LAPORTE COUNTY, INDIANA
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
THE
FLOOD OF EMPIRE TAKING ITS WESTWARD WAY
The suggestions of the archaeological
remains in the county are that once a people was born, grew to its
manhood, worked its period of manhood away, declined into its senility,
and wrapping the robes of old age about it lay down to sleep,—all in
this very country where another race and another civilization are to be
found, whose history we are to trace.
From the period of the " mound
builders " until a recent date, this land is covered with dimness and
darkness,—scarcely a ray can penetrate its imperturbable shades. We do
know that it was inhabited for an indefinite time by another race, that
side by side with nature relapsed into wildness,—wild vegetation and
wild beasts,—stood a race of wild men, "untamed sons of the forest;"
and that, somehow, they lived in this waste of wildness; but further
than this we know but little. It may be supposed that for long periods
this state of affairs maintained, and that the even tenor of things
prevailed except as it was disturbed by the little internal dissensions
which arose among themselves, and one chief smote a fellow chief and
carried his scalp away in triumph. Even with the most efficient help
from the imagination we cannot tell to what extent the rumbling of the
ponderous buffalo-herd, the howl of the yelping wolf-pack, and the
whoop of the war-painted savage were intermingled. But whatever it
might have been, and .whatever might have been the circumstances of
these dumb ages, these things were not to maintain forever. One day was
born from the ocean a form to these unknown before. Its body rested on
the water and its wings were already plumed for flight. What was the
surprise when they saw issuing from it another race of men? Others like
it were born in quick succession, and the new race multiplied rapidly.
The stream poured in steadily until a great tidal wave was heaped up
along the eastern shore of the land, and westward it began to
move,—slow at first but irresistible,—and these aboriginal tribes were
swept farther and farther back. The foot-hills of the Alleghanies were
reached, and up their sides it pushed its onward flow. It leaped the
Alleghany summits, and pushed down the hither slopes the drift-wood of
these races. On and on it came, and back and back they went. It rushed
headlong over the timber lands and prairies of Ohio and Indiana,
leaving scarcely a vestige of their former inhabitancy. The first
rippling streams of this tidal wave reached La Porte county in March,
1829.
THE
YEAR 1829
The initial settlement of the county
was made a short distance northwest from where "Westville now stands on
the 15th day of March, 1829. This settlement was made by the widow of
Stephen S. Benedict, Mrs. Miriam Benedict, and her family, consisting
of six sons and one daughter. They were also accompanied by Henly
Clyburn, who had married the daughter, Sarah Benedict. Here they
erected their pioneer house and made them a pioneer home. A few years
ago the place where this house was erected was honored and made
memorable by raising a pole upon it, thus calling the attention of the
passer-by that here was the place of beginning for the development of
La Porte county. The Benedict family was alone except such company as
they could secure from the Indians, and it does not appear that they
were particularly anxious for their company to any very great extent.
In the humble home thus made in this new country, on July 16, 1829,
Elizabeth Miriam Clyburn was born to Henly and Sarah Clyburn, the first
white child born in the county.
The Benedict family were preceded by
a day by Samuel Johnson and William Eahart who came from Berrien
county, Michigan, to assist them in erecting a log cabin in which to
live. They were all well pleased with the country. After erecting the
house, to do which they had come, they built two others, and returning
to their homes they came with their families and increased the little
settlement by that much, during the month of April. With them came also
Jacob Inglewright, who made a claim in section 22.
Leaving this little settlement, on
the 6th of July, another one was made some seven or eight miles away,
in what is now Scipio township, by Adam Keith and his family, and Lewis
Shirley and his mother. And here, in October. 1829, Keith .Shirley was
born, probably the second white child born in the county. Elizabeth
Miriam Clyburn and Keith Shirley had their baby cries about the same
time, and though they were neighbors yet they did not disturb each
other much with their cries. Here is the nucleus for another
settlement, and we leave them for awhile to go over into the northeast
part of the county to find another.
Sometime during this year, a Welshman
by the name of Joseph W. Lykins, connected with the " Gary Mission,"
whose headquarters were then at Niles in Michigan, established a
mission among the Indians on the bank of the Du Chemin lake, now in
Hudson township, and lived with a man named Joseph Bay, who had an
Indian squaw for his wife. Here, through the exertions of Mr. Lykins,
at least through his oversight, a branch mission-house, of hewed logs
was built. This, together with the house in which the Bay family lived,
constituted this settlement until it was joined in the fall by Asa M.
