Carroll County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 16 of those read), 1882

Pioneer Remini.Scence.S-Continued

PIONEER REMINI.SCENCE.S-CONTINUED. Daniel M<'Catn'.s Settlement - .Snow-Storm and Hurricane- Novel Dining Table - Cabin-Building - A Scare - The FiR.ST Petition for Org.vnization - It-s Fate - Jurisdiction OF the Territory - a Sea.?on of Want and Privation - A Methodist Society Organized in the County - Heavy Rains and Consequent Floods - Cold Winter and Scanty Provision.^ - Log Cabins. ~|~\ANIEL McCAIN and his wife, Magdalene McCain, landed -L^ in this county on the 2Sth day of April, 1856 - and an incident is related of their camp experience on the last night before arriving at their forest home, which is full of interest, as exemplifying very fully some of the hardships all early settlers had to undergo in laying the foundation of the proverbial prosperity of Carroll County. They, with their company, consisting of seven persons in all, had encamped for the night near the bank of Little Sugar Creek. The weather was cold already, and the snow had been falling at intervals during that and the day previous. A little after nightfall, the wind began to blow, and soon increased almost to a hirrricane. The night was dark and dismal; the snow whirled in eddying oiuTents through the air, and the howlinc tempest overhead seemed to sound some dread requiem, as whistling thi-ough the lofty ti-ee-tops, the creaking of branches, accompanied by the continual crash of falling timber, added horror to the scene. The danger which surrounded them was imminent, escape seemed improbable, and death inevitable. But the stoim passed away and the bright morning came, bringing with it the assurance of safety to all their company. With hearts full of thank fulness and gratitude for protection and deliverance fi-om danger, in the morning they pm-sued their jom-ney with renewed vigor, onward to their new home, which point was reached about midday, without fiu-ther impediment worthy of note. Having arrived, they pitched their tent, prepared dinner and pai'took of a repast, the first in their new home, with a relish that kings might well envy, using the hind-gate of the wagon for a table.

Joseph, William and Ramsay McCain, brothers of Daniel, and John McCain, a cousin, came with them. They all set immediately to work to build a cabin to shelter them from the inclemencies of the season, and in three days had it in a habitable condition, with a clapboard roof on it, a door cut out, and on one side and end, "chinked," but not "daubed" imtil a short time after. The succeeding morning, two of the men took their guns and made their first experiment in hunting, and soon after retiu-ned, bringing with them a deer they had killed, which being soon di-essed, all hands went off about a mile distant to raise a cabin for William McCain, who contemplated moving there the uext fall. Mrs. McCain was thus left alone for the day, with no other companion than her little boy, a lad of something over two years of ago. A little while before noon, feeling very lonely and on the lookout lest some danger should come upon them unawares, she discovered two animals at no gi-eat distance fi'om the cabin, which she supposed to be wolves, following the trail of the deer which had been brought in by the men that morning. At first she was much frightened, but, recovei-ing somewhat from her trepidation, began to revolve iu lier mind the best means of deht^ fense within her reach, in case they should attack the house. With woman's ready invention, she was not long in determining that a good supply of hot water, together with the broom-stick, under the circumstances, would constitiite weapons suiHeiently formidable to meet the emergency. It was not necessaiy, however, to bring these defenses, nor any other, into operative requisition, for the enemy, exercising discretion in the premises as the better part of valor, kept at a respectful distance, and soon after left entirely.

At the session of the Legislatm-e of the State of Indiana of 1826-27, a petition was presented by simdi-y citizens, living in the jurisdiction of what is now Carroll County, for the passage of an act enabling them to organize a new coimty, but, for some reason which does not now appear to us, the bill failed to become a law. The territory before had been, and was at that time, under the recognized jurisdiction of Montgomery County, subsequently, however,, under the jm-isdiction of Tippecanoe County for judicial purposes, which circumstance rendered the position of the people as a community extremely awkward and unpleasant; hence their eai'ly steps toward the organization of a. county, guaranteeing to them the rights and privileges enjoyed by other counties; and, although they were defeated in the accomplishment of their object in the first instance, yet they determined to avail themselves of the next opportunity that presented itself, and, with their purjjose still in view, at the succeeding session of the General Assembly, another petition was presented, which met with a better fate than its predecessor. The law was passed in the form and embodying the provisions set forth in the act for the organization, given at length in another place.

