Madison County, Indiana - Chapter 5: Township History, 1914

List op Civil Townships in the County - Early Records - Adams - Anderson - Boone - Duck Creek - Fall Creek - Green - Pioneers op Each - Early Schools and Industries - Churches - Towns and Villages - Mention of Prominent Citizens - Interesting Inci¬ dents.

Madison county is divided into fourteen civil townships, to-wit: Adams, Anderson, Boone, Duck Creek, Fall Creek, Green, Jackson, Lafayette, Monroe, Pipe Creek, Richland, Stony Creek, Union and Van Buren. The oldest record of the proceedings of the county board that can be found begins with the September session in 1828. At the January term in 1829, it was ordered by the board "That Isaac Jones, of Fall Creek township; James Scott, of Green; Manly Richards, of Adams; Jeremiah Williams, of Anderson; and Andrew McClintock, of Jackson, be, and they are hereby, appointed inspectors of elections in and for their respective townships for the present year, ending on the first Monday in January next."

At the same session James Noland and Evan Pugh were appointed fence viewers for the tow T nship of Green; John McKinzie and Charles Doty, for Fall Creek; Moses Corw T in and Moss Shane, for Adams; Stephen Noland and Thornton Rector, for Anderson, and Colings Tharp and Nehemiah Layton, for Jackson. In January, 1830, these five town¬ ships were divided into sixteen road districts, Green township consti¬ tuting districts Nos. 1 and 2; Fall Creek, Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6; Adams, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11; Anderson, Nos. 12, 13 and 14, and Jackson, Nos. 15 and 16.

It is evident from these entries in the early records that the five townships named therein had been organized sometime during the first six years of the county's history, but in the absence of official records the exact date of the establishment of each cannot be ascertained.

This township occupies the southeast corner of the county. In extent it is seven miles from north to south, five miles from east to west, and contains an area of thirty-five square miles. It is bounded on the north by the townships of Union and Anderson; on the east by Henry county; on the south by Hancock county, and on the west by Fall Creek township. The general surface is rolling and the township is watered by Fall creek and Lick creek, both of which flow westwardly across the township, and several smaller streams, tributaries of the above.

Adams is one of the first five townships organized in the county and was named for Abraham Adams, who was the first white man to settle within its present limits. He came with his family in 1823, the year Madison county was organized, and located a short distance east of the present village of Ovid, where he built a cabin of round logs, the first house erected by civilized man in the township. Before the close of the year he was joined by a man named Manly, and about the same time came John and John T. Bridge, James Hudson, Thomas Harper and Andrew Sawyer, the five men who were indicted by the grand jury in April, 1824, for the murder of two friendly Indians, with their squaws and children, an account of which may be found in chapter XVIII.

These early settlers sent back to their old homes such favorable reports concerning the new country that during the next five years a number of immigrants found homes in Adams township. Joseph and Moses Surber and Abraham Blake came from Ohio in 1826; Anthony Hill, also from Ohio, came in 1827, and in 1828 George Hudson and his six sons - Eli, George, Isaiah, William, David and Jonathan - came from Ohio. Thornton Rector, who had previously settled in Wayne county, Indiana, likewise came in 1828. The next year witnessed the arrival of Hugh and John Gilmore. Samuel and L. D. Reger, Martin Brown, the McCallisters - Thomas, William and Garrett - and a few others. The Gilmores and McCallisters came from western Virginia. Martin Brown and the two Regers were also from that state. Thomas McCallister afterward served several terms in the Indiana legislature.

Other early settlers were Levi Brewer, Joseph Ingles and Jesse Martin, in 1830; William S. Gale and Colonel Thomas Bell, in 1831. Colonel Bell subsequently served five terms in the legislature from Madison county, or the district of which it constitutes a part. Follow¬ ing these came Hezekiah Justice, Samuel Huston, Jacob Evans, Isaac Cooper, Harvey Chase, William Prigg, Hiram Burch, John Copman, Stephen and Henry Dobson, William Stanley, William Sloan, Ralph Williams, Thomas Shelton, John Markle, David Rice, William Nelson, James Peden, Caleb Biddle, John Collier, Joseph Smith, John Borman, Stephen Norman, William Penn, Reason Sargent, James Pearson, and some others, all of whom had located in the township by 1835.

As already stated, the first log cabin in the township was built by Abraham Adams in 1823. The first frame house was built by Friend Brown, and in 1838 Morris Gilmore built the first brick house on what is still known as the "Morris Gilmore farm." The first orchard was planted by Abraham Adams in 1829, and, according to Kingman's "History of Madison County," in the same year Enos Adamson estab¬ lished a saw-mill on a small stream called Hasty's branch. In 1835 Bailey Jackson began the erection of a saw-mill on Fall creek, at New Columbus, but for some reason did not finish it. James Peden then purchased the site and completed the mill in 1843. About that time the Adamson mill was removed to Howard county. In the meantime Isaac and Edmund Franklin had established a saw-mill on Fall creek, on Section 15, in 1841. About two years later they put a grist-mill near the saw-mill. The "Franklin Mills/' as they were known far and wide, did a successful business, under various owners, until they were de¬ stroyed by fire in 1888.

