Early Days of Indiana

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1893 Jan 20, The Muncie Daily Herald, P3, Muncie, Indiana

Early Days

J. A. Tomlinson Tells Some Interesting Stories

Muncie in 1828-93

A Brief Review of Facts and Happenings When Delaware County Was a Wilderness

Mr. J. A. Tomlinson, a well-[known] resident of Delaware county, and who is at present residing on East Jackson street, relates the following interesting story of life from 1828 to 1893.  “I came to Indiana in 1828 and resided for five years in Wayne county two miles west of Dublin.  At that time there was but one store in the village.  William Renley, a wheelwright, made my mother a flax wheel on which she spun flax which she made into a pair of trousers for father.  Father made shoes for the entire family, and although rude in construction, they were good and wore a long time.  The first Indians I ever saw were camped one mile from our house.  Miami’s and the tribe numbered 200.  In 1822 we moved to Delaware county, and my father, Enoch Tomlinson, pre-empted the land I now own on the Middletown pike.  The journey from Dublin to this county was made overland and occupied three days.  As the Middletown pike had not been made, in those days we were compelled to cut our way from Cowan through the heavy underbrush.  The first night we were quartered in our new home the wolves howled dismally all night.  For many years the animals skulked about in the woods and often killed and devoured sheep, hogs and calves.  In many instances they attacked men who were carrying fresh meat.  My father, brothers and myself killed many wild cats and had great sport.  Our dogs would scent cats and run them until they took refuge in a tree.  Then we would shoot them and secure their skins.  In June, 1834, Edmund Aldridge, one of our near neighbors, was stricken with the terrible milk sickness.  At one time there were eight persons down with the same disease.  Many died and five persons were buried in the same grave.  The first grave was dug in the old Heath graveyard.  The first of the victims buried was Mrs. Eliza Aldridge. The only doctor who could cure the dreaded malady resided in Randolph county, 20 miles away, and his visits were few, as he had to come on horseback.  Dr. Anthony was also called in several cases, but was unable to prevent the disease from spreading.  The first school house we had was constructed entirely of logs with a stick chimney, dirt hearth and split pancheon floor daubed with mud.  The seats and desks were constructed of roughly hewn logs.  Our first teacher was Abner Perdieu, and he was a good one.  We studied spelling and arithmetic.  Our ink was made by soaking maple bark in water.  We added wild berries for coloring.  The teacher receive[d] 27-1/2 cents every three months for each scholar, hence you can imagine that his earnings were not munificent[sic].  The scholars would often scare up several deer when proceeding to and from school.  There were no roads in those days and the inhabitants of the county were forced to make them.  Our neighbors and the members of our family took axes and cut our way  to where Muncie now stands.  Here we followed an Indian trail to William Gilbert’s farm, where the Delaware county jail now stands.  The first paper printed in Muncie was issued from a story and a half building situated on West Main street on the banks of White river.  Thomas Gharkey was the proprietor and was considered a very smart man in those days.  One day he had trouble with a printer who knocked him out of an upstairs window, which crippled him for life.  The first church dedicated in Muncie was situated on East Washington street where A. L. Johnson’s residence now stands.  In 1828 John Hall was the preacher in charge.  The Presbyterian church on south Walnut street was the second church erected in the county.  Labor was 25 cents per day or $6 per month.  We made rails for 87-1/2 cents per hundred, cut wheat with a sycle[sic] for 37-1/2 a day, but got $1 a day for cradeling[sic].  My sisters worked out doing housework for $1 per week and paid 5-1/4 cent per yard for calico.  Deer horns were worth 25 cents each.  We made our sugar and molasses, had wheat bread for Sunday morning and corn bread and Johnny-cake through the week.  We raised peaches and sold them on the streets of Muncie for 12-1/2 cents per bushel.  I sold good poplar lumber for 75 cents per hundred and paid $9 for a pair of bedticks of Moses Neelys, and mother spun the flax into bed cords.  We hauled our wheat to Brookville, for which we were paid 40 cents per bushel.  I hauled flour to Cincinnati for $3 per barrel.  The first gun I ever owned I traded a cow for it.  The cow was worth $8.  I sold two good horses for $100 on land payments.  I bought the second jail built in Delaware county at auction for $89.  The jail was a two story brick building and stood in the west part of the court house yard.”