Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
THE PRATHERS AT GALEY'S LANDING
(Perry County, Indiana)
http://www.angelfire.com/in/prather/perrycounty.html
On 26 March 1857, Pleasant Prather purchased 158 acres from Jane Dearmit, which lay in Leopold Township 2-1/2 miles due west of Mt. Pleasant. It is located as the East half of the Southwest and the West half of the Southeast quarters of Section 31, T4S, R1W.
According to one local tradition, Robert Prather's house was placed on a hill overlooking the river. A more likely tradition suitable for large-scale horse stealing locates the Prather house around a quarter-mile from the river in a more secluded site. Today a large pile of stones is said to mark the location. The house is reputed to have been of the southern style with a separate summer kitchen joined with a roofed breezeway. Prather's Spring still flows a few hundred feet farther from the river.
If Robert Prather had been involved in transacting in horses near Rome in the early 1830s, he learned of the hazard attendant upon stealing the neighbor's horses. The modus operandi of the 1850s reduced this hazard by dealing with horses stolen in neighboring counties and sole in locales several states distant from Perry County. This system enabled him to avoid direct confrontation with Perry County law for around a half-dozen years before 1858.
By the 1850s, Robert Prather was severely afflicted with rheumatism so as to be confined to chair and bed. He would sit in the breezeway while the stolen horses were led past him for his appraisal. Payment in gold for the price he set was to be obtained by his sons at the distant sales. These gold receipts were said to have been buried somewhere near the Prather homestead. They have been the object of many excavations in the years after 1860.
(Perry County, Indiana)
http://www.angelfire.com/in/prather/perrycounty.html
On 26 March 1857, Pleasant Prather purchased 158 acres from Jane Dearmit, which lay in Leopold Township 2-1/2 miles due west of Mt. Pleasant. It is located as the East half of the Southwest and the West half of the Southeast quarters of Section 31, T4S, R1W.
According to one local tradition, Robert Prather's house was placed on a hill overlooking the river. A more likely tradition suitable for large-scale horse stealing locates the Prather house around a quarter-mile from the river in a more secluded site. Today a large pile of stones is said to mark the location. The house is reputed to have been of the southern style with a separate summer kitchen joined with a roofed breezeway. Prather's Spring still flows a few hundred feet farther from the river.
If Robert Prather had been involved in transacting in horses near Rome in the early 1830s, he learned of the hazard attendant upon stealing the neighbor's horses. The modus operandi of the 1850s reduced this hazard by dealing with horses stolen in neighboring counties and sole in locales several states distant from Perry County. This system enabled him to avoid direct confrontation with Perry County law for around a half-dozen years before 1858.
By the 1850s, Robert Prather was severely afflicted with rheumatism so as to be confined to chair and bed. He would sit in the breezeway while the stolen horses were led past him for his appraisal. Payment in gold for the price he set was to be obtained by his sons at the distant sales. These gold receipts were said to have been buried somewhere near the Prather homestead. They have been the object of many excavations in the years after 1860.