Warren and his family, coming from Ohio.
In this connection it will not be
improper to call attention to the beautiful lake upon which this
settlement was made, a sheet of pure and clear waters, abounding with
fish of the finest quality, whose shores sparkle with the glittering
white sand with which they are covered, and which are fringed with
luxuriant vegetation and shaded by the great forests by which it is
surrounded,—Du Chemin, or Hudson lake. This body .of water is about two
miles in length, with an average breadth of half a mile. Here on the
banks of this lake and in the depths of these forests, this branch of
the Gary Mission was established, in point of time almost synchronous
with that of the first at Westville, and in the order of their
settlement not lower than the third, if indeed it could not claim the
second place.
During this year, the tide of
westward-trending empire left these three whirling eddies in the county
which finally settled down into permanent settlements.
THE
YEAR 1830
Settlements now begin to spring up
rapidly. In February, 1830, a company from Union county, in Indiana,
consisting of Richard Harris, Philip Fail, Aaron Stanton and Benajah
Stanton, together with two hired men brought with Aaron Stanton,
reached the county and began a settlement along what is now the line
between Centre and Kankakee townships, something near mid-way between
the settlements made last year in Scipio and Hudson townships. They
built a cabin in which they all lived together, and when the spring
came, the unturned prairie sod yielded to the plow in their hands and
the hitherto unseen sight, that of a growing crop, was to be seen. The
green leaves of the growing corn, bathed in the sunlight, waved to the
breezes in lonesome silence. Things maintained the condition as stated
until after harvest, harvest in other sections of the country, of
course, when Aaron Stanton returned to his former home and brought his
family, thus adding to the settlement. In the fall, Philip Fail, who
had his wife with him, built a cabin not far away, but in the present
Kankakee township, thus widening the limits of the little settlement.
To him and his wife was born in October (30th) a son, the well-known
Benajah S. Fail, who is said by some to have been the first white male
child born in the county; but in accordance with the dates which we
have, we have given that honor to Keith Shirley. Sometime during the
fall the settlement was strengthened by the addition of William Clark
(who did not, however, bring his family until the next year) and Adam
Smith.
During this year another settlement
was begun in the present township of Wills at what is now known as "
Boot Jack." This settlement was made by John Wills and his sons,
Charles Wills, Daniel Wills, and John E. Wills. This was, perhaps, some
four or five miles from the settlement on Du Chemin lake; they might
have been, for all that appears, regarded as neighbors. This settlement
was further increased and strengthened during the year by the arrival
and settlement of John S. Garroutte, Joseph Lykins, Andrew Shaw and
John Sissany.
The New Durham settlement was
considerably strengthened during the year by arrivals of settlers",
among whom was William Garwood, who entered a half section of land in
section 14, near the locality now known as New Durham. There was a
large number of Ottawa and Pottawatomie Indians encamped within the
limits of this settlement at this time, but they gave the settlers no
disturbance. Indeed, they seem to have been a help to them. They bought
what surplus crops the settlers had to sell, paying for them in furs,
etc., which again were sold by them to the agents of the American Fur
company for money. This money they applied on payments for their land,
which payments would have been hard for them to make had they had no
such market for their surplus crops. Already prosperity seems to have
set in.
The settlement in Scipio township
received some additions this year. First among them was a man and his
son, a boy of some 18 or 19 years of age, named Welsh, who settled at
Door Village. However, they did not remain very long, although they
built a cabin and started into business. They left and went to Chicago.
The occasion of their going was a little temperance crusade by a party
of young Indians, which is more fully detailed elsewhere, at which they
became very much disgusted. In addition to these, William Adams. Joseph
Osborne, and Daniel Jessup became residents in the settlement. The old
enemy of men still followed and hunted out these settlers. Mrs.
Elizabeth Keith, wife of Adam Keith, died on the 30th of May, this
year,—the first death in the settlement.
