USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume I > Part 9
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CHURCHES.
The Baptists held the first religious services in private houses. A few years later a society was formed known as Mt. Tabor, a house was built and is known far and wide as old Mt. Tabor. It is located one-half mile north of Fayette, northeast corner of section 10. South of this church the same denomination (Baptist), built a new church and called it Cynthiana. There was a great religious stir in the Baptist church of the young county when Mt. Tabor was established. We submit here the report showing the spirit in which they entered into the work. It was first constituted on the third Saturday of July, 1835, in the fifth year of the county of Boone. The following sister churches of the county were represented: Eagle Creek church, by George Dodson, Thomas Bradly and John Phillips; Thorntown church, by John Turner and Squire Osborn; Mt. Gilead church, by Jacob Jones and Lewis Dewees; Union church, by Thomas Heathen and Hampton Pennington ; Big White Lick, by Parsley Sherley, Ezekiel Shirley and Abra- ham Spekelman; Little White Lick, by James Parsely and Caleb Sherley. We, the above representatives of the above churches, being convened at the house of William Turner, having examined into the society of organizing a church, and finding the articles of faith to be in accordance to our church, we find them duly qualified to keep house as a regular Baptist church with the following named brothers and sisters as constituted members thereof : Ed- mund Shirley, Benjamin Smith, Lewis Smith, Daniel Shirley, James Smith, William Smith, William Edwards, William Turner, Philadelphia Shirley, Susan Smith, Nancy Smith, Elizabeth Shirley, S. R. Francis Nash, Matilda Turner, E. P. Harding.
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We, therefore pronounce them a regular Baptist church and give them the right hand of fellowship, this, the third Saturday in July, 1835.
Thomas W. Bradley, Clerk.
Elder George Dodson, Moderator.
The members of this society prior to organization met at private homes for worship, as was the custom of the beginning of each church society. Afterwards they built a log house which served them for many years for worship and many happy gatherings were held there. In lieu a frame meet- ing house was built at a cost of $800 and seated four hundred people. It was well located on a high piece of ground with the cemetery near by in which many of the pioneers are at rest from their arduous toil. There were three other churches organized in the township. In the center of the township the Baptist (Means) have at this date a church of one hundred and one members and is reported as losing ground. Mt. Tabor is now reported with a membership of sixty-six standing still. Cynthiana church south of Mt. Tabor, Baptist (Means) with a membership of one hundred and twenty-six, growing. The Methodist church in the northern part of the township with a membership of forty-four.
SCHOOLS.
The first round log school house in the township was located in the south- west part near No. 3 of this day. The first school was in 1836, Mr. Schenck the teacher. Other private schools were established and continued until the public school system came when there were eight schools irregularly estab- lished over the township. Under the present system there are seven schools measuring up to the age in which we live.
ROADS.
The first road established was the Indianapolis and Lafayette state road which enters the township at the middle of the east line of section I, township 17 north, range I east, runs in a northwest direction and passes out at the northeast corner of section 21, township 18 north, range I east.
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All other roads were slowly made as settlements were established until now there are many good roads leading in every direction and decorated with beautiful homes and well tilled farms. To see this country today one would hardly think that it was the wild forest and swamp marshes of seventy-five years ago. The hand of man hath wrought a wonderful change in the wilderness.
EAGLE.
Eagle township is situated in the southeast corner of the county and was the first settled in the county by white men, not even excepting Sugar Creek township. It was the best naturally drained of all the townships. Big and Little Eagle creeks flow through the township from north to south. Fishback comes in from the northwest and Long Branch from the east. An- other reason for the early settlement was the fact that the Eel river Indians held their reserve in the northwest part of the county until 1828, and the lands were not offered for sale until 1829. Among the earliest settlers in the township we would name Patrick H. Sullivan, the oldest settler in Boone county, Jacob Sheets, John Sheets, David Hoover, Austin Davenport, Jesse Davenport, Nathan and William Carr, James and John McCord, Frederick Lowe, George Dye, Jacob and John King, James, William and John Harmon, followed in a few years by Washington and Thomas Miller, Ben Cox, Peter Gregory, William and Jas. Marsh, Daniel and Hugh Larimore and a host of others until the township was occupied. The first marriage in the county was in this township at the home of the first probate clerk, David Hoover. Elijah Cross captured his fair daughter, Polly. The first election was held at David Hoover's house and Jacob Sheets was elected the first justice of the peace. James McCoy was the first preacher, a Baptist in faith, as early as 1825. The first probate court of the county was held at David Hoover's home and Austin Davenport was the first sheriff. The first mill was built on Eagle creek by Jacob Sheets. George Dye also built a mill on Eagle near Zionsville.
