USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 37
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"Marion is the oldest town in the county. It was laid off in 1820, on the south-west quarter of section twenty, township thirteen north, of range seven east. John Sleeth was one of the original proprietors. His daughter Nancy was the first person married in the county; she was mar- ried to Abel Summers, May fifteenth, 1822, by Rev. Henry Logan, then living near the Bartholomew county line."
After 1828, Shelby county increased rapidly in population and wealth, and it still continues to thrive. To-day, the rail- road facilities of Shelbyville, and also of Shelby county, are second to no county in the State of equal population. Shelby- ville has grown to be a city of over 3,500 inhabitants, among whom are some of the ablest and most enterprising business and professional men in the State. . The schools of the county are well organized and efficiently conducted. The incorporated schools of Shelbyville are the just pride of her citizens.
CLINTON COUNTY.
CLINTON county was named in honor of De Witt Clinton. The surface of the county is level, excepting along the Wild- cat, in the southwest corner. There is no barren or waste lands in the county. In the south-western portion is the " twelve mile prairie." There are one or two other small prairies in the county, but, with the exception of these, and the one first named, all the balance of the surface was originally covered with a dense and heavy forest, containing an abund- ance of timber of a fine quality. The soil of the county may be termed alluvial, with a clay bottom. All the grains and
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CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.PHIL A:
HON. G. N. FITCH.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
grasses indigenous to the West can be produced in this county with profit. It is, perhaps, especially adapted to the cultivation of hay and for pasturage. Generally speaking it is one of the best farming counties in Indiana. As a proof of this, it may be mentioned that it is quite thickly settled with an intelli gent, wealthy class of farmers, who have grown up to inde- pendence with the growth of the county.
Frankfort is the county seat. The section of country fiom which this young city derives its trade, is one of the best agri- cultural sections in the West. It already has a population of over three thousand, and is steadily progressing in all its industries. Its schools are excellent, supported by first-class talent, and provided with commodious buildings. The city has very good railroad facilities, and has all the elements of future prosperity, which are being rapidly developed.
BOONE COUNTY.
BOONE county contains two hundred sixty-seven thousand five hundred and twenty acres of good land. The county was organized in 1830, with a population of six hundred and thirty. It was named in honor of Daniel Boone, the hero of border life. The southeastern, western and northwestern portions of the county are gently undulating. The other portions are level. The soil, in most parts of the county, is a dark loam, deep and very rich. It is remarkably well adapted to the pro- duction of all kinds of grain, grasses and vegetables indigen- ous to the Northwest. Timber is plenty and of the finest quality. Boone county is composed of the summit lands dividing the waters of the Wabash and White rivers. This accounts, probably, for the level, wet lands so common on almost all dividing ridges. They are generally termed " sum- mit levels," and are frequently composed of many ponds and small lakes, with only occasional ridges of high land. The county is watered by Eagle creek, White Lick and Walnut Fork of Eel river, which empty into the former, and Big Rac- coon and Sugar creek, which empty into the latter. Owing to the level surface of the county where these streams have their source, they are sluggish and comparatively of no value in the
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BOONE COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
way of propelling machinery. "The dense forests of heavy timber and low wet lands of Boone county, were not suffi- ciently attractive to bring within its borders a class of men of peculiar refinement and means, consequently it was first set- tled by men of stout constitutions, iron wills, and but little financial resources. It required a vast amount of labor and untiring effort to clear away the heavy forests preparatory to raising crops. Many of the early settlers cleared out a little ' truck patch,' sufficient to raise some 'roasting ears,' beans and other garden vegetables, after which they applied themselves to hunting, fishing, etc. The settler who could command a good rifle, two or three dogs, a cow, and one old horse, with the means to buy powder and lead, was considered supremely happy. In these early days there was abundance of wild game - deer, bear, wolves, turkeys, pheasants and ·quails. The currency of the country was the skins of deer, raccoons, mink and wild honey."
