Dubois County, Indiana - Chapter 11: Pioneer Days and Customs. Incidents of Pioneer Days, 1910

Character of the local pioneer - The dres.s of the pioneer hunter - Charms - Cooking - Light - The "mansion-house" - Wedding costumes of 1840 - Wedding feasts - Coffins - Extract from a German book - Friedman - Horse-back riding - Mills - Brick houses - Frame houses - Beds - Extract from Morgan's letter: schools; pupils; mail; Irish settlement; population; lawyers; physicians; various occupations; religious denominations; flat boats; log court house at Jasper; whiskey - Apprentices - Character of the pioneer blacksmith - Products of the blacksmith - Charcoal burning - Pioneer blacksmiths of Dubois county - Pioneer Days at Huntingburg.

The present generation is no more like its predecessor than the present environments are like those of fifty years ago. The pioneer's life was a reflection of his environments. Some of our oldest inhabitants from their present standpoint in life, looking back through the vista of time and under the searchlight of memory, are able to dispel the gathered mists of years, and furnish us with information concerning our local settlers.

Our local pioneers, when properly recorded, stand out in bold relief amidst the scenes incidental to pioneer life in the wilderness of Dubois county. As a general rule, they were intelligent, resolute, self-reliant men. They learned to use all of their senses, as a means of self-defense, and as a helping hand in the chase for wild game. Pioneers, as well as sailors, surveyors, hunters, and Indians, used their eyes on long distances, and seldom needed glasses. Their sense of hearing was also highly cultivated. They could line a bee tree with wonderful distinctness and accuracy, and knew the causes of the various noises one hears in the forest, on the streams, or across the fields. They well knew that the crackle of a twig conveyed a warning and that the flutter of a leaf sent a message. From a business standpoint they knew just how to barter off" their winter peltry. As many as three-fourths of them could write their names and nearly all could read the printed page, A majority of them had no capital but their brain and muscle - brain to plan and direct, and muscle to execute the work. Pioneers were men of brawn, and the world long ago learned to make way for determined men.

By force of circumstances the pioneer was a good marksman, even with his primitive "shooting irons." With the pas.sing of the mighty hunter of pioneer days, the fox chase and coon hunt that were so popular then, are now almost obsolete, and very few localities, in the county, now have any devotees of the .sport. However, many people in this county, who are not yet ready to call themselves aged, recall the later pioneer hunter, who was also a man of mark in his day. They can also recall the paraphernalia which made him a conspicuous figure in the community. When not on the hunt, above the door of his humble cabin, resting on wooden hooks, could be found his rifle, fully five feet in length, and wholly unlike the factory-made repeating arms of to-day. Hanging from the gun or one of the pegs, was the shotpouch, usually made from the skin of some animal, tanned with the hair on, and in many cases with the bushy tails of raccoons or squirrels depending from each corner. When armed with his long rifle and accoutrements, wearing his hunting jacket and 'coon-skin cap, the pioneer huntsman was a formidable looking individual.

But there was usually another side to his character, and seated by his own fireside or that of a neighbor, he became companionable and even garrulous. The theme of his garrulity was always his own prowess. No other man could describe with greater gusto feats with his rifle, and hairbreadth escapes. No home was safe without its trusty rifle.

It often happened that the man who prided himself on his marksmanship was also a patron of the chase. In that case he kept a pack of lanky hounds about his premises, as well as a squirrel dog, which was usually a cur of uncertain breed.

Among the articles of dress of the pioneer hunter let us mention deerskin breeches, erkin, 'coon-skin cap, buffalo-hide buskin, the "brush " of a fox^a gray fox if possible, because it required greater skill to kill it - doeskin pouch, a powder horn, and a belt made of otter skin. If he were, also, a trapper he had a batteau (boat). In his hunts he frequently gathered calamus root and ginseng. He also carried part of a "she-she-note" plant because it was considered a charm against the bite of the rattlesnake. An Irish potato, or a buckeye, was also carried to cure rheumatism. His flint-lock rifle was a constant companion. Sometimes furs and feathers were worn, partly in imitation of the Indian, but never seriously, as an article of dress. Occasionally he carried a basket, home-made, of birch splints. In it was a dinner of jerked venison and corn-pone. These he ate while sitting in a boscage waiting for a deer, on its way over a divide or to a lick. In spring on his way home he filled his basket with greens ; in the autumn, with pawpaws. His good wife, always dressed in a course hempen apron, announced dinner by a loud blare of the dinner-horn, or a blast of the cow horn.

The dinner-pot usually hung from a crane over the fire-place. A longlegged skillet rested upon the logs in the fire. At night a piece of cotton wick placed in lard furnished a light, if more light was needed than that furnished by the fire-place.

The houses were often rudely constructed. A double-log-house was two log houses about ten feet apart with one roof extending over both. Such a house was called a mansion-house. Pioneer John Stewart, who lived at Ireland, in his will refers to his mansion-house in order to designate a part of his farm.

In 1840, a lady's wedding costume generally consisted of a calico dress, well made, and a very fancy cap made of bobbinet. It consisted of a crown plaited in full with a ruffle around the front. Sometimes a ribbon was worked through the ruffle. A man wore a blue jeans suit, made cutaway style.

The wedding feast of those daj^s consisted of every variety of wild game, turkeys, chickens, geese, boiled cabbage, beans, potatoes, boiled ham, pumpkins, turnips,- - all this with primitive trimmings of pie - chiefl}' crust, - cake, jelly and doughnuts. The last named were considered indispensable. In 1830, coffins were made of heavy wood, pinned together with wooden pegs. Ordinary, fine, yellow clay was frequently dissolved in water, and applied to the wood to give it the appearance of having been painted with ocher, or some other mineral paint. Sometimes the coffins were made of black walnut. In some soils in Dubois county these have not yet decayed.

A German traveler by the name of Frederick Gerstaecker, who had explored as far west as St Louis, passed through southern Indiana on his way from Louisville to Vincennes. In a book written by this man, printed in the German language, and published in Germany, is found this paragraph, which throws some light upon our early pioneers : -

I arrived about the nth December, at Friedman's farm. The proprietor was a German in good circumstances in Indiana ; his property, though not large was very productive, and his cattle were very fine. He was the only German settler whom I fell in with in my march through Indiana, although there are several in that state. The sound of my mother tongue fell doubly sweet on my ear after so long a privation. I remained to dinner, and then set off in good spirits, on a road which improved as I advanced toward Vincennes on the Wabash.

It can not be positively stated that this paragraph refers to the family of that name in Dubois county, but it is known that when Jasper became the county town, in 1830, some travelers from Vincennes to Louisville, began to leave the " Buffalo Trace," about where Otwell - once called Pierceville - now stands, passed through the " Irish settlement " at what is now Ireland, and then pressed on to Jasper. Leaving Jasper they passed over what is now called the New Albany road, and two miles out on this road is where the German pioneer, Joseph Friedman, settled in the year 1837. His descendants are leading citizens of the county. About two hundred yards south of the New Albany road stands a .sub.stantial log house that was erected over seventy years ago. It is not occupied but it is in a good state of preservation. This was the residence of Joseph Friedman, the pioneer. His son, Martin Friedman, more than eighty years of age, lives at Jasper. At this old pioneer home, Martin Friedman, when a boy, dug, with a hatchet, a well, twenty-two feet deep. He also carried the stone and walled up the well. The well may still be seen. It is mentioned here as one of manj^ achievements illustrative of the patience and perseverance of the pioneers, under a most adverse environment.

Both the American and the German pioneer despised nothing else so much as falsehood and meanness, and they feared nothing except cowardice. They seemed to covet nothing that was a neighbor's except his kindness of heart and primitive gentleness of manners and hospitality. They never forgot a friend or an enemy. They became satisfied with themselves only when they had learned and reached their limitations, and made the best of them.

There were no buggies in Dubois county before 1839. Everybody rode on horseback. The ladies of that day were fine riders. Grinding was done principally at horse-mills. There was such a mill and also a tanyard on the Jasper and Portersville road, owned and operated by Joseph McMahan. They were on the Niblack farm, in what is now Boone township. These were very extensively patronized. About 1820, the Enlows constructed a water-power mill on the Patoka ; later, the Poisons built a water-power mill at Dubois - originally called Knoxville, by the Kelsoes. About 1840, and for many years after that, lumber was principally sawed by hand; also called " whipped-sawed." This was done bj^ resting the log in some elevated position. One man stood under the log to pull the saw down, another stood on the log to pull the saw up.

Until 1845, but very few brick houses were to be found in Dubois county. About that time German pioneers began to arrive, and some of them built brick residences on their farms. St. Joseph's Hall, at Jasper, is a pioneer brick structure. A few frame buildings began to appear about 1845. The majority of the houses were of logs, one story high. The roofs were of clapboards secured by weight poles on top. The doors were frequently hung by means of wooden hinges, and fastened by a wooden latch, which was raised by a string. The string hung on the outside in the daytime. At night the pioneer pulled in the string. Many houses were constructed without the use of a single nail. Nevertheless, some of these old pioneer homes were comfortable, being cool in summer and warm in winter. Some were more expensive than these, but by far the greater number of houses contained but one or two rooms. The floors were generally made of puncheons - that is, logs split in two, and hewed flat with an adz. A few may yet be found in old abandoned houses. Often the bedsteads were made of forked sticks. It mattered not how poorly the people were lodged, they had plenty to eat, as a rule, and they were contented and happy.

When the German pioneer came, a better grade of beds was introduced. His bed was generally built b}^ means of four wooden posts, four or five inches square and five feet tall. These were fastened together by timbers of the same type. Into these timbers was driven a row of wooden pegs, and around these pegs was strung a rope, in such a waj^ as to form a perfect lattice work of very taut rope securely fastened. Upon this rope was placed a tick filled with straw or shredded corn husks; then came a tick (sometimes two) filled with feathers, - all together forming an excellent bed. Beneath this bed was another, called the " trundle-bed," the framework of which was low enough to slide under the higher bed. At night, it was brought out, and the youngsters of the household slept on it. Houses were small and some families were large, hence the need to economize.

While speaking of these pioneer ways and days, let us again quote from Mr. Morgan's letter, written to the writer, August 16, 1899. He is excellent authority. He was in position to know whereof he spoke.

In 1S37, the educational advantages were very limited, generally a subscription school for three months, in the winter, and very few of them. I never went to school myself more than three months but that was an exceptionally good one.

The school-house was on the road between Jasper and Haysville, about five miles from Jasper. It was built of hewn logs; size, eighteen by twenty-four feet. The floor and seats were made of split puncheons. There was a large fire-place in one end. A log was cut out of the other end for light. A plank was put in front of this upon which to write. The teacher's name was Thompson. He was a scholar and a man of fine presence, and the best penman I ever saw. It has always been a mystery to me how a man of Thompson's ability ever drifted into Dubois county as a teacher. The pay was small, and there were few if any, that could interest him. He lacked the happy faculty of adjusting himself to his surroundings, consequently he was not popular.

