Warrick County, Indiana - The whole text, 1881 (part 2 of 4)

At Collierville we were again paid off. Steven Vincent died here of small-pox. From here we went to Memphis. We next embarked on transports for Vicksburg to join in the seige and battles around that place. We landed at Young's Point, marched across the point, got on board the boats below and went to Grand Gulf; but Grant was too far on the road to Jackson to catch up with him. We returned to Young's Point and went up the Yazoo river to Haine's Bluffs. From there we went to the extreme southern part of the line investing the city, where we took our position and held it until the final surrender July 4, 1863. Immediately after the fall of Vicksburg our company went with the expedition to Jackson, Miss., which place was evacuated by the Confederates on the night of July 16. We returned again to Vicksburg, where we remained but a few days until we were ordered to Natchez, Miss. The balance of the summer and fall were spent at this place. On several occasions Company I was sent out scouting in pursuit of guerillas and cotton burners. We went on an expedition to Louisiana, a distance of sixty miles, captured Fort Beauregard, on Washita w river, destroyed it, and returned. Our camp at Natchez was first on Mr. North's farm, a short distance from the town, but we soon removed to the bluff in Juniper Park. Uncle John McDaniel died at Natchez. This was the most beautiful camp we occupied during the war. We were again paid off here. Several members of Company I were detailed to guard prisoners to New Orleans. At the mouth of Red river the boat was fired into by a 12 gun rebel battery. The boat was disabled, but was rescued by the U. S. gunboats before the Confederates could destroy it. From Natchez we again went to Vicksburg and camped eleven miles east, at what was known as Camp Hebron In the early part of 1864 we joined Sherman's expedition to Jackson and Meridian. During this expedition and after our return to Camp Hebron thirty-five of the original ninety re enlisted and were granted a thirty days' furlough and started north for God's country. While on the boat we were again paid off. At the expiration of our furlough we reported to New Albany ; from there by steamer to Cairo, Illinois ; thence to Paducah, where we waited two or three days for all our fleet to come up. While lying at Paducah, Albeit Rowe, our drummer, got into a difficulty with a drunken man who was imposing on him, when Albert drew his revolver and shot him twice, not dangerously, however. From here we went to Clifton on the Tennessee river, where we disembarked and started overland to join Sherman's army, then advancing from Chattanooga. Our line of march was through Pulaski, Huntsville, Decatur, Rome and Cartersville, to Ackworth, where we joined the army and went on the line at Big Shanty, Georgia, (the place where General Mitchell's scouls stole the locomotives from the Confederacy and attempted the breaking up of their communication) when sharp and earnest work commenced. After driving the Confederates from their temporary line at Big Shanty, their next stand was at Kenesaw mountain. Our position was just to the left of the Chattanooga and Atlanta R. R. A constant skirmish and artillery fire was kept up by both sides until the morning of June 27th, when Gen eral Sherman ordered a general assault along the whole line, but in our front only the picket line advanced. Company I was on picket that morning when the brigade commander sent orders to Lieut. David White, who was in command of the Company, to deploy his Company and charge the mountain at ten o'clock. All on the line knew the terrible consequences of such an order, but like true soldiers, when the order was given, "Attention, Company ! as skirmishers, to the right and left deploy. Forward, double quick, march !" they bounded from their hiding places, formed in line almost like magic and away through the broom sage and small sassafras, across the railroad track, over a rail fence almost to the rebel picket line, when the order was given to " Halt ! and lie down." On looking the field over after the evacuation it seemed almost impossible that any man could make that charge and live. This was truly a day of sorrow for Company I and many tender hearts here in Indiana were made to bleed over the fearful consequence of that bloody days' work. Company I jumped from the skirmish pits on the reception of the order to advance with thirty-two men and two commissioned officers. Of that number eighteen came back unhurt. Lieut. David White, one of the most promising young officers in the regiment, the joy of a widowed mother's home, the favorite of a large circle of young people, truly one of nature's noblemen, was mortally wounded, and when the order was given to retreat, he implored one of the boys in passing to shoot him and end his terrible suffering at once. He died on the spot where he fell. His remains were subsequently brought back to Indiana by his cousin, John T. White, who succeeded him as commander of the company. Thomas Vincent, Robert Wilkinson, Conrad Mann, William H. Raisch, Jno. S. Knight, Drummond Carse and Duncan Neeves, were killed; William Gerhart, Henry Lang, Nicholas Keith, James M. Ikard and Lieutenant Charles H. Dillingham were wounded. Boon Laslie, James Lee and Ben Whittinghill were captured. Lee and Laslie both died in prison and Whittinghill was so emaciated by ill-treatment and starvation that he could scarcely walk when he got out of prison. This day's work left us with but eighteen men and no commissioned officer. Sergeant John T. White now assumed command of the company. From this point we went to the extreme right of the line on what is called the Sand Town road. On the 51I1 of July we formed a line of battle in the morning and advanced five miles in line over the roughest, bushiest, hilliest country in Georgia. We started up Joe Brown and his Georgia militia two or three times during the day. About an hour before sunset we came on the enemy in pretty strong force. A general charge was ordered, but a deep, impassable creek, called Nick-a-Jack, just in front of a heavy line of works, put an end to the charge. We fell back a few rods and threw up fortifications. On the evening of the 10th, just at sun-set, the whole of the rebel artillery was turned loose on us at once, and here we got the most furious shelling we had during the war; but little damage to life was done, however. From here we went to the extreme left of the army and crossed the Chatahoochee river at a little town called Roswell. On the

20th and 21st of July we were engaged in heavy skirmishing. On the 2 1 st Phillip Nonweiler was wounded in the hip, from which he died. Arnold Westfall was also wounded* On the following day, July 2 2d, was fought the severest battle of the campaign. In this day's battle Company I lost James A. Keith, Thomas Leech and James K. Crowder, killed ; Moses Shaul, Romey Perigo, and Nicholas Taylor, wounded. Nicholas Taylor was captured and died in prison. Samuel Crow and Nathan Matthews were also captured and taken to Andersonville prison. Crow died in prison. Col. Wm. Jones was killed by a cannon ball (which struck him in the head, leaving not a spoonfull of brain in the cavity of the skull. The ball struck just above the eyes, leaving the face recognizable, but tearing away the entire skull) after being wounded in the leg by a musket ball. This was the day McPherson, the " beloved of the army," fell. John A. Logan succeeded to his command, winning the gratitude of the army for his conduct during the remainder of the day. From this position we were again transferred to the extreme right of the line, where we laid in one position for thirty days. July 20th Geo. Shepard and Amos Hart were wounded. At this camp Captain Langford resigned at the request of the company. August 28th Peter Korb was wounded in the arm. Our company moved with the army that passed to the rear of Hood and followed him to Lovejoy station. After the evacuation of Atlanta we followed Hood in his march North to Galesville, Alabama, where we retraced our steps to Merietta, where we were paid off, and on the 13th of November we started on Sherman's famous march to the sea. Sam McLaughlin, who had been detailed with the 7th Ohio battery, was captured by bushwackers, just as we were ready to start, and taken to Anderson prison, where he was kept until March following, when he made his escape and joined the company near Cheraw, South Carolina. Nothing of special interest occurred during the march of thirty days through an enemy's country with no communication with the outside world. We fared well on the march - no sickness, but Utile fighting and plenty to eat. Arrived at Savannah December 13; it was evacuated December 20. We staid but a short time at Savannah until we were transferred to Beaufort, South Carolina, which place we left January 27, I865, and on the 30th we came on to the Confederates at Pocotaligo station, on the Savannah and Charleston R. R. We drove them away. Our march was continued on to Columbia, at which place we arrived on the morning of February 27th. The bridge over the Congoree river was burned and Wade Hampton occupied the city. Company I was detailed as skirmishers to go down immediately to the river bank and ascertain if it was possible to wade the river, which we soon found to be an impossibility. Pontoon bridges were built during the day and by night all had crossed over. During the night the city was burned, and in the morning our march was resumed through South Carolina to Fayetteville, N. C, where we met a gunboat from Wilmington, which brought us our mail - the first since January 30th, this being March 13th. Our march was resumed in the direction of Goldsboro. At Bentonville, on the 19th., we met Joe Johnson, and a part of the army became warmly engaged, but our company failed to get into the engagement. At night the Confederates retreated in the direction of Raleigh. Our column was headed for Goldsboro, where we met the army of Scofield from Wilmington. At this camp, those who did not re-enlist were discharged and started for home. After a short stay we started in pursuit of Johnson, who had stopped at Raliegh; but when we reached the city Johnson had retreated to Greensboro. At this point we received the news of President Lincoln's assassination. We recived the news of .

the surrender of Gen. Lee, on the march from Goldsboro to Raleigh. After the surrender of Johnson we started overland, by way of Petersburgh, Richmond, Fredericksburgh and Alexandria, for Washington, where we camped but a short time until we were ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, by way of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, to Parkersburgh, Virginia, thence by boat to Louisville, where we staid until July 21st* At this camp, John T. White was commissioned captain - John S. Lowe, first lieutenant; Norman Taylor, second lieutenant, although they had been filling the respective positions for some time. Charles Dillingham was appointed first and Nathan Matthews, second lieutenants, but owing to disability from wounds received by both, and imprisonment of Matthews, neither of them were mustered in and qualified for their respective appointments. From Louisville we went to Camp Carrington, near Indianapolis, where we were paid off August 5th, 1865. After four years association, as members of Company "I," we separated*

In this hastily written sketch there are doubtless errors, and some matters that would be of interest omitted, but considering the fact that it is nineteen years ago since the beginning of this narrative, the survivors will pardon errors and omissions. To those members of the company who are living it will be a matter of interest to them as being almost a personal history, and perhaps a fuller one than will ever be written of their almost four years' service in the army. To the relatives of those who died of disease while in the service and since their return home, and especially to the relatives of those who were killed who were killed in action or died shortly after being wounded ; to the relatives of Boon Laslie, James Lee and Nicholas Taylor, who died in prison, this sketch will be of especial interest.

