St. Joseph County, Indiana - Chapter 17: St. Joseph County Histokical 80ciett. - First Brick House in South Bend. Pioneer Meetings. Address of .ludge Stanfield. - Address of Dr. Numphrels, 1880

Chapter 17: St. Joseph County Histokical 80ciett. - First Brick House in South Bend. Pioneer Meetings. Address of .ludge Stanfield. - Address of Dr. Numphrels

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY HISTOKICAL 80CIETT. - FIRST BRICK HOUSE IN SOUTH BEND. PIONEER MEETINGS. ADDRESS OF .lUDGE STANFIELD. - ADDRESS OF DR. nUMPHRElS.

In the fall of 1S67 a call was issued addressed to the old settlers, for a meeting to organize a county historical society. On the evening of October 26, those interested assembled in the City Council rooms, when Horatio Chapin was called to the chair, and W. J. Holloway appointed secretary. Dr. L. Humphreys then read the call, which was signed by George F. Layton, W. J. Holloway, Thomas S. Stanfield, L. N. Taylor, P. B. Boon, Charles Morgan, John Brownfield, L. Humphreys, A. Bugbee, J. G. Bartlett, William L. Barrett, John T. Lindsey, John Reynolds, Mark Whinery, Elisha Egbert, Charles M. Tutt, Benjamin AVall, E. S. Reynolds, Jacob Hardman,

At this meeting Messrs. Stanfield, Humphreys, Egbert, Hardman and Miller were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws for the government of the society. A resolution was then adopted inviting all early settlers and all old citizens of St. Joseph county to transmit to the County Historical Society, when organized, in meeting or otherwise, so ranch of their personal history as would be of general interest, and such facts as they may be in possession of, in relation to the early settlement of their respective localities and neighborhoods, in order that such facts and incidents may be collected and placed upon the records of the society when properly organized.

On the second day of November an adjourned meeting was held, at wiiich time the committee on constitution and bj'-laws reported. The following is the constitution adopted:

Sec. 1. This society shall be known by the name of the "St. Joseph County Historical Society." Its object is to collect the early and correct history of St. Joseph valley, and especially St. Joseph county, and to preserve the same in a durable form.

Sec. 2. The officers of the society shall consist of a president and vice-president, -who shall be elected for the period of one year. The president shall preside at all meetings of the societj', and in his absence one of the vice-presidents shall preside in his place. There shall be a secretary whose business it shall be to keep the minute? of the prrcecdino-s of this society. There >hy.\\ also be a corresponding secretary, whose duty it shall be to conduct the correspondence of the society, and receive all communications directed lo the society, and lay the same before it at its next regular meeting thereafter, and discharge all other duties that the society may require. There shall also be atreasurer, whose duty it shall be to receive and pay out the funds of the society in pursuance of any resolution thereof; and a librarian, whose duty it will be to take care of and preserve the books, papers and manuscripts belonging to the society, and lo discharge such other duties as may be required of him, provided that the secretary may discharge the duties of librarian. Said officers shall be elected by ballot, and hold their respective offices for the period of one year, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The following named persons are hereby declared to be the officers elect for the first year, to wit: Horatio Chapin, President; Elisha Egbert, Daniel Dayton, John A. Henricks, Vice-Presidents ; William H. Drapier, Secretary and Librarian; Thomas S. Stantield, Corresponding Secretary; John T. Lindsey, Treasurer. The subsequent annual elections shall be held in South Bend, on the first Saturday of November in each year.

Sec. 3. At the first meeting in each year there shall be appointed the following Standing Committees of three members each, to wit: on Collation, on Correspondence, on Revision, on Membership.

Sec. i. Any person of adult age may become a member of this society, who shall unanimously be recommended by the Committee on Membership, and pay the admission fee required of members.

Sec. "). To defray the expenses of the society, the admission fee for membership shall be one dollar, and each member shall pay the treasurer at the first annual meeting the sum of one dollar.

Sec. 8. The society shall have power to make all the by-laws, rules and regulations it may deem necessary for its government, not inconsistent with the constitution, and by a two-thirds' vote of those present at an adjourned meeting may alter or amend this constitution.

The second regular meeting of the society was held Saturday evening Jan. 4, 18(58, when the following resolution and statement of points on which information was desired was adopted:

Resolved, That each member of this society, and each individual to whom this circular is addressed, be requested to furnish to our society a short historical sketch in answer to the following questions, in the order in which they stand, so far as he has any information on the subject matter of each question :

2. When and how long did you attend school or college ? What was the character or kind of school-houses, teachers (male or female) and books in use when you attended school? How far was the school-house from your place of residence? Give any information in regard to the schools attended by you that you may regard of interest.

