USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 109
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The earliest assessment-roll of Warren township that can now be found is that of the year 1829, which, being complete, shows, of course, very nearly who were the male adult inhabitants of the township at that time. The following names taken from it are those of men then resident in the township who were assessed on no real estate, viz. :
Thomas Askren.
Thomas Hudson.
Stephen Brown.1
Billips Harper.
Christopher Black. Henry Harper.
Henry Boling.
Jacob D. Hudson.
Joshua Black.
Reason Hawkins.
Augustus E. Black.
Parks Hannah.
James Black.
John Hamilton.
William Birdwhistell.
David Bump.
Robert Hamilton. Rufus Jennison.
Isaac Bates.
Rufus Jennison, Jr.
John Clow.
John Joncs.
Caleb Clark.
Mark Jones.
Joseph Clark.
Daniel Julick.
Daniel Cool.
Francis Kitley.
William Callan.
Jeremiah Kinman.
Daniel Devorse. John Kitley.
Benjamin Fowler. John Latham.
James Ferguson. Jacob Louks.
William Ferguson. John Lamb.
Samuel Fullen. John Mann.
David Groves.
John S. Moulton.
1 The only person in the township then assessed on a carriage, presumably a pleasure-carriage.
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WARREN TOWNSHIP.
Aaron Montfort.
George Vanlandingham.
John Marigore.
Aaron Wells.
Joel Roberts.
Reason Wells.
George Sharrar.
Solomon Wells.
Joseph Shields.
Royal Wells.
Philemon Shirley. Andrew Sharrar.
Eli Wells. Ahira Wells.
Jacob Sharrar.
Nathan Wells.
Peter Voris.
Nelson Wells.
John Vandaman. David Wallace.
Andrew Van Sickel. John Wallace.
Richard Vanlandingham.
The same assessment-roll gives the following names of persons resident in Warren township in 1829, and who were the owners and holders of the lands re- spectively described, viz. :
Willis G. Atherton, the west half of the north- west quarter of section 10, township 15, range 4.
Samuel Beeler, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 15, range 5.
Henry Brady, Esq., the east half of the north- west quarter of section 13, township 15, range 4.
Joel Blackledge, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 14, township 15, range 4.
Harvey Blackledge, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 12, township 15, range 4.
John P. Chinn (?), the east half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 15, range 4.
Elizabeth Cox, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 22, township 16, range 4.
Jane Dalzell, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 12, township 15, range 4.
James Davis, the southeast quarter of section 21, township 15, range 5.
Jacob Duringer, the northeast quarter of section 22, township 15, range 4.
James Doyle, the southwest quarter of section 15, township 15, range 4, and the west half of the south- east quarter of the same section.
Elisha Greer, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 15, township 15, range 4.
Edward Heizer, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 10, township 15, range 4.
John S. Hall, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 11, township 15, range 4.
Nathan Harlan, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 15, range 5.
William Hamilton, one hundred acres in the south- west quarter of section 12, township 15, range 4.
Samuel Jennison, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 1, township 15, range 4.
Andrew Morehouse, the southeast quarter of sec- tion 11, township 15, range 4, and the west half of the northeast quarter of section 14, in the same survey township.
John W. Reding, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 15, township 15, range 4.
David Shields, the northwest quarter of section 27, township 16, range 4.
Harris Tyner, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 22, township 16, range 4.
John Wilson, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 3, township 15, range 4.
Daniel Woods, the cast half of the northeast quarter of section 21, township 15, range 5.
Willis Wright, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 3, township 15, range 4.
Edward White, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 10, township 15, range 4.
Thomas Askren settled in the northwestern part of the township in 1828, and a year or two later bought the land on which he lived till his death, in 1868. He accumulated a large amount of property, and was, moreover, a man highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him.
Nathan Harlan moved to Marion County in 1823. He first settled in Franklin township, but in 1827 moved from there to the southeastern part of Warren, and lived there until his death, in 1846. In 1828 he took the contract for cutting the timber from off the line of the Brookville road. He kept tavern from 1833 to 1844.
James Davis settled in Warren township in 1827. The lands he entered were on Buck Creek, in the southeastern part of the township. He lived here until 1864, when he moved to Fremont County, Iowa, where he lived until his death, in 1872.
