Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1885 — Page 4

THE REPUBLICAN. • Thursday, July 2,* 1885. ■„, ' - . Of ■A.cLTrartJ.ol/c-E'-. VrotessK>nai*ardK,sS per annum tor 6 lines «r v rss : SO cts. tor each additional Ijne. I/veal notices, 10 cents perline for flrst insertion routs per line to'r each suhseqneni insertion. . 1 Special rates for choice Places ip the paper, and 'for advertisements wider than orie column. Rdls of regular advertisers payable quarterly ; 'ransient to he pSU in advance •Uvfe' I'KixriMt.—Alarge assort inept oi iWpe and *trhcr t.aferial for poster.pamphlet, circular and “guHrrci^vo tk . PrlceV.o'Vr,

Considerable important matter •; s crowded oat this week, to make } Voom for Gen. Van Rensselaer’s 'interesting and -valuable sketch S f the early days of Rensselaer. • r The postoffices in our neighboring towns of Winayaac, Fowler, and Iventland: have been reduced to the fourth class, by the new readjustment of postoffice salaries, based on the reduced postage rat es. Offices of the four th class are under the direct control of "'he Partmaster General..

The Valparaiso Vidette is rather wrathful because the Indianapapolis Journal recently stated tiiat the number of Normal students at that town was about 2,000, or nearly equal to. the permanent population of the place. The grievance consisted, not in overestimating the number of Nonnalites, but in understating the permanent population. The Vidette thiuks that the lattter should be figured at about 5,000. Some of our exchanges are stating that Bro. Mclntire, proprietor of the Remington News, gobbled the Remingtoh postoffice during his recent visit to AVashington. The report is undoubtedly a mistake, as Mr. Mclntire, himself, says that, lie favors the retention of Mr. Clark, the present postmaster, a man who has long faithfully discharged the duties of postmaster, and who takes no active part in politics, and whose physical infirmities incapacita,te him from earning a live li-hood by any active employment.

The meeting of the stockholder of the Jasper county Agricultural Society, to be held at the court liphs’e, July lltli, 1885, shofild be well "attended by all interested in the welfare of the Society, the improvement of stock, and the development of the various interests of the county. With all the natural advantages that Jasper county possesses, for profitable farming and stock raising, there is no good reason why our farmers should not show as well bred and tine qualities of stock as are shown at the State fair. But before these results are accomplished, those who are engaged in the 'business of stock growing and who have the money, must take an active interest in the matter by assisting -in tire good work, and ‘showing their stock and farm productions at the county fail” The chief objects for which the Society was organized, has been greatly bCneiitted already, as can be hol.eed on nearly all the farms in Hie county, especially noon those that are occupied by the owners. v)ur stock has been greatly improved, and a better system of farming introduced than existed twenty years ago. This blny be attributed in large part, to the ideas and the interchanging of opinions in regard to crops and, animals, when farmers meet.at -the fairs of the country. Nearly everybody lias a pride in having pur, fairs a success, financially. us.il. "c-thcrwise, and one of the' best lhea'iis of accomplishing this jesnlt, is to make the fair grounds pleasant and attractive by building a new fence, office, floral hall, mu pi theater and stalls; and now * that the has taken the 1 rdative by calling a meeting of the stockholders, let the laller hg-itate this question thoroughly, Vud attend the meeting with well * Mat ured ideas as to vil at would bes| for the future welfare atld ryf Hie society. i • *

How the Town was Founded.

in Anthcntlc SSieicti By Cue Who Was There. i I—. Editor Reiurlicakt-I notice in your Journal of the 11th inst., an arti* e'eentitled' 1 “A History of Rensselaer.'’ Permit mo to correct some ot Die inaccuracies of t hat article, which other? wise is quite creditable to its young author. I presume lam the only person living, who, of his own knowledge, can give an account, in every wav correct. of the purchase and earliest Settlement of the place now known as Rensselaer.

