Bethlehem Township

Bethlehem Township

Bethlehem township is situated in the northern part of Cass county and embraces the entire congressional township 28 north, range i east, hence is six miles square and containing 36 full sections. It is bounded on the north by Fulton county, on the east by Adams township, on the south by Clay township and on the west by Harrison township. The general surface of the township is level, becoming, however, somewhat rolling in the southeast portion. The north and west part of the township was originally covered with heavy timber of walnut, poplar, oak, beech, hickory and elm, but in the center and southeastern sections the timber was scrubby oak and barrons. In the heavy timbered districts the soil was a heavy clay but in the southeast, the soil was more sandy. Much of the land was originally low and marshy, but draining and tiling has reclaimed all this lowland which has become the most productive portions of the township. In some parts of the township, the soil is a black loam, resting on a clay subsoil; in others it is a sandy loam equally rich in plant food as is attested by the fact that all fruits and cereals indigenous to this latitude are of certain growth and large returns.

Metea, near the center of the township is said to be the highest point in the county and from this point the township is drained in three directions, to wit : Northwest, large ditches have been dug leading into Blue Grass creek and ultimately into the Tippecanoe river; southwest into Crooked creek and the Wabash river; and southeast into Spring creek. The largest water course is a branch of Twelve Mile creek, that arises near the center of the township and flows southeast, through sections. 22, 23, 24 and 25, crossing the eastern boundary into Adams township, about a mile and a quarter north of the southeast comer of the township. This stream affords natural drainage for a large area of territory, is fed by springs in the eastern part of the township and has a constant flow. It was on lands adjacent to this creek that the earliest settlers located their homes. Bethlehem township is pre-eminently an agricultural district and its people are exclusively engaged in that calling.

Prior to the year 1830 no permanent settlement had been attempted in this township. In that year a man by the name of Shore, a scout and Indian trader, is said to have visited this region, but being simply a trader, made no permanent improvements. Probably John B. Hinton was the first permanent settler in the township. He came from Putnam county, Indiana, in 1830 and settled in the southeast quarter of section 23 on Twelve Mile creek.

He purchased his land of the government in 1833 and was an honored and influential resident of the township for a quarter of a century. Subsequently he moved to Miami township and later to Nebraska, where he died many years ago. He had a family and some of his sons became prominent in military circles. In 1831 Qen. Richard Crooks settled in the west part of section 24. He was an energetic man of more than ordinary ability and did much to develop the township. A sketch of his life will be found elsewhere. Joel Martin settled on the east part of section 24 in the year 1831. He was a man of mark in the early history of the township. In 1854 he moved to Laporte, where he died some years later. William Foy came to the township in 1832 and located in the northwest quarter of section 33, where he lived, and died many years afterwards.

Early in 1833 John Dalzell, son-in-law of General Crooks, also, from Washington county, Pennsylvania, settled on a farm in the northwest quarter of section 23. He was a sturdy character and an influential pioneer and continued to occupy this farm until his death about 1870. His two sons, John A. and Robert, were also prominent citizens of Bethlehem, where the latter died some years ago and J. A. Dalzell moved to Wisconsin in the nineties, and died there.

Jerry Skelton was an early settler in section 25. About 1837 he sold out to Henry Kreider, father of Isiah W. Kreider. About this time John Eurit with his son, Stephen, located on the northwest quarter of section 24. Noah Martin came in 1833 and settled in the southwest quarter of section 33 on the Williamson farm. In 1834 came Eli and Peter De- Moss, who settled in the west part of section 15 on the Penrose and Buchanan farms. In 1835-36 Josiah Powell located on the Michigan road in the southeast quarter of section 20 and later moved to the northwest quarter of section 8, where his son Lemuel Powell still resides. Among those who came in 1835 were George M. Smith in section 15; James Miles, for many years a justice of the peace in the same neighborhood ; W. Carter and Wm. Steward. Prominent among those who came in 1837 was David Williamson, who located in the northwest quarter of section 27; John Hughs in section 23 and Thomas Bennett in the southwest quarter of section 26. John Gilliland moved from Adams township in 1836 and settled in section 25. In the same year Joseph Guy and James Troutman located on the Michigan road in the northeast quarter of section 29. Thos. McMillen located in section 8 in 1837- 38 with Wm. Reed and James McMillen. The same year John Tund settled in the northeafi(t quarter of section 30; Reuben Perry in section 13 ; James Buchanan on the Michigan road in section 15 and 16, where hi? son George W. now resides; David H. Conrad in southwest quarter of section 22. About 1839 Dr. A. B. Buchanan, John Ferguson, James McClung, Andrew Long, Gavin Black, Benjamin Enyart, Albert Hodge, Ebinezer Bridge, Wm. Skelton, Wm. Mcintosh, David Flynn, Lewis Grain, Samuel Ward, G. W. Miller, Daniel Scott, David Chestnut and S. G. Sperry settled in different parts of the township and their names were household words in that region in pioneer days. This list of the first settlers were the chief personages in clearing, improving and developing Bethlehem township and while the original pioneers have long since gone to a better land, yet many of the descendants of these sturdy pioneers are still honored residents of the township. In addition to these very earliest pioneers, a great many came later, who lived and died in Bethlehem and helped to make it an enlightened and Christian community, second to none in the county. Among these may be mentioned Samuel, Benjamin and Abraham Grable, Jacob, Jeptha and Wm. Powell, George Freshour, Jacob and Jeremiah Evans, John Sedam, Samuel Metsker, Aaron Yantis and his two sons Robert and Benjamin F., the latter still living, Jacob Bookwalter, Arthur and John Leffel, Wm. Kirtland and his son James, Sylvester and George Conkling, Joseph Penrose, Thomas Moore, Aaron and Ira Tilton, Joseph Studebaker, John Morrow, Peter Smith, Alexander Jennings, John Griffin and Isaac Caw. The three latter were soldiers of the War of 1812; J. G. Cox, Jos. Thompson, Sam Williamson, Fielding Warner, Wm. Redd, John Bassler, Peter Smith and others.

The first entries of land does not indicate the earliest settlers and we find the pioneer locating in Bethlehem long before the land was surveyed and put upon the market. The first entries were made in 1832 by John Dalzell in section 23 and John Ewing in section 24.

The following year entries were made by John R. Hinton in section 23 and John Gillilaird in section 24. During the next five or six years entries were made in different parts of the township by the settlers whose names are mentioned above and by others who never occupied the land but purchased it for speculative purposes and to further mention them is profitless.

