USA > Indiana > Johnson County > A historical sketch of Johnson county, Indiana > Part 3
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In the House of Representatives. the King bill was passed at once; but in the Senate, trouble began. King was acquainted with but two members in that body, one of whom was Marston G. Clarke, the member from Washington, and a nephew of the celebrated George Rogers Clarke. He was a stern, dignified man, " barely able," says Oliver H. Smith, " to read a chapter in the Bi- ble, and wrote his name as large as John Hancock's in the Dec- laration of Independence." His sense of justice was acute, his mental force great, and his influence in the Senate almost un- bounded. A man of his character and temperament, King thought it not safe to attempt to influence in behalf of his bill, lest he should be suspected of mercenary motives, and a prejudice spring up in the mind of the legislator against him and his measure.
For two weeks. Gregg and King were making their best endeav- ors to carry their respective measures to a triumphant issue. In the House, Gregg was powerless; and in the Senate, so was King. In the House, every measure antagonistic to the King bill was voted down ; while in the Senate, no action was taken.
There was but one map of the State at the time, accessible to members of the Legislature, and it not infrequently happened, that, while one committee was using it, another wanted it. In the belief that a map placed before the Senate Committee on the Organization of Counties, at the proper time, might be in his favor, King procured paper and the necessary instruments, and, occupy- ing the better part of a night in the work, he traced out a rude map of the State.
In a few days, the Senate Committee on the Organization of Counties was to meet, and Johnson asked for the use of King's map for that committee. Gen. Clarke, who was a member of the committee, was not present during the carly part of the meeting, nor was Harvey Gregg; and Johnson, who was a fluent talker and an importunate man, had it all his own way. The commit-
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
tec, as a compromise measure doubtless, agreed to report in favor of his plan ; but before the session adjourned, Clarke came in and inquired what had been done. Being told, he studied the map attentively for some moments, and then burst out with : " That fellow," pointing to Johnson, " or some friend of his, owns land on which he expects the county seat of this new county to be located," and. at this sally, Johnson indignantly left the room.
Then King approached the table on which the map lay and pointed out, as well as he could, the reasons why the House bill organizing Johnson County should become a law ; and, after con- sidering the matter carefully, Gen. Clarke said, " You shall have it, sir !" and, before the committee adjourned, it was agreed to report in favor of the House bill.
The next day the report was accordingly made and concurred in, the bill was passed, and, on the last day of December, 1822, it received the Governor's signature and became a law of the land. It is in the following words :
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of In- diana, That from and after the first Monday in May next, all that part of the county of Delaware contained in the following boundaries, to wit: beginning at the southwest corner of Section thirty-four, in Township eleven north, of Range five east, the same being the southwest corner of Shelby County; thence running north with the line of said county to the southeast corner of Marion County; thence west to the northeast corner of Morgan County; thence south on the line of said county to the town- ship line dividing Townships ten and eleven; thence east to said line to the place of beginning-shall constitute and form a new county, which shall be called and designated by the name of Johnson.
SEC. 2. That John Parr, of the county of Washington; Adam Miller, of the county of Jackson; John W. Lee, of the county of Monroe; James Gregory, of the county of Shelby, and Archibald McEwing, of the county of Bartholomew, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for the purpose of fixing the permanent seat of justice for said county, agreeably to the provisions of an act entitled, "An act for fixing of seats of justice in all new counties to be laid off." The Commissioners above named or a majority of them shall meet at the house of John Smiley in said new county, on the first Monday in May, and proceed to the duties assigned them by law.
SEC. 3. That the said county shall enjoy all the rights, privileges and jurisdictions, which, to a separate county, do or may properly be- long.
SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the Sheriff of Bartholomew County to notify the Commissioners above named, either in person or by written notice, of their said appointment, and the County Commissioners of the county of Johnson shall allow him such compensation therefor as they shall deem just and reasonable, to be paid out of the county treasury of said county.
