Randolph County, Indiana - Biographical sketches (2 of 2 so headed), 1914 (part 3 of 20)

The next entry was made by the Chenoweths, directly east of Bartonia, on Greenville creek, being section 26, 17, i, a part of which is still owned and occupied by the widow of Abram Chenoweth, who died a few years ago! Abram Chenoweth, the father of the Abram of later days, entered three quarter-sections in section 26 on both sides of Greenville creek, in 1817. During the winter following (February 6, 1818), Jeremiah Cox, of Wayne county, who had been employed in milling for years in that region, came up to White river, a mile or two above Harrisville, and entered a whole section - section 19, 20, 15 - on both sides of the river, with a view of erecting mills after awhile in that new county - a purpose which he accomplished about 1825. The same year, April 15, 1818, Abram arid Amos Peacock and Henry and Benoni Hill made entries and effected a settlement shortly after, in 18 18. They are supposed to have been the first actual settlers in Wayne township.

The growth of this region was but slow. After the Chenoweth entries and the Jericho colony, but little was done till many years later. The Chenoweth land was not settled till more than twenty years later (1840). Thfe Coxes, the Peacocks and Hills came in from Wayne county and the south, but the next considerable movement entered the territory south of Union City, breaking across the line from Ohio and the. East.

The Chenoweth who entered the land so early in Wayne township (September 24, 181 7), Hved near Spring Hill, Darke county, Ohio. He was the grandfather of Abram Chenoweth. The first Chenoweth who resided on the land was Abram Chenoweth, cousin of the one spoken of just above. He made the settlement about 1840.

By the end of 1826 only eighteen entries had been made, and that by fourteen persons. These entries comprised about thirty-one hundred acres. Nearly all, or 2,650 acres, were taken up in a few months, almost at first, from September 24, 1817, to May 29, 1818, by the settlement of Friends. They lived there, nearly in seclusion, -for many years, having communication with the White River settlers toward the west, but not much any other way, except, indeed, to go to the Whitewater mills for grinding, and the Whitewater yearly meeting for religious purposes.

The first religious meeting in Wayne township was probably that of the Friends, at Jericho, and the first school the one in their meeting-house.

There are not many churches in this township. There are, outside of Union City, only four - Methodist, at Bartonia; Friends', at Jericho; Christian, at Harrisville; and Disciples, at Salem. The Friends began their society about 1820; the church at Bartonia was built about 1850; the one at Harrisville, about i860; and the one at Salem, perhaps about 1855.

Bartonia. - Edward Barton, proprietor; A. D. Way, surveyor; location, junction of Spartanburg and Arba pike with Greenville state road ; twentyseven lots; recorded October i, 1849; streets, none named in the plat. Distances : Spartanburg, four miles ; Union City, seven and one-third miles ; Winchester, eight miles; Harrisville, six miles; Saratoga, four and threefourths miles; Arba, seven and four-fifths miles. The town is located at the point where the Richmond pike running northward reaches the Greenville & Winchester road, and stands upon section 26, 17', i. At one time there were two stores, a smith shop, a cabinet shop, a turning shop, a postofifice, a meeting-house and two physicians. But little is left at present.

Bartonia is one of the polling places of Wayne township, the other two being Union City and Harrisville. Bartonia is half a mile east of the site of the old town of Randolph, which, however, has been extinct for sixty-five years or more. , The country around is rolling and fertile, and the residents are thriftv and prosperous, and some possess a comfortable fortune. (62)

Harrisville. - Location, in Wayne township, upon sections 17, 18, town 20, range 15 ; on the Bee Line (Big Four) railroad,^ four miles west of Union. City, and seven miles east of Winchester ; recorded June 17, 1854; Job Harris, proprietor; E. L. Watson, surveyor. The town arose with. the Belief ontaine railroad. The business of the town was but little at first, and the improvement of the village has since been slow. There is but one public road, and that running north and south across the railroad track. The town is too near Union City to" command much busmess. The antecedents and commencement of the place are as follows: In 1841, and about ten years before the birth of the town, two small cabins stood upon the site where now appears the hamlet of Harrisville. One was occupied by Michael Ingle, father of Philip Ingle. Mr. Ingle died of cholera some years afterward on the Mississippi. The other settler was William Dickinson, who lived near where the church now stands. About 1851 Jdb Harris undertook to open a small store. He shortly afterward laid out the town. Before long William Locke set up a blacksmith shop, and William Benson built a saw-mill. Mahlon Fous followed, making pimips, and sometimes tried his hand at repairing wagons. Dr. Dreer undertook to practice medicine, and Mr. Bone made and mended shoes. Job Harris kept a postofifice. Here we have- the picture of the town in its earlier years, and truth compels us to state that the business of the ambitious little "ville" is not greatly more extensive at the present day. Its citizens seem to have been attached to the place. Philip Ingle resided Here from the first. Mahlon Fous and William Locke also. The Bee Line railroad passes through the place and furnishes to the vicinity the convenience of a daily mail.

Randolph (old). - ^One mile west of Bartonia, on Greenville state road. Randolph was probably the first town laid out iri Wayne tovsraship, but the business was never considerable. In 1846 there were two stores and one hotel, but probably nothing else. The hotel was kept by Bailey, and the stores were by Bailey and Mcintosh. The town did not prosper, and was wholly extinct by 1852. At one time James Polly kept hotel in the town. It is a curious reminiscence of that old dead town that one of its lots was sold for taxes, and was bid off for a dollar or so, by an old colored man named William Lewis, and he undertook to make it a residence, hauling logs there to build a house. The owner of the farm which included the town forbid him entering upon the lot, and he never made good his title to the premises. What a man with plenty of money could have done, cannot nowbe told, but the colored man had to succumb and lose his dollar and the labor in hauling, the logs to boot.

Salem. - Location southwest of Union City, east of "Old Boundary." Nine lots ; plat recorded December 25, 1849. David Polly, proprietor. Salem is located on the road running east from Jericho, three miles from the latter place. Mcintosh & Polly had a store there in 1847. The town began about 1850. A postofiEice was established about 1852 by the name of Balaka. The town was begun mostly in the woods, and did some business for a time, but it has had the common fate of small towns near, but not on, a railroad. Silas Gist had a cabinet shop. J. Locke had a smith shop.. The persons who have sold goods there have been D. Polly, Mcintosh, Wiggs & Polly, Joseph Shaw, Elijah Frazier, Hardin Law, Downing & Harkrider, Alfred Dixon, Montgar. The blacksmiths have been J. Locke, Joshua Harlan, Amos Coughren, Thompson, William Anderson and others. Cabinet shops : Silas Gist, John T. Adams, Springer, Harlan, etc. Wagon shop, Harlan. There has been a Disciples' church sixty years or more, which has lately been remodeled. Among the settlers in the region have been Benjamin Dixon, Silas Dixon, Samuel Downing, Robert Murphy, William Woodbury, 1839; Nathan P. Woodbury, 1839; Edwin R. Woodbury, 1839; Peter Hoover, Ezekiel Gullett, Samuel GuUett, David Polly, 1840'; Barnahill Polly, 1840.

-Hayesville. - Is a little suburb of Union City, Indiana, located about a mile southwest of that town, at the junction of the south pike leading to Winchester and the pike, extending from the south line of the county northward to Union City.

James Alexander, a prominent farmer of Wayne township, was born in Warren county, Ohio, January 8, 1818, being a son of Daniel and Sarah Alexander, who removed from the county of their nativity to Preble county, Ohio, in 1823, and not very long afterward to Warren county, in the same state. Daniel Alexander was a farmer, and James grew up a farmer's son, sharing from boyhood the labors and hardships of those rough and rugged days. His marriage occurred September 2, 1840, vyith Miss Julia A., daughter of Jacob Alexander. Eight children have been born to them, and six of the eight survive, viz., Milton H., Mary J., Sarah E., Hugh T., Henry J. and James B. Mr. Alexander is not an early pioneer of Randolph county, emigrating thither not till 185 1.

Branson Anderson, born in 1814 in North Carolina; he came to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1833; he entered forty acres adjoining John Hartman's old place on the west. Mr. Anderson married Hester Green in 1842, and they had ten children.

1829; came to Randolph county in 1833; settled north of Greenville creek, near Abram Chenoweth's (Jacob Macy farm)*, entering forty acres of land there. He had twelve children, all grown, and ten married before he died. His children were eight boys and four girls. He died in 1850, arid his wife in 1863, at the age of seventy-seven years ; she was buried in Hoover's graveyard. Mr. Anderson was a Democrat.

Henry Burket was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, and is a son of Isaac and Catharine Bui-ket, the fdfrmer a native of North Carolina, and the latter of Ohio Mr. Burket was raised on a farm, receiving only a common education. In 1854 he married Miss Jane Hulse, by whom he had five children, three of whom are yet living. His wife died on April 12, 1870, and on the 17th of the following September he married Mrs. Rachel A. Grim, by whom he had three children.

Elihu Cammack, son of John Cammack, born in Arba in 181 7; married Rebecca Wiggs in 1837. Lived near Arba on the old farm till he moved to his home on the state road, east of Bartonia, in 1846, in the green woods.

Abram I. Chenoweth, the first of the Chenoweth family of whom we have any record, came from England to America in 1720. They were two brothers, named Arthur and Richard Chenoweth, who settled in Berkeley county, Virginia, and each married and had several children. Arthur had several sons named James, John, Abraham, "William Thomas, Arthur and Richard The fifth son, Thomas Chenoweth, married Mary Pricket, who bore him twelve children, namely, Martha, Sarah, Mary, John, Thomas, Arthur, Richard, William Elijah, Ann, Hannah and Abraham. This youngest son, Abraham Chenoweth, married Rebecca Herr, May i, 1790. They had fourteen children, whose names were Martha, William, Jacob, Ann, John, Susannah, Mary, Noah, Sarah, Hannah, Abraham, Rebecca, Joel and Gideon. Their third son, John Chenoweth, rnarried Mary Barger April 13, 1820, and by her had six children, .namely, William, Jacob B., Abraham J., John B., Susan and Rebecca. John Chenoweth, the father, died on the 26th day of January, 185 1, and of the children, William died February 20, 1837, and John B. died August 7, 1853. The mother died October 12, 1876.