The county commissioners' records show that an election was ordered held at the house of J. R. Hinton on the first Monday in April, 1836, but no report is filed and there is nothing to show that such an election was held. Helms, in his history, states that Bethlehem township was organized March 7, 1836, in the cabin of Noah Martin, who then lived in section 33 ; that John Dalzell named the township in memory of a village or township of the same name in. Washington county, Pennsylvania, his native state. J. R. Hinton was elected the first justice of the peace, but the other affairs are not reported.

When the white man first settled in Bethlehem in 1830, there was not a wagon road opened from Logansport into the township. The Michigan road was not cut out until 1833 or '34 and the pioneer had to make his way along Indian trails through the dense forest that then covered all that region. It was impossible for the pioneer to carry with him any goods or supplies. He squatted on some advantageous ground near the creek or spring in the midst of the forest and began to erect a round log cabin and carve out a farm, relying on his own hands to appropriate what nature supplied to meet his wants. His house was constructed entirely of wood, his furniture made of the same material, his table supplied largely from the game that the forest afforded, which was then, however, abundant. During many years in the early history of Bethlehem, the pioneer's life was not an enviable one. Their trials were numerous and the hardships they were obliged to undergo would discourage the bravest heart of the present day. Money was scarce and people were forced to resort to barter in order to effect exchanges. The comparative demand and supply regulated the price of all articles, a yard of calico was worth so many pounds of butter, a deer skin was worth so much sugar or coffee and an ax represented so many bushels of potatoes. Sheep were early introduced and those that were not killed by the wolves supplied wot)l which was washed, carded, spun, woven into cloth, cut and made into suits without once leaving the house where it was clipped from the sheep. To card, spin, dye, knit and weave were accomplishments that all pioneer women possessed. The women in those days ate not the bread of idleness. They were indeed helpmates of father, brother and husband. While ra^n, with masterful energy, conquered the difficulties and asserted his sovereignty over the unsubdued wilderness, it was woman's hand that turned its asperities into blessings and made conquered nature the handmaid of civilization. Housekeeping was crowded into the smallest possible space. There were no china closets or glass cases, tables, easels, etc., with bric-a-brac to dust and keep clean; no frills or laces to make, launder and care for. The preparation, however, of linsey-woolsey, stocking yarn, etc., with their adaptation to the family needs, became, to vary the catechism, the chief end of woman.

When a neighbor would call on a pioneer woman, she did not excuse herself until she could arrange her toilet, but with a simplicity of manners, and a warm and whole-heartedness not seen in these later days, the visitor was met with such a cordial greeting that she became a fast and lasting friend. Such visits seldom interfered with the household duties but the visitor would assist the hostess in whatever work she might be engaged in, at the same time enjoying each other's company, with as much pleasure and satisfaction as our modem society ladies do, who are rocked in the cradle of affluence and luxury.

About these homely firesides was gathered all the pride of womanly achievements: candor, honesty, simplicity of character, charity and all the Christian virtues, the foundation upon which this great commonwealth today rests. Pioneer customs and habits have passed away with the times and circumstances that gave them birth. Although the early settlers possessed some characteristics repellantto refined ideas of modern culture, yet in their social intercourse with each other, they displayed those exemplary traits of character which might well be esteemed a bright legacy to a more advanced age. Unpretentious, they tendered whatever of hospitality their crude cabins afforded and were assiduous in their efforts to provide for those whom chance brought within the circle of their charities. Affectation had no place in the cordial entertainment tendered visitor or stranger and self-seeking was never the incentive which prompted their open door hospitality. They were ever ready to lend a helping hand to neighbor or traveler, in sickness or distress, without money and without price. Their whole lives were the grand, simple poems of rugged, toilsome duty, bravely and uncomplainingly done and the examples of their industry and the results of their arduous struggles are among the richest legacies to a grateful posterity.

Before the advent of the settler, Bethlehem's forests were infested with many wild animals, some of which were advantageous to the pioneer while others were a source of great annoyance and sometimes even dangerous. Wolves and foxes in this section gave the pioneer the greatest trouble, as they were very destructive to their sheep, pigs, calves and poultry. Until he could erect suitable outbuildings, the settler often housed his brood sow, ewe or chickens that was brought with him, in his cabin at night to protect them from these ravenous animals. Wild cats and bears were not uncommon in the primeval forests and an occasional wild hog, a gaunt long le^ed species that could run like a hound and sometimes became vicious. Wolf and fox hunts were often engaged in, when a whole neighborhood would turn out on horseback with hounds and surround a certain territory and gradually drive in the wolves or foxes until they were encircled and caught.

I. W. Kreider graphically relates a wolf chase in which he engaged and became the hero on Twelve Mile creek as late as 1850, where he plunged into the water and seized the wolf which was about to get the best of his dog. Hunting wild animals was one of the great sports of the Bethlehemites in early days.

In the winter when driven to desperation with hunger or attracted to the cabin by the scent of food, the wolves would often become bold and threatening to a lonely pioneer and occasionally a drove of hilngry wolves would chase him into his cabin and surround it and set up an unearthly howl which made night hideous to the peaceful settler and terrorize the children of the lonely cabin of Bethlehem's first settlers. Edible game, such as deer, wild turkeys, wild geese, ducks, cranes, pheasants, prairie chickens, quails, etc., were in great abundance and the table T^as supplied with necessary meats from this source until the forests could be cleared and crops raised.

There were some beavers in this township and these wonderfully intelligent animals constructed a dam by gnawing down small trees across the outlet to the upper blue grass swamps, near where Auntie Bassler now lives, and covered them over with grass and dirt. The remains of this dam were visible for many years after the beavers became extinct in this locality.

As the forests gave way to the woodman's ax and the swamps yielded their waters to the ditcher's shovel, all the game, both animals and birds, have disappeared except a few squirrel, rabbits and quail, and the present day farmer of fair Bethlehem can hardly realize that dense forests infested with wild animals once covered his fertile fields.

At the time of the first settlement of the township in 1830 there was not a wagon road within its borders and none leading to it. In 1833-34, however, the Michigan road, under the supervision of the state, was established and cut out to a width of one hundred feet from Logansport through Bethlehem township and on to Rochester and north to Lake Michigan. Although it was many years before this road was improved, yet it was a great improvement over the Indian trail and permitted the use of the ox cart or wagon, which up to that time was impossible. The opening of this thoroughfare was one of the most valuable improvements of its day, opening up a line of trade that tended to develop the resources not only in this township, but the whole county. Along this highway were located some of the first improvements of the township and its influence on the subsequent development of the country was very marked. This road was of more than local importance. It was a route of travel from the Ohio river through Indianapolis to the north and west and many travelers passed over the Michigan road on their way to these points.

