USA > Indiana > Tipton County > History of Tipton County Indiana > Part 11
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They loaded up their few household goods and agricultural implements in a single wagon, and proceeded for the little home. the mother and wife driv- ing, and the father and son preceding the wagon in order to cut their way through the woods and thick underbrush. After a very hard journey the destination was finally reached, but upon reaching the place the pioneer found that the cabin had no floor, no chinking in the cracks between the logs. and neither door nor window. A temporary shelter was hastily improvised outside for the family. Afterward Mr. Suite took an axe and chopped an aperture in the logs to serve as a door, which was soon ready for the oc- cupants. The few household goods were arranged in one end of the cabin, while the other end was reserved for a fireplace. Before this was construct- ed. however, the wife did the cooking over a fire built on the ground floor, the smoke making escape through the openings between the logs. In a few weeks Mr. Suite had constructed a rough puncheon floor in the cabin, a fire-
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place, and a window covered with greased paper. The apartment was not free from the cold drafts which crept in, but served to shelter the family. Suite lived on his claim for a period of two years, at the end of which time he sold his improvements to David Brown and took a second claim a few miles farther south. The second house was a much better one than the first, being larger and better constructed. It required all of the settlers within a radius of five miles and two gallons of whisky two days to raise it. For four years Suite lived here, and then disposed of the property to Enos Scott and moved near the central part of the township, where he resided until his death in 1856. His son, Riley Suite, came with his father to the new country, shared all of the hardships and privations of pioneer life. and was prominently iden- tified with the county afterward.
In 1843 Solomon Bringle came to the township, and was joined during the latter part of the same year by John Brown, Joseph Orr and Isaac Golds- berry. Bringle took a claim in the western part. He was a native of North Carolina. He cleared a small space of ground and occupied his claim about six years, when he sold out to a Mr. Bryant and moved to the vicinity of Sharpsville, in Liberty township. Brown pre-empted land a short distance west of Suite's claim, where he cleared and made a very good farm. He came to Indiana from Ohio, and was identified with this part of the country for five or six years, when he sold his claim to John Moulder and emigrated to the state of Missouri. Goldsberry located in the northwest corner of the township. For several years after coming to the country he did but very little in the way of improving his claim, spending the greater part of his time in hunting, by means of which he supplied his table. He entered his land in the year 1849, but sold it a few years later and moved to near the village of Galveston, in Cass county, where he made his permanent home. Orr pre-empted a claim in the western part of the township and became a prominent land owner in after years. He was a resident of the township until the year 1869, at which time his death occurred.
Clinton Gary, a son-in-law of Joseph Orr, was another early settler at this period. He made his first improvements on the land where J. Orem aft- erward lived. which he occupied about five years, when he sold to Orem. John Brock came in 1843 and took a claim where Robert Nash afterward lived, near the central part of the township. He was a born hunter, and he was pointed out as a perfect specimen of the backwoodsman. His family lived in the most primitive manner in the little pole hut near Mud creek. and seemed contented with their miserable existence. Brock entered the land
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in which he settled for Mr. Nash, who had previously purchased his right and improvements for one hundred and fifty dollars.
Richard Foster was another early pioneer of this township. who set- tled near the southern boundary of the township in the summer of 1843. He wym had an excellent farm cleared. He entered the land early in 1848, and was a prominent and well-liked citizen of the township until his death, in the seventies.
