Boone County, Indiana - Chapter 6: Organization of Territory Right of Occupation Origin of Name, 1914

Hoosier

Previous to this, we have shown how we obtained our title to this country from the Indian. It may be well to trace the abstract through the white man's occupancy, that we may know from whence our right of possession comes. They had a title in the land by reason of possession, as far back as we have knowledge and farther, for we know not who deeded to him. The basis of the white man's ownership comes from what he terms discovery. This does not look like a very good title, but he claims it, and it is the base of the white man's claim to this new world. We have all heard of the story of Columbus in 1492, as the first white man to see this new world. He took possession in the name of Queen Isabel of Spain, and upon the right of discovery. We presume that this queen was the first white person that ever laid claim to land in the new world and under this title she owned the entire continent. Columbus found the Indian here in full possession. The next title was under the right of exploration. Every nation in the old world that could get a boat strong enough to cross the sea and a captain with skill and bravery to make the voyage, started out to explore the new found world, and lay claim to at least a part of its domain. Under this title, every live nation in Europe got a foothold here in this new land and sought to hold it by settlements. It was under these titles that much confliction arose over claims to the land that grew into bitter disputes and bred wars between the nations. They each made settlements to hold their claims. The English, French, Germans and Spaniards were especially in the fight along these lines for ownership of this country and each secured a portion.

The English formed settlements along the Atlantic coast and claimed the territory westward for an indefinite distance, for at that time they did not know the extent. They met with no dispute on the eastern slope of the Appalachian mountains. The French had gone up the St. Lawrence river, through the Great Lakes and passed over the ridges, into the headwaters of the Mississippi system. The French were the first men to explore the Ohio river and its tributaries and establish settlements at Vincennes, Ft. Wayne, Pittsburgh and various other trading points with the natives. By this procedure, the French claimed the entire Mississippi valley and controverted the same with England.

Spain also, by like process, laid claim to Florida and bordering on the gulf and in Mexico. These conflicting claims overlapped each other and continued for years, before they were settled by treaties and purchases, until, England had undisputed claim to all the territory bordering on the Atlantic coast of North America. All of her rights on the south of the St. Lawrence basin passed to the colonies at the close of the Revolutionary war. During this controversy the territory of which Indiana was a part was known by different names. At one time it belonged to the Province of Quebec, and again it went by the name of Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV.

Robert Cavelier, de LaSalle, the principal French explorer of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi valleys, who was commandant at Ft. Frontenac, now Kingston, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, sailed down the Ohio river in 1669, skirting along the southern border of what is now Indiana. It is fairly certain that LaSalle also crossed the northwest corner of the state in 1671 or 72. This was done in his trip by way of the St. Joseph on the. lake and by the Kankakee on his way to the Illinois river. Later in 1680, he established a fort on the St. Joseph river called Ft. Miami. He was friendly with the natives and induced all the Indians of Indiana to form an alliance, for mutual protection against the Iroquois, who were making a war upon the Indiana tribes. He carried on a lively trade with the Indians along the Wabash and Ohio rivers. We can conclude with almost a certainty, that this intrepid Frenchman drove frequent trades with the Eel river tribe at Thorntown.

The Miami confederation of Indians in Indiana was always friendly with the Jesuit missionaries. Allouez, one of the missionaries, visited with the Indians in this section and worked with the Miami tribes for their souls' interest. The silver crosses found in the Indian graves in Thorntown, marked Detroit and Montreal, are doubtless evidence of the earnest work of this faithful Frenchman in this state. The day of Judgment only can reveal the fruits of his labors among the Indians.

visited by many zealous French Jesuit missionaries, seeking to convert the Indians to the Christian religion. Through their fearless and self-sacrificing activities, and the restless enterprise of the wood rangers, hunters and trappers, no part of Indiana remained unexplored. The traders ever moved along with the missionaries, sometimes in advance, bartering for their furs. This was the forerunner of the permanent settlers seeking a place to build a home.

