USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 92
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Valley Mills village, previously called Fremont, and also Northport, was laid out as Fremout by Joe Sanders in 1856, and laid out and platted under the name of Northport, March 21, 1839; is located a little north of the centre of the township, on the Vincennes Railroad. It has a Friends' meeting- house, and another of the Hicksite branch of the same society, one commodious school-house of four rooms, a graded school, post-office, one physician, one general store, one grocery, a blacksmith- and
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
wagon-maker's shop, a saw-mill, and railroad station. On the northeast, adjoining the village, is the fine nursery and fruit farm of the Hon. John Furnas.
The village or town of Spring Valley was laid out on the northwest quarter of section 10, township 15, range 3, by Stephen Ward, in 1848 (plat recorded January 4th of that year). Quite an extensive store was opened, with a full stock of goods, a building was erected for a hotel, a blacksmith-shop and a wagon-shop were started, and several dwellings were built and occupied by families, a physician located there, and a post-office was established. The town flourished well for a time, but the rivalry of Fremont and West Newton caused it to decline. The original projector sold out his landed interest, and the mer- chant became discouraged and left the place, as did also the physician, when it became apparent that the village and vicinity could not support him. Finally the place was abandoned by all who felt any interest in its prosperity or cxistence. The buildings were dismantled, and the material removed to other places, and Spring Valley was left with its name, bnt with not enough of the marks of a town to lead a stranger to suspect that one had ever existed there. A public school-house is still there, but there has been no post- .office or postmaster for Spring Valley for several years.
Mills and Distilleries .- The first and only grist- mill in Decatur was built by James A. Marrs and Ira N. Holmes in 1854, at the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of section 36, township 15, range 2. It was a steam mill, with two boilers, two engines, and three run of burrs,-two for wheat and one for corn, with a capacity for making one hun- dred barrels of flour in twenty-four hours. It did both custom and merchant work. Holmes sold out his interest to Marrs before the mill was finished. Marrs completed it, and ran it until his death, which occurred in October, 1857. His adminis- trator kept it in operation for some years afterwards, but it was found unprofitable, because the distance from market or a shipping-place rendered the ex- pense of hauling too great. The mill was then sold to Fielding Beeler and Calvin Fletcher, and removed by them to what is now Maywood. There it was re-
built, a saw-mill and new machinery added, and all was operated vigorously till the spring of 1873 (Mr. Beeler being the superintending partner), when it was sold to other parties, but was not successfully conducted, and finally the business was abandoned. The machinery has since been sold and the building dismantled.
The first saw-mill in Decatur was built about 1834 by Reuben Jessup, on Dollarhide Creek, on land now owned by Isaiah George. The creek afforded water enough to run the mill only during the wet season of the year, but by gathering a head of water in the pond it was able to do the necessary sawing of lumber for the neighborhood. The mill was sold by Jessup to Joseph Beeler, who ran it some three years, then sold the machinery to Noah Sinks, who erected a dam, race, and building lower down the creek (near where it enters White River), on land now owned by ex-County Commissioner A. C. Remy, and moved the machinery of the mill to the new site. Mr. Sinks was a good millwright, and his new mill was well constructed and put in excellent order, but in consequence of the leakage of an aqueduct, which was necessary to carry the water at some height over the bed of the creek, the mill was unable to run with even as much success as it did on the old site
The only distillery in the township of which any information has been gained was started by Stephen Ward in 1857, on the old Eli Sulgrove farm, now owned by the heirs of the late Jeremiah Mansur. Its capacity was about twenty barrels of whiskey per day, but it was not successful, and was soon abandoned.
Schools .- The first school in Decatur township was taught in the winter of 1824-25, by Samuel Wick, brother of Judge W. W. Wick, in one of the cabins of Col. D. L. McFarland. In the fall of 1825 a cabin was built for school purposes on the land of Jesse Wright, near its north line, and near the present crossing of the Martin Seerly gravel road and the Vincennes Railroad. In that cabin a school was tauglit by Joseph Fassett, the earliest Baptist min- ister of this section of country. It has not been ascertained that any other person than he ever taught in the cabin referred to.
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DECATUR TOWNSHIP.