Among the pupils who attended that school were the late Judge Niblack, William B. Sherritt, Joseph Stubblefield, William Brown, and the Hortons, Kelsoes, Brittains, and Haddocks. This was in 1837. Some may yet be living.

The means of information were very limited. I do not think there were one hundred newspapers taken in the county. Mail was carried on horseback from Vincennes to Paoli, once a week. Perhaps there was also one to Boonville. That was the extent of the mail facilities. B. B. Edmonston, Sr., father of Benjamin R. Edmonston and Col. B. B. Edmonston, was postmaster from 182S to 1S40. Letter postage was twenty-five cents on letters sent out of the state; within the state, ten cents. As an illustration, as late as 1S44, in the presidential election, when Polk and Clay were the candidates, it was not known for four weeks after the election which man was elected. Men depended upon public speakers and influential leaders for their political information. Oratory was a far greater power in those days than now.

The western part of Bainbridge township [now known as Madison township] in which was the " Irish Settlement " was far in advance of any other part of the county in improvements and enterprise. I have heard both the late Judge Embree and Judge Pitcher say that it was in advance of any other settlement in their judicial district, which then embraced eleven counties. They had well cultivated farms and fine orchards. Their houses and barns were comfortable and commodious. In fact, they had all the old necessities of life and many of the luxuries. They were generally members of the church, and did not indulge in the common popular amusements of that day. The principal families were the Armstrongs, Greens, Andersons, Alexanders, Woods, Stewarts. Harrises, and Corns. The next settlement in point of improvement was in Harbison township [part of which is now called Boone.] The families which were good farmers and which I knew were the Kelsoes, Harbisons, Lemmons, Brittains, Hopes, Harrises, Farrises, Niblacks, Haddocks, Hutchenses, Sherritts, and McDonalds.

There was very little increase in the population of Dubois county, by emigration until the Germans commenced settling there, about 1837. I think the first of the early German settlers I knew were the Gramelspachers, Goetzes, Hoflfmans, Jergers, and Opels.

The first resident lawyer that settled in Dubois county was Judge h. Q. DeBruler. I think it was in 1839. A number of lawyers attended the courts. They went to all the counties in that judicial district on horseback. Among these lawyers were Pitcher, Breckenridge, Simpson, Battell, Ingle, Edson. The first circuit judge of Dubois county was Judge Goodlet, assisted by Judge Arthur Harbison and Judge Farris as his associates. The first sheriff was Adam Hope. Col. Simon Morgan, my father, was clerk from the organization of the county, in 1818, until his death, in 1841.

The only physician up to 1839, was Dr. Aaron B. McCrillus, who settled in the county, about 1820. His practice extended into Daviess, Martin, Pike and Crawford counties. He accumulated quite a fortune. About 1838 or 1839 Dr. Comstock and Dr. Poison commenced to practice. Both Polston and McCrillus were elected state representatives, McCrillus for Pike and Dubois, and Poison for Dubois and Crawford. In Jasper, the Grahams, John Hurst and Foster and Johnson were selling goods in 1839. James McDonald kept a boarding house and hotel. After him a man by the name of Condict conducted a hotel; William Hill had a saddler's shop and Charles Panker a saloon. In the lower part of Jasper, on the bank of Patoka, was Carr's chair factory. The Enlows owned and run the grist mill on Patoka. The streets of Jasper were full of stumps in 1S36-1839, and the town was very sickly.

In religion the principal denominations were the old regular Baptists and the Cumberland Presbyterians. The latter church held camp-meetings in the fall of each year. The camp-ground was built in a hollow square. The cabins were built of logs, and the campers extended the most generous hospitality to all. The pulpit and seats were in the center of the square. The meetings were held principally in Harbison and Bainbridge township [now part in Boone and part in Madison.] They had some very able preachers, amongst whom were the Revs. Hull, Downey, McCluskey and Hiram A. Hunter, The latter was a natural orator and revivalist. All preached a literal hell's fire, and that the straight and only road to heaven led through their own church doors. These men exercised a wonderful influence for good in their day, for they were honest, sincere and terribly in earnest.

In 1S19, Col. Simon Morgan and Jacob Harbison ran a flat boat loaded with pork from Portersville, on White river, to New Orleans, and then walked back to Portersville, there being few, if any, steamboats on the Mississippi river in those days.

My recollection of the first court house at Jasper is that it was a hewn log-house, two stories high, with stone chimneys at each end. The front was toward the south. There were two doors and four windows in the lower story, which was one large room, used for holding court; the upper story was divided into two rooms by a partition. The west room was used for the clerk's and recorder's oflBce; the east room for juries.

In early times it was customary for every person to keep whiskey in the house and it was expected. It would have been a want of common politeness not to ask every visitor to take a drink. There was no odium attached to making, selling, or drinking whiskey in 1837. Major John Haddock, who was an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, operated a distillery on his farm near the " Buffalo Trace."

Between 1840 and 1850, poor boys among the pioneers, in Dubois county, were frequently bound over by the "overseer of the poor" to some farmer to learn farming. Generally the agreements were in writing, and, as a rule, stipulated that the apprentice serve and obey his master faithfully until the young man reached his majority In return for this, the apprentice was to be clothed and provided for, and taught the occupation of farming. He was also, to be taught to " read, write and cipher to the double-rule-of three." He was to be taught obedience to law and order, industry and morality, and when he arrived at the age of twenty-one the master was to give him "two suits of clothing, one to be of Kentucky jeans, and each to be worth twenty-five dollars."

