Randolph County, Indiana - Chapter 19: Miscellany, 1882

Indiana Benevolent And Endowment Association, Union City, Ind

Beneficiaries receive, at the death of the policy-holder, or at the expiration of a term of years numbering from twelve to fifteen, a sum amounting to from $1,500 to $4,U00 (or less, being from 50 to 80 per cent of the certificates in force at the time).

National Marriage Dowry Association

Trustees - Joseph R. Jackson, loan agent; James B. Ross, attorney; C. W. Pierce, grain merchant; S. Rt. Boll. attorney; G. KE. Reynolds, stock-dealer and farmer.

Pioneer Mutual Association, Union City

Its declared object is to fwnish insurance upon lives of persons between the ages of twenty and eighty years inclusive, at the cheapest possible rates.

Each policy calls for a sum equal to the aggregate not avails of the assessment made in the case in question, but not greater than the full sum named in the certificate, the odd cents in each death assessment, as alsu the yearly rate, being reserved for expenses.

The association seems at the present time to be flourishing, a large number, considering time elapsed, having obtained certificates therein.

Many object to the feature in the association insuring persons at so great an age, and a large number think the principle unsound of allowing persons to insure parties in whom they have no proper insurable interest; yet the association continues to carry on its operations, and time, that tests all things, must determine what is truth as to these disputed points:

The opinion is common, moreover, that the insurance of parties of great age cannot prove, in the long run, a business success, since death must occur so frequently that such an avalanche of assessments must ensue as to swamp the association and the policy-holders in one common ruin. And still again, that the policy of collection in small sums, and in having no permanent fund on which interest may accrue, so greatly increases the expense of management as eventually to make them be rejected as undesirable.

But this work is not a treatise on insurance, but simply a history, and the author must content himself with a bare statement of facts, and to leave the argument in the matter to other persons, and to other times and places.

Officers - Andrew McConnell, President; C. O. Mikesell, Vice President; R. G. Mote, Treasurer; Jokn Kunkel, Secretary; J. J. Mikesell, General Manager. The above officers are also the Directors of the association. G. W. Bruce, Medical Examiner; L. W. Study, Attorney; J. N. Shockney. General Agent.

principles heretofore supposed to be sound, would be a transaction unwarranted by the laws regulating safe and substantial business transactions.

Marriage Dowry Associations

There seems to be something bewitching in the matter, for, in a brief space, similar organizations have sprung up.in great numbers. Hight or ten exist already in Union City, and they are organized at the rate of fifty in a week throughout the State of Indiana.

It is difficult to describe them, or to tell on what they are founded, or how they hope to live, as everybody who buys into them expects to make large protits on the money expended, which, of course, cannot be, since very large amounts go into the pockets of agents and to the officials who manage the affairs of the companies, besides, also, the legitimate expense for printing, rent, etc., etc.

To cover a risk in a convenient, non-burdensome manner, or to pay money to a few at the expense of the many, the method may be appropriate; but as a matter of speculation, to realize largely and on the whole, it cannot be otherwise than a delusion and a failnre.

No provision is made for any growth by increased production in any way whatever, and much of the money paid inis absorbed, and, as many of the first certificate-holders get more than they pay out, it necessarily follows that the later ones must lose enough to pay all the expenses, and all the overplus received by any in the early stages of the operation.

The movement now bids fair to have a run over extensive regions, perhaps over the whole land, and-seems likely to rival the financial crazes of former times, and to take its place in history side by side with 'John Law's Mississippi Company,' and the 'Morus Multicaulis.'

Saturday, November 26, 1881, the National Marriage Dowry Association, the earliest of the batch, '" broke," because the assessments had become so heavy that the certificate-holders would not pay them, preferring to lose their stock rather than to carry tbe enormous and constantly increasing load any longer.

March, 1882, the failure of the National, just mentioned, was the signal, the alarm-bell, for the death of them all; and, in a very short time, after a little struggling and maneuvering, the whole mass of them, old and new, ''gave up the ghost,' leaving their disappointed and deluded certificate-holders to weep and wail over the sudden demise, and over the total loss of the funds invested so far as not received before the time of failure.

It is dne, perhaps, to the projectors of this unique mode of insurance to say that they were honest, upright gentlemen, who intended no frand upon the public, but who were not aware to what their scheme would run, and who supposed a safe and legitimate business might be done.

