Clinton County, Indiana - Chapter 27: Sugar Creek Towxship, 1913

Until the organization of Union township in 1889, Sugar Creek was the smallest township in the county; but that change made Union, Owen and Center all of less extent. It is four sections east and west, by six and onehalf sections north and south, making an area of 26 sections. Occupying the southeastern corner of the county, it is bounded on the south by Boone county, on the east by Tipton and Hamilton counties, on the north by Johnson township, and on the west by Kirklin township.

Until 1838. the northern part of the township was included in the Big Miami Reserve, and the rest of the township was a primitive wilderness that did not invite early settlement. But it did present attractions to the hunter; and the first white man to locate within its borders came for the hunting and fishing, and found them. Thu was William Harru. who, in 1828, built a rude cabin on land afterwards known as the John Murphy farm. For four years Harris hunted and fished to his heart's content, with nobody to molest him. for there was not another white man located within the bounds of the township.

In 1832 came one more man. but he brought his family, and came for the purpose of farming. This was Abner Dunn, who in that year located on what was later known as the Peter B. Kennedy farm. For three years longer Harris and Dunn had the township to themselves, but in 1835 the population was doubled bv the arrival of \Y. Y. McKinsey and Merrill Cooper. Mc- Kinnev was an important addition to the township, as he was a blacksmith by trade. He reached the township in July, with his young wife and infant child, and at once began clearing land and building a cabin. The cabin was 16x18 feet, and was completed in the fall. He moved his family into it on October 18, his twenty-second birthday.

There were no additional settlers in 1836, but in 1837 David Kutz, James Littleton and William Imbles were added to the little band who were estab- lishing homes in the wilderness. The population was also increased this year by the birth of a son on March io, to William McKinney and his wife Mary. This boy, Asa McKinney, was the first white child born in the township. In 1838 the immigration began to increase, and John Crawford, James Hill, James Ward and John Cooper were added to the little settlement.

H. Lockridge, Maurice Ray, James King and Eli Dusky. From this time on the settlement of the township began to be settled quite rapidly. Among the earliest settlers, after 1840, were James Snodgrass, Daniel Scott, James, William and John Barnet, Walter Ivans and James Louks. James Louks was the first man to be married in the township, being united in matrimony to Eliza, a daughter of John Alexander, September 23, 1841. In 1850 the population reached 477; in i860 it was 719; in 1870 it was 964, and in 1880 it was

In the original organization of the county Sugar Creek was included in Jackson township, and so remained until 1837. when Kirklin township was organized, including Sugar Creek. In 1841 the residents of Sugar Creek petitioned for a separate township, and the county commissioners granted the request, and ordered an election to be held October 16. 1841, at the house of Merrill Cooper. Thomas Douglass was appointed to act as inspector at the election, and the first justice of the peace elected was John Cooper. His successor was W. \ . McKinney, who held the office for nine rears, and then resigned. Subsequent elections were held at the house of W. V. McKinney.

The people had no school privileges until 1839, when a school house was built on the Cooper farm, which was just across the present line of Kirklin township. In 1840 the first school house within the township was built on the Rav farm. It was a small log cabin, and school was taught in it in the winter of 1840 and 1841. Soon afterwards another school house was built on the farm of John Alexander. Among the earliest teachers were George Wimborough and James Hill. In the early period school townships were not necessarily identical with civil townships, and at the beginning John Hall, John Ferguson and \Y. V. McKinney were school trustees for Kirklin and Sugar Creek townships.

In 1843 the first mill in the township was built by John Cooper, an earlv settler, who came to the township in 1838, with his wife and nine children. It was a saw mill with a corn-cracker attached. Another earlv mill was the Pickard mill, which was originally erected at Jefferson, but was taken down and hauled to the present village of Pickard's Mill. In 1851 Ward, Hill and

McMannis replaced this with a steam saw mill, which was also furnished with burrs, and a considerable quantity of wheat and corn was ground in it.

The early religious history of the township is somewhat obscure. The first religious meeting large enough to have received record was held at John Crawford's in 1843 by the Methodists, and Thomas Spencer and John Crawford were the ministers in attendance. It seems hardly possible, however, that there were not some meetings prior to that time. Malachi Cooper, father of John Cooper, was a Baptist minister, and he solemnized the first marriage, in 1841. The Missionary Baptists were the first to form a church organization in the township, and this was in 1843, soon after the Methodist meeting mentioned.

The Missionary Baptists also built the first church, a house of hewed logs, in 1844, on the Hill farm, and this was later replaced by a frame church. The "Hard Shell" Baptists organized a church in 1844, which continued for some years, and then went to pieces. The Methodists do not appear to have erected any church building until 1873, when they put up one at Pickard's Mill, at a cost of some Si. 600. Their society went to pieces, and the building was occupied for some years by the Quakers, who had quite a flourishing congregation, with a regular preacher. At present the Society of Friends is represented by Xew Hope congregation, in the southeastern part of the township, which is treated as a missionary station of West Grove Monthlv and Quarterly meetings. It comprBes 14 families and 30 members. Sugar Creek Christian church, in the southwestern part of the township, four miles east of Ivirklin. is a flourishing congregation of the Disciples, with 160 members, of which Rev. J. H. Walker, of Galveston, is pastor. This congregation has recently erected a church building, at a cost of Si, 600, which was dedicated November 9, 1913.

The only village in the township is Pickard's Mill, or, as it is very commonly called, Pickard. As previously mentioned it was also known as "Tailholt," and still frequently receives that name, hut it is not the Tailholt of Mr. Riley's poem. The place was laid out in 1844 by James Ward, who also established the first store there. The first blacksmith was Robert Boyer. The first doctors were Dr. Milton Cooper and Dr. Williams. The first postmaster was Thomas Puckit, and the first person who brought the mail to the village was Samuel Mitchell.

Sugar Creek Lodge, No. 321, I. O. O. F.. was organized at Berlin, April 2, 1869, and removed to Pickard's Mill in November, 1870. It now has 127 members. R. F. Boyer is Noble Grand, and D. T. Bennett Financial Secretary. New Hasleton Lodge, No. 597, Daughters of Rebekah, is affiliated. Zuni Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men. was instituted April 26. t8o8. It has 129 members, and O. S. Graham is C. of R. Pickard Lodge. No. 690, A. F. and A. M., was chartered May 27, 1913. It has 27 members. Grover C. Dunham is Worshipful Master, and Grover Miller. Secretarv.