St. Joseph County, Indiana - Chapter 4: The St. Joseph County Pioneers, 1907 (part 1 of 2)

I. The Fur Trade

Sec. 1. - Sources of Our Civilization. - Civilization, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, came to Indiana by way of the South and Southeast, from Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. To St. Joseph county, however, civilization came rather from the North and Northeast, from the same sources, indeed, as it came to southwestern Michigan, to which the greater part of our county was so long attached. Our earliest traditions run back to France; at first, by way of the St. Joseph river. Lake iMichigan and the Straits of Mackinaw, and afterwards through the interior of Michigan, from Detroit, and on through Canada from Montreal and Quebec. Later, and when our first permanent population began to arrive, our connections were chiefly with Fort Wayne and Detroit, both also French settlements.

By the treaty of Greenville, August ?., 1795, almost the whole of Indiana, including all the north part of the state, except a tract six miles square at Fort Wayne, one two miles square at the portage between the Wabash and IMaumee, and another six miles square at Ouiatanon, near Lafayette, was confirmed to the various Indian tribes then occupying the same. By successive treaties, extending down as late as t*lie year 1840, those Indian titles, as related in the last chapter, were extinguished. Settlers piLshed in from the east, the south and the north, and also from Europe, as fast as the Indians retired.

advance of the settlers, and while the Indians still remained, the hunters and fur traders penetrated into the wilderness. Those himters and tradei-s, as we have seen, were at first French. Many of the early adventurers had their headquarters at Detroit and Mackinaw ; others mingled with the Indians and rambled over the whole northwest. These last were a famous class of hunters and traders, known to the French as coureurs des bois (forest rangers), and penetrated to the most secret recesses of the wilderness. As in other cases, there were enterprising and ambitious men among those adventurers, men who sought their fortunes in the fur trade with the Indians, as in succeeding generations others sought wealth in the mines of California. This trade, says Dillon", was carried on by means of men hired to manage small vessels on the lakes, and canoes along the shores of the lakes and on the rivers, and to carry burdens of merchandivse from the different trading posts to the principal villages of tlie Indians who were on friendly terms witli French. At those places the traders exchanged their wares foi- valuable fufs. with which they returned lo their trading posts. The articles used in trade by the French were chiefiy coarse blue and ivd cloths, fine scarlet, ii'uns, powder, balls, knives, hatchets, traps, kettles, hoes, blankets, cottons, ribbons, beads, vermilion, tobacco and li(in()i-s. The poorer traders sometimes eai'ried theii- packs of merchandise bv means of leather straps attached to their shoulders, or with the straps resting against their foreheads. It is probable that some of the Indian villages on the St. Joseph and the Wa.bash were visited by this class of traders before the founding of Kaskaskia or Vincennes. The learned Bishop Brute has expressed the opinion that missionaries and traders, before the close of the seventeenth century, passed to the south from the St. Joseph river, leaving the Kankakee to the west, "and visited the Tippecanoe, the Eel river, and the upper parts of the Wabash."

"It was the fur trade, in fact," says Washington Irving, "^ "which gave early sustenance and vitality to the great Canadian provinces. Being destitute of the precious metals, at that time the leading objects of American enterprise, they were long neglected by the parent country. The French adventurere, however, who had settled on the banks of the St. Lawrence, soon found that in the rich peltries of the interior, they had sources of wealth that might almost rival the mines of Mexico and Peru. The Indians, as yet unacquainted with the artificial value given to some descriptions of furs, in civilized life, brought quantities of the most precious kinds and bartered them away for European trinkets and cheap commodities. Immense profits were thus made by the early traders, and the traffic was pursued with avidit3^"

Sec. 3. - The British Policy in Relation TO THE Fur Trade. - So valuable had become the fur trade of the northwest that after the treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, and the transfer of this immense region from France to England, the British government declined to organize any form of government for the territory, or to allow any settlers within its limits, but determined to leave it wholly to the Indians, so as to protect the fur bearing animals and make of the country a vast hunting reservation.

France ; but making no provision for the government of the northwest. Nor was this omission an oversight, but intentional. "The purpose," says Poole in his history of the west,'^ "was to reserve as crown lands the northwest territory, the region north of the great lakes, and the country between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi, and to exclude them from settlement by the American colonies. They were left, for the time being, to the undisputed possession of the savage tribes. The King's 'loving subjects' were forbidden making purchases of land from the Indians, or forming any settlements westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the west and northwest; 'and all persons w^ho have wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands west of the limit' were warned forthwith to remove themselves from such settlements." The government declared its purpose to be, to confine the colonies to the region along the Atlantic coast, so that they should be within easy .reach of "the trade and commerce of this kingdom"; and also in order that they might be subject to "the exercise of that authority and jurisdiction which was conceived to be necessary for the preservation of the colonies in a due subordination to and dependence upon the mother country." The further extraordinary statement was made in this royal declaration :^ ' ' The great object of colonizing upon the continent of North America has been to improve and extend the commerce, navigation and manufactures of this kingdom. ... It does appear to us that the extension of the fur trade depends entirely upon the Indians being undisturbed in the possession of their huntinggrounds; and that all colonizing does in its nature, and must in its consequences, operate to the prejudice of that branch of commerce.

b. Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, in 1772, on the petition of Thomas Walpole and others for a grant of land on the Ohio.

. . . Let the savages enjoy their deserts in quiet. "Were they driven from their forests the peltry trade -would decrease. ' ' Such was the cold and selfish policy which the British crown and its ministers habitually pursued towards the American colonies; and in a few years this policy changed loyalty into hate, and brought on the American Revolution.*

However reprehensible the motive of the British government, in thus preventing the settlement of the fertile lands of the northwest, it is nevertheless plain from this action that the value of the fur trade to the commerce of the mother country must have been exceedingly great. Such an extensive hunting preserve as this northwest territory and the vast countries north and west of Lake Superior was perhaps never since or before deliberately set apart by any government. According to the records of the custom house at Quebec, the value of the furs and peltries exported from Canada, in the year 1786, was estimated at the sum of two hundred and twenty-five thousand, nine hundred and seventy-seven pounds sterling, or nearly a million and a quarter dollars.^

Sec. 4. - The Great Fur Companies. - To control this profitable indiLstry various powerful companies were organized in England and Canada, and afterwards in the United States. In 1670, the Hudson Bay Company was chartered by Charles II, and the company has continued to our own day. Until the acquisition of Canada by Great Britain, in 1763, there were almost constant disputes between the agents of the Hudson Bay Company and the French merchants and coureurs des bois. In 1783, some merchants of Montreal began the formation of a like company, which, in 1787, became merged wdth a rival company, and thus formed the famous Northwest Company, which for years held boundless sway over the fur trade of the west. This company for many years held its gorgeous annual conferences at Fort William, near the Grand Portage, on Lake Superior; where the merchants from Montreal met the hunters and traders from all the northwest. These conferences are said to have been the occasion of magnificent winter entertainments, of almost regal splendor. Another company of like character was the j\Iackinaw Company, which took in the country to the south of that controlled by the Hudson Bay and the Northwest Companies.

After the establishment of American independence, our government sought to check the operations of those British and Canadian companies within the territory of the United States. But it would seem that governmental supervision was no match for the skillful, persistent personal activity of the members and agents of the companies. It was during this time, in 1783, that John Jacob Astor, a young German, emigrated from Europe. Here he met a countr^onan, a furrier by trade ; and then and there began the gi'eat Astor fur industry. In 1809, Mr. Astor obtained a charter from the legislature of New York, incorporating the American Fur Company. In his enterprise he had the good will and active co-operation of the American government. In 1811, the interests of the Mackinaw Company, within United States territory, were practically absorbed by the American Fur Company; and thereafter, for many years, this company controlled the fur trade of the northwest, and became a potent factor in the development of that territory." To the American Fur Company and its agents St. Joseph county is directly indebted for its first permanent settlement.

The fur trade willi the Indians of this vicinity, while in the early days carried on by way of Lake Michigan and the Straits of Mackinaw was, after the establishment of the American Fur Company, conducted chiefly by agents from Detroit and Fort Wayne. The furs and peltries which were obtained from the Indians were generally transported to Dea. Irving's Astoria, pp. 1-23.

troit. The skins were dried, compressed and secured in packs. Each pack weighed about one hundred pounds. A pirogue, or boat, that was sufficiently large to carry forty paclvs, required the labor of four men to manage it on its voyage. In favorable stages of the Wabash river, such a vessel, under the management of skillful boatmen, was propelled fifteen or twenty miles a day against the current. After ascending the river Wabash and the Little river to the portage near Fort Wayne, the traders carried their packs over the portage to the head of the river j\Iaumee, where they were again placed in pirogues, or in keel boats, to be transported to Detroit. At that place the furs and skins were exchanged for blankets, guns, knives, powder, bullets, intoxicating liquors, etc., with which the traders returned to their several posts. The Indian hunter had long before exchanged his bow and arrows for the white man's fire arms. Bullets were valued at four dollars per hundred and powder at one dollar a pint.*

Ii. Three Merchants Of The Wilderness

After the destruction of Fort St. Joseph's by the Spaniards, in 1781, and before any settlement was made in St. Joseph county, three traders of more than usual enterpris'^ established themselves at points on the river below the limits of this county. Mr. George A. Baker, the industrious secretary of the Northern Indiana Historical Society, has gleaned many interesting facts in the history of these worthies, some of which may appropriately find a place in this connection.^

Sec. 1. - Leclare. - Antoine Leclare, a native of Montreal, was the blacksmith employed by the English government, in 1780, at Fort St. Joseph's, and was at the fort, in 1781, at the time of its capture by the Spaniards. He was mustered out of service at Detroit, with the garrison and other employe.?, in the fall of that year. Afterwards he returned to the vicinity of the old fort, and located in the Parkovash, a few miles up the river from the site of the fort. Here he built a cabin, bought furs of the Indians and worked at his trade. He was married to an Indian woman ; and a son of his, Francis Leclare, was one of the most trusted interpreters in the service of the United States. Antoine Leclare removed to Milwaiikee in 1800, and therfe devoted himself exclusively to the fur trade, in which he became very successful. In the spring of each year he went to Detroit in a small sailing vessel, taking his load of furs, and also carrying furs for William Burnett, located near the mouth of the St. Joseph, and for John Kinzie and Robert Fonsyth, Chicago traders. In 1813, he removed to IMissouri, where he died in 1821.

