St. Joseph County, Indiana - Chapter 8: The Townships, 1907 (part 1 of 2)

In chapter fifth, subdivision second, we Range two west is now within Laporte have seen that St. Joseph county proper, county,' as is also the west half of range one as originally formed, was thirty miles square ; west. A part of the east half of range one and that, in addition, there was attached to west is all of Deschemin township that still the county for governmental purposes all the remains in St. Joseph county. The name of unorganized territory west to the Illinois line, the township was, no doubt, a corruption of including the present counties of Laporte, the French Du Chemin, by which name Hud- Porter and Lake, as well as parts of Mar- son lake was formerly known. This lake was shall and Starke. Afterwards all unorgan- in the heart of the township. As we have ized territory to the south was added for jurisdictional purposes. The area of the county proper included ranges one and two west, and one, two and three east, and extended thirty miles south of the Michigan line.

On November 25, 1830, the county board, then styled the, board of justices, divided the whole county, including the attached territory, into four townships, as follows:

Sec. 1. - Michigan Township. - The attached territory on the west, that is, all west of the line dividing ranges two and three west, and extending to the Illinois state line, was called Michigan township. This township included the territory now embraced within the western part of Laporte county and all of Porter and Lake counties.

It was called Michigan township from the east was called Portage township. The east circumstance that it was bounded on the boundary of the county at that time was north by Lake Michigan. the east line of range three, so that Portage

Sec. 2. - Deschemin Township. - The first township was a range and a half in width, township east of Michigan embraced ranges the same as German. It included the eastern one and two Avest, and was called Deschemin.

seen, the name first given to Hudson lake - Du Chemin - Of the Road, was no doubt taken froan the great east and west road, long known as the "Great Sauk Trail," and afterwards as the Detroit and Chicago, or simply the Chicago road."'

Sec. 3. - German Tow^nship. - East of Deschemin was German township, eml^racing range one east and also the west half of range two east, and extending consequently nine miles east of the second principal meridian. The township therefore included the eastern part of the present township of Olive, all of Warren, the western part of German and Portage, the greater part of Greene and Liberty, the west part of Union and the east part of Lincoln. It is said to have been named from some German settlers then residing within its boundaries.

parts of the present townships of German, Portage and Union, all of Clay and Center and the western parts of Harris, Penn and Madison. The township was named from the old portage extending through the township from the St. Joseph to the Kankakee.

On September 7, 1831, being the first meeting of our first board of county commissioners, the board repealed and set aside the order of the board of justices, made November 25, 1830, and ordered that the county be divided into three townships, as follows :

Sec. 1. - Portage Township. - The order of the county commissioners was that Portage township should embrace ranges two and three east. The township included the present townships of German, Clay, Portage, Center and Union ; the east parts of Greene and Liberty; and the west parts of Harris, Penn and Madison, - being about one-half the area of the present county. It included, besides, a part of IMarshall county.

Sec. 2. - Center Township. - Ranges one east and one west were by the same order formed into the township of Center. This township embraced all of the present county of St. Joseph west of the east line of Warren township, and nearly all of the east tier of townships of the present county of Laporte, besides parts of Marshall and Starke counties.

Sec. 3. - Highland Township. - All the territory west of range number one west was formed into a township which was called Highland. No part of this township was within the present limits of St. Joseph county. The township, no doubt, received its name from the high lands of rolling prairie.

Sec. 4. - Commissioners' Districts. - In the same order the county board provided that Portage township should form the first county commissioners' district; Center township, the second district ; and Highland township, the third district.

On January 9, 1832, the county of Laporte was organized, taking from St. Joseph county all territory west of the middle line of range number one west. On the 31st of the same month the legislature detached from Elkhart oounty and added to St. Joseph county the west half of range number four east.« It therefore became necessary for the county board of St. Joseph county to make a third division of the county into townships. Accordingly, on May 6, 1832, it was ordered that the county be divided into three new tow^nships, as follows:

Sec. 1. - Penn Township. - All that pare of St. Joseph county lying east of the line dividing ranges two and three east was formed into a to\\Tiship called Penn. The township so formed embraced all the territory now included in the townships of Harris, Penn and Madison, and also the east parts of Clay, Portage, Center and Union.

Sec. 2. - Portage Township. - By the same order range two east was formed into a township which was called Portage. This township included the territory embraced within the present township of German, besides parts of Clay, Portage, Greene, Center, Liberty and Union.

Sec. 3. - Olive Township. - All of the county lying west of range two east was constituted a township called Olive. This township included the territory embraced in the present townships of Warren, Olive and Lincoln, and parts of Greene and Liberty. The township was named after Olive Stanton Vail, wife of Charles Vail, who settled in the township in 1830.

Sec. 4. - Commissioners' Districts. - The board in the same order re-arranged the county commissioners' districts, as follows: The first district embraced all of the county east of range two east ; the second district, all of the county within range two east; and the third, all of the county west of range two east. The first district, consequently, ema. See Chap. 5, Subd. 9, of this History.

braced all the territory of Penn township; the second, all of Portage; and the third, all of Olive. These townships have been very much changed since that time ; but the county commissioners' districts have remained unchanged since the order so made by the county board, January 9, 1832.

Besides the townships of Michigan, Deschemin and Highland, which were lost to St. Joseph county on the west, we also lost two others; one on the south and one on the northeast.

Sec. 1. - Plymouth. - On September 1, 1834, the county board ordered that all the territory of the county lying south of the north line of congressional township thirtyfive north, should form a new township to be called Plymouth. The township so formed included the south parts of the present townships of Madison, Union and Liberty, and all of Lincoln. It also included so much of the present counties of Marshall and Starke as then formed a part of St. Joseph county.

In the order setting off the township the board provided for an election for the choice of two justices of the peace for said township, to be held on the 27th of September, 1834. On October 13th of the same year the election so held Avas contested before the board; when the contest was sustained and a new" election ordered. Both elections were held "at Grove Pomeroy's, in said town of Plymouth, in St. Joseph county." Mr. Pomeroy was himself appointed inspector of election until the ensuing April election. At the May term, 1835, of the county board, Samuel D. Tabor was "allowed the sum of one dollar and a half for making a return of the election of Plymouth township. ' '

The town of Plymouth, now the county seat of Marshall county, was situated in and gave its name to the toA^mship of Plymouth. We have already seen that the plat of this town was filed and recorded in the office of the recorder of St. Joseph county, in October, 1834." The commissioners' records show that on December 7, 1835, there was recorded therein the description and plat of the "survey of the state road from Goshen in Elkhart county, to Pljonouth, in St. Joseph county. ' '

By an act of the legislature approved February 7, 1835, the north boundary of ]\Iarshall county was defined to be the north line of congressional township thirty-four, leaving all of township thirty-five in St. Joseph county. This congressional township, as we have seen, was included in the civil township of Plymouth. The act of February 7, 1835, does not seem to have been intended as completing the organization of Marshall county ; but by an act passed at the next session of the legislature, February 4, 1836, the county was finally organized, and the north boundary of the county was extended to the middle line of congressional township thirtyfive, thus leaving in St. Joseph county only so much of Plymouth township as M^as included in the north half of congressional township thirty-five.^ The conseciuence was that Plymouth, as a township of St. Joseph county, ceased to exist, the territory still remaining being attached to the adjacent townships of the county, as their boundaries were defined by successive orders of the board of county commissioners.

Sec. 2. - Washington. - But few of the people of St. Joseph county are aware that Washington was the name of a township once provided for by order of our county board. This township was located in the southeast corner of the county, and embraced all of fractional congressional township thirtyeight that lies east of the west line of sections eight, seventeen, twenty, twenty-nine and thirty-two, township thirty-eight north, range three east. It included the territory of the present township of Harris, the north part of Penn and the east part of Clay.

The order for the fonnatiou af the town- ent township of German, the west part of ship was made May 4, 1835 ; and in the same Clay and the east part of Warren, order it w^as provided that all elections in By an order of the county hoard for the the township should be held at the house of formation of Warren township, Novemlber 5, Jonathan Hartsell. It does not appear, how- 1838, the tier of sections on the west of ever, that any election took place in Wash- German was attached to Warren; and by a ington township; and the order for the like order for the formation of Clay townformation of the township was itself ex- ship. May 5, 1840, that part of German east punged from the record of the board, for of the St. Joseph river was attached to Clay, the reason, no doubt, that the action taken These changes, left German township of the was not favored by a majority of the people dimensions which it still retains; namely, all affected. During the next year, as we shall of congressional fractional township thirtysee, a smaller township, that of Harris, was eight north, range two east, which lies west formed out of a part of the same territory, of the St. Joseph river. The first German omitting the south tier of sections proposed township, that formed by order of the board for Washington township. of .justices, November 25, 1830, was a much across the river, and where the over sanguine projectors felt sure that a great town must grow np. But the Miami village, Mount Pleasant, St. Joseph and Portage have all passed, leaving not a vestige of their former urban life. Riverview cemetery almost reaches the site of La Salle's landing, and extends out, as if in sympathy with the dead towns of St. Joseph and Portage. A little lower down the stream, is the new and beautiful county asylum, for the poor and helpless, lately erected in close proximity to thase historic scenes and surroundings.

