USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > A history of the formation, settlement and development of Hamilton County, Indiana, from the year 1818 to the close of the Civil War > Part 8
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The main work is a circle about 300 feet in diameter, thrown up in the center, but apparently level, and sur- rounded by a ditch that fifty years ago was about six feet deep.
Fifty yards to the south of the large circle there is a small circle about fifty feet in diameter and now al- most obliterated.
The site of these works is on the second bottom of White River about a quarter of a mile from the bank and thirty feet above the overflow. Between the earth inclosure and the river there is a mound which com- mands an extensive view up and down White River. The large inclosure is one of the very few in the Mis- sissippi valley that have the ditch on the outside, and it is, therefore, worthy of more careful study. From the
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examinations and measurements made subsequently the following additional data are ascertained :
This principal inclosure is situated about 700 feet west of the river and about 1,000 feet northwest of the center of section 3 on an elevated point of land extend- ing in a northwesterly direction into the bend of White River. Surrounding the major part of the northwest quarter of the same section, this elevated point over- looks a strip of low bottom land, varying in width from 400 feet on the east to 2,000 feet on the north and about 3,000 feet on the west, widening to the southwest and south. White River now occupies the outer boundary. High bluff land borders the opposite side. The low bottom land just described is composed of light sand of loam or alluvium, indicating that when those works were erected White River covered the entire area, with the fortification little more than one hundred feet from its margin. An accurate measurement of the works shows a diameter of 280 feet from the middle of the embankment on one side to that on the opposite side. From this point the outer slope to the middle of the ditch surrounding is about twenty feet, the ditch having been about thirty feet wide and nine feet deep. The earth and gravel excavated therefrom forms the em- bankment. The material excavated appears to have been in large proportion composed of coarse gravel, with a fair admixture of sand and loam inside the in- closure. The middle area was originally, no doubt, of
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equal elevation with the surface outside, since the en- bankment is still visible from the inside and apparently two or two and one-half feet high.
The purpose of this construction, it can scarcely be doubted, was for defense, the ditch on the outside being designed to resist assault. Within the inclosure numer- ous specimens of ancient pottery have been found; flint arrow heads of various designs and degrees of skill in workmanship were discovered, indicating with reason- able certainty the character of the works.
Almost directly to the west, near the western ex- tremity of the elevated peninsula before described, and about 600 feet from the earthworks, is situated a sepul- chral mound and general burial place for the occupants of the fort. Its location commands a fine prospect to the north, west and south and was well adapted to the purposes of a lookout station in case of expected inva- sion by enemies approaching along the river. On the site of this mound skulls and other human bones have been exhumed or otherwise uncovered in the process of cultivating the ground. Many fine and comparatively well preserved fragments of vessels, such as are sup- posed to have been used for sepulchral purposes, have been found here since the county was settled by white people. It is highly probable, also, that careful exami- nation of these works would bring to light many valu- able mementoes of the ancient inhabitants of this local- ity, who were interested in the fabrication of these archaeological monuments.
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Fall Creek Township.
Two brothers by the name of Thorp each built a cabin on what is known as Thorp Creek. This was after the hanging of Bridge and Sawyer, mentioned hereafter in this work. These brothers did not remain long. They gave the creek the name it now bears. It has never been made clear to me whether they came before or after McNutt.
McNutt was the first man, from what is now Fall Creek Township, sued in the Circuit Court of Hamilton County in a civil action. The suit was in trespass. AAs will be hereafter shown in this work, a man by the name of Bridge and a man by the name of Sawyer built the first cabins within the present bounds of Fall Creek Township, and the location of their cabins are given in a subsequent chapter. After Bridge and Sawyer were hung for the murder of the Indians, an account of which will be given, their families removed from the county. So the settlers who came after them found their cabins empty. This was a mystery to them, and this mystery was never disclosed in print until it was done in this work.
