Putnam County, Indiana - Chapter 2: Orgaxization of the County, 1910

Chapter 2: Orgaxization of the County

As originally organized, Putnam county consisted of six townships, named Deer Creek, Hart, Sparta, Tipton. Walnut and Washington. To locate them or fix the boundary lines which separated them cannot now be done for the reason that the records of the proceedings of the county commissioners prior to 1828, where such information would properly belong, have long since disappeared from the files of the county auditor's ofiice. From certain documents recently found in the clerk's office, however, we are safe in assuming that Tipton township was in the centre of the county and included the town of Greencastle; that Deer Creek was in the south part of the county and adjacent to the stream which bears that name, and that Washington was in the southwest corner and covered practically the territory now included within the limits of the present township of that name. In the absence of the necessary records the location of the three other townships must, therefore, be left somewhat to conjecture. From a list of voters found in the files of the clerk's office entitled "Returns from Hart township," it appears that an election in 1823 was held at the home of Moses Hart and again in August, 1825, another election at Jacob Beck's mill in the same tow-nship; and from a similar return of voters in Sparta we learn that the August election in 1823 in that township was held at James Kelso's mill. As for Walnut township, the only item of record thus far found pointing to its existence as a township is an indictment in the clerk's files returned by a grand jury in June, 1823, which charges "Charles Wright, laborer, of Walnut township." with assault and battery on the person of one James Frazier. Beyond these meagre and desultory discoveries it is practically impossible at this late day to secure further or more definite information regarding these early divisions in our county's political geography.

By 1828, when the recorded history of the county's government begins, the earlier named townships had faded away and in their places we find the following: Clinton. Greencastle. Jackson. Jefiferson. Madison. Marion, Monroe and Washington. These in the course of time were still further reduced in area by the formation of Russell, Franklin, Floyd, Warren and Cloverdale, the last named not coming into existence till 1S46. In September, i860.

the coniniissioners of I'utnani county annexed about fifteen s(|uare miles of the tem'torv of M()ri:;an county lying northwest of Mill creek, their action being confimied bv the Legislature March ir, 1861. The tract thus added to Putnam countv was organized into a township and called Mill Creek.

At jjfesent. therefore, the county is divided into fourteen civil townships. Jackson. Franklin. Russell. Clinton. Monroe, Floyd. Marion. Greencastle and Madison are each six miles square: Washington is nine miles from north to south and six from east to west : Warren and Jefferson each five miles north and south and six east and west ; Cloverdale four north and south and twelve east and west. Mill Creek is somewhat irregular in shape and contain^ in the neighborhood of fifteen square miles. The entire county embraces an area of almost five hundred square miles and is the twelfth in size in the state.

First Settlements

As the settlement of a new country usually follows the water courses, it will be readilv understood that the scene of the earliest activity in Putnam countv was at the h^orks of Eel. Among the first who had come hither were James Athev and John M. Colman,. who entered adjoining tracts of land in that vicinity. They were natives of Kentucky and had emigrated from Bour1)on county to Fort Harrison near Terre Haute, arriving in 18 16. Two vears later, after a journey to the Vincennes land-office, they set out on horseback to take possession of their newly acquired lands. Earl\- in the spring of 1818 Athey cleared a portion of his land and put in a crop of corn, it being the first cultivation by a white man of the soil of Putnam countv. Colman did not remain very long and in time returned to Vigo countv. .\ little later Benjamin Croy came and still later Otwell Thomas and Reuben. Ragan. These men assisted Athey in erecting a dwelling, the first structure built in the new county. Soon after, and a short distance north of the new settlement at the Forks. Webster's mill was built on the banks of Walnut, being the first piece of machinery to '"wake the echoes of the surrounding solitude with its monotonous hum.'" By the close of the year four families had settled along the lower edge of the county.

Settlement in wliat was then known as the Xew Purchase, being above the Indian lioundary line, did not begin so early. The first permanent resident wa> lohn Sigler. who came with his family from Kentucky in March. i8_>i. accompanied by Thomas Johnson and located on land which is now v.ithin the citv limits of Greencastle. In May following came John John- .son. wliri settled a few miles southeast of the same place. Before the close of the vear the new colon v was increased l)y the arrival of Jefferson Thomas,

Pl'Txam Couxty, India.Va

Abraham Coffman. Samuel Rugers. Jubal (also kno\v!i as Deweese, Isaac Matkin, Abraham Lewis and the Rev. Reuben Clearwaters, the first preacher, in all probability, who ventured to penetrate the wilds of the new county. In almost every instance these hardy and venturesome pioneers came from Kentucky. Among those who made a settlement in the more northern part of the county was James Gordon, whose native state was North Carolina, but who had lived for a time in the southeastern part of the state, in the strip which lay between the mouths of the Kentucky and the Miami- rivers. He entered a tract of land about nine miles north of Greencastle on which, later, a part of the town of Brainbridge was located. His son James, who was seven years old when the family reached Putnam county, is still living and, although in his ninety-si.xth year, is able to recall and relate many interesting and stirring incidents of his boyhood in the wilderness. He is doubtless the only person now living who was here when the county was organized.

