Index:
Thomas Dowling: Find-A-Grave #15565889
By Carolyn Schmidt
Thomas Dowling was born December 21, 1809, in Ballinrush, County Carlow, Ireland, to Peter and Katherine (Fenelon) Dowling. He was their fourth son. He came to America in 1814 with his parents and located in Washington City (Washington D.C.). His parents died shortly thereafter leaving a family of six small children.
Thomas apprenticed himself to Gales & Seaton, publishers of the Washington National Intelligencer when he was eight years old. He served out his time and worked himself up to an editorship. He worked there for 14 years, or until he was twenty-two years of age.
On March 13, 1827 Thomas married Phebe J. Serrin in Washington City. He was seventeen years old. Hettie Phebe “Jane” was born in Delaware in 1811.
He moved West after thoroughly learning the newspaper business and gaining practical knowledge of political events. He located in Terre Haute, Indiana. There he bought out the Register office from Col. John Osborn on June 13, 1832 and established the Wabash Courier as its successor. It was a morning paper and favored the Whig party. It eventually absorbed the Western Register & Terre Haute General Advertiser. While under Thomas’ editorship it became “Tylerized.” It later became known as The Star. Thomas published it until 1840 when he sold it to Judge Jesse Conrad. He made an agreement with Conrad that he would not start another paper in Terre Haute for five years.
In 1836 Thomas was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives serving until 1838. He later served in this position from 1840-41, 1843-46 and 1848-49.
Thomas was an excellent horseman. He owned Truxton, a brown colt, who set many records on the Terre Haute Central Turf Club Track in 1837-38.
In 1838 Thomas was Aide-de-Camp to the Indiana militia. In several county histories he is listed as Col. Thomas Dowling. He likely attained that rank during his service.
In November 1840 prominent Terre Haute businessmen were selected to compose a committee to submit a resolution to the 1841 Indiana legislature to urge completion of the Cross Cut portion of the Wabash & Erie Canal. The legislature authorized $80,000 in six percent bonds to be issued to complete the canal from the Eel River feeder dam in Clay County to the Wabash River within 18 months. Thomas saw the urgency to finish the work and published an editorial supporting it in the Wabash Courier on June 19, 1841:
“Flour was selling at Cincinnati on [June] 13th at $3.75. Price at Terre Haute [is] $6.00. If our Cross Cut Canal was finished, wheat would go up and flour come down in price. The farmer is now at the mercy of one or two buyers and the consumer has to ‘stand the racket’ the other way. How long shall these things continue? Shall old Vigo remain [a] tributary to others for the prime necessities of life and pay seventy-five percent additional for what she consumes? The law of last winter providing for the completion of the Canal is nearly a dead letter and is suffered to expire for the want of manly effort. Those who have the means won’t do anything and those who would do something Can’t for a want of them. That’s just the whole secret.”
After the regular lodge of Free & Accepted Masons in Terre Haute, organized in 1819, lapsed from 1832 until 1845, ten Master Masons petitioned the Grand Lodge for a dispensation to assemble and work together as a regular lodge. One of the signatures on that petition was Thomas Dowling. The lodge was re-established and flourished. It had a membership of 561 in 1891.
Even though Thomas had agreed with Judge Conrad not to start a paper for 5 years, temptation was too great. To get around the agreement he sent for his brother, John Dowling who was living in Washington, D. C., to come to Terre Haute in 1842. Shortly thereafter the new Terre Haute Express was published by John Dowling as publisher and editor. As soon as the 5-year agreement with Conrad had expired, Thomas’ name appeared as editor and proprietor. Thomas published the Weekly Express up to February 1845 when he sold it to David S. Donaldson (Danaldson). A year or two later Thomas established the Wabash Express. He published it until February 1845 when he sold it to David Donaldson (Danaldson), who was its editor and proprietor until November 9, 1853. When Thomas retired from managing the Wabash Express the Ft. Wayne Times & Press ran the following on February 22, 1845:
“Thomas Dowling Esq., after a connexion [sp] of near fifteen years with the press in Indiana, retires from the management of the Wabash Express. His valedictory is a neat and feeling production—just such a one as we should expect from a mind of fine sensibility, upon taking leave of a list of generous patrons who had, for so long a period, stood by him “through good and evil report.” Mr. Dowling is a gentleman of fine talents, and his paper has always been a favorite. Personally, we have not the pleasure of his acquaintance, but may be permitted, nevertheless, to wish him health and prosperity in his retirement.”
On May 6, 1846 Thomas Dowling “was awarded a contract for $55,000 to move the remaining Miami Indians in Indiana to designated western lands in Kansas,” according to Mike McCormick’s Terre Haute Through the Canal Era. “The figure included salaries for all personnel and all expenses for the Miamis at their new location during the first year. After extraordinary adversity due to the Indians’ desire to stay, Dowling used the contract as security for a $6,000 loan and sold the contract to Robert Peebles of Pittsburg. Peebles later hawked the contract to four men: William and George Ewing and Samuel Edsall, all of Fort Wayne, and Alexis Coquillard of South Bend. Coquillard was the designated “active partner.”
“Coquillard successfully corralled enough Miamis to fill three canal boats at Peru on October 6. The party followed the Wabash & Erie Canal to its junction with the Miami & Erie Canal in Ohio and, then, passed through Dayton and Cincinnati. There, the group was transferred to the steamer Colorado for a trip down the Ohio River. The Miamis reached their Kansas destination in November.”
Thomas then assisted in building the Wabash & Erie Canal. In November 1849 he took over as its Resident Trustee or manager in Indiana following the death of Thomas Blake from cholera.
He served in this position from 1849 until the company wound up its affairs in 1874.
In the 1850s he purchased a thousand acres of farm land in White county near Monticello, Indiana. He operated this farm for ten years.
As Resident Trustee of the Wabash & Erie Canal he wrote a letter to the speaker of the Indiana House of Representative in 1852 in relation to Canal Bridges, etc. He divided the bridges over the canal into two general divisions. “First, as to the bridges built and under contract for construction on the portion of canal remaining unfinished at the commencement of the Trust, extending from Coal creek to Evansville; and second, as to bridges rebuilt or repaired on that portion of the canal, which was received from the State as finished, extending from Coal creek to the State line, north.” It lists where all the bridges were built or rebuilt and what they cost.
A break out of cholera in early 1852 aroused people living near canal reservoirs that were being constructed. They thought stagnant water caused the disease.
On September 10, 1853 Hettie Phebe “Jane” Serrin Dowling, Thomas’ wife, died in Terre Haute. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. She went by the name Jane on the cemetery records. At that time Thomas had his name withdrawn from the United Methodist Church in Terre Haute. Hettie Jane Serrin, Thomas’ mother-in-law, earlier had died in 1850 in Vigo county. Since both Jane and her mother had same name, Jane sometimes went by the name Phebe J. on the census records.
By January 1854 sentiment against the reservoirs was so high that a public meeting was called and held at Bowling Green, Indiana on February 23, 1854. There residents openly opposed work on Birch Creek Reservoir until all timber was eliminated. However, they didn’t wait to stop construction legally. They cut away the reservoir embankment and drained out the water on June 22, 1854.
