History of Lawrence, Orange, and Washington counties, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, together with interesting biographical sketches, reminiscences, notes, etc, Part 5

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 199-?]
Publisher: [Salem, Mass. : Higginson Book Co.]
Number of Pages: 954

USA > Indiana > Orange County > History of Lawrence, Orange, and Washington counties, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, together with interesting biographical sketches, reminiscences, notes, etc > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Washington County > History of Lawrence, Orange, and Washington counties, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, together with interesting biographical sketches, reminiscences, notes, etc > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence, Orange, and Washington counties, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, together with interesting biographical sketches, reminiscences, notes, etc > Part 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The year 1817 was memorable in the history of the township. Ser. eral families arrived from the South, and erected cabins near the springs and along the banks of White River, and in the narrow valleys of Rock Lick and Mill Creek. Robert Hall ventured away from the streams, and built a good log-house on what is now known as the George Field place. His sons, Isom and Robert. still reside in the neighborhood. In this

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year Squire Hoskins built a substantial hewn-log-house on the meridian line. where Thomas Erwin now lives, and his house became the voting precinct, and on the first Monday in August the first election was held, thirteen votes being cast. Of these thirteen voters, ten were Federalists and three Republicans, afterward, in Jackson's time, Democrats. Those voting the Federal ticket were: Samuel G. Hoskins, William Erwin, Joseph Pless, James Boswell, Joseph Boswell, Elijah Murray, James Mathis, Robert Erwin, Thomas Rowark and Arthur Dycus. The three Republicans were: George Sheeks, John Finger and Joseph Culbertson, who had lately settled where Juliet now is, and was a cabinet workman. The voting place continued at Hoskins' place on the meridian for several years. until he moved over on the Terre Haute and Louisville road, where John L. Dodson now lives, at which place elections were held till 1842, when the precinct was moved to Redding, thence to Woodville after the completion of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway, and in 1556 it was moved to Mitchell.

In 1817 a rifle company of twenty-five or thirty men was organized. All the men of the township were members, as well as several from Bono. Samnel G. Hoskins was Captain. They were armed with their own rifles. and were uniformed in blue hunting-shirts trimmed in red, and caps with eagle or hawk feathers in them.

HAMER'S MILL.

Some time previous to 1815 Sam Jackson-not Samuel-had entered the southwest quarter of Section 32. The entry antedates the Law- rence County records. He was a Canadian, and had rendered service to the I'nited States in the war of 1812 against the Indians and the English on the Canadian borders, and was given a land-warrant, with which this land was doubtless taken up. On this tract of land is the famous Hamer's Cave and the beautiful glen in which the old stone mill stands. During the time of Jackson's ownership there was a corn-mill erected near where the mill now stands. It was built of logs, and the water was con- ducted from the cave in troughs hewn from poplar logs. There was no settlement there. William Wright, of Orange County, was the miller. In September, 1816, Jackson sold the land to Thomas Bullett and Cuth- bert Bullett, and in the early spring of 1817 the work of erecting the mil !. now standing, was begun. The stone was quarried, the wall of the first story of the mill was completed, the saw-mill was started, and quite a settlement was established. In 1818 the mill was com- pleted. all the most improved machinery for flour-making known in that day was put in, and Spring Mills became the most noted place in the township. In 1823 the Bulletts sold the property to two Montgomery brothers, who improved the property in various ways, starting a distillery in the log-house which is still standing. This was

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the second distillery in the township, one having been previously started by William Mallet and Dennis Frost, on Rock Lick, below Tomlinson's Lime-kiln. In 1825 the late Hon. Hugh Hamer bought the property of the Montgomerys, paying 87,000 in seven annual payments. Hamer re-established the distillery, which had been discontinued, started a store, collected numerous mechanics and laboring men about him. hauled immense quantities of produce in wagons to Louisville, built flat-boats at the boat-yard on White River, and shipped flour, whisky, pork and other products of the country to New Orleans. In 1826 the first post- office in the township was established-" Mill Springs"-and Hugh Hamer was commissioned Postmaster. After the death of Hugh Hamer, the property descended to his son, Robert B., who sold it to Jonathan Turley, Esq., the present enterprising proprietor.

