Elkhart County, Indiana - Chapter 9: Pioneer Pictures and People, 1916

Chapter 9: Pioneer Pictures and People

Specially Applicable to Elkhart County - Malarial Epidemics - Corn Husking Bees Replace Log Rollings - Woolen Manufacture a Home Industry - Preparing Corn AND Wheat for Food - Getting Salt under Difficulties - Also, on Getting Religion - Primitive Agriculture - Pioneer History Largely a Personal Matter - ^Goshen and Elkhart Pioneers - Southern Townships First Settled - Eastern and Northern Townships - Col. John Jackson and His Descendants - Old-Time Souvenirs - Maj. John H. Violette and Plain John H. - The Irwins - The Cooks of Elkhart and Goshen - Jesse D. Vail - Associate Judge DiDDY - "Friends, Let's Pause a Moment" - Goshen Pioneers Antedating 1840 - Anthony Defrees - The Violetts Again - The Carpenters - Dr. Sparklin's Recollections - Joel P. Hawks Looks Back - Pioneer Mills of the County - The Old Hawks ]Mill and "Office" - The New Hawks Mill - Getting to Market and Arking - Stone-Dressing - Mill Moved to Goshen - The 'Vail Reminiscences - The Goshen Cooks - Minor Industries - Before the Village Was - Goshen Village Founded - Pulaski, Predecessor of Elkhart - Dr. Havilah Beardsley and the Be.\rdsley Families - J. R. AND Elijah H. Beardsley - How Elkhart Was Named - Original Town and First Addition - First Residents AND Buildings - Postoffice Moved from Pulaski to Elkhart - First Native Townsman - Settlers of 1836 - Impressions of the Village (1838).

The decade following the organization of the county in 1830 is the pioneer period beyond dispute. It was not until its close that Goshen town was incorporated, and the flail and tramping horses were yet to be displaced by the first crude threshers. Elkhart city was still in decided embryo, as the little settlement then consisted of a small flour mill, a few stores, two little schoolhouses and perhaps thirty houses altogether. The Beardsleys had not commenced to erect their mills and stir things up generally at the mouth of the Elkhart River. The river trade was just taking on some proportions. But everything was raw and crude, even to the cattle, hogs and sheep raised by the farmers. Improved breeds were innovations which only figured in dreams. Wheat crops were only commencing to alternate with those of corn, and about the only sizable flock of sheep in the county was owned by Major Violette.

The general conditions of those days in Elkhart County are similar to those which always prevailed in what was then the Western country, and book space is too valuable to be filled with the thread-worn descriptions of the old log cabin - round, hewed and otherwise - with its latch string ever out; the old-time house raisings; the details of the typical fireplace; the little red schoolhouse ; the construction of the beds and other home-made furniture, etc. The writer will therefore select only such features of this pioneer period as apply specially to Elkhart County. Mr. Bartholomew, president of the historical society, has gone into these special matters so thoroughly, and has had such unusual opportunities to gain access to the best and most authentic data, that we select the following from some of his contributions.

The families of the pioneers suffered a great deal from sickness, chiefly ague and bilious fever. There were many swamps and marshes in this section of the state, and these were breeders of malaria. Consequently old and young alike suffered more or less from those diseases. They were spring and summer diseases, and did not trouble the people in the winter time. There were few physicians here, and they were kept very busy during those portions of the year when sickness prevailed. The first settlers knew something of the remedies employed in those days, and administered medicines to their own families. Although the neighbors lived several miles apart, everybody was quick to respond to a call for assistance in case of sickness. Usually the members of each family took turn about in caring for one another. It was seldom that assistance became necessary, except when all or nearly all of the members of the family were sick at the same time. As the period of illness usually came during the busiest season of the year, it was necessary to care for the sick and do the work on the farm at the same time, and this made it considerable of a hardship. The work alone was hard enough, but when to this was added the care of the sick it made a heavy burden to bear. The year 1838 has been referred to frequently by the oldest residents as the sickly season. That year nearly everybody was sick and there was scarcely anyone to take care of the suffering ones. Those who were the least ill had to take care of the others. There were occasionally some who escaped entirely, and these would go from place to place taking care of the sick people and helping them to do their work. The late Dr. M. M. Latta was a young man at that time, and he frequently spoke of that season as being particularly memorable.

After the settlers had been here for a number of years and were raising large crops of corn, husking bees began to take the place of the log rollings of the earliest days. This does not mean that the log rollings ceased when the corn huskings began, for both were kept up at the same time throughout a number of years. But after each farmer had a comparatively large acreage cleared the log rollings became less frequent and the corn huskings more frequent. The women, too, had their methods of co-operation as well as the men, and they also made opportunities by this means for social gatherings. \\'ool pickings and quiltings were among their frolics, and those occasions were not less enjoyable to them than the log rollings, raisings and corn-huskings were to the men. ]\Iany of the women knew as much about outdoor work as the men, and some of them even more. Often they assisted their husbands in the fields in order that the farm work might be done at the proper time and the necessaries of life provided for the family. And their household duties were more arduous than are those of the farmers' wives of the present day. Besides, on account of living so far apart, their isolation was more complete. The occasions on which women of the neighborhood would get together to help one another with a portion of their work afforded a pleasant relief from the toilsome labor at home, whether it was the labor of the field or of the household. Besides the diversions already mentioned there were apple parings, in which both men and women took part, and taffy pullings for the younger people in the season of maple-sugar making.

The clothing worn by the pioneers and their families was homemade. Some of the farmers had sheep, and from the wool shorn from those sheep were made the flannels and all other woolen goods that were needed. Others raised flax, and this, by means of a process of which the present generation knows nothing, was transformed into linen. There were some who were fortunate enough to have both flax and wool, and who consequently could produce a greater variety in their wearing apparel than those who had only one. I^Iost of the homes were equipped with the tools necessary for the manufacture of the goods to be used for clothing, and there were few housewives who did not thoroughly understand the process by which the transformation was wrought. Each home was a miniature manufactory. But few articles of home consumption were procured elsewhere at first. Those things which were not made at home had to be brought from a long distance and transported in wagons, so it was only at long intervals that any foreign merchandise could be obtained. For these reasons about all of the wearing apparel both of young and old was of homespun, and there was not much of a variety in the articles worn. All were content for the time being to be comfortably clad, without much regard to outward appearance. According to the evidence of some of those who were boys at that time the girls looked just as attractive in the homely garb of that period as do those of the present day in all of their expensive finery.

The food presented little variety in comparison with that which we have at this day. Corn at first entered largely into the diet, probably because it could be grown more easily and more quickly than other grains. This was beaten into a coarse meal in a hominy mortar, another article which long ago passed into disuse and of which perhaps there is not one in existence in the county. As soon as the first wheat crop was harvested it became possible to procure flour from the home-grown crop. But for some years there was such a rapid incoming of settlers that it was impossible to grow enough to feed all of them. Besides the wheat had to be ground into flour before it was ready for use, and this necessitated the long, tedious trip to mill. The nearest mill was at White Pigeon, Michigan, which would be considered cjuite a distance by the present generation. It took a great deal longer to make the trip then than it would now, because there were no roads except the mud roads. Besides there were streams to be forded and other difficulties to be encountered which made the trip a disagreeable one and sometimes even a dange-rous one. So the pioneer farmers did not go to mill very often, and when the supply of flour was exhausted the family had to be content with corn bread until more flour could be procured. Corn meal and bacon were the standbys, and to those two articles may be credited the chief support of our ancestors during the earliest period of Elkhart County's history.