Eagle Village, about a mile east of Zionsville was the first important trading point and held the position until the railroad was built early in the 50's. The Eagle Village Light Infantry figures in the early history of Boone at this point where they rallied every month under the command of Capt. J. F. Daugherty.
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Among the pioneer ministers of this locality were James McCoy, George Dodson, Isaac Cotton, Robert Thomas, George Dye, George Boroman, George W. Duzan, William Klingler and William Gouge. All have gone to their rest long ago and are waiting for the sound of the trumpet on resur- rection morning. Their bodies with their pioneer comrades mouldered away in the early burial places, one at Eagle Village, one just south of Zionsville, known as the Bishop grave yard, one at Eagle Creek Baptist church and one on the Michigan road near the old Bethel church known as the Bethel grave yard. It is stated that the first brick house built in the county was on the Michigan road between Eagle Village and Clarkstown and was erected by Austin Davenport in the year 1835. Eagle claims the first cabin, first brick house, first marriage, first judge and the first mill. Among the early doctors were William N. and George W. Duzan, H. G. and Jeremiah Lari- more, Warner F. Sampson, S. W. Rodman and N. Crosby.
This township contains twenty-four sections and is located as follows, to-wit : Sections 21, 22, 23, 24, 28 to 36 inclusive, in town 18 north, range 2 east and sections I to 12 inclusive, in town 17 north, range 2 east. In addition to the good drainage attracting the early settler, was the good roads for that day which enabled him to get there. First among these were the Michigan road (see article Michigan Road elsewhere), and the road leading from Indianapolis to Lafayette. While there were settlements made before these roads yet they greatly aided in the later influx of population and the commerce and general traffic of the country. The I. C. & L. Ry. came in 1852, entering the township at the southwest corner of section 12, running north and west and passing out at the southwest corner of section 21. In the beginning of this century came the traction entering the east part of section 12 and joining the Big Four at Zionsville and paralleling it the rest of the way to Lebanon. With all these road facilities added to the general good wagon roads throughout the township, the people could move about with pleasure any day in the year. This was a marvelous change to those who could remember the almost impassable roads of pioneer days. The first mill in the township and it must be the first in the county was built by Jacob Sheets on the banks of Eagle creek soon after he settled in 1824. It was first designed as a "Corn Cracker," but afterwards burrs were added to grind wheat, and bolting to manufacture flour. The second mill in the township was built by George Dye and located on Eagle creek where Zions-
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ville now stands. He added to this a sawmill. Both of these mills had a wide scope of territory to serve and developed a large business and were very lucrative at that early date.
CHURCHES.
The first public religious meeting was held at the home of David Hoover, the sermon being delivered by James McCoy, a traveling minister of the Baptist faith. There were no church buildings in the township until after the founding of Eagle village, northeast of Zionsville on the Michigan road. It with Clarkstown are the oldest villages in the township. They promised to be flourishing, but the forming of Zionsville killed both. But in this village it is stated that the first church house was erected, but it passed away with the village. It is stated that the mother of the churches in Boone county was the Regular Baptist church constituted in the year 1829, with the following members: George Dodson, Elizabeth King, Fred- erick Grendell and wife, John King, Thomas and Polly Dodson, Robert Dodson, Mary Dodson, Samuel Lane and wife, Edward Bradly, David Marsh, John Dulin and wife, Squire Dulin and wife, James Peters and wife, Robert Dulin and wife. The first clerk was James Bradly. The first house was a rough log building, but it answered the purpose of worship. The second house was erected about 1850, costing about $600. This church is now reported dead in the Mission Report of Boone county of 1911.
