Morgan County History Center and Museum

12/07/2022

Martinsville Cookie Stroll

Martinsville Cookie Stroll

We encourage everyone to pick up a Cookie Passport ticket early - the event is almost always a complete sell-out - but here's why you might consider spending at least part of your Saturday in Martinsville on Dec. 10, even if you DON'T have a Cookie Passport.

10/24/2022

Today is National Bologna Day so let's revisit an earlier history post about how our ancestors took care of having meat on the table....literally.

Hog Butchering

This time of year reminds me of an activity of my youth. We usually did a hog butchering or hog killin’ about now. It was optimum to butcher when it was still cold to help keep the meat and aid in cooling out the carcass to allow it to be processed.
The early Morgan County settlers had a good supply of game here when they moved into this area but soon after they established shelters they often looked toward getting some livestock. A milk cow was important in providing the family with a supply of milk and some chickens would produce eggs and an occasional fryer when a hen reached the end of her egg productivity. The animal that really increased the settler’s larder was the hog. A hog could be in the smokehouse in about 6 months from birth. This of course would depend on the breed of pig and what they were eating but porcine are a very efficient item of livestock. First of all they will eat anything. They are also adept foragers. They can eat roots and acorns off of the forest floor, fallen fruit as well as kitchen scraps. You could keep them in a small pen and didn’t need to build a large and maintain a large amount of fencing. A sow could have 2 litters of pigs a year so a settler could keep a continuous supply of pork coming.
As we have discussed in our history posts previously, the earliest of production endeavors in this area was the processing and packing of pork in barrels which were loaded on to boats to travel down the White River to eventually end up in New Orleans. The individual settler usually butchered or processed his own pork. Sometimes more than one family would get together and butcher multiple hogs in a big butchering. Years ago during the Maple Syrup Festival at Rockville they would do a hog butchering at the fairgrounds to show people how it was done. The hog is an economical piece of livestock because just about everything on a hog can be used. The early settlers learned to maximize product so there was little or no waste.
I can remember on a brisk February Saturday we would go over to my uncle’s farm. He raised hogs. Uncle Maurice had the hog penned up and the day began. First a wood fire was built over a 55 gallon drum of water. The weapon of choice was usually a 22 rifle. I’m sorry for those of you who are squeamish but if you want bacon this is what has to be done. The next step is to “stick” the hog. A common phrase “bled like a stuck pig” is referring to the act of bleeding the animal. This is done by using a knife to cut the jugular vein. Then a good steamy bath is next. Hog hair is stiff and bristly so the hair has to be removed. Today many choose to skin the hog instead but we always scalded them. The hog is man handled into the barrel of hot water and then laid out on a table for the scraping. To make the scraping even easier burlap sacks were dunked in the hot water and laid over the hog to help loosen the hair. One of the photos with this article is the round utensil which is a hog scraper. We never used hog scrapers my dad and uncle just used knives. The hog is then hoisted up head down to drain. My uncle would hoist the hog and hang it from the rafters of the old chicken house. If a building rafter is not handy a tripod is often erected.
The next step is the disembowelment. We don’t need to go into detail here except to say that this step needs to be carefully executed to prevent nicking the bowel. Once the cavity is open the bowel is tied off to help keep things tidy. The organs such as the liver are removed and saved. Most usually the liver was scalded, sliced and fried for dinner that day. The entrails are then hauled off and buried. Now in the day of the settlers the intestines were often cleaned and used as casings for sausage. Most likely this job was left to the women folk. The carcass was left to hang and cool out completely. This is a reason that this was done in the winter because the hog can cool out quicker and also be free from flies.
Once the hog was cooled out it was portioned out for preserving.
