Fairmount Township (part 9 of 10)

It was not all smiths that could do every kind of work. Some were more skilled than others. Joe Bennett I recollect best, for the reason that he did my father's work longer than any other smith. Joe was drafted, with many others, to go to the army. I think he was assigned to the Twenty-fourth Battery. I recollect of hearing him preach the Sunday before he left for the army. He told his hearers that he was going to leave his Bible at home and take up the sword. My recollection is that Joe came home and regained his Bible.

It is now fifty-two years since the things occurred that I am trying to write about. My memory, I find, is a little faulty. I have no way of refreshing my memory, and it is five hundred miles to anyone who could assist me.

The first saw-mill at Fairmount was of the sash pattern. It was a lazy man's job to run one of those saws, as they were so very slow and the logs were large. I have seen most of the block where The News office now stands covered with immense logs and the old mill going at snail gait sawing them into lumber.

The first circular saw-mill that I remember stood almost west of the Friends Church and on the bank of Back Creek. I think it "was in 1864. After the sash saw-mill came one called the Muley, and this was much faster, and soon came into general use. Then came the portable mill with the circular saw of today.

Tn tlie early sixties I remember that Jesse E. Wilson had planted peaeh trees along his fences for some distance on each side of the road near his residence. In the peach season I have seen those trees loaded with the finest fruit imaginable. No one who knew Jesse would take one of those peaches without asking for it, but there were boys not a mile from him that would go miles to take his peaches or pears. The boys spoken of were not bad boys, but were mischievous and loved adventure, and finally grew to manhood to be the best citizens of the community. T. B. McDonald.

A public speaker once told me that if you want to interest your audience tell them something the\- already know. This I will, undoubtedly do.

My mother died in the fall of 1856. j\Iy brother Winslow and mvself went and lived for a time with L'ncle ]\Iilton Wilson, Nate's father. He had just bought of Tommy Powell the farm now owned bv John Kelsay. The house was west of the present residence. Tommy was an Englishman. I think he was a relative of John Bull and Samuel Radley, who were also from England.

Tomnn- PowcH's wife was a Winslow (Aunt Betsey, we called her), a sister of Uncle Jesse Winslow, who lived east of Pairmount. She was afterwards the wife of Samuel Dillon.

My brother and I attended my first school at old ISack Creek, north of town, the winter of 1856-1857. Asa T. Baldwin was the teacher. To mv surprise he had no "gads" in sight, nor did he use any during the term. Some of the scholars near me were Jesse Dillon, now living in Marion. George Whybrew. David Winslow, I'ill lialdwin. Bank lialdwin and many others. We attended Friends services at tlie old meeting hou.se, then standing, on First day and b'ourth day. There was hardly anything said b\- any one during services for two hours.

The school boys, when playing at recess, would try to see who could crawl through the air holes at the foundation of the old church. Manv a bov went through all right, but swelled U]) until he could not get out, and what a yell they did make under the old church until rescued. The big boys and the teacher would have him come out craw-fish style, and one get hold of each leg and jnill him out. The boy was then warned to not tr\- it again, or if he did he would get a licking. But they were trying it again at each play time.

Aunt Rachel Newby lived on the Lewis Fankboner farm. The iDuildings were north of the present ones. We boys, at her request, would stop and warm by the big fireplace on our way to and from school. This was a small thing, but we never once forgot her for her kindness. It is the little things that people do that count, after all, even down to the present day.

Soon afterwards we went back home to live, south of town, my father having married. Our school days were afterwards spent at Back Creek, southwest of Fairmount. The early teachers were Milton ]\'IcHatton, George Pierce, Jesse Reece, Keturah Baldwin, Columbus ^loore. Foster Davis, Lancaster D. Baldwin. William Baldwin, and some others 1 may have overlooked. The school houses were log, and very poorly ventilated, but were, for that day, pretty comfortable.

The games played at school in those days were "three-cornered cat," "black man," and "bull pen," but the real game was "town ball." Instead of a baseball bat, a paddle made of oak timber one inch thick and six to ten inches wide, made with a handle, was the bat. There were bases. Two were asked to choose up, or select the players from tlie crowd. Some one would take a chip of wood and spit on one side and one of the "choosers" would say "wet." the. other "dry." They would then toss the chip in the air, and if "wet" was up the one taking that would have first choice of players, and if "dry," the second choice, and so on.

Nathan D. Cox and T. B. McDonald were usually first and second choice, as they were two who could break the paddle or knock the ball over the big white oak tree near by. No one ever caught the ball. Instead of a pitcher he was known as the one "giving balls." If he threw a ball so the batter with his big, wide paddle could not hit it, he was immediately fired and someone else put in to "give balls." so thev could hit them. In baseball, which sprang from old "town ball,". men are now paid $10,000 to $20,000 annually to pitch a ball they cannot hit, and when he cannot do this he is let out.

We had no umpire in "town ball," and when a player did not like the wav the game was going he just got mad and quit and would not plav. There were always plenty to take his place. Even to this day there are persons who will not play unless things go to suit them. Howiever, I do not know of any such in Fairmount Township.

The Wesleyans held church in the school house for some time, but finally cleared away about one-half an acre in a very thick woods near by and built the frame church which is now standing to the west on the range line. To clear away the heavy trees for the church was quite a task. However, by the help of Uncle Jonathan Baldwin's pair of big, red oxen, from town, and twenty-five or thirty men who knew what an ax was made for, it was soon done.

The early Wesleyan preachers that I now call io mind who preached at this place were Aaron Worth, now living- at Fountain City, Thomas Brelsford, Isaac Meek, Emsley Brookshire, father of Thomas J. Brookshire. William Lacey, and many others I do not now recall. Aaron Worth was then the big preacher of all, and Isaac Meek w^as very popular and much loved by everybody, especially the young, on account of his Indian, bear and deer stories in conversation. He could talk all kinds of Indian language.

The boys in the neighborhood often had a heated argument as to who was the biggest and best preacher. It was finally decided in favor of a new preacher, whom I do not now recall, for the reason we could hear him nearly a mile away.

There was not very much land cleared in the early settlement of the Township, so the farming w'as on a very small scale, indeed. On the high places along Back Creek and east of Fairmount along the old prairie was about the only land high enough to farm. The very best black elm land lay idle for years and was rated as worthless, on account of its being covered with water all the year. Today this low, level black land has been drained until it is doubtful if the sun shines on better anywhere.

The farmers raised corn, wheat, flax, buckwheat, sugar cane, but not much stock. The farms averaged one cow, six to ten hogs, two horses and fifteen to twenty head of sheep.

Hogs ran wald and were hunted and killed in the woods when w^anted for meat. Thev were large and thin. There was no danger of getting too much fat in those days. They were w lial the packers prize so highly today as strictly "bacon hogs."

The farmers had but little to sell in those days. Xot many fed over five or ten hogs, and the man who had twenty-five or thirty hogs to market was considered a big stock grower.

Jeans suits made from wool off their own sheep w^ere the clothing. Xo overcoats, underwear, overshoes or anything in the way of fine dress w-as in evidence. The women wore calico and flannel and fancy gingham dresses for Sunday.

Xeighbors were quite well ac(|uainte(l and knew one another better than they do today. All would lend any tool or horse. Neighbors visited much more than at present. The whole family would w^alk a mile and stay and visit a neighbor until Ijcd time, and then return

The earl}' merchants in Fairmount bought coon skins, sheep pelts, beeswax, sorghum, flax-seed, feathers, dried peaches and apples, rags, eggs, butter, sheep and beef tallow.

At the tanyard of Micah Baldwin and William Hall they sold oak bark. The farmers of the Township in the early days raised quite an amount of sugar cane, some as much as five or ten acres. Nearly all raised some to make molasses or sorghum. It was an easy crop to grow. After the cane was done growing and the heads ripened and turned black late in the fall, they went through with corn cutters and cut off the heads about one foot from the he^ds and let them fall on the ground. They next went through with a sharp-edged board and stripped the cane. The cane was then cut close to the ground and hauled to the cane mill, which consisted of two rollers together made of a sugar tree. A lever was fastened at the top of these rollers and a horse hitched, going round and round, and the mill making a noise you could hear a mile or more. You could often hear ten or twelve of these mills in a neighborhood.

The molasses, or sorghum, was easily made, and was usually quite thick and would not run. It was generally put in a large pan, or bowl, in the center of the table, and when any one wanted sorghum, they harpooned it with a knife or fork, and wound out what they desired. And permit me to say that with sausage made from hogs, butter made from cows, and hot biscuits or corn bread it was not very bad.

The people are very much the same wherever you go, from Maine to California. Every place has its good and bad citizens. A very large majority are for the very best interests of all the people everywhere and all the time. However, I am of the opinion that from the day of the entry of the land to the present time, there has lived and are living more of the right kind of people in Fairmount Township and vicinity than any place where the sun shines.

From A Note Book

about our o\\ u family, and will not, therefore, be of general interest. The men whom I interviewed in 1897 were my father, Nixon Rush, Calvin Rush, Sr., James Scott, Elwood Rush, Bernard McDonald and Xathan Little. These were good men and great. Let us ever remember them.

