Randolph County, Indiana - Physical Geography, 1882 (part 1 of 2)

Physical Geography

Randolph County, as at present constituted, lies in the eastern part of the State of Indiana, directly upon the Ohio line, somewhat midway of the State from north to south. It is about twenty-one and three-quarter miles in extent from east to west, and about twenty-one miles from north to south, containing nearly 457 square miles, or about 292,000 acres. It may be properly enough described by stating first its boundaries and matters connected therewith.

Randolph is bounded north by Jay County ; east by Mercer and Darke Counties, Ohio; south by Wayne County, and west by Henry and Delaware Counties. It lies wholly inland, and has no lakes nor large navigable streams on its boundaries. The fortieth parallel of north latitude extends through the southern part of the county (running east and west} near Arba. Winchester is not very far from this parallel, and is thus within one or two degrces of the latitude of several of the great cities-of the world - New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Constantinople and Pekin. That fact docs not prove, indeed, that Winchester is a great city like the places just named, but only that our latitude round the habitable globe is favorable for the growth of towns.

The eighth meridian of longitude west from Washington (or the eighty-fifth west from London), passes through the county north and south near and west of Ridgeville and Winchester. Thus the difference of time with New York is 40 minutes, with Chicago about 12 minutes, with St. Louis about 20 minutes, and with San Franscisco about 150 minutes.

Indian Boundaries

Two old Indian boundaries pass through the county, both ina southwesterly direction, and, except in the northern portions, exactly parallel to cach other.

1. Wayne's boundary, agreed on in a treaty made at Greenville, Ohio, in 1795, between Gen. Anthony Wayne and several tribes of Indians. (See Indian History.) This boundary (as to that part of it which extends through Indiana) begins at Fort Recovery, and passes southwest to the mouth of Kentucky River. It extends through Jay, Randolph, Wayne, Union and Franklin, between Dearborn and Ripley, between Ohio and Switzerland Counties, and through Switzerland County. This line enters Randolph near the northeast corner of Jackson Township (and of the county, and passes through Jackson, Wayne and Greensfork Township. It strikes the north line of Wayne Township about 13 miles west of the Ohio line - of Greensfork about 3 miles, and the Wayne County line about 43 miles

-- The surveys on the east side of this boundary were made by the United States Government soon after 1795, certainly between 1795 and 1803. The surveys extended from the State line westward to the boundary, making fractional sections on the east side of the boundary, and on the west side as well, when the land on the west side was surveyed. ''Jogs"' also.are found in the sections at the boundary, on both sides, of course.

The system of survey now in vogue (by meridians, ranges, townships and settions) was instituted by the national Congress, May 25, 1785, and May 18, 1796, and from its excellence and supreme convenience it has been retained continuously from the time of its adoption. The surveys and plattings made before that day of patents granted under the kings of England, and by other sovereigns, and also of grants made by our own government to persons as a reward for meritorious service, were effected without regard to meridians. As, for instance, in the State of New York under English and Dutch grants - and in Louisiana Territory and Indiana, Illinois and Missouri under French grants, and in Ohio and elsewhere in the case of grants to soldiers and others - other and widely varying systems of surveying prevailed. (See chapter on Public Lands.)

When the first settlement of eastern Indiana after the Revolution began, only the land east of the old (Wayne's) boundary had been surveyed, and persons who settled had to stop on the east side of that line, e. g., some of the early settlers near Newport (now Fountain City) that came in before 1809 have stated that they went into the woods just as far as they could get, entering their land directly on the boundary.

The counties in the southeastern part of Indiana (Territory) that.were formed before the ''twelve-mile strip'' had been surveyed extended at first westward only to the old boundary. And Randolph (laid out in 1818) reached, when first created, only to the twelve-mile boundary. Afterward the limits of the counties were altered so as to make them stand as at present.

Dearborn County at first embraced all the territory between the Ohio line, the Ohio River and Wayne's boundary. And this whole region was for a time known as the Territory (or even State) of Dearborn.

Settlement was begun there in 1796 by Adam Fluke the year after Wayne's treaty was made, and, of course, before the land had been surveyed. The ccunty (Dearborn) was created (by the Territorial Government) seven years afterward, in 1803. Dearborn was the third county in the 'erritory, Knox (around Vincennes) being the first, and Clarke (on the Ohio) the second. The fourth county was Harrison, on the Ohio, west of Clarke. The fifth county was Wayne, taking the northern portion of Dearborn. Whether Wayne County, when it was created, extended across the '" twelve-mile strip,' we do not know. It may have done so, since that strip was ceded by the Indians in 1899, and the county was erected in 1810. When the first settlers came into Randolph (1814), the land between the two boundaries had been surveyed, and was open for settlement. But the land west of the '"'twelve-mile strip"' was not ceded by the Indians till 1818, and not surveyed till 1821-22.

Randolph was the next county organized east of the "* boundaries,'' viz., in 1818, two years after Indiana became a State. A more detailed account will be given hereafter.

About fourteen years after the first boundary had been established at Greenville by Gen. Wayne (1795), a second boundary was drawn according to a treaty which will now be described, viz.: ary in the western part of the county. It was agreed on ina treaty made with the Indians by Gen. Harrison, Governor of Indiana Territory, in 1809 (at Fort Wayne, September 30, and at Vincennes, October 26). It was called the twelve mile boundary because, in that treaty the Indians ceded (along with other lands perhaps) a strip twelve miles wide west of the old boundary already described. This twelve mile line begins at Fort Recovery (at the same point with the other), and, proceeding in a straight line, but at a greater angle than the old boundary till it reaches a point not far from, and a little west of Ridgeville, and twelve miles west of the old boundary ; it runs thence parallel with the said old boundary to the Ohio River.

This second or new, or twelve mile boundary passes a little west of Ridgeville, and a little east of Unionsport. It crosses the Mississinewa River in southeast quarter Section 11, Town 21 north, Range 13 east, Franklin Township, and White River in White River Township about one mile east of the northeast corner of Monroe Township, southeast quarter of Section 16, Town 20, Range 13. The surveys might seem to have been made without reference to this twelve mile boundary. At any rate, there appear to be full sections lying across the boundary without "jogs" on either side of the line. The ranges are numbered from the second meridian, which is about ninety miles west of the west line of Ohio. The fact seems to be that the second meridian was located and the base line established, andthe ranges measured and marked on the base line, and then the land between the boundaries was surveyed before the land on the west of the "' twelve-mile strip,'' and, after the cession in 1818, the survey was completed. As to this latter purchase and session, Judge Jere Smith, in his Civil History of Randolph County, (manuscript) says: ''In the month of October, 1818, a treaty was made by the United States Government with the several tribes occupying the territory of the State of Indiana. The council was held on St. Mary's River, somewhere near Shane's Prairie, not far from where Willshire now stands. Lewis Cass, then Governor of Michigan Territory, and Jonathan Jennings, Governor of Indiana, were appointed by President Monroe, Commissioners to make the treaty. At that treaty, all the country lying west of the twelve mile purchase and south of the Wabash, and up it to the mouth of Little River, and up that river to its head, and to the Fort Wayne Reservation made by Gen. Wayne in 1795 (with certain reservations specified), was ceded to the United States. This cession embraced the whole central part of the State. The land wasallsurveyed in 1820-21-22, and settlers flowed in rapidly."'

When Randolph County was first created (as already remarked) it embraced only the land east of the twelve mile boundary. But at the session, commencing December, 1819, the Legislature laid out, in advance, much of the ceded territory into counties, and in so doing fixed the final boundaries of Randolph County as they now stand, but attached thereto for judicial purposes, all the territory north of it to the State line, as also Delawareand Grant. Blackford, Jay, Wells, Adams, Allen, etc., were vacant land for years afterward, and all that territory was, for the time, attached to Randolph County; and the Commissioners, at their session, August, 1820, made all that territory into a single township and named it Wayne, and ordered an election to be hold at Fort Wayne for the choice of two Justices and one Constable. Rather an extensive township that! large, indeed, as to size, but weak as to population. And for some five years the courts of Randolph had jurisdiction over that region.

The Miami capital, Kekionga, had stood for ages near the present location of Fort Wayne, and it was first visited by white men at least as soon as 1676, and probably much sooner. A French missiunary from Michigan visited the Indian capital in that year, and Chevalier La Salle is thought to have been there about 1680, and, about 1705, the French planted a fort there,

Fort Miami. In 1745, the Hurons burnt this fort. The French built another there in 1748. In 1759, with the fall of Canada, all the French posts fell into the hands of the English. Ensign Holmes, of the British Army, built a fort on the east bank of the St. Joseph in 1760-61.

In 1763, in Pontiac's war, Ensign Holmes was betrayed and slain, and the Indians captured the fort. However, Pontiac's war was soon ended, and the English again garrisoned the fort in 1764.

The war of Independence followed, and the peace of 1783 was accomplished; yet the British, though their government had agreed to withdraw their troops with all convenient speed, seem to have held for years several posts, as Detroit, Niagara, Michilimackinac, and also one near Fort Wayne. When "' Mad Anthony" marched against the Indians in 1794, he found the British occupying a fort on the Maumee River, and some rather sharp correspondence took place between the two commanding officers. Fort Wayne was built by order of Gen. Wayne after his victory over the savages at the rapids of the Maumee. For many years after its erection, Fort Wayne was a principal center of dealings with the Indian tribes occupying the forests of Indiana.

Greenville, too, was a place of Indian payment from 1795 to 1815. From that time onward Fort Wayne was the place of meeting for the payment of Indian annuities.

