USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County Indiana (Volume 1) > Part 9
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
CHANGE IN BOUNDARIES
As established by the organic act of January 4, 1823, Madison county included all of the present county of Hancock, but the northern boundary -the line between townships 20 and 21 north-excluded all that part of the present county lying north of Lafayette and Richland townships. Hancock county was erected under the act of January 26, 1827, Section 2 of which defined the boundaries of Madison county as follows :
"Hereafter, the county of Madison shall be bounded as follows, to-wit: Beginning on the line dividing the counties of Henry and Madison, one mile south of where the line dividing Townships 17 and 18 crosses the same; thence north with said county line to the line dividing Townships 22 and 23; thence west to the Miami Reservation; thence south with the line of said Reservation to the southeast corner of the same; thence west until a line running south will strike the northeast corner of Hamilton county; thence south with said county line to one mile south of the line dividing Townships 17 and 18; thence east to the place of beginning."
Section 4 of the same act provided that "All the territory lying one mile south of the line dividing Townships 17 and 18, and within the former bounds of Madison county, shall be, and the same is hereby, organized and formed into the county of Hancock," etc.
When Grant county was erected by the act of February 10, 1831, the southern boundary was established as follows: "Beginning on the line dividing the counties of Madison and Delaware, three miles north of the township line dividing Townships 21 and 22, in Range 8 east; thence west to the west boundary thereof," and Section 7 of the act provided "That the strip of land lying between the north line of the county of Madison and the south line of the county of Grant be, and the same is hereby, attached to the county of Madison."
By the act of January 15, 1833, the boundary between Henry county and the counties of Madison and Hancock was fixed on "the first section line west of the range line dividing Ranges 8 and 9 east."
As designated at present, the boundaries are as follows: "Com- mencing at the southeast corner of Section 2, Township 17, Range 8 east, on the west line of Henry county; thence north on said line to the north- east corner of Section 11, Township 22 north, Range 8 east; thence west to the northwest corner of Section 9, Township 22, Range 6 east; thence south to the southwest corner of Section 4, Township 17, Range 6 east; thence east to the place of beginning."
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CHAPTER V TOWNSHIP HISTORY
LIST OF CIVIL TOWNSHIPS IN THE COUNTY-EARLY RECORDS-ADAMS-
ANDERSON-BOONE-DUCK CREEK-FALL CREEK-GREEN-PIONEERS OF EACH-EARLY SCHOOLS AND INDUSTRIES-CHURCHES-TOWNS AND VILLAGES-MENTION OF PROMINENT CITIZENS-INTERESTING INCI- DENTS.
Madison county is divided into fourteen civil townships, to-wit: Adams, Anderson, Boone, Duck Creek, Fall Creek, Green, Jackson, Lafayette, Monroe, Pipe Creek, Richland, Stony Creek, Union and Van Buren. The oldest record of the proceedings of the county board that can be found begins with the September session in 1828. At the January term in 1829, it was ordered by the board "That Isaac Jones, of Fall Creek township; James Scott, of Green; Manly Richards, of Adams; Jeremiah Williams, of Anderson; and Andrew Mcclintock, of Jackson, be, and they are hereby, appointed inspectors of elections in and for their respective townships for the present year, ending on the first Monday in January next."
At the same session James Noland and Evan Pugh were appointed fence viewers for the township of Green; John McKinzie and Charles Doty, for Fall Creek; Moses Corwin and Moss Shane, for Adams; Stephen Noland and Thornton Rector, for Anderson, and Colings Tharp and Nehemiah Layton, for Jackson. In January, 1830, these five town- ships were divided into sixteen road districts, Green township consti- tuting districts Nos. 1 and 2; Fall Creek, Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6; Adams, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11; Anderson, Nos. 12, 13 and 14, and Jackson, Nos. 15 and 16.
It is evident from these entries in the early records that the five townships named therein had been organized sometime during the first six years of the county's history, but in the absence of official records the exact date of the establishment of each cannot be ascertained.