Often the hog was quartered with the two shoulders and two hams to be smoked or cured. This would also be the case for the belly and bacon section. After refrigeration many portions could be left uncured and processed fresh but in the early days smoking or curing in some fashion was used to preserve the meat. The pork belly which is mostly fat was trimmed and cubed and added with other fat trimmings to cook down to make lard. This fat was cooked to liquefy and then the liquid fat was drained off. The remaining trimmings which consisted of the pork skin was then placed into a lard press (which I have also included a photo). This press was tightened down and the fat was squeezed out. What remained is called the “crackling”. These are the best pork rinds you will taste. These can be added to your cornbread batter and make cracklin’ cornbread….delicious. The liquid fat was poured in the metal cans “lard cans” and then it solidified into lard. My grandmas would have never thought about making a pie crust without using lard. It was the fat that was used in everything. Butter was precious and used as a condiment and the lard was used for cooking.
The hogs head was next. The brains were removed and used for the table. The eyes were removed and then the head was placed in a large pot and boiled. The meat was then removed from the head and this was used to make s***e meat or head cheese. This was mixture of the cooked meat, spices and sometimes corn meal was added. The dish scrapple is pretty much the same thing. One of my grandma’s made s***e and canned it and my other grandma liked to use the hog’s head to make her mincemeat.
The “Joints” of meat as the hams and shoulders were taken to the smoke house to hang and preserve. We didn’t have a smoke house so my dad was an avid fan of sugar curing. This too preserves the mean. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table and the wonderful smell of his sugar cure mix which contained black and red pepper, brown sugar and salt. He would cut the rind or skin off of the ham and slice down to the bone so he cut rub the cure in around the bone. He would then coat the outside of the joint all over with the cure. He would then wrap the join in newspaper and then wrap in muslin and sew it up and hang it outside in our “wood house” building. The salt would help remove the moisture from the meat and also inhibit bacteria growth. He would do the same with the bacon. These pieces would have for several weeks. He would then take them down and slice them up and in the modern day we would then put these packages in the freezer. Today there are preparations such a salt cure which also has nitrates to help in preservation. The thing to remember is when you took the meat down and unwrapped it there was often old on the outside. You trimmed off the mold. My dad said that this type of mold would not grow on spoiled meat. I am not sure if that is true but we have learned through science that mold can be our friend.
All the fresh meat trimmings were collected and with a hand crank meat grinder ground into sausage. My dad was a sausage fan so he carefully added pepper, salt, some brown sugar and sage to his mixture. He would take a small sample and fry it and taste it to check and see if he had it seasoned just right. Before my grandma had refrigeration she would fry up all the sausage patties and then pack them in stoneware crocks. She would then heat lard to liquefy and pour it over the sausage in the crock making a seal which would preserve the meat. As I mentioned prior, the intestines or “chitterlings” were used as casings where the sausage mixture was stuffed into. These sausages were often smoked for preserving. The German settlers brought this expertise and recipes over with them and we enjoy many varieties of sausages from their culture.
Let’s not forget about those “trotters” or pigs feet. They were boiled whole and then packed in a pickling liquid of vinegar, sugar and spices. You may turn up your nose but upper class born and raised Franklin D. Roosevelt was known to be a big fan and so am I. It was said that they used everything but the squeal when our ancestors butchered a hog. This delicious protein sustained our ancestors through many cold harsh Indiana winters. The next time you enjoy a sausage biscuit think about the importance that a hog meant to our pioneering ancestors.
Conner Prairie in Fishers is a great place to take the young ones to learn about all aspects of pioneer life here in Indiana. It is one of the preeminent living history museums in the country right here in Indiana. Also remember to visit the Morgan County Museum in Martinsville to see more exhibits that help tell our story.

