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 174
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RESIDENCE OF E.C. CLOUGH, JACKSON TP. RANDOLPH CO. IND.
483
JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
entered by John Jones, near Delphns Warren's. Jesse Gray was a famous pioneer and hunter, noted through all this region, and for many years, thongh his precise location on the Mississinewa at his first coming (about 1820) is not pointed out. He entered land in 1833 on the Mississinowa, directly north of Allensville, though he must have lived somewhere in the region for ten or twelve years, and, about the time of the killing of Fleming, he moved from the county to the vicinity of Hill Grove, Darke Co., Ohio, and still again in later years to Adams County, Ind. A. settler by the name of Jacobs settled very early (in 1828) direct- ly north of Allensville, on the north side of the Mississinewa. He was an old man in 1848, and died some years later, about 1852.
The entries began quite early, the first two having been made in 1816, the next two in 1819 and the fifth in 1826. Whether these purchasers settled their land seems doubtful. Their names have not been heard among those of early pioneers of the region. The entries were as follows:
John Abercrombie, on both sides of the Mississinewa River, di- reetly south of Pittsburg, 1816; John Laverty, 1816, on the creek, abont a mile nearly north of New Middletown; John C. Dunham, 1819, two separate quarter sections lying on both sides of the Mississinewa, two and one-half miles southeast of New Pitis- burg; Abraham Royer, one and a half miles southeast of New Lisbon, between the Little Mississinewa and the Ohio line.
William Simmons canie abont 1828 down the Mississinewa from James Porter's, Simmons being in Ward Township, Allen Wall came in 1817, but he was in Ward Township. George Porter came in 1829, Messrs. Keys, Hodge, Manns and Fields lived southwest of Porter's in 1829, probably in Ward Township. James Porter settled in the same year (1829). Amos Smith came to New Lisbon in 1830. Eli Noffsinger settled near there the same year. Andrew Debolt came to Mt. Holly the next year. James Reeves and James Wickersham settled in 1832. Jacob Johnson came in 1833, Thomas Devore in 1831, Jasper Jacobs in 1832, Jesse Beach in 1833. John Hoke and Thomas Wiley came in 1836. John Hoke lives there still; Mr. Wiley moved to Union City and died there. [ Mr. Hoke died during the summer of 1881.] Others had come in, though just when is not now known, viz., David Vance, Isaiah Cox, William Cox, near New Lisbon; Seth Macy, one and one-half miles west of Jacob Johnson's; John Skinner and James Skinner, one mile west of New Lisbon; James Warren, one-half mile south of New Middle. town; John Warren, three miles west of New Middletown; William Warren at New Middletown. John Sheets had settled far south. near Union City, and possibly others. This ac- count is doubtless not full nor entirely accurate, but it is nearly correct and as extensive as our information will permit.
The fourth entry in the township was by Abram Royer, W. S. E. 13, 18, 1, 80 aeres, August 10, 1826, being land now own- ed by J. Noffsinger. He probably did not occupy it, as we have never heard his name mentioned as a settler. The fifty entry was by John Jones, W. N. W. 21, 21, 15, 80 acres, August 27, 1830, sontliwest of Dolphus Warren's, and now owned by him. The next entry was by James Simmons, W. 1 N. E. 20. 21. 15, a lit- tle west of the second entry. Simmons married, and settled in 1834. The entries up to April 12, 1837 appear by the record to have been as follows:
ENTRIES.