Additional settlers who came in before the land sale were Jackson Watts, William Chapman, Isaac Eads, Thomas Scott, Samuel Carter, Vin- rent Garner, Robert Alexander, Henry Garner and Enoch Garner, all of whom secured claims in the western part, and Amos and W. D. Pritchard, who located in the southern part of the township. When the land was put on the market subject to entry, a number of homeseekers came to the town- ship, among whom were Isaac Glenn, who entered land in the western part ; Andrew Sample, a native of Switzerland county, who settled near the north- west corner; l'eter Keel, who located near the western border; Jacob Smith. who settled in the same locality, and W. R. Irby, who entered land in the northwestern part. Other names of pioneers follow: Thomas Quackenbush, James Carter, Owen Lindley, Major Bennett, James Vawter, Henry Bowlin, Ambrose Corn, Daniel Umphreys, John Lee, James Baldwin, Riley Mckay, Joseph Orem, Samuel Carter and James A. Franklin. In addition to the above list, the following persons secured lands in the township during the years 1847 and 1848: Stephen Kenworthy, Molten Moody, Hiram Adams, Lewellen Adams, William Hutto, Harvey Lake. Daniel Lane, Stephen Lane. Cyrus Ally, E. Gage, John Luckenbauch, Benjamin Fee, Thomas Armstrong, Jacob Smith, Andrew Sample, E. Gilbert, F. M. Jones, William Osborne, A. N. D. Thompson, W. Chapman, W. B. Hyatt, William Landers, Jesse Coleman, Smith Turner, Lorenzo Owen, Harvey Barnes, H. Bowlin, George Tucker, D. F. Rittenhouse, Jacob Dunham, Nicholas Tomlinson, George Pitzer, John W. Pyke, William Morris, John Harlow, Jacob Ackerman, Adam Cooper, Samuel Baden, William Hendrickson, Daniel Green, Z. Piper, G. W. Hogan, Abram Kilby, Samuel Kilby, John Stevens, Alex S. Jones, Henry Cobbins and James Miller, many of whom were not identified with the township as citizens.
The nearest market place to the northern settlement was the village of Burlington in Carroll county, a distance of twelve miles, while those living in the southern part of the township obtained their groceries and other neces- sities at Boxleytown, in Hamilton county, and later, at the stores at Teters- burg and Normanda in Jefferson township. An old pioneer whose early
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youth was spent in this township relates the tale that it was his duty to pro- cure meals for the family, and regular trips were made on horseback to Burlington for that purpose. When no corn was at hand to take to the mill, the custom was to take a large jug of honey to exchange for meal, the jug being placed in one end of the bag and a stone of equal weight for a balance in the other end, the whole thrown across the back of the horse. This jug held several gallons of honey and when filled was equivalent to a bushel of meal.
The first wheat raised in the township was grown by Alexander Suite. It was threshed with a flail, cleaned by being thrown up in the air from a sheet, and marketed at Lafayette for sixty cents per bushel, which was a large price at that time. The early farmers drove their hogs to the same market place, and realized from the sale about one dollar and fifty cents per hundred pounds in cash and trade.
The first frame house in Prairie township was constructed by Joseph Orr near the year 1850. It was a small structure of one room. William Chapman and William Osborne were the first to build frame houses on their farms. Robert Nash and Gilbert Van Sickle erected the first brick house in the township.
The first burial place was the Prairieville graveyard in the western part. There were laid away the children of Jackson Watts and Thomas Scott as early as the year 1844. Other early interments at the same place were a son of Clinton Gray, who was killed by a well pole falling on him, a man named Hoffman and the children of Solomon Bringle. The Normanda graveyard was probably the second one, and then the cemetery at Liberty church near Groomsville. The fact that a cemetery is found near each church or regular preaching place points to the fact that no funeral was thought to be properly conducted without a sermon. The coffin was generally built by a home work- man, and the body was clothed in a lone shroud. Dead people were never buried in the dress worn in life or in such garments as living persons wear.
The first marriage ceremony took place at the home of Joseph Orr in the year 1845, the contracting parties being Eliza Orr and William Peters. Whisky was the predominating element at this ceremony. Quite a number of the youths of the neighborhood gathered at the bride's residence a short time before the marriage hour and went in procession to meet the groom and preacher. The couple were halted by the tipsy revellers who presented them with a decorated decanter well filled with the "O be joyful." To make the occasion pass off pleasantly, the prospective husband cheerfully disposed of the "red eye."
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PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP IN 1914.
If the fact was stated to a stranger, that Prairie township had no rail- road, no traction line, no telegraph line, no express office, no town nor vil- lage, and no postoffice, the one addressed would conclude that the township was indeed an open prairie, and would probably ask : "What have they got?"
