Noble County, Indiana - The whole text, 1902 (part 4 of 21)

As his sun descended, the aggressive fire subsided and the gentler spirituality of his character became manifest. Resignation, gratitude, humility, took the places of aggressive force, self-sufficiency and self-assertion. His ruder vital energies had done their appointed work and spent their stormy force. The spirit of the inner shrine came forth and its mild halo made the physical decay more noble than the strenuous, passionate prime. Resting from all its turmoils the calm soul could meekly but confidently say to a neighbor and confidential friend : "I am willingly waiting for the last summons."

A guilty conscience could not have said that. It revealed the true character. It was final evidence. It summoned divine charity to her mission, and at the sweep of her holy wand the fogs of misconception and all the clouds of error vanished from the sky of retrospection, and only love and veneration attend him to his pedestal m the temple of honored memories.

Mr. Foster's surviving children are : Mrs. Joanna Smith, widow of Emanuel Smith ; Airs. Rebecca Easter, wife of Washington Easter; and Mrs. Jane Franks, wife of Uriah Franks. Grandchildren: Mrs. John Koons, daughter of Mrs. Joanna Smith ; Mrs. Melvina Hines, daughter of the deceased wife of Benjamin Black ; and two daughters and one son of the late Samuel Foster, of Jefferson. His kindred bearing the names of Foster and Edwards are numerous in Noble county, and so far as known are active, useful, patriotic citizens, and promising boys and girls.

John L. Foster

A pioneer of Jefferson township, who died at his home in the fall of 1895, aged sixtynine years, was'the second child and eldest son of Jehu and Margaret (Levering) Foster, born in Morrow county. Ohio, October 6, 1826. He was about eleven years old when his parents moved, in 1837, to the township with their family of six children : Mary A., aged thirteen; John L., eleven : Samuel M., nine: Margaret L., seven; Elizabeth, five; and Sarah M. They settled in the southwest quarter of section 11. It was a primeval forest. Magnificent walnut, oak. poplar, maple, beech and other woods in dense rank towered above the jungles of undergrowth and interlocked their branches and interwove their foliage in lofty arches over the shadowy aisles into which

But we need not attempt to describe the grandeur of a mighty, unbroken forest, nor to interpret its impressions upon those whose sense of its beauty and sublimity is confused with that of its appalling immensity as an incumbrance to be removed. It must be done. There was no retreat. It was like the situation of Houston and his little band of Texans after they had crossed the river at San Jacinto to attack a Mexican army of double their number, drawn up in battle array, and had sent adrift the bridge of boats by which they had crossed. It was "conquer or die."

John Foster, although in his childhood, was the oldest boy, and thus was drafted into hard and unremitting toil - a campaign in which there was battle every dav. But he had a leader whose example was stronger than his commands, and so. performance of duty, patient, cheerful endurance and forward-looking faith were virtues to be emulated instead of arbitrary demands to be mechanically obeyed. All the inspirations and aspirations of his environments were beneficent and exalting. His mother, a noble woman, had all the self-sacrificing devotion and loyalty of the ancient Spartan matrons without the barbarian grossness. She inspired courage, strength, endurance by her splendid example. She was a woman of great physical as well as mental power, developed into a symmetrical form and handj some features with much vivacity and charm of expression ; a source of good inspiration as well as an efficient material help to her husband. The whole family, as they respectively became physically able, contributed their aid in clearing the farm and establishing the home.

John remained with his parents, assisting in the work until long after his majority. He obtained a good common school education, and was recognized and appreciated as a bright young man and all-around "good fellow." That meant that within a powerful and handsome physique there was good brain and a big heart. He learned and worked to some extent at the carpenter and joiner'^ trade, but soon abandoned it for farming. In January. 1850, he married Rose A. Eley, daughter of Michael Eley. a Jefferson town ship farmer. (Her brother, John H. Elev, married John Foster's sister. Sarah.)

His first purchase of land was the northwest quarter of section 1, in York township, which he sold, and in 1863 purchased of Jesse Wylde the northwest quarter of section i. in Jefferson, six miles east of his first land. This was an improved farm, and here he passed his remaining thirty-two years in the quiet pursuits of farm life, enjoying the deserved esteem and confidence of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

His wife and three sons, Eugene, Delmer, Perry, and several grandchildren of his Immediate family survive him. He also left two brothers. S. M. Foster, of Albion, and Alvin D. Foster, of Kendallville; three sisters, Mesdames J. H. Shanck and J. H. Ely, of Kendallville, Mrs. J. K. Riddle, of Jefferson, in Noble county; and his eldest sister, Mrs. John Steele, in Nebraska, with a host of nephews, nieces and other near relatives who mourn his loss and, with this association, honor his memory.

Was born in Genesee county, N. Y., September 25. 1829, and came with his parents to Noble county in 1837. He married Lydia Simon August 15, 1852, and settled on the farm in Swan township where he lived until his death, March 24, 1896, aged sixtv-six years, five months and twenty-nine days. His wife had died April 19. 1885. To their union were born eight children, of whom (inly three are living. He was again married, uniting with Mrs. Sarah Simon on the 29th of March. 1888.

He joined the Lutheran church at Bethlehem March 5, 1853, and remained a faithful member until death. He was an obliging neighbor, a loving and devoted husband, a kind and affectionate father. He was buried in the Bethlehem cemetery near his home, respected and mourned by all.

In those five words, "respected and mourned by all," Mr. J. M. (Simon) Warner has the sublime record of a life, the details of which cannot be obtained. But it can be truthfully stated that much of his life was unknown by reason of his retiring disposition, and only his immediate neighbors realized his sterling worth.

Martha M. Isbell

Daughter of John and Mary Cosper, and widow of the late Philander C. Isbell, died at her home at Kendallville on the evening of February 21, 1896, aged seventy- four i years, eleven months and sixteen days. She I had been a widow- not quite fourteen months, her husband having preceded her on the 31st of December, 1894.

Mrs. Isbell was a native of Holmes county, Ohio, born March 5, 1821. She lived there to the age of thirteen years when, with her parents, she moved to Tecumseh, Michigan, in the year 1S34. Two years afterward there moved to Tecumseh another Ohio family of Wayne count}-, of whom one was a son of seventeen years, Philander C. Isbell, and there was formed the mutually agreeable acquaintance that grew into the marriage of these young pioneers on the 24th day of December, 1838, he being about two months under twenty and she about as much less than eighteen. The next year, 1839, fifty-seven years ago, this young couple came to Noble county, Indiana, and joined in the battle of the pioneers with the primeval forests and its formidable auxiliaries - want and loneliness, physical weariness from extreme toil, racking agues and burning fevers. They first settled in Allen township and there cleared a farm.

To the earliest pioneers their surroundings were productive of the noblest influence. In the best sense they were happily situated, notwithstanding the privations, toils and external solitude that now seem, by contrast, so painful and repellant. The more that is thought about it the clearer the conviction grows that, while their sturdy efforts were clearing the course for a grand material progression and laying broad and firm f( mndations for the material superstructures of civilization, their hearts and souls were being attuned by the silent influences of their environments to that sublimer strain of emotion and aspiration which, transmitted, should sanctify the dazzling- accomplishments of succeeding generations. And while it is peculiar to the pioneer age, it is not strange that the very earliest settlers - those who remained and endured and became the founders of the "state," men and women, with \ y few exceptions - imbibed a deep, religio- tone of thou1 'it and feeling that impelled to church assoc itions wherein presided a spirit from the presence of which that of vain doctrine and theoretic distinction shrank and fled.

Mrs. Isbell joined such a circle of kindred spirits at the age of twenty-one. Her husband had preceded her the year before in assuming such relations. For a concise review of her personal and family history the following is quoted from the published obituary :

"To this union were horn seven sons and two daughters, two of the sons dying in infancy. The others have grown to manhood and womanhood. She lived to see the family, through Christ, hearing fruits of righteousness. Though her form is now silent in death she yet lives and speaks through the

A settler of the year 1846, who died at his home three miles northeast of Albion on April 15, 1896, was a native of the state of Pennsylvania. He was horn in York county of that state April 17, 1821, and therefore lacked but two days of seventy-five years. From a carefully prepared notice written by Rev. George Bretz at the dictation of the widow of the deceased pioneer, and published, are taken the following facts of his personal history :

At the age of eleven years he went with his parents to Canton, Ohio, in 1832. and resided there or in the vicinity for thirteen years. In 1845, being twenty-four years old, he joined the Masonic order, receiving his initiation in a lodge in the town of Massillon, Ohio. The next year. 1846. he came to Noble county, arriving here in November. Two years and a half afterward he married Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis Potts, a pioneer of 1836, ami a prominent, publicspirited citizen. The marriage took place on the 19th of May, 18.50, and on the 4th of August following, less than three months from the wedding daw the young wife was summoned to another sphere. In 1854, December 21, he married Louisa, the sister of his deceased bride, and this union continued until his death, over forty-one years. His wife, one daughter, six grandchildren, the son-in-law and one sister survive him. The sister is .Mrs. Christiana Skinner, of Albion. widow of James Skinner, the well-known pioneer of Jefferson township, who died many years ago.