Building And Loan Associations

Laws have been enacted in Indiana, and perhaps elsewhere, authorizing and regulating such associations. Four such companies have existed in Union City. Three of them have expired by limitation of time. One is still in operation, and a fifth is expected to be organized before many weeks.

The payment was required of 25 cents per week per share, and each stockholder might borrow the funds of the association by bidding the highest therefor, and by giving proper security, and on condition of forfeiture and foreclosure of mortgage in case of delinquency.

The fourth organization was created in November, 1879. Limit, eight years. Stockholders, ninety-nine. Stock, $10(),- 000. Number of shares, 500. Amount of each share, $200.

These companies seem to answer reasonably well the objects for which they were organized, and to satisfy, on the whole, the wishes and expectations of their founders and their members.

Some think there is too much risk ip them, yet it may be said, with truth, that there is risk in every business, and those who do not fancy the risk need not enter them.

It would seem that men are tempted to "bid" too high for the privileges of ''borrowing the funds," not understanding fully how much larger a per cent they really pay in the operation than they seem to pay.

The Fifth B. & L. Association is now in progress. It contains an important improvement over its predecessors in the fact that stockh Iders may withdraw their funds with 6 per cent interest by giving ninety days' notice. The principle of '' forfeiture" incorporated in so many associations of various kinds is an injurious, unjust and mischievous feature and should be avoided. The only case where it is admissible would seem to be where a 'risk is covered."

In a "'savings' bank" or a ''bank of deposit," the principle of ''forfeiture," upon ceasing to make payments, would be outrageous and unendurable.

Statistics

Of course, there were some state taxes, but probably the whole public impost at that time would not double that small amount. To show the immense increase of wealth and taxation as well, we give some statistics referring to various years, as follows:

Receipts And Disbursements Some Items Of Expense

A large portion of this sum is in their hands continuously, and on their power there is practically no check. Theoretically, they are limited to a certain rate, but as a matter of fact, by borrowing from one fund to another, as also by actual borrowing from private parties on the credit of the township, almost any amount desired can be commanded by these well-nigh omnipotent officials, which whole matter of '' borrowing" is believed to ba without warrant of law, if not in direct violation thereof.

It may be clearly seen from these figures that no officer in the lund has so much power in levying taxes and spending public money as these same Township Trustees, and yet it is a fact that no official has so little check upon his actions and so little attention paid to his official course as does he. Verily, such a thing ought not so to be.

Heavy Tax-Payers

The following list of assessments as published in. 1881 for that year, possesses interest as showing who are large property holders of the county.

, Of course the sums stated show the amount owned by each, only comparatively, for reasons that need not be enumerated. The list shows the persons and the firms whose assessments exceed $10,000, the names being given in alphabetical order:

(nes 232 HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY. Johns. Cheney, Winchester, sys crejeleiesiedele wnye elev sreirie)acee Edward Wright (heirs)... .....2.. 02 20s.eeecew ones eee eee Samuel Caylor, Green Township. Se cetepinerel etal Willis C. Wilmore, White River....... Nathan Cadwallader, Union City. Lemuel Wiggins, Losantville..........

Robert S. Fisher (heirs), Union City.................... John Fisher, Sr. (heirs), Union City.................206. John B. Goodrich (heirs), Winchester................54- William: S: Green, Sr.) Union: City, icicc.. casesene susie. Jehurbiatt, Winchesters.javare cece cesieiwellrarscherelaiee cis aiels Adam-Hirsehy Winchester... ccicieisciiet stereteleintetslestiere ee

Dennis) Kelley, Winchester. .7.cctetasaisieeie'etew cielclesrianie'sieine John Koontz, Union City .......... pkatous ob aoc esOacs Raphael Kirschbaum, Union City.....................-. Kirschbaum & Co., Union City... 06 oct sos cre ce eae ee Mom Lasley; W:bite IRIVer, tame terieteletrrelere stelceclatecarerstars

James: Moorman: Winchester: feo srutexe. oisiesate eee le cierere sinters Elisha Martin, Sr., White River...............00ceeeees CimariMomMtt; "White saver. < o-oo cerovare ese sehovate slovaca Jesse B. McKinney, Fairview....... ahieieteciete

Joseph Meeks, Green Township. Arthur McKew, Ridgeville. . David Mosier..... Nathan Reed, Winchester... John Richardson, Winchester Amos Rockhill (heirs) Clark Reedoouiikes cee sracliarcd virener eele sete epee ake eee Robert 8. Starbuck Asahel/ Stones. cis ceiae soetetersic esters. eee cates einteialents wise

Dolph Warren, Jackson Township...................--5 James Woodbury, avers Township: .aceacaecn aameneat Witham & Anderson & Company, Union City........... William .H.Wiood .). aston cane cercucacmasinaureretercie

It is a remarkable and suggestive fact that the comparatively small capital located at Union City sustains many times the volume of business that the moneyed men of Winchester carry on. Indeed, nearly the entire business activity of the county seat is under the control of men whose names are not found in the above list.

