Indians vacated the place and and settled on the site where Muncie
now stands, and called it New Muncie. The stake was eight or
ten inches in diameter, and during the campaign of 1840 of
William Henry Harrison for the Presidency, the Whig party
took the stake away and sent parts of it to every State in the
Union as a token of respect to him as an Indian fighter. The
stake or post fell to the ground abont 1836 or 1838. It stood
fifty feet south of the road and a well-beaten path led each way
to the post through the dense undergrowth that had grown up
after the evacuation of the village. About two acres had been
entirely cleared off. I first plowed the ground in 1861 and could
tell where every hut had stood by the ground being burned. The
huts had been built' in a circle with the Council House in the
center near where the post stood. The village stood on an
elevation of 100 feet above White river with a deep gully on the
south-west, and sloping gently to the south eighty rods to a creek
called Juber, after an Indian chief. Beyond this creek forty rods
stood an Indian trading post. Around this, several acres had
been cleared and cultivated in corn. What I have written is

Torture Post in Delaware County i 79

from my own observation.

I will write a few lines from tradition. The most certain
account of the burning at the stake I got from my mother. She
lived in Kentucky, near Lexington. The three men all lived
where she was raised. I have forgotten the names of the two
who escaped. The one that was burned was Smith. They were
a scouting party from Gen. Wayne's command. The Indians
captured them near where Hagerstown now stands and brought
them here, and held a council of war over them and decided to
burn Smith in the presence of the other two, for some crime they
had done. They were accused of killing a squaw and wounding
another. Smith was tied to the post and the fagots placed around
him. The other two men were tied near by with raw hide
strings. Just at that time there came up a most terrific rain
and thunder storm. It was then night and the Indians repaired
to their huts. The raw hide strings became so wet that they
stretched till the other two men got loose, but the lightning
betrayed them before they had time to loosen Smith. The
Indians gave chase, following them by the lightning flashes to
the creek above mentioned where they leaped over a large tree
that had fallen and escaped in the darkness. The Indians
abandoned the chase. The men were nine days in reaching their
home in Kentucky. They lived on roots and whatever game
they could catch in the unbroken forests. This traditional
narrative is closely corroborated by an Indian by the name of
Jake, of the Musco tribe. His wife, Sally, and his son, James
Musco, not being friendly with the other tribes, remained here
with the first white settlers in April, 1820. The old folks soon
died and James lived and worked among the Whites many years
in this neighborhood. He was quite old when he died, and I
had the honor to help inter him in the Rees cemetery.

Samuel Cecil.

Muncie, Ind.

[After the appearance of these communications we received from Miss
Florence Cowing, of Muncie, some notes gleaned from various pioneers
of the locality. Mr. Cecil, she said, possessed many relics found on the
site of "Oldtown," among them being silver brooches and rings, an iron
tomahawk with "Montreal, Canada" marked on it, and a large iron kettle
that was found beneath the stump of a mulberry tree. The roots had
forced the bottom out of the kettle but the side remained intact, with a
coating of grease upon it. The village the whites called Oldtown was, she
gathered, called Ontainink by the Indian residents. These were a branch
of the Delaware tribe known as the Munseys or Munsees. The name is
said to have been derived from Minsi, an Indian word meaning wolf. A
chief called Munsey or Montse was also remembered by some of Miss
Cowing's reminiscents. If there was such a chief it may be considered as
probable that the band got its name from him. For the burning of
three Indians by this band in 1806 see Dillon, p. 425. — Ed.]

i8o The Indiana Magazine of History

Historic Houses and Personages of Centerville

By Mrs. Helen V. Austin

{From papers of the Wayne County Historical Society)

WHITEWATER COLLEGE.

THE history of Whitewater College, founded by the Methodist
Episcopal church in 1853, might fill a volume, but it can
only be given mere mention here. It was a great school, and
many prominent men were teachers here, among them Dr. Cyrus
Nutt, George B. Joslyn, Dr. Edwards, H. N. Barnes and Prof.
A. C. Shortridge.

Previous to the establishment of the college, a county semi-
nary occupied the ground. In 1827 the west wing was built and
in 1842, when more room was needed, an east wing was added.
The two buildings were connected by a covered passage way.
Afterwards, when the college took the place of the seminary, the^
central part of the college occupied the passage way, with the
former seminary buildings as west and east wings. Rev. Samuel
K. Houshour taught in the old seminary in the west wing.
Among the teachers in the east wing, were Miss Mary Thorp,
Miss Sarah Dickenson and Rawson Vaile. Among the pupils of
after fame was L,ew Wallace, and there are those who remember
how the future soldier, diplomat and author was once roundly
flogged by Mr. Hoshour. After the decline of the college, the
building was sold, in 1870, to the school trustees and became the
public school building. It was destroyed by fire in 1891 and was
succeeded by the present fine public school house. At the foot
of Main Cross Street stands the ruins of a brick school house
where many of the older citizens received a part of their
education.

CHURCHES.

The first church organization here was the Methodist Episcopal.
When the county seat was pulled up by the roots at Salisbury
and transplanted at Centerville, the Methodist church came with
it. There had been no church building at Salisbury, the
congregation having met in the court house, and prior to the
building of a meeting house here the congregation met at the
houses of members.

Historic Houses of Centerville [81

In 1828 a frame church was built. It was situated east of
where the Christian church now stands and fronted on the east.
Mr. N. Parrott's stable now occupies the spot where the church
stood. There was a street north of the county buildings, where
there is now an alley, which led to the church from the west.
The parsonage was on the church grounds, west of the church,
and stood there after the church was torn away. It was moved
to Walnut street and is now the home of Mr. Dearth. In 1834
the conference, then comprising the entire State, was held in this
church, the venerable Bishop Roberts presiding. In the year
1842 the present brick church was completed. It was at that
time not only the finest Methodist church in the State, but the
finest one in the State belonging to any church organization.
Upon the completion of the new church in 1842 conference was
again held here. Bishop Simpson dedicated the church and
presided at the conference. In 1882 the building underwent
repairs and was re-dedicated by the Rev. A. Marine.

It must be remembered that although the Friends were not
the first to form a society in the town, they were the first religious
society in the the township and organized the West Grove
meeting in 1813, three miles north west of Centerville, and built
a log meeting house. Thus the leaven of the old church at
West Grove, has been leavening ever since.

The Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized in 1842,
Rev. LeRoy Woods, officiating. Mr. Woods was the pastor for
several years and was succeeded by Elam McCord. A Sunday-
school was organized in connection with the church. For some
time after the organization, meetings were held in the Methodist
church. In 1849 the cangregation built a church on the west
side of north Main Cross Street, which is now the Knights of
Pythias hall.

The Disciples or Christian church was organized about 1832.
A Baptist church had existed earlier. The old meeting house
was situated some distance north of where the railroad station
now is. About 1837 the baptist organization disbanded and a
greater part of the members united with the Christian church.
The present Christian church was erected in 1878.

The Presbyterian church was organized in 1866. The first
services were held in Snider Hall, the present town hall. In

1 82 The Indiana Magazine of History

1868 the congregation erected the brick church on south Main
Cross street. Chief among the zealous members of the church
was Mrs. Kate U. Johnson, wife of Judge Nimrod Johnson and
the mother of Henry U. and Robert U. Johnson, and it was
through her efforts as a solicitor and contributor that the church
was built. After the removal of the county seat and the decline
of the town, the church was purchased by the Friends and' is
now their house of worship.

PUBLIC HOUSES.

The early hotels or taverns were important institutions in
the pioneer days. Rachel Neal is said to have been the first inn-
keeper. There are people now living who remember Mrs. Neal,
but where her inn was situated I have not been able to learn.

The old Major Gay tavern opposite the public square, where
there is now a livery stable, was fitted up in 1834, by Thomas
G. Noble, and occupied by him for several years. General
Samuel DeL,ong succeeded Mr. Noble for several years.

In 1830 William Elliott built the frame hotel on the south-
east corner of the public square, and occupied it until 1835.
John Hutchinson succeeded Mr. Elliott and kept an excellent
house. In 1838 Daniel Lashley, with his mother and younger
brother Alfred, purchased the tavern. Among all the hotel
keepers of Wayne county none were more favorably known than
the I^ashleys. They continued in the business, in the same
house, for many years. It was headquarters for many of the
prominent men of the legal profession. Judge Perry, of Rich-
mond, always made it his home when attending court. It was
a home-like, well-ordered, excellent hotel. Mr. L,ashlejr was the
best of hosts. The L,ashley house was moved from the public
square some years ago to where it now stands, a few squares
east of the old location. A fine brick residence occupies the site.
This was built for the sheriff's house, and is now the residence
of the Frazier brothers and Miss Frazier. The old Lashley
house is now a private residence. John King was the last to
keep it as a hotel. In 1833 John Dorsey fitted up the large
frame building nearly opposite the bank, for a hotel and occupied
it for some time. He was succeeded by John Allison, Abbott
W. Bowers and John Winders. Solomon Brumfield bought the

Historic Houses of Centerville 183

property and occupied it. Under his management it was well
kept.

In 1837 Henry Rowan fitted up a small tavern east of the
public square and kept it several years. He afterwards erected
a three-story hotel building adjoining, which is now the residence
of Lloyd K. Hill.

Samuel Hannah kept the American house, on the south-west
corner of Main street. He was a merchant, also, and had his
store in the corner room. Later, the American House was kept
by Emsley Hamm, T. L. Rowan and others. The building is
now owned by Simon McConaha.