The first white man who made permanent settle- ment in this township was James McNutt. He settled not far from the cabin built by Bridge. He was an Irishman. Hiram Coffee, John Whelchel and Abraham Helms followed McNutt in the order named. F. Kin- kaid, Samuel Holliday. Richard Curry and Francis
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Whelchel followed those last named. They all built and lived in pioneer cabins of the times. These were the men who were the first to penetrate the wilds of Fall Creek Township and inaugurate the struggle which terminated in the triumph of pioneer courage and en- durance over the obstacles which stood opposed to their advance in civilization and wealth. Wild animals were found in this as well as other localities in the county. Game and fish were abundant in the woods and streams near by. The settlers were all good hunters and made use of their rifles to supply the family with meat. They found at that point grain for sale to supply them until they could clear and cultivate their own ground. The Indians had not all left this country when these persons settled this township, as the following incident will show :
Among the first pioneers of what is now known as Fall Creek Township was the father and mother of Wesley and Silas Helms. Among their earthly posses- sions they counted a fine specimen of the canine tribe. At a time in their pioneer life, before the red men had left this part of the State, Mr. Helms was called from his home on some kind of business. Some time during the day a heavy snow storm came upon them, and whilst the storm was raging in all its fury a very large Indian, armed with rifle, knife and tomahawk, appeared at the door of the cabin.
Having secured the attention of the mother, the In-
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dian pointed with his finger to the fast falling snow and then to the northeast and then to the door of the cabin, indicating that his cabin was some distance away, the storm severe and his desire to enter the cabin. The chimney to the cabin was on the outside and the roof extended some two or three feet over from the wall, af- fording some shelter. Mrs. Helms directed him to de- posit his gun in the shed thus created, and while he was thus engaged she placed the dog in the hands of Uncle Wesley Helms, as we now call him, with instructions to let him go at the signal from his mother. She then se- cured a knife her husband had made from an old file, which was long of blade and sharp at the point. This knife she secreted in one sleeve of her dress. Being thus prepared, she invited the Indian into the cabin. The In- dian came in, took a seat pointed out to him by Mrs. Helms and sat there almost motionless until the storm abated. He then arose, making signs that he could go on his way and also his thanks, secured his rifle and de- parted. As the matter turned out it is clear that Mrs. Helms' visitor was what was then called a good Indian.
The pioneers were of that kind of people who be- lieved in educating their children. They were also, as a rule, church-going people. Itinerant preachers came occasionally to this neighborhood and preached the gospel to the pioneers. Among the first preachers who( visited them was John Richmond, of the Baptist per- suasion. Nathaniel Barnes was the first Methodist
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preacher. Benjamin Legg was the first man of the Christian ministry who preached. A Mr. Stuart, a United Brethren, was the first of this denomination to preach in this township.
These services were, as usual, held in the log cabins of the pioneers. The first school house was built on the Arnett farm. The first church building was built in the Kimberlain neighborhood and was called Persever- ance. Abraham Helms was the first man elected jus- tice of the peace, but he soon resigned his office. He was conscientiously religious, and it was said that while he acted as justice he also attended the house raisings and log rollings, and on these occasions he heard more or less swearing ; and as he understood the law, it was his duty to cause the arrest of all persons using profane language ; but, as these men were his neighbors, he did not wish to do this, nor did he wish to avoid the per- formance of his duty, as he understood it, so he re- signed. L. M. Ogle was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by this resignation.
The first store was opened in this township by James Davis on the lands of Thomas Arnett. Samuel Arnett opened the next store, and the third store was opened by Wesley Helms near the present site of Olio. Samuel Harrison opened the first blacksmith shop in the town- ship. James Patterson was the first regular carpenter. The first grist mill in the township was built and op- erated by David Jones. This mill made both meal and
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flour, and was built on Fall Creek. The first saw mill was built on Thorp Creek by Abram Helms and one of the Kinnamans. This was the first place where lumber could be purchased, or timber could be sawed on the shares in their own township, and the people were proud of those two industries. The first distillery was erectd by Hartman & Rice. The first carding ma- chine was started by John Doran. The first bridge over Fall Creek was built near the Marion County line. The first school taught in this vicinity was taught by John P. Holliday in a cabin near what is known as the Arnett cemetery. This was a subscription school and was taught on the same terms as other schools in those days. The second school was taught by one of the Kin- namans in a log cabin near the residence of Abram Helms. These cabin school houses were built on the same plan as the pioneer residence cabin. They, as a rule, had a log cut out on one side and greased paper for a window light. The table for the pupils who studied writing was placed under this window.
