Sunday, January 26, 2025
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Fun, had by all
August 1899 -- Brookville Democrat
CONNERSVILLE STREET FAIR
ONE SOLID WEEK OF FREE
ENTERTAINMENT
FOR ALL WHO GO
A world of attractions every day of the week
------------
The committee in charge have invested $1,500 in high class vaudeville and circus performances to be given day and night, absolutely free to all on stages erected upon the public highways.
The electrical illumination promises to be a big feature of the great event -- the streets being beautifully illuminated for blocks with beautiful colored incandescent lights.
The other attractions will include a wonderful duplicate of the World's Fair Moorish palace; Akimito's Royal Yedo Japanese Troupe; the Hagenbach animal show; Millie Christine, the world wonderful Texas fat boy; the old time plantation cake walk; a representative Ferris wheel, together with a host of other attractions.
Banks of music galore have been employed for every day.
Go and enjoy yourselves without money and without price.
The C.H. & D. Railway will sell excursion tickets from Hamilton, Indianapolis and intermediate points.
The Big Four will run special trains north, leaving Harrison at 8 a.m. and returning, leave Connersville at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday. They will also give excursion rates from Harrison, Hagerstown and intermediate points.
From the fields, with love ...
-- Indiana American, August 1857
CANADA THISTLE
Are a great pest on a farm. They fill up both pastures and meadows, and if allowed to multiply, will take possession and drive out the grasses.
Cultivation will of course kill them, but the seed is scattered in immeasurable quantities from the plants that stand neglected in the corners of the fields and fences, and by the roadside.
We have never been more struck with the wastefulness and wickedness of Virginia worm fence, than in traveling through the districts infected with this weed. Every corner of the zigzag was full, and securely nestled beyond the reach of the scythe, the neglected pests scattered their prolific seeds.
It is commonly recommended to cut them while in bloom, an inch or two above the ground, so that the hollow stalk may be filled with the first rain, and the root be killed. This may be effectual, if the rain comes seasonably but we doubt if anything short of thorough cultivation will redeem the land that is already stocked with this plant.
Every farmer should see to it that his pastures, fences and road-side are thoroughly cleansed of this pest. Mowing will prevent them from going to seed and if followed up vigorously will kill them.
No plant can long survive the constant cutting of its stems and leaves. Let the first work after haying be the destruction of the thistles.
(And thus, the sermon ended. Amen!)
NOTE: According to Purdue University, the thistle originates in Europe and is one of many that Indiana groups under a noxious weeds control policy. It's essentially against the law to knowingly cultivate the thistle on your land. There's a fine if you get caught, but it's probable that nobody has been sent to a work camp to redeem his social character. Federal laws are also in place with more emphasis on wildlife protections from weeds and the diseases/insects they carry.
Friday, January 24, 2025
Copperheads
So, what was a Copperhead? In the Civil War, it was a demeaning term by Unionists in the North who claimed traitors from the South intended to find ways of disrupting the solidarity of the country.
A "Copperhead" was a southern Democrat who favored secession, slavery and unlimited states rights. No federal government was good enough. The expansion of slavery into the Kansas-Nebraska territories was firm fodder for those who disparaged "Copperheads."
Any relation to the poisonous snake might apply. If you lived in the North, you did NOT WANT to be called a Copperhead. Virtually every family had a soldier or more in the Civil War.
Here's a bit from a Brookville Union-advocating newspaper National Defender in 1864:
What is a Copperhead?
The New Orleans Times gives the following definition.
1. A Copperhead as we view this animal is a Northern man who, born bred or fostered in the Union, has no faith in the Union, and divides his faculties, influence and energies to perpetuate the destruction of the Union.
2. A Copperhead is one who living out of the rebellious States, believes in the cause of rebellion but has not pluck enough to strike a blow for it.
3. A Copperhead is a Northern man who to further secession doctrines, would stab a Union soldier in the back while he was fighting the enemies of the Union.
*
Notes here: The 2015 section of this blog has several items relating to the Civil War and how it impacted Fairfield. Check it out on the menu --------------------------> HERE.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Farquhar -- liar or patriot?
Brookville Franklin Democrat
FAIRFIELD, Ind., Aug. 20, 1864
To the Editor of the Democrat:
We understand the dipper-dapper candidate for Congress of this District, John H. Farquhar, in his speeches, parades before his hearers an article of which he charges Dr. (George) Berry with being the author, and proves clearly to his own satisfaction at least that Dr. Berry is a Secessionist. We have not the exact date when the article in question was written, but it was sometime subsequent to the commencement of the present Abolition war, which unfortunately exists in our country.
In the speech alluded to above, Capt. Farquhar avowed himself in favor of Secession in something near the following language: "The Democrats say if Mr. Lincoln is elected, the South will secede. If she wants to secede, let her go. We can get along better without her. No, fellow citizens, you will never be greeted with such glad tidings. The South is wholly dependent on the North and could not exist one day independent of us."
