St. Joseph County, Indiana - Chapter 10: Reminiscences by Judge Stanfield, 1880

Chapter 10: Reminiscences by Judge Stanfield

My name is Thomas Stilwell Staniield. I was born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 17th day of October, 1816. My father's name was William; my mother's. Mar}' Stilwell. He was born in Greene county, Tennessee; she in Grayson county, Virginia. They emigrated to Ohio in 1805, before they were married. At the time they settled in Logan county it was a wilderness; they were on the extreme frontier; it was almost an unbroken Indian country to Lake Erie. The Indians occupied it as their great hunting grounds.

Logan county settled up slowlj'; the emigration was almost entirely from the Southern and Southwestern States, many of them Quakers from Tennessee and North Carolina. All of the people were comparatively poor and uneducated; their highest hopes were to get a small piece of land and make a home for their families. The land in that country was generally heavily timbered, and the timber of no value. It required years of close economy and hard labor of the whole family to make a living. No time or opportunity was allowed for social improvement. They raised their food and made all their clothing; every house had its loom and spinning wheel ; ever}' woman was a weaver, tailor and milliner. This industry and skill afforded them enough to eat and to wear, and that was about all. There was no time for the cultivation of their minds or the education of tlieir children. They lived in log cabins, generally eating and sleeping in the same room. Under such circumstances delicacy and refinement, so beautiful and lovely in the household, must be of slow growth. Good houses comfortably furnished are as necessary to the cultivation of gentlemanly manners and womanly graces amongst the children as a comfortable schoolhouse for the cultivation of their intellects.

When I became old enough to go to school a faint attempt was made to start one. The house for our school was a little larger than usual. It was built for a Quaker meeting-house, and must have been about eighteen feet square, a low, one-story log cabin, the cracks filled up with clay, covered with a clapboard roof held down by weight poles, floored with puncheons split from an ash tree, lighted by greased-paper windows, a stick chimney and huge tireplace. This will give a general idea of the house. The only furniture was a writing desk made by driving four long pins slantingly up into a log in the wall, with a board laid on them and puncheon 33 (509) benches. Many a weary hour the little children suffered humped up upon those benches without backs, or resting places for their feet. It never seemed to have occurred to the old Quakers that the children's legs were not as long as theirs. I only mention this to show how little was thought in those days of what we now consider 60 important to the physical and mental education of our children. Is it any wonder that it required a liberal use of the rod to make those children forget the tortures of such a seat and study their lessons? read, write a?id cij)her" ^eneridlj thought to be all that it was necessary for common people to learn, and that any body possessed of so much learning wa§ fit for a schoolmaster. In tiie fall some old fellow would come around who was too old or too lazy to work, and secure employment to teach the school for the coming winter. All the education I received under fourteen was in such schools.

We moved from Ohio to this county in November, 1830, first settling for the winter near Young's Prairie, Cass county, Michigan. That winter was remarkably severe, and during the first week in December the snow fell to the depth of two feet and was shortly increased to three, and so remained until the 1st of April. The cold weather was incessant, never let up till late in the spring. About the middle of the winter there was almost a total eclipse of the sun; many attributed the cold weather to that fact.

About the middle of April we moved down to Harris's Prairie with the intention of entering land there and becoming farmers, but my father being unable to raise money enough to enter 80 acres, and having a trade, he concluded to settle in South Bend. We did so in June, 1831, and it has been my home ever since. Young as I was, I was charmed with the natural beauty of this country. It was distinguished as oak openings, thick woods and prairie. At this time hardly a furrow had been turned upon the prairie; a few cabins were scattered around in the oak openings bordering the prairies. I remember well that in 1831, and I think in 1832, the route traveled from here to Terre Coupee Prairie was across Portage Prairie, entering it on the farm now owned by John Smith, then owned by Pleasant Harris, and thence across the Prairie by way of a little grove near the land then owned by Samuel Jones, then through the barrens to the old Detroit & Chicago road crossing the north end of Terre Coupee Prairie. I do not think there was a fence in the way before the spring of 1833. The country between the two prairies had but a few families living in it. You could then stand on the ridges in these barrens and see the country for a mile off on either side of you about as plainly as on the prairies. Where now the timber has grown up so thick that one can hardly get through it, was then almost as bare, as the prairie, and covered with a most luxuriant growth of grass, making rich and magnificent pasture for cattle. This, indeed, was the cliaracter of all the oak openings. About the only timber that grew in these barrens was white oak, black oak, burr oak and black hickory. The burr oak and hickory land was considered much the best, and I tliink experience lias for all purposes proved it to be even better than tiie prairie. I remember that it was commonly considered at that early period that the white and black oak barrens of Clay and Harris townshijjs were hardly worth buying from the Government; that three or four crops would exhaust the soil, and the land become worthies? ; and tiie lirst few years of cultivation did seem to have tiiat eifect, but tlie introduction and use of land plaster and cultivation of clover has not only restored these lands to tlieir original fertility, but I think made them better; and it is now a question among good farmers, taking into consideration the difference in cost of tillage, whether these lands are not as profitable as the prairie lands.

