BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY FAMILY FILES
"Tunis Quick, A Bartholomew County Pioneer"
Rachel Quick Buttz, 1921
One of the early pioneers of Bartholomew county, Indiana,
was Tunis Quick. He was born March 13, 1797, near Martinsburg, Berkeley county, Virginia (now West Virginia).
He came to Bartholomew county (or what was afterwards
this county), in the autumn of 1819. He entered 160 acres
of land for himself and his father, in the Haw Patch, seven
miles north of the present city of Columbus, where he afterwards helped to build one of the first houses.
With him came Isaac Pancake, a young man near his own
age, and also a native of Virginia, who entered a nearby tract
of land. Their nearest neighbors were Joseph Cox and
family, living about three miles to the southeast, who arrived
there in April of the same year, 1819.
The young pioneers each built on his land a small cabin,
just large enough to stand up or lie down in comfortably,
with a small fireplace in one end. Here they prepared their
food, which consisted of a little corn bread, and an abundance
and variety of wild meat, which they secured with their rifles
from the thick woods which surrounded them. The water
for all necessary purposes was carried from Flat Rock, about
half a mile west of them.
Plenty of hard work was to be done and they did it bravely
and cheerfully, looking ahead to the homes that were to be
theirs in the future. At night their rest was sweet and safe,
as there were only a few Indians passing through the country
then, and they were friendly.
In the spring of 1820, Tunis Quick's father and the other
members of his family came from Madison, where they had
spent the winter. A larger house was built on the east
eighty of the land which had been entered, and the family
began pioneer life in earnest.
Quite a number of settlers came on that spring, and the
country began to fill up with neighbors in all directions.
These pioneers were hardy, honest, industrious and friendly
� usually regarding each other's rights to the letter. All had
guns of some kind, and ammunition for all necessary purposes. They even formed a company for training militia,
and Tunis Quick was chosen captain of the company. From
that time onward he occupied prominent positions. Though
he was only about medium size, he possessed unusual physical
strength and mental vigor, and his neighbors gladly recognized his leadership.
Corn huskings and log rollings were almost the only
festivities in which the early settlers indulged, and at such
gatherings whiskey flowed more or less freely. There were
few teetotalers among the early settlers, but not many of them
drank to excess. They had already made so many sacrifices,
and were so filled with the desire to secure comfortable homes
for themselves and their posterity, that they did not allow
themselves undue indulgences.
Government land had been promised to the settlers at
$1.25 per acre. Hard work was a necessity for the pioneers,
and money was scarce, but they managed to save enough to
pay that price for their land, and a company of them went to
Brookville to the land sale in 1820. Here they encountered
land sharks, who, even in that early day, were plying their
nefarious business � trying to defraud honest, industrious
people of their "inalienable rights." But the early American
citizens, among a great many other sterling qualities, inherited independence from their forefathers; so after watching the performance of the land sharks, who were running
the land up to $1.50 per acre, they decided to hold the government to its promise of $1.25 an acre for those who had
built upon their land, and begun to improve it. Accordingly,
they presented a solid front with their rifles, demanded their
rights and were granted them without further parley.
In those early days, hospitality was spontaneous and sincere. Travelers were heartily welcomed with the hope that
they might become neighbors in the near future. A young man named Joseph Van Meter came on horseback from Kentucky, and stayed over night with Tunis Quick, who had relatives in Virginia named Van Meter. Being distantly related
to the same family, and having many ideas in common, the
young men both enjoyed the visit. When Mr. Van Meter,
who wished to see more of the country before settling down,
was about to start on his way the next morning, he deposited
$600 in gold with his new friend for safe-keeping until his
return. Being attacked by some kind of fever while he was
gone, it was many weeks before he was able to come back.
No word came from him in the meantime, but when he was
able to ride he returned and found his money safe with his
friend. They trusted each other absolutely in the beginning
and were the best of friends while they both lived.
Joseph Van Meter went back to Kentucky, but so attractive
was the new country, that he and his brother-in-law, William
Jones, soon decided to make their future homes in Indiana.
In 1821, while on their way to hunt a location there, they met
an acquaintance at Louisville, who was returning from the
Reserve, as it was often called. He was seated on a wagon-tongue and shaking violently with the ague. Between his
chattering teeth he said to William Jones: "Bill, turn around
and go back. Go back to old Kaintuck. The darned ager
will shake you to pieces up thar in Indiany." But possessed
of the invincible pioneer spirit, instead of turning back they
went forward. They were much pleased with the new country
and bought farms adjoining each other in the rich bottom
land on the west side of Flat Rock, and almost opposite Tunis
Quick's farm, which was on the east side of the river. They
built their homes about a half mile from Flat Rock, and both
became prominent citizens. The Van Meter family have all
passed to their reward, and John L. Jones, a prominent farmer
of the county, is the only remaining member of that Jones
family. He still owns the farm which was selected by his
father when he arrived here from Kentucky in 1821.
Quite a settlement now began on the west side of Flat
Rock. A large family named Records, moved from Ohio, and
settled one mile and a half east of the present site of Taylorsville. In this family, Tunis Quick, who was now nearly 25
years old, found a sweet, blue-eyed, sunny-haired girl of 17,
who soon became the choice of his heart. Her name was
Susanna Records. She was attractive in person, more so in
character, and their marriage, which occurred in September,
1822, was a happy one.
By that time the house had been enlarged and improved,
and the young couple were quite comfortably situated for
pioneers. Some glass window lights, which were a novelty
in the neighborhood, had been put in, instead of the greased
paper, through which the light came but dimly in those early
homes. A board floor was also laid instead of the dirt floor
which was common at that time. Pieces of wood were in-
serted between the logs of the houses, extending far enough
into the room for the width of a bed or table and on these
were laid boards to be used for such furniture. Rustic
benches and stools, made from forest timber, served for seats
at first, but it was not long until chairs and other furniture
of various kinds were made in the neighborhood. The first
chair owned by Tunis Quick, and the only one in his home
when he was married, was made by Mignon Boaz, a Baptist
preacher, who lived near, on the bluff bank of Flat Rock.
The pioneers were not dependent upon material things for
happiness. Their lives were full of heroic purpose, and the
pioneer women were helpmates for their husbands in the
truest sense. They spun and wove flax, cotton and wool into
cloth for table and bed linen, and to make garments for their
rapidly increasing families. Some of them were very expert
in dying wool and cotton, in fast and beautiful colors. Also
in weaving different patterns for table-cloths and counterpanes. Such energy and industry as was shown by both
sexes, was not without reward, and soon "the wilderness
blossomed as the rose."
The march of progress was rapid with the passing of the
years. Orchards were planted, crops of many kinds were
raised, and neighbors vied with each other in a good-natured
way in making improvements. Fever and ague were prevalent, and sometimes an epidemic of flux, or some other
dreadful disease, carried off their little ones, and some grown
people, so that they had their full share of sorrow as well as
joy.
As early as 1821, the Flat Rock Baptist church was organized, and not long afterwards a log house of worship was
built on the bluff bank of Flat Rock. Near the church, a little
cemetery was begun, and less than a mile away, there was
soon another burying place for the beloved ones who were
passing away.
Pioneer preachers proclaimed the gospel, sometimes with
much performance of physical power and salutary spiritual
effect. A Bible and hymn book could be found in nearly
every home, though other books were very scarce, and novel
reading was considered quite disreputable, for, to the
pioneers, life was indeed real and earnest.
Schools were taught by men who came from the indefinite
east for that purpose, for no woman would have been considered able to control a school. There was discipline in the
schools and also in the homes of those days � sometimes too
severe; but better perhaps for the formation of character
than the laxity of government which prevails at present.
