USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 21
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 21
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIAN A.
to the Upper St. Louis group of limestone, there being a total of sixty-six feet. Both sand and limestone are found here in great quantities. The iron furnishes the springs of this section of Monroe with plenty of excellent blood tonic.
CLEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.
This, agriculturally speaking, is one, if not the best, for general use in Monroe county. It has an abundance of low lands and lies chiefly in the forks of Clear and Salt creeks. The soil is excellent for all kinds of crops grown in this latitude. The geological formation is revealed in quarries along the old New Albany railway right-of-way. At Harrodsburg the ele- vation is 510 feet above sea level, and at Smithville, 710 feet. Northwest of Bloomington, the highest elevation is 883 feet. Near Smithville the Keokuk group laps onto the knobstone strata. Wonderful geological speci- mens are taken from this section of the county. A strip along the west side of this township is covered with the St. Louis limestone. Hence the town- ship has three distinct strata of stone, all excellent and workable.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Here one originally found excellent growth of timber, much of which, with passing years, has been utilized by the numerous mills. The surface rocks of the township belong to the knobstone and Keokuk groups. There are faint traces of the action of the glaciers.
BENTON TOWNSHIP.
This part of Monroe county is, generally speaking, rough and stony, with many steep hills and huge bluffs, and is cut by numerous ravines, where small streams of pure water find their cool beds. Clay is too common to make it a first-class producing township; even on the lower lands this holds true. Yet within the township may be seen a goodly number of fine produc ing farms, well kept and paying. It is better adapted to grazing. Good stone is found here, as nearly every place in the county-the home of superior stone for commercial and building purposes. Traces of more valuable miner als, such as copper, gold and iron, are also found, but not in paying quan- tities.
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SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Here there is much good soil, but it is scattered here and there in small tracts. The lower lands and slopes are best for farm purposes. Hill- side land is usually found the best for cultivation. The higher lands are usually seeded down to profitable pasture grasses. Good springs of hard water abound everywhere, while in the western portion are seen fine sulphur springs, excellent for medicinal uses. An abundance of good stone can be had easily. Lime was manufactured in the seventies and eighties in great amounts in this township.
POLK TOWNSHIP.
This portion of Monroe county is generally very rough in its topog- raphy, and the soil none the best. Other portions are more fertile and rolling, containing numerous springs of excellent water, with a soil practi- cally inexhaustible. Much of the land here, owing to its poor grade, was not entered from the government until the seventies. But with sturdy, scientific work the domain has come to be very valuable in these days of high- priced lands.
MARION TOWNSHIP.
Some of the finest, most valuable farms in the county are to be viewed here. It is generally a rolling upland, largely of a clay, while along the numerous streams there may be seen rich alluvial soil, mingled with sand. The best source of wealth in early years was the fine timber. Fine springs everywhere are the rule here. They are pure and almost ice cold. The for- mation is six feet of clay, seven feet of dark blue limestone, one foot of bluish gray clay, and five feet of light gray Keokuk limestone. Near Monroe's mills, on Hacker's creek, the bed and banks are thickly strewn with granite boulders. A mile east is found knobstone one hundred feet thick. On Honey creek black sandstone (magnetic iron ore), similar to the gold-bearing sand of Bear creek, Brown county, may be seen. Granite boulders strew the ground. Black sand containing gold deposits is found in Wolf creek, which rises in Brown county.
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN OCCUPANCY AND FIRST WHITE MEN.
It is not the province of this work to treat what is termed the Pre-his- toric race, who possibly inhabited this portion of the country long years before the territory was held by the North American Indian tribes, but in compiling the annals of any county, in any state in this Union, it is of inter- est to the reader to know something concerning the Indian occupancy of the county, or group of counties, to be written about, hence the following brief account of the tribes who once held as their own the lands within what is now Monroe county, Indiana.