That the old portage is in German township, that the first county seat was there and that its prairies are among the finest farm lands in the world, is quite enough to enable us to understand why this should be the first township to be carved out of the original three. From the nature of things, such a locality must have attracted settlers in the very beginning. William Brookfield, our first surveyor, and the man who laid out our first and our second county seat, came in 1827. In chapter fourth, subdivision fourth, we have already given the names of some of the other settlers of this township, from 1827 to 1833.

The first church erected was a brick building still standing on section eighteen, township thirty-eight range two east. It is German Baptist, and was erected in 1851. But church services were held at a much earlier date. The first pastor was Elder David Miller, who organized a congregation in 1831. Aaron Miller was also a minister of the church.

John Martindale, a minister of the Christian church, and Robert Martindale. his brother, a minister of the Baptist church, were also religious teachers in the early history of the county, preaching and holding services in school-housas and private homes.

A Methodist church, erected in 1854, passed to the Baptist church, and is still occupied by that church. Elder Campbell was the first- minister to liold services in the church.

This church is located in the southwest corner of section fifteen. Mr. Josiah G. Keltner has been an active member of this church, and the membership has been steady and continuous from the beginning.

There is a Universalist church on section thirty-two. The congregation was organized in 1858. The first pastor was the Rev. Jacob IMerrifield.

The first school bouse in the township was built at Mount Pleasant; and schools have been maintained ever since by this intelligent community ; from those conducted in the simple log school house of the first settlers to the comfortable edifices of the present day. The census of the township, for 1890, showed five hundred and thirteen inhabitants. This population had increased, in 1900, to five hundred and thirty-six.

The record of German township, save in the efforts to build up towns, has been that of a prasperous community. This prosperity has been purely agricultural. The people of the township have accepted and believed in the truth, that there is no more happy or useful life than that of the contented farmer who has reached comfortable conditions. This is the ideal life; and such rural communities are the security of the strength and stability of our free institutions.

Sec. 2. - Greene. - The second to\vnship to be carved out of the original three w^as Greene, which was formed January 4, 1836. The following were the boundaries of the township as then constituted : Commencing at the southeast corner of section one, township thirty-six, range tw^o east; thence west to middle of section three, same township and range; thence north to the north line of section twenty-seven, township thirty-seven, range two east; thence west to the Kankakee river; thence with the Kankakee to the Laporte county line; thence south to the south line of congressional township thirty-five; thence east to the east line of section thirtysix, township thirty-five, range two east; thence north to the point of beginning. This territory included the present townships of Greene, Liberty and Lineohi ; also the west part of Union and the southwest part of Center, besides the northwest part of what is now IMarshall county, but which at the time was still in St. Joseph county.

By the act of February 4, 1836, fixing the northern boundary of Marshall county, the south line of Greene township was made to coincide with the present south boundary of St. Joseph .county, as far to the east as the township then extended.

On IMareh 6, 1837, by the order of the county board in forming the township of Union, all of the territory east of the present township of Liberty and south of the present township of Center was taken from Greene and attached to LTnion.

By the order of the county board, made May 2, 1837, the to^Aaiship of Liberty was formed. In this order the south line of Greene was fixed a.s at present, that is, the middle line of congressional township thirtysix.

Finally, by the order of May 6, 1840, forming Center township, the east line of Greene was fixed as at present, to-wit, the middle line of range two east.

By orders of the board of county commissioners, made September 8, 1841, July 1, 1843 and June 6, 1844, various slight changes were made in the boundaries of the townships of Greene, Olive and AVarren, resulting, however, in leaving the Kankakee river as the boundary of Greene on the northwest, as fixed by the order of January 4, 1836. when the township was first formed. But after the drainage of the valley and the drying up of the Kankakee along this boundary, it was found that the great ditch, which was cut for the purpose of making that drainage, would be a more suitable division line between the townships than the winding line of the dried up river bed. Accordingly, on June 20, 1898, the commissioners made the following order: the changing of the boundary lines between the townships of Olive, Warren and Greene, made necessary by private individuals causing a large ditch [The Miller Ditch] to be dug through the Kankakee marsh, thus drying up the Kankakee river which has been the boundary line between said townships, find that it would be of public interest and benefit that the old lines be vacated, and that the middle line of said ditch, as now established and dug, shall be the dividing line between said townships, from and after this date."

The great ditch which was thus made the boundary between the township of Greene, on the one side, and the townships of Olive and Warren on the other follows closely the general line of the Kankakee river, whose place it has taken both as a water-course and as a boundary.

The Kankakee river extends along all of the northwest side of the to\vnship ; while in the northeast part is Sumption prairie, one of the richest and most beautiful of the prairies of St. Joseph county. The township is further remarkable by reason of its numerous lakes, - Goose lake. Duck lake, Wharton lake, Bolin lake, - and many others. The township has always been purely an agricultural one.

In the reminiscences ,of Mr. Daniel Greene, found in chapter fourth, subdivision fifth, of this history, a full and interesting account of the early settlement of this township is given. The beauty and fertility of Sumption prairie made this one of the sections of the county to which settlers were first attracted. The prairie was named from George Sumption who settled upon it in April, 1830; while the township received its name from the Greene family. Daniel Greene's father, John Greene, first visited northern Indiana, on horseback, in 1830. He continued his explorations of Indiana and southern Michigan in 1831; and, finally, in 1832, the family, with many kinfolk and friends from Greene county, Ohio, made their removal to Sump- tion prairie, which was to be their perma^ nent home. Samuel Leeper, in company with his father-in-law, Joseph Rohrer, first came to the St. Joseph valley in August, 1829. In ]\Iareh, 1830, he brought his family here from Ohio. They located near McCartney's creek, just north of the crossing of the Michigan road, where David R. Leeper was born, January 12, 1832. They subsequently removed to a point on Sumption prairie road about three miles south of South Bend. Daniel Greene married Mr. Samuel Leeper 's daughter. Those early settlers seemed to give character to the population of the township; and the inhabitants of that beautiful section of the county have to this day stood breast to breast with the most intelligent and progressive of our citizens. It is an ideal fanning community; and what has been said in this respect of German township is true also of Greene.

The JMethodist church was the first to be established in the township. This was in 1832, under the Rev. Nehemiah B. Griffith.^ As in German township, the services were for a long time conducted in private houses and in the log school houses. In 1841 a church edifice was erected. Numerous zealous ministers have served the worthy members of that church from the date of its first organization by Mr. Griffith, in 1832, until the present time. Among them are the Reverend James Armstrong, R. T. Robinson, G. M. Beswick, Richard Hargrave, Warren Griffith, Elias Cook, Mr. Moore, J. S. Donelson, Hiram Ball. Thomas Hackney, Albion Fellows, P. H. Bradley, John Mahon, George Guion, A. Byers, A. Hayes, Jesse Hill, J. H. Claypool, John E. Newhouse, E. W. Lowhouse, J. J. Hines, J. Robertson, B. H. Bradberry, Reuben Saunders, Francis Cox, 0. H. Beebc. In 1865 the society built a new and commoa. Mr. Daniel Greene, whose interesting reminiscences are given in Chap. 4, Subd. 6, of this work, says that George Baker, father of Adam S. and George W. Balder, was instrumental in establishing this first Methodist church in Greene township, and that he there organized the first Sunday school south of South Bend.

In 1836, the Rev. Alfred Bryant, of South Bend, organized the first Presbyterian churcli in Greene township. Other ministers have been the Reverend Messrs. Tombley, Reeves and Brown. The latter was a chaplain in the Civil war. The first members of this church were John McCullough and his family and Mr. and Mrs. Hammond. Members of the Greene family and others soon after joined. The original church was built in 1838. Previous to that date services were held in a school house on the site now occupied by the church, on the farm of Mr. McCullough.

On February 22, 1846, Elders Samuel Miller and Peter Hummer organized a Baptist society. Other ministers have been Elders McDonald, Hastings, Hitchcock, Miller, Craft, Vaughn and Finch. The society, like others, at first occupied a school house; but in 1852 they took measures for the erection of a church, which was completed in 1855.

The German Baptists, known also as Dunkards, whose pui'pose is to live the simple, primitive life of the early Christians, erected at an early day, what is usually called the Oak Grove church. One of the earliest ministers of this church was Mr. Whitmer.

A society was also established which built a church in the southeast part of the township, known as Maple Grove church. This society was afterwards removed to Olive Branch, in Union township, where, in 1878, they erected a beautiful little church which the society still occupies.

The first school house in the township was erected in 1832. There were then neither special nor common school funds available; and the people came together and built the simple log structure, with its puncheon floor and clapboard roof. To keep up the schools of those early days the people voluntarily taxed themselves for the necessary funds. Among the early teachers were Messrs. Holloway, Rohn, Dwindle, and Miss Greene. By the United States census of 1900, the population of Greene township was seven hundred and seventy-two.