A great deal of trade was carried on, chiefly with the Indians, at Fort Wayne atthe times of payment. Still no permanent settlement was made there till about 1815. Fort Wayne was evacuated as a military post in 1819, but it became a depot of trade in furs, provisions and whisky.

Richardville, one of the Miami chiefs, grew immensely rich by dealing in furs and by his sales of land. At the Indian payments traders would come from Ohio and Michigan and even New York, to peddle their wares and cajole the Indians.

Miscellany

When Indiana was admitted as a State (1816), Allen County was a part of Knox. The seat of justice for Fort Wayne remained at Vincennes till about 1819, when that was attached to Randolph County ; and it so continued, with Winchester for the county seat, tillabout 1823, at which time Allen County was created. Fort Wayne was laid out as a town in 1828, and the plat is recorded in Winchester.

David Connor had a trading post at various locations on the Mississinewa River, andelsewhere. He stationed himself at Fort Recovery, then above Deerfield, afterward below Wheeling, and finally below Marion. An Indian trader was at La Gro, on the Salamonie, and another at the crossing of the Wabash, by the '« Quaker trail,' near New Corydon, Jay County, Ind.

A trader had been (probably for a short time) at the crossing of the Wabash, near New Corydon, Jay County, much earlier than the time of David Connor's operations on the Mississinewa, perhaps before the war of 1812. His name was Miller, his goods were furnished him by Vanausdal, of Haton, Ohio. Miller was murdered by parties unknown.

Allen County was created in 1823, and embraced at first also what is now Wells, Adams, Huntington and ne leaving Jay, Blackford, Delaware and Grant still belonging to Randolph. Huntington was organized in 1834, Adams in 1836, Wells in 1837, and Whitley in 1830, Delaware in 1827, Grant in 1831, Jay in 1836 and Blackford in 1839, leaving in that latter year both Allen and Randolph at their final and permanent size.

Public Lands

'© An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of land in the Western Territory, and for other purposes therein mentioned."

The ordinance was considered, debated and amended, and on motion of Mr. Grayson, of Virginia (May 3, 1785), seconded by Mr. Monroe, the size of the township was reduced to six miles square, and May 25, 1785, the bill became a law.

Under this ordinance, that part of Ohio called '' The Seven Ranges,'' was surveyed into ranges of townships extending northward from the Ohio River, anit numbered toward the north.

The sections were not surveyed, but ''mile corners'' were established in the exterior lines of the townships, and the '' mile lots' were numbered from one to thirty-six, beginning with the southeast corner of the township.

The area of the '' Seven Ranges'' was 1,641,724 acres. By act of Congress, May 18, 1796, a Surveyor General was appointed (the year after Wayne's treaty at Greenville had been made with the Indians).

Under this act, one-half the townships were divided by "' running"' lines each way, two miles apart, through the townships, and making ''mile marks" on these lines. The sections were numbered from one to thirty-six, beginning at the northeast corner of each township, and proceeding west and east alternately, ending with thirty-six in the southeast corner. Fractional townships were numbered exactly as though they had been full size. This method of numbering is still employed and has been used ever since its adoption. The act of May 10, 1800, directed the subdivision of townships into half-sections of 320 acres. The act of February 11, 1803, directed the subdivisions into quartersections (160 acres). 'The act of April 24, 1820, subdivided into half-quarter sections (eighty acres). The act of April d, 1832, directed the survey of quarter-quarters, i. e., forty acres.

At first not less than a section could be ''entered,'' and the price was $2 per acre, the purchaser paying in four equal annual payments. Afterward, '* floating claims'' were allowed, i. e., if a man failed to complete his payments he might have a patent for as much as the money he had paid would cover, and let the rest

After awhile the price was set at $1.25 cash, with the privilege of buying 160 acres, and then of eighty, and by and by forty acres. In (about) 1840, the right of pre-emption was secured by act of Congress; and in 1862, the '*' Homestead" act was passed.

In 1872, an act was passed for ' soldiers' homesteads,"' allowing their term of service to count on their homestead time. At some time a provision was male, graduating the price of the public lands according to the time they had remained unsold in market, coming down at the lowest point to 12} cents per acre. And it is a noteworthy instance of the public benefit of a judicious railroad system, that, while millions of acres had been standing for years unsold at the miuimum price in Central and Southern |

Illinois, in the route of the Central Railroad; after the road had been built under a grant of immense quantities of land to the railroad, the part retained by the Government was sold by it at $2.50 per acre (twenty times the former price), yielding a net income of over $9.000,000.

The land in Indiana east of the "old boundary" was surveyed from 1799 to 1802. 'The "'twelve-mile strip'' was surveyed in 1811. 'he land west of the " twelve-mile strip" was surveyed from 1820 onward.

The following statement concerning meridians and base lines, is condensed from the report of the Commissioner of the Land Office for 1875; pages 37-38.

From the meridians the ranges are numbered east or west, or From the base lines the townships are numbered north or south, or both, as the case may be.

The first meridian is the west line of Ohio, commencing at the Ohio River, at the mouth of the Miami River, being 84° 51' west. from Greenwich (or about 7° 49' from Washington).

The lands in Ohio and those in Indiana east of the " old boundary," are numbered east and west from the first meridian. The base in this case is the Ohio River.

All the lands in Indiana west of the '' Old Boundary," are controlled by this meridian, and also that part of Illinois included by fifteen ranges west; and the ranges are numbered eastward fifteen ranges, or ninety miles, to the State line (or a less distance to the 'old boundary''), and westward fifteen ranges, or ninety miles, extending some distance into Eastern Illinois. 'The base line is an cast and west line crossing the meridian twenty-four miles north of the Ohio River.

The third meridian extends northward from the mouth of the Ohio River to the northern boundary of Illinois. This meridian regulates the land between it and those subject to the second meridian, and westward to the Illinois River. It is the line of 89° 10' 30' west from Greenwich.

This meridian controls all the lands in Illinois, west of the [linois River, or of this meridian north of its intersection therewith ; all the lands in Wisconsin, and all in Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi and of the third guide meridian (west of the fifth principal meridian) and north of the river.

The fifth meridian extends northward from the mouth of the Arkansas River, with a base line westward from the mouth of the St. Francis River. It controls Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi and the third-guide meridian, and Dakota east of the Missouri. [90° 58' west].

The Michigan meridian for Michigan, the Tallahassee meridian for Florida, the St. Stephens meridian for parts of Alabama and Mississippi, the Huntsville meridian for Northern Alabama, the Choctaw meridian for Northern Mississippi, the Washington meridian for Southwestern Mississippi, the Louisiana meridian for Louisiana west of the Mississippi, the St. Helena meridian for Southeastern Louisiana (east of the Mississippi), the New Mexico meridian for New Mexico and Coloradoin the Rio Grande Valley, the great Salt Lake meridian for Utah, the Boise meridian for Idaho, the Mount Diablo meridian for Central and Northeastern California and all of Nevada, the San Bernardino meridian for Southern California east of the meridian and some west of

| it, the Humboldt meridian for northwestern California, the Willamette meridian for Oregon and Washington, the Montana meridian for Montana, the Gila and Salt River meridian for Arizona, the Indian meridian for Indian Territory.

mentioned. They were left in the ownership of the State, and hence, are not included in the United States Surveys. Thus it is seen that twenty-four meridians of survey have been designated by the Government. ] f

The second meridian begins at a point on the Ohio River in Perry County, Ind., ninety miles west of the Ohio line. It extends north between Perry and Crawford, through Crawford, Orange, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, Hendricks, Boone, Clinton, Carroll und Cass, between Pulaski and Fulton, between Stark and Marshall, and through St. Joseph to the north line of Indiana.

One range in Randolph County (fractional), and four ranges in all, are counted from the first meridian, and fifteen ranges in all are reckoned eastward of the second meridian to the Ohio line.

Randolph County embraces Range 1 west of the first principal meridian (east of the old boundary), and Ranges 12, 13, 14 and 15 east of second principal meridian.

It embraces townships 16, 17, 18 and (south half of) 19 west of first meridian, and townships (north half of) 18, and (the whole of ) 19, 20 and 21, east of the second principal meridian, in Ranges 12, 18, 14 and 15 aforesaid.

The base of the survey on the east side of the old boundary would seem to be the point where the boundary touches the Ohio River. At any rate the townships number thence toward the north. Hence the south line of Randolph County is about ninety miles north of the point where the old boundary strikes the Ohio.

The base line of the.survey on the west side of the old boundary crosses the second meridian about 24 miles north of the point at which that meridian touches the Ohio River, there being four townships south of the base line to the Ohio on the east side of the second meridian.

The whole of Indiana west of the second meridian is surveyed and numbered westward from that second meridian and also more or less of Illinois.

There are "' jogs'"' on both sides of the "old boundary," the surveys on the two sides of that boundary having no connection with each other. There are no "'jogs'' at the '"twelve-mile boundary." 'The surveys west of the "'old boundary," and on both sides of the " new boundary "' were all made from the second meridian eastward, although the land east of that second boundary contiguous thereto was surveyed before the land on the west side.

One thing may be of. interest, and not universally known, as to the survey of the public lands, viz: The townships are square, six miles on aside, while the meridians are not parallel (of course). This disagreement causes fractional sections, which are made to occur at the side which is at the close of the survey. The range lines were first established six miles apart, and then the townships, six miles square, were measured off, and afterward the section lines were run each way, one mile apart. The section corners were established by corner trees, as also by witness trees, all marked with descriptions of sizé, measurements, distances from corner, etc.