One of the articles that had to be transported from a long distance was salt. It had to be hauled from ^lichigan City for several years. Sometimes the farmers would drive there after it and sometimes men who made a business of teaming would haul it. As soon as the farmers began to have some surplus crops to sell, a load of grain could be taken to market at the same time. By hauling loads both going and returning the cost of transportation was materially reduced. Sometimes trips were made to Piqua and other points in Ohio for a similar purpose. Those long drives to market and for the purpose of purchasing supplies added to the hardships of those days and helped to make pioneer life more of a burden than it would otherwise have been. The trip always consumed several days, and it required weeks to make those to the most distant points. The driver had to be prepared to camp out should night overtake him when there were no places to find shelter. But in quite an early day taverns were built along the principal roads for the accommodation of the traveling public. These were found to be not only a great convenience but came to be regarded for a time as a necessity. A little later towns grew up which became the stopping places and the old country roadside taverns were eventually abandoned. But while they flourished they played an important part in the development of the newly settled country. Many of the oldtime tavern keepers were noted characters in their day and were long remembered by those who sojourned at their places.

they could for holding religious services. Sometimes these services were held in the cabins of the settlers and sometimes in a schoolhouse. The fact that there were no church buildings of any kind did not prevent the holding of religious services. As the Methodist Church was about as numerously represented as any, that denomination was one of the first to gain a foothold here. Azel Sparklin, who settled on the west side of the prairie in 1831 or 1832, was one of the first local preachers of that sect. In the absence of regular' ministers it often fell to his lot to perform the duties belonging to that office. The house of Christopher Myers, which stood between the present McQonaughy homestead and Goshen, was one of the places at which the Methodists held their services. Col. John Jackson became a prominent member of the Methodist Church in later years, as were Matthew Rippey and John D. Elsea. Among the first settlers were also Presbyterians, and they, too, began holding services almost as soon as they came here. The leading man among them, until he died in 1835, was Alexander Irwin, father of John Robert and Elisha Irwin. A Rev. Mr. Cory, who lived on Mongoquanon Prairie now in LaGrange County, used to come over to Elkhart Prairie to hold services for the Presbyterians. A Mr. Miller, of Baldwin's Prairie, Michigan, and a Rev. Mr. Hall would come to the same neighborhood and preach for the Baptists. The services of those days sometimes continued several hours.

The pioneer history of Elkhart County, as of other developing communities, consists rather of the biographies of men and women than the sketches of institutions; the more complex interests of a settled and more advanced population, centering in large towns and cities, bring organizations and institutions more to the front as agents of growth and progress. While the scattered and thin population of the county was thus being solidified into definite centers, certain individuals stood out from their fellows as leaders and effective workers in various fields of endeavor.

Around the Goshen center revolved such men as Oliver Crane, Thomas Thomas, Maj. John \V. \^iolett. Col. John Jackson, William Bissell. Elias and John Carpenter, Jacob Studebaker, Rev. Azel Sparklin, Judge Elias Baker, Cephas Hawks, James Cook and Abner Stilson. The Elkhart colony of strong men included Dr. Havilah Beardsley and his nephew, Elijah ; George Crawford, Samuel P. Beebe, N. F. Broderick, Horace Root, Col. Stephen Downing, John Davenport, Hiram Morgan, James Defrees, Jacob Ellis, Dr. P. S. Kenyon, Dr. E. W. T. Ellis, Gen. W. B. Mitchell, John Compton and Henry Crampton.

Outside of these two chief centers of the county, the southern townships were first settled. Alatthew Boyd settled in Benton Township in 1827 and Henry Beane laid out the Village of Benton five years later. A little after Boyd, John Jackson came into the county and raised his log cabin on a quarter section a few miles south of Goshen in what is now Jackson Township, and in 1829 Isaac Abshire located near what became New Paris in 1838. He and Enoch Wright, a settler of 1834, were its proprietors. In 1829 also arrived at the south end of Elkhart Prairie and in the northern border of Jackson Township, Mark B. Thompson, father of the seven-months' infant, John E. Thompson. The magnificent Thompson estate, there founded, with its famous maple grove, descended to Hon. John E. Thompson, one of the foremost stockmen and public characters in Elkhart County. Nearer Goshen, in Elkhart Township, was W'aterford Mills, founded by Judge Elias Baker in 1833, and not far east was the farm of the Methodist circuit rider, while Major Violett's farm was to the north.

Clinton and Middlebury townships, east of Goshen, were settled in the early '30s. Capt. Solomon jNIiller, the founder of Millersburg, was the pioneer of the former, the year of his coming being 1834. Enoch Woodbridge and Solomon L. Hixon were the first two to locate in Middlebury Township, the former in 1832 and Mr. Hixon, father of the banker, in 1834.

The only far-northern township to be settled previous to 1840 was Washington. James Nicholson and family located on the site of Bristol in 1829, and the town itself was platted in 1835.

Good old Colonel Jackson left numerous descendants in Elkhart County, his grandson, Frank Jackson, occupying the original quarter section in the township to which the family name is attached. His son. Dr. Amos C. Jackson, was only eight years of age when the family moved from Ross County. Ohio, to the edge of Elkhart Prairie, Indiana, and is said to have attended the first school opened in Elkhart County. He practiced medicine at Goshen for more than half a century, was a firm friend and supporter of the schools, both officially and privately, and a leading citizen in many ways. The doctor wrote much and in a charming strain, regarding early times in the county, and his nephew, Frank Jackson, was also a willing contributor of interesting information of that nature. It is mainly from them that the facts about Colonel Jackson were derived for this article.

The father of the colonel, Peter Jackson, was born in Greenbrier County, \'irginia, and was married there. He was the father of two sons, John and William, and several daughters. At an early day Mr. Jackson moved to Ross County, Ohio, and was one of its pioneers, settling on Deer Creek, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-four years. He was a man of strong constitution, and when quite aged rode horseback to Elkhart County to visit for a few months. His nephew, Ira, and niece, Elizabeth, accompanied him on his return trip, the journey being about 300 miles. Mr. Jackson was a substantial farmer of Ross County, and one of the early justices of the peace.

One of the sons. Col. John Jackson, was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, in 1790, and went to Ross County, Ohio, with his father when a boy. He was reared amid the pioneer scenes of that county and received a very good common-school education for his day. He married Catherine Carr, daughter of Gideon Carr, of Dutch descent, and to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were born ten children: Mary, Elizabeth, Ira, Amos, Henry (who died young) Hagee, Martha, William, Peter and Ann. Mr. Jackson cleared his farm in Ross Township of the heavy timber and made a good home. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was one of the men who was in the expedition to break up the Pottawattamie Indian Village at the south end of Elkhart Prairie in 1812, on the farm now occupied by John E. Thompson. These soldiers were from Fort Defiance on the Maumee River, Ohio. During this expedition Colonel Jackson was captain of a company. The night before the soldiers arrived at the Pottawattamie Village the Indians fled and left much of their property. Thus Colonel Jackson became acquainted with Elkhart Prairie and, being much pleased with the country, selected the spot where he afterward built his log cabin. In 1825 he made a visit to that region, but it was not until January, 1829, the roads being then hard with frost, that the colonel came out with hired men and two ox teams of four oxen each, to make a settlement and get ready for the spring work. As before mentioned, he built a log cabin, and with the ox teams broke up the virgin soil. The seed corn was dropped between sods and was therefore called sod-corn. A good crop was made without further cultivation. In the fall Colonel Jackson returned to Ohio, and with the first frosts of October brought out his family, making the journey with ox teams. His was one of the first families established on Elkhart Prairie, and Colonel Jackson broke the first ground on the prairie. He entered a tract of land and gradually added to it until he was the owner of over i,ooo acres. He was one of the prominent pioneer citizens and was colonel of the old militia of the county for many years. He was one of the organizers of Elkhart County and a member of the first board of county commissioners. He entered eighty acres of the original plot of Goshen for the county. In politics he was a stanch democrat and represented the county in the State Legislature for many years. Being justice of the peace, many of the pioneer cases were tried before him. He was possessed of a remarkably strong constitution and could endure extreme cold and fatigue. Both Colonel and Mrs. Jackson were life-long members of the Methodist Church and their pioneer log cabin was the home of the itinerant Methodist preacher, and Colonel Jackson was one of the founders of Methodism in this county. Of a social and genial disposition and possessed of an unusually good heart, he was very popular among the early settlers and was well known throughout northern Indiana. He died in 1872 at the advanced age of eightythree, and his descendants may well take pride in the stanch and patriotic soldier and sturdy pioneer from which they sprang.

Ira Jackson, one of the sons of the colonel, was about ten years of age when the family settled on the Elkhart Prairie farm, and, with his younger brother, Amos C, attended school at the new county seat. Among their first teachers was Captain Brown, father of Ebenezer Brown, one of the founders of the Democrat. Ira Jackson was an industrious, unobtrusive farmer and a good citizen who died on the old Jackson homestead in 1903, in his eighty-fourth year. The historic place descended to his son, Frank Jackson, whose frame residence - itself an ancient landinark - covers the site of the log cabin erected by Col. John Jackson in 1829. The farm comprises nearly all of the original 160 acres, which was the limit of the amount which could be legally entered by one individual: but the

One of the valuable historic souvenirs possessed by Frank Jackson is a walking cane carved from a log which once formed a side of the log cabin, and on which is following inscription:

Among the other interesting relics preserved at the Jackson home is a long sickle bar from one of the first McCormick machines ever used in the county. A notable collection of old deeds, such as can hardly be duplicated anywhere, forms another feature of the historical archives which Air. Jackson is zealously preserving. There are ten of these parchment deeds, seven of them executed under the hand and seal of President Andrew Jackson, being dated in 1831 and 1832, and the other three deeds were executed in the years 1837-38 by President Martin Van Buren. These documents are the first titles ever drawn to a large area of land in this part of the county, and their historical interest and value will increase from year to year. Frank Jackson has some of his father's old transcribed books in arithmetic, which were all written with a goosequill pen and are dated in 1838-40. This was in the days when the pounds, shillings and pence signs were used in the examples instead of dollars and cents.

