USA > Indiana > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Indiana > Part 27
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OCCUPANTS OF. JACKSON COUNTY.
The Piankeshaws were one of the Algonquin tribes, and it was
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people of this nation that occupied the territory now embraced in Jackson County, although at a later date a few Wyandots and Shawnees were settled here, and the Delawares had strong claim to the land through a treaty with the Piankeshaws in 1767. The Indian title to the land in the county was extinguished by three different treaties, as may be seen in the organization chapter elsewhere in this volume.
EARLY INDIAN REMINISCENCES.
"In the War of 1812, the settlement in this county was the most northern of the white men in the States, and bordered the hunting grounds of the Miami tribe of Indians, the most hostile of all the tribes in the Territory. The Delaware and Shawnee tribes professed friendship, but, true to Indian character, were treacher- ous; and, being near neighbors, gave great uneasiness to the set- tlement and often did much by their incursions and thefts to dis- turb the already agitated settlement. When war was commenced there were ninety-three families residing within the borders of this county. Seventy moved off, which left twenty-three to bear the heat and burthen of the day, which were the families of Will- iam Graham, Jesse B. Durham, John Griffith, John Berry, Daniel McCoy, Samuel Slade, John Sage, Samuel Burcham, James McGee, Abraham Miller, Daniel Beem, Aquilla Rogers, David Rogers, John Storm, William Taber, Robert Sturgeon, James Hutcheson, Abraham Huff, John Johnson, John Kitchum, Will- iam Ruddick, John Parker and Willson. This little band got themselves together and built forts at convenient distances and locations for their security-one at Burcham's, one at Huff's, near the mouth of Huff's Creek, one near Vallonia, and at other convenient points. Many young men came in to render assist- ance at the the forts whose names are not mentioned above, among whom was one Hockman, from Harrison County. He was a raw Dutchman, and after remaining at the fort some time, the butt
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of the company, they persuaded him to take a bunt. As no Indian had been seen for a considerable length of time in the vicinity no danger was apprehended it was acceded to by Hook- man. All suspecting there was lack of courage in Hockman, they concluded to frighten him by tying handkerchiefs about their heads and faces, and a party of six surprised him in the woods as Indians. They were not long in finding him, and dodging from tree to tree with their guns toward him, they forced him to a tree. The party continued to get nearer, and whilst one of them was showing his body, Hockman fired and knocked the bark off the tree by his side just as he had made his escape. The joke was turned: Hockman now became the charging party and the six were forced to retreat, which was effected with great danger. As Hockman's dutch was fairly up he gave them no chance for par- ley, but by dodging they all reached the fort in safety. Hock- man's courage was never afterward doubted, inasmuch as he had shown the courage to contend with the unequal odds of six to one."
Captain John Berry, who came in 1808; Thomas Ewing, 1810; James Rogers, 1810; Ranger Michael Beem, 1811; Alexander Craig, 1808, and William Graham, 1811, constituted a party of six who went in search of a horse that had been stolen by the Indians from a man named Lindsey, of Washington County. They pur- sued the Indians ten miles north of the present site of Indianap- olis. At that place Ewing discovered an Indian, raised his gun to shoot, but the Indian dropped his gun and one of the party told him not to shoot; when he took his gun from his shoulder the Indian disappeared among the bushes. The party became quite uneasy on account of their situation, being nearly one hun- dred miles from home among savage Indians; and being discov- ered by the Indian they had seen rendered their situation perilous. They expected hourly to overtake the Indians with the stolen horses, which were tracked that far, and they were then close up- on them. That night a heavy rain fell and the whole face of the
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country around was covered with water, but making brush heaps they managed to refresh themselves with sleep. Next morning they discovered one of the party on his back, half side deep in water-the water having raised in the night; they awoke him and when he got up he coolly said he believed he had got his shirt a little wet! This amused his comrades. They determined to push ahead, but the rain caused them to lose the trace and to take a wrong direction. They had not traveled far before they met three or four friendly Delawares, and among the number was the Indian they had seen the day before; and as he was of a friendly tribe our men were conducted to a Delaware town not far off, and the matter of Ewing's attempt to shoot the Indian was investigated and settled. It would not have been set- tled very amicably had the Indian been in good standing with the tribe, and this little rashness would have cost the lives of the whole party. They held a regular council of war that night in the presence of our men, before the chiefs who occasionally spoke with much earnestness. The guests were permitted to depart next morning with a Delaware guide, and all hope of recovering the horses being at an end, they commenced their journey home. They burned on their way some villages. They had been three days without provisions when they reached the Delaware town, and that tribe being so surrounded that the party found them al- most in a starving condition, but with the little assistance they got there and the game they were able to kill on the route they were able to get to Sand Creek in January, 1812. The next day found them at Fort Vallonia after as perilous a journey as was ever un- dertaken by six men.