In 1826 or 1827 a house was built on the land of John Thompson for school and church purposes, and was called Liberty school-house and Liberty Church. It was quite a pretentious structure for those days, being of hewed logs with a loft of clapboards. The west end was furnished with logs, hewed flat on the upper side, and extending across the building, in- tended for seating the men at meeting. When school was taught in the room these same logs furnished seats for the children, the feet of the smaller ones hanging several inches above the floor. The east end of the building had a fireplace, with jambs built up of clay, which after two or three years gave place to brick. The fireplace communicated with a "stick" chimney on the outside of the building. The seats in the east end were benches made of puncheons, with legs fastened in auger-holes on the under side. It was soon found that the fireplace was insufficient to keep the room warm enough for even tolerable comfort, and an old-fashioned box, or " six-plate" stove was put in, it being the first of the kind ever seen in this part of the country. It was hauled from Cin- cinnati by Daniel Closser, one of the Vanderbilts of those times, whose transportation line ran over a road of mud and corduroy, and whose car was a wagon, having a bed crooked up at each end like sled-run- ners, boxes in the sides, feed-box at the back end, all heavily ironed from end to end, with two heavy lock- chains, one on each side, rattling in concert with the bells on the harness of the four or six horses which furnished the motive power.
A house for school purposes was built on land of Absalom Dollarhide, occupying almost the exact spot on which now stands the residence of William Boat- right. This house was of round logs, two of which were halved out at the sides and one end for win- dows. In these openings split pieces of wood were placed perpendicularly at the proper distances for sashes, and greased paper stretched over them instead of glass. The floor and seats were made of puncheons (split logs), with the roughest splinters dressed off with an axe. It had no chimney but a hole left at the comb of the roof for the smoke to pass out. There was no fireplace but a few stones built against the logs and plastered with elay, and no hearth but
the bare ground. A stick of wood nearly as long as the width of the house was laid on the fire, and when it burned in two the ends were chunked together again. Another house, of the same description as this, was built south of the present village of West Newton, and near the south line of the township. The first teacher in this was Benjamin Pucket. An- other house was built a year or two later at the south- west corner of Parker Keeler's land, about a quarter of a mile west of the first site of Bethel meeting- house (where the cemetery is located). Another school-house was built and maintained for many years by citizens of the Society of Friends, near the site of their Beech Grove meeting-house. This was inde- pendent of the public school organization or school funds, and was for many years a very prosperous school, attended by several pupils who have since attained prominence in the educational institutions of the county. Among these was Mr. Mills, who was for many years assistant superintendent of the public schools of the city of Indianapolis. A fine and com- modious school-house is now located about a quarter of a mile east of the site of this old house, and in it a very well conducted and successful graded school is maintained under the general school system, the old organization having been abandoned. The house stands in a pretty grove, a few rods southeast of Val- ley Mills railroad station. There was also a school- house built, and a school maintained, by the Friends near the Beech Grove meeting-house. This has given place to a spacious two-story frame school-house, in which a prosperous school is maintained under the present public school system.
Decatur township has now six school districts, and the same number of school-houses (four frame, and two of brick). Schools are taught in all the houses, and there are graded schools in two of the districts. In 1883, ten teachers were employed (three male and seven female). Six teachers' institutes were held in the township during the year. The average total daily attendance was 244; whole number of children ad- mitted to the schools, 400; average length of school terms in the township in 1883, 160 days ; valuation of school-houses and grounds, $16,000.
Churches .- The earliest church organization in
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
Decatur township was that of the Baptist denomina- tion, called Liberty Church, which was organized at a meeting convened for that purpose at the house of John Thompson, on the 8th of July, 1826, Joseph Fassett, moderator, and Samuel McCormick, clerk of the meeting. The members of this first organization were John Thompson and Nancy his wife, John Dol- larhide, Elisha Smith, George Stevens, Jane Beeler (grandmother of Fielding Beeler, Esq., now of Wayne township), Nancy McFarland (wife of Col. Demas L. McFarland), Martha Sutherland, Mary Spickel- moir, Rachel Dollarhide, Phebe Spickelmoir, Rebecca Smith, and Rosanna Shoemaker. Meetings for relig- ious worship had previously been held by these people at the house of John Thompson; and after the or- ganization they were held at the same place regularly every month, the preachers being Joseph Fassett, William Irwin, and John Butterfield. On the second Saturday in October, 1827, a meeting was held for the first time in the house which had been erected for both church and school purposes (as has been mentioned in the account of the schools of the town- ship). The record mentions the presence on this occasion of ministers Irwin, Fassett, Butterfield, and Cotton ; also, that a sister from Massachusetts (name not given) preached to the congregation present. When no regular minister was present the services were often conducted by John Thompson as long as he remained a resident of the neighborhood, up to about 1837. When the split in the Baptist Church occurred, as caused by the teachings of Alexander Campbell, Liberty Church enrolled itself under his leadership. John Thompson and other leading mem- bers having removed from the county (and from other causes), Liberty Church ceased to exist as an organization ; no regular services were held after the year 1841, and the church building was allowed to fall into disuse and decay.