Clay Township.
In 1824 Francis McShane entered land in the south- east corner of what is now Clay Township, and in the year 1825 built upon it his cabin. He was the first white man with his family to make permanent settlement in! the township. He had no neighbors in Hamilton County for some time. A settlement had formed in
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Marion County near him, so for the time being he joined forces with them for work and for school pur- poses. After putting up the necessary building the work of improving his land was begun in earnest. James G. McShane, who now resides upon and owns the land entered by his father, was at that time old enough to attend school. A vacant cabin stood in Mar- ion County a half-mile south of the Marion and Hamil- ton County line, north of Broad Ripple. In this cabin the McShane children attended their first school. Two Indian boys, sons of George Ketcham, attended this school. The family of Francis McShane consisted of himself and wife and two sons, Edward and James G. A daughter named Sarah was afterwards born to them. This was the first birth in the township.
In 1826 James Gray entered land partly in Marion and partly in Hamilton County. His cabin was built on the Hamilton County side of the line. A few years later hie burned brick and built a brick residence on the Ma- rion County side of the line. In 1830 the first death occurred. The victim was a daughter of James Gray. She was interred in the Whitinger cemetery.
Franklin Hall settled in Hamilton County west of McShane and Gray, in 1832. Soon thereafter Isaac Sharp and others settled north of Hall and together with McShane they formed a settlement for school and church purposes. The first school in this neighbor- ¡hood was in a cabin on the land of Isaac Sharp and was
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taught by Hannah Griffith; the second by Stephen Conner. The first church service in this settlement was at the same place where the first school was. The first preachers were Asa Beck and Hezekiah Smith.
Robert Barnhill entered land in what is now Clay Township two miles west of the land afterwards en- tered by Franklin Hall. At the same time he entered land in Marion County, the county line dividing it. He settled on this land in September, 1828. A part of his buildings were in Hamilton and a part in Marion. Benjamin McDuffee, in September, 1828, entered 160 acres west of the land entered in Hamilton County by Barnhill and settled on it in October of that year.
A man by the name of Standridge was living in a cave with a hut over it on the land entered by Barnhill in Hamilton County. He moved a half mile north when Barnhill came, and as he was a hunter and trap- per and soon moved away, I do not count him a settler.
Barnhill and McDuffee were the only settlers at this point at that time. In 1830 John Harden settled near the present site of Clay Center school house on land now owned by Isaac Powell. Samuel and Robert Morrow settled, in 1830, near John Harden. In 1832 Henry Cruse, Samuel P. Seely and Henry Davis settled near Barnhill and McDuffy, Davis, Seely and Cruse joined hands with Harden and the Morrows for log rolling, house raising and such work as required that amount of force.
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About 1835, new settlers having arrived in suffi- cient numbers to support a subscription school, a cabin was built where Clay Center school house stands. This school did not receive any support from Barnhill, Mc- Duffy, Seely or Davis. Seely attached himself to the Sharpe school. . Davis, Barnhill and McDuffy sent their children to a school in Marion County.
Joshua Wright settled in 1832 on the land now owned by the Hussey heirs. New settlers continued to arrive until very nearly all the land in this neighbor- hood was taken up.
The men who composed this neighborhood were hard working men. The task of clearing the land was apparently an endless one. There was but little money with which to supply the wants of the pioneers; true they did not need as much money as we do now. In addition to the hard labor of the men in their clearing, many other things had to be done. The pioneer had to learn to turn his hand to almost any trade. Mr. Barnhill made tubs and buckets for the neighborhood. He also made shoes and repaired gun locks. Much of this work was done after night. Henry Davis was a wheelwright; he could also make chairs and looms. Some stocked plows, others repaired old wagons. The women carded the wool into rolls, spun the rolls into yarn and wove the yarn into cloth.
