USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
Thomas Pierce and the family of Byrnses prob- ably came from Ireland together, leaving that country about 1818, and, stopping on the way in Pennsylvania, settled here in 1820. Pierce was a farmer and surveyor, and quite an influential man. It is said he assisted John K. Graham frequently in surveying. Graham was probably the first surveyor in this county, and surveyed nearly or quite all the lands in this township.
The Byrnses were from the county Loud, Ire- land. The family consisted of the mother, five sons, and three daughters. These children sub- sequently all married and settled in this neigh- borhood, thus adding considerable strength to the Catholic church, which was organized here in an early day by Father Abraham, a Catholic priest from Bardstown, Kentucky. The boys were John, Thomas, Patrick, James, and Owen; and some of these are yet residing here, as are also the girls. The mother lived to the ripe age of ninety-two years. The family has been an influential and prominent one in the county.
Nicholas Duffey was also from Ireland, and brought with him a family of seven children, settling here in 1821. His son, Patrick Duffey, yet resides in the township, near Mooresville, and although quite an aged man, is still engaged in farming.
John Coleman, also from Ireland, settled here in 1825, and is one of the oldest living pioneers of the county, being in his ninety-eighth year. The Byrnses and Pierces had preceded him, and
310
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
were his nearest neighbors when he first settled where he now resides. Pierce was living down the creek, near the old log Catholic church. Mr. Coleman was fairly educated and became one of the first school teachers in this part of the county. He was also one of the first justices of the peace in the county, and held that position many years. He made little or no money out of the office, as he generally succeeded in getting together his neighbors, who had troubles to adjust, and assisted them in settling their difficulties without resort to the law. He remarks that the only money he ever made out of his office was when the turnpike was in course of construction. One of the contractors on that road, whose wife was in Philadelphia, married here another woman, and when the Philadelphia wife suddenly made her appearance, the contractor as suddenly left the country, leaving his business in a very unset- tled condition. In settling this business Mr. Coleman made the regular charges for such ser- vices. Notwithstanding his age he attends mass at the Catholic church, nearly a mile distant, regularly every morning, always going on foot. He says the first settlers in this neighborhood did their milling at the mill on the creek, near the site of Galena, in Greenville township.
The French, as well as the Irish, had also quite a representation in this settlement. Among them were Michael Kinsey and Louis Vernie. The former brought from his native country a family of two sons and three daughters, all of whom married and settled in this neighborhood. Vernie was also a man of family and one of the first members of the Catholic church here.
This settlement received many additions from time to time, mostly from Ireland, France, and Germany, and now constitutes a large settlement, nearly all the members of which are members of . the Catholic church, a very strong and influential society, which has grown with the growth of the settlement, and strengthened with its strength, until it is now one of the largest in the State outside of the cities.
THE FIRST POLLING PLACE.
Probably the first voting place in this town- ship was in this settlement, in a cabin which stood near the present residence of Abraham Litz. The place was then owned by Thomas Byrns. The first settlers in the township, how-
ever, went to New Albany to vote. This was prior to the formation of the county. After the formation of the township of Greenville, the voting place of the settlers was at the house of Jacob O. Frederick, near Galena .. David Fannin, of Scottsville, was probably the first justice of the peace in the township. James McCutchan and Levi Nugent were among the first.
A THIRD SETTLEMENT
in this township is known as the "English settle- ment," to distinguish it from the Catholic com- munity, and joining the latter on the north. These settlements were probably contemporane- ous both being made about the close of the War of 1812.
The English settlement was established by an Englishman named Joseph Hay, a Sweden- borgian in religion, a weaver by trade, and a man of considerable ability, influence, and means. In England he had been largely engaged in the manufacture of cloth, running a number of looms, and had amassed considerable money. He came to this then wild country with about $60,000 in cash, an astonishing sum for those days. He purchased twelve or fifteen hundred acres of land, and endeavored to establish an English colony, inducing several other English families. to settle near him, among whom were the Smiths, the Shackletons, and the Fenwicks. . These people were mostly Swedenborgians, and erected a log church about 1815. Hay and a a man named Roberts were the leaders. Hay came here without a family, except a wife. The latter died shortly after arriving here, and he sub- sequently married a second wife. Mr. Hay died, however, about 1825, and his property passed into other hands.