Sec. 2. - Burnett. - William Burnett seems to have been the first successful trader, not of French descent, who located on the St. Joseph. He was of a prominent New Jersey family, well educated, and a man of ineans, with an established credit in Detroit and I\Iontreal. He was tempted to come into the wilderness, by reason of the fabulous fortunes to be made here in the fur trade. The exact date when Burnett located on the St. Joseph is not known, but is believed not to be earlier than 1791. He built a warehouse for storing furs, maple sugar, grain and salt, at a point near the mouth of the river; Mdiich is said to have been not far from the site of La Salle's old storehouse, where the city of St. Joseph now stands. One mile up the river, at the big gap, he built another house, which served as a residence and storeroom for merchandise used by him in the Indian fur trade. Apple trees and asparagus beds planted by him have served to mark this spol^ up to within a few years. Some of Burnett's books of account are among the treasures of the Northern Indiana Historical Society. His accounts were kept in what is known as Ha.lifax currency; livres, deniere and sols. A livre was worth eighteen and one-half cents. It would appear from certain entries on the books that Burnett operated at first from IMackinaw, whieli was at that time the center of trade; then traded all along the coast of Lake Michigan, and finally located permanently at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. It is believed that his first venture up the St. Joseph was made October 15, 1791, to the Kankakee.

Burnett's account books are particularly interesting as they have to do with many of the noted characters connected with the early history of the St. Joseph river, as well as with that of Chicago and Milwaukee. Many entries are found showing accounts with Jean Baptiste Point Au Sable, the earliest non- Indian settler of Chicago, who at about the time of the Declaration of Independence built a house at Avhat is now the corner of Cass and Kinzie streets, Chicago, which in later years was so well known as the Kinzie mansion.

Jean Baptiste Point Au Sable was a French West Indian mulatto, who settled at first at Mobile, then successively at New Orleans, Kaskaskia and St. Louis, and finally on the banks of the Chicago river. Point Au Sable sold his house to the French trader, La Mai ; and from La Mai it passed to John Kinzie, in the fall of 1803. Other names appearing on Burnett's books are Deneau de Quindre, the government agent and interpreter for the St. Joseph river; Jean Laline, the government interpreter at Fort Dearborn, who was killed at that place in the spring of 1812; Charles Chandonai ; Jolm and Robert Kinzie ; Antoine Leclare, already named, and Joseph Bertrand, of the Parkovash ; Antoine Lafortune, and others. John Kinzie, so well known in early Chicago history, began trading with Burnett, October 1, 1797. In 1800, Kinzie located in the Parkovash, at the site of the old town of Bertrand ; and lived there until 1804, when he moved to Chicago. An entry in Burnett's books, dated September

15, 1800, gives some insight into the intrigues carried on in those early days by the Spaniards at St. Louis, as well as by British emissaries from Canada, at a time when the power of the United States was not yet well established in these distant regions. It is as follows: "Jean Baptiste Point Au Sable, Dr. To seven bottles spirits paid an Indian, Askin, for going by express with the Spanish commandant's letter to Fort Wayne." The returns of peltries for the various adventures sent out by Burnett are instructive as giving a definite idea of the comparative numbers of fur bearing animals in this region. For the two years 1800 and 1801, the returns were as follows : Beaver, 9 ; otter, 119 ; bear, 10 ; elk, 1 ; mink, 248 ; deer, 1,076 ; cat, 62; muskrat, 2,014; fox, 107; redskin, 518 ; raccoon, 5,603.

The last entry on Burnett's day book is dated July 19, 1802, and is a charge to one Louis Ppthier of 57 packs of peltries, amounting to 20,500 livres, to be paid by draft on Montreal. The old trader is known to have been at the mouth of our river as late as January 20, 1804; at which date he addressed a letter from that point to James ]\Iay, at Detroit. Like most of the other traders, Burnett was married to an Indian wife. One of his sons, James Burnett, died July 4, 1833, and it is an interesting fact that his estate was administered upon by Latlu'op M. Taylor, one of the earliest settlers o£ St. Joseph county.

Sec. 3. - Bertrand. - Another fur trader, and one who comes yet nearer to our early history, was Joseph Bertrand, who was boru in Mackinaw in 1780, and in 1808 located a log cabin and a fur press on the west side of the St. Joseph, near the crosssing of the Great Sauk Trail, just below the little creek known as Pokagon's branch, and opposite the site of the village of Bertrand afterwards named from him. Some slight dealings with Bertrand are shown on Burnett's books. In 1804 Bertrand had married an Indian girl, Madeline, daughter of the Pottawatomie chief

Topinabee. At that time lie was acting as agent for the American Fur Company, but soon afterwards went into business for himself. There is a tradition that the logs for Bertrand's cabin were taken from the ruins of the little church once located at old Fort St. Joseph's, a little below on the east side of the river, and said to have been the only building spared by the Spaniards in the burning of the Fort, in 1781. Bertrand's loyalty to the Americans, and his gi'eat influence in keeping the Indians at peace, brought upon him the enmity of the British, particularly that of the emissaries of the Hudson Bay Company; and it is said that there was for a time a reward of one hundred pounds sterling placed upon his head. After the close of the war with England, about 1815, he settled on the east side of the river on the spot since known as the village of Bertrand. He afterwards removed to St. Mary's, Kansas, where he died about the year 1860.

Iii. Pierre Navarre

The first white man to make his permanent home in what is now, St. Joseph county was Pierre Frieschutz Navarre, an educated gentleman of French descent, who came here from Monroe, Michigan, in 1820, as the agent of the American Fur Company. For several years previous to that date, he, with others, had been through the country, trading with the Indians, but had not remained for any length of time. He now permanently settled at this point and established the first trading post upon the St. Joseph within the limits of this county. We are told that Navarre was a man of literary tastes, of a kind and genial nature, earnest and honest in his dealings, though not remarkable for business ability. His brother Francis, a colonel, in the American army, lost his life in the river Raisin massacre, near Detroit. Pierre, following the example of the fur traders who had preceded him, married an Indian wife, a daughter of the Pottawatomies. Tradition represents her to have been a very intelligent woman. They had six children, three sons and three daughters. The children were bright and received a good education, for the time. The sons were Anthony, Isadore and Peter. Anthony is said to have taught a country school here. Friends tried to keep him here when the Pottawatomies went west, but he refused, saying, "What would be the use ? I am only an Indian. ' ' They built their dwelling house, the first to be erected in this county, on the east side of the St. Joseph river, in what is now Navarre Place addition to the city of South Bend, located between Leeper Island and the bluffs of Chapin place. This was a famous fishing ground; and here, until the building of the dams at Niles and Buchanan, even those who are of the present generation remember the mighty sturgeon that came up in great numbers from Lake Michigan every spring.* From here to old Fort St. Joseph's was the Parkovash, the beloved resort of French and Indians. At that time, and ever since the Miamis had gone south and east, to the vicinity of the Wabash and the Maumee, the Pottawatomies were the sole inhabitants of the region. There was, however, no large Indian village near Navarre's trading post. Old Chief Pokagon was located with a few members of his tribe down the river near Bertrand ; and there was another band about two miles south of the new post, on what is now Sumption prairie road, called Raccoon Village. The main portion of the tribe was farther south, in what are now Marshall and Fulton counties. Navarre's trading post was on the line along which the Indians traded every spring and fall to reach the posts along the river, down to Lake Rliehigan; at which times they passed through in great numbers with quantities of furs, maple sugar, baskets and other articles. The old trails are now marked b}'' city streets and main roads leading through and from South Bend, Mishawaka and other towns, towards Fort Wayne and points to the north, south, east and west. Such trails are marked by Vistula avenue, through South Beud and Mishawaka; Turkey Creek road; Michigan street and avenue; Sumption Prairie road; Crum's Point road; Laporte avenue; Portage avenue; South Bend avenue, or Edwardsburg road; and Mishawaka avenue. The hunting and trapping grounds were mainly down the valley of the Kankakee, which, for centuries, ajid until within a few years past, has been the sportsman's paradise. Pierre Navarre when in his prime is said to have been a noble specimen of vigorous manhood, fully six feet in height, but by the proprietors of Navarre Place to the Northern Indiana Historical Society, and by the society removed to Leeper park, where it is cared for by the city of South Bend as its most venerable historic relic. Navarre Place, with its beautiful homes occupying the site of the home of this fine pioneer gentleman, will perpetuate his name in our histOYj ; as will also Navarre street, which overlooks Leeper park, where the ancient residence is preserved,, and overlooks likewise the Pare aux Vaches, where the enterprising fur trader set up his Indian home in the rather slenderly built."- On the removal of the Pottawatomies to the west, in 1840, he went with the tribe, but afterwards returned to this county, where he died at the home of his daughter in South Bend, December 27, 1864. His body rests in Cedar Grove Cemetery, near Notre Dame. The log house built by Navarre in 1820, which was the first fur trading station in St. Joseph county, and where this pioneer and his household, half white and half Indian, so long resided, has been preserved to this day. It was presented