The settlement at Lake Du Chemin also
gathered to itself additional strength during this year; among the
arrivals and settlers were Nathan Haines and his family. As stated
elsewhere, the Gary Mission, a Roman Catholic enterprise,, had
established a branch mission at this place among the Indians. This year
we find this mission school taught by an Indian named Robert
Simmerwell, assisted by his wife, a white woman. At this school, white
and Indian children came together. Mr. Haines, unable to do better,
sent his older children to it. Some of the Indians at this place, under
the training and influence of this mission and school, no doubt, became
most devout Catholics.
During the present year, the first
houses were built upon the site of the city of La Porte by Richard
Harris, (already mentioned as coming to the county with the Stantons,
et at.) and George Thomas. Mr. Thomas' cabin stood near where the
railroad depot now stands. Colonel William A. Place, who was on a
preliminary visit to the county, assisted in building the cabin; and
Wilson Malone claimed that he was the first white man to sleep in the
city of La Porte, if this feeble beginning can be called the city of La
Porte, having used the house of Mr. Thomas for that purpose before it
was occupied by the family of Mr. Thomas.
The population of the county was
further increased this year by the birth of William Steele, who has
more latterly been a citizen of Clinton township.
THE
YEAR 1831
The year 1831 witnessed quite a
material advance in the settlements already begun, as well as the
beginning of new ones. In the spring of this year, a settlement was
made at the place where the village of Rolling Prairie is now situated,
or as it was formerly called, Portland. This settlement was made on the
25th day of May by a party who emigrated from the vicinity of
Lafayette, Indiana, consisting of the families of David Stoner, Arthur
Irving, Jesse West, and Ezekiel Provolt, and also another man named
Willets. It was not very long until the families of Provolt, West, and
Irving had cabins which served them as homes. These were all in the
vicinity of each other.
During the year this settlement,
though they were considerably scattered over the country, received
additional settlers. Among these were Daniel Murray, James Hiley, Jacob
Miller, John Garrett, Chapel W. Brown, and Emery Brown, together with
the families of Harvey, Salisbury, and Whitehead, and James Drummond,
Benjamin DeWitt, Dr. B. C. Bowell, J. Austin, Ludlow Bell and George W.
Barnes. Later in the fall came also Myron Ives. These arrivals gave the
Rolling Prairie settlement quite a start. It soon wrought visible
changes in the condition of the country.
It was during this year that James
Webster, and his son-in-law, James Highley, came from Virginia and
settled in the northeast corner of the present Pleasant township. This
township is said to have been, prior to this settlement and that which
follows, one of the most beautiful, attractive, flower-clad, and
grove-embellished portions of the county, and this with its sparkling
little lakes and flowing streams, and gently undulating surface
combined to make it a spot of unsurpassed loveliness and beauty. This
beginning of settlement, as we shall see, was soon followed up and its
rich acres were made subservient to the wants of the pioneers who came
to make a home within it.
By the close observer, it will have
been noticed that the settlements which have now been begun have all
nearly corresponded with the crest of that swell of elevation, already
noticed in giving the geography of the county, which sweeps across in a
somewhat irregular way from east to west. From that on the shore of
Lake Du Chemin to that of the Benedict neighborhood, they are all
nearly in line. The settlement of Webster and Highley was a little
departure from this; and now we go to another on the other side of the
crest.
This was a settlement which was made
where is now the little village of Springfield, in Springfield
township. It was made in this year by Judah Learning. Before the close
of the year he was joined by Abram Cormack and Daniel Griffin. This
village settlement formed the nucleus for one more settlement in the
county, and impresses one with the thought how rapidly and widely that
tide of Western-bound empire is sweeping over these lands.
Crossing the crest again, we find
another settlement established near the present location of Union
Mills. This was made in the fall of this year by Horace Markham and
Lane Markham, both locating in section eight. To the stream which runs
near by, their name was given; but it has since been called Mill creek.
Traces of these families have been lost.
Now moving to the east, we shall find
a prairie which is called Stillwell prairie, which was so-called from
the first settler of it, Mr. Thomas Stillwell, who built a log cabin
near where Mr. D. H. Norton has more recently dwelt. He was a man who
was somewhat averse to white society, loving that of the Indian better;
and he kept along the border in such a way as to avoid the one if he
did not have the other. At least, in the location which he chose this
time, he was not disturbed with immediate neighbors for two or three
years; yet he formed the nucleus for a subsequent prosperous settlement.