The Jones House is the last in the line of the old hostelries.
The south half was built by Emsley Hamm. The north half
was built by Daniel Shank. Subsequently Mr. Hamm bought
the north part from Mr. Shank, and kept a hotel for some years.
He afterwards sold the house to Dr. C. J. Woods and moved to
Economy, and upon his return to Centerville kept the American
House for two years. Norris Jones who succeeded Mr. Hamm
gave the name to the house and for several years kept an excel-
lent, though small hotel.

Samuel Hannah, although at one time a hotel keeper and
merchant filled many important places. He was a man of dis-
tinction. The young people who compiled a Who- When- What
book,* had some trouble not to confuse him with the other
Samuel Hanna of Indiana, who lived at Ft. Wayne. There is a
difference in the spelling of the name. The Who-When-What
book gives a brief sketch of our Samuel Hannah: "A pioneer of
Wayne county ; member of the Society of Friends ; conspicuous
for opposition' to the collection of the fines from Quakers who
refused to do military duty. A native of Delaware, born De-
cember 1, 1789, Mr. Hannah came Indiana as a young man;
served as sheriff of Wayne county ; amember of the Legislature ;
was Justice of the Peace and member of the county board ; was
appointed Post master of Centerville by John Quincy Adams and
removed by Andrew Jackson, in pursuance of the Marcy
proclamation, "To the victors belong the spoils." He was one
of the commissioners appointed to locate the Michigan road, the
great highway authorized from Lake Michigan to the Ohio

*A book of brief biographies compiled by the Indianapolis Pi ess some years ago.

184 The Indiana Magazine of History

river; also a commissionier to select the lands to be ceded to the
State by an Indian treaty. Afterward Mr. Hanna was a member
of the Legislature and Treasurer of the State; removed to Indi-
anapolis in 1847 » became interested in railroad construction and
improvements; was first treasurer of the Indiana Central Rail-
road Company. He died September 8, 1869. Mr. Hannah
possessed the rugged elements of strength and manhood which
qualify men for frontier life; for developing the material resources
and building a commonwealth on justice and liberty."

The red brick school house opposite to Mr. Lashley's was the
home of Judge John C. Kibbey, who was so well known here
and at Richmond. The place is now the home of Mr. Andrew
Dunbar.

The brick house on the corner west of the Trumbull residence
was built by Rawson Vaile, a teacher in the old seminary and
also a teacher in Richmond. He was a brother of Dr. Joel Vaile,
of Richmond, a prominent physician and public school trustee,
after whom one of the school houses of Richmond is named.

Judge Nimrod Johnson bought the Vaile property and this
was the Johnson homestead for many years. Here Henry U.
and Robert U. Johnson spent their boyhood. Judge Johnson
was not only eminent in the legal profession, but he was a man
of vast literary knowledge. Mrs. Johnson was Miss Kate Under-
wood and was a native of Washington, D. C.

The quaint old house, now the home of Mrs. Jennie Savage,
was in the old time, the Doughty home. Samuel Doughty was
a merchant. His store was where Jacob Wolfe's is now. Mr.
Doughty had his home in Richmond in later years, and died
there about a year ago.

The house where Mrs. Gibson lives, on Walnut street, was
the Dill home. It is an old-time place, with colonial pillars to
the portico. Mr. Dill was a cabinet maker, and went to Rich-
mond many years ago.

The large white brick house on north Main Cross street,
known as the Pritchett property, was built by Judge Williams, or
rather the south end was. Judge John S. Newman built the north
end. This was a grand mansion in its day. Judge Newman
was a Quaker lawyer and for ten years a partner of Jessie Sid-
dall. He was of the Hoover stock. His wife was Eliza, daughter

Historic Houses of Centerville 185

of Samuel Hannah; his daughter, Gertrude, married Ingram
Fletcher, of Indianapolis. He was the first president of the In-
diana Central railroad and held many other responsible positions.
He removed to Indianapolis in i860. Dr. Pritchett bought the
house of Judge Newman. It was the Pritchett homestead for
many years. Here Dr. Pritchett and his estimable wife passed
their declining years. The house was inherited by the daughter,
Miss Mary Pritchett.

Opposite the Pritchett house, on the east, is a frame house
where Jeremiah Wayne Swafford lived the last thirty years of
his life, and where he peacefully died last summer, at the age of
eighty-four. Mr. Swafford was a pioneer of Wayne county and
Justice of the Peace nearly all his life and up to the time of his
death. He was widely known as a business man in Wayne and
adjoining counties.

In the early days, before this large house was built, there
were two small frame dwellings on the lot. One was the home
of Rev. Mr. Rupe the father of attorney John Rupe, of Richmond.
The other frame building was the home for awhile of Dr. Rose.
His wife Henrietta Rose was a lady of attainment and a writer of
some note. She was the author of a small volume entitled
"Nora Wilmot ; a Tale of Temperance and Woman's Rights,"
published in 1858. The frontispiece is a quaint old wood cut —
1 'The Ladies' Knitting Party at Tradewells Saloon . ' ' The thread
of the story runs through that period when Indiana had a
prohibitory liquor law, which was declared unconstitutional by
Judge Perkins of the Supreme Court of Indiana.

James Rariden, one of the eminent men of his time, lived
where Mrs. James M. Hill now lives. The grounds included
the lot where the Christian Church now stands. A summer
house covered with vines and flowers and shubbery gave the spot
an air of rural retreat. But this lovely spot was too much retired
and Mr. Rariden moved into a brick house on west Main street.
It was in this house that Mr. Rariden entertained Henry Clay
when he made his tour through Indiana. A reception was held
in the evening for the great Kentuckian. The children as well
as the older people attended. Mr. Clay was very fond of children
and kissed them all. Mrs. Ensley was then little Sarah Hamm
and remembers being kissed. Mr. Clay said to little Gertrude

1 86 The Indiana Magazine of History

Newman, now Mrs. Ingram Fletcher: "My dear, you have a very
pretty name, but it ought to be pronounced Jertrude." And to
a boy he said: "You have a very large mouth, but that does not
matter in a boy." As Mr. Clay had a large mouth this remark
caused a hearty laugh all round. It was in this house that Mr.
Clay authorized a committee to offer freedom to his body servant,
the petted slave Charlie, who declined to leave his master. The
house has changed owners several times in recent years and it is
at present the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Eliason. After Mr.
Rariden left the rural retreat Rosswell Elmer and wife occupied
it. They were the parents of Charles N. Elmer and Mrs. James
Forkuer.

John Finley, the poet, and for many years the Mayor of
Richmond, when clerk of Wayne county court resided in a small
house on Plum street, near the Elmer home. The cottage and
extensive gardens of Mr. E. Y. Teas, the well known florist, was
for years the home of Henry Noble, who now lives in Indianapolis.
Two houses on an elevation north of the railroad, alwa)^s
attracting attention of travelers, are notable mansions of the olden
time. The one on the west was built by Samuel Hannnah.
James Forkner improved it and occupied it until he removed to
Richmond. It is now the property of C. h. Porter, and
the home of Thomas Clark. On the east of this is the mansion
built by Daniel Strattan. He was a tanner by trade and a
prominent citizen. Beautiful for situation is the fine old mansion
south of the railroad, built by Jacob B. Julian. It was the family
residence previous to his removal to Irvington. On the west of
Mr. Seaton was the home of Jesse Stevens, a pioneer of Center-
ville. Mrs. John Paige, of Richmond, and Mrs. Henry Noble,
of Indianapolis, were daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. The
house is now the home of Mrs. Nichols. A large brick house on
the south side of Main street, the home of Jesse Brumfield, was
built by Martin Hornish, a shoe-maker and a prosperous citizen.
Judge Stitt lived where H. H. Peelle now lives, and next, on the
east, was the home of Judge Jesse Siddall. Farther east on Main
street is a substantial brick house built by George W. Julian,
which was the family residence for many years previous to removal
to Irvington. Dr. Silas H. Kersey bought the property, and
made it his family residence for several years. It was in this

Historic Houses of Centerville 187

house that Dr. Kersey died. It is now the residence of I. L,.
Houek. Opposite, on the north, on the site of the residence of
George Sanders, stood one of the oldest houses of Centerville.
Mrs. Rebecca Julian lived there at one time. Her husband, Isaac
Julian, died and left her a widow with a family of children. She
was a sister of Judge David Hoover, a pioneer of Wayne county,
and the mother of George W. Julian. Across the street to the
east is the brick house that was long the home of Dr. William F.
King, deceased. He was an eminent physician and prominent
citizen. The house is now the residence of his daughter, Miss
Emilie King. North east, on the same square is an old frame
house, one of the oldest now standing in Centerville. It was the
residence of James B. Ray, afterwards Governor of Indiana. C.
Cooney now resides there.