If Dr. Berry has advocated the right of any people to secede from their former government, he has done nothing more than Abraham Lincoln and John H. Farquhar has done, and if there is either honor or infamy to attach to its advocates they are entitled to the largest shares.
Abe and John being the oldest members and having much the largest investments in the concern. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
-- KOKOMO
*
Notes: The letter was accusing Farquhar of truly advocating for secession by the South although claiming in 1860 that it would never happen. Farquhar was a Republican who had studied law in Brookville and ran for Congress after the Civil War, in which he served in a militia officer's role. The Franklin Democrat was all-too-happy to publish commentary by authors who ridiculed the Republicans, which is fairly normal for the papers of the time. Not much independent journalism existed. These were political rags with advertising in them.
Charges and countercharges were common and vicious in the papers. The Franklin Democrat (a Berry supporter) advocated for candidates who backed a states rights platform that the national Democrats favored in opposition to the Lincoln policy. Every conversation, speech and rally was interpreted as evil to the opposing side, all of it coming down on whether it could be interpreted as "pro-slavery."
No idea who "Kokomo" was, but a community near Laurel was named that in the early 1840s.
Speeches by candidates were common in small towns. Farquhar was elected to Congress for one term. He was 54 when he died. Among his achievements was an engineering advisory role in the construction of the Indiana canal system between 1835-1840.
Monday, January 20, 2025
News from '97
Brookville Democrat, 1897 news
Devastating fire Oct. 28
Small Farms For Sale April 1
The undersigned has two small farms for sale which she will sell at a reasonable price and on easy terms. One is known as the Sol Petra pace, contains 47 acres and is situated on Wolf Cree, 3 1/2 miles south of Fairfield. The other is the Moses W. Cory farm of 60 acres, on Hanna's Creek, 3 miles north of Fairfield. For full information, call on or address Mrs. Mary P. Cory, Fairfield, Ind.
Levee Leverage March 11
Gravel roads and public highways suffered serious damage from the recent flood. Bridges are down, culverts washed out and the soil in many sections has changed residence. Real estate owners find that warrantee deeds are no good when water gets on a high-lonesome, and streams act like mountain torrents.
The East Fork of the Whitewater at this place did not reach as high a mark as last autumn but the volume of water did more damage, as no vegetation was in its way to impede its progress or check its force. If a levee is not thrown up on the west side of Fairfield bridge, the river will leave its present channel in one or two more big floods.
Lumber On The Lot Sept. 30
The lots around the Liberty Manufacturing Company's works are decorated with huge piles of valuable lumber, the most of it being quarter-sawed oak. There is about five hundred thousand square feet there now, brought in by a Rushville furniture company. This lumber was all sawed at Fairfield and hauled here the ten miles since the first of last January. That sawmill is business from manager to log hauler.
K of P fools June 24
It is hinted that a couple of K. of P. boys were victimized for two dollars by a stranger hunting for a supposed stolen horse. Perhaps the presumed doctor had discovered indication of a revival of business in our village and was testing the "endurance" of his brethren of the K of P fraternity.
Meanwhile, in Old Bath ....
Downtown, where all the lights are bright
Haunting image of downtown Fairfield
Taken by LuAnn Himelick, probably in summer 1968 after the buildings had been gutted and awaiting final funding to proceed with the reservoir project. By 1970, most of this was leveled.
News, lies and other social propaganda
Clipped from a Connersville paper the day after the horrific 1913 flood across the Whitewater Valley. This one made claims that even the most naive person would have questioned. Much of the devastation was real across the area where the flood raged, but the "levee" at Fairfield never existed. So much here appears to have been concocted by someone who obviously knew better -- but chose to ignore the facts.
No matter. This is how history is created, one fact, fable or fictional folly at a time. Not much was wiped from the map, unless it was something that could be replaced. Fairfield did not suffer as much as other towns did. The death toll was real but always far less than the reports claimed.
More horse stories
Apr. 6, 1914 -- Connersville Evening News
BOLD THIEF TAKES
HORSE AND BUGGY
From a post
near home
of Walter Fields
NEAR FAIRFIELD, IND.
Property owned by Jerry Hudson --
was calling at Fields home --
an all-night search failed of results
---
A bold robbery was perpetrated near Fairfield last evening, when a horse and buggy, owned by Jerry Hudson, were taken from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Fields. (More likely, this was closer to Quakertown.)
Mr. and Mrs. Hudson were visiting at the Fields home and had tied their horse to a post near the front of the house. The hitch rack was in plain view of the room in which the people were sitting and the thief was forced to pass within range of their view in order to untie the horse.
None of the people inside heard the noise incident to the leaving of the horse and buggy. They were unaware of the robbery until Mr. and Mrs. Hudson started for home. They could see where the horse and buggy had passed out of the barn yard and the tracks showed that the animal had been headed eastward toward Liberty.
