History of Lake, Porter, and LaPorte, 1927County history published by the Historians' Association . . . .
Source Citation:
Cannon, Thomas H., H. H. Loring, and Charles J. Robb. 1927.
History of
the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana, Embracing the Counties of Lake,
Porter and LaPorte: An Historical Account of Its People and Its Progress
from the Earliest Times to the Present.
Volume I. Indianapolis, Indiana: Historians' Association. 840 p.
HISTORY OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA
CHAPTER IX.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND PIONEERS -- COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
INDIANA -- CREATION AND LAPORTE COUNTY -- LAPORTE MADE COUNTY SEAT -- FIRST
COUNTY OFFICIALS -- DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN CITY AND LAPORTE -- ATTEMPTS TO
CHANGE COUNTY SEAT -- EARLY SETTLERS -- CREATION OF PORTER AND LAKE COUNTIES
-- PORTERSVILLE (VALPARAISO) MADE COUNTY SEAT OF PORTER COUNTY -- FIRST
OFFICIALS -- EARLY SETTLERS -- MARGARET JANE (BRYANT) BLACKSTONE -- COUNTY
COURT HOUSE -- LAKE COUNTY BEFORE ORGANIZATION -- EARLY SETTLERS --
ORGANIZATION OF LAKE COUNTY -- FIRST OFFICIALS -- COUNTY COURT HOUSE --
SUPERIOR COURT HOUSE, HAMMOND.
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INDIANA.
As explained in another chapter, Indiana formed a part of the French domain called New France, but at the Treaty of Paris of 1763, with other French posts it was ceded to the English and became a part of the United States at the close of the Revolutionary war. The entire area west of Pennsylvania, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River was established in July, 1787, as the North West Territory. Some of the colonists had claims to the possession of parts of this territory but New York in 1782, Virginia in 1784, Mississippi in 1785 and Connecticut in 1786 ceded these claims to Congress. September 13, 1787, an ordinance was passed for the management and government of the territory, which provided it should be divided into not less than three nor more than five states and these should always remain a part of the United States and their form of government should be republican and in none of them should slavery exist. This ordinance provided that the land should not be taken up by white settlers until it had been purchased from the Indians and offered for sale by the United States and that no property qualifications should be required for voting or holding office. The provision for excluding slavery is largely credited to the efforts of Dr. Manasseh Cutler of Massachusetts.
On May 7, 1800, all of the territory west of Ohio was set apart as the Indiana territory and Harrison was appointed governor with Vincennes as the capitol. Instructions were to maintain a peaceful and conciliatory attitude with the Indians but to use every effort to obtain government title
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to their lands in exchange for annuities, and he was to aid in every way in opening the territory to settlers. Under the law of 1799 settlers were permitted to purchase land on long terms for $2 per acre in tracts as large as 320 acres. The question of slavery became the paramount issue of the day in the new territory and many citizens determined on early action to prevent any possibility of slavery existing north of the Ohio as the indenture law in 1807 passed by the territorial legislature seemed intended to at least partially nullify the ordinance of 1787 which denied slavery in the North West territory. In 1810 a repeal act was introduced in the territorial legislature and bitterly contested. It had a safe majority in the house but the vote was a tie in the council and President James Beggs cast the deciding vote in favor of repeal and thus slavery in any form was prevented in Indiana.
On January 24, 1803, Wayne County was set apart from the Indiana territory and two years later became the territory of Michigan. Its boundaries were defined as east of a north and south line in the eastern boundary of Lake Michigan and north of an east and west line of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan. How little thought was given to the future in defining this boundary line was shown when we consider that if these boundaries were permitted to exist Indiana would have been wholly deprived of its Lake shore and some of its most important cities would be now in Michigan, including Michigan City, South Bend, Elkhart and others. Although Michigan City received its name from its location on Lake Michigan, its citizens were in full belief for some years that the city was a part of Michigan. This boundary line was changed when Indiana became a state, its north line being fixed due east and west ten miles north of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, and this boundary was maintained although it was contested by Michigan for many years.
LAPORTE COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
The Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana consists of the counties of Lake, Porter, and La Porte — all of them bordering on the south shore of Lake Michigan. The act creating La Porte County was approved January 9, 1832, and to be effective April 1st. As originally constituted, it was nearly square, twenty-two by twenty-one miles, with its northwest corner some miles out in Lake Michigan, but changes in boundary by the addition of Van Buren Township from Starke County in 1842, increased the area of the county to about 562 square miles — the original area being about one hundred miles less. By the act of creation, Samuel Works of Allen County, Isaac Coleman of Fountain City, Andrew Ingram of Clinton County, Levi Thornton of Tippecanoe County, and Merritt S. Craig of Ripley County, were appointed commissioners to fix the seat of justice in the new county. The name of the county is a French word meaning “the door,” or “the
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gateway,” and had reference to a natural opening in the timber leading from one part of the prairie to another.
With the development of the county, Michigan City and LaPorte made pronounced strides in population and business. The location of Michigan City was due to the desire of Indiana for a lake harbor and the general impression existed that a good natural harbor could not be found on the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan. In a treaty made with the Pottawattomies in 1826, the Indians ceded to the government, land for a road one hundred feet wide and in addition one section of good land contiguous to said road for each mile of road from Lake Michigan through Indianapolis to the Ohio River, and the next Congress passed the land cession over to Indiana. The State promptly accepted the donation and in 1828 appointed John McDonald of Daviess County, Chester Elliot of Warwick and John D. Neely of Gibson, as commissioners to survey and mark the road. The commissioners were further instructed to examine the Lake Michigan shore and determine where the best harbor could be had and also the best site for a commercial town near said harbor; the understanding being that the road should extend to Indianapolis from the harbor site selected. A site near the mouth of Trail Creek was found to be the best for a commercial town and the mouth of the creek presented the best harbor possibilities. In 1830 actual construction on the road began and it was open to Logansport in 1831 and completed in 1833.
In October, 1830, the lands in the ten-mile strip north of the southern limit of the lake shore were offered for sale at the Crawfordsville land office and Major Elston, a land speculator, bought at $1.25 per acre, the northwest quarter of Section 29, township 38 North, Range 4 West, which contained the mouth of Trail Creek. Elston’s entry was the thirteenth in LaPorte County — the first entry having been made by Eber Woolman on Hudson Lake. Later in November. Elston purchased an additional tract — the west half of the northeast quarter of the same section. In May, 1831, he entered the southwest quarter of the section and a short time after entered the southeast quarter of the same section. The state made provision in 1831 to pay the road contractors in scrip, redeemable in Michigan road land. James and A. P. Andrew, brothers, who had a road contract for fifteen miles, took advantage of the redemption provision and founded LaPorte. The state commissioners found strong claims made for both Michigan City and LaPorte for the location of the county seat, but the central location of LaPorte unquestionably was the deciding factor in having the commissioners decide on LaPorte as the seat of justice. This did not end the matter. Michigan City began to grow and soon became an important influence in the affairs of the county, and a strong sentiment was created in favor of removing the seat of justice to Michigan City.
