Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 10: The Count Y Bounded and Subdivided, 1908

Owing to some inaccuracies of statement in a former history concerning the formation of Vigo county's boundaries, it seems proper to outHne clearly the county Hmits as fixed by the legislature.

Vigo was included in the territory originally Knox county. The first plat of Terre Haute was recorded at the court house in Vincennes. Then, on January 15, 181 7, Sullivan county came into existence. Its southern boundary was the same latitude as the present southern boundary of that county, but it extended from the Wabash river on the west to the West Fork of the White river on the east. From this southern line Sullivan county embraced country extending north to the Indian boundary, including, of course. Vigo county, as well as a large part of the present counties of Vermilion, Parke and Clay.

The "Indian boundarv," as has been elsewhere defined, was the northern boundary of the lands purchased by Harrison from the Indians in 1809. It is also called the "ten o'clock line," from its diagonal course, following the general direction of the shadows at that hour. On the west it extended across the state line, west of Hillsdale in what is now Vermilion county, thence through the mouth of Raccoon creek, and on in a southeasterly direction to White river in Jackson county.

From the Sullivan county thus defined, Vigo county was formed in 1 8 1.8. The area of the original county was inuch larger than at present. Its southern line, however, was three miles to the north of the present boundary. From the Wabash river in what is now Prairie creek township, on the line betw^een sections 14 and 23, the boundary ran east to where it intersected the range line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, township 10 north. The said range line w.as taken as the eastern boundary of the county. This line runs through the present city of Brazil, hence it is seen that the first A'igo county included a large part of what is now

The first change of limits took place the following year (January lo, 1819), when the south line of the county was moved south three miles, so that instead of bisecting township 10, it ran between townships 9 and 10, as it does now.

January 9, 1821, with the formation of Parke county, a new north boundary was given to Vigo, running from the state line on the west, between townships 13 and 14 north, east to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7.

The south, west and north boundaries, by these changes, were defined as they exist today. But the jurisdiction of Vigo courts still extended half way over what is now Clay county. The boundaries were not reduced materially until 1825.

For several years Putnam county touched Vigo on the -east. Perhaps few counties in the state had more sides than the original Putnam. As formed 'by an act approved December 31, 1821, its limits were defined as being in the center of range 7 west on the line dividing townships 10 and 12 (3 miles east of the present southeast corner of Vigo), thence east 15 miles to line dividing ranges 4 and 5 west, thence north 12 miles to line between townships 12 and 13 north, thence east 3 miles, thence north 12 miles to line between townships 14 and 15, thence west 15 miles to line between ranges 6 and 7 west, thence south 6 miles, thence west three miles, thence south 18 miles to place of beginning.

Evidently there was dissatisfaction with these boundaries, and the next session of legislature undertook to amend the preceding act as to boundaries. The amendment, approved December 21, 1822, reformed Putnam county as follows :

Beginning at the center of township 12 north on line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west (this point of beginning is just six miles west of the present southwest corner of Putnam county), thence east 24 miles to line dividing ranges 2 and 3 west, thence north 27 miles to line dividing townships 16 and 17, thence west 24 miles to line dividing ranges 6 and 7, thence south 27 miles to place of beginning. "All that part of the county of Vigo which was attached to the county of Putnam, by the act to which this is an amendment, and not included in the present boundaries of Putnam," was again attached to A'igo.

Once more the east line of Vigo ran through the present site of Brazil, and the county commissioners had jurisdiction over an area greater by nearly four congressional townships than at present.

county's limits began at the southwest corner of township 9,, range 7, thence' east 10 miles, thence north 12 miles, thence east 6 miles, thence north 9 miles, thence west 4 miles, thence north 9 miles, thence west 10 miles, thence south 6 miles, thence west 2 miles, thence south 24 miles to place of beginning.

In the revised statutes for 183 1, the boundaries of Mgo county are given as they would still be described, namely : Beginning at a point on the Wabash river where the line dividing townships 9 and 10 north strikes the same, thence east to the line dividing ranges 7 and 8 west, thence north with said line to the line dividing townships 12 and 13 north, thence east 2 miles, thence north 6 miles to the line dividing townships 13 and 14 north, thence west to the state line, thence south to the Wabash river, and thence down said river to the place of beginning.

