History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 105

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

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The ministers serving this church from its begin- ning have been the following named, viz .: Revs. Hilary Patrick, John Todd, Eliphalet Kent, William M. Campbell, James Brownlee, Benjamin M. Nyce, |

Philip S. Cleland, and Horace Bushnell, Jr. Mr. Cleland served the church for a period of twenty-one years.

The officers of the church since its organization have been : Ruling Elders, Otis Sprague (ordained and installed March 30, 1833; dismissed Nov. 16, 1833), John S. Siebern (ordained and installed at same time as Mr. Sprague ; ceased to act in 1838), Simon Smock (ordained and installed June 28, 1834 ; dicd April 14, 1855), Samuel Brewer (Sept. 25, 1834), Robert N. Todd (Jan. 12, 1851), Thomas J. Todd (Dec. 12, 1852; dicd Sept. 28, 1864), John Calvin Woods (March 4, 1855 ; died Aug. 27, 1865), Isaac J. Canine (March 4, 1855; moved away in 1879), William H. Wishard (Nov. 11, 1865; moved to Indianapolis in 1876), Samuel Moore (Nov. 11, 1865), David Smock, R. G. Graydon, and Henry Alexander McCalpin. Deacons, Samuel Brewer (March 30, 1833; ceased to act Sept. 25, 1834), Andrew C. Mann (June 28, 1834; died Dec. 26, 1862), Thomas C. Smock ( Aug. 8, 1841), David R. Smock, Richard M. Smock (Nov. 11, 1865 ; dis- missed April 2, 1867), William B. Miles (Aug. 10, 1867).

The Union Presbyterian Church, which is still standing on the Bluff road, was built in 1854, an organization having been formed in the previous year by Dr. Scott, Henry Alcorn, Garret List, William Boyd, and others. Services were held for many years with more or less regularity, but the number of inembers having become greatly reduced by deaths and removals, they disbanded in 1880.

The Southport (Methodist Episcopal) Circuit was originally a part of the Greenfield Circuit, Indiana Conference. In 1848-49 it was known as the South Indianapolis Circuit, consisting of the following- named appointments, viz. : Hopewell Methodist Chapel (Johnson County), Bowser's, Smock's, Fish- er's, Tucker's, Brenton's, Greenwood, Marrs', and Asbury. At the annual Conference of 1849 the name was changed to Southport Circuit, E. R. Ames presiding elder, and H. M. Shafer, preacher in charge. The pastorate of the circuit has been supplied in the following order until the present time, viz .: E. D. Long, George Havens, J. W. T. McMullen, W. B.

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Taylor, Jesse Brockway, Thomas Ray, P. Q. Rose- crans, J. V. R. Miller, Jesse Chevington, C. G. Heath, J. A. Brouse, W. G. Ransdell, P. Carland, and (again) W. G. Ransdell. At the Conference of 1860 the cir- cuit was reduced to the present dimensions by con- stituting the east half of it a new circuit, called Acton. Only four societies are now embraced in the South- port Circuit, viz. : Southport, Madison Avenue, Centre, and Fairview (Johnson County).

Southport Church was organized in 1845 by the Rev. H. M. Shafer, with Richard Smock and wife and five others as members. Their first house of worship was built in 1849, and dedicated by E. R. Ames. It is a frame building, still standing and used as a carpenter-shop. This old building was used by the society as a house of worship until 1868, when they built a large brick church, which was used about fifteen years, and was totally destroyed on the 12th of July, 1883, by a tornado which swept over the southern portion of the county. A new brick church was then erected on the same site, and dedi- cated on the 18th of November following. It is the largest and in all respects the best church edi- fice in the town. The present number of mem- bers and probationers in the Southport Church is sixty.

The Methodists held meetings for religious wor- ship in this township as early as any other denomi- nation. The first preaching in Perry township was by Henry Brenton, who was a local preacher. The first circuit preacher was James Armstrong, who first came to preach in the fall of 1826; about the same time, or perhaps a little later, came John Belzer, a " New Light" preacher, who had a few followers and a temporary organization. He lived on the school section for a time, and moved away in 1828.