The Connersville authorities and the police in all neighboring cities have been notified and are keeping a close lookout. Mr. Hudson and others have strong suspicions as to who the guilty party is, and it is probable that the thief will be apprehended soon.
That the horse was driven away from the Fields home, all are certain. The animal was tied securely to the post with a heavy hitching strap, and the post showed no signs of having been wrenched. Mrs. Hudson is sure that if the horse tried to break loose, they would have heard the noise.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Horse stories
Oct. 12, 1855 -- Brookville American
Ladies' Riding Match
The inclement day, allotted to this performance, unfortunately detained many of the fair expectants within the county from competing for the beautiful Silver Goblet, which was justly awarded to Miss Lavinia Hannah, daughter of Hon. David G. Hannah, of Fairfield township, for her admirable display of Equestrianism, performed on a horse she had never before rode.
In the Sweepstakes Premium, of a magnificent silver pitcher, worth $20 for the best Lady rider, there were three fair contestants, and notwithstanding the almost incessant falling rain throughout the whole day, the manifest interest of the public to witness the contest for this prize was evidenced by the large and enthusiastic audience assembled around the exhibition ring, as each fair contestant was greeted by the smile and encouragement of the numerous friends and admirers they passed.
Notwithstanding the drenching rain throughout the fore part of the day, there seemed to be a sufficient cessation for the exhibition, favorably allotted and the performance was in view of all of the unfavorable circumstances of a muddy track and lowering day, all that could be desired.
The contestants were Miss Nancy Williams of Rush County, who rode Co. Farquhar's beautiful bay horse "Winfield," a single-footed Racker, Miss Lavinia Hannah of Franklin County, who rode the roan horse of William Arnold; and Miss Oceanica Stone of Fayette County, who rode a large fine bay, a single-footed Racking Horse.
We are frank to say that such exhibitions of female equestrianism have none of the disgusting objections of that exhibited two years ago and we are glad to render what influence we can to encourage it further.
*
Notes: David Graem Hanna(h), son of Robert Hanna and Mary Parks. Married Agnes Taylor and Mary McKinney. Hanna, born in Laurens County, S.C., January 26, 1789. Served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812; member of Indiana House of Representatives, 1844-45. Died February 19, 1869 (age 80 years, 24 days).
Lavinia Hannah does not show up in cursory searches. It's possible this reference is to Mary Malvina Hanna. The story presents few options for research. House of Hanna, a documentary history by Sarah Hanna, David's youngest daughter, does not mention Lavinia. David's Find-A-Grave page does not link to Lavinia.
Officially, we will celebrate
Franklin Inquirer, June 21, 1833
4TH OF JULY
At a meeting pursuant to notice to make arrangements for the celebration of the 4th of July, held at the School house in the village of Fairfield on Saturday, the 15th of June, 1833, WILLIAM YEAMAN was called to the chair and James N. McManus was appointed secretary.
On motion,
James L. Andrews was appointed Orator of the day, and
Hiram Allen, Reader of the Declaration of Independence.
Rev. Peter Crocker appointed Chaplain.
Redin Osborne, Esq. President
James H Hill
James N. McManus ... vice presidents
Capt. Benjamin Snowden, Marshal
Joseph Martin
William Yeaman
Hiram Allen... committee appointed to draft Toasts
James. H. Hill was appointed to prepare a dinner for the occasion.
Resolved, That the Revolutionary soldiers in this and the adjoining counties be and they are hereby respectfully invited to attend the celebration.
Ordered, that the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the President and Secretary, and published in the Brookville Inquirer
Meeting adjourned,
William Yeaman, Pres't
J.N. McManus, Secy.
Republicans in Fairfield 1868
Sept. 25, 1868 Brookville American (Republican-leaning paper)
The cry is for peace; let us Grant it.
FAIRFIELD, Ind., Sept. 16, 1868
For a space of two hours, he handled the political topics of the day with ease. He uses no notes in speaking but quotes figures, etc., as accurately as if they lay before him in print. He reviewed in detail the policy of the so-called Democratic party, from the time it denounced the war as a failure, to the present day's discussions, particularly the New York platform, making some new points on this topic.
He said, "the Democratic party had a greenback policy for the West, a gold-back policy for the East, and I suppose a gray-back policy for the South." His address was received with every manifestation of approval by the Republicans.
The Republicans of Fairfield are wide awake, and mean to give a good account of themselves in the next election.
I am respectfully,
TIMOTHY MEED
*
Notes here: Grant was GOP presidential candidate U.S. Grant, who was elected president. It's likely Col. Black's figures were as accurate as the listeners believed them to be.
James Buckley Black was the son of a Methodist minister, studied at DePauw University and was an officer in the Indiana 18th Regiment during the Civil War. He was a lawyer and a leader in the GAR chapters that formed after the rebellion. He lived primarily in Indianapolis.
Old Maine referred to the state's contribution to the Civil War, its contribution in manpower larger in proportion than any other northern state. The story became legend after the conflict.
