USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 102
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bers of a legally constituted regular Baptist Church, viz .: Jolın Gillman and Mary, his wife, Madison Webb, Elijah Webb, Nancy Morrison, and Elizabeth Hardin. Madison Hume was chosen moderator at the organization, and served in that capacity for eight years and six months, and Madison Webb was. selected at the same time as clerk, and served for seventeen years, until his death. John Gillman was the first deacon. The church held regular services once per month, as follows: from July, 1838, to August, 1842, and from September, 1843, to April, 1857, on the third Saturday in each month ; from August, 1842, to September, 1843, on the fourth Saturday in each month; and from April, 1857, to the disorganization, on the first Saturday in each month.
The church held its meetings at the residences of many of its members, but principally at Madison Webb's, until 1844, when the congregation built a hewed-log house, costing one hundred and sixty-nine dollars and seventy-three cents. It was erected ou top of the Johnson Hill, on the land now owned by John E. Myles, and the members of the church wor- shiped there until the dissolution of the church in 1859. Madison Webb and Jesse Herrin contributed sixty-seven dollars and twenty-four dollars respectively ; said sums being more than one-half of the building funds. Madison Webb, Jesse Herrin, and Robert Stoops were the first trustees. The membership of the church increased rapidly from the first organiza- tion. At one time there were ninety names on the roll.
In July, 1842, the church connected themselves with the Indianapolis General Association. From June, 1851, till May, 1853, the church was without a pastor. However, W. M. Davis, of Bloomington, and John Jones, of Stilesville, preached twice cach. The following is a list of the pastors of the church from date of organization, with time of service : Mad- ison Hume, 8} years ; E. B. Smith, 2 years; Michael White, 2 years ; J. S. Gillespie, 2 years ; H. Keeler, 1 year ; D. S. Cothren, 1 year ; E. B. Tomlinson, 1 year; and R. Vickers, 1 year.
On the first Saturday in October, 1859, the church was dissolved by a unanimous vote of the members,
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giving as their reason that the church was scattered and discouraged, and unable " to have preaching and keep up necessary expenses." Letters of dismissal were granted to those who wished them, and it was resolved that when the house ceased to be used for a good purpose that it, together with the furniture, be sold, and the proceeds divided equally between those accepting letters of dismissal. On Saturday, March 30, 1861, the meeting-house and contents was sold by the trustees. Afterwards the house was rented and occupied as a dwelling-house, and finally became a rendezvous for disreputable characters of both sexes. They were notified by a gathering of more than one hundred persons to vacate the premises, and refusing to do so, the citizens met at night, stoned the building, smashed in the windows, and battered down the door. They still refused to leave, so one dark night about 1861 some unknown person sct fire to the building, and it was totally destroyed.
The Oakland Universalist Church was organized in 1850, with twenty-five members. A frame church was built the same year, and during the summer of 1875 the present brick structure was erccted. The present membership is about one hun- dred. The following have been regular pastors since the organization : - Longley, 1 year ; - Oyler, 1 year; W. W. Curry, 2 years; - Babcock, 1 year ; - Mitchell, 8 or 9 years ; B. F. Foster, 1 year ; - Adams, 1 year; William Chaplain, 1 year ; - Cronley, 1 year ; - Adams, 1 year. The following itinerant preachers have preached at the church at divers times, viz., Revs. Kidwell and J. D. Williamson. The church is without a regu- lar pastor much of the time. The first trustees were Charles McConnell, J. N. Reddick, and -- Mc- Cord.
This denomination has the finest and best church building, the largest membership, and is in the most flourishing condition in every particular of any in the township.
The first Universalist society was formed in the township about the year 1838.
Aged People of the Township .- In the year 1883 the following persons over seventy years of age resided in the township, viz. : William Horton, of
Oakland, was born in North Carolina, and is the oldest, being 102; Lewis Griffith, 87; Edmund Newhouse, 85 ; Solomon Bowers, 86 ; David Clare, 83; Jacob Kesselring, 85; Benjamin Newhouse, 86 ; Jeremiah Vanlaningham, 85; Robert White, 82; Jesse Herrin, 83; Elisha Reddick, 86; John Tate, 80; S. W. Crutchfield, 73; Daniel Fox, 70 ; Charles Faucett, 74; John Hughes (colored), 73; George Klepfer, 77; Jonah F. Lemon, 72; Simeon Mock, 70; Granville Morgan, 77; John Newhouse, 76; William Perry, 72; John Plummer, 73; Samuel Plummer, 78; John Smith, 73; Andrew Smith, 78 ; William S. Thomas, 77; John T. Thomas, 78; Clark Wait, 70.