10/24/2022

The October meeting of Morgan County History and Genealogy will meet this Thursday Oct. 27 at 7 PM at the Morgan County History Museum at 127 S. Main St. in Martinsville. All are welcome to come and enjoy a brief meeting and tour of the museum.

10/18/2022

The RFD and Rural Life
On October 15, 1896, the first Rural Free Delivery post offices were established in Indiana at Hartsville and Hope. The service delivered mail directly to rural residents and eliminated the need to pick up mail at distant post offices or pay for delivery. In the early days of Indiana and Morgan County the U.S. Mail was the main mode of communication to those who were not in your immediate neighborhood. This was especially true for those living out in the country away from town.
In the late 1800’s 65 percent of the American population lived in rural areas. In order to get any news these country folk had to travel into town on bad roads and often in poor weather. There were no telephones, radios or even newspaper deliveries so they were pretty much cut off from news and what was happening.
Rural mail delivery was actually spearheaded from here in Indiana. The Indiana Grange President Milton Trusler demanded that rural customers received the same mail delivery as those living in cities and towns. Congress was not anxious to act upon this demand as it was afraid that the country was simply too large for free rural delivery and feared it would be a financial disaster. Town merchants were against the idea because they felt it reduce the county dwellers weekly visits to town to buy goods and get the news.
Finally rural residents got an advocate on their side. It was Postmaster General John Wanamaker. Even though he was a proponent of rural free delivery it did not come to pass during his time in his position. Finally by 1896 the structure was in place to attempt the new service in test areas. Bartholomew County was the first in Indiana and one of the first in the nation to received rural free delivery. The towns of Hartsville and Hope began getting mail delivered on October 15, 1896.
These deliveries early deliveries were being made either with horse drawn wagons or on horseback to more remote areas. The rural mailman was revered by the rural community. He brought all news good and bad. He brought seed catalogs and packages and sometimes they even made “special deliveries” of goods from neighbor to neighbor. As modes of transportation evolved the mail man began using the automobile. Sometimes the roads didn’t evolve quite as quickly as the transport did. Even the Auburn Motor Co. in northern Indiana promoted one of their cars for the rural carriers. Newspapers began using the mail as part of their circulation so the rural people could receive not only local news but what was going on the world. Soon the postcard became a popular way of communicating. This was particularly so here in Morgan County. With the busy sanitarium business the various ones produced postcards that clients could mail back home during their stay. It was common place to take photos and have them produced into postcards. The mailman was held in high esteem because he was providing one of the most essential services.
Remember at this time roads were primitive, poorly maintained and many time virtually impassable many days out of the year. In these early days the mail was not delivered daily but once a week. This new service was known as RFD for Rural Free Delivery. I grew up in the country and until the address upgrade for 911 just a few years ago the address to my parents had always been a RR or rural route and a box number. I know one of the most anticipated mail deliveries when I was a kid was the day that the school class announcements went out. At that time my class in school at Paragon was divided into 2 classes. We anxiously awaited that mailman bringing us word as to which teacher we would have. We would then get on the phone to our friends to find out if we were in the same room.
At no time was the mail more important than during World War II. Families waited back home to hear from their soldiers and their letters and packages to that service man far away from home was treasured more than any gold. Today with today’s technology and communications our mailboxes are usually filled with junk mail or bills but there was a time the RFD was a line to the world outside for our Morgan County residents.
If you would like to view some great examples of postcards from early days there are two books compiled by Joanne Stuttgen and Curtis Tomak which are available. One is of Morgan County postcards and the other from Martinsville postcards. These books may be found at the Morgan County Museum, Walgreens and from Amazon.
If you enjoy these history posts be sure and like the Morgan County History Partnership page to get the latest news on old stuff….LOL

08/17/2022

Record year for Indiana farms receiving historic homestead award

The Morgan County entries are thanks to Patty Dow and all her hard work in helping contact the families and assistance with the Hoosier Homestead program here in Morgan County. Thank you Patty for all your efforts. See a great exhibit of the Morgan County farms in the Morgan County History Museum!

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 17, 2022) — Recognized for their families’ longstanding commitment to agriculture, 106 Indiana family farms were presented the Hoosier Homestead Award today at the Indiana State Fair from Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Bruce Kettle...

08/02/2022

With the Morgan County Fair underway I have been asked by some people a bit about the history of our county fair. I thought you would find this article in the 1950 Reporter on the history of the fair.

07/28/2022

I haven't done a history post for a couple of weeks as things are gearing up towards the county fair and then for the celebration of the county Bicentennial with the big party event at Old Town Waverly Park on Sept. 24. This post is not Morgan County History specific but historic in general.
When doing genealogy and investigating “where we come from” one of the many things we learn is not just family history but history itself. In just my short investigative search I have learned about early military events I had never heard of. This is because of the involvement of my ancestors in the King Philip’s War in 1675 and the Battle of Point Pleasant (prior to the Revolution) to name a few. My latest discovery is to learn about the persecution of the Quakers by the Puritans. Even though we like to think that our country was the place for religious tolerance but that is not the case. The Puritans began this campaign against the Quakers with laws beginning in 1656. One of the laws forbade ship captains from transporting Quakers to the colonies. The Puritans believed the Quakers as heretics. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony the punishment for a Quaker to set foot in the colony was death by hanging. Here are some other punishments on the books in the areas surrounding Salem and Ipswich:
Beginning in 1656, laws forbade any captain to land Quakers. Any individual of that sect was to be committed at once to the House of Correction, to be severely whipped on his or her entrance, and kept constantly at work, and none were suffered to speak with them.
The following year it was decreed that any Quaker arriving in the Colony should have one of his ears cut off.
For another offence, he should lose the other ear
Every Quaker woman should be severely whipped.
For a third offence, the tongue was to be bored through with a hot iron.
A sentence of death was ordered and executed in several cases at Boston.
A 1661 law ordered that “any wandering Quakers be apprehended, stripped naked from the middle upward, tied to cart’s-tayle and whipped thro the town.”
Quakers who persistently returned were to be branded with the letter R on the left shoulder.
Now remember that this is the same era and place where the witch trials occurred. I have ancestors who were accused of harboring and sympathizing with the Quakers as well as some ancestors accused and tried for being witches. I even have one ancestor who sat on the other side and served in the magistrate for the trials. It is striking to think that a group who felt “oppression” in another land would impose the same to another group in a new utopia. The moral of the story being: Not everyone learns from their life experiences. It should be our role in evolution to try and be cognitive of history and move forward for the betterment of all.
Interested in history? Be sure and visit the Merchants Building at the Morgan County Fair to check out the Morgan County Museum, the Morgan County Bicentennial and Morgan County History and Genealogy.

