Hamilton, Indiana

This once thriving little town was situated on the Michigan road, just north of where Little Eagle crosses the same. It kept this name for years, when it was changed to that of Hamilton, about the year 1838 or 1839. It was first named after Walter Clark, who came from Ohio. It was laid out on the land of Jacob Hoover, in or about the year 1833. The. following were its first citizens: Frederick Lowe, who built the first house and kept public house, Elias Bishop, John Lowe, George Lowe, the Duzans, Jacob Hoover. The first blacksmith was Critchfield. The first doctors were W. N. Duzan, George Selders, George W. Duzan. The first merchants were Jacob Hoover, John Duzan, Oel Thayer, Zachariah Owsley. Zachariah Turpin kept a grocery and something for the inner man occasionally. The first tanner was James Sheets. The first carding machine was built by Jacob Hoover and Moses Lyons as early as 1887, and has been kept up ever since; is now owned by Paul D. Liebhardt, with a saw mill attached. Andrew Hopkins, Clinton Osburn and Allen Brock were the saddlers and harness makers in an early day. The town has all gone down, there are only a few dilap- 'dated houses remaining that mark the site of the once flourishing town of Clarkstown.

Passage source: Early Life and Times in Boone County Indiana, published 1861.

At this time there were but three other members of the bar; Jacob Angle, Joseph E. Hocker and Stephen Neal. The latter, however, gave but little atiention to the law, being mostly engaged in farming. Angle and Hocker were substantial lawyers and valued citizens; both "went west"? many years ago. Subsequently, Lorenzo C. Dougherty located in Lebanon and soon after became my partner. He attained high standing in the profession and was honored by the citizens of the county, first as representative and afterwards as senator. He died in the height of his usefulness. A. J. Boone was a few years later admitied, and like Dougherty, attained high rank at the bar. It was my good fortune to know him intimately, and all who did will testify to his high standard of integrity. He, too, died in early manhood. Others also might be mentioned, O. S. Hamilton, T. J. Cason.

Passage source: Early Life and Times in Boone County Indiana, published 1861.

At that time there were a few families about three or four miles east of us on Williams Creek and McDuffey's run, in Hamilton County. There were also several families on Crooked Creek, in Marion County about five miles from us. There were quite a number of families in Marion County on Eagle Creek, below the Boone County line, who were our neighbors and traded at our store. The rest of our neighbors were in Boone County, on Eagle Creek above the Marion County line. I believe I can give the names of nearly all of them. Squire, Jacob Sheets, grown sons, Andrew and George, John Sheets, Patrick Sullivan, John Sargent, David Hoover, first clerk of circuit court, sons Jacob and Isaac, Elijah Cross, Austin Davenport, first sheriff, Jesse Davenport, one of the first county commissioners, Wesley Smith, first county treasurer, James G. Blair, John King, Rev. Benj. Harris, Captain Frederick Lowe, sons John and George, Wm. E. Lane, Jesse Lane, Samuel Lane, Elijah Standridge, Jacob Johns, John Robert Johns, Henry Johns, Johns, Renny Johns, Rev. George Dodson, Elijah Dickerson, Aaron Phipps, Ruel Dodson, Thomas Dodson, George Walker, Thomas Walker, Texes Jackson, Edward Jackson, and perhaps a few others whose names I have forgotten. The above were all, or nearly all living on Eagle Creek, above the Marion County liné, a distance of eight miles. There were two or three families living on Whitelick, near the edge of Hendricks County - I believe one by the name of Dollerhide and one Specklemuir. There was another small settlement at Jamestown and one at Thorntown, which made up the inhabitants of Boone County at that time. The next year the emigration to Boone County increased rapidly. Dozens of families had settled within three miles of us on the west side of Eagle Creek. I will give a few of their names: Abram Phillips, Lewis Dale, Noah Byrket, Jesse Harden, Joshua Foster, James and Robert White, Wm. Beelar, and many others. I remember well of Joshua Foster asking me to hew a set of house logs for him. I think it was the same year we came to Boone County that

Passage source: Early Life and Times in Boone County Indiana, published 1861.

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 Zionsville Town - it names this place 8 more 8 times.