W. Wilson Compaly K, 42D Indiana Volunteers

Routes, first year - Camp Vanderburgh to Henderson, Kentucky; thence to Calhoun; thence to South Carrolton, and returned to Calhoun ; thence to Owensboro, and from there to Nashville, Tennessee, on transports, where Lieutenant Denny resigned and Edmud M. Knowles was promoted Second Lieutenant. Thence the regiment followed in the wake of Gen. Mitchell's division, to Huntsville, Alabama. On this route, at Wartrace, Tennessee, a part of the company were in a fight when Sergeants White and Carnahan, and Christopher Brashears, George W. Floyd and others were wounded - the last three mentioned, so as to be discharged and disabled for the balance of the war*

After lying at Huntsville until the 23d of August, 1862, came the long notorious retreat of Buell to Louisville, Kentucky, arriving there on the 20th of September, 1862. Then they commenced the pursuit of the rebel army under Bragg, and on the 8th of October, 1862, the battle of Perryville was fought, and there was killed of company K, on the field, Oliver Buzzingham - some died of wounds. Three of the wounded, James Humphrey, George L. Masters, and Young Reed are yet living.

Second Year's Routes and Changes - On the 8th of November, 1862, James H. Masters was promoted Captain, vice Daniel G. Thompson, resigned ; Edmund M. Knowles was promoted First Lieutenant, vice Masters, promoted ; Emory Johnson was promoted Second Lieutenant, vice Knowles, promoted, and Tilotson M. Neves was made First Sergeant.

Then came the march via Nashville to Stone river, where, on the 31st of December, 1862, commenced that sanguinary conflict known as the battle of Stone river. Company K, lost - killed - on that day, almost at the same instant, Rinaldo Edwards and Warrick Clifford. Among the seventy wounded on that day were Alvis Ashley, John Coleman, John Ross and army until we moved forward under Gen. Rosencrans through Northern Alabama and Georgia to the great battle of Chickamauga, where Miles Matthews and First Lieutenant Edmund M. Knowles were made prisoners of war. Miles Matthews, one of the best of soldiers, died in Andersonville prison, and Lieutenant Edmund M. Knowles was killed outright while a

Third Year's Changes - Next came the sweeping victory of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, of which our company, as a part of the First Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, took part. Among the wounded were Thomas W. Lacer, dangerously, and Ephriam Y. Perigo, slightly.

On the last of January, 1864, our company re-enlisted, and there were still able for service twenty-seven men out of the ninety-eight who were first enrolled - all of whom veteranized, when we had a short furlough home, and then went back to the front at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In April, 1864, our company and regiment commenced advancing with Gen. Sherman on that almost unceasing battle from Goldsboro to Atlanta, Georgia. Among the veterans of company K, on the nth of April, 1864, Ephraim Brashears was wounded in the leg and made a cripple for life. On the 14th of May, George L. Masters was seriously wounded in the right lung and through the right shoulder, and made a cripple for life. On the 2 2d of July, 1864, Captain James H. Masters, was crippled for life by a gun-shot wound in the right shoulder, and Lieutenant Emory Johnson was killed almost instantly by a ball passing through his lungs. In a few days afterwards, perhaps on the 7th of August, Sergeant Wm. Stuckey and Pleasant Shepherd were also killed. So rapidly fell the veterans of of our company that the late history of the company is not so exactly known. The company, however, was recruited and started in on its fourth year, when Tilotson M. Neves was promoted Captain, vice Masters discharged; Ephraim Y. Perigo was promoted First Lieutenant, vice Knowles, killed ; John D. Linxwiller, promoted Second Lieutenant, vice Johnson killed. The company was discharged at an early period by the disbandment of the army after the surrender of Lee.

Company E, 65Th Indiana Volunteers

Company E served one year in Kentucky, with headquarters at Henderson, during which time the company guarded 1,000 prisoners to Camp Chase and Johnson's Island. In April, 1863, the company were mounted by order of Gen. Boyle, and received marching orders for East Tennessee, and were among the first troops to enter Knoxville on the 1st of September, 1863. J. W. Hammond was promoted to Captain of Company K; Sergeant J. V. Admire was promoted to Second Lieutenant in April, 1863, and March 1st, 1864, to First Lieutenant* Sergeant J. B. Carter was promoted to Second Lieutenant. September 2 1 st, 1864, Lieutenant J. B. Carter was discharged on surgeon's certificate of disability, and Martin S. Harmon was promoted from Sergeant to First Lieutenant. First Sergeant Bailey Hickman was promoted to Second Lieutenant.

Company E participated in the pursuit of Colonel John Morgan and followed him as far as Louisville, Kentucky. *The first engagement in which the company participated was the battle of Blountville, Tennessee, in October, 1863, in which Geo. W. White was killed. The company was engaged at Been's Station, in November, 1863, in which engagement James Nickolson was killed. At the close of the East Tennessee campaign, the company was dismounted and placed in the Third Division of the Twenty-third Army Corps, and fought through the Georgia campaign under Gen. Sherman. On the 28th of August, 1865, Captain J. V. Admire took command of the company, Captain Baker having been assigned to the command of the regiment. On the 28th day of September, 1864, the company, with a small detail from the regiment, one hundred and twenty-five men, all told, under the command of Major Baker, fought five hundred rebel cavalry, near Decatur, Georgia, and repulsed them with heavy loss - the company bringing off their dead and wounded - among whom was Lieutenant Martin S. Harmon. For their gallant services on this occasion they received a complimentary order from General I. D. Cox. During the Georgia campaign the company participated in the following named battles: Resacca, Pumpkin Vine Ridge, Snake Creek Gap, Kenesaw Mountain, Ringold and Burnt Hickory.

ceiving an outfit at Washington City the company was sent to Federal Point, North Carolina, and there led the advance at the storming of Fort Fisher, and participated in all the battles in North Carolina, under General Schofield, and was present at the

After the fighting was all over, the company lay in camp at Greensboro, North Carolina, until mustered out in July. From Greensboro, the company traveled by rail to Indianapolis, Indiana, where the men were paid and received their discharges, having been in the service two years and eleven months.

Company H, 25Th Indiana Volunteers

Captain Darby resigned, August 20th, 1861, and Lieutenant Dorus Fellows was appointed to fill the vacancy, and the other promotions, in their usual order, were made. The company did its share of fighting, and underwent all the trials, and suffered all the injuries usual to a warm and active campaign. It veteranized and remained in the service until July 6th, 1865, when it was mustered out. - {Edwin Adams' Iiisto?y of Warrick County.

Biographical Part Ratliff Boon

Hon. Ratliff Boon, ex-Governor of the State of Indiana, and for sixteen years Representative from the First Congressional District in the National House of Representatives, was born in Georgia, about the year 1780. He was a cousin of the great pioneer, Daniel Boone, and was also a son-in-law to Bailey Anderson, one of the earliest settlers of this county. His parents moved to Warren county, Kentucky, while he was very young, and at Danville, in that State, he learned the gunsmith's trade. In 1809 he came to Indiana Territory, through the influence of his kinsman, Bailey Anderson, and was probably the first to settle in what is now Boon township, this county, which was named in honor of him. The land upon which he settled and lived during his residence in Warrick county is situated about two miles west of Boonville.

Colonel Boon was one of the most prominent men in Indiana during its early days, and held some of the highest offices within the gift of the people. His education was limited, but he was a man of extraordinary tact and sagacity. He possessed great force of character and had a manner of making loyal friends and bitter enemies. For several years he was Colonel of State malitia. Upon the organization of Warrick, as a territorial county, in 1 81 3, as the law at that time required, he was appointed Treasurer, which office he held until 1820. In 18 16, when Indiana was admitted into the Union, Boon was elected to represent Warrick county in the first State Legislature. This was the beginning of his career as a politician, and he afterwards held various offices, covering a period of twenty-five years. He was twice elected Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, and during his last term in this office he filled an unexpired term as Chief Executive of the State. He was elected to Congress eight different times, serving, in all, sixteen consecutive years.

In 1839 he removed to Pike county, Missouri, and while a resident of that State he was defeated by Thomas H. Benton in caucus, as a candidate for United States Senator, after which he virtually retired from public life. However, he desired to live to see Polk elected President of the United States, and a few hours after he received the news of his election, ml846, he died.