My father, James Van Rensselaer, and myself, first visited Indiana in the fall of 1835. We were ten days crossing Michigan, from Detroit to St. Joseph. Then we went to Niles and from that place, b v y the old Territorial road, to Logauspoxt; where we rested several days upon the advice of Senator Tipton, to whom we had letters. From thence, South through the State, pur -object-was -a atad-y of-the eountry. with the view of investing money, the following season, in tiie purchase of government land.

We returned in early May of the following year. 1536.- entering the State at Evansville, Leaving m,y father at Lafayette. 1 went with Mr. Benjamin Reynolds to his home in White county, near Montieello. From Mr. Reynolds, Mr. George Spencer, and Mr. William M—Kenton, I -gathered much information respecting the surrounding country, in which I purchased, a .large quantity of land. Hearing some of the settlers speak of the “falls of the Rock wise,” (Iroquois) my curiosity was excited, ami I determined to visit' them. So saddling my Indian pony, 1 went to Jacob Myers, on the South bank ot the Motion. Instructed by him, I found my way to Mr. Dona--hue’s, a trapper, who lived on the line of a surveyed road to be opened North from Montieello to (he Kankakee. He consented, for a consideration, to guide me to the Falls, lying West of him, and in a region still occupied by many of the Pottowatiamie Indians: front which tribe the Government had bought the land, and which, though surveyed, was not jet in market. |So with a full supply of jerked venison and Donahue's bread in cur saddle bags, Donahue and I started off in the morning of a beautiful early June day. I have a vivid memory of my experience in the swampy region through which we first traveled. I was young and thought I knew something, but not ot swamps as I Soon found out. Donahue said to me, after an accident, “Never mind. 3’ou’ll learn! but let your pony fake his way until you do”. I did, and lennled. Donalmo first guided me to a spring, a famous one be said, and where some day he hoped to have a farm. lie realized bis hope. Tho farm belongs now, or did, I think, to Mv. McCoy. From this place, he led me to another spring, which afterward with the farm

annexed with it, became the properly ; of Mr. Ivers. By this time I had for-J gotten the swamp*-. The country show- 1 ed itself a marvel of beauty. Words J cannot describe it. Donahue pointed out to me the forks of the river and j the timber they enclosed, with tile gen- ■ oral, course of the stream to our point ; of destination, the Rapids . It was . late in the afternoon when we caught j sight of the river. .Quickly speeding ; to it, I crossed its bed to the spot on j its north bluff where stood the •'Sentinel Tree”, the point of observation from which the Indians could overlo k the surrounding country. It Was situatedbn the bank of the stream, a "short distance above wlitre Washington street now crosses. I was-here amazed at the beauty,of every tiling around me. No present inhabitant oi the town can conceive its character, as 1 then saw its site. Most of the origin al tovn. was covered with a mag-nit!-cent grove of oaks, clear of all underbrush. No English park, to- I have iseen t,bem, could equal this one. oi Nature's formation. Thev are all gone. The last one uufelled. was situated on the corner of .Susan, and Front S:rue's, ou a lot which, to my .'Very .great regret since, l sold to Mr. Tharp. I rode through these oaks to the prairie north of tow to, and back to the river. Instantly the thought possessed me. li re niu-t bo the home, in future days, iff a prosperous amt refined eommuni'y. You, Air. Editor, well know row, how this thought, of those days, lias been realised in these. We passed two •lays there. Donahue and myself, ranging the country in every direc i >n for the survey stlk.es, iu search.of-town-ship and section numbers; fur 1 had at once decided to buy the property, -at the earliest possible moment. .Vit a stake was, to be lound. I .traveled many times up and dowii the r:.p ; iU. fixing in my mind the peculiar eccentricity of the river’s flow, at, this place. Nut a house was there:. net a whim pt-fetar-did we meet, then-, < r pt any other time, during our four.days’ab - sence- . Tiu-re was a banti of Indians

