Cass County, Indiana - Chapter 45: Clinton Township, 1913

This township does not comprise a full congressional township, but only about twenty-four and a half square miles, and lies chiefly in township 26, north R. 1 east and 1 west. It is bounded on the north by the Wabash river, south and west by White county and on the east by Washington township. Along the banks of the river the land is quite hilly and in many places the limestone outcrops in precipitous rocky ledges, which is extensively quarried for building purposes. Back from the river, the land, to the southward becomes more level and in the southern part quite flat, with a heavy clay subsoil, and when tiled is the most fertile and productive land in the county. Originally the township was heavily timbered with oak, ash, maple, walnut, hickory, beech and elm, but this has been largely cut away and only here and there a grove of native timber is left standing. Clinton is well drained by numerous creeks that flow north and west into the Wabash river, the largest of which is Keep's creek, that flows for five miles or more through the center of the township in a westerly direction, into the Wabash river. This was quite a large stream and afiEorded water power for mills in the early settlement of the county.

This township, lying in close proximity to Logansport, and on the Wabash river, easy of access, was the first to be occupied, and settlements were made here almost simultaneously with those at the mouth of Eel river. Probably James Burch, in 1826 or 1827, squatted, so to speak, in the forest of Clinton, on the top of the hill in the northwest quarter of Section 33, T. 27, R. 1 E. Mr. Burch was simply a squatter and acquired no title to the land, but erected the first log cabin in the township, and chiseled out of the forest a small field upon which to raise a little com and vegetables to change the monotony of his diet, which consisted chiefly of wild game and fish, which, however, was in great abundance. About two years later Mr. Burch sold his claim to Christian Simons and left, and the future life of this, the first white man to erect a cabin in Clinton township, is shrouded in darkness. About the same time Wm. Newman purchased a part of the northeast quarter of the same section (33). Mr. Newman erected the second cabin and continued to fell the forests around it until January 4, 1831, when he sold to Wijliam Neff and moved to Lafayette when that town was only a village. While little is known of Mr. Newman, yet he is said to be a man of strict integrity and generous impulses, possessing habits of industry and energy, and although he was fighting the ** Wabash shakes'' (fever and ague) during the acclimating process, yet the amount of clearing he made in the forest proved him to be a man of thrift and energy. Christian Simons continued to improve his lands and soon had a productive farm, which he occupied for many years and until his death in recent times, an honored and respected citizen, who in later years could relate the trials and hardships of frontier life among wild Indians and wilder beasts that infested the forests. Christian Bodabaugh was probably the third white man to make a home in Clinton, locating on the northe^t quarter of section 31, on the south bank of the Wabash, October 3, 1828, and cleared out a farm and continued to enjoy the fruits of his early toil until his death, a period of more than forty-five years.

In 1829 Wm. Lewis settled in the southeast quarter of section 10 N., R. 1 E., and erected a cabin and began the usual routine of pioneer life. Hugh Woods settled in the southeast quarter of section 33, T. 27 N., R. 1 east, during the year 1829, and the following year Joseph Clymer settled in the northeast quarter of section 32 ; Daniel Neflf on fractional section 29 ; Jacob Nefif on west half of section 34 ; Jonathan Neflf on the northeast quarter of section 3, T. 26, R. 1 east ; Andrew Young on section 3 ; Elias Shideler on south part of section 33 ; George Shideler in section 9, where his grandson, Asa Shideler, now lives; Thomas Chambers in section 9 ; John P. Miller in the northwest quarter of section 4; John Dodds in section 10; John Fitzer in section 1; Joseph Pitzer in section 7, and John Hynes on section 15, in west part of the township. The next three or four years the following pioneers settled in diflFerent parts of the township: William NeflE, John Williams, Hiram Calvert, James Chambers, John Myers, John Shuey, William Reed, Joseph Oliver, Henry Klepinger, David Stumbaugh, William Gable, Peter and John Redd, Robert Edwards, Isaac Martin, Levi Stephens, Christian Best, Daniel Hankee, John Mummey, and Henry Wipperman. In 1835 Richard Tyner purchased land in sections 5 and 32, Henry Helm in section 6, Hewit L. Thomas in section 6, Thomas Dillard in the northwest quarter of section 4, and soon after came William Porter, James Justice and James Sax. The majority of these first settlers became permanent residents and were instrumental in felling the forests, clearing the land and making Clinton township one of the most prosperous agricultural townships in the county, and their names are , familiar household words in all that region. Many of their descendants are still honored residents of the township, although the primitive settlers have all passed to their reward.

This township received its name from DeWitt Clinton of Revolutionary fame, and was organized March 4, 1834, and soon after an election was held at the cabin of John P. Miller to select township officers, with the following result : Trustee, John P. Miller ; justice of the peace, Wm. Gable, and Thomas Chambers, constable.