As the years passed by and families grew larger, additions were built to the houses, more of the comforts of life
were enjoyed, and the duties and responsibilities of citizenship were also increased and recognized.
Columbus was the seat of justice, and justice was sometimes administered in very peculiar ways by officers there;
and in various parts of the country.
Jack Jones, who kept a tavern, called "The Jones House",
on the southwest corner of Washington and Second streets,
was elected justice of the peace. A fight was going on at a
furious rate in front of the tavern when Tunis Quick arrived
on horseback. He greeted Mr. Jones by saying: "Jack, I
thought you were elected to command the peace." "And 1
will", thundered Mr. Jones, as he rushed out to the woodpile,
and seized a large limb which had been cut from a tree.
Pushing his way through the crowd which had gathered, he
ran in between the combatants and shouted in stentorian
tones: "I command the peace", and peace was immediately
restored.
A similar case occurred in Flatrock township when Tunis
Quick was justice of the peace. A man who lived nearly a
half mile away, was in the habit of coming home drunk and
whipping his wife. Tunis Quick, who had remonstrated with
him in vain, finally told him that people were too much dis-
gusted with his way of doing to allow it much longer, and
that if he did not put a stop to it, somebody else would be
treating him just like he treated his wife.
Not long afterwards, in the dusk of a drizzly day, just as
the evening "chores" were all done, the abused wife was heard
screaming at the top of her voice. Tunis Quick turned his
coat wrong side out, drew an old broad-rimmed hat well
down over his face, and proceeded to administer justice in a
most emphatic way, by giving the man a well-deserved
whipping. The wife interfered at last, and was in the act
of pulling the hat off the head of her deliverer, who immediately started away, in a different direction from his
home, adding as he went that next time he would give the
culprit more of the same kind. The next morning the man
came down "to swear out a writ before the squire", but as
he was unable to tell who "assaulted and battered" him, the
case was dismissed.
In those days, letters were like angels' visits � few and far
between, and highly prized. They were written on large
sheets of paper, one page of which was left blank. The letter
was then carefully folded, with the blank side out, properly
addressed, and sealed with a wafer, but was sent without
postage. No letters could be delivered, however, until 25
cents postage was paid by the would-be recipient.
One day in the Columbus postoffice, Tunis Quick saw two
sisters crying. They had recently been married in Kentucky,
and had come with their husbands to settle in Bartholomew
county. When asked the cause of their distress, they replied
that a letter was there from their old home, and they had no
money to pay the postage. It was only a neighborly kindness for one who had 25 cents to pay the postage and deliver
the letter. Tears were dried, earnest thanks were expressed,
and though the money was soon repaid, sincere gratitude
found expression, through different members of these families, for more than one generation.
Before any railroads were built through the country, the
pioneers hauled the products of their farms to Madison or
Lawrenceburg, and brought home necessary commodities of
different kinds. Quite a number of men usually went together, with wagons and four-horse teams. They camped
over night by the way, sometimes sleeping in their wagons,
and sometimes on blankets, spread on the ground, under the
trees. The journey was long and tedious, but there were
compensations. Some of the men had a fine sense of humor,
and a good relish for jokes; so the time generally passed very
pleasantly.
It was "the rule of the road" that empty wagons should
always "turn out" for loaded ones; but a man whom they
sometimes met, boasted that he never had "turned out" for
anyone, and that he never would "turn out". As the party
of men around the campfire one night, were talking about the
surly one they expected to meet the next day, Tunis Quick
said, "He will turn out for me, tomorrow" � and he did. Soon
after the party of men started on their journey the next day,
they saw the churlish one approaching with his empty wagon
in the middle of the road. As soon as he was near enough,
Tunis Quick fixed his eyes upon him, and called to him that
if he did not "turn out" of the road, he might expect just
such treatment as was given to a man the day before. When
the loaded wagon came alongside the empty one, the man
said: "How did you treat that man yesterday?" "I turned
out, myself", was the reply amidst hearty cheers from the
rest of the party.
The roads at that time were bad in many places, and it
was almost impossible for loaded wagons to travel outside of
the beaten track. No vehicles except wagons were obtainable in the new country, neither could they have been used
in but few places; so travelers went either on foot, horseback, or in wagons.
Tunis Quick liked to relate the experience of himself and
his wife when they visited her parents. At first, they both
rode on a little Indian pony and if Flatrock was high, they
crossed it in a canoe with the pony swimming behind. As
their family increased they each rode a horse, carrying a
baby in front, and as the children increased in numbers and
size, the larger ones were mounted behind. Once the wife's
horse laid down in the water, and when she was rescued by
her husband, she was holding her baby boy in such a close
embrace that he was almost unconscious. Later, when there
were more children, if the whole family went visiting, the
horses were hitched to the wagon, chairs were set in for the
parents, and the children were seated on straw in the bottom
of the wagon.
Men who rode on horse-back when it was muddy, wore
leggins, made of thick, heavy cloth, and reaching from the
tops of the feet to the knees. They were buttoned or tied
securely, and were quite a protection from wet, cold and mud.
The men also carried saddle bags, which held changes of
clothing, or other necessities.
The women wore riding skirts to protect their dresses.
These riding skirts had large pockets on the left side, and
were very convenient for carrying necessary articles.
Tunis Quick and his wife kept abreast of the times. They
interested themselves in having the best teachers for their
children and in keeping up religious services in the Baptist
church, and other places of worship. They also encouraged
the teachers of singing schools, or any other specialties which
they thought would be for the good of their family or the
neighborhood.
They bought improved utensils to use in their home and
on the farm. They bought one of the two first cooking stoves
that were brought from Madison. Also one of the first
bureaus, bedsteads, tables and chairs of various shapes and
sizes.
Their library was very small at first, but was gradually
increased, as occasion demanded. A few law books were
necessary, and to these a book of history or biography was
occasionally added; and besides they had the Bible and the
hymns of Isaac Watts, each of which is a library in itself.
Isaac Watts was a favorite poet with some of the pioneers,
and they read or sang his hymns with pleasure and enthusiasm.
The first newspapers for the two political parties in Indiana were the State Sentinel for the Democrats and the Indiana Journal, later the Indianapolis Journal, for the Whigs.
Both papers were published in Indianapolis and both were
read with much interest; for the pioneers were patriotic and
political.
Tunis Quick was a Whig until the Republican party was
founded, when he became a member of that party. But he
was never a bitter partisan and always treated his opponents
with courtesy. He was always interested in public affairs,
and was often asked to write wills, settle estates and be
guardian for orphan children; in all of which he was honest,
capable and trustworthy, winning the respect and gratitude
of the interested parties.
At that time there was a probate court "for proving the
genuineness and validity of wills, their registry and such
other proceedings as the law prescribed, preliminary to the
execution of the will by the executor." For this court there
was a judge called "a judge of probate", or "probate judge".
This office was satisfactorily filled for six years by Tunis
Quick.
He was also a member of the state legislature for two
terms. Some of his letters, written to his wife during that
time, in 1840, '41 and '42, are still cherished by members of
his family. These letters are written in a firm, plain hand,
and in the dignified style of a gentleman of the old school,
reminding one of the letters of George Washington. He addresses his wife in most endearing terms, and sends messages
to each of his children, counselling them to be obedient to
their mother. He shows the most tender concern for the
entire family, including the parents of his wife, who were
members of his household.
He mentions the business of the legislature as "necessary
work for the good of our country", involving some hardships
and sacrifices, and especially the absence from home, adding
that he does not wish to make such a sacrifice again. He is
determined, however, to do his duty to the best of his ability
while there, and speaks of his colleagues with respect and
admiration.