Many of the active men of Union City fall below the grade of assessment stated above; still, most of the capital in Union City is actively employed.

It is probably the case in the small towns and cities of the country that active business talent is to a great extent united to a limited capital, which fact, although, like poverty, it increases the energy and sharpens the business shrewdness, yet is found to be sometimes greatly inconvenient and vexatious.

It may be remarked of Union City that the fortunes there have been acquired within a comparatively short time, and almost. wholly as the result of enlightened business activity.

However, one town should not set itself against another, but the citizens of each and of all ought to realize that the true advantage of wealth lies in the fact that it confers power upon the possessor to add more largely to the activity and the comfort of the community as a whole, and of each one as individual citizens; and that he is the greatest benefactor who draws from his capital, be it small or large, the greatest amount of productive labor, coupled with the largest and surest wages.

Bloomingport....... 'Bartoniaies eect Deerfield: cc ee. cse.s AP ATEVIOW. @ sis slecteorerere Marmlangd nese eer Harrisville. ........ Huntsville.......... AVN oe eo dee bods Losantville ......... Morristown......... Macksville.... .....

NION Clty2 free -i- WAGON ei sre caton Winchester .... .... Emmettsville....... New Lisbon......... Saratoga reassess sce Stone Station ....... Raa sce aenan

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Area, Etc

Above average of population, seven. Highest average to population, Stony Creek. Lowest average to population, Union City. Below average age, seven.

In August, 1862, when the regiments must be sent forward, and yet there was no money to pay their bounty, Gov. Morton first thought of appealing to the soldiers to go. He tried it with one regiment. ' Yes," said they, '' because you ask it, but for no other reason."

But now the money had all to be raised again to pay it back. It was in vain to appeal to the Legislature; they were lukewarm or hostile; something else must be done. He determined to appeal to the people.

The response was prompt. Marion County gave $20,000; Wabash, $10,000; Hendricks, $10,000; Decatur, $6,000; Henry, $6,000; Tippecance, $5,000; Delaware, $5,000; Fayette, $5,000. Twenty citizens of Richmond loanel $20,000; President McK., Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, $10,000; the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Kailroad itself, $10,000. And so on till there lacked but $250,000. But whence was that to come?

Then to Stanton. Stanton was the man for a pinch. Morton told him ail, and what Lincoln said and Chase said. Stanton raised himself to his full height: '* You must have the money, and you shall; and I will read them the law for it;" and, pulling down a law book from the shelf, cried, '' There's the law; fits you to a T; for your State is threatened with rebellion." (Law of 1861, to arm and equip men in a State threatened with rebellion.)

He drew his warrant for $250,000, appointed Gov. Morton his disbursing agent. The '' War Governor" went to the treasury, got his pile, and went home triumphant.

Indiana was born in. 1816, with 65,000 people within her borders not very many years ago. A few counties only were organized. The whole middle, northern and northwestern portions were an unbroken wilderness and held by the Indians. Well do I remember when there were but two families settled west of the Whitewater - one at Flat Rock, above Rushville; and one on Brandywine, near Greenfield.

When I first saw the spot where Indianapolis stands, the whole region east to the Whitewater and west to Wabash was woods - woods - nothing but woods. No roads, no bridges, no farms, no houses, no fields, no crops, no orchards, no barns, no harvests,

Years afterward, the courts were held in log cabins, and the jury sat under trees. Iwas Prosecutor atthe Indian murder trials at Pendleton. The court was held in a double log cabin. The Grand Jury sat on a log in the woods, and the foreman signed the bills on his knee. Not a juror had shoes on; all wore moccasins; all were belted round the waist, and carried side knives. Travel was by horse, or foot, or canoe, and the pack-horse was the grand medium of commerce.

Many a time have I crossed the swollen stream, swimming my horse and paddling the canoe by his side. I stood, but as yesterday, on the site of Indianapolis, when scarcely a. stick was amiss. I passed through the wilds of Marion on my pony when the bear, the wolf, the deer, were frightened before my steps, and wildly bounded to their secret lairs.