John Abercrombie, S. W. 7. 21. 15, October 16, 1816; John Laverty, W. S. W. 20, 21, 15, December 27. 1816; John C. Dunham, N. E. 8, 21, 15, August 18, 1819; Jolm C. Dunham, S. E. 8, 21, 15, August 18, 1819; Abraham Royer, W. S. E. 13. 18, 1, August 10, 1826; John Jones, W. N. W. 21, 21, 15, August 27. 1830; James Simmons, W. N. E. 20, 21, 15, May 10, 1831; Eli Noftsinger, W. S. W. 13. 18, 1, September 21, 1831; Jasper Ja- cobs, W. N. W. 10, 21, 15, March 5, 1832; Jacob Johnson. W. N. E. 33, 21, 15, March 2, 1833; Jesse Gray, S. E. N. E. 9. 21. 15, September 5, 1833; James. Porter, S. W. S. W. 6. 21, 15, October 29, 1833; Jesse Beach, N. E. N. E. 4, 21. 15, January 1. 1834; Jesse Beach, S. W. S. W. 3, 21, 15, Jannary 1, 1834: Thomas Devor, S. E. S. E. 4, 21, 15, . January 1, 1834; Martin Fields, S. W. N. W. 7, 21, 15, Jannary 10, 1834; William War- ren, N. W. N. W. 28, 21, 15, February 3, 1834; John Thompson,
N. E. S. E. 4, 21, 15, February 1 1. 1834: Thomas Alexander, N. N. W. 19, 21, 15, February 25, 1834: Jolm Skinuer, S. W. S. E. 22. 21, 15, March 13, 1834: Thomas Wiley, W. ! S. W. 12, 18. 1. March 15, 1834; John Thomson, S. W. S. W. 3, 21, 15, March 17, 1834; Amos Smith, N. S. E. 27, 21, 15, May 1. 1834; William Warren, N. W. S. E. 30, 21. 15. September 18. 1834: Henry Chandler, S. N. E. 4, 21, 15. October 17, 1834; James Reeves, S. W. N. E. 22, 21. 15, November 3, 1834: Benjamin Debolt, S. W. fractional 27, 21, 15. Jannary 13, 1835; Joseph Harshman, N. N. W. 29. 21, 15, February 23, 1835: John John- son, E. N. W. 28, 21, 15, March 17. 1835; Abram Noftsinger. W. S. E. 15, 21, 15, April 18. 1835; James Wickersham, S. W. N. W. 13. 18, 1. July 29, 1835; Thomas Wiley, Section 11, 18. 1, September 9, 1835; Thomas Wiley, S. E. S. W. 12, 18, 1, Sep- tember 9, 1835; Thomas Devore, N. E. N. E. 9, 21, 15, October 7, 1835, James Reaves. S. E. N. W. 22, 21, 15, August 30, 1836; George Debolt, W. N. W. 22, 21, 15, October 24. 1536; Joshua Harlan, E. S. E. 1, 18. 1. January 26, 1837; Henry Smith, N. W. 1, 18, 1, April 12, 1837.
The first settlers were inclined rather to hunt than to clear, but some moved away and others came in, and solid and permanent improvement began. Many, perhaps most, of the first comers were poor, some without oven money to purchase land. Mr. Porter (James) says that he entered 120 acres forty acres at a time, walking mostly to Cincinnati and back, making each separate entry.
Mrs. Ruby, widow of Thomas Wiley, relates as an unusual thing that her husband hired a hewed log house, built before they moved there. Times were "rough" there for many years. There were no mills worth naming and the settlers had to go to Green- ville, Stillwater, Richmond, Ridgeville, etc.
The first school in Mr. Porter's neighborhood was taught by George Porter's wife about 1836. The people used to go to meet. ing to the Prospect Meeting-House neighborhood. The first meeting Mr. Porter's folks attended was at Riley Marshall's. near Prospect. Marshall's was the preaching place. and it was hell on a week day. Mrs. Porter used to take her baby and walk to meeting-three miles. The first school near Allensville was taught by Mrs. Beach at home. There may have been seven or eight pupils-a mere handful.
The first sermon was preached at Mr. Beach's by a Baptist preacher. The first mill was a corn cracker. Jacob Johnson built one afterward, which he said cost him $1.50. The stones were common gray heads dressed down. It wonkl grind five or six bushels in twenty-four hours by running day and night. Mr. Skinner afterward built a pretty good mill for wheat and corn. Mr. Hinchy also built one with a saw-mill. The saw-mill is there yet. The grist ihill at Allensville was built by Hinchy and some one else. It was sold to Bowersox & Achenbach; then to Shreeve, and Widow Shreeve owns it now. It has a very good reputation, and turns off reliable work.
