USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 16
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"Samuel Herriott was the main business man not only of the town, but of the county. He was an active, far-seeing, energetic man and did a great deal to help the early settlers of that heavy timber, and wet country, by in- dulgence and advice, while he acquired considerable wealth and deserved it. There were but few men of better judgment in nearly all kinds of business. I have not intended to name anyone outside of Franklin township and know I have not named all that were there in 1832. The faces of some I call to mind but have lost their names. It is all from recollection, having no record or notes to guide me, and I have not lived there since the fall of 1844; and forty- two years is a long time in the space that we are allowed to stay here. I know but few that I have named that are still living, though there may be many. This was written for pastime to while away some of the cold days of last winter, not being able to get around to do any business. The early settlers were men of small capital generally, and had left the older states to better themselves financially, and most of them succeeded. They were a social, hospitable class of people from the different states, and a few from Europe, but Kentucky had the largest representation. There was no church building in the township at that time, unless there was one at Hopewell. Log school houses and private dwellings were the places of worship and preaching in the open air. Question: Have the people improved in morals and the Christian religion while they have been making great improvements in the affairs of this life, or have they acted as though the things in this life were to be first attended to?"
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CONDITION OF THE ROADS.
Into this wilderness the first comers were compelled to work their way as best they could, but in time roads were opened out by public or private enterprise, so that movers could come in without obstruction, safe from the mud and swollen streams. For many years the Indianapolis lawyers who traveled the circuit consumed an entire day in coming from Indianapolis to Franklin to attend the spring term of court, and it was for a long time con- sidered a hard day's journey for a resident of the Smock neighborhood to ride on horseback to Indianapolis and return. George Kerlin moved to the county in the month of September, 1831, and so muddy were the roads at that season that his wagons were frequently mired to the axles. Every old resident can call to mind the rails and poles lying in the vicinity of the deeper mud holes and which had been used as levers to raise wheels from the mire. Efforts were made, as the country became older, to make the roads better. Rails, poles and not infrequently round logs were used in "cross-laying" the roads at the worst places; but when we remember the sparsity of population and that road districts were necessarily large, it must be evident that not much more could be done than keep the deepest mudholes passable and the roads clear of fallen timber. Many of the first settlers were too poor to come to the country in wagons, but packed through on horses. Christopher Ladd, as we have seen, brought his household stuff on a sled. When John S. Miller came up from Jennings county to mark the spot of his future home previous to his bringing his wife, he carried out a lot of peach trees on a log sled. When George Bridges came he fetched a lot of household stuff on a wooden truck wagon. But enough examples might be produced indefinitely showing the straits to which the pioneers were put in getting to their destinations. But come as they would, bad roads, from mud and water or other causes, ever awaited them. Mrs. Catherine Hardin moved to the county in 1827, and the following lively sketch from the pen of Judge Franklin Hardin, her son. tells the story of the difficulties which met them on the way :
"In the year 1827 the same widow and her boy, now two years older than when they stopped over night with the hospitable Morgan, together with two older brothers and sister, constituting a family, left Nicholas county, Ken- tucky, with the purpose of making Johnson county, Indiana, their permanent home, to which a large part of the original family had emigrated three years before. When the emigrants arrived at Shelbyville they were compelled to chose whether they would there take the road to Indianapolis and then down