Sec. 3. - Harris. - In subdivision fourth of this chapter, it is shown that the township of Washington was formed in the southeast corner of St. Joseph county, by order of the county board, made i\Iay 4, 1835. This order was canceled soon after it was made; but a few months later, on January 5, 183(5, the township of Harris was fonned in the same locality, but embracing less territory. The boundaries of Harris township, as formed by the last mentioned order were as follows: Commencing at the northwest corner of section eight, township thirty-eight, range three east; thence south to the southwest corner of section twentv-nine, same township and range; thence east to the county line ; thence north to the state line ; thence east to the place of beginning.

By an order made May 5, 1840, the county board, in forming Clay township, detached a section and a half in width, east and west, off the west side of Harris and attached the same to Clay. On December 7, 1842, another half section in width, east and west, was detached from Harris and added to Clay. By these two orders Harris was reduced to its present dimensions, to-wit : Beginning on the north boundary of the state, at the northwest corner of fractional section ten, township thirty-eight north, range three east; thence south to the southwest 'corner of section twenty-seven, same township and range; thence east to the line dividing St. Joseph and Elkhart counties; thence north to the

Harris resembles Greene township in one particular: it contains one of the finest upland prairies in the county, and it also contains a large area of lowland. There is, how^ever, no river in or near Harris, as there is in Greene; but a sluggish stream, known as Sheffield creek farther down, formerly led through the marsh land to the St. Joseph river. This stream has been converted into a great state ditch; and the lowlands have become nearly as valuable as the uplands of Harris prairie.

The prairie and the township both received their name from Jacob Harris, who settled in the township in 1830. In the same year or the year previous came the Baldwins, David and Josephus. Samuel Bell came with his father-in-law, Jacob Harris. During the same year, 1830, came Adam Miller, a Baptist preacher; also Adam Ringle. Other very early settlers were: Joseph Buell, Henry Aug-ustine, Jacob Meyer, Mr. Hartzell, Robert Kennedy, David Ringle and his sons Samuel and Levi, Arbogast Zaehnle, W. and E. M. Irvin and James Lowry.

The firet school-house was of logs, and in dimensions fourteen by sixteen feet. A large fireplace, into which a big "back-log" was first placed, with a "fore-stick" supported on "and-irons" furnished the means of securing a roaring fire for the winter days. The chimney was of short sticks laid like the logs of the hoiLse, and, like the logs, chinked with mud made of stiff clay.

The first school master was Robert Kennedy. He was one of the good and strong men, not only of Harris township, but of St. Joseph county itself. He afterwards removed to St. Edward, Nebraska, and there bore the same high character that had disting-uished him in Indiana.

a thriving, though as yet quite small town, the town of Granger, situated on the Grand Trunk railroad. This road passes northeasterly from Mishawaka, through Penn and Harris townships. The next station beyond Granger is Edwardsburg, in the state of Michigan. The population of Harris township by the eensiLs of 1900. including the town of Granger, was four hundred and eighty-one. The township is next to the smallest in the county, having but a section of land more than Center. But, like Center, Harris makes up in quality for what it lacks in quantity.

Sec. 4. - Union. - On March . 6, 1837, by order of the county commissioners, the township of Union was formed, with the following boundaries: Beginning at the northwest corner of section twenty, township thirty-six, range two east; thence south to the county line ; thence east to the southeast corner of section eighteen, township thirty-five, range three east; thence north to the northeast corner of section nineteen, township thirty-six, range three east; thence west to the place of beginning.

The following sections were afterwards taken from Madison and added to Union: sections seventeen, eight and five, and the west half of sections sixteen, nine and four, township thirty-five, north; also sections thirty-two and twenty-nine, the west half of section thirty-three, the southwest quarter of section twenty-eight and the south half of section twenty, township thirty-six, north,- - all in range three, east.

The first settlements in this township were on the Michigan road lands. Elijah Lineback, John Henderson, John Gardner and the three Rectors, John, Jacob and Mark, came in 1833. Other very early settlers were : Hubbard Henderson, John, James and Eli Moon, James Annis, Michael Hupp, Abijah Mills, William H. Robertson, Henry Hardy, Esau Lamb, Daniel Glenn, Amos Heston, Henry Riddle, John Riddle, James Watson, John Shively, William Hughes, Joseph Morris, W. Nickelson, David Wliitinger and John Long.

Originally the soil of this township was not looked upon with favor by settlere. It was chiefly heavily timbered clay and marsh land ; and while the soil was a strong and fertile one, yet not until after its drainage was the locality looked upon as desirable for farming. The drainage has now to a great extent been accomplished, and some of the choicest farms of the county are to be found in Union township.

There is but one town in the township, the village of Lakeville. This town was built up near the banks of Riddle's lake, just south of the town. Pleasant lake and numerous other pretty little lakes are in the vicinity. At first Lakeville depended upon the travel along the Michigan road and upon the slowly growing settlements in the vicinity ; but after the building of the Vandalia railroad its prosperity was assured, and since the Wabash from Toledo to Chicago was built through the town, its growth has been rapid.

One mile north of Lakeville, in 1858, was built the first church in the township. This was built by the Methodist Episcopal Society, which had been organized about 1839.

The United Brethren Society was organized about the same time as the Methodist Episcopal. The meeting place of this society was about two miles north of Lakeville. In 1878, they removed to Olive Branch, and built the church of that name of which we have made mention in the sketch of Greene township.

The Advent Society erected a church in 1880. For a great number of years previous to this the society held meetings in the schoolhouses and in private houses. In the summer of 1862, they held protracted services in a tent erected for that purpose.

built of logs, with split slabs laid togetlier for a floor. The schools and school-houses of the present day are a credit to the intelligence of the enterprising and prosperous citizens of this township. The population of Union township by the census of 1900, including the town of Lakeville, was one thousand, seven hundred and thirty-three.

Sec. 5. - Liberty. - Liberty followed Union very closely. By order entered IMay 2, 1837, the county commissioners provided that the following territory should be embraced within a township to be known as Liberty: Beginning at the northwest corner of section twenty, township thirty-six, range two east; thence west to the Kankakee river; thence down the river to the Laporte county line; thence south to the Starke county line ; thence east to the west line of Marshall county; thence north to the north line of Marshall county ; thence east to the southeast corner of section eighteen, township thirty-five, range two east; thence north to the place of beginning.

The township continued as formed in 1837, until June 7, 1866, when all the territory south and west of the following line was taken from Liberty and formed into Lincoln township : Beginning at the intersection of the south line of Congressional township thirtysix with the Kankakee river; thence east to the southeast corner of section thirty-six, to\^Tiship thirty-six, range one west; thence south to the southwest corner of section six, township thirty-five, range one east; thence east to the southeast corner of section five, township thirty-five, range one east; thence south to the Marshall county line. Liberty township, as so limited, has continued unchanged ever since.

The region along the Kankakee is low land, but has been reclaimed. Several small lakes are found in other parts of the township, the lands in the vicinity having also been reclaimed by drainage. The uplands are in general exceedingly fertile; gravel and sandy

Settlements were first made in 1833, near the site of the present town of North Liberty. Those who came that year were Jacob and John Earhart, John Kane and Isaac Townsend. Other early settlers were: Daniel Ross, Jesse Palmer, James Loring, John and David Rupel, Joseph Liggett, Amos Liggett, Levi and Benjamin Collins, Daniel Antrim, James P. Antrim, Samuel Loring, James Cole, Franklin Pearce, Jacob Dukeman, Samuel and S. G. Williams, Rheinhard Cripe and Mr. Waldsmith, - all worthy pioneers, who laid broad and deep the foundations of an industrious, well-ordered and prosperous community.

The town of North Liberty is located in the northwest part of the township ; and is a growing and prosperous community, being situated at the junction of two of our great railroads, the Wabash and the Three "I," now operated by the Lake Shore Railroad Company. The town was laid out January 12, 1836, by Daniel Antrim and James P. Antrim. Tyra W. Bray, one of the early engineers of the county, who had been already county surveyor and who was afterwards county auditor, was the surveyor of the town plat. Some of the most enterprising business men of North Liberty have been the Houser Brothers, the Cole Brothers, Norman S. Miller and Houser & Knepp. The inhabitants of North Liberty and of the township generally, are chiefly of the sturdy Pennsylvania German stock.

The Methodist Society built the first church in the township. It was built in the town of North Liberty in 1851. A finer one was erected in its place in 1878. Some of the most eminent ministers of the church in North Liberty have been the Reverends A. Bradley, R. H. Saunders, Samuel T. Cooper, H. B. Ball, Nelson Green, James Green, Samuel Godfrey, J. C. Metzger, S. Lamb and C. W. Miller.

Liberty in 1868. The Episcopalians a little later. The German Baptists are amongst the most numerous of the Christian societies in the township. They have two churches in the country. The Evangelical denomination is also represented. Also the Lutheran and the United Brethren.

The usual first log school-house was. erected in 1838. Since that date the schools have grown numerous and have improved as others in the county. A high-school was erected in the town of North Liberty in 1868.

Notwithstanding the prosperous town of North Liberty, with its fine railroad facilities; the township is nevertheless essentially an agricultural district. The farming community is an example of all that is characteristic of good American citizenship. But little litigation reaches the county seat. The people lead sober, industrious and contented lives. The nation is strong in the lives of such citizens. There is no happier life than that of the Liberty township farmer. According to the census of 1900, the population of the township, including that of the town of North Liberty, was one thousand, eight hundred and forty-three, North Liberty having five hundred and four.