First child bom in Clinton township was George, son of Elias Shideler, 1831. His parents and several sisters moved to Iowa and died there, but George was reared in the township that gave him birth, married Mary Clymer, daughter of Wm. Clymer, a pioneer of this township, studied mechanics, became a millwright, moved to Logansport in 1875, and died there in 1895, leaving several daughters who became high grade school teachers, three of whom, with the aged widow, now reside at 1426 North street.

Probably the first death among the pioneers of this township was Lydia, wife of Wm. Neflf, who died in 1829. Soon after died Mary, wife of Isaac Martin, and in 1830 Hugh Woods, brother of Joseph Woods.

This is the only town in Clinton township and located about six miles southwest of Logansport in the center of a good agricultural country. George Clymer started a sawmill here in 1856, about the time the Wabash Bailroad was built through, and around this the town grew. George Clymer, the founder of the town, moved to Iowa, where he died, but his brother, Wm. Clymer, and his son, D. H. Clymer, and others, ran the mill for many years and until the timber in that locality was nearly all cut. David H. Clymer laid out the town May 8, 1869, Julius C. Kloenne surveyor, and October 5, 1912, Lottie A. Slagle laid out an addition to the town. About 1870 the present Vandalia Railroad passed through Clymers, crossing the Wabash Railroad at that place, and in 1908 the interurban line was extended through Clymers to Lafayette, thus giving the town unusual shipping facilities.

David Stoddard was the first merchant in the town, opening a general store early in the sixties, and about the same time a postoflSce was established, which was named Montez, but later changed to the town name, Clymers, by which it has been known for many years. John R. Rea is said to have been the first postmaster. The sawmill run by the Clymers, and later by Josephus Atkinson, was the first and principal industry.

The first blacksmith shop was operated by John Salor. For many years, H. F. Laudry was the principal merchant, but he has retired at a ripe old age. At present there is a large elevator, erected in 1903 by Reed Bros. (Harry G. and Bruce Reed), and with the unexcelled shipping facilities, gives the farmers as ready a market as Logansport, which is a great convenience to them to have a good market for their products at their door. The Reed Bros, also handle coal, fencing, and other farmers' supplies. There are three general stores kept by Bruce Reed, W. H. Musselman and HoUoway & Berry; the latter firm also own and operate a livery stable. Ray Whipple is the village blacksmith, Elmer Detrich is the tonsorial artist, and May Green can fit up the hobble skirt ** secundum artem."

The postoflBce is run by Bruce Reed, and one rural mail route carries daily mail to the surrounding farmers. A modem church (Methodist) was erected a few years ago and a substantial brick schoolhouse, with three assembly rooms, and a non-commissioned high school give ample and convenient religious and educational advantages.

John Stoddard, the first merchant in Clymers, was a jovial and even-tempered man, but possessed marked characteristics. When under the influence, however, of **red eye," he was anything but amiable in disposition, but would engage in a war of wt)rds with anyone who would listen to him and would often endeavor to execute or put his words into effect by actual physical demonstration. On one occasion, after taking on a heavy load of ** tangle foot," he started to clean up the town, and believing that charity should begin at home, started in with his own family, and was going to make a mop stick of his son, but the latter objected, ran up stairs, in opposition to the parental command, but finally came down upon the promise of the father not to use him in the cleaning up process, but when the boy came down the parent forgot his prQmise, and started after his hopeful, but the latter gave *'leg bail," with the lord of the household in pursuit, who thought to aid his running by the toe of his boot, but in attempting to do so, fell back and sat down in a mud hole that decorated the streets of the village, which somewhat cooled his ardor. It was with difficulty that he extricated himself, and while struggling in the mud, the boy called: '* Father, come here and I will help you up," to the amusement of the entire town, who had by this time been attracted to the streets by the commotion in the Stoddard home. This mud bath had a permanent beneficial result, and Clymers has since recommended mud baths for diseases due to fire-water and allied affections.

The first settlers of Cass county had many things to contend with, among others snakes were plentiful and often a menace to the pioneers, as is illustrated by the following tale, giving Benjamin Porter's experience with a rattlesnake. He says that on the 20th of May, 1831, he and his brother were prospecting for land with a view of purchasing a home. They walked from Lockport, Carroll county, to section 4, Clinton township. ''Here we began to take observations. We separated, each taking a circuit to observe the land and kind of timber on this section. We each carried a stout stick as an aid in walking and also for defense. On the borders of a prairie or open place a rattlesnake of the yellow Species disputed my further passage along the route. He had given his customary signal and measured half his length in darting from his coil toward me, thrusting much too near me to insure perfect steadiness of nerves. Recovering from the sudden shock, I struck the snake with my stick, stunning him for a moment, but it soon recovered and seized the end of the stick with his teeth, making it difficult to relieve it from his grasp, leaving deep prints of his teeth on, the end of the stick, showing the immense power of his jaws. I gave him several blows and supposed lie was dead. I approached the reptile's carcass with a view to remove the rattles, to be retained as a trophy of my first encounter in the wilds of Clinton township. When I, took hold of the rattler, although his head was in a pulp, he darted at me and coiled his almost headless body around my leg and compressed it so tightly as to almost paralyze it, and with great difficulty I disengaged myself. When this was done and the rattles removed, a mist rose up before me and I was overcome with a sick and faint feeling which lasted for half an hour. Upon recovering I hung up the snake and found he measured over five feet in length and nearly as many inches in diameter, having sixteen rattles.

