Madison County, Indiana - Chapter 4: Settlement and Organization, 1914

Chapter 4: Settlement and Organization

First Settlers in Madison County - Sketches of Prominent Pio¬ neers - Frontier Life and Customs - The Log Cabin - Furniture - ' ' Swapping W ork ' 9 - Log Rollings - Harvesting - Homespun Clothing - Madison County Organized - Provisions of the Or¬ ganic Act - County Seat Difficulties - Anderson Finally Selected - Public Buildings - The Three Courthouses - Laying the Corner-stone of the Present Courthouse - The Four Jails - Changes in the Original Boundaries.

When it became known that the Delaware Indians had ceded their lands in Indiana to the United States by the treaty of St. Mary's, October 3, 1818, emigrants from the older states began coming into the ' ' New Purchase 9 9 for the purpose of securing lands and establishing homes. Although the treaty gave the Indians the privilege of remain¬ ing upon the ceded lands for three years, before the expiration of that period a number of white men had located in what is now Madison county, the majority of them coming from Virginia and Kentucky.

The first actual settler in the county, of whom anything authentic can be learned, was an Irishman named John Rogers, who came from North Carolina and on December 29, 1818, less than two months after the conclusion of the treaty, located on a tract about a mile and a half east of the present town of Pendleton. The lands had not yet been sur¬ veyed, but Mr. Rogers set to work clearing his land and preparing for a crop the following season. When the survey was made by the gov¬ ernment, he did not like the tract he was on and removed a short dis¬ tance southeast, where he entered a farm and lived until 1838, when he sold out to Abraham Vernon and went to Iowa.

Among those who located in the county in 1819 w T ere Frederick Bronnenberg and Adam Winsell, both of whom were afterward prom¬ inently identified with public affairs. Frederick Bronnenberg was a German, who first , settled on a piece of land about three and a half miles east of Anderson, on the south side of the White river. A year or so later he removed to the north side of that stream, where he remained for one year, when he recrossed the river and entered a tract of land about a mile west of the present town of Chesterfield. There he continued to reside until his death in 1853. Mr. Bronnenberg was one of the most energetic and progressive of Madison county's pioneers. He built a sawmill, gristmill and woolen factory, all of which were destroyed by fire some five or six years before his death. He was a member of the first grand jury after the county was organized.

Adam Winsell was a blacksmith by trade. When he came to the county in 1819, he located on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 18, range 7, about a mile and a half east of Pendleton, where he established what was probably the first blacksmith shop in the county. He did not enter the land for more than ten years after settling upon it, but told the other settlers as they came in that he had done so, later explaining that he did not want to 4 'run the risk of having it entered from under him. " When the county was organized in 1823, he was made one of the first associate judges and held the office for seven years. As a blacksmith he made the irons and fastened them upon the men who murdered the two Indians in 1824, remarking as he did the work that he would put them on so firmly that ' ' no corpus could get them off without his consent/* In 1837 he sold his farm to Joseph Weeks and went to Iowa. He has been described as a man of boundless good nature, never cross to his family, and a much better man than many of those who make higher pretensions. In a sketch of Judge Winsell, written by Joseph B. Lewis and published in the Ander¬ son Herald of September 22, 1881, the writer says: "He always ob¬ tained religion at camp meeting, just after the harvest times, and con¬ tinued in good standing in the church until the shooting matches began in the fall, when he would get drunk, and, as a necessary con¬ sequence, be expelled from the church and remain outside until camp meeting time came around the next year. It is due to truth, if not to the dignity of history, to say that the Judge was a good shot and a boon companion of the boys at these shooting matches."

In 1820, as the time for the departure of the Indians drew nearer, quite a number of white men came into the county, most of them set¬ tling in what is now Fall Creek township. Among them were eight men who formed a colony in Clarke county, Ohio, and came to Indiana in search of lands. They were Elias Hollingsworth, Thomas and Wil¬ liam McCartney, Manly Richards, William Curtis, Israel Cox, Saul Shaul and Moses Corwin. All except the last named were married and after selecting their lands they returned to Ohio for their families, mak¬ ing the journey back to Indiana with one wagon, drawn by an ox team, and four pack horses. From Dayton, Ohio, to Newcastle, Indiana, they had a public highway, but from the latter place they guided their course by a compass, which one of their number was fortunate enough to pos¬ sess, blazing their way through the forest to mark out a route for use on future occasions. Upon arriving at their destination they found that two men named Stanfield and Burras had settled upon the prairie north of where Pendleton now stands. A little later in the year Thomas and James Scott and Thomas M. Pendleton, with some twelve or fifteen others, settled in the same locality.

Another pioneer of 1820 was Amasa Makepeace, who came from Massachusetts and settled where the town of Chesterfield is now located. Not long after settling there he built a mill, and in 1825 his son, Allen, opened a store. The latter was at one time considered the wealthiest man in Madison county and at the time of his death, in 1872, was the owner of nearly two thousand acres of land. Another son, Alford, was for years a prominent business man of Anderson. He died in 1873.

William Marshall also came to the county in 1820, built a double log house on the west side of the White river, opposite the present city of Anderson, and established a trading post. His stock consisted chiefly of goods adapted to the Indian trade, such as cheap articles of jewelry, showy blankets, etc. Little is known of Mr. Marshall, but it is probable his trading post was discontinued when the Indians left the country. Benjamin Fisher and his family settled near the present village of Fishersburg in 1820. He was killed by Indians while felling a tree near Strawtown, Hamilton county, and his widow afterward married a man named Freel. His son, Charles Fisher, who was but one year old when the family came to Madison county, was the first merchant in Fishersburg. In this year there also came Zenas Beckwith, who set¬ tled on the White river, near Anderson; Eli Harrison and William Stogdon (or Stockton), near Anderson; and a few others in various parts of the county.