A meeting was held on July 28, 1854 at the Eel River feeder dam “to consider the best means of arranging difficulties which exist in regard to the Reservoir.” Two trustees of the Canal Company, including Thomas, were invited. The resulting compromise was that if all timber would be removed from the Birch Creek Reservoir the citizens promised no further acts of violence.
According to McCormick, “Dowling hired laborers to clear out the reservoir and repair the cut in the embankment at a cost of over $1,000. All went well for two months when, on the night of September 9, 1854, the feeder dam was burned to the water’s edge. The origin of the fire was never determined but credit for the deed was given to the ‘Reservoir Regulators,’ as the opponents were called. The Resident Engineer estimated the loss in revenue to the Canal Company to be $20,000 besides ‘the loss of confidence in the stability of the canal.’”
The canal was repaired and re-watered by the spring of 1855. Then on May 8, 1855 the embankment of Birch Creek Reservoir was again broken open. On May 24 Governor Wright offered a $5000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators. But in early June, the aqueduct over Birch Creek was wrecked and the buildings used by the canal workmen and their tools were demolished or stolen. At another meeting on June 21, 1855 the canal trustees said they would have all timber removed as soon as possible. However, during the night of June 29, 1855, there was another, though unsuccessful, attempt to cut the reservoir’s embankment. Then in August 1857 the aqueduct was again severely damaged. Although attempts were made to keep the Cross Cut portion of the Wabash and Erie Canal open from the Eel River Dam to Terre Haute, shortly thereafter the venture was abandoned. It was replaced by the railroad.
On March 27, 1856, Thomas married Sarah J. Sibley, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (May) Sibley, who lived near New York city. Her father, a native of Vermont, was one of the first settlers in Indiana. He first lived at Ft. Harrison where he sought protection from the many Indians living in the area. But, before long he left the fort and developed a farm in the wilderness.
Thomas Dowling was 50 years old when he married Sarah, who was almost 17 years old. Sarah was born on August 16, 1839 and died on December 19, 1904 surviving Thomas by many years. Over the years they had five children:
John Sibley Dowling (May 1858- )
m. Nellie Fee
He was the secretary to Thomas in the office of the Wabash & Erie Canal for two years. He was associated with various railroads thereafter eventually living in Greencastle, Indiana.
Mary Dowling Hallman (1861-)
m. John Palmer Hallman
They lived in New York City.
Jennie Dowling Brower (1863-)
m. Arthur H. Brower of New York
Fenelon E. Dowling (November 1866-April 12, 1912)
He was employed by the government in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. He died in Hawaii and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Dowling Hampton (1872-)
m. H. C. Hampton
They lived in Terre Haute, Indiana
In February 1859, when the abandonment of the Wabash & Erie Canal was being considered, Thomas Dowling, serving as Canal Trustee, wrote a letter to the Indianapolis newspapers. A legislative committee had set forth a lengthy description of the advantages of the canal and the evils that must necessarily result from its abandonment. Thomas answered some of the questions and charges of those opposed to Legislative interference. He stated that the Canal paid well from 1846 to 1854; that about that time the State allowed a company to build and put in operation a Railroad along the line of the Canal, in violation of the spirit of the contract with the Bondholders; that the Trustees lost by this $220,000 in two years at the Lafayette and Fort Wayne offices, and in like proportion along the whole line, in consequence of which the Trustees were authorized to abandon the whole, or any part of the Canal; and that nothing but the interposition of the State authorities could prevent the Canal from going into disuse. A newspaper article stated that he said, “What the hired scullions of a bankrupt and dishonest Railroad, which has swindled hundreds of people of Indiana out of their stock and sunk it in the capacious maw of ‘First Mortgage Bondholders’ may say, does not concern him.”
In 1864 many Terre Haute citizens complained that they needed a public hall large enough to meet the growing demands of the city. They canvassed businesses but found no means of financing it. Thomas stepped forward with $60,000 and built Dowling Hall. It opened on December 15, 1864. It was located on North Sixth Street, was 60 ft. x 140 ft. in size, had the largest stage in Indiana, seated 1,200 people, and was adorned with paintings and statuary. It was a fine theater at the time and for many years the only place of amusement in Terre Haute. It held both theatrical performances and lectures. Once it was completed, Thomas moved the Wabash & Erie Canal headquarters there.
The Terre Haute Savings Bank was incorporated on November 10, 1869. Its founding officers were: Thomas Dowling (President), Lucius Ryce and Robert Hudson (Vice-Presidents), and John Beach (Secretary/Treasurer). Its first day of business was December 1, 1869.
In December 1871 the Vigo Board of County Commissioners ordered that all paupers being cared for at the county poor-house, be visited, examined and their condition reported to the board every three months by an appointed committee. Appointed to the committee were C. H. Allen, Thomas Dowling, James B. Edmunds, Curtis Gilbert and Chauncey Rose.
When alleged extravagant schemes were put forth to burden the people of Vigo county with useless and enormous taxation for public improvements, the citizens of the county placed Thomas up for election to the Board of County Commissioners in June 1873. He was unanimously elected, served at the head of the board, and carried the county through a political storm.
Woodlawn Cemetery
Terre Haute, IN
Photo by Mark W. Neice
In 1875 there was a movement in Vigo county to organize an old settlers’ society since 1876 would be the centennial year for the United States. On July 8, 1875 Thomas Dowling, Henry Fairbanks, Charles Thomas Noble, Henry Ross, and George K. Steele met in Dowling’s office in Dowling Hall. Thomas Dowling was the chairman and Fairbanks was the secretary. They decided to put notices in the daily papers advertising a meeting on Saturday July 12, 1875 to organize an “Old Settlers’ Association.” At that meeting Thomas Dowling was elected one of its many vice-presidents.
On February 24 and 25, 1876 all canal lands were put up for auction at the Vigo County Court House. The sale was handled by Samuel Barnes Gookins as Special Master. Sitting beside him throughout the proceeding was Resident Trustee Thomas Dowling. Little did Thomas know that this was his final official job as resident trustee. He died about nine months later.
Thomas was a very successful business man and was one of the influential men of Vigo county and that area of the state. He was a Freemason. He was a brilliant writer and wielded a potent influence through the columns of his paper, always taking a stand for what he saw and understood as being right. He was interested in the development of his community. He was first a Whig and later a Democrat. He was prominent in state politics and was elected to the Indiana State Legislature. He was a member of the national Democratic committee from Indiana when he died on December 5, 1876.
Despite a blinding snow storm on the day of his funeral, December 8, 1876, city officials, police and firemen marched to his home and then to his grave in Woodlawn Cemetery as a group. Among the dignitaries present were Governor Thomas Hendricks, Canal Trustee James Sidney Hinton and U. S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees. He was laid to rest in Division 47, Block 25, Lot 5 of Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Seven years after his death, Thomas’ wife, Sarah Sibley Dowling, married William Riley McKeen (1829-1913) in Vigo County, Indiana on September 27, 1883. She died in December 19, 1904.
Sources:
Beckwith, H. W. History of Vigo and Parke Counties Together with Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley, 1880.
