USA > Indiana > Johnson County > A historical sketch of Johnson county, Indiana > Part 14
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MR. NEESE.
One Neese came here with Daniel Etter. He had a small family with him, but soon left, and went no one knows where.
ANDREW BROWN, SR.
It is believed by those best informed, that Andrew Brown emi- grated to this township in the year 1822. He was originally a Virginian, but, like many of the first emigrants, came lastly from Whitewater, near Brookville. He was the owner of the south- west quarter of Seetion 9, in Township 13 north, of Range 3 east, which is unsurpassed by any other quarter in the township in soil and excellent springs. He was industrious, and soon made a fine farm, on which he continued to live to the day of his death, with every essential comfort. He was a good eitizen. Full of jokes, full of fun, and always in good humor, his com-
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
panionship was very agreeable. He died May 8, 1862, aged seventy-nine years and four months. He had children, but they are in other States. This closes .the emigration to White River Township in 1822. Hereafter the chronological order of the arrival of emigrants will not be attempted because of the increased numbers.
WILLIAM AND SAMUEL BLEAN
were born in "Ould Ireland," and came down through New Jer- sey and Pennsylvania to White River Township in 1822 or 1823. They bought a beautiful quarter-section of land, and located on it and made a farm. William Blean was a married man, with several children. Not many years after their arrival he died, leaving his widow and children in the care and under the control of Uncle Sammy, the bachelor brother. They were as obedient to him as to their own father. No family settling on White River ever shook with the ague more persistently than the Bleans, not in the fall season only, but often the whole year around. Finally the widow could shake no longer, and died. The family then sold out and moved away to Northern Missouri, where some of them yet live. They were strictly honest and truthful, and well respected.
NICHOLAS SELLS.
or. as he always spelled his name, Sell, was of German descent and lastly from Western Ohio. He was not related to the other Sells family of the township. He settled in 1823 in White River Township, on a beautiful tract of land, the northeast quarter of Section 5, in Township 13 north, Range 3 east, where he made a farm. He was industrious and strictly economical, always having a few dollars hid away to meet incidental demands. He was a man of strong feelings, and at times irritable and easily ex- cited, loving his friends and hating his enemies. He could never understand a joke, believing everything told him as real, and was therefore often wrongfully imposed upon. He died on the old homestead, leaving David and Michael and other children to bear his name.
Michael, his son, sold out and went to Illinois, where he now resides.
David Sells, by some sort of purchase from his father, suc- ceeded to the ownership of the old homestead, where he resided and reared a family. He and his wife died suddenly in 1865, of ery- sipelas, as also a boy whom they were raising, David, on the 10th day of January, 1865, and Rachel, his wife, on the 6th. He was a good liver, made money, and, when he died, was the owner of considerable property. He was often charged by his neighbors
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
with relishing the best end of a bargain. ] The homestead has long since passed to other hands.
SAMUEL PARKS, SR.,
was by birth a Pennsylvanian. He was married to Martha Glenn, of Berkeley County, Va., in 1794, and, in the fall, emigrated to Kentucky, where he resided till 1823. He now purchased a year's provision and forwarded it to Madison, Ind., and himself and family came through in a wagon. He landed at the Bluffs, in Morgan County, on the last day of 1823, and rented a cabin of Bradshaw until he could build one on his own land in White River Township, to which he removed during the winter of 1824. He located on the north half of the northeast quarter of Section 7, and west half of the northwest quarter of Section 8, in Township 13 north, Range 3 east. His location was exceedingly unhealthy for several years. The whole family were sometimes sick and prostrate at one time with fever and ague. On the 29th day of August, 1825, he died, leaving his widow and three sons and two daughters and several grandchildren to fight out the battle of life in the wilderness. The sons were Samuel, John G. and James W. Parks. The mother and her children did not flee the country under these most discouraging circumstances, but went boldly to work to cut out a farm in the green woods, and most nobly accomplished it.
Mrs. Parks was a fine specimen of the pioneer mother. After her husband's death, she taught school in her own house. She was a noble woman, highly esteemed and useful as a female phy- sician. She lived to an old age, and died of consumption on the 22d day of August, 1851, aged seventy-three years and nine months.