One Vandover was cultivating a small field on the farm some time since known as the Hollen farm in 1812, when the Indians shot him while he was at work. A number from the fort at Val- lonia came to the burying, and on their return, as Robert Sturgeon was riding a short distance in advance of the company and near
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Vallonia at the half mile branch, he was shot from his horse. The company hearing the report of the gun rode on rapidly, but on finding Sturgeon lying in the road, and fearing a large body of Indians was near, rode on to the fort leaving Sturgeon. When they returned they found Sturgeon scalped, and about a half dozen yards from the road a blind made of bushes was placed by the Indians.
A man named Dome was killed one mile and a half north of Brownstown by a considerable body of Indians. Messrs. Ketcham and Ruddick were with him, and Ruddick at the same time re- ceived a bullet in the arm.
David Hays and Maj. Sparks went out in the companies of Capts. Peyton and Dunn, and near the Delaware town Hays re- ceived a mortal wound. Other accounts of Indian murders will be found in the history of the townships.
BATTLE OF TIPTON'S ISLAND.
This battle was fought at Tipton's Island, about two miles up the Driftwood Fork of White River from Rockford. A party of nearly sixty Indians were marauding and lurking about through the county, evidently watching their opportunity to plunder the home of the settlers and murder the inmates. Desiring to inter- cept them before they had committed any outrages a party con- sisting of about thirty white men under Gen. John Tipton started in pursuit. The Indians knowing that they were pursued sta- tioned themselves at a ford on White River and concealed them- selves where they would have every advantage in the contest. Gen. Tipton at once saw the advantage of their position and de- cided to cross the river at some distance above, and make a flank movement. The Indians did not discover this movement until the whites had begun firing. The skirmish lasted about half an hour when the Indians retreated, not however, until one of their number had been killed and several wounded. The troops under
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Gen. Tipton were the settlers living in and around Vallonia. Michael and Daniel Beem and John Ketcham were among the number.
PREHISTORIC PEOPLE.
Scattered throughout the Mississippi Valley and the heart of the American Continent, lie the silent monuments of a long buried and unknown race. Through the long vista of years that have gone over the graves of this ancient and forgotten people there comes no sound to tell us of the times that saw these monu- ments arise. The mystery that enshrouds this race has hitherto baffled all science and research. Archeologists have outrun all clues in their vain endeavors to penetrate the secrets that sur- round these dead inhabitants of the past. Beyond the fact of their existence but little is known. No recorded history, no curi- ous and perplexing hieroglyphics were left by them to span the abyss of time. The mounds and earthworks are numerous, and some of them are of such magnitude that it is concluded "that they lived in towns and were governed by a despotic ruler whose will was law and whose commands received implicit obedience." For want of a better name that of Mound-Builder has been given to this extinct race, since only by these mounds is it known. The date of these mounds is beyond the centuries that have been re- quired for the growth of the forests. "Not entirely voiceless, they tell of a people who once possessed the valley of the conti- nent. Peaceful and law-abiding, they were skilled in agriculture and the arts of the stone age, and executed works that required the united and persistent effort of thousands under the direction of a well matured design. In the comparative absence of war- like implements, we conclude that this work was a labor of love, and not of fear; that it was inaugurated and directed by a regal priesthood to erect votive temples in honor of the sun, a creator of comfort, food and life."
