The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 4, Page 6.
These Pictures Tell Tales Of Days That Have Gone
(BY MABEL
BENNEY)
We are indebted to Miss Alice Anderson for these pictures of old buildings in
Pleasant township.
The church at Tassinong was founded by the Rev. J. C. Brown the same year in
which he organized the Valparaiso church. The meetings were held in the homes
for several years, then in a school house; later a church was built near the
school on the main road, ten miles from Valparaiso.
Mrs. Joseph Skinner tells how Mr. Brown, after preaching in Valparaiso in the
morning, mounted his horse immediately after dinner and road to Tassinong, Kouts
or Hebron for an afternoon service. When he returned for the evening service he
was frequently exhausted and often called on her father, Morgan Crosby, for the
opening prayer. She adds the prayer was long enough for the pastor to recover
his vigor.
People have the tendency to think of pioneers as old. Mr. Brown was twenty-four
when he came to Porter county. No matter how deep the snow, he always ploughed
through to these little struggling churches. The people were equally loyal and
thought nothing of driving ten miles to worship.
But to return to the buildings. Anyone familiar with the old Valparaiso
Presbyterian church will notice that the Tassinong edifice followed the same
lines even to the belfry, the stoop, the plain doorway and tall many-paned
windows. Either building might have been New England or the hills of
Pennsylvania.
On the Anderson farm near Marshall Grove still stands the old log house of the
picture built by George Biggart with a cash expenditure of $18. The cost in
human effort can not be estimated. The logs were hewn near the Kankakee and
drawn by ox-team to the house site. At one place they had to cross a ravine,
into which trunks of trees had been thrown to form a bridge. Safety of the load
and the driver depended entirely on the ability of the plodding oxen to find a
secure foothold. Neighbors assisted in placing and securing the logs. A feat
generally accompanied or followed the house raising, an out-of-door festivity,
since the house would scarcely accommodate the builders, the cooks, and the
children, of whom there were legion.
This cabin is typical of the buildings of that day, one door, one or few
windows, a loft for storage and extra beds, a lean to, where all the big jobs,
preserving, soap oiling, cutting up of the animals slaughtered for home
consumption were carried on. If there was not lean to, these labors were
performed out-of-doors under the trees. With regard to the few windows and one
door, the greater the number of openings the more drafts.
Our forefathers learned the necessity of sunlight only after tuberculosis had
taken a heavy toll from many families, especially among the women and children.
The fewer the openings into the cabin, the easier was the fight against the
winter's cold.
The surface well, enclosed by a fence to keep out cattle, and the well sweep are
interesting features of this homestead. The upright timber, near which Mrs.
Anderson is standing, was there when they bought the place in 1868, the same
timber which George Biggart had put in when he dug the well. It was still there
when the Andersons moved to town a few years ago.
Another landmark is the Unruh place, one mile north of Tassinong, built in 1870
by William Unruh. The house, a two-story frame building with its length fronting
the road, stands on the left-hand side of Road 49 as one travels toward the
Kankakee. It is shaded by long leafed pine trees, which together with its
elevation above the road and the driveway, gives it a commanding view of the
surrounding country. An avenue of trees south of the house had considerable
influence on its history. A Quaker owned the land and was very proud of the
maples which shaded either side to the land running east and west, though he
claimed only the north half of the roadway. His neighbor to the south set up a
claim to the whole land and the trees on either side. The Quaker, unwilling to
go to law, decided to move and sold to Mr. Unruh. A law suit, following a survey
of the land, gave him the entire land to the great amusement of the
neighborhood.
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook