HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      446

was the eighty acres now owned and occupied by W. B. Sutton, three
miles south; Zachariah Denny’s, the eighty now owned and occupied by
John E. Schiegel, and Mordecai Denny’s, the forty acres now the prop-
erty and home of Mrs. Ida Friedly, a mile west of Middlebury. The
dates of this transaction cannot be accurately given, but cover a period of
several years of the last of the thirties and the first of the forties. At a
later day, Owens retrieved in part his loss by again acquiring land, but
not so with the Dennys.

Hog Thief County.
    In the early history of the county “wild hogs,” as they were called,
were numerous; that is, hogs running at large, for which there seemed
to be no known ownership. They not only subsisted, but thrived well on
mast, plants and roots, and were looked upon by the primitive occupants
of the territory as common property. When they wanted meat they went
out and killed a choice hog without raising the question of ownership.
From this practice, it is thought, originated the epithet ‘hog thief county,”
as applied to Clay by some of the surrounding counties. These hogs were
not stolen from anyone, but came here to live and grow up with the
country.
    At an old settlers’ meeting held at Center Point, in the summer of
1873, in a talk from the platform, Esau Presnell said: “In the early part
of the century several Shaker settlements in Knox and Vigo counties
were abandoned from dissatisfaction, disease and other causes, their hogs
wandering off in different directions, many of them straying over into
Clay county. There abounded here in different localities at that time a
kind of wild pea of which hogs were very fond and on which they lived
well. But the hard winter of 1831-32 killed out a large number of them.
Though Clay countians killed and ate such as they wanted, they did not
steal, them, regarding them as game, with no known private property
rights.”
    Some of these hogs were so wild as to he vicious and a source of
dread to the pioneer population. Frequently did they contest with the
settler the right of priority in occupancy, and he was sometimes compelled
to mount a tree for safety from their attacks, his faithful dog driven
from the scene or slain by their savage assaults. Many thrilling stories
have been related by the primitive settlers of their adventures and experi-
ences with these porcine bristlers.

The First Blacksmith at Center Point.
    The first blacksmith at the town of Center Point was Matthias
Rager, who located there in the spring of 1854, carrying on his trade in
a shop provided by Martin H. Kennedy, founder of the town. Rager was
a good workman, but did not stay there long. He had left the place of
his nativity and marriage in eastern Ohio under a cloud on his coming to
Indiana, In the month of June of the same year there came to Owen
county a father and son from the same place in Ohio that Rager hailed
from, who, on their return home, went to Brazil by way of Center Point,
on foot, passing through the place about mid-day. Noticing a well by
the road-side in front of a small house (on the southwest corner of Main
and Tuscarawas streets, as known at a later day) they stopped to take a
drink. Calling at the front door for a tin-cup, they found Rager and his
family seated around the table eating dinner. It was not known to
Rager’s former neighbors, back in Ohio, where he had located. But a