There were fifteen or twenty families living here when we came; of them there are still remaining here: Peter Johnson, Sr., and his wife; their sons, Evan Lee, Pierce Johnson, and daughter Mary Taylor; Samuel L. Cothall and his wife; Henry Painter. Mrs. Alexis Coquillard, Alexis Coquillard, son of Benjamin Coquillard, Mrs. Matilda Shirland, Lathrop M. Taylor, Edmund P.Taylor, Riley Stilson.

At this time there had been hardly a tree cut upon the town plat except in places where houses were built. Shortly after this the Michigan road was laid out through town on Michigan and Water streets, and the streets cleared as a part of that road. Along Maine and Lafayette streets, and indeed on most of the original plat, grew beautifu],burr-oak groves thirty or forty feet high. Most of them along the streets and on the public grounds might have been preserved and become the pride and ornament of this city. To my notion there are no more beautiful shade trees growing in this latitude than the burr oak. Its smooth, clean, bright, peculiar leaf was always very attractive to me. These ti-ees are the most remarkable objects of attraction about Kalamazoo, Valparaiso and other towns where the people had the taste and good sense to preserve them, but unfortunately for us we were heedless vandals, without any appreciation ofbeauty or comfort, and regardless of the interests or taste of those to follow us. It was a wicked waste that I have never ceased to regret, and one that never can be repaired.

The openings around South Bend were like those I have already described, only not quite so free from trees, but still open enough to go anywhere with a wagon, and all covered with the same luxuriant growth of grass and scattered over with the same varieties of beautiful flowers. The grass grows so thick and high between here and the Kankakee marsh that it was cut and put up for hay. The undergrowth of brush and timber that has since sprung up has entirely destroyed this native growth of grass; it is now scarcely ever seen where it once grew so luxuriantly and afforded such nutritious pasture for cattle. I have often wondered why the early settlers did not keep down this undergrowth of brush and preserve their natural pasture.

enrnmer and fall of 1831, in a log school-house with glass windows instead of greased-paper windows. I thought the house and teacher a little ahead of anything I liad seen before. The old house has been demolished and forgotten, but not so with the teacher; he still survives, an honored friend and deserving citizen.

By De. Jacob Haedman

It is written of me that I, Jacob Hardman, was born on Sunday morning, April 29, 1804, in Harrison county, West Virginia; moved thence with my father, Peter Hardman, and family to Greene county, Ohio, in October, 1808, where I was bred a practical farmer. By an unfortunate grapple with a young stallion, after matured years, was crippled in my riglit arm. Without any aid or assistance of money or friends, commenced and proceeded, as best I could, to educate myself for the study and practice of medicine, which preparatory education, some teaching, and a term of medical studies, consumed a term of seven years. My studies and instruction in medicine were accomplished with Messrs. Ambrose Blount and Harvey Humphreys.

At the end of three years' reading and study in Springfield, Ohio, overshadowed with debts, being thus hedged up, and without means to attend medical lectures, I went before the censors of the Second Medical District of Ohio, at the city of Dayton (a provision by statute law in said State, for the benefit of indigent pupils), was there examined, pronounced competent in all the branches of the profession, receiving a certificate to that effect, and a license to practice medicine in all its branches wheresoever I desired.