On March 4, 1821, John Berry came with his family from Clark county, Indiana, and established his domicile where the city of Anderson now stands. When the county was organized he donated a consider¬ able portion of his land (Kingman says sixty acres) for county seat purposes. He was the first postmaster at Anderson, but after several years residence there went to Huntington, Indiana, w r here he died in 1835. His son, Nineveh Berry, was bora in Clark county, April 20, 1804, and was therefore nearly seventeen years of age when the family removed to Anderson. His whole life was passed in his native state and just before his death, which occurred on August 17, 1883, it was claimed that he was the oldest native born Hoosier living. He served for eight years as county recorder; four years as treasurer; was a soldier in the Mexican war; enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Indiana Infantry in the Civil war, but after a year's service in the commissary department failing health compelled him to retire from the army. In 1833 he mar¬ ried Hannah Pugh, who came with her parents to Madison county from Ohio in 1826, when she was eleven years old. She died on June 11, 1875.

During the years 1821 and 1822 William Williams, Palmer Patrick, Thomas and William Silver, Adam Winchell, the Richmond family and a few others settled in Fall Creek township; Jacob Hiday, Samuel Hol¬ liday, who was one of the first associate judges of the county, and some others in Green; the Kinser and Dewey families, Daniel Wise, George Cunningham, Robert Blair, David, William and John Montgomery, in Jackson; William Diltz, David Croan, Daniel Noland, William Woods, John Martin, Joseph Carpenter and a few others in Union; Jonathan Davis, Abel Jenney, William Nelson, Andrew Young and his three sons - William, Christopher and Isaac - and a number of others in the vicinity of Anderson. A more complete account of the local settle¬ ments will be found in the chapters on Township History.

marched into the wilderness, robbed it of its terrors, and paved the way for the comforts and luxuries of modem civilization. One of the first necessities of the frontier settler was to provide a shelter for himself and family. This shelter was nearly always a log cabin, rarely more than sixteen by twenty feet in size, and usually consisting of but one room, which was living room, dining room, bed room and kitchen. Where several settlers came into a new country at the same time, one cabin would be built, in which all would live together until others could be erected. Money was scarce on the frontier and hired labor was prac¬ tically unknown. To overcome this condition the settlers in a neighbor¬ hood would "swap" work by helping each other to do things that one man could not well do by himself. Hence, when a settler wanted to build a cabin, he would cut his logs, drag them to the site, and then call upon his neighbors to assist in placing them in position. When the com¬ pany was assembled four men skilled in the use of the ax were selected to ' 4 carry up the corners." These men took their places at the four corners of the cabin and as the logs were pushed up to them on poles or "skids/' would shape a 4 'saddle" upon the top of each and then cut a notch in the under side of the next to fit upon the saddle. The man who could 4 *carry up a comer," keeping the walls fairly plumb by his eye alone, was considered an artist.

The 1 *house-raising'' was an event of social as well as industrial importance. While the men were engaged in raising the cabin, the * 4 women folks'' would get together and prepare dinner, each one bring¬ ing from her own store such articles of food as she thought the others might not be able to supply. If the weather was warm enough, the dinner would be served out of doors upon an improvised table under the shade of the trees; but if too cold for that, it would be served in the cabin of the nearest settler. And that dinner! While it boasted no terrapin nor canvas-back duck, it was made up of wholesome, nutritious food, with appetite as the chief sauce, and was always accompanied by jest and good-natured badinage.

The roof of the cabin was made of oak clapboards, split or rived with an instrument called a frow, and were generally three or four feet long. Nails and hardware of all kinds were scarce and not infrequently the cabin would be finished without a single piece of iron being used in its construction. The clapboards would be held in place by poles running lengthwise of the roof and fastened to the logs at either end with wooden pins; the door would be made of boards fastened to the battens with wooden pins, provided with wooden hinges and a wooden latch, which could be lifted from the outside by pulling a string. At night the string was drawn inside and the door was locked. This custom gave rise to the expression 44 The latch-string is always out," signifying a welcome when¬ ever the visitor might choose to call.

Oftentimes the cabin had no floor except "mother earth." At others a puncheon floor was provided. The puncheons were slabs of timber, split as nearly the same thickness as possible, and after the floor was laid the surface would be smoothed with an adz. Lumber was scarce and hard to obtain. In many frontier settlements the first boards were made with a whip-saw. By this method of manufacturing lumber the log, generally hewed on two sides with a broad-ax, would be placed upon a scaffold high enough for a man to stand upright under it. The upper surface of the log was marked with lines showing the thickness of the boards. One man would stand upon the top of the log to guide the saw and another would stand below to pull the saw down, giving it the cut¬ ting stroke. This was a slow and tedious process, but it was the one in use until some enterprising settler would build a sawmill in the neigh¬ borhood.

At the time a cabin was raised no openings were left for doors and windows, these being sawed out after the walls were up. An opening would also be made at one end for a fireplace, which was usually wide enough to take in sticks of wood four or five feet in length. If stone was convenient, a stone chimney would be built outside the cabin, but in a majority of instances the chimney would be constructed of sticks and clay. The meals for the household were cooked at the fireplace, a longhandled skillet, with an iron lid, and an iron kettle being the principal cooking utensils. The former was used for frying meats and baking bread and the latter in the preparation of the "boiled dinner."