Sec. 6. - Warren. - The sixth township to be formed by subdivision of the original three, - Penn, Portage and Olive - was Warren, so called for Warren county, Ohio, from which many of the first inhabitants of the township emigrated. The order for the formation of this township was made November 5, 1838; the boundaries then provided for being as follows : Beginning on the state line, at the intersection of the range line between ranges one and two east; thence west to a point eighty rods west of the northwest corner of section ten, township thirty-eight, range one east; thence south to Grapevine creek ; thence down the creek to the Kankakee river; thence up the Kankakee to the range line aforesaid; thence north to the beginning.

already referred to in this chapter and subdivision, in the history of Greene township, certain minor changes were made, from time to time, in the western and southern boundaries of Warren township. The Grapevine creek was always too insignificant a stream to be made a t/ownship boundary; and the Kankakee itself, after the turning of the river into a great ditch, under operation of the drainage laws, was equally unsuited for the purpose.

The result of the various orders referred to was that the west boundary of the township remained as originally fixed, namely, the line running south from a point on the state line eighty rods west of the northwest corner of fractional section ten, township thirtyeight, range one east; except that, in section twenty-one, township thirty-seven, in the same range, for the second eighty rods from the north, the west boundary is removed one hundred and twenty rods west of the range line, and for the remainder of the distance south. through that section, and south through section twenty-eight, and through the north half of section thirty-three, the same township and range, the boundary is removed one hundred and sixty rods west of the range line, while for the remainder of section thirty-three the boundary is placed two hundred and forty rods west of the said range line.

Along the southwestern border of Warren township, as we have seen in relation to Greene, the Kankakee proper, by reason of drainage, ceased to be the boundary ; while the great ditch which absorbed the river was substituted for it also as the boundary between Warren and Greene.

As we said, in chapter first, subdivision ninth, in considering the lakes of St. Joseph county, Warren township is distinguished by its numerous beautiful lakes, extending through the whole length of the township.

Chain lakes, one of the most beautiful clear to west, - the Lake Shore, the Grand Trunk, water groups to be found anywhere, are drain- and the St. Joseph & Southern, now operated ed by a branch of the Grapevine; through by the Michigan Central. Two interurban which the waters find their way into the Kan- lines are also projected and partly constructkakee river. The lakes of Notre Dame are ed, - the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Inthe only lakes in the county which rival the diana, formerly the Indiana railway ; and the beauty and celebrity of Chain lakes. They Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend. In conwere a favorite resort of the Indian long nection with these interurban lines, it is the before the coming of the white man; design to establish pleasure resorts at Chain and perhaps of the Mound Builder long lakes.

of scenery are the portion of the favored in- The population of Warren township, includhabitants of this region. ing the town of Lindley and the town of

The first settlement of the township dates Crum's Point, according to the census of from 1831, when Reynolds Dunn took up a 1900, was nine hundred and forty-four, farm to the northwest of Chain lakes. Other Sec. 7. - Clay. - The township of Clay was settlers who came very early were, W. W. formed May 5, 1840. The boundaries fixed Brick, Peter Wikoff, George Witter, John by the order of that date were as follows: Kingery, Walter Field, Jesse Frame and Beginning on the state line, at the intersechis sons, William, Nathaniel, Cornelius, Isaac, tion of the St. Joseph river ; thence east to the David and Jesse, Nathaniel Wilson, Isaac W. middle point of the north line of fractional Phillips, Harvey Buckles, James Dunbar, section nine, township thirty-eight, range Joseph P. Jones, Joseph Price, Thomas Jack- three east ; thence south through the middle son, Calvin Myler, John Skiles, Theophilus of sections nine, sixteen, twenty-one, twenty- Case, Jacob Mikesell, George Dunnahoo, eight and thirty-three, to the south line of con-

By order of December 7, 1842, the east half of sections nine, sixteen, twenty-one, twentyeight and thirty-three was taken from Harris and Penn townships and added to Clay ; thus fixing the boundaries of Clay township as they have since remained, to-wit : Bounded on the north by the Michigan state line, on the east by the middle line of range three east, on the south by the south line of congressional township thirty-eight, and on the west by the St. Joseph river.

It will be noticed that the west part of Clay, being that part within range two east, and lying along the east side of the St. Joseph river, was formerly in German township ; while the east part, that is, all within range three east, was in Harris and Penn townships.

The inhabitants are proud of the distinction that the township was named after Henry Clay, who at that date had reached the highest place in the estimation of the American people. The first settlements, which were amongst the earliest in the county, were near the St. Joseph river, in what was then Portage, afterwards German and now Clay township. Benjamin Potter, John Hague and William McCombs came in 1829. John and Peter Cripe and Thomas Longley came in 1830 ; Pet^r and Jacob Eaton in 1831. Other early settlers w^ere : William Smith, John H. Smith, John C. Stutsman, Evan C. and Thomas B. Chalfant, James Stuckey, William F. and Thomas P. Bulla, Samuel Brooks, Jonathan Hardy, Francis Jennings, Joseph and Stephen Ulery, Oliver P. Stucky, Menzo Webster, David Sossaman, Jacob Chirhart, Gideon Draper and Ariel Euclid Drapier, John Eyler, Lambert McCombs and John Weaver. In the reminiscences taken from the paper of William D. Bulla, in chapter fourth, subdivision sixth, will be found very many interesting details of the life of Thomas P.

Mr. William H. Drapier, now of Indianapolis, and famous as the author of the Indiana legislative Brevier Exports, but once a Clay township boy, the son of Ariel E. Drapier, draws attention to the circumstance that Gideon and Ariel E. Drapier, Thomas P. and William F. Bulla and Evan C. Chalfant, all settled on section thirty-one, township thirtyeight, range three east, the Drapiers taking up one quarter, Chalfant one quarter and each of the Bullas one quarter; and also to the further circumstance tha/t Evan C. Chalfant married the sister of Thomas P. and William F. Bulla, while Thomas P. Bulla himself became the husband of Hannah, the daughter of Gideon Draper. It is further interesting to note that the Bulla family w^ere closely related to the distinguished Julian, family of Wayne county, Indiana, of which George W. Julian and Jacob B. Julian were perhaps the best known representatives. Both the Julian and the Bulla families were uncompromising opponents of African slavery. The most interesting features of the landscape of Clay township consist of the scenery along the St. Joseph river and around the deep blue lakes of Notre Dame. The Michigan Central railroad, and the Southern Michigan railway (interurban) run through the township, from south to north. The roads, in general, are finely graveled; and excellent farms are found in every section. The soil is chiefly sand and gravel, there being but little clay or lowland within the limits of the township. The crops average well, and are more uniform from . year to year than on stronger soils, failures being very rare ; w^hile the soil is easily worked, from March to December, in wet seasons as well as in dry. Corn, vegetables and fruit are most successfully cultivated.

The occupations of the people of Clay township are almost exclusively agricultural. Four miles north of South Bend, at a picturesque point on the river, there stood for many years a flouring mill, called in later years the Sheffield mill, and more recently the Siders' mill. The water power was supplied by a small bnt constant stream usually known as Sheffield creek, which drained the low lands extending through the southwesterly section of this township and into the marshes in the south part of Harris, almost to the little town of Granger. But the drainage laws have changed all this. A "state ditch" has taken the place of the pretty stream, and the old mill has disappeared from its picturesque eminence on the banks of the St. Joseph. A little above the grist mill there was for a time a saw mill run by the same stream. A Mr. Weaver also had a carding and fulling mill there in an early day. Further up the little stream Stephen Ulery at one time ran a carding machine. On another small stream leading from the Notre Dame lakes to the St. Joseph, a Mr. Graham had a fulling mill. But all these "infant industries'' have disappeared; and the people of the township, except alone thovse connected with the ITniversity of Notre Dame and St. INIary's Academy, are wholly devoted to farming.

On Saturday, July 6, 1901, there appeared in the South Bend Weekly Tribune, a paper on the Passing of the Old Gray Mill, which contained many facts of interest in relation to this ancient "Sheffield" or "Siders' " mill. The paper was undoubtedly from the pen of Mr. Richard H. Lyon, and ought to be preserved in this history of Clay township. Reminiscence and description will be found admirably intermingled in this charming story :

"For more than 60 years the old gray mill stood a picturesque object on the banks of the St. Joseph river four miles north of the city of South Bend. It was the most ancient and most interesting landmark of its kind in all this region. Gray it was in color originally, then it was painted red, but the storms of over half a century had beat against its antiquated clapboards until they had gone back to brown and gray. Of quaint style of architecture, planted in a sequestered, romantic spot, it had all through its long existence filled a mission of usefulness, as well as attracting the attention of painter and poet, of historian and romancer, of the curio fiend and the lover of the beautiful in nature.