The next year thereafter I emigrated to South Bend, arriving Aug. 9, 1831. I was the first of my profession to locate in the county. Having arrived at three and a half o'clock in the afternoon with letters of introduction to two of the most prominent citizens of the place, with some vouchers, I made myself known and was given a warm welcome. After some hesitation I unfortunately decided to stay and grapple as with hooks of steel, with any and all of the vicissitudes and grim wants of coming life, which decision has made me next thing to a pauper, now in the days of my longevity. Thus, I continued in the practice of my profession with varied success, as did my competitors, up to a period of thirty years.

At the breaking Dut of the Kebellion in 1861, I was, by the Governor of the State, O. P. Morton, appointed Assistant Surgeon in the 9th Ind. Vol., which position in 45 days I resigned. In May, 1864, I presented myself before the Examining Medical Board of Surgeons, of the United States, at the city of Nashville, Tennessee; was received as a competent Surgeon and was assigned to duty at Hospital No. 2, at College Hill, where I continued with acceptability until bj' failing health, in March, 1865, 1 was compelled to resign my position and return home; from which time, owing to continued debility, I never liave opened an office and offered my professional services to the public, although compelled in the meantime to prescribe, advise, and to some extent visit among some of the old patrons and their descendants.

Now to return. April 26, 1832, I returned to Fairfield, and married Miss Sarah Woodward, a finely educated lady, of German and Scottish descent, born Dec. 10, ISOO, at Williamsport, Pa. We have had four sons and three daughters, four of whom died in early life and one died in the army in the South. My wife died May 20, 1870. I am now keeping house with my only (and eldest) daughter, Julia Margaret.

The young and unmarried ladies of the village included in families were: Matilda Newell, Keziah Cartwright, Polly Holt, Maria Stilson, Maria Skinner, Eliza Stilson, Lydia Skinner and Mary Gillum, making eight. The young gentlemen over twenty-one years old were: Horatio Chapin, Elisha Egbert, John D. Lasley, Wm. Creviston, Levi F. Arnold, John B. Ozia, Plorace Wood, Wm. Cartwright, John Becraft, Joseph Aljoe, Lowry Dayton, Lathrop M. Taylor, Edmund P. Taylor, James Thompson, Reuben Hildreth, Peter D. Shaw, James De Grote, Christian Wolf, Simeon Mason, Zina Skinner, John D. Defrees and myself, making in all a population of 163 in the village proper.

The first winter we formed a debating society, a mock legislative body, and had fun generally. In the meantime we formed a temperance society, and in one sense it was unfortunate for me that I was made president, which position I continued to occupy up to 183S-'9, I think.

In 1837 I was candidate for County Recorder, but was defeated by Wm. H. Patterson on account of my temperance principles. I was Coroner one year, however, and Justice of the Peace one term; was also appointed in 1834 Major of the 79th Ind. Militia.

[In the history of Dr. Hardman's ancestry are many interesting passages, especially in connection witli their early settlement in Kentucky, their blood-curdling experiences with the savage Indians, etc., all of which we would gladly give space to if we possibly could.]

By Thomas P. Bulla

To begin at this time of life to give even a concise outline biograpliy of myself, it is not to be assumed that I can give dates entirely correct.

My lather was of the early settlers of Pennsylvania. My grandfather, Thomas Bulla, emigrated from Nantucket about the year 1770, settled in Chester county of said State. My father was born in that county Feb. 10, 1777, lived there till 1791; then the family eniigrated to Guilford county, N. C, where, as a farmer and innkeeper, my grandfather lived and raised a lamily of eight boys and two girls. He owned two slaves (women); their work was in the kitchen; were treated as Quakers of that time generally treated servants of that grade. My mother's maiden name was Hoover, and was (as the name imports) of German nationality; my parents were married in Randolph county, of the last-named State, tiien, after a few years, emigrated to Montgomery county, O., near the site of the city of Dayton. At this time two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth, were the increase of this union. The writer of this was the next as additional; subsequently si.\ other boys and two more girls were the make-up of the family circle. My eldest brother, Andrew, and myself were born on Twin creek, Montgomery county, O. All the younger cliildren were natives of Wayne county, Ind., one mile north of the present city of Richmond, James, next younger, then William, .David, Daniel, Esther, Sarali and John; of these Anna Chalfant, late of St. Joseph, Elizabeth Burgess and Andrew (who was an editor with Septimus Smith in Ceutreviile; the paper published was the first issued there, and was called the Western Tme.s) died in Wayne; James, a millwright, and William F., farmer, both of St. Joseph, died at their homes in said county. David died at Louisville, Kentucky. As to the origin of the name (Bulla) it is of Gallic origin and its orthography was Bouillon, pronounced Booloug, yet the paternal ancestry were of Irish nationalit}'.

