History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 111

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships > Part 111

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).

When Stephen Harris came, in 1831, some of the settlers were as follows: Benjamin Cox, Joshna Cox, Isaiah Cox, Simon Cox; Thomas Ward, an old man, grandfather of the present Thomas Ward; Joseph Moffitt, son-in-law of Thomas Ward; Thomas Pierce, brother of Burgett Pierce, still living near Deer- field; John Cox; John Coats, an old man, father of Joseph Coats, late of Union City, Ind .; William Coffin, an old man; Joel Ward, brother of Joab Ward; Zachariah Hiatt, Jonathan Hiatt. These all lived east of Winchester. John Walker and Harrison Rawson had been old settlers, but they went with the Mormons.

Jonathan Hiatt, father of George Hiatt, who lives on the pike east of Winchester, was born in North Carolina about 1770; mar- ried Rachel Williams in North Carolina; moved to Virginia be- fore 1805; camo to Champaign County, Ohio, in 1810, with right children, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1818, with ten children, and two were born in Randolph, making twelve in all. All grew up and were married, but only two are now alive.

He was a farmer, and he settled near White River Meeting- House, east of Winchester, in March, 1818, entoring half a sec- tion of land; he died in 1836, sixty-six years old, and his wife in 1871, aged eighty-one years, in Wabash County; he was a Friend, a Whig and a strong Anti-slavery man; an active tem- perance man, a good scholar and an estimable citizen, with good reputation and highly respected.

His children were John, had eight childrn, died in Montgom- ery County, Ind .; Silas, had nine children, died in Wabash County, Ind .; Josiah, six children, died in Grant County, Ind ;

Jonathan, twelve children, died in Jay County, Ind .; George, nine children, living near Winchester, Ind .; Nathan, six chil- dren, living at Pern, Ind .; Martin, fivo children, died in Iowa; Richard, seven children, died in White River, Ind .; Lydia (Harris), eight children, died in Wayne County, Ind .; Mary (Cox), seven children, died at Lynn, Ind .; Rachel (McDonald), four children, died west of Winchester; Sarah (Coats), four children, died in White River.

J. H. has had eighty-four grandchildren; he was the second settler in the White River settlement, east of Winchester, Ben- jamin Cox being the first. John Cox came next, about 1820, and there were no others till that time. Mr. Hiatt lived in a camp at first, but before very long built a hewed log house of only one story. There were but seven or eight hands, and the work took them two or three days.

Henry D. Huffman, White River, was born in 1803 in Vir- ginia; came to Ohio and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1820; he married Eliza A. McNees, in 1831, and Mary J. West in 1866; he had thirteen children; was a farmer and teacher, and entered 160 acres of land just east of the Twelve-Mile boundary; he was prominent as a teacher in that early time, having had many of the children of the pioneers under his tuition. At one of the Old Settlers' re-unions, held at Winchester some years ago, when he was about seventy years old, a class was formed by him from among the members of the association, his old "school boys," and had a " spelling bout," which excited much interest and con- siderable merriment. Mr. H. died in 1876 in his seventy-third year.

Barnabas Hunt, White River, was born in North Carolina in 1798; came to Ohio in 1804. While there, his father had his property taken because he would not join the army in 1812. They came to Wayne County, Ind., in 1816. Barnabas married Hannah Lewis, daughter of Evan Lewis, in 1817; his wife was born in 1802: they moved to Farmland (three miles south of it) in 1847. He had three children. By occupation, he was a farmer; as to religion, a Friend; in politics, a Whig, an Anti- slavery man and a Republican. He died in 1874, being sev- enty-five years two months and twenty days old.

Thomas Johnson, White River, born in Franklin County, Va., in, 1792; married Mary Matthews; came to West River, three miles north of Huntsville, in 1833; entered eighty acres. White River, 1836; exchanged his eighty acres for 240 acres; moved to Kansas in 1867, died in 1872; had ten children, seven living; was a farmer; first a Democrat, then Free-Soiler and Republican; was a Methodist Episcopal for nearly sixty years: his wife died a year before him.

George Johnson, born in Virginia in 1818; came to Ran- dolph County in 1833; married Charlotte Cook, 1845; no chil- dren; moved to Winchester in 1873; farmer till 1873; since that money-lender and gardener; Democrat; was a member of the Town Council two years.

Endsley Jones, White River, born in North Carolina in 1810; camo to Wayne County, Ind., in 1816, and to Dunkirk, Randolph County, in 1831; married Lydia Wright, daughter of (Hominy) John Wright and sister of Solomon Wright (Cabin Creek) in 1837; has had four children, three living and married; bought forty acres of second-hand land; has owned three forties; was brought up a Friend. but joined the "New Lights" fifteen years ago; was an Abolitionist, and is a Republican; was an ac- tive stockholder in the Underground Railroad; once had a nar- row escape from being murdered by a slave-holder in search of slaves; is a hale, sprightly old man and a respected citizen.