Bradsby, Henry C. History of Vigo County, Indiana with Biographical Selections. Chicago, IL: S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1891.
Communication from Thomas Dowling, Esq., Resident Trustee of the Wabash & Erie Canal Relative to Canal Bridges, &C. Indianapolis, IN: J. P. Chapman, State Printer. 1852.
Find-A-Grave:
Thomas Dowling, Woodlawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
Jane Dowling, Woodlawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
Hassam, Loren. A Historical Sketch of Terre Haute, Ind., Its Advantages for Manufacture and Attractions as a Home. Terre Haute, IN: Gazette Job Books, L.M. Rose & Co. Prop’rs. 1873.
Haymond, W. S. An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana; Being a Full and Authentic Civil and Political History of the State from its First Exploration down to 1879. Indianapolis, IN: S. L. Marrow & Co. Publishers, 1879.
Indiana Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
Kestenbaum, Lawrence. The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Thomas Dowling
McCormick, Michael. Terre Haute Through the Canal Era. Terre Haute, IN: Canal Society of Indiana, April 8, 1994.
Thornbrough, Emma Lou. Indiana in the Civil War Era, 1850-1880.
U. S. Federal Census: 1850, 1860,1870, 1880
Weik, Jesse W. Weik’s History of Putnam County, Indiana. Indianapolis, IN: B. F. Bowen & Company, Publishers, 1910.
Thomas Dowling’s Legacy
After writing the article about Thomas Dowling, I (Carolyn Schmidt) received an article from Sam and Jo Ligget, CSI director and wife from Terre Haute, Indiana, entitled “The Legacy of Thomas Dowling” by Mike McCormick that appeared in the Terre Haute Tribune Star on Sunday October 14, 2018. Further information about Dowling is quoted from the article:
“The city council was scheduled to meet on the night of his [Dowlings’] death, but all regular business was postponed until the next meeting. Dowling was a member of the council representing the Fourth Ward at the time of his death. He served as a Vigo County Commissioner in 1873.
“Major James Edmunds, who worked for Dowling at the Courier in his youth, spoke of Dowling’s ‘unstained character’. The mayor pointed out that several men occupying high positions in public life and as newspaper editors worked under Dowling.
“Resolutions were passed regarding attendance of the funeral at 2 p.m. on Friday Dec. 8, [1876] directing the police force and fire department to attend as a body. Council chambers and all city offices were to be draped in mourning for 30 days.
“Col. Robert N. Hudson, a member of the Savings Bank board, said succinctly: ‘Large in experience, clear in judgment and careful in his acts, it seems that we have lost the one whose absence will be more seriously felt and whose place will be the most difficult to fill.’”
Funeral services were held in Dowling’s home, which later became the Chancey Rose Home for Aged Women. Officiating at his funeral was the Reverend Allen A. Gee of Lafayette, Dowling’s long time friend.
Canal Infirmary at Lafayette
By Carolyn Schmidt
Boatmen on the Wabash & Erie Canal fell ill or were injured and needed a place to be treated.
The General Assembly of the State of Indiana approved an act for the relief of boatmen on the Wabash and Erie Canal on January 15, 1844. It authorized David T. Yeakel and Elizur Deming and their associates to erect at a convenient point in Lafayette, Tippecanoe county, Indiana, an Infirmary “for the proper medical and dietetic treatment of such boatmen and others connected with the navigation of the Wabash and Erie canal as may from time to time sicken and stand in need of medical assistance.” The institution’s name would be the Boatmans’ Infirmary. It was to be completed by July 1, 1844. Yeakel and Deming were either both or singularly to be the proprietor and superintendent and to erect it at their/his own expense.
The act then appointed Samuel R. Johnson, T. T. Benbridge and Rudolph S. Ford, all who resided in Lafayette, as a board of examiners. They were to make a semi-annual examination into how the infirmary was conducted, inspect its books, and report annually to the State governor the cases submitted to medical treatment or surgical operations, the number of deaths, the number of patients cured, and any other thing of importance. They also were given the power to fill any vacancies that might occur due to death or resignation of its members.
The duty of the superintendent/s of the Infirmary were to receive all applicants bearing the proper certificate and to place them under medical treatment, providing free of charge such medicine and nursing as needed. They were to keep a case book that was available at all times to the board of examiners including the name, age, and disease of each patient, what practice was adopted, the duration of the treatment, and, in case of death, to provide a proper and decent burial with no cost to the county.
The captains running canal boats on the Wabash & Erie Canal within the state’s boundaries to and from Lafayette, were to deduct fifty cents each month from April 1 to December 1 (8 times a year) from the wages of each male person age eighteen and over, stewards, steersmen, cooks, boat hands, drivers, or others connected with the boat’s navigation to defray the expenses of the Infirmary. On the first day of the prescribed months, the boat captain paid the amount deducted to the collector of the port at Lafayette and submitted a written statement of the number of individuals employed by him, the statement to be verified by an oath. If he failed to comply he was subject to a penalty of five dollars for each failure, to be collected by an action of debt before a justice of the peace.
After the collector received the payment from the boat captain, he was to pay himself for the necessary books he used and six per cent of all moneys he collected for his services. The remaining balance was to be paid to the superintendent/s of the Infirmary.
It was the duty of each captain, boatman, or other person whether male or female, who applied for admission to the Infirmary for medical treatment, to report his or her name, the boat on which he/she was engaged, and to receive from the collector a permit of admission.
Taken about 1866
David Tomlinson Yeakel, who was 26 years old at the time, had been born on July 4, 1818 to Jacob and Elizabeth (Wilson) Yeakel in Hagerstown, Maryland, where he spent his early years. He later studied medicine under the celebrated Dr. Charles McGill, who was incarcerated in prison for opposition to McClellan’s idea in regard to suppressing the Maryland Legislature. He then attended and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1839. He began practicing medicine in Indianapolis, then, two years later, went to New Orleans. While there the terrible cholera epidemic broke out. He returned to Indianapolis and, in the winter of 1841-42, relocated in Lafayette, Indiana. He took the Indiana General Assembly at its word and took on the job of building, financing , and superintending the Boatmans’ Infirmary. We do not know what happened to Elizur Deming, who also had been authorized by the General Assembly to build and superintend it.
David had most of the Boatmans’ Infirmary built and ready for occupancy on July 1, 1844, as required by the act. The board of examiners visited the site that day and reported, “We visited the infirmary and made an examination of all its arrangements, and of all that had been accomplished. We were highly satisfied with every thing we saw. The site chosen is very judicious, being elevated with a clear extended prospect; and so situated as to command a fine circulation of air and in every way to promote health and cheerfulness. The edifice, though the front part was not yet built, was well planned and constructed, and so far finished as to be ready for the immediate reception of patients. The rooms were very commodious, neat, and pleasant, and the beds, bedsteads, stands, &c., gave us an impression that every thing had been done which was requisite for the comfort of the inmates. The whole appearance of the infirmary was quite inviting.”