The first steam saw-mill was built near the present village of Markleville by Blake & Hudson in 1857. Six years later the proprietors sold out and the purchaser removed the mill to Frankton. Abisha Lewis and John Huston erected the secQnd steam saw-mill in the early 70s. It cost about $3,000 and at that time was conceded to be the best concern of the kind in Madison county. It was located at Markleville. A shingle machine was installed about two years after the mill was built and did a thriving business for many years. Shortly after the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan (now the Big Four) Railroad was extended south¬ ward from Anderson, a saw-mill was built at Emporia, a small station two miles north of Markleville. But the valuable timber that was once abundant in Adams township has almost disappeared and the prosper¬ ous era of the saw-mill has passed.

The first election in Adams township was held at the house of Abraham Adams. Later the voting place was changed to the house of Manly Richards, where elections were held until 1830, when the county commissioners designated a permanent voting place where the village of Ovid is now located, though the town was not laid off by Abraham Adams until four years later and named New Columbus.

It is stated; on apparently good authority, that the first school house in the township was located on Section 19, about two miles south of Ovid, and was a log structure, similar in size and design to other school houses of that day, but the date when it was built is uncertain. The second school house, also a round-log building, stood at the east end of what is now the village of Ovid. Kingman says this house was built in 1824, which was the next year after Abraham Adams, the first settler, located near the place. Other log school houses were built in different parts of the township and subscription schools maintained until after the passage of the school law of 1851. Then frame houses began to take the place of the log ones, and in 1873 two brick school houses were built - one at Ovid and one at Markleville. Four years later three more brick houses were erected. In 1912 there were ten school districts, each provided with a substantial brick house, the school property of the township, exclusive of maps, libraries and other apparatus, being valued at $20,900. The ten teachers employed in 1912-13 received $4,256 in salaries.

The first religious services were usually held at the homes of Abraham Adams, Reason Sargent and Peter Jones. A Baptist society was formed in 1830 and a second organization of this faith was effected in 1834. The Methodists held services at the houses of Stephen Noland and Ralph Williams, and in the school houses, for many years before they erected a church building in 1856, near Markleville. A Christian church was organized in 1848; a Lutheran church some time in the '50s; a German Baptist church in 1860, and a congregation of the Church of God in 1887. (See chapter on Church History.)

The principal villages of Adams township are Alliance, Emporia and Markleville on the line of the Big Four Railway - Michigan division - and Ovid (formerly New Columbus), a short distance west of the railroad.

This township, like Adams, is one of the first five to be organized in the county. It is situated a little southeast of the center of the county and is bounded on the north by the townships of Lafayette and Rich¬ land ; on the east by Union; on the south by Adams and Fall Creek, and on the west by Jackson and Stony Creek. In extent it is six miles square, having an area of thirty-six square miles, or 23,040 acres. The

White river enters the township about midway on the eastern bound¬ ary and flows a general northwesterly course, crossing the western boundary about one mile south of the northwest corner. Its principal tributary in the township is the Killbuck creek, which empties into the river at Anderson.

Located on the White river about three miles west of Anderson, are the old Moss Island Mills, one of the landmarks of Madison county. These mills were built by Joseph Mullinix in 1836, long before the advent of the railroad, but since that time have been owned by at least fourteen different firms or individuals, some of the owners having been prominent in business and social life, as well as in political affairs. The mills, in their palmy days, consisted of a flour mill - large for that day - with a saw-mill attached, power for both being furnished by a large water-wheel. They were built with a view to catching the trade that followed the construction of the old Indiana Central canal, the western branch of which passed near the mills. With the decadence of the canal, the building of the railroads and the introduction of improved machinery and methods in the manufacture of flour, the old Moss Island mills fell into disuse and they now stand silent and deserted near the beautiful little island which gave them their name.

When the first white men came to Anderson township they found the region heavily timbered, but nearly all the valuable timber has found its way to the log-heap or the saw-mill to make way for the culti¬ vated fields of the husbandman. The surface is generally level or slightly undulating. Near Mounds park, about three miles above An¬ derson, the bluffs along the White river rise to a height of some seventyfive feet above the level of the stream and are the greatest elevations in the township.