Maj. John H. \'iolett and his son, John H. Violett, were both widely known and generally popular. The latter, who was born in November, 1829, on a squatter's claim two miles south of Goshen, long claimed to be the first child of white parents born in Elkhart County; this claim was finajjy disproved by Isaiah Rush, who was born at the edge of Pleasant Plains, near Elkhart, in May, 1828. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 John H. Violett, a youth of eighteen, was working on the farm of his widowed mother near

Springfield, Ohio, and for his military services was eventually granted a land warrant by the General Government. From 1820 to 1823 he was a resident of Missouri, and in the latter year returned to Ohio and bought a farm in Clarke County. In August, 1824, having manifested great interest in the military organizations of the state, he was elected sergeant-major of the Second Regiment, Fifth Brigade of the Fifth Division. In 1830, after he had been elected the first recorder of Elkhart County he was appointed major of the Eighty-second Regiment of Indiana militia; which fully accounts for the military title by which he was generally known.

Major \'iolett's first exploration of the beauties and fertilities of the Indiana country watered by the St. Joseph was in company with his father-in-law, with whom he set out October 4, 1828. Knowing that they would be obliged to camp out for at least a part of the time, they had laid in a supply of provisions, ammunition and other necessaries. A man of close observation and excellent judgment, and of much method in all his habits, he kept a memorandum of events from day to day, and not long before his death prepared from his diary a narrative of this memorable journey from Ohio to Indiana. The two men proceeded to Fort Wayne the first day, and, as may be imagined, Fort Wayne was then an insignificant hamlet. The next morning they started for Wolf Lake, and there encamped the second night. A desolate place indeed. Major Violett described this to have been at that time; but the next eighty miles of their journey took them over a much more attractive country. In the Elkhart bottoms, where they soon arrived, they found a rich expanse of timber land, and across the river was Elkhart Prairie, which impressed Major Violett as being the most beautiful and attractive land he had ever seen. On the Elkhart River, at the spring where DeCamp afterward built a mill, they remained over night, and on the following morning they crossed the St. Joseph a little below where it receives the Elkhart, where they encountered the first white settler they had seen since their departure from Fort Wayne and its vicinity. Nine miles farther on was Beardsley's Prairie, which ]\Iajor Violett referred to in his narrative as "a beautiful rolling plain with a few squatters," and were there entertained by Mr. Beardsley, who showed them the first crop of growing sod corn they had seen on their journey, which they found to be plentiful and of good quality for its kind, the blades being yet green, there being no frost that year until October 9th. Here they became acquainted with Hon. George Crawford, during later years of Laporte, and Air. Meacham. his partner, who took much pains to inform them concerning the country, its resources and its promises for the future. Young's Prairie was reached the next day, and was found to be a very desirable tract of land, but a squatter with whom they stayed claimed a very large amount of the prairie for himself and friends. After inspecting another crop of corn here they procee,ded to White Pigeon Prairie next morning, where they were welcomed by Judge Winckel, who also had a good crop of corn. The next day they went to Elkhart Prairie, which Major Violett wished to further examine, having about concluded to settle there. They encamped for the night on the site of Benton, on the Elkhart River. The prospect for a settlement appeared very flattering as the land was rich and fertile, and there was a plentiful supply of water and much valuable timber. Messrs. Crawford and Meacham soon joined them on their way south in quest of stock hogs, and Matthew Boyd arrived in their camp about the same time and afterward became a permanent settler at Benton. They started for home October 14th, and on the evening of that day met Elias Riggs and his son-in-law, with their families moving to Elkhart Prairie, where they built a house on the land owned later by Col. John Jackson and were the first permanent settlers on the plain. The succeeding winter was passed by Major \'iolett in making preparations to move to Elkhart Prairie, and jMarch 3, 1829, he set out with an ox team, carrying farming utensils, heavy furniture and provisions, his family remaining for a time with friends. William . Chance and James Bishop, two young men whom he had employed to help open up his farm, went with him and the party was accompanied by two other men with ox teams. Major Violett erected a cabin on his claim, a timbered portion of the prairie near the river, and began splitting out fence rails. In the following spring he fenced fifty acres of his land and planted thirty-two acres of it to corn, which was the first crop of its kind raised in the vicinity and was in great demand during the following winter and spring for the use of families and stock, quite a number of people having moved into the country without a sufficient grain supply. In July Major Violett brought his family out to his Indiana home, where, as stated, the son, John H.. was born in November. \\'hen Elkhart County was organized in 1830, he was elected its first recorder and held the office for seven years. In 1830 he was also appointed major of the Eighty-second Regiment of Indiana militia: in 1840 he was candidate for associate judge, but his party being largely in the minority he was defeated, and in 1842 he was appointed commissioner for the Erie & Michigan Canal, and subscribed $1,000 toward its construction. He was a candidate of the whigs for state senator in 1844, but was defeated, although securing more than his regular party vote. In 1854-55 he built the \'iolett House in Goshen. He was a model and enterprising farmer, and, as the pioneer nurseryman, supplied the country with its first fruit and ornamental trees. In private life he was charmingly genial and cordial and his home was the center of a generous hospitality. His character was substantial and moral, and his death October 24, 1871, caused general sorrow.

John H. Violett inherited many of the sterling qualities of his father. His boyhood days were passed in the old log cabin which his father built in the spring of 1829, preceding the fall of his birth, which was afterward sold to Daniel Hess. The only door in that historic building, which was of course its outside door, was the first door hung on hinges in the county, and it is still preserved by the family as a relic of the pioneer days. Mr. Violett's educational advantages were extremely limited, being only such as were afforded by the "pay school" of that time. His first experience in school was in the log cabin which was on section 27, near the site of Waterford, an odd building which was constructed minus one log on the side, with wooden strips nailed across the opening over which oiled paper was stretched to serve as a window. His school life closed when he was fifteen years old, and thereafter for six years, or until he attained his majority, he labored on the farm. The country had now begun to feel the influence of the gold excitement in California, and one of Mr. Violett's enterprising disposition was not at all likely to escape it. In the spring of 1850, he went with others to California by the overland route, and there engaged in mining with some little success, until March, 185 1, when he left for home from San Francisco, via Panama and New Orleans. Unfavorable winds drove the vessel far south of the equatorial line, in the early part of the voyage, and, passing near the Marquesas Islands, it arrived in port after a voyage of about two months and a half. Soon afterward Mr. Violett bought a farm from his father, not more than a hundred rods from his birthplace, and built upon it a large substantial brick building, and, purchasing a sawmill on the Elkhart River,

Mr. Violett served in the ranks throughout the Civil war, and previous to his return to Goshen, in the fall of 1864 was elected sheriff, holding the office for the term of two years. That was his only public ol'tice. Mr. Molett was an intelligent and agreeable citizen, a pleasant conversationalist and a ready writer.

The Irwins, so long identified with the development of Goshen and the county, were of an old Scotch-Irish Pennsylvania family, the founder of the Indiana branch being Alexander, a soldier of the War of 181 2 and father of John W. Irwin. The latter was, for nearly half a century, a leading lawyer, banker, business man, land owner and promoter of numerous enterprises which tended to advance the growth of the city and county. His wife was a daughter of Col. John Jackson, the rugged old pioneer and Indian fighter who settled on Elkhart Prairie in 1829. This intertwining of the two noted pioneer families is of special significance.

Alexander Irwin, the father of John W., migrated with his family from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to the Goshen settlement of Elkhart Prair-ie in 1832. Three years later he died of malarial fever, coupled with the prevailing treatment of bleeding, purging and dosing with heroic medicines. At the time of his father's decease the son was about thirteen years of age.

Several generations of Cooks have resided in Elkhart County, and for some eighty years have been identified with its official, business and financial affairs. The founder of the family in this section of Northern Indiana was James Cook, a native of ^Maryland, who came to the county with his family in 1830, and was one of the first merchants to open a store in Goshen, which was not platted until the following summer. He also dealt in lands and real estate, and was one of the substantial, honored pioneers of the county.