3. At what date did you first settle in the St, Joseph valley ? At what places have you resided since, and how long in each place ; the number of inhabitants in any village in which you reside at any date you can give? Or if you settled in the country give the names of your neighbors, and the distance of their residence from yours. The distance to your nearest scho^il-house or church, with a description of the buildings used for such purposes. What was the character of the land on which you settled or lived at any time ? Was it thick timber, openings or prairie ? How does the fertility of the soil when first cultivated compare with its present productiveness ? What fertilizers have you used and what one do you prefer ? What kind of crops have you considered the most profitable, and w"hat kind have you raised principally ? What kind of implements have you used for farming purposes in the St. Joseph valley at various dates ? What ones do you now consider the most useful and profitable ? What kind of fruits have you raised, and what is the result of your experience as to the adaptation of the soil and climate for the cultivation of the difierent fruits ? What kinds can be profitably raised here and how do you protect them in the winter? What kinds of livestock have you raised, and what kind do you consider the most profitable? Give any other informaticn in any way connected with farming interests that you may think useful or important.

4. Merchants, lawyers, physicians, ministers, school-teachers, mechanics and artisans of all kinds are requested to give a short history of the introduction, progress, incidents and present condition of the various professions and acts carried on in St. Joseph valley, - the name of the first person who opened or commenced any business or profession; the fees and prices charged at various dates; the means and facilities of receiving and shipping of goods and produce, and all mat> tersof interest, and your opinions arising upon such facts, in any way connected with the mercantile profession or mechanical business of the St. Joseph valley, from its earliest date to the present time.

5. Give an account of any and all important events within yoiu- knowledge, such as rain, hail, wind or snow storms, accidents, causalties of any kmd, exciting election events, political meetings, canip-meeiings, early military parades and operations, etc., etc., being particular as to names and dates.

6. You are also requested to give, in a separate paper the history of any of your friends and neighbors, who may have died in the St. Joseph valley, following as far as convenient the course indicated in the foregoing questions.

All relics, such as old newspapers, magazines, printed or written documents, and all an icles of curiosity found in the St. Joseph valley will be thankfully received and carefully preserved.

Interestinor meetings were held fi-om time to time by the society and some valuable iiitbrmation gathered. Occasionally a member was called upon to furnish a sketch upon a topic specified, and as a specimen, is given below from tiie pen of Dr. Humphrey's, an essay upon

The First Brick House In South Bend

" The first brick house in South Bend is our subject for the present occasion, and might be termed in geological language the primitive hrick 2)eriod or era. Tlie first residence of brick was built in the summer and fall of 1831, and still exists on Main street, one door south from the southeast corner of Main and Water streets, on the west half of lot No. 11, original plat of South Bend. It is now owned and occupied by our fellow citizen who bears the name of that distinguished philanthropist, Gerrit Smith, but does not claim relationship by consanguinity, as our Grirret Smith descended from Gallic nationality, as he is said to have asserted, by virtue of his having resided for a number of years in that ancient French town, Vincennes, Indiana. It must be borne in mind that the locality of this house and its surroundings were commons at the time of its erection, a level plateau of land ornamented by a natural growth of oak trees, single or in groups, winding in and about which were ' Indian trails,' and chance road ways of the white settlers.

"Frederick Bai titer, formerly from Montgomery county, Ohio, near Dayton, of German origin, projected, planned, erected and exercised ownership of the house, whose history we now attempt to write. Horace Wood, a bricklayer and plasterer of excellent skill, and a rapid workman, was its builder. He is well remembered by the early inhabitants of South Bend and St. Joseph county as the builder of the old court-house. In after years he moved to Dormine Prairie, in I;a Porte county, Indiana; thence to Kankakee Rapids, thence to Minnesota; emigrated to California by way of the plains in 1849 or 1850; built a brick house at Marysville, California; subsequently returned to his liome in Minnesota, and died there some years since. The bricks for the Painter house, as near as can be ascertained, were made by Horace Wood, the clay for which was obtained from the mouth of a ravine upon the west bank of the St. Joseph river, near where the west abutment of the present river bridge is located, and carried by a flat boat up stream to a brick yard, then situated about where the South Bend Iron Works are now. The lime used in the construction of this house was burned from boulders obtained from the river. The lime kiln was in an embankment upon the lot where Mr. Lemen now resides, southwest corner Main and Water streets. It appears from this that the value of marl beds with which this country abounds was not then understood for the purpose of making lime as is now the case. The Inmber was furnished from the saw-mill of Elijah Lacy, at the mouth of Dowagiac creek, on the east side of the St. Josepli river, in the vicinity of Niles, Michigan. It could not be ascertained by whom the carpenter work was done. It was unquestionably done by some 'old-style workman' as its order indicates.

" Nearly cotemporary, or soon after Bainter's house was built, were erected two small brick buildings for office purposes, one by Levi F. Arnold, then a justice of the peace, and located on the south side of Water, between Maine and Michigan streets; the other by Col. L. M. Taylor, then clerk of the court, and situated on Michigan street, where the saddle and harness shop of C. W. Martin now is. But these structures have long since been demolished, and shared the fate of thejtemples at Ephesus, Karnack and Baalbec; and the Baiuter house proudly asserts its claims to the pioneer structure, from materials similar to that manufactned by the ancient Israelites under the despotic rule of their cruel Egyptian task-masters, and like unto that of which the tower of Babel was built. But unlike the Babylonish tower, this domicil of advanced civilization in its day, was reared without confusion of tongues, although the English, German, French, Pottawatomie and Hoosier dialects were daily heard in the community at that time.

