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INDIANA GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Welcome to
PUTNAM COUNTY,
INDIANA
HISTORY &
GENEALOGY |
NEWSPAPER EXCERPTS
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
Source: Middlesex Gazette - Connecticut
Dated: May 4, 1825
In Putnam County, Indiana,
on the 28th March, James ROBERTSON, shot Mr.
Thomas JAMES whilst in the field at work. The
ball passed through James arms above the elbow
joint, and entered his body at the lower ribs, and
lodged in his body. He was living a few days
afterwards, and if his intestines are not cut with the
ball, he may possibly recover. - ROBERTSON had
determined on murdering JAMES and two other men
and a woman in the neighbourhood, with whom he was
offended, and had transferred his property to two small
boys. He crept up secretly within a few paces of
JAMES, before he fired. JAMES, ran and
shouted. ROBERTSON, perceiving that an alarm
would be given before he could reach, the residences of
the other intended victims, proceeded to his own house,
and ordered his wife, and family to go out, when he
loaded his gun, pointed the muzzle to his breast, and
pulled a string attached to the trigger, and put a
period to his existence almost instantly.
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Source: Lowell Daily Citizen and News - Massachusetts
Dated: January 4, 1865
An old man and his wife in Putnam county, Indiana,
put a kettle of live coals in their bed-room, during the
late cold snap, and were smothered to death. |
Source: New Hampshire Patriot - N. H.
Dated: Nov. 11, 1868
In 1845 John ELLIOTT,
left his home and his wife, who had borne him eleven
children, in Putnam county, Indiana, suddenly and in
passion at some slight misunderstanding taht had
occurred between them. After he had been gone
about two years, his wife, supposing him dead, married
again. Recently Mr. ELLIOTT returned, after
an absence of twenty-six years. He had an
interview with his wife, and she, without hesitation,
returned to her first choice. Mr. ELLIOTT
had been in Calif. |
Source: Cincinnati Commercial Tribune - Ohio
Dated: Jul. 8, 1870
Dedication of the Soldiers' Monument, Putnam
County, Indiana.
Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial
GREENCASTLE, July 2, 1870
THE DAY
Has proved propitious in every sense. Last
evening there was a gentle rain, which laid the dust,
and this morning there was a mist of rain in the air
which, as the day advanced, has settled into a soft,
leaden sky in which, relieved by the forest of green
earth, it is a happiness to bathe the eye after the dust
and heat of Commencement Week. A fresh breeze
stirs the air, and from the farms and neighboring towns
the tide of human life has been steaming in ever since 9
o'clock. Men and women are out in their holiday
attire, carriages rush to and fro, music is heard in the
distance, and the boys, unrestrained by municipal
regulations, are having a good time with fire-crackers
and other Fourth of July anticipations. From my
window I have been amused with the colored jubilee
across the way which part _s of the nature of a solo.
It is the home, evidently, of a laundress, for upon the
porch a wholesome looking wench is ironing |
Source: Morning Republican - Arkansas
Dated: January 21, 1870
A farmer in Putnam county,
Indiana, has kept a pair of black snakes in his barn
several years, and all kinds of vermin have since
entirely disappeared. His cribs and bins are no
more disturbed by rates and mice. They are better
protection than a dozen cats, and are entirely harmless
towards chickens and domestic animals. The snakes
employed for this purpose are not the racers nor the
spotted variety, but a short, thick species of a jet
black color. |
Source: Cincinnati Daily Gazette
Dated: Feb. 18, 1880
AN INDIANA CENTENARIAN.
