White River Township (part 1 of 3)

White River Township

Early in 1816, Paul W. Way, Henry H. Way, William Way, Jr., Robert Way (a lad sixteen years old), and William Diggs, came from South Carolina and located land four miles west of Winchester. Paul Way returned for his parents and his family.

In the summer of 1817, William Way returned on horseback alone, to South Carolina, to bring his father, William Way, Sr., to the new country, which purpose he successfully accomplished. With them came, among others, Mrs. Beverly, mother of Dr. Beverly, now of Winchester, and Moorman Way, then a lad of a few years old, but for many years a shrewd, active and successful lawyer, well known to the bar and the courts of the surrounding region for nearly half a century [died 1881.]

The emigration of that period would now be a sight to behold. Many came on horseback ; not a few made their weary way on foot, having a single pack-horse to carry their few household goods. One man, long a prominent resident of Randolph, says that his father came with two one-horse carts, and that he, a boy of seven years old, rode one of the horses all the way from Carolina.

Some could boast a two-horse wagon, while few, very few, possibly one in a hundred, came through with a huge old fashioned Carolina wagon, drawn by four horses. But even when the settlers had wagons, the men and the larger boys were obliged to walk, since the women and the girls, together with the household stuff, were even too much for the awful roads over which they must pass. People who should travel now as those old pioneers came to this country, would be the town talk and the laughing stock of the whole region round. Yet it is a fact that in this very way, rough and uncouth as it may seem to the exquisites of the present day, came into these western wilds the " cream and substance" of the Southern land, and of this western world. A prophet's eye could have descried in those motley groups and cavalcades of men and boys, or even of women and girls, on foot, of pack-horses piled up with all sorts of goods, and surmounted with the woman and the baby, of carts drawn by little " plugs ' of ponies or by mules, and loaded to the utmost capacity ; of men on horseback with their wives or mothers on a pillion behind them ; of capacious wagons of the ancient style, almost as roomy as Noah's ark, and nearly illimitable in capabilities of containing children and goods and furniture ; that in these various methods, now regarded as so uncouth and .so outlandish as to be impossible and unimaginable for any but the very scum and outcasts of humanity, came to this land the men and the women who should be, and the children who should grow up to become the strength and the glory of the land. Many of the proud and haughty dames and maidens of the present luxurious days, were they to behold, filing past their palatial mansions, the procession in which their own ancestors made (though not proud yet) successful entry into the woods of the great northwest, would well-nigh faint with mortification and almost die with chagrin at the barest hint that they could by any possibility be connected by even the remotest tie of relationship or consanguinity to such a group. Yet such were our fathers and our grandfathers. These stalwart old pioneers were our progenitors, and we have no occasion to blush to acknowledge the fact. Those noble sons and daughters of hardship and toil have more cause to feel ashamed of us, their posterity, than we of them. They heroically performed their part, and grandly hewed their way from poverty and want to comfort, and even to opulence. God grant that their descendants may as patiently, as worthily and as successfully accomplish the labor assigned to their lot in life ! God grant that the generation now upon the stage of action may leave to their children a heritage as nobly enlarged and as greatly increased in all that is useful and excellent and of good report, as did those strong-limbed and bold-hearted (and gentle souled as well) men and women who, amid difficulties and obstacles insurmountable to any but the hardiest and the sturdiest, pressed their resistless way into the forests of Randolph and made her wilds to bud and blossom as the rose.

As to settlements up to the close of 1818. Jere Smith savs, in his "Civil History:" '-In the year 1818, when Randolph County was erected, there were fifty or sixty families on White River and Salt and Sugar Creeks, fifty or sixty families on Green's Fork and Mud Creek ; thirty families on Nolan's Fork, including Joshua Foster on the Griffis farm, near the State line; eight or ten families on Martindale's Creek, and twelve or fifteen families on West River, above the Wayne County lino." So that, by Mr. Smith's estimation, there were, at the time of the election in 1818, about 180 families in the present boundaries of Randolph County. Of course, at that time, the population was wholly east of the western boundary of the " twelve-mile strip," since the land west of that line was still Indian Territory, on which white men were bound by treaty not to settle. In 1818, the tribes ceded those lands, and in eight or ten years the county west as well .is east of the boundary was settled. In fact, that territory began settlement in 1821, but emigration was slow to push in for several years.

It would be interesting to find the " election returns " for August, 1818, the first in Randolph County, to learn how many and who were, at that time, the free and independent electors here. Those returns, however, have not been discovered.

On West River, in August, 1817, there were eleven settlers, all living east of the boundary and on Sections 7, 8, 17 and 18, the first and the last being fractional sections against the boundary. William Blount (and his two sonsin-law) on Section 7 ; James Malcom, Section 17 : Henry Shoemaker, Section 17 ; Samuel Sales, Section 17 ; Amy Hall, Section 17 ; David Jones, Section 17 ; Evan Shoemaker, Section 18 ; Griffin Davis, Section 18 ; William Smith, Sections 5 and 6 ; Isaac Barnes, Section 7, came in 1818 ; John E. Hodge, Section 8, came in 1818. The sections lie on both sides of West River but on the east side of the boundary, and William Smith (father of Hon. Jure Smith) went highest of the river, taking land in Sections 5 and 6, the latter section having but a small fraction east of the boundary.

Mississinewa Valley

The Mississinewa had a few settlers, but how many Mr. Smith does not know. Meahach Lewallyn (an old man with a large family) came near Ridgeville in 1817, and Joab Ward in 1819. He says also, (in substance), that in 1819 there was a large emigration.

West River settlement received four new families, and many came to the other settlements ; 1820 also witnessed a good growth. But from and after 1820, the population began to fiow into the " new purchase," which movement took many settlers from Randolph. Still the continual net increase was considerable. Henry Kizer, father of Elias Kizer and grandfather of Thomas W. Kizer, settled near Stone Station in 1820. The settlement on that river was, in fact, but sparse. Meshach Lewallyn entered land [parts of Sections 1 and 12, Town 21, Range 13], July 19,1817.

Benjamin Lewallyn, son of Meshach Lewallyn, entered southeast quarter of Section 7, Town 21, Range 14 [in Ward Township], June 10, 1817, and on the same day five more quarter sections in Ward Township were entered by Messrs. Kite, Jacobs, Canady. Reed and David Connor. Several Masseys came at about that time, as one of them, James Massey, was juryman in 1818, and Hon. Jere Smith says of him : " James Massey was an old man, and died soon after. He lived in (Jackson, or) Ward Township. His son-in-law, James Smith, was Commissioner two or three terms, and one of his sons waa Associate Judge of Grant County a term or two." It appears that they left that region early. When Daniel B. Miller came [in 1822] the Masseys had

Two of the petit jurors also were from the Mississinewa, Meshach Lewallyn from Ridgeville, and James Jacobs from the settlement east of Deerfield.

The names of the M;isseys appear among the patentees of the Land Office. They entered land and lived there a while, but seem to have moved away before 1823. Another entry had been made in that region several miles east of Deerfield and south of the Mississinewa River. Mr. Strain entered a whole section in 1816, which was by months the earliest entry on the Mississinewa. lie does not appear, however, ever to have lived there. He entered it probably for speculation. The section lay just west of the west line of Jackson Township. Joab Ward, and Joel Ward his brother, settled at Ridgeville in April, 1819. Joab Ward did not enter land at that time, but bought a small tract (forty acres) of Meshach Lewallyn. Elias Kizer moved into that region in 1820, and was one of the prominent citizens of that part of the county for a considerable time, changing his residence to near Winchester, and dying there some years ago. Joab Ward stood as a bulwark of society during more than the average duration of human life.

The settlers of course endured great hardships, such as persons without any experience of the kind can neither comprehend nor believe. In fact, brought up as they have been to buy every thing they need, the present generation can hardly conceive how it would be possible for a family to move into a gigantic forest, with nothing but an axe, an auger, a frow, and a drawing knife; a few kettles, some pewter plates, a log-chain or two, etc., and with these scant materials and a little corn to make into bread, and a gun to shoot game for meat ; and yet that they could, in a comparatively short time, come to be good livers. And yet it was so. Scarcely anything was bought except iron and salt, and powder and lead. Capw and hats were made of deer skins, or coon skins, or straw ; cloth was spun and woven out of linen, or linen and wool combined, or clothes were made of deer skins. Shoes also were made from buckskin. Buildings were constructed from the logs of trees, with no outlay but labor ; clapboards were in the place of shingles, and pins or weight poles for nails ; puncheons for floors, and doors, and benches, and chimney backs, and tables ; two auger holes in the wall and a post at the corner, driven into the ground, to receive the ends of the rails, with elm bark would be just the thing for a bedstead ; puncheon stools would hold a man up more firmly than the nicest chair that ever waa made. Chimneys were built of sticks and clay, and fireplaces and hearths of puddled clay: even the "lug pole" and trammel and hooks were made of iron-wood, and when any of them burnt down, another could be put in its place, just as easy as anything. The truth is that a dextrous, active family, in a very few years would make around them an amount of conveniences that many households of high pretensions would find it diflicult to match at the present day. If anything was needed, from a doorlatch or a hoe-handle to a new house or barn, all that was to be done was to take hold and make it. And it is true, moreover, that families who were moral and religious, and who were free from vices, enjoyed more true, heartfelt comfort, and more solid happiness than they have ever done since ; or than their children or their grandchildren, pampered with all the luxuries that were ever invented to make people helpless and shiftless, are able to compass for themselves in these days.

