Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-08-18
Bsmottatit 2&ortbmest.
BOOKWALTER AS ACINIUS
His Youthful Efforts to Dis
cover Perpetual Motion.
How He Became Disguised With Elec-
tricity--His Study Of Flying Machines
The Drou Schemes Of an Eccentric
PENNSYLVANIA Dutchman.

- w lllC CtO"
papers first brought to this remote
rural region the news that 'one OF our
boys"
JOHN WESLEY BooKwALTEI
had been nominated for Governor Of
o., there was first pause OF astonlsh-
ment, then laugh, and finally an ex-
preston of pride and satisfaction. 1t
IS worth nothing that the pride and
satisfaction came last and are most
permanent, for, despite many crltl-
cisms, John was well liked by his ear
!y associates-as well, indeed, as a
rather odd genius could be in re-
mote, rather slow, and decidedly back
woodsy neighborhood. 1t is q won.
der to me, after an acquaintance OF
quarter of a century, how he could be
popular as he was, or even tolerated;
FOR he was about as unlike the average
boy among the dutch Hoosiers' as a
Young Hindoo would be. His rela-
tives about here are all Republicans,
and generally Methodists; yet strange
TO say, this very seighborhood has
been prolific of Democratic greatness.
Besides Bookwalter, and dozen men
only locally eminent, Daniel W. oor-
hees was born and reared but five
miles from here. 1t would only be
the proper thing for the Senator to go
over to Ohio and help his fellow
Shawnee through the campaign.
"Twig the egotism," and l will add
that my own my native township was
half days drive south Of this; and
among my earliest recollections Is the
hearing of ridiculous stories. not often
refined, about the "Pennsylvania
Dutch" and other queer residents on
the Shawnee and the Wea Plains.
Our people were nearly all from the
South, and through this county ran
that mysterious line of division which
can even now be traced across the
State of Indiana, south of which are
Southern ideas, and north of Yam
kee ideas. 1t was not till 1857 that l
was personally acquainted with the
tsBooKWALTER BOYS.
Between our section and theirs at
that time was strip of very unprom-
ising country, Familiarity known as
"Hell's Half Acre." into which the
militia made an occasional march dur
ing the war. North of it was the
Yankee and Pennsylvania country,
in which the Bookwalters lived.
1t is foreign to the subject, but |
can not forbear a few paragraphs
about our predecessors here-tEe
Shawnees (Chaouanons,) whose histo'
ry is as fascinating as any romance
in border fiction. This tribe origlna-
ted in Western New York by seces
sion and expulsion from an Older
tribe. Thence they fought their way
westward and down the Wabash,
from which they were driven by the
conquering Mans. Determined to
find permanent home they went tc
the Tennessee valley, from which they
were again driven, this time by the
Cherokees, and settled in Florida
where they gave name to the Suwanee
River. After forty years in Florida
they were again driven, and started
north in three bands; two Of these
were scattered, but the third reached
this neighborhood and were given 6
resting place by the other Indians
Shawnee Creek and Prairie were
their southern boundaries, and from
here to Tippecanoe was the origina
range of their noted chief Tecumths
Commonly called Tecumseh.) Wher
he went to his final reward this regior
was open to settlement, and soon re
ceived heavy immigration from New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio
among whom were the Van Gundys
and Bookwalters. Big and Little Shaw
nee, near the Wabash, mile apart
and on the high level between tht
two, in the dense prlmeval woods,
DAVID RooKwALTER
made his location about fifty years
ago. He was a Pennsylvania by
birth, but lived sometime in Ross
County, O., where he married Miss
Van Gundy, just before coming here
They had five children, all of whom
are living, John being the second
Here the father erected large stone
house, which was long a curiosity tc
travellers; also an oil mill, sawmill
and other buildings. The white
"Shawnees' must have had rather
tough time Of it, by all accounts, al
they had to wrestle with ague foul
months in the year, and with stubborn
nature all the time. The old Book
walter was rather severe father
TOO, and Of decidedly Puritanica
cast of mind. He was so scrupulous
ly honest that like the negros poplar
'he leaned over the other way'-en
tirely too perpendicular. He had thu
idea, unfortunately too common
among farmers, that aboy can nevel
DO too mnch, and that all you can &c
out OF one is clear gain. He was
frightfully Conscientious Methodist, Sc
his face against all worldly amuse
ments, disapproved of music, and il
his own words, "despised tinkerlng.
And as John loved music, loved "tink
ering" with machinery, was anything
else by nature but Methodist, ant