On November 22, 1844 James Whitcomb, Governor of Indiana, received a letter from the board of examiners, Samuel R,. Johnson, Thomas T. Benbridge and Rudolph S. Ford, saying nothing more had been done on the Infirmary due to a state of circumstances. “The means provided by the Legislature, for the support of the Infirmary, have proved unavailable. The collection of the sums due, could not be enforced, and the circuit court, to which the cases were referred, pronounced the act of the Legislature unconstitutional. By this event, the attending physician, Doct. D. T. Yeakel, has been brought into a very embarrassing position. Having attended most sedulously to all his allotted duties—having given his time and care most faithfully to the work—having advanced the means, or incurred the responsibility for all expenditures, under his entire conviction that he was to be sustained and compensated by the State of Indiana, whose law he considered effectual, and whose faith pledged. He now finds the expected resources have failed, and is entirely at a loss what to do, unless the Legislature deem it right and proper to interfere for his relief.”
Dr. Yeakel had written the examiners earlier stating that “In the purchase of the lots occupied by the building (Infirmary), the erection of the buildings, and the furnishing of the same, I have expended and am responsible for 2,763 dollars 41½ cents; $1,351 41½ of which total amount has been paid, and $1,412 of which remains unpaid. The lots were purchased for $525 dollars, which is a portion of the debt unpaid. Since the first of July, 1844, at which time the law should have been enforced, and from which time I should have been receiving the proceeds arising from the tax, three liens have been filed against the property, for materials furnished and work done. Which liens are at this time being procsecuted in Tippecanoe circuit court. The amount due the persons prosecuting their liens, is 887 dollars, which added to the 525 dollars due on the lots, makes the amount of 1,412 dollars which remains unpaid, and by which I am at present embarrassed. I am the sole sufferer in the matter; and I think it cruel and unjust that I should be, as I have acted entirely under the auspices of a solemn Legislative act, believed by myself, and considered by the power which created it not only perfectly valid, but amply sufficient to be carried into efective operation.”
The examiners inquired of Governor Whitcomb, “What course is just and best under the circumstances of the case, we presume not to dictate to your Excellency. Doct. Yeakel is very desirous of seeing the asylum for the sick and needy, in operation, either as a public or private establishment. And his case he thinks would be met, either by the ratification of the present law, with the passage of a few additional sections, continuing it, as a public institution, or by an appropriation to him of an amount equal to the present demand against the property; thus enabling him to open it as a private establishment. Should your Excellency take a favorable view of his case, and present the matter to the consideration of the Legislature, in your annual message, or by special message, or in any such way as may approve itself to your judgment, we doubt not it would be very auspicious to his interests.”
Governor Whitcomb wrote to the President of the Indiana Senate on December 26, 1844, “Herewith is transmitted the report of the Board of Examiners of the boatmen’s infirmary, established at Lafayette, made pursuant to the requirements of the second section of the act of last session for the establishment of that institution.
“By the document it will be seen, that after the present proprietor had incurred considerable expense and embarrassment in the construction of the infirmary, the means sought to be secured to him by the act referred to, with which to enable him to render the institution useful to the community, and afford a proper remuneration for expenses necessarily incurred, and services to be rendered, have proved unavailing, by reason of a decision of the Tippecanoe circuit court, pronouncing the said act unconstitutional.
“The case strongly appeals to the justice of the Legislature, either to provide for the remuneration of the proprietor, or by further legislation to secure the objects of the original act of the Legislature, as the wisdom of that body may deem the most advisable.”
Governor Whitcomb just passed it on. Mr. Orth made a motion to refer the request to the committee on claims that Thursday morning, December 26, 1844. Mr. Edmonson motioned the Senate adjourn.
Finally in the late afternoon of January 4, 1845 Mr. Orth submitted the following amendment to the joint resolution for the relief of David T. Yeakel and Elizur Deming (Deming was included since he was also originally authorized) :
“Provided however, That it shall be lawful for the commissioners aforesaid to loan the said sum of money upon the boatmen’s infirmary, and the lots on which it is erected at Lafayette, or any other real estate in said town of Lafayette; and provided further, that said commissioners shall be satisfied that the property aforesaid, or such other real estate that may be offered, is amply sufficient to secure the repayment of said loan.”
The resolution was agreed to and on motion of Mr. Chapman of Laporte, ordered, That the bill lie upon the table.
We have been unable to find any more information about whether Dr. Yeakel got reimbursed and ran the infirmary for the State, if he ran it as a private institution, or if it ever was used.
Apparently it did not preclude Dr. Yeakel from continuing his medical practice, for he served the Lafayette area for more than 25 years afterwards as a surgeon. On October 1, 1844 he married Eliza Anne Webb (1824-1905) in Lafayette. They were the parents of six children, two of whom died in early childhood werer Allan Yeakel and Sarah Webb Yeakel. The surviving children were George Mears Yeakel, Nathaniel Webb Yeakel, Alice Tomlinson Yeakel and David Paul Yeakel.
Dr. David Tomlinson Yeakel was a physician, surgeon and an inventor. He invented a cannon used in the Civil War. He died at age 80 on September 27, 1898 in Lafayette and was laid to rest in Section 1 Lot 82 of Greenbush Cemetery in Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
Sources:
Ancestry.com: Public Member Trees, David Tomlinson Yeakel
Find-A-Grave #30164733 David T. Yeakel, M.D.
General Laws of the State of Indiana, Passed at the Twenty-eighth Session of the General Assembly, Indianapolis, IN/ Dowling and Cole, State Printers, 1844.
Journal of the Senate of the State of Indiana, during the Twenty-ninth Session of the General Assembly, Indianapolis, IN/ J. F. Chapman, State Printer, 1844.
Mosquitoes On Indiana’s Canals
By Cynthia Powers
Early canawlers were plagued by mosquitoes, and not much has changed. Just this past spring a birding group at Fox Island actually quit after about an hour because of the mosquitoes! Normally we are a hardy group and were wearing bug spray, but the onslaught was just too great. After all, Fox Island is famous for its mosquitoes, having over 20 kinds.
If it’s any consolation, only the females bite. They need the proteins in blood for their eggs to develop. Males subsist on nectar and plant juices, as do females before they mate.
Bug spray with DEET is essential, as mosquitoes do carry some diseases, notably in Indiana the West Nile virus; in tropical regions, malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, filariasis, and encephalitis. In canal days the big threat was malaria, which was ascribed to “bad air” from stagnant water: close, but incorrect. Farther south the big threat now is Zika virus, which can cause dreadful birth defects. More reasons to fear global warming.
Mosquitoes are related to flies, in the insect order Diptera, meaning “two wings.” When the female bites, she injects an anticoagulant, which causes the intense itching.
In their defense, mosquitoes are an important part of the food chain, being eaten by swallows, swifts, bats, dragonflies, and fish. Larvae develop in water; it only takes a tiny amount. The pupal stage stays in the water and then the adult emerges.
Before the canal era, the Lewis and Clark expedition also suffered from mosquitoes. Even Meriwether Lewis’ dog Seaman, a Newfoundland, wasn’t protected by his thick black fur.
Here are some accounts Bob Schmidt found in the CSI archives. I also got information from an article Pam George wrote for the fall issue of the “Fox Tale,” newsletter of the Fox Island Alliance.