But small space will be given in this place for either their pleasures or their sorrows. It is believed the story of the old pioneer himself, as told by his own lips, will give a more pleasing, as well as a more vivid picture ; and hence the feature has been adopted to introduce the persona! statements of the ancient sojourners, taken from their own mouths, if living, or from some cherished friend of the dear departed one, if the age.l veteran breathes no longer the health-giving vital air. The description of the trials of those times will be left to be given chiefly in the " Reminiscences," which are a peculiar feature of this work, and which will be of surpassing richness, to refresh the memory of the old, and to inform the minds of the young as to what their fathers and mothers, and their parents, did to open this county to sight and labor and enjoyment for the sons of men.

First Things

The first boy in the county was Jesse Parker, son of Thomas Parker above, eight years old. He lived long at Bethel, Wayne County, Ind., a jovial, hearty old man, honestly earning his living by the constant " rap, rap, rap of his well worn hammer." (Died near Lynn, fall of 1881.)

The first girls were Celia and Sarah Parker, daughters of Thomas and (Anna) Parker above ; Saiah was burned to death when a girl ; Celia was married to Benjamin Arnold, and now resides, an aged widow, at Arba."

The first county formed in what is now Indiana, was Knox County, created in 1790, under Governor St. Clair, with Vincennes as the county seat, and including all Indiana and Michigan. The settlements were few : Vincennes, possibly a few settlers along the Ohio, a fort and garrison at Fort Wayne, and one at Detroit.

The first settlement in Indiana was at Vincennes, by the French (perhaps) in 1702. A post was establislied by Siour Juchereau and Missionary Meret at that date.

When General Gage, a British officer, demanded of the French settlers at Vincennes that they should leave their homes and their lands, the French protested that they had held them by charter from the French King for seventy years, and that to drive them away now would be unjust and cruel, and they were allowed to remain.

The first county east of the " Old Boundary " (Wayne's), agreed on in 1795), was Dearborn, erected by Indiana Territory in 180-3, settled in 1796, before any surreys had been made except the "gore" between the Ohio line and the " Old Boundary" line, which was surveyed in 1800, three years before, and embracing the whole region west of the Ohio line and east of Wayne's boundary.

Wayne County was organized in 1810, embracing all the territory east of the " New Boundary," and north of the southern boundary of the county.

Randolph County was organized in 1818. at first extending westward only to the west boundary of the twelve mile stop. It was first settled in 1814.

The first capital of the State of Indiana was Corydon in Harrison County, in the southern part of the 'State, almost exactly south of Indianapolis.

The first two townships in Randolph County were Greensfork and White River, established in 1818 by David Wright, Sheriff, and embracing the entire county.

west of (Old) Snow Hill, in Washington Township. (Jesse Connon, son of John Connor, and nephew of this William Connor, sajs that he was born in that first store, and that the place was where Lynn now is, and not as above stated. Mr. Jesse Connor was born, however, not before 1831, thirteen years after this store was licensed. This William Connor was a bachelor, and unsettled in residence and business);

The first house in Winchester was built in the spring of 1819. It was a round log-cabin, one-Ftory, "scutched down" with clapboard roof and stick and clay chimney. It stood on Inlot No. 9, North Front, and was owned and occupied for many years by Martin Comer.

The first white child born in the county was Robert Thomas, son of John W. Thomas, the second settler in the county. The child was born near Arba, December 18, 1814.

The oldest person born in the county, and now living therein, is supposed to be Elihu Cammack, son of John Caramack, near Arba, born April 15, 1817. [Elihu Cammack moved to Iowa, fall of 1881].

The first child born in White P'ver is thought to be Fanny (Diggs) Hill, daughter of William Diggs, Jr. (now "Old Billy Diggs," living in Iowa), wife of Matthew Hill, of Jericho; she was born September 11, 1817.

Lydia (Wright) Jones, sister of Solomon Wright now living near the mouth of Cabin Creek, was born October 5, 1817, three weeks after the arrival of her parents from Clinton County, Ohio.

The first officers elected were Wm. Edwards, John Wright, Associate Judges; Charles Conway, Clerk and Recorder; David Wright, Sheriff; Solomon Wright, Coroner; Eli Ov.erman, Benjamin Cox, John James, Commissioners.

The first attorney admitted to practice law in Randolph County Circuit Court was James Rariden, who was also appointed first Prosecuting Attorney.

The building of the first court house was let to Abner Overman, for $254.60, December 6, 1818. V The building of the first jail was undertaken by Albert Banta, for $125.00, December 6, 1818.

The first settler on White River was William Diggs, Jr., who came during the summer of 1816, with Paul, Henry H., William and Robert Way. He married during the winter of 1816 or 1817, and settled, perhaps, February, 1817.

The first settler in West River may have been William Blount. He first entered land, and may have been the first settler. His entry is dated April 10, 1815. It was afterward the Zimmerman (Retz)farra, on West River.

The first settler in Ward Township is not now known. James Strain entered a section of land in 1816, but he is said never to have lived on the land. Fifteen entries were made in 1817, the first being Daniel Richardson, May 21, 1817, southwest quarter of 12, 21, 14, on Mississinewa River, northeast of John Key's.

The first settler in Stony Creek may have been Isaac Branson. "Aunt Patsy " Branson, now living at Muncie, says that she came with her husband to Stony Creek Township in 1819. She is perhaps mistaken. He entered his land November 28, 1822. Yet, he may have resided in the county some years, and he entered land in that township November 28, 1822.

However, David Vestal made the first entry October 31, 1822, four weeks before Isaac Branson did his. Yet Mr. Branson is said to have come in February, 1819, and "Aunt Patsy " thinks they were first, and perhaps they were so.

The first settler in Monroe Township was perhaps John Rody. At least, he entered the first land April 10, 1833, one mile south ofMorristown.

The first resident of Jackson Township is thought to have been Philip Storms. He lived at a very early day at the Allensville crossing of the Mississinewa, and still before that in the southern part of the township. He was poor and not- able to purchase land, and once or twice had land entered from under him, which greatly provoked him, as well it might, since that was justly enough reckoned a very serious breach of "squatter unwritten law." He resided in the region in 1830.

The first settler in Washington Township may have been Travis Adcock. At any rate, he made the first land entry in that township, 1814, and he was residing there at a very early

The first wagon-shop, so far as now known, was owned by Thomas Butterworth, before 1840, now living two and a half miles southeast of Winchester.

The first blacksmith shop may have been John Way's, at Winchester, (not known). James Frazier, father of Francis Frazier, the bellmaker, was a bellraaker and blacksmith. He came in 1817 (in the spring). Jere Smith's father came in August, 1817, and ho was a blacksmith and worked at his trade.

The first orchard is thought to have been set out by Henry H. Way, near Sampletown, about 1817 or 1818. Some of the trees are still standing, two to two and a half feet through, and in a bearing condition.

The first brick house in Winchester, and perhaps in the county, was built by Martin Comer, where the National Bank now stands [year not now known].

One of the oldest brick dwellings in tie county now stands on the Brickley farm, one mile southwest of Dunkirk meeting house. The brick were burnt on the farm for the purpose.

The persons who have been longest in the county now residing in it are James C. Bowen and Squire Bowen of Greensfork Township, who came with their father to Randolph County, October 22, 1814, nearly sixty-eight years ago.

The person who has lived longest in White River Township is probably Jesse Way, who came to White River in the early spring of 1817. Moorman Way perhaps is the next, having come later in the same year. [See below].

The persons who have lived longest in Winchester are Hon. Martin A. Reeder and his aged mother, Mrs. Mary A. Reeder, the latter now eighty one years old. They came to Winchester in 1822, and have been residents of the town during sixty years. The next is Moorman Way, Esq., who came in 1831, and the next is Jesse Way, who came in 1832 [Mr. Way died in the fall of 1881].

The first penitentiary sentence was rendered in the August term. 1824, against David Banta, for hog stealing. The prisoner escaped into Ohio and was never captured, and so the sentence remains not carried out to this day.

The first water-mill in Greensfork Township may have been Jcssup's on Greenville Creek, east of James Rubey's, on land now owned by Rubey. It was built as early as 1820, and perhaps earlier.