During the year, the settlements
already formed were measurably strengthened and increased. Their
accretions were from various directions. In this year, also among
others who settled in the New Durham neighborhood, was Mr. Alden
Tucker, who settled so as to form a kind of connecting link between
that neighborhood and the settlements which had been made in Scipio
township; he settled on section 13. It was also during this year that
the Hon. Charles W. Cathcart united his interests with the county,
settling in the neighborhood of the Benedict settlement. Of Mr.
Cathcart, it may be said that he has long been a distinguished citizen
of the county, and has always taken a prominent and leading part in
public affairs. He has received numerous honors at the hands of his
fellow-citizens,—twice representing the district in Congress.
Among others who may be said to
belong to the "Boot Jack" settlement, though they were more or less
scattered over the country, who settled this year may be mentioned the
following: James Wills, Dr. Chapman, David Stoner, and Matthias Dawson.
While the various parts of the county
were thus receiving their accretions, the central part was gathering
up, too. It is impossible to keep the trace of all who came to these
settlements, but among those who had found a residence in the
settlement which was made along the line between Centre and Kankakee
townships and which reached down to the place where La Porte is now
situated, we find the following: The Blake, Landon, Ball, and Wheeler
families; Joseph Pagin, who built a house on the east side of Clear
Lake; Wilson Malone, William Bond, Jesse Bond, and John Garwood; John
B. Fravel, Charles Fravel. William Stanton and family, and Alfred
Stanton. At the "land sales" at Logansport in October of this year 400
acres were bought by a company, consisting of John Walker, Abram P.
Andrew, Jr., James Andrew, Hiram Todd, and Walter Wilson, on which it
was proposed to lay out a town which should become the county-seat. In
addition to this, the Andrews bought other lands in the immediate
vicinity, and thus laid the foundation for a handsome competence.
All along the line of these
settlements there has been an increase of numbers and strength during
the year.
THE
YEAR 1832
The year 1832 opened up with quite a
change having been made in the condition of the country since the
Benedict family had driven their stake as pioneers. The rich prairies
were being made to yield abundant supplies for all necessary demands,
improvements were being made in almost every direction, though rude and
primitive as compared with the improvements of to-day, perhaps, but
which served to accomplish the purpose designed,—to give a home to
those who had sought one in the uninhabited border.
It is this year that we have the
first intimations of the now prosperous city of Michigan City. The
lands on which the city now is situated were purchased of the
Government by Major Isaac 0. Elston, of Crawfordsville, at the "land
sales" of last year; and in October of this year he laid out the town.
The sight was any thing but that which would tempt settlers to it, and
if settlements were to always be made because of beauty of landscape,
Michigan City would have been blessed with but few; for the site was
forbidding, much of it being low and swampy, and other parts
excessively sandy. But the after results have shown the wise judgment
of Major Elston. He believed that at this point a harbor could be made.
His penetration, as he looked at Tail creek making its way slowly over
the sands to the lake winding its way around the foot of Hoosier Slide
in a deep, sluggish stream, though obstructed at its mouth by a bar of
sand to such an extent that a person could easily pass over it on foot,
so little water passed over it, enabled him to appreciate its value,
and hence his purchase. It will, no doubt, in the future fill his most
extravagant expectation, taking the advancement which has already been
made as a criterion by which to judge. However, all that we find of
Michigan City this year is the plat as surveyed by its proprietor.
Now, leaving this locality,
uninviting so far as its landscape appearance is concerned, and taking
a course southward along the line on which the Louisville, New Albany
& Chicago railroad is now located, and continuing until we come to
Clinton township, we shall find that the settlement of New Durham
township is still widening and increasing. We shall here find Isham
Campbell settled on the west side of Hog creek, the original pioneer of
Clinton township, but quickly followed, that is to say, in the fall of
this year, by Andrew Richardson and Edmund Richardson, who settled on
section 9.
The purposes of business, travel and
inter-communication's were to be subserved; and hence we find this year
Mr. John Dunn building a bridge across the Kankakee river, and thus
becoming the first settler of Lincoln township, or at least that which
is such now.