OTHER MILLS, ETC.

Isaac Fight built a mill, with overshot wheel, at Shawnee Cave in 1819; it was a primitive kind of establishment, "home-made " stones for grinding corn; this mill fell into possession of the two brothers, Shelton and William Smith, who, about 1831, put up a distillery in connection with the mill. Fulton built a distillery at the head of Fulton's Creek. now the land of John Murray, about 1825, grinding the grain on a treadmill. James Beasley had a distillery, in after days, at Lindsey's Spring. The number of distilleries early established in the township is evidence that the early settlers brought along with them a cultivated appetite for drink stronger than the sparkling spring water that gushed out from the lime- stone rocks near their dwellings.

HUNTING INCIDENTS.

The first hunting exploit that we have any account of in the town- ship, occurred in the fall of 1816. This was the killing of the largest panther ever seen by the early settlers, by Thomas Rowark, near his cabin in Rock Lick Creek, near its confluence with White River; it was dis- covered in a tree and shot. All the people in the settlement went to see it, and a monster beast it was, measuring three yards in length. In 1820 Neddy Edwards, the father of our fellow-citizens, Allen and Henderson Edwards, chased a bear into the deep cave, in what is now Allen C. Burton's orchard, and calling in his neighbors to assist, smoked bruin ont and dispatched him. In the same year a company of hunters killed a large bear in a cave on John L. Dodson's farm, just west of the present residence of Solomon Bass. The last bear killed in the township was shot from a tree, by William Edwards, in 1821, about where the resi- dence of his son, John Edwards, now stands. An amusing incident is related by the old settlers of the last wild bear seen in the township. John Sutton was hunting his hogs, in the flat woods north of where Mitchell now stands, about 1825, when he discovered fresh tracks of a

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large bear in the snow; he urged forward his horse, following the trail; he had not proceeded far when he came up to the huge beast; it rose on its hind feet. frightening Sutton's horse, which went to the rear with- out taking time to turn around, and Sutton was landed in the snow right under the very paws of bruin; he was too badly scared to move; the bear slowly lowered himself to all-fours, smelled of his prostrate enemy and dignifiedly walked off toward the south; when the hog-hunter found him- self alone. be made quick time in an opposite direction, and the bear was not captured. The numerous caverns of the township formed dens for innumerable packs of wolves, and up to 1832 it was almost impossi- ble to raise sheep on account of their nightly incursions. The second generation of inhabitants became adepts in wolf-hunting. Among their leaders were the late Hugh Hamer and Benjamin Turley. A premium was offered by the county for wolf-scalps and the last of them were soon exterminated. Deer and turkeys were considered too small game for our early citizens to make much note of, though they were the principal meat supply.

EARLY LAND ENTRIES.

Cuthbert and Thomas Bullitt. 1820; Tetlow. Hughes and Geiger, 1520: Moses Gray. 1816; R. Hall. 1820; Abraham Hartman, 1818; Sam- uel Jackson, 1516: Ambrose Carlton. 1516; Robert Lewis, 1817 and 1916: Samuel Brown. 1820; John Edwards, 1820; John Maxwell, 1819; Will- iam Terrill. 1516: William Tolliver, 1818; Robert McLean, 1817; Will- iam McLean. 1816; Zachariah Sparling, 1818; John Workman, 1817: William Baldwin, 1817: Theophilus Baldwin, 1819; Jesse Hill. 1917: Martin Hardin. 1817; William Maxwell, 1819; Charles Tolliver. ISIT; William Connerly, 1817; William Denny, 1818; Alfred Maden and John Hays. 1818: John Lowrey, 1817; William Blair, 1817; John McLean. 1817; James Fulton, 1816; Lewis Byram, 1S17; Henry Speed. 1516; William Trueblood. 1816: Jonathan Lindley. 1816; G. Eli, 1817; Joshua Taylor. 1817; Robert Fields, 1817; William Connelly, 1919; George Hinton, Jr., Arthur Henrie and Benjamin Drake, 1818; Ezekiel Blackwell, 1818: John Finger, 1S17; Joseph Culbertson, 1818; William Erwin, 1815: Isom Maden, 1516; William Carmichael, 1818; Joel Con- ley. 1817: Josiah Trueblood, 1818; William Connelly, 1817: Aaron Davis, 1819: Lewis Phillips, 1517; Zebedee Wood, 1820; Michael Duni- hue. 1817; David Harris, 1817; John Sutton, 1817; Robert Hollowell, 1816: Robert Fields, 1816; Jacob Piles and Jonathan Williams, 1815.

