The first church organized in Rockville was by the Baptists. They held their first meeting in the old county court house. During the last ten or fifteen years Rockville, and, indeed, the whole of Parke county, has improved rapidly. The manufacturing and commercial interests of the former are now full of promise, while the agricultural prospects of the latter are a source of material comfort to the farmers. The railroad facilities of Rockville have done considerable to promote its commercial enterprise, and have been largely instrumental in placing it on a solid footing. The educational facilities of Rockville are second to no other town of equal population in the State. The new public school house was begun in the fall of 1872, and finished in January, 1874, at a cost, including grounds, of $36,000. It is a fine three story brick, containing ten rooms, besides the large chapel, or lecture room, and is arranged to accommodate five hundred pupils. Rockville is a pleasant place to reside. The people are intelligent, sociable, and sensible; and the same remark holds good wherever you go in Parke county. CHAPTER LIV. JOHNSON COUNTY HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. THE HE surface of Johnson county is quite level. There is scarcely an acre in the county that may not be cultivated. The only elevations that can be called hills, are to be found in the southwestern corner, and along the western border. The soil is rich and deep, and is underlaid by extensive beds of gravel. The streams are sluggish, and there are no rock-quarries of consequence in the county. The gravel beds are a source of immense wealth. Dirt roads are really impassable during three or four months of the year, so that before the introduction of gravel roads, farmers, and, to a great extent, manufacturers and villagers, were obliged to suspend business. Now these roads extend in all directions from Franklin, the county seat, and as a consequence, all classes are nearly as active in business during winter as summer. Owing to the level surface, and the vast accumulations of carbon and other elements from the old forests, the prevalence of fever and ague was very manifest for many years. But owing to the later very general use of underdrainage, the miasma has almost disappeared. At least it may be truthfully said that Johnson is as free from fever and ague as any of the river counties. The main industry of the county is agriculture and stockraising. The leading products are wheat, corn, and hogs. Most of the grain and stock find a ready sale in the county at the very highest prices. Vawter, Herriott & Co., slaughter from twenty-five to fifty thousand hogs each year at their establishment in Franklin, while Tilford & Co., of Edinburg, could find use for all the surplus corn in their immense starch factory. Flouring mills are abundant, and the railroads that cross at right angles at Franklin furnish as many shippingposts as the farmers and manufacturers need. The county was organized in 1822. Among the very first settlers were Jacob Whitzel, John Campbell, and Abraham Sells. Elizabeth Campbell, (born in 1821,) is said to be the first white child born in the county. Among others who came in the early settlement, are George Cutsinger, Samuel Herriott, William R. Hinsley, William Hunt, James Ritchey, Daniel Trout, James Jacobs, George King, David W. McCaslin, the Webbs, the Davidsons, the Adamses, the Thompsons, the Wishards, and the everywherepresent Jonses and Smiths. The county was named in honor of Judge John Johnson, of the supreme court. The district and graded schools of Franklin county have made very decided progress within ten years. The old log houses were replaced by frame ones, and these are now giving place to substantial and commodious brick houses. The school-term has come up from two months to over six months. The standard of teaching has materially advanced, and better wages are paid teachers. There are about one hundred district schools in the county, and teachers' institutes are held in nearly every township during term-time. There are several graded schools in the county, and this fact speaks well for the prosperity of education. At Hopewell, four miles west of Franklin, is a school of long standing, and a good record. It is now under the superintendency of Prof. Cole, formerly of the State University. At Williamsburg, in the southwestern portion of the county, is a prosperous graded school, under the care of Prof. Moore, formerly of Hopewell. At Greenwood, on the northern border, is a prosperous graded school, at present under the care of Mr. Burdick. Edinburg, on the southern border, has an efficient graded school. Prof. Martin is superintendent, and has the assistance of from eight to ten teachers. The citizens have also presented the school with a very fair supply of philosophical apparatus. The trustees feel the necessity of adding to their school building. Franklin