CHAPTER XXIV.
PERRY TOWNSHIP.1
THE township of Perry (so named in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry) is the central one of the southern tier of townships of Marion County, being bounded on the west by Decatur township, on the north by Centre, on the east by Franklin town- ship, and on the south by Johnson County. The principal stream (and the only one of any importance) in the township is White River, which flows in a general south-southwesterly direction, and forms the entire western boundary of this township against that of Decatur. Several inconsiderable tributaries of White River flow in westerly and south westerly courses through Perry, among them being Buck and Lick Creeks, which have become a little more noted than other unimportant streams of this region from the fact that early churches were built near them and received their names. The lands of this township are bottom, second hottom, and uplands, the latter in many places rising into undulations. In nearly all parts of the township the soil is excellent, well adapted for purposes of agriculture, and yields an abundant return to the farmer for labor bestowed upon it. The population of Perry township in 1880 was two thousand five hundred and ninety-eight, as
1 By Dr. William H. Wishard.
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
shown by the returns of the United States census taken in that year.
Perry township was laid off and erected by order of the county commissioners of Marion County on the 16th of April, 1822, and on the same day and by order of the same board it was joined with Deca- tur and Franklin, the three to be regarded tempora- rily as one township, for the reason that none of the three were then sufficiently populous for separate or- ganization. This union continued till Aug. 12, 1823, when the commissioners ordered Perry to be stricken off and separately organized. Then Perry and Frank- lin continued united until May 12, 1824, when the same action was taken with regard to Franklin, thus leaving Perry a separate and independent township.
When Perry township was laid out by the com- missioners in 1822 its west line was a prolongation of the present line between Centre and Wayne, thus giving to Decatur township a large triangular strip of land lying east of White River, and now included in Perry. This original west line remained undis- turbed until Jan. 7, 1833, when, upon petition of certain citizens of Decatur township living east of the river, the commissioners ordered " that all the part of Decatur township lying on the east side of White River shall be attached to and hereafter form a part of Perry township," thus permanently estab- lishing the river boundary.
Following is a list of township officers of Perry township from its formation to the present time, viz. :
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Peter Harmonson, June 28, 1822, to June 6, 1827. llenry D. Bell, Jan. 3, 1824, to April 18, 1828. Themas Carle, April 30, 1828, to May, 1831; died. Peyton Bristow, Nov. 3, 1829, to July 4, 1834; resigned. Thomas McFarland, June 18, 1831, to Jan. 6, 1834; resigned. Jacob Smock, Feb. 21, 1834, to Feb. 21, 1839. George Tomlinson, Oct. 18, 1834, to Oct. 18, 1839. John Myers, April 6, 1839, to April 6, 1844. George Tomlinson, Dec. 7, 1839, to Dee. 7, 1844. John Myers, May 25, 1844, to May 25, 1849. George Tomlinson, Jan. 15, 1845, to Jan. 15, 1850. John Smith, May 25, 1849, to May 25, 1858.
Thomas C. Smock, Jan. 15, 1850, to Jan. 15, 1855. Thomas J. Todd, June 2, 1854, to June 2, 1862. William H. Boyd, Jan. 15, 1855, to Feb. 26, 1857; resigned. Garret List, April 28, 1857, to April 18, 1861.
Thomas N. Thomas, May 26, 1858, to 1864.
John W. Riley, June 4, 1861, to March 18, 1864; resigned. James Gentle, June 2, 1862, to April 1, 1863 ; resigned. Thomas C. Smock, April 22, 1863, to April 22, 1871. John Myers, Nov. 14, 1864, to July 20, 1882 ; died. John W. Thompson, Nov. 15, 1864; removed. William T. Curd, April 13, 1867, to April 13, 1871. Samuel Royster, April 13, 1871, to Feh. 27, 1872; resigned. Joseph Henricks, June 14, 1871, to March 16, 1872; resigned. William T. Cnrd, Oct. 21, 1872, to Feh. 4, 1875 ; died. George Isaac Tomlinson, March 25, 1875, to Oct. 25, 1880. Isaac N. Stackhouse, July 6, 1877, to April 9, 1878. Samuel C. Ferguson, April 9, 1878, to April 9, 1882. Levi A. Hardesty, Oct. 15, 1879, to Oct. 30, 1884.
TRUSTEES.
