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 180

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 180

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The town was laid out in 1838 by Thomas Hubbard, Samuel Boots, Nathan Goodwin and Daniel Culver. It is located on Section 4, Town 21, Range 12, near the northwest corner of the : township, and of Randolph County as well, on the Deerfield & Ridgeville road, which extends northwest past Emmettsville and Fairview into Delaware County. The ground on which it is

built is finely rolling, unusually so for Randolph County. The . Psample (sic); east and west. Jackson and Main. W. R. business of the town began about as follows: Alex Garringer had ; Merine, proprietor. Laid out December 27, 1833; acknowledged

March 26, 1836; recorded March 31, 1836.

The village was laid out in 1833 by William R. Merine, and G. also started a smith shop. He had had a shop over at his ; recorded in 1836. The town had so slight a growth and so early

a little store at his cabin south of the river. and he moved the goods over to the site of the town. and " set up" in 1839. Mr. farm. but he changed locations. He was not a smith himself. but maintained a shop, hiring his workmen. Mr. Harris was the first physician, in 1842. He was also the first Postmaster. Mail was carried once in two weeks on horseback. from Deer- field to Greenville. Delaware County. A little cabin was used for a schoolhouse in 1837-38, standing near the river bridge on the north bank. A log church was built about 1539. The town grew gradually and not very slowly, and it came to be quite a stirring place. There were at one time (1845 to 1850) three or four thriving stores, two smith shops, three hotels and consid- erable other business of various kinds. The years during the war witnessed the greatest activity in goods. There was heavy stock trading and much other business. Fitzpatrick & Wilson drove and fed stock largely. The merchants at various times have been Messrs. Garringer. Cleveland, Messner, Fitzpatrick & Wilson, J. B. Mckinney, John King. M. B. Smith, Elijah Har- ' bor, G. H. Bird, George Blakely, Robert Starbuck, Monroe Starbuck, William E. Starbuck, James Reese, Mayner & Son; physicians, Harris, Godwin, Fausen, Moore, Vickers. Johnson, Davis, Fager; hotels. Bone, Richardson. Cleveland, Sullivan. Mckinney. Haynes. Judy, Godwin; smith shops, Garringer, Ore, Dowden, Dixon. McClelland. Miller, Cawthorn, Bromagen; wagou shops, Messrs. Ziegler. Newstiel, Hester; Postmasters. Harris, Fitzpatrick, King, Reeves, Street, Mrs. Street, Starbuck, W. E. Starbuck, Mayner, Fager; saw-mill, Judy & Reese, Star- buck & Morris; the mill was finally moved to Morristown. The town is now much decayed. The business at present comprises two small stores, two smith shops, one post office, one tailor's shop, two churches, Christian (New Light) and Methodist. There was once a tanyard, but it has been gone for many years. The Christian Church was built in 1845 or 1846, but is not now used. The Methodist Church was built first, in 1839. The one now standing was built in 1849, and remodeled in 1874. There is a graveyard in connection with the Methodist Church, which is extensively used, being in reasonable repair. There are many tombstones, and a large number of soldiers have been buried thorein. The cemetery was laid ont by Nathan Godwin, before 1840. Residents in the vicinity aro Thomas Hubbard, 160 acres; J. B. Mckinney, 1,400 acres or more; W. E. Starbuck. 140 acres; Thomas Goodwin, 192 acres; Philip Barger, 247 acros; Chalkley Baldwin, 140 acres; James Maynor, 320 acres (mostly in Jay Con ty); Sanford Spahr, 110 acres. The gentlemen named are all R publicans, except J. B. Mckinney, who is a Democrat.

Bridges: There are three large bridges near Fairview, all of them over the Mississinewa. One is directly at Fairview. cross- ing over the river to the residence of J. B. Mckinney, Esq., and

constructed of iron. One wooden bridge near Samuel Caylor's. One wooden bridge near Evans'. No railroad comes to Fairview, and none passes through Green 'Township, yet five tracks pass near the township, and not very far from the town. The Pan- Handle passes through Redkey, Powers and Dunkirk, all in Jay County. Powers is seven miles, Redkey five miles and Dun- kirk six and one-half miles from Fairview. The " Bee Line " passes through Farmland and Morristown. Farmland is eleven miles and Morristown eight miles distant. The "Shoo-Fly " Railroad passes through Ridgeville, crossing the Pan-Handle at that place. Ridgeville is eight miles from Fairview. The Mun- cie & Fort Wayne Railroad goes through Eaton, nine miles from Fairview. The Lake Erie & Western has a station at Albany, in Delaware County, two and one-half miles from Fairview. Thus Fairview is completely environed with railroads and rail- road towns. so that there is little room left for it to thrive and prosper. There is no pike and none, in fact, in Green Town- ship, but one is in process on the old Deerfield & Fairview State road having been begun during the summer of 1880.