Mrs. Endsley Jones-Lydia (Wright) Jones was the daugh- ter of John (Hominy) Wright, and sister of Solomon Wright, now living on Cabin Creek. She was the youngest but ono of fifteen children. Her father brought eight children with him to this county; fonr had come before, two married and two unmarried. Lydia was born October 5, 1817, three weeks after her father got here, September. 1817. Her father was born in 1775, and died in 1851, aged seventy-six years. Her mother was born in 1777, and died in 1867, ninety years old, being strong in mind and memory as long as she lived. Eight of the fifteen children are living still (1880). One is in

337

WHITE RIVER TOWNSHIP.

Oregon, one in Iowa, two in Minnesota, one in Kansas, three in Indiana. Her father entered 160 acres of land

Nathaniel Kemp, born in Frederick County, Md., in 1813; came to Montgomery County, Ohio (near Germantown, Ohio), in 1824; married Margaret Byles, in 1835; came to White River, Randolph County (Kemp place) in 1841; bought 200 acres; has owned 690 acres, but it is now distributed among the children or otherwise disposed of. He has had seven children, all living and all married, as follows: One daughter in Chicago, husband a merchant; one daughter in Kansas, husband a farmer; one son in Winchester, dry goods; one daughter in Winchester. widow; one daughter in Winchester, husband owns block on the south- west corner, opposite Reinheimer's; one son west of homestead, farmer; one son east of homestead, farmer.

N. K. has been an extensive farmer, stock-dealer and busi- ness man. In his prime, he was very prominent and widely and favorably known. He was Commissioner of the county six years; Sinking Fund Commissioner eight years, etc. In the latter capacity, he traveled extensively over the State, looking after forfeited land. The business of the fund was finally closed by the State's taking it, and paying the interest to the school fund. The amount transferred to the State at the closing up was abont $500,000. Much land had been mortgaged to the fund, forfeited and sold, and much of the land mortgaged to the fund proved to be worthless.

Gov. Willard borrowed $7,000, and 1,200 acres of land were forfeited and sold. Jesse D. Bright also had borrowed a large amount, and the fund mostly lost it

Mr. Kemp is now in feeble health, and is no longer affluent; his first wife died, and his second marriage was ill-advised and unfortunate, and a divorce was obtained; his property has been scattered, and he now finds himself in his old age a poor man.

In his prosperity, he was energetic for the public good, and Randolph County will long have reason to remember Mr. Kemp as an enterprising, public-spirited citizen; he was a Whig, and has been and is a Republican.

Isaiah W. Kemp, White River, was born in 1839 in Mont- gomery County, Ohio; came to Randolph County in 1841; mar ried Molly Wysong, and afterward, Ellen Hippenheimer, in 1875. He has but one child; is a farmer; owns 147 acres, and has lately built a beautiful residence, at a cost of $3,000 or more.

Mr. K. enlisted in Company H, Eighty-fourth Regiment; was appointed First Sergeant, promoted First Lieutenant and minstered out First Sergeant with the regiment. Mr. K. is an active, thoroughgoing farmer and business man, and stands high among his fellow-citizens.

William Kennedy, White River, was born about 1797, and mar- ried Nancy Tharpe, in 1814; they had no children of their own, but raised, partly or wholly, fourteen children; they came to Wayne County, Ind., in 1816, and to Randolph in the spring of 1817; stayed there nine years and returned to Carolina in 1826, coming back to Randolph before long.

W. K. broke his thigh in his old age, and died from the effects of the wound in 1876, aged seventy-nine years. Mrs. Kennedy is very feeble (1880), being eighty-three years old. (She died in the spring of 1881.) They were active, warm-hearted Methodists, and their house was long a preaching place, and the "circuit rider's home."

Mr. Kennedy was a man of good judgment and sound dis- cretion, and much respected as a citizen: he served at least one term as County Commissioner The worthy couple used in early days to ride horseback to Ritenour's, on Mississinewa, west of Deerfield, to attend class and cirenit preaching.

NOTE 1 .- Some think that William Kennedy came in 1815, which date will agree better with some statements made by Mrs Kennedy, although she gave the date 1817.