I can give some information which should be of interest to young as well as old. It may not be known to many people that there once Hved in Fairmount a man who, I believe, was one of the greatest athletes this country ever produced. If he were a young man now, attending one of our colleges, his picture would be published in all the leading papers of America. This man was James Scott.

When I was in my teens the l:)oy who could beat us all in the running hop, step and jump or the running two hops and a jump, was \\'ick Winslow. Any of us boys would have traded our homes - families included - for Wick's ability to run and jump.

Among the older boys the great heroes were John and Charles E. White. The\ could have all the sidewalk any time they wanted it - provided, of course, that there happened to be a sidewalk. Yet none of these heroes - no matter how large the circle of admirers - ever boasted of going more than forty-two feet in a running hop, step and jumj), or the more popular two hops and a jumj). After several weeks' i:)ractice I once made thirty-seven feet myself, but I tore ni}- suspenders in doing it.

Aly father often told me of the "barn-raisings" when he was a boy. Someone would nearly always start to jump in order to get James Scott and his brother started. As father expressed it. "the\- jumped as if thev had wings." He also told me that on one occasion James Scott jumped against the State champion at Indianapolis and won. And so, in h'ebruary. just twenty years ago, I went to see James Scott and I wrote in my little red note book his story as he gave it:

"It was the first Monday in .\ugust," related James. "Henry Clay was the candidate for T"'resident that year. Our wheat was all gathered in the barn and father allowed me to go and see my uncle, who lived at Indiana])olis.

"The best jum])er in the .'^tate was there, and he wanted to bet me ten dollars that he ci^ukl beat me. 1 did not want to bet, but the fellow would not jump unless I would bet. So I took his bet. It was on the ground where the Court Llouse now stands. There was a little slope to the land. It was not (|uite level. We each had three trials. I jumped twice. The first time 1 jum])e{l sixty feet, ami the second time I jumped sixtv-two feet. It was the running hop, step and jumj). He could not equal niv second jump. I jumped fifty-eight feet at Marion when thev were laying the foundation for the first Court House. I could jump twenty-five feet at running broad jump on level ground. I could jump from sill to sill when the sills were ten feet apart, and in the haymow I have jumped from one sill to another where the sills were eight feet apart. I could go thirty-three feet on level ground in three jumps standing. I could jump over a pole six inches higher than my head. My brother Stephen could jump thirty-six feet in three jumps, standing."

These were the figures given to me by the (|uiet old man whose life's journev was nearly run. There was no trace of boastfulness. The exact accuracy of the distances could not, of course, be depended on. Thev were probably measured by a short ruler, and the measurements were taken from heel to heel, instead of the present method of measurement, and this would reduce each record six or eight inches. Moreover, the ground may not always have been exactly level. Rut if an untrained farmer lad, wearing heavy shoes which his father probably made, could jump such distances, what records he could have made under one of our great athletic trainers in a college or university.

"Old David Stanfield laid out the first lots of Fairmount and named the place. Stanfield's barn was in the exact location of John Dickey's home. The house was northeast of the barn. It was at the place where Harmon Buller now lives, back of Mattie Wright's home. I was then Justice of the Peace. Stanfield made the plot and sold lots before having the plot recorded, and 1 came near having trouble. He sold James Cammack a few acres to build a mill where Jap Wheeler's mill now stands. The lots sold for five, ten and fifteen dollars apiece. Joseph \\'. r>aldwin bought a lot from Jonathan Baldwin, just north of Flanagan's store, and built there the first store ever built in Fairmount."

From all of the men interviewed I gained the following information regarding my great grandfather, Azel Rush. Azel was light complexioned, tall, slim, and a little stooped. He had blue eyes, a strong voice and was autocratic. He was an old-fashioned Quaker.

In 1848 he sold the larger part of his North Carolina farm for $3,000. and, after paying his debts, he hid $500 of the money in a barrel and started to Indiana with the barrel. The money was in the form of notes. As he became fearful that it would be stolen he took each note and cut it into tw'o pieces. He then took two envelopes and

Apparently the notes were redeemed all right, for he bought the Henry Doherty farm and paid six dollars an acre for it. He then returned to North Carolina and the next year brought his wife and three youngest sons. The boys drove a big four-horse Carolina wagon, and Azel and his wife rode in a carriage.

Elwood Rush was one of the boys. He told me that they left Carolina on September 15, 1849. and arrived on October 21. and that they crossed but one railroad track in making the trip. Uncle Elwood laughed when he quoted John Plasters as saying that "Azel Rush was smarter than any of his boys."

"I remember once he came to me while I was working in a field. It was just before he made his last trip to Carolina. lie wanted to borrow twenty dollars. I gave it to him and asked no security. During the course of our conversation he spoke of the fact that William Henry Harrison was for a time a medical student under his cousin, Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia. He also spoke of Zachary Taylor, whom I knew well, having boarded with him for two or three vears. I knew William Henry Harrison quite well, and I also knew Benjamin Harrison as a slender-legged boy."

It may be of interest to know how the Rushes came to have the Rush Hill farm. This is the way my uncle. Calvin Rush, told it to me twenty years ago :

"When mv father. Iredell Rush, came to Indiana, he stopped one vear in Henry County, where he made $100, which he saved. He then came to Grant County and paid the $100 for eighty acres, which are now a part of the Frank Presnall farm. One year later he decided to enter the eighty acres just south of his farm, the land on which Rush Hill and the Academy are located, but he had no money. Hearing that a man by the name of Dempsey Bailey was planning also to get the land, Iredell hastened to the home of a friend by the name of Hiatt, who lived. I think, in Henry Count}-. Iliatt took down the family Bible, which was his bank, gave grandfather the money which he needed and told him to hurry. Grandfather rode all night and reached Fort Wayne early in the morning. The land was quickly secured and the money paid, and as he was leaving the court house, Dempsey Bailey walked in. His first log house was sixteen by twenty feet, with a stick and clav chimnev. The first vear he cleared a few acres, belled the

(Editor's Note. - This article is contributed by Dr. Calvin C. Rush, son of the late Nixon Rush, and grandson of Iredell Rush. Iredell Rush entered land in Fairmount Township March 16, 1831. Dr. Rush is a successful physician, now located at Philadelphia, the home of a distinguished relative. Dr. Benjamin Rush. In this contribution one of Indiana's athletes of pioneer days is introduced. The late James Scott, father of O. R. Scott, was for many years prior to his death a citizen of Fairmount.)

Memories Of The Past

I have been reading "The Making of a Township" and have been quite interested in many of the letters and notes, as they bring to my mind many circumstances which I well remember, and others which I have heard older persons relate.

I remember the house raisings, the log rollings, the quiltings, the wool pickings, when we spun, colored and wove much of the cloth for our clothing, when most of the cooking was done by the fireplace, with which all the houses were provided (many families not owning a cookstove) , when we dropped all our corn by hand and covered it with the hoe, when the grain was cut with scythe and cradle and bound by hand, and many other customs of early days.

Many things were not convenient, but in looking back upon those times I always think of them as the good old days when neighbors were much more congenial and helpful to each other than at the present time. One of the undesirable things was the bad roads.

I remember well the corduroy bridges, which consisted of small logs laid across the road as close together as possible in the worst places, sometimes lasting for quite a distance, making very rough traveling, but beat being stuck in the mud.

Another thing wlas the ague, as I have good reason to remember, being a victim myself, missing the chill only a few weeks in more than a year. Then there were the swarms of mosquitoes that infested this country in those days, when some of the ponds of water never dried up. We had to make smoke at the doors of our homes summer eve- nings to keep the mosquitoes out of the house, screens being unheard of at that time ; but all these, like the log cabins, are things of the past.

Well do I remember the stirring events at the beginning of the Civil AA'ar, when many of our bravest and best young men responded to the call of Uncle Sam, going away, many to return no more ; of how we anxiously awaited the coming of the old stage coach, bringing the mail in those days, and how later on its coming- brought to some of our hearts the greatest sorrow we had ever known.

I knew Rev. Isaac Meek well for years. Have heard him preach many a sermon at H'pwell's school house and other places. I think he was a pioneer. T have been told that he wlas a friend of the Indians, hunted with them, could speak their language, and they said he was the only wdiite man they ever knew who always told the truth.

I remember hearing an Indian minister preach at Wesleyan Back Creek, Rev. jMeek interpreting the sermon. That has been more than forty years ago. Later Meek moved to Iowa, with his good wife, Ruth, where he passed to the better land several years ago.

Cholera In 1 849

Charles Baldwin sat head of Ilack Creek meeting for a short time about eighty-four years ago. He also taught school at Back Creek in 1833. Grandfather Baldwin moved from New Garden, Wayne County, this State, and settled on the Crabb farm, later known as the John Himelick farm. op])osite the McCormick graveyard, where he lived one year.