_By these section-corners the section is afterward divided into halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths. The original surveys are described as they were taken, in the " field notes," which are de- posited in the office of the County Auditor, and are accessible to all who wish to consult them. Owing to various obstacles and difficulties and possibly sometimes to carelessness, the original surveys were not always accurate and sometimes seriously wrong. The corners, however, established in such survey, when they can be determined, must stand. It is true, indeed, that some sections contain more than others, and the lines between corners are not always regular ; but certainty and stability are of paramount importance, and far more so than mere quantity. Legal methods have been established by the State for completing the survey of a section, and for ascertaining and fixing any desired corner, line or boundary ; and when done according to law, the work of the "lawful surveyor '' has to stand.

It may or may not be known by all although it is nevertheless a certain fact, that surveying is for many reasons a most delicate and difficult operation ; and the fewest number, even of professional surveyors, are able to execute an extensive survey with even approximate accuracy. It is true also that "' disputed boundaries" are a fruitful source of quarrels between neighbors, and not seldom fierce enmity and permanent and bitter personal hatred, will grow from such a dispute.

A very curious instance, showing both the difficulty in the subject matter, the fierceness of strifes arising from such sources, and the need of accurate knowledge and superior practical skill in execution, as also the advantage, nay, the absolute necessity of possessing the confidence of the contendiag parties, occurred many years ago ; and, as the case has never been in print, so far ag we are aware, it may be well to preserve a statement of the case for the advantage of posterity.

A certain large landed estate with many heirs was to be divided. The attempt was made by different surveyors, but no two came out alike, and none was satisfactory. At last a surveyor was sent fora hundred miles away. He came, knowing nothing beforehand of the trouble in the matter. He found, perhaps, a hundred men on hand, and saw that he had a doubly-difficult task to perform - to make a survey difficult in itself, and to satisfy the parties concerned of the correctness of his work. He soon found that the chief trouble grew from the fact that a line had to be ascertained that extended through an impassable swamp. He felt that the essential thing to be done was, to satisfy that crowd of men that he could measure a line exactly without going near it; so, ordering two stakes to be set at an unknown distance apart, he, without himself going near either one of them or upon the line between them, by measurements and calculations of triangles, found the distance between those stakes, and announced it to an inch. '' Now," said he, "' go measure it." They did, and to their amazement found that he was right, '"' to a shaving."' '"« There,'' said he, ''are you satisfied that I can tell the exact length of aline without passing over it or being upon it?" " We are," was the universal reply. '' Well then, don't you see that I can tell how far it is across that swamp without crossing it?" 'Yes, we do,' was theanswer. He then went on with his work, and completed the survey ; and, though his results were unlike all the rest (which was natural enough), all were satisfied, and the bitter controversy was forever at an end. They felt that he was "master of his business,' and that if the survey could be made at all, he could do it, and that he had done it. The other surveyors might have been near enough correct, but they had not secured the confidence of the parties concerned in advance.

Another actual case equally curious, though of another sort, we state, both of the instances showing, among other things, how matters that occur in actual life are more difficult than any problems found in textbooks.

A man died leaving a widow with ten children, all minors, and also a considerable estate. A final division could not be made till the youngest came of age. Before that time, seven of the children had died, one by one, so that the final distribution of the estate had to be made to the widow and the three surviving children. The law was this: The widow was entitled by statute to one-third, and the children, collectively, to the other two-thirds. If a child died, half its portion went to the mother, and the other half in equal shares to the surviving children. How much is the final share of the widow, and of each surviving child? This problem in fractions the court had to solve, and '"'seas of figures '' were made by experts in attempts to make the calculation and to determine the result.

Surface

There are no mountains nor even high hills in Randolph County. Tho center between the Mississinewa and White Rivers is largely low and mostly level, much of the land needing draining. Farther from the sources of the streams the surface becomes more rolling. And in the southern part of the county it is still more so. On Nolan's and Green's Forks, Martindale's Creek, West River and Little White River, the gentle hills and sloping valleys present a very picturesque appearance. In early times much of the level portions were difficult of occupation, but, of late years, extensive ditching has been done and the low portions make the very best farms.

Vegetation

Occasionally, when the settlers first came, a low, wet prairie would be found; but, for the most part, a thick, heavy woods covered the soil, and they were filled mostly with an abundant underbrush. Jere Smith, in his '' Reminiscences," says :

'The country was thickly timbered with a tall, heavy forest, having a wonderful undergrowth of shrubs and wild grass and weeds. 'he trees were beech, sugar tree, ash (gray, blue and swamp), oak (white, red, burr, pin and river), poplar, walnut (white and black), elm (red or slippery, and white or hickory), hickory (black or pignut, and shell bark), buckeye, linn, wild maple, hackberry, coffeenut, honey locust, cottonwood. The undergrowth was spice-bush, ironwood, water-beech and hornbeam, prickly-ash, dogwood, kunnekanic (Indian name, now extinct), red-bud, paw-paw, wild plum, red and black haw, sassafras; in swamps, black alder, willow, thorn, crab-apple, young cottonwood.

Weeds And Grasses

" Nettles, peavines, may apple, ginseng, ferns (two kinds), snake-root (black and seneca), silkweed, ramps (soon extinct), bear-grass, file-grass, skunk-cabbage, cat's tail. In clearings, butter-weed, thistles, mullein, dog-fennel (may-weed); in tilled lands, spanish needles and touch-me-nots."

The same authority says: ''The game were deer, squirrels (gray, black and red), turkeys, pheasants and bears. Other wild animals were wolves, raccoons, ground-hogs, possums, porcupines, wild-cats, foxes, panthers, otter, minks and pole-cats."

There were, in many parts, especially after the country had been partially settled, great numbers of wild hogs, the offspring of animals which had been tame, but that were grown wild by ranging in the woods. 'These wild hogs were often very fierce and savage, and considerably dangerous. And it is curious how quickly the tame swine themselves would become wild by running in the forest. These droves of hogs would sometimes remain unmolested for two or three years, since they would fatten only in the " mast years,' and the mast would occasionally fail for a year or two, or even more, and the herds of swine would greatly increase during those years, and become vastly formidable to persons passing through the forest. In some places autumnal fires had killed the undergrowth and left the forest beautifully open. In a few cases, also, hurricanes had passed and prostrated the timber, leaving the ground covered with trunks of trees lying in every direction. One such tract existed near Spartanburg. Another was caused a few years later by a terrific storm that tore through the southern part of the county. A history of it will be found in '"' Reminiscences by Jere. Smith,'' in another

Drainage

The surface of Randolph County rises to a considerable height. The land on which Union City stands, is said to be, with one exception, the highest land in the State, being not far from 1,000 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. f the State itself, the the Maumee to Lake Erie. The center slopes to the west and southwest, being drained by the White, the Wabash, etc., into the Ohio. The southeast and south portions slope directly to the Ohio, and the regions of the northwest and north are drained into Lake Michigan. A small portion of the east drains eastward to the Miami. The chief valleys in the State are the Maumee (and its affluents) in the northeast, the Wabash in the center, the Whitewater in the east and southeast, the Kankakee in the northwest, the St. Juseph in the north, the Ohio in the south, the Miami in the east. The county itself embraces parts of the Wabash, the Whitewater and the Miami Valleys, as will be more fully seen hereafter. There were originally a few swamps or marshes, mostly at the head of the streams, as the swamp between Nolan's Fork and Greenville Creek, in Greensfork Township, and some others. These two creeks run in opposite directions from thesame marsh. Nolan's Fork flows south into Whitewater, and Greenville north and then east toward the Miami. But these old-time swamps, by the clearing of the forests and the draining of their surface, are mostly changed to dry land.

During late years, and especially at the present time, an immense amount of ditching has been, and is being done by the farmers of the county. It is considered that the high and rolling ground, even, is vastly improved by thorough draining; and, while the low marshy land, utterly useless otherwise, has been, by a thorough system of ditching, transformed into excellent farms, the more rolling land has in many cases been ditched also and greatly improved thereby. Many oof the artificial drains are immense ditches, deep and wide, and extending for miles through scores and hundreds of farms. Their construction is regulated by law, and, though costly, they are of immense benefit, and, in fact, indispensable to the prosperity of the farming interest. Though it is regretted by many, that the legal regulations require so great an amount of attending cost, causing the ditching of the country to be exceedingly expensive ; still, the owners of low lands cannot do without the ditches. Yet, a system is greatly to be desired that shall result in the construction of the largest and most serviceable ditches at the lowest practicable cost.

Minerals, Rocks, Etc

Gravel is somewhat abundant, being found in drift heaps like knolls, covered in most cases with surface-earth several feet deep. Often these gravel deposits are very large. Some of them-dre in the bluffs of the creeks, but many also are at a distance from any stream. Sand is found in many places but is not so plentiful as gravel. Lime is burned on the banks of the Mississinewa River near Ridgeville, and on the White River near Macksville, and also near Farmland. There are two kilns near Maxville and one near Farmland. 'The proprietors of the two kilns near Maxville burn, on an average, twelve times a year, 400 bushels at a time. The demand is large and rapid, the whole of a kiln being sold often as fast as it can be loaded. The lime is said to be of an excellent quality. These quarries furnish also rock for foundations, etc., and experts say that, by digging deeper, excellent building stone might be obtained in abundance. In some places within the county, rock-boulders are found quite plentifully. Across the southern part of Randolph occurs a remarkable deposit of loose rocks on the surface. The tract is, perhaps, a mile wide, and is supposed to extend eastward over most of the county. In some parts of the tract the stones lie so thick as nearly to cover the ground. Sometimes immense rocks weighing many tons are met with, boulders also, some of them very large, are found in various parts of the county. In some cases farmers take pains to gather the rocks from their lands, and utilize them by walling a well or by laying them into the foundations of a barn. In some places also the huge rocks have been blasted by powder, so as to become available for walling purposes.