"For more than a mile past the site of the old mill the river pursues a straight course and its current sweeps smoothly along, bright, sparkling, never changing. Winding gracefully through a wild glen rippled a clear little brook, that rose many miles away and coursing through a wide stretch of farming lands found its outlet in the St. Joseph at this point. It supplied the mill with power, pouring its watei-s over the big wheel into the broad river. On every side the willow and the alder, the cedar, the juniper brush, the rugged oak and the spreading maple, the sumach and the elder, the thorn tree and the wild grape vine grow in profusion, adding to the charm of a picture of nature and ancient art unsurpassed anywhere.

"Before the days of the modern highway and bridges the pioneers came for many miles over the Indian trails through the forest with their grain to be ground at this mill. A primitive ferry took those across who lived on the opposite side of the stream, and the fame of the mill extended far away. It is related by one of the early settlers of this region that the meeting in the autumn seasons of the year of farmers who came to the mill with their grists, were memorable events. Often there would be a line of teams reaching half a mile in either direction, each driver waiting his turn. On these occasions the teamsters had a jolly time. They would indulge in all kinds of sports to while the hours away, even to racing horses on the level stretch of road over the hill, in foot races, games of quoit pitching, shooting at a mark and the like. Many would bring their guns along and to "kill time" would go out in the woods and kill big game. Not infrequently a deer was brought in and the men, building a big fire of logs, would have roast venison, roast corn and roast pota- toes for supper. Then they would gather around the fire and spin yarns far into the night. In later days, over macadamized roads and across the iron bridge near by, the descendents of those first settlers came with their grists to the same old mill by the river 's side. In the first days of the country's settlement there floated up and down the river past the old mill's door, the keel boats, arks and steamers of the early navigation period and many a salute did the white capped miller give to the jolly boatmen as they sped along.

' ' Thus the wheels of the old mill turned on day after day and its massive beams were thick with the dust of more than three score years, when one summer night an innocent, but decidedly unsentimental, disrespectful muskrat dug a hole beneath the flume, the rains came in torrents, the foundations were washed away and when the morning appeared the ancient structure was lying upon its side a helpless ruin. Soon the torn and broken remnants were cleared away, the damaged dam repaired and an insignificant looking one-story, slightly built affair now fills the place of the old gray mill of the pioneers.

"The mill was built in the winter of 1836- '37, by Jonas Harris, a Quaker from Richmond, Ind., who came to this county in 1832. He designed the building and with its quaint, old-fashioned windows, doors and high roof, it stood and Avas used for over 60 j^ears exactly as he had constructed it. Burton Swearingen and Samuel Brooks, both practical millwrights, were the contractors, and during the siunmer of 1837 the mill was first put in operation, with Ephraim Trueblood as its first miller. In that early day there were very few grist mills in the St. Joseph valley, and it is believed this was the first one, certainly it was the last of the pioneer grinding establishments to go. Its dimensions were 26 by 36 feet, three and a half stories in height. It had two sets of buhrs from the beginning, one for flour and one for meal, and it kept these two only all through its existence. The

"Mr. Harris died about the year 1843, and according to his <}vm request was buried on the farm back of the house. It was his desire that his remains be laid at rest in that peaceful, picturesque place, and never disturbed. A few vears later his wife, Barbara Beeson Harris, died and was laid beside him. Here also others of the neighborhood were buried when they had laid aside the burdens of life, including the mother and an uncle of ex- Councilman Sorden Lister, whose home was north of the old mill. All the bodies were removed, however, to other cemeteries, with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Harris, whose dust in accordance with their wish lies undisturbed on the spot of their pioneer struggles and pleasures. Their resting place is really unknown, as the ground has Ipng been used for agricultural purposes, obliterating all traces of the old burial spot.

' ' The farm connected with the mill property originally contained 160 acres and after Mr. Harris ' death, with the exception of some portions divided among his children, the place, including the mill, was bought late in 1843, by J. and E. S. Sheffield and Edward Carpenter, of New^ York city. Mr. Carpenter, whose wife was a sister of the Messrs. Sheffield, came here the following year and took charge of the mill, Charles Deyo acting as miller.

"Mr. Carpenter about this time began the construction of the large and substantial house that still stands on the bluff in the rear of the mill. It was the country mansion of this whole region in that early period. Its frame of the heavy barn beam style was put together to stay. Its foundation of native field granite, floors of oak and doors of solid black w^alnut, and its large dimensions, with two mammoth chimneys, gave it an imposing appearance. The rooms were many and of good size and the house was originally warmed by five big fireplaces.

''Mr. Jay S. Carpenter, au esteemed resident of the city, who was the elder son oi Mr. and Mrs. Edward Carpenter, came here from New York, his birthplace, to make his home with his parents in 1846, and remembers the site of his new home in this wild spot as really a paradise to his youthful mind. In front of the house the trees had all been cleared away and a broad grassy lawn extended from the front steps to the high bluff above the mill. From the front doorway, for nearly a mile to the south the river was plainly in view and the freight boats and steamers could be seen daily plodding their way along the stream. Often they would stop at the mill and take on a load of flour, for there was a big sale in the east for the excellent flour then made by the little Sheffield mill far away out in the Indiana wilderness on the St. Joseph. Across the river was a beautiful landscape of forest and clearing and distant prairie. In rear of the house still stood the primitive forest, the great trees towering toward the skies in their undisturbed majesty, while with the undergrowth all removed a clear view was obtained for a long distance and the ground in summer was covered with a solid carpet of green turf. At the foot of the bluff the old mill was grinding away night and day, the rattle and rumble of its wheels and the coming and going of the settlers with their grain and flour gave life to the otherwise quiet spot in the wilderness. The Lister house, now gone, was a little ways north of the Carpenter house and there was a well worn path along the river bank between the two.

"Mr. Carpenter ran the mill successfully for a few years and then moved to the city, living in the quaint residence at the corner of Main and Madison streets, so long the home of his daughters, the Misses Mary and Emma Carpenter, and where he died in 1851. He was a brick mason by trade and his last work in the city was building the First M. E. and the First Reformed churches. His son, Oscar D. Carpenter, of the Folding Paper Box Company, of this city, was born at the old house by the mill. John Sheffield afterwards settled in the city and with Charles Deyo for several years conducted a milling business where Hill Bros, are now located. Then he finally moved to Toledo, 0., and carried on the same business there.

"The old mill had many owners. Mary Elting came into possession of it on a mortgage sale in 1860. In 1864, Dr. Robert Harris and Elisha Hall bought it and the next year Dr. Harris sold his interest to Mr. Hall, who conducted it for a year and then sold out to John Siders in 1866. Mr. Siders and sons conducted it for many years and it became best known in the community by the name of Siders' mill. The late John F. Kirby was one of the later owners of the property and for a few years before its collapse it was in the possession of James L. Robinson. Four years ago he sold out to the South Bend Power Company, the present owners of the property, who tore away the historic structure and erected the one-story building in its place.

' ' The Ullery creek, upon which the old mill stood was utilized for other manufacturing purposes in early times. A saw mill was erected by Jonas Harris on his property, about half a mile above the mouth of the creek, and this he ran as did the Sheffields and Mr. Carpenter, who came after him. It has long since passed into oblivion, except that a portion of its frame was removed near the old grist mill and converted into a stable. Near where the creek crosses the Niles road north of Notre Dame, Stephen Ullery, over half a century ago, ran a little carding mill, but all traces of this have disappeared.

"The old gray mill of the pioneers is gone yet it lives in the hundreds of pictures of various kinds, great and small that adorn the homes and public places of this community, chief among them being the large painting on the Auditorium drop curtain with its appropriate couplet from the valley's most gifted poet, the lamented Ben King:

The history of Notre Dame and St. Mary's will be reserved for another chapter. In Mr. Bulla's reminiscences, already referred to, will be found some reference to early educational matters in the township. It is said that the first school taught in the township was in Mr. Eyler's house by Charles Murray. The first school house was in the location now known as Stover's, on the Edwardsburg road, the teacher being Daniel A. Veasey. Since 1868, the German Baptists have had a church in the middle of the western part of the township. Among the pastors have been Jacob Cripe, Christian Wenger and John B. Wrightsman. There is no other church in the township, except those at Notre Dame and St. Mary's. According to the United States census for 1900, the population of Clay township, including that of Notre Dame and St. Mary's, was one thousand, one hundred and fifty.

See. 8. - Center. - Center township is one day younger than Clay. It was formed May 6. 1840, with the following boundaries : Beginning at the northeast corner of section thirty, township thirty-seven, range three east; thence west to the northwest corner of section twenty-seven, same township, range two east ; thence south to the southwest corner of section fifteen, township thirty-six, range two east; thence east to the southeast corner of section eighteen, same township, range three east; thence north to the beginning.

Center has the distinction of being one of the two townships of the county whose limits have remained unchanged since their formation. The other is Lincoln township.

The Michigaji road passes north and south through the middle of the township, angling northeasterly; while the old Michigan boundary passes east and west through the north

The soil is, in general, a strong clay. In the northwest there is a good deal of low land. Rupel lake, in the "Rupel settlement," is in this vicinity. This territory is drained by Wenger 's creek, which flows down through Portage township and reaches the St. Joseph almost at the exact south bend of the river. As in case of other such lands throughout the county, these low lands have been in a large measure reclaimed by drainage and now constitute the most valuable lands of the township. The general character of the soil and of the people in the north part of Center is like those of the neighboring parts of Greene township; while in the southern part the soil and the population resemble those of the adjacent parts of Union township. Altogether, the soil and the people are amongst the best in the county.