The first Methodist Church edifice in Perry was Asbury Chapel, a meeting-house of hewed logs, about twenty-four by thirty-six feet in dimensions, which was erected on the southeast corner of the eighty-acre tract now owned by the Talbot heirs, on the Three- Notch line. The land on which this building was erected (in 1829 or '30) was donated by Henry Brenton, The first church organization at this place was composed of Henry Brenton and family, Robert

Brenton and family, Isaac Kelly and family, David Marrs and family, Zachariah Lemaster's family, and several members of the Bouser family. The pioneer ministers of this church were Henry Brenton (local), Revs. Allan Wiley, Edmund Ray, James Hargrave, Thomas Hill, and James Havens, circuit preachers. Rev. Allan Wiley was the presiding elder. Meetings were held in the hewed-log meeting-house for ten or twelve years, and then the place of worship was rc- moved to the Marrs school-house on Three-Notch road. The old meeting-house being abandoned as a preaching-place, was some years later removed to the brick-yard south of Indianapolis, where it is still standing. After worshiping a number of years at Marrs school-house, the organization was joined with that of New Bethel, and formed the present Centre Church, which was organized with forty members. Their church edifice, built in 1848, was dedicated by E. R. Ames. The church has now seventy-four members.

The New Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church was organized as a class about 1826, with Andrew Hoover and wife, John Myers and wife, Henry Myers and family, several persons of the Mundy family, Mrs. Comfort Hinkston, Elizabeth Custard, David Fisher and family, and some others as mem- bers. Among the early preachers were Revs. --- Long, George Havens, John W. T. McMullen, and Orlando Havens. The meeting-house was erected in 1831, on the northwest corner of the Andrew Hoover farm, near the present residence of George Harnese. It was the first frame church built by the Methodists in this township. It was never plastered or other- wise finished on the inside, but was kept as a preach- ing-place for many years. The land on which it was built, although donated by Hoover, was never deedcd by him, but was afterwards deedcd by Thomas H. Sharpe. After some years the organization, with that which worshiped at the Marrs school-house, was merged into the organization of the Centre Church, for which a house of worship was erected in 1848. Among the ministers who preached to this congrega- tion were - Long, John W. T. McMullen, George Havens, and Orlando Havens. The old building is still standing on the lot surrounded by lands of Eli

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F. Ormes, on the Bluff road, about five and a half miles south of Indianapolis, and about one and a quarter miles south of Lick Creek, on the east side.

The Mount Carmel Church was organized and a church building erected in the fall of 1839, on the north line of Robert Burns' land, on the west side of the Bluff road. The members of this church were William Hall and family, James Orr and family, Nicholas Elson and family, the family of Robert Burns, Hezekiah Smart, Sr., and wife, and a few others. Their ministers were John V. R. Miller and William C. Smith. The old church building was destroyed by fire about the 1st of April, 1842, which accident had the effect to break up the or- ganization, and the members scattered to the Marrs school-house, the New Bethel, and some to Pleasant Hill Church, in Johnson County.

The Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church is the outgrowth of a mission founded and organized by Hiram Wright, a local preacher. Their first preaching was held in the school-house of the neigh- borhood until they were able to build a house of worship. The church is now embraced in the South- port Circuit. The meeting-house is on land of B. Wright, three miles south of Indianapolis, on the Southport gravel road.

The Methodist Church at Glenn's Valley was or- ganized some twelve or fifteen years ago. Their preaching was held in the school-house and in the Masonic Hall until they purchased the old brick school-house and converted it into a church edifice.

The Lick Creek Baptist Church (the first church in the township) was organized at the house of David Fisher (now the Ritzinger farm), in the spring of 1826, by Abram Smock. Among its original mem- bers were David Fisher and wife, John Chinn and wife, William Gott and wife, Thomas Bryant and wife, James Turner and wife, and James R. Mc- Laughlin and wife. A church edifice was built within one year after the organization, and also estab- lished a burial-ground in connection with the church. The first person interred in this ground was David Judd, Oct. 17, 1827. The second interment was that of Richard Ferree, a lad about ten or twelve years old, who was killed by the overturning of a

cart, the first death by accident or violence in Perry township.

The first minister of the Lick Creek Church was Abram Smock, who served the congregation for many years. About 1832 a large number left the church to organize the Buck Creek Baptist Church, which afterwards became the Southport Baptist Church. By reason of deaths and removals of members, the Liek Creek Church was disbanded in 1866, its building torn down, and the material re- moved to Indianapolis (in 1867 or 1868), and there rebuilt for the use of a colored Baptist Church.

A Christian Church was organized in Perry town- ship in 1845 or 1846, George Shortridge and family, and Robinson and family being the original members, to whom were soon afterwards added Peter Smock and wife, John Monroe, George Oldaere, John Shortridge and wife, and others. The organization continued till about 1863, when, having become greatly reduced in numbers, it was disbanded, and most of the members having removed to the vicinity of Greenwood, went into the church organization at that place.

