Hancock County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read)

in 1828, and composed of the entire eastern part of the county, what now constitutes the first commissioners district. In 183 1 it was reduced in size to thirty sections, its present limits. It is located in the south-eastern corner of the county, and is bounded by Rush count}- on the east, Shelby county on the south, Brandywine and Center townships on the west, and Center and Jacksan townships on the north. In extent it measures six miles north and south and five miles east and west. It is all located in township fifteen north and ranges seven and eight east ; two tiers of sections on the west are in range seven, and three on the east are in range eight.

The range line dividing the two fractional congressional townships, of which this civil township is composed, extends along the center of the road running north and south by Westland Post-Oflice.

The principal streams are Blue River, Six Mile Creek and Nameless Creek. Blue River cuts off" the south-east corner of the township, running through four sections, and receives from the north, in section twenty-nine, the waters of Six Mile Creek, and in section thirt\- the waters of Nameless Creek. Six Mile Creek is found in four sections of the south-eastern part of the count}', and Nameless Creek in five sections of the central portion, entering the central northern part and emptying in the central southern part. These were once all mill streams.

The first mill in the county was a small log structure on Blue River, erected by Joshua Wilson in 1824. It was situated above the old Wolf's mill, now Bacon's mill. The latter is the only water-mill now in the township.

Nameless Creek and Six Mile Creek both had at one time small sash saw-mills and corn crackers, all of which have long since been superseded by the modern inventions and improvements.

Jesse Hunt used to run a small saw and grist-mill on Six Mile Creek, near where the Kysers now live. The writer from 1850 to 1855 spent many a day at this mill while his grist of corn was being ground, and there saw the first sawing by water-power of his life.

Blue-River Townshit. 5 I.

John Hiinniciitt run a small saw-mill on Nameless Creek for a number of years, on what is now the William Brooks farm. There was also another small mill fvn-ther up the creek, near Westland Post-Office.

Elijah Tyner, in 1824, erected the first store of the township, as well as of the county ; and he continued to do business at the same place until his death, in 1872. The writer's first pair of boots came from this store. Tyner was not only a merchant, but an extensive farmer, stock raiser, and stock dealer. For a great many years he bought and drove nearl}^ all the stock raised and sold in that part of the county, and even in the adjoining portion of Shelby county. Tyner is also entitled to the credit of setting out the first orchard in the county. He brought the trees with him from the east.

The first fence in the county was built in this township. The builder was a man by the name of McCall. It was a brush fence, made of the branches of the trees which McCall had climbed and trimmed. McCall had previously cleared a little spot by hitching his faithful " Buck" and " Bright" to the grubs and " pulling them out by the roots."

Among the first settlers of this township were Andrew Evans, John Montgomery, Montgomery McCall, Harmon Warrum, Elijah and Solomon Tyner, John Osborn, Joshua Wilson, George Penwell, the Johnses, Adamses, James and Benajah Binford, Joseph Andrews, John Brown, David Dodge, David Smith, and others, with their families, were

The township in its native state presented some fine scenery ; especially in the rich bottom lands. The primitive trees were grand and stately, and some of them of enormous size. There is an oak now to be seen on the farm of Penn Binford that measured nine feet in diameter and about seventy feet to the first limb. It fell about the year 1852. It is said, by those who saw it, to have been large enough before the falling off of the bark to have made it possible to have driven an ordinary two-horse wagon and team from the butt to the first limb. The redbud skirting the streams in early spring presented a bright picture among the green and luxuriant foliage. Pea vines spice-brush, grape-vines, and nettles, were common everywhere.

The surface in the vicinity of the streams is somewhat hilly and undulating, w^hile on the uplands it is moderately level to gently rolling. The only portion that may be considered strictly level, is in the north-west corner. It is the dry est township in the countv. It consists of first and second-rate land, and is well improved and under good cultivation. Within its limits are many prosperous farmers, with fine residences, large barns, and good fences.

Its public schools, it having none other at present, are nine in number, arranged in three tiers of three eacli, and numbered regularly from one to nine, similar to the numbering of the sections in a congressional township. No. i being located in the north-east corner and No. 9 in the south-west corner. The teachers, for the present, are as follows: District No. i, Pleasantview, W. B. Hill; District No. 2, Temperance Hall, W. E. Scott; District No. 3, Jessups, James K. Allen ; District No, 4, Hopewell, Bertha Scott; District No. 5, Westland, Jethro Dennis; District No. 6, Hardy's Fork, Mattie Cofiield ; District No. 7, Handy's, John M. Winslow ; Distric No. 8, Gates' Harvey New ; District No. 9, Shiloh, Fannv Da^-is.