Rockingham .- Section 17, Town 21, Range 13, ten miles northwest from Winchester, five miles west from Ridgeville, on Mississinewa River. Streets: North and south, Adams and

a death that until lately (August. 1881) no one was met with who had ever so much had heard of Rockingham or had the least idea of its location. John Ford, however, residing on Elkhorn, in Green Township, who moved to the county in 1839, says that (at some time, he does not say when) a good store was kept at the town of Rockingham, but that there was nothing else in the town. So that Rockingham lived its briof life not in vain, and spent all its days in accomplishing good to the surrounding re- gion.

Mr. Green, son of Jonathan Green, one of the first settlers of Green Township, says that his father had a not too pleasant me- morial of that town in the fact that he had to refund to the pro- prieters of that store several hundred dollars, without right or jus- tice, which came near " breaking him up." But utter oblivion now rests upon the place. except in the memory of a very few among the pioneers or their immediate descendants. A clerk of that store had placed in the hands of Mr. Groen, as Magistrate, notes for collection belonging to that firm, with verbal orders to pay the money, when obtained, to certain parties who had accounts against them. He did so, and then the proprietors of the store deniod the authority of the clerk to act for them in that way. Ho, meanwhile, had "vamoosed the ranch," and Mr. Green was forced to account for the money to the original parties holding the notes. In these days, when rogues are pushed to find methods of raising the wind, this backwoods plan is worthy of consideration.

Shedrille Hamlet. - - Not incorporated; located on Sections 18 and 19, Town 21, Range 13; begun about 1880. It stands not on any stream, nor railroad, nor thoroughfare, nor pike, nor ca- ual, but just right where it is close by a saw-mill. It is a little place, lately in the woods, has a store, a saw-mill, a smith shop and a wagon (repair) shop, and the enterprising denizens of the place have secured a mail route through the vicinity and a post office at their ambitious little hamlet. The store is owned by Alonzo Brinkley and the saw-mill by Miranda & Barger.

There is something peculiar about this town (by courtesy and namo, though not incorporated nor even platted). There is not a dwelling in it and but three buildings, one of which is the saw- mill. a rough structure, made of posts, and a lumber roof. The business men of the place are all bachelors, and have to board ont of town. thongh only two dwelling-houses are in sight. In some countries, and at sometimes, this humble beginning of things might be the starting point to future greatness. How it will be for Shedville during the ages that are to come, this as- piring little hamlet just budding into life among the older and inore pretentious town" of old Randolph, forty years hence may

499

GREEN TOWNSHIP.

perhaps reveal to those who may at that time be inhabitants of this region and to the dwellers in this county, in that distant era; aud to the historian of that coming time, we trustfully com- mit the now latent possibilities and the yet unrevealed history of that rising city.

Steubenville. -- Israel Wirt, Jonathan Green, proprietors. Lo- cation, Sections 13 and 14, Town 21, Range 12; C. G. Goodrich, surveyor. Plat surveyed December 24, 1839. Recorded July 28, 1840; twenty-four lots. Town extinct.

It was laid ont by Israel Wirt and Jonathan Green in 1840. It stands upon Sections 13 and 14, Town 21, Range 12, on the. south side of the Mississinewa River, though not very hear to that stream. There was once a tanyard, a store, kept by Israel Wirt, a smith shop by Julian and four or five houses. A ceme- tery lies near the place which is still in use and in reasonable repair. The town never did much business, nor was ever pros- perous, and it has been entirely dead for more than twenty years. The place is not even a "cross-roads," but a spot where an east and west road strikes a north and south ohe. Mr. Wirt, one of the proprietors, was one of the first pioneers of that region, and died in the summer of 1880, at the advanced age of about eighty years. The town was surveyed and platted December 24, 1839, and recorded July 28, 1840. Though planted during the early settlement of the township, fate was against it, and it had to sue- cumb.

FACTS.

Thomas Hubbard has a stone quarry north of Fairview. Mr. Dougherty has a stone quarry one mile 'east of Fairview.