At the March meeting (1818) of the board of commissioners the boundaries of townships were designated, and the county divided into seven road districts, with supervisor for each. ' Constables were also appointed, one for each township, John Britton being appointed for Harrison township. All of Vigo lying west of the Wabash river was designated "Independence" township. Another township name as given at that time was "Wabash," applied to the township north of Otter and south of the Indian boundary, a region now in Parke county.

Until Parke county was formed in 1 82 1, the commissioners of Vigo had to legislate for the country north to the Indian boundary. Thus from the inhabitants of this north portion came a petition that Wabash township ( which was on the east side of the Wabash and extended from the Indian boundary south to Otter Creek township), should be divided and the north portion called Raccoon township. An order of the board at the Alay term, 1819, directed that such a township should be formed, and the place of election to be at the house of Samuel Adams.

That portion of Sullivan county which at the session of 1819 was attached to \'igo county was organized as Prairie Creek township by the board of commissioners in May, 1819. The house of Joseph Liston was designated as the first election place.

The county board ordered in February, 1821, that all of the county lying north of Otter creek should be constituted Otter Creek township. In August. 1821, all of township 13 below Otter creek was attached to this township.

In the commissioners' records for May, 1822, is found the report of the establishment of Nevins township. The east side of Otter Creek township was constituted as a separate township, and the place of the first election was designated as the house of Jeremiah Nevins, after whom the new township was named. James Curry was appointed constable.

At the meeting of the commissioners in 1822 all that part of the county designated as the congressional township 1 1 north, range 9 west, was constituted and named Riley township, the first election to be held at the house of John Jackson.

In our local government we are still Virginians. The first civilized authority exercised in this region was that of France ; afterwards the power of Great Britain prevailed ; the dominion of Spain flashed up for a moment and was gone. During the Revolution, chiefly for the purpose of protecting her Kentucky frontiers, Virginia sent an expedition across the Ohio river under George Rogers Clark, and wrested the country from England. The old commonwealth then formed the territory northwest of the Ohio into one of her counties, named it the county of Illinois, and, so far as suitable to the new conditions, transferred her own form of local county government to this vast wilderness empire. The Virginians were the Romans of our early American history. They had a capacity for government on a large scale. The state was the center of the system, and the county was the unit of subordinate local government. The townships were merely convenient subdivisions created for the purpose of more easily administering the affairs of the county. Such a scheme is well adapted for the government of large territories, particularly when the same are sparsely populated. The authority passes from the state and the counties, and all the affairs of the citizen are administered through the county courts, county boards and other county officers, acting also, when convenient to do so, through subordinate township officers. That is our system of local government, and we received it orginally from the Old Dominion. After Virginia had ceded her great county of Illinois to the United States, the government established under the Ordinance of 1787, was somewhat modified from the former, or Virginia system, by a selection of many wise provisions from the laws of other states ; but the prevailing character of the machinery of government under the great ordinance remained \'irginian.

When the county came into existence, its government was in the hands of a board of commissioners. They had the responsibility of constructing the court house and other county buildings, the laying out of roads, and the subdivisions of the county into townships. In 1824, as the previous records show, the legislature created a new board, called the board of justices, made up of the justices of peace, one from each township. This was an introduction of the New England system of township representation (such as still exists in Michigan counties).

By an act approved January 19, 1831, the general assembly changed the law regulating the transaction of county business, substituting a board of commissioners for the board of justices and introducing many other important provisions. The act is undoubtedly one of the wisest ever passed by our legislature, and constitutes a most comprehensive and simple code of government for the counties of the state. The law then passed has/been modified in several particulars since its first enactment ; but the main principles and even much of the language remains unchanged. The act also illustrates the early history of county government in our state; and while many of its provisions have since been revised or amended, yet it merits consideration as an historical document of the highest interest.