The McCormick gravcxard is where people were buried who died of the cholera in 1849. David Weesner, who was the father of Mrs. Lacy Ann Knight, Mrs. Seth Thomas and Micajah, Elihu and David Weesner, died of this disease. Alex Dolman was another man who died of this disease. Altogether a dozen died of cholera and everybody in the settlement was alarmed and ]ianic-stricken for fear of the spread of the epidemic, which might take everybody before it.

Disappearance Of Tom Winslow

I now remember that J. P. Winslow had a son, Tom, who went away with me when I went to the army. He was too young- to be enHsted, but he wient with our company till we reached Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where we were surrounded by Forrest's Cavalry and were under fire for several days. On the first day that firing- began, Tom left us and said he was going to make his way back to Nashville. I understand he has never been heard from since. I am sure I have neither seen nor heard from him since, and have often wondered what became of him. J. 'M. Hundley.

The M Cormick Place

In the winter of 1855 and 1856, when I was barely in my 'teens, I visited an uncle and family who then lived near New Cumberland. While there I went with a cousin to mill at Jonesboro and passed the Robert McCormick place. I have always remembered it from the fact that across the road from the buildings - north - were traces of fencing for a deer park. As I remember the fencing it was of stakes or light rails standing at an angle of about forty-five degrees. Whether it was built that way or leaned from decay I did not know. I also got the story some way that the east line of the enclosure was a steep creek bank, down which the deer could jump, but could not jump out - making a kind of deer trap.

I also remember seeing a railroad bridge across a creek or ravine south of the road we traveled - I think in the McCormick neighborhood. It was for a proposed road from Cincinnati to Chicago, but never completed. The work on that line was, doubtless, the first railroad work ever done in Fairmount Township. Probably some one can give further facts concerning it.

Years later, while I was a resident of Marion, and Joseph W. Baldwin lived near, I heard him say that he had the honor of giving Fairmount its name. He was then living in the embryo town, and the question of a name came up. He had been reading of the Fairmount Water Works, at Philadelphia, and the word "Fairmount'' had struck his fancy and he suggested it as a name, and it wias adopted.

Since writing the above paragraph, I thought there might be a mistake in it, and that Fairmount derived its name from the Township. I, therefore, got my Grant County maps and history, pubhshed in 1876. I found from them that the original plat of the town was filed on December 28. 1850, and that it was then in Liberty Township ; and in the year 1855 the Township was formed by taking from Liberty the territory east of the line between Ranges 7 and 8, and a small Township on the east called Union, and the new> Township was named Fairmount, and that the Township name was derived from the name of the town. I also notice that the naming of the town was credited to William Neal. Joseph W. Baldwin was then the only ''merchant prince" of the new town, and William Neal doubtless surveyed and made the plat, and doubtless both had a voice in giving the name.

In looking up this matter, I was surprised at the number of changes made in township boundaries of the county before they settled down to present shape. I doubt if many people now living in Grant County know that once there were Townships known as Union. Madison, Grant and Knox. M. F. Tingley.

(Editor's Note. - In September, 1867, Mr. Tingley purchased the only printing office then in Grant County and commenced the publication of The Marion Chronicle. He was an active and resolute friend of public improvements. Not only with his pen, but with his means, he assisted in the good work. With but one exception he was an original stockholder in every gravel-road company organized in the county since he became a citizen of it. He was a persistent and indefatigable advocate of the movement to secure the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western railroads. Under his editorship The Chronicle stood out boldly for honesty and efficiency in municipal and county government, the policy of the paper exerting a marked influence upon the wise and economical expenditure of public funds. Mr. Tingley disposed of his newspaper property in 1884.)

Saloon Did Not Come

T remember the hardships of my father and mother in Fairmount Township, when the woods were full of squirrels, deer and wild turkeys. Those dear old pioneers suffered much without a murmur. No sacrifice was too great for those dear old people.

I remember when nobody was rich and nobody was poor - everybody good and nobody bad. I do not now recall a single crime that was ever committed in the old neighborhood.

I remember the first horse thief I ever heard of. He stole Uncle Iredell Rush's horse. But the horse thief did not live in Fairmount Township. The men of the neighborhood got their horses and started on the trail.. Some of them got as far as Anderson and others a little farther, then became discouraged and went back. -My father, Nixon Rush, St., and Micajah Wilson went to Noblesville, I think it was, and found the horse in a feed stable. Father told the sheriff about it and said :

Robert and Ruth Brazelton wiere the first colored people I ever saw. Mv father had great respect for the colored people. One time we had a colored woman by the name of Celia Brown to work for us, and she would always eat at the table with us. One day we had company. The man was not fond of the negro. When dinner was ready father told

"All right. Thee is worse than my hogs, for the white ones will eat with the black ones and will not growl. So thee just wait until we get through."

Father made one of the first coffins, if not the very first one. ever made in Fairmount Township. It seemed to us children that everybody Avould die at night, for away in the night we would hear someone call :

They would bring a measuring stick in and set it up in the corner of the room where we children lay in our trundle-bends. Father would get u]) and go to work. He always prepared his own glue, planed and sandpapered the boards, stained them, and sometimes lined the coffin. (I well remember he lined Uncle Jonathan Jones's coffin.) Then he would take the coffin to the home and stay and help until after the burial, and never charge a cent. Those were days of long, long ago.

The first frame house I ever saw. my father huilt it - the one at Rush Hill W'here Walter W. Rush now lives. He built several other frame houses in Fairmount Township.

I was one of the crusaders. Well do I remember when we heard a saloon was to come to Fairmount. So, to give the alarm when the man was seen driving into town, the bells were to ring. The key of the Methodist Church was at m\- house, across the street from. the church, and some one came running- up and said :

So I took the key, went to the church, and commenced to ring the bell. In a few minutes a dozen or more men and women were there to help me. Martin Crilley, I think, rang the Wesleyan Church bell. All the bells in town were soon ringing. There were only two church bells in town then. Walker Winslow and Jonathan P. Winslow rang their dinner bells. So the saloon did not get very far in town then.

My first school teacher was William Neal. He used the whip most always on the boys. One day Millie Morris and I were getting our "heart lessons," as they were called in those days. We had to say them on Friday afternoons, each week. We w)ere saying ours out too loud, and William threw the ruler at us. He told me to put one end in my mouth and Millie to put the other end in her mouth, and we carried it up to him. He gave us a hit on the hands with it and told us to go sit down and not say our "heart lessons" and get our school lessons.

(Editor's Xote. - This comnumication is interesting in that the writer refers to school management in the early days, and also reveals the strong sentiment existing from the very first against the liquor business.)

I recall incidents from hearing my father relate them. (This is his l)irthday anniversary. He was born the 30th of March. 1810, in South Carolina.) His father, Charles 15al(l\vin, moved to Xcw (larden. now Fountain City. Wayne County, Indiana, in 1814. My father, when a boy, learned the hatter's trade in Richmond. His father accumulated some cattle and other personal property, and on account of a shortage of feed, in the spring of 1830. he moved, with his large family, consisting of Susannah, who married Jesse Dillon: Thomas, my father: j\Iary, who married Lancaster Bell ; John ; Sarah, who became the wife of Vernon Stanfield ; Jane, who married a brother of Vernon Stanfield, I forget his name ; Lindsey ; Hyra ; Abigail, who married Nathan Morris, and Quincy - ten in all. On the 30th day of March, 1830, the day my father was twenty years old, they struck camp on the shores of Lake Galatia to get feed for their cattle, as there was some prairie grass around the edge of the lake.

As soon as he gained his majority father walked through the woods by aid of a compass and t.he numbers of Tow^nships and Sections blazed on the trees to Ft. Wayne, as that was the location of the LTnited States Land Office, and entered eighty acres of land, now known as the McDonald farm, south of Fairmount. He afterwards entered eighty acres just south of Fairmount, where John Rhoads lives.

I remember when I was a small boy we lived in Jonesboro. I went up to visit my uncles. Henry and Phil Davis. I took my Sunday pants along. I was to start home in time to get there before night. I stopped in Fairmount to play with Micah Baldwin's boys. They were "wild and woolly and full of fleas and hard to curry below the knees" when it came to a rough-and-tumble play. I forgot it was getting late. It was sundown when I left the boys and started down the pike afoot, with my extra pants tied up with a strap swung over my back.

I got along fine until I came to Back Creek graveyard, where now is the resting-place of my father and mother, grandparents on both sides, also of some of my sisters and brother, and many other relatives and friends. I saw the white tombstones loom up in the dark ; also a white cow lying down close to the fence. I shied over to the east side of the pike, keeping my eye on the white cow, but did not see a black cow lying on the east side, and ran up against her and fell over her, when she jumped up and bawled. I thought the devil had me sure. I threw away my pants and have not seen them to this day. If you know of anyone finding them please send them to me. as I am in need of a good pair of Sunday breeches.