The settlers were siibjected to many hardships and privations in the way of clothing, provisions, shoes, tea, coffee and sugar. The stock of articles that had been procured before was exhausted, and the large emigi-ation into Tippecanoe and adjacent counties during the fall of 1826, consumed all the sm-plus provisions and other necessaries raised by the early settlers there, which left our peojile the alternative, either to go great distances into older settlements to get their supplies, or otherwise to get along as best they could, on small allowances, until they could raise enough from their own fields to suffice for home consixmption. The settlers here who had come in the season before, and made small improvements, had raised no more thau would meet the imperative demands of their own families. In this contingency, to satisfy the requisition for tea and coffee, spicewood. sassafras and milk were substituted with peculiar relish; for sweetening, the sugar tree was taxed in the springtime, and in the place of shoes, moccasins, made of dressed deer-skins, were worn. Such, however, was the extent of these privations that in some instances bread was scarcely tasted for weeks at a tim^. Under these circumstances, potatoes and squashes were the usual substitutes - and it has since l^een fi'equently remarked, by persons who were obliged by the necessities of the times to put up with such kind of fare, that the substituted article tasted as well, or better, and answered the demands of appetite as satisfactorily as the veriest epicure could ask. Thus many of the privations and difficulties, seemingly formidable in themselves, were supplied by the uncultivated productions of the forest wilds.

Flour at this time had to be lirought overland h\ wagons, or by keel and flat boats along the river, fi'om Ohio; sometimes it could be procvu-ed at Terre Haute. It is needless to say that flomwas not generally used as it is now, but the more ready substitute, corn-meal, was the staple article for making bread. And to this day, the " corn-jione," "corn-dodger," "hoe-cake" and "johnnycake " are not entirely forgotten by the survivors of those who were wont, in those days, to feast upon these luxuries of pioneer life.

In November, 1826, a Methodist society was organized in this county, composed of eight persons, to wit: John Odell, and Sarah Odell, his wife; Elizabeth Angell, widow of Benjamin D, Angell, just before that time deceased; John Carey, and Ruth Carey, his wife; and Thomas Stirlen, and Frances Stirlen, his wife - under the chai-ge of Hemy P. Buell, of the Crawfordsville Mission, who preached for them about once in four weeks.

Some time in the latter part of August of this year, it has been stated by some of the oldest settlers here, there were frequent and very heavy rains, which prevented many from getting cabins in conditioQ to be comfortable during the wet and cold season, and all fi-om making that progress iu their clearings- the ciroirmstances of the times demanded. The Wabash River, and all the creeks and rivulets tributary to it, were swollen to unusual dimensions; in fact, the whole of the flat country along the margin of the Upper Wabash was inundated. The river was higher at that time, it has been often said by persons who have been longest residents here, thau it was before know within the memory of the white man.

The succeeding winter was very cold, and the cattle, with other stock, suffered severely. Feed being very scai'ce, and without shelter to protect them from the inclemency of the weather, several head were fi-ozen to death, gi'eatly to the deti-iment of the settlers, who also themselves experienced much inconvenience from the severe cold. Their cabins generally were not very well conditioned to shield the inmates from the piercing winds, driving snows and beating rains usual in this latitude at that season of the year. There have been, since that time, winters epually severe, but, when the poor protections against cold possessed by those early settlers are considered, it is not at all wonderful that, imder such circumstances, the same degree of temperatm-e which now would be deemed moderate was then most keenly felt. Those eighteen by twenty cabins that sparsely dotted over the area of Carroll County at the period of which we are writing, although at the time, when no better habitations could be obtained, as comfortable as necessity demanded, yet, it must be admitted, they very often were but little more. And we do not wish to be understood as saying anything in disparagement of log cabins, for they were generally the abode of contentment, and of comforts such as the times wan-anted; but oiu- pm-pose in making allusion to them was to present a contrast between the means of comfortable living at that time and the present. That log cabins have been the scene of as much enjoyment and genuine hospitality as any other class of habitations, there is no question, for these are found in all new settlements inseparably connected.

PIONEER KEMIN l.SCENCES - Coxtixued. First Merciiant.s - Dr. Vandevexter axd Isaao Griffith- Rattlesnake ExrERiENCES - Arrival of Dr. J. M. Evving - --Nettles" Used Instead of Flax - JUu-iiigax Ro.vd Ex- TKKPUisE - Advantages of Tnis TiioROUGiiFAiiE Not Appkeciated - The Indian Trade and Its Ejioli'Ments- Some of THE Early Traders.

TN the spring of 1827, Dr. D. F. Vandeventer brought a small -*- stock of goods to Carroll County, and Mi^. Baum built a log storehouse for him in his yard. This was the tii'st stock of goods ever brought to Carroll County. About the same time, though later in the season, Mr. Isaac GriiSth. late of this county, brought another stock of good, and located his store south of Halsey & Griffith's mill. Before this time, all articles of merchandise and groceries had to be procured at Crawfordsville and other points south on the river, which had been longer settled. Nor was there, up to this time, any post office in the comity for the accommodation of the people, and the fact very often subjected them to great inconvenience, because it was necessary that they should go to Montgomery County for their mail matter. All legal business was transacted in Montgomery and Tippecanoe Counties, but the settlers, being well disposed toward each other, and little inclined to litigation seldom had occasion to resort to law to settle the small matters of difference between neighbors : consequently, the amount of judicial business transacted from causes arising in Carroll County among its own citizens was extremely small.