The first mill on White River was probably Sample's mill, west of town, or Jeremiah Cox's mill near Jericho. Cox's mill was built in 1825, five or six miles east of Winchester. No mill is found there now.

The first carding machine in Winchester is supposed to have been built by Moorman Way, Esq. It was run by ox-power, and was built about 1832.

The first pike in Randolph County is thought to have been the Greenville and Winchester pike, still unfinished (or a pike near Bloomingsport).

The first two-story hewed log cabin in Winchester was built in the fall of 1819, on Inlot No. 1, west front, by James Mc- Cool, a blind man. It was good and substantial, and was occupied by him as a hotel in 1819, and stood until not long ago.

Edward Edger, of Deerfield, about 1838 or 1839. It cost $-50 in silver at 10 per cent premium, equal to ^55 in currency, besides the cost of hauling it from Cincinnati.

Another cook-stove was brought to the county at the same time for Mrs. Kinnear, south of Deerfield. It was just like Mr. Edger's and cost the same amount.

The first entry in Randolph County was by Jeremiah Moffatt, in Wayne Township, northwest of Harrisville, December 1, 1812, northwest quarter Section 18, Town 20, Range 15. He never occupied the tract.

The first entry in Stony Creek was by David Vestal, October 31, 1822, southwest quarter Section 8, Town 19, Range 12. Two more entries were made the same day by John Connor, and five more in the month of November following, or 880 in all in less than a month.

The first entry in Nettle Creek Township was by John Burroughs, October 21, 1822, southwest quarter Section 15, Town 18, Range 12. Within less than a month 760 acres were entered in that township.

The first entries in Green Township were made by John Michael and Martin Boots, August 18, 1832, northwest quarter Section 8, Town 21, Range 12, and northeast quarter Section 9, Town 21, Range 12.

The first tan-yard wasprobably set up by Hugh Botkin southeast of Iluntsville. Mr. B. came very early. The first one may have been at Sampletown.

The first burying ground was probably at Arba. Arba, Lynn, Cherry Grove, Jericho, White River and Dunkirk meetings were all established shortly after the settlement of the county' Arba being almost certainly first.

The first drain-tile made in the county, as also in the State, were manufactured by hand by John K. Martin in a machine made by himself in 1856. He made 200 rods and burned them in a brick-kiln in his father's yard.

The first teacher's institute was held at Winchester under the direction of Prof. E. P. Cole, Principal of Randolph County Seminary, about 1850. Those early in-stitutes were full of in-

The first session of the Union Literary Institute commenced June 15, 1846, with Rev. Ebenezor Tucker as Principal, in a two-story hewed log house, upon ground cleared from the heavy green woods for the purpose. A huge tree-trunk, four feet through, lay for years not twenty feet from the door, that had just been felled " in the green," and the boarding house erected the next year had several green stumps under the floors.

The first hotel in the county may have been kept by Joseph Gass, between Economy and Winchester. At least it was there in the spring of 1817, when the " Way Company" came through from Carolina to White River.

The first assessor (lister) was George Bowles, appointed February, 1819. He made his report in May and was allowed $10 for assessing. the county.

The first murder in the eastern part of the State was done in Wayne County, in 1816. A man by the name of Criss killed his son-in-law, Mr. Chambers. He was tried, convicted and hung at Salisbury, then the county seat of Wayne County.

The first post ofiices in the various townships were probably as follows: White. River (and in the county), Winchester, Ward, Deerfield ; Greensfork, Spartanburg ; Washington, Bloomingsport ; Franklin, Ridgeville ; Wayne (old) Randolph; Stony Creek, Windsor ; West River, Trenton ; Nettle Creek, Losantville; Jackson, New Lisbon; Green, Fairview ; Monroe, Farmland.

Manner Of Living

Some articles have been furnished by Hon. Martin A. Reeder, who has been a resident of the county for about sixty years, the substance of which is given below, with also some additions from other sources :

Many would put up a "camp," and live in that for some weeks or months, and wait to build a cabin until the large trees had been cleared from a place extensive enough to prevent danger from the tree trunks falling on the house. Others woulil put up their cabins in the dense woods, with perhaps a dozen trees near, any of which might, in a storm of wind, have crushed the dwelling and all its inmates. And yet, though scores of cabins were erected thus, it is not known that a solitary tree ever threw its huge trunk upon the roof of a single settler's dwelling.

Cabins were built of round logs from eight to ten inches through, and covered with clapboards. They were of all sizes ; - some perhaps twelve by fourteen feet, and some eighteen by twenty-five feet, with one seven or eight feet story and a loft above in the roof.

A small cabin would have one door and one window. A large one might, perhaps, possess two of each. The chimney and fireplace would be wholly outside, opening of course into the house.

On the " raising day," the body of the house would be completed and the roof put on. Cutting out the door and window holes, and the opening for the fire-place, putting in the doors and windows, building the fire-place and chimney, laying the puncheon floors, chinking and daubing the cracks between the logs, laying the loft, etc., were done by the owner at his pleasure as he had opportunity. Barns and outhouses were raised from time to time, so as not to tax the settlers too heavily.

These cabins, though not elegant, were, when properly completed, solid and substantial, and warm to boot ; and many, many years of happy, contented, prosperous life have been spent within their lowly walls. And many who lived all their youthful years in such a humble domicile but who have since become able to abide in stately mansions, can now truthfully declare that their happiest days were spent nevertheless beneath the shelter of those mighty, overshadowing forest tre^, under the lowly roof of that old- time log-cabin. How true the words of the poet :

Note. - Many of the early-built cabins had no windows at all. The door and the big open-mouthed fire-place were the only avenues for light. It is within the knowledge of the writer of this sketch that families who emigrated from Carolina to Randolph County in 1847, had never seen any glass windows, and had no idea what they were for. Some houses dwelt in in 1846 had no windows.

The ideas of convenience then were not just like our own. In about 1850, the daughter of one of the earliest settlers said of a certain new house that she occupied (with her large family), "the room is so convenient [the house had but one room] we can set up six beds in it."

" Have a big log, cut notches up and down the log fourteen feet apart, set double stakes fourteen feet out from the log, cut small logs six to eight inches thick, ' scafe ' off the ends so as to fit the notches in the log, put one end in the notch and the other between the stakes ; in the notch let the ends touch, but put blocks between the other ends, so as to make the upper one slant enough fur the roof, put some logs atop of the big log and some across the front above ; put on the roof, and stuft" the cracks with moss.

Moss was plenty on the old logs, as thick as a cushion and as soft as a sheepskin ; you could tear off a sheet as long as a bed-quilt if you wished. We often used sheets of moss for blankets to ride on instead of a saddle. The front of the camp was open six feet high, and logs were across above. A log heap fire was built in front on the ground. At first we left it unprotected, but the smoke would sweep into the camp and choke us so that we could not stay. Then we took puncheons and set them upright in a semi-circle around (outside of) the fire, leaving passages next the camp to go in and out at. This mended matters greatly. We lived in this camp from March until November, 1829. We cleared that summer nine acres - five for early corn and four for late corn, potatoes, turnips, etc.

The men had built three camps side by side against the same log, expecting to have three families. Only two came, and that left two camps for us. There were eight in our family, and the two older boys fixed a bed in the extra camp, and the rest of us slept (in three beds) in our own proper camp."

Candles were made by taking a wooden rod ten or twelve inches long, wrapping a linen or cotton cloth around it, and cover- ' ing it with tallow pressed around the stick with the hand.

Lamps were made by digging the inside from a large turnip, sticking up a stick in the center, about three inches long, with a strip of cloth around the stick, and turning melted lard, or deer's tallow, in until the rind was full.

The houses were made strong in this way. The loft was constructed of split logs, and the doors of split timbers three or four inches thick, with battens fastened across and hung on strong wooden hiijgeS, having also a strong wooden bar across the door inside, fastened at each end by the fork of a tree put into the door casing by a hole bored with a large auger.

To break into such a house as that would be by no means easy, yet the dwellings were seldom locked Such a thing as entering a house unlawfully, was well-nigh unknown.

Clearing

One piece would be cleared entirely, for an orchard, and the fruit trees would be planted as soon as they could be procured. And some (though few) of those orchards thus planted in the fresh clearing are still standing after the lapse of more than half a century. But where are the hands that set their tiny infant trunks and straightened their branching roots within the opened earth? Alas ! alas ! They will be seen on earth no more ! Ask of the memorial stones that stand in melancholy sadness to tell the inquiring person - by the names, the ages, mayhaps the virtues, but never the vices, nor the failings of those whose ashes lie beneath the sward ! Besides the orchard was opened an additional clearing for a corn field. The undergrowth and small trees were cut down and piled and burned, the larger trees were deadened, tlie "grubs" were taken out, and the ground planted in corn, etc. Then ten to twenty acres or more would be deadened "in the green," and year by year the process of clearing up this "deadening" would go on, till, in the lapse of time, every old tree-trunk would have fallen and been consumed; the stumps themselves would bo burned out by the roots, and the result would be, after untold hard work, night and day, winter and summer a clean, bright, beautiful field.