(Editor's Note. - The writer of this communication is best known to the older residents of Fairmount and 'Marion as Anan or "Specs." Anan has always been known for his humorous bent of mind, and this letter will be recognized by his friends and relatives as very characteristic.) I

Lost In The Wilderness

Upon the earnest solicitation of her son, Dr. Calvin C. Rush, Mrs. Louisia (Winslow) Rush, in 1904, wrote for the benefit of her children and grandchildren brief reminiscences of her early life. A few extracts are here given :

"My grandfather, Joseph Winslow, and family of eight children came to Fairmount Township in 1829 direct from Randolph County, North Carolina. They took farms along Back Creek, so named by them after their old stream at home in North Carolina.

"Reaching the Mississinewa, near its source, the party made a raft and came down the river as far as where Jonesboro now stands. Traveling south a short distance, they came to a cabin occupied by John Russell. Here they stopped for the night.

"On one occasion my grandmother, Peninah Winslow, was at the home of her daughter, Caroline Newby, to assist her during sickness. They lived only one hundred rods apart. About sundown grandmother started home. She got turned around and was lost. As the timber and underbrush were very thick, she knew that it was useless to go farther until it should get light again, so she climbed some bushes draped in grapevines, and there she lodged for the night.

"No one was uneasy about her, for her folks at home supposed she had remained with her daughter, and her daughter supposed she was at home. So, amidst the l)iting of mosquitoes and the growling of wolves, she lodged, rather than slept, that night. The next morning the sun and the creek gave her an index to her home, where she arrived a little later.

"( )iice my mother was riding horseback near the same place. Her horse became a little restless. Looking up, my mother saw a panther in a tree, eyeing her and the horse, just readv to spring. But it didn't attack them.

"One night our young dog treed a panther resting on some low liushes a few rods from our house. As soon as it was light my father took a gun and shot the animal.

"The next morning- my father, Daniel Winslow, went to the spring to wash, before breakfast. He had on neither hat nor coat and there was a httle snow on the ground. Seeing some wild turkeys in the trees, my father ran to get his gun. When the turkeys flew he chased them, and thus lost his bearings. By this time the snow was melting and he could not retrace his steps. So, in the immense forest, he took notice of the moss on the north side of the trees. Going in a northwest direction about four miles, he came to the stream now known as Deer Creek. Naturally supposing that it would empty into the river, he followed it to its mouth, then w'ent up-strearn to where they had left the raft, and from there back to the cabin, reaching his destination at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, quite ready for his breakfast. The folks were just starting out to hunt him.

"The woods furnished gooseberries, plums, wild onions, crabapples, nuts, as well as sassafras, for variety. Had it not been for climatic conditions, which caused ague and fever before the country was cleared and ditched, we would have had many blessings."

Animals And Birds Of The Forest

Before 1841 wolves had been so bad farmers did not venture to keep sheep. Now they began to want them. Father was a lover of sheep and he bought a flock of about thirty. We had to corral them every night. I soon learned my business to go after them and put them in their pen, which was not large, but high, so a wolf could not climb over. One night they strayed out and wolves got among them, playing havoc. Six were killed outright, others crippled. Farmers organized in companies and killed the wolves, and thrilling stories and wonderful adventures would be repeated over and over. About this time an old bear and cubs were discovered a few miles west. A company of men went to the Big Woods, and soon found it was not a joke. The bears had just left their dea in search of food. The two cubs were fat, yet outran the men, who shot as they ran, without effect - a flight of that kind for about eight miles, the old mother staying along with her cubs. At last they came to a large oak tree and the bears climbed to the top. About twenty-five men were now on hand, keeping reasonable distance. They began to shoot. Father, with his old flintlock, had a good aim. The cubs fell. The mother, in view of the situation, opened her mouth, gnarling her teeth and drawing herself in a bunch, fell to the ground. Then she sprang" to her feet with open mouth, and the men could hear gnashing of teeth and snarly growl as she came swift and fast in leaps. Just at the right time a Ixill ponerated her heart. The forest rang with yells.

One day. when my father was returning from Jonesboro, he spied a large eagle on the old school house chimney. Quickly he got his gun, then as near as possible. I remember, though a very small boy. father's coming home, the great bird in hand. He measured seven feet from tip to tip. with big head and large eyes, his feet and legs full of porcupine quills, showing that some time or other he had tackled a big porcupine.

Hundreds of times have 1 listened to find a moment's interval that T could not hoar a bird sing. In the summer time the woods would chime with melody, not a moment but some little warbler would be happy. T took great comfort in listening. Bluebirds were very numerous, tomtit, pewee. catbird, robin, the jaybird in the top of the tree, a neighbor to the hawks and crow, not far off the owl's "who-who." I dill not like the woodpecker family - they were numerous, cruel and destructive, though they coiul make a noise in their way. There was a very large kind of woodcock, now almost extinct, nearly as large as a prairie hen. that had a coarse voice. To me. the pheasant made a lonesome noise, sounding like distant thunder. \Mth the cooing of the dove a solemn feeling would pervade my tender heart. T remember I would think of Heaven. Above all. the pigeon took the lead in number. Millions of them wouUl visit our country in the spring and fall. To me it was a halo of joy when the pigeons would come, drove after drove. At times the sun could not shine until they had passed. They would alight on trees, so many as to break off great limbs. We had our different kinds of traps. Great numbers would alight in our fields in search of food, then fly over each other, then alight, looking like a rolling, glistening, high-tide wave. Quail were very numerous. Their "Bob White" was to be heard from morning till night. In cutting' grass we one day found sixty eggs, another day ninety-six.

Often a drove of pheasants would fly around and alight on the cherry trees near the house, and in the spring we heard the "gobblegv>bble" of wild turkeys in the distance. Squirrels were to bo hoard almost constantly in the daytime. It was my lot to protect the corn from them and iho birds by going around the field before breakfast sountling the alarm, "llooppee. shoo ye, yo. show show shoe, ye yo!" with the rattletraji in hand. That was made with a big notched wheel fixeil in a frame, a board a foot ami a half long so placed that as I turned the wheel with a crank it made all the noise to my desire. After all this, the different kinds of hirds and squirrels would take every hill, so wo would have to replant three and four times to get a stand of corn. S(|uirrels had homes in larq"e trees in the fields, and there they would carry the corn. Late corn they did not trouble so much, for by that time they would s^o to the woods and i;ive us a little rest.

To take the place of the first rude camp, my father built a ^qood, strt^n*;- house. The timber to the south was thick, tall, beautiful. I can remember when almost the entire count r\- was a wilderness of g'reat forest trees. It is like a dream to me when T think of those towering, majestic trees that had stood unmolested for ages, so thick and dense, defying the storms and the Indian's tomahawk. I have never visited a country, never heard of any land with such variety of large trees - towering (lak. a few rods awa\- a fine, straight i)oplar ; close by a grand old sugar maple, a rugged elm ; a little lower down a few big walnut and sycamore : then again a cluster of oaks, with all kinds mixed in between, - till we had a mass of timber through which the sun's rays could hardly reach the grou.nd to make a shadow.

The undergrowth was ironwood, beech trees, shellbark and hickory, cherry that grew very straight and slender, locust of the thorny kind, Init without many thorns, because in the shade the thorns could not grow well, a variet\ of "saplins" that wcndd run up straight and beautiful. Then, to make it more like a jungle, the spicebrush was very thick - a bush that would sprout up from the roots, six or eight feet high. I have seen the woods so dense a deer could hardly run through. It was interesting to see the large bucks, w^ith great heads of horns, run through the woods with their horns folded over their backs, their noses stuck right straight out, dodging things.

Not all the woods were like this. There were places more open. Later, the big fires, the axe, the cattle browsing, filially thinned out the brush. While cutting his timber my father could kill game without hunting - the deer would come to browse, the turkeys w'ould pass in droves. They had plenty of the very best of food, though at first it was almost impossible to get corn and wdieat ground, and at times their bread was hominy. But few people know anything about pioneer life. It is one continual struggle, yet I sometimes think it is the happiest life, if one will only take it just as it comes. I often heard my parents say they -wiere the best days of their lives.

Often there was scarcity of food for stock in winter and we had to resort to cutting down lin (linden) and elm for cattle and horses to browse.

What has become of the milHons of pigeons that migrated in the spring and fall is a mystery. They were a slightly larger and longer bird than our tamer pigeon, and darker.

Deer would visit the fields after night. I could hear them in the corn. My father and Uncle Seth Winslow were extra-good marksmen and often helped their neighbors to save crops. Wolves and panthers prowled around, raccoon, opossum, mink and weasel were all cunning and moved about in the dark. In the fall my father hunted bees and gathered much wild honey.

I was about four years old when our big dog got his mouth full of porcupine quills while coon hunting. The dogs had caught a big porcupine before the men could help and had their mouths full of quills. My dog's head was put between the rails of the high fence and men held his feet and head, then my father with the nippers pulled out the big quills one by one, the dog howling at a terrible rate. I thought my good old dog would die.

Occasionally the Indians would come around, and they were great beggars. They made a wild appearance in our cabin, folding their old blankets around their dusky bodies, watching a chance to steal something. Mother was a good hand to satisfy their wants.