Mr. Kline was a carpenter by trade, having served his apprenticeship in Ohio before coming to Noble county. It so happened, however, that his interests attached to farming, and he gradually abandoned his trade. Of the extent of his work as a carpenter we are not informed, but from the character of the man are prepared to hazard the assertion that what he did do was well done, to the limit of his skill and ability.

In vindication of his views and opinions on all the various questions of interest to society and mankind, from the greatest to the least, he was strenuous, aggressive and firm ; often, it seemed to his opponents, even to the point of unreasonable stubbornness. The language of his soul in this respect was appropriately uttered by Scott in his poem, "The Lady of the Lake/' through the voice of Fitz-James, when alone in the mountains he was confronted by Roderick Dhu and his clan. Backed against a mighty rock, he said -

And yet John Kline's so-called stubbornness was not wanton. It had always a basis of logic or foundation of conviction which, if possibly defective sometimes, was at least fully approved by his judgment and conscience. He was simply inflexible in championship of what was right and just and true in his convictions. That this inflexibility may in some natures become too habitually predominant, and include non-essential issues, is true- If it was so in him it was "a fault that leaned to virtue's side."

Speculative Entries Of Land In 1 832.'

in Perry township. There were two classes of speculators in land, non-resident and resident. The former were the odious "land sharks" whose operations most retarded settlement and improvement, whose heartless greed snatched thousands from the hands of honest industry and diverted it from use in local improvement to the offers of alien monopolists; or, large tracts of the best land were entered and held for years by nonresident owners - who coolly saw their holdings enhanced in value two, three, four and five-fold by the hard labor of settlers improving the adjacent country - without lifting a finger to assist or encourage.

Settlers, who had saved something more than the cost of entering the land for subsistence and improvements, were not only bitterly disappointed but almost hopelessly crippled, financially, by being compelled to pay two or three-fold prices for desirable lands that had l>een taken by these sharks and were held for immense speculative profits. Thus, in scores of instances, in the years of early settlement half the savings of years of toil and economy, brought here by settlers who intended therewith to promote the improvement and prosperity of the new country, were drawn back and away from the lines of intended usefulness by the hand of avarice : and. instead of strengthening the factors of development and progress, the money was added to the capital of older sections of the country; and the wise policy of the government, to aid in developing the resources of the public domain by selling the land at a nominal price, was thwarted to a great extent in all parts of the splendid Northwest Territory, and Noble count}- district experienced its full share of the evil.

actual settlers of ample means who, founding their own homes, sought out the must desirable locations and fruitful soils in different parts of the district and entered large bodies or numerous tracts for the purpose of enormous gains on their investments, it may be said, in partial mitigation that the wealth thus accumulated remained here ; but in a majority of instances it resulted in the aggrandizement of the few to the injury of thu mam- and against the interests of the county. We need not cite personal examples by actual names. The facts existed. They constitute history in themselves and illustrate the workings of a system and the effects of an evil as clearly under fictitious names and assumed conditions as real ones. Illustrative of the foregoing we give the substance of a following conversation that occurred in the cabin of a settler on a winter evening: A neighbor and his wife - Mr. and Airs. Smith - had called to have . an evening chat with the Joneses, who were immigrants from the same neighborhood in Pennsylvania. Both families were poor, almost destitute of earthly possessions except their quarter-sections of rich land, clothed with magnificent forests, and their rough cabins and scant, home-made furniture. The cabins had barely been completed to a habitable condition when winter came. Fleecy festoons adorned the silent forests; the intensely gloomy avenues had arches of inter locking branches, draped in snow; the foliage and the forest flowers hail disappeared and all the graceful undergrowths were covered with dead-white palls. But within the Jones cabin was the cheerful glow of a fire that crackled and roared and sent up volumes of flame and showers of sparks above the to]) of the capacious chimney and diffused a genial warmth throt cabin. Assembled around that hearthstone on the winter evening mentioned Smith and Jones and their young wives sat and talked - of the past and then present - of the scenes and persons and events of the dear home-land; of fathers and mothers; of brothers and sisters; of childhood's sports and the enjoyment and experiences of youth ; of spelling schools and religious revivals; of bridals and births and funerals; of the uncounted things of the blessed memories of which their minds and hearts were full; of present conditions and hopes ; of the future. dimly seen, hut to their simple rectitude of vision proffering no crowns but those of righteousness, no rewards but those of modest merit. Both men had been at a barn-raising that day for John Cosgrove, a neighbor five miles distant. It was a very large log barn, with a long shed extension for horses and cattle. The magnitude of Cosgrove's improvements was the admiration, not unmixed with envy, of the entire community. Speaking of this, Jones said;

"Cosgrove's was the biggest raisin" we've had in this section. It's wonderful how he's getting ahead; has more acres, cleared than all the rest of us. and nearly as many horses and cattle as any ten other settlers put together; he's bound to get rich in short order."

grove' rich; that his land don't cost him more'n half as much an acre as theirs did them? Take your case and mine: we've got a quarter-section apiece; as good land, of course, as can be found anywhere; but we paid him $400. Well, that's $400 more'n he paid the government for the same land. Then there's Tom Dunlap, Jim Sanford. Rob. Diehl and Ben Murphy, every one of them as good as gave Cosgrove $100 apiece. He entered their four eighties ahead of them and thev had to pay him twice as much as he paid for their land, and that took^about all thev had saved up for improvements. Now they are crippled, as you and I are, for want of that very money that Cosgrove got without its costing him a cent or a day's work ; $800 clear profit taken from six neighbors. Is it any wonder that he can go ahead and get rich?"

"Why, he got $2,000 that was willed him by old Elkanah Cosgrove, his grandfather, who died in Maryland last year. John got word of it two weeks after his cabin-raising, and he went back and got the money. With that money he first added to his first quartersection the best two eighties joining, which made him a solid half-section, all for $400. Then he commenced entering the finest tracts in this and other townships until he spent $1,600 of his legacy. He has got back from us six settlers that $1,600. and is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres which he holds for sale for $1,400, besides his home farm of three hundred and twenty acres." Mrs. Smith here interposed -

Smith, I don't see how you manage to make that calico dress last so long and look so well, with all your work. Now, she had on a brand new alpaca dress herself; and she spoke so everybody could hear. I thought 'twas real mean, though I never thought at the time that probably other folks' money went into her finery. And it was sickenin' to see how poor Susan Murphy looked up to her, just because she had on nice toggery, that like as not Ben's money helped to buy." Mrs. Jones agreed with Mrs. Smith, and the men agreed - that Cosgrove' s operations savored strongly of extortion, and were very unfortunate for the new settlement. All felt that it was unjust that such things were permissible. Such were the beginnings of the growth of a parasitic classism that would at length exhaust the vital sap of the tree of liberty- and wither its foliage.

City Of Kexdallville

Previous to the year 1832 no white man had made the present site of Kendallville his home, but everything was just as it had been placed by the fashioning hand of the Creator. During the autumn of 1832, or perhaps the spring of 1833, a man named David Bundle, a tall, awkward specimen of the gams homo, who. like the immortal Lincoln, usually displayed about a yard of uncovered leg ( at the lower extremity ) , appeared in the primitive forests of Kendallville and erected a small round-log cabin, with the assistance (some say) of the viewers appointed to establish the Fort Wayne and Lima road. The cabin was little better than a wigwam, as it was very small, and the roof was made of bark, while the floor, which was lacking at first, save the one funned by nature, consisted of clapboards, rudely rived from some suitable log. Tins building was located near where the present residence of Hiram Roberts stands. Travel had already begun along the Fort Wayne road, as settlers from Ohio or farther east first went to the land office at Fort Wayne, and afterward came north to settle upon the lands they had purchased. A settlement had been formed before 1833 in the northern part of Lagrange county, and it was mainly through the petition of these people that the legislature was induced to order the survey and establishment of the Lima road. This road was traveled by a few teamsters when Bundle first built his cabin, and. with the prospect of getting a few extra shillings in view, a small unpretentious sign was hung out that entertainment could be obtained. In the fall of 1833 Mrs. Frances Dingman, whose husband bad died in Fort Wayne while the family were in search of a home in the wilds of Indiana, appeared at Bundle's cabin, and, having purchased his righl and title to the property for a pittance, moved with her family into the log cabin, where she continued the entertainment of the traveling public, while Mr. Bundle disappeared, and bis fate is still unknown. Whether or not Bundle owned the land or whether he was anything more than a squatter: at least be was easily induced to transfer his right in the cabin to Mrs. Dingman, who did own the land. This woman possessed considerable money, a will of her own and a family of five or six children, several of whom had almost reached their majority. She employed some man to clear a few acres of land and, in 1836, immediately after the erection of the Latta sawmill, in Orange township, she erected the first frame house in Kendallville. a small roughly constructed affair, which was built near the old log cabin. Mrs. Dingman found many hardships to contend with, and when at last, in about 1N37, after a brief o urtship, Truman Bearss asked her to become his wife, she consented, and the couple, happy in the enjoyment of genuine love, walked over to the Haw Patch, about twenty miles distant, to have the ceremony performed. They were bound together in Hymen's chains, and then started for home, but the gloom and darkness came on and they were compelled to pass the night in the woods. A fire was built and here the newly made man and wife sat staring at each other with loving eyes until morning, when thev started early and succeeded in reaching home in time for a hearty wedding breakfast. In about the year 1835 George Ulmer located on what is known as Iddings' addition to Kendallville. William Mitchell, in the spring of 1830, built a double loo cabin near where his son now resides. Thomas Ford came soon afterward. Ezra T. 1 shell, Henry hidings and Daniel Bixler appeared in about 1836. all locating within an area of what is now Kendallville; Imt as they were scattered around a considerable distance apart it was not yet dreamed in their philosophy that a thriving village was destined to spring up around them. Isbell was the first shoemaker in town. John Finch, a wagonmaker, located before 1840 where Deible's warerooms now are, and John Gipe erected a blacksmith simp on the south side of the creek on west Main street in 1830. In 1N40 there were living on the present site of Kendallville the families of Mrs. Dingman (or rather of Mr. Bearss), William Mitchell. John Finch, George Ulmer. Ezra T. Isbell. Henry Iddings. Daniel Bixler and possibly two or three others, representing- a total population of about thirty-five or forty. Mr. Mitchell entertained the public, though no sign was hung out. By 1840 the settlement had assumed the appearance of an embryonic village. A short time before this, through the influence of Mr. Mitchell, who owned about five hundred acres of land and possessed considerable means, a postoffice was established at his cabin, but a few years later it was removed to the residence of Hiram Iddings, but, in about 1849, was re-established at the store of Samuel Minot, who had erected a small building ( yet standing) on the old George Ackley property, and had placed therein between two thousand and three thousand dollars' worth of a general assortment of goods a year or two before. The office took its name from Postmaster General Amos Kendall, and was known as Kendallville, and the village, as soon as it was laid out, in 1847, was christened after the name of the postoffice. Kendallville did not grow to any noticeable extent between 1840 and 1849, as perhaps not more than a dozen families lived within its limits. Lisbon, however, was at the summit of its prosperity.