Green Township is somewhat strongly Republican in politics.

Gravel is by no means scarce, though the people are only lately beginning to realize what use to make of it and to apply it thereto. Saud is obtained chiefly from the bed of the Missis- sinewa, and the quality is good.

There have been no pikes in the region. The first in the township was commenced in 1880 from Ridgeville west to the county line via Fairview, and others, also, are projected in va- rious directions.

RAILROADS.

.No railroads cross the limits of Green, yet five lines are within a moderate distance from Fairview: Pan-Handle road, with sta- tions as follows: Powers, seven miles from Fairview; Redkey. five miles; Dunkirk, six and one half miles.

" Bee Line "-Parker, eight miles; Farmland, eleven miles. " Shoe-Fly and Pan-Handle Crossing " -- Ridgeville, eight miles.

Muncie & Fort Wayne Railroad-Eaton, nine miles.

Lake Erie & Western -Albany, two and one-half miles

Thus the people of Green Township are well supplied with markets in every direction, but all outside their own limits, and, hereafter, towns in Green Township will be hard to find and equally difficult to locate and build.

Philip Barger born in Fayette County, Ohio, in 1815. His parents were Virginians who left that State on account of slav. ery. His father died when Philip was young. Mr. Barger came to look at the country in 1846, and entered land in the fall of that year (145 acres). He married Elizabeth Strong October 4, 1838, in Delaware County, Ind., came to Randolph County, Ind., to live and settle October 24, 1838. They have had seven children, four of whom grew up and three are living. His wife died August 7, 1877. He has been by occupation a farmer, and has also held several public trusts. He has been Township Assessor, Justice of the Peace four years, County Commissioner two terms, once about thirty years ago, and also in 1872-75. He was one of the board that built the new court house, and is satis- fied that they did right. He has a fine farm, is an active, intel- ligent man, a Republican, a strong temperance man, and alto- gether a valuable and estecmed citizen. He is substantial and reliable, solid but not showy, fond of knowledge, has a large supply of instructive books, a steadfast friend and supporter of morality and education and of every good cause. Although verging toward threescore years and ten, he is yet strong and vigorous, and enjoys attention to business.

John Bone is an early settler. He has been twice married. He is a mechanic and a farmer, and, though now threescore years and ten, he yet practices his trade as a carpenter. He was once a Whig, but is now a Democrat, since he votes with that party. He is over seventy years old, and has resided in Green Township for more forty-five years and now resides in the little town of Fairview.

Thomas Brown was born in East Tennessee, and came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1832, settling in Green Township in 1833. His family wore all grown and married, and all came to- gether to the new country. They were David, Thomas and James, sons and married; Rebecca (Davis), --- (McCarnish), Sarah (Green), -- (White), Catharine (Gray). They all settled together, making up a colony in the woods. Nearly the whole connection (except the Greens) went to Iowa about 1837, leaving their places for other new-comers.

John Ford was born in the city of New York in 1802; his father removed to Richmond, Va., in 1808, and afterward to Rockbridge County, Va. In 1819, they came to Fayette County, Ohio, and, in 1823. to Clinton County, Ohio. Young Ford was now of age, but poor and destitute, yet bent on earning a home, and traveled a great deal in early life. He married Elizabeth Johnson in Clinton County in 1827. In 1829, he came to Ran- dolph County, and roamed the woods back and forth. From Judge Sample's, on White River, to John Byles', in Delaware County, there was no road nor the semblance of one. He se- lected land where Albany now stands, but his uncle dissuaded him, declaring that he (Ford) would never live, to see it settled. He did, finally, some years afterward, August 20, 1838, enter land in (treen Township, 120 acres. E. N. E. and N. W. N. E. 25, 21, 12, on Elkhorn. He moved to the tract in 1839, and has resided upon it forty-two years. He is a farmer, has owned 240 acres, now has 160 acres. He was a Presbyterian, but there have baen none in the region, and he has stood aloof from church membership. In politics. originally a Democrat, he has been of late years a Republican. When he raised his cabin men had to come from Cabin Creek to help him perform the work. When he explored the region, in 1829, he came to Sample's Mill, struck across the woods, pathless and waste, to John Byles', looked at the land, thence took an Indian trail to the "Godfrey trace," and followed it to somewhere north of Winchester, got lost, but found his way to Winchester before his comrades ar- rived. What was remarkable, he says he was not aware of any settlers on the Mississinewa. At Winchester the court house was made of beech logs. There was only one frame building in the town. From Winchester he struck for Greenville, perform- ing the whole journey on foot.