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In the history of LaPorte County by Rev. E. D. Daniels, we find that in 1845 and again in 1847, the controversy became acute, and the removal of the county seat from LaPorte to Michigan City became a party question in politics. The democratic legislative candidates favored the removal and on this issue won the election. No legislative action took place at that time, but the controversy continued and finally assumed definite form in 1895, when a bill was introduced into the Legislature providing for the establishment of a circuit court to have jurisdiction over the counties of Lake, LaPorte and Porter, and holding session in Hammond, Valparaiso and Michigan City. The proposed court was to have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court, except in actions involving title to real estate, probation of wills, settlement of estates of deceased persons and guardianships. An emergency was declared to exist in the act which provided for the appointment of a judge by the governor, to serve until a regular election was held.
The passage of the bill met great opposition from the citizens of LaPorte, and as a result of a meeting held in the rooms of the business men’s club at LaPorte. a non-partisan committee consisting of Hon. E. H. Scott, William A. Banks, John C. Richter, Mayor F. R. Carson, W. A. Martin, O. G. Fox, Amos Sarber, E. F. Michael, and John W. Ludlow, were selected to go to Indianapolis and oppose the passage of the bill. Resolutions against it were passed at the meeting and sent to the members of the Legislature from this section. The bill was passed by the Legislature, but vetoed by the governor, who said in his veto message it may mean great expense, including the cost of a courthouse and jail, and said as to the convenience which would result from the new court, “that any one going to law must expect to suiter inconvenience.” The bill was passed over the governor’s veto, and the governor appointed John E. Cass as judge of the court, and he served until 1896, when H. B. Tuthill, an attorney of the very highest standing, was elected. A later Legislature amended the act so that the superior court of Michigan City now enjoys concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court in all actions.
The first election for county officers was held on April 9, 1832. All voters east of the range line between ranges 2 and 3 voted at the house of Nathan B. Nichols, and all those west of the range line voted at the house of Arba Heald. The election was in charge of Benjamin McCarty, appointed by Governor Noble, to act as sheriff. The returns made at the house of Jacob Miller two days later showed the election of Jacob Miller and Judah Learning as associate judges; Elijah II. Brown, Isaac Morgan and C. W. Brown as county commissioners, and John Thomas as clerk and recorder. The total number of votes cast was 55, the eastern section, including LaPorte, casting 30 votes and the western section, including Michigan City, casting 25 votes. The county commissioners met and
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divided the county into three townships — New Durham, Scipio and Kankakee — and also ordered that elections be held in each township on the 16th of the following June. In Kankakee Township the votes were cast at the house of N. B. Nickols with John Wills for inspector, in Scipio Town-ship at the house of Capt. A. P. Andrew, with A. P. Andrew for inspector, and in New Durham Township at the house of Elisha Newhall, with Elisha Newhall for inspector.
The board also appointed Benjamin McCarty to be commissioner of the Three Per Cent Fund; William Clark, county surveyor; Jesse Morgan, assessor of taxable property; and Aaron Stanton, county treasurer. John Barnett was appointed constable for New Durham Township and Joseph P. Osborne for Scipio Township. At a later session of the commissioners, Andrew Burnside was appointed county treasurer instead of Aaron Stanton. In 1833 Charles Ives who had been appointed county agent by the commissioners was directed to sell the lots donated for the use of public buildings, and the commissioners ordered that hereafter all elections for Scipio Township shall be held at the town LaPorte where the courts of said county were then located. In August, 1833, a contract was made by the county commissioners consisting of Elijah H. Brown, Daniel Jessup and Alexander Blackburn, with Simon G. Bunce for the building of a courthouse of brick construction, forty feet square, and to be located in the center of the public square at LaPorte, and to cost $3,975. It was a very attractive building architecturally, with a cupola three stories in height and a much more pretentious courthouse than most of the counties enjoyed at that time.
Few counties in the state received accessions to its population more rapidly in its first five years than did LaPorte. It possessed a soil of unsurpassed richness and the prairie section produced bounteous crops. It is held by many that the first bona fide settlement was made in New Durham County but this has been vigorously disputed with the claim that the first real settlement took place in Hudson Township in 1828. Here a Baptist mission was the center around which the settlement gathered and here Asa M. Warren came in 1829. Records show that when he came to Hudson he found a mission house erected there and a school well attended and in full operation, taught by Robert Simmerwell. It was a branch of the Carey mission near Niles, Michigan.
The first settlement in New Durham County was made near the town of Westville on March 15, 1829, by Henry Clyburn and his wife, with the widow of Stephen Benedict and her children. Building a cabin, Mr. Clyburn went to Niles, Michigan, for supplies and there met William Eahart and Samuel Johnson and told them of the beautiful country which he had chosen for his home. They were interested and a little later the same year they came and built cabins near Clyburn’s. Next in the same year
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came Jacob Inglewright, followed by Charles and James Whittaker and John S. Jessup. On the 16th of July, 1829, occurred the birth of the first white child born in the county. Her name was Elizabeth Miriam and she was a daughter of Henry and Sarah Clyburn. Each year saw gradually increasing numbers of settlers arriving and taking up claims in the most favorable sections of the county.
In 1832 Rev. James Armstrong, the pioneer Methodist preacher, arrived. In 1833 a school was opened in the Westville settlement taught by “Aunt Sally,” wife of William Eahart. The first settlers in Scipio Township were Adam Keith and his wife, his sister, his brother-in-law, Lewis Shurley, and Shurley’s mother. They arrived on the 6th day of July, 1829, and entered a claim on Section 9. The family were originally from Pennsylvania, although they had lived in Ohio for a short time before moving to LaPorte County. On October 10, 1829, Lewis Shurley was born, the first male white child born in the county. On May 13, 1830, occurred the first death among the settlers. Elizabeth Keith, wife of Adam Keith, passed away.
