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Twigs and Branches
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Baber's Early History of Greene County Indiana Chapter IIIIn our last chapter we closed with the close of the year 1821. In this we will enter somewhat into the details of townships officers, as well as county officers, and will give jurors, marriages, &c. After this we will not attempt to go so minutely into details. The first thing done by the Commissioners in 1822 was to issue an order to pay the salary, for the year before, of Judge John L. BUSKIRK. His salary does not appear to be as large as judges’ salaries at the present time – his whole salary for the year being two dollars. In this year, instead, of appointing a Lister for the county, as they had done the year before, they appointed one for each township. EPHRAIM OWEN was appointed for Highland, THOMAS BRADFORD for Richland, ABELl [end of page 6]. BARLINGAME for Burlingame, GEORGE, WESTNER for Plummer, and WILLIAM HODGINS for Strafford. In February, PETER HERRINGTON, resigned his "right, title, claim and honor" as County Commissioner; and the August election, next following, JONATHAN LINDLEY, was elected to fill vacancy. We have no recollection of Mr. LINDLEY, but we infer from the records of the county that he was a very influential man. The overseers of the poor were JOHN H. OWEN, CALEB JESSUP, RICHARD BEASON, TIMOTHY H. JESSIP, JOHN STORMS, JULIUS DUGGER, PETER R. LESTER, WILLIAM BARKER, JOSEPH DIXSON and WILLIAM HODGINS, and were appointed to act in their respective townships. The inspectors of elections were JOHN SANDERS, PETER INGERSOLL, ROBERT SMITH, CORNELIUS WESTFALL ad Benjamin STAFFORD. The Superintendents of the sixteen sections were GEORGE B.KELSHAW and DANIEL WOODSWORTH. The Fence-Viewers were, EVAN OWEN, ALEX WATSON, THOMAS STALCUP, SOLOMON DIXSON, WILLIAM WELTON, P. C. VAN SLYKE, ISAAC LUNDY, LEONARD NICHOLSON, WESLEY SMITH, CORNELIUS BOGARD, ABEL WESTFALL, JOHN O’NEALL, JESSE STAFFORD, ISAAC HUBBELL and PETER HERRINGTON. In February term of the Circuit Court was held by Associate Judges, THOMAS BRADFORD and JOHN L. BUSKIRK, at the house of THOMAS BRADFORD; John LEMON was Sheriff. The grand jurors were ROBERT ANDERSON, ALEXANDER PLUMMER, RiICHARD BENSON, HIRAM HAYWARD, WILLIAM CLARK, EDMUND GILLUM, JOHN BREECE, JONATHAN SANDERS, PETER INGERSOLL, SAMUEL C. HALL, ELI FAUCETT, ISAAC HUBBELL and WILLIAM BYNUM ADDISON SMITH was appointed Prosecuting Attorney. CRAVEN P. HESTER, JOSEPH WARNER and THOMAS H. BLAKE were admitted to practice in the Court as attorneys, they having produced their proper license. At this term four indictments were returned. On two of the indictments returned in 1821, the prosecuting attorney entered a nolle prsequi, >one was continued, and on one there was a trail by jury. This was the first jury trial ever tried by the Circuit Court in the county and was on a charge of assault and battery. The jurymen were, JOSEPH SMITH, ORANGE MONROE, JAMES STALCUP, WILLIAM SCOTT, ISAAC HICKS, THOMAS STALCUP, JOHN S. WARNER, DAVID DEEM, ABEL BURLINGAME, AARON STEPURN, STEPHEN DIXSON and JONATHAN OSBORN. C. P. HESTER appeared as attorney for defendant, The jury found the defendant guilty and fined him one dollar. At this term one man plead guilty and was "censured by the court and fined one dollar and fifty cents. PHILIP SHINTAFFER, one of our earliest settlers, was a man of considerable note. He was a famous for ox-driving, and it is said that he could drive as well without as with a road. He was also noted for a quick temper which often brought him to grief. In February, 1822 he appeared in open court and caused to be spread upon the court record a retraction of slander against one of his neighbors. At this term ROBERT ANDERSON, an emigrant from Scotland, was naturalized, being the first person who received their papers in Greene county. This man died soon after, leaving as his only heir in this country GEORGE ANDERSON, who lived for a great many years four miles south of Bloomfield, and was on of our best citizens. At the August term, Court was held by WILLIAM WICK, President Judge, and THOMAS BRADFORD, Associate Judge. Court met at the residence of THOMAS BRADFORD, and adjourned to meet at the Court House in Burlington. At this term SMITH ELKINS, ISAAC NAYLOR, HUGH ROSS and JAMES WHITCOMB were admitted to practice. JAMES WHITCOMB was afterwards Governor of the State. [end of page 7] Several cases were tried, four judgements rendered, and three fines assessed. The grand jury returned ten indictments, one of man stealing, one for selling intoxicating liquors without license, and the others of various misdemeanors. Quite a large number of familiar names appear as jurymen at this term, but we will not set out a list. During this year only three conveyances of land were made in the county; they were: DAVID CLOUD to JOHN H. OWEN; SCOTT RIGGS to JOHN BURCHAM, JONATHAN LINDLEY to ALEANDER GRAIG. There were thirteen marriages this year. We will give them – and here after leave off the marriages, as they would occupy too much space. They were: JOSEPH HEPNER to SSUSANNA BYNUM; ANDREW SLINKARD to MARY WESTNER; ANDREW SLINKARD to