Schools .- One of the earliest school-houses (and probably the first) in Perry township was built in 1823, on what is now the northcast corner of the land of Joseph Alcorn, a half-mile west of the Union Presbyterian Church. In that old log school-house the first teacher was Emanuel Glimpse, one of the carliest settlers in that region. A log school-house was built in 1826, on land of Archibald Glenn, and in it Michael Groves taught school for two winters. After him came as teachers, Samuel Hare and Elihu Hardin, the last named teaching there about 1830. About 1831 a small log building was erected for a school-house at David Marrs' farm, and another of the same kind near the site of Lick Creek Church. In this last mentioned a man named Thaler was one of the first teachers. In the vicinity of Southport the first school-house (a log building, of course) was crected on Jacob Smock's farm, its location being on the bluff north of Buck Creek. The second in that neighborhood was located where the residence of Mr. J. E. Phillips now stands, and was known as the Mud School-house, from the material which was

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

largely used in its construction. This, as also the house at Marrs', was used not only for school pur- poses, but as a preaching-place for many years. A frame school-house which was afterwards built on the same site has long since disappeared.

All the pioneer school-houses of Perry, as of the other townships of this and adjoining counties, were of one and the same character,-small and low struc- tures of logs, with puncheon floors, seats, and writing- benches ; with a large fireplace of stones and mud, and with a log cut out from two sides for windows, the openings being covered with greased paper in place of glass. All the appliances of the modern school- house were lacking. The teachers were men who la- bored on the farm in spring, summer, and autumn, and in winter taught school for terms of six weeks' to three months' duration. They were required to be able to teach (more or less thoroughly) reading, spelling, writing, and ciphering as far as the single rule of three, and for their services received a remuneration which the lowest class of laborers would now regard as trifling. After many years frame school-houses took the places of the old log buildings, the school terms were lengthened, and teachers of a somewhat higher grade of acquirements were employed. Fi- nally came the formation of the present public school system, and its adoption by Perry as by the other townships of the county.

Perry township has now 14 school districts, and the same number of school-houses (2 frame and 12 brick), in all of which schools are taught, one being a graded school. There is also a colored school in the township. The number of teachers employed in 1883 was 18 (6 male and 12 female). The average daily attendance was 446. The whole number admitted to the schools was 662, including colored children. Five teachers' institutes were held in the township during the year. The valuation of school apparatus is $600; valuation of school-houses and grounds, $12,000. There is one private school taught in the township, with an average attendance of 84 during the year 1883.

Secret Societies .- Southport Lodge, No. 270, . F. and A. M., was chartered May 28, 1861, Wil- liam G. Lockwood, W. M .; Hezekiah Hinkston,

S. W .; James Gentle, J. W. The officers for 1884 are George L. Thompson, W. M .; Joseph P. Bailey, S. W .; James A. Norwood, J. W .; William Wor- man, Treas. ; Spofford E. Tyler, Scc. The present membership of the lodge is thirty-five.

Southport Lodge, No. 394, I. O. O. F., was insti- tuted with the following-named original members : J. M. McLain, Isaac Grube, S. Graves, W. L. Ber- ryman, Alfred Brewer, S. D. Moody, Aaron Grube, J. L. Fisher, E. S. Riley, W. P. Trout, R. R. Graham, Jackson Snyder. The lodge has now forty- five active members and the following-named officers, viz. : E. Kelley, N. G .; John S. Rene, V. G .; Chris. Grube, Sec .; Isaac Grube, Treas. ; Charles Grube, Per. Sec. The lodge has twenty-three Past Grands.

Glenn's Valley Lodge, No. 514, F. and A. M., was chartered May 25, 1875, Hezekiah Hinkston, W. M .; Alcxander C. Sedam, S. W .; Franklin L. Barger, J. W.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM H. WISHARD, M.D.

William H. Wishard, M.D., was the eldest son of John and Agnes H. Wishard, born in Nicholas County, Ky., Jan. 17, 1816. The family was Scotch- Irish in their nationality. His father emigrated to Indiana, and settled on the Bluff road, nine and one- half miles south of Indianapolis, where they pitched their camp on the evening of Oct. 26, 1825. His father had purchased the land in 1824, came out in the following spring, cleared some land, and put in a crop of corn, potatoes, and turnips. The first night after their arrival the wolves were heard howling near their camp, which, however, was no unusual thing for years after that time.