The Perrysburg road extending from Logansport, opened in the later thirties, ran diagonally through the eastern part of the township. This was also a road of more than local interest, over which a great deal of travel passed. This road has been changed from time to time as the country was improved until today, instead of passing diagonally through the country, it passes on two sides of every man's farm along the route. In early times there was an Indian trail from Old Town Indian village on Eel river above Adamsboro, northwest through Bethlehem township to Kewana and North. This became a wagon road, but as the farms were improved it was changed to section lines and no trace of the original Indian trail road can be found. -

In the onward march of progress, roads have been changed to section lines and new roads opened until roads cross each other on nearly every section line. Bethlehem has about twelve miles of stone road extending from Metea north to the county line and west to the township line. Also the entire division road along the west line of the township and otj;ier stone roads are in process of construction. All the main roads have been graveled in marked contrast to the old Indian trail, along which J. RAHinton traveled in 1830 to reach the first cabin ever constructed by a white man within the boundaries of Bethlehem. The Michigan road was never graveled and scarcely graded and was almost unpassable in wet weather until about 1852, when a company built a plank road from Logansport through Bethlehem to Fulton. This was a toll road and was easy to travel for a year or two, but the boards began to rot, turn up and had to be abandoned in a few years. About 1867 the road was graveled as far north as Metea, being the first gravel road in the township.

This is a paper town laid out in June, 1836, by J. Troutman, Josiah Powell and Jos. Dunham and is situated on both sides of the Michigan road in section 20, township 28, range 2 east, seven miles north of Logansport. The Michigan road was Main street, with three streets crossing it at right angles, the names of which were North, Jefferson and Harrison streets. Each of the proprietors of the town had land adjoining the town site and lived there. One lot was sold to Benjamin Powell and his son Lycurgus kept a grocery in Mt. Pleasant for a time about 1838. The Indians were his chief customers and one of the principal articles purchased by the redmen was what they called '*fire water." The business, however, did not prosper after the removal of the Indians to the west in the fall of 1838 and the town ceased to grow and the rosy visions of wealth and the proprietors of a great metropolis were only dreams of the projectors of this town site.

James Troutman, however, kept a tavern on the east side of Main street, known as the Seven Mile House, until his death in September, 1847. In early times tavern keepers were required to take out a license and the commissioners^ record shows that J. Troutman paid $10.00 for a tavern license on January 2, 1837. Later Mr. Lumbert and others kept this popular hostelry until about 1855-56 when the old Troutman tavern and the adjoining farm was purchased by his son-in-law, Jacob Powell, and the tavern was converted into a farm house. Metea postoflSce was kept here during the Civil war.

About this time, however, Wilson Booth purchased the property on the west side of Main street in Mt. Pleasant and operated the Seven Mile House for a number of yea^rs until railroads to the north destroyed the traffic on the Michigan road, when the tavern in Mt. Pleasant was forever closed and only a farm house now belonging to Mr. Shoup marks the place. A quarter of a mile to the north of Mt. Pleasant, J. Z. Smith, about 1856, opened a pump and wagon factory and Wm. Bennett ran a blacksmith shop. In recent years M. O'Donnell ran a blacksmith shop across the road but all have ceased operations. The euphonious name of Hardscrab'ble was often applied to this place.

This is another town that never became a metropolis. It was laid out in 1853 by Geo. Allen and is situated eight miles north on the Michigan road in section 17. A few lots were sold, and six or eight houses erected. The name was changed to Metea, an Indian chief. Metea postoflSce was established over sixty years ago and kept by various parties until the establishment of the free rural delivery system, when it was abandoned. Shoe shop, blacksmith shop, a store and other small mercantile business have been maintained at Metea, but railroads to the east, west and north and with stone and gravel roads to the other towns, Metea 's trade has been reduced to a minimum. G. Fargus is the present merchant. At one time this town was known far and wide by the sobriquet of ** Lick-Skillet." The name originated from an anecdote about a dog licking a skillet of Hiram Kingry, a good but eccentric individual who lived here for many years. He had a peculiar grunt with which he terminated his sentences and everybody knew Uncle Hiram and the boys used to have a good deal of fun at his expense, but he has long since gone to his reward and taken his grunt with him.

About a mile north of Metea on the Michigan road the De Mosses ran a hotel or tavern during the forties. About 1848-50 Jos. Penrose purchased the farm and ran the hotel for a time. It was known as the Ten Mile House. There was a blacksmith shop just south of the Ten Mile House operated by Christian Kreider in very early times. The early religious meetings were held at this shop before churches were built.

John Guy, who settled on the farm just south of the Seven Mile House about 1832, kept a tavern for many years thereafter. He sold out to J. G. Cox and moved to Washington township, where he died about 1856. He had a large family of boys whose descendants are honored citizens of the county at this time. Before the days of railroads Logansport drew trade from Rochester and Plymouth and a great deal of traffic passed over the Michigan road and taverns along this road were necessary to accommodate the traveling public and the hotels did a lively business for many years, but their usefulness has passed with the coming of the railroads.

The first industry in Bethlehem township was a saw mill established in the later thirties by J. R. Hinton on Twelve Mile creek in section 25. This was operated with fair success for over twenty years by Mr. Hinton and others. Aside from this there have been no other industries of any importance in the township, except portable steam sawmills have been operated in different parts of the township while the timber was being cut off in clearing the land. But little native timber is left and the saw mills have disappeared. It is reported that John Conn started a chair and spinning factory on the Michigan road about 1834.

Bethlehem has a law-abiding and peaceful class of citizens as a rule and but few infractions of the law to chronicle. It has also been remarkably free from serious accidents or violent deaths.

In 1885, while Wheeler LeflPel and a neighbor boy by the name of Albert Abshire were out hunting, the latter was accidentally shot and killed by Mr. LeflPel.

Maurice J. Winfield, son of Judge M. Winfield, was killed in an automobile accident on the Michigan pike in the south part of Bethlehem township, May, 13, 1911. The gearing failed to act when he was running at a rapid speed and his machine upset and his neck was broken, causing instant death.

