USA > Indiana > Henry County > Henry County; past and present: a brief history of the county from 1821 to 1871 > Part 2
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Michael Conway, Oct. 28,
Jacob Huston, Nov. 12,
George Hobson. Oct. 28,
George Hedrick, Nov. 13,
Joseph Lors, Oct. 31.
Richard Alshangh, Nov. 14,
Abraham Cory, Oct. 31.
Henry Metzger. Nov. 14.
Belsy Corv, Oct. 31,
Henry Stumph, Nov. 18,
Reuben Wilson, Nov. 4,
John P. Johnson, Nov. 22.
George Koons, Nov. 6,
Demp-py Rres entered a traet of land in Harrison town- ship, April 29, 1822, which was the only piece purchased in the township, during the year. Zeno Reason and Richard Rat- liff' purchased land in Jannary following, and Levi Pearson and Gabriel Ratliff, in June and July, which completed the transac- tions for the year 1823.
The land office for this district was at Brookville until 1825, when it was transferred to Indianapolis, then a village of little consequence, there being fewer voters in Marion county at that time than there are in Henry township to-day.
The manner of the land sale was to commence in a certain township in a certain range, and offer each tract or eighty-acre lot, consecutively, till the whole was gone through with. If no one bid, the tract being called hy number was soon passed. When a number was called, the "squatter" who, perhaps, had a few acres cleared, or a little cabin on the same, could become the purchaser at $1 25, the minimum price, unless some one run it up on him.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Where two persons had the same number and were desirous of entering the same eighty or one hundred and sixty-acre lot, it was no uncommon thing for one to buy the other off, with some trifling sum, say $10 to $25, and, although the law of pub- lie opinion was such that neighbors would seldom try to buy each other's improvements from under them, still there were cases in which no little feeling was excited in such cases, and various little intrigues were resorted to, to bluff or out-wit com- petitors.
If for any reason a man failed to bid on a piece of land he desired to purchase, it sometimes happened that he could prevail on the auctioneer to call it up "just after dinner," or the "first thing next morning." From and after the land sale, all lands were subject to private entry at the minimum price.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
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By an act of the Legislature, bearing date February, 1821, " the south part of Delaware,"* commencing at the southwest corner of Wayne county, thence running west twenty miles,
*"All that part of the New Purchase lately acquired of the Indians, lying east of the second principal meridian, but not included within the limits of any organized county, shall hereafter be known and designated by the name of the county of Delaware, and the counties contignous thereto and east of the meridian shall have concurrent jurisdiction throughout."-[See page 108, Revised Laws, 1824.]
This "second principal meridian" is about sixteen miles west of Indianapolis. The eastern limit of the "New Purchase" was the "Indian boundary," running near the western limits of Wayne county and bear- Ing N N E till it crossed the Ohio line in Jay county. Its northern limit was the Wabash River, and it extended south to the boundary of Jennings connty. Decatur, Shelby, Rush, Monroe, Marion, Huntington, Allen, and many more were formed in part out of "Delaware county," although the present county of Delaware was not organized until 1826, five years after Henry and Rush. This "concurrent jurisdiction" sometimes made it the duty of a High Constable of Henry county to ride all the way to White River, near the present site of Noblesville, to attach the property vi a creditor.
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HENRY COUNTY: PAST AND PRESENT.
thence north twenty miles, thence east twenty miles, thence south to the place of beginning, was declared erected into a new county, to be " known and designated by the name and style of Henry county," and from and after the first day of June next, it was to enjoy all the rights and privileges of a separate and Independent county, and, in short, to do much as other counties do.
Lawrence Brannon and John Bell, of Wayne county, John Sample, of Fayette, Richard Biem, of Jackson, and JJ. W. Scott, of Union, were appointed, by the same act, Commissioners, to meet at the house of Joseph Hobson, in said county of Henry, "on the first Monday of July next," for the purpose of locating the county seat.
It was also provided by the Legislature that the Sheriff of Wayne county should notify said Commissioners of their ap- pointment, and that the county of Henry should make said Sheriff of Wayne a reasonable compensation for such service. This mandate of the Legislature seems to have been duly hon- ored by our county, as we find that the Commissioners of Henry soon passed an order that " Elias Willets, Sheriff of Wayne county be allowed fifteen dollars" for the service, which was certainly cheap enough, considering that the appointees lived in four counties, and that the Sheriff must travel at least 250 miles in the performance of his duty. On the other hand, these early Commissioners were certainly quite as liberal as could have been expected, since the sum was about one-tenth of the entire revenue, county and State, collected for the first fiscal year.