John G. Parks died of lung fever, February 9, 1843. Samuel Parks lived till five or six years ago ; he was an old man, and re- sided in Union Township. He left a large family. James W. Parks, one of the three sons, resides in Pleasant Township. The Parks family were all highly respected for uprightness and good citizenship.
JOHN CAGLEY.
emigrated from Wythe County, Va., to White River Township in the fall of 1823, and bought the farm of Judge Daniel Boaz in Sections 19 and 20, and became a permanent citizen. He was up in years when he first came. He had a large family and quite a number of boys. Some years after he came, he built a horse- mill which did much grinding for the neighborhood. He, like most of the Virginia emigrants, was of German descent. He was
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
as firm as a rock in his purposes and strictly honest in all his deal- ings. In the fall of 1851, as nearly as can be ascertained, John Cagley, and sooner or later all his sons and daughters, moved to Northern lowa.
HENRY BROWN
originally came from Virginia to Franklin County, Ind., and thence to White River Township, Johnson County, Ind. In the fall of 1819, he drove the first wagon whose wheels ever rolled over the county, in the removal of Jacob Whetzel and family from Brookville to the Bluffs of White River, and, in four years after, he returned to become a permanent citizen of its valley. He was a brother of Michael Brown, who came the year before, and a cousin also of Andrew Brown, already described. He purchased the west half of the northeast quarter and east half of the north- west quarter of Section 20, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, a pleasant, high situation, and worked assiduously in its improve- ment, and soon realized such returns therefrom as enabled him to live with every comfort about him. He had long been, and at his death was, a leading member and officer of the Christian Church at the Bluffs. He died on the 18th day of September, 1865, aged seventy-four years and six months. He left an aged widow, and two sons with their families, to wit, T. J. Brown and Irvin H. Brown, in possession of the old homestead and its pleas- ant memories.
NATHANIEL BELL AND HIS SONS.
Nathaniel Bell was from Ohio. He located at the crossing of the Whetzel and Berry traces in 1823. There he built a horse- mill, which for four or five years served in some sort to furnish an occasional sack of coarse meal to the settlers. It was a strange piece of machinery, and when in motion produced unearthly sounds in its rattlings and creakings and rumblings. The hoop inclosing the runner was a section of a hollow log, sitting loosely over and around the grinder, to prevent the escape of the meal. When the team made a sudden movement, the revolving momentum often communicated to the inclosing hoop, and it, too, was thrown into a sudden circular motion. The strange drummings so frightened the horses that they increased their gait beyond con- trol, and the increased whirl of the grinder overcame its gravity and caused it to take a tangential leap from above, down among the horses and men. His mill was never profitable. He also at- tempted to keep a sort of hotel, but no man was caught twice by that bait, and in 1829 the traces for through travel were aban- doncd and useless because other and better highways were con-
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HISTORICAL SKETCHI OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
structed. From this date onward this place, once so public, be- came one of the most lonely and desolate places in the county, being overgrown by briers and brush, and deserted.
Nathaniel Bell, who called himself " the little old man," had six sons, large, active and bold as lions. Nearly all came with him and spread themselves abroad over White River Township. In every enterprise they acted together, and grew bolder and bold- er, and became aggressive, attempting, in the spring of 1829, to elect one of their number a Justice of the Peace. But this attempt was a failure. Against some of them no positive acts of miscon- duct could be alleged, but soon the people who were at first dis- posed to look on the better part of them as good men, now changed, and believed each to be a conspirator, and equally guilty. The emigrants were now pouring into the county. The Bells were soon surrounded, suspected, watched, shunned and threatened. One of the worst among them was killed at a house-raising on Grassy Creek, by a log sliding back and crushing his head. They were shrewd men ; they saw it all-that they stood alone -- and they soon wisely left, to the relief of the whole township, leaving the " little old man" with his rattle-trap to shift for himself. The old man had failed in his hotel and distillery, and his mill was superseded by other and better mills, so he determined, contrary to the usual custom, to carry his mill to his customers, for it was now in the wild woods. He dragged it down west to Honey Creek and set it up once more on its stilts, and for several years it resuned its former strains, but it finally went down and " the lit- the old man " went down also in death and all was silent. The mill stones were removed and brought back by the writer three years ago from Marion County, where they had been converted by a blacksmith into doorsteps. They have been exhibited for several years at the old settlers' meeting in Glenn's Valley, and are still to be seen there. The history of White River Township could never be complete without reference to " the little old man " and his rattle-trap.