Meanwhile the commissioners designated by the Legislature for that purpose had met, as required, at the house of John Butcher and agreed upon a location for the seat of county government. The site chosen was a hill overlooking Walnut creek and almost in the exact geographical center of the county. As an inducement towards the location there and in consideration thereof, Ephraim Dukes and Rebecca his wife conveyed to Amos Robertson, designated as "agent for Putnam county," seventy acres of land in the northwest quarter of section 21. township 14 north, range 4 west. The deed was executed September 2/, 1823, and recites that the land is donated in consideration that the county seat is located at the "town of Greencastle." The tract thus conveyed includes that part of the city of Greencastle which lies between Locust and Indiana streets. June 7, 1825, Duke's son-in-law, John Wesley Clark, and Elizabeth his wife, for the same consideration mentioned in Duke's deed, conveyed to John Baird, "agent for Putnam county," eighty acres, being the west half of the northwest quarter of the same section and adj(jining the tract Dnkes had donated two years before. The land conveyed by this last deed comprises that part of the city of Greenca.stle which lies between Indiana street and the western limits on Gillespie street.

The original town-site consisted of one hundred and fifty acres, divided into two hundred and fourteen lots, and was bounded on the north by Liberty street ; on the west by Gillespie ; on the south by Hill and on the east bv Locust.

As to the e.xtent and character of the contest over the location of the county seat it is impossible to secure any material or authentic information. There doubtless was some rivalry between those who lived or were interest- ed in the region about Greencastle and the people at the Forks of Eel, but how spirited the competition was or who were the leaders therein the records fail to disclose. A very singular entry is found in the records of the proceedings of the county commissioners' court dated July 7, 1828. It reads as follows :

"Ordered by the board of county justices that John Baird, agent of Putnam countv, refuse payment on an order, issued by Arthur ^IcGaughey, clerk of the board of county commissioners and now clerk of this board, payable to John Allen for services rendered in locating the seat of justice for Putnam county at the town of Bedford."

Naturally the people of this generation would be glad to learn where "the town of Bedford" was, but alas for us, a careful search of the deed books, the plat books and other records in the various offices in the court house fails to reveal the slightest hint of this early competitor of Greencastle for countv seat honors. Some years after the county seat question had been settled in favor of Greencastle, and after the National road had been constructed, Putnamville, then a busy and important place on that great thoroughfare, began to agitate the question of the removal of the seat of justice from Greencastle, arguing that as Putnamville was more favorably located as to the great highway for travel, it was the natural and logical location for the county seat. An irritating rivalry thus grew up between the two towns which continued for years, but never crystalized into any sort of organized action.

Ephraim Dukes

In this connection it may not be amiss to explain that the writer, in obedience to the apparent interest manifested in the career of Ephraim Dukes, has been unremittingly exhaustive in his efforts to learn the latter's antecedents as well as his later history. The commonly accepted tradition that Dukes gave Greencastle its name after the town in Pennsylvania by that name, where he originated, has not thus far been verified. Extensive correspondence with old settlers in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and also in Shippensburg, where the Duke family is somewhat prominent and numerous, fails to shed any light on the existence or origin of Ephraim. The family there spell their name without the final s. In the absence of any more definite information than has thus far been obtainable there can be no good reason to reject the theory that Ephraim Dukes emigrated hither from Kentucky. The family is more or less numerous in Virginia and near the close of the eighteenth century several of its members moved into Kentucky. Inasmuch, therefore, as at least seventy-five per cent of the early settlers who came to our county hailed from Kentucky, it is not improbable that Ephraim Dukes originated tliere also. His later history is equally nebulous and uncertain. He remained in Putnam county till about 1835, when, in company with the late Gen. Joseph Orr, he removed to Laporte county, Indiana. He was living there in July, 1836, as shown by a deed executed by him at that time and soon after forwarded here to be recorded. Beyond this last item of information it has been impossible to find any trace of him. General Orr, with whom he emigrated to Laporte county, was a well known character and continued to reside there till his death, about thirty years ago, but the most persistent and thorough inquiry fails to elicit any information as to Dukes. The probability is that his stay in Laporte county was brief and that he eventually moved farther westward, leaving scarcely a footprint behind. While still a resident of Putnam he filled several minor places of the grade of constable and court bailiff and was finally promoted to the office of coroner. His name was perpetuated by his fellow-townsmen in one of the principal streets of Greencastle which was for years called Ephraim, after him, but which, unfortunately, was recently changed to the more fashionable and euphonious College avenue.