To perfect the organization, a corps of county officials had to be provided, and Governor Jennings, pursuant to a law for such cases made and provided, issued a warrant, Jannary 1, 1822, to Jesse HI. Healy, a citizen of the incipient county, to act as Sheriff, with instructions to issue notice of an election to be held at some private house, at an early day, for the election of a Sheriff, Clerk of the Circuit Court, two Associate Judges, and three County Commissioners. Of the number of votes cast, or the points on which the contest turned, no information can at this day be found. This election was held prior to July, 1822,
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TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
as the officers elect were all furnished with certificates bearing date July 5, 1822.
Jesse HI. Healy was elected Sheriff; Rene Julian, Clerk and Recorder; Thos. R. Stanford and Elisha Long, Associate Judges; Allen Shepherd, Wm. Shannon, and Samuel Goble, Esqrs., Commissioners.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
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At the time of the assembling of the first Commissioners' Court, June 10, 1822, there were no eivil townships in exist- ence, within its jurisdiction, and one of its first cares was to provide a few of these indispensable dependencies, "with a local habitation and a name." After describing, in fitting language, the metes and bounds of these "territories," the Commissioners declared that "from and after the first Saturday in July next" they should each "enjoy all the rights and privileges and jurisdic- tions which to separate and independent townships do or may properly belong or appertain."
¿ Whether this idea of an independent and separate existence and jurisdiction smacks of "State rights" or not, the reader must judge. The Commissioners were an authority in the land, in those days, and it is quite safe to conclude that they fully intended to carve out of the territorial limits of Henry county several little republics, which were to be fully competent to manage their domestic institutions in their own way.
The townships thus provided were four in number, viz .: Dudley, Wayne, Henry, and Prairie. Dudley and Wayne com- posed the First Commissioners' District, Henry the Second, and Prairie the Third.
The original boundaries of Henry county were not identical with those of the present day, and, as a consequence, the bounda- ries of the townships lying on the east and west borders of the county underwent some change when the new boundaries
HENRY COUNTY; PAST AND PRESENT.
were fixed by the Legislature, in 183 -. A township meeting, notwithstanding the size of the township, must have been a sinall affair In those times. Three years after, when the popula- tlon had probably more than doubled, the whole vote for Gov- ernor was but 366.
DUDLEY TOWNSHIP.
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Dudley, the first township called into being by the fiat of the Commissioners, June 11, 1822, began at "the southeast corner of Henry county, of which it is a part," and running thence west on the county line dividing Henry, Fayette and Rush counties, about nine and one-fourth miles from the present cast line of the county, and was six miles in width. It consequently con- tained at least fifty-five and one-half sections of land, and com- prised all of its present limits and about four-fifths of the present township of Franklin.
At this date, it is estimated that there were not 150 persons residing within the limits of the township.
A round of løg rollings, house raisings, and similar "bees" occupied much of their time, and talk with one of these vete- rans and you will very likely be told that they enjoyed them- selves and felt as hopeful, contented, and happy as at any period since.
"Friends' Meeting House," a hewed log edifice, which the writer remembers as standing about one mile sontheast of the present site of Hopewell Meeting House, was erected in 1823 or 1824, and was, no doubt, the first attempt at church architecture in the township or in the county .* The congrega- tion had been in the habit of worshiping at the house of Wm.
· A Baptist church, a log building about 18x20 feet, was erected about one and one-half miles northeast of Daniel Paul's, so near the same time as to render it difficult to determine which is entitled to the claim of seniority. This church was used as a school house for a number of years.
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DUDLEY TOWNSHIP.
Charles, north of where Harden's old tavern stand used to be. An ancient orchard still marks the spot.
A school house soon followed, with all the elegant appurte- nances and appliances of the times for assisting the "young idea to shoot."
Dudley was the gateway of the county, as three principal thoroughfares from the east and southeast led through it. It presents, perhaps, less variety of surface than any other town- ship in the county, being almost entirely table land, lying on "the divide" between Flatrock and West River, with perhaps two-thirds of its surface finding drainage to the latter.
