Early Indiana Sketches

...The first settlements made in the neighborhood of the falls in Indiana Territory were made in Clark county at Clarksville, Springville, (the first county seat of Clark county), Jeffersonville and Charlestown. No settlements were made below Clarksville, in what is now Floyd county, until November 5th, 1804. Prior to this time, however, several families had moved from Kentucky into what is now Harrison county, settling below Knob Creek and in the neighborhood of Corydon. The first white woman that ever crossed the knobs below this city was the daughter of Clement Nance, sen., and afterwards the wife of Patrick Shields. This, as near as we can ascertain, was about the year 1800 or 1801--we are not able to fix the precise date. She was a woman of great courage and force of character, and was one of the most worthy and highly esteemed of the pioneer mothers of this section of Indiana. She was often compelled, before as well as after her marriage, to seek refuge from the savages when they were out on their murderous and thieving raids, with her neighboring women, by fleeing across the Ohio river to the settlements near Louisville. She was many years ago called to rest from her labors; but her many virtues are yet cherished by all those who were so fortunate as to know her, and we have often heard her name mentioned in connection with the most heroic as well as the most philanthropic acts.. The first white settler in what is now Floyd county was Robert Lafollette, father of Judge D. W. Lafollette of this city. Robert Lafollette was a Kentuckian, and on the 4th day of November, 1804, was married in that State. On the next day after his marriage, accompanied by his young wife, he crossed the Ohio river into the then Indiana Territory, and the same night pitched his camp about three-quarters of a mile east of the mouth of Knob Creek, a location that he had selected prior to his marriage.. Here he remained, living in his camp, until he had chopped down the trees, cut the logs into proper length, cleared off a small spot of ground, and erected his humble log cabin,--the first house built within the present limits of Floyd county,--and then removed from this temporary tent into the cabin.. This house was built in the most primitive style. It was one story high and contained but one room. The cracks between the logs were "chincked" with small slabs of wood split from logs, and then daubed with a mortar made of clay. There was no window in it, for at that time a pane of eight by ten window glass, that now sells at five cents, could not be bought for less than seventy-five cents, and the early settlers were too poor to indulge in so costly a luxury. A large fireplace, extending half the width of one end of the house, and from which a chimney made of sticks and daubed with mud conducted the smoke, supplied the place now usurped by our modern health-destroying stoves and answered the double purpose of furnishing heat by day, and heat and light by night. Even tallow candles could not be afforded, except by a few, in those early days. The roof was of clapboards, split from the oak timber that composed the principal growth with which our hardy pioneers were surrounded, and as nails were then worth sixty-two and one-half cents per pound, their purchase was impossible, and heavy poles were laid upon the clapboards and pinned with wooden pins into the house logs at either end. This made an excellent roof.. In the way of furniture Mr. Lafollette had nothing beside some bedding, a few rude cooking utensils, and a scanty supply of cupboard ware. For a bedstead, holes were bored into the logs on the inside of the house, and long wooden pins driven into them. Upon these pins were placed two or three "puncheons" hewn out by Mr. Lafollette, and on these "puncheons" the bed was placed. This rude bedstead, thus improvised, was quite common among the early settlers of Indiana, and upon such bedsteads our fathers and mothers have passed hundreds of nights in the sweetest, most invigorating rest after the toils of a hard day's labor.. Thus slept Robert Lafollette and his wife "many a time and oft," and on such a bed their first-born was ushered into being and though his birthplace was so humble he now lives honored and respected by all who know him. For a table, plain boards were fastened upon wooden pegs with wooden pins. No leaves were required, and but two or three narrow and short boards were necessary for a top, and the table was complete. Wooden benches supplied the place of chairs, and a few wooden shelves laid upon wooden pins driven in the logs answered for cupboard, bureau and clothes press. The floor was of "puncheons." This was the home and its furnishings of the first settler within the present limits of Floyd county. It was finished and first occupied sixty-three years ago, next December.. Mr. Lafollette's nearest white neighbors at this time lived about ten miles below him in Harrison county, and twelve miles above him, at Clarksville, opposite the falls. He brought with him from Kentucky a few sacks of corn, and getting out of meal about Christmas he took a small sack of the grain in a canoe and paddled his little vessel and grist up to Tarascon's mills at the falls. But a few hours after arriving at the mill, and before his corn could be ground, an immense field of ice from above began moving down the river over the falls. The ice continued to increase in amount, and for twelve days completely blockaded the river, and rendered it impossible to cross. All this time Mr. Lafollette was detained at the mill.. During his absence Mrs. Lafollette's scanty store of provisions gave out, and for five or six days the only food she had to subsist upon was parched corn. In those days the only meats used was what was afforded by the wild game, and this was easily killed as it was required. Mr. Lafollette has frequently stated that he could almost any morning kill all the game he needed in half an hour within fifty yards of his house. Bears, deer, wolves, panthers, and wild-cats were numerous in the woods around him, and the hills back from Knob Creek seemed to be a favorite resort for these wild animals. Bears and wolves not unfrequently came within his enclosure and close up to his cabin door, and so plenty were wild turkeys and so tame, that he often shot them from his own door yard.. This section of the State was at that early day frequently visited by wandering gangs of Shawanese and Miami Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Lafollette had for their nearest neighbors a small party of Shawanese. They lived on the most amicable terms with these Indians. and whenever the marauding Miamis and Shawanese came from White river and the Wabash into the white settlements along the Ohio, for the purposes of robbery and murder, Mr. Lafollette was at once informed of the danger by his friendly Indian neighbors, and his wife would be sent over the river into Kentucky for safety, while he would join the expeditions of the settlers above and below him to aid in driving back the savage foe.. Mr. Lafollette continued to reside where he first settled until the division line between the counties of Harrison and Clark had been definitely run, and Charlestown fixed as the county seat of Clark county. He resided in the limits of Clark county, and paid his proportion of the special tax levied to build the first court house at Charlestown. A few years later he removed into Harrison county, and there paid a special tax to build the court house at Corydon. When Floyd county was organized in 1819, he was thrown into this county, and when the court house was built at New Albany, he paid his proportion of the tax levied to pay for it. He thus, in the course of fourteen years, paid special taxes to build three court houses.. Mr. Lafollette continued to reside on the farm to which he removed from near Knob Creek until his death, which occurred in January, 1867. At the time of his death he was eighty-nine years old, and had resided within the territory of what is now Floyd county for sixty-two years and two months. His wife died about one year earlier, at the age of seventy-nine and sixty-one years after her settlement here.. In all the relations of life Robert Lafollette was a good man. He was conscientiously religious; his house was for many years a preaching place for the Regular Baptists; and the pioneer ministers of that denomination, as well as of all others, always made his home a stopping place, and ever found there a cordial welcome. He subscribed for the first newspaper ever published in Floyd county, and continued to take a county paper up to the day of his death. He is now, with the companion of his youth's pioneer life, enjoying the rewards of a well-spent life "in that house not made by hands--eternal in the heavens.". Such is a brief but correct sketch of the first settlement and the first settlers of Floyd county. Other sketches will follow this, which we hope, will prove of general interest to our readers.