I remember when the semi-monthly ox-wagon of John Hager carried all that came to Indianapolis, and was the only link that bound that infant metropolis to outside civilization.

7 Written by O. H. S. many years ago, and much more wonderful to-day (1882) as to amazing extent of substantial progress of the commonwealth, the West, and the whole country! ]

In early times there lived in Indiana George Boone, a descendant of Daniel Boone, nearly seven feet high, large-boned and heavy-muscled, and such feet - thick, long, broad, beyond anything ever seen or known before. George was a State Senator, and while Senator he used to tell this tale with great gusto, as follows:

"' At eighteen years old I took a fancy to go sparking. It was late in the fall, but not cold enough to wear shoes. Sunday evening came.. I dressed in my butternut best, six months 'old, pantaloons not far below my knees, coat tight as an eel-skin on a hoop-pole. I went barefooted, wading the creeks and bottoms till I got to where my dulcinea lived. They were at supper, with mush and milk and plenty of it. The old lady handed me a large bowl. I reached, but struck the big milk pitcher, and over went the milk upon the table. Sally went roaring into the other room. It was all over with me and I saw no more of Sally. The clock struck 1). The old lady said: ' Won't you wash your feet and go to bed?' 'Yes, ma'am.' ' Well, here is an iron pot.' I took it, but could get my feet in only by crowding them in sideways. I got them in, but they began to swell tighter and tighter till they hurt me so that, the sweat rolled off my chin. The clock struck 11. 'Mr. Boone, are you not done washing your feet?' 'What did this pot cost?' 'A dollar.' 'Here is your dollar, bring me the ax.' I took the ax, broke the pot, opened the door, and ' put' for home, and have never seen the old lady since. I met Sally at a corn-husking some years later, and she roared out laughing."

Touch not the bowl, it is only evil and leads to ruin; it is not needful, but harmful and deadly. Iam now sixty-two years old, and have trod the soil of Indiana for near forty years. I have borne the rough exposure of a new country and a harsh and changeful climate. I have swam rivers, I have slept in the woods, I have fasted long. I have borne all, and for forty years have not tasted liquor. I have stvod firm in high life and before the chiefs in State and Nation, and I am hale and hearty. I scarcely know what sickness is. Take my advice, for I think it safe to follow.

When I came to the State, March, 1817, not a railroad was in the United States, nor a canal west of the Alleghany Mountains (east of them, neither). The telegraph was not; fire was struck by a flint and steel; not a foot of turnpikes in the State; plank roads had not been heard of; girdled trees covered the tields; the shovel-plow the only cultivator; no roads west of the Whitewater (nor north of it); not a bridge in the State; travel ing all on horseback or on foot, the husband in front with a child or two in his lap, the wife behind with others in hers; nota carriage nor a buggy in the State. Mr. Lovejoy brought an open buggy from New England to Connersville; I borrowed it to ride to Wayne County, but gave it up, fearing the people would think me tvo proud and ''stuck up," and that they would not vote for me for Congress. The finest farms near Connersville, with all improvements, were worth $5 to $10 per acre. The finest stallfed. beef was $1.25 per hundred; corn, 10 cents; wheat, 124 cents; wood, $1 a cord delivered. The first year my fees fell short of $200. When they reached $300, I felt as rich as Creesus. My debts were paid. I had money in my pocket and I was "happy."

We were bound for Fort Wayne. We reached Winchester, put up at Paul W. Way's, and, in the morning, set out on our 'wilderness journey. There were two ways - the ''Godfroy Farm" and the "Quaker Trace." Mr. Rariden chose the latter. By noon we had reached the Wabash - a big one-half day's ride, thirty miles or more. ''Shall we tie or turn loose," said I. '*You could not drive Old Gray from me," said Mr. Rariden, and Judge Eggleston: 'My Indian pony will never leave me.'' I made no promise for my Gray Fox. We turned them loose. Old Gray stuck up his ears and off he galloped, and off went the pacing pony. My Fox lingered, but soon he went also. A week afterward they were brought to us at Winchester on our return. They had been taken up at Fort Defiance, Ohio. Thompson lived on Townsend's Prairie ten miles away. We hung our saddles and bridles on the trees, shouldered saddle-bags and footed it through, completely fagged. Just as we got there a fearful storm broke. All night long down poured the rain, but what cared we? Corn-dodgers, boiled squirrels and sassafras tea, and then bear-skins on the floor, and sleep as sweet as mortal ever knew!