The first settlements were made early in the thirties, although it is said that Nathan Rose purchased his land from the Pottawatomies in 1829. Other very early settles were : Andrew Milling, James and Ashur Palmer, from whom Pahner Prairie was named, John Rose, Henry StuU, Peter Rupel, Col. John Smith, George Smith, Isaac Lamb, Abiel Hungerford, Tyra W. Bray, James and Richard Inwood, William Phillips and William H. Robertson.

Elizabeth Rose, daughter of Nathan Rose, was the first child born in the township. Mathias Stover was elected first justice of the peace. Very few justices or constables however, have qualified or acted in the township. It is a simple law abiding people, who obey the laws without restraint or compulsion of any kind. The pioneer log school-house was erected on Nathan Rose's farm, on the Michigan road, in 1835. A little later a frame school building was erected on Col. Smith's farm, on the same road. Among the early teachers were Mary Milling, Benjamin Gibbons and Daniel Robertson. The German Baptist church, known as the Palmer Prairie church, was built in 1859. David Miller and Christian Wenger were among the first pastors. As we have seen, in chapter sixth, subdivision sixth, the first infirmary owned by the county was located in Center township, where it remained nine or ten years, from 1846 to 1855.

The Vandalia railroad runs north and south through Center township. Nutwood, a station rather than a town, is located on the railroad. Except this station, the township is purely agricultural. It is the smallest township in the county, containing but twenty sections of land. But the land mali,es up in quality what it lacks in quantity. The population by the census of 1900, was six hundred and eight.

Sec. 9. - Madison. - By order of the board of county commissioners, made March 4, 1845, so much as was then left of Penn township was divided into two townships, by a line due east and west through the centers of sections eight, nine, ten, eleven and twelve, township thirty-six, range three east, and through sections seven, eight and nine, same township, range four east. The south one of these townships was called Madison, the name Penn being retained for the northern township.

The north boundary of Madison remains unchanged; the east boundary is the Elkhart county line ; and the south boundary, the Marshall county line. The west line of the township, after some slight changes, is now as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section eight, township thirty-six north, range three east; thence south to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section twenty, said towTiship and range; thence east to the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of said section twenty; thence south to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section twenty-eight, said township and range ; thence east to the center of said section tweniy-eight ; thence south to the south line of St. Joseph county.

ship did not attract settlers until a comparatively late period in the history of the county. The land was heavily timbered and the soil a strong clay, while swamps and low ground met the explorer at every turn. Brave, hardy pioneers, however, perceived the rich quality of the soil of this timbered region. The sawmill and the ditch converted the forbidding region into the most valuable farming section of the county. While the drains were preparing the land for tillage, the sawmills converted the timber into lumber; so that the courageous settlers were enabled not only to make their living, but even to accumulate wealth, while waiting for their lands to become dry enough for the plow. The soil of Madison township, as might be expected, is of inexhaustible fertility ; and today the most favored sections of St. Joseph county yield to Madison in the production of every grain and vegetable and fruit that grows in our climate. The population, like that of Union and southern Penn, is to a great extent, of the vigorous Pennsylvania stock, which is so substantial and valuable an element in every community of which it forms a part. It was such a brave hearted, strong bodied people that brought a change over the face of Madison township, until the wilderness and the swamps have literally blossomed as the rose.

There are but two small towns in the township, Woodland, in the northwest part, and Wyatt, in the south. The latter is situated on the Wabash railroad, the only railroad in the township. ,

The first church building in Madison to\^iiship was a log house, built at Woodland. This was erected by the Methodists, who afterwards built a finer structure at the same place. Later the church was purchased by the Evangelicals. Three or four miles to the east of Woodland, the Evangelicals have another church. In the southwest part of the township, near the Yellow river, the society known as the Evangelical Association erected a church in 1864. The United Brethren also have a society and a church edifice in the township.

The German Lutherans have a church in Woodland, Avhich was built in 1868. Among the pastors have been the Rev. Conrad Schuster and the Rev. George Rosenwinkle.

As might be inferred, the principal occupations of the people of Madison township have been in the timber and lumber business and the business of farming. In all of these they have succeeded in an eminent degree. It need hardly be said that the education of the children was never neglected. The township, which is now populous and wealthy, has the only rural high school in the county. Wisely the substantial citizens of the township have provided that the ambitious youth of the community may receive a superior education without the expense, and still more without the dangers, attendant on going away from home at an age when parental care is more than at any other time needful to save the dear ones from excesses which are but miserably paid for by the most finished intellectual training that any school or college can give. According to the L^. S. census for the year 1900, the population of Madison township, including Woodland and Wyatt, was two thousand, two hundred and four.

Sec. 10. - Lincoln. - The last townaship to be formed out of the original three, - Penn. Portage and Olive - was Lincoln. This township, as we have seen, was at first a part of Liberty. The boundaries of the township of Lincoln, as fixed by the order of the county board, made June 7, 1866, are as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of section thirty-four, township thirty-five, range one west, being the southwest corner of St. Joseph county ; thence east, on the line between St. Joseph and Starke counties, to the southeast corner of section thirty-six, same township and range ; thence north three miles, to the northwest corner of ]\Iarshall county; thence east, on the line between Marshall and St. Joseph counties, two miles; thence north two miles ; thence west two miles ; thence north one mile ; thence west to the Kankakee river and the Laporte county line ; thence south, by the Laporte county line, to the place of beginning.

The lands of Lincoln township have become valuable through drainage. With the dredging and straightening of the Kankakee and the construction of the great river drains through St. Joseph, Laporte and Starke counties, the rich bottoms that were formerly water covered have been changed into meadows and corn fields. The inhabitants of the township have shown the greatest enterprise in this as in all other directions. The people of Holland, in building their dykes against the sea, have made that country the garden of Europe ; and the people of Lincoln, as also the inhabitants of the other townships along the Kankakee, by lowering and straightening that winding stream, have turned their lowlands into rich farms and gardens.

The first settlements in the territory now forming Lincoln township were made as early as 1835. Christian Fulmer came during that year. Soon after came Thomas H. Wiley,

The Methodist Episcopal was the first society to erect a church in the township. This was built in Walkerton, in 1859, under direction of the Rev. J. E. Newhouse and the Rev. James Johnson, the latter being the presiding elder. The society was long known as the West York Mission church. The Baptists erected a church in 1870, and the Catholics in 1876. The Presbyterians, United Brethren and Seventh Day Adventists also have churches in the township.

The first school house was erected in 1858, about a mile from the present town of Walkerton, and was removed into the town in 1876. Graded schools of a high order, including a high school in Walkerton, have long since provided for a superior education for the youth of the township.

No section of St. Joseph county has a brighter future then Lincoln township and its enterprising town of Walkerton. The population of the township, according to the census of 1900, was one thousand, five hundred and ninety-nine. This included the population of Walkerton, which was eight hundred and eighty-five.

Sec. 11. - Penn. - When on May 6, 1832, by order of the county board, St. Joseph county was divided into three townships, corresponding with the three county commissioners' districts, Penn township was made to comprise the whole of the territory of the county lying east of range two east. By subsequent sub-divisions, as we have seen, all of the present township of Harris, part of Clay, part of Center, part of Union and all of Madison, were" taken from Penn.

Parts of Penn were added to Portage also, as follows : On January 5, 1836, the west six sections of congressional township thirtyseven, range three east; and on September 4, 1850, the west half of section five, same township and range. Of the six sections so added

Notwithstanding the great amount of territory taken from Penn, it still remains the largest township in the county, containing sixty-five and a half sections of land, almost equal to two congressional townships. It is perhaps also, take it altogether, the richest township in the county. The soil and characteristics of the south part of the township are quite similar to those of the adjoining township of Madison, as heretofore described. The St. Joseph river flows from east to west through the north part of the township. The river receives two small streams, Twin Branch and Baugo, from the south, and another from the north side of the river. These small streams drain large tracts of low lands on either side of the river. The large marsh between Mishawaka and the hills to the south, and extending almost from the west to the east of the township, is the principal of these lowlands. This is the swamp behind which La Salle lost his way, as related in chapter first of this work. Through drainage, all these lowlands have now become tillable, and are amongst the most fertile lands of the county.

A unique industry has grown up from the cultivation of these fertile swamps, particularly that which may be called the La Salle swamp. Such reclaimed swamps have in many cases been devoted to the cultivation of celery, as at Kalamazoo; and that industry has been engaged in at Mishawaka. But it was found that these reclaimed lowlands were even more perfectly adapted to the cultivation of peppermint. The following account of this peppermint industry will be of particular interest in connection with the history of this county, and especially the history of Penn township :"

"The reports that the peppermint growers and oil distillers of northern Indiana, southa. Taken principally from a report written for the Indianapolis News, of October 13, 1906.

"The Indiana mint crop, which has just distilling tanks and the ton produces, ordibeen put into oil, represents considerably more narily, from ten to twelve pounds of oil,

"It is a very costly crop to produce, the weeding- having to be done by hand, while the distillation requires considerable labor. Still in years of average production of oil for each acre and of average market price the mint farmer is in clover.

