Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1869 — EARLY REMINISCENCE OF JASPER COUNTY. [ARTICLE]

EARLY REMINISCENCE OF JASPER COUNTY.

BY HORACE. E. JAMES.

ell U'Tfcil i. , In introducing the rearier to "tjie story of the' earlier events hi Che history of the settlement of Jasper County, it is proper to say that we draw our narrative mainly from a Fourth of July Oration delivered in llenssclacr, in 1857, by Benjainiii Henkle, Esq., whom many of the older people of Jasper remember for liis good practical sense, public spirit, genial temperament and kindly nature. ' Much of. the subject matter is given in the aame'language as Mr. llenklo afterwards published k in tho Rensselaer Gazette over the worn ile jilume, ot' ‘‘Uuele Bvii,” in fact we have undertaken simply to edit Mr. HenklcV .'l'ddVeftA' publication, shell altcrationj 3g tjje tne names of localities lias rendered necessary to make it better understood. We have also added such incidents as we have been able to collect fretm various other sources. - ■ Tn the year 1532, a treaty was held with the Pottawattamie Indians at Logansport, when thelndian title to a portion of Indiana embracing some two million acres .was c t eded to the United States. Contained in this tract were the sixhundred thousand acres included within the original bounderies of Jasper County. Upon the Journals of the Indiana House of Representatives—Session of 18:34-5, is the following extract in reference to the ceded tcritouyt “The Speaker appointed the following committee in pursuance of the resolution moved by Mr. Vinvter on yesterday on the subject of laying off the unorganizeq territory in this State into couy.ties, viz: Messrs. Vawtor,(Benjamin) ITenkleyWilson of Harrison, Wright, Stafford, Smith ofFayette, Culbertson and Gliapman.” (Page 190 j “Mr. Vawter made the following report: The committee to whom was referred resolutions of the Ilquse, directing ah inquiry into the expediency of laying Out all the unorganikea terilory Vithiri this. State into a suitable numbej of countieb, haie, according to order, had that subject under consideration, and, although th* committee arc aware that objeetions have and may be urgijd against the measure! on the ground of legislating in the dark, of aiding individual speculations,' iu the iupre Advantageous purchase of lands, by affording :q knowledge of counties and county' boundaries; yet notwithstanding flic above objections and/uany more that may-be advanced, the dommittee are, “however' 6f the opißioh that the advantages that will re 1 - feWSSiia® I settlements, to increase population

in every part oftkg organized territory; that have the , good effec 1 1 offpjqni. iirmly uni ting th e noiihprh, middle.and soutlicrn poiv q(; ylto State together; that, iiv. ad; dition to the - inorease of settler ment and population will bo the iniereasu of roads and public highways, in such" directions as will jn(iVe to the public a confidence in their utility anff,'lasting benefits, thereby ulrordihg facility and cornfort to the traveller; all of wide!) will tetul tp bringlnto the couutrv additipijal wealth— and wealth will bring with it intelligence, industry ami enterprise—.-alj of which should be promoted, by every seetion rof the State, but. more especially that portion along and near the line of the canal, as "the productiveness of the canal, wAeu .completed, will greatly depend on the wealth am) ooiainet’ce of the adjacent country. The committee have, therefore, directed ine to report a bill (120) laying out, all the unorganized territory to which the Indian title has been extinguished in this State, in-j to a suitable number of counties) and foil other purposes.”— (I’.ages 275-6. J , ; ’- J ’ Tn accbrdaajjjgifcitli this report a bill waR presented and passed designating the boundaries and establishing the counties of Jasper, Newton, Pulaski, Stark, Marshall, ,Fu)ton. Adams, Wells, Whitley, De Kalb, Noble, Kosciusko, Steuben and Jay—fifteen in number. Jasper county was organized in 1838. The boundaries then embraced the present counties of Jasper, Newton and Benton—an area containing thirteen square miles of country, and larger than the sovereign State of Rhode Island. The northern portion of this however, was then named Newton county, but as it was attached tp Jasper .qoipity proper, the northern boundary of which was the line between towns ’ twenty-eight and twenty-nine, for civil purposes, we have chosen to-call it by the one name.

Jasper county was named in honor of one of the Revolutionary heroes, whose story is as follows: On Sullivan Island, in Charleston, South Carolina, harbor, stands Fort Moultre. On the morning of June 28th, 1776, the British fleet then in the harbor oppqed fire upon it.— Once during the day, after an appalling discharge from the British cannon, the flag of tire garrison was found to have-been shot awayand the spectators on * the main land expected to see the British soldiery mount the parapets in-tri-umph, thinking the had struck their colors. But this was sq| the ca.ie, and in a few minutes the filends 1 of those in the Fort were rejoiced to jsee the glorious tri-color again waiving defiantly from the flag-staff. The staff had been shot away,by a cannon ball ami the flag had fallen outside the works. A sergeant named Jasper saw the accident and, at the Imminent peril of his life, leaped over the wall amid a perfect storm of bullets, recovered U;e fi;tg and fastened if again to Its place. At night the British withdrew their forces Under oover of llie darkness, having been completly repulsed at every point, and Buffering the loss of two hundred men. jasper was presentwith a beautiful banner, made by their own bands, by the ladies of Charleston, as a token of tfiejr estimation. He received the banner with a pledge to defenff it with his own life. He was afterwards found dead on a fearfully-contested battle field, still clinging to his prifce. It was iu honor of this hero’s memory that our county wasnaincd. Tit© first settlement made in the original territory of Jasper county, was in 1831. The first settlers remembered, were Herbert Owens, Edward Policy, Messrs. Boyles, Alley gad Baxter. . This colony located in what is n.ow know'n as the Kenoyer settlement, in the present limits ,of Newton county. John Lyons had been ther©, but had left again,— Others came In shorttv afterwards and the community appears to have been in a flourshing condition w hen the Black Hawk war broke out the next y«f>r. This caused great alarm, and sonje moved ajvay impelled by fear* -others wvre sick and becoming ddscournged, followcd after thdui, so that at the clone’ of'that memorable war the ‘ (fidy families remaining we/e those of Josiah Dunn, Wiliiam Mallatt stqd John Elliott. After peace w'as de-clar-ed, the' natural beauty and woiiderful fertility pf jhe, country soon attraikod fathers who settled in tnkt vicinity, 'ff f " (to be coxtihued.)