The people of Bethlehem township from its first settlement to the present day, have ever been* awake to the value and desirability of education. As soon as a few settlers had located in a neighborhood they began to provide means to educate their children and the first schoolhouse was erected on the southwest quarter of section 24, near the Methodist church, and its first teacher was Nathaniel Nichols in 1835. This was a very primitive building, however. It was constructed of round logs. For a window, one log was cut out and oiled paper pasted over the opening. A fireplace was built in one end of niggerheads with a stick and mud chimney. It had a puncheon floor, the seats and door made of the same material with a clapboard roof. The house was completed without the use of a nail. This was the first schoolhouse in the northern part of the county and scholars came from Pottawattomie Mills, now Rochester, Fulton county. Mr. Bozarth, afterwards an attorney at Rochester, attended this primitive school. I. W. Kreider, still living, gives interesting stories of these early schools, which he attended. The Indians often passed this school on their way from **01d Town^^ village to the Indian villages south of Fletchers lake. The scholars would run from the Indians and the latter . would purposely frighten them by making gestures and grimaces.

In 1836 a school was taught in a log cabin forty rods south of the present church. The second school was taught by Caroline Conkling and the third by Angeline Vandever, in a cabin located on the northeast comer of section 36.

In 1838 J. Calif taught school in a log cabin situated on the southeast quarter of section 23. During the year 1839 the Hinton hewed log schoolhouse was built on the southeast quarter of section 23 and

Geo. Conkling was the first teacher in this new building, which was heated with a stove, and the three **R's,** ** reading, 'riting, and Vithmetic," were taught. As early as 1837 or '38 a hewed log building known as the Guy sehoolhouse, so named from John Guy, its nearest patron, was built on the east side of the Michigan road, on the northeast quarter of section 29, just south of the Presbyterian church, and its first teacher was Jeptha Powell, followed by G. Sperry. In the later fifties, Esther Cornwell, now Mrs. Jonathan Grable, and B. P. Yantis wielded the birch in this temple of learning, from whom the writer received his preliminary education. This sehoolhouse was a substantial hewed log structure and religious meetings were held here until the nearby church was erected. It served its purpose until 1862, when it was torn down and a frame house built a mile to the northwest on the southwest quarter of section 20 and Simon Patterson taught the first ternv, in this, the first frame sehoolhouse in this district. This house was replaced in 1889, but the location was removed a mile north, on the northwest quarter of section 20, where the present No. 3 school is located.

Thomas McMillen taught the first school in this neighborhood in his cabin home early in the forties, followed by Mr. Brislein. Harmony hewed log sehoolhouse was built near the center of section 8 by S. McMahon in 1847 and Elmira Stevenson taught the fiirst school in the new building. This continued to be occupied for school purposes until about 1868, when it was abandoned and a fxame house built on flie north line of section 8. This was abandoned about 1877 and a frame sehoolhouse erected on the northeast corner of section 7 and a joint school building on the northeast comer of section 5. This latter house was moved in 1888 to the northeast comer of section 8 and known as Hazel Patch or No. 10. In 1907 both these schoolhouses were abandoned and their scholars hauled to Metea.

In early tiines, before our system of public schools was established, many private schools were opened in different parts of the township. Sarah Redd taught a private school in a cabin on the east side of the Michigan road on the Ellis farm in 1844. Katharine Grable opened a private school in the Penrose house on the Michigan road about 1846. Robt. Yantis taught a private school in the Kreider blacksmith shop on the Michigan road a mile north of Metea in 1849 and A. J. Sutton taught a singing geography school in Harmony sehoolhouse in 1849. This was a popular method of teaching geography in early days by pronouncing the various geographical places and giving their location and setting the names to music.

The first sehoolhouse in the northeast part was erected about 1845. It was a hewed log structure and located on the northeast comer of section 11 and the first teacher was Elijah Moore. This building was abandoned in 1864 and the present frame sehoolhouse. No. 1, was built on the Michigan road and commonly known as Union school, and about this time R. Yantis, as trustee, built No. 8 on the northwest quarter of section 12.

About 1862 an old building was moved to a point east of the Michigan road in section 32 and from that fact was called the ''Floating Palace'' school. About twenty years later this was abandoned and a new frame building erected on the Michigan road, in the same section, known as No. 7.

** Baals Temple'' school, No. 5, was erected about 1860 and Osage, No. 4, about 1880 and are still occupied. The first schoolhouse at Metea was built in the early fifties.

In the early settlement of the country, schools were established where convenient to the settlements, with no thought of future development. In fact, the patrons had entire control of the early schools, built the houses and employed the teachers, which were subscription schools. It was not until after the adoption of the new constitution in 1852 that any effort was made to systematize the schools and even then the old order prevailed until in the sixties and it was not until 1876 that the patrons relinquished their power to control the schools. At this time the township trustee took full charge of the schools and endeavored to erect schoolhouses systematically throughout the township and at one time ten different schools were in operation, but in 1907 the two schools in the northwest sections of the township were abandoned and the scholars hauled to Metea. School No. 8 in the northeast section is also closed and its pupils hauled to Union school or transferred. The township employs one wagon at a daily expense of $2.74 and one wagon at $1.00 per day. The consolidated schools give .entire satisfaction to patrons and is said to be cheaper and better. It is the purpose of the authorities to establish one school in each comer of the township, with the central school at Metea, and abandon all others. The Metea high school was erected in 1911. It is a handsome brick structure, containing four assembly, rooms, and cost about $15,000. A commissioned high school has since been established with a regular four years' icourse. The principal of the .high school receives $4.00 per day, other teachers from $2.75 to $2.25, according to the grade of license. Ten teachers are employed in the township, four at the Metea building and six in the districts.

Forty high school students were enrolled in 1912 and the total enumeration in the township was 264. A complete graded system has been established, requiring eight years in the . common branches and four years in the high school - quite a contrast with the first round log schoolhouse with its puncheon floor, where only the three **R's" were taught for a term of forty to sixty days. Bethlehem may well feel proud of her schools.

* 'Prominent among the influences necessary to the highest civilization of any country are the church and school. Whatever success the individuals lacking these influences may achieve, a community can never prosper without them." The early settlements were scattered miles apart, and it was very diflScult to get more than two or three families together for religious services. The pioneer preacher visited from cabin to cabin, with self-denying earnestness, traveling through the unbroken forest, either on foot or on horseback, exhorting, counseling, reproving, as occasion demanded, and was generally welcomed to these pioneer cabins.

The history of this church dates back to 1831 when the Rev. Samuel Cooper held religious meetings at the Residence of Joel Martin, who resided in the southeast quarter section 24. Among the charter and early members were Joel Martin and wife. Gen. Richard Crooks and wife, John Eurit and wife, Stephen Eurit, Edward and Mary Gilliland, Anthony Martin and wife, Henry L. Thomas and wife, Lucy Dalzelle, David H. Conrad and wife.

