Fountain County IN Archives History - Books .....Board Of Justices 1881
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Book Title: History Of Fountain County

BOARD OF JUSTICES.

   The first meeting of the board of justices was held July 14, 1826.

   The proceedings of that session were recorded in the following language:

                         "SPECIAL SESSION. July 14, 1826.

   "At a special meeting of the board of justices of Fountain county, convened
at the house of Robert Hetfield, in said county, on July 14, 1826. Justices
present,—Absalom Mendenhall, James Miller, David Rawles, Thomas Gillam, Thomas
Clawson.

   "The said justices, being duly commissioned and qualified, proceeded to the
election of a president, and, on motion, Absalom Mendenhall was appointed for
one year.

   "Whereas the election of William B. White to the offices of clerk of the
circuit court and recorder of Fountain county has been contested by Peleg
Babcock, an elector of said county,— now at this time come the parties
aforesaid, and there not being sufficient time to determine said case, it is
considered that the cause stand continued.

   "Ordered that the court adjourn to meet at 4 P.M. to-morrow.
                                     "ABSALOM MENDENHALL, President."

   On the next day the court heard the evidence in the contested election case,
and, after "taking time to consider the same," adjudged "the election of the
said William B. White to the offices of clerk of the circuit court and recorder
of Fountain county null and void."

   And it was ordered "that said offices are and will remain vacant until said
officers can be duly elected and qualified, and that the clerk give notice to
the governor of said vacancies as soon as may be convenient."

   It cannot now be ascertained what were the grounds upon which Mr. White's
election was held to be "null and void." It could not have been because he had
been elected to both offices named, for one person could legally hold both the
offices then, and Mr. White did hold them for years after. It is probable that
the election took place before the act organizing the county became a law, or
before the time fixed in the law for the beginning of the existence of the
county, and that this was the reason for the judgment of the court.

   At this session the letters "L. S.," with a scrawl around them, were adopted
as "the common seal of the circuit and justice's courts of Fountain county."

   The next meeting of the board was at the house of Isaac N. Spining, July 24,
1826.

   At this meeting the county was divided into five townships, which were named
Shawnee, Richland, Troy, Wabash, and Cain.

   It was ordered that the elections in Shawnee should be held at the house of
Joseph Collier; in Richland, at the house of Ezra Rowley; in Troy, at Covington;
in Wabash, at the house of Thomas Gillam; and in Cain, at the house of Mathew
Walls.

   James Whitley was appointed constable for Troy township, and James Gregg a
constable in Richland township, and these were the first constables in the
county, so far as appears from any public record.

   Daniel Vandeventer was appointed agent of the county, and James Prevo treasurer.

   The first act of the justices at this meeting was to grant Leonard Keep a
license to "vend foreign merchandise" for one year, for which he was required to
pay $10, and their next act was to grant the same man a license to "retail
spirituous liquors" for one year, for which they charged him $5, and required
him to give a "bond in the sum of $500, with Stephen Taylor and Joseph Collier
as his sureties." This was the first liquor license granted in the county.

   On the second day of this session the following orders were made: "Ordered
that the seat of justice of Fountain county be known and designated by the name
of Covington." * * * "Ordered that the agent cause the seat of justice of
Fountain county to be surveyed, and a correct plat made out, so as to be
returned to this board at their next session."

   This location of the county seat was not secured without a struggle; nor did
it settle the controversy; and it is not certain that it is settled yet. The
question of removing the county seat has occupied the thoughts and attention of
the people of the county at several periods since the original location was
made, and has more than once played an important part in elections.

   This controversy, like "freedom's battle," has been "bequeathed by * * * sire
to son," but whether it shall be "ever won" is a question that many yet hope to
see answered in the affirmative. The increasing facilities for travel and the
location of railways affording easy and quick access to the present county seat
will probably go further toward the final settlement of this long and, at times,
bitter controversy than anything else. The chief objection to Covington has
always been that it was situated at one side of the county, and was not
convenient to some of the most populous and wealthy portions of it; thus making,
it inconvenient and unnecessarily expensive to those who were compelled to
attend the county seat upon either public or private business.