He was much interested in having the railroad built from
Madison to Indianapolis, as he was tired of riding forty miles
on horseback, through the mud, from his home to Indianapolis; and hauling grain and goods with a four-horse team,
back and forth from his Bartholomew county home to Madison and Lawrenceburg. Some members of the legislature
very bitterly opposed building the railroad, and declared that
it would never pay expenses; but the "ayes had it", to their
great satisfaction, and inexpressible benefit to their posterity.
The characters of such men as Judge Quick were invaluable during the pioneer work of the county and state. One
who knew him well said: "Judge Quick had his full share
of the pleasures, responsibilities and hardships of pioneer
life, did his whole duty as a citizen ; and as much as any other
man in developing the county from its primitive state to its
present condition." To this was added by another admirer:
"His courage, activity, intelligence and uprightness have
never been questioned." His wife was a true helpmate, and
in every way worthy of such a husband. They lived happily
together for more than sixty years on the farm which was
bought at the "land sale" at Brookville, in 1820.
They had eleven children, eight of whom lived to maturity.
It was one of Judge Quick's ambitions to give to each one of
these children "a quarter section" of good land, which he accomplished, besides accumulating some other property. One
farm of more than eighty acres, which he owned, is now all
inside the corporation of Columbus, and a part of it is known
as "Quick Heirs Addition."
But the accumulation of property was not the chief aim
of Judge Quick and his wife. They lived honest, industrious,
Christian lives, both being members of the Baptist church.
Theirs was a successful life in the truest sense, and they
"entered into rest" full of years and honors, and affectionately
cherished in memory.
The Quick Family In Americas
Burke's Landed Gentry of England (Petersburg, Va.,
public library) states that the Quick family came from Holland to England in the year 1445, having been forced to leave
Holland during one of the religious wars. They were people
of some prominence and wealth, acquired land in England,
and later the head of the family was knighted as Sir John
Quick. The estate is at St. Cyrus or St. Ives, Cornwall. The
family crest is given in Burke. The head of the family has
not always been named John ; presumably the oldest son named
John died and a younger son inherited the title and estates,
but Burke gives Sir John Quick as the head of the family at
the time his book was published. Several of the younger
sons of the succeeding generations rose to prominence, one
of them being Quick who was appointed by the
crown as governor of Tunis, Africa, and who named one of
his sons Tunis Quick. Tunis Quick, whose grandfather was
the head of the estate in England, being a younger son, decided to emigrate to America about 1700, and was the head
of our American family.
Between the above Tunis Quick and Tunis Quick of Martinsburg, W. Va., are the names of Morgan, John, James,
Samuel and Charles. Tunis Quick landed in New York, and
either he or his descendants went to New Jersey and thence
to Virginia. There is a monument to Samuel Quick in New
Jersey, erected in memory of his having rescued the community from the Indians.
Probably the first record of the Quicks in Virginia is to
be found in Stafford courthouse, Stafford county, Virginia.
In the earlier days Stafford county embraced all the country
west of the Potomac river and included Berkley county, Virginia, now West Virginia. The records in Stafford show the
family to have been among the first families and the records
in Berkley county at Martinsburg run back to the first records
of the county.
The records at Martinsburg, Berkley county, show several
deeds and leases made, one being a deed for 383 acres of land
from Lord Fairfax. Another was a lease of land from Tunis
a By Spencer Records Quick, aged 92, 1864 N. Pennsylvania St., Indianapolis, Ind. July, 1920.
Quick to a Jacob Beller for 500 years for a certain number
of peppercorns per year. A more thorough search of the
records would probably divulge other valuable records. Tunis
Quick II and his wife Lenah had three sons, Tunis Quick III,
James Quick and Oakley Quick. Tunis Quick III married
Ruth Gorrell and James Quick married Hannah Gorrell. Do
not knoAV whom Oakley Quick married, but there is now living at Frankfort, Indiana, a Miss Oakley Quick, and in Madison county, Indiana, a Mr. Oakley Quick. Tunis and James
married sisters. Their father-in-law was a Gorrell, from
England and his father was Sir John Gorrell. The mother
of Ruth and Hannah Gorrell was a Hedges, a daughter of Sir
Charles Hedges^ who was secretary to Queen Anne, 1702.
Sons:
1. James Quick, born Martinsburg, Va., 1770, died Bartholomew
county, Ind., June 26, 1847.
First wife. Hannah Gorrell. Children: William, Tunis, Lenah
;ind James. William died unmarried. Tunis married Susanah Records. Lenah married Fergus Moore. James married Elizabeth Goodwin.
Third wife, Susannah Pancake McConnell. Children: Samuel,
Agnes, Elizabeth and Martin. Samuel married Margaret Gonse, no
heirs. Agnes married Daniel Lambert; children, Thoimis, Elizabeth,
Samuel and Alice. Elizabeth married Reuben Hayworth, no heirs.
Martin married Matilda Owens, no heirs.
2. Tunis Quick III, born Martinsburg, Va., Mar. 13, 1797; died
Bartholomew county, Ind., Feb. 24, 1883. Married Susannah Records,
Sept. 3, 1823; died June 5, 1884.
Susannah Records' (wife of Tunis Quick) father was
Captain Spencer Records, appointed captain by the governor
of Virginia in 1791. He surveyed and laid out some of the
principal highways in Kentucky and was appointed captain
in 1793 by the governor of Kentucky. He was born in Sussex,
Delaware, lived in Pennsylvania and Kentucky and died in
Indiana, aged 88, Feb. 17, 1850. His father was Capt. Josiah
Records, who first drove a wagon in the Revolutionary war
and was later made captain. Capt. Spencer Records' wife
was Elizabeth Elrod and her father and mother were John
Elrod and Mary , of Virginia. Sussanah Tully was
the wife of Capt. Josiah Records and the mother of Capt.
Spencer Records.
Children of Tunis Quick and Susannah Records: Smith William,
Morgan John, Harris, Spencer Records, James Hoagland, Tunis Gorrell, Josiah Tully, Hannah Gorrell, William Harrison, Samuel Tompkins, Rachel Nelson.
(1) Smith William died in infancy.
(2) Morgan John was born September 25, 1825, and died in 1913.
He married Isabel Hoskinson, who died in 1918. Celebrated their 66th
wedding anniversary Sept., 1910. Children: Tunis, Hannah, Hugh
Samuel, John Spencer, Belle, Ezra, Morgan Gorrell, Kate and Lizzie.
It was the request of Hannah Gorrell, the wife of James
Quick, that the name of Gorrell should never go out of the
Quick family. At the present time there is Tunis Gorrell
Quick, of Columbus, Indiana, and Morgan Gorrell Quick, son
of Morgan John Quick, a Baptist minister of Jersey City,
New Jersey.
The name Tunis should never go out of the family after
all these years.
(3) Harris died in infancy.
(4) Spencer Records Quick, born July 26, 1828; wife, Katherine
Madora Hauser, born April 21, 1831; married April 10, 1860. Died
Sept. 17, 1889.
Katharine Madora Hauser's father was Jacob Hauser of
North Carolina (Salem). His parents were Abraham Hauser
and Mary Magdalene Strupe, both of Salem, North Carolina.
His father was Martin Hauser born in 1696, in Mumpolgard,
Switzerland; died in 1761. Katharine Madora Hauser's
mother was Nancy Sims of Tennessee, lived to be 96 years
old, whose parents were Joshua Sims of Tennessee and Agnes
Boaz, whose father was Bednigo Boaz. Joshua Sims' parents were William Sims and Mildred Russell, of Virginia.
Children of Spencer Records and Katherine Madora : Walter
Jacob, Mary Katharine, Austin Tunis and Homer Spencer.
Walter Jacob Quick, born May 24, 1861. Married Anna Foster.
