Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900A regional history written by Timothy H. Ball . . . .
Source Citation:
Ball, Timothy H. 1900.
Northwestern
Indiana from 1800 to 1900 or A View of Our Region Through the Nineteenth Century.
Chicago, Illinois: Donohue and Henneberry. 570 p.
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900
35
CHAPTER III.
THE EARLY SETTLERS.
According to a report concerning the Public Domain of
Indiana and its Survey, made in 1892 by J. C.
Henderson, then Auditor of State, it appears that the eastern portion of a strip
of land, ten miles in breadth, from north to
south, across Indiana, was purchased
from the Pottawatomies at Chicago, at a treaty
made there August 29, 1821; and that the western portion of the strip, the
southern boundary line of which just touched Lake Michigan in what is now Lake
County, was purchased when a treaty was made October 16, 1826, at Mississinewa.
The line marking the south boundary of this purchase is known in some early
descriptions of land as the "ten mile line." The north boundary line of
Indiana is exactly ten miles north of an east and
west line that barely cuts the most southern limit of Lake Michigan.
It is a question with some what is the real north boundary of Lake and Porter
counties. The State boundary is the following, according to the Constitution,
Article XIV., Section 1. "On the east by the meridian line which forms the
western boundary of the State of Ohio; on the south by the Ohio River,
from the mouth of the Great Miami River to the
mouth of the Wabash River; on the west, by a line drawn along the middle of the
Wabash River, from its mouth to a point where a
due north line, drawn from the town of Vin-
36
cennes would last touch the
northwestern shore of said
Wabash River, and thence by a due north line, until the same shall intersect an
east and west line drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme
of Lake Michigan; on the north, by said east and west line until the same shall
intersect the first-mentioned meridian line which forms the western boundary of
the State of Ohio."
Another treaty was made with the Indians October 27, 1832, on the Tippecanoe
River, made between Jonathan Jennings, J. W. Davis, and Marks Crume,
Commissioners for the United States, "and the Chiefs and Warriors of the
Pottawatomies on the part of said Pottawatomies," in accordance with which
treaty the United States bought all the remaining land of these Indians in
Indiana, also lands in Michigan Territory and in
Illinois. This treaty was signed by the United States Commissioners and by
fifty-one Indians. To each Indian name on the treaty there is attached the
expression "his mark," for these children of the forests and the prairies,
chiefs, warriors, head men of their tribe, were as ignorant of writing as were
once the noblemen of England in those old days when the phrase originated,
"benefit of clergy." By the terms of this treaty the Indians were to receive, as
soon as possible after the treaty was signed, $32,000 in merchandise of some
kind, $15,000 a year for twelve years, and some other amounts. The Commissioners
say that at the request of the Indians, after the treaty was signed, $2,700 was
applied to purchase horses for them, which the Commissioners say were
immediately purchased and delivered. What price was paid for horses at that time
does not appear in the record, but perhaps this sum was sufficient to buy a
horse, at least
37
a pony, for every man that signed the treaty. There then
remained, due to the Indians, $29,300, the Commissioners say, to be paid in
merchandise, but how that was expended they do not mention. This treaty having
been sanctioned by the Senate was confirmed by President Jackson, January 21,
1833.*
According to the usage of our Government the Indian title to this region was now
extinguished, the second third of the century was soon to begin, and the land
was ready for the coming of the pioneer settlers.
The American Fur Company, John Jacob Astor, President, kept an open
communication between Detroit and Chicago. Steadily westward and also northward,
the pioneers were pushing along their advanced guards, some settlers as early as
1821 having reached the locality where is now Indianapolis. The Wabash Valley
was settled. Fruit trees were planted. Peaches and then apples soon grew in that
rich valley; and then into North-Western Indiana
the pioneers came.
In 1800 there were found to be in
Indiana Territory, as its white population, 5,640,
or (American Cyclopedia) 4,651, or (Colton) 4,875; about five thousand. In 1810
there were 24,520. In 1820, 147,178. In 1830, 341,582. But of this number in
1830, 3,562 were free blacks. Into the West as well as into the South the blacks
have gone along with the early white settlers. (Some one once observed that the
first white man who settled at Chicago was a negro.) In 1820 only fifty-one
Indiana counties had been organized, and Wabash
County had an area then of 8,000 square miles with 147 inhabitants. Delaware
County had an area
__________
*A copy of this treaty, with the signatures, as sent out by General Jackson, I
had the opportunity of examining in the office of Hon. T. J. Wood, of Crown
Point.
38
of 5,400 square miles. Darby's Universal Gazetteer of 1826,
from which these areas are taken, says: "In a
review, however, of the settled parts of Indiana,
the counties of Wabash and Delaware with the adjacent Indian country ought to be
excluded," the entire area of the three divisions being 20,022 square miles.
