Sons of the wilderness, John and William Conner

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS

JOHN AND WILLIAM CONNER

By
CHARLES N. THOMSON

INDIANAPOLIS

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1937

gc PUBLIC LIBRARY

977 -2 Lr FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO., 1ND.

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v. 12

443205

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Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center

http://www.archive.org/details/sonsofwilderness12thom

INDIANA

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

PUBLICATIONS

VOLUME 12

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SONS OF THE WILDERNES!

JOHN AND WILLIAM CONNER

By
CHARLES N. THOMPSON

These sons of the wilderness still survive.

— Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac

INDIANAPOLIS

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1937

443205

FOREWORD

I have written this book chiefly as a memorial to my wife,
Julia Conner Thompson, who was a great-granddaughter
of John Conner and a great-grandniece of William Conner.
A good deal has been published in local histories and news-
papers in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan concerning this family.
In some instances the stories were fanciful. If the Conners
left any written records such as letters or biographical material
which shed light on their lives, these are seemingly lost. My
wife, who felt strongly that their efforts and influence as pio-
neers should be better understood, had collected some material
which has been used. My own interest in the early settlers of
Indiana was stimulated anew by my activities in the Society
of Indiana Pioneers. While William and John Conner were
not widely known, they were typical of their age, and in com-
mon with many others made their contribution to the founda-
tion of the state. Professor John C. Parish of the University
of California has commented : "Historical understanding is
perhaps advanced as much by the biographies of secondary
individuals as by the reiterated accounts and appraisals of the
lives of the truly great."

This book, however, is more than a record of the Conners
as pioneers. It is also a story of the transformation in their
lives. From their birth to mature manhood they lived among
and with the Indians in the closest contacts. Later they gave
up these ties, affiliated with their own race, and became active
and forceful in the early development of Indiana.

To depict their lives clearly it has been necessary to set out
the historical background of the Ohio Valley (particularly
Indiana) for a little over a hundred years. Among other
phases it is to be noted that during the War of the Revolution
the Conner family was living in a Moravian Indian Mission
in Ohio. Lieutenant Governor Hamilton was in control of the
British forces at Fort Detroit. In the summer of 1778, with
his Indian allies, he planned the complete devastation of the
Ohio Valley, by which was intended the massacre of the white

(vii)

viii INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

settlers and the burning of their homes. The Moravian vil-
lages would undoubtedly have been destroyed and the inhabi-
tants scalped, as that was Hamilton's practice. George Rogers
Clark, by his capture of Hamilton, thwarted this plan. Thus
was this family, in common with many others, preserved. The
descendants of all of these owe a debt of gratitude to the captor
of Hamilton.

It has been generally accepted that the treaties of St. Mary's
were signed by the Indians without serious protest, as their
long and fierce resistance to treaty making had been broken by
the results of the War of 1812. Documents in the War De-
partment at Washington, hitherto unused, disclose that with-
out the co-operation of William and John Conner it is gravely
doubtful that the United States could have secured these treat-
ies which involved the central third of the state of Indiana.
Photostatic copies of these papers are now in the Indiana State
Library.

This book, in research and composition, has occupied a con-
siderable part of five years. The Indiana State Library, the
Indianapolis Public Library, the Burton Collection of Detroit,
the Draper Collection of the State Historical Society of Wis-
consin, and the Library of Congress have yielded good mate-
rial. I am indebted to Dr. Joseph E. Weinland, of the Mo-
ravian Church at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for securing
translations of records relating to the Conner family which
have established events and dates heretofore unknown.

The preparation of this book has been a pleasant and inter-
esting task. The assistance of my niece, Miss Marguerite Dice,
as investigator and critic, has been invaluable. She has sup-
plied much of the data concerning the sites of the Indian vil-
lages on White River and the locations of buildings on Wash-
ington Street in early Indianapolis. Mr. Glenn A. Black has
furnished the archaeological information concerning the sites of
the villages, for which I am indebted to him. The map of the
Indian villages and Conner Trail has been prepared by the joint
efforts of Mr. Black and Mr. Herbert W. Foltz. For the
sketch of Washington Street in the Indianapolis of 1825, pre-
pared by Mr. Foltz, I acknowledge my grateful appreciation.
Mr. Willis N. Coval has furnished classified data from official

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS ix

records regarding early purchases of lots in Indianapolis, which
has been very useful.

My thanks are extended to Mr. Eli Lilly for photographs
of William Conner and his wife Elizabeth, for the drawing of
the Conner house by Mr. Frederick Polley, and for photostats
of records in Washington ; to Messrs. Lee Burns and Frederick
Polley for permission to reproduce the drawing of the Old
State House completed in 1835 from their book, Indianapolis,
the Old Town and the New; to Miss Esther U. McNitt, of the
Indiana History Division of the State Library, and her staff,
for furnishing important material and for helpful assistance ;
to Dr. Christopher B. Coleman, Secretary of the Indiana His-
torical Society, for his advice and co-operation ; to Miss Nellie
Armstrong and to Miss Dorothy Riker, of the editorial staff of
the Indiana Historical Bureau, for their intelligent and pains-
taking labor on the manuscript of the book ; to Mrs. Mary Con-
ner Haimbaugh and Mrs. Alice Conner Cottingham, grand-
daughters of William Conner, for material and traditions re-
lating to the family ; and to Miss Frieda Woerner, great-grand-
daughter of John Conner, for permission to examine records
in her possession.

Charles N. Thompson

Indianapolis, Indiana
July 7, 1937

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Northern Ohio Valley, 1750-1814 1

II. Richard Conner and Margaret Boyer — the

Moravian Mission 9

III. Removal to Michigan with the Dispossessed

Moravians 23

IV. John and William Conner, Traders on the

Indiana Frontier 37

V. Interpreters and Scouts 52

VI. The War of 1812 in the Ohio Valley 68

VII. John Conner, Founder of Connersville and

State Builder 84

VIII. The Conners at the Treaties of St. Mary's

— Departure of the Dela wares 103

IX. The Transformation of William Conner —

the Founding of Noblesville 126

X. John Conner, Early Indianapolis Merchant 141

XI. William Conner, Man of Affairs — Closing

Years 158

Notes 181

Bibliography 245

Index 267

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The William Conner House, Built in 1823. .Frontispiece

Indian Towns near the Moravian Mission, and the

Conner Trail 42

William Conner. From a Painting by Jacob Cox. . 108

Mrs. Elizabeth Chapman Conner. From a Painting

by Jacob Cox 128

Pictorial Map of Washington Street, Indianapolis,

1825 148

The Old State House Completed in 1835. From
Burns and Polley, Indianapolis, the Old Town
and the New 173

CHAPTER I
The Northern Ohio Valley, 1750-1814

More than one hundred years have passed since the final
scenes of the stirring drama of settlement in the Ohio
Valley. The actors were men and women with iron wills and
steel nerves forged in the flames of Indian wars. They led
lives of hardship incredible to us in this softer age. Before
giving an account of a family of the period, it is well to recall
some of the major events in the beginnings of what is now the
Middle West.

By 1750 the Ohio Valley was the refuge of many Indian
tribes. Pushed back from the Atlantic seaboard by the ad-
vancing tide of immigration, the Six Nations, who first in-
habited the northwestern part of New York, were living in
greater numbers in the upper Ohio country than in their
original country. The Delawares and Shawnee had left their
hunting grounds on the north and west branches of the Sus-
quehanna and had sought lands in the Ohio Valley. The
Wyandot, fleeing westward in the early part of the eighteenth
century, had settled near Detroit and had finally established
towns along the Sandusky River.

This exodus was not without bitterness. These Indians
had watched their lands pass from them through the large pur-
chase of William Penn in the latter part of the seventeenth
century, and the tricky Walking Purchase of 1737, and there
were among them prophets of disaster. There were ominous
signs that the pressure from the East had not ended but had
just begun. The Indians were fearful and resentful.1 But the
Ohio Valley toward which many tribes were turning was a fair
country. The forests were virgin, the streams abounded in
fish, and the woods in game. There were great plains, shel-
tered valleys, navigable rivers.

The Shawnee, among the most savage of the Indians, had
established their towns along the Scioto River from its mouth
to the Pickaway Plains. They had also a group of towns on
the Muskingum River, near the present town of Dresden, in

(1)

2 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Muskingum County. The capital of the Delaware nation was
on the upper waters of this river, first near what is now New-
comerstown, later at the present town of Coshocton. To this
more peaceful tribe of Delawares came the Moravian mission-
aries with their group of Christian Indians from Pennsylvania
in 1772.2 The Chippewa and Ottawa were farther north
around the Great Lakes. The Miami, the Kickapoo, and the
Potawatomi occupied the country west of the Scioto River to
the Illinois River, including the southern part of Michigan.

In 1750 this entire country was an uncharted wilderness
reached only by watercourses and trails made by Indians. Few
white persons ventured within it except for purposes of trade
or exploration. With the Indians there was a considerable
group of white captives taken by them in their murderous raids
in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Some of these had been cap-
tured when they were infants or small children and had grown
to be indistinguishable from the Indians in manners and ges-
tures. A few had become agents or intermediaries between the
settlers and Indians, interpreting the language of the latter and
exchanging their peltries for goods. They frequently mar-
ried Indian women. Some became leaders in the tribes which
adopted them.

The only European nation that in 1750 had any posts in the
rich hunting and fishing region which extended from Canada
to Louisiana and as far west as the Mississippi, was France.
It had a population of not more than one hundred thousand in
all this domain, but it was a homogeneous group.3 A thin line
of outposts and forts had been established from the northern
to the southern boundary. These forts had been built in the
wake of missionaries, explorers, and traders as symbols of the
authority of France over this territory, and to further their
work. Stockades around small settlements or the comman-
dant's house, were in some instances the only fortifications.
The French were primarily traders, not settlers, and their pur-
pose was not to disturb the Indians' hunting preserves but to
protect them in the interest of the fur trade. The Indians ap-
preciated this arrangement, for the trade brought many con-
veniences to them. Gaily the French flag floated over these
make-believe forts, and in 1749 Celoron de Blainville, in the
name of the French government, planted plates of lead along
the Ohio, claiming title to the land in the name of France.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 3

These were grandiose but puny gestures of authority in the
face of approaching eventualities.

More than a million people, English, German, Dutch,
Scotch-Irish, and Scandinavian, had settled on the Atlantic
slope. Each ship from Europe brought more. These colonists
and the mother country, England, were not unaware of the
rich trading possibilities of the Ohio Valley, and they were not
content to see it monopolized by France, their traditional
enemy. The wealthy classes in Europe were demanding furs,
the poor classes, skins. English financiers were ready to lend
money, and English merchants were willing to extend credit to
further a profitable trade. There were not lacking reckless
and desperate characters to act as agents beyond the mountains.
By 1750 Pennsylvania traders had invaded the principal Indian
villages even to the country near the Wabash and Maumee
rivers, nearly five hundred miles beyond the settlers' frontier.4

The Virginians did not like the aggressiveness of the Penn-
sylvania traders. Virginia claimed the land under its charter
of 1609, and desired access to it for settlement as well as trade.
In 1748 the Ohio Company had secured a grant of land of five
hundred thousand acres situated on the upper Ohio on condi-
tion that it should be colonized within a fixed period. Chris-
topher Gist, a surveyor, was employed by this company to ex-
plore and report upon this land the year after Celoron on behalf
of France had planted his plates on the Ohio. Squatters as
well as traders now broke through the mountain barriers.
Some of them were lawless and brutal, and their movements
alarmed and angered the Indians. France, too, became increas-
ingly disturbed.

Meanwhile, in Europe, England and France had been en-
gaged in a struggle which finally culminated in the Seven
Years War beginning in 1756. It was this conflict, spreading
to America, that became the French and Indian War. The
French had strengthened their position in 1753- 1754 by build-
ing forts nearer the scene of possible conflict, at Presqu'Isle,
Le Boeuf, and Venango in western Pennsylvania. They had
the advantage of friendly contact with large numbers of In-
dians from Pennsylvania to the Illinois River. These now be-
came active allies of the French, exciting terror among the
white settlers.

When Washington withdrew from Fort Necessity in 1754,

4 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

only the fleur-de-lis floated in the valley of the Ohio. A year
later Braddock's defeat left the frontiers of Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and Maryland defenseless, and the settlers in despair.
The Indians, stimulated by the success of the French and dis-
gusted with the weakness of the English, arose with one accord
against the enemies of France. The next year the frontier
reeked with the burning of homes, the massacre and scalping
of settlers. Survivors were usually taken captive.

At last the tide turned. The flimsy forts fell one by one
into the hands of the invading British, who rebuilt them and
constructed others. In 1762 the French held only Forts Vin-
cennes and Chartres in the Illinois country. Hostilities be-
tween France and England ceased in 1763 after seven years of
horrible warfare. On the tenth of February of that year, the
treaty of peace was signed in Paris. France ceded Canada and
the land east of the upper Mississippi to England, and trans-
ferred Louisiana to her ally. Spain.

The Indians, however, did not readily accept subjection to
the English. They were not satisfied with vague promises that
settlements beyond the Alleghenies would be restricted. The
French traders and settlers chafed under the loss of their rich
fur trade. In May of 1763, Pontiac's War, which had been
brewing for over a year with the aid and abetment of the
French traders, opened with a furious attack on Detroit. While
that fort was besieged for three months by savage hordes, other
bands were attacking Forts Sandusky, St. Joseph, Michilli-
mackinac, Ouiatenon, Miami, PresquTsle, Le Boeuf, and
Venango. This was a general uprising, attended with all the
horrors of Indian warfare. The Indians penetrated to the
interior of Pennsylvania, threatened Fort Ligonier and Fort
Bedford. Settlers on the frontiers of Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania fled at their approach.

Fort Pitt, though hard pressed in three assaults, held out.
The Indians were decisively defeated by Colonel Henry Bou-
quet, a Swiss officer in the British service, who was assailed
by them as he was marching with about five hundred men to
its relief. This was the Battle of Bushy Run, August 5, 1763.
After relieving Fort Pitt, Bouquet marched into the Ohio Val-
ley and compelled the Shawnee and Delawares to sue for peace.
He also demanded the immediate return of all white prisoners.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 5

The conspiracy of Pontiac was a flare-up of the smolder-
ing hatred of the Indians against the English, whose parsimon-
ious methods in trade and land dealings irritated them. They
also feared that the onrush of settlers would deprive them of
still more land. The immediate conflict was now at an end,
but the bitterness was still there.5

From 1765 to 1774 there was a period of comparative
peace. French influence was rapidly diminishing even in the
Illinois country, for Bouquet had inculcated fear and respect
for the English. Both the English and the Indians wished to
renew a mutually advantageous trade, and the territory for
operations was now vastly increased, extending as far as the
Mississippi. There was conflict, however, between the traders
and the settlers over supplying such disputed articles of trade
as guns, ammunition, and rum to the Indians. The firearms
which facilitated the killing of fur-bearing animals were turned
too frequently on the settlers ; whisky maddened the Indians
and increased their natural ferocity, but the traders insisted
upon supplying both for the sake of profit.

The British government tried to restrict the sale of these
articles. As it had taken the management of Indian affairs
out of the hands of the colonists, Britain had a free hand, but
the imperial methods at their best did not satisfy the Indian,
the trader, or the settler.6 The great merchant firms of Europe
and the colonies were losing money in the Indian trade. Cara-
vans of goods moving westward to supply the Indians were
destroyed by irate settlers. The traders were chiefly from
Pennsylvania ; the settlers were chiefly from Virginia. The
situation between them became acute. In addition, the drain on
the British treasury for the management of Indian affairs was
becoming serious. When at peace, the Indian must be con-
stantly placated by expensive gifts. When at war, he took a
frightful toll. This cost on the frontier was one of the causes
of the movement to tax the colonies.7 Clearly, some roots of
the Revolution lay in this Ohio country.

Still the westward tide of immigration increased, reaching
its height between 1770 and 1774. In the latter year, a daring
rogue, Dr. John Connolly, agent of Lord Dunmore, then gov-
ernor of Virginia, took possession of Fort Pitt as a part of
Virginia territory. The Indians were restive, and Connolly

6 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

was ruthless in his dealings with them. Another uprising was
feared by the settlers and Connolly urged them to arm. White
borderers attacked and massacred unoffending Indians, among
them the family of Logan, a Mingo chief long friendly to the
whites.

This started Dunmore's War which is said to have been
the opening to the drama that closed at Yorktown.8 Lord
Dunmore's chief motive in this war seems to have been the
acquisition of territory. His war was of only two months'
duration and ended with the battle of Point Pleasant at the
junction of the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers, nearly op-
posite the present Gallipolis, Ohio. The Indians, mostly Shaw-
nee, while not victorious, made a masterly retreat. Peace was
concluded in 1774 at Camp Charlotte, near the present town of
Circleville, Ohio. As usual, a condition of peace was the re-
turn of all white captives held by the Indians.

On the return of the Virginians from this conference they
halted at Fort Gower and in writing promised allegiance to the
British king if he "reigned justly" over them, with the reser-
vation that "first, however, came their love for America."9
This had no significance to the stubborn, shortsighted king and
the group of incompetent ministers in England. The War of
the Revolution had opened in this western country.

During the war the Ohio Valley Indians chiefly supported
the British. The only exception was a group of Delawares
which was influenced by the Moravian missionaries to main-
tain neutrality. The American forces held Fort Pitt and Fort
Henry. The British held Fort Detroit. The country between
was traversed frequently by Indian war parties led by British
agents and was the scene of many clashes with the American
forces. Forays upon outlying settlements were frequent, and
a state of fear and unrest existed in the entire valley. It was
difficult to maintain trade or communication. The British in
this region progressed gradually from a passive to an active
hostility. Lieutenant Governor Hamilton of Detroit gave
standing rewards for the scalps of Americans without regard
to age or sex, and incited murderous expeditions composed of
the greatest number of savages the frontier had ever known.
He planned an expedition to reduce all of Virginia west of the
mountains in a great carnage of blood and fire. This program

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 7

was defeated in 1779 when George Rogers Clark at Vincennes
took Hamilton prisoner. He was later incarcerated in a cell
in Virginia as an "unprivileged" prisoner.10

By the treaty of peace in 1783 between the United States
and Great Britain the jurisdiction of the territory northwest of
the Ohio was granted to the United States. The Governor
General of Canada, however, refused to give up the forts of
Niagara, PresquTsle, Sandusky, Michillimackinac, and Detroit
and a few less important posts — all within the territory of the
United States. They were kept with the approval of the
British government on one pretext or another, in order to con-
serve her valuable fur trade. Detroit was the most important
of these posts. Instigated by British agents, now actively hos-
tile and brutally insolent, Indian war parties gathered on the
Maumee, the Wabash, and the Miami rivers. Arms and ammu-
nition were supplied them by the British, and the ravages by
Indian war parties continued.

The settlers in the Ohio Valley were beginning to feel that
the government was neglectful and indifferent to their inter-
ests and safety. Loud demands were made for immediate and
vigorous measures to save American settlements from being
broken up by the savages. To meet this situation, the gover-
nor of the Northwest Territory, General Arthur St. Clair,
marched with a volunteer army into the Indian country in
what is now northwestern Ohio. He was disastrously and
humiliatingly defeated on November 3, 1791, by twelve hun-
dred Indians led by Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Buckon-
gahelas.

The Indian war spirit now became increasingly vindictive.
Another attempt to crush it was necessary. In 1794 General
Wayne, appointed commander of the army by President Wash-
ington, headed an expedition against the Indians, and in the
Battle of Fallen Timbers, not far from Toledo, he defeated
them. The Treaty of Greenville, concluded the next year,
brought tranquility for a decade and a half to the frontier,11
but the contest was not yet ended. The interim was used by the
Indians and British only to gather forces for a new attack —
this time farther west, in Indiana. There the Shawnee, Winne-
bago, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi were rallied by Tecumseh
and his brother the Prophet. At the Battle of Tippecanoe in

8 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1811 the Indians were again defeated, but not decisively
enough to prevent them from allying themselves with the
British in the War of 1812. In the first year of the war the
Miami met with defeat at the Mississinewa. The power of
the Indians in the Northwest was finally broken by General
William Henry Harrison at the Battle of the Thames in 18 14.
It was not until this event that the fear of incursions of hostile
Indians subsided in Indiana. These Indian wars had outlasted
the War of the Revolution by more than thirty years, obstruct-
ing the development of the Ohio Valley and inflicting ''heart-
sick cruelties" upon the settlers. At last general peace came
to Indiana. In 1820 began the departure of the remaining
tribes of Indians to the region west of the Mississippi.12

The march of Anglo-Saxon civilization for the conquest
of the rich wilderness of the Ohio Valley had progressed re-
lentlessly westward since its beginning in the early part of the
eighteenth century. At times it faltered. At times it blun-
dered. There could be only one result. The vast but frail
French empire in this new continent crumbled before the slow
moving but determined advance. Without fully comprehend-
ing the issues involved, the Indians under Pontiac undertook to
drive the English into the sea. But they themselves were only
driven further west. The decree of civilization was inexorable.
The Indians were too few for this extensive area. The home
seekers were too numerous. Tecumseh, the last great Indian
leader, grossly misled by the British, tried vainly from time to
time to rally the savages to withstand these forces of civiliza-
tion. His death at the Battle of the Thames ended Indian
warfare in this area.

This book contains the story of a family which like many
others was caught in the maelstrom of this great struggle.
William and John Conner were born when the struggle was
at its height. Richard Conner, their father, was in the heart
of the Ohio country from 1767 to 1782 ; their mother was from
childhood a captive of the Shawnee Indians. They were pre-
served to become the earliest settlers in central Indiana and to
have a part in the final scenes of this great drama. These
momentous events which finally closed the War of the Amer-
ican Revolution, lifted this family from obscurity. To In-
diana, its achievements have historical significance.

CHAPTER II

Richard Conner and Margaret Boyer —
the Moravian Mission

Wrapped in the vivid cloak of romance is the story of
Richard Conner and his family as it has come down by
word of mouth from one generation to another. Most of it
has historical basis ; parts of it are supported by tradition only.
Even without the embellishments of tradition and the embroid-
ery of imaginative narrators, it remains a story of thrilling and
adventurous action. This recital will set forth the sources of
both the traditional and historical elements.

A persistent tradition in all branches of the Conner family
in Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania, has it
that three young Irishmen, John, William, and Richard Con-
ner, emigrated to America early in the colonial period from
Castle Pollard, County of Westmeath, Ireland. It is said that
John settled in New York, William in Virginia, and Richard
in Pennsylvania or Maryland. Two hundred years make a
very misty past when there are few, if any, beacon lights.
This Irish-born Richard Conner may have been the planter of
Prince George County, Maryland, who died about 1721, leav-
ing a son Richard. Sometime before Maryland became a royal
province, while it was still under proprietary rights granted by
Charles I to the Calverts, a native son of Irish descent, Richard
Conner by name, is known to have been living with his brothers
near Frederickstown. He may have been the son of the planter
of Prince George County, but one indubitable fact stands out —
that Richard Conner of Frederickstown was born in Maryland.
The exact date of his birth is uncertain, but it was probably
in 1718.1

Subsequent to 1763 Richard Conner was ranging through
the Ohio country, for what reason or on what business is not
clear. He may have been a fur trader or an agent for Indian
traders at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, although there is no avail-
able record to show that he was licensed to trade. He may
have been an adventurer. If he had in mind settling in this
country he was stepping into a dangerous situation, for the

(9)

10 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

government of Pennsylvania had promised the Indians at the
Treaty of Easton in 1758 that no settlement should be made
west of the Alleghenies, and after Pontiac's uprising the king
issued a proclamation setting this same boundary.2 Conner
may have been a prisoner and adopted into some tribe of In-
dians, as were many white men of this time. His exact status
is unknown. But while with the Shawnee in the Scioto country
in what is now the state of Ohio, he met a white girl who had
been taken captive by this tribe when a child. She was said to
be beautiful and her name was Margaret Boyer.3

And who was Margaret Boyer? Who were her parents?
Where was she taken captive? These are questions that have
never been fully answered, either in the histories of Indiana or
Michigan. Two stories, half traditional, half historical, have
survived, one in the Conner family, one in the Boyer family.
One begins where the other leaves off, but each has certain
elements that strengthen the other, and taken together they
make a credible, fairly convincing whole. According to the
account handed down in the Conner family for more than fifty
years, Margaret, when a little girl about six years of age living
with her parents in Pennsylvania, was taken captive by the
Indians. Her sister was also captured. Their father was in a
field when he discovered the approach of the Indians. He hid
the children and swam the river in attempting to flee for aid.
As he ascended the opposite bank he was shot and killed. The
children were taken away by the Indians. Margaret's sister
married an Indian chief, whose name is not known.4

The story told in the Boyer family is more detailed. It
begins during the French and Indian War, when Indian raids
in eastern Pennsylvania were a common occurrence and forts
were hastily constructed by the terrified inhabitants for their
protection. There was at that time among the settlers owning
and tilling land near Fort Lehigh, a farmer by the name of
Boyer. His family was of German extraction, and the original
spelling of the name was Beyer or Bayer. Andreas Boyer emi-
grated from the Rhine Bavaria with four sons, John Jacob,
John Philip, Philip, and Martin, landing at Philadelphia on
September 5, 1738. John Jacob settled near Lehigh Gap, ac-
quiring land at the foot of the Blue Mountains in 1755. Here
he erected a log house which served not only as his home but

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 11

also for the protection of his family and near-by settlers. His
plantation, the only one in the vicinity, lay about one and one-
half miles east of Fort Lehigh, which commanded the Gap.
When Indian attacks were frequent or imminent Boyer kept
his family in the farmhouse at the fort. One day in the
summer of 1756 he took his thirteen-year-old son Frederick
and his two little daughters, probably four and six years old,
to the farm, leaving his wife at the fort. While Boyer plowed
and his son hoed, the younger children played near by. Sud-
denly and quietly, a party of perhaps three Shawnee Indians
came into view. Boyer called to Frederick to run, and he him-
self endeavored to reach the house. Finding that he could not
do so, he ran toward the river in a vain attempt to draw atten-
tion away from the children, but he was shot through the head
as he reached the other side. The boy escaped to the wheat
field but was brought back by the Indians, who then scalped
the father in the presence of the children. The horses were
unhitched from the plow and taken with the children to Stone
Hill in the rear of the house, where a band of Indians met
them and took them away.

Sometime after their capture the two little girls were sepa-
rated from their brother. Frederick spent the next five years
as a prisoner with the French and Indians in Canada, but was
released at Philadelphia at the end of that time, and returned
to Lehigh Gap. He secured his father's farm, married, had
eight children, and died on October 31, 1832, aged eighty-nine
years. His captive sisters were not released. One married an
Indian chief and in later years she once visited her brother
Frederick, perhaps with her two little Indian boys. She went
back to her husband because he had been very good to her and
she had promised to return. The other sister was never ac-
counted for.5

There is no absolute identification of the lost sister of
Frederick Boyer with the Margaret Boyer who captivated Rich-
ard Conner, but the main events and the time elements of the
two stories fit together so well that one ventures to assume
that they relate to the same person.

2.

It was to this beautiful young captive that Richard Conner

12 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

gave his heart. His application to the chief of the tribe for
permission to marry her was granted, but there were condi-
tions to be met.6 First there was money to be paid. It is said
that the sum was two hundred dollars. This payment must
have taxed the young adventurer, who, doubtless, had come
to this virgin country not with his fortune but to make it. But
his warm Irish heart had been moved by beauty in distress and
somehow he secured the money. Another condition, harder to
meet than the first, was that the first-born son was to remain
with the tribe. The marriage contract agreed to, Richard
claimed his wife. Gallic and Teutonic strains were mingled
in an Indian village in the heart of an almost trackless wilder-
ness.

After their marriage the Conners lived for a time with
the Shawnee.7 Richard was not the type of man to remain
long without asserting his leadership, and it is not surprising
to learn from a Baptist missionary who was traveling in this
country in the winter of 1772- 1773 that Richard Conner was
established in a Shawnee town named for himself — Conners-
town. The missionary, the Reverend David Jones, describes
the place as being a day's journey from where Salt Lick Creek
empties into the Muskingum, in the country between what is
now Lancaster and Newcomerstown in the state of Ohio. The
illuminating and interesting entry in Jones's Journal, which is
one of the earliest written records of the Conner family, is as
follows :8

"Thursday [1773. Feb.] 11, set out for a small town
called Conner's, a man of that name residing there.

"Our course was near northeast — the distance was less than
the preceding day's journey, so that we arrived to town some
time before sunset. Travelled this day over a good country,
only wanting inhabitants. This town is situated near no creek,
a good spring supplying them with water — the land about it is
level and good, the timber being chiefly blackoak, indicates it
will produce good wheat, if a trial was made. Mr. Conner,
who is a white man, a native of Maryland, told me that he
intended to sow wheat in the fall following, and was resolved
to proceed to farming at all events. 'Tis probable that he will
be as good as his word, for he is a man that seems not to fear
God, and it is likely that he will not regard man. His connec-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 13

tions will favour his attempts, for according to their way, he
and the chief Indian of this town are married to two sisters.
These women were captives, and it is likely from childhood,
for they have the very actions of Indians, and speak broken
English. It seemed strange to me to see the captives have the
exact gestures of Indians. Might we not infer from hence,
that if Indians were educated as we are, they would be like us?
This town consists of Shawannees and Delawares ; and some
of them dwell in pretty good log houses well shingled with
nails. Mr. Conner keeps a sort of a tavern, and has moderate
accommodations, and though he is not what he should be, yet
he was kind to me."

About the time of the sojourn of Jones, a missionary of a
different denomination had visited the Conners. This was
the Reverend David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary of fine
ability, unselfish devotion, and deep spiritual power, who was
destined to influence the fortunes of the Conner family pro-
foundly for years to come. Zeisberger had been a missionary
among the Indians in America since 1745, first among the
Iroquois in New York and later in Pennsylvania. By 1765-
1766, the Moravians had given up their work among the Iro-
quois and were confining their efforts to the Delawares and
eastern tribes. Several mission stations had been established
by them in Pennsylvania. These had suffered during the
French and Indian War and in the subsequent Indian raids.
By 1 77 1 it seemed desirable to remove the Christian Indians
from Pennsylvania, and the chief of the Delawares, Netawat-
wees, in 1772 granted them land on the Tuscarawas River near
the Delaware capital, Gekelemukpechunk.9

The first town, Schoenbrunn, "Beautiful Spring," was
founded in the spring of 1772 by the Pennsylvania Christian
Indians under the leadership of the Moravian missionaries,
chief of whom was Zeisberger. It lay near the site of the
present town of New Philadelphia. The following autumn
Zeisberger set out to visit the Shawnee towns in the Mus-
kingum Valley in the hope that he might bring the gospel to
them. On his way to the main Shawnee town, he stopped at
Conner's house, which must have been known at that time as
an inn for travelers and traders. He spent the night there,
and contrary to Jones's experience, he found Richard Conner

14 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

in a receptive mood for religious approach. They talked "half
the night about salvation and all that is involved."10 Margaret,
Richard's wife, was also deeply interested and in the succeeding
months often urged that they should move to Schoenbrunn.
Zeisberger did not encourage that suggestion at this time, be-
cause of the difficulties raised by the close relation of the
Conner family to the pagan Shawnee, and the stipulations of
their marriage contract. A son, James, had been born Sep-
tember 17, 1 77 1, and his parents were committed to leaving
him with the Indians.11 Then, too, the Moravian mission
towns were confined to Indians. It would be a complication
to admit a white family.

Their deliverance, however, was approaching from an un-
expected source. It was 1774 — the year of Dunmore's War.
There was uneasiness and concern among the Indians in the
Ohio country. Chief Logan's family had been wantonly mur-
dered by the whites. Dr. John Connolly, a British agent un-
friendly to the Indians, was in possession of Fort Pitt. The
Shawnee had been preparing for war, and the inciting cause
was now not lacking. Richard Conner, in the interest of
safety no doubt, had abandoned his home at Connerstown and
was living at the Shawnee village of Snakestown upon the
Muskingum, named for John Snake, a Shawnee captain.12

By October 17, 1774, Dunmore's War was over and the
Shawnee in full retreat. A military camp was hastily arranged
by Lord Dunmore and his soldiers under a great elm tree on
the Scioto Trail near the site of the present town of Circleville,
Ohio. It was named Charlotte in honor of the English queen.
The Indians were well represented by their chiefs — all except
Chief Logan, who refused to come. Colonel John Gibson was
commissioned to go after him and finally brought him in to
make his famous speech. This was a momentous day for the
Conners, for one of the treaty stipulations provided for the
return of all white prisoners. Perhaps Margaret Boyer re-
called the day in 1764 when Colonel Bouquet marched into the
Ohio country and in his camp in the center of the Indian vil-
lages demanded of the Shawnee that they deliver up all their
white captives. W'as she delivered up then and did she return

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 15

voluntarily because of the lure of this wild free life? Or did
the Shawnee secrete her and refuse to give her up? There
are no precise answers to these questions. But by the treaty of
Camp Charlotte both Richard and Margaret were free.13

They spent the following winter in Pittsburgh.14 It was a
dismal little town of only about thirty houses, at the junction
of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. There was a fort
some distance from the town with a small garrison under com-
mand of the same Dr. John Connolly. Most of the inhabitants
were traders or trappers, connected in some way with the chief
business of the town, which was fur trade. There was no
minister of the gospel here. Indians frequented it chiefly for
the purpose of getting whisky. It was a rough, crude, frontier
community. It sickened Margaret Conner, and she thought
longingly of the peace and beauty of the wilderness. That
was her home and there was another attraction there now, the
little Moravian town of Schoenbrunn. She had not forgotten
the night that David Zeisberger had spent with them in earnest
conversation. In the town he had established was her oppor-
tunity for a fuller life — not here. But above all these con-
siderations, there was her first-born, left among the Shawnee
according to her marriage contract. How her heart yearned
for him! How unthinkable to her, now that Zeisberger had
given her a glimpse of another kind of life, that the child should
grow up untutored and untrained. Richard listened and felt
that she was right. On February 24, 1775, they arrived at
Schoenbrunn.15

This first of the Moravian towns in Ohio was now almost
three years old. It was located on the Tuscarawas River, on
both sides of which small lakes were interspersed in the bottom
lands. There was a high bluff on the west and a smaller hill on
the east. At the foot of the hill a spring of great beauty
gushed forth to feed a lake nearly a mile long, which joined the
Tuscarawas River. This lake and the river were navigable,
and the Indians could paddle their canoes to the foot of the
little hill or plateau on top of which was the town.

The town was built in the shape of an inverted T with forty
lots, each about fifty by a hundred feet. There were sixty

16 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

houses built of logs and covered with clapboards, in addition to
huts and lodges. The church was forty feet long by thirty-six
feet wide, constructed of logs and surmounted by a cupola with
a bell. Open fireplaces provided heat for both houses and
church. The latter was built in 1772- 1773, the first Protestant
church in the United States west of Pennsylvania. It stood
on the horizontal section of the inverted T-shaped plan facing
the broad vertical street, and could accommodate five hundred
persons. In appearance and position it dominated the town, as
it was intended to do. The church was clean. The services
were conducted in a reverent, orderly manner. The preacher
spoke in English, which was interpreted to the Indians. There
was no accompaniment for the singing, but it had volume and
expression. To an observing traveler this was surprising.
Near the church was the small log house of David Zeisberger.
The schoolhouse was on a corner opposite the church. It was
built of logs, with a fireplace also, sloping desks along two
sides, slab seats arranged in the center, and space enough to
accommodate about one hundred pupils. It, too, was equipped
with a bell. This was the first schoolhouse in the United
States north and west of the Ohio River.

Every lot in Schoenbrunn was fenced in, including God's
Acre, the burial ground in the northwest part of the town. A
fence enclosed the entire town. There were large cultivated
fields with rail fences, gardens, and fruit orchards as well as
cattle, horses, and hogs. Beyond the plain, which was five
miles in circumference, there was the familiar forest of oak,
hickory, chestnut, ash, and maple, while nearer the river were
huge sycamores, walnuts, cedars, horse chestnuts, and locusts.
These forests were rich in game, berries, and herbs ; the streams
abounded in fish.

To such a town in such a setting did Margaret and Richard
Conner bend their steps on that February day in 1775. Small
wonder that it seemed to them an oasis, a promised land.16
Their arrival in Schoenbrunn, however, presented anew to the
missionaries the problem of whether they could permit a white
family to join their Indian settlement. While they considered
this question, Richard went to the country of the Shawnee
seeking his young son, James, to redeem him if possible.
Margaret stayed at the mission, charmed with its order, its

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 17

cleanliness, and its kindness. Here was the Indian environ-
ment in which she had grown up, but impressed upon it was the
Christian ideal for which unconsciously her soul had hungered.
When her husband returned without news of their boy, they
both applied for membership in the Indian church, asking no
favors to be granted to them above the Indians and cheerfully
acquiescing in all the regulations. Zeisberger hesitated, fearful
lest such a step might be misunderstood by the Indians and
their confidence in him be lessened. The Indian members of
the congregation were consulted and likewise White Eyes,17
first war captain of the Delawares and trusted counselor of
Netawatwees. White Eyes knew Richard Conner, and had
discussed with him his intention of coming to live at the Mora-
vian town. Evidently no adverse opinion was given, and
Zeisberger, yielding at last to their importunity, accepted them
on probation for a year. Richard set to work to build his
house. The summer was thus pleasantly occupied and the
house completed in time for a new arrival in the family, an-
other boy, baptized by David Zeisberger, August 27, 1775,
with the name of John.18 He is the John of this narrative.

This little family had reached a peaceful haven at a very
critical time in the country's history. Only a few short months
before John's birth the battles of Lexington and Concord had
been fought. The Continental Congress in July of this year
determined upon an effort to keep the Ohio Indians neutral in
the event of war, which seemed inevitable. As part of this
movement, emissaries were authorized to carry belts as tokens
of peace to all the tribes. In the fall of 1775, Colonel John
Gibson, who had translated Chief Logan's speech at Camp
Charlotte, came to Schoenbrunn during his tour of the Indian
country bearing the "Congress Belt." It was six feet long and
half a foot wide — an emblem of neutral friendship to which
the Indians had agreed.10 Richard Conner embraced the op-
portunity to accompany Colonel Gibson on his visit to the
other tribes, with the thought always in his mind of recovering
his little son James, who was still somewhere with the Shawnee.
This time he was successful. On the return journey in the
following spring he found his boy among the Shawnee and
after sundry tribal conferences was able to ransom him for
forty dollars. The little boy's head was shaved like an Indian's.

18 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

What a day of rejoicing in Schoenbrunn was March 18, 1776,
when he was restored to his mother's arms!20 Peace and joy-
filled the heart of Margaret Conner, now familiarly known in
Schoenbrunn as Peggy. Her family circle was complete. In
addition she had formed a warm friendship with Mrs. Jung-
man, the wife of one of the Moravian teachers.21

Schoenbrunn was not the only town established by the
Moravian missionaries in 1772. In the fall of that year, an-
other town for Christian Indians, especially the Mahican, was
established about ten miles south of Schoenbrunn on the Tus-
carawas River, and called Gnadenhutten, or "Tents of Grace."
The latter was never as large as Schoenbrunn, but both were
flourishing communities from 1772 to 1777. Nine tribes were
represented in these mission towns, the Unami, Unalachtigo,
and Munsee (all Delawares) ; the Mahican, Nanticoke, and
Shawnee (tribes descended from or adopted by the Delawares) ;
Conoy, Mingo, and a Cherokee. At the earnest request of the
Delawares a third town was established a few years later about
three miles below the site of the Delaware capital, on the east
side of the Muskingum. It was called Lichtenau, or "Pasture
of Light," and was established by David Zeisberger and his
valiant assistant, John Heckewelder, on April 12, 1776. By
January, 1777, there were four hundred and fourteen believing
Indians in the three towns. Colonel George Morgan was a
visitor at these towns during this period and was "astonished
and delighted, in observing such order, regularity and indus-

a. "22

try.

The war clouds of the American Revolution were beginning
to thicken over this little center of civilization in the Ohio
wilderness. Both English and American leaders in the
struggle were at first anxious to keep the Indians in this terri-
tory neutral, and the strategic position and influence of the
Moravian towns were clearly seen by both. The Moravians
by the tenets of their religion were against war and more than
willing to throw the weight of their influence to keep the
Indians out of the conflict. But that task grew increasingly
difficult. The Indian tribes were easily incited to war, which

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 19

was a natural pastime for them. A few of their chiefs sensed
that their future was at stake in this war.

When the English realized that they faced not a slight
colonial insubordination to be easily put down, but the rising
of a people intent upon securing their liberties, they turned for
reinforcements to the Indians. In 1777 the Shawnee joined
the English ; later, the Iroquois and the Wyandot did likewise.
From Detroit, British military headquarters in the West, came
three men who had great influence with the Indians. These
three were Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliot, and Simon
Girty. They were malignantly and wickedly bitter against
the Americans. Elliot was a renegade royalist. McKee was a
Pennsylvanian with a treasonable record. Girty, a half-breed,
was illiterate, depraved, brutal. This despicable trio effective-
ly incited the tribes in the Ohio Valley in the interests of the
British and against the Americans.23 Colonel Matthew Elliot,
as he became by promotion in the British service, and Simon
Girty will appear later in this narrative.

On the eastern rim of this valley, Forts Pitt and Henry
were garrisoned by Americans. The Delawares, under the
wise guidance of Chief White Eyes and undoubtedly influenced
by the Moravians, held out the longest for neutrality. But one
tribe of the Delawares, notably, the Munsee, forsook them and
joined the English. This disaffection spread to Schoenbrunn,
and before the missionaries were aware of it there was a party
of apostates in this peaceful little town, led by a recent convert,
Chief Newallike. Zeisberger was too much of a statesman to
hesitate in a crisis where the lives of both missionaries and
believing Indians were threatened. Unable to move the apos-
tates, he decided to abandon the much-loved town of Schoen-
brunn and remove the congregation to the new town of
Lichtenau, located near the capital of the friendly Delawares
who had promised them protection.

Richard Conner was received into the church on March 27,
1777; his name was the last one written on the list of members
of the congregation at Schoenbrunn before April 19, 1777, the
day the town was abandoned and the chapel razed. The town
was left in the hands of the hostile Munsee. The Conner fam-
ily with the Jungmans and others had fled to Lichtenau earlier
in the month. They had been driven out of their comfortable

20 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

log houses at Schoenbrunn into a wilderness, to face the raw
winds of April without any sort of shelter or assurance of
protection. This change was a difficult and anxious one, a
prelude to a still more critical period. The missionaries at
Lichtenau were Zeisberger, the Jungmans, and William Ed-
wards. By August, 1777, the Jungmans, at the urgent insist-
ence of Zeisberger, left to return to Bethlehem, and Margaret
Conner was thus deprived of her friend as well as her home at
Schoenbrunn.24 It is probable that at this time the Conners
had three small boys, James, William, and John, although there
is no available record of William's birth.25

6.

The Dela wares had encouraged the establishment of Lichte-
nau and had promised to protect it from war parties, but the
situation of the congregation in this town was now precarious.
The English had become suspicious of the motive of the mis-
sionaries in keeping the Delawares neutral. Hostile tribes
were making constant attempts to break down this neutrality of
the Delawares. Skirmishes between the hostile Indians and
the Americans were more frequent, and Lichtenau was in the
path of war parties from both sides.

In August, 1777, the Half King, chief of the powerful
Wyandot, who had allied themselves with Great Britain, came
to Lichtenau with eighty-two warriors and stayed in the neigh-
borhood for two weeks recruiting Indians of all tribes. This
was a very trying time for the inhabitants of Lichtenau. The
warriors were noisy, dancing and begging for bread before
every house, and becoming drunken and rowdy under the in-
fluence of rum imported from Pittsburgh. The missionaries
and Christian Indians tried to give them no offense and to
treat them with kindness, but this attitude was misinterpreted
by the American white settlers on the Ohio as an evidence of
friendliness toward the British.

Rumors of all kinds were current, especially one relating
to an invasion by the Americans. The Christian Indians in
the two towns of Lichtenau and Gnadenhiitten prepared for
the worst. A site was selected on the Walhonding River as a
place of refuge for both congregations. On September 17,
1777, frightened by a false rumor of an attack by the Ameri-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 21

cans, they all fled to this place, but later returned to their
towns when their fears were allayed. It was in this period
of fear and unrest that Margaret (Peggy) Conner was re-
ceived into full membership of the congregation.26

It was finally decided to combine the two congregations,
and the Christian Indians of Gnadenhiitten were brought to
Lichtenau in 1778. This was another hard experience for the
inhabitants of Lichtenau, at least until houses were built for
the newcomers. Even then the little town was overcrowded.
Furthermore, the friendly Delawares were wavering in their
neutrality. The United States was urging them to make war
on the Indian allies of the British, but they resolved, instead,
to join the English, and thus became the enemies instead of
the friends and protectors of the mission congregation.

The situation of the mission station at Lichtenau was now
critical. It was no longer advantageous to be near the Dela-
ware capital. War parties of Indians made it a point to pass
through Lichtenau to annoy the inhabitants and raid them for
provisions. Zeisberger was not ready to give up the enterprise,
but he recognized that a change would have to be made. As
greater success had attended his efforts when the communities
were small, he decided to divide the congregations into three
towns again. He prepared to select the site of a new town and
took with him, in the spring of 1779, a part of the congrega-
tion to a place across the river and a mile west of the site of the
first town, Schoenbrunn, now completely destroyed. The
members lived in huts for the greater part of the year and
worshiped in the open until the new town was completed in
December of that year. He named it New Schoenbrunn —
with what nameless hopes and fears ! Whether the Conner
family went with him in April, 1779, and had a part in the
choosing of the site, or whether they went later when the town
was completed, is not known. On October 7, 1780, another
son was born to the Conners at New Schoenbrunn. This child,
Henry, was a fair-haired little boy. In later years he was
known by the Indians as Wahbeskendip or White Hair.27

Before the third town of Zeisberger's new plan was estab-
lished, Lichtenau (the last of the original trio of Schoenbrunn,
Gnadenhiitten, and Lichtenau) was finally abandoned on
March 30, 1780. Those who had come there from Gnaden-

22 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

hutten returned to that place. The rest formed the inhabitants
of New Schoenbrunn. On April 6, 1780, John Heckewelder,
with a party of converts, established the last town of the Mora-
vian Indians in this period — Salem, which was located only a
few miles from Gnadenhiitten. Zeisberger's plan for three
towns was now realized. They were Gnadenhiitten, New
Schoenbrunn, and Salem. He had formed his ranks for the
impending conflict.

CHAPTER III
Removal to Michigan with the Dispossessed Moravians

The forces of disaster were rapidly closing in on the peace-
ful Moravian settlements. In the East and South the War
of the Revolution was entering its last phase, but the outcome
was still uncertain. The British had been content up to this
time to use their Indian allies only for the purpose of harrying
the settlers on the frontier in an attempt to break their morale.
Companies of Indian warriors under white leaders were now
incorporated into the British army. One field of action for
these was the Ohio Valley. The British had resolved upon the
destruction of the Indian congregations. Unfortunately for
the security of the missionaries, many of the Americans in the
Ohio Valley were convinced on their part that the Moravian
Indians were giving secret aid to the Indian allies of the
British.1

Colonel Daniel Brodhead, in January, 1779, had assumed
command of the American headquarters at Fort Pitt. During
that year he received from Heckewelder information concern-
ing the hostile movements of Simon Girty and his Indians,
and in the next year other messages were sent to him from
Heckewelder and Zeisberger relating to the movements and
actions of these Indians, among whom were now the Dela-
wares. In 1781 the Indian war became general. Not a single
tribe in the country beyond the Ohio remained friendly to the
Americans. In January of that year Richard Conner, on one
of his trips to Fort Pitt, gave information to Colonel Brod-
head about the state of affairs among the Delawares, and
Brodhead expressed the hope that the Christian Indians would
not furnish cattle and swine to the enemy.2 In March, Colonel
Brodhead wrote to General Washington that he had learned
from the Moravians that the temper of the Indians was un-
friendly and that a general Indian war was at hand. Acting
upon this advice, Brodhead a month later attacked and defeated
the Indians at the Delaware capital, Goschachgiink, in what is
known as Brodhead's Expedition. The Delawares abandoned

(23)

24 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

their capital and went to the Sandusky country to be near their
British allies. A prominent chief of their own tribe, Captain
Pipe, had removed his village there in 1778 and allied himself
with Half King of the Wyandot. These two were soon to
make common cause against the Moravians.3

On August 18, 1 781, Zeisberger, realizing the gravity of
the situation, sent a message to Fort Pitt that about two hun-
dred and fifty Indians, Wyandot, Dela wares, Munsee, Shaw-
nee, and Mingo, led by the British captain, Matthew Elliot,
were approaching to attack the Americans at Fort Henry
(Wheeling, West Virginia) and other posts. This and later
information was forwarded to Fort Henry, so that when the
Indians started their attacks the defense was ready for them
and they were compelled to retire. The British Indians learned
from white prisoners that the Americans had been warned by
the Moravian missionaries, and this discovery exasperated
them. The incident confirmed their strong suspicion that the
Moravians were sending information to Fort Pitt. Undoubt-
edly as a result of this, Elliot and his Indians were given in-
structions to take the Moravians and the Christian Indians
prisoners, and to break up the missions. The Indians arrived
near Salem on August 10, 1781, led by Half King (Wyandot),
Captain Pipe (Delaware), Wenginund (Delaware), Captains
John and Thomas Snake (Shawnee), Abraham Coon or Kuhn,
Matthew Elliot, and Alexander McCormick. They carried a
British flag. More warriors came, until about three hundred
encamped west of Gnadenhutten. The gravity of this situation
was increased by the fact that the Indian leaders expected to
be joined by an army of one thousand British and Indians who
were on their way to stop George Rogers Clark from going
down the Ohio and then (so they understood) up to Detroit.4

Meanwhile, in a rough log cabin in the recently built vil-
lage of New Schoenbrunn about ten miles away, Richard and
Margaret Conner faced all the implications of this situation
for themselves and their four boys, James, William, John, and
Henry — the eldest ten, the youngest a baby. As they were
Moravians by choice and close friends of the missionaries who
were hated and whose lives were sought, it was possible that

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 25

their family too, was on the edge of destruction. This must
have been in their thoughts, but to their credit they made no
effort to disentangle their own fortunes from those of the mis-
sionaries who had befriended them and were now in trouble.
The British Indians had determined to remove the Christian
Indians and to break up the mission settlements, and, if neces-
sary to accomplish this, murder all the missionaries. Besides
the missionaries and the Conners there was one other white
family in these Moravian towns, that of John Leith.5 So great
was the hatred of the Americans that their lives, too, were in
danger.

Zeisberger was in great distress of mind, not because of his
personal safety but for the future of his Indian missions. He
asked for delay until the crops were garnered. He pleaded for
a continuance of his work. Council after council was held by
the Indians to determine the fate of the missionaries and con-
verts. A sorcerer was called. When the proposal to kill the
missionaries was submitted, he dissented on the ground that
the native assistants would take the place of the missionaries.
When it was proposed to kill the assistants he dissented again,
for that would involve killing their own people, their relatives
and friends. To fortify his position, he threatened dire calam-
ity if his words were disregarded. Finally, on September I,
the council decided to spare the missionaries' lives and take
them prisoners. The ultimatum was given on September 3,
when, for the last time, Half King and his captains asked the
missionaries to leave their towns and go with them to the
Wyandot country. They refused. That afternoon Zeisberger
and Heckewelder were taken to Elliot's tent as prisoners.
Simultaneously a band of thirty warriors set out for Salem
and another party of warriors went to New Schoenbrunn to
capture the remaining missionaries and their families. During
a night of heavy rain they were taken from their beds in their
sleeping clothes, and at dawn they were on their way to the
camp near Gnadenhiitten, their captors singing the death song
and shouting scalp yells. The missionaries were imprisoned
for three days, at the end of which time they yielded to the
demands and agreed to abandon the mission towns. They were
then released from their confinement. Meanwhile, the Indians
had plundered the mission house, the houses of the inhabitants,

26 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

and burned the books and writings of the teachers. A com-
pany of Indians had entered Salem and committed such out-
rages as could only be expected of madmen. No attempt was
made by Elliot or Half King or Pipe to curb the excesses of
the savages.6

The Conner family was in imminent and great peril. Their
fate was bound up with that of the Moravian teachers. The
Christian Indians on the other hand were countrymen and
relatives of the hostile Indians. British agents and Indian
chiefs both clung to the belief that if the missionaries were
disposed of, the Christian Indians, including the assistants,
would return to their tribes and savage lives. Once more sub-
servient to their chiefs, they would become allies of the British,
and the future of the Moravian missions would thus be ended.
But it was just this that Zeisberger refused to do, to be sepa-
rated from the Indians whom he had nurtured in the faith and
who needed still to be strengthened lest they fall away from it.
His decision meant the triumph or failure of his lifework.

On September n, 1781, the whole body of Christian In-
dians, with the Moravian missionaries and their families, the
Conner family and the Leith family, left Salem, the place ap-
pointed by Zeisberger for the assembling of the inhabitants
of the three towns. They were closely guarded by Delaware
and Wyandot warriors commanded by Elliot. As the cavalcade
of four hundred Moravian Indians left Salem there were sad
hearts and perturbed minds. They were giving up rich planta-
tions, thousands of bushels of unharvested corn, herds of live
stock, poultry of every kind, gardens with abundance of vege-
tables, three flourishing towns, homes, implements of agricul-
ture and of domestic use — all for an unknown wilderness
where food and shelter would be uncertain. It was a dark,
disheartening outlook, which was not softened later by stern
reality.

The expedition traveled in two divisions — one in canoes on
the Tuscarawas, the other on land, driving a large herd of
cattle. The river was low and driftwood obstructed its cur-
rent so that at times a passage had to be cut through it. At
Goschachgimk Elliot left them. They went by land through

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 27

the forsaken Delaware capital to the Walhonding River, then
proceeded partly by water and partly along the banks, spending
six days in camp at two different places on the borders of this
river. During this period they encountered a terrific storm of
rain, wind, thunder, and lightning. Half King, who had
recently overtaken them with his troops, gave orders for them
to lie by for the day in order to dry their clothes and get their
things in order. In this storm two canoes were lost and many
provisions. The camping site was flooded and no campfire
could be made.

The Indians treated their captives with indignities and at
times with harshness. The Conners were stripped of all their
belongings, even to a kettle for cooking. Richard bore one and
then another of his little sons, and his wife carried the baby,
Henry, in Indian fashion. Tradition has it that the mother
darkened the bright hair of her babe in order to make him ap-
pear more like an Indian and to attract less attention to the
fact that they were a white and not an Indian family.7 The
Indians drove them forward like a herd of cattle, striking their
horses to make them go faster, refusing to allow mothers time
to nurse their babies. Mrs. Zeisberger was twice thrown from
her horse. Michael Jung received a sharp blow to hasten his
steps. Their shoes were worn off their feet before they
reached the Sandusky River at noon of October I. They had
traveled one hundred and twenty- five miles in twenty days on
sore and lacerated feet. At this point Half King with his
warriors left them without explanation or offer of assistance,
only announcing that it was his intention to organize them into
war parties to fight the Americans. Left stranded in a country
totally unfamiliar to them, a desolate and wild land compared
to the fruitful valley they had left, their situation was critical,
their spirits at the lowest ebb. Their first camp was about ten
miles from Half King's town, near the deserted Wyandot vil-
lage of Upper Sandusky Old Town. During the next week
they found a more desirable town site with timber accessible,
and at once began to build small log houses. Too disheartened
to give the site a name, lacking both clothes and food, they
camped in this nameless place which was afterwards, for pur-
poses of identification, called Captives' Town.8

28 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The missionaries were soon summoned to Detroit for trial.9
After a journey of great hardship, lacking provisions and
equipment, they arrived hungry, friendless, and weary at the
house of Major de Peyster, commandant.10 They were with-
out guard, for the two Delawares (Pipe and Wenginund) who
had delivered the message of the commandant to the mission-
aries failed to return with them. They were ungraciously re-
ceived by Major de Peyster and their hearing was postponed
until Pipe, who was carousing in a camp on the Maumee,
should arrive. The British agent, Elliot, who had persuaded
De Peyster to the capture of the Moravians at Salem on Sep-
tember 1 1 was distributing rewards to Pipe's Indians.

Five days later Captain Pipe made a spectacular entry into
Detroit with two of his councilors and a band of Delawares
whooping the scalp yell. The next day, November 9, he ap-
peared with his savage retinue in the council chamber of Com-
mandant de Peyster. It was a cold, gloomy, scantily furnished
room. De Peyster sat at the head of the table. On one bench
facing him were the missionaries, charged with giving aid and
information to the enemy — the Americans. On each side of
them sat their accusers, Pipe and his Delawares on one hand,
Mingo and Indians of various other tribes on the other. Be-
hind the commandant, his secretary, and his Indian agent, were
grouped British officers, interpreters, and servants.

It was a solemn occasion. Pipe was the first to make a
speech. He outlined the part played by the Delawares in the
French and Indian War, in Pontiac's War, and the reasons for
their present alliance with the British. Now and then he re-
ferred with biting sarcasm to the British, and, in the same
breath, made protestations of loyalty to them. At this point he
delivered to De Peyster, who was somewhat of a gentleman
and scholar, a stick on which hung human scalps, and other
chiefs presented like evidence of their loyalty. These grue-
some and repulsive tokens of achievement were received ac-
cording to the British rules of warfare and placed in a corner
of the room. The prideful Pipe then sat down.

Major de Peyster, with the stern dignity becoming to the
occasion, arose and rehearsed the charges that Pipe made and

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 29

then asked him directly whether the Moravians had given in-
formation and aid to the Americans. Pipe had had an active
part in the deportation from Salem which had been ordered
by De Peyster on the basis of this and similar accusations. His
mind did not act at this moment and his tongue was confused.
He answered evasively, and, whispering to his councilors,
urged them to speak, but they hung their heads. Perhaps
memories were arising in the minds of all of them of the kind-
ness of these teachers who had come among them at their own
request — of the occasions on which they had been fed and
sheltered, consoled and taught by them. De Peyster, soldier
that he was, standing with military bearing, his eyes fixed
upon Pipe, was awaiting the answer to his question. The
tense silence of the room was broken only by uneasy shuffling
of feet and slight restlessness among the Indians. Suddenly
Pipe sprang to his feet and declared that the accused were in-
nocent and that what they did in writing letters to the Ameri-
cans they were compelled to do. Striking his breast with his
clenched fists, he exclaimed : "I and the chiefs at Goschach-
giink are responsible."

The trial ended with the acquittal of the missionaries, for
by the lips of De Peyster's own witness the incriminating evi-
dence was turned not against the accused but against the ac-
cuser. If De Peyster did not know that the British-Delaware
alliance was based on force rather than friendship he learned it
from Pipe's speech at this trial. Perhaps he had no notion of
testing the strength of that alliance at this critical time by
convicting the missionaries in the face of Pipe's statement that
they were innocent. Both Zeisberger and Heckewelder had
written letters to Fort Pitt giving information concerning the
movements of the Indians. The Moravian villagers had fed
Colonel Brodhead's soldiers and furnished them horses at the
time of their attack upon the Delaware capital at Goschach-
giink. They, as well as Conner, although situated in a country
bristling with British agents and hostile Indians, were in sym-
pathy with the Americans but could not openly espouse the
American cause and hope to escape the penalty. Doubtless the
letters that Pipe referred to were written as he stated, but there
was other evidence which might have implicated the mission-
aries in the charges that were preferred against them.11

30 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Whether or not this was known to De Peyster is not clear
from the record.

The fate of the Conner family at this time was dependent
on De Peyster. His was an awkward position in a serious
situation. After inflicting indescribable sufferings and misery
on more than four hundred human beings by ordering the raid
on Salem, he now dismissed the whole proceeding without
pressing the charges against the missionaries. The loyalty of
the Delawares to the British was not free from doubt. De
Peyster was convinced of the friendly relations between the
accused missionaries and the Americans at Fort Pitt and Fort
Henry, and had ordered the Salem raid for the purpose of
segregating the white Moravians from their followers and
from the Americans. In less than ninety days from this time
the four hundred Moravian Indians had returned to their
tribes. The joker in De Peyster's apparently friendly and
generous ruling was that the missionaries were not released
from his control. By allowing the Indians to slip away he
accomplished his purpose and broke up the mission so that it
was no longer a menace to the British. Shortly he wrote to
McKee that the missionaries seemed "to be harmless people"
and that upon Pipe's application he had allowed them to return
to their families.12 By one clever stroke he had shorn them
of all their power because he had in this way taken away their
Indians. The missionaries, as an expression of gratitude for
their deliverance, built and dedicated a house of worship at
Captives' Town. Their perceptions of the real situation were
blurred by sufferings and apprehensions. Shortly the stark
truth would be disclosed to them.

Richard Conner, meanwhile, had become convinced of the
hopelessness of trying to maintain his little family in the bar-
ren location of Captives' Town. In the swiftly flowing cur-
rent of events, the fortunes of this little group were only a
small eddy. The village was overcrowded and there was not
enough food to go around. It was unlikely that it would be
anything more than a temporary abiding place for the Mora-
vians and their Christian Indians, and to attempt to develop it
as a town or as an agricultural community would be folly. In

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 31

fact, Conner did not take his family there at all, but remained
at the Wyandot village at Upper Sandusky Old Town and
prepared to move them to Lower Sandusky, now Fremont,
Ohio, where there was a trading post and a small Wyandot
village. He had accomplished this removal by December i,
1 78 1. The warriors at Lower Sandusky were abroad fighting
the Americans. Ships from Sandusky transported troops up
the river to this point. French and English traders brought
their wares here by boat. Zeisberger, visiting Conner on
March 19, 1782, realized that Conner could better maintain
himself here than at Captives' Town. The family was subject
to any disposition the Wyandot, acting under the orders of the
British commandant at Fort Detroit, wished to make of them,
but for the present their movements were not restricted so long
as they remained within the Wyandot country.13

The winter following, however, was one of suffering and
distress among the missionaries. The weather was intensely
cold, their huts furnished inadequate shelter, and they were
without the actual necessities of life. Girty and Half King
were openly antagonistic. As the famine increased one hun-
dred and fifty Christian Indians were allowed to go back to
the Muskingum Valley to gather the ungarnered corn in their
fields. The remainder straggled back to their friends in other
tribes. Converts that Zeisberger had so toilsomely gathered
together and who had so loyally supported him were dis-
persing because to stay meant starvation. By the end of
February nearly all of the inhabitants of Captives' Town were
scattered.14 The teachers and a few old people were all that
were left. Richard Conner had been shrewdly right. The
town could not be supported in this location. He was still at
Lower Sandusky.

6.

Early in March, 1782, word came to the missionaries that
De Peyster wished the teachers and their families to return to
Detroit. It sounded like a message of deliverance, but to
Zeisberger it was a message of despair. The invitation did not
include his Christian Indians, and if he left them now in the
midst of disaster he felt he could never rally them and his
work of forty years among them would be brought to naught.

32 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

He had hoped even in this unpropitious place to build a com-
munity for them and gradually to win them back. He had no
choice, but he could not leave without an explanation to his
Indian children, so he sent messengers to them scattered as
they were throughout the Ohio Valley bidding them meet him
in Captives' Town. There he held a farewell service on March
fifteenth, while anguish filled his soul.15

One group was not represented in this little company of the
faithful, and that was the party who had gone back to Gnaden-
hiitten for the ungarnered grain. Word had reached Zeis-
berger that this group had been captured and put to death by
the American militia, but he did not believe it, so great was his
faith in the Americans. Four days later when the missionaries
were waiting at Lower Sandusky for a boat to take them to
Detroit, he learned the truth. Ninety Christian Indians at
Gnadenhiitten had been foully murdered by Pennsylvania and
Virginia militia under the command of Colonel David William-
son. They had been packed into houses and slaughtered like
animals — men, women, and children. The frontier settlers
had been outrageously treated by hostile Indians, but to revenge
themselves in this manner on peaceful, unarmed Indians who
had not wronged them in any way, was an unspeakable crime.
This act was the Nemesis of the Americans in the vears to
follow.16

David Zeisberger's cup was full as he set sail for Detroit.
It can be assumed that the Conner family at Lower Sandusky
did what they could to assuage the grief and despair of their
friends, the missionaries, during the four weeks they spent
there waiting for the boat and that they saw them depart with
a deep sense of loss.

When Zeisberger and his assistant missionaries arrived in
Detroit, April 20, 1782, De Peyster welcomed them cordially
and offered to let them stay in Detroit or go back to Bethle-
hem. He had brought them here at the behest of Half King
and Girty, who were still determined to break completely the
power of the missionaries over the Indians. Half King, in his
cruel untutored mind, held them responsible for the death of
his two sons who had been killed in a raid on the white settlers
on the Ohio at the time of the Salem attack. The comman-
dant, naturally humane, was now disillusioned as to his Indian

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 33

allies. He could see no reason for inflicting further punish-
ment on these people because they were hated by Girty and
the Half King, and he thought it advisable to remove them
from a dangerous situation. He, therefore, induced the Chip-
pewa to give them permission to settle on the Huron (now
Clinton)' River about twenty miles north of Detroit.17

By June following, Lower Sandusky was filled with
rumors of war. The tragic sequel of the massacre at Gnaden-
hiitten was now to follow. Major William Crawford, Vir-
ginia landowner and friend of Washington, was commissioned
to lead an army to Sandusky to punish the Wyandot, Seneca,
and Shawnee for their murderous raids against the Pennsyl-
vania and Virginia settlers. Colonel David Williamson, who
led the expedition against Gnadenhiitten, was a field marshal
in this campaign. This army was badly defeated in a desper-
ately fought battle at Sandusky lasting from June 4 to 7.
Major Crawford was captured and burned at the stake. Wil-
liamson, the real culprit, escaped.18

The Conner family was caught again in the midst of ex-
citing and terrifying happenings. Richard's anxiety for their
safety was very great, and as soon as it was practicable he
determined to follow the missionaries to Detroit, thus evading:
the backwash of the brutal Indian triumph. The Conners
arrived in Detroit about the middle of June. Zeisberger, mean-
while, had made preparations for the establishment of a Chris-
tian Indian settlement on the banks of the Huron River. On
the twenty-second of July, with a little band of Indians, he se-
lected the site for the town, which he named, with hope, New
Gnadenhiitten. It consisted of one street of more than twenty
log houses and a church. The site had some points of re-
semblance to the first Moravian town in Ohio — the beloved
Schoenbrunn. These were the river, the plateau with "springs
of limpid waters gushing from its base," the dark fringe of
woods filled with huge forest trees so familiar to them. But
the forest was not as inviting as the one they had left. The
ground was covered with a dense growth of bushes which hid
from the eye of the unsuspecting traveler the treacherous
marsh. Berries were plentiful, however, and wild flax grew

34 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

abundantly. There were possibilities here to satisfy the needs
of a growing community. By the end of the year there were
fifty-three members in this little colony.19 There was magnet-
ism in Zeisberger's unselfish devotion.

Richard Conner remained in Detroit for nine months, prob-
ably because he had found means of supporting his family
there. He came to know De Peyster and was employed by him
on business with the Indians in their country. On one occasion,
in July, 1782, he used this opportunity at the request of Zeis-
berger, to tell the Christian Indians whom he met about the
new town that Zeisberger was building, urging them to come
back to it. Many returned as a result of this solicitation.
Conner himself desired to join Zeisberger as soon as he could,
and in the spring of 1783 removed his family to New Gnaden-
hiitten. As Detroit was not far away, communication was
easy and frequent, and until they could clear the forest and
place the land under cultivation they could depend upon Detroit
for provisions. De Peyster apparently furnished provisions
for the entire mission station for a time, but in July, 1783,
the supplies were discontinued and everyone was compelled to
buy his food.20

During the previous winter (1782- 1783) the inhabitants
had made maple sugar, canoes, baskets, brooms, bowls, had
gathered berries and caught fish — all of which had a ready
market in Detroit. But the winter following the arrival of the
Conner family was unusually cold. Famine hovered over the
little community until a herd of deer wandered unexpectedly
into the vicinity. Many, however, on account of inadequate
provisions were compelled to go to Detroit to earn their liveli-
hood.21 For a time there were only the missionaries and the
Conners living in the village. It was during this cold winter,
December 16, 1783, that a daughter was born in the Conner
household, and was baptized with the name of Susanna.22 The
family now consisted of four boys and one girl. During all
their hardships and perils, not one of this family had been lost.

The harvest of 1784 was abundant, but a new set of diffi-
culties confronted the community. Though a cessation of
hostilities between the British and Americans had been pro-
claimed early in the spring of 1783, a general treaty of peace
was not signed until September 3. The future government of

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 35

the country in Detroit and adjacent territory was unsettled.
The British wished to hold it as long as possible. The Chip-
pewa, irritated by the presence of the Moravians among them,
said that they had granted the land to them only until the end
of the war. The British governors who succeeded De Peyster
at Detroit did not encourage the Moravians to remain. Major
Ancrum, commandant, and John Askin, a Detroit merchant,
offered to buy the improvements in their village (excepting
those of Richard Conner who had decided to remain) for four
hundred dollars. Under these conditions it was decided to
abandon the mission and seek another site on the other side
of Lake Erie.23

a 443205

Richard Conner, now advanced in years, felt that he could
no longer follow the Moravian missionaries in their transitory
locations, and remained with his family on the homestead he
had provided for them. This ended the connection of the
Conner family with the mission settlements of David Zeis-
berger, whose effort to establish a permanent location was to
be again frustrated. The Conner family was now the only
white family in New Gnadenhiitten. The Chippewa Indians
were their only neighbors until 1799 and perhaps a year longer.
Why the Chippewa made an exception of Richard Conner's
family is not known. Probably it was for the reason that
this family who had lived for many years among the Indians
understood the language and customs of even the uncivilized
Chippewa. The Conner children were reared on this land,
which came to be known locally as "Conner Farms." Their
dwelling had the distinction of having a cellar. Near by was a
field of Indian corn and a garden. At last, the wilderness was
beginning to blossom at the hands of Richard Conner.24

Records touching on the Conner family are meager between
the years 1786 and 1800. They lived in a more primitive way
after the Moravians had left. Detroit, only twenty miles away,
was then a trading as well as a military post. Farms adjoining
it had been cultivated since the date of its founding in 1701.
There was the mingling here of both French and English. The
Catholic church was the dominant one, and while the Conners
had been Irish Protestants from the beginning, it was only

36 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

natural that under these circumstances some of their children
should drift into the Catholic church. The family had both
business and social relations in Detroit. Richard was essential-
ly a farmer, and he became an extensive landowner in Macomb
County, where he was the first white settler. Mt. Clemens,
the county seat, was laid out in 1803 on land purchased from
him. After his death on April 22, 1807, his widow and chil-
dren proved their claims to over four thousand acres of land.
When in 1796 the British government, under Jay's treaty,
had surrendered possession of lands in Macomb County, the
titles were adjudicated on proof that improvements had been
made by the claimants prior to 1796, and patents were issued
by the United States upon such proof. Indian titles were not
recognized.25

Richard Conner's family lived in or near Mt. Clemens until
the War of 1812. After the massacre at the River Raisin — a
bloody chapter of British perfidy — the Indians assumed a
threatening attitude. Margaret Conner was then living with
her daughter, Susanna, who had married Elisha Harrington
in the year of her father's death. Harrington was in the army,
as were the Conner sons, and for personal safety his family,
including Margaret Conner, fled with other settlers living near
Detroit to that town. The Conners Creek home of Henry
Conner was opened to his relatives while he was at the front
fighting. Savage marauders stole everything they could lay
their hands on, particularly poultry, cattle, and horses. Even
in this last year of her life "Margaret Conner's soul was not to
be r.nharried by brutalities. It is said that the Indians displayed
scalps of white victims taken in the recent massacre and claim-
ed that one was that of her son, Henry Conner. It was not
true, but how the exhibition must have wrung the mother's
heart! Six months later, in June, 1813, Margaret Conner died
in Henry Conner's home at the probable age of sixty-three
years.26 She was buried in Detroit — a worthy mother of
pioneers.