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the Bluff road or take the road by way of Franklin and the Madison and Indianapolis state road as far north as to Whetzel's old trace, and thence west to Bell's. The Whetzel trace across Johnson county was impassable by reason of the fallen timber across its route, killed by the emigrant wagons and teams of former years bruising' and cutting the roots. Whetzel's trace from Loper's cabin, at Camp creek, to the Madison and Indianapolis state road, ceased to be traveled in the year 1826, being superseded by other roads and on account of fallen timber across it. It was never laid out by lawful authority and was never repaired. The road by way of Franklin was chosen and, the weather being pleasant, the wagon rolled merrily down Blue river to the point where the road crossed the stream. It was late in the evening when a terrible rain storm came on. Not far from the river, in the edge of a corn field, stood a deserted cabin; possession of it was taken and preparation made to spend the night there. The roof of boards was mostly gone, but still enough remained to afford partial protection. During the whole night the rain continued to pour down unceasingly. When the morning broke an active move was made for Sugar creek, thinking it might yet be possible to ford it. Blue river was in our rear, pouring down its angry waters, and Sugar creek in front, whose condition was unknown. The road ran by the dwelling of John Webb, on the Shelby side of the line. When Sugar creek was reached its angry waters were foaming along, dashing out over the low grounds and filling up the bayous. It was the first rise after the summer and fall were gone. The trees had already cast their leaves and had colored the water a dark red brown. To add to our troubles the winds turned and blew . from the northwest, bringing some snow. To advance or retreat was equally impossible; we were in the midst of the waters and surrounded. A few stakes were hastily driven in the ground and bed clothes nailed to them, so as to inclose a space ten feet in diameter, and a fire built in the circle, thus securing a comfortable place. An elder brother was along, a man of shifts and expedients, who had already resided in the county for three years, and who had often swam its creeks and rivers. He sent back for an auger to Mr. Webb, who kindly lent us the largest he had, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and also the loan of a little unsteady water craft, a mere trough. which could carry only three men at a time by one or two lying flat on its bottom as ballast. There stood on the bank of the stream a tall hackberry tree, dead and recently stripped of its bark by woodcocks in search of worms. In a few minutes it was cut down, falling along the shore, and was soon cut up into sections of twelve or fourteen feet. These were placed side by side and poles laid athwart them and pinned fast by boring through the poles and into the
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logs. Thus a raft was constructed in an hour sufficient for our purpose. 'Willis,' said Mr. Webb, to his son, on his return from watching our motions, 'what are those people doing at the creek?' 'Well,' said Willis, 'they are going to cross the creek on a log raft.' 'Nonsense,' said the old gentleman, 'it can't be done.' The wagon was unloaded in a trice and itself pulled to pieces. Then piling on the raft all it would buoy up, two or three hundred feet of bed cords was attached to the raft and two men mounted it armed with ten-foot poles. The canoe led the way up the shore with the men and poles forcing it along, then resting against the shore the boat passed over, and now, when across, the work began in earnest. The ropes were pulled over, the poles were plied also and the trip was soon made, and again and again repeated until all were over. The cattle and horses were forced in and swam over. There were some sixty head of sheep to be gotten across some way; they were more troublesome than the rafting. We tried to get them to swim; we forced them into the stream, but they would return always to the same side. Finally a happy thought came to our relief. The little craft was brought forth, and two sheep laid flat in the bottom and then we crossed and secured them on the opposite bank. Now began on both sides the most ap- pealing bleatings. A little force was all that was necessary to make the flock take to the water and swim over. The wagon was soon reloaded and hastily driven westward, while the angry creek was at our heels. On the first high ground, a quarter of a mile east of William Needham's and George Hunt's cross-road, we made our camp for the night. The roads henceforward exceed belief, the wagon often sinking to the hubs all the way to Franklin, where the streets were no better. At one and a half miles north of Franklin a deserted hut was occupied for the night. At Franklin the writer mounted a horse and struck out for White River township for assistance, by way of the Indian- apolis state road. There was scarcely a dry spot of ground on the whole route. At a small stream near David Trout's, ordinarily dry, the water was mid-rib to a horse, and other small streams crossed equally deep. Leaving the state road when Whetzel's old trace was reached, a long valley, lying north and south in its length, was crossed near William Law's, a quarter of a mile in width, and which doubtless is the section of some extinct river. The water could scarcely be crossed without swimming. A faithful dog had left the wagon and followed; he had crossed so many streams and ponds by swim- ming that here he could swim no more, and, getting into a dry position, re- fused to go further. After riding some distance to try him, the writer re- turned and, dragging the dog across the pommel of the saddle, carried him to a safe landing beyond. A few hours' riding over drier land brought the
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end of the journey. Next morning assistance went in haste to the aid of the family."