Iv. The First Settlers

Sec. 1. - Alexis Coquillard. - The firet American home established within the limits of St. Joseph county was that of Alexis Coquillard, who is usually regarded as the founder of the city of South Bend. The continuity of our histoiy is well preserved in the life of Mr. Coquillard. While he was a fur trader and of French descent, as were most of his predecessors in the valley of the St. Joseph, and while he was always on friendly terms with the Indians, in so far that the Pottawatomies would have made him their chief if he had not prevented it ; yet both he and his wife were Americans of the Americans, spoke the English language as readily as they did the French, and came to the valley to lay the foundations of a distinctively American community.

Alexis Coquillard was born in Detroit, September 28, 1795. In the war of 1812 with Great Britain, though but a boy of seventeen, he gave his services to the American cause, In the army under William Henry Harrison, seeking the camp of Major George Crogan. the brave defender of Fort Stephenson on the Sandusky river, and there accepting the hazardous duties of dispatch messenger for the beleaguered garrison. After the war young Alexis became a fur trader, and was soon acting as agent for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. In the year 1822, in connection with Francis Comparet, formerly of Detroit, but then of Fort Wayne, Mr. Coquillard purchased the agency of the fur company for the region of the upper lakes. The partners are said to have paid several thousand dollars for the property and control of this extensive agency.

It was in the year 1823 that Alexis Coquillard established a trading post on the St. Joseph river. This he operated by himself, Mr. Comparet remaining in charge of the post at Fort Wayne. To distinguish the two .posts, the one at this point was called the Big St. Joseph's Station; and the one at Fort Wayne, the Little St. Joseph's Station, Our river St. Joseph, foi-merly the river of the Miamis, was for a time called the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan, and afterwards the Big St. Joseph's, to distinguish it from the small stream at Fort Wayne, also called the St. Joseph's river. The posts on the two St. Joseph's were the centers of the fur trade with the Indians of northwestern Indiana and southwestern ]\Iichigan.

in St. Joseph county, was located on what was then called the Dragoon trace, from Fort Wayne to Chicago, but which is now known as Vistula avenue. The post stood about half a square easterly from Washington street, and in front of what is kno\vn as the Edmund Pitts Taylor residence. Soon after locating at this point Mr. Coquillard abandoned it. and built a more pretentious log store and residence close to what is now North Michigan street, on the north side of La Salle avenue, and near the site of the fine concrete bridge now (1907) in course of construction over the St. Joseph river, on that avenue. It was at that point that the first ferry on the river was soon afterwards established. The site of this famous and hospitable residence has long been occupied by the Miller and Loutz coal and wood yards. In the spring of 1824, Mr. Coquillard married and brought here from Fort Wayne his wife, Frances C. daughter of his partner, Francis Comparet. This was the first white man's home in this vicinity, and, for some time, the only one. The unit of society is the family: and the community of the great county of St. Joseph was then gathered in the hospitable home of Alexis and Frances Coquillard, on the banks of the beautiful river that was to give its name to the county.

Sec. 2. - Lathrop :\I. Taylor. - In 1827 Lathrop Minor Taylor settled here. Mr. Taylor was a native of Clinton, Oneida county, New York, and was born July 4, 1805. He came with his parents to Detroit when he was six years of age. Like Alexis Coquillard, he came to us as a fur trader, from Detroit and by way of Fort Wajoie. His brother-inlaw, Samuel Hanna. of Fort Wayne, was the senior member of the firm of Samuel Hanna & Co.. general tradei-s at that place, and Mr. Taylor came here as agent of the firm, to establish a trading post at this point. Alexis Coquillard and Lathrop ]\I. Taylor, though rivals in business, seemed to think, with Admiral Schley, that there was glory enough for all; and they worked in harmony for the common good of the town of wkicli they were to become the founders. Mr. Coquillard had <Teat faith that the settlement on the St. Joseph would grow towards the north from what is now La Salle avenu>;, instead of to the south of that line. To the north of us, the St. Joseph country, as it was called, had then received many settlers, while the country to the south, as far as the Wabash river, was occupied exclusively by Indians. He therefore advised the new trader to locate his store near to the place where he himself had removed. The site therefore selected by, or for, jNIr. Taylor was on what is now East Madison street, on the west bank of the river, and a block north of Mr. Coquillard 's own trading post. The locality is close to Judge Lucius Hubbard's residence, between that and the residence of the Hon. Benjamin F. Shively.

Lathrop M. Taylor, like Alexis Coquillard, readily secured the lasting friendship of the- Pottawatomies, whose language he spoke tluently. They aided him in clearing a place in the woods, large enough for his new trading post, and he soon had his stock of goods on hand and was actively engaged in business. It w^as not long, hoAvever, before he was convinced that his post was out of the main line of travel. Accordingly, he removed to what is now Vistula avenue, very near to the site of Mr. Coquillard 's first trading post. The place has long been occupied by the residence of the late E. Pitts Taylor, brother of Lathrop. The judgment of the younger trader as to the advantages of this locality was perhaps superior to that of the elder. The lines of travel on what have since been known as Vistula avenue, Turkey Creek road and other trails and roads leading towards Fort Wayne and other points south and east, became of more and more importance as the years w^ent by and Indiana became settled towards the Wabash. Mr. Taylor married a daughter of Judge Peter Johnson, father of Evan. Joshua and Lea Johnson, all of whom were noted pioneers. Peter Johnson erected and kept the first frame house used as a tavern, the old American hotel which was located on the southwest corner of Michigan and Washington streets. Coonley's drug store has now for many years occupied the site. In 1835 Judge Johnson built for his son-in-law a large frame store room on the northwest corner of the same street, opposite the hotel. The Michigan road had now been opened, and commerce and travel abandoned the old routes; and this change Judge Johnson and Colonel Taylor both recognized. To this building Lathrop M. Taylor moved his trading post from Vistula avenue, and here he continued to live during the remainder of his days. Cushing's drug store occupied the site for many years after Mr. Taylor ceased to do l)usiness ; but the old pioneer loved the locality and continued to occupy rooms in the building over the drug store. The American Trust Company now occupies the site."

Sec. 3. - First Name op the New Settlement. - The first entry on L. M. Taylor's books of account, after establishing his agency at this place, is dated at "St. Joseph's, Indiana," October 29, 1827; and is entitled: "Journal of Samuel Hanna, James Barnett and Allen Hamilton, partners in business under the title of Samuel Hanna & Co., Lathrop M. Taylor, agent." The name "St. Joseph's" is retained throughout the books of the company, and it would seem that this was for some time the recognized name of the trading post. Years afterwards, when the posts of the fur traders had developed into a flourishing town, and the ambitious inhabitants became dissatisfied A\-ith the name of South Bend, which to them seemed plebeian and meaningless, public meetings were held to consider other and more stately names foithe incipient Queen City of the St. Joseph valley ; and among the names then suggested was this old one of St. Joseph's or St. Joseph. At that time, and long afterwards, serious and continued efl'orts were made for the revival

Sec. 4. - Early Days on the Kankakee. - j3n August 8, 1889, while Colonel Taylor was yet living, Ernest P. Bicknell, then the brilliant correspondent of the Indianapolis News, afterwards secretary of the Indiana state board of charities, and now at the head of the department of charities in the city of Chicago, wrote for the News the following graphic and gossipy article on "The Winding Kankakee" and other kindred topics relating to our very early local history :

"Before the nineteenth century was out of its 'teens' the flat, river-veined country between the Lakes Erie and Michigan was the site of several settlements of Indian traders, meant to be permanent. The swamps and sluggish streams teemed with beaver, mink and muskrat, while the rich grasses of the moist lands fed herds and herds of deer. From the time of La Salle's pioneer explorations, trappers and traders had wandered up and down the streams, Init they had always made some Canadian town, or perhaps Buffalo or Detroit, their headquarters.