Of the last above-named children, Abraham J. Chenoweth is the subject of this sketch, and was born in Pike county, Ohio, on the 9th of July, 1826. When quite young, his parents removed to Darke county, Ohio, and settled in Washington township. Here he grew up, surrounded by the privations of a frontier life, and accustomed to the labor and toil of the backwoods. He was educated in the primitive schools of that day, and acquired the rudiments of an education. On the 25th day of August, 1848, he was married to Miss

Celia Harris, a native of Campbell county, Virginia, and the daughter of Benjamin and Susan Harris, who were among the pioneers of this county. From this marriage have sprung eight children.

In November, 1848, Mr. Chehoweth came to this county and settled on the northeast quarter of section 26, in Wayne township. Of this land, he had received from his father eighty, acres, and by purchase from his brother, Jacob, he had acquired the other eighty. The land was wholly unimproved.. In fact, Mr. Chenoweth cut away the underbrush and trees to make an opening for his log cabin, into which he removed and began the work of life. As a farmer he was eminently successful. To the original homestead he added other lands, until at the time of his death he was the owner of 576 acres.

Mr. Chenoweth united with the Methodist Episcopal church when he was fourteen years of age, and for thirty-eight years he was a consistent and influential members thereof, having been a class leader thirteen years. He was exact in all his business transactions,, cordial with his acquaintances, a kind-hearted and generous man. He died of typhoid fever November 9, 1878, and his mortal remains were followed to their final earthly resting place in Union City cemetery by a large and sjmipathizing company of sorrowing relatives and friends.

Samuel Downing, M. D., was born in Chester county, South Carolina, April 6, 1805 ; his laarents were John and Margaret. The father died in 1870, aged ninety-three years, and the mother about 1866, also very old. Dr. Downing was one of eight children. His father caiAe from South Carolina to Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 181 3, to New Paris, Preble county, Ohio, in 1815, and to Darke county, Ohio, in 1817, which latter point became his permanent residence, Sam,uel Downing being then twelve years old. In 1828 he began the study of medicine, prjvately for the most part, in which laborious but greatly useful profession he finally achieved an honorable success. In 1829 he married Elizabeth Baird, and to them were born ten children, seven of whom, as also his wife, survived him. They removed to the wilds of Randolph county, Indiana, in 1837, settling four miles southwest of "what is now Union City, Indiana, near what afterward became South Salem, upon a tract of land containing 215 acres. At first he was largely a farmer, but, as the county became more thickly settled, his medical duties chiefly absorbed his time and strength, for in those backwoods regions, to ride on horseback day and night, winter and summer, was no '^child's play," but the business rather of a robust, stalwart man. February 5, 1843, he was baptized into the .Christian faith by Rev; Elihu Harlan, to which profession he held fast with greater or less steadfastness to the end of his days. In 1859 he made an ex- tended tour into Missouri and through the farther West in search of a new location, and in 1864 he removed to northern Michigan as a pioneer into those regions. After a residence of some five years in that state, he returned in 1870 to Randolph county, Indiana, and died after a stay of eight months there, July 7, 1871, at the house of his son, James L. Downing, at the age of sixty-six years three months and one day.

Francis Frazier, bell-maker, was born in 1802 in North Carolina; came to McCowan's creek, Ohio, in 181 »; came to Randolph county, Indiana, one mile east of I^ynn, in 181 7. His father was James Frazier, also a bell-maker; married Lucinda Clay water in Clinton county, Ohio, in 1823, and they had eleven children.

Paul Giftinger was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, January 25, 1820, being a son of Jacob and Mary E. Gittinger, who emigrated to Darke county, Ohio, in the autumn of 1833, and to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1838. They settled in the dense, nearly unbroken forests of Jackson township among the deer, turkeys and wolves, locating in the northeastern portion o.f the township and of the county. Paul Gittinger was nearly grown when he came to Randolph county, and having enjoyed some opportunity of early education, had engaged soon afterward in the business of teaching school, and continued in that employment (during the winter season) for twenty years. The school houses at the time in that new half-settled region were rude enough, made of round logs, with puncheon floor, clapboard door, stick chimney, dirt fire-place and hearth and clapboard roof held to its place by weight-poles. The furniture consisted of split saplings^for seats and puncheon writing desk, supported by pins driven into auger holes bored in the logs forming the walls of the house. Mr. Gittinger lived to see these rustic cabins replaced-by comfortable and tasteful edifices. Substantially and even elegantly built, and supplied with convenient and often beautiful furniture. He did much toward accomplishing this pleasing change, serving as a trustee for Jackson township during several years, besides his efficient and successful labors in the school room. His marriage took place November 13, 1844, the maiden name of his wife having been Miss Berilla Gist, whose parents were natives of Kentucky, removing to Darke county, Ohio, in the early time. Mr. Gittinger had six children.

James Griffis was born in Virginia about 1797. His parents brought him, when but a child, to Ross county, Ohio, settling in the Scioto valley, not farm from the year 1800, when even that region was well-nigh buried in the deep woods. They both died when he was- young; and as a lone orphan boy, poor and destitute, he was obliged to struggle up to manhood as he could.

The means of education were but scanty, and he got but little, and that little "by the hardest." In youth, he worked mostly on the farm. In early manhood, however, he practiced flat-boating and rafting, tai<ing boat loads of pork and flour and corn, etc., down the Scioto river to the Ohio and down that river to the mouth, and so along the Mississippi to the points for market along its banks, and frequently to New Orleans itself. He was engaged also at times in taking droves of cattle from Ohio across the Alleghany mountains to the New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore markets. Thus he passed his life till about thirty-five years old, still remaining, notwithstanding all his hard toil, comparatively a poor man, realizing, by all this hard and rough traveling through the land and along the water-courses, not very, much more than a livelihood. In 1832 he emigrated from the valley of the Scioto to the banks of Greenville creek in Randolph county (the old Williamson farm, just west of the Ohio line), in the unbroken forests of Wayne township. After residing a few years at the place of his first settlement, he removed to the tract of land which continued to be his residence to the end of his life, the beautiful knoll where, years afterward, stood as a wayniark for the weary traveler, -and where stands,' till this day the substantial and comfortable dwelling erected by him many years ago.

John V. L. Harlan is a native of the county. He is a son of Joshua a"nd Lucinda Harlan, and was born on the 26th day of December, 1848. He was educated in the common district schools, and taught school one term. He learned the blacksmith trade and worked at it. for some time, On January 27, 1872, he married Lucy A. Hartman, daughter of John Hartman, whose biography is given in this work. They have had five children, two of whom are dead. Mr. Harlan is now engaged in farming, living on his own farm, five miles southwest of Union City. He and his wife are both members of the Christian church.

Solomon Hartman is the son of John Hartman, Wayne township. He v/as born in Darke county, Ohio, in 1855; came with his father to Randolph county in 1848; attended Buckeye Seminary Union Literary Institute, at (jiettysburg, Pennsylvania. He taught school before he was seventeen, and has taught twenty-five winters. He married Sarah Ann Williamson in 1858, and-'they have eight children. He was a prosperous and successful farmer, taking delight in caring for all his afifairs in a neat and thorough manner. Though considered slightly eccentric by some, and being withal a man independent in opinion, a most energetic supporter of all good things.

1818, entering eighty acres in Wayne township, Jericho settlement, and residing there till his death in 1874, fifty-six years. Mr. Hill was three times married^ - to Achsah Peacock in 18 14, who was born in 1793 and died in 1830; to Achsah Thomas in 1831, who died in 1835, and the third time in 1837 to Avis Woodard, who died in 1877. Mr. Hill had ten children, all grown and all married.

Benoni Hill was born in North Carolina, came to Jericho, Wayne township, Randolph county, in 1818. Had ten children, seven of whom grew up, and died about 1870. His wife's rifeiiden name was Polly Boswell, and she died about i860. Mr. Hill was a Friend, an Abolitionist, an Anti-slavery Friend, a Republican, and altogether an excellent Christian man and citizen, having been one of the earliest pioneers of Wayne township.

Mathew Hill was the son of Benoni Hill (deceased), having been bom in 1814 in North Carolina. He came with his father, at the age of four years, to Randolph county in 1818. In 1837 he married Fanny EHggs, and they had seven children. Mr. Hill entered eighty acres and was a thriving and successful farmer. He was an Anti-slavery Friend. Mr. Hill, like the great body of the society of which he has been a life-long member, an earnest, faithful, steadfast adherent of Christian principles, and a quiet, humble, unassuming but useful and esteemed member of the community.

William Kennon, born in Ireland, came to America when fourteen years old'; lived for a time in Guernsey county, Ohio, and came to Randolph comity, Indiana, in 1830. He settled on the Downing place, south from the toll-gate south of Union City. He married Eleanor Smith, and had four children. He owned 210 acres of land, was a Democrat, was justice of the peace for four years, and was highly esteemed for integrity and intelligence. He died many years ago, as did also his wife, but the date of their death caimot now be exactly told.