This narrative will henceforth be confined to the adventures
and achievements of two of her sons, William and John, pio-
neers in the region now known as the state of Indiana.

CHAPTER IV

John and William Conner, Traders on the
Indiana Frontier

When the Moravian mission at New Gnadenhutten,
Michigan, was abandoned in 1786, James Conner was
fifteen, William about thirteen, John, eleven, and Henry, six
years old. They had spent their childhood and youth among
the Indians. Their mother and father, both adopted members
of the Shawnee tribe, had familiarized the children with its
language. Shawnee dialects were probably used in common
with the English language in the household. The most impres-
sionable years of these boys had been spent in the Moravian
mission towns in Ohio and Michigan, where the children of
the mission heard German as well as English.1 Hymns and the
Psalms were taught in the German language. Delaware In-
dians and representatives of other tribes composed the mission
towns, and parties from neighboring bands were constantly
passing through on one errand or another, sometimes staying
for days at a time. Naturally the Conner boys became familiar
with the dress, the customs, and the language of many different
tribes. When the Conners were held virtually prisoners in the
Sandusky country, they were close neighbors of the Wyandot
and had intimate association with them. Later, in Michigan,
they lived among the Chippewa. No wonder a tradition per-
sists to this day in Mt. Clemens, that the children of Richard
Conner dressed and acted like Indians.

It was a natural sequent that the four boys became well-
known Indian interpreters. There were three dialects in the
Delaware language, the Unami, Munsee, and Unalachtigo.
It is certain that William and John knew all of these, and could
speak the Shawnee, Chippewa, and probably the Wyandot
languages. As the school was next in importance to the
church in the mind of David Zeisberger, it can be assumed that
the boys learned the rudiments of reading, writing, and arith-
metic under the tutelage of that able man.2 Whether their
education was continued in Detroit after the abandonment of
the New Gnadenhutten mission is not known. If it was, there

(37)

38 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

is no record of it. But by this time they were familiar with
more languages than most boys of the same age today.

In addition they had learned the secrets of the forests, and
acquired a sound practical knowledge of frontier trading opera-
tions. An Indian trail was almost as easy for them to follow
as a modern road for the youth of today.3 Every sound of the
forest had a meaning to their ears. The tracks of beasts, the
flights of birds, the changing colors of the woods and sky and
water were full of significance to them. The cult of the Indian
was inbred in them. They had observed the methods of both
French and English traders while they were at Sandusky and
later at Mt. Clemens. Some knowledge of the French language
was thus acquired as they became friends of the rough traders
and learned the value of the pelts from them. From its begin-
ning Detroit had been coveted by three nations for its strategic
position in the fur trade.

The boys' father, Richard, was essentially a farmer. Lov-
ing the soil and its cultivation, he had acquired vast acres for
his family, but two of his sons were not content to remain
there any longer than was necessary to establish a title. By
July i, 1796, both William and John were in possession and
occupancy of land in what is now the state of Michigan, given
to them by their father.4 Soon after that date the two young
men were off to the Indian country. What urge for adventure
or new opportunities incited them is not entirely clear. It
appears, however, that at this time they definitely rejected a
settled agricultural existence for the freer and more exciting
life of the Indian trader.

It may have been that the political situation at that time
had a bearing on their decision. Although with the ratification
of the treaty of peace following the War of the Revolution,
title to the post at Detroit passed to the United States, the post
itself was not surrendered until July II, 1796, in accordance
with the Jay treaty of 1794. By that time all of Michigan was
in the hands of the Americans.5 The English had held on
stubbornly to this trading center. English governors were in
control of the territory surrounding Detroit until 1796. Title
to the land was uncertain. Laxness and irregularity governed
the fur trade too, and these conditions continued for some years
after the United States took control.6

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 39

Detroit at this time was totally uninviting. It is described
by a writer three years later (1799) as "filthy beyond meas-
ure— calculated to accommodate a few traders." Small houses
crowded together in a small space less than four hundred yards
square, narrow streets with only one of sufficient width for "a
cart to turn about in," a so-called citadel which consisted of
soldiers' barracks and parade ground connected, so it is said, by
a covered passage to the inadequate fort at the back of the
town; pickets separating the citadel from the dwelling and
pickets surrounding the whole town — this was Detroit.
Soldiers, traders, Indians, and a citizenry to minister to the
needs of all three constituted the inhabitants of this rough un-
couth town which was not much more than an overgrown trad-
ing post, over the rich trading possibilities of which French,
English, Indian, and American had contended.7 From a similar
town — Fort Pitt — Margaret Conner had turned with great dis-
gust in 1775 and set her face to the wilderness. Now, her sons,
standing on the threshold of a new century, turned their backs
in like fashion upon just such a sodden community and their
steps to a new wilderness farther west.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to pick up the trails of the
traders who went into that vast area denominated the Indian
country. Under the provisions of the Greenville Treaty with
the Indians, August 3, 1795, what was colloquially known as
the Indian country was, broadly speaking, land reserved for
Indian tribes, extending northward from the Ohio River, east-
ward from the Mississippi River, and southward and westward
of the Great Lakes, including in Ohio, however, only the north-
ern section west of the Cuyahoga River. All claim to this large
area, less a number of small special cessions, was "relinquished"
by the United States to the Wyandot, Miami, Shawnee, Dela-
wares, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Wea, and other tribes
of the region. This treaty confirmed the Indians' rights to all
the land within the present limits of Indiana except the Gore
(a wedge-shaped area between the treaty line and the present
Ohio boundary), one piece six miles square near Fort Wayne,
one piece two miles square lying eight miles west of Fort
Wayne, one piece six miles square near Ouiatenon, 150,000
acres in Clark's Grant, and the post of Vincennes and land
adjacent, to which the Indian title had been extinguished.

40 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

After the cession to the United States of their lands in Ohio,
most of the Indians living in that section moved to other parts
of the Indian country. Large numbers of the Shawnee and
Delawares came to what is now Indiana.8

William Conner left his father's homestead in Michigan
sometime after 1796. A frequently recurring tradition is to
the effect that he went to the Saginaw country in Michigan
as an Indian trader, backed by some Frenchmen; that he was
there for some time until there were signs of trouble. Warned
by friendly Indians, he left, while the white men who disre-
garded the message were killed in an Indian uprising. There
is no contemporary record supporting this tradition. The
events may have happened as stated, for the years from 1796
to 1800 are not otherwise accounted for as far as William
Conner is concerned. In 1800 he went again to the Indian
country and it is of record that this time it was to the region
now within the state of Indiana. It is said by one writer that
he came to the mouth of Fall Creek, on White River, a crossing
point for many trails, where Indians were likely to congregate.
The rumor had reached him that a Frenchman was trading at
this place.9 John Conner left the paternal home in 1797 with
no more definite destination in view.10 They never returned to
Michigan for permanent abode.

It is no more apparent from the written records why John
and William Conner came ultimately to Indiana than it is why
their father emigrated from Maryland to Ohio. There may
have been the same desire for adventure and new scenes.
There may have been another reason in the case of the sons.
In a very few years both were married to Delaware Indian
wives. Is it not likely that these Indian women were friends
of an earlier day, perhaps of their childhood in Ohio, and that
they sought them out in the White River country to which the
Delawares came after the Treaty of Greenville? A less ro-
mantic possibility is that the Conners followed this friendly
tribe of Indians whose language and customs they knew so well
for the purpose of trade, and that they intermarried in the
tribe to facilitate their trading operations — a custom quite
common among traders at this time.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 41

2.

When a division of the Northwest Territory was made by
act of Congress, May 7, 1800, the section designated as In-
diana Territory comprised the present states of Indiana, Illi-
nois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and parts of Ohio and Minne-
sota. Vincennes was the capital and William Henry Harrison
was made governor. John Gibson was appointed secretary.
This is the same John Gibson who was present at the treatv of
Camp Charlotte when the parents of John and William were
released from the Shawnee. He had also been a visitor many
times at the Moravian towns in Ohio and knew their family.11

In the entire Indiana Territory there was a white popula-
tion of about five thousand ; in what is now Indiana the white
population was about twenty-five hundred, divided between
the southern part near Vincennes and Clark's Grant. There
were also white traders scattered along the Wabash.12 The
country embracing what is now central and northern Indiana,
was a continuous primeval wilderness with the exception of
extensive prairies in the northwest part. There were no roads
other than Indian trails and buffalo traces, no boats except the
softly gliding Indian canoes, no towns other than straggling
Indian villages, no inns between the white settlements. It was
necessary for travelers to carry camp equipment and they were
never secure against Indian attacks. It was veritably the haunt
of wild beasts and savage men.

The Miami Nation or Confederacy claimed the whole of
what is now Indiana. This Confederacy consisted of the
Miami or Twightwees, situated on the headwaters of the
Maumee River near Fort Wayne ; the Eel River Miami ; the
Wea or Ouiatenon, whose more important villages were on
the banks of the Wabash near Fort Ouiatenon ; and the Pianka-
shaw who lived on the banks of the Vermillion River and on
the river Wabash between Vincennes and Ouiatenon. The
Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Shawnee, and Dela wares were allowed
by the Miami to occupy various portions of this territory.
As far back as 1770 the Delawares who were then living on the
Muskingum River in Ohio had received permission from the
Piankashaw (probably from the Miami Confederacy) to oc-
cupy the country between the Ohio and White River in the

42 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

present state of Indiana.13 In 1781 Buckongahelas, a war
chief of the Delawares who realized the dangerous situation of
the Christian Delaware Indians on the Muskingum, caught as
they were between the opposing British and American forces,
had urged them to move westward. He was strongly pro-
British and anti-Christian and wished to break up the mission
and ally the Delawares with the British.14 He failed in his
undertaking at that time, but he left a parting warning to the
Moravian Indians that the Americans were a bad lot and not
to be trusted. His words proved to be prophetic ; incredible as
it seemed at that time, it was only six months later that the
massacre of Indians at Gnadenhiitten shocked the western coun-
try. The Delaware tribe never fully recovered from this blow.
It was always a source of great bitterness to their leaders.
Many of them had joined the British cause and the Christian
Indians were dispersed in Indiana and Ohio.

At least as early as 1798, after the Treaty of Greenville,
the Delawares began establishing towns on the West Fork of
White River on the land granted to them by the Piankashaw.15
In the next few years there were nine settlements of Delaware
Indian families strung along both banks of White River. The
easternmost town was that of Chief Buckongahelas on the pres-
ent site of Muncie, Indiana. The westernmost town was the
Lower Delaware town south of the present site of Noblesville,
Indiana. Several were the abodes of noted Delaware chieftains,
including besides Buckongahelas, Tetepachsit, Hockingpomsga,
and William Anderson.16

It was to this group of Delaware towns on White River
that John and William Conner came when they left Michigan.
They were here in May, 1801, when the Moravian missionaries,
Abraham Luckenbach and Peter Kluge, came to found a mis-
sion on White River similar to those David Zeisberger had
established in Ohio. History sometimes repeats itself. In the
same community there were co-operating after the lapse of a
quarter of a century, Delawares, Moravian missionaries, and
the Conners. The missionaries had come on the invitation of
the Delawares, who wished to enjoy again the civilizing influ-
ences of the mission. That may have been the sincere desire
of some of those who had earlier in their lives been touched by
this influence and longed for it again. But there were also

42 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

present state of Indiana.13 In 1781 Buckongahelas, a war
chief of the Delawares who realized the dangerous situation of
the Christian Delaware Indians on the Muskingum, caught as
they were between the opposing British and American forces,
had urged them to move westward. He was strongly pro-
British and anti-Christian and wished to break up the mission
and ally the Delawares with the British.14 He failed in his
undertaking at that time, but he left a parting warning to the
Moravian Indians that the Americans were a bad lot and not
to be trusted. His words proved to be prophetic ; incredible as
it seemed at that time, it was only six months later that the
massacre of Indians at Gnadenhiitten shocked the western coun-
try. The Delaware tribe never fully recovered from this blow.
It was always a source of great bitterness to their leaders.
Many of them had joined the British cause and the Christian
Indians were dispersed in Indiana and Ohio.

At least as early as 1798, after the Treaty of Greenville,
the Delawares began establishing towns on the West Fork of
White River on the land granted to them by the Piankashaw.15
In the next few years there were nine settlements of Delaware
Indian families strung along both banks of White River. The
easternmost town was that of Chief Buckongahelas on the pres-
ent site of Muncie, Indiana. The westernmost town was the
Lower Delaware town south of the present site of Noblesville,
Indiana. Several were the abodes of noted Delaware chieftains,
including besides Buckongahelas, Tetepachsit, Hockingpomsga,
and William Anderson.16

It was to this group of Delaware towns on White River
that John and William Conner came when they left Michigan.
They were here in May, 180 1, when the Moravian missionaries,
Abraham Luckenbach and Peter Kluge, came to found a mis-
sion on White River similar to those David Zeisberger had
established in Ohio. History sometimes repeats itself. In the
same community there were co-operating after the lapse of a
quarter of a century, Delawares, Moravian missionaries, and
the Conners. The missionaries had come on the invitation of
the Delawares, who wished to enjoy again the civilizing influ-
ences of the mission. That may have been the sincere desire
of some of those who had earlier in their lives been touched by
this influence and longed for it again. But there were also

HAMILTON

INDIAN STRAWTQV/N

UPPER JtVf
DELAWARE fill
TOWN All A ■

®ji©

,-. ,/ W.CONNER'S POST
UNNAMED SITE A/

DELAWARE

UNNAMED SITE,-.

INDIAN TOWNS NEAR MORAVIAN MISSION
AND CONNER TRAIL

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 43

among them those like Buckongahelas who, unfriendly to the
Christians, agreed to the invitation solely in the hope that the
missionaries would bring with them a considerable number of
the Delawares who were living in Ohio with Zeisberger, thus
making their relatives in Indiana more contented and increasing
the size of the Delaware nation here. What was the disap-
pointment and chagrin of this group when only fifteen Dela-
ware converts from Ohio arrived with the missionaries and
some of these returned shortly to Ohio!17

3-

The missionaries found John Conner established as a
trader in Buckongahelas' Town. On their arrival Conner and
his Delaware wife gave them some assistance in settling. The
Indians granted land to the Moravians for their mission town
on the bend in White River, eight miles downstream from
Hockingpomsga's Town and three miles upstream from Ander-
son's Town. They were not permitted to follow Zeisberger's
sound advice against settling within ten miles of an Indian
town, and they were soon to experience the evil consequences
which he had foreseen. William Conner probably was living
at this time at Wapeminskink, the town of Chief Anderson,
whose daughter, Mekinges, he married at an unrecorded time.18

An interesting sidelight upon the relation of the Conners
to the Indians emerges in an incident related by Abraham
Luckenbach. John Conner invited Luckenbach, who was
about his age, to accompany him to an Indian dance. "In
every Indian town," says Luckenbach, "there was a so-called
long-house, about forty feet in length and twenty feet wide,
in which the savages held their sacrifices and dances. It also
served as a Council House. These houses were built of split
logs set together between dug-in posts, and were provided
with a roof, consisting of tree-bark or clapboards, resting on
strong pillars dug into the earth. The entrance was at both
gable-ends, and there was neither floor nor ceiling. Near both
ends and in the middle, there were three fires over which hung
large kettles in which corn and meat were boiled for the guests
and always kept in readiness for them to eat, when finished
with the dance. In the roof there were openings over every
fire, so that the smoke could escape. Along the inside of the

44 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

house there were seats or elevations from the ground about a
foot high and five feet wide. These were first covered with
the bark of trees and then with long grass. On them the guests
sat, or, if they felt like it, lay down and smoked their pipes,
while the others were engaged in dancing."

Conner asked Luckenbach to stay all night at his house, and
took him to view the dance given that night and probably on
succeeding nights as was the custom. He introduced him to
the Indians present. The dances were given in honor of the
protecting deities who had revealed themselves in the dreams of
various members of the tribe. The ceremony is somewhat as
follows. The leading dancer relates his dream and the parts
are emphasized with loud, discordant noises. During the pro-
cessional the leader indulges in antics which to the savage
mind are in harmony with the major noises ; in this interpreta-
tion lies the skill of the dancer. When the leader has paid his
respects to the deities he concludes that round with a shrill yell,
then another dancer comes forward and the performance is
repeated so long as the dreams last. Between performances
the chiefs adjured the Indians to abstain from strong drink and
other devastating vices, although they, themselves, did not
always set good examples. Luckenbach watched with a critical
eye and noted carefully all the details of this occasion. After
commenting on the dance he says of his host : "he . . . ap-
peared to be very much taken with it. He said that the Indians
in this way sought to serve their god, and that he had learned
to know many of them whose dreams had been fulfilled; in
fact, their dreams, with few exceptions, generally came true.
He himself danced with them and had not gotten much farther
in knowledge than the heathen."19

If Luckenbach was sound in his judgment, John Conner
at the age of twenty-six years not only wore the dress of the
Indians but had adopted their manners, spiritual views, and
ways of thought. It is true that the Conners, through their
long and intimate acquaintance with the Indians, understood
them and possessed their confidence. The Delawares, espe-
cially, trusted these two traders to a greater extent than any
other white men. But they never became thoroughly Indian
in character, outlook, or interests. Rather, when the opportu-
nity came, they were in the vanguard of those seeking the

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 45

benefits of civilization and contributing to its advancement.
The Moravian missionaries in Indiana, on the contrary, failed
to develop a sympathetic understanding of Indian traits, and
this failure was a contributory cause of the disaster which at-
tended the mission.

Another, and perhaps the major cause of the mission's
failure was the proximity of the Shawnee Tecumseh and his
brother, Lawlewasikaw, later known as Tenskwatawa or the
Prophet. They had been living among the Delawares since
1798 and had gradually extended their influence while they
were engaged in the ordinary pursuits of the Indians. They
lived in one of the Delaware villages on White River within
the present boundaries of Delaware County, therefore probably
in Buckongahelas' Town or Hockingpomsga's Town. This
was known as the headquarters of these leaders. Early in
1805 Tenskwatawa assumed the role of prophet, inveighing
against drunkenness, intermarriage of the Indians and whites,
release of Indian lands to the whites by sale, and the sin of
witchcraft.

By this time Buckongahelas was dead.20 Tetepachsit, now
an old man, was charged with too great friendliness for the
whites. He sometimes carried with him a string of twenty-
seven dried human tongues which he proudly offered as grim
and mute testimony that he was not a weakling.21 A quaint
picture of these two chiefs is furnished us by the diarist of
the mission congregation on White River. Sometime in 1801
they arrived together at the mission. As Buckongahelas was
not in sympathy with the work of the mission he was probably
prompted by curiosity. Tetepachsit, however, was known to
favor its civilizing influences. The visitors are described as
"rather old and quite venerable looking. Both wore broad blue
belts, a silver ring as a collar around the neck, and carried in
their hands a turkey wing to chase away the flies."22

Partly because Tetepachsit entertained a friendly attitude
towards the Moravians and partly because the Prophet believed
that it was the old chiefs who were leading the tribes to sell
their lands, Tetepachsit was secretly marked for martyrdom.
On March 17, 1806, he was accused of witchcraft, tied to a
stake, tomahawked, and his body consumed by fire within
sight of the mission. Three others, Billy Patterson, nephew of

46 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Tetepachsit, Joshua, and Caritas, all believing Indians, met a
similar fate. Other Indians, including Chief Hockingpomsga,
narrowly escaped. The execution of these unfortunates took
place at or near Chief Anderson's Town.23

Neither John nor William Conner was in this vicinity dur-
ing these terrifying days, though doubtless they knew very
quickly of the events. John was trading in Wapicomekoke by
May, 1801, and by November 30 both of them had secured
licenses to trade in Buckongahelas' Town and Petchepencues'
Town. During that year they sent their furs by pack horses to
Fort Wayne. Detroit was the ultimate destination. In the
same year at least five other traders were granted licenses to
trade at the Delaware towns on White River.24

In August, 1802, William Conner left Chief Anderson's
Town and established himself and his Indian wife on land four
miles south of the present site of Noblesville, across the river
and a little south of the Upper Delaware Indian Town. He
had been attracted by the character of the country there during
his wanderings, especially by the fertility of the soil and the
abundance of game for food and furs. Here he built himself a
double log cabin large enough for storage of pelts and to accom-
modate beads, lead, flint, steel, knives, and hatchets, used in
trading. Years later he told how "on a beautiful moonlight
night, August 12, 1802 . . . with only the aid of a French-
Canadian," he finished the roof of his log cabin. Little did
he realize at that time that his dwelling was to become a land-
mark in the new country — known as the Conner Trading Post,
its door always open to wayfarer or settler, Indian or white,
the chief market place in central Indiana for Indian tribes of
the region.25

Meanwhile, in 1802 his brother John had made a journey
to the seat of government at Washington with some Indian
chiefs for whom he acted as interpreter. They had passed
through Goshen where the aged David Zeisberger still lived
among his Indians, and John saw again the man who had
baptized him as a babe.26 This journey must have had a pro-
found effect upon the young backwoodsman. It opened his
eyes to a new and more refined way of living. It suggested

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 47

to him another route over which his furs could be sent with
less danger and perhaps with better profit than through De-
troit. He was doubtless impressed with the growing power
and the stability of the government of the United States. To
come in contact with two such men as the devout Moravian
missionary and the philosopher-president was an unforgettable
experience. The Indian life was full of fascination and charm
for him, but his eyes were opened as his mother's had been
before him, to the advantages of another environment. In the
long return journey he had much time for reflection.

The following year he was able to give information con-
cerning a French spy who was visiting the Indian towns with
hostile intentions against the United States. Had Thomas
Jefferson aroused a latent patriotism in the heart of John
Conner? From this time on he is allied with the forces of
organized society. In this year (1803) or the year following,
he decided to leave the town of Buckongahelas and go to the
southeastern part of Indiana which had been ceded to the
United States in 1795. He saw the advisability of locating
upon and acquiring for trading purposes land to which the
Indian title had been extinguished. The laws at this period
governing the Indian trade were very lax. Licenses were
not required of those who operated in the country where the
Indian title had been extinguished,27 and in his new location
Conner would have certain advantages over the traders living
in the Indian country. He could sell spirits without restriction,
while the latter were prohibited from doing so.

Conner's Delaware wife and a small band of Indians ac-
companied him to this new location. He established a store
three-fourths of a mile above Big Cedar Grove Creek near the
present site of Cedar Grove village on the very fringe of the
white population in the Whitewater Valley.28 John Conner
was a shrewd man. He was now established just outside the
Indian country, accessible to the friendly Indian tribes and
advantageously posted at the entrance of a section soon to be
opened to settlement. A thin stream of white settlers was al-
ready moving up the valley. John Conner's store, like his
brother William's trading post, became a landmark for both
Indians and settlers. It was a log structure on ground that is
said to have been since washed away by the Whitewater. It

48 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

had puncheon floors and puncheon doors. At one corner stood
a rain barrel, and inside the cabin a hominy mortar had a
prominent place. It is said to have been a custom to toughen
the Indian babies of the household by ducking them in the rain
barrel, sometimes in weather cold enough to film the water
with ice.29

This early trading post had its share of rough, frontier
incidents. One day, it is said, an Indian visitor whom drink
had made garrulous began bragging about his achievements.
To the consternation and fury of the bystanders, he ended his
recital by boasting of the scalping of a young white girl. As
he proceeded with the lurid details there was a restless move-
ment and a showing of knives, but an old gray-haired scout
raised his hand to the indignant throng and said with signifi-
cant emphasis, "Wait." When the Indian had finished drink-
ing and had closed his tale, he was allowed to stumble from
the post unharmed, but, the story ends, "the Indian was never
seen again; none of the white men at the post ever questioned
whither he had gone."30

Two Frenchmen, Michael Peltier (sometimes abbreviated
or nicknamed "Pilkey") and Charles Telier, at an early date
(traditionally 1804-1805) had a store just above the present
site of Brookville. This store was apparently not competitive,
but co-operative, with Conner's Post just a few miles south.
As Conner's activities gradually took on a wider range as scout
and interpreter for General Harrison and these duties involved
long absences from home, he secured "Pilkey" to manage his
post for these periods. Gradually it came to be known as the
"French Store," the "Conner and Pilkey" or simply "Pilkey's."
There is no record that Conner had any interest in the French
store at Brookville.31

5-

William Conner collected furs from the Indians, dressed,
stretched, and packed them. These skins were from the beaver,
otter, raccoon, fox, mink, muskrat, skunk, wildcat, fisher (kind
of marten), panther, deer, and an occasional bear or wolf.
The fur of the weasel, the groundhog, and the opossum was
used by the natives in their dress, but was not valuable in
trade. Raccoons were especially plentiful. An Indian often

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 49

caught as high as five or six hundred in a winter. Indian
women helped with this catch. These skins brought from
37/^ cents to 40 cents and sometimes $1.00 a skin. The otter
and the full-grown bearskins brought the highest amounts,
from $4.00 to $5.00 each, although sometimes bearskins
brought only $1.50 to $2.00. One pound of beaver hair sold
for $1.00 to $1.25. Deer- or buckskins brought $1.00 each,
but doeskins were less, from 67 cents to 75 cents. The fox,
cat, and fisher skins sold for 50 cents to 67 cents, mink for 50
cents, and full-grown muskrats for 25 cents. These were the
prices the traders paid to the Indians.

The Indians were adept in preparing these skins. Incisions
were made around the mouth and in the head, and the body
of a small animal such as otter, muskrat, or mink, was drawn
through these openings, which left the skin inside out. An oak
or hickory hoop, very strong, was thrust into the skin and then
it was stretched tightly over it. The method used for deer-
skins was different. The hide was pierced by little holes along
the edges into which strips of tough bark were run. Strings
attached to these were fastened to trees or saplings on all sides
and drawn taut. All the meat and fat had been carefully re-
moved and the skins well cleaned, before stretching. The coon-
skins were made almost rectangular by sewing the skin of the
forelegs to the edges of the skin of the neck and head which
made the fore part of the skin the same width as the hind part.
Other skins were also prepared in this way. It is said that no
"white man could fix them as nicely as the Indians did." Bea-
ver skins were sold by weight, and traders found that they were
not cleaned so well, since the added fat increased the weight.
Sometimes a piece of stone or metal was found tucked away
between the skins. The Indians were shrewd bargainers and
knew the value of their wares. The test of a pelt was in the
color of the skin side, not the fur. If yellow, the animal had
been killed at the proper season and the fur was fine. If bluish,
the skin was poor. These furs were packed in bales at the
trading post by a rude press operated by wedges. Each kind
of peltry was put in a separate bale. William Conner sent them
on pack horses to his brother. John, in turn, sent supplies of
all kinds to William to use in his trade with the Indians.32

These supplies were carried over an Indian trail which led

1/

50 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

for sixty miles through thick woods, along banks of creeks,
over hills and sometimes through swampy lowlands. Pack
horses, heavily laden, were sure footed, but it was much more
difficult for the pedestrian. After frequent rains he would
sometimes find himself knee deep in mud. Old logs and fallen
trees obstructed the path, as well as thick undergrowth. The
Indian on the trail carried his gun on his shoulder, his toma-
hawk and knife slung at his side, and a piece of dried deer meat
fastened over his shoulder. Thus comparatively free from
impedimenta, he was agile in leaping over all obstacles. This
feat was not easily achieved by the newly arrived settler, who
was forced to take a roundabout way and was likely to lose his
sense of direction. At various intervals there were hunters'
huts made from the bark of trees, but no white settlements.
Cincinnati, the depot for trading supplies, was only thirty-five
miles from Cedar Grove and the journey thence could easily be
made by water along the Ohio and the Big Miami River until
the mouth of Whitewater River was reached, thence up White-
water to Cedar Grove.33

In addition to his trading post, John Conner established a
mill at his Cedar Grove location about 1807, where the big
dam stood in 1845. Only one mill had been built prior to his
in the Whitewater Valley — John Hagerman's mill in Bennett's
Bottom. Neighbors of John Conner at this period were John
Lafforge and Anthony Halberstadt. The latter was one of
the Hessians taken prisoner by General Washington at Trenton.
An early settler in this region, doubtless well known to Conner,
was Jabez Winship, who came from Connecticut with his wife
Hannah (Forsythe) and his five children about 1805. They
were Baptists and active in the affairs of the Little Cedar
Grove Baptist church. His young seventeen-year-old daughter,
Lavina, later became the wife of John Conner.34

The Grouseland Treaty of 1805 considerably reduced the
hunting grounds of the Indians, for it opened a large area in
southeastern Indiana to white settlement, pushing the Indians
farther north and curtailing the traffic in furs. At this time
Harrison made an attempt to purchase an additional strip west
of the Greenville Treaty line, but was prevented by the obstin-
acv of one of the principal chiefs. John Conner, in order to
retain his strategic position at the boundary between white

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 51

settlements and Indian territory, decided to move his trading
post into this area, which he rightly anticipated would soon be
ceded to the government. Up the river about twenty miles he
went in 1808 and there, a little above the present site of Con-
nersville, he established himself with his Indian family. It was
a primitive location in which there were still numerous Indians
and which was accessible to many more. Wild animals — an
occasional bear or panther — roamed through it at will.35

An eccentric neighbor was Betty Frazier, the subject of
many stories and legends. The wife of a helpless cripple, she
had squatted with her little family on the land across the river
from Conner, hoping to make enough to buy her land.36

In 1809 the famous (from the Indian viewpoint, infamous)
Treaty of Fort Wayne was signed, by the terms of which the
land locally known as the Twelve Mile Purchase was ceded by
the Indians to the government. With the conclusion of this
treaty Conner could look forward to acquiring settler's rights,
which could be ripened into a title when land entries were per-
mitted. This occurred in 181 1.

William Conner, following a different policy, was main-
taining his trading post on lands where the Indian titles had
not been extinguished. William, however, was the husband
of Chief Anderson's daughter, and that chief was influential
throughout the White River villages. He was rearing a large
family of lusty half-breeds and apparently he was assimilated
into the tribe. At any rate he did not seem to be concerned
about land titles at that time.

The transition period in the lives of William and John
Conner was approaching. The War of 1812 was impending,
and the results of that war were to bring momentous changes
in their lives. They accepted and faced with courage a new
situation with new responsibilities.

CHAPTER V

Interpreters and Scouts

The principal cause of violent conflicts between settlers and
Indians during the colonization of Indian territory, was
land. The Indians claimed its ownership. The United States
government assumed title as a result of the War of the Revolu-
tion and coveted it for the expanding population of the new
republic. Lack of scrupulousness in dealing with the Indians
increased the irritation.

Spain, France, and England in their successive conquests
of parts of America now within the limits of the United States,
regarded it as fundamental that the title of the soil was in the
sovereign state which had made the discovery or conquest.
There was no general nor uniform rule as to the rights of oc-
cupancy of native tribes, each sovereign state treating these
rights in its own way. After the War of the Revolution, the
United States, to whom much of this land passed, held as a
theory, while granting to the Indians the right of occupancy,
that the absolute right to the soil was vested in the government.
For practical purposes, however, to ease the process of secur-
ing lands from the natives, the Indian claim to ownership of
the soil was not questioned. It was, in fact, tacitly admitted,
and language to that effect occurred in treaties made with
them. As instruments to secure Indian titles, the tribes were
regarded as sovereign nations. Formal treaties were made
with them for cessions of land under the treaty-making pro-
visions of the Federal Constitution. This was the practice,
especially as to important treaties, beginning with the Wayne
treaty at Greenville, Ohio, in 1795. Governor Harrison used
and approved this method.1 Indeed, it was the only expedient
one, for if the government had treated the Indians as occupants
merely and ignored them as owners, it would have ignited
earlier the fires of war.

The admission by the United States that the Indians were
owners of the land was not, however, satisfactory to their
leaders. Cessions of land made by individual tribes followed
one another so rapidly that far-seeing Indian leaders were

(52)

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 53

alarmed at the great areas of land which were passing from
their control. Joseph Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, as
early as 1786 advanced the doctrine that all Indian lands were
held in common by all the tribes and that no single tribe had
the right of alienation. This theory of common ownership
was to be used years later by another great Indian leader.2

A great part of the present state of Indiana was involved
in the dispute. It was a beautiful, level country unbroken by
mountains but traversed by rivers which occasionally found a
channel through slightly rolling country to the plains beyond.
Much of it was covered with thick forests of walnut, poplar,
maple, linden, cherry, and sycamore. There were broad
meadows with only stubble undergrowth of bushes. The
natural plains had been fertilized through the centuries by
decomposed vegetation. The top soil of the woods lay deep
with rotted leaves. On these plains, as in the dark, damp re-
cesses of the woodlands, nature from the beginning had been
enriching the earth. Its transformation into productive fields
needed only the axe and the plow.3

That this fertile country in 1801 was almost wholly oc-
cupied by Indians gave President Jefferson concern. He en-
visaged the land divided into farms and cultivated by both
white and Indian settlers, living peacefully together. He even
suggested mixed marriages so that the blood of the Indians
would run in the veins of the white people.4 This suggestion
was rooted in Jefferson's desire for a settled state which would
be another strong prop in the West for the expanding union.

In June, 1802, he instructed Harrison to persuade the In-
dians, if possible, to transfer to the United States the cessions
which they had made to the Wabash and Illinois companies.
In February of the next year, he stressed the necessity of pro-
curing cessions of large tracts of land from the Indian oc-
cupants to be subdivided into small farms. He feared the
effect of the retrocession of Louisiana by Spain to France,
from which might come mounting troubles for the United
States. Harrison was accordingly given a general commission
to treat with the Indians to the end that they become civilized
or remove beyond the Mississippi. "The crisis is pressing,"

54 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Jefferson wrote. "Whatever can now be obtained, must be
obtained quickly. The occupation of New Orleans, hourly
expected, by the French, is already felt like a light breeze by
the Indians. You know the sentiments they entertain of that
nation. Under the hope of their protection, they will immedi-
ately stiffen against cessions of land to us. We had better
therefore do at once what can now be done."5

Harrison acted promptly and efficiently. His first effort
was at Vincennes where an Indian conference was held Sep-
tember 17, 1802, in which the chiefs of the Potawatomi, Kick-
apoo, Eel River, Kaskaskia, Wea, and Piankashaw Indians
took part. Negotiations were opened, but final action was
postponed until the next spring.6

The Vincennes agreement had a very unfriendly reception
by most of the Indians. The Miami refused to follow the lead
of their chiefs, Little Turtle7 and Richardville, who were desig-
nated to carry out the agreement, and it was decided by the
protesting chiefs of the Delawares and Miami to take the
matter to President Jefferson. In December, 1802, Tete-
pachsit with eleven other Delaware chiefs, the representatives
of ten other nations, and John Conner' as interpreter, appeared
before President Jefferson at Washington and presented their
address with a protest by Buckongahelas against the validity of
the Vincennes agreement. Their grievance was the occupa-
tion of their lands by white settlers. The president replied
that the agreement signed by the tribal chiefs had fixed the
boundary of the land ceded. Under the rules of all nations
such an agreement was binding on all members. This state-
ment was short of an answer as far as the Delawares were
concerned, for they had not signed the agreement. The presi-
dent added, as a sop to Indian feelings, that if any white
person settled on Indian lands he would be subject to punish-
ment and should be seized by the Indians and turned over to
any officer of the United States for punishment.8

Shortly after the failure of the delegation to secure presi-
dential intervention against the treaty, Harrison took steps
toward its ratification. The Indians opposed him vehemently.
When the chiefs were asked to attend a conference at Fort
Wayne on June 7, 1803, to which many came, they showed a
rebellious spirit. Buckongahelas interrupted Harrison's pre-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 55

sentation of his reasons for ratification and hotly declared that
nothing done at Vincennes was binding. The Shawnee were
insolent and left the meeting. Little Turtle, however, aided in
securing ratification. Finally, with much grumbling, the
Miami, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Eel River, Wea, Piankashaw,
and Shawnee chiefs signed the treaty and a very large tract of
land and valuable salt-lick springs came into possession of the
United States. Buckongahelas, notwithstanding his protest to
Jefferson and his vehement opposition to ratification at this
meeting, also signed the treaty, together with his brother
Delawares, Tetepachsit and Hockingpomsga. It was of such
acts of tribal chiefs that Tecumseh complained to Harrison in
1810.9

3-

Harrison realized that to accomplish the plans of the presi-
dent it was important for him to have on his staff competent
interpreters and scouts ; men who knew and possessed the con-
fidence of the influential tribes such as the Delawares, the
Miami, and the Shawnee; men he could trust for their integrity
and judgment. On his return to Vincennes after negotiating
the Treaty of Fort Wayne, his attention was directed to John
Conner by an interesting incident. There came to Vincennes
a man, well mannered, and apparently well educated, but poor
in appearance, who was thought to be a French spy. His-
mysterious appearance corroborated rumors that agents of the
French or Spanish governments were trying to encourage hos-
tile measures against the United States. Information concern-
ing him came from a Miami Indian, Long Beard, and from
John Conner, a young man who was described to Harrison as
living with the Delawares on White River. The spy got away
before Harrison received orders to arrest him, but the incident
left upon his mind a favorable impression of Conner's acumen
and loyalty.10 At this time Joseph Barron was the governor's
chief interpreter, and in his judgment and loyalty Harrison had
full confidence. It was well to keep John Conner in mind.
He needed men of his type.

W'hen the Louisiana Purchase was completed in December
of this year and all the French and Spanish aggressions had
subsided, Jefferson had a new vision, this time concerning the

56 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

settlement of all territory west of the Mississippi, which was
included in this purchase, as part of the foundation of a future
great republic. The policy of acquiring Indian lands was there-
fore urged as vigorously as possible. In about fourteen
months after the Fort Wayne Treaty of 1803 which ratified
the Vincennes agreement, Harrison made four more separate
treaties for cessions of land in Indiana : with the Eel River and
other tribes, August 7, 1803; with the Delawares, August 18,
1804; with the Piankashaw, August 27, 1804. The Delawares
relinquished their rights to the large tract in southern and
southwestern Indiana in what is commonly known as the
"Pocket." The Piankashaw gave up their rights to the same
tract by their treaty. The fourth treaty, held at Grouseland,
was concluded with the Delawares and other tribes on August
21, 1805. The land ceded by this treaty was in the south and
southeastern part of Indiana. Title to this region had now
passed from the Indians to the United States. John Conner
was for the first time appointed sworn interpreter and acted
with Joseph Barron in connection with the Grouseland Treaty.
By the close of the year 1805 Harrison had acquired approxi-
mately 56,240,000 acres of land in what is now Indiana,
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Unwittingly, Jefferson and
Harrison in their zeal to acquire more land for the United
States had laid the fuse which would soon ignite sporadic and
bloody reprisals and ultimately an organized Indian uprising.11

4-

Aware of this rising indignation among the Indians,
Harrison desisted from his efforts to acquire more land for
a period of four years. He was not displeased when he heard
that the Delawares had determined to remove beyond the
Mississippi,12 for he realized very clearly that Indiana Terri-
tory could not remain part Indian and part Anglo-Saxon.13
If the two races were not amalgamated, one or the other would
have to be eliminated. Nor did Harrison have any confidence
that a chain of forts or even a cordon of one hundred thousand
men would protect the settlements. Efforts to extinguish title
of more Indian lands must eventually be renewed.

Since Jefferson shared these views, authority was given
Harrison in July, 1809, to arrange for a treaty with the Indians

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 57

at Fort Wayne in September of that year. Chief Anderson
accompanied the Delawares to this gathering, with John Con-
ner to act for the second time as their interpreter. Chief
Winamac came with the Potawatomi ; Little Turtle arrived late
with a band of Miami and Potawatomi, but Richardville, the
principal Miami chief, though he was especially sent for, did
not appear. Minor chiefs were present from each of the above
tribes and from the Eel River Indians. Other interpreters
besides Conner were William Wells, Joseph Barron, and
Abraham Ash. It was a difficult negotiation. The Miami
resisted for days any argument which would induce them to
sell their land. Their young men arrived loaded with British
goods and buttressed by British warnings against the treaty.
Harrison labored untiringly, day and night, arranging separate
meetings, using all his powers of eloquence, persuasion, and
knowledge of the Indian character. More convincing than
any argument was his power to withhold the annuities until a
treaty had been concluded. On September 30 the Indians
capitulated, and a few days later the annuities were distributed.
The land conveyed to the United States amounted to nearly
three million acres in eastern and southern Indiana.14

It was about this time that a story born of falsehood and
nurtured by Harrison's critics and enemies, and by the British,
was circulated to the effect that he was securing lands from
the Indians for his own advantage and that President Jeffer-
son, in fact, had not wanted them. Harrison did not try to
answer this charge, but when some of the chiefs expressed a
desire to meet the new father (Madison) at Washington, he
decided such an expedition would do him no harm and might
mollify the Indians. He appointed John Conner to accompany
them in 1809 and furnished him with drafts on the secretary
of war to pay the expenses of the trip. For various reasons,
this expedition was abandoned.15 The winter before a group
of leading chiefs of the northwestern Indians had been sum-
moned to Washington to hear the farewell admonitions of the
aged Jefferson before he retired from the presidency.16 It is
probable that John Conner accompanied Beaver and Captain
Hendrick of the Delawares on this trip, although there is no
record to that effect. By this time he was accepted as an

58 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

interpreter for the Delawares and possessed, not only their
confidence but also that of Harrison.

Indian opposition to white intrusion had been handicapped
by the lack of a leader of sufficient ability to marshal the tribes
effectively against the policies of Jefferson and Harrison. But
now such a leader appeared. Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, was
uniting the tribes in a common cause against a common enemy.
He was assisted by his brother, Tenskwatawa, called the
Prophet, whom Jefferson characterized as more "rogue than
fool."17 He had a specious tongue and a lying heart and
gained control over the Indians by pretending to have super-
natural powers. Tecumseh, on the other hand, was a brave,
talented and resourceful leader.

Harrison's attention was first directed to these Indians
when he received news of the burning of Tetepachsit in 1806.
He rebuked the Delawares and ordered them to drive the
Prophet from their town, because he saw in this ugly incident
evidence of a carefully laid plot to get rid of the old Indian
chiefs who were favorable to the United States and to re-
organize the tribe on the basis of another allegiance. He did
not realize that it marked the first step in a more ambitious
scheme for an Indian confederacy. When this policy was
jeopardized by the older Indian chiefs, Tenskwatawa conceived
the diabolical plan of putting them to death on the accusation
of witchcraft. By 1809 the two brothers had gained a great
deal of influence, if not an ascendancy, over the minds of the
Delawares ; the Kickapoo were already completely under their
control. With Little Turtle and the Miami they had been less
successful, and the Potawatomi chief, Winamac, opposed
them, thereby marking himself for destruction.18

6.

Not long after the Fort Wayne Treaty of 1809 rumblings
of discontent among the Indians became audible. It is said
that the cession made by this treaty "amounted to a declaration
of war between Tecumseh and Harrison." The Wyandot
joined the Shawnee and the war spirit in all the tribes was so
aroused that many warriors left their own tribes to join

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 59

Tecumseh. Among those sent by Harrison to investigate the
conditions and temper of the Indians was John Conner. He
and other scouts, Francis Vigo, Toussaint Dubois, William
Prince, Joseph Barron, Michael Brouillette, and Pierre La
Plante all made the same report of uneasiness and belligerency
among the Indians.19

The sudden display of power by Tecumseh and his brother
alarmed Harrison. It had been a source of satisfaction to
him that a line of peaceful Delaware towns stretched along the
banks of White River across the central part of the Indian
country. He knew something of their history through his
secretary of the territory, John Gibson, who had encountered
them and the Conner family at Schoenbrunn, Ohio, as early as
1775. The Delawares during the first years of the Revolution
had held aloof from the British. White Eyes, their noted
chief, had fought on the side of the Americans. They were
the last tribe to surrender their neutrality. Always their
Moravian teachers had instilled in them the virtues of peace
and a settled life. Harrison had noted with approval that
Moravian missionaries had again settled among the Delawares
in Indiana and that the requests of the latter to the government
had been for agricultural implements, help in building rail
fences,20 and for teachers. The tribe was respected by all other
tribes and wielded an influence out of proportion to its
numbers. His trusted young scout, John Conner, with his
brother Wrilliam lived among them.

In view of these years of friendly relationship, Harrison
was more distressed than he cared to admit when the upstart
Shawnee brothers opened their campaign in the Delaware
towns. To be sure, John Conner had assured him two years
ago, after bringing him a letter from Wrells which intimated
that British influence was behind Tecumseh, that there was no
immediate danger of hostilities, although the Chippewa,
Ottawa, and some Potawatomi were disaffected. His suspicion
of the Prophet was so aroused that he sent Conner with a
message to the Shawnee in Ohio demanding that they send
away Tenskwatawa and his Indians. He suggested that they
might go to the Lakes where they could "hear the British more
distinctly." Conner brought back the Prophet's categorical

60 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

denial that he had sent for any Indians to come to him or that
he had any dealings with the British.21

In the spring of 1808 Tenskwatawa left Greenville and
settled with his band on the banks of the Wabash. From that
time on John Conner was employed increasingly by Harrison
as his emissary to the Prophet. Thievery was increasing under
the encouragement of the treacherous and wily Shawnee, and
Conner was sent to look for some stolen horses. While he
was not very successful in recovering the stolen property, he
was able to carry back to the governor news that the Prophet
had in his town about thirty or forty Shawnee and about
ninety warriors from the Potawatomi, Chippewa, Ottawa, and
Winnebago.22 The Prophet's messages were full of lies and
hypocrisy which increased Harrison's suspicions of him. The
Delawares likewise grew alarmed, and acting upon the advice
of Conner made protests in person to the Shawnee leaders.
They were silenced by the eloquence of Tecumseh, and even
Harrison was half convinced by the Prophet's protestations of
friendship during a visit to Vincennes in i8c8.

7-

As time passed, however, the activities of the Shawnee
leaders grew in scope and power. In fact each month brought
news that the Prophet's teachings were only a hypocritical
cloak hiding a well-organized conspiracy which was already
under way. It also became clear that the British were furnish-
ing them with ammunition.23

The outlook was black indeed, if Harrison could not find
one tribe in which he could put his trust. It is evident that the
Conner brothers exerted a strong influence to hold the Dela-
wares neutral at this stage. In May, 18 10, John Conner
brought to the governor a Delaware chief who reported that
the Delawares were sending a delegation to the Indian council
to dissuade the other tribes from listening to the Prophet.
This was heartening tidings. Back to the Delawares he sent
Conner with a speech in which he pointed out that destruction
of the tribes would be the only result of a revolt against the
United States and that war would endanger even friendly
tribes because of the "difficulty of discriminating friends from
foes." He besought the chiefs to send fresh instructions to

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 61

their representatives at the Indian council, remonstrating
against war.24 Thus did Harrison, before taking up the gage
of battle, endeavor to erect a bulwark of sentiment against
the impending conflict.

A few months later, Tecumseh, who had not yet openly
assumed leadership of his movement, appeared for the first
time at Vincennes. This was the first time since the Treaty
of Greenville that Harrison had seen him, and he now recog-
nized him as the "Moses" of his family. Tecumseh, on this
occasion, boldly advanced the doctrine set forth by Brant in
1786. Indian lands were held in common, and no single tribe
had the right of alienation. Power was vested not in the chiefs,
but in the warriors of all the tribes in council. It was a revolu-
tionary theory and the British, recognizing its potency as an
irritant between the Indians and Americans, encouraged its
adoption. It was strongly supported by Matthew Elliot, who
was still running true to form.25 Tecumseh, who had by this
time acquired the leadership once held by Pontiac and by the
now aging Little Turtle, adopted the policy of his famous
predecessors, which was to unite the Indians against the wrong-
ful usurpation of the land by the whites.

8.

The year 1811 was a time of preparation on both sides for
a conflict which now seemed inevitable. The spring and sum-
mer were full of minor incidents which served to fan the
flames. An annoying policy of the Shawnee leaders was to
ignore, if they did not actually encourage, depredations of
bands of outlaw Indians whose passions they had aroused and
whose actions they could not restrain without antagonizing
them. Intimidation of the settlers, thefts, and murders became
frequent. John Conner, who was in Vincennes in the spring
of that year as a witness in the General Court, was again
employed by Harrison to investigate these occurrences.26

Harrison, in an effort to secure a workable system of
Indian supervision in the territory without giving William
Wells too much authority, recommended to the secretary of
war that there should be no principal agent for the Indians but
that "Wells should be sub-agent for the Miamies and Eel
River Tribes . . . [John] Shaw Sub-agent for the Pota-

62 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

watimies and Conner for the Dela wares." It is evident that
Harrison had full confidence in the latter by this time.
Suspicion had been aroused against Conner earlier than this
because of his close association with Wells, but from now on
he ranked among Harrison's dependable scouts.27 Men like
Conner were greatly needed by Harrison, and he had great
difficulty in finding them. There were many avenues by
which scouts and interpreters could profit at the expense of
the Indians and of the United States government. Tempta-
tions to use their understanding of the Indian languages, cus-
toms, and character to further their own ends or in repayment
for British gold were plentiful. The United States govern-
ment was still new; Harrison must often have wondered if
steady loyalty had been generated in the breasts of those whose
earlier allegiance had been to some other nation — perhaps
France or England.

By August, 1811, Harrison had reached the conclusion
that an expedition would have to be made against the hostile
Indians if orderly government was to be maintained in the
territory. The settlers were fearful, the Indians restless, the
Prophet openly insolent. Tecumseh had undertaken a journey
to the southern tribes shortly after his visit to Harrison. There
remained no doubt that unless the Prophet and his band were
humiliated or dispersed very soon, defensive measures would
have to be maintained throughout the winter, a situation which
would "greatly distress the frontier."

Harrison still hoped that a display of military force would
be sufficient without resort to battle. At the time that he was
preparing his expedition against Prophet's Town he made one
last attempt at conciliation. He sent for the Delaware chiefs
to meet him on the march, for he wanted them and other
peaceably inclined chiefs to make a final effort to dissuade
the Prophet from the plan he and Tecumseh were rapidly con-
summating. John Conner probably bore this message; how-
ever that may be, he was with the Delaware chiefs when they
set out from their towns on October 6, 181 1. William Conner
may have been with them also. When they were only a few
miles on their way to join Harrison, they were met by an
arrogant delegation from the Prophet, and a threatening de-
mand that they join in a war on the United States. The Dela-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 63

ware chiefs listened without reply, but their actions were
eloquent. Quietly they designated four of their number to
accompany John Conner to meet Harrison as they had
promised, while those remaining set out on the trail to Prophet's
Town to face the leader and try to persuade him to give up his
plan. They scorned to discuss the matter with intermediaries.
The sincerity of the Delawares is quite apparent in this incident.
When Conner reached Harrison, he declared that the
Delawares now believed that the Prophet was ready to make
an attack and that his followers were sure of victory. The
governor, still hopeful of peace, decided to await the result
of the visit of the Delaware chiefs at Fort Harrison, the new
post in process of construction on the Wabash. Three weeks
later the Delaware chiefs arrived from Prophet's Town with
a story of insults and contemptuous treatment from the Indians
at that place, and tales of fanatic zeal finding expression in
fantastic rites and dances. Still anxious to avoid a conflict,
the governor sent another delegation, composed this time of
Miami and Potawatomi, to make certain demands on the
Prophet, but this delegation did not return.28 Harrison now
faced arbitrament by the sword.

The army began its march from Fort Harrison to Prophet's
Town under the greatest apprehension, for it was rumored that
the Indians greatly outnumbered the soldiers. Harrison con-
stantly hoped that he might be met by the delegation he had
sent to the Prophet. When the army arrived on November
sixth within five or six miles of the town, the interpreters,
among whom was John Conner, were placed with the advance
guards to see what could be done by parley, but the only
answers they received were insulting gestures.29 Harrison
delayed action as long as he could, still hoping his delegation
would appear bearing good news. The Indians attacked the
sleeping camp of soldiers at four thirty o'clock on the morning
of November seventh.

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought about seven months
before war with Great Britain was declared. Harrison hoped
that an effective victory over the Indians would bring them
to their senses and show the futility of revolting against the

64 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

United States. But he had miscalculated the depth of the
Indian resentment to the land policy, the strength of the Indian
leadership, and the determination of Great Britain to make use
of both of these elements to further her own cause. The battle,
victory for the United States though it was, instead of closing
a chapter in Indian warfare, really opened the War of 1812 in
the western country. Depredations and murders by the
Indians increased. As Harrison feared, it became very diffi-
cult to prevent suspicion from falling upon innocent and
friendly tribes. The hostile Indians seemed to delight in raids
in the vicinity of the neutral Dela wares and Miami in order to
implicate them and thus force them into the conflict. There
was a series of death-dealing forays in April, 1812, among
which was one upon the Driftwood Fork of White River.30

The situation of the settlers became critical. Families
abandoned their homes. Such great distress and alarm pre-
vailed in the eastern and southern parts of the territory that it
looked as though these sections might be depopulated. The
Dela wares were accused of complicity in these murders, but
Harrison, who was fully aware of the strategic importance
of keeping them friendly, recommended to those settlements
which the Delawares had frequented "as much forbearance as
possible towards that tribe," because they had "ever performed
with punctuality and good faith their engagements with the
United States, and as yet" there was "not the least reason to
doubt their fidelity." It was also certain "that if they should
be forced to join the other tribes in war, from their intimate
knowledge of the settlements they would be able to do more
mischief than any other tribe."31

As another measure to protect the Delawares and keep
them friendly and loyal, Harrison sent a special messenger,
Major Davis Floyd, to suggest that they remove to friends on
the Mississippi or join the loyal Shawnee living on the Auglaize
River in Ohio. Soon after Floyd's departure on this mission
a Delaware Indian brought letters to Flarrison from John
Conner and Captain Hendrick, assuring him that the Dela-
wares had no hand in the late murders. A speech from the
Delaware chiefs also protested their innocence of any participa-
tion in these crimes. Recalling the "uncommon faithfulness"
of this tribe, Harrison's anxiety deepened, for the evidence

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 65

was strong against them and the settlers were greatly out-
raged.32

A letter which throws some light upon the situation was
written to Harrison on May 6, 1812, by Colonel James Noble,
an important political and military figure in the territory. He
had received a letter from John Conner enclosing a speech by
the Delaware chiefs at White River in which they reported
that a hostile party of Potawatomi had passed the lower town
of the Delawares in the direction of the settlements. Noble
described the alarm of the settlers in the Whitewater region,
many of whom were leaving the territory precipitately. To
"quiet the minds of the people" who remained, Noble had
stationed two detachments of rangers of fifteen men each at
blockhouses on the West Fork of Whitewater. In his letter
to Harrison, Noble said : "Upon the receipt of Conner's letter
I wrote him, advising the Dellawares to keep clear of our
settlements. They might be injured through mistake, and at
the same time observed that confidence was placed in them by
you sir."3 The whole situation had by this time become so
involved that Harrison, writing of these happenings to the
secretary of war a week later, confessed that he was "perfectly
at a loss as to the orders proper to be given in the present state
of the country."34

The situation was likewise perplexing to John Conner. To
maintain the neutral attitude of the Delaware nation was no
easy task when other tribes were either on the warpath or
about to take it because of the wrongs they believed had been
done them by the alien white race. The Delawares, however,
for the most part remained inoffensive, although a few joined
the Miami at their Mississinewa towns. It is notable that at
an important Indian council held on the Mississinewa River,
May 15, 18 1 2, at which Tecumseh defended himself against
the charge that he and his brother had instigated the attacks
on the white settlements, the Delaware spokesman interrupted
him : "We have not met at this place to listen to such words.
The red people have been killing the whites, the just resentment
of the latter is raised against the former .... there is no
time for us to tell each other you have done this, and you have
done that ; if there was, we would tell the prophet that both the
red and white people had felt the bad effect of his counsels.

66 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Let us all join our hearts and hands together, and proclaim
peace through the land of the red people."35

While John Conner was interceding for one group of
Delawares, his brother William was exercising a steadying
influence in another direction. A significant incident took
place either before or after the large Indian council referred to
above. On this occasion Tecumseh was holding a council with
the Delaware Indians at the mouth of Fall Creek near the
present site of Indianapolis when young Captain Zachary
Taylor reached there with a company of three hundred men
and prepared to encamp. When William Conner, who was
with the Delawares, heard of the proximity of the troops, he
sent word to Captain Taylor to put the creek between his camp
and the Indians. Taylor complied, and doubtless took other
precautions which Conner's message may have intimated were
necessary. This was perhaps Tecumseh's last chance to appeal
to the Delawares alone. He recognized his opportunity and
used every resource of his oratory to arouse them to a frenzy
of anger against the Americans. Had it not been for the calm,
wise, persuasiveness of William Conner and Chief Anderson,
the incident might have had a tragic sequel. The Delawares,
however, swayed by their trusted leaders, dispersed and re-
turned to their villages.36

About the first of June, Floyd, Harrison's messenger to
the Delawares, returned from the Delaware towns with the
report that this tribe was "entirely to be depended upon," which
confirmed the assurances John Conner had given Harrison the
previous April. After the expedition against the Miami towns
on the Mississinewa in December, 1812, the Delawares moved
to Ohio, near the town of Piqua. Here they were under the
protection of the United States government.37 Any responsi-
bility for their welfare and for their neutrality was thus lifted
from the shoulders of John Conner.

Governor Harrison had not realized that the series of
treaties which he had so ably negotiated would precipitate war
in the western country. When the conflict seemed inevitable,
he tried by every means in his power to avert it or postpone it.
When all means short of war failed, he endeavored to keep
neutral as many tribes as possible. In the end only the Dela-
wares could be thus accounted, but this he considered an im-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 67

portant achievement. A strong factor in accomplishing this
was the influence and the work of John Conner and his brother
William, both of whom served as scouts and interpreters for
Harrison.

CHAPTER VI
The War of 1812 in the Ohio Valley

Ox june 18, 18 1 2, war between Great Britain and the
United States was declared. The officially proclaimed
purpose of this war was to redress the wrongs charged against
Great Britain in violating the rights of the United States and
its citizens on the high seas. The administration at Wash-
ington planned the invasion of Canada. It was the purpose,
as appears from the debates in Congress, not only to invade
but to conquer and annex Canada.1

In the Ohio Valley internal Indian conflicts had retarded
both the increase in population and the growth of white settle-
ments. This condition was more extensive and intensive in
Indiana than in Ohio or Kentucky. For the settlers the issue
was to evict the hostile Indians and to make the frontier safe.
For the British the dispute involved territory and retention
of control of the important fur trade. As the Canadian fur
traders were aggressive and powerful,2 it became the policy
of the British to acquire the friendship of the Indians and
enlist them as allies. It seems that these clashing interests
could only be resolvable now by war.

Tecumseh at once went to Maiden in Canada to join the
British. His opportunity had come to rehabilitate the Indian
confederacy which had been almost shattered by the Battle
of Tippecanoe. All the tribes, save the Miami and Delawares,
rallied to his standard.3 Events disastrous for the United
States followed swiftly. In July and August forts Mackinac,
Dearborn (Chicago), and Detroit were surrendered to the
British. American authority on the Lakes had vanished, and
the American military boundaries in the Ohio Valley were
thrown back to the Maumee and Wabash rivers, precariously
held by Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison, respectively.4

These disasters stunned the Americans in the Ohio Valley.
The Indians, led by Tecumseh, were now firmly attached to
the British cause, and the Ohio Valley was exposed to attacks
of combined British and Indian forces. The horrors of Indian
warfare were again upon the settlers. Fighting Indians was

(68)

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 69

like fighting demons. They were almost as elusive and quite
as fiendish. Kentucky and Ohio, which had emerged into state-
hood with able governors, began active preparations to prose-
cute the war with renewed vigor, for the burden of defending
the borders of the Ohio Valley fell upon them.

In 1812 Indiana was a territory with seven organized
counties. The militia at this time showed a strength of between
four and five thousand men. Several companies of rangers —
made up from the militia — were sworn into the service of the
United States, and Lieutenant Colonel William Hargrove was
given command. The service of these troops was confined to
the territory, and Hargrove was instructed to protect the set-
tlers against Indian outrages as far as possible. In spite of
these measures, a succession of small raids kept the borders in
a state of dread.5

In August, 18 1 2, before news of Hull's surrender was
received, Kentucky gave Harrison a commission as major
general of militia, in full command of an expedition to rein-
force Detroit. Federal management of war in the West was
unsatisfactory. The secretary of war was incompetent. Har-
rison and Brigadier General James Winchester both sought
command of the regular forces in the Northwest, and were kept
on tenterhooks by uncertainty concerning the final decision at
Washington.6

Harrison, meanwhile, went on with his preparations for a
movement on Detroit. In reducing his program to military
essentials, he had to cut off its political excrescences. This was
not so difficult, as the war party was now somewhat sobered.
But while Detroit was his main objective, it was also neces-
sary to watch carefully the movements and temper of the In-
dians in the Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois country. Attacks on
the rear or flank of the army might prove disastrous. Nor was
it conceivable that while the main campaign was being carried
on, the settlements should be left unprotected. Harrison, there-
fore, had two immediate objects : first to relieve Detroit, and
second to protect the settlements. He expected the militia
and Hargrove's rangers to take care of the latter, leaving him
free to plan his Detroit campaign. In the achievement of these

70 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

purposes, the Conners had a part — John in Indiana, keeping an
eye on the Indians there, and William with the attacking
forces.

News that Detroit had surrendered reached Harrison late
in August, and immediately afterward he learned that Fort
Wayne was besieged by two hundred British regulars and a
thousand Indians commanded by Colonel Matthew Elliot. Har-
rison's immediate concern was Fort Wayne. With some
twenty-two hundred men he marched to its relief, reaching
the fort on September 12. A week later he was relieved by
General Winchester, temporarily victor in the struggle for com-
mand of the northwestern army. Harrison returned to Ohio,
intending to organize a force to be used against the Prophet,
but new instructions from Washington led him to take up again
his plan for an expedition against Detroit. On September 24
he received word that command of the northwestern army had
been placed in his hands. He took command with the rank of
brigadier general in the regular army.7

Shortly after Harrison's arrival at St. Mary's, Ohio, he
ordered Colonel William Jennings to open a road from St.
Mary's to Fort Defiance by the way of the present town of
Ottawa, a distance of about seventy miles. He also directed
him to build a blockhouse midway between the two places. St.
Mary's was the principal depot for army provisions, and at Fort
Defiance provisions were also to be accumulated. One item
of the instructions relates particularly to the Conners: "Some
of the friendly Indians will be employed as guides, and Mr.
William Conner will attend you and act as interpreter."8 This
is the first known written record of the activities of William
Conner since 1802. For ten years he had been living on the
banks of White River a life indistinguishable from the Indians
except for his trading operations with his brother. How he
first came to the attention of Harrison is not known, but
undoubtedly the governor knew of him through John, for the
relation between the two brothers was close. William seems
to have been the less adventurous of the two brothers, less dis-
turbed by events, more settled and reserved, with perhaps some-
thing of Indian stolidity. Harrison believed in his trustworthi-
ness or he would not have chosen him as interpreter and leader
of this band of friendly Indians. They were in all probability

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 71

Delaware friends and neighbors of William Conner, used to
dealing with him at his post.9

The month of September (1812), was full of unrest in
Indiana Territory. While Harrison was preparing to relieve
Fort Wayne, there occurred at Pigeon Roost settlement in
Scott County one of the most dastardly Indian outrages in the
history of the territory. It was incited by the Prophet. In one
hour's time, one man, five women, and sixteen children were
murdered and the cabins in which they met their deaths were
burned. Some of the Delawares were suspected of being in
the number of these raiders, most of whom were Shawnee.10
Simultaneously a body of Winnebago, Kickapoo, Shawnee,
Potawatomi, and a few Miami attacked Fort Harrison but
were repulsed by a small garrison under the command of
Captain Zachary Taylor.11

The Miami were now wavering in their neutrality. The
success of the Americans in raising the siege of Fort Wayne,
and rumors that General Hopkins of Kentucky was to lead
an expedition into their territory, sent them hastening to St.
Mary's in October, 18 12, to beg peace from Harrison. As the
latter had considerable evidence against them, they finally threw
themselves upon the mercy of the president.12 About this
time, at least during that month, Harrison sent William Con-
ner to the Mississinewa towns to watch the Miami. Conner
listened to their discussions as to whether they should join
the United States or Great Britain, and seeing the influence of
Tecumseh swing the balance in favor of the British, went no
further into the Indian country. John Johnston, Shawnee
agent at Piqua, wrote to Harrison that it was "fortunate that
Mr. Conner did not proceed farther than Massassineway,
thereby leaving Gen. Hopkins at liberty to proceed up the
Wabash."13 This comment is enigmatical but thereby hangs an
unusual tale of a good plan telescoped into a bad performance
and ruined.

General Samuel Hopkins, honorably distinguished in the
War of the Revolution, with an army of two thousand
mounted Kentucky riflemen, started for the country lying on
the borders of the W'abash River and the vicinitv of the Illi-

72 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

nois River to destroy the villages of the Kickapoo and other
hostile Indians. After crossing the former river and making
four or five days march beyond, the officers mutinied and the
forces returned to Fort Harrison, where the army disbanded
and returned home with the general following. He then or-
ganized another army of three regiments of Kentucky infantry
to attack the rebuilt Prophet's Town. Small companies of
regulars, rangers, and scouts accompanied them. The army
reached its destination on November 19, destroyed the town,
and returned to Fort Harrison. On the way back a detach-
ment fell into an ambuscade with severe casualties.14 Such
were the inglorious ends of glorious beginnings that General
Hopkins sheathed his sword and quit the service. The only
military result from these two expeditions was greater en-
couragement to the Indians. William Conner learned of the
fiasco from them.

The Indian unrest was increasing. John Conner brought
word from the Delaware towns in Indiana to Piqua on October
10 that the Miami were urging the Delawares to join them in
the war against the United States. They were active propa-
gandists, sending nine messages to the Delawares in eighteen
days, but the Delawares stood firm. In a letter of October 23,
John Johnston reported to Harrison that he had sent John
Conner to White River to watch the Delawares, to "keep them
straight," to collect news and bring it to him. William Con-
ner had been assigned to conduct some Delawares past Green-
ville, which had been the rendezvous of Tecumseh and the
Prophet in 1808 and where there was evidently still some
hostile Indian influence. Apparently in response to a request
for a competent guide or agent, Johnston promised to send
William Conner to Harrison as soon as he returned from
Greenville, recommending him as better suited to Harrison's
purpose than his brother John.15

It had now become imperative for Harrison to destroy the
Miami towns on the Mississinewa as they were in a strategic
situation for receiving provisions and assistance during the
war and for the assembling of hostile tribes. The Miami had
participated in the attack upon Fort Harrison and the siege of
Fort Wayne in September of that year. Their warriors had
also been involved in several of the murders of the settlers.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 73

It is probable that William Conner joined Harrison at
Franklinton, Ohio, now the site of Columbus, about October
25, 18 1 2. A month later Harrison designated him as a guide
for Lieutenant Colonel John B. Campbell's expedition to the
Mississinewa, for he knew Conner was well acquainted with
the country through which the expedition would pass. Har-
rison also suggested that John Conner, who was on the White-
water in Indiana Territory, could easily be summoned, for
Campbell could not be too well supplied with guides. John
Conner did not accompany the expedition, but William was
with the force which reached the Mississinewa on the seven-
teenth of December. On that day the troops killed eight war-
riors, took forty-two prisoners, and destroyed four villages.
In this short skirmish Conner came close to death when his
horse was shot down while he stood behind it. Before daylight
next morning, about four o'clock, Conner was standing in
front of the fire outside the Colonel's tent. As the command-
ing officer was inquiring how far it was to the Indian village,
a bullet knocked a burning coal of fire from the log. Conner
reached for his rifle and remarked that they did not need to
go to the town to find the Indians. They were present. The
battle had indeed begun. After a short and furious encounter
the Miami retreated. Including the skirmish the day before,
at least thirty-eight warriors were killed and more than forty
prisoners were taken. The American loss was ten killed and
forty-eight wounded.

Conner and the other scouts rendered such good service
when the battle was at its height that they were cited for valor
and good conduct. When Colonel Campbell learned from one
of the prisoners that Tecumseh with six hundred warriors
was but eighteen miles below him, he thought it prudent to
return to headquarters, and they began the difficult march
back.16 The result of this battle was to break up the head-
quarters of the Miami in Indiana and place this tribe definitely
in the ranks of the enemy.

4-

Harrison's army at the beginning of 18 13 nominally con-
sisted of ten thousand men, but the effective force was much
less, probably six thousand three hundred infantry.17 It was

74 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

composed of untrained settlers, frontiersmen, brave but brook-
ing no restraint, ignorant (some of his officers were unable to
write their reports), and sometimes mutinous. The term of
enlistment was short, which occasioned a rapidly changing per-
sonnel. Officers as well as men lacked a sense of serious re-
sponsibility. Kentucky volunteers were the best soldiers, but
they would enlist only if allowed to serve on horseback,
although infantry was badly needed. Roads were of the poor-
est. Provisions were often delayed. The rations were some-
times one half or none at all or of the poorest quality. Diseases
of all kinds decimated the army, and graft honeycombed all
the operations from the quartermaster's department even to
the appointment of surgeons. The Indians were an uncertain
quantity, not excepting those who professed loyalty. Much
confusion existed because of the weak, vacillating war adminis-
tration at Washington. In addition to the instability of the
army and the deplorable conditions attending its transportation
and supply, the difficulty of crossing the Black Swamp lay be-
tween Harrison and Detroit. This dreaded obstacle, stretch-
ing between Sandusky and Maumee rivers just below Lake
Erie, was impassable unless sufficiently frozen to bear the
weight of an army and its equipment.18 The vast quagmire
had filled the Moravian captives with terror during their
journeyings in 1781.