Andrew Morehouse was born in Schuyler County,
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
N. Y., Nov. 8, 1796. His father was an old Revo- lutionary soldier, and was at the capture of Bur- goyne when only sixteen years old. Not long before his father's and mother's deaths they lost their farm through a defective title. Eight children were left to shift for themselves, the youngest being but two years old. Andrew determined to go West, and walked to Olean, on the Alleghany River, and get- ting employment on a lumber-raft, floated down the river to Cincinnati. Liking the country, he deter- mined to go back to New York and make prepara- tions for emigrating West. He had to walk the most of the way home, and in the spring he again floated down to Cincinnati. There he bought a part interest in a flat-boat, floated down to New Orleans, and sold his boat-load of produce. Not liking the institution of slavery, he determined to go back to Cincinnati. He worked his way back on a keel- boat, it taking sixty days to make the trip. This trip disgusted him with river-life, and having saved some money, he, in March, 1823, walked to Indian- apolis, where he stopped with a man by the name of Benjamin Atherton. Mr. Morehouse entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on Lick Creek, about five miles east of Indianapolis, on the Brook- ville road. Having had the misfortune to lose one hundred dollars while looking for land, and wanting eighty acres of land adjoining his, he built a cabin of round logs, split puncheon floor, clapboard door hung up with wooden hinges, cut down four acres of heavy timber, piled the brush, and then left for Ham- ilton County, Ohio, where he worked through the summer of 1824. Making his one hundred dollars, he came back to his farm and bought the eighty acres. March 3, 1825, he married Theresa White, who was born in Kentucky, Oct. 4, 1796.
Then commenced in earnest the work of clearing. Their honeymoon was spent in burning brush and logs, with every day, three times, corn bread and meat as the bill of fare. By April they had succeeded in clearing about three acres, one corner of which was sown in flax for clothing, and the rest planted with corn, while the places between logs were dug up for potatoes and pumpkins. From early morn until evening Mr. Morehouse kept the axe going, felling
the heavy timber, and ou moonlight nights he would work until late in the night. In the fall, the fight commenced with squirrels, decr, and raccoons for pos- session of the corn ; fires were built around the field to keep them away, and as soon as the corn was dry enough it was stored away in the cabin loft. The pumpkins were peeled, cut in thin rings, and hung overhead on poles. In the fall of 1825, Mr. More- house took his yoke of oxen and an old cart, also an axe to cut the saplings out of his road, and set out for Hamilton County, Ohio, to get apple-trecs. He brought back fifty apple- and some cherry-trees, and planted the first orchard in Warren township ; be also brought a quart of apple-seed, which he planted. One of the seedling trees and a sprout from one of the fifty trees are still living, and both bore apples in the past season.
The first year of his new life was a success, and the promise it gave for the future was fully realized. Mr. Morehouse served in the Black Hawk war in 1832. In 1835, while digging a well, a tub fell on him, crushing his skull. The skull was never lifted, and he suffered from the effects until his death, Feb. 3, 1864. Mrs. Morehouse is still living, and although in her eighty-eighth year, is as ambi- tious to be useful as when she first came to the wil- derness of Marion County with her willing hands to help her husband clear the land for their bome. Her mind is as bright as ever, and to sec her sitting in her own particular corner, knitting and chatting, it is hard to realize that one little woman could ever have done so much.
Robert Brown, another of the early settlers in Warren township, was born at Staunton, Augusta Co., Va., Feb. 5, 1787. His father, who came to America from Ireland, was the most prominent physician of Staunton. The early education of Rob- ert Brown was sadly neglected. When a mere boy he took to hunting, and many a deer and bear fell at the crack of his rifle. At the age of fifteen be left home to make a living for himself. His first work was at the saltpetre-works in Virginia, where he worked, off and on, for three or four years. He then went to the western part of Pennsylvania, where, in 1807, he married Elizabeth Messinger, who was of
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WARREN TOWNSHIP.