"But after 'Mad' Anthony Wayne had routed the hostile Indians and cabnly assured them he would arise from his grave to fight them if they ever warred against the whites again, there was a freer movement from the East toward these rich hunting grounds. In 1794 a stockade called Fort AVayne was built and garrisoned and under its shadow a settlement slowly grew, which outlived the fort but retained its name. Several big eastern fur companies established agencies at Fort Wayne. After a few years the traders learned that the old route, up the St. Joseph river from Lake Michigan to a point near the southernmost bend, then a portage of some four miles southwest to the headwaters of the Kankakee, and thence down that stream toward the Mississippi, or the reverse of this, was a popular one with the Indians.

came nearest together was certain to be a good point for a trading post. The Indian trappers would rather accept lower prices for their skins than carry them over the long four miles of portage. Your ordinary, unheroic Indian was not given greatly to industry. So it was, that in 1823 Coquillard established himself at the south bend of the St. Joseph river, and South Bend has the settlement been ever since. The trader prospered exceedingly and that naturally attracted attention. In the summer of 1827 Colonel L. M. Taylor, a young man who was an agent for a fur dealer at Fort Wayne named Hanna, came to South Bend. Colonel Taylor is yet an honored citizen of the city of which he was the second inhabitant, and though almost eighty-five years old is active and in full possession of all his faculties. To him this correspondent is indebted for valuable information.

. ' ' In the spring and fall the Indians would come up the Kankakee, their canoes heavily laden with skins. The low, flat banks allowed an uninterrupted survey of the course of the stream for miles, and because of its remarkable crookedness the view of a party of Indians in their boats was peculiar. As they moved along in single file, the general appearance was that of a party gliding along in every possible direction through the high grass. On a sharp S-shaped curve, for example, some of the Indians would be moving west, some east, some north, and some almost due south.

The efi'ect of this sinuosity was rather discouraging to the inexperienced canoeist. After paddling steadily down stream all day, round and round curves where the rank grass drooped over and narrowed the ribbon of open water, with its tangled mass, it was discouraging to draw the boat ashore and encamp for the night within sight of the campfire, at which he had prepared his breakfast. Though he had traveled many miles he would find that the "bee line" distance from where he began his day's journey was depressingly small. To the experienced canoeist and woodsman, however, this rate of progress was not depressing. It was not because he did not care to move rapidly, but because hardships and exposure and intimate acquaintance with nature had taught him to accept whatever lot befell, and make the most of it. This it was that gave him his air of profound indifference and stoicism in his relations with his friends and enemies and his self-control in times of desperate danger.

" ' I had decided to send two men down the river in a pirogue to collect skins, and, as I wanted them to bring in a big cargo, determined to furnish them a big boat. I searched through the woods along the St. Joseph river until I found an enormous tree. Two men helped me. and in a few days we had a pirogue made from its trunk that was a beauty. It was forty-five feet long, three and a half feet wide at one end and two feet wide at the other. We drew it across the portage sled-fashion with a team of oxen which had been brought to the settlement, and proudly launched it on the Kankakee. My two men set out and in due time returned with their load. But a more thoroughly disgusted boat crew I never saw. They vowed, in the strong, unhampered speech which characterizes the true woodsman, that never more would they hold any relations whatever with my prized pirogue. That vessel, they said, was so long that it was almost impossible to get it around the curves of the river, and that a goodly portion of the time both ends of it at once were well planted in the murky banks and had to be dug out with great labor and loss of time. '

' ' The Indians of this region were the Pottawatomies, and were at this time an inoffensive, shiftless tribe which much preferred the pursuits of peace to those of war. Members of other tribes which occupied the country south and west of the Pottawatomies visited the South Bend settlement in great numbers to dispose of the skins which they collected. They were easily cheated by the traders and made no complaint, but after an Indian had once been imposed upon he never took his wares to that trader again. The whites soon learned this, and as there was much competition among them in business, they usually treated the simple red man fairly.

"As has so often been the case, the closing history of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians is a sad story. Certain zealous missionaries among them established themselves ten or twelve miles below South Bend on the St. Joseph, and named their settlement the Carey Mission. In time a sturdy Baptist missionary named Isaac McCoy became the chief man at the mission and he Avas full of plans for the improvement of the red men. The whites were encroaching on them, and they were scattered sparsely over a wide territory. McCoy conceived the idea that if they were removed to a reservation far away from tlie whites, where they could be kept simple and free from the degrading vices Avhich they learned by contact with their civilized brothers, they could be Christianized and made a happy, prosperous, domestic people. He proposed a plan to the government which was eventually adopted. Some 8,000 members of the tribe were gathered at a point on Lake Michigan, and another near where the city of Lafayette now stands, and were paid for their lands. It was several years later that their removal was begun, and they were taken in detachments at intervals for several years more. A reservation for them had been provided on the great western prairie. In the removal the happy, contented and harmless natives were scattered. Their families were broken up, and many who were unwilling to leave the scenes which had been the undisputed possession of their ancestors for many generations, wandered away among the friendly tribes about them and eluded the government agents.

briefly recorded. The Pottawatomies had always lived in the woods and hunted the game which frequented them and the secluded streams. In their new home, the wild, bitter, winter wind swept across the prairies and chilled the unacclimated Indians. The game, of which they knew the habits, was not there. In place of the deer and beaver and muskrat, buffalo a.nd wolves and jackrabbits roamed the boundless prairies. The miserable aliens died and froze and starved and wandered away in despair. Some came back to their old homes and joined those who had evaded the government officer. Now, of this once powerful and peaceful tribe, a small remnant remains in Kansas and some 200 or 300 are scattered about St. Joseph and adjoining counties in Indiana and Ohio.

"Where once the simple-minded savage paddled along the quiet streams, or with cat-like stealth threaded these woods and swamps in search of game, or carried his store of skins and his birchen canoe across the land which divided into two his water-way from the lakes to the Father of Waters, now all is changed. The heavy rumble of trains, and the muffled roar of machinery profane the ancient solitudes. The slow and primitive methods of travel - the canoe and the portage - are gone forever, but not more certainly are they gone to return no more, than are those dusky tribes which, in innocence and contentment, once owned and loved and lost this land, gone to exist hereafter only as a memory, as a tale that is told."

' See. 5. - Other Early Settlers of the County. - After Navarre, Coquillard and Taylor, some of the very early settlers in the county were as follows. In what is now Portage township, these settlers were: In 1827, Louis Sancomb, Doctor Fowler, Timothy S. Smith, Job Brookfield, John B. Ruleau, Peter Jebeau, Samuel Cannon; in 1828, Henry Painter, Eli Smith, Samuel Studebaker (not related to the noted family that came later) , Thomas Johnson, John Heag ; in 1829, Levi F. Arnold, John Lasly, Henry

Stull, Isaac Bowman, Joseph Rohrer, John Becraft, Jacob Leer, Samuel Leer, Daniel Cripe, Benjamin Coquillard (brother of Alexis), Hiram Dayton, Samuel Rupe, Frederick Bainter, Oliver Bennett; in 1831, Isaac Cord, Jacob Cord, Samuel Cord, George Cord, Daniel Cord, William McCartney; in 1832, William Webster, Christopher Emerick; in 1833, Matthias Stover ; in 1835, David Stover.

In what is now German township, the following persons settled : In 1827, William Brookfleld; in 1829, John Smith; in 1830, Christian Holler, Jacob Ritter, John Ritter; in 1831, Joshua D. Miller ; in 1832, Jacob M. Whitmer; in 1833, David Miller, Aaron Miller, Jacob Miller, Abram Smith, Jonathan Smith, Daniel Wagoner, John Witter, Samuel Witter.

In what is now Penn township, the following persons settled: In 1828, William Moat, Timothy Moat; in 1829, William Holt; in 1830, Jesse Skinner, Samuel L. Cottrell, George W. West, E. Smith, Joseph Coe, Daniel Hollingshead, David Hollingshead, William Hollingshead, George Hollingshead, Daniel Edwards, Samuel Edwards, George Eutzler; in 1831, Jesse Bell, Henry Huntsinger, Jacob Ebler, Jonathan Macy, Jacob Byrkit. George Byrkit, Edward Byrkit, James Curtis, Jolin Ireland, William Ireland, Braddock Chandler, Uriah Chandler, William Webster, Menzo Webster, Isaac Parks.

In what is now Clay township, the following persons settled: In 1828, Jacob Cripe, Daniel Eiler, Samuel Cannon, Benjamin Potter; in 1829, John Hague, William Mc- Combs, John H. Smith; in 1830, John Cripe, Peter Cripe, Thomas Longley ; in 1831, Peter Eaton, Jacob Eaton, William Smith, Joshua Johnson ; in 1832, John C. Stutsman, Thomas B. Chalfant, Evan Chalfant, James Stuckey, Thomas P. Bulla, William F. Bulla, Samuel Brooks, Gideon Draper ; in 1833, Francis Jennings; in 1834, Joseph Ulery, Stephen Ulery.

ris, from whom Harris prairie and Harris township were named, Samuel Bell, Adam Miller, a Baptist minister, Adam Ringle, David Baldwin, Josephus Baldwin ; in 1831, Joseph Bnel, Jaeob ]Myers, Arbogast Zaehnle, Henry Augustine, Jonathan Hartzell; in 1833, Robert Kennedy, David Ringle, Samuel Ringle, Levi Ringle.

