News-Gazette, March 1979.
by William Jackson.
The cabin which stands in Goodrich Park in Winchester, across from the Winchester Community High School, is mostly empty now, used only for storage of some of the park equipment. Doors and windows are locked and bolted and it's one room interior is now closed from public view. But for nearly a decade the building served as a historical museum which was visited by people from several surrounding states and long before that it served as a home for a farming couple in this county for 34 years.
It was in 1932 that the cabin was brought to it's present site, the gift of a descendant of the original owners. Prior to that it had stood at it's original location on a family farm about a mile and a half north of Winchester in the northeastern portion of White River Township, where it had been built and where it had served as a home for over three decades.
The original owners of what is now a much smaller cabin than the original building were William Ward Moffit and his wife, Rachel Moffit nee Vansky or Vanscoy. Moffit was a second generation native of Randolph County whose father, Zimri Moffit, had also been born in the county. Zimri had married a girl named Charity Key whose family came to eastern Indiana like so many other families who came to this county from their homes in North Carolina. It was just over 144 years ago, on Saint Patrick's Day of 1835 that William W. Moffit was born.
Rachel was a true product of pioneer America, and prior to her marriage with Moffit when she settled down near Winchester it would have been difficult to name any place that could be called home for her. Her father, Jacob Vanscoy, had been born in Virginia and married Ellen Hays, a native of New York. Rachel was born three years after William Moffit, on April 18, 1838, in Ohio and later moved into Indiana.
Although Williams father, Zimri, had been born in Randolph County he was still something of a pioneer. He cleared his own land and carved a farm for himself out of public land just south of Clear Creek in White River Township which was being offered for sale by the United States government land office at Cincinnati. In the summer of 1834, while Charity was pregnant with William, Zimri gathered together the money he needed to purchase his own farm and made the long journey to Cincinnati where he made his payment and entered his claim. On August 14 of that year he received a patent, signed by President Andrew Jackson, on 80 acres of land located just north of what is now County Road 300N, one quarter mile east of C.R. 100E.
There were several other Moffits who lived in Randolph County in the mid 19th century-Seth, Jacob and Miles- some of whom may have been William's brothers, others maybe his uncles. From the 1850's on the Moffits began purchasing land in Winchester and parts of the McCristy estate in White River Township, although William, who was only 15 years old at the time, did not take part in this expansion.
William Moffit and Rachel Vanscoy were married on February 26 in 1857 by Justice of the Peace Jacob Eltzroth. They probably lived with other members of the family, perhaps with Zimri on his nearby farm, until they could afford a place of their own. Miles had apparently not gotten the entire McChristy estate under his control by 1865, for in that year William Moffit purchased a portion of it from George and Joanna Byers.
It wasn't until 12 years later, in 1872, that William and Rachel obtained ownership to a portion of this land. On February 15 of that year Miles sold William 15 acres located in the middle of the original McCristy estate, located adjacent to C.R. 100E just south of C.R. 300N. It was here that the couple built the cabin two years later in 1874.
According to Robert E. Myers, former Park Director in Winchester who wrote a history of Goodrich Park in 1975, the couple resided in the house until their deaths in 1908, farming the land around it.
Rachel died first, on March 27, 1908 at the age of 70. Records show that she had suffered for three months before her death with a heart disease and an affliction known as the dropsy. William, her husband of 51 years, survived her by only three days, dying on March 30 of bronchitis at age 73. They were both buried in the White River Friends cemetery.
The old cabin was donated to the park by Mrs. Irvin Allen in memory of her father and mother, Jefferson and Ellen Pierce. Mrs. Allen was the granddaughter of William and Rachel Moffit, and the structure was named for her parents, being called the Pierce Memorial Home. The cabin had originally had an additional half story and an addition to the back, but these were left off when the building was dismantled and reassembled at its present site.