The Adkinses moved up the creek into the " English settlement," where they reside, and where they established the United Brethren church, on the ruins of the old Swedenborgian society.
THE FIRST SCHOOL
in this settlement was taught in the old log Swedenborgian church by a man named Abra- ham McCafferty, who, it is said, could hardly write his own name. It was a "subscription school." McCafferty carried around a paper, representing himself as a school-teacher, and se-
31I
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
cured six or eight scholars at so much per term of three months. He taught several terms.
THE EARLY MILLS.
These settlers first did their milling at Utica, and at Bullitt's, at the head of the Falls, until a man named Henry Putoff erected a mill on Muddy fork, in Clark county, near where that stream empties into Silver creek, when they re- sorted to this mill.
A fourth settlement was made about the same time as the other two, or a little later, in the vicinity of the present village of
MOORESVILLE,
on Little Indian creek. The first to enter this part of the township were the Moores, Kelleys, Carters, Edwardses, Hickmans, Smiths, and others. These settlers came in along the old New Albany and Vincennes road, which crossed the creek some distance below Mooresville, and was, during many of the earlier years, the only highway in this part of the county. When the turnpike was constructed this road was partially abandoned.
Phillip Engleman built a mill on the creek where this road crosses. It was the first water- mill in this part of the county, and was patron- ized many years by the early settlers around Mooresville. Engleman also kept tavern there, and the place was something of a resort for the pioneers. As Indian creek was somewhat fickle, even in those days, his mill was idle about one- half of the year, and the other half generally had more than it could do. Customers who came with grists were frequently compelled to wait from one to three days for their grists, liv- ing meanwhile at the tavern without charge.
John Kelley, Mr. Gibson, and a Mr. Hickman entered the land where the village now stands. Gibson did not live long, and the farm upon which he settled was always afterwards known as the Widow Gibson place.
Kelley was a Virginian, and brought his family here with the intention of remaining; but after a few years, hearing of his father's death in Vir- ginia, he sold out here and started back for the old home. He employed a man to transport himself and goods in a wagon. Mr. Kelley died on the way, and it was believed by many that he was murdered by the man who accompanied
him, as he had a considerable sum of money with him, the proceeds of the sale of his farm. The man who went with him disappeared from the community and escaped, the matter not be- ing thoroughly prosecuted.
The Hickmans were quite numerous in this neighborhood. Perhaps half a dozen families of them were located along the creek. They were Southern people, and were generally farm- ers and hunters. One of them started a comb- factory here-probably the first manufacturing business of any kind in the township. It is said that he made excellent horn combs, using horse-power for the purpose, and finding a mar- ket for them in Louisville and Cincinnati.
Mooresville was named for James Moore, a native of the Empire State and a very active and influential man. He came here from Orange county, New York, a single man, and purchased or entered some land about two miles below the present site of Mooresville, in 1815. His widow is still living, and says she came here "the June following Jackson's battle of New Orleans." She was a young lady at that time, and a daughter of Asa Smith, who was a Connecticut Yankee. She says her father stopped in New Albany, or rather on the site of it, and helped to clear the land upon which it stands.
At that time there were only four houses in the place. Joel Scribner lived in one. He had a family, and kept the post-office. Abner and Nathaniel Scribner lived with their mother in another house. Samuel March, a ship-carpenter, with his brother, also of the same trade, and his family, lived in the third house; while the fourth house was a tavern, kept by a man named Leibers.
Mr. Moore first purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land down the creek, but continued to buy land from time to time, until he became the owner of many hundred acres in the vicinity of Mooresville. He subsequently started a store, built a grist- and saw-mill, and engaged in many other business enterprises, doing all he could at all times to build up the town and community in which he lived.
Mooresville never was platted, and never had any recorded existence as a town ; and therefore it is hard to get at the date when it came into existence. But it must have been after the turn- pike was built, and therefore could not have been
312
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
far from 1840, as the road was graded in 1836-37.