John McCollum, April 9, 1859, to April 18, 1863. Robert M. Stewart, April 18, 1863, to Sept. 8, 1865. James Gentle, Sept. 16, 1865, to April 18, 1868. John E. Griffith, April 18, 1868, to June 3, 1871. James Gentle, June 3, 1871, to Oct. 8, 1872. Elhert F. Norwood, Oct. 8, 1872, to Oct. 26, 1874. Charles Larsh, Oct. 26, 1874, to Oct. 20, 1876. William R. Wycoff, Oct. 20, 1876, to April 10, 1880. John S. Morford, April 10, 1880, to April 14, 1884.
ASSESSORS.
George L. Kinnard, Jan. 1, 1827, to Jan. 7, 1828. David Marrs, Jan. 7, 1828, to Jan. 4, 1830.
Thomas McFarland, Jan. 4, 1880. to Jan. 2, 1832. William II. Bristow, Jan. 2, 1832, to Jan. 7, 1833. Samuel Alexander, Jan. 7, 1833, to Jan. 6, 1834. William 11. Bristow, Jan. 6, 1834, to May 5, 1835. George Tomlinson, May 5, 1835, to March 7, 1836. Jonathan Barrett, March 7, 1836, to Jan. 2, 1837. George Tomlinson, Jan. 2, 1837, Lo Jan. 1, 1838. Thomas N. Thomas, Jan. 1, 1838, to Jan. 7, 1839. Jonathan Barrett, Jan. 7, 1839, to Jan. 6, 1840. Samuel Alexander, Jan. 6, 1840, to Jan. 4, 1841. Thomas N. Thomas, Jan. 4, 1841, to Dec. 6, 1841. John P. Fisher, Dec. 8, 1852, to Nov. 21, 1854. Isaac M. Todd, Nov. 21, 1854, to Dec. 9, 1856. James Tharp, Dec. 9, 1856, to Oct. 13, 1860.
Archihald Glenn, Oct. 13, 1860, to Nov. 4, 1862. John P. Fisher, Nov. 4, 1862, to Nov. 19, 1870. Marion Kelly, Nov. 19, 1870, to Nov. 20, 1872. David M. Fisher, Nov. 20, 1872, to Aug. 1, 1873. Samuel C. Ferguson, March 27, 1875, to Dee. 2, 1876. John S. Morford, Dec. 2, 1876, to April 10, 1880.
Wooster D. Cleaver, April 10, 1880, to April 14, 1882. George C. Thompson, April 14, 1882, to April 14, 1884.
In the west part of Perry township the first set- tlers were Henry Riddle, his brother-in-law, William Kinnick, Peter Harmonson, and his brother, who
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PERRY TOWNSHIP.
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came in November or December, 1821. They did not enter land, being merely squatters. Riddle built bis cabin on the Vincennes trace, which led from Indianapolis to the Bluffs of White River. His location was on the south side of Buck Creek, and east of the present Bluff road. The Harmonsons located on the west side of the trace, and on the north side of Buck Creek. Their cabins were the only dwellings that there were at that time between Indianopolis and the Bluffs of the White River, where Waverly now stands.
There were a number of other settlements made during the year 1822. The first of these other set- tlements was made on Pleasant Run, directly south of Glenn's Valley, the settlers being Archibald Glenn, John Murphy, and John Smart. The first two located precisely on the line between Marion and Johnson County, and Smart on the Marion side of the line, the land belonging to Hezakiah Smart, his brother (who had entered the land some time before), and adjoining the land of Glenn and Murphy. This settlement was made in October, 1822, and at about the same time, or a little later, there came a colored family and located on land which now belongs to Archibald Glenn, it being at the crossing of Pleasant Run and the Bluff road, south of the run and west of the road. They were Mark Harris, a bachelor and the owner of the land (three hundred and twenty acres), and his brother Daniel and family, a wife and five children. They came from Ohio, and were the first colored family in the township, and perhaps in the county.
John Smart was a cripple, his left arm being lame, but he cleared between four and five acres of ground the first winter, leaving the logs on the ground, merely trimming off the brush, which he burnt, and having no horse of his own, be hired Mark Harris to lay off the ground, which Harris did with a shovel-plow, marking it (not plowing at all) off in furrows about four feet wide, jumping the logs. The corn was cultivated with nothing but a hoe, and the sacks in which it was carried to mill and the clothing which they had were made from nettles gathered and prepared by Mrs. Smart. Crippled as he was, Smart in a few years became the possessor of
eighty acres of land, part of which is in the present village of Glenn's Valley, and now occupied by his son, Hezekiah Smart.
About a mile north of this settlement, on the six- teenth or school section, there settled a colony, com- ing from Dearborn County, Ind., consisting of three or four families, -James Martin and family, his brother-in-law, Samuel Smith, and family, Smith's son-in-law, William Stallcop, and Stallcop's brother. Martin did not settle permanently on this section, but soon after entered eighty acres of land half a mile north of his temporary location.