there fishing and curing fish. 1 was stTilbk with their manner of fishing. They entered the water, a'tb.rch in their Jert hands, of course at bight, and a paddle in their/right hands, held cross wise. With the sharp edge of the paddles they struck the fish on their heads j thus stunning £hem, ,fifteT- whibh other Indians would pick them up, as they turned on their backs. Wishing to learn something more of .this mode of fishing. I essayed the thing myself. The r.ipids were covered with fish. The Indians looked on gravely until I was in mid stream and commenced striking. From- ever}’ direction darted the fish against my bare legs. I was_V3vy soon out of the water. Indian* humdr is very practical. I seem to hear now Donahue’s laughter. We returned by way of the Turks to our starting point. I went at once to my. Father, atj Lafayette. Soon we fyad purchased two floats, and reported ourselves at the land office; at LaForte, to Ideate tbeVe. We found that the middle one, as it turned out, of the three eighties, including the falls, had been located by other parties, who were there with their Mends watching; our proceedings. The maps produced, we remarked the singular conformation of this river at the rapids, traced thereon, and were lucky—enough-hr

our choice of 80’s the upper and lower BQ’s covering the Falls. The owner of the other eighty capitulated, and we bought their 80 for S2OOO 4Bsh. ho, on June 14th, 1836, tho title to the fails was in my Father. The parties conveying the.Bo to him were Joseph 1 Dunham, Willihm M. Kenton, William and Winrod Worden. So much for the way and time my father got this, then, unoccupied land. I returned to the falls alone on tho 13th of the following July, I found there a log house, Which had been put up a short time before by Joseph D. Yeo‘man, on what is now the Southwest corner of Washington and Front streets. It was subsequently enlarged by my father and afterwards, for some time, S occupied bV may brother-in-law. Mj._ Henry Weston, the donor, to the town ' of Rensselaer, of the Weston Ceifietery. Mr. Yeomau was absent at the time of my arrival, leaving in charge of the I house Mrs. Yeoman, with two 'children. T . ; She kindly gave mo hospitality for two I days. She told me all about their coming and building. I told her they should not be disturbed in tho use of the property we had bought, until it was needed for future uso; which was not until my father’s arrival there, , ou the 7th of July, 1838: when he became a resident of the place . 1 determined to lay out a town. Mr. Yeoman could not have lost an}’ thing by the Dunham-Kenton float: for that i , 1 float did not cover the ground ho built | Otifhor yet the farm attributed to him. ' ills bouse was not built until after the [ acquisition of the land, on which it was t built, b}’ my father. | Immediately on my father's arrival lie proceeded to the execution of-Sis projects: The building of a dam and

saw-mill, with connecting race, I will not give here a history of the difficulties he eucouutered in this work which were immense, at that early day; nor yet of hiS expenditures for these works, and for the grist, mill, which were very great, and without which the country would not have progressed as it did. If I live to the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the town. I shall hope to be then at Rensselaer, to witness'the prosperity my father predicted for the town, and country, and perhaps, with j the kind permission of its citizens, to .say a few words of congratulation | about it; and pay -a- merited tribute to 'tie character and enterprise Ts its founder. 1 Mv lather laid out the town, as stated in the article alluded to. 1 give here the names of the purchasers and the price of the lots iirst sold bv him: : Sarn’l Sparling, let 18, blk, 8. price .*‘3s: ; John Reese, lot 'ls, blk. 8, price 880. | Wm Kenton, lot *3, ,bik. 8. price- 8,108. i Geo. Spitler, lot 14. blk. 4, price *4l. “ " lot t), blk. 4, price §4O. “ .“ lot 8. blk. 4, price 885. J. Montgomery, lot l.i, blk. 4, price 886: Leo. Phegly. lot 11. blk, 5, price-881. O Hammond, lot 1,- blk. 16, price 835, : And some twenty others at similar, or i lower, prices. Mr. Weston and wife : caine in the tall .of 1839 and occupied the “I t on.an House’3 which was paid' for to Mr. Yeoman, and •enlarged for i their occupancy by my father. Their ! roof being blown off one •ni'-dit, they 1 too: shelter with Mr. and Mr>.'George j * ~ , W. Sbiller; til! their home was repair' j cd. The was built by. Oliver Hammond, In the serin*- of - /* » w 1840, my father's family'arrived. Up -Idthe suaimer <ffiß.Bß- the place asvaa i known as tire “Falls .of the lr« quois. icz Post office, Newton county, Indiana . Mr. 1 com an was the post iua*'cr. From 1840 till the Spriug of the ! year 184,7. I visited them eve -y year, | knew all their doings. -It w;is to them the Prosb)tthrian chuteh owed its,origin and establishment. I have letters from its Pastors, more particularly from the Rev's. Thomas Chestnut' and flzra