The following sketches relating to the early settlers of the several town- ships are copied from the little volume, entitled "A Historical Sketch of John- son County," written by Judge David D. Banta and published by J. H. Beers & Company, of Chicago, in 1881. It is now out of print and, outside of a few copies in public libraries, the book is rarely seen. The account of the early settlers of White River township is from the pen of Judge Franklin Hardin :
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP.
About the year 1814 John Campbell, a young man, left his native state, Tennessee, to find a home north of the Ohio. Fate directed his footsteps to the vicinity of Waynesville, in that state, where he married Ruth Perkins, who was born near Columbia, South Carolina, but was living at the time with an aunt. In 1817 he moved to Connersville and in 1820 he moved to the New Purchase, reaching Blue River, near the present site of Edinburg, on the 4th of March of that year. His wife and four sons accompanied him and four little girls were left behind, but afterward came through on horseback. Benjamin Crews helped him to drive his team and stock through to Blue River. The road which they cut out must have been the most primitive of paths, for two years after, when Alexander Thompson, Israel Watts and William Runnels came over the same general route, they found a wagon road to the Flat Rock creek, south of Rushville, but from there on they had to cut their own way.
Campbell settled on a tract of land lying immediately south of the present site of Edinburg, while Benjamin Crews, who at once returned to Connersville for his own family, stopped on the south side of the county line. A little cabin was presently erected in the woods, and the venturesome Camp- bell set about the preparations for a crop of corn and patiently awaited the arrival of neighbors. But he did not have to wait very long. The great Indian trail led from the Kentucky river through this township and Richard Berry had come out upon it and located in the edge of Bartholomew county, at the mouth of Sugar creek, and established a ferry. His place was known far and near. It is said that a half dozen or more families followed Camp- bell into the Blue River woods the same spring, but there is much uncer- tainty at this time as to this; but it is certain that there was, during the year, a larger accession to Campbell's settlement. The lands, since incorporated into Blue River township, were surveyed in August of that year by John Hen-
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dricks, a government surveyor, and on the 4th day of October these lands were first exposed for sale at the land office in Brookville. That day three purchases were made of Blue River lands, and the first in the county, by James Jacobs, William W. Robinson and John Campbell (of Sugar Creek), while on the day following nine purchases were made by the following per- sons: Zachariah Sparks, John Campbell (the first settler), Alexander Thompson, Thomas Ralston, Amos Durbin, Jonathan Lyon, Isaac Wilson, Robert Wilson and Francis Brock. There were thirty-nine entries in all made before the close of the year, making a total of four thousand four hun- dred acres, and of these entries eighteen were of quarter sections and the remainder of eighty-acre tracts.
In so far as is now known eighteen families moved into the new settle- ment in .1820, and of these Henry Cutsinger, Simon Shaffer, Jesse Dawson, Zachariah Sparks, Elias Brock and Joseph Townsend were Kentuckians; William Williams and, as already said, John Campbell were Tennesseeans; Amos Durbin was from Virginia; John A. Mow and Joshua Palmer from Ohio; Isaac Marshall and John Wheeler from North Carolina; Samuel Her- riott from Pennsylvania, while Louis Bishop, Thomas Ralston and Richard Connor's natal places are unknown.
The new settlement was auspiciously begun and had a remarkable growth for its day. The hardships that usually attended the backwoodsmen of their times fell to their lot, and it is remembered that death made an inroad into the settlement, carrying off that fall, first the wife of Joseph Townsend and next, Richard Connor. When John Williams came to Bartholomew county, in September, 1820, with his father, he visited Campbell and at that time Joseph Townsend was living in a cabin next the hill whereon stands John Thompson's residence. When his wife died Allen Williams knocked the back out of his kitchen cupboard and, with the lumber thus obtained, made her a coffin. She and also Richard Connor lie buried in the hill west of town, but their immediate places of sepulture are forgotten. Mrs. Townsend was, it is believed, the first white person who died within the township and also in the county.