One familiar with the features of this singular township could un- doubtedly convince him in short order that it was a modern and well or- ganized township. In fact it is a township of high character, of great agri- cultural attainments, and of excellent citizenship. The township is thickly settled, and every farmer in it is a twentieth-century edition. The land is improved to the highest state, being well tiled, cultivated and nourished. Every public highway in the township is macadamized, and just within recent years a complete telephone service has been spread over the entire area. Along with these improvements has come the rural free mail delivery sys- tem. These are the principal factors of many which enable the farmer re- moved from the greater lines of communication to develop in harmony and with equal speed with his neighbors in other parts of the county. The farm- ers are all prosperous and are not engaged in hoarding their gold, but be- lieve in turning it back into the common cause, for the good of their town- ship and county. The people point with pride to the fact that there have rarely been any delinquent taxes against the township. Each farm by itself is a model of complete and scientific development. The equipment, buildings and residences are the latest pattern; the land is drained adequately, and the soil is properly cultivated. Churches and school houses dot the country, although there is a tendency now to abandon the many small schools and consolidate them into few large ones, a system that is spreading over the whole United States. Unlike some townships in the state, this growth has not been a matter of decade after decade, but has sprung to life in the last one decade, a fact which adds even greater glory to the community.
GROOMSVILLE.
The village of Groomsville is situated in section 16 in the southern part of the township and dates its history from the year of 1860. At that time Enoch Smith got up a petition for a postoffice, which was granted soon, and the name of Groomsville given, in compliment to Dr. B. M. Groom, who was formerly a practicing physician there and at the time was auditor of the
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county, and who was a resident of Tipton. The office gave the place some local prominence and a store building was erected in the course of a few years and stocked with a general assortment of merchandise by Thomas Lamb, who sold goods until the spring of 1883, at which time he disposed of the store to McCreary and Stoops. A saw mill was in operation here for several years and did a good business. It was in the little village of Grooms- ville that Senator John W. Kern made his maiden political speech in 1870. and with each succeeding campaign he made a speech in the town until he became a candidate for vice-president, when his time would not permit him to visit the scenes of his youth.
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
In the north central part of Tipton county is located the township of Liberty. East and west it measures seven miles, and north and south five miles, the territory containing thirty-five square miles. The great portion of Liberty township is in congressional township 22 north, range 4 east. There are six sections on the north in township 23 north, range 4 east, and one section in township 23 north, range 5 east. On the east end of the township there are four sections in township 22 north, range 5 east. The township is bounded on the north by Howard county, on the east by Wild- cat township, on the south by Cicero township, and on the west by Prairie township. The general surface of Liberty township is level: the soil is deep and rich and at one time in the past was covered with a rich growth of timber, including such woods as the walnut, poplar, oak, sycamore, elm, beech, maple, hickory and ash. Mud creek enters the township a little south of center on the west, flows in'a northeasterly direction, and leaves the township just south of the corner section. North creek rises in the extreme southwest corner of the township, flows northeast, and empties into Mud creek, one mile and a half east of Sharpsville. Turkey creek crosses the ex- treme southeast corner of the township, being confined within the southeast quarter of the corner section.
FIRST SETTLERS.
A Mr. Kaywood was probably the first white settler in Liberty town- ship. His nativity is not known: history records only that he came here, built a cabin north of the creek on what was afterward the Needham farm, and soon moved away to an unknown destination.
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William Riggs was in all probability the second white settler. He came from Madison county. He afterward sold his claim, and pre-empted other land two years before the land came into market. Riggs returned to Madi- son county in 1853. Frederick Parsons also pre-empted land, afterward the McGee farm, sold his claim in 1846 and moved to Howard county, where he died near the year 1870. Frank McGuire bought Parsons' claim, but in 1858 he moved to Iowa, and thence to Missouri. Caleb Richardson and his wife, Celia, came from Boone county and pre-empted what was later known as the old Richardson homestead in 1845. Sixteen children were born to this happy couple and fifteen of them lived to have families of their own. The names of these children were William, Charlotte, Jane, George, James, Stephen, Jackson, Strange, Caleb, Emeline, Cynthia, John, Joel, Mary Ann, Jonathan and Francis Marion, the last dying in infancy. Richardson was one of the first settlers in his part of the township. His log home was a Mecca for land seekers and travelers, and he became well known over the whole county. He was practically the founder of Methodism in the town- ship. He helped establish the Pleasant Grove Association, and, in company with David and P. Hutto, built the Pleasant Grove meeting house.