Some time about the year 1847 a company of wealthy men at Fort Wayne and along the Lima road associated themselves together, with a capital stock of about seventy thousand dollars, for the purpose of transforming the old Fort Wayne and Lima road into a plank road. Pursuant to the law of the state, this road was leased by the company for a term of years, and sawmills were erected all along the line to furnish three-inch oak plank, which were to be laid down on suitable sills, at right angles to the direction of the road. The planks were sawed and laid down in 1847 and 1848, and toll-gates were established from six to ten miles apart, and superintendents of sections, living along the line, were employed to keep the road in repair. The plank road was fifty miles long, and in some places deviated from the old Lima road. A few small dividends were struck, but the road failed to repay the stockholders for the outlay of construction and the stock steadily depreciated in value. Many of the largest stockholders at Fort Wayne and along the road were wise enough to get rid of the stock to eastern capitalists, upon whom much of the burden of failure fell when the enterprise collapsed. Toll was collected on portions of the road until about 1858, when the route was turned over to the county commissioners.

The above facts have been dwelt upon, as the subject was one which for several years affected the financial welfare of every tax-payer within the corporate limits of the city. The writer may have made some mistakes above, as the facts in the case were extremelv hard to get. If so. the forbearance of the reader is asked. "You know how it is yourself."

Kendallville children first went to' school about a mile and a half northwest, to the old log school-house on the Sawyer farm, west of road and south of creek, and the next was east of road and north of creek. School was taught there prior to 1840. Soon after this house had been built another was erected between the residences of Ryland Reed and Hiram Iddings, and as this was nearer than the other house, the scholars were sent to it. Cynthia Parker and Miss Wollingfi ird were earlv teachers at the Iddings school- house. In about the year 1847 a '"g school building was erected on the line between Allen and Wayne townships, about forty rods west of the Fort Wayne road. Here the village children assembled to receive instruction. No school-house was constructed in Kendall ville proper until 1858. For several years previous to that date, however, select schools had been taught by competent instructors in vacant rooms here and there in town: but this was found to be unsatisfactory; and accordingly, in 1858, a three-story frame school building, about 30x60 feet, was erected on the site of the present school structure, at a cost of about thirty-five hundred dollars. The two lower stories were devoted to the use of class recitations, while the third story was used as a hall in which to hold public exhibitions, lectures, etc. From one hundred and eighty to two hundred scholars were in attendance from the beginning. Dr. Riley, an accomplished scholar and an efficient instructor and organizer, was employed and taught two years, when he was succeeded by W. W. Dowling, who likewise taught two years. During the winter of 1863-64, which was very cold, the government troops encamped at the town suffered so much that the colonel ordered the evacuation of the school-house by teachers and pupils, and transformed it into a hospital for the sick of his command. Smallpox broke out among the men at the hospital, but luckily it was prevented from spreading. After this talk was freely indulged in by the parents of scholars that the school-house could not be used longer as such, owing to the liability of the children catching the smallpox. A secret attempt was made, during the summer of T864, to burn the house, but without success, although late in the fall the attempt was repeated, resulting in the destruction of the building. School was then taught in the basement of the Baptist, Disciple and Presbyterian churches, and in the public halls of the town, until the present fine brick school structure was erected, at a total cost, including finishing, bell, desks, apparatus, etc., of nearly forty thousand dollars. The house is 61x81 feet, is three stories in height, has ten regular school rooms and several others which could be made such if necessary. It is one of the finest school structures in northern Indiana. It was built by means of city bonds, which were issued and sold, but which after a time depreciated considerably in value, owing to several reasons, one being the hard times at the close of the war, and another the heavy taxation for the payment of railroad bonds. Money was hard to obtain, and it is said that while the city was kicking like Balaam's donkey against the payment of the railroad bonded debt, the school-house bonds were sold at a discount as soon as they were issued - were thrown upon the market and sold at a discount. The building was begun with money 1 about seven thousand dollars) raised by subscription, and with the personal liability (about six thousand dollars) of James Colegrove, James B. Kimball and Freeman Tabor. These amounts were afterward covered by city bonds. The bonds were paid by installments, and were issued in the same manner, the most at any one time being fifteen hundred dollars, due in one year; fifteen hundred dollars due in two years; two thousand dollars, in three years; five thousand dollars, in six years'; five thousand dollars, in nine years; and hve thousand dollars, in twelve years; the first three installments drawing interest at six per cent, per annum, and the last three at ten per cent, per annum. Tins issue of bonds was made in March, 1867. The school-house debt has been liquidated. Within the last few years a high school has been created, and now young men and women, with thoughtful faces, pass out into the world with "sheepskins" of the Kendallville high school. The present enumeration of school children in the city is about eleven hundred.

The Baptists built the first church in town, the building being now occupied by Catholics. The house, a frame structure, was erected in 1856, and ten years later was transferred to the Catholics for two thousand dollars. They have owned it since. The Baptist church was used by several denominations which had contributed means for its erection. A few years later the Methodists built a frame church, which after being used a few years was destroyed by fire. After the Baptists sold their church they soon bought that belonging to the Protestant Methodists. This they still occupy. These two and the German Lutheran are now large brick edifices, tastefully and handsomely finished, and are a credit to the city. All the others are frame buildings. William Mitchell, one of the most prominent and charitable men ever residing in the city, gave each religious society ( eight in all ) a lot upon which tn build the church. He also gave the fine large lot upon which the high school building now stands. The old Baptist church was an important building. Prior to 1863 the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and possibly other societies, met there alternately to worship, and the old house was almost constantly filled with one unending song of praise and thanksgiving. Before its erection, and subsequent to the year 1852, meetings were held in various vacant rooms and halls ; but all this inconvenience is now gone and the sweet-toned bells calling Christians to worship are heard from many quarters. The Lutheran St. John's congregation was organized in 1856, and was first served by Rev. Schumann, holding the first meetings in private houses. In 1865 Rev. A. Y\ uestman was called to take charge of the congregation, which continued to grow by the advent of German Lutherans. In 1871 Rev. Ph. Fleishmann succeeded Rev. Wuestman, and by this time it was found that the congregation had outgrown the capacity of the old church. Accordingly, in 1873. a new brick edifice, valued at ten thousand dollars, was erected. The old building was made use of as a school room. Connected with the congregation is a private school. The enumeration is about one hundred. At the death of Rev. Fleishmann, in 1879. Rev. George M. Schumns was given charge of the congregation. Since the origin of the society up to 1900 four hundred and fifty-four persons have been baptized, two hundred and twenty-eight confirmed, and two hundred and seven deaths have occurred.

Mr. Minot had opened his store. He built an asliery and manufactured a considerable quantity of pearl-ash. which was conveyed by wagon to Fort Wayne. Minot also built a sawmill, which soon had all it could do in furnishing lumber for the plank road.

Israel Graden opened witli a small stock of goods about 1848, but the next year sold to Minot & Evans. Two years later the store was sold to Clark & Bronson.

On the ist of June, 1849, William Mitchell secured the service of the county surveyor and laid out twenty lots on the east side of Main street.

Luke Dig-gins opened the first hotel of consequence not far from 1850. Four years later Jesse Kime built the old Kelly House, controlled by Judge Burnham and James Kelly. Diggins' house was known as the "Calico House," from the Dolly Varden style in which it was painted.

The first follower of Esculapius was Dr. Cissel. who appeared in 1849. James Haxby was the first attorney, although there were several pettifoggers before him.

In [852 Samuel Minot built a large frame four-storied gristmill, placing therein three run of stone. Four or five years later the mill was purchased by George F. Clark, who greatly increased its usefulness. He shipped by rail large quantities of excellent flour to different points. About the beginning of the Civil war the property was transferred to parties from Toledo, and after it had been heavily insured it was burned to the ground and the insurance money was demanded and obtained. Damaging charges were made, but were never substantiated.

George Baker placed a small stock of groceries in the Graden building, but soon sold out to William Mitten. After the dissolution of Minot & Evans the latter contined the business with Mr. Parkman. Rood, Daniels & Company started in 1853, with dry goods and railroad supplies. A few years later Northam, Barber & Welch opened a store. Jacob Lessman appeared about 1856, but sold to J. F. Code a short time afterward. A Hebrew partnership ( Loeb Brothers ) began selling ready-made clothing about [856. Peter Ringle bought out Evans in 1854. M. M. Bowen engaged in the mercantile pursuit not far from 1857. About 1857 Mr. Welch bought his partner's interest, and soon afterward effected a partnership with G. W. Greenfield. Haskins & Roller started about 1858.

F. & H. Tabor built the gristmill now owned by Mr. Brillhart in the year 1857. The mill, which cost $6,000, was supplied with three run of stone, and in 1859 a sawmill was attached to it. Mr. Tabor claims that this was the first circular sawmill in northeastern Indiana. At the end of six years F. & Tl. Tabor disposed of their interest in the mills, but in 1804 built another sawmill and the following year a gristmill. These mills cost over $7,000. The gristmill has been rebuilt within the past few years, and G. C. Glatte started up not far from 1857.

On the 6th of January, 1858. Mitchell & Hitchcock (William Mitchell and Henry H. Hitchcock ) began a private banking business in Kendallville, and continued until December 31, 1861, at which time the firm was dissolved. Hitchcock going out. the business being resumed by William Mitchell & Sons (William Mitchell. John Mitchell and Charles S. Mitchell), continuing thus from January 1, 1862, to June 11, 1863. On the 1 2th of June the business was merged into the First National Bank of Kendallville, William Mitchell being elected President and Charles S. .Mitchell cashier. The first board of directors were William Mitchell. John Mitchell. Charles S. Mitchell. William M. Clapp, of Albion, and William W. Maltby, of Ligonier. The first stockholders were the above, with the addition of Mrs. M. C.

Dawson, of Kendallville. William Mitchell and Charles S. Mitchell acted as president and cashier until their respective deaths, in September, 1865, and September, 1866. Since the death of William Mitchell his son, John Mitchell. has been president of the bank. John A. Mitchell was cashier from September, 1 866, to January 10, 1871, at which date Emanuel H. Shulze succeeded him. Mr. Shulze died in November, 1878. Jacob G. Waltman became cashier on the 14th of January, 1879, and has held the position since. The bank is doing a good business.

Thomas Brothers opened with a stock in 1859. Other merchants were engaged in business during these years, and since that time their name has been legion.

Artimus Doggins built a three-story frame south of the depot grounds and moved his cabinet shop 'into it, and after several years it was sold to W. S. Thomas for a hub ami spoke factory, during which time William Cliilds. who had figured largely in sawmills, real estate, etc, and had built the brick tavern near the Lake Shore depot, finally failed and bankrupted several of the best citizens.

William H. Austin started the first newspaper at Kendallville in April, 1849, it also being the first newspaper in Noble county, .mil was issued and published from the second story of Samuel Minor's store, and this building is yet standing and known as the George Aichele property on South Main street. The paper was called the Noble County Star, and afterward removed to Albion and sold to Samuel E. Alvord and then the name was changed to Albion Observer. Mention of these journals has also been made in the paragraph headed "Noble County Press," but in this local record a slight repetition will not be deemed superfluous.

During the spring of either 1859 or i860 Mr. Judson Palmiter, of Ligonier. a man of bright intellect, who had previously been connected with the Ligonier Republican in an editorial capacity, went to Kendallville and established the Noble County Journal, the first newspaper ever published there. The political complexion of the Journal was Republican; subscription price, $1.50 per year: and soon a circulation of about five hundred was secured, which was afterward about doubled. The Journal was published by Piatt & McGovern. The editor, Mr. Palmiter, was a cautious, forcible writer; and the local columns of the Journal were crowded with terse, spicy news. In the prolonged editorial fight between the Journal and the Standard the editor of the former was determined, skillful, and often justly wrathful and vindictive. His words were daggers, and his sentences two-edged swords. He conducted the paper with abundant success until the latter part of 1808, when the office was sold to Brillhart & Kimball, and J. S. Cox took the editorial chair. The Journal continued thus until the 1st of January, 1870, when it was purchased by Dr. N. Teal, who. in August of the same year, transferred the entire property to C. O. Myers, and the Journal was then consolidated with the Standard, which .was established in June, L863, by Dr. Myers, but the excellent business qualifications, practical experience and indomitable energy of its founder soon placed it in the front rank of county jour- nals. The Standard has always been a stalwart Republican paper, fearless and independent; and from its inception, to the present time has received liberal patronage and universal public confidence. Several of its contemporaries and rival publications have gone "where the woodbine twineth," while the Standard has been steadily growing in patronage, power and influence, and now enjoys a larger circulation than any other paper in the county. The Standard editorials were extremely bitter, dealing out invective and denunciation that rankled long in the hearts of enemies, while friends were treated with uniform kindness and courtesy. Political and other differences between the Standard and the Journal were fought to the last ditch, and the personal enmitv engendered will long be remembered by the citizens of the county. On the ist of November, 1880, Dr. Myers sold the Standard office, which he had occupied successfully for seventeen and a half years, to H. J. Long. August 1 J. 1882, it was purchased by Rerick & Conlogue. and so continued until April I, 1887, when Dr. Rerick sold his interest to his son, John D. Rerick, and after that the firm name was Conlogue & Rerick.

The first issue of the Weekly News appeared on the 13th of November, 1877, the editor and proprietor being Dr. A. S. Parker, an old and respected citizen of Kendallville, where he located in 1857. Nearly two years before the first issue mentioned above Dr. Parker had purchased the paper, which was then at Garrett, and had continued its publication there until compelled by the pressure of hard times to make a removal, which he did, as stated above. The first issue comprised two hundred copies only, as but little effort had been made to secure subscribers, though the two hundred copies went permanently into two hundred homes. It started out without any special friends to boost or back it up. Without assistance the editor and family have labored until at present the circulation reaches nearly a thousand, and new names were added daily. Its politics is Democratic, though its editor is not so blind a partisan as to believe all that is good politically is within his party. The paper is on a solid financial basis.

The short-lived papers of Kendallville have been as follows: In 1862 Barron & Stowe issued a small neutral paper, about twelve by fifteen inches, designed to circulate among the many troops then quartered there, making a specialty of war news and incidents of camp life, especially those in the camp at the town, and affording an excellent means of advertisements of the merchants and others to reach the eyes of the "boys in blue." The circulation soon ran up to nearly five hundred, and continued thus for about two years, when the office was sold to C. O. Myers.

In the latter part of about 1869 Hopkins & Piatt began the publication of a small paper called the Daily Bulletin ; but, after it had continued a few months with partial success, the official management was greatly altered, the publishers becoming Piatt & Hopkins, and Thomas L. Graves taking the editorial chair. The paper was rechristened the Independent, came out with a bright face, and was designed to be, as its new name indicated, independent. At the expiration of a few months the office was removed to Michigan, and the Independent ceased to exist in 1870. while the circulation was about three hundred. In about 1872 the Ro,,f brothers began publishing the Semi-Weekly Times, a small sheet, neutral politically, and designed as an advertising medium. It was issued about six months and then perished. About the time of the great temperance crusade in Kendallville, some ten or twelve years ago, a temperance magazine, published and edited by Shafer & Lash, was issued monthly for about six or eight months. It was an earnest exponent of temperance principles ; but its death was contemporaneous with that of the enthusiasm arising from the crusade.

[Taken from manuscripts sent the author of the present work. Its authenticity, while unknown to us, is nevertheless reliable, and can not be doubted with propriety.]

The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company was formed in 1869 by the consolidation of the following four railroads, each (if which was composed formerly of two others : Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana: Cleveland & Toledo; Buffalo & Erie; and Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula. The Michigan Southern was projected in 1837 through the southern part of the state from Monroe on the east to New Buffalo on the west, but was continued on to Chicago in 1852.

