Joseph A. Wright, Tilman A. Howard, Austin W. Morris, Alfred Harrison, F. C. Holliday, John L. Smith, Henry S. Lane, Williamson Terrell, John Ingle, W. C. DePauw, Asa Iglehart, David McDonald, John A. Matson, T. J. Sample, S. W. Parker, G. M. Beswick, E. G. Wood, Allan Wiley, Bishop Ames, John Wilkins, Isaac C. Ellston, Bishop Roberts, A. C. Downey, W. H. Goode, Calvin Rutter, D. L. Southard, Will. Cumback, and many more ranking among the nobility of the State.

Among the alumni should be named: James Harlan, distinguished for his career in public life; Newton Booth, governor of California and United States senator; Thomas Goodwin, W. H. Larrabee, Joseph Glenn, James P. Luse, W. H. Barnes, Henry Benson, George B. Jocelyn, Oliver S. Munsell, George W. Hoss, Samuel Lattimore, Philip Gillette, and many others in literature, authorship, and the practical professions. Many represent the university in the learned professions and in political life; many are in military life. During the period of the great rebellion, the classes of the university were nearly deserted, by students volunteering. The same was substantially true in the Mexican war. Among the distinguished specialists, it is but just to mention Elkanoh Williams, of Cincinnati, who stands quite at the head of the celebrated oculists.

Not invidiously, but as justly indicating the notable legal record of very many of the alumni, may be mentioned the names of Albert G. Porter, James McIntosh, Daniel W. Voorhees, John W. Roy, John Hanna, John S. Torkington, Wm. P. Hargrave, H. C. Gooding.

A very large proportion of the alumni have entered the work of the Christian ministry, chiefly as it is prosecuted under the methods of the itinerancy in the Methodist Epispal Church.

CHAPTER LXXV.

IT

CONCLUSION OF COUNTY SKETCHES.

T was our original intention to make the sketches of the counties merely descriptive, except those in which are located the oldest landmarks of pioneer life, as with Allen, Tippecanoe, Vigo, Knox, Clarke, and other counties. The following are descriptive sketches of the counties not mentioned in the preceding chapters:

ADAMS COUNTY.

THIS County was named in honor of President Adams. The surface is level, being beautifully undulating in some quarters. There are no barren lands, and but little wet prairie. There is a considerable portion of bottom lands, but the greater portion of the county is upland, heavily timbered. In some of the wet prairies of this county we find the water-shed from which the waters run both toward the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. In these swampy sections are definable traces of beaver dams. The soil is mixed clay and marl, and is said to improve with continued cultivation. Timber was originally in abundance, consisting of oak, hickory, buckeye, ash, beech, elm, lynn, walnut, sycamore, poplar, and cottonwood. The principal water courses are the Wabash and St. Mary's rivers. In this county they are about equal in size, their average breadth being about one hundred and fifty feet. The St. Mary's was formerly navigated by flat boats, but is now obstructed with mill dams.

This county has made good progress in agriculture, commerce and education. Decatur is the county seat, and is but

twenty-one miles from Fort Wayne. It is a flourishing city, with excellent incorporated schools, substantial buildings, weli kept streets, and thriving commercial interests, with good railroad facilities.

BLACKFORD COUNTY.

BLACKFORD County was named in honor of Judge Blackford, one of the pioneer judges of Indiana. The surface of this county differs but slightly from that of Adams. It is quite level, and in some places gently undulating. The soil is good and well adapted to the cultivation of wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, etc. The exports consist of wheat, cattle, horses, and hogs. The soil is well watered by the Salamonie and Lick creeks, the former a splendid manufacturing stream. With the exception of the wet prairies, the surface was principally all upland, heavily timbered with oak, ash, beech, poplar, sugar tree, walnut, hickory, cherry, etc. The first settlement in the county was made in 1835, by Mr. John Blount. In 1837, a colony of emigrants from Vermont settled in the county, and laid off the town of Montpelier, named in honor of the capital of their native State.