On west Main street, where H. C. Means now lives, was the
residence of Martin M. Ray, a brother to Governor Ray. He
was a lawyer and a merchant as well. His store was in the
corner building occupied now by Tillson's drug store. Frederick
Snider, a merchant, had his store where Mr. King now has a
restaurant. On west Main street where Bert Horner now lives,
is the house built by Thomas Gentry, a tanner and one of the
substantial citizens. L,ot Bloomfield built the house where Isaac
Jenkins now lives. He was a merchant of the place. His wife
was Elizabeth Talbot, a sister to Mrs. Hamm and Mrs. Dr.
Pritchett. The Simon McConaha home was built by Dr. Pritch-
ett, who occupied it before he bought the Judge Newman place.
The old house with dormer windows, now the residence of Alfred
Lashley, in the old time was the residence of Henry Beitzell.
The old Burbank home was on the south side of Main street
opposite the court house. The house was partially destn^ed by
fire in later years. Mr. Burbank was a merchant. The parlors
and family apartments were up stairs over the store. The
Burbank young people were well educated and were prominent
in social circles. It was in this home that Oliver P. Morton was
married to Lucinda Burbank.

Ambrose Burnside, afterwards a lawyer at Liberty, Union
County, and a General of renown in the Union army, worked at
the tailor trade in a building adjoining, and on the site of Dr.
Gable's residence and office once stood a large hatter's shop

1 88 The Indiana Magazine of History

where the boy, Oliver P. Morton, learned his trade. Morton was
born at Salisbury. He was left an orphan and brought by his
aunts to Centerville when a child, where he learned the trade
with an older brother. Early in life he attended the seminary
here and Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and was always a
profound student. The early years of Morton's married life were
passed in a frame house on the north-east corner of south Main
Cross street. The homestead known as the Morton mansion, on
west Main street, was built by Jacob B. Julian. Mr. Julian was
a tree planter, and his lawn was a landscape garden, where na-
ture was permitted to rule. When Mr. Julian built his stately
home near the railroad he sold this Eden spot to Oliver P. Morton.
Here a liberal and unostentatious hospitality was dispensed by
Morton and his amiable wife. It was while living in this house
that Morton was elected Lieutenant Governor on the ticket with
Henry S. L,ane. Judge William A. Peelle bought the Morton
mansion after his term as Secretary of State expired. Judge
Peelle died there on July i, 1902. The house is now the home
of his daughter, Miss Martha L,. Peelle.

Judge Charles H. Test lived on Main street where the town
hall now stands. Mrs. James Rariden was his sister. It was
considered that Judge Test, while eminent as a lawyer, was by
nature preeminent and unequaled. He bore off the palm as the
homeliest man in Indiana. Adjoining the school-house campus
on the east is the old homestead of Stephen Crowe, one of the
early blacksmiths of the place. Mr. Crowe sold the house to
John Peele, an old settler, and Samuel Boyd, a retired farmer,
bought the place from Mr. Peele and passed the remainder of his
days there. The property is now the home of Mr. and Mrs.
John L,ashley. The house on the east, now the residence of
J. A. Commons, was the home of Sylvester Johnson, now of
Irvington, and a well-known horticulturist.

Many do not know that the substantial brick building on the
north-east corner of Main street was, in the palmy days of Cen-
terville, the court-house of Wayne county. It is now the busi-
ness house of T. G. Dunbar, while the extension to the north,
where Mr. Dunbar resides, was once the sheriffs house and jail.
The extension on the east was the county offices.

The Richmond and Brookville Canal 189

The Richmond and Brookville Canal

By James M. Miller

[As one travels the highway between Richmond and Brookville he may
find at intervals almost obliterated evidences of an old canal ditch upon
which no small labor was once expended. The history of this ditch is sunk
in oblivion — is a chapter lost from the story of internal improvements in
Indiana. It is not included among the works provided for by the internal
improvement law of 1836, and ssems to have been taken up by the State
as a sort of side work in connection with the more prominent "Whitewater
Canal," for in the subjoined sketch we are told that the Board of Internal
Improvements was "to use the local engineers then employed on the
Whitewater Canal, and to incur no extra expense for the State. " It should
be understood that the said Whitewater Canal, which was completed and
used, followed the West Fork of the Whitewater river, contributing ma-
terially to the development of the valley, while the Richmond and Brook-
ville Canal was to do the same service for the East Fork.

So far as we know there is nowhere else any published account of this
forgotten enterprise, and no record of the men who promoted it. At our
suggestion some years ago Mr. James M. Miller, of Brookville, now de-
ceased, undertook to rescue from various sources the information that he
has embodied in his article. In this connection Mr. Miller himself is de-
serving of a brief sketch. An invalid for the greater part of his life from
ossified joints of the lower limbs, helpless, and dependent almost entirely
upon the services of a devoted sister, his work of getting at obscure facts
was sadly handicapped. It was a long and arduous process for him, and
that he gathered together so much is a monument to his perseverance and
patience — Ed.~\

AMONG the first settlements in south-east Indiana were those
along the fertile valley of the East Fork of Whitewater River
and its tributaries. The settlers were a thrifty, energetic people,
and their industry soon produced a surplus. At quite an early-
day fiatboats were built at Dunlapsville and yuakertown and
loaded with the products of the farms, and when a rise in the
river occured were run out into the current and floated to New
Orleans. I remember hearing my mother tell of seeing a flatboat,
in the spring of 1819 or 1820, shoot Bassett's mill dam at Fairfield
on its way to New Orleans, that had been built and loaded with
provisions at Dunlapsville by George Newland, father of the
blind musician of that name, long known in Indianapolis.

Possessing the push and energy that they did it is no wonder
that these people were among the first to advocate internal

190 The Indiana Magazine of History

improvements. Such improvement was very early agitated and
by 1834 the scheme for a canal down the East Fork began to
assume form. On August 4 of that year, a meeting was held at
Richmond to consider the practicability of constructing a canal
from that city to intersect the proposed Whitewater Canal at or
near Brookville. This was followed by a meeting in Brook-
ville to consider the propriety of constructing a canal down the
East Fork of the Whitewater river from a point in Darke county,
Ohio, to connect with the Miami Canal at or near Dayton, Ohio.
On September 12, 1836, a convention of delegates from Wayne
and Franklin counties assembled at Dunlapsville in the interest
of the proposed canal. On calling the roll the following delegates
answered: Robert Morrison, John Finley, Warner M. Leeds, John
Ervin, Irwin Reed, Daniel P. Wiggins, James W. Borden, Wm.
R. Foulke, Alexander Stakes, Basil Brightwell, Achilles Wil-
liams, Mark Reeves and W. B. Smith, of Richmond; Smith
Hunt, Frederick Black, W. J. Matchett, Col. E. Rialsback, Jacob
Hender, Thomas J. Larsh and William Clerick, of Abington;
William Watt, James Lamb, William Youse, Jesse Starr, T. H.
Harding, J. F. Chapman, Ladis Walling, Jacob Imel and Green -
bury Beels, of Brownville; George Newland, John Templeton,
J. W. Scott, Matthew Hughes, Hugh McCollough, Israel Kirk
and Bennett Osborn, of Dunlapsville; Redin Osborn and James
Wright, of Fairfield; Abner McCarty, Samuel Goodwin, William
T. Beeks, George Kimble, John Ryman, John M. Johnson and
George Holland, of Brookville. A permanent organization
was effected. Committees of three from each delegation were
appointed to correspond with parties residing on the line of
the proposed canal and notify them of future meetings, and give
any other information in regard to the enterprise.

January 27, 1837, the legislature of Indiana directed the Board
of Internal Improvements to survey and locate early the ensuing
summer a canal from Richmond to Brookville, to intersect the
Whitewater Canal at or near the latter place. They were to use
the local engineers then employed on the Whitewater Canal, and
to incur no extra expense for the State. Accordingly Colonel
Simpson Torbet was employed as engineer-in-chief and Colonel
John H. Farquhar, Thomas Noell, Elisha Long, J. C. Moore and
M. Dewey, who had been employed on the Whitewater, I presume,

The Richmond and Brookville Canal 191

formed the engineering corps of the Richmond and Brookville
Canal. December 2, 1837, Colonel Torbet made his report to
the State Board of Internal Improvements, stating that he had
completed the "survey and location of a canal down the East
Fork of the Whitewater river, beginning at Richmond, in Wayne
county, and terminating at Brookville, in Franklin county."

The canal was to be 33^ miles long, 26 feet wide on the
bottom, and 40 feet at the surface, and to have a depth of 4 feet
of water. There would be 3^ miles of slack water and 3 miles
of bluff* requiring riprapping or loose stone protection. There
was a fall of 273^ feet, requiring the following mechanical
structures: 2 guard locks, 2 aqueducts, 7 culverts, 2 water
weirs with gates, 16 road bridges, 2 towpath bridges over the
East Fork, 5 dams, and 31 lift locks. The dams were to be
located at the following points: Dam No. 1, one-half mile from
Richmond, at the National road, 160 feet long; Dam No. 2, 160
feet long, 5^ miles from Richmond, near Larsh's mill; Dam No.
3, 170 feet long, n}( miles from from Richmond, near Ottis'
mills; Dam No. 4, 180 feet long, above Fairfield, and 23^ miles
from Richmond; Dam No. 5, 200 feet long, above Brookville
and 32 miles from Richmond. -The locks, each 90 feet long
by 15 feet wide, were to be located at the following places: No.
1, one-half mile from Richmond, at the National road bridge;
No. 2, at Bancroft's factory; No. 3, at Siddle's mills; No. 4,
McFadden's saw mill; No. 5, Rue's mill; No. 6, Henderson's
farm; No. 7, Henderson's saw mill; No. 8, Colonel Hunt's lands;
No. 9, at Shroyer's farm; No. 10, at Abington; No. n, at
Schwisher's house; No. 12, guard lock where the canal crossed
the river; Nos. 13 and 14, in Brownsville; No. 15, at Aschenbury's
saw mill; Nos. 16 and 17, at Adney's lands; No. 18, at Silver
creek; No. 19, at Newland's, near Dunlapsville; No. 20, at J. F.
Templeton's lands; No. 21, at Hanna's creek; No. 22, above
Fairfield; Nos. 23 and 24, at Wolf creek; No. 25, at Robert
Templeton's farm; No. 26, at John Logan's lands; No. 27, at
McCarty's farm; No. 28, on school section; No. 29, at Butler's
land; Nos. 30 and 31, in Brookville.