The churches are six in number, named and located as follows, to-wit : Shiloh, Baptist, located in the south-west corner of the township, near Elijah Tyner's old place ; Mt. Olivet, Christian Union, in the central portion, near the Newby farm ; Gilboa, M. E. church, in the northern central portion ; Westland, Friends, in the central portion, near Westland school-house, the voting precinct ; Pleasantview. Friends, in the northeastern part of the township, adjoining Samuel B. Hill's farm ; Western Grove, Friends, in the central western portion, on the pike near Mahlon Beeson's farm.

The present mills and factories of the township are as follows : Bacon's Flouring Mill, water-power, previously located ; Wiley's Saw-Mill, steam-power, in the western central portion ; Marsh's Tile Factory, one mile west of Westland P. O. ; Luse's Tile Factory, in the central northern portion.

The roads in Blue-river, like other parts of the county, were once mere paths "blazed out" through the thick timber and underbrush, which presents quite a contrast to its present graded and graveled highways. The township now has eight and one-half miles of toll pike in addition to her public unassessed roads, many of which are nearly, or quite, equal to the revenue roads.

The township has no railroad within its borders, but has five miles of the P., C. and St. L., the old "- Indiana Central," on its north line.

The number of acres assessed in the township for 1881 were 18,755, valued at $456,290. The improvements on the same were valued at $63,840. The total value of the personal property was put at $168,455. The total valuation of property, real and personal, was $688,585. The full amount of taxes due from the township for the current year is $6,540.47.

present, especially in a linancial point of view, are the following, each of whom will pay taxes to the amount of $40 and upwards for the year 1881, to be paid in 1882 :

At the present time the township has but one justice, - Elijah Tyner, - and he is not Hkely to become wealthy from the profits of the office, notwithstanding that he is much of a gentleman ; but he is living in a quiet community of peaceable people, who patronize the courts onlv in case of necessity, and hence are seldom engaged in pett}' lawsuits and acrimonious legal contests.

The township has one located physician, in the person of Dr. Oliver Andrews, allopathist, and son of Joseph Andrews, deceased, one of the pioneers. Much of the practice of the township is divided up between the physicians of the surrounding towns - Greenfield, Carthage, Morristown, Charlottesville, and Cleveland. Among the physicians who practiced in the township thirty and fortv 3'ears ago, were : Drs. Lot Edwards, B. F. Duncan, R. E. Barnett, N. P. Howard, of Greenfield ; John Clark, Patterson and Stratton, of Carthage ; Whiteside and Riddle, of Knightstown ; Wolf, of Morristown, and Edmundson, of Blue-river. The latter was a one-armed man, located on the Joseph Binford farm, where he also kept a small store. A few years later Dr. Newby held forth at Moore's shop, in the eastern part of the township.

Samuel Heavenridge built the first store, at Westland, in about the year 1852. It was a small log structure. He sold to Levi Reece ; Reece to Ambrose Miller and Henry Newby ; Miller & Newby to Calvary G. Sample, who run the store for a few years, and then sold out at public auction about the beginning of the civil war. There was no store in the place then until Wm. New opened up. New sold to Lemuel Harold and Levi Cloud ; Cloud sold his interest back to Harold, who afterward formed a partnership with James L. Binford ; Binford sold back to Harold, and Harold to Binford Brothers, who were burned out on the 13th of April, 1881, since which time there has been no store in the place. Joel Pusey erected a building in the eastern part of the township in about the

Of the men who once lived in the township, and now reside elsewhere, are : The News, of Greenfield ; James P. Galbreath, of Kansas ; the Binfords, of Iowa ; Elias Marsh, editor of the Commercial^ Portland, Jay county,

Indiana ; Amos Beeson, editor of the Winchester younial, and one of the trustees of the northern prison ; Milton Hodson, a former partner of Beeson's in the yotinial \ Prof. Penn Hunnicutt, of Iowa; Hon. Noble Warrum, Dr. M. M. Adams, and the writer, of Greenfield ; Oliver Butler, attorney, of Richmond ; James L. Binford and the Tyners, merchant and traders, of Morristown ; Eli Galbreath, attorney, Pittsburg; Ephraim Bentlev, commissioner, now of Brand3^wine ; Prof. Joseph R. Hunt, of Indianapolis; Dr. Handy, of Arkansas; Mrs. R. P. Hill, of Rush county, author of a book of poems ; Levi Binford, druggist, Joseph Binford, farmer and banker, John Hunnicutt, carriage-maker, and Dr. Nuby, of Carthage.

Of the ex-county officers now residing in the township, we call to mind Ex-Treasurer George W. Hatfield and Ex-County Surveyor Calvary G. Sample.

The value, in the judgment of the writer, of the nine frame school-houses in this township is $4,500 ; value of apparatus, $400 ; total value of school property, $4,900.