"The style of architecture of the Bainter-Smith honse next claims attention. It is not Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, nor is it Babylonish, after the style of the temple of Belna, Kasr, or the hanging gardens that Nebuchadnezzar built for his Lydian bride. It is not copied after Oi-iental architecture, or Chinese, where pagodas are only imitations of the design of the Nomadic tent. It is that style that Dr. Holland believes does not particularly please the Great Architect, though the Doctor will not venture an opinion that the Creator of all things absolutely hates the style after which our pioneer brick house was fashioned, namely the quadrilateral or square style.

" Four walls, each 18 feet in length, two stories high, roofed with shingles, without cornice or projections at the eves or gables, a wide chimney at one end and no front door, constitute the exterior of this venerable structure, located upon the interior line of the sidewalk. Each story contained but one room, the lower seven and the upper eight feet from floor to ceiling. A wide open fire-place in each story, for warmth and ventilation; two windows, each 12 lights, of 8x10 glass, in the upper story, and one of the same size in the lower story next the street ; one window of the same size of those described and a door in the lower story, and two windows and a door of like dimensions in the upper story upon the east or rear side of the house, complete the interior. Tiie front doors were in the rear of the house, the entrance being by the lower door only, and no means of access to the upper door by steps or stairs outside. Thus stands to-day this unpretending structure, once regarded as a comfortable, cozy family residence, a venerable witness of all that transpired in the thirtj'-eight eventful years of the past.

"From the fall of 1831 to Feb. 13, 1833, the elder Eainter and his family while ensconced within its walls were looked upon almost with envy by the passer-by, as the aristocratic dwellers in the first brick house in town; the head of the family was regarded by common consent as ' Frederick the Great,' in the community of this then embryo city. From February, 1833, to some time in the year 1835, this house was owned and occupied by Captain Samuel L. Cottrell, who was the first sheriif of the county. When Cottrell came in possession he found the house unplastered. He immediately erected the frame addition in the rear of the house as it now stands, thus adding two rooms, one above and one below, each 10x18, witli two windows on the east above and below, same size as those described, and the liouse was then plastered throughout. Horace Wood did the plastering, and William Creviston, assisted by E. C. Johnson, did the carpenter and joiner work. Creviston is yet rememliered by our early settlers; he usually bore the cognomen of ' Bill Creviston/ was a good workman, and a rollicking, jolly fellow. He subsequently moved to Wisconsin, thence to California, and returning from thence, is said to be now living in his Wisconsin home. In February, 1833, Frederick Bainter relinquished the ownership, as has been stated. He continued to reside in the town and vicinity until the year 1S3S, when he died at his home about one mile sontla of South Bend, at the junction of Michigan and La Porte roads. He was a quiet, respectable citizen, esteemed by his neighbors and friends.

" During the residence of Captain Cottrell in this house, amongst other pursuits engaged in by him was the keeping of a family grocery in a building one door south of his house, where Mr. Menssel now resides. James Burnett, a ' half breed' (French and

Indian), boarded in the family of Captain Cottrell while they lived in this house. In the j-ear 1834 Burnett fell sick and died, and his remains were the first adult citizen interred in the present city cemetery. His grave is now unknown, and he was the first ' pioneer settler' in that now numerously populated ' City of the Silent Dead,' where lie buried the household treasures of so many of our people.

" The following constitute the list of owners of the Bainter-Smith house from February, 1835, to the present time: A. Coquillard, Sr., and Francis Comparet ; 1838, John T. Smith; 1839, A. Coquillard, Sr. ; 18'41, John D. Defrees, and the same year Coquillard again; 1844, State Bank of Indiana; 1845, Farmers' & Mechanics' Bank of Michigan; also within that year John Totman, James Benham and Herman Ball, in the order named; 1847, Robert Hyslop, of New York city ; in 1849 Hyslop conveyed to Garret and Isaac Smith; the former as has been stated, is its present owner and occupant.

" It was quite impossible to obtain a complete list of all the families who have occupied this house subsequent to Captain Cottrell's residence in it. In 1837, and for some time subsequent, John Rush and family resided in it. The writer of this took dinner with the Rush family here in July, 1837. John Rush, to distinguish him from others of that name, was generally known as 'Black John,' or 'John, the Dusky,' from his exceedingly dark complexion. He was for some years one of our most prominent merchants and business men, and was at one time associated in business with our fellow-citizen. Dr. John A. Henricks. About the year 1850 Rush, with his wife, moved to California, where both died of cholera soon after their arrival in that countr3\ In 1838, known all over the West as the ' sickly season,' Norman Campbell and his family occupied the lower apartments of this house. During the fall of that year, a widowed relative of the writer with her family occupied the upper portion of the house. In October, 1838, the author of this paper had a bitter experience from an attack of remittent fever of about four weeks' duration. Amongst other mental vagaries incident to fever was that for some days four other adult persons occupied jointly with him his sick bed. The sense of crowding and want of room was almost unendurable, especially in so small a house. During this time, a .young man, a school-teacher by profession, died of the prevailing disease, in the lower part of the house, while a boarder in the family of Norman Campbell; his name is not now remembered, and he doubtless fiills a nameless and unknown grave. Norman Campbell's trade or occupation was the same as that of U. S. Grant, a tanner and currier. He worked as a journeyman for a number of years for Captain Day, and subsequently moved to Benton, Elkhart county, at which place he is probably yet living.