Colonel Boon was married to Miss Deliah Anderson, of Kentucky, daughter of Bailey Anderson. The fruits of this marriage were ten children, five boys and five girls, all of whom are now dead, except a daughter, living in Pike county, Missouri.

The marked characteristics of Ratliff Boon's public life forcibly reminds one of the back-woods statesman, Davy Crockett. It was his custom always to return home in the spring and "lay out" the corn rows for his sons, and he would then go back to Congress. In the annals of Warrick county history no man figures more prominently than Ratliff Boon, and his career is one of which we may well be proud.

General Joseph Lane

GENERAL JOSEPH LANE. Few there are who have not heard of General Joe Lane, of Oregon, who, from an obscure flat-boatman, on the Ohio river, has risen to some of the most prominent positions in the land. To-day he lives on the Pacific slope, far away from the scenes of his early struggles. He was born in North Carolina, in 1801, and was only six years of age when his father, John Lane, removed to Henderson county, Kentucky. What education he received was obtained, at intervals, in some log house, where a man, who knew his letters, acted as teacher. He was a sharp, quick-witted boy, more fond of hunting than books, and, withal, was very popular with the pioneers, on account of his accommodating disposition. In 1818 his father removed to Vanderburgh county, Indiana,* and purchased a tract of land about nine miles above Evansville. Here Joseph was invited by Judge Grass, who kept a store near Rockport, to proceed there and act as a clerk in his establishment. He was at once regarded with favor by all who had business at the store, as he was well posted in stories of frontier life, and was kind and obliging. He next, in company with his brother Simon, bought a flat-boat, sold wood to the steamboats, as they passed ; made many trips to New Orleans , carried on a farm ; dealt in stock, etc. , until the breaking out of the Mexican war, when he began to secure recruits in Evansville and vicinity. Soon a large number of the hardy yeomanry were mustered into the second regiment, and with our subject as their Colonel was off for the scene of the war. His regiment was placed in the division commanded by General Taylor, and his exploits immediately attracted the attention of "Old Rough and Ready," who showed his confidence in the Indiana pioneer by making Colonel Lane a Brigadier General. General Lane was not only a brave man, but he was possessed of a knowledge of the Mexican style of fighting, and was an invaluable officer in that vigorous campaign, so successfully managed by General Taylor.

*The land upon which Mr. Lane settled was really in Warrick county at that time, but Hon. Ratliff Boon, fearing that Joe Lane, who was a very popular youth at nineteen years of age, would seriously interfere with his political aspirations in this county, caused a strip of land to be transferred from the southeastern part of Warrick to the territory of Vanderburgh county, which included the farm that Mr. Lane had settled upon, thereby making Joe Lane ineligible to office in this county. By reference to the map, the reader will observe this apparent encroachment upon Warrick county territory by Vanderburgh . However, General Lane afterwards represented Warrick and Vanderburgh counties in the State Senate several terms in succession - Ed. W, and its P. P.

ernor of the Territory of Oregon, and upon the admission of Oregon into the Union, he was elected a Senator. General Lane was a delegate from Oregon to the Democratic Convention which nominated Franklin Pierce for President in 1852. In i860, General Lane was nominated for Vice President on the Breckenridge-Democratic ticket and his career in that memorable campaign is a part of the records of the country. General Lane was married, while living in Vanderburgh county, to Miss Mary Hart, daughter of Matthew Hart. Ten children were the result of this union, of whom only one has died. Taking him as a representative pioneer, we have presented this brief sketch of his life. His public services are a permanent part of our national history. - Evansville and its Men of Mark.

A Letter From General Lane

The following letter, which we have slightly abridged, from General Joseph Lane, while living at Rosenburg, Oregon, to A. T. Whittlesey, Esq. , Secretary of the Vanderburgh County Historical and Biographical Society, contains many interesting incidents of his own life and reminiscences of prominent men and important events in the early history of Warrick and Vanderburgh counties. Prom i{, much information can be gained regarding the old veteran's residence in this section, which is not given in the foregoing sketch of his life :

'Tn 1814 my father settled on the Kentucky bank of the Ohio river, opposite the mouth of Cypress creek ; the place afterwards owned by the McCormicks, and for aught I know, still belonging to some one of the family ; be that as it may. We succeeded in clearing off the cane and small timber, chopping around the big trees so as to deaden them, and put in cultivation ten acres of that rich bottom land. The first year we raised a good crop of corn, a good garden, and some six hundred pounds of cotton in the seed. Then, all families, not very rich, raised cotton and flax; carded, spun, wove and made their own clothing, sheeting and other necessary cloths. When our cotton was picked out of the boll and sacked, old Mr. Vanada, who lived on the bank of the river, three miles from us, proposed to furnish a skiff and with my help take the cotton of both parties to Henderson, then called Red Banks, where a Mr. McBride had put up a gin to pick the seeds from the cotton, and also a small carding machine to make the cotton into rolls, which, by the way, was at that time of great advantage to poor people. Well, in the fall of 1815, with our cotton loaded in the skiff, the good old gentleman and myself set out for Henderson. I did the rowing.

"At nightfall we had reached the mouth of Green river; a slight head-wind prevailed, and finding myself a little tired I proposed to land; but Mr. Vanada said : " No, we must reach Henderson by morning." We ate a portion of our cold ham and corn bread, and I settled down to the oars, he held the tiller and on we went, rowing as hard as I could, the wind increased ; faithfully did I tug at the oars, but our progress was slow. As we commenced to turn McClain's point the wind took us fair, and the waves broke over the sides of our skiff. The old gentleman called out "Hard on the oars!" and headed our little boat quartering up the river. We made a landing not far from where Shanklin first opened his store. There we camped and slept till morning, the wind still blowing too hard for our little boat or the power that propelled it. As we could not go on, I took a ramble through the woods and brush, and for the first time looked over the land and site where now stands the beautiful and business city of Evansville, with its many churches, and school houses, and banks, and public edifices, with its daily lines of steamboats and railroads, and constant hurry and rush of business, and with its high state of civilization. Then how little did I think of the great future of the site where then, alone, I rambled ; could I then have foreseen it, with my uniform good health and energy, what a large fortune could now be mine ; perhaps Heaven directs ! My life has been one of action, and not of speculation ; directed in a different sphere, and although in that sphere I experienced much hardship, deep anxiety and severe wounds, from which I suffer much pain and inconvenience, it was necessary for the protection of our pioneers and the rapid progress of civilization that soon followed and spread all over the Pacific slope. But enough of this.

"In the winter of that year, 1815, I obtained permission to go out and work for myself. Early in 181 6 I obtained work in Darlington, the county seat at that time of Warrick county. It was located one mile from the Ohio river, between Pigeon and Cypress creeks, and bordered on a long pond, that in winter afforded fine duck shooting, and in summer plenty of mosquitoes, ague and bilious fever; quite as sickly as any place between Louisville and New Orleans.

"Myself, and several other young men, took a contract to cut, raft and deliver several hundred saw logs at Henderson, Kentucky, to Mr. Audubon, (subsequently known as the great ornithologist). He had built and owned a very good steam saw mill, a little too soon for the times, which was one among other failures that caused him to quit business and turn his attention to that branch of science and literature in which he afterwards became famous.

"It was while engaged in delivering logs and rowing back in our skiff that I got acquainted with every one who lived on the bank of the river, and especially did I get well acquainted with Col. Hugh McGary, and was rather pleased with him« He talked well on the subject of his town site and of the ultimate greatness of his prospective city. With him, I walked over a portion of the land. A portion of it I had walked over the year before, solitary and alone ; I found him quite in earnest about his town. Not long after this he put up his hewed log house not far from Mitchell's corner, I think, near the spot where, some time after, James Lewis built his dwelling house. Upon this occasion we camped near his house, and he spent most of the night with us, and talked much and complained bitterly of Col. Ratliff Boon, who was, as he held, the only obstacle to his success ; that he, Boon, was opposed to the formation of a new county out of Warrick, Posey and Gibson, and so arranging the boundaries as to make his town site central. I was fond of Boon and did not like to hear him abused, but said nothing until after I had obtained employment in the clerk's office ; then the first time that I saw Boon, I took the liberty of saying to him that perhaps he had it in his power, or if he wished he could have a new county formed out of the counties above named, and still have them large enough, and that by so doing he would make many friends. A few months after I happened to be present at a conversation held in the clerk's office, while our circuit court was in session, between Boon, McGary, Gen. Evans and Judge Daniel Grass, all leading men, in which the whole programme of a new county was fully discussed. Boon mentioned that such chipping of Warrick county would necessitate the re-location of the county seat and the probable point would be at or near Setteedown's village, where he, a Shawnee chief, had lived with his little band until 1811, and who, before he left to join his nation had killed some white people in French Island neighborhood. He was followed and killed by a party of citizens, among whom Boon figured conspicuously.

petuared. Boonville is still the county seat of Warrick county. The boundaries of Spencer county were so fixed as to insure the location of the county seat at Rockport, a good location. Vanderburgh county was formed so as to make McGary's town site fit in exactly. General Evans had now become part owner ; the county seat was located and the name of the proprietor was perpetuated in the now famous city of Evansville. In 1818 my father moved from the Kentucky side, to the Indiana side, of the Ohio river, in Vanderburgh county, a short distance below the foot of "Three Mile " Island. In 1820 I married and became owner of a portion of his land, where I lived till 1846 (my family remaining until 1853) and where our ten children had their birth. It is hardly worth while for me to mention the names of the early settlers and business men, lawyers, doctors, etc. You have among you those who knew them all.