(Note .- It would seem as though Mr. Ford's journey must have been earlier than he puts it, as the' brick court house was let in 1826 and finished in 1828.)

Mr. Ford has been a great hunter, having killed eight deer in one day, and three or four often, and sometimes five. He has killed the highest number spoken of above in half a day. He shot forty-nine that first fall, from October to a little after New Year's. The skins and the hams he would sell, the rest of the carcass would, for the most part, be left in the woods.

Mr. Ford says there was one store and quite a good one, and nothing else, at the town of Rockingham, on the Mississinewa, located on Section 17, Town 21, Range 13, five miles west of Ridgeville. aud recorded March 26, 1836. It seems that the town died, for Mr. Ford is the first person who appears to have known that such a town was ever there. He says that the store continued about eighteen months, but that the town was never built and that there was never anything besides. Mr. Ford has but a slender appreciation of the glory of Lewallyn's Mill, at Ridgeville, since he says that it was a little old "corn-cracker not much larger than a hog pen." Probably it was not very sightly beside the modern palaces at which farmers get their wheat changed to superfine flour of the most superior brand. However, many a worthy family were profoundly thankful for the existence of that poor little mill, and lived bounteously on the corn meal made by running the corn through its home-made mill-stones. Mr. Ford enjoys a sprightly old age, having borne cheerfully

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

and well the hardships and privations of his wilderness hunter life.

Nathan Godwin was born in Delaware in 1780. He married Elizabeth West in 1810; she was born in 1784. They had seven children, all of whom are living, and all are married and have families, some of them large ones. Mr. Godwin has had forty- six grandchildren and eighty great-grandchildren. He emi- grated from Delaware to Virginia, thence to Pennsylvania, thence to Highland County, Ohio, and from there to Green Township, Randolph County, Ind., in 1837. He entered 520 acres of land, aad bought eighty acres more, making in all 600 acres. He was a farmer, a Methodist and a Republican. He lived to be very old, dying in 1875, at the great age of ninety-five years eight months and eight days. His body was interred at Fairview Cemetery, as was also his wife, who died many years before her husband, July 24, 1843, aged fifty-eight years nine months and three days.

Thomas Godwin is the youngest son of Nathan Godwin. He was born in 1800, married Nancy Ann Ewing, in 1845, has had ten children, six of whom are living, and three are married. He lives in the town of Fairview and keeps a hotel there, being also a farmer, owning 192 acres of land. He is a Methodist and a Republican. He is an active and respected member of the community, and a leading and influential citizen.

Jonathan Green was born in East Tennessee in 1792. He emigrated to Raadolph County in 1832, living a year at Sample- town, and settling in Green Township ir. 1833. He entered three " forties" and followed the vocation of farming till his death, in 1859, at the age of sixty seven. He was the first Jus- tice of the Peace in Green Township, and held the office sixteen years. He married Sarah Brown in East Teanessee and they had eleven children, eight of whom grew up, seven were married and six are living now. When he came Alexander Garringer and Martin Boots were the only persons residing in the township, three miles down the river opposite Fairview. He came in March, cleared six acres and planted it in corn, having raised a crop in 1832 on White River, and, during the summer of 1834, bought a little corn and never bought another bushel of corn as long as he lived. Oaly one house was to be found on the way to White River, Peter Hester's. William Addington lived at Ridgeville. James Addington came on the Mississinewa after awhile. He came near being broken up at one time. The clerk of a mercantile firm at Rockingham (a town on the Mississinewa below Ridgeville, long years ago extinct) left some notes belong. ing to the firm with him, as Magistrate, to be collected, with orders to pay the money to certain creditors of the firm. He did so, but the firm denied his anthority, and sued him for the money. The clerk had absconded, and as he could not prove his authority for the payments he had made, the rascally firm got judgment against him, and he had to refund to them $300 or $400, which in those times was a great sum. A large company of relativas came together from Tennessee, the Brown connection, comprising some nine families, and all settled on the Missis- sinewa. They stopped a year on White River and raised a crop. entered their land, went over to the Mississinewa and built shan- ties, and, in March, 1833, moved to their new homes, and settled down to live in good earnest. They had built up the " pens " to the chimneys, with no jambs, nor backwalls, nor chimney tops, and fixed those things afterward.