SEC. 5. The Circuit Court, and all other courts of said county of Johnson, shall meet and be holden at the house of John Smiley, or at any other place the said court shall adjourn to, until suitable accommodations can be provided at the permanent seat of justice of said county; and so soon as the said courts are satisfied of that fact, they shall adjourn thereto,
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IHISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
after which they shall meet and be permanently held at such seat of justice.
SEC. 6. The agent who shall be appointed to superintend the sales of lots at the said seat of justice shall reserve ten per centum out of the pro- coeds thereof, and also of all donations made to said county, which he shall pay over to such person or persons as may be appointed by law to receive the same, for the use of a library for said county.
SEc. 7. The Board of County Commissioners of said county of John- son shall, within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice shall have been selected, proceed to creet necessary public buildings therein.
SEC. 8. The same powers, privileged and authorized, that are granted to the qualitied voters of the county of Du Bois and other counties named in an act entitled. " An act incorporating a county library in the counties therein named." approved January 28, 1819, to organize, conduct and support a county library, are hereby granted to the quantied voters of the county of Johnson, and the same power and authority therein granted to, and the same duties therein required of, the several officers and the person or per- sons elected by the qualified voters of Du Bois County and the other coun- ties in the said act named, for carrying into effect the provisions of the act entitled, "An act incorporating a county library in the county of Du- Bois," and the counties therein named, according to the true interest and meaning thereof, are hereby extended to and required of the officers and other persons elected by the qualified voters of the county of Johnson.
SEc. 9. This act to be in force from and after its passage.
G. W. JOHNSON, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
RATLIFF BOON. President Assembly.
Approved December 31, 1822.
WILLIAM HENDRICKS.
Oliver H. Smith was, at the time, a member of the Legisla- ture, and he proposed for the new county the name of Johnson, in memory of John Johnson, one of the Judges of the first Su- preme Court of the State. Gov. Hendricks at the same time appointed John Smiley, Sheriff of the new county, and issued a writ of election directed to him, appointing the 8th of March. 1823, as the day on which the qualified voters of the county were to assemble at the house of Hezekiah Davison, on Blue River, and Daniel Boaz. on White River, and elect two Associate Judges, one Clerk of the Circuit Court and one Recorder, in manner and form as required by law.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT ORGANIZED.
Johnson County now had a name. Its boundaries were defined by law. A Sheriff of the county had been appointed by the Governor of the State, and there was a population of about 550, living in its one hundred cabins, and that was all. There were no other county officers than that Sheriff. There was no county revenue. There were no county buildings, and the wild deer sported in the runways that threaded the spice thickets which grew upon the land lying between Young's Creek and the Hurri- cane. County officers had to be elected ; a revenue created ; a county seat located ; public buildings erected ; roads cut out ; markets created ; churches and schools founded, and the wilderness cleared out ; and the men living in the little cabins on Blue River, Sugar Creek, Nineveh, White River and the head-waters of Pleasant Run. set about the work with an earnestness that augured well for their ultimate success.