The manner of clearing up a deadened field was somewhat tedious and quite curious. The girdled trees were left to dry standing, and to fill at their leisure. Every spring and autumn several trees would be found prostrate upon the earth. Men in those days loved to make wind, water and fire work as well as they do now, and some of their ways of doing so were quite in-

These huge trees lying on the ground were not choppeil up by the axr - that would be too hard work. But limbs and broken frngments would be laid crosswise on the trees at proper lengths, and a fire built upon the body of the trunks, which would be kept up till the trunk was burnt completely through. The fires had to be tended and replenished for days and sometimes for weeks. This work was black and dirty but it saved untold labor, and the ashes produced by the burning greatly enriched the land where they lay. This method of cleaning was called "niggering," and taking care of the fires was said to bo " tending the niggers." It was no small pleasure and amusement for a lot of jolly lads to take a round over a clearing at night, and " right" up the waning fires across the massive tree-trunks, shouting, hallooing, laughing and singing, making the echoes ring through the surrounding woods as they went running and dancing from fire to fire in mutual rivalry as to who should fix up the greatest

The shadows of the night made bright and splendid by the blazing piles as the flames burst forth afresh under the process of replenishment, the flying sparks from the brands as they were broken and thrown anew into the fires, and all the hurry and excitement of the scene, made the work of "tending the niggers," at night, a time o*^ jolly and boisterous merriment hardly to be surpassed.

Sometimes after a deadening had stood for several years, a heavy storm of wind would sweep over the field and bring down immense numbers of those decaying trunks to the ground in a single night. Then would come work indeed. Hundreds and hundreds of smoking, blazing fires would cover the whole area, and the process would go on for days and weeks, till at length the huge logs would all have disappeared, the last pile of "brands" would be consumed, and the field would be found - like Solomon's beloved in the Canticles - "black but comely ;" covered with coals and ashes, but the delight of the settler's heart, and waiting for the upturning plow, the springing seed, and the laughing crop.

There were no pre-emption laws at that day. A considerable time passed after the treaty with the Indians ceding the public lands before the survey was completed and they were thrown into market. During this intermediate time, many persons "squatted," as it was termed, i. e., moved upon the unsurveyed land and made greater or less improvement. And. also, after the lands were thrown into market and became subject to entry, many persons came to the county who, though unable to enter land, would select a tract, move upon it and intend it for their

The settlers would respect the presumptive right of the " squatter," for, while there was no public law, the pioneers " were a law unto themselves ;" and, if any heartless speculator should venture to "enter " a tract thus occupied, neither he nor any other man under his authority dared take possession ; but if any such ventured to show themselves, they were hunted from the land like a wolf or a panther, and might feel thankful if they kept their heads safe on their shoulders.

It was " squatter law" - and that law was most sternly obeyed and enforced - that he who had built and begun an improvement, should have the right to buy at first hands as long as he might choose to claim it. And many a poor follow, penniless at first, and utterly unable to buy a foot of land, made a location nevertheless, opened out a "clearing," built a cabin, and contrived, " by hook and by crook," to raise money to enable him to become the proud possessor of a homestead, monarch (not indeed of all he could survey, but) of one little piece of earth's genial surface, enough to constitute that dearest of all places, a home. And not a few who now have spread themselves like a green bay tree, began life in the woods, or their fathers before them or along with them did, in exactly that humble and lowly way. Not seldom the poor emigrant would accept the offer of one who had made an " entry," to purchase " on time," giving, sometimes, 50 per cent in advance, or maybe more, hoping to make the money for payment out of the land by the time his notes fell due.

This living by sufferance, the state of uncertainty, the danger that one's cabin and clearing would be " entered " over his head, was decidedly unpleasant, however, and no one did so except by the force of sheer necessity. Those who could possibly do so, made an " entry," so as to put their homestead beyond contingency. And it could not be expected that a " squatter " would " improve " much beyond what was absolutely needful to enable him to live, and certainly not more than enough to furnish him the means of raising the funds for the purchase of his coveted spot. Yet, still improvement went on, and, where the settler, as was mostly the case, had actually entered his land and obtained his " patent" under .the broad seal of the nation, he went to work with a will ; and the amount of clearing, of cabin building, of deadening, of burning, of fencing, of planting and of harvesting, which was accomplished from year to year, was something wonderful to behold. The statistics of the quantity of land entered during each respective year, from the time of the first patent till the last tract of land had been hunted out, show how steady, and in some years how rapid, was the current of emigration flowing over these lands, and filling all the region with a thoroughly active and intensely earnest population. Of one family composed of stalwart and enterprising boys, some of whom are still living to enjoy the fruits of their labor, it is said that they surpassed all others in the county for the amount of " clearing " which, for themselves and for others, they accomplished during the years in which these giant forest trees were being prostrated to the earth, and the fruitful soil was being opened to the genial sunshine. Hundreds and hundreds of acres did that single heroic group subdue by their conquering prowess ; and the tokens of their valor still remain in the fruitful fields, yielding, ever since that triumphant hour, their abundant harvests for the comfort and the sustenance of man and beast.

There were few in those early times but actual settlers. Some there had been in various places, the advance guard of pioneerism, who would "squat" down for a brief period till permanent settlers would commence to take possession, and who would almost instantly "pull up stakes," and "shove ahead " to some still unsettled region.

But the body of settlers had " come to stay," at least to make an actual and bonafide commencement, and intended substantial business. These felt all on an equality with each other, and each and all stood ready with might and main, with hand and heart, to uphold the right of every other, and to render every possible assistance in the struggle for establishment and prosperity. Hospitality and sociability were everywhere. The latch-string was always out, and every neighbor bade every other freely welcome. And great comfort and much enjoyment was experienced by these rude settlers. And almost perfect security existed, moreover, locks and bars and bolts were things wellnigh unknown. Stores were fastened with a pin outside the door, like an old-fashioned stable ; the dwellings were left open, or at least unlocked through the watches of the night, or, if fastened at all, it was through fear, not of man, but of the prowling wild beasts.

It is an interesting reminiscence of those pioneer days thut, as late as 1837-40, John Connor, the veteran mail carrier for nearly thirty years on the route northward from Winchester, used to take, upon a horse led by his side, a heavy sack of silver money, sometimes to the amount of $5,000 or $6,000 at a time, for payment at the Fort Wayne land office, for land entries at that point. He would " camp out" one night as he went, yet he was never molested ; and, to the honor of the old veteran be it said, no man ever lost a cent by rr.faithfulness of his. Night and day, summer and winter, th ' I'gh mud, snow and rain, whether sweltering in a July sun or shivering beneath a December snow storm, swimming the swollen streams booming during the freshets of the spring months ; faithfully, untiringly, heroically, did that conservator of the United States mail press onward from south to north and from north to south alternately, growing old but not rich, in his country's service; and only leaving that department of work to enlist in the army at the commencement of the war of 1861.

May the day be long deferred when such integrity, though found among the poor and lowly, shall fail to receive its due meed of honor in the hearty approbation and esteem of the public, in whose behalf such untiring faithfulness has been exerted.

All honor to him who thus, through many long years of weariness and privation and toil, faltered not in the path of public duty, heroically performing what was then so indispensable to the public welfare, and, for accomplishing which needed result, no Letter and easier method had then been discovered.

Furniture

those old time channels of intercommunication. Emigrants could reach this county only by a long and tedious stretch of wagon road and forest trail. Hence the settlers brought with them commonly only the most necessary tilings, and especially those for which no substitute could be found in the new land ; kettles, ironware, etc., must be brought, since nothing could be found in the West to take their place. Bedsteads, chairs and tables were useful, but they were also heavy and bulky, and awkward to move, and substitutes could be found, and they were, in many cases, left behind.

Feather beds, bedding, pewter ware, cooking utensils, etc., were brought. But for bedsteads, the settlers made something which answered the purpose. Two rails with one end inserted in the side and end logs of the cabin, meeting in a post at the inner corner driven into the ground, with clapboards laid across from the side rail to a strip pinned upon the log, would do for a bedstead. One active young wife made one for herself by boring holes in some poles and making two benches, and laying eight, large, thick clap-boards upon them, and lo ! she had a bedstead; and on went her straw bed, all the bed she had and her sheets and bed quilts ; and she was never prouder of anything in her life than she was of her bedstead and her bed, nice and good and brand new.