Matches were practically unknown and the fire in the fireplace was not permitted to become extinguished. If such an unfortunate event should happen one of the family would be sent to the nearest neighbor's for a burning brand or a shovelful of coals to replenish the supply. On fall and winter evenings the light thrown out by the open fire was often the only light in the cabin. In w r arm weather, when a fire would be uncomfortable, light was supplied by partially filling a shallow dish with lard or bear's grease, in which was immersed a loosely-twisted strip of cotton cloth, one end of which was allowed to project beyond the edge of the dish. The projecting end was then lighted and, while this rude lamp emitted both smoke and the odor of burning grease, it afforded light enough for the housewife to attend to her duties. Later came the tallow candle, which was considered the acme of perfection in artificial lighting. These candles were made in moulds of tin, usually consisting of six or eight tubes soldered together. Through the center of each tube would be drawn a cotton wick, then molten tallow would be poured in until the moulds were filled, when the whole would be set in a cool place for the tallow to harden, after which the candles were withdrawn and kept in a cool place until wanted for use.

To transport real furniture for many miles through the woods to a frontier settlement was out of the question, so the pioneer supplied his cabin with furniture of his own make. A few clapboards, smoothed with a draw-knife and supported on pins driven into the walls, served as a place to keep the dishes. Sometimes this primitive 4 'china closet" would be covered by a curtain of cotton cloth, though the curtain in many cases was lacking. Tables were formed by nailing or pinning clapboards or whipsawed boards to battens and the table top thus formed would be supported on trestles. When not in use, the top could be stood on edge against the wall and the trestles stacked in one corner, in order to make more room. Chairs were a luxury that few could afford. To provide a substitute benches or stools were made of puncheons, supported on pins driven into holes bored with a large auger. These holes w T ere bored at an angle that would permit the legs to flare outward, thus giving the bench or stool greater stability.

After the 44 house-raising ' 7 came the 44 house-warming. '' In every neighborhood there was at least one fiddler, as the pioneer violinist was called, whose services would be called into requisition upon the completion of the cabin, and the neighbors would gather to dedicate the new dwelling with a dance. The waltz and the two-step were un¬ known, but their places were well supplied with the minuet and the old Virginia reel, or even the 4 4 break-down, ' ' in which main strength and physical endurance took the place of the 44 poetry of motion."

Other instances where 44 swapping" work was customary were in the log-rollings and at harvest time. When a settler undertook to clear a piece of ground for cultivation, he felled the trees and cut or burned the logs into such lengths that they could be handled, after which he invited his neighbors to aid him in piling them in heaps suitable for burning. These log-rollings were tests of physical strength. The men were divided into pairs, according to their muscular ability, and each pair provided wdth a piece of tough wood called a 44 hand-spike." The two strongest men were selected to 44 make daylight" - that is, to place their hand-spike under one end of the log and raise it high enough for the others to get their spikes in position. When all was ready they came up together, and woe to the unfortunate individual who allowed his fingers 44 to take mud" by his inability to lift his share of the load, for the laugh would be on him for the balance of the day, unless he could redeem himself by causing his partner 44 to take mud."

In early days the w T lieat in harvest time was cut with the old-fash¬ ioned reaping hook, a crooked steel knife, with a serrated edge and a handle at one end. As more land was brought under cultivation and the number of acres sown to wheat each year increased, progress demanded a better method of harvesting the grain and the cradle was invented. This implement consisted of four fingers of tough wood, bent to conform to the curvature of the scythe, over w r hich they were mounted on a light framework. A good cradler could cut from four to five acres a day. It was no unusual sight to see a half dozen or more cradlers in a field, each followed by a boy with a rake to bunch the wheat into sheaves and a man to bind them. These were followed by a shocking party, which stacked the sheaves in shocks. When one man's grain was harvested the party would move on to the next ripest field until the wheat of the entire neighborhood was taken care of and made ready for the flail, which was the primitive threshing machine.

At the log-rollings and harvesting bees a little whisky was always provided for the men, yet it was an uncommon thing for anyone to drink enough to become intoxicated. On these occasions the women would assist in preparing the meals for the log-rollers or harvest hands, and, as in the case of a house-warming, the frolic would frequently wind up with a dance. After awhile the flail gave way to the old "ground-hog" threshing machine, which separated the grain from the straw, but did not clean it from the chaff. Then the fanning mill was invented and many a boy who wanted to spend an afternoon along some stream fishing for "shiners" has been compelled to turn the crank of the fanning mill, furnishing the motive power while his father fed the wheat and chaff into the machine.

Game was plentiful when the first settlers came, and as nearly every pioneer was an expert in the use of the rifle the forest was depended upon to furnish the family a supply of meat. It is related of Caleb Williams, a son of William Williams, who was one of the early settlers in Fall Creek township, that he stood in one place and killed fifty-one squirrels as they were preying upon his corn-field, missing his fifty-second shot. But in the early days there was much larger game than squirrels, and roast venison, or a feast of bear meat, was fre¬ quently to be found upon the settler's table.

Clothing was usually of the homespun,variety. The man who wore "store clothes" was regarded much as the people of the present gen¬ eration regard a multimillionaire. Nearly every settler kept a few sheep, and in every neighborhood there were one or more sets of hand cards - a sort of brush with short wire teeth, all bent slightly in one direction - which were used for converting the wool into rolls. Then the rolls were spun into yarn on the old-fashioned spinning wheel, which was turned with a stick having a small knob at one end, the housewife walking back and forth as the rapidly revolving spindle made the roll into woolen thread. An industrious spinner could "do her six cuts" a day, but how many of the young women who graduated in the state's high schools in 1913 know what "six cuts" means? After the yam was spun it was colored with indigo or the bark of some tree - most fre¬ quently the walnut - and then woven into flannel, jeans or linsey on the old hand loom.