At the presidential election for 1880, the township was republican by sixty-eight majority, the vote standing as follows: Republican vote, 175; Democratic vote, 107; Greenback vote, 18; total vote, 300. Blue-river in 1836 cast 32 votes ; in 1840, 38 ; in i860, 212.

Chapter Hi

old Father Hubbard, in what was then known as the Allen School-House, in district No. 3. Among its early preachers were Elders Hubbard, Epplesizer and Jonathan Lineback. Its early members were Jonathan and Polly Lineback, Absalom Dayis and wife, Eli and Anna Risley, John and Catharine New, and Miss Lizzie Miller. The same church was reorganized in the year 1862, by Elder W. A. Gross, at what is now called the Temperance Hall School-House, in district No. 2, with a few members, prominent of whom were Jonathan Lineback and wife. Nathan Newby and wife, and Abraham Lineback and wife. The membership at that time was about fifty-six. The present building was erected in 187 1, at a cost of $1,000. It was dedicated in June, 187 1, by Elder Homer. A. H. Allison built the church, and was the first preacher, followed by Elders John Biu^ket, Dayenport, and Peter Baker. Some of the present members are : Miles S. Cook and wife, Walter S. Luse, John Hackleman, Polly Lineback, and others, about forty in number. Preaching, usually, once a month.

was erected in 1879, '^^ "^ ^'-"^^ ^^ $2,000. being the second in the township. It manufactures about 1,500 rods of tile per annum. Has been in operation eleyen years. Total amount manufactured, 16.500.

in Blue-riye tovynship, was built in 1879, '^^ '*- ^'^^^ of $1 ,500. Capacity, 3,500 feet per day. It turnishes work for six hands, and ships lumber to Indianapolis, Buffalo and Cleyeland. The mill is in the northern part of the township, a little south of the National road.

The subject of this sketch was born in Abbeyille District, South Carolina, in 1797. He was the second son of the Rey. William Tyner, a Baptist minister, who remoyed from South Carolina to Kentucky in the \ear 1802, and from thence to Indiana in 1805, near J^rookville ; thence to Decatur county. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Tvner was married to Martha McCure, of FrankHn county. In 1820 he came to Hancock countv, or the territory now -comprising the county, which the reader will remember was not organized till eight years afterward ; and eyen Madison, from which Hancock was struck off in 1828, was not organized till 1823. In 1821, September 19, he entered eighty acres of land in Blue-river township, being the third entry made in the county. The iirst entr\' was made August 10, 1821, by Harmon Warrum, and the second August 23, by James Tyner. In 1822 Mr. Tyner married Mary Nelson, who died in 1830. In 1832 he was again married, this time to Sarah Ann Hollerston. Mr. Tyner was one of the staunch pioneers, coming into the county within two years from the first settlement made b\' the "pale-face." As a merchant, he was honest and accommodating, and thereby gained the esteem of all who knew him. Elsewhere we have shown that he was not onh' a pioneer merchant, stock-trader and farmer, but he was the hrst in the county to give any attention to horticulture, having set out an orchard in the year 1822, according to the best information now at hand. Mr. Tyner also acted as a kind of common carrier between the early settlers and the market. As a father, he was kind-hearted and gentle. He raised a large family, and provided well for them. As a neighbor, he was highly respected on account of his many amiable qualities. In politics, he was a \yiiig and republican, but liberal in his views. He was a Baptist in faith, but by no means a bigot. He liberally supported the church, and every good cause found in him a friend and substantial encouragement. His remains lie buried in Shiloh cemetery, near his home, where loving hands have <^rected a stately monument to mark his last resting place.

ship, Hancock county, Indiana, in December, 1827. He moved into a small log cabin covered with clapboards ; half of the floor was of rough slabs ; the front and other half was simply the earth made smooth and pounded firm. The tire-place and chimney were very rude, made of rock, mud and sticks. It would admit a back log of six or seven feet in length. The loft was made of rough boards.

There was not then a public road in the township ; only a path "blazed" through the woods to a distant neighbor's cabin. He had but one neighbor within less than a mile, and that was James Wilson, who had settled two years before on the farm now occupied by Augustus Dennis.

About 1830, while a man moving into the township was crossing the small stream that flows south, asked the name of the creek. Being told that it had none, he said : -' It is a ' nameless creek f " which name it still retains.

When the Aliens came, almost the whole surface of the earth was covered with undergrowth, which consisted of spice brush, pea vines, and coarse grass. Cattle and horses subsisted on it nearly the whole year. Hogs fattened on the mast almost entirely, and were penned only for a few days before killing time, and then that they might be fed a little corn to harden the lard. There was an abundance of wild gooseberries, plums and ginseng. "The latter I have often gathered," says Thompson Allen, his son, " and dried for market, which sold at about twentv-five cents per pound." There were wolves, wild cats, turkeys, and white and black squirrels in great numbers ; and in the summer and fall, when the corn was ripening, the daily employment of the bo3^s was to scare the squirrels away from the corn field.