Children: Anna Katharine, married Scott C. Bicknell, one child, Ernest P. Bicknell II. Walter's second wife, Mary A. Mitchell, children:
Walter Jacob Quick II, William Mitchell Quick and Burnet Bentley
Quick.
Mary Katharine Quick, born Jan. 28, 1865. Married Harry Kentley Burnet of Vincennes, Dec. 25, 1889. Harry Burnet's father and
mother were Stephen Burnet and Laura Bentley of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
Austin Tunis Quick, born Sept. 24, 1863. Married Alice May Hess
Dec. 28, 1887. Children: Austin Tunis Quick II (see below), Alice
May Hess is a daughter of Dr. John Henry Hess, born in Lewisburg,
W. Va., Dec. 4, 18�, died in May, 1888. His father was William
Henry Hess, of Lewisburg, Greenbrier Co., Va. (W. Va.). His father
was Jacob Hess of Martinsburg, Berkley county, Va. (W. Va.) and
witnessed deeds for Tunis Quick in 1780. Dr. John Hess' mother was
Elizabeth Jamison and her mother was a Dyke. Alice May Hess'
mother was Martha Donnelly, born in Lewisburg, Greenbrier county,
Va. Her father and mother were Charles Donnelly and Cynthia Williams. Charles Donnelly's father and mother were James Donnelly and
Rachel Blake. Cynthia Williams' father and mother were Capt. John
T. Williams and Martha McMillian. James Donnelly's father and
mother were Col. Andrew Donnelly and Mary Van Bibber. The Don-
nelly name is French and was d'Annelly. See the records of King
George countyhouse, Va.
Austin Tunis Quick II, born March 8, 1889. Wife, Victoria Kinnier. Married Oct. 22, 1918. Children: Austin Tunis Quick III, born
Sept. 27, 1914; William Kinnier Quick, born Nov. 8, 1917.
Homer Spencer Quick, born Jan. 29, 1869, married Emma King,
whose father was George King of Columbus, Ind. Children: Mary
Margaret Quick, born Nov. 16, 1891. Husband, John D. Culp. Married August 23, 1917. Children: Virginia Margaret Quick, born Dec.
8, 1919; Spencer Spurgeon Quick, born April 30, 1896. Wife, Alyda
Robinson. Married Sept., 1918.
(5) James Hoagland Quick, born Nov. 1, 1830; died Dec. 15,
1899; married Ellen Van Schoyck, who died Dec. 31, 1908. Children:
George Washington, Evan Snead, William White, Lillian, married
H. A. Hughes of Columbus.
(6) Tunis Gorrell Quick, born Jan. 30, 1833; married Elizabeth
Cox, who died April 20, 1903. Children: Mary Alice, married Charles
Hege. She died June 10th, 1910. Kate, died May 12, 1880.
(7) Josiah Tully Quick, born Aug. 7, 1835; died Dec. 15, 1899.
Married Melissa Jones. He served in the Civil war, Co. H, 12th Ind.
infantry, from 1861 to 1866. Children: Laura, Western, Edgar, Ella,
Elizabeth, Frank, Oscar and Cordelia.
(8) Hannah Gorrell Quick, born Feb. 16, 1838, unmarried. She
heired Judge Quick's home and has always lived there. This home
has been in the family since 1819 and there has never been a deed or
a mortgage on the land since it was deeded to Tunis Quick by the
government. It bears the name "Heartsease."
(9) William Harrison died in infancy.
(10) Samuel Thomkins Quick, born Oct. 14, 1843; married Elizabeth Dodds, daughter of Dr. Dodds of Bloomington, Ind. Children:
Louis, Mary, Ritchie and Ralph, twins, Susan and Anne twins.
(11) Rachel Nelson Quick, born Dec. 19, 1847, married Samuel D.
Buttz. Children: Mabel, born at Columbus, married Willis Gorrell,
whose father, William Gorrell, was a cousin of Judge Tunis Quick.
Mabel's children are Paul, Glen, Ralph, Bertha and Louise.
Another branch of the family is recently mentioned in
the London Mail in a half column article which says that Sir
John Quick was born in Trevassa, near St. Ives, Cornwall,
England, April 14, 1852. He is a descendant of an old established family of landed proprietors. The family went to
Australia, where by hard work and much study John obtained
the degree of Doctor of Law, became a member of the house
of representatives, the author of several standard works
among them being The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth, For his work he was knighted.
This Sir John Quick is the son of a younger set of the original
Sir John Quick.
James Quick, desiring to see the great west, moved near
Circleville, 0., on the Scioto river and remained there a few
years, then went down the river to the Ohio and thence to
Madison, Indiana, in 1817. His son Tunis, in company with
Isaac Pancake, with their guns and ammunition and knapsacks, started out to explore the country and find a good farming location. They followed Indian trails, traveling in a
northwesterly direction over the route that afterwards became
the Madison and Indianapolis state road. They passed
through what was later known as the Hawpatch in Bartholomew county, they went as far north as Indianapolis, then returned to the Hawpatch and took a squatters right to 160
acres of land, built a cabin and commenced "a clearing" to
plant in the coming spring. They then returned to Madison
and in the early spring assisted James Quick and family to
move to the new cabin which was destined to be their permanent home.
Quite a few families arrived this year (1819) and the
people went for miles to assist each other in rolling logs to
clear the ground and build their meager homes.
William Chapman built the first house in the county seat.
Jacob Hauser and Joseph Lochenour, from North Carolina,
and Tunis Quick, helped him with the building in 1820 or
1821. There was quite an increase in the population of the
county. The land in this part of the state came into market
by the government and was sold at Brookville, Indiana.
James and Tunis Quick bought their 160 acres at this time.
It has been owned and occupied continuously by them and
their descendants without the title going out of the family
and not a mortgage, judgment or lien of any kind against it.
It is a rare occurrence that a farm is owned and occupied
with a clear title for one hundred years by the same family.
Tunis Quick was made justice of the peace of Flatrock
township and served for several years in that capacity. Later
he was elected representative to the legislature for Bartholomew and Brown counties. Later still, he served for many
years as judge of the county court. Probably he settled
more estates than any man in that county at the time and
was known as an able jurist. He owned a good library for
that early day and was widely read to the degree of being a
student.
He gave the ground and was instrumental in having the
township build a school house with regular school sessions.
His house was the center of the community and he took an
interest in the welfare of everyone. He pulled their teeth,
settled their disputes, performed their marriages. He annually brought into his family a tailor and shoemaker who
made and repaired the family wardrobe.
His home was always open to the teacher who must board
around, not always finding comfortable quarters; the itinerant preacher who traveled through the country always
found a warm welcome and a place to relieve the burden of
his soul. Judge Quick would put his several boys on horseback and send them as runners through the country announcing there would be preaching at a certain time. The audience
was never failing as all seemed anxious to hear the word of
God. The lecturer, too, always had his interested audience
with his knowledge of the outer world, on spiritualism, hypnotism, ventriloquism and other isms of the day.
The politicians knew him far and wide and called at his
house frequently remaining over night. Henry Clay was one
of his special friends and was in the group of enthusiasts
that rode on horseback to the Tippecanoe Battle Ground in
the Harrison campaign in 1840. This same year Governor
Metcalf, Senator Crittenden and Henry Clay stopped at
Columbus and the Whigs from the surrounding country went
in to hear them speak. Metcalf and Crittenden could not
satisfy the crowd, who wanted to hear Clay who was at the
hotel resting. They sent a committee after him consisting
of William Herod and others, Herod being well acquainted
with Clay while serving in congress. Clay made a wonderful speech, but one fellow yelled "hurrah for Jackson". Clay
straightened himself up, looking a foot taller and in his
drastic manner said: "You say, 'Hurrah for Jackson'. I
say, 'Hurrah for my Country.' " The unlucky fellow was
the cause of the audience hearing one of the most eloquent,
scathing and tremendous speeches ever uttered by man. He
denounced Jackson and his administration. His words were
so burning, his audience so in sympathy and the excitement
so intense, that it was with difficulty that the Jackson man
was taken from the room by his friends. Clay spoke for half
an hour, and when he finished his admirers followed him to
the hotel cheering. The next morning the noted Kentuckians
started for their homes traveling in their private conveyances.