The first organized religious society is supposed to have been the Disciples Church, New Lisbon, in 1839, and the first church erected to have been by them near New Lisbon in 1811. Many of the early settlers were church-going people. Smith, Wiley, Reeves, Mangus, Wickensham, Debolt, etc., were Disciples. Beach, Chandler and others near Allensville were Baptists.
It would seem from the above that in Jackson Township up to April 12. 1837, not quite four sections or about one thousand one hundred and forty acres of land had been entered, by about thirty-one persons, 110 entry being above 160 acres, and nearly all eighties or forlies. The great rush of settlement came in 1837 and 1838. The entries in Jackson Township were made by men of very moderate pecuniary ability. Economy and thrift have, however, become the means of furnishing to many in the township comfortable and even luxurious homes, and a consider- able number have acquired wealth. The body of the population remain, however, even as of old, and, from the beginning. indns- trions, sturdy. simple-hearted, independent farmers of moderate means and frugal habits.
ROADS.
Two chief roads were opened at an early day through the township, one being the route from Greenville, near Union City,
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484
HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.
via Deerfield, Ridgeville and Fairview into Delaware Connty. Though never a great route of travel like the Greenville, Win- chester & Muncie road, yet in former days it took a considerable amount of business. The other is the old State road from Union City to Portland, Jay Co. It was at first a diagonal road, ex- tending nearly in a straight line. That part of this road that lay in Randolph County has been nearly or quite all vacated. The part in Jay County mostly remains in use. Jackson has uo railroad and no railroad point at hand, Union City, Recovery, Portland and Winchester all being at a distance, Union City, however, being the nearest, and at that point most of the trade of that region is handled.
The Portland & Union Railroad, projected many years ago, was graded through Jackson Township, and New Pittsburg was laid out for a center of trade, but the railroad was not complet- ed; the track was never made, and the road is simply a useless bank of earth, and Jackson Township and New Pittsburg as well is ont in. the cold.
At the present writing (November, 1881), a project is on foot to build a road from Bluffton to Union City, and the route con- templated is to follow the old road bed from Union to Antioch; thence across not far from Collett, and so to another road bed, which was once made from Camden to Bluffton, thus securing the advantage of those old tracks and also giving an outlet to Camden, Jay County, that "spunky" little town hitherto left out by every road thus far built through that region. This would be the first railroad to pass through Jackson Township, and would revive such embryo towns as Pittsburg, at the Jay and Randolph line, and Boundary and Antioch, in Jay County, and enable Camden to grow and to increase the vitality which she has stubbornly maintained from her first establishment even to the present hour, in spite of fate and the railroads.
Jackson is the extreme northeast township of the county, and its boundaries are as follows: On the north by Jay County, on the east by Ohio, on the south by Wayne Township, on the west by Ward Township. Politically, Jackson Township is over- whelmingly Democratic. Originally it is said to have been al- most wholly so, in so much that a story is told that at one time one Whig voted alone in Jackson Township. This can hardly be true, yet the time has been when the non-Democratic voters in Jackson Township were "mity skase" indeed. The Republican strength is said to be steadily growing there, but they are still in a large and for the present hopeless minority.
ENTRIES BY SECTIONS.
Township 21, Range 15-Sections 2, 5, 32, 31. 1836-1837; Sections 3, 4, 22, 1831-1836, Jesse Beach. Thomas Devoro, James Reeves, Adam Simmons; Section 6, 1833-1837, James Porter, October 29, 1833; Sections 7, 20, 1816-1837, John Abercrombie, John Larenty; Section 8, 1819-1836, John C. Dunham, Angust 18, 1819; Section 9, 1833-1836, Jesse Gray, September 5, 1833; Section 10, 1832-1836. Jasper Jacobs. March 5, 1832: Sections 11, 14. 23, 1837: Section 15, 1835-1837; Section 16, school land; Spetions 17. 18, 1836-1839; Section 19, 1834-1939; Section 21. 1830-1837, John Jones, August 27, 1930; S-ctions 28. 30, 1931- 1837. William Warren, February 3. 1834; Section 20, 1835- 1838. Joseph Harshman; Section 31, 1836; Section 33, 1833- 1937. Jacob Johnson, March 2, 1833.