" About the years 1840-'42 Captain Lot Day occupied this house. He resided here when Sheriif of this county. After a long residence in this city and vicinity, engaging in various kinds of business, one of wliich was tanning, as has been stated, holding the offices of Sherifl', County Commissioner and State Senator, respectively, he, with most of his family, subsequently moved to California. There were other occupants of the house besides those mentioned, whose names could not be ascertained. From the long catalogue of owners and occupants of this house, it can be seen in what estimation it was held, embracing, as it does, merchants and business men, lawyers, banking institutions, office-holders and politicians - the last proprietor before the present owner and occupant of philanthropic name being no less than one of New York's merchant princes. And if any class of men can estimate the present and prospective value of real estate, where would they more likely be found than in the great commercial metropolis of this country, that boasts of its unapproachable Broadway and incomparable Fifth Avenue! The investment was doubtless made by Robert Hyslop as a profitable one, as his shrewd, keen, visual optics scanned the sky-line of South Bend's future, even at that early day.

"The several occupants of this house ought to have been an upright people,- exemplary in their conduct and zealous of good works. Just across the street, and nearly opposite the Bainter-Smith house, once stood the old Methodist Episcopal Church, erected in 1836, and from whose tower first rang out the musical tones of the lirst ' church-going bell ' to the inhabitants of this portion of the St. Joseph valley, reminding them of their dearly cherished native homes, now widely separated from them by leagues of distance, then traversed by no railroad or telegraph lines, and but few stage coaches. From the pulpit of this early sanctuary were poured forth in terms often of great eloquence, expositions of the ' glorious gospel of the great Teacher and Divine Redeemer of depraved and fallen humanity, wherewith believei'S are made free,' by a distinguished roll of Methodist divines, which, let us hope, benetited the denizens of the Bainter-Smith house, ' wayside hearers' though they may have often been, and that, too, by their own hearth and fireside.

" As Napoleon first said to his army in Egypt, when pointing to the pyramids: 'Forty centuries look down upon your achievements of to-day ;' so we can say, forty years look down upon us from the walls of that venerable structure, upon which, if all the events of its years were inscribed, would cover them within and without, with records of the dead past. May its foundations never crumble, may no earthquake rend it, or tornado mar its modest proportions, or lightning scathe it, or devouring conflagration scorch it. Palsied be the hand that may ruthlessly des})oil or renjove this ancient land-mark of South Bend's early civilization."

The old settlers of St. Joseph count}' held one of their annual meetings at South Bend, Friday, Oct. 2, 1874. Tiiis meeting was very largely attended, owing to its being held at a time when many were in attendance at the various fairs then being held. Music was furnished by the South Bend Cornet Band. Dr. John A. Henricks was made chairman. After a few introductory remarks, the gathering sung a beautiful parody of " Auld Lang Syne," written by " Malcolm Duncan " (Mrs. Flora L. Stanfield), who presided over the organ on the occasion.

Judge Stanfield, as president of the society, was expected to deliver an address. Being unavoidably absent he prepared a written discourse, which was read by Dr. Humphreys. The latter gentleman delivered the address of the occasion the following September.

Fellow Citizens: - These reunions forcibly remind us that time is flying. I can hardly realize that I have lived here nearly fortyfour years - almost half of the life of this great Republic. Fortyfour years ago it had only thirteen millions of people, now over forty millions. Then the north half of this State and northwestern

Ohio, nearly all of Michigan, two-thirds of Illinois, all of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the great West, now divided npinto numerous and populous States, were almost an unbroken solitude, just in the wild condition it had been from the beginning. The time seems long in personal experience, but forty-four years is only a dot in human existence. Short as it is in the life of a people, it has abounded in wonderful work. We ought to feel thankful that we have been permitted to live in an age when all tiie activities of life have been so quickened by railroad, telegraph, and the thousands of other inventions, saving labor and cheapening productions, and at the same time increasing the price of labor.