News you needed to know
May 1867
Installation of officers
Magnolia Lodge No. 80, I.O.O.F. of Fairfield, installed the following persons as officers of the Lodge for the present term Z. Ferguson, N.G.; E.J. Chaney, V.G.; A.T. Irwin, Treasurer; T.W. Hayward, R. Sec., and J.A. Crookshank, P. Sec. Meetings every Saturday evening.
-- Brookville American
June 1868
Fourth of July Celebration
An old-fashioned celebration will be held in Rose's Grove near Fairfield on the 4th of July. Hon. John S. Reid and Gen. T.W. Bennett are expected to be present and address the meeting. Come with your families and friends, with baskets well filled, and have a good time generally.
-- Committee
October 1868
Church Dedication
-- Brookville American
January 1869
Christmas Eve at Fairfield
The lady members of the Universalist Church at Fairfield prepared a Christmas tree and oyster supper for the above occasion. The tree was in the church, and was nicely decorated and heavily laden with presents for the Sunday School scholars, Church members, etc.
They met at 6 o'clock at the church, and after listening to excellent music by the Sabbath School scholars a few minutes, the gifts were distributed to the entire satisfaction of all, especially the children. They then repaired to the Hall, where the Supper was awaiting them, and if one can judge by appearances they enjoyed themselves to the utmost capacity. The only obstacle in the way was that the Hall was entirely too small to accommodate the crowd.
The receipts of the evening were $123, which they design appropriating for repairs to the church.
-- Brookville American
October 1872
Sam Rose of Fairfield raised a sweet potato measuring 32 inches in length and from one to four inches in circumference. So we are told by the Fairfield correspondent of the Brookville Democrat.
-- Liberty Herald
July 1873
A Fairfield correspondent of the Democrat says: "As Mr. Wooters was plowing last Friday evening on the Irwin farm near this place, there was the appearance of a great storm in the north. He stopped his team to seek shelter, when his attention was attracted to something like hail striking the corn. On examination he found it to be a shower of small bugs. They came in millions with the wind. They are eating the corn and wheat. There is a mystery somewhere."
-- Cambridge City Tribune
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Homecoming 1965 -- names you know
Aug. 19, 1965 Cambridge City Tribune/Traveler
About 160 Turn Out
For Last Fairfield
Church Homecoming
FAIRFIELD -- Souvenir pencils bore the simple words, "Last homecoming 1965, Fairfield Methodist Church."
Though the advent of the Brookville Reservoir will bring the demise of this entire community, approximately 160 people braved Sunday's sweltering temperatures to participate in the Methodist Church's 128th anniversary.
Tent-sheltered tables on the church grounds provided facilities for the basket lunch following the morning service. The repast was an integral part of the renewing of old friendships and the ensuing reminiscence.
Four former pastors and their families were present: Rev. and Mrs. Grover Houseman of Connersville (1925-28); Rev. and Mrs. George Curtis of Versailles (1939-48); Rev. and Mrs. William (Mabel) Cooney of Taylorsville (1955-60); and Rev. and Mrs. W.C. Patrick of Franklin (1912-14).
Rev. Patrick graduated from Moore's Hill College in 1912 and Fairfield was his first charge. (Moore's Hill later became Evansville College, affiliated with the Methodist Church.)
Two vocal solos were rendered, "Be Still, My Soul," by Rev. Cooney, and "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," by Mrs. Herschel (Hazel) Klein, both accompanied by Mrs. Al Hansford on the organ.
A history of Fairfield was given by Mrs. Maggie Retherford of Blooming Grove. Miss. Ruth Preston of Fairfield also wrote a history of the community, which was read by Mrs. Kenneth Davis.
Homecoming members were:
Mrs. Nelson Stelle (Blanche), chairman
Mrs. Al Hansford (Helen)
Mrs. A.J. Banning (Pauline)
Mrs. Carl Bonar (Ellen)
Mrs. Carl Cornelius (Eileen)
Mrs. Robert Chapman (Joan)
Mrs. Herbert Stelle (Doris)
Mrs. Ethel Klein (Fred)
Miss Eliza Kelly
Mrs. Dimmitt Butcher (Gertie)
Mrs. Carl Huber (Ruth)
Mrs. Kenneth Davis (Ancille)
Mrs. Leroy Stevens (Ruth)
The day was best described by Mrs. Ethel Klein, who said, "Isn't it wonderful, all the hand shakin' and folk gettin' together?"
Mrs. Snow Van Camp of Mt. Carmel said, "It's too bad, we'll miss all this."
Reported by Joan Chapman for the Richmond Pal-Item
Friday, January 17, 2025
Willie Harrison, the President ... more or less
Centerville National Patriot, Oct 28, 1840
YOUR COUNTRY demands your services as well as your vote. Your individual prosperity as well as the liberty and honor of our country demands your services. The ballot box is your palladium of our liberties. It is there that the poor working man can rebuke aristocratic and pampered office holders, Next Monday, don't forget the time. If Martin Van Buren is re-elected, the galling of political slavery will be fastened upon you. If we can rout him and his band of office holders, and elect the patriot and statesman William Henry Harrison, the permanency of our republican institutions will be reassured and tyranny will be made to tremble on their thrones. One charge along the whole line and victory will be ours.