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CLASSES AND CONTENTS OF MOUNDS.
These mounds are of various kinds, but the most common are either habitation, sepulchral, or temple mounds. The first are supposed to have been made for the purpose of building the tents or dwellings upon. Sepulchral mounds were for the burial of the dead, and when explored are usually found to contain human bones and various ornaments and implements of the race. Tem- ple mounds were the places for religious devotion. Besides these mounds, there are many forts, walled enclosures and citadels.
ANTIQUITIES OF JACKSON COUNTY.
Considerable numbers of stone axes, arrow points, spear heads, knives, fleshers, and other articles of stone, left by the prehistoric people who once inhabited the valley of the East Fork of White River and its tributaries, have been found in Jackson County. Prof. E. T. Cox, in his report on this county in 1874, says:
"Though I could find no earthen or stone wall enclosures, the numerous mounds that are scattered along the streams give abundant evidence that the district once contained a large popu- lation of mound-building people. In the northeast corner of the county, on Section 33, Town 7, Range 6, there is a large, sym- metrical mound thirty-five feet high, 100 feet long, and about sixty feet across the shorter diameter. It is in a short easterly bend of East Fork of White River, 100 steps from the left bank, and commands an extended view up and down the stream. The section from the bed of the river to the top of the mound is:
Mound
Feet. 35
Inches.
Alluvium.
2
6
Gravel and sand.
2
0
Coarse, reddish sand.
15
0
Low water.
-
Total
54
6
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"The bank at this point never overflows. One hundred and twenty paces to the south there is a small branch which forms a circuit nearly around the mound, while on the north side a larger branch lies so near as to cut well into its base. I counted be- tween forty and fifty large forest trees growing on the mound, mostly sugar trees (Acer saccharinum), some beech, poplar and ash. A sugar tree near the top measures three feet in diameter one foot above ground. At the west side of the mound there is a poplar tree which measures seven feet in diameter, three feet from the ground, and estimated to be seventy feet to the first limb. On the north side of the large branch, in George Shilling's old field, I thought I could detect the remains of a number of mounds, but the land has been so long in cultivation that it is difficult to pronounce upon it with certainty, though it is reasonable to suppose that since the river overflows its banks a short distance to the south, and this being the nearest high ground outside of the branches that enclose the great mound, it formed a most eligible site for the purpose. The large mound served the double purpose of an assembly ground for sun worship and a lookout. A small hole has been, at some time, dug into the top of the large mound, but there is no account of any relics being found in it.
"A visit was made to the so-called mounds between the waters of Mutton Creek and the Muscatatuck River, near Newry. It is a hill detached from the spur of a low range of hills that divide the bottoms of the two streams. It lies about a quarter of a mile from the main ridge, and the same distance from the Mus- catatuck, and sixty steps from Mutton Creek. The long diameter is seventy-six feet, the short diameter sixty feet, and the height twenty feet. These measurements were made before it was dis- covered, in a hole made by the uprooting of a large tree, that the revealed strata corresponded with that seen in the main ridge. I. have made mention, therefore, of this isolated hill, not from any scientific interest which attaches to it, but from the fact that it
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has been so generally recognized as an artificial mound. When making inquiries about antiquities, in different parts of the county, I was always cited to the above hill as being one of the largest mounds known in the country. Before discovering that the stratification of the clay and sand in the hill corresponded with that of the ridge, my suspicions were aroused by seeing that it was on a bottom subject to a deep overflow from freshets in the Muscatatuck River. It is only in rare instances that you will find mounds built by prehistoric men on land subject to inunda- tions.