Maxville Region

The following sketch contains some facts furnished by I. M. Branson, Esq., of Maxville, Randolph County. His article has been somewhat condensed to correspond to the narrow limits of the space available for its insertion: A tract of land containing eighty to one hundred acres lying north of Maxville, and extending both eastward and westward from that town, constituting at the present time a portion of the valley of White River, seems to present striking evidences of the action thereon of the forces of the Glacial Epoch, during which, after the prevalence for unknown ages of fire and water, ice became for a season monarch of the world-wide waste, producing, as the result of its power, a condition of things described as the Drift Period, such as loose, unstratified deposits of clay, sand, gravel, and stones or rocks familiar to the sight of every man in the Northern States, which, by the way, are said not te be found much south of forty degrees north latitude. In some places, the drift deposits form only a slight covering above the solid rock while elsewhere the deposits are piled up in hills and ridges. This latter state of things exists in the locality mentioned. Apparently the drift or avalanche came southwest, leveling by its mighty power hills and ridges, filling ravines and hollows in its onward course. The melting of the ice has left these vast deposits of boulders, gravel, fossils, etc., scattered everywhere.

The whole region was previously a surface of limestone. In some places the lime rock is still uncovered, though lying mostly from a few inches to several feet below the surface. Over the whole ground are scattered many kinds of material - stone, clay, soil, sand, loam and alluvium in a mass together. The boulders are of all sizes, from small rubble stones to rocks weighing several tons. The masses are rounded as if water-worn, and possess a structure entirely different from the layers of rock upon which they rest. These boulder rocks have evidently been transported to their present location by some wonderful force, presenting as they do marks of parallel grooves or striae, so-called, caused, as supposed, by the scraping of the boulder masses upon the solid stone-layers lying below. The bedrock at the surface is polished and grooved inthe same manner. The locality in question might seem to have been the spot at which the huge glacier stopped its motion and melted away, thus leaving its entire burden of drift. There have been found petrified fish, beech nuts, hickory nuts, wood, worms, etc., all transformed into solid stone. The chief evidences of the approach and resting-place of a glacier are moraines, erratic blocks, polished surfaces, striz, etc.

The river flows west and northwest through this tract. The hills are low and gradual in ascent. The ravines extend north and south with the ends running into the river "filled up.' In excavating for limestone, different strata of earth and soil, sand, gravel, loam and clay are discovered in a conglomerate mass. In the river valley, below this region, none of the features named are noticed. Some of the boulders are monsters. The surface of the limestone is level; extending from the river, toward the highlands on each side upon this ground, are situated the Maxville lime-quarries. The bottom of the river is a solid bed of limestone. Many fossils have been found, such as- the imprint of leaves. twigs and plants, shells, nuts and small grades of animal life upon the surface of the lime rock. This whole tract possesses great interest fora geologist and would bear a far more careful and extensive exploration.

Inland Waters

north (flowing, i. e., the main stream, nearly west); the White River and its branches in the center, the main stream flowing west; the branches of the Whitewater (but not the Whitewater itself), in the south, flowing southward; and one or two branches of the Miami in the east, tending eastward.

Mississinewa Valley

This valley embraces the entire northern part of the county. It rises in the State of Ohio and enters Randolph County in the northeastern part of Jackson Township, flowing nearly west, veering, however, slightly north through the northern parts of the northern tier of townships, Jackson, Ward, Franklin and Green; it enters Delaware County near the northwest corner of Green Township. It is a considerable stream, flowing into the Wabash, through Randolph, Delaware, Grant and Miami Counties, a little above Peru. The towns near it (in Randolph County) are Allensville, Deerfield, Ridgeville, Steubenville and Fairview, and (out of Randolph) Albany (Delaware County), Jonesboro and Marion (Grant County). Allensville, Steubenville and Deerfield are south of the River, and Ridgeville is north of it. None of these towns except Ridgeville are of much importance, though it is a thriving little town. Allensville is in Jackson Township, nearly north of Union City. Deerfield is in Ward Township, north of Winchester; Ridgeville is in Franklin Township, northwest of Winchester. Steubenville and Fairview are in Green Township, the most northwestern part of the county. The chief branches of the Mississinewa are on the south side, Bush, Bear, Mad, Hickory and Massie's Creeks, ard Little Mississinewa River. On the north side, Goshen, Dinner and Day's Creeks. Bush Creek rises in White River, and flows through Franklin, Monroe and Green, entering the Mississinewa a little east of Steubenville. Bear Creek heads in White River, flows through White River and Franklin, emptying three miles below Ridgeville. Mud Creek (there are several) rises in White River, flows through White River and Ward, emptying just west of Deerfield. Hickory Creek heads in White River, flows through White River and Ward, and reaches the Mississinewa, east of Deerfield. Massie's Creek rises in Ward and empties between Allensville and Deerfield. Little Mississinewa River heads in Wayne Township west of Salem, flows nearly north and just west of Union City, through Wayne and Jackson, and meets the Goshen (north side) flows from Jay County into Ward Township, emptying near Deerfield. Day's Creek is mostly in Franklin Township, emptying east of the mouth of Bear Creek. Dinner Creek flows southwest through Green Township and empties west of the mouth of Bush Creek. Some of these streams are of considerable size, and themselves have affluents; Bush Creek has Elkhorn and several others, Bear Creck has Tiger Branch. The towns in this region (not yet mentioned) are, or have been, New Lisbon, Jackson Township east of Little Mississinewa; Mount Holly, west of New Lisbon in Jackson; New Pittsburg, in Jackson, north of the Mississinewa near the Jay County line; New Middletown, Jackson, between Union and Deerfield on the Deerfield State road; Saratoga, on the railroad between Union City and Ridgeville, in Ward Township; Harrisville, on the '' Bee Line,"' between Union and Winchester in Wayne; Randolph, on the railroad south of Deerfield, Ward Township, Salem, Wayne Township, near the head of Little Mississinewa; Union City, near the Little Mississinewa, at the junction of several railroads.

White River Valley

White River is the largest stream in the county. It rises in the east part of Washington Township, flows northeast several miles through Washington, White River and Wayne, then turning westerly (in Wayne) it passes out of Wayne and through White River and Stony Creek, across a very small corner of Monroe, leaving Randolph near Windsor; thence through Delaware,

Madison, Hamilton, Marion, Johnson, Morgan, Owen, Greene, between Daviess and Knox, and between Knox and Pike, and Gibson Counties, with a general southwesterly course, it enters Wabash opposite Mount Carmel (a town in Illinois) a long distance below Vincennes.

The towns near White River (in Randolph) are: Snow Hill, Washington Township; Harrisville, Wayne Township ; Winchester, White River Township; Maxville, White River Township ; Farmland, Monroe Township; Windsor, Stony Creek Township. These towns are all south of the river but Snow Hill, Harrisville and Farmland. Snow Hill and Farmland are north, and Harrisville east, of White River. White River takes its westerly course near Harrisville in Wayne.

Winchester is a considerable town, and a railroad center; the others, except Farmland, are small and of little importance. Harrisville is on a railroad and so are Farmland and Winchester.

The towns (out of Randolph) on White River are: Muncie, county seat of Delaware; Anderson, county seat of Madison ; Noblesville, county seat of Hamilton: Indianapolis, county seat of Marion and capital of the State; Martinsville, county seat of Morgan ; Spencer, county seat of Owen; Bloomfield, county seat of Greene.

These towns are railroad towns also, and more or less active and flourishing. They are important centers of business and trade for the region around them.

Indianapolis is one of the greatest railroad centers in the world, is by far the largest town in the State, and rapidly reaching its older rivals throughout the country.

Cabin Creek rises west of Huntsville in West River, flows northwest through West River, White River and Stony Creek, emptying midway between Maxville and Windsor.

Hight-Mile Creek begins in Washington, flows through Washington, West River and White River, and empties into White River (stream) in the northeast corner of Stony Creek, a little west of Maxville.

Salt Creek begins in Washington, flows north through Washington, White River (and the town of Winchester), and empties a short distance north of Winchester.

Stony Creek has a large branch, Little White River. It rises in Nettle Creek, flows through Nettle Creek and Stony Creek, and enters Stony Creek (stream) in the west part of the township.

White Water Valley

Nolan's Fork drains the southern part of Greensfork Township. orenaror drains the west part of Greensfork and the south part of Washington Township.

Miami Valley

The only affluents of the Miami in Randolph County are Greenville and Dismal. Creeks. Greenville Creek rises in Greensfork Township, southeast of Spartansburg, flows north and northeast through Greensfork and Wayne, near and east of Spartansburg and Bartonia, and enters Ohio in the northeastern part of Wayne; Dismal heads in the north part of Greensfork, flows northeast through Wayne, and enters Ohio a mile south of Union City. Spartansburg is on the west side of Greenville Creek in Greensfork Township. Bartonia is also west of Greenville Creek and in Wayne Township.

The streams are crossed by the numerous highways extending in all directions. Large bridges are required over the White and Mississinewa in several places. 'Ihe chief crossings of the Mississinewa are: 1. North of Allensville, a pike. 2. South of New Pittsburg, a pike. 3. North of Deerfield, a pike. 4. South of Ridgeville, an iron bridge. 5. Midway between Ridgeville and Deerfield, a ford. 6. South of Fairview, an iron bridge.

