Wayne County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 12 of those read), 1884

Graphical

ORGANIZATION AND AREA. - - BounpARy. - Its WEALTH AND Popuration. - WueEn AnD BY Wuom Serriep. - Irg CAPITAL Town, JACKSONBURG. - TuE OLDEST VILLAGE IN THE COUNTY BUT One. - Irs HISTORY IN GeneERAL.--Itrs MERCANTILE ÅFFAIRS. - - CHURCHES AND Lopers. - - Postmasters. - Bro- GRAPHICAL.

Organization And Area

This township is bounded on the north by Jefferson and Clay Townships, on the east by Clay and Centre, south by Centre and Jackson, and West by Jackson and Jefferson. It is of irregular form, like half the townships in this county, dividing on section and quarter section lines, being five miles east and west in its widest part, and four and one-half miles north and south in its extremest length. It has on the assessment roll 10,650.27 acres of land. The land is of a fair quality and the township has a solid foundation, financially speaking. Its farmers are in good circumstances, intelligent and prudent. The eastern part of the township is watered by Green's Fork and its branches, and on the west by Martindale's Creek. It is an agricultural and stock township, having but one postoffice and small village called Jacksonburg. The assessed value of its real estate in 1882 was $398,115;. assessed value of personal property, $136,295; total value, $534,410. The population of the township steadily decreased for thirty years, and in the last decade only gained eight. The population in 1850 was 766; in 1860, 644; in 1870, 580; in 1880, 588. The town or village of Jacksonburg had a population of 109 in 1870, and in 1880, 112. This gave the township a gain of five and the village a gain of three in ten years,

It was not until 1843 that the township was organized, and it is the third smallest in size, the two smaller being Webster and Dalton in the order named. It was first settled in the year 1811. The following from " Young's History," relates to the early settlement of the township: z

"Samuel Boyd, from Tennessee, settled,in the spring of 1811, about two and a half miles northwest of the present town of .Jacksonburg. He was probably the first settler in the township. His land was that at present owned by Jacob Metzker's heirs. In October following, John Beard, from North Carolina, after a year's sojourn in Tennessee, and a residence of five years south of Hunt's Settlement, within the bounds of the present county of Union, settled near the southwest corner of this township. He cut his road a great part of the way through the wilderness, without assistance, having his family and goods with him, and driving his team, and his cow and calf. His farm, on which he resided the remainder of his life, is now owned by his son, Isaac N. Beard, who lives about a mile nortkeast from the old homestead.

"During the winter and spring of 1812, Jesse Beard, Thos. Ray, William Irving, John McKee, Robert Leavell, Joseph Worl and others also settled in the township. On the breaking out of the Indian war in the spring of 1812, a number left, and some of them have never returned. Those who remained built a fort, with a block-house in one corner, in which they gathered at night, and in the day returned to their homes. Most of the women and children were taken to the east pari of the county, or to the border of Ohio, and stayed until the war was over. The fort was on the ground of Henry Brown, now owned by Benjamin Clark, a mile west of Jacksonburg, and was built by Samuel Boyd and his sons, Samuel K., James, William and Robert Boyd, Henry Brown, William Irving and Thomas Ray. ;

"The following are the names of early settlers in this township. Those named as early settlers, however, were not in all cases the first settlers, some of them, perhaps, were the second or third owners: sides; Isaac Sellers, where John Kensinger lives; Peter Rol- Jer, on land owned in part by John Boyd; Peter Runyan, on land owned by Washington Worl's heirs; James Wilcox, on land owned by Jacob Allen; Samuel and William Boyd, on land owned by Joseph Lewis, of Green Township; James Ralston and John Shank, on land owned by Martin Worl; Joseph Charles, on land owned by Silas Spitler. Sampson Nation, a native of South Carolina, settled near Jacksonburg, 1815, where Samuel Carr resides. He moved to Dudley, Henry County, in 1825. Ephraim Clark, a native of Pennsylvania, came from Kentucky in 1814, and settled on land first owned by Henry Brown, on which his son, Benjamin Clark, resides.

" James Dougherty settled a mile south Jacksonburg, and worked at farming and tailoring. Zadok Dougherty made spinning-wheels in town, and afterward settled half a mile west. George N. Holman, from England, settled near James Dougherty; had a small farm, and was a shoemaker. John McKee, from Kentucky, settled one and one-half miles southwest of town, where he died; land now owned by heirs of Ebenezer Eliason. John Scott, from Kentucky, in 1811, one and one-half miles north from town, where he died. His sons, Harrison and John, reside in the township - Jolhn on the homestead, Harrison on a farm adjoining.