In spite of these discouragements, Harrison had not, at
the beginning of 18 13, definitely given up the plan of an
advance against Maiden. The left wing of the army, under
Winchester, began its advance toward the Rapids of the Miami
(Maumee) on the last day of December, expecting to be met
there by the central and right divisions. Winchester arrived
on January 10 and encamped. Led on by appeals for protec-
tion from the inhabitants of Frenchtown, a village on the
River Raisin about half way between the rapids and Detroit
near the site of the present Monroe, Michigan, he dispatched a
part of his forces to that point. This detachment was attacked
the day after its arrival but succeeded in driving off the British.
Winchester joined the detachment with reinforcements, but
two days later, on January 22, 1813, the British fell upon the
Americans in force and inflicted a disastrous defeat. Most of
the American prisoners were massacred by the Indians, with

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 75

the acquiescence of the British. The western people were
shocked, indignant, and deeply stirred.

Harrison had by this time moved forward to the rapids,
but poor transportation and inadequate supplies had combined
to prevent his arrival in time to forestall the fiasco of the River
Raisin. Harrison now had no doubt as to his course. Win-
chester had failed because his attack was premature and he
lacked reinforcements. Harrison's military instincts told him
that the campaign was not advisable at a time when the army
would be far away — two hundred miles — from the base of
supplies. He saw now that no attack could be successfully
maintained until the Americans gained control of Lake Erie.
Why heed the prodding of excited and uninformed critics and
venture where disaster would likely await his army as it had
Hull's and Winchester's? It was unfortunate that this winter
campaign had been planned but it would make matters worse
to attempt it under existing conditions. He repeatedly advised
the War Department as to his conclusions. A long correspond-
ence ensued, with the result that Harrison was left to his plans
while the government took steps to regain control of Lake Erie.
Fort Meigs was constructed at the rapids and Harrison went
into winter quarters, intending to undertake a new advance in
February.19

The policy of the British in the wars of the Revolution
and of 1812 was to employ Indians, "very excellent surgeons,"
according to Captain Elliot,20 and very helpful in devastating
the settlements in the lost northwestern territory. The British
command winked at their barbarous atrocities. This policy
was not wholly approved in England but nevertheless it pre-
vailed. Harrison was loath to incorporate the Indians in his
army, for he knew and feared the horrors of their warfare.
Besides he had a poor opinion of their dependableness. In
the spring of 18 13, however, apprehending British invasion, he
began to enlist them by employing a band of thirty friendly
Indians as scouts or spies. William Conner was with them.
Later about two hundred Delawares and the same number of
Wyandot, Seneca, and Mingo joined his army and rendered
satisfactory service. Some of them remained with the army
until the conclusion of the war in the Northwest. This em-
ployment proved to be helpful to the situation in Ohio and

76 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Indiana, a tinder box in which the slightest provocation on the
part of either Indians or whites would start a conflagration.
Temporarily the settlers were satisfied as to Indian loyalty,
and border friction was lessened.21

Encouraged by the results at River Raisin, the British and
the Indians attacked Fort Meigs, on the safety of which de-
pended the success of Harrison's campaign to retake Detroit.
With nearly one thousand regulars and militia and twelve hun-
dred Indians led by Tecumseh, gunboats on the river and artil-
lery on land, General Proctor kept up heavy fire during the
first eight days of May, but to no avail. The fort was staunchly
built and withstood the assault. Some of the Americans who
had been sent across the river to attack a British battery were
taken prisoner. A number were tomahawked, but it is said
that Tecumseh, proclaiming it a "disgrace to kill a defenseless
prisoner," saved many from torture and death. The siege was
a failure and Proctor retreated. The Indians — half of them
from the Wabash — dispersed. This was the second battle in
which William Conner had participated." Another one was
to follow which would be decisive in the northwestern territory.

5-

Shortly after Proctor's defeat at Fort Meigs there were
rumors of a second invasion of Ohio by the British. Harrison
had, during the year, collected military and artillery stores at
Upper Sandusky. Unfortunately, they were unfortified and
only eight hundred raw recruits were there to defend them.
Fort Stephenson stood on the bank of the Sandusky, nine miles
above its mouth at Sandusky Bay. It was exposed to the attacks
of British gunboats sent up the river from Lake Erie. Har-
rison's headquarters were at Seneca, ten miles south of Fort
Stephenson and about equally distant from Fort Meigs.

Harrison's chief concern now was the safety of his mili-
tary supplies at Upper Sandusky. Should Proctor attack Fort
Stephenson, which was nothing more than "an untenable
stockade," it would probably fall, and Fort Seneca would be
the next object of assault. In that event he would need all
his resources and reinforcements to turn Proctor down the
river to Lake Erie. Victorious, Proctor would proceed up the
river and seize the supply depot at Upper Sandusky. Har-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 77

rison had an alarming report that the woods around Camp
Meigs were swarming with Indians, while Tecumseh was
reported to be in command of two thousand of them some-
where between Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson.

Would these savage hordes unite with Proctor's army as
it passed out of the Bay of Sandusky and proceeded up the
river ? These were questions occurring and .recurring to Har-
rison's mind, so much that he anticipated that these things
might happen. Harrison's critics frequently said he took too
much counsel of his fears. It was a tense moment. At such a
time the human mind may become confused as to values and
make mistakes in choice. That was what happened to Harri-
son.

At a conference with his staff officers, among whom was
General Lewis Cass, who had joined him at Seneca in July,
it was decided that Fort Stephenson should be abandoned.
Accordingly, at ten o'clock on the night of July 29, he sent
William Conner and two Indians from Seneca with a written
order to Major George Croghan (a nephew of George Rogers
Clark) to abandon and burn the fort and repair to Seneca.
Conner lost his way. The unfamiliar trail was difficult to fol-
low in the darkness. Hostile Indians were roaming through
the wilderness and he may have had to abandon the trail at
times to avoid them. He had been a prisoner of the Wyandot
here, but he was a lad then and thirty-two years had elapsed.

The message was intended to be delivered that night, but
Conner did not reach the fort until ten o'clock the next morn-
ing. When Croghan received the order he decided that it was
more hazardous to retreat than to remain at the fort, and he
sent a message by Conner saying, "we have determined to
maintain this place, and by heavens we can." The reply was
worded in such vehement fashion because Croghan expected
Conner to be captured and his message to fall into the hands
of the Indians. But Conner delivered the reply to Harrison
on the same day, and the latter immediately sent Colonel Sam-
uel Wells with a squadron to relieve Croghan of his command
on account of his act of disobedience. The squadron was at-
tacked by Indians and while there were casualties on both sides,
Colonel Wells reached the fort and took charge. Croghan re-
turned with the squadron and after he had explained the situa-

78 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

tion to Harrison, was allowed to return to his command. On
the afternoon of August I, the British appeared with the gun-
boats in the river. Proctor's force consisted of 500 regulars
and more than 700 Indians. Colonel Elliot, who accompanied
Proctor, demanded surrender of the fort to prevent the dread-
ful slaughter that would follow resistance. The doughty
youngster in command refused to comply, whereupon the
British opened a furious fusilade. Croghan fought stoutly
back with his 160 men and one piece of artillery. Proctor's
position was difficult. The fort was withstanding the assault,
and its defenders showed no signs of yielding. His Indian
allies were discontented with the delay. Proctor was afraid to
remain with Harrison only nine miles away and he did not
want to leave without accomplishing some advantageous result.
On the afternoon of the second, the 41st Regiment was picked
by Proctor to make a vigorous assault under cover of smoke
against the northwest angle of the fort. After two hours'
fighting with disastrous results, the British retired, and at
three o'clock in the morning of August 3, Proctor and his sur-
viving troops re-embarked for Maiden.

Small and apparently inconsequential happenings sometimes
change the flow of important events. If William Conner had
not been delayed a few hours this page of history would be
written differently. Croghan, according to his own statement,
would have abandoned the fort as ordered, had Conner arrived
during the night of July 29. With that result Harrison would
have fallen back to Upper Sandusky and the decisive engage-
ment with the British in this invasion probably would have
occurred there.

As it happened, a very important victory was incredibly
achieved by a youth of twenty-one. For his part in this affair
Harrison was subjected to criticism which threatened to impair
his military position. The American people could not under-
stand his reasons for failing to go to the assistance of Croghan
in his hazardous position, as he had an effective command and
was within hearing of the guns, only ten miles away.23

6.

Early in 18 13 the Navy Department had begun operations
on Lake Erie. Oliver H. Perry, a capable young officer, was

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 79

in charge of them. During the summer Harrison kept in touch
with Perry and supplied some men for the fleet. When Harri-
son, conscious of the growing criticism of his inactivity, was
at Seneca in September, considering the best movement of the
army, he received Perry's famous dispatch of the tenth that
Lake Erie was again under American control. Harrison's
campaign was now directed to the recovery of Detroit and the
invasion of Canada.24

Events moved rapidly from this time on. Harrison mobi-
lized his troops which embarked for Canada on September 20
under the protection of Perry's fleet. The Battle of the Thames
ensued on October 5. The American forces actually engaged
in the battle were estimated by Dawson and McAfee at 2,500
to 2,700, of which 120 were regulars and 30 were Indians.
The British forces were estimated at 2,000 to 2,400, of which
1,500 were Indians and about 800 were regulars. The Indians
in the American army were attached to Colonel George Paull's
company and ten or twelve of them in charge of Conner were
assigned to a position for the purpose of seizing the enemy's
artillery at the opportune moment.25

The spectacular feature of the battle and the decisive ma-
neuver was the frontal charge of Colonel Richard M. John-
son's regiment of mounted Kentucky rangers, part of which
rode roughshod through the enemy's battle lines, shooting to
the right and to the left and capturing or killing most of the
British regulars, while the other section drove the Indians out
of the underbrush on the left and put them to flight. General
Proctor fled and escaped. Tecumseh was slain. The Ken-
tuckians claimed the honor of the victory.

Controversy as to who won the battle, Harrison or John-
son, finally became political. It seems a factual statement that
the maneuver was suggested by Johnson, subordinate officer,
and was approved by Harrison, the highest commanding officer,
who ordered its execution.26

7-

A question that occasionally revives even to this day is,

Who killed Tecumseh? It has never been and probably never

will be satisfactorily answered. It was Conner's opinion that

no one would ever know who fired the gun that killed him.

80 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Reverberating through the years it has called forth many-
answers. Several writers have claimed the distinction for
Colonel Richard M. Johnson. It was considered by the Ken-
tuckians of sufficient importance in 1837 to entitle Colonel
Johnson to election as vice-president of the United States.
Johnson, himself, avoided this claim, but his friends urged
it. William Conner thought that Colonel Whitley, a distin-
guished veteran of former Indian wars, was more likely
deserving of the honor. The fatal shot was from a small-bore
rifle such as the frontiersmen usually carried, and Whitley's
body was found a few feet away from Tecumseh's, with a
rifle of that type. The soldiers generally believed that the
fatal shot was his. Colonel Johnson was mounted and armed
with horse pistols, which would have produced a different
wound. This was the ballistic evidence as Conner knew it.

There are also many conflicting accounts of the identifica-
tion of Tecumseh's body on the battlefield. It is said the Ken-
tuckians "first recognized it and had cut long strips of skin
from the thighs to keep . . . for razor straps in memory of
the river Raisin." This brutal detail did not have any political
value so the politicians did not make use of it.27 William Con-
ner is said to have inspected the body and confirmed the
identification made by some of the Indians. He had known
Tecumseh for many years, and for six years they had been
neighbors on White River.

Nine days after his victory, Harrison called the chiefs of
the Potawatomi, Miami, Wea, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Ot-
tawa to Detroit. He required of them a suspension of hos-
tilities; if there were any murders or depredations committed
by any of them upon the citizens of the United States all
signatory tribes were to unite in punishing the offenders.
Hostages must be given, and all prisoners were to be de-
livered at Fort Wayne or some other post. William Conner
and five others acted as interpreters. The Indians began to
realize their mistake in allying themselves to the British now
that the heavy hand of the United States was laid upon them.

For nine years after the Fort Wayne Treaty of 1809 no
Indian treaties of any importance concerned lands in Indiana.
The Battle of the Thames broke the power and ended the
aspirations of the northwestern Indians. Their only great

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 81

leader was dead and his followers dispersed. There was no
one to succeed him. The Prophet was as useless as a bad
fuse which had failed to ignite the bomb.

The only treaty the Indians had ever regarded as bind-
ing upon them was Wayne's treaty of 1795 at Greenville. It
was therefore fitting that after nineteen years of sanguinary
struggle the compact between the Indians and the United States
should take place at Greenville on July 22, 1814. It was called
the treaty of peace and friendship. The Indians, disappointed
and humiliated by the British defeat, realized that they must
now make peace with the United States. The treaty was signed
by the chiefs for the Wyandot, Delawares, Seneca, Shawnee,
Ottawa, Miami, Potawatomi, and Kickapoo. They agreed to
aid the United States in any war with Great Britain or with
hostile Indian tribes. The council opened on July 8, 1814, and
continued to July 23. General Harrison presided. William and
John Conner were present and signed the treaty as witnesses.
It gave peace to the Wyandot, the Delawares, the Shawnee,
the Seneca, and to the Miami nation. Indulgence was granted
to certain bands of the Potawatomi, the Ottawa, and the Kicka-
poo which during the troublesome period had been virtually
outlaws. The boundary lines between the lands of the United
States and the Indian nations to whom peace was granted (ex-
cept as to the Seneca) were confirmed as they had existed
prior to the War of 1812.28

Other treaties were held beginning in June, 18 16, and ex-
tending as late as 1840, b)^ the terms of which portions of the
territory comprising the present state of Indiana were relin-
quished by the Indians.

In all there were thirteen Indian treaties negotiated and
executed with tribes in Indiana and Ohio in which William
and John Conner acted as interpreters or witnesses, sometimes
separately and sometimes jointly.29 Until the close of the War
of 1 81 2 the negotiations of the treaties and their execution
were attended with the bitter and fierce opposition of the In-
dians. After that event the negotiations were not so difficult.
In 18 18 the Delawares, by treaty, agreed to move west of the
Mississippi. By 1834 the long hostility of the Potawatomi
to the United States was ended. In 1840 the Miami ceded
their remaining lands and agreed to join the other tribes in

82 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

the West. The efforts to extinguish Indian titles had been
incredibly difficult. What the result would have been without
Harrison's skill in the first negotiations, no one can tell.

The War of 1812 was a military blunder, promoted by poli-
ticians, which almost wrecked the Union. Nevertheless, what-
ever may be the opinion of the futility and wastefulness of
both men and money and the wicked corruption of this war,
the fact remains that for Indiana it was of vital importance.30

Notwithstanding Harrison's success in the Northwest, the
fortunes of the Ohio Valley were determined by the results of
the war in the East and by the treaty of peace following its
conclusion. In the negotiations for that treaty at Ghent in
August, 1814,31 the British commissioners made two demands
which, if they had been agreed to by the American commis-
sioners, would not only have nullified the result of Harrison's
victory but would have radically changed the map of the North-
west. One of these demands — sine qua 11 on — was for a barrier
country between the United States and Canada to be perma-
nently owned and occupied by Indians as an independent nation.
This proposal embraced an area beyond the Greenville (1795)
line in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan in which perhaps
one hundred thousand Americans were settled. The other was
that the United States was not to have any naval force on the
Great Lakes nor to maintain any forts on their shores, while
the British were allowed both.

The American commissioners stubbornly opposed these de-
mands, which were so preposterous as to threaten an end to
negotiations. They were unconsciously aided by the swirling
course of English internal affairs and foreign relations. The
British commissioners referred the decision to the British
cabinet which, thoroughly perplexed, submitted it to England's
military authority, the Duke of Wellington. It is interesting
to recall that the subsequent victor of Waterloo advised the
British cabinet that under the circumstances of the war England
was not entitled to demand any territory from the United States
— truly a British concept. So far as the British demand was
concerned the status of the Northwest was determined by the
word of this man who in a few months was to solve the prob-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 83

lems of Europe by his sword. Before the treaty was finally
completed, the unanimity of the American commissioners was
threatened by a stiff-necked controversy between Adams and
Clay. It is said that "in this delicate situation only the author-
ity and skill of Albert Gallatin saved the treaty."32

After five months of controversy the treaty — status ante
helium — was finally signed on December 24, 18 14. The North-
west remained a part of the United States. Two other results
important to this section were achieved which are not referred
to in the treaty. The power of the Indian in the Northwest
was broken. The English fur trade would henceforth be con-
fined to the boundaries of Canada.

By the terms of the Treaty of Greenville (1795) Indiana
was almost wholly an Indian reservation. Before and during
the War of 181 2 the Indian tribes in Indiana were largely con-
trolled by the leadership of Tecumseh. The excepted tribe
was the Delawares. The Miami, influenced by the Delawares,
stood out against the blandishments of Tecumseh for a time
but finally yielded. The position of the Delawares was difficult.
The memory of the Gnadenhiitten massacre of 1781 hung
over them as a dark, foreboding cloud of American faithless-
ness which they were not allowed to forget. Their lands were
again being taken away from them. Extermination seemed
to face them by these two methods. As a tribe, in Indiana and
Ohio however, they remained neutral. Some of their warriors
were, doubtless, in British ranks, but as a group they stead-
fastly refused to open war upon the Americans. Harrison
realized and appreciated their situation and the great impor-
tance of their attitude to the Americans. William and John
Conner were trusted counselors of this tribe both in the con-
summation of the treaties negotiated by Harrison in Indiana
and in the maintenance of their neutrality in the Indian troubles
in Indiana before and in the W'ar of 1812. It may be fair to
assume that a source of this peaceful attitude of the Delawares
may be found in the Moravian mission towns in Ohio where
David Zeisberger had grimly held his Indian community neu-
tral during the early years of the Revolution. In the War of
18 1 2, influenced by the Conner brothers who had shared this
background, the tribe maintained its neutrality to the end.

CHAPTER VII

John Conner, Founder of Connersville
and State Builder

If an airplane could have flown low over the prairies, the
forests, and the rivers of Indiana in 1813, this area would
have presented the appearance of one huge armed camp made
up of many small units. All settlements, even those of only
three or four houses, had their fortified blockhouses. Larger
communities had forts to accommodate a greater number of
families. Stockades surrounded the forts that were garrisoned
and within these enclosures were kept the horses of the
mounted rangers. The trails and crude roads were sentineled
by single militiamen, stationed at high points to survey the
surrounding country for the Indian enemy. There were in
what is the present state of Indiana only two forts of any
importance for the protection of this territory — Fort Wayne
on the north and Fort Harrison on the Wabash. A series of
forts in the eastern part of Ohio and a few in Kentucky along
the Ohio River were of more value but not adequate. Due to
continued petty Indian raids, however, blockhouses were to
be found by this year in every section that contained white
settlers— even those on the well-protected eastern border.

The three counties of Wayne, Franklin, and Dearborn
constituted the eastern group of the seven organized counties
in the Indiana Territory of this period. They were united by
the Whitewater River. Its two forks, known as the East and
West forks, rise in what was then Wayne County (now Ran-
dolph) and come together in Franklin County just below the
town of Brookville. The river flows on southward through
the northeast corner of Dearborn County and joins the Miami
River a short distance above its mouth, the center of which
determines the boundary between Ohio and Indiana. This sec-
tion was commonly known in the early days as the Whitewater
Valley, or, sometimes, simply as the Whitewater.

On November 25, 18 12, Harrison wrote from Ohio that
"John Conner is on White Water in the Indiana Territory and
may be easily sent for." In what capacity he was there in these

(84)

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 85

troublous times, it is not so easy to determine. He had been
sent by Harrison in October to watch the Delawares and report
their movements, but by the end of November the tribe had
begun to move at Harrison's direction from its towns on White
River to the Shawnee towns on the Auglaize River in northern
Ohio.1 This exodus of the Delawares from Indiana, which was
completed by June, 1813, deprived John Conner of his field
for trading and any special duty in connection with the war.

Meantime the settlers in the Whitewater Valley had become
apprehensive because of their close proximity to the Indian
country. There had been no open hostility of any large group,
but there were instances of theft, murder, and capture of in-
dividuals by Indians, singly or in small bands. Forts were
garrisoned and houses fortified. In Wayne County, there were
at least nine blockhouses, four with stockades, besides which
about every fourth house near the Indian boundary was
strengthened to be able to resist attacks. There was a propor-
tionate number in Franklin and Dearborn counties. That there
was a blockhouse near Conner's Trading Post on what was
soon to be the site of Connersville, there is no doubt.2 It seems
inconceivable that a man who had rendered such good service to
Harrison before and during the Battle of Tippecanoe was not
assisting in this protection of the frontier. The military records
are complicated by the presence of another John Conner who
came to Franklin County in 18 13, so that it is difficult to dis-
entangle the two service records. It seems likely that the sub-
ject of this narrative was either the John Conner who was third
corporal in the company of Captain James McGuire of the vol-
unteer militia of Dearborn County from August 28, 18 12, to
February 27, 18 13, or that he was the private John Conner who
was enrolled in the company of militia from Wayne County
under command of Enos Butler from October 13, 1812 to
January 12, 1813. As the dates of duty overlap he could not
have served in both. At any rate it may be assumed that he
was serving in some capacity, most naturally in the blockhouse
or fort near his post.3

These forts and blockhouses bristled with importance in the
year 1813. Circling above the sites of Indian towns and settle-

86 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ments, an air-pilot would have found no signs of occupancy.
Many of the towns had been burned, the land laid waste, the
crops left ungarnered. A sharp eye might occasionally discern a
single Indian skulking through the forest, or a small band half
hidden in the shadows of a river bank, or a half -starved group
sneaking back to secure abandoned grain. These were few,
however, and their spirits were broken. In the latter part of this
year our pilot might have seen a thin dark file of Indians, the
disbanded army of the Thames, making its way down from
Detroit and Canada to deserted homes in Indiana. It was a
weary, sullen, and disheartened group. Betrayed and embit-
tered, the Indians realized that their return meant only the
beginning of another trek westward.

Lest this observer of the air catch the contagion of their dis-
couragement, let him turn southward and observe the pioneers
from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Kentucky, and
North Carolina who have heard of the defeat of the Indians
and with high hopes and courage are forming another line
which enters Indiana from the south and east. They are com-
ing with their wives and children, their baggage and their cattle,
in wagons and on foot, on horseback across mountains and
plains; on rafts down the Ohio. There are native Americans
and European immigrants, for the most part substantial peo-
ple, sober, industrious, kindly, and democratic. Some are
Quakers, and practically all, even those from the southern
states, are opposed to slavery.4 In March, 1812, there were not
35,000 inhabitants in what is now Indiana. By the close of
181 5 there were 63,897. Through the Whitewater Valley immi-
grants came pouring into Indiana from the east and south.

Situated since 1808 on the Whitewater River, only five
miles east of the western boundary of the Twelve Mile Pur-
chase and less than a mile from the southern boundary of
Wayne County, John Conner watched this tide of immigra-
tion, moving slowly at first, gradually gaining until interrupted
by the war, and then increasing again. His trading post near
Cedar Grove had been one of the first white settlements in
Franklin County; in his new location he was one of the first
white settlers of the region later organized as Fayette County.
For several years Conner had been investing the money he had
acquired from his fur trade and from his father's estate in

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 87

various tracts of land in Franklin County. By March, 1813,
he owned a farm of 320 acres near Cedar Grove which in-
cluded the site of his old trading post and mill; 160 acres on
West Fork of Whitewater in Laurel Township, besides parts
of sections in or near the present site of Connersville.5 His
Indian wife had died. Their two sons, James and John, were
probably with their father at this time. James died while still
a youth and John left Indiana in 1820.6

With the chief tie that bound him to his Indian life gone,
and with an increasing number of white settlers occupying
land adjacent to his, it was natural that Conner should identify
himself completely with his own people. His thoughts turned
to marriage and to the daughter of Jabez Winship, his old
neighbor at Cedar Grove. On March 13, 18 13, John Conner
and Lavina Winship were married. She was a young woman of
twenty-five and he thirteen years older.7 He took her back to
his trading post in the northern part of Franklin County and
began the reorientation of his life. His Indian trade was no
longer lucrative, and as a sawmill was an obvious need of the
new settlers, he built one near his post.

It was in the year of his marriage that he conceived the
idea of platting a town in this vicinity. At least eleven lots
were contracted for purchase during the year, nine of which
had some improvements on them in the way of buildings
or fences.8 For several years it existed only in his mind and
in a rough drawing on paper. "The most of the land which
comprises the present site of the town was then a dense for-
est," wrote a contemporary describing its appearance in 1816.
"A small tract of land had been laid off by John Conner into
town lots which lay along the river bank, on Water street and
along Main (now Eastern) street, and a few log-cabins had
been erected." Conner's granddaughter tells an incident illus-
trative of the modest beginnings of the town. John Conner, she
says, was "building his cabin, which as yet had neither roof
nor floor, when an emigrant wagon drew up and stopped, and
the new-comer asked to be directed to Connersville. My Grand-
father, standing in the door, laughed heartily and said, 'My
friend, you are right in the heart of the town.' "9

88 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Conner's post and dwelling— probably a two-roomed log
cabin — was situated in what is now the middle of Eastern Ave-
nue between Eighth and Ninth streets, outside the original plat
of the town. As a protection against the Indians, a heavy wall
had been erected around the cabin, with a gate that fastened
from the inside. The log blockhouse which was on the rear
of Block No. 8 fronted what is now an alley but what was
originally the old Whitewater Trail. The original town con-
sisted of two main streets running north and south, Main and
Water streets, and it was only two blocks wide and five blocks
long.

In the summer of 1816 Conner built a gristmill near his
sawmill. Here he employed George Shirts, who came with his
family from Cincinnati to Indiana after serving in the War
of 18 12 as soldier, scout, and messenger. Shirts was a miller
by trade, and he superintended Conner's mill besides assisting
in the dressing and packing of furs at the trading post.10 The
Indian trade became active again for a few years after the
Delawares returned from Ohio prior to their departure from
Indiana in 1820.

In such an embryo town did Lavina Conner begin house-
keeping. It was sixty miles from Cincinnati, the nearest com-
munity of any size, accessible by barge or flatboat when the
weather was good, otherwise only by the narrow trail through
the woods. The essential commodities had to be hauled in
wagons over almost impassable roads which seemed more like
paths. "Three notches" on the trees indicated a public high-
way. The "blazed" tree led only to a settler's cabin.

This cabin was of rough log construction. A large one
was eighteen feet by twenty-two feet with a fireplace in one
end and the entrance in the opposite end. A window about
two feet square was closed with a shutter which had wooden
hinges like those of the door extending across its width. The
sides of the structure were of round logs, the cracks between
filled with small pieces of soft wood driven in from the inside,
and the outside well coated with clay mortar. Clapboards laid
on ribs of log supplied the roof. The puncheon floor was a con-
struction of split logs. The outside chimney frame was made
of split pieces of log finished with small split sticks laid in clay
mortar mixed with cut straw. Unless stone could be procured,

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 89

the chimney back, jambs, and hearth were made of well-tem-
pered clay which was thoroughly beaten. Small openings in the
cabin were covered with greased paper. Handmade furniture
of the simplest kind met the bare necessities. Beds were fre-
quently made upon the floor. Meat, corn meal, and dried beans
were the staple articles of diet in the winter. There was neither
tea, nor coffee, nor sugar. Maple sugar and molasses which
could be obtained in abundance from the sugar maple trees
took the place of cane sugar. A beverage was made by pour-
ing boiling water over a toasted corn dodger sweetened with
maple sugar.11

Yet under conditions like these the community grew and
prospered. On December 4, 181 5, there were 1,430 voters in
Franklin County and the total population was 7,370 — larger
than any other county except Knox.12 Although John Conner
was among the earliest settlers he was elected to no office until
18 16, when he became a member of the state Senate. Men
were here, however, whose names were to be written large
across the history of the state, and from whom John Conner
was learning many things — John Test, James and Noah Noble,
Stephen C. Stevens, Isaac Wilson, Oliver H. Smith, and many
others. Franklin County was an anteroom to the state, a train-
ing ground for new citizens. Many came and settled here until
they got their bearings in the new environment, made scouting
parties further inland for more desirable locations, and event-
ually removed to the point of their selection. The nucleus of
the first settlers in Hamilton County came from Connersville.
The Conner brothers had selected their locations wisely. Peo-
ple, not goods, were now in the shuttle of their trail.13

4-

Indiana emerged into statehood in compliance with an
enabling act by Congress granting authority for formation of
a constitution and state government. On June 29, 18 16, the
Constitution — providing for a General Assembly of two
branches, a Senate and House of Representatives — was
adopted. The first session of the Assembly convened at Cory-
don on November 4, 18 16. The formal and final admission of
the state into the Union took place December 11, 18 16. John
Conner was the first senator elected from Franklin Countv.

90 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

An English traveler who came to Indiana in this period
gives a sharp pen picture of this part of the state and its people.
"It is seldom that a view of 200 yards in extent, can be caught
in Indiana. . . . It is a long time before an English eye be-
comes accustomed to their [the trees] size and grandeur. The
live poplar, or tulip-bearing tree, of which canoes are made,
the sycamore, the walnut, and the white oak, grow to a
prodigious size.'" He describes his own traveling apparel and
equipment and it is evident he has adopted these from the
natives — broadbrimmed straw hat, long trousers and moc-
casins; shot pouch and powder horn slung from the belt; rifle
at his back in a sling, tomahawk in a holster at his saddle bow ;
a pair of saddle bags stuffed with shirts and gingerbread ; boat
cloak and Scotch tent buckled behind on the saddle. Game was
not so plentiful, as he writes, for on one morning he hunted
without success, missed some ducks, saw a large herd of deer,
killed nothing but a paroquet.14

Through a country like this and dressed probably in some
such fashion came the legislators to Corydon, capital since
1813. Over traces on horseback, or down the rivers in canoes,
they found their way. John Conner had one of the longest
routes traversed by any of them. He came on horseback down
the familiar Whitewater Trail and found his way across coun-
try by old Indian trails or buffalo traces to Jeffersonville and
thence to Corydon.15 Notwithstanding the difficulties and
perils of the journey, the full quota of members reached the
little inland village for the opening session. The town had
been selected because it was away from the rivers, out of the
line of many Indian trails and thus protected by its very isola-
tion. It was a community of less than one hundred build-
ings— rude cabins or houses of hewn logs. The courthouse
in which the legislature met was a two-story structure, forty
feet square, of gray limestone. From the center of the roof
arose an imposing hexagonal belfry surmounted by a steeple
roof topped by an iron shaft bearing a large ball. There was
one room on the main floor and two on the second floor. The
arched entrance was on the west side. The west half of the
room was floored with flagstones, and separated by a railing
from the east half, where the House of Representatives met.
A slightly raised floor of wide wooden planks covered this

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 91

section. There was a large fireplace in each end. In the
northwest corner a stairway with a landing led to the upper
floor, and a creaky door on the landing gave a semblance of
privacy. One room was reserved for the use of the Senate,
and one for the meetings of the Supreme Court. The building
as a whole was severely simple — expressive of the lives of the
people. It dominated the town, the masterpiece of their fellow
citizen, Dennis Pennington, whom they affectionately called
"Uncle Dennis." Another prominent citizen of Corydon wTas
John Tipton, and for a few months Isaac Blackford made the
little town his home. Tipton and Davis Floyd, who had but
recently moved to Corydon, were well known to Conner.16

The little town was overcrowded when the legislature
convened. Supplies from Louisville were often delayed due to
the condition of the roads and streams, so that board as well
as lodging sometimes left much to be desired. The plain simple
people of this frontier community shared what they had with
the legislators, and all, inured to privation, made the best of
conditions which they could not change. In this village where
the way of living was of necessity informal, and in this
miniature courthouse which was informal too, it is likely that
all the legislators were soon well acquainted. There was a fine
democracy in those days. The talents of the native backwoods-
men were respected by men of more learning, and while the
former jokingly referred to Senator James Beggs as "Mr.
Syntax," they were undoubtedly grateful for his help in fram-
ing the difficult parts of a bill.

Although this was the first session of a legislature after
Indiana became a state, it was not the first law-making body,
for the territorial assembly had preceded it, and still earlier
the governor and judges had exercised certain legislative func-
tions. They had laid the foundation of legislation, and their
acts were still in force until superseded by legislation of the
General Assembly. A comparison of subjects upon which
legislation had been passed from 1800 to 181 5 with subjects
acted upon after organization of the state, shows that much of
the latter was but an elaboration of the former, a change in
detail or substitution in whole or in part. The subject of
county boundaries and of the forming of new counties was to
occupy legislators in Indiana for many years to come. In 1816

92 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

there were fifteen counties. New ones were added at every
session for the next twenty years.

5-

Ten men composed the Senate, a body small enough to act
as a committee of the whole upon most questions. This num-
ber seems small to modern eves, but to Tames Beggs, wn0 had
been a member of seven of the eleven sessions of the old
territorial assembly and had presided over four sessions of a
Legislative Council composed of only five members, this new
group, twice the size of the former one, must have seemed
imposing.

Dennis Pennington, Ezra Ferris, William Prince, John
Paul, William Polke, and the presiding officer, Christopher
Harrison — all had gained experience in the territorial legisla-
ture. Baird, Ferris, Pennington, Polke, De Pauw, and Daniel
Grass had been members of the Constitutional Convention.
Many senators had military as well as legislative experience.
Prince had been with Aaron Burr in his southwestern expedi-
tion and had served at times as an intermediary for Harrison
with the Indians. John Paul was a veteran of George Rogers
Clark's campaign. Both of them as well as De Pauw and Grass
had been officers in the army or militia during the recent war.
There was a physician-minister among them, Ezra Ferris,
who, with Christopher Harrison, probably had the best formal
education of any of them. There were founders of towns,
De Pauw of Salem, Paul of Madison, Grass of Rockport, and
Conner of Connersville. De Pauw was the son of a French-
man who came to this country with Lafayette and served with
him in the War of the Revolution. The members of this first
Senate were elected to serve for three years which all did with
the exception of Prince, who resigned during the first session
and was succeeded by Isaac Montgomery; and Grass, whose
place was taken in the third session by Ratliff Boon.

In the House were men who afterward became prominent
in the history of Indiana — Isaac Blackford, who, the next
year, was to become a judge of the Indiana Supreme Court;
James Noble, who was shortly to be elected to the United States
Senate; Williamson Dunn, well-known jurist; and Samuel
Milroy, prominent in military and political affairs.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 93

It was in such a group that John Conner was to serve his
apprenticeship in statecraft. He who was completely at home
in the councils of the Indians was now to match his wits with
men of his own race. All had had experience as judges, ad-
ministrative officers, or as legislators. John Conner had
none.

The first three sessions of the legislature will be considered
as a unit, for the men who composed them were the same, with
few exceptions, and the measures were similar and overlapped
from one session to the other. There was necessity for con-
siderable legislation for the new state. The first bill which John
Conner introduced, only a few weeks after the first session
opened, was a bill for the incorporation and better regulation
of the seat of justice of Franklin County, the town of Brook-
ville.17 This led to a general enactment instead of the cumber-
some method of special enactments for each town. The act
providing for this was the accepted recommendation of a com-
mittee of which Conner was a member. Another act issuing
from a committee on which he served, related to county and
township officers.18

County boundaries and the formation of new counties re-
ceived much consideration. The bill for the formation of
Fayette County had a troublesome career. The first petition
for it was presented in the House early in the first session,
but after committee action and two readings it was indefinitely
postponed and did not reach the Senate. In the next session
another bill was introduced in the House by James Snowden of
Franklin County and in the Senate by John Conner almost
simultaneously. The House bill was soon tabled but Conner
had better luck. His bill passed the Senate by a vote of six
to four — only to be again indefinitely postponed in the House.
At the third session it was again brought up, this time in the
House by Jonathan McCarty of Franklin, and after amend-
ments and some delay it passed with a good margin of votes.
Favorable action was quickly secured in the Senate on Decem-
ber 24, 18 18, and it became a law. This measure was impor-
tant to Conner, for the town he had platted was in the center
of this county and the logical site for the county seat.19

He was to be affected by another act passed during this
time. This related to the office of sheriff, providing that

94 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

when a new county was laid off, the governor should appoint
the first sheriff to act until the next general election. A bond
of five thousand dollars had to be furnished. Conner was
appointed first sheriff of Fayette County on December 30,
1818.20

Two acts relating to gristmills and millers were passed —
one in the first session relating to the payment of damages to
owners of land through which a millrace was cut. Conner
voted against this, doubtless for personal reasons. A second
act, passed January 29, 18 18, was more detailed, including and
superseding the first.21

The subject of roads insistently demanded attention, for
the development of the state was largely dependent upon them.
Up to this time the roads had been chiefly old Indian trails
and buffalo traces. Trails which had been widened and the
roads that had been constructed were both of the rudest char-
acter, with only the largest trees removed and attempts made
to bridge streams and swampy places. Over the latter, logs or
poles were placed crosswise and covered with dirt. There was
great need not only for improvement of existing roads but for
more of them to link different parts of the state. To meet
these needs required increasing revenue, of which the state had
little. For more than half a century this question was to vex
legislators, for its importance could not be minimized.

An act for opening and repairing public roads was consid-
ered in the first session, both houses appointing committees for
this purpose. Conner was one of those who voted against the
Senate bill, which failed to pass. The House bill, which re-
ceived favorable consideration by both bodies, was concerned
chiefly with regulations for establishment of roads by county
commissioners, road taxes, and related matters. In the follow-
ing session another law, originating also in the House, was
passed, repealing all earlier laws on the subject. Its provisions
were mainly regulatory, and these were amended and altered
by an act of the session of 1 818-18 19, reported by a committee
of which Conner was a member. An important provision of
this act declared all roads public highways that had been in use
and worked by the public for a term of three years. This is
the first record of Conner's service on a road committee, but
not his last. It was a subject that always claimed his interest.22

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 95

Other important bills relating to crime and punishment,
establishment of libraries, medical societies, public seminaries,
the circuit and supreme courts, were passed in these early ses-
sions. John Conner's interests were at first largely local, but
he took an active part throughout and increasingly his mind
was broadened.23

At this time the Indians were in possession of the central
and northern parts of Indiana, asserting title under the provi-
sions of Article 4 of the Greenville Treaty of 1795. The Dela-
wares claimed "all the lands lying on the streams running into
White river, supposed to be one hundred miles square." The
tribe then numbered eight hundred souls in this locality. In
the summer of 181 7 a council of Delawares attended by Wil-
liam Conner, interpreter, denounced the report that they had
sold their lands on White River, and urged a kindred tribe to
join them there and strengthen their settlement. They expected
soon to have a population of at least two thousand, including
Delawares and members of other tribes.24

The outer boundary of the organized counties coincided
with the Indian treaty lines, the Twelve Mile Purchase of 1809
on the east, the Grouseland Treaty of 1805 on the southeast,
and the Ten O'Clock Line of 1809 running northwest to the
Illinois boundary. The country half encircled by this boundary
was in possession of the Indians, barring easy communication
between the east and west portions of the state, and blocking
development northward. A natural result of this condition
was the motion presented in the House of Representatives on
December 24, 18 17, "that a committee be appointed to enquire
into the expediency or inexpediency of memorializing congress
on the subject of obtaining by purchase or some otherwise,
from the Indians, permission for the state of Indiana to lay
out and open a public highway, from the town of Brookville
... to Fort Harrison, on the Wabash." Stephen C. Stevens
of Franklin County was the author of this motion and when
it carried was made chairman of the committee to draw up the
necessary resolutions. During the time when the resolutions
were under consideration, Graham, of Jackson County, asked
for a closed session of the House in which to introduce a

96 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

subject requiring secrecy. This matter was also referred to a
secret session of the Senate. A joint committee appointed for
its consideration was made up of Conner, Beggs, and Polke,
senators, and Sullivan, Graham, Daniel, Stevens, and Fergu-
son from the House.

It seems more than a coincidence that all the House mem-
bers with the exception of Graham, were members of Stevens'
committee in regard to the road from Brookville to Fort Har-
rison. No intimation, however, is given in either House or
Senate Journal as to the subject that was discussed in the secret
session. Conner reported for the committee and certain reso-
lutions were adopted in both bodies. The veil of secrecy was
not lifted until a year later and then only partially by the
laconic statement in the House Journal that it was relative "to
the extinguishment of Indian title to land." It also seems more
than a coincidence that the day after the last secret sessions
were held, the House moved to postpone consideration of
Stevens' road from Brookville until the following December.
Something was evidently expected to happen_ in the interim,
and something did happen — whether precipitated or encour-
aged by this secret action of the General Assembly no one can
say from the evidence at hand.25

A most important treaty with the Wyandot and other In-
dian tribes, at which William Conner was interpreter, had been
held at Fort Meigs prior to the 1817-1818 session of the legis-
lature. The Delawares from Indiana were represented by Chief
Anderson, although very little territory in Indiana and none
in this state claimed by the Delawares was considered in the
negotiations. On September 29, 18 17, the treaty was signed,
but ratification was postponed because individual reservations
were granted to Indians without the restrictions governing con-
veyance which had been considered advisable in other treaties.
These terms aroused comment and criticism in the current
press, for it was feared that they would lead to trouble in the
eventual transfer of these lands to the whites. Indiana was
interested because the terms of this treaty might serve as a
precedent for impending treaties in this state. One year later,
September 17, 18 18, the same commissioners, accompanied this
time by John instead of William Conner, signed a supplemental
treaty at St. Mary's which brought the provisions as to Indian

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 97

tenure in line with other treaties. Public anxiety was quieted
and the main objectives of the negotiation had been secured.26
John Conner had a part in the result.

A series of treaties were consummated at St. Mary's a
month later involving the great central part of Indiana, includ-
ing the territory through which Stevens had proposed building
a road.27 Before these were held, Jacob Whetzel, a forthright
pioneer, had secured permission from Chief William Anderson
to build a trace large enough for an ox team from Laurel, in
Franklin County, to the mouth of Eel River at the present
Worthington.28 He progressed during the summer of 1818 as
far west as the bluffs on White River at the site of Waverly,
about halfway across the region which would have been opened
by Stevens' road. The first settlers sometimes took matters in
their own hands when legislative processes were slow.

The political situation in Indiana at this time was under-
going a great change. Jonathan Jennings had been an impor-
tant factor in its development since before the War of 18 12.
Harrison's influence was waning at that time, and if the war
had not given him a fresh opportunity, his political star would
have been eclipsed even then by the rising figure of Jennings.
Harrison's removal to Ohio definitely eliminated him from
state politics in Indiana, and control centered in the hands of
three men who were supported by Whitewater Valley and the
antislavery element in the state. The three leaders, James
Noble, United States senator, William Hendricks, congress-
man, and Governor Jonathan Jennings had been in the saddle
since 18 16. Jennings was unsurpassed as an aggressive and
adroit politician, the master spirit of the triumvirate. He came
into power on the slavery issue, skillfully defeating the Vir-
ginia and Kentucky coterie in Indiana — friends of Harrison
and supporters of negro slavery. He was the prototype of
later vociferous politicians, upholding the rights of the com-
mon man with special privileges to none.

Since Harrison, the successful treaty maker, was no longer
living in the state, his natural successor as negotiator with the
Indians was the bold but subtle man who was now governor.
In April, 18 18, Jennings was appointed federal commissioner

98 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

to treat with the Indians for the cession of lands in central
Indiana. There were difficulties in the way of accepting the
appointment. Under the Indiana constitution, as he was well
aware, his right to act in this capacity was open to challenge,
for Article 4 provided that no person holding any office under
the United States should exercise the office of governor.29
The future of the state was involved, and Jennings was an
opportunist. This negotiation was a matter he was confident
that he could handle successfully with the help of the Conners,
upon whom he could rely for expert interpreting and for sup-
port with the Indians. He did not hesitate long, if at all, be-
fore accepting the appointment in the face of certain bitter
criticism.

Another incident which occurred about this time contributed
fresh fuel to the flaming charges of Jennings' opponents that
he flouted the laws and the Constitution. The territorial legis-
lature of 1813-1814 had passed an act more effectually to pre-
vent dueling, which required territorial officials and attorneys
to take an oath that they had neither engaged in nor carried a
challenge for any duel. The law was re-enacted by the first
state legislature. In May, 18 18, Jennings created an uproar in
the opposition press by appointing as presiding judge of the
first judicial circuit an attorney who had been disbarred from
practice for failure to take the required oath. There can be no
defense of this action. It was bold, unscrupulous, and defiant,
and according to his opponents, entirely characteristic of Jen-
nings. The end was what mattered to him, not the means.
His action was deeply resented. Vituperative words rolled
from tongue to tongue in a veritable hymn of hate. The
columns of the Western Sun and the Dearborn Gazette were
crowded with indignant criticism of his acceptance of the post
of treaty commissioner, and of his court appointment. Gallant
knights of the pen disguised as "Regulus," "Brutus," "An Ob-
server," and "Man of the Moon" were quick to make this the
occasion for renewed tilts against him.30 These ebullitions
were peculiarly characteristic of the times.

When he returned from the successful negotiation of four
Indian treaties by the terms of which the Indian title to all of
central Indiana was extinguished, he found Lieutenant Gover-
nor Christopher Harrison in his chair, not only discharging the

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 99

duties of chief executive but claiming under the constitution
that Jennings had vacated his office by accepting the federal
appointment. Jennings angrily threw his commission in the
fire and ignored the pretensions of his lieutenant governor.
The General Assembly of 1818-1819 opened in an air of much
tenseness. The press noted that the members looked at each
other with '"scowling apprehension" instead of the "pleasing
calm" of other sessions. The dilemma was a delicate one. Jen-
nings had just completed a treaty with the Indians which would
make possible the rapid development of the state, but in so
doing he had violated the constitution, according to the inter-
pretation of his enemies. They wanted to deprive him of his
office and insisted upon a legislative inquiry. When it came
to proving the commission, however, they found themselves
without the necessary evidence at hand. The document itself
was gone, and there was no one to swear to its exact form or
content. John Conner was among those whose deposition was
taken, and his is typical of the others. He stated that he was
at the council with the Indians at St. Mary's ; that he under-
stood that Governor Cass, Governor Jennings, and Judge Ben-
jamin B. Parke were United States commissioners ; that an
instrument purporting "to give authority under the United
States" was read by Governor Cass, but that if it had a seal he
did not see it. This sort of evidence fell short of proving
the commission, and the legislature by a narrow margin sus-
tained Jennings. Both William and John Conner supported
Jennings during the treaty negotiations and in this proceeding.31

8.

A short time after the passage of the bill for the organiza-
tion of Fayette County, John Conner asked for a leave of ab-
sence for the remainder of the legislative session, a matter of
only a few days. No doubt his anxiety to return home was
related to the formation of the new county. Commissioners
to locate the seat of justice had been named in the act, and he
wished to present the claims of his town for this honor. The
commissioners met at the house of John McCormick, one mile
north of Connersville and not far from John Conner's, on the
third Monday in February, 18 19, and the next day chose the
site for the county buildings.

100 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

As the first sheriff of the county, John Conner filed the
list of grand jurors with the circuit court. The first case was
one against the sheriff for trespass, to which he pleaded guilty.
A jail seems to have been the first necessity of a new county
and to provide for one was the function of the sheriff. The
contract for this building was let in March, 1819, to Conner's
friend and neighbor, Jonathan John, for the sum of $764. By
the following August, the jail was completed, a log structure
30 by 16 feet containing three rooms. It was located about
the site of the present town hall.32

Connersville was a rapidly growing community. Arthur
Dickson (or Dixon), one of the first to enter land in the town-
ship, was interested in mercantile business and was associated
with the firms known as Jacobs, Dickson and Test ; Jacobs
and Dickson; Conner and Dickson, and Dickson and Conner
until his death in 1823. 33 Even before the town became a
county seat it gave evidence of its cultural ambitions by or-
ganizing the Connersville Library Association (May 21,
18 18). The deep interest of the pioneers in this enterprise is
established by their subscription for fifty shares of stock at
five dollars each. Thirty-four subscribers were present at the
first meeting. Conner was elected one of the directors.34

His interests were widening. By this time, in addition to
his mills and lands near the town of Connersville, he had busi-
ness interests of all kinds in the town itself, and had acquired
more land in and near the town. Prior to 18 19 it is said that
he was the "guiding power of the settlement."35 So busy was
Conner's sawmill in these days that one of the early settlers
who arrived in 18 18 and needed lumber to erect a dwelling for
his family, found the mill taxed beyond its capacity and was
obliged to adopt Conner's suggestion of using the mill himself
on moonlit evenings. The gristmill had a similar run of trade,
men coming on horseback from a distance of forty or fifty
miles and camping near by while they awaited their turn.36

It was in these years that John Conner was interpreter for
the Indian treaties of 18 17 and 18 18. In the latter year he
was appointed by the legislature one of the commissioners to
select the county seat of the new county of Ripley.37 Two
years later he assisted in selecting the site of the state capital.
In this period of prosperity Conner erected a frame house of

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 101

some pretensions near the site of his mill.38 On May 27, 1820,
his son, William Winship Conner, was born in Connersville.
He was named for his father's beloved brother and he carried
the maiden name of his mother.39

After a lapse of two years, John Conner was again elected
state senator from Fayette and Union counties to serve in the
legislative session of 182 1 -1822. When he arrived at Corydon
on November 28 he found a different group from the one of
which he had been a member. There were now sixteen sena-
tors instead of ten. Only three of the old number were
members, Patrick Baird, Ratliff Boon, and Daniel Grass, and
Grass did not attend the session. Boon was lieutenant gover-
nor and presiding officer. None of the members was out-
standing in public affairs.

The subject of roads to which Conner had given considera-
tion in his earlier legislative years was again highly important.
Indeed the time of the members of this General Assembly was
about equally divided between the discussion of roads and
county boundaries. The three per cent fund, which was first
used in 18 19-1820 for road purposes, had proved a great boon,
solving the revenue problem temporarily, at least. Twenty- five
roads had been authorized at that session and a supplemental
act on roads passed in the following session provided for the
marking of several of them. In the present session ( 1821-
1822) Conner served on the Committee on State Roads. To
this committee were referred fourteen petitions and motions
for establishing and changing roads. In addition, a House
bill locating certain roads was referred to this committee. Be-
fore they could make a report, Conner and two other members
of the committee were added to a committee for consideration
of a bill appropriating $100,000 of the three per cent fund to
the opening of certain roads therein specified. This bill passed
the Senate on December 18, 1821, Conner voting for it; it
later passed the House. Two other acts on roads were passed
at this session, one favored by Conner and one not.40

The matter of improving the navigability of the rivers in
Indiana was closely related to the question of opening roads.
Conner was not so sympathetic to this matter, however, op-

102 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

posing a movement toward the examination of the falls on the
East and West forks of White River in Martin and Daviess
counties preparatory to the improvement of navigation of the
river in that region.41

Under the Constitution of 1816 impeachment of civil offi-
cers was begun in the House of Representatives and tried in
the Senate. Two such cases were heard at this session. Con-
ner was present at both trials, which were lengthy, tedious,
and expensive, considering the fact that only minor officers
such as a justice of the peace and county clerk were involved.
During succeeding years many attempts were made to get rid
of this troublesome provision, none of which was successful
before the adoption of the Constitution of 185 1.

There was a clash between the House and Senate as to the
method of voting at general elections. The Constitution had
stipulated the ballot, with the provision that if the legislature
of 182 1 deemed it expedient it could change to viva voce pro-
cedure; the decision made then was to be unalterable. The
House, by a slender majority, favored the change. The Senate
upheld the ballot system by an 8 to 7 vote, Conner voting for
its retention. His vote was thus one of the decisive ones in a
matter of considerable importance.12 As in a game of battle-
dore and shuttlecock the proposal was driven back and forth
between the two branches until finally through this indecisive-
ness the ballot was retained. It seems incredible that the
House proponents could so disregard the trend of the times.
The American colonies had abandoned the viva voce, and at
this time the states generally had adopted the ballot. Those
that had not, did so later. The viva-voce system was glaringly
inadequate and unsound. This was also the judgment of the
Constitutional Convention in 185 1.

CHAPTER VIII

The Conners at the Treaties of St. Mary's — Departure
of the Delawares

Almost two-thirds of the domain of the young state of
Indiana was in possession of Indian nations in 1818.
Their ownership was recognized by the United States govern-
ment, and within this area Indiana could exercise only very
limited jurisdiction. In fact, if the state desired to build a
road or canal in that region, permission to do so had to be
secured from the tribal owners. As stated in Chapter VII,
the legislature in 18 17 considered the advisability of testing the
Indian attitude toward further cessions by seeking permission
to build a road from Brookville to Fort Harrison, but dropped
the project for the time being. The capital was located in the
southern part of the state and it was impossible to plan for its
removal to a proper location near the center until the Indian
title had been extinguished. As the white settlers were increas-
ing, there was a growing demand for an actual statehood con-
forming to the boundaries set forth in the Enabling Act.
The Indian titles were a barrier to that end.

The last great assemblage of Indians in Ohio was at St.
Mary's in the fall of 18 18. St. Mary's was a tiny settlement
of not more than six or eight families living in blockhouses
erected during the War of 18 12. It was of some importance
as a military post at that time. The pristine wilderness was
gone, for the trees had been cut for military reasons in 1812.
Harrison had had temporary headquarters there in September
of that year, and had ordered a road built to Fort Defiance.
William Conner was the interpreter on this project, as pre-
viously mentioned, and was thus familiar with this region. The
village, originally known as Girty's Town, had an unsavory
name. Though James Girty had ceased his trading operations
here before the War of 1812, he had been succeeded by another
Irish trader of no better reputation — Charles Murray, who at
this time languished in jail on the charge of murder. His

(103)

104 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

family, however, maintained a boarding house here in which
the treaty officials were lodged. Anticipating that there would
be a large gathering of people, other families had moved in to
have a part in what promised to be a harvest festival.

The Indians began to congregate during the latter part of
August and encamped along the west bank of St. Mary's
River. Near by were boarding houses for the aides of the
commissioners, barracks for soldiers, and stands for the
traders. The place took on the appearance of a carnival or
fair. The displays of goods and furs ; the ever moving
throngs of Indians ; the wrestling and jumping matches, foot
and pony races and gambling devices; the maneuvers of troops
attracted and held the attention of both whites and Indians.
One article, not on display, was whisky, surreptitiously circu-
lated. Food was plentiful, for the government furnished
staple necessities as well as cattle and hogs in droves. The
Indian hunters provided game.

The United States commissioners, Lewis Cass, Jonathan
Jennings, and Benjamin Parke, were accompanied by the
governor of Ohio and their secretaries, interpreters, and agents.
A troop of Kentucky cavalry served as their escort. The set-
ting for this event, so momentous to the citizens of the new
state, seems bizarre to modern eyes, but it was consonant with
the times. By day the rays of the sun strove unavailingly to
dispel the autumnal haze. At night the campfires, shattering
the heavy curtain of darkness by their radiating flares, re-
vealed restless groups of taciturn Indians and communicative
whites. The chatter of traders, the dignified demeanor of the
commissioners and governors, the trappings of the cavalry
troops, and the grim, dark figures of the Indians were pic-
turesque features of the occasion.1

3-

The serious business of the assemblage was first taken up
in council on September 20. Besides the three commissioners
there were present twenty-two others, including John and Wil-
liam Conner, who signed one or another of the treaties as wit-
nesses for the United States. The Potawatomi had thirty-four
chiefs and warriors present; the Wea, seven; the Delawares,
eighteen, including Chief Anderson, father-in-law of William

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 105

Conner; the Miami, sixteen, of whom Chief Richardville was
one. All of these subsequently were signatories of the treaties.
The whites were outnumbered in the council by more than
three to one. Besides these Indian participants there were also
in the camps chief men from the Wyandot, Seneca, Shawnee,
and Ottawa tribes which had just concluded a treaty for other
lands — an undetermined number who had no direct interest in
the subject matter of the proposed treaties but who felt, per-
haps, that the proceedings might have an indirect bearing on
their own lives.

The extinguishment of Indian titles in central Indiana was
difficult to accomplish for several reasons. It will be recalled
that by the Treaty of Greenville ownership of all the lands
within the present limits of Indiana (with certain exceptions)
was vested in the Indians. Jennings, reporting to John C.
Calhoun, secretary of war, on October 28, makes this com-
ment :2 "The claims of the several tribes of Indians, with
whom the negociation was had, were so interwoven by treaty
and tradition, especially to the lands they have lately ceded to
the U. States, within this state, that the object of the Govern-
ment was rendered thereby the more difficult to accomplish.
The clanish jealousies and suspicions which exist among them,
particularly on such occasions, induced us to negociate a sepe-
rate treaty with each of the tribes concerned."

The claims for individual and village reservations presented
another set of complexities mentioned by Jennings. There was,
also, the necessity of combating the influence of some of the
white traders residing among or trading with the Indians. The
interests of this group were adverse to the United States, and
they had advised the Indians, especially the Miami, to place
high values on their lands and to hold out for large annuities
as a condition of cession. The Indians, adept in the arts of
intrigue and duplicity, followed this advice only too readily.

Still another obstacle to rapid negotiation plagued the com-
missioners. The Miami were asserting exclusive ownership of
"the country between White River and the Ohio." In 1804
the United States agreed to consider the Delawares the sole
owners of this land on the strength of a grant from the Miami
to the Delawares, but the Miami denied that they had conceded
anything more than the right of occupancy. At the Fort

106 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Wayne Treaty of 1809, where John Conner acted as inter-
preter of the Delawares, the Miami conceded to them an equal
right with themselves in the disposal of this land. In addition,
the Miami claimed the same rights over the land held by the
Wea. This situation was further complicated by the attitude
of John Baptiste Richardville, chief of the Miami. He was a
half-breed, sagacious, possessing as much knowledge of the
value of the land as the whites. He later became, so it is said,
the richest Indian of his time in North America.3

After wrangling until October 2, the Potawatomi and Wea
signed separate treaties ceding their title to the land with minor
reservations. The next day the Delawares, by treaty, relin-
quished all their claim to land in Indiana with some reserva-
tions. The Miami were refusing to sign. The United States
had to have the assent of Richardville ; otherwise the proceed-
ings would fail. On October 3, Jennings was in so much doubt
as to the outcome that he deemed it advisable to inform the
lieutenant governor that his absence might be prolonged.4
Richardville was demanding reservations for himself and mem-
bers of his tribe which were greatly out of proportion to those
provided in the other treaties. In the meantime, William Con-
ner, who had learned that reservations would be made to other
individuals situated like himself, told the commissioners that
he ought to have the land he occupied set off to him, and John
Conner, to whom the Delawares were indebted, requested pay-
ment of these debts. Jennings dissuaded them from present-
ing their respective claims, assuring them that adjustment
would be made by the government later. With this under-
standing the two brothers withdrew their applications and zeal-
ously exerted their influence to secure the execution of the
treaties. Chief Anderson of the Delawares, who was opposed
to the treaty, probably signed with great reluctance, hoping
that it would fail of ratification. The Conners, at the pro-
ceedings of St. Mary's Treaty, could have prevented any pur-
chase of land on White River and perhaps any cessions of lands
whatever, as was attested by both Jennings and Cass some years
later, in written statements to James Noble, United States
senator from Indiana.5

Liberal concessions had to be made to the Miami and par-
ticularly to Richardville. The commissioners deplored the

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 107

undesirability of some of the provisions upon which the stub-
born Miami insisted, but gave way rather than lose the benefits
that would accrue from securing title to the great central sec-
tion of Indiana. On October 6 the final treaty of the series
was signed.6

By the terms of the treaty with the Delawares, the United
States bound itself to provide and guarantee to them land, and
the peaceful possession thereof, west of the Mississippi ; to pay
them full value for the improvements ceded ; to furnish horses
and pirogues to transport them ; to pay a perpetual annuity of
$4,000 in silver in addition to that provided for by former
treaties.7 Individual grants to the amount of sixteen hundred
acres in Indiana were made to certain Delawares, and the sum
of $13,312.25 was agreed to be paid to claimants named by the
Delaware nation.

Concerted opposition by the Indians to the execution of
these treaties was effectually weakened by the outcome of the
War of 1812. Had the Indians refused to sign them, it is
merely a conjecture what would have happened. Supposedly
at that time there were seven thousand Indians in the state.
In the northern and central parts they could roam at will and,
if so disposed, brutally ravage the unprotected settlements.
This was a contingency that the United States government
earnestly wished to avoid.

After a lapse of several months during which no word
came to him from anyone in authority concerning the matter
of his claim, William Conner decided to file a petition in the
United States Senate for a prescription of six hundred and
forty acres. The Committee on Public Lands made its report
on March 13, 1820. It found that petitioner had resided at the
Delaware towns situated in a country lately belonging to the
Delawares and ceded by them at St. Mary's in October, 18 18;
that petitioner had made considerable improvements on the land
where he wished to remain to raise his half-breed family. It
further appeared to the committee from a certificate of Jona-
than Jennings, governor of Indiana, that petitioner contem-
plated asking a reservation of this land similar to others granted
by the treaties, but was dissuaded from so doing lest applica-

108 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

tions for reservations should become so numerous as to preju-
dice negotiations for the treaties. The governor stated that
Conner was as much entitled to a reservation as many for
whom provision was made. The committee were of the opinion
that the petition ought to be granted as prayed for and reported
a bill giving him pre-emption right upon payment of the gov-
ernment price for the land. Further action on the bill was in-
definitely postponed on April I2.s

In 1822 Noble again presented Conner's petition. A new
bill was introduced and passed without amendment. What
came out of the Congressional gristmill on May 7, 1822, was
an act authorizing a patent, without payment, to Conner and
his Indian wife during their natural lives jointly and to the
survivor of them during the natural life of such survivor and
then to their children in fee simple as tenants in common.
This title was of no value to Conner. He could not build upon
the land or sell it. Without giving up hope of eventually se-
curing the pre-emption he had asked for, he took the precaution
of entering the land at the Brookville Land Office, lest it be
sold and he be left without remedy.9 A patent was not taken
out until 1830. The entry was for 648.28 acres adjacent to or
adjoining on the north, west, and southwest, the cabin which
was his home and trading post. This cabin and later his brick-
house, were on other lands which he entered and for which he
received government patents in 1823.

William Conner was not without friends in this emergency.
General James Noble was one of the United States senators
from Indiana of whose talents and character any state would
have been proud. With John Conner he had been a member
from the Whitewater region in the first legislature in 18 16.
Jonathan Jennings, another old friend, was now in Washing-
ton as a member of the House of Representatives. General
Lewis Cass, a sturdy, patriotic figure who had first known
Conner at Fort Seneca during the Wrar of 18 12, had become
governor of Michigan Territory. Sometime in 1822 after the
act of May 7 became a law or after William Conner had made
the land entry at Brookville on August 31 of that year, Wil-
liam's claim was taken up with Noble, Cass, and Jennings, and
the two last named were reminded of the promise they had
made at the treaties of St. Mary's.

William ('(inner

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 109

Conner's friends did their best to further his claim. In
1823, Noble presented two petitions on his behalf, offering
with the second, the evidence of Jonathan Jennings and Lewis
Cass that Conner had been influential in obtaining the St.
Mary's cessions. In the next two sessions, John Test and
Noble brought the claim before the House and Senate respec-
tively. When Noble again presented Conner's memorial, in
the session of 1827- 1828, it was accompanied by the petition
of "sundry" Delaware Indians (presumably Conner's Indian
wife Mekinges and five of their children) interested in the
section of land granted to Conner, praying that he be author-
ized to dispose of the land in such a way as to make their
interest available. On January 29, Senate Bill JJ, granting
Conner the right of pre-emption, was introduced. The bill
passed the Senate but was tabled in the House.10

One more attempt was made to secure the passage of an
act that would establish Conner's title to his lands at the Dela-
ware towns. John Conner, as agent for William, filed a peti-
tion in the Senate showing that the grant of 1822 was of little
use either to William or his wife Mekinges, for the latter had
removed to the West "in spite of his persuasions that she
should remain." Accompanying this petition was a memorial
from Mekinges and her children, Jack, Nancy, Harry, James,
and William (Eliza did not join for some reason), authorizing
a release of their interests under the act of May 7, 1822, upon
payment of the government price of the land to their friend
William Marshall for their benefit. Wrilliam Anderson, chief
of the Delawares, and four Delaware captains, all residing in
Missouri, joined in the memorial, and it was properly witnessed
by the United States Indian agent, John Campbell. The letters
of Cass and Jennings, before mentioned, were also submitted
as proof of the understanding with the Conners at St. Mary's.
A Dill drawn to meet the needs of both petitioners was intro-
duced by Noble on December 9, 1828. It vested title in Conner
on payment of the government price of the land, $810, this
sum to be applied to satisfy the claims of Mekinges and her
children under the act of May 7, 1822. On the fifth of Janu-
ary the Senate Committee on the Judiciary made an adverse
report, holding that however just and reasonable the prayer
of the petitioner might be, it would not be proper for Congress

110 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

to pass an act repealing the law of 1822, and thus attempting
to divest Conner's wife and children of the rights granted them
by that act. The bill was tabled the next day, and on March
3, Conner was given leave to withdraw his petition and papers.11
Conner was now at the end of the road as far as the govern-
ment was concerned.

Defeated in his efforts to obtain sole title by government
action, William Conner began negotiations through James M.
Ray and John D. Stephenson to procure deeds from his Indian
family for the several parcels of land comprising the 648-acre
tract. Since the children were still minors, the process was a
protracted one. Beginning in 1830, a series of deeds was
executed through a long and tedious period, the last one not
being obtained until 1855. The title thus remained undeter-
mined for about twenty-five years. The procedure was pro-
longed by the attitude of the General Land Office at Washing-
ton, which refused approval to conveyances unless it was shown
that the consideration was fair and the grantor capable of man-
aging money. To this there could be no objection, but it did
entail incessant delays.

Conner, meanwhile, had had actual possession of the land
since some time prior to the treaties of St. Mary's. Several
persons had covetous eyes upon this desirable tract, among
them, William G. and George W. Ewing, of the family of rich
fur traders at Fort Wayne. As late as 1852 they were maneu-
vering to get their fingers into this pie, but the fact that Con-
ner had been in possession for so many years made them afraid
that the purchase of any reversionary interest would be too
much like "buying a law suit and a hard one," so they dropped
the matter.12 In May, 1855, Conner received a deed for the
interest of William Conner, Jr., his Indian son, which was the
last one outstanding. This was just about three months prior
to his death. No doubt a heavy sigh of relief escaped his lips
when at the end of more than a third of a century, he became
the sole owner in fee simple of the land that should have been
granted to him at St. Mary's.

It is an anomaly in the relationship between the Conner
brothers and the Dela wares that, although the Conner s were

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 111

interpreters and witnesses in thirteen treaties, including ten by
which the Delaware Indians relinquished all their interest in
the greater part of the present state of Indiana, the tribe does
not appear to have lost a whit of respect and confidence in
them. The Indians might well have expected the Conners to
back their opposition to cessions of land, both as friends and
as traders who depended upon Indians living in their neighbor-
hood. It is not apparent that the Conners used their influence
against cessions in any of the treaties. It is indubitable that
at St. Mary's they effectively supported the proposals of the
government. If the Delawares had any misgivings about the
Conners they showed no signs. The reason for this is an in-
teresting subject for inquiry.

The facts seem to be that the Conner men possessed a type
of leadership that was acceptable to the Indian mind. They
met the Delawares on a basis of absolute equality. For years
their lives had been identified with the life of this tribe in a
most intimate, sympathetic, and friendly fashion. They had
been tested by the Indian standards and had not been found
wanting. They were courageous in the midst of danger, they
were impervious to physical discomforts, they respected the
Indian customs and entered into them, they knew when to be
silent and when to speak. The wisdom of their counsel had
been proved more than once. They had been a significant
economic factor in the lives of the Delawares, for with other
traders they had provided a market for furs and in return had
supplied articles necessary to the personal comfort and satisfac-
tion of the Indians. They had influenced this peaceful tribe
against participation in war. They had defended them when
the impulsive action of one of their number might have in-
volved the whole tribe. It is probably true that they charged
the Indians high prices for their merchandise, and undoubtedly
they exchanged whisky for their furs. That was the custom
of all Indian traders. Currency was little used as a medium
of exchange. Goods, trinkets, and liquor met this need. They
gave no credits.

One of the evils of the trade was a frequent cheating of the
Indians by unscrupulous traders. The ill feeling on the part
of the victims sometimes led to frightful reprisals, and reacted
against the government in its treaty negotiations. It was not

112 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

confined to small traders. The big men in the traffic were
sometimes guilty of intrigue and design to overreach the
Indian. The influence of men in high political stations was
sometimes improperly sought to secure sales of goods or allow-
ances of claims or reservations in treaties. The light of pub-
licity flared on two prominent citizens, Colonel John Tipton,
Indian agent, and John Ewing, senator from Knox County,
who, in 1829, indulged in criminations and recriminations of
conduct at two Indian treaties in 1826, as elsewhere related.
The Conners had a long-sustained reputation among their un-
civilized customers for fair dealing:.

To return to the year 18 18 — the year of the treaties of
St. Mary's — William Conner, with his Indian wife, Mekinges,
and his six half-blood children, was living in the log cabin he
had built sixteen years before. The Delaware language was
used entirely in his household.13 His trading post was main-
tained in the same cabin and around it were grouped a few port-
able Indian lodges. Nothing was left of the Indian village of the
days before the War of 18 12 except a few huts and the charred
remains of log houses. About four miles south of his post
some Delawares had re-established themselves at the spot
formerly known as Lower Delaware Town. Chief Anderson
had returned to Wapeminskink. Except for a French trader
known as Bruett, married to a white captive, who lived on the
west side of the river near Lower Delaware Town, the nearest
white settler in this lonely region was sixty miles away.

Two hundred and fifty acres of level land consisting of
several small, beautiful prairies lay irregularly on each side of
the river. The soil was unusually fertile. Beyond were dense
forests, dark and shadowy, unbroken except by Indian trails.
Through these tangled woods ranged bears, elk, deer, and
panthers. The touch of civilization here had been so light as
to leave but little impress. By force of circumstances, William
Conner had up to this time been set apart from his own race,
mingling his life and activities solely with a people whose in-
stincts and habits were little touched by civilizing influences.
During these years he regarded the Delawares as the best of
the Indian tribes and often spoke of himself as a Delaware.1*

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 113

The following year was to mark a change in all these con-
ditions. William Conner had remained a son of the wilderness
while his brother John, with whose life his own was so closely
intertwined, had been making new contacts with people of his
own race. By this time John had been married to Lavina
Winship for six years, and she had borne him children. He
had become a landowner, a man of means and influence, the
founder of Connersville, an experienced legislator. William
was aware of the changes that had come to his brother, for
they were always in close and intimate touch both in their busi-
ness and personal relations. They had met recently at the
St. Mary's treaties. Both knew that it was only a question of
time until the Indians of all tribes would leave the state — per-
haps in their own lifetime. John was quick to make his adjust-
ment to the changing times. William was deliberate and did
not so easily change his moorings. He clung to the Indian
life he loved, but now it was receding.