Sale Of Town Lots

In the year following the organization of the county Greencastle began to show some signs of life. Before the close of 1822 Ephraim Diikes had erected a cabin on the lot at the corner of Washington street and College avenue where Dr. Ayler's office now stands. He was speedily followed by Silas G. Weeks, who occupied the lot on which the Donner block, at the corner of \\'ashington and Vine streets, is built and he. in turn, by Jubal Deweese. \\ho pitched his tent about midway on the block on the north side of the court house square, and John F. Seller, who built a cabin on the south side of the same square and near the corner of Washington and Indiana streets. In due time, following the settlement of the county seat (piestion, came the ine\'itable sale of town lots. It may not be without interest to indicate the values at that time of real estate in the "business district"" of the city. Lot Xo. iJi. being the north half of the block on the east side of the court house square, was sold to David Matlock, for seventy dollars ; No. 122. immediately south, went to Thomas Deweese for one hundred dollars; Xo. 1 12. the east half of the block on the south side of the public square, to John Oatman for sixty-eight dollars; X'o. loi. immediately west, to Samuel M. Biggs for forty dollars: Xo. 91. the south half of the block on the west side of the public sfpiare. was sold to James Talbott for sixtv-one dollars;

No. 92, immediately north, to Joseph Thornburg, for sixty dollars. On the north side of the court house the west half, being lot No. 100, went to Jubal Deweese for eighty-seven dollars and the east half of Lot No. 113 to Joshua H. Lucas for sixty-one dollars. Lot No. 120. lying beyond the northeast corner of the court house square, brought eighty-three dollars and fiftv cents, being sold to Samuel Hunter; Xo. 123, at the southeast corner, where the Southard building now stands, went to James Trotter for one hundred eleven dollars; No. 90, at the southwest corner, now owned by James F. Hill, was sold to Isaac Ash for forty-one dollars and No. 93, at the northwest corner, now occupied by the Haspel meat market, brought the highest price of all, being sold to Al^raham Wooley for one hundred and fifty-eight dollars. Outlying lots, remote from the square set aside for the court house, brought only nominal prices, none exceeding ten dollars.

Early Merch.'Wts

Several cabins had been built in and around Greencastle before it waplatted into lots, but the first building in the business part was erected b\ Pleasant S. Wilson. It was on the west side of the public square. .-Vcconling to a former historian. Joseph Thornburg had sold some goods in a small wav. but the first real store, so-called, was opened up in a building on the north side of the public s(|uare by Gen. Joseph Orr. who had first come into the community as a peddler. Orr was a very progressive man and full of public spirit. His title of General came from his connection with the militia. He continued in business from 1823 till 1835. when he removed to LaPorte county, where he lived until his death in 1879. .\nother merchant equally vigorous and enterprising was Lewis H. Sands, who opened a store on the lot adjoining Orr's on the east. It is said that he brought his stock of goods in a one-horse carry-all from Louisville. He continued in business for many years and died in May. 1861, having lived to see Greencastle develop from a group of log cabins in the wilderness to one of the thriving and representative county seats in central Indiana. He was born in Baltimore. Januarv r, 1805, and had had some experience trading with the Indians at Ft. Harrison and along the Wabash before settling in Putnam county.

Before passing from the subject of the early merchants of Greencastle. although not in proper chronological order, we venture to note the name of William H. Thornburgh, without a record of whose career no history

Pltnam Col'Nty, Ixdiaxa

(jt Putnam cuunt_\ could be called complete. Xo man ever lived uliu labored more zealously and accomplished more for the prosperity and well-being of the community and the memory of no other person identitieil with the de\e!opment ^)f the county is more deserving of perpetuation. A native of Wasiiingtmi county, \'irginia. where he was bom February 3. 1804, he drifted to Putnam county in the fall of 1824. his first employment here being teaching scIk^oI for a brief time in the country west of I ireencastle. Prior to his reuKnal to Indiana he had. although cpiite young, been captain nf a steamboat plying between Xashville and Xew Orleans. After the death nf hi.', wife, he returned to the river, becoming captain of a steamer in the Liinis\ille an<! Xew (Jrleans trade, but in 1S30 he was. back in Greencastle again where he Sdon went into the mercantile busuiess. In 1835 he erected a bnck building on the corner oi Washington and Indiana streets, the first of it> kind in the town. He was a leading and niduential member of the Methodist church and took an actix'e part in the erection of the church building on the corner of Indiana and Poplar street^, to which he contributed b(jth time and mi.mew a>. also, he did at a later date for the erection of Rol>ert> Chapel. Imleed. theie is [jerhap> no ciun-ch in the city t<j which he did not c<jntribute. In 1858 he built the largest edifice in town, known a:- the ThornI)urgh I)lock. on the west side of the public s<(uare. which was an enterprise of wnnderful magnitude, foi' that day and well wortiiv the admiration and enconu'ums it called forth. He also built, at the corner of I'ranklin and Locust streets, a residence which in grandeur anil magnificent pro[)ortions far surpassed anything of its kind in the county. He was one of the original stockholders and early pr(.)moters of the Terre Haute & Richrnond (now the \'andalia) railroad. de\oting much time in seciu'ing the rei[uisito amount of >tock in his count}-. He was one of the earliest trustees (jf Asbury I'niversit}". continuing as such with two brief intermissions fn,m 1837 to i8r)o and acting as president of the board iuv four years. On e\ery occasion he lent his inlluence and energv to the great enterpi'ises which were to be for the public good and such as would de\'elop the industries ant! enrich the uhijle countiy. Possessing the first money .safe in the county, Captain Thornburgh's store became, in effect, a bank of deposit, where S|jeculators, merchants and farmers alike found a secure place of keeping their surplus funds. "We <jf the present da_\-." observes <jne who knew him well, "wirh our banks and multiplied facilities of communication, cannot estimate tlie \alue of such a man nor can we fully appreciate the amount of confidence which, without deposited security, C(nild intrust so much for safe-keeping, a-^sured of its [jronipt return when demanded." His career as a merchant covers a space of thirty-one years - the hfe of a generation. He died October 26, 1876. A pubhc meeting, presided over by the mayor of Greencastle, was held at the court house to arrange for his funeral and appropriate resolutions expressing sorrow for his death and respect for his memory were adopted.