The main crossings of White River are: 1. Near Mount Zion Meeting-house, southeast of Winchester. 2. East of Winchester on the Greenville State Road. 38. Two or three crossings in the region of Harrisville. 4. East of Winchester, near White River Friends' Meeting-house. 5. Not very far from Winchester, northwest of the fair grounds. 6. Not far from Stephen Moorman's in the region where Sampletown used to be. 7. Near Maxville. 8. Just south of Farmland. 9. South of Morristown. There is a large bridge over Stony Creek just east of Windsor.

Valleys And Divides

The Mississinewa Valley embraces the northern part of the county, chiefly Jackson, Ward, Franklin and Green Townships. White River Valley is in the center, taking (parts of) Wayne and White River, Stony Creek, Nettle Creek, and (parts of) Washington and West Rivers.

The Whitewater Valley includes most of Greensfork, Washington and West River. Miami Valley takes (parts of) Greensfork and Wayne. There are three "divides," mostly low and marshy - (1) between Mississinewa and White Rivers; (2) between White and Whitewater Rivers; (8) between White and White River and Miami. The " divide'' between Mississinewa and White begins near the center of Wayne southwest of Salem, and passing near Harrisville, extends on the north side of, and not very far from White River stream, through White River and Monroe Townships.

The "'divide'' between White and Whitewater begins in the west part of Greensfork, and, passing into the north part of Washington and bending southward, it extends near the center of West River Township, and through the south part of Nettle Creek. The ''divide," setting off the Miami waters from

Uses Of The Streams

The most important in these respects were Mississinewa River, White River and Cabin Creek, the last being in some respects the best of the three for water power.

In the latter days the amount of water is much more variable and uncertain than of old in all the streams. The clearing of the timber and the drainage of the low lands seem to have greatly lessened the quantity of water in the rivers and creeks. And for these, and perhaps otlicr reasons, steam has almost wholly superseded the use of water as a power for the propelling of machinery in this county.

There is still a water mill on White River at Maxville and one at Windsor, one on Mississinewa at Ridgeville, one on Cabin Creck near its mouth, and perhaps one or two others. The slope of the streams is very slight, and water has to be conveyed a long distance to secure sufficient fall for the requisite power.

In earlier times many more mills, both for sawing and grinding, carding machines, etc., were to be found, most of which are now discontinued.

Wayne and Randolph were settled before the main portions of the White River, the Mississinewa and the Wabash valleys ; and, when these latter named regions began to be settled, about the only way to reach them with supplies of fruit, potatoes, flour, pork, etc., was to haul the merchandise to the Mississinewa at Ridgeville, build or buy a flatboat, load it, and guide the awkward, unwieldy thing down the current of the river to the settlers below. Sometimes a number of boats would be taken down together.

Mr. Joab Ward, of Ridgeville (see Thomas Ward's reminiscences), built many boats and sold them to parties who wished to convey their produce down the stream. Generally the man who owned the commodities would purchase a boat and do his own boating, or hire some person for that special trip.

Mr. Ward would furnish a boat, all complete, forty feet long, for $25. Many stories are told by the early settlers of the incidents of boating life, and of the dangers and the losses incurred during the voyage down the stream. Sometimes the owners of the ''crafts'' would have to '"'run the mill-dams,'' and the boats would be broken and wrecked, and some men were drowned. In a few instances the owners of the mills would forbid the passage of the dams by the boats, and one mill-owner drew his rifle to his shoulder and threatened to shoot the boatnie The boat passed the dam, however, and the man did not shoot.

Once a man from Deerfield, Mr. Searl, gathered several boatloads of charcoal and started down, but near Fairview the cargoes were wrecked and lost.

This business of boating continued for several years; but, before very long, those valleys became settled and raised their own supplies and, of course, that put a stop to the flat-boating on the Mississinewa.

This kind of craft could only "float," and of course could not be brought back up stream ; and therefore a boat never went but one voyage, and frequently (as already stated) did not even accomplish that. When the boatmen had made their downward trip, the boats were disposed of in some way, and the gallant fellows came on shore and went home by land, and, of course, on foot. A group of jolly chaps would frequently have a merry time (and sometimes a hard one) in "' footing' it in company, from Marion or the mouth of the Mississinewa or somewhere else in that region, to their homes near Ridgeville. It was not uncommon for persons who were expert boatmen to hire out to take a boat down the stream to the Wabash and then walk back.

It seems hard now, but the brave. stalwart fellows thought it no special hardship then. In fact, the flatboatmen on the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans had to come home from that far distant market on foot. One thing sometimes gave special trouble to the footmen on the Mississinewa. The boating could be done only in time of the spring floods, and the crecks and bottoms would be flooded too, and the footmen in returning were in danger of of having to wade and almost to swim. One o'd boatman stated that he was obliged on coming home from one of his trips to wade up to his neck. But dear me! What did they care? It all went in a life time, and life was dull without adventures and mishaps.

It would seem a wonder that no town grew up at Ridgeville. Lewellyn's mill and Ward's '" boat-buildery" (to coin a word) both were there, and surely less than that would start a town nowa-days. But the " boating'' would only last for a single trip - and not every year at that. Anda mill alone will not make a town even now. It will help somewhat but cannot make one, and much less could it do so then. And Lewellyn's was not very much of a mill. So Ridgeville had to wait fifteen or twenty years for its first laying out, and sixteen or seventeen years more for another start, and then some twelve years longer before it really took to growing in earnest.

It was first platted in 1837, twenty years after Meshach Lewellyn first settled on the tract. But the town was a failure and the lots were never sold. '' Newtown"' was laid out in 1853, when the railroad from Union City was in process of construction. The place made a beginning, but the road "' flatted out,"' and the town hardly "got out of the shell." But in 1867 the Logansport road became a fact and Ridgeville began to become a reality. Not very long afterward the north and south road was built. giving the embrvo town a crossing, and Ridgeville seems at-last to be making a somewhat important center of trade. But its real and certain growth as a permanent thing only began to be on the completion of the Grand Rapids track, full fifty years from its original settlement and the building of its first mill.

About fourteen years ago the Free Will Baptists founded Ridgeville College, which has been struggling on with more or less efficiency and success ever since.

[It is a curious fact as to the name of the new town at Ridgeville, that a soldier who died there during the war, is said, upon the '' Company Roll," to have died at "' Newtown," Ind., showing that by some the town was still called by the name given at the new laying out, which name, however, seems at the present time to have entirely disappeared. ]

General History

All west of the " twelve-mile strip" to Vigo, Knox and Sullivan, was Indian land. There had been no white inhabitants in Indiana north of the settlers in (what was then) Wayne County, except a few soldiers and some two or three white families on the present site of the city of Fort Wayne, and the soldiers had been removed from that post the year before (1815). There was nothing anywhere else north but forts at Green Bay, Detroit, Fort Dearborn (Chicago), and Mackinaw (the last named on the Straits of Michilimackinac, and a far northern region with a bleak and inhospitable climate). In this respect, indeed, the present town of Mackinaw is a worthy successor of the old village and fort. Not many years ago, perhaps in the spring of 1871, ice was still found solid and unbroken in the Straits of Mackinaw to the depth of four feet. That cool and breezy region makes, however, a delightful summer resort, and many from the country in general, and from Randolph County as well, find health and pleasure combined amid the picturesque scenery of that rugged country.

The two Indian boundaries cut off from the territory occupied by the savage tribes, only a small portion of the east side, widest at the south, and running to a point at Fort Recovery, Ohio.

It will be scen that almost the whole State was at that time a dense wilderness. The settled portions comprised a small, narrow tract in the southeast part, and '" patches"' along the Ohio and Wabash Rivers, at Vevay, Corydon, Evansville, Vincennes and Terre Haute. The French had settled Vincennes more than a century before, and the Swiss had colonized Vevay in 1803.

Other emigrants were flocking in and pushing settlements forward, and numbers of Carolinians, Virginians, Tennesseeans, Kentuckians, etc., had located in the State (or Territory, rather) in Dearborn, Franklin and Wayne Counties, before the purchase of the twelve-mile strip (1809), and the settlers' wave had reached Randolph in 1814. The State was admitted to the Union in 1816, and in 1818 emigrants enough had entered the region to entitle the people thereof to form a county. The settlers had occupied Nolan's Fork, Greensfork, Martindale Creek, West River and White River with some of its creeks east of the '' boundary."

The new county was named Randolph from old Randolph County in North Carolina, because many of the residents within its limits had come from that county in the '' Old North State ;" and because a member of the Legislature, living within its bounds, was also a native of the same.

In 1824, the State capital was permanently located at Indianapolis, then a mere hamletin the woods. The Indian title to the lands in the central and northern parts of the State was mostly extinguished in 1818.

Winchester was located as the county seat of Randolph in 818 (the same year that the county was established, and some years before Indianapolis was founded), in the unbroken forest, and for a considerable time Winchester was the seat of justice for all the white people north, including those who were making their homes at Fort Wayne.

The counties now comprising the territory which had been, at some previous time, included in either Wayne or Randolph Counties, are as follows, with the date of their rezpective creation :

[Nore. Other northern counties are not here mentioned. Theoretically, Randolph extended northward to the northern line of Indiana ; practically it is not known that she exercised any jurisdiction beyond the vicinity of Fort Wayne].