   Richard Hicks was appointed, at this session, collector of state and county
revenue for the year 1826, and the rate of taxation was fixed as follows:

On each horse, etc                            $ .37 1/2
On stud horses, once the rate of season         .37 1/2
On each work ox.                                .18 3/4
On each two-wheeled carriage                   1.00
On each four-wheeled carriage                  1.50
On each brass clock                            1.00
On each silver or pinchbeck watch               .25
On each gold watch                             1.00
On each poll                                    .25

   Isaac Colman was allowed $5 for sending election returns to Indianapolis.

   The September session, 1826, was occupied principally in making allowances to
various parties for listing townships, and other public service, in granting
licenses to vend foreign merchandise and spirituous liquors, in exempting
various persons from payment of poll-tax, on account of "age and infirmity," in
appointing trustees to lease public lands, and in considering petitions and
appointing viewers for the location of highways.

   The viewers to view the highway now known as the Covington and Crawfordsville
road were appointed at this session. They were William White, Benjamin Kepner,
and Edward McBroom: and they were ordered to "view a road beginning where the
road leading from Crawfordsville intersects the line of Montgomery and Fountain
counties, in Sec. 16, T. 19, R. 6, called the Coal creek road; thence the
nearest and best way to Absalom Mendenhall's; thence the nearest and best way to
William Cochran's house; thence the nearest and best way to Covington."

   This road was afterward permanently marked out and located as a "state road"
by George Steely, Jonathan W. Powers and Caleb Brown, commissioners appointed by
the legislature.

   They were assisted by William Crawford, surveyor of Montgomery county. They
first started at the west end of Market street in Crawfordsville, and ran a
straight line "N. 76 degrees 20 minutes west to Covington," but finding this
route impracticable, they located it in the main where it is to-day.

   In looking over the early location of roads in the county, it is easy to see
that there was very little system about it, and that not much could be expected
in the way of good or convenient roads from the course that was pursued. The
roads were laid out from one "improvement" to another, and from one settlement
to another, without much regard being had to the future growth and development
of the county. The points of the compass and dividing lines were not considered,
and the roads were made to run in all directions. Crude and imperfect as such a
road system was, it may be doubted if we have very much improved upon it to this
day.

   Not much can be said for the roads of Fountain county, unless we adopt the
poetic and romantic view of George Sand's heroine, Con-suelo, and say the road
"is the symbol and image of a life of activity and variety. * * * Why should my
feet seek to reach that which my eyes and thoughts can at once embrace, while
the free road, which turns aside and is half hidden in the woods, invites me to
follow its windings, and penetrate its mysteries? And then it is the path, for
all human kind — it is the highway of the world. It belongs to no master to
close and open it at pleasure.    *    *    *    To the right, to the left,
woods, fields — all have masters; but the road belongs to him to whom nothing
else belongs."

   At this session the rates of ferriage were fixed as follows:

On each four-horse wagon     75        On each footman          6 1/4
On each two-horse wagon      50        Cattle, each             4
On each man and horse        12 1/2    Hogs and sheep, each     2

   The rate for wagons appears at this time to be pretty high, but it is not
recorded that any one got rich by keeping a ferry in those times.

   The commissioners who located the county seat were Daniel C. Hults, Lucius H.
Scott and Daniel Sigler, and they were each allowed $33 for their services, at
the November session 1826.

   At this session the county was divided into road districts, and supervisors
were appointed in each district.

   A number of reports from road viewers were received at this term, and they
were allowed sixty-two and a half cents each per day for their services.

   The first fence viewers were appointed at the January term 1827. It was the
duty of these officers to settle differences as to the charge for maintaining or
building partition fences, and to determine whether any fence complained of was
a lawful fence.