The passersby of early days regarded it as most unpromis- ingly wet. Although very little of it can be termed rolling,,it is now seen to be sufficiently undulating to permit the most complete drainage of almost every aere, and under improved calture the large average crops and general fertility stamps it as one of the best bodies of land in the county.
Dudley of to-day is five and a quarter by six miles in extent, and thus contains about 19,000 acres; divided into 191 farms, an average of about 103 acres each ; supporting an almost exclu- sively rural population of 1,348 souls, about 4316 per square mile, divided between 268 families and 267 dwellings. Of this number but 13 are foreigners-less than one per cent, while the natives of the "Old North State" number 126, or nearly ten per cent. of the whole population. The value of the lands and im- provements for 1870 was $542,120. The town lots and improve- ments were valued at $6,300, and the personal property at $249,970, making a total of wealth of $798,590.
The first election was ordered to be held at the house of Mr. Paul, on Saturday, July 6th, 1822, for the purpose of electing one Justice of the Peace, and William MeKimmy was appointed Inspector. William MeKimmy and Garnett Hayden were ap- pointed first Overseers of the Poor for Dudley township, and Richard Pearson and Robert Thompson "Fence-viewers." The elections were afterward held at Benjamin Strattan's for a num- ber of years; about 1840, at Daniel Reynolds'; then at New Lisbon.
Soon two polls were opened-one at New Lisbon,
3
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HENRY COUNTY; PAST AND PRESENT.
and the other near Straughn's. Again the polls were united, and held at James Macy's. At this time there are two polls- Om at New Lisbon, and the other on the National Road.
To-day, instead of the mere "trace," the "See trail," the blazed bridle path, winding around through the thickets, around or over logs, through "slashes," or high grass and stinging net- t'es, high as a man's shoulders, so well remembered by the "old- est Inhabitant," or over miles and miles of "corduroy road," of which "internal improvements" Dudley could, twenty or twenty-five years ago, vie with the work, the township has near thirty miles of fine turnpike, splendid and well drained farms and farm houses that vie with the best.
WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
The second grand division named in order, on the public records, was to be known and designated by the name and style of Wayne township. It was originally six miles from north to south, and eleven in length from east to west, including all that territory west of Dudley. It thus included in its fair do- main about 42,000.acres of very valuable land, much of it to-day the most valuable in the county. Its first boundaries included one-fifth of the present townsnip of Franklin, all of Spiceland, and one-sixth of Greensboro. Although thrice shorn of a por- tion of its "independent jurisdiction," its present area is a trifle in excess of thirty-three square miles.
Wayne township had, at the date of its organization, from thirty to forty families, though the very choice lands, fine springs, and abundant water power of Blue River, Buek and Montgomery creeks, marked it for rapid settlement. A village was projected at the mouth of Mongomery's Creek, on the county line, as well as "old State road," at onee. This became the emporium of trade for the region round about, and rejoiced in all the metropolitan splendors of a "one-eyed grocery" and dry goods store kept by Aaron Maxwell. This "Chamber of
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
Commerce," in 1822, consisteil of a very indifferent log cabin, with a wide fire place, flanked on one side by a rude table, where Mrs. Maxwell compounded "red bread," and on the other by a barrel of whisky and about as muy bolts of calico, etc., as could be piled upon a chair.
Raccoon pelts seem to have been the principal circulating medium, and several years afterward, when the stimulus of sharp competition had taxed the energies of the merchant princes of the day, the old kulies were at times under the ne- cessity of sending by the mail boy for a little tea or other lux- ury, and young ladies in quest of a bridal trosseau would mount their palfrey's and make a day's journey to Connersville for the outfit.
The Methodists had preaching at West Liberty, in a very early day, perhaps as early as 1823, Rev. Constant Bliss Jones officiating. The preaching was held at Mr. Hatton's private house for some time. Jones was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Brown, who seems to have resided at West Liberty. Mrs. Eliza Jones (then Miss Cary,) taught a school, in 1825 and 1826, and was the first female teacher in those parts. She, with Mrs. Peggy Jones, the minister's wife, organized the first Sabbath school in the township, perhaps in the county.