Settlement

The first settlement in Randolph County was made in April, 1814, by Thomas W. Parker, with his wife and three children, a Quaker family from North Carolina. He selected his land, brought his family to the place he had chosen, built a ''camp" and lived in it four weeks, till his cabin was raised and covered, and then they crawled in, the first night, under the end logs of the cabin, dragging their scanty furniture inside after them. The cabin was like ten thousand others built before and since, made of poles or small trees, and covered with clap boards, i. e., short boards split from a straight, smooth-grained oak, and about four feet long, to be used in place of shingles. How long the cabin remained without door or floor isnot known. Probably the door hole was cut out the next day. But as to floor, the cases are numerous, where settlers have lived for years without floors or windows either ; and some have been with neither fireplace nor chimney, the fire being built on the ground in the middle of the house, and the smoke spreading all through the room like a smoke-house. Instances have been known where families have lived through the winter with not even chinking between the logs. Indeed, the fifth settler in Randolph County, as we shall presently see, lived from November till the next fall in a "camp." How or why human beings in a civilized land should do such things is hard for us to understand, but some of the settlers did it. Yet, it is to be recollected that every thing had to be made by hand. There were no saw-mills, no boards, no plank, no anything, and very little money to buy anything from elsewhere. And there were very few wagons, and no roads at all to travel from place to place.

Thomas Parker had come from Carolina with five other families, and in the course of the summer two of them had come and settled in his neighborhood, viz.: John W. Thomas and Clarkson Willcutts. Thomas Parker entered a part of the fractional section, on the east side of Wayne's boundary where it crosses the Wayne County line, and the other two settled. farther north. John W. Thomas located on the same section with Parker, a large fractional quarter, 168 acres, (since owned by Mr. Lewis). Clarkson Willcutts lived on the south half, southeast quarter, Section 28, Town 16, Range 1 west, (land since owned by P. Heiner).

October 22, 1814, Ephraim Bowen came from Pennsylvania, and settled still farther north, (northeast quarter, Section 18, Town 16, Range 1 west), entering the farm so long occupied since by his son Squire, and now by Squire's son, James D. Bowen, northwest of Arba. Mr. Bowen had a considerable family, six children, and was pretty well off for those times. He lived long in the county, dying in 1858, aged _ eighty-nine years. His wife died in 1849.

The fifth family was that of Ephraim Overman, who took the land where Joshua Thomas now resides in Section 27. He is thought to have come in November, 1814. What seems to be very remarkable, he is stated to have kept his family in a "'camp"' from November, 1814. to the fall of 1815. What need there could be for such a thing we cannot tell. One would think that with a lot of boys, some of them large enough to work, Mr. Overman need not have been so careless as it would seem that he was. It may not be safe to judge so harshly, however, for he would appear to have been a man of sense and judgment, as Wayne County sent him to the Legislature in two years from that' time, 1817. Mr. Overman had five children, all boys. [The father of Joseph Hawkins of Jay County, who emigrated thither in 1829, dwelt in a ''camp"' all summer].

Squire Bowen (who was a boy nine years old when his father moved here) gives the list of settlers as follows: '' The other settlers who came in 1814 were these - James Cammack, west of Arba; Eli Overman, where Henry Horn now lives, west part of the village of Arba; Jesse Small, near where Isaac Jordan now lives, Section 22.'' He does not remember any others, though there may have been some, but could not have been many. Squire Bowen says: 'David Bowles, Jesse Johnson, James Frazier and Hodgson, came in 1815. They settled near Lynn. John Peale took the land south of Ephraim Bowen. Several Smalls came in 1815. Obadiah Small occupied the site of the present town of Spartansburg. John Small had the Hough place just north of that village."

Adam Hirsch was born December 81, 1826, at Grosz Gerau, in Hesse- Darmstadt, Germany. He grew to manhood there, acquiring a good education, and with it a knowledge of the cabinet-maker's trade. At the age of twenty-seven years, in 1858, he emigrated to the United States, landing at New York, after a quiet and uneventful voyage. From that city he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he resided until March, 1855, He came to Winchester at that date, and has resided here ever since. During a part of the time prior to his arrival in America, he was employed as & journeyman cabinet-maker, and continued that line of ocoupation efter his arrival at Cincinnati. In August, 1856, he opened a cabinet shop at Winchester, beginning on asmall scale, and increasing gradually, until his business assumed the proportions of an extensive furniture manufactory. In 1861, he sold out, and for the next few years was engaged in various branches of business, among them being the retail grocery trade. In 1875, he resumed the manufacture of furni ture, and has been engaged at this enterprise ever since. He is a thorough business man, aad by his energy and good management has gained a comfortable fortune in worldly wealth, while ke has ee tablished himself as one of the leading citizens and prominent manufscturers of Winchester.

In politios, he is a Republican, and while he has been an active political worker, he has never been an aspirant for office. Twice, however, he has been elected to town offices - once as a member of Council, and once as Street Commissioner.

He was one of the organisers of the First National Bank, of Winchester, in 1865, and was elected a member of its Board of Directors. Upon the re-organization of the bank, he was again elected one of its Directors, having served continuously in this capacity for twelve years. He is also one of the Board of Directors of the Winchester Wagon Works.

He was married, on the 11th of September, 1858, to Miss Maria Pohlmann, to whom he was betrothed in his native land. Their marriage, by mutual consent, was delayed until after their arrival in America. They are the parents of four children, all of whom are now living, and two are married.

Mr. Bowen cannot tell exactly who came in 1815, but he thinks not very many. He says that he believes the tide of emigration did not get under full headway till 1816. John Fisher thinks that when he came to Wayne County, just south of Randolph (December, 1816), there were no settlers in Randolph, except those on and near Nolan's Fork; and that |

William Wright was the first settler on White River, and that he came from Ohio, on his way to White River, two or three weeks after that, say December 15, 1816.

Mr. Fisher was then twenty-four years old, and his memory now seems quite strong and clear, yet he is, perhaps, in error. [He has died since the writing of the above paragraph J.

Solomon Wright says he came here in March, 1816, and that the Ways and Diggses had come the year previous, as also two or three Wrights and a Haworth.

If Solomon Wright is correct, White River was begun in 1815. But the tradition is firmly held among the Ways and the Diggses, that their advent to this country for settlement was in March, 1817, which would seem to set Solomon Wright's coming in 1818. He may haye come in 1817; but there are points abuut the whole matter of early dates which seem hard to understand or to reconcile.

Land Entries

So far as land-entries are concerned, a considerable amount of it was done in both 1814 and 1815. Land was often entered months and even years before the owners occupied it, and not seldom the patentee never personally took possession. And often on the other hand, persons would live in the new country months, or even years, before they could succeed in entering land.

Many came with no money, and had to work and rent or live out, or do some other way to earn the money to pay for what they bought. The records of the land office show that the entries in the county, during 1814, were as follows in order of date:

Thus there were in 1814 ten entries by nine persons, comprising about 1,750 acres. Seven were in Greensfork, with about 1,273 acres, two in Washington with 320 acres, and one in White River with 160 acres.

In 1815, there was in Greensfork only one entry, Nathan Overman, southwest quarter of Section 27, Town 16, Range 1, 159.50 acres, September 13, 1815.

There was but one in White River, to wit, George W. Kennon, southeast quarter of Section 26, Town 20, Range 13, 160 acres, September 10, 1815.

The total entries in Randolph County for 1815, were sixteen entries, and 2669.50 acres, all but two being in Washington and West River Townships.

The total entries to the close of 1815 (1814, 1815) were twenty-six entries, with 4,429 acres, in four townships, Greensfork, Washington, White River and West River.

Te oeanee. four entries, 830 acres; Washington, thirteen entries, 2,080 acres; White River, eighteen entries, 2,880 acres; Ward, one entry, 640 acres; West River, three entries, 400 acres.

The great rush that year seemed to be to Washington and White River; 1,600 acres were entered in the latter township in three days, December 4, 5 and 7 ; and in Washington six entries were made in October and four in November, or 1,600 acres in the two months.

The years 1817 and 1818 saw a greatly stronger movement, in so much that the entries for the two years amounted to 25,200 acres, those for each year being somewhat nearly the same.

Washington, twenty-four entries, 3,060 acres; White River, forty-one entries, 8,437 acres; Greensfork, five entries, 437 acres; Ward, one entry, 160 acres; West River, nine entries, 1,- 440 acres: Wayne, seven entries, 1,280 acres; Franklin, one entry, 154 acres. Eniries, 88; acres, 11,968.

Thus it appears that the rush of settlers to Randolph was at first in 1817 and 1818, and then again from 1833 to 1837 inclusive, especially the two years 1836 and 1837. The amount of land entered in these two years last named, reached the amazing quantity of 125,676 acres, and, including 1838, 142,509, which is almost exactly half the area of the entire county. The land entered in 1836 and 1837 exceeded all the previous entries during thirty-five years from 1812 to 1836, by some 8,000 acres.

By the close of 1838, almost all the land had been "taken up." Except the "' school sections,"' little remained for original entry, and what was yet unentered lay in scattered parcels here and there throughout the county. By that time, therefore, Randolph had been bought of '* Uncle Sam,"' and the public title was transferred to private hands. ;

" Speculators,' however, here, as elsewhere, had extensively "got in their work," and in various localities, vast tracts lay unoccupied for years because the speculator's title covered it.

It has been said by some of the early pioneers, that most of the land on both sides of the road between Winchester and Deerfield was owned by one man, and after his death that vast body of land remained still vacant for many years.

As a specimen of the evil work of entering land for "' speculation,' a single person, residing at Cincinnati, appears to have 'entered' many tracts in several different townships comprising we know not how many acres. Another, from Cincinnati, also engaged largely in the same speculative work. Still a third individual, yet living, and now a resident of the county, appears as having entered tract after tract, scattered here and there.

Thus the curse of the ownership of land in vast amounts began in the county in its early history, and the same evil has continued among us, still increasing its huge proportions, eating up the substance of the body politic, and sapping the very vitals of the community.

