Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 7: The Pioneers - Genesis of the Early Settlers, 1908

Where had the earlv settlers lived before coming to this county? By what routes did they come? What caused them to locate here? And how did their origin influence the development of this county?

One of the most interesting themes connected with early Vigo county history is concerned with the answer to the above questions. In this modern age, when men are becoming more cosmopolitan in their conditions, when provincialism and influences of state and section are less plainly impressed on individuals, it is less pertinent to inquire regarding birthplace and original home, A study of the early settlement of any locality suggests such questions as the above in a series, and while the following pages will not directly answer the questions, the discussion of the pioneers is mainly concerned with the matters suggested by these queries.

It is possible in some cases to analyze considerable groups of early settlers and divide them according to origin. At the old settlers' meeting in 1875, the list of names enrolled included 223, representing settlers from 1816 to 1844. Of these settlers 124, or more than half, were born in the Middle and New England states and Ohio ; 44 were natives of Indiana ; 46 were southern born (i. e., south of the Ohio river and Mason and Dixon's line), while 9 were of foreign origin.

The surprising fact of this study is the comparatively small contribution of settlers from the south. Only about one-fifth were from the south, while the northern states furnished over half of the pioneers who were enrolled. On the rolls were the names of 115 who had come into the ^^"abash valley between 1816 and 1830. Of these 84 were from the north, and 31 from Kentucky and other southern states, though many of the Kentuckians were of northern parentage. Though the southerners were a fine element and prominent in the early life of Vigo county they were verv greatlv in the minority as to numbers.

We may make a study of origins from another source. In the county history pubhshed in 1891 appear the names of 513 heads of fami- Hes. Of this number, representing all parts of the county, 225 were born north of Mason and Dixon's line and the Ohio river ; 1 19 were born of European parents, either in Europe or America; while 169 were born either in southern states or in the north of southern parents. Of the southerners, 66 were from Kentucky; the next largest number were from North Carolina, then Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland.

In the summer of 1796, Volney, a distinguished French traveler, visited Vincennes. It was then a town containing about fifty dwellings, "whose cheerful white relieved the eye, after the tedious dusk and green of the woods." Around each house was a garden inclosed by a fence of poles. Peach trees and inferior kinds of apple trees grew in many gardens. The inhabitants cultivated many kinds of garden vegetables, and corn, tobacco, wheat, barley and even cotton, grew in the fields around the village.

As there is a lingering but erroneous belief that the French of Vincennes had something to do with the settlement of Terre Haute or were among the pioneers and ancestral stock of Vigo county the following passage from Volney's book on the United States may be of interest as showing that the old French of Vincennes cannot be numbered among the original stock of this county. Volney, who is writing of a time twenty years only before the settlement of Terre Haute, said: "Adjoining the village and river is a space inclosed by a ditch eight feet wide and by sharp stakes six feet high. This is called the fort, and is a sufficient safeguard against surprises from the Indians. I had letters to the principal man of the place, by birth a Dutchman, who spoke good French. The day after my arrival a court was held, to which I repaired to make ni)- remarks on the scene. On entering, I was surprised to find the audience divided into races of men in person and feature widely different from each other. The fair or light brown hair, ruddy complexion, round face and plump body, indicative of health and ease, of one set, were forcibly contrasted with the emaciated frame and meager, tawny visage of the other. I soon discovered that the former were new settlers from the neighboring states, whose lands had been reclaimed five or six years before, while the latter were French of sixty years' standing in the district. The latter, three or four excejrted, knew nothing of English, while the former were almost as ignorant of French. The French in a querulous voice recounted the losses and hardships they had suffered, especially since the last Indian war in 1788. Their ignorance was pro- found. Nobody ever opened a school among- them till it was done by the Abbe Rivet, a polite well-educated and liberal minded missionary, banished hither by the French revolution. Out of nine of the French, scarcelv six could read or write : whereas, nine-tenths of the Americans could do both.

"These statements were confirmed for the most part by the new settlers. They told me that the Canadians or French had only themselves to blame for all the hardships they complained of. We must allow, say they, that they are a kind, hospitable, social set, but then, for idleness and ignorance they beat the Indians themselves. Their women neither sew, nor spin nor make butter. The men take to nothing but hunting, fishing and roaming through the woods and loitering in the sun. They do not lav up as we do for winter, or provide for a rainy day. They do not cure pork or venison, make sauerkraut or spruce beer, or distill spirits from apples or rye - all needful arts to the farmer."

Evidence concerning the racial origin of the pioneers is afforded by a study of the lists of early grand and petit jurors. These were, it may be assumed, representative men of the county. In 1819, 72 names were drawn for petit jurors for the year, and 54 names as grand jurors. Those of English origin were as ten to one. Barely a dozen could be traced to other stock, and of these but four were distinctly French. So that while the French were present in small numbers, and several prominent families throughout the historv of the county have honored their national origin, they were not numerous or influential enough to give any distinct peculiarity to the social life or civic institutions of the county.

Though the social customs and institutions of Old Virginia have left a permanent impress on all the localities of southern and central Indiana, it is noteworthy how many of the prominent families of Vigo county are of New England origin. Their influence in business, politics and society, when we consider their careers collectively, must have been so strong as to give a decided "Yankee" character to the Terre Haute of both pioneer and later times. The list of names that can be grouped under the head of New England origin is an impressive one.

At least one pioneer, Frederick Ross, was from Maine. J. O. Jones came from New Hampshire. Vermont was the original home of not a few well known families in this county. Naturally, Massachusetts contributed citizens to this as to nearly all western communities. The Farringtons claim Boston as the old family seat. Judge Gookins' ancestry were of the Plymouth colonv. while the first American member of the Fairbanks family located at Dedham in 1633. To Connecticut we can trace the old home of the Demings, the family having been established at Wethersfield in 1636. About the same year the Gilberts had located at

Hartford, and that town was also the home of the family which Chauncey Rose made distinguished in Indiana. The Jenckes family belonged to Rhode Island, the Welsh progenitors having located there at an early date. A street in Providence is named Jenckes. The Aliens came from eastern New York, also Harry Ross, and in the history of individual families of Vigo county. New York state is probably mentioned as the state of birth more often than any other in the east. From New Jersey came the Hudnuts and the Pattersons, the latter being of Irish stock. The Colletts are English, who first settled in Delaware, and the grandfather of Josephus moved to Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary war, and the familv moved to Terre Haute from Ohio. Not a few families claim Pennsylvania as their old home state, among them the McKeens. The Minshalls, who are English on 'both sides, divide their allegiance between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Though Terre Haute drew nothing in permanent institutions or population from the French of Vincennes, it has drawn a number from those who followed the French in the old post. There was the notable citizen, Nathaniel Ewing, who went to Vincennes in 1807 as receiver of the United States land office at that place. His daughter Rachel married Daniel Jenckes, of Terre Haute, and Mrs. Dr. John Wood is their daughter. His daughter Sarah married James Farringlon, and George E. Farrington is the son of this couple. An Episcopal clergyman of Vincennes as early as 1823 was Rev. Henry Shaw. His daughter married Colonel Robert N. Hudson.