Thomas Cole, a Kentuckian, came to Shelby county in 1835. From there he came to Liberty township, Tipton county, in 1847, and pre-empted a quarter section of land. James Cole, a brother, came from Henry county, Indiana, in the spring of 1848 and bought a claim, upon which he resided until his death in 1870. Granville Wilson emigrated from Shelby county in the fall of 1848 and bought land. James Maze came from Butler county, Ohio, to Shelby county, Indiana, in 1827; thence he moved to Liberty town- ship in 1848, where he entered the tract of land he lived upon the rest of his life. William Jarrett came from Greenbrier county, Virginia, to De- catur county, Indiana, in 1847; thence he moved to Madison county, and thence to Liberty township in 1851. Benjamin Denny, William Sims and William Marshall were the first settlers in the northeast part of the town- ship. They came from Madison county in 1850. Denny died here in 1855. and Sims in 1863. Marshall enlisted in the army and passed away in 1864, while in active service. Lindsay Ballew came from Howard county and settled in Nevada in 1854. He lived for many years in this township. Other early settlers in that part of the township were John Smith, William Smith and James Barrow. Among the early pioneers in the southeast portion of Liberty township might be mentioned Alexander Mills, Jesse Smiley, Messick Turner. Jonathan Hayworth and Lilburn Cox. A great number of men
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entered land in 1848, and this list, which is a very long one, is led by such names as Lewis Small, George Stewart. James Bennett, Larkin Ward, John W. Pyke, George B. W. Parks, W. M. Hutto, W. Caldwell. Wesley Umfreys, E. M. Shrap. P. H. Smiley, Jesse Wells, William Bess, Francis McGuire and Henry Goar.
For milling supplies and groceries which they could afford, the early settlers in the west part of the township traveled to New London, Howard county, and Lafayette; those on the east usually went to Perkinsville, on White river.
The hardihood of the pioneer women has been written and sung, and it is fitting that an incident of feminine courage should be noted. The widow Van Horn moved to Liberty township from Wayne county in the fall of 1851 or 1852, and settled south of Sharpsville. She brought with her a favorite roan mare. One day during the winter when the snow was deep and the mercury below zero, the mare escaped from the rail inclosure near the house and started toward the old home. As night approached the widow discovered her loss, and she immediately set out on foot in search of the mare. She trailed the animal southwest, the trail leading through Teters- burg and Boxleytown and thence southeast, crossing the Peru road be- tween Cicero and Noblesville. She caught the mare in the vicinity of Perkins- ville. Mounting her, she made her way back, reaching home before daylight the next morning.
The first death in Liberty township was probably that of old man Praul. Praul evidently began a journey to the settlements in Grant county, but was frozen to death on the route. Another of the early deaths was that of Messick Turner's son, who was fifteen years old. His death was caused by a tree falling on him.
The first marriage license issued in this township was that of John G. Brown and Lorinda Sharp, July 31, 1844. The marriage was solemnized by John B. Cole, justice of the peace, on August 8. 1844. The second license was issued to Hickman Smiley and Elizabeth Mills, and Judge Joseph Goar officiated, on the same day as the first wedding. Judge Brown and Philena Kaywood, George B. W. Parks and Cynthia Richardson were other first nuptials.
ORGANIZATION.
Before the year 1849 Prairie township extended to Sharpsville and then Wildcat township commenced. The first elections were held at Circle's, about where the Baldwin place afterward was. Afterward they were moved back
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to the Evans neighborhood, where they remained until the organization of Liberty township. Richard Humphries was elected justice of the peace on August 27, 1845, and qualified December 12, 1845, with the following sure- ties : Jesse Harding, David Humphrey, Willias Ball and Caleb Richardson.
At the June term, 1849, the county board of trustees ordered "that there be a new township organized out of the west part of Wildcat township, to be called Liberty township, to be bounded and described as follows (Making the township five miles square, the west line running north and south on the road by the church in Sharpsville). Also that the foregoing boundaries form and constitute one road district, to be called road district No. 1, Liberty township, and that the place of holding elections should be on the place now owned by Aaron H. Hensley, in section 4, where Hugh Smiley now resides." Hugh Smiley was at that time appointed supervisor, and Jesse Horton inspector of elections till the spring election following. The board also ordered an election to be held the first Monday of August, 1849, to elect one justice of the peace. At the September term of 1851, the board ordered that a two-mile strip from Prairie township be added to Liberty township on a petition headed by William Brookbank and thirty- five other citizens of both townships. The board also ordered that there- after all elections should be held at the village of Sharpsville.
The first county road laid out began at the county line on the north on range line 3, thence one and a half miles south, then in a southeast di- rection to Tipton. Harvey Wells and Thomas Cole got up the petition for this road in the spring of 1848, and Cole took it up with the county board. The next road was between sections 22 and 23, beginning at the range line and running to Nevada. This was in the fall of 1848.