The territory now comprising Monroe county was formerly the rightful property of the Miamis. The same is also true of all Indiana, for at the treaty of Greenville, Ohio, in 1795, Little Turtle, or Mish-e-ken-o-quah, the head chief of the Miamis, and one of the most brainy and famous Americans of any tribe that ever lived, stated to the government commissioners that the Miamis formerly owned all the territory within the following bounds : From Detroit south to the Scioto river and down the same to the Ohio, then down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, thence up the same to near Covington, thence north to Lake Michigan, thence east to Detroit. Soon after the war of the Revolution, the efforts to colonize the lands west of the Atlantic coast were so extensive and persistent that the natives inhabiting those regions were forced back into the wilderness upon the territory of their western brethren, and thus the broad domain of the Miamis was in- vaded by homeless natives of various tribes, who were given tracts of terri- tory upon which to hunt and live. At what time the Delawares, Shawnees. Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Piankeshaws, Weas, Kickapoos, etc., gained a footing upon the soil of Indiana cannot be stated for a certainty, but there seems no doubt that Little Turtle stated the truth when he claimed all the lands of the above bounded territory as the former domain of his people, the Miamis. It is possible that some of the tribes named above occupied portions of Indiana before the Revolutionary war. The former home of the Delawares was on the Delaware river, and later in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, and still later in Indiana. The original home of the Wyandots
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was in Canada and later in Michigan and northern Ohio, and still later in southern Indiana. The Shawnees were of Southern origin, and also occu- pied a section of country on the Wabash about Lafayette. The Pottawat- omies seem to have owned territory in northern Illinois, southern Wiscon- sin, and to have gained from the Miamis at some early period by invasion or conquest much of the land north of the Wabash. The Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Paincashaws seem to have owned lands along the western boundary of the state. At the Fort Wayne treaty, September 30, 1809, the second article was made to read as follows: "The Miamis explicitly ac- knowledge the equal rights of the Delawares with themselves to the country watered by the White river. But it is also to be clearly understood that neither party shall have the right of disposing of the same without the con- sent of the others, and any improvements which shall be made on the said lands of the Delawares or their friends, the Mohicans, shall be theirs forever."
As to the territory of Monroe county, it seems to have been on the boundary line between the lands of the Delawares and that of the Pianke- shaws, so that it was the home and hunting ground of the three tribes as well as the Miamis.
CESSION TREATIES.
The lands now composing Monroe county were not obtained from the Indians wholly at one time. The old Indian boundary which extends from near Gosport in a southeasterly direction, leaving the country on section 26, Benton township, divides two important Indian cessions. The territory of Monroe county south of that division was part of Harrison's Purchase, ob- tained from the Indians by the treaty of Fort Wayne, September 30, 1809, and all of Monroe county above that treaty line was part of the New Pur- chase, obtained from the Indians by the treaty at St. Mary's, Ohio, October 2 to 6, 1818. As Monroe county was organized before the last named treaty was effected. it will be seen that all the present county north of the Indian boundary was not at first a part of the county. The exact boundary of the county when first formed will be seen from the act creating the county, which act is quoted further on in this work.
FIRST APPEARANCE OF WHITE MEN.
The survey of lands in this county, south of the Indian boundary, was executed in the fall of 1812, with Arthur Henrie and William Harris as government surveyors. All that portion to the north of this Indian bound-
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
ary was not surveyed until 1819 by Thomas Brown and J. Hedges. There was no land thrown open to the public until 1816, when many entries were made. None were entered before September, 1816, and all were within what is now styled the civil townships of Clear Creek, Indian Creek, Van Buren, Richland, Bloomington and Bean Blossom. Several tracts were entered by speculators, but, generally speaking, the land was taken up by actual settlers, or by those who at once sold to actual settlers.
CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION OF MONROE COUNTY.
