Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 5: The Record of Tpie Original Possessors of Delaware County's Soil, 1908

The Irnct book in tlic auditor's office establishes a sort of pioneer landowning aristocracy for Delaware county. There are written the names of those who entered the lands of the county from the government, thus in a legal sense becoming the first actual possessors. Those who thus entered land and became permanent settlers upon it are entitled above all others to the honor of being pioneers. It is true that many came to the county, Ijonght land that had already been entered but had not been improved, and by the toil and hardship encountered in reclaiming the land from the wilderness became as truly entitled to the praise bestowed upon pioneers as those who entered land. Moreover, there was another class of men who made a practice of speculating in public lands, buying up great quantities, ami holding them till the general increase in values afforded opportunities for large profits. These men - and there were such among those who entered the lands of this county - deserve none of the worthy merit of the pioneer. To discriminate among these classes and point out the actual pioneers is obviously impossible, even if the tract book were supplemented by extended individual comment. But in the course of the narrative, it will appear that many of the names mentioned among the land entrymen are honored settlers in those localities, and beyond this it is impossible to designate the career of the many names found in this old record.

The tract book is a very matter-of-fact record about facts and persons diat are now generally forgotten, and therefore is seldom called for or consulted. Mr. John S. Ellis, in his little book on the history of Delaware county, has used the land entries as the basis of his work, in which he has given sonic historical statement about every section of the county's area. The material of the tract book is worthy of preservation, and perhaps no better way of arranging it could be found than that adopted by Mr. Ellis. Tor the purpose of this history, however, it has been deemed best to abbreviate the record as far as possible and arrange it with the view of supplementing the general narrative that precedes and follows it. In line with this purpose the townships have been considered in the chronological order of the entries. ML Pleasant having the earliest entry comes first. Then, instead of giving the record concerning the separate sections in the order of their position, they are taken up according to the date of their first entries. The advantage of this is that the parts of each township that were first selected and settled are first named in the record. After each section the record first gives the date of the first entry of land therein and then the date of the last entry ; these dates are followed by the names of those who entered the land, usually in the order in which the entries were made.

Sec. 35 - 1835, 1836: John Dinsmore, Daniel Fox, William Woods, Samuel Lcwcllcn. Sec. 10 - 1835, 1837: East half reserved for schools; west half to Isaac

Nathaniel Polk, William Lee, Daniel Fisher, Hugh Campbell. Sec. 18 - 1836: Ezra Wasson and Thomas Moore. Sec. 22 - 1836: Jacob Moore, James Bolton, Augustus A. Root, Loxley A.

It requires but a brief study of the original land entries to prove the claim advanced earlier in this narrative that the rivers, being the principal transportation routes of the early days, drew the first settlers to their banks and caused a grouping of population along the streams at the expense of the higher lands that had no running streams. In this county, water transportation played a very meager part, but the two principal streams none the less directed the settlers in their location. This was natural, since along the running streams were to be found the mill sites, and also water for stock purposes. It is an interesting proof of the part taken by the rivers in settlement that the larger towns of Delaware county were all founded on the banks of either the White or Mississinewa river. Muncie, Yorktown and Smithfield on the White river, and Eaton, Albany and Wheeling on the Mississinewa, were eligible town sites in the eyes of their founders because of the rivers. It might be offered in proof that Hamilton and Harrison townships, which are the only townships in the county entirely away from the winding courses of one of these rivers, were among the last townships to be settled.

Using the table of land entries as a basis for conclusions, it will be interesting to notice what parts of the county had been settled before the beginning of the year 1830. Starting with Liberty township, we find that nine sections had been partly entered. The first entry in the township was in section 21, on the White river near Smithfield. The next sections where entries were made were 28 and 29, both crossed by this river. Then came sections 22 and 24, both on the course of the river; then section 30, with the river around two sides, and sections 23 and 25, also touched by the river. Of the nine sections, section 18 is the only one settled before 1830 that was not watered by the river.

From Liberty township, Wliitc river flows through the northwestern corner of Perry. Right in this same corner the first entries were made, in sections 31, 32, and 33, and in that order. In this township entries had been made in twelve townships before 1830, namely: 31, 32, 33, 1, 4, 13, i". 5. 8, 9, 21 and 23. Beyond the first two sections it is not possible to affirm the positive influence of the river in directing the choice of locations. Perry township was the first point of attack, as it were, from the incoming pioneers. The movement of immigration was from the southeast, with Wayne county as the principal focus, and at an early period a road was laid out from Richmond toward Mtincic and Marion, this becoming a thoroughfare that of itself exerted a great influence on settlement. So the early settlers of Perry seem to have been less restricted in their selection of land and to have quickly found homes in every part of the township. But section 31, with the White river flowing through the north half, was the only one of the twelve townships all of whose land had been entered by 1830; this of itself being proof that the settlers rather favored land that bordered the river.

Monroe township was among those later settled and White river played little or no part in its settlement. The four sections which had entries before 1830 were sections 10, 15, 12, 23.

Passing to Center township, it is found that entries had been made in thirteen townships before 1830. Section 25, in which was the first entry, lies in the southeast corner of the township, right on the course of the river. The other twelve sections, in order of the date of first entry, are 10, 13, 9, 11, 14, 15, 24, 34, 35, 3, 17, 18. All but two of these arc traversed by the river or lie less than half a mile from it.

Following the course of the river into Mt. Pleasant township, it appears that before 1830 entries had been made on eight sections and that every one was adjacent to the river or Buck creek. We have already spoken of the Indian land grants, all of which lay along the river.

Turning south, White river before leaving the county passes through a considerable portion of Salem township. Land entries on fourteen sections of this township were made before 1830. The settlement of this township was an extension from Henry county on the south, and it is probable that the first settlers had some feeling of neighborly relation with the nearest settlers of that county, and, other things being equal, preferred to remain as close to them as possible. But here as elsewhere the first settler had chosen a location near the river, in section 31. Sections 20, 21, 22, 23, on the south line of the township, were next settled, and then followed the block of townships in the northwest corner, near the river, consisting of sections 12, 1,6, and 32. The other sections to receive entries before 1830 were: 36, 1, 14, 15 and 24 (R. 8).

Of the townships away from White river few had entrymen before 1830. Washington had three sections, 15, 11, and 12, which showed entries previous to that time - all of them in the northeast corner near the Missis* sincwa. In Union township only section 22, along the river, was entered, in 18-29. and in Hamilton township sections 25 and 26 had entries late in i8jo. No entries were made in other townships within the time now being considered.

At the close of the decade of the twenties, entries had been recorded for land in 66 different sections in the county. Considerably more than half of the land taken up lay adjacent to the larger water courses, so that stronger proof could not be desired of the influence of the rivers in the early settlement