One of the unfortunate things in Captain Thornburgh's life, after his many rears of commercial success, was a series of business reverses to which he was forced to yield early in 1861. He suffered so keenly from chagrin and remorse that he issued a statement to the public through the columns of a local paper, which has in it so much of real pathos and evinces a spirit of pride and honor so sensitive and so unusual in these latter days of commercial indifference to public opinion, it will not be without its lesson to reproduce it here. Under date of March 21. 1861. in the Putnam County Banner, he said ; 'To My Friends and Fellow Citizens :

"It becomes my painful duty to appear before you through this medium and announce to you that circumstances are and have been such as to require the withdrawal of my name from the list of merchants. I have been for over thirty years among you in that capacity, during which time I have enjoyed the patronage of many among you and the confidence embracing a wide range, which confidence it was my pleasure so to demean myself as to in some measure justly merit. I have during that time passed through manv financial storms and had successfully weathered them all till now by a train of circumstances known to most of you through the advice of able financiers and men of unquestioned veracity and wealth I have taken the course now known to most of you - that of retirement from the busy bustle of that long-cherished occupation which it has been my pleasure to pursue. In taking this, mv leave, it is not without the deepest feelings of obligation to mv creditors and numerous customers who, on the one hand, freely sought mv custom and sold me goods at fair prices and dealt with me so kindly, which naturallv engendered high social feelings, which I have always prized so highlv and which were so reciprocal. To such I shall ever feel the deepest weight of obligation as long as life endures. To my patrons and friends here accejit this humble tribute of gratitude to you for your liberal and confiding jiatronage. During the last thirty years we have greeted each otlier and enjoved manv pleasant hours which I shall ever kindly remember.

"In ta'sing mv leave of vou as a merchant, please receive my thanks for vour patronage and confidence and I hope in my future I shall do nothing to counteract the g<ji.)d (tpiniun you have been pleased to feel and express.

Pctnam Colnty, Indiana

Life is one changing scene and its revolutions I have, with many before nie. felt and feel its heavy shaft, but amid all its storms will try to pass the waves as to ultimately outride them all and seek my final port in safety,

The fact that our pioneer merchants demonstrated such enterprise and brought hither, so early, such liberal assortments of goods indicates a rapidly growing population. We may naturally, therefore, expect to find among them the representatives of the various trades, occupations and professions that are essential to the success of any community. The first physician to arri\e on the scene was Dr, Enos Lowe. He reached the new settlement about 1823 and served the people for many miles around. Three years later Dr. L. M. Knight and Dr. A. C. Stevenson, both Kentuckians, joined the community and engaged in the practice of their profession. The first blacksmith was Jesse Twigg and the first cabinet shop was opened by John S. Jennings, who strayed into the town from Tennessee, William K. Cooper was the first saddler and Reuben Clearwaters the first preacher - a Methodist. An important industry of that day was milling. To prepare the grain for food required mills. We have already seen that two mills had been erected in the neighborhood of the Forks, - Webster's and Croy's - but very soon after, in fact by the spring of 1822, James Trotter had a grist and saw-mill in operation a short distance north of Greencastle on Walnut creek. During that same year and the year following other mills farther north in the country were erected, whose names, Fiddler's, Swank's, Beck's. Kelso's and Sutherlin's, will suggest to the early residents their proper location. Already the hum of their primitive machinery could be heard echoing through the hills and along the banks of Deer, Mill, Little and Big Walnut, Ramp, Raccoon and all the other creeks in the county.