In what is now Olive township, the following persons settled : In 1830, Charles Vail, for whose wife, Olive, the township was named, John Adams, Jacob Rush, Israel Rush, John Druliner, ]\Ialin Druliner, Samuel Garwood, Garrett Niekerson, Henry Nickerson, William White, Jaeob Egbert, John Egbert, Elder George Boyd ; in 1831, James Garoutte, Benjamin Redding; in 1832, Job Smith, Henry Ranstead, John Reynolds.

In what is now Center towniship, the following persons settled : In 1830, Andrew Milling, James Palmer and Asher Palmer, from whom Palmer prairie was named, John Rose, Ncithan Rose, Jacob Rupel; in 1832, John Smith ; in 1833, George Smith, Abiel Hungerford, Tyra N. Bray, in 1834, John Henson, Thomas Jones, Isaac Lamb; in 1835, James Inwood, Richard Inwood, William Phillips.

In what is now Greene to\\Tiship, the following persons settled: In 1830, George Sumption, from whom Sumption prairie was named; in 1831, John Rupel, John Bird, Jaeob Rupe, Grave Pomeroy, Stacy Garwood, William Antrim, Abram Whitmer, William Rudduck ; in 1832, George Holloway, Nathan Greene, John Rudduck, David Barrett, John Greene, from whom the township was named, Jonathan Wharton, M. Borton, George Baker, Gabriel Fender, Samuel Pearson; in 1833, M. E. Hammond. John McCullough.

In what is now Warren township, the following persons settled: In 1831, Reynolds Dimn; in 1832, Peter Brick, Peter Wykoft*, George Witter, John Kingery, Stephen Field, Nathaniel Wilson; in 1833, Jesse Frame, William Frame, Nathaniel Frame, Cornelius Frame, Isaac Frame, David Frame, Jesse Frame, Isaac W^. Phillips; in 1831, Harvey

In what is now Union township, the following persons settled: In 1833, John Henderson, Elijah Lineback, John Gardner, John Rector, Jacob Rector, Mark Rector; in 1834, Hubbard Henderson, James Moon, John Moon, Eli Moon; in 1835, James Annis, Henry Hardy, Daniel Glenn, Amos Heston.

In what is now Liberty township, the following persons settled: In 1835, Jacob Earhart, Jolm Earhart, John Kane, Isaac Townsend, Daniel Ross, Jesse Palmer, Samuel Loring, John Rupel, Daniel Rupel, Joseph Liggett, James Cole, Franklin Pearse.

The foregoing names and dates may not be strictly accurate in every instance, but the effort has been made to avoid all error. Neither is it intended that these were all the settlers up to the year 1835 ; it was our purpose only to give the names of some prominent families and the proximate times and places of their settlement in St. Joseph county. The list will also serve to show what parts of the county were firet settled, and the years in which the several places were first occupied. It does not appear that in the territories now known as Madison and Lincoln townships any settlements were made until after the year 1835.

V. The Log House

The rude life which these early settlers were compelled to lead, and the many privations to which they were subjected, are well illustrated by one who gives us his own recollections in the following vivid sketch:*^

The poet who lived and wrote his songs, fifty to a hundred years ago, was inspired with environments, then existing, Avhich now would be void of sentiment. We hear the song:

The passing of the open well, with wooden curb, and the long "well sweep" balanced in the center on a post crotched at the top, a heavy stone fastened with large pegs on the large end of the long timber used as the sweep or elevating power, and the "old oaken bucket" fastened at the top with a chain equal in length to the depth of the well. Such sweeps were a familiar sight fifty years ago.

The old oaken bucket made by the local cooper, bound with iron hoops, lasted several generations, and hence became "moss covered. ' ' The sweep was pulled down and the ' ' bucket ' ' dropped into the well, with a weight fastened to one side to sink it in the cool waters at the bottom, and it came up on a balance with the stone at the other end of the "sweep." Here the poet quaffed the refreshing drink of his childhood days, and received his inspiration for the song.

Alongside the well with the sweep and the "old oaken bucket" stood the old log house, the home of the pioneer, now only a memory, and to the present generation unknown, as log houses are a thing of the past. Sixty-two years ago the writer, after leaving the strapiron railroad in Adrian, Mich., came from "York state" by "rapid transit," consisting of "an ox team" and a covered "movers' wagon. ' ' Several days ' travel with the family in the wagon, landed us in the midst of a dense forest. A small spot was cleared of underbrush, and strong, enthusiastic men cut down trees of uniform size and built the log cabin in the woods. There were no public highways in that time, and a man with an ax went before the ox team to remove some of the brush and obstructions, for the passage of the wagon.

Those homes of the early pioneer, Avould be a revelation to the present generation. The logs were cut to equal lengths as required for the size of the building, and rolled up on skids as the building increased in height with each log, the ends being notched to fit close, and at the same time bind the building together. The structure was tapered off at the top with smaller timbers, and the roof, made of shakes, split from clear oak with a frow and maul, were fastened on the poles across the top of the building by placing small logs on top of them, kept equal distance apart by short sections of timbers at rignt angles. Then a bass wood log was secured to be split into chinks for closing up the cracks between the logs, which were plastered with clay mud, without lime or cement. The windows were often of greased paper, and the heavy slab doors hung on w^ooden hinges with a heavy latch inside, lifted by a leather string from without, and the string pulled inside when the door was to be locked. Hence "the latch string always hangs out" was the greeting given to neighbors, meaning they were welcome to call.

While their rude homes were being built, the families lived and slept in the covered wagon. There were no stoves in fhose days, and the old fireplace was cut out of one side of the building, and walls were made of stone or bog ore, found in marshes or swamps in the early days. The chimney was built of small pieces of wood four square split from the remnants of blocks from which the "shakes" for the roof were made, and this structure was plastered inside and out with mud. There were no carpets on the floors, and not infrequently the massasauga, or black rattlesnake, the dread of the mother and the children, found its way through the puncheon floor and located in the bed or mider the household effects, where his rattles warned all comers to beware. The strenuous life in the days of old, was along different lines. It was many years before the rag carpet made its appearance, because of the fact that the clothing of the parents was made over and over and handed down from the oldest to the youngest child, until there was not enough rags from which to cut strips for weaving into carpets.

Those were pioneer days; and what a strange contrast with present conditions and customs! The generations now living hardly realize how much credit should be given the early pioneers who carved out their rude homes from the dense forest, and made it possible for the great changes that followed them.

arrived in the territory afterwards to be organized under their name, as the township of Greene. On the seventy-third anniversary of that day, Daniel Greene, one of the children of the family, now an honored citizen of the city of South Bend, gave to his friends and the public a most interesting interview, detailing the coming to their Indiana home in those far off years. The story which he tells is the story of hundreds of pioneers who left their homes in the east, to find other homes in the west. By permission of the venerable narrator, the following is taken from this interview :"

' ' My parents, John Greene and Nancy Ann Jackson, were born and married in the state of Delaware. Not being in sympathy with the institution of slavery, they decided to seek a home for their little family in the then distant free soil of the northwest, beyond the reach of its blighting influence. In the fall of 1811, with their three boys, Israel, John and Ezekiel, and such articles as could be transported in a light wagon drawn by one horse, they bade a final farewell to dear ones and native state. Guided by the star of hope, they started on the long, perilous journey over hills and mountains, across plains and valleys, towards the setting sun, cheered by the hope of a home of their own in a land of freedom.

"After weeks of toil, privation and suffering, they pitched their tent by the roadside in the beautiful valley of the Miami, in Greene county, Ohio; where they lived in tent and cabin and as farm renters for twenty years, enduring the hardships incident to pioneer life, and adding in that time six boys and three girls to their little Delaware family, and increasing somewha-t their worldly goods. Not having realized their long cherished hope of a home of their own, my father started, in the fall of 1830, on a home-seeking tour on horseback through northern Indiana and southern Michigan, returning by way of Fort

Wayne, after having failed to locate a home. "Not being satisfied with what he had seen, he started, in the fall of 1831, on a second tour, passing through Indianapolis, Logansport and intervening territory, and arriving in South Bend a few months after the town had been laid out. Here he was offered a lot for five dollars, if he would erect a log cabin on it. Continuing his prospecting tour into southern Michigan, he entered one hundred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land near where Berrien Springs now stands. He returned again by way of Fort Wayne, with the intention of moving to X\\q land the coming fall. After reaching home, and giving the matter more mature consideration, he thought it not best to take his large family into the heavy timbered lands to open a farm, as it would entail too much labor and hardship on the family, and so changed his mind and decided -to go with some old friends to northern Indiana.

"Memory, aroused, rolls back the shades of time, covering a period of years reaching back beyond the wild scenes, privations and dangers of pioneer life in this country to the old Ohio home and environs where I first assisted in making the ball go round in the active game of a busy life eighty years ago. There, during the winter of 1831 and 1832, the little colony was organized and Michigan road lands received for future homes by depositing one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre with the secretary of state, and receiving therefor a certificate of deposit, for which deeds were to be obtained some two years later, sig-ned by Governor Noble. One of those deeds I now have. Arrangements were then completed for moving the coming fall.

