USA > Indiana > Vermillion County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 17
USA > Indiana > Parke County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
180
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
who carried on a large business. It was in 1879 that the great stave factory was established at this point by Jesse Clutter, who there made about seventeen thousand staves each twenty-four hours. Later a cooper shop was added and thus the staves made up into casks and barrels. West of the village the first ferry was run from Florida to Clinton. It was owned by David Patton, and consisted of a simple flat-boat pushed across the Wabash by means of poles, the fare being thirty-seven and one-half cents per team.
Rosedale received its name from pioneer Chauncey Rose, of Terre Haute. The coming of the Terre Haute & Logansport railroad was the commence- ment of this village so well known now. It is situated in the southeastern portion of Florida township, and was platted by Ephraim Doty. The first house there, built by William Smith in 1835, was a large hewed log house twenty by forty feet. The whole community assisted in raising it, occupy- ing two full days. It still stood in 1890, the property of Jerry Beal. Nothing of importance happened at this point until 1860, when the railroad was fin- ished and a store was built ; also a warehouse and mill, a drug store and school house. Frank Bell was the first postmaster, receiving his commission from President Lincoln in January, 1862. The village had a population of one hun- dred in 1880, but of recent years it has improved greatly and the census of 1912 gives it a population of 1,166. All branches of small town business are here represented by enterprising men.
Jessup, another hamlet of this township, is situated in the northeastern part of the township, and derived its name from Mr. Jessup, an old resident of the community, and who at the completion of the "pumpkin vine railroad" moved near where the village now stands. Pleasant Hawkins and Monroe Barnes, of Terre Haute, who shipped a barrel of pork addressed to "Jessup," really originated the name. The road was just finished and the conductor and train crew searched the list of towns, when they finally decided to put the goods off for Jessup at that point, and they were making a point in his- tory of which they then knew not! The place is not of great importance, yet, as a trading place, has been a good thing for the people of that section. It now has about seventy-five population.
West Atherton is located in the extreme southwest corner of the town- ship. and is a small station point on the branch of the Chicago & Eastern Illi- nois railroad.
Another town in this township is Coxville, a thriving hamlet of more modern type than many already named.
CHAPTER XIX.
GREENE TOWNSHIP.
Greene township is congressional township No. 16 north, of range 6 west, and is situated on the east side of Parke county, with Putnam county on its east. Union township to the south, Washington to the west and Howard township and Montgomery county on its north. The north and south branches of the Little Raccoon flow through its domain. Big Raccoon cuts off a small corner of this township on section 36, where Portland Mills is located.
The surface is varied. Along the banks of its streams it is much broken, rising in places to considerable hills and bluff land. The northeast quarter and south half are level and well adapted to agriculture. The soil is exceed- ingly fertile. Limestone abounds on the west side of the north branch, and there are numerous outcroppings of coal, with indications of some iron. On the east side of this branch sandstone of three kinds, red, yellow and gray, is found in considerable quantities. It is well suited for building purposes. Fire rock, used for chimney and fire-place backs, is also found in this town- ship. The township was originally one dense forest, embracing many varie- ties of excellent timber. In the more swampy parts the underbrush was so thick, together with pea-vine and nettles, that a road had to he blazed, that children might find their way to and from school at an early day. In 1880 two-thirds of the township was under a fine state of cultivation. Much im- provement has been done there in the passing of the last three decades. What is or was known as the Lindon thicket, or swamp, and considered by the pio- neers as worthless land, is now the most valuable in all the township. It may be said that Greene is an average farming section of Parke county. Sufficient gravel is found to construct all the roads necessary in the territory.
The Vandalia railroad traverses the northwest corner of the township, while the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton line passes through the entire north- ern part of it, with a station junction of both roads located at Guion, a ham- let of fifty persons. The present assessed valuation of the township is $1.005.580, while its population in 1910 was placed by the United States cen-
182
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
sus as 1,009. Of the schools and churches other chapters in this work will treat at length.
INDIAN DAYS AND WILD GAME.