"On the east side of East Fork of White River, one-half mile from Mahan's Ferry, and on the south side of the wagon road, there is a large mound situated on a low ridge a few feet above overflow. In digging the foundation for a house now standing on the mound, a great many human bones were found. Human bones were also thrown out in digging the well and in digging post holes. Though I noticed this mound while passing along the road, it was not until Dr. Wilson, of Medora, informed me of the above facts that I was aware of any special interest being attached to it. The old dwelling house on Daniel P. Hender- lider's place, two miles south of Medora, is built on a mound. It is on a sandy terrace which borders on the flats. The eleva- tion is about eight feet above high water. The land here has been in cultivation for a great many years, which has had the effect to equalize the surface, and to partially obliterate the mounds, which exist over the entire length of the terrace, which is about a mile and a half long. In some of the mounds of this district human bones have been found, together with great num- bers of stone axes, celts and arrow points.
"On the very top of the ridge near Sparksville, 280 feet above the river, there are still to be seen traces of four mounds in a sandy field that has long since been in cultivation. It is said that they were rich in stone relics, but the constant wearing away
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by the plow had left but little to reward our search; only a few arrow heads were picked up.
"On the high ridge which divides the waters of Luts Fork from the waters of Muddy Fork of Salt Creek, one and a half miles southeast of Houston, I was informed that there are four or more deep mortar holes worn into sandstone, which have shallow traces leading from the top of the cavities to the edge of the rock.
"I could hear of many other mounds in the county, but with the exception of the mortar holes above mentioned, which are probably the work of modern Indians, the most important locali- ties and antiquities have been visited and reported upon."
THE SUCCEEDING RACES.
The immediate successors of the Mound-Builders were a race of fishermen, who lived along the banks of streams and existed almost solely upon the food they obtained from the rivers. Along the Western streams there are found many large "shell heaps," where it is supposed these people for a time made their homes. Many stone vaults and sepulchers, intruded on the sides and tops of mounds, have led to the conclusion that this people adopted many of the habits and customs, perhaps even the religion, of their predecessors. But they, too, have long since passed away, leaving naught to tell us of their life, their times, or their am- bitions.
Later there came a barbarous and wandering race, originating in ancient Scythia, and bringing with them the cruelties and characteristics of the inhabitants of that country. The tell-tale monuments along their route from northern Asia to the center of America reveal the origin of the Indians. In their turn as a race they, too, will soon be numbered among the perished. In the struggle for existence with a foeman race they have been van- quished, and one by one they are going down to inglorious and unremembered graves.
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CHAPTER III.
COUNTY ORGANIZATION-THE ORIGINAL COUNTY-EARLY TOWNSHIPS- CREATION OF LATER TOWNSHIPS-PUBLIC BUILDINGS-THE COUNTY SEAT CONTEST-POOR ASYLUM FINANCES-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY- MEDICAL SOCIETY-ELECTIONS-COUNTY OFFICERS-BRIDGES, ETC.
J "ACKSON COUNTY was one of the latest that was organ- ized under the Territorial government of Indiana. It was first within the boundary of Knox County, but by the creation of other counties it was at different times under the jurisdiction of other counties. At the time of its creation it was em- fbraced in two counties, as the following act of the Territorial Legislature, approved December 18, 1815, will show:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council and House of Repre- sentatives: That from and after the first day of January next, all that part of the Counties of Washington and Jefferson which is inclosed in the following bounds shall form and constitute a new county; that is to say: Beginning at a point on the East Fork of White River, where the line dividing Fections 4 and :5, in Range 2 east, Town 3 north, crosses the same, thence due north to the In- .dian boundary line, thence with said boundary line eastward to the point where said line intersects the northern boundary line of the Grouseland Purchase, thence with the last-mentioned line eastwardly to the point where the line divid- ing Ranges 7 and 8 east cross the same; thence with the last mentioned line south to the point where the line dividing Townships 8 and 4 north crosses the same; thence with the last mentioned line west to the east fork of Muscatatuck River; thence down said river with the meanders thereof to the junction of Driftwood Fork of White River; thence down the same with the meanders thereof to the place of beginning.