Of the Northern Indiana Railroad the Chicago Times of 1877 has this to say: "In 1835 John B. Chapman, of Warsaw, Indiana, a member of the State Legislature, introduced a hill for the incorporation of the 'Atlantic & Pacific Railroad.' He was ridiculed out of this ambitious title, and finally consented to come down to 'Buffalo & Mississippi Railroad,' but would not yield another mile. Work on the road was begun in 1835, but in 1837 came the financial crash that doomed the railroad to a sleep equal in duration to that of Rip Van Winkle. An effort at resuscitation was made in 1847. culminating finally in the road's passing to the Litchfields, under the name of Northern Indiana Railroad. The work went on slowly until at last, in 1855, the Michigan Southern and the Northern Indiana were consolidated with a union of those two names. The road was completed through Noble county early in 1857. Under the presidency of the Vanderbilts the road is paying its stockholders dividends."

During the period of survey through Noble county the engineers for the road had run two lines some distance south of Kendallville, but were satisfied with neither. Through the solicitation of Samuel Mkiot, who advanced the funds necessary, a third line was surveyed through the village bv the road engineers. This last was found to so far excel in every manner the two other proposed routes that it was accepted at once. From this time the prosperity and growth of the village was assured. Due credit must be given to Mr. Minot for the assiduous, unrequited labor he gave in order that his "ain town" might rival a pompous neighbor, who made many offers in order to secure the coveted prize, but all in vain. A j generous spirit actuated all these sturdy pioneers, and the interest of the individual became lost in the concern of the community. Mr. Mitchell, Judge Hanna and Pliny Hoagland, of Fort Wayne, at this time were engaged in building a railroad from Crestline, Ohio, to Fort Wayne. Ind.. Mr. Mitchell having invested his entire fortune in the stock of the company, while the other gentlemen appropriated the greater portion of their wealth in the same enterprise. At the completion of that road it was made optional with the stockholders to reserve their bonds or to take possession of the land they had given as adequate security. Mr. Mitchell chose the latter in preference to the former - undoubtedly a wise choice, as it formed the nucleus of his fortune in after years. On his return to Kendallville in 1853 he exerted all his power and influence for the completion of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad and the making of the village a desirable place of residence. He surveyed a line of lots on tTTe west side of Main street from his residence to the railroad, the price of the lots being placed at sixty dollars apiece. To the complaints of some disgruntled villagers that the lots would never be sold he was utterly deaf; and time proved his judgment to be correct, as the lots "went off like hot cakes." The railroad was completed through Noble county about 1857 and the company at mice began to operate the business. So far as is known, the citizens of the village contributed but little toward the construction of the road.

Grand Rapids & Indiana. - About this time another road began its struggle for existence. From authentic sources is quoted the following account of the organization of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway Company:

"The corporation first known as the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company was duly incorporated and organized by articles of association, bearing date of January |S, [854, with power to construct, maintain and operate a railroad from the town of Hartford, in Blackford county, [nd., to a point on the line of the state, in the direction of Grand Rapids, Mich. Afterward, by various articles of consolidation and incorporation with other roads, it assumed the above corporate name in June, 1857, and at that time had a declared capital stock of $2,800,000, including large tracts of valuable timber land grants in northern Michigan, but the paid-up capital of the company was so small that it was found impossible to meet the expense of constructing the road, in which case the land grants, after a certain date, would revert to the government. To prevent this various expediencies were resorted to, and at last extension of the time for the completion of certain portions of the road was obtained.

"Work was resumed under several contracts, one of which was with George \\". Ceisendorff. of Rome City, dated December, 1864, to build and equip fifteen miles of mad, understood to be between the latter town of Lagrange, Ind. ; $19,000 paid by Mr. Ceisendorff to the company were expended on the road north of Grand Rapids. Still the company found itself unable to continue the completion of the road, and a new executive administration under the old organization was effected, that some relief might be obtained. Confidence was partially restored, and the citizens along the road in Noble and Lagrange counties subscribed about two hundred thousand dollars in aid of the work, the most of which was payable conditionally, and hence was unavailable until the conditions had been complied with. Soon, after considerable difficulty, another extension of time until January 1. 1868, was obtained. The Pittsburg. Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad was solicited for help, and furnished it conditionally by endorsing certain stipulations on fifteen hundred one- thousand-dollar bonds of the issue of January. i860. But this seemed to afford only temporary relief, as in April, 1869, a number of responsible parties living in New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburg, and known as the Continental Improvement Company, obtained such control of the Grand Rapids Company that the completion of the road- was rapidly pushed forward, with the aid of a declared capital of two million dollars, owned by the last named corporation, until, in December, 1873, the road, constructed and completed in accordance with the contract, was turned over to the Grand Rapids & Indiana Company. Thus it was that after a long, distressing struggle for life, the road, at the price of large profits, was placed upon a permanent running basis. "When the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company were projecting their road through the county, citizens along the hue were asked to take stock therein. Many did this in and around Kendallville, and finally the city government issued its bonds for eighty-three thousand dollars to the railroad company, and received in return stock in the company to the same amount. Some time afterward it became apparent, from the depreciation in the value of the stock, among other tilings, that large tracts of valuable timber land in northern Michigan, in which every dollar's worth of stock had an interest, had been disposed of in such a manner as to deprive the stockholders of any interest therein. This led the city to refuse to pay its bonds at the par value of the stock, although it was not the design to repudiate the debt. A more detailed account of the whole proceeding is as follows: council of said city to subscribe for and take $83,000 capital stock in the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, for and on behalf of said city, and to make and issue bonds of the city in payment thereof; and, whereas, it further appears, that the railroad, as proposed to be constructed, will run into and pass through said city; therefore,

" ' Be it resolved by the common council of the City of Kendallville, That said city will subscribe for and take $83,000 capital stock in aid of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, and thatbondsof said city shall be issued in payment therefor, as follows: Eighty-three corporate coupon bonds of $1,000 each, signed by the mayor and attested by the clerk of said city, and payable twenty years from the loth day of May, 1867, with interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable annually on the 1st day of May of each year (both principal and interest) at the office of the treasurer of said city, that said bonds shall be delivered to the proper officer of said Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company only on condition - First, that the company issue to the City of Kendallville. in lieu thereof, certificates for capital stock of said company to the amount of $83,000; Second, that sufficient guaranty be given to said city by the president of said railroad company that all moneys arising from the sale of said bonds shall be expended upon that part of said road lying between the Allen county line, in the State of Indiana and the city of Kendallville; that the committee upon ordinance prepare and report an ordinance to carry into effect these resolutions.' "

At a meeting of the city council on the ioth of June. 1867, that portion of the above resolution requiring the president of the railroad company to guarantee that all money arising from the sale of city bonds should be expended upon that portion of the road lying between the Allen county line and Kendallville was unanimously "rescinded and repealed." It w7as further ordained, at this session, that so much of the above resolution as referring to subscribing and taking eighty-three thousand dollars stock in the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, and to issuing city bonds in payment therefor, "be and the same is hereby repealed." This was accomplished by a unanimous vote. Imme-

" 'Be it resolved by the common council of the city of Kendallville, That whereas, the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company has prepared a proper certificate for capital stock in said company to the amount of 830 shares of $100 each, and by its president, Joseph K. Edgerton, has also executed a written guarantee that the proceeds of the bonds ordered to be executed by said city by special ordinance adopted May 8, 1867, shall be applied in the construction of said railroad between Fort Wayne and Kendallville, and not elsewhere, and the said company having consented to deliver to the said city the private obligations or subscriptions to the capital stock of said company made by the citizens of Kendallville during the year L866; Now, therefore, the treasurer of said city is directed to receive from said Joseph K. Edgerton the certificates of stockas aforesaid and the written guarantee and the private obligations or subscription aforesaid, and in payment therefor to deliver to said Edgerton the bonds executed by virtue uf the special ordinance aforesaid, being eightythree corporate bonds - coupon bonds of $1,000 each; and the said city treasurer is further directed, upon application to deliver said private obligations to the several citizens of the city who executed the same and who now reside in said city.'

"This resolution remained pending until the next session of the Council, when il was voted upon and passed without a dissenting- voice. On motion, Mr. Edgerton was appointed to cast the vote of the city at the annual meeting of the stockholders, to he held at Sturgis, Michigan, on the third Wednesday in July. 1867. He was also instructed to vote for Robert Dykes as director of the company, from Kendallville. In July, 1869, some misgivings having arisen in the breasts of the citizens of Kendallville regarding the good faith of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company as to the fulfillment of its promises and obligations, and the proper disposal or application of the city's subscription, the president of the company was informed that the city would not pay its obligations - would repudiate the payment of its bonds - unless some further assurance was received that the stock subscribed would he properly expended, and that. too. without any unnecessary delay. Whether such assurance was received is not known; at all events, matters went on until it was learned that the Grand Rapids Company had in some manner transferred its interest in the road to the Continental Improvement Company, and that the stock in the road held by the city of Kendallville was either worthless, or nearly so, from the probable fact that the extensive pine timber lands in Michigan owned by the company, to which all such stock had a claim, had been disposed of in a manner to defraud the stockholders of any interest therein, whereupon one hundred and fourteen citizens of Kendallville petitioned the city council, asking that the Continental Improvement Company be required to furnish the city with eightythree thousand dollars of stock, or upon failure to do so such citizens would refuse to pay the principal of their bonds, the interest, or any part thereof. The petition was ordered on file, and the mayor was instructed to employ Morris & Worden, attorneys of Fort Wayne, to ascertain the true condition of affairs, and whether the city of Kendallville was liable for the payment of the eightythree thousand dollars stock subscribed. This last resolution, however, was soon rescinded, and the council employed L. E. Goodwin to ascertain the extent of the legal liability of the city for the bonds given to the railroad company.

"As time passed it became more apparent to the citizens that they had been outflanked when they gave their bonds to the railroad company, and a bitter opposition to the payment of the subscription was freely expressed everywhere. At last a petition with sixty-eight names was presented to the council, asking that an agent he appointed to see whether the bonds of the city in the possession of the railroad company could lie negotiated at some satisfactory rate, in view of the existing hard times and burdensome taxation : but at the next meeting another petition, asking that action on the above petition lie deferred until after the election of the city officers for the ensuing year, was presented with one hundred and forty-two names.

"At the next session the council resolved to appoint a committee of three citizens to confer with the holders of the city's bonds, as to the best terms such bonds could lie negotiated. A conference between the committee and Mr. Edgerton, of the Grand Rapids road, and G. W. Cass, of the Continental Improvement Company, was held, and arrangements were made by which the bonds were to be purchased by the city, and, in lieu thereof, the stock-held by the city was to be transferred to the holders of the bonds ; but as this was not followed by the proper action on the part of the bondholders, it was resolved by the city council that the treasurer be instructed to pay no more coupons on the bonds until further orders. This action brought from Mr. Cass the proposition to exchange forty thousand dollars of the 1 Kinds of the city with the overdue coupons attached for eight}- thousand dollars of the stock in the Grand Rapids Railroad, and also- an agreement to discount twentyfive per cent, on the remaining debt, if the same be paid in one and two years. After long debate through several successive meetings the council finallv rejected the offer of

Mr. Cass, but agreed to exchange twenty thousand dollars and the stock in the city's possession for the eighty-three thousand dollars in bonds held by the Continental Company, the twenty thousand dollars to be payaide in three years in equal annual payments. Mr. Cass, by letter, refused to accept this proposition, and further debate was indulged in by the city council regarding the best means of adjusting the difference. A committee of three was appointed to go to Sturgis, Michigan - Messrs. Ringle, Cain and Orviatt. These men could secure no better terms, and accordingly a mass meeting of the citizens of the city was called to be held on the 2d of August, 1870, at which time an almost unanimous opinion was expressed not to accept the proposition of Mr. Cass ; but in the face of this feeling the city council, by a vote of three to two, accepted the proposal. Any further action, however, was postponed until a petition, signed by two hundred and thirty-eight qualified voters of the city, and asking that the resolution of the council be rescinded, was presented, when the prayer of the petitioners was granted. The payment of the coupons on the bonds was refused, and after threatening suit against the city treasurer for the collection of the same the railroad president was confronted by a resolution from the council supporting the treasurer in his refusal to pay the overdue interest. After numerous propositions from both sides for a settlement without success, suit was finally begun in the United States circuit court at Indianapolis, by J. T. Davis, for the collection of overdue interest on the city bonds. While this was pending, further efforts were made to adjust the trouble.

certain attorneys of Fort Wayne to the effect that if fifteen thousand dollars would be guaranteed them the}- would clear the city of its bonded indebtedness. This proposition was accepted and suit was begun. Various other complications arose, until at last, in January, 1874, the following contract was entered into between the city and Air. Cass, representing the Continental Improvement Company :

" 'The said city shall assign and deliver to the said Continental Improvement Company the certificates for eight hundred and thirty shares of the stock in the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, now held by said city. Second, the said city shall pay the said Continental Improvement Company twentyfive thousand dollars in ten (To) equal annual payments, with interest payable annually on the whole; the first payment to be made on the 1st of October, 1874, and the remaining payments on the 1st of October, annually, thereafter until all shall be paid, and the interest shall be computed on the twenty-five thousand dollars from the first day of October, 1874. Third, the cause now pending against said company in the Allen circuit court to be withdrawn, and all suits against said company in which said city is interested, either directly or indirectly, to be dismissed immediately by said city. Fourth, the installments ($2,500) and interest as above stated, as it becomes clue, and at the same time surrenders to said city ten thousand dollars of said bonds or coupons now held by said company, and when said city shall have performed all the other stipulations herein agreed to be performed by said city, then the Continental Improvement Company will, without further payment, deliver to the said city the bonds of the Continental Improvement Company.' "

Thus, after a long struggle and prolonged litigation, the railroad was established and the city government secured from serious loss. Under the management of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Company the railroad has been doing a prosperous business. Her rails of steel, although laid at great cost and during a period not at all propitious to such an undertaking, have long been traveled by the prancing steed of iron, distributing the luxuries as well as the necessities of life from section to section, from city to city, dropping them even by the wayside, carrying both joy and sadness, both pleasure and pain, to the many country folk adjacent to the line of travel. To these enterprises the city of Kendallville owes much of its present prosperity, and indeed they are enterprises which would and do bring success and prosperity to any thrifty hamlet, village, town or city.

Horse-Thieves And Blacklegs

In an early day Noble county was infested with a lot of horse-thieves and counterfeiters that were hard to beat. They were gentlemen in appearance, well dressed, educated, accommodating, good neighbors, and all that. The leaders came here from Summit county, Ohio. For a time they controlled the courts and justices, and many people were afraid of what might happen from the enmity of these counterfeiters.

To this kind of business William Mitchell was opposed. He was one who feared nothing - neither man nor devil. One night Mr. Mitchell was hauling a load of lumber home from the Latta sawmill, five miles north of his home. One of the prominent blackleg leaders, and a neighbor of Mr. Mitchell, had given out that he would give Mr. Mitchell a licking. Well, this man passed Mitchell on horseback twice in the woods that night, passing the time of night with him. Then Mitchell got a club and laid it on the lumber ready for any emergency, but the fellow's heart failed him and he did not try it.

Next day this same man was riding by on horseback, and Mitchell went out and asked him what there was about his saying that he was going to lick him. The blackleg said it was so. "All right." said Mr. Mitchell, "we will try it right here," and at that they went at it, and they were pretty evenly matched. Parties came along and pulled them apart. The blackleg found that he could not scare Mr. Mitchell worth a cent, and ever afterward Mr. "Blackleg" was a "back-number."

In the fall of 1840 two young men named Smith and Turner broke jail at Bluffton, Ind., and came into this neighborhood. 'William blunter, of Huntertown, Allen county, came to Mitchell's house. A reward was offered for the capture of Smith and Turner, and Mr. Hunter told Mr. Mitchell that these parties. Smith and Turner, had been in jail for horse-stealing. They had been seen in the neighborhood, and it was known where they were stopping.

Mitchell went to Rice's. Sawyer's, Oak and Tom Johnson's for help in capturing these two men. Mitchell and Hunter, the two Johnsons and a few others went to the house. When thev stepped inside they found Smith and Turner ready to travel, saddlebags on their arms, talking to their host. Smith made a break for one door and one of the

Johnsons went after him. Smith went for and into a field of standing corn. Johnson could not run as fast as Smith, and the latter got away. It is pretty hard to follow a man on the move at night in a field of standing corn. Turner broke for the stable, where horses were saddled, and Mitchell after him. They ran fur half a mile, and each got so tired that they rolled over downtimber. Finally the Rice boys came along, heard the hallowing and captured Turner, took him to Brown's tavern, two miles south, put him in bed, tied with a rope, and set a fellow to watch him. While the crowd was outside talking the situation over, Turner cut the rope, jumped and ran for dear life, but was caught straddle of the picket dooryard fence, taken back to bed and later lodged in jail at Bluffton. He broke jail again, and I in May, 1841, the barns of Asa Brown (in j whose tavern Turner had been kept at Brown's ) and of Mr. Mitchell were burned I one night at the same time. Mitchell was in Ohio at the time, near Defiance, working as a contractor on the Wabash & Erie canal. The neighbor who had harbored Smith and Turner was the first man at the fire, and got on top of our log house to keep the sparks from setting fire to it. My mother told him to come down, and he did, like Davy Crockett's coon. She sent John Steel to take his place. John Steel was true blue. The barns were soon rebuilt. The sympathizers with these blacklegs were known. There are man)- weak people who are afraid to stand for the right at all times and under all conditions.

Some years later the Regulators were organized. Some good men and some bad men went into this organization. They terrorized suspects and strung them up with a rope to cause them to tell what was wanted to he known, and finally it resulted in a mob which hung- a man by the name of McDougal, south of Ligonier - a stain which Noble county will never get rid of - mob law.

The Fort Wayne & Lima Plank Road

The farm products along the Mongoquinon (or Lima) road, for sixty miles north of Fort Wayne, all went there for a market, the outlet being the Wabash & Erie Canal. Well, a wagon road through a dense wilderness s, i, ,n comes to be almost impassable, and the Fort Wayne merchants and enterprising men along this road conceived the idea of building a plank road. Stock in the corporation was payable in cash, dry goods, groceries, hardware, saddles, harness, boots and shoes, labor, and, in fact, almost everything conceivable.