Indian horse-race at Chief Richardsville's, up the St. Mary's River. We returned to Winchester on our borrowed ponies, took our own horses, and were in time for court at Centerville.

John Conner was one of nature's noblemen. He had been taken by the Shawnees when a lad, and raised among them. When dressed and painted, it was hard to tell him from a sayage. Once he came to Andersontown, then a lodge of the Chief Anderson. Conner pretended to be a Shawnee and a representative of Tecumseh. He took his seat on a log just in sight and waited, smoking his pipe. I will let him tell the rest: "Soon Chief Anderson came to me. I rose; we exchanged pipes, without a word. He pointed toa bear-skin. I sat down with my back to the chief. Soon I saw an Indian, Zileoway, who knew me well, eyeing me. I tried to evade him, but he bawled out, ' You great Shawnee: - you John Conner.' The whole camp burst into aroar. Chief Anderson ran up to me, ' You great representative of Tecumseh,' with a loud laugh."

William Conner, brother to John Conner, also taken by the Indians, knew many Indian languages, and often acted as iuterpreter at Indian treaties. He was with Gen. Harrison at Fort Meigs, marched up the Maumee and was at the battle of the Thames, and first recognized the dead Tecumseh on the field after the fight. When asked, " Who killed Tecumseh?" he always said: 'Gen. Harrison or Col. Johnson, the commanders - one or the other- - no one can tell which."'

I was going to Pendleton to attend the " Indian murder" trials. On Thursday, I mounted 'Gray Fox." The only way was through Indianapolis, a small village in the woods. I stayed at Indianapolis over night, and passed up Falls Creek, east side. The west side was the main track, but the water was high and muddy, and I thought the east side the safest without crossing. There were no bridges in those days. The day was dark and drizzling. My path ended ten miles from Indianapolis: Turning the head of ''Gray Fox" west, the creek, muddy, sullen and deep, was soon in sight. Fox plunged in and swam the main channel beautifully, but the moment he struck the overflowed bottom, he began to sink and plunge. The water was about four feet deep; the girth broke; I seized the stirrup leather with one hand and Fox's long mane with the other. He dragge¢ me through water and mud to the shore. My hat was gone, but what mattered that, sol got tocourt. Fox bounded on like a reindeer, and before night I was seated with the other lawyers round a huge log-tire at Long's Hotel.

In the early days of Jay County, Ind., a Dutchman who lived north of Portland had got some new shoes, and his wife put them on to go some three miles through the woods to a neighbor's. She did not return, and her husband thought her lost. They started with torches to hunt her up after dark. They found her track by the print of the new shoes - " Yaw, dat is my Phrona; I know te new shoes." By and by the track showed a bare foot.

"Oh, Phrona!" cried he, '' you haf lost my new shoes!" and as they tracked the bare feet through the mud, he kept wailing, "Oh, Phrona, Phrona! My new shoes are lost! my new shoes are lost!''

Early in May, I turned my pony's head north for Fort Wayne. The streams were high, and the land under water for miles. I had a small Indian pony, a good swimmer, a fine pacer and a splendid traveler.

I left the Mississinewa, and, the same day, reached Godfroy's Farm. The chief was at Fort Wayne. A squaw came out. She could not speak English, but pointed to Fort Wayne. I pointed tv the stable, to my horse, to my mouth, and then laid my head on my hands, shut my eyes and began to snore. She seized the bridle. I dismounted. She fed the pony. Night came. Supper was had - corn bread, venison and sassafras tea. A bear-skin was spread on the floor for a bed, and some tall sleeping occurred.

In the morning, an Indian came along who could talk a little English, and I hired him for $2 a day to guide me over the Salamonie and the Wabash. We mounted, and off we started. He galloped away, and was soon out of sight. I found him, however, at the Salamonie.

The moment we reached the river, the Indian peeled some hickory bark, and spanceled (tied) the legs of the horses. I sat on the bank. He plunged into the woods, and, in an hour, came back, bringing the bark of a hickory tree twelve feet long and three feet wide. He made acanoe. I got in at one end, put my saddle, etc., in the other, seized the paddle and was soon across the Wabash. It was a "close fit," for the water came within an inch of the top of the canoe.

I came to a lake, and, fearing to try it, I turned to the top of an old beech, tied my pony to a limber tree and lay down, hungry and tired.