"While Mishawaka ls really the Indiana peppermint capital - its district covering practically^ all of the fields in St. Joseph county - the culture is carried on in parts of Elkhart, Lagrange, Noble, Steuben, De- Kalb, IMarshall and Laporte counties, and has been introduced recently in an experimental way into the Jasper county Kankakee swamps.

"Like broom corn and many other crops, mint can be grown almost anywhere, but only w^ith commercial success and excellence in very limited areas. Thus far in all of this country only Wayne county, New York, southern Michigan and the northern tier, or tier and a half, of Indiana counties, have been found suitable to its culture. It thrives in just those old lake and drained swamp beds that made Kalamazoo famous for celery.

"A black muck-sand loam is the soil in which it is raised with greatest sucess, and that soil must, like that used in raising the finest grades of celery, be situated in a finely-drawn climatic zone. JNIint of greater growth and finer appearance perhaps has been grown in the fine soils of Illinois, in Kansas and in Oregon by people from this part of Indiana w^ho wished to take the industry into new sections, but while it was most promising in appearance it was found, on subjecting it to the distilling process, to be decidedly short on oil, and therefore not a profitable crop.

' ' The plant looks a great deal like alfalfa or clover, when growing in the field, and it grows high enough to reach almost above a man's knees. It has a stalk a great deal resembling the clover or alfalfa stalk, and its roots are of much the same character. It would naturally be thought that a considerable part of

"The under side of the leaf, when it is green, has a sort of velvety finish. When placed under a powerful glass it is seen that the soft finish is made up of minute oil cells. In these the oil is carried. It seems that the oil supply is much greater when there is a season of hot weather. It seems also to diminish when there is a drop in temperature. Where does it go, or from whence the increased supply, no one seems to know. When the plant is nearing maturity a person going into a mint field and running his hand through the growing plants finds it "finished" with mint oil with so great staying powder that the odor will remain for many hours.

"Jerry Woodward, who lives in Mishawaka, is known over northern Indiana as the "Indiana Peppermint King. ' ' With his brothers, Walter and William, he has about 320 acres in mint, and this year the Woodward crop ran more than 4,000 pounds. The Woodwards are the largest growers in Indiana and the second largest in this country and possibly in the world, as the Japanese, who supply the inferior oil, are said, individually, to be small growers. The greatest grower is A. M. Todd, who lives in Kalamazoo, and generally

"There are a number of Indiana growers who raise from 100 to 150 acres of mint a year. Each of these has his own distilling plant and distills the crops of the smaller growers.

"In respect to marketing the crop as a finished oil or spirit, the peppermint growei-s of this country who distill their own crops, nearest approach the German potato growers, who distill their crop into alcohol in their own fami distilleries.

"The mint grown by these conunercial culturists is a cross between the wild America and the old English mint. The growing in this country was begun a century or more ago in Wayne county, New York, the wild mint being used. At that time Mitcham (England) peppermint oil was standard and was sold to all countries. It was, in fact, very limited in quantity and the grower that made the name famous only grew his mint in a small garden and bought the mint grown by others. He, however, developed a very superior plant, and this later was crossed with the American plant grown in New York. From New York it was brought to Michigan and from Michigan into Indiana sixty or seventy years ago, probably the first Indiana grower being Elam Eller, of St. Joseph county. The Woodward Brothers, who moved from Michigan to JMishawaka, seventeen years ago, were the first extensive growers.

"In recent years the acreage has been greatly increased. As yet the principal jobbers who buy the oil have their headquarters in Michigan. The exportation is done through New York and Boston, and -probably now runs in excess of 125.000 pounds a year. As a rule the oil is marketed in four-pound cans.

"Peppermint oil is used for the most part as an essential oil in the manufacture of confections and chewing-gmn, though it also is largely used as a medicine, especially in fighting certain contagions. Though a total production of, say, a quarter of a million pounds, does not figure into much bulk, the possibilities of this amount of peppermint oil are better grasped by the simple statement that one ounce of peppermint oil will flavor a barrel of sugar and a barrel of sugar will make a great deal of candy and chewing-gum filler.

"One of the greatest markets open to the growers is that of supplying the chewing-gum factories, of which there are over 6,000 listed in this country. The general impression is that a large percentage of the oil is used in setting prints in dress goods, but at least at this time other cheaper oils are used.

' ' The mint plant is grown from roots which are carefully carried through the winter. They are planted in rows about as far apart as corn rows and are cultivated much the same as corn for some time. Then they throw out runners, much like the sweet potato does, and cultivation from that time on has to be by hand. Weeds grow very thick and quickly, as a rule in the loose soils used and they all have to be pulled out by nimble fingers. A stand of peppennint is good for three or four years, at the expiration of which time a short rest for the soil is followed in a year or two by replanting.

"As it grows the crop is a beautiful one and a delightful one to the sense of smell. It is, all considered, next to the sunflower crops of Clark county, probably the most interesting and prettiest crop grown in the state. ' '

The soil of Penn township, except in the south part and in the lowlands, is in general a fertile sand and gravel. In places, particularly in the vicinity of the river, the landscape is most charming, resembling that of our finest prairies.

The first settlements of the township were very early. William and Timothy Moat came in 1828. Others among the first settlers of the township were William Holt, Jesse Skinner, Samuel L. Cottrell, Jesse Bell, Henry Huntsinger, Jonathan Macy, Jacob, George and Edward Byrkit, James Curtis, John and William Ireland, George W. West, George Eutzler, Joseph Coe, Daniel, Da\dd, William and George Hollingshead, Daniel and Samuel Edwards, John McKnight, Braddock and Uriah Chandler, William and Menzo Webster, and Isaac Parks.

The early life of the settlers was much the same as that of those in the other townships, with the exception, perhaps, that what may be called the public life of the people was, to a great extent, concentrated in and near the town of jMishawaka, and somewhat also at Osceola. In the chapter on cities and towns will be found details of the history of these places. Schools and churches were organized here as in other townships, and here also the religious societies frequently used the school houses for churches until they were able to have both. The first church edifice was built in ^iishawaka. The first school house was erected in 1832. On the Baugo creek, near the site of the present town of Osceola, a saw" mill was built in the same year. The power of the little stream has been used ever since for milling purposes, both for saw mill and grist mill. The name of Zelotes Bancroft and that of his family is inseparably connected with the milling business at this point.

The Lake Shore railroad and the Grand Trunk both pass through Penn township; as does also the interurban line formerly known as the Indiana railway, but now as the Chicago, South Bend and Northern Indiana. There is also a line of railway extending from Mishawalca to Elkhart to which the name of Mr. Bucklen of Elkhart is given, but whose future seems as yet not to be fully known. The population of Penn township, outside the city of Mishawaka, as shown by the United States census for 1900, was two thousand, five hundred and fifty-seven. This included the town of Osceola.

Sec. 12. - Portage. - By the order of May 6, 1832, forming the three townships of Penn, Portage and Olive, Portage was made to include all of range tw^o east. This range was also fixed as the limits of the second commissioner's district of the county. While the three commissioners' districts have remained unchanged, the big townships, as we have seen in the preceding pages, have been subdivided and changed almost beyond recognition.

Range two east, which at first constituted Portage township, now embraces all of the present township of German and part of Clay, Greene, Center, Liberty and Union. But the present Portage, while embracing but a fraction of the old township of the same name, is itself not confined to the original range and commissioner's district, but, as we have seen in considering the history of Penn township, extends over into range three east and into the first commissioner's district.

The township of Portage, as now constituted, with the exception of the part within the Kankakee valley, consists almost altogether of high and slightly rolling lands. As the history of Penn township centers chiefly in that of the city of Mishawaka ; so, in even a greater degree, the history of Portage township centers in that of South Bend. The history of South Bend, which will be given in another chapter, will therefore substantially cover the history of Portage township. The earliest history of the county also, as already set out in chapter four, is in substance, a history of Portage township for the time covered. The first settlers of the county were settlers of what is now Portage township ; Pierre Navarre, in 1820 ; Alexis Coquillard, in 1823 ; Col. L. M. Taylor, in 1827, and the others as mentioned in chapter fourth. The first churches and school-houses were also in what is now South Bend. The first flouring mill, in 1831, and the first tannery, a little later, both erected by William McCartney, were in Portage township, on Mc- Cartney's creek, a little below the present limits of South Bend. That the city of South Bend has become the chief part of Portage township is still further apparent from the United States census for 1900, where the population of the township, including the city is shown to be thirty-six thousand, eight hundred and ninety -six ; while the population of the city alone appears as thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine, leaving for the township outside the city, eight hundred and ninety-seven.