On the site of the city of LaPorte there were three houses built of logs occupied by George Thomas, Richard Harris and Wilson Malone, when the Andrews brothers visited the county to select land for the scrip received on their road contract. As several others desired to join Andrews in his location plans, General Wilson, at the Michigan Road Land Sales at Logansport in October, 1831, bid in the land for them, as the Andrews brothers and their associates desired to lay out a town which would be the capitol of the new county. The Black Hawk scare delayed them in carrying out their plans for a short time but in the summer of 1832, A. P. Andrews purchased a steam engine and the machinery for a saw mill at Cincinnati and, by way of the Wabash to Lafayette and overland to LaPorte, the machinery reached its destination.
At this time Elston, the Andrews brothers and Joseph Orr of Putnam County, conceived the idea of a railroad from Michigan City to Lafayette, having water transportation at both terminals. They interested a number of other settlers in the proposition but were unable to finance it at that time and it was twenty years later before a railroad was in operation in the county. The first cabin built in Kankakee Township was put up on Section 18 by Phillip Fail in the fall of 1830. On October 30th, Benajah S. Fail was born. It was maintained for some time that he was the first white child born in the county but an investigation has determined that Elizabeth M. Clyburn and Lewis Shurley preceded them. New settlements continued to increase in size and more settlers were constantly arriving and the county commissioners decided to form some new townships.
Michigan Township was created September 4, 1833, Center Township on November 5, 1833, and Pleasant Township on March 3, 1831. On Janu-
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ary 6, 1835, on petition of Judah Learning and others, Springfield Township was created, and in 1836 Galena, Clinton, Noble, Pleasant and Coolspring were formed. A short time later Union, Lincoln and Johnson were created. In 1842 Van Buren Township, which had been a part of Starke County, was attached to LaPorte County. Out of Van Buren Township in 1848, Cass Township was formed and from time to time as the population increased other townships were created. In 1859 an effort was made to form a new county to be called Lynn from territory taken from Porter and LaPorte counties and Michigan City was to be the county seat of the new county. Although thousands signed the petition for the change, commissioners from both Porter and LaPorte counties decided against it.
PORTER COUNTY.
Porter and Lake counties were created by an act of the Legislature which was approved January 28, 1836, and to be effective on February 1st. Porter county was named after Commodore David Porter of the United States navy. A later act approved January 18, 1837, set Lake aside as a separate county from Porter. The commissioners named in the act of 1836 to establish the seat of justice for Porter County, were Joel Long of Kosciusko County, Matthias Dawson and Judah Learning of LaPorte County, Andrew Williamson of Fountain. City, and William L. Earle of St. Joseph County. The majority of the commissioners, consisting of Messrs. Earle, Dawson and Learning, met on June 7th, as requested in the act, and located the county seat at Portersville, now Valparaiso. There was no opposition to the action of the commissioners as the location was in every way desirable and the donations by landowners and citizens were generous and included $1,200 in money, a considerable sum at that period and represented by bonds to guarantee the payment. The contributors who signed the bonds were Benjamin McCarty, Enoch McCarty, John Walker, William Walker, L. L. Hillis, John Saylor, James Hutchins, George Cline, A. S. Campbell, Isaac Morgan, Charles G. Minick, Thomas Butler, G. Z. Salyer, and Ruel Starr.
Governor Nobel appointed Benjamin Saylor sheriff, with power to organize the county by calling an election for judges of the probate court, county commissioners, recorder and clerk, and an election was accordingly held on February 23, 1836, in which Jesse Johnson was elected probate judge; Seneca Ball and James Blair associate judges; Cyrus Spurlock, recorder; George W. Turner, clerk; Benjamin N. Spencer, Noah Fowts and John Seffon, commissioners. The county commissioners met on April 12, 1836, at the house of C. A. Ballard, in Portersville, and divided the county into ten townships: Jackson, Washington, Pleasant, Boone, Centre, Liberty, Waverly, Portage, Union and Lake. George Cline was appointed assessor for the northern part of the county and Peter Ritter for the
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southern part of the county. John Adams was appointed assessor for the attached territory on the west, later Lake County. The early attention of the commissioners was called to the necessity for good road communication with LaPorte, Michigan City and other growing centers of business and with the assistance of the state through the distribution of the Three Per Cent Fund, measures were taken to this effect.
Section 9 of the act relating to state roads approved February 6, 1837, provided that Daniel M. Lea of LaPorte County, William Frakes of Porter County and William Hatton of Lake County be appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a state road from the town of LaPorte in LaPorte County to the town of Portersville in Porter County, and thence west to the seat of justice in Lake County to the Illinois line. To carry out the road project the commissioners levied as heavy a tax as the citizens could bear and although the cost of building roads at this period was not high, their construction was a great drain on the resources of the settlers. Before the regular establishment of the county and while the territory was under the jurisdiction of the LaPorte County officials, local civil government was introduced through the action of the commissioners of LaPorte County in March 1835, who located Waverly, Morgan and Ross townships. They also ordered an election in each of the three townships for two justices of the peace and other township officers.
A good idea of the population of the territory at this period is shown in the number of votes cast at the different township elections. In Waverly Township thirty-two votes were polled. John J. Foster and Elizah Casteel were elected justices of the peace; Owen Crumpacker and Jacob Beck, constables; Eli Hendricks, superintendent of roads; Jesse Morgan and William Fram. overseers of the poor; Alexander Crawford and Edmund Tratebas, fence viewers. Twenty-six votes were cast in Morgan Township. Adams S. Campbell and George Cline were chosen justices of the peace; T. A. E. Campbell and Jones Frazee, constables; Henry Rinker, supervisor of roads; Reason Belle, Sr., and Jacob Coleman, overseers of the poor; Benjamin Taylor and Jacob Coleman, fence viewers. Ross Township is now the county of Lake and the election returns are not available.
Joseph Bailly, of Bailly Town, appears to have been the first white man to establish a permanent home in Porter County in 1822. In 1833 Jesse Morgan came from Virginia and located a short distance southeast of the present town of Chesterton and his house became a sort of station of the Chicago and Detroit state line operated by Converse and Reeves, and was widely known as the “stage house.” William and Isaac Morgan, brothers of Jesse, who came with him to Porter County, settled in Washington Township on what became known as Morgan prairie. Other settlers in 1833 were Adams S. Campbell from Chautauqua County, New York; Rea-
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son Bell of Wayne County, Ohio; George B. Cline of Union County, Indiana, and Henry S. Adams of Jefferson County, Ohio. Mr. Adams was accompanied by his mother, his wife, and three daughters. Seth Hull located on the site of Chiqua’s Town in Centre Township, but he later moved to Illinois and sold his claim to J. S. Wallace. Samuel Flint established himself at Prattville in Washington Township.