The county was once the home and hunting-grounds of a tribe of the Miamis; upon the banks of the streams were the graves of their fathers. In these little mounds lie the remains of many a native warrior and hunter. The site of the present town of Thorntown was once the habitation of nearly five hun- dred Indian and French traders. About the year 1833 most of the tribe were removed from the reservation at this place, which was purchased by the government in 1828. Thorntown, located in the northwestern part of the county, was once a lively Indian trading post; since that time it has become a lively place, with a civilized home trade. Only a few years ago the county of Boone was a wilderness, so densely covered with heavy timber and underbrush that the rays of the sun were almost entirely cut off from the earth in the summer season. Lonely and desolate must have been the feelings of those who first traversed these woods, when naught but nature's uncultured sounds greeted the ear - when the eye could see no heavens for the intervening foliage - when ser- pents and lizards, frogs and hornets, and wild beasts were possessors of the land. Forty years have wrought a mighty change in the county. Then no cleared fields were visible
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
from one neighbor's to another; great lakes of water, backed up by huge trunks of fallen trees, were visible on every hand; but now the lake has become a fertile field; great farms have been opened; the eye can see for miles over green or golden fields of corn. The cabin superseded the wigwam, and the neat cottage has superseded the cabin in almost every locality
Lebanon, the county seat, is located near the centre of the county, in a rich and productive section. It is a small town, but is thrifty and rapidly improving. It has a population of about three thousand, including a fine class of citizens, enter- prising, intelligent and prosperous. The town and county have good schools and school advantages .*
CHAPTER LXX.
HENDRICKS COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
H ENDRICKS county is located near the centre of the State of Indiana. It contains about one hundred and thirty-five thousand acres of land. The county was organized in 1824, and was named in honor of Governor William Hen- dricks. The surface of the county is gently rolling, and the soil is generally very good. The county is well timbered. especially in the northern portion. It is well watered by Eel river, Mill creek, Mud creek, White Lick creek, and their numerous tributary streams.
The first settlers of the county emigrated from North Car- olina to this county about the year 1818, and settled on gov- ernment lands prior to entry. The first lands were entered in the county in 1821, about three years before the organization of the county. The first settlements were made in the south- east portion of the county, in what is now Liberty and Gil-
* From a published sketch of the county.
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MORGAN COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
ford townships. Among the first settlers were David Downs, Ross Nicholas, Richard Christie, George and David Matock, William Ballard, Jonathan Rodgers, James Thompson, Thomas Hadley, Josiah Tomlinson, John Bryant and Thomas Lockhart
The county was organized in 1824, and Danville was chosen as the seat of justice. The first settlements were made in the county in 1818, when the first trees were felled and the first rude cabins erected. This population increased so rapidly that in 1824 there were more than one thousand inhabitants in the county. In 1870, the population of the county was twenty thousand two hundred and seventy-seven. The growth of wealth and public improvements in the county have been commensurate with this growth in population. The old court house has long since perished, and a new and substantial building has taken its place. The new jail and county asylum are substantial and well conducted institutions. The pioneer log school houses of the county have gone, and now over one hundred fine brick and frame school buildings attest the edu- cational advantages of Hendricks county. Excellent turnpike roads bisect each other in all parts of the county, and ample railroad facilities are presented. The county has now over one hundred and thirty thousand acres of improved land, valued at twelve million dollars. The products of the farms have always been largely remunerative. The taxable property in the county is worth over twenty million dollars. In every sense, the people of Hendricks county are intelligent, pro- gressive, and enterprising citizens.
The Indiana House of Refuge is located on the State farm adjoining Plainfield, in Hendricks county. This is one of the State's most worthy and benevolent institutions, and it is doing a good work for the benefit of the boys who have been sent there.
MORGAN COUNTY.
MORGAN county is located near the geographical centre of the State, and contains about 291,800 acres of land, and is watered by White river, White Lick creek, Mud creek, Big Indian creek, Stott's creek, Clear creek, Burnett's creek,
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Rhodes' creek, Mill creek, and other smaller streams. There is a considerable portion of this county rough and broken, especially along the White river, where the land is not very profitable for grain growing, but is well adapted for the pro- duction of fruit, such as apples, peaches, pears. About one- third of the county is bottom land. The soil in this section is a sandy loam, very rich and productive. The county is splen- didly timbered. The principal kinds are poplar, walnut, white oak, hickory, beech, sugar tree, etc.
