USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 11
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About 1825 the Indianapolis & Fort Wayne road was surveyed through this region, and during the following fall and winter was cut
SCENE NEAR PERKINSVILLE
out by the settlers. It was the first road through this portion of Madi- son county.
In the spring of 1826 John Ashby brought his family from Ross county, Ohio, and settled near the present village of Halford, where he died about two years later. His son, John Ashby, Jr., who was about eighteen years of age when the family settled in Jackson township, assisted in supporting the family and in 1842 opened the first tavern in Hamilton (now Halford). Among others who settled in the vicinity of Halford abont this time were Joel White, Robert Cather, Joseph Miller, Joel Epperly, and the Robinett, Harless and Benefiel families.
The first white child born in Jackson township was Sarah, daughter of Lemuel Auter, but the date of her birth is not known. The first marriage was in 1825, when Isaac Shelton and Delilah Crist were made man and wife. The first death was that of William Montgomery. The
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first brick house was erected in 1827 by Robert Blair on his farm op- posite Perkinsville.
One of the great needs of the early settlers was a mill of some de- scription. It was fourteen miles by the nearest route from the settlement near Perkinsville to the MeCartney mill at Pendleton, which was the nearest place where corn could be converted into meal. No roads had as yet been opened and the task of going to mill was one to be dreaded. In this emergency William Parkins set his ingenuity and industry to work and constructed a small mill, to be operated by hand power. The stones, which he dressed himself, were of native limestone, and the remainder of the "machinery" consisted principally of round poles. By the exercise of sufficient "elbow grease" this mill would grind about a bushel of meal an hour. It did not lack for patronage, as the settlers within a radius of several miles brought their corn and frequently furnished the power to grind their own grists. As the population in- creased in numbers, the old hand mill became inadequate to supply the demand. Again Mr. Parkins came to the rescue. With the assistance of his neighbors he constructed a dam across the White river in front of where Perkinsville now stands and built a small mill to be run by water power. The dam was made chiefly of logs and brush, weighted down with stones. The mill was a little log building containing one run of buhrs, or stones, which were fashioned by Mr. Parkins and his son James out of glacial bowlders, or "nigger heads." Such a mill would be regarded as insignificant in this day, but at that time it was looked upon as a triumph of mechanical genius. Subsequently a run of buhrs was added for grinding wheat, the flour being bolted upon a machine operated by hand.
Some years later this mill property was purchased by Andrew Jack- son, of Anderson, who in 1846 erected a large frame building, in which he installed the best milling machinery that day afforded. A sawmill was added in 1854. Mr. Jackson subscribed for stock in the old Indian- apolis & Bellefontaine Railroad Company and through this deal the mill passed into the hands of the railroad company, which afterward sold it to James M. and David B. Jackson, sons of the former owner. After operating it for some years, they sold it to Jacob Zeller, who in turn sold it to Alfred Clark. On the night of August 19, 1884, the building, with all its machinery and a large quantity of grain, was totally destroyed by fire and has never been rebuilt.
Kingman's History of Madison County is authority for the state- ment that the first school in the township was taught in the year 1825, in the cabin that had been erected by Mr. Dewey some four years before, and that the teacher was a man named Williams. Among the scholars were three or four of the Wise boys, about the same number of the MeClintock boys and Joseph Lee. The second school house was built a year or two later on section 34, on the Wise farm, a third was built a little later on the north side of the White river. Both were small log buildings of the usual frontier type, and the schools taught in them were subscription or "pay" schools. After the introduction of the publie school system, better school houses were erected. In 1912 Jack-
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
son had six brick buildings, valued at $10,000. During the school year of 1912-13 nine teachers were employed and received in salaries the sum of $3,636.75.
About 1824 a Methodist class was organized, with Benoni Freel as the first class leader, and the first regular services were held in the Dewey cabin. Sometime in the '40s a United Brethren church was organized at the house of Samuel Gentry, a short distance from Perkins- ville. A Christian church was organized at Hamilton about 1857 by Rev. Carey Harrison, but no house of worship was ever erected by the congregation, and iu April, 1866, a Methodist Protestant church was organized at Hamilton with eight members.