William A. Macy was born in Guilford county. North Carolina, November 6, 1809, being a son of Obed and Mary ( Armfield) Macy, who were both natives of North Carolina. His education was very limited, the "Old North State" being more famous for "pitch tar, turpentine and lumber" than for "school keeping" or "book larnin." He married Miss Jemima Rogers, July 4, 1833, and they had five children. Both his wives (see below) have been members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his present wife and himself still remain such. He has owned 200 acres of land but now retains but ninety acres, having given; no to his children. In 1852 he went on a visit to his native state, and upon his return therefrom brought with him his aged mother, who- spent the remainder of her days in Randolph county. Mr. Macy emir grated to Randolph county, Indiana, the year of his marriage, 1833. He resided at Spartanburg three years, on the Rogers place, east of Spartanburg, five years, on a farm west of Granger Hall eleven years, and about twentyeight years upon his farm north of Greenville creek, near Abraham Cheaoweth's. His wife died May 24, 1879, and was laid to rest in Arba cemetery. In 1881 he married again to Mrs. Morgan, widow of Frank G. Morgan, late of Spartanburg. [1882.]

Dr. William K. Marquis was a son of William and Polly Marquis, and was born in Darke county, Ohio, on the 9th day of April, 1832. His parents were natives of Hardy county, Virginia, and the mother is yet living at the age of eighty-seven years. He was brought up on a farm, received his education in the common schools, and read medicine with Dr. Enos Williams, of Darke county, beginning the practice of his profession in 1868. In 1853 he married Miss Mary Bennett, by whom he had nine children. She died in "October, 1875, and in March, 1877, he married Miss Fannie Coats, by whom he had two children. He was a minister of the German Baptist church.

Richard Mason (father of the "Mason's") was born in North Carolina in about 1795; came to Clinton county, Ohio,, when a boy, perhaps in 180*5, married Sarah Jackson in Ohio, moved thence to. Wayne county, Indiana,, and to Kosciusko county, Indiana, to the latter in 1834. He had ten children, and died in 1844 i" the last named county, his wife dying in Randolph county, Indiana, in 1850. His children all grew up and were married, and eight still survive. They are as follows : Thomas, ten children, resides at Union City, Indiana; Elizabeth (Mason), seven children, is dead; Delila (Harper), four_ children, lives in Iowa; Louisa (Drake), seven children, is dead; William has seven children, resides in Union; Sarah (Gunter), one child, Kosciusko county; Salina (Frazier-Milnor), nine children, Iowa; Elihu, several children, resides in Ohio; Mary (Conkling), four children, Wayne township; Jemima (Duncan), three children, Iowa. Six of them have been residents of Randolph county, Thomas, William, Salina, Elihu, Mary and Jemima; and Thomas, William and Mary live here still.

Amos Peacock and Abram Peacock came together from Carolina in the fall of 1818. Four families were in company - Amos Peacock, Abram Pea- -cock, Henry Hill and Benoni Hill. The three last named settled m j encno in 1818. Amos Peacock raised one crop in Wayne county, and came on in the fall of 1 8 19. Amos Peacock raised nine children^ - Aairon, Jonah, William, Elijah and Elisha (twins), Matilda, Abram, Anna and Abigail.

William Peacock was born in Wayne county, -Indiana', October 10, 1818, and "came to -Randolph county, Indiana, in 1819, and lived in Jericho.- He married Mary Thomas, daughter of Benjamin Thdmas, near Newport, Indiana, in 1840. They had three children. He was iii early times an original Anti-slavery Friend, and a sincere and thorough Abolitionist; he was for a number of years a trustee of the Union Literary Institute, a manual labor institution established in 1845, by his father-in-law, Benjamin Thomas, and others, for the education of colored and other indigent youth; he was greatly esteemed for his thorough integritj% and his sincere, quiet, solid, unobtrusive piety. After the dissoliition of the society of Anti-slavery Friends, he rejoined the "Body Friends," but afterward, with a few others, withdrew from them, forming a new "Meeting," claiming to adhere to the methods and usages of the early and original Friends. They are almost alone, the great mass of Friends having "progressed" greatly from the standards of action of fifty years ago. The "new method" Friends maintain, however, that they are in harmony not indeed with the measures of fifty years past, but with the principles and spirit of George Fox and William Penn, and the Quakers of "long, long ago."

Elijah H. Peacock is a twin-brother of Elisha Peacock, and they were bom in'Randolph county, Indiana, January 28, 1820. They are sons of Amos and Hannah Peacock. Elijah received an education' under the auspices of the Friends church, and for several years followed the carpenter trade. On NovembCT 15, 1853 he married Miss Agnes Brown, a native of Cheltenham, England, and they ha^c seven children. Mr. Peacock is now a farmer, living on his own farm of 118 acres in the southwest part of Wayne township, and is the last of the "Old Guard."

William Pickett, was bom in Orange County, N. C, 1802. In 1818, he went to Chatham county in the same state (on Haw river), to take care of his grandfather. He died in 1821, and William Pickett, after staying imtil the fall of 1822, emigrated to Richmond, Ind. He was married in 1826, and moved to Randolph county, five miles east of Winchester, in 1828. His first wife's name was Sarah Ann White, bom in 1805. Mr. Pickett bought eighty acres in the green woods, of Benjamin Cox (nephew of Jeremiah Cc>x, the famous miller). Benjamin Cox was a Quaker minister and cousin to Mr. Pickett, since Jeremiah Cox's wife was the sister of Mr. Pickett's father. Benjamin Cox was the son of John Cox, one of the earliest settlers on White river, east of Winchester, who fixed his residence two miles east of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Pickett were the parents of twelve children.

John Pickett was bom in Orange county, N. C, August 4, 1808; he emigrated to Randolph county, Ind., with his father in 1829. Returning to North Carolina, he married Mary Pike, September r6, 1830, and, with his new-found wife, wended his cheerful way back to the Northwest, reaching his father's cabin December 24, 1830. Choosing a home for himself and wife in "Jericho Woods," he dwelt on the self-same spot for more than fifty years, rearing there a family of ten children.

Benjamin Pike was born in North Carolina in 1825 ; came with his father to Randolph county in 1 83 1 ; married Rachel Cox and has three children. He has been a farnier and huckster. He'^ is a Friend, Abolitionist and Republican. His health is poor, but he manages to be engaged in his occupation much of the time. Mr. Pike is a bluff and plain-spoken, but honest and upright citizen and is endeavoring quietly but earnestly to accomplish a comfortable subsistence for himself and those placed under his care. [1882.] ,

Stoney Creek Township. - Stoney Creek includes parts of townships 19 and 20, range 12 east, as also some sections in range 13, embracing in all twenty-nine and one-half sections; five miles north and south except section 7, near the southeast corner and five and one-half miles east and west, and containing about sixteen thousand nine hundred and sixty acres. It takes the lower, course of Little White river, of Stoney creek and of Cabin creek and a part of the valley of White river. Totals as follows: 182 1, three entries, 240 acres; 1822, nine entries, 841.63 acres; 1823, five entries, 399.46 acres; 1824, one entry, 80 acres; 1825, two entries, 160 acres; 1826, three entries, 240 acres; 1827, two entries, 160 acres; 1828, five entries, 400 acres; 1829,' fourteen entries. 1,168.64 acres. Total, 44 entries, 3,769.63 acres.

Of these, thirty-nine entries were of 80 acres, two for 160 acres, one for 128.64 acres, one for 118.86 acres, one for 41.63 acres, one for 40.20 acres. Thus it will be seen that the entries were made mostly by men of only moderate means. The township lies chiefly on Stoney and Cabin creeks and White river, containing a fine body of land and being well settled with substantial improvements. The surface is level or rolling, heavily timbered at first, but now mostly cleared. The streams are permanent, affording abundant water and considerable power for machinery, especially upon Cabin and

The place and the time of the first settlement in the township cannot now be determined with absolute certainty. It has been claimed that John Thornburg, near Windsor, was the first settler and that the time was 1823. Both of these would seem to be errors. John Thornburg did not come before about 1825 and when he came he found a considerable number of settlers already in the county. His son, Armfield Thornburg, who was a lad several years old when his father came to the county, states as follows : When my father came to Randolph county and settled near Windsor in 1825, the following settlers were already on hand : John Castine and Solomon Hobaugh, his son-in-law and John Coons, all of whom came in 1822 ; David Vestal, who had been elected Squire, Joseph Rooks and Abraham Clevenger, all of whom came in 1823; John Conner in 1824, George W. Smithson in 1825.

Probably, either David Vestal or Isaac Branson was the first actual bona fide settler and Branson moved away soon, first to Nettle creek and not very long afterward to Delaware county and David Vestal spld out after several years to John Thornburg and moved away to White Lick, below Indianapolis, in 1 83 1, and died there The Thornburgs, Job, Joab and John, all came in 1825, who are living yet where they settled. Others came soon after, among whom were . Randolph SmuUen and William Moore in 1826, and perhaps others.

Some of the persons named as early settlers were only "squatters," and moved on into the woods before the advancing wave of settlement. Lemuel Vestal came in 1825 and with him John Demory, a freeman of color from Carolina, of- whom mention is.made elsewhere; Vestal undertook to build a mill near Windsor as told in another place. Others may be mentioned as foliows: John Hines and Paul Reagan in 1826; Wesley Terreir in 1827: yVmos Smith and Benjamin Garretson in 1828; Solomon Wright in 1829, John Bond and Andrew G. Dye in 1831. Still others had already or did soon come, to-wit: John Holloway, William Holloway, Jonathan Finzer, John Clevenger, Jonathan Clevenger, John Diggs, Jacob McNees and Isaac Amburn.

Stoney Creek was settled largely at first by the Society of Friends and to this day a very strong body of that people remain within its- limits. Cedar and Poplar Run meetings are both in Stoney Creek, and very many of the honored pioneers of that section worshiped in these sanctuaries and now lie awaiting the "Archangel's trump" in the humble inclosure of the dead which is near those sacred places of humble waiting upon the Spirit of the Lord

In life they spent their years in quiet industry and patient and sincere obedience to the guidance of the voice within; now for those earnest, steadfast souls, faith has been changed to sight and struggling prayer to triumphant praise The first school in the township was taught in 1826 by Moses Hodson, then a young man. his home being in Delaware county, four or five miles from Windsor. The schoolhouse stood bet^yeen Joab and John Thornburg's: There were perhaps twenty pupils. Armfield Thornburg, that tells the story, was one of them.

