Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 15, 1891

JOHN, Sylvester and James A. Sibley, three brothers, came from their native place, Bennington, Yt., in the year 1818 to Vigo county. Their father emigrated from Vermont to New York, and was killed in 1812 at the battle of Queenstown, leaving a widow with a large family of children and but little means of support.

The young men came all the way to the Wabash country on foot, with their scant earthly possessions on their backs. Sylves¬ ter purchased a tract of land just north of the old canal, and dividing this with his brother, they laid off Sibley's addition, and for some years this was called Sibleytown. For more than forty-five years the brothers were in active business in this and Parke coun¬ ties. They retired in old age and had put their house in order when the great Master called. Mrs. Ann, wife of Sylvester Sibley, died in Terre Haute November 7, 1877, aged fifty-six years.

Demas Deming came this year. He was born in Berlin, Conn., in 1790, and died in Terra Haute March 3, 1865. At the time of his death he was one of the oldest and most esteemed citizens of the county. In the late years of his life his venerable figure was seen often on the streets moving about slowly and more feebly as the years sped by, and, although in feeble health for some time, yet his death came like a shock to the whole people at last.

The war of 1812 found Mr. Deming a young man full of life, hope and love of country, and following the impulse of duty he en¬ tered the regular army as a lieutenant. Like most of the young men of that day, he was enthusiastic in resisting the insolence of the ancient mother country in the impressment of our seamen and the preposterous claim to the right to search vessels on the high seas. He served actively his country during this three years' war. At the time of the treaty of Ghent he was one of the garrison of Fort Griswold, New London, in his native State. Peace declared he promptly resigned his commission in the army and sought new fields of occupation and enterprise. In 1816 he went for a short time to Baltimore, and there he formed the acquaintance of some of the leading merchants of that city, among others the eminent

In the latter part of the fifties Mr. Peabody, being on a visit to Baltimore, happened to meet a gentleman from Terre Haute, and he inquired with much interest after Mr. Deming, if still living, and if not had he left any descendants. It had then been forty years since Mr. Deming had left Baltimore. The banker spoke of him as the " young man." When informed that the " young man " was not only still living, but was blessed with wife and family and abundant fortune and gave promise of many years to come, Mr. Peabody replied: " When you see Mr. Deming make to him my kindest remembrances; say to him that he has not been forgotten and that I have often thought of him and Mr. Cruft and of Solo¬ mon Sturgus, all of whom were about my own age ; and should I go west during my stay in this country, I will stop at Terre Haute to take him by the hand once more." A few months after Mr. Peabody came to Terre Haute and right heartily these men re¬ newed their friendship of forty years before.

Terre Haute had been laid out and Yigo county was just formed and this town had been made the county seat when Mr. Deming came to aid in building up the young city and developing the country. His strong judgment and prudent foresight anticipated the future, and upon his first arrival he began purchasing real estate in and adjacent to the city. His name for some years occurs more frequently upon the deed records than that of any other indi¬ vidual. He became the possessor of much of the choice property within the city, and his broad acres at one time included the most of the land adjoining and east of Terre Haute to the hills. To improve this large holding was to enrich himself and the com¬ munity. In all his vast acquisitions no taint ever shadowed any of his transactions. He gave and exacted even-handed justice from all. One who had known Judge Deming long and well thus wrote of him: "Mr. Deming was small of stature, always pleasant, ex¬ ceedingly active, wise and circumspect, and never ostentatious or supercilious. He was vastly rich, but no one would ever have supposed that to be so by any outward personal demeanor. His superb land, extending almost from the eastern confines of the city to the hills, was his idol. Almost any day during his life-time he could have been found on the way to or from or upon these lands. He seemed to have no anxiety about anything. He was emphatic¬ ally the best poised man of all his contemporaries.

Capt. Early, who was an orphan boy in Terre Haute, in his old age and from the opposite side of the globe pays this heartfelt tribute to him: part of my life, and I always think of him with a sense of the deepest gratitude. He was willing to do almost anything for me, and time and again he offered me assistance in whatever I might wish to undertake. He did many acts of kindness for me, and would have done more had I permitted ; but my heart yearned to see the world, and my desires have in part been gratified without being a burden to my friends. I have traveled far and wide, and have made many warm and true friends in different parts of the globe, but none whom I value so highly as Judge Deming."