" This ' St. Joseph country' as it was then called, was from a hundred to two hundred miles beyond the frontier settlement. At that time emigrants were coming in from the southeastern part of this State, ami the central and southwestern parts of Ohio. The distance to be traveled was from two hundred to two hundred and fifty miles, most of it through a heavy timbered country, level and swamp}', the road narrow, and without bridges, and almost impassable in wet weather. Many, like us, came late in the fall of 1S30, and were delayed by the bad roads until nearly winter. We crossed the St. Joseph river just below the mouth of the Elkhart, in the latter part of November. The ford was deep and crooked, hut we managed to get over safely, and made our way up the Christiana to Diamond lake. The creek was our only guide. There was no road, but the country was open and level. The reason for going to Diamond lake was because Young's Prairie lay close by, where there were abundant crops that could be relied on for the winter. We pitched onr tent (made of the wagon cover) on the north side of the lake, and commenced building a cabin near that of another family who had preceded us a few months. Before we could get our cabin up and covered, heavy rains set in, winding up on the 5tli of December with a fall of snow twenty-eight inches deep, which, with large accumulations, remained until the first of April. It was the coldest winter ever experienced in this country. This neighboring family that preceded ns consisted of a husband and wife, with six or seven children, all living in a cabin not over twenty feet square, total strangers to ns and as poor as we were; but when they saw us (a family about the same size) exposed in our little tent to the cold, pelting storms of approaching winter, their generous hearts were filled with sympathy for their destitute and suflering neighbors. At their ui'gent request the two families were united in one cabin nntil our own was ready for use, all eating at the same table without a thought as to who furnished the most provisions or did the most of the housework. I shall always remember and fondly cherish the disinterested goodness of this unpretentious family. The father and mother have long since departed, and the children scattered I know not where. This incident will no doubt awaken in the memories of the old settlers recollections of the heartiness of backwoods hospitalities. And while looking back over the road Ve have traveled these forty odd years, faces and cliaracters will spring up before us that we once loved and cherished, but now almost faded away from our memories. Still it is a pleasure to contemplate them in the deep, dark, misty past - their follies all forgotten, and only their virtues remembered.

" During that winter what little stock we had was fed on brouse, the tops of trees - a good substitute for hay when there is none. In the spring we moved down to Harris's prairie, enjoying the hospitalities of Jacob Harris and his family, as kind and good-hearted people as ever lived. Mr. Harris was the first settler on the prairie, and I am glad the name of so good a man is perpetuated by it. This little prairie was nearly a mile in diameter, almost round, and surrounded by burr-oak and hickory bushes. It was a perfect gem in beauty and fertility. After putting in a crop of corn, we moved to South Bend in June, 1831, where my home has been ever since. Tliere is no place on God's footstool dearer to me than this town of South Bend and St. Joseph county. Its prosperity, and the good fortune of all in it, is mine. I rejoice in the success of every one of its citizens, and feel proud of the reputation given it by its successful business men, such as the Studebakers, Singers, James Oliver, Alexis Coquilhird, the Birdsells, and other manufacturers of less notoriety, who conitfiand respect and confidence everj'where. The prosperity of such enterprising men, directly or JTidirectly, benefits us all. Envy and jealousy are the meanest jtas- Bioiis of the human heart. Let no citizen of South Bend entertain Buch feeling toward any other citizen who by honest means excels him in the race for wealth and reputation. It is no disjiaragement to the good character of one, that he is outdone by another in one particular direction; perha))sin other avenues of life he is the superior. Our true policy is to lielp each other, and do all we can to help the whole as a community. When new men come in seeking a location for business, when their characters are all right, we should encourage and uphold them, though they may be engaged in a rival business, and if they get 'hard up' by spreading out too much, we should indulge them and help them out as far as we can. Always speak well of them and hope for their success. The municipal authorities should always be liberal and just in fostering our mannfacturing interest, treating the old establishment with the same consideration they offer to new ones as an inducement to come in. Let us all unite in one common enterprise in behalf of the city. If we differ in opinion, the minority ought to yield without a trace of bitterness being left behind, and as soon as the object of the majority is accomplished, they too should obliterate all memory of the division. We have never been cursed with rings and cliques, and woe be to the man or set of men who shall dare to so divide our people.

'- There was not a house between South Bend and Harris's Prairie, not even a wagon road, in the spring of 1831. AVe came down along the north side of the big marsh, and forded the river a few rods below St. Mary's, and tlieii came along the edge of Portage, and then struck off into town - such as it was. The whole town plat was covered with oak and hickory trees. There was but one house on Michigan street, a story-aud-a-lialf house, where Peter Johnson kept tavern. Ale.xis Coqiiillard had the frame of the house up where Joseph Miller now I'esides.

'' On Pearl street, where E. P. Taylor now lives, was Lilley's tavern, a two-story, hewed-log house, the spaces between the logs in the upper story still open. On the south side of Pearl street, at its junction with Washington, Benjamin Coquillard also kept a tavern. A good many people were coming in looking up lands to enter, and it required a good many little taverns to accommodate them. Alexis Coquillard had several cabins on the bank of the river, on the lots now occupied by Worden, Pine and others, where he then resided and kept an Indian trading post. Hanna & Taylor had an Indian store on Pearl street, nearly opposite the present residence of E. P. Taylor. Simeon Mason had commenced a tannery on the Menssel property, near the standpipe. I am not sure, but think Solomon BarkdoU had a log house on the lot now owned by Franz Bauer. Thomas St. lived on the bank of the river near where W. L. Barret now resides, and a man by the name of Nedeau lived back between Michigan and Main streets, near Centre. Samuel Martin, the proprietor of Martin's addition, was the only person living on that addition. The houses I have named embraced all in the town of South Bend when I lirst saw it. A good many people soon after came in, and then 20 or 30 houses were built that summer. There were several other families living outside the town plat. Joseph Rohrer and his family were living under a shed on the lot now occupied by James Henry; Oliver Bennett was living on the Wadham place; Col. Hiram Dayton, near where Adara Baker's new house now stands; Major Larue, on the bank of the river, on the John Veasey place; Henry Stull, where David Bowman now lives; Samuel Leeper, on the Kankakee out-lot where it is crossed by the Michigan road. The south half of the county was an unbroken forest; so was all the country between here and the Wabash. Portage Prairie, Sumption's Prairie and Terre Coupee had a few settlers scattered around the edge of them. The first emigrants to the prairies selected their lands adjacent to the timber, and to protect themselves and cattle from the severe storms of winter, built in the woods near by.