ADAMS TOWNSHIP
This township occupies the southeast corner of the county. In extent it is seven miles from north to south, five miles from east to west, and contains an area of thirty-five square miles. It is bounded on the north by the townships of Union and Anderson; on the east by Henry county ; on the south by Hancock county, and on the west by Fall Creek township. The general surface is rolling and the township is
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
watered by Fall creek and Lick creek, both of which flow westwardly across the township, and several smaller streams, tributaries of the above.
Adams is one of the first five townships organized in the county and was named for Abraham Adams, who was the first white man to settle within its present limits. He came with his family in 1823, the year Madison county was organized, and located a short distance east of the present village of Ovid, where he built a cabin of round logs, the first house erected by civilized man in the township. Before the close of the year he was joined by a man named Manly, and about the same time came John and John T. Bridge, James Hudson, Thomas Harper and Andrew Sawyer, the five men who were indicted by the grand jury in April, 1824, for the murder of two friendly Indians, with their squaws and children, an account of which may be found in chapter XVIII.
These early settlers sent back to their old homes such favorable reports concerning the new country that during the next five years a number of immigrants found homes in Adams township. Joseph and Moses Surber and Abraham Blake came from Ohio in 1826; Anthony Hill, also from Ohio, came in 1827, and in 1828 George Hudson and his six sons-Eli, George, Isaiah, William, David and Jonathan-came from Ohio. Thornton Rector, who had previously settled in Wayne county, Indiana, likewise came in 1828. The next year witnessed the arrival of Hugh and John Gilmore. Samuel and L. D. Reger, Martin Brown, the MeCallisters-Thomas, William and Garrett-and a few others. The Gilmores and MeCallisters came from western Virginia. Martin Brown and the two Regers were also from that state. Thomas McCallister afterward served several terms in the Indiana legislature.
Other early settlers were Levi Brewer, Joseph Ingles and Jesse Martin, in 1830; William S. Gale and Colonel Thomas Bell, in 1831. Colonel Bell subsequently served five terms in the legislature from Madison county, or the district of which it constitutes a part. Follow- ing these came Hezekiah Justice, Samuel Huston, Jacob Evans, Isaac Cooper, Harvey Chase, William Prigg, Hiram Burch, John Copman, Stephen and Henry Dobson, William Stanley, William Sloan, Ralph Williams, Thomas Shelton, John Markle, David Rice, William Nelson, James Peden, Caleb Biddle, John Collier, Joseph Smith, John Borman. Stephen Norman, William Penn, Reason Sargent, James Pearson, and some others, all of whom had located in the township by 1835.
As already stated, the first log cabin in the township was built by Abraham Adams in 1823. The first frame house was built by Friend Brown, and in 1838 Morris Gilmore built the first brick house on what is still known as the "Morris Gilmore farm." The first orchard was planted by Abraham Adams in 1829, and, according to Kingman's "'History of Madison County," in the same year Enos Adamson estab- lished a saw-mill on a small stream called Hasty's branch. In 1835 Bailey Jackson began the erection of a saw-mill on Fall creek, at New Columbus, but for some reason did not finish it. James Peden then purchased the site and completed the mill in 1843. About that time the Adamson mill was removed to Howard county. In the meantime Isaac
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and Edmund Franklin had established a saw-mill on Fall creek, on Section 15, in 1841. About two years later they put a grist-mill near the saw-mill. The "Franklin Mills," as they were known far and wide, did a successful business, under various owners, until they were de- stroyed by fire in 1888.
The first steam saw-mill was built near the present village of Markle- ville by Blake & Hudson in 1857. Six years later the proprietors sold out and the purchaser removed the mill to Frankton. Abisha Lewis and John Huston erected the second steam saw-mill in the early '70s. It cost about $3,000 and at that time was conceded to be the best concern of the kind in Madison county. It was located at Markleville. A shingle machine was installed about two years after the mill was built and did a thriving business for many years. Shortly after the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan (now the Big Four) Railroad was extended south- ward from Anderson, a saw-mill was built at Emporia, a small station two miles north of Markleville. But the valuable timber that was once abundant in Adams township has almost disappeared and the prosper- ous era of the saw-mill has passed.
The first election in Adams township was held at the house of Abraham Adams. Later the voting place was changed to the house of Manly Richards, where elections were held until 1830, when the county commissioners designated a permanent voting place where the village of Ovid is now located, though the town was not laid off by Abraham Adams until four years later and named New Columbus.