William H. Wishard was then in his tenth year, and being the eldest, had to hunt the cows in the woods, do the errands, and go to mill, and many were the exciting scenes he passed through. On one occa- sion, in the fall of 1826, when returning from mill late at night, alone in the darkness of a dense forest,

Morris Howland

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and one and a quarter miles from any settler's cabin, he suddenly came upon a pack of wolves snarling over a wounded deer that they had just caught. It was an unpleasant situation for a boy of twelve years to find his only pathway blocked by fifteen or twenty hungry wolves; but he kept his presence of mind, and, passing around through the brushwood on one side as rapidly and silently as possible, escaped from the beasts, and reached his father's house in safety. Many a night in his boyhood he spent at the old Bayou, and Patterson's, and Bacon's mills, waiting for his grist to be ground. His educational advantages were very limited, attending only the winter schools of the pioneer days, taught by teachers of very meagre capacity and attainments. The spring and summer seasons were spent in attending to the crops and help- ing to elcar land.

Having passed the early years of his life in this manner, he, at the age of twenty-two years, com- meneed the study of medicine with Dr. Benjamin S. Noble, of Greenwood, Johnson Co., and entered into partnership with him in the spring of 1840, which partnership continued for ten years. He was married to Harriet N. Moreland, daughter of the Rev. John R. Moreland, the second pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. They had nine children born to them,-four sons and five daughters. The first four, one son and three daughters, died in in- fancy and childhood. The others are living, viz .: Dr. William N., of the City Hospital of Indianapolis ; Albert W., an attorney of the city ; Dr. George W., of Indianapolis ; Harriet J .; and Elizabeth.

During the war of 1861-65, Dr. Wishard served two years as a volunteer surgeon, after which he com- meneed the practice of medicine in the neighborhood where his early years were passed, and where from the first he had a large practice. In October, 1876, he was elected coroner of the county and removed from Southport to Indianapolis, where he has remained ever since. After serving four years as coroner he returned to the practice of medicine, which, however, he had not entirely relinquished. He is now in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and in full vigor for one of his years. He has praetieed medicine in Morgan, Johnson, and Marion Counties

longer than any man now living in the county, and still holds a large practice, after forty-four years of service as a physician.

MORRIS HOWLAND.

Mr. Howland, who is the grandson of Elisha How- land, and the son of Powell Howland, was born on the 30th of January, 1823, in Saratoga County, N. Y., where he resided until sixteen years of age, and re- ceived such advantages of education as the neighboring schools afforded. His father having determined to leave the Empire State for the unsettled West, his son Morris started on the 25th of September, 1839, with a pair of horses and a wagon for Indianapolis, reaching his destination after a journey of forty- two days. The family on their arrival located in Centre township, where Morris remained four years, after which he engaged in flat-boating at points be- tween Cincinnati and New Orleans. In 1844 he embarked in business near Evansville, Ind., and on abandoning this enterprise made an extensive tour by steamboat and on horseback through many of the States of the Union, with a view to pleasure and an intelligent comprehension of the extent and resourecs of the country. On returning in 1845, he, on the 22d of January of that year, married Miss Susan Marquis, of Perry township, Marion Co., and settled in the last-named township, where he became a farmer. The children of this marriage are Sarah (Mrs. F. S. Turk) and Mary (Mrs. John Epler). Mrs. Howland died in August, 1852, and he was again married on the 22d of February, 1854, to Miss Jane Gentle, who was of Seoteh descent, and a resi- dent of the same township. Their children are Powell, Lida, and Minnie. Mr. Howland has princi- pally engaged in farming and stock dealing, in which he has been signally successful. He has been actively interested in developing the resources of his county and township, and constructed the first gravel road in the county, of which he is still president. He is a member of the Wool-Growers' Association, and of the Short-Horn Breeders' Association, and actively in- terested in the subject of horticulture. He was in

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

politics a Democrat until the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, when a disapproval of the measures adopted by the party induced him to cast his vote with the Republicans. He has been actively interested in the success of his party, and participated in various local campaigns, though not an aspirant for the honors which it confers. Though repeatedly declining official positions of importance, he has held various offices in the township, among which may be mentioned that of justice of the peace. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and con- nected with Southport Lodge, No. 270, of that order. Mr. Howland is an active member and one of the founders of the Southport Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has been successively steward, class-leader, and trustee. His influence and active labor in the cause of temperance have accomplished a salutary work in Perry township, and given it a decided moral strength in the county.

GEORGE TOMLINSON.