At about the same time that the above settlers came in John Myers located on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 9, which he and his brother Henry, mentioned below, had entered, it being the section just north of the school section, and Peyton Bristow, who had been here in the sum- mer and put up a cabin, now returned (it being in the first part of December), and settled permanently on what was called Bristow's Hill, six miles south of the city, on the east of the Bluff road, which had then just been laid out. John and Israel Watts, with Benson Miner, from Whitewater, settled east of Myers, in the same section, David Fisher being the present owner of one of the farms, and Isaac Sutton of the other. This last-named settlement was made most probably in the spring of 1823, as were also a number of others, all so near the same time that it is difficult to tell their order. Among these settlers was Zachariah Lemaster, who settled on the hill, known among the pioneers as Lemaster's Hill, on the north side of Lick Creek, and east of the Bluff road, his cabin making the fourth between the city and Johnson County line, on this road, the first cabin built being Henry Riddle's, the second, Har- monson's, then Bristow's and Lemaster's, this being also the order in which they would be passed coming towards the city of Indianapolis.
Another settler was Martin Bush, who located on the south side of Buck Creek, near its mouth, he being the first settler on White River in this town- ship. Joseph and Benjamin Snow located respec- tively on the southeast quarter of section 34 and the southwest quarter of section 27, in township 15,
578
HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
range 3. Larkin, John, and Henry Mundy, and their father, with their brother-in-law, Henry Myers, and Emanuel Glimpse, and others,-among whom were the Stevens family,-located north of the school section, between the Bluff road and the river, Watts and Glimpse being in the second bottom- land, and the others were in the first. From the north side of section 9 to Lake Creek was a section which was afterwards known as Waterloo, and had an unenviable reputation, a number of these settlers being squatters on government lands.
Thomas Wilson was the next to settle on the Bluff road, his cabin being first on the east side, and after- wards on the west, the road having been so changed as to accomplish this, his being the next cabin built between Harmonson's and Bristow's.
Going back to the year 1822, when a settlement was made on the north side of the township, on the line of the present Three-Notch road, gives the time of the arrival of Rev. Henry Brenton, with his ward, George Tomlinson, his brother, Robert Brenton, and Adam Pense, who, though he did not come with the Brentons, settled there at about the same time. Robert Brenton settled in Centre township, ou land immediately south of Pleasant Run, and extending from the Three-Notch line to the Bluff road .. Henry Brenton first settled on land a half-mile south of the township line and on the east side of the Three-Notch line, but about two years afterwards he moved south to land on the south side of Lick Creek and same side of the road. Pense settled on the north side of the creek, just across from where Henry Brenton afterwards located; and just across the road from Pense, late in the fall or in the next spring (that of 1823), Samuel True settled with his son Isaac. About 1825 or 1826 he put up a frame house, the first in the township, and which is yet standing.
One half-mile south of Lick Creek, and on the west side of the Three-Notch line, as it was called then, was the place of location of . - Bowser ; and on the same road, on the south side of Buck Creek, was the land of David Marrs, whose cabin, however, was on the west side of the road.
It may be interesting to give an explanation of how this road came to be so named. In laying out
the road there were three notches cut in the trees which marked the line of the survey, to distinguish it from the Bluff road, on the west, and the Madison road, on the east ; and it was also on the section line, hence the name Three-Notch line.
Going south on this road and coming down a little later in time, there was the settlement of the Dab- ncys, Samuel, James, and John, with their brother- in-law, John Smith, on the west side of the road, and the land commencing a half-mile south of the road running from Southport to White River. Just south of this road and on the east side of the Three- Notch line were the cabins of Samuel True, Jr., and Glidden True, who were just married, and had come out with their father, Samuel True.
We have now to go back to the spring of the year 1821, when some squatter, name unknown, located on land on the north side of Lick Creek, and through which the Shelbyville road now runs, being in the northeast corner of the township. This person had succeeded in clearing a small space and raising a small crop of corn by September, at which time the land and crop were purchased by John Graham. This place and that of Henry Riddle were the two first improvements in the township. Just across the creek on the south side was the place of the Widow White, who, with her two sons, Milton and Woodford, set- tled there the following year (1822). On the oppo- site side of the Shelbyville road from the Whites was the farm of Jacob Coughman, who arrived the following fall or the next spring, and just west of them was David Small, who came this year or the fall of 1822, and southwest of him was Henry D. Bell, who had the northeast quarter of section 143, and who came about the same time. There was a tran- sient squatter or two between Bell's and Abraham Lemaster's, who settled about the same time, three- fourths of a mile south of the present town of South- port. Jacob Smock was next to settle, occupying the farm immediately north of Southport and east of the railroad, he and Lemaster coming probably in the spring of 1823. This same year Peter Canine located on the line of the present railroad and north of Lick Creek, on the Bluff. Henry Alcorn settled on the farm where Henry Riddle had squatted, and
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PERRY TOWNSHIP.