**When I found my brother waiting for me at the section corner, and related my experience, he said to me: 'Ben, if that is the kind, of snakes that dwell here, we don't want this land/ " Notwithstanding the snakes, and other trials and hardships, Benjamin Porter became one of the most influential and respected pioneers of this township.

On April 6, 1913, when the janitor of Pleasant Hill church opened the doors, he was horrified to find, the body of a dead man lying on one of the benches. Prom indications it had been lying there for nearly two weeks, and proved to be George E. Huflf, an escaped inmate of Longcliff. He evidently was religiously inclined and opened a church window and entered its sacred portals thinking it an ideal place to make his demise, and test the realities of the future life.

Martha McDonald, wife of Joshua Porter, Sr., and grandmother of Wm., Jerome and Frank Justice, the latter now residents of Cass county, was captured near the Natural Bridge, Virginia, about 1785, when about eight years old. Her sister, ten years old, was also taken at the same time. Their father and a brother were killed by the Indians, and the two girls carried to northwestern Ohio and separated, each living with a different tribe, although once a year they were permitted to visit each other while in captivity. They were captives for twelve years, and were treated kindly by the Indians. After the treaty of peace they were returned to their old home in Virginia, where Martha married Joshua Porter, moved to Payette county, Indiana, where Mr. Porter died, and she came to Clinton township to live with her daughter, Mrs. James Justice, where she died about 1848, and lies at rest in the Porter Justice graveyard, after an exciting, interesting, yet useful life.

Litigation that attracted more than ordinary attention, because of the well-known and influential character of the litigants and the small sum involved, was that of Joshua Portier and Charley Choen in the later seventies. The dispute arose over two pigs. The trial before the justice, of the peace lasted two days, with three prominent attorneys employed on each side. Choen won the pigs and at once sold them and they were shipped to Pennsylvania.

Porter appealed the case to .the circuit court and sent men east to get the pigs, which were brought back at an expense of $100 and produced in court as evidence, as they were marked and easily identified, and Porter won the suit. Choen appealed the case to the supreme court, but the decision of the trial court was sustained.

In the meantime Choen sued Porter for slander .and got judgment for $500. Porter appealed the case to the supreme court, where the verdict was reversed and referred back to the lower court for rehearing, but the case was dropped and never retried. The costs and attorney fees amounted to nearly $4,000, the larger part of which Mr. Choen, the losing party, had to pay, but Mr. Porter was at great expense in hunting and bringing back his pigs and his expense was quite as much - ^all about two pigs, valued at about ten dollars. This proves the old Quaker adage, that **it is better to pay out, than to law out of a dispute. " Both

About forty years ago, before Pleasant Hill church was erected, the Christians held meeting in the school house. Frank Porter, Sam Benner and John Girton were, at that time, practical jokers on Keep's creek in the west end of Clinton township, and determined to have a little fun at the expense of , the preacher. They accordingly secreted a goose in the desk where the ** sky-pilot" kept his Bible. While the congregation were singing, the minister opened the lid of the desk to get his Bible, and out jumped the goose with a squawk that sounded like the call, ** Where's Isaac?" which became a by- word among the boys on Keep's creek. The preacher was terribly frightened, became pale, then red with anger, as did some of the elders, and Mr. Hynes at. once jumped up and offered $100 for the perpetrators of this sacrilegious outrage, but he was never called on to pay the reward. There was a visible grin on the countenances of the younger members of the congregation, and a subdued smile even among many of the older.

Nearly twenty-five years ago a distressing case of poisoning occurred in the west end of Clinton township. While the parents were away from home, four children of Wilson Sager mistook arsenic, ,rat poison, for pulverized sugar and spread it upon their bread and butter, ate it, and all four died in a few hours and were buried in one grave in Pleasant Hill cemetery. The parents were heart-broken and the whole community was shocked at the awful tragedy.

Clinton, being early settled, we find the first schools, outside of liogansport, were opened in this township. The first school was taught in a round log cabin built in 1828 or 1829, on the Simons farm, in section 33. The house was not built for school purposes, but was an abandoned settler's cabin, constructed of roui^d logs, the cracks filled with -**chincks" and mud, with puncheon floor, clapboard roof and door, fire place, with stick and mud chimney, seats made of rough hewn slabs, and oil paper windows. In this primitive structure, surrounded by dense forests, infested with wild animals, chased by Indians with bow and arrow, the first school was opened by John Martin in the fall of 1830. He received the munificent sum of $8.00 per month. This was a ** subscription" school with fifteen pupils. The next teacher to wield the birch in the township was Wm. Fuller. Nothing ia known of the characteristics or later history of these early teachers.