The early settlers saw the redmen at their doors asking for food and to trade with them for furs. Their principal camp was on the north of Little Raccoon, northeast of the railroad crossing at Guion. Here, for the last time in the history of Greene township, they built their camp-fires, sang their songs of war and the chase, raised the war whoop, and bade adieu to the hunting grounds and graves of their fathers. They were at all times friendly to the settlers, yet it is said that one John Hathaway lost no opportunity to dispatch an Indian. His father had been murdered and himself wounded by them, at a settlement on the Wabash, and he had sworn to wreak out vengeance in their blood. Indian relics found there are such as arrow heads, stone axes, and one iron tomahawk, once in possession of Ambrose Lambert, was a real curiosity ; it had a curved blade about five inches long by two and a half in width; the pole served for a pipe; the handles to this combined instru- ment of war and peace are one.
Once game of every kind belonging to this latitude was found here in abundance. To see twenty-five deer in a drove was nothing uncommon, or turkeys to alight on the trees in numbers so great as to break down their branches. Squirrels, porcupines, mink and other small animals were as com- mon as small birds are now; now, only a few squirrels remain. Among the early settlers Ambrose Lambert was the most successful hunter. Snakes of almost every kind were here in great numbers. East of Parkville, on the old Mathias Sappinfield farm, is what is known as "snake den." Here, in a cliff of sand-stone, serpents of all kinds came in the fall to take up winter quarters. In the spring, men came and killed them in great numbers, as they basked in the sunshine on the rocks.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In the autumn of 1821, five families emigrated from Kentucky to this sec- tion of the county. These were Daniel Bruin, Sr., James Buchanan, David Todd, Abraham Durlin and Ambrose Lambert, accompanied by three young men, and they all settled on the west bank of the north branch of Little Rac- coon, south of the railroad crossing of today at Guion station. This without doubt was the first settlement in Greene township. They came not to hunt
183
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
deer and dig "sang," but for the purpose of building for themselves permanent homes. These sturdy pioneers went to the task of felling the giant forest kings and erecting cabin homes in what was a vast wilderness. Abraham Durlin's cabin was the first ready for occupancy, but by the time the winter's blast had come on, all were comfortably housed for the long, dreary winter. But hard times were in store for this little band of pioneer settlers. They had little money or grain, and had to purchase the latter from neighbors at very high rates. Then the sound of the water mill had not yet been heard in the settlements, and the roads were little more than paths beaten by wild beasts and wild men in days long gone by. When they had corn, they re- duced it to hominy by means of the wooden mortar. This they made in two grades, coarse and fine. The former was eaten, with such other food as they could procure, for breakfast ; the latter was made into a kind of coarse bread and served the remainder of the day. At all times, however, they were sup- plied with an abundance of wild game. This tided them over until a small patch of ground could be cleared, and a crop raised, Yet, it is written that nearly all lived to be old men and women. This colony was followed in the spring of 1822 by about fifty families, who settled near them in Union, Wash- ington, Greene and Howard townships.
The second settlement was effected at Portland Mills, in 1823, on the line between Parke and Putnam counties, by Clemen Gare, Moses Hart, John Foster, Lemuel Norman and Samuel Steele, all of whom were from Ken- tucky. The immigration came rushing in mightily from Kentucky, Pennsyl- vania and the Carolinas, until about 1836. As early as 1830, the pioneers saw the rude round-log cabins, with their board roofs, mud chimneys and paper glass windows, all around them in every direction, but as the years wore away better abiding places were provided.
MILLS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
The greatest drawback in this settlement was the lack of mills. Rose- ville, twenty-five miles distant, was their nearest milling place. So bad were the roads and so high the unbridged streams at times that the families had to subsist on such meals as they were able to make by hand, such seasons lasting sometimes for weeks. Then a settler never went to mill alone, but the neigh- bors would all club together and go with their teams in a company. Extra men went ahead, to hew out a road-way and assist the drivers in crossing streams and hills. The first mill in this township was erected at Portland Mills, in 1825, by Samuel Steele, father of the better known George Kirk-
184
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
patrick Steele, and pioneer settler of that place. This was a combined grist- and saw-mill. It was many times rebuilt and finally, in 1880, was owned by J. E. Blake, being then looked upon as Parke county's best mill. The flour made there at an early day was hand bolted. The pioneers and their children looked upon Mr. Steele as a great benefactor to his race, and today, were they living, would plead for his bust to adorn the Hall of Fame.