In the winter of 1848 James Cammack came to our home from Wayne County to locate a saw-mill in this country. Father went with him to look out a location. They finally settled near Back Creek, where Fairmount now stands. Soon, Joseph W. Baldwin started a very small store. The mill was a success. Logs were brought here from ten miles around to be sawed into planks. I well remember the building of the first house in Fairmount.

My mother was an exhorter in the church, quoting Scripture readily, and dwelling much on the rich things in store for the righteous, she standing upright, very straight in a plain Friends costume of the old fashion, with a white shawl, and always a white cap with a modest plait or fold, which gave her a dignified appearance.

( )ur good mothers and sisters s]nni with little wheels, my mother spinning till midnight. When but a little boy I could hear the "buzz" of the wjieel all times of the night - it was the way our shirts and little coats were made.

Chapter Xxxiii

The first saloon I ever saw was in Fairmount, where Ab. Jones' residence now stands. The next saloon in Fairmount was started by Paul Williams in a little shanty which stood' where N. A. Wilson's store now is. I remember how they got rid of it. My mother and some other ladies took their knitting and. a chair and sat in front by turns and knit him out.

Jonathan P. Winslow, my father, was Trustee when the twostory frame school house was built. Many thought it entirely too big, that there would never be children enough to fill it. But when William Pusey (who can tell who the other two teachers were?) Cal Thornburg and Mary Winslow Bogue started in there wasn't many vacant seats. Jesse E. AVilson and J. P. had quite a time running after Captain Wells to get him headed for Fairmount with the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan Railroad. They used to go to Goshen and Elkhart to attend railroad meetings. It took about three days to make the round trip. They would go to Harrisburg (Gas City), take the train for Logansport, and I don't know where from Logansport, but it took about twenty-four hours to get to Goshen or Elkhart from Fairmount. Father spent about $500 attending these meetings.

"It will be strange to the people of today to think that at one time here the squirrels were so bad that the people had to make shooting matches to get them out of the way," writes the late William G. Lewis, in his book of reminiscences. "Two men would choose the gunners and they Avould choose a driver. The driver was not supposed to carry a gun, but this rule was not always carried out. I chose for my driver old Uncle Lewis Harrison. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, a good shot and used a flint-lock gun. The squirrel was very apt to drop ^Yhen he shot. Lewis Harrison was the father of Luther Harrison and Mrs. Henry Deshon. The first day we killed eighty-seven squirrels, crows, owls and hawks. A crow would count for five squirrels, an owl and hawk the same. The squirrels would work on the corn in the spring and in the fall. The fields were not large, and woods all around, so they had a good chance. My father was paid fifty cents a day and ammunition found for shooting squirrels around the fields of the Simonses and the Todds. They were all gray squirrels. The fox squirrels came in long afterwards. They were not so plentiful and they were more shy than the gray squirrels. The blackbirds were very numerous and destructive to grain, wheat and oats suffering most. The farmers used to make what they called a horse fiddle. It turned with a crank and made a noise that could be heard quite a distance. The noise did not frighten quite everything to death, but it would scare these pests away. We would take this rattle trap and go around the field several times a day in order to scare the intruders away. Wild turkeys were very plentiful, and bad on corn. The hunter would take his gun and slip around the field and many times get a turkey. And sometimes they would build a pen and dig" a trench for them to go in. cover the top over, and when Mr. Turkey would go inside he did not know how to get out. A great many were caught in this way. I heard my father say he caught nine at one time."

Fairmount in 1853. - As I remember it I settled here August 12, 1853 (was a featherweight on tliat date, weighing only eight and one-half pounds), on the lot where Dale's Iiardware store now stands. My father, Nathan Vinson, was the first carpenter in Fairmount, and he was building the old barn on the Joseph Ratliff farm. I think Milton Winslow owned it then. The first old settlers I rememlier were "Dippy" Baldwin. Seaberry Lines, Mincher Cox and Micajah W'ilson.

From Iowa in Covered Wagon. - My name is David, or D. L. T am named for my grandfather. David Stanfield, and Lancaster Bell, an uncle. I was born in Linn County, Iowa, in 1854, and came to Marshall County in 1867, where I have resided most of the time since. WHien I was about five vears old our familv drove to Indiana in a covered wagon, leaving- here in the fall and returning in the spring. The roads were very bad, and it was a long, hard journey. Grandfather was in poor health, which caused us to go. This is the only time I ever saw him or Indiana. He recovered from this sickness and lived a few years after. My father's name was Samuel Vernon Stanfield. My father had a brother, David, who, while in a row boat, went over the dam and was drowned at Union, Iowa, before the Civil War. I never knew very much about my Indiana relatives. My mother was a Baldwin. Both parents died at Clear Lake, Iowa.

Jack Brunt was generally on the safe side of the guessing in his hog buying. His death a short time ago, leaving more than $1,- 000,000, would indicate that his judgment in business affairs had generally redounded to his benefit. He gave $125,000 to the erection of a Young Men's Christian Association building in Anderson. So, if he sometimes got the better of the pioneer in his guessing, he has returned to their posterit}" many fold blessings in the furthering of a cause which will no doubt bless generations yet unborn. Jack, as he was called, while he was a quaint character and not always understood, wore the rough side out, and his work in buying and driving the hogs of your early pioneers to market was a blessing attended with many hardships on his part, and one which a man of less sturdy character would have hesitated to have undertaken.

David Smithson, one of the early pioneers, once related in my presence that when he was married his wife's people objected to David taking their daughter for a wife. The young folks were determined to marry. David said that inasmuch as Betsy was willing, there could be no harm in stealing her (eloping, as it is called nowadays). He told that about midnight he rode his horse to the home of Betsy's parents. She came out and got on the horse behind David and rode a number of miles, where they were married. I never knew how David squared himself with the church, as at that time it was against rules to marry outside of meeting. My mother had a birthright in the Friends Church, but was disowned when she married a Catholic. She later joined the Wesleyan Methodists and died in that faith. I am told that father

Road Building. - Prior to 1854 there had been but little, if any, agitation for the improvement of roads. Such highways as had up to that year been opened for travel were built along the ridges, where the land was high and dry. This accounts, to a large extent, for the angling, crooked roads of the early days. It was not until several years after work was started on a more extensive scale that efforts were made to build roads on Range and Township lines, making travel easier and the highways straighter. The Jonesboro and Fairmount turnpike was projected in i860, being the first gravel road constructed. Jesse E. Wilson and Jonathan P. Winslow were among the promoters and organizers of the company which built this pike. In 1869 the Marion and Liberty gravel-road was constructed to Center school house in Liberty Tow^iship. The work progressed rapidly after these pikes were built, and has ever since occupied much of the attention of all classes of citizens. The Lil)erty and Fairmount pike was promoted in 1869 by William S. Elliott, Jesse E. Wilson and Elwood Arnett. These men sold $4,000 worth of stock, and the work proceeded. William S. Elliott served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Company.

Sarah Baldwin, in 1845, I'ode horseback from Fairmount to Richmond to attend Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends. The route Avas south to Alexandria, then to Middletown and on through New. Castle. On this journey she was accompanied b}' her father, Nathan Morris, and Milton Winslow was along a part of the time. Winslow was on his way to Wayne County to see his best girl, Mary Roberts, who later became his wife and the mother of Thomas Winslow, now living on a farm two miles and a half northeast of Fairmount.

Amaziah Beeson, in 1830, operated a copper distillery two miles east of Fairmount. He also built the first brick house ever erected in Fairmount Townshij:). Daniel Thomas built the second one. This house is now occupied by William A. Beasley and family. Beeson distilled sassafras, horehound, peppermint, golden rod and pennyroyal, the extract being used for medicines. Dennis ]\Iontgomery was employed as Beeson's assistant.

Otho Selby built a frame school house about three miles northeast of Fairmoimt, in 1850, on land now owned by John Selby. This is where Otho Selby first taught school. It was sometimes referred to as the Prairie Seminary.

Jonathan Baldwin, in 1858, built the big" two-story frame house on the old Baldwin homestead. The original Baldwin cabin, which stood near the hackberry tree, was torn down and removed to the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets, which was afterwards used as the finishing room of the old tan-yard. In 1883, Robert Bogue bought ten acres of the Baldwin homestead.

The Wide-a- Wakes were active in 1836. Henry Clay made a speech at Marion in this year. Among those who went to hear him were Jonathan Baldwin and family and Mary Hall Hollingsworth. In 1856 William Hall lived on the Henley lot, on South Main Street.

William Hall kept the first toll-gate about the year 1859. The gate was located just south of town, but was afterwards moved across the street, to the east side, where Solomon Thomas collected toll until his death, in 1873.

There was a Methodist Episcopal Church at Bethel, many years ago. In the Bethel graveyard lie the remains of John Suduth, a soldier of the Revolutionary War.