*
Leavenworth, Crawford County, 14 January 1841
PRESIDENTIAL SAGACITY -- The N.Y. Evening Post, in June last, after making a calculation about the relative political strength of the different states, concludes as follows:
"We do not think that Gen. Harrison is certain of but two states in the Union -- Vermont and Rhode Island. We stake our reputation for political sagacity when we predict that General Harrison will receive the smallest electoral vote ever cast for a federal candidate in the United States. Mark the words."
*
Indiana American, April 9, 1841
HEALTH OF THE PRESIDENT -- We mentioned yesterday the fact that President Harrison was taken with a severe attack of pneumonia on the 27th (of March). We received yesterday the National Intelligencer of Thursday morning, the 1st (of the month) which represents him as slightly better the preceding evening and through the Cincinnati Chronicle of yesterday afternoon, we have the following:
"We learn by a letter from John D. Thorpe at Wheeling that he left Baltimore on the afternoon of the 1st at which time the cars had just arrived from Washington, bringing the painful intelligence that the President was much worse."
This is later intelligence than any received by the mail. The President had been pronounced better but on the afternoon of the 1st, his disease assumed a worse form. This news was received at Baltimore after the papers that day were published.
-- Cincinnati Gazette
*
Indiana American, April 23, 1841
THE DEATH of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, so soon after his election to that high office, is a bereavement peculiarly calculated to be regarded as a heavy affliction, and to impress all minds with a sense of uncertainty of human things, and of the dependence of Nature, as well as of individuals, upon our Heavenly Parent.
-- John Tyler, who assumed the office
Linegar's swine time in court
Connersville Evening News, Nov. 1, 1911
J.M. LINEGAR IS
CLEARED BY JURY
---
SUIT FOR DAMAGES
--
Which the Walters Brothers Might
Have Filed in Case of Conviction
is Probably Forestalled by Acquittal
--
The case, it will be remembered, was the result of a Grand Jury indictment returned in Franklin County against Linegar, charging him with hauling diseased hogs on the highways. Specifically he was accused of selling a number of cholera-smitten shoats to the Walters brothers in Brookville and it was the aim of the state to prove that the disease conveyed by these swine to the Walters herd precipitated an epidemic there.
The acquittal of the defendant, it is supposed, will preclude a damage suit, which it was thought probable the Walters brothers would file in the event of Dr. Linegar's conviction.
*
This case had been venued to Fayette County in December, 1910. There are no news accounts of the trial or what evidence was presented or considered. One assumes the charge would have been marginally difficult to prove.
Walter brothers ran a sale barn and livery stable in Franklin County. Not sure on the years.
It is worth noting that hog cholera was a common nuisance for farmers in the 19th century but was considered largely preventable by 1910. A sick herd couldn't be sold. A serum had been produced by 1910 and state legislation had been approved to control the epidemic -- with spotty efficiency.
Red Men were all White
Connersville Times, May 18, 1895
KEOKUK TRIBE, NO. 205,
Improved Order of Red Men
Instituted at Fairfield --
28 Pale Faces Adopted --
Interesting Features
----
If there is a community on Earth that knows how to entertain visitors to perfection and to display hospitality with a gracefulness nearing perfection, that place is Fairfield.
Friday evening, Red Men came from the surrounding forests and gathered in the classical village. Warriors, chiefs, sachems, prophets, medicine men-- all were there, to take part in the scalp dance from which was to arise, Phoenix-like, a new tribe, and the gathered clans numbered about 175.
Blabber blabber blabber their names were:
Otonkah
Kenue
Hockomock
Orinoco
Miantonamah
Wawasa
Osceolo
Stopping blabber here:
The work of adoption was begun at four in the afternoon in the Red Men hall but it developed that the room was entirely inadequate to hold the visitors comfortably and leave any space for team work. A committee hustled around and secured Cory's Hall, and after partaking of a fine supper, kindly furnished by the good ladies of Fairfield and vicinity, the scene of action was changed to more commodious quarters. By midnight, the work of "adopting" the pale faces was finished.
When the Hunters had grown to Warriors and they in turn had been metamorphosed into Chiefs, when Keokuk Tribe No. 205 had been instituted, the King of Luminaries heralded the dawn of another day.
And thus, Fairfield became a town-carrying member of the Red Men, which was only open to white males for most of the first 200 years it existed, having been formed in the 1770s as a patriotic organization ahead of the American Revolution.
The society had the standard fraternal rules and played heavily on native traditions that were mostly made up. Aside from the mockery, the organization was somewhat benign. Just men being members of men-only groups.