Early this season, a number of the citizens of the county were called upon to go out into the country on the Tippecanoe Biver, near where Rochester, in Fulton County, now stands, to assist in building the -' Indian Mills."

When the weather became warm in the spring, the country was infested with rattlesnakes in such numbers that it was a soiu-ce of great annoyance to the settlers. They were so common among the weeds and undergrowth that great cairtion was necessary to be observed in order to avoid being bitten by them. Several persons were bitten before the fact of their great numb(!rR in the county became fully known. John Carey was bitten by one of these reptiles in the vicinity of the Wilson farm, which, from the number of them discovered and killed near by, about the same time, led to the discovery of their den in the bluff' not far from the old still-house. Many fears were entertained by the settlers lest they should crawl into their cabins unobserved, as they sometimes did, and bite the inmates, particularly the children, who were little aware of the danger to be anticipated from their presence. As soon as their appearance was general, it was supposed that a den of them must be in the neighborhood, and all hands turned out to hunt it. The circumstances of John Carey being bitten, and the numbers discovered close by there, induced the men to search more diligently in that particular place. They succeeded in finding the den as above indicated. There were several entrances to the den, resembling the holes made by groundhogs, which emitted a most offensive stench. After that, of warm days, snake-hunting was one of the avocations of the settlers; and the result was that, in eight or ten years succeeding, himdreds of them were killed. Several incidents are related of persons being bitten by them, but few, if any, of them resulted fatally. The Indians who frequented the neighborhood at the time of the early settlements were proverbial for their possession of many antidotes for the bites of these reptiles, and often relieved those who had been bitten, to their great professional satisfaction as " medicine men."

A young hunter named Alexander, who had encamped on the gi-ound where Logansport now stands, was bitten one night, and would have died but for some Indians encamped near him, who, hearing his hallooing, wont to his assistance, took him to their lodge, cured him up sound and well, and sent him ofT on his way rejoicing, accompanied by their injunction that he should not get wet, and that if he did, he would die. Let this suffice, however, for the histoiy of rattlesnakes in Can-oil County.

and sirrgeon in the county, settled here and became a permanent practitioner. At this time, there were but forty families in what now forms Carroll, Cass and White Counties. Where Delphi now stands was a thicket of hazel and blackberry bushes, and the place where Logansport is situated was in a state of nature, except a trading house at the "Point," occupied by the late Hugh B. Mc- Keen. What is now the city of La Fayette had then but six log cabins and one two-story log house occupied as a tavern. There were no roads except the one opened by Mr. Kobinson when he moved here, and the travel was generally along Indian traces and deer paths. At that time, also, nettles grew thi-ifty, and yielded an excellent crop, frequently covering the ground like flax, and about the same height on the upland, but on the bottoms they grew as high as a man would be, seated upon his horse. At the time when the settlers were in want of clothing and other necessai-ies, in order to equal the necessities of the times, Mi-s. David Lucas, as did some other of the stirring women of those days, in the absence of hemp and flax out of which to manufactm-e articles of summer apparel, gathered of these nettles, which have a fine, flax-like fiber, rotted, broke, dr-essed and spun them, and, from the material thus prepared, manufactured cloth, out of which garments of a good, substantial quality were made, and worn with as much satisfaction as the more rare and costly articles of the present day.

The Indians, who, up to the period of their ti'eaties, and for a limited time afterward, had continued to occupy these lands, gradually disappeared, and but few of them remained. There were, however, occasionally some who visited the settlements for the pm'pose of trading, and their number was not great, because the principal trading point was at Logansport, and they usually went to that place to transact their barter and traffic. In some respects - and, in fact, all - the settlers were quite willing to dispense with all the emoluments of the trade, to avoid the frequent annoyance of their presence; for, although there was no danger to be anticipated from any manifestations of hostility, yet the petty thefts and obtrusions were sometimes of a character to render them obnoxious.

At this time, also, the location of the Michigan road was a question of some . interest to the people, and was frequently discussed by them. It did not, howe-ver, present inducements sufficient to direct their active co-operation; for the Commissioners appointed to view and locate their route actually visited the settlements herewith a view to arrive at the facts as to the most practicable route, according to the provisions and requirements of the act authorizing the same. The people did not seem to look upon the enterprise as one which demanded their exertion in its behalf, although it was the opinion of many that the road Might have been located through Delphi, on as good or better ground than where it now runs. The consequence of this apathy on tlie part of the most interested was that the Commissioners, seeing there were few, if any, who thought the matter of sufficient consequence to devote a little time and pains to show them the route through this county, and set forth the advantages possessed by this over other routes, went to Cass Coimty, wh(>re they found men willing to sacrifice the time required to gain the importaut acquisition to their coimty and town. The present route of the road along near the line of the eastern boundary of the county, several miles distant from the site of Delphi, now the seat of justice, through Logansport, the seat of justice of Cass County, was finally determined uiion, and that gi-eat public thoroughfOTe was accordingly located.