Perkinsville, on the north side of the White river near the western boundary, and Halford, on the south side of the river, about four miles east of Perkinsville, are the only villages in the township. In what is known as the McClintock neighborhood, near the site of au old Indian village and burying ground, was once a little hamlet called Nancytown, but it is now extinct and the ground where it stood is used for farm- ing purposes.
LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP
This township is centrally located and is the only civil township in the county whose boundaries coincide with the Congressional township lines, it being six miles square and embracing township No. 20 north of range 7 east. On the north it is bounded by the townships of Monroe and Pipe Creek ; on the east by Richland; on the south by Anderson and Jackson, and on the west by Jackson and Pipe Creek. The surface being generally level, the lands were originally too wet to carry on farming successfully, but in 1875 an extensive system of artificial drain- age was inaugurated that has made this township one of the most desir- able in the county for agricultural purposes.
In 1831 Henry Ry brought his family from North Carolina and settled on section 36, in the extreme southeast corner of the township, where North Anderson now stands. There he built a cabin of round logs, the first civilized habitation in the township. During his ten years' residence here he made many substantial improvements, but about 1841 he sold his farm and removed to Randolph county, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his life.
In the spring of 1832 John Croan, who had previously settled in Anderson township, in 1828, removed with his family to section 35, in what is now Lafayette township and established a new home, about half a mile north of Henry Ry's cabin. Later in the same year Reuben Junks, George Mustard and John B. Penniston came from Ross county, Ohio, and founded homes in this township. James Baily also came from Ohio in this year, but soon became dissatisfied and returned to the Buckeye State. Reed Wilson, of Wayne county, Indiana, came in the spring of 1834 and settled on what was later known as the Pierce farm, and about the same time Jordan Newton came from Ohio and settled on the Stanley farm. The next year (1835) there was a considerable tide of immigration to the township, Isaac Jones, William Lower, James
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Finney, Samuel Fetty, John Maggart, David Gooding and Mrs. Mar- garet Shinkle all entering lands and becoming permanent residents. Gooding was a Kentuckian, who had served as an aide-de-camp under Colonel Richard M. Johnson in the War of 1812, and was present at the battle of the Thames, where Colonel Johnson was wounded by the famous Shawnee chief, Tecumseh.
In July, 1836, James Hollingsworth settled upon the farm where he lived for many years, and soon after his arrival he built a carding machine, which he conducted successfully until it was destroyed by a flood in 1838. He had not been in the township very long before he started the movement for its organization. He circulated the petition, which was signed by himself, John B. Penniston, John Croan, Isaac Jones, Reuben Junks, Reed Wilson, Henry Ry, Jordan Newton, George Mustard, George Moore, William Lower, Enos Mustard, John Maggart, George Rains, Samuel Fetty, David Gooding and James Finney-the entire voting population living within the territory it was proposed to incorporate in the new township. The petition was duly presented to the county commissioners, who on November 9, 1836, issned the order for the erection of the township, as shown by the following entry taken from the records of that date :
"Ordered by the board that a new township be stricken off from the townships of Richland, Jackson and Pipe Creek, said new town- ship shall include all of Congressional township 20, north of range 7 east, and no more, and that all elections shall be held at the house of John Maggart therein, and the said new township shall be known and designated by the name and style of Lafayette township."
The name was suggested by James Hollingsworth, in honor of the Marquis de La Fayette, the gallant French general who rendered such timely and efficient aid to the struggling armies of the American colonies in the war for independence. Mr. Hollingsworth was also inspector of the first election, which was held at the house of John Maggart, as directed by the commissioners, on January 17, 1837. On that occasion no ballot-box had been provided and the inspector used his hat as a receptacle for the tickets. At that election John Maggart received a majority of the votes for justice of the peace and Enos Mustard was chosen township clerk.
Almost immediately following the organization of the township there was a decided increase in the population. By 1840 the following persons had founded homes and were developing farms: Daniel Sigler, Allen Simmons, Lewis and George Baily, Thomas G. Clark, Matthew Taylor, Samuel Moore, Henry Purgett, John Ridgeway, Washington Trotter, Zail and George Rains, Caleb Dehority, James Closser, Francis Colburn, Nathaniel G. Lewis, John Clock, James Wier, Joseph Van Meter, Samuel Westerfield, George Hilligoss, Sr., Robert and Samuel Gooding, John Burk and James Stover.