At the first meeting of the Board of Commissioners, an election was ordered to be held at the house of Joseph Watts, July 6th, for the purpose of electing the one Justice of the Peace for the township. Abraham Ileaton was appointed In- speetor, and seems to have been eteeted the first Justice. In August, Elijah MeCray and E. Hardin were appointed Consta- bles of Wayne township, until the February term, next in course. In November, Daniel Priddy was also appointed Constable. Ebenezer Goble and Samnel Furgason were ap- pointed Overseers of the Poor, and Daniel Heaton, Shaphet MeCray, and JJacob Parkhurst first "Fence-viewers in and for Wayne township," and Abraham Heaton was also appointed Superintendent of the school sections in Wayne township. The elections in this township were afterward held at Prudence Jackson's house, till 1825; changed to Solomon Byrkett's, in
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HENRY COUNTY; PAST AND PRESENT.
1827; then to Jacob Parkhurst's, then to Raysville and Knightstown alternately, and soon afterward fixed permanently nt Knight-town.
Abraham Heaton seeins to have had, at this early day, a mill erected at the month of Buck Creek, a few rods south of what has for many years been known as the "White Mill." John Anderson, afterward "Judge Anderson," then a fresh arri- val, dug the race and, receiving $100 for the same, walked to Brookville and entered a part of the present site of Raysville.
Immediately after the organization of the township was effected, the Commissioners ordered the location of a road "to commence at the town of New Castle, and from thence the nearest and best way to Abraham Heaton's mills, and from thence to the county line, where section thirty-three and thirty- four corner in township sixteen and range nine, on the line dividing fifteen and sixteen." The terminus was West Liberty, and the route selected was the river route from New Castle via Teas' mill, the stone quarry, and Elm Grove. This was the second ordered in the county, the first being from New Castle via John Baker's and David Thompson's, on Symons' Creek, to the county line, ou a direct course, to Shook's Mill, in Wayne county, which shows of what importance the opening of the "Cracker line" was to the carly settlements. Not to be won- dered at either, since "going to mill" required about two to four days out of the month.
Wayne Is the most populous and wealthy township of the county to-day. According to the recent census, its area is di- vided into 206 farins; an average of about 103 acres cach. It has a population of 3,331, or about 100 per square inile. The value of lands and improvements for 1870 was $664,710; of town lots and improvements, $433,120; while personal property foots up to the sung little sum of $682,510, making a total of $1,784,370. Something more than one-half its population is to be found in Knightstown, Raysville, and Grant and Elizabeth Cities, 330 of its 680 families residing in Knightstown alone. Dudley and Wayne, with the townships carved out of them, constitute the First Commissioners' District, as they always have.
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HENRY TOWNSHIP.
HENRY TOWNSHIP.
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Henry, the third township, in the "order of their going," upon the records, was also called up June, 1822, and was a strip of territory six miles wide, extending quite across the county from east to west, and including what is now Liberty, Henry, three-fifths of Harrison, and nearly all of Greensboro township. This constituted the Second Commissioners' District. It at first contained 118 square miles, or over 75,000 acres.
Henry township now contains 36 square miles, and is near- ly the geographical center of the county, and is the only one in the county in which the Congressional is identical with the civil township. Ten years after the organization of the county, this township had not over 500 inhabitants, while to-day it num- bers over 2,800, nearly one-half of whom live in the "rural deestricts." It now contains 135 farms of near 160 acres each, and maintains a population of' 78 to the square mile. There are 592 families, 67 colored persons, 121 of foreign birth, and 152 natives of old North Carolina, in the township.
Blue River, dividing the township nearly in the center, is too sluggish to furnish a good mill scat within the limits of the township. Duck Creek skirts through the northwest corner of the township, and Flatrock through the southeast corner. The table lands between these streams are nearly one hundred feet above the bed of Blue River, and, although there is perhaps as much rolling land in this township as any in the county, there is very little so rolling as to merit the term broken, or too much so as to admit of culture. Recent efforts at ditching and straightening the channel of Blue River bid fair to completely redcem the marshy bottom lands, which are of inexhaustible fertility.
The county seat being located in Henry township would of itself (even in the absence of natural advantages,) have secured to this township an important position in the county, both
HENRY COUNTY; PAST AND PRESENT.
'mmm ally and politically. It is the second township in both Disrespects in the comty. The value of the real and personal property in the county, by the assessment of 1870, is shown to be : lmn ls and improvements, $630,350 ; lots and improvements, Sms: personal property, $600,0), making the song total of $1,99,620.