   At this session the following order was made: "Ordered that the clerk give
notice that proposals will be received in Covington, at the next term of this
court, for building a court-house."

   At the March session, 1827, the first report of receipts and expenditures of
county revenue was made. At this term "James Prevo, former treasurer of the
county of Fountain, now produces his report, which is as follows: 'For money
received from Daniel Vandeventer * * * fifty-four dollars forty-three and
three-fourth cents; from Leonard Keep, for license to retail spirituous liquors,
five dollars; from Leonard Keep, for license to vend foreign merchandise, ten
dollars, from William Cochran, 'merchant's license,' five dollars, and five
dollars and fifty cents donation money; making in all * * * seventy-nine dollars
ninety-three and three-fourths cents. Money paid out * * * to satisfy orders * *
* fifty-eight dollars ninety-nine and three-fourth cents.'" The treasurer was
allowed $1.84 1/2 as his commission for collecting and disbursing the revenue of
the county for the year 1826. William Hopkins had been appointed treasurer in
January 1827, and to him Mr. Prevo paid over the residue in his hands.

   It is interesting to compare this report with the last one made by the
treasurer of the county:  in 1826, $79.93 3/4; in 1880, $39,068.63. The growth
of the county in many respects is indicated by these figures.

   In March, 1827, the board of justices ordered the building of a court-house
on lot No. 120 in Covington "to be a frame building, twenty feet wide and
twenty-six feet long, two stories high, lower story ten feet in the clear,
second story eight feet in the clear, three openings in front and back in each
story, weather-boarding planed, and to show six inches to the weather. One door
in the back and front of said building in the lower story, two windows in the
back and front in the lower story, two windows in the back and front also in the
second story, with single architrave-casings, also a solid cornice, the
cant-mould to project four inches, the facia to project ten inches, the
bed-mould to project four inches; there shall be two panel-doors, six panels in
each; the windows in the lower story are to be fifteen lights, eight by ten
each: the windows in the upper story twelve lights in each. There shall be two
good and sufficient floors, laid on good solid sleepers; the plank of said
floors not to exceed nine inches in width, and one and one-fourth inches thick;
also good and sufficient joists. The windows in the lower story shall be
completed; good and sufficient window-sash and glass."

   It was ordered at this session that "the undertaker or undertakers of the
court-house enter into bond and security" to complete the same by the first
Monday in September 1827, and that he or they would receive the donations which
were then made or promised in money, or material, or labor, to aid in the
erection of the house, in compensation in whole or in part for building the same.

   It was reported at this session that Abraham Griffith was the lowest bidder
for the construction of the court-house, and the contract was let to him for
$335. Under this contract Mr. Griffith erected the first temple of justice owned
by the county.

   The lot No. 120, upon which this first court-house was erected, is the one
for so many years occupied by Mr. James G. Hardy, in the business of a merchant
and grain and produce dealer. All the older citizens of the county will well
remember the "Indiana Store," where for years they found a market for their
wheat, and corn, and pork, and all else they had to sell, and where they
purchased their needed supplies. It was here, upon this lot, now familiarly
known as "Hardy's Corner," that the first court-house was built, and it was in
this house that Judge Porter decided causes, and such men as Law, Ingram,
Huntington, Hannegan, McGaughey, Wright, Bryant, Wallace and Evans practiced law.

   At the May session, 1827, Robert Hetfield was appointed collector of state
and county revenue. His duties were to collect from the owners of property in
the county the specific tax levied thereon by the board, and pay it over to the
treasurer. Taxes were not levied then, as now, upon property according to its
valuation, but, as we have seen, a specific tax was levied upon certain kinds of
property, without regard to its value. Thus, if the collector found a man owning
a horse, he collected, if he could, 37 1/2 cents, and from the owner of a
"two-wheeled carriage" he collected $1, and so on through the list. As money was
scarce, the collector often had a great deal of difficulty in getting together
the revenue of the county.