The Big Tree. - The big tree seems to loom up again. I had almost forgotten it until Jack Stivers mentioned the tree in his communication. I am equally at a loss to know Avhat tree Stivers alludes to, as Nixon Rush and I saw three large trees which were very nearly the same diameter. Two were oak and the one Seeley speaks of was black walnut. One of the oak trees stood not a great way from our homestead cabin in Kansas. It was an immense tree, not so tall as the walnut, but had a number of large limbs that came out a pretty regular distance that circled the body of the tree. By the aid of an Indian ladder one could reach the first big limb, then by a spiral climb around the body of the tree from limb to limb one could gradually ascend as high as one cared to. There was a large opening in the body of the tree about forty feet from the ground which we thought would be a good place to find a fat coon, as we were a little short of meat. So we arranged to go up. Mr. Coon was not in at that hour, although the evidence was good that he frequented the retreat. The other oak stood near a mile west of the Wesleyan Campgrounds, on the west end of the south eighty of the land that Tredell B. Rush owned a few years ago west of the Range line. It, too, was a coon den, but too tall to climb or too large to cut down. I think James Nixon managed to burn it down when he owned the place. Nixon Rush and I were often investigating something that was a little out of the ordinary.

Fairmount Township has furnished several Grant County officials. J. II. Parker served two terms as County Treasurer; Thomas Winslow served as County Assessor; William Hall, Samuel

C. Wilson, J. J. McEvoy, AI. S. Friend and Oliver P. Buller have each served as Representatives in the State Legislature ; Charles C. Lyons was elected for a term of four years in the State Senate and Solomon Thomas, Edmund Duling, Jonathan P. Winslow, John Kelsay and T. J. Lucas have all at different periods represented Fairmount Township and the Third District on the County Board of C(jmmissioners.

Fairmount in May, 1853. - I will just scribble down a few words of tilings as I remember them and as I saw them when I arrived in Fairmount in May, 1853. David Stanfield lived on his farm, just south of town. The first house north of the Stanfield home, close to what is now Dr. Glenn Henley's place, was occupied by ^^'illiam Hall, and he was then the Postmaster. I remember ]\Ir. and Mrs. Hall distinctly, as I used to have to pay twenty-five cents for every letter I got from home. Then there was a little reddish brown house just across the street. Solomon Parsons was living in it. 1 think some of Conner Knight's were staying with him. Anyhow, Knight's folks got me to bring a parcel from Maiden, England, and I delivered it to Mr. Parsons. He was mending some shoes when I took the parcel to the house. Joseph W. Baldwin had a little stc^re on the corner of the Seth Winslow lot, and Isaac Stanfield lived across the street where the Robert Bogue store was. The old Friends Meeting House was west and a little north. I settled wilh my brother, John Scale, on the farm west of Nathan

D. A\'ilson"s and lived there seven years. I remember we had quite a time. If we needed a doctor we had to go to Jonesboro to get one. Dr. Home, Dr. Meek and old Dr. Johnson practiced then. They used to ride horseback all the time. Jonathan P.aldwin lived north of town in 1853. Nathan Vinson was the main carpenter and Isaac Roberts used to work with Vinson. Roberts was a blacksmith. I think Daniel Ridgeway started a tanyard in 1854, and James Cammack started a saw-mill. It was an up-and-down sash saw.

Exempt from Execution. - My friend. George Pence, former Auditor of Bartholomew County, was kind enough to draw my attention to the following schedule of property which by law might escape seizure for debt in our great-grandfathers' day. I thought it might be of interest :

One spinning wheel and reel, one Bible, one bed and the necessary bedding for one bed, six chairs, one dinner pot, one bake oven, one frying pan, one kitchen table with the necessary articles of table and cupboard and furniture to an amount not exceeding ten dollars, one cow and calf, one sow and pigs, six sheep with the wool growing thereon or the yarn and cloth made thereof, any amount of flax (being the growth of half an acre of ground in one year or the cloth and yarn made thereof), and breadstuff, meat and salt sufficient to supply the family three months, also their wearing apparel, one chopping axe, and one weeding hoe, provided the property exempted shall not exceed the value of $100.

Jack Brunt bought hogs in the south part of Fairmount Township from 1858 to 1868 and how much longer I do not know. He often received hogs at my father's farm during this time. A few^ farmers wanted to know how much their hogs weighed. They realized that the buyer was a better judge of the weight and had the advantage in guessing the weight. The means of weighing were very crude at that time. Father purchased a 600 pound beam. A box Avas made which would hold two hogs (if they were not too large). The beam was fastened to a pole, which was fastened to a tripod. The leverage was so arranged that one man could easily suspend the box so that the weight could be ascertained. This was slow work but it satisfied the people who desired to know the correct weig^ht. Often it would require two or three days to receive the hogs contracted for. They were driven to Anderson to be shipped. Jack Brunt told the writer that the Irishman and his Quaker neighbors always had good hogs.

A great many who were not pioneer inhabitants of the Township were directly connected with its interests and made frequent visits to Fairmount, social, religious and for business, my fatlier often for all three - usually accompanied by my mother, who had near relatives in Fairmount, among them Amy Scale, who was a first cousin. My uncle, Joshua Freeman, grandfather of Arthur Brewer, was said by Nixon Rush to have killed the last bear known in that region. Uncle Joshua was a typical pioneer hunter, trapper and fisher, and was with that company away out on the Santa Fe trail along with Nixon Rush. Dr. A. Henley, and others. Uncle Joshua went to the Civil War and came home to die. in 1862. His widow married I^indsey Buller. His old log cabin used to be standing out Little Ridge way when I first came to Fairmount, but is now torn down, I believe. But that is in Liberty, not in Fairmount Township. Last fall a covered one-horse wagon pulled by a gray mare and bearing the sign, "Stove repairs," stopped at our place. Needing some repairs on our kitchen range we gave the man a job and asked him to dinner. In the course of the conversation I remarked that I was from Indiana. He was a talkative man. "I used to live in Indiana," he remarked. I told him I was from Fairmount, near Marion. He said, "Well ! I lived near Marion when a boy. I was a desperate young scalawag whom no one thought could be managed, and so I was placed in the home of an old Quaker named Coggeshall. I guess they thought he could ref(^rm me. He lived, as near as I can remember now, about six miles in a southerly direction from Marion."

It is not material whether young Puckett's name was John, Jonathan or Cyrus. The historical fact of importance to your story is that the drowning took place at some point in the Mississinnewa River, and that Calvin Bookout, a respected pioneer of your Township, gave his life in a heroic effort to save the young man. Had this event occurred in more recent years it would no doubt have been recognized by the Carnegie Hero Commission and Bookout would have been given a place in the records of this laudable undertaking. I am not of the opinion that it is material as to just where the plank road began or where it terminated. The historical fact which we have sought to point out was the short sightedness of the builders of this expensive and short-lived road,

David Jones And Family

An example of grit and perseverance. In the picture are shown Mr. and Mrs. Jones and their nine sons and daughters, namely: Hon. William M. Jones, of Liberty Township; Dr. Ben Jon;s, of LaPorte, Indiana; Rev. Thomas Elsa Jones, now a Friends missionary to Japan; Dr. Eli Jones, of Hammond, Indiana; Miss Ora Jones, teacher in High School, Liberty Center, Indiana; Miss Orpha Jones, student at Earlham College; Rene Jones, student at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Frances and Fred, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have retired from the farm and now reside on Henley Avenue, Fairmount.

when there was an abundance of gravel and other road buildingmaterials close at hand. This lesson is especially important at this time, when the State and Nation are entering upon road building in a comprehensive and substantial way. I was much interested in Mrs. Buller's communication, and heartily agree with her that there was much more sociability and generosity displayed in these days of long ago than in recent years. Yonr hardy pioneers lived close to nature and recognized the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They were not then absorbed in moneygetting, which is the present-day curse of our Nation and will ruin us as it has ruined all the Nations of the past who have forgotten God and worshipped only Mammon. I knew Anna Parsons, and was her schoolmate. Her father, Solomon Parsons, was killed on the railroad within twenty rods of where I now live. I have read with much interest the communications of Dr. A. Henley, and note that he says that those who put their lands into the railroad speculation about which I have before written lost them. I was not sure of this, and am glad that this fact is established. There were four of David Smithson's sons in the Union army, namely, Judiah, Jehu, Isaac and Seth. Jehu belonged to Company B, One Hundred and Thirtieth Indiana Infantry and died at Chattanooga, Tenn., May i8, 1864. Seth belonged to Company E, One Plundred and Fortieth Indiana Infantry, and died at Columbia. Tenn., January 9, 1865. One of the primitive means of making meal was the grater, a contri^'ance made of a conical piece of tin. perforated with holes, over which the corn in the ear was drawn, the meal falling upon the board to which this was attached, and running thence down this l)oard into the vessel or container designed to hold the meal. I am pleased that some of my writing has provoked criticism, and am sure that it would hardly be expected that some difference of opinion would fail to arise. I once heard an old man say that if everybody was of the same opinion, all would want his wife, Betsy, but if all knew her as he did no one would want her. I am sometimes inclined to the opinion that this may be true of my contributions to "The Making of a Township." I hope that I may be of assistance in resurrecting some of the things of the i^iast which the present generation should know. If we cannot discover all of the truth we will do well to restore some of the things which are destined soon to be lost if not recorded now. as the generation having knowledge of your early settlers is rapidly passing to the Great Beyond.