Fairfield names associated with Keokuk: Elmer Naylor, Allison Loper, David Brier, Ormsby Logan, Clint Swift, and Rev. Smith.
Music for Fairfield fish, fowl, fauna
Richmond Item, Oct. 3, 1882
Rootin' tootin' time
Conner's orchestra leaves on Wednesday evening for their annual picnic which they will have this year in a beautiful place of woodland, a short distance south of Fairfield.
They take with them also tents, cooking utensils and everything needed to make life in the woods endurable, being hauled down in express wagons. The ladies -- wives and sweethearts of the company -- will drive down, on Monday afternoon, escorted by Charley Staake and Prof. (Otto) Schmidt, and will remain and come home when they break camp.
On Tuesday evening the orchestra gives a grand concert at Fairfield.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
News from 200 years ago
Liberty Gazette, Oct. 1827
BENJAMIN BOYD & SON
N.B. Itis also proposed to give evening lectures on Grammar to such young Ladies and Gentlemen as have not an opportunity of attending their instructions during the day. It is believed that a grammatical knowledge of the English language can be acquired in a short time in this way.
RECORDERS NOTICE
Those who may be concerned, are hereby notified that my house is of wood and liable to be burned; therefore all persons having deeds or other papers of Record, in my hands are requested to call immediately and lift the same, as cash is more secure in wooden buildings than papers. A neglect to attend to this notice may occasion some trouble to the Sheriff of Union County.
William Cason, Deputy
Recorder of Union County
TAKE NOTICE
Whereas my wife Mary has left my bed and board without any just cause or provocation, this is therefore to forewarn all persons from trusting or harboring her on my account, as I am determined to pay no debts of her contracting from this date.
Jacob Deardorff
Sept 20, 1827
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
When news was mostly innuendo
Connersville-Examiner / March 19, 1884
-- Fairfield will soon boast of three drug stores and three man-killers.
-- Republican scallywags drink and smoke off Democratic candidates who are not posted.
-- Parties passed through Fairfield searching for a tramp, last Wednesday, who had shot a boy at Whitcomb.
-- The Democrats of Fairfield Township nominated Captain G.W. Claypool, trustee; William Andrew Jackson Glidewell, justice; and L.B. Doyle as constable.
-- The last few days of open weather has afforded a number of our lazy farmers an opportunity to finish gathering last year's crop of corn.
-- Bart Flood, a former Fairfield boy, writes from Gunnison, Colorado, stating the mercury ran down to 50 degrees below zero the past winter, and snow from 20 inches to 8 feet in depth.
-- The Republicans held a council of war in Fairfield last Saturday and after much sweating and apparent bodily pain, the following ticket was hatched out: Trustee, Hezzie O. Rose; justice, Nelson Trusler; constable, John Snider.
-- Itinerant
From Everton the same week:
-- We are extremely grateful to some of our pretended friends for the care they have taken in the past few days to circulate false and slanderous talk about us.
From Bentonville:
-- H.H. John spent part of last week visiting at Fairfield, so he stated. But he went away with Langston, and it looked rather suspicious.
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Whiskey, a pig in your poke
Jan. 17, 1845 Brookville American
Another distillery -- We learn from the Beacon that a new distillery, owned by G.W.C. Comeygs, has just gone into operation at Lawrenceburgh, which will consume 500 bushels of corn per day, and make 50 barrels of whiskey, and feed 5,000 hogs. The other distillery in that place uses 800 to 1,000 bushels of corn per day, and makes from 80 to 100 barrels of whiskey, and feeds 8,000 hogs. (Also known as swill.)
It is a subject worthy of the consideration of the moralist whether the producer is responsible for the improper use made of spiritous liquors by the drunkard. It is necessary and important that we should have spiritous liquors for many and various mechanical, chemical and other purposes.
Is the producer responsible for the improper use of spirits? Razors are made for valuable purposes, yet people will not cut their throats with them. The world could scarcely wag along without ropes, yet the foolish will sometimes hang themselves with them. Medical poisons are valuable when administered with the aid of skill and learning, yet they are frequently administered by quacks with fatal effects in the patient, and many an unfortunate lunatic use them to hurry them into an awful eternity.
Who, then, is responsible for the drunkard?
Sunday, January 5, 2025
The flood of '52
Here and there, we are reminded that over the centuries of human population in what we know as Indiana, there is occasional heavy rain. As the purpose of the Fairfield 200 blog is to acknowledge two of those centuries as our history, it’s worth noting that flooding caused our demise.
Flooding elsewhere. But in 1852, it’s doubtful anyone blamed the problem on Fairfield, although they suffered all the same. This dispatch published in an outpost paper in Aurora (Dearborn Co.) called the Independent Banner:
A deluge of rain!
“The heavy and continued rains of Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 25-26, 1852) in the Valley of the two Miamis caused a sudden rise of water in those streams and their tributaries, which yesterday swept in a flood over their banks, carrying away fences, out-houses, dams, mills, lumber and in many places, bridges in its course.