Mr. Allen's plow was of the old wooden mold-board kind. He cut his wheat with a sickle, and either carried or hauled it on a sled ; then threshed it out with a flail on a dirt floor. If the wind was blowing, he would clean it by standing and slowly pouring the wheat to. the ground in a small stream, letting the wind blow the chaft' away.

For several years he had no cook stove ; all the cooking was done by the fire. The johnny-cake board was as common then as a tea-kettle is now.

They had no apples, peaches, or tame fruits, but sub- .stituted pumpkins, and, of course, were very familiar witli pumpkin pies. Dried pumpkins were laid up in the fall, which served for dessert when they had companv or on Sunday mornings for breakfast. On one occasion Mr. Allen went out to a mill on Flat Rock, and on his return brought home with him about half a bushel of apples, the first ever seen by the children. The mother gave each of them an apple, and put the rest away in the loft, telling them that, as she now had some flour, they must not touch the apples, and she would make some pies. That night Thompson Allen woke up, and hearing the boards rattle, looked in the direction of the apples, and presently saw something white descending, which proved to be one of his brothers, who could not refrain from the unfrequent temptation of satisfying a keen appetite superinduced b^- that one apple.

The first school-house in the north part of the township was built on the southern part of Noble Warrum's farm, in section six, township fifteen. It was made of logs, and had five corners. It was not chinked and daubed ; had no windows and but one door. A man by the name of Sanford taught the first school therein. The second school was taught by Mr. McPherson. One day a boy had done something contrary to the "rules,'' and the teacher, to punish him, made him go outdoors and climb up in a dogwood sapling ; he then detailed another boy to stand at the foot of the bush and keep him up there.

"In 1844," sa3's Thompson Allen, "I commenced teaching school. The price then was about thirty dollars per term of sixty-five days, about ten dollars of it being public money. The law required teachers to have certificates, but the examinations were not verv rifjid. Once

I went to Greentield to get license. I told the eK'aminer what I wanted. lie said: 'How long will you be in town? Call before you go home, and I will have them ready. I am busy now.' I called, ga^-e him fifty cents, his fee, and received m}- license, without being asked a single question.

The tirst man that preached in the northern part of the township was Father McClain, the father-in-law of Wesley Williams, of Jackson township.

On the tit'th Saturday in Ma\\ 1841, a number of Baptists met at the house of Richard Hackleman, in the southwestern part of the township, to consider the propriety' of organizing a chmxh. After some consultation, they agreed to call a council of brethren, to meet at the house of Solomon Tyner on the fourth Saturday of the next month. At this council there were thirteen persons present, and they organized by choosing Elder McQiuu-v as moderator and J. T. Price as clerk. After some deliberation the council proceeded to adopt a constitution. The names of the constituent members were as follows, to-wit : Solomon Tyner, John H. Caldwell, John M. Duncan, Jemima Tyner, Nancy Duncan, Caroline Randall, and Rosanna Caldwell ; being seven members in all, which was increased to fifteen at their next meeting. Elder McQi.uu-v was their first pastor. He was one of Indiana's pioneers : a man of unusual energ}' and piety, and his preaching was considered powerliil and impressive. His hallowed influence still sur\ives in tiic hearts of nian\- of the brethren.

The church continued to hold her meetings from house to house until the 3'ear 1854 - ^^^^ then erected a frame building, 30x40 feet, at a cost of $800. The house is on the pike, just north of Tyner's old store, on the south-east corner of section 26, township lit"teen north, range seven east. This house is still her place of worship.

Shiloh hrst asked admission, and was received, into the Lebanon Association ; but afterward withdrew, and, for convenience, joined the \Vhite Water Association. It would be well to state here that Baptist churches are not under the control of a superior organization, but each church is independent. The association is merely an annual meeting tor mutual correspondence. One session of the Lebanon Association and three sessions of the White Water Association have been held with this church. It was here that the Lebanon Association was held in August, 1846, at which time the great question of " Means and anti-Means" was discussed. Some churches had already divided, each party sending messengers, whose seats were contested. It was an exciting time, and party spirit ran high. Those of the means party claimed that "God quickens, regenerates and makes alive dead sinners bv his spirit through the written and preached word. That God has proposed salvation in the Gospel to the world of mankind. That Jesus did not die as man, but as God." The anti-means party claimed that " God quick- ens the sinner by the power of his spirit without the aid or instrumentality of human power. That the written and preached word is for the instruction and comfort of God's people after they have been quickened by his power. That God has not proposed salvation to any one, but has secured the salvation of all saints by the blood of Christ ; and that repentance and remission of sins is a gift of God, and not the act of the creature by the free volition of his will." They also held that " Christ died as man and not as God." Other points were discussed, but the foregoing are the main ones.