About 1835 or 1836 a school was taught in a round log cabin situated on the Pitzer place in Section 7. Probably the first house constructed for school purposes was about 1836, on the east half of Section 33. This was a primitive round log building, as previously described.

The first substantial hewed log school house was erected about 1837 on the Hewit L. Thomas farm in section 6, and Mr. Thomas was the first teacher, who afterwards moved to Galveston, Indiana. About the same year a hewed log house was built, known as the George Shidler schoolhouse, on the latter 's farm ii\ section 3.

About 1837 or 1838 a hewed log school house was constructed in section 11, known as the Hyues schoolhouse, and was used until about 1856, when it was replaced by the present No. 3 school.

In 1836 or 1837 there was a round log school house west of Clyiners a half mile, where the cemetery is now located, where religious meetings were also held, and in the early forties a hewed log building replaced the old, and was used both as church and school house.

About 1846 a round log schoolhouse was built in the southeast quarter of section 15, on the county line west of the Michigan road, now the Burlington pike, and John T. Gordon was the first teacher. He later moved to Bethlehem township, where he died many years ago. When the new school law, under the revised constitution of 1852, took effect, Clinton township had four log school houses. Soon after, however, frame, brick and stone began to replace the old log houses until there were six substantial school buildings in the township. In recent years, however (1906), there has been a tendency to concentrate the schools and one house, No. 6, was abandoned and its pupils hauled to No. 3, at an expense of $2.50 per day, and is reported to be giving perfect satisfaction, giving better results with less expense. The township now has five schoolhouses : No. 1, situated on the southwest quarter of section 33; No. 2, northwest quarter of section 6; No. 3, southwest quarter of section 11; No. 5, southwest quarter of section 10, and No. 4, in the town of Clymers. The latter is a substantial brick structure with three assembly rooms, erected in 1910 to replace the old frame house that was burned down the year previous. After the new building was erected a high school was established. It is not yet commissioned, however. Thei^e are twelve high school students at this time, with a competent teacher and two other instructors in the common branches in high school building at Clymers.

Clinton township now has five substantial brick school houses, including the high school building, which has three separate rooms. The total value of school property is estimated at* $25,000. Seven teachers are employed at salaries ranging from $60 to $100 per month, the latter wage being paid the professor, L. L. Fenton, of the high school. The school enumeration for 1912 was 224 pupils. This showing is quite a contrast from the first school in 1830, when John Martin taught the three R's, ** Reading, Kiting and Rithmetic" in the old round log cabin with its fire place and oiled paper windows.

The Northern Hospital for the Insane is located in the northeast corner of Clinton township, and consists of a number of splendid buildings, beautifully situated on a rocky cliflf overlooking the Wabash river, where the state of Indiana has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to make a comfortable home where a thousand of our unfortunate people are tenderly cared for. This institution, however, is described elsewhere, and is simply mentioned here as being located in the township.

William NeflP, locating in Clinton township in 1830, brought Wesleyanism with him, and planted the seeds of Methodism on the Wabash. The first religious services in the township were held by the Methodists in 1831 at the cabin of Wm. Nefif, who then lived in the northeast quarter of section 33, on the south baiik of the Wabash river, a mile west of Longcliff.

Soon after the Presbyterians, under the guidance of Rev. M. M. Post, held meetings in the same neighborhood. These meetings were held at private residences at first, but later in the Shideler log school house, situated in section 3.

About 1839 or 1840, the Dunkards began to hold quarterly meetings at Kleppinger's and Geo. Shideler 's residences, and the Shideler log school house.

About 1841 or 1842 the Baptists commenced a series of meetings in the schoolhouse, conducted by the Logansport church. A little later, the Christians, both the Disciples and the New Lights, held irregular services in the southwest part of the township. While religious services were thus held by various denominations at an early period, with some regularity, yet they continued to hold their meetings at private residences or school houses for many years.

The beginning of this church dates back to the early thirties, when the itinerant preacher first held religious meetings in the cabins of the pioneers of this neighborhood, but there are no records of these early meetings and the memory of the oldest inhabitants fail to go so far back into the dim past, and all is beclouded by age.

We are, however, reliably informed that some kind of an organization was made about 1835 or 1837 on the Fitzer farm, about a mile west of Clymers, and some o^ the early members were Wm. and Martha Clymer, members of the Fitzer, Adams, Rea, Patterson, Wilkinson, and Amoss families. The first meetings were held in a round log house used both for school and church purposes, situated on the Atkinson farm, but then in the woods, north of the road leading west from Clymers, and less than a mile from that station.

Here, in the round log cabin, with no windows but oiled paper, no stove, but a big fireplace that extended across the whole end of the cabin, with split or hewn slabs for seats, resting on a puncheon floor, the room lighted by coon oil lamps - here were sown the seeds of Methodism by the brave, courageous Christian pioneers. This room was occupied by this little band of determined Christian workers until about 1844 to 1847, when a hewed log church was erected on the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 7, about one mile west of Clymers. The land was donated by Joseph Fitzer. The building was used jointly for a school house and church. Although this ground was occupied for many years for school and church purposes, no deed was executed until January 15, 1855, whto Joseph Fitzer conveyed one-half acre of land to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, to wit : Henry Smith, Joseph Fitzer, Tobias Strock, Elias Wilkinson and John Fitzer, for a church and burial ground. About 1854 or 1855 the old log church was sold and moved to the McElrath farm, now owned by Emanuel Brannaman, and converted ii^to a dwelling and a new frame church was erected in its place. This building served the congregation as a house of worship for nearly fifty years, when in 1904 a new, modem, frame church edifice was erected in the town of Cly- mers and the old building abandoned except it was occasionally nsed as a chapel for funeral services, to accommodate the people in inclement weather; later we understand it was razed and nothing marks the site of the first church built in Clinton township except the burial ground, which the congregation maintains.

The present membership of the church is about seventy-five. Trustees are Levi Paul, Geo. Watson, Thomas Moore, William Amoss and Hugh M. Laudry; secretary, Qeorge Watson; treasurer, Ruth Reed; superintendent of Sunday school, Retta Knickerbocker; president of Epworth League, Charles Watson; present pastor, Rev. W. W. Clouse. Some of the early pastors were Rev. Burrows Westlake, Rev. Samuel Godfrey, Rev. Joyce.

This church society came into being largely through the untiring efl^orts of Rev. John L. Guard, who did missionary work in the neighborhood, and held meetings in the Yost school house and perfected an oi^;anization January 1, 1878, with a charter membership of twentynine, among whom were Henry P. Wipperman, Jacob Slaybaugh and wife, Michael Reed and wife, Oliver Reed and wife, Sarah E. Reed, Rachel A. Reed, Jacob Hanke and wife, and Charles W. Wipperman and wife. During the summer of 1876 a substantial brick church was erected on the northwest quarter of section 10, on land purchased of Matthew Dodds. For the sum of $50 he conveys one-half acre of ground to the trustees of the church February 12, /1876.

The congregation expended $2,200 in the construction of the building. Reverend Guard was the moving spirit in collecting the money, also in superintending the construction of the church, and acted as its pastor until 1889. Then followed Rev. G. V. Walker, 1890-1 ; Rev. T. A. Pattee, 1892-3 ; Rev. Emil Schultz, 1894.

During the next few years, under the pastorate of Reverend Guard, the church prospered and the membership was increased to over one hundred, but soon after Reverend Guard left, some of the members moved away, others attached themselves to the Logansport church, the membership declined and since 1894 the church has had no regular pastor, and has been in a state of suspended animation, and the church building has been used almost exclusively for funeral services for the neighborhood, who bury their dead in the Shideler graveyard adjoining the church on the north.

This church was organized by Rev. John W. Guard of Camden, Indiana^ in the year 1877. The congregation was composed of members from all denominations, and was baown as a union church.

Some of the leading spirits in the organization were members of the Reed, Slaybaugh, Wagoner, Sauers, Tyner, Wipperman, Porter and other families.

A neat brick church was erected the same year on the northwest quarter of section 4, Clinton township, at an expenditure of $1,800. Ebenezer church contributed $300, and took title to the building and grounds as an English Lutheran church, and the remainder of the cost of improvement was made up by the neighborhood. The church wa3 dedicated to the Master's service in March, 1878. The ministers acting as pastors were the same as supplied Ebenezer church. Since 1894 there has been no regular pastor, but the neighborhood has arranged for occasional services by different preachers of all denominations.

In recent years, however, the church has been mostly used for funerals, to accommodate those who make interments in the adjoining cemetery, which was the first burial ground in the township.

The Keeps Creek Christian (New Light) Society was organized June 5, 1858, in Keeps Creek schoolhouse (No. 3), Clinton township, by the Rev. Wm. Winegardner, with John Hynes as clerk, at which meeting the following names were attached to the charter roll: B. M. and Elizabeth Girton, John and Nancy Hynes, B. B. and Elizabeth Lesh, Catherine Porter, James and Sarah Kleppinger, B. F. and Martha Wasson, Michael and Ellen Kleppinger, Jackson Williams.

June 5, 1858. We, the undersigned, feeling our relationship to Grod and to each other, agree and associate ourselves into one of the branches of the Christian church at Keeps Creek contained in the Old and New Testament for the rule of our faith and practice, and watch over each other in the spirit of the Gospel and bear each other's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ and have our individual names enrolled by mutual consent of each other. Done by order of the church.