"Thomas J. Warman settled first south of town, afterward permanently two miles southwest from town, where he resided until his death. He was a member of the first Board of County Commissioners, elected under the Constitution of 1816, and was associated with James Odell and Thomas Beard. In 1815 Josiah Bundy settled on Warman's first place, sold it afterward to Abner M. Bradbury, and removed to Henry County, the farm now owned by Philip Binkley. Michael Swope, from Pennsylvanie, settled about a mile east frora town, on land lately owned by Andrew Eliason.

« William Irvin settled one-half mile west from town,where John Mundel lives; Andrew Cunningham, ou land now owned by the heirs of Nicholas Hipe; David Bowers, where George Lichty lives, in the suuthwest part of the township; George Bundy, on Jand owned by Charles Boughner; Isaac Morris, on land lately owned by A. Boyd.

« Joseph Shanks, on the land now owned by his son-in-law, Enos Beard; Richard L. Leeson, from Virginia, in 1816, on the land now owned by his heirs, on Green's Fork. He served in the war of 1812. School section (16), now owned by R. L. Leeson's heirs, H. Hoover, Peter Kepler and Henderson Hosier. P. Kepler owns lands in sections 10 and 15. Lewis Hosier settled early south of school section, on the quarter owned by A. M. Hosier, J. Boyd, and A. Bond; Thomas Reynolds, from New Jersey, in the southeast corner of the township; Isaac Kinley, father of Major Isaac Kinley, of Richmond, on the land now owned by M. Jarbow.

"John Holliday settled about two miles northeast from town, the land now owned by his heirs; Samuel Holliday, where Rankin Baldridge resides, adjoining Jefferson and Clay townships. Nathaniel Leonard settled on the land since owned by J. Alonzo Scott, near the north line of the township. David Beeson, from North Carolina to Wayne County in 1825, settled in 1830 on the place now owned by his son ' Jabez, in the southeast corner of the township. He died in 1855, aged sixty-one. Solomon Kitterman, from Virginia. Jesse Hosier was born on Green's Fork, in this township, and died in 1866, aged fifty-one.

« On and near Green's Fork, Jacob Hoover settled where Beeson lives, and near the land owned by H. Hoover. James and John Boyd settled on the land owned by Henry Hoover.

" The first grist-mill is said to have been built as early as 1812, by one Doane. The frame consisted of two syeamore trees felled across the stream. The bed stone was laid on these logs; and a shaft from a tub wheel passed up between the logs and turned the upper stone. Four forks set into the ground supported the roof of split elapboards, which covered the millstones and hopper. Like many of the earlier mills, it ground only corn. Aaron Miller, about 1818, built on Martindale's Creek a saw-mill, said to have been the first in the township. Several years after James Wilcox and Francis Brown built a saw-mill a mile and a half north of Jacksonburg; and another was built by Jehu Jones, about the year 1825, a mile and a half northwest from town, in the place of a grist-mill burned some years before. Another saw mill was built two miles southwest from Jacksonburg, by Jonathan Morris. On Green's Fork, a mile cast from town, a grist-mill was built about the year 1838, by Wm. McLucas. The first school in the township was taught by Jonathan Kidwell in the winter of 1814-15, in a log school-house on section 13. A whole log, says Isaac N. Beard, was cut out for a window, and the aperture closed by his father, John Beard, who pasted over it numbers of the Cincinnati Gazette."

"Another was taught the next winter on Martindale's Creek, on section 32. This latter was patronized by the first settlers of Perry Township, which was formed the following year. The first blacksmith shop was owned by Joseph Rippey, and was on the same section and not far from the old log schoolhouse.

Richard L. Leeson, a native of Pennsylvania, came from Eaton, Ohio, settled a mile east of town, and established a tannery, and sold to his brother, Abner M., who continued it for many years.