The line of the canal followed down the right (east) bank of
the river for a distance of 1 1 ^ miles, when it crossed over to the
left (west) bank at Dam No. 3, and followed that side of the

192 The Indiana Magazine of History

river for 12^ miles, passing into slack water below Hanna's
creek, and recrcssing to the right bank at Dam No. 4, above
Fairfield, and continued down that side of the river to Brookville.

This is the route according to the original survey, but it must
have been re-located, for Mr. George Templeton informs us that
the line crossed over to the left (west) bank at the southwest
corner of his farm, near where the school house stands on Fairfield
pike, and that there was to have been a feeder dam at that place.
This would correspond with the locks located on the John Logan,
Abner McCarty and Amos Butler lands, besides avoiding some
extensive bluff excavations, and is a far more practicable route
than to have continued down the east side of the river from the
dam above Fairfield to Brookville. This would locate Dam 5
about 30 miles instead of 32 miles from Richmond and about 3^
miles above Brookville. The route as surveyed in Brookville
passed down east Market street to the intersection of James,
now Fourth, street, where it veered to the west and terminated
in the pool of the Whitewater canal formed by the dam across the
East Fork. The estimated cost of the canal per mile was $15,277,
and for the 33^ miles, $483,778, including contingencies of
$24, 188; the entire cost of the canal was estimated to be $507,966.

Colonel Torbet says in his report of the proposed improvement:
"With the exception of the bluffs and the lockage the valley of
the East Fork is of the most favorable character for the con-
struction of a canal. There would be many advantages growing
out of its construction, the benefit of which can scarcely be
anticipated. It would be the channel through which all the
trade of one of the most populous, fertile and wealthy regions of
the western country would pass. Ricmond, situated at the head
of navigation, with its vast water power, extensive capital, and
enterprising inhabitants, might become the Pittsburg of Indiana."

A fatality seems to have followed the engineers of the White-
water and Richmond and Brookville canals. Colonel Schreiver
died while he was engaged in surveying the former, while Colonel
Torbet, completing the survey of the latter, made his final
report January 5, 1838, and died the 23d of the following March
at John Godley's, near Harrison, O.

In January of 1838 a meeting was held in Brookville in the
interest of the canal. A draft of a charter for the organization

The Richmond and Brookville Canal 193

of a company was approved, and two committees were appointed,
one to correspond with our representatives in the ligislature, re-
questing their influence in behalf of the charter, and the other to
communicate with towns along the line of the proposed canal.
In the same month a meeting was also held at Fairfield, of which
James Osborn was chairman, -and Messrs. James L.Andrews.
James McManus, George W. Thompson and Nathaniel Bassett
were appointed commissioners, as required in the charter. In
February of 1839 Warner M. Leeds, secretary of the company,
published the following notice:

"Richmond and Brookville Canal Stock Subscription. Books
for subscription of stock in the Richmond and Brookville Canal
will be opened by the commissioners on the first day of April,
1839. and kept open twenty-one days, agreeable to the charter,
at the following places, viz: Richmond, Abington, Brownsville,
Dunlapsville, Fairfield and Brookville. The following commis-
sioners were authorized to have special charge of said books, one
of whom will attend to each of the following places for the pur-
pose of receiving subscriptions: — Robert Morrison, Richmond;
Col. Smith Hunt, Abington; John Rider, Brownsville; James
Osborn and James Andrews, Fairfield, and Samuel Goodwin,
Brookville. ' '

The Richmond Palladium of April 27, 1839, states that
Franklin, Union and Wayne counties had taken $215,000 worth
of stock, of which $50,000 was taken by Richmond, the follow-
ing citizens of that place taking stock: William Dewey, Warner
M. Leeds, Benjamin Fulgum, James King, Andress S. Wiggins,
Charles Paulson, John Ogan, Dennis McMullen, Henry Moor-
man, Caleb Sheren, Irwin Reed, Joseph M. Gilbert, Benjamin
Strattan, William Owen, Cornelius Ratliff, William Kenworthy,
John Sufferin, Benjamin Mason, Basil Brightwell, Benjamin
Pierce, Isaac Jones, Benjamin Strawbridge, Armstrong Grimes,
Solomon Horney, jr., Jacob J. Keefer, Reuben M. Worth, Wil-
liam Meek, William S. Watt, John M. Laws, Isaac Beeson, Kas-
son Brookins, Henry Hollingsworth, James W. Salter, Hugh S.
Hamilton, Thomas Newman, William B. Smith, Oliver Kinsey,
Clayton Hunt and Samuel E. Perkins. For the names of the
stockholders I am indebted to Joseph C. Ratliff, of Richmond.

Undoubtedly Brookville and Franklin county did their dutv

194 The Indiana Magazine of History

and were as generous as Wayne and Union counties or any of
the towns along the line of the canal, but after great exertion I
have learned of but two in the county who took stock in the
canal. These were Graham Hanna and James Wright.

In September of 1839 Richmond and Brookville papers con-
tained advertisements Calling for bids for constructing sections
1, 2 and 3, near Richmond; 13, near Abington; 20, near Browns-
ville; 40, near Fairfield, and 52, near Brookville. The adver-
tisement states that the sections to be let ' 'embrace a number of
mechanical structures, consisting principally of dams and locks,
with some heavy bluff excavations." Specifications of the work
were to be posted at Dr. Matchett's tavern in Abington, Dr.
Mulford's tavern in Brownsville, Abijah DuBois' tavern in Fair-
field, D. Hoffman's tavern in Brookville, and at the company's
office in Richmond. The lettings took place as advertised, ex-
cept section 52, near Brookville, which, owing to the heavy
excavations, was not let. I cannot learn of any work done near
Brookville, but on section 40, near Fairfield, the contractors,
Henry and Harvey Pierce, excavated about one-and-a-half miles
of the canal down the east side of the river to the farm now
owned by Misses Sallie and Missouri Hanna. Traces of excava-
tion can also be plainly seen on the farm of James Blew. Sec-
tions 1, 2 and 3, near Richmond, were let, and from a mile and a
half to two miles of excavation made. No use of these exca-
vated portions was ever made until i860, when Leroy L,arsh
erected a grist mill on the portion near Richmond, which is yet
in operation.

At the "breaking of ground" for the Whitewater Canal John
Finley, editor of the Richmond Palladium, quoting Moore's
"Meeting of the Waters," with changes to suit the occasion,
said: "The last picayune shall depart from my fob ere the East
and the West Forks relinquish the job." Whether the last
picayune departed from the editor's fob or not the present writer
can not say, but undoubtedly the East Fork relinquished the
job, and Richmond failed to become the "Pittsburg of Indiana."

Recollections of Early Brookville 195

Recollections of Early Brookville

MS. of John M. Johnson

[These interesting reminiscences of early Brookville and notable per-
sonages residing there three-quarters of a century ago are from a manu-
script submitted to us by Mr. John Johnson, of Irvington, Indianapolis,
who found it among the papers of his father, John M. Johnson, now de-
ceased. The latter was for many years a resident of Brookville, and long
in public life in that city. The manuscript seems to have been written
about a quarter of a century ago.]

IT has been fifty years since I crossed the beautiful Ohio river
and stood upon the soil of Indiana. I pass over my peregri-
nations until I arrived at the then famed town of Brookville —
the great town of the State and the residence of its great men.
The first residence I stopped at in Brookville was that of
James Nobie, then U. S. Senator. His residence was on the street
west of the public square. It was an humble-looking one-and-a-
half story log house weather boarded and painted white. Before
the parlor room door was a portico. The parlor floor was covered
with a red Turkey carpet (the only imported carpet then in town
except perhaps at Judge Test's). Before the hearth was a
handsome rug with the figure of a deer lying down on it. When
you entered the parlor you met a fine-looking lady above the
medium size, with a ruffled cap, who attended to the receptions
at the senatorial mansion — a worthy partner of Senator Noble.
Mary Noble, Hannah Gallion and Betsy McCarty were among
the excellent ladies who then resided in Brookville, and who, in
the exercise of "women's rights," milked their own cows,
churned their own butter and made their own brooms.

The old brick court house (which occupied the site of the
present one) was a square building in the center of which ran up
a cupola. On the top of the steeple was the carved representa-
tion of an eagle with spreading wings. Through the court -room
below ran the bar, made tight, with two gates to enter. The
inside was for the lawyers, and the outside, paved with brick,
was the lobby for the people who came to hear the lawyers plead.
On the inside were the Grand and Petit Jury boxes. On the
west side was the judge's bench, raised nearly up to the ceiling.

ig6 The Indiana Magazine of History

A winding stairs ran up in one corner to the upper story, where
were the Grand and Petit Jury rooms. In the cupola was then
placed a triangle, put up by William Hoyt, an ingenious me-
chanic, to perform the office of a bell by means of hammers
striking on the base of the triangle. It gave forth a clear, sharp
sound which could be heard farther than the sound of a bell.

