Huntington County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 11 of those read), 1887

Jefferson Township - Surface - Features The Pioneers - Condition of the Early Settlements - Improvements - Mills, ETC. - Religious Organizations - Township Organization - Items of Interest - Pleasant Plains - Biographical Sketches.

TEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, which was named in honor of J the illustrious statesman and President, Thomas Jefferson, embraces an area of thirty-six square miles, or all of Congressional Township 26 north. Range 9 east, and is bounded as follows. Lancaster Township on the north, Salamonie on the east, Wayne on the west, and Grant County on the south. The Salamonie River flows through the northeast corner, along the margin of which are to be seen some broken lands with outcroppings of limestone in several localities. After leaving the river the land southward is generally level, while in the extreme southern part the country is flat, and before cleared was quite wet and unproductive. By artificial drainage however, and judicious cultivation, the soil has been greatly improved in quality, and in that particular makes a fair average with the other lands of the township. In the central part the lands possess a richness of soil not surpassed by any in the county, and in their primitive state were covered with heavy forests, the principal varieties of timber being: walnut, sugar, poplar, beech, oak, with a considerable proportion of hickory, ash, linden, and in fact nearly every kind of trees indigenous to Northern Indiana. Jefferson is a rich farming district, and upon every hand can be seen the evidences of prosperity, in the shape of commodious barns, elegant residences, well stocked fields, etc., while the presence of numerous school houses and churches show that the intellectual and spiritual welfare of the people have not been neglected.

The Pioneers. - The early history of Jefferson is similar in most respects to that of other townships of the county, especially in the facts and data that are matters of record. The pioneers who first sought homes amid the dense forests of this part of the county were not adventurers, but plain matter-of-fact men, who were lured to the new country by the advantages it offered in the way of cheap lands, which could at that time be obtained for the Government price of S3.00 per acre. To make a home in the woods was an undertaking attended with diflficulties and hardships, of which we of a later day can form but a faint conception. The wild condition of the country, the absence of roads, mills, etc., and the long distances to be traversed to the nearest market places, together with the general poverty of the settlements, together with the immense amount of drudgery and hard labor required in order to obtain a livelihood during the first few years, were obstacles well calculated to shake the determination of the most energetic and brave hearted of the pioneers. Theirs was, indeed, a task attended with many dangers, and the years of constant struggle and the motives which animated and nerved them, are deserving of all praise. Prior to the year 1834, the country embraced within the present limits of the township was the undisputed possession of the Indians, and save by an occasional daring hunter and trapper, attracted by the abundance of game, knew not the presence of white men. The land was surveyed by order of the Government in 1834, but it was not until the construction of the Wabash & Erie Canal through the county several years later that any attempt at settlement was made in the southern part of the county. It is generally conceded that the first actual settler, one George W. Helms, made his appearance late in the winter of 1834, and with his family, consisting of four persons, located a house where John Kratz now lives, in Section 12. Mr. Helms was a native of Tennessee, and resided in the township until his death in 1876 or 1877. It is not positively known who came next, but among those who followed close in the wake of Mr. Helms, was Peter Wire, who moved from Ohio early in the thirties and settled in Section 3, choosing for his home the place owned at this time by hfs son, James P. Wire. He was a man of local prominence, took an active interest in politics and in an early day served a term as County Commissioner. He was an honored resident of the township uutil his death, which occurred in the fall of 1883.