The village of Jacksonburg was platted by Robert Leavell, on the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 8,in the year 1814. In the following spring a survey was made by Henry Bryan, which is of record and was dated March 23, 1815. It is, with the exception of Centreville, the oldest town, or village, in the county. When Jackson Township was formed, Feb. 10, 1817, the voting precinct was at Jacksonburg until 1836. In 1848, when Harrison was formed, it again became the votivg precinct of the township, which it still retains. The first election, however, in Harrison Township after it was organized was held at the house of John Williams. In early days it was a central point for military parades, and of all the amusement of the day. Horse-racing, shooting at a mark, jumping, wrestling and sometimes fighting were characteristic of the place. It attained its greatest population in the decade between 1830 and 1840, but the advent of Cambridge City put a stop to its growth. It had a population at one time of probably 250 if not 300, but in 1850 had dropped to less than 200, and in

Abraham Elliott settled in the town soon after it was laid - out, and kept the first tavern in a log house. A tannery was built by Josiah Bradbury; a hat shop was established by John Zatt, a pottery by Zachariah Gapen, a blacksmith shop, a shop for making spinning-wheels, by Zadok Dongherty. Jonathau Kidwell, also, who soon settled in town, was a wheelwright, and for a time a preacher in the Christian church, and later a Universalist preacher as well as a teacher.

The first physician in Jacksonburg was Loring A. Waldo, in 1817, who about fifteen years afterward moved to Delaware County. The next was L. P. Pumphrey, who after a few years removed to Henry County. Among his successors were Dr. Leggett, Dr. Taylor; in 1849 Dr. Samuel S. Boyd, later of Dublin, and John R. Mauk.

Ezekiel Leavell is supposed to have been the first merchant in Jacksonburg, probably soon after the town was laid out. Rifner & Hurst were there in 1841, and in 1843-45, Strattan & Wright.

Christian Church

The first church in Jacksonburg and also in the township, was the Christian or Disciples, and was organized by Revs. James McVey and Daniel Wrider. Among the first members were David Purviance, John Scott, Joseph Shank, William Boyd, R. L. Leeson, Mary Graham, Samuel and Isabella Boyd, Sarah, William, John and Abraham Crum, William Reynolds, Jesse Frazier, Henry Logan, Jonathan Kidwell, John Beard, Robert Leavell, Elijah Martindale and others.

The church building was a frame one and lasted for many years, and would have stood longer, but was destroyed by fire about 1840, by an incendiary. It was replaced in 1841 by a brick house, which was remodeled in 1870; and a dedicatory sermon was pteached by Elder David Franklin.

It is now the only church in the township, and but one other ever has been formed. It is one of the oldest in the county, and is still strong. The Rev. Joseph Franklin is the present pastor.

The Friends also formed a society about the year 1815 or 1816, at West Union, one and a half miles south of Jacksonburg. Patrick Beard, Benjamin Morgan, William Saint, John Lacy, Lewis Hosier, Josiah Bundy, Jehoshaphat Morris and Jonathan Morris were early members. Meetings were held in a log house.

I. O. 0. F. Lodge, No. 552

This lodge was organized Aug. 22, in the year 1877. The charter members were: James P. Dougherty, M. L. Bowmaster, J. S. Wolfgang, B. T. Reynolds, W. J. Howe and E. H. Thurston. The first officers were: B. T. Reynolds, Noble Grand; J. P. Dougherty, Vice Grand; J. S. Wolfgang, Secretary; E. H. Thurston, Treasurer; M. L. Bowmaster, Warden; John S. Dougherty, Inside Guard; Samuel Morris, R.S. N. G.; William H. Dougherty, L. S. N. G. present number of members are twenty-nine. Present officers are: H. J. Bolinger, N. G.; C. C. Coffman, V. G.; L. A. Kirk, Secretary; M. L. Bowmaster, P. Secretary; John J. Miller, Treasurer; G. W. Hendershot, Warden; H. Fifer, Cond.; D. Gormen, S. G.; C. H. Spots, R. 8S. N. G.; E. Lindernen, L. S. N. G.; L. Ammeren, R. S. N. G.; John H. Leeson, D. D. G. M.

Business Interest

The business interest of Jacksonburg is not extensive. It has two general stores, C. Leeson being proprietor of one and G. W. Fagan the other. Two blacksmith shops are kept by Mr. J. Dillman and Mr. L. A. Kirk. Two wagon shops are owned by Rhu Clark and J. J. One shoe shop, ©. A. Merrick, proprietor, and one carpenter shop, Mr. John Maudlin. The postoffice was established in August, 1820, Abner M. Bradbury being the first Postmaster. Then came Calvin B. McCrae, Jan. 10, 1833; Jno. Berry, June 22, 1833; Wm. A. Refner, April 4, 1835; Thad. Wright, Dec. 29, 1843; Moses D. Leeson, Feb. 20, 1846; Neal Hart, March 24, 1848; Jno. Berry, May 2, 1849; Jas. M. Flood, March 27, 1867; Amandus J. Boyer, April 7, 1868; Enos Beard, April 26, 1869; Lewis T. Bond, April 22, 1870; W. H. Dougherty,