Sometimes the apprentice was to get a " young horse well broke for use." Sometimes the boy contracted " not to play at cards, dice, or any other unlawful game," or to "contract matrimony." Frequently he agreed not to "haunt or frequent towns, tippling houses, or places of gambling." One apprentice, who seems to have known how to drive a bargain, was to receive a "good horse, saddle and bridle, a cow, two sheep, a sow and pigs," when he became twenty-one. These old apprentice agreements make interesting reading now, and were valuable in their day. In these old papers are some very proud family names. Many of these poor apprentice boys became the sires of prominent families in Dubois county. These boys were daunted by no danger, baffled by no difficulty, and discouraged by no adversity. They had the true pioneer spirit.

" He that hath a trade," said Poor Richard, "hath an office of profit and honor." Among the pioneers perhaps the most valuable men were the old-fashioned blacksmiths. They had charcoal faces but noble souls; by birth strong and fearless, and by nature, gentlemen. They did not only the ordinary work of a blacksmith, but made axes, sickles, locks and keys, adzes, augers and chisels. Bullet molds, rifles, lock, stock and barrel, with silver engraved mountings, were their products.

In the old English legend of the king's banquet to the trades, the blacksmith was placed at the head of the table as the maker of tools for all other tradesmen.

In the settlement of Dubois county, in line with the farmer, or bread grower, the blacksmith ranked of vital importance. Where his rude cabin stood mattered not, people could always find the blacksmith's shop, even in an unbroken forest. It has located many cities in America. In this county, with its gable-end to some road, its great double doors were always wide open. Its rough forge was built of stones and plastered with mud. Such a primitive blacksmith shop stood in Boone township, on the " Buffalo Trace." There was also one in the " Irish Settlement," not far from the present poor asylum. It was difficult in those days to separate the trades of a blacksmith, gunsmith, and locksmith.

The pioneer blacksmith made all of his own tools, except his bellows, anvil, vise, and files. Nothing but bar iron was to be had, and it required a trip to lyouisville to get it. The cost was about seven cents a pound, and the smallest size measured an inch or an inch and a half.

Nearly all forge work, in those days, was paid for in trade. Emigrants passing through the county sometimes paid in "tilt-hammer-iron," or iron hammered out by a tilt-hammer, operated by water-power. This kind of iron was highly valued by pioneer blacksmiths. It was split up into little bars with a cleaver, and saved for horseshoes and horseshoe nails. As " trade" was the common money of the time, the blacksmith's home was always well stocked with flour, bacon, pork, lard, all vegetables in their season, apples, pumpkins, and other produce.

Before the pioneer blacksmith could have a blazing forge, however, he had to make his own fuel - charcoal. Coal taken from the earth, as late as 1837, was called stone-coal in Dubois county. John O. Green, in 1840, when he was a small boy on a deer-hunting trip, in this county, with his uncle, reported seeing a vein of coal opened with a mattock. In 1804-5, however, government surveyors located coal beds in Dubois county.

Charcoal burning was common in pioneer days. Sometimes it was done by the apprentice boy of the blacksmith. A charcoal pit was made by marking off a circular space, fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, and then cord wood was piled, on end, all over it. The center was filled with chips, and openings for fires were left on each side of the huge pile of wood. The wood was banked in and fire was started. The pit required watching for several days; whenever the fire seemed about to break out, it was covered with earth and subdued. Thus the wood was charred. Sugar-tree, beechwood, and wild cherry made good charcoal. Wild cherry seemed to have made the finest. Wild cherry trees were not so plentiful though, because the Indians used to strip the bark from them for their wigwams.

mattocks, chains, rude bacon-grease lamps, pokers, shovels, tongs, flaxhackles, hinges, fire-dogs (or andirons), butcher knives and the like. He was even called upon by the sheriffs, who often had the handcuffs upon prisoners, enroute to the state prison, united by an iron chain so welded together that they had to be cut apart by another blacksmith at the prison. In pioneer days, farmers made their own handles to all farm implements, shaping them with a drawing knife, and shaving them down smooth with pieces of flint, or perhaps broken glass. "Store" horseshoes were unknown before 1835, in this county. Pioneer blacksmiths orginated the saying, which all blacksmiths believe, namely: "Only two blacksmiths ever went to the place of eternal torment - one went for hammering cold iron and the other went for not charging enough." The pioneer miller was about the only man that divided honors equally with the pioneer blacksmith. Among the pioneer blacksmiths in Dubois county may be mentioned William Miles, at Jasper, in 1837. He obtained stone-coal in the bed of Patoka, south of Jasper. John E. Hacker was also a blacksmith at Jasper. Bernard Niehaus was a pioneer blacksmith at Huntington - as Huntingburg was first thought of. To induce him to move to Huntingburg the founder of the town, Jacob Geiger, gave him a town lot. Matthew Haven was Ferdinand's pioneer blacksmith. Rudolph Mohlenkamp has the honors for Holland. Robert Stewart seems to have been the pioneer gunsmith of the " Irish settlement." Blacksmith Hatch was the pioneer tradesman at Haysville, probably in the entire county, excepting Robert Stewart, the gunsmith at the Sherritt's graveyard on the " Buffalo Trace."

In the south half of Dubois county, pioneer life centered around Huntingburg. It came almost a quarter of a century after the pioneer life at Portersville.

One of the pioneer physicians of Dubois county was Dr. J. H. Hughes, a prominent citizen who resided at Huntingburg. His son, Dr. Daniel Hughes, taught the village school, and later moved to Illinois and began the practice of medicine.