Annis Croan, daughter of John and Sarah Croan, who was born in 1834, was the first white child born in Lafayette township. The first marriage was celebrated on March 19, 1838, the contracting parties being James Hollingsworth and Miss Elizabeth Shinkle, and the first death was that of Reuben Junks.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
George Mustard planted the first orchard in the township soon after settling there, procuring his trees from Dempsy Wilson, of Anderson township. The first mill was built by George Millspaugh and James Stevenson in 1851. It was a small steam sawmill and was first located on the farm of Patrick Ryan, but subsequently was removed else- where. In 1870 Roadcap & Van Winkle built a steam sawmill where the village of Florida is now situated. Two months after it went into operation the boiler exploded, completely wrecking the mill, killing Perry Moore and a man named Wolf and severely injuring the engineer, Solomon Muck.
A small log school house was erected in 1840, near the site afterward occupied by public school No. 7, and the first school in the township was taught there in the fall of that year by John Penniston. The first frame school house was built in the same locality in 1857 and was the first to be erected as a public school. In 1912 there were eleven districts, each provided with a modern brick building, the estimated value of the eleven houses being $22,000. Sixteen teachers were employed during the school years of 1912-13, receiving $7,666 in salaries.
A Methodist society was organized at the house of William Lower in the fall of 1836, by Rev. Robert Burns. A Christian church was formed in May, 1869, and the New Lights and United Brethren also established churches in the township. Accounts of these organizations will be found in the chapter on Church History.
Florida, on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis (Pan Handle) Railroad, and Linwood, on the Michigan division of the Big Four, are the only villages of consequence. The town of Frankton is situated near the boundary line between Lafayette and Pipe Creek town- ships. Soon after the Pan Handle railroad was built in 1856, a ware- house was established on the road a mile and a half northwest of Florida and a general store was also opened there. For a time the trains stopped at Keller's Station, as the place was called, John Keller being the owner of the land upon which the station was situated. Owing to an insuffi- cient patronage the store-keeper disposed of his stock of goods and the warehouse was likewise an unprofitable venture. Trains ceased to stop there and Keller's Station is now only a memory.
MONROE TOWNSHIP
This township is the largest in Madison county. It is six miles in width from north to south ; the northern boundary is nine miles and the southern eight miles in length, and the area of the township is fifty- one square miles, or 32,640 acres. Pipe Creek flows a southwesterly course across the township, entering near the northeast corner and crossing the western boundary a little south of the center. The south- eastern portion is drained by Little Pipe and Killbuck creeks and the northwestern part by Mud and Lilly creeks. Along Pipe creek the sur- face is somewhat undulating, but the greater part of the township is generally level. The soil is fertile and some of the finest farms in the county are in Monroe township.
The first white settlers to locate in what is now Monroe township
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were George Marsh and Micajah Chamness, who in the spring of 1831 came from North Carolina and made the first land entries in that part of the county. Chamness entered the west half of the northwest quar- ter of section 19 and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 24, all of which now lies within the corporate limits of the city of Alex- andria. His cabin, erected on this tract, was the first habitation estab- lished by a white man within the present limits of the township. Sometime during the following year, James M. James entered a part of section 25, about a mile down the creek from the Chamness cabin. Morgan James settled on Little Pipe creek, a short distance south of Alexandria, and Annon James entered land near the mouth of Mud creek.
In 1833 William Chamness and James Tomlinson, the former from North Carolina and the latter from Clermont county, Ohio, both set- tled in the neighborhood and during the next two years a number of immgrants founded homes in the township. Among them were Jesse Vermillion, from Lawrence county, Ohio, Thornberry Moffit, from Rush county, Indiana, David L. Pickard, from Maine, Stephen and John Marsh, Peter Edwards and Stephen Fenimore. The descendants of some of these pioneers still reside in Madison county.