The first, as well as only, still for making liquors in this township was built and run by Mathias Sappinfield, on his farm, one mile and a fourth east of Parkeville.
The village of Parkeville was platted in township 16, range 6, October 4, 1837, by Presley Doggett. Guion, another hamlet, already mentioned, was platted by Robert Bruin, January 7, 1882, in section 7 of the same town- ship and range.
CHAPTER XX.
HOWARD TOWNSHIP.
Howard is the northern township in Parke county, in range 6, township 16. The east and south boundaries are each six miles in length, and the northern boundary is three miles long. Fountain county is to the north, Montgomery to the east, while on the south are situated Greene and Wash- ington townships. The western boundary is very irregular; along this lie Sugar Creek and Penn townships, the latter bounding only a spur, one and a half miles wide, projecting from the southwest of Howard township. On the west and south of Howard township is some farming land as fine as the "King- dom of Parke" contains. Along the Sugar creek, which flows southwest through the township, the surface is very broken for some distance away from the banks. The east and south parts of the township are divided into large farms, well improved and now very valuable. In lieu of good farms the hilly country is rich in its deposits of mineral wealth, sandstone of several varieties, and limestone, fit for any sort of buildings. The soapstone beds in the township are twenty feet in thickness, between two strata of sandstone. Coal and iron ore crop out from the hills. Coal is found in a twelve-foot vein and of good quality.
Up to 1855 Howard formed a part of Sugar Creek township. Before this several petitions were presented to the county commissioners by the cit- izens on the west side of the township for a division as it is now, but these petitions were denied them. In 1855, through the energies of Col. Casper Budd, the trustee of Sugar Creek, these petitions were finally granted. The territory thus set off was organized into a civil township, called Howard, by Colonel Budd in honor of General Howard, then one of the county's most prominent men.
In 1912, the assessed valuation, real and personal, of Howard township was $458,025. Its present population (1910 census) is 666. The schools and churches are treated under separate general chapters in this work. The first church organization was in 1833 and the first school was taught in 1830.
186
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The original settlers in what is now called Howard township were Henry Litsey, Samuel Snook and James Long. The first located in 1822, on Sugar creek; the same year came to section 31 Samuel Snook and the third was James Long, on section 17. In 1823 the stream of immigration began pour- ing in to Parke county from Kentucky and North Carolina, and by 1830 there was little choice land for sale. Of these few settlers it may be stated that they were quiet, industrious people, who came not for office or specula- tion, but simply for the purpose of making for themselves and families homes. They made their own cloth from the flax they raised; ate bread from the grain they had sown and threshed by hand, and in most cases had pounded it into meal and flour. But few bushels were left when the family and stock had been supplied. In 1830, Salmon Lusk bought and packed pork at the narrows of Sugar creek. This furnished the people with a little ready money in exchange for the little stock they produced. At the same time and place Prior Wright opened a small general store, which supplied them with the few actual necessities needed. With the surplus of a ten-acre farm, when pork was only one dollar and twenty-five cents per hundred, calico thirty-five cents per yard and salt five dollars per barrel, they could purchase but little. These pioneers were nearly all God-fearing people, and early organized church societies and held worship in log houses, where the God of their fathers was worshiped in a true and faithful manner.
The great trouble encountered at that day was the securing of suitable breadstuffs. Prior to 1826 the nearest points at which they could obtain flour was at either Alamo or Roseville. In 1826 Salmon Lusk built a mill at the narrows of Sugar creek. The first mill built in the township was by Urial Clore; the second was built by Blumens White in 1853, and later known as Scott's Mill. No serious epidemics have ever visited this township, and but few fatal accidents have occurred. The first person killed was James P. Robinson, who fell from his wagon going down a hill near Rockville. The next was a lad, named William Montgomery, who was killed by the falling of a tree, and the third, Richard Watson, was crushed by the beam of a c'over huller at Jacob C. Banta's.