Morgan county was organized in 1823, and named in honor of General Daniel Morgan. The first county election was held in a log house, owned by Mr. Stotts. The house was built in the year 1819, about one and a half miles west of Waverley. It was, probably, the first house built in the county. The first settlers came to the county, probably, in 1818. Mr. Phil- lip Hodge purchased land and settled in the county in 1818. Mrs. Rebecca Douglas settled among the Indians, in Morgan county, in 1817, but the first general settlement may be set down in 1819, when, among others, Robert C. Stotts, Hiram T. Craig, James A. Laughlen, James Stotts, Nathan Laughlen, and W. M. Offield, settled in what is now called Harrison township. Among the settlers who immediately followed these, and who have endured all the privations of pioneer life, were the families of the Hodges, Samuel Moore, Judge Hiram Matthews, Benjamin Hoffman, Jonathan Williams, Larken Reynolds, George H. Buler, G. A. Phelps, Mr. McCrakens, Benjamin Cutberth, Reuben Claypool, Alex. and Thomas J. Worth, Daniel Thornberg, Jack Record, John Bray, Madison Hadley, Richard Hadley, Benjamin Stafford, and Rebecca Blank. The latter is now a citizen of Clay township. She was one of the first settlers, and is the oldest person in the county, and one of the oldest ladies in the State. She was born in Richmond, Va., in the year 1768, and is now nearly one hundred and seven years old. She remembers Daniel Boone, and has participated in some of his deeds of daring on the borders of Kentucky.
Martinsville, located near the centre of the county, is the county seat. It has now a population of nearly two thousand,
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SCOTT COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
and is the largest town in the county. Mooresville is the next largest town, and has a population of nearly sixteen hundred. The founder of this place, who is well known to the people of the State, is still an active citizen. The county is well supplied with good schools and churches. There have been great improvements made in this direction during the last five years. The public improvements of the county are in advance of some other counties.
This is a good agricultural county. It has 133,615 acres of improved land, producing annually 330,000 bushels of wheat, 6,500 bushels of rye, 1,190,000 bushels of Indian corn, 65,000 bushels of oats, from 200 to 1,500 bushels of barley, 50,000 bushels of potatoes, 229,355 pounds of butter, about 10,000 tons of hay, and over 60,000 pounds of wool, besides thousands of dollars' worth of vegetables. The value of improved land in the county is over $9,000,000. The raising of live stock is a profitable pursuit in this county. The farmers are a thrifty class of people, distinguishing themselves by their industry and their love for public improvements.
SCOTT COUNTY.
SCOTT county is situated in the southeastern part of the State, near the Ohio river. It is of irregular shape, and con- tains about one hundred and eighty square miles. The county, generally, is level and rolling, except a small area known as the "knobs," which is quite broken. The soil is fair; the county is well watered by streams, and many springs abound. The timber is of the very best, and in abundance.
The county was organized in 1820, while the State capital was at Corydon, Harrison county.
It was named in honor of General Charles Scott, an officer of the revolutionary period, and, at a later period, governor of Kentucky. The county was formed from portions of Jefferson, Jennings, Clark, and Washington counties. The first county commissioners were Joseph Switzer, Reuben Johnson, and John Herod. Wm. K. Richey was the first sheriff, by appoint- ment from the governor. The first sheriff elect was Jesse
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Jackson, who afterward served in the legislature, and also as register of the land office at La Porte. Other original county officers were : James Ward, clerk; John Prime, recorder ; James Lochrane, treasurer, and Robert Wardell, an old revo- lutionary soldier - as coroner.
The county was first settled in 1805, by John Kimberlin, who removed to this section of the State from Kentucky, and who built, in the same year, the first house erected in the county. Among the early settlers were: Wm. E. Collins, Dr. John Richey, Eliab Collins, Samuel P. Devore, Robert Wardle, John Morris, Jeremiah Paine, Dr. Jonathan Carter, John Finley, Dr. James Hicks, David and Charles Eastin, Eli and Joseph Harlan, Kindred Ferguson, Wm. Nichols, John Win- gate, Zebulon Foster, James Lemaster, Wm. Norton, John Dickey, Jacob Cutler, Asahel Passwater, Daniel Hough, John Stucker, Robert Brenton, Wm. Fleming, Peter Storms, Daniel Serls, and many other brave and hardy pioneers, whose names are in the past.
