Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 35, Number 327, 2 October 1910 — Page 21

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TP AND SUN-TELEGRAM. FINANCIAL AND HISTORICAL SECTION. RICHMOND, IXD., OCTOBER, 1910. PAGES 1.TO 8.

Early History of '" tury-Old, But

Progressive Wayne County--How it Was Organized in 1810.

To write a history of Wayne county would require at least one good sized volume, and It would be an easy matter to devote two volumes to the work, this having been done, but In thla short article it is hoped only to call attention to some of the Important happenings In the early history of the county. This is centennial year, for it was In 1810 that the county was formed, six years before Indiana was admitted to the Union of state. At that time Wayne county was composed of that part of Dearborn county lying east of the Twelve Mile Purchase and between the north and south lines of the new county, together . with that portion of the purchase lying between those lines. The strip west of 'the purchase was not acquired until about the year 1820. The county business was done by the county Judges, who were Peter Fleming. Aaron Martin and Jeremiah Meek. George . Hunt was clerk, John Turner, sheriff, and James Noble prosecuting attorney. The First Court, The flrct court was held February 15, 1811, at the house of Richard Rue, three miles south of Richmond. No Judicial business seems to have been done at this court, which divided the county Into two district or townships and appointed officers for them. For the first district David Railsback and John Shaw were appointed overseers of the poor, while Abraham Gear, John Collins and Lewi Little were fence viewers. For the second district David Galbralth and George Smith were overseers of the poor and William Fonts, Nathaniel McClure and Robert Hill were fence viewers. A committee was also appointed to adJust the accounts of the overseers of the poor, the members being David Carson. Timothy Hunt, Samuel Jobe, Jacob Meek, Elijah Fisher and George Holman. Reading of this list of names will show that the laptfe of a hundred years has not made much change In thatAregard. for they are the good, substantial names that are still prominent la the affairs of the county. The next session of the court was held at the tame place the next month, and It was then that a grand Jury was Impannelled for the first time. The Jurors were Jesse Davenport, David Foots, Joseph Cox, Charles Wright. John Burk, Wright Lancaster, Robert Gall breath, Isaac Williams, John Calts. Benjamin Small. John Townsend. John Burgess, William Blunt. weasel Snider, Peter Weaver, Benjamin Harvey. Joshua Meek, John Board, Benjamin Jarvls, James Gor don. Harvey Miller. Lewis Little sad William Graham. The court, accordtag to the best record available, was oota posed of Jeese H. Holman. circuit jnCss, wtth Peter Fleming and Aaron

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the Now Cen'Hustling and Martin associates. While history Is not clear on this point, It Is said that the court was held in the woods, the seats consisting of family chairs and logs, and that the jurors retired for deliberation to logs at a suitable distance. Judge Hoover says In his memoir; "One of the first courts con vened under the shade of a tree, Judge Park presiding." The two statements differ as to the presiding Judge but they may refer to courts held at different times. The names of the Jurors who are said to have sat on the first petit Jury trial are John Benton,1 John Drake, John Armstrong, Nathaniel Scire, Thomas Bulla. Samuel Hunt. Harvey Druley, David F. Sackett, Joel Ferguson. Benjamin Smith and Jesse Davenport. Location of County Seat. The act of the territorial legislature which formed Wayne county In 1810, named John Cox, John Addington and George Holman as commissioners to locate the county seat, on or before the first Monday of the following ' May, and the house of Richard Rue as the place for holding courts until a court house was completed. The late Dr. Plummer. In his "Historical Sketch," quotes from John B. Stltt as follows r "At the June term. 1811, the commissioners appointed by an act of the legislature, having failed to discharge their duty according to law, in selecting a seat of justice for the county, the court declared their duties ended and appointed In their stead Samuel Walker, Richard Maxwell and Benjamin Harris." The natural Inference from this statement Is, that the first commissioners were chargeable with negligence. A different version of this matter from a presumed reliable source Is as follows: Richard Rue and Ephrlam Overman were members of the territorial legislature of 1810. from the county of Dearborn, of which the present county of Wayne formed a part. There were then but three counties In the territory Knox, Clark and Dearborn. ' Residing within the limits of the present county of Wayne, these gentlemen were active In support of the act authorising Its formation. The commissioners to locate the county seat were John Addington, George Holman and John Cox. The law prescribing their duties and fixing the time and the place of their meeting, did not reach the court, then held at Rue's, until about a month after Its publication. On Its reception the commissioners were promptly notified to meet. They appeared and were qualified and proceeded to the discharge of their duties. Near Geographical Center. Instructed by the set to fix the coun