Flax was raised by almost every settler. When the plant. w*as ripe it w r as pulled up by the roots and spread out to dry, or "rot," and when the straw was made brittle by this process the flax was ready for the "break/' an implement which broke the straw into short pieces. Next, to separate the straw from the bark or fiber, the flax was thrown over the rounded end of a board set upright and beaten with the "scutch¬ ing knife," a piece of hard wood with moderately sharp edges. Pieces of straw too small to be caught by the scutching process were removed by the 4 4 hackle/* which was made by sharpening a number of nails or pieces of wire of equal length and driving them closely through a board. Combing the flax through the hackle also split the fiber into fine threads and thus made it ready for the spinning wheel. Flax was generally spun on a small wheel operated by foot power. After the linen was woven, it was spread out upon a grass plot to bleach, after which it was used for table cloths, sheets for the bed and numerous articles of clothing.

But times have changed. The log cabin has given way to the modern residence and the tallow candle to the electric light. Meals are no longer prepared upon the hearth, where the cook was compelled to wear a deep bonnet to shield her face from the fierce heat of the blazing fire. The reaping hook and the cradle have been supplanted by the twine binder, and where the weary farmer once toiled with his flail to thrash his few bushels of wheat is now heard the hum of the steam thresher, which daily turns out hundreds of bushels ready for the market. The great packing companies, with their refrigerating cars, supply the denizens of the cities with fresh meats. The spinning wheel and the hand loom are looked upon as relics of a primitive civilization and now everybody wears "store clothes/' Yes, great progress has been made since the first white men came to' Madison county, but are the people any happier or more unselfish than the pioneers who "swapped" work while they brought the wilderness under subjection ?

By the latter part of the summer of 1822 there were a sufficient number of inhabitants within the county to arouse an interest in the question of a separate county organization. Meetings were held in the various settlements, at which the subject was discussed, and through these meetings was developed a sentiment almost unanimous in favor of a county organization. Accordingly, when the legislature assembled at Corydon on December 2, 1822, the following bill was introduced early in the session, and after passing both houses was approved by Governor William Hendricks on January 4, 1823:

"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That from and after the first day of July next, all that tract of land which is included within the following boundaries shall consti¬ tute and form a new county, to be known and designated by the name of the county of Madison, to wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of the county of Henry, thence north with the line of the same and to the township line dividing 20 and 21 north; thence west to the north¬ east corner of Section 5, in Township 20 north, Range 6 east; thence south twenty miles; thence west to the northeast corner of the county of Marion; thence south to the northwest corner of Shelby county; thence east with the line of Shelby, until the same intersects Rush county; thence north with Rush county to the northwest corner of the same; thence east to the place of beginning.

"Section 2. The said new county of Madison shall, from and after the first day of July next, enjoy all the rights, privileges and jurisdic¬ tions, which to separate and independent counties, do or may properly belong or appertain.

"Section 3. Abijah Bayless, of Harrison county; William Williams, of Jackson county; Jesse Reddick, of Bartholomew county; Rollin C. Dewey, of Lawrence county, and James Dill, of Dearborn county, are hereby appointed Commissioners, agreeably to an act entitled 'An act for fixing the sets of justice in all new counties hereafter to be laid off.' The Commissioners above named shall meet at the house of William McCartney, in the said new county of Madison, on the first Monday in September next, and shall immediately proceed to discharge the duties assigned them by law. It is hereby made the duty of the Sheriff of Marion county to notify the said Commissioners, either in person or by written notification of their appointment, on or before the fifteenth day of August next, and the said Sheriff of Marion county shall be allowed therefor by the County Commissioners of the county of Madison such compensation as by them shall be deemed just and reasonable, to be paid out of the county treasury of the county of Madison in the same manner other allowances are paid.

' 4 Section 4. The circuit and other courts of the county of Madison shall meet and be liolden at the house of William McCartney, until suit¬ able accommodations can be had at the county seat of said county; and so soon as the courts of said county are satisfied that suitable acQpmmodations are provided at the county seat of said county they shall adjourn thereto: after which time, all the courts of said county shall be held at the seat of justice thereof; provided, however, that the circuit court of said county shall have authority to remove from the house of said William McCartney to any more suitable place in said county previous to the completion of the public buildings if they should deem the same expedient.

" Section 5. The agent who shall be appointed for said county, to superintend the sales of lots at the county seat of said county or receive donations for said county, shall receive ten per cent of the proceeds of such sale and donations, which he shall pay over to such person or persons, as by law may be authorized to receive the same, for the use of a county library for said county, which he shall pay over at such time or times and manner as shall be directed by law.

'' Section 6. The Board of County Commissioners of said county shall, within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice shall have been selected, proceed to erect the necessary public buildings thereon."

There were two other sections, Section 7 providing for the "organiza¬ tion, conduct and support of a county library, as provided by the act organizing Dubois county, approved January 23, 1818/' and Section 8, which attached the new county of Madison to the Fifth judicial circuit of the state.

In accordance with the provisions of this act, the county was for¬ mally organized on Monday, November 10, 1823, by John Roberts, sheriff of Marion county, who had been appointed for that purpose by the legislature. The organization was effected at the house of William McCartney, a log dwelling of two rooms, which stood upon the site afterward occupied by the Universalist church in the town of Pendleton. Commissions were presented by Samuel Holliday and Adam Winsell, as associate judges; Moses Cox, as clerk, and Samuel Cory, as sheriff. These commissions set forth that the holders thereof had been regularly appointed by William Hendricks, governor of the state, and each bore the indorsement of Sheriff Roberts, certifying that the person to whom it was issued had taken the prescribed oath of office and the oath against dueling. After the commissions had been received the sheriff of Marion county made proclamation that "the Madison circuit court is now open, according to law." An account of the proceedings of this first court will be found in the chapter relating to the Bench and Bar.