Piox Eer Remini8Cences-C0Ntintied

TN the spring and summer seasons, during the early settlements, -*- before apples, peaches, pears, cherries, plums and other cultivated fruits were grown here, wild plums, grapes, gooseberries, blackberries and crabapples, with many other fruits of the forest, spontaneous of the rich soil and genial climate of Carroll County, afforded abundant supplies of these articles, suited to the taste and adapted to the wants of the times.

Some time in the summer of 1827, Alexander Chamberlain raised a two-story, double, hewed-log house, on the bank of the Wabash, opposite the mouth of Eel River, below Logansport, and many of the settlers from this county went there to assist him in the raising of it. When there were heavy raisings like that ..ne, the people of the neighboring settlements always tiu-ned out and helped for help again whenever similar circumstances required - and there was a mutuality of interest and purpose in all new settlements, pai'ticularly in those days.

During the fall of this year, after the small clearings had been fenced, plowed aad planted, and the corn crop had well-nigh matured, blackbirds came in large quantities and destroyed a vei-y considerable portion of it. They were generally bad in the fall of the year, but much worse this year than usual, and required close watching to prevent total destruction to the crops. Many persons who had contemplated moving here were deten-ed fi-om | doing so in consequence. j

In January, 1S28, there was another period of high waters; all the flat country below tovra was covered, and the w.iter rose so high that it ran into Mr. Baum's kitchen. One time since, when Daniel Baum, Jr., was living in the same house, the water came up about one foot higher.

On the 3d day of January, 1828, the first post ofhce ever in this county was opened by Abner Robinson, Esq., who was therefore the first Postmaster. This evidence of governmental favor ! was hailed by the people as the dawn of a new era in the progress of this infant settlement, which, taken into consideration with the question of a county organization' at that time agitating the community, inspired the settlers with new life and vigor.

April 28 of this year, according to the provisions of the act of organization, passed at the session of the Legislature then recently closed, an election was held by the qualified voters of the county for the piurpose of electing officers, who should, when duly commissioned and qualified, perform the active functions devolving upon them severally, when the period should arrive, as contemplated by the net aforesaid, for putting the wheels of government I into practical operation. The number of votes cast at that time, I the voters who cast their ballots, and the candidates voted for and elected, having been fully set out elsewhere, it is unnecessary, at this point, to enter into a more elaborate naiTation of the tacts and incidents thereof. In the month of May succeeding, the organization of the county, under the most favorable aus pices, was perfected.

The increase in the popiilation of the territory diu-ing this year was considerable, and the settlement began to assume the appearance of progress and the evidences of improvement. The efforts of the settlers being directed to the promotion of genera' prosperity, as well as their individual advancement, it was an easy matter, fi-om " the signs of the times," to gain assiu-ance that selfish aggi-andizement was not the governing impulse of the community. " There have been, I apprehend" says a late writer, ' ' in no country, in its early settlement, precisely the elements in forming the public mind which ai'e found in the Wescern regions of our own. The colonies that went out from Phoenicia, and that laid the foundations of empire on the shores of the Mediterranean, had a homogeneousness of character, and transferred the principles and feelings of the mother country at once to the new lands where they took up their abode. The colonies that went out fi-om Greece to occupy the maritime regions of Asia Minor, cai'ried with them the love of the arts, of literature and of liberty which distinguished Corinth and Athens, and Ionia became merely a reflected image of what Attica and Achaia and Argolis had been. The colonists who landed on Plymouth Rock, and at Salem, and Boston, also had a homogeneousness of character. There was no intermingling of any foreign elements contem]>lated or allowed. They were, when they landed, and when they laid the foundation of Harvard University, and wlieu they spread over New England, what they were in Holland and in England, with only the modifications which their new circumstances made, but with none from any foreign admixtiu-es. When we turn our eyes, however, to the great West, we discern an entirely different state of things. There is no homogeneousness of character, of origin, of aim, of language. These elements, already mingled and struggling for the mastery, any one of which, if alone, would have vital and exjiansive power enough to diffuse itself all over that great vallej'.

" There are different manners and customs, different modes of faith, and, as a consequence of this, a gi-eat intermingling of those minds which are likely to be most adventurous, energetic and bold.

"Everything in the natui-al scenery is on a scale so vast and grand - the majestic rivers, the boundless prairies, the deep forest, the very immensity, almost, of the rich domain which is spread out there as if to make man vast in his schemes, gigantic in his purposes, large in his aspirations and boundless in his ambitions.