THE DRESSLAR, OR TRESSLAR, FAMILY.
The central part of White River Township drew largely on this family. Peter Tresslar (he and his family always use an initial T in spelling the name), came to the southwest part of the town- ship from Botetourt County, Va., first alone, but soon with his family, and located on the southwest quarter Seetion 29, Township 13 north, Range 3 cast, on the 25th day of August, 1824. The old homestead is still owned by his youngest son, Jacob Tresslar. The labor of making a farm no doubt caused his death. There was no
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
physician near, so he had to rely on Judge Boaz for medical assist- ance. He left a widow, two daughters and five sons-V. M. Tresslar, Henry, Michael, John and Jacob -- who by their industry and experience have contributed greatly to the wealth and pros- perity of the township.
WILLIAM DUNN, ESQ.,
married a daughter of Peter Tresslar, and came with the family to White River Township. He was elected a Justice of the Peace a few years after his settlement here He was an honest man, highly esteemed, affable and kind. His aged widow yet lives.
HENRY DRESSLAR,
as he always wrote his name, was a full brother of Peter Tresslar, and came to Johnson County, from Botetourt County, Va., and settled in White River Township in 1829, on the southwest quar- ter of Section 16, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, and died there March 17, 1857, aged sixty-eight years and four months. He was a plain, honest, sober man. He left a widow and a small family of children. His widow lived up to the year 1879. His children still own the old homestead.
WILLIAM DRESSLAR
was from Botetourt County, Va. He settled on the southeast quarter of Section 16, Township 13 north, Range 3 east. He was the half brother of William and Peter Tresslar. He was a man of strictly temperate habits, well respected, industrious and economical, and made a good living. He died October 23, 1862, aged fifty-one years and two months. He left a family. a part of whom still reside in the township, and one of whom still owns the old homestead.
THE SUTTON FAMILY.
Elizabeth Sutton was the widow of Benjamin Sutton, of Preble County, Ohio, and mother of Jonathan and James Sutton. They constituted a family and lived on the northwest quarter of Section 33, Township 14 north, Range 3 east, until Jonathan Sutton died, in the year 1826. They had emigrated only two years be- fore. He left a wife and one child. James Sutton died also, a few years after his brother, on the same farm. Also a son-in-law of Elizabeth Sutton, named Miner, and several of his children, died about the year 1826, on the same land. The widow contin- ued to reside in the neighborhood for many years after their death. She was an excellent woman, and full of religious fervor.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
She was a skillful and efficient female doctor, and was of great service in nursing the sick.
ISAAC AND JACOB SUTTON
were brothers, and sons of James Sutton, and cousins of Jonathan and James Sutton. They emigrated from Preble County, Ohio. Isaac came first to Marion County, Ind., with a relative, in the year 1821 or 1822, unmarried, and worked with unceasing efforts to earn money enough to buy a piece of land, earning the greater part of $100 by splitting rails at 25 cents a hundred. So soon as he had obtained the last piece, he started on foot to Brookville, the place of entry, to secure the prize, all the way fearing that, on exam- mation, some piece might be found spurious, for he possessed no reserve to fill the place. His money proved to be good, and he became the owner, on the 4th day of February, 1823, of the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 9, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, situate in White River Township. This traet he ever afterward called the "home place," and, while he would give his children any part of his lands when he was distributing them, yet he always excepted the "home place." In the fall of 1824 or 1825, he returned and married Alice Watts, and settled on the "home place," where she still resides. Isaac Sutton, following up the policy of his early manhood, acquired about six hundred acres of as fine land as is in White River Township. He died February 18, 1869, aged sixty-four years and ten months. He left eight sons and daughters, but, since his death, one-half are already dead.