A little east of the south-east corner of the court house stood
the old log jail. This necessary edifice encroached near the resi-
dence of one cf the citizens; hence, upon a dark night a number
of his friends and "divers other persons to the Grand Jurors un-
known" concluded they would abate it as a nuisance; hence, in
the morning not one log was left upon another. Another log
jail, however, was built near where now stands your "Burnett
House," and which afterward performed the office of Grass-
muck's stable. This jail was celebrated for having been the
residence of Fields, an old Revolutionary soldier, who was con-
victed of murder and pardoned under the gallows by Governor
Ray, to the great disappointment of a large concourse of people
who had assembled to witness his execution. No man was ever
hung in Franklin county. An amusing occurrence of "jail de-
livery" took place whilst Robert John was sheriff and jailor. A
man was confined in jail on a charge of horse stealing. His
wife visited him and remained with him over night. In the
morning the prisoner, dressed in his wife's clothes, mounted her
horse and made his escape. It was afterward found, to the
amusement of the people, that it was the man who rode awa)'
and the woman who was left imprisoned.

The public square was not fenced in except the "stray pen,"
on the south-east corner. The public well was a little south of
the south-east corner of the court house. It was over ninety
feet deep. The water was drawn by means of a windlass. An
old man whom the people called Death drew water for the pub-
lic. He was, indeed, the picture of death.

On the south-east corner of the square, on Main Burgess
street, stood the "Brookville Hotel," the leading tavern for
many years. Mine host, Robert John then and there catered
to the way-worn traveler, and if any man could cheer his guests
by conversation, he was the man. On the corner south of
the public square was standing the "Yellow Tavern," which

Recollections of Early Brookville 197

had been built at an early day by James Knight. It was then
kept by William Campbell, a tall, portly man. The tavern,
while kept by him, was a place of great resort. He was a
hospitable man, generous to a fault, and never turned off a
traveler because he was destitute of money. In the upper part
of town was J. Adder's tavern, with the sign of the green tree,
which was a familiar object to the vision of the passers-by for
many years. This tavern was a great stopping place for wagoners
and drivers. John Adder was a tall, dark-comple'cted man, and
universally esteemed. He was once recorder of the county. This
tavern, when I first came to town, was kept by Dr. Haynes, who
also taught school in it.

The newspaper then published in the town was, I believe,
called the Brookville Inquirer. Robert John was the editor, and
subsequently there was associated with him I. N. Hanna, a
sprightly and talented young man. The editors, however, soon
got at loggerheads. During the ensuing presidential canvass
Robert John was for John Quincy Adams, and I. N. Hanna for
Henry Clay. An editorial would therefore come out for Adams
followed by another, signed "Junior Editor," for Clay; which
created considerable sensation among the politicians of Brook-
ville— and, indeed, all the citizens were politicians.

The old M. K. church was a brick building standing on the
bluff in the northern part of town, and was the only meeting-
house in town. It was once partly blown down and repaired,
and is still standing as a monument of olden times. The Rev.
Agustus Jocelyn, a Methodist preacher, ministered to the people
in godly things at this church. He was a man of no ordinary
talents. He was a tall man, about six feet high, bald-headed,
but wore a wig. He had cultivated oratory and had graceful
gestures, with distinct articulation. His figures were grand, and
he illustrated his sermons by philosophy, politics and history as
well as from the Bible. He had generally among his auditors
the most enlightened citizens of Brookville. He preached the
sermon at the time Fields wasn't hung. He was also a school-
teacher and an editor.

The college at- which I graduated was an humble frame build-
ing in the east bottom, which had been a residence and is still
standing. Dr. Isaac G. John was then the teacher. The old

198 The Indiana Magazine of History

teachers that the citizens still talked of and whose memory they
revered were Judge L,aughlin and Solomon Allen. Dr. John
afterwards became a promising physician, but died in the morn-
ing of life.

The land office at that time was at Brookville for the sale of
the U. S. lands in the New Purchase, and the land sales were
then going on. Gen. Robert Hanna was register. He resided
in the large brick house in the northern part of town (called
"Tinker Town") in which Dr. Berry now resides. His office
was immediately opposite him on the west side of the street.
Gen. Hanna in stature was a little below medium size; was a
man of talents and a good electioneerer; dressed plain, frequently
on election day appearing with moccasins and hunting-shirt. He
was a delegate to the convention that framed the Constitution in
1 8 16, and was the first sheriff under the Territorial and State
governments.* When the land office was taken to Indianapolis
he removed there, and afterward held several official stations with
credit. He continued to reside at or near Indianapolis until he
met with his melancholy death by a railroad car.

Lazarus Noble was the receiver of public monies. His office
was in the large brick building immediately east of the court
house, which belonged to the Masonic lodge. He was a tall,
handsome man, with agreeable manners, and a brother of Sena-
tor James Noble. He married Margaret Vance, the accomplished
daughter of Capt. Samuel Vance, of Lawrenceburg. When the
land office was removed he died, on his way to Indianapolis, at
Judge Mount's, about ten miles from Brookville.f

MILES EGGLESTON.

When you entered the old brick court house which I have
described the first objects that struck your attention were three
men on the elevated judges' bench. In the center you beheld a
good-looking gentleman, rather below the middle size, with a
good head, leaning a little to one side; with ruffles protruding
out of his bosom; well-dressed but a little disposed to slovenliness.
This was Miles C. Eggleston, President Judge of the Third Ju-
dicial Circuit. He was appointed President Judge at the organi-

*The first sheriff of Franklin county, Mr. Johnson doubtless means.
tAt the town of Metamora.

Recollections of Early Brookville 199

zatiou of the State government, and held the office for over
twenty-one years. He was a Virginian, and migrated to Brook-
ville during the territorial government. He had a liberal educa-
tion, was a good L,atin scholar, and indulged the habit of quoting
Latin among the bar. He was admitted to the bar under the
territorial government. He was not a great advocate before a
jury but was eminently qualified for a judge.

On either side of the President sat a plain- looking farmer
(we then had two associate judges) — on his right hand David
Mount, and on his left John Hanna. They had such implicit
confidence in the legal abilities of Judge Eggleston that the}'
scarcely ever differed with him in opinion. Judge Hanna. how-
ever, sometimes took the responsibility of differing with him.
When he did so he always cited Judge Grimke, of South Carolina
(Judge Hanna being from that State). Judge Eggleston was
justly regarded as one of the best judges of the State. His
charges to the jury were clear and clothed in fine language, and
were listened to with the utmost attention by them. He was as
pure and upright a judge as Lord Hale. The people of the
county had such confidence in him that they would quote his
decisions before those of the Supreme Court. He was looked to
in those days with the same veneration as the late Judge Mc-
Donald during the present. He presided in a number of prose-
cutions for murder in which were engaged the most eminent
counsel of the day, and his decisions were regarded with the
highest respect.

Judge Eggleston was a man of fine literary attainments. He
wrote well. He once delivered a Fourth -of- July oration at
Brookville which was published and considered by the literary
men of the day as a fine specimen of eloquence. He never en-
gaged in politics. When off the bench he enjoyed himself among
his friends, was excellent company and enjoyed a good joke. He
was kind and indulgent to the young members of the bar, and
seemed to court their society, and they would try a case with
great confidence before him, even when opposed by old attorneys.
He observed the utmost decorum and impartiality in court. He
made the lawyers keep their places. There was no slipping to
the judge and holding a private conversation — no leading lawyers
leaning on the judges' seat. The attorneys had to address the

200 The Indiana Magazine of History-

judges publicly from their places at the bar.

ENOCH M'CARTY.

In front of the judges' bench stood a large table, and at this
table sat Enoch McCarty, clerk of the Franklin Circuit Court.
He had been clerk under the territorial government, was re-elect-
ed upon the organization of the State government, and continued
to serve for three successive terms of seven years each. He was
regarded as the best clerk in the State. I was his deputy for
several years. He was in stature about the medium size; a plain
man; dressed plain; was easily approached, and was popular
with the masses. He was familiarly called '"Nuch" McCarty.
He was a man of good information, had read Blackstone, under-
stood the general principles of the law, and was well versed in
the statutes. The people, consequently, called on him for ad-
vice. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of
1816. After retiring from the clerk's office he served as associate
(judge?), and senator and representative to the State legislature.
He died at a good old age, beloved by the people of the county,
on his farm below Brookville.

NOAH NOBLE.

At the right of the clerk, below the "judgment seat," sat at
a stand a tall, fine-looking man, dressed in black cloth, with a
white neckerchief tied behind, rising gracefully, occasionally, to
call Richard Roe and dispense orders to his bailiffs, Alex. Gard-
ner, Jo. Gentry and others. He was fascinating in his manners,
had a talismanic shake of the hand and was personally one of the
best electioneered in the county. Indeed, it was a common say-
ing that whenever he shook hands with a man he had him — I
might say a woman too. He would be a great election eerer if
he were living when the women vote. He wrote such an illegible
hand that he couldn't read it himself when it got dry. A man
once brought in a letter he had written to him for him to read.
He couldn't read it till he found out what subject it was on.
The man I have described was Noah Noble, sheriff of Franklin
county afterward Governor of the State of Indiana. He also
filled the offices of Representative to the State Legislature,
Receiver of Public Moneys at Indianapolis, and Canal Commis-
sioner. He died in the city of Indianapolis, much beloved.