This church is anti-means, and though at present numbering but thirty members, it is at peace with mankind, and enjoying a reasonable degree of prosperit}-.

was born October 10, 1787, in Prince George county, N. C, and came to Hancock county in 1826, and was one of the first settlers of Blue-river township. He was married to Mary Ladd in 1817, by whom he had five children, viz. : Robert, Ann, Joseph, Benjamin, and William L. Mr. B. was married a second time to Jane Binford, to whom were born one chfld. In politics, Mr. B. was a staunch whig ; and, notwithstanding his father had owned and worked slaves, he was bitterly opposed to the accursed traffic, and never hesitated to denounce it in the strongest terms consistent with his Christian profession. When in health he was regular in attendance at the place of worship with the Society of Friends, the church of his choice, twice or more per week.

Mr. B. was a very plain-spoken man, yet kind-hearted, and ever ready to help the worthy poor. He was also very conscientious, and although he loaned a great deal of money for his time, he was never known to accept more than six per cent, interest, nor usury in an}^ form. By industrv, strict economv, and the avoidance of all vicious iind luxurious habits, he succeeded in amassing a neat fortune, and was thereby enabled to do much for charitable purposes, and to give each of his five children a quarter of a section of good land, and as much more in ready cash. He died August 19, 1863, aged seventy-five years, eleven months and eighteen days, and was buried according to the simple custom of the Friends at the Walnut Ridge burying-grounds, in Rush county, Indiana. His first wite died in 1822, and was buried in North Carolina, and his second December 14, 1867, at the age of seventynine years and nine months, and was buried beside her husband.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Clinton county, Ohio. Date of nativity, March 31, 1807. He was principally raised in North Carolina ; came to Milton, Indiana, in 1828 and remained till 1831, when he came to Hancock county, and shared with the few settlers the privations and hardships of frontier life. The roads were to make, the forests were to clear, the wild animals to exterminate, and the physical man to provide with food, clothing and shelter. The first winter Mr. Coffin was in the county he, in common with many others, did without bread for weeks at a time, owing to the mills being frozen up so that they could not grind, there being no steam mills in those days. They lived on potatoes, pumpkins, and wild game.

Mr. Coffin has traveled quite a good deal, has a retentive memory, and takes great pleasure in telling of the sights. From 1850 to 1852 he lived in Iowa; thence he wended his way across the plains to the gold regions of California, where, for two years, he had an experience brighter in imagination than in reality. From California Mr. C. returned to Iowa, by way of Panama, New York and Chicago. But still not contented with any point vet visited between the Atlantic and Pacific, save on the fertile, salubrious soil of old Hancock, he determined to retrace his steps, and accordingly, in 1865, permanentl\- located in Blue-river towrivship ; where, with the wife of his bosom and the companion of his travels, he is enjoying a peaceful old age ; and would, doubtless, take pleasure in telling the reader a hundred fold more than we have recorded.

Mr. Dennis was born in Virginia in June, 1827 ; came to Hancock county in 1844 ; w^as married to Miss Jemima C. Tyner in October, 1847. Mr. D. was bred on a farm, and has given that branch of industry his whole attention. He came to the county a poor boy, with only twelve and one-half cents in his pocket, and worked at eight dollars per month. He now has a good farm in tine state of cultivation.

Mr. D. is an uncompromising democrat, 3'et he accords to others what he asks for himself - liberty to think and act for himself. He has ever since early manhood been identified with some religious society, connecting himself fii'st with the Methodists, and later becoming a member of the Friends Society, as it best suited his opinions and convenience, without the sacrifice of any vital principle taught bv the church of his first choice.

Mr. D. was elected countv commissioner lor the first commissioner's district in 1878 over Elisha Earles, a worthy opponent, by 3,000 majority.

He has always taken a decided stand on the side of temperance, both by example and precept, and even hesitated to qualify as commissioner, owing to the relation of the office with the licensing of the traffic.

vania in an early day, and who was recognized as an expert w'ith the rifle, and also a proficient backwoodsman, being constantly employed as scovit and trailer. He died when the subject ot" the above sketch was quite a child, leavinn" him in the care of an uncle, whose name was Thomas Consley, on whom fell the duty of educating him for the stern realities of frontier life which he was destined to experience. After arriving at majority, he became a rather cool, self-possessed man, endowed with great courage and pM^sical ability. He was quick to resent a wrong and never forgot a kindness. He w'as an active, strong man, having fouo'ht, wrestled and run with both whites and reds, but never vanquished.