ty Beat near the geographical center, Addington and Holman designated a quarter section about three-fourths of a mile north of the present town of Centerville. Cox dissented, alleging they were not authorised to select land not yet sold by the government, though it had been advertised for .sale In the coming October. The court sustained the views of the minority, refused to receive the report, and appointed three other commissioners, as above stated, who reported "That the permanent seat of justice is and, shall be on the domain of Samuel -Woods of 63 acres in the 13th township, range 3rd, with a small reserve." And the court ordered "that the town in Wayne, or the seat of Justice shall be called Salisbury," Smith Hunt, Samuel Woods and James Brown were appointed trustees to lay off the lots, and Andrew Woods and John Meek, Sr., to superintend the building of a jail and an estray pen. This action of the court was denounced by the friends of the central location. The land being within the bounds of the county as fixed by the law of the state, they regarded the objection that the unsold lands were out of the jurisdiction of the court, as utterly Invalid, and the decision as a flagrant outrage. A paper was circulated to take the sense of the citizens In respect to the legality of the action of the court, designed to be presented to the court The result showed 330 In favop-of the report of the legis

lative committee and 150 approving the action of the court. A log court house for temporary use, and a jail of hewed, square logs, were built and were soon followed by a brick court house. Salisbury Loses. Salisbury now having become an incorporated town the earliest in the county and its citizens having secured permanently as they supposed the public buildics, they anticipated a long and -prosperous career. In this, however, they were disappointed. Efforts were soon made for the removal of the county seat to Centerville. In the midst of the bitter strife between the Salisbury and Centerville parties, originating with the action of the court before mentioned, and lasting several years, an act was passed, in 1816, authorizing the removal of the county seat to Centerville. This was on condition that the citizens furnish, without expense to the county, public buildings as good, and of the same dimensions, as those at Salisbury. After the removal of the county seat, Salisbury was rapidly deserted. The few frame and brick buildings were taken down and some of them moved to Richmond. The bricks in the building on the southeast corner of Main and Fifth ! streets, long ago known as Ham's corner, were former ly In the court house at Salisbury. There remains nothing on the site in dicatlng the town was ever there. The ground on which it stood became a part of the farm of Enoch Railsback. Records Incomplete. The early records of the county are incomplete and none Is to be found of a date earlier than 1812. The claims allowed that year for wolf scalps amounted to the sum of 812, the bounty being 81 each. In 1813 the amount was $13. Among the names of persons receiving wolf bounties were those of Robert Morrisson and George Shugart The receipts of the treasury in 1815 were as follows: For town lots, $34.68; store licenses, 8S6.86; tax on horses, $7.39; slaves, $20; men of color, $15; first rate lands, $23.59; second rate, $292.63; third rate, $53.34. This made a total of $1,265.10, not Including tines for breaches of the peace, assault and battery, swearing, etc.. which were lodged In the hands of the sheriff and clerk. In 1816 the wolf claims amounted to $84. Organizations of Townships. The first constitution of the state of Indiana was adopted In 1816. Certain duties which had been performed by the county judges, were by the constitution devolved upon a board of county commissioners. The first board, composed of - Thomas J. Warman, James Odell and Thomas Beard, met In February 1817. The commissioners laid off six townships Washington, in the southwest corner of the county; Harrison, east of Washington to the Ohio state line; Jackson, north of Washington; Wayne, east of Jackson to the state line; Perry, northwest part of the county; New Garden, east of Perry to the state line. In 1817 the commissioner met for the last time at Salisbury and adjournment to Centerville ordered, one member of the board dissenting. In the spring of 1818 the court was held at Centerville. The next year the question was brought before the court as to whether Salisbury or Centerville was the county seat. Dr. Plummer In an account of this says: "The presiding judge, John Watt, was absent. The associate Judges, William McLane and Jesse Davenport, were of the opposite opinion In this matter. Their decision was that the seat of Justice was permanently established at Salisbury; that the act of December 21. 1816, not

having a sufficient repealing clause, has not removed It; but that the act of January 28, 1816, authorized the court to hold their pro tempore sessions in

the town of Centerville until the legis-4 lature should otherwise direct." As the legislature has never otherwise rected. the legal county seat, accord ing to the decision of these .judges, must still be at Salisbury. At a meeting of the commissioners as late as 1820, opposition to the town of Centerville was manifested. Julian and Harris voted to adjourn to Centerville, Enos Grave dissented, and entered his protest on the record, on the ground that the law of December 21, 1816, had not been complied with, and that consequently -the seat of justice remained at' Salisbury, and he did' not sign the .proceedings' of the com missioners. William Sumner produo-4 ed a deed for the public square In Centerville and the commissioners accepted the court house as completed, deeming the removal act to have been fully complied with by the trustees of Centerville. Seat Again Removed. After the four years' quarrel between Salisbury and Centerville over the location of the county seat, which was finally settled In 1820, over half a century elapsed before another change was demanded. In 1872 Rich-J mond entered the field aspiring for the prize which Centerville had so long possessed. The contest was short, sharp and decisive. Acting under a law passed February 24, 1869, Richmond was soon victorious. The law mentioned provided that whenever 55 percent of the legal voters of any county shall by written petition re

Gov. Marshall Pays Tribute , to County on 100th Birthday

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, , THOMAS R.