“A larger portion of the Eaton Railway is submerged and several bridges carried away. The Venice bridge on the Brookville and Oxford Pike was so obstructed with floating drift as to prevent it being traveled through.
“The passenger train on the Hamilton Railway that left yesterday with a large number of passengers, passed the bridge beyond Hamilton when a messenger on horseback announced to the conductor that the flood had risen to such a height and bore with such force on the middle pier of the Twin Creek Bridge that it had burst it asunder, and that the adjacent embankment in many places had been washed away.”
In another column:
“At Connersville the river at that point was high and rising rapidly and the water had come so near the telegraph wire which extends over the river that it had to be taken down to prevent the driftwood from carrying it off.”
* * *
The Brookville American, on Jan. 7, 1853, published an article saying the Whitewater Canal had been damaged and would be repaired and in working order within a short time.
“The canal must and will be repaired. And it can be done in three months as well as nine. Then there will be six months for the mills and merchandise to be making money – and six months to collect toll. Repair quick and $40,000 in tolls will be saved to the canal and ten times as much to the business of the valley.”
The lot of damage occurred at Cambridge City. “The destruction of private property has been immense.” Serious damage also occurred at a feeder dam near Harrison.
A woolen factory and bridge were destroyed at Laurel, The paper said that “it was supposed in January 1847 that the destructive flood that occurred on the first day of that month was probably a centennial visitor.”
The problem was, people believed it and built their structures along the river assuming it couldn’t happen again. “The ruin and desolation cannot be particularized.”
The paper went on to speculate that farming methods of the time, the digging of drainage ditches, was messing with the ecology of the swamps near the rivers and that they could expect more flooding in the future, perhaps every year. It would be many years before they learned their lesson about tampering with the river.
In the same article, the paper said the Spear and Stevens paper and flouring mills would be repaired as soon as they had the money. The paper said the Spears mill had been damaged several times in the previous 5 years and invoked some patriotic zeal toward the challenge.
“Some Generals by an adroit maneuver, turn defeat into victory. Some men by commercial failure thereby learn to lay a sure foundation for future success and final wealth. In others, their real resources and true greatness are never developed until they are brought out by adverse fortunes.”
Amen.
I don’t know specifically where the Venice bridge was located, but it might have been the one at the state line east of Bath. That bridge was dismantled and rebuilt in Butler County.
Friday, January 3, 2025
Nice business opportunity
Ad from the Brookville American, June 15, 1835
MERCANTILE HOUSE
FOR SALE
I will offer at public auction on the first day of August next, a large and convenient property in the town of Fairfield, Franklin county, Indiana. This property is well situated for the mercantile business as any that can be found in the west, the property is nearly new, built expressly for a Store, with two good dwelling houses attached to it. The store house and one of the dwellings are two-story brick, under the same roof. In short, any person wishing to purchase such property would do well to see it before the day of sale.
The condition of the sale will be one third in hand, the balance in two equal payments. Further conditions will be made known on the day of sale by
JOHN PROBASCO
N.B. The property has been and is now occupied as a store with a fine business the purchaser can have immediate possession.
*
The ad does not say who owned the property or what price was being asked. It’s doubtful the structure endured into the 20th century and was probably destroyed by one of the several fires that hit the town in those days.
John Probasco appears to have been a horse trader and his name is connected to sales of horses in Franklin County at that time. I can’t find another connection to Fairfield. It’s possible he owned the stores. He was from Warren County, Ohio.
I don’t know the meaning of “N.B.”
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Brookbank’s genius invention
In 1905, a Connersville man named Eddy R. Brookbank came up with a device that might have-could have changed the face of American agriculture. But, it didn’t.
Brookbank, who wasn’t living in Connersville at the time, had patented a device he called the Equipoise Cultivator. Built by the Buechner Manufacturing Co. of Battle Creek, Michigan, the device hit the market around 1909 and was in demand for a short period of time.
A newspaper article out of Battle Creek described it as “a new farm tool in the line of sulky or wheel cultivator that bids fair to out-rival anything heretofore made in its line.”
Good news so far. “Through the peculiar construction of this cultivator, the shovels will always enter the soil, regardless of its condition, and will cultivate the soil at an even depth whether shallow or deep. Aside from these features, which have never before been introduced in a riding cultivator, the shovel gange are forward of the operator so that the corn, etc., is in full view and also the weight is entirely removed from the necks of the horses.”
Brookbank received a patent for the Equipoise in May 1906 and set about marketing the machine across several states. In what appears to have been a plan he made up as he went along, Brookbank was usually on hand to demonstrate, explain, and … of course, sell.
The term “equipoise” wasn’t uncommon in those days, though we seldom hear it today. It generally means, balanced in the middle. The word was described to explain how a telephone arm could be handy in an office. “Works like the human arm,” one ad claimed in a 1906 Washington Post.