The French first made permanent settlements at Port Royal in 1605, and founded Quebec in 1608, and the English settled at Jamestown in 1607, and the question for the right of territory, commerce and trade began and continued for over one hundred and fifty years. The battle of rivalries between England and France closed in 1763. By this treaty at Paris, France and Spain gave up their dominion in North America. The closing deal was in the year 1803, when France quit claimed to the United States all of her territory for the sum of fifteen million dollars. The most prominent battles in this controversy were Braddock's defeat in 1755; the success of the English at Ticonderoga in 1759; and the victory of Wolf over Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, which led to the close of the French dream of an empire in the new world. Spain was an ally with France in this war and lost out in North America also. England took possession of forts Miami and Ouiatenon in Indiana in 1761. Vincennes, being under the jurisdiction of New Orleans, did not become subject to British control until after the treaty of Paris in 1763, and actual possession was not assumed until 1777, one year after the Declaration. England hardly got possession of the valley of the Mississippi before she had to give it all up to her colonies and acknowledge the Independence of the United States of America. In a word, England fought out a good quietus of title to this country and was able to make a clear deed to the United States and then, the United States was able to make a good deed to each person that wanted a farm in Boone county or any place within the northwest territory.

The very next year, in 1778, George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia and Captain Leonard Helm occupied Vincennes. Both of these men being citizens of Virginia, that state claimed sovereignty by right of conquest over all of the northwest territory. This claim was made good by the final conquest of Vincennes the next year by General Clark. Virginia organized all of this territory under the title of Illinois and appointed Colonel John Todd as governor under the title of County Lieutenant. The county of Illinois embraced all the territory that is now included in the states of Ohio, Indiana. Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, also that part of Minnesota that lies east of the Mississippi river. This was the first time that the white man had real authority over what is now the state of Indiana and John Todd was the governor. It is clear that Virginia never extended her laws over Indiana. She only gave it a name and appointed a governor. Virginia also claimed this territory by the authority of a charter of the King of England to the London Company in 1609, which grant ceded to Virginia a strip of land two hundred miles north and two hundred miles south of Port Comfort, and stretching from sea to sea, meaning from- the Atlantic to the Pacific.

In the treaty with France in 1763, Great Britain gave up her right west of the Mississppi. Virginia held her title to be good as far as the British title extended, which was to the east bank of the Great river. The people, living within the bounds of the county of Illinois were to be governed by officers elected by a majority of votes of the citizens in their respective districts.

The election that took place soon after this act was the first popular election ever held within the bounds of Indiana. In 1784, Virginia signed a deed of the northwest territory to the United States. In 1787 was passed the ordinance which was the great "Magna Charta" of the West. It was signed by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe acting as delegates for the commonwealth of Virginia. It provided for the appointment of a governor by Congress whose term of office should be three years ; a secretary for four years and a court of three judges, tenure of office during good behavior. The judges and governors were empowered to make and publish laws until a legislative body was provided. A general assembly was authorized whenever there would be five thousand nine hundred and ninetynine votes in a district. In short the ordinance provided for all the machinery of government, for a free and independent people until they were so organized that they could arrange details for themselves.

Article 1, of the compact guarantees religious liberty. Article 2, guarantees civil rights. Article 3, in part, states that "Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." The

Article 5, provides for the formation of not less than three nor more than five states from the territory covered by the ordinance. Article 6, reads, "That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory."

Arthur St. Clair was appointed by Congress, October 5, 1787, as the first governor of the northwest territory. Winthrop Sargent was made secretary and the seat of government was fixed at Marietta, Ohio. The first session of territorial court was held there in 1788. On the 7th day of May, 1800, the President approved the law dividing the northwest territory into two parts by the line that now forms the boundary between Ohio and Indiana. It is called the first meridian. (The second meridian passes through the court house at Lebanon). All the land that was in Indiana territory east of the first meridan forms the state of Ohio, which was admitted into the Union in 1802, and the portion west of that line was designated as Indiana Territory.