At an early day in this century Col. Jacob Geiger came from Louisville, Kentucky, to this section of Indiana on a grand bear hunt. He was so well pleased with the groves, hills and fair valleys which he saw here that he bought large tracts of land from the government near the present town of Huntingburg. Afterward, Col. Geiger manumitted his slaves, came here and established the village of Huntingburg in 1837. Thus the town gained its name from an early hunting expedition made from a sister state.

Col. Geiger deserves more than a passing notice, and I am sorry that I have not data by me to do him justice. He was not a large man but was very active and spry, even in his old age. He wore his hair in a queue and always carried a gold-headed cane. He and Col. Wm. G. Helfrich, his son-in-law, were of the old school and very courtly in their manners toward the ladies. The latter gentleman had been a colonel in the Prussian army and carried himself with a military air. He was for a long time a justice of the peace, and was noted for his mild and fair-minded administration of the law.

Col. Geiger gave all his colored families houses and lands of their own, and they soon became expert truck farmers. Their sweet potatoes were famous for miles around, and the young folks thought that none but colored people could grow that vegetable. I well remember "Black Sam," and "Black John," as they were familiarly called, but I believe the only one left is Samuel Pinkston, who has lived a long and respected life, and has reared a large family of children aud grandchildren.

All of the boys were afraid of Col. Geiger and his cane. If the colonel saw a boy loafing away his time he would call out, "Run, you little devil, go home, your mother wants you." Everyman, I suppose, has his hobby. Perpetual motion was the colonel's. He had a shop and tools and worked at his apparatus many hours. One morning I was hurrying home to be ready for my regular 9 o'clock ague, when the colonel captured me, and made me turn a grindstone while he sharpened his tools. I had no chill that day - it took me all day to cool off. With all his seeming crossness to the boys, he was really our friend and did us many little kindnesses.

Col. Geiger formerly lived in a frame house north of town, but in 1850 he built the brick now [1884] occupied by Capt. Morman Fisher. Dr. W. R. McMahan and Capt. Fisher each married a daughter of Col. Helfrich, and therefore a grand daughter of Col. Geiger.

Mrs. Mary A. Blemker, one of Col. Geiger's daughters, has been identified with Huntingburg and its interests since its founding. She first married John L. Done, and then Jacob W. Blemker, the father of Ernest J. Blemker. She was for many years postmistress of the town, and kept the postoffice at the northeast corner of Fifth and Jackson streets in the old hotel, which has long since been converted into a brewery. Mrs. Blemker, who is getting quite aged, is a great reader and a close student. No lady in southern Indiana is better informed in church history or politics. She has been the life and stay of the Christian church, and that denomination in Dubois county owes its preservation and success almost entirely to her efforts.

Colonels Geiger and Helfrich built the first steam mill in this part of the state. There were numerous water mills on the different creeks around, but Huntingburg had the only steam mill, which was a great institution in those days, and placed the town far ahead of its neighbors. The grinding done at that mill was astonishing. It had two sets of burrs and ran almost day and night. It ended all the horse mills in the county, the last of which was that used on the Curry farm.

The honesty of the people was proverbial. There were no locks or bars, and when a farmer wanted a grist of meal he would put a boy and a bag of corn on a horse and start him for the horse mill. The boy would toll the corn himself, put it in the hopper, hitch in his old horse and grind away. If the boy had an early start and not too far to go he would return home the same day. But the steam mill changed all this. I have seen people bring wheat and corn to mill by every means of conveyance. Some carried their grists two or three miles on their backs; others brought theirs in wagons of the most primitive nature. The wheels were round blocks of wood sawed from big logs, the only iron about them being the linch pins. Soft soap was used as the lubricator, and the squeak and noise they made were terrific. These trucks were usually drawn by oxen, but sometimes a horse, or even a cow, was made to draw them. Many a time I have seen the good housewife come to mill with a sack of corn on a horse, riding astride, and showing a goodly length of stocking above the wooden shoe. This mill, the pioneer steam mill of Dubois county, was situated a short distance west of the present railroad depot, near what is the center of section 34.

One of the early settlers was Mr. Fallon, who lived here a number of years and reared a large and interesting family. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and some of his sons displayed marked genius as painters and builders. Mr. Fallon moved to Iowa, where he and his wife soon died and his family became scattered. Frank, his eldest son, moved to Meridian, Mississippi, soon after the Civil War and became a leading and successful merchant. George served four years in the 25th Indiana, and was its adjutant when mustered out. He is now a wealthy and honored citizen of Henderson, Kentucky. Henry was in the Confederate army and served during the war as major of the 5th Arkansas. Alonzo and Green were members of Kentucky' Union regiments and Gum was killed before Atlanta while serving on the staflF of some general officer - Major-General Jeff. C. Davis, I believe.

Among Huntingburg's most deserving names, we find that of Herman Behrens, the father of John H. Behrens, and the Behrens Bros., also of the wife of your present worthy postmaster. Col. C. C. Schreeder. Mr. Behrens was the pioneer merchant of the place and for many years did a large business on Geiger street opposite the Market lot. He was a generous, obliging man, and there are many alive to-day who have reason to bless the name of Herman Behrens. He was, in fact, too liberal, as his ultimate failure in business was due to his generosity more than all other causes. He saved a good-sized farm southeast of town out of the wreck, and was enabled to end his days in plenty and comfort.