The following year, 1834, occurred the birth of the first white child in the county, Reason Bell, Jr. A month later, Hannah, daughter of Jesse Morgan, was born in Westchester Township. Early in the year, J. P. Ballard built the first house on the site of Valparaiso. A. K. Paine located in Jackson Township. The Gosset brothers, Thomas and William, located in Westchester Township. William Thomas, Sr., Jacob Beck, John Hageman, John I. Foster, William Frame, and Pressley Warnick also selected claims in Westchester Township and brought their families and estab¬lished homes there. Jacob Coleman, James Blair, Isaac Werninger, Ruel Starr and James Baum located in Washington Township. Joseph Bartholomew, Henry Adams, George, Jacob and John Schultz, also Benjamin Spencer, settled in Morgan Township. Owen Crumpacker of Union County, Indiana, became the first settler in Liberty Township and William Downing, Jerry Todhunter, Elijah Casteel, Peter Ritter and Thomas Clark also located in Liberty Township in 1834.
In 1835 the first sale of Porter County public lands was held in LaPorte which attracted a large number of prospective settlers. R. Cornell, Eli Hendricks and a number of others purchased land and settled in Westchester Township and Judge Jesse Johnson, Isaac Cornell and Simeon Bryant located in Boone Township. A large number of new settlers came into Washington Township and N. S. Fairchild, Archie DeMunn, Charles Allen, Josiah Allen, Rinier Blachley, Morris Witham, William Billings, Lewis Comer and a number of others with their families settled in Morgan Township. William Barnard and Benjamin Malsby and many other settlers increased the population of Jackson Township this year. William Trinkle, John Jones, and William Sherwood made the opening locations in Pleasant Township. Newton Frame, Samuel and Isaac Campbell, C. Isaac Edwards, Jacob Wolf, Elder French, and David Hurlburt and many others located in Porter Township. Union and Portage townships received a number of settlers this year while prospective settlers were looking over the county for suitable location before bringing their families.
The Hoosier’s Nest, a settlement on the old Sac trail, was established by Thomas Snow. The first list of men summoned to appear as jurors of the first term of circuit court of Porter County were William Thomas, Samuel Olinger, William Gosset, Joseph Wright, Samuel Haviland, James Walton, Asahel Neal, James Spurlock, John Bartholomew, Thomas Adams, Reason Bell, Peter Cline, Royal Benton, William Clark, William Trinkle,
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Robert Wilkinson, J. Todhunter, W. Snavely, William Downing, Elijah Casteel, Asaliel K. Paine, Jesse Morgan, Henry S. Adams, Lewis Comer, John Jones, Charles Allen, David Bryant, Solon Robinson, R. Frazier, Joseph Willey, Richard Henthorne, William Brim, Theophilus Blake, Wilson Malone, Isaac Morgan, Warner Winslow, Adam S. Campbell, Jesse Johnson, William Frame, Abraham Stoner, James Ross, and John McConnell.
The first session of the circuit court was held in Portersville October, 1836, at the house of John Saylor. Judge Samuel C. Sample sat with great dignity behind a deal table on which were placed a few law books. The first case called went by default as the plaintiff failed to put in an appearance. The grand jury strolled out of the small court room and held their deliberations under a large oak tree on the site of the T. B. Miller Block. A fire was built beneath the tree for the comfort of the jury. In 1837 John Taylor built a house on the site of the Empire Block in Portersville. Subscriptions amounting to $1,250 were raised to build a frame courthouse and a jail in 1837, and the courthouse was located west of the square in Portersville, now Valparaiso, but the county jail built of logs was erected on Mechanics Street, southeast of the square, in 1838.
MARGARET JANE (BRYANT) BLACKSTONE.
On April 16, 1837, occurred the birth of the first white child in Porter County after the organization of the county, a daughter, Margaret Jane, being born to Simeon Bryant and Elizabeth (McCaully) Bryant of Indian Town near Hebron. Her early childhood was spent among the Indians, the nearest white family living four miles distant. Margaret Jane Bryant married John King Blackstone, February 11, 1858, and was the mother of five children, the eldest, Mary, died in infancy. A son, Dr. William Blackstone, now deceased, resided at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and had one daughter, Lillian Belle Blackstone. Another son, Dr. John King Blackstone, resides at Crown Point, Indiana, and has one daughter, Ella Anita Blackstone. A daughter Lillian Turner, now deceased, lived at Hammond, Indiana, and left one daughter, Mrs. Margaret Anderson, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The third son, Benjamin Blackstone, resides at Gary, Indiana. Ella Anita Blackstone, grand-daughter of Margaret Jane Bryant Blackstone, records some interesting experiences in the life of her grandmother and which throws light on the general experiences of the early settlers. Miss Blackstone says:
“I have often heard my grandmother tell of a perilous experience with the Indians. In the absence of her father, old Chief Shaw-ne-Quoke, of the Pottawattomie tribe, came to the house, took a piece of chalk, made a circle with it on the floor and said in the Indian language that five miles around belonged to the Indians and ordered her mother to leave at once. He
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approached her with uplifted knife. She screamed and sprang to the other side of the room. The scream aroused two large dogs that were, contrary to orders, sleeping under the bed. They attacked the Indian savagely and thus defeated his murderous intention. At another time, in the absence of the family, some Indians came and were trying her father’s gun and inspecting things in general. Catherine Sadoris, a hired girl, came home while they were there. Just as she came around the corner of the house an Indian raised a gun to look through the sights. The girl supposed that he intended to shoot her and ran for her life. They tried to make her understand that they did not intend to harm her, but she ran like a deer and disappeared in the woods. The Indians told the family of the incident on their return and they searched for her but she was not found until the next day when she said she had no intention of returning, as she supposed the family were all slain. The girl stated that in the night seven deer came up to her but she felt no fear excepting for the Indians.
As a rule the Indians were very civil and peaceable and gave but little trouble; yet they were suspicious and jealous and it was not safe for a white man to show any favoritism. Her father would get a bag of turtles and instead of distributing one to this squaw or that buck, he would summon them to him, scatter the turtles, and then let the Indians scamper for them. The Indians would only annoy you by coming to you for food as long as you would furnish them. If in a good humor, they would salute you with ‘Bo zu Nick,’ — ‘How do you do, friend?’ Dancing was a favorite amusement with the Indians. With a drum made of an empty keg, having a raw hide head and gourds containing beans or pebbles, they made music to suit the savage heart and tickle the savage ear, and move the savage feet through the mazes of the dance, or rather to shake their savage bodies, for in dancing the Indians seldom moved the feet but shook themselves to the time of the barbarous music. It amused them exceedingly to see the whites skip around over the floor in dancing. This seemed to them highly improper and undignified.