It is stated; on apparently good authority, that the first school house in the township was located on Section 19, about two miles south of Ovid, and was a log structure, similar in size and design to other school houses of that day, but the date when it was built is uncertain. The second school house, also a round-log building, stood at the east end of what is now the village of Ovid. Kingman says this house was built in 1824, which was the next year after Abraham Adams, the first settler, located near the place. Other log school houses were built in different parts of the township and subscription schools maintained until after the passage of the school law of 1851. Then frame houses began to take the place of the log ones, and in 1873 two brick school houses were built-one at Ovid and one at Markleville. Four years later three more brick houses were erected. In 1912 there were ten school districts, each provided with a substantial brick house, the school property of the township, exclusive of maps, libraries and other apparatus, being valued at $20,900. The ten teachers employed in 1912-13 received $4,256 in salaries.
The first religious services were usually held at the homes of Abraham Adams, Reason Sargent and Peter Jones. A Baptist society was formed in 1830 and a second organization of this faith was effected in 1834. The Methodists held services at the houses of Stephen Noland and Ralph Williams, and in the school houses, for many years before they erected a church building in 1856, near Markleville. A Christian church was organized in 1848; a Lutheran church some time in the '50s; a German Baptist church in 1860, and a congregation of the Church of God in 1887. (See chapter on Church History.)
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The principal villages of Adams township are Alliance, Emporia and Markleville on the line of the Big Four Railway-Michigan division -and Ovid (formerly New Columbus), a short distance west of the railroad.
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP
This township, like Adams, is one of the first five to be organized in the county. It is situated a little southeast of the center of the county and is bounded on the north by the townships of Lafayette and Rich- land; on the east by Union; on the south by Adams and Fall Creek, and on the west by Jackson and Stony Creek. In extent it is six miles square, having an area of thirty-six square miles, or 23,040 acres. The
Moss ISLAND MILLS
White river enters the township about midway on the eastern bound- ary and flows a general northwesterly course, crossing the western boundary about one mile south of the northwest corner. Its principal tributary in the township is the Killbuck creek, which empties into the river at Anderson.
Located on the White river about three miles west of Anderson, are the old Moss Island Mills, one of the landmarks of Madison county. These mills were built by Joseph Mullinix in 1836, long before the advent of the railroad, but since that time have been owned by at least fourteen different firms or individuals, some of the owners having been prominent in business and social life, as well as in political affairs. The mills, in their palmy days, consisted of a flour mill-large for that day -with a saw-mill attached, power for both being furnished by a large water-wheel. They were built with a view to catching the trade that followed the construction of the old Indiana Central canal, the western branch of which passed near the mills. With the decadence of the
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canal, the building of the railroads and the introduction of improved machinery and methods in the manufacture of flour, the old Moss Island mills fell into disuse and they now stand silent and deserted near the beautiful little island which gave them their name.
When the first white men came to Anderson township they found the region heavily timbered, but nearly all the valuable timber has found its way to the log-heap or the saw-mill to make way for the culti- vated fields of the husbandman. The surface is generally level or slightly undulating. Near Mounds park, about three miles above An- derson, the bluffs along the White river rise to a height of some seventy- five feet above the level of the stream and are the greatest elevations in the township.
Among the names of the early settlers, that of John Berry stands preeminent. He came to the county in March, 1821, and entered a tract of land where the city of Anderson now stands, part of which he afterward donated to the county to secure the location of the county seat at that point, as stated in the preceding chapter. About the same time that Mr. Berry settled at Anderson, Eli Harrison selected a farm on the White river not far from Berry's, and William Stogdon (or Stockton) also settled in the vicinity. Other early settlers were John and Christopher Davis, Daniel Harpold, the contractor who built the first court-house, William and Isaac Young, William Allen, William Curtis, the first agent of the county, Samuel Kinnamon and David Williams. About the time the county was organized, or perhaps a little earlier, the population of what is now Anderson township was increased by the arrival of Benjamin Sumpter, John Renshaw, David Harris, Philip Shinkle, Jacob Stover, Benjamin Ridgeway and some others. The descendants of some of these pioneers still reside in the township and are numbered among its best citizens.