This voluntary tribute under the circumstances to the memory of Judge Deming is worth more than the most gorgeous mausoleum that the wealth and cunning of man's hands everbuilded to the dead.

Col. Ebenezer Paddock and his brothers, John and William, came in 1818 from Ohio. A large family of descendants came of these three brothers. The Colonel was one of the prominent men of the county, and all were noted as men of public spirit and enter¬ prise in developing the resources of the new country. Samuel Paddock, a son of Ebenezer, in 1818 purchased the old Truman Blackman farm one mile east of Terre Haute, on the National road, where he died.

" I emigrated to Vigo in 1718" (a voice, 1818), disregarding the interruption he went on: " We went through many privations - we were here as a handful of people among the savages and beasts of the wilderness. I helped clear the public square, cutting timber that measured three feet at the butt. I was the first person who received marriage license in this county. The red men stole our stock, and we had many a scrimmage with them round about Terre Haute.

" Vincennes wras the nearest point where we could obtain gro¬ ceries, and we ground our wheat and corn in mortars. I helped make the first road from here to Connersville, running through In¬ dianapolis, which was then a howling wilderness." Mr. Lee was at that time seventy-five years of age. He was born in 1802, and was only in his seventeenth year when he came to the county.

David Smith fixed at that time - 1877 - of his having been on the Wabash about sixty years, and in and around Terre Haute " about sixty-two years." It is, therefore, safe to say that he was a permanent resident of the county in 1817 or 1818.

From the Official Record, a little old book, one of the records kept by Curtis Gilbert, and that is so yellowed with age as to gaurantee its being a genuine pioneer, has the names of very many of the heads of families, and especially the farmers who were here among the first. It is the records of " marks and brands " for stock. The book was opened as soon as the county was formed, and every- one who had stock that they might lose by straying could go to the clerk and record their " marks, and this made the recovery of stock lost easy enough if once found. The following is the complete rec¬ ord, commencing with 1818 and ending with 1823:

Mrs. Susan Brasher, relict of Henry Brasher, died in Peoria, Ill., at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. R. B. Pooler, December 9, 1877, aged sixty -nine years. She was a native of Ohio, near Cincin¬ nati, born August 30, 1808, and came to Yigo in 1818. She has been the mother of twelve children. Her husband, Henry Brasher, died in 1852.

In 1818 there was a strong colony came to what is now Sugar Creek township. Of these were James Bennett, John Sheets, John Ray, Henry Kuykendall, John Reese, Reuben Newton, James Hicklin, Joseph Malcom, Micajah Goodman, Henry Hearn, Henry Mid¬ deton and John Cruse.

A son of Micajah was John B. Goodman, long one of the promi¬ nent farmers in that township, and another son who grew to manhood was William Goodman.

William Harris and William and Samuel John Ray, in company with Caleb Trublood, came in 1818, and settled in what is now Riley township. These people were so much troubled by the Indians yet numerous in that part of the county, that they were compelled to go away and wait for more favorable times before returning. They lit¬ erally slept on their arms, and ready dressed at all times, to flee or fight as circumstances required. The Ray family made a kind of stockade of their place. One night William Ray came very near shooting his father, mistaking him for an intruding Indian. He had his gun pointed and his finger on the trigger, in the act of giving it the fatal pressure, when he discovered it to be his father. One of the Ray boys was John, who became a leading farmer.

where is Fountain Station, in Nevins township. John was a black¬ smith, the man of first importance to do everything in ironwork so nec¬ essary to the pioneers. The same year Starling Lambert came and made his improvement in Raccoon bottom, and also John Hoffman, who located on Section 29, Range 7. He was from Pennsylvania, and when seven years old he had sat on the lap of Washington. He had emigrated to Ohio in 1812, was a soldier in the war of that year, under Gen. Hull, and was an eye-witness of the surrender of his army. John Hoffman was the eldest of twenty-two children - nine¬ teen boys and three girls.