The Indian mothers mourned over their dead children by blackening their faces and by cooking and eating food over their graves. They often buried the papooses in hollows in logs. When living, the babes were tied upon boards to make them straight. These boards with the babies on them, the squaws would stand against the fence or house while they went to beg. Her mother would give the squaws yarn or cloth of bright colors as they liked anything flashy. Once in the absence of the family the Indians painted an Indian in war dress on a board and left it at the door. This was a threat of hostility but no acts of violence followed. The first school house was built in 1837. It was of logs and was used five or six years. After this school was held in a vacant house on her father’s farm. It was 18x20 feet in size and had no fireplace. There was a hearth and
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jamb of mud and the chimney of mud and sticks was built on projecting timbers of a man’s height. To this chimney through the intervening air the smoke must find its way of exit but as may be imagined, it often failed to find the chimney and spread through the room filling it and the eyes of the pupils. The Methodists held their first meetings at her father’s home. They organized a society in 1837 under the direction of Rev. Jacob Calchasier as the first minister.” Margaret Jane (Bryant) Blackstone was a woman of high ideals, beloved by everyone, and fate chose that she be born, married and die in the same old homestead. Her death occurred January 10, 1914.
NEW COURTHOUSE AND COUNTY ASYLUM.
The old frame courthouse erected by subscription in 1837 shortly proved inadequate for the county’s needs, although it was used until 1850. In that year a new brick courthouse, 40x60 feet, was commenced and completed in 1853 at a cost of $13,000, and as the population of the county increased, additions were made to the original building. In 1883 the commissioners accepted plans submitted by J. C. Cochrane, a Chicago architect, and awarded the contract for the construction of a new courthouse to cost $125,909 to John D. Wilson.
The cornerstone of the new courthouse was laid with appropriate ceremonies on October 24, 1883, under the auspices of Porter Lodge No. 137, Free and Accepted Masons. A general holiday was observed and seven Masonic lodges, several commanderies of Knights Templars, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with other local organizations and a number of brass bands participated in the exercises. The dimensions of the courthouse are 128x98 feet, and 168 feet to the top of the dome. It consists of two stories and basement. The outer walls are limestone from Elletsville, Indiana. Thirty thousand dollars in excess of the original contract were expended in addition to the amount of the contract so that the total cost of the building finished ready for occupancy was $157,348.10.
In 1855 the county commissioners purchased from William C. Pennock for $3,000, 120 acres of land for a poor farm and shortly afterwards commissioners contracted with George C. Buel to erect a frame house, 32x45 feet, on the land purchased, the building to cost $2,482. In 1886 eighty additional acres of land was added to the farm at a cost of $3,200 and still later purchased about forty acres additional. In 1905 the commissioners erected a new building costing $25,000 on the county farm tract and the institution thereafter became known as the County Infirmary. Also an additional sum of $4,000 was spent in erecting a barn and the County Asylum as it is now called is one of the best appointed institutions in northern Indiana. Insane persons as well as the poor are now cared for in this institution.
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LAKE COUNTY BEFORE ORGANIZATION.
It is generally accepted that the Bennett family, who opened a tavern on the beach of Lake Michigan near the mouth of the old Calumick, was the first white family to locate in Lake County. Their little wayside inn stood upon the site of the later Calumet City location. Soon after another log cabin stage hotel was opened on the Lake Shore road by the Berry family. The house was afterwards maintained by Hannah Berry and the name is still preserved in Berry Lake. In 1833 William Ross raised a crop of corn on Terra Coupee Prairie and while he was preceded by the Bennett family in their wayside inn, Ross is generally recognized as the first actual settler. In June, 1834, William B. Crooks and Samuel Miller located a timber and mill claim near the home of Ross and near the mouth of Turkey Creek. Mr. Crooks later became prominent in public affairs, being elected associate judge of Lake County in 1837. In the same month, June, William Butler made four claims on what is now the town site of Crown Point: one for George Wells, one for Theodore Wells, one for his brother, E. P. Butler, and the fourth for himself, and erected cabins on the claims. In September, 1834, Richard Fancher, Charles Wilson, Robert Wilkinson (afterwards Judge Wilkinson) and two nephews of the latter, located near the shores of Red Cedar Lake. They were shortly joined by Dr. Thomas Brown who located his claim on the west shore of the Lake.
In October, 1834, Thomas Childers filed a claim on Deep River and Luman A. Fowler, Robert Wilkinson and Solon Robinson took up land on the banks of the same stream. A short time later Fowler and Henry Wells purchased the Butler claims. William Clark, with his family of seven, and J. W. and W. A. W. Holton, whose families together consisted of seven members, joined Solon Robinson and established locations near him. This was the beginning of Crown Point. In December, 1834, Jesse Pierce and David Pierce filed claims on both Deep River and Turkey Creek, and the following year, Richard Fancher and Robert Wilkinson, with two nephews, settled on West Creek, northeast of Red Cedar Lake. The Fancher claim included the present county fair grounds. Elias Bryant, E. W. Bryant, Nancy Agnew and Jeremiah Wiggins arrived about the same time. Mr. Wiggins located his claim south of Turkey Creek on a point of land covered with timber which was long known as Wiggins Point.
The Bryant settlement began in the spring of 1835 and it was generally known by the name of Pleasant Grove. There were five Bryants who made locations in the original settlement, but David left the county in 1838 to return at a later period and live with his daughter, Mrs. William Fisher, on Eagle Creek. Simeon Bryant remained a year then moved to Hebron, near Porter County, where his daughter, Margaret Jane Bryant, was born April 16, 1837, and was the first white girl born in Porter
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County, after the organization of the county. Samuel D. Bryant returned to Ohio, and some years later again came to Lake County and bought a farm near South East Grove, but Elias Bryant became a permanent settler at Pleasant Grove. E. Wayne Bryant took great interest in the progress of the settlement and in the fall of 1836 he provided a room for a school where the children in the settlement were taught by Belle Jennings. He also aided in starting a Sunday School for the children in 1838. He built a grist mill which he operated for three years and it was one of the earliest, if not the first, grist mill operated in Lake County.
In 1835, Elias Myrick, William Myrick, Thomas Reed, S. P. Stringham, Aaron Cox, Peter Stainbrook, David Horner, Amos Hornor, Jacob L. Brown, Thomas Wiles, Jesse Bond and Milo Robinson, brother of Solon, became settlers. The members of the Hornor family located claims near Red Cedar Lake in December, 1835. John Wood, Henry Wells, William S. Thornburg, R. Dunham, R. Hamilton, John G. Forbes are recorded as having made claims and it is assumed that they arrived that year. John C. Davis, Henry Frederickson and John B. Chapman laid out the town of Liverpool, which in a short time later became largely the property of George Earle, an Englishman of means, who came with his family from Philadelphia. Mr. Earle, in addition to the Liverpool property, purchased considerable land outside the city site and in a few years this property became very valuable.