JACOB SUTTON
came to White River Township from Ohio, on foot, with a pack on his back and twenty-five or thirty dollars as the sum total of his wealth. He did not, however, sit down and repine over the smallness of his fortune, but, with a stout heart, went to work, and soon found the means to enter eighty acres of land for his home place, and he, moreover, called in an energetic assistant in the person of Abagail Doty, daughter of John Doty, the old pio- neer, by authority of Thomas Lowe, Esq., on the 21st day of November, 1825, and located on the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 18, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, near the Bluffs. By uniting a small tannery with his farm, and prac- tieing strict economy, he secured a competency, and, although the good wife has long since ceased her labors and gone to receive a glorious reward, yet the old pioneer still lives, and still manages, by taking in a widowed kinswoman, to run a house of his own.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
He is stout and cheerful, and now seventy-eight years of age. He has two sons and a son-in-law in the township, who, in indus- try and economy and good citizenship, walk in the footsteps of their worthy, venerable and aged father.
JOHN SUTTON,
son of Jacob Sutton, is the finest example for a poor young man to emulate that can be found in Johnson County. Like his father, he began with little assistance, and, by patient, persevering in- dustry and economy, has acquired the means to purchase the old Col. Wishard farm, and also another tract adjoining-in all, about five hundred acres, being one among the finest farms in the county. He is also among the best farmers in the county.
COL. JOHN WISHARD
emigrated from Nicholas County, Ky., to White River Township, early in the fall of 1825, and located on the northwest quarter of Section 28, Township 14 north, Range 3 east. He soon ex- tended his ownership by the entry of 300 acres of the rich, over- flowed adjoining bottom lands. Assisted by the labors of six sons and hired help, he soon opened a large farm, extending nearly to White River. The bottom lands were protected from overflow by the erection of heavy embankments. But, in the midst of his success in business, his wife died, on the 12th day of August, 1849. She was a good woman, of unusual equanimity, prudence and economy. Although her death did not quite dis- solve his family, yet this, and the near approach to manhood of his sons, and the death of two of them, with the settled purpose of three of them to withdraw from the farm to qualify for profes- sional life, soon limited his operations. He soon made a disposi- tion of his farm for the benefit of his children, and thus, in great measure, withdrew from his accustomed laborious life. Two of his sons are eminent practitioners of medicine, and a third one eminent as a preacher in the Presbyterian Church, who has chosen a continent as the wide field of his evangelical labors. One only of his sons follows the vocation of a farmer. Two only of his daughters yet live-Mrs. Robert Jennings and Mrs. Dr. Noble. Col. Wishard was a man of great physical strength and activity in body, and of equal activity of mind. He was a military man, and was delighted with the pomp and display of military move- ments. Soon after his arrival, he was elected Colonel of the county militia, the duties of which he continued to exercise with ability so long as these services were required by law. He was one of " the bloody three hundred " that volunteered in the Black
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Hawk war. None contributed more to build up and make this new country than Col. Wishard. In log-rollings, house-raisings and other field operations, he was always on hand. He was kind- hearted, and was at the bedside of the sick and dying on all oc- casions. If any were in distress and needed assistance, they had only to make it known to receive it. He often disobliged himself to accommodate others. No man suffered more in his family than he. From the year 1833 to 1851, six members died, and, during the last six years, his wife and two sons and a daughter- the last the youngest, aged fifteen years-died from malarial dis- eases. He was full of jocularity, but sometimes carried his jokes too far and gave offense. He was unique in his opinions, believ- ing that he was right, and they who differed with him, wrong, and was often surprised that others would not, or could not, be convinced by his arguments and see as he did. "You know bet- ter," was a set phrase with him. He was fond of political dis- cussions, and, when he became much interested in his subject, used strong language, which often estranged those with whom he was associated and who differed from him. This rendered him unpopular. He lived to a ripe old age, and died on the 8th day of September, 1878, aged seventy-eight. years and two months, and sleeps, near the scenes of his labors and sufferings, in the cem- etery at Genn's Valley.