SETTLEMENT OF BONO TOWNSHIP.

Bono Township is located in the southeastern corner of the county. and is bounded on the north by the East Fork of White River, and on the west by Marion Township. Bono has long contended, with some degree of right, for the honor of having been the scene of the first white

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settlement in the county. It is situated in that part of the county near- est to the older settlements in the southern part of the State, and on the early roads leading to the more important places further north, such as Terre Haute and others. Another feature in favor of this is the fact that it is located on the river, and early emigration usually threaded its way through the new country along the banks of important streams that afforded a highway for the transportation of produce to the markets of the world. However, in this instance it is generally conceded that Lees. ville was the place of first settlement.

LAND ENTRIES.

The first entry of land in the county was made in this township by William Wright, September 22, 1813. The amount of land was 142 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 5. Township 3 north, Range 2 east. This was near the present site of the town of Bono, in the north. east corner of the township. For many years this was a prosperous and growing community. Besides this entry of William Wright in 1813, all. the entries of land in the township up to and including the year 1820. were by the following persons in the years named:

Henry Fulton, September, 1817; Cuthbert and Thomas Bullitt, Sep- tember, 1820; J. Hikes, 1820; Richard C. Anderson, 1820; John Edwards, 1820; Edward Johnson, 1820; Clark, Hoggatt and Kitchell. 1815; Thomas Blank, 1819: Samuel Brown, 1816; John Brown, 1820: John Hammersly, 1818: Thomas Jolly, 1820; David Green, 1818: Con. rad Grass, 1819; Solomon Fitzpatrick, 1819: David Hummell, 1918: Asher Wilson, 1820; Elisha Simpson, 1817; William Hoggatt. 1818. Bono was one of the original five townships in the county, and formerly embraced a considerable portion of what now constitutes both Marion and Guthrie Townships. Its territory was considerably diminished in Jannary, 1826, when Marion Township was created with the same bound. ary as at present. The first elections in the township were held at Bono Town, and were presided over by Elisha Simpson as Inspector. In 1819 David Green was made the Inspector of Elections, but the voting place was not changed. Moses Lee and Thomas Jolly were the first Overseers of the Poor and were elected in 1819, and Robert Henderson was the first Constable.

THE SECOND SETTLEMENT IN THE COUNTY.

That Bono Township was the scene of the second settlement in the county is beyond dispute. This was made by Roderick Rawlins and his two nephews, James and Joseph Rawlins. in the spring of 1812, on the farm now owned by William Turley in Section 22, and not far from the railroad station called Scottville. These men played a prominent part in the Ranger warfare that was at that time being carried out on the frontier. The last of these, Joseph Rawlins, is now a citizen of Bedford.