The first school house in the township was a log structure that stood on what is now Central avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets, in the city of Anderson. The first school was taught here in 1836 by Richard Treadway and later Nineveh Berry taught in the same house. In 1912 there were eleven school districts in the township, outside of the city of Anderson, and the school houses were valued at $25,000. In the eleven districts sixteen teachers were employed during the school year of 1912-13 at an aggregate salary of $7,900.
Anderson is not the only town that was ever laid out or projected within the limits of the township. In 1838, while the Indiana Central canal was under construction, John Renshaw laid out a town on the north side of the White river, where the Anderson cemetery is now located, and gave it the name of Victoria. As far as can be learned but one house-a log cabin-was ever erected on the town site. When work on the canal was suspended Mr. Renshaw disposed of the land and the town of Victoria has been practically forgotten.
Another canal town was projected by J. W. Alley, who laid out Rockport, about two miles west of Anderson on the Perkinsville pike, or Strawtown road, and a little southeast of the old Moss Island mills. Like Victoria, it never came up to the anticipations of its founder and the land afterward passed into the hands of J. W. Sansberry, Sr., who
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
opened a stone quarry on the site. Rockport boasted of several houses at one time, but they have all been removed or sank into decay.
The village of Omaha, situated near the line of the Big Four rail- road in the southern part of the township, was laid out some years before the railroad was built southward from Anderson. Eli Gustin had a saw-mill there and a store was conducted for some time by George Darrow, who afterward went to Denver, Colorado, but returned to Indiana and located at Montpelier, Blackford county. With the dis- appearance of the timber and the removal of the saw-mill, Omaha ceased to exist.
As much of the history of Anderson township naturally belongs to the city of Anderson, hence many of the important events that occurred from time to time in this township are treated in the chapter relating to the city.
BOONE TOWNSHIP
This township is situated in the northern tier and is bounded on the north by Grant county ; on the east by Van Buren township; on the south by the townships of Monroe and Pipe Creek, and on the west by Duck Creek township. In extent it is five miles from north to south and six miles from east to west, containing an area of thirty square miles, or 19,200 acres. It was named in honor of Daniel Boone, the historic Kentucky pioneer and celebrated Indian fighter.
The exact date when Boone township was organized cannot be ascer- tained at this late day. Kingman's and Forkner & Dyson's histories of Madison county both state that the first election in the township was held in September, 1843, at a log school house near the site afterward occupied by the Tomlinson school house, and it is probable that the organization of the township was authorized some time earlier in that year. The main reason why the township was so late in being organ- ized was that the northwestern part of Madison county, including nearly all the western half of Boone and the northern two-thirds of Duck Creek townships, lay within the Miami Indian reservation, which was not vacated by the natives until several years after the county was organized. . With the departure of the red man the white settlers came in and it was then not long until civil townships were established.
The honor of being the first white man to establish a home in what is now Boone township belongs to Wright Smith, a native of North Carolina, who upon coming to Indiana first settled in Rush county, but in 1836 removed to Madison county and located on the southwest quarter of Section 35, near the southern boundary of the township. He and his family lived in a tent until a cabin could be erected. Mr. Smith died on this farm on December 23, 1863. Soon after locating there he was joined by his brother-in-law, Thomas Brunt. These two men went to the land office at Fort Wayne and entered the lands upon which they had located, Brunt's farm being the southwest quarter of Section 24, about two miles up Lilly creek from Smith's, where he died on December 31, 1879. Brunt first rented a cabin from a Mrs. Ballance, in what is now the northern part of Monroe township, and did not move to his
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land until some months later. Not long after these two had located land in Boone township, James Brunt, the father of Thomas, and his son-in-law, John Moore, came from Rush county, where they had first located upon coming from North Carolina. They entered land on Lilly creek, between Wright Smith and Thomas Brunt.
Other pioneers were John and James Tomlinson, Elijah Ward, Hugh Dickey, Morgan and Enoch McMahan, Peter Eaton, Dudley and George Doyle and Bazaliel Thomas, from North Carolina; Robert Webster, from Delaware; John W. Forrest, Benjamin Sebrell and Micajah Francis, from Virginia.