07/19/2022

Journey Indiana | 501 | Season 5 | Episode 1

Visit this link to the WTIU Journey Indiana program to see Kenny Hale and Darrell French featured at Old Town Waverly Park sharing the art of blacksmithing and tinsmithing.

Learn the art of smithing, discover unique pottery and meet "birdhouse man."

07/01/2022

Soldiers and Sailors Monument

We Hoosiers tend to take the monument for granted but do you know the real story about this historic monument honoring the soldiers who served in the early wars. Most appropriate on the July 4th weekend.

Text courtesy the Indiana Government Website
Recognized as one of the world's outstanding monuments, the structure has come to symbolize both the City of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. The Soldiers & Sailors Monument is Indiana's official memorial to the Hoosiers that served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Frontier Wars and the Spanish-American War. The monument sits in the center of the downtown circle of the capital city of Indianapolis known as Monument Circle. The memorial is the first of its kind to be dedicated to the common soldier.

The Limestone used for the monument is gray Oolitic limestone from the Romona quarries of Owen County. It stands 284 feet, 6 inches high, only 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty. It cost $598,318 in 1902.

The commission for the monument construction requested architects to submit design proposals. Of the seventy proposals turned in, two finalists were chosen. From those two, Bruno Schmitz of Berlin, Germany, received the appointment.

There are a number of art works either built into the Monument, or placed throughout the grounds. Bruno Schmitz brought with him Rudolf Schwarz. Schwarz was sculptor for the statuary groups "War" and "Peace", "The Dying Soldier", "The Homefront" and the four statues at the corners of the Monument that represents the Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, and Navy. The sculptor Austrian artist Rudolf Schwarz was brought to the U.S. in 1897 to carve the important War and Peace groupings. The dramatic sculptures were lifelike and breathtaking in detail; however, European vs. American life experience came into play when a military veteran onlooker remarked that Civil War soldiers, to a man were young and beardless. Schwarz had carved the images with beards according to his European experience. Because the human figures looked “too German”, Schwarz was asked to remove the facial hair.

The Monument is crowned with a statue of Victory, holding a sword in her right hand and a torch in her left. The memorial was added to the National Historic Register in 1973 and underwent a restoration in 2011. During the Christmas season the monument is decorated as an enormous Christmas tree. This annual city tradition, which became known as the "Circle of Lights", began in 1962. The tree lighting ceremony is held the day after Thanksgiving. The decoration of the monument uses 4,784 lights and 52 strands of garland put in place by volunteers from the local IBEW. More than 100,000 people attend the ceremony and the event is televised to an estimated 50,000 households.

06/30/2022

Hall of Fame Inductee John Vawter

John Vawter was a pioneer of Morgan County. Even though he was not born in the county he was instrumental in helping to settle and establish the area.

John Vawter, the son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Watts) Vawter, was born in Orange (now Madison) county, Virginia, January 8, 1782. He was married four times, the first time to Polly Smith on December 17, 1805. Polly Smith was born December 30, 1781; died July 19, 1825. Their children were Smith, Jane, and Emily. After the death of Polly S. Vawter, John Vawter married Jane Smith, a sister of Polly. She died October 4, 1826 leaving no children. Then John Vawter married Ruth Minton, who was born in January, 1817, and had three children, Marion, Mary and Allan. Ruth (Minton ) Vawter died September 2, 1850, and John Vawter married, October 17, 1850, Mrs Martha Pearce, by whom he had one child, Emma, who was born May 11, 1854, and killed by falling lumber November 13, 1859. Mrs Martha (McGannon) Pearce Vawter was born March 8, 1822; died January 21, 1892. "John Vawter was licensed as a Baptist preacher in 1804, and removed from Kentucky to Madison, Indiana, in 1807. He was the first magistrate of Madison, and was soon afterwards elected sheriff of Jefferson and Clark counties, and in 1810 was appointed U. S. Marshal for the state. He served as frontier ranger during the Indian campaign of 1811-13; was elected colonel of militia of Jennings county in 1817; founded Vernon, the county seat of Jennings county; laid out Vernon and gave every third lot to the town.. He was pastor of the Baptist church in Vernon from 1821-48, a member of the legislature from 1831-5, and in 1836 of the senate, where he was instrumental in securing the adoption of a policy of internal improvement by the state. He moved to Morgan county in 1848, and was instrumental in the organization of Morgantown. He presented a brick church to the Baptist congregation to the area.

