Clinton County, Indiana - Chapter 1: The Genesis of the County, 1913

Meaning Of Names

In any attempt to get at the beginning of things in this country, the most substantial memorials of the past are found in local names, and this is true of Ginton county as well as of other localities. The first people of whom we have definite knowledge, who held the lands within its borders, were the Indians. It is true that we know in a general way of a race preceding them, called the Mound Builders, but the commonly accepted scientific theory at present is that the Mound Builders were the ancestors of our Indian tribes. Whether this is correct or not, we know nothing about them except what is told by the curious earthworks that they left, and the mass of what is written about them is conjecture, rather than history. There are no Indian Mounds in Clinton county.

At the Treaty of Greenville. Mi-ci-ki-noq-kwa. the head chief of th< Miami's, more commonly known as ''the Tittle Turtle," said to General Wayne, "It is well known by all my brothers present that my forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit, from thence he extended his lines to the headwaters of Scioto, from thence to its mouth, from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, and from thence to Chicago, on Lake Michigan." He asserted that his forefathers had enjoyed these lands "from time immemorial, without molestation or dispute."

Tt is well known, however, that the Troquois contested the possession of these lands, and that, a century before the Little Turtle spoke, they had driven the Miamis and other tribes out. But by the aid of the French, and Indian allies, the Iroquois were driven back, and the Miamis asserted territorial claims as stated by the Little Turtle. These claims were recognized by the United States and constitute the earliest land title to his region of which we are cognizant.

The name of our state, "Indiana," is a memorial of these first owners of the soil. The name existed before the state. At the treaty of Ft. Stanwix, in 1768, the Indians granted a tract of land in western Pennsylvania to certain traders, whose goods they had taken, and the English owners organized a company to exploit it, which they named the Indiana Company. The name was made on the same principle as Florida, Georgia and Virginia, and signifies a place inhabited by Indians or pertaining to Indians, but the word "Indian" is of remote origin, being from the same stem as "Hindoo," that is to say from "Sindhu," the native name of the Indus, literally "the river," whence "Sindhu" or "Scinde," the province covering the delta of that river. This, the Persians perverted to "Hindu." the Greeks to "Indos" and the Romans to "Indus" : from them it passed to several European nations. When Columbus discovered America he supposed it was India, and called the natives "Indios," which is equivalent of "Indians."

The word "Indiana" is also a memorial of the language now spoken in Clinton county, for English is of the Indo-Teutonic branch of the Aryan languages, which had their origin at the foot of the Himalayas. Its principal basis is the Anglo-Saxon, and its chief admixture is from the French and Latin, which are also Aryan languages. The name "Indiana," which originated in Pennsylvania, and which still exists at the place of its birth in Indiana county, of that state, therefore serves a double purpose in a philological way, in its present use.

The Indians left few names to Clinton county. They had no permanent village within its borders, and they seldom gave any specific name to a small stream unless it had some notable peculiarity. The only two streams in the countv that are known to have had Indian names are Sugar creek and Wild Cat. The Miamis called Sugar creek "Sa-na-min-dji," which means sugar tree, i. e. the sugar maple, and the stream was called "Sugar Tree creek" in the earliest records. It was also sometimes called Rock creek, or Rock river, which may be due to the Indian name, which means literally "rockwood," on the same principle that we call the sugar tree "hard maple." More probably, however, this name is given on account of the rock channel of the stream in its lower part. The Miami name of Wild Cat is Pin-ji-wa-mo-tai, in the fixed orthographv of the Bureau of Etymology - pronounced pin-zhe-wah-mo-ti. It means, literally, "belly of the wild cat," and the origin of the name is not now known to the Indians. In local histories this stream is often called Ponceau Pichou, or Ponce Passu. These are corruptions of the French name of the stream. Pause au Pichou. which is a literal translation of the Indian name. This name, however, was too long for popular use, and on old French maps the stream is commonly marked "Riviere Panse," "Riviere a la Panse," or "Riviere de la Panse."

The only other Indian name connected with Clinton county appertains to the Thorntown Reserve, which included a strip of the southern part of the county. The reserve took its name from the principal Indian village in it, which was Ka-wi-a-ki-ungi (pronounced Kah-we-ah-ki-oon-gi), which means the place of thorns, or Thorntown. A part of the eastern portion of the county was included in what was commonly called "The Big Reserve," but this had no specific Indian name, so far as is now known.

After the discovery of America, the first European nation that asserted sovereignty over this region was France, which claimed the entire Mississippi valley, by virtue of the discoveries and explorations of LaSalle, Joliet and others. Tts territory here was divided between the provinces of Canada and Louisiana by a not very definite line, which crossed the Wabash about the site of Terre Ffaute. which the French always gave that name, and which the English called "the beginning of the Highlands of the Wabash." All of Clinton county was clearly on the Canadian side of the line. Under the English control, after 1763. the Dominion of Canada, was still more enlarged, so that up to the time of the American conquest, the seat of civil government for this region was Detroit, with ultimate authority at Quebec and Paris.