An Early Criminal Case 201

An Early Criminal Case—Samuel Fields

By James M. Miller

[In the article immediately preceding reference is made to "Fields, an
old Revolutionary soldier," who was condemned to death for murder but
Was pardoned on the gallows by Governor James B. Ray. The case was
once a well-known one in south-eastern Indiana. The following account
of it, and the graphic description of the scene at the gallows was written, at
our instance, by James M. Miller of Brookville (see introductory note to
"The Richmond and Brookville Canal.") It affords glimpses of early-day
customs and of local personages. The crime, trial and pardon on the
gallows occurred between November of 1824 and May of 1825 — Ed.~\

IN November of 1824, an affidavit was filed against one Samuel
Fields, an old Revolutionary soldier residing in Bath township,
charging him with assault, and the warrant was placed in the
hands of a young constable named Robert Murph}T. When
Murphy went to serve the warrant Fields refused to accompany
him, but said he would appear the next morning, and on
returning home without making the arrest Robert was criticised
by his father, 'Squire Samuel Murphy, who urged that this was
his first official act, and the failure to do his duty would at once
lay him open to the charge of cowardice and inefficiency.
Influenced by this argument Robert returned to Field's home,
accompanied by several neighbors. Meanwhile Fields, apparently
expecting that he would return, whetted a large butcherknife
and stuck it in a crack of the log wall just inside the door.
When he saw7 Murphy and his companions coming, he appeared
at the door, warning them to keep away. The constable,
however, continued to advance, talking persuasively to the old
man, who still warned him off. Just as he set his foot on the
puncheon, which formed the doorstep, Fields snatched the knife
from the logs where it was sticking and plunged it into Murphy's
left side, after which he slammed the door to. Murphy fell,
mortally hurt. Ten days later he died, to the universal sorrow
of his neighbors, who esteemed him highly.

The Grand Jury, consisting of James Osborn, David Watson,
Joseph Schooncver, Henry Fay, Andrew Jackson, James Jones.
Nathan Springer, Henry Slater, John Blue, Matthew Karr, Allen
Simpson, John Ewing, John Halberstadt, Charles Collett and
Thomas Herndon met and found the following indictment :

202 The Indiana Magazine of History

"We find that the said Samuel Fields, not having the fear of
God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the insti-
gations of the devil, did then and there, on the third day of
November, eighteen hundred and twenty-four, with a butcher-
knife, worth the sum of twenty- five cents, in his own right hand,
thrust, stab, etc., the said Robert Murphy, causing the death of
same.''

Field's trial came off in March of 1825, in the Franklin
County Circuit Court, of the judicial district, Judge Miles C.
Eggleston presiding, with John Hanna and David Mount as asso-
ciate judges. Oliver H. Smith was prosecutor, and William T.
Morris and John T. McKinney attorneys for the defense. The
jury consisted of Thomas G. Noble, Abraham Hollingsworth,
John Caldwell, Elijah Carben, Bradberry Cottrell,(?) David
Moore, Solomon Allen, Enoch Abraham, John Davis, Lemuel
Snow, Matthew Gray and Henry Berry — some of the best men
in the county. The most damaging testimony against the de-
fendant was by his own daughter, a Mrs. Thompson, who testi-
fied with tears running down her cheeks. The verdict brought
in was "Murder in the first degree," and Judge Eggleston sentenc-
ed Fields to be hanged, appointing Friday, May 27, as the date.
There was a remarkable division of sentiment about Fields. No
one denied his criminality, and the community where Murphy
had lived, made up of settlers from New Jersey, who were bound
closely together in their sympathies, were very bitter toward the
murderer; but the fact that he was a soldier of the Revolution
made a strong feeling in his favor, and many wished for his
pardon by the Governor.

On the day of the hanging Brookville was full of people to
witness the execution. My mother, then thirteen years old, was
in this crowd, and she has described to me the incidents of the
day. The gallows was a large sycamore tree, that stood on the
river bank at the foot of Main street, and from which all obstruct-
ing branches had been lopped away, leaving one large horizontal
limb for the rope. One other feature was the running-gears of a
wagon, mounted with a kind of platform. This was to be drawn
from under the prisoner at the proper time. The grave was dug
a short distance from this tree. Robert John, father of the well-
known Dr. J. P. D. John, was the sheriff. With twenty-five

An Early Criminal Case 203

deputies armed with flint-lock muskets, and with bands of red
flannel on their right arms as insignia of authority, he marched
to the old log jail that stood east of the town hall, brought out
Fields, placed him on a chair on the platform of the wagon, with
his coffin beside him, and so conducted him to the place of ex-
ecution, the deputies forming a guard around the wagon. As
they took their place beneath the tree the crowd closed in, and
my mother, who was in the heart of it, was forced up against the
hind wheel of the wagon, and, though she turned deathly sick
at the thought of what she was about witness, she could not stir
from the spot.

The minister, John Boffman,* preached the funeral sermon,
and one of the hymns sung was "Show Pity, Lord! Oh, For-
give!". Then the sheriff pinioned the arms of the prisoner,
placed the noose around his neck and the black cap on, ready to
be drawn down, and, with tears running down his cheeks, as-
cended a ladder to the limb above and fastened the rope. When
he came down he took his station beside Fields, with his watch
in his hand, and solemnly proclaimed that the condemned man
had twenty-three minutes to live. A man named Walter Rolf
had charge of the horses that were hitched to the wagon. At
the expiration of the time he arose, drew the lines and cracked
his whip, and the horses surged forward, causing the wagon to
move a little, which tightened the rope, drawing the prisoner up
until he sat erect.

Just then there was a shout that a man was coming down the
hill, and all attention was drawn in that direction. It proved to
be Governor Ray who, dressed in the uniform of a general of the
Indiana militia, had ridden on horseback all the way from Indi-
anapolis. Making his way through the crowd he ascended the
platform and placed a roll of paper in Fields' hand, saying:
''Here, I give you your life."

Amid shouts of approval from some and execrations from
others Fields decended from the wagon and was taken in charge
by his friends. He left the county, going first to a place near
Hamilton, O., and finally to Crawfordsville, Ind., where he died
a few years later.

*John M. Johnson, on p. 197, says Augustus Jocelyn preached this sermon. Else-
where, we believe, Mr. Miller speaks more circumstantially of Boffinan as the preacher.

204 The Indiana Magazine of History

The Whitewater Valley

THE Whitewater region, with which the four preceding artij
cles are concerned, comprising the valley of the Whitewater
river with its two branches, extends from the Ohio river north-
ward for nearly half the length of the State, with a width vary-
ing from twelve to twenty-five miles. In pioneer times it was
familiarly known as "The Whitewater," and the frequency with
which it is alluded to in the local literature of those days reveals
its then importance.

This territory has, indeed, claims to distinction. There, it
may be said, Indiana practically had her beginnings. There lay
the first strip of land that marked, in Indiana, the oncoming
tide of the white man's progress westward — the first overlap
from Ohio, which grew, cession by cession, west and north.
There sprang up some of our most important early centers of
population — L,awrenceburg, Brookville, Connersville, Richmond,
and others; there resided, at one time or another, a remarkable
number of men who have made their impress upon the State's
history or on the world at large, and thence came waves of mi-
gration that have spread over the State. This immigration has
supplied an important element of the population in not a few
localities. Indianapolis, for example, in her first days was so
nearly made up of people from Whitewater and Kentucky that
a political division, it is said, sprang up along the sectional line,
and these two classes were arrayed against each other in the first
local campaign, with Whitewater leading. Long after that they
continued to come from the cities mentioned above and interven-
ing localities, and the number at the capital to-day who look
back to the Whitewater as their old home is surprisingly large,
Madison, also, in her growing, hopeful days, drew good blood
from this center, and over the State generally, and beyond its
borders, the same is true.

Of the men of mark who have hailed from the Whitewater
Brookville and Franklin county alone lay claim to perhaps half-
a-hundred, the most notable of whom I find named and classified
as follows in the columns of a Brookville paper:

Governors— James B. Ray, Noah Noble, William Wallace

The Whitewater Valley 205

and Abraham Hammond, Governors of Indiana; Will Curnback,
Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana; Lew Wallace, Governor of New
Mexico; John P. St. John, Governor of Kansas; Stephen S.
Harding, Governor of Utah; J. Wallace, Governor of Wyoming.
Nominated for Governor of Indiana, but defeated: J. A. Matson,
Whig, and C. C. Matson, Democrat, father and son.

United States Senators — Jesse B. Thomas, from Illinois;
James Noble and Robert Hanna> from Indiana; John Henderson,
from Mississippi.

Cabinet Officers and Foreign Ministers, etc.— James
N. Tyner, Postmaster General; James S. Clarkson, Assistant
Postmaster General; L,ew Wallace, Minister to Turkey; Edwin
Terrell, Minister to Belgium; George Hitt, Vice-Consul to Lon-
don; L. T. Mitchener, Attorney- General of Indiana.

Supreme Judges— Isaac Blackford, John T.. McKinney and
Stephen C. Stephens. It is cited as the most remarkable in-
stance on record that in these three men ,Brookville had at one
time the entire Supreme Bench of Jndiana.

