USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 39
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 39
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Smithville was born when the New Albany railroad was built in 1852-3. Mansfield Bennett and George Smith laid the town out on section 3 in November, 1851. Thirty-eight lots were platted on each side of the railroad. Smith opened the first store, and was succeeded by a blacksmith and a few scattering families. Its population is now three hundred and seventy-five people. Although very small, the town is well connected with the larger cities of the county and state, being on the Monon railroad. G. M. Deckard is the postmaster, and also owns a first-class general store and caters to the best trade of the community. O. E. Deckard also runs a general store, and Miss E. A. Deckard has a millinery shop. J. L. Waring, Stull Brothers and W. G. Updegraff also have general goods in stock. Ralph Carpenter is the black- smith, and Lee Horton, the barber. In connection with the blacksmith shop there is a mill and corn crusher. R. B. Carter conducts the newspaper. The Smithville News, which is published weekly. The physician is Dr. J. Kent- ling.
Smithville is not incorporated, and there are no town officials, other than the justice of the peace, James H. Burkhart. The Methodist and Christ- ian churches have houses of worship here. The Knights of Pythias have a lodge here and, in connection with the Improved Order of Red Men, have a handsome brick building. Plans are on foot to establish an electric light plant here. The business houses and residences are wired and have been sup- plied with current, but financial reasons compelled the failure of the former plant.
CHAPTER XIX.
INDIAN CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Indian Creek township is very similar to Van Buren. The rich, loam- laden soil is exceedingly productive, and added value is given by the streams, the branches of Clear creek and Indian creek. Geologically, the township is noteworthy. It is one of the few spots where the Chester sandstone comes to the surface of the ground. This stone consists of light gray and bright red laminated stone, very ferruginous and irregularly bedded. At Buena Vista and nearby points there are outcroppings of this stone, and in sections 6 and 7 there are iron deposits which belong to the strata of Chester stone. ยท The main stone of the township, however, lies underneath the sandstone, and belongs to the Upper St. Louis group of limestone. The timber of Indian Creek township is abundant and has not been completely stripped from the land as in other townships. Indian Creek township is in the extreme south- western corner of the county.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The rude cabins of the settlers dotted the country of Indian Creek township as early as 1815, but the homes were far between, and intercourse was difficult. Among these families were the Lambs, Dicks, Crums, Burches, Morgans, Walkers, Wrights, Mays, Joneses, Clarks, Adamses, Carpenters, Tatumns, Oliphants, Carmichaels, Brosfields, Penningtons, Teagues, Phillips, Smiths, Graves, Gwinns, Treadways, and the Turners. The Lamb family is credited with being the first in the township, although the Easts and Walk- ers, the Wrights and Burches came at an early date. In 1816 the following men made entry on land in the township: William Bigger, Richard Beem and John Kutch on section 1; Isaac Withers on section 3; John M. Sadler on section 6; Archibald Wood on the same: John Storm on section 12; William King and J. Storm on section 13; Henry Speed on section 19; Storm and Elzy Woodward on section 20; Archibald Wood on 30. In the vear 1817 Moses Olds entered land on section 1 ; James Wright. William Crum, and William Leahy on section 2: Benjamin Freeland on section 5,
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also four hundred and fifty acres in section 7; Isaiah Wright and James Wright on section 11; James Mitchell, James Wright and Jacob Beals on section 12, and the latter also on section 24; William Wyman, section 25; James Wright, section 26; Thomas Wilson, Alexander Clark, section 33; Zachariah Dicks, one hundred and sixty acres on section 34; William Wright and James Smith, section 35; Peter Sansiford on section 18 in 1823. Lemuel and Joel Sexson bought on sections 19 and 20 in 1827 and 1828. Joseph Arthur purchased land on section 21 in 1818, and Richard Wright on section 23 in the same year. Solomon Morgan came into possession of one hundred and sixty acres in section 24 in 1829, and Caleb Lowder bought eighty acres in section 27 in 1819. Jonathan Howell, section 28 in 1818; Alexander Clark, section 34 in 1818; William Jones, section 34 in 1818.
BUSINESS INTERESTS.
The streams in Indian Creek township were not of sufficient size or volume to permit the operation of water-power mills. However, there were several hand mills and horse mills owned in the township, but they never became very prosperous. The old Hamilton mill in Van Buren township and the Ketchum mill in Clear Creek township supplied the most of the flour and meal for this township. There was a saw mill in the southern part of the township, also a whiskey shop which was said to have been the first in the county.