He died August 17, 1862. He is buried in Old Baptist Church Cemetery in Morgan County.
You can read more about John Vawter from his own words at this link. https://www.vawterfamily.org/Bicknell/Bicknell%201-197.pdf his narrative begins on page 17 of the journal.

06/29/2022

Hall of Fame Inductee Jerry Sichting

Jerry Sichting was born November 29, 1956 in Martinsville. He attended Martinsville High School and graduated with the class of 1975. While playing for the Martinsville Artesians under Coach Sam Alford he led the Artesians to an IHSAA Sectional title. Steve Alford was so obsessed with Jerry growing up, he picked his #12 to wear. In fact Steve used to copy every move of Jerry’s. Jerry had an excellent senior season, leading his school to a 21–2 record and another IHSAA Sectional title. He averaged 21 points, while shooting 53 percent from the field and 83 percent at the line in three seasons and was chosen as a 1975 Indiana All-Star. The team toured Europe and Russia.

Jerry went on to play at Purdue boasting a 54.5 field goal percentage and 81.6 free throw percentage. He was named a First Team All-Big Ten selection his senior year, he currently holds the school career free-throw percentage record with a .867 accuracy. He also left Purdue with the school record for consecutive free throws made with 34, which wasn’t broken until three decades later by Robbie Hummel's 36.

During Jerry’s playing years from 1979 to 1990 he played primarily for the Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics. After leaving the court as a player Jerry served as a Boston Celtics analyst on radio broadcasts as well as pregame shows for Purdue. In 1995 he joined the Minnesota Timberwolves’ as scouting director as well as serving as an assistant coach. He continued his assistant coaching career at Marquette University, Golden State, Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and he even came back home to Martinsville to finish the 2012 season as head coach when Coach Wolf retired mid-season.

Jerry was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition to Steve Alford Jerry Sichting has been an inspiration to many an area basketball player. Jerry currently lives in Florida but rumor has it that he is considering moving back to Martinsville. Jerry and his wife are parents to 3 sons and one daughter.

06/28/2022

Hall of Fame Inductee William “Bill” Shields

William D. Shields was born June 24, 1939 in Hall to a long time area family.

Bill and his wife Jacki started a business out of their garage in 1975, and kept it growing until the company landed at its current location at 1000 Industrial Drive, Martinsville 1979, which was the start of
Martinsville Industrial Park.

FORM/TEC plastics began making their patented Silhouette Fairing System for motorcycles. This acrylic fairing was an immediate success, forever changing the motorcycle windscreen field. Using years of experience,
FORM/TEC expanded from forming acrylic parts (for all types of industry) and general forming of all
plastics, to include the forming of polycarbonate optically correct. Polycarbonate, the world’s strongest
optical plastic, is difficult to work with (to form optically correct) and the surface readily scratches. To
address both issues, FORM/TEC introduced their SHIELDS® line of optically formed polycarbonate,
protected with their exclusive SUPERCOAT™ hard-coat. The combination of strength and clarity with
abrasion and chemical resistance levels near that of glass make SHIELDS® windshields highly demanded.

SHIELDS® products are used in many industries from lightweight face shields to 3/4″ monolithic
windshields. SHIELDS® products can be found worldwide serving the needs to customers that demand optical quality, protection, innovation engineering, and satisfying customer service.

In addition to innovative business Bill was involved in various service organizations. He was a member of Rotary and held the office of president several times over the course of 27 years in the club. He was always instrumental in preparation of the Rotary float for the Fall Foliage Parade each year. The Fall Foliage now presents the William D. Shields award for an outstanding float by a service organization in his honor. At the time of his death he was still serving as Rotary president. Having a grandson with special needs Bill and his wife Jacki saw that Morgan County was in need of activities that could include the young people with special needs. He worked to help make the League of Miracles in Camby a reality. He was an avid supporter of county athletics as well as Special Olympics.
Bill Shields was awarded the Albert Merritt Award in 2003 for his community service to youth. Bill Shields passed away January 18, 2018 and is buried in Hall Cemetery.