Sometimes, for an extra nice " fixing," men would split out pieces from a straight-grained oak, and make bed rails, and prepare other pieces for the slats, boring auger holes in the side rail and in the side house log, and putting the slats in these, and that was good and solid. Four high posts would stand at the corners, and rods or wires be strung from top to top of the four posts, and curtains would be hung on the rods ; and who could wish a neater curtained bed than that ? Often two of these would be made for a single cabin, one in each farthest corner ; one for the father and mother, and the other for company ; and the children - why, they had to go into the loft, and sleep under the rafters to the music of the rain falling on the roof, or of the snow rattling on the clapboards. And that was a jolly place to sleep. And instead of chairs were made puncheon stools, and puncheon benches, which last were better than chairs or stools either, since half a dozen urchins could sit upon one. And as for chairs or stools at the table, they were not needed, inasmuch as all the half grown boys and girls had feet, and they stood up at the table, like folks at a modern Sunday-school celebration picnic dinner ; and almost every article of convenience that set tiers had they made for themselves. Door hinges and latches were made of wood, and a string sufficed to raise the latch ; and to pull the string inside was better than a lock, because no false key could pick the lock or unbolt the door. A poking stick answered for tongs, and some stones on the hearth did instead of andirons; and, as for stoves, those articles had not been invented yet, or, if they had, it would cost so much to haul the bulky things of the sort which were called stoves in those days into these Western wilds, that when here, the cost would be more than that of a forty-acre lot.

Food, Cooking, Etc

The people of the present time will doubtless be glad to learn how the pioneers managed (not merely to raise or earn, but) to make their bread in those days when stoves and ranges, and all the modern paraphernalia of baking and cooking were not.

To the people now all these three are reckoned as one ; but to the pioneer, th-y were entirely distinct, yet all excellent of their kind, and ^''her or all good enough to make " a pretty dish to set before the ..ig."

" Dodgers" were made of meal with pure water and a little salt, mixed into a stiff dough, and molded with the hand into a kind of oval cake, and baked in a "bake-pan" or "Dutchoven," viz., a round iron vessel as wide across as a half-bushel

The coals were put in abundance underneath the '- oven," and on the top as well ; and when the bread was done there came out the "dodgers," as moist, as sweet, as nice as epicure ever

" Pone" was made with meal, water and salt, with the addition of milk or cream and yeast, thinner than dodgers, and was baked in the same way.

" Johnny Cake" was made with lard and butter, water and salt of course, and baked in a loaf or cake, say six inches wide and an inch thick, upon a board perhaps two feet long set up before the fire. When one side was baked enough the other side of the cake was turned to the fire till it was done, and then you would have perhaps the sweetest and best corn bread ever made. Besides these there were grated corn, pounded hominy, lye hominy, green corn (roasting ears), etc. Corn has been well said to be the poor man's grain, and on account, among other things, of the ease with which it can be made into food, the variety of which it is capable, and the general excellence of the different kinds. Lye hominy and green corn, the two simplest forms of its preparation, are at the same time well-nigh the best and most delicious food that ever passed the lips of man.

After wheat had been raised, of course, some flour was used, but still for a long time corn was the chief source of bread. The mills were but poor, many of the first for grinding wheat having only hand bolts, and the flour would be none of the best.

But you are not to think that the settlers were destitute of meat. On the contrary, they had abundance, and that of the best and rarest kinds. Deer, turkeys, pheasants and what not were plenty ; and a good rifle would bring some of them down at almost any hour. To shoot turkeys standing in his cabin door was no uncommon exploit for the pioneer ; and to bring down on an average, one deer a day, besides a full day's work, was what many a backwoods man succeeded in doing.

Almost every settler (and settler's son) was a hunter as well, and those who did not care themselves to shoot deer could readily get all the venison they wished of their sportsman neighbors, and that almost for a song.

Then there were hogs, at first or very soon afterward. There were many " wild hogs," that were the offspring of such as had strayed from older settlements, or from the Indians, some of whom kept swine. These hogs were called " elmpeelers," and were long-legged, long-bodied, long-headed, sharp-snouted, with short, straight, pointed ears, and as nimble nearly as a wolf ; and, when very wild, more saviige than the bears themselves. They would make but a poor show (except as a curiosity) at one of our modern fairs, but at that time they wore highly valued, even above the fat, unwieldly, helpless things called improved stock.

When a "Yankee man" was trying to sell some improved breed to the western " hoosier " (or " sucker " it may be) and mentioned as an advantage that they could not run, " Can't run ?" said the settler. "No," said the Yankee. "Don't want 'em," replied the " sucker." " My hogs have to get their own living and look out for themselve-s, and I would not give a snap for a hog that can't outrun a dog."

These woods-hogs would get fat only during " mast years," and somettmes the herds of hogs would get to be three or four years old and would become thoroughly wild and very savage, fleet of foot and almost as fierce as a tiger, so that hunters would be obliged to take to a tree to get beyond their reach.

Duriiig the non-mast years these troops of swine would subsist upon roots, etc., such as hickory roots, sweet elm roots, slippery elm bark and such like. There was no hog-cholera then. Swine even now peel elm trees, eating the bark as high as they can get at it, and in such cases they seem clear of cholera. This habit of eating the bark from elm trees is what probably gave hogs in those days the name of "elmpeelers." When fatted on hickory and beech mast the meat was very sweet but oily, and would not make good bacon. Hunting wild hogs was grand sport, though somewhat dangerous withal.

Besides pork, as above described, and wild game, the streams abounded in fish; bass, salmon, pike, buff'alo, red horse, white and black suckers, silver sides, catfish, etc., were plentiful in the streams, and men could have all they pleased to catch. Besides bread and meat, potatoes were soon raised, so as to furnish a full supply; as also pumpkins, squashes, cabbages, and other garden vegetables. But wheat, for several years, proved nearly a failure, so that flour, if used, had to be brought from the Miami or some other older settlement ; and only a few could afford to take the trouble to get it, or cared to obtain it if they could.

But how was cooking (other than baking bread) done? This way: A stiff bar of iron-wood (or of iron itself) was fastened in the chimney lengthwise the fire-place, about midway from front to rear, and perhaps eight feet high, called the "lug-pole." On this bar were suspended several hooks of different lengths, made of small iron rods (or sometimes of wood). These hooks extended far enough downward so that the pots and kettles of various sizes would hang above the fire and close enough to it to receive the needful amount of heat. Thus, boiling of all kinds was done. For roasting (or basting), a wooden pin was fastened over the fire-place, and from this pin the turkey, venison saddle, or what not, was hung by a string or a wire in front of the blazing fireplace. The side next the fire would soon be cooked, and, by turning it round and round, the whole would be done "to a turn," the gravy dripping out into a dish set below upon the hearth. Thus, with milk and butter in abundance after the first two or three years, with tree-sugar and molasses in profusion, with wild berries and plums, etc., with which the woods abounded, the settlers, after they once got started, had no lack. In fact, many things of which they had a plentiful supply, would now be reckoned (if they could be obtained at all) a wonderful luxury.

As to the supply of game and the readiness with which it could be gotten, it may be stated that one man has been known to kill nine deer in a single day, another has killed six. These are of course extreme cases, yet to kill a deer or two, half a dozen turkeys, and fifteen or twenty pheasants in a day was nothing uncommon for a single person.

To light the house, no gas nor kerosene, nor even tallow candles were needed. The huge fire-place would, for any ordinary purpose, give light enough. Some had a kind of contrivance consisting of a sort of dish or bowl with a nose or spout for the rag-wick to lie in. In the dish was melted tallow or lard, and the wick lay with one end in the melted lard, and the other up along the spout. This lamp would hang by a string in the middle of the room and well supplied the place of chandelier or astral. Sometimes a still simpler arrangement was employed, a broken saucer with some tallow or lard in it would have a piece of rag laid in as a wick, and your lamp was all complete. And for outdoor uses, the boys used to light themselves and their company to meetings or spelling schools, or to hunting sprees or "hoe down" parties, with torches, consisting of a handful of hickory bark. All that had to.be done was to peel some bark as you went along, light the ends in the fire-place when about to start for home, and keep it whisking about as you went on. The more wind the better, though wind in those forest paths gave little trouble. A group of torches scattered along among the trees, flaring and dancine and flashing as they were waved hither and thither by their bearers, presented so picturesque a sight as in these artificial days can seldom be witnessed. A good torch-light was worth half a dozen lanterns any day (or any night rather).

The methods and means of work were simple enough. Trees were girdled and felled, and cut into lengths with the ax. In fact the ax was, to the settler, the tool of all work. Without it he was helpless. With it he was a crowned king.

Flax was threshed by whipping the bundles on a barrel-head, or a block set endwise. It was spread and rotted, and dried and " broke," and swingled (scutched), and hatcheled (hackled), the tow carded, and the flax or the tow spun and reeled, and spooled or quilled, and warped, and woven, and colored, and made up into garments.

Grain was hand-reaped, or cradled, and threshed with a flail, or tramped on the ground with horses, and cleaned with a sheet or a basket fan.