THE TOWNSHIP IN 1914.
To speak of the Liberty township of today, in comparison with the township of a score of years ago, is to speak of a new, a reclaimed town- ship. The main factor in this great transposition has undoubtedly been the progress of agriculture, and the installation of modern farming methods by the present-day farmer. Corn is the principal crop in this township, as in the other five divisions of Tipton county. Oats, wheat and hay are also grown in abundance, and tomatoes, peas and beans are raised extensively for canning purposes. The rotation of crops is generally employed through- out Liberty township, and thereby the soil is made to retain its remarkable fertility and productiveness.
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Given an excellent soil, the raising of good crops is by no means an automatic accomplishment. Brains, hard work and originality have to be a part of the man directing the farm operations, and these qualities may safely be said to exist in the makeup of the Liberty township tiller. He is a man of education, perseverance and wisdom. Not content to follow the old- fashioned methods of agriculture, he has adopted the latest scientific imple- ments and has followed systematically the course laid down by the expert and trained minds upon the wonderful "outdoor art." The introduction of telephones, rural mail delivery, automobiles and, lastly, excellent gravel and macadam roads has brought the agriculturist into close and intimate con- nection with his fellow-workers, and he is enabled to profit by others' ex- perience, and so correct his course of action. The route of the Lake Erie & Western, also the Indiana Union Traction Company, through this township has given the farmers a source of quick shipping to other commercial centers.
In his home this man has created the best. All modern equipment is supplied in almost any home of the farmer and his residence rivals that of his city brother. The farm buildings and arrangement are invariably of the same high type.
SHARPSVILLE.
E. M. Sharp, the founder of Sharpsville, came from Washington county, Pennsylvania, to Morgan county, Illinois, in 1831, thence going to Jennings county, Indiana, in 1838, and to Liberty township in the spring of 1849. At that date there was no road between Tipton and Kokomo, except in the locality of Fairfield. A Mr. Wiseman was the first settler in Sharps- ville. The second was Reuben Jackson, who kept a small store in the south part of town. This was also the first business proceeding in Sharpsville.
PLATTING.
Sharpsville was platted on May 24, 1850, and recorded May 27th, by Sylvester Turpen, recorder. The town was laid off with the hopes that it would become the county seat, and accordingly a public square was designed. The square, after it was known that the town was not to be favored with the honor of being the seat of justice, was utilized as a public school park, and as such .is one of the finest in Tipton county.
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MILLS.
The first mill for grinding corn was a horse-mill in the Balser neigh- borhood. The second was a corn cracker attached to the saw mill then owned by a man named Sumner. The mill was built in the first two years of the fifties. Mr. Sharp began to construct a flour mill in the summer of 1852, completed it in the summer of 1853 and commenced grinding corn in Sep- tember of the latter year. The mill was sixty by seventy feet on the ground floor, and three and one-half stories high, with four runs of buhrs, three for wheat and one for corn. It contained storage room for twenty thousand bushels of corn, and at that time was the largest and best equipped mill in the county. Sharp later sold the mill to Cornelius Barlow, who in turn dis- posed of it to Franklin & Thompkins, who continued to run it until March 28, 1868, when it burned to the ground. Franklin associated with himself John C. Halley, and immediately rebuilt. This new establishment continued until 1871. The first saw mill was constructed in what was later Needham's meadow in 1851, by a Mr. Strickland from Ripley county. Strickland sold the mill to Eli Sumner, who put in a corn cracker. Fire destroyed the plant afterward, and it was never rebuilt. Thompson subsequently built a mill south of the creek, sold it to Robinson and Bland, and they to Squire Arm- strong. who afterward moved it to Prairie township. List & Blunk built a mill just north of town, Webb and Company succeeding them. Miner & Howard next constructed a mill in town, Miner eventually disposing of his interest to Howard. While it was in the possession of the latter gentleman. the plant burned, but was rebuilt. J. H. Hoback was the next owner, in 1869. In 1873 the mill took fire again and was destroyed, and once again in the same year it suffered this fate. Berryman & Bates bought the outfit in 1881. Murzy Adams built a saw mill on Mud creek in an early day, and several years afterward added a grist mill. The mill was at last moved to Normanda by Milton Mozingo.
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