Services were held at irregular intervals in the cabins of Joel Martin, General Crooks and John Eurit, until 1844, when a hewed log church was erected in the southeast quarter section 24 on land donated by John Eurit. This was a plain but comfortable building and was occupied as a house of worship for sixteen years. During the year 1860 the old log church was replaced by a new frame building 35x50 feet, which was built a few rods west of the old church. The contract price of the new church was $1,200. This building was remodeled, enlarged and improved and a bell tower erected in 1888-89 at an additional cost of $1,300. During the fall of 1912 the church edifice was again improved, by raising, putting in a new foundation, basement, furnace, side wings and kitchen, making an ideal country church, at an expenditure of over $3^000.

In 1909 the pongregation greeted a, comfortable parsonage in the village of Twelve Mile, two miles to the not^heast of the church, for the pastor, who also serves Bethel church in Clay township.

A Sunday school was organized in 1845 with John Eurit superintendent. Prom 1845 to 1868 the Sunday school went into ** winter quarters'' but since the latter date it has been ** evergreen." The present superintendent is Edmond A. Leflfel.

The first Sunday school in the township was the Presbyterian, organized at the Hinton schoolhouse, then situated in section 23, during the summer of 1840, and Thomas McMillen became its first superintendent. The following year (1841), through the efforts of Rev. James Buchanan, the church was organized with the following charter members: James M. Buchanan and wife, Thomas McMillen and wife, John Dalzell and wife, Thomas Dalzell and wife, Isaac Young and wife. Seabom Dudgeon and wife and probably others, but the records have been lost and can not be consulted. Meetings were held at the Hinton school- house, the Guy log schoolhouse on the Michigan road and in Christian Kreider's blacksmith shop, north of Metea, until the year 1853. On May 3rd of that year James G. Cox conveyed a tract of land, on the east side of the Michigan road in the northwest quarter section 29, to James M. Buchanan, Thomas Dalzell and E. B. Buchanan, trustees of the church. Measures were at once taken to build a house of worship and the contract was let to Andrew Stoughton and Harvey Hinton in the fall of 1853 but the church was not ready for occupancy until the spring of 1854. This was a plain substantial frame building 30x40 feet and capable of seating nearly 300. The old pulpit from Father Post's church was procured and set up in this church and used for many years. Bev. Hughes of Logansport was the first minister to occupy the pulpit in the spring of 1854. This church edifice continued to be occupied regularly until 1899, when it was replaced by the present handsome temple of worship, which was dedicated in the fall of that year.

This church was organized in 1855 or 1856 by a committee from the Crooked Creek Baptist church, under the leadership of Revs. Dunham and Babcock, at the Froat or McKee log schoolhouse that stood on the northeast comer of the northwest quarter section 34, Bethlehem township.

The original members were : Elder Dunham and wife, Wm. Craven and wife, Noah and Benjamin Craven, John Sedam and wife and their daughter Elizabeth, Susan Grove and Elizabeth Hartman.

The final organization was perfected November, 1856, moderated by Elder J. R. Ash with John Dunham as clerk. The society held meetings in the above named schoolhouse until 1859. In that year measures were taken to erect a house of worship more in keeping with the growing congregation. A site was selected on the Michigan road, just north of Metea, Joseph Penrose donating the ground. Here a substantial frame church was erected in 1859, Stephen Bishop, at that time living two miles to the northwest, was the contractor. This church edifice is stiU standing, but a few years ago it was remodeled and modernized and is now a handsome structure. The church holds regular services and is a power for good in the community.

This society was brought about by the efforts of Rev. John W. Haut, who held a series of meetings in the Louderback schoolhouse over in the edge of Pulton county during the year 1869 and perfected the organization in that year with the following list of charter members :

The name of this class was at first ^^ South Liberty" and its success was largely due to Rev. T. M. Reed, who aided in its organization and continued to administer to its spiritual wants for some time. The class was wide awake and grew rapidly, held regular meetings in the schoolhouse until 1880, when they secured a church site on the west side of the Michigan road, on the county line in section 43, Michigan road lands. A plain but neat frame church was erected, 32x44 feet, in the same year, at a cost of $1,333, the land being donated by Patrick Carlin.

A Sunday school was organized in 1870 with John Redd as superintendent. The church officers were: Trustees, N. A. Louderback, W. S. Louderback, David Studebaker, Joshua McDougle and Andrew Black; class leader, John Martin.

The church continued to prosper, requiring a larger building, and in 1892 the old church was rebuilt and enlarged at an expenditure of $2,500. The present membership is 104, and officered as follows : Trustees, Wm. Troutman, John W. Redd, Thos. H. McDougle, David Studebaker and Wm. Nichol. Sunday school superintendent, Joseph Conn.

As early as 1837 a few of the faithful believers of the doctrines of this church began to hold religious services at the home of James Troutman on the Michigan road, seven miles north of Logansport, under the leadership of Rev. Andrew Veal, who resided in Jefferson township. Among the communicants at these early meetings were Vachel Conn and wife Angeline, John D. Jones, Albert Thompson, James Troutman and wife Nancy, the Foys, Stapletons and others who cannot now be recalled. This society held meetings at private houses and later at the Guy schoolhouse near the present Presbyterian' church until 1847 when steps were taken to erect a church on land donated by James Troutman. The records show that, on April 20, 1847, Mr. Troutman deeds one acre of ground situated in the northeast quarter of section 29 to the trustees of the church, to wit : John D. Jones, Albert Thompson and Andrew Veal. Soon after, however, Mr. Troutman, the leading spirit in the society, died and the church was never built. Meetings were held in private houses by Elders Veal, Shank and Cole for several years, but the members aflBliated with other churches and the society disbanded.

Bethlehem ^s dead repose in at least nine different burial places, each of which will be briefly mentioned, with the first interments and a list of soldiers that rest therein.

The land for this burial ground was donated by John Eurit in the early thirties, but the deed was executed October 17, 1853, by his son Stephen, to the trustees of the church, Joel Martin, Wm. Johnston, G. M. Smith, John and Stephen Eurit, for one acre in the northeast quarter of section 24, Bethlehem township. On February 7, 1861, Anthony Leffel deeds one-fourth of an acre adjoining the above to the ' trustees of the church and the grounds were again enlarged November 10, 1878, when Nathan Kinneman conveys a tract adjoining the above to the trustees, S. Eurit, A. B. Grable, A. Leffel, J. A. Dalzell and I. W. Kreider. On January 12, 1891, an addition to the cemetery was plajtted and recorded. A log church was erected here in 1847. The first interments in this cemetery were John Kelly, Katherine, wife of Joel Martin, and members of the Thomas family. They were, however, buried about forty rods to the south of the present grounds, near Nathan Kinneman 's house. Some were removed, others left remaining, but no stones mark their resting place. The earliest inscriptions to be seen are : Katherine Martin, 1838 ; Nancy A. Kreider, 1838.