The wolves soon began to howl, and I went to sleep by the sound of their music. I slept soundly, and the next day, at the Fort Wayne Hotel, I did justice to the dinner, for I had fasted since early breakfast at Godfroy's farm the day before.

Hoosier Poetry

"Tm told, in riding somewhere West, A stranger found a Hoosier's nest ; In other words, a small pole cabin, Just large enough to put 'Queen Mab' in.

"Tts situation, low but airy, Was on the border of a prairie ; And, fearing he might get benighted, 'He hailed the house,' and then alighted !

"'The stranger stooped to enter in, The entrance closing with a pin; And showed forthwith a strong desire To seat him by the log-heap fire, Where half a dozen Hoosieroons Were busy with their pewter spoons!

"With mush and milk, and dirty faces, They seemed inclined to keep their places ; But Madam, eager to display Her rough, but undisputed sway -

"The stranger made a sumptuous meal, And glances round the room did steal! One side was lined with divers garments ; The other spread with 'skins of varmints.' Dried pumpkins overhead were strung, _ And venison hams in plenty hung; Two rifles placed above the door - Three dogs lay stretched along the floor.

"In short, the domicile was rife, With specimens of Hoosier life ; The host, who centered his affections On game, and range, and quarter sections, Discoursed his weary guest for hours, Till somnus' all-composing powers Of sublunary care bereft 'em, As fast asleep he slily left 'em.

'And then - but how the story ended It matters not. What I intended Is to apply the Scottish poet, That all who read may surely know it: * That burly chiels and clever hizzies, Are bred in sic a land as this is.'''

Edward Edger, Sr

Of his children, one son and one daughter are still living. The surviving son is Edward Edger, who resides at Winchester, Randolph Co., Ind., an old man, and a long time resident of the county.

(Date of commencement, before 1811. She lived in Wayne County. Wayne County was settled in 1805; Randolph, in 1814; battle of Tippecanoe, 1811.)

The country was an entire wilderness, except here and there a cabin, with (perhaps not) a small family. We were in fine spirits till the battle of Tippecanoe (1811). After that, we lived in constant fear, and passed many sleepless nights. At length, some soldiers were sent to our fort ( - - ) for our protection. My husband served as a volunteer three months, but was not called from the fort.

The Indians harmed none who were known to be peaceable. They killed a young man, Shortridge, but he had on the dress of another who had threatened the Indians, and it is thought they mistook him for that other.

In the spring following, Charles Morgan and his two halfbrothers were killed at their suzar camp and scalped, and one of them thrown into the fire. This took place about six miles from us. These dangers gave us trouble for two or three years, and ce us from home; but peace came, and we returned with glad

To make homes in the heavy timber was hard work, but the settlers were hearty and strong, and in good spirits, and took to their work with a will. The men cleared the ground and rolled the logs, and built: the dwellings and the barns and the fences, and the women often went to help covuk, and we had first-rate times. Many modern diseases we had never heard of - dyspepsia, neuralgia, etc., etc. It was not fashionable then to be weakly and puny and helpless. We would take ourspinning-wheels and walk two or three miles to a spinning-frolic, and, after supper, we would take the wheels and walk home again, and feel good over it. We took no special pride in having soft, lily-white hands. Our hands were mude for use, and we needed them, and we used them. We did not keep them simply to be looked at.

Micajah Morgan was born in 1795, in North Carolina; his wife, in 1800. He died in 1860. His wife is living yet, with her son, Dr. R. H. Morgan, Spartansburg, Randolph Co., Ind. Mr. Morgan came to Richmond in 1808, and to the old Morgan place, south of Arba, in 1818. He was an upright, honest Christian man, of the Quaker faith.

It is said of him that he would sell corn only to his poor neighbors, and at a moderate price - say 25 cents. Though corn went up to $1, he still sold for his price, and only a grist at a time, that his poor neighbors might have the advantage of his generosity.

He had eleven children, seven now living. Six of the seven are boys, all of whom were in the Union army. None were killed nor died in service; only one was wounded, and all the six are living now.

Thomas, Twelfth Indiana, scout in Kentucky; Sergeant Fifth Indiana Cavalry; was in Hastern Army, and in many battles; discharged at close of war; served about four years; enlisted at Richmond in 1861; mustered out 1865; now a merchant in Columbus, Ind.; one son, a lawyer, in Columbus, Ind.; three daughters, married, one in Grant County, two at Columbus, Ind.