The people of Indiana Territory had to reorganize and William Henry Harrison was appointed governor, May 13, 1800, and John Gibson was made secretary and the seat of government placed at Vincennes. Its first territorial courts was composed of William Clark, Henry Vanderburg and John Griffin as judges. The first general court was opened at Vincennes, March 3, r8oi. The population at that date was four thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. In 1804 Congress enlarged the territory by attaching all that part of Louisiana north of latitude north 7,7, and called it Louisiana Territory. For a short time Indiana Territory went by that name. All the machinery of territorial government was established and installed; in a few days after its completion there was another disturbance. On the nth of January, 1805, Congress made another division of the territory by detaching Michigan. This was consummated 1805. Still another change on the 1st day of May, 1809 was demanded. At this time it was the people of our own state that were clamoring for a government of their own. Congress detached all that territory west of the present west boundary line of Indiana and called it Illinois Territory and the name Illinois is retained to this day by the state.

By cutting off Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, Indiana Territory was whittled down to the present size of the state, and Congress had divided it into nine districts for representation. The first election held wholly within the bounds of Indiana as it is now, was called and held by Governor Harrison and it was declared illegal because it was divided into eight districts instead of nine and the election had to be held over again. In the first election held in Indiana after it was reduced to its present size by cutting off Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, the slavery question was to the front. Thomas Randolph, candidate for Congress stood for slavery and Jonathan Jennings stood against the institu- tion of slavery and was elected. In 1810 the first complete census was taken and showed the population to be 24,520. The statistics of that date show that in the territory there were 33 grist mills, 14 saw-mills, 3 horse mills, 18 tanneries, 28 distilleries, 3 powder mills, 1,256 looms and 1,350 spinning wheels. Total value of manufactures, $196,532.

In 181 1 the property qualification of voters was abolished, and the right to vote was extended to every free white male person twenty-one years old or over, who had paid a county or territorial tax and had been a resident one year.

Thomas Posey was appointed Governor by the President in 1813, to succeed Harrison, who had been made commander in chief of the army in the west. He was the second and the last governor of the territory. In 181 1 the capital was changed from Vincennes to Corydon, in Harrison county. A new state house was built of blue limestone, taken from the near-by hills. It was two stories high and forty feet square. On the fourteenth day of December,' 1813, the Legislature adopted a resolution asking Congress to admit Indiana into the Union. In the memorial the Legislature asked that the state be admitted according to the sixth article of the ordinance - without slavery. In 18 14 the voting privilege was further extended to every free white male having a free-hold in the territory and being a resident thereof. In 181 5 a census was taken showing a voting population of 12. 1 12 voters and a total population of 53,897, a gain of 39.377 in five years. The 19th day of April, 1816, Congress asked for the calling of an election to select delegates to a convention to form a state constitution. The election was held on the 16th day of May, 1816, and the convention met at Corydon, June 10, 181 6. There were forty-two delegates of patriotic, levelheaded men. Jonathan Jennings was chosen president of the convention and William Hendricks as secretary. They attended strictly to business and in nineteen days completed the work for which they were called. Congress approved, and Indiana was admitted as one of the states into the Union on the nth day of December, 1816.

The election of officers preceded the formal admission of the state, which took place on the first Monday of August, 1816, and resulted in the election of Jonathan Jennings for governor, Christopher Harrison for lieutenant governor and William Hendricks as member to Congress. Thomas Posey was the opposing candidate for governor. The vote stood 5,211 for

Jennings and 3,934 for Posey. The other state officers were elected by the Legislature, which met at Corydon on the 4th day of November, 1816. Isaac Blackford was elected Speaker of the House. The governor and lieutenant governor were inaugurated on November 7th. Robert A. New was chosen secretary of state, William H. Lilly, auditor, Daniel C. Lane, treasurer, James Noble and Walter Taylor, senators. The tax levy on land in 181 7, based on one hundred acres, was one dollar an acre on firstclass land. The second class land eighty-seven and one-half cents on one hundred acres, and fifty cents on one hundred acres third rate land. An additional tax was levied for county purposes. The national government was assumed by thirteen states. It is a singular coincidence that the responsibility of statehood of Indiana began with thirteen counties, 'viz. : Knox, Posey, Gibson, Warrick, Perry, Washington, Harrison, Clark, Jefferson, Switzerland, Dearborn, Franklin, and Wayne. It will be observed that Wayne is the most northern of the counties at that time. Over threefourths of the territory of the state at the adoption of the constitution was still held and occupied by the Indians, that had no part in this action of the white men, and were not in any way considered in the matter more than the beasts of the woods.