He came to Indiana about the year .1807, and in 1809 or 1810 married a young lady of English descent, who had lately emigrated from Georgia. Her name was Edith Butler. I was born in 1819, and when about four years of age my father moved to Hancock county (then a part ot Madison), and settled on Blue River, in the southern part of the county, and took a title for the land now owned and occupied by Dayton H. Gates, Esq. This was the lirst piece of land entered in the county : he alse entered the last piece situated on Swamp Creek - the tirst on August 10, 1821, and the last on January 16, 1854.

When he first came to Blue-river it was a dense wilderness for miles and miles ; no sound save the rustling ot the leaves, the moaning of the wind, and the angry voice of the storm cloud ; no music broke the calm stillness of the summer air save the buzzing of mosquitoes, the howling of the ravenous wolves, or the fierce }'ell of the prowling panther : no noisv hum of laboring factories ; no clanking hammers in dusty shops. No, the great work-house of nature, covered with the blue canopy of heaven, walled in only bv the horizon, and lit up by nature's lamps, sufficed. Then we heard no ringing of Sabbath church bells; no locomotive whisde. Had a train of cars passed through the country at that time, the pioneers would have declared it haunted.

Our nearest neighbors, about seven or eight miles distant, living on Brandywine, were the families of Roberts, Montgomery and Stephenson ; but after awhile here came the Tyners and Johnses ; also, Penwells, Watts and Wilsons to our immediate neighborhood. But neighbors living then at a distance of eight or ten miles apart were more neighborly than those of to-day in adjoining lots. Well, as neighbors kept coming, cabins were being put up in every direction. Everything in a bustle, and all at work that could work. The pioneer cabin was cheaplv made and easily constructed. Ours was built of round logs, notched to lay closely together ; the roof was of four-foot clapboards, weighed down by poles laid across each course of boards ; then there was what was termed the " eaves bearer," a log laying parallel with the ends of the cabin, and projecting about eighteen inches over the wall ; a good splitting stick was selected, split through the center, placed on the ends of the "eaves bearer," and notched for the roof boards to butt against ; this was called the "butting pole" ; a door-way was sawed out, and the logs were used as steps ; then a window was cut, a s/'iiglc opening ; we called it a window because it was the largest hole in the cabin to let in the light ; it was made by placing .sticks across as a frame-work, on which a piece of greased newspaper was placed ; through this the light shone like <lim moonshine through the room ; the chimney was built sticks and mud, and was called " cat and clay chimney." While this rude hut was being constructed bv father, mother, a hired hand from a distance, and my oldest sister, the family were living, with all of their household goods, in a hollow sycamore tree.

After moving into our new house, we furnished it with a couple of one-legged bedsteads, produced by father's own hands ; and he not being a professional mechanic, they were, consequently, not so stylish as those from the factories of to-day. But I rested just as easy on them as many do to-day on their seventy-tive dollar bedsteads.

Hlue-River Townshii'

Such a thing as a nail was not to be had. The hinges were of wood, and the door-hitch, a wooden catch, or trigger, which, when shut, was opened from the outside by pulling a string, one end of which was fastened to the latch, and the other, passing througli a hole in the door above, hung outside, so that those who wished could enter. To lock the door, you would pull the string inside. Hence the stereotyped expression, " the latch-string hangs out."

Half the floor, which was made of puncheons lying loosely across the sleepers, was not finished for about a year after we moved into our cabin home. The hired man soon left, declaring that he would stay no longer where the air was black with gnats and mosquitoes. Said he : -' If they were the size of me, I would light them ; but they are just a little too small and too many to keep company with." T have seen the air darkened by flies, gnats, and mosquitoes, a number of them weighing over a pound : but I can't say that it would take a small number.

The winters passed on slowly, but we had always an excellent supply of venison on hand. Being an excellent marksman, father's table groaned under the abundant supply of turkies and deer ; but it was an impossibility to procure salt with which to preserve the venison. It was then necessarily taken through a process called "jerking." This operation was performed by cutting the fleslw parts of the body of the deer, cross-grained, into thin slices, which were duly placed on splits and hung inside of our "cat and clay chimney" and garret to dry, after which process it would keep from months to years. When in very great need of salt, father would make his way back to Wayne county in quest of that rare article. I remember on one occasion, after his journey of riding one horse and leading the other, on whose back the salt was strapped, that when we had removed the bag of salt, we removed the hair also, for the brine caused by the melting of the salt had lain bare the sides of the horse.