The second year of the settlement twenty-seven families are known to have moved in. John Adams came from Kentucky and moved to the north end of the township and founded the Adams neighborhood. Richard Foster and John and William, his brothers, Patrick Adams, Patrick Cowan, Arthur Robinson, Curtis Pritchard, David Webb, William R. Hensley, William C. Robinson, James Farrell, John Adams, John P. Barnett, Jacob Cutsinger, Isaac Harvey (a Baptist preacher), Lewis Hays, William Rutherford, Jeffer-
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son D. Jones, Thomas Russell and Samuel Aldridge, all Kentuckians; Isaac Collier, Israel Watts and Jonathan Hougham, Ohioans; Alexander Thomp- son, from Virginia; Jesse Wells and Thomas Doan, from North Carolina, and William Runnells, from Tennessee, moved in. By the close of this year the lands contiguous to Blue river were taken up, and a line of settlement extended nearly across the south side of the township, while John Campbell, an Irishman, had laid the foundation of a settlement at the mouth of Sugar creek, and Louis Hays and William Rutherford had joined John Adams' settlement higher up the creek.
In 1822 fourteen families moved in. Of these Abie Webb, James Con- nor, Hezekiah Davison, William Hunt, James M. Daniels, John Shipp, Will- iam Barnett, David Durbin, Hiram Aldridge and Thomas Russell were from Kentucky. Charles Martin and Samuel Umpstead were from Ohio, and it is not ascertained whence came Baker Wells and Samuel Johnson, who came in this year. In 1823 William Freeman moved from Bartholomew county into the township, and Richard Shipp and John Hendrickson also moved in. All these were Kentucky born. By the close of 1823 there were at least sixty- three families living in the township.
It is uncertain when the town of Edinburg was laid out, but from all the evidence that has been adduced it would seem that it could not have been later than in the spring of 1822. It is hard to reconcile this date with certain records in existence, but so many of the old men during later years have as- serted their confidence in a date not later than the one given that it would seem safe to follow it. Louis Bishop and Alexander Thompson were the projectors of the place. They early saw that a town would be a necessity to the country which was destined to grow up about them within a few years and determined that the necessity should be supplied on the banks of the Blue river. This was the center of a thriving settlement. The lands surrounding it for many miles were of the finest quality, and the "rapids" in Blue river offered a splendid mill site and so the town was located.
If the date of its location is uncertain, the origin of the name is equally so. One account attributes it to a circumstance too trifling for historical belief. It is said that, on the evening of the day the new town was platted, Edward Adams, a brother-in-law of Bishop, "a good easy soul," familiarly known by the diminutive "Eddie," having been encouraged by a too frequent use of the bottle to demand some recognition, asked that the new town be named Eddiesburg, and that, in a short time, it took on the statelier name of Edinburg. That it was understood at the time by many that the name was in some manner connected with Edward Adams, there can be no doubt, but
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there is other, and I think better, authority that the name was given by Alexander Thompson, who was a Scotchman by birth, in memory of the capital of his native country. In the first records which we have the name is spelled with over-exactness, "Edinburg," an orthography which scarcely could have grown out of Edinburg in its transition state to Edinburg.
The new town had a recognition from the start. Booth & Newby, mer- chants in Salem, Indiana, determined on opening a stock of goods suitable to the wants of the backwoods, at some point in the Blue River country, and selected Edinburg as the place. Alexander Thompson was accordingly em- ployed to build them a suitable storeroom for the purpose, which he did in 1822. This house was built about eighty feet south of Main cross, on Main street, and in the fall of that year William R. Hensley, agent for Booth & Newby, brought a boat load of goods up the Blue river to the mouth of Sugar creek, and "on a Sunday the boys" went down and carried his goods up to the store on their shoulders. This was the first stock of goods exposed for sale in both township and county.
While Thompson was building the new stone house Isaac Collier, Will- iam Hunt and Patrick Cowen were erecting dwelling houses on Main street and John Adams one on Main street cross. Collier soon after set up a black- smith shop, the first in the county, and Louis Bishop opened the first tavern.
"In the fall of 1822," says Ambrose Barnett, "the place contained four families, whose log cabins were scattered over a considerable tract of ground in the midst of the native forest trees."