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SEC. 2. Be it further enacted that the said county shall, from and after the first day of January next, be known and designated by the name and style of the County of Jackson, and it shall enjoy all the rights and privileges and jurisdic. tions which to a separate county do or may properly appertain or belong : Pro- oided always that all suits, pleas, plaints, actions and proceedings which may before said first day of January have been commenced, instituted and depending within the now counties of Washington and Jefferson shall be prosecuted to full
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judgment and effect in the same manner as if this act had not been passed; and Provided, also, that the Territorial and county levies as taxes which are now due within the bounds of the said new county shall be collected and paid in the same manner and by the same officers as they would have been if the erection of said county had never taken place.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted that Alexander A. Meek, of Jefferson Coun- ty, J. Bartholomew, of Clark County, Peter McIntosh, of Harrison County, Ralph Cotton, of Switzerland County, and William Lindley, of Washington County, be and they are hereby appointed Commissioners to designate the place- for a permanent seat of justice of Jackson County, agreeable to an act entitled .. "An Act for the fixing of seats of justice in all new counties hereafter to be laid off." The Commissioners above named or others by the proper court shall con- vene at the house of John Ketcham on Driftwood River on the second Monday of February next, and there proceed to discharge the duties assigned them by law.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted that the associate judges of the circuit. court shall within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice be estah- lished, proceed to erect the necessary public buildings thereon.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted that until the suitable accommodations. can be had in the opinion of said associate judges, at the seat of justice of said new county, all courts of justice for the same shall be holden at the town of Vallonia.
SEC. 6. Be it further enacted that whenever the Indian title to the lands- north of and adjoining to the lands already purchased and sold by United States, all that tract of country north of said county of Jackson, and south of the line dividing Townships 7 and 8 north and lying between Ranges. 3 and 8 east, shall be attached to and become a part of said county of Jackson, and the said line dividing Townships 7 and 8 north, shall be the permanent northern boundary of said county of Jackson.
SEC. 7. Be it further enacted that to prevent future disputes and in some measure to quiet the solicitudes which usually attend the settlement of new counties respecting fixing the county seats, &c., it is hereby declared that the future permanent northern boundary of the county of Jefferson shall be on the east and west line dividing Townships 5 and 6 north, and that whenever the inhabitants north of said east and west line determined as the future northern boundary of Jefferson County, and lying between Ranges 7 and 12 east, amount to 200 rank and file on the muster roll, they shall be entitled to the privilege of becoming a new county. This act shall take effect from and after- January 1, 1816.
THE ORIGINAL COUNTY.
As formed by the foregoing act, Jackson County embraced all the territory now comprising it except a small triangular piece-
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north the Indian boundary lines. These lines met in the south- ern part of Section 23, Township 6, Range 5. One of them went in a straight line to the northwest corner of Section 17, Township 7, Range 4 east, and the other one passed out of the county near the southeast corner of Section 25, Township 7, Range 6. The land north of these lines had not yet been pur- chased of the Indians by the United States, and it was not to be a part of the county until that was done. By the sixth section of the act, however, all the south of the line dividing Townships 7 and 8 was to become a part of Jackson County when- ever the Indian title to it was extinguished. This was done by a treaty made at Saint Mary's, October 2 to 6, 1818. All that part of the county lying south of a line extending from the southwest corner of the county to the southeast corner of Section 25, Township 7, Range 6, was purchased by the United States, August 21, 1805, in a treaty made at Grouseland, near Vincennes. Between these two boundary lines the land was acquired of the Indians by what is known as Harrison's Purchase. This was made at Fort Wayne, September 30, 1809. But after the pur- chase of 1818, the northern boundary of the county was about two miles north of where it now is; and it extended six miles further east. The southern boundary has remained unchanged since the organization of the county. On the west, two rows of sections was taken from Jackson County and added to Lawrence County in 1823. That part was taken from the east at the organ- ization of Jennings County in the winter of 1816.
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
At this time the records for the first four years of the county's existence are missing from the public offices, and without them it is hard to trace the early organization of the county. But there is here given an account of the early proceedings as pub- lishal in the Seymour Times of February 26, 1876:
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