William Henry Harrison was nominated for president of
the United States and Tyler for vice-president. The country
was wild with its "Hurrah for Harrison and Reform" and
"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too".
This campaign was known as the hard cider campaign.
At that time Brown and Bartholomew counties elected state
senators and representatives together. The democratic
candidates were Maj. Tannehill for senator and Col. T. G.
Lee for representative. The Whigs were William Terrell, a
Methodist minister for senator and Tunis Quick for representative. It was a hot campaign, the candidates stumped
the two counties, traveling horseback. At that time the
majority of the people voted at the county seat. Tunis Quick
lived on the most public road leading to Columbus. He had
a large apple orchard and he had made a great many barrels
of cider to be given away on election day which was held on
the first Monday in August.
The emblems of the hard cider campaign were buckeye
log cabins, coon skin caps with a buckeye cane. The morning of the election he had several barrels of cider rolled out
to the large front gate at his home, the gate post being
decorated with log cabins and coon skins. The barrels were
so arranged that his little boys could draw the cider in tin
cups and give it to all who passed.
There were a great many barrels of cider taken to the
courthouse yard at Columbus. The heads were taken out of
the barrels and tin cups placed so that all could help them-
selves. Cider was free for all.
The Democrats in order to compete with the Whigs bought
barrels of corn whisky, which was very cheap at that time,
and placed it in the courthouse yard near the public well and
also placed a barrel of sugar, with the head knocked out and
tin cups near, so that all could help themselves and make
their own "grog". Towards evening a great many were
drunk. They said it was too much trouble to make and mix
their own "grog", so they poured the barrel of whiskey and
the barrel of sugar into the well and then "grog" was ready
on a large scale and was pumped freely for all.
I was twelve years old then and it was my first time to
see or know anything about an election for president. The
wild yelling, singing, fisticuff and fighting, the bloody noses
and faces, all made an impression on me never to be forgotten. Harrison and Tyler were elected president and vice-president, and my father to the legislature.
One of the first water mills in Bartholomew county for
grinding corn into meal for the pioneer's use, was on Flat
Rock river, about six miles north of Columbus near the present county bridge, leading from Columbus to Taylorsville
through the Hawpatch. This mill was a hand mill that some
pioneer had brought with him. It was hard work and slow
work to grind by hand. This man conceived the idea of
running it by water so that it might run day and night to
accommodate all who might come. Before this no one was
allowed to bring more than one bushel of corn at a time which
they generally carried in a sack on the shoulder. When they
arrived at the mill they had to await their turn and then
turn the mill by hand themselves. During the waiting time
they would visit, crack jokes, etc. Nathan Bass who was
quite a joker and wit, said "the mill was the most industrious
little thing that he ever saw, that when one grain was ground
it would jump right on to another."
There was a place where the water ran very swiftly. The
miller cut a small tree that was quite tall and with the help
of his neighbors placed it across Flatrock. He put one end in
the fork of a tree and the other end on a post that had a crotch
or fork similar to the one on the opposite side of the river.
In the center of the river were paddles or wings that ex-
tended into the water so that the current of the water would
roll the log and would keep it whirling over and over. On
the end of the pole next to his mill he put a pulley or large
wheel for a belt and from that to his mill, so the rolling of
the pole by the water would run his mill day and night if
necessary. With this modern improvement customers did
not have to wait so long for their meal. This crude water
power was the forerunner of a dam being built across the
river near this point and a flour-mill, woolen factory and
saw-mill located here. This became quite a little manufacturing center at one time, a village of about three hundred
people but when the railroad came the factories were all
moved to Columbus near the station. So the village soon
became deserted.
The community changed rapidly. Many country schools
of fifty to sixty pupils are entirely out of existence. The
land has been bought by the wealthy men and converted into
large farms. The children now attend some district center
or go to town to school. The timber has been nearly all cut
away, the fields are large and cultivated by machinery � they
produce more to the acre now than they did fifty years ago,
and it is more easily cultivated as the stumps and roots are
all gone; the country is all in cultivation and produces three
times as much as it did, with less labor. The land now is
selling for $200 or $250 per acre. When I first recollect it
sold from $2 to $10. My father bought a farm of 100 acres
for $10 per acre amounting to $1,000. He also bought the
first farm that sold for $50 per acre, one hundred acres for
$5,000. Francis J. Crump who was the wealthiest man at
that time in the county, owned more land than any one else,
said to my father "My God, Judge, what do you mean by
paying such a price for farm land, you nor I will never see
it worth any more". They both lived to see it sell for $100
per acre. My father's home place of 160 acres bought at the
government sale in 1821 cost $1.25 an acre. It is still in the
Quick name. Father deeded it to my oldest sister Hannah
Quick who never married and is now eighty-two years old.
At present it is worth $250 per acre. I have lived to see the
price of land go from $5 to $250 per acre. Then two-thirds
of it was in timber, now vast fields of golden grain abound.
Formerly there was a family of ten to fifteen children
on every 40 to 160 acres. It was an old saying "that the
more children the richer the farmer grew", the more land
he could clear and the more he could cultivate without hiring
help. The size of the families was the cause of such large
schools all through the country. We only had three or four
months of school a year. We had no school funds. Each
patron would subscribe as many pupils as he thought he
could spare and would pay for that many. In addition to
that he had to furnish, cut and deliver a half cord of wood to
the school house for each scholar. The teacher collected his
own money from the patrons. He boarded around among
the families � so long for each pupil. He carried his dinner
with him.
Some times we would have a summer school of a few
months taught by a lady or some student who wanted to make
expenses. At such times the small children would attend
the school. Our school books were the elementary spelling
book, that had from the A, B, C's to the grammar, Talbot's
Arithmetic,, the English Reader, the Testament and the Lives
of Our Great Men, Washington, Marion, Benjamin Franklin,
Daniel Boone, David Crockett and others. Our spelling,
reading and grammar we got from the spelling book. I have
known children to go to school three months with no book
but the alphabet and their spelling lesson pasted on a paddle
made of a shingle or piece of board. When it would become
soiled so that they could not use it they would have another
one pasted over it. Many of our best business men, bankers,
jurists and judges only attended school six months at a time,
yet they were very successful, some even becoming millionaires and many accumulating their thousands, men who could
scarcely write a legible hand.
When I was a boy there were three brothers by the name
of Thayer who came to our country from the east. They
were called Yankees. Each bought some cheap land, Joseph
on a small creek, called Tuft creek, from the fact that it ran
through a low swampy country and was miry so that cattle
could only cross it in certain places. He made his living
principally by hunting, trapping and making salaratus by
burning a certain kind of timber and using the ashes, and
selling it to the housewives to raise the bread in place of soda.
He dressed or tanned deer and other skins such as otter,
coon, mink or any furbearing animal. He also hunted the
wild bees, cutting the trees to get the bees and honey to sell
and use. He found a bee tree on the Drake farm. It was
a large fine oak tree. The bees were in a large limb near
the top. He went to see Mr Drake about cutting the tree.
