Crawford County, Indiana - Chapter 6: The County in the Forties, 1926

Chapter 6: The County in the Forties

The campaign of 1840 was a very warm one. The Whigs were well organized for the battle while the V. B. or Locofoeos, as the Democrats were called, were not idle. The Whigs called a meeting at the seminary building very early in the year on January 1, 1840. William Course was elected president and Isaac Smith secretary. The mass convention selected the following men as delegates to the Whig district convention which was to be held at Rockport: William E. Reynolds, William Course, and Elam Wiley. A vigilance committee was appointed which was composed of men from the following townships as follows: Jennings, Zebulum Leavenworth, J. Gibbs, Isaac Smith; Whisky Run, F. Frisbie, James Spencer, William M. Taylor; Sterling, Joseph Denbo, Isaac Sands, James Sloan; Ohio, Thomas W. Fox, A. D. Thorn and Henry Fullenwider; Patoka, James Glenn, W. A. Lamb and F. F. Tucker; Union, Halley Goad, Steve Roberson and Thomas Sillen.

Cummings delegates to the state convention. A committee of thirteen was selected, the members of which were: Whisky Run, James Totten and D. M. Stewart; Sterling township, James G. Sloan and Isaac Sands; Patoka, John C. Haskins and T. L. Golden; Union, John Martin and Haley Goad; Ohio, William Roberts, Joseph Van Winkle and Allen D. Thom; Jennings, William R. Reynolds and Zebulum Leavenworth. ;

Samuel Bigger, whom the Whigs had nominated for Governor, visited Leavenworth where he spoke to a large crowd on April 15, 1840, and at Fredonia on April 16.

Probably the first straw vote ever taken in Crawford County was taken at Levi Grant's log rolling on April 23, 1840. The result of the straw vote was: Harrison 19 and Van Buren 1.

The Whigs had won a great victory in the nation and state. The Whigs of Crawford County planned a wonderful illumination at Fredonia for Monday, November 23,

1840. On March 4, 1841, they held a great day at Fredonia. The women brought out baskets full of food. The men at these old barbecues roasted whole beeves for the people to eat. In those days no one objected seriously to a tin cup full of ''apple jack.'' KE. E. Morgan, T. W. Fox, W. Roberts, Henry Conrad, B. Stephens, Thomas Cummins, John Stone, Nicholas Peckinpaugh, J. McFall, Sam M. Clark, D. Connor, J. Abel, Elam Wiley, J. 8. B. Kelso made up the committee on preparation. The secretaries were William Blackburn, John T. Morgan and G. W. Roberts. The committee to secure powder was composed of Nathan Morgan and H. B. Meylin. There was a wonderful crowd present. The day was beautiful. Noted speeches by Samuel Beals of Kentucky, Abraham Edwards, Nathan Morgan, Mr. Roberts and Colonel Morgan.

A wonderful dance was planned for the evening, at which old and young took part. On the whole it was one of the most important social functions of the season. Women dressed in the fashion of the day. The men with high top boots, well oiled, and high top hats, filled with about a pint of old fashioned apple brandy, danced the old fashioned clog dance, the Virginia reel, and many of the old time dances. Such a ball now would amuse our modern boys and bobbed haired girls as much as our girls would shock the old Whig by the modern dress fashions. The Whigs went home greatly encouraged over the celebration.

By 1840 the jail in Fredonia was in a dilapidated condition. The logs were out of it on one side. The board of county commissioners ordered Ben Stevens, who was the county agent, to see if the jail could not be repaired. The

A bill was introduced into the House of Representatives. Mr. Edwards, who was our representative, called up Bill No. 412 on Wednesday morning, February 8, 1843. 'There were 52 ayes and 20 noes. Later the bill was lost but House Bill No. 146 passed and was referred to a select committee composed of Sands, our senator, and Cotton and Akers. The committee reported the bill successful and it was passed,

'1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana that John 8. Davis of Floyd County, Sam Hagin of Washington County, W. S. Lan.b of Perry County, Arthur J. Simpson of Orange County, and John H. Smith of Spencer County shall be a committee to relocate the seat of justice in Crawford County.