Township 18, Rango 1 west-Sections 1, 14. 1837; Section 11, 1835; Section 12, 1834, Thomas Wiley, Jr., March 15, -1531; Section 13. 1831-1837, Eli Noffsinger, Sept .. 21, 1831.
Township 19, Range 1 west-Sections 24, 25, 1837; Section 36, 1837-1538. The entries were made from 1516 to 1839, in- elusive The first was made in 7, 21, 15, and the last in 9, 21, 15.
TOWNS.
Allensrille-Location, Section 9, 21. 15, Trowbridge Allen, propriotor. A. D. Way, surveyor: twenty lot4, situated on the Union & North Salem Pike, a little south of the Mississinowa River; recorded November 13. 1847. Streets-north and south, Race: east and west, Water, Walnut, Vine.
The town is dead, though not absolutely extinct. Jonathan Lambert first built a log cabin and put in a store there in abont
1844 or 1845. The town was platted shortly afterward, and Lambert's store remained till perhaps 1856, and a Mr. Bowen succeeded him. Mr. Lambert took $1, 200 stock in the railroad from Union City to Portland, and of course lost it all. Mr. Shanks also had a store, and sold it to Abraham Lambert, and afterward Ziba Davis bought him out. Ziba Davis had a smith shop from the beginning, and brought up his sons to the business, and most of them follow the vocation still, Ira and William re- siding at Saratoga, Royal H. at New Lisbon and Isaac at North Salem, Jay County,
Some of the early settlers in the neighborhood were Trow- bridge Allen, Ziba Davis, Cortlandt Lambert, Mr, Hoover, father of Isaac Hoover, Abraham and Jeremiah Lambert, etc.
Allensville was never much of a town. Mr. Handschey built the steam grist mill still standing at Allensville about 1850, af- ter having had for years a water mill on the Mississinewa, near the mouth of Little Mississinewa, built in 1840. That steam mill was sold to Bowersox, being owned afterward by Bowersox & Achenback. Mr. Shreev bought it of them, and his widow owns it still. It is a good mill, and does creditable and reliable work.
The "Quaker trace" passed through Jackson Township, past Mount Holly, Castle Post Office, near Allensville, crossing Mississinewa at the old ford, abont eighty rods east of the turn- pike bridge. The Salem & Union Pike passes through the town. Nothing has been there for many years except the old mill.
As to the towns of Jackson, not much can be said. Most of them are extinct or greatly dwindled. Allensville (Sockum) was never " any great shakes," and what life it hid "winked out." New Lisbon had a brave start, and might have done well, but Union City ent off its wind, and it had to succumb.
New Middletown is worse faded than the other two. An old meeting.house opens its doors and a new schoolhouse welcomes a noisy troop of country lads and lasses, but as to the rest the passer by sadly asks "Where?" and echo softly whispers, "Where?" Of Mount Holly. with name so sweet and redolent, no vestige is left. A house is there, but it is only a country farm house, and suggests uo thought of graveled streets and lighted palaces. As you pass the whilom town you behold an old farm house and an ancient barn; "only those and nothing more!"
New Pittsburg alone of all these interior towns-these places with high-sounding or enphonious names-retains a sem- blance of life. Though by no means so large and rich as old Pittsburg, where in days of auld lang syne the gay and courtly French erected Fort Duquesne, though not so glum as its black and sooty namesake at the head of the Ohio, neither is it so dirty and so grimy. Each town has simply done its best and its most, which, in truth, for these log house towns in the Ran- dolph woods has not been very much. Should, indeed, the Union & Bluffton Railroad succeed in being built and take New Pittsburgh in its track, some life might peradventure be evoked from its dry bones, but who can tell?