John Wood, a Massachusetts miller, located a claim in December, 1835. on the west bank of Deep River near the Porter County line. In 1837 he erected a saw mill on his land and in 1838 put a grist mill in operation and for years he did a large business with the farmers of both Lake and Porter County. The section was originally known as Woods Mill but afterwards became Woodvale. Shortly after the family were established they decided to move to the opposite side of the stream and several generations of the family continued the business which had been established and eventually had a very large flouring mill.
LAKE COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
When Porter County was organized in 1836, the unorganized territory of Lake County was attached to Porter and the people in Lake County were put on the assessment rolls of Porter County, but by act of the Legislature approved January 18, 1837, which amended the act creating Porter and Lake counties in the previous year, Lake County was set aside for organization and John Sailor of Porter County, John B. Niles of LaPorte County, Israel Rush of St. Joseph County, John Newell of Elkhart County, and William Allen of LaPorte County were appointed commissioners to locate the seat of justice.
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The commissioners met in May, 1837, and strong claims were put forward by three settlements for the location. The commissioners decided upon Liverpool which had been laid out the previous year and in which large numbers of lots were sold. This decision met with great dissatisfaction and an appeal was made to the Legislature which appointed another commission consisting of Jesse Tomlinson and Edward Moore of Marion County, Henry Barclay of Pulaski County, Joshua Lindsay of White County, and Daniel Doale of Carroll County to meet and relocate the county seat if in their judgment it was deemed advisable.
The new commissioners met in June, 1840, and found the same situation existing as confronted the first commissioners. The same three settlements of Liverpool, Lake Court House, and West Point, appealed to the commissioners for the county seat location.
Large donations for those days were offered by the friends of each locality but the commissioners decided upon Lake Court House as nearest the center of the county, and where already a log courthouse had been built and where Commissioners’ Court and Circuit Court had been held and where the county officials were residing, notwithstanding that officially Liverpool was the county seat by act of the previous commissioners. The name of Lake Court House was shortly afterwards changed to Crown Point.
March 8, 1837, Henry Wells was commissioned sheriff to supervise an election for county officials to be held at the house of Samuel D. Bryant and E. W. Bryant, inspector; at the house of A. L. Ball, W. S. Thornburg, inspector; and at the house of Russell Eddey, William Clark, inspector. The election resulted in the choice of Solon Robinson, clerk; William A. W. Holton, recorder; William B. Crooks and William Clark, judges; and Amsi L. Ball, Thomas Wiles and S. P. Stringham, county commissioners. At the first meeting of the county commissioners held April 5, 1837, they appointed J. W. Holton county treasurer, and fixed the amount of his bond at $2,000. They appointed Milo Robinson trustee of what was then called the Seminary Fund, the amount of his bond as trustee to be $200, and they appointed him also agent of the Three Per Cent Fund, fixing his bond as agent at $3,000. They also divided Lake County into three townships; North, Centre and South, and two years later the South Township was divided into three townships called West Creek, Cedar Creek and Eagle Creek from the names of the creeks running through them north and south.
In October, 1837, the first term of the Lake Circuit Court opened at the Lake courthouse. Judge Sample presided and Judge Clark was associate justice. There were nine lawyers and thirty cases on the docket for the first term. Mail facilities were very poor and letters costly. The north and east mail was brought from Michigan City, distant about forty miles, and the mail from the west came from Chicago and Joliet, both cities
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being about forty miles distant. The government established several mail routes through the county, the one from LaPorte to Joliet which passed through Lake Court House was taken by H. S. Pelton, and another route from Michigan City to Peoria also passed through Lake Court House.
There was but one regular physician, Doctor Palmer, in the county at this time. Settlers were steadily arriving and in 1838 Solon and Milo Robinson erected a two-story building and a few additional frame buildings were also erected. Eighty-one names are on record as settlers in 1837 and they included Bartlett Woods, and Charles Woods, natives of Winchelsea, England, Hervey Ball and Lewis Warriner of Agawam, Massachusetts; George Flint, Benjamin Farley, Henry Torrey, Joseph Jackson, Henry Sanger, Ephraim Cleveland, William Sherman, A. D. Foster, and the first of the German settlers on Prairie West, John Hack.
John Hack was born in Niederlosheim in the district of Trier (Treves) in the Rhine province and he settled where St. John is now located. Soon after, in 1838, there came from Germany the four families of Joseph Small, Peter Orth, Michael Adler and Matthias Reder, and settled near the large Hack family. They were soon followed by many others who settled in the same district and became the nucleus of the large Catholic settlement in what is now St. Johns Township. In the same year, 1838, Henry Losse, Sr., M. VonHollen and Lewis Herlitz made their homes northwest of Red Cedar Lake and were the pioneers of a large colony of German Lutherans, the district afterwards being set aside as Hanover Township.
Up to 1900, German families and their descendants numbered approximately one-half the population of Lake County. There are still living numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Johann Hack and they are among the most respected citizens of Lake County. German industry, German honesty, German efficiency, have contributed greatly to advance Lake County to its present high standard of development. Germans from Lake County fought in the Mexican war and aided Texas to obtain her liberty and were among the “Forty-niners” to California. In the Civil war the list of Lake County soldiers show a very high percentage of German names.
Religious services were held at Solon Robinson’s house and at Lake Court House and, at Pleasant Grove, the Methodists commenced a formal organization. North of Cedar Lake on Prairie West seven Baptist families were congregated and in 1838 formed the first Baptist society in a log schoolhouse on the west shore of the lake. Elder A. French of Porter County, moderator, led both in prayer and the business proceedings. Among the members was Lewis Warriner who had attained distinction politically in Massachusetts from whence he came. He was the first member elected from Lake County and Porter County to the Indiana Legisla-
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ture in 1839 and also served as United States census enumerator for Lake County, and was again elected to the Legislature in 1848.