Now, in a detailed recital of the incidents of my life I find that the identity of circumstances are so blended with my existence that to relate that only which appertains to m3'self is not possible. My father was a farmer, but like many of the pioneers of 60 years ago, he made all the implements he needed for agricultural purposes, tanned leather, and made the shoes for the family, did his own coopering and masonry, and was somewhat of the Nimrod in the general make-up. The women of that period, besides presiding in the kitchen, made the fabric and the apparel for the familj'. All the material resources of the community in general were self-sustaining; nothing but salt and iron required the expenditure of money ; coffee and tea were not then and there in general use. Sunday morning we had coffee, lience we knew when that day came round. There were no available educational resources then, and a school was gotten up by subscription, male teachers were employed, and their' per month about ten dollars; hickory oil was freely used in the schools then, and parents and teachers iu general relied more on its use and proper application as an incentive to literary progress than anything else.

I made ray second trip to the St. Joseph valley afoot as usual; helped to build a saw-inill for Elijah Lacey at the mouth of Waggiac; returned to Richmond and taught school another quarter, then made tracks for Niles, Mich.; was employed to attend the saw-mill aforesaid, at $17.00 per month; returned to my old liome; then I was employed for about nine months at millwright work, then for three months as carpenter. And now a final exodus from my primitive home, in company with Evan Chalfants' family ; we started for South Bend, Oct. 1, 1832. Were I to detail all the incidents of this campaign (for campaign it was, since camping out was the order), it would add several pages more and would not, perhaps, interest but few, except those yet living, who were en route with us; suffice it to say that through thick and .thin (thick and thin mud), we arrived at our destination the 1st of November, 1832. General Jackson was then President.

Having secured a quarter section of land I made such preparation to build a house as best I could, and helped E. Chalfant to rear a cabin on his land that winter, , and having no means to have help I hswed logs and erected the first hewn log house, shingle roof and brick chimney in Clay township; my neighbors regarded it as a rather aristocratic structure.

In the winter of '33 and '34 I had a school in South Eend, which in number of students was rather more than one man could manage. So the services of a Mr. Cadmus Johnson was secured as assistant. The school now went on for some time; at length Christmas was reached; that morning when I came to the door I found a barricade of benches against it, and a number of stalwart, beardless boj-s had made a citadel of the house. I took in the situation at once and demanded admittance, which was denied; thereupon I assumed an iudiiierence whether I was out or in, and started home. They now opened the door and called me back and to come in, which I did. No sooner in than half a dozen bipeds were using their muscles to control m}' locomotion, and to aid them in tliis cords and ligatures were fastened about my limbs. At this juncture my assistant came in, and seeing my condition he at once exclaimed, " I surrender." I, too, now surrendered at discretion, demanded what they wanted, to which they replied no school till the 26lh, and that the teachers treat to one bushel of apples and three gallons of cider. To this we acceded; they now untied me and I gave them a lecture on their perfidy in calling me back. Order was now restored, the treat procured, and the day passed in relaxation. Next day I resumed my duties and the school went on; the behavior thereafter in general was good, and the term expired with no other incident of note. A short time before the termination the fullowing notice was posted uj) in tlie mo^t cons]-.icuous places in South

Bend: "There will be an exhibition of live men and bojs at the court-house in Southbrook, where will be recited speeches, dialogues and farcical representations." This passed off as per programme, and was the first of the kind here. By this time the missiles of Cupid had made some impression, and as a result a matrimonial alliance was concluded and consummated Jan. 15, 1835.