J. Richard Beste’s daughter wrote about the mosquitoes on the canal boat Indiana in his book The Wabash: or Adventures of an English Gentleman’s Family in the Interior of America as follows:
“Papa went into his little room,” writes Lucy; “and we had to go to bed. Everyone was quickly undressed and got into their berths… The berths were in tiers, three rows high; and, that we might not be intermingled with other people, we girls took ours one above the other. I was put in the top one; for Catherine was too modest to climb high; Ellen and Agnes were too short; and Louie still suffered from her pain in her side; so I mounted to the top. I lay awake but still, for a long time. At last, I heard every one turning and sighing with the heat; so I gave way to my own feelings, and did so too. But the shelves or trays on which we lay, were so short, that I found my pillow constantly slipping down from under my head; and, if I put it lower down, my feet hung out at the other end; so that, although I was not very tall, I was obliged, at last, to curl myself up again and lie quite still, while the mosquitoes devoured, and the heat melted me. At last I went to sleep.
THURSDAY. “I waked up early,” she continues, “covered with mosquito bites, which gave me entertainment for some time….”
Charles Titus, wrote in the book Into the Old Northwest: Journeys with Charles H. Titus, 1841-1846 edited by George P. Clark, who is a deceased CSI member:
“Becoming sleepy, I concluded I would try once more to so stow myself away, as to obtain a little sleep. I exchanged berths, so as to obtain one, near a window, where I could get fresh air. The space from the berth to the roof of the cabin was about four feet, so that I now had room enough to turn over…..Soon our thoughts reverted to ourselves, and we began to make laudable efforts to preserve our lives, from the dense swarms of large, fat musquetoes (sp), that, with indomitable courage and untiring perseverance, seemed resolved to have a breakfast of our blood. After fighting manfully, and, jumping into my berth, actually gave up the struggle, & hid myself under the bed clothes. Here, though I could still hear their buzzing, and felt appalled at their cruelty in dealing so unmercifully with a fallen foe, I found that I was comparatively safe from their bloody instruments, & I lay quite comfortable for a couple of hours.”
Just be glad we have window screens and bug spray.
Argument Why Rails Couldn’t Compete With Canals
Found by Tom Fledderjohann
An article against railroads was written at the time of their infancy and favored canals. It was later printed in 1942 by Chemical Publishing Co., Inc. as “Industrial Research” by F. Russell Bichowsky. In the article Mr. Bichowsky says:
“Under the glass top of the desk of every executive and chief engineer should be a copy of the carefully documented arguments by which the State Engineer of New York conclusively proved that the railroad could never compete with the canal. The following passage from McMaster’s ‘History of the People of the United States’ gives the same argument in more popular language:
“Canals…are facts; railroads are theories, and are opposed to the habits and feelings of our people, for they create monopolies in transportation. A farmer cannot own railroad wagons. But for a few hundred dollars he can buy a boat, or with the help of his hands can build one to carry twenty-five tons. To move such a load by railroad would require eight carriages and a locomotive costing $4,000. Into his boat the farmer can put an assorted cargo of flour, bacon, hemp, plank, lumber and vegetables, draw it to market with his own horses, sell it at any village on the way and bring it back loaded with what he pleases. Does anybody suppose railroads will take on loads offered anywhere along the line? No, indeed! The farmer must haul them to the stopping places. Canals will carry livestock, hay, firewood, large timbers for ships, building boards and planks. Railroads cannot do this. What would be thought of a load of hay coming along a railroad? The sparks from the locomotive would set it on fire before the journey began. Canals are adapted for military purposes; railroads are not. Imagine a regiment of troops with baggage, provisions, ammunition and camp equipage transported by railroads! By canal this can be done and the soldiers live and cook comfortable on the way. The boats will carry tents, foods, baggage and ammunition and may be drawn by the horses or by the men as they walk along the towpaths. Canal boats will carry artillery which cannot be transported by rails unless the guns are dismounted and the caissons taken apart. Snow will make a three hundred mile railroad impassable for weeks. Rain will wash earth over the rails in quantities which in deep cuts will take weeks to remove. Railroads for long distances are wholly untried in any country and for short distances are in the experimental state. The longest in existence, the Manchester and Liverpool, it but forty miles in length and passes through the heart of a populous country and may anywhere get aid to repair cars, wagons and engines. But running through a rough, wild and sparsely inhabited county with great difficulties of construction to overcome should ever compete with a canal of the same length as the Chesapeake and Ohio surpasses probability.
If steam locomotives were used it would be necessary to have water-boiling stations every six or seven miles to furnish the engines with tanks of boiling water for a supply of cold water would stop the generation of steam and stop the train.
Rails would be taken by passing teamsters wantonly as they did milestones and coping of bridges, or from spite towards a means to transportation likely to injure their business. In the mountains the cold of the winter is often so severe that an axe will break when struck against a tree. Would not rails snap under these conditions as a train passed over them?
Canal Tour Part of Festival
By Carolyn Schmidt
Every year Parke County, Indiana holds a Covered Bridge Festival in October. This year featured were a converted railroad to pedestrian bridge across the Wabash River and tours of Wabash & Erie Canal sites in Montezuma, Indiana on October 19-21, 2018.
Festival goers could walk across the Wabash River from Montezuma in Parke County to Vermillion County via the newly converted bridge. Eight volunteers worked for five months to convert the 900-foot-long railroad bridge, built in 1895 and abandoned in 2001, into a safe pedestrian bridge. They tackled 2 to 3 of the 18 sections of the bridge per day.
Funding for the $250,000 project came from a Wabash River Corridor Heritage Commission grant of $150,000 plus donations from businesses. Galvanized steel was machined by City Welding and Fabrication in Rockville, $7,000 worth of nuts and bolts were from Ace Hardware in Rockville, and wood was furnished by Zook & Sons at Parke County Lumber. The Machledt family (Paul Machledt, deceased, was a member of CSI) that operated a furniture store in Montezuma for decades, produced pre-formed concrete sections for the walkway at their CGM Precast plant in Indianapolis. These sections are 10 feet wide, 40 inches long, 5 1/2 inches thick and weigh one ton. A forklift set them atop iron beams and I-bolts were used to secure them.
Visitors could also take part in one of the historic transportation tours of the Wabash and Erie Canal led by Diana Bartlow. The canal operated in Montezuma from about 1848 to 1865. She pointed out that the canal was prosperous at first creating new towns and new businesses, but landscape, weather, and disagreements between workers led to its demise. She said, “It was a good thing while it lasted.” The large turning basin for the canal is still visible in Montezuma’s Reeder Park.
After the Canal era the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (now CSX Transportation) acquired the towpath of the 40-foot-wide canal. In 1895 the B&O constructed the Montezuma bridge.
Plans are to eventually build a 14-mile trail from the west side of the bridge to Hillsdale and beyond. They will have to acquire the land and grants to accomplish this project.
Information for the above article was found in the October 15, 2018 edition of the Terre Haute Tribune Star sent to CSI headquarters by Jo Ligget, CSI member from Terre Haute.