Among the names of the early settlers, that of John Berry stands preeminent. He came to the county in March, 1821, and entered a tract of land where the city of Anderson now stands, part of which he afterward donated to the county to secure the location of the county seat at that point, as stated in the preceding chapter. About the same time that Mr. Berry settled at Anderson, Eli Harrison selected a farm on the White river not far from Berry's, and William Stogdon (or Stockton) also settled in the vicinity. Other early settlers were John and Christopher Davis, Daniel Harpold, the contractor who built the first court-house, William and Isaac Young, William Allen, William Curtis, the first agent of the county, Samuel Kinnamon and David Williams. About the time the county was organized, or perhaps a little earlier, the population of what is now Anderson township was increased by the arrival of Benjamin Sumpter, John Renshaw, David Harris, Philip Shinkle, Jacob Stover, Benjamin Ridgeway and some others. The descendants of some of these pioneers still reside in the township and are numbered among its best citizens.

The first school house in the township was a log structure that stood on what is now Central avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets, in the city of Anderson. The first school was taught here in 1836 by Richard Treadway and later Nineveh Berry taught in the same house. In 1912 there were eleven school districts in the township, outside of the city of Anderson, and the school houses were valued at $25,000. In the eleven districts sixteen teachers were employed during the school year of 1912-13 at an aggregate salary of $7,900.

Anderson is not the only town that was ever laid out or projected within the limits of the township. In 1838, while the Indiana Central canal was under construction, John Renshaw laid out a town on the north side of the White river, where the Anderson cemetery is now located, and gave it the name of Victoria. As far as can be learned but one house - a log cabin - was ever erected on the town site. When work on the canal was suspended Mr. Renshaw disposed of the land and the town of Victoria has been practically forgotten.

Another canal town was projected by J. W. Alley, who laid out Rockport, about two miles west of Anderson on the Perkinsville pike, or Strawtown road, and a little southeast of the old Moss Island mills. Like Victoria, it never came up to the anticipations of its founder and the land afterward passed into the hands of J. W. Sansberry, Sr., who

The village of Omaha, situated near the line of the Big Four rail¬ road in the southern part of the township, was laid out some years before the railroad was built southward from Anderson. Eli Gustin had a saw-mill there and a store was conducted for some time by George Darrow, who afterward went to Denver, Colorado, but returned to Indiana and located at Montpelier, Blackford county. With the dis¬ appearance of the timber and the removal of the saw-mill, Omaha ceased to exist.

As much of the history of Anderson township naturally belongs to the city of Anderson, hence many of the important events that occurred from time to time in this township are treated in the chapter relating to the city.

This township is situated in the northern tier and is bounded on the north by Grant county; on the east by Yan Buren township; on the south by the townships of Monroe and Pipe Creek, and on the west by Duck Creek township. In extent it is five miles from north to south and six miles from east to west, containing an area of thirty square miles, or 19,200 acres. It was named in honor of Daniel Boone, the historic Kentucky pioneer and celebrated Indian fighter.

The exact date when Boone township was organized cannot be ascer¬ tained at this late day. Kingman's and Forkner & Dyson's histories of Madison county both state that the first election in the township was held in September, 1843, at a log school house near the site afterward occupied by the Tomlinson school house, and it is probable that the organization of the township was authorized some time earlier in that year. The main reason why the township was so late in being organ¬ ized w T as that the northwestern part of Madison county, including nearly all the western half of Boone and the northern two-thirds of Duck Creek townships, lay within the Miami Indian reservation, which was not vacated by the natives until several years after the county was organized. With the departure of the red man the white settlers came in and it was then not long until civil townships were established.

The honor of being the first w'hite man to establish a home in what is now Boone township belongs to Wright Smith, a native of North Carolina, who upon coming to Indiana first settled in Rush county, but in 1836 removed to Madison county and located on the southwest quarter of Section 35, near the southern boundary of the township. He and his family lived in a tent until a cabin could be erected. Mr. Smith died on this farm on December 23, 1863. Soon after locating there he was joined by his brother-in-law, Thomas Brunt. These two men went to the land office at Fort Wayne and entered the lands upon which they had located, Brunt's farm being the southwest quarter of Section 24, about two miles up Lilly creek from Smith's, where he died on December 31, 1879. Brunt first rented a cabin from a Mrs. Ballance, in w T hat is now the northern part of Monroe township, and did not move to his land until some months later. Not long after these two had located land in Boone township, James Brunt, the father of Thomas, and his son-in-law, John Moore, came from Rush county, where they had first located upon coming from North Carolina. They entered land on Lilly creek, between Wright Smith and Thomas Brunt.

Other pioneers were John and James Tomlinson, Elijah Ward, Hugh Dickey, Morgan and Enoch McMahan, Peter Eaton, Dudley and George Doyle and Bazaliel Thomas, from North Carolina; Robert Webster, from Delaware; John W. Forrest, Benjamin Sebrell and Micajah Francis, from Virginia.

During the first ten years following the coming of Wright Smith and Thomas Brunt, the settlement made but little progress in the way of an increase in population. But in 1847 a number of immigrants founded homes in the township. Among them were William Schooley, Andrew Taggart, Jesse Windsor, William Hyatt and a man named

Purtee,*who was the first white man in the township to settle on the Miami Indian reservation, which became a favorite place with those who came a little later. The farm entered by Mr. Purtee is the south¬ east quarter of Section 21, on Duck creek, near the center of the town¬ ship.