Now, to convert this stuff into the paying for the labor, sawmills, timber, etc., was a task that William Mitchell, of Kendallville, was selected to superintend, and the exchanging and trading of the above got to be called "dicker,*' and Kendallville "Dickertown" - no money or so little that it cut no figure in the trading.

The plank road was built from Fort Wayne to Kendallville. and then straight north through South Milford, in Lagrange county, to Union Mills, and then west to Ontario. This road was a wonderful benefit and opened up the country. When a team of horses got on the plank road away they went. What was a load became as nothing as soon as they struck the plank. .Men ran foot races and everybody was happy because thev were out of the mud.

During the construction of this plankroad in Swan township a gang of men were laying the planks across a small marsh, and when loaded teams from the north came down on to the marsh they had to be turned around by the plank men and go back to get around the swamp. One of these plank men takes a piece of coal and marks a hand pointing east on a board for a sign, and it read, "Go, Damn You." That sign told the story, and all that was necessary to say to the traveler to keep him from getting down into the swamp, where he had to be turned back.

When the plank road was constructed from the south up to Kendallville, the people along the Mongoquinon road were asked to contribute toward the construction on that line; but they thought the road had to go that way, and far-seeing men on the line through South Milford and to Union Mills, in Lagrange county, held out inducements, and the planks were laid on that line, and it opened a more direct road to Kendallville from the north as well.

Brown's Tavern (no hotels then), now Lisbon, got to be a prosperous place, and when the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad was prospected the line ran through Lisbon; but Lisbon was a high elevation and the valley of the Elkhart was. adopted, which brought the line through: Kendallville.

As a matter of history it may he stated that William Mitchell, of Kendallville, owned and laid out the town (now city ) 01 Kendallville, and he. in connection with Samuel Hanna and Pliny Hoagland, of Fort Wayne, under the firm name of William .Mitchell & Company, took a contract in 1852 to construct the Ohio & Indiana Railroad from Crestline. Ohio, to Fort Wayne, lnd., one hundred and thirty-one miles

While doing this Mitchell took stock in the railroad and paid for the stock in lands upon which Kendall ville now stands, and several hundred acres adjoining the city at a good price. Later on, when the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad was beinglocated, he bought the land back from the Ohio & Indiana Railroad, and the last purchase was better than the first sale. So much for foresight.

Reminiscences Of John Mitchell

The following reminiscences by John Mitchell are decidedly interesting: A person looking at the map of Noble county, I ml., will notice two angling lines of wagon roads running northwest and southeast - one runnng through the west side of the county, called the Goshen road, the other through the east tier of townships, called the Mongoquinon or Fort Wayne and Lima plank road.

These roads were the first in the county, and those on which Indian traders and landhunters found a way for transportation. These roads were at first Indian trails, and afterwards became the great highways on fwhch were transported the products of the country down to Fort Wayne, where a market was made by the Wabash & Erie canal to Toledo, Ohio.

It will be found that from Fort Wayne north nearly fifty miles the Mongoquinon road angles most all the way. and it may be observed that all the first roads leading into Fort Wayne angled through the country on the shortest line, and these became the main lines of travel and commerce.

Tavern ( which later became Lisbon) ; then came Kendallville. Avilla. Swan, and Hi Cramer's Corners began to show signs of commercial prosperity, and the Darwinian theory, "The Survival of the Fittest," was to be the result.

The east half of Noble county was a dense wilderness in August, 1836, - a forest of whitewood. black walnut, hard and soft maple, ash, oak and beech, such as would pall the heart of the strongest in these days, covered the ground, and had to be got rid of before crops could be grown. One who never saw such timber as grew in this country cannot imagine the quantity that covered the ground, any more than can one who never saw the effects of our Civil war imagine what war is. Talk can give but little idea of either.

One asks why should people seek to make a home in such a wilderness, when the prairies of Illinois and southern Michigan were already cleared and ready for the plow?

1 ward the star of empire takes its way." and they came from a heavy-timbered country and were not afraid of timber, were used to chopping- and clearing, and then again, the lands in the east half of Noble county were in 1836 in the hands of the government and sold at one dollar and a quarter an acre. The settlers were poor people and looking Eor cheap hinds. Two dollars and a half to five dollars an acre was the usual price,

1 where land was bought from "eastern speculators," as they were termed then. Again. you would hear this argument used: Land that would not grow timber (meaning prairie land) would not grow farm crops. For several years there was an exodus of strong men from Wayne. Allen and Swan townships, who went to the prairies up north with grain cradles to assist in cutting the wheat there and earn a little money to pa} their taxes. Money was very scarce in those times. Black salts made from ashes gathered from log heaps was a cash article. Skins of animals were received in payment of store debts. The merchant then bought his goods on a year's time in New York. Profits were large, time of payment 1< nig. But the country merchant then did not succeed better than now.

Log houses and log stables were made comfortable by stopping the cracks with chinking and mud. The clapboard roofs were held down by logs running crossways of the clapboards, with blocks to keep the logs apart. Many a time the writer, as a boy, has waked up on a winter morning to rind the bedclothes covered with snow, drifted through the cracks of a clapboard roof. It was nut cold then. Young blood flows quick and warm. Get out in the snow barefooted before you go to bed and see howwarm your feet will get. Try it once, young reader.

Nails were then unknown, and there was no money to buy them with even if they were known. No fences at first: soon came brush fences and wind-rows of timber. All stuck ran in the wends and with bells on. In the woods you could hear the ax of the woodman, the tinkle of the bell on cattle and horses, the crack of the hunter's rifle quite a way oft". One knew about where to find the cattle and horses each daw Sometimes thev strayed farther off and then had to be brought home. No underbrush then; the Indians had kept the young brush burned off for hunting the wild game. The woods wo ds and were wild. They got fat in the fall of the year on "shack" (acorns and beechnuts). They had good nests in the woods fi r winter, made from leaves of the trees on the warm side of a fallen trunk. The leaves kept the ground from freezing and they could hud the "shack" by rooting I the snow away, and then the thick woods made the climate warmer than now. The pork from hogs fattened on "shack" was sweet but soft, and the buyers at Fort Wayne and farther east would stick their fingers through it and call it "shack pork." When fried it all went to grease, and would not stick to a chopper's ribs like that from cornfed hogs.

The breed soon got to be of the razorhack variety, and the bristles on some of them were used by the early cobblers with the wax-end to sew leather and to patch slices.

Each man owning hogs had a mark, which mark was recorded in the county records. In this way people could tell their own hogs in the general round-up in the fall of the year. .

House floors were made of "puncheons:" that is, basswood split into slabs and then with a bfoadax smoothed off a little on the upper side. Cracks pretty wide on the edges and a corner out of the end of one hoard made a place to put your hand in and roll the puncheon over and then go down into a hole in the ground for a cellar. It answered until we could do better.

(small depressions of from a few rods to several acres). These were full of brush and water - the water drying out in the fall of the year and getting green and yellow - a breeder of musquitoes and poison - malaria. The air we breathed, the water we drank, nothing but poison. It is a wonder everybody did not die. Shaking "ager" was the principal occupation of the newcomer. People would shake until their teeth would chatter. Shake the bed. shake everything, and no fun about the shaking, I tell you. It was in dead earnest. And then came the fever. As Mace Bowen would say, "Mighty souls, goodness gracious, what a fever."

Drink water, more poison. Take boneset tea, lobelia tea, then purge, then "puke, ' first one end, then 'tother. Lively work, but the "ager" had to be worn out. Quinine, quinine, quinine and calomel to the end.

In such a country the writer's father and mother came with two small boys - the eldest six years old in blackberry time in 1836 - to make a home. The Pottawatomie Indians were here for two years after our arrival. They were friendly, begging for something to eat. Papooses strapped to a board and hung on the squaw's back was their way of carrying a child. I have seen the board set down by the side of a log house while the squaw was inside ; an old sow came along and rooted the youngster over, and the cry of the young Indian brought the squaw out to drive the hogs away and do some grunting herself and move on.

The people were all alike - no formalities then. Their wants were few, and if a man was honest he had no trouble at all in getting on in the world. The every-day clothing of the men and boys was pretty ragged. They were patched and patched, and then patched and patched again, until they were in colors like Joseph's coat of old.

Wild honey was abundant, and during ! the winter and early spring people could track bees to the bee-trees a long ways through the woods, then by cutting the beetree down they got plenty of wild honey. And to a boy there seemed to be no end to an appetite for the sweet.

There were few horses among the first settlers. Oxen were the main draught animals used in destroying the forest. No roads. No use for buggies or carriages. Oxen were trained and got to be experts, both team and driver, and it is wonderful what they can be taught to do in such surroundings and in the hands of an expert oxdriver. The writer has seen them in a logging-field where timber was put into log heaps to burn, when the oxen would get excited and run to the heap, break a logchain, break the yoke sometimes, bellow and paw the ground in excitement. These breaks would occur when the log was too big or fast at one end.