There is a reminder of the French control in the name of Frankfort. When the county was organized, the Pence brothers, who owned the land on which the countv seat was located, named it, in honor of the native home of their grandfather, Frankfurt-am-Main. But that city received its name because it was probably founded in the eighth century of the present era by the warlike German tribes of the Franks or Francos, as the Romans called them, who overran the country to the west, and established the Kingdom of France. We have, therefore, in the name of the county seat, a double memorial of the Europeans who first controlled this territory and the ancestral home of the American owners of the land on which it stands.

After the conquest of the British settlements on the Mississippi and Wabash. by George Rogers Clark. Virginia assumed control of the lands northwest of the Ohio river, and in October, 1778'. created the County of Illinois. Col. John Todd was made county lieutenant of the new county. His chief action in wdiat is now Indiana was the establishment of "the Court of Vin- cennes." This body assumed extraordinary powers and although the organization act expired by self limitation in 1781, it continued to exercise them until stopped by the United States officials, under the ordinance of 1787. No doubt it would have exercised jurisdiction over Clinton county if there had been any call for it.

Under the ordinance of 1787, this region became part of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio river, and in 1800 it became part of Indiana Territory, and in 1816 of the state of Indiana. But all of Clinton county was part of the tribal lands of the Miami Indians, until the Treaty of St. Marys, in 1818, when the Miamis ceded all their lands south of the Wabash except certain specified reservations. Two of these extended into what is now Clinton county. One of them was the Thorntown Reserve, mentioned above, of "ten miles square at the village on Sugar Tree creek," which extended two miles into the county at the southwestern corner, covering parts of Perry and Jackson townships.

The northeastern part of the county was included in the "Big Reserve," which extended on the Wabash from the mouth of Eel River (Logansport) to the mouth of the Salominee (Lagro) and south for a distance equal to a straight line between these points. The south line was diagonal, practically parallel with the Wabash river between the points named, and running through the center of the present town of Tipton. In Clinton county the reserve included all of Johnson township, extending a mile west of the township line, and diagonally from one to two miles south, taking in parts of Warren. Michigan, Ivirklin and Sugar Creek townships. The entire reserve included 930,000 acres.

The principal part of Clinton county - all with the two exceptions named - was included in the Miami cession of 1818, and this was commonly known as the "New Purchase." In fact, it was so termed legally, for by the Act of January 20, 1820, the legislature divided "the new purchase" into two parts, making all of it east of the second principal meridian Delaware county, and all west of it Wabash county. These counties, however, were never organized. If they had been, Clinton county would never have existed, for the second principal meridian runs through it, and the eastern half of the county would have been in Delaware county and the western half in Wabash county.

The legislature took a new start in the disposition of "The New Purchase," by organizing smaller counties, beginning with Marion county, and adding to them for temporarv purposes of local government, adjoining territory that was settled or promised to be settled soon. By the Act of January

24, 1828, the lands included in Clinton county were so added to Tippecanoe county, which had been organized by Act of January 20, 1826. It has sometimes been stated that Boone county was included in this arrangement, but this is an error except as to a strip of land one-half mile wide. The tract was twenty-four miles long east and west, and eighteen miles broad, adjoining Tippecanoe county on the east and Carroll county on the south. In other words, it included all of the present Clinton county, an additional strip onehalf mile wide on the present south line of the county, and what is now Honey Creek township in Howard county.

This Act marks an epoch in the history of the county, for it was the beginning of local government. There had been none before because there was no one to govern. Although this region had been claimed as the territory of civilized nations for more than a century, it was not open to settlement by civilized people until after 1818, and then there was so much land thrown open to settlers and so great inducements offered by the new capital at Indianapolis and promising points on the Wabash, that lands here were not quickly taken. The first white settler located on Twelve Mile Prairie in 1826, and the tide of immigration began in the year following.

The Board of Justices of Tippecanoe county, who acted as County Commissioners at that time, took no action as to the attached territory until their session in March, 1829. when they made the following record:

"Ordered that that attached part of Tippecanoe county lying east of said countv of Tippecanoe, being a part of Wabash county, unorganized, be and the same is hereby known by the name of Washington township.

"Ordered that all elections to be holden in the attached part and east of Tippecanoe county, shall be holden at the house of David Killgore. and that Tohn Ross be and he is hereby appointed inspector of all elections to be holden in said attached part, for the term of one year hereafter, and until succeeded in office.