"I may notice another characteristic of the Western mind, in its relation to religion. Strange as it may seem to one who looks on the heterogeneous and unsettled mass, the result of the experiments there made has shown that the West is not a favorable field for planting communities destitute of all religion.

"The question, then, if these are just views is not whether there shall be any religion, or none, but whether the religion which shall prevail there shall be true or false, enlightened or ignorant; a miserable fanaticism, or a large and liber.il Christianity; a low and driveling superstition, or principles that commend themselves to reason and common sense; the religion of tradition, or he religion of the Bible; a religion of excitement and feeling, and variableness, or the religion of principle."

To a very considerable extent, the remarks made in the foregoing quotation will apply to the early settlement of Cai'roU County. The elements of which the community was composed, were heterogeneous in their character, so far as their former conditions, pursuits and purposes were concerned, yet the varieties of taste and sentiment formed among them seemed necessary to the full and perfect development of those faculties which go to make up a commimity, destined by its characteristics to become prosperous and happy, variety of taste in individual matters on the one hand, and unity of purpose in the affairs of general interest, are the sure forerunners of the substantial well-being of the community. Here, then, were those elements at work in this community as originally constituted; and time had unfolded the propitious evidences which distinguish the present position and condition of society.

When the emigration fi-om the East, South and North directed its com-se hither, the country had been but recently the abode of the red man. His companions, the wolf, the bear and catamount, still held dominion over the forest wilds and disputed the right of the civilized pioneer to make a home in the midst of their domains. Wolves were abundant, and often made the night hideous with their howlings - with frogs that inhabited the flat, wet lands of the county and sounded the full notes in chorus, they chanted the requiem of passing time. No person was ever at a loss for musical entertainments of that character. Civilization, however, soon brought with it birds and animals such as are always found on its trace; the aspect of natui-e, even, seemed to be changed, as the massive forest, thick and unbroken before, yielding to the woodman's ax, became transfoi-med iuto open fields of waving grain.

Ohaptee Vii Pioneer Reminiscence.S-C0Ntinued

PIONEER REMINISCENCE.S-C0NTINUED. Advent of Henky M. Ghaham into Carroll County - Portable Mill for Grinding Corn, etc. - Making "Hominy" in Pioneer Style - Situation Prior to Organization - The First Marriages and the Names of the Parties to Them - Some Eoads Provided For - Aakon Gregg Arrives - Enoch Stansel's Experience- Mr. Gregg'.s Traveling Experience, ETC. TN the midst of transpiring incidents and circumstances before -*- enumerated, it must not be forgotten that new adventurers from abroad - from the East, from the North and from the South - were coming in to find homes for themselves and families in this fertile region, giving countenance and impulse to the advancing tide of imi)rovement and prosperity.

In January, 1828, Henry M. Graham, next to the oldest of eight brothers, came to this coimty in company with his father and family. Upon coming into the county, they made a halt at the family mansion of Gen. Samuel Milroy, and, for want of a more suitable or convenient place of abode, moved into a stable on the jiremises, and remained there until they got a cabin up on the site marked out for their home. Their cabin not being provided with a chimney, they cut a hole in the roof to permit the smoke to escape. In a few days they got into their cabin, and, the first night after, it commenced to snow, and continued with little intermission for the next six weeks. The family were all barefooted at the time, except Henry and his father - and, as appendatoiy to the situation, notwithstanding his shoes, Hemy had his feet badly frozen during the winter. Although the weather was rough and disagreeable, Mr. Graham, to get things in tolerably good living order in and about the house, began cutting down trees that stood in reacli of their dwelling, not having had time to make a clearing worth while. The sjiring being so far spent when he got into his house, under the circumstances, he got some cleared ground from Mr. Odell to put in corn and " truck," which gave him some advantage in the way of cleai'ing ground for the next season. Mr. Graham erected in his house a portable mill, in which he frequtmtly prepared the meal for their bread. It consisted of a log about eighteen inches in diameter and four feet long, with a funnel-shaped hollow burned to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches, and then scraped out smooth. This section of a log, prepared as above, was set on end, hollow upward, adjacent to some crack in the wall between logs, into which a spring pole was sometimes adjusted, and a " pestle," consisting of a stick of suitable dimensions, attached to it - split at one end to admit an iron wedge, secured in its place by a ring. With this formidable array of machineiy. sometimes omitting the "spring-pole," much of the grinding for the family, and sometimes the neighbors, was done in the early settlement of the country. The apparatus was familiai-ly kno\vn as a "hominy mortar."