A people who do not own the land they live on, must be, in the very nature of things, a subject class, dependent not alone for the means of livelihood, but for a domicil (not to say a home) itself, upon the mere whim of another. Whether any practicable method exists to prevent the permanent accumulation of lands in the hands of a few ''lords of the soil," is hard to say. The '¢ Law of Moses'"' in the old Jewish commonwealth, undertook to fight the old demon of 'land monopoly '' in those ancient times, by forbidding the soil ever to be sold in fee, requiring it to revert, ership. But this is not history, but a bit of a treatise on land ownership, and may be considered to be, in the midst of a history of Randolph County, out of its place. Perhaps so. However, facts are facts and cannot be ignored. Whether present evils can be remedied in coming time, those future years and ages must determine for themselves.

First Religious Meeting, Etc

Squire Bowen says the first religious meeting was held in his father's cabin (probably in 1815), and that Stephen Williams (local preacher) exhorted at that meeting.

The first sermon was preached also in Ephraim Bowen's cabin by Rev. Mr. Holman, of Louisville. Text from Isaiah, " Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is the hurt of the daughter of my people not recovered ?"'

Early Births

The first person born in the county was Robert Thomas, son of John W. Thomas. His birthday was December 18, 1814. He now resides in Huntington County, Indiana.

The second was Thomas Willcutts, son of Clarkson Wilicutts, born February 14, 1815 (St. Valentine's day). He now resides in Grant County, Ind.

residing (mostly since 1846) on the State road east of Bartonia. [Elihu Cammack married his second wife in Iowa in 1881, and removed thence in the fall of that year. Who is now the oldest native living in the county we do not know. |

Lydia (Wright) Jones, sister of Solomon Wright now (1881) residing in Stony Creek Township near the mouth of Cabin Creek, and wife of Endsley Jones, was born October 5, 1817, a few days after her parents came from Ohio to the settlement upon White River.

Matilda Hunt, daughter of Rev. William Hunt (familiarly called '* Old Billy Hunt''), and sister of William S. Hunt, Esq., was born in June, 1819.

First School

J. C. Bowen says that the " Friends" built a cabin for school and mectings at Arba in 1815, and that a school was kept in that house during the winter of 1815-16 by Eli Overman; and Jesse Parker says that he was at that school the first day with his '' primer,"' and that he attended during the whole term.

That school, taught by Eli Overman, was the first in the county, and, moreover, in 1818, this same Eli Overman was elected a member of the first Commissioners' Board.

A much larger number of settlers came in 1816. Settlements were probably planted in this year (1816) on Martinsdale Creek, West River and White River, and additions were made to those on Nolan's and Green's Forks. On Green's Fork, about 1816 or 1817, came several families. Silas Johnson, now liying, who was fifteen years old at the time, states that his father, Jesse Johnson, moved to Randolph County in the fall of 1817, that Paul Beard came in the spring (1817), and John Moorman, Francis Frazier (uncle to the " bellmaker''), and John Barnes, came perhaps the year before (1816). Curtis Cleny says that he entered his land February 13, 1817. [The Land Office record says his patent is dated January 7, 1815.] Travis Adcock entered his land May and October, 1814. RS

Obadiah Harris entered his land May, 1815; Paul Beard's eutry is dated August 9, 1815; Jesse Johnson's patent is dated November 28, 1816; John Baxter entered his land January 9, 1817; Isaac and Stephen Hockett's patents bear date February 8, 1817; Daniel Shoemaker and David Kenworthy were very early settlers, perhaps in 1817; Francis Frazier, the bellmaker (fifteen years old at the time), says his father, James Frazier, also a bellmaker, came in 1817, and settled one mile east of Lynn.

White River

Early in 1816, Paul W. Way, Henry H. Way, William Way, Jr., Robert Way (a lad sixteen yeurs old), and William Diggs, came from South Carolina and located land four miles west of Winchester. Paul Way returned for his parents and his family,

In the summer of 1817, William Way returned on horseback alone, to South Carolina, to bring his father, William Way, Sr., to the new country, which purpose he successfully accomplished. With them came, among others, Mrs. Beverly, mother of Dr. Beverly, now of Winchester, and Moorman Way, then a lad of a few years old, but for many years a shrewd, active and successful lawyer, well known to the bar and the courts of the surrounding region for nearly half a century [died 1881. }

The emigration of that period would now be a sight to behold. Many came on horseback; not a few made their weary way on foot, having a single pack-horse to carry their few household goods. One man, long a prominent resident of Randolph, says that his father came with two one-horse carts, and that he, a boy of seven years old, rode one of the horses all the way from Carolina.

Some could boast a two-horse wagon, while few, very few, possibly one in a hundred, came through with a huge old fashioned Carolina wagon, drawn by four horses. But even when the settlers had wagons, the'men and the larger boys were obliged to walk, since the women and the girls, together with the household stuff, were even too much for the awful roads over which they must pass. People who should travel now as those old pioneers came to this country, would be the town talk and the laughing stock of the whole region round. Yet it is a fact that in this very way, rough and uncouth as it may seem to the exquisites of the present day, came into thesc western wilds the '' cream and substance" of the Southern land, and of this western world. A prophet's eye could have descried in those motley groups and cavalcades of men and boys, or even of women and girls, on foot, of pack-horses piled up with all sorts of goods, and surmounted with the woman and the baby, of carts drawn by little "' plugs' of ponies or by mules, and loaded to the utmost capacity ; of men on horseback with their wives or mothers on a pillion behind them ; of capacious wagons of the ancient style, almost as roomy as Noah's ark, and nearly illimitable in capabilities of containing children and goods and furniture; that in these various methods, now regarded as so uncouth and so outlandish as to be impossible and unimaginable for any but the very scum and outcasts of humanity, came to this land the men and the women who should be, and the children who should grow up to become the strength and the glory of the land. Many of the proud and haughty dames and maidens of the present luxurious days, were they to behold, filing past their palatial mansions, the procession in which their own ancestors made (though not proud yet) successful entry into the woods of the great northwest, would well-nigh faint with mortification and almost die with chagrin at the barest hint that they could by any possibility be connected by even the remctest tie of relationship or consanguinity to such a group. Yet such were our fathers and our grandfathers. These stalwart old pioneers were our progenitors, and we have no occasion to blush to acknowledge the fact. Those noble sons and daughters of hardship and toil have more cause to feel ashamed of us, their posterity, than we of them. They heroically performed their part, and grandly hewed their way from poverty and want to comfort, and even to opulence. God grant that their descendants may as patiently, as worthily and as successfully accomplish the labor assigned to their lot in life! God grant that the generation now upon the stage of action may leave to their children a heritage as nobly enlarged and as greatly increased in all that is useful and excellent and of good report, as did those strong-limbed and bold-hearted (and gentle souled as well) men and women who, amid difficulties and obstacles insurmountable to any but the hardiest and the sturdiest, pressed their resistless way into the forests of Randolph and made her wilds to bud and blossom as the rose.

As to settlements up to the close of 1818, Jere Smith says, in his ' Civil History :'' "In the year 1818, when Randolph County was erected, there were fifty or sixty families on White River and Salt and Sugar Crecks, fifty or sixty families on Green's Fork and Mud Creek; thirty families on Nolan's Fork, including Joshua Foster on the Griffis farm, near the State line ; eight or ten families on Martindale's Creek, and twelve or fifteen families on West River, above the Wayne County line.'' So that, by Mr. Smith's estimation, there were, at the time of the election in 1818, about 180 families in the present boundaries of Randolph County. Of course, at that time, the population was wholly east of the western boundary of the "twelve-mile strip,'' since the land west of that line was still Indian Territory, on which white men were bound by treaty not to settle. In 1818, the tribes ceded those lands, and in eight or ten years the county west as well as east of the boundary was settled. In fact, that territory began settlement in 1821, but emigration was slow to push in for several years.

It would be interesting to find the 'election returns"' for August, 1818, the first in Randolph County, to learn how many and who were, at that time, the free and independent electors here. Those returns, however, have not been discovered.

On West River, in August, 1817, there were eleven settlers, all living east of the boundary and on Sections 7, 8, 17 and 18, the first and the last being fractional sections against the boundary. William Blount (and his two sonsin-law) on Section 7 ; James Malcom, Section 17: Henry Shoemaker, Section 17; Samuel Sales, Section 17; Arny Hall, Section 17; David Jones, Section 17; Evan Shoemaker, Section 18; Griffin Davis, Section 18; William Smith, Sections 5 and 6; Isaac Barnes, Section 7, came in 1818; John E. Hodge, Section 8, came in 1818. 'I'he sections lie on both sides of West River but on the east side of the boundary, and William Smith (father of Hon. Jere Smith) went highest of the river, taking land in Sections 5 and 6, the latter section having but a small fraction east of the boundary.

The Mississinewa had a few settlers, but how many Mr. Smith does not know. Meshach Lewallyn (an old man with a large family) came near Ridgevillein 1817, and Joab Ward in 1819. He says also, (in substance), that in 1819 there was a large emigration.