After the organization, services were held in the school house until 1875, when the present brick church was erected by the combined efforts of the three organizations with the understanding that each denomination should have the privilege of occupying the church, and so arranging the time as not to conflict with each other.

James Justice donated the ground upon which the church stands, situated in the southwest quarter of section 11, and conveyed the same to three trustees, Michael Kleppinger, Jacob Eyman and James Justice, representing the three church denominations, and these three trustees managed the construction of the church building at an outlay of $3,000.

The Disciples, so far as we could learn, never had any permanent organization, yet a few of the faithful of that denomination have held services at intervals from 1875 to 1890, and occasionally since the latter date. Rev. David Lilly, Dr. H. Z. Leonard, Rev. John Cantner, Rev-

We have failed to secure any knowledge of the Dunkard church organization at Keeps Creek, but learn that Jacob Eyman was a trustee representing the Dunkards in the erection of the church edifice in 1875, and that Mat Furrow and Reverend Million were interested in the Dunkards in 1912, and that they hold occasional. services.

In early times there were no churches and no established burial grounds, yet the deadly malaria and other diseases of pioneer life carried many a loved one over the dark river. When death entered the pioneer cabin, one could not, as now, notify the undertaker, but had to act in that capacity himself and bury his dead on some knoll under the shade of a giant forest tree, near his cabin door. Hence we find burial places dotted all over Clinton township, to the nun\ber of twelve, each of which will be briefly mentioned

This is known as the old Shideler cemetery. Elias Shideler, in December, ^847, deeded one-fourth acre of the southwest quarter of section 33 to the commissioners of Cass county for a burial ground.

February 10, 1877, W. A. Wagner conveyed 4.30 acres adjoining the above to D. H. Clymer, Nicholas Reed and D. D. Neff, trustees of the old Shideler burial ground; consideration, $300. February 24, 1877, the trustees above named plat this ground and record the same.

It is said the first interment in this old Shideler burial ground was Lydia Neff, wife of Wm. Neff, in 1829 or 1830. Other early burials were Polly, wife of Jacob Neff, in 1834, and Catharine, wife of John Griifin, December 4, 1837. A church was erected near this cemetery in 1877. This is the oldest burial ground in the county outside of Logansport.

On June 3, 1889, Robert R. Reed, trustee of the Shideler 's burial ground, deeds a large lot 40x60 feet, adjoining the above cemetery, to trustees, who convey the same to Clinton township for the benefit of old soldiers who fought in the defense of their country.

This private burial place is located near the center of section 34, Clinton township, on the farm originally owned by A. J. Young, but now the property of the state of Indiana, on which Longdiff Asylum is built. About 100 feet west of the west ward building of LongcUflf may be found marble slabs marking the graves of the Young family, the oldest marked being that of Virginia Young, died March 9, 1837. The monument of Andrew Young, who died June 11, 1866, is a square granite marker twelve feet high. The last burial is that of the wife of Andrew Young, May 12, 1879. There were verbal reservations of this burial ground, but no mention of it is made in the deeds to the state in 1885, and the state suffers the graves to remain undisturbed and keeps the lawn in fine shape. Andrew Young purchased this land from the government in 1833, and it remained in the possession of him or his heirs until bought by the state in 1885.

Before the days of public cemeteries, during the early settlement of the county, the pioneers were accustomed to bury their dead on their own land. Richard Tyner, who owned and resided on the northwest quarter of section 5, about 1836 and the years following, buried four children northwest of his house on a beautiful knoll, and they peacefully slumber in their quiet and secluded graves, where they were so tenderly laid seventy-five years ago, with no stone to mark the spot.

The Northern Hospital for the Insane at Longcliff was opened July 1, 1888. Until the present anatomy law was enacted, patients dying at this institution whose bodies were unclaimed by friends were Buried in Longcliff cemetery, located about the center of the west line of the grounds in Section 34. In 1891 this cemetery was abandoned on account of the difficulty in digging graves, as the rock coming so near the surface made it difficult to dig graves, and the cemetery was located several hundred yards to the north, near the Wabash river. The first person buried at Longcliff was Jacob Long, of Posey county, September 3, 1888. The old cemetery contains fifty graves, the new 252 (1907). The state provides a cast-iron marker upon which is painted the name and number of the patient, thus a complete historical record of the occupant of each grave can be traced by referring to the books of the hospital.

Jacob Neff, about 1831, settled on the northwest quarter of section 34, just west of the insane asylum grounds, and here, on the south bank of the Wabash river and north of the wagon road a short distance west of the asylum grounds, were buried in an early day, several members of the Neff family and a few others. About 1827 or 1828 three children of a family who were passing through here on their way west, died of smallpox and were interred at this place. Dennis Uhl, when county commissioner, removed the Neffs to St. John's cemetery and changed the road to the north a little, when it was graveled, so that this burial place lies in the center of the road, and has lost its identity except in the f aiding memory of a few old pioneers, and automobilists swiftly pass over these pioneer graves, ignorant of the fact. At one time the burial ground was enclosed by a picket fence and marble slabs marked the graves, but all are gone.