Some trouble was experienced in the matter of locating a permanent seat of justice. Sheriff Roberts, of Marion county, notified the commis¬ sioners named in Section 1 of the organic act of their appointment, and on September 1, 1823, the same being the first Monday in the month, the commissioners met at the house of William McCartney and pro¬ ceeded to discharge the duties imposed upon them by law. Several proposed sites were visited and examined, but the commissioners finally decided to accept the proposition of John Berry, who was one of the first settlers at or near Chief Anderson's village on the White river. Owing to the fact that the records concerning this transaction cannot be found, the details of Mr. Berry's proposition are not definitely know r n. It is certain, however, that the acceptance of this site was not concluded at the time, and it was not long until some dissatisfaction arose over the decision of the commissioners. Steps were accordingly taken to secure a relocation of the seat of justice. The question came before the legislature at the session of 1825-26 and on January 13, 1826, the governor approved an act, the principal provisions of which were as follows:

4 'Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana , That Benjamin Irwin, of Bartholomew county; George Hunt, of Wayne county; Lewis Hendricks, of Shelby county; Elisha Long, of Henry county, and Daniel Heaton, of Hamilton county, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners, to relocate the seat of justice of Madison county. The commissioners above named, shall meet at the house of Moses Pearson, in said county, on the first Monday in June next, .and shall proceed to locate the seat of justice of said county under the provisions of the laws regulating the fixing of the seat of justice in all new counties hereafter to be laid off.

"Section 2. The circuit and all courts of said county shall be held at the house of the said Moses Pearson, until suitable accommodations can be had at the county seat, when all the courts of said county shall be removed thereunto.

"Section 6. All proceedings had as to the donation made by John Berry and others to said county, at Andersontown, in said county, are hereby annulled and revoked, and the said donation is hereby returned to the respective original proprietor or proprietors, as if the same had never been granted; and all sales made by the agent of said county, of whatever nature or kind, in the disposal of lots or lands donated to the said county heretofore, shall be so far considered annulled that the purchase money paid and the obligations given by the respective pur¬ chasers, shall be returned to them or their legal representatives, with interest on the amount paid, on application; and thereupon, the respective bond or obligation which may have been given to said pur¬ chaser, relative to said sale, shall be returned to the said agent.

"Section 7. If any money, collected by said agent, arising from said donations to the county, has been so disposed of that it cannot be returned, the Board of Justices of said county shall direct the payment of the same to be made out of the treasury of the county."

No record has been found to show that these commissioners ever made any effort to discharge their duties under the provisions of the act appointing them. It is probable that no action was taken, for on January 26, 1827, the governor approved an act, Section 1 of which provided:

4 4 That William Shannon, Jeremiah K. Lemon and William C. Blackmore, of Hamilton county; Moses Prewitt, of Shelby county, and John Thompson, of Marion county, be, and they are hereby, appointed com¬ missioners to relocate the seat of justice of Madison county. The commis¬ sioners above named shall meet at the house of John Perry (Berry), in said county, on the third Monday in May next, and proceed to locate the seat of justice of said county, agreeably to the provisions of an act entitled 'An act to establish seats of justice in new counties/ approved January 14, 1824, and the act amendatory of the same, approved December 19, 1825/ '

On May 21, 1827, the time appointed by law, the commissioners met at the house of John Berry and entered upon the performance of their duties. There is no evidence to show that they considered any propo¬ sition except the one submitted by John Berry, the terms of which were reported to be satisfactory and the proposition was accepted. Pursuant to this arrangement, John Berry and his wife, Sally Berry, on November 7, 1827, executed a deed to William Curtis, who had in the meantime been appointed county agent, for the following described tract of land: "Commencing at the southeast corner of Lot No. 16, in the southwest square in the town of Andersontown; thence north, with Meridian street, to the northeast corner of Lot No. 1 in the northwest square of said town; thence east to White river; thence up said river, at lowwater mark, until a line running a due south course till it comes parallel with the south end of Meridian street, will contain thirty acres, being part of the southeast quarter of Section 12, Town 19 north, of Range 7 east," etc.

The tract of land thus conveyed was to remain the property of the county "so long as the town aforesaid continues to be the permanent seat of justice of Madison county," and as a consideration Berry received Lot No. 7, "in the north front of Anderson, in said county, receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged." Thus, after nearly four years, the county seat question was settled. In the meantime justice had been administered at Pendleton, though that place was never officially recog¬ nized as the county seat.