John Smiley was appointed by Gov. Hendricks as Sheriff of the new county, and a writ of election was issued to him appoint- ing the 8th day of March, 1823, as the day on which the quali- fied voters of the county were to assemble at the house of Heze- kiah Davison, on Blue River, and at the house of Daniel Boaz, on White River, and elect two Associate Judges, one Clerk of the Circuit Court, one Recorder and three Commissioners. The Sheriff gave due notice of the election, and the places at which it was to be held, "by setting up written notices thereof in three of the most public places in each election district " ten days before the time designated. No record of voters' names or of the num- ber of votes cast at that election can be found. But the certifi- cates issued to the Associate Judges by the Sheriff have been perpetuated in the records of the Circuit Court. Israel Watts and Daniel Boaz were elected Associate Judges, Samuel Herriott. Clerk, William Shaffer, Recorder, and William Freeman, John S. Miller* and James Ritchey, Commissioners. It is not in memory whether Watts and Boaz had opponents or not ; nor is it remembered that the Recorder did; but there were three candi-
* There is authority for saying that William Reynolds was chosen, and not Miller. Am- brose D. Barnett, a young man at the time the election was held, remembers the fact thus. But Samuel Herriott, who was an actor in the scenes of the time, and who transacted business with the Commissioners, always spoke of Miller as one of their number, and so have other old men, notably the late Thomas Williams. The matter is in doubt, and it is to be greatly regretted that the written records of the first Commissioners have been lost.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
dates for Clerk-Samuel Herriott. John A. Mow and William Will- iamson. The two former lived in the Blue River neighborhood, while the latter was stopping at the house of Joab Woodruff, of Nineveh, whither he had lately gone from Bartholomew County for the purpose of standing as a candidate for Clerk of the Cir- cuit Court .* Of the contest in White River, nothing whatever is known. but in Blue River much has been kept in memory. On the morning of the election. a keg of whisky was caused to be brought upon the ground by Williamson-the first full keg ever brought into the county-and was tapped for the use of all thirsty voters. And. not content with offering the beverage freely to all on the ground, jugs of it were sent out by the hands of trusted friends, and voters were intercepted on the trails and paths and liberally treated to " Williamson whisky " before they reached the polls. There were not many in those days who would refuse a drink of whisky, and, as this was a rare commodity in the woods at the time, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the potations were frequent and deep on the part of many present. Certain it is. that many of the voters grew so noisy that the immediate friends of Herriott and Mow became despondent, while William- son's following became correspondingly elated. Then followed boasting and bantering. upon the heels of which came fighting. How many fisticuffs took place is not known. but the combatants beat, bit, scratched and gouged each other, and wallowed in the mud and mire, as was never known in the country before, and not for many a day after. But, when the vote came to be counted, it was found that Herriott had received more votes than both his competitors, and he was declared elected. Five men were candi- dates for County Commissioners. the three chosen, and Joseph M. Townsend, of Blue River, and Nathaniel Bell, of White River.
By the organic act, the new county could not assume political functions until the 1st day of May, 1823, but the County Com- missioners were required to meet on the second Monday of that month at the house of John Smiley, and thereafter at the usual places of holding the Circuit Courts on the second Mondays in August, November, February and May of each year. No record remains of the official action of the first Board of Commissioners of the county, nor have I met with any one who specially remem- bered anything of its proceedings except the late Samuel Herriott, who kept in his mind the circumstance of the naming of the county seat.
* At the first election held in Shelby County, Samuel Aldridge, living in Johnson County, on the line, wished to be a candidate for Clerk, and "the boys" moved his cabin over into Shelby. He was a candidate, was elected, and became a permanent citizen of that county.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
On the same day that the County Commissioners were required to meet at the house of John Smiley and organize the first Com- missioners' Court of the county, the Commissioners named in the organic act of the county, for the purpose of locating a county seat, were required to meet at the same place in the discharge of their duty. Of the five men appointed, three met at the time and place set apart-Col. James Gregory, of Shelby County, and Maj. McEwen, of Bartholomew; but the name of the third is for- gotten.
Two localities were submitted to the Commission, one on the lands of Amos Durbin, near the mouth of Sugar Creek, where a " paper village " had already been laid out, and the other on the lands of George King, at the mouth of the Hurricane. These places were duly examined, and then George King prof- fered to show them over the southeast quarter of Section 8, in Township 12, Range 4. which cornered with the center of the county, and which tract King had purchased with a view to the possible location of the county seat at that point. But a heavy rain came on, and the Commissioners were driven in, and at once proceeded to locate the town on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 13, Township 12 north, Range 4 east, which forty-acre tract King donated to the county, together with eleven acres lying between it and Young's Creek.
It was made the duty of the Commissioners, after making the location, to report the same to the County Commissioners, and, on this being done, on the suggestion of Samuel Herriott, who had recently read a life of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and was a sincere admirer of that great man, the new county town received the name of Franklin.