German parentage, and was born near the Mononga- hela River, in Pennsylvania, Dec. 10, 1786. After staying a year in Pennsylvania, they emigrated to Butler County, Ohio, within a few miles of Hamil- ton, where he followed farming, and in the winter months worked at coopering. In the summer of 1812 he volunteered, and served in the war. His company went out in the early part of the summer, and, after a few months of active service, returned home in September, and remained long enough to put in their wheat. They returned to headquarters in October, where Mr. Brown served till the close of the war. His children still have the sword which he carried. In the fall of 1822 he and his family, in company with two of his brothers and a brother-in- law, moved to Indianapolis, then but a small settle- ment of a few log huts. The evening before he reached Indianapolis he camped with a party of In- dians on Liek Creek, just south of Irvington, the place where he lived so many years. Mr. Brown re- turned the next fall to Hamilton, Ohio, to enter his farm, south of Irvington, and on returning, in com- pany with others, they were obliged to swim Blue River, which was very high at the time and the weather very cold. There were Indians camped near the river, and they wrung the water from their clothes and dried them by the Indian camp-fire. The only man they met between Blue River and Indian- apolis was Henry Brady, who was hewing the logs for his eabin.
Mr. Brown lived for eight years on the present site of the Blind Asylum, and he tended his corn several years on the square on which the present court-house stands. He would kill game enough to feed his family two or three weeks and then go out and work on his farm, clearing off the land and build- ing his house, which he finished in the fall of 1824. The same house is now standing and occupied. When he was building it, the deer would come two and three at a time and lie down within fifty steps of the house in the daytime. Wild turkeys were also very plenty. He moved to Warren township in the fall of 1830. He served as school trustee three or four terms, before the free school system was estab- lished. The school-houses of that day were few and
wide apart. He helped to survey all of Warren and the greater part of Centre township, and in later years if there was a dispute about any corner-stone in his vicinity, he was called on to settle the matter and locate the corner.
Mr. Brown followed farming and hunting. Bread- stuff was an item at that time, and they had to go to a horse-mill in Shelby County, a distance of some twenty or thirty miles, the trip generally occupying three days. For meat they relied exclusively on deer and other game, which was in abundance.
The day was never too cold or too hot, rain or sunshine, for him to go out hunting. He was acknowledged the best shot in the country. He would never hunt with a hound, or go out with a party if they took a hound. His favorite way was a still hunt, and it appeared that he knew just where to look for deer, and when he shot he was sure to bring down his game. He was present at all shooting- matches for miles around, and if he was not ruled out (which was often done to give others a chance), he always won the first choice, which was the hide and tallow.
Mr. Brown was respected by all who knew him. His word was as good as his bond, and few indeed were the promises that he broke. His wife died April 20, 1867, at the advanced age of eighty years, four months, and six days. She had been married for sixty years. Mr. Brown survived her nine years, and died Oct. 20, 1876, at the age of eighty-nine years, eight months, and fifteen days. Only four children survived him, three sons and one daughter. He left several great-grandchildren, and one great- great-grandchild.
" Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years, Yet ran he freshly on ten winters more, Until, like a elock, worn out by eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still."
Reason Hawkins came from Hamilton County, Ohio, about 1826, and located on Pleasant Run, northeast of the present town of Irvington. In 1829 he was not assessed on any lands in the township. He sold out his first location and afterwards bought land of Calvin Fletcher, situated a little west of
40
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
Cumberland. This was his homestead farm. He built a saw-mill, propelled by the water-power of Buck Creek, and known as the Hawkins mill.
Joseph S. Mix and wife came from Hamilton County, Ohio, in the year 1833, and settled in the east part of Warren township, in a perfect wilder- ness, where the only clearing was where the logs were cut for erecting his cabin, which was (as was usual in those days) of only one room, with puncheon floor, and quilts or blankets hung up at the door and windows. For three years he kept a store in Cum- berland for Nicholas McCarty, and when he closed at night would take the money in a basket on his arm and go to his home, a mile distant through the woods. There he hung his basket (with the money in it) on a pog for the night, without the least doubt that it was perfectly safe, as it was. He was afterwards in the hemp business with Mr. McCarty. The farm on which he settled in 1833, and where he still lives, is situated one mile southeast of the village of Cum- berland.
Henry Bowser was born in Pennsylvania in March, 1810. When five years old he went with his parents to Ohio, and when twenty-one years of age he mi- grated to Indiana, and settled in the southwest corner of Warren township, where he resided until his death, Oct. 18, 1883. He married, May 6, 1833, Mary Moore, who still survives him.