John Tomlinson, the great-grandfather of the sub- ject of this biographical sketch, was a native of Yorkshire, England, and having emigrated to Amer- ica about the middle of the last century settled in Maryland. His son, Joseph Tomlinson, the grand- father of George, was the first settler of Elizabeth- town, Va., having laid out the town and named it in honor of his wife, Elizabeth Tomlinson. George Tomlinson was the son of Isaac and Anna Tomlinson (whose maiden name was De Mint). In childhood he removed with his parents to Bourbon County, Ky., from which point, after a residence of a few years, he repaired with the family to Trimble County, in the same State, and a few miles above Madison, Ind., where his father died soon after the close of the war of 1812. In 1821 he became an inmate of the house of his guardian, Rev. Henry Brenton, in Trimble County, Ky., and in 1823 accompanied him to Indiana, when he became a resident of Perry township, Marion Co. He was married on the 2d of August, 1827, to Miss Lucy E. Dawson, and about October of the same year removed to the homestead

on the Madison road, four miles south of the city, where he resided until his death. Mrs. Tomlinson was born April 20, 1811, in Oldham County, Ky., and was the daughter of Daniel and Keziah Dawson, and granddaughter of Josiah Tanner, a captain in the American army during the Revolutionary war. Her parents both died during her childhood, when a home was found with her grandmother, Martha Tanner, until her marriage. The married life of Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson continued over a period of fifty- three years, their golden wedding having been cele- brated on the 2d of August, 1877. Their children are three sons and four daughters, all of whom sur- vive them. Mr. Tomlinson did not enjoy superior advantages of education, but was a student all his life, and devoted much of his leisure time to reading. He was in politics a Whig, a Republican at the or- ganization of that party, and pronounced in his anti- slavery sentiments. He was strong in his political convictions, an ardent supporter of measures for the conduct of the late war, and willingly promised to protect from want the families of soldiers who enlisted in the cause of the Union. He was in 1832 elected justice of the peace, and held the office for twenty consecutive years. He was a member of the Tippe- canoe Club of Marion County, and voted for Gen. Harrisou in 1836 and 1840. About 1847, Mr. Tomlinson began a general merchandising business at Southport, Ind., and continued it for twenty years, after which he retired from commercial pursuits and devoted the remainder of his life to farming. His death occurred May 11, 1881, and that of his wife in the same year.

CHAPTER XXV.

PIKE TOWNSHIP.

PIKE TOWNSHIP lies in the northwest corner of Marion County, and is bounded on the north . by Hamilton and Boone Counties, on the east by Wash- ington township, on the south by Wayne township, and on the west by Hendricks County. The town- ship contains forty-four sections, or twenty-eight

& Tomlinsony

PIKE TOWNSHIP.

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thousand one hundred and sixty aeres of land. Its surface is in some parts rolling, in others nearly level, and in some parts rather swampy. The buttonwood ponds were formerly numerous in some localities, but these are unknown to-day, for the industrious farmers have cleared up these places and tile-drained them, so that excellent crops are raised on these lands. The soil of the township is generally of a good quality, and well adapted to farming and stoek-raising. It is watered by Eagle Creek, which enters the township on the north line, about two and one-half miles east of the northwest corner, and runs in a south westerly course until it reaches the Wayne township line, about one and one-quarter miles east of the west line of the township. Fishback Creek enters the town- ship near the northwest corner, and empties into Eagle Creek one-half mile below Trader's Point. The country along this stream is the most broken part of the township, and is called the hilly country of Fishback. The ereek derived its name from Free- man Fishback, who was an early settler on the farm now owned by P. Beck. Some of the finest springs of the county are along this stream. Bush's Run, a small stream, heads near the north centre of the township, and empties into Eagle Creek three-quarters of a mile below Trader's Point. Little Eagle Creek, which is somewhat of a noted stream, has its source near the south line of Boone County, and it enters this township about one mile east of the centre of the north line. It runs just east of New Augusta, and empties into Big Eagle near Mount Jackson, in Wayne township. This stream is the second in size in Pike. Crooked Creek enters the township near the northeast corner, and takes a southwesterly direc- tion until just north of Old Augusta, where it bears to the southeast, and leaves the township about one- third of a mile southeast of Old Augusta. Staton's Creek heads a little south of Old Augusta, runs in a southwesterly course, and empties into Little Eagle on or near W. H. Guion's farm. It derived its name from Joseph Staton, who was the first settler in the southeastern part of the township.

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History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 105

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942