Mention has already been made of the first township election in September, 1843. At that election Peter Eaton w r as inspector and Dudley Doyle and Morgan B. McMahan were elected justices of the peace for a term of five years. At the expiration of the term Doyle was reelected, but John Tomlinson was chosen to succeed Mr. McMahan.

The first white child bom in Boone township was Joseph Taylor Smith, son of Wright Smith, the first settler. He grew to manhood in the township, served with distinction as a soldier in the Civil war as captain of a company in the Seventy-fifth Indiana infantry and afterward practiced law for several years at Anderson, when he removed to Manhattan, Kansas.

The first marriage was solemnized on April 18, 1838, when Miss Sarah Eaton became the wife of Dudley Doyle, and the first death was that of John Huff, who was killed by a falling tree in 1843. The second death, that of Mrs. Mary Doyle, wife of Adam Doyle, occurred on January 21, 1844.

About 1840 a log school house was built on the farm of John Moore. It was a rude structure of round logs, with clapboard roof and door, a dirt floor, a huge fireplace at one end, and was without windows. This was the first school house in the township and the first school was taught there by James Smith, a son of Wright Smith. In 1852, after the enactment of the school law of the preceding year, Thomas Brunt, Benjamin Sebrell and M. L. Overshiner, the township trustees, erected four or five log school houses at different points, and it is from that time that the educational history of the township really marks its beginning. In 1912 there were eight school districts in Boone, each equipped with a modern brick school building, the value of the eight houses being estimated at $10,700. The amount paid in teachers' sala¬ ries for the school year of 1912-13 was $3,598.

A Methodist class was organized in 1851 and two years later a Sunday school was opened, with Wright Smith as superintendent. A meeting was held at the house of John W. Forrest in 1853 for the purpose of organizing a Baptist congregation, but no house of worship was erected until four years later.

Boone township has no towns or villages of importance. In the extreme northwest corner, a part of the village of Independence lies in this township, the other portions being situated in Duck Creek township, Madison county, and the townships of Green and Liberty, in Grant county. A postoffice called Rigdon was once maintained here, but with the introduction of free rural mail delivery it was discontinued.

Forrestville was laid out on July 24, 1850, by John W. Forrest, on Section 21, a little west of the center of the township. Several dwell¬ ings and a church were erected, a general store was opened and a postoffice was established, but they have all disappeared and the site of the town is now used for agricultural purposes.

Benjamin Clark laid out a town on Section 13, near the Van Buren township line, and gave it the name of Clarktown. It never grew to any considerable proportions and a small general store was its only business enterprise.

Game was plentiful in the early days and the pioneers depended chiefly upon their rifles for their supply of meat. Venison and wild turkey, now esteemed as luxuries, were then common articles of diet. The last wild deer seen in Madison county was killed in this township by Morgan Sebrell on November 24, 1871, while he and Timothy Met¬ calf were out hunting together. It was a large buck with seven prongs on each antler. Mr. Sebrell preserved the antlers as a trophy, and as reminder of the last deer killed in the county.

"We, the undersigned, citizens of Pipe Creek township, in said county, showeth by this, our petition, that we labor under incon¬ veniences in regard to the size of our township, we therefore request you to strike off a township from the north end of Pipe Creek of the following dimensions, to-wit: Commencing at the northwest corner of Section 9, Township 21 north, of Range 6 east; running thence east four miles to the range line; thence north to the county line; thence west* to the county line; thence south to the place of beginning, to be called Duck Creek township / 9

This petition was signed by James Gray, Fielding Sampson, James Casteel and fifteen others, residents within the proposed new township. No action was taken on the petition at that session, but at the following term the subject again came up for consideration and the minutes for March 6, 1851, contain the following entry:

"And now, at this time, after due deliberation has been had thereon, the board now in session accept said petition and order and direct that a new township be laid out and organized as follows: All of Con¬ gressional Township No. 22 north of Range 6 east that lies within the limits of Madison county, and Sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Township No. 21 north of Range 6 east, in said county (being four miles wide and six miles long), shall compose said township, and all that part which now lies in Pipe Creek towmship, is hereby stricken from and curtailed from said Pipe Creek township and made a part of Duck Creek township, as above set forth, for all township purposes. And it is hereby ordered by the board that on the first Monday in April next (1851) there shall be an election held in said township of Duck Creek at the Bethel meeting house for the necessary township officers, to-wit: Two justices of the peace, two constables, one supervisor to each road district, a township clerk and township treasurer, and any other town¬ ship officers authorized by law. ' '

At the same time David Way mire was appointed inspector of the election and the new township was divided into four road districts. The boundaries as established in 1851 have not been changed and the township remains as originally erected. It occupies the northwest corner of the county, has an area of twenty-four square miles, or 15,360 acres, and is bounded on the north by Grant county; on the east by the townships of Boone and Pipe Creek; on the south by Pipe Creek town¬ ship, and on the west by Tipton county. Duck creek, from which the township takes its name, flows in a southerly direction through the southern part and is the only stream of any consequence in the township.

