Smithfield Township

Smithfield Township

Smithfield township is situated in the north central part of DeKalb county, and is bounded as follows : On the north by Steuben township, Steuben county; on the east by Franklin township; on the south by Grant township, and on the west by Fairfield township. The township is drained by tributaries of the Cedar, all very small streams. Cedar lake lies in section 30. The soil of this township is generally good, being mixed with plenty of sand and gravel, and with very little of the clay found in other parts of the county. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad runs directly north through the center of the township.

Organization

The first township election was held at the house of Isaac B. Smith in the spring of 1839, and there were just five men present, a bare number to form a board.- Ferris Blake was chosen township clerk and Isaac B. Smith, Isaiah McLeish and Pharez Blake, trustees. N. Blake was made constable, and R. J. Daniels, justice of the peace. Daniels had a large territory with scant population, and on one occasion, when called upon to join in wedlock Jake McLeish and Miss Chafifee, he went on foot to Story lake in Fairfield township, performed the ceremony, and consented to take his fee in wild hogs, but failed to catch any of them.

Early Settlement

The first settler in Smithfield township was Isaac B. Smith, after whom the township was named. His own narrative is printed in "Pioneer Sketches," a portion of which is quoted below :

"Mr. Smith came to Mr. Murray's, at Pleasant Lake, Steuben county, and from thence explored the woods of Smithfield township to find a piece of vacant land that would suit him for a home. There several times he had selected pieces, and he went afoot each time to Fort Wayne (thirty-two or thirty-three miles) ; and finding the pieces selected already entered, had to return to Pleasant lake, upward of forty miles, and renew his search for a home. The fourth time he returned to the land office, only to meet with another disappointment. Tired in body and heart sick with hope deferred, he met a man at the land office from Wells county, not far from where Bluffton now is, who represented to him that he was building a mill in that region, and knew of a very good quarter section of land still vacant; and stated that although he had thought of entering it himself, yet he would give way and let Mr. Smith have it. The register of the land office told Mr. Smith that he might depend on the veracity of this man, and accordingly he entered the tract and went afoot to where it lay. When he found it, he discovered that he was badly imposed upon, as the entire tract was an unbroken cottonwood swamp, boot-top deep, with water. He now returned to the land office, and told the register the facts in regard to the land, and was told that by taking a man with him as witness and examining the land, the man making oath that it was unfit for cultivation, he could have about a week to change his entry to another piece of land. Meeting with Wilbur Powell, afterward of Fair- field township, at the land office, he prevailed on him to accompany him as a witness. On reaching the place, they traced all the lines around the quarter section, and passed through it twice diagonally from corner to corner, and did not see a single tree except Cottonwood on the tract. Returning to Fort Wayne, now for the sixth time, he got a newly corrected plat of Smithfield township, and took the trail for the north again.

"Traversing the woods again, in company with two others, he selected a suitable tract, but just as he was about striking for the Auburn trace, to start again for Fort Wayne, he met with three other men looking around the same lines. He inquired of them if they were going to Fort Wayne to enter land. They replied in the affirmative. He inquired when, and they replied 'not for two or three days' ; but from the expression of their eyes, he concluded that they were tr}nng to deceive him. So, when the two companies parted, he told his companions that they would have a race for it. Both parties struck for the shanty built by Park on Cedar Creek, where Uniontown now is; but Smith and his friends got too far north, and came out to the trace near the site of what was afterward Mr. Smith's residence, and discovered their whereabouts by means of the mired ox mentioned in Park's narrative. It was now dusk and they were three miles north of the desired shanty. Passing over these miles they reached their lodging place sometime after dark. Their competitors were not there. The next morning they were off before day, passing down the trail at an Indian trot, and ate no breakfast until they reached Squire Caswell's, some twenty miles from where they started in the morning. All this distance was traversed in a continual trot. Mr. Smith, having gained on his companions some, they told him to call at Caswell's, and order something to eat 'instanter.' He did so, and by the time the rear came up, breakfast was on the table. Eating in great haste, they left their coats, and trotted on, arriving at Fort Wayne, a distance of thirty miles in all, at eleven o'clock, A. M. On going to the land office, lo ! the pieces of land selected were entered.