Sec. 13. - Olive. - The third township, formed I\Iay 6, 1832, comprised all of the county west of range two east, which territory also constituted the third commissioner's district. The township, as then formed, included not only the present township of Olive, but also Wan-en, part of Greene and Liberty and all of Lincoln; besides the parts on the west and south that were afterwards attached to Laporte, Starke and IMarshall counties, by the several acts of the legislature, as detailed in chapter fifth, subdivision ninth, of this history. In addition to the territory so taken from Olive township by the acts of the legislature, the board of county commissioners, by the several orders made in forming the townships of Warren, Greene, Liberty and Lincoln, took other territory from Olive, on the east and the south, as already detailed in our history of those townships. With all its losses, however, Olive, in size, is still the second township in the county, being exceeded in territory only by Penn. By the census of 1900, Olive township, including the town of JSew Carlisle, had a population of one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight ; or fourteen hundred and ninety-one outside the town.

In another respect Olive is the first of our townships ; that is, in the beauty of her prairie scenery. We have many beautiful prairies in St. Joseph county, but the finest of them all is Terre Coupee prairie, extending in length, east and west, six or seven miles, clear across the township, and in width, north and south, four or five miles. There can be no more beautiful stretch of garden land in all the world.

The first settlements of Olive township were made in 1830. The township received its name from Olive (Stanton), wife of Charles Vail, who settled in the township in that year. Other settlers who came then or soon after were Joseph Adams, Jacob and Israel Rush, John, Barzilla and Gamaliel Druliner, Samuel Garwood, Jonathan Hubbard, grandfather of the Hon. Lucius Hubbard, of South Bend, Garrett and Henry Nickerson, William White, John Carskaddon, Jacob Egbert, John Egbert, George Boyd, James Garoutte, Benjamin Redding, Job Smith, Henry Ranstead and John Reynolds.

In chapter four, subdivision sixth, will be found the reminiscences of Hugh V. Compton, giving his recollection of events in the early history of Olive township. These reminiscences give us a vivid picture of pioneer life in the township.

Mr. Jesse Haines says : The Haines family came in 1830. Israel Rush was the first justice of the peace. John Banker was an associate judge of the St. Joseph circuit court. He lived on Terre Coupee prairie, and walked to South Bend to perform his judicial duties. The first election held in Olive township was at the home of John Druliner, in a log house. Charles Vail was inspector of that election. Being a Quaker, he would not administer an oath, but required the members of the election board to affirm.

One evening in 1831, a little before the organization of the to^^^lship, Judge Egbert, while taking supper with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Vail, said to Mr. Vail : ' ' This being the best and most beautiful township in St. Joseph county, it shall be named for your girl wife." Hence the name Olive township.

About 1836, Samuel Garwood sold a tract of land on the prairie to Jonathan Hubbard, who laid out and platted the town of Terre . Coupee. A man named Hamilton built a hotel at the place ; and from the name of the hotel the town gradually became known as Hamilton. Mr. Haines relates that in 1832, his father, then living in what is now Hudson township, Laporte county, becoming alarmed on account of the rumors as to the Black Hawk uprising, took his wife and six children in a four-horse wagon, riding himself on horseback, while Mrs. Haines carried a flintlock musket across her lap ; and so provided they started for the Carey Mission near Niles. On reaching the home of Samuel Garwood, at Terre Coupee, or Hamilton, they found the people building a fort, and concluded to stop there. After a few days, finding that the danger was over, they returned home.

The early settlers of Olive township were principally from Warren county, Ohio. They came by way of Niles, Michigan, or by Crawfordsville, Indiana ; the land office being located at Crawfordsville. Those routes were taken to avoid the Kankakee and Grapevine marshes.

The Rev. James Annstrong is said to have been the first missionary of the Methodist church in St. Joseph county. Principally through his efforts, the first Methodist society was organized at the house of Paul Egbert, near Terre Coupee, or Hamilton, in the year 1830, by the Rev. E. Felton, of the Ohio conference. The class then formed consisted of eight members, of which John Egbert was appointed claSvS-leader. The work of the church was re-organized in 1834, by Mr. Armstrong, then presiding elder, who died in the fall of that year. The church has since been regularly continued. The first church edifice was built at Hamilton, in 1839 and 1840. The prime movers in the erection of this building were Paul and John Egbert and Jonathan Hubbard. The church was the best one then north of the Wabash. Oliver Emery was the architect. The erection of this church is entitled to more than ordinary consideration as one of the first important steps taken in the advancement of civilization in St. Joseph county.

Early in 1868, the Christian, sometimes called the Camj^bellite, church was organized in New Carlisle by the Rev. Ira J. Chase, then stationed at Mishawaka. Mr. Chase was assisted in his work by the Rev. W. M. Roe, of Rolling Prairie; and, on March 29, 1868, a society was organized in the chapel hall of the New Carlisle Collegiate Institute. A church building was dedicated March 13, 1870, the Rev. Mr. Chase delivering the sermon. The church has continued to prosper. The Rev. Ira J. Chase was afterwards governor of Indiana.

The land where New Carlisle now stands was at first owned by a man named Bourissau, who was married to an Indian woman. On the death of Bourissau, his children sold the land to Richard Carlisle, who platted the town and gave it his own name. The hotel in New Carlisle was built in 1836 by Richard Cranmer who occupied it for a time and then sold it to Joseph Ivens. Mr. Ivens remained the proprietor for several years, and by his

"Yes, it is half a century since I came to New Carlisle. I was married January 27, 1847, to Rev. A. H. Pidge, at Big Prairie Ronde, Mich., and arrived here on January 31st ; and it has been my home ever since.

"Very many changes have taken place since that time. In looking over the past fifty years the scenes and events come to my mind like a panorama, which I have no words to describe.

"There was a hotel, a dry goods store, a post office (kept in a blacksmith shop) ,and perhaps some other small shops. The hotel was kept by Joseph Ivens. There was no church or school house in the town then, no railroad. The only public conveyances then were the large four-horse stage-coaches which, perhaps, the present generation never saw. There were no church services held here then ; but a few years before Schuyler Colfax's mother, Mrs. Mathews, had organized a Sunday school in her own house, assisted by Mr. Mathews and her son Schuyler. She told me she made little tea parties to raise money to buy books.

"We attended church at Hamilton, wiiich was then the most important town of this vicinity. In a year or two Rev. Abram Salisbury, a Methodist minister, was appointed to the circuit. He resided at Byron, between here and Laporte (our parsonage was there then). On Sunday morning he came here and preached at 9 o'clock and then went to Hamilton and preached at 11 o'clock. I for- ^-ot to say that Rev. Mr. Salisbury preached in what was then called the old Mormon

"In 1852 there was a school house built on the lot where Mrs. Hubbard's house now stands, which w^as used for church purposes and Sunday school until our present M. E. church was built, during the pastorate of John R. Eddy in 1858 and 1859. The Lord only knows the great efforts and many sacrifices it took to build this house for Him^ and w^hen the day for dedication came we all rejoiced in this final event. I think it was in September, 1859, that our church was dedicated. Rev. J. M. Eddy of Chicago, brother of our pastor, preached the dedication sermon. ' '

"My father came to this county in 1830 with three of his neighbors to look the country over and learn whether they would like it and could better their condition. On their return my father was the only one that concluded to come. He made arrangements to move in 1832, but rumors of the Black Hawk war had broken out and by the time they had reached us it was to the effect that every white man, woman and child was murdered in the most cruel manner, that property was all destroyed and the Indians reigned supreme. While that was not the case, it had the effect to stop the emigration for the time being.

"My father not being entirely satisfied came in 1833, and liked the country still better. He purchased the land where we now live, for which he paid $2.50 per acre, it being Indian land, and moved in 1834 in company with Samuel Bates, his brother-in-law. We left Ohio August 20, and arrived here September 4th. The roads were quite bad part of the way, especially through the Black sw^amp and Grapevine, consequently we made slow progress compared with travel nowadays, about 20 miles a day. My father drove three horses, one of w^hich he rode ; the leader was driven by a single or jerk line. The roads across the mareh were very bad and continued so most of the way across the prairie. When we arrived at the edge of the prairie father said to mother, 'Here is Terre Coupee, if the bottom has not fallen out.' Not a very pleasing sight, I assure you. Mud was 12 to 15 inches deep with water frequently standing either side of the road. We finally arrived at our 'Bunker Hill,' and a far more pleasing sight it seemed. This somewhat overcame the first unfavorable impression. There was but one cabin and that was located where the Christian church now stands. That and the land belonged to a family by the name of Bourissau, a half-breed Indian. We crassed to the north side of the prairie, where our land was located, and selected a place to build near where the buildings now stand. The road ran about 15 rods south of the building and remained there for a number of years.

"We immediately built a shanty, intended for a stable, covered with clapboards held down by weight poles, and with a door cut in one end of the shanty. Clapboards laid crosswise extending to the opening between the logs, with bedding on, made a comfortable lodging place. With a slab for a table and stools made out of the same material, pins driven in the logs on which to hang wearing apparel, a dirt floor and a camp fire, we were quite at home.

"My father went to the east end of the prairie and bought a quarter of beef. As we had no place to keep it, father climbed up a small tree near the shanty, to cut off a limb; and with mother's help managed to hang it up.

"But the meat served to attract the wolves, which came in large numbers, howling, snarling and snapping around the shanty. The dogs we brought to devour all the wolves in the west came through the door with a rush, slipped under the bed and were very docile until the wolves left. I never could understand why they were so afraid of