Rockport and Grandview were the shipping points on the Ohio river, and the produce, consisting principally of salt pork, hides and pelts, game, butter, and eggs, was conveyed to the river by ox teams, which brought back boots and shoes, dry goods and groceries, miscellaneous goods, and plenty of whiskey. The whiskey was retailed at twent^'-five cents a gallon, sold by every dealer, and was as much of a commodity as molasses. The sale of ready-made clothing was not thought of then. The jeans and cloth were bought at the stores, or often made on looms at home, dyed with maple and walnut bark, and made into suits by the good wife. If they did not fit well, they were, at least, stoutly sewed and warranted not to rip. Many of the pioneers were not able to buy store shoes for their families, but would save up their beef hides and take them to the local tanner to be tanned, and would then manufacture their own shoes. One pair had to last a year, and many a restless boy has had frost bitten toes.

This sketch would not be complete without mentioning some of the pioneers who used to frequent Huntingburg in the early days. Among them we can call to mind Bob Oxley, Ben Taylor, John Pirtle, and Uncle Bill Whitten, who is an 1S12 pensioner, and who still lives. One of these veterans told me that when he was a bo}* he walked four miles to see a wagon track, and could not conceive how a wagon with four wheels could turn around.

It was very customary, and quite the thing in those days, for a man to become intoxicated, occasionally. The cheapness of whiskey, five cents a pint, enabled our early friends to indulge to their hearts' content. Many a bout of fisticuffs have those old patriarchs taken, when enthused by liquor, to decide their physical manhood. But sometimes the ludicrous side turned up, as the following story will show: Uncle Ben Taylor came to town one day, and, of course, became intoxicated. He bought a calico dress pattern, a lot of tin cups, two wooden buckets, and a couple of bottles of whiskey at Rothert's store. Before starting home he tied one end of the strip of calico to his mare's tail, strung the tins around her neck, and with a bucket on each arm, started out of town on the full run, yelling like a Comanche Indian. Now, as it happened, there was a big stump near the Lutheran church, and the mare being blind, could not see it, nor could Ben see it. There was a collision. Neither Ben nor the mare was killed, although there was a wreck of everything except the whiskey. When Ben stopped rolling, he raised himself on one elbow and yelled out, "Say, boys, didn't I make that stump sing heaven?"'

Frame houses were the exception, and it seemed that a man could not be too poor to build a brick house. I have actually seen corn scattered in the mud, and hogs tolled in to root, and in that way work the mud ready for the moulds. The houses were substantially built. Theonly one destroyed was the one built in 1848, at Fifth and Walnut streets, by Dr. J. H. Hughes, my father, which had its middle walls cracked by the earthquake of that year. Early fires destroyed the Lutheran parsonage at Third and Walnut, Bohmer's blacksmith shop on Jackson street, and Dan Brandenstein's new brick on Fourth and Main, that he was just finishing. Brandenstein's house fronted east, and when the owner rebuilt, he faced his new building south, as it is to-day [1884].

" Well do I remember how I earned my first dollar. Who does not? Father had taken a yoke of cattle and an old dump cart in payment for a doctor bill. I got a job of hauling brick for the new store house at Fifth and Geiger, of Leonard and William Bretz. They paid me a paper dollar on the State Bank of Indiana. Ernst Blemker gave me two silver half dollars for it. Moses ! wasn't I happy ! It was mine - all mine, for had I not earned it ?

" The Christian or Campbellite denomination, although the weakest in numbers and finance, has built the largest number of churches. Its first church was a hewn log structure which stood on Jackson street, where Blemker' s leather store now stands, and was used as a school house and town hall at the same time. They afterwards built a brick on the same lot, which they were unable to finish, and let it stand until it was about ready to tumble down, when it was sold. A frame building was next built out where the railroad crossing now is. This second building was later utilized as a depot until the present depot was erected. The congregation's final effort is a neat brick structure standing near Mrs. Blemker' s residence on Blemker hill. My recollection of the ministers of this church is better than those of the German churches, because my parents were members of the Christian church, and I was associated with its ministers more.

"The manners and usages of those days have changed materially. People must not think that I cast any reflections on the memory of those good men when I assert that I have often seen the decanters and glasses set out after preaching was over, and all would engage in a "square dram" before partaking of the noonday meal. If the German ministers wanted their weekly keg of beer, they had it, and a jug of bitters could be found in almost every house. In those days people came early to church on Sundays, and brought their produce with them. They did their trading before the church bells rang, and thereby saved an extra trip to town with their marketing.

"The Rev. Green Cato and the Rev. Jacob Banta Shively were two of the early Christian ministers, the former living to a very great age, and died leaving numerous descendants. Jacob G Cato is a son of the Rev. Green Cato, and a namesake of Col. Jacob Geiger, who presented him with a four-acre lot lying near the old graveyard. Mr. Cato is also a son-in-law to Rev. Jacob B. Shively, who was the father of the gallant Captain Lewis Biram Shively, killed at Peach Tree Creek, near Atlanta, on July 22, 1864. Captain Shively was a true, noble patriot and was greatl}' beloved by both citizens and soldiers. The local Grand Army post bears his name. Thirty years ago a little red-headed bo}- shared my seat in the old log school house, and it was neck to neck in our studies. That boy was Silas Beard, a protege of Mrs. Blemker, and he is now an able minister of the Christian church.

