Fredericksburg, Indiana

The old Vincennes and Ohio Falls trail passed through Posey township, and it was along this trail the hrst white men located within the present borders of the county. Thomas Hopper settled a short distance north of Hardinsburg in 1803. He was probably the only white man living between the Ohio river and Vincennes. He had no neighbors but Indians and managed to keep on good terms with them. Thomas Poison was the first settler in the township, locating near where the old town of Fredericksburg was mapped out. He came in 1805, when he. Hopper and Spurgeon, up near the salt lick, east of Salem, were probably the only ones living within the present borders of the county. Poison's cabin was only a short distance from the trail, and he was kept from getting lonesome by occasional bands of Indians, soldiers and adventurers who passed over the trail, bound either for the Falls or Ft. Vincennes.

Passage source: Centennial History of Washington County, Indiana : Its People, Industies and Institutions : with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, published 1916.

Martin Royse and his sons, John. William and Martin, came early in the spring of 1806 and took up land where Fredericksburg now stands This was a very inviting spot, as the lands were fertile, there were lots of fine springs round about, and hunting and fishing were all that could be desired. Elijah Harriman and John Butler came into the neighborhood in 1808 and Benjamin King a year later. John Butler settled on blast Blue river, about four miles abo\'e Fredericksburg. The Catlins settled just below Butler, in November. 1808, and Benjamin King came into the neighborhood the following spring.

Passage source: Centennial History of Washington County, Indiana : Its People, Industies and Institutions : with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, published 1916.

Jacob Doan, a Revolutionary soldier, located on Honey creek in 1809, where a squatter had opened up a few acres of land the previous year and left it. He was the first permanent settler on that creek. Jacob and Abram Colglazier settled in iSio. and James McGrew in 1811. Isaac Loften came early in the spring of 1810, settling near the forks of the river. Aaron Rollins settled south of Hardinsburg in 1815; Jacob Horner came in 1816 and paid a man nanit-d Linthecum twenty-five dollars for his claim and started a ta\ein. Quite a number of travelers stopped with him, and when the pike was completed he moved up to it. Peter McMikel, Thomas Bentley and Evans Hinton were among the early settlers at Fredericksburg. Mc- Mikel "was a shoemaker and went from house to house plying his trade, as was the custom of the day. E. C. Hunter came in 1816 and settled a half mile below McPheeters' mill. Jacob Harris and William Cathcart settled a few miles down the river from the trail. Antony Denner was an early settler, and was so tall that they said of him that he could wade the Ohio without wetting his shot pouch.

Passage source: Centennial History of Washington County, Indiana : Its People, Industies and Institutions : with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, published 1916.

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 Posey Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.