About a year after the coming of James Cook, and after his affairs had taken shape, his seven-year old son, John Cook, was brought from Ross County, Ohio, where the family had formerly resided, and after being well educated at Goshen and White Pigeon, Michigan, he also entered business and commercial life at the county seat. Later he moved to Elkhart, and was officially connected, for many years, with the First National Bank of that city, became interested in the manufacture of paper and other industries, and at his death in that city, when seventy-five years of age, was one of the prominent men of affairs in the county. J. A. Cook, his son, was born in Goshen, and followed the elder man as a working promoter of the financial life of the First National Bank, advancing through numerous positions to its vice presidency. Such duties, with the management of the large family estate, fully occupied his abilities.

As has been noted, several members of the family remained in Goshen, generally engaged in business, although Henry Cook, son of the original pioneer, was best known as a surveyor.

Jesse D. Vail, father of the Goshen lawyer, ex-state senator and public man generally, died in December, 1900. He was more than eighty-six years of age, and had been a useful resident of Elkhart County since he was twenty-three. A native of Pennsylvania, he located at Benton and, in partnership with his brother, opened a general store in the midst of the great financial panic of 1837. His brother sold his share of the goods to James Banta, and the firm of Vail & Banta weathered the low financial barometer and depression until 1841, when its business was discontinued. Mr. Vail then borrowed money, bought a large tract of school land and cleared and improved it, after which he spent six years in his native state. In 1849 he returned to Benton Township where he passed the remainder of his life. He added to his land holdings and molded them into a fine modern farm. Before the Civil war, and during its entire continuance, Mr. Vail was a county commissioner, being a strong Union man and a member of the military board charged with the raising of men and money to carry on the war. He was also enrolling officer in his township. Mr. Vail was recognized as one of the founders of the republican party in the county, for twenty-four years serving as a member of its central committee and was for many vears a delegate to successive republican state conventions. He was thrice married, his last wife being a daughter of Peter Diddy.

Mr. Diddy, it will be remembered, was one of the first associate justices of the Circuit Court. He had settled on Two Mile Plain, on the St. Joe River, in 1829, and became one of the most prosperous farmers of the famous Elkhart Prairie.

In brief, the foregoing are the main personalities strongly woven into the pioneer times of Elkhart County, and such details as can be gathered to bring them more clearly before the reader are now to be presented. As an introduction, may be quoted the following verse of a poem read before the Old Settlers' Society, at Goshen, nearly sixty years ago, by Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, then editor of the Democrat :

"Friends, let's pause a moment Amid good feeling's flow. To toast the lads and lasses Of thirty years ago. Who left their homes of plenty And broad Ohio's shore, The forests and the prairies Of Elkhart to explore. Come along, gee along, now begin to go Towards the blooming prairies of the bright St. Jo. Oh, the earth is very broad and her bosom rich and rare. Like the Goshen of old Egypt, it has milk and honey fair."

The historic edition of the News, published in 1901, gives an interesting array of facts concerning the Goshen pioneers whose coming ante-dated 1840. While they are reproduced, they should be read with the comment that since they were recorded the following local veterans have passed away:

Only a few of those men and women who came into Elkhart Township in the early '30s or were born here during that period are living today. It is a strong coincidence that the first white child born in the township and the first one to be born in the original plat of the town should be living today. John H. X'iolett who lives on the old homestead just south of the city, within sixty rods of where he was born, was the first white child to see the light of day in this new country. November 22, 1829, is the date of his birth. Down on New Street George W. Carpenter lives ; he was born in a log house overlooking Rock Run, June 6, 1830, and has always made his home in the city.

Anthony Defrees came to Goshen in 1833 with his brother, who was one of the prominent figures in the town for many years. In 1837 they started the first newspaper and Anthony was actively engaged in the business management. His home is on Washington Street. A history of the paper will be given in another section of the work. Dr. A. C. Jackson, son of Col. John Jackson, has always resided here. He was born on the prairie and for over fifty years has practiced medicine in this community. His brother Ira Jackson still lives on the prairie and is a well known figure on the streets of the city. Isaac Carpenter and John Carpenter, brothers of George, lived here for seventy years. Joel P. Hawks came with his father. Cephas Hawks, to Waterford, in 1834, and Mrs. Hawks, his wife, was the daughter of Ebenezer Brown, one of the first merchants of Goshen ; the family home is on Third Street. J. D. \'ail, who passed away in December, 1900, was a merchant at Benton in 1836. Among others still living in this vicinity are Israel Hess, Balser Hess, John E. Thompson, Jacob Cline, Daniel Hess, Jacob Baker, Charles Thompson, Mrs. Youmans, David Darr, Mrs. C. S. Hascall, Henry Cook, Dr. C. C. Sparklin and Mrs. Wagner.

John H. Violett was always one of the most progressive citizens of the county and had a handsome home on the edge of Elkhart prairie. His father, Major Violett, was the first county recorder and played an important part in the upbuilding of Goshen. In 1854 he built the \'iolett House upon the corner now occupied by the Hotel Alderman and from which it was remodeled. The first landlord was a man by the name of Todd. Major \'iolett never changed his residence, always living on the farm where he had located in 1829. Below the Hawks Mill at W'aterford, he erected a sawmill, and farther down John Violett erected another mill at a later day. Well does he remember the day when all of the country side turned out to the pulling bee and the courthouse square was divested of its unsightly stumps. One of the first circuses that came to the town pitched its tents on the square and here the first county fair was held. No stalls were erected but the prize cattle were tied to the trees around the courthouse. ]\Ir. \'ioiett laid out the old cemetery at \\'aterford. It was located at a beautiful spot at the bend of the Elkhart.

George Carpenter says that his father, Elias Carpenter, settled upon Elkhart Prairie in 1829 and the next year moved into a log house located on the hill overlooking Rock Run and within 100 yards of the Noble Manufacturing Company's plant. His grandfather, John Carpenter, erected the first gristmill.

"My father, Azel Sparklin settled on Elkhart Prairie in 1829, coming from Conners>-ille," says Dr. C. C. Sparklin. "He was a Methodist minister and administered to the spiritual as well as the material wants of the early settlers. The house where we lived was built of logs and the location happened to be an excellent one, as the state road was afterwards constructed within a few rods of the house. The nearest neighbors were John Molette and Israel Hess. Banking in those days was done at Fort Wayne, fifty miles away, and three days were consumed in the trip. Flour was sent down the river in arks from the Hawks' Mill at Waterford to St. Joseph. Salt, which sold at $6 a barrel, was hauled from ^Nlichigan City. Produce was hauled to Niles and merchandise brought back. I remembed Barnum's Circus well when it exhibited here in 1847. The first agricultural fair was held in the court house square in 1852 and the floral hall stood on the present site of the Hotel Hattle. On AA'ashington Street, just off of Main, stood the first tavern in Goshen. It was a double log house. Doctor Matchlette's house stood where the Economy is located. It was a peculiar structure, the front part comprised two stories, the middle part one and a half and the rear one story ; all faced Main street and there were three front doors, one in each part."

The milling industry' played such an important part in the early history of Elkhart County, and still forms such a large source of manufacturing wealth, that it is very consistent with the general purpose of our history to quote at length from an article written by J. P. Hawks and read before a meeting of the historical society.

"I will first speak," says Mr. Hawks, "of the first mill buildings. It is a question whether Goshen or Elkhart should have the honor of having the first mill. But the best authority that I have found says that the first mill was built by Mr. Carpenter on Rock Run, near the northwest corner of our beautiful Oakridge cemetery, in 1830 or 1831; the second on Christiana Creek, across the St. Joe from the Elkhart, and third, the McConnell Mill, situated near the present site of the Big Four freight office. The fourth was the Waterford Mill, built by Elias Baker in 1834, and then followed the Bainter Mill and the mill on Solomon's Creek and the Darr Mill in Benton and others. I have since read in an obituary of a Mr. Inks, that he built a conicracker on Solomon's Creek, the first in the county. Israel Hess says the Elkhart Mill was the first. It would be highly interesting if we could have photographs of these several mills, but that was before the days of photography. I think the first three of these buildings were all built of logs, as were most of the dwellings of those days. I think the Baker Mill was the first frame mill building in this county and for many counties adjoining. It was nearly square, about thirtv by thirty feet, two stories, with a high hip roof, which gaye some extra garret room over part of the house and much used for some purposes. The Carpenter Mill, I think, had but one small run of stone and without bolts, and only used for grinding corn. Of the other two mills I have no knowledge as to their outfit, but most likely it was very meager.

