Jay County, Indiana - Chapter 11: Oraanization of the County, 1864

Chapter 11: Oraanization of the County

The land lying south of the boundary road, in Jay County, was ceded to the United States by the Indians in a Treaty made at Greenville, Ohio, August 3, 1795. The line began at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and, after various windings, reached Fort Recovery, and proceeded "south-, westerly in a direct line to the Ohio River, so as to intercept it opposite the mouth of the Kentucky or^Cuttawa River."

This treaty was signed, on the part of the United States, by Major General Anthony Wayne, and by the Indians, by the chiefs of the following tribes : Wyandots, Shawnees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Kaskaskias.

a Treaty made at St. Mary's, Ohio, October 6, 1818. It was between Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, Commissioners of the United States, and the Chiefs of the Miami nation of Indians, viz : Peshawa or Richard ville, Osas, Ketanga or Charley, and others. In this Treaty many reservations were made by the Indians, two of which were in Jay, as follows : "One reservation of two miles square on the Salimonie River, at the mouth of Atchepongqwawe Creek," (now called Butternut, from the butternut trees growing along its banks). The other reserves "to Francois Godfrey six sections of land on the Salimonie River, at a place called Lapetite Prairie." The two mile reservation on Butternut Creek was ceded to the United States by the Miami tribe of Indians, in a Treaty made

Colonel John Yawter, of Jennings County, was Chairman of a Committee in the House of Representatives, of the Legislature of 1835-6, that introduced a bill, which passed and was approved February Yth, 1835, entitled "an act laying out all the unorganized territory, to which the Indian title has been extinguished, in the State, into a suitable number of counties, and for other purposes," by which the counties of Jay, Adams, Wells, DeKalb, Steuben, Whitley, Kosciusko, Ful-

That all the territory included within the following boundary lines shall constitute and form a county, to be known by the name of Jay; beginning at the southeast corner of Adams County, thence west to the eastern boundary of Grant County, thence south to the northern boundary of Delaware, thence east with the northern boundary of said county, to the north-east corner of the same, thence south to the north-west corner of Randolph County, thence east with the northern boundary of said county, to the .State line, thence north to the place of beginning.

The chief labor of laying out the territory into counties devolved upon Colonel Yawter, who was better acquainted with the country than any other member of the committee, yet, when the counties were named, he was not allowed the privilege of giving a name to even one of the fourteen counties organized by his bill. He always regretted this exceedingly, as he was very anxious to name one county Armstkong, in honor of a brave old soldier of that name who spent his best days in the northern part of Indiana, and who finally fell a victim to Indian barbarity.

John Jay, in honor of whom the county was named, was the iirst Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was appointed Minister to England, in 1791:, when he resigned the office of Chief Justice. In 1800, while he was Governor of New York,- he was re-appointed Chief Justice, but declined the appointment.

Section 1. Be it enacted hy the General Assem- Uy^ c&c. : That, from and after the first day of March next, the county of Jay shall enjoy all the rights and jurisdiction which, to separate and independent counties, do or may properly belong.

Secs. 2d and 3d, appointed the commissioners to locate the county seat, made it the duty of the Sheriff of Randolph County to notify them, and that they should be paid from the treasury of Jay County.

Sec. 5, made it the duty of the county agent to" reserve ten per cent, of the money received from the sale of donated lots for the use of the County Library.

The following persons were appointed by the Legislature to locate the county seat : Judge Jer. Smith, Judge Zachariah Pucket, still living in Randolph County, Jacob Thornburg,. of Henry County, who has been dead many years, Mr. I^athan Coleman, of Allen County, and Mr. Philip Moore, of Delaware County, who died about that time. "With the exception of Mr. Moore, they all met at H. H. Cuppy's the first Monday in June, 1836, as required by the^law. Camden, they said, though a pretty site, was too far from the center, (for they then anticipated that Blackford County would be stricken off.) The geographical center of the county, one and a quarter miles north-west of Portland, was too low. They then viewed the " Sugar-tree " grove, about one and a half miles south-west of Portland, and decided that was the most appropriate spot. But they were falsely told by a man who desired to enter that land himself, that the owner of it lived in Union County, Indiana, and would not sell the land on any terms. They then took eighty acres on the north side of the Salimonie, offered by Daniel Pied, of Richmond, through the agency of H. H. Cuppy, and ten acres adjoining, offered by James Hathaway. Pied reserved half the lots around the court house square, and one-third of all others.

Jay County is eighteen miles long (north and south), twenty-one miles wide across the north end, and twenty-two across the south end. The face of the country is generally level, although somewhat broken along the water courses. The surface soil is usually a dark loam, with a subsoil of clay, intermixed with limestone gravel. There is a section of country lying toward the northwest part of the county, embracing about six square miles, which is in some of its features unlike other portions. In this section, the surface soil is a sandy loam, lying upon a gravel subsoil. It is interspersed with many hillocks or knobs, which Benjamin Ninde called the Lost Mountains. This district is chiefly in Penn Township.

There is not much rock in the county. Enough "grayheads" generally are found to supply the demand for walling cellars and wells. In the vicinity of Antioch and three miles north of Portland, this variety of rock prevails extensively. For two miles above and below New Corydon the "Wabash river flows over a stratum of white limestone, A mile south of the river this quarry of stone crops oat in the creeks and runs, but being in the beds of the streams, can only be quarried in dry seasons. A lime-kiln has been in operation for several seasons on the south bank of the river, by Washington Walter, which turns out lime unsurpassed anywhere. Limestone is also

Physical Geogkapht

The country is very well watered by the numerous streams that take their rise within its limits. They have so little fall, however, they afibrd but very little water power. Springs abound along some of these streams. It was originally very heavily timbered with beech, hickory, oak, ash, walnut, sugar, maple, elm, linden, sycamore, &c. When the tirst settlers came, the woods were destitute of an undergrowth. As the settlements became ffcneral, and' fires were not allowed to run through the timber lands, a dense undergrowth sprung up.

The county abounds in wild fruits, consisting of plums, grapes, paw-paws, blackberries, gooseberries, and, in the neighborhood of the Loblolly, were huckleberries and cranberries.

A belt extends across the north part of Jackson Township from west to east, varying in width from eighty rods to a mile, called the Loblolly. It consists of brushy ponds, wet prairies and small lakes. Along its border is some of the richest land within the county. It is thought that nearly the entire tract can be reclaimed and made very profitable for agricultural purposes. Considerable portions of it were conveyed by the United States to the State of Indiana several years since, and were by the State sold, the pro- ceeds of which, after paying expenses, were to be applied in draining the lands so sold. With this fund some draining has been done ; the amount of the fund, however, was insufficient to complete the work. The county is bounded on the north bj the counties of Adams and Wells, on the east by Mercer and Darke counties, Ohio, on the . south by Randolph County, and on the west by Delaware and Blackfurd counties.

The county was now (1836) organized. This fact, added to the reputation the county had gained for richness of soil, heavy timber, abundance of game and cheap land, brought new settlers by hundreds during this and the several succeeding years. Entering land, building houses, clearing fields, and cutting out roads, occupied almost ex- clusively the attention of the people. Prior to this time there had been, during four years, only sixty-four entries of land. The following shows the number of pieces of land entered in each township during this and the following year:

Large numbers also came in who did not enter land immediately. This sudden and numerous influx - all "early settlers" - precludes all possibility of our even mentioning their names in this work, much less recounting their experiences. And, indeed, it is unnecessary. Enough has been said of the earlier settlers to exhibit pioneer life in all its important aspects. To add more from the abundance that might be given, would be to tire the reader with the repeated narration of similar occurrences.