Kindred Ferguson is still a resident of Scott county, where he has lived for sixty-five years, and has reached the extra- ordinary age of one hundred and four years.
In 1820, the county seat was located at Lexington, by Wm. Fleming, Dennis Pennington, Hardin H. Moore, Abel C. Pepper, and two others. The town was originally laid out by . Jesse Henley, General Wm. McFarlane, Adam Steele, Richard Steele, and Nehemiah Hunt, in 1811, on grounds owned by these gentlemen. The first house in Lexington was erected by John and Jacob Stucker. Gen. McFarlane built the first brick house. The first public improvements were made by private enterprise. Wm. Fleming and Moses Gray were the pioneer merchants. The first marriage solemnized in the county was between Daniel Kimberlin and Ursula Brenton. A child born to them is claimed to be the first white person born in the county. Among the early citizens c1 Lexington and Scott county, and who have since become prominent in the State, may be mentioned: Henry P. Thornton, the first prosecuting attorney of the county; the Carpenter Brothers; Major Elisha G. English, many years in State legislature; his son, Hon.
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CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.PHIL A.
A. S. EVANS, ESQ.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Wm. H. English, who for many years sepassented the district in Congress, was born in Lexington, as was also his grandson, Wm. E. English, now a promising lawyer of Indianapolis. The seat of justice was continued in this place for over fifty years, but was removed in 1874 to a more central point, a place formerly called Centerville, but now known as Scotts- burgh. This town was laid off in 1873, by Lloyd S. Keith, being surveyed by Thos. K. Wardle and Wm. Estel. It is located on the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis railroad, eighty miles south of Indianapolis, and now contains a population of about four hundred souls. Among the other towns of Scott county, are Austin, Vienna, New Frankfort,
Wooster, and Holman. Iron ore and salt abounds in the county. A good article of salt is manufactured, and numerous wells are sunk for salt water near Lexington, one of which is seven hundred feet deep. Good building stone is had in the same vicinity, and also a kind used for making a very fine quality of water cement. As these quarries are located near the railroad, and of easy access, it is believed that a factory for the manufacture of this cement will be erected at no distant day.
This county is the scene of the celebrated Pigeon roost mas- sacre, a full account of which will be found elsewhere in this volume. It is also a witness of the depredations committed by the rebel General John Morgan, in his raid through southern Indiana during the civil war. The depot at Vienna was burned by him, and many are the farmers through this county' who have bewailed the day when they "swapped " their fine fat, sleek horses, for the worn out, sore-backed jades of the rebels. Scott county possesses good railroad facilities. The Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis road north and south, and the Ohio and Mississippi road traversing the county in the same direction.
CHAPTER LXXI.
WAYNE COUNTY - PIONEER HISTORY.
TN THE Spring of 1805, George Holman, and Richard Rue, and Thomas McCoy, and a Mr. Blunt, with their families, came from Kentucky and settled about two miles south of the present site of Richmond. Holman and Rue had served in General Clark's expedition against the French set- tlements in Indiana, and having been held as prisoners about three years and a half among the Indians, they had become acquainted with the country, and had selected the most favor- able site for their future homes, while returning home from a western trip, in the fall of 1804. Early in the winter they returned to erect their log cabins, bringing with them, on their horses, such tools as were necessary for the work, and a few household utensils. Holman was accompanied by his two eldest sons, William and Joseph, then about sixteen and eighteen years of age, respectively. They were were not long in erecting the log dwellings, and in the course of two weeks, leaving the boys in charge, the pioneers departed for Ken- tucky to bring their wives and families.
On reaching home they were joined by two other families - those of Thomas McCoy and Mr. Blunt-and the four fam- ilies, with all their household goods and effects, consisting of clothing, provisions, tools, cooking utensils, guns and ammu- nition, started for their new homes on pack horses. They traveled through the forest day after day, through the cold storms, and at length, weary and alone, arrived at the cabins, where they found the Holman boys enjoying themselves in true forest life. McCoy and Blunt located near the site of the two cabins already mentioned; and thus was commenced the
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
settlement of Wayne county, now one of the most wealthy and prosperous counties in the State of Indiana.