In 1839. Randolph Ross, a native of Virginia, established an iron fur- nace in the northwestern part of the township and began to manufacture iron. The factory progressed and shortly. under the firm name of Ran- dolph Ross & Son's Virginia Iron Works, had in their employ about twenty men. The crude ore was taken from the hillside, carried to the furnace, melted, and run off into bars, then shipped by wagon to Louisville or Vin- cennes. After five years of success financial difficulties elsewhere compelled the corporation to suspend the operation of the factory.
( HAAPTER XX.
MARION TOWNSHIP.
Marion township was not organized as a township until the fourth decade of the century. Before that time it had been a part of Benton town- ship, that is, after the latter township's origin. Marion is the smallest civil division of the county in point of area, but in agriculture and the character of her citizens stands high in the scale. The land is generally rolling, the rich uplands of clay and the stream valleys with fine alluvial deposits pro- ducing many acres of fine farm country. The timber has been noted for its quality, firmness and full size. Many crystal springs spout their cooling waters from the soil, which is a pleasant and valuable feature of the town- ship. Keokuk limestone, both varieties, constitutes the main geological feature of the township. Granite bowlders, specimens of greenstone, sienite, quartzite and felspar are numerous, and beautiful geodes and fossils are also plentiful. Knobstone is also present, and black sand, magnetic iron ore, and containing traces of gold. The township was named in honor of Francis Marion, of Revolutionary fame.
SETTLEMENT.
Strange to say, the township of Marion was not settled until many years after its organization. This is due to no topographical fault of the town- ship. The long distance from the county seat, the absence of any carrying streams, and the isolation from the settlements and the traveled highways, were the reasons for the delayed influx of settlers.
It is not possible to give confirmation to the record of the first settler, as many lived here as squatters, without any intention of entering land from the. government. However, the first land bought within the township was on section 6, and was entered on July 30, 1823, by Osborn & Brown, mer- chants, who later sold the land without ever having lived on it. Jehu Buck- ner made the second entry, in 1827 on section 18, and he was probably the first real white settler. He entered a piece of ground on section 7 at the same time. He built a log home for his family, and lived the typical pioneer
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life of hard work and much privation. His residence here covered many years, and he witnessed the development of his township from the very begin- ning. In September, 1829, Shad Martin entered a tract of land on section 18. This was the third. James Stepp bought land in 1832 on section 2. In 1832, A. H. Fulford purchased in section 4. James and Wylie Poynter bought land on section 4 in 1833, the year of the great meteoric shower. During the same year Adam Wall purchased in section 21. The Hendrick- sons came to sections 15, 21, 22 and 14 in 1834. There were three of them, named Thomas, J. Joshua and Ezekiel, who were among the most substantial pioneers of the day. Reuben Stepp purchased on section 21 in 1835, and on section 6 in 1836. William Stewart and Henry Hicks selected ground on section 2 in 1837. George Downey occupied this section in 1836, and on section 3 the following year. John M. Thomas and Spencer McDaniel took farms on section 4 in 1837. Valentine Hacker and G. Percifield were on section 6 in 1836, and Thomas M. Graham in 1837 on section 8; Savoy Stepps and David Wampler purchased tracts on section 9 in 1837. and Joseph Baugh and William McMillen on section 14 in the same year. Michael Fleener was an early settler of section 35. John J. Graham was in section 3 in 1838, and George M. Fry on section 2 in 1839. William Woodall bought on section 36 in 1839. The forties brought no increase, that is ap- preciable increase, in the selling of the land, but with the coming of the fifties nearly all of the land was purchased by men who became residents.
CHAPTER XXI.
PERRY TOWNSHIP.
For the raising of timothy and clover, and wheat and other cereals, there is no better land in Monroe county than that of Perry township. Heavy deposits of silica and alluvium, some of the soil resembling the black corn ground of Illinois, and watered by small streams and numerous springs, gives the land a varied quality, but on an average an excellent one. Clear creek has its source within the borders of this township. These springs, some of them impregnated with sulphur from underground beds, furnished the water supply for the early settlers, and saved them the necessity of dig- ging wells, as their comrades in other townships were compelled to do.
THE "SEMINARY TOWNSHIP."