The Old Mill

"About the Waterford Mill I can be more specific in description of outfit and working. My father, Cephas Hawks, Sr., bought this mill of Mr. Baker in 1835. It then had two runs of stones; one run was a regular made burr for wheat, and the other made from the natural stone, commonly called nigger heads, and was used only for grinding corn. I think these stones were made by the Mr. Inks above spoken of. It had one bolting reel, about twelve or fourteen feet long and covered with three grades of bolting cloth, the first four or five feet being very fine for getting the superfine flour; the next section, coarser for common flour; the third, still coarser to catch middlings and shorts, while the bran was thrown out at the end of the bolt. In those days corn meal was never bolted at the mill, and hence the necessity of a corn meal sieve in the outfit of ever}- well regulated family. Custom so increased that the second year after some grand improvements were made in the old mill. Another run of wheat burrs was put in, the holding capacity was increased and moved into the garret, elevators were made for carrying the meal up into the bolts, etc., etc. But, oh, the labor that was necessary to do the work of that mill ! Every bushel of grain had to be shouldered and carried three or four times, first from the wagon into the mill, then shouldered again to pour into the hoppers and again when ground, and lastly from the mill to the wagon. \\'hat wheat we bought for making flour for sale must be taken first to the platform scales, then up one and sometimes two pair of stairs to the bin. Having established a reputation for making the best flour in the county, our custom was very large and widespread, reaching from the state line on the north to the Wabash on the south, and embraced all of Elkhart, Xoble, LaGrange, Kosciusko and parts of Whitley, Marshall and St. Joe counties. Of course, coming so far, they must bring large grists, and come prepared with provisions and horse feed to wait until it could be ground, which was sometimes a tedious waiting of two or three days. A strict watch was kept that they were not cheated in their turn, and it often required much diplomacy to keep the peace among them. It often looked about the yard like an army encamped, or a camp meeting, so many teams in waiting. A unique feature of that old mill was the ten by twelve foot square room in one comer, called the office. Its furnishing was a large old-fashioned parlor cook-stove, having a large oven over the fire pot for baking, and a hole and lid on top for boiling the tea kettle. A wide board bench around three sides, \yith a small rough board desk nailed up on cleats in one comer, constituted the furnishings of that room. These benches, with a bag of bran for a mattress and an overcoat or a bunch of bags for a pillow furnished beds for many waiting customers. On cold nights that little room would be filled with customers or village loungers, and heated up to about one hundred degrees, with the flat top of the old stove covered with corn. Many a jolly evening was spent eating parched, not popped corn, telling stories, cracking jokes and cracking nuts, all of which were very plenty in those days. And such a looking place was that room! The floor was inches deep wi^i flour paste mixed with tobacco juice, crumbs of bread and meat from the customers' lunch, and with popcorn and nut shells. Oh, it was a beauty !

"One unique character who came about four times a year from the Haw Patch, with his big prairie-schooner wagon and his four large fat horses, himself sitting proudly erect on his wheel or saddle horse, holding his one line in his left hand and his black-snake whip in his right hand, was Mr. McDavitt. You could hear the crack of that whip and the word of command to that team, calling each horse by name, for a quarter of a mile. Never were horses under better command. He could turn a corner, wheel a circle, cramp and back to the mill door to the very dot and never missed. He would sometimes, while waiting, hitch up just to give us exhibitions of driving, and would always draw a crowd.

"So much for the old mill. The time had come when it would not meet the growing demands of the country, and some time in the '40s, I think in '47, a new mill was planned, and built, larger and more complete. In size about forty by sixty feet, and five stories high, with five runs of the best burrs that could be found, with the then newest machinery and conveniences, such as elevators for both wheat and meal, larger bolting capacities for both merchant and custom work, and screen and smutter for cleaning wheat (for up to that time the wheat was ground just as it came from the farmer's fanning mill), large scales, a hopper to empty into from the wagon and a drop for the wheat from the scales to the elevator, so that much of the hard lifting required in the old mill was obviated in the new. The capacity of each run of burrs was increased one-half or more by new water wheels, iron shafting and cob wheels, better and more perfect boxing, bearings, etc. So that the capacity of the new mill was sufficient to serve all of our greatly increased custom work and turn out about fifty barrels of flour per day of merchant work. This was a big thing in those days, whereas the Goshen Milling Company can now make five hundred barrels per day, and yet I will here say that ordinarily and on an average the net profits of the fifty barrels per day mill in the '50s was equal to or better than that of the five hundred barrel mill in the '90s. The reasons are : Less expense and more profits. While we did much of the work ourselves and our own labor was never reckoned, I might mention here, however, that the mill stuff, bran and shorts, is much more valuable today than then. Farmers had plenty of cheap corn to feed and would not buy mill feed. The bran we sold what we could at three cents per bushel or one dollar for a wagonload, and the bigger loads they took the better we liked it

"Transportation was a great item in those early days. Only two ways were open to us. The one was by teams, and that was the every-day, year-around way, and the other was by arking down the river, which we could only do in the spring and fall, or after heavy rains when the river was high. Our main markets were Chicago, Michigan City, St. Joseph and Fort Wayne. When the roads were bad, as they were most of the time, a good team could haul only ten barrels of flour, and it took eight days for a trip to Chicago, four or five to Michigan City or St. Joe or Fort Wayne. One plan was to load from five to ten teams and start from the mill early in the morning. One of us (for we were many in those days) with our own team headed the train and led the van, and we would go to the market we thought the best, sell the best we could, buy whatever we could that we needed in our trade at home, mostly salt, coffee and muslin, and giving each team a light load of these things, hasten back home with what money was left to invest in more wheat. These teams we used to pay from one dollar to one dollar and forty cents per day, according as the roads and weather might be. Of course on such wages the men could not afford to buy anything on the trip but stabling, hay and lodging. All carried their dinner boxes for themselves and grain for the horses. There was so much of this work to do that men who were able to own a team made this their business and supported their families in this way.

"But the arking in the time of it was the much more exciting, more rapid and much cheaper way of getting our produce oflf to market. These arks were made of two timbers, which we called gunnels, hewn out in the woods or sawed in the mill, about six or eight inches thick, eighteen to twenty-four inches wide, as we could find the logs to make them, and from twenty to thirty feet long, planked on the bottom with two inch plan, corked and pitched till water tight. Each one of these would carry from one hundred to one hundred and fifty barrels of flour and two and sometimes three of these cribs, as they were called, were lashed together and called an ark, with a long, heavy oar at each end to steer it with. Capt. A. C. Manning, who afterward became the popular sheriff of our county, was a very efficient man to float these expensive and valuable laden arks down the Elkhart into and down to St. Joseph. Others whose names I have forgotten, used to run these arks for us. It took about six men, with the captain, to man an ark, one with the captain on the hind oar, two on the front oar, and two for extra work, such as pushing with poles to keep it off of breakers and in eddy waters to accelerate the speed, and care for the stuff. We had three dams to jump and many bridges to go under, and these were often dangerous places, for to hit a bent of the bridge meant either a bent taken out or the breaking of the ark, and in either case it was a heavy loss. So also in going over a dam, sometimes the sections of the ark, or cribs as we called them, would break apart or would dip water. The Niles bridge was about the most dangerous place on the trip, and here we once had a bad break and lost and damaged many barrels of flour. Usually one of our folks went with these expeditions to care for and make sales, and your humble writer, though then but a boy and being of less consequence as a hard worker at home, was sent on the ark. We usually carried our own provisions, cooked and ate our own meals, either on the ark or on the bank where we tied up for the night and in mild weather we slept out doors, or rather in our blankets as best we could.

"Right here I must relate a joke on myself. We had tied up for the night, a chilly night, near a large farm house, and so after eating our supper we all went up to the house to secure lodging if possible. The people were very kind and accommodating, as people in new countries mostly are, and said they would do the best they could for us. So when bed time came the men were stored away, some in beds and some on the floor. But the writer had made a good impression, and the good man of the house had whispered to me to keep still till the men were stored away and then he would provide for me. The result was a place in the spare bed room and a soft clean bed. But the joke is in the sequel. In the morning when the captain called for his bill it was five cents each for himself and men. The boy boss was not cute enough to let the men get out of hearing first, but at once asked for his bill and was charged ten cents. This gave the jolly men a chance to guy me all the day for having to pay double price for lodging.

out of the live was idle all the time in the process of dressing. To us older men this stone-dressing is fresh in our memory, though we have seen little of it in the last ten years of our lives. But to our children and grandchildren it will be something new and strange. The top, a revolving stone, was lifted by a great crane from the spindle on which it whirled while at work and turned down-side up and placed upon blocks prepared for it, and then both the upper and the bed stone was ready for surface. The furrows were picked out and deepened, and the surface between furrows carefully picked and sharpened for the grinding. When the stone became worn down smooth, it would only mash instead of grind the grain. The furrows were for the purpose of carrying or working the grain to the outer surface of the stone, where most of the grinding was done. The tool for doing this dressing was quite unique. I will add that for many years no blacksmith could be found near here that could harden and temper the steel points of these picks to stand their severe work, and consequently we had to have many of them so that some might be constantly on their way to and returning from Chicago or Buffalo for dressing and sharpening by experts.