I was then a teacher in my own liouse on my farm in Clay township, near the now Notre Dame University, being now 30 years old. This connubial state and the State of Ind., have ever since been my home. On this farm by hard labor we made out to live, my now better half aiding me in all efforts, and having no resources only our labor we were impelled to economize iu every way. Without a team and no cow the situation was not encouraging, but persevering industry and the little I made by surveying enabled us to use some groceries; yet we often had domestic coflFee or sassafras tea minus the sugar and cream. Our first meal was roasted potatoes and salt. Our household goods were a table of rusticstyle, one poplar bedstead, one chair of the old style, a few stools, a crane in the fire-place for the dinner pot. By raising flax my wife was enabled to weave linen for shirts, etc., for our use, andjto spin sewing thread, which at that time was sold to Mr. Browiifield, a merchant then and now of South Bend. The few acres then cleared were cultivated with a hired or borrowed team. A nursery was planted, but the prices were low, as that branch of industry' was overdone here, and was not remunerative. After a few years I bought a horse; with this I did my plowing. My first crop of wheat (al)out four acres) brought 50 cents per bushel; harvest wages per day were 50 cents or one bushel of wheat. About this time some surveying brought me some lucre, and an occasional call from the County Board to locate a road gave some employment. Circuit Court gave now and then an appointment to make partition of real estate amongst heirs, but most of my time was devoted to enlarging my farm and making such improvements as T could. One year after our nuptials an addition to our family appeared in the person of Wm. D. Bulla.

I wrote the first total abstinence pledge in St. Joseph county; this was about the year 1839. It is in no vaunting mood that I make this record; and not to make any digression, my sympathies ever were against oppression of every kind, phj^sical and mental. I have lived to witness the removal of one of the darkest stains on our character as a nation, and though a moredegradingoppression, like a deadly sirocco, is destroying many thousands every year, a hope is yet indulged that this, too, may be removed before another centennial rolls around ; if not, then as effects of a prevailing cause our once great republic will cease to be, as a like cause invariably is succeeded by a like consequence; so, to avert the consequence the cause must be removed. But to resume the intent of this writing. In the year 1838 I was appointed Count}' Surveyor by the Commissioners' Court, which position I held till the year 1856. At this period we had increased in numbers in the family circle, four more - Milton v., Mary E., Minerva A. and Thomas II. All these are as yet of irreproachable character, and their training was not corapulsory but persuasive. The rod had no place as a moral motive power (nor should a resort to its use ever be general; although Solomon says, spare the rod and spoil the child, tiiat adage was only adapted to that age, when brute force was deemed more available than moral suasion). At this period of my life a prevailing torpitude exists in our country, and to account for it, the late Rebellion is a prolific source; tho' out of this Rebellion a j-etribution is awarded to its instigators, yet from the means used to remove one great national evil another was produced, and to remove this a revolution in our jurisprudence must be produced; hence as means to an end, all the moral resources must be brought to bear. In the reformatory institutions of our land all are equally interested ; hence none are exempt from duty where aid for the general good is demanded.

At the close of a hot summer's day, Aug. 7, 1S36, after a wearyride in a lumber wagon from Edwardsburg, Michigan, through an oak-barren wilderness, without roads or inhabitants, guided only by the points of the compass, tlie writer an-ived at the north bank of the St. Joseph river, opposite Mishawaka, and, with g(iod exercise of lungs, succeeded in arousing the ferryman. He was safely conducted over the river, and made his way to the Mishawaka Hotel, kept by that prince of landlords and good fellows, Orlando Ilurd.

A few days' residence enabled him to take in the general features of the place. He was one of a colony of emigrants from Brockport, New York, who numbered in all some 30 persons, embracing the families of Major H. Smith, Richmond Tuttle, Albert Hudson, Stephen H. Judkins, John Ham, Gilman and Samuel Towles, James Clark, George Bellinger and Albert Brinsmade, who had been induced hither by the somewhat extravagant stories of the St. Joseph region. The town had just shed the name of St. Joseph Iron Works, and was entering upon a high career of prosperity. The swift water at that point, it is said, gave it the Indian name of Mishawaka, and the stream was already utilized by the construction of a dam and mill race, upon which were erected the St. Joseph Iron "Works, and a flouring mill known as Taylor's Mill, erected by a citizen tlien deceased. Besides the store of the Iron Company there was another near by owned by a citizen of Niles, Michigan, and the grocery store of Russ & Pomeroy, in the company's warehouse. To these were soon added the drug and grocery store of Smith & Clark, and in the eastern part of the town, known as Barbee-town, another store of the Meed brothers, from New York. The hotels were the Mishawaka Hotel, already mentioned, and Kellogg's Hotel, in Barbee-town. These were tilled with the new settlers and passing immigrants. The village had an air of thrift and enterprise. Many of the dwellings were comfortable structures, of creditable styles of architecture, some of which are still standing, mementoes of the early settlement. The population was possibly some 500.