There are three other churches in the township outside of Zionsville. These churches are located in and near Royalton in the southwest part of the township. The Baptist (Means), twenty members, losing ground. The Methodist Protestant, with nineteen members, losing ground. The Meth- odists, one hundred and twenty-six members, growing.
SCHOOLS.
The first school-it is stated by good authority that the first school was on the banks of Eagle creek near the Marion county line. If the in- formation is correct about this school it is not only the first school in Eagle township but it is also the first school in the county. It is placed in date
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several years before the school that was established on the William Beeler farm in 1832. The third school established was on the farm of William Dye north of Zionsville. Miss Anna Miller, doubtless the first lady teacher in the county taught a subscription school in Zionsville soon after its organ- ization. When the schools took a new start under the law of 1851, the number of schools increased to nine in the township and under the present system these schools have been reduced to five outside of Zionsville.
UNION.
This is the middle township on the eastern border of Boone county and contains twenty-five sections of land. It is bounded on the north by Marion township, on the west by Center and Worth, on the south by Worth and Eagle, on the east by Hamilton county. It is composed of sections 25 to 36 inclusive of town 19 north, range 2 east and sections I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 to 16 in town 18 north, range 2 east.
The township is well drained naturally. Big Eagle creek flows through the central part of the township, from the north to the north. Finley creek comes in from the northeast and Mount's Run from the extreme northwest entering Eagle creek near the south border. It is next to Eagle township in being blest with good natural drainage. Before the Indians gave up their hunting and fishing grounds along Eagle creek the pale faces began to clear away the timber for their cabin homes. Among the first that came were the Lanes, Jesse, Edward, John and Samuel as early as 1826. Among the neighbors were Ben Cruse, Henry and John Koonts, Jacob Johns, George Walker, Riley Hogshire, George Shirts, John Davis, James Richardson and scores of others for the neighborhood filled up rapidly after the first cabin was raised and it was about as jolly and good natured and sociable a settle- ment as could be found and as active in organizing the county.
The first religious meeting held in the township was in 1832 at the cabin of Mr. Sedgwick conducted by Thomas Brown. The first election was held in 1834.and John Berry was elected the first justice of the peace. The first mill was set up on Eagle creek by Hiram McQuindy and began to grind the corn for their pones.
The first church erected in the township was by the Methodists near the
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center. It with the pioneers has passed away. The next church was by the Baptists west of it, where it still stands in a growing condition with one hundred and eighty-seven members. Later came an increased number of church buildings. Christian north of the center with one hundred and five members and growing. Methodist church at Big Springs with thirty-six members, losing ground. Methodist northwest of Northfield, six members, losing ground. Just north of this church is the Disciples church with seventy members, losing ground. In the center of the township is the Seventh Day Adventists with twenty-nine members and growing. In the southwest corner is the Lutheran church with twenty members, losing ground, and the Methodist with forty-nine members, standing still, accord- ing to the report of the Home Mission Board of 1911.
With the corner stones of civilization, the home, the mill, the church and the school laid there was a foundation upon which the structure could be raised. The Indian had none of these hence he never advanced except as he imitated the white man. Between these pillars of strength first were blazed ways through the woods, then the timber was cut away, grades began, corduroy over the bogs which were the seed from which came the highways of our day. The Michigan road which crosses the township from the south to the north bearing west was the first great improvement. . The men and women that bore these hardships of pioneer life are gone to their reward.
ROADS.
The first great public highway through this township is the Michigan road which enters the township near the southeast corner of section 14 and passes out at the northeast corner of section 28. The Lebanon and Nobles- ville on the line between town 19 and 18 north. There are besides these, a number of good roads all over the township. It should be men- tioned here in connection with the early history of the township that there were three taverns along the Michigan road. It was a great thoroughfare and there were numbers of public houses strung along to accommodate the throngs that were pressing north and westward. This road was lively in the early days with the ox and horse teams and it is alive to this day with the modern automobile when there is a speedway on at Indianapolis. It is
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stated that one auto per minute passed during the afternoon of Friday May 29, 1914. The Anderson, Lebanon & St. Louis Railroad passes through the northern part of the township from east to west.