The law in force required the Board of County Commissioners to appoint a county agent, whose duty, among other things, it was " to receive good and sufficient deeds of conveyance for any land which may have been given for the use of the county. *
* and to lay off the same into town lots, streets and alleys, accord- ing to such plan as the County Commissioners may direct," and to sell the lots under the order and direction of the Commission- ers, and pay the money into the treasury. John Campbell, the Irishman, was appointed such agent, and he seems to have set about his work soon after. Some time in September, David MeCaughron, a surveyor from Bartholomew County, surveyed the new town, and, upon the authority of the late Jefferson D. Jones, it may be said that the bend in Madison street remains as a silent, though perpetual, witness to the intoxicated condition of that surveyor when he run the line of that street.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
The first sale of lots was advertised for the 2d day of Septem- ber, 1823, and on that day the County Agent, provided with " whisky and paper " of the value of $1.18?, for which the county paid, sold a number of lots adjoining the public square : and, on the 14th day of the same month, he exposed to sale other of the town lots. The principal sales were on the south and east sides of the square, and prices ranged from $19 for the lot on which the jail stands, to $40.50 for No. 61, which lies immediately south of the jail lot. The brush was grubbed out of the public square by Nicholas Shaffer for $6.58, and David McCaslin, Na- thaniel Poor and Jacob Freeman performed labor in and about, clearing the square of growing timber, while the citizens of the place voluntarily rolled and burned the logs of nights.
It was made the duty of the Commissioners to partition the county into convenient townships, and this duty they must have performed soon after being inducted into office, for, from the August election returns for 1823, it appears that three townships had been organized-Blue River, Nineveh and White River. Blue River seems to have been confined to so much of Congres- sional Township 11, Range 5, as is in Johnson County. White River extended over all the territory now included in White River. Pleasant and Clark, and Nineveh extended over all of Nin- eveh. Franklin, Union and Hensley.
It is uncertain. at this time, when the contract for building a court house was let, but it is certain that the house was not ready for occupancy in March, 1824, but was ready in October of the same year. William Shaffer, the County Recorder, who was by occupation a carpenter, undertook the work, and it is safe to as- sume that it was begun in the spring of 1824, and that the con- tract was let by the first Board of Commissioners, but for what price is now unknown. The late Thomas Williams, however, who was the owner of the only yoke of oxen then in or about the new town, drew the logs to the building site for $1. The new court house was in keeping with the poverty of the county. It was two stories high, was built of hewed logs, and a broad wooden outside stair led from the ground up to the second floor, which was the court room. This was furnished with a table, two " splint- bottomed chairs, one for the Judge and one for the Clerk," with wooden benches without backs for the accommodation of lawyers. jurymen, litigants and spectators. This first court house was built upon the lot situate immediately in the rear of the lot on which the bank buildings are erected.
A jail was not yet provided. It is in memory, that, before a jail house was up, a prisoner, under sentence of imprisonment, was
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
sent from an Edinburg Justice's Court, and that John Smiley, in lieu of a better place of confinement, chained the culprit to a stump in the public square his allotted time. But the chain and stump did not serve the purpose in all cases, for, in 1826, we find the Board of Justices of the county making allowances out of the county treasury for the guarding of prisoners.
A contract for building the jail must have been let some time in the first half of 1826 to Samuel Herriott. At the July term of the Board of Justices, it was ordered that the contractor put two windows in the jail, one in each end, seven inches by eighteen, and that the logs for the jail should be seventeen feet long instead of eighteen, and that, instead of ceiling the "upper loft " with poplar plank, it be " laid down with hewed timbers nine inches thick." From this order, the character of the structure may be perceived, and further, that the material had not yet been pre- pared. In the following January, the board accepted the build- ing, but there nowhere appear sufficient data to enable us to fix upon the price paid.
Steps were undoubtedly taken by the first Commissioners to raise a county revenue, but the loss of the records has carried the financial history of the county for the first three years into irre- coverable oblivion.