After the organization of the county, in May, 1828, the social as well as the civil relations of the settlers became more circumscribed as to limits in which they were consummated. Before that period, the settlements made here, and the movements toward independence in the enjoyment of the peculiar privileges of a separate community, were embarrassed by the fact that this territory formed a part,of the jurisdiction of other and distant counties, requiring, therefore, that all authority for the completion of business arrangements, so far as their binding force depended upon a legal recognition, should and could only be derived from those distinct seats of justice, from which radiated these several requisite plenary powers. For a considerable time after the settlement of the county, in 1824-25, Crawfordsville occupied the position of a general legal dispensary for a vast extent of territory, including the present limits of Carroll County. There justice, in various and modified forms, was administered, sometimes speedily and without delay, at other times tardily, depending upon the circumstances which surrounded the case. Marriage licenses had to be obtained at that point, or at La Fayette, which afterwai-d , assumed the prerogatives of the position. So far- as this particular county was concerned, the occasions which demanded the resort to those distant localities for the purpose of procuring the consent of "the powers that be" to exercise the rights of a free people were not frequent, yet it was occasionally necessaiy.

Marriages were not very common here during the earlier periods of which I have been writing, pai-tially owing to the fact, at first, that those who contemplated a removal to this county usually settled jireliminai'ies before leaving the old homestead, aad did not set out " prospecting" for a new home until the question of consummation was no longer controvertible - so tJiat, when the home had been secured in the Western wilds, it was only necessary to go back and claim the prize. Consequently, weddings were of somewhat rare occiurence until Carroll Coimty had a distinct organization, vesting the people with the necessary powers and immunities to grant the authority upon which marriages might be solemnized. The first marriage license issued in Carroll County was on the 1st day of June, 1828, the record of which, together with the certificate of solemnization, is as follows, viz. :

The second license was issued on the 4tli day of July, 1828, to John Morrow, of Psu-ke County, Ind., and Isabella Hamilton, of this county, who were both of lawful age. Their marriage

The third was issued on the 4th day of September, 1828, to Jeremiah Ballard and Susannah Baum, both of this county, and of lawful age. They were married on the same day, by Isam Adkinson, Justice oE the Peace.

The fom-th was issued on the 25th day of December, 1828, to Charles Polke and Louisa R. Smith, both of this county, and of lawful age. They were mai-ried January 1, 1829, by Eev. James Crawford, at the residence of Maj. Bell, in Logansport.

The fifth was issued on the 29th day of December, 1828, to William Scott and Otilda Lockhart, both of Carroll County, and of lawful age. They were married on the 1st day of January, by Rev. James Crawford, at the same time and place as the last.

The sixth was issued December 31, 1828, to John Swalls and Polly Marsh, both residents of Carroll County, and of lawful age. This marriage also was solemnized Januarj' 1, 1829, by Isam Adkinson, Justice of the Peace. Thus it will be seen that January 1 was a propitious day for Carroll County, the first day of the year 1829, being signified by these evidences of union.

August 12, 1828, the second day of the session, on the petition of sundry citizens interested, a county road fi-om Delphi to Benjamin Baxter's, another from Delphi to Nathaniel Hamilton's, were ordered to be located. Hugh Manary and Aaron Dewey were appointed to view the aforesaid routes, and at the next session to report the routes respectively that would best meet the wants of the public. On the same day, a road was ordered to be located on the most practicable route from La Fayette to the line dividing Tippecanoe and CaiToU Counties, in the direction of Delphi, to intersect a road that day established and located from the point last named to the public square in Delphi. Provisions were made, also, for the location of roads, one fi-om the public square aforesaid to the point where the meridian line crosses Deer Creek; another from the same point to Elisha Brown's, on Bachelor's Run. These several routes were necessary in order to establish outlets from the settlements to the points with which they corresponded, for pui'poses of trade and inter-conim n n ication.

In the month of October, 1828, Aai-on Gregg, his wife and brother, left Warren County, Ohio, and started on their journey to this county with a view to settlement here. But before this, however, in 1825 or 1826, Mr. Gregg, in company with Enoch Stansel, had visited the Wabash Valley for the purpose of selecting eligible locations for new homes in the West. While they were here looking at the country, Mr. Gregg's father was of the party. After having traversed most of the county, and satisfied themselves as to the quality of the land, as well as the prospects presented for the futm'e, in the evening, when on their return to Crawfordsville - through which route they had arrived - they came to a halt on a blufl' near the bank of Rock Creek, where, night coming ujion them, they laid out, with no other shelter than the trees, until morning. Next morning, they continued their journey for Crawfordsville, where the land oflice was situated, and, upon their arrival at that place, made their entries of such lands as they had selected during their travel through thiscoimtj-.