During the first ten years following the coming of Wright Smith and Thomas Brunt, the settlement made but little progress in the way of an increase in population. But in 1847 a number of immigrants founded homes in the township. Among them were William Schooley, Andrew Taggart, Jesse Windsor, William Hyatt and a man named
BOONE TOWNSHIP HAY
Purtee, who was the first white man in the township to settle on the Miami Indian reservation, which became a favorite place with those who came a little later. The farm entered by Mr. Purtee is the south- east quarter of Section 21, on Duck creek, near the center of the town- ship.
Mention has already been made of the first township election in September, 1843. At that election Peter Eaton was inspector and Dudley Doyle and Morgan B. McMahan were elected justices of the peace for a term of five years. At the expiration of the term Doyle was reelected, but John Tomlinson was chosen to succeed Mr. McMahan.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
The first white child born in Boone township was Joseph Taylor Smith, son of Wright Smith, the first settler. He grew to manhood in the township, served with distinction as a soldier in the Civil war as captain of a company in the Seventy-fifth Indiana infantry and afterward practiced law for several years at Anderson, when he removed to Manhattan, Kansas.
The first marriage was solemnized on April 18, 1838, when Miss Sarah Eaton became the wife of Dudley Doyle, and the first death was that of John Huff, who was killed by a falling tree in 1843. The second death, that of Mrs. Mary Doyle, wife of Adam Doyle, occurred on January 21, 1844.
About 1840 a log school house was built on the farm of John Moore. It was a rude structure of round logs, with clapboard roof and door, a dirt floor, a huge fireplace at one end, and was without windows. This was the first school house in the township and the first school was taught there by James Smith, a son of Wright Smith. In 1852, after the enactment of the school law of the preceding year, Thomas Brunt, Benjamin Sebrell and M. L. Overshiner, the township trustees, erected four or five log school houses at different points, and it is from that time that the educational history of the township really marks its beginning. In 1912 there were eight school districts in Boone, each equipped with a modern brick school building, the value of the eight houses being estimated at $10,700. The amount paid in teachers' sala- ries for the school year of 1912-13 was $3,598.
A Methodist class was organized in 1851 and two years later a Sunday school was opened, with Wright Smith as superintendent. A meeting was held at the house of John W. Forrest in 1853 for the purpose of organizing a Baptist congregation, but no house of worship was erected until four years later.
Boone township has no towns or villages of importance. In the extreme northwest corner, a part of the village of Independence lies in this township, the other portions being situated in Duck Creek township, Madison county, and the townships of Green and Liberty, in Grant county. A postoffice called Rigdon was once maintained here, but with the introduction of free rural mail delivery it was discontinued.
Forrestville was laid out on July 24, 1850, by John W. Forrest, on Section 21, a little west of the center of the township. Several dwell- ings and a church were erected, a general store was opened and a post- office was established, but they have all disappeared and the site of the town is now used for agricultural purposes.
Benjamin Clark laid out a town on Section 13, near the Van Buren township line, and gave it the name of Clarktown. It never grew to any considerable proportions and a small general store was its only business enterprise.
Game was plentiful in the early days and the pioneers depended chiefly upon their rifles for their supply of meat. Venison and wild turkey, now esteemed as luxuries, were then common articles of diet. The last wild deer seen in Madison county was killed in this township by Morgan Sebrell on November 24, 1871, while he and Timothy Met- calf were out hunting together. It was a large buck with seven prongs on each antler. Mr. Sebrell preserved the antlers as a trophy, and as reminder of the last deer killed in the county.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
DUCK CREEK TOWNSHIP
On January 23, 1851, the following petition was presented to the board of commissioners of Madison county :
"We, the undersigned, citizens of Pipe Creek township, in said county, showeth by this, our petition, that we labor under incon- veniences in regard to the size of our township, we therefore request you to strike off a township from the north end of Pipe Creek of the following dimensions, to-wit: Commencing at the northwest corner of Section 9, Township 21 north, of Range 6 east; running thence east four miles to the range line; thence north to the county line; thence west to the county line; thence south to the place of beginning, to be called Duck Creek township."
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