In Greencastle. on the comer of Water and Washington streets, Gen. John Standeford, about the year 182''). set up a wool-carding machine, propelled bv horse pi^wer. and for years carded the wool in this and even in some of the adjoining counties. The machinery was bought in Louisville and hauled through to Greencastle in a wagon. The factor}- had a capacity of about one hundred and fift\- rolls per day and yielded its owner profitable returns. Weaving was d(jiie on hand looms by the women at home. It is said by Gillum Ridpath. who was bom in Marion township, that "the first fly-shuttle lonni in the county and. in all probability, the first between the Wabash and White rivers, was invented and built by John Heavin, in Montgomery county, Virginia, and was brought to Putnam county in the year 1S27."

Little Use For Currency

Owing u> the limited amount in circulation, but little money was used in local business. Much of the trading was the exchange of one commodity for another. At a meeting of the I'utnam County Historical Society, several years ago, the late J. R. M. Allen related his first commercial experience in Greenca.stle. He had just set up as a tailor and was making a purchase at the store of James Talbott, a merchant of several years' standing, offermg currency in payment for the goods he bought. Mr. Talbott, noting that he was new to the customs of the place, adniunished him ihat UK^ney was unnecessary in local business; that people in the new community, especially business men in dealing among themselves, made their exchanges in gO(ids. "Xow." said Talbott, "I shall need something in your line pretty soon and when I do I shall expect you to accept in payment such goods as you ma\ see fit to purchase of me. In that way we can cany tm our transactions until some future time uhen a settlement is desirable and then the net balance due can, if necessan.-, be paid in money."" .Mr. .Mien, realizing that such was the custom of the community, was forced to comply. He related that for years he and Talbott continued thus to carry on business between them without in all that time coming to a settlement. iMually wiien Talbott's health began to give way and he realized that he must gi\e up all business, he called on Mr. .Allen with his Iwjoks to make the long-deferred final settlement. "It took a brief time to add up the figures," related .\llen. "There was not a word of disagreement between us. The entire interview was not only satisfactory, but pleasant, and when the balance wa-- struck it took lesthan three dollars in money to pay it."

It is more or less refreshing in these days of so-called commercial and industrial prosperity at e.xtravagant prices to read the values our forefathers put upon their labor and domestic products. Following are C(>{)ies of tw<i documents found in the records of the county clerk's office which are interesting, not only as illustrating comparative values of every-day commodities, but the character of items of exchange between neighbors. Tlie first i)a])er was filed in 1824; the other in 1827:

Commercial Ci'Stoms

An idea of commercial conditions in dreencastle and the primitive methods <ji business then in vogue may be obtained from a document prepared tcj be read before the I'utnam Count}- Historical Societ)' se\eral years ago b\- James 'ra}lor, one of the old-time merchants then living, whose business career extended oxer a long and interesting period of the county's historv. Among other things he said: "As far back as 1838 the following drv goods merchants were in business in ( ireencastle : W. H. Thornburgh. William r.ee. Allison iS: R.ibinson. David Kagan. M. T. 13ridges. W. [. Rider. L. H.

Sands. Josepli Lucas, Isaac Ash. Standeford, Sigler & Co., Proctor, Daggy & Landes. Reese Hardest}', Silas Jones, James Talbott, Thomas E. Talbott, W. K. Cooper. George \V. Thompson and Granville Holland. Thus, it will Ije seen that at the time there were twenty dry goods houses in Greencastle. Or they might more properly be termed general stores, for in those days what was tenned a dry goods merchant supplied the people with all their wants. An active, energetic salesman, when business was brisk, would be able to furnish in the course of one day to a customer or customers a silk dress pattern, a bolt of muslin, a lady's bonnet, fashionably trimmed, a pair of boots, a suit of clothes, a silk hat. sugar, coffee, spice, pepper, a shovel, a spade, a tin bucket, a coffee-pot, a grindstone, ten pounds of sausage, fifty pounds of home-made soap and a quarter of beef.

"Beginning with the year 1850. many have been engaged in the dry goods business who have since retired from the field, some of whom are as follows : D. L. Southard, C. W. Talburt, McC. Hartley, Lucien Lemon, with his four-horse store. Miller & Jones, Stevenson & Gillespie, G. H. Williamson. L Hawkins, Sloan & Fordyce. Alfred Hays, A. L. Morrison, G. W. Corwin. Theodore Bowman. Paris & Turner, Joseph Crow, L. H. Sands, Thomburgh & Robinson, Taylor & Ames and T. W. Williamson. From 1838 up to about 1854 the number of dry goods stores in the city continued about the same, when they were met by competition by the introduction of familv groceries, hardware stores, boot and shoe establishments, notion houses with fancv goods and millinery establishments, until dry goods stores have reducetl to the number of five or six.

"In former vears a man engaged in the dry goods business did not lie on fiowerv beds of ease bv any means. ?klany supposed that where a number of salesmen were engaged in selling the goods the proprietor had nothing else to do but lie upon the counter and rest his head on a bolt of muslin. That, however, is a great mistake. To succeed in the business requires a constant laborious struggle; and even then success seldom follows.

