Dubois County, Indiana - Chapter 1: Early Settlement, 1896

Dubois County as known in 1896, and as it has been for half a century, is bounded on the north by Daviess and Martin Counties ; on the east by Orange, Crawford and Perry Counties ; on the south by Perry, Spencer and Warrick Counties, and on the west by Warrick and Pike Counties. At its greatest length it is twenty-two miles, and at its greatest width it is twentyone miles. Its greatest length is north and south. The center of the county is about two miles southeast of Jasper, its county seat.

When Indiana became a territory, [1805] what is now known as Dubois County, was part of Knox County. About eight years later Gibson County was organized and it embraced a part of what is now Dubois. In 1816, this territory became a part of Pike County, and was so known when Indiana became a state, that is, on Dec. 11, 1816. On December 20, 1817, an act was approved creating Dubois County, not just as we know its present size and shape, but as an individual county. That act was passed at Corydon, then the capital of Indiana.

Gen. W. Johnson, of Knox County ; Thomas Polke, of Perry County ; Thomas Montgomery, of Gibson County ; Richard Palmer, of Daviess County, and Ephraim Jordon, of Knox County, were appointed commissioners to select a site for a county seat. They selected the place where Portersville now stands. The same act that empowered these men to select a place for the county seat, stated that ten per cent of the net proceeds of the sale of the lots should be reserved for the use of a county library in Dubois countv. This would seem to indicate that Dubois County and education were twin sisters. The commissioners mentioned above, selected Portersville, on Monday, February 9, 1818.

Dubois County takes its name from Toussaint Dubois, a Frenchman, of Vincennes, Indiana. He was a soldier under Gen. William Henry Harrison, and was in the fight at Tippecanoe. Harrison also employed him as a messenger to various Indian tribes.

It is generally believed that Dubois County was settled in 1801, along a route that passed through the county, leading from Vincennes to Jeffersonville. This route is also known as the "mud hole trace," and passed south of Portersville and nearly parallel with the base-line. It passed near the Ludlow school-house in Harbison township, and south of Crystal in Columbia township. Near Crystal, not many years ago, part of the'old logs cut by General Harrison's men and used in making the road passable, were dug out of the ground so that it might be cultivated. The route passed near the Union Valley school-house in Columbia township, and up Cane Creek into Orange Along this route, or road, brave pioneers traveled in going between Vincennes and the falls of the Ohio River. General Harrison's forces camped two days at the Milburn Spring, near the Union Valley schoolhouse. He also camped at Fort McDonald. General Harrison's men took

"My father, Allen McDonald, was the first white man born in Dubois County, having been born about ten rods east of Sherritt's graveyard, on Sunday, January 15, 1809. He was a son of William McDonald, who came to Dubois County in 1801, and cleared six acres, immediately south of the above graveyard. Father died October i, 1880. My grandfather, William McDonald, was born in Scotland, Oc- LIEUT. HIRAM Mcdonald, Co. D. 24th tober 10, 1775, and came to Pennsylvania

Donald* Born December 18, 1837. En- i3.,was bom ju Hamburg, Germany, March Wafu'n"ti!DlcJ^^^^^^^^^^^ 3^^ 1775- She also Came to Pennsylvania when the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 34, town one, north, range five west, near the section line, and about one hundred and twenty rods north of the base line. I knew the fort well when I was a boy, and often slept in it. The lower story was divided into two rooms for the families of the early settlers. The second story was in one room. From its walls were port holes two inches wide and four inches

"My grandfather had first settled at what is now the Sherritt graveyard and there built the first cabin in Dubois County. In it my father was bor , and he now lies buried but a few rods away from its former location.

"This cabin was about one half of a mile south of Fort McDonald. This settlement was the only one between Vincennes and Paoli. Pioneers came in groups of five or six, as a protection against an Indian attack. They remained over night and then proceeded to Vincennes or Paoli, which they forced themselves to reach in one da}. There was a small "horse-mill" at Vincennes, and there they went for meal; on sleds in winter; on horse-back in summer.

"The first white person to be buried in Dubois County was a sister of William McDonald, my grandfather. She was put to rest in what is now Sherritt's graveyard - and made its first grave.

"One night the Indians came to my grandfather's cabin and stole his four horses. They were followed to "Rock House Shoals," (Buck Shoals) and there all tracks of Indians and horses were lost.

"Toussaint Dubois entered the land upon which my grandfather first settled. My father was once offered the 330 acres for a small bay mare that he afterwards sold for $45. Now each acre is worth more. Six months after Dubois entered the land my grandfather first settled on, James Tolly entered, for my grandfather, the 160 acres upon which Fort McDonald stood.

"Church services and schools were held in Fort McDonald, and in this respect, like in many others, this old fort stands first in the history of Dubois County.

his progeny: His children were David B., Alexander, James F., Mary F., Joanna H., Napoleon B.,John, Allen, William and Maria, [lo]. Alexander McDonald's children were William A., Mary, Marie, Esther and Jane, [5]. Jane McDonald, in 1841, became the wife of Mr. Jesse Traylor. She died in 1861. Her children are Senator Wm. A. Traylor, Ex-Sheriff Albert H. Traylor, Joel, Lockhart, Perry G., Louis, Ellis, Edward S. and Basil, [9],

William McDonald's daughter, Joanna H., became the wife of Col. B. B. Edmonston. Allen McDonald, the first white person born in Dubois County, is the father of Hiram (the narrator), Louis A., Mary A., Sarah, Leander, Alexander, Frances, Fletcher, Eva, and Oscar, - and so the descendants run out into many families."

Here at the Sherritt Graveyard is a place where those who love to dwell upon the past history of Dubois County can find food for thought. If you are like Sir Walter Scott's "Old Mortalit}'," you can brush away the moss from the "French Lick" headstones, and read beneath, "Born, 1765," ''Born, 1776;" "Died, 1815," "Died, 1825," and any number of similar dates, while beneath your feet lie the remains of many hardy pioneers whose graves are unnumbered and unmarked, save by the ivy that the blasts of nearly a hundred winters have not eliminated. The dignity and eloquence of the names on the "mossy marbles" justify the pride of the living who loyally trace the most valued influences of their lives to the time when they knew and loved those now beneath the sod.

Here lie in peaceful slumber the early McDonalds, Niblacks, Sherritts, Haddocks, Kelsoes, Traylors, McCrilluses, Tollys, Churchills, Cavenders,

Touching the enclosure on the south side is t h e first field cleared from the prmieval forest ; touching the same enclosure on the west was built the first rude cabin on the east stood their first double log-cabin, and in it was born little Allen McDonald, the first white native of the soil that now constitutes Dubois County.

A few rods north of the graveyard runs the base line, at about 38° 30' north latitude, and in its "due westerly course" through Illinois to the city of St. Louis, while almost in sight is the location of old Fort McDonald, the protector of civilizing influence in Dubois County, and the camp of Gen. William Henry Harrison. It stood about 9° 58^ west of the city of Washington.

Let those who now own fine farms and homes in Dubois County pause here for a moment, and pay their respects to the bodies now crumbling in death, who, when in life directed the axe that cleared the forest and held the rifle that stayed the Indian, or felled the bear and panther.

Their labors and their efforts to advance civilization on the frontier in their days deserve a fitting memorial in the shape of a large substantial rustic monument of native stone. Who will erect it?