"In 1868 this mill was torn down and brought to Goshen and erected on the Hydraulic canal at the foot of what was then Market street, but now Lincoln avenue, to which have been added from time to time, addition after addition, story upon story and improvement upon improvement, both inside and out, until the old mill is lost in the new, and in its place stands the Goshen Milling Company's big plant ; the old five runs of stone out and gone, and twenty-two stands of steel processes doing the bolting, the packing by machinery instead of by hand, and much more than I can take your time to tell."

"Goshen, Ind., June 10, 1836. "Received of C. and J. Vail, ninety cents, for which they are licensed to vend foreign merchandise until the first of September next.

Mr. Vail was running a general store at Benton during the '30s, and there was a law that taxed all goods not raised or manufactured in the state, and the moneys thereby received was applied to the expenses of the county government.

Mr. Vail used to relate an incident that showed the character of the unique Matthew Boyd, who ran a ferry across the Elkhart River at Benton. He was a red-headed Irishman, and in the summer, when the water was low, he was wont to go down stream a short distance, fell a number of trees, dam and raise the water, and thereby make business for his ferry.

Until the passing away of Dr. M. M. Latta in the late '90s, there existed in Goshen quite a famous medical triumvirate in the persons of Drs. Latta, Wickham and A. C. Jackson, all of whom had been in active practice for more than half a century.

Henry Cook was a civil engineer and surveyor in Elkhart County for considerable over half a century. .All of the city, village and township plats, with the exception of those made from 1830 to 1840, bear his name for about fifty continuous years. James Cook, his father, was one of Goshen's first merchants, and his brother, John Cook, was also in business.

The cutting of millstones \yas a very useful art during the early years, and the first man known to have followed that line of work was John Inks, who made stones for the Rock Run and Elkhart mills.

In an agricultural community the blacksmith shop occupies a place of only less importance than the village store, and oftentimes the crossroads blacksmith shop has been the nucleus around which has grown up a thrifty town. It was only in the year 1899 that Joseph D. Knox,, the first blacksmith of Goshen, passed to his final reward. He was then ninety-three years old. He had also been the first millwright in this part of the county. His daughter, Mrs. Mary G. Hale, has in her possession the first piece of furniture made in

Goshen, in the shape of a cradle made of clierry wood. The maker of this cradle was Henry Rector, who is annalled as the first cabinetmaker to appear at Goshen.

In Middlebury the first blacksmith shop was kept by a man named Hawkins, and the first wagon maker of that town was Daniel C. Bishop. Spinning wheels, which have been above indicated as forming a very necessary part of the pioneer household, were manufactured by Frederick Harriman, who was the first settler at New Paris, and erected a shop there for his trade.

Trades and occupations seemingly diverse w«^re often pursued by one man. For instance, David Ebi, one of the early settlers of York Township, was not only the first carpenter and joiner of that neighborhood, but also attended to the duties of undertaker. When the fever and ague were so prevalent in the autumns of 1837 and 1838 Mr. Ebi was once taxed with orders for three coffins in the same day.

The carpenter was naturally a very important personage in the industrial world of that day, even though houses were not built on very elaborate plans. Among the men whose skill and professions entitled them to the name of carpenter during the '30s was James Beck, of Goshen, concerning whom the following anecdote will be of interest: "James Beck, the second sheriff of the county, was a carpenter and secured the contract for building the first Methodist meeting house. The structure was a square frame affair and when it came to the roof Beck built it as steep as possible. This made some of the members of the church quite angry, as they claimed that the roof destroyed the architectural beauty, if it had any, of the building. Beck was a very liberal man and had placed his name on the subscription list for $25, a very large sum in those days. In the settlement the trustees decided to dock Beck $25 on his contract for disfiguring the roof. He good-naturedly consented to the reduction, but when it came to paying his subscription he stated that he would not let the trustees outdo him in liberality and would throw off his subscription."

Eli M. Albright, of the Thomas-Albright Company, says that his father erected the first planing mill in Goshen in 1856, where sash and doors were manufactured. All of the frames and doors

Daniel Cripe appeared in the settlement in 1829 as the first Dunkard preacher and Balser Hess presided over the destinies of a few Baptist families. For several years Mrs. J. H. Defrees was the only woman member of the Methodist denomination in the new town.

In the month of June, 1832, the first postoffice was established in Goshen. The first merchant, \\'illiam Bissel, received the commission of postmaster. On national holidays the countryside was aroused and flocked to the county seat in much the same manner that they do today. At the celebration of the 4th of July, 1832, Joseph H. Defrees was the orator of the day.

In 1833 Goshen had a population of 200. There were forty log cabins on the town plat, three stores and a log hotel or tavern. Abner Stilson was the landlord, having been granted a license to keep a tavern in 1832 at the May term of the board of commissioners.

At the head of Meyer's Rifle Company, Colonel Jackson and Major Violett marched in the famous procession that occurred on the 4th of July, 1837.

February 25, 1837, the first number of the Goshen Express was issued. C. L. Murray was the editor and Anthony Defrees the business manager. The capital was furnished by J. H. Defrees and James Barnes. Among the advertisers in the first issue were Barnes and Defrees, Thomas Thomas, Wm. H. Rector & Co., general merchandise ; Joseph L. Jernegan, attorney at law ; Timothy Harris, druggist ; and Oliver Crane, brickmaker. Market quotations form an interesting news item in this first issue. Flour, per barrel, $7.00; wheat, $1.25; buckwheat flour, $3.00; corn meal, 6214 cents; corn, 50 cents ; oats, ZlV^ cents ; potatoes. 37 J^ cents ; chickens, picked 25 cents ; eggs, 8 cents ; beef, per pound 6j4 cents ; pork iSj^ cents; lard, 12^ cents; tallow, 15 cents.

Alive to the interests of the town the Express in its issue of August 10, 1837, contained the following editorial on the incorporation of the village: "W'e have a beautiful town plat and as handsomely situated and well laid off as any other village in the country. Our streets and alleys are broad and convenient, but, before they can present that appearance originally designed by the particular arrangement, stumps must be pulled, holes filled and other obstructions removed."

The town grew in importance and it became necessary to select a board of trustees to look after the interests of the town. Accordingly an election was held November 23, 1839, and John Cook, D. Parrott, A. Stilson, A. Galentine and J. S. Raymer were elected trustees.

Although Dr. Havilah Beardsley is given just credit for founding Elkhart, the portion of the city north of the St. Joseph River embraces the old Town of Pulaski, or rather the little settlement which centered in the postofiice by that name, and which lifted itself modestly above Elkhart Prairie two or three years before the doctor platted Elkhart. Reference has been made to Joseph Noffsinger, who squatted on the north shore at the mouth of the Christiana, as early as 1821, and to the coming of Rev. Isaac McCoy to that locality a few years afterward. In 1827 Jesse Rush and family settled there permanently and there it was, on May 16, 1828, that Mrs. Rush added the first natives to the population of the county by bringing forth twins, one of whom, Isaiah Rush, lived to be a venerable citizen of Elkhart. Chester Sage also settled in that locality and, as we have seen, opened his house to the first sessions of the courts and the board of justices, after the county was organized. George Crawford, the surveyor, was also on the ground of what promised to be the real town of the county, county seat, industrial and trade center, etc. But this, it is now needless to say, it never was. In 1829 Mr. Crawford, with John Huntsman, built the first gristmill in the county where Christiana Creek empties into the St. Joseph. In the same year, the settlement induced the General Government to establish the postofiice of Pulaski within about eighty rods of the gristmill, Mr. Crawford in charge. Thus matters stood on the north side of the St. Joe when Doctor Beardsley set up his rival town of Elkhart on the south side of the stream. But Pulaski never was platted as a town, and from all available accounts consisted only of the postoffice, the gristmill and a few houses roundabout.