The organic act required the Circuit Court to meet at the house of John Smiley, and, accordingly, on the 16th day of October, 1823, William W. Wick, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, repaired to the place indicated, and, meeting the Associate Judges, Israel Watts and Daniel Boaz, and the Clerk, Samuel Herriott, and the Sheriff, John Smiley, at that place, the Johnson Circuit Court was formally opened. The Sheriff brought in, as he was commanded, twelve " discreet householders " to serve as a grand jury, whose names are as follows : William Barnett, Thomas Doan, John Harter, George King, Jonathan Palmer, John White, John A. Mow, Joab Woodruff, William Foster, John Jacobs, John S. Miller, Simon Shaffer, Jefferson D. Jones and John Frazier. Three lawyers were present-Daniel B. Wick, James Dunlavy and Calvin Fletcher. Smiley's house was a double log cabin. one room of which the court occupied, and the other the grand jury. Mrs. Smiley was sick at the time, and occupied the room with the grand jury, but the record does not state the fact. Daniel B. Wick, the Judge's brother, served as prosecuting attor- ney, and Mrs. Smiley remembered that he had a bottle of whisky in his pocket, and that, with great gallantry, he offered her a drink from his bottle, which she declined taking, and then he passed it to each grand juryman in turn, but whether each or any drank with him, is not said.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
As an evidence of the hospitality of the times, it may be stated that dinner enough for all was prepared, and, on invitation, court, jurors, lawyers, by-standers. all sat down thereat. Mrs. Ruther- wood, still living, superintended the preparation of that dinner. Three indictments were found by the grand jury, one judgment taken, and. on petition of Amos Durbin, three Commissioners, Absalom Lowe. John Campbell and Joseph Young, were ap- pointed Viewers, to view a proposed change in the State road. and the court adjourned in the evening of the first day.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER VII.
PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT.
A review of the progress of the colonization of the county sub- sequent to its organization and up to the time when every section of land had its cabin, falls within the scope of this history ; but the data necessary in order to a fairly satisfactory record have been so eluding that the writer enters upon the theme without confi- dence as to results.
On that last day of the year 1822, when Gov. William Hen- dricks approved of the act which brought Johnson County into the sisterhood of counties, there was living within the limits of her boundary lines, according to the best estimate that can now be made, about five hundred and fifty souls, all told. Of these, at least three hundred and fifty lived within the present limits of Blue River Township. Edinburg, the oldest town in that town- ship, and also in the county, was staked off probably in the spring of 1822, and a dry goods store, a smith-shop, and a house of pub- lic entertainment, the first of these in the county, were shortly afterward opened therein. This new town with these conven- iences attracted emigrants to the neighborhood, as also did the fertile and well-drained lands of the township. The fame of the Blue River country, its timber, its rich soil and its dry slopes was carried abroad by every traveler and land-hunter who followed the Indian trail from the river counties or beyond to the new capital grounds of the State. We have had occasion heretofore to note the approving exclamation of John Tipton as he went by on his way to locate the capital. Men hunting homes, came trooping in, and, by the time the county was organized, nearly one-half the lands of the township had passed into the hands of private owners. The first year, purchasers covered 4,400 acres, the highest number of acres ever bought in that township in any one year, and a number not reached in any other township be- fore 1833. In 1821, the purchases run up to 2,480 acres, but, from that time on, they fell below 1,000 per year, until the whole was consumed. The last entry was by Lewis J. Hender- son, in 1846, of a 40-acre tract lying just above the mouth of Young's Creek.
But the reader of tract-books and deed records must ever bear in mind that it is not every man who becomes a land-holder in a new country that becomes an inhabitant. And so we are driven
-
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
to the few and often defective tabulated statements of the votes cast at the elections of the period, which have escaped the ravages of time and fire, and are compelled to read therein as best we may the record of the annual growth of the county in population. But, while studying the tabulated votes, we do not forget that voters stayed at home in those days as well as in these, and, besides, that the voter then could lawfully cast his vote at whatever precinct in the county he happened at the time to be. Other disturbing elements might be suggested, but enough have been given to convince the reader that the population for any year can be given only approxi- mately, save the years of the census.
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