Drake said, "No, it is a fine tree, I want it to make boards
when I build a barn, and I'm not able to build for a few
years. If you can get the bees without cutting the tree down
you are welcome to them." He went away and Drake thought
no more about it. Some months afterward, while squirrel
hunting in that part of his timber, Drake saw the tree
ruined by being bored full of holes and wooden pins driven
in from bottom to top of the tree. He had bored a hole about
three feet from the ground, put a long heavy pin in it, gotten
on it and bored another and so on until he reached the limb
that held the bees. This he went out on, sawed the outer
end off, then went back to the body of the tree, fastened
a rope around the limb and tied it to a pin, then sawed the
limb off and let it down with the rope. Mr. Drake said he
could not say anything to Thayer, as he had told him he
could have the bees if he would not cut down the tree. All
he did was blame himself.
Thayer came by father's once in November. It had been
raining for two or three days. He had been to the east fork
of White river, trapping and hunting. He led a small donkey
loaded with traps and skins. I saw him coming up the road.
I told him that a coon lived in one of the top limbs of a large
black walnut tree just a little way back of the barn. I told
him to put his donkey in the straw shed where he would be
in the dry and could eat straw. Then I showed him a black
walnut tree that was about three and a half feet in diameter
and forty feet to the first limb. I said, "I think the coon
lives in the hole in that largest limb." After he examined
the tree he said that it had been climbing up and down and
showed me the scratches. A hackberry tree grew some eight
feet from the walnut and was very tall. Thayer took off
his outer coat, put his little axe in his belt and climbed the
hackberry. He cut off the very top and then trimmed the
limbs off down to and opposite the large branch of the walnut tree. When he could push the hackberry over on the
walnut, he took his belt and fastened it there. He walked
over on it to the walnut and out on the limb to the hole,
where he knelt and pushed his axe handle into it saying,
"Cooney here?" Then he cut a larger hole in the limb, killed
the coon with the axe, and threw it down, came down as he
went up, put on his coat, picked up the coon and was ready
to go, but as wet as water could make him. I took him to
the house for something to eat, but he would not go in because his clothes smelled too badly of musk rats and skins.
However, I took him to the kitchen where the maid gave him
a hot cup of coffee and let him warm, for which he thanked
me many times for years.
His brother, Charles Thayer, bought a small tract of land
and commenced clearing it after building a cabin home and
covering it with bark from dead trees. He climbed the trees
and cut the top out, then as he came down he cut all the
limbs off. He said that was easier than to cut the trees down
and have the bodies of the tree to burn. Burning the limbs
around the tree would kill the tree and it was no more in the
way than the stump would be. He finally concluded that it
was easier to deaden the trees by chopping around them in
June when the sap was up. When dead they could easily
he burnt up. He never made a success as he was too lazy
to work or hunt except when compelled to. The other
brother, Ira, got forty acres of land on Haw creek, built a
little corn cracker mill, also a saw-mill and made a fair living. He had but little education, was a great abolitionist
and would try to make abolition speeches. For a joke my
father had him elected justice of the peace for Flatrock township to defeat a man by the name of Hege who boasted that
he had married into the McQueen family which was a royal
family and they could control the vote of the township ; that
no one could beat him but Judge Quick for that office. Father
spent a couple of days in the township, and elected Thayer.
He gave bond, took the office and a man from near Hope in
Hawcreek township was the first to have a suit in Thayer's
court. His name was Calvin Bloom. When he came up for
trial he saw that Thayer did not know how to try a case.
Bloom got mad, called Thayer a fool and said he would give
him a dollar to resign his office. Thayer took the dollar and
resigned.
Joseph Thayer, the hunter and trapper, made more money
and a better living than either of his brothers. He had a
good farm and raised a large family. He learned how to
dress fur pelts, also the deer pelt for gloves and whang
leather for shoe strings and belts. I bought of him two
very fine otter skins nicely dressed for my wife to have her
first set of furs, and when they were made up they w y ere
very beautiful. The trapping and hunting of the fur-bearing
animals was profitable in those days, and it was also necessary in order to protect the corn crops, as the raccoons, opossums and squiirels were very numerous. As many as 70 or
80 were killed in a day.
The wild turkeys were also numerous, the deer would eat
the corn at any stage of its growth to maturity. The raccoons and opossums infested the corn fields by night, breaking down the stalks and eating the roasting ears, or leaving
it to go to waste. There was something to destroy the corn
crop from the time it was planted until it was matured and
in the crib. The crow and the chipmunk would pull it up
when it began to come up, to get the grain, the muskrat
would cut it down at any stage where it was near the water,
so that eternal vigilance was necessary on the part of the
farmer. His children and their dogs were continuously on
the outlook for vermin, in order to have plenty of meal for
their johnny cakes, corn dodgers and to feed their hogs for
meat or bacon for the coming season. They gathered their
corn by pulling the ear off the stalk, hauling and piling
under sheds, then husking at their leisure. They saved the
husks for feed for the cows. Poorer farmers who did not
have sheds would put the corn in a large pile, make a corn
shucking by inviting all the neighbors to come at night and
help. They would furnish them some whiskey to drink and
after the corn was husked give them their suppers and a
dance.
In the fall and winter the farmer and his boys would
have their turn. Then the raccoons paid for their pilfering
with their pelts. Snares, dead falls and steel traps were set
about the corn fields and in places where they frequented
such as bayous and marshes, where frogs abounded which
were their natural food. In this way many coons and fur-
bearing animals were caught.
When the men and boys wanted a night of sport they
went coon hunting. A number would get together, some with
axes, others to carry the old fashioned tin lantern, or torches
made of hickory bark, which could be replenished at any
old shell bark hickory tree. All the coon dogs, always including the lop-eared hounds, followed. They would start
soon after dark and go along the creeks, marshes or pawpaw
thickets, and when the dogs would strike a trail music would
begin. Then the hunters would rush through the woods over
logs through the brush or briers over the fences aiming to
keep within hearing distance of the dogs. When they ran
the raccoon to ground or up a tree all would make a rush
crying, "They have him treed." If the tree was not too large
or valuable the axes were plied at once. When the tree was
about ready to fall the members of the party except an axe
man and one torch man would scatter well out of the reach
of the falling tree and hold the dogs until the tree fell to
the ground. Then the dogs would rush in and make short
work of the coon. The party would move on till the dogs
struck another coon trail or treed a possum in a bush. A
damp foggy night was best as the scent of the animal was
more perceptible and more animals were out on the trail so
that many fine coon pelts would be secured besides those
of a few possums thrown in for good measure. The skins
were taken off at once and the next day they were carefully
cleaned and stretched and hung or tacked against the cabin
to dry.
There are always some funny incidents happen with all
such hunting parties. I recollect that once on a hunt we
had a man with us who was slow of speech and stammered.
The dogs treed a coon up a small dead elm in a corn field.
He said, "It will be hard to cut and I will climb it and shake
the raccoon out." He proceeded to climb, at once, with the
aid of the men boosting him until he could reach the first
limb. He got up quite a ways when he caught hold of a
dead limb that broke. He fell to the ground, immediately
the dogs piled onto him and pulled at him as though they
would tear him to pieces. He hollered, "Gi-gi-git out � I'm
n-n-no rah-coon," and the wit of our crowd was a Pennsylvania Dutchman who roared out laughing. Someone said,
"What's the matter, Charlie?" "Why, that fool can't say
coon without putting rah to it when he is being half killed."
Our next catch was a fine, large, fat opossum which Charlie proposed to eat, building a fire to roast it. He went home,
which was not far, and got some bread, as his wife had baked
a brick oven full that day. One of the boys went with him
and carried a torch. We soon had a fine fire and the opossum
roasting near it. Presently Charlie and his torch-bearer came
with large loaves of bread and two apple pies � we all gave
him three cheers. We sat around the fire and told hunting
experiences and jokes. When the opossum was done we
had a feast not forgotten soon. All gave Charlie's wife a
vote of thanks for her bread and pie and passed a resolution: "Resolved, that Mrs. Charlie Bruner was the best bake in the township." After which we adjourned for the night
and plodded our weary way homeward.
