Russiaville, Indiana

It is said that Joseph C. Taylor and family were the first white inhabitants of Honey Creek Township. They came here during the year 1839. Mr. Taylor had left his home near Peru in the fall of 1838, and came here to build his little log cabin, into which he moved in March, 1839. It is also claimed for Mr. Taylor that he, in company with George Taylor, Isaac Price and Robert Walker, were the first white men who inhabited Howard County. The first year of Mr. Taylor's stay in this township, was very lonesome, as his was the only family in the present limits of the township. The first to come to share in the hardships of the dreary pioneer life was a man by the name of McCrery, who settled on a tract of land just w'est of the present site of Russiaville, which tract is at present owned by Jonathan Hodson.

Passage source: Counties of Howard and Tipton, Indiana. Historical and Biographical.., published 1883.

The first important dwelling house was erected on the north bank of Squirrel Creek, a little stream that crosses the present site of the town of Russiaville, as has been before mentioned. Joseph C. Taylor arrived here in the year 1838. His cabin home was the first white habitation in the township, but it was not long until several log cabins dotted the banks of Honey Creek. The structures were of a very primitive character, having only one room, the floors consisting of hewed puncheons, the door of a very rude pattern, with wooden hinge and latch. If a window graced one side of the building, it was usually very small. The roofs were of clapboards held on by long poles. The first improvement in the lands commenced around the cabins. The sturdy pioneers began to clear the soil of the timber in order to prepare it for cultivation, a few acres at a time, until they cleared enough to raise their vegetables, wheat and corn. Shortly there began to appear small patches of cleared land, and these gradually increased in size and shape until large and beautiful fields, covered with their wealth of grain, greeted the toil-worn farmer as a recompense for his early labors. That the soil of Honey Creek Township is rich and fertile is clearly evinced by the great increase in the agricultural interests, and what was once a howling wilderness is now one of the best and most beautiful farming communities in the State. Farms that once raised a few bushels of corn and wheat, now produce equal to the best farms. Farms that were once worthless on account of the superabundance of water, held in nature's reservoirs without an outlet, now have beautiful buildings on them, and where the ponds existed, fertile fields yield their abundant harvests. Not much attention was paid to improvement in the way of drainage until the rapidly increasing value of the land induced the owners of wet lands to fit them for cultivation.

Passage source: Counties of Howard and Tipton, Indiana. Historical and Biographical.., published 1883.

The first saw mill was erected on West Honey Creek by John P. Wright, and was afterward owned and managed by Mose Spray. The lumber in those days was not much of an item in the way of price. Men look back now, and almost invariably exclaim, '- Why didn't we know the value of our timber ?" - men who have since sold enough timber from their lands to more than pay for it, and who burned up enough, if they had it now, to make them rich. They finally learned its value, and almost every section in the township has on it the marks of a saw mill, where millions of feet of lumber have been manufactured. The only saw mill now, outside of the town of Russiaville, is in the extreme east end of the township, and is owned and managed by Isaac Hollingsworth. He has in connection with it a first-class planing mill, and does a pretty extensive business in both branches of his establishment.

Passage source: Counties of Howard and Tipton, Indiana. Historical and Biographical.., published 1883.

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 Honey Creek Township - it names this place 41 more 41 times.