CHAPTER XXI.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
Jackson township named for old "Rough and Ready," Andrew Jackson, once President of the United States, is in the extreme southeast part of Parke county, with Putnam county to its east, Union township north, Raccoon town- ship west and Clay county, Indiana, to its south. The "hills of Jackson" is a common expression in speaking of this portion of the county. Yet much good land is found within the limits of the township. The once giant forests have been cleared away and beautiful farms are now seen in many sections. The saw-mill here was early set to work and did its part in developing the country. The Big Raccoon cuts off the northwest corner, passing out in sec- tion 18. Along this creek lie the rich alluvial bottom lands, more valuable than any other kind of soil. The southeast is quite level, the balance being rough and hilly. The township abounds in numerous beautiful, never-failing springs of pure water that gladden the heart of both man and beast. Then there is a wonderful sulphur spring. The Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad passes across the southeast corner of this township, and one of its stations is the village of Lena. The old settlers were nearly all dead by 1880. The first settlements were effected in the Big Raccoon valley about 1820, at a time when the Indian roamed up and down that stream at will and was "lord of all he surveyed." About 1820 the first cabin in the valley was built where Mans- field now stands, being erected by Nelson and Hubbard, for James Kelsey, as a residence. In 1821 lands were entered by George Kirkpatrick and Nash Glidwell came from Ohio. Robert Glidwell surveyed through this section in 1816, and about 1823 entered land, his patent being signed by President Monroe. In 1821 Zopher and Emily Coleman sought a home in the wilds of Jackson township, settling north of the present site of Mansfield. They came in from South Carolina. That year a son was born to them and they named him Zopher, Jr., he being the second born in the township. George Hansel was born in Pennsylvania in 1795, and when the war of 1812 broke out he enlisted and aided in the defense of Fort Hamilton, also crossed the White river and helped to destroy the Indian town. Prepared by these ex- periences, he came to what is now Parke county in 1820, and entered land
188
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
in what is now the northwest part of Jackson township. He left for two years, and then returned to occupy the lands he had selected. He was much engaged in the early surveys of this county and constructed with his pen a map of Parke county, showing all the surveys, sections and streams. He served as justice of the peace many years, being the first elected in Jackson township. Jacob Cole later owned the farm he settled upon. As early as 1825, William Bullington arrived. He came from Kentucky to this state in 1815, having moved from Virginia to Kentucky in 1807. He said that there were not men enough in Parke county to raise a respectable cabin, and that many of them lived in their wagons and camped out. Bullington accompanied the Indians from Mansfield to St. Louis when they were removed from Ohio to the Osage country. These Indians, one thousand two hundred in num- ber, divided into three detachments, separated from each other a day's jour- ney, so that the hostility existing between different tribes might be controlled. Bullington was twenty-three days with these Indians, when he returned. By trade he was a mason. In 1869 he removed to Union township and in 1880 was still living, having reached his four score years.
Jesse and Amelia Moore both emigrated from South Carolina to Ken- tucky, and in 1826 to Jackson township in this county. They started Octo- ber 8th, and arrived here and leased twenty-seven acres in the northeast quarter of section 9, agreeing to build a house and set out an orchard, besides clearing up seventy acres. They had the privilege of using the whole quarter section. There were three families of them : the old folks, Jesse and Amelia ; Naoma Pruett and husband, with family of two children; Thomas Moore and wife, with one child; and Joab, a single man. Jesse and his son Joab worked a half of the land, and Thomas and Stephen the other half. Thomas became the wealthiest man in Jackson township thirty years and more ago.
In 1829 came Michael and Elizabeth Pruett, hailing from the famous Blue Grass district of Kentucky, bringing their son Calvin with them. They bought land not far from Mansfield. His sons, Calvin, Cyrenus and James, with other children, spent their lives in this township. When the public school law was voted on in this county. Calvin Pruett was the only man to vote for it in his township. The voters hooted at him and called him "too advanced for this county" and he stood and voted alone, but it was not long before he was gratified at being vindicated by the passage of the law, the base of our present fine school system. Cyrenus Pruett was many years a town- ship officer, including that of assessor. James Pruett faced the enemy's shot and shell during the Civil war, and spent fifty-two days in Andersonville prison-pen.
