Frederick Garver’s idea of a paradise

After some unfruitful searches for Frederick Garver’s gravesite, I headed for the likely location of his home in Elkhart County — the one he moved to after leaving Cass County, Michigan. It was one of several parcels he bought from the federal government, and the only one that matched the information given to me by a descendant.

The following is what the Cass County history published in 1882 had to say about him.

F. Garver, a native Virginian, who moved his family into this township in 1827 or 1828, was possessed of many of the-superstitious and idiosyncrasies possessed by our forefathers.’ He lived in his log cabin for nearly a month without any roof, subject to the rain and inclemencies of the weather, waiting for the moon to be in the right position in the zodiac before shingling his cabin, so that the shakes would not warp up. In 1834, he disposed of his farm of nine eighty-acre lots, to Cyrus Bacon, for $6,000, and moved to the thick wood in Indiana, miles away from any habitation, for he loved solitude, and the numerous neighbors in this township, coupled with the fact that a road was surveyed past his dwelling, was so distasteful to him that he sold out. One house within five miles, and that a tavern, where whisky could be obtained, constituted his idea of a paradise.

Just on the face of it it doesn’t seem plausible. Of the 720 acres he owned, he bought 440-some from the government at $1.25 an acre. He probably made a good profit if he sold all his land for $6,000. He doesn’t sound like a loner who was going to let superstition and eccentricity keep him from managing his property well. He had a large family. He doesn’t sound like the anti-social, hard-drinking recluse the writer is portraying him to be.

There may yet be more to be learned from a careful reading of the county history. In particular, I’m curious about that business with the road. I wonder if the person telling these tales about Frederick Garver didn’t himself have something to do with the road commission.

When he left Cass County, Garver didn’t go far — only 16 miles as the crow flies.

As best I can tell, this is the location of his farmstead. The area may have been wooded, but it’s only 5 miles from Goshen, which already by 1832 had enough settlers to build a fort for protection against Indians. It’s not as though he had gone all that far away from people.

He would have had a couple of streams to cross to get to Goshen. This farm is on the west edge of the Yellow Creek valley, and Goshen is the east bank of the Elkhart River. So that may have isolated him somewhat.

Here’s a view from the bridge over Yellow Creek. The farm is in the distance. It’s a pretty setting for a farm, no? That bottomland probably has grown some good crops over the years.

Whatever the rest of the story about Frederick Garver, he seems to have picked a nice setting for his new farm.