beiiiL;" ab )ut t\vent\-Hvo miles, lather imui^ined it quite convenient tor milling". And as he was a skillful backwoodsman, and had some knowledge of the route and locality, it was agreed that hi should take his yoke of oxen and the fore wheels of his wagon, and with a "turn of corn '" h)r himself and each of his neighbors, cut his may through to Fall Creek Mills. Preparing himself with ammunition and his gun, followed by his trusty dog, he "'blazed"" his \va\- through the thick forest. And after receiving his grinding, he started upon his homeward journey ; at night. '" coralling '" his oxen and making his bed under his cart, he made his dog lie at his feet as a protection from the wolves. One night the wolves approached where he was laving, and the poor dog kept crawling higher and higher until he lay on father's face. He awoke and frightened the w^olves away. When he returned home, after beingabsent four or five days, he was sure to bring in some four or five pairs of venison hams, the same number of deer skins, three or four wald cats, and about a dozen raccoon skins. Those deer skins w^ere ver\' useful, as I was clothed almost entirely in buckskin, dressed bv mv father's hand and cut and sewed with whang, or thongs, b\' the hand of my mother. Father always kept on hand from six to a dozen dressed deer skins. And when mv mother would treat me to a new pair of buckskin breeches, I felt very proud, and w^ould hang on to mv old ones as long as possible to save my new^ ones for Sundaw Occasionallv I was presented wath a buckskin hunting-shirt, a loose at the bottom and tight at the top arrangement similar to a sack coat, having a cape wdiich hung over the shoulders, fringed all around by splitting the cape into threads for some two or three inches from the edges, similar to the flynets w^e cover horses with to-day. I have attended dances where all of the young men were incased in their buckskin suits. Then the girls were neatly attired in plain dress. Little did they care for outside show\ Thev lived for something higher than an earthly fancy, Thev looked not after the fashions of the day. Thev had pride, it is true, but wisdom too. Their pride was for their home and countr\', and they labored for its upbuikhnir. They were good for the sake of goodness, and truer, better wives were never known. And in a few years they became ver^- attractive to me, especialh' the younger ones. It seems that it did not take as much to beautifv them then as now. I thought them the most beautiful of God's creation. None of those humps and tucks and frills, nor ribbon and lace and birds tails placed on top of their heads.

Praver-meetings were organized, to which ladies would walk a distance often of from four to five miles ; but the meetings were held almost always in the dav-time. On -one occasion it was announced that the Rev. James Havens (father of George) would preach at the widow Smith's cabin, on a certain night. Night meetings being tew, I attended, as much through curiosity as anything else, it being a rare thing ^o hear preaching ; it was always exhorting. Some time during service the dogs got to lighting at the door, causing considerable confusion, which soon subsided ; then the Rev. Havens took time to remark that the devil and the dogs always attended night meetings.

Almost everv" pioneer who attended church on the Sabbath, came with gun on his shoulder ; and if a deer or wolf crossed his track, and a favorable opportunity presented, he killed it. They were wide-awake and always on the lookout. And thus they were supplied with provisions. Father once killed three deers without, probably, moving from his tracks. The way of it was this : Father was out on a hunting expedition, walking through the forest, gun on shoulder, and I was riding a little distance behind, when we suddenly came upon three good-sized deer - one was an old one, while the others were apparently yearlings - grazing peacefully along, until the wellknown crack of my father's rifle laid the old one low ; the fawns stood watching their mater in the agonies of death until father, twice reloading, placed a veil between them and the painful sight - one falling dead on the spot, the other runninij some flfty yards before falling. I was, on that occasion, on horseback, a very common thing, for the purpose of carrying in the game ; frequently coming loaded with a dozen turkies. Usually in cool weather we tore out the entrails from the deer, and placing the end of a pole in the body would run it up a tree, thus preventing the wolves from making a meal of it ; and, if there was snow on the ground, we visited them soon, and, lashing them together with withes, hitched them to a horse and dragged them home on the snow. If there was no snow, we took them the best way possible.

Often a bear would lurk forth and attack some lonely pioneer's hog-psn, or poultry-house, or sheep-fold. Father kept his sheep in a pen a little in the rear of the house. This was to be able to protect them from the wolves, whose growls and snarls were heard many times at the fold. As a surer way of protecting the sheep, father went to Wayne county and procured- two savage curs. They could drive awa}^ or whip any wolf, but were never able to hold them until assistance arrived. From constant running, dogs were taken with a disease called the "slows." Father thought a great deal of his dogs, but lost them. One was bitten by a rattlesnake and died. It was no uncommon thing to kill from twenty to twenty-five black rattlesnakes in a day.

On one occasion my father returned from Shelby (there was no Shelbyville then, there being only a small blacksmith shop where it now stands), followed to the house by a pack of wolves.