The name Beardsley has been interwoven with the founding and progress of Elkhart from tirst to last. Dr. Havilah Beardsley was the pioneer and first white owner of the land on which the City of Elkhart is now located. A native of New Fairfield, Connecticut, and of Welsh ancestry, his birth occurred April i, 1795, he being the fifth son of Elijah and Sally (Hubbell) Beardsley. At a very early day he moved with his parents to Ohio, and as a boy was a volunteer in the War of 181 2. When twenty-one years of age he began the study of medicine at Urbana, and subsequently entered the medical department of the Transylvania University, from which he graduated in March, 1825. For several years he practiced in Ohio, but as such close professional labors proved not only detrimental to his health, but uncongenial, he determined to abandon it. For these reasons he emigrated westward and drifted into the well-advertised and developing St. Joseph Country. In 1830, as noted, he settled on the north bank of the St. Joseph River, near the head of what is now Main Street, Elkhart. Owing to the fact that no physicians were then in that region, it was impossible to turn a deaf ear to those suffering from physical ailments, and, in spite of his reluctance to resume active practice, his professional labors and reputation were soon spread over fifty miles of territory. Recognizing the great advantages of water power at the confluence of the St. Joseph and Elkhart rivers, Doctor Beardsley purchased a large tract of land from the Indian Chief Pierre Moran, his deed of sale running as follows : "This indenture made this twenty-first day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one between Pierre Moran, of the first part, and Havilah Beardsley, of the county of Elkhart and state of Indiana, of the second part. Witnesseth, that whereas by the third article of a treaty made and concluded between commissioners of the United States and the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawattamies, at Chicago, on the 29th day of August, 1 82 1, one section of land to be located under the direction of the president of the United States was granted to the said Pierre Moran at the mouth of Elkhart river, which land was not to be sold or conveyed without the consent of the president, and by the direction of the president Section No. 5 in township 2,7 north, of range 5 east of the second principal meridian of the state of Indiana, was selected for, and has this day been sold by Pierre Moran to the above named Havilah Beardsley, for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars lawful money of the United States, to him in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged.

"This indenture therefore witnesseth that in consideration of the payment aforesaid, and in conformity with the foregoing stipulations and approbation, the said Pierre Moran has given, granted, bargained and sold, and by these presents doth give, grant, bargain and sell unto the said Havilah Beardsley, party of the second part, the above described tract of land, to have and to hold the same with all his rights, privileges and immunities thereunto belonging, to the said Havilah Beardsley, his heirs and assigns forever." This is duly signed, and in the course of the following year the presidential approbation of the transaction, signed with the hand of Andrew Jackson, arrived at Elkhart.

Believing that he had a clear title to the land upon which he proposed to lay out a town. Doctor Beardsley employed George Crawford, a Government surveyor and a relative by marriage, to do the work for him. The survey and the plat were completed some time in 1832. Very soon after the doctor had obtained the Moran deed he set about improving the land. First he built a mill for grinding corn at the mouth of Christiana Creek. Its burrs were fashioned from native bowlders and the corn was ground without bolting. A sifter was soon added, much to the delight of the Indians and few white settlers. In the following year the father of Elkhart placed a rope ferry across the St. Joseph River just below the mouth of the Christiana, and near the cornmill built a sawmill. These were the first mills of the kind in the country. The next year he dammed the Elkhart, and erected a sawmill near Voicnet's flouring mill, then one on Yellow Creek and another on the Baugo at Jim Town. At these mills the best grades of ash, poplar and black walnut lumber were sold for $3 to $4 per 1,000 feet.

During the years '33-34 and '35 most of the public lands were sold to settlers ; town lots were in demand, buildings were erected and population rapidly increased; all demanding an increase of manufactured products. So the doctor improved his cornmill by the addition of machinery to grind wheat and, at a point where the highway crosses the Christiana on Cassopolis Street, he built an oilmill, a woolen factory and public carding machines and, at the foot of Main Street, established another rope ferry across the St. Joseph River.

But in 1835 '^1' ^^^^ activities of the town were suddenly paralyzed by Godfrey, a Frenchman of Detroit, who claimed to be the rightful owner of section 5, by right of a deed dated earlier than the doctor's. Being wards of the Government, Indians could not themselves execute titles, but must apply to the Indian Department at Washington. Godfrey's deed was issued by the department with Commissioner General Tipton's approval, but was not approved by the then President Jackson as required by law. Moran had presented the facts of the transaction to the President, begging his non-approval of the sale on the charge of fraud, claiming that Godfrey had induced him to drink excessively and, while drunk, obtained consent to the transfer for the consideration of one old wornout horse and cart valued at $25. Although the doctor had paid a fair price and had a clear title, while Godfrey's defective one was obtained by fraud and repudiated by Moran as soon as he became sober, yet the case was contested in court by Godfrey for six or seven years so stubbornly that," in the interest of property holders as well as his own, the doctor effected a compromise by deeding to Godfrey all, or a part of all that part of section 5 lying south of the St. Joseph River and east of the Elkhart River. During the time of the litigation the town stood still, no lots were sold, a few demanded the purchase money returned to them, which was done, and all the titles were considered worthless, while many speculated anxiously upon the possibility of recovering damages from the doctor.

But the doctor's zeal never relaxed. He continued building mills and personally attended to the management of his extensive business. He opened up a farm in the heavy timber three miles south of Elkhart, he ministered to the sick, was active in urging the locating and opening of highways and buildings of needed bridges and in the interest of his suit for title made two trips to Washington and several journeys on horseback to Indianapolis. His principal attorneys were Jesse D. Bright, of central Indiana, and Judge Niles, of Laporte.

About the year 1840 Doctor Beardsley canalled the waters of the Christiana across to the bluff of the St. Joseph, obtaining a fall of twenty-six feet; here he built a flouring mill which, until 1904, did a large and constant business, and about the year 1846 built a paper mill, using power drawn from the same canal. With the exception of one at Peru, Indiana, tliis was the first one built in the state. In 1850 he was active in securing the location of the Michigan Southern Railway Company, and, being a director in that company.

his influence and liberal donation to the company of land secured for Elkhart the location of the company's machine shops, which have added largely in the development of the town. From the fact that he prospered in all his various enterprises it will be seen that he was a man of ability, energy and sagacity; his energy was such that during the sickly seasons he rode day and night on horseback, sleeping as he rode, attending upon the sick, covering a distance of fifteen or more miles in each direction. His ability as a physician and surgeon was recognized as the best in the country; and yet with all these duties he served the county one term as associate judge and was talked of as a candidate for governor on the whig ticket. He was broad, liberal and conservative in opinion, benevolent in spirit, whig in politics, and Swedenborgian in religion, and as founder of the City of Elkhart is held in the highest respect by its citizens.

At Greenfield, Ohio, in 1823, Doctor Beardsley married Rachel E. Calhoun, first cousin to the statesman, John C. Calhoun, which proved a union of the most perfect harmony of mind and spirit. She sympathized with him in his enterprises and willingly shared in the hardships attending those who are in the van of civilization. Their son, J. R. Beardsley, gave Island Park to Elkhart; two sons, Charles and J. R. Beardsley, and a son-in-law, B. L. Davenport, served two sessions each as state senators, and Richard Beardsley, the youngest son, became distinguished in public life. He served in the United States army as paymaster on the gunboat Owasco during the Rebellion and participated in the capture of New Orleans and the siege of Vicksburg, and for bravery was recommended for promotion by Commodore Porter, was appointed by President Lincoln United States Consul to Jerusalem and subsequently was promoted to consul general for the United States at Cairo, Egypt. Secretary Seward, in his book of travel around the world, says he found Mr. Beardsley one of the brightest diplomats in the service. He died at Cairo in January, 1876, and by request of the people of that city was buried there and in evidence of their esteem they erected a fine monument to his memory. Doctor Beardsley died in 1856 at Elkhart, his wife surviving him until 1890.

until his death. He assisted his father in his various industrial enterprises and was always largely interested in various large mills of the place. For a time he was president of the First National Bank and was a director in it at the time of his death. Mr. Beardsley was also the city's second mayor in 1876-78 and represented Elkhart County in the State Senate during the two terms commencing 1866 and 1870. Island Park, which he deeded to the city, was a portion of the original tract of land conveyed to Doctor Beardsley by Moran.

Elijah H. Beardsley, a younger brother of Havilah, accompanied his parents from New York to Ohio, being then a young boy. In 1837, then about thirty years of age, he settled at Dayton. He was a wagon maker by trade. In 1847 was born his son, Albert R. Beardsley. In 1853 the family moved to Beardsley Prairie, in northern St. Joseph's County, Indiana, and there Albert R. went to school. When seventeen years old he commenced his long business career as a clerk in an Elkhart store. Afterward he became a leader in many industrial and financial enterprises and a prominent republican. An indication of his prominence in public and political aiTairs is furnished by this simple statement of the positions which he filled: Elected city clerk of Elkhart, in 1872; city treasurer, in 1876; member of the city council, 1892-96; member of the House of Representatives for the Sixty-first General Assembly and of the Senate for the Sixty-fourth ; delegate to the State Republican Convention, 1896 and 1898; appointed colonel on the governor's staiif, 1897.