The soil of this township is very fertile, well drained and produces abundantly all the products grown in this latitude. The farms are beautiful and homelike with all modern improvements. There is nothing to prevent the people from being happy and contented and prosperous.
CENTER.
The name-Center township, describes its position in the county. It is the largest township in the county, with irregular boundary and touched by every other township in the county except Eagle and Sugar Creek. It contains about sixty-six square miles of territory. It is drained by Prairie creek principally which rises in the southeast part of the township and flows northwest into Sugar Creek at Thorntown. When in its natural state there was not much flow to it but mostly spread. The old settlers can remember in flood time when it spread all over the central part of the township. It runs through Lebanon; that city furnishes a spacious ditch to lead its waters decorously through, and on for miles beyond, so they will not occupy all the streets and door yards of the city. The time was when this little stream occupied, when on a high, all the woods in and about Lebanon, except a few of the highest points. The children who walk the paved street today and witness the quiet stream even at flood time within its confines, would not recognize a picture of seventy-five years ago, when Prairie creek was an inland lake.
The hand of man hath wrought great changes. It was toil that de- veloped out of a great swamp woods the beauty of Lebanon. The history of Center township is the same as the story of other townships. First the blazed path and round log cabin, then the cut out roads and hewed log cabins; then a semblance of a ditch on each side of the cut-away and open- ings for the sluggish water to find its way out of the woods. Later, came grades and corduroy, more ditching and perchance a frame house and per- haps some one ventured on erecting a brick house which was the wonder of the natives. Most of the brave men and women who with great toil, sacrifice
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and privation laid these foundations of our grand county have long ago gone to rest. They were the grandparents of the present generation. They endured hardships for us. If we could place their lives and manner of liv- ing by the side of ours in this age, the contrast would be wonderful. It would make us more grateful for our blessings and to those who so toiled and sacrificed unselfishly for us.
By an act of the Legislature of 1830, this county was organized. There were six hundred brave pioneers in the county at that time. The same act provided five commissioners to locate and name the county-seat. It was to be within two miles of the center of the county. Three of the commission- ers met at that point the Ist of May, 1831. The center of the county would be on the second meridian line, near the southwest and southeast corners of town 19 north, range I east, and range I east of the second meridian. Here the commissioners met on that bright May morning. It was an uncheery place for the capital of a county. Tall timber, dense undergrowth and bogs and willows. No human dwellings in sight, not even the sound of the woodman's axe. A little north of the center was a knoll, a spot dry enough for a court house; here they located the spot and drove down a large stake to designate where the court house should stand. It was a town without a human soul, not even an Indian, no hut, no wigwam, not even a name- nothing but a broad expanse of forest with impenetrable underbrush, and wet feet. The commissioners went in search of a name. One was so uncon- cerned he fell asleep, the others could not agree, so they roused their com- panion and placed upon him the responsibility of christening the place. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, looked around at the tall timber, surveyed the sluggish prairie just to the north of them. He called to mind the Bible story that his mother told, about the tall timbers of Lebanon and of the Jordan, and shouted "Lebanon," its name shall be, and so its name was fixed and so to this day all the children of the "State of Boone" learn early in life to frame the name of "Lebanon." Mr. A. M. French was the young man that first called the name, and the stake was driven on the land that belonged to Colonel Kinnard. There was a man by the name of Colonel Drake who was also interested in the land.
This was the greatest day that had ever been in the county of Boone to that day. A large crowd of regular unkempt Boonites had gathered to witness where the seat of government would be located. It was a day long
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to be remembered. On that consecrated spot a monument has been erected that will stand until time shall be no more. The third monument-our magnificent court house-has been erected over the spot to commemorate and hold the position.