189
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
By 1830 there were possibly twenty-five families within Jackson town- ship, as there were thirty-two votes cast at an election in that year. Among the pioneers were: Thomas W. Moore, Joseph Coombs, John Coombs, Mahalan Stark, James Pursley, Hugh Vinzant, Presley Tyler, John Young, Stephen Mannon, Samuel Johnson, Solomon Garrigus. In 1837, however, the dull times struck in and not for a number of years was there much immi- gration to this county, after which, though, it was redoubled. From 1865 to 1880 Jackson township made wonderful progress. The census of 1880 gave it as having 1,442 population. Its present population is 1,157. Its assessed valuation in 1912 is $496,520.
VILLAGES OF JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
Lena and Mansfield are the only two villages within this township. The older of these is Mansfield. The log cabin of Mr. Kelsey must have been the beginning of what was then literally and truly a "man's-field," although in a very wild state. No finer mill-site was to be found anywhere in the country than at this point. The bed of the Big Raccoon creek is here a solid rock, affording an indestructible foundation for both a dam and a mill. A mill was constructed here about 1820, at least it must have been within a year or so either way from that date. Thomas Woolverton, who purchased land in Union township in 1820, helped to raise this mill, and he departed that year for Virginia, where he remained five years, then found the mill in operation upon his return. So few white men were present in the neighbor- hood that Indians were pressed into assisting in the "raising" of this mill. It was thirty feet square. Grists came here from a long distance. It was owned by several persons, including Kelsey & Dickson, Judge S. Gookins, of Terre Haute, and Gen. G. K. Steele, later falling into the hands of Jacob Rohm. It was torn down and. another built on the old site in 1880.
Mr. Gookins laid out the village of Mansfield. A postoffice was estab- lished in 1825, the postmaster being Mr. Dickson and the mail came from Terre Haute. In 1829, G. K. Steele opened a store here; he became owner of the mill property in 1838, continuing in both store and mill until 1846. The first physicians here were Drs. Noffringer and Britts; then came Drs. Dailey and Farrow. The churches and schools of the village and township are treated under separate headings in other chapters.
In the history of Mansfield, the ladies of the village and county around performed one deed that should live in history. Prior to the war, and dur- ing that struggle, Mansfield was harboring slavery within her midst in the
190
PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
form of intemperance. Rising in their majesty, they made open war upon the traffic, and with their own efforts rolled barrels of liquor into the streets and spilled the contents. Mrs. Samuel Johnston was one of the leaders in this whisky insurrection. The ladies were victorious, and Mansfield drew full inspirations of pure air. Later, another saloon was started in a building standing on the bank of the creek. One night some citizens hitched oxen to it and drew it over into the creek, whose waters did the rest! This wound up liquor selling, even in drug stores, for many a year.
VILLAGE OF LENA.
Lena, in the southeastern portion of Jackson township, was platted on section 35, in township 14, range 6, by Robert King in 1870. It sprung up as a station point along the Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad, and soon be- came a good shipping point for the immense quantities of lumber and staves cut from the surrounding forests. Adjoining the place on the south is Marys- ville, in Clay county, but both are now really one town. J. B. Cochran, sand- wiched between the two places, is credited as having been the oldest resident in either place. He was the first merchant and postmaster, also first railroad agent and express agent. The first blacksmith was Thornton Wilson; Will- iam Girton the first shoemaker; Hasty & Sons were the first millers. Lena today has a population of about three hundred, and is a lively local trading point in the county. Dr. J. H. Rauch, of Chicago, a wealthy landowner and coal operator, passed several years at Lena, erected many buildings, improved the streets, graded roads, made brick, mined coal, and in many other ways was a promoter of the public good of the new village. A Masonic lodge was formed there in 1874.
While Jackson township had many disadvantages at an early day, and was accounted rather slow-growing for many decades, it has finally come to rank among the sister sub-divisions of Parke county, as being almost equal in prosperity to any other.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.