Johnson County, Indiana - Chapter 5: Organization of the County, 1881

In the fall of 1822, George King, Garrett C. Bergen and Simon Covert, came from Kentucky to look at the lands in this part of the New Purchase. The capital of the State had been laid out that summer, and thin streams of immigration were pouring into the New Purchase from the east and the south. Not all of the counties of Central Indiana were then organized, as at present, but such unorganized territory, including that of Johnson, was attached to Delaware County. These land hunters had an eye to the partition of the New Purchase into counties in the near future, and, when they reached the Blue River settlement, King inquired of Heriott for an eligible site for the location of a town, and was cited to the tract lying between Young's Creek and Camp Creek. The place was visited, and it was found to be covered by a fine growth of beech, sugar tree, ash, walnut and poplar timber, while a tangled thicket of enormous spice brush grew up beneath. Along Young's Creek a great hurricane had passed some years before, as was plainly to be seen from the great swaths of timber cast along its bottoms. The storm had evidently come from the west, and at the mouth of Camp Creek it had changed its course, and, following the course of this stream, had plowed a great, wide furrow, extending for miles in the dense groves of timber which grew along its bottoms. Just above the mouth of Camp Creek, on the north side of Young's Creek, was a tract of boggy ground, and at the upper margin a sulphur spring burst forth. Here was a deer lick, and the numerous paths worn through the dense brush converging from every quarter of the compass, not only testified to the place being a favorite resort of the deer, but to their great abundance. The men were pleased with the prospect, and, King selecting the eighty-acre tract on which the town of Franklin was afterward located, Covert took the eighty lying to the cast, and Bergen that on the north. But, when they reached the land office, it was ascertained that Daniel Pritchard, on the 25th of September before, had entered King's tract : thereupon King entered the tract lying to the west of it, while the others purchased as they had originally intended. King sought out Pritchard at once, and bought his eighty acres by paying him Si!' mi as an advance of the original cost. The Legislature was expected to meet soon, and, for some reason not well understood now, quite a stir was among the people in some localities as to the probable action to be taken with reference to new counties. Those of the White River neighborhood entertained a lofty idea of the Bluffs as a future shipping port. The Commissioners for the location of the capital building visited the spot, and, it is said, that a minority favored the place. But the capital had gone elsewhere, and the White River people now set about the organization of a county with such territorial boundaries as would enable the Bluffs to compete for a county seat location. With county lines so firmly established as they are to-day, and Central Indiana so handsomely platted into counties as it is, it is difficult to appreciate the claims that must have been put forth ; but let it be borne in mind that Central Indiana was at that time a great wilderness, with here and there a little settlement, and that the Bluffs was one of the noted places in the land.

There were those in the Blue River settlement aspiring in behalf of their new town of Edinburg ; but, while the White River people organized, and employed a lawyer to attend the Legislature and look after their interest, those of Blue River seem to have taken no active part in the matter.

George King took upon himself the burden of seeing that the territory lying between Shelby and Morgan Counties was duly organized, and to that end a petition was duly prepared, and was circulated by John Smiley. According to contemporaneous memory, Smiley seems to have brought to his aid a zeal that insured a numerously signed paper. All the men and all the boys in the Sugar Creek settlement, on both sides the Shelby line, and the larger majority of those living in Blue River, signed that petition, in person or by proxy, and Col. James Gregory, a Senator from Shelby County, as the friend of the new enterprise, claimed that it contained the names of all who had died and of some who had never lived in the country. That petition was never submitted to a legislative committee ; but Mr. Smiley went into Washington County, where he had formerly lived, and there he procured signers to a petition which was used.

Armed with his petitions, King, on his way home to Kentucky, turned aside and stopped at Corydon, where the Legislature was in session, and the battle was soon on. Harvey Gregg, a shrewd lawyer and an active politician, winning in manner and popular in his address, who had lately moved to the new capital from Kentucky, was there as the representative of the White River interest. King feared Gregg and his winning ways, and, had it not been for geographical position, the lawyer would most likely have carried off' the prize, and the Bluffs have been a county town.

A Mr. Johnson, from some point still lower down White River, also appeared upon the scene, and, as the sequel will show, lacked little of securing the prize to himself, in spite of all others. His plan, as also the plan of Gregg, is not now remembered, and, but for the testimony of some who took part in these scenes, it would be difficult to believe that any legislator could seriously have thought of disturbing the harmony of counties already organized.

King and Gregory, finding their interests identical, pulled together. The Sugar Creek and Blue River petition was destroyed, on the advice of the latter, but a bill was prepared, and the Washington County petition kept in the field.*

In the House of Representatives, the King bill was passed at once ; but in the Senate, trouble began. King was acquainted with but two members in that body, one of whom was Marston G. Clarke, the member from Washington, and a nephew of the celebrated George Rogers Clarke. He was a stern, dignified man, " barely able," says Oliver H. Smith, " to read a chapter in the Bible and wrote his name as large as John Hancock's in the Declaration of Independence." His sense of justice was acute, his mental force great, and his influence in the Senate almost unbounded. A man of his character and temperament, King thought it not safe to attempt to influence in behalf of his bill, lest he should be suspected of mercenary motives, and a prejudice spring up in the mind of the legislator against him and his measure.