"Early in the spring of 1832, my brother Nathan, and John Mannering, a cousin, were equipped with an ox team, tools, implements and seeds, and were sent out to fence, plow and plant a part of the land to corn, potatoes and other useful crops for supplies for the families upon arrival at the anticipated time. Thev took with them at the same time Nathan when they returned the first of August were assume a more normal or business-like apable to relieve much of the anxiety of the pearance. Sad faces began to brighten and

"September 2,' 1832, the day long fixed for land and home. After the noon lunch and rest, starting, came bright and cheering, and the one of the older men was sent in advance on little Ohio valley soon became one scene of horseback to select and secure a camping commotion and excitement. "When the fam- place for the night. Every day thereafter ilies of John Greene, George Baker, Joshua the camping place was located in the same Garwood, Jonathan Wharton, Edward Powers way, and each night the wagons were arand Michael Robertson, over sixty people in ranged in a circle, forming a large open court, all, fell into line in the dusty streets of Xenia, in the center of which a general camp fire their old county town, with twelve canvas was lighted. There the evenings were spent covered wagons, some drawn by two or four as age and taste suggested, with music, games, good horses, and others by six oxen, with a conversation and entertainment of visitors, large following of loose cattle, sheep, hogs and Meals were prepared and served on the outdogs, for a starter at their Indiana homes, all side, to each family as called for. kept in line by a lot of lively boys and girls, "As we advanced, the distance between setthey found the streets of their old town lined tlements increased, and our visions of redby hundreds of friends, neighbors and Strang- skins, tomahawks and scalping knives became ers, waiting for a last friendly greeting, ex- more vivid and the timid ones more nervous, pressions of interest in the future success and The roads, after a few days, became very bad, welfare of these adventurous friends were and, in many places, mere winding ways profuse, and a last friendly handshake was through the forests. The difficulty of crossing accompanied by expressions of wonderment the larger rivers with the teams and loose why they were leaving one of the garden stock made progress very slow. One day, in spots of the earth, friends, homes and plenty, the black swamps east of Fort Wayne, only to face the dangers and hardships of a long four miles were traveled. The route lay journey, and the sufferings and privations of through Dayton, Fort Wayne, Goshen and frontier life in the then distant west. Elkhart. At Elkhart Messrs. Powers and other four families, forty-four people in all, followed down the south bank of the St! Joseph river to South Bend, then a little Indian trading post of a few log cabins nestled among the old oaks.

"From the trading post we followed the old Indian trail out to Sumption prairie, breaking ranks finally near the place where the James Oliver farm house now stands. Each family took its course from there throuoh the tall prairie grass for its new home. Just as the sun was sinking behind the western forest, our family came to a halt at the corner of a lonely cornfield where father, alighting from his horse, said, 'At home at last.'

"We lived in and under our wagons until a hewed log house, eighteen by thirty feet, with a large fireplace in each end, the first of its kind south of this city, was erected. Taking in the howling of the wolf in one ear and the whoop of the Indian in the other, we moved into the house without floors, doors or windows; and it soon became known as Grreene's big house. When the towTiship was organized it was named for the Greene family.

"While the house was being built the ox team was sent to Trail Creek, now Michigan City, a distance of forty miles, for lumber for floors, doors, windows and other purposes. It required about six days to make the trip. When the team returned, we found the lumber broad poplar boards, just as the logs had been sawed through, not edged or shaped, and it had to be shaped by hand with saw and splitting gauge. As soon as the house was ready to receive the goods my brother Ezekiel returned to Ohio with the four-horse team to assist my brothers Nathan and Jackson, who had remained there, to gather and market the crops grown there and winter the team. When the little crops grown here had been cared for, a part of the field sown to wheat, and everything made as convenient and comfortable as possible for the family, John Mannering, the cousin, also returned to Ohio with the ox team to winter there.

"Early in the spring of 1833, both teams returned well loaded with a year's supply of flour, farm implements and other articles, among them a loom, a large and a small spinning wheel and a reel, all of which at that time were considered indispensable articles of the household outfit. As an illustration of the value and service rendered by the wheels and loom in every home in the early settlement ot this country, I well remember myself, like other boys of the settlement, then in my teens, clad in a straw hat, linen shirt and trousers, the materials having been grown, and the goods manufactured, cut and made on the farm. Thus clad I toiled many a warm summer day, armed with an ox gad with a long buckskin lash, driving four yoke of oxen, which drew a large breaking plow, made of wood, except the share and bar, and turning over the tough prairie sod for the first time. This was a fair sample or illustration of the average boy of the settlement and of his work, in the early days of our trials and triumphs.

"When Alexis Coquillard and Lathrop M. Taylor established their little Indian trading posts on the banks of our beautiful river, to exchange their merchandise for the furs, peltry and other Indian products that abounded in the vicinity of the Kankakee swamps, and for miles in all directions, they were several years in advance of the permanent Home-seeking pioneers who found these rich prairies and vast forests untouched by the hand of civilization. These lands were as yet untouched by the ax or the plow, and were still roamed over at will by the Indian on the hunt and chase and by the wild beast of the woods and the plains. The regular and permanent settlement of the county began in the spring of 1830, the county being organized and the first government lands being placed on the market early in the spring of that year.

"The rich productive soil of the prairies, and their readiness at all times, without previous labor, to welcome the plo^\^nan and his seed, made them most desirable; and they were, therefore, the first to be entered and

"The first white pei-son to settle in that part of the county lying southwest of the city of South Bend, was George Sumption, who was subsequently^ honored by having his name given to our prairie. He located there in the spring of 1830, on what is now the James Oliver farm. Mr. Sumption being a man of courage and energy, soon became one of the leading citizens of the settlement, and remained such until the day of his death. He made the brick for and erected and occupied the first brick house south of the city of South Bend. John Eupel. a sturdy son of Pennsylvania, came next, in the spring of 1831, locating westward of and adjoining Sumption. John Bird came a little later in 1831, settling west of and ad.joining Rupel. Later, the same season. Jacob Rupe. Grove Pomeroy and Stacy Garwood located on the southeast part of the prairie.

"In the spring of 1832, George Holloway, David Barrett, Nathan Greene and John Rudduck settled on the west side of the prairie. The Black Hawk Indian war in the early part of that year virtually closed emigration for 'the season, except as to our little colony of forty-four who had previously arranged to move that fall and who arrived and located on the prairie as already related. In the spring of 1833, the Indian scare was over, settlers came in rapidly, and in a very few years all the tillable lands of what is now Greene township were occupied and producing.

"The first thing on the arrival of a new settler was the erection of a log cabin for shelter and protection. This was sometimes accomplished in one day, the neighbors turning out to assist, some cutting the logs, others hauling them in and others laying them up. and still others, with saws and frows, getting out the clapboards for the roof.

the edge of the timber around the border of the prairie, and of necessity were rude structures. When public highways were established these homes were often found to be badly located, and in many cases required removal, or the erection of new and better houses.

"Seventy-five years of intelligent industry and unyielding courage and energy have left the stamp of change and progress everywhere, and practically on everything. Yes, how changed are the people and the scenery! The old familiar form and face of the red man, who then roamed at will over the broad acres of this beautiful valley, lord of all he surveyed, is seen and feared no more. His old, well beaten paths have long since faded from view, and the feet that made them have been at rest. His wigwams and villages have crumbled to dust and sunk into the kindly earth forever.

"The vast forests to the southeast of the county, and the extensive oak openings and wild prairies to the southwest and to the north, once the home of the savage, the wild beasts of prey and the timid, beautiful deer, when touched by the hand of civilization, began to blossom as the rose, and were soon dotted with comely, happy homes, fruitful grain fields and orchards, and with growing, prosperous towns and cities. The little Indian trading post of a few cabins that we found on the banks of the St. Joseph, has become one of the chief cities of a great state, and the home of many of the largest manufactories of the world. There mighty work shops are daily turning their beautiful and useful products into the lap of the world's commerce, and carrying the name of South Bend to all civilized countries and peoples.

"The successors of the Indians are the heroic pioneers of 1830, '31, '32, and '33, who faced the dangers, endured the privations, suffered the ills and disappointments of long journeys and lives of hardship ; who felled the forest and reclaimed the prairies; who extended the lines of civilization and became the promoters of the mansions, towns and cities of today. Having done their work and done it well, leaving a noble inheritance to their more favored successors, they, too, have followed the red man to his resting place. Of the pioneers who settled in this county, south of the city, at that early day, the following, who were then children, are all that are now (1905) left to tell the story of those early days : Ephraim Rupel and Mrs. George Rambo, of Greene township ; John B. Greene, of Warren; Daniel Rupe, of Liberty; John Stull, of Center; the Rev. N. Greene, of Danville, Indiana; Benjamin Garwood, of Iowa; Mrs. James Miller and myself, of this city.

"So far as known, there are three other persons now (1905) living in the county who were here when our little colony arrived. They are Robert Cissne, formerly of Warren township, now residing in this city with his son, John D. Cissne; Mrs. Matilda Sherland; and my wife, Mrs. Mary L. Greene, of South Bend. Mrs. Greene came here in March, 1830, before the town was laid out, and is probably the oldest continuous resident of the county now living. So far as I know, there is not a man, nor any other woman, now living in South Bend who was a resident of the town or the county at the time when I came.