January 14, 1818, was the date on which the act authorizing the or- ganization of Monroe county was signed, hence from that day and date all legal matters within the county must conform to such period, for it was then that the first foundation stones of a civil organization were laid by the General Assembly of the state of Indiana. The act reads as follows :
"An Act for the Formation of Monroe County Out of the County of Orange :
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Indiana, that from and after the 10th day of April next, all that part of the county of Orange enclosed in the following bounds shall form and constitute a new county : Beginning on the line of Orange and Jackson counties where the line dividing townships 6 and 7 crosses the same; thence west with the last mentioned line to the line dividing ranges 2 and 3 west of the second principal meridian; thence north with said range line to the Indian bound- ary; thence southeastwardly with the said boundary line of Orange and Jackson counties ; thence south with the same to the beginning-to be known and designated by the name and style of Monroe. And the said county of Monroe shall enjoy all of the rights, privileges and jurisdictions which to separate counties do or may properly belong or appertain.
"Section 2. John Penicks and Jonathan Jones, of Orange county; Daniel Connor, of Daviess county; David Fouts, of Washington county, and Samuel Burcham, of Jackson county, be, and they are hereby ap- pointed commissioners for the purpose of fixing the permanent seat of jus- tice in Monroe county, agreeably to an act of the Assembly, entitled 'An act fixing the seat of justice in all new counties hereafter laid off.' The com- missioners above named shall convene at the house of Abner Blair, of the said new county, on the first Monday of April next, and then proceed to dis- charge the duties assigned them by law.
"Section 3. It shall be the duty of the sheriff of the said new county to notify the above named commissioners, either in person or in writing, of their said appointment and of the time and place at which they are re-
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
quired by this act to meet, at least six days previous to the day appointed for their meeting, and the said sheriff shall be allowed a reasonable com- pensation for his services out of the first money in the treasury of the said county of Monroe to be paid as the county claims usually are.
"Section 4. The board of county commissioners of said new county shall, within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice shall have been established, proceed to erect the necessary public buildings thereon.
"Section 5. Until suitable accommodations can be had (in the opinion of the circuit court) at the seat of justice for said county, all the courts which by law become necessary to be held at the county seat shall be holden at the house of Abner Blair aforesaid, or at any other place in the same neighborhood to which the circuit court may, for the purpose of getting better accommodations, think proper to adjourn to, after which time the said courts shall be adjourned to the seat of justice established as aforesaid.
"Section 6. The agent to be appointed for the county of Monroe shall reserve in his hands ten per centum out of the net proceeds of the sales of lots, which may be made at the seat of justice of said county for the use of a county library, which sum, or sums, of money so reserved shall be paid by said agent or his successor in office over to such person or persons as may be authorized to receive the same, in such manner and with such install- ments as may be directed by law. This act to take effect from and after its publication in print." (Approved January 14, 1818.)
The first election for the newly created county was held under super- vision of the sheriff who had been appointed, in the person of John W. Lee, commissioned by the governor of Indiana. This election took place in 1818, but no records were preserved permanently, hence details cannot be here made use of, interesting though such records might be. It is known that at this first election the following officials were elected: Bartlett Wood- ward, Michael Buskirk and James Parks, county commissioners; William Love, county clerk ; he was also auditor ; Chesley Bailey, recorder ; Joseph Berry and Lewis Noel, associate judges.
The first "court house" was the residence of Abner Blair, but Bloom- ington was immediately laid out as the county seat and a log court house was soon erected. The county seat locating commissioners, appointed by the governor and Legislature, met and deliberated, and finally submitted the following report of their work to the first county board of commissioners :
"To the Honorable Board of Commissioners for the County of Monroe : We, the undersigned commissioners, appointed by the act of the last Gen- (15)
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
eral Assembly, for fixing the permanent seat of justice in and for said county, having met agreeable to the above recited act, and after being duly sworn, proceeded to business as the law directs in such cases, to receive dona- tions from persons offering lands to fix the county seat on, and after exam- ining the same and taking into contemplation the future as well as the present weight of the population, together with additions and divisions that may take place hereafter, do agree that the southwest quarter of section 33, in range I west, township 9 north, is the most eligible and convenient place for the permanent seat of justice for said county, and have accordingly purchased the same of D. Rogers, at one thousand two hundred dollars; also have purchased one hundred and fifty acres out of the northeast quarter of section 32, of Robertson Graham, for nine hundred dollars, in the same range and township above mentioned, the said Robertson Graham reserving the balance of the above described quarter section of land to himself in the northeast corner of said quarter section of land, beginning at the north- east corner and running south twenty poles, thence west eighty poles, thence north twenty poles, containing ten acres.