James G. Cox donated the ground on the Michigan road in the northeast quarter of section 29, and May 28, 1853, deeded the same to the trustees of the church, E. B. Buchanan, Thos. Dalzell and J. M. Buchanan. The first burials were members of the Dipert family about 1852-3; Eliza, daughter of Henry Bamett, and Mrs. Cornwell about 1859 ; Mrs. Russel about 1865, and J. G. Cox. The latter has in recent years been removed to Mt. Hope. No interments have been made here for over forty years and the ground has been abandoned for burial purposes. The few persons burieci here now rest peacefully under the new church erected in 1899.

April 2, 1852, Joseph Penrose deeds the ground for this cemetery to a board of trustees: Aaron Yantis, John Yund and John F. Dodds, with a proviso, should one die or resign, his place should be filled by the survivor. January 9, 1876, Mr. Penrose conveys additional ground adjoining the above to the trustees of the Baptist cemetery and January 18, 1882, Jonathan Grable, as executor of the estate of J. Penrose, deeds one acre adjoining the graveyard on the west. The first burial was Martha Jane, daughter of James M. Buchanan, August 8, 1849, age five years.

Alexander Jennings, died 1866, War of 1812; John GriflBn, died 1861, War of 1812; Isaac Caw, died 1870, War of 1812; J. M. Gordon, died 1862, Company B, One Hundred and Sixteenth Indiana; Jos. Redd, died at Louisville 1862, Company B, Forty-sixth Indiana; Aaron Booth, Company E, Twenty-ninth Indiana; Solomon Yund, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indiana; Isaac Yund, killed in Virginia 1862, Company F, Twentieth Indiana; John B. HoUenback, Company F, One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana; Stephen Holsey, Company K, Ninety-ninth Indiana; Thos. B. Ford, died 1877, Company. F, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indiana; M. S. Newton, died 1880, Company F, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indiana; C. W. Moyer, Company E, Twenty-ninth Indiana; A. C. Knapp, Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio; F. M. Brown, died 1897, Company G, Fifty-first

James Troutman, who entered the adjoining farm in 1837, deeded one acre of ground in the northwest quarter of section 29, Bethlehem township, to the trustees of Providence church (Old School Baptist). J. D. Jones, A. Thompson and Andrew Veal, deed acknowledged before David Chestnut and witnessed by Josiah Powell April 20, 1847. The first interment was an Indian doctor, who died about 1839 at the house of J. Troutman nearby. James Troutman died September 16, 1847, War of 1812. The church never was built and the ground became a private cemetery in which only members of the Troutman family were buried from 1847 to 1869, when Mildred E. Veal, daughter of Mr. Troutman, was the last interment and the ground is abandoned as a burial place. It is situated in a grove, surrounded by a wire fence and contains a dozen or more gravestones.

About 1845 Geo. Julian, who then owned the northwest quarter, section 6, Bethlehem township, adjoining the Pulton county line, laid out a burial ground but never executed a deed for the san^e. Seven interments were made here from about 1845-55, but no markers are to be found except a marble slab with the following inscription : Elizabeth Treen, wife of J. G. Treen, died February 14, 1848. This may be seen just inside the wire fence that encloses the woods covering the land at that place, on the south side of the county line road a mile west of Pletchers lake.

Wm. Studebaker interred several members of his family, in the forties, on his farm just west of the Michigan road, in the southeast quarter of section 10, Bethlehem township. Some members of the Goss, Conn, Jones, Simons and other families were probably buried here from 1840 to 1855, but no markers were placed at the graves, except two or three slabs that are broken and crumbled beyond recognition. The surrounding farm evidently passed out of the hands of Mr. Studebaker without any reservation, for Aaron Tilton, on May 24, 1855, deeds to Wm. and Joseph Studebaker and their heirs for the use of a burial ground a piece of land 4x7 rods in section 44, Michigan road, lands lying west of and adjacent to that road. Levi Horn now owns the farm and leaves a small plat of ground uncultivated that marks the last resting place of these pioneers, who sleep as peacefully as though towering monuments marked their graves.

About forty rods west of the Michigan road, just south of the north line of section 45, Michigan road lands, and opposite the old Penrose residence where John Rhodes now lives, were buried three members of the Conn family from about 1836 to 1850. An infant of J. M. Buchanan was buried about 1850 and possibly others. The place is unmarked and is cultivated by the farmers of this generation, ignorant of the sacred remains of the early settlers that lie beneath the plowman's feet.

This burial place is situated on the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 19, Bethlehem township. In 1837 Gavin Black entered this land and occupied it until his death in the sixties. Several members of his family were buried here in the forties and about 1850 his wife's remains were removed from the Troutman burial ground to this place. Some eight or ten interments were made here, but there are no markers and the ground is now occupied by an orchard. One marble slab may be found in the fence corner, which reads: Fanny, daughter ''of W. and L. Booth, died August 30, 1850, age eleven months. This place was abandoned as a burial ground before Mr. Black's death in the sixties and he was buried at Metea, but the occupants of these graves, in that once beautiful woodland, still sleep on, undisturbed by the feet of the busy world that tramp over them.

There was an Indian village aboTit a mile south of Fletchers lake on the southeast quarter of section 6, Bethlehem township. About 1839 a death occurred in this village and the body of the deceased, with tomahawk, arrows and all his belongings that were needful in the happy hunting grounds, were placed in a wooden trough and swung to the breezes, under the forest trees, with solemn yet strange Indian ceremonies. A few days later the sugar trough, corpse and all, was missing and a firm of Logansport doctors, whose initials were F. and B., were always suspected of appropriating this dead Indian to the cause of science.

Doctors are always interesting and the people of any community always know the village or country doctor and a short sketch of the physicians of .Bethlehem may be of interest and we give below a brief mention of the doctors who have administered to the sick of this community.

Probably Dr. A. B. Buchanan was the first doctor to locate in the township about 1840, but he spent the greater part of his life in Logansport and will be noticed among the physicians of that town. Until within the past few years Bethlehem has always had a resident doctor, but at this time there is no physician living in the township, as it has become so healthy since the clearing of the forests and draining of the swamps that there is not sufficient business to maintain a resident physician, but towns have sprung up on the railroads to the east, west and north where doctors are within easy call.