"The first dark cloud that came over our colony was caused by the death of Isaac Rudduck, a worthy young man about twenty-one years of age, who died early in January, 1833, at the home of his parents, on what is now the Whiteman farm, just south of Dr. Jacob R. Brown's place, on Sumption prairie road. This death occurred about four months after the arrival of our colony. To meet the necessities of the sad occasion was a severe test of the abilities and resources of the settlement. Some of the older men got together to select a burial place. Mr. Sumption generously gave an acre of land in one corner of his farm. This was the beginning of the present cemetery that has been enlarged three times since.

had hauled forty miles with oxen. My brother Nelson and I were sent to the thick woods to peel basswood bark, boil it and stain the coffin. The remains were taken to the grave in a lumber wagon. The lines of the harness were taken from the team to lower the body to its last resting place ; after which the fresh earth was filled in and the people parted in silence from the lonely grave.

"The memory of that first burial that I ever attended, with the late Colonel A. S. Baker, my boyhood companion and life-long friend, standing at my side, and the large snowflakes coming down on the little company of neighbors and mourners, is as vivid today, as is another funeral, that of my esteemed friend and neighbor. Almond Bugbee, the last that I have attended, when our fellow citizen James Oliver was at my side. These two funerals, seventy-two yeare apart, fittingly illustrate the changes that have taken place in the growth of our city and county.

"The first white person born in our part of the county was Andrew Bird. He was born in the summer of 1832 on what is now the John J. Rupel farm. He grew to manhood, married and raised a family, resided all his life in Greene township and died owning a good farm adjoining the one on which he was born. The fii*st marriage in what is now Greene township was that of Abijah Sumption, son of the first settler, and Rachel Rupe. The second was that of John Rudduck and Elizabeth Rupe, sister of Rachel. The third was that of Ezekiel Greene and Sarah Garwood, both membei-s of the little colony.

gee. 2. - By John Stull. - In connection with the reminiscences of Mr. Greene may be given the substance of an intervie\v with John Stull who, with his parents, came to the county when he was a boy nine years old. In his conversation Mr. Stull told of his attending school in 1830, in the old school building in South Bend, on the site of the present Jefferson school, and also told how hard it was to "drum up" enough pupils, by going two

"There was then living here Lathrop M. Taylor, who occupied a double log house on what is now Vistula avenue, one-half of which was devoted to a stock of dry goods, and the business of a general country store, while 'firewater' M'as dispensed in the other half. Alexis Coquillard was also a resident and had his trading quarters on the ground long occupied by Miller & Lontz as a coal and wood yard. Center street, so called for that reason, although but an alley proper, was the dividing line between the Taylor and Coquillard properties, the latter trading the land south to Taylor. Coquillard did not conceal his satisfaction that he had got the advantage of Taylor in the division. There were but the two stores in the place, but many dwelling houses scattered through the surrounding woods.

"In 1832 the report of the uprising of the northwestern Indians spread like wildfire. The news was that the Indians were killing the people, driving off stock and burning property. The little settlement became alarmed and action for defense was begun by drawing plans for the construction of a fort to be located on Avhat is now Vistula avenue, about where the water works stand pipe is erected. The plans for the fort were such that all lines of approach could be commanded and swept by the defenders. The fort was to be constructed from small trees cut in such lengths that about ten feet should extend above the ground, the tops sharpened to a point. A ditch was to surround the entire structure. Luckily Black Hawk Avas defeated, up in Wisconsin, and his followers driven across the Mississippi, and the scare in St. Joseph county was over,"

There was any quantity of big game in the woods, Mr. Stull remarking that at one time he saw no less than seven head of deer making for the springs along the river. The burning of the barrens (oak openings) was a favorite pastime with the Indians. They could be expected to set the fire going at least once a year, and then there were occasionally exciting times; but they never could set the heavy timber on fire by reason of the dampness retained by the dead leaves. The only survivor of those early days of whom Mr. Stull has any knowledge is Mrs. Matilda Sherland, niece of the original Alexis Coquillard."

Sec. 3. - Paper by William D. Bulla. - In the winter of 1900, Mr. William D. Bulla read before the Northern Indiana Historical Society a most interesting paper detailing many of the particulars of the life of his father, Thomas P. Bulla, one of the earliest residents of what is now Clay township in this county. From this paper it appears that Thomas P. Bulla was brought by his parents from Ohio to what is now Wayne county, Indiana, in the year 1807, when he was but three years of age. Notwithstanding the privations of frontier life he became a comparatively well educated young man and prepared himself for the professions of teaching and land surveying, in both of which he excelled. In the fall of 1832 he came to St. Joseph county to secure for himself a home. He located on a tract immediately east of and adjoining the grounds of the present University of Notre Dame. Previous to this he had made four trips to this county, coming first some time in the year 1824. With him came his brotherin-law, Evan Chalfaut, who located on a tract adjoining on the south.

In 1833, Mr. Bulla built for himself a house, the first hewed log house in Clay township. It was quite a pretentious building, being constructed of hewed logs, with a hardwood floor of matched oak, a brick chimney and a pine shingle roof. It consisted of one large room, serving the quadruple purpose of kitchen, dining room, bed-room and parlor. In the center the loom was often a conspicuous piece of furniture. There was a garret overhead, with matched soft-wood floor, and reached by a steep winding stair.' This served as a spare bed-room in time of need, and also for storing the spinning wheels, reels, swifts, spools, spool-rack, and the gears, reeds, shvittles, quills, temple and other things belonging to the loom. Among the conveniences on the lower floor were the large open fireplace, containing a crane supplied with hooks of various lengths, on which were suspended, over the fire, the vessels in which the cooking was done. A trap door led to the cellar and there was a closet under the stairs and a ' ' cat hole ' ' near the back door.

"While boarding with his brother-in-law, Mr. Bulla was employed as a teacher in his new house and also in South Bend. Amongst his pupils were Lea P. Johnson, Judge Thos. S. Stanfield and the great wagon manufacturer. Alexis Coquillard, the younger, nephew of the founder of the city of South Bend. Mr. Bulla married Hannah, daughter of Captain Gideon Draper, another distinguished pioneer of the county. She was a worthy helpmate of Mr. Bulla, and herself made a strong impression for good, not only upon her five children, but upon the whole conununity. Mr. Bulla, besides being a teacher and farmer, was for eighteen years county surveyor, succeeding Tyra W. Bray, in 1837. Among the early settlers, friends and neighbors of Mr. Bulla, living within a radius of two miles, were his brother William F. Bulla, Evan Chalfant, Pierre Navarre, Anthony Defrees, Gideon and David Draper, Asa Bennett, Ezekiel Benton, Joseph Metzger, James Stuckey, Samuel Brooks, Louis Swearingen, James J. Lane, Stephen and Joseph Ulery, the Reverend Edwin Sorin, Brother Lawrence, Brother Francis Xavier, Isaac Eaton, Jacob Eaton, John Eaton, Samuel R. and Jesse W. Jennings, John R.. Thompson, Aaron Hoover, - all of whom have passed from the activities of this life to the realities of the life beyond.

Sec. 4. - Recollections op Hugh V. Comp- TON. - To cover the early history of another part of the county, we give here the recollections of Hugh V. Compton as to his early life on Terre Coupee prairie.^ In 1830, when Mr.

Compton was a child but one year old, he came with his father from Ohio to ^lontgomery county, in this state, where the family remained for nearly six years ; after which they made preparations to move to St. Joseph county. Mr. Compton says:

"We started for St. Joseph county about the 19th of June, 1836. I remember the neighbors coming in to bid us goodbye and also a pet deer with a bell on its neck. They would pet it for a while and then set the dogs on it to see it run. We moved in a covered wagon and I do not remember much that happened on the way except when we crossed the Wabash river at Logansport. I remember that as we drove on the ferry a cow swam the river at the same time. We forded the Eel river coming out of town, there being only Ja footbridge. The last night before arriving at Terre Coupee we stayed the other side of South Bend, which at that time was a very small town consisting of a few houses, two or three stores, a small brick court house, a log jail and the old American hotel. I thought the road from South Bend 'to the prairie would never come to an end, but about noon the 24th of June we landed at what is now the Bates farm, then owned by a widow Smith and rented by uncle Joe Ivens. My mother and family remained with aunt Sally Ivens and aunt Maria Dniliner while father went to Illinois to look for a location. He went on horseback and was gone about four weeks but concluded to remain in St. Joseph county. We moved into a cabin at Hamilton which stood back of the store and about where Isaac Faroute's house stands now. That same fall John Caskadden came and moved into a school house that stood in what is now the cemetery. At that time there Wv^re but four graves there. The ground was not fenced in and the graves were protected by log pens. Jonathan Hubbard and family lived on the south side of the road in a cabin near the present Hubbard residence. The cabin was built for a man by the name of Garwood and was the first cabin built on that side of the prairie.

John Druliner, his brothers and Mr. Garwood had all moved from Ohio in 1830, about the time my father went to Montgomery county. Uncle John Druliner and a party first landed on the south side of the prairie and camped until they could build their log houses.

"They began cutting down trees and digging wells, but found water so near the surface that they concluded to see what was on the other side of the prairie, and finding it higher they all moved over there. They hauled the logs that were already cut to build the Garwood home, and then each of the Druliners built a home and they all helped one another untff they were completed.