Four saw mills were erected in the year 1838 and were known by the names of their builders, Walton’s, Wood’s, Dustin’s and Taylor’s. The Wood mill at Woodvale also furnished a large amount of lumber. The first mill was erected by Wilson S. Harrison in the Spring of 1837 and furnished oak lumber for $15 per 1,000 feet. Bridge building was a source of great expense to the early settlers throughout Indiana on account of the large number of small streams and, in Lake County, it was one of the first and a continuous expenditure on the part of the county and its citizens. Travel through some sections was impossible during the spring and often until mid-summer, as some of the streams had wide marshes, while treacherous quicksands were found in many of the small streams. Two bridges were built in 1838 by Daniel May and Hiram Nordyke, crossing Deep River, a short distance northeast of Lake Court House. The cost of the bridges was $500. Over West Creek near the Wilkinson home a bridge costing $400 was built by N. Hayden; another bridge across Cedar Creek near the home of Lewis Warriner was erected by S. P. Stringham, and R. Wilkinson at a cost of $200. A second bridge across Deep River near the Porter County line was built by Amsi L. Ball at a cost of $400.
The county steadily grew in population and considering the short time it was in existence it made an excellent showing in the census of 1840 taken by L. Warriner, having 1,468 inhabitants.
This Census report was subscribed to on the 7th of October, 1840, before Sylvester T. Green, Justice of Peace, copies of which as certified by Joseph P. Smith and H. S. Pelton had “been set up in two of the most public places within the Division open to the inspection of all concerned.”
The Gary Public Library possesses a photostat copy of the record of this census for Lake County and the names of the heads of families have been transcribed for this volume by members of the Gary Library staff.
The total count shows 1,468 persons in the county in the homes of the 266 heads of families. The total figures show two colored persons (a boy under 10 in the home of Sam’l Cady and a young woman between 12 and 24 in the home of Henry Gibson) and 1,466 white persons, divided as follows:
Males Females
Under 5 years 146 130
5 and under 10 113 99
10 and under 15
118 73
15 and under 20 80 60
20 and under 30 162 118
30 and under 40 107 75
40 and under 50 52 38
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50 and under 60 34 35
60 and under 70 13
8
70 and under 80 3
1
80 and under 90 0
1
Total 828 638
It was indeed a community of young persons, only ninety-five persons past fifty were recorded. The oldest person, an octogenarian, being in the home of Mrs. Susanna Dinwiddie; the four persons recorded as in their seventies were one woman in the home of Hervey Ball (his mother-in-law) and three men in the homes of Stephen Wilcox, Patrick Donovan and Asa Smith. The record shows in the county one blind person and one adult who was deaf and dumb.
Of the 1,468 persons, 508 were recorded as employed in agriculture, sixteen in manufactures and trades, two in commerce (in the households of Joel Brown and Daniel C. Sanborn), and five in the learned professions and engineers in the households of Joseph P. Smith, John Farington, Henry D. Palmer, James A. Wood and Robert Hyde.
Seven schools are recorded with a total of 121 pupils, while on the other side of the educational ledger are seven “white persons over twenty years of age who cannot read or write.”
Two persons are recorded in the household of William Dinwiddie as eligible for pensions for “Revolutionary or military services.”
Of the 266 heads of families, eight are the names of women and these pioneer mothers are here given special mention. In only three of these homes were there boys of fifteen or older to help. There were six in the families of Minerva Brooks and Mary Lindsey, five in the family of Jane Fry, four each in the families of Susanna Dinwiddie and Betsey Deming. three each in the families of Jane Holmes and Sara White and two in the family of Laura Young.
The 266 heads of families are listed below. No attempt has been made to correct mistakes in spelling of names made in the census records. The transcription, however, has been made as carefully as possible, and errors, if any, which may have been made by misreading are regretted.
Benj. Albee, James Anderson, Elijah Andrews, Amasa Aynesworth, Harvey (Hervey?) Ball, Benaiah Barney, Francis Barney, Joseph C. Batten, Isaiah Beebe, Simeon Beedle, Royal Benton, Harbison Bone, John Bothwell, Nelson Bromley, Isaac Bronson, Horatio N. Brooks, Minerva Brooks, A. F. Brown, Joel Brown, Johnathan Brown, Elias Bryant, Eliphalet W. Bryant, Sam’l Bryant, John Bull, Solomon Burnes, Andrew Burnside, E. P. Butler, James Butler, A. G. Butts, Sam’l O. Cady, Morris Carman, Cyril Carpenter, John D. Carpenter, Thomas Childers, Darling Church, Richard Church, Jacob M. Cisle, Jabez Clark, Joseph Clark,
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Joseph A. Clark, Thomas Clark, William Clark, Ephraim Cleveland, Peter Clifford, John Coffman, Dan’l B. Collins, Sam Cook, Elza Copeland, James Corbin, Jesse Cross, Horace Cuningham, Leonard Cutler, Betsey Deming, David B. Dille, Geo. W. Dille, Hiram Dille, Susanna Dinwiddie, William Dinwiddie, Paul Dodge, Patrick Donovan, John Downing, John Driscoll, Ebenezer Dustin, George Earl, Russell Eddy, Horace Edgerton, John Ennes, Linus Ensign, John S. Evins, Abel Fairwell, James Fairwell, M. C. Fairwell, Richard Fancher, Edward Farley, Wm. Farmer, John Farington, Florian Fauglesong, Isaac Finley, Edward Flint, John Foley, Edwin Forbes, A. D. Foster, David Fowler, Jane Fry, James Fuller, Jeduthan G. Fuller, Oliver Fuller, George Firgason, Thomas Garvey, Henry Gibson, Jacob Gilbert, John Gilbert, Miles I. Godfrey, Ephraim Goff, Ashbel Goodrich, Simeon Gorden, Sam’l C. Graves, Joseph Green, Sylvester T. Green, Martin Greenman, Anson Gregg, Charles Gregg, John Grissell, Aaron Hale, Abraham Hathaway, Peter D. Hathaway, Silas D. Plathaway, John Hawkes, Nehemiah Hayden, Charles Hayward, Obadiah Higby, Ephraim Hitchcock, Isaac Hitchcock, Jerome Hixon, Jame Holmes, Warner Holton, Wm. A. W. Holton, Thomas Horner, Elkinah Hoskins, John Hunt, Wm. Hurst, Robert Hyde, Joseph Jackson, Theodore D. Jones, John G. Keller, Wm. Kennison, John Ketchel, Wm. I. Ketchum, John C. Kevian, Charles Kinney, Abrm Lafler, Geo. Leland, Hiram Leland, Mary Lindsey, John Livingston, Henry G. Ludy, Daniel Lynch, Enoch S. McCarty, Alanson McCord, Alex McDaniel, John McLain, Henry Magee, Daniel Mane, Elijah Martin, John II. Martin, Charles Marvin, Cyrus M. Mason, Josiah Mason, Peleg S. Mason, Miles Mattux, Dan’l May, Joseph Meindle, Dennis