Vigo County Pioneers
The early pioneers to this area came and stopped in this area because
this was as far as you could safely go. Indian lands in Illinois were not
yet available for purchase. Fort Harrison provided somewhat of a retreat
if the current situation with the Indians were to change and the river, the
Wabash provided transportation.
Most of the newcomers were a hard lot. They were not new to this
pioneering stuff. Many were previously pioneers in another area before
this one and were quite familiar with the work they faced to create a
homestead. Indiana's history has it tales of woe and hardship and Indian
troubles but the number of major incidents is far lower than in the
settlement period for Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, for example. To
some extent the Indian troubles were solved before the settlers arrived.
Land purchase became a more orderly process and the threat of losing your
land to some prior claim of ownership or change of power was more remote.
So early Hoosiers were "happy campers" and tended to settle down to the
business of providing for their families in this spot where they now found
themselves.
Log cabins gave way to "frame houses" as time and wealth permitted. My
grandmother Barbour, whose family came really early, told me stories she
had been told by her grandmother of making your own brick, laying them out
to dry, and finding deer prints in the drying bricks. They were used
anyway and were in the large kitchen fireplace till the house was no more.
The front hall had a couple of marks high on the wall. These were said to
be arrow marks from arrows that came whizzing in the door one day when it
was opened to see who was there. The Indians they encountered were friendly
except for this occasion. They frequently arrived at the door and just
waited until some food was offered to them.One story I hesitate to tell
because I don't want to believe it, goes like this. Some of the time the
Indians were invited in and sat in the kitchen. Once a baby propped up in a
papoose was leaned against the wall outside while the meal was consumed
inside. The pigs which roamed and foraged at will knocked over the papoose
frame and ate the baby. I think maybe they killed the baby by stepping on
it. The pigs I've known wouldn't have done this.
The water trough in the barn was carved out of one huge poplar log. Don't
hold me to that poplar bit , maybe it was sycamore. The siding of the barn
WAS poplar, (I have a piece of it. Poplar can be successfully used if it
is not painted and if it does not sit in water (held off the ground).
The most fascinating Indian lore that my grandmother related was the
existence of Indian mounds and she knew roughly where they were located.
All my childhood I had a vision of standing on those Indian mounds and
imagined I was the only one who knew they existed. I never did find out
where they were and now I imagine them flattened by farm operations.
One other thing I learned about the land came from puzzling over the
description of a road. It was the Durkee's Ferry Road and went from the
place on the Wabash , superior to other sites in a 20 mile stretch of the
river, to the North Arm of the Great Prairie. All my life I have heard an
"old husband's tale " that land in Illinois was better. Even just
crossing the state line made it better. It was that sharp a line. Looking
for old maps of Illinois we found a map with the prairie outlined and sure
enough a north arm of this prairie land extended towards Indiana in the
area this road was headed.
Somewhere I have a note on the origin of the name for the Wabash. Has
anyone any info on this?
Didn't mean to ramble. Stared with the idea of adding local color to
answer Charlotte. Charlotte, you shouldn't have asked.
Judy
Meant to tell you of a good account of coming to Helt Township in
Vermillion Co., just above Vigo. Do a search of INVERMIL in rootsweb and
search on Helt Township or on John Helt. It is a full page dated 21 Mar 1998.