"While living at Hamilton during the ^\anter of '36 and '37, father went back to Montgomery county, to settle up his business and bring the rest of our goods. Uncle John Druliner went with him to buy horses. While father was away my two uncles, Elias and William Compton, came and stayed over night with us. They drove from near Crawfordsville to Michigan City with loads of wheat and returned with loads of salt. The wagons were the old Ohio or freight wagons, such as were used to haul merchandise over the mountains when emigration reached west of the AUeghenies.

"At one time that winter there were five or six hundred Indians camping acro.ss the road from the church. They were on their way to Detroit to receive pay from the government for their lands. They were a queer looking set with rings in their ears and noses. They wanted to bu}' everything to eat. Someone had butchered hog-s and they took all that wa.s thrown away, boiled it and made soup.

' ' During the winter father fixed up a sleigh and put a cow-bell on the end of the tongue. Our family, ]\Irs. Luther and her son George, all took a ride to Uncle John Druliner 's, but the road being rough and full of stumps, and the knees of the sled being low, we got stuck several times. This Avas the first sleighride that I remember.

"In the spring of '37 father rented a piece of land of Dick Carlisle, a field of twenty or thirty acres lying just south of the town. This was a neck of the prairie joined to the main prairie through J. H. Service's farm, back of his house. We lived in a cabin southwast of town on a road that led to the Lucos and Warren farms. Before father had finished plowing, an old man by the name of Billy Pellet came and told him he had bought the land and wanted possession. He said he was going to lay it out in town lots, etc. Father told him it didn't belong to him or Dick Carlisle, as he had rented it for one year. Carlisle proposed to change and let him have some land north of town, about where the depot is and taking in a part of the Egbert farm. It was then unbroken prairie, and Carlisle proposed to furnish a team and someone to assist. He sent his brother-in-law. They broke the ground, moved the fence and raised oats on the south part of the field and corn on the north.

"New Carlisle at that time was a very small place. Where most of the town is now, it was oak grubs and woods. There were three small stores, one in what is now Fack's meat market, kept by Mr. jNIatthews (Schuyler Colfax's step-father) and a partner by the name of Ervin; a grocery on the corner east of Warner's drug store, owned by Garrett Morris; also one owned by Charles Egbert, near where E. C. Taylor's grocery now is; and one by Dr. Egbert, located just west of the hotel. The hotel was built by a man by the name of Chocklet Cramner and was sold to Richard Cramner before it was finished. Dick Carlisle's house stood near where Dr. VanRyper's house now stands. There were some log cabins in the yard, one occupied by Samuel Bates (known as Stubby) and the other by Chocklet Cramner. Across the street was Mr. Matthew's residence, a small frame house. West of this there were no buildings except a small house west of Dr. Egbert's store, occupied by Eber

"Bersaw's pole cabin, which stood near where John Hauser's home now stands, was used in the summer for a school house. An eastern woman taught the school, and I attended, coming from our home southwest of town, through the oak grubs. An incident I well remember was that Carlisle Egbert, Dr. Egbert's son, and I were wrestling and the boys told the teacher w^e were fighting. She ordered three whips, called us in and told each to whip the other. I refused to do my part of the whipping; the other boy did his part, and the teacher whipped mo because I would not whip the other boy, so I received a double portion. Finally Mary Ann Ivens, my cousin, put a stop to the performance. I will mention here that the first school I attended in this county was witli Charles Ivens and his sisters, in a log schoolhouse near and a little south of the present Kinney school-house. One log was removed for a window, there having been some glass in, but some of it w^as broken and a greased paper was put in its place. A board was put under the window for a writing desk and also a long board for a seat; so when the scholars wrote they went to the window and sat with their backs to the teacher. The boys had dug a hole in the ground, three or four feet deep, and for mischief put Henry Ranstead, then about seven years old, in it. When school was called and Henry did not put in his appearance, his sisters informed the teacher of his whereabouts and the boys received a thrashing.

"In the fall of 1837 there was a race-track built south of the town. There were, in fact, two tracks about a rod apart, and each a mile long. They started from the Burk or Garoutte farm and extended in a northwest direction to where Mrs. Jane Shank's house now stands. Each track was put in shape by Stubby Bates. He turned a large iron kettle bottom up and hitched a horse to it, got on

"In the fall of 1837, Schuyler Colfax, afterwards vice-president of the United States, then a boy helping in the store of his stepfather, Mr. Matthew^s, sometimes hauled wood from the Lucos place, passing our house, and I often went with him, and as I remember him now I think of him as being both a boy and a man.

"I attended my first Sunday school in New Carlisle, Mrs. Matthews, her mother, Mrs. Stryker, and Schuyler Colfax having the management of it. What I had in the way of fine clothes were some of Schuyler's outgrown ones.

"In the summer of '37 I earned my first money, a shilling, or 121/4 cents. A man, named Dawson, hired me to go to James Gilbreth's on what is now the Pidge farm for a powder horn. I bought a cap with the money and they called it seal skin, but I think it was cow hide or dog skin. I kept it in a raisin box under the bed and often crawled under to see and smell my cap. On one of these occasions my father stepped on my fingers and I have the marks yet.

"Sometime during the winter of '37 and '38 father moved to what was then the William Baldwin farm. While living on this farm my father's two sisters, Nancy and Lucy Ann Compton. and Hugh Vail (whose deceased wife was father's sister, Rebecca) and his son, Randall, came from Ohio to visit us. While hei'e we all went to father's land, south of town (purchased of Clayborn Smith) and had a picnic. We took our dinner and used a large stump for a table.

"A small deadening and a pole cabin were the only improvements, except a log house begun the year before; and the whole country from Carlisle to Sauktown was a dense forest except a few pioneers, the Parnells, Hootons and a man by the name of West. At that time there was no road laid out from Carlisle to this laud. We cleared out a road around the west end of Burk's marsh in a southeast direction to our farm. At that time there was a road from Plainfield in a southwest direction to Sauktown. Father got up a petition for a county road where the road now is from New Carlisle south, but a remonstrance got up by a few who lived on the Plainfield road because they wanted the work all on their road, etc., prevented the county road from being made. But not to be outdone, father petitioned for a state road and had it before the opposition knew it. "Late in the fall of '38, father concluded to finish the house on the farm. He employed a man by the name of Job Smith to do the work. I went with him for company and as a cook. The house was a cabin of one room and a loft where there were two beds. The way of getting to this part of the cabin was by large pegs put in holes in the logs. There were three windows and a door which faced the east. Smith laid the floor, put in the door and windows and built the chimney, which was made of sticks and plastered with clay mixed with straw. I was much alarmed one night when I heard an owl and thought it was a wolf. Sometimes the Parnell and Hooton boys would come o^rer to visit us. The cabin was finally finished and we moved in on Christmas Day, 1838."

One of the most enjoyable and profitable recreations is that of old settlers' reunions, held annually, or oftener, in some picturesque spot in the county, or some neighboring county. Here come together old friends anil neighbors who have known one another from the days of the first settlements; and with them come their children and grandchildren. The old folks gather in little groups and recount the stories of other days; while the younger people engage in varied sports and games that make the woodlands happy. Afterwards young and old come together in some shady nook M^here the rustic feast is spread by each family upon^ a grasvsy plat; and there the keen appetites enjoy foods

Few sights are more touching than that of an elderly couple seated complacently, on such an occasion, in the shade of a spreading oak or beech, looking upon the enjoyments of their children, and talking quietly to one another and to their old friends.

One such annual reunion is the Pennsylvania picnic, held at Island park, in the city of Elkhart, on the third Saturday of August each year. At this reunion are welcomed all Pennsylvanians and their descendants, residing in northern Indiana and southern ]Michigan. The picnic has now been given annually for upwards of twenty-five years ; and is looked forward to each year with eagerness by all our citizens of the splendid race that came to us from the Keystone State. There is no better blood in the citizenship of St. Josph county than that of the sturdy sons of that old commonwealth. The founders of our Pennsylvania picnic Avere William B. Garman, Michael F. Shuey and the Rev. James D. Huchison, of Elkhart county. Many of the most eminent persons of this and neighboring counties have been active participators in those annual reunions at Island park, - among them the late Joseph A. S. IVIitchell, judge of the Indiana Supreme Court : and also his life long friend and admirer, the Hon. John B. Stoll, of this county.

Another of these reunions is the annual pioneer picnic of northern Indiana and southern Michigan, held at Clear lake, in Warren township, near the state line, where the old settlers and their families from St. Joseph county, Indiana, Berrien county, Michigan, and other counties in both states, gather on the beautiful wooded border of that fine. lake. Besides the sports, shows and feasting, there is always at this picnic, as well as at the Pennsylvania, picnic, entertaining speech and song, commemorative of the past and promising for the future. There, too, comes the reformer, the politician, the man of affairs; and there weighty measures are often discussed which afterwards become a part of the laws of the hind. But the main purpose of the reunions is reminiscence, as to the past; enjoyment, as to the present; and hio'h hope, as to the future.

At the picnic held at Clear lake, August 15, 1900, the writer of this history had the pleasure to deliver such an address to the assembled pioneers. It was as follows :