Charles, Forty-fifth Indiana, captured near Jackson, Miss. ; lay in a dungeon sixty days at Jackson, nearly dying of starvation; an old acquaintance, who had gone South, and was Quartermaster in the rebel army, recognized him, and got him released from the dungecn; he was kept a prisoner six months, and set free; he was with Banks up Red River, with Butler at New Orleans, and elsewhere; he served to the end, mustering in and out at Indianapolis; he resides in Wells County, Ind.; is a farmer, and has five children.

William, Seventy-fifth Indiana, sapper and miner; wounded and disabled; detailed into the Invalid Corps; discharged at the close of the war; lives in Randolph County; is a farmer, and has six children.

Clarkson, Fifty-seventh Indiana; captured near Perryville; prisoner at Danville, Va.; discharged ; is a blacksmith at Arba, and has two children.

W. A. Peelle was born in North Carolina in 1820; studied law at Winchester, and admitted to the bar in 1840; resided at Marion 1845; settled at Winchester in 1846; became Prosecuting Attorney in 1848; was elected Judge in 1854, and Secretary of State for Indiana in 1860, having been defeated in 1858, and again in 1862.

He resumed the practice of law at Centerville in 1864, and that city has been his residence ever since that time until lately, residing now at Richmond.

Judge Peeile was hotly engaged inthe fierce contest that was waged in Wayne County over the removal of their county seat from Centerville to Richmond. He carried on the fight with an energy and desperation worthy of success, but fate was against him and he had to yield.

His early life was characteristic. He studied by the log fire of his log-cabin home, or by a blaze made of hickory bark; taught school at sixteen, and onward till 1842, some seven years; began to study law in 1839, and was admitted to practice in 1845.

At Centerville, lie purchased the residence of IJon. O. P. Morton, but, when the county seat was removed, there was nothing left but to get away.

He is a good lawyer and an energetic worker, not polished in speech nor manner, but clear, plain and forcible, and sometimes fiery in his surpassing enthusiasm.

The old lady is quitestrong and healthy. She has been hard of hearing for twenty-five years, but her mind is clear and bright. She rode to town in a spring wagon, into which she climbed herself, with but slight help.

It is truly wonderful to the present generation what hardships and privations these heroic souls, remnants of a by-gone age, have endured in their time. The life of this aged grandmother dates to the year after the Presidential inauguration of Gen. Washington, and her life measures almost the whole space of our constitutional existence as a nation. When she first opened her eyes upon the light, we were ar infant republic, despised by the old nations, hardly daring to believe in its own future, striving feebly to carve out an unknown destiny, now a strong and mighty people of fifty millions of souls. Then, a narrow string of settlements scattered along the Atlantic coast; but now, lo! the whole boundless stretch of continent from ocean to ocean is ours!

She is old enough to have seen all the Presidents, since she was a lass in her tenth year when Washington died. Her life has witnesed the entire growth of the gigantic West. Only a few thousand persons were in the great valley of the Mississippi at the date of her birth. Cincinnati, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, were but insignificant villages. Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, had not been even imagined. Chicago was not begun till she had passed her third of a century.

G. Clarkson Tucker, Sweetser, Ind

G. Clarkson Tucker, son of Rev. E. Tucker, was born in Knox County, Ohio, in 1846; moved to Randolph County, Ind., in 1846; Nora, Ill., 1854; Liber, Ind., 1859; volunteered in the One Hundredth Indiana, Company H, September, 1862; first with Grant, then with Sherman. The regiment marched with Grant, in the fall of 1862, to Central Mississippi, and back to Holly Springs after the capture of the supplies there by Van Dorn; went down near Vicksburg in the spring of 1863; to Jackson in pursuit of Jonhston; across Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia to Chattanooga; into Kast Tennessee after Longstreet, and back, fall and winter of 1863; through Georgia with Sherman's conquering columns to Atlanta and the sea; from Savannah to Raleigh, Richmond and Washington; thus accomplishing a march of I know not how many thousands of miles, east, south, north, through Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia. They were in all the battles fought by the army of which they were a part, bearing, with cheerful ardor and unflinching courage, all the hardships and sufferings which fell to their lot, leaving their dead behind at every step, but pressing onward, ever onward, to the goal of victory. The regiment was never captured, and never driven back in battle. Always forward, right forward, was its unvarying motto. It had to retrace its steps, indeed, from Contral Mississippi, but that was the fault of the troops who were sent (but who failed) to defend the supplies gathered for their use.