SALLY FALLAM; JOHN FIRES to PATSY CRAIG; ALEXANDER CRAIG to MALINDA WILSON; ELI DUNCAN to REBECCA STEVENSON; JAMES ADAMS to ANNA WOLF; OBEDIAH WINTERS to HANNAH DUNCAN; JAMES ANDERSON to MARGARET ANDERSON; JESSE RAINBOLT to RACHEL HUDSON; BERNEY RICHEY to AMY RUMSOUR; JAMES COURTNEY to KATE DELINGER; LEONARD NICHOLSON to ROSANNA BURCHAM. Before closing our list of marriages, will give the first one in 1823. It was WILLIAM FRANCIS WILLIAMS to POLLY PADGETT. At that time Mr. WILLIAMS lived in Greene county, if we are not mistaken, but he now lives in Owen. His genial face and warm-hearted greeting are impressed on out memory in a manner that will never be forgotten. We seldom see him in these latter days, but when we do see him, we see the same happy and contented face that we saw as far back as memory takes us. The only change is in the addition of the marks of age. He seems to be a happy and contented old man, and looks like one who had "fought the good fight and kept the faith", and was now waiting patiently for the reward of a well- spent life. There was one marriage near Bloomfield that we have heard of, that took place while Greene county was a part of Daviess. It was the marriage of CARPUS SHAW to Miss VAN SLYKE. Mrs. JOANA EVELEIGH, the first child of Mr. SHAW, is said to be the first girl child born in the neighborhood of Bloomfield. We are disposed to think their was some mistake about this, but as we had not emigrated to this county at that time, we are not certain. Joseph SCOTT, who now lives in our town, is the oldest man who was born in the Bloomfield settlement, and was probably the first boy born in the settlement. Our early settlers were careful in their finances. They held their servants, the officers, to a dtrict account, and required them to make annual reports of their expenditures. That our people of the present day may know something of the difference in these two periods, we will give the substance of the firs report of our Treasurer, JOHN OWENS. Under the law at that time it was the duty of the Sheriff to collect the taxes and pay the same over to the Treasurer. The people had the right to apply county orders on their taxes:
The expenses of he county for the year 1822 were $970.34. They were quite heavy for a new county. More than half the expenses grew out of the location and survey of Burlington, the county-seat, And the buiding of a court house and efforts to find water to supply the town. Then there were other extra expenses – such as buying books, paying fees of prosecuting attorney, etc. One ex- [end of page 8] pense occurred that year that not occurred in this county since. The county paid sixteen dollars for arresting and guardng a fugitive slave. This amount would not appear to be large now, but in the early day it was a considerable item. It took nearly half of the revenue collected that year to pay it. When we remember that in these days the erection of public buildings often run up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that a Court house, alone, In Marion county, has and will cost about a million dollars, we are constrained to believe that our early settlers were comparatively economical. The Court House at Burlington, cost two hundred and fifty dollars. In the year 1823, the official business was transacted at the county seat, Burlington. They adopted the old system of one Lister for the county, and EPHRAIM OWEN was appointed. During this year Smith’s ferry and Jackson’s ferry were established, and rates of charges prescribed. AUGUSTUS PASSMORE, one of the leading men about the county seat, procured license to keep a tavern this year. He appears to have been a sort of "general purpose" man – perhaps not entirely unlike the "general purpose" man of to-day. He was a justice of the peace, could build a house, superintend a jail, keep tavern, or turn his hand at most any useful employment. He was our first hotel keeper at Burlington, and afterwards followed the fortunes of our county seat for many years. Our County Commissioners prescribed his charges, and as they nay be of some interest to our readers, we will give a bill of his fare and prices:
While they give the price of good rum and good brandy, we are in the dark as to the price of bad liquor. – Perhaps they thought it was all good. During this year JESSE BROOKS, an early settler , was drowned in Richland Creek, east of Bloomfield. In August, HIRAM HAYWOOD took the place of DAVID DEEM as Commissioner. The various allowances for digging a public well at Burlington, cost more that the Court House.
The first school taught in the neighborhood of Bloomfield, was by ELISHA P. CUSHMAN. He was a pioneer member of the M. E. Church, and took active part in all religious exercises. His house, for many years, was the headquarters of the preachers of his church. He lived to a ripe old age, during all of which time he was a devout and consistant christian, exemplary in all the walks of life, - A number of his children are living in the county. As the Court history of 1823 is so intimately connected with that of 1824, we will not commence it until our next chapter. [part of page 9] |
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