Of CoiumM City, September 27th, 1910. Editor of Palladium: . I am informed that next week, Wayne County observes its one hundredth birthday, and that the County is being referred to as an old gentleman among the Counties of Indiana. May I be permitted to take exception to this phrase. , Wayne County with a glorious history of standing for 1 those things which, although in my judgment were sometimes wrong, still, in her judgment were always right, does not appeal to me as an old gentleman. Age consists not in years, but in decrepitude of mind and body, Wayne County is, therefore, not old. . It is not an old gentleman stumping around upon a cane and growling at the noise the children make. Upon the contrary, it is a beautiful, young woman, clear-eyed, clean-hearted, content with the past and looking hopefully to the future. I would be pleased if she should smite on me, but my hope is that if she doesn't, she wi3 sm23. with the same sincerity and lack of guile in the future as she has in the past May she flourish for years to corns in perennial youth. ' 1 Respectfully yours, TH0S. R. MARSHALL, . Governs.

quest the board of commissioners to re-locate the county seat of such county, and all the conditions provided are complied with, the commissioners could order such removal. With a weapon of this kind in her hands Richmond was able to bring the seat of justice six miles further east. It was not to be supposed that Centerville would remain Inactive while being despoiled and she did not; she made a bitter and unrelenting fight from the beginning until she lost her prize, which was wrested from her by main force by her more powerful sister, according to the historical accounts of the event. v , Story of the Removal. On the- 3rd day of June, 1872, a petition was drawn up and signed by 4,937 persons and presented to the board of commissioners asking for the removal of the county seat from Centerville to "Richmond. On June 6 William A. Peele filed a remonstrance against such action, setting forth his reasons and asking a continuance of the case. This was refused by a majority of the board, A. S. Wiggins and William Brooks opposing, and O. T, Jones, the other member of the board, favoring the action of Mr. Peele. On the 11th of June, by the same majority of the board, It was decided that, as out of 6,842 the whole number of legal voters in the county, a majority of them had asked for a relocation of the county seat, it should be removed and a new building erected, provided the petitioners of some of them shall, within three months after ' estimates and plans are prepared, cause to be paid into the county treasury a sum equal to the value of the real property be-

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longing to the county at the present seat. On October SO Asahel Stone, William Wallace and Simon Sunsifer

were appointed by Governor Baker commissioners to appraise the real estate and Improvements in Center-: ville belonging to the county. Their appraisement was SSO.DOO. On November 6 George W. Barnes, in his own behalf and of others of the petitioners for the relocating of the county seat, deposited with the board of commissioners $80,000 In Richmond city bonds as security for the payment of the value of the above property. which was accepted by the board, Oliver T. Jones protesting. On Decem ber 4, 1873, these bonds were withdrawn and another substituted, pro viding for the payment of the above amount In one year. ; The auditor was ordered to advertise tor bids for the building of a new court house and jail. George Hoover was the architect and Thomas W. Roberts got the contract for the building complete at $22,700. August 4 the building was completed and accepted, and the board of com missioners ordered that all the books, papers, furniture and the occupants of the county prison be removed to the new buildings. On August 15th. 1873, this was carried Into effect and the city of Richmond declared to be the seat of justice of Wayne county. Thus ended a strife that has not yet been forgotten by the participants or their descendants s strife very natur al on the part of the people of Center ville and at one time so sharp as to cause apprehensions of very aerious trouble. From that time to the present the legal history of the county is too well known to call for extended account The subsequent building of the magnlficant new court house will meet the demands In this regard for many years to come. History In Other Lines. Perhaps no county in the state is as rich in historic incident or has made greater accomplishments in various lines than this. If space permitted It

would be interesting to recount the,famcr ,g tbV secret of hm sncoeesJ

Interesting events of the early days, Formation of various societies, build ing of the Whitewater canal, move ments of an educational nature, the experiences of the wildcat banking period, the building of the first railroad, the publication of early newspapers, growth of the county bar, the medical profession, the . temperance movement, literature and art, the manifestation of anti-slavery- sentiment, old settlers meetings, and a mention of some of the eminent men the county has furnished the state and nation. Any one of these topics would furnish enough material for a volume within itself and can only be referred to here. , Today, on the eve of celebrating its centennial, Wayne county has nothing of .which she need be ashamed in all the- years of her progress since the Indians roamed ; this section and a dense wilderness overspread it The growth has been consistant in every line and at present it stands as a model county among others of the state and nation. " With a population of 50,000, with great manufacturing and farming Industries, In the front of educational and all other worthy movements, the first century of its history can be safely committed to history with few regrets. In the