Dr. Milton M. Boggs was bom in New Castle, Indiana, January 10, 1830, educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended medical lectures at Laporte, Indiana, about 1849, and located in Bethlehem township a mile north of Metea in 1857, where he was united in marriage to Mary A. Penrose, April 8, 1857. Mrs. Boggs died January 1, 1867, leaving two daughters still living and married. Dr. Boggs was a small man, full of energyhowever, and one of Bethlehem's best physicians. In 1866 he moved to North Manchester, then to Macy, Miami county, where he practiced and ran a drug store until he retired at eighty years of age, and moved to Peru with his daughter, Mrs. Lawrence. Dr. Boggs was a veteran of two wars, Mexican and Civil, and was captain of Company E, Twentyninth Indiana.

Dr. A. M. Buchanan is a native of Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1823. He came to Cass county with his father. Rev. J. Buchanan, in 1837. He attended medical college at Laporte, Indiana, in 1847-8. During the gold craze in 1850, he went to California and two years later located in Kankakee, Illinois, and engaged in practice. While there was married and had three children. Mrs. Buchanan died and he moved to Fulton, Indiana, about 1864, and two years later to Metea, where he built up a lucrative practice. He retired from active practice in 1895 and moved to Logansport, where he died November, 1905, and rests in Mt. Hope cemetery. His second marriage occurred in 1867, to Minnie York, a native of New York, by whom he had one daughter, now Mrs. Wm. S. Collett, who, with the widow, reside in Logansport.

Dr. Johns. About 1879 Dr. Johns located in Metea as successor to Dr. M. S. Newton, who died in 1880. He only practiced here two or three years when he moved to Fulton county. He was a man with a family, but his antecedents are unknown.

Dr. Stephen Julian was born in Ohio, October 2, 1822, attended an eclectic medical school in Cincinnati and moved to Cass county in 1863, locating first at Georgetown, then at Burnettsville, then to Metea, where he practiced for several years in the sixties. He moved to Clay township and finally to Royal Center, where he continued in practice until his death, February 26, 1873, and was buried in the Crooked Creek cemetery- He was married to Hannah Fuller of Boone township, December 25, 1853, and they had two children, who, with the widow, still reside in Boone township.

Dr. M. S. Newton. We first hear of Dr. Newton at Reeds Mill, in Jefiierson township, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine about 1868-S. In the seventies he moved to Metea, where he married Alice Lowman Smith. He continued to practice at Metea until failing health compelled his retirement and he died October 6, 1880, aged thirty-six years and is sleeping his last sleep in the Metea Baptist church , yard. Dr. Newton was a sociable man, but possessed no great medical ability.

Dr. Albert A. Ogle was born in Alton, Illinois, in 1867, was licensed to practice in Cass county in 1905 and located west of Metea on the J. Grable farm, where he practiced for a few years, when he moved to Indianapolis, where his father was pastor of a Baptist church. He professed to be a follower of Hahnemann theory of medicine. He was a young man with a wife and one child.

Dr. Cyrus Pickett. From about 1885 to 1888 Dr. Pickett lived and practiced medicine in the east edge of Bethlehem township. He was earlier located at Young America and in 1881 at Adamsboro and registered as an Eclectic physician. In 1889 he moved with his family to Broken Bow, Nebraska, where, it is reported, he died about 1907.

Dr. Timothy Waterberry was born in White county, Indiana, about 1855, attended the Eclectic Medical College of Chicago, and about 1879 located at Metea, where he was for a time associated in the practice of medicine with Dr. Newton, but did not remain long and moved to Nebraska about 1880. He was married in Nebraska and has since died.

Gen. Richard Crooks was among the first settlers of Bethlehem township, locating here in 1831-2. He was an energetic, brave man of more than ordinary intellectual ability. He was a brigadier general of Pennsylvania troops in the War of 1812. His commission bears date of August 3, 1811. His ability and experience combined to make him a leader, as he virtually was in the organization and development of the township.

General Crooks, of Scotch descent, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1790. He was united in marriage to a Miss Richardson, in the early thirties and had two sons, William and Thomas, and one daughter, Lucy, who became the wife of J. Dalzell, also a pioneer, who lived and died in Bethlehem township, as did his two sons, Robert and John A. Dalzell. Wm. Crooks was married and had one son, Reper R., who was in business in Logansport and died here. Wm. Crooks was a soldier in the Civil war and died in the service. Thomas, the other son of General Crooks, married a Miss Shockey, lived in Adams township until 1866, when he moved to ilinnesota, where he died about 1880. He left four sons and two daughters. One daughter, Hannah, became the wife of John Skinner of Adams township, the other, Martha, died in Minnesota unmarried.

William, John D., and Thomas B. moved to Minnesota in 1866, where the former died in 1909, and the two latter still live in the Northwest. They were all married and have children living. Isaac S., the youngest son, was united in marriage to Maria L. Powell of Bethlehem township, in 1864, and they had one son and one daughter. Alva A. Qrooks, bom April 11, 1872, married Mary L. Gary, October 2, 1900, and are blessed with three daughters and one son. Minnie, born in 1870, married T. M. Armstrong and now resides in South Dakota.

General Crooks died in Bethlehem township. May 6, 1842, and rests near the center of the old cemetery in Logansport, with only a large sugar tree to mark his grave, which has grown up over the grave since his burial.

Joseph Godwin Cox was a wealthy Baltimorean, born in 1808, and purchased a large farm six miles north of Logansport on the Michigan road in 1848, where he resided until his death, August 24, 1863. He was a man of some education, ability and refinement, but unaccustomed to Hoosier methods and with no practical ideas of farming, and spent large sums of money in impractical improvements and many practical jokes were made by the farmers in the neighborhood at Mr. Cox's expense. He was something of -a joker himself and when hilarious from imbibing too freely, as he sometimes did, many ludicrous scenes were enacted. He was stoutly built and pompous in his demeanor and had a peculiarity of speech when in earnest conversation and would end his sentences with an exclamation like **Wha-Wha.'' He was a character, yet possessed many good and generous impulses. He was twice married - first to Sarah S. Twells, in 1840, to whom were born Maria, Christiana and Sarah Stokes. Mrs. Cox died and he was united in marriage to her sister, Maria P. Twells, in 1846. To this union was bom James H., in 1848; married Martha Yantis, died 1909. Caroline H., bom in 1851, died 1876 ; Joseph H., born 1854, married and living in Wisconsin; George W., born 1866, now in the Northwest; Fanny, born 1863, living in Baltimore.