"The actually inhabited section of Indiana," the
Gazetteer says, "will be restricted to 13,972, say 14,000 square miles." This
was in 1826. Of what was then called the "Indian country," area 6,622 square
miles, more than one-half was in Northern Indiana.
The first white settlers, who came to bring civilization and Christianity,
commerce and manufactures, art, science, and literature, into this corner of the
State, began to come in 1830 and 1831, a very few as early as 1829, before the
land, to any extent, was purchased from the
Indians; and for some ten years, until the last land north of the Kankakee was
put upon the market, in 1839, pioneer settlers continuing to come in, the proper
Indian period and the period of white occupancy were blended together. It is
evident that until 1833, except on the ten mile purchase, the first white
settlers were intruders upon Indian hunting grounds and gardens and cornfields;
and for some years after 1833 the Pottawatomies still lingered among their
long-cherished and delightful camping places. They were in no haste to leave;
and although the large body of them, perhaps five thousand, left the State in
1836, some hundreds still remained among us, many even until 1840. We have
therefore a period of ten years, from 1830 to
1840, of Indian and white life mingled. While in those years, among the pioneer
families there were some privations, some hardships, yet those ten years of
frontier life were years of a
39
rich, delightful experience, enjoyed very fully by a few hundred families where
savage life was ending and civilizations beginning, and which by those thus
enjoying cannot be forgotten. In this age of steam and electricity in which we
live such a frontier life cannot be again.
It may be well to look over the records and see who were some of the first
settlers, the true pioneers of North-Western Indiana.
To give all their names, were it possible, would be decidedly
impracticable, for on the Claim Register of Lake County, including the western
part of Porter County, are nearly five hundred signatures. It is evident,
therefore, that between 1829 and 1839 many hundreds of families came into the
three counties lying north of the Kankakee; and many certainly, in those years,
settled in Pulaski and White and Jasper. Of the comparatively few names that
will here be given probably some are not correctly written.
There has been found as the name of the first settler in what became White
County, coming in the spring of 1829, Jacob Thompson, who died near Reynolds in
1875; and, as the second settler, Benjamin Reynolds is named, who came
from Ohio; and then George A. Spencer, also in
1829. The next pioneers, perhaps not in that year, were Jerry Bisher, Robert
Rothrock, George R. Bartley, Peter Price; and then many others
from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and
from Kentucky; also some Norwegians, among them
Peter B. Smith and H. E. Hiorth, who settled and named the village called Norway
on the Tippecanoe River.
In what became Pulaski County there were very few, if any, whites till 1830, and
most of the families now there came in after 1850.
40
For that County the following names of early citizens have been recorded: "James
Justice, Eli and Peter Demoss, and Thomas McMany, in the northeast; T. J.
Galbrith, Henry White, Robert Scott, Moses L. Washburn, and William Fisher in
the south; John Rees, Michael Stump, Silas Phillips, Lewis McCoy, A. E. Moore,
and John M. Cowan, in the western part; and John Davenport, Andrew Keys, John
Peirson, George P. Perry, H. W. Hornbeck, Tilman Hackett, and Benjamin
Ballinger, in the more central sections."*
The settlers of Pulaski came from Ohio,
from older counties in
Indiana, some from the South, some
from Pennsylvania, a few
from New England and New York, some from
Great Britain, and, as later settlers, many Germans.
In regard to settling the prairie the same practice prevailed here as in Lake
County, that "as a general thing," some exceptions may have been, "the
homesteads were located in or near the timbered lands, the large prairies being
left unsettled until a considerable advance had been made in the way of
improvements."
The first settlers in the central parts of what became Jasper County are said to
have been George Culp and Thomas Randle from
Virginia. They came and examined some localities in 1834. The United States
survey had just been made and a surveyor directed them to the "Forks" of the
Iroquois. It is stated that they found no settlement west of the present Pulaski
County line, but that traveling on the "Allen Trail" they came to William
Donahoe's, who had just settled near the present Francesville.
__________
*Historical Atlas of Indiana.
41
They went on to the rapids of the Iroquois and to the mouth of the Pinkamink.
They seem to have been pleased with the locality, for in May, 1835, they settled
at what became known as "the Forks." In the summer of 1836 there followed them
as pioneer men with their families John G. Parkison and Henry Barkley, also with
them came the widow of Simon Kenton, a noted Kentucky pioneer. Her daughter,
then John G. Parkison's wife, was said to have been the first white child born
at the present city of Cincinnati. This may, it may not be true. Mrs. Kenton
died in Jasper County about 1848. Her age is not recorded.