The first man who had the courage to locate a home in such an un- sightly place was Abner H. Longley, about one year after the stake for the court house was driven. He erected his one room log cabin on lot No .. I. He ornamented it with a veranda by planting a post in front of the cabin, a log on top and covering with the branches of trees so as to make a shade and protection.
Such were the very beginnings of our county-seat. Around this spot revolves the history of Center township and largely that of the county. The making of a branch or ditch for the high waters of Prairie creek to flow out, opened up a way not only for the flood, but also for ditching all that section of county. Into this the willow bogs were chased, the land appeared high and dry, streets were made, some corduroy, some plank for side walks; then came gravel first by rail, then out of the deposits made thousands of years ago, until the paved streets of our day, with steam and electrical cars. A look into the wonderful development within the memory of many yet liv- ing seems marvelous, yet it all came by slow growth and through great toil and hardship.
Center township is bounded on the north by Washington and Clinton townships, on the west by Washington, Jefferson, Jackson and Harrison townships, on the south by Jackson, Harrison, Perry and Worth townships, on the east by Harrison, Perry, Worth, Union and Marion townships. It is composed of the following lands to-wit: Sections 13, 14, 15, 21 to 28 in- clusive. and 33 to 36 inclusive; in town 19 north, range I west, and sec- tions I to 4 inclusive, and east half of section 17, and 9 to 16 inclusive; and parts of sections 20 and 21 in town 18 north, range I west; also, sections 13 to 36 inclusive in town 19 north, range I east; also sections 3 to 10 inclusive and sections 15 to 18 inclusive, in town 18 north, range I east.
The early history is so closely interwoven with the history of the city of Lebanon, that much of it will be given in connection with the sketch of that city.
Churches outside of Lebanon by the latest report are given as follows by the mission survey of 1911. In the southern part of the township was
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organized at an early date a Methodist church, which is now reported dead. Southwest part of township the Christian church, one hundred members, growing. East of Lebanon the Brethren, forty-six, losing ground. North of this church is the United Brethren, ninety-six, losing ground. West of Lebanon the Disciples, dead. North the Christian, forty-four members, losing ground. Northeast corner Christian church, ninety-eight members, growing. Good roads and the great church privileges at Lebanon have been a great draw on the country churches of Center township. It is the question how long they can stand against these influences. This question does not only concern the churches of this township but the interest of the rural church everywhere. How long will we continue to have country churches?
SCHOOLS.
The history of the early schools of Center township are so closely inter- woven with the history of Lebanon, that it will be given more fully with the history of that city. In this connection we will give the first law in the state that was intended to promote the interests of the public and under which the rural schools came into being.
In 1824 in the eighth year of the State of Indiana, the Legislature en- acted the following law, to-wit :
Sec. 6. Each able-bodied male person of the age of twenty-one or up- ward being a freeholder or householder, residing in the district, shall be liable equally to work one day in each week until such building may be completed, or pay the sum of thirty-seven and one-half cents for every day he may so fail to work, and provided, moreover, that the said trustee shall always be bound to receive at cash price, in lieu of any such labor or money as aforesaid, any plank, nails, glass or other materials which may be needed about such building.
Sec. 7. That in all such cases such school house shall be eight feet between the floors, and at least one foot from the surface of the ground to the first floor, and finished in a manner calculated to render comfortable the teacher, pupils, etc. Under this law and pattern, school houses all over the state were rapidly constructed. At that day and age they passed punch- eon floors, backless seats, spacious fire places and chinked logs as comfortable
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for teacher and pupil. We have so grown that today we would consider such school furniture as rather backwoods. And yet, under these facilities boys and girls were reared that built the great commonwealth of Indiana. It does not take finery to make intellect. It requires the opposite. Under the old constitution the public schools depended entirely upon the income from the congressional fund, no tuition tax being provided for by law. From eight to twelve weeks usually exhausted the public money. In a majority of cases the term was extended several weeks by subscription upon the part of the patrons of the district. Under this regime, the schools of Center town- ship and all other townships and counties in the state were established and maintained.
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