Solomon Wright tells some queer tales "out of school" concerning' the pupils and the teachers of "auld lang syne," one in particular, how the girls on the last day of school tore down the dirt back-wall of the stick chimney belonging to the cabin schoolhouse and scattered the clay all over the puncheon floor.

Like other new and pioneer regions, Stoney creek has its traditions of odd and queer things taking place amid the mighty shadow of the giant forest. Of one early settler it is related that he had a family of fourteen children and that another settler, a neighbor, going in early one morning found on the hearth a huge kettle of corn meal mush, and that while he sat there the youngsters crawled out from the straw upon the cabin floor one by one, and, taking each a pewter plate, went singly to the smoking mush for a bountiful share and partook joyfully of a hearty breakfast. But what difference does it make? These tales told of early tirnes are, many of them, fabrications and more are greatly "stretched" from the original fact. But even if true as told, who cares? It is to be feared that, if their effeminate descendants were thrown into the same hard and rough condition, they would do even not so well as that; that they would have neither roof over their shiftless heads, straw to crawl out of nor a ketfle of mush to. eat from, pewter plate to handle it on, nor spoon with which to carry it to their mouths.

There have been only two towns within the bounds of Stoney Creek township and one of these has long been extinct. The two are Windsor and Georgetown, the latter "winked out" long years ago.

Windsor. - Location, section 29, town 20, range 12, on Winchester & Muncie pike at the Delaware county line. The town was laid out by Joseph Thornburg in 1832, during what may aptly be termed the "era of townplatting." since many of the villages in Randolph were projected not far from that date Windsor seems to have been aspiring and to have had high prospects as well, for only five years after the record of the first survey of forty lots, twenty more (half the original number) were annexed to the growing town by Smith & Dye, thus affording fresh room to spread beyond the original limit. And it is undoubtedly true that, had the old order of business continued to prevail, Windsor might today have been an important and prosperous inland town. But the. sad fact, sad for Windsor and its ambitious denizens can neither be ignored nor changed, so the fates declared and who can successfully rebel against fate? If there had been power in the begin- . ning of railroad construction, to he-ve drawn the Bee Line route south of the river instead of locating it on the north side through the unknown wilderness, then, indeed, might Windsor have come to be, not, indeed, like its illustrious namesake in a foreign island kingdom, a palatial residence for Her Majesty, the English Queen, but a wide-awake, bustling, prosperous commercial and manufacturing center, known and noted throughout the county and the region. But men cannot lose what they never had, so Windsor has not lost the greatness which she never possessed. And her people, instead of mourning over fancied unrealized laossibilities, may be sincerely thankful that life, health and substantial comfort and the means of solid happiness they still possess equally with the people of the proudest metropolis on the footstool.

The first business in Windsor was a shoe shop by Isiah Templin and a small store by a man from Richmond, name forgotten. Soon was set up a smith shop by Andrew Knapp. The mill by John Thornburg was built in 1827. There was no other on White river but Judge Sample's and Cox's mill, east of Winchester. The first wagon shop was by William Ludworth. Windsor at one time had a large business, having three good stores and a grocery and other things to match. The activity of the place' began some years before the town was recorded It proved its right to be by its actual being. Business is like beauty - it is its own excuse foi' being.

Present business: There is a goodly number of houses and business rooms, and were the place to fill up to its capacity of furnishing facilities for \york, it would even now be an active, busy town. But the real business is now small enough. There are two smith shops, two dry goods stores, one wagon shop, one physician, two churches (Methodist and Christian), one schoolhouse, a lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Georgetown. - -There were never more than six houses in Georgetown. The village is now wholly extinct. Several of the old lots are owned and built on separately, but there is no town. Dr. Keener resided there as a physician, as also Dr. Marine. How there should have been any town at all, or the hope or prospect of. any, is a mystery, since Macksville was within a mile or even less than that. The record of the plat of the latter appears not

When these towns - Macksville, Georgetown and Windsor - stood on the great thoroughfare between the east and the west, where scores, or even hundreds of travelers ; where hundreds and sometimes thousands, of animals, in immense droves and herds passed daily ; where thronging emigrants were constantly pressing eagerly westward, westward, always westward, there seemed a prospect that all three, especially the former and the latter, might find room and business for a substantial or even a vigorous growth ; but when the rail track was laid and the steam whistle set up its roar and the engine began to roll, a woe was pronounced upon all towns, no* matter how ambitious or aspiring, which lay away from the path of the "iron horse."

Neff'is located on section 10, township 19, range 12, two miles west of I?leasant View and five miles north of Losantville, It has entirely disappeared.

Isaac Amburn was the son of Samuel Amburn; he was born in Carolina in 1789, and he married Rebecca Hodgson, who was born in Virginia in 1795. They came to Ohio in 1816 and to Randolph county in 1829. They were the parents of ten children, all of whom have been married and had families. They are as given herewith : Mary, five children ; Elizabeth, eleven children ; Samuel, ten children; Catharine, ten children; Jacob eight children; Hester, one child; Hannah, nine children; Rebecca, seven children; Cynthia, six children ; Rachel, six children. Isaac Amburn resided with his son Samuel till his death, September 23, 1881, he being ninety-two years old.

Samuel Amburn, Jr., was born in 1818, in Ohio; came to Randolph county in 1829; married Maria Smith in 1840; had ten children; was a prominent and successful man of business and an active and influential citizen. When he moved to the county, William Moore, John Holloway, William Holloway, Joab Thornburg, Amos Smith were already here. William Dixon and Jethro Hiatt came when Mr. Amburn's people came in 1829. He had to go three miles to school when he was a lad and thought it no hardship, often having to "wade the flats" knee deep. Wading the water in coon hunting, etc., through the woods was nothing but fun.

Joseph Bond, son of Samuel Bond, was born in North Carolina in 1779; married Rachel Herold, born in 1781, in 1802; came to Wayne county, Indiana in 181 1 and to Randolph county, mouth of Cabin creek, in 1839. They had twelve children, eleven grown, ten married. He died in 1840 and his wife in 1842. They were farmers and Friends. He was a steady, mild-tem- pered, genial, christian man, beloved by all who knew him and his record is on high. His father, Samuel Bond, was born in North Carolina in 1753 and his mother, Elizabeth Beals Bond, in 1755.

Zimri Bond, brother of John H. Bond, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, moved to Randolph county and afterward to Kansas, the latter movement being made in 1872. He died in Kansas in'1877, having had five children. He had a fine farm on Cabin creek but he went to stock buying, etc., and failing in business, lost his firm and like hundreds of others, moved on farther west to the region of cheap lands. He was an Anti-slavery Friend, an i^bolitionist, an underground railroad operator and a Republican. His family returned to Randolph county to the region of their former home.

John Diggs was the brother of 'Mark Diggs, who is also dead, and of William Diggs, who is still living. He was born in Carolina, August 8, 1802. He came from Carolina to Randolph county upon White river in 1821, and settled on Stoney creek in 1827. He had five children and- died January 22, 1863, aged sixty years five months and fourteen days. His wife, Catharine Diggs, died October 29, 1867, aged sixty-three years six months and thirteen days. He was a prominent and respected member among the Friends, and was buried in Poplar Run cemetery, as is also his wife, who survived her husband more than four years. He was a Whig, an Abolitionist and a Republican, but he remained with the "body of Friends"' at the "separation," not deeming the alleged reasons for dividing the "bjody" sufficient to justify the course pursued by the Anti-slavery Friends.

Joseph Hewitt, born of Irish parents, came to Ross county, Ohio, in 1808; married Sally Putnam in 1831; came to Randolph county in 1841, and had ten children, all grown and married.

Hosea Lamb was born . in North Carolina, and came to Richmond before it was laid out as a town ; cleared the ten acres on which Richmond was first built, and entered i6d acres in Nettle Creek, but settled in Stoney Creek. He had nine children; was a farmer and a Friend, and died in 1855. His wife died in 1877, being a very old woman, and having lived a widow twenty-tw-o years.

Restore Lamb, son of Hosea Lamb, died in 1878,. aged about sixty years. His brother, Isaac, was accidentally shot aiid killed while duckhunting. A gun was handed to him, muzzle foremost. It was dropped and the gun went off. He was shot in the breast, causing his instant death.

Joab McNees was born in 1781 ; lived in Tennessee; came to Randolph county, settling in Stoney Creek, near Georgetown, in 1829, and married Sarah McColIom in 1803. They had sixteen children, twelve grown and ten married. He moved eleveq to Randolph county. Mr. McNees died in 1833, a'ged fifty-two years. His wife was born in 1783, and died in 1870, aged eighty-seven years. She lived a widow thirty-seven years. A rather rema,rkal)le hf& - thirty years a wife, the mother of .sixteen children, and thirty-seven years a widow!

Henry Moore was born in Wilmington, Delaware,. in 1^04. He came to Wayne county, Indiana, in 18 16; married Mary Wright in 1831 (who was born in 1808), and settled in Randolph county in 1838, buying 160 acres of land in Stoney Creek township. He was a farmer, a Friend, a Whig, an Abolitionist and a Republican. He was the father of five children, and died in 1879, leaving a widow to mourn his loss, as also several children.

