Kempton, Indiana

In 1839 Archibald Montgomery, a Kentuckian, in company with a party of hunters, passed through the northern part of the township and camped near the present site of Normanda. Being pleased with the country, Mont¬ gomery marked out a claim, with the intention of entering land as soon as it came into the market. In the meantime, he constructed a cabin on his claim, to which his family were moved in 1841, meeting no hostile sentiment on the part of the Indians then in the vicinity. David Kemp came to the township in 1840 and located a claim in the western part, near the village of Kempton, where he built a cabin and moved his family one year later. An¬ drew Evans, a Virginian, made a claim in section 34, the reserve, near Nor- manda. Evans came to Indiana from Kentucky in 1841. He served the town¬ ship as justice of the peace several years. Other settlers who located in the northern part of the township were Edward Jackson, who entered land a short distance south of Normanda in 1841 ; Daniel Stephens, who settled about one and a half miles east of the same place; William Richardson, who took out a claim east of Normanda; Elijah Stanridge, east of Normanda one mile; and James Foster, near Goldsmith.

Passage source: History of Tipton County Indiana, published 1914.

The Normanda steam flouring mill was erected in 1854, and bought shortly afterward by Richardson and Vandevender. It was a two-story frame building, contained two runs of buhrs, with saw mill attached, and ground grain besides manufacturing lumber. Different parties operated this mill for several years, until finally it was moved to Goldsmith. At the village of Tetersburg, Mr. Phares built and operated a saw mill. A large steam saw mill was built in the southern part of the township in an early day. In 1874 F. M. Mozingo erected a large steam saw mill in Kempton, and it was later run as a heading factory. The Goldsmith mill was brought to the vil¬ lage in 1878 from Normanda by Ebal Teter.

Passage source: History of Tipton County Indiana, published 1914.

The building of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad is responsible for the birth of the town of Kempton. This enterprise was completed in 1875, and in that year Kempton started. It is situated in sections 6 and 7, near the western boundary of the township, on land originally belonging to David Kemp, the proprietor, and for whom the town was named. Henry Hays built the first house in the village, south of the railroad, and occupied it as a dwelling and a grocery. Fostrom & Gillenstein started the second store. Noah Mathews built the first blacksmith shop. A planing mill was constructed in the eastern part of the village in 1875 by James Lane, who operated it two years, when it was purchased by Van Briggle & Son. A postoffice was established in 1875 and Anthony Holmes appointed post¬ master.

Passage source: History of Tipton County Indiana, published 1914.

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 Jefferson Township - it names this place 1 more 1 time.