The first railroad was built in this state from Madison
to Indianapolis via Vernon, Columbus, Edinburg and Franklin. When it was completed as far as Columbus, there was
one train a day each way. Our roads through the state were
unimproved and principally through the woods without
bridges across any of the water courses. My mother was
very sick and my father wanted Dr. Todd from Vernon.
There were no telephones, telegraph or daily mail. The
quickest, best and only way was to send someone on horseback for the doctor � a distance of twenty-five miles. It was
ten o'clock at night when father called me, saying, "Get up
and get ready as soon as you can, you must go to Vernon
for the doctor." He then called my older brother and told
him to go and get Jock saddled and bring him out for me
to ride, he being the best traveling horse we had. When I
was ready to start, father said, "Don't spare the horse, you
must get there by six in the morning. Go to Dr. Todd's home
and, tell him to make the morning train at eight a. m. I will
meet him at Columbus. After you have done that take your
horse to the livery barn, water and feed him, then get your
breakfast. Ask the landlord for a bed and tell him to call
you in four hours, then you start home and give the horse
his time."
My commission filled to the letter, by ten o'clock I was
on the way home. After riding some distance I heard my
name called. On looking down the stream I saw a man with
a bucket. I asked what he wanted. He said, "Come take
dinner with me." I was tired and hungry, so quickly replied, "Alright." I rode down into the woods a short distance
to a little old log cabin, with a mud and stick chimney and
puncheon floor. Here my friend introduced me to his wife.
He told her I had come to dinner with him. She said, "Wood
Herod, you ought to be ashamed of yourself � you know that
we have nothing to eat but corn meal and the mussels you
have gathered." "That's all right," he said, "he will enjoy
them � you get things ready while I feed his horse." He
then went to his fathers corn crib, not far from there, and
got corn enough for the horse. His wife built the fire in
the fireplace and made corn bread and baked it in a skillet.
He fixed the fire to put the mussels on. We had a good dinner and I enjoyed my first mussels. As I was tired and hungry, the novelty of it also made it enjoyable. The menu was
corn dodgers, mussels on the half shell and water from the
creek for dessert. The furnishing of the cabin was unique
and home-made. The seats were wooden stools, the table was
boards laid across a couple of benches, the bedstead was
holes bored in the logs, a rail put in them, the other end in
a post at right angles and boards gathered from the driftwood laid on the rails and extending to the cracks between
the logs. There was a straw mattress on that. With a box
or two for their clothing, this constituted the furnishing of
the house. Mine host was only seventeen � his wife twenty-three. They had married against his father's will, so this
was the cause of their living where they were and the way
they were. His father, James Herod, was well to do, owned
a good farm and was sheriff of the county. The hostess had
no relatives in Indiana but a sister, who was her father-in-law's second wife, whom she called on at times. She finally
picked up courage and called on her father-in-law and told
him "that if he would help them some they could make a
living." He asked her how and she told him that she had
been to Columbus and found a house on the street near the
courthouse square that they could rent furnished. If he
would rent it for them, they could make a living keeping
boarders and giving meals. Woody could peel potatoes, wait
table, wash dishes and she could do the cooking and they
could make a good living. He consented. This was the beginning of quite a good hotel, the second in Columbus. They
continued in the hotel business all their lives, raised quite
a family of respectable children who acquired a good common school education, some of them married very well and
were good citizens.
Joseph Cox was a Pennsylvanian by birth, but at an early
period left the place of his nativity and settled in North Carolina, then later in Kentucky. He was one of the first comers
into the county of Bartholomew then part of a vast wilderness belonging to Delaware county. He came in 1818 when
he was about fifty-three years old. He followed the Indian
trail and made the first wagon road with his ox cart. He
built a shack on Haw creek about three miles from where
Columbus was afterwards located. He was a man of considerable worth and intelligence, active and energetic. His
wife was Mary and his children as follows: Thomas, William, Gideon, Peter, John, Jacob, Jesse, Joseph, Millie, James
and Elias. Thomas led a horse on which rode his mother
and two of the children. William walked beside the ox-team
with his father, Millie and Elias were on horseback a little
to the rear while the remainder of the children were in the
travel-stained, dust-covered wagon. Joseph Cox was armed
with a gun and the older boys carried axes. They halted on
the bank of the creek and took a survey of the place. The
children peeped from the wagon and later tumbled out, two
of them engaged in a wrestling match. Mary left the wagon,
being solicitous about Millie and Elias. Cox said, "Well,
Mary, we have traveled a long way since we left Carolina
and Virginia, and we have seen all kinds of country, but I
tell you, I haven't seen any country in all this time that I
like as well as this around here. I don't think that we will
find a place that is any better to settle than right here. What
do you think?" "Well, if you are a mind to stop here, I am
willing." "I was just thinking as we were riding along here
that this is the land that flows with milk and honey. The
hunting and the trapping ought to be mighty good here and
we can soon clear a field." "You are right, Mary, the mountains of old Virginia are pretty enough to look at, but this
land along this valley is a better place to get a living." "Yes,
Joseph, God will bless us here and other settlers will soon be
coming along this wagon track that we have cleared out. I
allow this will be a good place to bring up our children; you
know we have a fair sized family, Joseph, and we want to
do the best we can for them." "Yes, Mary, that's so and
they are all girls but ten. We are the first here, but others
will come. About our graves in this county, cities and towns
will spring up and crowd the farms that we are to clear. In
the generations yet to come, some may be curious to know
who was the first white woman that came into this land
which has upon it the smile of the Lord. Then, people will
be happy to know that your name was Mary and that a
woman bearing that name was their Pioneer Mother."
The following letters are printed here, not for any historical information they may contain, but for the flavor of
the time:
Indianapolis, Dec. 18th, A. D. 1841.
Most affectionate and loving companion :
I now take my pen in hand to inform you that I am in good health
at present. Hoping that these few lines may find you enjoying your
health much better than when I left home. I have had much uneasiness for you but through the mercies of an allwise Creator I hope to
hear of your recovering your health together with your family enjoying peace and satisfaction or at least so much so as possible. I
have taken boarding at Mr. Lingenfelter's the same place that I was
last winter. I should have written sooner but the mail has not left
here for Columbus since I came on account of bad road. The members are all in health at this time. I expect to come to see you next
Saturday no providential accident occurring, when I hope I shall find
you with your family enjoying the blessings of life. I wish you to
spare no pains nor money for the recovery of your health and satisfaction. The time of our meeting I hope is not far distant when we
shall have the pleasure of conversing with each other.
Yours most affectionately,
Tunis Quick.
N. B. My sons, I would just say to you that it is the sincere
wish and desire of your affectionate father that you obey your mother
in all things without murmuring in the least as she has been very low.
I wish you not to fret or disobey her in any manner whatever, attend
on her attentively, spare no pains and you shall be rewarded. Attend to keeping good fires. Attend to feeding all stock and watering
in due time. I would just say to my little daughter that I wish you
to behave very pretty and mind your mother and grandmother and
you shall be called the prettiest girl in town. My sons, I wish you
to have in mind what is above written so that you may have the
praise of all that know you.
Yours affectionately,
Susannah Quick. Tunis Quick.
======================================
House of Representatives,
Indianapolis, Jan. 10, A. D. 1842.