-'For several years the middle portion of the prairies were left open and unobstructed by fences. There were only here and there a few settlers between South Bend and the east line of Illinois. The whole of this territory was, at that time, attached to St. Joseph county for municipal purposes. It was really still a wild Indian country just beginning to attract emigration. Its beauty and fertility soon became widely known, and emigration poured in rapidly from all quarters. The county seemed to be flourishing until the panic of 1837, when every enterprise was flattened. Then came the sickly season of 1838 which about laid us all out. Tt was a very different thing in settling a new country then from what it is now. There were no railroads to the frontiers. There was not fifty miles in the United Slates. Now there are over sixty thousand. It took us longer to pass over the Black Swamp, in Ohio, though only twelve miles wide, than it now takes to go by rail from here to Kansas. It is no wonder that Kansas and Nebraska have settled up more rapidly than Indiana and Illinois. Tlie railroads have not only furnished a great deal quicker and cheaper transportation, but a ready market for the productions of the country. Without them the fertile lands of the Mississippi and Missouri, and back from these rivers, would still have been the hunting grounds of the Indians, unmolested by white men, and Chicago and St. Louis thirdrate cities. Without them this county would have been twenty years behind its present condition. There are undoubtedly individual and local instances wiiere railroad companies are unjust and oppressive, but the general results of railroads upon the country at large has been so strikingly beneficial, that I think the general complaint is a little unjust.

" For several years before the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana railroad was built, twenty-five cents was considered a good price for corn, twenty cents for oats, forty to sixty cents for wheat, one and a half to two cents for pork and beef, three to five dollars a ton for ha}^, and butter and small fruits hardly worth anj^thing. I bought the first wood used on the railroad in this county - four hundred cords - and paid eighty-seven and a half cents per cord for bod}' wood, and seventy-five cents for second quality. That was the market price. Wood-haulers, what has the railroad done for you? But if they carried your wood to Chicago for the same rate as they bring lumber here, you would make us pay eight dollars instead of five dollars ])er cord. But there is nothing unjust to you in that. This you will admit when you consider that railroads are the largest consumers of wood in the country , and that the increased price would cost them more than all tiie freight they would receive for carrying it. You would do precisely the same thing if placed in similar circumstances. Powerful corporations may at times be oppressive, and extort, but the great regulator, competition, is the safest governor. When you come to regulate by law prices and values, you are treading on unsafe ground. Every man affected by it regards it as unjust and oppressive, and will do all in his power to evade it. Considering the great good railroads have done the country, let us deal with them as we do in other business.

" I have only time to talk of the settlers of 1831. Tiie late Horatio Chapin was our first general dry-goods merchant. He commenced business in July or August in a small hewed -log house on St. Joseph street, where the widow of John Massey now resides. Massey and Sauiuel Eaton started a blacksmith shop on the same lot. Chapin's store, the blacksmith shop, Lilley's tavern and Taylor's Indian store made St. Joseph street then the business street of the town. The late Elisha E_£i;bert was our first lawyer and schoolteacher. He taught me to ' road, write and cipher.' Kev. Nehcmiah B. Griffith was our first Methodist preacher, a man of a good deal ofnative ability. Eev. S. T. Badeau, our first Catholic priest, a hale, hearty, genial old man, who liud spent his lil'e as a missionary among the Indians. I heard him say he was the first Catholic priest ordained in America.

" In the fall of this year South Bend was attracting a good deal of attention. A weekly newspaper, the Northwestern Pioneer, was started by John D. Defrees and his brother Josepii, the latter now an honored citizen of Elkhart county, but it was ahead of its time. It withered and died. It was in tiiut office our respected townsman Lea P. Johnson learned to set tvpe. Mr. Defrees now lives in Washington. Dr. Jacob Ilardinan was our first physician. He is, I am happy to say, still above giound, hale and hearty, and well known as one of the white-bearded patriarchs of the town. Nearly all the men of that day have departed. Many of them lived until within the last few years, - one by one gently dropping away, until now L. M. Taylor, E. P. Taylor, Benjamin Coquillard and Dr. Hardman are all that I now remember remaining here, and but few who then lived out in the country are surviving; but among the number Henry Stull, John Druliner, Jacob Rush, B. Druliner, George Ilolloway, John Bupel, Jacob Ritter and John Squires are all that occur to me now.

" If I had time I would like to say something of such good men as Reynolds Dunn, Dr. Harvey Humphreys, Dr. Leonard Rush, John Egbert, Elisha Egbert, Horatio Chapin, Alexis Coquillard, George Reynolds, Peter Johnson, John Massey, Samuel Good, Aaron and David Miller, John T. McClelland, Jacob Bowman, and many others of the departed. The mere mention of their names will be enough to call them up before you, and to freshen their portraits in your minds, and you will then in imagination see them again as you used to see them moving about amongst you, living, active men."