The next religious organization after Liberty Church was that of the Friends worshiping at the Easton meeting-house at West Newton. It dates from the year 1827, and was from the start, and still is, a well-maintained religious organization. The first minister or preacher was Benjamin Pucket, who died in 1829 or 1830, and was the second person interred
in the burial-ground connected with the meeting- house.
The third church of the township was Bethel (Methodist Episcopal), known to the worldly-minded of those early days as " Brimstone Church," from the preaching of one of its early ministers named Beck, whose principal theme was " fire and brimstone." The Rev. James Havens, noted in the early annals of Methodism in this State, was also one of the earliest preachers at Bethel. This organization is still in active and prosperous life. Its old log church has given place to a neat frame building, and though the McCreerys and others of its original pillars have passed away, their descendants and the new-comers have taken up and continued its work.
Lick Branch Meeting of the Friends was organized and a log meeting-house erected about 1830. The old log structure was superseded by a frame house which is still standing, but the organization ceased to exist many years ago.
Beech Grove (Friends) Church was also organized and a meeting-house erected about 1830. The or- ganization still exists and is prosperous. A new building has been erected near the site of the old one, which is a few rods west of Valley Mills Station of the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railroad.
The Centre, or "Starbuck" Church of the Friends was organized about the year 1850. Its location is on the west line of Decatur, against Hendricks County, where many of its principal members reside.
The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church building-a frame structure, erected about 1860-is located a short distance west of the residence of ex-County Com- missioner A. C. Remy. Before the building of the church, services were held in the vicinity, the first minister who served the small congregation being the Rev. Mr. McCray. From the erection of the church to the present time, preaching has been held (gen- erally monthly) with considerable regularity, though there is now no church organization, and the people who gather for worship at Mount Pleasant, having no regular pastor, depend on services by ministers from other places, among the principal of whom is the Rev. Mr. Maybee, of Indianapolis.
Burial-Grounds .- Near Liberty Church, at the
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FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
northeast corner of the east half of the southwest quarter of section 29, township 15, range 3, is a free publie burial-place, the land for which was donated by John Thompson. The first person buried in it was Elizabeth Thompson, in 1828 or 1829.
The Bethel graveyard is adjoining the first site of Bethel Church, near the northeast corner of the west half of section 26, range 2.
Adjoining the site of the old Easton Friends' meeting-house at West Newton is a free burial- ground, in which the first interment was that of a child of Thomas Barnet, in 1828. The second burial in it was that of Benjamin Pucket, who died in 1829 or 1830. He was the first school-teacher and first preacher at the Easton Friends' meeting.
On the river bluff, on land of Elijah Wilson, near the east end of the south half of section 18, township 15, range 3, is an old burial-ground in which lie the remains of several of the early settlers of the neighbor- hood and some of later date, with a considerable num- ber of children. Burials have been free, but the ground has never been deeded or formally dedicated to its sacred use, and it is now nearly abandoned as a place of interment.
There is a small burial-ground on the land formerly owned by Joseph Beeler, on the Spring Valley gravel road. The first burial in it was that of a child of Joseph Beeler, in October, 1826. It also contains the graves of Mr. Beeler, his mother, his brother Thomas, and several other members of his family, and those of several of his neighbors and friends. Burials have always been free in this . ground, though it was never formally consecrated.
There is a graveyard attached to the Centre, or " Starbuck" Friends' meeting-house grounds, on the west line of the township; another at Liek Branch (Friends) Church, and another at the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. There are also several places in the township where from one to four or five gravcs have been made together on private lands, but which are not regarded as public burial-grounds, and in some cases all traces of the graves arc obliterated.