Mr. Jeremiah Wampler, of Putnam County - Something of
His History
Special Correspondence to the Cincinnati Gazette
GREENCASTLE, IND., Feb. 17 - The oldest man in this
county, and probably one of the oldest in the State, is
Mr. Jeremiah WAMPLER, of Bainbridge. He was
born in Wythe County, Virginia, May 29, 1780, and will
soon see his hundredth birthday, and is still in
possession of his faculties, being able to read without
glasses, having all his teeth save one, and was actively
engaged working at the wagonmakers trade until within
the past few years. His early life was spent upon
a farm with his parents until the commencement of the
war of 1812, when he enlisted in Capt. Lewis HALE's
company, Virginia militia, and was wounded in the left
hip at the battle of Helena, S. C. At the close of
the war he moved to Kentucky, and September 4, 1821, was
married to Miss Rebecca HALL, of that State,
being twenty-two years her senior, and three years after
they moved to Lawrence County, this State and one in
Missouri. Subsequently he moved to Owen County and
still latter to Bainbridge where he has lived since
1861. A man of very temperate habits and strong
constitution, he has had very little sickness, and has
worked hard all his life. He is a little deaf, but
his memory is good, and he will talk for hours about his
boyhood days and Indian wars and fights with bears and
wolves. His parents went from Pennsylvania to
Virginia, and his father was German and his mother
English. The father served through the Revolution,
and died at the age of eighty, while his grandfather
lived to the age of 115 years.
Mr. WAMPLER is a true Republican, and has voted
at nearly all the elections since 1802. He has two
sons who were in the late war, and they also are
Republican. He is very highly esteemed and revered
by all who knew him for his good honest ways.
Should his life be spared until his hundredth birthday
it is suggested the citizens of that town take some
proper measures for recognizing his long period of life
and usefulness. |
Source: Cincinnati Daily Gazette
Dated: Mar. 1, 1880
A party of twenty-seven
Kentuckians has arrived in Putnam County, Indiana,
looking for work. They were imported, they say, to
offset the "nigger vote," and their fare was paid to
their destination. VOORHEES should look
into this. |
Source: Cincinnati Commercial Tribune
Dated: Feb. 18, 1881
James STOOPS of
Putnam County, Indiana, a gentle youth of sixty-six
summers, feeling that it is not good for a man to be
alone, saw, admired and promised to marry Elizabeth
HANEY, who is but four years his junior.
James admits that he did, but afterwards changed his
mind, having found a maiden only forty-six yeas younger
than himself willing to occupy the place in his
affections and at his hearth which he had promised to
the elder lady. And now this relict of the late
Mr. HANEY institutes a suit for breach of promise of
marriage, laying the damages at the modest sum of
$5,000, of which she has already received $100, which
James advanced to her, with the understanding, as he
claims, that it would acquit him of all farther
obligation to her.
There seems to be no doubt as to the breach of promise
in this case, and the only question for the jury to
determine is whether the damage to the widow, real or
constructive, should be assessed in the amount she sues
for. This suggests some curious considerations, as
for example: There could have been no serious
damage to the affections on account of the refusal to
fulfill the promise, as would have been reasonably
supposable had the parties been in the heyday of youth,
with the feelings that belong to that interesting period
of life, boiling up like Vesuvius on the point of an
eruption. Nor can the disappointment be considered
as seriously damaging to the matrimonial prospects of
the widow. While, no doubt, a very well preserved
and charming old lady, or she would hardly have found
favor in the sight of James, still it is not
supposable that at sixty-two she can be a candidate for
matrimony so attractive that she had to sacrifice
numerous chances in order to become Mrs. STOOPS.
It is possible the jury may find in her favor, but such
a verdict will have to be based on very practical
considerations. The romance of young love must be
eliminated, and an outrage on the affections is not
supposable, since there could have been no affections to
be outraged. It is probable that the widow
HANEY, while holding the proposition of the youthful
James under advisement took a careful invoice,
not of James himself, but of his houses, lands,
and appurtenances, and saw before her the comforts of a
well provided and tranquil home in which to pass her
declining years. At her time of life women take a
very practical view of matrimony, as everything else; we
say women advisedly, for James himself, in
rejecting an alliance suitable to his years, and taking
up a chit of a girl for a wife, shows how destitute of
practical sense a man can make himself when the
matrimonial fever comes upon him in old age.
James ought to plead the statute of limitations,
if it can possibly be stretched by legal ingenuity to
apply to his case. Were he under twenty his
promise of marriage would amount to nothing in law, and
over sixty such a pledge out not to be considered
binding. AT that frolicsome and fickle period, as
all physicians can testify, men grow capricious about
matrimony, and are capable of the most extravagant
follies. Through their wild fancies troop
innumerable processions of dancing and laughing maidens,
amiable and affectionate spinsters, and dazzling and
daring widows. They confound times and names and
see no reason why June roses should not blush on
December bushes. We venture to assert that
STOOPS is unconscious today that the woman he
married is much younger than himself.