In 1822 I was first elected to the Legislature from the counties of Vanderburgh and Warrick. Gen. Evans and Dr. Foster were opposing candidates ; three of us on the track and one to be elected. Your humble servant had a plurality of fourteen votes over Gen. Evans, who was better qualified to represent the district than Foster and myself put together. That year the Legislature held its session at Corydon, then the seat of government, and continued to so be (if my memory serves me right) until 1825. After that, Indianapolis became the permanent seat of government.

"In 1822 the House organized by electing Gen. G. W. Johnson, of Knox county, Speaker, and Wm. Sheets, Clerk, Boon, Lieutenant-Governor, was President of the Senate, and Farnham, Secretary. At that session Governor Wm. Hendricks was elected to the United States Senate, and Boon became the acting Governor. Among the members of the House of that session, were some young men of promise that afterwards became prominent.

1 To wit : Oliver H. Smith, Gen. Milton Stapp, Bullock and Pinckney Jones ; two of these became quite prominent. I suppose that it is safe to say that not a member (myself excepted) of either House of that session, is now living, or has been living within the last ten or fifteen years. On looking back, how sad one feels ! The only one left !

"As many of the older members of your society know, I served at intervals in one or the other House of our State Legislature, from 1822 to 1846, when I left vacant an unexpired term in the Senate, and volunteered, in that gallant old veteran, Capt. William Walker's company. From him I took my first lessons in company drill.

"At Buena Vista, sword in hand, he fell, while nobly and gallantly battling for his country's honor. A truer and braver soldier fell not upon any battlefield, before or since.

"The Speakers in the several Houses, in which I served after 1822, were Isaac Howk, Harbin H* Moore and Dr. John W. Davis; and if I remember correctly, each of these gentlemen served more than one term as presiding officer.

"I was twice elected to the Senate, once only beaten for the House ; that was by Wm. T. T. Jones, a gallant, talented gentleman. Brown Butler run me close ; I beat him by only six votes. After that Butler was my colleague in the House while I was in the Senate. As you are aware, I did my part in bringing about a compromise between the State and her creditors, or bondholders ; the adjustment saved us the disgrace of threatened repudiation, to which I was very earnestly opposed. During my whole service in the Legislature I did all I could for the promotion of the interests and honor of our State and the district that I in part represented.

mechanics, professional men and others that ought to have a place in history. I have endeavored to give the little I knew of the influence of the men who shaped and formed boundaries of counties and location of county seats, all of which was understood, by the actors, a year or two before the great work was accomplished, all of them more or less interested, and still all they did resulted in great public good. Ratliff Boon, Daniel- Grass (the humorist) and Gen. Robert M. Evans, were more than ordinary men of their day and deserve a place in the history of Indiana.

"With kind regards and best wishes for the health and success of all the Society, I am, sir, with much respect, your obdient servant, Joseph Lane.

The writing of this letter to the Vanderburgh Historical Society was one of the last acts of General Lane's life. He died at Rosenberg, Oregon, on April 20th, 1881, in his seventy-ninth year.

Ezek1El Perigo

EZEK1EL PERIGO. Ezekiel Perigo, one of the early settlers and a prominent citizen of Warrick county, was born in Ohio county, Kentucky, August 6th, 1802. His father, Romey Perigo, was a native of Maryland, and was born in that State during the strife with Great Britain. At eighteen years of age he settled in Ohio county, Kentucky, and in 1800, when twenty one years old, he was married to Miss Rhodia Hinman. He died about 1830. Mrs. Perigo was a woman of extraordinary bravery. She could handle a gun or shoot a wildcat as well as a man. She died by a stroke of palsy in 1822. In April, 1819, Mr. Perigo moved to Warrick county and settled south of where Ezekiel now lives. This was one year after Boonville had been laid out and there

Ezekiel's early advantages in instruction were limited to a few days each winter for two or three years while in Kentucky, and after his father's removal to Warrick county he attended a school two weeks, taught by George Hathaway. This comprised all his schooling. However, he obtained most of his education after his marriage by pursuing a regular and systematic course of study in the chimney corner at night by the light of a "shell bark hickory" fire- In 1822 he was married to Miss Peggy Hudson, a life long member of the Methodist church, who died June 27, 1878, at the age of seventy-three. They had one son, Romey, who was killed in the battle at Atlanta, Ga., during the late war.

Until fifty-four years of age Mr. Perigo pursued farming. He engaged in milling for about eighteen months, and then purchased a saddle and harness shop. He began mercantile business in Boonville in 1856 and continued until 1872.

During the late war he was a decided Union man and did much to aid the cause by helping to feed and clothe soldiers' families, and otherwise encouraging the work of fighting our battles. Politically, he was a Whig, having cast his first vote for John Quincy Adams for President, but when the Whig party was succeeded by the Republican he joined the latter. He has been a man of prominence in local politics and has held various offices. He was twice elected constable of Boon township. He has also been treasurer of Boon township four years and trustee four years. He was commissioner of the county seminary for six years and was also appointed commissioner of swamp lands, but there were no duties attached to the latter office. In 1838 he was appointed county collector of taxes and was required to ride over the county and make personal collections. In this he was far more successful than his predecessors. He counted out the silver once after the year's work was done and threw it into one of Jackson's old-fashioned tin cups, which held about three pints, completely filling it. This was two years' salary and consisted of about $200. He has been administrator of forty-five estates and commissioner in petition of forty others.

He has been a member of the M. E. church for a number of years, and is esteemed by all as an honorable and upright man. His admirable character appears to better advantage at his own fireside, and none know him but to like him for his sincerity and honesty. His career has been a very useful one, and, although very old, he still retains a wonderful vigor of mind. He has watched the progress of Boonville from the time it was a settlement of a half-dozen log cabins to a thriving town of two thousand population. To use the words of the venerable old gentleman himself, ' 'his highest ambition is to so live that when this life's toils are over it may be truthfully said, he was always honest and honorable."

Dr. Reuben C. Matthewson

DR. REUBEN C. MATTHEWSON. Of the prominent men of Warrick county that have passed away none covered a longer period of usefulness than Dr. Reuben Clark Matthewson, one of the pioneer physicians of Indiana and a gentleman of rare attainments, who settled in this county at a very early day. He was born October 16, 1804, in Steuben county, New York. His parents, Oliver and Agnes Matthewson, lived to be very old. His father died very suddenly of apoplexy at the age of eighty-two, and his mother of heart dis- ease at seventy-five years of age. His mother, whose maiden name was Clark, was a descendant of a highly intellectual family and was a lady of extraordinary intellect. It is thought that the subject of this sketch inherited from her much of the talent and ability which he displayed throughout his career from boyhood to old age. In 1817 the family moved from New York to Princeton, Gibson 'county, Indiana, where the parents ever afterwards lived and are now buried. Reuben was thirteen years old at this time and had attended school very little, but when quite young he evinced a love, if not a passion, for books and music, which he maintained till old age, although averse to the wishes of his father, who wanted him to be a carpenter, the trade which he himself followed. At about this time the son was sent to school to Dr. Ira Bostwick, a gentleman of scholastic attainments and polished manners Between the two there became a warm attachment, which continued until the death of Dr. Bostwick, many years after the manhood of his pupil. At a later period in life he received tuition in Princeton from William Chittenden, a gentleman of literary attainments, and doubtless it was here that he obtained most of his education. At this time he was twenty years old, quiet and reserved, evincing a marked passion for books, and reading much in solitude.

He expressed to his father a desire to read medicine, but Mr. Matthewson tried to discourage him, telling him that he did not possess the capacity or scholarship to engage in such high notions. However, he was permitted to enter the office of Dr. Charles Fullerton, a practicing physician in Princeton of more than ordinary ability for that time and place. Dr. Fullerton was also a fine musician and a teacher of both vocal and instrumental music. Here the student of medicine spent some of his leisure time in learning melodies and harmonies which were of great use to him early in life. He also studied the languages, particularly

He was licensed to practice medicine at the age of twenty-one and at once located in Boonville. This was in 1825, seven years after Boonville was laid out. It was a village of about fifty inhabitants at that time, and Dr. Matthewson was the only physician, Dr. Pasco, who came first, having died in 1824.

He was married February 16, 1828, to Lorinda Baldwin, a young lady of good family and a native of New York. Her parents were among the earliest residents of Boonville. She died August 19th, i860, a little more than forty-eight years old, after a lingering illness, greatly lamented by all her numerous friends and relatives. Their children were five in number, three sons and two daughters. Two of the sons died in 1847, before they had arrived at manhood. The surviving son is Mr. Charles Clark Matthewson, who resides at the old homestead and is engaged in the drug business in Boonville. He inherits to a large extent his father's love of music and books, and lives quietly in the enjoyment of his favorite pastimes. Isabella Helen, the second child and eldest daughter, was marriedin April, 1850, to Dr. W. G. Ralston, and now resides at Evansville. Lucy Maria, the other daughter and youngest child, the favorite of her father, and a beautiful and highly accomplished young lady, was married to John Brackenridge in April, 1876, and died two months afterwards.