NOTE 2. - The tombstone gives his age seventy-seven years five months and seventeen days, which would make him born in 1798, and, according to her date. only sixteen years of age at their marriage. Her date of his birth is 1796, which would make him only eighteen at marriage, and seventy-nine or eighty at

death. We cannot reconcile these datos nor tell which of them are accurate. They lie buried side by side in Mt. Zion Ceme- tery, near the place of their former residence.

Reminiscences-Nancy Tharpe Kennedy. "My husband went to Cincinnati to enter land (160 acres), and I had to stay here in the woods, all alone, miles and miles away from any white peo- ple, being only a girl of seventeen years. My husband was an orphan boy, but God kept his promise. The Indians were very thick in the vicinity. They were constantly passing to and fro. The principal trail was three-fourths of a mile south of us. I used to be afraid, for I was just a girl seventeen years old, and they were painted all up like fury. They were very kind, how- ever, and we were kind to them. We would give them bread and meat, and they would be satisfied. One day one of the In- dians asked my husband " What is your name?" "Kennedy," "Well, Kennedy, No Indian ever kill you-you kind to Indian." I have seen great numbers of Indians. Sometimes squaws would ride along on their nice ponies. Squaws would never walk. I have known twenty or thirty Indians to pass at one time. There was one Indian who often stayed with us; he was very kind and civil. I never saw an Indian drunk in my life. Some of the Indians were white and fair.

" Charles Conway and John Wright lived near Winchester, thongh the towa was not then laid out."

Elisha Martin, White River, was born in 1812 in Butler County, Ohio; married Susan Kelly, in Cincinnati, in 1831; came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1832; settled first on Salt Creek, and in two years came to his present home, southwest of Winchester, forty-eight years ago. They have had nineteen children, twelve of whom are now living and married.

The children are as follows: Oliver, 1832, six children, Jay County, Ind., tile-maker; Mary, 1834, died at thirteen months; John K., 1837, five children, brick and tile-maker; David, 1837, dead; Amy, 1839, eight children, White River; William, 1841, four children, Winchester Bank; Abby, 1843 (Macy-Ruble), three children, White River; Phebe (King), 1845, four children, Missouri; F'rances, 1847, died at twelve days; Elisha, 1848, three children, Winchester, tile-maker; Susan (Ashville), 1819, three children, White River; Mary K., 1850, three children, lives at home; Catharine, 1852, died at eight days; Asahel, 1855, Jay County, tile-maker: Daniel, 1857, one child, White River. farmer; Charlotte, 1859 (Spangler), four children. There were three others, names not given.

Mr. M. was a brick-molder in his early life, and has worked partly at that and also as a farmer; his wife and himself are hearty and sprightly; he was very strong and active in his youth, and retains his vigor and agility, notwithstanding old age is creeping surely on.

John Martin, father of Mrs. Mary A. Reeder, Winchester, was born in Allegheny County, Penn., in 1773; he came to War- ren County, Ohio, before 1794; was a soldier in the United States Army in the Western Indian wars, being with St. Clair and Gen. Wayne in 1794 and 1795, and with Gen. Harrison at Tippecanoe and the Thames, in 1811 and 1813, and with Col. Croghan, at Fort Stephenson; he came to Randolph County. Ind., in 1822. settling one and a half miles southwest of Win- chester on White River; he entered eighty acres (see entry list): he was a great hinter, a regular pioneer, and, when settlements became too thick, he left and went to Missouri (1833); he died in that State in 1839. He was an enthusiastic admirer and snp. porter of Gen. Jackson He married Sarah Updegraff, in 1796, and was the father of five children.

Robison McIntyre, White River, was a native of Pennsylva- nia, born in 1786. He removed to Butler County, Ohio, in 1807. and came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1819. In 1813, he mar- ried Mary Taylor, who was born in 1787. They had eight chil- dren, seven grown and married, five living now. He came to Maxville in 1825, and laid out the town in 1832, which, however, was recorded in 1850. He was raised a Presbyterian, but in the West he joined the Methodists. He was an active and prominent man in the community. He died in 1871, in his eighty-sixth year, and lies buried in the Maxville Cemetery. His wife died in 1854, aged seventy-two years.