The first election was held at the house of Samuel Bellson ; Charles Junion, Inspe tor. Ast'il Woofer, Minij c' Chun - ness, and Thomas Watkins, were appointed Fence-viewers for Henry township. Wm. Shinnon and Samuel Bedson were elect- ed ilrst Justices of the Peace.
PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP,
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The fourth of the original townships, included all the territory lying north of Henry, and was eight miles in width and nearly twenty in length, thus giving it an area of nearly 160 square miles or ahout 105,000 acres. Within its ample limits were all of the present townships of Blue River, Stony Creek, Prairie, Jefferson, Fall Creek, and about two-fifths of Harrison.
In spite of the mutations which have since overtaken it, the township of this day remains five miles in width by eight in length, thus containing over 25,000 acres, which are divided into 201 farms, averaging about 122 acres each.
Prairie contains four villages, viz. : Luray, Springport, Mt. Summit, and Hillsboro. About seventy families live in the villages, and two hundred and forty in the "country." The population numbers 1,622, or a little more than forty to the square mile. The value of farms and improvements last year Was $559,210; of town lots and improvements, $10,610; of per- sonal property, $258,650, making a total for the township of $828,470.
This is a remarkable township in many respects. Situated as It is, on the "divide" between White and Blue Rivers, about
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LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
one-half its surface finds drainage to the north and the remain- der southward, and although thus situated on the "water shed," nearly one-sixth of its surface consists of low, wet meadows, from fifty to eighty feet below the general level of the table lands. It is from these meadows or prairies that the township takes its name. These "flowery leas" seem ever to Have been coveted, although within the memory of the oldest inhabitant large portions of them were so flooded with water much of the year as to be chiefly valuable as the resort of waterfowl. To- day, however, under an extensive system of drainage, even the wettest portions of these prairies are being thoroughly re- deemed, making farms which for inexhaustible fertility cannot be surpassed anywhere.
The first election for Justice of the Peace was held July 6, 1822, at the house of Absalom Harvey, Wm. Harvey, Inspector. Win. Harvey and Abijah Cane were appointed first Overseers of the Poor, and Abraham Harvey, James Massey, and Robert Gordon, Fence-viewers "in and for said township." In 1826, the place of holding elections was changed to Sampson Smith's, afterward to Enoeh Dent's, and again to E. T. Hickman's, where it remained for many years, but, in 1846, was changed to James Harvey's.
The first school house in the township was built on Shubal Julian's land, better known of late as the "Shively Farm," per- haps in 1824 or 1825. It was a small affair, with split saplings for seats, and a fire-place across the entire end. Senator Hess and Ex-Treasurer Julian graduated here. Milton Wayman was first teacher. This house was also used as a church by the Bap- tists.
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
Liberty was the fifth township organized, this important ceremony bearing date of February 12, 1822. It was a clipping
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HENRY COUNTY; PAST AND PRESENT.
from the east end of Henry township, and, according to the metes and bounds prescribed, it was at first one mile less in ex- tent from east to west than at present. It is now six miles wide by six and three-fourths in length, thus embracing about forty square miles, mostly table land, of a very fine quality generally. Flatrock, rising in Blue River township, enters this township near the middle of its northern boundary, passing out near the southwest corner. The valley of this stream is so slightly depressed as to form nothing worthy to be called bluff's, and, although too sluggish to be of much value for hydraulic purposes, it, with its small tributaries, seems in some way con- nected with the drainage and fertility of a wide belt of superb farming lands. The two Symons' Creeks, heretofore mentioned, find their sources in Liberty township, and now furnish ample drainage to many sections of fine land that, doubtless, in the early days of this county, passed for very wet land.
The aggregate value of the farms and improvements of Lib- erty township to-day exceeds that of the farms of any other township of the county, and the evidence of thrift and "farm- ing for profit" are nowhere more generally visible than in Lib- erty township. Four villages have been projected in the town- ship-Millville, Ashland, Petersburg, and Chleago, though it is presumed that the proprietors of the two last named, if still living, have long since abandoned the hope of seeing them out- strip their namesakes. Under the new turnpike law, many miles of turnpike have sprung into existence, and to-day the people of this township rejoice in the advantage of traveling to almost any point on good pikes, there being about thirty miles completed in the township, and much more projected.
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