JOHN SMITH,
son of Samuel Smith, is an emigrant from Lewis County, Ky., to Perry Township, Marion County, Ind., where he arrived on the 23d day of March, 1822. He was married to Nancy Dean at Lawrenceburg, Ind., January 18, 1821. In December, 1823, he bargained, together with William Stallcup, who was married to his sister, for eighty acres of land in White River Township, Smith getting the west, and Stallcup the east half. Here he remained two years, and then sold and entered the cast half of the northeast quarter, Section 26, Township 14 north, Range 3 east, and continued there till 1832, when he again changed his loca- tion to the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 36, in said town and range. where he has remained ever since. Mr. Smith is a fine specimen of the old pioneer, and was subjected to as many hardships and labors as any man in the township. Sev- eral years since, three grown children died within a short time of typhoid fever. He is now eighty years of age and Mrs. Smith eighty-three. They had lived as husband and wife fifty-eight years, on the 23d day of March last. They are a good, honest, upright family.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
JOHN M'COOL
was a Pennsylvanian, who emigrated to Mercer County, Ky., and, in December, 1826, to White River Township. He was a good house carpenter, industrious and strictly honest. He died September 25, 1840, aged sixty-three years and four months. He left a widow, but no children. His widow died in July, 1862, seventy-seven years of age.
ROBERT R. LYONS
was also a Pennsylvanian, but emigrated to Mercer County, Ky. He was out while he lived in that State on an expedition in the war of 1812, along with the Kentucky troops, where he did effective service and was honorably discharged, and returned home in the beginning of the year 1813. He was married, dur- ing that year, to Jane Vanrarsdall. In the fall of 1825, he emigrated to the neighborhood of Greenwood ; here he remained two years and then located on the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 14 north, Range 3 east, where he remained till the day of his death, February 22, 1878, aged eighty-five years ten months and twelve days. He was a tanner and farmer, industrious and economical, and no man could excel him in the performance of the arduous duties belonging to pio- neer life. Both he and Mrs. Lyons were hospitable and kind to a fault. She still survives him and is now eighty-seven years old, and still active in body and mind. The old homestead is owned and controlled by Mr. Carder and his good lady, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lyons, and is still run in the same hospitable channel. Mr. Lyons left two sons, Harvey S. and John M., who adjoin the old homestead, and a daughter, Mrs. Jennings, of Franklin. Their character is sufficiently high among their neighbors and needs no commendation from the writer.
CAPT. ROBERT C. WISHARD
emigrated from Nicholas County, Ky., in the fall of 1823. His mother was a widow, and for several years before, as well as after coming to White River Township, they constituted a family. He settled on a charming tract of land, the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 27, Township 14 north, Range 3 cast. He was industrious and lifted his ax with great effectiveness among the green timber. He married Miss Rebecca Smith soon after com- ing, who seconded every effort of her husband to secure a good living, and made him a most agreeable companion. The Captain was the first Constable, under Archibald Glenn, Esq., who was
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
his brother-in-law, and was, soon after he came to the township, elected Captain of a company of militia composed of his neigh- bors. I can yet see him and his company drawn up on parade. The Captain was a large man and was well dressed in military costume ; his hat bore a tall red plume in its front, and now, with sword in hand, and in a sonorous voice that sounded afar off, he spoke, " Attention, the Company !" He was a good officer, and few men could excel him in training a company in the elements of the military art. He was a great joker, a loud talker, and could laugh as loud as any man living, and no man did more to cheer the gloom of the desponding settler, and laugh away hypochon- dria than he; he was open and free and kind hearted. He yet lives in Pleasant Township much changed by age from what he once was; he had some faults and many good qualities; we played and laughed and sported together in youth ; I cannot for- get him, with all his faults ..
HENRY GLENN
was a brother of Archibald Glenn, Esq. He came to Indiana from Nicholas County, Ky., at the same time with his brother, and, although he owned land from the beginning, in the town- ship, was not willing to encounter its wildness. He, therefore, rented a farm in Decatur County and remained there two years. He came to White River Township in 1823, and immediately began to construct a mill to be propelled by the waters of Pleas- ant Run. The mill was adapted to grinding corn only, and had but a single run of nigger-head buhrs. It did well and supplied the township with meal for five or six years, when it was super- seded by still better mills and went down. In 1827, he sold his mill and 240 acres of land to the Turner brothers and left for Illinois to better his condition. . He was skillful, industrious and honest, and had an intelligent family. He has been dead many years.
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