For pictures of the bridge go to: www.clarkdietz.com/portfolio-items/railstotrails
Frog Songs
An article that appeared in the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette said that scientists have discovered that frogs adapt their love songs to city life. They recorded the frogs’ songs both in the city and in the rain forest. They then played the recordings back and found the urban frogs are three times more likely to attract a mate than the rain forest frogs. Urban frogs called faster, added more embellishments, and called more frequently enticing the lady frogs from their muddy puddles to the speaker playing calls from urban frogs. The experiment took place in Gamboa, Panama using tungara frogs.
NEWS FROM DELPHI
Bicentennial Medallion for Monument
On December 26, 2019 during its day after Christmas walk, the Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal Association placed their new Bicentennial Medallion on a previously erected large stone monument. The medallion shows the transportation history of Carroll County, Indiana from the Indian trails and streams, through horses, canal boats, locomotives, and bridges. It also shows Carroll County in the United States.
The James Dugan Home: It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
By Mark Smith
I am encouraging my readers to take a drive over to Delphi, take a constitutional jaunt along one its more historical streets and view a section of our city that I would compare to your Bluff Street in the City of Monticello, or, if you care to mentally (or physically) venture to Lafayette, South Ninth Street. So—to quote the late Mr. Rogers—“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood—lace up your shoes.”
The section of which I speak is Front Street, which I would suspect received that name due to the fact that it was (and still is) on the front of the city prior to travelling down the Deer Creek valley, crossing the South Washington Street Bridge, and entering what in the not-so-distant past was entitled South Delphi.
Hikers along that street will immediately notice that there is a rather steep precipice on the south side of that street. This is due to the fact that it was once a borrow pit for the brick kiln operated by Aaron Dewey from which some of Delphi’s earliest buildings were constructed.
We pass a large home built in 1842 with a smaller structure at the rear, which was originally a carriage house for fine carriages and horses. It is at present an apartment building owned by J.W. Rentals. In its grander days it was the home of James Dugan, who was born June 9, 1812 in Champaign County, Ohio, to an Irish father and a Pennsylvanian mother. Dugan spent a goodly amount of time in the three Ohio counties of Champaign, Darke, and Madison. At the young age of twenty he assumed the position of Discount Clerk in the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati.
James took on more permanent roots in Delphi in 1845 after tasting of its ambiance in 1833 and 1834. His initial role here was as dry goods clerk.
On June 30, 1836 James married Miss Miranda Crooks. Their only offspring was Jennie L, who was born April sixteenth of 1838. Miranda’s sister Julia Ann was married to James Spears on November first, 1842.
In 1847 James Dugan became a junior member of Spears, Case, and Company and conducted a varied enterprise in banking, grain, and pork packing, the latter being shipped on the Wabash & Erie Canal. The late Dora Thomas Mayhill states that “James P. Dugan had a general merchandise store, was conducting a money depository in his store, and, since there was no bank here, he built a warehouse on Washington Street.”
In 1873 James became President of the First National Bank of Delphi, which was organized following the death of Reed Case. The First National Bank was a short-lived, being closed during the Crash of 1877 due to distress in the parent bank at Chicago, where Dugan, James Case (son of canal contractor Reed) and his brother Reed Junior were involved in stock brokering.
In 1860 Jennie Dugan, James’ daughter, succumbed from the effects of the explosion of a lamp, which she had been attempting to extinguish on her bedside table. Following a harrowing month of lingering with her burns she passed away in March of 1860. One can only wonder what would have happened if a more contemporary burn treatment had been known.
Following the demise of the canal, death of his wife and daughter, and other financial difficulties, James was forced to sell his china and silver piecemeal to exist. Fortunately, after Samuel Greenup purchased James’ home, he exhibited a fair amount of generosity and allowed James to remain in the home until his death.
JENNIE JAMES P. DUGAN 1809-1890 IOOF Cemetery, Delphi, Indiana
In addition to his business life, James Dugan was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in the Franklin Lodge of Cincinnati in 1833, and was one of the charter members of the Delphi Lodge number twenty-eight.
Spiritually, he was an Episcopalian, although he was extremely generous to the Methodist Episcopal Church when it was constructing its 1870 sanctuary. He contributed a full one-third of its amount–$5,000.
James Dugan’s death on August 15, 1890 came following an entire lifetime of public service to a city, which he assisted greatly in developing from a primitive settlement to a civilized urban area. His grand grave stone is available for viewing in the Carrollton Road IOOF Cemetery.
W & E Lock 18 Uncovered
Kreig Adkins, Miami County Historian and past CSI Director, recently spoke with the owner of Kokomo Gravel, who owns the gravel pit in the bend off Paw Paw Pike. He told Kreig that they were digging up by their entrance gate and came in contact with timbers. He said they stopped digging and covered everything backup.
Kreig had read during his canal research that Lock 18 was located in the bend of Paw Paw Pike, which is where the entrance to the gravel pit is located. Kreig told the owner that he had uncovered an old canal lock and asked that if he ever digs there again to let Kreig know.
Kreig would like to see anything that is uncovered. His hopes would be to see if the gravel pit entrance is upstream, down stream or in the middle of Lock 18.
Hocking Canal Lock 8 Purchased
The Canal Society of Ohio (CSO) helped the Appalachian Ohio Alliance (AOA) purchase Lock 8 of the Hocking Canal to keep it from being destroyed. CSO furnished $12,000 of the purchase price from its Pauline Miller Fund. AOA arranged for additional financing. Neighbors donated land to access the property. AOA now owns the lock.
Photo by Bob Schmidt October 2014
Lock 8, which is over 175 years old, is located at Horn’s Mill, Ohio near Sugar Grove. Although the lock was in excellent condition when it was purchased, the tree that were growing out of the side of the lock wall would have eventually destroyed the structure and had to be eliminated. A work day was held on December 8, 2018 to remove the trash within the lock chamber and to remove the tree from the wall. Later a few missing stones in the walls will need to be replaced.
AOA hopes to protect remnants of the Hocking Canal and establish the Hocking Canal Heritage Trail along its route. Currently is has preserved three miles of canal right-of-way in Hocking and Fairfield Counties in Ohio. Lock 8 will be a gem along the trail.
Winter Walks Along the Canal
Photo Courtesy of CCWCA
Canallers braved the weather to hike along the Wabash & Erie Canal in Delphi, Indiana on the Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal Association’s “Day After Christmas Walk” on December 26, 2018. Narrated by President Dan McCain, they had a choice of a short walk or a three mile walk to walk off Christmas dinner.
On January 1, 2019, canallers in Metamora, Indiana, hiked from Metamora to the Laurel Feeder Dam to “Walk Off the he Holidays” with the Whitewater Canal Trails group.
1: Walk along the Miami and Erie Canal in New Bremen
Photo Courtesy of Heritage Trails Park District Facebook Page
2: Walk off the Holidays in Metamora
Photo Courtesy of WWCT
On Sunday January 13, 2019, at 1 p.m. there was a 5K hike along the Miami and Erie Canal in New Bremen, OH sponsored by the Heritage Trails Park District and other agencies. Dozens of people hiked through a winter wonderland.
