In one of the huts lived a handsome brave who had just brought home a bride from the tribe at Fort Wayne. It seems she was already the wife of one of Louis Godfrey's braves. The irate husband came to the Goodboo settlement and demanded his wife, who refused to return. So the Fort Wayne Indian killed the Blackford County lover and for many years the house or hut was said to be "haunted".
The two brothers, Chiefs Louis and Francois, settled the quarrel by sending the woman back to the Fort Wayne reserve and Francois made Louis send him ten stalwart warriors to pay the price of the one who had been killed.
Jay County was laid out in 1835 and was too large. So Blackford County was laid off and became a county in 1837. The story of the old Godfrey farm is intimately woven into pioneer county history.
If the old Godfrey Trace could speak, what wonderful tales we might hear of eccentric people, noted people, outlaws, adventurers, traders and "soul-savers" who were guests of Mrs. Godfrey on her Godfrey farm. Johnny Appleseed, came often and Dr. Duck an Indian Baptist preacher, who lived in the wilds of Michigan. He baptisted many of the Indians in the Salamonie at the low place northeast of the Maddox farm near the White Wolf farm. Some of the Indians were so pleased that they went through this ceremony everytime Dr. Duck came. He was so well fed and hospitably treated that he came often.
Long after the War of 1812 was supposed to be settled, the British sent secret emmissaries into the reserve to enlist the Chief and his Indians to make war on the white settlers, and those first settlers often lived in fear of their lives.
John Gain, a Dutch fur trader and Indian guide from "up on the Mohawk" in New York, built a cabin and storeroom on a knoll of La Petite Prairie east and north of the White Wolf farm. He was a welcome guest in the homes of all the Godfrey Indians. When the Brooks family moved into his cabin, he taught them the "indian language" so they could "neighbor" with the Godfreys, which they did.
There were times of flood and food shortage among the white settlers and the Godfrey family gave generously from their supplies.
Many circuit-rider preachers, exporters and peddlers with various wares visited the Godfreys, the Gains and Brooks families. It is said that outlaws camped in the woods...also trappers whose stories enlivened many days around the Indian fires.
This is by far the best site on the Miami that I have found to date.
It includes location, population, names, languages, sub-nations, villages, culture and what is probably the most comprehensive historical account of the great Miami tribe, from it's origins to it's eventual decline. Click here.