The next step in the county's progress was the erection of public buildings in accordance with Section 6 of the organic act, which pro¬ vided that the county commissioners should "proceed to erect the neces¬ sary public buildings within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice shall have been selected." More than twelve months elapsed, however, before any definite steps were taken for the erection of a court¬ house. The location of the county seat was settled in May, 1827, and it was not until September 1. 1828, that the county board directed the agent of Madison county to "sell the building of a court-house to the lowest bidder, said sale to take place on the last Friday in October next, the said house to be twenty-six feet one way and twenty-two feet the other way on the ground, two stories high, the lower story to be nine feet between floors and the upper story to be eight feet between floors, divided into two rooms with two twelve-light windows in each of the upper rooms and four twelve-light windows in the lower room, the last mentioned room to be ceiled and a stove put therein, with all other necessary conveniences, the aforesaid building to be well finished on or before the first day of September next. ''

Septimus Smith, publisher of a weekly newspaper at Centerville, Wayne county, was allowed the sum of $2.25 by the county board at the January session in 1839 for advertising "the sale of a contract to build a court-house , 9 9 which notice had been published five times in his paper. This court-house was never built. For some reason not explained in the records, the order authorizing the county agent to sell the con¬ tract was revoked at the July session in 1829, as was also the order

' ' That the agent of the county of Madison sell to the lowest bidder the building of a court-house, to be built on lot No. 17, in the N. E. square, in Andersontown, to be built on the following plan, to-wit: One story high, thirty-six feet long and twenty feet wide, to be elevated one 'foot from the ground and underpinned with stone, the story to be ten feet between floors, the building to be well weather-boarded and covered with good joint shingles, to have a good brick chimney in the west end, with a large fireplace therein, ten feet of the end to the partitioned off and the room so to be partitioned off as to make two ten-feet jury rooms, all the partitions to be run of good, seasoned plank. Each of the said jury rooms to have a door to open into the large room; the said house to have three twelve-light windows in the south side and three in north side, the windows to be so placed that the large room shall have four windows and each of the jury rooms one. The under floor to be laid in good workmanlike manner, the upper floor to be laid of loose planks; (the) house to have one door in the front, to open near the partition; then windows to be in, the outside door hung and the house inclosed on or before the second Monday in May next, and the whole work completed according to the above plan on or before the second Monday in November next. The sale to take place at Anderson¬ town on the third Saturday in January, inst., the said agent taking bond and security in double the amount for which is taken, on condi¬ tion for the completion of the work against the 15th day of November, 1831."

When the day arrived for opening the bids, Daniel Harpold was found to be the lowest bidder and was awarded the contract for the erection of the building. He evidently completed the court-house some¬ where near the time specified by the board, as in January, 1832, John Drewry and Nathaniel Chapman were appointed by the board "to examine the new court-house and report if it had been built according to contract."

In these days, when charges of corruption or "graft" in connection with the erection of public buildings are so common, it is refreshing to read the itemized list of deductions recommended by Drewry and Chapman, because the contract had not been "fully complied with."

The recommendation was adopted by the board and the contractor was discharged. This first court-house stood on East Eighth street, between Main street and Central avenue. It was used for county pur¬ poses until after the erection of a new court-house upon the public square, when it was sold by order of the county board and was used as a dwelling until torn down to make way for the business block that now occupies the site. While it was in use several appropriations were made by the board for changes or improvements in the building. In May, 1832, a platform sixteen inches high, three and a half by seven feet in size, was ordered for the judge, three plank benches were ordered at the same time, as well as a railing or partition, four feet high, to separate the bar from the general public. In September, 1834, a new partition and shutters for the windows were ordered. The first session of court held in this court-house w r as the May term of the Madison circuit court in 1833.

Early in the year 1837 it became apparent that the business of the county had outgrown the little, one-story court-house, and at the March term in that year the board of county commissioners ordered the publi¬ cation of notices in the Indiana Journal and the Indiana Democrat , both published in Indianapolis, advertising for bids for the erection of a new court-house for Madison county, the notices appearing for three succes¬ sive weeks. The contract w r as let on April 5, 1837 (the first Wednesday), to Crawford & Meek, of Hancock county, for $5,770. The contract called for a structure "of brick, forty-four feet square, two stories high, all to be like the court-house at Noblesville, except the court¬ room, which is to be on the lower floor; the tower to be like that on the court-house at Indianapolis, and the cupola, which is to be like that on the court-house at Centerville.' '

It was also specified that the court-house was to be erected on the public square in Andersontown and was to be inclosed on or before November 1, 1837. Crawford & Meek completed the building within the time designated in the contract and on November 25, 1839, a special session of the county board was called "for the purpose of receiving and accepting the court-house as being fully completed according to the contract existing between the Board and Nathan Crawford and Joshua Meek, embracing subsequent alterations." At that, time the contractors were allowed sixty-three dollars for extra work, and on January 9, 1840, the board ordered the payment of $2,770 to Nathan Crawford "in full of amount due for the court-house." The first term of the circuit court in the new court-house was held in October, 1839, with William W. Wick as the presiding judge.

Not only was the court-house used for the transaction of the public business, but rooms in it were also rented to individuals and societies. At the May session of the board in 1841, it w T as "ordered that Nineveh Berry pay $3 per month rent for the room which he now occupies in the court-house for the postoffice, so long as he remains in the same." In March, 1846, it w r as "ordered that the southeast room of the court¬ house, up stairs, be assigned to Mount Moriah Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and to be kept in good order by said lodge." In December, 1849, Anderson Division, No. 227, Sons of Temperance, pre- sented a petition asking permission to remove the partition between the grand jury room and the southwest room, and to occupy the same as a meeting place when so altered. The request was granted, with the understanding that the said Anderson Division, No. 227, was to keep the room in repair. Rooms were also rented to attorneys and justices of the peace, this custom continuing until about 1860, when the entire building was devoted to the use of the county. Some ten or twelve years before that time a small one-story brick building was erected on the southeast corner of the public square for the offices of the auditor, treasurer and recorder. This building was torn down in 1882, when work upon the present court-house was commenced.

The court-house built by Crawford & Meek stood for more than forty years, or until it was destroyed by fire early on the morning of December 10, 1880. The county suffered more through the loss of the public records than in the destruction of the building. It was a com¬ paratively easy matter to erect a new court-house, but the valuable records can never be replaced.