Other families followed these: "Reeds, Prices, Casads, Burgets, Guthridges,
Reeves, and Shannahans"* Soon another settlement was made on the Iroquois and a
third where is now Rensselaer.
Those making this third settlement were John Nowels, with a young son, David,
and a young daughter, and a son-in-law, Joseph D. Yeoman and family. They came
with an ox team, as did many other families, arriving in the fall of 1836,
according to the statements in the "Historical Atlas." A date two years earlier
will be found in the history of the town of Rensselaer. William Mallatt soon
became a neighbor to Joseph D. Yeoman, but on his claim was afterward laid an
"Indian float."
One of his daughters, Margaret Mallatt, is called the first white child born in
Jasper County, and Mary Mallatt is said to have been the first young bride.
The names of other pioneers in this county will be found in other connections.
In that part of Jasper, which in 1860 became New-
__________
*Historical Atlas of Indiana.
42
ton County, hunters and trappers for some time were roaming among the Indians.
At length a few "squatters" came, and then some permanent settlers. The first
names found are Josiah Dunn and John Elliott as settlers in 1832. About the same
time settlements were made by James W. Lacy, W. Spitler, Zacharias Spitler,
James Cuppy, Jacob Prout, John Mayers, Bruce Dunn, and Matthias Redding. About
1837 came Jacob, Samuel, and Frederick Kenyon, Charles Anderson, Amos Clark,
and, in 1838, James Murphy.
Still later settlers were James Elijah, John Darret, David Kustler, Daniel
Deardorf, Benjamin Roodnick, and Silas Johnson. Says the Historical Atlas:
"These settlers found innumerable deer and turkeys in the woods and prairies,
and wild bees were so plentiful that an abundant supply of honey was at the
command of any one who cared to exert himself a little to procure it."
Settlements were made on the north, on the east, and on the south of what, in
1850, became Starke County, earlier than in that rather small area of wet land,
some sand ridges, and of, what was called some years ago, "comparative
inaccessibility."
Edward Smith, from England, is called the first
settler in what is now Oregon Township in 1835. John Lindley was the first
settler in North Bend Township, and others, called early settlers were John
Tibbits, Nathan Koontz, and Samuel Koontz. Starke County was not organized until
1850, so but little of its history belongs to the pioneer or early settler
times.
In the other three counties, La Porte, Porter, and Lake, many more names have
been found.
The first family credited as settling in La Porte County bore the name of
Benedict. Mrs. Miriam
43
Benedict, widow of Stephen S. Benedict, with six sons and one daughter, and
Henly Clyburn, husband of the daughter, on March 15, 1829, made a settlement not
far northwest from the present town of Westville.
July 16, 1829, was born in this pioneer home among the Indians Elizabeth Miriam
Clyburn, the first white child born in what became La Porte County.
In April of this same year, near this locality, a few miles south of the Ten
Mile Purchase, settled Samuel Johnson, William Eahart, and Jacob Inglewright;
also Charles and James Whittaker, and W. H. Shirley. About seven miles distant
from the Benedict and Clyburn locality, in the
same year, settled Adam Keith and family and Louis Shirley with his mother; and
here, in October, 1829, was born the first white boy in La Porte County,
according to the traditions, Keith Shirley.
Settlers in 1830 -- John S. Garroutte.
Richard Harris.
Andrew Shaw.
Philip Fail. John Sissany.
Aaron Stanton. William Garrison.
Benajah Stanton. William Adams.
William Clark. Joseph Osborne.
Andrew Smith. Daniel Jessup.
John Wills and sons. Nathan Haines.
Charles Wills. Richard Harris.
Daniel Wills. George Thomas.
John E. Wills. William Stule.
October 30th of this year was born Benajah S. Fail, son of Philip Fail, called
by some the first white boy born in La Porte County.
Settlers in 1831 --
Rolling Prairie settlement commenced May 25th by David Stoner, Arthur Irving,
Jesse West, E. Pro-
44
volt, and ----- Willets. Other families came later in
the year, among them the Harvey, Salisbury, and Whitehead families, also
those of Daniel Murray, James Hiley, Jacob Miller, John Garrett, Emery Brown, C.
W. Brown, James Drummond, Benjamin De Witt, Dr. B. C. Bowell, J. Austin, Ludlow
Bell, and Myron Ives.* This soon became a noted settlement.