Soon after Mr. Penwell settled in our vicinity. He came to father's house one morning and solicited his assistance, telling him that a large bear had attacked his hogs, killing one and devouring it within a stone's-throw of the house. They got father's bear dogs on the trail, and followed it as far as the Big Swamp, on Brandy wine, where all trace of it was lost, never getting sight of it but once. Our experience in backwoods life was full of such incidents.

in a very Inrge sycamore tree. After a great many trials, my father brought his trusty rifle and unerring aim to bear upon this "monarch of the clouds," and brought him to the ground severely wounded. He was then attacked by the dog, who soon drew olT much the worse for the wear, having the skin ripped open at the back and hanging down on either side. When at last he yielded, we stretched his wings apart, to lind that they were eleven and one-halt feet from tip to tip.

About this time there was a tanyard, the tirst there had been in the county, established a short distance south of Cleveland, by a Mr. Wood. To this we went for our tanned hog-skin, with which we soled our moccasins. It wore very well ; but if left too near the hre, the soles would curl up and burst off, and were to be tacked on every morning ; so it became necessary for us to rise quite early tor that as well as for earning our daily bread, which was some times more than half pumpkins, meal being scarce; this was called pumpkin bread.

Pumpkins being our only fruit, so to speak, we took pains to preserve them. First, we peeled them, hung some of them on poles, placed some of them in the garret, and some in the lower room, to dry. Frequently they were boiled, mashed fme, spread thin and smooth on a board, and dried into what was called " pumpkin leather." This was reserved for use when the pumpkins were gone. This was made into delicious pumpkin pies.

The first physician in my father's house was an old doctor from near where Freeport now stands, an old and venerable physician by name of Dr. Tracy. The second was Dr. Lot Edwards, one of the first doctors in Greenfield. The settlers in those days were principally their own M. D.\s, iisin*:^ roots and herbs instead of drug's and liquors. The medicinal properties ot" plants ^vere learned, to a large extent, from straggling Indians, whom the settlers saw quite often, sometimes in small tribes.

These old pioneers, when gathered together, were not quarrelling over the political issues of the day. They left that to those occupying the higher positions. They were not in the habit of gathering to listen to flighty orations, but simply sitting around giving their hunting narrations, encounters with bears, strugglings against want, and sufferings from mosquitoes. The world turned the same then as now, and turned just as easily, too. And I firmly believe that were our country thrown back into a wild condition, where nature's handiwork alone shone torth : replace these smooth, unbroken meadows \vith mighty branching oaks, towering maples and spreading b^ech : let deer, with arched necks and statel}' step, their haughty antlers bowed as the}- graze from the abundance of wild irrass lining the little rivulet, abound ; let the hoarse and angry growls of ever-famished wolves be heard ; the rustling of the leaves and breaking of limbs, over which the sluggish bears are stalking ; together with the life-like cry of unseen panthers, the howling of wild cats and the screaming of eagles, and people it with the same people ot to-day, it would go to the dogs, and the people eventuallv starve. This arises from a different kind of education. Those pioneers were men of iron wills and nerves of steel. They were endowed with a knowledge of the difference between right and wrong. Truth and honesty beamed from every countenance. They were industrious as well as adventurous. Though they loved the wild and savage backwoods life, they were working for the promotion of civilization. They knew none but the school of experience. At their touch the mighty monarchs of the forest turned to dust and ashes. At their glance the wild beast cowered. P'or their children and their posterity they toiled and denied themselves the luxuries of civilized life. ^'The latch string always hung outside of the door," so that the \vear\- pilgrim of lite might enter. You had but to ask, and you would recei\e. Tliey toiled. l'he\- practiced self-denial. For what? For their children. For the upbuilding of a civilized country. Have they not achieved success .'' Look aroimd you. Whence came these cities and towns, with their factories and shops and mills and beautiful buildings and churches? Whence came these lovely farms, wit!i their orchards of luscious fruits, their fields of waving corn, their ripe meadows, and gem-like lots of golden wheat? Had vou an ear for nature's song, these would Jill your ears with praises for those hardy pioneers, some of whom, much to the discredit of those for \vhom they toiled, are still in the Held, a few of them barely keeping want from their doors. They li\-ed, as God intended you and I and every one should live, by the sweat of the brow, determined to earn their bread before eating it. Many of them, like Columbus, never li\ed to enjoy what they achie\'ed, but we .hope are repaid b\' heavenly comfort.

The society held its meetings for ten years in a log house formerly used as a potter's shop, located a few rods north of the present building.

The first minister that ever preached in the house was x\senith Clark (Dr. Dugan Clark's mother), followed by Luther B. Gordon, Mahlon Hockett, Mary Rogers, Jane Jones, and several others. The present minister is Joseph O. Binford.

A Sabbath-school in connection with the church has been kept up the year around ever since its organization. Present superintendent, Thomas L. Marsh. Average attendance, iiftv.