Events soon pointed the way for him. On a trip to Con-
nersville he became acquainted with John Finch and his large
family of children and stepchildren. They had been in Con-
nersville for about two years, and Finch now seemed interested
in the White River country. Finch had brought his family
from New York, accompanied by his brother Solomon and
family. After a short time at North Bend, Ohio, the home of
General Harrison, where Solomon was employed, they came
to Connersville. Elizabeth Chapman, Finch's young step-
daughter, by whom even at this time William Conner was
attracted, retained in after years her vivid childhood memory
of the tall, commanding figure and bright, piercing eyes of
General William Henry Harrison as he rode through the town
on horseback, resplendent in his uniform.15 In his inner con-
sciousness William Conner knew that when the Delaware tribe
left Indiana, which it had agreed to do not later than 1821,
Mekinges and the children would go with it. All his future
plans had to be made with reference to that contingency. Per-
haps it was just as well that his family should go, for it was
plain that the Aryan stock would soon predominate in the
settlement. The ways of the two races were forever apart.16
There was a mutually resentful racial feeling, a relic of the
recent war, that boded ill for their intermixture. William

114 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Marshall with his Indian wife might go with the Delawares,
but the pull of his white blood was too strong in Conner.
While the Conners had lived with the Indians all of their
lives, no Indian blood flowed in their veins.

Another factor was soon to strengthen his inclination to
remain in Indiana. In the spring of 1819 a group of Conners-
ville families decided to move to the prairie which lay south of
the present site of Noblesville and two or three miles north of
William Conner's Post.17 The site selected was beautifully lo-
cated on the western edge of the prairie around which the
river curved in the form of a horseshoe. This was a part of
the land which had been secured from the Indians at the
treaties of St. Mary's. Anxious to have first choice of the
land, these enterprising settlers from Connersville proposed to
pre-empt it by. settlement. George Shirts arrived first with
his family. He was at this time employed by William Conner
"dressing and packing furs for him and transporting them on
packhorses to Connersville." He had probably been here since
the previous fall but he did not bring his family until spring.
They settled temporarily on Conner's land. Shortly after,
Charles Lacy arrived without his family. In April of the
same year came a larger group composed of Solomon Finch,
his wife, Sarah, his daughters, Rebecca, Mary, and Alma,
and his sons, James and Augustus ; Israel Finch ; Aaron Finch
and Amasa Chapman, respectively son and stepson of John
Finch, who did not come himself until later; William Bush and
his two sons, John and Jared; and James Willison. Amasa
Chapman was a brother of Elizabeth Chapman mentioned
above. He entertained the party with his flute on their tedious
journey, on one occasion when they passed an Indian village
playing an accompaniment to the dance of a squaw and her
papoose. After a long, cold, wearisome journey they arrived
at the junction of Stoney Creek and White River. Here they
secured a canoe and ferried across. They chose a ridge across
the prairie for the place of settlement. Bush settled south of
the Finches, and Willison finally chose a spot on the bluff at
the mouth of Stoney Creek. In July the families of William
Bush, James Willison, and Israel Finch arrived, and a month

SOXS OF THE WILDERNESS 115

later came John Finch (brother of Solomon) and the rest of
his family.

These pioneers came on horseback, with their possessions
and small children in wagons drawn by ox teams. The
domestic animals were driven on foot. Their way led through
the present site of New Castle, through Andersontown, which
was then nothing but a half -destroyed Indian village to which
the Indians had returned, thence to White River. It was the
trail long familiar to the Conners by which they came, and so
rude was it still that some one of the number had to go ahead
and remove logs and brush before the cavalcade could proceed.
It took about nineteen days to make the trip. The first party
of settlers had built rude cabins for their families so that they
were all housed by the time the second party arrived. The one
in which Solomon Finch was living had been built mostly by
Aaron Finch, who was skilled in this work, so it was turned
over to Aaron's father, John Finch, and Solomon built an-
other one southwest of the first — not more than 150 yards
distant. The arable land had been planted with corn and
vegetables, but insects were numerous and troublesome;
vagrant wolves and wildcats killed the domestic animals. The
grain food was. limited to corn which there was no mill for
grinding. Wild game could always be procured for meat, and
the river abounded in bass and pike, but compared with their
Connersville surroundings, conditions were inexpressibly hard.
The transition from village life in Connersville to forest life
on White River presented many difficulties.

In August the fatal ague and fever attacked the little settle-
ment. George Shirts's wife was the first to die, then the gay
Amasa and little George Finch, son of Solomon. Nearly
everyone was sick. There was no doctor, and medicines were
contrived from the native herbs. When they were unable to
garner the crops they had planted, hunger, as well as sickness,
threatened them. Conner's corncrib was never empty, for his
prairie land was productive and he was a good farmer. In this
extremity, as in others when food was scarce, he sold his corn
to those who needed it for their families at less than the retail
price, and if they had neither money nor barter he sold on
credit, or gave them the needed corn.18 They pounded it in a
handmade mortar, sifting the finest for bread and boiling the

116 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

coarse remainder to eat with milk. This dish was called
"samp," and was far from palatable.

Conner had experienced all the difficulties that the new
settlers were now facing and undoubtedly he was helpful to
them in a thousand ways — suggesting remedies for the fever,
helping to construct rude coffins, instructing them about the
soil and crops, assisting in the erection of their buildings,
sharing with them his knowledge of the wild beasts, the haunts
of game, and the best places to fish. Elizabeth Chapman was
attracted to him and her admiration kindled as she saw this
competent woodsman moving in their little circle unabashed by
desperate illness, danger, or death.

During the following year, 1820, the settlers became more
accustomed to their new environment. John Finch was a
blacksmith, and it is natural that he should note the form taken
by the curves of the river at the new settlement and christen it
Horseshoe Prairie. With the blacksmithing outfit which he
had brought with him — he was a gunsmith and wheelwright
too — he was able to fashion most of the tools that the little
community needed. He also made knives and bells that pleased
the Indians. It was doubtless he who fashioned the tin grater
which the settlers used when the corn was hard enough to
grate. Crude as this was, it was an improvement on pounding
the meal by the Indian method. George Shirts had become
expert in dressing deerskins, and with his instruction the
settlers were enabled to dress the skins for their moccasins and
leather breeches. It was not long before Bush contrived to
make a little hand mill with two good-sized stones to lessen the
labor of providing the ever-necessary meal. In the winter,
Israel and John Finch built a horse mill which met the require-
ments of this community until Isaac Wilson's mill was erected
on Fall Creek in 182 1. The settlers brought their own corn
and the horses to grind it and paid six cents a bushel toll. Thus
one of the essential industries was started.19

One of the group in after years recalled that it was not
necessary to raise flax in these first years, for nettles were
found in abundance on land near the watercourses, and it was
soon discovered that the lint on them was as good as flax or
hemp. They were cut, cured, combed, cleaned, and prepared
for spinning and weaving just as flax would have been. Out

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 117

of them were made summer clothing, towels, sheets, and bed-
ticking. "They seemed to be something to us about like the
manna was to the children of Israel. One little fellow was
going to gather nettles enough to make him a pair of leather
pants!""0 In the summer of 1820 a school was opened and
conducted by Sarah Finch. The pupils were all Finch children.

Important news came to the little settlement in the spring
of the year. On January 11, 1820, the General Assembly
passed an act appointing commissioners to select a site for the
permanent seat of government in Indiana. Congress, in the
Enabling Act of 1816, had granted to the state four sections
of land for a capital, to be located by the General Assembly
on lands thereafter acquired from the Indians, before public
sales had begun in the selected area. The New Purchase and
the subsequent surveys of the central section of the state made
it possible and desirable to carry out these provisions.21 The
commissioners were instructed to meet at the cabin of William
Conner. John Conner was appointed from Fayette County as
one of the ten commissioners ; the others were George Hunt,
Wayne County ; Stephen Ludlow, Dearborn ; John Gilliland,
Switzerland ; Joseph Bartholomew, Clark ; John Tipton,
Harrison; Jesse B. Durham, Jackson; Frederick Rapp, Posey;
William Prince, Gibson; and Thomas Emmerson (the name
is now spelled Emison), Knox. They were empowered to
employ a clerk.

The proceedings of this group are sketched in a journal
kept by John Tipton.22 It gives a roughly drawn but vivid
picture of the times. On the sixth day of the journey from
Corydon, there arrived at William Conner's house Governor
Jennings, who was present ex officio, and Tipton, together
with Colonels Durham and Bartholomew, veterans of the In-
dian wars, who had joined them at Vallonia. The difficulties
of travel in this period were great. What seemed to be a road
more often proved to be a furrow of mud or rutty dust which
diminished to a trace through the woods and was traversable
only on horseback and sometimes only on foot. Taverns were
infrequent and far apart. The nights were generally spent in
blankets laid among weeds with sometimes an improvised

118 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

shelter of bark. The silence of the night was pierced by the
hoot in or of owls or the howls of wolves. These commissioners,
however, were traveling in the best style of their times. They
rode on horses and carried their personal baggage in saddle-
bags, while a colored boy, Bill, followed with a pack horse
loaded with bacon, coffee, corn meal, and a tent.

Upon their arrival at William Conner's cabin, they found
Hunt, John Conner, Ludlow, Gilliland, and Emison waiting
for them. Governor Jennings and General Tipton were among
Conner's guests. Some of the others stayed with John Finch.
They waited until late in the evening for Rapp and Prince but
when they did not come were sworn in for their duties and
adjourned until the next day. When they met under the trees
at Conner's place the next noon — his cabin was too small to
accommodate them all — Hunt was appointed chairman and
Benjamin I. Blythe. clerk. They adopted formal rules pre-
cisely defining the manner and method of conducting meetings.
Rapp appeared that day and was sworn ; Prince did not come
at all. With no other business immediately before them, they
adjourned to meet at the mouth of Fall Creek the next day.
During the next four days they viewed the land at the con-
fluence of Fall Creek and White River (where the McCormick
family had recently built a cabin), and at the Bluffs on White
River near Waverly, where the cabin of Cyrus Wlietzel was
located. On May 2j they made their decision in favor of the
Fall Creek site. Their report was not signed for ten days.
Although the township lines had been run, the surveys of the
section lines had not been completed, and the commissioners
were obliged to wait until this could be done.

Undoubtedly the fact that the junction of Fall Creek and
White River was the converging point of Indian trails from
Vincennes, from the falls of the Ohio, from Whitewater, from
the upper Delaware towns on White River and the Potawatomi
and Miami towns on the Wabash, had a strong influence upon
these men who realized that the roads of the settlers would
follow the trails for many years to come. In addition, there
was a good fording place at this point for those seeking lands
farther west. It may have been this fording place which first
attracted the Indians to it. It is a noticeable fact that many
of the locations of large cities in this country were originally

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 119

the converging point of Indian trails or the former sites of
Indian villages.23

One determinant in favor of the Fall Creek site was the
fact that it had the best landing near the center of the state for
boats coming up White River. After the surveys were com-
pleted the commissioners met at McCormick's cabin and signed
their report. In less than two hours thereafter a boat landed
here before their eyes and unloaded the household goods of
two families moving to the mouth of Fall Creek. It seemed
a good omen for their choice and Tipton jocularly mentioned
in his Journal the landing of "the first boat . . . that ever was
seen at the seat of government."

It was an advantage that the site was near the mouth of
Fall Creek. Mills could be located on Fall Creek and thus
town and mills would be on the same side of the river. Easy
access to the base of grain supplies, easy methods of transporta-
tion, these were cogent reasons for locating the city from the
standpoint of pioneers who had suffered untold privations for
lack of them. It is a matter of regret that there was no one
present to speak in favor of a healthful location. Perhaps
those who favored the Bluffs had that consideration in mind,
but the site was discarded because "the banks were too high
to allow a convenient boat landing." Had anyone suggested
that within twenty-seven years these reasons for the selection
of this site would be obsolete, he would have been laughed to
scorn. In less than fourteen years William Conner was
actually interested in promoting a railroad to Indianapolis. In
1838 Tipton was advocating in the United States Senate a rail-
road grant in Indiana !2i

As more than a week elapsed between the time when the
commissioners reached their decision and the completion of
the surveys, there was plenty of time for other activities. Hunt
and John Conner went home, while the others returned to
William Conner's house to spend the night. The fishing was
good and Governor Jennings proved quite expert with the gig
used in the canoe, an exciting method of catching fish. Judge
Fabius M. Finch says that "the surface of the water as far as
the eye could reach, [was] so literally covered with fish —
about six inches below the surface — that they appeared to touch
each other and in many instances did touch ; and this of all

120 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

kinds of fish, from the monster muskalonge to the hated gar."
There was no chance of a failure to "catch."

Deer hunting in canoes at night by torchlight was the best
sport of all. As described by Judge Finch, there were two
persons in each canoe, one to paddle, the other to use the gun.
The guns and a torch were in the bow — the steersman in the
stern. As they approached a deer, tempted by the warm
weather to feed on the grass near the water, the gunner would
rock the boat and the deer would stand fascinated for a
moment by this strange apparition. The crack of the gun
broke the spell, and the hunter waited tensely to see whether he
had made a hit. There was also the popular Indian game of
moccasin, a favorite one with the Miami and Potawatomi. A
half dozen newly made moccasins were placed in a semicircle
on a flat surface. The operator would place his hand under
each moccasin, dexterously leaving a bullet under one of them.
Then the bets would be made as to which moccasin covered the
bullet.25

Jennings was courageous but he had enemies and he usually
carried some sort of a weapon as was quite common in those
days. On this occasion he had a silver-hilted dagger in a silver-
mounted scabbard, which he lost on Conner's farm, probably
when engaged in one of these pastimes. Later, one of the
little Finch boys found it and brought it to Conner for identifi-
cation.20

The pleasant days passed quickly until the surveys were
completed. On the seventh of June the commissioners met
again at Fall Creek and signed their report. Only two loca-
tions had serious consideration — the present site and the
Bluffs, fifteen miles farther down the river. There have been
random statements from time to time to the effect that other
locations were discussed, such as the present site of Noblesville,
New Britton, Strawtown, and William Conner's land, but they
are only unsupported personal recollections. The land selected
amounted to 2,560 acres, four sections in township 15 north,
range 3 east. This choice was ratified by the legislature on
January 6, 182 1. The name "Indianapolis" was given to the
new capital and notwithstanding the merriment, ridicule and
criticism it provoked, was adopted.27

Shortly after June 7 all the commissioners had departed

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 121

and the community settled down to a humdrum existence.
This sojourn of the little group of men from different parts
of the state had broken its monotony. It had been an honor to
entertain the first governor of the state, a very human and a
kindly person who entered into all the homely sports with
skill and interest. Outstanding among the commissioners
were rugged, outspoken John Tipton and the dignified and
other-worldly Frederick Rapp. Several of the visitors had
seen service in the War of 1812; all were pioneers in the
counties from which they came. The settlers recalled how
cordially they had all greeted the Conner brothers and with
what simple dignity William Conner had moved among his
guests. The outcome of their mission was of vital local
interest, too, for the choice of a site less than twenty miles
away would stimulate development in their own community.
Already there had been several additions to the settlement — the
Robert Duncans, the family of Charles Lacy, the Baxters, the
Audricks, James Wilson, and Curtis Mallory. The last named
was a school teacher. Eight other families had passed through
the settlement to points beyond, nearer the site which had been
selected for the capital. These were but the first of hundreds
yet to come. There would be changes taking place almost over
night, creeping upon them almost before they were aware.
They were to be caught and carried on the swiftly flowing
stream of a commonwealth in the making.

9-

William Conner's place did not receive much consideration
from the commissioners; if it had, it would have been por-
tentous for him, for he had as yet no title or even color of title
to this land upon which he had lived for so many years. The
United States was now the owner of it. If it had been selected,
he would have had no choice but to give it up. All of his work
of clearing, cultivation, and improvements would have gone
for nothing. He knew now as a certainty that Mekinges and
the children would leave for the West with the Delawares, in
obedience to the tribal law that the Indian wife must stay with
her people. In the hubbub of this last company of guests she
had moved quietly about, attending to their needs and keeping
the children out of the way. But her ways were not the ways

122 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

of a white woman; her housekeeping was not like theirs;
these differences he had noted first by contrast with his
brother's home at Connersville, and later in the homes of the
settlers on Horseshoe Prairie. There were other matters,
however, to be considered.

In a mood of meditation he entered his cabin. There at the
head of his bed was the trunk of silver dollars accumulated by
years of trading, and near it lay his rifle. That was his wealth.
It must be divided with his partner, Marshall, who planned to
go with the Delawares. Marshall would look after Mekinges,
but she and the children must be provided for. Sixty ponies
should be hers. And one stipulation he must make. From time
to time the children should come back to see him, which they
did. If land came to him from the United States government
he would pay them for their interest in it, notwithstanding
the fact that they were going to a country where land would be
given them by the government. As he stepped out of the cabin
his eyes rested on the field across the river that had been
cleared and was now under cultivation, his beloved prairie, the
slowly moving river. This was his home. Here he was
destined to remain. His thoughts turned to the settlement on
Horseshoe Prairie. Upon the film of his vision appeared the
trim, gracious figure of Elizabeth Chapman. How capable
she had seemed in that household of little children in John
Finch's home. With these reflections came the conclusion that
his cabin was too old to serve much longer. Every year
brought more travelers to his door and the number would in-
crease with the coming of the state capital. His rough shack
had been too small for his recent guests. He was sorry he
could not have offered better lodgings to Governor Jennings.
A new ambition stirred in the breast of William Conner. The
opportunities and means for his metamorphosis were surely
and steadily approaching.

10.

The Fourth of July was the great day of celebration among
the pioneers, more widely observed than Christmas. It came
at a time of year when there was a lull in the farm work and
the weather was generally good, making it possible for them
to get together from greater distances. Never before, however,

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 123

had it been celebrated in this section, for the excellent reason
that there was no one here except Conner and the Indians and
the latter were scarcely in the mood! It was different now.
The young people of the settlement were not to be denied the
excitement of a picnic dinner with toasts to all the great
Americans living and dead and other subjects of national and
local interest. It cannot be that the new capital was overlooked
on this occasion.

James G. Finch has described this first celebration :2S
"They drove forks in the ground, laid poles up on them and
then covered it with brush with the leaves on. Under this
shade they ate their dinners and drank their toasts with great
glee and hilarity. At night they had a dance ; there was no
such thing as a fiddle in fifty miles of them so they had to
depend entirely upon vocal music and frequently the musician
was in the dance." Young Amasa Chapman, the flute player,
was dead. This may have been William Conner's first celebra-
tion of the Fourth, but frequently thereafter his farm was the
gathering place for the community on like occasions. Of course
all the Finches were there ; John Finch's family of six children
under fourteen years and several older ones ; Solomon Finch's
family of five young people ; Lacys, Bushes, and the Shirtses,
the Mallorys, the Duncans. The Willisons and the Baxters
may not have been present, for they were indulging in some
petty feud with the Finches about this time — another phase of
frontier life.29 Were the Indians there as onlookers, Mekinges
too, and her brood of six? If so, the affair must have appeared
as strange to them as did their Indian dances and councils to
white eyes.

1 1.

In late August or early September the Delaware Indians
began collecting near William Conner's cabin preparatory to
their departure to their new home in western Missouri. They
probably came from their old settlements on White River.
Chief Anderson was undoubtedly among them for at this point
his daughter Mekinges would join him. The old chief felt
bitterly about the St. Mary's treaties which had deprived them
of the lands on which the Delawares had lived since about
1795. The Indians were a forlorn, dejected company —

124 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

weakened by diseases and drunkenness, poorly fed and clothed.
Mekinges prepared to join them with her children, Jack (or
John), Nancy, Harry (or Hamilton), James, William, and
Eliza. Their ages are not known but they were all under eight-
een and possibly under fourteen years old.

Conner set about the division of the proceeds of the trading
post with his partner, Marshall. James G. Finch ( son of
Solomon) was only an eleven-year-old boy at the time, but he
assisted at the division and related the story afterwards:
''When they were dividing their money they would count out
two large piles of silver dollars and have me turn my back,
and one of them would point at a pile and say who shall have
that?" The disinterested little boy would reply with one of
their names and the matter was settled. At this time the
property settlement did not include any real estate. Mekinges
was given the promised sixty ponies.30

At last a sufficient number of Indians had assembled to
start on their march. Mekinges and the Conner children
mounted their ponies. The half-breed son of John Conner,
his namesake, was among them. He had been staying with his
uncle for some time. Perhaps his father was there to see him
off. Marshall put his own family in readiness. The proud old
chief took his place at the head of the procession and the trek
westward began. William Conner gazed until they were lost
to view and the last bit of dust raised by the ponies' feet had
sunk to the ground. He reflected proudly that Mekinges was
the best dressed of all the Indian women.31 She and the chil-
dren had been given half of his property. He did not own any
real estate at that time, but later when the title to six hundred
and forty acres was vested in him, his wife, and their children,
he purchased their interest at what was known as the "Con-
gress" price. They were also participants in the annuities
granted at St. Mary's.

Their new lands in the West proved far more valuable than
those they had left in Indiana. When they migrated they first
went to western Missouri. Later they removed to Kansas
and finally to Oklahoma. They and their descendants shared
in the prosperity of that country with their white neighbors.
Nancy Conner's grandson, Richard C. Adams, great-grandson
of William Conner, became a leader of his people in the South-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 125

west. As attorney for the Delaware Indians with the Cherokee
nation he industriously reminded the government of the
United States, in speeches and articles preserved in the Library
of Congress, of the loyalty and services of the Delawares in the
War of the Revolution and in the Civil War. In these
brochures, passim, is to be found the history of that tribe from
the time of the first white invaders to the present. He men-
tions a John Conner, a Delaware interpreter who was
commended by John R. Taylor, Indian agent in Texas in 1857,
as having rendered such important services that the state of
Texas made him a citizen and gave him a league of land.
Conner had devoted his best years in trying to make peace
with the wild and warlike tribes. He may have been a de-
scendant of William Conner. It is the family tradition that
John, the half-breed son of John Conner, at the time of his
death in the 1860's had a large farm with a red brick house
overlooking the Missouri River. Of two hundred and one
adult Delaware males it is said that one hundred and seventy
enlisted in the United States Army in the Civil War. Some
of the third generation of the Conner Delawares were perhaps
in this enlistment. Of the daughters, Eliza Conner became
Elizabeth Bullitt and was living as late as 1 861. Nancy was
dead before 1852, leaving a daughter and a son. Descendants
of these half-breed children of William Conner have been
more or less engaged in the political, industrial, and agricul-
tural life in the Southwest since the first decade of their
removal in 1820. 32

CHAPTER IX

The Transformation of William Conner — The Found-
ing OF NOBLESVILLE

A civil marriage occurred at the cabin of John Finch on
Horeshoe Prairie on November 30, 1820. A glamour
attaches to this wedding. The past year had been full of
dramatic incidents for this little pioneer settlement — the com-
ing of all the new families in the spring, the meeting of the
commissioners to select the site of the capital, the first Fourth
of July celebration, the assembling and departure of the first
group of Delaware Indians, the shadow of death that had fallen
upon several of the families, which seemed to be an accom-
paniment of every autumn — and now a wedding — one of the
first in the New Purchase. It would have been a notable hap-
pening in a humdrum year ; it was the crowning event of these
crowded twelve months.

It was unusual because of the participants. The bridegroom
was a dominating figure in the community. His adventurous
past, his unusual relations with the Indians, his knowledge of
the woods, his mature demeanor — all these were thrown in high
relief by the fair young girl whom he had chosen. The great
differences in their ages — about thirty years — caused some
speculation as to the success of this venture ; still more marked
was the contrast in the environments from which they had
come. So long had William Conner lived among the Indians
that the contour and coloring of his face resembled theirs ; his
gait and bearing, his gestures and voice seemed more like theirs
than the white settlers. Elizabeth Chapman seemed to be
marrying a man more Indian than white. She had been born
in New York — a state old compared to Indiana — in the month
and year when her bridegroom was building his cabin on White
River. He had lived the rough life of the wilderness, while
she spent her childhood in a sheltered home protected by her
mother and brother and later by the large family of her step-
father. She had had no intimate contact with the Indians and
had not even been a member of a crude pioneer community
until these last few years. She exhibited, however, a courage

(126)

SOXS OF THE WILDERNESS 127

and a faith that commanded from the little company who
watched her the same confidence engendered by the manly as-
surance and calmness of the groom.

In all of the New Purchase there was not a magistrate, for
there were not yet enough settlers for the organization of a
county. Fielding Hazelrigg, a justice of the peace from Con-
nersville, was requested to perform the ceremony by virtue of
a license issued by James M. Ray, a deputy clerk of that place
and a long-time friend, who was accommodating enough to
risk the penalties of the law in issuing a license outside his own
county. John Conner and Benjamin I. Blythe rode up from
Connersville with Hazelrigg to attend the wedding. Perhaps
James M. Ray came too, and a young lawyer named William
W. Wick, who had been almost a year in Connersville and a
year later was to marry Laura Finch, a half-sister of the bride.
All the settlers in the immediate vicinity were present as a mat-
ter of course. The Finches, the Bushes, the Duncans, and the
Mallorys are named, but it is scarcely to be doubted that the
guests also included the Shirtses and the Lacys. There were
some unexpected guests— a band of friendly Indians who, out
of respect and affection for William Conner, camped near John
Finch's house for a day or two before the wedding and did not
leave until the festivities were over. The merry company of
pioneer men were clad in buckskin trousers and vests ; the
women wore homespun blue or brown flannel dresses, neatly
made but not too closely fitting, with tucks or flounces at the
bottom and a white ruffle around the neck, capped by a chintz
or calico bonnet with a single bow of ribbon. Beyond this
company was a circle of quiet, waiting red men, like the chorus
of a Greek play.

Unfortunately John Finch was ill, but that in no way af-
fected the lavish hospitality of his household. How all these
guests were accommodated in his small two-room cabin cannot
be imagined, nor how the ceremony could be seen by all. Per-
haps one of those rare Indian summer days that sometimes
occur in Indiana allowed the celebration to be held out of doors.
Through the eyes of the imagination can be seen silhouetted in
the wooden frame of the doorway the erect, bronzed woods-
man, the bridegroom who is turning an entirely new page in
the history of his eventful life. By his side is a slender, shy,

128 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

young woman, endowed with all the womanly graces. Facing
them stands the magistrate. Grouped around them are rela-
tives, friends, and neighbors with eager, curious, expectant
faces. The dusky border of Indians looks silently, steadily, at
the central figures. It was a strange, incomprehensible sight
to them. They had never seen a marriage of the whites before.
Its ritual had for them no solemn import, but it excited their
curiosity. What was the meaning of these questions and an-
swers? To them a marriage was a matter of simple agreement
— mutual consent expressed by the reception of presents; re-
fusal indicated by the rejection of them. It was not only the
novelty of this proceeding, however, that held them spellbound.
It was the chief figure — William Conner. All that he had
meant to them must now have recurred to them, his fairness,
his justness, his honesty, and his kindliness. He had been the
husband of the daughter of their chief and in the veins of their
relatives, his blood was mingled with theirs. If they saw in
this mysterious ceremony the end of long years of the closest
association ; that their ways would be no longer his, and his
ways no longer theirs, their grim, immobile faces did not be-
tray them.

The ceremony was followed by a substantial backwoods
feast. Corn was the usual fare in this little community, but on
this day there was an abundance of bread made from wheat
secured from "over yonder in the White water." Fowls were
furnished by Jean Baptiste who lived near the trading post ;
fine fish came from White River ; roasted quail and pheasants
and venison steaks were plentifully distributed on the tables;
the sweets of the feast were wild plums and crab apples pre-
served in maple sugar, but the piece de resistance was the con-
coction from the wheat flour. After the feast the Indians
broke camp and silently slipping into the forest were soon
veiled from view by its yellowish haze. There was no honey-
moon or wedding trip. The bride and groom either forded or
ferried across the river and rode horseback to Conner's cabin
three miles away. Here Elizabeth Conner was installed as
mistress of the combined dwelling and trading post which had
been her husband's home for eighteen years.1

Elizabeth Chapman Conner

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 129

2.

The year following this event was marked by the advent of
more families along this part of White River. There were
now three settlements — the one of which William Conner's
cabin was the center; the Horseshoe Prairie community, two
and a half miles north of Conner's near the mouth of Stoney
Creek ; and Strawtown, about eight or nine miles farther north
from Horseshoe Prairie. The last-named settlement was near
the site of the old Indian town of Nanticoke, or Nancy Town.
Its first white settler was John Shintaffer, an Indian trader.
There were eight settlers there in 1820 and the following year
added six more, some with their families and some without.
The settlement at William Conner's, consisting of the Bushes,
the Shirtses, and the Lacys had been increased by the Duncans
and a man named Chapel Brown. Solomon Finch was em-
ployed by Conner during this year and had removed to his farm
temporarily. It was probably while Finch was at Conner's
that a distillery was built, and a horse mill, similar to the one
on Horseshoe Prairie erected by the Finches. Andrew Wal-
lace, who had charge of the government survey of the county,
had been staying with Conner, and Josiah F. Polk, a young
lawyer from the East, was also there. The colony at Horse-
shoe Prairie, also, was increased by several families. One new-
comer was Allen Baxter, who sowed the first wheat in the
county. News that the land would soon be offered for sale
increased the interest of prospective homeseekers who wished
to select their lands personally before buying.2

3-
A disturbing happening this year reminded the settlers that
mere occupation of the land did not insure law and order. The
trouble arose in the settlement at Strawtown, but it created
great excitement in all three places. A Potawatomi Indian who
came to John Shintaffer's trading post accused the trader of
diluting the liquor he sold him with river water. The Indian
was half drunk and easily overpowered by the trader, who
angrily threw him into the midst of a heap of logs which he
was burning. The Indian was in no condition to extricate
himself and Shintaffer looked on at his horrible death. When
news of this atrocity reached the tribe they were quick to act —

130 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

sending ten or eleven braves armed with tomahawks and knives
to Shintaffer's cabin. The near-by settlers, fearing that their
own homes might be in danger if Shintaf fer were killed, rallied
to his support, though no one of them could have been in sym-
pathy with his action. A pitched battle ensued and one of the
settlers, Benjamin Fisher, was killed. The Indians made a
hasty retreat, broke camp, and fled to Fort Wayne. It was
a horrible reminder to all in the vicinity that they were still
uncomfortably close to a highly inflammable tinderbox. The
incident shows Conner's post and his relations to the Indians in
striking contrast, for no such disgraceful incident was ever re-
corded of his establishment. For many years to come the set-
ters were to realize that while the Indians who passed their
homes and sometimes stopped, were outwardly friendly, it took
very little to stir their revengeful wrath against those who
wronged them.3

4-

Slowly, steadily, and peaceably the little community was
moving forward. Enough grain had been raised over and
above the needs of the settlement, so that some could be sent
down the river to other settlements or to a larger market. It
was in May or June of 182 1 that a keelboat from Indianapolis
stopped at Conner's to take on grain raised the year before.
Other keel- and flatboats had passed them carrying pioneers
and their household goods to points beyond, but evidently this
was the first time such a boat had stopped for produce. It
was a new sight to all, and to the younger settlers it was a
thrilling one. The boats that had floated corn down the river
before were canoes made from big poplar logs, lashed two
and two to keep them from turning over. The keelboat (a
covered freight boat, having a keel but no sails) could be pulled
up the river "by tying a rope to a tree and pulling the boat up
to it ; or by poling, that is by pushing the boat along with
poles."4 Transportation was one of the most vexing problems
of the pioneers.

A negro who assisted in getting the crop ready for the
market was of great interest to these settlers who had come
from northern states and who were probably little more fa-
miliar with the negro than the Indian. No one knew where he

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 131

came from. He lived for a while with the Indians, then went
to work for William Conner. He denied that he had been a
slave, but a Kentuckian who came through the country late in
1820 claimed him, secured a writ, and packed him off, to the
commiseration and indignation of the entire settlement. It was
the first insight of the settlers into the evils of slavery.5

5-

The chief excitement of the year was the opening of the
sales of lands in the New Purchase at Brookville. No public
land could be sold until it had been offered at public sale.
Bought at private sale later it cost only $1.25 per acre. The
advantage of attending the public sale was that a choicer selec-
tion could be made even though the price was higher. The
settlers had made their selection in advance and had been sav-
ing money for purchase ever since they arrived. It was an
important day and while some secured their choice, others were
doomed to disappointment. By an unwritten law among the
pioneers, whoever selected a piece of land and improved it, was
allowed first chance at it. In this new country it was not pos-
sible to make extensive and permanent improvements in two
years. Rough cabins had been erected by some, though others
had used only abandoned Indian huts. Sufficient fencing had
been erected to enclose pasturage for a small amount of live
stock. The land had been cultivated to some extent but there
were fields near each settlement that had been cleared and cul-
tivated by the Indians prior to this time and naturally they made
use of these. Little attempt had been made to clear the land of
forest trees, for this was too big an improvement to undertake
on unsold lands.

John Conner made up his mind to remove from Conners-
ville to a site near his brother William, and incidentally much
nearer the capital of the state. He proposed to erect a saw-
mill, a gristmill, and a carding machine on the land at Horse-
shoe Prairie, which seemed ideally suited to his needs. He
entered it at Brookville, outbidding a man named Audrick, or
Andrick, one of the more recent arrivals from Virginia who
expected to buy this land and said he would pay the settlers
for their improvements. This Conner refused to do for the
reason that the development of the prairie which he had in

132 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

mind would increase the value of neighboring properties and
more than repay the owners. At the time Conner's action was
resented by some. A contemporary commented years later
that "Conner had the longest pole and he got the persimmon."
Audrick, however, soon lost his reputation in the community
for reliability and integrity. Conner kept his word and shortly
his water mill, constructed with much care, was "the admira-
tion of two or three counties."6

There was a redistribution of settlers after the sale of the
lands. Twelve or more families settled below William Conner's
near the river and on both sides of it. As the Horseshoe
Prairie had been bought by John Conner, the Finch families
moved about four miles east of it and four miles south of the
present site of Noblesville. Ten or more families joined them
there and the community came to be known as the Finch set-
tlement.

Meanwhile John Conner was going ahead with his plans
for the development of Horseshoe Prairie and had secured the
passage of an act in the legislature of 1822-1823, of which he
was not a member, authorizing him to erect a dam for a grist-
and sawmill across White River at the Horseshoe Bend, which
was only half a mile from the newly planned county seat. The
act provided that the dam should be so built as to allow boats
to pass.7 The legislators still cherished hopes for the naviga-
tion of White River. As soon as this authorization was given,
Conner started work on his proposed improvements. With
characteristic energy he brought his family from Connersville
to temporary quarters in one of the log cabins that had been
built on Horeshoe Prairie ; he let the contract for the millrace
and the dam, employed all the men who were willing to work,
and brought from the East millwrights and carpenters for the
skilled labor. The mill was completed in 1823. It ground
wheat and corn sufficient for the requirements of the com-
munity. Later the sawmill was finished and a carding machine
was installed. Prior to this time the women had carded their
wool into rolls by the use of hand cards. These improvements
were of great benefit to the community.

Increasingly, William Conner realized that his cabin no

SOXS OF THE WILDERNESS 133

longer suited his station in this rapidly growing community.
Many of his cherished recollections, however, clung about it.
Here was the real beginning of his location as a trader. Here
for eighteen years he had lived with the Indians at the head
of an Indian family. One feature of the cabin paid tribute
to his reputation as a hunter and a crack shot. Over the door
he had put up two little forks made from the limb of a dog-
wood tree in which he had placed an old-fashioned long-range
rifle ; near it hung a calfskin pouch and with it a gun charger —
all intended and used for hunting game birds and small ani-
mals. His hospitality was so cordial and well known that this
display did not disturb his guests, but it made his cabin appear
more like a hunter's lodge than a home.8 The site of the new
capital was drawing large numbers of settlers and travelers,
and he realized that with the coming of a new order and a new
people his present dwelling would be out of place. On Janu-
ary 4, 1823, his first child by Elizabeth Chapman was born.
The little girl received the name of Lavina, which was already
cherished in the family, for it was the name of John Conner's
wife and her little daughter, who died while still a baby.

Shortly after this event William Conner began to plan the
building of a larger home. He entered the land on which the
new residence was to be built on April 20, 1823, and on August
7 of that year the government issued a patent for it. A pleas-
ant spot on the upper east bank of White River south of the
cabin site was chosen as the location of the two-story brick
house which he completed in 1823. The walls were solid
brick, very thick. The woodwork was yellow poplar. It is
said that the brick used in the house was burned on the prem-
ises and that mechanics were brought from the East to make
"the delicate mantels, stairways and glass-door cupboards. The
lines are purely colonial, light and unusually delicate for this
region." It was considered at the time as "remarkably hand-
some," "elegant" — one of the first brick houses in the New
Purchase. Nathaniel Bolton, state librarian, in a lecture in
1853 before the Indiana Historical Society said that during
1823 he "spent many delightful evenings" at Conner's mansion.
Enraptured by the view before him, he said : "I never beheld a
more delightful scene than when I looked down from the sec-
ond story of Mr. Conner's dwelling on a field of three hundred

134 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

acres of waving corn, some two feet high, with fifteen or
twenty merry plowmen scattered over it at work. It was
doubly interesting, coming, as I did, out of nature's forest,
only broken by the occasional cabins and small patches of
cleared land of the early settlers."9

Notwithstanding the ravages of time, the use of the house
by tenants of succeeding owners, the stripping of its fine be-
longings and the years of neglect, the house retained its dig-
nity and air of distinction. Arising in the wilderness it resisted
for 112 years all innovations. In 1935 the house and sur-
rounding acres were purchased by a public-spirited citizen of
Indianapolis, Mr. Eli Lilly, president of the Indiana Historical
Society. With great care and fine discrimination the house
has been restored to its original condition.

A center hall divides the house, disclosing at one end the
broad sweep of the prairie farm and providing at the other the
usual mode of entrance from the land which leads to the main
road. On entering the yard the old well first meets the eye.
A veranda which was not a part of the house in William Con-
ner's time has been added to the other entrance for the sake of
comfort. Spacious rooms with a fireplace in each, open from
the hall, and from it a graceful stairway leads to the second
floor, where there is a similar arrangement of rooms with a
fireplace in each. The original plaster on all the rooms seemed
to have been dipped in the blue dye kettle, for such was its
color, but no such traditionally gloomy wall covering could
darken this prairie home, which was open on all sides to the
air and sunlight. Adjoining the dining room on the south side
of the hall is an old-fashioned kitchen containing a spacious
fireplace with an oven on one side. A staircase which had
been closed for many years has been reopened and leads to a
loft-like room above the kitchen.

Mrs. Lilly has been remarkably successful in refitting the
entire house with furnishings of the period and memorabilia
of the original owner. Two chief treasures have found a space
on the walls of the dining room. These are the original por-
traits of William Conner and his wife Elizabeth Chapman
Conner, painted by Jacob Cox, early Indiana portrait painter.
The cupboards in this room are filled with the dishes and glass-
ware of this period. South of the house there is a small build-

SOXS OF THE WILDERNESS 135

ing added by Mr. Lilly to house the large collection of original
and photostatic material concerning William Conner. Here in
permanent files easily accessible are the photostat copies of the
treaties of which Conner served as interpreter. Upon the
walls of this building hang samples of all the different fur
skins in which he and his brother traded. Below this house,
the old distillery has been faithfully restored in its original
situation. Once more the Conner homestead takes its place
as an historic landmark of central Indiana.

Clear as though limned against the sky was the ambition of
the builders of the new state to convert a wilderness, unsubordi-
nated to human hands, into town and village centers of civiliza-
tion. Application for the formation of a new county north of
Marion County was made to the General Assembly of 1822-
1823, and it is reasonable to suppose that the Conners had a
hand in drawing up the petition and suggesting the boundaries.
On January 8, 1823, after a reconsidered vote, the Assembly
authorized the formation of a county to be called Hamilton.10
Commissioners named in the act were directed to meet at the
house of William Conner on the first Monday of May to inves-
tigate and to determine the site for the county seat. Until
suitable accommodations could be had at "the seat of justice"
the circuit court proceedings were likewise directed to be held
there. By this fiat Conner's dwelling was made serviceable
to public uses.

At this time the young and clever Josiah F. Polk, who
had come out of the East in search of his fortune, was living
at Conner's house. He was quick to take advantage of the
opportunity afforded by the formation of a new county to
purchase lands that might reasonably be chosen for the county
seat. Conner was familiar with all the land in the vicinity and
was well and favorably known. He may have been ambitious
also to emulate his brother as the founder of a town. The two
men, William Conner and Polk, bought about one hundred
acres on the east bank of White River some four miles north
of Conner's Trading Post and in January, 1823, platted a town
there and called it Noblesville.11 They offered generous in-
ducements to secure the county seat, and at a four-day session

136 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

in March, 1824, the commissioners accepted their proposals.
The proprietors agreed to donate to the county the public
square and one-half of all in-lots and fractional lots and other
land with certain reservations for their own use. Part of the
donation was to be used for county buildings and the remainder
sold, the proceeds thereof to be used to erect buildings. Polk
built the first dwelling house. With money realized from the
sale of lots and by private subscription the first public build-
ing, a jail, was started that year. It was a safe conjecture in
any new county that while courts and commissioners might
manage in temporary quarters, a stout jail was an immediate
necessity.

The administrative, judicial, and fiscal affairs of this small
political subdivision were handled as in other counties by a
sheriff, judges, clerk, recorder, treasurer, and commissioners,
some at first appointed by the governor but thereafter chosen
in general elections. The first session of the circuit court was
held in William Conner's house in August, 1823. John Finch
and William C. Blackmore qualified as associate judges ; Wil-
liam W. Wick was presiding judge; John D. Stephenson,
clerk, Robert L. Hannaman, recorder, William P. Warrick,
sheriff, and William Conner, treasurer.

In those days whisky could only be sold by license. Con-
tinual violations of this regulation were followed by indictments
and trials. There were cases of grand larceny, frequent cases
of trespass, and petty civil actions. The first term of the court
lasted two days, with pending cases held over to the succeed-
ing term. At the April term in 1824 some probate matters
were disposed of. This was the last term of court held at
William Conner's house. The Board of County Commission-
ers, also, during the years 1823, 1824, and 1825, with the
exception of one meeting, convened either in William or John
Conner's house. In 1825 the legislature directed the clerk to
keep his books and papers at John Conner's until a suitable
room was prepared in the town of Noblesville. It was not until
1826 that a courthouse provided the accommodations that had
till then been furnished by the Conners for a nominal rent, or
quite free.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 137

A tradition has existed in the Conner family for many
years that James Fenimore Cooper visited William Conner
sometime after 1823 to secure information concerning the Dela-
ware Indians for his Leather-Stocking Tales. The accounts
of this visit, as given by Conner's living grandchildren, were
handed down to them by their parents, sons of William Conner.
There is no extant record in Cooper's family or elsewhere that
he was ever in Indiana.12 His Indians, however, were Dela-
wares, and he wrote of the virtues and courage of that tribe.
It is said that he derived his knowledge of them largely from
Heckewelder's writings or, if from other sources, it was con-
firmed by them. It will be recalled that Heckewelder was one
of the Moravian missionaries who was a captive of the British
Indians in 1781, as was the child, William Conner. General
Lewis Cass had had a great deal of experience with Indians on
the battlefield, in treaty councils, and as Indian agent. He had
a practical mind ; and to him it seemed that none of the ideal-
ized Indians in Cooper's novels were "the fierce and crafty
warriors that roam through our forests." He regarded Hecke-
welder, whom he had known in Ohio, as a "kindhearted, plain
old man" whose knowledge of Indians was gained largely from
the Moravian group, and was not therefore generally sound.
He felt so strongly about Cooper's gilding of the Indian char-
acter that he took occasion to criticize it in a review of Hecke-
welder's Indian Nations published in the North American Re-
view. Another relevant comment has been made to the effect
that Cass's mind was "bent upon destroying the romantic con-
ception of savage life." It is not probable that Cooper derived
his information about the Delawares from Conner, but had he
done so, he would have received the same impression that he
had from Heckewelder, for Conner considered the Delawares
the best of all the Indian tribes.13

A French-American lawyer and philologist, Peter S. Du
Ponceau, living in Philadelphia, was corresponding secretary
of the Flistorical and Literary Committee of the American
Philosophical Society and subsequently its president. His in-
terest was excited by a grammar of the Delaware language
which had been prepared by David Zeisberger, and he began

138 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

an investigation of the subject. A voluminous and learned
discussion occurred in the exchange of letters during 1816 be-
tween Du Ponceau, Dr. Caspar Wistar, then president of the
society, and Reverend John Heckewelder. The attention of
scholars generally was drawn to it. Did the Delaware language
have inflections, suffixes, and prefixes as did the English
language ? The controversy revolved about these points. When
Cass learned of Du Ponceau's conclusion that the Delawares
had a grammar language, he looked upon it as merely another
phase of romanticism about the Indians. He applied to Secre-
tary of War Calhoun, for leave to appoint a suitable person
to pursue inquiries as to the customs and languages of the
Indians, to which consent was given.

Charles C. Trowbridge, of Michigan, who had been en-
trusted by Cass with other important duties, was directed in
December, 1823, to proceed to the residence of William Con-
ner on White River in Indiana. Trowbridge found Conner
"an intelligent gentleman and an excellent interpreter." He
further records that "Connor's residence was eighteen miles
from Indianapolis, which had just been declared the capital of
the State, but was not yet occupied by the legislature. Its popu-
lation was about three hundred. We reached it on horseback,
by an Indian trail. There being little population and no roads,
there was no market for farm products. Wheat was worth
twenty-five cents a bushel and corn six to ten cents. The In-
dians supplied us all winter with turkeys at six cents each."

Trowbridge was fully aware of Cass's skeptical attitude.
In 1874 in an account of his trip to Conner's residence he
wrote : "The General thought it all a myth. He had seen the
border Indians in war, at treaties, around the camp-fire or
dancing the 'begging dance' and he could not comprehend what
subsequent investigation has so fully confirmed in regard to
the structure of the Indian language, differing widely in words
and varied by harsh gutterals and soft labials but all obeying
the law of inflection, suffix and postfix."

Trowbridge spent three months at Conner's residence (the
present brick house) with "Capt. Pipe, an intelligent Delaware
chief, and some of his staff, daily occupied in researches into
the manners, customs and dialect of his tribe." Captain Pipe
was probably the son or nephew of the Captain Pipe who had

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 139

been one of the leaders in the capture of the Conner family
and the Moravian Indians in 1 78 1, and who died in 1794. An
Indian chief's name usually descended to his successor. Trow-
bridge further says : "the investigations with Captain Pipe re-
vealed a marvellous system of regular verbal inflection, and
prepositional arrangement. Although I have not for many
years paid attention to the subject, I believe similar investiga-
tions into the dialects of other tribes have exhibited confirma-
tory evidence of Duponceau's views."

At this time, although William Conner was living detached
from the Indians, Trowbridge noted that he was held in high
esteem by them as a man of probity. Trowbridge recognized
that Conner not only possessed much knowledge himself, but
he greatly appreciated his aid in getting information from In-
dian chiefs in that vicinity. The Miami chiefs, Le Gris and
Richardville, were very helpful to him as to the history, tradi-
tions, and language of their tribe. The inquiry begun at Con-
ner's house in December lasted until March, 1824, when Trow-
bridge returned to Detroit. His conclusion was that Du Ponceau
had only reached the threshold of his investigation whether
General Cass was convinced of his error or not. A large mass
of very important data was transmitted by Trowbridge to
Cass who referred it to the government at Washington.14
Zeisbergers Delaware grammar is said to survive and repose
under lock and key in the library of Harvard University.15

The year before the studious, painstaking Trowbridge vis-
ited Conner, another whose personality was strongly in contrast
met Conner at a religious service in the neighborhood and was
invited to spend the night at his cabin. This was probably in
1822. Baynard R. Hall was the name of this itinerant teacher
and preacher. He came to Indiana from the East about 1820.
In 1823 he was elected president of Indiana Seminary, now
Indiana University. He remained in the state seven and a half
years and returning East he wrote in 1843 an account of his
experiences and observations under the pen name of Robert
Carlton. The narrative is so clouded with pseudonyms and
anonymities that to identify persons and places is perplexing.
Dates are not given but can be arrived at approximately by

140 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

addition and subtraction. In 191 6 an unexpurgated edition
was issued by the Princeton University Press. It offers a
key to the book in which "Mr. Redwhite" is identified as John
Conner. Hall says that Mr. Redwhite "lived in a cabin, or
rather a dozen cabins," and that "he owned tracts of very
valuable land presented to him by his red lady's tribe." She
was reported to have "deserted her husband to live with her
exiled people." This description fitted William Conner's situ-
ation and not John's. In fact, at that time the latter was living
in Connersville.

Hall and Conner, according to this account, became very
intimate friends because of their coincident opinion that the
Indians "have had abundant provocations for most of their
misdeeds." Hall's interest in Conner's young wife was
aroused, as he thought she was a survivor of the Wyoming
massacre in which her mother had perished. His sensibilities
were deeply stirred by that tragedy, and he comments disap-
provingly that "when she talked of Wyoming it was without
emotion! — while I was repressing tears!" Applying the anti-
dote of facts to Hall's hyperbole, the Wyoming tragedy oc-
curred in 1778 and Elizabeth Conner was not born until 1802.
In 1822 her mother was living on Horseshoe Prairie.

His narrative includes a description of the supper — of the
elegant appointments, particularly the silver — the "superbly
made" tea and coffee; choice rolls; "delicious butter rising in
unctuous pyramids, fretted from base to apex into a kind of
butyrial shell work : — this resting on silver and to be cut
with silver." Steaks done on gridirons ; warm breads and
puddings ; cakes and fruits — all were served from silver plates,
mats and urns and "on cloth as white as — snow." He asks,
"was ever such a contrast as between the untutored world
around and the array, and splendour, and richness of our
sumptuous banquet?" It does seem too incongruous. The
Conners had opportunities in their visits to eastern cities to pro-
cure not only the personal and household articles that were
necessary to their comfort but others which were, in their
surroundings, really luxuries. They had the means and in-
dulged their tastes, but the lavish display described by Hall was
unlike them. He probably was again misled by imperfect
memory or by the possession of a too vivid imagination.16

CHAPTER X
John Conner, Early Indianapolis Merchant

Twenty miles south of the Conner settlements near Nobles-
ville, the new capital of the state was in process of develop-
ment. Three McCormick brothers, Samuel, John, and James
had journeyed thither from Connersville in an ox-drawn
covered wagon as early as February, 1820. Twelve employees
accompanied them to help clear the way as they traversed the
roadless forest. They stopped on the east side of White River,
one quarter of a mile south of the mouth of Fall Creek. The
land at this place was about thirty feet above the river with
good soil covered with thickets and but little heavy timber.
A small stream meandered in a semicircular fashion from the
northeast to southwest, until it emptied into the river about a
mile below McCormick's. It was called Pogue's Run for
George Pogue, an early settler, who had a cabin on its south-
east bank.

Several other families had settled in this vicinity before the
site was selected for the state capital. Among these were
Robert Barnhill's family and his son-in-law Jeremiah Corba-
ley. John Barnhill, the eldest son, assisted in making a ford
across White River at the shallows above Fall Creek. A plague
of locusts or worms had deadened the heavy timber in several
hundred acres, which expedited to some extent the clearing of
space on which to raise crops. When the town plat was made
by Alexander Ralston and laid out by surveyors appointed by
him, many of these first cabins were ludicrously out of place
in it. Some were in the center of squares, others in the middle
of streets and avenues, and still others were on land reserved
for public purposes. The early handicaps were many. Sick-
ness and death swept the little town with unusual virulence
and as in the Horseshoe Prairie settlement, scarcity of pro-
visions followed. Grain was brought from Whitewater on
horseback, from Indian villages, and from Conner's Prairie up
the river. The steady stream of settlers attracted by the sale
of lots in the new capital continued, and the population soon
numbered five hundred.1

(141)

142 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

A new county named Marion was authorized by the legis-
lature of 182 1 -1822, with jurisdiction extending over the
territory in which lay Conner's Prairie and the future site of
Noblesville. An appropriation was made for a courthouse
which was designed to house the state legislature when the
capital was moved. Fearful of delay in the matter of this re-
moval the citizens of Indianapolis petitioned in the fall of 1822
for representation in the legislature. James Paxton of Indian-
apolis was elected representative from Marion and adjoining
counties; James Gregory of Shelby County was elected senator
from Marion, Shelby, and six other counties. These two men,
with the aid of the Whitewater contingency in the legislature,
succeeded in getting a bill passed which fixed the date when
Indianapolis should actually become the seat of government of
the state as January 10, 1825.2

The town had a new access of energy. There were only a
few stores and John Conner saw his opportunity. He and
Richard Tyner, an old Whitewater friend, formed a partner-
ship in which Isaac N. Phipps was included. The firm name
was Conner, Tyner, and Company. Alfred Harrison, another
young man from the Whitewater region, was engaged as clerk.
The store was opened in June, 1823, and, as was customary,
every kind of merchandise was carried for which there was
demand. This embraced dry goods of all sorts, cotton, silk,
wool, and linen ; personal articles such as combs, umbrellas,
parasols, and shawls ; cutlery, queensware, hardware, tinware,
saddlery, schoolbooks, groceries, shoes, etc. It was customary
to keep in stock whisky, the usual price for which was twenty-
five cents a gallon, if bought by the barrel. Nowland, in his
Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis describes a curious usage
of merchants at that time which was undoubtedly practiced in
the Conner store : "An empty whisky barrel was set up on
end in front of the counter, with a hole in the upper head for
the drainage of the glasses. On this barrel was set a half
gallon bottle filled with whisky, a bowl of maple sugar, and a
pitcher of water, and often in winter a tumbler of ground
ginger. . . . "3 The whisky was not aged in wood and the
fiery stuff aroused the tempers of the customers. Animosities
thus heightened provoked scuffles and brawls that were com-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 143

placently accepted by the town's inhabitants as ordinary hap-
penings, according to the chroniclers of those days.

Conner was an experienced trader and merchant. The
Indian trading post at Cedar Grove was his first venture and
it was frequented by pioneers as well as Indians. After Con-
nersville wras founded and there was no longer any need for
an Indian trading post in that vicinity, he established a store
in the town which was still in operation, in charge of his
partner, Arthur Dickson. On the death of the latter this store
was closed in November, 1823. Thereafter the Indianapolis
store was his sole mercantile enterprise and in it he was deeply
interested. His former contacts in Philadelphia served him in
good stead and he made personal trips to the eastern city to
replenish his stock. Before starting he frankly urged his
customers through the newspaper columns to settle their ac-
counts "as frequent settlements should take place for the pur-
pose of remaining long friends." The added statement that
"cash will not be refused" can be understood only when it is
recalled that trade and barter were still the common mode of
exchange and the currency had been so debased and discredited
that indiscriminate acceptance of it was not general. Doubt-
less for the trip East it was necessary to take a chance on it.4

While the little town was bending all its energies to deserve
the title of capital an incident occurred which was a grim re-
minder that it was just emerging from the wilderness. In the
spring of 1824 a small party of Indians encamped in Madison
County at a point about equally distant from William Conner's
place and Indianapolis. It consisted of two men, three women,
and four children of the Shawnee and Miami tribes who had
ventured this near the settlements only in pursuit of game.
They had been successful in getting a large quantity of furs
which excited the cupidity of a depraved and brutal white man
by the name of Harper. He enlisted another trapper, Hudson,
two white settlers, Sawyer and Bridges, and a youth. Bridges'
son, in a plan to trick the Indians into a defenseless position
and then murder them.

This crime caused the greatest excitement and alarm. It
was a bloody sequel to the crime against Chief Logan's family

144 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

in 1774 and the slaughter of the peaceable Indians at Gnaden-
hiitten in 1781. The swift retribution which had followed
these acts had been frozen in the memory of the whites. With
the removal of the state capital from Corydon to Indianapolis
soon to take place, was central Indiana now to be drawn into
the bloody shambles of an Indian uprising? The murderers
were quickly apprehended with the exception of Harper, the
ringleader, who escaped. When news of this outrage reached
Colonel John Johnston, Indian agent at Piqua, Ohio, and the
War Department at Washington, William Conner was asked
by Colonel Johnston to go with him to all of the Indian tribes
and give them assurance that the government would punish
the offenders. They succeeded in obtaining the promises of
the chiefs and warriors that before taking matters in their
own hands they would await the action of the government.
The fears of the settlers were allayed and the murderers
quickly brought to justice and executed, with the exception of
the youth who was theatrically pardoned by Governor Ray on
the scaffold.5

3-

It was in this tense spring and summer that John Conner
announced his candidacy for membership in the House of Rep-
resentatives of the state Assembly from Marion, Hamilton,
Johnson, and Madison counties. Support for him was urged
by the newspapers because of his experience, influence, and
efficiency, but political rancor was as prevalent in those days
as in our own. There were rumblings of a rear attack on his
war record — there was a fondness for shooting darts from
under a cloak of anonymity. Anticipating these contingencies
Conner wrote to Harrison for a certificate as to his conduct
while acting under his orders. On July 8 Harrison replied and
after referring to the incriminations made against Conner
shortly after the Battle of Tippecanoe which he said had been
explained at the time, he added : "not a shadow of suspicion
ever crossed my mind as to the fidelity of Mr. Conner to the
United States, and I continued to employ him after this event
with as much confidence as before." The fact was that
Harrison had placed Colonel Hargrove's company, to which
Conner was probably attached, in a comparatively unimportant

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 145

position which was not pleasing to the company, although it
complied with the order. This afforded Conner's political
enemies the opportunity to raise the issue of his war record.

John Wyant, who was regarded as a boor, stepped out
boldly in an open letter to the Western Censor with the charge
that Conner had side-stepped the fighting at the Battle of
Tippecanoe — asserting that in fact he had not even been
there. An unidentified interrogator publicly asked, "Is not
Mr. Conner an Indian chief at this moment?" It does not take
much imagination to conjecture what effect this question
would have had at this juncture if the insinuation contained
in it had been believed. Caleb Harrison, a supporter of Con-
ner, stated in reply to his enemies that he had seen Conner
fighting faithfully in Colonel Hargrove's company and that
he had heard him "cheering his comrades saying 'Hurra, boys,
the Indians are whipped.' ' "A Legal Voter" next came
forward in Conner's defense, charging that the persons now
opposing "an enterprising, patriotic and useful citizen," had
themselves been plotters with Aaron Burr. The Burr charge
was a favorite brick and when hurled was hard to dodge. The
contest was bitter and brief. The election returns in August
showed that Conner had carried Marion, Hamilton, and John-
son counties (Madison County votes were not received in time
to be included in the election returns), that he had a majority
over the combined vote of his four opponents, and had beaten
his chief antagonist by a vote of almost two to one.6

4-

The presidential campaign of 1824 was also a bitter per-
sonal contest, enlivened by the participation of four candidates,
John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and Wil-
liam H. Crawford. General Harrison was an elector on the
Clay ticket, and the Conners were political adherents of Clay
and Harrison. The Federalist party was dead and the Whig
party was not yet fully organized. The issues were drawn
by men and not by parties.

The Fourth of July celebration for the citizens of Hamil-
ton County was held at William Conner's. John Finch was
chairman and Josiah K. Polk read the Declaration of In-
dependence and delivered the oration. The toasts that were

146 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

tendered and "were drank with entire unanimity" reveal a
reverence for the government, an understanding of political
leadership, a sympathy for a foreign nation in its struggle for
independence, and a recognition of the country's place in world
affairs which is amazing, considering the remoteness of the
group from any center of intelligence or instruction other than
the local newspaper, which had none of the modern facilities
for news.

Toasts proposed on this day were as follows : "The day we
celebrate"; "The Constitution of the United States"; "Agri-
culture, Manufactories and Henry Clay their supporter";
"Clay in the chair, Adams in the cabinet, and Jackson in the
field"; "May the United States be the first to acknowledge the
independence of the Greeks"; "James Monroe"; "May the
United States ever maintain superior rank among the civilized
nations of the world" ; "The Commerce of the United States —
May it extend to the remotest parts of the globe" ; "The state
of Indiana"; "May the nations of the earth dread the Navy
of the United States"; "The States of South America"; "De
Witt Clinton" ; "The American Fair." After "The memory
of George Washington," William Conner proposed "Gen. Wm.
Henry Harrison — the first talent of Ohio, and the neglected
friend of his country." Other toasts were "Ninian Edwards" ;
"Henry Clay, the friend of internal improvement — may he be
our next President"; "Henry Clay — Patrick Henry returned" ;
"May the flag of every tyrant fall before the eagle of liberty."

At the conclusion of the meeting, at the request of John
Conner a vote was taken for president of the United States.
Eighty persons voted ; sixty-eight for Clay, eight for Adams,
and four for Jackson. The power of Clay as an orator, his
magnetic personality, and his undoubted loyalty to his country
captured and held the admiration of these frontier people. He
was living in a neighboring state from whence many Indi-
anans had come and his earnest promotion of the War of 1812
which had freed the people of this section from the menace of
Indian raids had won for him their unquestioning loyalty.7

5-

The capital city, selected in 1820, platted in 182 1, and in
the intervening years prepared for its objective by an earnest

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 147

and enthusiastic citizenry, still presented in 1825 the appear-
ance of a dense grove of tall forest trees, sugar, walnut, ash,
honey locust, elm, hackberry, buckeye, mulberry, and beech.
The thickets were so dense along Washington and cross streets
that it was easy to miss the way and become lost. A thinning
in certain places indicated that there buildings had been erected,
but only one building by its height competed with these giants
of the forest. This was the newly erected courthouse. The
cupola and dome, belfry, spire, and vane rose nearly a hundred
feet into the air and caught the sunlight through the topmost
branches of the highest trees. A square building of brick
made in the town, it was an imposing structure for the village,
and like the one at Corydon shed an air of dignity on its sur-
roundings. It stood in the center of the present courthouse
square with its arched entrance fronting on Washington Street.
A solid fence of oak and walnut enclosed the city pound in the
northeast corner of the square which was balanced by the
two-story rough-hewn log jail in the northwest corner. A well
with a long graceful sweep completed the appurtenances of
what might be called the first civic center. The high arching
trees softened whatever of harsh ugliness these roughly
wrought structures might have disclosed in an open, barren
place. Washington Street had been cleared of trees to the
river, though it scarcely presented the appearance of a road,
so cluttered was it with stumps and unremoved debris around
or over which the traffic had to move. There was traffic even
in this early day. Down this street, which was to be a part of
the National Road, came the tide of emigrants from the East
in covered wagons with their children and their chattels.
"Scarcely a day passes," records the Gazette of November 4,
1823, "but our streets are filled with the vehicles of re-
moval.— While many are settling and making rapid improve-
ments in our county and those adjacent, others are passing on
to cultivate the rich prairies of the Wabash river and its
tributary streams."8

Taverns were scattered along its length to accommodate
travelers and legislators. The town was developing; the
transient visitors were increasing. Thomas Chinn's Travellers'
Hall was the farthest east ; then came Major Carter's Tavern,
which had just been erected opposite the courthouse and was

148 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

embellished with a large new sign. Washington Hall, a
partnership affair of Henderson and Blake, stood in the center
of the block between Pennsylvania and Meridian streets on the
south side of Washington. Near by was the post office, to
which the panting horses of the mail stage drew up while the
driver blew a mighty blast on his horn to announce his arrival.
Close by was perhaps the best known inn of them all — the
Widow Nowland's boarding house. Across the street John
Hawkins conducted a tavern built of trees cut on the site.
Down by the river bank where Asael Dunning was in charge
of the ferry were two more inns, one managed by McGeorge
and the other by McCormick. The latter had a cluster of
little shacks around his cabin for the convenience of travelers
who reached the river too late to make a crossing before
nightfall. This was Indianapolis' first tourist camp.

A grove of forest trees on a little mound filled the circle
which Ralston platted as the center of the town. From the
outside corners of its four surrounding blocks radiated avenues
to the outermost limits of the town. Yet from the very be-
ginning Washington Street held first place in business activity.
On it were the general stores, among them John Conner's,
nearly opposite Washington Hall, and the little shops of tailors,
hatters, shoemakers, clock repairers, tinkers, and cabinet-
makers. An enterprising colored man, nicknamed "Fancy
Tom," who had been a favorite barber of the legislators at
Corydon, had moved his shop to Indianapolis along with the
more important paraphernalia of the state. Jerry Collins'
Whisky Shop fronted the street with the magistrate's house
conveniently in the rear. This seeming mesalliance perhaps
provided a desirable restraint.

Two shops which were important, even vital, to the life of
this early community but which would have no place on a
Main Street of today were the blacksmith shop and the spin-
ning wheel factory. Scattered among these mercantile and
industrial establishments were the printing offices of the two
newspapers, the schoolhouse, the offices and the residences of
prominent citizens such as Calvin Fletcher, the first lawyer,
Dr. Samuel G. Mitchell, the first physician, Obed Foote, and
Bethuel F. Morris, the town's agent. A two-story brick build-
ing had been erected opposite the statehouse square to serve

<^

AVt

KEY

See pages 22^-37 for a summary of the material
on which this map is based.

i. John Johnson, brick house

2. Presbyterian Church

3. Market House

4. James Mcllvain, log house

5. Margaret Gibson, pottery

6. J. R. Crumbaugh, frame house

7. Luke Walpole, tavern

8. Caleb Scudder, cabinetmaker

9. James Linton, frame house

10. Peter Harmonson & Co., blacksmith shop

11. Nathaniel Davis, hat shop

12. S. G. Mitchell, frame house

13. John Ambrozene, clock repairer

14. John Hawkins, Eagle Tavern

15. Gregg & Johnston, law office

16. Western Censor, & Emigrants Guide

17. Conner, Tyner & Co., general store

18. "Fancy Tom," barbershop

19. Paxton & Bates, general store

20. Phillips & White, shoe shop
2r. Bishop & Stevens, general store

22. Obed Foote, cabin

23. Givans' store

24. John Carr, log cabin

25. Courthouse

26. The jail

27. The pound

28. Wilkes Reagan, slaughter house

29. Thomas Chinn, Travellers' Hall

30. A. W. Reed, cabinetmaker

31. Yandes and Wilkins, tanyard

32. Daniel Yandes, frame house

33. Thomas Carter, Indianapolis Hotel

34. Bethuel F. Morris, law office

35. Calvin Fletcher, law office

36. David Mallory, barbershop

37. Indianapolis Gazette

38. Fleming T. Luse, cabinetmaker

39. Nicholas McCarty, store

40. Tailor shop : J. K. Looney ; Masey & Stewart

41. Henderson & Blake, Washington Hall

42. Mrs. Nowland, boarding house

43. Jeremiah Collins, whisky shop

44. Log schoolhouse

45. Kenneth A. Scudder, home and drugstore

46. James Blake ; Fletcher and Merrill families

47. State treasurer, office and residence

48. Abraham Beasly, tinker

49. Caleb Scudder, log house

50. Samuel Walton, spinning-wheel factory

51. Methodist Church

148 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

embellished with a large new sign. Washington Hall, a
partnership affair of Henderson and Blake, stood in the center
of the block between Pennsylvania and Meridian streets on the
south side of Washington. Near by was the post office, to
which the panting horses of the mail stage drew up while the
driver blew a mighty blast on his horn to announce his arrival.
Close by was perhaps the best known inn of them all — the
Widow Nowland's boarding house. Across the street John
Hawkins conducted a tavern built of trees cut on the site.
Down by the river bank where Asael Dunning was in charge
of the ferry were two more inns, one managed by McGeorge
and the other by McCormick. The latter had a cluster of
little shacks around his cabin for the convenience of travelers
who reached the river too late to make a crossing before
nightfall. This was Indianapolis' first tourist camp.

A grove of forest trees on a little mound filled the circle
which Ralston platted as the center of the town. From the
outside corners of its four surrounding blocks radiated avenues
to the outermost limits of the town. Yet from the very be-
ginning Washington Street held first place in business activity.
On it were the general stores, among them John Conner's,
nearly opposite Washington Hall and the little shops of tailors,
hatters, shoemakers, clock repairers, tinkers, and cabinet-
makers. An enterprising colored man, nicknamed "Fancy
Tom," who had been a favorite barber of the legislators at
Corydon, had moved his shop to Indianapolis along with the
more important paraphernalia of the state. Jerry Collins'
Whisky Shop fronted the street with the magistrate's house
conveniently in the rear. This seeming mesalliance perhaps
provided a desirable restraint.

Two shops which were important, even vital, to the life of
this early community but which would have no place on a
Main Street of today were the blacksmith shop and the spin-
ning wheel factory. Scattered among these mercantile and
industrial establishments were the printing offices of the two
newspapers, the schoolhouse, the offices and the residences of
prominent citizens such as Calvin Fletcher, the first lawyer,
Dr. Samuel G. Mitchell, the first physician, Obed Foote, and
Bethuel F. Morris, the town's agent. A two-story brick build-
ing had been erected opposite the statehouse square to serve

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 149

as the residence of the state treasurer, Samuel Merrill, and
accommodate his office and the office of auditor. While it is
evident that most of the activity of the town centered in Wash-
ington Street, there were dwellings and shops both north and
south. The most important building on the north was the First
Presbyterian Church, which had just been completed on the
west side of Pennsylvania Street between Market and Ohio.
The capital of the state was at this time a small, sprawling,
frontier community built among the trees with less than eight
hundred inhabitants, about one-third of whom were children
of school age.9

As Conner made periodical trips to the cities of Washing-
ton, Baltimore, and Philadelphia from 1802 to 1825, first as
Indian interpreter and later more often for business reasons,
he came to have an understanding of their growth, character,
and physical appearance. Inevitable comparison of their con-
ditions and those of Indianapolis must have entered his mind.
Their locations were accessible to more people. Baltimore and
Philadelphia had emerged into substantial commercial centers,
but this result had required many years. Washington was
still in the chrysalis stage but its evolvement gave promise of
beauty. As he looked upon the raw conditions of the six-year-
old Indiana capital, he knew that the realization of his hopes
for its good future must be long deferred. Here it was in a
wilderness without adequate communication or transportation
to the widely separated small communities. Part of the state
was yet Indian owned and controlled. The more settled areas
regarded the new capital as an upstart and lent their efforts
to the building up of other towns. The citizens of Indianap-
olis were annually shaken and demoralized by malarial chills
and fevers. Lot payments were defaulted — so much so that
the legislature had to come to the relief of embarrassed owners.
Building a city here would be, inevitably, a long and difficult
process — too long a time for him to invest in it. He decided
against the purchase of any lots in Indianapolis, even though
he had opened a store there.10 The coming of the railroads
and telegraph to solve the transportation and communication
problem and furnish a sound basis of prosperity, was some-
thing he could not foresee.