Other settlers in different neighborhoods: James Highley, James Webster, Judah
Learning, Abram Cormack, Daniel Griffin; Horace Markham, Lane Markham, on Mill
Creek; Thomas Stillwell, giving name to Stillwell Prairie; Alden Tucker; Charles
W. Cathcart, giving name to a beautiful grove; also the
Ball, Blake, Landon, Wheeler, Bond, Fravel, Staneon, and Garwood
families, and Joseph Pagin and Wilson Malone. Most of these earliest families as
was natural, made their settlements on that strip of land, ten miles in width,
which had already been purchased from the Indians,
although some settled south of that line on unpurchased Indian lands.
Settlers of 1832 --
Isham Campbell. Elijah Brown.
Andrew Richardson. A. M. Jessup.
Edmund Richardson. Silas Hale.
John Dunn. Oliver Closson.
Josiah Bryant. John Brown.
Jeremiah Sherwood. Charles Vail.
Jonathan Sherwood. W. A. Place.
George Campbell. A. Blackburn.
John Broadhead. Bird McLane.
Peter White. John McLane.
__________
*For these names and many others I am indebted to the "History of La Porte
County." T. H. B.
45
S. Aldrich. Erastus Quivey.
Charles Ives. Joseph Wheaton.
John Hazleton.
Settlers of 1833 --
John Talbott. John Beaty.
Brainard Groff. N. Stul.
S. James. W. Niles.
G. W. Barnes. John Osborn.
Shubel Smith. L. Maulsby.
W. Goit. L. Reynolds.
R. Miller. T. Robinson.
H. Cathcart. R. Prother.
Elmore Pattee. R. Williams.
Joseph Orr. Peter Burch.
Jacob R. Hall. W. Burch.
F. Reynolds. Ira Burch.
Joseph Starrett. W. O'Hara.
Jesse Willett. M. O'Hara.
Jesse West. Samuel O'Hara.
Nimrod West. Edward O'Hara.
J. Gallion. J. Perkins.
J. Clark. Isaac Johnson.
John Wilson. W. Lavin.
Asa Owen. S. Lavin.
A. Harvey. John Winchell.
B. Butterworth. John Vail.
H. Griffith. Henry Vail.
J. Griffith. J. Travis.
G. Rose. Curtis Travis.
John Luther.
Other names of early settlers in La Porte County will be found among the records
of their Old Settlers' Association.
Something singular is connected with the name
46
Lykins. After detailing the supposed facts of the first settlement of Hudson
Township, and naming as the first or one of the first settlers, Joseph W. Lykins,
a Welshman, "connected with the Carey Mission," who settled there in 1829,
General Packard mentions as one of the settlers in Wills Township in 1830 Joseph
Lykins, and at length says: "During this year (1834) Joseph Lykins put up the
first frame house that was erected in Wills." That this man was a Welshman he
does not say.
If all the statements are correct there must have been near the northeast corner
of La Porte County three men by the name of Lykins -- Johnston Lykins, born in
Ohio; Joseph W. Lykins, from Wales, and Joseph Lykins, presumably an American.
The statements in regard to the first rest on documentary evidence in missionary
publications that cannot be questioned. The statements in regard to Joseph and
Joseph W. rest upon the memories of the early settlers from whom General Packard
obtained information.
It is not probable any one is living now who knows anything of that frame house
built in 1834.
In what became Porter County, with the exception of the French trader, Joseph
Bailly, who will be elsewhere mentioned, who, in the employ of John Jacob Astor,
is said to have made a home on the Calumet River with his Indian wife in 1822,
settlements seem not to have commenced until the stage line
from Detroit to Fort Dearborn or Chicago was
opened in 1833. In that year three brothers -- Virginians, Jesse, William, and
Isaac Morgan -- made settlements and gave name to one of the small, rich
prairies of the county. In April of the same year
47
came from
Ohio Henry S. Adams with his mother, his wife, and three
daughters; and in June George Cline, Adam S. Campbell
from New York, and Reason
Bell from Ohio.
Also Jacob Fleming, Ruel Starr, and Seth Hull.
The following are found as the names of early settlers in the
northwestern part of the county. Some of these
names may be found repeated in the following lists:
For the year 1834, Jacob Wolf and three sons -- John, Jacob E., and Josephus;
Barrett Door; Reuben Hurlburt and sons -- William, Henry, Jacob, David, and
Griffith; R. and W. Parrott; and, a year or so later, S. P. Robbins, B. and
Allen Jones, and the following whose given names have not been found: Blake,
Peak, Sumner, Ritter, Harrison, Curtis, Smith, Arnold, McCool, and T. J. Field.
The names Twenty-Mile Prairie and Twenty-Mile Grove, were given to the
localities in that part of the county. Not that the prairie or the strip of
woodland, in which grove for a time black squirrels abounded, extended for
twenty miles, but they were twenty miles distant from
somewhere. In that locality these family names remained for many years
and some still remain.