The settlement of Duck Creek township began in the fall of 1838, when Henry Cochran came from Butler county, Ohio, and selected a tract of land on Section 35, about three miles northeast of the present city of Elwood. Upon this tract he built a log cabin and then w T ent back to Ohio, where he remained for a year, at the end of w r hich time he returned to Indiana with his father and took up his residence on the land. Later in the year 1836 Thomas Casteel and Elijah Berryman settled on Section 3, a short distance southwest of Cochran. During the next ten years there were few additions to the population. In the summer of 1848 A. C. Ritter, a native of Ohio, made the first entry of land on the Miami reserve in Duck Creek township and from that time * the settlement of the region was more rapid. Among those who came prior to the organization of the township were Fielding Sampson, James Grayy Anthony Minnick, Azel Stanberry, David and Elliott Waymire, Thomas W. Harmon, Mahlon Hosier, James French and Isaac Dough¬ erty. Stephen Williamson, a veteran of the Mexican war, was also one of the early settlers.

Previous to 1846, the only dwellings to be seen in the township were the log cabins usually found in frontier settlements. In 1846 Thomas Casteel built a frame house and his example was soon followed by sev¬ eral of his neighbors. The first brick house was built by Jonathan Noble in 1872, near the northeast corner of the township. In the spring of 1843, Thomas Casteel and Henry Cochran both planted orchards, the first in the township. The first white child bora in the township was James, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Casteel, who w r as born on Novem¬ ber 9, 1842. The first wedding was on December 26, 1844, when Henry Cochran and Miss Rebecca Casteel were united in marriage, and the first death was that of Samuel Cochran on September 11, 1844. He was the father of Henry Cochran and was quite old at the time of his death. James Shofer and Anthony Minnick were the first progressive, up-todate farmers in the township. The Minnick farm was a model in all respects and stood alone in its appointments in the forests that sur¬ rounded it.

Among the early industries was a steam saw-mill, erected near Henry Cochran's place about 1850 by Jacob E. Waymire, who con¬ ducted it successfully for over fifteen years. In 1866 the mill was pur¬ chased by Henry. Cochran, who carried on the business at the old place until 1873, when his son Samuel was admitted to a partnership and the machinery was taken to Elwood and installed in a new mill there. In 1875 a steam saw-mill was established in the northwestern part of the township by G. & Y. Worley, who later sold out to William & J. B. Hollingsworth and the mill was removed to the Hollingsworth farm, about half a mile farther south. William Hedrick also owned and operated a large saw-mill at one time on his farm, about two miles east of the Hollingsworths.

The first school house, a round log affair of the customary frontier type, was built in 1841 on the Knott farm, in the southern part of the township. A few years later it was moved about a mile farther north, where the school house in District No. 2 is now located. The second school house was erected in 1853 on Isaac Wann's farm, on or near the present site of school No. 1. In 1912 there were seven public school houses in the township, five of which were brick and two were frame, the value of the buildings being $14,000. Eight teachers were employed during the school year of 1912-13 and the amount paid in salaries was $3,500.

about the time the society of that denomination was organized in 1852. A little later the New Light Christians united with the United Brethren in the erection of a better house of worship on the farm of W. F. Hol¬ lingsworth. Subsequently congregations of the Christian and Methodist Episcopal faith were organized in the township.

With the exception of Independence, which has been mentioned in the preceding history of Boone township, there are no villages in Duck Creek township. A portion of this village is situated in the extreme northeast corner. The inhabitants of the southern part of the town¬ ship find it convenient to "do their trading" at Elwood, the northern line of which touches the southern border of Duck Creek township.

It may be interesting to the reader to know that the last entry of land in Madison county was that of a forty-acre tract in Duck Creek township. This tract is described as the southeast quarter of the north¬ west quarter of section 21, township 22, range 6 east, and is situated three miles due north of Elwood. It was purchased from the state of Indiana by David Braden, of Indianapolis, for $50. His patent, dated October 22, 1875, states that the sale was made "under the act of May 29, 1852, entitled 'An act to regulate the sale of the swamp lands donated by the United States to the State of Indiana, and to provide for the draining and reclaiming thereof,' " etc.

The first time this tract of land appears in the public records was on October 28, 1872, when it was sold by David K. Carver, sheriff of Madison county, to satisfy an assessment of $175.50, with costs of $30.33, for the construction of the Wild Cat ditch. On this occasion the land was taken as the property of Joseph Sigler, but the records do not show how Sigler came into possession, or by what right he claimed the ownership of the land. At the sheriff's sale above mentioned the land was bought by Howell D. Thompson, of Anderson, for $100. At the time the tract was purchased by Braden from the state it was in the possession of William A. Sheward. There was some kind of litigation over the land, but owing to the destruction of the court records by the* courthouse fire of December 10, 1880, the exact nature of the case can¬ not be learned. It is certain, however, that Braden's title was sus¬ tained, for on February 1, 1879, he transferred the land to Howell D. Thompson, who on the same day conveyed it back to Mr. Sheward.