He was but sixteen years of age, a mere lad, when he enlisted, but, without a murmur and without a fear, with steadfast heart and determined will, with his gallant comrades, he trayersed the length and breadth of the land, resolved never to seek his childhood home again until the work of crushing the rebellion was an accomplished fact. And he achieved his purpose. The One Hundredth Indiana was a part of the mighty host, veteran and stalwart, bronzed with toil and worn with hardships, but resolute and determined as ever, that marched in solid phalanx through the streets of Washington on that wondrous gala day, in grand review, under the kindly, kindling eye of the commanding Generals, especially of that one who, for long years, had been their especial leader, trusted, tried, wellnigh idolized.

And grandly did that mighty host undergo that transformation. A single month after the last regiment was discharged, a stranger traversing our country would never have dreamed that, within a brief period, the land had been alive with soldiers and filled with marching armies.

The subject of this sketch went forth a mere boy in years, but firm in purpose, steady of habit and faithful to principle. He returned to his home as he went out, only more so - more firm, more resolute, more settled in the great principles of truth and liberty, for the defense of which he offered himself to the service of his country.

And thousands upon thousands of others did the same. The baptism of war through which they passed was to them a holy, sacred, purifying flood, which brought them into a new and glorious life for God and their fellow-men.

He has resided, since arriving at manhood, at Kingston, Mo., Nora and Lena, Ill., Raymond and Midway, Miss., and Union City, Sweetzer and McGrawsville, Ind.

He has been twice married. His first wife was Mary Pomroy, of Nora, Ill., and the second was Emma Teagle, of Grant County, Ind. He has had three children, all of wham are living.

He has the reputation of unusual strength. Stories pass from lip to lip among his acquaintances of the remarkable feats he has performed in this respect.

G. C. Tucker, on the 5th day of June, 1865, was hurt in the saw-mill, in which he had been working for several years, by accidentally having his foot thrown against the saw in motion. The limb had tobe amputated. Blood-poisoning (pyemia) set in, and in about ten days, June 15, 1865, at about 2 P. M., he departed this life, with a well-grounded hope of a part in the first resurrection; and his mortal remains were on the next day deposited, in the presence of weeping family and sympathizing friends, in the cemetery at Marion, Ind.

Reunions, Surprises, Weddings, Etc

In the olden pioneer times, weddings were often a very simple thing. Frequently they were celebrated with no display or ado. At one occasion of the sort within the knowledge of the writer, the wedding feast consisted of a bountiful supply of roasted potatoes, scraped from the ashes and eaten, as the custom was, with salt.

something new, so, in these days, we have re-unions, surprises, golden, silver, diamond, etc., weddings. And especially the last few years have been fruitful insurpises. The times selected are chiefly some anniversary of birth, marriage, ete. Many have been held in the county, some very large, with several hundred in attendance. It would not be easy to state the method employed, since no two are alike. Often one of the heads of the family is taken into the secret. Sometimes, however, both are kept entirely in the dark until the whole thing bursts suddenly upon their astonished vision. The party (one or more) to be surprised is sometimes enticed from home to give a clear field for the denouement of the plot.

Particulars cannot well be given. Suffice it to say, the occasions are sources of much labor, considerable expense and more or less astonishment. But the pleasure afforded to all concerned is reckoned to be an abundant recompense for all the outlay incurred, of whatever kind.

Withiu a few years past, the various sorts of wedding anniversaries, golden, silver, etc., have been celebrated by a supper and the bestowal of more or less costly presents.

The anniversary of the wedding of John and Jane Fisher, who had been married sixty years, was celebrated two or three years ago with a large assemblage of relatives and much rejoicing. The old patriarch has lately been called from earthly labor and suffering to heavenly peace andrest And so, at the, present writing, has the bereaved widow, Jane Fisher, dying nearly a year after her husband.

Weddings themselves have, for a short time past, been made the occasion, among well-to-do people, of costly, not to say valuable gifts. Sometimes a mere list of the presents bestowed fills half a column in the newspaper publishing a notice of the nuptial festivities.

It would seem a pity that such costly practices could not be discouraged and checked. Were none but the wealthy to adopt the custom, it might not (though useless, even with them) be so harmful. But in this country, no one likes to be behind, and the generai adoption of so needless, not to say foolish, a custom, will lead many into costly outlays who can ill bear the expense.