In the spring of 1836, John A. ^. Kordyke moved from Henry County, and settled in Section 6, where he lived until his death, in 1883. One son, Benjamin, and two daughters, Mrs. Snyder and Mrs. Abbott, are residents of the township at this time. William L. Taylor, in October, 1836, made a settlement in Section 24, and in September of the following year, Oliver ^V. Sanger, who had previously settled in Wayne Township, began improving a farm where Zachariah Carl now lives, in Section 17. Mr. Sanger was born in the state of Connecticut, but in an early day emigrated to Licking County, Ohio, from whence, in the fall of 1836, he made a tour of Northern Indiana for the purpose of securing a home in the new country then opened for settlement. After locating his land, Mr. Sanger remained for some months in an adjoining township, but at the time mentioned moved to Jefferson, of which he has since been an honored citizen. He took an active part in the organization of the township, served for a number of years as J ustice of the Peace and Trustee, and in 1 860 was elected Treasurer of Huntington County. He moved to his present home in 1857, and is the oldest living resident of the township at this time. William Purviance moved from Preble County, Ohio, in 1837, and made a home in Section 9, and about the same time Garrett Heffner erected a cabin, and began improving a farm in Section -Zl. The year 1838 witnessed the arrival of a number of substantial settlers, aniong whom are remembered Lewis Purviance, Enoch Preble, Nathan Anderson, Johnathan Arnold, William D. Williams, John Shull and a Mr. Stewart. Mr. Purviance settled in Section 9. He was a representative citizen and at one time served a term in the State Legislature. Enoch Preble naade a home in Section 14, and appears to have been a man of much more than ordinary intelligence. He died in the spring of 1840. Nathan Anderson made a farm in Section 31. Mr. Williams settled where his son Philip Williams lives, in Section 23. Mr. Shull located where he is still living. Section 26, and Mr. Stewart lived a short time in Section 12. Harrison Lyman, sometime between 1838 and 1840, settled in Section 26, where he is still living, and a little later came John and Henry Lyman, the former locating in Section 13, and the latter in Section 3a.

The following settlers came to the township in quite an early day, viz. : Stogdall Sharp, in the southeastern part; John Richardson, Section 14; David Richardson, Section 10; John Ewart, in Section 24; Christopher Morris, Section 36; Jacob Myers, Section 35; Nathan Cook, Section 16; John Cook, who lived at different places in the township; Alexander Morgan, in Section 1, where his son William Morgan now lives; Thomas Webb, in Section 32; Jacob Hedrick, Section 33; Benjamin Satterthwaite, in Section 7; Isaiah Garwood, a son-in-law of Satterthwaite, near the present site of Pleasant Plain; Alfred Hardy, in Section 30; Elisha Frazier, in Section 33; David C. Little, Section 34; James Cook, in Section 16; Henry Smothers, Section 30; Christian Wearley, Section 33; Jacob Myers, Section 25; David Wall, Lemuel and J. E. B. Ewart, in southern part of the Township; Isaac Young, in Section 36; David Campbell, James Cloud, Jehiel Wasson, James Denand, Humphrey Denand, Eli Burkett, Noah McGrew, Frederick Koritz, Branson Cox, Aaron Bond, Ralph Wright, Isaac Cook, Samuel Marshall, James Miller, James Adams, Andrew Wiley, Allen Gurley, Aaron Roney, James Yawger, Henry Werner, Frederick Heffner, Elisha Christman, Harrison Lynn, Charles Gurley, James Drake, Samuel Roberts, who lived in various parts of the township. As the reader may suppose, numerous changes occurred during the early years of the county^ so that doubtless many worthy names entitled to mention may have been omitted by our informants. The above list, however, embraces the majority of the pioneers of the township. Early Condition of the Settlements. - The first settlers of Jefferson, like the pioneer in other parts of Huntington County, were of the poorer class in the counties and States from which they came, and as a consequence, experienced many hardships in clearing their farms and gaining a foothold in the new country. They at first depended mostly for meat on the game, with which the forests abounded, while nearly every article of clothing worn by male or female was manufactured at home on the old fashioned spinning wheels, cards or looms. The men dressed in homespun jeans and the women in linsey-woolsey and linen, the former constituting the winter and the latter the summer raiment. Agriculture was for many years in a very rude state when compared with the science to which it has since been reduced. The prime cause of this was the great lack of agricultural implements, which were few in number and of simple construction. Inventive genius and Yankee ingenuity had not yet been employed in this direction to any great extent. The plows in common use when the first settlements were made, were of a rude character and of three kinds, the " bar shear," the " bull tongue " and the "shovel. " To attempt a description of the bar shear would be useless, as those who never saw one could scarcely understand the description; like the alligator, they must be seen to be appreciated. The shovel plow is yet in use, and need not be described. Some of the harrows first used, had wooden, instead of iron teeth, while some of the early settlers did their harrowing with a heavy brush, drawn by a pair of oxen or horses. Most of the early settlers emigrated from sections where corn was the principal grain, hence they continued its cultivation here as a main crop, raising but little wheat. Notwithstanding it was of good quality and fair yield. But little as they did raise, it was about as much as could be harvested with the implements then in use. For several years after the first attempt at wheat raising, the principal means of harvesting was the old fashioned sickle, and later the cradle. During the harvest the people of a neighborhood would unite on the principle that " many hands make light work, " and beginning at the farm where the grain was the ripest, proceed to reap first one field, then another, until all the grain was cut. As settlers increased in numbers, a common cause was made in meeting the wants of each other, helping for help again. The idea of assisting another for a pecuniary consideration never obtruded itself in those pioneer days, and no greater insult could have been offered then, than a hint that money was to pay for a neighbor's help. As with the harvest so with the raising of a cabin, all the occasion demanded was a knowledge of the time and place; distance was nothing, and other less pressing engagements had to succumb to the needed assistance. House raising, log rolling and wood chopping, would no doubt be considered arduous labors, and such they really were, even to the brawny muscled pioneers, but under the stimulating influence of whisky, a common beverage at that time, and the assurance of a rich repast of game, corndodgers, hominy, etc., the labor was transformed into pleasure, and the hardship into an accommodation. This reference to ardent spirits is not meant to reflect any discredit to those who were in the habit of using alcoholic stimulants. It was one of the unbroken customs of the times. Liquors were regarded as any other cheer and were partaken of by even the temperate. Seldom, indeed were they taken in suflicient quantities to cause intoxication. A jug of the "Jefferson simplicity " was found in nearly every household, and it was considered almost as indispensable as any other article of food or drink. The most reputable citizens thought it no disgrace to keep on hand a general supply, and to withold it upon any occasion was considered a breach of hospitality, and who will say they were wrong, and in a spasm of assumed morality, write them in rebuke. In judging men by the lives they have lived, an intelligent and just opinion can only be formed by taking into account the surrounding circumstances and conditions from which those lives would almost necessarily take their direction. Measuring the pioneers of Jefferson by this standard, they are found ahead of the best classes of men who have turned the sombre silence of the wilderness into fair and fruitful fields, ripe with industry, and made wooded wastes smile and blossom as a garden. Then only intemperance consisted in excessive toil; their only dissipation in sleepless nights, spent in keeping vigils by the weird light of their burning log heaps.

Improvements, Mills, etc. - For several years the primitive round log cabin was the prevailing house used by the early settlers of this township. Hewed log structures took their place in time and in their turn gave way to the more modern frame and brick dwellings. The first hewed log house in the township was built by Peter Wire in 1840. About the year 1840 or 1841 Aaron Bond and John Heffner built a small combination mill on Richland Creek, Section 6, " for the purpose of utilizing the timber cut away by the settlers in clearing their lands, and affording facilities for grinding grain without making the tedious journeys to older settlements." The mill was supplied with machinery of the most primitive pattern, yet notwithstanding its limited capacity, it was generally patronized for a number of years. It ceased operations with the building of other and better mills in this and adjacent townships. The old building, which is still standing, is eloquent of a time forever past. James Taylor, sometime in the forties, built a frame flouring mill on the Salamonie River, in Section 13, which is still in operation. It has been owned by various parties, and at this time is operated by Joseph Stewart, who does a fairly prosperous business. There have been several steam saw mills in the township from time to time, the first of which was by Daniel Nipper in Section 28. At this time there are three saw mills, operated by William Patterson, Mr. Baker and -George Fisher, respectively. The manufacture of drain tile has become an important industry, and the production from the kilns of Jefferson will equal that from any other township in the The following gentlemen are in the business at the present time, viz.: George Morris, Ensley Andrews, and John Long.

Religious Organizations. - The first impulse of the people upon whom devolved the responsibility of giving form to society, in the primitive days of Jefferson Township, was to establish schools and churches, which should in the future insure a safe foundation for permanent prosperity. The United Brethren circuit riders, were the fore-runners of Christianity in the wilderness of this part of the county, and as early as 1837, Rev. Mr. Pugsley of that denomination, conducted religious worship in the cabin of Peter Wire. Ministers of the Methodist Church <5ame in an early day and assisted in the good work of establishing the cause of Christ upon a firm basis. They made their regular rounds, traveling on foot or horseback, preaching in private houses, groves, school houses, or any place where they could succeed in gathering an audience. Among the earliest Metho- ministers was Rev. Mr. Donaldson, who preached regularly at Mt. Etna and held occasional meetings at the residence of Mrs. Ewart in this township. A class was early organized at the Genter School House, and was kept up with a fair degree of prosperity for a number of years. The Christian (Disciple) Church was early represented in the township by Elders John Richardson-and Scott Green, and sometime in the forties a small society of the same was organized at the Center School House. This organization was finally disbanded, but the church still sustains regular preaching at the Belleville School House where a small society is still kept up. The Christians or New Lights have a strong society in Section 9,- which meets for worship in a beautiful frame building, known as the Purviance Chapel, erected about the year 1870, at a cost of about $1,100. Among the early preachers of this denomination are remembered: Elders John Robinson, James Sbackhouse, D. W. Fowler and A. W. Sanford. The present pastor is Elder Jacob Rittenhouse. The Wesleyan Methodists have a class at Belleville, and in Section 28, is situa,ted the Osterbein Chapel, United Brethren Church, which has an active membership of about seventy. Their church building, a. substantial frame structure, represents a value of about $1,500; present pastor Rev. Mr. Calridge. At the village of Pleasant Plains is a society of the Friends Church, which has a substantial membership. A house of worship costing $1,000 was erected in 1870, and the society is reported in a fairly prosperous condition. Among the preachers have been: Susan Ratliff, Mrs. Bogur and others. All the church organizations in the township have accomplished much good in their respective communities, and the "high moral tone of the citizens of the township indicates the refining influence exerted by religious instruction."

Township Organization. - Jefferson originally formed a part of Salamonie Township, and was set apart as a separate jurisdiction by order of the Board of County Commissioners, at the March term, 1843. The chief actor in procuring the organization was Peter Wire, and the residence of William Purviance was where the first election was held in the spring of 1844. In June of that year, the township was reduced to its present limits by the organization of Wayne, which took twenty-four square miles from the western part. Among the early township officials were: Branson Cox and Oliver Sanger, Justices of the Peace, and Nathan Anderson, Frederick Kautz and Andrew Wiley, Trustees. The following are some of the trustees since 1854, to-wit: Nathan Anderson, James W. Garrettson, Elijah Mitchell, 0. W. Sanger, Samuel Satterthwaite, E. T. Young, David Shutt, Joseph A. Little and the present incumbent, James P. Wire.

The following gentlemen from Jefferson have at different times been called to fill county offices, viz. : John Layman and Andrew Wiley, Commissioners; Lewis T. Purviance, Representative, and Oliver W. Sanger, Treasurer.

Items of Interest. - The first birth in the township was that of Lavina, daughter of Peter and Nancy Wire, born March 4, 1836. Other early births were: Elvina, daughter of Oliver and Catharine Sanger, July 10, 1839; Jacob, son of Jonathan and Sarah Arnold, September, ]839, and John Heffner, son of Frederick Heffner, some time in the thirties. The first wedding in the township is said to have been solemnized in the year 1839, Frederick Heffner and Nancy Cook being the contracting parties. In August, 1838, Mr. Stewart, one of the early settlers, was removed from the midst of his earthly labors by the hand of death, " the first event of the kind in the township. " Bronson Cox, Jacob Marshall, Enoch Preble and David Campbell also died in an early day.

About the year 1865 or 1866, the citizens of Jefferson were thrown into a state of intense excitement by the cruel murder of one William Lowry, who was stabbed in the neck while plowing in a field near his residence. He had been dead for some time when discovered, and the several arrests that followed failed to throw any light upon his mysterious taking off. The supposition was that his wife knew all about the matter, as her conduct while he was absent in the army was such as to at once arouse the gravest suspicion. Nothing definite was ever learned, however, and the murderer will perhaps succeed in effectually escaping the punishment which his crime so richly deserves.

Pleasant Plain, the only village in the township, is situated in Section 18, and dates its history from June, 1875. It was surveyed by James W. Gussman for several proprietors, and was formerly known by the name of N"ixville. The early merchants of the place were: Eli and Stephen Scott, and later came Joseph Ouster, Levi Scott, B. Edgington, Mr. Blake, Mr. Kitch and C. Meyers. There are two general stores at this time and two blacksmith shops. The village is surrounded by a fine country and is a good local trading point.