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and far advanced in the shades of a life that has been crowded with activity and usefulness. The first settlers here used to do most of their milling at Beck's Mill on Blue River, in Washington County. After Hawer's Mill was built in Marion Township, in 1817, that was the resort of a large part of the county for a few years, whenever any grinding was wanted. Mills soon began to be more numerous, and the task of going to mill was not so great. John Hammersly was a man, in this part of the county, of rather a speculative turn, and he built several mills and then sold them to other -. One of his he kept for a while on Sugar Creek about the year 1825. Not long after this he had what was considerable of a novelty in the line of grist mills. In the river at the site of the town of Bono, Hammersly constructed a dam in the shape of a cone, all. wing an opening in the center for the water to go through, and where a large nndershot wheel was placed between two Hat-boats. The buhrs wore on the boats and the grinding was done in mid-stream. This con- tinned for a few years. until an overflow washed it away and it went to pieces near " Old Palestine." where the buhr stones lay in the river for 4.Ine time and were then taken to a mill on Indian Creek, in that town.

MARSHALL TOWNSHIP.

Marshall Township is the middle of the three townships that form ti: : worthern tier in the county. It is the smallest but one in the county. containing twenty-eight sections in all, and was named for John Marshall. the renowned Chief Justice of the United States. In this part of the conuty there was a number of land entries made as early as 1516, although to ne lw fore that time, and in proportion to many parts of the county there were many more early purchasers for land here. This is somewhat hard to account for. as most of the township is hilly and broken, afford- ing comparatively pour farming facilities. A portion of it, however. is perinps equal to any agricultural land in the county. In the southern Fart are some of the stone quarries for which Lawrence County is so widely known. Large quantities of this stone are shipped to all parts of the country. Land was purchased of the Government as follows up to the year IS20: Jacob Hattabangh. 1816; William Curl, 1516; Hamilton Roddick. 1817: John Fairley. 1819: John Goodwin, 1818; Robert Ander- sou. 1519: John Hargis. 1516: William Sackey. 1817; Jesse Brown, IS16: James Culley. 1816: Michael Hattabaugh. 1816; Jacob Bruner. IS !: Henry Brown. ISIS: John Zumwald, ISIS; Henry Leonard, 1818; Patrick Tyler. 1817: Nicholas Bruner. 1816: William Quillen, ISIS: John Dryden, 1517: Joshna Gullett, 1818; John Quillen, 1818; Joseph Gin!lett, 1>16: Adam House. 1816; Thomas Reynolds, 1817; Absalom Sargeant. 1817.

EARLY MILLS.

The first mil! in this township. and one of the earliest in the county,

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was built at Avoca about the year 1S19, by a man named Fitzpatrick. In his hands it remained for only a short time. when it passed to Absa- Jom Hart, a man of large experience in the milling business, and who had prior to that time owned one on Indian Creek. Hart operated the mill for about fifteen years with good success, and then sold it to the Hamer Brothers. They owned it for something more than a decade, when Levi Mitchell became the owner, but shortly afterward sold it to Dr. Bridwell. and he to George Thornton, of Bedford. Short & Judah were the next owners, and while in their hands it burnt down. about the year 1863. Soon after this Samuel Short rebuilt the mill, and in 1\05 Hayden Bridwell obtained a half interest in it, which he held until Ists, when he became the sole owner, and has been such ever since. U'u ler his management this mill has done a large business, and not long since was repaired and improved. It is operated by a turbine water-wheel. and has three sets of buhrs: one for wheat, one for corn, and one for chop feed. It is now a first-class mill. and is valued at $2,500.

The Humpston Mill was probably built as early as 1830. It wa- un the farm now owned by Ephraim Decker, and was operated by an under- shot wheel and the waters of Salt Creek. There was but one set of buhrs. and both corn and wheat were ground by it. and the bolting was done by hand. This mill passed through several hands, and was finally abandoned some time late in the forties.

Near the present site of the village of Guthrie, in the north part of the township, a steam grist and saw-mill was erected in 1570 by Kinser & Whisman. Ever since that time this mill has done a large bu-iness in both of its branches. Machinery for making spokes was added in 1880 at a large cost, and the whole valne of the mill is now estimated at about $5,000. Mr. Eli Kinser is the sole owner, and drives a successful and energetic trade.

MERCHANTS.