A man named Erricks, who resided in Louis- ville, happened to own a quarter-section of land upon the side of the knobs, near where the new road was laid out; but, in order to have the ben- efit of the road, he was under the necessity of buying from the Widow Gibson a strip of land. This strip of land was two acres wide, and in length extended across a quarter-section. This gave Mr. Erricks an outlet from his land into the turnpike; but it was an awkward piece of land to cultivate, and after Mr. Erricks died his heirs dı- vided it into lots and sold them out to whoever would buy. This is the way the town came to be started, and this is the reason why it is strung along on either side of the turnpike for half a mile or more. If the place could be gathered together, it would make something of a village; but it does not strike the traveler by stage as much of a place in its present shape.
Moore built about the first building in the place ; it was a log store-room. His mill stood exactly where the bridge now stands, and did the grinding and sawing for the people many years. Mr. Moore did not keep tavern ; but his latch- string was always out, and a great many people stopped with him. He was a very industrious man, and succeeded in securing in all five quar- ter-sections of land, most of which he cleared of timber. He had a family of ten children, seven of whom lived to rear families of their own; and to each of the living he gave one hundred and twenty acres of land. He died in 1834, and his goods were sold at auction. His store and mill must have been in operation here many years be- fore the Errick heirs laid out the town. Chancy P. Smith purchased most of Mr. Moore's goods, and opened a store in the place. After a time Ebenezer G. Danforth came from New York and purchased an interest in Mr. Smith's store. This firm was unsuccessful in business.
Peter Burney was probably the next merchant, but only remained a short time, when he sold out to a Mr. Hollis, and moved to New Albany. Subsequently Nicholas Speaker was a merchant in the place, as was also John Barber. Charles Byles was the first blacksmith, and kept his shop near the creek. Moore induced him to settle here. Ebenezer Danforth, after his unsuccess- ful mercantile venture, kept a blacksmith and wagon shop.
Thomas Edwards and the Carters came to- gether from the South. They were farmers.
John Worls was the hatter in Mooresville, long before the town had an existence. Making hats was a leading business among the pioneers, and no town or community was without its hatter. Worls died fifty years ago or more.
Jesse Hickman, the comb-manufacturer, sold out after a time to Mr. Moore, and a man named Donnahue moved into his house, and opened a tavern. Donnahue was the first school-teacher in this part of the country, and taught two or three winters in an old, deserted cabin that stood on Jesse Hickman's place on the creek below town. The building had been used as a dwell- ing until the proprietor became able to build a larger and better cabin, which he did in the same yard. A Mr. Arnold followed Donnahue as a teacher. The old block-house, before men- tioned, was near this school-house.
" Jake" Miller kept the first tavern on the " old road," in the direction of Mooresville. His stand was at the foot of the knobs, on the op- posite side from the site of the village. John Sherley's tavern was the next, located on the top of the knobs, but these old-time institutions have long since disappeared. They are not needed in this country at this time, and even in Mooresville there is not sufficient patronage now- adays to support a tavern, or hotel, as they are modernly called.
At present there are three stores in the place, kept by Henry Parrott, Frank Speaker, and Mrs. Fenton. Mr. Lamke, of Galena, kept store here several years before removing to that place. The blacksmith-shop is kept by John Shuman. The post-office has been established but a few years, and is known as "Floyd Knobs." But little business, more than that mentioned, is transacted in the place. It is a somewhat sleepy village, lying in a rather romantic and very healthy lo- cality at the foot of the knobs. The old- fashioned stage coach, with its four foaming horses, its great leathern springs, its dust-begrimed appearance, easy rocking motion and stern, muscular, devil-may-care driver, with his long whip, passes daily along the road, just as it did half a century or more ago. Often the old coach can hardly be seen at all for the amount of bag- gage and merchandise that is piled on top and fastened all around it. For half a century the
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
313
driver has cracked his whip on the top .of the wood-crowned knobs, and dashed down their steep sides along the hard, winding road, his horses' steel-clad hoofs ringing sharply on the flinty highway, until he brings up at the town- pump in the village at the foot of the knobs, where the horses are always watered, the mail, changed, and the weary passengers allowed to stretch their limbs and rest or warm before rat- tling away to the next station. It is half a mile, perhaps more, from the top of the knobs to Mooresville. On the other side the road winds about for more than a mile before reaching the foot of the hills.