The following lists of names are arranged according to the years of settlement,
but perfect accuracy cannot be claimed for them all, as the authorities were
evidently not perfectly accurate. But care has been taken in making corrections
and perfecting as nearly as was practicable the entire list.
Settlers in 1834 --
Thomas A. E. Campbell. Levi Jones.
Benjamin McCarty. Selah Wallace.
Theodore Jones. C. A. Ballard.
48
William Thomas. Joseph Bartholomew.
John Hageman. William Frame.
William Coleman. Benjamin Spencer.
Pressley Warwick. Miller Parker.
John Bartholomew. J. Sherwood.
Stephen Bartholomew. Jacob Shultz.
J. P. Ballard. John Shultz.
A. K. Paine. Owen Crumpacker.
Jesse Johnston. W. Downing.
Thomas Gossett. Jerry Todhunter.
William Gossett. John J. Foster.
Theophilus Crumpacker. ----- Abbott.
Jerry Bartholomew. ----- McCoy.
Jacob Beck.
In this year was born January 11th the first white child in the county, Reason
Bell, and the second on February 11th, Hannah Morgan.
Settlers in 1835 --
Putnam Robbins. ----- Baum.
David Hughart. George Z. Salyer.
E. P. Cole. David Oaks.
Hazard Sheffield. Alanson Finney.
Allen B. James. Henry Stoner.
G. W. Patton. Abraham Stoner.
----- Baum.
Jesse Johnson, the first in Boone Township.
N. S. Fairchild. Thomas Clark.
Archie De Munn. Peter Ritter.
Charles Allen. W. Calhoun.
Josiah Allen. John Jones.
Lewis Cooner. David Bryant.
Thomas Adams.
Settlers in 1836 --
Simeon Bryant. Thomas Dinwiddie.
49
Orris Jewett. Thomas Johnson.
Solomon Dilley. William Johnson.
James Dilley. Jesse Johnson.
Absalom Morris. Jennings Johnson.
Isaac Cornell. Joseph Laird.
John Moore.
George Eisley.
William Bissell. John Prim.
John W. Dinwiddie. Frederick Wineinger.
A. D. McCord. Hugh Dinwiddie.
Settlers from 1836 to 1838 --
John Oliver. James Dye.
Barkley Oliver. Dr. Griffin.
Daniel Kisler. John Dillingham.
T. C. Sweeney. Abraham Snodgrass.
David Dinwiddie. Asa Zone.
Amos Andrews. Ira Biggs.
T. W. Palmer. F. Wolf.
James Hildreth. John White.
Casper Brooks. John Safford.
----- Smith. S. Olinger.
Early settlers, date not found --
Samuel Van Dalsen. John Berry.
Abraham Van Dalsen. Elisha Adkins.
Lyman Adkins. Enoch Billings.
R. Blachley. Eli Cain.
Charles De Wolf. John E. Harris.
Morris Wisham. Ezra Wilcox.
T. Wilkins. Eason Wilcox.
W. Billings. H. Blanchard.
There died in Hebron, March 5, 1900, an aged woman, 88 years of age, known as
Grandma Folsom, whose husband, a pensioner of the War of 1812, died some years
ago. The year of their settlement is not
50
known, but she was called about the last of the early
settlers in a neighborhood east of Hebron called Yankee Town.
The names of early settlers of Lake County are taken from
the history of that County by T. H. Ball,
known as "Lake County, 1872," to distinguish it from
"Lake County, 1884."
According to the records of Solon Robinson there was a settler by the name of
Ross in the summer of 1834, on section 6, township 35, range 7, and in 1884
James Hill, of Creston, a man of sterling weight of character, stated at the
semi-centennial celebration of Lake County, that in February of 1834 he was
looking over what became Lake County, and here saw William Ross, whom he had
known in Decatur County, Indiana, as a settler
here then with his family. So that there is placed here as the name of the first
farmer settler of Lake County, not counting those two or three stage-tavern
keepers on the beach of Lake Michigan, and as the date of settlement, 1833,
William Ross.
For the summer of 1834 there are the names of "William Crooks and Samuel Miller
in company, Timber and Mill Seat." Also in the same summer, a man by the name of
Winchell commenced a mill near the mouth of Turkey Creek, which he did not
complete. William B. Crooks, mentioned above, was from
Montgomery County, was located on the same section with William Ross, and
became one of the first associate judges in Lake County, elected in 1837. The
Claim Register is now the authority.
Settlers in 1834 --
In October -- Thomas Childers.
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In November -- Solon Robinson, Lumm A. Fowler and Robert Wilkinson, on Deep
River.
In December -- Jesse Pierce and David Pierce, on Deep River and Turkey Creek,
says the Claim Register.