Men traveled mostly on foot, or on horseback. Many a man went on foot to Fort Wayne or to Cincinnati to enter his land. One man entered three different forty-acre tracts, and went on foot to Cincinnati for the purpose, each several time, except that one of the trips was made partly on horseback. The old man is still living to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Boys, sixteen years old, have tied up their money in a rag, and gone on " Shank's mares " alone through the woods, to make entry of land for father, or mother, or possibly for themselves.

Many a farm was tilled for years with a single horse, or even an ox. Not seldom a poor fellow's only horse would lie down and die, and leave him in a " fix " indeed. However, people were accommodating, and a person could get help from his neighbors to the extent of their ability.

He says moreover, that the neighbors got up a milling expedition, taking a wagon with six horses, and twelve bushels of grain. The horses were restive and wild and would not pull together, and the wagon became fast in the mud ; and six men took a horse and a sack of grain apiece and " put out " for the mill, leaving the wagon in the mud hole to be got out at some other time.

Thus our ancestors plodded on ; slow and tedious and awkward their methods would now be reckoned, but honest, faithful, industrious, frugal, simple-hearted, sincere, hospitable and generous. They heroically accomplished the herculean tasks appointed to their lot, and bore patiently and successfully the burdens which providence laid upon their shoulders- Let their posterity beware how they contemn the humble condition of their forefathers. Let this generation look back to those old-time scenes, and to the worthy actors in them, not with a feeling of shame nor a sense of disgrace, but let them reckon it an honor to have sprung from a line of ancestry so noble, so excellent, so hardy and energetic, so worthy of sincere respect, nay, almost of reverence; and let them see to it that in met!'- ods of energetic labor and in heroic success in the employment of larger and better means of accomplishment, they prove themselves before the world to be worthy successors of their venerable progenitors.

Clothing

After a corn field and a truck patch must come a flax patch. When the flax became ripe it was pulled, threshed, spread, rotted, gathered up, broken, scutched, hackled, spun, woven and put on the back to wear. All the machinery needed for this work was a flax-brake, a scntching-board, a hackle, a spinning-wheel, a quill-wheel and. winding blades, warping bars and loom, all of which were very simple and inexpensive, and most of them could be made in the vicinity or even at home. And all the work, from sowing the seed to taking the last stitch upon the garment, was done upon the premises, and much of it was performed as easily by the lads and the lasses as by the men and women them-

The hackling of the flax produced tow. This tow was carded and spun, the flax was spun into "chain," and the tow into filling, and both were woven into "tow linen;" and out of this strong and not unsightly fabric, many garments for summer wear were made ; dresses for females being colored according to the taste, and the males wearing theirs uncolored. For winter, people had sheep, and took the wool, carding it by hand, spinning it on a " big wheel," and weaving it with linen or cotton warp (or chain) into " linsey-woolsey " or "jeans." The " linsey " was worn mostly by the women, and the jeans by the men ; sometimes the fabric was colored "butternut," and sometimes blue.

Cambrics, muslins, etc., were scarce and costly, and rarely used. For outer garments men soon began to use deer-skins, making pantaloons and " hunting shirts." The latter was much like a modern sack coat, and a very comfortable, though not especially handsome garment it proved itself. At first the buckskin was obtained, ready dressed, of the Indians ; but the settlers soon learned to prepare it themselves. The men had commenced to make and sew their own buckskin garments, the work being too hard for female fingers. The sewing was done with the sinews from the deer's legs, or with a " whang," i. e., a thong or string cut from the deer hide, a shoemaker's awl, and a very large needle. These buckskin clothes were just the thing. They were within the reach of all. costing nothing but labor; they were very durable, lasting for years ; they were warm, and as to looks, each man looked as well as his neighbor, and what more is needed ? And they were an almost perfect protection. The sting of the nettle, the scratch of the briers, and even the bite of the rattlesnakes was harmless. The cockle-burs and the Spanish needles would not stick to them, they kept out the cold " like a charm," and, moreover, whei; properly dressed, and neatly made, they presented by no means an unsightly appearance.

The garments were commonly made and worn large and free, which of course greatly added to their comfort and convenience. Sometimes, however, in standing near the fire, a man would get his "breeches" hot, and another in mischief would clap the hot buckskin to the flesh, and the luckless wearer would jump, with a yell and a bound, clear across the room, as though the great log fire were tumbling on him. Sometimes too they would get wet, and if allowed to dry, the skin would become very hard and stiff, and could not be used again till it had been softened by dampening and rubbing.

The Indians made moccasins, and the settlers bought and wore them, being excellent for dry weather, winter or summer, but not for wet. For the wet season, strong leather shoes were used, though many, especially the younger class, went much barefooted.

Upon the head the men wore in the winter chiefly a strong, well-made, low crowned, broad-brimmed wool hat, somewhat like that which the older Quakers now wear. Sometimes a warm head-gear was made from a coon-skin. It was comfortable, but looked wolfish. In summer, home-made hats, braided from whole rye-straw, grown for that purpose, were in extensive use.

This machine may be thus described : Narrow strips of tin were firmly set in a piece of wood an inch square and six inches long. The straw was spread open and drawn through these tin " teeth" and made into strips of equal width. Five of these strips (sometimes seven) were plaited into a braid, and the braid made long enough for a whole bonnet. The braid was ironed smooth (having been bleached if thought necessary), and nicely sewed into bonnets ; and they looked equal in neatness (not to Siky taste) to the fashions of the present day.

Sun-bonnets were made much as at the present day, of calico and pasteboard. The great object of a bonnet was at that time supposed 10 be to protect the face, head and neck from the sun, and the wind and the cold ; and they were made accordingly. What a bonnet is for now is best known, perhaps, to the wearers ; or, if they do not, how should anybody else be expected to know ?

The fashions of that primitive time, doubtless, would seem awkward and uncouth at the present day ; but the clothing answered the prime ends for which clothing is worn, decency and comfort, even better perhaps than the garments of the present day. And as to looks, folks were better satisfied with what they had then than people are now ; and. if they were suited who had them to wear and to look at, surely we who are so far removed by two generations of time have no occasion to complain.

It can be truly affirmed that underneath those coats and hunting shirts, uncouth in looks and awkward in fit, dwelt souls brave and generous, and hearts tender and kind, loyal, affectionate and true. God grant that the same may ever be truly declared of their children and their children's children while the ages roll. Fashions may come and fashions may go, but what matter, so the deep fountain of love and truth and faithfulness in the human soul remains pure, untarnished and perennial.

Money

Money was scarce, little, indeed, was needed, for, as has been shown, almost every necessity and luxury was produced at home. Some money, however, was necessary, chiefly to pay taxes, and to buy iron and salt, powder and lead. Taxes indeed, for many years, were low. The first county tax levied in Randolph was *'twenty-five cents upon each horse-beast." The first settlement of the treasurer showed as follows :

In 1820, the county treasury boasted of $462.63, $309.63 of which were realized from the sale of lots, and $1 from a fine, leaving $152.00 as the avails of county taxation in a single county for a whole year. And up to 1829 the annual county taxes still fell short of $900.00. So "taxes" required but a small amount of the "needful."

As a specimen of the costliness of articles in those times, the statement is made that Benjamin Bond, who came to Wayne County in 1811, gave for nails twenty-five cents a pound, and paid for them in cordwood cut apon his land just west of New Garden meeting-house in Wayne County, at twenty-five cents a cord upon the ground, a cord of wood for a pound of nails !

Once in Western Pennsylvania in the long, lung ago, a horse was given for a barrel of salt, and at another time (in this region) eighteen dollars was given for a bushel. Money could be obtained, indeed, though not largely. Deer skins would bring fifty cents; raccoon skins thirty-seven and a half cents, and muskrats twenty-five cents. The fur buyer, when he came his annual round, would pay cash; but the merchants paid only in trade. If the settler would wait for the fur buyer, he could have the cash, if not, he must "dicker" it out, and let the merchant finger the cash himself.

Deer must be killed from May till November, and raccoons and muskrats from December till April. So the hunter had his harvest all the year round; only, if he wanted money, he must store up till the fur-dealer came. But necessaries could begotten at any time. And these were comparatively few, though somewhat expensive. A side of sole leather and of upper leather, a barrel of salt, powder and shot for hunting, some fish hooks, and perhaps an ax, would suffice for a whole year. For land buying, some money was required, of course, and after the "specie-circular" in the spring of 1837, only silver (for gold was not then in circulation, being, before the days of California, dear, and of course scarce, or, more properly speaking, not in ordinary use as money at all) was available, and hard work indeed it often was to obtain the needful.