150 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

6.

On January 10, 1825, the ninth General Assembly con-
vened in the courthouse at Indianapolis. The entrance hall
was spacious, containing the stairway which led to the senate
chamber, a room 40*4 feet by 25 feet. There were two other
large rooms on this floor, besides a small one which was dupli-
cated below. The Hall of Representatives, on the first floor
opposite the entrance, was 40V2 feet square — larger in area
than the entire building in which the Assembly had met in
Corydon. It was the most pretentious room in the building,
with a gallery across the south and two large fireplaces. The
furnishings were severely simple but adequate. Every member
had his own table with a drawer that could be locked, and his
own painted Windsor chair.11

John Conner was a member of the first session in the first
state capital at Corydon. He was now to serve in the first
session in this second capital. He saw many familiar faces.
There were senators with whom he had served at Corydon —
Dennis Pennington, Daniel Grass, Isaac Montgomery, John
Gray, and James Gregory. Other senators had been, in former
sessions, members of the House when he was in the Senate,
among them William Graham, Samuel Milroy, James B. Ray,
and John H. Thompson. William Graham had been in every
session since the first, either in the upper or the lower house.
This was the only term that John Conner served in the House
of Representatives, but many of his fellow members were old
timers in that body, notably David Maxwell, Stephen C.
Stevens, and Thomas Hendricks. There were thirty-five
members in the House, by far the largest legislative group of
which Conner had been a member. Stevens was elected speaker
and Conner was appointed on the committee to notify Gov-
ernor Hendricks of the organization of the House. A con-
temporary editorial comment on the Assembly runs as fol-
lows : "the representatives of the state of Indiana, who com-
posed the ninth session, were men, (with two or three trifling
exceptions) of sound mind — independent and liberal — just
and tenacious of their rights — intelligent, and honest to their
constituents.

"From such men we have nothing to fear — even those who

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 151

have visited the lobby, under an impression that the legislative
body would appear caparisoned in all the blandishments of
aboriginal simplicity — with buckskin hunting shirts, red
leggings and moccasons, have since acknowledged that even the
General Assemblies of New York and Pennsylvania are not
before them in correctness of deportment, appearance, & re-
spectability of talents."1- Certainly no man had made longer
strides from "the blandishments of aboriginal simplicity" than
John Conner. It may be questioned whether this ratio of im-
provement in legislators in Indiana from 1816 to 1825 has
since been maintained.

Conner was a member of three of the six standing com-
mittees. One of these was the Ways and Means Committee;
another, the Committee on Military Affairs. His membership
on the latter committee demonstrates how lightly regarded
were the aspersions made against his military record during
the campaign. He was also on the important Committee on
Roads.13 Transportation was the big problem. Petitions,
remonstrances, and resolutions fell upon the members of this
committee like autumn leaves. The farmer needed good roads
to get his produce to town. Shipments of goods in demand by
every community could not be made unless roads were pro-
vided. Water transportation — rivers first, later canals — was
first considered when distance was involved, but a network of
roads must connect communities with these watercourses. The
House was so overwhelmed by the deluge of communications
on the subject that it instructed the committee "to inquire as to
the radical defects existing in our road system, and to devise,
if possible, means by which the General Assembly" might "be
relieved from the extraordinary burden of legislating thereon;
with leave to report a bill or otherwise."14 Conner was deeply
interested in the subject and stood firmly against any reduction
of taxes for road purposes.

By an act passed on February 10, the Assembly provided
for a road to be built from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne. The
commissioners appointed to lay out this road were James Blake
of Marion County, William Conner of Hamilton County, and
William Suttenfield of Allen County. This was familiar
ground to both Conner men. It was along the old Indian trail
from White River to Fort Wayne that they had sent their pony

152 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

trains laden with furs, twenty-five years before. This trail
served the commissioners in good stead and when the road
was laid out it followed very closely the path that the Indians
had selected and the Conners used. According to a current
comment, it presented "the most permanent bed, for either a
natural or artificial road."15 This road, however, like all other
roads of this period, required constant attention. Lack of
money, knowledge, and materials to build permanent roads
were the causes of despair on this matter.

The only motion of importance offered by John Conner
at this session was that a committee be appointed to examine
the obstructions to navigation of the West Fork of White
River. Later, the scope of this committee was enlarged to
include an examination of the East Fork, and Conner was made
chairman. This was another subject upon which both Conner
men were well informed. William had lived upon this river
for a quarter of a century and both of them knew all its
peculiarities, its falls or rapids, its drifts and bars. It is
doubtful if John Conner was surprised when Alexander Ral-
ston reported that the river could only be made navigable for
three months of the year. To open the river for low-water
transportation from Conner's mill to Indianapolis would cost,
at his estimate, from two to three hundred dollars. Acting
upon his report, the legislature at the following session passed
a law "to improve the navigation of East and West Forks of
White River" as far as Randolph County. Hope did not die
for the accomplishment of this much desired goal until 183 1
when the steamboat "General Hanna" went aground. As late
as 1866, however, another and last attempt was made by the
"Governor Morton" which ended disastrously.16

Buried deep in the records of the early legislatures is
evidence of their interest in and appreciation of public libraries.
Two important acts were passed at this session — one for the
incorporation of county libraries and one an act to establish a
State Library. Indiana did not have to wait for the genius of
Andrew Carnegie to stimulate interest in library work. A bill
for the incorporation of medical societies for the purpose of
regulating the practice of physic and surgery was also passed,
with Conner's vote recorded in favor of it.

Resolutions touching the subject of slavery are intimations

SOXS OF THE WILDERNESS 153

of the conflict that in a little more than a quarter of a century
was to rend the nation. Conner was opposed to slavery as were
the Whitewater politicians.17

Another resolution in a happier vein related to preparations
for the visit of General Lafayette to Indiana, an event which
would, in a visible way, connect this new commonwealth with
the glorious history of the Revolution. General Lafayette,
on invitation of Congress, was making his second and last visit
to the United States. The General Assembly of Indiana ap-
pointed a committee "to take into consideration the propriety
of . . . expressing their sentiments in reference to Major-
general Lafayette." This committee consisted of six senators
and twelve representatives, John Conner being one of the
latter. On January 28 the committee made its report. The
preamble recited the pre-eminent services and sacrifices of
Lafayette in behalf of the American people, and the popular
gratitude and respect for his character. It set forth the
"peculiar satisfaction" of the General Assembly that it was
his intention to visit the western section of the United States,
and their "inexpressible pleasure" in offering him hospitality.
The resolutions adopted provided that the governor be re-
quested to transmit to Lafayette a copy of the resolutions with
an invitation to visit the state, at the seat of government or
such town on the Ohio River as the general might designate ;
and that the governor, together with such officers and citizens
as might find it convenient to attend at the point selected,
receive him with the honors due an illustrious guest. They
were glowing resolutions reflecting the admiration and grati-
tude of the members of the legislature.

The general accepted the invitation and appointed Jeffer-
sonville as the place for the visit. A committee of arrange-
ments was selected. A disconcerting incident led to Lafayette's
landing on Indiana soil earlier than was anticipated, in a visit
as uncomfortable as it was informal. While proceeding up the
Ohio River to Louisville, his boat struck a snag and sank.
He was rescued from this wreck and spent the night on the
shore near the present site of Cannelton. Early the next morn-
ing he left on another boat for Louisville. On May 12, 1825,

154 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

at eleven o'clock in the morning he arrived at Jeffersonville
for the scheduled visit, to be greeted by deafening salvos of
artillery, by vociferous salutations from the citizens, and by
the bombastic address of Governor Ray, whose fervid language
must have staggered the visitor. In response, Lafayette ex-
pressed with emotion his gratitude for this enthusiastic wel-
come. A sumptuous dinner followed and numerous toasts
were offered. At six o'clock he returned to Louisville. No
guest more illustrious had ever set foot on Indiana soil.18

The lands lying east of the Tippecanoe River and north
of the Wabash were still owned by the Potawatomi and Miami
in 1825. John Tipton, now Indian agent at Fort Wayne,
wanted to see this area opened for white settlers, at least as far
north as the Eel River. When he discovered in a request
from some of the Miami chiefs for permission to visit Wash-
ington, an indication that the time might be ripe for another
treaty, he promptly forwarded the request to the Indian Office.
Ordinarily the government allowed such deputations only when
the purpose of the visit had been approved, and it then assumed
the expenses of the journey. In this case, however, the chiefs
refused to confide their object to anyone but the president.
After some correspondence, it was arranged that the head
chief and another chief of the Miami might come to Washing-
ton, accompanied by such officer as they might select, with the
understanding that their expenses would be paid only if the
purpose of the trip commended itself to the president.19

The party selected included Le Gris,20 head chief of the
Miami, Tipton, Indian agent, and John Conner, interpreter.
Le Gris was probably the son or nephew of the influential
Miami Chief Na-ka-kwan-ga, nicknamed Le Gris by the
French, a brother-in-law of the great Little Turtle, and signer
of Wrayne's treaty of 1795. His village, now known as Lagro,
lay on the north side of the W'abash near its junction with the
Salamonie.

On January 3, 1826, Tipton and Le Gris left Fort Wayne
on horses ; they were met by Conner at Piqua and the three
journeyed eastward, encountering the usual vicissitudes of
travel of that time. Unfortunately, Conner fell ill. Tipton

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 155

records that he was "very sick," especially at Hagerstown,
Maryland, where after stopping for the night they "hired a
hack." They arrived at Washington on the nineteenth, and
remained for about three weeks at the Indian Queen Hotel
which charged them the sum of $101.3134 for their keep.
Conner was too sick to leave the hotel during at least two of
the days while they were there. With heavy rains followed
by a "violent snow storm" which covered the ground to a
depth of twenty-three inches, and then a falling temperature
and "very cold" weather, Conner's activities were necessarily
curtailed. His illness was so aggravated by one of the colds
that were prevalent in Washington that he required the services
of a physician. Nevertheless he performed his duties as inter-
preter. His dynamic energy often carried him to his objective
at the expense of his physical welfare.

Tipton was very busy. First, he did some shopping, buy-
ing a coat, vest, and hat for himself and a vest for the chief.
He then visited the House of Representatives, stopped at the
War Office several times, and once called on Governor Cass,
who was also in Washington. On the twenty-seventh he went
to the War Office again, evidently accompanied by the chief,
for his journal records that "Lagrow made his speech." No
doubt its theme was the sale of the Miami lands above the
Wabash. James Noble wrote to Cass that he was "for ac-
complishing the important object," and again, urging proper
compensation to Conner for the trip. This was subsequently
arranged. At the suggestion of Senator Noble, Conner visited
the War Department on February 3, taking Le Gris with him.
Noble thought they should see the president if possible, and
recommended that presents be made to Le Gris. Conner was
very anxious to go home. At the conclusion of their stay —
the day and evening before their departure — Tipton and the
chief called on President Adams and Tipton attended Mrs.
Adams' levee. The next day they took a stage for Baltimore,
and from there to Wheeling where they boarded a steamboat,
the "Pennsylvania." Its machinery broke down as it was
ready to start. Tipton and Le Gris disembarked, leaving Con-
ner and the trunks aboard. Traveling horseback they reached
home on February 24. There is no record as to how or when
Conner returned but it was probably by boat to Cincinnati.

156 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The physical and mental exertions of this trip had taxed his
strength to the utmost.21

The sequel of this visit came later in the year when on
October 23, the Miami entered into a treaty with Lewis Cass,
James B. Ray, and John Tipton, United States commissioners,
whereby they ceded to the United States all their lands "north
and west of the Wabash and the Miami rivers." William
Conner was one of the interpreters. Le Gris received three
sections at his home and one in Portage Prairie as reserves.
It was also stipulated in the treaty that a house should be built
for him. This was done in 1828 and here he lived comfortably
until his death in 183 1.22

John Conner did not live to see the treaty concluded. He
had been in poor health for some time, but he was still under
fifty-two years of age, and did not apprehend a sudden close to
his vigorous life. On April 11, 1826, he advertised a new
carding machine in the Indianapolis Gazette and invited in-
quiries at his store. When the notice appeared a week later,
he lay at the point of death. Realizing a few days before that
he was very ill, he had called in Dr. Livingston Dunlap, known
in the community as a capable physician. On the seventeenth
a will seemed advisable. Notwithstanding his suffering
Conner was rational. With composure he dictated the neces-
sary provisions and the will was drawn and executed on that
day with Dr. Dunlap and James Blake, another outstanding-
citizen, as witnesses. On the nineteenth, about two o'clock in
the morning, he expired at his Indianapolis hotel, the Washing-
ton Hall.

The services were conducted according to the Masonic
ritual. A scholarly and eccentric Presbyterian minister, Rev-
erend George Bush, preached "an interesting and appropriate
Funeral Sermon." A large procession was formed at Wash-
ington Hall at two o'clock in the afternoon of the nineteenth
and the burial -occurred that evening. When the cemetery was
abandoned some years ago and some of the bodies removed,
that of John Conner, one of the first placed there, had already
mingled with the soil of the city which he had a part in making
the capital of Indiana. His death deprived the new state and
the newer capital of one of their most efficient supporters.
The value of his public services was well recognized by con-

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 157

temporary newspapers. In private life he was "extensively
useful." His frequent aid to immigrants and the indigent or
distressed was widely known in the community. The loss by
his death was generally and openly deplored. Another com-
mentator said he had the ''well merited confidence of his fellow
citizens."23 He possessed marked qualities of leadership, and
the penetrating and broad understanding of his true relations
to people and things, tangible and intangible, which is so
essential to success. To these he added a persistent energy
and courage.

Of course there was no photography in Indiana at this
period. The only portrait of John Conner was by an unre-
membered artist. It hung in the home of his son, William
Winship Conner, and unluckily was destroyed by fire. A com-
posite description of his personal appearance as gleaned from
his descendants tells us that he was tall and very erect, with
head and body well poised, a physique slender and not rugged ;
that he had strong features, steel-blue eyes, steady, alert, and
penetrating ; a wide mouth with slightly compressed upper lip ;
and a square, firm jaw, the whole countenance exhibiting firm-
ness and boldness. One who knew him said that he "was one
of Nature's strong men. . . . When dressed in their [Indian]
costume, and painted, it was difficult to distinguish him from
a real savage."24 It is a family tradition that John as well as
William, had a strong sense of humor. If they sometimes
laughed at ridiculous and embarrassing incidents involving
others, there was no malice in the laughter.25

CHAPTER XI
William Conner, Man of Affairs — Closing Years

The close bond existing between the two brothers, William
and John Conner, was severed by the death of the latter.
The lives of these two had run in parallel lines for nearly half
a century, in childhood environment, Indian trade, marriage,
land ventures, treaty-making, town development, politics, and
friends. Their relationship to their other brothers was always
friendly but never as close. James, the oldest, and Henry, the
youngest, had remained in Detroit, married wives of the Cath-
olic faith, and become identified with that church.1 William
and John had felt the influence of the Moravian teachers more
strongly and it set their bias toward Protestantism rather than
Catholicism. The activities of all four brothers as Indian in-
terpreters and as landowners in Michigan constituted common
bonds which continued to bring about occasional meetings.

Both John and William Conner were members of the Ma-
sonic Order at an early day- Indeed, it is said that John was
the "first man to bring Masonic membership into Eastern In-
diana." He joined the Brookville Harmony Lodge in 1817.
Masonry was under suspicion in the Whitewater region — so
much so in fact that Luther Hinman was expelled from the
Little Cedar Baptist Church in 18 14 for being a Mason and
failing to disclose the fact to his brethren. John Conner's
interest in Masonry was not disturbed by this incident. In
September, 1820, he made a horseback trip with Hervey Bates
and John Sample to Jef fersonville to request a dispensation for
a lodge at Connersville. The new unit was named Warren in
recognition of the Revolutionary services of General Joseph
Warren. In 1824 John transferred his membership to the
more conveniently located Center Lodge of Indianapolis, of
which William was now a member. Later William assisted in
procuring a charter for Noblesville, which was granted in 1828.
By 1830, the opposition to Masonry became so active through-
out the country as to arrest the growth of the Noblesville lodge.
Both of the Conners, however, remained faithful Masons to
the end of their lives.2

(158)

SOXS OF THE WILDERNESS 159

The death of John laid the responsibility for his affairs
and family upon William. The extent of this charge is re-
vealed by the many matters mentioned in his will. The new
house which had been contemplated was not to be completed,
but there were provisions for keeping the present dwelling in
a tenantable condition. The carding machine which he liad
just purchased was to be sold, together with enough personal
property to supply funds for closing his estate. He desired
that his mercantile establishment at Indianapolis be continued
as long as it was "advantageous and lucrative," and that his
farm and mill near Noblesville be rented or managed by his
executors. He directed that his sons ( his youngest son, Henry
John, was now a babe) should be "well and safely educated,"
and recommended that upon their arrival at a fit'age they be
bound out to "suitable mercantile houses of which the pro-
prietor is of correct morals and deportment." There was a
marked difference in the aptitudes of the Conner brothers.
William was a lover of land for its productiveness, as was his
father. John's interest was primarily commercial— platting
lands into lots or into sites for mills. He was a merchant and
manufacturer. His will discloses this as a ruling trait. The
inventory of his estate also confirms the impression that he
was not a real farmer, for there were few farm animals in
proportion to his acreage. The most valuable item was fur
skins, mute evidence of his fur trade. A small number of
serious books, biography, geography, and history, were listed,
indicating a taste for good reading.3

In compliance with the will, William Conner continued the
store his brother had established in Indianapolis. Alfred Har-
rison, who had worked in the store for a few months when it
was first established, had recently entered into a partnership
agreement with John Conner which William continued. Har-
rison carried on the active management of the store for the
next few years under the firm name of Conner and Harrison.
During the summer of 1832 a co-partnership was entered into
with Alexander W. Russell, but it was dissolved in Septem-
ber of that year. The firm of Conner and Harrison continued
until August 7, 1833. 4

The first location of the Conner store was on the north
side of Washington Street east of the alley between Meridian

i (So INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

and Pennsylvania streets. This property was rented from
1823 to 1827. In the fall of the latter year, William Conner
and Alfred Harrison purchased property on the northwest cor-
ner of Washington and Pennsylvania streets and conducted
the store there. A year later Conner bought the lot on the
northeast corner of the same streets, erected a brick building,
and removed the store to that location. When Conner and
Harrison dissolved partnership, the new firm of A. W. Russell
and Company moved into the building theretofore occupied
by the former.

The mills of John Conner in Hamilton County, including
wool carding, were managed by William Conner and Sennet
Fallis and were kept rented, at least until 1840. The mills
(gristmill, sawmill, and distillery) he owned in Fayette County
and his two farms there, one the mill farm north of Conners-
ville and the other south of that town, together with two town
lots, were not placed on sale until 1830. 5

It was not so easy to carry out Conner's provisions con-
cerning his sons. At the time of John's death William had
only two children, Lavina and Richard, but the next year an-
other son was born and named John Fayette. These two sons
and three more who were born before 1836 had to be educated
as well as his two nephews. Recognizing this potent need Wil-
liam Conner became interested in the educational facilities of
the new state of Indiana.

Article 9 of the Constitution of 18 16 dwells loftily on the
virtue and necessity of "knowledge and learning generally
diffused, through a community." It made it the legislative
duty to provide for a general system of education free and
open to everyone. The gradation was from the common
schools to the county seminaries and to a state university.6
The system broke down for two reasons — lack of funds and
competent teachers. Thoughtful citizens and parents were
rightfully concerned about the education of their children in a
period when, according to an Indiana historian, the teacher
"was not uncommonly the laughing stock of the neighbor-
hood."7

On November 7, 1831, a group of representative men met,

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 161

with Governor-elect Noah Noble in the chair, to consider what
should be done to improve educational conditions. A conven-
tion of the members of the General Assembly, the officials of
the state, and the friends of education throughout the state
was recommended to be held in Indianapolis the third Monday
in December of that year. There were some well-known names
in the list of this group : David Wallace, Stephen C. Stevens,
Ratliff Boon, Samuel Merrill, Calvin Fletcher, John Law, Wil-
liam W. Wick, Oliver H. Smith, John Wishard, Isaac Coe,
John Tipton, Jesse L. Holman, all of whom were conspicuous
leaders in political, judicial, or other fields. Conscious of the
inadequacy of his own education, and therefore keenly aware
of the importance of this cause, William Conner must have
been a sympathetic and helpful member of this gathering.8
The proposed movement had excellent support, but it faced the
hurdle of meager resources in the state and counties. Serious
as the situation was, it did not daunt these earnest men.

A group describing itself as the Association for the Im-
provement of Common Schools in Indiana met at Madison on
September 3 and 4, 1833, with Senator William Hendricks in
the chair. In the midst of heavy duties and responsibilities he
was still an active friend of education. From the work of this
association came the first organized plans for common schools.
Among the vice-presidents were Judges Jesse L. Holman, Ste-
phen C. Stevens, M. C. Eggleston, and Benjamin Parke. Dr.
Andrew Wylie was .there. The corresponding secretary was
the Reverend J. U. Parson. He read the first annual report,
which disclosed an appalling number of illiterates, and teachers
who were dissipated, profane, or immoral. The committee ap-
pointed to nominate members to the association recommended
that eleven be chosen from different parts of the state. Among
them were Governor Noble and James M. Ray from Indian-
apolis, James Whitcomb of Bloomington, afterward governor
and United States senator, and William Conner of Hamilton
County. These and other movements to make the common
schools more efficient jogged along until 1852 without much
result beyond making the people school conscious. During
that time private schools and seminaries metered education to
those who could and would pay, with very good results.9

One indication of the type of pioneers in Indiana was the

162 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

penchant for serious books manifested by early laws for the
establishment and maintenance of county libraries. Books
were rare treasures, but they found their way into the Conner
homes. Judge Finch says that in his boyhood he found the
first novel he ever read, the Scottish Chiefs, in William Con-
ner's library. Burns's and Shakespeare's works and other
classics were also there. Fortunately they were in strong
leather bindings, stout enough to withstand the wear of read-
ing and rereading by the family and their friends. One who
had lived in the William Conner home in 1835 afterwards
said, "it was one of the blunders of my life when I left him.
He had a great many books and read a great deal, and I had
free access to them, which was a great treat to me, as I had not
been used to before I went there, for books were scarce there
in those days." The fondness of the Conners for good books
was inborn. In view of their limited schooling it cannot be
explained in any other way.10

On December 11, 1830, the Indiana Historical Society was
organized for the purpose of "collecting and preserving the
materials for a comprehensive and accurate history" of the
country. Of the seven men selected to draft a constitution,
two were or became governors and three were, or became,
judges of the Indiana Supreme Court. William Conner was
among the signers of that instrument.11 He must have noted
approvingly that one of the subjects listed for study was the
history of Indian tribes within the state.

3-

Conner still saw occasional service as an interpreter. In
the autumn of 1826 he was called, with his brothers James and
Henry, of Michigan, to assist Commissioners Lewis Cass, of
Michigan, and Governor James B. Ray and John Tipton, of
Indiana, at a treaty with the Potawatomi. The negotiations,
concluded on October 16 near the junction of the Mississinewa
with the Wabash, resulted in the cession to the United States
of an irregular slice of territory north of the Wabash and east
of the Tippecanoe River, and a block in the northwest corner
of the state. In addition, the tribe granted land for a road
one hundred feet wide from Lake Michigan to the Wabash,
and thence south through Indianapolis to a convenient point

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 163

on the Ohio River. Several state senators and representatives
were in attendance, probably as advisors on this article of the
treaty.12

It was a curious paradox that when Indiana became a state
there remained within her borders alien nations, owning and
controlling the lands they occupied. These the state had no
power to condemn or appropriate for public use, nor could it
build roads or canals without the consent of the owners. The
state of Indiana used the treaty grant to build and maintain a
road from Lake Michigan to Madison, known as the Michigan
Road. Originally the width was only forty feet, but after
about fifty years it was increased by ten feet. Owners of ad-
jacent land had by this time erected fences and buildings which
extended into and upon the one hundred feet of the treaty right
of way. In 1933 the Indiana State Highway Commission
ordered fences moved back fifty feet on each side from the
center line of the road, and the Appellate Court, in a case in
which a landowner objected to this order, held that the treaty
was still in force.13

Six days after the covenant with the Potawatomi, the same
commissioners, also in the presence of a legislative group, made
a treaty agreement with the Miami. William Conner, serving
again as one of the interpreters, must have felt a special eager-
ness for its successful conclusion, for it was on business pre-
liminary to this negotiation that his brother John made his last
overtaxing journey to Washington. Besides ceding their lands
"north and west of the Wabash and Miami rivers," the Miami
conceded the right to open a canal or road through lands still
reserved to them. Behind the request for this authorization
lay the desire for construction of a canal from Lake Erie to
the Wabash.

Trade with the Indians was flourishing at this time not
primarily because of the furs they brought for barter, but be-
cause the annuities they received from the government gave
them cash which they were imprudent in spending. Many
were the traders who attended these gatherings to collect un-
deserved profits from the sale of horses and all kinds of goods.
There was no lack of corrupt and unfair dealing on their part,
and it was not unusual for the full amount of an annuity to be
pledged before it was made over to the Indians.14

164 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

An aftermath of the Potawatomi treaty came three years
later during the legislative session of 1829- 1830, in a news-
paper quarrel between John Tipton and John Ewing, a state
senator from Knox County who had attended the negotiations
as a witness. At this session William Conner was serving his
first term, as representative from Hamilton, Madison, Han-
cock, and Henry counties, and all the country north of these
counties not attached elsewhere.15

Tipton was general agent for the Potawatomi and Miami
in northern Indiana. He had been appointed to this position
by President Monroe in 1823, and maintained the agency at
Fort Wayne until the spring of 1828. At that time, because
of the influx of settlers to the northern part of the state, the
Indians were removed to Eel River and the Wabash. To be
nearer them and also because of his interest in land speculation,
Tipton recommended the removal of the agency to the mouth
of Eel River, the present site of Logansport. He was a pro-
moter and enthusiastic supporter of the Wabash and Erie Canal
project. Of a forceful and combative nature, Tipton was
deeply stirred by a difference with Ewing concerning the sale
of canal lands, fearful that Ewing had put his pet scheme in
jeopardy. Recalling certain happenings at the treaty with the
Potawatomi that reflected no credit on Ewing, he exposed
them to public view with withering scorn. This aroused all
the ire of the little Irishman, who was a past master in the use
of invective. He called upon Tipton to retract and when no
reply was forthcoming called upon other citizens who attended
the treaty to vindicate him. Letters from Governor Ray, James
Gregory, and William Conner all appeared in the Indiana Jour-
nal. Ray and Gregory gave Ewing almost unequivocal en-
dorsement, but Conner's letter was milder and more measured.
In part he wrote : 'T know your anxiety in regard to the result
of the treaty — and that you were sanguine as to means of its
accomplishment, in part of which my long experience of the
Indian character would not allow me to confide." Perhaps
here is an inkling as to the source of irritation between Ewing
and Tipton. The latter was as experienced as Conner in In-
dian ways, and the easy nonchalance and optimism of Ewing
and Ray had annoyed both Tipton and Conner and perhaps
endangered the conclusion of the treaty. Tipton wrote a final

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 165

excoriating letter and the incident closed. It was typical of
the times. Duels were now fought with the pen and not the
sword.16

4-

Party alignments came into vogue in Indiana in the Jack-
son-Adams campaign of 1828. The parties were the Jacksonian
Democrats and the National or Jeffersonian Republicans. Un-
til then there were no party lines. Strong political leaders in
different sections of the state commanded the votes on local
issues, but these by no means followed national party lines.
The Jennings group to which the Conners belonged was the
dominating one. William Conner had had his first essay in
politics in 1822. His friend, James M. Ray, living at this
time in Indianapolis, was a candidate for clerk of Marion
County on the "Whitewater" or "In Yander" ticket. The
candidate of the "Old Kaintuck" opposition party was Morris
Morris, a substantial citizen, also from Indianapolis. The race
was a warm one. Conner campaigned for his friend in that
part of Marion County which afterwards became Hamilton
County. Ray received 217 votes out of 336 cast. A universal
election custom was the free dispensation of whisky in cups,
buckets, and jugs by friends of the candidates to all voters who
wanted it. Holloway says that on this occasion "every voter
was brought out, and pretty nearly every one was taken back
drunk." This demoralizing custom prevailed for years.

William Conner's initial experience was successful but not
edifying. He had no doubt heard much about the game from
his brother, and in late years, his own home had been in the
line of travel of many politicians on their way to and from the
seat of state government. He was active in the organization
of Hamilton County and had had ample opportunity to observe
political methods at meetings of various county groups in his
home. The treaties that he had attended had been open fields
for politicians of all description. All that he had seen and
heard strengthened his natural dislike for the subject. He used
to remark "that there was too much 'log rolling' about legisla-
tion for him." This was a homely backwoods expression
reminiscent of the days when the settlers helped each other to
roll logs which had been cut in the forest to the site of a new

166 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

cabin under construction. The significance is plain as applied
to legislation where men combined to further each other's pri-
vate interests to the detriment of the public welfare. The
phrase has remained current in Indiana and, sad to say, is still
applicable to certain political practices.17

However, even at this early date politics had an irresistible
pull, especially for men of influence and leadership. Conner's
legislative service opened at the time when party alignments
were being made and when the subject of canals was of en-
grossing interest. The state of New York had made a spec-
tacular success of a canal from Lake Erie to Albany. Indiana
was eager to follow suit, and the land in the northern part of
the state was admirably adapted to the scheme by reason of
the network of rivers, lakes, and small streams along which the
Indians had established regular routes for portages. A means
of transportation that could be used at all times of the year
was most important to the development of the state. Ade-
quate roads seemed a long way off, and the idea of railroads
had not yet seized the legislative imagination. The suggestion
made in 1818 that a water route from Lake Erie to the Ohio
and thence to the Mississippi could perhaps be achieved by a
short canal connecting the St. Mary's River and the Little
River, and thus opening navigation from the Maumee to the
Wabash River near Huntington, gave way to a more ambitious
scheme for the construction of a Wabash and Erie Canal. This
project, with the increasing and satisfactory use of river steam-
boats, seemed practicable. Once the idea had become lodged in
the public mind there seemed no end to its possible extensions.
The connecting of all the navigable rivers, and all those that
could be made so, in a vast statewide system of canals seemed
desirable and feasible to William Conner, who was familiar
with the trails and streams of Indiana from an early date.
Probably no single enterprise of the state ever promised so
much.ls

The route of the Michigan Road was also under considera-
tion at this session. The line of way selected by commissioners
appointed in 1828 was the subject of much contention. Conner
was very desirous that this road should pass through Nobles-
ville. He was a die-hard on this point and when defeated on
one proposition would come back with another. In the end he

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 167

failed, for the route adopted lay through South Bend, Logans-
port, Indianapolis, Greensburg, and Madison.39

It was obvious that the Marion County courthouse would
soon be inadequate for meetings of the General Assembly.
Only four years before it had seemed luxurious in comparison
with the courthouse at Corydon, but now, with the rapid devel-
opment of the state in such immediate prospect, the legislators
were beginning to feel crowded, and it was certainly none too
soon to begin planning for a new statehouse. The first bill
relating to this building passed the House at this session but
was indefinitely postponed in the Senate. An act "to provide
for the commencement of a State House" was approved Feb-
ruary 10, 183 1.20

Conner was not a member of the next legislative session.
He was prominently identified, however, with the organization
of the National Republican Party in Indiana, afterwards fused
with the Whigs. When a convention was held in Indianapolis
on November 7 and 8, 183 1, Conner was a delegate from Ham-
ilton County. This year marked the adoption of national
political conventions for nominating presidential candidates.
Besides a Protectionist convention at New York and a Free-
trade convention at Philadelphia, attended by delegates from
twelve and fifteen states respectively, three conventions were
held in 1831-1832 at which presidential candidates were nomi-
nated. First was the assembly of the Antimasons at Baltimore,
late in September, 183 1. It was followed three months later
by a convention of the National Republicans supporting Clay,
and in May, 1832, a Democratic national convention nominated
Van Buren. The Indiana convention held prior to the national
one endorsed a protective tariff, liberal encouragement of in-
ternal improvements, and Henry Clay for president. William
Conner, for all his dislike of politics, thus had a part in initiat-
ing the National Republican Party in Indiana.21

He was again in the legislature in the session of 1831-1832.
Another subject, railroads, now claimed equal interest with
canals. There had been those throughout the country who had
scouted the practicability of railroads, especially in comparison
with canals, but the successful completion of thirteen miles of
railroad by the Baltimore and Ohio Company from Baltimore
to Ellicott's Mills in May, 1830, had silenced most of the

168 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

critics. Governor Ray was an ardent advocate of railroads
and had urged their advantages over canals as early as 1827.
It was not until this session, however, that the first railroad
legislation in Indiana was enacted. Eight acts for the incor-
poration of as many roads were passed. A law supplemental
to a previous act on the Wabash and Erie Canal was also
enacted.22

5-

A few months after the General Assembly was adjourned,
there occurred the last Indian outbreak to affect Indiana. Fear
of the Indians was deep seated in the heart of every pioneer
settler — fear and hate. For the most part the tribes living in
Indiana since the War of 18 12 had been peaceful. Northern
Indiana had large reservations of Potawatomi and Miami. All
other tribes had departed for the West. By the terms of a
treaty made in 1804 with the Sauk and Foxes, Governor Har-
rison had secured a large cession of land east of the Mississippi
and between the Illinois and Wisconsin rivers, with a provi-
sion allowing the Indians the privilege of living and hunting
there until it was sold by the United States government. Long
before the government sales, however, squatters took posses-
sion of the land, to the indignation of the Indians. Finally
the incensed Indians were persuaded to agree to cross the Mis-
sissippi and never return. Black Hawk was a chief of the
Sauk, and his native village was at the junction of Rock River
and the Mississippi. His tribe had cultivated these fertile
Illinois lands for half a century and when he heard that white
settlers had taken his fields and plowed up the graves of his
ancestors, he came back with 386 warriors, some old men,
women, and children. Part of the latter group he left at the
site of their old village. With his small band he pushed north
along Rock River and camped. The Illinois governor lost no
time in sending a large force of militia to discover his location.
The Indians in the course of their advance surprised this force
of white men and approached with a flag of truce, but when
their messengers were killed by members of the militia ob-
viously under influence of liquor, the Indians returned with
murder in their hearts and hands. The militia fled and Black
Hawk's Wrar opened, spreading terror among the settlers, who

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 169

had no way of estimating the number of Indians engaged in
this murderous fray. Actually, it was only one hundred and
fifty, but fleeing settlers and militiamen exaggerated the num-
ber. Many of the former living in Illinois sought refuge in
Indiana and as the Indians there had been restless a general
uprising was feared.

The militia of the Indiana counties bordering on Illinois
made immediate preparations for defense and requested the
governor of the state to call out the state militia. At once
Governor Xoble summoned the militia of Marion, Johnson,
and Hendricks counties to meet in Indianapolis. The call was
for one hundred and fifty men of the Fortieth Regiment be-
longing to Marion County and as many from the regiments
of the adjoining counties. Two hundred and fifty men re-
sponded— each man furnishing his own horse, arms, and
equipment. Colonel A. W. Russell, who had become a partner
of the firm of Conner and Harrison only a few days before,
was placed in command of the troops, and William Conner,
mentioned by a local newspaper as "not only familiar with the
geography of the country, but well acquainted with the Indian
character," accompanied them as guide. He was considered
"capable if any man was" to lead them through the trackless
wilderness to Chicago. The troops assembled at the southeast
corner of the present Washington and West streets, marching
through a lane of tearful wives and mothers. From a horn of
vast size came forth "the most doleful noise that ever reached
the ears of man." They left Indianapolis on June 10, 1832,
and arrived in Chicago to find the wrar practically over — at
least their services were not required, for Federal troops were
on the way. The Indianans returned by way of South Bend,
where they were victimized in a way quite as painful, if less
deadly, than Indian warfare or the cholera which broke out at
Fort Dearborn a few weeks later. A South Bend newspaper
bestowed upon them the derisive soubriquet of "The Bloody
300," which made them mad enough to fight ten times as many
Indians as they had hoped to see. They reached home in time
for the Fourth of July celebration, and had their wounded
vanity soothed by a public dinner given in testimony to their
valorous deeds. Their return proved to have been more justi-
fiable than their going.23

170 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

More and more Indianapolis was becoming the center of
William Conner's activity, in business, political, and social
lines. In an old hotel register which strange chance has pre-
served, there is a record of William Conner as a guest on
March 14, 1834. The hostelry was the Union Inn, a two-
story building on the south side of Washington Street, oppo-
site the courthouse, kept by John Elder and Joseph Mathers.
It was the custom of the time for those who registered to write
some comment under the head of "Remarks." One guest noted
that "March came in like a Lion To viz — freezing snowing
& blowing," while Conner wrote hopefully a few days later,
"Tolerable bad Roads but will be good soon."24 Whether his
optimistic note was occasioned by his confidence in more set-
tled weather which would soon follow on the heels of spring,
or whether it sprang from a faith that better roads were in
the making, can only be conjectured. Toward the goal of good
highways he and his brother had worked zealously, and while
to men of later generations the roads which he called good
would seem abominable, yet compared to the forest trail of
Conner's earliest days they were indeed admirable, and still
better means of transportation were on the way.

All had not gone smoothly, however, with the eight rail-
roads that had been incorporated by the legislature of 183 1-
1832. The problem of financing them was greater than had
been supposed. Surveys had been made on four of them, but
nothing more. Ten days after Conner's visit to Indianapolis,
noted in the Union Inn register, he was again in the town to
attend the first railroad meeting held here to secure subscrip-
tions for the contemplated Lawrenceburg and Indianapolis
Railroad by way of Greensburg and Shelbyville. It was a
public meeting largely attended. Committees were appointed
to secure subscriptions in each township of Marion County
and in the adjoining counties of Hamilton, Hendricks, and
Morgan. Conner was appointed to the committee for Hamil-
ton County. The first railroad track in Indiana was laid for
this line — a mile and a quarter at Shelbyville — on which a
horse-drawn car was operated for exhibition purposes.25 It
never became a part of that company's permanent right of
way.

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 171

The subject of canals was one that had beset legislators
since the first session of the General Assembly. John Conner
had favored the canal proposed at that time, planned to skirt
the falls of the Ohio at Louisville.26 An act providing for
such a canal had passed the territorial Assembly as early as
1805, but the undertaking collapsed when Aaron Burr's expe-
dition failed. Burr's interest in the canal probably foredoomed
it to failure. The second attempt in 18 16 met with no better
success but for different reasons. Capital could not be raised
locally. The third attempt in 18 18 met more serious reverses,
considered by some authorities as efforts at sabotage on the
part of Kentuckians who were jealous of Indiana's activity in
this enterprise. Before Indiana could gather her resources for
a renewed attack on this problem, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vir-
ginia, and Kentucky joined forces to build the canal on the
Kentucky side. This was the finishing blow to Indiana's ef-
forts, and from that time (1824) until 1829 the canal question
in this state simmered but did not boil.

The canal era in Indiana, chiefly in the 1830's, was char-
acterized by stupendous errors of judgment and waste of
money. In the end, it failed in its objects and flattened the
state financially. By the session of 1834-1835 the members
believed that the time had arrived when a general system of
internal improvements should be devised. A bill was intro-
duced for this purpose, but was overloaded with amendments
of the "log-rolling" variety, and was finally tabled. It is said
that it checkered the whole state with imaginary canals and
roads.

There were such insistent demands in all parts of the state
for cheaper transit facilities that the improvement act of Janu-
ary 27, 1836, was far too ambitious for the resources of the
state. It carried a huge appropriation of $13,000,000, about
one-sixth of the state's wealth, for the construction of
canals, railroads, and macadamized roads.27 Conner was not
in the legislature at this time, but so strong was his faith in
canals that he and John D. Stephenson bought eighty acres of
land on which they laid out the present town of Alexandria.
In their advertisements they pointed out that the proposed
Central Canal would be very advantageous to the town.28 The
legislators saw no inconsistency in providing for both canals

172 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

and railroads for the reason that the railroads would be feeders
to the canals. It did not work out that way in the end, for the
railroads supplanted the canals.

Conner returned to the House in the session of 1836-1837,
after an absence of nearly five years.29 There were now one
hundred members in the House of Representatives. The new
statehouse had been built not a whit too soon. It was by far
the most imposing building which had ever housed the legisla-
ture and the first one devoted exclusively to the business of
the state. It was in the Greek style, modeled on the Parthenon
with soaring columns. An apparent afterthought was the
large Roman dome rising from the center of the building, but
even this incongruity could not destroy its air of dignified
simplicity.30

This session could be appropriately dubbed the "Incorpora-
tion Session," for acts of incorporation were passed for ten
bridge companies, eleven educational institutions, including
Asbury (now De Pauw) University and Western University,
nine industrial concerns, six turnpike companies, seven insur-
ance companies, four savings institutions, ten towns, and three
hotels. Even the New Albany Guards were incorporated. The
state had passed out of the beginning stage of its growth when
the legislators were completely occupied with the primary de-
tails of government and was now attempting to provide a
sound business basis for all of its activities. There were fifty-
three acts on roads passed, one of these containing over a
hundred sections, each relating to a different road.31

The subject of internal improvements came up again. It
had the persistency of Banquo's ghost. The pending bill was
intricate, containing many parts, each one of which was voted
upon separately. The whole situation was unsatisfactory, for
the character of the improvements was unsettled, and the work
was progressing so slowly that apparently many years would
be required to complete it. The expenses were heavy — nearly
four million dollars — and interest for which no provision had
been made had to be met. Dark financial clouds were gath-
ering.32

Conner now showed some anxiety about the situation. He
asked for a statement from the Board of Internal Improvements
as to how much interest the state would have to pay when the

&&*£? Aims ,-'A0^ s*dw?? -0m

*i\

The Old State House, Completed in 1835

From Burns and Polley, Indianapolis, the Old Town and the Nezv

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 175

work was completed. That was a delicate situation, so the
request was side-stepped. The canal politicians had assured
the people that there would be no increase in taxation and that
tolls would pay the interest — but the bald facts were that the
state was borrowing money to pay the interest. Everybody
seemed to be under the spell of the fantasy. Did not Noah
Noble, whom everyone respected as governor, sign the January
1836 act? Had he not been a consistent and efficient pro-
moter of canals? Was not Governor David Wallace at this
time assuring the people that the outlook was very bright?
The legislators were in a dilemma. The state needed these im-
provements and every section was clamoring for its share, but
whether the state could afford the expense was a vital question.
The House Journal discloses a medley of motions, bills, and
resolutions on the subject — to repeal the act providing for the
general system, to supplement it, to extend the internal im-
provements in the amount of $1,500,000, not to extend them,
to amend the law — around they went in circles. Conner's posi-
tion as interpreted from the records was to put through projects
already passed but to oppose adding new ones. It took more
than ten years to extricate the state from this mess, and much
longer from the ill consequences of the Wabash and Erie Canal.
The people as well as the politicians were to blame. If the
backing given to canals had been devoted instead to railroads
the story would have been different. The people were skep-
tical of the railroad and later, of the telegraph. The sordid
fact was that bonds had been issued in amount of $15,000,000
for which the state received $8,593,000 cash : the balance was
lost, or stolen by various state officers or agents.33

7-

When the legislature adjourned on February 6, 1837, Wil-
liam Conner's office holding was at an end. The previous
week's advertisements in the Indianapolis newspapers an-
nounced that the stock and household equipment at his farm
in Hamilton County would be placed on sale on March i.34
He was now preparing to retire from active business. His
farm was turned over to one of his sons, and he removed not
to Indianapolis, as might have been expected from his active
association with the town, but to his farm of 1 so acres ad-

176 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

joining Noblesville. The north line of his land was the present
Cherry Street — the east line, the present Railroad Street.
There were no buildings on it except his dwelling, a preten-
tious brick house set far back in the grounds, and a warehouse.
On the site now stands a building which may be the remodeled
Conner house, or perhaps a later structure. A number of small
weather-stained cottages cluster about the present building.
Formerly, towering forest trees sheltered the house. At a
lofty height they spread their branches in a cool and inviting
canopy, offering the generous hospitality so characteristic of
their owner. As he had lived close to nature all his life, noth-
ing less than such a setting could have drawn him from his
prairie farm. The remaining acreage was arable land. It has
since been converted into town lots devoted to homes, business,
and a large factory. When William Conner moved there, the
house and grounds resounded to children's voices and laughter,
for Lavina, the oldest of seven, was then only fourteen years
old. Three children were born in this house.

Not many months after his removal to Noblesville, Conner
sold his entire collection of furs to the American Fur Com-
pany.35 This virtually closed his career as a fur trader. In
some of his ventures John D. Stephenson and Bicknell Cole
were his partners.36 He had an active interest in various kinds
of trade to the end of his life.

A new impetus was given to Indiana railroading when the
Madison Railroad Company in the autumn of 1847 ran its first
train under steam power into Indianapolis. The Peru and
Indianapolis Railroad was organized in that year, and sur-
veyed the following year. Loud were the claims made for it.
It was to be a feeder to the Wabash and Erie Canal. It would
be seventy-three miles long and completed at less than one-
third of the average cost of other roads. On January 8, 1849,
William Conner, John Burk, Samuel Dale, and W. J. Holman
notified the public that as a committee they would receive
conditional donations and subscriptions for the location and
erection of a depot in Indianapolis. The depot was located by
the committee on property south of Washington Street between
East and New Jersey streets.37 The first section of the road,
which was begun at Indianapolis, reached Noblesville in 185 1 —
two years after it had been promised. The railroad station in

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 177

the latter city was built on Conner's land, a short distance from
his dwelling.

A visitor to the town the year the railroad was completed
made the journey from Indianapolis, twenty-two miles, in one
and one-half hours. Indianapolis was now accessible to Nobles-
ville by a morning train, and persons could return by evening,
an excellent arrangement. The six or eight stores visited, one
of which was kept by Richard Conner, William's son, were
well filled with goods and doing business. Richard's firm,
called Conner and Massey, had an extensive dry goods store
for the retail and wholesale trade on the present site of the
American National Bank.38

By 1857 the railroad was ready for receivership, but it had
reached Noblesville and for a time at least, satisfied one of
Conner's hopes. This was his second and last venture in aid-
ing and building of railroads. From now on Conner engaged
in land deals — buying and selling town lots and farms, and
operating a saw- and gristmill about four miles north of
Noblesville.

William Conner had a building on the west side of the
public square in which he conducted a general store for many
years. It was something to occupy his time together with the
management of nearly three thousand acres of land which he
owned in Marion, Hamilton, Cass, and Wabash counties. He
was now about eighty-two years old. Ten children had been
born to him in his marriage with Elizabeth Chapman. Richard
James, John Fayette, William Henry, Alexander Hamilton,
George F., Elisha Harrington, Benjamin Franklin, Catherine
Massey, Margaret Crans, Lavina — seven sons and three daugh-
ters— all living except Lavina. Most of them were near him.
Alexander was in Nebraska. Not only his children, but his
grandchildren were about him. He hoped they would remain
here. He wrote his son Richard in 1848 that a large city was
"a bad place for a young man to go to that is as little experi-
enced in the world as you are. I would much rather you could
get a situation in the country than to go to such a place
[Louisville]," where there were "too many temptations to
vice."39

On August 28, 1855, this sturdy pioneer took the last long
trail. He did not execute a will, probably realizing that the

178 INDIAN' A HISTORICAL SOCIETY

determination of the legal rights of the two sets of children
respectively, could be had with more exactitude by the law than
by his judgment. This gives an impression of his character.
He had purchased the interest of Mekinges and their children
in a section of land granted by an act of Congress, as here-
tofore related. Were they also heirs to after acquired real
estate along with his children by his marriage with Elizabeth
Chapman? This was a question of equity as well as of law.
He left it to the statute of descents. After his death his white
children had a partition of his holdings among themselves.
In 1861 the half-breed children — Mekinges was dead — brought
suit against the children in possession and the title to all the
land was quieted in the latter against the Indian plaintiffs.40

As gleaned from descriptions by his contemporaries, Con-
ner was a large man, straight as an arrow. His homely sense
of honesty and justice was reflected in his countenance and
deeds. He was almost wholly self-educated. Of kindly dis-
position, he wras generous not only to his friends but to
strangers in need. He had an Indian characteristic in that he
was implacable to his few enemies. He was held in popular
esteem wherever he was known. He was modest, so much so
that he seldom spoke of the adventures of his life — not a line
was committed to paper — that was left to others. It was said
of him that "with his natural powers of observation, which
were remarkable" he was "one of the best woodsmen in the
West, and one of the very best interpreters ever employed by
the United States."41 He had indomitable energy tempered
with a kindliness of feeling exhibited first to his Indian friends
and afterwards to his white neighbors. Notwithstanding his
life with the Indians during forty-seven years, he had a natural
love for his kind which asserted itself when he was detached
from that life in 1820. He possessed "a more intimate knowl-
edge" of the Indian "character and wants, than almost any
other person of the same standing and respectability in the
State," so wrote David Wallace, lieutenant governor, to John
Tipton, United States senator.42 General Harrison in 1826
wrote that he always considered Conner "as a man whose in-
tegrity & fidelity might be perfectly relied upon."43 Placing
side by side these recognitions of his traits of character, the

SONS OF THE WILDERNESS 179

conclusion of an early writer that he "was wrought of the
finest human steel and endured to the end," seems a just one.44

Sixty years after his death Richard C. Adams, son of
Nancy Conner Adams, half-breed daughter of William Conner,
spokesman and historian of the Delaware tribe, wrote : "there
were many persons who were adopted into the Delaware Tribe
who, either they or their descendants, came into prominence
in the history of the United States, among them Wm. Connor
of Indiana and William Anderson of Ohio, not all, however,
of Indian blood, but all of whom stood loyal to the Tribe, and
who were devoted to their traditions, training and belief."45
Such opinions and tributes from representatives of two races
fundamentally and historically antagonistic to each other, set
him apart from other men of his time.

For the purposes of understanding a man his character and
his work are inseparable — the former fashions the latter, which
in turn reflects the former. By this formula the Conners may
be judged. Enveloped in barbarism or savagery from birth
to their mid years they held the confidence and loyalty of the
Indians. When they, John first and William later, gradually
dissociated themselves from the Indians and more and more
allied themselves with those of their own race, that fact did
not alter the attitude of the Indians toward them. Their
transformation came gradually as though they were stepping
slowly out of the darkness and mists of their Indian life into
the dawning day of civilization. Their past life in the wilder-
ness with its tenants of savage men and wild beasts receded.
Sons of the wilderness though they were, they helped to
fashion a new state out of the primeval forest and virgin
prairie.

NOTES

I

'Winsor, Justin, The Mississippi Basin, 1697-1763, 228-58 (Boston and
New York, 1895) ; King, Rufus, Ohio. First Fruits of the Ordinance of
1787, 20-28, 44-45, 53-63 {American Commonwealths, Riverside Press,
Cambridge, 1888).

2Thwaites, Reuben Gold, and Kellogg, Louise Phelps (eds.), Documen-
tary History of Dunmorc's War, 1774, 15311, 2Q0n (Wisconsin Historical
Society, Madison, 1905) ; De Schweinitz, Edmund, The Life a>id Times of
Dazid Zcisbcrgcr . . ., 374 (Philadelphia, 1870).

3Winsor, Mississippi Basin, 347; Dillon, John B., A History of In-
diana . . .,51 (Indianapolis, 1859).

Wohviler, Albert T., George Croghan a>id the Westward Movement,
1741-1782, 17, 20-21, 30-32 (Cleveland, 1926).

"King, Ohio, 72-79; Volwiler, op. cit., 115-89; Hinsdale, B. A., The
Old Northwest . . ., 57-69 (New York, 1888) ; Parkman, Francis, The
Conspiracy of Pontiac . . ., I, 232 ff. (Boston, 1924).

"Alvord, Clarence Walworth, The Mississippi Valley in British Politics,
II, 52-61 (Cleveland, 1917) ; Volwiler, op. cit., 189-204.

7Ibid.. 148-49, 172-75, 204-8; Alvord, op. cit., I, 103-33, 210 ff., 226-27,
237-40; II, 59-61.

'Ibid., II, 190 ff. See Introduction to Thwaites and Kellogg (eds.),
Documentary History of Dunmorc's War; Roosevelt, Theodore, The Win-
ning of the West, I, pt. 2, 34 (New York and London, 1889).

9A tablet at Hockingport, Ohio, on the site of Fort Gower records this
"spirit of American Independence," November 5, 1774. See King, Ohio, III.

"Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, 147-61 ; Alvord, Clarence Walworth,
The Illinois Country, 310-57 (Centennial History of Illinois, I, Springfield,
1920) ; King, Ohio, 141 ff. ; Winsor, Justin, The Westzvard Movement . . .,
11 1-43, 170-78, 190 ff. (Boston and New York, 1897). The original "gaol"
containing the cell where Hamilton, "the Hair-Buyer," was confined is
now a part of the restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia. A Handbook for
the Exhibition Buildings of Colonial Williamsburg Incorporated . . .,37
(Williamsburg, Va., 1936). An accurate and comprehensive account of
Hamilton's misdeeds and imprisonment are given in William H. English's
Conquest of the Country Northzvest of the River Ohio 1778-1783 . . .,
I, 215 ff. and II, 605 ff. (Indianapolis and Kansas City, 1897). See also
Marshall, John, The Life of George Washington . . ., I, 332-33 (Walton
Book Co., New York, 1930) ; Bancroft, George, History of the United
States of America . . . , V, 312-13 (New York, 1892).

"King, Ohio, 230-66; Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, 184-86. Roosevelt,
Winning of the West, III, pt. 1, ch. 5.

^Esarey, Logan, A History of Indiana from its Exploration to 1850, I,
204-29 (3d ed., Fort Wayne, 1924).

(183)

II

1The Maryland Calendar of Wills, compiled by Jane Baldwin and
Roberta Boiling Henry, V, 92 (Baltimore, 1917) ; Fletcher, James C, "Early
Days," in Indianapolis News, May n, 1881 ; Cole, Ernest B., "The Conner
Family," in Indianapolis Sunday Star, September 19, 1920; History of Ma-
comb County, Michigan . . ., 229 ff. (M. A. Leeson & Co., Chicago, 1882) ;
Ross, Robert B., and Catlin, George B., Landmarks of Detroit . . ., 674
(rev. ed., Detroit, 1898); De Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 425; Jones,
David, A Journal of Two Visits Made to Some Nations of Indians on the
West Side of the River Ohio, in the Year 1772 and 1773 . . .,88 (New
York, 1865) ; entry for May 8, 1775, in Diary of the Moravian Mission to
the Indians, Schoenbrunn on the Muskingum (hereafter referred to as
Schoenbrunn Diary), manuscript in archives of Moravian Church, Beth-
lehem, Pennsylvania: "He [Richard Conner] was born in Maryland, his
brothers and friends still live there in Frederickstown and according to his
statement know of the brethren" ; Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collec-
tions, IV, 308 ; V, 453 ; Loskiel, George Henry, History of the Mission of
the United Brethren among the Indians . . ., pt. 3, 104 (London, 1794) ;
Mitchener, C. H. (ed.), Ohio Annals . . ., 184-85 (Dayton, 1876).

aAlvord, Mississippi Valley in British Politics, I, 121-27, 161-67, 169-73,
178-88, 199 ff. ; Volwiler, George Croghan, 139, 166-72.

'Margaret Boyer's name appears variously in the records, but she was
known as Margaret Boyer to her descendants, as shown (1) in a letter from
her grandson, George F. Conner, to Julia Conner Thompson, January 31,
1899, (2) in another, from Mary Conner Haimbaugh to Ernest B. Cole,
October 19, 1920, which says : "Richard Conner's wife's name was Margaret
Boyer. When it was written Bouvir, it was French. I had the name from
our grandmother Conner, widow of William," and (3) in a written
statement of another granddaughter, Alice Conner Cottingham, dated De-
cember 21, 1934. James C. Fletcher, whose article, "Early Days," in
Indianapolis News, May II, 1881, gives the name as Boyer, received his
information from Elizabeth Chapman (Mrs. William) Conner.

In the register of St. Anne's Church, Detroit, she is twice mentioned
in relation to her sons : February 12, 1792, her son James was baptized,
"fils de Richard Connor et de Marguerite Connor, ses pere et mere, irlandois
de nation" ; February 23, 1808, her son Henry, who married Therese
Tremble, is described as "fils majeur de Defunct Richard Connor et de
Marguerite Boiver." The spelling "Boivir," is used by Ernest B. Cole in
his article on "The Conner Family," Indianapolis Sutiday Star, September
19, 1920.

According to Father Christian Denissen's genealogical compilation (Bur-
ton Historical Collection, Detroit), Richard Conner married Margaret
Bower (probably Bauer, of Pennsylvania Dutch parentage), Vol. C, 2930-31.

The following works list her surname as Myers, which is obviously in-

(184)

NOTES, CHAPTER II 185

correct: History of Macomb County, Michigan (Leeson), 229; Michigan
Pioneer and Historical Collections. V, 453; XXVIII, 133-35; Kellogg,
Louise Phelps (ed.), Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio, 1778-1779, 24611
(Wisconsin Historical Collections, XXIII, Madison, 1916) ; Quaife, Milo
M. (ed.), The John Askin Papers, I, 228n (Detroit, 1928) ; Eldredge,
Robert F., Past and Present of Macomb County, Michigan, 564 ff. (Chi-
cago, 1905)-

4Jones, Journal of Tzvo l7isits, 88, quoted ante, 12-13, and citations to
Michigan and Wisconsin publications in note 3.

"This account is based upon the story told in the Report of the Com-
mission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, edited
by Thomas Lynch Montgomery, I, 158-59 (2d ed., Harrisburg, 1916). His
information was procured from Colonel John Craig, an old resident of
Lehigh Gap. Craig received it from his father, who had it direct from
Frederick Boyer, who was born December 31, 1742, and died October 31,
1832, at the age of nearly ninety years. Since Frederick Boyer was thirteen
years old at the time of his capture, the date is fixed as 1756. C. Hale Sipe,
in his Fort Ligonier and Its Times . . ., 139 (Harrisburg, 1932), mentions
1756 as the year when this happened. The History of Lehigh County,
Pennsylvania . . ., edited by Charles Rhoads Roberts and others, II, 139
(Allentown, 1914), adds the name of the slain father and mentions a lad
who later returned, and a daughter who was never heard of again. The
sources for these statements are not given. The ancestry of John Jacob
Boyer is outlined in a genealogical compilation issued by the Association of
American Boyers at Reading, Pennsylvania (4th ed., 1915), entitled The
American Boyers. This book states that there were three children, Fred-
erick, Dorothea, and Catherine. This is the first time that the names of
the little girls occur. They are not authenticated in any way. In 1762
many captives were released by western Indians at the Lancaster treaty,
among them a Hans Boyer, who was, perhaps, the Frederick Boyer of
Lehigh Gap. Sipe, op. cit. In The American Boyers, 211, appears the story
of the Boyer girl who married the Indian chief, with a "Western paper"
cited as authority. Diligent effort to identify this paper has been unsuccess-
ful. The fate of her sister is not referred to in any of these books.

"The marriage customs of the Indians are described as follows :
"Marriages are performed in three different ways. ist. If the male and
female agree, they may cohabit with each other without any further cere-
mony. 2d. When a young man loves a girl, and she will not consent to
have him without he first obtains the consent of her parents, which must
be done with a present adequate to the character of the girl. If his present
is received by the girl's friends, the marriage is fixed ; if the present is
returned, it is understood that they are not willing for the match. 3d. This
is considered by much the most honorable and binding on the parties con-
cerned. When an Indian has a son that he wishes to be married to a good
and virtuous woman, he assembles his friends and relations, and consults
with them what woman his son shall marry. When a choice is made, the
relations of the young man collect what presents they think are sufficient
for the occasion, and take them to the parents of the girl or intended bride;

186 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

they make known their business, leave the articles, and return home with-
out an answer. The relations of the girl then assemble together, and con-
sult each other on the subject. If they agree to the match, they collect
suitable presents, dress the girl in her best clothing, and take her to the
persons that made application for the match, where she and the presents
are left. The marriage is then considered complete, as all the ceremony
for the occasion has been regularly gone through. But if the friends of
the girl or herself do not approve of the proposals, the presents that
were given by the young man's relations are returned, which is considered
a refusal." See "The Manners and Customs of the North-Western In-
dians," in Fergus' Historical Scries, no. 26, p. 89 ; see also Seaver, James E.,
A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison . . ., 180 (Random House,
New York, 1929) ; Heckewelder, John, History, Manners, and Customs of
the Indian Nations . . .,161 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Memoirs,
XII, Philadelphia, 1876).

TSchoenbrunn Diary, May 4, 1775. In 1764, Margaret Boyer was a
captive with the Shawnee. One of Colonel Bouquet's demands when the
Shawnee and Delawares sued for peace was that all prisoners must be
delivered at Fort Pitt by October 29. By November 9, two hundred and
six had been brought in, and the Shawnee promised to return a hundred
more in the spring. Historical Account of Bouquet's Expedition Against
the Ohio Indians, in 1764, 52-76 (Cincinnati, 1868). The Shawnee never
delivered all their prisoners. Force, Peter (ed.), American Archives . . . ,
I, 1015 (Washington, 1837).

sJones, A Journal of Two Visits, 87-88. Jones, minister of the Baptist
Church at Freehold, New Jersey, visited the Moravian towns in 1772 and
1773, and preached there. He saw service in the Revolution, and was chap-
lain under General Wayne in 1777, and again in 1794. In December, 1789,
or January, 1790, he preached the first sermon ever preached in the settle-
ment at Fort Miami, near the mouth of the Little Miami. Ibid., v-xi ; De
Schweinitz, David Zcisbergcr, 386n ; Ferris, Ezra, The Early Settlement of
the Miami Country, 267-68 (Indiana Historical Society Publications, I, no. 9,
Indianapolis, 1897) ; Hill, N. N. (comp.), History of Coshocton County,
Ohio . . ., 243-44 (Newark, Ohio, 1881).

9Netawatwees, chief of the Unami or Turtle division of the Delawares,
often called King Newcomer, became principal chief of the Delawares in
1772, succeeding Beaver. His capital was at Gekelemukpechunk, near the
present site of Newcomerstown, and later at Goschachgiink, at the junction
of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding. He lived in a "roomy dwelling [which],
with its shingle-roof and board-floors, its staircase and stone-chimney,
formed one of those Delaware lodges that rivaled the homesteads of the
settlers." In this house the first Protestant sermon in the state of Ohio was
preached by Zeisberger on March 14, 1771. Netawatwees' son, John Kill-
buck, opposed Christianity, but his grandson, John Killbuck, Jr., or Gelele-
mend, embraced it. Upon his baptism in 1788 by Zeisberger, Gelelemend
was named William Henry, at his own request. Just before his death in
1776, Netawatwees besought White Eyes, his chief counselor, "to uphold
neutrality and the Christian religion." De Schweinitz, David Zeisberger,

NOTES, CHAPTER II 187

34S-49, 366-67, 372, 38611, 390, 394, 426, 436, 442, 604; Thwaites, Reuben
Gold, and Kellogg, Louise Phelps (eds.), The Revolution on the Upper
Ohio, 1775-1777, 38n, 46n (Madison, Wis., 1908).

10Schoenbrunn Diary, May 4, 1775. For the removal of the Indians, the
founding of Schoenbrunn, and Zeisberger's subsequent journeys among the
Shawnee, see De Schweinitz, op. cit., 370-93. See also the chapter on "The
Moravians," in King, Ohio, 119 ff.

llThe register of St. Anne's Church (Detroit) records the baptism of
James Conner at the age of twenty years and five months on February 12,
1792. See also Statement Concerning James Conner, the First White Child
Born in Ohio, an unpublished manuscript by the Reverend Joseph E. Wein-
land, approved by the Executive Committee of the Moravian Historical So-
ciety, August 13, 1934, Bethlehem, Pa.

"Conner's presence at Snakestown as late as June, 1774, is mentioned in
"Extract Taken from Alexander M'Kee, Esqr's, Journal of Transactions
with the Indians at Pittsburg, &c, from the 1st May, to the 10th June,
1774," in Rupp, Isaac Daniel, Early History of Western Pennsylvania . . .,
Appendix, 211 (Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, 1846). The Shawnee were
friendly with the Pennsylvania, but not the Virginia, traders. About thirty
of the former were supposed to be in some danger, but Conner reported that
he found them unharmed and making canoes. Snake was with the British
Indians in the raid on the Moravian towns in 1781.

13De Schweinitz, David Zcisbergcr, 399-409; Thwaites and Kellogg
(eds.), Documentary History of Dunmore's War, xxii-xxiii.

"De Schweinitz, op. cit., 425. For a description of Pittsburgh in 1775
see The Journal of Nicholas Crcssiuell, 1774-1777, 65-66 (New York, 1924).

"Schoenbrunn Diary, February 24, 1775.

"Descriptions of the establishment of Schoenbrunn and its appearance
at this period are given in De Schweinitz, David Zeisbcrgcr, 371-73, 375-76,
38on, 423 ; Journal of Nicholas Crcssivell, 106-7. A map and photographs
of the town as restored under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society appear in Weinland, Rev. Joseph E., The Romantic
Story of Schoenbrunn . . ., 7-23 (Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society, 2d ed., 1929). The restored cabin of Richard and Margaret Conner
was dedicated in Schoenbrunn Memorial State Park on May 12, 1935.
Museum Echoes, VIII, 21 (June, 1935). See also the description of Gnaden-
hiitten in 1775, in Captain James Wood's Journal, Thwaites and Kellogg
(eds.), Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 64.

"White Eyes, as early as 1772, made a trip to New Orleans, New York,
and Philadelphia which opened his eyes to the benefits of civilization. There-
after he was dominated by the desire to achieve them for the Indians. He
lived on the Tuscarawas River, six miles below Gekelemukpechiink near
White Eyes Plains. He advocated neutrality in Dunmore's War and urged
peace after the battle of Point Pleasant. He supported the enterprise of the
Moravian missionaries and wanted the Delawares to accept Christianity and
turn away from war. White Eyes favored the cause of the Americans in
the Revolution and joined the American forces. He died of smallpox,
November 10, 1778. De Schweinitz refers to him as "one of the greatest

188 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

and best of the later Indians" and says, "No unbaptized native, of any tribe
or name, did so much for the Mission and the Gospel." His widow was
baptized into Christian faith in March, 1799. In 1801, she and her second
husband, Jacob Pemahoaland, accompanied the Moravian missionaries Kluge
and Luckenbach to Indiana. De Schweinitz, David Zeisbcrgcr, 390-91, 408-9,
413-19, 428-30, 463, 468-70, 656; Dillon, History of Indiana, 100-1 ; Stocker,
Harry Emilius (tr.), "The Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," in
Moravian Historical Society, Transactions, X, pts. 3 and 4, 374 (Bethlehem,
Pa., 1917).

ls"At the children's service Bro. David [Zeisberger] baptized the little
son born to the Conners, the child receiving the name of John." Schoen-
brunn Diary, August 27, 1775.

"Journals of the Continental Congress. iy/4-ijSg, II, 178-S2 (Library
of Congress ed., Washington, 1905) ; De Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 430-

31.

""Ibid., 431 ; Schoenbrunn Diary, March 18, 1776, which says, "He is a
little boy, four years of age, and can speak only the Shawnee language."
Loskiel, History of the Mission of the United Brethren, pt. 3, 104-5.

21 Schoenbrunn Diary, May 4, 1775.

"De Schweinitz, op. cit., 3S0-81, 394, 424n-25n, 433-35 ; Loskiel, op. cit.,
pt- 3, 113. Colonel George Morgan was born at Philadelphia in 1743. He
became first an employee, then a partner, in the Philadelphia firm of Bayn-
ton and Wharton, which dealt in goods for the Indians. After Pontiac's
war he represented the firm in the Illinois country. During the Revolution
he served as Indian agent for the United States in the middle department
and as deputy commissary-general of purchases for the western department.
His headquarters were at Fort Pitt. Colonel Morgan was adopted by the
Delawares, who called him Tamenend. Dictionary of American Biography,
XIII, 169-70; De Schweinitz, op. cit., 439; Heckewelder, John, A Narrative
of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaivare and Mohegan
Indians, from . . . 1740, to . . . 1S0S .... 150 (Philadelphia, 1820). To
a letter to Morgan from John Leith, dated Moravian Town, August 19,
1778, there is appended a note recommending Leith as a "real friend to the
United States." It is signed by Zeisberger, William Edwards, Heckewelder,
and Richard Conner. Morgan Letter Book, III, 123, in Carnegie Library,
Pittsburgh.

23See sketches of Elliot and McKee in Quaife (ed.), John Askin Papers,
I, 257n and 30on. See also King, Ohio, 146 ff. ; De Schweinitz, op. cit.,
447 ff., 462. Girty's activities are covered at length in Butterfield, Consul
Willshire, History of the Girtys . . . (Cincinnati, 1890). See especially
pages 178, 183, 184, 187-88, 199, 201, 389. In July, 1779, when Conner was
at the Delaware capital, he met Girty, who told him to tell his brethren, the
Americans, that he did not desire them to show him any favor, nor would
he show them any. Hazard, Samuel (ed.), Pennsylvania Archives, 1 series,
VII, 542 (Pennsylvania, 1853). Girty maintained this hostile attitude toward
the Americans. In a letter of August 6, 1792, Anthony Wayne states that
Girty had left Detroit on June 15 saying that he would attack the Americans
near Fort Jefferson and either kill or be killed. Rufus Putnam Collection,

NOTES, CHAPTER II 189

Marietta College. Rev. O. M. Spencer says in his Indian Captivity: A True
Narrative . . .,88 (New York, 1834) : "Simon Girty, whether it was from
prejudice ... or not, his dark shaggy hair; his low forehead; his brows
contracted, and meeting above his short flat nose; his grey sunken eyes,
averting the ingenuous gaze ; his lips thin and compressed, and the dark and
sinister expression of his countenance, to me, seemed the very picture of a
villain."

2iDe Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 449 ft. ; Schoenbrunn Diary, April
x9» i/77'i Loskiel, History of the Mission of the United Brethren, pt. 3, 116;
Weinland, Romantic Story of Schoenbrunn, 6-7 ; "Journal of John G. Jung-
man," in Charles Cist, The Cincinnati Miscellany . . .,11, 186 (Cincinnati,
November, 1845).