338

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

Hiram Mendenhall, Unionsport, born in North Carolina in 1801, moved to Clinton County, Ohio, in 1806, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1837. He married Martha Hale in 1820, and they had ten children, seven of whow are now living. He went to California in 1850, and died June 30, 1852, while on the way home from the Golden Land beneath the setting sun. He was a millwright and a miller. He built two mills, and his brother, Nathan Mendenhall, built one also, where one of Hiram's mills had burnt down. The whole family were ingenious, and seemed to be machinists by nature. Hiram Mendenhall always had two shops, a wood shop and a smith shop, and did his own repairing. He was led away by speculative notions at one time, and was persuaded to start a " community " at Unionsport, between 1842 and 1846. Eight or ten families joined in the movement. It continued only two or three years, ending disastrously to the parties engaged, especially to Hiram Mendenhall, who bore much, perhaps most, of the expense of the experiment. Ho was a strong and earnest Aholitionist, being the one who was selected to present the famous petition to Henry Clay at Richmond, Ind., asking him to emancipate his slaves. The design had been to make the request in a quiet, unobtrusive manner; but, when asked when he would receive the petition, Mr. Clay told them to present it in public. They did so, and he employed the occasion to make what seemed to the Anti-slavery men present a cruel and canseless attack upon Mr. Mendenhall and the opinions he represented, though, doubtless, the pro-slavery partisans regarded Mr. Clay's address to Mr. Mendenhall as only a richly meritod and well executed castigation for what they called his ill-timed impertinence. But nearly forty years have fled and joined the ages before the flood. and Henry Clay and Mr. Mendenhall were summoned on the self same day by the Judge of the living and the dead, before His dread tribunal, to give an account of their stewardship, and now there is at length, after so long a time, " no slave-hunt in our borders, no slave upon our land." The Abolitionists, and Mr. Mendenhall as their spokesman, were ex- tensively condemned for their supposed impudence in making their presentation in public; whereas that was Mr. Clay's own work, and intended, doubtless, to enable him to make a more se- vore attack upon Mr. Mendenhall and the Abolitionists in gon- eral. Hiram Mendenhall was at one time an extensive land- owner, being possessed of more than one thousand acres of real estate in Randolph County. The unfortunate, though brief, so- cialistic experiment greatly weakened his financial ability, and he went to the land of gold to renew his waning fortunes; but death claimed him for its own, and what availed gold, or houses, or lands? Afar from the spot of his nativity and the home of his manhood, on board ship in the Gulf of Mexico, Hiram Men - denhall took the last look upon the scenes of earth, and plunged alone into the great unseen! His wife long survived him, dy- ing. still a widow, Angust 5, 1880, aged seventy-nine years one month and twenty-four days, having outlived her unfortunate husband more than twenty-two years. His sons who are living -Joseph, Amos, Nathan, Jacob, Samuel and James -excepting Nathan, now reside at Unionsport. They mostly incline to what is known as Spiritualism. Henry Clay and Hiram Mendenhall died on the same day-June 30, 1852 -- the one at his home at Ashland, Ky., the other among strangers, on board a homeward bound slup, in the Gulf of Mexico, falling a victim to the dreadful chol- era on his journey to his home and his friends. It pleased the hanghty politician, in the day of his power, to browbent the de- spised Abolitionist in the time when the name was a by-word and a reproach; but the stern logie of fact has vindicated the ob- scure petitioner and removed the obloquy from his name, and proved that, though negro property had been sanctioned and sanctified by two hundred years of legislation, yet it could not stand the test of reason and truth, and was obliged to succumb to fato. The author of this biography was shown a bundle of letters writ- ten by Hiram Mendenhall on his journey to California (in an overland trip), and after his arrival there. They possess great interest, showing a most tender, sweet and loving Christian spirit, but are too long for insertion here. As has been stated, he died of cholera on board a steamer on his homeward voyage. in the Gulf of Mexico, near Key West, on the coast of Florida. Sixty had

died already on the vessel of the dread malady. The ship tried to land at Key West, but the privilege was denied them, cannon being pointed at them with the threat (Oh, cruel threat!) that the ship should be fired into if the attempt to land there were not abandoned. The ship's company did land upon a barren island, but they could not endure the heat, and returned to the vessel. He died June 30, 1852, said to be the same day on which Henry Clay expired. A son who was with him on the ship at his death survived, and is thought to be living still. The letters men- tioned above are preserved and cherished with peculiar affection by his sister, Mrs. Hannah (Mendenhall) Diggs, mother of M1 4. Isaiah P. Watts, aud residing with her son-in-law at the present time.

Nathan Mendenhall, father of Mrs. Hannah (Mendenhall) Diggs (wife of Littleberry C. Diggs), as also of Hiram Men- denhall, and the son of Stephen and Elizabeth Mendenhall, w: s born February 10, 1774. Ann Harlan, who became his wice was born October 10, 1773. Their children were as follow :::

Edith (Cowgill), born July 25, 1799, living.

Hiram, born February 20, 1801, died 1852.

Olive (Hadley), born July 11, 1803, died 1840.

Maris (Hartman), born January 9, 1805, died 1872. Elizabeth (Ruble), born December 7, 1806, died 1874.

Nathan, born April 18, 1809, died 1861.