"Ordered that John Ross. Nathan Kirk, be appointed supervisors of the State road running through Washington township in the attached part, east of Tippecanoe county, leading from Lafayette to Newcastle in Henry countv, Indiana. The said Ross and Kirk shall divide the road and the lands in said township as equally between themselves as may be, and open the same twelve feet or upwards: for the term of one year hereafter and until succeeded in office.

"Ordered that Elijah Furgason be authorized to assess the persons and propertv, proper to he assessed in Washington township, in the attached part of Tippecanoe county, on the east thereof, for the year 1829."

For some reasons the house of David Killgore, which was selected as the place of holding elections, became unsatisfactory and at the May session, 1829, the Board made the following entry:

"Ordered that an election be held at the house of John Ross, in Washington township (in the attached part of this county) on the first Monday in June next, for the purpose of electing two Justices of the Peace, for said township, and that the sheriff be directed to give notice thereof immediately by setting up written advertisements in three of the most public places in said township.

"Ordered that hereafter all elections to be holden in Washington township, in the attached part on the east side of Tippecanoe county, shall be holden at the house of John Ross, in said township (in the town of Jefferson )."

The services of the assessor of taxes were apparently not very heavy, for at this same May session Eljiah Furgason was allowed "the sum of forty dollars for assessing the persons and property of the county of Tippecanoe, for the year 1829, including the attached part east of Tippecanoe.''

"J. K. Leming. having satisfied the Board that his stock of foreign merchandise does not exceed one thousand dollars, he is therefore licensed and authorized to vend foreign merchandise in the town of Jefferson, in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, for the term of four months, he having paid into the county treasury the sum of Three Dollars and Thirty-three cents, which this Board establishes as his rate."

"The Board appoint Joseph FT ill constable for Washington township, in the attached part of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, until the first Monday in January next, and until succeeded in office, he having filed bond with security therein approved by the Board."

At the September session of the Board of Justices, Abner Baker and Aaron H. Southard were granted a license to retail merchandise for the term of six months, on payment of five dollars. This was the last session of the Board of Justices, they having been superseded by the County Commissioners, who held their first session in November, 1829.

The only business concerning the attached territory recorded by the new board was the appointment of Isaac Cook, Thomas Canby and Mordecai Mc- Kinsey, as road viewers, to locate two "cart-ways" which were petitioned for bv Nathan Kirk and Samuel Allen. The first was to run from the north end of E. l/2 of S. r4 of Sec. 2, Tp. 20 N., Range 1 W. to the W. T4 of S. E. r4 of Sec. 35. Tp. 20 N.. Range 1 W. These viewers duly reported the laying

Crude as this system of local government was, it met for the time being the needs of the scattered settlers for the two years that it was in force; but population was increasing rapidly, and having reached a total of 1,423 souls in 1830. a petition to the legislature for a separate county government was prepared, which was favorably acted upon. In passing, it is worth while, at this time, to notice a local name that came in vogue. As has been noted, all of the county was included in the Washington township erected by the Tippecanoe Board, but "township" was too humble a title for over 400 square miles of land, and as it was "the Territory attached." the settlers gave it the name of "Washington Territory," as handed down by tradition.

When the legislature of 1830 met the state was in a blaze of awakening enthusiasm over canals. Railroad building was not sufficiently advanced to make possible an appreciation of its advantages, but most of the settlers were more or less familiar with inland navigation, and canals seemed the natural solution of the transportation problem in Indiana. Indeed, water transportation will probably yet be of much greater importance than it is now, for it is bv far the cheapest mode of transportation known, and the improvement of the streams of Indiana is a feasible mode for its introduction to a very large extent. Tf Indiana had expended as much for improvement of her streams as she did for canals, she would have today manv miles of practically navigable waterways. But the people of those days "lived up to their light," and canals were the apparent "cure-all" for the evils of lack of transportation from which they were then suffering. The construction of the Wabash and Erie canal had been provided for by the Act of January 5. 1828, and it was only natural that the new county should be named Clinton, in honor of the canalbuilding governor of New York. Dewitt Clinton, a descendant of Charles Clinton, of County Longford, Ireland, who was the founder of the celebrated New York family. The word Clinton or Cdinton is an old English place name, and signifies "the farmstead by the headland or crag."

Of the townships. Ross was named for the pioneer settler, John Ross, who was one of the first associate judges of the county; and the town of Rossville had its name from the same source. Washington, Madison and Jackson were named for the three Presidents of the United States of those names. Center, of course, takes its name from its location, and Sugar Creek from its principal stream : Michigan was named for the Michigan road, which runs through it. as also Michigantown. Perry and Warren were organized in the days of canal navigation excitement, and were named for the

American commodores. Kirklin, township and town, were named for Nathan Kirk, the pioneer settler of the town. Johnson was named for Col. Richard Tohnson, who was believed by all loyal Democrats to have ki'led Tecumseh. Owen was named for Robert Dale Owen, of the New Harmony family. Forest, the youngest of the townships (except Union) was named for its excess of timber at the time it was organized. Union was formed by a union of the northern part of Center and southern part of Owen.