George Moore was the brother of Henry Moore, being born in 1806, and he emigrated from Delaware, on the eastern seaboard, to Randolph county in 1839, marrying Mary Hialt in the same year. They had five children. ;

Ira E. Smithson is a native of "Old Virginia," the proud "Old Dominion," the haughty "Mother of Presidents." He was born there in 1800. But he left his native soil and emigrated to Clinton county, Ohio, that oldtime half-way house to weary emigrants, that stopping-place for thousands, whence again, a fresh start being taken, pushing their onward way toward the setting sun, a final halt would at length be called in the fruitful Hoosier land. And from Clinton county, once more resuming the impatient line of march, they stopped not, they stayed not, till they had found their old-time friends in the woods of Randolph. In 1839 this latter trip was accomplished, and this was the last march; for hither he had come to stay. And stay he did.

Joab Thornburg was born in 1795 in North Carolina; came to Ohio in 1 811; married Elizabeth Hollo way in North Carolina on Christmas Day, 1817; came to Stoney Creek, Randolph county, in 1825, entered eighty acres of land. They had nine children. He was a farmer and a Friend; was a Whig and an Abolitionist. There is something venerable in an ancient homestead, hallowed by the loves, the joys, the sorrows, the dear, the sad, the holy remembrances of ahnost sixty years of family life. Those who spend their lives in changing from place to place, having never a home, but only a temporary abode, occupying, in their whole lives upon earth, not a foot of land which they could call their own, know little of the real substance of home life. They live, indeed; their children grow up to full stature ; but their residence is only half a home. He surely has abundant (63) cause for rejoicing whose lot is cast where he can dwell from youth to old age, in a dear and blessed spot, to which sweet and precious memory' clings with a close and perpetual tie. Let it be the ambition of every family to acquire that excellent earthly blessing, the ownership of a permanent home.

William Armfield Thomburg, Windsor, was bom in North Carolina in 1816, and came to Randolph county in 1825; married Maria Qevinger in 1835, and had twelve children - ^ten grown and married. He was Wought up a Friend, but belonged mostly Jo the Methodists or United Brethren. In political faith he was a Whig. His business was largely farming. He sold goods twelve years, and kept a hotel at Windsor and at Williamsburg; operated a mill south of Windsor.

: David Vestal was bom in North Carolina, coming to Randolph county perhaps in 1823; settled on Stoney creek, two and a half miles south of Windsor: was chosen justice of the peace very soon after; sold out to John Thomburg about 1830 or 1831, and left the county in the latter year, moving to White Lick, below^ Indianapolis, at which place he is understood to have died. They had five children at the time of removal. He was kind, genial and obliging, and his wife was an excellent woman. While he resided in the county he was a prominent citizen of thai region.

William Terrill, farmer and minister, was born July 13, 1829, in Stoney Creek township, this county. He was married the first time to Rebecca Thomburg, November 22, 1849 ; two children blessed this union - Lucinda J. and John W. Mr. Terrill was united in marriage the second time to Mary A. Thomburg, March 27, 1856; she was bom December 12, 1838. Mr. Terrill was educated in the old log school house of pioneer days, and for a number of years engaged in farmings He was a devoted minister of the Christian church for years and devoted much of his time to building up the denomination of his choice. Mr. Terrill is perhaps the oldest minister in Randolph county up to this time, 1914.

Job Thomburg. This venerable pioneer of Randolph county was the son of Isaac and Rebecca (Hodgen) Thomburg, and was bom in Guilford county, North Carolina, September 29, 1801. He was the fifth of a family of twelve children; his father was bom in Pennsylvania, July 4, 1773, and mother in the same state July 24, 1773. They moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, where they were married, and remained until the year 1811, when they moved to Clinton county, Ohio, where they remained until 1827, when they came to this coiuity and remained until their deaths; his mother died July 24, 1832, and his father June 28, 1862. Job lived with his parents on the farm until he was twenty-five years of age, when he, with his brother.

removed to Indiana,' and settled in Randolph county. After living with his brother for about one year, he returned to Ohio, and was united in marriage with Lydia Smith, daughter of James and Atlantic Smith, April 17, 1826. He and his wife returned to Indiana the following October, when he entered eighty acres of the farm upon which he now resides. He has spent the best portion of his life in clearing a farm from the unbroken forest. No one but those who have had the experience fully realize the amount of- toil and hardship connected with the development of this country. The subject of this sketch has accomplished more of this kind of work than most men of this age; he early learned the lesson which insures success to every young man- - industry and frugality. These qualities being leading motives in his life, he rapidly accumulated property. He is the father of ten children, as follows: Atlantic, born January 18, 1826; Abijah, born February 8, 1828, deceased January 3, 1848; Jonathan J., born April 2, 1830; Thomas, born May 7, 1832, deceased October 28, 1846; James, born March 27, 1834; Ann, born September 19, 1836; Edward R., born December 4, 1838, deceased September 13, 1867; Tilnias, born November 27, 1840; Isaac D., born October 28, 1842; Rebecca, born September 3, 1845. He and his wife were raised members of the Society of Friends, and ever remained faithful to their ado]>ted church. Mr. Thornburg served this county as juror more or less fpr thirty years.

Jonathan J. Thornburg, who is a native of this county and son of Job and Lydia Thornburg wa.s born April 2, 1830. He is the third of a family of ten children, seven of whom are living.

Some of the other pioneers of Stoney Creek township were William liuitt, Francis M. Amburn, Philip K. Dick, John E. Heickes, Enos A. Leeka, Jacob- Mills, John M. Moore, John Ozbun, Isaac J. Smith, Abraham Symons, Joshua Swingley, Jonathan J. Thornburg, Thomas Wallace, William Wright,- John D. Wright, Samuel Huff and Isaac J. Smith.

Nettle Creek Township. - It embraces thirty-one and one-half sections, being seven miles long, north to south, and four and a half miles wide east to west. It lies wholly west of the twelve-mile boundary, and the land was surveyed about 1820 or 1821. Settlement began later, of course, there than itr did east of the boundaries. The township lies chiefly in the valley of the Little White river, and covers a fine scope of country. Much of it is gently rolling, presenting pleasant landscapes. The soil is well -adapted to all kinds of farming, and fine crops are produced. Being settled later, improvements are not so much advanced as they are farther east, yet there are many fine farms, with good buildings, etc.

The earliest settler of whom we have heard is William ShuUabarger, who came in 1820, settling south of Losantville. He was killed by the falling of a tree. The next settler was John Burroughs, 1822, and also his brother, Thomas Burroughs, 1822. The following came soon afterward: Solomon Sparks, Mahlon Bronson, Isaac Branson, John Massey, Ichabod Tharpe, Phineas Macy, Mason Powell, Enoch Sayles, Jacob Tharpe, Henry Mossby and perhaps others.

Samuel Burroughs, son of John Burroughs, was the first child born in Nettle Creek township. May 20, 1823. The settlers in this region had peculiarly severe hardships in the early time. Some of them were very poor, and all of them were greatly "put to it" to make their way. One pioneer in this township, when he first moved to the county, had one old horse only, and the horse died in a few days, which left them in a bad condition. The mail cut his knee with his frow while splitting clapboards for his cabin, and was laid helpless on the puncheon floor for six weeks. His wife and her brother improved the season by making several barrels of sugar, which stood them in good stead to give in exchange for corn during the summer.

In a scope of two, miles square there were owned but two wagons. One day six horses were hitched to one of these wagoiis to go to mill. Twelve bushels were loaded in, and off the teams started. The horses would not pull together, got fast in a big mud-hole, and stopped. Six men unhitched each a horse, took each a sack -of wheat and away to the mill, leaving the wagon to get out of the mud when it got a "good j-eady." Thus did the hardy pioneers of Nettle Creek bravely push their way, and some of them still survive to look back upon those rough and troublesome times and those awkward ways. Isaac Branson was in Nettle Creek in 1824, in the time of the "Falling Timber," since one settler relates that her sister at that time was at Isaac Branson's, and that Mr. Branson's horse was hemmed up in the stable, but not hurt.

Nettle Creek township is a fine rolling country, well adapted to all kinds of farming. There is but one town, Losantville, or, as it was called at first. Hunt's Cross Roads. Nettle Creek is Republican in politics by a moderate majority, when state and national lines are drawn. As to religion, Methodists, Disciples, Friends, Christians, United Brethren, Baptists, etc., are represented. The first sermon in the region was preached at Thomas Burroughs', by Rev. Bowen, a Methodist. The people generally went to West River. Thomas Burroughs died in 1825, and his funeral was preached in his cabin by Henry Mossburg. The Baptist meeting-house on the county line was built in 1825. A Methodist meeting-house was built not twenty

In early times, like many primitive communities, some roughness of manners and actions prevailed, but latterly the community has become fully t*he equal of the rest of the county in those things that tend to enlighten and elevate and refine the feelings and sentiments of the community. In religious things there is considerable variety of opinions and practice. In an early day, the Baptists established a large influence in that part of the county, and they have maintained to this day a larger following in that township than elsewhere in Randolph. In fact, the Baptist element, which holds in the country-at-large a strong, prominent and controlling position, has, for some reason, found in Randolph county but a meager support ; and, outside of , Nettle Creek, that branch of the Christian body has found but few adherents.

Land Entries

It is seen by the statement just given that the settlement of the township was very sparse before 1830. In fact, the west part of the county in general had but few occupants before that date. A small number had made a beginning upon White river and Cabin creek, but not many were even there, and away from those streams the cabins and the clearings were truly "few and far between."

Fallen Timber Post Office. - No town (perhaps) Section 35, two miles northeast of Losantville. The name has been given from the fact that years ago a terrible tornado prostrated miles and miles of timber, falling, as it did, in a dense, heaped-up, impenetrable mass, and lying for many years upon the surface of the earth, an utter barrier to passage or communication across or among its overthrown tree-trunks. That mass of prostrate tree- trunks, entangled for years with shrubs and new-grown saplings, has for two generations disappeared from sight, and a single name, as above, is its only existing memorial.