"2. That the committee, or a majority of the committee, shall meet at Fredonia on the first Monday in March, 1843, or at any other time a majority may agree. After being duly sworn said committee shall. proceed to select a new seat of justice for the county. ©

"6. The committee is empowered to secure a room for holding court, the expense of which is to be paid by the county till the new court house is complete.

Elam Wiley and others, among whom was a Mr. Hauser, volunteered to build the house, while the board appointed D. M. Stewart, William Highfill and T. W. Fox to superintend the construction of the building. At the same meeting Seth M. Leavenworth was ordered to get the surveyor to run off the lots on which the court house was to be built.

The lots were selected back near the hill at Nelson Street. The new house was built of brick. It was two stories high and well constructed. Of course the citizens soon grew tired of the donation work. Then we find the board at their June meeting in 1844 ordering County Agent Ben Stevens to sue Elam Wiley on his bond to force him to build the court house and the jail.

The poor people throughout the county had been cared for by certain men whom the board of commissioners appointed. Such persons were called overseers of the poor. They took the men and women and whatever others were assigned to them to their houses, clothed and fed them and at the close of the quarter a bill for their services was handed in. Cotton Tower, who lived about four miles out on the Leavenworth and Paoli road, was granted $13.80 for keeping Rachel Shaffer, a pauper, three months. The insane and the feeble-minded were treated rather weil as could be expected in those days.

John Real in March, 1842, presented a petition to the board praying that a new township be made out of Whisky Run and Sterling townships. The board refused the request but the next day the members granted the petition. The board ordered that all land in the following: Beginning at northeast corner of section 32, run west 6 miles, south 2 miles, east 2 miles, south 2 miles, east 3 miles, north 2 miles, east 1 mile and north 2 miles. The territory. was made into a new township which was called Liberty. The elections were to be held at Big Springs in that township.

At the March term of court a Mr. Thomasson appeared with an order against the county, principal and interest, all told, amounting to $2,728.50. This order had been given to Mr. Thomasson on May 13, 1822. It was No. 305. He had just bought the north one-half of the south onehalf of section 16, township 3 south, range 2 east, and wished to donate it to the.county as a permanent home for poor people. The board accepted his generous offer, and proceeded, too, to pay him for the order No. 305. The board ordered issued to Mr. Thomasson orders of $20 each

The people appreciated the generous offer of that large tract of land and the commissioners ordered Mr. Samuel 'Lathrop to take charge of the land and rent it out, if any was suitable for renting. The above tract of land was acquired in 1839.

The next thing was to secure money to construct the house. So in September, 1840, Daniel McIntosh, W. R. Reynolds and Sam Lathrop were appointed a committee to solicit funds for the erection of the house. ; danuary, 1841, Sam Lathrop was authorized to contract with any one for the construction of the house on the poor farm. The board doing county business for the year 1840 and 1841 was composed of these men: John Haskins, Joel Ray, Joseph Jones, Halley Goad, M. C. Gaither, F. Trisbie, Philip Crecelius, John Landiss, Absalom Black and Zebulum Leavenworth. The above board selected Mr. Lathrop to contract with men to build the house.

In March a contract was awarded to E. E. Morgan, Thomas Morgan and N. Morgan to construct the house for the sum of $360. The house must be ready by October, 1841,

A contract was made with Martin Scott to take charge of the farm. He was to notify the overseers of the poor in the county and request them to bring all the poor people into the house by May 1, 1842. Mr. Scott was a good substantial man and did the best he could to make a success of the undertaking.