The schools of Mooresville have somewhat im- proved since Donnahue's time. A fine brick school-house was erected some years ago, and two teachers are employed. All the children in the neighborhood, without regard to color or con- dition, are here instructed in the rudimentary branches of learning without money and without price. Education is as free as the water that flows down the hills.
SCOTTSVILLE.
The fifth and last settlement to be mentioned is that in the vicinity of the village of Scottsville in the northwestern part of the township. A settlement was made here by two brothers named Moses and John Scott, in 1812. They were from Kentucky, and brought with them large families. Moses Scott's children numbered ten, as follows: America, Melinda, Catharine, In- diana and Louisiana (twins), George, Robert, Elizabeth, Moses, and Mary Jane. These chil- dren married and scattered, and only America and George are now living in the township.
-
John Scott's family consisted of wife and twelve children-Reasor, Emily, James, Vard- man, Robert, David, Herbert, Wesley, Moses, and three others who died young. He settled upon the present site of Scottsville, where he re- mained until he died. The Scotts were especial supporters of the Mormon church, which still maintains a quasi-existence in that neighborhood, and some of them removed to Salt Lake City, where they now reside. One, at least, is a Mor- mon elder. The old log church, which stands in Greenville township, receives attention in the history of that township elsewhere in this divis- ion of our work.
David Fannin was also an early settler in this part of the township, and owned a horse-mill in a very early day-probably the first mill in the township.
The village of Scottsville was laid out on the east half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-five, town one, range six east, March 23, 1853. It was in the form of a parallelogram, with only two streets-West and Main. It never had any great expectations, and it is not at all in danger of becoming a great city. A black- smith and repair-shop, a store, and a few dwell- ings have always, so far, constituted the town. The post-office was established here about 1860; John Williams was the first postmaster, and Wesley Scott the next and present incumbent. Mr. Scott is also the village blacksmith. The store is at present kept by Nicholas Keiffer. There are seven or eight dwellings, and forty or more people in the village.
It was probably as late as 1840 before all the land in this township was entered for settlement. It was not entered as early as other lands further south, lying near the highways of travel, and, though the most desirable land in this township, that lying along the streams, was entered and oc- cupied quite early, there is much land not de- sirable for general farming purposes in the town- ship that remained unoccupied many years after the first and later settlements were made. Until the turnpike was made in 1836-37, the township was considerably on one side of any line of travel, and consequently remained in a wild and unsettled condition long after those further south and east of the knobs were well settled.
The farms are now generally well cultivated, the farm-houses largely frame and in good con- dition. Quite a number of log houses, however, are yet used as dwellings. The people are gen- erally sober, honest, industrious, religious. They are prosperous, and their children go to school. There are eight good school-houses in the town- ship, conveniently situated, so that every child of school age can attend.
The first school in the Scott settlement was probably taught by James McCutchan, in a log house near the site of Mt. Eden church, now in Greenville township. The first school on Big Indian creek was also taught by James Mc- Cutchan. The first school-house in the town-
40
1
314
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
ship, in this direction, was built in 1820, on the place now occupied by Mr. Crawford Searles ; William Graham was the first teacher here.
The building of the turnpike through the township assisted the settlement of it very materially. No railroad as yet touches the town- ship, though the New Albany and Chicago road runs closely along its eastern edge. The only station near the township limits is the Six-mile switch, near the northeast corner of the town- ship. No telegraph has an existence at present within the township limits, though before the ad- vent of railroads one was built along the turn- pike, which was abandoned after the building of iron ways through this part of the county.
CHURCHES.
As usual in this part of the country, it is ascer- tained that the Methodists and Baptists were the pioneer preachers, coming first into the wilder- ness to proclaim the gospel to the rough back- woodsmen, long before any churches were erect- ed. They held services in the old log school- houses that soon sprang up here and there in the woods, in the cabins and barns of the settlers, and under the spreading trees in the open air.
