INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS
VOLUME IV NUMBER
7
LOCKERBIE'S
ASSESSMENT LIST
OF
INDIANAPOLIS, 1835
ELIZA G. BROWNING
INDIANAPOLIS
Edward J. Hecker, Printer and Publisher
1909
GEORGE LOCKERBIE
In Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, George Murray Lockerbie was born in April, 1771.
The little border town on Solway Frith, in Annandale, is in the southern part of the shire, which was the stronghold of the Stewarts and a hotbed of patriotism. Within a radius of a few miles is Elderslie, where the patriot Wallace first saw the light; east of Lochmaben is the castle which Annandale claims as the birthplace of Robert Bruce; and Thomas Carlyle, who was born at Ecclefechan, a village just out of Annan, describes the town of George Lockerbie's birth, during the first quarter of the last century, as "a fine, bright, self-confident little town;" of the people he writes that they were "an argumentative, clear-headed, contentious set of people, more given to intellectual pursuits than some of their neighbors." Nearby is the village of Lockerbie, and the story is told that in early days, when the laird of the castle fared forth to war, he would shut up his wife and other valued possessions for safe keeping during his absence. "Lock her by," he would order. This happened so often that when the custom of surnames became prevalent, this belligerent old Scot had earned the right to his of Lockerbie.
A recognized characteristic of these Lockerbies is that they have the courage of their convictions and never lack the personal courage to express them. In the town of Lockerbie there still remains the memory of the great "Lockerbie lick," when these people in a battle defeated the Maxwells with great slaughter. From people like page: 400[View Page 400] these, from such surroundings, where the very air is the essence of patriotism, came George Lockerbie. At the beginning of the last century, he had become a writer of note; his political articles and those protesting against and exposing the outrages of the press gang, published in Glasgow and Edinburgh papers, led to his arrest and imprisonment. Inflammatory writings, calculated to incite Scottish subjects to rebellion, was one count in the indictment against him. His trial followed immediately upon his arrest, and he defended his own case and was acquitted. His friends had swarmed up from Dumfriesshire for the trial, and these with a great crowd of sympathizers surrounded him upon his release and bore him upon their shoulders through the streets of Edinburgh.
This experience decided him to leave the country he loved so well and make a new home in America, where thought and speech and pen were free.
He had married Ann Blacklocke some years before, and with his family came to America in 1809; they lived near Philadelphia, in Germantown, until the close of the War of 1812, when they removed to Lexington, Kentucky.
Mr. Lockerbie had been brought up a Presbyterian of the old Scotch type, but in Lexington he and his family became members of the Episcopal church and remained in that faith, identifying themselves with Christ Church in Indianapolis when that church was organized a few years after they came here to live.
It was during his residence in Lexington that General Lafayette visited Kentucky. May 16, 1825, was the date of his visit to Lexington. Mr. Lockerbie was an enthusiastic Mason, and on the occasion of General page: 401[View Page 401] Lafayette's attendance at a lodge meeting there, Mr. Lockerbie as presiding officer presented the distinguished visitor with his own apron to wear. This was of white kid, and many years after was presented by Mr. Lockerbie's daughter, Mrs. McOuat, to the Indiana State Museum, where it is still preserved as a relic of historic value.
In Lexington, Mr. Lockerbie had a cotton-gin and a large number of slaves. He was a staunch Democrat, but liberty-loving soul could not bear the idea of slavery. He freed these slaves, and in 1830, still in search of freedom, came to Indianapolis with his family and son-in-law, Thomas McOuat, who had married Janet Lockerbie in Lexington.
Shortly after taking up his residence in Indianapolis he became actively identified with the official life of this permanent home. He was assessor in the year 1835. He was town trustee from the first ward during the years 1836 and 1837, and councilman and president of the council from the same ward in 1838 and 1839. During the building of the canal, about 1836 and 1837, the town was filled with a very unruly element, and Mr. Lockerbie was a leader in the law and order movement which became a necessity.
