Centerton, Indiana

IN the month of December, 1819, Benjamin Barnes, a resident of Connersville, Ind., packed what little household goods he owned in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, and with his wife and family of two sons and four daughters started westward for the "White River Country." This country, or that portion of it known as the New Purchase, had been secured by treaty from the Indians only a little more than a ySar before, and was already attracting the attention of settlers seeking homes. Mr. Barnes and family were accompanied by John Butterfield, Sr., and Hiatt Butterfield (who was not a relative of John Butterfield's), both of whom came out with him to look at the country with a view to future settlement. Not a hog, sheep, horse or a head of cattle except the yoke of oxen, was brought out. Mr. Barnes was poor, and had not even enough money to enter a tract of land had the same been in market, which was not yet the case. The family crossed White River, either at the bluifs, or, which is more likely, at the Stotts settlement, a few miles farther down the river, and soon arrived at a point about two miles southeast of Centerton, where Mr. Barnes decided to make a permanent location. The weather was cold, and a temporary camp was prepared for the comfort of the family, and the men immediately afterward began to cut logs for a cabin. The rude building was completed in two or three days, and the family were soon ensconced therein, and made as comfortable as possible. The floor was the bare earth, the roof was bark and clap-boards h,astily cut out, and the door was of the same material. The most important feature in the room was a big fire-place, filled with blazing logs which imparted heat, cheerfulness and comfort to the small room. A floor of puncheons was afterward added as soon as possible. Mr. Barnes and all the members of his family, as soon as their home was made comfortable, went to work to clear and deaden a tract of land for a crop for the coming season. By April, 1820, they had thirty acres deadened, and partly cleared, the greater portion of which was planted with corn and vegetables, the former having been brought out the December before, and the latter about seeding time. Here the Barnes family lived for several years. Their first land was bought on the 5th of September, 1820, the second day of the sale.

Passage source: Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical, published 1884.

As soon as the Barnes cabin had been built, John Butterfield went back to Connorsville where his family resided. In the following September, he went to Terre Haute, and bought 160 acres of land on Section 1, Township 12 north. Range 1 east, lying about a mile and a half southeast of Centerton, and early the following spring (1821) came out with his sons Velorns and John H., and three hired men, named respectively Adams, Sanford and Bliven, and in a few weeks cleared about six acres, and erected a cabin. A crop of corn was cultivated during the summer by one of the boys, who boarded with the Barnes family. In the fall of 1821, the Butterfield family, consisting of the father, mother, five sons and one daughter, took up their permanent residence in this new

Passage source: Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical, published 1884.

Some time after the establishment of the Stotts settlement in Green Township in 1819, the date not being known, but certainly prior to the 1st of March, 1820, Maj. James Stotts and his son Robert C. built a cabin, and permanently located on atract of land about three miles southeast of Centerton. It is likely that this occurred during the fall of 1819, or the winter of 1819-20. About the same time the family of John Hodge located in the same neighborhood. On Tuesday the 3d of April, 1820, George Matthews and his three sons, John, Alfred and Calvin, accompanied by a man named William Dorman, came in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen to the cabin oi Maj. Stotts. There the rude wagon road that had been cut out ended, and the men were obliged to cut their way onward. After several hours they reached the present site of Centerton, where Mr. Matthews concluded to locate permanently. A log cabin was built and the work of clearing and deadening was begun. John Matthews says that there were but three families in Clay Township when he arrived as above stated, and they lived on the east side of White Lick Creek. They were those of Benjamin Barnes, Maj. James Stotts and John Hodge. Several other families arrived later in 1820, among them being those of Jacob Case, John Clark, Isaiah Drury, Elijah Lang. Within the next three or four years there came John Stipp, George A. Phelps, Alexander Cox, Jonathan Lyon, Ezekiel Slaughter, James Lang, David Matlock, Benjamin and Enoch McCarty, Francis Brock, Martin McDaniel, William Jones, John McMahon, William Matlock, Hiram Matthews,: John A. Stipp, Abraham Stipp, Da.vid Spencer, Lewis Deaton, William Powell, G. W. Bryant, John, David, Samuel and William Scott, Michael Stipp, Edward Brady, John McDaniel, Moses Slaughter,' Dr. Eli Runnels and many others. Still later came William Morgan, Eli Rinker, David Collins, Jesse and Eli Overton, Abraham Griggs, James Noble, J. B. Maxwell, Dabney Gooch, John Robb, John Albertson, Adam Spoon, Jesse, William and Jeremiah Poe, Jesse Gooch, William Moss, Levi Collins, William Collins and others. The sons of John Butterfield were Velorus, John H. and Merannoe. Those of Alexander Cox were John, Paul and William. Those of George Matthews were John, Alfred, Calvin, James and George. Those of Jonathan Lyon were Harrison and Jonathan, Jr.

Passage source: Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical, published 1884.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Clay Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.