Lawrenceville, Indiana

Lawrence and family, consisting of eight sons and two daughters, emigrated in the spring of 1818. from the state of Pennsylvania, and settled in the neighborhood of the present site of the village of Lawrenceville. All of the sons and daughters, save two, were persons of families. They came by boat down the Ohio, and from Lawrenceburg up the meanderings of Tanners creek to the place of settlement in wagons. They brought with them $1,500 in gold and among them was purchased from the government ten quarter sections of land. The home place, as it was called, was the northwest quarter of sec¬ tion 17, the home of Isaac Lawrence. This large body of land was all situated within two miles of the home place. From this beginning the families of Lawrence became very numerous and at one time numbered over three hun¬ dred persons. Although at this writing there are but two families of the name in the township."

Passage source: History of Dearborn County Indiana, published 1915.

The towns of Lawrenceville and Morgantown were laid out as rivals. They are, in fact, one and the same place, a road separating the towns. Mor¬ gantown was laid out by Jonathan Lawrence, in November, 1836. Robert Rowe was the engineer. The original plat contained thirty-six lots. It is claimed that the name of Morgantown was given after Daniel R. L. Moigan, a nephew of Gen. John Morgan, the raider. James and Philip Lawrence kept the first store in the town, and the store was run by Mr. Morgan, after whom the town received its name. The place is practically eliminated as a town at present and the whole neighborhood is now known as Lawrenceville. Law¬ renceville was laid out on October 25, 1836, by John K. Lawrence. It will be observed that he was eleven days ahead of the founders of Morgantown. Isaac Johnson, John Bird and Lewis Snyder were the early storekeepers in the place. The vijlage has a population of 100, while the town that was once a rival seems to have been wiped off the map.

Passage source: History of Dearborn County Indiana, published 1915.

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 Jackson Township.