"It would be a difficult matter to describe the manner of conducting business in the earlier years without giving in part my own experience, as I could know but little about the private affairs of others; and in order to do that I shall begin with the firm of Taylor & Beasley. They bought a stock of goods on a credit of six months' time with the privilege of twelve by paving interest after the expiration of the first six months. After receiving the goods, thev had no place to store them and they bought, also on credit, an old frame dwelling on the south side of the public square that had a fifteen-foot square room in it. that had been used for a tin shop. A few boards were hastily put up for shelves and thereupon the goods were placed. It looked very discouraging even in those days to commence a business with a display that w as made in such a room. Indeed the prospect for trade looked so discouraging that in a very few months Mr. Beasley retired from the business and went north to his farm, leaving the burden of the debts which had been contracted wholly upon myself, with nothing with which to liquidate them except the goods; but by a little indulgence from my creditors I managed to pull through. In referring to my own extreme effort to make a success of the business. I have no doubt that I am but one of many others who might gi\e a similar experience. I worried along for a time and exchanged goods for lumber and work, both of which at that time were cheap, and had two rooms fitted up in the old frame, each thirteen l)v thirtv-five feet : and they w ere ipiite respectable for that day. I rented one of them soon after and occupied the other for a short time for dry goods. I also rented the upper room; and the rents \\hich I received for about twentvfi\e years on those three rooms paid at least forty per cent on the original investment in the property. I think the general custom was in those davs for the retailer to buy his goods on six or twelve months" time and the custom was to sell them on credit from one Christmas to another: but goods were then sold by wholesale and retail merchants at much better profits than thev are at present. There were three flouring mills tliat furnished me with flour to sell on commission, which was quite a help to my business; for I furnished nearly all the flour consumed in the city for several years, selling from a hundred to a hundred and fifty barrels per month, at prices ranging from three dollars up to fifteen dollars per barrel. When the Monon railroad was being constructed through Greencastle an Irishman had a contract for a section between this city and Bainbridge. I furnished him and his workmen dry goods, flour and other provisions on credit, to the amount of a thousand dollars. When pa\--day came around he had no money to pav me. but had railroad stock, and it being all I could get I had to take that or nothing. I felt that I was ruined; but fortunately for nie, a few days after getting the stock a gentleman called at the store and stated that he understood I had some railroad stock for sale. T said I had. and sold it to him for a thousand dollars in cash. Whether he sacrificed his thousand dollars or not I never knew ; but I do know that in a \ery short time afterwards the stock was entirelv worthless.

"It is but little wonder that so many merchants in fomier years failed to make their business successful. Both merchant and customer had a hard struggle. It was fre(|uently the case that a customer would run a bill from one Christmas t(;) another and then execute his note to run another vear. not necessarily from any dishonest moti\-e. but because it was impossible lor him to get the money. Dr\- goods were exceedingly high compared with present prices, and the products of the farm very low. Staple goods such as shirting, sheeting and prints were worth from twenty-tive to thirty-seven and one-half cents per yard and other goods were proportionately high. The average price of eggs the vear round was about three cents a dozen; that of butter six and one-fourth cents: bacon, two and one-half to three cents a pound. I well remember, when a boy. of taking from my father's farm thirty bushels of thrashed oats ten miles to the county seat. I made an extra effort to sell it for monev, but utterly failed and finally, through sympathy for me, a merchant offered me ten cents a bushel if I would take the pay in goods. I accepted his offer and exchanged the load for a three-dollar hat, which I could now buy at half the price or less."

Owing to the brief and fragmentary records that have, thus far. been preserved, it will be necessary, in many cases, to accept the traditions that have come down to us regarding the settlement, organization, social and commercial development and other essential facts that go to make up the history of our county. There were no statisticians in the days of our forefathers, no pubhc officials to secure and record information and nobody kept a dian'. Hence for manv things we relate we can give no authority beyond the recollection of some early settler.

So far as can be determined, the first white child born in the county was Marv Jane McGaughey, the daughter of Arthur McGaughey. the first county clerk. She first saw the light of day February 10. 1822. John Rawley. the first native of Greencastle, was born in a log cabin near the public spring, March 2;, 1822. His son John is now judge of the Putnam circuit court. The first death in the county occurred at Trotter's mill, north of Greencastle. A man named Dennis, the millwright, died late in 1821, before the county was organized, and was buried near the mill. Somewhat later a man who was a stranger in .the community died within the northern limits of Greencastle and was buried in what was afterwards Jacob Daggy's orchard. The next death in Greencastle was that of Benjamin Akers. who died about 1825 and whose bod\- was the first to be buried in what is now known as the Old Cemetery.

The first ta\ern or public house was kept by Jubal Deweese in a log structure in the middle of the block on the west side of the public .square.

Putnam Colxtv, Indiana

The first school in the county was begun in 1S23 and was between Greencastle and the Forks of Eel and about seven miles southwest of the former place. The first school in Greencastle was taught in a log cabin (jn a lot near the corner of Washington and Water streets, diagonally across from Standeford's wool-carding factory. Hiram Stavens and Alfred Burton were among the first teachers.

The first marriage was that of Thomas Jackson to Sarah Wood. The license was issued Julv 4. 1S22. but the ceremony was not perfonned till the I Sth i>f the month. The officiating clergyman was Reuben Clearwaters. The unusual time elapsing between the date of the license and the ceremonv is probably accounted for in the following incident which was related bv Mr. Jackson himself; "I had a good deal of trouble in getting my marriage license. The county clerk had no office and no headciuarters and so I had to run ar(jund over the county in search of him. \\ hen I found him I found his office t(jo. for it was in his hat. From inside the lining he produce<l a paper and made out the license. 1 got a preacher - Reuben Clearwaters - to marrv us and we at once went t<i housekeeping in a log cabin. .\])out twij weeks afterward the preacher came to me in the woods, where I was making puncheons, and said that he had made a mistake and would have to maiM-v us (i\er again. 1 was very well satisfied with my wife and. without asking what was the matter. I willingly con.sented and went to the cabin with him where he repeated the ceremony and I went back to my work." Mr. Jackson ccjutinued to reside in the county till his death. March 14. 1898. Had he lived ten weeks li)nger he would ha\e attained his hundredth vear.

\'er\- early the [)eople saw the need of military protection and ere long a militia company was f'omied. The story oi its origin and the incidents leading thereto is stj admirably told in a paper entitled, "The First Gun." read bv Tarvin C. ( irooms before the Putnam County Hi.storical Society several years ago that the liberty is taken to reproduce a portion of it here as follows :

am glad to report all I have been able to learn about the famous old cast-iron si.\-pounder. the first weapon the town e\er iiad, and which has now become more or less historic. From persons who have lived here much longer than I. we learn that this old implement of warfare was brought to the county by the militia regiment which was organized here in the early davs and of which Gen. Joseph (^rr, Gen. John Standeford. Col. Hiram Miller, Colonel Sigler and several others were prominent members. Thomas Wyatt savs the old cannon was brought from Fort Harrison by General Orr himself; that at the same time Orr brought some old guns for the local military company, of which Jefferson Walls was the captain. He also brought some large pistols for a horse company, of which William Bailey was captain. But for the cannon. One old citizen says that he remembers it very well, but fired on public occasions. In 1836, when the internal improvement bill was passed, it was still in use and the citizens were so rejoiced that they took it that it was much neglected, not being properly housed, and was invariably to a spot of high ground south of the public scjuare and west of the old college on Jackson street and fired it off in the direction of Putnamville, between which place and Greencastle there had been much rivalry over the location of the countv seat. On this occasion George Thompson lost an arm and Doctor Tarvin Cowgill was injured in the hand by a premature discharge. The gun was frequently hauled out and fired off, whereupon people living at a distance from Greencastle, hearing the sound, would immediately drive to town to learn the news. On one occasion Peter Albaugh, who lived near the mouth of Little Walnut, heard it and at once struck out for Greencastle on his swiftest nag to learn what was up. On arri\-ing he found a group of persons standing at the northwest corner of the public square, among whom he observed Washington Walls, Lewis H. Sands. Daniel Sigler, Arthur Mc- Gaughev and Dr. W. B. Gwathney. On driving towards them and inquiring what had happened, he was blandly informed that one of their most distinguished citizens had moved out of town that day and they had simply fired oft' the old gun as a manifestation of their complete satisfaction and approval. "On the Fourth of July, 1845, in connection with a widely advertised celeljration of Independence Day, the people were asked to assemble at one o'clock, the notice to be the proper signal from the gun. But the signal never came for the reason that at davbreak Frank Hensley and \\'ashington and Clinton Walls, together with several other young men in town, had quietly drawn the old gun to the commons southwest of the public square and immediatelv south of the residence of Judge John Cowgill, who then lived on the northwest corner of JMadison and Walnut streets. After being loaded with copious quantities of sod. yellow clay and other like substances, it was discharged, but alas ! it w as the last salute the old weapon was destined ever to fire! Under the glorious enthusiasm of the day it had exploded, one of the pieces, weighing sixtv pounds, striking the home of Judge Cowgill, Xobody was injured. The fragments were gathered together and the whole advertised for sale. .\ man named Wolf, who had been operating a small foundry on the west side of town, became the purchaser. Later Wolf changed his location to Albaugh's mill, about a mile and a half southwest of town, and transferred the fragments of the old cannon there. One day he undertook to melt the latter, but without success, for the old iron became refractor}- and refused to melt. One of the largest pieces lay about the old mill for years and was finally thrown into the branch, where, covered by the gradual deposits of earth and gravel, it will sleep undisturbed until, in the distant future, some vandal antiquarian shall disinter and expose it as a relic of prehistoric times."