Settlers in 1835 --
January -- Lyman Wells and John Driscoll.
February -- J. W. Holton, W. A. W. Holton, William Clark and family,
from Jennings County.
March -- Richard Fancher and Robert Wilkinson, the latter on West Creek
from Attica "Spring," Elias Bryant, E. W. Bryant,
Nancy Agnew, widow, and J. Wiggins.
May -- Elias Myrick, William Myrick, Thomas Reid, S. P. Stringham, Vermillion,
Ills., and Aaron Cox.
June -- Peter Stainbrook.
November -- David Hornor, Thomas Hornor, Jacob L. Brown, Thomas Wiles, Jesse
Bond, and Milo Robinson.
December -- John Wood, Henry Wells, William S. Thornburg, R. Dunham, R.
Hamilton, and John G. Forbes.
Settlers in 1836 --
William A. Purdy, New York.
Elisha Chapman, Michigan City.
S. Havilance, Canada.
William N. Sykes.
David Campbell.
W. Williams, La Porte.
Benjamin Joslen.
John Ball.
Richard Church, Michigan.
Darling Church, Michigan.
Leonard Cutler, Michigan.
51
Charles Cutler, Michigan.
B. Rhodes, La Porte.
J. Rhodes, La Porte.
Jacob Van Valkenburg, New York.
James S. Castle, Michigan City.
Hiram Nordyke, sen., Tippecanoe.
Charles H. Paine, Ohio.
Hiram Nordyke, Jr., Tippecanoe County.
Joseph C. Batton, Boone County.
James Knickerbocker, New York.
John T. Knickerbocker.
G. C. Woodbridge.
H. Bones.
John J. Van Valkenburg.
Horace Taylor.
S. D. Bryant.
Daniel E. Bryant.
Peter Barnard.
Jonathan Brown.
E. J. Robinson.
David Fowler.
Cyrus Danforth.
M. Pierce, State of New York.
Sprague Lee, Pennsylvania.
John A. Bothwell, Vermont.
Peleg S. Mason.
Adonijah Taylor, "Timber and Outlet."
The last according to Claim Register, "May 15th."
John Cole, New York.
F. A. Halbrook, New York.
Stephen Mix, New York.
Silas Clough, New York.
Rufus Norton, Canada.
Elijah Morton, Vermont.
53
Francis Barney.
Hiram Holmes.
Samuel Halsted, "Timber and Millseat."
"Nov. 29th transferred to James M. Whitney and Mark Burroughs
for $212."
Calvin Lilley, South Bend.
Samuel Hutchins, La Porte.
Jacob Nordyke, Tippecanoe.
Hiram S. Pelton, New York.
Ithamar Cobb.
J. P. Smith, New York -- settled July 5th.
Twelve -- Dressier.
G. Zuver, Bartholomew County.
H. McGee.
Henry Farmer, Bartholomew County.
William S. Hunt, "blacksmith," Wayne County.
George Parkinson. C. L. Greenman.
S. Wilson. Charles Marvin.
James Farwell. Mercy Perry, widow.
Abel Farwell. Peter Selpry.
Carlos Farwell. Jacob Mendenhall.
M. C. Farwell. H. M. Beedle.
Henry Hornor. B. Rich.
Ruth Barney, widow. D. Y. Bond.
J. V. Johns. S. L. Hodgman.
James Anderson. John Kitchel.
E. W. Centre. Henry A. Palmer.
Simeon Beedle. Paul Palmer.
Isaac M. Beedle. H. Edgarton.
William Wells. D. Barney.
S. D. Wells. William Hodson.
W. W. Centre. George Earle.
T. M. Dustin. Jackson Cady.
E. Dustin, Jr. A. Hitchcock.
54
E. H. Hitchcock. Edward Greene.
O. Hitchcock. S. T. Greene.
Russell Eddy. Elisha Greene.
C. Carpenter. W. Page.
William Brown. R. Wilder.
R. S. Witherel. John McLean.
Charles Walton. Soloman Russell.
William Farmer. Daniel May.
Jonathan Gray. A. Albee.
Nathan D. Hall.
Settlers in 1837 --
James Westbrook. William Sherman.
Samuel Sigler. H. Galespie.
John Bothwell. J. H. Martin.
John Brown. John Hack.
Henry Torrey. T. Sprague.
S. Hodgman. G. L. Zabriska.
Joseph Batton. J. Hutchinson.
John Kitchel. John Hutchinson.
N. Hayden. E. L. Palmer.
H. R. Nichols. Lewis Swaney.
N. Cochrane. N. Reynolds.
A. Baldwin. Francis Swaney.
Lewis Warriner. B. Demon.