William Stevens was selected in June, 1044, to deaden the trees on ten acres of land on the high ground east of the house. Absalom Black was appointed manager of the poor farm when Martin Scott's time was out. He took up the duties in January, 1842. At the close of the year he was appointed for another year. In 1845 David Dodson was ordered to inquire into the nature of the contract with William Stévens and the poor farm. Matters drifted along fairly well with the poor farm, but in March, 1846, Martin Scott was ordered to sue the contractor who had agreed to make the rails for the poor farm and then he was to complete the fencing of the farm.

On March 7, 1848, a large .umber of citizens of Ohio township petitioned the board praying that a new township may be made out of Ohio township. Being fully advised in the matter the board decided that their petition ought to be granted. The new township was called Boone.

Sam Clark, who was agent for the seminary fund, was authorized to rent the rooms at $2 per week for lower floor, and $1.50 per room for upper floor. i Mr. Clark was also county sheriff. It became his painful duty to hang James Fields in 1846.

In the forties so much confusion has occurred because stock ran out. Men marked the ears of the calf or hog. Henry Hatfield states that his mark for cattle, hogs and sheep was a crop and a slit in the left ear. The above was recorded January 16, 1831. Isaac Miller stated that his ear mark was a smooth crop of the left ear and a hole

''This indenture witnesses the fact that Vanetta Thomas, age 10 years, on January 25, 1832, is bound out to Archibald Sloan until she becomes eighteen years old. He must educate her and see that she is dressed decently, and fed well. She, on the other hand, agrees to be saving with Mr. penal s food and economic like his own children might be.'

The following queer items may be of interest to the reader: Ordered that the inspectors of the election of 1848 should be paid 6214 cents each for his services.

To sell: ss el mi ene aR $ 15 for a year SIE rn oe ities inn <gaia 25 for a year MUEISY OWS ae in wpe oye! + opis 25 for a year DORIA SLORINOS 3. 0b occ toa oe sare 3 for a year LEAR | ual gral eetialenn Semple 100 for a year

For many years the travelers on the roads running west from Leavenworth were complaining about the Indian Hollow. For the benefit of the citizens the board ordered a bridge built there on September , 1846. The work went along slowly. Reuben Whitten was awarded the contract, but the board allowed him more time when he did not get it completed on time. The interest on the three per cent. fund was ordered to be used on the payment for the bridge on January 17, 1848. The board had allowed in June, 1848, $90 to help pay for the bridge.

On January 17, 1848, occurred the death of Samuel Sands who was the clerk of the county. The board ordered William Mansfield to act till the vacancy was filled and stated further: ''Whereas, God in His infinite wisdom saw fit to call from our midst by death our worthy friend and clerk, Samuel Sands, who departed this life January 12, 1847; therefore, resolve unanimously that it is with the greatest profound regret we heard of his death. That a copy of this be sent to his family and his friends.''

The new jail which the men had been building for some time was now complete. The commissioners received it formally in September, 1845. The town trustees turned the jail over to the county. Then they let the county complete the jail. So the board ordered iron grates to be put into the windows of the jail. Each grate was to be one inch thick and set vertically. Soon after that Sam Clark, who was the county sheriff, had a bunk made in the jail and eave troughs put up.

Little Blue. The Leavenworth and Rome road crossed that stream. Many times during the year back water from the river was over the ford so that one could not cross the stream. In November, 1837, L. Frisbie, William M. Taylor and James were a committee to select a site for the building of this bridge over Little Blue. When the board met in January, 1838, the committee reported that the bridge ought to be built at the falls of Little Blue River. In May, 1838, Charles Springer and Ben were appointed to solicit subscriptions for the bridge. These men might be able to coax the settlers to donate so many days' work or materials. The board ordered the bridge built at the May term of the court. William Good was to supervise the construction of the bridge at the Falls of Little Blue.

In September, 1847, the board ordered that the auditor hold back $600 to build a bridge at the falls of Little Blue. Good, Thom and Leavenworth were to build this bridge.