Why Called Hoosier State

"The night was dark, the rain falling in torrents, when the inmates of a small log cabin in the woods of early Indiana were aroused from their slumbers by a loud knocking at the only door of the cabin. The man of the house, as he had been accustomed to do on like occasions, rose from his bed and hallooed, 'Who's here' ? The outsiders answered, 'Friends, out bird-catching. Can we stay till morning' ? The door was opened, and the strangers entered. A good log fire soon gave light and warmth to the room. Stranger to the host, 'What did you say when I knocked'? I said, 'Sho's here'? 'I thought you said Hoosier.' The bird-catchers left after breakfast, but next night returned and hallooed at the door, 'Hoosier,' and from that time the Indianians have been called Hoosiers - a name that will stick to them as long as Buckeyes will to Ohioans, or Suckers to Illinoians."

Thus the Hon. O. H. Smith, in his early Indiana trial, accounts for the name of Hoosier as an appellation to the people of this great commonwealth.

There are, however, other explanations of the same term, although they may not be as authoritative. There was an early traveler in this state by the name of Sulgrove. Meredith Nicholson, in his excellent book, The Hoosier Schoolmaster, gives the following story:

"Sulgrove related the incident of an Irishman employed in excavating the canal around the falls at Louisville, who declared after a fight in which he had vanquished several fellow laborers, that he was a 'husher,' and this was offered as a possible origin of the word. The same writer suggested another explanation, that a certain Colonel Lehmanowski, a Polish officer who lectured through the west on Napoleon's Wars, pronounced Hussar in a way that captivated some roystering fellow, who applied the word to himself in self-glorification, pronouncing it 'Hoosier.' Lehmanowski's identity has been established as a sojourner in Indiana, and his son was a member of an Indiana regiment in the Civil war. The Rev. Aaron Woods is another contributor to the literature of the subject, giving the Lehmanowski story with a few variations. When the young men of the Indiana side of the Ohio crossed over to Louisville, the Kentuckians made sport of them, calling them 'New Purchase greenies,' and declaring that they of the southern side of the river were a superior race composed of 'half alligator, half horse, and tipped off with snapping turtle !' Fighting grew out of these boasts in the market place and streets of Louisville. One Indiana visitor who had heard Lehmanowski lecture on "The Wars of Europe" and been captivated by the prowess of the Hussars, whipped one of the Kentuckians, and bending over cried, 'I'm a Hoosier,' meaning, 'I'm a Hussar.' Mr. Woods adds that he was living in the state at the time and that this was the true origin of the term. This is, however, hardly conclusive. The whole Lehmanowski story seems to be based on communication between Indiana and Kentucky workmen during the building of the Ohio Falls canal."

This could hardly have been the origin of the time because the canal was not built until 1830. Much earlier than this; in fact, 1828, a man by the name of John Finley, a Virginian, came to Indiana and lived in the state several years. He had been here at least seven years, when he published a poem known as The Hoosier Nest, in which he uses the word Hoosier. Evidently it had been in use for some time, because Finley himself could scarcely have originated the term. Finley is describing an early Indiana life when he says :