Josiah Chase. O. V. Servis.
E. T. Fish. Joel Benton.
Charles R. Ball. Thomas O'Brien.
John Fish. John L. Ennis.
Hervey Ball. Orrin Smith.
George Flint. Dennis Donovan.
Lewis Manning. D. B. Collings.
Benjamin Farley. Patrick Donovan.
Ephraim Cleveland. Z. Collings.
D. R. Stewart. Thomas Donovan.
55
Timothy Rockwell. Dudley Merrill.
Daniel Donovan. William Vangorder.
Jesse Cross. J. F. Follett.
Oliver Fuller. G. W. Hammond.
E. Cross. A. D. Foster.
Thomas Tindal. J. Rhodes.
R. Cross. Adam Sanford.
Orrin Dorwin. Joseph Jackson.
A. L. Ball. Charles
Mathews.
H. Severns. O. Higbee.
Daniel Bryant. James Carpenter.
Hiram Barnes. Z. Woodford.
Wid. Elizabeth Owens. Jacob Ross.
Bartlett Woods. William Hobson.
E. D. Owens. Patrick Doyle.
Charles Woods. P. Anson.
N. Pierce. W. J. Richards.
56
In addition to the above from the Claim Register
may be added, for December 10, 1836, the name of Benjamin D. Glazier, who then
settled at Merrillville, or Wiggins' Point, where some of the family still
reside. Also for 1837, the name of John Hack, the first German settler, who,
with his large family, settled in the spring near the present town of St. John.
Many of his descendants now reside in or near Crown Point. And the names of
Peter Orte, Michael Adler, and M. Reder, German settlers, with their families in
1838; who commenced that large Catholic settlement in what is now St. John's
Township; and also in 1838, H. Sasse, Senior, H. Von Hollen, and Lewis Herlitz,
the first Lutheran Germans, who were followed by many others in what is now
Hanover Township.
These German immigrants that in those early years came into the different
localities of our eight counties from their
fatherland, while they could scarcely then have heard of Mrs. Hemans of England,
yet soon learned the meaning of what she wrote in her beautiful "Song of
Emigration":
"We will rear new homes, under trees that glow
As if gems were the fruitage of every bough;
O'er our white walls we will train the vine,
And sit in its shadow at day's decline;
And watch our herds as they range at will
Through the green savannahs, all bright and still.
All, all our own shall the forests be,
As to the bound of the roe-buck free!
None shall say, 'Hither, no further pass!'
We will track each step through the wavy grass;
We will chase the elk in his speed and might,
And bring proud spoils to the hearth at night."
57
Perhaps their women may at first have felt, what Mrs. Heman's puts for them into
her song,
"But oh! the gray church tower,
And the sound of the Sabbath-bell,
And the sheltered garden-Bower,
We have bid them all farewell!"
Whatever some of them may have felt they soon here made new homes, apparently,
with no regrets. The women and girls soon had their beautiful flower grounds,
and all, Catholic and Lutheran alike, had their chapels and churches and bells.
Instead of chasing the elk the boys found plenty of deer and wolves to chase,
and some of them made good hunters in our woods.*
Many pioneer families came into Lake County in the years of 1838 and 1839, but
their names were not found on the Claim Register as its entries did not extend
over these years, and it would be quite impracticable to collect many of these
names now.
In placing these few hundred names upon this record as pioneers in North-Western
Indiana the names of men who came, for the most
part, with their women and children, into this then wild region, it is
recognized that there were also many others whose names, by some means, have not
reached these pages, who were also true and worthy pioneers, doing well their
part in laying here the foundations for the pros-
__________
*It was my lot to spend one night In August, 1838, at the home of the large Hack
family on "Prairie West," and after "the shades of night" had fallen the family
assembled in their door-yard, around a cheerful blaze, and sang the songs of
their old homes. They were from one of those Rhine
provinces that passed from France to Germany, then
Prussia, and those old songs were new and strange to my young ears. T. H. B.
58
perity which we now enjoy; and their descendants who may not find their names on
these few pages, will surely see the impossibility of any one's now securing
every name of the settlers between 1830 and 1840, and also they may be sure that
to the whole body of our pioneers, the known and the unknown, every rightminded
person must feel that, as this century closes, we owe a large debt of grateful
remembrance.
Many of the "squatter" families, indeed very many, passed in a few years to the
regions further west (these were of a restless class, people who loved frontier
life), and there as here helped to prepare the way for the railroad life, the
modern life, of this our day. They followed the Indians and the deer toward the
setting sun, they tried the large western prairies, and the mountain region, and
at last the Pacific slope, but the railroads followed them along, and they rest
now where the steam whistles blow but do not disturb their slumbers.