According to Meyers' history, "At the time of its dedication, the Winchester chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution were given complete supervision of the cabin. They immediately set about furnishing the interior with relics and antiques, reminiscent of Randolph County pioneer days. It wasn't long before an impressive collection was formed into the county's best museum. Among some of the items housed there were: Flintlock rifles one of which was the property of William and Marietta Bundy, the grandparents of ex-sheriff Tom Overman. Another rifle was donated to the cabin by Heenan Moore in memory of his father, who moved here from North Carolina in 1845. A wooden rocker once sat on the north side of the fireplace and had been made in 1858 for John and Fannie Pickett upon the occasion of their marriage. Upon the wall hung the keys to the old log jail which had once occupied a site on the public square."
Other vintage articles filled the small cabin until it opened as a museum in May of 1935. After about ten years, however, the museum was closed down, and for another ten years it stood idle until a break-in in 1957 apparently emptied it of its valuable antiques. Accounts of the break-in vary, some sources saying that the antiques were taken at that time. Others recall that they had been removed either before or after the burglary, but did not know where to. In any event, the antiques are now out of the cabin and their whereabouts are today unknown.
After the break-in the cabin became the headquarters of the Randolph County Horseshoe Association, and a number of horseshoe pits located nearby became the site of national competitions. In 1972 the cabin was paneled and converted to an office for Park Director Robert Puckett, and in recent years it has been reduced to being used for storage.
Although no longer actively used, the old home is still an interesting antique. Though the cement caulking between the logs, the doors, windows, chimney and shingles on the roof are relatively modern additions to the old structure, you can still conjour up visions of pioneer life in Randolph County.
May 1972, Zoo In Old Cabin-
Maybe it sounded a little far out to most people when Bob Puckett, new Goodrich Park superintendent, said he planned to establish a zoo at the park, but before the park workers have even had time to build an animal house, animals have begun to arrive. Puckett, in describing plans, said that Union City is interested in the idea too, now, and will watch Winchester's zoo to see how it gets along, with the idea of establishing one, probably at Harter Park. Puckett says it's his idea that the two zoos could help each other out, if and when, by trading animals where surpluses exist.
Just now the zoo features a young wild rabbit and three baby racoons, and until a regular animal house is built, they are housed in the old cabin at the park, in cages. Even in the heat of the day the cabin is cool, so that the animals are comfortable in their shaded shelter.
Puckett said he did have a baby owl which would have had to be returned to the wild when it was old enough to care for itself, due to conservation laws, but unfortunately did not survive.
Fred, the rabbit, has been for almost a year the pet of young Joey Hawley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Hawley of Winchester. Fred was found as a tiny orphan in a neighbor's yard. His mother had apparently been killed. Joe, who is 10 and a fifth-grader at Baker school, with the help of his grandmother nursed Fred on the bottle until he was old enough to eat. This is considered a very difficult feat, especially with a wild baby rabbit, but Joe's grandmother, Mrs. Dorothy Shelly, is experienced with animals, having worked in a veterinarian's office, and her loving care pulled Fred through.
Now Joe is acquiring some tame rabbits and has no room for Fred, so he donated his pet to the zoo-the first such offer received by Puckett.
The most recent contribution was three baby racoons. The little 'coons were found by the Lloyd Shoopman family of Winchester in their barn and had become almost tame. But transferred to a cage at the park they reverted nervously to a very wild state. The one plucked out of his cage for a picture shrieked and threatened in a state of terror, and even put his little hands over his eyes in a pitiful gesture. Puckett is sure, however, that once they get accustomed to him they will settle down.
Other animals planned for are a deodorized skunk, a fox and possibly a badger and 'possum.
Puckett, who has delved into the whole zoo idea with great enthusiasm, says he has been reading all the material he can get on wild animals, their care and feeding, and will study all the laws regulating zoos and their inhabitants.
Freddy and the little racoons may be the beginning of a new attraction at the park which will be of great educational value to children of the area and a point of interest to everyone.
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