26The place and date of William Conner's birth are not certain, but it is
probable that he was born in 1773. According to the statement of Richard
J. Conner, his son, William Conner was about eight years old in 1781.
Draper MSS. VIII, yy2i. The oldest son, James, was born in 177 r, John in
1775, Henry in 1780, and Susanna in 1783. These were all of Richard Con-
ner's other children. Living descendants believe William was born at Fort
Pitt, although there is no record of any child with Richard and Margaret
Conner at Fort Pitt in 1774 or at Schoenbrunn in 1775 before John's birth.
William's tombstone at Noblesville, Indiana, gives his age as seventy-two
years at the time of his death in 1855 ; this would place his birth in the year
1783, which is obviously incorrect. According to family tradition he was
older than John, which is in agreement with the statement of Richard J.
Conner, mentioned above.

"Diary of Moravian Mission to Indian Congregation at Lichtenau, two
and one-half miles from Coshocton, Ohio, from April, 1776, to March 30,
1780. Unpublished manuscript in archives of Moravian Church, Bethlehem.

^"Oct. 8, 1780. The little son born to Bro. and Sr. Conner last night
was baptized into the death of Jesus receiving the name Henry." Diary of
the New Schoenbrunn Indian Mission, manuscript in the archives of the
Moravian Church, Bethlehem. Henry Conner became government inter-
preter for the northern tribes and related Indian traditions to both Parkman
and Schoolcraft. Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 373, II, 358. His
name is attached to old landmarks in Detroit, such as Conners Creek.

Ill

'Loskiel, History of the Mission of the United Brethren, pt. 3, I35~37 ;
King, Ohio, 148-51-

2Kellogg, Louise Phelps (ed.), Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio,
1779-17S1, 320-21 (Wisconsin Historical Collections, XXIV, Madison, 1917).
Brodhead's activities are discussed in ibid., Introduction, passim.

3Butterfield, Consul Willshire (ed.), Washington-Irvine Correspond-
ence . . . 1781 to 1783, 51-53 (Madison, Wis., 1882) ; Sipe, Fort Ligonier,
509 ff.; Butterfield, History of the Girtys, 126-29; Hazard (ed.), Pennsyl-
vania Archives, 1 series, IX, 161-62.

4Butterfield, Washington-Irvine Correspondence, 58-63 ; De Schweinitz,
David Zeisbcrger, 4S7 ff. ; Pennsylvania Magazine of History, IV, 247-48
(1880) ; Doddridge, Joseph, Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the
Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania . . ., 195-98 (3d ed., Pitts-
burgh, 1912) ; Sipe, op. cit., 522-23. Some of Heckewelder's letters are
printed in Hazard (ed.), Pennsylvania Archives, 1 series, VII, 516-18, 524-
26, 541-42, VIII, 152, 158-59. Alexander McCormick is not to be confused
with Alexander McKee. McCormick was a trader among the Wyandot, and
gave Heckewelder secret warning of Elliot's intentions. De Schweinitz,
op. cit.. 473, 492; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, An Historical Account of
the Expedition against Sandusky under Col. William Crawford in 1782 . . .,
166, 189-91 (Cincinnati, 1873).

5John Leith (sometimes spelled Leath or Leeth) was born in South
Carolina, March 15, 1755. In his eighteenth year he hired out to a Pitts-
burgh fur trader, but within a year was made prisoner by a Delaware chief
with a white wife, who adopted him. He regained his liberty at Camp
Charlotte and resumed his fur trading. In 1776 he was captured by the
Shawnee and sold to the Wyandot, who released him because he was an
adopted Delaware. The following year he was trading in Detroit. In the
spring of 1778 his adopted father, the old Delaware chief, persuaded him
to return to his tribe. He went to Coshocton, the capital of the Delawares,
and in March, 1779, married Sally Lowry, or Lowrey, a white girl who had
been taken captive when less than two years old. They went to live at the
Moravian town of Gnadenhiitten. He was living at the Moravian town in
1781 and was carried away captive with the Moravians. He resumed his
trading operations at Upper Sandusky under the surveillance of the British.
His biography, called Lecth's Narrative, is a rare book, containing the only
extant account of some of the incidents of this period. His life is a close
parallel to that of Richard Conner in many respects. Both were released
at Camp Charlotte, both lived in the Moravian towns, and both were taken
captive by the British Wyandot in 1781. Thwaites, Reuben Gold (ed.), A
Short Biography of John Leeth . . ., passim (Cleveland, 1904) ; Butterfield,
Expedition against Sandusky, I78n-79n; Loskiel, History of the Mission of
the United Brethren, pt. 3, 140-41 ; Bliss, Eugene F. (tr. and ed.), Diary of
David Zeisberger . . ., I, xxviii (Cincinnati, 1885).

(190)

NOTES, CHAPTER III 191

6De Schweinitz, David Zcisbcrger, 493-511 ; Heckewelder, Narrative of
the Mission among the Indians, 232-76; King, Ohio, 153-55; Loskiel, History
of the Mission of the United Brethren, pt. 3, 151-61; Bliss (ed.), Diary of
David Zeisbergcr, I, 3-16.

''History of Macomb County, Michigan (Leeson), 229, 231; letter of
George F. Conner to Julia Conner Thompson, January 31, 1899.

sBliss (ed.), Diary of David Zeisberger, I, 16-23; Heckewelder, op. cit.,
276-83; De Schweinitz, op. cit., 513-17; Loskiel, op. cit., pt. 3, 161-64; Bur-
ton Historical Collection, Manuscripts, I, 277-78; statement of R. J. Conner,
June 17, 1891, in Draper MSS. VIII, yy2i ; Rice, William H., David Zeis-
berger and His Brown Brethren, 40 (Bethlehem, Pa., 1897). Zeisberger
gives the date of arrival at Sandusky as October 1 ; Loskiel, and Hecke-
welder, who followed Loskiel, give the date as October 11. For a discussion
of the location of the Moravian camping ground and Captives' Town, see
Butterfield, Expedition against Sandusky, 162x1, 16311, 180-81, n. 3. See also
Wilcox, Frank, Ohio Indian Trails, 138 (Cleveland, 1933). Half King's
town was at Indian Mill, a few miles north of the present Upper Sandusky.
Butterfield, op. cit., 162x1, i63n.

The route followed was from Salem by land and water to Goschach-
giink, now Coshocton ; up the Walhonding, or White Woman's Creek, to
the mouth of the Gokhosing or Owl Creek, now the Vernon River ; by land
to the vicinity of Upper Sandusky. This route can be traced by following
U. S. Road 36 from Gnadenhutten to Coshocton and Mt. Vernon ; by State
Roads 13 and 95 through Mt. Gilead to Marion ; then by U. S. Road 23
to Upper Sandusky. This route will trace or parallel the original Indian
trails, the Muskingum, Walhonding, Owl River, and Scioto trails. It was
through this country and likely over these trails that the Conner family and
their fellow captives were led. A very informative book on Ohio Indian
Trails has been written by Frank Wilcox. References to the above trails
will be found on pages 91 ff., 131 ff., 147 ff., 158 ff. In 1934, by automobile,
the writer in a few hours traversed this route which took the captives
twenty days, 153 years before.

"The journey to Detroit, the trial and its outcome are described in De
Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 517-29; Loskiel, History of the Mission of
the United Brethren, pt. 3, 164-69; Heckewelder, Narrative of the Mission
of the United Brethren, 283-99; Bliss (ed.), Diary of David Zeisberger, I,
29-46. There are many discrepancies between Heckewelder's Narrative and
Zeisberger's Diary. The latter is considerably more moderate in its account
of the discomforts on the journey and the manner of reception. Pipe's
ceremonial speech is quoted in Heckewelder, History of the Indian Nations,
134-36.

10De Peyster had arrived in Detroit in 1779 to succeed Hamilton as
commandant, and remained until 1784. A man of some distinction, he was
favorably regarded by the Moravian missionaries. He was a good officer,
although arbitrary in his methods. Some of his land deals subjected him to
criticism. Campbell, James V., Outlines of the Political History of Michi-
gan, 178-84, 186 (Detroit, 1876) ; De Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 528-29;

192 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Quaife (ed.), John Askin Papers, I, 72n; Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Collections, XX, 296-99.

nBliss (ed.), Diary of David Zeisberger, I, xx; Loskiel, History of the
Mission of the United Brethren, pt. 3, 116.

12On November 11, 1781, De Peyster wrote McKee : "Captain Pipe
brought in four Teachers, leaving the other two to take care of their Wives
and Children, and build huts for the winter. The four who came in appear
to be harmless people. They make no secret to have written several letters
for the Cooshocking Delawares to Fort Pitt, which they say they were
obliged to do in their own Defence, but that those who dictated the letters
always carried them themselves." J. Watts de Peyster (ed.), Miscellanies,
by an Officer. (Colonel Arent Schuyler de Peyster, B. A.), 1774-1813 . . .,
pt. 2, XXX (New York, 1888).

13Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 21, 48, 75-76.

14De Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 530-33 ; Loskiel, op. cit., pt. 3, 169-
71 ; Heckewelder, Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren, 298 ff.
15De Schweinitz, op. cit., 533-34; Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 68-74, 76-78.
Bliss quotes De Peyster's letter to Girty : "You will please present the
strings I send you to the Half King and tell him I have listened to his
demand. I therefore hope he will give you such assistance as you may think
necessary to enable you to bring the teachers and their families to this place.
I will by no means allow you to suffer them to be plundered or any way
ill-treated." Girty doubtless hoped for better results from the second
hearing.

16De Schweinitz, op. cit., 535-57. De Schweinitz says : "According to a
careful computation made by the missionaries, with the aid of the national
assistants, the whole number of victims was ninety. The militia brought
back ninety-six scalps ; hence six of the murdered ones must have been
heathen Indians, probably visitors at Gnadenhiitten." The number is often
given as ninety-six. See A True History of the Massacre of Ninety-six
Christian Indians at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio, March 8th, 1782 (New Phila-
delphia, 1844), reprinted in Burton Historical Collection, Manuscripts, I,
275-86; Loskiel, op. cit., pt. 3, 175-S5; Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 78-86.

17De Schweinitz, op. cit., 558-62; Bliss (ed.), Diary of David Zeisberger,
I, 74-78, 87 ff. ; De Peyster (ed.), Miscellanies, by an Officer, pt. 2. CXXXn.
lsButterfield, Expedition against Sandusky, n. 2, 78-80, and 81 ff.; De
Schweinitz, op. cit., 564 f f. ; Heckewelder, op. cit., 337 ff. ; Lang, Frank H.,
The Burning of William Crazvford . . . June 11, 17S2 . . . (Upper San-
dusky, Ohio, 1931).

19Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 96, 103 f f. ; De Schweinitz, op. cit., 578-79;
Miscellaneous Genealogy Notes in the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit
Public Library, I, 155; Loskiel, History of the Mission of the United
Brethren, pt. 3, 193 ; Ford, Henry A., "The Old Moravian Mission at Mt.
Clemens," in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, X, 107-15.
20Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 100, no, 159.

"Loskiel, op. cit., pt. 3, 193, 194, 199; Heckewelder, Narrative of the
Mission of the United Brethren, 348-49, 352-56; Utley, Henry M., and

NOTES, CHAPTER III 193

Cutcheon, Byron M., Michigan As a Province, Territory and State . . . , I,
343 (Publishing Society of Michigan, 1906).

"Bliss (ed.), Diary of David Zeisberger, I, 174. Susanna was the first
white child born in Macomb County, Michigan, of English-speaking parents.
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, V, 453; XVIII, 487; Utley and
Cutcheon, op. cit.

^Heckewelder, op. cit., 356-63; Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 206-8; De
Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 583-89; Loskiel, op. cit., pt. 3, 201 ; American
State Papers. Public Lands, I, 501 ; Campbell, Political History of Michigan,
187-88.

24De Schweinitz, op. cit., 589; Bliss (ed.), op. cit., I, 265-66, 434;
Quaife (ed.), John Askin Papers, II, 206-7; American State Papers, op. cit.
Richard Conner was the first English-speaking settler in the region where
Mt. Clemens is situated. History of Macomb County, Michigan (Leeson),
522.

25The date of Richard Conner's death is erroneously given as April 22,
1808, on the family monument in the Mt. Clemens cemetery. Papers in the
county clerk's office, Detroit, show that administration of his estate was
begun May 28, 1807, by his son James. For material on the family claims,
see American State Papers. Public Lands, I, 316, 317, 356, 376, 456, 464,
493, 499; Michigan Pioneer a)id Historical Collections, XVIII, 491, 493.

^Clark, Charles L., "The Old Connors Mansion," in House Beautiful,
May, 1902. According to the Denissen Genealogy, Margaret Conner was
buried at Detroit on June 9, 1813, aged seventy-five. This statement of her
age conflicts with the hypothesis advanced in Chapter II, of her capture by
the Indians in 1756 when only five or six years old, and is probably incorrect.

IV

'Captain James Wood, in his Journal (Thwaites and Kellogg [eds.],
Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 64) describes a church service which he
attended at Gnadenhiitten, Ohio, on August 6, 1775: "the Minister who
resides at this Town is a German of the Moravian Sect has Lived with
them several Years has Acquired their Language and taught most of them
the English and German he prayed in the Delaware Language Preached
in the English and sung Psalms in the German in which the Indians
joined. ..."

'De Schweinitz, David Zeisbcrger, 487; Weinland, Romantic Story of
Schocnbrunn, 19-21. As the object of the Moravian teachers was to en-
lighten the Indians, the instruction was on their level.

3William Conner's intelligence as a woodsman is commented on by a
contemporary, S. W. Parker. Parker met Conner at the Potawatomi Treaty
of 1832 and accompanied him from the treaty grounds on the Tippecanoe
River to Noblesville. He says that he never spent three days more agree-
ably than on this jaunt, most of it through "pathless woods," and continues :
"Conner was at home in those woods. He heeded no roads or traces when-
ever he could make a nigh cut or better ground .... we traveled the most
of the day without any sign of an axe or a tree. The old woodsman, at no
time discovered the least perplexity as to our position or true course —
spoke of the hills and streams we would encounter, long before we reached
them — and frequently observed . . . : 'It's several years since I was along
here, but even the trees seem familiar to me.' " Conncrsvillc Times, August

29, r8S5-

* American State Papers. Public Lands, I, 456, 493, 499.

5Major Hamtramck's letter of July 17, 1796, to General Wilkinson, an-
nouncing the evacuation of the fort by the British on July n is printed in
Farmer, Silas, The History of Detroit and Michigan . . .,1, 268 (Detroit,
1889). See ibid., 267-69, for a discussion of the transfer.

"Campbell, Political History of Michigan, 198 f f. ; Cooley, Thomas Mc-
Intyre, Michigan, A History of Governments, 141 ff. {American Common-
wealths, Boston, 1885).

T"Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny . . .," in Historical So-
ciety of Pennsylvania, Memoirs, VII, 475 (Philadelphia, i860).

"The treaty appears in Kappler, Charles J. (ed.), Indian Affairs. Lazvs
and Treaties, II, 39-45 (Washington, 1904). See also Barce, Elmore, The
Land of the Miamis . . . , 238-44 (Fowler, Ind., 1922) ; Howe, Daniel Wait,
Making a Capital in the Wilderness, 307 (Indiana Historical Society Pub-
lications, IV, no. 4, Indianapolis, 1908).

""Sketch of the Life of William Conner, late of Noblesville," Indian-
apolis Daily Journal, August 22, 1855 ; History of Fayette County In-
diana . . .,36 (Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885) ; Fletcher, James C,
"The Life and Services of William Conner," in Indianapolis News, June 23,
1881 ; Rave, Herman, "An Indiana Pioneer," a newspaper clipping in Finch

(194)

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 195

Scrapbook, Indiana State Library ; Fletcher, James G, "Who Was He ?" in
Indianapolis Arcws, April 13, 1881.

10John Conner, after leaving Michigan, conducted his land transactions
through an attorney in fact. Deed Record A, Macomb County, 184, 280.
William Conner returned to Michigan for a short time in 1801, and put his
Detroit brothers in possession of his land. American State Papers. Public
Lands, I, 356, 456.

uJohn Gibson was released from captivity among the Indians by Colonel
Bouquet in his expedition against the Shawnee in 1764; is said to have
married a sister of the Mingo chief, Logan; translated Logan's memorable
speech ; delivered the Congressional belt to the Indians in 1775, and met the
Conner family at Schoenbrunn that year ; had a good record in the Revolu-
tion ; became secretary of Indiana Territory in 1800, and served as acting
governor during the absences of Governor Harrison in the War of 1812.
His services to Indiana in its formative period were valuable. He died in
1822. See sketch in Dictionary of American Biography, VII, 253-54.

"According to the census figures set out in Woollen, William W., et al.
(eds.), Executive Journal of Indiana Territory, 1800-18 16, 83 {Indiana His-
torical Society Publications, III, no. 3, Indianapolis, 1900), there were 5,641
persons in the territory in 1800, of whom 2,513 were within the limits of
the present state of Indiana. Not until two years later was the Gore in-
cluded in Indiana Territory. It had a population of more than a thousand
in 1800. Dunn, Jacob P., Indiana and Indianans . . . , I, 226 (Chicago and
New York, 1919)-

13Dillon, John B., The National Decline of the Miami Indians, 121-43
(Indiana Historical Society Publications, I, no. 4, Indianapolis, 1897) ;
Howe, Making a Capital in the Wilderness, 307-8 ; Barce, Land of the
Miamis, 44, 46, 47-52 ; Dunn, Jacob P., True Indian Stories with Glossary of
Indiana Indian Names, 280-82, 297-98, 308-9 (Indianapolis, 1009) ; Beckwith,
Hiram W., The Illinois and Indiana Indians, 107-17 (Fergus' Historical
Series, no. 27, Chicago, 1884) ; Harrison, William Henry, A Discourse on
the Aborigines of the Ohio Valley . . ., 22-23 (Fergus' Historical Series,
no. 26, Chicago, 1883) ; Hodge, Frederick W. (ed.), Handbook of American
Indians North of Mexico, pt. 1, 385 (U. S. Bureau of American Ethnology,
Bulletin 30, Washington, D. C, 1912).

"King, Ohio, 149-51; De Schweinitz, David Zcisberger, 484; Hecke-
welder, History of the Indian Nations, 80-81. A dark picture of the Dela-
ware nation at this period and this place is presented in Stacker, Harry
Emilius, "A History of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians on the
White River in Indiana," in Moravian Historical Society, Transactions,
X, pts. 3 and 4, 241-43 (Bethlehem, Pa., 1917). Degraded by drink, their
appetite for it was insatiable. They were lazy, deceitful, lying, and without
ambition. Their outstanding virtue was their attachment to their children
and relatives.

15There were Delawares on White River in 1794. Burnet, Jacob, Notes
on the Early Settlement of the North-Western Territory, 18m (Cincinnati,
1847); De Schweinitz, op. cit., 659; Drake, Benjamin, Life of Tecumsch,
and of His Brother the Prophet . . .,83 (Cincinnati, 1850).

196 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

lsThe sites of Indian villages in Indiana are much in doubt. An attempt
is here made to collect all the evidence, historical and archaeological, now
available concerning the location of Delaware and other Indian villages on
the headwaters of the West Fork of White River during the years 1801
to 1806, when John and William Conner settled and traded there. The
evidence is not always definitive, and later information may change these
tentative conclusions. The material given here summarizes present findings
and presents a picture corresponding approximately, at least, to the sur-
roundings amid which the Conners labored when they first came to White
River. See map, facing page 42.

After the Treaty of Greenville (August 3, 1795), it was necessary for
the Indians in Ohio to settle elsewhere. If the Delawares had not settled
in Indiana before that date (and there is considerable evidence that they
had) they did so shortly after. Howe, Making a Capital in the Wilderness,
307. That they and other tribes were established on the upper waters of
the West Fork of White River before 1801 is definitely stated in the
papers of the Moravian missionaries Kluge and Luckenbach, who began a
mission among them in that year. That the Shawnee were invited to this
locality by the Delawares in 1798, that they came with their chief Tecumseh,
and remained until early in 1805 is stated in Drake's Life of Tecumseh,
83-86.

Since the Moravian mission papers are used as a main source for the
location of the Indian villages, and since they set forth the site of the
Mission Town and locate the other villages with reference to this town, its
location will be given first.

The Moravian Mission Town (site 6) was located in Madison County
three miles east of the present Anderson, then Andersontown, on the right
bank of the West Fork of White River. It was eight miles downstream
from Hockingpomsga's Town (site 4), and twenty miles downstream from
Wapicomekoke (site 1). "Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 376,
379; Stocker, "History of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians on the
White River," 2S0; De Schweinitz, David Zeisberger, 659. Dunn, True
Indian Stories, 272, states that the mission was about four miles east of
Anderson, identifying the site with that of the later Delaware town called
Little Munsee Town. This area was surveyed in 1821 by B. Bentley, deputy
surveyor. His plat, Vol. 3, p. 94, Records of Surveys, Auditor's Office,
State House, Indianapolis, shows Little Munsee Town on the north side
of White River in the S. E. % of the S. E. % of Sec. 17, T. 19 N., R. 8 E.
Frank M. Setzler, who visited the site in August, 1930, confirms this loca-
tion, placing it on "the old S. Hughel farm." By river the site is less than
two miles from Anderson, but it was usual for the Moravians to go to
Andersontown by the Indian road which lay three miles north of the mission
town. Luckenbach and Kluge to Van Vleck, September 24, 1802, transla-
tion in Brady Papers, Indiana Historical Society. In 1913 the Kikthawenund
Chapter of the D. A. R. erected a marker in commemoration of the mission
on the old Anderson-Muncie road, one and one-half miles east of Anderson.
According to the entry of June 3, 1S01, in the Diary of the Little Indian
Congregation on the White River (translation in Brady Papers, Indiana

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 197

Historical Society), there were, down the river from the mission town,
seven Indian towns of different nations, most of them Delaware towns, and
up the river, four Indian towns, also of various nations. A letter from
Kluge and Luckenbach dated September 24, 1S02, states that "Delaware
towns of which there are nine in all lie from four to five miles apart and
are scattered along the river. After these towns come other settlements of
Indian nations as for instance the Nanticoke, Shawanos and others. After
that there is nothing but meadow land as far as the eye can reach until the
banks of the Wabash." De Schweinitz refers to six Delaware towns on
White River "of which the largest were Woapikamikunk, Monsey- Ander-
son, and Sarah Town." David Zeisbcrger, 659. These three towns, Wapi-
comekoke (Buckongahelas' Town), Munsee Town (Tetepachsit's Town)
and Sarah Town, and three others, Hockingpomsga's Town, Nancy Town,
and Andersontown (Monsey-Anderson) can be located with a fair degree
of accuracy. The three Delaware towns necessary to reach the number
nine given by Kluge and Luckenbach, and the villages of other nations
needed to reach the total of eleven village sites mentioned in the Diary of
the Little Indian Congregation are not so easily identified.

There are fourteen sites of Indian villages between and including
W'apicomekoke (farthermost eastern site) and Lower Delaware Town
(farthermost western site) which show evidence of Indian occupation in the
historical period or are established by historical references. At least two of
these sites were not occupied when the mission was founded, namely, Bucks-
town and Connerstown. Cf. notes that follow. It is also extremely prob-
able that the Delaware town four miles below Connerstown (between Con-
nerstown and Lower Delaware Town) was not settled until after the War
of 1812, for there is no reference to it until 1818. When these three are
eliminated there remain the eleven sites referred to by the missionaries in
the earliest pages of their Diary.

The evidence in regard to each of these sites beginning with Wapi-
comekoke is set forth below. The known Delaware villages are designated
by (D).

(1). Wapicomekoke, or Buckongahelas' Town (D) was located on
the left bank of the river about three miles southeast of the present town
of Muncie, Delaware County. It was the first Indian village reached by
the missionaries on their journey from Goshen, Tuscarawas County, Ohio,
via the Muskingum, Ohio, Big Miami, and Whitewater rivers, and overland
from the forks of Whitewater at the present site of Brookville to White
River. Here, in 1801, lived the Delaware chief Buckongahelas (Bucken-
gelaus, Buckengelis, Buchengelas, Packangahelis, Pakantschihilas, Pachgant-
schihillas, Packandgihhilles, Pokenchelah, Pokenchilah, Pochgantschilias,
Bohengeehalus, Bokongehalas, Buckangalah) with about forty families.
Here, too, lived John Conner with his Indian wife. "Autobiography of
Abraham Luckenbach," 375, 376, 379. According to Dunn, True Indian
Stories, 255, Buckongahelas is properly pronounced "Poch-gont'-she-he'-los,"
and means "Breaker to Pieces." The name Wapicomekoke (Woapicami-
kunk, Wahpikomekunk) is said to mean "White River Town" (ibid., 285),
"White Grave" ("Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 375), or "at

198 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

the place where there is much white earth" (Hodge [ed.], Handbook of
American Indians, pt. 2, 967). Stocker, page 241, says the town was "situ-
ated about three miles east of the present city of Muncie and lying on the
same side of the river." The town was approached by the missionaries from
the southeast, and there is no record of their crossing the river to reach it.
There is a site of an Indian town in the N. W. 34 of the N. W. % of
the S. E. J4 of Sec. 25, T. 20 N., R. 10 E., about four miles southeast of
Munsee Town on the west bank of White River. Frank M. Setzler, Archae-
ological Report on Delaware County. It is on the Burlington Road on the
Jacob Felton farm, formerly the old Cecil farm. Mr. Cecil, in the Indiana
Magazine of History, I, 178-79, describes the location as three miles south-
east of Muncie, Indiana. He states that the village stood on a hill, one
hundred feet above White River with a deep gully on the southwest, and
sloping south eighty rods to Juber Creek. Beyond this creek about forty
rods stood an Indian trading post. According to Glenn A. Black, archae-
ologist for the Indiana Historical Society, the many trade objects found here
indicate that the site was inhabited well into the historical period. Dunn,
in True Indian Stories, 285-86, says that the original location of Wapicome-
koke was "a short distance ... up the river" from Munsee Town. He iden-
tifies this earlier location as "Outainink," sometimes spelled "Utenink,"
meaning "Old Town." There seems to be no doubt that when the mission-
aries arrived, the town was located at this site. It is probable that after the
death of Buckongahelas in May, 1805, or the murder of Tetepachsit in the
following year, the inhabitants of Wapicomekoke removed to Munsee Town.
According to the Diary of the Journey from Goshen to White River,
March 24-May 25, 1801 (translation in Brady Papers, Indiana Historical
Society), the missionaries reached Wapicomekoke on May 21. Here they
met a trader named Fisher (entry of May 24). This was the Frederick
Fisher who was licensed to trade with the Delaware nation at their town
of "Buckengelis." Lasselle, Charles B., "The Old Indian Traders of In-
diana," in Indiayia Magazine of History, II, 7 (March, 1906).

A marker has been erected on this site by the Paul Revere Chapter of
the D. A. R., Muncie, Indiana. It states that Tecumseh and the Prophet
lived here in 1805. Stocker, "History of the Moravian Mission on the
White River," 298, says that "for a number of years he [Tecumseh] had
his headquarters in one of the Delaware towns." Stocker's source is prob-
ably Drake's Life of Tecumseh, 83-86. Neither Stocker nor Drake attempts
to identify the particular town in which Tecumseh lived. Esarey, History
of Indiana, I, 206-7, states that the Shawnee headquarters on White River
was Anderson.

(2). Munsee Town or Tetepachsit' s Toivn (D) lay on the right bank
of the river about four miles downstream from Wapicomekoke, within the
present limits of Muncie, Delaware County.

The missionaries, setting out from Wapicomekoke on May 24, some in
a canoe borrowed with the help of the trader Fisher, and some on foot,
arrived "towards noon" at Munsee Town. Diary of the Journey from
Goshen to White River. Luckenbach in his "Autobiography," 379, states
that Tetepachsit was the first and oldest chief of his nation and lived at

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 199

Munsee Town with about eight families, four miles downstream from
Wapicomekoke. When the Indian emissaries came to White River in
January, 1801, to announce the coming of the missionaries, they were re-
ceived cordially by Buckongahelas "and another chief of an adjoining town,
called Tedpachxit." Periodical Accounts Relating to the Missions Estab-
lished by the Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum, III, 68-73. Tete-
pachsit is spelled variously Tedpachsit, Tedpachxit, Tetpachski, Tatapachkse,
Tate-e-bock-o-she, Tatepahosect, Telabuxika, Toethteboxie, and Teta Bux-
ika. Dunn, in Notes on the Moravian Diary (Brady Papers, Indiana His-
torical Society), says the proper form is Ta-ta-pach-sit or Te-te-pach-sit.
He is often referred to as The Grand Glaize King. See also Dunn, True
Indian Stories, 305-6. His town is sometimes referred to as Talapoxie or
Telipockshy.

Munsee Town is exactly located on the 1821 map, Records of Surveys,
Auditor's Office, State House, Indianapolis, as being in the N. E. J4 oi the
N. E. Ya, of Sec. 9 and the N. W. % of the N. W. % of Sec. 10, T. 20 N.,
R. 10 E. within the present limits of the city of Muncie. The site is im-
mediately north of the river and west of or bisected by the L. E. & W. rail-
road tracks.

A marker was erected by the Paul Revere Chapter of the D. A. R. on
June 14, 1917, for this site on Minnetrista Boulevard at the corner of the
grounds of Mrs. Edmund Burke Ball, Muncie. It states that this is the
traditional site of Wah-pe-kah-me-kunk, or Wapicomekoke. See (1).

(3). Unnamed site near Y orktozvn. Since Setzler's survey of Dela-
ware County in 1930, material evidence of Indian habitation has been found
in the vicinity of Yorktown, Delaware County, particularly across the river
from this little community. Corroborative evidence of a town here is found
in an advertisement in the Indiana Journal, September 3, 1836: "The under-
signed has laid out 'Yorktown' at the junction of White river and Big Buck
creek . . . between Andersontown and Muncietown. The town is located
on the ground where the old Indian village stood, immediately below the
mouth of Buck creek.-' The advertisement is signed by O. H. Smith.
Yorktown is about six miles west of Munsee Town and about three miles
east of Hockingpomsga's Town. Dillon says : "Tate-e-bock-o-she was
burned at the Indian village which stood at the site of Yorktown." History
of Indiana, 425a Luckenbach, in his "Autobiography," 386, says, however,
that Tetepachsit was burned near the Mission Town. It is possible that
Dillon confuses Yorktown with the Mission Town. If there was an Indian
village near Yorktown, it probably belonged to some other nation than the
Delawares. Since there were Shawnee in this vicinity it may have been
their town.

(4). Hockingpomsga's Tozvn (D). The town of the Delaware Chief
Hockingpomsga (sometimes given as Hockingpomsa, Hocking, Hock-ink-
pam-ska, Hackinpomka, Hockingponsa, Hockingpomskan, Hockingponsha,
Owenachki) was located in the present Delaware County about eight miles
east of the Mission Town. "Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 379;
Diary of the Little Indian Congregation, November 8, 1802. This would
make the site about nine miles west of Munsee Town. No statement is

200 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

given as to which side of the river it is on, but in the Diary of the Journey
from Goshen to White River (entry of May 24, 1801), the missionaries
mention crossing the river after they left Munsee Town. This would bring
them to the south or left bank. They rested for half an hour and at three
o'clock of the same day came to the town where Tetepachsit and Hocking-
pomsga lived. Here Hockingpomsga played host and his wife prepared
food for them, which supports the assumption that this was Hocking-
pomsga's Town. It is natural that the missionaries, new to this country,
might assume, on seeing the two chiefs together, that they lived in the same
town. It is difficult to see how the missionaries could have traveled nine
miles in the short time between their arrival at Munsee Town "towards
noon" and three o'clock, with a half hour out for a rest. It is possible
that the time of arrival at Hockingpomsga's Town was given incorrectly, or
that there is an error in the translation.

The nearest site of an Indian village in this location disclosed by
archaeological evidence is the one known as the Kilgore Village Site (so
named because it is located on the Kilgore farm) which is on the south side
of White River in the S. W. J4 of the N. W. % of Sec. 29, T. 20 N., R. 9
E. in Delaware County. This site is not more than eight and one-half miles
east of the Mission Town. Evidence indicating some length of habitation
here was found by Frank Setzler. T. B. Helm, in his History of Dclazvare
County, Indiana . . .,28 (Chicago, 1881), reports a fortification in the way
of a wall and ditch near the north end of the ridge upon which the site is
located. Setzler, however, did not believe the site was fortified. Dr. Rollo
H. Bunch, of Muncie, has material removed from burials at this site.

(5). Killbuck's Village or Buck's Toum. There is material evidence
of an Indian village site in Madison County between Chief Hockingpomsga's
Town and the Mission. This could not have been settled during the period
under discussion, 1801-1806, for Hockingpomsga's village was then nearest
the Mission on the east. This site is known as Killbuck's Village or Buck's
Town and is shown in the government survey of 1821 in the S. E. Y\ of the
N. E. % of the N. E. V4 of Sec. 9, T. 19 N., R. 8 E., Vol. 3, p. 94, Records
of Surveys, Auditor's Office, State House, Indianapolis. Setzler states that
the site produced broken flints and fire-cracked rocks at the time of his
visit. The site is on a high bluff east of the river, one mile northwest of
the town of Chesterfield "on the old C. Brannenberg farm."

E. Y. Guernsey in his map, Indiana, Influence of the Indian . . . (De-
partment of Conservation, Publication No. 122, 1933), marks this site as
the village of Charles Killbuck, a Delaware. In 1800 the old Indian chief
Gelelemend, afterwards called William Henry Killbuck, was living with his
three sons, John, Charles, and Gottlieb, at Zeisberger's town of Goshen in
Ohio. Twice Charles Henry Killbuck came on a special mission to the
White River towns but each time he returned to Goshen. The second mis-
sion was in the fall of 1805. The families of both White Eyes and Killbuck
had been especially invited to settle on White River but they did not come.
"Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 370, 373, 387; Stacker, "History
of the Moravian Missions on the White River," 331-32. Killbuck's town on
White River was not then in existence. It belongs to a later period.

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 201

(6). Moravian Mission Town {Little Munsee Town). See ante, 196.
(7). Anderson's Town, Anderson-town, or Wapeminskinh (D), some-
times called by Anderson's Indian name, Koktowhanund (spelled variously
Kiktuchwenind, Kiktheswemud, Kikthawenund, Keehlawhenund) was lo-
cated on the left bank of White River on the site of the present town of
Anderson, Madison County. This town is shown in the Records of Sur-
veys, Vol. 3, p. 93, in the N. E. % of the S. W. 54 of the S. E. l/4 of Sec.
12, T. 19 N., R. 7 E., on the west bank of White River about one-half mile
south of Buck (Killbuck) Creek. The Field Notes of the Survey, Auditor's
Office, State House, Indianapolis, Vol. 15, North and East, p. 309, mention
"a road" intersecting the east line of Section 13 (south of the town site) 62
chains (approximately four-fifths of a mile) north of the southeast section
corner. This road undoubtedly led from Anderson's Town to others up the
river.

The Delaware name of the town was Wapeminskink or Chestnut Tree
Place. This was the home of Chief William Anderson, a half-breed Indian
descended from an Indian trader by the name of Anderson. He was the
father-in-law of William Conner. The town at this period contained fifteen
or sixteen families. Later, it is said to have had one thousand inhabitants.
Thomas Dean, who visited Chief Anderson in 1817, described his home as
''good as any in the village," and Anderson as "a plain, majestic looking
man, sixty or sixty-five years old." Dean, John Candee and Randle C.
(eds.), Journal of Thomas Dean, 317 {Indiana Historical Society Publica-
tions, VI, no. 2, Indianapolis, 191S). "Autobiography of Abraham Lucken-
bach," 379 ; Dunn, True Indian Stories, 253 ; De Schweinitz, David Zeis-
bcrgcr, 659; Guernsey's map, Indiana, Influence of the Indian (1933);
Advertisement, Sale of Lots in Andersontown, in Indianapolis Gazette,
August 16, 1825; Hodge (ed.), Handbook of American Indians, pt. 2, 912.
(8). Nancy Town, Nantico, Nantikoke, or Nanticoke {D), in Madison
County, four miles overland northwest of Anderson's Town is the last of
the Indian towns shown on the government survey made by Bentley in
1821. It is in the S. E. % of the S. E. V4 of Sec. 5, T. 19 N., R. 7 E., on
the west bank of the river. Records of Surveys, Auditor's Office, State
House, Indianapolis, Vol. 3, p. 93.

Part of the Nanticoke Indians moved west "about 1784 and joined the
Delawares of Ohio and Indiana, with whom they soon became incorporated."
Hodge (ed.), Handbook of American Indians, pt. 2, 24; Lasselle, "Old
Indian Traders of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, II, 6, II.
Nancy Town was the home of James Nantikoke. Dunn, True Indian
Stories, 287. The town is mentioned also in Dean and Dean (eds.), Journal
of Thomas Dean, 317-18, and placed about nine miles west of Anderson.
This seems to be an error in mileage. The site is six miles south and east
of Perkinsville. When Isaac McCoy was making a tour of the towns on
White River in 1818, his party reached this village on December 5, "pro-
cured a little corn for our horses, and dined at the house of an elderly
couple, the wife being a woman of note, named Nancy, who could speak
English tolerably well, and who was the principal manager of matters

202 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

around her." McCoy, Isaac, History of Baptist Indian Missions . . ., 51
(Washington, 1840).

Note. Between Nancy Town and the village site discussed next there
may, at one time, have been another village, called Greentown. So far, the
distance between the known towns has been generally four or five miles, as
Luckenbach stated. The advertisement for a Sale of Lots in Andersontown
in Indianapolis Gazette, August 16, 1S25, states that Andersontown "was
surrounded by Buckstown, Nantikoke, Greentown and other Indian villages
of less importance." In Indiana Miscellany . . ., p. 32, by William C.
Smith (Cincinnati, 1867), the author speaks "of hearing of an Indian, whose
English name was Green say he had killed enough white people for himself
and pony to swim in their blood." See also Fox, Henry Clay (ed.),
Memoirs of Wayne County and the City of Richmond, Indiana . . . , I, 75
(Madison, Wris., 1912).

No definite information about this Indian or Greentown has been
found, but that such a town was in this vicinity is at least possible. The
tribe to which the Indian belonged is unknown. It may not have been the
Delaware.

(9). Indian Strawtown (D). A site in Hamilton County nine miles
west of Nancy Town was discovered in 1821 by Thomas Brown, deputy
surveyor. Of this site he says (Field Notes, Vol. 14, North and East, 311,
Auditor's Office, State House) : "Intersected line between Sec. 1 & 2 —
60.58 chains north of Sec. corner

Thence N 32 E

4.50 chains

N 51 E

9.00 "

N 56 E

6.00 "

the remains of an Old
Indian Village, Situated on a Beautifull Eminance which overlooks a fine
Prairie on the opposite side of the River." This places the site in the
N. W. V4 of the N. E. ]/A of the N. W. % of Sec. 1, T. 19 N., R. 5 E., a
little over one and one-half miles east and north of the present Strawtown,
on the right bank of the river. Glenn A. Black suggests the possibility that
this was the original site of the Indian Strawtown, for the evidences of
occupation found where Strawtown now stands are of a prehistoric nature.
Nathaniel Bolton in his Early History of Indianapolis and Central Indiana,
173 (Indiana Historical Society Publications, I, no. 5, Indianapolis, 1897),
states that in 1823 : "There was another post-office at Strawtown, a prairie
of considerable magnitude, where many remains of the Indian village that
had been there located were still standing." In the Post Office Index, In-
diana State Library, no post office is listed at Strawtown until April 8, 1834.
The previous post office near this site was called Stevensburgh. It was
established on October 13, 1829. The name was changed to Strawtown in
1834. Haines, John F., History of Hamilton County . . ., 189 ff. (Indian-
apolis, 1915), states that Isaac Stevens was an early settler in this vicinity.
He lived two miles above Strawtown, the approximate location of the above
site. Two derivations of the name, Strawtown, have been suggested : that
it came from a house in the town thatched with straw (Chamberlain's
Indiana Gazetteer, 1850, p. 394) ; that the town was once the residence of a
Chief Straw or Strawbridge (Helm, T. B., History of Hamilton County,

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 203

Indiana . . .,132 [Kingman Brothers, Chicago, 1880]). This may have
been a Delaware village.

(10). Sarah Town (D). Evidences of habitation have been discovered
by Glenn Black in Hamilton County on the left bank of White River about
one mile south and west of the present Strawtown. The area is on the
Morris farm in the N. E. V4 of the N. E. % of the S. E. J4 of Sec. 9, T.
19 N., R. 5 E. It is of some size, and lies five miles south and west of the
site we have considered as the original Indian village of Strawtown. It
seems logical to assume that this is the site of Sarah Town, referred to by
Luckenbach in his "Autobiography," 379, as the last of the small Indian
villages below Anderson's Town. It was so named he says, "because Isaac
and Sarah, two baptized Indians, had settled there with their sons, who had
become heathen. The parents were dead, and the sons would not leave their
heathenism." De Schweinitz {David Zeisbcrgcr, 659) refers to it as one
of the three largest Delaware towns on White River, the other two being
Wapicomekoke and Anderson's Town.

(11). Upper Dclazcare Town (D). The name Upper Delaware Town
was used frequently during the War of 1812 and thereafter to designate an
Indian village in Hamilton County in the vicinity of William Conner's Trad-
ing Post, about seven miles downstream from the site we have called Sarah
Town. Dillon, History of Indiana, 524; Journal of Thomas Dean, 316.

Upper Delaware Town is not mentioned by the missionaries ; either it
was not settled by 1806, or it lay outside their field of work. On November
30, 1801, a license was granted to John and William Conner to trade with the
Delawares at their town of Petchepencues (Lasselle, "Old Indian Traders
of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, II, 6, 12-13) and in 1802
William Conner established his post on Conner's Prairie. It is possible that
the Upper Delaware Town was called Petchepencues at this time, although
Lasselle believed that Petchepencues was located on Wild Cat Creek which
flows into the Wabash above the present Lafayette. In this study no other
reference has been found to Petchepencues. The name suggests Hengue
Pushees, a Delaware chief and a contemporary of White Eyes and Gele-
lemend.

There are three sites in this vicinity on which Glenn Black has found
evidence of Indian occupation. One, called to his attention by Mr. Clay
Kinsey, is in Noblesville Township, Hamilton County, in the N. W. % of
the N. W. V4 of the N. E. VA of Sec. 12, T. 18 N., R. 4 E. The second
site is less than a mile south of the first in the S. E. Y4 of the N. E. Y of
the S. E. % of Sec. 12, T. 18 N., R. 4 E., at the curve in the river known
as Horseshoe Bend. The third site is less than a mile south of the second,
and marks a village of some size. It lay in the S. E. Y of the S. W. ]/A of
the S. W. 54 of Sec. 12 and the N. E. % of the N. W. VA of the N. W. YA
of Sec. 13, T. 18 N., R. 4 E., on the west side of the river. The government
surveyor, in his Field Notes, Vol. 14, North and East, 97, records seeing
remains of a village here in 1821. One of these sites or all three of them
may have constituted the town known as Upper Delaware Town.

Another Indian site of considerable size located on the Rucker farm
about one mile south of Noblesville and a quarter of a mile south of Stoney

204 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Creek in the N. W. VA of the N. W. % of the N. W. % of Sec. 18, T. 18
N., R. s E., is not of historic date but is an archaeological site.

(12). Connerstoivn in Hamilton County, about two or three miles
south of the Upper Delaware Town. William Conner established his
trading post here in 1802.

The Records of Surveys, Package 14, North and East, Archives Di-
vision, Indiana State Library, show the site about one-eighth mile east of
the line dividing Sees. 23 and 24 on the left or southeast bank of the river
in the N. W. l/4 of the S. W. % of Sec. 24, T. 18 N., R. 4 E.

(13). Unnamed site {historic). Another site of an Indian village
about four miles south of Connerstown in Delaware Township, is on the
farm of Frank and Perry St. Clair in the S. E. ^4 of the S. E. T/l of the
N. E. ]4 of Sec. 4, T. 17 N., R. 4 E. A burial found here in 1930 indicated
historical occupation. The Survey Field Notes, Vol. 14, North and East,
96, mention an "Indian Trace" intersected by the south line of Section 34,
60.50 chains west of the section corner and 3.96 chains west of the river.
As its course was south, it doubtless connected this site with the Upper
Delaware Town. It ran through what is now Northern Woods Beach.

This may have been a Delaware town of a later date. Thomas Dean
says in his Journal: "We . . . went to the house of William Conner. . . .
We went down across the prairie about a mile, crossed the river and went
about four miles to a settlement of the Delaware Indians, carried our packs,
and then met them at the lower village."

(14). Lower Dclaivarc Town (D). The references to this site are
summed up in Jacob Piatt Dunn's Greater Indianapolis, I, 38 (Chicago,
1910). He says: "There was no Indian village at this point [Indianapolis].
The nearest one, some twelve miles north, was what Tipton calls 'the Lower
Delaware Town', but it was not much of a town. On the east side of the
river, a Delaware known as 'The Owl' had a clearing of about 17 acres,
which he cultivated in a way, and he also raised some pigs and chickens.
On the west side was a French half-breed doctor, named Brouett ( PBrouill-
ette) — often called Pruitt — who had a white wife that had been captured
and brought up by the Indians. He practiced medicine after the Indian
fashion, and had considerable patronage. Both of these were just north of
the Hamilton County line, and they constituted the 'town'. Just south of
the line, on an elevation on the east side, were traces of Indian occupancy,
and the old settlers called that point 'the old Indian town'. The place was
commonly called 'Brouettstown', and was somewhat noted for the wild
plum thicket there." Sources cited by Dunn are Ignatius Brown's "History
of Indianapolis from 1S18 to 1868," in Logan's Indianapolis Directory, 1
(Indianapolis, 1868), and John H. B. Nowland's Early Reminiscences of
Indianapolis . . . , 157 (Indianapolis, 1870). See also "The Journal of
John Tipton," in Indiana Magazine of History, I, n; "Indian Towns of
Marion County," in ibid., I, 15-17; letter of Joseph Bartholomew to Posey,
in Dillon, History of Indiana, 524; Esarey, Logan (ed.), Governors
Messages and Letters. Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison,
II, 44 {Indiana Historical Collections, IX, Indianapolis, 1922).

There are many references to this trader, and many variations in the

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 205

spelling of his name, including Brennett, Bruitt, Brewitt, and Bennett.
Shirts, Augustus Finch, A History of the Formation, Settlement and De-
velopment of Hamilton County, Indiana, 25, 49, 68, 117 (1901) ; Helm,
History of Hamilton County, 34, 113. These variations seem to be attempts
of the frontiersman to find a satisfactory substitute for the French name
Michael Brouillette. The original bearer of this name came to Vincennes
before 1783 and died there in 1801. He had a son Michael who became
an Indian trader and served as interpreter for Harrison during the War
of 1812. Lasselle Papers, 1783, 1790, Indiana State Library; Esarey (ed.),
Messages and Letters, II, Index; Dillon, History of Indiana, 439; Barce,
Land of the Miamis, 308-9; Lasselle, "Old Indian Traders of Indiana," in
Indiana Magazine of History, II, 7, 8.

It is probable, however, that Brouillette did not settle here until after
the War of 1S12 and that the town before 1806 was only that of the Dela-
ware Indian known as "The Owl." A Miami by the name of Owl or Long
Beard is mentioned several times in Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II.
His village is noted on Guernsey's map, Indiana, Influence of the Indian
(1933), near the mouth of the West Fork of White River in what is now
Daviess County. Long Beard's name is linked with John Conner's in the
French spy incident related by Moses Dawson, Historical Narrative of the
Civil and Military Services of Major-Gcncral William H. Harrison, 50
(Cincinnati, 1824).

Material evidence of a prehistoric Indian village has been found in
this neighborhood. The evidence does not preclude the possibility that the
site was also occupied within historical times. Glenn A. Black locates it in
Washington Township, Marion County, on the old John Oliver and Bosson
farms. It lies on the north and south sides of the river in the N. E. %. of
the N. W. VA of the N. E. % of Sec. 20 and the S. W. J4 of the S. E. %
of the N. W. ]/i of Sec. 20, T. 17 X., R. 4 E. The trail mentioned above
probably continued south to this site.

1TStocker, "History of the Moravian Mission on the White River,"
246 ff. ; "Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 3J3; De Schweinitz,
David Zeisbcrger, 659.

lsStocker, op. cit., 279-80; "Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach,"
373-S1 ; Dunn, Indiana and hidianans, III, 1476.

""Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 379~8i-

^Stocker, "History of the Moravian Mission on the White River,"
298n-99n; Drake, Life of Tccumseh, 83-84, 86-88; Dillon, History of In-
diana, 424-25. Dawson says in his William Henry Harrison, 82, that if
Buckongahelas, whom he characterizes as a great Indian, had lived, he
would not have suffered the Prophet to impose on the people as he did.
See also Hamilton, John Taylor, A History of the Church known as the
Moravian . . ., 319-20 (Bethlehem, Pa., 1900).

Tenskwatawa did not overemphasize the evil effects of the introduc-
tion of liquor among the Indians. As early as 1721, Charlevoix, writing
from the trading post on the St. Joseph River, described the effect on the
Indians of liquor brought in from the English colonies. Quoted in Dillon,
National Decline of the Miami Indians, 130-31. Nearly one hundred years

206 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

later, Governor Harrison said before the legislature of Indiana Territory:
"You are witnesses to the abuses, you have seen our towns crowded with
furious and drunken savages, our streets flowing with their blood, their
arms and clothing bartered for the liquor that destroys them, and their
miserable women and children enduring all the extremities of cold and
hunger." Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 154. Jefferson frequently
warned the Indians against the use of liquor. Ibid., I, 329.

21Mitchener (ed.), Ohio Annals, 185-86.

"Stacker, "History of the Moravian Mission on the White River," 281.

^Ibid., 339-44; Dunn, Jacob P., "Centennial Anniversary of the Burning
of Christians at Stake for Witchcraft on the banks of White River," in
Indianapolis Neivs, March 17, 1906. See also Dunn, True Indian Stories,
60-68.

2lLasselle, "Old Indian Traders of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of
History, II, 5-13 ; "Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 375. On
February 19, 1802, Harrison, believing that British traders were inciting the
Indians against the United States, suggested to the secretary of war that
an effort be made to divert the trade in furs and Indian goods from British
to American ports. Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 38-39.

25Fletcher, "Early Days," in Indianapolis Neivs, May 11, 1881 ; "Sketch
of the Life of William Conner," Indianapolis Daily Journal, August 22,
1855 : letter of R. J. Conner, Draper MSS. VIII, yy2i.

KDe Schweinitz, David Zeisbergcr, 66on ; entry for October 18, 1802, in
Diary of the Little Indian Congregation on the White River.

^Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 50, 54.

w Atlas of Franklin Co. Indiana . . ., 12-13 (J. H. Beers & Co., Chi-
cago, 1882), quoting an article written by Reverend Allen Wiley for the
Western Christian Advocate of August 15, 1845, and an article by William
McClure, written in 1879. McClure says that he went to school with
Conner's half-breed son, James.

2J"A Joke in Pioneer Days," in Indianapolis News, February 14, 1902.

30 Atlas of Franklin County (1S82), 93; Reifel, August J., History of
Franklin County, Indiana . . ., 149-50 (Indianapolis, 1915).

slAtlas of Franklin County (1882), 12, 95; Heineman, J. L., Tzvo Chap-
ters from the History of Fayette County . . ., 50 (B. F. Bowen & Com-
pany, Indianapolis, 1917). Telier died in 1815, and a few years later Peltier
left for the West.

^Interview with Judge F. M. Finch, "The Ways of the Red Man," in
Indianapolis Journal, October 30, 1SS7 ; Griswold, Bert J. (ed.), Fort Wayne,
Gatczvay of the West, 1802-1813 . . ., 595 (Indiana Historical Collections,
XV, Indianapolis, 1927) ; "Wild Animals of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine
of Llistory, II, 13-16; letter to Van Vleck from Luckenbach, September 30,
1802, Brady Papers, Indiana Historical Society; Cockrum, William M.,
Pioneer History of Indiana . . ., 444-53 (Oakland City, Ind., 1907) ; Shirts,
History of Hamilton County, 7-8, 30-31. The only recorded loss by this
method of transportation occurred in July, 1824, when James Backhouse,
who was transporting merchandise for John Conner, lost a part of his load
in crossing Taylor's Creek. Barrows, Frederic Irving (ed.), History of

NOTES, CHAPTER IV 207

Fayette County, Indiana . . ., 153 (B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1917).
^The following description of the trail up the Whitewater Valley used
by the Conners is adapted in part from J. L. Heineman's account in ibid.,
121-23, 132-34, and in part from Haines, History of Hamilton Comity, 94-95.
See map facing page 42 of this volume. This trail was probably used more
than any other by the Delawares.

THE INDIAN TRAIL THROUGH THE WHITEWATER VALLEY

Start from Cedar Grove by present wagon road to Brookville ; cross
the East Fork of Whitewater over bridge below Brookville ; take the road
to the right leading up towards the Catholic church ; pass the present Mill
Street and the old graveyard ; keep on this road along East Fork to Fair-
field ; leave East Fork at Eli Creek (no road here) ; thence along Crandel
Creek (northwest arm of Eli Creek) ; across original Adam Pigman farm
where the existing township road (from Quakertown) for a short distance
coincides with the line to Connersville ; angle across old Samuel Harlan
farm, direct for the Sparks-Stoops neighborhood and for the ford of the
West Fork at Connersville (near Roots' foundry at the foot of Water
Street) ; north along Water Street turning left at street between Third and
Fourth streets ; angle over to Eastern Avenue, striking it opposite the street
between Fifth and Sixth streets ; proceed north and northwest through Fair
Grounds and City Cemetery to Edgewood ; take road from the northwest
corner of Edgewood, passing along the east foot of Elephant Hill, through
the Austin Ready farms ; thence to the foot of the hill near Harrisburg ;
thence along Lick Creek to its source northward (instead of going up the
hill westward), past the old Hackleman home to the old Florea home to
land of Sanford Guard and David Gordon, who established themselves in
reference to the creek bed rather than to the township road which was
built later ; across the highlands of Posey Township in the direction of New
Castle ; northwest to Anderson (exact location of trail uncertain) ; thence
by road connecting Indian towns on White River to the mouth of Stoney
Creek (Hamilton County), thence along White River to William Conner's
Post.

Luckenbach describes the journey from Goshen to the mission town on
White River, during which he followed part of this trail. Stocker (tr.),
"Autobiography of Abraham Luckenbach," 374-76. The road connecting
the Indian towns is mentioned also in a letter to Van Vleck from Lucken-
bach and Kluge, September 24, 1802.

34 Atlas of Franklin County (1882), 12-13, 52, 61 ; Cole, Ernest B., "The
Winship Family of Indiana," in Indianapolis Star, September 12, 1920.

^Conner's move is discussed in Heineman, Tzvo Chapters from the His-
tory of Fayette County, 49-50.

"Atlas of Franklin County (1882), 88.

V

1See. opinion of Chief Justice Marshall in Johnson v. Mcintosh, 8
Wheaton, 543-604; Royce, Charles C. (comp.), "Indian Land Cessions in
the United States," with an Introduction by Cyrus Thomas, in U. S. Bureau
of American Ethnology, Annual Report, 1896-97, pt. 2, 528-641 passim.
(Washington, 1899) ; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 372.

2See page 61.

3William Conner visited this country in 1800, before he built his cabin
there. "He told his eldest son it was the loveliest land he had ever laid
eyes on. He said that the upper valley of the west fork of White river
was a series of little prairies near the river, natural openings in the forest,
where the Indians lived in peaceful villages and from time immemorial
planted their fields of 'squaw corn.' " Fletcher, "Early Days," in Indian-
apolis Nezvs, May 11, 1881.

4Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 116. See Harrison's addresses to
the Indians in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, XVI, 390, 395-96
(Memorial edition, Washington, D. C, 1904) ; letter to Benjamin Hawkins,
February 18, 1803 : "In truth, the ultimate point of rest & happiness for
them is to let our settlements and theirs meet and blend together, to inter-
mix, and become one people." Ford, Paul Leicester (ed.), The Works of
Thomas Jefferson, IX, 447 (Federal edition, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1905).

5Dorothy Burne Goebel discusses Harrison's Indian policy in her
William Henry Harrison . . ., 89-127 {Indiana Historical Collections,
XIV, Indianapolis, 1926). See also Adams, Henry, History of the United
States . . ., VI, 73-75 (New York, 1890); Esarey (ed.), Messages and
Letters, I, 70-73.

"Ibid., I, 56-57; Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 21-28.

'Little Turtle had a splendid war record. His generalship at the defeat
of St. Clair gave him, in the opinion of Dunn, the rank of greatest of the
Miami. Trite Indian- Stories, 15. His influence with the Indians was later
impaired by his acceptance of a pension from the United States. Esarey
(ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 164, 240n-4in.

sDe Schweinitz, David Zcisbcrger, 660; Writings of Thomas Jefferson
(Memorial ed.), XVI, 396-400; Goebel, William Henry Harrison, 102.

"Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 47-50; account of council in-
corporated in a letter from Harrison to the secretary of war, March 3,
1805, in Burton Historical Collection, Manuscripts, I, 65-66; Kappler (ed.),
Indian Affairs. Laivs and Treaties, II, 64-66. Goebel, William Henry
Harrison, 104, estimates this cession at about 1,520,000 acres ; Dillon,
History of Indiana, 418, puts the figure at 1,600,000 acres.

10Dawson, op. cit., 50; letter from Dearborn to Harrison, February 21,
1803, quoted in Bulletin of the Chicago Historical Society, II, 89 (March,
1937).

uThe treaties are printed in Kappler (ed.), op. cit., II, 66 ff. See also
Dillon, History of Indiana, 418-19; map of Indian cessions in Esarey,

(208)

NOTES, CHAPTER V 209

History of Indiatia, I, 272; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 161-66.
In addition to these treaties, Harrison was successful in negotiating a
treaty with the Kaskaskia, August 13, 1803, for their land in Illinois, involv-
ing about 8,600,000 acres ; with the Sauk and Foxes, November 3, 1804, for
land on both sides of the Mississippi in northwestern Illinois, the southern
part of Wisconsin, and northern Missouri including about 14,000,000 acres,
of which 5,000,000 were relinquished to the Indians in 1816; with the
Piankashaw, December 30, 1805, involving about 2,600,000 acres west of the
Wabash River.

12Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 281. As early as 1789 the
Delawares had considered moving westward. See entry of December 26,
1789, in Quaife, Milo M. (ed.), Fort Wayne in 1790, 317 (Indiana His-
torical Society Publications, VII, no. 7, Greenfield, Ind., 1921) ; see also
Esarey (ed.), op. cit., I, 165.

"According to a report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, covering
the years 1820-1876, the average Indian population was 315,000. On the
hypothesis that the family averaged five members, there would have been
63,000 Indian families in the United States. With an area of 3,025,000
square miles in the United States (exclusive of Alaska), each family
could have had 30,720 acres. The requirements of the human race and the
advance of civilization could not admit of such an apportionment of the
soil. There were very few if any areas in the United States to which the
Indians did not claim title. If this claim could not be admitted as a just
bar to any settlements by other peoples, where should the restriction begin,
and how should it be accomplished? Royce (comp.), "Indian Land Ces-
sions," in U. S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report, 1896-97,
pt. 2, 537. This analysis was made to meet criticisms by moralists of the
government's Indian policies.

Jefferson was right when he told Harrison in 1803 that the Indians
"will in time incorporate with us as citizens of the United States or remove
beyond the Mississippi." Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 71. What
happened was that the Indians refused civilization and in less than twenty
years they were crossing that river. Their leaders had a vision of an
Indian confederacy given them by the British politicians for selfish purposes.
England had lost a valuable possession in the War of the Revolution, but
she hoped to recover part of it and to that end incited the Indians to war-
fare against the Americans. Blindly the Indians followed the destiny
prophesied for them. No human instrument could prevent it. Alvord,
Mississippi Valley in British Politics, I, 103 ; II, 76. Tecumseh, in his
memorable speech of August 10, 1810, said, "Now we began to discover the
treachery of the British they never troubled us for our lands but they

have done worse by inducing us to go to war." Esarey (ed.), Messages and
Letters, I, 464. It is evident that Tecumseh, at least, understood the
motive of the British even when about to be allied with them against the
Americans.

"Ibid., I, 346-78, 387-91 ; Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 129-37. By
the Treaty of Greenville, 1795, permanent annuities of $1000 in goods had
been granted to seven tribes, the Wyandot, Delawares, Shawnee, Miami,

210 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi ; permanent annuities of $500 were
granted to five tribes, the Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankashaw, and
Kaskaskia. Subsequently the Miami received an additional annual allow-
ance of $600, the Kaskaskia, $500, the Piankashaw, $300, and the Eel River
and Wea, $250. The Delawares, Potawatomi, and Piankashaw had re-
ceived additional grants for limited periods. Kappler (ed.), Indian Affairs.
Laws and Treaties, II, 41, 65, 67, 70, 72, 81, 89. For a statement of these
annuities and others made in treaties not relating particularly to Indiana
Indians, see American State Papers. Indian Affairs, I, 816-23 ; II, 73-74
(Washington, 1832, 1834).

15Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 390-91, 476-80; Griswold (ed.),
Fort Wayne. Gateway of the West, 3i2n; Dawson, William Henry
Harrison, 137.

vTbid., 1 10-18; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 328-35.
"Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Memorial ed.), XIII, 142; Harrison
characterized the Prophet as "a scoundrel" ; John Baptiste Bruno, an Indian
trader at Vincennes, says his personal appearance was repulsive. "Tecumseh
and the Prophet," Indianapolis Press, September 29, 1900.

18Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 182-84; Drake, Life of
Tecumseh, 88-91.

19Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 208; Esarey (ed.), Messages and
Letters, I, 417-19, 421, 436-37-

2"The entry for May 7, 1805, in the Diary of the Little Indian Congrega-
tion on the White River reads as follows : "Mr. [John] Connor's workmen
came to us to-day in order to split the rails which the Chiefs had promised
our brethren. These people . . . had already made 14,000 rails in the
Indian towns lying between us and Woapicamikunk. With these the corn-
fields of the Indians, according to the will and contract of the Government,
shall be enclosed with good fences under the supervision of Mr. Connor,
who undertook the work .... the work shall be inspected by a commission
appointed for the purpose, and then Mr. Conner is to receive payment for
his labors."

2lEsarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 239-43, 247-51.
"Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 106-7 : Drake, Life of Tecumseh,
106. In July, 1S08, John Conner made his trip to the Prophet's Town to
look for horses which had been stolen from the settlers. He found almost
twenty which he thought belonged to the whites, but he was unsuccessful in
his effort to recover them. On his way back down the Wabash he en-
countered four of the Prophet's band with twelve horses which he also
thought belonged to the whites. Statement of John Conner, July 18, 1808,
in Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury, July 23, 1808.

23Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 290-92, 302, 337S9, 340-49. 418;
Drake, op. cit., 105-12.

21Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, I, 421.

"-Lbid., I, 456, 459-67; McAfee, Robert B., History of the Late War in
the Western Country, 17-18, 407 (Bowling Green, Ohio, 1919) ; Barce, Land
of the Miamis, 59-60.

25Among the offenders was a band of Potawatomi outlaws who lived

NOTES, CHAPTER V 211

near the present town of Morocco, Newton County, Indiana. During a
raid in the Illinois country, this band committed one of the worst murders
of the period, falling upon and killing a camp of sleeping men who had
pursued the Indians for stealing horses. The same band stole twelve horses
near Vincennes on April i, 1811. Harrison sent Wells and John Conner
into the Indian country to reconnoiter and demand restitution for the horses.
Their search took them to Prophet's Town where they conversed with
Tecumseh and the Prophet, both of whom denied that they had any part in
instigating these outrages, but admitted that the group of Potawatomi was
under their influence. Four horses were returned and the restoration of
the others promised. This promise was never fulfilled and the thefts
continued.

Another incident in the spring of 1S11 called forth all of Conner's
adroitness. White Turkey, a Delaware, robbed the house of one of the
Vawters, a settler near Madison. The Delawares refused to deliver the
culprit, charging that white persons who had murdered Indians were not
brought to justice. While they would not surrender White Turkey, they
promised to punish him themselves and did actually put him to death — a
severe penalty for the offense. John Conner, recovering most of the stolen
articles, deposited them in a warehouse in Fort Wayne, but the warehouse
was broken open and the goods again stolen. At this point the Indians
refused to pay for them, saying they had delivered the articles once and
punished the thief, thereby discharging their obligations under treaty agree-
ments. These incidents are fairly illustrative of the irritation between the
whites and Indians. Harrison admitted that the latter were often maltreated,
and that it was rare that they could obtain any satisfaction for "the most
unprovoked wrongs." Barce, Laud of the Miamis, 336-38; Esarey (ed.),
Messages and Letters, I, 506-7, 512, 515-16.

"7The question of just how far Wells could be depended upon had
bothered Harrison for a long time ; his attitude toward Wells was not
consistent, as he himself admitted. Ibid., I, 81, 148, 393~95, 432, 478, 508-9.
As for John Conner, it is not surprising, in view of his association with
Wells, and his long and close connection with the Delawares, that he did
not at first enjoy Harrison's complete confidence. By 1S07, however,
Harrison shared Gibson's good opinion of Conner, and wrote of him to the
secretary of war : "I have entire confidence in his fidelity, and am confident
that he can do us much service." Ibid., I, 248, 509.

~sIbid., I, 544, 550, 599-601, 604-5, 609, 611; Dawson, William Henry
Harrison, 192-200.

2JFor accounts of the approach to Prophet's Town and the battle, see
McAfee, History of the Late War (1919 ed.), 27 f f. ; Adams, History of
the United States, VI, 981'f.; Dawson, op. cit., 202 f f. ; Esarey (ed.),
Messages and Letters, I, 608 ff. For Conner's part in the battle, see also
ante, 144-45.

""Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 30-31, 34-35; Dawson, op. cit.,
262.

31Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 36-37. Cf. ibid., II, 402.

32Ibid,, II, 39-40, 43-44, 57.

212 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

S3Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 45-47-

"Ibid,, II, 48.

35Ibid., II, 52-53; Dillon, History of Indiana, 482-86; Dawson, William
Henry Harrison, 265-68.

^Indiana Magazine of History, III, 46-47; VIII, 1 16-17.

37Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 59, 228-31, 401, 402; Dillon,
History of Indiana, 516.

VI

1 Adams, History of the United States, VI, 133 ff.; McMaster, John
Bach, A History of the People of the United States . . ., Ill, 432 ff.
(New York, 1892).

2Pratt, Julius W., "Fur Trade Strategy and the American Left Flank
in the War of 1812," in American Historical Rc'inczv, XL, 246 f f. (January,
1935) ; Innis, Harold A., "Interrelations between the Fur Trade of Canada
and the United States," in Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XX, 321-32
(December, 1933).

"Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 76-77, 109; Dillon, History of
Indiana, 486.

4 Adams, History of the United States, VII, 72 ; Dillon, op. cit., 487-88.

5In 181 1 the strength of the militia was reported as 4,160; in 1814 it
had increased to 5,010. A History of the National Guard of Indiana . . .,
34, 38 (Indianapolis, 1901) ; Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 224-26; Dillon,
op. cit., 520-21. Hargrove's instructions are printed in Esarey (ed.),
Messages and Letters, II, 71-73, and in Cockrum, Pioneer History of
Indiana, 348-51.

"Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 9m; Goebel, William Henry
Harrison, 133-42, 164; Adams, History of the United States, VII, 73-75.

TMcAfee, History of the Late War, 143-48; Griswold (ed.), Fort Wayne,
Gateway of the West, 57-74; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 143-
45.

'Ibid., II, 148.

"The following anecdote about the Conners was given to the press
by Samuel W. Parker of Connersville at the time of William Conner's
death. It had come to him some twenty-five years before from a casual
acquaintance, a Kentuckian named Rankin, and its authenticity is not
vouched for, though Parker saw no reason to question it. Rankin, a visitor
in Connersville during the thirties, inquired about John and William Conner,
whom he had met during the War of 1812. The story, briefly, is that when
the Conners were acting as guides for Harrison's army near the lakes, they
came to a deep and difficult fording place. Harrison told Rankin that he
thought the Conners were true, but to watch them carefully, and if they
led the troops into too deep water, to shoot them down. In the middle of
the stream the guides' horses stepped into deep water, and Rankin had
cocked his pistol to shoot when the guides shouted that the ford had
changed, but that they would soon be all right. So they were, and Rankin
commented that he afterwards found them to be "as true and noble
Americans" as he had ever known. Parker, "William Conner," in Conners-
ville Times, August 29, 1855. Another version of the story is given by
Herman Rave in his article, "An Indiana Pioneer," in Finch Scrapbook,
Indiana State Library. He says that William Conner told the story himself.
The chief variations from the Parker story are that William Conner was
the sole guide, and that Harrison was not present at the time.

(213)

214 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

"Dillon, History of Indiana, 492-94; Esarey, History of Indiana, I,
218-19.

uThe attack on Fort Harrison occurred on the night of September 4.
Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 124-28; Dillon, op. cit., 488-91.

12Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 174-75; McAfee, History of
the Late War, 195-96.

13Ibid., 196; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 186.

"Hopkins' first expedition is covered in ibid., II, 162-63, 192-93, 201-2;
Dillon, History of Indiana, 496-500. On the second expedition, see ibid.,
501-5; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 231-34.

15Ibid., II, 164, 186.

lcFor accounts of this battle, see ibid., II, 228-29, 248-49, 252-65, 269-74,
287-89 ; McAfee, History of the Late War, 195-200. For the stories of
Conner's horse, and the discovery of the Indians, see "Sketch of the Life
of William Conner, late of Noblesville," Indianapolis Daily Journal, August
22, 1855, and "William Conner, A Notable Character in the Early History
of Indiana," Rochester Republican, November 20, 1895 : Lockridge, Ross F.,
"History on the Mississinewa," in Indiana Magazine of History, XXX,
41-45 (March, 1934)-

irEsarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 136-37, 297; McAfee, op. cit.,
263; Adams, History of the United States, VII, 84.

™Ibid., VII, 79-81; Esarey (ed.), op. cit.. II, 369; McAfee, op. cit.,
183-84, 202-5 ; Goebel, William Henry Harrison, 146-52. For a description
of the Black Swamp, see Power, Richard Lyle, "Wet Lands and the Hoosier
Stereotype," in Mississippi Valley Historical Rcviciv, XXII, 38-39 (June,

1935).

10Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 299 ff. ; Goebel, op. cit., 144-
52, 155-62; Adams, op. cit., VII, 76-101 ; McAfee, History of the Late War,
219-61. Secretary of War Eustis was incompetent. Early in December he
resigned, and Monroe acted as secretary until February, when John Arm-
strong took over the office.

20McAfee, op. cit., 243.

21Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 419, 509, 533"35 ; McAfee,
op. cit.. 329.

''Ibid., 281 ff.; Adams, History of the United States, VII, 104-8;
Goebel, William Henry Harrison, 168-71 ; Smith, Oliver H., Early Indiana
Trials: and Sketches, 174 (Cincinnati, 1858).

^For accounts of Harrison's position and the Fort Stephenson episode,
see Adams, op. cit., VII, 108-14; McAfee, History of the Late War, 344-56;
Goebel, op. cit., 174-78; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 502, 503,
510-13, 514-16. Conner's part in the affair is mentioned by McAfee, op. cit.,
348 ; and by Croghan in a statement of August 27, 1813, printed in Burr,
Samuel J., The Life and Times of William Henry Harrison, 276-79 (8th
ed., New York and Philadelphia, 1840). In defense of Harrison, see ibid.,
275-76, and Hall, James, A Memoir of the Public Services of William Henry
Harrison, of Ohio, 262-64 (Philadelphia, 1836).

2'Goebel, William Henry Harrison, 178-79; Esarey (ed.), Messages and
Letters, II, 539, 540, 541 ; McAfee, History of the Late War, 372. At this

NOTES, CHAPTER VI 215

time the town of Detroit contained about 160 houses and 700 inhabitants.
Fort Detroit stood on a bit of high ground in the rear of the town, about
250 yards from the river. The inhabitants were largely of French descent
and the Catholic faith.

"Dawson, William Henry Harrison, 430; McAfee, History of the Late
War, 420-21, 426-28; Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 554-56, 558-
65. According to a statement of Richard J. Conner, Draper MSS. VIII,
yy2i, William Conner commanded 300 friendly Indians at this battle.
Dawson fixes the number of Indians engaged at 30. About 260 Indians
joined Harrison at Seneca, but their presence at the Thames is not men-
tioned. Dawson, op. cit., 418; McAfee, op. cit., 392.

™Ibid., 428; Adams, History of the United States, VII, 137-38; Mc-
Master, History of the United States, IV, 40; Smith, W. L. G., Fifty Years
of Public Life. The Life and Times of Lewis Cass, 77 (New York, 1856).

^Statement of Richard J. Conner, Draper MSS. VIII, yy2i, and of
F. M. Finch, ibid., VIII, yyi8; Smith, Early Indiana Trials, 175; Dawson,
William Henry Harrison, 438-39; Adams, History of the United States,
VII, 140; McAfee, History of the Late War, 426; Indiana Magazine of
History, XXIX, 30-31 (March, 1933) ; Richardson's War of 1812; zvith
Notes and a Life of the Author by Alexander Clark Casselman, 212-14
(Historical Publishing Co., Toronto, 1902).

^The armistice is printed in Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II,
577-/9; for the treaty, see Kappler (ed.), Indian Affairs. Laws and
Treaties, II, 105-7. When news of the treaty reached the peace commis-
sioners of Great Britain and the United States at Ghent, interest in the Indian
question was lessened. Adams, History of the United States, IX, 32.

20It is impossible to determine accurately the acreage involved in these
treaties. Ten of them related to land in Indiana. In the eight principal
treaties, Grouseland, Fort Wayne (1809), St. Mary's, Tippecanoe, and
Mississinewa, there were probably 17,000,000 acres. In 1821 the Committee
on Education reported to the General Assembly that its estimate of the
number of acres in Indiana was 22,312,960, including Lake Michigan. It
was estimated that 96,000 were covered by the waters of that lake. The net
acreage including the beds of rivers and smaller lakes was 22,216,960.
Esarey, Logan (ed.), Governors Messages a>id Letters. Messages and
Papers of Jonathan Jennings, Ratliff Boon, William Hendricks . . . 1816-
1825, 234-35 (Indiana Historical Collections, XII, Indianapolis, 1924), cited
hereafter as Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, III.

30A great westward movement followed the War of 1812. Babcock,
Kendric Charles, The Rise of American Nationality, 1811-1819, 243-44 (New
York and London, 1906) ; Adams, History of the United States, IX, 170-74.

31The treaty negotiations are discussed in ibid., IX, 1-53.

^Ibid., IX, 46.

VII

^sarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 186, 228-29.

2For a description of blockhouse construction, see Smith, Indiana
Miscellany, 76-77. Some of the stockades and blockhouses built in the three
counties are listed below.

Wayne County : "Rue's and Meek's stations on the east branch of
White Water. One mile below the site of Abington ... a block house,
enclosed with pickets. On the west branch of White Water . . . Lewis's
Station above the Walnut Level. Still further west . . . Jenneys' Station.
At the upper end of the Walnut Level . . . Martindale's Station, a large
block house with pickets. On the Walnut Level, below this one ... a
stockade fort known as Boyd's Station. ... On an average . . . every
fourth house was so strengthened as to be equal to block houses." (Fox,
Henry Clay [ed.], Memoirs of Wayne County . . ., I, 74 [Madison, Wis-
consin, 1912] ) ; about 1812 Reverend John Strange preached at a blockhouse
"on the present site of Cambridge" (Heineman, J. L., The Indian Trail
Dozvn the White Water Valley . . ., note 10, p. 43 [3d ed., Indianapolis,
1925]) ; "Joseph Holman served in the War of 1812 while his family lived
in his blockhouse where Centerville later stood." Esarey, Logan, "Organiz-
ing a State," in Indiana Historical Society Publications, VI, 100; a block-
house built in 181 2 about two miles from the present site of Richmond by
George Smith and others {Indiana Magazine of History, II, 162 ; Smith,
Indiana Miscellany, 78; Ewbank, Louis B., "Blockhouse Stockades," in
Indiana History Bulletin, III, extra no. 2, p. 96 [March, 1926]).

Franklin County (including present-day Fayette and Union counties) :
"An important one . . . where the village of Brownsville now is," on the
East Fork of Whitewater, northwest corner of present Union County
(History of Fayette County [1885], 43) ; one in Sec. 30, T. 14 N., R. 14 E.,
just opposite the mouth of Richland Creek, erected in 1805 (Homsher,
George W., "Remains on White Water River, Indiana," in Smithsonian
Institution, Annual Report, 1882, p. 748) ; one near Dunlapsville, in Sec. 28,
T. 11 N., R. 2 W., erected by William Nickles in 1805 (ibid.) ; "one in the
northern part of Harrison Township," present Fayette County (History of
Fayette County [1885]), on Lick Creek (An Illustrated Historical Atlas of
Fayette Co. Indiana, 16 [Chicago, 1875]); Conner blockhouse on present
site of Connersville (Heineman, Indian Trail Down the White Water
Valley, note 10, pp. 43-44) ; Helm blockhouse, a few miles south of Conners-
ville "just below Nulltown" (History of Fayette County [1885], 43; A
Biographical History of Eminent and Sclf-Made Men of . . . Indiana,
I, 6th district, 37 [Cincinnati, 1880] ; Mason, Dr. Philip, A Legacy to my
Children, including Family History, Autobiography . . ., 369 [Cincinnati,
1868] ) ; in Laurel Township, Franklin County, one on Garrison's Creek,
near the county line; Martin's blockhouse on the Beggs farm; Conn's block-
house on Seine's Creek; Brison's blockhouse in section 22; one known as
Hawkins', Baker's, or Salt Creek blockhouse, on Salt Creek, southeast

(216)

NOTES, CHAPTER VII 217

quarter of section 33 (Atlas of Franklin County [1882], 102, 107) ; one on
Pipe Creek (History of Fayette Comity [1885], 43; Reifel, History of
Franklin County, 276) ; Mount blockhouse near Metamora (Atlas of Frank-
lin County [1882], 103) ; William Wilson's blockhouse on the west fork of
Whitewater, six miles above Brookville (Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 44) ;
one in Sec. 33, T. 10 N., R. 2 W., Fairfield Township, erected by Obadiah
Eustes in 1S04 (Homsher, op. cit., 728) ; Benjamin McCarty's blockhouse,
two and one-half miles north of Brookville, on East Fork of Whitewater
(Reifel, History of Franklin County, 276) ; one in Sec. 21, T. 9 N., R. 2 Wr.
(Homsher, op. cit., 728) ; "another, built by Conrad Savior, three miles and
a half below Brookville, on White Water, one-half mile east of where the
Little Cedar church stands" called Little Cedar Blockhouse (Reifel, History
of Franklin County, 275-76).

Dearborn County (including present-day Ohio and Switzerland coun-
ties) : One "about one-half mile above Johnson's Fork" (ibid., 275; see
also History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties, Indiana, 524 [F. E. Weakley
& Co., Chicago, 1885]). In the Guilford-Cambridge neighborhood, present
Miller Township, Dearborn County, a stockade with two blockhouses,
erected about 181 1 on Tanner's Creek, and under command, for a time, of
Captain Blasdel (Ewbank, "Blockhouse Stockades," in Indiana History
Bulletin, III, extra no. 2, p. 95 ; History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties
[1885], 201, 462-64) ; a small stockade at Georgetown, not far from the
Cambridge neighborhood (Shaw, Archibald fed.], History of Dearborn
County, Indiana . . ., 288 [Indianapolis, 1915]); a blockhouse about four
miles above the mouth of North Hogan Creek, "Capt. Jim Bruce, Amor and
Henry Bruce lived near" (History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties [1885],
552; Shaw [ed.], op. cit., 174-75); a stockade in or near Sec. 36, T. 5
N., R. 3 W., on Laughery Creek, Cesar Creek Township, "back of an old
stone house called the Spears House, and near the foot of the hill close to
a large spring. . . . Within it were many small cabins, to which, when an
alarm was given, the women and children fled, the men going to the block-
houses, one opposite the mouth of South Fork and one lower down the
creek than the stockade. The stockade was built under the direction of Mr.
Purcell, in 1811 or 1812" (History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties [1885],
508; Shaw [ed.], op. cit., 162); the McGuire blockhouse: "April 17, 1811,
James McGuire entered the southwest half of the quarter of Section 9,
Town 4, Range 3. . . . Here he moved into and occupied the blockhouse."
"His location was in Cesar Creek Township on the north side of Laughery
Creek, opposite the mouth of Bear Creek" (History of Dearborn and Ohio
Counties [1885], 508-9, 587-88) ; Robert Rickett's cabin, in or near Sec. 16,
T. 3 N., R. 1 W., on land later owned by Lester Lostutter, which, "during
the period of the Indian frights . . . was often used as a place of defense
and resort" (ibid., 449) ; Samuel Curry's blockhouse in present Randolph
Township, Ohio County, on land where Peter Lostutter afterward lived
(ibid., 450) ; McConnell's house, about two miles below Rising Sun. James
McConnell said that about 1812 "the neighbors forted at his father's house"
(ibid., 448) ; a blockhouse "one half mile south of Aberdeen, built in 1814"
(ibid., 587-88).

218 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

3See photostatic copies of Muster, Pay and Receipt Rolls of Indiana
Territory, Volunteers or Militia, War of 1812, in Indiana State Library, II,
394, 395, 396; HI, 464b, 465a, 466a, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473; IV, 573,
574, 575-

"Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 238-39, 243-45 ; Wiley, Rev. Allen, "In-
troduction and Progress of Methodism in Southwestern Indiana," in
Western Christian Advocate, August 15, 1845, file at Methodist Book Con-
cern, Cincinnati.

5"To John Conner will ever be credited the honor of being the first
white man to enter land in this township [Highland], but the record shows
that he did not buy government land until August, 1810, although he had
without question been a resident of this section a few years before that
date." Reifel, History of Franklin County, 149. In 1810 John Conner
entered two 160-acre tracts of land northwest of Cedar Grove, with
appurtenances (S. W. Va of Sec. 11, T. 8 N., R. 2 W., and N. W. Y4 of
Sec. 13, T. 8 N., R. 2 W.), ibid., 88. He also entered a tract west of Cedar
Grove containing something over 21 acres in the N. E. % of the N. W. %.
of Sec. 14, T. 8 N., R. 2 W. Land patents in possession of Miss Frieda
Woerner, Indianapolis, for all of above. Final payment was made on these
in 1813. Between 1S11 and 1815 he entered parts of sections 23 and 25
near Connersville, in T. 14 N., R. 12 E. Barrows (ed.), History of Fayette
County, 223.

"There are conflicting statements as to whether James or John left with
the Delawares in 1820. James G. Finch in a letter of March 1, 1896, to
Fabius M. Finch, speaks of the Conner boy who left Indiana as James.
History of Fayette County (1885), 37, mentions only a son James, saying
nothing of what became of him; Barrows (ed.), History of Fayette County,
143-44, says that James remained with his father and died in his youth ;
that John was reared by the Delawares and went with them to Missouri,
where he became a wealthy landowner. He communicated with William
Winship Conner in 1862.

'The marriage is recorded in the office of the County Clerk, Franklin
County, Brookville, Indiana.

sOne of these lots, No. 33, was contracted for by John McCormick,
father of the three McCormick brothers who were the first settlers of In-
dianapolis. He came to the present site of Connersville in 1808, and is said
to have built the first cabin in the settlement. Smith, Laura A., "Mc-
Cormick Cabin's Story," in Indianapolis Star, June 28, 1925, pt. 5, p. 1 ;
History of Fayette County (1885), 135-36. Conner's Trading Post was
above the original site of the town.

"Mason, Family History, Autobiography, 369, quoted in History of
Fayette County (1885), l3&- "John Conner. By his Granddaughter, Mrs.
Sarah C. Christian," in Indiana Magazine of History, III, 87 (June, 1907).

"Heineman, Indian Trail Doivn the White Water Valley (1925 ed.),

27-3L 44-

uMason, Family History, Autobiography, 1 13-17, 134.
12Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 239, 245.

NOTES, CHAPTER VII 219

""Indianapolis is, therefore, a sort of colony of Connersville, and, as
will be seen hereafter, had to depend for some time upon the mother settle-
ment for support." Holloway, William R., Indianapolis. A Historical and
Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City . . ., 3 (Indianapolis, 1870). See
list of Franklin County officials during the territorial period in Ewbank,
Louis B., and Riker, Dorothy L. (eds.), Laws of Indiana Territory, 1809-

18 16, 838-40 (Indiana Historical Collections, XX, Indianapolis, 1934).
"Fordham, Elias Pym, Personal Narrative of Travels in Virginia,

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky . . ., edited by Frederic
Austin Ogg, 109, 138, 153 (Cleveland, 1906). Fordham was one of the
surveyors appointed to lay out the city of Indianapolis. Dunn, Greater
Indianapolis, I, 28-29.

"Speaking of the difficulties faced by the legislators in attending
meetings of the Assembly at Corydon, Logan Esarey says : "From the
Whitewater, they traveled down the Ohio river, stopping at New Albany,
or coming down to Evans Landing or Leavenworth, and thence by trail to
the capital." Internal Improvements in Early Indiana, 50 (Indiana His-
torical Society Publications, V, no. 2, Indianapolis, 1912). It is stated,
however, that Conner and two companions went to Jef fersonville by horse-
back in 1820, and it is assumed that this was his mode of travel four years
earlier. One Hundredth Anniversary, Warren Lodge No. 15 F. & A. M.,
Connersville, Indiana, 1822-1922, 15.

"Moores, Charles W., "Old Corydon," in Indiana Magazine of History,
XIII, 20-23 (March, 1917) ; Dunn, Indiana and Indianans, I, 295; Ridley,
William, "The Old Capitol Building at Corydon — as Changed," in Year
Book of the Society of Indiana Pioneers, 1923-24, 17-19; Cottman, George
S., The Corydon State House . . ., 12-20 (Department of Conservation,
State of Indiana, Publication Number 94, Indianapolis, 1930) ; photostatic
copies of measured drawings of Old State Capitol, Corydon, in Smith
Library, Indiana Historical Society.

17Indiana Senate Journal, 1816-1817, pp. 27, 32, 39, 41-42.

islbid., 35, 36, 37, 4-. 46; Laivs of Indiana, 1816-1817, pp. 112-15.

"Indiana House Journal, 1S16-1817, pp. 25, 29, 62, 71 ; 1817-1818, pp. 63,
66, 105, 108, 163; Senate Journal, 1817-1818, pp. 50, 53-54, 68, 69; House
Journal, 1818-1819, pp. 53, 60, 68-69, 80-81 ; Senate Journal. 1S18-1819, pp.
45, 48, 57, 59; Lazvs of India>ia, 1818-1819, pp. 103-7.

^For the act providing for appointment of sheriffs, see ibid., 1816-

1817, pp. 109-n. An act regulating the duties of sheriffs was passed at the
second session (ibid., 1817-1818 [general], 179-82), and an act for the relief
of sheriffs at the third session (ibid., 1818-1819, pp. 88-90). Conner's
appointment as sheriff on December 30, 1818, is recorded in the Executive
Proceedings of the State of Indiana, November 7, 1816 — November 2, 1823,
in Indiana State Library.

2IIndiana Senate Journal, 1816-1817, pp. 62, 64, 67; Lazvs of Indiana,
1816-1817, pp. 169-70; 1817-1818 (general), pp. 317-19.

220n the condition of the roads, see Haimbaugh, Frank D. (ed.),
History of Delazvare County, Indiana, I, 209-11 (Indianapolis, 1924). For
legislation on roads in 1816-1817, see Indiana House Journal, 16, 105, 106-7,

220 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

no, 119; Senate Journal, 35, 45, 49, 51, 78, 84, 85; Laws of Indiana, 72-84;
in 1817-1818, ibid, (general), 273-85; in 1818-1819, Senate Journal, 6, 44, 52,
53-54; House Journal, 97, 133, 134; Laws of Indiana, 69-74.

"For John Conner's activities see the Indiana Senate Journal, 1816-
1817 to 1818-1819, passim.

21Morse, Jedidiah, A Report to the Secretary of War . . . on Indian
Affairs, comprising a Narrative of a Tour performed in the Summer of
1S20 . . ., 108-12 (New Haven, Conn., 1822). Under the Fort Wayne
Treaty of 1809 the Miami explicitly acknowledged the equal right of the
Dela wares to the country watered by White River. Kappler (ed.), Indian
Affairs. Laws and Treaties, II, 101.

25For Stevens' motion, see Indiana House Journal, 1817-1818, pp. 88,
100, 115, 203. On the secret session, see ibid., 1817-1818, pp. 93, 195; 1818-
1819, pp. 7-8; Senate Journal, 1817-1818, pp. 59-60, 143; 1818-1819, pp. 6-7.

^The treaty of September 29, 1817, is printed in Kappler (ed.), Indian
Affairs. Laws and Treaties, II, 145 ff. Comments appeared in the Vin-
cennes Western Sun of March 14, 1818 (p. 3, col. 2), October 17, 1818 (p. 3,
col. 4), and October 24, 1818 (p. 3, col. 3). The supplementary treaty
appears in Kappler (ed.), op. cit., II, 162 ff.

^See Chapter VIII for a discussion of these treaties.

^Esarey, Logan (ed.), The Pioneers of Morgan County. Memoirs of
Noah J. Major, 454-55 (Indiana Historical Society Publications, V, no. 5,
Indianapolis, 1915) ; Wilson, George R., Early Indiana Trails and Surveys,
399-401 (Indiana Historical Society Publications, VI, no. 3, Indianapolis,
1919).

^Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United
States . . ., Ill, 135 (Washington, D. C, 1828) ; Kettleborough, Charles,
Constitution Making in Indiana . . . , I, 97 (Indiana Historical Collections,
Indianapolis, 1916).

30Lazvs of Indiana Territory, 1S13-1814, pp. 442-45; Laws of Indiana,
1816-1817, pp. 180-82; Vincennes Western Sun (on the dueling incident),
December 20, 1S17, March 14, August 22, 29, October 3 and 10, 1818; (on
the appointment as commissioner, and general politics), August 15, 29,
September 5, 12, 19, 26, October 17, 24, 31, 1818. The constitutionality of
the act of 1816-1817 was upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court (1 Black-
ford, 483-85). See also Order Book of the Supreme Court of Indiana,
May Term, 18 17, in Indiana State Library.

31Vincennes Western Sun, November 7, 14, 21, 28, December 19, 1818;
January 2, 1819; Indiana House Journal, 1818-1819, 46-47; Dunn, Indiana
and Indianans, I, 374-78.

^Historical Atlas of Fayette County (1875), 4-6; History of Fayette
County (1885), pp. 57-58, 63.

^Historical Atlas of Fayette County (1875), 16; advertisement in
Indianapolis Gazette, November 4, 1823; History of Fayette County (1885),
137.

3iIbid., 138 ; record in Recorder's Office, Franklin County, Brookville,
Indiana; Indiana Senate Journal, 1821-1822, p. 88.

35Heineman, Two Chapters from the History of Fayette County, 74.

NOTES, CHAPTER VII 221

wIbid., 60; History of Fayette County (1885), 143.

"Lazvs of Indiana, 1817-1818 (special), 33.

^Heineman, Tivo Chapters from the History of Fayette County, 61 ;
Smith, Early Indiana Trials, 11.

'"Cole, Ernest B., The Winship Family in America . . .,12 (Indianap-
olis, 1905).

40Laivs of Indiana, 1819-1820, pp. 97-112; 1821-1822, pp. 38-42, 45-46,
124-27, 152 ff. ; Senate Journal, 1821-1822, pp. 65, 71, 72, 75, 79, 80, 81, 87-
88, 131, 137, 144. 150, 175, 186, 189, 194, 199.

"Ibid., 1821-1822, p. 163.

i2Ibid., 1821-1822, p. 107; Kettleborough, Constitution Making in In-
diana, 108.

VIII

1For a description of St. Mary's during the treaty, see McMurray,
William J. (ed.), History of Auglaize County, Ohio, I, 124-30 (Indianap-
olis, 1923). Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, II, 148, mentions the build-
ing of the road to Fort Defiance.

\Tennings to John C. Calhoun, October 28, 1818. Photostat in Indiana
State Library.

3Barce, Land of the Miamis, 48.

4Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, III, 56-57.

5Cass's letter of January 20, 1823, and Jennings' letter of January 23,
1823, are printed in U. S. Senate Documents, 20 Congress, 2 session,
report 25.

"The treaties are printed in Kappler (ed.), Indian Affairs. Laws and
Treaties, II, 168-74. Article 3 of the treaty with the Miami made twenty-
one grants to individuals, totaling 31,360 acres. These lands, with the ex-
ception of the nine sections (5,760 acres) granted by patent in fee simple
to Richardville, were transferable only with the approval of the president
of the United States. These grants were in addition to large reserves
made to the Miami nation. The 640 acres reserved to Rebecca Hackley,
half-breed daughter of William Wells, later became the site of Muncie.
Haimbaugh (ed.), History of Delaware County, 433.

7According to an interview with Robert B. Duncan, printed in the
Indianapolis Journal, September 25, 18S7, under the title "Before the Red
Men Left," William Conner was deputized to distribute annuities to the
Delawares. "He had an odd way of paying them, which he used "in order
to keep their accounts so that they would understand. They were divided
into three grades. The older ones were to receive so many dollars ; the
next younger so many half dollars, and the youngest so many quarter
dollars. He would give to the old ones as many sticks of a certain length,
as they were to receive dollars ; to the next class shorter sticks, and to
the next, still shorter. Then they would all take places, grouped in families,
on the prairie between Conner's house and the river, covering an acre or two
of it, where all could see and be seen, and Conner and his assistants would
go about and give a dollar, or a part of a dollar, as the case might be, and
take a stick. This was continued until the sticks were all taken up and the
money paid." See also Sulgrove, Berry R., History of Indianapolis and
Marion County, Indiana, 9 (Philadelphia, 1884).

SU. S. Senate Documents, 16 Congress, 1 session, report 84; ibid., 20
Congress, 2 session, report 25, p. 3 ; Annals of Congress, 16 Congress, 1
session, 436, 494, 498, 598. John F. Ross and some thirty other citizens
joined in Conner's memorial.

"U. S. Statutes at Large, VI, 271. Annals of Congress, 17 Congress,
1 session, 58, 212, 221, 310, 312, 1324, 1381, 1868, 1S71 ; U. S. Senate Docu-
ments, 20 Congress, 2 session, report 25, p. 5.

10 Annals of Congress, 17 Congress, 2 session, 97, 99, 105, 106-7, 192,

(222)

NOTES, CHAPTER VIII 223

196; 18 Congress, I session, 1215, 1808; U. S. Senate Journal, 19 Congress,
I session, 93, 97, 115, 121 ; 20 Congress, 1 session, 64, 78, 126-27, 229, 298,
302 ; U. S. House Journal, 20 Congress, 1 session, 585, 600, 729, 846.

"Conner's petition, Mekinges' memorial, and the letters of Cass and
Jennings are printed in the report of the Committee on the Judiciary,
Senate Documents, 20 Congress, 2 session, report 25. See also U. S. Senate
Journal, 20 Congress, 2 session, 22, 26-27, 63, 67, 191. For some years prior
to 1827 Noble and Jennings were at outs. This may have had something to
do with the failure of Conner's various petitions. Smith, Early Indiana
Trials, $S.

12\Yilliam G. to George W. Ewing, December II, 1852, in Ewing Papers,
Indiana State Library.

13"We . . . went to the house of William Conner. . . . The women
could not speak English." Dean and Dean (eds.), Journal of Thomas Dean,

3l5-l6.

""William Conner. A Notable Character in the Early History of
Indiana," Rochester Republican, November 20, 1895.

"Fletcher, James C, "Old Events," in Indianapolis News, April 26, 1881.

lflIt is now generally conceded that the North American Indian belongs
to the Mongoloid division of the human race which includes the Mongolian
and Malaysian. His progenitors probably came to America by way of the
Bering Straits after the retreat of several ice invasions. Shetrone, Henry
Clyde, The Mound-Builders . . ., 481 (New York and London, 1930).
Some of the early writers who attempted to explain the origin of the
American Indian offered the fantastic theory that they were descended from
the Israelites. See for example, Adair, James, The History of the North
American Indians . . . (London, 1775). For a study of various aspects
of the question, see Jenness, Diamond (ed.), The American Aborigines,
Their Origin and Antiquity (University of Toronto Press, 1933).

17For accounts of this early settlement of Hamilton County, see Helm,
History of Hamilton County, 33 ; Shirts, History of Hamilton County,
9-19; Finch, Story of the First Settlement of Hamilton County; letter
of James G. Finch to Fabius M. Finch, July 1, 1893, copy in Indiana State
Library; "Reminiscences of Judge Finch," reprinted from the Indianapolis
Journal, May 30, 1885, in Indiana Magazine of History, VII, 155-65 (De-
cember, 191 1 ) ; Duncan, Robert B., "Old Settlers" (Indiana Historical
Society Publications, II, no. 10, Indianapolis, 1894).

18"Sketch of the Life of William Conner, late of Noblesville," in
Indianapolis Daily Journal, August 22, 1855.

10The horse mill has been described as follows : "First they put up a
little frame 6 or 8 feet high on this was placed the hopper and stones
From this frame running North 25 or 30 feet was a plate framed into a
post which stood in the ground. About the middle of this plate was a
shaft into which arms were framed. These arms carried a rawhide tug
around which gave power to the mill stones. This structure was not
enclosed in any way." Letter of James G. Finch to Fabius M. Finch, March
1, 1896. Cf. with description in Duncan, "Old Settlers," 379. In the
"Reminiscences of Judge Finch," Indiana Magazine of History, VII, 159-60,

224 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

we find the following description: "The stones were made out of the
bowlders which then strewed the uplands, laboriously hewed and split into
the proper shapes, and with their faces ridged into furrows, so that a fine
quality of meal was produced to the amount of thirty or forty bushels a
day."

^Finch, Story of the First Settlement of Hamilton County, 7.

21For the act appointing commissioners, see Laivs of Indiana, 1819-
1820, pp. 18-20; see also Indiana House Journal, 1819-1820, pp. 134, 176,
193; Senate Journal, 1819-1820, pp. 18, 139-40, 142, 147-48. For the pro-
visions in the Enabling Act see Kettleborough, Constitution Making in In-
diana, I, 76-77 ; Jennings' proclamation for the meeting of the commissioners
to select a capital site, and the official report of the commission are printed
in Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, III, 109-12.

^Tipton's "Journal" is printed in the Indiana Magazine of History, I,
9-15, 74-79 (1905). For other accounts of the activities of the commis-
sioners, see "Reminiscences of Judge Finch," in Indiana Magazine of His-
tory, VII, 160-62; Bolton, Early History of Indianapolis and Central
Indiana, 153-54; Duncan, "Old Settlers" 379-80; Dunn, Indiana and
Indianans, I, 361-63; Holloway, Indianapolis, 9-10; Sulgrove, History of
Indianapolis and Marion County, 23-24.

^Cottman, George S., "Internal Improvements in Indiana, No. I — The
First Thoroughfares," in Indiana Magazine of History, III, 12-20 (March,
1907).

2,See pages 176-77; Blank, Ralph, "Early Railroad Building in Indiana,"
in Indiana Historical Society Publications, VI, 134.

25"The Games of Moccasin and Bullet," in Indiana Magazine of History,
I, 17 (1905). Deer hunting at night in a canoe with a torch was a fascinat-
ing sport in those days on White River. There is a story that William
Conner once invited a guest, Colonel Eaton, to go on a fire hunt. As soon
as the night set in they lighted the torch in the bow of the canoe and cut
cable. Eaton was a good marksman. After proceeding some distance down
stream Conner, who was steering, saw one of his own cattle in the river.
He decided to have a good joke on Eaton. "Look," said he, pointing to
the animal, "at that noble buck ; when I say fire, you must be sure to
shoot." The blaze of the torch blinded the animal and at the proper time
the word was given. The animal bawled as it made for the shore, and the
Colonel discovered his mistake. It was a fat bullock of the choicest flavor.
The joke was so good that Conner sent for his neighbors and liberally
divided the animal free of cost. "Indianapolis — the Past and the Present,"
in Indiana Democrat, May 15, 1839.

^Finch, James G., "Early Days at Noblesville," in Indianapolis Journal,
December 18, 1898.

^The signing of the report by nine commissioners and B. I. Blythe,
clerk, took place at McCormick's cabin. "Journal of John Tipton," in
Indiana Magazine of History, I, 77-78. To have returned to William Con-
ner's home for this official act would have involved a hard journey of about
thirty-five miles. There is no record of the individual preferences of the
commissioners. It has often been stated that only five commissioners

NOTES, CHAPTER VIII 225

voted, three for the present site and two for the Bluffs. Brown, "History
of Indianapolis," 2 ; Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and Marion County,
24; Holloway, Indianapolis, 9; Bolton, Early History of Indianapolis and
Central Indiana, 153. Tipton's statement clearly implies that nine were
present, and the report gives no evidence of division among the members.
Dunn's Greater Indianapolis, 5, 6, confirms this view. Rev. James C.
Fletcher, in an article, "The Beginning of Indianapolis," in Itidianapolis
Nczvs, March 15, 1879, speaks of the "spirited contest whether the seat of
government of Indiana should be located at the 'Bluffs' of White river, or
near the mouth of Fall creek. After much debate and examination the
choice fell upon the woody plain near the mouth of Fall Creek."

aStory of the First Settlement of Hamilton County, 9. Finch, "Early
Days at Noblesville," in Indianapolis Journal, December 18, 1898.

"The feud became acute after an incident involving the Willison cat.
A kettle of lard had been cooked and set to cool at the corner of the Willison
cabin. A cat, undertaking to climb the wall to the clapboard roof, slipped
and went into the lard up to the neck. It was said that the owner took the
cat by the ears, raised it up with one hand and with the other scraped the
lard back into the kettle. This proceeding was ridiculed by one of the
Finches in a doggerel which ran as follows :
"Katy's cat fell in the fat,
And there she lay a-foaming
Jimmie's lice are big as mice
And round his head they're roaming."

It is said that John Finch very shortly found one of his yoke of large
oxen with its throat cut and later a red muley cow with a bullet hole in its
head. Finch, Story of the First Settlement of Hamilton County, 10.

30"Early Days at Noblesville," in Indianapolis Journal, December 18,
1898. "Most of the money in those days was silver. There were times when
Wm. Conner had a good deal of it. He kept his money in a trunk at the
head of his bed, and a rifle within easy reach. The trunk would hold a
bushel and a half, and I have seen it full of silver dollars. There was little
or no thought of thieves then. I do not remember to have heard a case of
house-breaking in all the years I lived there." Fabius M. Finch's "Recollec-
tions," in Indianapolis Nczvs, March 19, 1896. See also James G. Finch to
Fabius M. Finch, May 3, 1896.

"It is worthy of remark, that in their villages the Indians use neither
bolts nor locks, and that when they leave for a time their cabins, either
empty or with any articles in them, a log placed against its door affords
ample protection to its contents, and abundant evidence of the right of pos-
session." Spencer, Indian Captivity, 67.

81During the summer of 1820 "there were a great many Indians collect-
ing there [at Conner's] preparatory to leaving the country. They came
down the river in canoes and from the surrounding country on their ponies.
Marshall and James Conner (half-breed Indian) [see note 6, chapter 7],
son of John Conner, went with them when they left ; which I think was the
last of Aug. or first of Sept." Letter of James G. Finch to Fabius M.
Finch, March 1, 1896. See also Shirts, History of Hamilton County, 24-25;

226 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Finch, "Early Days at Noblesville," in Indianapolis Journal, December 18,
1898. Esarey, citing the Vincennes Ccntinel of November 4, 1820, says in his
History of Indiana, I, 260: "In the fall of 1820 the remnant of this once
powerful tribe . . . took up their western march, the disheartened train
passing Kaskaskia about the middle of October." Isaac McCoy, a Baptist
missionary, who made a tour of the Delaware villages in 1818-1819, tells of
the effect on the Indians of the late treaty and the prospect of their re-
moval westward. In December, 1818, he suggested a mission to William
Anderson and found him more receptive than he had dared hope. He spoke
to William Conner, asking his help, which Conner would have given except
that the Indians were dispersed at their hunting camps. By the next May,
McCoy found Anderson's attitude changed. He was embittered at what he
felt to be unjust treatment of his people, and seemed eager to be free of all
contact with the whites. McCoy was disgusted by the drunken frolicking in
Anderson's village. History of Baptist Indian Missions, 50-53, 58-60.

^Adams' more important writings are : A Brief History of the Dela-
ware Indians, U. S. Senate Documents, 59 Congress, 1 session, report 501 ;
A Delaware Indian Legend (1899) ; The Adoption of Mew - Seu - Qua,
Tecumseh's Father, and the Philosophy of the Dclazvare Indians . . .
(Washington, D. C, 1917).

IX

1,l01d Events," an interview by Rev. James C. Fletcher with Elizabeth
Chapman Conner, in Indianapolis News, April 26, 1881 ; article by Laura A.
Smith on "William Conner's Station," in Indianapolis Star, January 17,
1926. "Reminiscences of Judge Finch," in Indiana Magazine of History,
VII, 164-65, describes the type of clothing in vogue. The act providing a
penalty of $500 for any clerk granting a marriage license to persons resi-
dent outside the county appears in Laics of Indiana, 1817-1818 (general),
pp. 224-26.

2"Mr. Finch's Recollections," in Indianapolis News, March 19, 1896 ;
Shirts, Augustus F., " 'Horse Shoe Prairie' Settlers," in Indianapolis News,
April 2, 1896 ; letters of James G. Finch to Fabius M. Finch, February 5,
1892, March 1, 1896, May 3, 1896; Shirts, History of Hamilton County, 16,
22, 123-24; Duncan, "Old Settlers" 377-79.

3See varying accounts of the incident in Helm, History of Hamilton
County, 131; letter of James G. Finch to Fabius M. Finch, August 31,
1S93 ; Shirts, op. cit., 127-29; "Early Days at Noblesville," article by James
G. Finch in Indianapolis Journal, December 18, 1898.

*Howe, Making a Capital in the Wilderness, 328; James G. Finch to
Fabius M. Finch, March 1, 1896; "Wilderness of Indiana Conquered by
Pioneers," Indianapolis Nezvs, November 25, 1931.

"James G. Finch to Fabius M. Finch, February 1, 1899; James G.
Finch, "Early Days at Noblesville," Indianapolis Journal, December 18,
1898 ; Shirts, " 'Horse Shoe Prairie' Settlers," in Indianapolis Nezvs, April
2, 1S96.

"Shirts, History of Hamilton County, 18, 21, 27-28; James G. Finch to
Fabius M. Finch, February 5 and March 2, 1892 ; "Reminiscences of Judge
Finch," in Indiana Magazine of History, VII, 160; Fletcher, James C,
"Indianapolis," in Indianapolis News, March 22, 1879.

TLaws of Indiana, 1822-1823, pp. 15-18.

sForkner, John L., and Dyson, Byron H., Historical Sketches and
Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana, 372 (Anderson, Ind., 1897).

"The house is described in an article by Laura A. Smith on "William
Conner's Station," Indianapolis Star, January 17, 1926; see also article on
the unveiling of a monument to Conner, ibid., July 3, 1927. In the Indian-
apolis Western Censor, June 18, 1823, we find the statement that Conner
"is building an elegant house of brick, and making other extensive improve-
ments suitable for a large farm, from which he has a commanding view of
all the land under fence, and can see very distinctly with the naked eye to
the most distant part of his domains." Bolton's lecture is printed in the
Indiana Historical Society Publications, I, 151 ff. See pages 172-73 for an
account of Conner's hospitality.

10On the formation of Hamilton County, the selection of a county scat,
and the first courts, see Laws of Indiana, 1822-1823, pp. 100-1 ; Shirts,
History of Hamilton County, 45 ff., 60 f f . ; Helm, History of Hamilton

(227)

228 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

County, 38-39; Haines, History of Hamilton County, 119-24; Monks,
Leander J., Esarey, Logan, and Shockley, Ernest V. (eds.), Courts and
Lawyers of Indiana, II, 713 (Indianapolis, 1916). Order Book A, county
clerk's office, Noblesville, contains a record of the April session of the
Circuit Court, 1824, held at the house of William Conner.

"•Various explanations have been given for the naming of Noblesville.
There is a sentimental story that the town was named for Lavina Noble,
Polk's fiancee. Helm, op. cit., 33; Shirts, op. cit., 171. Noah and James
Noble were both well known to the Conners and it is more likely that
the town was named for one of them. "William Conner. A Notable Char-
acter in the Early History of Indiana," in Rochester Republican, November
20, 1895.

"This tradition, and another to the effect that Washington Irving once
visited Conner on a trip to the West, are mentioned in an article by Laura
A. Smith on "William Conner's Station," in Indianapolis Star, January 17,
1926.

"Canby, Henry Seidel, Classic Americans . . ., 130 (New York, 1931) ;
Rusk, Ralph Leslie, The Literature of the Middle Western Frontier, I, 96;
II, 34 (New York, 1925) ; "Structure of the Indian Language . . .," in
North American Review, XXVI, 373-76 (April, 1828), cited by Rusk;
page 12 of a "miscellaneous" wallet of the C. C. Trowbridge Papers, Burton
Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. For Conner's opinion of the
Delawares, see "William Conner. A Notable Character in the Early
History of Indiana," in Rochester Republican, November 20, 1895.

"For the correspondence between Du Ponceau, Wistar, and Hecke-
welder, see the latter's History of the Indian Nations, 349 ff. A short ac-
count of Trowbridge's visit to Conner is given by James V. Campbell in
his "Biographical Sketch of Charles C. Trowbridge," in Michigan Pioneer
and Historical Collections, VI, 486; letter of Trowbridge to Lyman C.
Draper, March 14, 1874, Draper MSS. V, yy6; C. C. Trowbridge Papers,
page 12, cited ante, note 13.

,5Rice, David Zcisbcrger and His Brown Brethren, 56.

"Woodburn, James Albert (ed.), The New Purchase or, Seven and a
Half Years in the Far West, by Robert Carlton, 247-48 (Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1916).

X

'Smith, Laura A., "McCormick Cabin's Story," in Indianapolis Star,
June 28, 1925, pt. 5, p. 1 ; Bolton, Early History of Indianapolis and Central
Indiana, 155; "Journal of John Tipton," in Indiana Magazine of History,
I> 9-I5. 74-/9; Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 2-3; Holloway, Indianap-
olis, 3-4, 7-11 ; Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 36-39; Fletcher, "Early Days,"
in Indianapolis News, July 5, 1879; letter of E. K. Barnhill, of Plymouth,
in the Indianapolis Netvs, March 22, 1879.

"Lazvs of Indiana, 1821-1822, pp. 135-39; Dunn, op. cit., 74-75; Brown,
op. cit., 13 ; Revised Laws of Indiana, 1823-1824, p. 370. Indiana Senate
Journal, 1823-1824, pp. 94, 98, 101, 123; House Journal, 1823-1824, pp. 178,
187-88.

3Nowland, Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, in a sketch of Phipps,
154-56; cf. Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 445-46; see advertisements of
Conner, Tyner, and Co. in Indianapolis Western Censor, & Emigrants
Guide, July 2-September 29, 1823.

4Advertisement in Indianapolis Indiana Journal, May 10-June 21, 1825;
Fletcher, "Early Days," in Indianapolis Nezvs, July 12, 1879. For a de-
scription of a pioneer store, see Young, Andrew W., History of Wayne
County, Indiana . . ., 62-63 (Cincinnati, 1872).

5This story is told in Dunn, True Indian Stories, 197-212 ; Nowland,
op. cit., 165-67; Smith, Early Indiana Trials, 51-53 ; Sulgrove, History of
Indianapolis and Marion County, 54-56. See also Helm, History of Hamil-
ton County, 34. Governor Hendricks, in his annual message to the General
Assembly in 1825, referred to this affair as a "melancholy occurrence," and
recommended that the expense of safekeeping of the prisoners be paid out
of the state treasury. Esarey (ed.), Messages and Letters, III, 512.

^Western Censor, i\pril 19, July 20, 27, August 10, 1824; Indianapolis
Gazette, July 20, 27, 1824; Pirtle, Alfred, The Battle of Tippecanoe, 117
(Filson Club Publications, no. 15, Louisville, 1900) ; Esarey (ed.), Messages
attd Letters, I, 627. For an anecdote concerning John Wyant, see Nowland,
Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 127.

1 Indianapolis Gazette, July 6, 1824 ; Western Censor, July 6, 13, 1824.
Ninian Edwards was senator from Illinois, a critic of Jackson, Clay, and
Crawford. For a description of earlier Fourth of July celebrations in Indi-
anapolis, see Indianapolis Gazette, July 6, 1822, and July 8, 1823.

"Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 13; Holloway, Indianapolis, 15, 20;
"Remarks . . . from Dr. S. G. Mitchell's Manuscript Historical Notes on
Indiana," in Indianapolis Gazette, February 11, 1822; descriptions of the
first courthouse in Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 61-62, and Sulgrove,
History of Indianapolis and Marion County, 44, 251 ; descriptions of the jail,
in Dunn, op. cit., 57, and Sulgrove, op. cit., 41-42.

^Locations in Indianapolis in 1825.

These locations have been gathered from many sources, as noted below,
and carefully checked with a card file of the names of first purchasers of

(229)

230 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

lots compiled by Willis N. Coval, president of the Union Title Company
of Indianapolis.

About the length of three city blocks beyond West Street was White
River. In this space near the river were grouped the very first dwellings
in the town. Here was the cabin which had been the tavern of Matthias
Nowland and in which General Carr had held the sale for the first lots in
Indianapolis. It was not occupied by either in 1825. Holloway, Indian-
apolis, 13.

Here was the double log cabin used by the families of the two brothers,
John and James McCormick, who lived here only two years (1820-1822).
Smith, "McCormick Cabin's Story," in Indianapolis Star, June 28, 1925, pt.
5, p. 1. Around it were grouped huts for the accommodation of overnight
guests. Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 36.

There was also the cabin of the ferryman (1825), Asael Dunning, who
had a store and tavern. "Reminiscences of Amos Hanway," in Indiana
Magazine of History, II, 39 (March, 1906) ; Indianapolis Gazette, May 10
and 24, 1823.

Samuel McGeorge had a tavern here also in 1821 and may have been
here in 1825. Nowland, Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 173; Fletcher,
James C, "First Days," in Indianapolis Nezvs, April 12, 1879.

Amos Griffith, cabinetmaker, opened a shop at the west end of Wash-
ington Street in 1S24. Western Censor, January 12, 1824.

Sam Reed's shop, where bacon and lard were sold, adjoined Dunning's
tavern and ferry.

Locations on the Circle and betzveen Market and Ohio streets.
The first market house was built in the maple grove on the Governor's
Circle in May, 1822. Indianapolis Gazette, June 22, 1822 ; Brown, "History
of Indianapolis," 8.

Block 44 between Delaware and Pennsylvania streets and Ohio and Market
streets.
Lot 7 George Taffe, first purchaser (1821) ; assigned by Armstrong
Brandon to John Johnson (1S30). This was the site of John
Johnson's brick house built in 1822-1823, the first brick house in
Indianapolis. Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and Marion
County, 32 ; Brown, op. cit., with illustration, 8.
Block 45 between Pennsylvania and Meridian streets and Ohio and Mar-
ket streets.
Lot 2 Jacob G. Capp, first purchaser (1821) ; the Presbyterian Church,
second purchaser (1827). The church building was erected here
in 1824. Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and Marion County,
32. See Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 12, for a picture of
the church.
Lots 12 Isaac Coe, first purchaser and early resident. On one of these
13 and lots was the home of Isaac Coe, but the date he moved here is
14 not certain.
Block 46 between Meridian and Illinois streets and Ohio and Market
streets.

NOTES, CHAPTER X

231

Lot 12

Lot II Judge James Mcllvain, first purchaser (1821) and early resi-
dent. He lived here in a log house. Centennial Memorial. First
Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Ind. . . ., 187 (Greenfield,
Ind., 1925) ; Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 47.
Block 47 between Illinois and Tennessee streets and Ohio and Market
streets.
Lot 12 Robert Gibson, Jr., first purchaser (1821) ; Matthias Scudder,
second purchaser (1827). Gibson died less than two years after
his purchase. In 1822 he had started an earthenware or potting
business here. His wife, Margaret Gibson, took it over at his
death, employing J. R. Crumbaugh. On July 19, 1825, she mar-
ried Matthias Scudder. Indianapolis Gazette, June 8, 1822 ; June
21 and July 15, 1823; July 19, 1825.

Locations on the north side of Washington Street beginning at West

Street with Block 51 and proceeding east to Block 60.

Block 51 between the western boundary of the Plat, now West Street, and
Missouri Street.

Skinner and Crumbaugh, first purchasers (1821). Jacob R.
Crumbaugh was an early resident and built on this lot a neat
two-story frame house 31 by 20 feet with a good log house ad-
joining. Indianapolis Gazette, September 2, 1823; Sulgrove,
History of Indianapolis and Marion County, 44. The lot was
advertised for sale in 1823 but not sold until 1827. Fletcher,
"Early Days," in Indianapolis Nezus, May 17, 1879. The house
was moved in 1825 to a site opposite the courthouse. Nowland,
Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 64-65.
between Missouri and Mississippi streets.

Luke Walpole, first purchaser and early resident (1821). He
had his house and tavern here in the spring of 1823. Cf. Block

53, the State House Square. It was his second business location
in Indianapolis. Indianapolis Gazette, April 3, 1827.
State House Square between Market and Washington streets ,'
Mississippi and Tennessee streets.

On the southeast corner of this block, corner of Washington
and Tennessee streets, was the second location of the Gazette
from 1822 to 1824. It is specifically stated in the Gazette of
October 5, 1S22, that the office would be "removed to the cor-
ner of Washington and Tennessee streets, on the State House
square, opposite the residence of Dr. Mitchell." Dr. Mitchell's
residence at that time is mentioned in Nowland, Early Reminis-
cences of Indianapolis, 108. Nowland's statement, page 92, locat-
ing the Gazette office on the northeast corner of the Square,
and Holloway's statement, page 18, placing its location in Block

54, lot 6 or 7 (site of Metropolitan Theatre) are obviously in-
correct.

On the south side of this square about opposite lots 2, 3, or 4
in Block 68 was located Caleb Scudder's cabinet shop, where the

Block 52
Lot 6

Block 53

232

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

first Sunday school was established in 1823. Nowland, op. cit.,
81; Indianapolis Gazette, February 25, 1822 ff . ; February 22,
1823.

West of Scudder's shop, nearer Mississippi than Tennessee
Street, was the grocery store of Jacob Landis, which was estab-
lished here from 1S22 to about 1824. Nowland, op. cit., 144;
Indianapolis Gazette, February 15, 1823. Cf. Sulgrove, History of
Indianapolis and Marion County, 31.

Jonathan Clifton, tailor, started his business one door west
of Jacob Landis but he was here only a few months in 1823.
Indianapolis Gazette, March 8 and May 17, 1823.

On the northwest corner of the State House Square, Isaac
Wilson, who came to Indianapolis in 1820, built his double log
cabin, "the first house of any kind built on the original town
plat." Luke Walpole, who arrived here in 1822, resided in this
cabin, as Isaac Wilson had moved to a farm. Walpole had a
store on the southwest corner of the Square, and remained here
for a year when his store was advertised for sale. Indianapolis
Gazette, July 6, 1822; Western Censor, August 11, 1823; Now-
land, op. cit., 25, 147 ; Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and
Marion County, 31. Cf. notes on Block 52, lot 6.
Block 54 between Market and Washington streets ; Tennessee and Illinois
streets.

Lot 7 James Linton, first purchaser and early resident (1821). Linton
was a sawyer and millwright who built the first sawmill on Fall
Creek, near the Crawfordsville road bridge, in September, 1821.
He also built the first gristmill for Isaac Wilson on Fall Creek.
On his Indianapolis lot he built the first two-story frame house,
76 West Washington Street, 1822. Brown, "History of Indian-
apolis," 7-8 ; Sulgrove, op. cit., 32 ; Fletcher, "Early Days," in
Indianapolis News, May 17, 1879.
Block 55 between Illinois and Meridian streets.

Lot 5 Not sold until 1827 (George Norwood). Here he conducted his
wagon-making establishment about 1822. Fletcher, "Early Days,"
in Indianapolis News, August 2, 1879 ; Nowland, op. cit., 152.
Peter Harmonson and Company opened a blacksmith shop here
in August, 1824. Indianapolis Gazette, August 17, 1824. Nor-
wood's location in 1823 was the corner of Maryland and Illinois
streets. Ibid., July 22, 1823.

Lot 6 Thomas Carter, first purchaser (1821). This may have been the
site of the "Rosebush" tavern operated by Carter for a short
time. Nowland, Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 64. See
Block 63, lot 4 for Carter's location in 1825.

Lot 9 Not sold until 1827. Nathaniel (Nathan) Davis, who bought it
then, probably had his hat shop here in 1825. Cf. Nowland,
op. cit., 187.

Lot 10 Armstrong Brandon, first purchaser and probably nonresident
(1821). Dr. Samuel G. Mitchell, the first physician who came

NOTES, CHAPTER X 233

to Indianapolis in 1S21, built on this site his second house, a
frame one. The lot was assigned by A. Brandon to Elizabeth
Mitchell (wife of Dr. Mitchell), who assigned it to Henry Por-
ter, her father (1826). Nowland, op. cit., 108-9; Dunn, Greater
Indianapolis, I, 71.
Block 56 between Meridian and Pennsylvania streets.

Lot 1 Not sold until May, 1S25, to Israel Phillips, shoemaker, and
James Luster (Lester), tailor. Lester had his shop here in 1823.
See Indianapolis Gazette, December 9, 1823. In the Gazette of
February 15, 1825, John Ambrozene advertised the opening of a
watch and clock repair shop on the east corner of Washington
and Meridian streets, the second door below John Hawkins'
tavern.

Lot 2 Armstrong Brandon, first purchaser and probably nonresident
(1821). John Hawkins was the second owner (1826). He had
his home and tavern (the latter called the Eagle Tavern) on
this site. Western Censor, July 2, 1823; Sulgrove, op. cit., 32.
By 1827, John Hawkins had purchased two more lots, 12 and 13,
in this block.

Lot 4 Harvey Gregg, first purchaser, with others, and early resident
(1821). Mr. Gregg was among the first lawyers to practice in
Indianapolis. In 1823 he formed a partnership with Douglass
Maguire to publish the second newspaper in Indianapolis, called
the Western Censor, & Emigrants Guide. It was on this site in
a house owned by Gregg that the newspaper was published. This
house was located just west of the alley in this block. Just west
of the newspaper building on this lot was the law office of Har-
vey Gregg and Gabriel Johnston. Nowland, op. cit., 141-44.

Lot 5 Not sold until May, 1825, to Jacob Whitinger, probably a non-
resident. This was the site of the store of Conner, Tyner, and
Company, which was opened in July, 1823. Western Censor,
July 2, 1823. The partnership was dissolved in 1824, and busi-
ness continued by John Conner until his death in 1S26. Ibid.,
April 19 and June 22, 1824.

Note : Between lots 5 and 6, that is between Paxton and
Bates general store and Conner's Store on lot 5, was the barber
shop of "Fancy Tom," a colored barber who followed the legis-
lators up from Corydon. Nowland, Early Reminiscoiccs of In-
dianapolis, 169.

Lot 6 William Earle, first purchaser, probably nonresident (1S21).
Hervey Bates, second purchaser and early resident (January,
1825). On this site the Paxton and Bates general store was
established prior to 1825. Part of this lot was sold to James
Paxton in February, 1825. The other part was sold at the same
time to James D. Conerty or Conery. In 1827 when it was the
property of Jonathan Conery it was sold to William Conner and
Alfred Harrison. Indianapolis Gazette, February 28 and August
1, 1826.

234 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Block 5/ between Pennsylvania and Delaware streets.

Lot 7 James McClure, first purchaser, and probably nonresident (1821).
William Conner, second purchaser in 1828. In January, 1825,
this was the site of the shoe shop of Israel Phillips and Dennis
I. White, which was located at the corner of Pennsylvania and
Washington streets. Western Censor, December 29, 1823 ; Indi-
anapolis Gazette, May 10 and September 13, 1825.

Lot 8 Daniel Stevens, first purchaser (1821).

Lot 9 Not sold until May, 1825 (Bishop and Stevens). Isaac Stevens
had a general store at this location with Austin Bishop. Indian-
apolis Gazette, September 23, 1823, and April 5, 1825. In 1825
the partnership was dissolved and a new firm organized as I.
Stevens and J. L. Sloan at the same location. Ibid.

Lot 10 Obed Foote, first purchaser and early resident (1821). Foote
was one of the first lawyers and a justice of the peace. He lived
in a cabin on this site. Nowland, op. cit., 136; Indianapolis
Gazette, March 8, 1823.

Lot 11 John Givan, first purchaser and early resident (1821) ; James
Givan, second purchaser and early resident (1823). This was
the site of a store kept by John Givan and later by James Givan
and Son. Indianapolis Gazette, April 3, 1822, and February 22,
1823.

Lot 12 John Carr, first purchaser and resident (1821). General Carr
was the first agent of Indianapolis and his double log cabin stood
on this lot. Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 4; Sulgrove,
History of Indianapolis and Marion County, 44.
Block 58 between Delaware and Alabama streets.

Occupied by the courthouse, jail, and pound.
Block 60 between New Jersey and East streets.

Lot 12 Wilkes Reagan, first purchaser and early resident (1821). He
was a butcher and this the site of his slaughterhouse. Nowland,
Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 133-34.

Locations on the south side of Washington Street from East Street
proceeding west to the western boundary of the Plat at West Street.
Block 61 between East and New Jersey streets.

Lot 6 Thomas Chinn, first purchaser (1821) and early resident. He
came to Indianapolis in 1821, settling near Pogue's cabin. Dunn,
Greater Indianapolis, I, 45. He opened a tavern called Travel-
lers' Hall on this lot which he owned, January 1, 1S24. In the
fall of 1825 he sold the tavern to David Buchanan and a year
later, the lot on which it stood. Western Censor, January 5,
1824; Indianapolis Gazette, October 18, 1825.
Block 62 between New Jersey and Alabama streets.

Lot 6 Abraham Barnett, first purchaser (1821). This was the site of
Andrew W. Reed's cabinet shop. Indianapolis Gazette, June 22,
1824.

Note : Samuel S. Rooker moved his house and sign painting

NOTES, CHAPTER X

235

Lots 7
and 8

Block 63
Lot 1

Lot 3
Lot 4

Block 64
Lot 9

Lot 10

Lot 11

Lot 1

Block 65
Lot 1

shop to the south side of Washington Street, east of the court-
house, in 1825. Indianapolis Gazette, May io, 1825.
Yandes and Wilkins, first purchasers (1821). This was the site
of the first tanyard, which was started in 1822. Nowland, op. cit.,
76-78.

between Alabama and Delaware streets.

Daniel Yandes, first purchaser, 1825. In 1822 Yandes erected a
double log cabin near the southwest corner of Alabama and
Washington streets. The following year, 1S23, he built a frame
house of three rooms in that locality. Sulgrove, History of
Indianapolis and Marion County, 101.
James M. Ray, first purchaser (1821).

Armstrong Brandon, first purchaser (1821). This was probably
the location of Major Carter's tavern, called the Indianapolis
Hotel, a two-story frame building which was erected in 1823
and burned in January, 1825, during the legislative session. In
the spring of this year he purchased the two-story frame house
of Jacob R. Crumbaugh on Washington Street down by the river
and moved it to the site of the burned tavern. Nowland, Early
Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 64-65 ; Brown, "History of Indi-
anapolis," 36; Indianapolis Gazette, October 7, 1823, November
9, 1824, January 18 and April 19, 1825.
between Delaware and Pennsylvania streets.

Unsold until May, 1825 (John E. Baker, first purchaser). This
was the site of the law office of Bethuel F. Morris, who was
agent of Indianapolis, 1822-February, 1825. Indianapolis Gazette,
March 29, 1823 ; October 26, 1824. Brown, "History of Indi-
anapolis," 4.

William Earle, first purchaser (1821), probably nonresident.
Calvin Fletcher announced formation of a law partnership with
James Rariden in the Indianapolis Gazette of March 8, 1825. Ac-
cording to the notice, "Mr. Fletcher keeps his office on Washing-
ton street opposite to Messrs. Bishop and Steven's store, and one
door east of the Gazette printing office."

David Mallory's barbershop was probably close by. Now-
land, Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 163.
William Earle, first purchaser (1821), probably nonresident. To
this lot the office of the Indianapolis Gazette was moved in 1824
from the corner of Washington and Tennessee streets. Indian-
apolis Gazette, October 5, 1822, October 26, 1824, June 14, 1825.
Not sold until May, 1825 (Fleming T. Luse, first purchaser).
Luse was a cabinetmaker, and had his shop here prior to April,
1826, at which time he built a new shop on this same lot where
his old one had burned. Indianapolis Gazette, April 11, 1826.
between Pennsylvania and Meridian streets.

Nicholas McCarty, first purchaser (May, 1825). McCarty was
a merchant who came to Indianapolis in the fall of 1823, and
established his store at this location. James Blake was his part-

236

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ner at one time. See Indianapolis Gazette, November 15, 1825;
Nowland, op. cit., 158-59 ; Fletcher, "Early Days," in Indianapolis
News, July 26, 1879; Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and
Marion County, 99.

Lot 2 Maxwell Chambers, first purchaser (1821), probably a nonresi-
dent. This lot was occupied by Joseph K. Looney, tailor, from
November, 1823, to October, 1825, when Masey and Stewart
opened a tailoring shop at the same location. Indianapolis Ga-
zette, November 25, 1823, and October 4, 1825.

Lot 3 Daniel Yandes, first purchaser (1821), and early resident. On
this location in January, 1824, Henderson and Blake opened a
tavern, Washington Hall. This partnership was dissolved in
1826, Henderson continuing the tavern alone. Western Censor,
January 12, 1824; Indianapolis Gazette, May 9, 1826. This was
a two-story frame building. Previous to this Henderson had a
tavern here in a log house. Brown, op. cit., 13.

Lot 5 Elizabeth Nowland, first purchaser (1825), and early resident.
She was the widow of Matthias R. Nowland, who died in 1822.
They first lived near the river, but in 1823 Mrs. Nowland moved
to this location and opened a boarding house here. She bought
the lot in May, 1825, and erected a brick house here about 1828.
Holloway, Indianapolis, 13 ; Nowland, Early Reminiscences of
Indianapolis, 53, 447 ; Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 36.
between Meridian and Illinois streets.

Not sold until 1827 (Jeremiah Collins). Jerry Collins had a
whisky shop and small lunchroom at this location from about
182 1. Nowland, op. cit., 109-11.
between Illinois and Tennessee streets.

The first log schoolhouse was located in 1S21 about the place
where Kentucky Avenue enters Illinois Street. Joseph C. Reed
was the first teacher. Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and
Marion County, 31. For a description of the schoolhouse, see
Rabb, Kate Milner, and Herschell, William (eds.), An Account
of Indianapolis and Marion County, 45 (Dayton, Ohio, 1924).

Lot 3 Peter H. Patterson, first purchaser (1821) ; certificate assigned
to Hays and by Hays to Kenneth A. Scudder, who received
patent (1826). He had a drugstore here. Calvin Fletcher's
family lived here for a short time during 1824-1825. Sulgrove,
History of Indianapolis and Marion County, 29 ; Fletcher, "Early
Days," in Indianapolis Neivs, July 5, 1879.

Lot 12 James Blake, first purchaser (1821) and early resident. When
Blake bought it, Colonel Paxton had half finished a frame house
of one story and two rooms connected by a covered space for a
kitchen on this lot. It was leased in 1822-23 by Calvin Fletcher,
a lawyer. The following year he shared it with the family of
Samuel Merrill, state treasurer. James Blake roomed and
boarded with the Fletchers, who lived here until 1824, when they
moved to Kenneth Scudder's house (Cf. Block 67, lot 3), but

Block 66

Lot 1

Block 67

Lot 1

Lot

10

Lot

9

Lot

8

Block 68

Lot

i

NOTES, CHAPTER X 237

they returned to this location before Miles Fletcher was born
here in September, 1828. "Early Indianapolis," in Indiana Maga-
zine of History, II, 33; Biographical History of Eminent and
Self -Made Men of Indiana, II, /th district, 273 ; Graydon,
Katharine Merrill (ed.), Catharine Merrill . . . (Greenfield,
Ind., 1934) ; Fletcher, articles on early Indianapolis, in Indi-
anapolis News, March 10, April 4, July 5, 1879.

Lot 11 Thomas McOuat, first purchaser (1821). He did not remove
here until 1830. Nowland, op. cit., 229.
John Hall, first purchaser (1821).
Not sold until 1838 (James M. Smith).
Jesse McKay, first purchaser (1821).
between Tennessee and Mississippi streets.

In February, 1825, the Assembly appropriated $1,000 to build on
lot 1, Block 68, "a substantial brick house for the residence of
the treasurer of state, to contain the offices of the treasurer and
auditor, and a fire-proof vault." Lazvs of Indiana, 1S25, p. 11;
Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 13.

Lot 2 Armstrong Brandon, first purchaser (1821) ; lot 3 not sold until
1832 to Isaac Blackford ; and lot 4, Armstrong Brandon, first
purchaser (1821). On one of these lots Caleb Scudder had his
house opposite his shop, and Abraham Beasly, tinker, had his
shop. Nowland, op. cit., 81 ; Indianapolis Gazette, July 20, 1824.

Lot 5 Not sold until 1832 (Isaac Blackford).

Lot 6 Samuel Patterson, first purchaser (1821). Probably occupied
by the spinning wheel factory of Samuel Walton. Indianapolis
Gazette, October 21, 1823.

Locations south of Washington Street.
Block 76 south of Maryland Street, between Meridian and Pennsylvania
streets.

The Methodists had no church building until 1825 when
they bought a lot and hewed log house for $300 on the south
side of Maryland Street east of Meridian. They occupied this
place for four years. Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 14.
Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 86, gives the location as west of
Meridian Street.
"Seven years later, Alfred Harrison, who was then managing the
Conner store, moved to La Porte, because he felt that "there was no pros-
pect . . . that Indianapolis would be anything more than an inland mud
town." Autobiographical sketch of Harrison under the title "An Old Man's
Career," in Indianapolis Journal, February 1, 1885.

uThe courthouse is described in Dunn, Greater hidianapolis, I, 62 ; for
a picture, see Sulgrove, op. cit., 251.

^Indianapolis Gazette, February 15, 1825.

"Indiana House Journal, 1825, pp. 9, 20.

"Ibid., 23.

"Indiana Journal, October 11, 1825; the act appears in the Lazvs, 1825,

238 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

pp. 84-86. For a discussion of the road problem and description of first
road between Indianapolis and William Conner's, see Dunn, Greater Indi-
anapolis, I, 76-81.

"Indiana House Journal, 1S25, pp. 79, 82; the act providing for the ex-
amining of White River was approved February 12, 1825. Laws of Indiana,
1825, p. 63. Ralston's manuscript report, dated December 13, 1825, is in the
Indiana State Library; act for improving navigation of White River, Laws
of Indiana, 1S25-1826, pp. 47-49. See also Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I,
16-25; Ewbank and Riker (eds.), Laws of Indiana Territory, 1S09-1816,
45-52.

17County libraries, Laws of Indiana, 1825, pp. 46-47 ; State Library, ibid.,
47-49; medical societies, ibid., 36-40, and Indiana House Journal, 1825, p. 239;
joint resolution disapproving constitutional amendment proposed by the state
of Georgia, "on the subject of the ingress of people of color into the several
states of the Union," Laws of Indiana, 1825, p. 105, and House Journal,
1825, p. 224; joint resolution respecting the gradual emancipation of slaves
and colonization of people of color within the United States, Lazvs of
Indiana, 1825, pp. 105-6.

lsJoint resolution on Lafayette's visit, Lazvs of Indiana, 1825, pp. 108-9;
account of his visit, Vincennes Western Sun. April 16, 30, May 28, July 2,
1825 ; Thompson, Charles N., "General La Fayette in Indiana," in Indiana
Magazine of History, XXIV, 57-77 (June, 192S) ; entries for May 8 to 13,
1825, in Nolan, James Bennett, Lafayette in America Day by Day, 286-87
(Flistorical Documents, Institut Francais de Washington, Cahicr VII, Bal-
timore, 1934).

'"Tipton to the secretary of war, July 31, 1825 ; Thomas L. McKenney
to Tipton, August 16, September 29, 1825 ; Tipton to McKenney, September
10, 1825 ; Cass to Tipton, October 12, 1825, in Tipton Papers, Indiana State
Library.

"'Quaife (ed.), Fort Wayne in 1790, 31m, 312, 320; Dunn, True Indian
Stories, 272, 303-4.

^Tipton's Journal, January 3-February 24, 1S26, in Indiana State Li-
brary; letters of Noble to Cass, February 3 and 4, 1826, William Hendricks
to Cass, March 7, 1828; and McKenney to Peter B. Porter, July 31, 1829,
photostats in possession of Eli Lilly, Indianapolis.

:2Letter of George W. Ewing to John Tipton, January 1, 1830, Ewing
Papers, Indiana State Library; Kappler (ed.), Indian Affairs. Lazvs and
Treaties, II, 278-81; Weesner, Clarkson W. (ed.), History of IVabash
County, Indiana . . ., I, 65 (Chicago and New York, 1914).

"'Indiana Journal, April 25, 1826; Indianapolis Gazette, issue dated Tues-
day, April 18, 1826, on page I, and Wednesday, April 19, on editorial page.

"Smith, Early Indiana Trials, 174. Smith tells a story which Conner
told at his own expense : "On one occasion, as he told me, he came to
Andersontown, then the lodge of a large band of Indians, under Chief
Anderson. He was dressed and painted as a Shawnee, and pretended to be
a Representative of Tecumseh. As is usual with the Indians, he took his
seat on a log barely in sight of the Indian encampment, quietly smoked his
pipe, waiting the action of Anderson and his under chiefs. After an hour

XOTES, CHAPTER X 239

he saw approaching the old chief himself, in full dress, smoking his pipe.
I give his language. 'As the old chief walked up to me I rose from my
seat, looked him in the eyes, we exchanged pipes, and walked down to the
lodge smoking, without a word. I was pointed to a bear skin — took my
seat, with my back to the chiefs. A few minutes after, I noticed an Indian
by the name of Gillaway, who knew me well, eyeing me closely. I tried to
evade his glance, when he bawled out in the Indian language, at the top of
his voice, interpreted, "You great Shawnee Indian, you John Conner." The
next moment the camp was in a perfect roar of laughter. Chief Anderson
ran up to me, throwing off his dignity. "You great Representative of Te-
cumseh," and burst out in a loud laugh.' "

=5Conner's house at Connersville was a rendezvous for all the settlers.
"They came there for social times and to learn the latest obtainable news.
On one occasion, when there was an unusual number present and all the
chairs and stools were in use, in came a big, bashful, awkward young fellow.
Endeavoring to keep in the background he sidled around the wall to the
corner near the great fireplace. The blue dye kettle stood there with a cloth
over it. Mistaking it for a stool in his embarrassment he sat down, went
under and came up with his tow linen suit dripping blue dye. The poor
fellow made a shot for the door and the shouting men saw a literal 'blue
streak' vanishing into the moonlit forest." It must have been a recurrent
source of amusement to Conner, and it was impressed on the memory of
his son, William Winship, who is said to have referred to the incident fifty
years later in a political speech at Connersville. An old man then and there
admitted he was the victim. Smith, Laura A., "Native Hoosiers Urged to
Keep Pioneer Relics," Indianapolis Star, January 10, 1926.

XI

Miscellaneous Genealogy Notes in the Burton Historical Collection,
Detroit Public Library.

2The records of Zion Lodge, No. i, Detroit, show that John Conner
was initiated as a member on December 6, 1802. The Zion Lodge was
then No. 10. For failure to attend meetings, he was suspended for two
years. In December, 1806, he was reinstated. On February 3, 1807, he was
made a Master Mason. Zion Lodge was called a military lodge because it
was instituted by English army officers (1764), but it never was really a
military lodge. It was the first lodge on Michigan soil and had the only
Masonic charter in the territory for some years. For the brothers' records
in Indiana masonry, see One Hundredth Anniversary, Warren Lodge No.
15, Connersville, 14-16; Atlas of Franklin County (1882), 61; McDonald,
Daniel, A History of Freemasonry in Indiana From 1806 to i8gS, 80-82
(Indianapolis, 1898) ; English, Will E., A History of Early Indianapolis
Masonry . . . , 13, 19 ff. (Indiana Historical Society Publications, III, no.
1, Indianapolis, 1895) ; Shirts, History of Hamilton County, 191-92; Helm,
History of Hamilton County, 87.