In some business speculations about 1832 or 1833 Dr. Matthewson became much involved financially. Therefore, he relinquished his practice in Boonville and went to Bardstown, Kentucky, where he was made professor of music of the college at that place. He filled the chair with entire satisfaction for several years and then returned to his home and the practice of

Dr. Matthewson was a hard student of medicine, as his books show by their marginal annotations. He was a very skillful, successful, and, consequently, popular physician. In his diagnosis and prognosis of disease he excelled most practitioners ; hence, to his opinion was given great weight in critical and doubtful cases. He was not a graduate, having attended only a partial course of lectures in the Ohio Medical College, yet he knew more about the real and scientific principles and details of medical science than very many of the professors and teachers in the medical colleges of the day. He practiced his profession in Boonville with the exception of the time he was engaged in teaching music in Bardstown College, for nearly fifty years.

He was for many years skeptical in religious matters, but later in life he often said that his former notions had undergone a change and that he now entertained the hope and belief that the soul was immortal and would live in the future.

He was entertaining in conversation, having read almost everything that he considered worthy perusal. In physical appearance he was full and erect. His complexion was florid, and he had sparkling hazel eyes and red hair when young, which became almost white before his death. His weight was about 160 pounds and his height five feet ten inches.

In politics Dr. Matthewson was a Whig and afterwards a Republican. He was never a candidate for political favor, but he held the office of postmaster of Boonville from 1841 to 1845.

During his career of active life, covering a period of fifty years, he was identified as foremost in everything tending to the business or social advancement and improvement of his town and county. He was naturally looked upon as a leading citizen, and was held in the highest esteem by all. He was of a sociable disposition and in a quiet way was very benevolent.

During the last years of his life he was in a feeble state of health, which was doubtless a gradual softening of the brain, and on June 22, 1876, after a brief illness, supposed to be heart disease, the surroundings of his long, useful life,

William Scales

WILLIAM SCALES. William Scales, who was a pioneer of Indiana territory, and a man of conspicuousness in the early days of Warrick county, was born in North Carolina, in April, 1785. Early in the eighteenth century a family named Scales was banished from Scotland on account of their liberal ideas. They came to the United States, and it is probable that they settled in North Carolina. It is thought that William Scales was a descendant of this family. In 1803 he was married to Mary Skelton, of Georgia, and during the same year they emigrated to Warren county, Kentucky. In 1807 he came to Indiana and settled in what is now Gibson county, near Princeton. The white men in this part of the country at that time were "few and far between." Settlers twenty miles apart were as neighbors. He constructed a hut of a right-angle triangular shape, with poles, bark and skins, the manner in which the houses of most pioneers were at that time built, and lived in it with his family for sometime, before the more substantial log cabin could be built. A tribe of Indians lived in close proximity to where Mr. Scales had decided to settle and shortly after his arrival they came trotting over to his hut in single file to see him. One of the Indians approached him and said, "White man trust Indian, Indian trust white man," meaning that they would be his friend if he would trust them. They then asked that they might keep his eldest boy one day, promising to return with him when the sun went down. Afraid to refuse lest the savages should become offended he very reluctantly consented to the proposition after a consultation with his wife, and one of the Indians, taking the boy on his shoulders, they trotted away in the same direction they had come. For the father and mother alone in the wilderness, with no friend near, and wholly at the mercy of a band of savages, it was a day of painful anxiety. Now and then they shuddered with the fear that the Indians would prove treacherous, and that they would never again see their boy alive. Night was fast drawing near, and the sun was gradually sinking beneath the horizon. The father's hope began to grow weaker, and he impatiently awaited the end of the time allotted for their return. With fixed eyes he watched the sun disappear entirely in the west and he then turned in the direction the Indians had gone, ready to face any danger, but his face lighted up with a smile of sudden delight, and his heart beat fast with joy as he saw them in the distance coming with his boy. They came trotting up in the same manner they had left and deposited the son at the father's feet. The old Indian then patted the grateful parent on the shoulder, and said, "White man trust Indian; Indian white man's friend always." Forever afterward the Indians and William Scales were good friends.

On account of the prevalence of wild animals at that time no stock could be raised, and hence, their meats consisted wholly of wild game, of which there was an abundance of all kinds. The manner of grinding or rather mashing corn for the purpose of making bread of it, was by hollowing out a stump in which it was mashed by a huge maul. Then the pioneers were intro- duced to the " spring-pole," which was regarded as a marvelous improvement on the maul mode of mashing corn, and afterwards came the more convenient horsemill, which was thought the limit of mechanical invention in grain grinding.

In 1811 Mr. Scales enlisted as first sergeant in Captain Hargrave's company in the war of 18 12, and he participated in the battle at Tippecanoe. After the close of the war he removed to what is now the northeastern part of Warrick county, settling near Selvin. His occupation was principally that of a farmer, although he taught school a great deal of the time. He was accustomed to reading, and possessed what at that time and place was a very uncommon education. Consequently, his services during the greater part of his life were of a public or official nature. He was twice assessor of Warrick county. In 1843 he was elected sheriff of the county and held the office two years. He was elected county treasurer in 1847 and was holding this office at the time of his death. He raised a family of sixteen children, nine girls and seven boys, and has a large number of descendants still living in the county.

He was a man of fine physique and a true type of the " old -Scotch gentleman." He was of a sociable, mirthful disposition, and possessed a fund of thrilling and amusing anecdotes of personal experience in his early settlement. He died in Boonville in 1848, at the place where Hon. B. S. Fuller now lives.

A. M. PHELPS. The marriage of Cadwell Phelps and Margaret Hamilton was consummated February 19th, ,1775. Of this union four children were the issue, among whom was A. M. Phelps, the subject of the present sketch, who was born January 6th, 1798, in Hartford, Windsor county, Vermont, where his father, who was of English extraction, had settled some two years previous.

At that period the country was almost a wilderness, and the newness of the territory, in connection with the father's limited means, made the education of his children rather a slender affair. To make amends for this the lad, A. M. Phelps, when released by his father at the age of nineteen, worked two years at ten dollars per month, then entered the Royalton Academy, Vermont, and was a student there for about a year.

But long before this the fame of the great west had reached the green hills of Vermont, and had so gained the attention of young Phelps that at the early age of fourteen, when his father one day pointed out to him an adjacent tract of land on the south side of the farm, and which was then for sale, following it with the remark : * 'Abraham, we must go to work and try to make money enough to buy that farm for you to possess when you become of age." His reply was: "Father, when that day arrives I am bound for the West."

On the ioth of June, 1820, with wardrobe packed and slung over his back, and only thirty-three dollars in his pocket, he bade adieu to his New England home, and set his face westward so intensified with the idea of his land of promise that four hundred miles of foot travel was to him no dissuasion.

Cleveland, Ohio, was his objective point, and between it and his old home were many long and weary miles. His start was on Monday, and on the following Sunday he came to a church on the Mohawk river, New York, where a congregation was worshipping inside, and a large number of boys playing ball outside, which, to him, looked oddly enough, coming, as he did, from the land of steady habits.

In a few days he reached the Genesee country, New York, and saw in process of construction what was in that day sarcastically termed "Governor Clinton's Ditch," the same which is now

Shortly after this he reached Lake Erie at a point four miles below Buffalo, and called Black Rock, where the steamer Walkin-the-water, the first and only vessel of its kind then running on western waters, was to make its departure on the next day. Steam navigation at that time was so crude and imperfect as to be akin to failure; therefore, on the appointed morning those concerned thought that to make the vessel walk in the water, a tow line from the steamer with four yoke of oxen hitched to it would make the feat more certain, and, besides, there were Niagara Falls not so far off as could be wished under the circumstances, whose current might give the boat a backward motion, notwithstanding its steam power. It would look as though the calculation was well made, for when all was ready it was found that the combination of ox muscle and steam power made the boat advance at least two miles an hour. When the danger of the current was passed and the oxen unhitched the boat had a speed of from four to five miles an hour, which enabled Mr. Phelps, who had taken passage in it, to reach Cleveland, distant two hundred miles, in fifty six hours. But steam power, as applied to navigation, was then in its infancy, and the novelly of calling oxen to the aid of steamers has long since become obsolete.

An uncle and aunt who lived in the little town of Newburgh, situated some six miles back of Cleveland, induced a visit of two weeks. This town will not now be found on the map, for years ago the growth of Cleveland had absorbed Newburgh.

This visit over, the young adventurer again set out with his face still westward, and his next stop was at Franklin, on the Big Miami, thirty-five miles north of Cincinnati, where he taught school in the same house two years and six months.

He then hired as a hand on a flat boat bound for New Orleans, but before starting invested all his money in the purchase of flour and chickens. His funds enabled him to lay in forty barrels of flour and thirty dozen chickens. This was in April 1823. The Miami was the river of mill-dams, and the boat had to run over twenty-four of these before the Ohio could be reached, consequently a rise in the river must be had before the boat could start.

The voyage down the Ohio was a very pleasant one, and his opportunities for examining the towns and country along the banks were quite good.

Of the many places that came under his observation on this trip, Evansville attracted his attention most, and he selected it as the place of his permanent residence.