The first picture gallery that we can call to mind was operated by L. D. Cossand. It was on wheels and stood south of where Dr. Glenn Henley's office now stands. At that time the photographs of today were not taken, so far as we know. The}- were called

Daguerreotypes, taken on copper plates. Cossand was an eccentric person and was a bachelor, very reserved, and seldom seen away from his car. The young" people loved to tease him, and they played all kinds of tricks on him. It took time to g-et a dozen pictures, as one had to sit for each picture separately, and the chances were that no two pictures would be exactly alike. In getting a picture you would have to sit perfectly quiet from two to five minutes. Now they get your picture on the run. This is a fair sample of how the times have changed. It has been said that one Thomas Barnhouse was the first person to take pictures in Fairmount. The only thing that we remember about Barnhouse was the house that he built just across the street from the present Interurl:»an station. What made us remember this particular building was the ornamental cornice. It was different from the heavy cornice of that day, being light and of ornamental work. If there is anyone Avho remembers this house when it was new I wish they would describe it and give date of building.

Solomon Thomas served as Commissioner from the Third District one term. 1832-1835; Edmund Duling was Commissioner from 1864 to 1866, inclusive ; Jonathan P. Winslow served as Commissioner from 1873 to 1877; John Kelsay served from 1903 to 1907; Thomas J. Lucas served from 1907 to 1910, and was re-elected the second time for the term of 1913-1916.

James Montgomery came in 1830 and entered land in 1837. He was a persistent hunter and trapper, and never failed to get his share of the game on his expeditions into the forest. In the winter of 1840, perhaps December of that year, Montgomery tracked a bear in the snow about two miles and a half south of Fairmount. He summoned John AVeston, Solomon Thomas and Jacob Davis, and they started in pursuit. The bear, which proved to be one of the biggest yet seen in this settlement, was overtaken and killed. The carcass was brought to James Montgomery's home, skinned and cut up into m.eat and divided among his neighbors.

Lindsay BuUer, Francis Lytle, Henry Harvey, James Lytle, Lewis Jones and Thomas Winslow, while out hunting in 1840, killed a bear west of where the town of Summitville now stands. It was a ferocious female, and put up a terrific encounter. The brute was finallv subdued and killed. The carcass was brought late at night to the cabin of Harvey Davis, where the bear was skinned and prepared for food. Mrs. Davis cooked a mess of bear meat for the hungry hunters which was for many years the talk of the entire settlement.

The first marriage license issued in Grant County was granted to John Smith, son of Caleb Smith, and Mary Ann Thomas, daughter of Solomon Thomas. Caleb Smith, father of the groom, who had been elected Associate Judge of the Circuit Court August 8, walked from his home near Jonesboro to the Solomon Thomas cabin, on Lake Galatia farm, to perform the ceremony, which occurred September 8, 1 83 1.

The Union Grave-yard is located on land entered by Solomon Thomas, in 1835. the land now comprising a part of the farm at present owned by David L. Payne, situated three miles southeast of Fairmount. Among the early pioneers buried in this graveyard are James Montgomery, Martha Creek and Anna Brewer, wife of Aaron Brewer, daughters of Solomon Thomas ; Isaiah Edgerton, Thomas Edgerton, William Edgerton, Elarmon Lytic and a small son, and Alvah Herrold.

A headstone still stands in Union Grave-yard bearing the inscription which follows: "Alvah, son of Elijah and Rachel Herrold, died May 25, 1844, aged two years, eight months and twenty-five days. This to wait is far from contention, where no soul can dream of dissension." The quotation is from an old hymn book that was in general use in tlie early day at church services. Solomon Thomas laid out this grave-yard, which comprises about half an acre of land, and donated the ground to Union U. B. Church.

A mistake was made about a part of the grist mill boiler being found in my father's creek bottom ; it was my Uncle Nathan's farm, which was between the mill and father's farm. But the weight off the safety valve was in the creek bottom on the south side of the road. I do not know whether the land was Daniel Thomas's or the Stanfield's. I think the miller's name was McNeir, or something like that. My father's first grandson by the name of Wilson is our son, Raymond, of Lcadville, Col.

I am proud of my heritage, and it is a source of great pride to me to know that my grandparents were identified with and had a part in the building' up of Grant County. I believe my mother once told me that at one time her father, Samuel Dillon, was Trustee of Fairmount Township. I remember well many of these grand and venerable folks of whom you write, and the recollection of their cheery and helpful dispositions shall always be a source of inspiration to me.

Blowing Chaff. - They did not wait for the wind, but two of them held a sheet, or piece of canvas at either end, and kept it moving- in such a way as to make a good stiff breeze and a third man poured the wheat and chaff in front of this contrivance in such a way as to have it blow the chaff away and let the wheat fall to the ground, or floor, as the case may be. I wonder if the reader ever saw a chaff piler thresher operating" with a tread-mill horse power? That was the first kind of horse power machine I ever saw. and it was a barbarous affair - a regular horse killer. I think I will refer your readers to an encyclopedia for a description of this wonderful machine. Or perhaps some of your school boys who stud}' mechanics can tell you about this contrivance.

Dentists. - I am interested in getting a complete list of dentistb that have practiced in Fairmount. I can remember Drs. Jay, Dale, N. S. Cox, C. M. Wilson, W. N. Ratliff, M. E. Ratliff, O. D. Cartwright, J. A. Pearcy .and S. T. Rigsbee. Speaking of Fowlerton, my brother Ancil and I surveyed and platted the first addition to the town. I was also head chain man in the surveying gang that run the prospective line for the C. I. & E. Railroad under the engineer, Sam Houston. One branch we surveyed from Matthews to Red Key, and the other to Muncie from Matthews, or rather the old town of New Cumberland, as it was then. I don't feel old, but when I look back and think of the many changes that have taken place since my boyhood days around Fairmount, I begin to realize that the years are passing away.

remember my first and last teachers, who live in Fairmoimt. They are Angelina (Harvey) Pearson, 1863, and Sallie (Ilollingsworth) Kelsay, 1876. T remember Isaac Meek. He used to come to our house and bring" an Indian with him, I think it was Me-shin-g"ome-sia. He would preach and then Brother Meek would interpret it. He livf^d in the house that William Dillon built. It stands on the alley east of the N. A. Wilson Block, or, as was known then, the George Eckfelt property. It was Cy Puckett instead of Jonathan Puckett who was drowned in the river south of tlie tin plate factory at Gas City. There were six persons drowned at the same place. I can not recall but one name of the other four. This name was McKinney, west of town. In 1888 Ed Cassell was drowned in Lake Galatia. Zack Little. Dan McPherson and myself recovered the body-

Some Corrections. - Robert Brazelton and family of five children lived on the place now owned by John Flanagan, at the cross roads west of the ^^ esleyan Campgrounds, as early as 1850, and possibly some earlier. Nelse Brazelton was the eldest son. He went to school where I did, at the first district school house built in the Township. Bob, as we always called him. and his wife, Ruth, were slaves in the South. Ruth was a smart darkey and a favorite with her master, a Mr. Hill, who gave her her freedom. He also aided her in buying Bob, her husband, who was held by a neighboring planter, the price being $200. 1 think they had no children at the time they left the South or they might not have gotten off so easily. Nelse was a proud, gay, young Negro, liked fine clothes, was a good worker, and I think learned the barber trade. He drifted into Michigan. James Redding, the colored man that Hundley speaks of as liaving a wagon shop at Jesse Winslow's, was from North Carolina. Redding was a very clean, decent, honest Negro. Every one spoke well (if Jim Redding and liked liim. Jim knew his place and was not above his color. Jesse A\'insl(n\- was one of those positive, impartial, unprejudiced characters who had the courage of his convictions. He had but little use for pro-slavery principles. A\Miile Redding was living with Jesse there came a \-oung man. a rebel sympathizer, from the South, and wanted work. I think Jesse gave him a contract, and when meal time came round Redding ate his meals with the famih-. When this fellow saw the colored face would be at the table, he made objections, saying he was not going- to eat with a Negro. "Very well," said Jesse, - thee can sit in the parlor, and when Jim has done his meal thee can eat." The fellow took in the situation and sat down with the family. The projected plank road from Jonesboro to Marion, at south end, commenced at the top of Deer Creek Hill, on north side, or near the top, and ran north to some point near the Pan Handle Railroad crossing of the State road, or it might have been the south corporate line of Marion at that date. The enterprise was not a success and was abandoned as a failure. David Stanfield's oriainal farm joined the Nixon Winslow farm on the east until the Cincinnati, Wabash and Michigan Railroad was built, which divided the two farms. David sold twenty acres in the northeast corner to Jonathan P. ^^'inslow. What I have written in this communication, I think, is correct, but if others think different all right.

Solomon Thomas, who appears to have been a leading figure in the pioneer days of the settlement, owned a half section of land southeast of Fairmount. Thomas planted eleven acres in orchard. About forty acres were dammed for a fish pond. Neighbors persistently protested against this pond, claiming it was insanitary not good for the health of the locality. In course of time Thomas yielded to the representations and importunities of his neighbors and permitted it to be drained. The Thomas land, of which the farm now owned by David L. Payne forms a part, was entered on November 5, 1835.