West River settlement received four new families, and many came to the other settlements; 1820 also witnessed a good growth. But from and after 1820, the popnlation began to flow into the ''new purchase,'' which movement took many settlers from Randolph. Still the continual net increase was considerable. Henry Kizer, father of Elias Kizer and grandfather of Thoias W. Kizer, settled near Stone Station in 1820. The settlement on that river was, in fact, but sparse. Meshach Lewallyn entered land [parts of Sections 1 and 12, Town 21,

Benjamin Lewallyn, son of Meshach Lewallyn, entered southeast quarter of Section 7, Town 21, Range 14 [in Ward Township ], June 10, 1817, and on the same day five more quarter sections in Ward Township were entered by Messrs. Kite, Jacobs, Canady, Reed and David Connor. Several Masseys came at about that time, as one of them, James Massey, was juryman in 1818, and Hon. Jere Smith says of him: '' James Massey was an old man, and died soon after. He lived in (Jackson, or) Ward Township. His son-in-law, James Smith, was Commissioner two or three terms, and one of his sons was Associate Judge of Grant County a term or two." It appears that they left that region early. When Daniel B. Miller came [in 1822] the Masseys had one. : Two of the petit jurors also were from the Mississinewa, Meshach Lewallyn from Ridgeville, and James Jacobs from the settlement east of Deerfield.

The names of the Masseys appear ainong the patentees of the Land Office. They entered land and lived there a while, but seem to have moved away before 1823. Another entry had been made in that region several miles east of Deerfield and south of the Mississinewa River. Mr. Strain entered a whole section in 1816, which was by months the earliest entry on the Mississinewa. Te does not appear, however, ever to have lived there. He entered it probably for speculation. The section lay just west of the west line of Jackson Township. Joab Ward, and Joel Ward his brother, settled at Ridgeville in April, 1819. Joab Ward did not enter land at that time, but bought a small tract (forty acres) of Meshach Lewallyn. Elias Kizer moved into that region in 1820, and was one of the prominent citizens of that part of the county for a considerable time, changing his residence to near Winchester, and dying there some years ago. Joab Ward stood as a bulwark of society during more than the average duration of human life.

The settlers of course endured great hardships, such as persons without any experience of the kind can neither comprehend nor believe. In fact, brought up as they have been to buy every thing they need, the present generation can hardly conceive how it would be possible for a family to move into a gigantic forest, with nothing but an axe,.an auger, a frow, and a drawing knife; a few kettles, some pewter plates, a log-chain or two, etc., and with these scant materials and a little corn to make into bread, and a gun to shoot game for meat; and yet that they could, in a comparatively short time, come to be good livers. And yet it was so. Scarcely anything was bought except iron and salt, and powder and lead. Caps and hats were made of deer skins, or coon skins, or straw; cloth was spun and woven out of linen, or linen and wool combined, or clothes were made of deer skins. Shoes also were made from buckskin. Buildings were constructed from the logs of trees. with no outlay but labor; clapboards were in the place of shingles, and pins or weight poles for nails ; puncheons for floors, and doors, and benches, and chimney backs, and tables ; two auger holes in the wall and a post at the corner, driven into the ground, to receive the ends of the rails, with elm bark would be just the thing for a bedstead; puncheon stools would hold a man up more firmly than the nicest chair that ever was made. Chimneys were built of sticks and clay, and fireplaces and hearths of puddled clay: even the "lug pole'' and trammel and hooks were made of iron-wood, and when any of them burnt down, another could be put in its place, just as easy as anything. The truth is that a dextrous, active family, ina very few years would make around them an amount of conveniences that many households of high pretensions would find it difficult to match at the present day. If anything was needed, from a doorlatch or a hoe-handle to a new house or barn, all that was to be done was to take holdand make it. And it is true, moreover, that families who were moral and religious, and who were free from vices, enjoyed more truce, heartfelt comfort, and more solid happiness than they have ever done since; or than their children or their grandchildren, pampered with all the luxuries that were ever invented to make people helpless and shiftless, are able to compass for themselves in these days.

But small space will be given in this place for either their pleasures or their sorrows. It is believed the story of the old pioneer himself, as told by his own lips, will give a more pleasing, as well as a more vivid picture; and hence the feature has been adopted to introduce the personal statements of the ancient sojourners, taken from their own mouths, if living, or from some cherished friend of the dear departed one, if the age veteran breathes no longer the health-giving vital air. The description of the trials of those times will be left to be given chiefly in the '"' Reminiscences,"' which are a peculiar feature of this work, and which will be of surpassing richness, to refresh the memory of the old, and to inform the minds of the young as to what their fathers and mothers, and their parents, did to open this county to sight and labor and enjoyment for the sons of men.

First Things

__ The first boy in the county was Jesse Parker, son of Thomas Parker above, eight years old. He lived long at Bethel, Wayne County, Ind., a jovial, hearty old man, honestly earning his living by the constant ''rap, rap, rap of his well worn hammer." (Died near Lynn, fall of 1881.)

The first girls were Celia and Sarah Parker, daughters of Thomas and (Anna) Parker above; Sarah was burned to death when a girl; Celia was married to Benjamin Arnold, and now resides, an aged widow, at Arba.

: The first county formed in what is now Indiana, was Knox County, created in 1790, under Governor St. Clair, with Vincennes as the county seat, and including all Indiana and Michigan. The settlements were few: Vincennes, possibly a few settlers along the Ohio, a fort and garrison at Fort Wayne, and one at Detroit.

The first settlement in Indiana was at Vincennes, by the French (perhaps) in 1702. A post was established by Sieur Juchereau and Missionary Meret at that date.

When General Gage, a British officer, demanded of the French settlers at Vincennes that they should leave their homes and their lands, the French protested that they had held them by charter from the French King for seventy years, and that to drive them away now would be unjust and cruel, and they were allowed to remain.

The first county east of the 'Old Boundary" (Wayne's), agrecd on in 1795), was Dearborn, erected by Indiana Territory in 1808, settled in 1796, before any surveys had been made except the '' gore" between the Ohio line and the '' Old Boundary"' line, which was surveyed in 1800, three years before, and embracing the whole region west of the Ohio line and east of Wayne's boundary.

Wayne County was organized in 1810, embracing all the territory east of the ''New Boundary," and north of the southern boundary of the county.

Randolph County was organized in 1818, at first extending westward only to the west boundary of the twelve mile stop. It was first settled in 1814.

The first capital of the State of Indiana was Corydon in Harrison County, in the southern part of the State, almost exactly south of Indianapolis. :

The first two townships in Randolph County were Greensfork and White River, established in 1818 by David Wright, Sheriff, and embracing the entire county.

non, son of John Connor, and nephew of this William Connor, says that he was born in that first store, and that the place was where Lynn now is, and not as above stated. Mr. Jesse Connor was born, however, not before 1831, thirteen years after this store was licensed. This William Connor was a bachelor, and unsettled in residence and business).

The first house in Winchester was built in the spring of 1819. It was around log-cabin, one-story, ''scutched down" with clapboard roof and stick and clay chimney. It stood on

The first white child born in the county was Robert Thomas, son of John W. Thomas, the second settler in the county. The child was born near Arba, December 18, 1814.

The oldest person born in the county, and now living therein, is supposed to be Elihu Cammack, son of John Cammack, near Arba, born April 15, 1817. [Elihu Cammack moved to Towa, fall of 1881].

The first child born in White River is thought to be Fanny (Diggs) Hill, daughter of William Diggs, Jr. (now "Old Billy Diggs," living in Iowa), wife of Matthew Hill, of Jericho; she was born September 11, 1817.

Lydia (Wright) Jones, sister of Solomon Wright now living near the mouth of Cabin Creek, was born October 5, 1817, three weeks after the arrival of her parents from Clinton County, Ohio.

The first officers elected were Wm. Edwards, John Wright, Associate Judges; Charles Conway, Clerk and Recorder; David Wright, Sheriff; Solomon Wright, Coroner; Eli Overman, Benjamin Cox, John James, Commissioners.

The first attorney admitted to practice law in Randolph County Circuit Court was James Rariden, who was also appointed first Prosecuting Attorney.

The first settler on White River was William Diggs, Jr., who came during the summer of 1816, with Paul, Ilenry H., William and Robert Way. He married during the winter of 1816 or 1817, and settled, perhaps, February, 1817.

The first settler in West River may have been William Blount. He first entered land, and may have been the first settler. His entry is dated April 10, 1815. It was afterward the Zimmerman (Retz) farm, on West River.

The first settler in Ward Township is not now known. James Strain entered a section of land in 1816, but he is said never to have lived on the land. Fifteen entries were made in 1817, the first being Daniel Richardson, May 21, 1817, southwest quarter of 12, 21, 14, on Mississinewa River, northeast of John Key's.

The first settler in Stony Creek may have been Isaac Branson. 'Aunt Patsy' Branson, now living at Muncie, says that she came with her husband to Stony Creek Township in 1819. She is perhaps mistaken. He entered his land November 28, 1822. Yet, he may have resided in the county some years, and he entered land in that township November 28, 1822.

However, David Vestal made the first entry October 31, 1822, four weeks before Isaac Branson did his. Yet Mr. Branson is said to have come in February, 1819, and '"'Aunt Patsy'' thinks they were first, and perhaps they were so.

The first settler in Monroe Township was perhaps John Rody. At least, he entered the first land April 10, 1833, one mile south of Morristown.

The first settlers in Wayne Township were probably Benoni and Henry Hill and Amos Peacock, in the spring of 1818. "The first resident of Jackson Township is thought to have been Philip Storms. He lived at a very early day at the Allensville crossing of the Mississinewa, and still before that in the southern part of the township. He was poor and not able to purchase land, and once or twice had land entered from under him, which greatly provoked him, as well it might, since that was justly enough reckoned a very serious breach of 'squatter unwritten law." He resided in the region in 1830.

The first settler in Washington Township may have been Travis Adcock. At any rate, he made the first land entry in that township, 1814, and he was residing there at a very early date.

The first wagon-shop, so far as now known, was owned by Thomas Butterworth, before 1840, now living two and a half miles southeast of Winchester.