Hewit L. Thomas, who was associate judge in 1845, came to Clinton township about 1835 and settled on the north half of section 6, land afterwards owned by John Myers and Isaac Myers. Here, about 1840, just back of his log cabin he buried an infant daughter. Robert B. Reed, still living, dug the grave. Here also were buried the wife of Henry Helm and a few others in the later thirties and early forties. Stone slabs marked the graves. Mrs. Helm's was removed, but the others were not, and all vestige of this sacred place has disappeared and only a few of the oldest residents remember the place or the circumstances.

Joseph Fitzer, for a consideration of $10.00, deeds one-half acre of land on the southeast comer of the southwest quarter, section 7, Clinton township, to the trustees of the M. E. church for church and burial purposes, January 15, 1855, and on January 27, 1905, Hugh Fitzer conveys one-quarter acre adjoining the above tract to the trustees of Ebenezer M. E. church and on January 28, 1905, the trustees of Bbenezer church deeds both the above tracts to the trustees of Clymers Cemetery Association, to wit: T. L. Moore, William Nicholson, J. B. Rice and Harry Amoss. The old church building that formerly stood at this place, has been removed and a new church in Clymers erected in 1904, a half mile to the east.

The first interment, as appears on the markers, was Albert Rea, 1852. The first soldier buried here was Isaac Wilkinson, Company A, Seventysecond Indiana, who died at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, April 7, 1863.

tract of woodland pasture field, unenclosed, except for a fence around the entire field. The Pitzer family have always owned the surrounding farm. This burial ground contains several dozens of graves of different families, some have markers, more have none. Joseph Pitzer, who originally entered the land, has a large monument. He died in 1885 aged eighty-seven. We copy some names from marble slabs that have fallen down: William, son of J. and S. Woods, died 1839, and four other children from 1839 to 1846. Members of the Johnson, Stumbaugh, Palmer, Creekbaum and other families from 1840 to 1866. Hugh Woods died January 2, 1854, aged ninety-four years. The only soldier, David Stumbaugh, died 1850, Mexican war.

Is situated on the northeast corner of the northeast quarter of fractional section 31, in the corner of a field on the south side of the south bank of the Wabash river, four miles west of Logansport, on the old Rodabaugh farm. Here are buried members of the Rodabaugh and possibly other families. The graves are sunken, the marble headstones have fallen and are crumbling, only one of which could be read, viz.: Anna Rodabaugh, died September 23, 1846, age 46. This, like scores of other pioneer burial places has long since been abandoned as such.

This is a neighborhood cemetery that received interments in pioneer days, but it was not until June 27, 1881, that Benjamin Porter deeded a tract of land, ten and one-half by eleven and one-half rods, situated on the northwest comer of the northwest quarter of section 14, to James, Prank, John, Oliver, Joshua and Benjamin Porter, Daniel and Jane Rohrer, Andrew J^hilips, Justice Porter, Will McLaughlin, Mary Klepinger, Mary J. Rohrer, Esom^ B. Gustin, James Lesh, Nancy Dickerson, and their heirs, for a burial ground and for no other purpose except that a church may be erected thereon.

The first interment is said to be Nancy Gilaspie, 1840, but we copy from markers as follows: Martha, daughter of J. and M. Justice, died 1838 ; Susan, daughter of H. and M. Klepinger, 1840. There are members of all the above named families buried here from 1840 to 1874, but none in recent years. The families interested meet every year and clean the grounds which are fenced and neatly kept and are beautifully situated in a corner where the roads meet.

On December 11, 1876, Abraham Shideler laid out a cemetery on the south end of his farm in the southwest quarter of section 3, Clinton township, on land originally entered by his father, George Shideler. Mr. Shideler sold lots to parties desiring, and since his death in 1910, his son Asa, manages the grounds.

James Justice conveys three-quarters of an acre of ground, situated in the southwest one-quarter, section 11, to Michael Klepinger, Price Shortridge and James Klepinger, trustees, for a burial ground, January 1, 1873, and on January 3, 1876, deeded an additional quarter acre to the trustees of Pleasant Hill church, and a church was erected on this ground in ^876. The first interments, as appear upon the monuments, were Harriet, daughter of James and M. Justice, 1864; and others are James Justice, Sr., 1893, and John Hynes, 1890, both pioneers who helped to develop Clinton township. It is reliably reported, however, that the first burial in this graveyard was Samuel Alder, in 1863.

The history of a township is not complete without mention of the doctors. Of all occupations the physician is usually the best known in a community and probably has more to do in making history than any other class, and if the popular idea gains favor he has a good deal to do in filling cemeteries, although the writer did not have such thoughts, it is a coincidence that the write up of the doctors should follow so closely that of the cemeteries.