Frederick Ice refused to sell corn to people who had the money to pav for it, but held his grain for neighbors less fortunate, who had neither food nor the money with which to buy. This trait of character and consideration for his people shows a custom which l)revailed in the pioneer day, but not now so prevalent. Frederick Ice was well-to-do. He owned 1,700 acres of land in the edge of Delaware and Madison counties, just across the Grant County line.

William G. Lewis was a courageous man in his day, and while ruffians might seek troul)lc with others, they rarely ever piirposelv jirovoked him.

A custom had been handed down to make the teacher treat on Christmas day. We laid our plans in advance. The bigger boys would take the lead, and would be at the school house in good time on Christmas morning, make a fire and wait. Then you could see the teacher come sauntering along, of course expecting trouble. From ten to twenty boys and girls would be inside, a big boy at the door to make the demand, "treat or be ducked," then all the boys and girls would rush out around the teacher, who would sometimes quietly submit and buy candy or a bushel of apples - generally . ^oles if they were very good and scarce. One of onr teachers turix^ 'lund and went home. All hands took after him. He outran and as ne ran dismissed the school, saying: "I will be back tomorrow. 1 claim pay for my day's work." One teacher refused to treat The boys gathered him up, took him to the creek and cut a hole in the ice, but he begged and exclaimed, "I will treat." On one occasion the master came late with a bushel of apples and threw them on the snow - then the scrambling fcr apples ! We respected the master that w^^uld treat. Before a\c had steel pens we had to write with goose quills. The master had to make our pens. It was his Inisiness to know how to make a good pen. and he took i)vi(le in it. I remember watching tlie teacher with a dozen quills and line pen knitc at work. How carefully he would scrape the (piill, cut in tlie right shape, tlivn split as he would place the (|uill on his thumb nail. When the quill would have to be rei^aired, get dull or we bore down too hard, then we would go to the master, hand him the (piill - he knew just what to do and how to please. Tt was common for the teacher to carry his rule during school hours, ^^'hy he did so T can't tell. One thing children had to do - that was to go to meeting to worship. If we did not like to go, that made no difference. Back Creek Meeting House was om- place to go. Father and mother would ride horseback, one would ride behind mother and sometimes two behind father. Nixon Rush, ]r.

Chapter Xxxiv

THERE'S some flour or something- on the back of your cap," said the Better Half as we trudged along the tarvia road northward Sunday morning.

It was such a frosty morning, too, and every little twig of tree and blade of grass fairly trembled under loads of dainty, white flakes of rime.

"Caroline, wife of Exum Newby, daughter of Joseph .and Penina Winslow, died the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, 183 1, aged twenty-one years, nine months and twenty-nine days."

Can you not visualize it all - the lonely little mound on the hillside, overlooking the creek, with the unbroken forest all around and the September wind whispering in the tall trees above?

Only one grave, for it was the first in the burying- ground, and a young mother slept there alone, with the autumn leaves falling gently all about her.

Through the forest to the north, in a little clearing, on what is now the Ancil Winslow farm, stood the cabin of Caroline's father, Joseph Winslow - the "Uncle Josie" Winslow, who came from

North Carolina in a four-horse wagon, bringing" with him $2,600 with which he entered land from the Government at $1.25 an acre for himself and for his seven sons and daughters, away back in 1829.

Aside from Robert McCormick, over on the river, "Uncle Josie" and his family were the very first of the early pioneers to settle in Fairmount Towaiship.

To the south, on what is now the Fankboner farm, stood another cabin, Caroline's own home, on the land given her by her father, the same "Josie" Winslow.

Another brother, Matthew Winslow, and two sisters, Mrs. Aaron Mill and Mrs. Solomon Knight, lived farther to the north and east, while still farther down the creek lived Daniel Winslow and at home with "Uncle Josie" was Henry, and these were also brothers.

So, you can see. that for the first interment in old Back Creek graveyard, there were only relatives in the funeral part}-, with the exception of a very few neighbors, who had arrived in the new settlement in 1830 and 183 1, previous to the young wife's death.

The little log church nearby was built that same year of 183 1. Soon other graves were made near the lonel)' one mi tlic bluff and a four-rail fence was built around the little plot. As the numbers increased the rail fence had to be moved over time and time again, imtil the graveyard attained to its present size.

Ah ! Caroline, you were left alone on the hillside that September day, eighty-five years ago. with the birds and the little, wild animals of the forest as your companions. But, today, near you and all about vou are the graves of your father and mother, your husl:»and, l)r()thers and sisters, tlicir cliildrcn and their children's children, many of them, and you are no longer alone.

In the same old jiarl of tlie burying groimd. on llie edge of the bluff, we also found the grave of Thomas ^^'ilson, a Quaker boy, son of Jesse and Hannah Wilson. lie died (»f fever contracted wlTile serving with the Xortliern arm\' in the Soutli during the Civil W ar. Separated from him by only a grave or two. lies his sweetheart of long ago, who died two years after he ])assed away - of a broken heart, 'tis said.

Another st(jne marks the grave of one of the earliest of the pioneers, snatched away in the prime of life, his untimely death being caused by a mistake a clerk made when he filled a prescription with the wrong kind of medicine.

"For beneath these stones are resting, Folded in their last long sleep, Men who toiled that we might prosper. Men who sowed that we might reap."

It was awfully cold standing out there in the frosty grass, Sunday morning, so the writer ran in to the home of Isaiah Thomas, nearby, to warm her feet by a good gas fire for a minute. It gave her a chance, anyway, to have a nice visit with Aunt Carrie Thomas and Mrs. Hattie Atkinson.

We were so attracted by the appearance of the handsome bungalow which John Devine has made out of the old house on his farm that we could not resist the temptation to stop and investigate a little. The house is almost completed and it certainly is beautiful and convenient

AYe lived a lot in the past last Sunday, but if you could have seen us, along about one o'clock, sitting with the Lin Wilson family, around the dining room table, from which good, country "eats" were fast disappearing, you would have thought rightly that we were existing very much in the present, also.

With "Uncle Sammy" Wilson we could easily live over the years of the early history of Grant County, for, with possibly one exception, Emeline Lewis, Mr. Wilson has resided in Fairmount Township longer than any other person now living. He is in his eightythird vear and his memory is excellent.

After the happy time in the hospitable Wilson home we turned our steps homeward, using the Interurban track for a thoroughfare, as the sun had come out and the roads were muddy.

However, at the next crossing we deviated a little in order to make a visit at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Will Kirkpatrick, which is also the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wilson.

There we found Mrs. Eunice Wilson, once President of the Indiana Woman's Christian Temperance Union, still unable to leave a sickbed which she has occupied for several months. She is cheerful and happy, in spite of it all, with her spirit still undaunted and her intellect still bright and untarnished. "Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."

To round out a happy and never-to-be forgotten day we wended our way, after reaching home, to the Wesleyan Church to hear that 'Veteran of the Cross," Aaron Worth, preach. .

Did you ever see a "splatter-work" motto like Jacob Adell used to make? You, can see one hanging over the organ, back of the pulpit, in the new Wesleyan Church.

\\ hen we entered the door Rev. Worth was standing in the pulpit, shading his eyes with one hand and looking out o^'er the congregation towards the entrance.

No doubt he was watching the people as they came in, but to the writer, who has a fanciful imagination, it seemed that Mr. Worth was standing near the brink of eternity, looking across into the celestial city "Avhose builder and maker is God."

"Starting out on a hike, are you?" asked George Cleveland Sunday afternoon as we, dressed in our oldest "duds," passed him on our way to Fowlerton.

Our way led us east on Washington Street. It used to be called ]\Iain Cross street or something like that in the old days. Before it was paved East Washington ^Street was the muddiest street in all the world.

Sometimes, in her dreams, M. B. lives over tlie old school days and she can just see Walk Winslow's horses and his cab floundering through the mud in front of Ryland Ratliff's house, the horses sinkinsf in the mire to their knees and the wheels of the cab to the hubs, and often the old plank walk comes back in memory - the rickety plank walk leading to the school house and sometimes overflowing with water from Puddin' Creek. Then the stretches of open country that lay between the main part of town and Jonathan Winslow's home, too, appear in the dreams and we school children are once more afraid of falling off the board walk into the swirling waters of Puddin' Creek.

mount and Fowlerton. John Fox and family have moved to the N. A. Wilson farm, Mr. and Mrs. Miles Rush having left the place and moved to town. The farm is now gay with the laughter of children, for Mr. and Mrs. Fox have a large family.

Across the road, in the big, new barn belonging to Dr. C. N. Brown and Ed Brown, there were other merry doings, for several other children were playing and romping and havinggood times as only children in the country can have.

A field belonging to Dr. Brown and his brother was alive with young Durocs. You could almost see the pile of dollars the young porkers represented.

The writer half closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was passing the ruins of an old German castle, the pools of water all about representing the moat.