Ladies and Gentlemen: - To-day we halt briefly by the way, in our rush over life's rugged journey. From these days of railroads and telegraphs, of almost countless daily mails and daily newspapers; of the transit from New York to Chicago in 26 hours; from the dash and roar of multitudinous wheels in our manufactories; of water- works, sewers, fire brigades, and firemen's tournaments; of palatial residences and business houses; of furnaces, base-burning coal stoves, cooking ranges and cooking stoves; of gas-lighted and paved streets; of friction matches and steam threshing-machines, grain and clover separators; of mowers by horse-power, self-raking and binding reaping machines; of Oliver chilled and all other kinds of steel andiron plows; of Studebaker,

Chockelt and Coquillard wasjons and carriages; of patent statesman and other grain drills and horse-power sulky rakes, and cultivators; of spinning jacks and jennies, and woolen and cottou factories; of paper by millions of miles in sheets, or by tons in weight; of sewing-machines of all kinds (except feminine); of household furniture, elegant, fancitul and varied in styles as the changes in the kaleidosco]ie; of large and numerous churcli edifices, school, educational and manufacturing structures; costly and fasliionable wearing apparel; of extensive and well-cultivated farms, elegant farm houses and barns; of large orchards and small-fruit plantations; of the contemplation of individual and corporate wealth, banks and moneyed institutions; of fire and life insurance companies and agencies; of populous counties, towns, cities and cemeteries; of the careless selfishness of crowded populations and varied pursuits of life, and the thousand unnamed surroundings of the day; we turn away for a short time to contemplate the rapidly receding past, in our histories as individuals and communities.

"To-day memory will reproduce startling memories of bj'-gone years with startling vividness. To-day faces, figures and characters, long since faded from recollection, will take their places in our panoramic vision. Once again will come memories of the oldstyle prairie-schooner wagons, drawn b}' oxen, as moving vehicles, filled with liousehold goods, women and children, live stock in train in slow-creeping pace, over roads not made with hands. To these will be added the camp-fires by night and the wayside lialtings by day, for rest and refreshment for man and beast; the location and purchase of homes, for which, sometimes, a horseback ride at Gilpin speed to the land office was requisite; then again, the hastily bnilt log cabin will appear, with rudely constructed furniture of rough boards or poles, lighted by night by the improvised broken saucer or tea-cup lamp, of lard or 'possum fat, or grease of the raccoon for illuminating substitutes. Near by will be seen the wood-curbed well with its old style sweep (no driven wells or pumps, propelled by patent wind engines then). Upon the plain, prairie or green slopes, the fresh furrow, by primitive plows drawn by several yoke of oxen, in dark lines will come again, or, perchance, the forest clearings, log-rollings or log heaps lighting up the midnight sky will be produced. The memory of the one or two days' journey to some far-off mill, with the family grist of corn or wheat (usually corn) to be ground, will pass before some of us. The staple articles of food - pork, wild game and fish, potatoes, dried apples, cranberry sauce, bread of Indian meal, rye for coffee, sometimes mixed with the 'Ijoughten article,' with brown sugar or wild honey - will once more take their places on store-box tables.