John Harden built a saw mill on William's Creek near his place and John Smith built a saw mill lower
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down the creek. Both of these mills were clumsy af- fairs but they furnished rough timber for the neighbors.
No church was established in this neighborhood for a number of years. No grist mill was built until 1865. In that year the Carey brothers, of Carmel, built a saw and grist mill on the land of James G. McShane. They did not remain there long.
A settlement was formed west of Robert Barnhill's in an early day, partly in Marion and partly in Hamilton County. This settlement extended west to the Michi- gan Road. Elijah Patterson, Peter Daubinspeck, Man- uel Michaels, Nathan Wilson and others whose names I do not now recall were of this settlement.
The school house for this settlement was on land owned by Michaels. In 1836 or 1837, a class was or- ganized and met at the house of Nathan Wilson. These people continued to worship at private houses for a year or more. A lot was donated by Elijah Patterson to the society and upon this lot a hewed log church was soon thereafter built. This was called Poplar Grove Church. It stood until 1856. Early in that year Na- than Wilson donated a lot east of this log church upon which a neat frame building was erected. The Baptists formed an organization at an early day but had no es- tablished house of worship. The houses of members of the congregation and the school houses were the places in which the services of their church were con- ducted until the year 1867. In that year John Wil-
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liams donated a lot on his farm to the society upon which they erected a neat frame building.
In 1827 Benjamin Mendenhall settled near the pres- ent site of Carmel. Charles White. John Morris and William Hawkins came in 1838. Harmon Cox, Tin- othy Sumner, Barnaby Newby, Daniel Warren and Jonas Hoover came in 1831. Stephen Hiatt, Eli John- son, Jacob Cook, Isaac Rich and Charles Davis came in 1832. From 1832 to 1835 the following named per- sons came: Zimri Cook, Jonathan Carey, Eli Phelps, Abraham Jessup. Jonathan Evans, William Comber, Samuel Small, George West, Nathan Harold, Joseph Randall, Jr., Isaac Davidson, Benjamin Wells, John Kinzer and others. These people formed the settle- ment around Carmel. Their story would be the story of the other neighbors as to labor and hard fare. The nearest cabin west of this settlement was on the Michi- gan Road eight miles from them. The nearest south was the McShane cabin heretofore spoken of.
When it was found that there was a sufficient num- ber of children of school age to enable the parents to employ a teacher, a subscription school was opened in a cabin northwest of Carmel. This cabin stood on land now known as the Wilkinson land.
In 1830 a few Friends met at the house of Harmon Cox one and a half miles northeast of Carmel, to con- sult about a place to hold public meetings for worship, and this cabin was agreed upon. For nearly three
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years this continued to be the meeting place of those upright Christian families who formed the first meeting of Friends in Hamilton County. Subscription schools were taught here also for about three years. The most of these people came from North Carolina, coming through Kentucky.
When the first of these pioneers came they found Charles Ketcham and his family living in a cabin on the Hawkins' eighty-acre tract north of Carmel. He had good title to it and afterward sold it to a white man. He was an Indian Chief and was waiting for his tribe to get ready to go west. George Ketcham had a son, Charles, 18 or 19 years old. He was a great hunter and trapper and had a great many deer and coon skins. Daniel Warren had a good silver watch which Charles wished to buy, so he asked Mr. Warren if he would trade the watch for furs. Mr. Warren said yes, so Charles said bring your wagon to our cabin. Mr. War- ren did so. Charles threw deer and coon skins into the wagon until Mr. Warren told him to stop. Mr. War- ren passed the watch to Charles and drove his wagon home. The next day Charles called on one of their neighbors and told him about his trade with Warren and said "white man bad. watch bad." The white man saw that the watch had run down, so he asked Charles for the key with which he wound the watch and started it, then pointing to the setting sun, he made Charles · understand that at that time each day he must wind his
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watch. After that Charles said "white man good, watch good."
These people procured their grinding at the little mills on Cool Creek and at the larger ones on White River. Before the days of Bethlehem, now Carmel, they did their trading at Indianapolis. The road from Westfield to Indianapolis was the first one opened. A road from Robert Morrow's place led out to this road. The balance of the roads for a long time were cut by the pioneers to suit neighborhood purposes. They were merely brushed out and never worked, but they got along with them.