So the jury, when it comes to compute what James
should pay the Widow HANEY for her matrimonial
disappointment, must necessarily take into consideration
his mental condition, not only is the time the promise
was made, but what it was when he gave his hand to
another. In view of this mental distraction, for
purely mental, and not at all sentimental, it must have
been, the question of the extent of his responsibility
comes in as another factor. If it be held that he
was conscious, and not conscientious, though no real
damage was done by breaking off his engagement, it may
be thought proper to inflict exemplary damages for the
sake of warning other gray-beards not to make fools of
themselves. |
Source: San Jose Mercury News - San
Jose, California
Dated: Feb. 16, 1887
The oldest woman in Indiana
is Mary ATKIN, of Putnam County. She swears
to be one hundred and two years, but no statistics are
given as to snuff or smoking tobacco. |
Source: Omaha Word Herald - Nebraska
Dated: Aug. 1, 1900
JOHN CLARK RIDPATH DEAD
Eminent Historian Succumbs to Complication of Diseases.
New York, July 31 - John Clark RIDPATH, the
historian, died in the Presbyterian hospital at 5:30
this evening, from a complication of diseases. He
had been a patient in the hospital since April 26.
At the time of the historian's death his wife and son
S. _. RIDPATH, were at the bedside. The
body was later removed from the hospital.
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John Clark RIDPATH, LL. D., was born in Putnam
County, Indiana, in April 1, 41. He was graduated
from Asbury (now DePauw) university in 1863, taking that
honors. After serving as a principal of an academy
at Thornton, Ind., and as superintendent of public
schools at Lawrenceburg he was called in 1869 to the
chair of English literature at DePauw. He was
transferred later to the chair of history and political
philosophy. In 1865 he published his first book.
"An Academic History of the United States." In
1876 he published his "Popular History of the United
States," and afterward the "Life and Work of Garfield."
His "Cyclopedia of Universal History" was published in
1885. In 1885 he resigned his professorship in
DePauw, and the Vice Presidency of the university in
order that he might devote his whole time to writing.
In 1893 he published his "Life and Work of James G.
Blaine" and in 1894 his "Great Races of Mankind."
He was engaged for ten years in preparing the material
and four years in writing his work. In 1898 he
published his "Life and Times of Gladstone: and a
supplement to the "History of All Nations." He was
for a time editor of the Arena Magazine of Boston.
In 1896 he ran for congress on the democratic ticket in
his home district in Indiana and was defeated by a small
majority. In recent year she has been engaged in
the preparation of a complete and elaborate history of
the United States. |
Source: Oregonian - Oregon
Dated: June 6, 1907
WAS CLACKAMAS PIONEER
Funeral of Tobias Grider DEARDORFF, Who Crossed Plains
in 1850.
The funeral of Tobias
GRIDER DEARDORFF, pioneer, who died last Monday, was
held yesterday morning from his late home at Lents on
the Mount Scott Railway, and the interment was in
Multnomah Cemetery. Rev. E. M. Patterson,
of Portland, conducted the services. There was a
large attendance both at the house and in the cemetery,
and many beautiful floral tributes were brought.
Mr. DEARDORFF was a well-known pioneer of 1850
and an Indian War veteran. He belonged to a
distinguished family after whom the DEARDORFF
Valley, in Clackamas County, near Mount Scott, was
named. Tobias DEARDORFF was born in Putnam
County, Indiana, September 10, 1829, his father
Christian DEARDORFF, being a pioneer of Indiana.
With his father and his brothers John M., David
and James, Tobias came to Oregon in 1850
and settled in the Deardorff Valley, then a
wilderness, and here the father and sons developed
productive farms.
David DEARDORFF was a Methodist minister and
teacher. The others remained on the farm.
The family became a force and factor in the development
of the country. When the Indian wars in Oregon
broke out the Deardorff brothers enlisted and
bore a creditable and honorable part in defense of the
settlers against savages in remote districts.
Christian DEARDORFF, the father, died December 14,
1884, and all the brothers of the once well-known family
have now passed away. |
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