Not many miles distant, on the Elkhorn creek, the Endsleys and Coxes, with their families, settled in the latter part of the same year. These pioneers were soon followed by the Rev. Lazarus Whitehead, a Baptist minister, Aaron Martin, Charles Hunt, and their families. Rev. Hugh Call, a Methodist min- ister, also came in 1806, and settled near Elkhorn creek, where he lived until his death, in 1862, at the age of one hundred and five years. Shadrack Henderson, with his family, settled, in 1806, on the west side of the Whitewater, and in same year a Mr. Lamb built a cabin not far from that of Call's on the Elkhart, in which he lived for several years.
It was in the latter part of this year that the settlement of Richmond was commenced, or, at least, most of the land in that vicinity was taken up in this year, although much of it was not occupied until the spring and summer of 1807. " About the first of March, 1806," says Mr. Young, in his valuable history of Wayne county, "David Hoover, then a young man residing with his father, in the Miami country, in Ohio, with four others, in search of a place for making a set- tlement, took a section line some eight or ten miles north of Dayton, and traced it a distance of more than thirty miles, through an unbroken forest, to this place, where he afterwards settled. He fancied he had found the Canaan his father had been seeking. His parents were of German descent, and members of the society of Friends. They had emmigrated . from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and thence to Miami, where they had temporarily located until a permanent home could be selected. Young Hoover and his companions were supposed to be the first white men who explored the territory north of Richmond. They discovered many natural advan- tages, among which were the pure spring water issuing from the banks of the stream, with its prospective mill-sites, inex- haustable quarries of limestone, and a rich soil. Following the stream south a short distance, they found traps set, and near the west bank of the Whitewater, nearly opposite Rich- mond, they saw some Indians. From these Indians, who
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WAYNE COUNTY - PIONEER HISTORY.
could speak broken English, they learned the white men had settled below, on the east side of the stream. They made their way thither, and found the Holman, Rue, and McCoy families. After a brief rest, they started back for the Miami, by a different route, and reported the finding of the 'promised land .' ''
In the following June the first lands were entered as the result of this prospecting tour. " Andrew Hoover, father of David, entered several quarter sections, including that which. the latter had selected for himself on his first trip. John Smith entered on what is now the south side of Main street, cleared a small patch of ground, and built a cabin near the bluff. Jeremiah Cox purchased his quarter section late in the summer, north of Main street, of Joseph Woodkirk, who had bought it of John Meek. Woodkirk, having made a small clear- ing and planted it with corn, Cox paid him for his improve- ments and corn. Andrew Hoover had a number of sons and daughters, who settled around him as they got married. David had taken a wife in Ohio before coming to the territory; but he did not occupy his log cabin until March in the following year (1807.) Here, on the west bank of Middle Fork, he resided until his death in 1866. The land in and about Rich- mond was settled chiefly by Friends from North Carolina, some of them from that State direct, others after a brief resi- dence in Ohio. As the Hoover family were the pioneers of these people, but for the discovery made here by young Hoover and his fellow adventurers, the Society of Friends would probably not have had the honor of being the first proprietors of the land on which Richmond stands, and of naming the city." Among the first families who settled were those of Jerry Cox, John Smith, Elijah Wright, Frederick Hoover, Andrew Hoover, Sen., David Hoover, William Bulla, and John Harvey. Soon after " the spirit of emigration prevailed strongly in the Southern States, especially in North Carolina. The Friends had settled in that State before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, which allowed the en- slavement of the African race in this country. They were generally unfriendly to slavery, hence, probably, their desire,
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
in great part, to find homes on better soil and in more con- genial society. Soon after the families above mentioned, others of the Carolina Friends began to arrive. Among those who settled in the vicinity of Richmond were Jacob Meek, in 1806; Elijah Wright, in 1806 or 1807; Jesse Bond, in 1807, on the farm where Earlham college now is; John Burgess, in 1808; Valentine Pegg, 1809, ten miles west from Richmond; John Townsend, about the same time; Cornelius Rutliff, 1810; John McLain, 1810; and about the same year came families of the names of Stewart, Evans, Gilbert, Thomas, Roberts, and others." A settlement was soon commenced on East Fork, at an early day. In 1806, Joseph Wright, a revolutionary sol- dier, settled there, and was followed, in 1807, by Peter Fleming, both having entered their lands as early as 1805. Besides those above mentioned, there were many others settled on East Fork at an early day.
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