In the year 1820 the General Assembly of Indiana, in pursuance of an act of Congress, chose two congressional townships to be used for main- taining two state seminaries. This was before the founding of the seminary which later became Indiana University. The two districts selected were, one in Gibson county and one in Monroe county, the latter being township 8 north, range I west, or, as it was later designated, Perry township. Com- missions appointed by the state Legislature made the selections.
In 1822 trustees were appointed to superintend the building of two structures, one as the seminary building, and the other as a place of habita- tion for the principal. Four sections of land on the north side of the town- ship were reserved for the seminary, and the work was rapidly completed. No settlements by squatters were allowed on this reserved territory of four full sections, and it caused no little trouble and anxiety among the pioneers who came to the county. The soil was excellent and so close to the capital. Bloomington, which city was rapidly growing and had already become the site of the seminary, later the university, that the value of Perry township reservations became high. Notwithstanding, in the early twenties squatters crossed the border of the reserved land and commenced to clear the land of timber, plant crops and erect homes for themselves. The inevitable was a
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public sale. they knew, but they spent their time and energy improving their homes, without thinking of the possibility of someone else buying them out, part and parcel. They tilled the land and constructed mills as if the land were their legal property. At last, in 1827, the Legislature provided for an appraisement and marketing of the land. Then the squatters became alarmed. They realized that land speculators and capitalists could buy their land, or rather the land they were occupying, and by paying for the improvements which they had made, could literally take it from under their noses. James Borland made the appraisement in June, 1827, and the sales were made, beginning in October. During the year many representative men of the county purchased land there, the minimum price paid being a dollar and a quarter per acre, which was for the poorest, class 3, land. Some of these men who made purchases were: Alexander Kelley, Joseph Piercy, John Armstrong, and John Griffith on section 1; James G. Fleener, Granville Ward, Milton McPhetridge, Isaac Rogers, Aquilla Rogers and Samuel Dunn, section 2; Thomas Smith, section 3; James Borland, Ellis Stone, George Henry, and Hiram Paugh, section 6; Andrew Dodds, Emsley Wilson, Abra- ham Pauley, Richard Hunter and Alexander Murphy, section 7; John Hight, Samuel Dodds, and Richard Shipp, section 8; William Bilbo, section 9; David Batterton, Zachariah Williams, and Benjamin Rogers, section 10; John Griffith and Jacob Isominger, section II; Garrett Moore, John A. Wil- son and Moses Williams, section 12; Benjamin Rogers, section 14; Josiah Baker and Abed Nego Walden, section 15; William Dunning, Levi Thatcher and William Knatts, section 16; Isaac Pauley. Daniel Davis, Thomas Carter and Absalom Kennedy, section 17; Isaac Pauley, Edward Borland and Sam- uel Moore, section 18; Simon Adamson, section 19; Jacob Depue, Evan Dal- larhide, David Sears and John Mathers, section 20; Robert D. Alexander, William Davis, John W. Nicholson, William Taylor, Michael Keith, David Findley, section 21; John Boltinghouse, William Patrick, William Taylor, section 22 ; Banner Brummet, Solomon Butcher, and James Berryman, section 27 ; James Alexander, William Taylor, William Alverson, John Musser, Rob- ert Sanderson, Thomas Abbott, and James Brummet, section 28; William Alverson, Carey James, David Sears, William Henry, James Parsons and Charles Brookshire, section 29: Solomon Green, Samuel Rhorer, Absalom Cooper and John Smith, section 30; John Smith, section 31 : William Ross and Alexander Miller, section 32; George Short and Moses Grantham, sec- tion 33: William Chandler, section 34. This sale went with a rush during the year 1827. hut after that fell back, on a par with the other townships.
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The land was not subject to entry in the usual way, but was under the con- trol of a special commissioner who negotiated the sales and transfers.
ORGANIZATION AS A TOWNSHIP.
Prior to 1830 the township was attached to Bloomington township for election and judicial purposes, but in that year was separated and organized, and named after the noted commodore who defeated the British ships on Lake Erie. The home of Benjamin Kenton was the scene of the first elec- tion for two justices of the peace. Mr. Kenton held the position of election inspector, Jesse Davis and George A. Ritter were overseers of the poor, Solomon Butcher and Finney Courtney were fence reviewers. This elec- tion was held on the 26th day of May, 1830.
(27)
CHAPTER XXII.
POLK TOWNSHIP.