Brookbank worked the county fairs in Liberty, Brookville and Connersville to sell his cultivator and there’s evidence the machine was popular in the Plains states, chiefly Kansas and Oklahoma in the wheat fields, in 1910.
“Have you seen the new Equipoise Adjustable cultivator?” one agricultural paper asked in May 1910. “It is the most complete farming tool ever placed on the market.” It came with a guarantee. “You may use it until the first of June (about a month) and if not satisfied or won’t do the work, bring it in and get your paper. This is something entirely new, never was in this county before, some sold in the East last year.” (Cherokee, Okla., 4-29-1910).
By then, the cultivator was being made by a firm called Page Woven Wire Fence Co. of Adrian, Mich, though the Battle Creek firm of Buechner Manufacturing had been the original creator. Buechner was more commonly known for making hat racks and metal picture frames for beer advertising.
Brookbank tried several ploys to get the public interested in his cultivator, including giving free dinners to people who bought one during the Connersville Free Fair at Roberts Park in 1910.
A 1906 Connersville news story had predicted the “plows will allow Mr. Brookbank a substantial royalty.”
Turned out, that was not to be the case. In 1909, Brookbank was offering a money-back guarantee on the cultivator, but production had slowed to a crawl. He wasn’t sure he could deliver them before planting season.
In June 1911, a short story in the Brookville Democrat said this:
“Fifteen Equipoise Riding Cultivators will be offered for sale at public auction at the corner of Seventh and Main Streets. Sale will begin at 12 noon. I will offer for sale the livery barn and a good dwelling house. – Ferd Schneider, Agent.”
There’s no news about the product after that, though ads in the Connersville papers from 1912 still had the machine available for sale at Joe Moffett’s livery barn. “Some improvements have been made,” Moffett’s ad promised.
There’s no information on what killed the cultivator. It was possibly underfunded, or badly managed in the production phase. It may have been flawed or simply the victim of a better product from a larger, more reliable agriculture implements maker, such as McCormick or Allis-Chalmers. At least once, production fell far short of demand. A farmer needing equipment would have bought something else.
A horse-driven cultivator should have been useful well into the 1920s, though Brookbank’s invention was actively on the market for less than three years.
Brookbank was born in Jackson Township (near Everton) and was 78 when he died in 1947. He was buried in Dale Cemetery in Fayette County.
Emma Pouder, sheriff of Union County
According to the Liberty Express: “On finding out that Mrs. Pouder very much desired the appointment, the board backed by the opinion of many whom they heard express themselves, decided to appoint her.” She would have needed confirmation from the governor’s office, and she obviously received it.
Emma Pouder was elected in 1924 to a full term and served until she was replaced in December 1927 by Albert DuBois. Milton Pouder had been elected in November 1922, defeating Democrat Jack Booth. Pouder was listed as a Republican. Emma Pouder defeated Democrat William O. Line in the 1924 general election, winning by about 500 votes.
Her strengths were known to be her attachment to prohibition law enforcement and she’s cited in a number of stories between 1923 and 1926 for actively participating in raids on stills in Union, Franklin and Fayette counties. Most of her raids resulted in convictions that included fines and 60-day terms in the state penal farm.
Emma’s time as sheriff is closely connected to the reign of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and while there’s no direct evidence saying she was a member, many of her raids included members of the Horse Thief Detectives, who were a public arm of intimidation by the KKK.
Pouder was highly popular in Liberty, according to several stories in the newspapers published there at the time. She appointed Virgil Shouse as her deputy.
There isn’t a specific roster of women who served as sheriff in Indiana, but Pouder is obviously not the only one. Oddly, Franklin County had also mulled appointing a woman in August 1924 after Sheriff William VanCamp had been killed near Mt. Carmel by two car thieves.
VanCamp’s wife Bertha had popular support for succeeding her late husband, though the Commissioners did not follow up on that. Bertha VanCamp never held law enforcement office at any time. Bertha VanCamp and Emma Pouder were evidently friends, and one item in the Liberty Express reported in November 1923 that the two had been dinner guests of a Liberty couple.
Emma Pouder, in a 1924 interview, called herself “a plain country woman and I had no thought of entering public life until circumstances seemed to make it necessary.” She claimed she also did the cooking for the prisoners.
One might assume the Klan was involved in her decision to seek her husband’s position, though no such questions were asked of her. The Klan’s influence in Indiana was significant until the end of the 1920s.
Pouder’s most notable law enforcement action came in August 1926 when she was tasked with finding clues that helped convict Willard Carson of Liberty with killing his father, Carson. Pouder led a search for Willard Carson and helped apprehend him.
Emma Pouder was 86 when she died in 1958, and her obituary said she was a native of the Billingsville area.
Milton Pouder was 56 when he died. He had served as a postal carrier in Liberty before moving to Billingsville to farm alongside his wife. It is not clear why he chose to enter law enforcement.
His obituary said he died of the “grippe,” another term for influenza.
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