The first merchant in what is now Marshall Township was Elipbalet Pearson, the father of Judge E. D. Pearson, of Bedford. He had been the keeper of a ferry on the Ohio River, at Jeffersonville, but traded that for a stock of goods valued then at abont $5.000. Immediately after this, in 1826, he moved to what is now generally known as the McCrea farm, Section 5, in the northwestern part of the township. Here he began doing quite an extensive mercantile trade for the times and place. This was on the old stage line from Leavenworth, on the Ohio River, to Indianapolis, and it was one of the important station. on the route. Other places in the county where the stages stopped were, Springville and Bedford, going from the latter place to Orleans and Paoli, in Orange County. Pearson continued in the merchandise trade at that place for about three years. He also had an oil-mill here. and made considerable quantities of linseed oil. as flax was then extensively

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grown in this section. This mill would be something of a novelty in comparison with the giant machinery of the present day for the same purposes. The seed was ground by a large stone that was turned by horse power, and the oil was pressed out by an old-fashioned beam press. This was the frontier way of making money, and some of the pioneers that yet linger around these early scenes of their life are some- times heard to lament the modern degeneracy into which the people have drifted in regard to labor saving machinery, and the comparative ease of acquiring a creditable bank account. From this place Pearson moved to Springville, in Perry Township, where he continued in the mercantile business uninterruptedly until 1840. About that time he built, and for the next eight years operated, a wool-carding machine. This was one of the first in this section of the county and did a large business. At that place he began a tan-yard about 1846, and a few years later resumed the merchandise trade, which he followed until his death in January, 1563.

AVOCA.

In 1853. while Dr. Bridwell was operating the grist-mill at Avoca, he opened a store where Hayden Bridwell now lives, and for a few years he did a flourishing trade in general merchandise, and bought all kinds of country produce in exchange for his wares. He also established a postoffice there about the same time, and acted as the first Postmaster. After a few years. however, this was abandoned, but was revived by O. W. Owens, in 1866. and the office has been held by him ever since.

About the year 1870 O. W. Owens began keeping such articles of mer- chandise as are usually kept in a country store, and for one year he car- ried on a brisk trade here. John Heaton succeeded Owens as a merchant at this place for nearly two years, and at the end of that time he moved to Newberry, in Greene County, where he continued a mercantile trade for a short time. then returning to Avoca, still pursuing the same business. While Heaton was at Newberry the business at Avoca was carried on by two brothers named Blackburn.

Another store is now (September, 1884,) being prepared for at this place by Hayden Bridwell, who intends keeping a full line of general merchandise for sale here to accommodate the people who live in this part of the county. This, carried on in connection with his grist-mill, will undoubtedly meet with success and yield a proper remuneration for the time and money employed. Avoca is situated on the Bedford & Bloomfield narrow gauge railroad, about six miles northwest from Bed- ford, and in the southwest part of Marshall Township. Near the railroad station is White Sulphur Spring. the waters of which enjoys a considera- ble local reputation as a therapeutic, and several persons resort to it every season to repair the ailing body. If the same amount of advertising could be done for this place that is usually done for other placee in

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southern Indiana of no greater merit. it would most surely equal them in both fame and miraculous cures.

PERRY TOWNSHIP.