   A few years ago there was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the stationery
account of the county, and it may be interesting and satisfactory to know that
the first stationery account was in favor of Sloan & Yandes, and that it was
liquidated with the sum of $1.37 1/2.

   At the July session, 1827, the board of justices were of the opinion that the
county needed a jail, and they accordingly provided for building one upon the
following plan: "The walls to be of good sound oak timber, fourteen inches
square, to be raised on a foundation of good stone-work. The wall to be
dovetailed at the corners and petition (partition); the timber to be let down
close. Said jail to have two rooms; one ten feet by twelve in the clear, the
other eight feet by twelve in the clear; the lower floor to be of the same
timber, twelve inches thick, strongly fastened to the sills. The upper floor, of
the same timber, twelve inches thick, let down two inches on the wall; one round
of timber to be raised on the upper floor. The roof to be raised on the same, of
good joint shingles; the doors to be of double timber, six inches thick, and
well spiked with good iron spikes, to be hung with good and sufficient hinges,
and barred and locked with good and sufficient bars and locks; to have one
window in each room, nine by eighteen inches in the clear; to be grated with
iron grates one and one-fourth inches square, the spaces one inch square."

   Peter H. Patterson became the "undertaker of said jail" for the sum of $181.50.

   And these — the court-house and the jail — were the first public buildings
erected in Fountain county, and together they cost $516.50. There was not much
chance for the contractor to get rich from the profits of the undertaking.

   At the November session, 1827, Abraham Griffith was licensed to keep a tavern
in Covington, and this appears to be the first tavern license granted in the
county.

   The report of the treasurer in January, 1828, shows collections, $632.78;
disbursements, $624.82. The treasurer's percentage was $18.68.

   Joseph L. Sloan was appointed treasurer, and John Hamilton collector, for the
year 1828.

   The first order made at the January session, 1828, was that the board adjourn
from the court-house "instanter to the house of David Rawles, *  *  *  in
consequence of the inclemency of the weather."

   There's more in this than meets the eye. To understand the full meaning of
that order it must be kept in mind that the season was January; the justices
had, many of them, just come into town, and were cold and tired from a long ride
over rough and difficult roads; and the vision of a cozy room with a roaring
fire, and something to warm the inner man, was sufficiently tempting to justify
an adjournment "instanter to the house of David Rawles."

   The first bridge built in the county by public authority was across Coal
creek, "at or near White's mill," and William White, Thomas Gillam, and John
Simpson were appointed superintendents "to build" it.

   In July, 1828, the board determined that it was necessary for the court-house
to have a chimney, and it was ordered that a brick chimney, with "two
fireplaces, the lower one to be well flared and four feet in the back," should
be built.

   At the September session Samuel Rush entered into a contract with the board
to move the court-house, "according to the direction of the agent," for $4. No
previous order directing the removal of the court-house has been found, and it
is wholly a matter of conjecture whether the removal was to another lot or to a
different spot on the same lot.

   The treasurer's settlement sheet in January, 1829, shows collections,
$1,069.34; expenditures, $930.50.

   In March, 1829, the board concluded that the county was wealthy enough to
have a brick court-house, and they authorized the county agent to contract for
120,000 "good bricks for a court-house."

   The first clerk's office was erected at a cost of $40, and was built by the
clerk upon his own lot, with the understanding that when a clerk's office was
built upon the public square he was to refund to the county the $40, and keep
the building erected by himself as his own property.

   The last meeting of the board of justices was in July 1829. The business of
the county from that time to the present has been managed by a board of
commissioners.

   The first commissioners were Frederick C. Paine, Samuel Archer and Isaac Col
man.

   It would be gratifying if we knew more of the personal history of each of the
men to whom the management of the business of the county, in its early days, was
committed. It is hoped that the biographical sketches which are to form a
feature of this work will not omit any of the names of these or other men of the
county, of that time, worthy of remembrance.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.


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