Flemingsburg. - Location, four miles north of Losantville ; five miles northwest of Huntsville; one mile southwest of Pleasant View. This town seems to have been among the oldest in the county, but whether it ever existed except on paper, or whether any business was ever, done there, we are unable to say. It is utterly extinc^ and even the name seems to be wholly lost. It is to be presumed that at least a log cabin, store and a blacksmith shop were there, but we have obtained not the slightest outside information.

Losantville. - Location, sections 3, 4, 9 and 10, township 18, range 12 east; twenty-eight lots; Howard Hunt, proprietor; recorded February 22, 1 851; streets, north and south, Cambridge; east and west. Main. Losantville (at first called Hunt's Cross Roads) was laid out in 185 1 by Howard Hunt. Its "antiquities" are as follows: Mr. Denny had a log-cabin store; Bright Cisk resided there in 1834, and had a grocery in 1842, and perhaps sooner than that. Howard Hunt had a grocery and a hotel in 1850. Ah interesting story is told of the origin of the name of Losantville. Two of the Hunt brothers lived at Huntsville. One had originated Flemingsburg and the other Hunt's Cross Roads.

-The latter was chided for naming his town such a common name, on which he changed the name to Losantville, it being the old name of the town of Cincinnati. Losantville is the only town of this name in the United States.

Pleasant View. - Location, in Nettle Creek and Stoney Creek townships. No plat recorded as far as known; laid out in 1854. Being situated in two townships and four sections, its location is more extensive than its business. There has been a small amount of business from the beginning of the town. Mr. Davidson had a saw-mill; William Kennedy had a store; Hiram Diggs also had a store; Mr. Carey had a smith shop in 1856; Solomon Hanscom started a furniture store, as also an undertaker's shop, in. 1855. Nothing remains but a store and a residence. The merchants in Pleasant View have been Messrs. Kennedy, Diggs, Wright,. East, McNees, Kelly, Moore, Bates, Lumpkin & Brother, Ross & Hanscom, Macy (whose store was blown up with powder), Jessup, Hanscom, Jessup & Carter, E. Carter & Son, G. Wright White.

Jonathan Canady was born in North Carolina in 1821; came to Wayne county, Indiana, in 1826, and to Randolph county in 1840. He married Susan Moore and had fourteen children; twelve of them grown; eightJ have taught school, two are attorneys, and one is a justice of the peace. They are an active and intelligent family and are Republicans.

Martin L. Canady was born in Randolph county in 1848; married Sophronia E. Noll in 1869, and they have three children. He was a teacher, having taught school thirteen winters. He taught the first school that ever was held in Losantville (in 1878), for it seems that ambitious little town never till 1878 rose to the dignity of possessing a school. Mr. Canady was elected magistrate of Nettle Creek township in the spring of 1879, against a candidate who had held office for twenty-five years, and had never before been beaten. Mr. Canady was the census enumerator for 1880 in the census district in which he resides.

Walter Canady came from North Carolina to Randolph county in 1829, and lived and died there. He had a wife and five children. He was a farmer of Nettle Creek township, entering land there when he came to the county.

John Clevenger, father of William Clevenger, near Neff, was born in Virginia in 1780; came to Ohio in 1803; married Maria Stuthard in 1799 (born 1780); came to Randolph county in 1828; entered 120 acres. -He had fourteen children ; twelve lived to be grown and married and have large families, the whole twelve having 108 children, or an average of exactly nine each. He died in 1872, aged ninety-two years and nine months. ,His wife died in 1846, being sixty-six years old.

Jonathan Clevenger came the same fall. The two families had arranged to meet on the way, and come the rest of the distance together. The plan failed in some way, and the families did not meet, and each one found his way alone. Mr. Clevenger was a sturdy Democrat. He voted for Jackson in 1828. He was an active member of the Christian (New Light) church, and a worthy and exemplary citizen.

Jacob Crouse was born in North Carolina in 1799; married Hannah Johnson in 1824; emigrated to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1832, settling one mill west of Losantville. They had seven children. His wife was a Baptist. He was not himself a member of any religious body, and in politics lived and died a Democrat of the Jacksonian stamp and style. He entered eighty acres of land, and he resided on the tract till his death in 1873, forty-one years. His wife lived only till 1864.

Mark Diggs was born in North Carolina 1799, and was the son of William Diggs, the elder, whose son William came to White River in 1816. Mark Diggs came to White River,. Randolph county, in 1821; married Susannah Way, daughter of Matthew Way, who was brother of Paul and Henry Way, and who died in Caiftlina in 1826. They had one child which died in infancy. Mark Diggs settled iii 1827 on the farm where his widow now lives, near Pleasant View. He was a Friend, belonging to the body; in 'politics, a Whig arid a Republicati. He was an elder in the Friends Society, greatly respected and altogether a solid riiember. He owned at the time of his death, in 1878, 600 acres of land. At first he entered 246 acres.

William Hendricks came early to the county, and was justice of the peace twelve years. He married one hundred couples during his term of office. He was also township trustee ten years, and was never defeated as a candidate for office till 1879, at which time he ran for magistrate, and was beaten by M. L. Canady.

- Miles Hunt was born in Kentucky September 10, 1808. He came early to this county in 1824, at the age of sixteen, and was a resident of Randolph county until his death. He was identified with the interests of the county for more than half a century, representing the county at one time in the state Legislature when comparatively a young man. Mr. Hunt raised a large family, now grown men and women, who are now among the useful and worthy citizens of their native commonwealth. He was a life-long Democrat, being one of the ffew who have clung to that political, faith in the face of the overwhelming adverse majorities for many years in this Republican county. Since the tiriie of the Murphy revival he was an active and enthusiastic temperance worker.

John Snodgrass was born in Virginia in 1763; moved to Tennessee in 1803, to Ohio in 181 1, to Henry county, Indiana, in 1813, and to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1830. He had eight children. -His wife was Rhoda Mays, and he was married in Virginia long before he began his wanderings to find a suitable home. He was an old man when he came to Randolph, sixty-seven years of age, but his stay was but short among his children and friends. He died in 1834, and his wife eleven years after her husband, in 1845. His residence was about a mile north of Losantville. He was a farmer and a Democrat. Think of the life of this sturdy pioneer. Forty years among the rugged mountains of Virginia, eight years amid the forests of Tennessee, two years in Ohio through the Indian war of 1811-13, seventeen years buried in the" woods of Henry county, Indiana, and when within three years of his allotted threescore and ten pluriging yet once more, and for the last time, into the heart of the deep, unbroken forests of Randolph county, and lying down at length after so many tedious and wearisome years, beneath the oaks and the beeches, to die and be forever a;t rest, while his friends and his- comrades, gathering around his rhortal remains, sadly but hopefully say, "Life's fitful fever over, he sleeps well."

Isaac R. Maulsby,- farmer, post office Losantville, was born in this county November 6, 1840; his father, Thomas Maulsby, was born in Tennessee January, 5, 1805; his mother, Mary (Key) Maulsby, was a native of Virginia. Mr. Maulsby was married September 27, 1865, to Miss Mannie Cory, who was born and raised in Henry county, Indiana. Their union was blessed with four children: - Phila C, born May 14, 1867; Amy V., born December 2.9, 1869; Gilbert O., born August 30, 1873; Stephen C, born July 13, 1877. Mr. Maulsby owned a fine farm of 20b acres; was a licentiate minister in the Baptist church, and was ever willing and ready to aid in any enterprise that tended to elevate and enlighten his fellow-man.

Other pioneers of Nettle Creek township have been William Hewett, John C. Clevenger, Isaac Crouse, William Clevenger, Wilkerson Gray, Solomon Hanscorn, Hamilton Snodgrass, Hicks K. Wright, William Burroughs, Charles H. Barrax, Jonathan J. Jones, William Oakerson, Burril Perkins, Isaac Routh, Charles H. Smothers, John T. Vardeman and Isaac Woods.

Jackson Township. - It includes the north of township 18 north, range I west, and the south half of township 19 north, range i west, both townships being fractional, in the northeastern corner of the county, in the valley of the Mississinewa. The waters of the township are the Mississinewa, "Little Mississinewa and some snlaller streams.

The old or Wayne's boundary divides the township into two parts somewhat cornerwise, entering near the northeast corner and passing out at the south side, crossing the township line about two and one-half rniles west of the east line of the township, county and state. The P., C, C. & St. L. (Pan Handle) railroad crosses the southwest corner of the township. It was erected as^a township in 1833.' It contains about thirty sections, being six miles north and south and five miles from east to west. The Mississinewa flows from east to west, as also the Little Mississinewa northward to the Big Mississinewa. The land is rather level and somewhat low. It was at first considerably wet, much of the surface standing in the water a great part of the time. Clearing and ditching, however, have dried out the land pretty well, and the country is now good for farming, the low lands being the best. Originally the country was heavily timbered. Most of the farms are now well cleared, though some are still rather new.

The first entry was made by John Abercrombie in October, 1816, on the river south of Pittsburg. The actual settlement began hardly as early. It has been difficult to trace the history of things to the first beginning. The earliest settlers seem to have left no trace behind, and but a. slender memory of them remains among the residints'of the present day. The bona fide occupation of the township seems to have taken place about 1829, perhaps somewhat earlier. A few seem to have spent some time there before that date. Thomas Shalor, a roving fellow, occupied the James Porter place perhaps in 1826, leaving the neighborhood about 1829. He is the same one mentioned by McKew and Hawkins as living in Jay county, in the region of Camden. Philip Storms is thought by some to have been the earliest resident. One man states that Philip Storms was annoyed and injured by having men enter his selected location from under him, and that he became "fighting mad" on account of it, which is not much wonder, if the aggression were known and intended as such, since the act would be both a flagrant violation of "squatter" law, and a serious breach of natural justice and of the golden rule. Mr. Storms resided in the region for some time, as, several years later, he was appointed by the county commissioners to be road supervisor of his district.