has one of the most convenient city school-buildings in the State. Prof. Hunter is the superintendent, and is aided by from ten to twelve teachers. The trustees have spared no expense in providing the school with ample apparatus. There is also a good supply of philosophical apparatus, besides maps, charts, blocks, etc., and one of Estel's programme clocks in each room. The high school organizes a lecture course each year and the proceeds are applied to the purchase of a library for the school. Franklin College, the State Institution for Baptists, is situated on a pleasant rise of ground in East Franklin. It was founded in 1884, as a "Manual Labor Institute," and it was so in fact. The students built log huts in which to study, and chopped wood to defray their necessary expenses. For many years the school had no endowment, but the endowment of earnest Christian workers, both in its Faculty and Board of Trustees. In 1844, Rev. G. C. Chandler, D. D., (now of Oregon) became President, and brought the school up to a high state of efficiency, and a high grade of scholarship. He resigned in 1852, and Rev. Silas Bailey, D. D., LL.D., became President. He worked in the Institution ten years with rare power and self-sacrifice. A nominal endowment of sixty thousand dollars was raised, but a real endowment of only twenty-seven thousand dollars. Seventeen thousand dollars of this was expended in buildings and the liquidation of debts, in accordance with the agreement of the subscription. Under Dr. Bailey's administration a large number of young men were sent out into the State prepared for work, and they have uniformly done good work. In 1861, the war called almost all the students into the United States service. In 1862, declining health obliged Dr. Bailey to resign, and for lack of students the Institution suspended instruction till 1869. But it suspended only after a long struggle. For six weeks previous to suspension there were but two students-and they were both lame. Their names are Oliver H. Stout and Marshall Grinstead. In 1869 college instruction was begun again. In 1870, Rev. H. L. Wayland, D. D., of Michigan, was elected to the presidency. He resigned in 1871. The present financial status of the college is: Real estate, forty thousand dollars; endowment subscription, fifty thousand dollars; bequests, representing, forty thousand dollars. Besides this, the board has completed a conditional addition to the endowment of twenty-five thousand dollars. Dr. Bailey, the former president, has given his private library (consisting of eight hundred volumes) to the college, and also his estate, valued at ten thousand dollars. The institution has had long and severe struggles, but it is now emerging into the sunlight of prosperity. It affords its advantages alike to young men and young women. Its present faculty of instruction are: Rev. W. T. Stott, A. M., president and professor of intellectual and moral philosophy; Miss R. A. Thompson, A. M., professor of mathematics; -, professor of ancient languages; J. W. Moncrief, A. B., tutor in preparatory department; Miss T. Parks, A. B., instructor in preparatory department; Mrs. Belle R. Stott, teacher of painting and drawing; Miss Cattie McCoy, teacher of instrumental music. CHAPTER LV. WABASH COUNTY HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. T HERE are four hundred and twenty-six square miles in Wabash county, the surface of which is generally level. There are no very high hills,* notwithstanding the land is rolling or undulating, near all of the water courses, excepting at the head of them, where it is generally level, and taken as a whole the face of the country is very pleasantly diversified. Almost the whole county is abundantly supplied with water by fine springs and running streams. The northern portion is watered by Eel river and its tributaries. Wabash passes through the centre, and is intersected by the Salamonie, four miles from the county line on the east, and Mississinawa runs through the southern part of the county. Among the larger streams are Josina, Grant and Ten Mile creeks, emptying into the Mississinawa, Rush, Lagro, Treaty, Mill and Charley creeks which empty into the Wabash; Clear, Paw-Paw and Squirrel creeks emptying into the Eel river. These rivers and streams are of sufficient size, and finely adapted for manufacturing purposes. The land north of Eel river being about fifty-five sections, is composed of prairie barrens, interspersed with small and beautiful lakes. The balance of the county was heavily timbered with walnut (black and white), hickory, oak, maple, beech, poplar, linn, cherry, etc. Along the Wa bash and Mississinawa there are many fine quarries of limestone, suitable for building purposes. The soil is rich and very productive. There are few, if any counties in the State that promise a greater reward to the manufacturer or hus *From a sketch by Hon. Elijah Hackleman. |