Hannah (Diggs), born June 15, 1811, living.

Rebecca (Lewis), born October 11, 1813, living in Oregon.

Mr. Lewis and family emigrated to California in 1850, re- moved to Oregon in 1864, returned to Indiana on a visit in 1865, and still resides in Oregon. Mr. Lewis is transacting business for a railroad company in that distant State.

Morgan Mills, White River, born in Ohio in 1794, married Re- becca Driver, sister of Jacob and James Driver, in 1812. They emigrated to White River in 1821, two years after Mr. Sample came here.

Mr. Mills settled at first near Sampletown, but, so soon as the lands across the boundary were put into market, Mr. Mills, with hundreds of others, crossed the boundary into the new pur- chase, in 1823 He had twelve children, eight grown, six now liv- ing. He was a farmer and a Republican. He belonged to the Christian (New Light) Church sixty-four years. Falling from the platform of a railroad train at Farmland, and bursting his skull in the fall, he died of the injury six weeks afterward. His death took place April 3, 1878, aged eighty-four years four months and five days. His wife, Robocca Mills. died in 1872, aged seventy-seven years seven months and sixteen days.

The Pucketts, White River. There were eight brothers of the Puckett family, and seven of them were Quaker preachers. all except Joseph. Their names were as follows: Joseph, Isom, Thomas, Zachary, Daniel, Benjamin, Richard, James,

The five first mentioned emigrated to Indiana, the first four coming to Randolph County, and Daniel settling in Wayne County. Fountain City. They are all dead many years ago. Joseph and Isom came in 1819, and Thomas and Zachary in 1820.

Joseph Puckett was born in 1784, in North Carolina. He married Mary Garrett. They came to Clinton County, Ohio, in 1817, and, two years afterward, to White River, Randolph Co., Ind. He entered land after they came. An interesting incident occurred in connection with the entry of his land, showing that officials are friendly and accommodating in some cases, at any rate. He went on foot to Cincinnati, and, when he got there, he found that the quarter-section of his choice overran so much that he lacked $10 or $15 of having money enough to make the entry. There he was, a poor stranger, on foot, alone in Cincinnati, knowing not a single person in that city, and utterly at a loss what to do. The clerk who was doing business in the Receiver's office, learning his dilemma, said to him, " You need not go back without your land; I will lend you the money myself; " and he did, and Mr. Puckett got the certificate for his land, and went on his homeward way rejoicing. Of course he sent the money in payment of the loan as soon as he could raise it, which, however, was not a very easy task.

Mr. Puckett had ten children-eight boys and two girls.

339

WHITE RIVER TOWNSHIP.

All of them lived to be grown and married. Only six of the ten, however, are living now. The children were these:

Tyre T., lives at Dunkirk, Randolph County; has had five children.

Welcome G., married, but has no children.

Benjamin, botanic physician, lived at Winchester, had five children, and died some years ago.

Micajah, had three children and is dead.

Sylvania (Remmel), has four children.

Levi, had six children, and he is dead.

Francis, four children, is dead.

Joseph, resides in Winchester, has one child. Phebe Ann (Hiatt), has two children.

Thomas, resides in Iowa, has six children.

The Pucketts were all Friends, and those that lived to the time of the "Separation " went with the Anti-slavery Friends. They were originally Whigs, and became Republicans.

The Pucketts came first to Ohio, but preferred Congress title to military title, and came on to Randolph. They settled near Dunkirk, entering 160 acres apiece, paying each $80 down.

Isom Puckett was one of ten children. His mother's father was Daniel Taylor, who died at one hundred and five years old.

The names of the family to which Isom Puckett belonged were these:

Richard, Benjamin, Isom, Betty, Anna, Zachariah, Thomas. Joseph and James. All are dead.

Isom was born in 1772; had ten children, and died in 1856. Thomas had eleven children.

Zachary had ten children.

Joseph had ten children.

Daniel had several children.

The Puckett brothers, four of whom settled in Randolph County, entered land in White River as stated below:

Daniel Puckett, northwest quarter of Section 25, Township 20, Range 13, October 26, 1818.

Thomas Puckett, northeast quarter of Section 26, Township

20, Range 13, October 26, 1818.

Joseph Puckett, southwest quarter of Section 34. Township

20, Range 13, January 18, 1819.

Zachary Puckett, north half of Section 3, Township 19, Range 13, April 7, 1819.

Isom Puckett, west half of the northeast quarter of Seetion

34, Township 20, Range 13, November 20, 1820.

Benjamin Puckett, northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 35, Township 20, Range 13, June 18, 1824.

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.

History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 111

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman Number of Pages: 664

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664