One agency that materially aided the settlement of this portion of the county was the opening of two public highways in 1830. One of these was the Indianapolis & Fort Wayne road and the other was the road from Fort Wayne to Shelbyville. These two roads, which form a junction near the northern line of the present township of Monroe, were the first opened through that section of the county. Over them were carried the early mails and they served as a stimulus to the white man to move in and occupy a district in which the Indian had, up to that time, been the only inhabitant. Compared with some of the im- proved highways of the present day, they were poor affairs. At the present time the township is well supplied with good country roads, while the Big Four and Lake Erie & Western railroads and the lines of the Indiana Union Traction Company furnish unsurpassed transporta- tion facilities to all parts of the township.
By the close of the year 1835 the population was considered suff- ciently large to justify the organization of a new township. A petition was accordingly prepared and circulated, and it was signed hy prac- tically every voter residing within the territory it was proposed to include. At the January term of the commissioners' court in 1836 the following action was taken by the board :
"On petition filed, it is ordered that the following described terri- tory be stricken from Richland township, to wit: Commencing on the country line, where the township line dividing townships 20 and 21 north crosses the same; running thence north with the county line to the northeast corner of Madison county; thence west with the north line of said county to the northeast corner of Pipe Creek township: thence south with the east line of Pipe Creek township to the line dividing townships 20 and 21 north; thence east on said line to the place of beginning, and that said territory so stricken off be organized into a separate township to be known and designated by the name of Monroe Vol. 1- 6
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township. All elections are ordered to be held at the residence of Micajah Chamness until otherwise ordered."
As established by this order, Monroe township included all of the present township of Van Buren and the eastern half of Boone township. The township was named in honor of James Monroe, the sixth presi- dent of the United States. The first election was held at the designated place in April, 1836, and David L. Pickard was elected justice of the peace. 'Mr. Pickard seems to have been one of the most prominent pioneers. Besides being the first justice of the peace in Monroe town- ship, he was the first postmaster at Alexandria when the office was established, and was the first hotel keeper in that town. His hotel was built in 1838, though previous to that time he had been accustomed to entertaining travelers at his residence.
About the time the township was organized, or soon afterward, the population was augmented by the arrival of John Banks, Evan Ellis, John Brunt, Elijah Williamson, John Cree, Joseph Hall, Jacob Price, John Chitwood, Lorenzo Carver, Hildria Lee, Baxter Davis and some others.
The first school was taught by John Brunt in 1837. Twelve pupils were enrolled in this school, but the exact location where it was taught is uncertain. David L. Pickard built the first regular school house in 1839. Richard Edwards was one of the pioneer teachers. In 1912 there were sixteen school districts in the township, outside of the city of Alexandria. Ten of these districts were provided with brick buildings and six houses were frame, the value of all being estimated at $33,400. During the school year of 1912-13 there were twenty-six teachers em- ployed in the township schools and the payroll for the year amounted to $7,852.
The first brick house in the township was built by Peter Edwards, who came in 1835 and settled on the land afterward known as the Abram Miller farm, where he erected a brick residence soon afterward. The first deaths were two members of the Hyatt family and the third was that of Micajah Chamness.
There is a rumor, but it is not well founded, that a small corn mill was built on Pipe creek, about a mile northeast of Alexandria, soon after the first settlers located in that vicinity. The first mill of which there is any authentic record was a saw and grist-mill built by James M. James on Pipe creek, about a mile west of Alexandria, in 1834. A few years later Henry Huff established a saw-mill about two miles farther up the creek. In the early days Pipe creek abounded in fish and old settlers have been heard to relate how they would fish at James' mill of nights, with the wolves howling in the woods around them.
Alexandria, located a little west of the center of the township, at the junction of the Big Four and Lake Erie & Western railroads, is the most important town. Orestes, formerly known as Lowry Station, is situated on the Lake Erie & Western, two and a half miles west of Alexandria. On the same line of railway, near the eastern boundary of the county, is the station of Gilman, and the old village of Osceola is situated in the northwest part, on section 4 of range 7. Osceola was laid out in 1855 and was named for the celebrated Seminole chief. At
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one time it promised to become a place of some importance. E. M. Trowbridge opened a general store there soon after the town was laid out and when the postoffice was established he was appointed the first postmaster. David Perry established the first blacksmith shop and Absalom Webb was the first shoemaker. A large steam saw-mill was built, but after the most valuable timber had been manufactured into lumber the mill was taken away. The loss of the mill, the building of railroads through other parts of the county, and the discontinuance of the postoffice, all had a tendency to check the growth and prosperity of Osceola, and about all that remains is the public school and a few residences.