Writers Educators and Ministers— Lew Wallace,
Maurice Thompson (born in theicounty), Joaquin Miller (born
in the county), and a dozen or more of local fame; J. P. D. John,
(formerly) President DePauw University, Wm. M. Dailey, Presi-
dent Indiana University, L. Lh Potter, President. Glendale Col-
lege, R. B. Abbott, President Albert Lea College, Charles N.
Sims, Chancellor Syracuse University, S. A. Lattimore, Professor
Chemistry Rochester University, E. A. Barber, Professor in Uni-
versity of Nebraska, C. W. Hargitt, Professor in Syracuse j Uni-
versity, Francis A. Shoup, Professor in University of Mississippi ,
J. H. Martin, President Moore's Hill College; Rev. T. A. Good-
win, Rev. Charles N. Sims, and Rev. Francis A. Shoup.

Art — William M. Chase, painter; Hiram Powers, sculptor.

Science — James B. Eads, civil engineer, constructor of the
great bridge at St. L-ouis, and of the jetties at the mouth of the
Mississippi river; Amos W. Butler, ornithologist and ethnologist,
now Secretary of the State Board of Charities.

Military and Naval Officers — Gen. Lew Wallace,
Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, Gen. Francis A. Shoup, Gen. Jos.
E. Johnson,, Gen. P. A. Hackleman; Oliver H. Glisson, rear ad-
miral, and William L. Herndon, commander, U. S. N.

206 The Indiana Magazine of History

A few of the above, perhaps, had but slight relations with
this region, but allowing for this the output of able men is still
remarkably large. If, from Franklin county, we look northward
to Connersville, Centerville and Richmond, we find other men
whose services and fame are well known within the State, and,
in not a few instances, far beyond its borders. In this galaxy are
Oliver P. Morton, George W. Julian, Oliver H. Smith, Caleb B.
Smith, Charles H. Test, James Rariden, Samuel W. Parker,
Samuel K. Hoshour, and other men notable for calibre. Many
of these were gathered at Centerville during the time it was the
seat of justice of Wayne county, but with the removal of the
courts to Richmond they dispersed, a goodly proportion of them
finding their way to Indianapolis, beckoned thither, doubtless, by
the promise of a larger field for their talents.

The shiftings of the prominent men to and from the White-
water are, indeed, something of an index to its fluctuating for-
tunes. Thus, many of the more notable names of Brookville
were identified with it only during brief eras of prosperity in-
duced by extraneous causes, and when these lapsed those who
were on the track of opportunities sought pastures new. For
example, one of the most flourishing periods in the history of the
town began in 1820, when the lands in the interior of the State
as far north as the Wabash were thrown open and the land office
established at Brookville, As all purchasers of lands in this vast
new tract visited the land office not only with their purchase
money but with the presumable surplus of travelers, the great
impetus to the town's prosperity and growth may easily be con-
ceived. For five years, fed by the visiting thousands, the place
throve, and the men who were drawn thither made it a political
and intellectual center. Then the question of removing the
office to Indianapolis, as a more central location, was agitated.
It was bitterly opposed by Brookville citizens, who had an un-
concealed contempt for the little, insignificant "capital in the
woods," buried in miasmatic solitude and surrounded, as James
Brown Ray said in one of his pompous speeches, by "a boundless
contiguity of shade." Nevertheless, the despised and ague-
ridden capital got the land office; the fortune-seekers of Brook-
ville betook themselves elsewhere like migrating birds, and then
followed a period of sorry decadence, during which houses over

The Whitewater Valley 207

town stood vacant and dilapidated; all business languished;
money became all but extinct, and there was a reversion to the
communistic method of exchanging goods for goods, or goods
for labor.

This paralysis lay on Brookville and the surrounding country
until the schemes for internal improvement, agitated throughout
the twenties and for one-half of the third decade, began to take
definite and practical shape. About 1833, according to Mr. T.
A. Goodwin, there was a revival of life in the Whitewater; people
began to paint their houses and mend their fences, and deserted
houses began to fill up. The internal improvement act of 1836
provided for the construction of "the Whitewater Canal, com-
mencing on the west branch of the Whitewater river, at the
crossing of the National road, thence passing down the valley of
the same to the Ohio river, at L,awrenceburg, and extending up
the said west branch of the Whitewater above the National road
as far as may be practicable." This was a promise of commercial
prosperity and a new lease of life to the Whitewater region. The
day that the contracts were let at Brookville for building the
various sections of the canal there was a grand jollification- -
speechmaking, dinner, toasts and all the rest; and a like enthu-
siasm prevailed in all the valley. Towns sprang up along the
proposed route and lay in wait, and as the canal, crawling north-
ward, reached them successively, making one and then another
the head of navigation, each flourished and had its day, drawing
to itself the wheat and hogs and other agricultural exports from
the inlying country for many miles east, north and west. This
great trade, of course, always sought the nearest point of
shipment, and so Brookville, Metamora, Laurel, Connersville and
Cambridge City were, in turn, receiving ports and reaped the
benefits of traffic. The people on the east branch, not to be out-
done by their neighbors on the west, also strove energetically
for a canal between Brookville and Richmond that should pro-
mote the development of this valley, and, though the work was
never completed, much labor and money was expended upon it.*

The old canal days are a distinct era in the history of our
State. The younger generation knows little about them, but
many a reminiscence might be picked up of the merchant fleets
of the Whitewater and the idyllic journeyings up and down the

*See article in this number on the Richmond and Brookville Canal.

208 The Indiana Magazine of History

beautiful valley by packet. This order of things, which continued
for about thirty years, was maintained in the face of serious
discouragements, for the Whitewater river, one of the swiftest
streams in the State, is subject to violent freshets, and these have
repeatedly damaged the canal, effectually stopping traffic and
entailing heavy expenses in repairs. The great flood of 1847 all
but ruined the ditch, and scarcely was this recovered from when
another proved almost as disastrous. Besides these checks on
traffic untold thousands of dollars have been lost by the sweeping
away of mills and other property, and, in the opinion of many
old citizens, these disheartening losses has caused much of the
exodus away from the valley.

The lower part of the Whitewater valley, with Brookville as
its center, lies today aloof from the trunk railway lines that have
been the great determining factor in the development of the
country. But if it lacks the bustle and growth of some other,
newer sections of the State, it has another and a different attrac-
tion that is rare in Indiana — the attraction of great natural beauty
of landscape' combined with quiet idyllic charm and pleasing re-
minders of the past. The disused bed of the old Whitewater
Canal and its crumbling stone locks are grown with grass. Grass
grows in the peaceful thoroughfares in and about the villages of
Laurel and Metamora, and in these villages and in Brookville
quaint and weather-worn houses speak of a past generation of
builders. Our artists have already discovered the picturesque-
ness of the region, and some of Indiana's abundant literary talent
might well find inspiration here before it is too late. Before it is
too late, we say, for in the new era that is coming in, when the
power of swift rivers is to be transformed into the mechanical
powers of progress, is it not possible that history may repeat
itself along the rushing Whitewater, and that the electric-driven
mill and factory and electric transportation may restore to the
vallev much of its old-time standing?

G. S. C,

The Beginning of Brookville 209

The Beginning of Brookville

[In the many newspaper articles about Brookville (a kind of history
that is far from reliable, but which, unfortunately, is almost the only kind
we have of this famous town), there are various and discrepant statements
as to the founding of the place. The following, written for us by Mr.
Amov W. Butler, grandson of the principal founder, we submit as the most
reliable account procurable — Ed.~\

AMOS Butler, a young Quaker from Chester county, Penn-
sylvania, came to L,awrenceburg in 1803. He selected some
land in the "Big Bottoms," near Elizabethtown. The next
spring, upon his return from Pennsylvania, he found his chosen
homestead under water. In the course of his prospecting in the
summer of 1804 he made his way along the Indian trail up the
Whitewater river to the site of the present town of Brookville.
Greatly pleased with the beautiful region at the forks of the
river he selected the southeast quarter of section 20, being influ-
enced by the fact that it had little large timber on it. The sec-
ond growth was doubtless that which occupied an old Indian
clearing. This land was entered at the land office at Cincinnati,
December 4, 1804, being the first entry of land within the limits
of the future town of Brookville, and Amos Butler was the first
settler of that town. ' That winter he busied himself with plans
for developing the new region. He and Jesse B. Thomas, of
L,awrenceburg, afterwards a U. S. Senator from Illinois, and the
author of the historic "Missouri Compromise," were associated
together in the plan to form a new town. Juty 3, 1805, they
entered the north-west quarter of section 29. For this Mr. But-
ler paid the greater part of the purchase money, but Thomas
succeeded in having the patent issued in his name. On this land
the original plat of the town of Brookville was laid out August
8, 1808. The sale of the lots was deferred through legal pro-
ceedings taken by Amos Butler. He later agreed to a compro-
mise settlement by which he was deeded part of the land in
consideration of the payments he had made. The first lot in this
addition was sold March 7, 181 1. In the meantime John Allen,
on July 6, 1805, entered the quarter-section east, and Amos But-
ler, on March 18, 1806, entered the quarter-section north of the
original plat. Both these settlers laid out additions to the town,
and both these additions are dated May 26, 18 12.

Mr. Butler remained at Brookville until 1818, when he re-
moved to Hanover, Jefferson county, and there, in a little old
graveyard, is buried Brookville's first settler.

Amos W. Butler.