Soon after Madison county was organized the local authorities erected five townships, one of which was named Fall Creek, from the principal stream flowing through it and the natural falls on that stream at Pen¬ dleton. Fall Creek is the third largest township in the county, being exceeded in size only by Monroe and Pipe Creek. In extent it is six miles from east to west and seven miles from north to south, contain¬ ing an area of forty-two square miles. On the north it is bounded by Anderson and Stony Creek townships; on the east by Adams; on the south by Hancock county, and on the west by the townships of Green and Stony Creek, Fall creek flows in a southwesterly direction through the central part and the southern portion is watered by Lick creek.

To Fall Creek belongs the distinction of being the first in Madison county to be settled by white men. In a previous chapter mention has been made of John Rogers as the first white man to locate in the county. An old diary left by him is authority for the statement that he settled in what is now Fall Creek township on December 29, 1818, about two miles east of the present town of Pendleton. More than likely the vicinity of the falls had been visited by white men before that time, but none of them attempted to form a permanent settlement. A year or so after Mr. Rogers came, Judge Stanfield and a man named Burras settled upon the prairie north of Pendleton. In 1820 came the colony from Clarke county, Ohio ; consisting of William Curtis, Israel Cox, Moses Corwin, Thomas and William McCartney, Saul Shaul, Manly Richards and Elias Hollingsworth. Mrs. Hollingsworth accompanied her husband and was the first white woman in that settlement, if not in

Madison county. Moses Corwin was the only unmarried man in the colony. After selecting lands the married men returned to Ohio and brought out their families, traveling with four pack horses and a wagon drawn by a team of oxen. That wagon was doubtless the first ever brought to the county. Manly Richards evidently settled in what is now Adams township, or soon afterward removed there, as the records show that some of the early elections in Adams township were held at his residence.

Among the next settlers to come into the township w r ere Isaac Jones, Conrad Crossley, Adam Dobson, William, Isaac and Henry Seybert, William Neal, Jacob Shaul, Thomas and William Silver, Palmer Pat¬ rick, Kilbourn Morley, John Gunse, Nathaniel Richmond and Adam Winsell, the last named becoming one of the first associate judges when the county was organized in 1823. About that time there was a large influx of immigration to Fall Creek township, and F. M. Richmond, Moses Whitecotton, Thomas and James Scott, Enos Adamson, Thomas Snyder, Joseph Carter, George Nicholson, Martin Chapman, Isaac and

Thomas Busby, James Irish, Dr. Lewis Bordwell, Thomas Bell, Dr. Henry Wymau and Thomas M. Pendleton, for whom the town of Pen¬ dleton was named, and a number of others located at various points along the Fall creek valley.

One of these pioneers - Moses Whitecotton - was an eccentric char¬ acter who preferred poetry to prose.. He was one of the first justices of the peace in Fall Creek and it is said kept his court docket in rhyme. Unfortunately his old records have disappeared. Once, when his stock of provisions ran low, he addressed the following pathetic appeal to his neighbor, John Rogers:

Mr. Rogers responded to the plea, as any good neighbor would have done in those pioneer days, and in acknowledgment of his obligation Mr. Whitecotton executed a note in the following strain:

One of the first land entries was made by Saul Shaul, who took up a part of section 30, about two miles southwest of Pendleton, where he developed a farm and planted what was probably the first orchard in the county. Nathaniel Richmond, Adam Winsell, John Gunse and John Rogers had all planted orchards by 1824, their trees having been brought from Henry county. Early in the '30s William Williams established a nursery on his farm about three miles east of Pendleton, the first nursery in Madison county.

The first white child born in the township, and also the first in Madison county, was E. P. Hollingsworth, a son of Elias Hollings¬ worth and his wife, the date of his birth having been November 7, 1820. Electa Shaul, daughter of Jacob Shaul, born the same night, was the first white female child born in the county.

Stephen Corwin and Miss Hannah Ellsworth were united in mar¬ riage in 1821, which was the first wedding in the township. As Madi¬ son county had not yet been organized, Atr. Corwin made the journey on horseback to Connersville to procure a marriage license. Furniture was scarce at that time in frontier settlements like the one on Fall creek and it is said that a door was lifted from its hinges and converted into a table, upon which the wedding banquet was served.