One (now old) man tells of the strait he was put to at the time when that famous "Specie Circular" came in force. He was a lad of eighteen years. Having had his eye for along time upon a fine sugar camp near his father's dwelling, but without money enough for his purpose, he heard that another man intended to "enter" the tract. Hurrying to gather up funds for that and for some more land desired by his father, he set out, on foot and alone, carrying his money, tied in a knot in his pocket handkerchief, most of the way in his hand, bound for the land office at Fort Wayne. The money was largely in paper, and in just three days the "specie circular" was to come in force. He hoped to reach Fort Wayne by that time and struggled on. But he could not "make it." The third night found him at St. Mary's, a few miles short. The next day he entered the Land Office, not knowing what he could do, fearing the worst yet hoping the best. The Receiver happened to be an acquaintance of his father's, and agreed to take his "paper money." And so he made his point and got his land. And then, afoot and alone, he wended his way homeward again, without money only as he borrowed two dollars of his friend, the Receiver, but happy in possession of the certificate which would in due time bring for him a patent under the "Broad Seal" of the United States of America. The reason why he was found thus with no money to go home on, was this: He supposed that the tract of land he wished to enter was an "80 acre" piece. It was 84, which would take exactly $5.00 extra, so the question came up, "Will you take all your money and, get your land, or will you save your money and not purchase?" He had come too far to go back with his object all unaccomplished, and the young hero decided that he would have the land and get home as he could. And have it he did, and, under the generous offer of his friend, the Receiver, he accepted the loan of two dollars to pay his expenses homeward. It is a pleasant thing to note that, though this boy (and his father) were ardent Whigs of that olden time, and the Receiver was a Van Buren Democrat, he befriended the boy nevertheless, like the frank and genial man that he was.

Wherever there are human beings, there will be amusements. Thousands of years ago a prophet foretold that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and that the streets " should be full of boys und girls playing in the midst thereof." Wherever there are boys and girls there will be playing, and men and women are only grown-up children.

Even the various tribes ofanimals are not without their games, in which they engage with rollicking glee. And the human tribes, savage and civilized, barbarous and cultivated, rich and poor, in the torrid heats and amid northern snows, in the sands of Arabia, in the valleys of India, on the plains of China, amid the snows of Norway and of Lapland ; on the stormy steppes of Russia, amid the glaciers of Greenland, and in the North American wastes, where wander the wild Esquimaux ; in every spot where human foot has trod, jollity has found a resting place, and fun has set up his throne.

When the woods were full of Indians, as at first, the white boys played and romped with the copper-colored children ; and the men would pitch quoits, and heave stones, and run races, and jump with the savage braves.

The Indians indeed were wonderfully susceptible of the ridiculous. Solemn as they seemed, they were full to the brim of native fun and enjoyed a joke hugely. When the son of the first settler, a lad seven or eight years old, was passing near an Indian wigwam, driving a calf up to his pen, a squaw standing behind a bush jumped out with what the frightened boy thought to be a gun, and started for him. He sprang like a deer, and wild calf, and scared boy, and yelling squaw, went thrashing through the woods together. The boy ran to his father's cabin and the squaw after him. She had no gun, but only a stick ; but she was so "tickled" at the boy's fright, that she just fell down on the cabin floor and laughed, and laughed, and rolled ovei' and laughed, as if she never would have done. She laughed and jabbered over her broken English as she lay there thinking of the chase and the fright she had given the little white boy, until the lad grew madder and still madder at the wild creature, and wished her anywhere but there, laughing and making fun of him.

The sports of the settlers were generally of the more active kind as, jumping, wrestling, running races, with frequently a " hoedown " ai an evening inerry-making, after a raising, or a log-rolling, or a spinning bee, or some other gathering for work and assistance.

An invitation would be given to the men and boys to come and help roll logs, or to raise a building, or something like that, aud to the women to come and bring their spinning wheels. Both classes would go. The men would roll logs or what not, and the women would spin. At nightfall supper would be served, and then for a frolic by such as pleased to take part in it, which would doubtless be fast and furious, since those who participated were stalwart lads and buxom lasses, and, in sober truth, " all went merry as a marriage bell."

There have been indeed more harmful sports than these backwoods-balls, especially if they were kept free from the mischievous presence of and disturbing power of intoxicating drinks (which was not always the case), since they were for the most part simply lively methods of working off a superabundance of animal spirits, wliich mere hard work outdoors or indoors could not subdue.

Then for the boys, hunting served the purpose both of hard work and high sport as well, for to chase the bounding deer through the leafy woods, or to wait and watch for his forest lordship, as his kingly horns would come tossing proudly among the waving boughs, and to bring his active form to the earth with the unerring shot of the faithful rifle amid the wild baying of the eager hounds as they gathered to be " in at the death," - these, wild and fiery hunts were, for these rollicking boys, the keenest of sports. And thus it was -

Religion

But not all even of the young spent their leisure hours in sport. For many, very many, the religious exercises of those earliest days of primitive simplicity were more satisfying, as they were certainly more profitable, than any form of mere worldly pleasure could possibly be. Great numbers of the first settlers of Randolph were men and women of a strong and earnest religious faith and, of a hearty, loving spirit, fearing God, and delighting to do good to men.

The earliest religious meetings were probably of the Friends or the Methodists, possibly the former, though whichever may have been first, the other was not far behind.

The Friends built a house for divine worship, either the first or the second summer of their residence here, and the humble edifice served the double purpose both of church and school- ^ house.

The Methodists began their meetings in the house of Ephraira Bowen, Sr., not very long after his removal to this county, and the first Methodist sermon ever preached in the county was delivered in that unpretentious abode; and the great body of those who belonged to that people, which in truth was not a large crowd, gathered there to listen to its cheering words. The minister officiating was Rev. Mr. Holman. of Louisville, Ky., and his text was an appropriate one for the introduction of the gospel message into the new land: " Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no physician there ? Why then is the hurt of the daughter of my people not recovered ?"

Some who heard that sermon are still among us, and they speak highly of that first efi"ort by that gifted servant of Christ. Mr. Bowen's dwelling was long a place for the Methodist meetings of that region.

Perhaps the earliest houses of worship through the county were built by the Friends, the one at Arba being the first, those at Lynn, Jericho, White River, Dunkirk, Cherry Grove and perhaps some others, following not long after in point of time. The Methodist meetings were held mostly at first in private houses, as Mr. Bowen's in Greensfork near Arba, Mr, McKim's at Spartanburg, Mr, Marshall's in Ward Township, Mr, Hubbard's and Mr, Godwin's in Green Township, and so on. Other denominations also gathered congregations in various parts, as : The Disciples, the United Brethren, the Christians, the Protestant Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and in latter days the Anti-Slavery Friends, the Wesleyans, as also the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and perhaps others.

Friends, about ten or twelve; Methodist Episcopal, a large number ; Disciples, six or seven ; United Brethren, a considerable number; Christians, a considerable number; African Methodist Episcopal, three or four ; Baptists, two or three ; Lutheran, three or four ; Universalist, one ; Catholic, two ; Protestant Methodists, one or two; Wesleyans have died out.

In e;irly times many protracted meetings wero held, and several camp-meetings, at some of which remarkable seasons of religious awakening were witnessed, and many souls were brought to repentance and forgiveness. Many preachers too have been prominent and successful in their labors for Christ. Protracted meetings are still employed, (in addition to regular Sabbath and other stated work), as a powerful and efficient means for the spread of religious knowledge, and the impression of the public mind with religious truth. Camp-meetings are also (though more rarely) held, since the altered condition of society renders them less a matter of necessity or convenience than formerly. Almost every neighborhood now has commodious churches, large enough to hold the congregations who desire to gather for Divine worship. There are indeed, in various places in the county, groves which have been furnished with seats, etc., for the convenience of meetings ; and, during the pleasant Sabbaths of summer, out-door meetings are occasionally held in them. But immense crowds now are rarely seen, except upon very unusual occasions such as county fairs, political " rallies," traveling menageries, or such like. One religious gathering is still very large, the Richmond Yearly

Meeting of Friends. That is not held in this county but in Wayne, while yet the Randolph "Orthodox Friends" all belong to that wondrous "body." That far-famed "meeting" is not what it once was, since within twenty years past it has been divided, and now three "yearly meetings" exist upon the territory once occupied by the "Richmond Yearly Meeting " alone.

In the simple-heartedness of those early times, the people are thought, by the aged veterans who can remember what took place forty, fifty or sixty years ago, to have been more warmhearted and whole-souled in their religious feelings and convictions than they are to-day. However that may be, religion, to those who then professed it, was a serious business, and they made thorough work of it. Women would take a babe in their arms and the husband a three-year-old child in his, while together they would go cheerfully on foot for miles to the place appointed for divine service. The daughter of the first settler of the county, who, by the way, is living still near where they first pitched their " camp," states that she often, when a " girl in her teens," walked from near Arba to Newport to Friends' Meetings, (at least six miles), and was not aware of having done anything worthy of especial mention. A young Friend at Cherry Grove would rise at 3 A. M. and work several hours in his field, and then ride on horseback sixteen miles to week-day Friends' Meeting. A Methodist circuit rider would go his round once a month, rid ing frequently hundreds of miles during the time, and having an appointment every day, and not seldom one at night besides. The preacher honored his calling then, and to be a Methodist circuit rider, meant to go to work at preaching and to have plenty of it to do ; and to their honor it should be said that, as a rule, they performed a great amount of ministerial labor, and that, according to the fall measure of their ability, they served the gracious Lord in His vineyard in their appointed lot. And those oldtime ministers of Christ have, one by one, lain down to their final rest, and their souls have gone home to receive the gracious welcome, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

And true it is that the simple-hearted worship offered and the instruction given in those rude and uncouth cabins, was to the full as acceptable to the Great Father of all our mercies as is any nowa-days to be met with in the grand and magnificent piles of brick and stone that pass for houses of worship in these later days. Linsey woolsey home-spun, and deer-skin hunting shirts, calico sun bonnets and coon-skin head-gear were as pleasing to the eye of the Omniscient as can any rich and costly methods and fashions be which the descendants of that honest, sturdy, faithful race of sterling men and loving women feel themselves called upon now to indulge or to practice.