Hartford City is the county seat of Blackford county, and is one of the most enterprising towns of northeastern Indiana. It has ample railroad facilities, bringing it in direct communication with Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Toledo, and all the great commercial centers of the northwest. This place affords a splendid opportunity for the investment of capital and skilled labor. Generally speaking, the county has made good progress in agricultural pursuits, in commerce, and education. The schools are excellent. Land is cheap and productive, and there are many inducements for new settlers to locate in Blackford county.

Montpelier, another incorporated town in this county, is, if possible, still more enterprising than Hartford City. While second to the latter in population, it is fully up in commercial industry, and is destined to be the leading commercial and manufacturing mart of the county.

BENTON COUNTY.

THIS County was named in honor of Thomas H. Benton, a Missouri senator. The surface of the county may be described by saying, that it is one grand continuous prairie, being an extention of the grand Illinois prairie. The soil is exceedingly fertile. Many parts were originally very wet, but a system of drainage has been adopted which will ultimately result in bringing nearly all the surface into cultivation. Pine creek is the only stream worthy of mention. It runs southerly, and empties its waters into the Wabash river. The northern portion of the county is watered by tributaries of the Iroquois river. Stock raising is one of the principal industries of the county. The county is excellently adapted to grazing, and some of the finest droves of cattle produced in the west are annually shipped from this county to the eastern markets.

Oxford, formerly the county seat, is situated in the southeastern part of the county, and on a high prominence overlooking the surrounding country. Although not a very large town, it is rapidly developing, and will soon become an important commercial centre. Its schools are well provided with suitable buildings and efficient teachers, and are in a state of prosperity. The schools of the county, for the most part, are equal to the average. Oxford has good railroad outlets, being situated on the LaFayette, Muncie and Bloomington railroad, and is within two miles of the junction of this road with the C. L. & C. railroad, for Chicago and Cincinnati.

Fowler, the present county seat, was first laid out in February, 1872, by Moses Fowler and Adams Earl, Esqrs., of La Fayette. Originally covering a plat one-half mile square, it has since been increased to one mile square. It is situated exactly in the centre of the county, and on the Cincinnati, LaFayette and Chicago railroad, or what is popularly called the "Kankakee Route." The county seat was removed from Oxford and located here in 1874, after a bitter legal litigation with the former place.

The first court was held in December, 1874, in the new and elegant court house, mainly built by private means and enter

prise. The town is improving rapidly, and already possesses a number of prominent business firms, a bank doing a thriving business, a fine hotel, a newspaper office, a large and commodious graded school building, and two church edifices.

Earl Park, located northwest of Fowler, on the same road, is another fast growing town. This town was laid out by Adams Earl and A. D. Raub, Esqrs., and bids fair to take rank with the foremost towns of this section of the State. The streets are beautifully laid out and graded; they are eighty feet wide, and have a row of fine shade trees bordering on each side and through the centre, a feature rarely met with in the west, and which will ultimately render these streets beautiful and pleasant beyond description.

BROWN COUNTY

BROWN County was named in honor of General Jacob Brown, one of the heroes of the war of 1812. The surface is generally hilly, but the hills are interspersed with many bottoms, constituting about one-third of the whole surface. Originally the hills were covered with an abundance of excellent timber, consisting of white ash, chestnut, oak, and hickory. In the bottoms it was walnut, poplar, sugar tree, hackberry, cherry, buckeye, elm, etc. Corn is the staple production in the bottoms, while wheat, oats, grass, etc., grow well on the hills.

Nashville, the county seat, is a small town, but contains in and around it the elements of prosperity. Within the last few years its schools have been placed on a sound footing, and are now a credit to the place. Its commercial interests are growing rapidly. The county is, in one sense, a wealthy one. The farmers are rapidly gaining an independence, improving their farms, houses, etc. The county schools are rapidly improving.

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

THIS county was named in memory of the unfortunate Colonel William Crawford, the land agent of General Washington in the West, who was captured by the hostile Indians and burnt at Sandusky, in 1782. The surface of this county is