The first deaths were those of a man named Martin and his wdfe, both of whom were stricken with fever in the fall of 1821 and it is sup¬ posed died about the same time, but as they were alone in their home at the time it is not known which one died first. Their neighbors knew nothing of their illness and they had been dead for several days before the fact was discovered. Their bodies were buried in the same grave, immediately west of the present town of Pendleton. This first visit of the Grim Destroyer, and the fact that his victims died unattended, cast a gloom over the little settlement, where it was part of each man's religion to minister to the wants of his neighbor in times of sickness and distress.

A com mill was built by Thomas McCartney on the south side of Fall creek at the falls in 1821, the first in the township. It was a crude affair, as Mr. McCartney dressed the stone and constructed most of the machinery himself, but primitive as it was it proved a great boon to the settlers, who were thus given an opportunity to have their corn ground at home, but for wheat flour they were still compelled to go some distance to the mills in the older settlements. Mr. McCartney also kept a small stock of goods, consisting of a few staple articles in demand among the pioneers, and a line of trinkets - beads, cheap jew¬ elry, small looking glasses, etc. - adapted to trade with the Indians. He likewise started a tannery in 1827.

In course of time the McCartney mill gave way to a larger and bet¬ ter appointed one, built by Thomas Bell on the opposite side of the creek and equipped for grinding both corn and wheat. The falls are situated upon section 16, set apart by Congress for school purposes, but that portion of the section including the falls was bought by James M. Irish of the county treasurer at a sale of school lands, and later Mr. Irish became the owner of the mill erected by Mr. Bell. Sometime in the '30s he transferred the property to his son, Samuel D. Irish, and went to Texas. In 1848 he returned to Madison county, where he remained for about a year, when he again went to Texas and died there. He was a man of progressive ideas, very dark complexioned, on account of which he was called ''Black Hawk" by his neighbors. This mill, known as the "Cataract Mills," was destroyed by fire on July 13, 1882.

About 1850 a movement was started to restore the falls property to the school fund, but the period of twenty years peaceable possession had about expired and definite action in the matter was postponed until it was too late.

Most of the early settlers were of a religious turn of mind and soon after locating in the township they took the necessary steps for the establishment of church organizations. The first Methodist church had its beginning in 1823, though no house of worship was erected until 1839. Antioch Methodist church, at Menden, was organized in 1831; a Baptist church about 1830; the society of Friends or Quakers in 1834; the United Brethren in 1836, and the Universalists in 1859. An ac¬ count of these different congregations will be found in the chapter on Church History.

In a grove a short distance below the falls, Frederick Douglass, a negro of national reputation, in 1843 undertook to deliver a public address on the subject of slavery. He was at that time making a tour of the western states, stopping at places where there were a number of Friends, who were universally recognized as abolitionists. Unable to secure a hall, a platform was erected in the grove, but Mr. Douglass had been speaking but a short time when a man named Rix walked up to the stand and called upon his associates - Duke Scott, Thomas Col¬ lins, Peter Runnels andjsome others - to "come and help clean him out." Douglass was alarmed and tried to escape by climbing over a fence immediately back of the platform, but before he could do so was struck by a stone and severely injured. His friends took him to the home of Neal Hardy, where he remained until he recovered and it was deemed safe for him to leave the neighborhood.

The incident caused considerable excitement. Some of the leaders of the mob were arrested, but while the sheriff was conducting them to Anderson he was met by a company of men who demanded the release of the prisoners. For a time it looked as though serious trouble was imminent. The release of Runnels was finally agreed to and the mob disbanded. The other prisoners were taken to Anderson and lodged in jail, but were subsequently released. Since that time public opinion has changed and a colored man is as free from assault or insult in Madison county as anywhere in the United States.

Just when and where the first schoolhouse in Fall Creek township was erected is largely a matter of conjecture. The early settlers be¬ lieved in education, however, and subscription schools were maintained until after the enactment of the school law of 1851. Then a number of frame school houses were built, one of which was still in use as late as 1880. In 1876 two brick school houses were erected - one in district No. 1 and the other in district No. 5. In 1912 there were eleven dis¬ tricts in the township outside of Pendleton, but as several of these had been consolidated there were but nine teachers employed in 1912-13, a number of the old houses standing vacant. The amount paid in teach¬ ers' salaries for the year was $5,188.78.

Pendleton, a little west of the center, and Huntsville, about a mile up Fall creek from Pendleton, are the only towns of importance in Fall Creek township. At the intersection of two public highways, three and a half miles south of Pendleton, was once the village of Menden. A general store was established there by Thomas Jordan at an early day and the village grew up around the store. Jordan sold out to Morgan Drury and about that time a postoffice was established there with Mr. Drury as the first postmaster. The postoffice was discon¬ tinued in 1851, Jonathan Wiseman then being in charge of the office as postmaster. Public school No. 11, the United Brethren church, the cemetery and one dwelling constitute all that is left of the old village.