Even at this early date the town had its contentions and neighborhood jealousies. Tlie leading spirit on one hand was A. M. Hurd, President of the Iron Company, and on the other his namesake of the liotel. A. M. Hurd was a strenuous advocate of temperance and the moralities, while the views of the hotel proprietor and his friends had a strong leaning toward what was called liberality. Two Churches were already organized, the Presbyterian and the Methodist. Over the first presided Rev. A. Kellogg, a most excellent man, who for a score of years afterward wortiiily filled the position of pastor. The Methodist preacher in charge was Eev. H. B. Beers, a man of strong mind and the requisite essentials for a pioneer preacher, wlio has now gone to his reward. " Don't you think he preaches well, considering his being only six months from the Bench?" inquired my friend Hudson. A vision of judicial ermine, cast aside for the branches of palm and olive of the Gospel of Peace passed before my eyes, as I eagerly asked, " What bench?" " Why, the shoemaker's bench," was the earnest and truthful reply; and I really thought he preached well under the circumstances. Neat and commodious buildings were erected during the season for tliese denominations, and all took pride in assisting at their raising.

Among the citizens whose names I recall, in addition to those from Brockport, were John H. Orr, a member of the Iron Company, William Sisson, their estimable book-keeper. Dr. G. W.R. Fowler, whose widow afterward became the wife of the reverend poet, John Pierpont, Mr. Bancroft, Alonzo Delano, Nathan Buss, C. W. Pomeroy, J. E. HoUister, Judge Deming, Dr. J. A. Stiles, D. J. Cooley, Dr. Mallett, H. E. Ilurlbut, A. M. Wing, Mr. Childs, Samuel B. Romaine, Philo Hurd, Monroe and John Sherman, E. A. Sherwood, a bright boy even then anticipating his future blindness, Frank Taylor, Nicar, Goldsmitli and Wilson.

The election just terminated returned to the Legislature Jonathan H. Listen as Senator, and Thomas D. Baird as Representative, both prominent leaders of the Whig party. Conventions and party caucuses were then unknown. If a candidate had no friend to announce him for office, he did the next best thing, which was to nominate himself. Coming from a land of caucuses and conventions, the writer endeavored, through the columns of the South Bend Free Press, to persuade the native Hoosiers of the excellencies of the system, but for quite a period these eftbrts were unavailing. Party lines were not clo^^ely drawn, and, under the system in vogue, not unfrequently a dozen candidates ran for the same office, and a small minority of votes was sufficient to elect.

My first visit to South Bend was early in the fall of 1836, when curiosity attracted me to the court-house, a plain, square-built structure of brick, of the oriarinal value of $4,000, said to be alike as two peas to the court-house " in yonder, by Dayton." Court was in session, an important trial being on iiand, in which His Honor, Judge Samuel C. Sample, was interested, and his place was therefore temporarily occujiied by some disinterested member of the Bar. Tiie court was in tumult, an important paper in the case having disappeared, wiiich was more than suspected to be in possession of Hon. J. A. Liston, one of the attorneys. After much wrangling, Judge Sample ascended the bench, called the court to order, and addressing Mr. Liston very emphatically, told him he must produce the missing paper or be committed to jail for contempt. Whereupon Mr. Liston very promptly produced the document from his pocket, with a request to the opposing attorneys to hereafter take care of their own papers, and the case proceeded.

In the spring of 1837 the writer became a resident of South Bend, and entered into business in the practice of medicine with his father. Dr. W. U. Ellis. Other physicians in the town were Dr. Samuel Finley, a man of line reputation and an elder in the Presbyterian Church, of the utmost rigidity; and Dr. Jacob Hardman, also an eminent physician of much worth and integrity. To these members of the faculty were added during the year Dr. Harvey Humphreys, a man of splendid abilities and acquirements, whose untimely death occurred 13 montlis after his arrival; and Dr. E. S. Sheffield and Dr. George Rex, who soon after returned to his home in the East. With Dr. Humphreys came his brother, Louis Humphreys, who soon afterward entered the profession, and whose ability as a physician, and whose worth as a citizen have done honor to the place of his adoption. Dr. Daniel Dayton resided at that time at Portage Point, or '- Pin Hook," as it was popularly termed, as did also that popular and eccentric Presbyterian divine. Rev. Abner Morse.