"Given under our hands and seals this 11th day of April. 1818. "DAVID FOUTS, "SAMUEL BURCHAM, "JONATHAN JONES, "JOHN PERKINS, "Locating Commissioners."
FORMATION OF TOWNSHIPS.
At the first session of the board of county commissioners the following townships were laid off as civil sub-divisions of Monroe county :
Bloomington Township .- Beginning at the corner of sections 18 and 19. where they intersect the line dividing ranges 1 and 2 west ; thence north on said range line to the boundary line; thence southeast with said line to where the Jackson line intersects the same; thence south of the Jackson line to the middle of fractional township 8: thence through the middle of town- ship 8 to the place of beginning.
Bean Blossom Township .- Beginning at the line dividing ranges I and 2 west, at the corners of sections 13 and 14, where they intersect the same ; thence north on said line to the boundary line; thence northwest on the boundary line to the northwest corner of Monroe county; thence south on
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIAN.A.
the Daviess county line to the middle of township 8; thence through the middle of the township to place of beginning.
Indian Creek Township .- Beginning at the corner of Bean Blossom and Bloomington townships, on the line dividing ranges 1 and 2 west; thence south on said line to the line of Lawrence county; thence west on said line to where it intersects the county line of Daviess; thence north on said line to the corner of Bean Blossom township; thence on the line of the last mentioned township to the place of beginning.
Clear Creek Township .- Beginning at the corners of the townships in- terlocked on the line dividing ranges 1 and 2 west; thence south on said line to the county line of Lawrence; thence north on said line to the place of beginning.
Granville Ward was appointed inspector of elections in Bloomington township; John Cutler, in Bean Blossom township; James Trotter, in In- dian Creek township, and Jolin Storm, in Clear Creek township. Elections were held in the townships just enumerated on May 9 for two justices of the peace in each, the elections ordered to be held at the following places: In Bloomington township, at the house of David Rogers; in Bean Blossom township, at the house of Coleman Peets: in Indian Creek township, at the house of John Berry; in Clear Creek township, at the house of Thomas Graham. The above were Monroe county's original townships.
Lamb township was organized in May, 1821, in the New Purchase. Its bounds were fixed thus: Beginning at the old Indian boundary line, where the line of township 10 intersects the same ; thence east on the line of town- ship 10 until it intersects the meridian line; thence north with said line to the southeast corner of township 13; thence west on the line between town- ships 12 and 13 until it intersects the said boundary line; thence to the be- ginning. Subsequently, this township composed the southwestern portion of Morgan county, and derived its name from old Mr. Lamb, who settled in Lamb's Bottoms, that county, in 1819, before it was a county. At the . same date Walnut Creek township was created or erected, as the record has , it. Its bounds were fixed thus: Beginning at the northeast corner of Lamb township on the meridian line; thence north on said line to the northwest corner of township 15 north; thence west on the line dividing townships 15 and 16 until it intersects the boundary line; thence southeast on said bound- ary line until it intersects the line of Lamb township. This township com- posed the northwest portion of Morgan county.
At the same session of the commissioners' board, Raccoon township
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
was created and was given the following bounds: All of Wabash county north of Walnut Creek township. The Legislature had attached all this territory to Monroe county. Reuben Fullen was appointed inspector for Lamb township and Samuel Rogers the same for Walnut Creek township.
March 1, 1825, it was ordered that "a township be laid off in the north- east corner of the county, to be known by the name of Jackson, and desig- nated by the following bounds, to-wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of said county, thence west eight miles to the meridian line; thence south to the line dividing townships 8 and 9, thence east eight miles to the county line; thence north on said line to the beginning."
The election was held the last Saturday in April, 1825, at the house of Banner Brummett. Then a strip on the west side of Brown county, three miles in width, was a part of Monroe county.