" The Lutherans began worshiping in a neatly hewn log chapel built in 1842 and surmounted by an uncovered bell presented by Col. Geiger. I have helped toll that bell for many funerals and have hit it many times with snow balls. The enterprising society built a large comfortable brick church on the same lot, about 1858, and took the old house for school purposes. Of its early ministers, I remember two very well. Rev. Conrad Reisch and Rev. Mr. Baurmeister. It was customary for the German ministers to teach their parochial schools, and the former was my first instructor in German. Few knew that Rev. Conrad Reisch was a finely educated, scientific man and that here in the Hoosier backwoods, far from the deep blue sea, this devoted man worked out and solved problems in ocean navigation and improved the instruments of that day. His name lives among those of learned men.

" The German Methodists first occupied a small frame church, which was also set aside for school purposes when the present large, handsome brick structure took its place. Too much praise can not be given these worthy people, who from small beginnings have erected a large and flourishing societ3^ Among the early prominent members are Mr. John Brandenstein, Mr. Adolph Katterhenry and Mr. Ernst J. Blemker.

" The Reformed Evangelical society began man}' j^ears ago in a small way in a little brick chapel at what is now the corner of Third and Chestnut streets. About 1852, this little church was torn away and a handsome brick building erected in its stead. They also built a frame schoolhouse in connection with their church. Among the old members who still wait on this shore of eternity are Christopher Dufendach, Fred Arensman, Gerhard Koch, Sr., and Gerhard H. Niehaus. The latter gentleman is one to whom Dubois county owes a lasting debt of gratitude for his many useful public services. Rev. M. Fischer, Mrs. C W. Dufendach' s father, was one of that denomination's most worthy and talented ministers [1884].

" The little Catholic chapel, built in i860, that has stood for so many years all solitary and alone, is now being supplanted b^^ a large church a block farther east. This congregation lost a valuable church friend in the person of Major Del Fosse, who was killed in Kentucky during the war, Mrs. Herman Rothert is also a staunch and valuable supporter of this church.

" The religious interests of Huntingburg are well cared for, and when the English Methodists complete their church it will give the town six large commodious edifices, with sufficient seating capacity to accommodate the whole population. The people should feel proud of this, for what other little city can seat its entire population and its country membership in its churches?

' ' If any of the school children should take the trouble to look into the door yard of the half-frame-half-log residence in the extreme southwest corner of the town they will probably see a small log cabin about 12 by 14, with a door in the west end. In that diminutive room, in 1849, a little humpback tailor by the name of Dan Brown taught the first school which I ever had the honor of attending. I remember Brown well, not for his great learning and kindness, nor his humpback, but for his unmerciful floggings.

" But I believe that all teachers occasionally have a pupil who believes that he is wrongly treated. The last time I was in Huntingburg one of my former pupils, a strapping big young fellow, stepped up to me with, " By jingoes, Dan, I thought that when I used to go to school to you that I would thrash you when I got big enough, but I don't believe I am big enough yet."

" Who remembers Modruski, the old Prussian soldier, who always wore his coat buttoned up to his chin, even on the hottest days, and who taught us to pronounce such words as tomato, potato, mosquito, with the accent on the first syllable ? How " old Mod " used to rail at us twenty times a day, ' Herr Gott! Des poys, des poys! '

"And those other dear old German teachers, Baurmeister, Exstine, and Reisch. Does anybody recall the time when Father Reisch punished a certain boy for giving a pretty, rosy-cheeked girl an apple in exchange for a kiss? How many think of the times we used to have in the early fifties playing fox and hounds in the thickets in the center of town ? And that funny old Yankee, Ike Pike, who sopped his meat in molasses and could not tell a tomato plant from a rag weed ?

" Wonder if Henry Blemker, who is now a prosperous merchant in Evansville, is ashamed of having taught school in the old election house? By the way, the old ranch is one of the land marks of the place. It was standing there thirty-six years ago on a lot presented to the town by Col. Jacob Gsiger, and has been used for various purposes, school house, residence, butcher shop, theater, ware-house, town hall, court house, etc. I understand that a city hall, facing Geiger street, is to be erected on this same lot [1884].

" Dr. W. R. McMahan and the writer shared the same spelling book, ate hard-tack and salt pork in the same army, heard the same cannon boom, came very near joining the regular army together, and adopted the same profession. We attended the school in a little log cabin on his father's farm, and ex-County Treasurer James E. Spurlock wielded the birch and tried to make presidents of all of us. Eawyer Elijah Boyles and his brother Dr. Saml. Boyles each taught school in Huntingburg as did also County Treasurer William Bretz, Dr. Osborn, and Esq. E. R. Brundick, whom I first remember as a stout country boy currying hides in Blemker' s tannery.

partner. Dr. J. H. Hughes had an extensive practice, much of it along the Patoka river and its tributaries. In the summer and fall months he would have flat boats built at the various water mills and load them with hoop poles, staves, corn and such other products as the new countr}' afforded, taken in payment of doctor bills, and when the fall floods came, these boats were taken south. He usually wintered in New Orleans on account of his health, and would return in the spring. Dr. Isaac Beeler was a successful physician and made considerable money which he subsequently lost in an unfortunate tobacco deal. He died a few years ago and left a large family of boys and girls who are growing into useful men and women under the excellent care of his widow. Dr. Fred Scheller, of Evansville, was also a resident aw^hile, as were Dr. Massick and Dr. Taylor.

"The most gentlemanly and enterprising editor of the Signal, Mr. E. Pickhardt, was at one time a leading merchant. He began business many 5'ears ago in the Shawley building near the Evangelical Association Church. Mr. Eeonard Bretz is the oldest living pioneer merchant, having been in business in one spot. Fifth and Geiger, for about forty years. He and his brother William, now deceased, built up an extensive trade, and by fair, square dealing established sound names.