On the day following the fire, the commissioners met in special session, rented quarters in the Westerfield block on North Main street for the clerk and sheriff, and appointed Edwin P. Schlater special com¬ missioner to look after the damaged records. Mr. Schlater was familiar with the records of the court and the clerk's office and through his labors a large number of valuable documents were saved. For a time the sessions of the court were held in the hall in the Westerfield block, but later were removed, with the offices of the clerk and sheriff, to the Hannah & Boring building, on the north side of the public square. Not long after the fire the commissioners ordered the levy of a light tax upon the taxable property of the county, the proceeds of which were to be used in the erection of a new court-house, and advertised for plans and specifications. On February 8, 1882, the plans submitted by George W. Bunting, an architect of Indianapolis, were accepted and on March 27, 1882, the contract for the erection was awarded to McCormack & Sweeney, of Columbus, Indiana, for $152,000.

August 17, 1882, was a red-letter day in Madison county's calendar. On that day the corner-stone of the present court-house was laid with impressive and appropriate ceremonies. Prior to that date the com¬ missioners ordered "that the honor of laying the corner-stone be ten¬ dered to Mount Moriah Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. ' ' The invi¬ tation was accepted by the lodge, which secured the services of Bruce Carr, at that time the grand master of the Indiana grand lodge. Invi¬ tations were likewise extended to various social and fraternal societies and the Masonic lodges in other counties to participate in the cere¬ monies. A reception committee of sixteen members was appointed from the Masons, Odd Fellows and Red Men to welcome the visiting societies. On this committee the Masons were represented by John P. Barnes, J. M. Dickson, T. J. Stephens, Nineveh Berry and C. K. McCullough; the Odd Fellows by W. R. Myers, Joseph Fulton, M. A. Chipman, Samuel Myers, W. W. Williams and W. S. Diven; and the Red Men by C. D. Thompson, James Mohan, J. S. Carr, Thomas Gee and Peter Fromlet.

stone Major John F. Wildman was grand marshal. His aids were J. P. Barnes, C. K. McCullough and L. J. Burr, for the Masons; C. B. Cooper, C. T. Doxey and W. S. Diven, for the Odd Fellows; and for the Red Men the members of that order who served on the reception committee. After the parade the vast throng assembled about the public square to witness the ceremony of placing the stone in position. McCor¬ mack & Sweeney, the contractors, had erected a large stand over the northeast comer of the foundation to accommodate the speakers, the officers of the day, the musicians and the invited guests. Thomas B. Orr, of Anderson, delivered the address of welcome, at the conclusion of which Grand Master Bruce Carr took charge of the exercises and after the stone was laid according to the Masonic ritual delivered an appropriate address. He was followed by Nineveh Berry, one of the oldest residents of Madison county, and Colonel James B. Maynard, editor of the Indianapolis Sentinel .

The corner-stone is Berea sandstone from the quarries near Cleve¬ land, Ohio. It is six feet three and a half inches long, three feet eleven inches wide, two feet six inches thick and weighs five tons. Within the stone was deposited a copper casket containing historical sketches of the Masonic bodies of Madison county; also histories of the Odd Fel¬ lows, Red Men, Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum and other fraternal organizations in the county; proceedings of the Indiana Masonic and Odd Fellows grand lodges for 1882; proceedings of the Indiana Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons for 1881; copies of the Anderson, Indian¬ apolis, Cincinnati and Chicago papers of recent date; condensed his¬ tory of the church societies of Anderson; names of county officials and the officials of the city of Anderson, past and present; specifications of the court-house; roll of names of contractors, superintendents and employees, and list of public works constructed by McCormack & Sweeney; photographs of Colonel Nineveh Berry and William Roach, the latter being at that time the oldest Mason in Madison county; a group photograph of the county commissioners; a picture of the old court-house that was burned on December 10, 1880; photographic group of eighty-one old settlers of Madison county, taken in 1877; samples of grain raised in the county; a copy of Hardin's History of Madison county; a history of the Madison county schools; the bar docket for the June term, 1882; reports of various public officials and institutions, and a number of other interesting relics.

Laid By Bruce Carr

In the records of a special session of the board of county commis¬ sioners, held in February, 1885, is the following entry: "By agreement with McCormack & Sweeney, contractors for the court-house, the com¬ missioners are to take possession of such rooms and parts of the court¬ house as they may desire, and such possession is not to be an acceptance of the building or work thereon. And the board orders that the Madison circuit court hold its sessions in the new court-house and that the auditor, clerk, treasurer, recorder and sheriff be instructed to remove their offices and all records and papers thereto belonging into the proper rooms in the new court-house by Saturday evening, February 21, 1885/' Pursuant to this order the officers named removed their records, etc., to the rooms designated by the commissioners and a little later the building was pronounced complete and was accepted by the commis¬ sioners. Subsequently a raised roof was placed on the building, but with this exception the court-house stands just as it left the hands of the contractors in 1885. As the picture shows, it is one of the most imposing court-houses in the state and is ample in every particular for the needs of the county for years to come.