Mellen, Jacob Mendenhall, Wm. Merrill, Thomas S. Minnis, John Michael, Joseph Morris, Nicholas Myres, Elias Myrick, Wm. Myrick, Cornelius Nafus, John C. Nafus, Abraham Nichols, Wm. A. Nichols, Hiram Nordyke, Brickley Oliver, Peter Orth, Jacob Otis, Elizur D. Owen, Seth Owen, Henry D. Palmer, Gibson Parkison, Wm. W. Payne, Hiran S. Pelton, Abraham Philips, Peter Philips, Jesse Pierce, Miles Pierce, James Powel, John Primes, Christopher Randall, Ransome Rankin, John Reed, Thomas Reed, Jabez Rhodes, Jonas Rhodes, Solon Robinson, Jesse I. Roby, Wm. Rockwell, Wm. Roe, Nathan Salisbury, Daniel C. Sanborn, Adam Sanford, James H. Sanger, John M. Sanger, Leander Sanger, Lorence Sanger, David Sargent, Henry Sasse, Ebenezer Saxton, Charles Sears, Orlando V. Servis, Wm. Sherman, Sam Sigler, Sam, Jun. Sigler, Joseph Small, Asa Smith, Ethan A. Smith, George Smith, John Smith, Joseph P. Smith, Orren Smith, Joseph Spain, H. M. Spalding, Timothy Sprague, Wm. Springmire, Benjamin Stallcup, Michael Steickleman, Charles Stout, Stephen P. Stringham, Asaph Strong, David P. Strong, Peter Surprise, Adonijah Taylor, Horace Taylor, Lewis Tennant, Robert Thompson, Derastus Torrey, Rollo Tozier, Sam’l Turner, Abraham Van Valkinburgh, Jacob Van Valkinburgh, Philip Wagoner, Charles Wal-
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ton, Presley Warnock, Lewis Warriner, Norman Warriner, David Waters, William Watkins, Thomas Watts, Wm. Welch, Henry Wells, Wm. Wells, Sarah White, James C. Wilcox, Stephen Wilcox, Almon Wilder, Reuben Wilder, Reuben Wilder (junior?), Benj. Wilkinson, Robert Wilkinson, George Willey, Charles Wilson, Robert Wilson, Charles Wood, Horace Wood, James A. Wood, John Wood, George A. Woodbridge, James Woodruff, James Wright, Laura Young, Wm. Young, George L. Zabriskie, George Zuvers.
Politically the first election showed the county to be largely democratic and Martin VanBuren was very popular, but Solon Robinson, Leonard Cutler and many others favored the election of General Harrison and he received a large percentage of votes at the Presidential election. Sheep were now brought in from Ohio and in a short time Lake County was quite a wool growing region. They were not always a source of profit, as they were susceptible to diseases which caused great loss. In 1844 the wheat crop was almost a total loss and the farmers were very much discouraged, but they recovered their spirits in the fall when they had a bounteous harvest, but for several years the situation was so discouraging that many farmers left Lake County and went farther west to seek new homes in Illinois.
In 1843 the Methodist Church on West Creek, and a Roman Catholic Church near the present St. John were erected and were the first churches in the county. The old log courthouse was followed in 1850 by a new frame courthouse designed by George Earle of Hobart. It was 67 feet long, 37 feet wide and 27 feet high, with a round cupola and had four large pillars in front. The new courthouse contained a court room, a jury room and a sheriff’s room but other county business was conducted in two small brick structures nearby, one building being devoted to the offices of the clerk and recorder and the other was occupied by the treasurer and auditor. Until its removal in 1880 the courthouse was a center for civic gatherings and many meetings of vital interest to Lake County were held in its court rooms, including many local meetings held during the Civil war.
The demand for a larger courthouse which existed for several years resulted in the erection of a new structure in 1880 at a cost of over $50,000 and two years later a brick jail and sheriff’s residence were built about three blocks distant from the courthouse at a cost of about $25,000. The great increase in population and industry which occurred in the succeeding thirty years made necessary additional facilities for court and general county business, and in 1909 the courthouse was remodeled and enlarged and is now a handsome modern structure with two large court rooms for the Circuit and Superior courts and ample facilities in other directions for the increased business of the county.
The rapid growth of Hammond and vicinity after its incorporation in 1883 created a sentiment in the north part of the county to remove the
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county seat to Hammond and a bill to that effect was introduced in the legislative session of 1891. It was opposed by citizens of Crown Point and the southern section of the county as well as by some citizens from LaPorte and Porter counties and was finally defeated. The establishment of the Superior Court at Hammond in 1895 as explained in this chapter on LaPorte County gave to the growing population of Hammond and vicinity facilities for nearby judicial proceedings and county business as far as it relates to surveying, transferring and recording of property which is done at the Superior Courthouse in Hammond.
The Superior Court House at Hammond was built in 1903 and remodeled in 1910. It represents an investment with equipment of about $175,000. The material is granite and the structure has two stories and a high basement with central clock tower. There are two large court rooms and offices for the sheriff, clerk, court reporters and prosecuting attorneys. The law library is one of the finest in the state. The county surveyor, registrar of deeds and recorder have offices in the basement.
NAVIGATION OF
HISTORY OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA
FOREWARD
AN APPRECIATION
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I - Geology and Topography
CHAPTER II - The Mound Builders
CHAPTER III - Days of Indian Occupancy
CHAPTER IV - Early Explorations
CHAPTER V - Border Warfare
CHAPTER VI - Lake and Calumet Region Becomes Part of United States
CHAPTER VII - After Wayne and Greenville - Tecumseh and the Prophet
CHAPTER VIII - Indian Peace
CHAPTER IX - Early Settlements and Pioneers - County Organization
CHAPTER X - Townships - Towns - Villages
CHAPTER XI - Pioneer Life
CHAPTER XII - The Lake Michigan Marshes
CHAPTER XIII - Agriculture and Livestock
CHAPTER XIV - Military Annals
CHAPTER XV - The Lake and Calumet Region in the World War
CHAPTER XVI - The Newspapers
CHAPTER XVII - The Medical Profession
CHAPTER XVIII - The Bench and Bar in the Lake and Calumet Region
CHAPTER XIX - Churches
CHAPTER XX - Schools
CHAPTER XXI - Libraries
CHAPTER XXII - Social Life
CHAPTER XXIII - The Dunes of Northwestern Indiana
CHAPTER XXIV - Banks and Banking
CHAPTER XXV - Transportation and Waterways
CHAPTER XXVI - Cities
CHAPTER XXVII - Industrial Development
CHAPTER XXVIII - Chambers of Commerce
Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, December 2022