Castie Post Office, no town, Section 22, 21. 15; five miles northwest of Union City. The place is on the Salem Pike. There is ouly a toll gate office, a store, a post office and a dwell- ing. all in the same small building, and occupied by a single family. The location is on 22. 21. 15. Some importance attaches to the spot, since, except Pittsburg in the extreme north, Cas- tle is the only post office in Jackson Township. A considerable part of the north portion is supplied by Salem, on the county lino in Jay County. three miles east of Pittsburg, and the southern part looks to Union City for its connection with the great world, and not in vain, for Union City is a center indeed.
New Mittletown. - Henry Hinkle, proprietor; location, Sec- tion 30, Town 21, Range 15; recorded Jannary 7, 1851. The streets were: . North and south, Main, east and west. Main Cross (Deerfield road).
At first, Joshua Burton had a small store: Joseph had a smith shop; Samuel. Lady and William Warren have had stores at this place at different times; Amos Cothron at one time had a smith shop. Many years ago a meeting-house was built. The basinoss dono at Middletown was never large. The place may ba said to be extinct. The old church is still there; and a schoolhouse has been lately built, but the town itself is now only
485
JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
a name. There is a very small store. It stood upon the Green- ville & Deerfield State road, about five miles from Union City.
Almost all the towns in this region were originally christened as "New" something or other -- New Lisbon, New Pittsburg, New Middletown. They were indeed new then, but they are new no longer, and the affix " new " is mostly omitted, and their memory ie retained simply as Middletown, Lisbon and Pittsburg.
Mt. Holly .- George Debolt, proprietor; C. S. Goodrich, sur- veyor; location, Section 27, Town 21, Range 15, northwest of Union City; twenty eight lots; recorded May 23, 1840. The streets were: North and south, Main ;. east and west, Sycamore, Walnut and Cross. Town extinct.
Mt. Holly seems to have been ahead, as to time, of all the towns in that region. Their dates are as follows: Mt. Holly, 1840; Allensville, 1847; New Lisbon, 1848; New Middletown, 1851; New Pittsburg, 1856. Thus the town with the fragrant name had seven years the start of its earliest rival, and "So- kum" was so distant that she need have had no fear of her far- away neighbor. But old settlers insist upon it that Mt. Holly never had anything but one blacksmith shop. If so, so be it. It was saved the slow, tedious process of dying by inches or per- ishing by dull, stupid decay. Its proprietor had more exalted ideas of future greatness for his new town, since he made three cross streets, while most of the embryo cities at their first laying ont, were fully contented with one, and several had no " cross streets " at all. But all in vain; survey and record were alike for naught.
New Lisbon .-- Location, Section 12, Town 18, Range 1, near the boundary, north of Union City, on Little Mississinewa River. Thomas Wiley, proprietor; laid out in 1848; recorded January 19, 1850; fourteen lots. Streets: North and south, Main, Walnut; east and west, Elm. Polly's Addition, six lote (15 to 20), between the " Boundary " and the North and South road, John Polly, proprietor; recorded November 11, 1853. Dis- tances: Union City, three and one-half miles; Middletown, three and one-half miles; Saratoga, five and one-half miles; Winches- ter, thirteen miles; New Pittsburg, eight and one-half miles. The town was situated on Section 12, Town 18, Range 1, being laid out by Rev. Thomas Wiley in 1848 (recorded 1850), when Union City was all a wilderness. There were, at one time, and not very long after its commencement, two stores, two smith shops, one cabinet shop, one hotel, one saw-mill, one church and some twelve dwelling houses. The railroad and Union City killed the town. Some seven or eight dwellings remain. There is also a church near by. The business of the place is nearly extinct. A schoolhouse and a cemetery are also in the vicinity. The old church was taken away and a new one erected during the summer of 1881, a fine, large church, well suited for the pur- pose of worship and service, and quite tasteful in appearances. New Lisbon is three and a half miles north of Union City. It had a fine start, and but for the railroad would doubtless have made a creditable showing for business, but the fates decreed otherwise and New Lisbon has buildings still standing, enough to make quite a town, and the eight dwellings are all inhabited, but the only semblance of business is a smith shop, and the crowds on the Sabbath attending at the new meeting-house. The post office has been discontinued for fifteen or twenty years.
