1840 Journey to Logansport, Indiana Part 2

Mr. John Parsons's tour of Indiana in 1840 brought him to Logansport , Indiana in late June. After he had taken up lodging in the Mansion house he went to deliver his letters of introduction to one Mr. Pratt. Mr. Pratt was studying law in one of the first law offices in the down of a Mr. Fletcher.

Mr. Pratt was most interested in telling the contributions to Logansport of General Tipton. General Tipton as every school child knows gained his fame at the Battle of Tippecanoe. General Tipton worked very hard in Logansport to gain support for his petition to the state to preserve the Battle Ground at Tippecanoe and erect a monument to the men that fought there. This of course happened many years after the death of General Tipton, who at the time of Mr. Parsons's trip had only been dead a year.

General Tipton was much admired by the citizens of Logansport for his civic contributions to the growing town. He was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons Lodges and established a lodge at Logansport when the town was only two months old. Mr. Parson's noted that the town had a Lodge Hall and General Tipton had an "impressive " funeral given him by his fellow masons the year before.

Mr. Parson soon met the editors of The Logansport Telegraph Mr. John B. Dillon and Mr. Hyacinth LaSalle. Mr. Dillon was a literary type who it was noted 'cares nothing for the Law." Mr. Dillon introduced Mr. Parsons to the famous local pioneer rattiest Mr. George Winters who had gained fame painting the Pottawomie around Logansport and Frances Slocum .She the white women kidnapped by the Delaware as a child and married to a Pottawomie chief. One she was discovered she reconnected with her family in the east and the story of her journey to Indiana was widely covered by the papers at the time. She had been connected to her family by the detective work of the editors of The Logansport Telegraph and Mr. Winters.

Life in Logansport sometimes bored it more intellectual men so Mr. Dillon recounted an April Fools joke that he , Mr. Winters , and Mr. LaSalle played on the town. They posted a notice that said, "There will be exited at the Court House this evening a living manthrop from 8 to 10 o'clock . Sir Roger Recovery Manager. " The men laughed hysterically when "young gentlemen of the town who prided themselves on their learning, several of the clergymen, and some of the lawyers were busy studding the encyclopedia, natural histories, and all the books they could find to ascertain what the new creature was. The word manthrop as, you no doubt know sir is a compound of two Anglo -Saxon words meaning ,' man of the village'. The group was surprised by the amount of chaos caused by their practical joke.

Lastly , Mr. Parsons visited the home of the LaSalle's Here he was impressed with , " the many indications of culture in bookies, pictures, and furniture. The LaSalle family had the only piano in town and it was lucky it made it to Logansport at all. The tale of the piano was recorded by Mr. Parsons , " It was purchased in Philadelphia and shipped then by water to New Orleans. From there , it was sent up the Mississippi on a steamboat , and from there by the same men sup the Ohio and the Wabash reaching the Logansport wharf in safety. But from the carelessness on the part of the deckhands , when it was undertook to carry it ashore, it fell into the river and must needs lie there until the waters subsided , when it was lifted out."

Mr. Parson left for Delphi the next day. Not without noting the locals were arguing the pros and cons of a state lottery for establishment of free libraries through out Indiana. The arguments were much the same as the one a few years back about the benefits of having the state lottery to help fund education in the state. Logansport took pride in providing a school that was open to most locals and a library. Mr. Parsons noted that the town also took great pride it is Thespian Society that had been bring culture in the form of theater for many years.

Logansport only a few years old in 1840 strove to be an important place of commerace on the rivers and for the local farmers. Before the removal of the Native Americans of the area they had generally had a congenial relationship with them and many of the locals were sorry to see them removed. Some who lived on private land including the family of Frances Slocum stilled dwelled within a fifty mile radius of Logansport. The town not only concerned itself with commerace and life on the Indiana frontier , but also sought to bring the more cultural aspects of more civilized places to its citizen and encourage education.

Source: A Tour Through Indiana 1840: The Diary of John Parsons of Petersburg Virginia ; editor Kate Milner Rabb, Robert M. McBride & Company, New York, New York; June 1920.(pages:193-214).