The wolves were thick around. One day the dogs barked, and father, looking ont, saw two wolves near at hand. A loaded gun lay on the hooks just behind him, within easy reach, but, forget- ting the gun, he slapped his hands and halloed at them and the villains scampered off. The hogs had to be penned up so tight that the wolves could not get, at them.

Julian Green, son of Jonathan Green, was born in East Teu- nessee in 1828, coming with his father to Randolph in 1832, and his home has been here ever since. He is a farmer and has seven children, residing at present in Franklin Township.

Thomas Hubbard was born in Delaware in 1804. came to Ross County, Ohio, in 1807, to Fayette County. Ind , in 1811, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1837. He married Eleanor Rogers, born in 1807, in 1827, and they have had twelve chil-

dren; nine of them are living and all the nine are married. Four live in Randolph County, one in Jay County, two in Iowa and two in California. Mr. Hubbard and his wife, though well advanced in years, enjoy good health and strength and seem happy in their old age. They live near Fairview on the land which he purchased when they came to the county forty-four years ago, and since their wedding day fifty-four years have elapsed into eternity, and should they be spared to see a few more annual suns complete their rourd, they will celebrate with thankful hearts, their " diamond wedding." which few, indeed, have ever beheld this side the opening gates of the " New Jerusalem."

William May, Emmettsville, was born in 1820, in Pennsyl- vania; came to Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1833, to Coshocton, Ohio, in 1838, to Union County, Ind., in 1840, Ripley County, Ind., in 1842, to Wayne County, Ind., in 1844, to Delaware County, Ind., in 1853, and to Green Township, Randolph Coun- ty. Ind., in 1857. He has been twice married, the first time, in 1843, and the second time in 1848. He has had eleven children, ten of whom are now living. He is a farmer, a member of the United Brethren Church and a Republican.

Antony W. Mckinney was boru in Pennsylvania. He came to Green Township, Randolph County, in 1837. He has had eleven children, eight still alive, and seven aro married. His children reside in Randolph, Jay and Delaware Counties and in Nebraska. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, who died at Fairview, aged ninety years. Mr. Mckinney also died at Fairview, Ind., an old man. He was a farmer and a Democrat, and had been a soldier in the war of 1812. It is a noteworthy fact that when he arrived in Randolph County, he had just 60 cents and no more. As poor as he was, his soa, John W. Mckinney, now owns some 1,500 acres of land and sup. ports hundreds of cattle for market in the larger towne and more distant cities. The wealth that they possess has every cent been acquired since that important day when the elder Mckinney became a denizen of Randolph. His father must have felt an admiration for the daring soldier who captured Stony Point at midnight in the old Revolutionary war, since he named his son after the gallant hero, Anthony Wayne, " Mad Anthony," whom the Indian chief called the "General who never slept," who, by his valor and prowess, retrieved the shameful disasters and de- feats of the past campaigns, and taught the haughty savages submission to the power of the whites.

John B. McKinney, son of 'Antony W. Mckinney, resides across the Mississinewa River, south from Fairview. He owns 1,400 acres or more of land, and is a great stock dealer and raiser, owning hundreds of cattle. He has a wife and three children, and the finest residence in Green Township, and there are few, if any, equal to it (outside the cities) in Randolph County. He is an energetic and successful business man, an active Democrat in politics and a prominent citizen.

James McProud was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1801, came to Randolph County in 1827, and moved here in 1829. He married Hannah Roberts in Ohio before he was of age. They huve had nine children, all of whom became grown and were married, and seven are living still. He has spent his life as a farmer, now owning 160 acres, but having been possessed at one period of a whole section. He is a Methodist, the first Method- ist preaching in the township having taken place at his house. In politics, he was a Democrat, voting for "Old Hickory." Be- coming afterward a Whig, in course of time he joined the Re- publican party, to which he still adheres. Though over eighty years old, he is still hale and sprightly and vigorous. He is fond of recounting the old-time exploits and adventures, of which he has experienced his full share. The " circuit rider " at the " first preaching" was George Bowers, and his " circuit " com- prised a horseback journey through a forest and flood of 250 miles. His aged wife, the sharer of the hardships of his pioneer life, diel January 11, 1881, aged seventy-four years, four months and eleven days, of paralysis. She had been a member of the Methodist Church more than sixty years, and married not quite as long. Her family has consisted of nine children, six boys and three girls, all grown, married and settled in life, and seven living at the present time. Her funeral was attended by

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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 180

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