For two weeks, Gregg and King were making their best endeavors to carry their respective measures to a triumphant issue. In the House, Gregg was powerless ; and in the Senate, so was King. In the House, every measure antagonistic to the King bill was voted down ; while in the Senate, no action was taken.

There was but one map of the State at the time, accessible to members of the Legislature, and it not infrequently happened, that, while one committee was using it, another wanted it. In the belief that a map placed before the Senate Committee on the Organization of Counties, at the proper time, might be in his favor, King procured paper and the necessary instruments, and, occupying the better part of a night in the work, he traced out a rude map of the State.

In a few days, the Senate Committee on the Organization of Counties was to meet, and Johnson asked for the use of King's map for that committee. Gen. Clarke, who was a member of the committee, was not present during the early part of the meeting, nor was Harvey Gregg; and Johnson, who was a fluent talker and an importunate man, had it all his own way. The commit- tee, as a compromise measure doubtless, agreed to report in favor of his plan ; but before the session adjourned, Clarke came in and inquired what had been done. Being told, he studied the map attentively for some moments, and then burst out with : "That fellow," pointing to Johnson, "or some friend of his, owns land on which lie expects the county seat of this new county to be located," and, at this sally, Johnson indignantly left the room.

Then King approached the table on which the map lay and pointed out, as well as he couid, the reasons why the House bill organizing Johnson County should become a law ; and, after considering the matter carefully, Gen. Clarke said, " You shall have it, sir ! " and, before the committee adjourned, it was agreed to report in favor of the House bill.

The next day the report was accordingly made and concurred in, the bill was passed, and, on the last day of December, 1822, it received the Governor's signature and became a law of the land. It is in the following words :

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That from and after the first Monday in May next, all that part of the county of Delaware contained in the following boundaries, to wit: beginning at the southwest corner of Section thirty-four, in Township eleven north, of Range five east, the same being the southwest corner of Shelby County; thence running north with the line of said county to the southeast corner of Marion County; thence west to the northeast corner of Morgan County; thence south on the line of said county to the township line dividing Townships ten and eleven; thence east to said line to the place of beginning - shall constitute and form a new county, which shall be called and designated by the name of Johnson.

Sec. 2. That John Parr, of the county of Washington; Adam Miller, of the county of Jackson: John W. Lee, of the county of Monroe; James Gregory, of the county of Shelby, and Archibald McEwing, of the county of Bartholomew, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for the purpose of fixing the permanent seat of justice for said county, agreeably to the provisions of an act entitled, "An act for fixing of seats of justice in all new counties to be laid off." The Commissioners above named or a majority of them shall meet at the house of John Smiley in said new county, on the first Monday in May, and proceed to the duties assigned them by law.

Sec. 3. That the said county shall enjoy all the rights, privileges and jurisdictions, which, to a separate county, do or may properly belong.

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the Sheriff of Bartholomew County to notify the Commissioners above named, either in person or by written notice, of their said appointment, and the County Commissioners of the county of Johnson shall allow him such compensation therefor as they shall deem just and reasonable, to be paid out of the county treasury of said county.

Sec. 5. The Circuit Court, and all other courts of said county of Johnson, shall meet and be holden at the house of John Smiley, or at any other place the said-court shall adjourn to, until suitable accommodations can be provided at the permanent seat of justice of said county; and so soon as the said courts are satisfied of that fact, they shall adjourn thereto,

Bec. 6. The agenl who Bhall be appointed to superintend the sales of lots at the said seat of justice shall reserve ten per centum out of the proceeda thereof, and also of all donations made to said county, which he shall pay over to such person or persons as may be appointed by law to receive the same, for the use of a library for said county.

Sec. T. TIm- Board of County Commissioners of said county of Johnson shall, within twelve months after the permanent seal of justiceshall have been selected, proceed to erect accessary public buildings therein.

Sec. 8. The same powers, privileged and authorized, that are granted to the qualified voters of the county of Du Bois and oilier counties named in an acl entitled, " An act incorporating a county library in the counties therein named," approved January 28, 1819, to organize, conduct and supporl a county library, are hereby granted to the qualified voters of the county ..- Johnson, and the same power and authority therein granted to. and the same duties therein required of , the several officers and the person or persons elected by the qualified voters of Du Bois County and the other counties in the said act named, for carrying into effed the provisions of the act entitled, "An act incorporating a county library in the county of Du- Bois." and the comities therein named, according to the true interesl and meaning thereof, are hereby extended to and required of the officers and other persons elected by the qualified voters of the county of Johnson.

Oliver H. Smith was, at the time, a member of the Legislature, and he proposed for the new county the name of Johnson, in memory of John Johnson, one of the Judges of the first Supreme Court of the State. Gov. Hendricks at the same time appointed John Smiley, Sheriff of the new county, and issued a writ of election directed to him. appointing the 8th of March. 1823, as the day on which the qualified voters of the county were to assemble at the house of Hezekiah Davison, on Blue River, and Daniel Boaz, on White River, and elect two Associate .Indues, one Clerk of the Circuit Court and one Recorder, in manner and form as required by law.