James C. Ferguson was born March 4, 1808. His father and mother were natives of Virginia, but when quite young moved with their parents to Ken- tucky. About four years after his father's marriage he volunteered to go into the Maumee country, under Gen. Anthony Wayne, to fight Indians, and re- mained out until peace was made. In a few years thereafter he moved to Butler County, Ohio, where James C. Ferguson was born. Six years after his birth his father died with a contagious fever, called the cold plague. In 1820 the family moved to In- diana. In 1825, James C. Ferguson settled where he now resides, in Warren township, on the National road, six miles east of Indianapolis. In 1829 he married Nancy Goble, who lived in Henry County, Ind. Her native State was Ohio. Mr. Ferguson says, " I frequently fed the Indians, chased bear, and
killed a great many deer. I had a horse with a long tail that I rode when hunting. If I succeeded in killing a deer I would tie the horse's tail to its jaw, and in that way drag the deer home. Turkey and wolves were plenty, but the wolves soon disappeared. My first cabin was built in 1825. The floor was of split puncheons, and the door of clapboards. My table was also made of split puncheons."
Elias H. and Mahala Shimer, pioneers of Warren township, arrived here from Zanesville, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1829, and settled on the farm on which Mr. Shimer died July 29, 1864, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and on which his widow still lives. She is now in her eighty-second year, a woman of remarkable health and unimpaired mind. Mr. Shimer was not a stout man, and being sufficiently qualified to teach, he taught school for a number of years. In 1858 he was awarded the first premium for the finest farm in Marion County.
In 1834, Mr. and Mrs. Shimer joined the Old-School Baptist Church, of which they remained consistent members till the breaking up of the church, about 1856. It can be truthfully said that their house was the home of the homeless; scarcely a time can be mentioned when his house was not the abode of one or more orphans. At one time five homeless ones, all of different families, were taken into his house to share whatever blessings the Great Master had given them.
Joseph Clinton, with his family, emigrated from Kentucky to Indiana in 1830, and entered the east half of the southwest quarter of section 13, and bought of Benjamin Atherton the west half of the northwest quarter of the same section in township 15, range 4. When Mr. Clinton arrived there was no house on the land, but as material was plenty it was but a few days until he had erected a rude cabin of one room, with split puncheon floor, clap- board door, and a greased-paper window. The cabin was heated by a large fireplace, which also served for cooking purposes. The chimney to the house was of mud and sticks, and built at first about four feet high, but it was afterwards made higher. It was late in the fall, and as it had taken about everything that Mr. Clinton possessed to buy his farm and move, the
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family had to practice the most rigid economy- Land on which to plant the next year's crop had to be cleared before spring; so, working from early in the morning till late at night, and in all kinds of weather, he succeeded in partially clearing enough ground to raise the next winter's food and clothes. At night, when any other light than that from the fireplace was needed, an iron vessel, with a handle for sticking in the cracks of the logs, was filled with lard, and a wick of twisted cotton rags put in for burning. The first improvement in lights was a candle made by dipping a rag up and down in melted tallow until enough tallow adhered to the rag to form the candle. All clothing was home-made, either made from flax or wool. The principal article of food was corn. Corn bread in all its various forms was eaten through the weck, and on Sunday a great treat was had in the form of wheat bread.
Joseph Clinton was for several years justice of the peace, and of the many ridiculous incidents that came under his notice he often related the following : One day while working in the corn-field a German and his wife came running excitedly towards him, and as soon as the man was within hearing he called out, " Here, Meester Squire, here is your thaler ; take him, take him." "Why ?" said Mr. Clinton, "I don't want your dollar." "Oh, yes, Meester Squire, take him; me hit Ostermeyer on der kopf, and he fall down dead. Take him, Meester Squire." The man seemed in such evident earnest that Mr. Clinton stopped his work and went to see what was the matter. He found that the two men had quar- reled ; one had hit the other on the head, the blow having stunned but not killed Ostermeyer. The Ger- man had been in this country but a short time, and knowing that the fine for a fight was one dollar, he thought that one dollar would settle the matter, even if he had killed the man.
Joseph Clinton lived upon the farm where he first settled until his death, in December, 1874. He was always a man of remarkably even temper, honored and respected by all who knew himn. All little chil- drea secmed to recognize in him a true friend, and he was most happy when surrounded by a crowd of little ones, telling them stories and soothing them in
their childish griefs. In spite of his white hair, hé seemed to have become as one of them.
Mills, Taverns, and Distilleries .- In 1832 there was a saw-mill built about half a mile south of Cumberland, run by water-power. In 1834 a saw- mill (water-power) was built on Buck Creek, about three miles south of Cumberland. It was known as Baker's saw-mill. About 1835 a saw-mill (water- power), known as Davis' mill, was built one and a half miles south of Brookville road.