Dr. H. D. Parish was identified with Clinton township longer than any other physician. He was bom in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, in 1842, educated in the public schools, studied medicine, but it is doubtful if he ever graduated from a medical college. He practiced at Bringhurst. Flora and Cutler, and in 1878 moved to Clymers. He is registered in 1882 as an ** Eclectic Practitioner." He practiced and kept a store at Clymers and was postmaster for many years. He was married in Tippecanoe county to Elizabeth Coffin, by whom he had five daughters and one son. The doctor died in 1907, and sleeps his last sleep in Clymers cemetery. His widow and children are respected residents of Cass county.

Dr. Nicholas Bamesdale was bom and raised in Clinton township. He was an educated man and graduated from a medical college. Before he was regularly located in practice he was called to a difficult confinement case, requiring instrumental interference. Assistance was called but chloroform was not used in those days and the patient screamed and hollered so that the young saw-bones was so distracted and unnerved that he never opened an office, quit the profession before he began, taught school and engaged in farming, and is now a respected citizen of Clinton township, and often speaks of his first and last case in the practice of medicine.

Dr. Hillis. During the years from 1875 to 1880, a Dr. Hillis opened an office in Clymers, but his success in the rhubarb and ipecac line was not of the character that most young disciples of Aesculapius dream about, and he packed his grip and moved on to greener pastures.

Dr. Reuben T. Griffin, a licentiate of the Fort Wayne Medical College, 1892, was bom in Ohio, February 6, 1845, practiced in Legro, Indiana, and August 13, 1909, opened an office in the capitol of Clinton township, but some time since writing the above the doctor has moved - to where the writer knoweth not. He was married in 1871 to Miss Addie Fife, and of this union five children were born. He served during the Civil war in Company K, 88th Ohio.

Dr. Andrew Blake was born in Miami county, Indiana, 1849, and graduated from the Physio-Medical College, of Marion, Indiana, in 1897, practiced in Miami and Marshall counties, and in December, ]907, opened an office in Clymers where he continued until 1909, when he moved to Logansport and retired. He is married and has two daughters.

Clinton township farmers appreciate the value of good roads and have made wonderful progress since the first pioneer entered the township over an Indian trail. We of today can hardly realize the condition of the primitive roads, cut through the forests, where ox teams had to weave in and around stumps, through mud and over corduroy. But all this has changed. The first gravel road was a toll road built by a company down on the south bank of the Wabash about 1880. Since then four gravel roads have been constructed, extending east and west through nearly the entire length of the township with all the principal cross roads graveled. Within the past few years, stone roads are being constructed, and the entire county line road on the south with several other connecting lines have been macadamized until automobiles and carriages can reach any part of the township over solid, smooth roads, a great contrast with the pioneer corduroy.

Clinton township being a heavily timbered country there was no lack of building material but there were no mills and we find the early settlers soon erecting sawmills on the small creeks, harnessing the water and making it do their bidding. Probably the first mill in the township was erected on Keeps creek in 1835 by Mr. Ellsworth, near where the creek flows into the Wabash in the western part of the township. He and others operated this saw mill until about 1859.

About 1837, George Clymers erected a sawmill on Keeps creek, above the Ellsworth mill. Later Daniel Benner bought the property and built a new mill eighty rods east of the Clymer mill, in 1838, with a corncracker attachment. This mill was operated for twenty years or more by Samuel Gassaway. George Clymer, at this mill, sawed the lumber for the old covered bridge across the Wabash at Biddle Island, the first bridge erected in the county in 1837-8.

EUas Shideler, uncle of Abraham and Isaac Shideler, about 1839 built a sawmill on a creek three and a half miles west of Logansport, on the south side of the Wabash, and operated it for some years.

All of these mills were run by the old fashioned undershot or overshot water wheels. The creeks were small, and the water was not of sufScient volume to run the mills constantly but only part of the day, except in the rainy season. As the country has been drained, the water runs off rapidly and these same creeks would today afford no waterpower whatever, except a few days after a heavy rain, but in the first settlement of the township they were a great boon to the pioneer. After roads Were opened and railroads constructed steam saArmills appeared in several localities and did an extensive lumber business, shipping to various points but the timber is nearly all cut, and the sawmills have disappeared with the timber. George Clymer, William Clymer, D. H. Clymer and Josephus Atkinson and possibly others were the oper^rs of steam sawmills at different times in and around Clymers. The timber, the mills, and the operators have all passed away and we record the facts as worthy of preservation in the pages of history.

The history of a community is made up largely by the lives of its people and a biographical sketch of the leading citizens is necessary to complete the history of Clinton township but where these sketches have been written and made of permanent record we will, as a rule, not reproduce them here but refer the reader to them in other works in order not to repeat and make this work too voluminous. The biographies of the following persons, former resideiits of Clinton township, may be found in Helm's History of Cass County, published in 1886, the majority of whom have gone to their reward : Andrew Dodds, died 1907 ; Hugh