"After spending about an hour in resting and taking refreshments, Mr. Smith started back to look again, and as he was crossing the St. Mary's bridge close to town, he met his competitors, also afoot, puffing and sweating, en route for the land office. He gave them the comfortable assurance that their race was in vain, without intimating at all that he was in the same row. He returned that night to Mr. Park's at Auburn, having traveled that day over fifty miles on foot. There were two men at Park's that night, Reuben J. Daniels and Ira Camburn, and the next morning Mr. Smith gathered from their conversation that they were going up into the north regions to look for land, and that Mr. Park was to go with them ; for which each was to pay him one dollar. He preferred his dollar also for the privilege of accompanying them, and having the assistance of Park in finding vacant land.

"The proposal was accepted, and the result was that Park showed them the tracts on which they afterward settled. It was agreed that each should privately mark for his first choice of the lands, and providentially or accidentally as you may please to consider it, each one marked the tract on which they subsequently settled as their several choices, and each without knowing anything about the choice of the others. It was now Friday evening, and Mr. Smith had but one more day to change his entry. So he had another race to get to Fort Wayne before the land office closed on Saturda^^ This time he was successful, but was nearly worn down with fatigue and anxiety. Eight times he had visited Fort Wayne before he secured his future home."

The second permanent settler in Smithfield township was Reuben J. Daniels. He emigrated from Orleans county, New York, and came by way of the state of Michigan. He was accompanied by -Ira Camburn, and they, having located and entered two hundred acres, paid for it in silver which they carried with them. These two settlers together erected a cabin, into which they moved on January 28, 1838. It was said of this cabin, that it was doorless, without upper floor, and without daubing. There were plenty of Indians and wolves at that time.

Pharez Blake came next and located on section 27. His son, Norton, married Huldah Holmes in 1839, and this ceremony, performed by Squire Daniels, was the first in the township. Jacob McLeish and his two sons, Isaiah and Jacob, and Thomas Locke, came in the spring of 1838 and located upon section 29. Joseph Delong and family came by way of Pleasant lake in 1829, and selected a tract on section 29. He afterward became a resident of Waterloo. Solomon Brandeberry came during the same year and located upon section 23. The McEntaffers, John and his three sons, William, Jacob and Abraham, were also settlers of 1839. Daniel Kepler, a Franklin township pioneer, moved into Smithfield, also Cyrus Bowman. Other settlers of an early period were: Henry Shoemaker, Thomas Locke, David Martin, J. Haun, John Baxter, Jeremiah Hemstreet, Isaac Grate, William Clark, Hugh McOsker and George Seiner. The first birth in this township was that of Martha Smith, who later married Edward Richards and moved to Missouri. Lucinda Daniels was the second child born in this locality.

erected. Daniel Martin built a mill on the south branch of Cedar creek, and a Mr. Fansler constructed a grist mill on the west branch about a mile below the lake. Isaac B. Smith planted the first crop of potatoes, Reuben J. Daniels the first wheat, and Norton Blake first introduced the reaper in harvesting.

First Officers

The following represent some of the first officers of Smithfield township : Justices, R. G. Daniels, David Martin, Daniel Gingrich, Jeremiah Hemstreet, R. McBride, J. E. Rutan, and Aaron Smith; constables, Daniel Shull, Henry Nevin, Henry Treesh, Thomas Locke, Aaron Smith, Justus B. Howard and Edward Richards: trustees, Pharez Blake, Isaac B. Smith, D. Smith, I. Grate, Isaiah McLeish, Augustus Ball, H. Freeman, Samuel Delong. John Leas, Thomas Lock, Harman Mullen, John McOsker, John Hornberger, George W. Front, George J. Duncan, W'illiam Hoffman, R. Lockhart and William Cox; assessors, John Baxter, H. Freeman, John Schrantz and Cyrus Duncan.

The town of Ashley was platted in the year 1892, the origin of the town being due to the building of the Wabash railroad. This railroad company under the name of the Indiana Improvement Company, bought extensive lands on the site of Ashley, and established a division there. The town quickly sprang into life, and was incorporated as a town in the latter part of 1892. Singularly, the town is placed square on the county line between Steuben and DeKalb counties; the main street is the division point. Many peculiar and humorous, as well as inconvenient, situations arise from this fact. The shops and division headquarters were moved in 1907' to Montpelier, Ohio, but notwithstanding the town has continued to grow. The census of 1910 placed the population as six hundred and thirty-nine, but this has increased substantially since. The town officers at present are : G. W. Clark, George Kirlin, and William Zubrugg, trustees ; J. W. Mintzer, clerk ; and George Park, treasurer. The electric light plant is owned by the town, and was installed in 1895 at 2 cost of five thousand dollars. There is one grist mill and one saw mill at Ashley. (12)