The first steam-mill was built on the National road, about two miles west of Cumberland. The exact date of the building of this mill is not known, but it sawed the lumber for planking the Cumberland plank road, now the National gravel road. At present there are three steam sawmills in the town- ship and one steam grist-mill. There are no water- power mills.
An early tavern was kept by Samuel Fullen, on the Centreville road. When that road was vacated he moved to Cumberland, and kept the first tavern there. Henry Brady kept tavern six miles east of Indianapolis as early as 1824. John Wilson kept on the Centreville road, near the present site of Butler University, three and a half miles east of Indianapolis. When the National road was located he moved to it and kept tavern there. Rufus Jennison kept tavern five and a half miles east of Indianapolis, on the National road. James Ferguson kept six miles east of Indianapolis, on the National road. He kept tavern as early as 1825. David Woods kept ten miles east of Indianapolis, on the Brookville road, at a very early date. Nathan Harlan kept on Brookville road from 1833 to 1844, for accommodation of stage travelers. This was about nine miles east of Indian- apolis. At present there is but one hotel in the township, kept by Ingram Little at Cumberland.
A small distillery was built as early as 1830 by a man named Richardson, on Buck Creek, near the east end of Cumberland. It was principally used for the manufacture of peach brandy, and was run but a short time. There is no distillery in the township.
Villages .- There are three villages within the territory of the township of Warren, viz. : Irvington (the largest but youngest of the three), lying on the
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
west line of the township, adjoining Centre, and about four miles east of the city of Indianapolis ; Julietta, in the southeast corner of the township; and Cum- berland, near the east line of Warren, and occupying a central position on that line, between the north- eastern and southeastern corners of the township, eleven miles east of Indianapolis, on the old National or Cumberland road.
The village of Cumberland was laid out in 1831 (plat recorded July 7th in that year) on land owned by Samuel Fullen ; the survey being made by Henry Brady, who received one or two town lots io payment. Originally there were but six streets in the town, viz. : North, South, East, West, Main, and the Cumberland road, which latter passes through it from west to east, ninety feet wide, with sidewalks nine and a half feet wide. Main Street was laid ont forty-nine and a half feet wide, and each of the other four streets thirty-three feet wide. Ground for a public cemetery was donated by the owner of the plat.
The first tavern in the village was opened hy Samuel Fullen, who moved there from the Centreville road, where he had previously kept a public-house. His wife was Ano Pogue, daughter of George Pogue, the pioneer settler at Indianapolis. He afterwards sold out in Cumberland to David Richardson, who came from Miamitown, Ohio. Other early tavern-keepers at Cumberland were James Parker, - Donahue, and Dr. William Moore, whose house was the stop- ping-place for the stages on the Cumberland road. The hotel of the place is now kept by Ingran Little.
The first stock of goods was brought to Cumber- land by John Stephens, a native of Kentucky, who came to this place from Indianapolis, where he owned the Bayou farm. He was an honest and respected man, but became poor, and it is said he died in Han- cock County poor-house. Other early and later mer- chants of Cumberland were Joseph Mix, Brown & Buell, John Hawkins, Jacob Loucks, Hugh Wooster, Jeremiah and Joseph Oakes, James Woods, and Charles Bouge. The present stores of the village are kept by Jesse Ebrough, Charles Hendricks, Joseph McConnell, and Edward Bouge,-the last named also having the post-office.
Among the early settlers in Cumberland, besides
those named, were Dr. Lyman Carpenter, Daniel Knight (wheelwright), George Patterson (married a daughter of Samuel Fullen), Noble Perrin (black- smith), - Travis, and his sons James and Joseph, Dr. William Moore (elected and served as a member of the State Legislature), James Parker (the tavern- keeper already mentioned) and his son Squire, now living in Shelby County, Dr. John Pleasants, Robert Wooster (son of Hugh, the storekeeper), - Emer- son, Joseph Church, Ambrose Shirley, John Dorsey (wagon-maker), Nicholas Stuttsman, George Plum- mer, Aaron Nixon, and James Ingersoll (black- smiths), Mr. Panzy, George McVeigh, and Daniel Reagan, who made the first bricks, which were used for building two brick houses,-one for Mrs. Smith and the other for Samuel Fullen.
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