It is indeed a comfort to the pure and humble soul, in all .ages and places, to know and feel the blessed truth, that while "man looketh upon the outward appearance, God looketh on the heart ;" that the Good Shepherd knoweth His sheep, and leadeth them in peace into the green pastures of His love.

To show that many of the early settlers were religious, we append a few names of families who, in days long gone by, belonged to some one of the various churches of the time. It is not to be understood that none besides the families named were included among the active workers for Christ, but only that these have been mentioned as prominent among the early Christian believers by some one or other of the pioneers who still remain in the land of the living, and whose memory reaches backward into those "beginnings of things" in a religious point of view among the forests of Randolph.

Relioiods People Genealogical Data, Etc

Ancestry of John Jenkins : John Allen and Esther (Woolman) Allen were the great-grandparents of John Jenkins, now resident between Buena Vista and Huntsville, Randolph Co., Ind. He was born June 16, 1708, and she (being the daughter of John and Elizabeth Woolman in England), was born in East Nottingham, Old England, July 3, 1706.

Patience Allen, the youngest child of John and Esther Allen, was born November 3, 1746. She was the grandmother of John Jenkins. She married James Gawthrop about 1770, and died in Frederick County, Va., in 1828, in her eighty-second year. Her husband, James Gawthrop, was born at Stenton, near Kendall, in Westmoreland, May 4, 1742.

Hannah Gawthrop, daughter of James and Patience Gawthrop and mother of John Jenkins, was born December 12, 1788, being one of ten children. She died Sunday, May 23, 1847, in her fifty-ninth year, three miles north of Wilmington, Clinton Co., Ohio, and her husband, Jacob Jenkins, died May 23, 1849, in his sixty-eighth year, at his old residence near Wilmington, Ohio.

Mr. John Jenkins has the family Bible that was purchased by his great-grandmother, Esther Allen, upon her marriage, about 1725. The book was printed at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1721, by Samuel Watson, printer for the King.

He has several antiquities, such as old tools, etc. Among them are two chairs, made in 1795. They are stout and firm. One of them has never lost a slat nor a round, and is as solid now as when new. The other is sound also, except that one of the slats in the back is loose. The chairs have been for most of the time in constant use, as kitchen chairs.

The bottoms of the posts have been worn off nearly two inches. Of course they have been re-bottomed one or more times. He has also a mattock sixty years old, nearly as good as new.

Old Mail Routes

One of the chief mail routes in " auld lang syne," and perhaps the most difficult and severe as well, was the one from Winchester to Fort Wayne.

That route was established before 1829. It was then the main link that the northern settlers had to civilization and to the great world "outside the woods."

Elias Kizer carried the mail on that obscure and well-nigh impassable track for several years before 1830. The Hawkins boys, sons of John J. Hawkins, Esq., almost the earliest settler in the forests of Jay, carried the mail for about eighteen months, about 1833. They went sometimes by the solitary Hawkins cabin near what has since been the village of Antioch in the county of Jay, and the "Quaker Trace;" and sometimes by Joab Ward's, and the Godfrey farm west of Camden, and thence to Fort Wayne by the " Godfrey Trail." It was a lonely, wearisome, burdensome task, and was too much for the boys; and ere long they were full fain to relinquish the labor to some more hardy pioneer. And such a one was found in the pery^/-:^- //V7^^^ son of John Connor, who in the spring of 1835 laid hold of the work, and who kept it, through rain and mud, and frost and snow and floods, year in and year out, for twenty-six or twentyseven years, till 1861 ; and then he went into the array, old and wavworn as be was, and laid him down to die in the enemy's land.

Many a struggle had he with the hostile forces of nature, many a mud-hole, sometimes seventy-five miles long, undertook to bury him out of sight ; many a flood rose across his pathway, many a fierce and bitter storm frowned and howled in his face, but ever in vain. The old hero came out of the contest a conqueror every time.

It was almost a thing of necessity that his farm near Portland should come to be what some rather cruelly nicknamed it "Connor's bone-yard." The fault lay not so much in Connor, as in the inexorable and relentless nature of the service to which he had devoted his life.

Those old horseback or hack mail routes (and the latter were perhaps worse than the former), were truly serious realities in the days of "auld lang syne." When that route was opened, not one post office was to be found along the entire distance.

After some years, Deerfield was established, and still later a post office in Jay (then Randolph) County, June 11, 1835, at the house of Daniel Farber, near College Corner. John Conner then had two post offices to serve with mail instead of one. And gradually settlers found their way into the northern woods, till that whole region became filled with dwellings and dotted with towns and schoolhouses and churches and post offices. And still John Connor kept on carrying the mail, till people on the route got to think that Uncle John Connor and "Uncle Sam " must be one and the same.

Wright Family

They were a very numerous family. As mentioned already, three of the first officers were Wrights, and there were more Wrights than anything else. Two of the three officers, John and Solomon, were brothers, and the other was their cousin, and in particular there were many John Wrights.

John Wright, blacksmith, who donated land for the county seat, was brother to David Wright, Sheriff, and went to the Legislature three or four times ; moved to Illinois in 1830, and died long ago. When he left, William M. Way, his son-in-law, became the owner of his land, who sold it to John Mumma, who laid it out as Mumraa's addition (the tract long known as the "goose pasture").

John Wright, Judge. He served as judge twenty-eight years (four terms), up to 1846. He then moved over the Wabash, where he died some years ago. His oldest son, Edward, who lived (1880) on the Huntsville road, two and a half miles from Winchester, died in 1881.

Hominy John Wright, father to Solomon, Wright, who is now living near the crossing of Cabin Creek. This John settled two and a half miles west of Winchester. He had twelve children, three of them triplets, Abram, Isaac and Jacob. He had a son John, also called Hominy John.

Thus there were at least six John Wrights. Old Thomas Wright, the oldest of all, was father-in-law of John Coats, who died since (1871). Thomas Wright's progeny are too many to be counted. Mr. Smith says of them, " Whole colonies of them have emigrated westward. If they and all the other of the Wrights who were here in 1818 had remained i county, there would be little room for any one else."

The above is a specimen of some members of a singli nection among the pioneers. Similar accounts might be of other families, as the Ways, the Diggses, the Johnsoi

Hodgsons, etc., etc. The pioneers indeed were remarkable, as a rule, for their large faraiiius. The original command to the progenitor of the human race was, " Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it ;" and these sturdy emigrants considered themselves only in the line of primal human duty (as indeed they were thus) in raising flocks of <<hildran to giow up and possess the goodly and excellent land.

first a farmer and shoe-malccr. He afterward bee»me a merchant at New Paris ; hut, like many otliers before and since that time, he failed in business, and engaged in keeping hotel at New Paris, Ohio. Himself and wife were earnest and active Methodists for more than fifty years. He was kind and generous to a fault. His house was the home of Methodist ministers through all his life, and they found always a warm and generous reception. In his later years he became discouraged, and somewhat disabled, and raoBtly laid aside from active business. He found a welcome home, however, with his worthy sons, who cheerfully and gently smoothed the rugged pathway of life for his tottering steps, until his aged frame lay down to rest upon the bosom of Mother Earth, and his freed spirit went home to possess the reward of grace on high. He has a brother, Levin Cottoin, still living near Dayton, Ohio, at the great age of ninety-one years. Mr. Cottom was an early and enthusiastic Whig. When the Republican parly arose, his Kentucky training would not permit him to join the war against slavery-extension, and he inclined with many others among the "old-line" Whigs toward the Democratic party of that day, and voted for Buchanan. David and John W., sons of John H. Cottom, came to Winchester in 1843, and entered into partnership as merchants. From 1843 to 1850 they did an immense amount of business - more than ever had been done before that time, and some think their business was greater than that of any mercantile firm even since that time. They were active Whigs, and enthusiastic in the support of that party as long as it existed, and when that organization fell to pieces, they joined the Ilepublican party. They were enterprising men, enthusiastic in business, and wide-awake in whatever they undertook, and we're respected and useful members of society.