Some men by the name of Brockus, wild, rough men, who had, however, estimable wives, were early settlers, their residence being across the Mississinewa, directly north of Handschey's first mill. They left before a very long time, but the clearing said to have been made by them was still to be seen many years afterward, and perhaps is there even to the present day.

An old man by the name of Ishmael Bunch lived on the land entered by. John Jones, near Dolphus Warren's. Jesse Gray was a famous pioneer and hunter, noted throtigh all this region, and for many years, though his precise location on the Mississinewa at his first coming (about 1820) is not pointed out. He entered land in 18.33 '^^ ^^^ Mississinewa, directly north of AUensville, though he must have lived somewhere in the region for ten or twelve years, and, about the time of the killing- of Fleming, he moved from the county to the vicinity of Hill Grove, Darke county, Ohio, and still again in later years to Adams county, Indiana. A settler by the name of Jacobs settled very early (in 1828) directly north of Allensville, on the north side of the Mississinewa. He was an old man in 1848, and died some year."* later, about 1852.

The entries began quite early, the first two having been made in 1816, the next two in 1819 and the fifth in 1826. John Abercrombie, on both sides of the Mississinewa river, directly south of Pittsburg, 1816; John Laverty, 1 81 6, on the creek, about a mile nearly north of New Middletown; John C. Dunham, 1819, two separate quarter sections lying on both sides of the Mississinewa, two and one-half miles southeast of New Pittsburg; Abraham Royer, one and a half miles southeast of New Lisbon, between the Little Mississinewa and the Ohio line. Whether these purchasers settled their land seems doubtful. Their names have not been heard among those of early pioneers of the region.

The fourth entry in the township was by Abram Royer, August 10, 1826, being Iknd now owned by J. Noffsinger. He probably did hot occupy it, as we have never heard his name mentioned as a settler. The fifth entry was by John Jones, August 27, 1830, southwest of Dolphus Warren's. The next entry was by James Simmons, a little west of the second entry. Simmons married and settled in 1834.

The first settlers were inclined rather to hunt than to clear, but some moved away and others came in, and solid and permanent improvement began. Many, perhaps most, of the first comers were poor, some without even money to purchase land. Mr. Porter (James) said that he entered 120 acres, forty acres at a time, walking mostly to Cincinnati and back, making each separate entry. '

The first school in Mr. Porter's neighborhood was taught by George Porter's wife about 1836. The people used to go to meeting to the Prospect rheeting-house neighborhood. The first meeting Mr. Porter's folks attended was at Riley Marshall's, near Prospect. Marshall's was the preaching place, and it was held on a week day. Mrs. Porter used to take her baby and walk to meeting - ^three miles. The first school near Allensville was taught by Mrs. Beach at home. There may have been seven or eight pupils - a mere handful.

The first sermon was preached at Mr. Beach's by a Baptist preacher. The first mill was a corn cracker. Jacob Johnson built one afterward, which he said cost him $1.50. The stones were common gray heads dressed down. It would grind five or six bushels in twenty- four hours by running day and night. Mr.. Skinner afterward built a pretty good mill for wheat and corn. Mr. Hinchy also built one with a saw-mill.

The first organized religious society is supposed to have been the Disciples church. New Lisbon, in 1839, and the first church erected to have been by them near New Lisbon in 1841. Many of the early settlers were churchlOOO RANDOLPH COUNTY, INDIANA.

going people. Smith, Wiley, Reeves, Mangus, , Wickersham, Debolt, etc., were Disciples. Beach, Chandler and others near Allensville were Baptists.

It would seem from the above that in Jackson township up to April 12, 1837, not quite four sections or about one thousand one hundred and forty acres of land had been entered, by about thirty-one persons, no entry being above 160 acres, and nearly all eighties or forties. The great rush of settlement came in 1837 and 1838. The entries iii Jackson township were made by men of very moderate pecuhi*y ability. Economy and thrift have:, however, become the means of furnishing to many in the township cortifbrtable and even luxurious homes, and a considerable number have acquired Wealth. The body of the population remain, however, even as of old, and, from the beginning, industrious, sturdy, simple-hearted, independent farmers of moderate means and frugal habits.

The Portland & Union railroad, projected many years ago, was graded through Jackson township, and New Pittsburg was laid out for a center of trade, but the railroad was not completed ; the track was never rhade, and the road is simply a useless bank of earth, and Jackson township and New Pittsburg as well is out in the cold.

Jackson is the extreme northeast township of the county, and its boundaries are as follows : On the north by Ja!y county, on the east by Ohio, on the south by Wayne township, on the wgst by Ward township. Politically, Jackson township is overwhelmingly Democratic. Originally it is said to have been almost wholly so, insomuch that a story is told that at one time one Whig voted alone in Jackson township. This can hardly be true, yet the time has been when the non-Democratic voters in Jackson township were "mity skase" indeed.

Allensville. - Situated on the Union and North Salem pike, a little south of the Mississinewa river; recorded November 13, 1847. The town is extinct. Jonathan Lambert first built a log cabin and put in a store there in about 1844 or 1845. The town was platted shortly afterward, and Lambert's store remained till perhaps 1856, and a Mr. Bowen succeeded him. Some of the early settlers in the neighborhood were Trowbridge Allen, Ziba Davis, Cortlandt Lambert, Mr. Hoover, father of^Isaac Hoover, Abraham and Jeremiah Lambert, etc.

Allensville was never much of a town. The "Quaker trace" passed through Jackson township, past Mount Holly, Castle postofi&ce, near Allensville, crossing Mississinewa at the old ford, about eighty rods east of the turnpike bridge. The Salem- and Union pike passes through the town. Nothing has been there for many years except the old mill.

As to the towns of Jackson, not much can be said. Most of them are extinct or greatly dwindled. AUensville (Sockum) was never "any great shakes," and, what life it had "winked out." New Lisbon had a brave start, and might have done well, but Union City "cut ofif its wind" and it had to succumb.

Almost all the towns in this region were originally christened as "New" something or other - ^New Lisbon, New Pittsburg, "New Middletown. They were indeed new then, but they are new ho longer, and the affix "new" is mostly omitted, and their memory is retained simply as Middletown. Lisbon and Pittsburg.

Mt. Holly seems to have been ahead, as to time, of all the towns in that region. Their dates are as follows: Mount Holly, 1846; AUensville, 1847; New Lisbon, 1848; New Middletown, 185 1; New Pittsburg, 1856. Thus the town with the 'fragrant name had seven years the start of its earliest rival, and "Sockum" was so distant that she need have had no fear of her far-away neighbor. But old settlers insist upon it that Mount Holly never had anything but one blacksmith shop. If so, so be it. It was saved the slow, tedious process of dying by inches or perishing by dull, stupid decay. Its proprietor had more exalted ideas of future greatness for his new town, since he made three cross streets, while most of the embryo cities at their first laying out, were fully contented with one, and several had no "cross streets" at all. But all in vain ; survey and recorcl were- alike for naught.

New Lisbon is three and a half miles north of Union City. It had a fine start, and but for the railroad would doubtless have made a crieditable showing for business, but the fates decreed otherwise and New Lisbon has buildings still standing, enough to, make quite a -town, and the dwellings are all inhabited, but the only semblance of business is a smith shop and the crowds on the Sabbath attending at the meeting-house.

New Pittsburg is on. the route of a railroad projected and graded some twenty-five years ago from Union City to Portland, and at the line of Randolph and Jay counties. The town is on section 6, near the northwest corner of Jackson township and about one mile north of the Mississinewa river. The railroad failed and New Pittsburg has dragged along trying to prosper, but not able to do so. It was set on foot in 1854 (recorded in 1856) by William McFarland. At one time, say about 1864, considerable life was shown. There were then two stores,^ two smith shops, a wagon shop and some other things. The business has mostly left the place and the town is greatly decayed.

Ezekiel Clough, farmer, was born in New Hampshire in 1802, emigrated to Mill Creek, Ohio, not. far from Cincinnati, in 1818. His father died soon afterward, leaving the care of the family to Ezekiel, then about eighteen years old. They "rented" for several years and then engaged in making brick in Cincinnati, by which he got his start. He married Anna Huddart and in .1836 the couple moved to the "wilds of Jay," entering six hundred and forty acres of land. In 1862, he changed his ' residence from Jay to Randolph. Mr. Clough had nine children - ^William, Nancy, Ezekiel, Hannah', George, Jane, John (and two more). William was killed in the army at Port Gibson, Mississippi, May, 1863.. In those early days, accommodations were poor and times were hard. The people used even to grate corn-meal for mush and hoe-cake and buckwheat meal for hatter cakes ; and if the settlers wished to have grain ground at the mill, they had to send it to Covingtori, six miles beyond Greenville, or even to Dayton sometimes; often half of the grist was given to pay for grinding and for hauling it to mill and back. Mr. Clough was -better off from the start than many of his brother settlers, and hence was spared some of the trials of poor pioneer life. He was from the first an exemplary member .of the Free-Will Baptist church, and spent much time and means in building up the interests of education and religion. He was one of the chief founders of Ridgeville College, "being understood to have given to it at the beginning ten thousand dollars and also much more 'since that- time.

Jacob Corl was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, married Elizabeth Stufft in 1825, came to Richlarid county, Ohio, in 1835, and to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1838, settling in Jackson township, south of New Pittsbin-g. He had three children. He bought eighty acres at first and afterward one hundred and sixty acres. He formerly belonged to the Episcopal Methodists and later to the German Reformed church.

Henry Debolt was born in 181 7 in Butler county, Ohio; married Ann Mikesell in 1844; had. eleven children, seven living, four married; came to Randolph county in 1844. Mr. Debolt was a farmer; was justice of the peace seventeen years ; township trustee four years ; a Disciple and a Democrat and a highly respected and trustworthy citizen.