At one time, while Mr. Stansel was out here looking for laud, he had Ijeen attending the sales of land at Logansport, and started back homeward. There being no road cut along the route he proposed to travel, he took an Indian trail. Before reaching the place where he expected to put up for the night, darkness overtook him and he lost the trail. Depending upon the instinctive knowledge of his horse for guidance through the woods and thick underbrush, he lirought up safely at the cabin of " Old Man Harness," on the located line of the Michigan road, where he passed the night, partaking of the hospitable entertainmenf of the old "host," so universally known, appreciated, and proverbially recognized by all the early travelers through this portion of the Wabash Valley. Having, the night previous, wandered about so long before reaching Mi-. Harness', without any definite knowledge of his whereabouts, he became so badly lost that he did not know which end of the road brought him there, nor which one he should take in piu'suing his joiu-ney, and in the morning, also, when he came to make a start, he was so bewildered still that he took the wrong end of the road, back track toward Logansport, and it was with gi-eat difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to turn about. When he did so, it was with no small misgivings as to the propriety of so doing, being fully impressed with the belief that he was going wrong when he did so.

At the time Mr. Gregg came fi'om Ohio, accompanied by his wife and brother, as before noticed, while on the road, they camped out every night, for there were but few settlements along the route traveled by them, and these were so far distant from each other that it was inconvenient to depend on finding shelter in houses dm-ing the night. And again, the fall being di'y and pleasant and the roads good, it was usually more agreeable and certain to sleep under cover of the woods than in houses. When they landed here, they immediately set themselves about putting up a cabin. This being done, they commenced clearing ofi' a piece of ground suitabh^ for a yard and "patch," so that, by Christmas or before, they had more than an acre chopped ofi' almost clear-. Between Chi-istmas and New Yeai-'s, they stai-ted back to Ohio; but, owing to the bad traveling at that season of the year, they did not reach home until after the middle of January succeeding, the jom-ney occujiying one-half a month in its performance.

Any person who has had any experience in traveling over these Western roads during that season of the year when there is so much moistm-e in the ground, can well imagine why half a month might be consumed in making the jom-ney. At that time, when the black and clayey soils were not frozen, and teams were fi-equently passing along, the mud was deep, so that hea\'y teams often made but a few miles - from five to ten, and sometimes fifteen - per day. Often six miles was the longest distance that could be made after traveling hard from sunrise to simset. In winter, when the ground was frozen, the roads, at first, were rough and knobby, but gradually they became smooth by long passage, and, of course, solid.

A great many anecdotes have been related by old wagoners of their hardships, difficulties and wondrous experiences on the road, which would appear- almost incredible when compai-ed with the present, and yet, no doubt, interesting, especially to the interested. We shall endeavor, erelong, to give the reader a brief recital of some of those personal experiences and recollections of traveling facilities in those days, as compared with the more recent.

Ohaptee Viii

^ I weather, during the fall of 1828 and the early part of -*- the winter sueeeeding, was unusually di-y, as, also, the sjjring following. The merchants and tradesmen usually shipped their goods from Cincinnati by steamboats for the Wabash; but the river was so low that boats could get no farther up than the "Rapids," at Mount Carmel. The result was that goods brought to that point by the easy and expeditions conveyance of steamboats had to be transported thence by wagons to such points higher up the river as were designated in the orders of shipment. This occasioned much inconvenience and loss, not only to the merchants themselves, but was the som'ce of much delay and disappointment on the part of the settlers, who had no other dependence for their suj^plies of groceries and clothing. Such mishaps, though not very frequent in their occurrence, were, nevertheless, seriously felt, and the remembrance of them has continued fresh in the minds of many whose experiences in this, direction have left an indelible impression. Among all these adversities, there were some redeeming prosperities attendant thereon.

During the fall just then passed, several new settlers made their appearance here and coromenced settlements in diiferent parts of the county. Among these were Israel Rohi-baugh, who emigrated from Virginia and settled here on the 4th day of October. 1S28; Samuel Lenon. formerly of Ohio, came here iu October. lS2y: William McCain, also from Ohio, settled here on the 10th of December, 1S2S; Isaac Robbins settled here about the same time that season, and became a permanent resident.

The improvement of the site of the "Delphi Mill" was commenced this spring, somewhat after the plan proposed by the Quakers, and noticed elsewhere. Saw-mills were erected and j)ut into operation this year (1829), by Isaac Griffith, Samuel Williamson and Samuel Wise - all of them of easy access by the settlers. These improvements fonned additional links in the ascending chain of circumstances which have led to the occupancy of that independent position so familiai'ly recognized and enjoyed by our people at the present day - links which, having been united by the strong cement of popular friendship, formed a chain of such tenacity that revolution itself could scarce rupture it. All these influences seem to have worked together for the common good.

At this time, the settlements had so extended that the whole country began to wear the aspect, in many portions, of an oldsettled country. The energy manifested by the citizens was such as to warrant success, which was readily achieved.