Buck Creek Sign Erected
The marker funded by CSI to be placed in Gibson county, Indiana at the site of Buck Creek Box Culvert No. 203 for the Wabash & Erie Canal has been erected at the site. Preston Richardt, who is a member of Friends of the Patoka National Wildlife Refuge, made arrangements for the sign to be erected beside the road that crosses the culvert in the old bed of the Wabash & Erie Canal.
Locating the Wabash & Erie Canal
David Kurvach, CSI director from Warrick county, Indiana, is working on locating the historic route of the Wabash & Erie Canal in Vanderburgh county as well as an article concerning dredging and rerouting waterways in the lower counties. He writes “Many of the named waterways in Gibson and Warrick Counties were diverted as much as a mile from the course they took in 1853 to the point where mapping the structures based off of modern cartography will prove inaccurate.” He is working on maps like this one to show both the old and new waterways. We look forward to his article and encourage others to map Indiana’s canals.
In Memoriam: David G. Barber
David G. Barber, past president of the American Canal Society and CSI member, passed away on Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the Beaumont Care Facility in Westborough, Massachusetts at age 74. David was born to George and Joan Barber on September 12, 1944 in Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University. He received an honorable discharge in 1978 from the Navy Seabees having spent November 1968 to September 1969 in Vietnam. On April 28, 1973 he married Audrey Schweinsberg.
See Article in January 2016 “The Tumble”
David served as a project engineer and manager in companies in Pennsylvania, Vermont and Massachusetts. Before and after retirement, he frequently hiked the Appalachian Trail. Besides leading the American Canal Society for 12 years, he was a rail trail volunteer with the Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park. Some of his projects included building a canal boat, clearing pathways and erecting information stations.
David attended many World Canal Conferences. He and Audery took part in CSI’s Road Scholar tour of the Panama Canal. He developed a website with information on all the canals in the United States for ACS and visited most of these canals. He will be missed by canawlers.
He is survived by Audrey C. Barber, his wife of 45 years, and siblings, Susan Herr and Paul Barber. His nephews include Samuel Herr; Ian and Alec Barber; and Jason and Aaron Schweinsberg.
Consigli Ruggerio Funeral Home in Milford, Massachusetts made the arrangements for a private funeral service and burial. Memorials may be given to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701.
American Canal Society
The American Canal Society has a wonderful website about all the canals in the United States. Check it out at http://americancanals.org
Mark Your “Canal”endar for 2019
May 3-5 CSI Spring Tour “Whitewater Canal Locks”
Sept. 13-15 CSI Fall Tour “National Road”
Oct. 26 CSI Board of Directors Meeting at Delphi
May Canal Boat season opens in Delphi
May 18 Centuries of Transportation Exhibition in Delphi
June 15 Pioneer Kids Day in Delphi
July 6-7 Canal Days Festival in Delphi
Sept. 1-2 Labor Day Weekend Canal Boat Season Ends in Delphi
Dec. 7 Christmas at the Canal in Delphi
May Canal Boat season opens in Metamora
Canal Sites to Visit in Indiana
As you plan your vacation for 2019 or as you pass through the state on your way elsewhere, here are some canal destinations for you:
Opening the Wabash & Erie Canal Through New Haven, Indiana
CSI headquarters received the following documents from Steve Williams, CSI director from Roanoke, Indiana that authorize the building of the Wabash & Erie Canal through New Haven, Indiana. They include information up to the time they wanted to sell the canal.
Map of New Haven
Surveyed March 15, 1830
I hereby certify the foregoing to be a correct plat of the town of New Haven. This town Is laid off at a variation twenty one degrees & Thirty minutes west of a magnetic north. All lots are 57 feet 9 inches in front, & 132 feet deep. All the streets are 60 feet wide & cross at right angles.
Given under my hand at my office this 16” day of March, 1830.
S. W. Black, C.S.A.C.
Acknowledged June 13, 1839, by Ebben Burgess & Henry Burgess, the proprietors of the within laid out town called New Haven, in the County of Allen & State aforesaid, before Wm. Brown, Justice of the Peace, Allen County, Indiana.
Recorded June 15, 1839. Deed Record “C”, page 159
Township No. 30 North, Range No. 12 East
Surveyed by J. Riley, 1822 and B. J. Blythe, 1824.
Taken from Government Plat Book.
An Act to authorize the State of Indiana to open a Canal through the public lands, to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and the Miami of Lake Erie.
Be it enacted, &c., that the State of Indiana be, and is hereby authorized to survey and mark, through the public lands of the United States, the route of a canal, by which to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and Miami of Lake Erie; and ninety feet of land, on each side of said canal, shall be reserved from sale on the part of the United States, and the use thereof, forever, be vested in the State aforesaid for a canal, and for no other purpose whatever.
Sec. 2, And be further enacted, That, if the said State shall not survey, and direct by law said canal to be opened, and furnish the Commissioner of the General Land Office a Map thereof, within three years from and after the date of this act, or, if the said canal be not completed, suitable for navigation, within twelve years thereafter; or, if said
land, hereby granted, shall ever cease to be used and occupied for the purpose of constructing and keeping in repair a canal, suitable for navigation, the reservation and grant aforesaid shall be void, and of no effect; Provided, That nothing in this act contained, or (that) shall be done in pursuance thereof, shall be deemed to imply any obligation on the part of the United States, to appropriate money to defray the expense of surveying or opening said canal: And provided, likewise, That the said canal, when completed, shall be, and forever remain, a public highway, for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service, or public business, passing through the same.
Sec. 3, And be it further enacted, That every section of land through which said canal route may pass, shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved from future sale, under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, until hereafter specially directed by law; and the said State is hereby authorized, without waste, to use any materials on the public lands adjacent to said canal, that may be necessary for its construction.
Approved May 26, 1824.
Section No. 239, page 116, Land Laws of the United States, 1882.
An Act providing for the funded debt of the State of Indiana, and for the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal to Evansville, approved January 19, 1846, by Section 8 directs the Governor to execute and deliver to the Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal a Patent to all lands and lots (not sold or disposed of) heretofore given, granted or donated by the General Government to the State to aid in the construction of said canal.
Acts of 1846.
The State of Indiana
To all to whom these presents shall concern, send Greeting:
Whereas, the General Assembly of the said State, at their session commenced on the first Monday of December, in the year of our Lord, 1845, did pass a certain act entitled “An Act, to provide for the funded debt of the State of Indiana, and for the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal to Evansville,” which said Act was approved by James Whitcomb, Governor of the said State, on January 19th, 1846, reference being thereto had will more fully appear.