The Board of Review of Crawford County was organized in June, 1848. The board met at the court house in Leavenworth and proceeded to investigate the assessments of the different men:

Name Raised Lowered James baker er SAS es $50 * JAMES AULETE eee a beret asthe seuae 50 Aiidtew Beers Os 2 FP kao San es 100 POEer OVERLY Mts Phd ras 50 NIGEL ESTO ee he ee Ne 100 $4 Piivam Grenh ame Se pS ee ie 200

Name Raised Lowered Martine Goleman "24.022. snc eee ols 50 Holm g AK 5 An,yhadehe cus Oe ees 15 Jota Smithe...ees 2 26, eee sane oe 30 Richard@Wieathersics. oa... ee ee 5 Bucehy Weathers. «c.. Sako 40 . Thomas Stephenson 2.0.0.0. 05... haf 3)

The old squire's docket of Leavenworth on page 278 has this article: ''On March 13, 1849, this day appeared before me David J. Thurston and reported that he had taken up five head of hogs, one large spotted barrow, marked with a crop from the left ear, and three spotted shoats not marked. Joseph Heath and Lemuel Landrus examined the hogs and appraised their value at $3.00 and the shoats at $1.25 each. Addison Williams, J. P.''

Also John Sturgeon had taken up a stray brindle cow marked with a square crop on the right ear with a hole through it. Nathan Sturgeon and David Hawkins :ad--: judged her to be worth $8.

The people of Crawford County in the late forties were handicapped in their sports by certain laws. In June, 1848, one finds that John Keys, who made a bet on a horse race, was fined one dollar and costs.

The campaign of 1848 was rather warm in old Crawford. Taylor was on the Whig ticket and Louis Cass was on the Democratic ticket. When the vote was all collected Taylor had 520 and Cass 397. Taylor's majority was 123. The same year and the year before important elections were held relative to taxing our people for schools. These elections were hotly contested and the free school law was defeated by a large majority. Against the free school law, 733 votes; for the free school law, 381. The people of Crawford County wanted schools but they did not want free schools. Free schools were too free for them. Then many believed in local option.

In June, 1848, James B. Davidson was paid $5 for a worthless bank note which he had received while he was county treasurer from some man for his taxes. The note was on some bank in Cincinnati, but it had failed. The board ordered the president to destroy the note. Before the new constitution state banks issued notes, but if the bank failed, then the notes were worthless. This poor method of banking led Congress to pass the National Bank Law so if a bank failed the notes were still good. This law was enacted in 1862.

from Crawford County. The writer visited the Adjutant General's office in Indianapolis, but the names are all listed together. One regrets very much that the names of these boys who fought so bravely and always so honorably can not have credit done to their names. Mr. McDonald, of Taswell, furnished the writer a letter which one of the McDonald boys had written back to his people when he was on the firing line in Mexico.

The soldiers from Indiana were partly disgraced at the battle of Buena Vista by the action of William A. Bowles, who ordered his men to retreat. Many years later he became a traitor to the United States' Government in the Civil War. He was caught, sentenced to be hanged, but was spared. i 2

Magnolia

Magnolia was located about four miles northwest of Leavenworth on the Hartford road. Addison Williams bought the southwest quarter of section 14 in township 3 south, range 1 east on February 19, 1820. He tried hard to plat the land into towns and then to sell the town lots. The plat of New Haven was made by Mr. Williams but there were no lots sold. Then he platted Magnolia and filed the plat in the recorder's office at Fredonia July 4, 1838. Magnolia soon had a still house, a store, and a blacksmith shop. By the time of the Civil War a grist mill was built and a postoffice was established.

Mr. Williams worked hard to build up the town. About 1856 a school was established on the high hill west of the town. This was a frame building. The district was number four. Wandering ministers of the gospel came into

The sale of the town lots was advertised in the Leavenworth Arena in 1838. Williams advertised that every tenth lot was to be given for public schools.