In about the year 1840 Josiah Senior settled on lands in Clay Township, a part of which is now used for church and school purposes at Poplar Ridge. Robert Ellis and others settled in that neighborhood about that time. Josiah Senior was a member of the Christian Church and through his influence a log building was erected upon the lands above mentioned. This log house was used by persons belonging to the Christian Church as a place of worship as long as Mr. Senior owned the land. In 1849 Mr. Senior sold his land and the society erected a church building southwest of the old house in what was called the Tanner neighborhood. This neighborhood extended to the west line of the County and ran north for some distance. The Tanner family, the Nichols family, the Beard family, the De- bruler family and others were of this neighborhood.
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In the year 1849 Jonathan Wilson, of the society of Friends, bought the lands of Josiah Senior above re- ferred to, consisting of 240 acres. Those of the Society of Friends living in this neighborhood in 1850 were Jonathan Wilson, Sylvanus Carey, Isaac Harroll, Evan Jessup, Samuel Wilson, Cyrus Carey, Stephen Macy, Thomas Charles and others.
Hezekiah Collins came in the latter part of the year 1850. . At this time the nearest Friends' Church was at Carmel, so the Friends in this settlement asked for the organization of a church. This request was granted and Jonathan Wilson donated land upon which to erect a building to be used for church purposes and for school purposes. In the early autumn of the year 1850 a good hewed log house was erected and a Friends' Church was organized on the 26th of December, 1850. The land donated by Jonathan Wilson was two acres of the north end of the land purchased by him from Mr. Sen- ior. Two years later a frame church building was erected to which was given the name "Poplar Ridge." This society took an early stand in favor of a higher education than was thought necessary in many other neighborhoods at that time. A good school building was also built by this society. Good teachers were employed. A few years later, through the influence of Mr. Wilson, a seminary building was erected, which was intended for a graded school building. This neigh- borhood increased very rapidly after the establishment
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of a church and school as above described. The school and church both prospered, and it became a desirable neighborhood in which to reside.
Jackson Township.
The first settlement made in this township was in the vicinity of the present site of Cicero by Henry Jones, William Taylor and Mr. Blanch in the year 1828. Henry Jones settled three miles west of Cicero on the line of what is now known as the Cicero and Lafayette Road. William Taylor settled four and a half miles west of Cicero. Mr. Blanch settled a half mile west of Cicero on the bank of Cicero Creek. All of these per- sons built cabins upon the lands entered by them and cleared for themselves each a farm. Mr. Blanch sub- sequently removed from that vicinity.
In 1831 Elijah Redman, Dennis Pickerell and James B. Freel settled within the present limits of Cicero, and, as will be hereinafter shown, Pickerell and Freel after that date, laid out the town of Cicero. John Harbaugh, John Clark, William Rollings, Adam B. Wildes, Wil- liam Jones and the Hall family settled at an early day in this vicinity. There was at that time an Indian trail leading from Strawtown to Lafayette. This trail led past Henry Jones' cabin. When the emigrants pass- ing from Strawtown to Lafayette wished entertain- ment, they found it at the cabin of Mr. Jones between Cicero and White River.
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Some of the land in this vicinity was entered by Germans, among whom were Mr. Mapes, who came carly, Nicholas Zelt, the Gardeners, and others whose names 1 do not recall. Whether these men formed a neighborhood independent of those who settled at Cic- cro and west of that place, I am not able to say, but they have preserved their identity and have ever been known as hard working men and women. These men by hon- est toil cleared the lands and converted them into beau- tiful farms. As a rule the lands are still owned by the children and grandchildren of these pioneers.
William Taylor built what in those early days was called a horse mill, the capacity of which mill was lim- ited, but answered a good purpose. This mill was built in and for the neighborhood above named.
In about the year 1834 the first school in the town- ship was taught in a log cabin standing in the woods at or near the present site of Cicero, the town not having been laid out then. In 1835 a school was taught in a cabin on the land of William Taylor. Both were sub- scription schools.
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