Note. -- From evidence of different varieties it
is concluded that fully one-half of the early settlers passed out of Lake County
between 1840 and 1850.
TREATIES AND SURVEYS.
In 1818 a treaty with the Indians was made at St. Mary's in accordance with
which a large tract of land in central Indiana was
purchased and this included at its northern limit what became White County and a
part of Jasper. By the terms of another treaty made in 1826 quite a portion of
what became Pulaski County was purchased. Some surveys were made in these
purchases in 1821 and 1828, but as early as 1821 only a small part of the
southeast corner of Pulaski
59
was surveyed. As elsewhere stated the eastern part of
the ten-mile strip was purchased in 1821 and the western part in 1826. This
narrow strip was surveyed, the larger part in 1829, and the extreme eastern
portion in 1830. The purchase made in 1832, at Tippecanoe, was surveyed in 1834.
Men employed in this survey were, Burnside, Sibley, Clark, Smith, Biggs, Van
Ness, Hanna, Goodnow, Morris, Kent.
LAND SALES.
Land sales were held at Crawfordsville for White County in 1829, 1830, and in
October, 1832. The Ten-Mile purchase was also offered for sale in 1832. For
Pulaski County, land sales were held at Winamac in September, 1838, in March,
1839, and in March, 1841. Indian Creek Township was one of the earliest settled
parts of that county. It contained some twenty families in 1840.
The lands of Lake County came into market in 1839. The land office was at La
Porte. It was afterwards removed to Winamac, where Lake County settlers at
length went to enter land, finding a place to cross the Kankakee, passing
through a wet region, and going by the White-post. It was considered a trying
horseback trip.
There were land sales also at Logansport in October, 1831, according to General
Packard's history, when the "Michigan Road Lands," on which the city of La Porte
now stands, were sold and bought.
In 1832 there were land sales at La Fayette. Land in La Porte County was bought
this year, and there being then no pre-emption law, speculators, those ruthless
men, overbid the settlers. Says General
60
Packard: "This occurred in many instances where the
settlers had expended all their means in making improvements. Much of the land
thus situated and located in New Durham, went as high as five and six dollars
per acre." The settlers were not prepared to pay but one dollar and a quartet
per acre. Before the land sales of 1839 the citizens of Lake County had
organized a Squatters' Union in which they bound themselves to stand by each
other in purchasing their land at the government price. The second article of
their constitution said, "That if Congress should neglect or refuse to pass a
law, before the land on which we live is offered for sale, which shall secure to
us our rights, we will hereafter adopt such measures as may be necessary
effectually to secure each other in our just claims." And they did this.
Speculators did not bid against five hundred united, determined, and probably
armed men.
In Porter County lands came into market in 1835.
NAVIGATION OF
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900
FRONT MATTER AND DEDICATION
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
- GENERAL OUTLINES
CHAPTER 2
- THE INDIANS
CHAPTER 3
- THE EARLY SETTLERS
CHAPTER 4
- WHAT THE EARLY SETTLERS FOUND
CHAPTER 5
- PIONEER LIFE
CHAPTER 6
- COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 7
- OUR LAKES AND STREAMS
CHAPTER 8
- LAKE MICHIGAN WATER SHED
CHAPTER 9
- TOWNSHIP AND STATISTICS
CHAPTER
10 - RAILROAD LIFE
CHAPTER
11 - POLITICAL HISTORY
CHAPTER
12 - THE WAR RECORD
CHAPTER
13 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER
14 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER
15 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER
16 - SUNDAY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER
17 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEWTON AND JASPER
CHAPTER
18 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WHITE, PULASKI AND STARKE
CHAPTER
19 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LAKE
CHAPTER
20 - VILLAGES AND TOWNS OF PORTER
CHAPTER
21 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LA PORTE
CHAPTER
22 - EARLY TRAVELS
CHAPTER
23 - PUBLIC SCHOOLS
CHAPTER
24 - PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
CHAPTER
25 - LIBRARIES
CHAPTER
26 - OTHER INDUSTRIES
CHAPTER
27 - SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER
28 - THE KANKAKEE REGION
CHAPTER
29 - DRAINING MARSHES
CHAPTER
30 - ANIMALS AND PLANTS
CHAPTER
31 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER
32 - COURT HOUSES
CHAPTER
33 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
CHAPTER
34 - BIRTH PLACES OF PIONEERS
CHAPTER
35 - McCARTY
CHAPTER
36 - ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE
CHAPTER
37 - ALTITUDES
CHAPTER
38 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER
39 - SOME STATISTICS
CHAPTER
40 - WEATHER RECORD
CONCLUSION
Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, April 2012