CHAPTER XXII.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.1
THE township of Franklin lies in the southeast corner of Marion County, being bounded on the north and west respectively by the townships of Warren and Perry, on the south by Johnson County, and on the east by the counties of Shelby and Hancock. The township is traversed diagonally from southeast to northwest by the line of the Cin- cinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Rail- way. The principal stream is Buek Creek, which enters the township across its north line a short dis- tance west of its northeastern corner, flows through the eastern part of Franklin in a general southward direction, nearly parallel with the eastern line, and leaves. the township at a point near its southeastern corner, joining its waters with those of Big Sugar Creek in Shelby County. Wild Cat and Indian Creeks, Big Run, and several smaller streams are tributaries of Buek Creek which flow in a south- eastwardly direction through Franklin township to their junetions with the main stream. Another stream, which also bears the name of Buck Creek (sometimes called Little Buek Creek), and is a tributary to White River, flows from its sources in Franklin southwestwardly into Perry township. The surface of Franklin township is, like that of other parts of the county, nearly level in some parts, in others rolling, and in some parts hilly. The soil is, in general, excellent, well adapted to most of the purposes of agriculture, and the farmers working it are well rewarded for the labor they bestow upon it. The total population of the township in 1880 was two thousand six hundred and nine, as shown by the returns of the United States census of that year.
Franklin was laid off and erected a township of Marion County by the board of county commissioners on the 16th of April, 1822, and on the same day, and by the same authority, Decatur, Perry, and Franklin were (because none of the three were then sufficiently populated for separate organization) joined together as one township. This union of the three
1 By T. J. Mccollum, Esq.
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
townships continued until the 12th of August, 1823, when Decatur was made separate and independent by order of the commissioners. Then Perry and Franklin remained joined together as one until May 12, 1824, when, upon petition, and it being made to appear to the commissioners that Perry and Franklin
^ had each a sufficient number of inhabitants for separate organization, the board ordered that Frank- lin be taken from Perry, and that an election be held on the 19th of June following, at the house of William Rector, for the purpose of electing a justice of the peace, John Ferguson to be inspector of the said election.
Following is a list of township officers of Franklin from its ercction to the present time, viz. :
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Peter llarmonson, June 28, 1822, to June 6, 1827 (for Perry, Decatur, and Franklin, until their separation).
Henry D. Bell, Jan. 3, 1824, to Oct. 6, 1827. James Greer, Oct. 27, 1823, to Oct. 22, 1832. Marino D. West, Aug. 24, 1829, to May, 1831; removed.
Isaac Baylor, Aug. 10, 1831, to June 24, 1836.
James Greer, Dec. 24, 1832, to Dec. 24, 1837. Benjamin Morgan, April 18, 1836, to April 15, 1846.
Isaac Baylor, Ang. 1, 1836, to Ang. 1, 1841.
James Clark, Feb. 5, 1838, to Feb. 2, 1843. Patrick Catterson, Sept. 20, 1841, to Sept. 20, 1846.
Alexander Carson, March 9, 1843, to March 9, 1848.
Benjamin Morgan, April 25, 1846, to Ang. 3, 1850 ; resigned. Daniel McMullen, Nov. 7, 1846, to Nov. 7, 1851.
William M. Smith, April 19, 1848, to April 19, 1853. William Power, Nov. 23, 1850, to Nov. 23, 1855.
Daniel McMullen, Nov. 17, 1851, to May 28, 1858; resigned. James A. Hodges, April 19, 1853, to April 5, 1856; resigned. William Power, May 5, 1856, to April 19, 1860.
Thomas J. Mccollum, July 16, 1858, to July 16, 1862. Lewis B. Willsey, April 19, 1860, to April 17, 1864. James Morgan, April 18, 1860, to April 16, 1864. George W. Morgan, July 16, 1862, to Jan. 29, 1864; resigned. Richard L. Upton, April 16, 1864, to Aug. 27, 1864; resigned. Jefferson Russell, April 15, 1864, to April 15, 1868. John T. Rynearson, April 17, 1864, to April 17, 1868. James Hickman, Aug. 24, 1866, to Ang. 24, 1870. Lewis B. Willsey, April 17, 1868, to April 17, 1872. John T. Phemister, Oct. 25, 1870, to November, 1875; died. George W. Morgan, Oct. 24, 1874, to November, 1875; died. * John Wilson, Nov. 22, 1875, to Oct. 25, 1880. John Porter, Dec. 30, 1875, to Oct. 25, 1880. lewis B. Willsey, Oct. 25, 1880, to Oct. 25, 1884. John H. Peggs, Oct. 25, 1880, to Oct. 25, 1884.