In May, 1825, Salt Creek township was created. It began at the south- east corner of Monroe county ; thence west to where the meridian line inter- sects the same; thence north on the meridian line to where the corner of townships 8 and 9 intersects the same; thence east on the line dividing said townships 8 and 9 to where the same intersects the county line ; thence south on said line to place of beginning. Elections were held at the house of Boston Bails. John Pollard and Ezekiel Hendricks were appointed fence viewers, and George Todd and Solomon Butcher, overseers of the poor.
ANOTHER CHANGE IN TERRITORY.
In July, 1828, it was ordered that all the territory attached to Monroe county (on the east ), by an act of the Legislature of 1827-28, should be at- tached to the townships of Salt Creek and Jackson, as follows: Beginning at a point on the line dividing townships 7 and 8, range 3 east, where the line divid- ing sections 31 and 32 intersect the same ; thence north to the line dividing townships 8 and 9; thence west to the former county line on Monroe county ; thence south to the line dividing townships 7 and 8; thence east to the place of beginning-such territory to form a part of Salt Creek township. Also, beginning at the northeast corner of Salt Creek township, as above en- larged; thence north to the line dividing Johnson and Bartholomew coun- ties ; thence west to the northeast corner of Monroe county; thence south to the northern boundary of Salt Creek township, thence east to place of be- ginning. Such territory was to form a part of Jackson township. The ter- ritory thus attached to Salt Creek and Jackson townships now constitutes much of the western half of the present county of Brown.
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
Two new townships were erected in Monroe county in July, 1829, as follows :
Washington Township .- Beginning at a point on the meridian line be- tween townships 10 and 1I north; thence west with said line dividing town- ships 10 and II aforesaid to the line dividing ranges 1 and 2 aforesaid to Bean Blossom creek; thence in an eastern direction with said creek to the meridian line; thence north with said line to place of beginning.
Richland township (the other newly made) .- Beginning at a point where the line dividing ranges 1 and 2 west intersects the line dividing town- ships 9 and 10 north; thence west with said line last mentioned to the Owen county line; thence south with said last-mentioned line to a point where the line dividing sections 18 and 19, in township 8 north, range 2 west, inter- sects the same; thence with said line last mentioned to the range line between ranges I and 2 west; thence with said range line to place of beginning.
At the January, 1830, meeting of the commissioners' board, it was ordered "That all territory attached by legislative enactment to the county of Monroe subsequent to the original formation of townships therein be and is hereby attached to and included and shall compose parts of said townships in the following manner: By extending the boundary lines of the town- ships which run in a direction perpendicular to the county boundary entirely thereto, and thereby attaching to the respective townships all such territory as lies adjoining thereto."
By petition of seventy-five citizens, the townships of Perry was formed in May, 1830. Its boundaries were fixed as : Beginning at the line dividing sections 12 and 13, township 8 north, range I west ; thence west along said line to the west line of said township 8 north, range I west; thence south to the line dividing sections 6 and 7, township 7, range I west : thence east on said line of said township to place of beginning. An election was held at the old Clearwater place at the home of Benjamin Kenton.
In May, 1833, on petition of Jacob Romans and others, Jackson town- ship was divided and Benton township was organized from a part thereof as follows : Jackson to be divided into two portions by the line dividing ranges I and 2 east. the eastern portion to retain the name of Jackson and the west- ern portion to be known as Benton township. in honor of Thomas H. Benton, United States senator from Missouri.
Van Buren township was formed in March, 1837, and was to comprise all and no more than congressional township 8 north, range 2 west.
Salt Creek township was divided in September, 1849, and Polk town-
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
ship created as follows: Commencing in the bed of Salt creek on the line dividing township 7, range I west and range I east; thence due south on said township line to the county line; thence due east to the southeast corner of the county; thence north on the county line to Muddy Fork or Salt creek, or where the same crosses the county line; thence down said stream to the main Salt creek; thence down said stream to place of beginning. An elec- tion was ordered held at the house of John Todd, at Big Springs, with Peter Norman as inspector.
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