Many arrivals this year swelled the
settlement in New Durham township very greatly,— it is now assuming
almost the proportions of a community. Josiah Bryant and family,
Jeremiah Sherwood and Jonathan Sherwood, Wilson Malone and George
Campbell, and many others found a home in its midst. The pioneer
preacher is beginning to seek these communities, and here the Methodist
pioneer preacher of the county, Rev. James Armstrong, held the first
religious services for this people during this year.
The settlement in Scipio township was
swelled this year by the following at least: Mr. Melville, John
Broadhead, Elijah Brown, and Peter White. And to link these two
settlements together, Mr. A. M. Jessup settles rather between them.
Others thus settled, so that by this time these communities are
beginning to merge into one.
The unequaled beauty of "Pleasant
township this year began to attract the immigrants, and in it settled
Silas Hale and Oliver Closson, settling in section 22, thus becoming
the neighbors of Messrs. Webster and Highley who have already found a
location in it, being only about three or four miles away.
And over in Springfield settlement
settlers are coming this year so that they too are beginning to put on
airs. They build a school house and put Miss Emily Learning into it to
teach school. Messrs. Rose and Griffith hold Methodist religious
services, and likewise Mr. Marks holds Baptist services, for these
Springfield pioneers.
The community is increased during the
year by John Brown, Erastus Quivey, Charles Vail, John Hazleton, Joseph
Pagin and his sons, et al., becoming settlers.
And over in Noble township, Joseph
Wheaton became a resident, and began to raise the ambition of the
little community by laying out the town of Union Mills (however, the
plat of the village was not put on record until December 7, 1849). Bird
McLane and John McLane bought land in the township during this year,
and prepared to settle in it.
In the spring of this year the number
of settlers in Kankakee township was swelled by the families of Solomon
Aldrich, Charles Ives, and Alexander Blackburn, and during the year by
many others. It seem? that all these communities are taken with the
notion at about the same time of building school-houses, holding
religious services, etc. In this community Rev. James Crawford held
Presbyterian religious services at the house of Alexander Blackburn,
during this year.
And while these things were going on
in these other parts of the county, Brainard Golf and Charles Fravel,
et al., are settling in and around the prospective county seat. Colonel
W. A. Place brought his family and settled in October of this year,
though he made a prospective visit last year.
Prosperity seems to have set in. At
least we have seen settlement after settlement spring up in various
parts of the county, and they have all strengthened and increased. This
is the first year that the county has had the American privilege of
voting for the country's Chief Magistrate. It seems that these pioneers
appreciated this privilege or esteemed it a duty, for at the election
in November, 115 of them expressed themselves on the Chief Magistrate
question at the ballot-box. We have mentioned this fact that we might
the more effectually note that other fact, the rapid growth of the
county. Though we have been mentioning a few of these early settlers,
it will appear from this that we have not been able to gather anything
like a complete list of them. Remember that the county is at this time
only about three and a half years old from the time the first log-cabin
was built, and the magnitude of this growth will appear. This
population was not gathered together at any center, out was
distributed, as we have noted, at various parts of the county. Only
three families were now living where the future beautiful city of La
Porte was to be: the families of George Thomas, Richard Harris, and
Wilson Malone.
THE
YEAR 1833
The Board of County Commissioners was
organized on the 28th of May, 1832—last year. This board consisted of
Chapel W. Brown, Elijah H. Brown and Isaac Morgan.
The year 1833 opened up with new
interests. The county had been filling up so rapidly that by this time
it became apparent that it stood in need of the necessities-of a
civilized community. Good roads are not only concomitants of
civilization, but they are necessities belonging to it; aye, they
promote it. This the pioneers early saw. Hence they called upon their
Board of Commissioners to make all needful arrangements for them; and
they did. It was apparent to them, as well as to the citizens, that
their own interest demanded means of easy access to nil parts of the
county and to adjoining, and even to the more distant, counties. Among
their first acts was the establishment of county roads, at the request
of the inhabitants. They did not hesitate to expend money on a road
leading from Michigan City into Marshall county, nor to authorize
Matthias Redding to keep a ferry across the Kankakee river on the line
of this road. The result of this policy was that the trade of the
southern counties, as far south as Lafayette, Monticello and
Logansport, was attracted to Michigan City tor a market; and this had a
direct influence upon the prosperity of the county in attracting both
wealth and citizens.