" Herman Rothert, the tobacco prince of Dubois count}', is the only son of Gerhard Rothert. Gerhard was among the first citizens who helped Geiger start the town. Herman Rothert began business in a small way with a few dollars capital. At first he traded in coon skins and whiskey and carried a small line of notions As his capital increased he branched off into other channels of trade until finally he and his energetic wife ran a hotel, store, pork house, and a tobacco factory at the same time. Those were their working days, and now they can lay off, and enjoy the wealth they amassed [18S4]. Almost everybody knows Herman Rothert, but they do not know that he is tender-hearted. I do. One time the young folks were giving an elocutionary entertainment in the old school house, and the subject was William Tell. Mr. Rothert was most intensely interested in the exercises, and when the line was recited which says, " What! make a father murder his own child?" he boohooed - right out in meeting.

" The Dufendach boys, Henry and C. W. , are younger merchants, but they are natives of the town and are both prosperous and popular. A. H. Miller is known the county over, and besides being a live druggist and business man, sustains an excellent reputation as a lawyer, being hard to

Herman Rothert, one of Dubois county's most prominent men, was born in Hanover, Germany, October 28, 1828; came to America in 1844 and shortly afterward located in Huntingburg, where his father, Gerhard Rothert, had settled a few years before. After conducting a hotel and general store for a number of years he devoted most of his time to the buying and rehandling of tobacco, in which business he remained until 1889, when he removed to Louisville, where he died February 25, 1904.

beat in a law suit. Mr. Ernst Blemker's tannery dates back to the earliest recollections, and Mr. John Brandenstein's saddle and harness shop is one of the ancient institutions. The same may be said of Michael Jandebeaur's tin shop. Shawley, Rauscher & Co. built the old steam mill on Jackson near Third many years before the new mill near Fourth street was thought of. The new one was originally a tobacco warehouse, built by Bohmer. Paul Gerken, his son, John, and also Henry Roettger were prominent farmers living near town. There are many other trades and businesses that could be mentioned, but I have not the time now. In conclusion I will say that Huntingburg has turned out a great many useful men, and to its honor, few, if any, bad ones."

Traditions, in some cases, vary slightly as to who were the first, among Huntingburg's citizens, in their respective occupations. John Bird, it is said, came here in the early days from Bardstown, Kentucky, and was the first white man to make a permanent home on the site now occupied by the town. He sold his "squatter right" to Col. Jacob Geiger, about 1840, and a few years later moved to near Velpen, where he died.

Capt. John L,. Done (also spelled Donne), a steamboat captain, who married Col. Geiger's daughter, Mary Ann, in 1824, is sometimes referred to as the first store keeper of the village. However, his business was so limited in extent and time that Herman Behrens is usually regarded as the first merchant. Among those who followed Herman Behrens were William and Leonard Bretz, Herman Rothert, Daniel Brandenstein, Rev. Heiden and Ernst Pickhardt.

The first inn keeper was William Laswell, Sr. His place was opened only when a stranger happened to be in the village and wanted meals and lodging. Mrs. Mary A. Blemker is credited with conducting the first hotel. After she discontinued the business, Herman Rothert conducted the village tavern in connection with his store. Mrs. Capt. L. B. Shively was also among the town's first hotel keepers. Laswell's son-in-law, Massick, was the first resident to bear the title of doctor.

The first church house built in Huntingburg was a log structure erected in 1842 by the German Evangelical congregation. This building was known as the Lutheran church. The first and only bell that hung in the cupola of this house was presented by Col. Jacob Geiger. By a strange coincidence, the first funeral for which this bell tolled was that of the donor's daughter, Mrs. Helfrich. This same bell is now hanging in Salem's church. This congregation's first minister, and therefore, the first regular preacher to locate in the village was the Rev. Mr. Lauer, who wrote the first constitution of this organization. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Hunderdorse and Rev. Mr. Strater, each of whom remained only a few years. They in turn were followed by Rev. Conrad F. L. Reisch, who also served as the town's first music teacher.

The first grist mill was operated by Col. Jacob Geiger and his son-in-law. Col. Wm. G. Helfrich. After Col. Geiger's death, Shively and his son-in-law, Jacob Rauscher, built a new mill. Louis Krebs started another one some time later.

The first shoemaker was Henry Hudeman. He was killed while engaged in a fight with Jonathan Walker, and a man by the name of Taylor, near where the St. George Hotel now stands. The first thing Taylor did after the bloody battle was over was to make his escape to parts unknown. Walker was arrested for murder, the first committed in Huntingburg. He was tried and acquitted, for the jury decided that Taylor not only struck the first, but also the fatal blow. Hudeman was the first person buried at First and Jackson streets in the square which had been donated to the town a short time before by Col. Jacob Geiger for a public burying ground. Peter Behrens, it is said, was the next shoemaker.

The first carpenter and cabinetmaker was Gerhard Rothert, in which occupation he was soon followed by Mr. Burk and others. The first wagon makers were Henry Roettger and Adam Arensmann. The first blacksmiths were Henry Hoevner and Ben Niehaus, who were later succeeded by Louis Krebs and INIichael Dittmer. The first teamsters were Jacob Bauer and Henry Roettger. John Brandenstein was the first saddler; Gustav Lutz, the first gunsmith; Ernest J. Blemker, the first tanner; and William Wessell, the first tailor. Herman Rothert was the first buyer of leaf tobacco. Tradition also says that the first farmer in town, who always appeared bright and early on all occasions, was Paul Gerken. He farmed near the southern edge of the village, and with his son, John Gerken, was a prime mover in the social life and the business progress of Huntingburg.