Wright, on the subject, and from other dear and honored friends of the family and m}-self, whrtse names are most dear to me. ' ) . My father died in the spring of 1847, after a life of good works, in the town he founded. The family left Rensselaer in the following early summer, under m}’ escort, Ito my home in New York. The evening before their de? parture they were the recipients* of the last kindly hospitalities of that lately deceased lady, honored and beloved of all who knew her, Mrs. George W. Spitler. 1 hope you will find room in your paper for this reference to my father’s life in Rensselaer. The whole history ol that life and that of his family there I have written for future use. Since his death I have tried, as representing him, to fulfill my duty to the town he founded ; as I know he would have better done, COuid he have happily been in my place. Very Respectfully Yours, J. C. Van Rensselaer. New Brunswick, June 15ih, 1885.

s.;s. g. A Medicine feat has Done More to Relieve Saffering Humanity than All the Physicians. It is..seldom that a newspaper condescends to editorially notice the thou-s■-lid and one patent medicines that flood the market, but, 'Swift’s Syphilitic Specific lias proven such a. great boon to the hu.'ifftn family, that in sounding its praises one feels that lie is simply doing his-duty to fellow-mag. This great preparation is a Georgia product, purely vegetable, ana has taken a stand-in the world of medicine that liasl bread., a rg..inghitiott- aneTenJ dofsCm nt not. only from the press and' the puiphit, but even physicians. It has effected hundreds oi thousands of cures’of blood poison, and tharo is not a hamlet ,in the bind but where you sob living illustrations of irs efficiency. 'l’here to-day walks the sticrts of Athens wed.-known rcn'letuen who owe their very livca-ta-BT -8,-8, = will tell you soil y« u ask the i. It has bccn:c a household rein My, at.d in every family f yOu- see- a bmtic stand? iagou the leant I:. It not only posiriveiy cures all manuc- of blood poison, but rheunmtion - anil hundreds of ot her diseases iucidentjhereto. Nine-tenths of our population are more or 1 ss as-. flieted with impure blood, and they have now discovered in 8. 8. 8. a panacea for their ills. Hence its field of usefulness is unbounded., AVould that the proprietors had millions, and their grand and gioriouS work might be ex-tended-tajthe Jour corners of the earth! Now, many persons have hceD ruined tor life, and rendered miserable, by trying to eradicate one poiion with another. It is simply an exchange cleansing the blood ot everv particle of poison, it is as harmless as the rippiiog "Waters of a mountain brook. The only resu t <jl its uso is a complete and thorough restoration to health.— Antheus' 7) ® banner. Treatise,on Blood and skin Decrees mailed free. The-Sivif! - Specific Co, Drawer 3. Atlanta, Georgia.