"Wayne, Fair Wayne"--County Song

"Wayne, Fair Wayne," Is the title of the only song which has ever been composed in honor of the county, and it has been adopted by the Fall Festival Association as the county anthem. It will be sung by a chorus of school children while riding on a mammoth float daring the -parade on Centennial Day and at the exercises which will be held at East Main Street Friends' church lawn In the afternoon. The audience will be permitted to join. The Rev. Horace Dumont Herr of Humboldt, lows. Is the author.. He is a native of Wayne county and was affiliated In its early school s and religious history. The words have been set to music by Prof, Henry Kampe. It Is a laudation to the county and her famous sons. The chorus of school children who will render the song are under the direction of Prof. Kampe. They will be seated on a float forty -feet long and twenty-four feet wide. It will be the largest float In the ps rade and probably hold a hundred children. At Fifteenth and XIain streets J it will be placed In front of the Friends Church and used as a stage. The song is as follows: WAYNE, FAIR WAYNE - By Horses Dumont Herr.

A century of years,' Of human hopes and tears. We view the path that traces, 'A mother's life who graces. Abide the years unfsded. By nothing base degraded, . Her name prolong, And land it in our song. . n. , Kmr sons, the good and great. ' Are known In evTy State; ' ' Her Morton and her Wallace, Drank wisdom from her chaSce; She reard to bless the ages. Her soldiers and her sages Did Wayne, Fair Wayne. - The glory of our song, .' f . m. " ' Her pioneers are dustv Who dared to do and trust, Her aged sires sad mothers, -Shan go as went the others? But, She, tin graves ate riTesi, Shan seem an earthly Heaven. CU02TJ3,

Then Han, a3 f We sound tt loclnsfl lacs? ' With xausle now we UsJ ft TJpeu lie t issses ww ensst !t Tr : Hall.' AH Call. ;

We d it to

Wayne,, Fair Wayne,

The glory of our

lacguage of an eminent statesman "The past at laast Is secure, As to the future, no fears need be)

entertained for every indication ts that the county has just fully entered up. va m j'v- w , a ass vviuuiwt " m the country at large, tnat is to see aj marvelous development in every line, i the next hundred years by comparison with the one Just passed to be as great in achievement in the world's history as the one just passed was great by comparison with the century preceding. In this onward march itj is safe to predict that Wayne counts ' will do her full share. CORN BRINGS $4,360 Minnesota Farmer Lives Y7e!3j on Thirty-two Acres and Raises Pedigreed Corn. GIVES SECRET OF SUCCES St. Paul, Minn., Oct 1. The prlsQV ear of corn at the agricultural depart! ment of the state fair yielded Its owni er, C. N. Howe, of Aitkin, $43.60, and his exhibit of twenty-two "eats of the yellow product brought him $148, record that attests to the profits on farming and ranks Dad Howe as thsw prize farmer of Minnesota. Mr. Howe, besides winning thes sweepstakes on all kinds of corn, toon th ,rst premium on the best tan oars of whitecap dent corn, the first premW ium on the yellow dent corn. first! place among the Aitkin county exhlb-4 ltors and was the head of the private farmers' exhibitors. He also took premiums in bundle grain and ranked third In his exhibit of thirty-two vs rieties of bundle and sheath grata. "You can use all the long-drawn-out names you want to, but they meant plain cultivation." he said. "I ownjj and work thirty-two acres of land Is Aitkin county and I make just as good a living as the fanners around mm who own 160 acres or more. I make) a good living for a family of five, go to all of your conservation congresses and state fairs and have all the money; I want I cultivated that field of com that won the prises thirty-two times, and I even cultivate my hay." Mr. Howe keeps two horses and two cows on his thirty-two seres, has .fruits of all kinds and everything ho wants for himself and family. HONEST WORK.. Work in every hoar, paid or unpaid. See only that taou workest and thou canst not escsps (ham ward. Whether thy work he ae or coarse, planting com or wrkkn epics, so ooJyitbe honest work done in dune own approbation, it shall earn a reward to thy senses as well as to the thought, The reward of a thin wefl done is to have done it-