Sweetser High School - Ti Pa Wa Ni Ca Yearbook (Sweetser, IN)

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CDU Nw O N ldNTQRV Pleasant, the last territory in Indiana to be held by the Indiana, is the oldest township in the county. Grant County was organized in 1831, with two townships--Pleasant and Union. Then in l33h a change was made leaving Pleasant with what is now Van Buren, Washington, Pleasant and Richland Townships. In the general reorganization of the county into townships in 1855, Pleasant township gained a one mile strip from Richland on the east. From that time to the present the boundary lines have remained unchanged. This tdwnship is crossed from southeast to northwest by the Missis- sinewa, sometimes called the NBeautiful.River0W Along its banks the Miami Indians, the first inhabitants of the township, roamed at will through the dense forests in search of game. The members of the tribe built their huts and wigwams along its banks. WAlmost one hundred and fifty years ago there was situated in a small ravine between the Mississinewa river and where the old town of Jalapa now stands, a cluster of Indian huts and wigwams. This place has come down to us through legend and tradition and is known as the Indian Village. The site of this village was later transferred to the east side of the river. Here one lone desolute cabin stood for years. It was opposite this cottage where the Indian Village school of Pleasant township stood. Back of the school stood the Indian Baptist church and the cemetery . It is here where past generations of the Red Men lie mouldering beneath the silent sod. It is where the Miamis met to worship the Great Spirit. It is here where once roamed free as the air the tribes of Me-sin-gha-me-ha. The history cf this township and the Miami tribe would not be complete without reference to this village and the battle that took place nearby, the Indians led by the followers of Secunsha, the whites by Colonel John B. Campbell. The battle was fought opposite the site of Conner's mill in 1812. The Indians were defeated and the village was destroyed. The 'forest primeval' is gone and in its place new blooms fields of grass and grain, while the old trail has given place to the improved country highways. The village also is changed. Instead of being a village of huts and wigwams it is a village of silent graves and o'er these silent graves roam the children of the white man. An Indian Reserve was set up consisting of approximately one million acres of land along the Mississinewa river. The west two-thirds of Pleasant Township lay in this Reservation and remained almpst an unbroken wilderness until as late as 1Bb5. In l8h0 the general government paid the Indians 3S5o,ooo and they relinquished all claims to the land. Ten sections of land were still reserved for Meshingomesia, the last Miami chieftain and the Indian Village Godis Acre where he was buried near the church, at the ripe

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old age of ninety-eight. One mile northeast of Sweetser was located the heshingomesia sugar camp. He and other Indiana came there yearly and camped among the hundreds of maple trees, that they might make syrup and sugar. Any modern history of these people of the forest would be incomplete without the name, Meshingomesia, the last chief of the hiamis. He was a friend to all the whites and was held in general good esteem, ' The early settlers of Pleasant Township found homes near the river, be- ' cause here they could find plenty of building material and there was natural drainage. The Mississinewa was once a navigable stream, and flat-boats passed up and down the river for commercial purposese Certain landing places were established where these boats could stop and trade with the settlers. A blowing of a horn or a bugle gave notice of their approach and all the settlers would gather at the landing and buy or trade their produce for the things they needede In 1828 Goldsmith Gilbert established a trading post on the river a mile above Suttonis Forde On the 9th day of October, lh25, David Conner purchased the store of Gilbert and made the first entry of land in Pleasant Township as well as in Grant County. Mr, Conner died in ldhh and lies buried just a short distance west of where his store stood. A Mrs, . Harter, his youngest child, was a resident of Sweetser for a number of years. In the year 1928 Samuel McClure built a saw mill along the river in Section Zh, the second mill in the county. In 1926 Henry Renbarger bought the east fraction of section 2h and shortly after three brothers, Jeremiah, Jeptha and Platt Sutton came and settled just north of the river, at the ford which now bears their name. Many, many others came later equally worthy, but too numerous to mention here. The pioneer life in this township was that of the other townships of the county. The first dwellings were cabins, one-story, often one-room only, of round logs unbarked, the chinks daubed with mud, the roof of clapboards, the same being held in place by weights instead of nails, a stick-chimney, a clay or mud hearth, windows few and small, the door homemmade, with wooden hinges, catch and latch, and the Wlatch-string hanging outen Surely his hardships were many, and to the present generation would seem unsurmountablea. Shortly, before 1912 an old lady of Pleasant township, one of the pioneers, told how the wolves at night.howled around their newlyebuilt cabin, which for the first few days and nights after its occupancy had only a quilt for a door. Although the old ioneers have raduallv gone to their iust rewards the have left 1. C tj , a wealth of stories of the Red Men, of Chief heshingomesia and his Miamis, and of their own hardships and tribulations in wresting a livelihood and a home from the wilderness. we the residents of Pleasant Township owe them our deepest gratitude for their fortitude, their courage, their bravery, and their pioneer characteristics which have given to us the green pasturelands, acres of golden grain, and many fertile fields, We are wealthy in land, tradition, and in history--we bow our heads in humble thankfulness. There were at one time several small villages in the township, but at present there are only Fox Station, Jalapa, and Sweetser. At one time Browntown was located in the southeast one-fourth of section l6. Fox Station is located approximately seven miles northwest of Marion. The Big Four Rail- POad and Union traction passed through it, and at one time it contained a grocery, smithy, a coal yard, and grain elevator, none of which are in opera- tion at Jalapa, ground, name is after a Cruz to the present time. Only a few houses now make up Fox Station. situated on a hill, across the river from the Mississnnewa battle- was laid out in 1bh9, by Jacob Sprecher, its first settler. The of Mexican origin, fSpanish pronunciation, Ha-la-pa.j, and was named town occupied by General Scott and his army on the way from Vera Mexico City. In 1877 it contained a schoolhouse, two churches, a . . ' .- .1 . r V n.,