The northwest corner township in Lawrence County is Perry.so named for the renowned Commodore of the American Navy who won the famous victory over the British on Lake Erie in the war of 1812, and whose dis. patch concerning that event contributed not a little to his celebrity. This township is exactly composed of the Congressional thirty-six sections in Township 6 north, Range 2 west. At the organization of the county in 1818 all the territory now embraced in Perry Township was included in Indian Creek Township. but it was made into an indepen: dent township May 14. 1822, and included all the land west of Salt Creek and north of the line between Townships 5 and 6 north. Some of the early and most substantial settlements of the county were made in this township. and from the following list of the land entries made prior to 1820 it will be seen that many of the prominent persons in the county located here: Eli Powell, 1517: Alexander Clark, 1817: Jesse Davis. 1816: Warner Davis. 1816; Robert Holaday, 1816: Ralph Lowder. 1819: Benjamin Phipps, 181S; Michael and Mathias Sears, IS17: Will- iam Newcomb. 1817: William Sackley, 1817; William Kern, 1817: Thomas Hopper, 1817: William Hopper. 1817; Jonathan Osburn, 1810: Azel Bush. 1818; Isaac V. Buskirk, 1818; Joseph Taylor, 1816: Benja- min Dawson, 1818; Archibald Wood. 1816: John Gray, 1817; William Kerr, 1S17: William Tincher, 1817: Reuben Davis, 1816: Seymour Cobb. 1816: John Armstrong, 1817: Samuel Steel, 1817: John Duncan. 1817: Coats and Samuel Simon, 1817; John Dishman, 1S18; Adam Hostetter. 1817. Other early settlers were: Wesley Short. William Whitted. Aden Gainey, Samuel Owens, Caleb Odell, Nathan Melton. Kenneth Dye. John Jarvis. William McDowell, James McDowell, Thomas Cobb. Dixon Cobb, and a few years later came Noah Bridwell, Elza Woodward. Zedekiab Robinson, Melcart Helmer, Samuel Tincher. Franklin Crooke, M. C. Rafferty, Milton Short. John and Thomas Hert. Thomas Armstrong, John Hedrick. John Rainbolt, Andrew McDaniel, James Beaty. Booker Wilson, Martin Holmes, James Garton, Eliphalet Pearson, John D. Pedigo, John Vestal and A. H. Gainey. These were nearly all the prominent men in this portion of the county in the pio- neer days. Some of them have always taken an active interest in what- ever concerned the welfare of their community, and their names have become identified with the progress and prosperity of all the public and laudable enterprises in their neighborhood. Foremost of these is the Armstrong family, while the Shorts, the Cobbs. the Gaineys, the McDow. ells and the Owens have taken front rank in the development of the township.

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EARLY MILLING ENTERPRISES.

It is generally conceded that Benjamin Dawson was the first man to embark in a milling enterprise of any kind in the township. This was not a very extensive embarkation, however, as it was only an old-fashioned horse-mill, where each person had to hitch on his own team to do his grinding. To the present generation one of those primitive "corn crackers " would be something of a curiosity. The coarse product of meal which they turned out would be unsavory and unpalatable in the extreme if it were to turn up on the dining table of the present day beside the patent flour of modern manufacture. Dawson began with this mill at an early day, probably in the year 1818, perhaps not for a year or two later than that. He continued to run this for several years. and did quite an extensive business considering the capacity. The mill was probably abandoned about the year 1835, when water-mills in several parts of the township took away the larger part of the custom that had hitherto come to it. Noah Bridwell had a horse-mill run by a tramp- wheel for about ten years up to 1S40, and at the same place he had a still-honse for some time. Wesley Short also had a small mill on his farm about 1835 and a few years later.

At the present time there are but few mills in the township. One of these is the Lowder Mill, owned by H. & J. Lowder. This is on Indian Creek, and is probably the best mill in the township. It was built by Ralph Lowder in an early day. A saw-mill is now run iu con- nection with it. What is now called the Armstrong Mill has been in existence for about fifty years. Distilleries were kept by James Beaty, Noah Bridwell, Aden Gainey. Dr. Rush and a few others. The people then thought as much of making a periodical trip to the still-house as to the grist .mill. How strange it was that. although whisky flowed freely, intemperance did not run riot in the land. and this contrary to the pre- dictions and warnings of the later and self-appointed guardians of the public morals.

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History of Lawrence, Orange, and Washington counties, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, together with interesting biographical sketches, reminiscences, notes, etc, Part 5

Author: Goodspeed Brothers Publication date: 199-?] Publisher: [Salem, Mass. : Higginson Book Co.] Number of Pages: 954

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 199-?]
Publisher: [Salem, Mass. : Higginson Book Co.]
Number of Pages: 954