Time makes some changes. In the
matter of business, changes have been brought about since the days of
which we write and now. It would seem odd to our present dealers in
common merchandise, if it did not really disgust them, to have to pay a
license to do any kind of business; but the business men of those times
were required to do so. Witness the following: At the September term of
the Commissioners' Court in 1833, the Board ordered that license be
issued to Thomas M. Morrison to "vend merchandise in La Porte county
for $15.00; also that license be issued to Messrs. J. F. & W.
Allison to sell merchandise, and to "keep a tavern in the town of La
Porte," for $15.00; also that license be issued to Elijah Casteel to "
vend groceries in the town of Michigan City" for $10.00; also that
license be issued to William Clements to " vend merchandise in the town
of La Porte" for $10.00. This is enough to show how these county
fathers were looking after the interests of the county, and how
business was made to tally "ducats" for the county treasury.
This year sees the settlements widen
more and more. A new settlement is begun in what is now Galena
township. A man named George W. Barnes, originally from Maine, but more
recently from the city of Cleveland, in Ohio, came into the county and
selected his land and went to work with great energy. He is said to
have been a man of indomitable will and great strength, which well
fitted him for his pioneer work. He died without descendants, many
years ago.
In the same locality with Mr. Barnes
during this year Whitman Goit, John Talbott, Sylvanus James, Shnbal
Smith, and Richard Miller, having selected their claims, settled and
began to make improvements. When these men went into this locality they
found an almost unbroken forest, but soil loamy, warm, and rich,
producing well. It is said that some of the best timber in the county
can still be found in this region where these men found their homes.
Again we find the New Durham
community attracting to itself a large immigration, and among which
came the following, who came directly to the settlement or were
attracted to the locality afterward, but were settled in the county
this year: Henry Cathcart, W. F. Catron, Eliza Cole, John Warnoch, John
P. Noble, and J. R. Reed.
And the closely-allied settlement in
Scipio township receives a large immigration, among whom may be
mentioned Elmore Pattee, and Jacob R. Hall, who was a former resident
of Cass county. General Joseph Orr had also become a resident, however,
buying land along the line of the present townships of Scipio and
Centre. This community, like the rest, did not forget the higher
interests of it. This year the Methodists built a frame church at Door
Village; Rev. James Armstrong did the preaching for them. He also
preached in different houses in the community. So also did Samuel
Holmes and Dr. St. Claire, two earnest ministers of the Christian
church.
The community at Lake Du Chemin still
increased. Among the settlers there during this year we find Mr.
Fleming Reynolds. And the little town of Hudson on the lake, the
nucleus of this community, is beginning to develop arid to reach out
after business. It becomes the rival of La Porte. This year a
school-house is built, the first one built except the mission
school-house which has already been mentioned, and a man named Edwards
is set to teach the school. Many business enterprises are set on foot;
Charles Egbert opens a creditable store, John D. Ross begins
blacksmithing, as also a Mr. Jewett; Samuel Elliott starts a coopering
establishment, and James F. Smith keeps a hotel.
Over in Wills township the following
names were added to the list of settlers; Joseph Starrett bought an "
Indian float" and settled upon it; Jesse Willett, Jesse West, Nimrod
West, Jacob Gallion and J. Clark.
The settlement in Pleasant township
is also extending, and during this year John Wilson, from Ohio, Asa
Owen and Andrew Harvey, and Benjamin Butterworth, who settled near by,
were made a part of the rapidly consolidating community ot the county.
Crossing again to the Springfield
neighborhood, it is still found busy and active. The village is
surveyed on the lands of Judah Learning by Daniel Learning, and the
accessions to the community were Erastus Quivey, who built a mill,
Hiram Griffith, John Griffith, Gilbert Rose, et al.
During this year, a new settlement
was begun in what is now Cool Spring township, or rather it was the
advance of the older settlements into new territory: and not only one
but more settlements were inaugurated in this part of the county during
this year. Nathan Johnson established a settlement at the little place
known as Waterford; John Luther another some three or four miles south
and west from him; while Arba Heald, a former resident and first
settler of Scipo township, penetrated this part of the county and
settled south and east from Luther's cabin. He was also followed by
John Beaty, who established himself at what is called Beaty's Corners.
These settlers, while they were several miles apart, may "be said to
constitute one neighborhood.