Of the towns, Jefferson, the oldest town in the county, was named for President Thomas Jefferson; and the town of Hamilton, nine miles north of it, commemorates his oldtime rival, Alexander Hamilton. Mulberry was given its name on account of a mulberry tree which grew at that point. When the town was platted in 1858, it was recorded under the name of "Glicksburg," but W. S. Perrin, of Lafayette, who platted it, filed an affidavit that this was an error of the surveyor, and so the name of Mulberry was saved. Manson was named for General Mahlon D. Manson, who was colonel of the Tenth Indiana, in which the first company from Clinton went into the Civil war. Colfax was originally named Midway, as a half-wav station on the old I., C. & L. railroad between Lafayette and Indianapolis. It was changed to Colfax in honor of Schuyler Colfax, vice-president of the United States and the most distinguished bearer of the name, although his grandfather, Gen. William Colfax, was commander of General Washington's "life guards" during the Revolutionary war. Colfax is supposed to be corrupted from the old English name of Col fox. or Black-fox. Moran and Sedalia are railroad towns, laid out in 1873. Moran was named for an official of the Vandalia road, who was from Sedalia. Illinois, and he suggested the name of Sedalia on that account. Killmore takes its name from the creek, which was named for John Killmore, one of the few unmarried settlers, who left the county for the Northwest many years ago. The town was originally laid out by Abner C. Pence as Penceville, and was known by that name for twenty years, when it was changed by the railroad company. Middle Fork likewise takes its name from the stream on which it is located. Scircleville is named for George Addison Scircle, who platted it; Hissisburg, for John E. Hillis; Bovleston, for Lewis X. Boyle, of Indianapolis, who platted it. Pickard's Mill is named for Joseph Pickard, who had a saw-mill there in an early day. The mill was originally at Jefferson, but was packed up and moved across to the new site. A tow n was laid out here in 1844, by James Ward, but it was never platted. It acquired the popular name of "Tailholt." and when a postoffice was to be located there, the people asked that it be named Tailholt, but the postal authorities demurred, and it was named Pickard's Mill. The old name still lives, however, and many people think it was the source of inspiration of Riley's poem on "The Little Town O' Tailholt.'' This, however, is erroneous. The writer has Air. Riley's personal assurance that the "Tailholt" of his acquaintance, and which is referred to in the poem, is about seven miles south of Greenfield, in Hancock county, and known as Carrolton, or Reedville Station.

In the early days there were several towns platted in Clinton county, that today are only memories. They were located at points supposed to have advantages, and most of them died on account of more prosperous rivals located on railroads, or with some other advantage. One of the earliest of these, was Wilmington, half a mile south of Kirklin, on the Michigan road. It promised well but the location of the Strawtown or Newcastle road so that it crossed the Michigan road half a mile away, was its death blow. Prairieville. on the Lafayette State Road, five miles west of Manson, and four miles north of Colfax, was another early death. Berlin was laid on Indian Prairie in 1847 by Jacob Kysor, Jesse Hopkins, Daniel Scott and Leonard Kirby, and was supposed to have fine prospects, but now it is not on the map. Alortonsville. in the northern part of Johnson township, was strangled in infancy by Forest. There is little left of Hamilton on account of the superior attractions of Mulberry. Middle Fork and Greetingsville (sometimes facetiously called "Gittingsville") are decadent on account of having no railroad facilities.

There is one village in the county whose name is a mystery to most of the present residents of the county and that is Edna Alills. The name has been in use for over half a century, and the oldest inhabitants of the vicinity say that when it was first made a postoffice, a Mr. Kellenbarger, who owned a mill at that point, gave it the name of Edna in honor of his wife. The location used also to be called facetiously "Blackberry." The occasion for this was that a blacksmith named Alichaels had a shop there and his favorite tipple was Blackberry brandy, making "Blackberry" the notable feature of the locality.

Cyclone bears the most tragic of the local names. It commemorates the cyclone of June 14. 18S0, which was the most destructive storm that ever visited the county, either since its settlement or in traditional historv. It was a genuine cyclone with a "funnel shaped cloud." which swept over a curved path of over forty miles in this and adjoining counties, leaving desolation in its wake. It was estimated to have done $200,000 damage in this county. The present town, which was located about that time as a railroad station, was in the path of the storm and was named on account of it (3)