1880 Plat Map list of Cottagers & Property Owners North Shore  

Zina and Emma Duddleson

...The grandfather of Zina was a Civil War veteran and a farmer. His later years were lived in the Argos vicinity.
The great-granfather originally owned the Thomas Houghton farm to the Maxinkuckee Lake on the west side of Burr Oak ROad. The land now occupied by the Vandalia Park, was part of this farm and was given to Dr. Durr in payment for medical services. The consideration was $50., as great-grandfather Duddleson considered it of little farming value. .....

History of Marshall County Indiana Sesquicentenial 1836 - 1986 -, Taylor Publishing Co., 1986, Publication # 357 of 1422, Marshall County Historical Society pg. 153 - Marcella White.

 

Mc Donald States: In 1850, Isaac N. Morris, father of Capt. Ed Morris, moved to the lake, locating on the north shore, on the farm now owned by A. N. Bogardus, His land ran down to the lake, taking in all the laker front from the Lake View Hotel grounds to and including the Palmer house.

1872 – Landmark “Pine Tree House” built by A.T. Benedict, Maxinkuckee. Benedict ran sawmill on dammed creek running through Bigley property, ---also Grist Mill.

From Corwin's One Townships Yesterday's:

The new-comers to the lakeside settlement are Aaron T. Benedict and his wife Cordelia, with their children. They had moved here from Miami County and settled at the extreme north end of the lake. It was in 1872 that, they located here.

The Benedict homestead was established on a knoll somewhat back from the lake. Pine trees were planted around it. These grew and grew, and in the passing years witnessed the changing fortunes of the family in the house they sheltered. Finally, by marriage and death, the Benedicts were parted and scattered, and there came a day when the homestead was deserted. At length the house itself was gone, and only the pine trees remained on the knoll that overlooked the lake. There they stand to this day, a little grove of them, grown real tall now, landmarks, telling the story of human habitation there once where no dwelling stands any more.

The Benedict homestead beneath these trees was north of the present Road 10 and east of the Hibbard Road. The highways today are not as they originally were. In the 'seventies the old roads ran close to the house. There was a three-point intersection almost in front of the house, where the highway from Marmont, coming diagonally and directly northeast from the lakeside, joined the eastbound Argos Road and the Hibbard Road. The Argos Road was immediately south of the Benedict house, while the Hibbard Road then followed a northwesterly trend till it reached the Shaw school house, then proceeded north a short stretch before turning east, as now.

"Aaron T. Benedict, my father, owned two hundred acres at the north end of the lake," says Mrs. Augusta Warner of Culver. "All of this is now the property of Culver Military Academy. The original site of the Academy was on the Benedict tract, bordering the bay. It was acquired by Henry H. Culver from the family."

The quote from the Thomas Bigley Biographical sketch in speaking of Aaron Benedict is:

He also owned considerable acreage north of the lake along Aubbenaubbee Bay, 83 acres along the lake front and 200 acres thence north. He built a home approximately a half mile from the lake and planted pine trees around it. He never lived there, but rented it to his daughter, Augusta, and husband William WARNER and family. Later the house burned but the pine trees stand to this day; the site is historically known as the Pine Tree House. His land holdings were later acquired by Henry H. CULVER for the Culver Military Academy.

and another quip under the Wayne Flagg biographical sketch found in the same book [History of Marshall County Indiana Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986 -,Taylor Publishing Co., 1986, Publication # 357 of 1422, Marshall County Historical Society pg 169] that gives the location of this farmhouse is:

Wayne's maternal grandparents, William b. Warner (1846-1898) and Augusta Benedict Warner (1848-1939),....

The William Warners owned a farm that is now part of the Culver Military Academy Campus. Wayne's mother was born on this farm. The house was located near the pine trees where the activities of the Woodcraft Council Fires are held.