On July 6, 1829, the county board "ordered that the agent of Madi¬ son county sell to the lowest bidder the building of a jail in Andersontown, according to a plan adopted at the present session, on the 10th or 11th day of this instant, to be finished within six months, requiring bond and security for the performance of the building in a workman¬ like manner, the bond to be taken in the penalty of double the amount contracted for, towards the erecting of which building the board agrees to appropriate the sum of $200, according to the considerations of a subscription signed at the January session of this board for 1829 / 9 From this order it would appear that the citizens of Anderson sub¬ scribed certain sums of money to aid in the erection of the public buildings, but who the subscribers were, or what amounts they con¬ tributed cannot be ascertained. Prior to the issuance of this order, the prisoners of Madison county had been kept in the jails of the adjoining counties. In March, 1830, an allowance of $4.81 was made to John Rogers, the jailer of Henry county, for caring for four Madison county prisoners. The jail erected under this order stood on the west side of the public square, about where the west steps of the court-house are now located. It was a log structure, sixteen feet square, a story and a half high. The only entrance to the lower story was through a trap door in ceiling, prisoners being let down from above by means of a ladder and after they were safely lodged in the lower room the ladder was withdrawn. It "was torn down when the court-house was erected in the public square, and from 1837 to 1842 all prisoners that were to be confined for any length of time were taken to the Marion county jail at Indianapolis.

Soon after the second court-house was completed, the board gave notice that 4 'sealed proposals will be received until the first Monday in December next (1841) for the erection of a jail in Andersontown." It was also stipulated that the jail should be constructed of hewed oak timber, twelve inches square, eighteen by twenty-two feet in dimensions and two stories in height, the stories to be eight feet between floors, and that it was to be built "on the public square west of the court-house, the north side of the jail to be on a line with the north side of the court-house . 1 9 It was therefore on .nearly the same spot as the former jail. The cost of this second jail was $149; it was accepted by the com¬ missioners at the June term in 1842, and served the county for about ten years, though it was never a very safe depository for a desperate criminal and several persons confined within its walls succeeded with¬ out much difficulty in making their escape. Accordingly, on March 24, 1852, the commissioners took the following action relative to a new jail:

"Whereas, it having been made known to the board of commissioners of Madison county, that the jail house in said county has twice been condemned by the grand jury of said county, that the same is unsafe and in no way sufficient to answer the purposes intended, Therefore, it is ordered by the board that it is actually necessary to build a new house and also a dwelling house attached to said jail house; therefore, John Davis, George Millspaugh and William Roach be, and they are hereby appointed a building committee, and said building committee are hereby authorized to draw a draft or drafts such as in their opinion will be suitable and proper in every respect, both for the jail house and wall and dwelling house thereunto belonging, for the inspection of builders or contractors, and also said committee shall have power to advertise in any way they may think best, giving notice that proposals will be received for materials and construction of the same. Walls to be built of good brick, the whole to be done under the superintendence of the said building committee. And said building committee shall have power to contract for the furnishing materials and constructing the said building, giving the .contract or contracts to the lowest responsible bidder, and as soon as this is done the auditor shall be authorized to convene the board of commissioners to confirm the same."

The committee decided upon a two-story, brick building, which was erected at the northwest corner of Ninth and Jackson streets. It is stated that they made their final report at the December session of the com¬ missioners in 1852, but the records of that term make no mention of the jail. Records are sometimes defective, however, and it is probable that the building was completed within the year. This jail, like its predecessors, in time became inadequate to the needs of the county and the question of erecting a new one came before the commissioners.

Accordingly, in 1880, the old jail was sold and the board purchased the lot at the northeast corner of Eighth street and Central avenue as a site for a new county prison. Notice was given to architects, inviting them to submit plans and specifications for the proposed new jail build- ing. At a special session of the board in October, 1880, the proposition of T. J. Tolin & Son, architects, was accepted. Bids for the erection of the jail were then advertised for, the opportunity to submit proposals remaining open until February 11, 1881, when the contract was awarded to W. H. Myers & Son for $17,989. The building was completed in 1882, giving to Madison county a prison of modern character, one from which but few escapes have ever been made, and they were due rather to the carelessness of the jailer than to any defect in the con¬ struction. »

As established by the organic act of January 4, 1823, Madison county included all of the present county of Hancock, but the northern boundary - the line between townships 20 and 21 north - excluded all that part of the present county lying north of Lafayette and Richland townships. Hancock county was erected under the act of January 26,1827, Section 2 of which defined the boundaries of Madison county as follows:

"Hereafter, the county of Madison shall be bounded as follows, to-wit: Beginning on the line dividing the counties of Henry and Madison, one mile south of where the line dividing Townships 17 and 18 crosses the same; thence north with said county line to the line dividing Townships 22 and 23; thence west to the Miami Reservation; thence south with the line of said Reservation to the southeast corner of the same; thence west until a line running south will strike the northeast corner of Hamilton county; thence south with said county line to one mile south of the line dividing Townships 17 and 18; thence east to the place of beginning. ' '

Section 4 of the same act provided that "All the territory lying one mile south of the line dividing Townships 17 and 18, and within the former bounds of Madison county, shall be, and the same is hereby, organized and formed into the county of Hancock/' etc.

When Grant county was erected by the act of February 10, 1831, the southern boundary was established as follows: "Beginning on the line dividing the counties of Madison and Delaware, three miles north of the township line dividing Townships 21 and 22, in Range 8 east; thence west to the west boundary thereof/ ' and Section 7 of the act provided "That the strip of land lying between the north line of the county of Madison and the south line of the county of Grant be, and the same is hereby, attached to the county of Madison."

By the act of January 15,1833, the boundary between Henry county and the counties of Madison and Hancock was fixed on ' ' the first section line west of the range line dividing Ranges 8 and 9 east."

As designated at present, the boundaries are as follows: "Com¬ mencing at the southeast corner of Section 2, Township 17, Range 8 east, on the west line of Henry county; thence north on said line to the north¬ east corner of Section 11, Township 22 north, Range 8 east; thence west to the northwest corner of Section 9, Township 22, Range 6 east; thence south to the southwest corner of Section 4, Township 17, Range 6 east; thence east to the place of beginning."