While in Louisiana and Mississippi he had learned that the reeds used in weaving were so scarce as to command a very high price. This inspired his ingenuity, and on his return to Evansville, which was in June, he went into the manufacture of weaver's reeds, the canebrakes of Kentucky being his chief field of supply, and so assiduously did he work at this that by the middle of November he had about one hundred of these articles ready for sale.

The reeds necessitated the construction of a large skiff with a canvass covering to give shelter from the weather, and when completed, he, with a boy named Jones, whose mother's name was Abbot, made his second trip to the South, where his reeds were peddled out at from two to five dollars each, the pay being partly made in beef hides, deer skins and beeswax, which he sold in New Orleans.

While making this second trip he became acquainted with a Philadelphia merchant at Vicksburg, who bargained with him to peddle goods for one year, Florence, Alabama, being designated as the place where the merchant would supply Mr. Phelps with the goods. To carry out this project his second return to Evansville was followed by a trip to Florence, where he prepared him-

His next movement was to sell his peddling equipage, retaining, however, the horse on which he travelled to Memphis. There he disposed of the horse, and took steamboat passage for Natchez. In this city he came in contact with a Mr. Wade, from Boston, with whom he contracted for a supply of goods, which he agreed to peddle out in a floating trip down the river, a skiff being used for the conveyance. When a return was desired a steamer was employed to take the skiff to Memphis, when a new supply was laid in and a new trip commenced. Five trips were thus made in one season which realized him in the way of profit about one thousand dollars. This he invested in a stock of dry goods, boots and shoes, and returned to Evansville, in June, 1827.

The following October he put all his goods in a small flatboat, employed a yellow man named Dave, who formerly belonged to Hugh McGary, one of the founders of Evansville, and again started down the river on a peddling expedition. He reached New Orleans in January, 1828, where he purchased a fresh stock of goods, and from this may oe dated his permanent establishment in business, for on his return to Evansville he commenced mercantile trade, in a frame house which then stood on the present site of Marble Hall.

His first clerk was James G. Jones, the Judge, and beloved of after times, who was then abour fourteen years old, and who lived with him some two years, when Mr. Phelps sold out his stock of goods. While in business he took in pork and nearly all kinds of produce, which he shipped to New Orleans in flat boats, making two or three trips a year.

In 1830, after selling out his stock of goods, and finding himself in possession of some two thousand dollars of United States paper, he resolved to visit his old home in Vermont, from which he had been absent ten years.

Since then he has travelled in the stage coach and canal boat more than forty times for the purpose of laying in goods, New York and Philadelphia being the places where he bought his heaviest stocks.

In those days the whistle of the locomotive had not echoed among the passes of the Alleghenies, and the travel worn western merchant found himself on the Atlantic seaboard for the purpose of laying in goods at an expense and fatigue that would astonish business men of the present times.

For many years after the removal of Mr. Phelps to Newburgh his competition was very slight, while his means and credit soon established for him a heavy business. Though the town was at that time only a hamlet and the country very thinly settled, yet customers from Pike, Dubois, and Spencer counties made Newburgh their commercial center, and built up for Mr. Phelps a large produce business. In addition to this, of the settlers who were then living on Congress land, many of them got him to purchase their lands for them, allowing him a reasonable interest, and he giving them time to make their payments, and sometimes rendered them further assistance by taking their produce and shipping it to New Orleans. This bartering business required the employment of several fiatboats every year to take off the produce that came into his hands, and the county records show

Of the many clerks who have been in his employ may be named his brother Cadwell Phelps, who, after two years of service started a successful business in Boonville. There was also Neely Johnson, afterward Governor of California, Henry Williams, Albert Hazen, Union Bethell, Smith Hazen, Isaac Adams, John DeArmon, Tillman Bethell, D. B. Hazen and Robert Hall, the most of whom are living and doing well.

In 1855, and indeed for some years previous, the coalfields of Southern Indiana were in process of development, and about this time the first coal shaft in the vicinity of Newburgh was sunk on Mr. Phelps' land. At a subsequent date in conveying this land to his children he reserved the coal privilege, though more recently he has entailed this upon his heirs. The magnitude of this business may be somewhat appreciated when it is stated that the royalty on the coal taken from these lands amounts to over two thousand dollars per annum.

His religious career dates from 1834, and in 1837 he built the first church in the county* This house was located in Newburgh, and, after its completion and preparation for service, was donated to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,, of which body Mr. Phelps was a member. It was afterwards donated to Indiana Presbytery for school purposes, and there are those now living and holding prominent positions in the church who can remember that their initiatory was taken at Newburgh, and within the walls of Delany Academy, this being the cognomen of the house after its donation to the Presbytery.

Mr. Phelps may be regarded as Newburgh's pioneer merchant, and his removal from Evansville was with the view to supply a need, in making it more convenient for the farmers of Warrick and Spencer counties to ship their produce and lay in the neces- sary supply of goods; and though the position was to him a lucrative one, and places him to-day among the wealthiest of his county, yet he has ever looked upon Evansville as the point for the great commercial emporium of Southern Indiana, and in consequence is to-day, as of yore, a warm advocate of railroad and other improvements that look to the enlargement of Evansville, and the growth of the surrounding country.

In this sketch we have the farm-boy, the school-teacher, the flatboatman, the peddler, and the merchant, and underlying all there is a tenacity of will, a fixedness of purpose, and a perseverance in effort that finally achieves the desired success.

The old gentleman is now in his eighty-fourth year, and though enfeebled by age, and so crippled in his lower limbs as to make locomotion slow and painful, yet his mental power remains unimpaired, thus proving, in part, that immortality to which all are hastening.

He lives with his family, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, a patriarch among his townsmen and friends, and, without any apprehension or regret, is daily looking for the call of the Great Master to another mode of existence.

Judge John B. Handy

JUDGE JOHN B. HANDY. A careful student, a successful lawyer, an able and just judge, is John Brackenridge Handy, Judge of the Second Judicial District of Indiana. He was born at Washington, D. C, on August 27th, 1828, and is the eldest of a family of eight children, of Edward G. and Attilia A. Handy, of which he and his brother, James H., the second child, are the only survivors. He is of Irish-Scotch descent, and is a nephew of John A. Brackenridge, one of the ablest pioneer lawyers of Southern Indiana. In 1841 his father removed to Boonville ; resided on a farm in Hart township for a while, and finally settled three miles west of

Boonville. The monotony of farm life was not compatible with young John's nature, and, when about sixteen years old, he ran away from home, and sought more congenial employment. He hired to an old lady living on First street, in Evansville, to sell pies, cakes, pecans, oranges, fruits, etc., to the travellers on passing steamboats, and continued in that delectable business until he became even more disgusted with it than farm life, when he returned home. To imagine the now grave judge once a ' 'peanut boy," gives one an irristable sense of the ludicrous. He afterwards accepted a position as clerk in the store of his uncle, Thomas J. Brackenridge, at Carrsville, Livingston county, Ky., which he held some time. As such things as schools were "few and far between" in that day, his education was chiefly obtained by his own efforts. However, he attended Delany Academy, at Newburgh, a short time, which was then regarded as one of the principal educational institutions in this section. He early manifested a great love of study, and determined to become a lawyer. Accordingly he read law some under his uncle, John A. Brackenridge, and in the fall of 1852 he entered the law school at Louisville, Ky. During the spring and summer of 1853 he attended a law school at Lebanon, Tenn., and in the following fall was admitted to the bar of Warrick county. He moved to Newburgh, and there commenced the practice of law. On the 28th of May, 1854, he was married to Amanda E. Muir, daughter of Dr. Muir, one of the earliest physicians of Boonville. The result of this marriage has been two children, both of whom are now living - Pinta, the eldest, is the wife of E. W. Bethell, cashier of the Boonville National Bank, and a son, Charles M. Handy. He resided at Newburgh until 1862, when, in consequence of the war breaking out, causing a general stagnation of business, he removed to the old homestead, three miles west of Boonville. In partnership with George W. Brackenridge, he commenced the practice of law in Boonville in 1862, but this partnership only lasted about one year, when it was dissolved, and the former removed to San Antonio, Texas, where he has amassed considerable wealth, and he is now President of the First National Bank of that city. In October, 1872, Mr. Handy was nominated by the Democratic party and elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the district comprising the counties of Warrick, Vanderburgh, Gibson and Posey. In 1876 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected Judge of the Second Judicial District, which is composed of Warrick, Spencer, Perry and Crawford counties. His present term will expire in October, time he is free from judicial duties in his library reading. His library is one of the largest and best selected in this part of the State. He is a hard student of both law and general literature.

C. L. OATLEY. In the life of Christopher Lenhart Oatley, the subject of this brief sketch, we find a man devoted to his business, a useful citizen, and one highly esteemed. He was born at Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, November 14th, 1835. and is of German decent. His father, James Oatley, was a farmer in ordinary circumstances. It is noticable that of the prominent men of public life and leading men of business at least fifty per cent were farmer's boys and spent their boyhood days on a firm. The boyhood of C. L. Oatley was much the same as most other farmers' boys. Above all else he was industrious. His opportunities for obtaining an education were poor, but he availed himself of the advantages of the ' 'district school," and there obtained all his schooling. When seventeen years of age he apprenticed himself at Zanesville, Ohio, to learn the miller's trade, where he remained five years in that capacity.

