EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

 

 

When the writer entered into an agreement with the publishers of this work that he would write a History of Marshall County, he was fully aware of the Herculean task that loomed up before him. He had had considerable experience along the lines of historic writing, and knew that to gather the data and compile and write such a history as would be satisfactory to the patrons of the work, and creditable to the writer and to the publishers as well, would be a laborious work not easy of accomplishment.

 

The writer was the author of the first history of Marshall county ever written, and for nearly thirty years was the editor of the Plymouth Democrat, during which time he gathered much data and wrote many articles on historical subjects, expecting at some future time to write another history of the county, greatly revised and improved. That time has come in the writing of the present history. The facts contained in the first history written by him in 1881 and in the sketches written for his paper from time to time, will be used in this work as occasion may require, as facts never change and history cannot be written without them.

 

The writer came to Marshall County with his parents in 1836, when a mere child; when the county was also in its infancy, and almost a wilderness, with few log cabins, no churches or schoolhouses and no public buildings; and as he has grown to manhood and age he has seen it developed from year to year, from a population of a few hundred to more than 25,000, with churches and schoolhouses on every hand, magnificent county buildings, five lines of railroads, telegraphs and telephones, and everything that can be desired to make life comfortable and enjoyable.

 

Time is swiftly passing away. Already three-quarters of a century has gone since the first white settlement was made, and the few now living who were here then must soon depart to "that undiscovered country from whose borne no traveler returns." While they yet remain it is deemed advisable to obtain the facts within their knowledge and place them upon permanent record for the benefit of those who come after they are gone.

 

In the preparation of the matter for this work, the writer has not the remotest idea that perfection will be attained; on the contrary, he is absolutely certain it will not; therefore the reader must not expect it. His experience in gathering statistics from various sources has already convinced him that the correct data in all cases cannot be obtained. During the period of the organization of the county, and for many years afterwards the records, especially as to dates, are very unreliable. The files of the county papers have been found to be deficient in regard to the very things it was.

 

Xiv                                           EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.

desirable to know. Weeks and weeks would come and go, and either nothing worthy of note transpired, or the editor did not think it worthwhile to bother his head about such trivial matters as local news. If reference was made to anything of a local nature, it seems to have been stated in the briefest manner possible, without any regard whatever to details. The oldest inhabitant, too, cannot call to mind dates with any degree of certainty, and so, upon the whole, the sources from which information must be derived are not sufficiently numerous and reliable to enable the historian to insure the reader that he will in all cases demonstrate to a mathematical certainty every proposition that may be touched upon as the work progresses. When the work shall be completed, there will undoubtedly be found many omissions. Among the many scenes and incidents that go to make up the history of the county, it will be a miracle should nothing escape the historian's notice. Each reader will undoubtedly peruse the work with a view of finding some- thing with which he was familiar, and, if he fails to find it, will probably make up his mind that the historian purposely omitted it. Unfavorable criticisms of this kind are expected, but the consciousness of knowing that every effort has been made to gather everything worthy of insertion shall stimulate the historian to bear up under these afflictions until the storm shall have passed.

In the beginning of this work it has been deemed advisable to incorporate in the first pages a brief sketch of the pre-historic age when the mastodon flourished in this part of the country, coming on down to the Mound Builders, and especially to give a complete and truthful history of the Pottawatomie Indians, the first owners and inhabitants of all this part of the country, who were here in peaceable possession of the lands when the first white settlers made their appearance in this county, which has never before been presented in consecutive order, and is now for the first time placed on permanent record in the present History of Marshall County.

Hoping that the arrangement of the matter found in the following pages will meet the approval of the people of Marshall county, for whom it is intended, the work, with all its imperfections, is respectfully submitted.

 

Daniel McDonald

 

 Plymouth, Indiana, 1908.