Soon after the end of President James K: Polk's administration the township of Polk was established, bearing the name of the President. Topo- graphically, the township is below standard. The soil is rough, sterile, and covered with precipitous cliffs which render it unfit for even a good growth of timber. There are garden spots, however, where the land is more rolling, and along the stream valleys there is a good quality of cereals raised. The timber in the township, where it grows, is a rich variety of walnut, beech, ash, whitewood, oak and other woods. The settlement of the county was very slow, some of the land not being entered until the last thirty years.
SETTLEMENT.
Elijah Elliott entered the first tract of land on section 4. He bought ninety and a fraction acres on December 10, 1821, but made no attempt to improve the land or even reside on it. This was over ten years before the first white settlement. An old trapper, George Todd, unslung his pack in this township in 1823. five years after the organization, and bought a tract of eighty acres on section 26, and, with the help of his brothers and a few men, he constructed rude log buildings, for the comfort of his family. Other structures were for his stock. The meat supply came from the deer and bears who inhabited the dense timber around his settlement. Three years later Todd bought eighty more acres on the same section, and also eighty on section 23. In 1831, Andrew Todd purchased eighty acres on section 15, and John Todd eighty on 14.
The second settler in Polk township was Thomas Fleetwood, who came in 1826, and bought eighty acres of land on section 36, near to the farm of Mr. Todd. In 1833 he added forty more acres on the same section. Isaac Fleetwood purchased eighty acres on 35, and in 1834, forty acres on section 26. Solomon Fleetwood settled on section 26 in 1837, and Joseph Fleet- wood on section 36 in 1839. Joseph Stipp owned eighty acres of section 20 in 1832, and four years later forty acres of section 19. William Moss
i
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entered land in 1834 and 1836 on section 7, and Alexander Newton had forty on section 23. David Hawkins purchased on section 10 in 1839, and William B. Todd in 1837. On section 36, Robert Hicks bought in 1834. William R. Coombs in 1836, and Benjamin Browning in 1837. Section 31 was occupied by Q. N. Cain in 1836, and by William Henry in 1838. Isaac Norman bought on section 35 in 1836, and Moses Martin in 1839. Green C. Mize purchased on section 32 in 1836. In 1836 land was entered on section 30 by both Thomas Chambers and Natty Gougle. William Todd in 1837 and James Todd in the year 1839, on section 26. William Newton, 1836-7, and Samuel Axom in 1839, also selected land in this section. Will- iam Henry, Jr., and Elizabeth Chambers became land owners on section 18 in 1837 and 1838 respectively. John Hanson bought on section 17 in 1837, and Jesse Davar the same year, also on sections 4 and 5 in 1839. Aaron M. Johnson obtained eighty acres in 1836, and Benjamin Halleck forty, on sec- tion 3. Nelson Robertson purchased forty acres in 1837 on section 2. These tracts of land were in township 7 north, range I east, which territory does not comprise all of Polk township. Twelve sections were taken from Brown county by the Legislature and made a part of Monroe county and this township. Before 1840 the only entries on this additional land were made by Jonathan Faulks and Joshua Repper on section 31 in 1829. and Charles Sipes on section 29 in 1836.
The first elections in Polk township were held at the house of John Todd, or at "Todd's Big Springs." This was in 1849. Elections continued to be held here for many years, probably in the old blacksmith shop. Samuel Axam and Wylie Davar were the first fence viewers, Peter Norman the first inspector of elections, and Wylie Davar the first constable.
CHAPEL HILL.
Chapel Hill was a village born to die again. David Miller and John Smith conceived the idea of a town in October, 1856, and had the county surveyor lay off twenty-seven lots on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 31, township 7 north, range I east. The town had no more than got on paper, however, than it expired.
COUNTERFEITERS.
During the forties and fifties there were many lawbreakers, burglars, highwaymen, and counterfeiters who spread over a large part of the Hoosier
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state, including the county of Monroe. The hilly country, the impenetrable ravines and thick morasses afforded ideal haunts for gangsters of all descrip- tion, and to make a bad matter worse, the law was inadequate to check their depredations. It came to a point where men of high reputation in the com- munities could well join hands with a criminal gang, and either steal some- thing or make counterfeit money, and then come back to civilization with his ill-gained spoils and resume the perfectly "respectful" life he had led hitherto. A man could not trust his own neighbor in those days. The southeastern part of the county, covering Polk township, became a notable place for counterfeit coins and government bills. Some of the citizens of this town- ship were suspected of complicity, but for years no convincing proof could be had. The counterfeiters had an underground system which could not be solved by the authorities, and so their trade went on uninterrupted.