George Debolt (father of the above), Jackson township, was born' in 1794 in Hamilton county, Ohio; resided in Butler and Preble counties, Ohio; came to Randolph county, Jackson township, in 1844; married Rachel Clawson; had eight children, six living. He died, in 1853, his wife in 1861. Mr.

Debolt was colonel in Butler county, Ohio; was justice of the peace in Jackr son township four years and probate judge one term. He owned two hundred and twenty acres of land, having entered one hundred and forty acres. He was a Democrat and an active, intelligent and trustworthy citizen.

A few families were near that plaice, a few near New Lisbon and Mi. Holly and a Mr. Porter lived ^outh of Pittsburg. The first school in the township was taught by Mrs. Beach in her own house. The first sermon .was at the same place. For other items see account of Jackson township.

Jacob Gittinger, grandfather of the one mentioned above, was born in Switzerland about 1760, or sooner; was married in that country and soon afterward emigrated to America, settling in Baltimore county, Maryland.' He was a soldier for a time in the Revolutionary war. In politics, he was a Jeffersonian Republican and afterward a Jacksonian Democrat and in religious connection a Lutheran. He had four sons and six daughters, all but one of whom grew up and were married. They all settled in Maryland, but their descendants are now widely scattered. As. to occupation, Mr. Gittinger was a blacksmith and a farmer and also a hotel-keeper on the pike between Hanover and Baltimore. He died about 1846 in Baltimore county, Maryland-, at the age of eighty-six years or more.

Jacob Gittinger (son of the above and father of the present Jacob Gittinger) was born in Maryland in 1786. He married, in Maryland, Mary Deal, in 1807 or 1808, and they were the parents of twelve children, nine sons and three daughters. All of them became grown except the youngest son who died at seven years old. Mr. Gittinger was a wagon-maker and a blacksmith and farmer. He was a Democrat in politics and belonged to the Mehodists for many years, continuing in that connection to the close of his life. He moved to Ohio in 1835, tarrying awhile in Darke county and settling in Randolph county in 1838, in Jackson township, not far from the Ohio line. He died about 1870, eighty-four years old, and his wife in i860, aged seventy-two years. The whole family removed to Randolph county except one son, though not many are left in the region at the present time. The aged couple lie side by side in the burying ground at Raper chapel in Darke county, Ohio. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, being an ensign in the Lighthorse Guards.

Jacob Gittinger (the third), was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, in 18 1 7. He came with his father to Ohio in 1835 and to Randolph county in 1838, the latter. removal being when he was twenty-one years of age.

The Harshmans (four brothers), Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Reuben Harshman^ were born in Rockingham county, Virginia, and were brought by their father, James Harshman, to Preble county, Ohio, in 1807. Abraham and Jacob Harshman emigrated to Randolph county in 1832. Reuben came in 1834 and Isaac about i837_or 1838. They settled near and north of Saratoga and Middletown. Abraham Harshman was twice married and bad ten children.

John Skinner, son of, James Skinner and uncle of Dr. Reeves, built thg first mill in the region. It stood mi the Little Mississinewa, a little north of New Lisbon, being a log-cabin structnre, and it was at firs,t simply a corncracker, but was afterward changed to a wheat-mill, a hand-bdlt being added. The mill answered well its purpose, standing and running for twenty , or twenty-five years.

Three brothers of James Skinner were with Jackson at New Orleans during the war of 1812, and two of those brothers were buried in that distant Southern clime. James himself volunteered also, but for some reason, not now known, he was sent home again.

James Simmons, in 1831, entered a tract occupied by George Vance and lived with Mr. Vance in the cabin .built by Mr. Vance till Mr. Simmons got married in 1834, to Avaline Hawkins, daughter of Mr. Hawkins, pioneer of Jay county, Indiana. Mr. Simmons was an active, intelligent, enterprising, genial- man, an ardent Whig and a straight-out Republican and was highly esteemed by his fellow-citizens.

Eli Byrum was born in North Caroling in 1816 and died in Randolph county, Indiana, in February, 1877. His father, William Byrum, was a farmer and blacksmith and a man of fine intellect. He was a prominent and leading citizen of his county and was three tiqies elected as its representative in the Legislature of North Carolina. In 1838 or 1839 he came North, locating in Preble county, Ohio, and about a year later came to Randolph county, Indiana. Eli, the subject of this sketch, accompanied his father in his removals, and, at the time of the removal to Randolph county, -purchased eighty acres adjoining his father's farm in partnership with his brother Robert. 'At the age of twenty-nine years, in 1845, ^^ was united in marriage with Rachel Newton,' daughter of Henry and Mary Newton, whp resided at that time near Richmond, Indiana. In November, 1846, his wife died, leaving a daughter, who died a few months later. On the 25th of July, 1.848, he married Miss Lucinda Fields, daughter of Lansford and Nancy Fields, who came frqtti Tennessee to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1833. By this second union Mr. Byruni and wife were the parents of thirteen children.

Stephen Hindsley was borft in North Carolina August 20, 1818. Mr. Hindsley after making several changes, finally selected Jackson township as a desirable place to locate and made his final settlement February 10, 1848. He married Miss Ann M. McConnell, March 7, 1841, a native of Piqua^ Ohio, born June 10, 1820. Ten children Slessed this union. Mr. Hindsley and his daughters are worthy members of the Disciples church. Mr. Hindsley is a social gentleman and a Democrat of the old school. His father, John Hindsley, was a native of Maryland, born January 17, 1767. He united in matrimony with Miss Hannah Stotie March 8, 1807; she was born March 8, 1788, in North Carolina. In the year 1823, Mr. John Hindsley and family settled in Granger county, Tennessee; thence in Darke county, Ohio. He deceased August 16, 1847, ^^'^ his estimable wife September 6, 1866.

Squire Hinkle was born July 10, 1853, in Jackson township, Randolph county. He was educated in the common schools of this county; he is the owner of a fine farm and a pleasant home; he is a great lover of music, and is naturally a musician. He was married April 11, 1875, to Henrietta Simmons, also a native of Randolph county, born December 25, 1853. They have three children.

Green township is in the northwestern corner of the county, being the westernmost of the northern tier of townships - Jackson, Ward, Franklin and Green. It lies, like the others mentioned, in the valley of the Mississinewa river and on both sides of that stream, the larger half of the township being on the south side.

Two principal creeks flow northward, Elkhorn and Mud creeks, and one south.westward, Dinner creek from Jay county. The township is narrower than the other three northern townships by a mile and a half, that width being taken to form a part of Monroe, located directly south of Green and north of Stoney creek. The region, though lying away from the prior settlements established in the county and neglected almost till the last, has proved to be good and fertile and the citizens of that part of the county are proud of their loeation,- thinking it in natural advantages not a whit behind the other townships of old Randolph. (64)

The surface of the region is for the most part moderately rolling, though some portions are tolerably level. The country was originally burdened with a heavy growth of timber, a large amount of which still remains. The settlement of Green township, as already stated, wais not till long after the first occupation of the region. One might have supposed that, since the upper portions of the valley were taken up between 1816 and 1820, that pioneers would have passed down the river and planted their stakes along its lower course. No so. The first entry*in the bounds of Green township was made August 18, 1832, sixteen years kfter the first entry in the upper valley, and by the close of 1835 only fifteen quarter sections had been purchased of the United States, or about one-eighth of the whole. Biat, during the years 1836, 1837 ^"d 1838, the rush for entries was great and by the close of the latter year all the land in the county except the school sections and scattering pieces here and thefe that had escaped the notice of the general public, had passed into the hands of private owners, though not very much was yet occupied by bona fide settlers.

By examination it appears that every one of the forty-two entries prior to 1836, except one, was upon Mississinewa river or near that stream or upon Elkhorn. Nearly the whole of the river across the entire township had been entered and most of Elkhorn for two miles up that stream. The solitary outside entry had been made in section 20, 21, 12, near Delaware line, some three miles south of the river.

A large part of these entries had been made in advance of settlement in Monroe township. Only eight entries of four hundred and forty acres had been made as stated in the history of Monroe township up to June, 1835, while forty-four entries to two thousand five hundred and sixty acres had been effected in Green township. It is true, indeed, that the whole northern tier of townships and Wayne as well had remained mostly unoccupied up- to 1834, or thirty years after the first emigration to the county. But the time had then come for the rush of entry and emigration and in three years from 1835 nearly every acre of available land had been purchased. How much had been settled up to the close of 1838 we are not able to state.

Settlement

The first actual settlers in Green township are supposed to have been Alexander Garringer and Martin Boots, opposite Fairview. They entered their land in August and October, ,1832, and were living there in Margh, 1833, and probably in 1832.. When the Greens and Browns came from Tennessee in March, 1833, Garringer and Boots were the only families in the township. In the spring of 1833 a company from Tennessee settled not far from Steubenville on both sides of the river, which colony made a brave beginning for that township of at least nine and perhaps more families in one group.

Philip Berger, who came in 1838, said: "In 1880, the country was all woods. A few settlers were scattered here and there but they had only cabins with small clearings like deep. caves sunk far below the tops of the thick, almost unbroken forest. These little clearings' made hardly a perceptible break in the vast, untrodden wilderness." When he came he says the residents were as follows : Alexander Garringer and Martin Boots, across the river from Fairview ; Mr. Porter on the present site of Fairview ; Naselrod had been on Thomas Hubbard's place; Alexander Stevens had settled in the east part about 1830, perhaps the first in the township; John Bone lived below Fairview. Anthony Wayne McKinney came in 1837 and his son, John B. McKinney, lives now opposite Fairview in a splendid and costly mansion, being the owner of fourteen or fifteen hundred acres of land and of great herds of cattle and stock; Nathan Godwin came in 1837 and his son, Thomas Godwin, resides in Fairview; John Garringer came in 1836 and resided where Baldwin now lives ; Martin Smith bought out Garringer in the fall of 1836.