Returning more definitely to the pioneer period of the county's history as applied to the region at the forks of the Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers, the writer cannot do better than to rely mainly upon the facts brought out in the historical edition of Truth for 1900. It explains how Elkhart was named, thus :

"Just how the name of Elkhart originated has been difficult to discover. But it is supposed that the origin of the name is due to the Indians, who camped at the raouth of the St. Joseph and Elkhart rivers in the early days. It was for years a favorite camping ground for the aborigines and the beautiful island that nestles at the confluence of these charming streams is said to resemble an elk's heart. Elkhart river and Elkhart Prairie were both named before any settlement had sprung up on the present site of the city. This was about the year 1828. To Dr. Havilah Beardsley the honor of naming the village, now city, of Elkhart falls. Dr. Beardsley can justly be called the 'Father of Elkhart,' as he owned the land upon which part of the city now stands, having purchased it from the Indians. He gave the name of Elkhart to the tract of land lying immediately south of the river and the name first came into general use in the year 1832.

"Elks must have abounded in this region in the early days, as the pioneers frequently found elk's horns in the vicinity of the river. The insignia of the city, a pair of elk's horns mounted on a red heart, had an amusing origin. Out on the Elkhart prairie in the early days Billy Wilkinson conducted a tavern known as the 'Elkhart Inn' or 'Hoosier's Rest.' Over the door swung and creaked a sign that was emblematic of the name. It was the picture of a fat and thrifty elk and beneath it was an illustration of a heart, evidently not an elk's heart as it too closely resembled the familiar design found on a deck of playing cards. The design, however, is used to this day to designate the City of the Forks."

The original town of Elkhart included fifty-four lots and was bounded on the north by Washington Street, on the east by the Elkhart River, on the south by Pigeon Street, and on the west by the alley west of Second Street. 'Mum and Washington streets were made SS^i feet wide and the other streets, Jefferson, Jackson, Pigeon and Second, 66 feet wide. On January 3, 1835, an addition or continuation was made to the Town of Crawford and this map is on file with the city clerk, having been presented, for historical purposes to the city some years ago, by J. R. Beardsley, son of the founder of Elkhart. This extension was to High, Vistula and the St. Joseph River. Today the city covers over two miles square of territory.

Beebe, at the northwest comer of Main and Jackson streets. Across the street from the present site of the Hotel Bucklen, Mr. Beebe erected a store building, and \vithi;i the old village limits, although a store had been opened prior to that time on the north bank of the St. Joseph by Renssalaer Harris. Familiar to the present generation are the names of the early merchants, as their descendants .still live in our midst. Among them were Elijah Beardsley, N. F. Broderick, John Davenport, J. S. and A. Defrees and George Crawford. Later on Stephen Downing conducted a tavern on the Beebe site. The Beebe home was a very hospitable place and Airs. Beebe was noted for miles around for being a great entertainer. It was she that made the first wedding garments and also the first funeral robe used in the little village. Dr. Havilah Beardsley was the first physician in the town, he having commenced practice when he moved out from Ohio in 1830. Dr. Kenyon followed in 1834. Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, a young physician followed shortly afterwards. He stated years ago that when he first came to Elkhart the country was infested with disease and that he had known eleven persons to be sick in one room fifteen feet square. All this is changed now, as no healthier spot can be found.

George Craw-ford was a prominent citizen in those pioneer days. In company with John Huntsman he built the first gristmill in 1829 at the confluence of the St. Joseph and Christiana Creek and was the first postmaster, the office being known as Pulaski and located within eighty rods of the old gristmill. When the office was moved from that site across the river and changed to Elkhart, Mr. Crawford was still in charge. His term of office was from 1829 to 1837. Mails were only received once a week and the duties were not very laborious. Capt. O. T. Chamberlain has an envelope bearing the ancient postmark of Pulaski in his collection of relics.

During 1836 the parents of Guy C. Johnson moved into Osolo Township and settled on a farm about lyi miles from the present northern limits; in fact, the City of Elkhart embraces part of Osolo and Concord townships. Several months before the family arrived Mr. Johnson's father, leaving the family in Toledo, came on to the new Eldorado and finding it to his liking, took his brother's ox-team and started for the family. Six children, the mother and all of the household goods were packed into one wagon and the western journey begun. Out of the forest trees a log cabin, without windows or chimney, and with only one door, was soon built and the frontier life began. Mr. Johnson lived on the old farm until fourteen years ago when he moved into the city. In 1853, with many of the gold seekers, he drove an ox-team to California. The pleasures of those pioneer days were few. It was the hardest kind of work clearing up the farms and there were no advantages. Mr. Johnson says that the event of the year was to take a trip to .St. Joe, on one of the arks or keel boats.

In 1836 Mrs. Stillman, who lives on what is now Lexir^gton Avenue, arrived in the little settlement, and although over ninety years old, her mind is very active regarding the pioneer days. It was also in 1836 that the parents of Joseph Devor reached the City of the Forks. Mr. Devor was bookkeeper in the First National Bank and a very active man. The struggles of the early years and the transformation of the village to a city moves before his eyes as though it were a panorama.

An early pioneer visiting Elkhart in April, 1838, gives the following impressions of the village : "The only manufactory was a small flouring mill, with perhaps a saw mill on Christiana creek, near the mouth. The principal citizens were Doctor Beardsley, his nephew, Elijah Beardsley, George Crawford, Samuel P. Beebe, N. F. Broderick, Col. Downing, John Davenport, Hiram Morgan, James Defrees, Dr. P. S. Kenyon, Lorenzo Scoville, Wm. Beaumont, Gen. W. B. Mitchell, Jacob Frush, John Compton, Dr. Wm. R. Ellis and Henry Crampton. The only hotel was kept by Col. Downing (who died that year), on the present site of the Bucklen.

He was a good man ; but from the hungry look of the eagle on his sign, was dubbed by Judge Beebe as "Col. Buzzard.' The Judge resided oii the comer, northwest from the hotel, a very humble frame dwelling embowered in a shady grove, while a rough pole fence surrounded his lot. Morgan and Defrees kept the red store, and Davenport and Broderick had a store farther south. Elijah Beardsley dispensed justice to the people, as did also our venerable friend N. F. Broderick. The constables were Hiram Morgan and Joseph Dome. Gen. iMitchell was engaged as chief engineer in the survey of the Northern canal, and completed his labors about that period. George Crawford was serving his county in the State Senate, and was interested in one of the mercantile establishments. Real estate was at a low ebb ; lots ranging from $50 to $300.

"The southern and eastern portions of the town were covered with a thrifty forest, worth probably $15 an acre. The town had been christened 'Pulaski,' and its postoffice still bore that name. There was no church in the place; but occasional meetings were held by the Methodists and United Brethren in the school house. Sabbath school was an unknown institution. There was no regular whisky shop in the town ; but the merchants dispensed the needful by the quart when required for medicinal or other purposes ; but drunkenness had no existence in the community. During this year several new families arrived. Among them were the Shuey and Irwin families, Robert Sanford and the AIcKelveys. Judge Beebe was the character of the place. He had seen this beautiful spot as early as the year 1827 but did not locate here until after the town had been started. He was a man of intelligence and at that time had just been elected probate judge by three votes. He was a free thinker in religion and a practical joker."

At a little log cabin schoolhouse, situated on the banks of the Elkhart River, X. F. Broderick wielded the birch and taught the young Elkhartians the three "R's." He was the first schoolmaster in the village. In 1837 the second school building was erected on Second Street. The renowned "Tammany Hall" was built in 1836 and here for many years all classes of entertainment were given, from the temperance lecture to the amateur theatricals and occasionally some strolling player would excite the wonder of the inhabitants by his performance. This hall stood at the comer of Main and Jefferson streets. ]\Irs. Beebe opened a Sabbath school at her home and also gave instruction in English to the older boys and girls. Be- tween 1837 and 1840 Doctor Beardsley commenced the building of several mills. He erected a cornmill and a woolen and oil mill on the banks of the Elkhart. A little later when boats commenced to ascend the St. Joseph, warehouses were built along the Elkhart and there trading in farm produce and merchandise was conducted.