WORTHY Of Confidence. A VC D’C Sarsaparilla is araedicine that, H I Cel O during nearly 40 years, in all parts of the world, has proved its efficacy as the best blood alterative known to medical science. SARSAPARILLA genuine Honduras Sarsaparilla) is its base, and its powers are enhanced by the extracts of Yellow Dock and Stillingia, the lodides of Potassium and Iron, and other potent ingredients. |Q your blood vitiated by derangements ■ O of the digestive and nssimilatorvfunctions? is it tainted by Scrofula? or does it contain the poison of Mercury or Contagious Disease? T|jc leading physicians of the United lilt states, who know the composition of Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, say that nothing else so good for the purifieatirtu of the blood is within the range of pharmacy. nM] V by the use of this remedy is it UHLT possible for" a person who has corrupted bigod to attain sound health and prevent transmission of the destructive taint to-posterity, * Tlinbnurm V effective renovation I nUnUUUIILY of the system must include not only the removal of corruption from the blood,but its enrich-, ” rnent and the strengthening of the vital organs. npi i adi C witnesses, nil over the nCLIAoLL world, testify that this work is better accomplished by Ayer’s Sarsaparilla than by any other remedv. „ Dl non that is corrupted through disDLUUU ease is made pure, and blood weakened through dimiuutiou of the red corpuscles is made strong, by AVer’s Sarsaparilla. the blood and builuing rUnlrTlrlll up the system require time in serious cases, but benefit Will, be derived from the use of Ayer's Sarsaparilla more speedily than from anything else. urmnnir for winch like effects are HlC.LliulftCi falsely claimed, is abundant in the market, tinder many names, but the onlv preparation that has stood the test of time, and proved worthy of the world’s confidence, is Ayer’s Sarsapariffa, PREPARED BY Dr. J. C. Ayer A Co., Lowed, Mass. [Analytical Chemists] Sold by all Druggists.

m i mm Trade 3Pa-la.ce \ V(. .i r . Opera House Block. -• '■ ■ ' • y > i f ,j , o- * “E3enssela,ez ----- Indiana. f == - - - • ~ Dry kk Carpets, d Cpkolstsry kk, . . .. ■- " y . ' Mens’ hud Boy’s Readymade OlotMiig, - -—Zf*- " - “ ••• ' ~ - . : m ; —r ’ - --- . •' '* . • "A; . ,0 . Boots, Shoes, Trunks andfjValises. ..J ■ a ' • . * 0 n \ , , ■pGents’ E urnishing • Goods, Choice New Things for Spring- Wear are now arriving daily.

•Meat!!, wm# and an endless line of -IDIFLEiSKS GOODB!Jnst opened. Spring importations of Novelties in Dres Fabrics, French and Domestic Dress Goods, in ch oice . combination colorings, with plain goods to -match. \n <'V t — - - -JPIoJ-cI GoodsThese are very popular and stylish. We have them in .Ladies Cloths, Cashmeres, Cheviots, Mohairs, Alpacas, and in lower grade dress fabrics, from sc, per yd., up. i ■■■■■■■■' ■■■«--. - '■'■■■ ■ ■ '.. . ' •- i ' i , ’' ' '• : '. - - ' . g@g oui 6«labjaM Values, in Bk&k ehashinsies in iff 25«.'t0 NEW EMBROIDERIES. Cambrics, Nainsook and Swiss Fdges and Insertions, all over Embroideries, in white, red, blue, with edging to match. The best in the market.

Ingrains and Tapestry, Brussels, lo wer than ever known. Body Brussels and Velvets are within the reach of everyone. Oil Cloths, Mattings and Rugs. fi sons is sb i mm. v . / ■ ’ _ .. RUBBER QLOTHING of all kinds. Ladie’s & Gent’s Gossamers, Warranted Perfect. • . % ka‘ * • . 1 " A s ■ -*<r - _ i . * ■ 1 . . . Hasiii, mi - EtemsiMe Bit] iSusii, . v ■ v ■ :... . , *■—A Of all kinds, at tlie very lowest priees for good goods. . -- • 1 ' ~ ' - - 1 a* ■ f Mail Orders 'promptly and- Carefully attended to; 1 "\)swv'.o, b'w wv^z Trade Palace . .Rensselaer, Ind