The increasing scope of the work occasioned the rise of companies of regulators, honest men who banded together to punish the suspected offend- ers. This plan was very effective for a long time, and then it was carried too far. Private grudges, political questions, etc., were satisfied by methods resembling the ones employed by the "night riders." A man named Bingham was whipped one night and died as a result, although it was known that he was an honest man. Another, named Vansickle, was frightfully punished by a masked man in the dead of night, and later died from the injuries. The place of his death became known as Vansickle's mills, in the south of Morgan county.
CHAPTER XXIII.
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP.
The land of Richland township is typical of Monroe county. Argil- laceous hills and bluffs, with semi-sterile soil; lowlands, where the agricul- turist thrives ; timber tracts, which are rapidly being robbed of their treasures -these are the predominating varieties of ground in this township. Sand, clay, lime and alluvium are the main elements of the rich lowlands, the alluvium very often in great quantities, thus affording a rich, yellow soil. Limestone is found near the surface in great strata in various portions of the township.
The oolitic limestones of Richland township are very valuable to the community. Not only are they valuable for their intrinsic worth, but by reason of their accessibility. There are many varieties of this limestone found in various quarries, specific mention of which is made in another chapter of this book. Briefly, however, there are dark gray, shaly and silicious stone known as the Warsaw division, Lower St. Louis group; light gray, fine grained oolitic : dark blue oolitic ; the Upper St. Louis group, which is hard, light gray and silicious, resembling the lithographic limestone of Harrison county. There may be found also Chester sandstone and iron ore deposits, Keokuk limestone, both buff and light and dark blue, and knob sandstone and shale. These beds of stone lie at different depths and are sandwiched be- tween various geological elements such as clayey soil, ferruginous soil and arenaceous ground.
SETTLEMENT.
The most of the settlement of Richland township occurred prior to and in 1816, or as soon as the land was offered on the market. There is doubt as to who was really the first settler there, for several tracts were purchased in 1816, and were inhabited. In October, 1816, a William Edmundson erected a small log cabin near Ellettsville, and moved his family there. How- ever, he did not own the land. Later. he bought his tract, which was the northwest quarter of section 9, from George Cutler, and during the follow- ing winter cleared about five acres in preparation for the subsequent crop.
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This is the only family known to have resided in Richland township during the winter of 1816-17. George and James Parks, Coleman Puett, George Sharp, Lewis Noel and others built rude dwellings on the land in the fall of 1816, and lived alone in the cabins, in order to clear the land for the spring planting, and prepare a home for their families who were to join them at the same time. The families of George Sharp, the Parks, Lewis Noel, Cole- man and Joseph Puett, William Milligan, Jonathan Gilbert, Joseph Reeves, Samuel Ellett were among those who came in the spring of 1817. John Parks was accorded the honor of being the first man among the settlers, a leader in the affairs of the community. He lived to the age of over one hun- dred and one years. This estimable gentleman, in his ninety-seventh year, wrote a short memoir of his early life, which narrative teems with interest. He said of his coming to Indiana :
"Soon after the war of 1812, when things had somewhat settled, my father and family, with enough others to make a right smart colony, con- cluded to emigrate to some new country.
"The territory of Indiana was the place chosen, and we landed in Law- rence county, on the East fork of White river, October, 1815. The land was not yet in market, but was surveyed off ready to be sold. We chose our lots and settled on them, built our cabins and cleared a considerable amount of land. As the sale was to come off the next season at Jefferson- ville, a dozen or more of us went down. The land was to be sold to the highest bidder. When the sale took place a man by the name of Bulslitt had a longer pole than ours, and 'knocked the persimmons.' sweeping the entire settlement. Not the first man saved his land or improvements. So we marched home, as if we had lost a friend. I had about eight acres cleared, surrounded by a good fence. The part of the territory where we now live did not come into market until the next season, so we concluded to make another trial. So we moved and again selected our lots. (This was in the present Richland township, near Ellettsville.) The next sale took place at Vincennes in October. 1816. By this time we became acquainted with fever and ague. I was the only one able to attend the sale, and I took the chills while there. I purchased for nearly the entire colony-about a dozen lots in all. After the sale we went that winter and built cabins, on our lots, and cleared some ground. I got in about six acres of fine corn, which was our sole dependence for the year. But lo! in October there came a frost, which bit the last ear ( so with the whole settlement) ! Then we were in a fix. We had no mills to grind our corn, so we were compelled to pound it into meal.
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