Passing again to the other side of
the New Durham settlement, into the present Clinton township, we shall
find that the settlement is extending in that direction. During the
year Stephen Jones, a Methodist preacher, Nathaniel Steel, William
Niles, John Osborn, Lemuel Maulsby, Levi Reynolds, Thomas Robinson, R.
Prather and Richard Williams become settlers among others.
These separate and distinct
settlements in the various parts of the county are fast merging into
one. Passing a little farther to the east, in Noble township, and we
find it gathering up in the number of its settlers very rapidly. This
year the following settlers found homes here: Peter Burch and Ira
Burch, William O'Hara, Michael O'Hara, Samuel O'Hara and Edward O'Hara,
Warren Burch, Jeremiah Perkins and Isaac Johnson and Wright Loving and
Silas Loving, together with others, forming quite a community.
Going still again to the east, and we
shall find that Mr. Stillwell, the " border man," who sought seclusion
from the society of the
whites by making a settlement in this
part of the county, gets all he wants, perhaps; for at the close of
this year, around him and near him, the following have found homes and
places to settle: John Winchell, John Vail and Henry Vail, who turned
their attention to the milling business, Joshua Travis and Curtis
Travis, Henry Davis and Henry Mann, Theodore Catlin and Daniel Finley,
and others.
We come again to visit the locality
of La Forte and its surroundings. Since the last visit, we can detect a
rate of improvement that must have been gratifying to those who were
interested in its permanent progress. The town has been laid out and
the original survey made. It has been made the county seat; in its
survey regard was had for a public square; a contract has been made by
the Commissioner with Simon G. Bunce for the erection of a courthouse,
to cost $3,975; also with Warner Pierce for a jail to cost $460; and at
the close of this year, or at the beginning of the next, it had so
grown that it could count 15 houses.
A little description of the
court-house which the Commissioners determined to build will be
appropriate in this place to show the spirit which animated these early
settlers, the oldest of whom had at this time only five years'
residence, and indicate the thrift which attended them; for it is a
noticeable fact that thrift begets a commendable spirit and taste.
Where a country is covered with tasty farms, tasty residences, and
cities are filled with tasty public and private buildings, it is
evident that back of these, and unmistakably born of it, is thrift.
Then, again, thrift is the product of industry and favorable
circumstances. Industry is a quality which the people possess, and this
element of prosperity, therefore, is indicated in the public buildings
which the commissioners proposed to erect. In this we shall find more
that will really speak of the industry and thrift of these pioneers
than pages of platitudes upon these qualities. Following are the
specifications of the building as they appear in the records: The
building was to be of brick, located in the center of the Public
Square, 40 feet square and of proportional height; it was to be dressed
in tasty and permanent cornice, and to be surmounted with a cupola
three stories in height. The first story of this cupola was to be 12
feet square and 9 feet high, with a round window in each side in which
was to be a fancy sash. The second story was to be octagonal,
eight-sided in shape, and 10 feet high, with a window in each side to
be closed by a Venetian blind; and the corners were to be ornamented
with turned columns. At each of the corners of the first, or square
story was to be placed an urn of " suitable size." The third story was
to be a dome, six feet six inches in height, and to be covered with
tin. From this was to proceed a shaft six feet six inches high above
the dome, into the top of which was to be placed an iron rod or spire
which should hold at its connection with the shaft a " copper ball,"
two feet in diameter, "laid with gold leaf." Half way from this globe
to the top of the spire there was to be another " copper ball," one
foot in diameter; and at the top, a ball of wood. six inches in
diameter, and painted black, was to be placed. The work was all to be
substantial and workmanlike.
The men who laid the foundation work
of the county were not destitute of taste, it may be called "
pardonable pride," and they determined that the court-house should not
simply be "four plain walls," but that it should be a building
representing the thrift of the county and creditable to their own
tastes.
Thus is the county found at the end
of five years of settlement.
THE
TIME FROM 1834 TO 1840
With the rapidity of the incoming
tide that now sets in, and the constant accretions which these nuclei
are receiving, thus inter- lapping and interlacing these settlements
with one another, it is impracticable to follow them year by year
farther. The next years must be grouped as a whole.