Taverns And Public Houses

As alreadv noted in these pages, Jubal Deweese was the first landlord in Greencastle ; but he was ver}- speedily followed b}' John F. Seller, who opened up a ta\ern or public house in a cabin on the southwest corner of the public square. After Jubal Deweese. on the west side of the square, came Pleasant S. Wilson on the same lot. while about the same period Joseph H. Lucas and Hudson Brackney held forth on the north side. In 1826 Elisha King was also engaged in entertaining travelers, his place being on the east side of Indiana street, between Washington and W'alnut.

"These early tavems," relates Thomas C. Hammond, who, until his removal to California recently, was the oldest native-born resident of Greencastle, "had their pretentious names such as Social Hall, Franklin House, Washington Hotel, etc., and usually had a sign post twenty or thirtv feet high in front of the house with a large sign-board bearing the name or some emblem or coat of arms, as the proprietors apparently traced their origin back to ancestors entitled to such distinction. John Lynch, one of the best known 'landlords,' as the proprietors of these ta\'erns were usuallv called, succeeded to the good will of the house kept by Pleasant S. Wilson on the west side of the public square, but did not remain there long until he had traded some land he owned west of town for a house and lot on the east side of the public square and known as part of lot ur. In this last location he catered to the public as proprietor of the Washington Hotel. It was known as a place where a Democrat could find congenial spirits. I don't mean such spirits as they are accused of calling up or down, but those of the Jacksonian style. Colonel Lynch, as he was familiarly called, was a great admirer of the Sage of the Hermitage, and indeed by many was thought to resemble him in appearance. This house was the only one in Greencastle pretentious enough to ha\e a large bell to ring out the signal for meals. The (4) tones (jf this bell, I have no doubt, are yet remembered by many of the older citizens. The bovs of the town used to intepret them to say, as they rang out in the morning air, 'Pig tails done! Pig tails done!' After. Colonel Lynch retired from the house the bell was sold to Washington Walls, who established the Putnam House in the year 1859, on the lot lying at the northeast corner of Washington and Vine streets. The last ring of the historic bell was on the night of the great fire in Greencastle, October 28, 1874, when as the belfry of the old Putnam House toppled over and fell into the seething flames below, the bell was heard to say for the last time, 'Pig tails done!" John tlanmiond was another innkeeper, having succeeded to the business of Elisha King about 1826. Hammond's hmise stood where the Banner ofiice is, on the corner of Franklin and Vine streets, and was called Soci_alJifll.l. It was noted for its good table and care for the comfort of its guests. The new proprietor was a staunch- Whig, a Republican, and an Abolitionist when it was thought to be a crime, and in his later years an ardent advocate of temperance. He was a native of Maryland and left that state because of his aversion to slavery. James Ricketts, another noted member of the craft and a native of New Jersey, occupied a house on the west side of the public square, but about the year 1854 removed to the lot on the southwest corner of Vine and Washington streets, where he established himself and called his house the N^-tional Hotel. Here he held forth to the favor and satisfaction of the traveling public until a short time before the great fire of 1874.

"I have only mentioned a few of the old-time tavern-keepers, although manv others have for short periods and some for many years catered to the wants of the traveling public. Among them I might mention the names of James Jones, William S. Collier, James Matlock, and, in more recent years. Scott & Woolrich. Uncle Jack Jones, who for a great number of years kept the house now known as the Belknap, then as the Jones House, afterwards continued the Jones House on the comer of Walnut and Jackson streets, the location now occupied by the Commercial Hotel. Uncle Jack - John F. Jones was a noted character and justly esteemed one of the popular landlords in the West.

"The early-day taverns were rarely ever crowded, although they had only capacity for a dozen or twenty guests each. When crowded, often two stran-^ers were forced to occupy the same bed, which they did without objection, knowing that it was the last chance. The traveling public then was composed almost entirely of persons seeking land for homes or speculation. It was not long until they were followed by the clock and dry-goods peddlers. The latter were generally young men fresh from Germany, almost always well educated, speaking different languages fluently, but working a bad stagger at English. It is a noteworthy fact that these young men who first appeared here with a pack on their back afterwards became the proprietors of large establishments in Cincinnati and elsewhere. It furnishes a lesson to the young men of the country of what can be accomplished by enterprise and persistence.

"I have seen the bar-room, now called the office, of one of these taverns occupied by such lawyers as Tilghman A. Howard, William P. Bryant, Joseph A. Wright, James Whitcomb, John P. Usher, Elisha M. Huntington, John Law, Joseph G. Marshall, Samuel B. Gookins, Samuel Judah, Richard W. Thompson and others of high legal attainments. As a boy I have sat entranced by the harmonies drawn from the violin in the hands of Whitcomb and Howard, both of whom v.ere excellent performers.

"The country inn has been called the 'temple of true liberty.' I am impressed with the truth of this saying, as I recall the big front room in my father's tavern. It was a veritable forum where public opinion was constantly being moulded and as I remember the wit and arguments flashing from one to another of the above group while debating the great questions of the day, I often ask mvself, 'Shall we see their like again?" "