I30 Boone County, Indiana Slavery Question

We can not trace the early history of Indiana, without alluding to the slavery question. It was the dominant political issue all through our territorial history. The ordinance of 1787 prohibited slaves and involuntary servitude ; yet in the same ordinance there was a conveyance of property that carried the right of property in slaves.. At the time of the adoption of this ordinance, there were in the bounds of Indiana approximately, two hundred slaves in what is now Indiana. As slavery was abolished by the ordinance, many of the slave owners moved into the Spanish possessions. A few remained and claimed a legal right to their human chattels, on the ground that when the northwest territory was conveyed to the United States there was a provision that the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers who have possessions as citizens of Virginia, shall have their possessions secured to them wherever they go. Negro ownership was considered a possession and the immigrant that brought his negro to the territory of Indiana was guaranteed the right to his property. In that way the institution of slavery was planted and continued as long as the slaves that were brought within our bounds lived. According to the returns of the United States census of 1820, there were one hundred and ninety slaves in Indiana. In 1840 there were only three slaves, two in Rush county and one in Putnam. In 1843 there was only one and the institution perished at his death. Slavery agitation was the dominant question in politics, although not always to' the front. In 1802 there was a convention at Vincennes that asked Congress that the sixth article of the compact of the ordinance be suspended for ten years, on the ground that the slaves were needed to develop the new country, and American citizens who could ill be spared were being driven to the Spanish dominions because of their slave holdings. This convention was composed of delegates apportioned among the counties and Governor Harrison presided over its sessions. The territorial Legislature of 1805 requested the repeal of the restricting clause. In the Legislature of 1807 Congress was memoralized in behalf of slavery. No attention was paid by Congress to these petitions ; but the agitation continued to stir Congress and there were many that sympathized with the sentiment. A counter agitation arose in 1807 and it must have been the first meeting in the territory of Indiana against the slave institution. A number of citizens met at Springville on the 10th day of October of that year and formed a memorial vigorously protesting against the extension of slavery or any violation of the ordinance of 1787. From that day the fight in Indiana never ceased until the slave institution was killed by Abraham Lincoln January, 1863, as a war measure in the suppression of the rebellion. The election of congressman in the years 1809, 181 1 and 1813 Jennings and Randolph were lined up as opposing candidates for and against slavery. In each of these campaigns Jennings was elected on the anti-slavery principle. Still the advocates of slavery clung to their cause and made a vigorous fight in the constitutional convention in 1816, where they met their defeat by the adoption of the clause in the constitution of the new state of Indiana. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise, than for the punishment for crime. This ended the question in the state of Indiana, but the. institution remained until the death of the last slave that was brought here by the settlers until the last one died in 1843, and the institution in the nation was ended by the amendment of the constitution of the United States in the year 1865 as the resultant of the Civil war.

Underground Railroad

One of the great agitators that led to the war and the overthrow of the slave institution was what was termed the underground railroad. Slavery got into Indiana through the principle tenaciously adhered to by the advocates of slavery wherever any other property could be carried. This principle climaxed in the Dred Scott decision that made no distinction between slave property and other possessions. In a word, a slave owner should have the right to hunt and recover his property in a slave, wherever a northern man could hunt for and recover his horse. The anti-slavery advocates denied this right. They instituted the underground railroad to avoid the law and assist the fleeing slave from bondage. The organization for this purpose established routes with private homes as stations to secret the fugitives by day and from which the fugitive could be transported by night while dark and stormy to the next station in safety. Many a thrilling story of narrow escapes from pursuing masters were known by those that conducted the clandestine escape. In the early settlements of the state there were many of these roads and they were well known by all those let into the secret and by the fleeing slaves. Boone county came in too late to have these roads, and we do not know that one ever existed within her bounds. There may not have been any well defined roadways or perfected organization, yet there was plenty of warm sympathy for the slave and also proslavery sentiment. Many of the early citizens of Boone county came from the southern states. Some in search of freedom and free institutions and others still in sympathy with the slave institution. These two sentiments, grew here side by side, as they had grown in the nation at large, and when the great struggle of life and death came on in the sixties, the sentiment manifested itself and the slave issue had a following until the war ended the controversy. There was an organization of the Knights of the Golden

Circle in the south portion of the county that made a few drills and a slight demonstration. It was of short duration and when the war closed it passed away and has been forgotten. It is presumed that there never was a slave by law in this county and very few that have been in bondage. There arebut few of African descent in the county, perhaps as few as in any other county in the state of Indiana.