And whereas, the General Assembly of the said State, at their session commenced on the first Monday of December, in the year of our Lord 1846, did pass a certain other act entitled “An Act supplementary to an act to provide for the funded debt of the State of Indiana, and for the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal to Evansville,” approved January 19th, 1846, which said last mentioned act was approved by James Whitcomb, Governor of the said State, on the 27th day of January, 1847, reference being thereto had will more fully appear;
And Whereas, the bonds of the said State of Indian referred to and contemplated in and by the aforesaid acts of the said General Assembly of more than $5,545,000.00 of principal, exclusive of interest, have been surrendered for exchange and cancellation as contemplated by the said acts, and the holders of not less than four millions of dollars of said bonds, exclusive of interest, have subscribed twenty per cent of the said amount prior to the date of these presents, and notice thereof has been given to the Governor of the said State;
And Whereas, the subscribers aforesaid towards the completion of the said canal, in the said acts mentioned, have in pursuance of the said acts, and in accordance with the provisions of the same, elected Charles Butler, of the City of New York, and Thomas H. Blake, two discreet persons, as trustees, both of whom are citizens of the United States, and one of them, to-wit: Thomas H. Blake, is a citizen and resident of the State of Indiana;
And Whereas, notice of the said election, together with a copy of the said subscription to the said canal, was given to James Whitcomb, Governor of the said State, on or about the 22nd day of May last, and the said Governor in pursuance and by virtue of the said acts, did thereupon, on the 9th day of June, A. D. 1847, during the recess of the Legislature of said State, appoint Nathan B. Palmer, a citizen of the State of Indiana, as a third discreet person to act as Trustee with the said Charles Butler and Thomas H. Blake, and to constitute with them a board to be known
by the style and description of “The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal,” which said Board is in and by the said acts made and created a body politic and corporate by the name and style aforesaid.
And Whereas, the said three Trustees have, before entering on their duties, each taken the oath required by the said acts, and have also each of them given bond with surety, which has been approved by the Governor, in the penal sum of $100,000, conditioned as is required by the said acts.
And Whereas, the said Governor is satisfied from proper evidence submitted to him that bonds to the amount of more than $5, 545,000, exclusive of interest, have been surrendered for exchange and cancellation, and are in the hands of the agent of the State for that purpose, and that five per cent on certain of said bonds, amounting exclusive of interest, to more than $4,000,000, have been paid over by the said subscribers, to the said Charles Butler and Thomas H. Blake, the two Trustees elected by them as hereinbefore mentioned, as provided and required in and by the said acts;
Now, Therefore, know all men by these presents, that the State of Indiana, in consideration of the premises, and in pursuance of the provisions of the said Acts, and the fulfillment of the pledge therein given by the said State, and in consideration also of $1.00 to the said State in hand paid, by the said “The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal,” hath given, granted, bargained, said, conveyed, confirmed, assigned and transferred, and doth by these presents give, grant, bargain, sell, convey, confirm, assign and transfer unto the said “The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal, “ their successors and assigns forever, upon the terms and conditions in said acts named,
The bed of the Wabash and Erie Canal, and its extensions by whatever other name the same my be now designated, finished and to be finished, from the Ohio State line to Evansville, including its banks, margins, tow paths, side cuts, feeders, basins, right of way, locks, dams, water power and structures, and all materials provided or collected for its construction, and all the property, rights, title and interest of the State in and to the same, and all its appurtenances, and also all the lands and lots (not sold or disposed of) heretofore given, granted, or donated by the General Government to the State to aid in the construction of said canal, or any part of it, which may be hereafter acquired under or by reason of any existing grant, and all moneys dues and to grow due and remaining unpaid, on account of any sale or sales heretofore made, and any canal lands so donated, and all moneys due or to grow due on account of any existing leases or of any water power or other privilege on said canal, its side cuts, feeders, basins or other appurtenances.
To have and to hold unto the said “The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal,” and to their successors and assigns forever, as fully as the said State can or could do, subject forever, as fully as the said State can or could do, subject, nevertheless, to all existing rights and equities against the State on account of the same or any part thereof, or liabilities of the State growing out of or in relation thereto.
Upon trust, however, to hold and apply the said herein above granted and described premises and the tolls and revenues of the said canal, and the proceeds and produce of the said lands, sold and unsold, after first defraying thereout all needful and proper expenditures for repairs, attendance and other necessary things appertaining thereto, in security and for the uses and purposes particularly declared, expressed and set forth in the several acts of the said General Assembly as by reference to the same will more fully and at large appear. And it is hereby declared and provided, and these presents are executed and delivered by the said State of Indiana, and accepted by the said “The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal, “ with this express intent and upon this express condition, that is to say: that these presents and grant, conveyance and assignment herein and hereby made, and everything herein contained and designed and intended to the end and for the purpose of fulfilling the directions and requirements of the said several acts of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, and upon the terms and conditions therein set forth, according to the force and effect and true intent and meaning of the said several acts as the same are now in force, touching and concerning the nature, continuance and termination of the trusts herein before declared and set forth, the powers, duties, proceedings and liabilities of the said Trustees, terminations of the offices of the said Trustees, and the appointment of new Trustees, the right, privileges and liabilities of the subscribers in the said acts mentioned, the time to be allowed for the completion of the said canal, the application of the tolls and revenues thereof, and of the proceeds of the canal lands in the said acts mentioned, the powers and rights reserved by the said State of Indiana, and all other provisions of the said several acts as the same are now in force, are to be deemed and taken, and are hereby declared to be a part of these presents, with like force and effect, as if the same
were herein particularly recited, and incorporated according to the true intent and meaning of the said several provisions.
In testimony whereof, the said James Whitcomb, Governor of the said State of Indiana, has caused these presents, executed in triplicate, to be made patent, and the Great Seal of the said State to be hereunto affixed.
Given under my hand at Indianapolis, in the said State, this 31st day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1847.
By the Governor: Jas. Whitcomb
(Seal) Jno. H. Thompson, Secretary of State
State of Indiana, Office of the Auditor of State, SS:
I, Edward H Wolfe, Auditor of State of the State of Indiana, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of the original deed made by the State of Indiana to The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal, the same being on file in my office.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my sea, at the City of Indianapolis, this 8th day of February, A.D. 1881.
(Official Seal) Edward H. Wolfe, Auditor of State
Recorded June 22, 1882 Deed Record 88, page 422
I hereby certify the foregoing to be a correct plat of the town of New Haven.
This town is lain off at a variation twenty one degrees and thirty minutes west of a magnetic north. All the lots are 57 feet 9 inches in front and 132 feet deep, all the streets are 66 feet wide and cross at right angles.
Given under my hand at my office this 16” day of March, 1839.
S. M. Black, C. S. A. C.
Sate of Indiana, Allen County, SS:
Personally appeared before me Wm. Brown, an acting Justices of the Peace of said County, Ebben Burgess and Henry Burgess and acknowledged themselves to be the proprietors of the within laid out town called New Haven in the County of Allen and State aforesaid and that the streets are for the public use and benefit.
Given under my hand and seal this 13” day of June, 1839.
Wm. Brown, Justice of the Peace (LS)
Recorded June 15, 1839 Deed Book C., page 519
This Indenture, made this 29th day of March, 1876, between Samuel B. Gookins, Special Master of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Indiana, and Thomas Dowling, Resident Trustee of the Wabash and Erie Canal, of the first part, and William Fleming, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, of the second part, Witnesseth: That Whereas, on the 19th of November, 1874, Jonathan K. Gapen, plaintiff, filed in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Indiana, has bill in Chancery against The Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal, defendants, praying amongst other things, for an order for the sale of the Wabash & Erie Canal; and
Whereas, the said Board of Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal on the 5th day of April, 1875, filed its answer to said bill; and … (The rest of the document was not attached)