210 The Indiana Magazine of History

Beecher's Indianapolis Church

A I AH1S building, which stood until recent years on the north-
-*■ west corner of Circle and Market streets, Indianapolis, was
the last of the earlier church buildings of the city. In its latter
days it was given over to diverse and secular uses, the varied
small industries in its dingy cubby-hole rooms sharing the parti-
tioned interior with an art school and a school of music. To the
younger generation it was familiarly known as "Circle Hall,"
and most of the heedless multitude did not know that the old
relic had been intimately identified with the pastorate of the
most brilliant and famous preacher connected with the history of
the town — that for seven years those venerable walls had echoed
to the ringing messages of the most eloquent of modern divines.

Henry Ward Beecher came to Indianapolis from Lawrence-
burg in 1839, in response to the call of a newly-formed congre-
gation that had withdrawn from the First Presbyterian church
of this city.* The young pastor preached in the county semi-
nary for something more than a year, or until the new church
built a home for itself. This was the building we are speaking
of, which, on October 4, 1840, was dedicated as the Second Pres-
byterian church of Indianapolis. Here Mr. Beecher preached
until September of 1847, when he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y.

According to a newspaper sketch written when the building
was razed, the cost of the church and ground was $10,000. The
church was built by Ephriam Colestock for $8,800 — a structure
of some pretentions at that day, when the population of the city
numbered only 2,692. It is described as having, originally,
lofty pillars in the front and a cupola — features that were re-
moved when it ceased to be a church.

After Mr. Beecher' s day the pulpit was occupied by the fol-
lowing pastors: The Rev. Clement E. Babb, May 7, 1848 until
January 1, 1853; the Rev. Thornton A. Mills, January 1, 1854
until February 9, 1857; the Rev. George P. Tindall, August 6,
1857 until September 27, 1863; the Rev. Hanford A. Edson,
January 17, 1864 until removal, in 1867.

*The founders of the Second Presbyterian church, fifteen in number, are given as
Bethuel F. Morris, Daniel Yandes, Luke Munsell, Lawrence M. Vance, Mary J. Vance,
Sidney Bates, William Eckert, Alexander H. Davidson, Robert Mitchell, J. F. Holt,
M. R. Holt, John L. Ketcham. Jane Ketcham, Wtn. S. Hubbard and Catherine Merrill.

Beecher's Indianapolis Church 211

After the removal of the church to its new edifice on the
corner of Vermont and Pennsylvania streets the old building was
used for the housing of the city's high school, then in its first
days, and it thus served for about three years, or until the new
high school building was erected on Pennsylvania street.

Mr. William S. Hubbard, one of the first members of Mr.
Beecher's congregation gives the following reminiscences of the
famous pastor and the old church. "I was one of the organizers
of the church," he says, "and I boarded with Mr. Beecher in
1840, when he lived in a one-story brick cottage at the southeast
corner of New York and Pennsylvania streets, the site afterward
known as Governor Morton's residence. More than that, in the
early days of the church, I lived next door to it, and carried the
key to the belfry, for there was a bell in the old pepper-box
steeple, which was not only rung to call people to church, but
to sound the alarm of fire. That was in the days of the volunteer
fire department, and the Marion engine company, of which I was
a member, had its engine-house, within the Circle, across from
the church. During the Morgan raid, persons came to my house
to get the keys to ring the old bell and alarm the citizens as to
the approaching raiders, but it was then badly cracked, and it
was not rung. I remember the baptism of Gen. T. A. Morris.
It was in 1842, and took place in White river. Several others
were baptized at the time, and Mr. Beecher gave choice of three
modes — immersion, sprinkling or pouring."

The late Simon Yandes said of Beecher: "He was admirably
adapted to western life, entering into all the social life and en-
gagements of the little town. He had a special talent for con-
versation, was full of wit and fun, and always had his faculties
in immediate command. It was but a little while after his com-
ing until he knew everybody here. It is greatly to be doubted
if he improved in his oratorical style when he became older — he
was probably at his best here in Indianapolis. My recollection
is that among his varied accomplishments he included that of
being a good shot with the rifle.

The Indiana Magazine of History

A Word from the Publisher

THIS number completes the first volume of the Indiana
Quarterly Magazine of History. It was launched one
year ago as an experiment, and was prefaced by an article setting
forth good reasons why the experiment should be made. The
need of a publication which should preserve material and aim to
promote interest in local history was unquestionable, but whether
such a publication would meet a "felt want" was a thing to be
determined at some risk and sacrifice. The undersigned, encour-
aged by the friendly and disinterested co-operation of Mr. W. E.
Henry, the State Librarian, assumed that risk.

The magazine has been maintained thus far at no financial
profit and in the face of difficulties that made impossible the
editorial care that should have been bestowed upon it ; hence it
has been, mainly, an omnium gatherum of scattered matter that
seemed worthy of preservation. On the other hand it has started
as auspiciously, perhaps as could have been expected. It has
gained some warm friends who think, with the publisher, that its
existence is amply justified, and that its possibilities warrant its
maintenance, even though it gain recognition slowly. Hence,
it will be continued. Its usefulness and the enlargement of its
sphere will be in proportion to the support that is necessary to
all service that requires labor and application. The publisher
asks your co-operation to the extent of one or more subscriptions.
With a variety of interesting unpublished matter in the way of
old documents and special historical studies promised him he
feels safe in saying that Volume II will be well worth the dollar
asked for it. As the expenses of publication have to be met
promptly, prompt remittance from subscribers will be greatly
appreciated.

Mr. Henry's name will no longer be connected with the
magazine and all communications, both business and editorial,
may be addressed as below.

George S. Cottman.

336 North Ritter Ave.,

Indianapolis, Ind.

INDEX

Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History, Vol. I

Anderson, John B. (Educator) — Emma Carleton 81

Artist, Early (George Winter) in

Asbury College, Early Days at ...... 21

Beecher's Church in Indianapolis 210

Biography: John Brown Dillon, 4; John B. Anderson, 81;

George Winter, in; Frances Slocum, 118.
Bibliography: Works on Indiana History, 36; Indiana
Newspapers in State Library, 42; An Indiana Bibliog-
raphy, 103; The Howe Collection, 134.
Book Notices: The New Harmony Movement, 157; Address
on the Pottawattomie Indians, 160; L. Maxinkuckee,
161; David Hoover Pamphlet, 162.

Brookville, Recollections of Early 195

Brookville, Criminal Case at — Samuel Fields 201

Brookville, Notable Men of 205

Canals: Wabash, 126; Richmond and Brookville, 189;

Whitewater, 207.

Centerville, Historic Houses of— Mrs. Helen V. Austin .... 180

Dillon, John Brown (with Portrait) 4

Eggleston, Miles (Sketch of) 198

Fields, Samuel (description of gallows scene) 201

Folk-Speech in Indiana — Paul L. Haworth and O. G. S. ... 163

Games of Moccasin and Bullet 17

Gibson, John, Some Letters of 128

Godfroy, Gabriel, Story from 19

History : Works on Indiana, 36; On the Teaching of, 46;
Local Historical Societies, 98.

Hoosier: Two Pictures (poems by John Finley and J. W.
Kiley), 56; Origin of the Word (J. P. Dunn's theory),
86; The Primitive Hoosier (humorously described). 96.

Howe Collection, The 134

Indiana: Laws of, 27; Library of, 33; Works on, 36; News-
papers of in State Library, 42; Bibliography of, 103;
Betsy Ross Descentants in, 136; Revolutionary Soldiers
in, 138; Seal of, 151; Folk-speech in, 163.
Indiana University Forty Years Ago — Prof. Amzi Atwater . . . 140

Indianians, Some Self-made 153

Indians: Towns of in Marion County, 15; Games of Moc-
casin and Bullet, 17; Story from Gabriel Godfroy, 19;
Frances Slocum— Description of, 115. Sketch of, 118;
Removal of the Pottawattomies, 160; Torture Post, 176.

Journal of John Tipton ( Commissioner to locate Capital) . . 9 and 74

Library of the State — IV. E. Henry 33

Laws of Indiana — IV. IV. Thornton 27

Lake Steamer of 1852 156

Maxinkuckee Lake, the Name of 161

McCarty, Enoch (Sketch of) 200

Morristown, a Pleasing Custom of 150

Noble, Noah (Sketch of) 200

Owen, Robert Dale, Memorial to 105

Old Settler's Meeting, the First 162

Putnam County, Revolutionary Soldiers in 68

Relics the State Should Own 132

Reminiscences by — John W. Ray, 21; Joseph F. Brown, 23;

Elizabeth McClay, 107; Prof. Amzi Atwater, 140; Jas.

Shoemaker, 173; John M. Johnson, 195.

Revolutionary Soldiers in Putnam County ... - 68

Revolutionary Soldiers in Indiana 138

Richmond and Brookville Canal 189

Ross, Betsy, Descendants of in Indiana 139

Seal of Indiana, The 151

Secession of Dixie (story) ... 52

Self-Made Indianians, Some 153

Shoemaker, John, Reminiscences of 173

Sketches of Brookville Men 197-200

Slocum, Frances, Description of 115

Slocum, Frances, Sketch of 118

Tipton, John, Journal of (1820) 9 and 74

Taverns, Early 79

Torture Post, Indian, in Delaware County 176

Wabash, The, and Its Valley 59 and 123

Wayne, Anthony, Exhuming of 67

Whitewater Valley, The 204

Winter, George, Early Artist (with Portrait) . . ...... in