3Will of John Conner, and inventory and appraisement of his personal
estate, in possession of Miss Frieda Woerner, Indianapolis.

Advertisements of Conner's store, Indiana Journal, April 25-August 1,
1826 ; Indianapolis Gazette, April 25-July 18, 1826 ; Conner and Harrison's
new store, Indiana Journal, October 16, 1826-January 2, 1827; Indianapolis
Gazette, October 17-November 30, 1826; advertisements of Conner and
Harrison's store, Indiana Journal, April 9, 16, 1829 ; Indianapolis Gazette,
April 9-23, 1829; Indiana Democrat, October 16, 1830-January 1, 1831, and
May 5, 1832 ff.; notice of dissolution of partnership between A. W. Russell
and the firm of Conner and Harrison, Indiana Journal, September 8, 1832-
January 23, 1833 ; Indiana Democrat, September 22, 1832 f f . ; notice of
dissolution of firm of Harrison and Conner, and the occupancy of their
quarters by the firm of A. W. Russell and Company, Indiana Journal,
August 10-December 4, 1833 ; Indiana Democrat, August 10, 1833 f f. See
"An Old Man's Career. Outline of the Busy and Successful Business Life
of Mr. Alfred Harrison," in Indianapolis Journal, February 1, 1885; sketch
of Harrison in Nowland, John H. B., Sketches of Prominent Citizens of
1S76 . . ., 482 (Indianapolis, 1877). See Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I,
377-78, and files in Union Title Company, Indianapolis, on various locations
of the store.

* 5William Conner advertised the Hamilton County properties for rent
in the Indiana Journal, February 29, 1840. James M. Ray, as agent, offered
the Fayette County mills for sale in 1830. Advertisement quoted in History
of Fayette County (1885), 138.

"Article 9 of the Constitution of 1816 is printed in Kettleborough,
Constitution Making in Indiana, I, 112-15.

7Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 329.

(240)

NOTES, CHAPTER XI 241

"See letter from the group "To the Editors of the Democrat and the
Journal," in Indiana Democrat, November 12, 1831.

"Indiana Journal, November 9, 1833 ; Dunn, Indiana and Indianans, II,
877-78, 886.

"Article by Laura A. Smith on "William Conner's Station," in Indian-
apolis Star, January 17, 1926; Finch, "Early Days at Noblesville," in
Indianapolis Journal, December 18, 1898.

^■Proceedings of the Indiatta Historical Society, 1830-1886, 9-10, 13, 17
(Indiana, Historical Society Publications, I, no. 1, Indianapolis, 1897) ;
Holloway, Indianapolis, 33, 41.

12The treaty appears in Kappler (ed.), Indian Affairs. Lazus and
Treaties, II, 273-77.

lzMcRoberts v. Vogcl, 100 hid. App., 303-10. See also Esarey, History
of Indiana, I, 292 ff.

"Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 367-70. Claims against the government
found in the Ewing Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, show specific
amounts paid to certain influential persons in connection with Indian treaties.

"Indiana House Journal, 1829-1830, p. 5.

16See sketches of Tipton in Woollen, Biographical and Historical
Sketches, 185-95; Smith, Early Indiana Trials, 478-79; sketches of John
Ewing in ibid., 362, and in Cauthorn, Henry S., A History of the City
of Vinccnnes . . ., 210 (Terre Haute, Ind., 1902) ; the newspaper con-
troversy between Ewing and Tipton appears in the Indiana Journal, Decem-
ber 8, 11-12, 15-16, 1829. See also Dunn, Indiana and Indianans, I, 380-81,
for comment on Ray's activities at the treaty.

17The election for clerk is described in "Reminiscences of Judge Finch,"
in Indiana Magazine of History, VII, 162-63 ; Dunn, Greater Indianapolis,
I, 49-50; Holloway, Indianapolis, 19; Fletcher, "First Days," in Indianapolis
Nezus, April 26, 1879, and "Early Days," in ibid., May 10, 1879. See "Sketch
of the Life of William Conner, late of Noblesville," in Indianapolis Daily
Journal, August 22, 1855, for Conner's opinion of political practices.

lsEsarey, History of Indiana, I, 402 ff. ; Dunn, Indiana and Indianans,

I, 385 ff-

wIbid., I, 381-82; Indiana House Journal, 1829-1830, pp. 101, 224, 265-
73, 275-85; Lazvs of Indiana, 1829-1830, pp. 111-14.

™House Journal, 1829-1830, pp. 538-39; Senate Journal, 1829-1830, p.
428; Lazvs of Indiana, 1830-1831 (special), 153-54; Dunn, Greater Indian-
apolis, I, 103; Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and Marion County, 103.
Conner was a member of the joint standing committee on public buildings.

aThe Indiana convention is described in the Indiana Journal, November
12, 183 1. For a discussion of the first national political conventions, see
Fess, Simeon D., The History of Political Theory and Party Organisation
in the United States, 144 ff. (Ginn and Company, 1910).

ffiLaws incorporating railroads appear in Laws of Indiana, 1831-1832,
PP- 173-236. The supplementary Wabash and Erie Canal act is printed in
ibid., 1-8.

23Indiana Journal, June 16, 1832 ; Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and
Marion County, 109-10; Holloway, Indianapolis, 43-44; Dunn, Greater

242 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Indianapolis, I, 135 ; Masters, Edgar Lee, The Tale of Chicago, 38, 55-59
(New York, 1933).

24Union Inn Register, 1833-1836, Smith Library, Indiana Historical
Society ; advertisement, Indiana Journal, November 9, 1833, and following
issues ; Loucks, Kenneth, "John Elder : Pioneer Builder," in Indiana
Magazine of History, XXVI, 28-29 (March, 1930), and "A Hoosier
Hostelry a Hundred Years Ago," in Indiana History Bulletin, VIII, 308-15
(April, 1931)-

25Report of the meeting in Indiana Journal, March 29, 1834 ; see also
Holloway, Indianapolis, 41-42, 48; Brown, "History of Indianapolis," 30-31 ;
Dunn, Indiana and Indianans, I, 391 ff.

^Indiana Senate Journal, 1816-1817, p. 86.

"For discussions of the movement for internal improvements, see
Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 412-14; Dunn, op. cit., I, 382 ff.

^Advertisement in Indiana Journal, May 7, 1836, and subsequent issues.

^Indiana House Journal, 1836-1837, p. 4.

^Dunn, Greater Indianapolis, I, 105 ; Dunn, Indiana and Indianans, I,

455-

31See list of incorporations, Laivs of Indiana, 1836-1837 (local), Index.

32Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 417.

33Indiana House Journal, 1836-1837, p. 136, and following pages passim.
See also Esarey, History of Indiana, I, 414-36.

34Advertisement in Indiana Democrat, January 31, 1837.

36George Hunt, a buyer for the American Fur Company, reported the
purchase of the furs on May 16, 1838. Calendar of American Fur Company
Papers, item 4494, in Indiana State Library.

^For information on Conner's business partnerships, see note 35,
supra; records in office of county clerk, Hamilton County; letter of Ernest
B. Cole to Mary C. Haimbaugh, October 8, 1920.

^Indiana State Journal, July 12, 1847 ; January 8, 27, 1849.

38"A Trip to Noblesville," Indiana State Journal, April 23, 1851.

'"'William Conner to Richard Conner, February II, 1848, in possession
of Mary Conner Haimbaugh.

*°The suit was brought July 3, 1861, in the United States Circuit Court
in Indianapolis by John P. Usher, Cause No. 44. The jury returned a
verdict for the defendant and judgment was accordingly entered January 6,
1863. Among the papers in the files in the clerk's office is an undated
memorandum signed by Usher and addressed to Thomas A. Hendricks to
the effect that upon execution of ten notes of $700 each by defendant heirs,
judgment could be rendered for the defendants. The notes were to be sent
by Hendricks to Usher at Washington. Presumably the rights of all the
children were determined in this manner. It is noteworthy that Caleb B.
Smith, the judge, was afterwards secretary of the interior in Lincoln's
first cabinet. Usher had the same portfolio in his second cabinet.
Hendricks became governor of Indiana and vice-president of the United
States.

^"Sketch of the Life of William Conner, late of Noblesville," in In-
dianapolis Daily Journal, August 22, 1855.

NOTES, CHAPTER XI 243

"Wallace to Tipton, January 3, 1832, Tipton Papers.

"Harrison to Lewis Cass, December 17, 1826, photostat in possession
of Eli Lilly, Indianapolis.

"James C. Fletcher, "Early Days in Indiana," in Indianapolis News,
June 23, 18S1. Fletcher tells this story: "Some thirty years ago, while men
were engaged in digging a cellar on East Market street, for the late John
Wilkins, the laborers found, at the depth of several feet beneath the ground,
a beautiful tomahawk, with silver devices — one of which was the rising
sun — and with William Conner's name in intaglio, evidently of French
workmanship." This is now in the possession of Charles Conner.

"Adams, Richard C, The Adoption of Mew-Sen-Qua . . .,48 (Wash-
ington, D. C, 1917).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[This bibliography is limited to materials cited.]

MANUSCRIPTS

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Calendar of American Fur Company Papers, in Indiana State Library.
The manuscripts for which the calendar was made are in possession
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Cole, Ernest B., to Mary C. Haimbaugh, October 8, 1920.

Conner, George F., to Julia Conner Thompson, January 31, 1899.

Conner, Richard J., statement of June 17, 1891, in Draper Manuscripts,
Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison.

Conner, William, to Richard Conner, February II, 1848, in possession of
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Finch, James G., letters to Fabius M. Finch, February 5 and March 2, 1892;
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of Mary Conner Haimbaugh.

(247)

248 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Hamilton County, Indiana. Order Book A, clerk's office, Noblesville, Ind.

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250 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its
Principal Interests. 2 volumes (Chicago and New York, 1914).

Weinland, Joseph E., The Romantic Story of Schocnbrunn the First Town
in Ohio . . . (2d ed., Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,
n. p., 1929).

[Wharton, Samuel], View of the title to Indiana, — a tract of country on
the river Ohio. Containing Indian conferences at Johnson-Hall, in

BIBLIOGRAPHY 263

May, 1765; the deed of the Six Nations to the proprietors of In-
diana . . . (Philadelphia, 1776).

Wilcox, Frank N., Ohio Indian Trails (Cleveland, 1933).

"Wild Animals of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, II, 13-16
(March, 1906).

"Wilderness of Indiana Conquered by Pioneers," in Indianapolis Nezvs,
November 25, 1931.

Wilson, George R., Early Indiana Trails and Surveys (Indiana Historical
Society Publications, VI, no. 3, Indianapolis, 1919).

Winsor, Justin, The Mississippi Basin. The Struggle in America between
England and France. 1697-1763 (Boston and New York, 1895).

(ed.), Narrative and Critical History of America. 8 volumes (Bos-
ton and New York, 1889).

, The Westward Movement . . . (Boston and New York, 1897).

Woodburn, James Albert (ed.), The New Purchase or, Seven and a Half
Years in the Far West, by Robert Carlton (Princeton University Press,
1916).

Woollen, William Wesley, Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early
Indiana (Indianapolis, 1883).

Woollen, William Wesley, Howe, Daniel Wait, and Dunn, Jacob Piatt
(eds.), Executive Journal of Indiana Territory, 1800-1816 (Indiana His-
torical Society Publications, III, no. 3, Indianapolis, 1900).

Young, Andrew W., History of Wayne County, Indiana . . . (Cincinnati,
1872).

Zeisberger, David, see Bliss, Eugene F. (tr. and ed.).

NEWSPAPERS

Conncrsville Times (weekly), August 29, 1855. Connersville, Ind.
Indiana Democrat (weekly), 1830-1833, 1837, 1839. Indianapolis, Ind.
Indiana Journal (weekly), 1825-1827, 1829, 1831-1834, 1836, 1839, 1840.

Indianapolis, Ind.
Indiana State Journal (weekly), 1847, 1849; (daily), 1851. Indianapolis,

Ind.
Indianapolis Daily Journal, August 22, 1855. Indianapolis, Ind.
Indianapolis Gazette (daily), 1822-1827, 1829. Indianapolis, Ind.
Indianapolis Journal (daily), 1885, 1887, 1898. Indianapolis, Ind.
Indianapolis News (daily), 1S79, 1881, 1896, 1902, 1906, 1931. Indianapolis,

Ind.
Indianapolis Press (daily), September 29, 1900. Indianapolis, Ind.
Indianapolis Star (daily), 1920, 1925-1927. Indianapolis, Ind.
Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury (weekly), July 23, 1808. Cincinnati,

Ohio. In possession of Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio,

Cincinnati.
Rochester Republican, November 20, 1895. Rochester, Ind.
Western Censor, & Emigrants Guide (weekly), 1823-1824. Indianapolis, Ind.
Western Sun (weekly), 1817-1819, 1825. Vincennes, Ind.
Newspaper clippings in Finch Scrapbook, Indiana State Library.

264 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

MAP AND DRAWINGS

Guernsey, E. Y., Indiana. Influence of the Indian . . . (Department of
Conservation, Publication No. 122, Indianapolis, 1933).

Photostatic copies of measured drawings of Old State Capitol, Corydon,
made by Historic American Building Survey, in William Henry
Smith Memorial Library, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis.

INDEX

INDEX

Adams, John Quincy, 83, 145, 146,

I5S-

Adams, Richard C, 124-25, 179.

Alexandria (Ind.), platted, 171.

Ambrozene, John, 233.

American Fur Company, 176, 242.

Ancrum, Maj. William, 35.

Anderson, William (Delaware), 109,
112, 238-39; father-in-law of Wil-
liam Conner, 51 ; at Fort Wayne
Treaty (1809), 57; at council with
Tecumseh, 66 ; at Treaty of Fort
Meigs (1817), 96; grants permis-
sion for Whetzel's Trace, 97 ; at
St. Mary's treaties (1818), 104-5,
106; embittered by treaties, 226;
departure with Delawares, 123,
124; Indian name, 201.

Anderson's Town (Andersontown,
Wapeminskink), 112, 196; de-
scription, 43, 201 ; execution of
Christian Indians near, 45-46;
sale of lots, 202; size, 203.

Arms and ammunition, sale to In-
dians, 5.

Armstrong, John, secretary of war,
214.

Asbury (De Pauw University), 172

Ash, Abraham, interpreter, 57.

Askin, John, 35.

Association for the Improvement of
Common Schools in Indiana, 161.

Audrick (Andrick), , 121,

I3r, 132.

Backhouse, James, 206.

Baird, Patrick, 92, 101.

Baker, John E., 235.

Ballot system, in general elections,

102.
Baptiste, Jean, 128.
Barnett, Abraham, 234.
Barnhill, John, 141.

Barnhill, Robert, 141.

Barron, Joseph, interpreter and
scout, 56, 57, 59-

Bartholomew, Joseph, commissioner
to locate capital, 117.

Bates, Hervey, 158, 233.

Baynton and Wharton, 188.

Baxter, Allen, 129.

Baxter family, 121, 123.

Beasly, Abraham, 237.

Beaver (Delaware), 186.

Beggs, James, nickname, 91 ; state
legislator, 92, 96.

Bishop, Austin, 234.

Bishop and Stevens, 234, 235.

Black Hawk's War, 168-69.

Black Swamp, 74.

Blackford, Isaac, 91, 92.

Blackmore, William C, 136.

Blake, James, commissioner to lay
out Indianapolis — Fort Wayne
road, 151 ; witness, John Conner's
will, 156: early Indianapolis resi-
dent, 235-36, 236.

Blasdel, Capt. Jacob, 217.

Blockhouses, Conner blockhouse, 85,
216; Dearborn County (including
Ohio and Switzerland), 85, 217;
Franklin County (including Fay-
ette and Union), 85, 216-17;
Wayne County, 85, 216.

Blue Jacket (Shawnee), 7.

Blythe, Benjamin I., clerk, commis-
sion to locate capital, 1 18 ; at Wil-
liam Conner's wedding, 127.

Bolton, Nathaniel, 133.

Boon, Ratliff, state legislator, 92,
101 ; on educational committee,
161.

Bouquet, Col. Henry, 5 ; defeats In-
dians at Bushy Run, 4 ; demands
return of white captives, 5, 14,
186, 195.

267

268

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Boyer (Beyer, Bayer), Andreas, 10.

Boyer, Frederick, u, 185.

Boyer, John Jacob, 10-11, 185.

Boyer, John Philip, 10.

Boyer, Margaret, see Conner, Mar-
garet (Boyer).

Boyer, Martin, 10.

Boyer, Philip, 10.

Braddock, Gen. Edward, 4.

Brandon, Armstrong, purchaser of
lots, Indianapolis, 230, 232, 233,
235, 237.

Brant, Joseph (Mohawk), theory of
land ownership, 53, 61.

Bridges, John T., murder of Indians,
143-44-

Brodhead, Col. Daniel, expedition
against Delaware capital, 23-24;
aid from Moravians, 29, 30, 192.

Brookville (Ind.), bill for incorpo-
ration of, 93.

Brouillette, Michael, 205.

Brouillette (Brouett, etc.), Michael,
scout for Harrison, 59, 205 ; pos-
sible identification with trader
Brouett, 204-5.

Brown, Chapel, 129.

Bruce, Amor, 217.

Bruce, Henry, 217.

Bruce, James, 217.

Bruno, John Baptiste, 210.

Buchanan, David, 234.

Buckongahelas (Delaware), at St.
Clair's defeat, 7 ; opposes missions,
42, 43 ; opposes Vincennes agree-
ment (1802), 54-55; signs Fort
Wayne Treaty (1803), 55; death,
45, 108; name, variations and
meaning, 197 ; Dawson's comment
on, 205.

Buckongahelas' Town (Wapicome-
koke), 47; location, 42, 196, 197-
98; size, 203; trade at, 43, 46.

Buck's Town, see Killbuck's Village.

Burr, Aaron, 92, 145, 171.

Bush, Rev. George, 156.

Bush, Jared, 114.

Bush, John, 114.

Bush, William, early settler, Hamil-
ton Co., 114, 123, 129; makes hand
mill, 116.

Bushy Run, Battle of, 4.

Calhoun, John C, letter from Jen-
nings on treaty negotiations, 105.

Camp Charlotte (Ohio), peace
treaty (i/74>, 6- *4"i5.

Campbell, John, Indian agent, 109.

Campbell, Lt. Col. John B., expedi-
tion against Mississinewa towns,

73-

Canals, 166, 168, 171, 172-75.

Cannelton (Ind.), 153.

Capp, Jacob G., 230.

Captives' Town (Ohio), 191; estab-
lished, 27 ; house of worship built,
30; Christian Indians disperse,
31 ; farewell services at, 32.

Caritas (Christian Indian), executed,
46.

Carr, Gen. John, agent, Indianapolis,
230, 234.

Carter, Maj. Thomas, early Indian-
apolis innkeeper, 147, 232, 235.

Cass, Gen. Lewis, 77, IS5 j commis-
sioner, St. Mary's treaties, 99, 104 ;
and Treaty of Mississinewa, 156;
162-63 ; supports William Conner's
land claim, 108, 109; on Indian
character and languages, 137, 138,

139-

Cedar Grove (Ind.), John Conner's
post near, 47-50, 86.

Celoron de Blainville, 2, 3.

Chambers, Maxwell, 236.

Chapman, Amasa, 114, 115.

Chapman, Elizabeth, see Conner,
Elizabeth (Chapman).

Chinn, Thomas, 234.

Chippewa, mission established
among, 33; limit grant to Morav-
ians, 35.

Cincinnati (Ohio), 50.

Circleville (Ohio), 6, 14.

Clark, George Rogers, 7, 24.

INDEX

269

Clay, Henry, 83, 145, 146, 167.

Clifton, Jonathan, 231.

Clinton River (Mich.), mission
established on, 33.

Coe, Isaac, 161, 230.

Cole, Bicknell, 176.

Collins, Jeremiah, 148, 236.

Conery (Conerty), James D., 233.

Conery, Jonathan, 233.

Congress Belt, peace token, 17, 195.

Conner, Alexander Hamilton, son of
William and Elizabeth Conner,
1/7.

Conner, Benjamin Franklin, son of
William and Elizabeth Conner,
177.

Conner, Catherine Massey, daughter
of William and Elizabeth Conner,
177-

Conner, Elisha Harrington, son of
William and Elizabeth Conner,
177.

Conner, Eliza, daughter of William
Conner and Mekinges, 109, 124,
125-

Conner, Elizabeth (Chapman), 122;
birth, 140; girlhood, 113; attracted
by William Conner's kindness to
settlers, 116; marriage, 126-28;
portrait, 134.

Conner, George F., son of William
and Elizabeth Conner, 177.

Conner, Harry (Hamilton), son of
William Conner and Mekinges,
109, 124.

Conner, Henry, son of Richard Con-
ner, birth, 21, 189; baptism, 189;
Indian name, 21 ; life with Morav-
ians, 24-26, 26-27, 37-38 ; common
interests with William and John,
158; interpreter, 162-63, 189; Con-
ners Creek home, 36 ; marriage,
184.

Conner, Henry John, son of John
and Lavina Conner, 159.

Conner, Jack (John), son of Wil-
liam Conner and Mekinges, 109,
124.

Conner, James, son of Richard Con-
ner, birth, 14, 189 ; baptism, 184,
187 ; redemption from Shawnee,
16, 17-18, 188; life with Morav-
ians, 24-26, 26-27, 37-38 ; common
interests with William and John,
158; interpreter, 162-63.

Conner, James, son of John Conner
and Delaware wife, 87, 206, 218,
225.

Conner, James, son of William Con-
ner and Mekinges, 109, 124.

Conner, John, of New York, 9.

Conner, John, of Franklin Co., 85.

Conner, John, son of Richard Con-
ner, 8, 57, 127, 206; ancestry, 9-
11; birth and baptism, 17, 188,
189; life with Moravians, 19-21,
24-27, 30-31, 33-35, 37-38; land
interests, Michigan, 38, 195 ; be-
comes Indian trader, 38 ; removal
to Indiana, 40; Delaware wife,
40, 43, 87 ; trader at Delaware
towns, White River, 42, 43-45, 46,
197, 203 ; rail splitting contract for
Indian villages, 210; visits Wash-
ington, D. C, as interpreter
(1802), 46-47, 54; informs against
French spy, 47, 55 ; post at Cedar
Grove, 47-50, 86 ; builds mill,
Cedar Grove, 50 ; marries Lavina
Winship, 50, 87 ; post near present
Connersville, 50-51, 87; relations
with Harrison, 55, 62, 144-45, 211 ;
services at Indian treaties: 110-11 ;
Grouseland (1805), 56; Fort
Wayne (1809), 57, 106; Green-
ville (1814), 81; Fort Meigs
(1817), 100; St. Mary's (1818),
96-97, 98, 100, 106, in;
scout and guide, 59-60, 61, 62-63,
64, 65, 66, 72, 84-85, 213 ; trips
to Indian country for stolen
horses, 60, 210, 211 ; witness at
General Court, Vincennes, 61 ;
recommended as subagent for
Delawares, 61-62; at Battle of
Tippecanoe, 63, 144-45 ; influence

270

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

with Delawares, 65, 72, 83, 1 10-12;
possible militia service, 85 ; land
purchases, Franklin Co., 86-87,
218 ; mills near Connersville, 87,
88, 100 ; plats Connersville, 87-88 ;
senator from Franklin Co. (1816-
17, 1817-18, 1818-19), 89-96, 99,
219; from Fayette and Union cos.
(1821-22), 101-2; sheriff, Fay-
ette Co., 94, 100, 219 ; witness,
Jennings' inquiry, 99 ; business and
real estate interests, Connersville,
99-100, 143, 218; commissioner to
locate state capital, 100, 117, 118,
119; to locate Ripley county seat,
100 ; director, Connersville Library
Association, 100; builds house,
Connersville, 100-1 ; agent for
William's land claim, 109; buys
lands at Horseshoe Prairie, 131-
32 ; mills and carding machine,
Hamilton Co., 132, 160; county
board meetings held at house of,
136; Indianapolis store, 142-43,
148, 233 ; war record attacked,
144-45 ; representative, Hamilton
Co. district (1825), 144-45, 150-53 ,'
doubts growth of Indianapolis,
149; opposed to slavery, 153; in-
terpreter at Washington with Le
Gris and Tipton, 154-56; death,
TS6-57 ; portrait, 157; Masonic in-
terests, 158, 240; will, provisions
of, 159; personality and appear-
ance, 44-45, 113, 157, 159, 239.

Conner, John, son of John Conner
and Delaware wife, 87, 124, 125,
218.

Conner, John, Delaware interpreter
in Texas, 125.

Conner, John Fayette, son of Wil-
liam and Elizabeth Conner, 160,
177.

Conner, Lavina (Winship), 133;
marriage, 50, 87.

Conner, Lavina, infant daughter of
John and Lavina Conner, 133.

Conner, Lavina, daughter of William

and Elizabeth Conner, 133, 160,
176, 177.

Conner, Margaret (Boyer), 8; birth
and captivity, 10-11, 185, 186;
name, 1S4-85 ; marriage, 11-12,
13 ; first-born pledged to Shawnee,
12, 14; at Connerstown (Ohio), 12-
13 ; interested in Moravian mission,
14; at Snakestown (Ohio), 14;
freed by treaty of Camp Charlotte,
14-15; at Pittsburgh, 15; joins
Schoenbrunn community, 15, 16-
17; friendship with Mrs. Jung-
man, 18; flees to Lichtenau, 19-
20; joins Moravian church, 21;
captured with missionaries, 24-26;
journey to Captives' Town, 26-27,
191 ; removal from Upper San-
dusky Old Town to Lower San-
dusky, 30-31 ; at Lower Sandusky,
32 ; removal to Detroit, 33-34 ; at
New Gnadenhiitten, 34-35 ; last
years, 35-36, 193 ; Schoenbrunn
cabin restored, 187.

Conner, Margaret Crans, daughter
of William and Elizabeth Conner,

177.

Conner, Nancy, daughter of Wil-
liam Conner and Mekinges, 109,
124, 125.

Conner, Richard, of Maryland, 9.

Conner, Richard, 8 ; birth, 9, 184 ;
removes to Ohio country, 9-10;
marriage, 11-12, 13; first-born
pledged to Shawnee, 12, 14; at
Connerstown (Ohio), 12-13; visit-
ed by Rev. David Jones, 12-13;
and by David Zeisberger, 13-14;
at Snakestown, with Shawnee, 14,
186; at Pittsburgh, 15; redeems
son from Shawnee, 16, 17-18;
joins Schoenbrunn community, 15,
16-17; joins Moravian church, 19;
flees to Lichtenau, 19-20; carries
information to Brodhead, 23 ; cap-
tured with missionaries, 24-26 ;
journey to Captives' Town, 26-27,
191 ; pro-American sympathies,

INDEX

271

29 ; removal from Upper San-
dusky Old Town to Lower San-
dusky, 30-31 ; under supervision of
Wyandot, 31 ; at Lower Sandusky,
32 ; removal to Detroit, 33-34 ; at
New Gnadenhutten, 34-35 ; em-
ployed by De Peyster, 34 ; last
years, 35-36, 193 ; Schoenbrunn
cabin restored, 187; life paralleled
by John Leith's, 190.

Conner, Richard James, son of Wil-
liam and Elizabeth Conner, 160,
177.

Conner, Susanna, daughter of Rich-
ard Conner, birth, 34, 189, 193 ;
marriage, 36.

Conner, Therese (Tremble), 184.

Conner, William, of Virginia, 9.

Conner, William, 8; ancestry, 9-1 1;
birth, 20, 189; life with Moravians,
20-21, 24-27, 30-31, 33-35, 37-38,
191 ; land interests, Michigan, 38,
195 ; becomes Indian trader, 38 ; re-
moval to Indiana, 40, 208 ; mar-
riage to Delaware wife, Mekinges,
40, 43, 51 ; at Delaware towns,
White River, 42, 43, 46, 59, 203 ;
trading post near present Nobles-
ville, 46, 49, 51, 112, 132-33, 204;
money trunk, 225 ; relations with
Delawares, 66, 72, 83, 1 10-12, 128,
130, 139 ; distributes Delaware an-
nuities, 222 ; scout and guide, 70,
7i, 73, 75-76, 103, 213; narrow es-
cape, 73 ; messenger to Fort Ste-
phenson, 77, 78 ; at Battle of
Thames, 79, 80, 215 ; interpreter at
conference after Thames victory,
80;

service at Indian treaties: 110-
11; Greenville (1814), 81; Fort
Meigs (1817), 96; St. Mary's
(1818), 98, 106, 107-8, 109;
Mississinewa (1826), 156, 162-
63; Potawatomi (1832), 194;
woodsman, 194 ; interpreter, at
Delaware council (1817), 95; de-
fends Jennings' treaty negotia-

tions, 99 ; claim for treaty reserve,
106, 107-10; Delaware language
used in household, 112, 223; trans-
formation of, 1 13-14; kindness to
settlers of Horseshoe Prairie, 115-
16 ; host to capital site commis-
sioners, 1 17-18, 119-21; parting
with Mekinges, 123-24; division of
property with William Marshall,
124; marries Elizabeth Chapman,
126-28 ; employs negro, 130-31 ;
builds brick house (1823), 133-35,
227; portrait, 134; host to county-
seat commissioners, 135 ; plats No-
blesville with Josiah F. Polk, 135-
36 ; circuit court held at home of,
T35> !36; treasurer, Hamilton Co.,
136; tradition of visit by James
Fenimore Cooper, 137 ; by Wash-
ington Irving, 228 ; visited by C.
C. Trowbridge, 138-39; by Bay-
nard R. Hall, 139-40; with John
Johnston on mission to pacify In-
dians, 144 ; P"ourth of July cele-
bration at home of, 145-46; com-
missioner to lay out Fort Wayne
— Indianapolis road, 151-52; Ma-
sonic interests, 158; partner, Con-
ner and Harrison, 159; executor,
John Conner estate, 159-60, 240;
interest in educational develop-
ment, 161-62; charter member, In-
diana Historical Society, 162 ; rep-
resentative, Hamilton Co. district,
(4829-30, 1831-32, 1836-37) 164,
166-67, 167-68, 172-75, 241 ; letter
in Tipton-Ewing quarrel, 164;
delegate, convention of National
Republican Party in Indiana, 167 ;
with expedition against Black
Hawk, 169; business and real es-
tate interests, Indianapolis, 170,
223, 234; railroad interests, 170,
I/6-77; plats Alexandria, 171; re-
moves to farm near Noblesville,
T75-/6; closes out fur trade, 176,
242; Noblesville store, 177; mills,
north of Noblesville, 177; death,

272

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

177; estate, 177-78, 242; personal-
ity and appearance, 44-45, 70-71,
1 1 5- 1 16, 126, 159, 178-79, 224;
tomahawk recovered, 243.

Conner, William, son of William
Conner and Mekinges, 109, no,
124.

Conner, William Henry, son of
William and Elizabeth Conner,
177.

Conner, William Winship, son of
John and Lavina Conner, 101, 157,
218, 239.

Conner and Dickson, store, Conners-
ville, 100, 143.

Conner and Harrison, Indianapolis
store, 159-60, 233.

Conner blockhouse, 85, 216.

Conner Trail, Cedar Grove to Wil-
liam Conner's post, 207.

Conner, Tyner, and Co., Indianapolis
store, 142-43, 229, 233.

Connerstown (Ind.), William Con-
ner's trading post, 204. See also
Conner, William, trading post.

Connerstown (Ohio), 12-13.

Connersville (Ind.), founded, 87-88;
county seat, Fayette Co., 93, 99 ;
jail, 100; library association, 100.

Connolly, Dr. John, agent of Lord
Dunmore, 5-6, 14, 15.

Coon (Kuhn), Abraham, expedition
against missions, 24-27.

Cooper, James Fenimore, 137.

Corbaley, Jeremiah, 141.

Corydon (Ind.), in 1816, pp. 90-91.

Coshocton (Ohio), see Goschach-
giink.

County and township officers, act
concerning, 93.

County boundaries, 91, 93, 101.

Cox, Jacob, artist, 134.

Craig, Col. John, 185.

Crawford, Maj. William, expedition
to Sandusky, 2>3 ', burned at stake,
33-

Crawford, William H., 145.

Croghan, Maj. George, defense of

Fort Stephenson, 77-78.
Crumbaugh, Jacob R., 231, 235.
Curry, Samuel, 217.

Daniel, Richard, 96.

Davis, Nathaniel, 232.

Dean, Thomas, description of Wil-
liam Anderson, 201 ; visits William
Conner, 204.

Dearborn County (Ind.), block-
houses, 85, 217.

Deer hunting, 120, 224, 238-39.

Delaware Indians, in Ohio country,
1-2; site of capital, 2, 186; houses,
13, 186; long houses, 43-44;
dances, 44 ;

Moravian missions among : Ohio,
6, 13, 15-17, 18-33, 37, 59; In-
diana, 42-45. 59;
British party in Revolution, 21,
23-24, 25-31, 32-33, 42; remove
to Indiana after Greenville Treaty,
40, 196; towns on White River,
42-45, 196-205 ; protest against
Vincennes agreement (1802), 54-
55 ; Tecumseh attempts to influ-
ence, 58 ; agricultural interests, 59,
210; warned against revolt, 60-61;
urge Prophet against revolt, 62-
63 ; endangered by raids of other
tribes, 64-66, 71 ; refuse to join
Tecumseh and British, 66, 68, 83 ;
move to Ohio under government
protection, 66, 85 ; refuse to join
Miami, 72 ; employed by Harrison,
75-76 ; claims on White River, 95 ;
relations with Conners, 1 10-12;
removal westward, 123-25, 225-26;
degraded by drink, 195. See also
Indian treaties.

De Pauw, John, 92.

De Peyster, Maj. Arent Schuyler,
trial of missionaries, 28-30; letter
to McKee about Moravians, 192 ;
summons missionaries again to
Detroit, 31, 32, 192; allows estab-
lishment of mission north of De-

INDEX

273

troit, 32-33 ; supplies provisions,
34; employs Richard Conner, 34;
sketch, 191-92.

Detroit (Mich.), appearance, 39,
214-15 ; trial of missionaries at,
28-30. See also Forts.

Dickson, Arthur, business associate
of John Conner, 100.

Dickson and Conner, 100.

Distilleries, 129, 160.

Dresden (Ohio), 1.

Dubois, Toussaint, scout, 59.

Dueling, legislation against, 98.

Duncan, Robert, early settler, Ham-
ilton Co., 121, 123, 129.

Dunlap, Dr. Livingston, 156.

Dunmore, Lord, 5, 6.

Dunmore's War, 6, 14-15.

Dunn, Williamson, 92.

Dunning, Asael, ferryman, 148, 230.

Du Ponceau, Peter S., investigation
of Indian languages, 137-38.

Durham, Jesse, commissioner to
locate capital, 117.

Eagle Tavern, Indianapolis, 233.

Earle, William, 233, 235.

Educational system, early Indiana,
160-61.

Edwards, Ninian, 146, 229.

Edwards, William, Moravian mis-
sionary, 20, 188.

Eggleston, Miles C, 161.

Elder, John, Union Inn, 170.

Elliot, Matthew, 28 ; influence with
Indians, 19; expedition against
Fort Henry, 24; against missions,
24-27, 190; against Fort Wayne,
70; comment on Indian warriors,
75 ; at Fort Stephenson, 78.

Emison (Emmerson), Thomas, com-
missioner to locate capital, 117,
118.

Eustis, William, secretary of war,
214.

Ewing, John, quarrel with Tipton,
112, 164-65.

Ewing, William G. and George W.,
no.

Fall Creek, capital site on, advan-
tages of, 1 18-19.

Fallen Timbers, Battle of, 7.

Fallis, Sennet, 160.

Fancy Tom, barber, 148, 233.

Fayette County (Ind.), formation,
93 ; county-seat location, 99.

Ferguson, Benjamin, 96.

Ferris, Ezra, 92.

Finch, Aaron, 114, 115.

Finch, Alma, 114.

Finch, Augustus, 114.

Finch, Judge Fabius M., 162; de-
scribes fishing and hunting of
early days, 119-20.

Finch, George, death, 115.

Finch, Israel, moves to Horseshoe
Prairie, 114; builds horse mill, 1 16,
223.

Finch, James, 1 14.

Finch, James G., describes Fourth of
July celebration, 123 ; describes
division of property between Mar-
shall and Conner, 124.

Finch, John, 225 ; at Connervsille,
113; early settler, Hamilton Co.,
1 14-15, 123, 126, 127, 145; black-
smith, 116; builds horse mill, 116,
223 ; host to commissioners to se-
lect capital site, 118; associate
judge, 136.

Finch, Laura, marriage, 127.

Finch, Mary, 114.

Finch, Rebecca, 114.

Finch, Sarah, 114; opens school, 117.

Finch, Solomon, at Connersville,
113; early settler, Hamilton Co.,
114, 115, 123, 129.

Finch settlement, Hamilton Co., 132.

Fisher, Benjamin, death, 130.

Fisher, Frederick, trader, 198.

Fletcher, Calvin, lawyer, early Indi-
anapolis, 148, 235, 236-37 ; on edu-
cational committee, 161.
Fletcher, Miles, 237.

274

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Floyd, Maj. Davis, messenger to
Delawares, 64, 66; friendship with
John Conner, 91.
Foote, Obed, 148, 234.
Fordham, Elias Pym, 219.
Forts, Bedford, 4; Chartres, 4;
Dearborn, 68 ; Defiance, 70 ;
Detroit: British post, 4, 6; British
refuse to give up, 7 ; evacuation
by British, 38, 194; location, 39,
215; surrendered (1812), 68, 70;
expedition against, 70 ff.;
Gower, 6, 183 ;
Harrison: 68, 72, 84; attacked,

71. 2I4;

Henry, 6, 19, 24, 30; Le Boeuf, 3,
4; Lehigh, 10; Ligionier, 4; Mac-
kinac, 68 ;

Meigs : Harrison's winter quar-
ters, 75 ; British attack repulsed,

76;
Miami (Fort Wayne), 4; Miami
(on Little Miami), first Protest-
ant service, 186; Michillimackinac,
4, 7 ; Necessity, 3 ; Niagara, 7 ;
Ouiatenon, 4; Pitt, 4, 5, 6, 14, 19,
29, 30, 186; Presqu'Isle, 3, 4, 7 '>
St. Joseph, 4 ; Sandusky, 4, 7 ;
Seneca, 76 ; Stephenson, 76-78 ;
Venango, 3, 4 ; Vincennes, 4 ;
Wayne: 46, 68, 84; siege of, 70.

Fourth of July, early celebrations,
122-23, 145-46, 229.

Franklin County (Ind.), block-
houses, 85, 216-17; population
(1S15), 89.

Frazier, Betty, 51.

Fremont (Ohio), 31.

French spy incident, 47, 55.

Frenchtown (Mich.), 74.

Fur trade, in Ohio Valley, 2, 3, 4, 5,
7, 68, 83, 206; in Indiana, 46, 88,
in, 143, 163, 176.

Furs, packing, prices, 48-50.

Gallatin, Albert, 83.
Gallipolis (Ohio), 6.

Gekelemukpechunk, Delaware capi-
tal, 2, 13, 186.
Gelelemend, see Killbuck, John, Jr.
General Assembly of Indiana, early
sessions, Corydon, 89-96, 99, 101-2;
Indianapolis, 150-53, 166-67, 167-
68, 172-75.
Gibson, John, 14 ; friendship with
Conner family, 17, 41, 59, 195,
211; secretary, Indiana Territory,
41 ; sketch, 195.
Gibson, Margaret (Mrs. Robert),

marries Matthias Scudder, 231.
Gibson, Robert, Jr., 231.
Gilliland, John, commissioner to lo-
cate capital, 117, 11S.
Girty, James, 103.

Girty, Simon, appearance, 189 ; ha-
tred of Americans, 19, 188 ; Heck-
ewelder reports movements of, 23 ;
determination to break up missions,
31, 32, 192.
Girty 's Town (Ohio), named St.

Mary's, 103.
Gist, Christopher, surveyor, 3.
Givan, James, and Son, 234.
Givan, John, 234.

Gnadenhutten (Ohio), mission town,
founded, 18 ; congregation removes
to Lichtenau, 21 ; congregation re-
turns, 21-22; missionaries cap-
tured, 24-27 ; massacre of Chris-
tian Indians, 32, S3, 42, 192 ; church
service at, 194.
Goschachgiink (Coshocton, Ohio),
26; Delaware capital, 2, 186, 190;
attacked by Brodhead, 23-24, 29.
Graham, William, 96, 150.
Grass, Daniel, 92, 101, 150.
Gray, John, 150.
Greentown (Ind.), 202.
Gregg, Harvey, 233.
Gregory, James, 142, 150, 164.
Griffith, Amos, 230.

Hackley, Rebecca, reserve to, 222.
Hagerman, John, mill, 50.
Halberstadt, Anthony, 50.

IXDEX

275

Half King (Wyandot), against mis-
sions, 20, 24-27, 31, 32, 192.

Half King's Town, 27, 191.

Hall, Baynard R., visits William
Conner, 139-40.

Hall, John, 237.

Hamilton, Lt. Gov. Henry, 6-7 ; cell
at Williamsburg, 183.

Hamilton County (Ind.), formation
and organization, 135-36; jail, 136.

Hannaman, Robert L., 136.

Hargrove, Lt. Col. William, com-
mands Rangers, 69 ; at Tippeca-
noe, 144-45-

Harmonson, Peter, and Co., 232.

Harper, Thomas, murder of Indians,
U3-44.

Harrington, Elisha, marriage, 36.

Harrington, Susanna (Conner), see
Conner, Susanna.

Harrison, Alfred, clerk, Conner,
Tyner and Co., 142-43 ; partner,
Conner and Harrison, 159; re-
moves to La Porte, 237.

Harrison, Caleb, 145.

Harrison, Christopher, lieutenant
governor, 92 ; attempts to oust
Jennings, 98-99.

Harrison, William Henry, governor,
Indiana Territory, 41 ; land policy
and Indian cessions (1802-1809),
50, 53-59; tries to offset activities
of Prophet and Tecumseh, 58-63 ;
Tippecanoe expedition, 63-64 ; con-
fidence in Delawares, 64, 65 ; ma-
jor general, Kentucky militia, 69;
plans Detroit campaign, 69-70 ;
relieves Fort Wayne, 70 ; Miami
beg peace from, 71 : winter cam-
paign (1812-13), 73-75; employs
Indian forces, 75-76, 215; Fort
Stephenson episode, 77-78 ; defeats
British at Thames, 8, 79 : confer-
ence with Indians after Battle of
Thames, 80; Greenville Treaty
(1814), 81; leaves Indiana, 97;
elector, Clay ticket, 145 ; confidence
in John Conner, 144, 211 ; comment

on William Conner, 178; on effect
of liquor on Indians, 206; char-
acterization of the Prophet, 210.

Hawkins, John, tavern keeper, 148,
?33-

Hazelrigg, Fielding, 127.

Heckewelder, John, Moravian mis-
sionary, 188, 190; founds Lichte-
nau, 18 ; and Salem, 22 ; sends in-
formation to Brodhead, 23, 29, 192 ;
captured by Indians, 25-26; trial
at Detroit, 28-30; second journey
to Detroit, 192 ; writings used by
James Fenimore Cooper, 137.

Henderson and Blake, 236.

Hendrick, Capt., 64.

Hendricks, Thomas, 150.

Hendricks, Thomas A., 242.

Hendricks, William, 97, 161, 229.

Hengue Pushees, 203.

Hinman, Luther, 158.

Hockingpomsga (Delaware), on
White River, 42 ; escapes execu-
tion, 46 ; signs Fort Wayne Treaty
(1803), 55; variations of name,
199-

Hockingpomsga's Town, 42, 43, 196,
199-200.

Holman, Jesse L., i6r.

Holman, Joseph, 216.

Hopkins, Maj. Gen. Samuel, expedi-
tion against Indians, 71-72.

Horseshoe Prairie settlement, es-
tablishment, 1 14-17; growth, 121,
129; Fourth of July celebration,
122-23 ; land bought by John Con-
ner, 131-32.

Hudson, James, murder of Indians,

143-44-

Hull, Brig. Gen. William, at Detroit,
89.

Hunt, George, 242.

Hunt, George, commissioner to lo-
cate capital, 117, 118, 119.

Illinois Land Company, 53.
Impeachment of civil officers, 102.

276

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Indian agents, Harrison's recom-
mendations on, 61-62.

Indian trails, convergence at Fall
Creek, 118; along White River,
196; White River to Fort Wayne,
151-52. See also Conner Trail,
Whitewater Trail.

Indian treaties, acreage, 208-9, 2I5;
difficulty of negotiating, 81-82;
theory regarding, 52-53 ; Easton
(1758), 10; Fort Meigs (1817),
96; Fort Wayne (1803), 54-55;
(1809), 56-57, 105-6, 220; Green-
ville (1795), 7, 39-40, 52, 81, 105;
(1814), 81; Grouseland (1805),
50, 56; Mississinewa (1826), 156,
162-63; St. Mary's (1818), 96-97,
97-99, 103-7; Vincennes (1804),

56, i°5-

Indiana, in 1816, pp. 89-90; national
party alignments in, 165 ; state de-
velopment obstructed by Indian
holdings, 95, 103 ; site for capital,
1 17-21, 224-25. See also State cap-
itols, State treasurer.

Indiana Territory, in 1800, pp. 41-42,
195 ; importance to, of War of
1812, pp. 82-83.

Indianapolis (Ind.), colony of Con-
nersville, 219; courthouse and jail,

147, 234; early, 141, 142-43, 146-
49, 229-37 ; early mills near, 232 ;
newspapers, 231, 233 ; pottery busi-
ness, 231; first brick house, 230;
first house on town plat, 232 ;
First Presbyterian Church, 149,
230 ; first schoolhouse, 236 ; first
Sunday School, 232 ; market house,
230; Methodist Church, 237; post
office, 148; site for capital, 117-21,
224-25 ; spinning wheel factory,

148, 237; taverns, 147-48, 230, 231,
232, 233, 234, 235, 236.

Indianapolis Gazette, office, 231,235.

Indianapolis Hotel, 235.

Indians, alliance with French against
English, 3-4; annuities, 57, 105,
107, 163, 209-10, 222 ; British policy

regarding Indian troops, 68, 75 ;
conference with Harrison after
defeat at Thames, 80; conflicting
claims in Indiana, 105-6, 220; de-
feat Americans at Sandusky, 33 ;
defeat St. Clair, 7 ; defeated at
Fallen Timbers, 7 ; degraded by
liquor, 195, 205-6; distribution in
Indiana Territory, 41-42; Dun-
more's War, 6, 14-15 ; employed
by Harrison in War of 1812, pp.
75-76, 215; Jefferson on assimila-
tion of, 53, 208, 209; marriage
customs, 185-86 ; origin of North
American, 223 ; Pontiac's War,
4-5; population, 1820-76, p. 209;
removal from Indiana, 8, 81-82,
123-25, 225-26; reserves to, 96, 105,
106, 107, 156, 222; in Revolution-
ary War, 6, 18-19, 20 ff. ; theory
of land ownership, 52-53, 61 ; tribes
represented in mission towns, 18 ;
unscrupulous treatment by whites,
105, 111-12, 129-30, 163; "very ex-
cellent surgeons," 75 ; in War of
1812, pp. 8, 68 ff. ; white captives,
2, 4, 6, 14, 76, 186. See also Dela-
wares, Indian treaties.

Internal improvements, 171-72, 172-
75. See also Canals, Rivers and
streams, Roads.

Irving, Washington, 228.

Isaac (Christian Indian), 203.

Jackson, Andrew, 145, 146.

Jacobs and Dickson, 100.

Jacobs, Dickson and Test, 100.

Jefferson, Thomas, on assimilation
of Indian race, 53, 208, 209; char-
acterization of the Prophet, 58 ;
urges acquisition of western lands,
53-54, 55-56; visited by Indian
chiefs, 47, 54.

Jeffersonville (Ind.), Lafayette
visits, 153-54-

Jennings, Jonathan, 223 ; negotiation
of St. Mary's treaties, 97-99, 104,
105 ; charged with unconstitutional

INDEX

277

procedure, 98-99 ; supports William
Conner's land claim, 107-8, 109;
visits William Conner, 1 17-18,
119-20; loses silver-hilted dagger,
120.

Jennings, Col. William, 70.

John, Jonathan, ioo.

Johnson, John, 230.

Johnson, Col. Richard M., at Battle
of Thames, 79, 80.

Johnston, Gabriel, 233.

Johnston, John, 71, ~2, 144.

Jones, Rev. David, visits Richard
Conner, 12-13 ; sketch, 186.

Joshua (Christian Indian), executed,
46.

Jung, Michael, Moravian missionary,
27.

Jungman, John G., Moravian mis-
sionary, 19-20.

Jungman, Mrs. John G., t8, 19-20.

Kilgore Village Site, 200.

Killbuck, Charles (Delaware), 200.

Killbuck, Charles Henry, 200.

Killbuck, Gottlieb, 200.

Killbuck, John, son of Xetawatwees,

opposes Christianity, 186.
Killbuck, John, Jr. (Gelelemend, or

William Henry), Christian Indian,

186, 200.
Killbuck, John, son of Gelelemend,

200.
Killbuck, William Henry, see Kill-
buck, John, Jr.
Killbuck's Village (Buck's Town),

200, 202.
King Xewcomer, sec Xetawatwees.
Kluge, Peter, Moravian missionary,

on White River, 42, 188, 196-97.
Kuhn, Abraham, see Coon, Abraham.

Lacy, Charles, early settler, Hamil-
ton Co., 114, 121, 123, 129.

Lafayette, Marquis de, visits Jeffer-
sonville, 153-54-

Lafforge, John, 50.

Lagro (Ind.), 154.

Landis, Jacob, 232.

Lands, theory of ownership, 52-53,
61.

La Plante, Pierre, scout, 59.

Law, John, 161.

Lawrenceburg and Indianapolis Rail-
road, 170.

Le Gris (Xa-ka-kwan-ga), 154.

Le Gris (Miami), expedition to
Washington, 154-55; reserve to,
156; aids Trowbridge in study of
Indian languages, 139.

Leith (Leeth, Leath), John, 188;
captured with Moravians, 25-27 ;
sketch, 190.

Lichtenau (Ohio), mission town,
founded, 18 ; receives Schoenbrunn
congregation, 19-20; receives Gna-
denhiitten congregation, 21 ; aban-
doned, 2T, 22.

Lilly, Mr. and Mrs. Eli, restore
William Conner house, 134-35.

Linton, James, 232.

Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church,
50.

Little Munsee Town, 196.

Little Turtle (Miami), 154; St.
Clair's defeat, 7 ; supports Vin-
cennes agreement, 54, 55 ; at Fort
Wayne Treaty (1809), 57; op-
poses Tecumseh and the Prophet,
58; influence impaired, 208.

Logan (Mingo), family murdered,
6, 14.

Long Beard (Miami), gives infor-
mation about French spy, 55, 205.

Looney, Joseph K., 236.

Lostutter, Lester, 217.

Lower Delaware Town, 42, 204-5.

Lower Sandusky (Ohio), Conners
at, 31.

Lowry (Lowrey), Sally, 190.

Luckenbach, Abraham, Moravian
missionary, on White River, 42,
188, 196-97, 207.

Ludlow, Stephen, commissioner to
locate capital, 117, 118.

278

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Luse, Fleming T., 235.
Luster (Lester), James, 233.

McCarty, Benjamin, 217.

McCarty, Jonathan, 93.

McCarty, Nicholas, 235-36.

McClure, James, 233.

McClure, William, 206.

McConnell, James, 217.

McCormick, Alexander, expedition
against missions, 24-27 ; trader
with Wyandot, 190.

McCormick, James, early settler,
Marion Co., 141, 218, 230.

McCormick, John, commissioner to
locate county seat of Fayette Co.,
99 ; early settler, Connersville, 218.

McCormick, John, early settler, In-
dianapolis, 118, 119, 141, 148, 218,
230; capital site commission re-
port signed at cabin of, 224.

McCormick, Samuel, early settler,
Marion Co., 141, 218.

McCoy, Isaac, 201, 226.

McGeorge, Samuel, inn, 148, 230.

McGuire, James, 217.

Mcllvain, Judge James, 231.

McKay, Jesse, 237.

McKee, Alexander, influence with
Indians, 19; letter from De Pey-
ster about Moravians, 30, 192.

Macomb County (Mich.), 36, 193.

McOuat, Thomas, 237.

Madison and Indianapolis Railroad,
176.

Maguire, Douglass, 233.

Mallory, Curtis, early settler, Hamil-
ton Co., 121, 123.

Mallory, David, 235.

Marion County, formation, 142 ;
courthouse, 147, 150; jail, 147.

Marshall, William, 109; division of
property with William Conner,
124; departure with Delawares,
1 13-14, 225.

Masey and Stewart, 236.

Masonry, early opposition to, 158.

Mathers, Joseph, Union Inn, 170.

Maxwell, David, 150.

Medical societies, 152.

Mekinges (Delaware), wife of Wil-
liam Conner, 43, 112, 223; land
patent with Conner, 108, 109: de-
parture with Delawares, 121-22,
123-25 ; death, 178.

Merrill, Samuel, state treasurer, 149,
236; on educational committee,
161.

Miami Confederacy, 41.

Miami Indians, in Ohio Valley, 2;
object to Vincennes agreement
(1802), 54; endangered by raids
of other tribes, 64; refuse to join
Tecumseh and British, 68; waver
in neutrality, 71 ; urge Delawares
to war against United States, 72 ;
defeated at Mississinewa, 8, 72-72 ;
hunting party murdered, 143-44,
229.

Michigan Road, grant for, 162-63 ;
route, 166-67.

Militia, 69, 168-69, 213.

Mills, Fayette Co., 87, 88, 100, 240;
Franklin Co., 50, 88 ; Hamilton
Co., 116, 129, 131, 132, 177; Mar-
ion Co., 116, 232; construction of
horse mill, 223-24 ; legislation con-
cerning, 94.

Milroy, Samuel, 92, 150.

Mississinewa, Battle of, 8, 66, 72-72.

Mitchell, Elizabeth (Mrs. Samuel
G.), 233.

Mitchell, Dr. Samuel G., 148, 231,
232-33-

Moccasin, Indian game, 120.

Monroe, James, 164, 214.

Montgomery, Isaac, 92, 150.

Moravians, missions in Indiana, 42-
43, 45. J88, 196 ff. ; in Michigan,
33-35; in Ohio, 2, 6, 13, 15-17, 18-
32, 190, 191, 192, 194; in New
York and Pennsylvania, 13. See
also Gnadenhiitten, Lichtenau, New
Gnadenhiitten, New Schoenbrunn,
Salem, Schoenbrunn.

INDEX

279

Morgan, Col. George (Tamenend),
visits Ohio mission towns, 18 ;
sketch, 1 88.

Morris, Bethuel F., agent, Indian-
apolis, 148, 235.

Morris, Morris, 165.

Mt. Clemens (.Mich.), 36, 193.

Muncie (Ind.), site of Buckonga-
helas' Town, 42 ; site reserved to
Rebecca Hackley, 222.

Munsee Town (Tetepachsit's Town),
42, 198-99.

Murray, Charles, at St. Mary's, 103-
4-

Nancy Town (Nantico, Nanticoke,
Nantikoke), 129, 201-2.

Nanticoke, see Nancy Town.

Nantikoke, James, 201.

Netawatwees, or King Newcomer
(Delaware), 17; grants land to
Moravians, 13 ; sketch, 186-87.

Newallike (Delaware), 19.

New Britton (Ind.), 120.

Newcomerstown (Ohio), 2, 186.

New Gnadenhiitten (Mich.), mission
at, 33-35 : abandoned, 35, 37.

New Philadelphia (Ohio), 13.

New Purchase, opening of land
sales, 131. See also Indian trea-
ties, St. Mary's (1818).

New Schoenbrunn (Ohio), mission
town, founded, 21, 22: missionaries
captured, 24-27.

Nickles, William, 216.

Noble, James, 89, 223, 228 ; letter to
Harrison on Indian situation, 65 ;
letter to Cass, regarding possible
land cession, 155: state legislator,
92 ; supports William Conner's
land claim, 108, 109 ; United States
senator, 97.

Noble, Lavina, 228.

Noble, Noah, 89, 175, 228 ; educa-
tional activities, 161 ; summons
militia against Black Hawk, 169.

Noblesville (Ind.), 120: platted, 135;

county seat, 135-36; first railroad,

1 "6-77; name, 228.
Norwood, George, 232.
Nowland, Elizabeth (Mrs. Matthias),

boarding house, 148, 236.
Nowland, Matthias, 230, 236.

Ohio Company, 3.

Ohio Valley, Indian tribes in (1750),
1-2; struggle for, between French
and English, 2-5 ; in American
Revolution, 6-7; in War of 1812,
pp. 68-83.

Owl, The (Delaware), 204, 205.

Parke, Benjamin, commissioner, St.

Mary's treaties, 99, 104 ; promotes

educational system, 161.
Parker, Samuel W., anecdotes about

William Conner, 194, 213.
Parson, Rev. J. U., 161.
Patterson, Billy, executed, 45-46.
Patterson, Peter H., 236.
Patterson, Samuel, 237.
Paul, John, 92.
Paull, Col. George, 79.
Paxton, James, 142, 233, 236.
Paxton and Bates general store, 233.
Peltier, Michael, "French store," 48;

leaves for West, 206.
Pemahoaland, Jacob, 188.
Penn, William, 1.

Pennington, Dennis, builder of Cory-
don statehouse, 91 ; state legislator,

92, 150.
Pennsylvania traders, invade Ohio

Valley, 3, 5.
Perry, Oliver H., victory on Lake

Erie, 78-79.
Peru and Indianapolis Railroad, 176-

77-
Petchenpencues, 203.
Phillips, Israel, 233, 234.
Phipps, Isaac N., partner, Conner,

Tyner and Co., 142-43.
Pickaway Plains (Ohio), 1.
Pigeon Roost massacre, 71.

2S0

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Pioneer life, cabin construction, 88-
89; Fourth of July celebrations,
122-23, 145-46; general store, 142-
43; water transportation, 130;
wedding, 127-28.

Pipe, Capt. (Delaware), expedition
against missions, 24-27 ; at trial of
missionaries, 28-30, 191 ; death,

139.

Pipe, Capt. (Delaware), aids Trow-
bridge in study of Delaware lan-
guage, 138-39.

Pittsburgh (Pa.), appearance (1775),
IS-

Pogue, George, early settler, Marion
Co., 141, 234.

Point Pleasant, Battle of, 6.

Polk, Josiah F., lawyer, 129, 145 ;
plats Noblesville with William
Conner, 135-36.

Police, William, 92, 96.

Pontiac's War, 4-5.

Porter, Henry, 233.

Potawatomi Indians, in Ohio Valley,
2 ; join Tecumseh, 7 ; influenced
by Tecumseh, 59, 60.

Prince, William, appointed commis-
sioner to locate capital, 117, 118;
scout, 59; state legislator, 92.

Proctor, Gen. Henry, repulsed at
Fort Meigs, 76 ; at Fort Stephen-
son, 78; defeated at Thames, 79.

Prophet, The (Tenskwatawa or
Lawlewasika, Shawnee), at Dela-
ware towns on White River, 45,
198; rallies Indians, 7, 45, 58-61,
211 ; preaches against drunkenness,
45, 205 ; denies instigating Indian
raids, 211 ; settles on Wabash, 60;
incites Pigeon Roost massacre, 71 ;
power broken by Battle of Thames,
80-81 ; characterizations of, 58,
210.

Prophet's Town, destroyed, 72.

Public land sales, 131-32.

Public libraries, 152.

Railroads, early Indiana, 119, 167,
170, 176-77.

Ralston, Alexander, plats Indianapo-
lis, 141 ; report on navigability of
White River, 152.

Rapp, Frederick, commissioner to lo-
cate capital, 117, 118, 121.

Rariden, James, 235.

Ray, James B., 144, 150, 154, 164;
commissioner, Treaty of Mississin-
ewa (1826), 156, 162-63.

Ray, James M., agent for William
Conner, no, 240; issues marriage
license for William Conner, 127;
clerk, Marion Co., 165; educa-
tional activities, 161 ; buys lot, In-
dianapolis, 235.

Reagan, Wilkes, 234.

Reed, Andrew W., 234.

Reed, Joseph C, 236.

Reed, Samuel, 230.

Revolutionary War, in Ohio Valley,
6-7-

Richardville, Jean Baptiste (Miami),
supports Vincennes agreement, 54 >"
absent from Fort Wayne Treaty
(1809), 57; at St. Mary's treaties
(1818), 105, 106; aids Trowbridge
in study of Indian languages, 139;
reserves to, 222.

Rickett, Robert, 217.

River Raisin, Battle of, 74-75.

Rivers and streams, navigability, leg-
islation on, 101-2, 132, 151, 152,
238.

Roads, early, 88, 90, 94, 97; legisla-
tion for improvement of, 94-95,
95-96, 101, 151-52, 172; Brookville
to Fort Harrison, 95-96, 103 ; Indi-
anapolis to Fort Wayne, 151-52;
military, 70, 103.

Rooker, Samuel S., 234-35.

Rosebush Tavern, Indianapolis, 232.

Russell, Alexander W., partner,
Conner and Harrison, 159; com-
mands militia against Black Hawk,
169.

INDEX

281

Russell, Alexander W., and Com-
pany, 160.

St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, 7.

St. Mary's (Ohio), depot for army
provisions, 70; in 1818, pp. 103-4.
See also Indian treaties.

Salem (Ohio), mission town, found-
ed, 22 ; missionaries captured, 24-
26.

Sample, John, 158.

Sandusky (Ohio), Indians defeated
at, 33-

Sarah (Christian Indian), 203.

Sarah Town, location, 203 ; name,
203.

Sawyer, Andrew, murder of Indians,

143-44.

Saylor, Conrad, 217.

Schoenbrunn (Ohio), mission town,
189; founded, 13; appearance
(i775)» 1S-16; congregation re-
moved to Lichtenau, 19-20.

Schoenbrunn Memorial State Park
(Ohio), 187.

Scudder, Caleb, 231, 237.

Scudder, Kenneth A., 236.

Scudder, Matthias, marriage, 231.

Settlers, intimidation by Indians, 61,
64-65, 68-69, 71, 85, 210-11.

Shaw, John, recommended as sub-
agent for Potawatomi, 61-62.

Shawnee Indians, in Ohio country,
1-2, 64; join Tecumseh, 7, 58, 60;
houses, 13 ; remove to Indiana, 40 ;
asked to dismiss Tecumseh, 59 ; at
Pigeon Roost, 71 ; hunting party
of, murdered, 143-44, 229-

Sheriffs, act concerning, 93-94.

Shintaffer, John, murder of Indian,
129-30.

Shirts, George, employed by John
Conner, 88 ; and William Conner,
114; early settler, Hamilton Co.,
114, 116, 123, 129.

Shirts, Mrs. George, death, 115.

Six Nations, in Ohio country, 1.

Skinner, , 231.

Slavery, opposed by Whitewater poli-
ticians, 153, 238.

Sloan, J. L., 234.

Smith, Caleb B., 242.

Smith, George, 216.

Smith, James M., 237.

Smith, Oliver H., 89, 161 ; advertise-
ment of Yorktown, 199.

Snake, Capt. John (Shawnee), 14;
expedition against missions, 24-27,
186.

Snake, Capt. Thomas (Shawnee),
expedition against missions, 24-27.

Snakestown (Ohio), 14.

Snowden, James, 93.

State capitols, Corydon, 90-91 ; Indi-
anapolis (1825), 150; (1835), 167,
172.

State treasurer, office, 148-49. 237.

Stephenson, John D., no, 136, 176;
plats Alexandria, 171.

Stevens, Daniel, 234.

Stevens, Isaac, 202.

Stevens, Isaac, 234.

Stevens, Stephen C, 89; legislator,
95-96, 150; proposes road through
Indian country, 95-96; on educa-
tional committee, 161.

Strange, Rev. John, 216.

Strawtown (Ind.), site considered
for state capital, 120; Indian
scare near, 129-30.

Strawtown, Indian village, 202-3 ;
derivation of name, 202-3.

Sullivan, George R. C, legislator, 96.

Suttenfield, William, 151.

Taffe, George, 230.

Taverns, early Indianapolis, 147-48,
230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236.

Taylor, John R., Indian agent, 125.

Taylor, Capt. Zachary, 66 ; repulses
attack on Fort Harrison, 71.

Tecumseh, at Delaware towns on
White River, 45, 196, 198; rallies
Indians, 7, 58-61, 71, 73; visits
Harrison at Vincennes, 61 ; doc-
trine of land ownership, 61 ; jour-

2S2

INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ney among southern tribes, 62 ;
denies instigating attacks on set-
tlements, 65, 211; council with
Delawares, 66; joins British at
Maiden, 68; leads British Indians,
76, 77 ; attitude toward prisoners,
76 ; on relations with British, 209 ;
death, 8, 79-80.
Telier, Charles, "French store," 48;

death, 206.
Tenskwatawa, see Prophet, The.
Test, John, 89.

Tetepachsit, or the Grand Glaize
King (Delaware), at town on
White River, 42, 198-99, 200; ap-
pearance, 45 ; opposes Vincennes
agreement (1802), 54 ; visits Wash-
ington, 54; signs Fort Wayne
Treaty (1803), 55; variations of
name, 199; executed for witch-
craft, 45, 58, 198.
Tetepachsit's Town, 42, 198-99.
Thames, Battle of, 79.
Thompson, John H., 150.
Three per cent fund, ior.
Tippecanoe, Battle of, 7-8, 63-64.
Tipton, John, friendship with John
Conner, 91 ; quarrel with John
Ewing, 112, 164-65; commissioner
to locate capital, 117, 118, 121 ; ex-
pedition to Washington with Le
Gris, 154-55 ; commissioner, Treaty
of Mississinewa (1826), 156, 162-
65 ; educational activities, 161 ;
general agent, Potawatomi and
Miami, 164.
Travellers' Hall, Indianapolis, 147,

234.
Treaties, see Indian treaties.
Treaty of Ghent, 82-83, 215.
Trowbridge, Charles C, studies In-
dian languages, 138-39.
Tyner, Richard, partner, Conner,
Tyner, and Co., 142-43.

Union Inn, Indianapolis, 170.
United States Rangers, in War of
1812, p. 69.

Upper Delaware Town, 46, 203-4.
Upper Sandusky (Ohio), Harrison's

supply depot, 76.
Upper Sandusky Old Town, 27, 31.

Vigo, Francis, scout, 59.

Vincennes (Ind.), territorial capital,

41 ; Indian conference at (1802),

54-
Virginia, claims in Ohio Valley, 3,

5.

Wabash and Erie Canal, 164.
Wabash Land Company, 53.
Walking Purchase (1737), 1.
Wallace, Andrew, 129.
Wallace, David, 161, 175; comment

on William Conner, 178.
Walpole, Luke, 231, 232.
Walton, Samuel, 237.
Wapeminskink, see Anderson's

Town.
Wapicomekoke, meaning of name,
197-98. See also Buckongahelas'
Town.
War of 1812, in Ohio Valley, 8, 68-

83.
Warrick, William P., 136.
Washington, George, 3, 23.
Washington Hall, Indianapolis tav-
ern, 148, 236.
Waverly, Bluffs at, considered for
capital site, 118, 119, 120, 225;
Whetzel's Trace to, 97.
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, 186; at Fall-
en Timbers and Treaty of Green-
ville, 7.
Wayne County (Ind.), blockhouses,

85, 216.
Wellington, Duke of, 82.
Wells, Col. Samuel, ordered to re-
lieve Croghan, 77.
Wells, William, 222 ; interpreter and
scout, 57, 59 ; recommended as sub-
agent for Miami and Eel Rivers,
61 ; Harrison's attitude toward,
211; trip to Indian country to se-
cure stolen horses, 211.

INDEX

283

Wenginund (Delaware), 28; expedi-
tion against missions, 24-27.
Western Censor, & Emigrants Guide,

233-

Whetzel, Cyrus, at Waverly Bluffs,
118.

Whetzel, Jacob, trace, 97.

Whisky, sale to Indians, 5, 47, III,
205-6: regulation of sale of, 136;
price, 142 ; at elections, 165.

Whitcomb, James, 161.

White, Dennis I., 234.

White Eyes (Delaware), counselor
of Netawatwees, 17, 186; pro-
American, 19, 59, 187 ; family in-
vited to Indiana Delaware towns,
200 ; sketch, 187-88.

White River, capital site on, advan-
tages of, 1 18-19; navigability, 152.

White Turkey (Delaware), 211.

Whitewater Trail, 88, 90, 207.

Whitinger, Jacob, 233.

Whitley, , 80.

Wick, William W., marriage, 127;
presiding judge, circuit court, 136;
educational activities, 161.

Williamson, Col. David, expedition
against Gnadenhutten, 32, 2>i-

Willison, James, 114, 123, 225.

Wilson, Isaac, 89: mill, 116; early
Indianapolis resident, 232.

Wilson, James, early settler, Hamil-
ton Co., 121.

Wilson, William, blockhouse, 217.

Winamac (Potawatomi), 57, 58.

Winchester, Brig. Gen. James, 69;
defeated at River Raisin, 74-75.

Winship, Hannah (Forsythe), 50.

Winship, Jabez, early settler near

Cedar Grove, 50.
Winship, Lavina, see Conner, Lavina

(Winship).
Wishard, John, 161.
Wistar, Dr. Caspar, 138.
Wyandot Indians, at Detroit and on

Sandusky River, 1 ; join British,

19, 20 ; oppose Moravians, 24-27 ;

Conner s among, 31.
Wyant, John, 229; attacks John

Conner's war record, 145.
Wylie, Dr. Andrew, 161.

Yandes, Daniel, 235, 236.
Yandes and Wilkins, 235.
Yorktown (Ind.), Indian village site
near, 199.

Zeisberger, David, Moravian mis-
sionary, early missions, 13 ; founds
Schoenbrunn, 13 ; house, 16 ; visits
Richard Conner, 13-14; admits
Conners to Schoenbrunn, 17;
founds Lichtenau, 18 ; abandons
Schoenbrunn, 19-20; founds New
Schoenbrunn, 21, 22; sends infor-
mation to Brodhead, 23, 24, 29,
192; captured by Indians, 25-26;
journey to Captives' Town, 26-27,
igr ; trial at Detroit, 28-30; visits
Conner at Lower Sandusky, 31 ;
second journey to Detroit, 31-33,
192 ; establishes New Gnadenhiit-
ten mission, 33-35 ; John Conner
visits, at Goshen, 46 ; dictionary of
Delaware language, 137-38, 139;
preaches first Protestant sermon
in state of Ohio, 186; friendship
with John Leith, 188.

Zeisberger, Mrs. David, 27.

£