South Bend at this time had a population of perhaps 800. The principal merchants were A. R. & J. H. Harper, whose first invoice of goods had been shipwrecked, but who were now doing a flourishing business; John Brownfield, a careful, methodical business man; Lathrop M. Taylor, a substantial citizen who had dealt largely with the Indian tribes; L. P. Sawyer, who occupied the old brick store erected by A. Coquillard; aiid Horatio Chapiii, whose store-room was nearly opposite the Dwight House; Christopher Einrick had his bakery and beer house; Christian Wolf dispensed fire-water to the thirsty.

The town possessed two modest frame buildings known as the Presbyterian andMethodist churches. Mr. Bryant, an eloquent and able man, officiated in the former, having for his ruling elders Dr. Finley and Horatio Chapin; at the Methodist church about this period, preached the well and widely known Elder Hargrave.

By John D. Defeees

seen riding up to the door of the only house of entertainment in the then village, now city, of South Bend. The gentleman who, at that early day, was the only landlord in the place, was Peter Johnson, Esq., who continued to reside here until a few years ago, when he died, much regretted by all who knew him. One of these young gentlemen referred to was Dr. Jacob Hardman, and the other was the writer. The Doctor had been a resident of Springfield, and I, of Piqua, Ohio. Each determining to settle in South Bend, we accidentally met on the route without having any previous acquaintance.

If in what I should say in this place there is a seeming egotism in a frequent reference to myself, I beg that it be overlooked, as I cannot see well how to avoid it.

On my arrival here I immediately set about getting subscribers for the Northwestern Pioneer^ a weekly newspaper of super-royal size, proposed to be published by my brother Joseph (who now resides at Goshen) and myself. I had preceded him several weeks, he coming with the ox-team that brought the printing materials and a supply of paper, from Cincinnati, Ohio. At that time there was no newspaper published in this State or in Michigan, north of the Wabash river, or west of Detroit. We thus had a wide field, so far at least as territory was concerned, but it was sparsely populated.

The prairies were first selected for cultivation, and, when it was possible, the log cabins of the pioneers were erected in the adjoining woods.

The press and type arrived, and my brother and I got out the first number of our paper on the 16th day of November, 1831, doing all the work, mailing and delivering the paper to town subscribers. The oifice was in a small, one-story brick house, belonging to Mr. Coquillard, on Michigan street (now corner of Main and Water streets), near where the Exchange Hotel was afterward built, and was, I believe, the first brick house erected in this place. We afterward occupied the upper story of a log house on the corner ot St. Joseph and Pearl streets.

Since then a wonderful improvement has been made in the printing press. At that time the ink was put on tiie type by means of two balls, made of buckskin and stnff'ed with wool. Two hundred sheets per hour were all that could be printed on a hand press, and there were no power presses in use. Now. 8,000 copies of a paper of the size of the Pioneer can be printed on a Bullock press in less than an hour.

To refresh my memory, I recently looked over a file of the Pioneer, and found it very interesting. It brought to my recollection many occurrences which I had forgotten.

That the present receipts and expenditures of St. Joseph county ma}' be compared with what they were in that early day. I present the following table of receipts and expenditures from January 1, 1832, to November 1,1832, as published in the Pioneer:

Dec. 5, 1S.31, a meeting was held at Lilley's Hotel (the second house of entertainment just opened), fur the purpose of asking Congress to establish a land ofSce at this place. Anthony Defrees was called to the chair, and Elisha Egbert was elected secretary. A committee, composed of Pleasant Harris, L. M. Taylor, H. Chapin, J. P. Antrim and John D. Defrees, was appointed to memorialize Congress on the subject. As a result ot this effort, a bill passed the United States Senate, at the instance of Senator Tipton, establishing a land office here, but it failed in the House. Afterward the land office for the sale of lands in the northern part of the State was established at La Porte.