He was prominent in Masonry here, as in Lexington, and in 1835 was elected junior warden of Center Lodge.
His home was at the northeast corner of Alabama and Market streets, a small cottage, two rooms of which faced upon Alabama street; one of these was Mr. Lockerbie's office, and, as was usual in those early days, was simply furnished with table and a few chairs. The floor was sanded, and everything about the house and trim little page: 402[View Page 402] garden at the back spoke eloquently of the care of the good Scotch housewife within. Mrs. Lockerbie's miniature shows that she adhered to the customs and dress of her native country and wore a blue kirtle, a kerchief around her shoulders, crossed and tied at the back, with a mob cap framing a sweet, merry old face.
Here in this cottage home these two, who were favorites wherever they were, received their many friends and acquaintances of all ages. The young children were in and out of the place continually—the little ones climbing upon Mr. Lockerbie's knee, where he trotted them while he sang to them quaint Scotch folk songs or recited verse after verse of his favorite Burns. To the older children he was a mine of information and an encyclopedia; some of these children came to him with their lessons as regularly as they went to school. The older people came to him, and he numbered a great many young men among those who delighted to visit him—young men like Lew Wallace and John Coburn—and very interesting were the arguments and debates that went on under his roof. On a fly-leaf of the old book containing the Assessment Record—a reproduction of which follows this sketch—is a memorandum referring to an article in the Democratic Review of 1844 on the "conduct and character of three men of the time of the French Revolution." Of this article he writes, "It defends Robespierre and Marat, and justly as I believe, from the misrepresentations of the enemies of Freedom and of the just rights of mankind." He was a socialist in the ideal sense of the word—never swerving from the furtherance of the cause of freedom nor from the defence of the rights of man.
page: 403[View Page 403]- "General Zachary Taylor—Newport Kentucky—the Hero!!!"
- "June 8, 1846 Wrote this day—for the first time to my nephew Andrew Thomson, Cleveland, Ohio."
- "Monday 21 Sept., 1846. This day Andrew (McOuat) entered on his apprenticeship for the term of four years to C. and J. Cox to learn the trade of a tin-plate worker."
- "September 3d 1846. Mrs. Elizabeth Gentle died this morning at half-past four o'clock. Buried at 4 o'clock p. m. same day, in the same lot and the same graveyard with her brother Thomas McOuat."
- "Mr. William McOuat died Sep 11, 1841, aged 67 years."
- "Mrs. Margaret McOuat wife of William McOuat died January 3d 1853 supposed to be 90 years of age."
- "December 28th 1846. Martha went to Mrs. Richmonds school.
- "January 11th 1847. Jean went to Mrs. Richmonds school."
- "Jan. 15. 1845. Cloudy and mild. Thunder and lightning and rain at 3 p. m. Evening cloudy and mizzling."
- "June 7th 1845. Fair and dry. Afternoon fair and page: 404[View Page 404] warm. Evening clear and warm. Great drought. Wind S."
This record is thus carefully kept until the last page of the book is reached. Doubtless it was continued in the same methodical way in another volume during his remaining years, but has not been preserved. This is perhaps the earliest known weather report of Indianapolis now in existence.
In the assessment list Mr. Lockerbie has given more information than the law required him to furnish. The law calls for "a full assessment roll of persons, lands, town lots and chattels, taxable in his district." Mr. Lockerbie gives a full census, instead of merely a list of persons subject to poll-tax. His notes as to the occupancy of the several pieces of real estate furnish quite a complete directory of Indianapolis at the time.
After the death of his wife, Mr. Lockerbie lived with his daughter, Mrs. McOuat, until his death, June 18, 1856. Mrs. McOuat's home was near the corner of East and New York streets. In platting this property as an addition to Indianapolis she named the street north of New York street—from East to Noble streets—Lockerbie in honor of her father. James Whitcomb Riley, who lives in this street, has immortalized it in his beautiful little poem, "Lockerbie Street"—a fitting tribute to that which bears the name of a man whose life was practical prose, but whose heart and soul were full of poetry.