Among those who are remembered as preach- ing first in the valley of the Big Indian, where the first settlement occurred, were the Rev. Messrs. Absalom Little, Thompson, Montgom- ery, and McCafferty. The two former were Baptists, and the two latter Methodists. Mr. Little was from Kentucky, and a very able min- ister.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The Catholics were also very early on the ground, and organized one of the first societies, if not the first one, in the township. Mr. Cot- tom thus mentions this Catholic church, now lo- cated on Little Indian creek, on section nine :
It was an Irishman who first planted the cross in Floyd county, then a wilderness, establishing a little church not far from the present site of Mooresville, in Lafayette township, where the rites of his religion, the Catholic, were adminis- tered to the few white settlers and the Indians then inhabit- ing that section of the country. This self-denying father and faithful priest of the church thought no sacrifice on his part too great, so that good might come out of it to his rough congregation of frontiermen and wild Indians. To-day the beautiful Catholic church of St. Mary, with its no less beautiful church-yard, dotted over with the white marble in- signia of affection for the departed, and under which sleep many of the pioneers of Floyd county, remind us of the days when the faithful Irish priest came to proclaim "good tid-
ings" to the hardy woodsmen, and serveto keep green in the souls of the people the memory of the faithful soldier of the cross.
The writer of the above fails to give the name of this priest, but there is little doubt that it was Father Abraham, from Bardstown, Kentucky, assisted probably by Father Mulholland, who were instrumental in establishing this Catholic church, planting it in a soil that seems to have been favorable for its growth and development, as it is now one of the most flourishing Cath- olic churches in the country.
Thomas Pierce may be called the founder of this flourishing church. He was the son of a Catholic, and a man much devoted to his religion, infusing good part of his enthusiasm into his neighbors. He it was who gave the land, an acre of ground, upon which the first church edi- fice was erected; and he was, while he lived, a leading member of the congregation. Among his contemporaries in the establishment of this church were Owen Daily, Thomas, Patrick, and Owen Byrns, John Coleman, Michael Kinsey, Patrick Laden, and others, with their families. After the establishment of the church this be- came an attractive neighborhood for Catholic em- igrants seeking homes in the wilderness. The consequence was that the neighborhood, for many miles around, filled up gradually with for- eigners and Catholics; and it remains to-day an essentially Catholic community.
The society was formed soon after the arrival of the above-named gentlemen in this neighbor- hood, or soon after the War of 1812. The first meetings for several years were held in the cabins of the members. About 1820 the log church was erected on Little Indian creek, at the foot of the knobs, on second bottom land, a short distance south of the present beautiful edifice. The old church was built by the voluntary labor of the settlers, and stood seventeen or eighteen years, or until the present building was erected, after which it was taken down and the logs put into a school-house on'the new lot. A graveyard grew and extended around the old church, but the contents of this were also removed to the new church burying-ground on the hill. Nothing now remains hut the lot, covered with weeds and bushes, and still the property of the church.
The new church edifice, known as St. Mary, or the Assumption, was erected in 1837,-
·
315
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
mostly, too, by the voluntary labor of the mem- bers. Money to build churches, or for any pur- pose, was scarce in those days; but willing hands were plenty, and a fine brick edifice soon rose from the ground, crowning the crest of a hill over- looking the valley of the Little Indian. Father Neyron was the priest at that time-a genial, brave, whole-souled Frenchman. He infused much of his own energy and spirit into the en- terprise, and also labored much with his own hands in the erection of this building. Neyron had been a surgeon in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, and was with that army in the famous march across the Alps. He was a learned, en- ergetic, and able man. It is said that he built the Holy Trinity church, of New Albany, with his own money, organizing, building up, and es- tablishing that church on a solid foundation, and remaining pastor of it for more than twenty years. It was while acting in this capacity that he organized the St. Mary church and several other Catholic churches in the surrounding country. After leaving this part of the State he became a teacher in the University of Notre Dame du Lac, near South Bend, Indiana, where at this date (July, 1881) he still resides, though quite aged and feeble.
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.