Joel Martin was one of the earliest settlers, locating on section 24 about 1831, and was a charter member of the M. E. church. He was a man of character and was instrumental in laying the foundation of the enlightened and Christian community that grew up in that locality. His wife, Catherine, died in 1838. He was again married to Mrs. Leah Cox and she died in 1848 and both rest in the Bethlehem cemetery. In 1854 Mr. Martin sold out and moved to Laporte county, where he died at the home of his son about 1863.

Joseph Penrose was bom in England, October 11, 1804. He was injured when a boy by the kick of a horse and always walked a little lame, although he was a stoutly built man and an athlete and a skilled boxer. He was educated as a civil engineer in England; came to America in 1828 on a sail boat, requiring six weeks to make the voyage; surveyed the line of the Ithaca & Oswego Railroad in New York state; came to Indiana in 1829, locating at Fort Wayne ; aided in the survey of the Wabash and Erie canal in 1833-4; was a contractor and built the canal locks at Fort Wayne, Lagro and Georgetown. About 1844 he and Mr. Qreen built a forge at the locks four miles east of Logansport and operated it for a few years, using bog iron ore shipped on the canal from White county. Mr. Penrose moved to Bethlehem township about 1848 and resided on the Michigan road a mile north of Metea, where he became a leading citizen and greatly aided in the development of the township. He served two terms as county commissioner in 1861 and again in 1872. He was married to Delilah Frances Rhodes, daughter of Jacob Rhodes of Jefferson township. To this union three sons and four daughters were born: John G., Joseph Henry and Edward R. The former was a soldier in Company E, Twehty-ninth Indiana; returned to Bethlehem, where he died June 19, 1907, leaving several children. The daughters were all married and had families. Two, Mrs. Emma Calloway and Hulda Hitchens, are still living in Cass county.

Jacob Powell. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was James Powell, of Welsh descent, a Revolutionary soldier, living in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where Josiah Powell, the father of our subject, was bom July 31, 1779. James Powell moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he reared his family of eight sons. Josiah Powell was married to Margaret Mug (born in Maryland, December 7, 1793), October 8, 1812, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where our subject was born March 10, 1815, and when a boy moved with his father to Steubenville, Ohio, where he was educated in the public schools- In 1835 he went by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi river to Rock Island, and walked from there to a little town on Lake Michigan called Chicago, as there was some talk of it becoming a great city. Here he was offered forty acres of land, now in the heart of Chicago, for $300, which he carried with him on his prospecting tour; but at that time Chicago was composed of only a few houses around Fort Dearborn, all of which were surrounded by swamps and it was too God forsaken a country for Mr. Powell to invest in, and he walked from there to Logansport and put up with Daniel Redd, with whom he was acquainted, who at that time lived up in the woods on the hill, northeast corner of Sixth and Broadway, where McCaffrey's grocery is now located. He located in Bethlehem township in the spring of 1836 and induced his father, Josiah Powell, to come to fair Bethlehem, where he lived an honored citizen until his death, May 6, 1867. His daughter, Matilda, and sons Jeptha, William and Lemuel, all of whom raised families, were influential citizens, but all have passed to their last resting place except Lemuel, who still occupies the old homestead. Jacob Powell was united in marriage December 23, 1841, to Martha A. Troutman, daughter of James Troutman of Bethlehem township. Of this union four children were bom: Orlando, who is a farmer of the township; Dr. J. Z. Powell, of Logansport; Maria L. Crooks, widow of Isaac S. Crooks, who occupies the old homestead ; and Matilda M. Wemple, widow of Wm. Wemple, now residing in Logansport

Jacob Powell was sandy complexioned, tall and slender, but of powerful phjrsique. He was liberal in his religious views, but held to the Quaker church. Iiji politics he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he followed its teachings. He did not enlist in the army, but spent one winter (1862) with the Twenty-ninth Indiana Regiment at his own expense as a scout in citizens clothes.

Mrs. Powell died May 20, 1878, and in 1881 he was again married to Mrs. Julia Turner of Metropolis, Illinois, where the widow still resides. He died in Cass county, June 30, 1895, and rests in Bethlehem M. E. cemetery.

James Troutman was bom in Kentucky in 1793, was a soldier in the War of 1812; married NaUcy Stephenson of Kentucky, May 8, 1817, who was bom November 24, 1798 ; moved to Bethlehem township in 1835, and kept a tavern, the Seven Mile House, on the Michigan road, until his death, September 17, 1847, and sleeps his last sleep in the Troutman burial ground back of his residence. His wife died April 11, 1880, in Pulton county.

J. Troutman had several brothers and half-brothers who lived and died in Cass and Fulton Counties. He also left the following children: Wm. Ambrose, Benjamin Eli, Jane (Lambert), Mary (Hurst), Elizabeth (Veal), Caroline (Pugh), and Martha Adaline, who became the wife of Jacob Powell. They are all dead, but each left descendants scattered east and west. J. Troutman was a portly, stoutly built man of pleasing manners and a leader in the early history of the township. He afl&liated with the Baptist church and the first religious meetings of that denomination were held at his house. '

One object to be obtained in writing this history is to collect biographical sketches of the old pioneers, who cleared the forests, developed the county and made history, and place them on record, so that they and their deeds will not be lost, but be permanently preserved.

Sketches of many of these have already been written by Mr. Helms in his history of Cass county in 1886, these as a rule, we will not duplicate here, but simply mention their names and refer the reader to that work, which can be seen in the Public Library or in the archives of the Cass County Historical Society.

We close these reminiscences of Bethlehem with a retrospect or comparison of 1830 with 1913. The land was covered with a dense forest, with a cabin in the clearing here and there, connected only by an Indian trail, or corduroy and mud roads, over which the ox wagon or cart was drawn, All of this has changed; the log cabin has been replaced by large, handsome, modem houses, the old fireplace has given way to the furnace ; the tallow dip to acetylene gas light ; the puncheon floor to the hard, polished oak ; the pole bed to the brass bed ; the oiled paper window to Prench plate glass, the sugar trough cradle to the fancy go-cart and the piano and organ has been substituted for the fiddle and fife.

The wire fence, the riding cultivator and plow, the grain drill, the mower, horse-rake, loader, binder, all have been introduced since the pioneer first settled in Bethlehem, The automobile, the telephone that annihilate time and space, all these and many other modern improvements would certainly open the eyes of the pioneer. "In what a wondrous age we live! God only knows what next.''

Biographical sketches of the following persons have been written in Helms' History of Cass County in 1886 and will not be reproduced here, as they can be easily referred to in that work :