On the 4th day of March, 1 S29, the day upon which Andrew Jaclison ,.,it.']v.l ii|H,ii (lie discliarge of his duties as President of (lie 1 iiiliil Sl.it.'f,. .Iiiliii M. ( ill lam, brother of Thomas Gillam, traveling with a six-horse team, and some time prior to the date of his removal to this county, bridges across the streams on their route were scarcely known, so that the only way, often, to obtain a transit from one side to the opposite was by swimming - a method not always very satisfactory, and firequently attended with more or less difficulty and inconvenience. One night, having encamped in a low piece of bottom, there was a heavy fall of rain, and so much water upon the gi-ound they were compelled to cut saplings and form platforms of them, raised sufficiently high that when their beds were placed upon them there would be no danger of being overrun by the waters before morning. These were but a few of the difficulties, in number or kind, to be met with and overcome by early settlers of the Wabash Valley.

The winter before Mi-. Gillam moved to this county, he brought up here from Foimtain County a wagon-load of corn-meal, a large portion of which he lent to the settlers, who had not raised grain sufficient the previous season for their bread, and were illy conditioned to buy. He did this with a consciousness that there was no necessary hazard, for, in new settlements, where union and harmony were the prevailing characteristics, a favor so well timed as this could in no wise go unrewarded. In this community, unbroken faith and good fellowship was the order of the day. In the fall of the year 1829, the children of Thomas Gillam, Sr., and of his brother, John M. Gillam, started out into the woods one morning for the purpose of digging ginseng, which was then very abundant in the neighborhood, and a source of considerable revenue when obtained; but they had not been out very long - rambling about from place to ])laee, hunting and digging alternately, without thinking in what direction they were going - before they got lost, and, when night came, the chikh-en were still absent. The families by this time had become greatly alai-med for their safety in these wild woods, and the nearest houses at that time were William Bishoji's and John Briggs'. Three or foLir persons started immediately in search. Mr. Thomas Gilhun went to Bridge Creek and followed it up some distance, but learned no tidings of the lost little ones. Morning came, and still they had not been found, nor had there been any traces 'discovered which might indicate their whereabouts. By this time, the whole commimity was in a state of alarm and apprehension for the safety of the wanderers. The excited neighbors were early ai'oused, and started for the woods with horns, guns, and other implements by which natural and significant communications could be passed between the different parties in search, and, if within reach, to give information to the children that assistance was near at hand. Allen Gillam, son of Thomas, who was among the lost ones, and a little older than the rest of them, in the meantime, however, had suggested to his fi-iends the propriety of pounding upon a tree with a club, in order that the persons seeking for them might be attracted by the noise and come to their relief; they did so, and it had the desired effect, for the noise thus made did strike the eagerly listening ears of some of those who were scouring the woods in search, and the children were found by the means, after having laid out all night. When they had been found, the joyful tidings were made to re-eclio fi'om point to point, until the welcome fact was announced at the door of every cabin in thi> neigh borhood.

At another time, not long after this, a child of David Gillam, another brother of Thomas, wandereil away and got lost while its mother was engaged in getting dinner. Its absence was not discovered until after dinner, when all parties started in search and hunted imtil dark. Rumors were sent to Delphi to raise the alaiTn and prociu'e assistance. The people tiu-ned out en masse, and roamed over and through the woods all night in unsuccessful search for the little one lost. Next morning there were at least fifty pereons engaged traversing the country, making inquiries and calculating what next should be done. Finally, they all foi-med themselves into a long line, separated one from another fi'om fifty to one hundi'ed yards, and took a " sweep " over the country in th is connected form. About noon that day, they found the child, asleep beside a tree, but almost famished with hunger, having had nothing to eat since the morning of the day before. On the 4th day of April, 1829, Thomas Gillam, Sr., removed with his family to this county, and settled down in the midst of what was then was an almost unbroken forest; particulai'ly so in the iimnediate neighborhood where he located, built his cabin and commenced his cleai'ing. At the time of his settlement here, Mr. Grillam was possessed with little means with which to commence operations and make ra]5id progress in improvi Qg his lands, and was compelled, by the force of circiimstances, to make exti'aordinary exertions towai'd raising ''produce" enough to supply the demands of his family. Possessed, however, with unconquerable resolution, he commenced his clearing with a hearty good will, and, instead of taking the usual method of cutting down the trees, a young man would climb them and begin at the top branches, lopping off the limbs until the trees were entirely stripped, while Mr. Gillam, in the meantime, would throw the branches upon a fire and burn them as they fell from the trees. In this way he got nine acres in cultivation the first spring, and, from the products of the fii-st clearing, had, the following fall, corn enough for home consumption and some to sell besides. Yet Mr. Gillam constituted but one example among the many that could have then been found in Can-oil County, in which exertions like his were vewai'ded so abundantly. The times and circumstances demanded the exercise of all the eflicient energies that could be brought to bear in opening the way for civilization, by creating siu'plus enough to meet the i-equired wants of new settlers, in the way of provisions necessary to subsistence, and of inducements such as would tend to improve the lands and advance the growth of their social polity.