"To-day visions will pass before some of us of the barshear plow, the wooden-toothed drag, the flail, or circus performance of horses on barn floor or ground, in tra-nping out the grain from the straw, the plain shovel plow, the three or four pound hoe, the grain sickles, with baby cradles of sugar troughs, the hand rake, the flax-break, scutching board, the hackle, the little wheel and rack, or distaff, with its musical whir to the mother's nursei-y song morning and evening, and often heard at the midnight hour; the slieepshearing, the hand-cards, the woolen rolls from the carding machine, the > big wheel' with its spasmodic hum, the flitting forward or backward of the Jameses or Marys, traveling miles in a day as the soft rolls dwindled into threads of uniform size, counting the 'cuts' of yarn by dozens before each day's sunset; the domestic dying of yarn by the matron, whose hands showed the tints and colors for weeks; the hand loom, with its periodic knocks and interludes of rattling, squeaking treadles; the domestic flannels and homemade jeans and cloths to be fashioned by female skill into wearing apparel; the domestic millinery, sun-bonnets, calashes and flats for ladies; hats of straw braided and sewed b}' mother and the girls, for father and tlie boys; the home-made socks and stockings, knit as an amusement by the women during their gossippy hours ot rest and repose; the slippers of cloth, soled with old saddle-skirts, or felt from old woolen hats, for the women; for the men, moccasins, or stoga boots or shoes, made in odd hours by some artisans, or by Sam Jones, who farmed when the sun was out, and made shoes when it rained. Once more the old-fashioned open iire-place will shine upon us with its cheery light and genial warmth; the evening domestic circle about it of from half to one dozen children sandwiched by visiting representatives of the, nearest neighbors; topics for discussion by the elders and middle-aged, the lecturers of those times - crops, farming, breaking prairie, clearing forest, prices of laud and their prospective value, wild game, hunting achievements, the latest news from former far-off native homes, preparations to move to this country by friends and relatives, anticipated joy on tiieir arrival, politics and religion. Visions of oldstyle kitchens will come up to-day; of antiquated deep and shallow kettles, ovens a)id spiders, with hooks of wood and iron, or the swinging crane to hang them on over the open fire in the old deep chimney upon stones, andirons or fire-dogs. To these were added a frying pan (everything was fried; a gridiron was a novelty then), then the Johnny-cake board, and in families well-to-do, the dooryards had an oval, mound-like 'Dutch oven' upon a platform, like a sentinel or altar to Ceres, a guarantee of an abundance of the stafi'of life. The flushed faces will again revisit us of the cooks of those times, bearing witness of the torrid climate in the kitchens, protected in part by deep sun-bonnets and other devices of feminine ingenuity. Evening corn-huskings, pumpkin pies, roast spare-ribs and quiltings will again loom upon our vision, when the sounds of the fiddle, with musical airs familiar to all but Strauss and Wagner, will ring out in tones giving inspiration to young and old in Money Musk, contra dances and the Virginia Reel. To all these will be added the log school-house and log church, often both in one, with puncheon floor and seats without backs, except when occupied, paper windows, and the wide, deep fire-place, whose hearth was the shrine of Lares, before whom all the children were taught to worship. Before these will rise the ' Knight of the birch,' enthroned for these winter months, instilling into thepiipilistic subjects about him the principles of ' Webster's Speller,' the ' Columbian Orator,' the 'English Eeader,' 'Pike' and 'Daboll,' 'Murray' and 'Kirkham.' The various scenes and events will once more pass before us to-day, of the profitable dealings of some cf our enterprising pioneers in the trade of furs and peltries with the numerous family of ' Mr. and Mrs. Lo' who once resided here. Our beautiful river St. Joseph will again swarm with little steamers, keelboats, arks and barges, that once comprised a commerce of no small magnitude, and the only facility for exportation of the surplus produce of St. Joseph valley and tiie importation by way of the lakes, Chicago and the village of St. Joseph, of necessary supplies of groceries, drygoods, hardware, and much of our wearing apparel. Again will come before us the representatives of the newspaper press - at home - the N orthioesterii Pioneer, the South Bend Free Press, the Mishawaka Bee, the Mishawaka Tocsin, the Free Soil Democrat, a written local, ' Tom Thunderhumjper,^ by name, the

'Whig and Enquirer, New York Courier, New York Enquirer, New York Heruld, Cincinnati Gazette, Louisville Journal, and our own State jjapers, nearly all weekly publications, with these budgets of news from live to ten days old from the Atlantic cities, and twenty to thirty days from Europe.

"To-day will come tlie remembrance ot the time wiien the early emigrants, who had not forgotten their religion and principles of Christianity, began to group themselves in embryo Church organizations, each seeking his or her affinity in denominational preferences ; then the store lofts and rooms in private houses for public worship; then primitive church buildings, and then still a better class of religious edifices, with bells upon them. Away up the river of time to-day, will come to some of us the sweet music of the first church bells (small and unpretentious though they were), sounding out in dying cadences memories of distant native honifs, and recalling the hallowed scenes of boyhood and youth. To-day the pioneer preachers of the different church organizations will pass in review before us; camp- meeting scenes and surroundings, the frequent practical and often eloquent sermons of those times, as though the inspiration of a new country as God had made it, gave new energy, power and impulse to the leaders of the advance guards of Christianity.

" To all who were here in 1838, known since as the sickly season, when four-fifths of the population were sick, the sad scenes and sufferings of that year will pass in review with no pleasant memories, when whole families were prostrate, without often even one of the entire household being able to assist the others to a drink of cold water; when the grass actually grew in the principal streets of South Bend from non-use; when the supplies of medicine failed and no more could be obtained, so remote were we from points from which supplies could be had, and so slow and imperfect were the facilities for bringing them to this frontier region; when the few of our inhabitants that were able to leave their rooms and houses went slowly about our streets like stalking gliosts, supported by canes, and protected by umbrellas from a blazing sun that was not obscured by rain clouds for a period of four months; when all the physicians oi' the country were sick, some of whoni sacriticed themselves, literally dying at their post with their professional harness on; when entire fields of wheat and other crops went to waste, and were unharvested for want of laborers. But this panoramic view of that year'of suffering has never and can never return again, for the reason that such a combination of causes can never again exist.

" To-day will return to us that noble trait in the character of the early settlers of this country, which, like charity, was the greatest and best of all their virtues, and covered a vastmultiti;deof minor faults and imperfections, and, like the patriarchs of old, leaves a halo of glory and admiration around their memories. I allude to the generous hospitality, sincere sympathy, self-sacrificing desire to help each other, characteristic of them all, traits of character seldom found and almost crushed out and extinguished by the selfish, pushing, jostling pursuits of a comparatively crowded population of the present day.

" Patriarch pioneers and old settlers, the long roll of departed ones show that a large number from 3'our ranks have passed through the valley and over the Jordan that marks the end of time, and their memories only live with us to-day. Let us emulate and cherish their virtues and forget their imperfections. Others of you are well down the sunset slope of life's journey. Some of you are almost touching the river's brink. IMay it be yours to say, ' Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort