Johnson County, Indiana - Chapter 12: Incidents, 1881

The history of the county, following the settlement of the country up to the present, would fill a volume, if written in detail. But the time has not come when one might venture upon writing such a work, much less publish it. Many of those who took an active part in the stirring times succeeding the colonization of the county are yet living, and just criticism would be out of the question. But while we may not venture upon any connected history of the times indicated, it may not be amiss to group in this connection some facts and events belonging to the county, which may seem to call for recognition.

The conservative character of the people of Johnson County has ever been a subject of remark. Whatever the cause may be, the absence of the rash and sensational element that sometimes mars the general character of a community, is a conspicuous feature here. But if our people are a quiet and conservative people, they are at the same time an industrious and thrifty people. With great industry, and with equal quietness, they set to work in the beginning to convert the woodland into arable. We have followed them somewhat in their severe task in previous chapters, and now, taking up the broken thread, we may note that while the progress in population and wealth for many years in this county was slow, when tested by the examples coming to us from more favored localities of the present, yet there was progress in everything that goes to the up-building of a people. The conversion of forest, and often of swamp land into productive, was not the work of a few years. A generation of strong men perished in the attempt, and left the work unfinished. Their sons and successors took up the task where they left off, and the memories of men now living require no reminder to call to mind the magnitude of that unfinished work.

By the close of 1836, the great body of the lands, taking the county over, had been taken up, and by that time it may be set down that the county, as a whole, was fairly settled. In 1830, as we have seen, the census report showed a" population of 4,019, and from that time on, for the next ten years, the increase in population was, all things considered, extraordinary. It was in the latter half of this decade that a financial distress prevailed throughout the United States of such unparalleled severity as to result in a change of administration of the General Government. That distress was no less here in Johnson County than elsewhere. And in addition to this, it must be borne in mind that this was the decade in which sickness throughout Johnson County was more keenly felt than during any decade before or since. This was the transition period of the county from woodland to cleared, and during the "sickly season" of the year, there was mourning in every neighborhood.

And yet the county grew in population, wealth and moral power. In 1835, it had increased, judging from the vote of that year, to at least 6,500. By 1840, it had increased, as shown by the census report, to 9,352, an increase of over 100 per cent in ten years. And while we may lament the absence of data to enable exactness of speech concerning the increase of wealth, still it is safe to say that increase was much greater than the increase in population. The toilers had not ceased. Their numbers had not diminished, and the tillable acres had sextupled. It is during these years that we find that the young men of the county, who had grown up beside the hardships of the country, were going out and making entries of land in their own names, with money earned with the grubbing-hoe, the ax and the maul.

From 1840 to 1850, population and wealth continued on the increase, but not at so great a rate as during the former period. Johnson County was no longer a " new country," inviting homehunters to come and buy land at Government prices, and so we need not expect so large a showing in the census reports. For 1850, the total number of polls was 12,101, a healthy growth, when we remember all the surroundings.

The improved lands at this time amount to 71,230 acres, and the cash value of the same is estimated at $1,928,575, while the value of the farming implements and machinery is put at $97,233.

Evidently men were at work. Tedious as census tables may be, here is the story of industry and success told by these figures, better, briefer than it can be told in any other mode.

But the men of Johnson County were not working with the muck-rake to the exclusion of better things This table says there are 104 public schools in Johnson County at this time, and that 2,725 pupils were in attendance. It also tells us that there are 20 Baptist Churches, 13 Christian, 2 Lutheran, 28 Methodist, 2 Moravian and 18 Presbyterian - 83 in all, a number so large as to be suggestive of the fact that census-takers sometimes make mistakes ; and we remember this the more when, ten years after, we count up and find but fifty-seven churches, distributed as folfows : Baptists, 12 ; Christian, 15 ; Methodist, 17 ; Presbyterian, 10 ; Roman Catholic, 2, and United Brethren, 1.

The census for this year (1860) shows a population of 14,835, an increase of 2,734 in ten years. Immigration had ceased in the main, while quite an active emigration had set in toward the region west of the Mississippi.

But if between 1850 and 1860 there was slow growth, the next decade made up for it. Notwithstanding the consumption of human life by the war, the increase was remarkable, the population in 1870 being no less than 18,366. The causes for this increase were manifold. The habit of emigrating to new States had ceased, and the South had sent its refugees here to swell our number. The work of clearing off the land was about over. The due proportion between woodland and farm land required by good husbandry was being approximated, and while fallen timber no longer choked the drains producing lagoons and morasses, a new and improved system of underdrainage was introduced, was universally practiced by the owners of hitherto wet lands, and the entire county taken through a change, whereby its productive power was so largely increased that farm labor is in demand to a degree unknown before.

Highways had been cut out in numbers sufficient for the accommodation of the people, and as the country was cleared out and efforts made at drainage, the highways were greatly improved beyond their early condition. But there were, and still are, seasons when the dirt roads in some localities are barely passable.

In the month of January, 1847, occurred a flood which from its severity came to be known here and elsewhere throughout the State as the "great freshet." The Franklin Examiner of the date of January 5, of that year, contains the following brief account of the flood and its consequences :

" On Friday last occurred here the highest and most destructive freshet witnessed since the settlement of the country. On Thursday evening about dark, an unusually heavy rain came up, which continued with more or less abatement throughout the night, until noon on Friday, by which time the low grounds in every direction were under water, and almost every rill and drain was swelled to an impassable torrent, carrying away fences, bridges and everything movable."

All the bridges over Young's Creek, the Hurricane, Blue River, Sugar Creek, the North and South Forks of Stotts' Creek, were destroyed or badly injured. Great damage was done to the mills and to the farms. Travel for many days was suspended, and the mail carriers failed to make their rounds. This flood was general throughout the Ohio Valley, and occasioned, along every river and smaller water-course, unparalleled destruction of property and, in some places, loss of life.

Frequent rains continued throughout the months of January, February and March, and, as a consequence, the roads were worse than ever before.

"An amusing chapter," writes John R. Kerr, the editor of the Examiner, of the date of March 2, "might just at this time be made up of the various shifts and expedients of travelers to get on their way, or their expressions of disappointment and impatience at finding themselves fairly mud-bound and brought to a standstill, just when to them it appears iheir business requires more haste. Some stow their baggage and themselves in the best manner they can, in quarters most convenient to the swamped mudcart. Others, mounting jaded stage-horses, bare-back, and others, with their baggage shouldered, have gone ' on their way rejoicing ' on foot. Nearly all of our citizens, in some way or other, as well as travelers, are subject to much inconvenience and vexation on account of the state of the roads. * * * Money seems to have lost its charms with teamsters, and entreaties and persuasions are of no avail. The merchant's goods of Franklin are piled up in the depot at Edinburg, while the grain and other heavy articles, which they have taken in for export, must remain on hand for some time, and may occasion them much loss."

Out of all of this mud came an earnest effort to make better roads. On the 16th of March a "road meeting" was held at the court house in Franklin, at which Judge Fabius M. Finch, Gilderoy Hicks, Esq., Jesse Williams and Robert Hamilton seem to have actively participated, and a movement was then set on foot which culminated in 1849 in the construction of the Franklin and Mooresville plank road. About the same time, the Edinburg and

Western Plank Road Company was organized, and a plank road was made from Edinburg to Williamsburg. But the plank road system was a failure, and it was not until about 1865, that the value of the gravel beds scattered throughout the north and east halves of the county, for road purposes, came to be known. Since then the main thoroughfares have been graded and laid with gravel, and there is at this time not less than 150 miles of gravel road in the county.

In 1836, the people of Indiana became infatuated with the idea of carrying on a great system of internal improvements, and extensive canals were dug, and water-powers improved, and a railroad from Madison to Indianapolis was projected. The system of internal improvements thus inaugurated, brought disaster to the people of the State, and the railroad track to Johnson Co. Work was begun on the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad a generation ago, but the iron was not laid to Edinburg until 1845. They built railroads slowly in those days. It was two years after Edinburg was reached before cars ran into Franklin. This event took place some time between the 17th and the 24th days of August, 1847, and Indianapolis was reached some time after.

In the spring of 1846, the project of building a lateral branch railroad from Franklin to Martinsville was actively discussed, but two or three years were consumed before anything definite was accomplished, and the Martinsville & Franklin Railroad was not completed until some time in 1853. In the fall of 1857, the old "flat bar-iron " and the wooden rails gave out, and trains ceased to run. In the spring of 1866, however, the franchises of the old company passed into a new one, and the line was built through to Fairland, in Shelby County, thus making a connection with the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & La Fayette Company.

In 1848, the lateral branch railroad connecting Edinburg and Shelbyville was built, but this proving to be an unprofitable investment, it was abandoned, and during the early stages of the war the iron was removed from the track.

Between the hours of 12 and 1 o'clock, A. M., of May 18, 1849, a fire broke out in Franklin, which, besides doing much damage to private property, destroyed the court house. Most of . the records and papers were saved/ but time has shown that some of the latter were lost.

Previously to this, the Commissioners had been considering the propriety of building offices for the accommodation of the county officers, and now they took up the work of building a new court house, and on the 4th day of July of that year a contract to build was let to Edwin May, of Indianapolis, for the price of $10,084.

This building served the purpose, although many changes from time to time were made in and about the court-room up to 1874, when, on the evening of the 12th day of December, fire broke out in or about the stairway leading to the cupola, and the Johnson County Court House was again destroyed. One or two records were burned, and in removing the papers from the Clerk's office, some were lost, and all orderly arrangement was destroyed. It now became necessary to make some provision for the accommodation of public officers and courts, and a temporary frame structure was erected on the south side of the square suitable for the purpose. In 1879, however, the grand jury of the county reported this to be unsuitable for the preservation of the records, and the Commissioners of the county thereupon set about the work of building a new court house. Plans and specifications, prepared by George W. Bunting, architect, were adopted, and in September of that year, the contract for building the house was let to Farman & Pierce for $79,100.