My dear and affectionate companion :
I again take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at this
time and hope when these few lines come to hand they will find you
with yours and mine in health. I have not received any letter from
you since I was at home. I heard from you by Mr. J. F. Jones and
by him sent you a letter but have not as yet received any answer. The
mail had missed coming for three days but came in this morning, but
nothing for me from my beloved of all. There is some sickness here,
mostly bad colds. There is at this time some five or six of the members confined to their rooms. Hugh Barnes departed this life yesterday morning, age sixty-nine years. He w;is the sergeant at arms in
our House. There was a resolution adopted that the legislatures should
wear crape on the left arm ten days in honor of that venerable old
man and also that the members of both houses meet at the place where
the corpse lay and march in double file after the corpse to the Methodist church, where the Rev. Mr. Good preached his funeral. I went
in that procession and then went to the place of interment to pay
the last respects. George Boon also departed this life last night, age
fifty-seven years, who has been eleven years a representative, a man
much respected. It is supposed that his friends will take him home
which is about one hundred miles. A Mr. Hannah is at this time not
expected to live. Those men were all complaining when they came
here and have possibly exposed themselves too much for their situation, sitting in a warm room and then going out without their overcoats on, which I believe to be very injurious to health. I have been
very careful myself and have enjoyed as good health if not the best
health I have for several winters. I am getting quite fleshy. I can't
tell you when I will be at home. I expect the House will not adjourn
before the 8th of February, but I don't think that I can stay here
until then without coming to see you once in the time but if business
is so that I can't come you must all take the will for the deed. I
should be very glad to see you all but as it is I must attend to the
business of the country. In your next letter write how your father
and mother are and all the children and father and mother and the
neighbors. I should be glad to hear of their welfare and give my
respects to those who inquire after me and tell them that I send my
respects to them.
Affectionately,
Susannah Quick. Tunis Quick.
=======================================
Indianapolis, Jan. 13, A. D. 1842.
My dear wife:
I now am sitting in my room and thinking about her I love and
although I have nothing strange to inform you of yet if I could know
that you could even be as much delighted to read my poor dry letters
as I am to read those interesting communications I received from you
written with your own hand, I should be tempted to write every day.
My dear, I see from your letter that you have had a bad spell since
I left home. Oh, if I could have been with you to have administered
to your necessity it would have been a comfort to me to have the
satisfaction of waiting on you, as I expect you needed my assistance.
I hope when these few lines come to hand they will find you in better
health than when you wrote to me. I have had my health very well
since I left you. I wish you to take special care of yourself and if
you need anything at all that money would bring, I wish you to have
it gotten for your benefit and if you need a doctor send for him as
soon as possible, but I hope you will not need one. I hope for your
better health. I should be very glad to come home before we adjourn,
but the business is so pressing that I don't think I can come home
until we adjourn except your health gets worse than when you wrote
to me and I hope the Lord will bless you in your affliction. I hope
you will be as much reconciled as the nature of the case will permit.
Although we be at a distance at this time I hope it will not be long
until we shall have the pleasure of conversing with each other face
to face and not by letter. Tell my little daughter, Hannah, that her
Pop is well and wants to see her very much and Josiah, my sweet
little son, you must be a very good boy and obey your mother and Pap
will bring you and Hannah some candy. I think my son Gorrell will
be a good boy. My son, you must obey your mother and mind your
work. I don't think you will be bad. I want you to be a very smart
boy so that when I come home I can have your mother tell me how
good her little boy was while I was gone. Morgan, I wish you to
attend to business like a man and see that the horses, cattle, sheep,
calves, hogs are all attended to with food and water and attend to
all other things the best you can until I come home and don't impose
upon your little brothers and above all take care of your dear mother
and obey her in all her commands without murmuring and also your
grandparents and you, my sons, Spencer and James, I want you to
obey your mother in all she may be pleased to tell you to do. Do it
without any murmuring. Mind your work but be good boys. 1 shall
be at home before very long, say two weeks. Nancy, I want you to
be very smart and good so that when I see you that I may have the
pleasure of hearing that you have been a very good girl and I will
buy you and Hannah each a new frock, if you will be good girls. My
dear, it is now after ten o'clock and I have been up every night this
week until after this time. I shall have to close this letter as I want
to put it in the office very early in the morning before the mail leaves.
I would be glad if you would write to me once a week anyhow and
oftener if you think proper. When I have an opportunity to take
your letter and read it over it appears like some faint murmuring
conversation compared with that when we are in each other's embrace.
My dear, I sincerely crave your happiness and your special company
but as we are at this time at a distance I hope the Lord may bless
us severally as we need so that before long we may meet again.
Yours with very tender affection,
Susannah Quick. Tunis Quick.
N. B. Give my kindest love to your father and mother and mine,
also give my best regards to Milton and Mary Nading and all who
may inquire after me. With love.
Yours,
Tunis Quick.
=================================================
Indianapolis, Jan. 19, A. D. 1842.
Most affectionate and loving companion:
I now take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at
present, hoping that when these few lines come to hand they will find
you and ours in health. I received yours of the 11th inst., which
informed me that you were much better than when you wrote to me
last, which I was glad to hear that you were still mending. This was
a great satisfaction to me. I was at the postoffice late this evening,
but no letter. I did hope to get one but I was disappointed. I call
at the postoffice every day. I shall be glad to hear from you. It does
me a great deal of good to read your letters, knowing the confidence
you place in me and to think of conversing with each other by letter
it does me much good though we be at a distance from each other.
Yet when I read your loving letters it gives me a great deal of pleasure
hoping that ere long we shall embrace each other again and have
each other's troubles. I would fain hope that when these few lines
come to you they will find you up and at least up and going about the
house and your pretty little daughter Hannah by your side or fondling
on your knee. What a satisfaction this is, my sweet little daughter
and my companion, I hope to see you all in health the 31st day of
January, 1842. I shall start for home, I think, on Sunday, the 30th
inst. I want to see you and all very much. I hope the Lord will bless
you all and give you peace and health, and fortitude to you, my dear,
to bear up under your affliction so that you can say, "Thy will, Oh
Lord, and not mine be done," for we learn that all things work together
for them that love God. My dear, I should have come before now, if
I could have left my business, but it appears to me that my presence
was needed every day and is still needed but I think now that I never
will spend another winter in the legislature, but spend the rest of my
time at or about home where I can have the pleasure of my family
which is the greatest pleasure to me of any other way that I have ever
tried. You wrote to me that the children all behave very well which
pleases me. I hope they will continue to be good children and I believe they will and obey you, their tender mother. My sons, I want
you to attend to your work like little men. Mind and do your work
in good time and take care of all the creatures and don't have any
grumbling but mind your work night and morning and at all other
times when needed and above all mind and obey your mother and be
good boys. I shall soon be at home. I wish also to write you again
next week and after that I think I shall talk with you at home. You
told me that Amos Crane said that Russ had one hundred dollars for
you and you did not know whether to take it or not. Don't take any
money from any person, that is paper money, except it be on the State
Bank of Indiana. I wrote to Amos Crane concerning the money he
owes us and told him that I would receive it when I came home. Noah
Sims wrote to me saying that Russ had five hundred dollars for me
and he, Noah, wanted to borrow it for one year. I wrote to him that
he could not have it under any consideration. I don't want to loan
money to any person at all. I must now close my letter with all
tender affections to you and my loving and tender companion.
Tunis Quick.
N. B. Give my best respects to those who have inquired after me
and to father and mother in particular and all the relatives.
Susannah Quick. Tunis Quick.
Mr. Terrill has not been here.
1 These letters were without envelopes. All were sealed with a wafer,
postage was 10c and paid by the recipient. � M. O. B.
This website created January 30, 2014 by Sheryl McClure.
� Indiana American History and Genealogy Project
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