November 22, 1855, he was married to Belle C. Huston, the youngest daughter of J. C. and Patience Huston, of Zanesville, The fruits of this marriage has been three children, but the only one now living is the youngest, Miss May Oatley, a young lady of rare accomplishmens.

Mr. Oatley started out in the world as a poor boy wholly dependent upon himself. After his marriage he moved from Zanesville, Ohio, to Sterling, Whiteside county, Illinois, where he lived three years employed as manager of the flouring mills at that place. In August, 1859, he moved to Boonville, obtaining employment in the flouring mill of Dial, Seigel & Co., where he worked three years. In 1863 he removed to Taylors ville, Warrick county, and entered into a partnership in the milling business with Flavius P. Day. As Oatley possessed no capital at the time this partnership was one of experience vs. capital, and continued until 1868, when Mr. Oatley sold his interest and removed to Edwards county, Illinois. He purchased a mill at this place and engaged in business, but on account of ill-health disposed of his property and returned to Boonville a year afterward. Here he bought a one-half interest in the Elk Horn flouring mill, and finally became sole proprietor, but admitted Thos. j. Downs to a partnership in 1875. ^n July, 1881, Mr. Downs was succeeded by W. J. Hargrave. Mr. Oatley is a lover of his business and is peculiarly adapted to it. He has improved the Elk Horn mill until it is now one of the foremost flouring establishments in the country, and their grade of flour is in demand wherever known. Milling, as carried on by Mr. Oatley, is more of a science than trade, requiring nice adjustments and complicated processes to produce a fine quality of our staple article of food. Although his establishment already seems perfect, he is continually adding new improvements of unsurpassed utility and perfection of design. The Elk Horn mills have a capacity of one hundred and twentyfive barrels of flour per day, and frequently the press of business becomes so great that they are forced to run day and night. This establishment is one of Warrick's most, if not the most, important business enterprises and it has been brought up to this standing principally through the efforts of Mr. Oatley.

Although he has been solicited by his party at different times to become a candidate for office, Mr. Oatley has never sought political favor, and, in fact, he has rarher shunned it, his business being sufficient to content him. However, in his political belief he is what is termed a " radical Republican."

He possesses what would be regarded as a strongly marked and admirable character. He is very independent, and, withal, liberal in his ideas, and is one of the last men in the world to be victimized by an illusion. He is open to conviction, but not to persuasion. He is endowed with remarkable firmness and selfreliance ; his will is indomitable and his word can always be relied on. Once a friend, he is a friend forever - in adversity as in prosperity. His benevolence is a marked trait, and in a quiet way he is very charitable. The better acquainted one becomes with Mr. Oatley, the more the noble qualities of the man are admired, and in this brief sketch the writer feels his inability to pay him a proper or just tribute. Aside from his sterling personal qualities he is a progressive citizen and an enterprising business man.

Jacob Settz

JACOB SETTZ. Jacob Seitz was born January ioth, 1841, three miles east of Boonville. His father. George Seitz, was born at Weisenheim, Bavaria, April 5th, 181 5, and emigrated to America in 1837. In 1838 he came to Warrick county, and settled in what was afterwards known as the "German Settlement" three miles east of Boonville. He was one of the first Germans to settle in Boonville. His father being in feeble health, and most of the time unable to work, the responsibility of the farm rested almost wholly upon our subject, and he was compelled to do the work of a man when only a small boy. The story of the hardships which he endured, as told by his venerable parents, is one of pathos. He learned the alphabet and reading by attending Sunday-school, and after his day's work, until late at night, he would read chapter after chapter in the Bible, which was his only hook. He was sent to a writing school, held at night where he learned to write, and he afterward attended one or two terms of a sixty day school during the winter, but in all he never received more than nine months schooling. The rest of his education he obtained without assistance, and by hard study. In October, 1858, he was married to Caroline Lacer, who died in' 1875. ^n r^59 ne removed to Boonville, and obtained employment in the flouring mill, of which his father was part proprietor, as engineer, without any previous knowledge of machinery, at a salary of $15 per month, and when he quit work he was receiving $35 per month. He afterwards leased his father's interest in the flouring mill, but remained in that busi" ness only one year. After engaging in several other pursuits, he was given employment in the tobacco establishment of Kerr, Clark & Co., as buyer and receiver, but retained it only a few months. He afterwards formed a partnership with George Cromeans, and, with $800 capital, they shipped tobacco on a small scale. They were quite successful, but after remaining in partnership three years dissolved. Mr. Seitz has since continued in the business, but he now conducts it upon a much larger basis, buying grain as well as tobacco. In 1879 he paid out over $80,000 for tobacco and grain, and during 1880 purchased over 600,000 pounds of tobacco. He is one of the most extensive dealers in tobacco m Southern Indiana, and his establishment gives steady employment to several men and boys.

December 25th 1877, Mr. Seitz was married to Mary A. Grimm, of Huntingdon, Penn., a lady of rare scholastic attainments. Mr. Seitz is a man of fine physique and pleasing manners. In 1876, and also in i88q, he was nominated by the Republican party for Sheriff of Warrick county, and although defeated, he largely reduced the Democratic majority each time.

William Swint

WILLIAM SWINT. William Swint, editor and publisher of the Boonville Enquirer, was born at Jasper, Dubois county, Indiana, April 16th 1844. He is the fourth child and first son of a family of seven, four of whom still survive. His parents were natives of Germany and France, and were adherents of Catholicism. His father, Conrad Swint, (Schwint) was born at Heidelburg, Germany, May 1, 1808, and was a graduate of the Heidelberg university. In 1830 he was married to Miss Adaline Lechner, and in the same year they emigrated to America. He died in April, 1859, at Troy,

Katie A. Swint

Katie A. Swint, nee Dreher, spouse of William Swint, was born in Madison, Ind., Nov. 26, 1849, and was the youngest of four daughters of Ezra and Catherine Dreher. She removed with her parents to Rockport, Ind., at an early age, where she was married to William Swint, in 1868. The result of this union was three children - two girls and one boy. She died at her home in Boonville, on Tuesday, February 11, 1879, of pneumonia, after an illness of only one week, aged 29 years.

The following tribute to her memory by one who knew her from childhood, tells the story of her life in language far more beautiful than any wTithin our command :

* * * "How rare, how beautiful, in all the virtues that adorn the character of wife, mother, daughter, sister - only those may truly know who shared the sacred intimacies of her home life. How ardent and sincere it was in its friendships, how cheerful and sunny in its every-day influences, how informal and illuminated with the spirit of self-sacrifice - many, many sorrowing hearts can attest! Her affectionate loyalty to her friends was one of the most distinguishing traits of her character, and her conceptions of duty in this particular were ample and generous. No demand which the sorrow or sufferings of her friends could make upon her time or patience ever went unanswered. No night was too dark to keep her from the bedside of sickness or death; and she carried everywhere the sunlight of cheerfulness and hope. Looking always to the better side of human nature, she refused to think evil of her neighbors, and turned a deaf ear to the tongue of the slanderer. These were the qualities of mind and heart that endeared her to all with

"But it was in the atmosphere of her own home that was developed the perfect flower and consumation of her womanhood. Her devotion to her husband, in its tenderness, constancy, purity and trust, will never be excelled while the instinct of love abides in the human heart. He repaid it with all the affection of which a generous nature was capable. The attachment between them, indeed, was peculiarly interwoven with the whole history of their lives, for it began when they were boy and girl. Long before marriage was possible, or even contemplated, they loved one another. They loved as boy and girl, as youth and maiden, as man and woman; and their love grew and strengthened and brightened from first to last. It is the happy satisfaction of the writer that he knew of this attachment between them in their youth, and favored and encouraged it, when it was somewhat in his power to do so, because he had faith in them.

"That Katie was a most fond and devoted mother need not be said. Her love for her children was all pervading and intense. It is one of the saddest features of this untimely death that the three orphaned ones are too young even to realize the depth of their mothers love. But they must be taught to remember that only a few moments before she died - in the midst of a deathbed scene of wonderful beauty and serenity - their mother prayed that it might be a part of her occupation in heaven to guard the earthly footsteps of her children.

"Her affection for her aged father and mother was touching in its freshness and constancy. They were ever in her foremost thought, and she always spoke of them with reverential fondness. Among her last words were, "A kiss for Pa, Ma."

"She is gone. Some of us who linger behind, bound to her by a thousand ties of love and gratitude, stand appalled before a calamity like this - home destroyed, children bereft, a life-plan thwarted on the very threshold of success. Pondering - vainly, perhaps - the problems of life and destiny; groping - blindly it may be - for the life of a higher faith, we cannot understand why it is that one so young, so good, so necessary to the happiness of others should be thus suddenly taken away. But to her was given that higher faith. In her conception of the moral government of the world, even this stroke of desolation had its appointed place in the scheme of that all-pervading problem,

"In that faith she died - died breathing a prayer for her dear children, and responding with the last effort of earthly consciousness to the kiss of the broken-hearted husband."

Benoni S. Fuller

Benoni Stinson Fuller was born in Warrick county, November 13, 1825. His father, Isham Fuller, was a mechanic and well-to-do farmer, who was born in North Carolina, and came to Indiana as early as 1816. He was a great lover of biblical and historical literature, and was remarkably well informed on these and kindred subjects. In 1842 he was elected Representative from Warrick county in the State Legislature, and held the office six consecutive years. He was born in 1798, and died February 14, 1856. Mr. Fuller's mother was also a native of North Carolina, and was a very pious lady.

but he had energy and industry, and soon mastered the rudiments. A few short months in the log cabin college each winter were the sum total of his early advantages, but he did much reading outside. Before he was twenty-one we find him in the school-room as a teacher, which, of itself, speaks for the way in which he spent his time. When a boy he did anything for a living, cut wood, mauled rails, burned brush, cleared land, and did all other work incident to farm life. His father gave him his time before he became of age, and he used it apparently to good advantage. He worked at home or abroad, by day or month, and was careful to husband his means and prepare himself for the future. His public life began when he was about thirty years old. At this time he was elected Sheriff of the county and served two terms, from 1857 to 1861. In 1862, during the beginning of the troubles with the South, he was sent to the State Senate. After this he was twice elected to the Lower House, once in 1866 and again in 1868. The last time he served he was unanimously nominated President by the Democratic caucus of its members. In 1872 he was again elected State Senator. In 1874 he was chosen Congressman over Heilman, and again elected to the same position in 1876. In 1878 he declined renomination."

Mr. Fuller is the only man from Warrick county, besides Ratliff Boon, who has had the honor of representing the first congressional district in Congress, and his election over Heilman in 1874 was a glorious victory. Politically, his success has been something remarkable, but he says that he has now retired from public life, never to enter it again.

Dr. W. L. Barker

For its growth and prosperity Boonville owes as much to Dr. William L. Barker as to any one man. For the last thirty-five years he has been prominently identified in every movement or enterprise tending to the advancement of the interests of the town, and his life is interlinked with the later unwritten history of its progress.

He was born in Charleston, S. C, October 7, 1818. His father moved to Vanderburgh county, Indiana, in 1832, and engaged in farming, but he was more generally known on account of his public services. He was Commissioner of Vanderburgh county for several years. His death occurred in 1837, when he was about sixty-one years old. The family has a war record as far back as it is possible to trace. Both grandparents of the Doctor were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and his father was in the war of 181 2. Dr. Barker himself was surgeon of the 120th Indiana Volunteers in the late civil war, being mustered into the service in Indianapolis. At Atlanta, Ga., his horse fell, causing a rupture, on account of which he was compelled to resign. He returned home and was confined to his bed about four months. The patriotic and benevolent spirit which he manifested during the late war is praiseworthy, and is gratefully remembered by many yet living. No soldier's family or poor person suffered for food, clothing or medical aid, when in his power to alleviate their wants. He has a charitable, sympathetic heart, and in an unobtrusive way gives with liberality to the poor.

If the many enterprises depending upon the support of the citizens, which have aided materially in the upbuilding and improvement of Boonville, were traced to the source of their success, Doctor Barker would be found foremost among the more liberal supporters. He was the largest stockholder in the first newspaper ever published in Boonville. He was one of the first contributors and supporters of the Lake Erie, Evansville and Southwestern Railway, built in 1873. He was also instrumental in the organization of the Boonville National Bank, and was one of the largest stockholders. He is a leading member of the secret fraternities and was a charter member in the organization of the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Free and Accepted Masons and Knights of Pythias at Boonville.

In 1847 ^r- Barker was married to Mary Williams, of Pennsylvania, and from this union had four children. Two are now dead. The only son, Wm. L. Barker, jr , is connected with the Boonville National Bank, and the only daughter, Katie, is the wife of John L. Taylor, Esq.

The career of Dr. Barker has been one of prominence in local politics. He was first one of the very few Whigs in this section and afterwards a Republican. He is strong in his likes and dislikes, and a prominent characteristic is the tenacious, uncompromising spirit with which he adheres to his principles. This section of country has always been largely Democratic, and until quite recently it was impossible for a Republican to overcome the majority. Doctor Barker always conducted a vigorous campaign and he possesses ability as an impromptu speaker. He "stumped" Southern Indiana several times and used every honorable means in propagating Republican principles. Although formidable as a politician, he was highly esteemed as a citizen and gentleman of extraordinary intelligence by his political ad ver- saries, and they speak of him in language highly complimentary. The growth of the Republican party in Warrick county is doubtless as much due to the indefatigable efforts of this pioneer champion of the cause as to any other one man. He was several times pressed into candidacy for office by his party. In 1864 he was a candidate for State Senator from the district comprising the counties of Spencer, Perry and Warrick. Benoni S. Fuller was his opponent and were citizens of the same county. They canvassed the district in joint discussion. - Dr. Barker was, of course, defeated, but he ran ahead of his ticket between two and three hundred votes, besides receiving a majority in Warrick county.

In 1868 he was again the opponent of Benoni S. Fuller for Representative of Warrick county. He was also nominated by his party as a candidate for Representative against Nathan Pyeatte, the Democratic nominee. Although defeated Doctor Barker's majority in Boon township alone was near two hundred, while he beat Pyeatte twelve votes in his own township.

Although something of a politician Doctor Barker has not been an ambitious office-seeker, but has devoted his energies chiefly to his profession, in which he has enjoyed a large, lucrative practice ever since he located here thirty-five years ago. He is a physician of extraordinary skill and ability, and stands high among the medical practitioners of the State.

Judge J. W. B. Moore

JUDGE J. W. B. MOORE Judge Moore was born near Waterloo, Seneca county, N. Y. , on the 5th day of November, 1801. He was an only child, and early left an orphan, his father having been lost at sea, leaving him and his mother in limited circumstances, but possessed of a small farm near Waterloo. The son worked on the farm in the spring and summer, and attended such schools as the county afforded in the autumn and winter. He early obtained a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of book-keeping, which was of great advantage to him later in life. When he was about eighteen years old he became very anxious to read law with his uncle, Joel W. Bacon, then a distinguished lawyer of Western New York, but his mother had, from some cause or other, imbibed an unreasonable prejudice against the profession, and she determined that he should not in any event become a lawyer ; and, being a woman of more than ordinary firmness, she had her way. She afterwards induced him to apprentice himself, as was then the custom, to Dr. Wells, the leading physician and surgeon of that locality, with whom he remained some two years. His mother meantime marrying a second husband, and the profession of medicine being distasteful to him, he finally concluded to abandon it and come West. He had some difficulty in obtaining his mother's consent, who always had great influence over him, and for whom he always retained the greatest affection and reverence. This was, however, at last obtained, and he started on horseback, with but a scant supply of money, and without any well defined notions afflicted at frequent intervals for some two years and more. The chill would come on frequently when he was in a wilderness, far from any habitation or human beings. At such times he would get down from his horse, unsaddle it and tie it to a limb, using the saddle for a pillow and the blanket for a covering. When sufficiently recovered he would mount and pursue his journey. He traveled until he arrived at Indianaplis, which had been recently laid out, and designed for the capital of the State. Here he found an uncle, Seth. Bacon, who owned a saw-mill, and who gave him employment in it until something better should offer. His uncle was very kind to him, which the Judge afterwards had ample opportunity of repaying with interest. The uncle, in his old days, lost his property, and became broken in health and energy, with a large family on his hands to support. The Judge, hearing of his condition, visited him, and brought him from the central part of this State, and, after providing him with the necessary supplies, placed him on a good farm, where he remained until his death. Folsomville now stands on a part of the farm.

After working awhile in the mill, as we have stated, he obtained a school, which he taught until he made the acquaintance of James Linton, of Charlestown, Clarke county, Indiana, where he afterwards moved. This gentleman was a merchant, and employed the Judge to sell goods and keep books. He went with Mr. Linton to Charlestown, where he remained several years. After remaining a while with Mr. Linton, he obtained employment of Mr* Austin, in the capacity of salesman and book-keeper. Soon after going to Charlestown he united himself with the old school Presbyterian church, in which faith he had been reared. Finally, he went into business with Mr. Shockly, as a partner, receiving a part of the profits for his* services as manager, salesman and book-keeper.

On the third day of December, 1827, he and Orra M. Shelby were married. She was the eldest daughter of Isaac Shelby, who was then, and who had been for some years, clerk of the Clark Circuit Court. Soon after his marriage he moved his family to Rockport, Spencer county, bringing with him a small stock of goods, but no capital except unlimited credit at Louisville, which was then the emporium of this section. Having remained in business at Rockport about a year, he sold his stock of goods, and bought of John Williams the farm upon which Henry Beeler, Esq., now resides. He immediately moved to his farm,, and was, in the course of years, elected Probate Judge of the county, which he held until elected clerk of the Warrick Circuit Court, receiving his certificate of qualifications, which was then required by law before he could be commissioned, from Judge Goodlet, lather of N, M. Goodlet, Esq., of Evansville. In 1844 he was re-elected clerk and recorder for seven years, and it was universally conceded that he was the best clerk in Southern Indiana. In 1856 he was elected Judge of the Common Pleas District, composed of this and Vanderburgh counties, and served a term of four years.