Wild Hay, Or Marsh Grass

The low muck lands of the country produced a wild grass, which answered very well until tame grass could be grown. This wild grass was cut with scythes, and in the cutting many massasoger snakes and other kinds were slain.

pretty conl weather to cause them to put on .shoes, because they had to be mighty saving, as shoes were not plenty and had to be made to last a long time. I knew of one young girl who carried her shoes under her arm nearly a mile through the woods and when near the Sunday-school room put her shoes on. This seems a large story in the year 1901, yet it was true, and that girl, now an old lady, is a resident of the state of Washington, and delights to tell of those experiences when she was young. Well. I see I have got switched off from the wild grass question. The reader will pardon, as at seventy-one years and past, I cannot hold the gray matter down to the text as well as I ought to, but the wild marsh grass was a godsend to this country. It kept the farm animals alive: it made roofs for stables and sheds, and would turn the water almost ecpial to the feathers on a duck's back. One of my early recollections was as a barefooted boy in carrying water to a lot of men who with scythes were cutting this wild hay, and then hear the massasoger snakes shake their rattles all around you : it makes a fellow wake up, you bet.

Cattle and horses in early spring, after the hay was used up, were taken to the low grounds, where the soft maple, elms and basswood trees were cut down, and the stock lived on the ends of the limbs, buds, etc., and got pretty well filled up. I have often seen the deer, several together, eatingbrowse with cattle and horses and when men were chopping close by. It shows how hungry the deer were.

a neighbor's or after cattle, the old trusty flint-lock rifle was always taken along, and with the woods full of game, was prettysure to find something to take home.

The water of Noble county runs into Lake Erie through Cedar creek, the Little St. Joe and the Maumee rivers; also into Lake Michigan through the Elkhart and Big St. Joe rivers; also into the Gulf of Mexico through the Blue into the Eel and the Wabash, and the Tippecanoe into the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Perhaps there is no other county in the United States where the water runs in three different directions, as does that of Noble county. The county is full of lakes. Good authority has placed the number at three hundred. I will not vouch for the exactness of this statement, but in a carriage ride of five miles east and north of Kendallville one can see seven different lakes and all full of fish.

For many years the elections of Wayne township were held in the school-house at Wayne Center. The Digginses, Brundiges, Graydons, Stantons, Iddings, Tryons and other old wheel-horses of the Whig and Democratic columns used to have great times at the elections. The first few years the Center school house was surrounded by plenty of thick and low oak brush, each party had a jug of whisky hid in the brush and a drink of this whisky was supposed to he the price of a vote, and each party was mighty careful that the other fellow did not find their jug in the brush, and of course there was a great deal of very private conversation going on ; each party had to go way out and talk low and look all round and Lie very wise, so the other fellows did not get the start of them, and towards the close of the polls the veterans would g"et a little thick-tongued and would be voluable with arguments against the opposition, and sometimes scraps and hairpulling would take place; but wiser counsels would prevail until the next election, when patriotism would again come to the front and the old issues be raked over as before, Whig and Democrat alike.

Political speeches by Governor Bigger and other Whig politicians, with fifes and drums for music (no brass bands in those times), were to be the order of the day at North Port (in Orange township). Then there was no Rome City. William Mitchell, of Kendallville, bought a black steer from James Skinner (a Democrat), of Jefferson township ; then it was common to say if a man changed his politics that he changed his coat; well, the black steer changed his coat all right. At this time Fred Acus (now living at Albion), as a boy was working for James Skinner on the farm. Mitchell paid Acus twenty-five cents, all in silver, to bring the steer over to Mitchell's house, about eight miles, and Mitchell said to Acus, "Now, Fred, that is all your own" (the twenty-five cents). Mr. Acus has told the writer this story within a few years past and with great pleasure. Well, the black steer was skinned, the head, horns, tail and legs left on the body ; a stout green pole run through the body and out far enough at each end to rest on poles chained together with log chains so the body was up from the ground two or three feet ; then fires were built about it and kept hot all night ; plenty of salt and pepper brine was applied from pails at the same time and the ox was carefully watched that some "Loco foco" Democrat, with evil intent, did not get away with the beef. The ox was well roasted and well seasoned, and to hungry men and boys plain bread and a hunk of beef tasted good, and was mighty filling. Well, early next morning the fife and drums could be heard through the woods as the Whitfords, Isbells, Tryons, Sayles, and others crossed Bixler lake in canoes (dug outs) from the east settlement, on their way to Brown's tavern ( no Lisbi in then ) , the gathering place of the delegation. Old Charley Isbell, who had fought under General Scott at Lundy's Lane in 1812, with military cap and coat, and brass buttons and big sword swinging round, and his horse rearing up and excited, led the way till it made a boy step high and feel mighty big. Well, the procession started from Brown's tavern ( now Lisbon ) , and when they got to the creek at Kendallville, near where Deiblie's factory now isr it was found that one of the sleepers under the bridge had been weakened, so the teams had to be turned round, and fences let down,, and crossed the creek in Mitchell's field. Now the roasted ox was ready, horns and head decorated with a profusion of tomatoes, then supposed not to be fit for people, but good for hogs to eat. The writer, as a boy of ten years, with others, rode in the wagon with the beef. Well, we got up to the north side of the creek, just north of where Frank Oviatt now lives, and there was a low piece of road; Stephen Sawyer - a large, tall man and a Democrat - was working out his road tax by shoveling the laughed and moved on. After the speaking plenty of bread and hard cider was on hand and stout men with long, sharp knives sliced the roasted beef off, and with a chunk of bread each and all were filled. Uncle Jimmy Madison, of Rome City (a Democrat ), has told me many a time how he was standing in the crowd and looking on, and my father, taking him by the arm and saying, "Jimmy, come and have some Whig beef." and Madison said he did and it was mighty good, too, and so ended the barbecue at North Port in 1840.

Carrying The Election Returns To The County Seat At Port Mitchell

Ransom Greenman, of Allen township, and the writer - both boys - were sent horseback with the election returns (not official) from Wayne and Allen about midnight of the day of election, through the woods, by trail, to Port Mitchell, the then county seat of Noble county. Boy-like, we hallooed and sung nearly all the way. When we got to Jim Skinner's (a Democrat) in Jefferson comity, Air. Skinner came to the door in his shirt-tail and asked the news. We reported our return largely Whig and hallooed and hurrahed, and Skinner said "go to hell" and went in the house and slammed the door shut, and so the fun went on. We got to Port Mitchell just about daylight.

K E.Xdallville Postmasters

Kendallville, Indiana: My daughter, Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Lewis (who was a visitor in your family some forty years ago), will leave on to-morrow morning train with her daughter, for Ligonier to visit her sister (Mrs. \V. N. Beasel), and expecting they will have to wait a short time for the train from the east, would be pleased to meet you if it would be convenient for vou to do so.

Your letter of the 29th ult. was received on Sunday morning, saving vou met my daughters, and took them in; and I must acknowledge my obligations to you, for your kind entertainment of them between trains, which they say, were hours spent very pleasantly and will be long remembered. I was very sorry you missed me last fall. As soon as I heard of your call, I went down town to look yon up, but I could not get any trace of you. I thank you for your invitation to visit you, and know I would be well cared for, but for these reasons I beg you will excuse me.

I suppose you have not much recollection of 1840 election, when we had the log cabin and hard cider clubs, and sang the old song (to the tune of the striped

The next verse was have you heard Irora Maine? -which said, that it had gone hell bent for Cephas Kent (candidate for governor), for which I expect to hear a similar result in a few days, and not surprised to hear the same from nearly every other state.

Yours of the 1-1 th inst. was duly received, asking for information about the location of the Northern Michigan Canal about 1838. As well as I can recollect, it was to run from Lake Michigan (Michigan City) to Fort Wayne and connect with the W. & E. Canal, expecting the Lake (Michigan) to feed it as far south as the Elkhart river, which they proposed to dam, as well as the outlet of the surrounding marshes, and make a reservoir to feed to Fort Wayne. The line was run to Fort Wayne and connected with the W. & E. Canal, about one-half mile east of the G. R. & I. K. R. crossing of the W. & E. Canal, near John Orft's present residence.

A contract for the reservoir dam, and several others, were let. In April. 1839, the first estimates were to be paid at the Chief Engineers office, at Port Mitchell, where Judge Hanna had a mill and store, managed by his brother-in-law (Taylor) and perhaps there were five or six families who comprised the town. Major S. Lewis of this town was one of the three Canal Commissioners, whose duty it was, to attend to the payment for the State was sick and got me to go for him, the State furnished the money through the Fort Wayne branch of the State Bank, and M. W. Hubbell, the Teller, took it out there. We started out with Col. M. S. Wines (who had a job this side of Port Mitchell) and went to Huntertown, and struck in west about a mile, to the line of the canal, through the woods (no settlers on the line) to his iob, and on to Port Mitchell. I do not recollect of the number of contracts, but the dam. and the one north of the dam in which Frank Aveline of this place had an interest. After the payments were made Hubbell and I started for home, and struck the Mongoquinong state road at Wright's Corners I think, and on our way home I think we stopped a short time at your fathers. Mace M. Bowen, a boy of about l(i or IS years of age, I think carried the mail to White Pigeon, nearly as far back as that. Can't he recollect anything about the canal?