TRUSTEES.
John H. Randsdell, April 7, 1859, to April 16, 1863. James A. Ferguson, April 16, 1863, to April 14, 1865. Waller M. Benson, April 14, 1865, to April 20, 1868. James L. Thompson, April 20, 1868, to Oct. 26, 1874. Hiram H. Hall, Oct. 26, 1874, to April 8, 1878. James L. Thompson, April 8, 1878, to April 19, 1880. R. C. M. Smith, April 19, 1880, to April 14, 1882. John Wilson, April 14, 1882, for two years.
ASSESSORS.
George L. Kinnard, Jan. 1, 1827, to Jan. 7, 1828. William Rector, Jan. 7, 1828, to Jan. 5, 1829. John Bellis, Jan. 5, 1829, to Jan. 2, 1832. Ahira Wells, Jan. 2, 1832, to Jan. 7, 1833. John Bellis, Jan. 7, 1833, to May 5, 1835. John HI. Messinger, May 5, 1835, to Jan. 4, 1836. Benjamin Morgan, Jan. 4, 1836, to March 7, 1836. William Townsend, March 7, 1836, to Jan. 2, 1837. Benjamin Morgan, Jan. 2, 1837, to Deo. 6, 1841. Bernard Leachman, Dec. 16, 1852, to Nov. 13, 1858. James Morgan, Nov. 13, 1858, to Oct. 18, 1860. Joseph S. Carson, Oct. 18, 1860, to Oct. 30, 1862. Iliram H. Hall, Oct. 30, 1862, to Oct. 21, 1872.
Richard C. M. Smith, Oct. 21, 1872, to Ang. 1, 1873. Richard C. M. Smith, March 18, 1875, to April 14, 1880. James Il. Gibson, April 14, 1880, to April 14, 1882. Joseph N. Cunningham, April 14, 1882, to April 14, 1884,
The old Michigan road, traversing the territory of Franklin township diagonally in a northwesterly direction, had been. cut out and underbrushed (but not graded or grubbed) through a great part of this region as carly as 1820, and it was over the route of that road that many of the pioneers came to Marion County. The first settlements within what is now Franklin township were made by people who came over this old thoroughfare and located not far from its line, in the east and southeast parts of the present township, along the valley of Buck' Creek.
It is belicved (though the fact cannot now be established by absolute proof) that the first white settler within the present boundaries of Franklin township was William Rector, who came here from Ohio in the year 1820, and built his cabin on lands bordering Buck Creek. It was at his house that the first election of the township was held (as before mentioned) on the 19th of June, 1824. On the earliest assessment-roll of the township which can now be found (that of the year 1829) the name of
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FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
William Rector appears assessed on one hundred and sixty aeres of land, the northeast quarter of section 10, township 14, range 5; also on two oxen and three horses. He was an extensive dealer (for those times) in hogs, of which he drove large numbers to Lawrenceburg and Cincinnati. Mr. Rector was a prominent man in the Methodist Church, and was a member, and leader of the first class of that denomina- tion in the township, which was organized at his house in 1827. He had three sons and several daughters. Having remained an inhabitant of Franklin township for more than a quarter of a century, he, about 1848, sold out his possessions here and removed with his family to Iowa. One of his sons afterwards returned to Franklin township and married a daughter of Isaac Baylor, one of the pioneers of this region.
Maj. John Belles (who received his title from ser- vice in that grade in the war of 1812) came from Scott County, Ky., in 1820, and first stopped on the Bradley farm, just south of the city of Indianapolis, where he remained two years, during which time his wife died, leaving him with a family of five sons and three daughters. In 1822 he moved into Franklin . township, and settled on the line of the old Michigan road, near where it crosses the line dividing the town- ships of Franklin and Warren. The land on which he located was still owned by the government, and he did not become a purehaser until a number of years later. At this place he erected his first dwelling, which was construeted of rails, with a wagon cover hung up in front for a door. His third son, Caleb, was at this time twelve years old, and the cooking and household duties fell on him for a few years, until his father married a widow by the name of Snell, who was a sister of Dr. John Sanders and William Sadders, of Indianapolis. He erected a more comfortable house in which to live after his marriage, and commenced keeping a tavern.
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