Col. Taylor was then the postmaster, and if he did not carry the letters in his hat he might have done so, as but few letters were received or sent. The following list of letters not taken from the postoffice was advertised in the Pioneer Dec. 31, 1832: Henry Augustine, Joseph Boel, Jacob Chord, Alexander Blain, Jacob Bowman, Joseph Brown, Daniel Bennett, John Bailey, Peter Kiffer, Jacob Ritter and Scott West. There may be some of these persons yet living, but I do not know it.

In the fall of 1831 a debating society was formed by a few gentlemen who had political aspirations, for the purpose of showing their speaking ability. It met in the second story of Mr. Lilley's Hotel.

May 33, 1832, an express rider from Chicago to Detroit passed through South Bend giving the information that the Indians, under Black Hawk, were committing murders on Rock river, Illinois. A few days afterward it was rumored that these Indians had determined to make their way to Canada. As South Bend would be on their direct route, many of our people became alarmed and immediately eoinnienced building a fort for protection. The panic, however, subsided liefore an}' considerable amount of work had been di>iie. Noah Noble, at "that time Governor of Indiana, was applied to for aid against the supposed danger. In response to his call, a regiment of 300 men were raised in Marion and adjoining connties. The regiment, under command of Col. Rnssell, of lEdiaiiapolis, marched to Chicago. "When it arrived there, Gen. Atkinson was at Dixon's Ferry, on Rock river, awaiting reinforcements before attacking Black Hawk. Col. Whistler had a company of regi;lars at Chicago, and proposed to Col. Russell to join his command and march to the aid of Gen. Atkinson. A council of war was held, and as a majority of the officers under Col. Russell were candidates for Congress in the District, and as they wished to vannt their patriotism, it was determined to decline the ofler, and to return to Indianapolis by way of South Bend. This retrogade movement was criticised by the Pioneer^ published on the morning of the arrival of the regiment here. The article gave great ofl'ense to a portion of the regiment, who had been indulging pretty freely in whisky. On going into the street I was surrounded by an excited mob, who threatened personal chastisement; but it was finally thought best to retire without putting the threat into execution. In the next number of the Pioneer the regiment was called the "bloody three hundred," in derision of their exploits, and they retained the appellation for many years. Black Hawk was soon afterward captured and the country became quiet.

During the excitement some amusement was occasioned by Esquire Haney, a German, who then resided here. At a meeting held to consider the condition of the county, some one remarked that an Indian chief by the name of Pokagon, who was known to be friendly to the settlers, and who lived opposite Niles, had determined to remain neutral. The 'Squire, not understanding the meaning of the word " neutral," thought it had reference to an Indian chief of that name, and remarked: "Damn old Neutral! I believe he is mit Black Hawk now! " The boys afterward had a good deal of' fun with tlie 'Squire about his mistake.

No one apprehended any danger of the Fottawatomies of Indiana and Michigan, as they had, ever since the treaty of Greenville, been the friends of the white man. Many of them fought for us in the war of 1812. Among the number was John B. Chaudonis, a half-breed (well-known to the early settlers of this town), who distinguished himself by killing his uncle, who was a British officer, during an engagement somewhere in Michigan.

Emigration, which had ceased in consequence of the alarm from the Indian war, again commenced; or, as announced in a grandiloquent article in a number of the Pioneer which read as follows:

" As a breaking forth of a mighty river which had long been pent-up, does the emigration now pour into the St. Joseph country. From present appearance, emigrants seem determined to make up for the time lost from having the fear of Black Hawk before their eyes. One day this week nine wagons and sixty persons passed through this place for Sumption's Prairie, six miles south; and not a day passes that does not bring emigrants with farming utensils and stock, wending their way to different parts of the beautiful St. country."

In May, 1832, we changed the name of our paper from the Northwestern Pioneer to the 8t. Joseph Beacon, considering it more appropriate, as better indicating tiie country in which it 'was published. Mucli space in the paper was devoted to giving information in relation to the advantage of this country, so as to induce emigrants. The richness of the soil and the facility with which farms could be made were weekly themes.

Feb. 13, 1833, a number of citizens met at the school-house to form a society under the 11th comniandineiit, which reads: "Every one must attend to his own affairs and not interfere with the affairs of his neighbor." So read the call for the meeting. The society was called "The Anti-Tattling Society." Peter .Johnson was president and Jonathan A. Listen, secretary. Mr. Liston delivered an address making several columns of the Beacon. The society did not long exist, having been gotten up more for amusement than anything else.