Green township occupies the southwest corner of the county, is four miles in width from east to west, six miles long from north to south, and contains an area of twenty-four square miles, or 15,360 acres, nearly all of which is capable of being cultivated. It is bounded on the north by Stony Creek township; on the east by Fall Creek town¬ ship; on the south by Hancock county, and on the west by the county of Hamilton. The source of its name is uncertain. Many think it was named for Nathaniel Greene, one of the leading generals in the Con¬ tinental army during the Revolutionary war, but as the name of the township always appears in the records without the final "e," it is quite likely that it was derived from the verdure of the forests that practically covered the entire surface at the time the township was organized in 1826.

The first white man to settle within the present limits of the town¬ ship was Jacob Hiday, who in 1821 came from Ohio with his wife, four children - Catharine, Henry, Susan and Mary - and a grandson, Thomas Hiday. Mr. Hiday settled on the south side of Lick creek, on section 2, township 17, range 6, not far from where the village of Alfont was afterward laid out. He was a man of strong character and, though old enough to be a grandfather at the time he came to Madison county, took an active part in public affairs. He was one of the early justices of the peace and was a leader in securing many of the improvements in the township in early days.

Samuel Holliday, who was one of the first associate judges of the county, came from Kentucky in 1822 and located about half a mile north of Mr. Hiday. He w r as in all probability the second settler. Judge Holliday was a well educated man and as associate judge made a good record. His son, William A., became a Presbyterian minister of note, and Joseph, another son, served with distinction in the Mexican war and later represented Blackford county in the Indiana legislature. After serving as associate judge for several years, Samuel Holliday removed to Hamilton county and died there in 1835.

The settlement of the township was slow for a few years. In 1825 William Huston came from Virginia and Richard Kinnaman from South Carolina. The next year witnessed the arrival of Abraham Cottrell, a native of Ohio, and during the next five years there were a number of newcomers. Among them were Andrew Shanklin, Walter Kinnaman, John and Charles Doty, Peter Colerick, John Cottrell, John Huston, Thomas Scott, Elijah Bolinger, Samuel Gibson, William A. Williamson, William Nicholson, Robert Fausset, James Jones, William Alfont, George Keffer and Washington W. Pettigrew.

Most of these early settlers were from Virginia, South Carolina or Tennessee, though the Dotys came from Pennsylvania and William Nicholson from Ohio. Near the close of the Mexican war Mr. Nichol¬ son raised a company of volunteers, but the war closed before his com¬ pany could be accepted and mustered in. At the time of the Civil war he was captain of a company of home-guards and was one of the first militia officers in the state to tender the services of himself and his men to repel the invasion of the notorious Confederate guerrilla, General John H. Morgan.

One of the most prominent of these pioneers of Green township was Andrew Shanklin, who came from Virginia with his family in 1830 and located on section 13, in the northeastern part of the township. He soon became a leader in the little community; was elected justice of the peace in 1840; was a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1850, and two years later was elected to represent Madison county in the lower branch of the state legislature. Samuel Gibson, a Tennesseean,

The first orchard was planted by Richard Kinnaman in 1826. Jacob Hiday, Samuel Holliday, George Keffer, Abraham Cottrell and James Scott all planted orchards a little later, obtaining their trees at Mal¬ lory's nursery in Hamilton county, not far from Noblesville.

The first distillery was established by Richard Kinnaman in 1840, and the first tan-yard by Captain William Nicholson four years later. Kinnaman's distillery was located on section 21, near the western boundary, and Nicholson's tan-yard was on the northeast quarter of the same section.

The first school house was built in 1829, on the farm of James Jones, and a fund was raised by subscription to employ John Wilson, as the first teacher. He taught three months in the winter of 1829-30, which was the first school ever taught in the township. The second school house was built ill 1837, on section 25, near the eastern boundary, and John Lewark taught the first school in this house the ensuing winter. A frame house was afterward built on the site. In 1912 there were seven brick school buildings valued at $14,000, and the nine teachers employed during the school year of 1912-13 received in salaries the sum of $4,936.

Ingalls is the only town of importance in the township. The vil¬ lage of Alfont, a short distance west of Ingalls, was laid out by Wil¬ liam Alfont about 1850. Some fifteen years before that time Mr. Alfont had established a small sawmill on Lick creek, from which power was procured to run the mill. This mill was burned in 1847, but was replaced by a steam mill, which did a successful business for a number of years. A few persons settled in the immediate vicinity and when the old Bellefontaine (now 7 the Cleveland division of the Big Four) railroad was completed across the southeast corner of Green township, Mr. Alfont had a town regularly platted and named it after himself. For a time the venture prospered. A postoffice was established with William Molden as postmaster. Mr. Molden was also engaged in busi¬ ness as a general merchant. A warehouse was erected and a consider¬ able quantity of grain was shipped. Other business enterprises came in, but when Fortville, two miles west, came into prominence it proved to be the greater attraction and the growth of Alfont suffered a decided check thereby. With the establishment of Ingalls, only half a mile away, in 1893, Alfont passed into history.