In the preceding part of this
chapter, we have been compelled to chronicle the establishment of
isolated and distinct settlements and neighborhoods, and have tried to
preserve the names of a few of those who formed those settlements, for
there was nothing else to chronicle. Now, we are to call the attention
of the reader to the destruction of these isolated settlements and
neighborhoods, as such, by detailing their consolidation and merging
into one.
Attention has already been called to
the fact that the first settlements were made near the crest of that
insensible swell, or elevation of land which serves the purpose of a "
dividing ridge," separating the waters of the county which flow into
the Gulf of St. Lawrence from those which flow into the Gulf of Mexico,
and which sweeps entirely across the county from east to west. The
attentive reader who has followed the chronicle of facts as they have
been given in relation to these settlements, could not help discerning
the additional facts that these first settlements, seemingly,
insensibly crept toward each other along this same crest until they
were blended, slightly it may be; and that then they began to descend
its insensible slopes on either side until the whole of the county was
occupied. If not discerned before, a thought now will convince any one
of its truth. Of the period of which we now write the settlements in
what are now the townships of Cool Spring, Michigan, Springfield, and
Galena, on one side of this crest, and of Clinton, Union, Noble and
Johnson, on the other, are isolated neighborhoods, while the
settlements in New .Durham, Scipio, Centre, Pleasant, Kankakee, Wills,
and Hudson, which are more or less on the crest of this elevation, have
begun to sensibly run into one another, showing that the bulk of the
population is there.
And during the years included in the
period indicated in one sub-title we find that the population thickened
up more and more in these first communities, and kept on creeping down
these slow descending elopes until they, too, became thickly settled
communities, and by the close of 1840 the isolated character of the
neighborhoods, if not completely, was substantially broken up, and the
population of the county was a unit.
The results of this immigration can
be better told with a few figures than in any other way. At the
beginning of the year 1829, the number of white settlers in the county
was—00. In 1832, at the time of the holding of the first Presidential
election in the county, the number of the inhabitants was about—525. In
1836, at the time of the holding of the second Presidential election,
the population of the county was about—4,250;—a vote of 942 ballots was
cast. In 1840, at the time of the taking of the census, the number of
inhabitants was 8,184;—the vote at the August election of that year
being 1.782 ballots. Putting these figures into a little closer
proximity, and in the order, and corresponding to the dates given, they
are as follows:—00—525—4,250—8,184. The votes, in the same order and
corresponding to the same dates, are likewise,—00—115—942—1,782.
In the time from 1834 to 1840, quite
a neighborhood sprang up in Lincoln township. Among those who settled
here at this time, there may be mentioned Mr. Mutz, John Vickory and
Levi Little, of 1^34; George Sparrow, Newlove, Laybourn, and Carson
Siddles, of 1835; E. Abergast, and Mr. Sanders, of 1836; and John Dare,
and John Davis, of 1838.
At this time the whole of the
southern part of the county, including the townships of Gass, Ilanna,
and Dewey, was a part of Starke county, and cannot He reckoned in
giving these early settlements. In every part of the county as it then
existed, we have found prosperous settlements, except in what is now
Johnson township; and here, ever since 1831 or 1832, John Dunn had been
watching for those who were wont to use his bridge in crossing the
Kankakee river, so far as our means of information will inform us, all
alone. We have not been able to learn of any other settlers here until
from 1842 to 1846. At this time, among others, we find that Major John
M. Lemon, Charles Palmer, William Mapes, Edward Owens, Samuel Smith,
and Martin Smith, had become settlers.
Cass township was settled immediately
succeeding 1840. Among its first settlers were Abraham Eahart, Peter
Woodin, James Concannon, Thomas Concannon, and William Smith.
The first settlement in what is now
Ilanna township, was a little prior to 1840. Among the settlers of this
township before that date, may be mentioned William West, Sr., Nimrod
West, Emunuel Metz and his sons, Andrew J. Chambers and his sons,
Amsterdam Stewart, Thomas Hunsley, William Tyner and Charles Strong.
The first settlement was not made in
Dewey township until 1854, at which time, or shortly after, Jacob
Schauer, George P. Schimmel, and Lewis Besler and Michael Besler,
became settlers.
This completes the "early settlements
" of the county.
Source: History of La Porte County,
Indiana: By Chas. C. Chapman & Co Published by C.C. Chapman, 1880