In May, 1826, Thomas Carter was licensed by the board of justices of the county to keep a tavern, and the next March Patrick Cowen received the . like privilege, and in May following Louis Bishop again took out a license. About this time one David Stip also appears as a tavern keeper.
How long Booth & Newby continued in the mercantile business is un- certain, but in July, 1826, Gwin & Washburn and also Israel Watts went into the business, and in July, 1828, George B. Holland likewise.
In 1832 Austin Shipp and Timothy Threlkeld were licensed to vend merchandise, and the same year Simon Abbott, in addition to the right to retail "foreign and domestic goods," added "spirituous liquors" also.
The location of Edinburg was unfavorable to good order during the early years of its existence. It soon became a common rendezvous for the hard drinking and evil disposed from all the surrounding country, and it was an easy matter for the law breakers to mount their horses and flee across the line into Bartholomew or Shelby counties and then defy the pursuing constables. Some time in 1830 a man by the name of Jesse Cole was killed in
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a drunken row in the town, and not long afterwards Lunsford Jones and John Frazier had a quarrel while in their cups, but renewing their friendship the same day, set out for their homes after nightfall. Both were intoxicated and, while crossing the river, Jones lost his seat and was drowned, while his horse went home. Frazier was suspected of having somehow brought about Jones' death, but the fact was never proven against him. Frazier was a desperado of the worst type. In 1838 he and one Valentine Lane had a difficulty at Foster's Mill, when Lane chastised him personally. Thereupon Frazier left and, arming himself, returned and, renewing the fight, he stabbed his antago- nist till he died.
In August, 1840, Frazier maltreated his wife so that she was compelled to leave him and swear out a peace warrant against him. Being arrested and on his way to Edinburg he passed the house of Allen Stafford, where his wife was staying, and obtained leave to stop and talk with her. On stepping out of the door, as he requested her to do, he struck her a blow with his knife, inflicting a wound from which she ultimately died. Then he stabbed himself, but not fatally. Being put to his trial, he was sentenced to fourteen years in the penitentiary and Isaac Jones, who was then sheriff, and his brother, William C. Jones, and Elias Voris conducted him to Jeffersonville, where he, too, soon died. On their way home they passed through Salem and there they got into a quarrel with a party of strangers, when Voris, who was a very powerful man, whipped the crowd. Warrants were then put out by the civil authorities for the arrest of Voris and the Jones', when they fled the place. but by some means Voris became separated from his companions. The strangers pursued and overtook him and most foully murdered him in the woods, sever- ing his head from his body. They in turn made their escape.
In 1827. James Thompson availed himself of the splendid water power on Blue river, opposite the town, and took steps to secure the right of erect- ing a mill at that place. A jury was summoned, under the law, one of whom, Thomas Barnett, was still living in 1881. The condemnation was made, and Thompson built a grist and saw mill. This enterprise was not only an im- mediate benefit to the place, but in the hands of the Thompson family has ever since been a source of strength to the town.
Other mills were afterward built. Both Blue river and Sugar creek are well adapted to mill purposes in the township.
NINEVEH TOWNSHIP.
Nineveh township is one of the oldest townships in the county, having been organized the same spring the county government was inaugurated.
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In the spring of 1821, Amos Durbin, who was from Kentucky, settled over on the east side, and thus became the pioneer settler of the township.
In the fall of the same year, Robert Worl, an Ohio man, floated down the Ohio river to some point on the Indiana side and thence picked his way to the New Purchase, mostly by .Indian trace. Reaching the Blue River set- tlement, he journeyed on and arrived on the Nineveh in the month of Septem- ber, and built him a cabin about a mile east of the present town of Williams- burg.
In 1822, eleven new men are known to have come in. On the 15th of March, Joab Woodruff and William Strain came from Ohio, and as they passed through the Blue River settlement, their old neighbor, Ben Crews, picked up and came over with them. Henry Burkhart and George, his brother, from Kentucky, settled in the north side, on the Indian trail. and left the Burkhart name in Burkhart's creek. Adam Lash is set down as coming that year, and also Daniel and Henry Musselman, and James Dunn, from Kentucky, and David Trout, from Virginia, and John S. Miller, from North Carolina.
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