had entered the place in 1821. These settlements are all that can be positively located, botlı as to time and place, who came before the year 1824. During this year and the following there was a very consider- able immigration, and the following settlements were made: Samuel Brewer, on the hill, west side of Madi- son road, north of Buck Creek, who came in 1825; Noah Wright, on the east side of Madison road and south of Lick Creek ; Simon Smoek, east side of Madi- son road, just over the line from Centre, his brother-in- law, Lawrence De Mott, just east of him, the farms adjoining. Immediately west of Smock, ou the east side of the Three-Notch line, were John McFall and sons,-John, Benjamin, and David,-and just across the road from him was George Marquis. About a mile or a mile and a half east of Southport was a small colony, Isaac Coonfield, with his sons, John and James, his son-in-law, Archibald Clark, with his brother, Obadiah Clark, and northeast of these, on the present Churchman pike, were John Thompson and William Huey. These are about all the permanent settlers who came this year, 1824, but there were others whose names are not known who stayed but a year or 80. This same thing happened every year, as there was an almost constant moving around. This being caused by the way the land was farmed. A mau entering land and then sending some one here to put up a cabin, or leasing it to some one, who put up a cabin and stayed a short time, selling the lease to some one else, and thus a large part of the settlers were ouly transient. The permanent settlers of the years 1825 and 1826 are given as near in the order of their arrival as is known, and are as follows: David Fisher (at whose house the Lick Creek Baptist Church was organized), on the north side of the Churchman pike, east side of the township; James Turner, and his brother Jacob, west of James, on the Shelbyville pike, northeast of Southport; Thomas Bryant, just west of Jacob Turner, on the south side of the Shelby- ville pike, directly north of Southport ; John Brewer, with his family, ahout half a mile east of Southport ; Andrew Mann, on Buck Creek, south side, next to Franklin township ; Stephen Hankins, with his family, half a mile east of the Madisou road, north side of Lick Creek ; Ephraim Arnold, near the Lick Creek
Church ; Archibald Bruce, immediately east of Heury Alcorn; Charles and Elijah McBride, with their father, on the Bluff road, west side, three-quarters of a mile north of Glenn's Valley : Samuel Brewer, west side Madison road, north side of Buck Creek ; Purnell Coverdill, two or two and a half miles northeast of Southport ; Jeremiah Featherston and family, three- quarters of a mile southeast of Southport ; Benjamin MeFarland, the first man who practiced medicine that settled in the township, and his two sons, Samuel and William, and soon after him his son-in-law, John McCollum, near Liek Creek, east side of the township; Moses Orme, on the Three-Notch line, next to Johnson County ; Lambert Saulter, with his two sons, Garret and Elijah, and Page Rawlings, about one mile aud a half southeast of Southport ; Samuel Woodfield, five miles south of town, on the east of the Bluff road; Charles Neighbors and Seipio Sedgwick, on adjoining land to Woodfield, Neighbors being just west of him, and Sedgwick south of Neigh- bors ; Thomas Richardson, one-half mile north of Southport, on the east side of the Madison read; Rev. John Ritchie, east side of the Bluff road, ad- joining the Centre township line, just west of George Marquis ; Noah Wright, on the east side of Madison road, south bank of Liek Creek ; William Evans, on the south side of Lick Creek, about three-quarters of a mile east of where the Madison road crosses ; James Hoagland, with his sons, Richard, John, and Wil- liam, one and a half miles southeast of Southport.
About this time William Tracy, his son-in-law, Peggs, and his brother, John Tracy, settled one mile west of Southport, south side of the present gravel road. Jacob Peggs is still living at Franklin, Ind., about ninety years old. He served as recorder of Johnson County two terms, and as justice of the peace in the same county several terms, and was the first miller at Smock's mill, spoken of elsewhere. On the west side of the township was Silas Rhoads, who settled just across the road from Henry Alcorn, but he remained only a year or so, leaving in 1827, and moving to the Wabash ; and the same' year Alex- ander Clark, after whom Clark township, Johnson County, is named, moved in, and after remaining about two years moved to the northeast corner of
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
Johnson County. This completes the list of what might be called old settlers, those at least who were of any prominence, there being others whose names are not known and who remained, as a rule, but a year or so, and did not generally own the land.
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