The first religious organization in the township was the Little Kill- buck Old School Baptist church, which was formed on June 18, 1842, at the house of Moses Maynard, with ten members. About the same time a Methodist congregation was organized at Alexandria. The Lilly Creek Christian church was established also in 1842; the Alex- andria Christian church in 1852; the Lilly Creek Baptist church in 1868, and in more recent years the Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches of Alexandria have been organized and neat houses of wor- ship have been erected.
By far the greater part of the history of Monroe township centers about the city of Alexandria and many of the important events will be treated in the chapter on cities and towns.
PIPE CREEK TOWNSHIP
Next to Monroe, Pipe Creek township is the largest in the county, having an area of forty-three square miles, or 27,520 acres. It is bounded on the north by Boone and Duck Creek townships; on the east by Monroe and Lafayette; on the south by Lafayette and Jackson, and on the west by the counties of Tipton and Hamilton. It is the most irregularly shaped township in the county, having seven outside and three inside corners. Pipe creek, the stream that gave name to the township, enters near the northeast corner of section 21 of range 7, flows a southwesterly direction past the city of Elwood, and crosses the southern boundary about two miles east of the Hamilton county line. Its principal tributary in the township is the Big Branch, which flows through the central portion, and the northwestern part is watered by the Big and Little Duck creeks. The surface is quite level and the soil is exceedingly fertile, though the expenditure of a considerable sum of money in the construction of ditches was necessary before agri- culture could be carried on successfully. The township is now thor- oughly drained and produces excellent crops.
In 1830 Joseph Shell settled on section 11, township 20, range 6, near the southern border of the township and about two and a half miles east of the county line. He had come from Ohio in 1826 and had spent the intervening years in Jackson township. Settlement was slow for about two years after Mr. Shell's arrival, but in 1832 several per- sons located near where the town of Frankton now stands. Among them were Walter and William Etchison, from North Carolina, Reuben
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Kelly, from Virginia, Samuel Howard, from Wayne county, Indiana, John, Peter and Job Chamness. In 1833 John Beeson, from Wayne county, Indiana, and Jacob Sigler, from Virginia, entered the land upon which Frankton is now situated. Elijah Dwiggins also settled in the township this year.
On May 13, 1833, the board of county commissioners passed the following order for the erection of the township :
"Ordered that there be a new township organized and stricken off from Jackson township as follows, to wit: Beginning on the county line at the southwest corner of section 9, in township No. 20, in range 6 east; running thence east on the section line to the southeast corner of section No. 8, township 20, range 7 east; thence north to the county line; thence west to the northwest corner of the county, thence south along the county line to the place of beginning; to be known and desig- nated by the name and style of Pipe Creek township. It is also ordered that the sheriff notify citizens of said township, that they, on the last Saturday in June next, proceed to elect one justice of the peace in said township, and that all elections in said township be holden at the house of Walter Etchison until otherwise ordered by the board."
Pursuant to this order, the first election was held on June 29, 1833 (the last Saturday in the month), at the house of Walter Etchison and James Beeson was elected the first justice of the peace for the township of Pipe Creek.
As originally established, Pipe Creek township included all its present area except three square miles; four square miles in what is now the northwest corner of Lafayette township; all of Duck Creek, and ten square miles of the western part of what is now the township of Boone. Two years later-at the May term in 1835-a strip two miles wide and extending the full length of the township, was taken from Richland and added to the east side of Pipe Creek, giving the latter township an area of 104 square miles, or almost the northwest- ern one-fourth of the county. At the same time Jesse Harris was appointed constable; James French and Jesse Etchison, supervisors ; William Flint and Jacob Sigler, overseers of the poor; Robin Erwin and Jeremiah Derry, fence viewers; and an order was issued for an election to be held on the first Monday in June, for the purpose of electing an additional justice of the peace.
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