New Pittsburg .- Location, near Jay County line, upon the track of the Union City & Portland Railroad, Section 6, Town 21, Range 15, William McFarland, proprietor; recorded July 3, 1856; sixty-two lots. Streets: First street, north and south; Main, Elm, east and west.
New Pittsburg is on the route of a railroad projected and graded some twenty-five years ago from Union City to Portland, and at the line of Randolph and Jay Counties. The town is on Section 6, Town 21, Range 15. near the northwest corner of Jackson Township, and abont one mile north of the Mississinewa River. The railroad failed, and New Pittsburg has dragged along trying to prosper, but not able to do so. It was set on foot in 1854 (recorded in 1856) by William McFarland. At one time, say about 1864, considerable life was shown. There were then two stores, two smith shops, a wagon shop and some other things. The business has mostly left the place, and the town is
greatly decayed. There are now two small stores, a smith shop, a cooper shop, a wagon shop, one physician, one schoolhouse, a post office, two churches, some twenty dwellings (mostly poor and decayed) and perhaps one hundred people. A pike connects the town with Union City, a distance of twolve miles. The place would seem to be far enough from the railroad and from other places of trade, and so well connected with Union City by a substantial pike, that it might hold a fair share of business and maintain a moderate growth, but it appears not to do so.
The project of a railroad from Union City to Bluffton, to pass by New Pittsburg, Boundary, Antioch, Camden, etc., is now talked of. It would pass over two old grades, both in good con- dition. Should this proposal prove substantial, it would be the first road through Jackson Township, and would revive somewhat the towns named above, and perhaps enable Camden to secure a permanent growth, which is sincerely to be desired for all these places, since they have struggled so long and so gallantly against, adverse odds, and some of them have held a substantial prosperity in spite of many obstacles.
BIOGRAPHIES.
Hampton Adkins, grandfather of Mrs. Jacob Gittinger (late of Jackson Township), was born in Delaware about 1776. He ran away from home at the age of seventeen years, making his way into Virginia. He volunteered in the United States Army under Gen. Anthony Wayne, in 1793, coming to Fort Washing- ton (Cincinnati), marching with Wayne to Greenville and to Recovery, helping to gather the bones of St. Clair's men from that fatal field; helping, also, to crush the Indian power in the grand attack upon their forces on the Maumee in the fall of 1794.
Tarrying some years in Ohio, he returned to Delaware, and while there married Elizabeth Lowe. In 1806, they emigrated to Butler County. They had four children, two sons and two daughters, one danghter living. He was a farmer and a carpen- ter, removing finally to Darke County, Ohio, and dying in 1860, eighty-four years old. He was hearty and rugged and almost as sprightly as a young man, and might have reached a hundred years, but a cruel cancer attacked his jaw and ended his life in the extremity of mortal agony. He, too, belonged to the Dem- ocratic faith, and clung to his principles as the sheet anchor of safety for the country of his love.
George Adkins, father of Mrs. Jacob Gittinger (lato of Jack- son Township), was born in 1801 in the State of Delaware. His parents settled in Ohio in 1806, in Butler County. G. A. was twice married, his first wife being Jane Wilson and Mrs. Mar- garet (Gittinger) being their only child. His second wife was Mrs. Ramsey, and their children were five in number, four sons and one daughter, two or three of whom are living. Mr. Adkins was a farmer by vocation, a Presbyterian in religious connection, and a Democrat in politics. He was married in Butler County and resided there many years, but his death took place in Darke County, not very far from New Paris.
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