Trafalgar, Indiana

On the 10th of March, 1799, Richardson Hensley was born near Fredericksburg, in Virginia. While he was yet a child, his father moved to Fayette County, Ky., after which he moved to Mercer County, where, in 1800, Richardson was married to Miss Elizabeth Cully. In the war of 1812, he served as a First Lieutenant on the frontier; and in March, 1825, he brought his family to Johnson County, hunting for a home, after having spent a year in Jackson County, this State. Accompanying him was William Davenport, a North Carolinian, and William Mitchell, a Virginian, his sons-in-law, and their families. Five or six families were living in around Edinburg, and at the Nineveh settlement the road ended. Stopping at some point at the time not now known, but probably on the Nineveh, Hensley and his companions made a tour through the woods, and selected the central part of Congressional Township 11, Range 3, on the banks of Indian Creek, as the place for their homes. Among the woodsmen of that day Curtis Pritchard stood at the head, and, employing him to select the best route through the wilderness from Nineveh to Indian Creek for a road, he went ahead, with horn in hand, and at intervals would wind a blast as a signal to the axmen to cut through the woods to his vantage-ground. Selecting a quarter section, cornering with the center of the Congressional township, Hensley put up a cabin, and then, on the 17th of February, he entered the first tract of land in the township that was occupied by a pioneer.

Passage source: A Historical Sketch of Johnson County, Indiana, published 1881.

In 1823, three hundred and twenty acres had been taken up in the northeast corner of the township, and at the same time two hundred and forty acres just across the township line, now in Union, by David Scott. But Scott never came to his purchases ; and many were the conjectures accounting for it indulged in by those who knew of the " Scott lands." The most popular of these was, that he had been murdered before reaching home, after his entry had been made ; and it was seventeen years after the purchase before it was learned that Scott was a trader, living at Cheat Neck, near Morgantown, in Virginia, and that he had invested the proceeds of a trading voyage to New Orleans in Congress lands in Johnson, Bartholomew, Shelby and other counties in Indiana, and then had returned to his home and re- ported to his creditors the loss of his cargo in the Mississippi, and made with them a composition of his debts. But his fraud availed him nothing, for shortly after he came to his death by being thrown from his horse, and his secret died with him. Not even had he divulged it to his wife and daughter. William Y. Johns, a young man living in Scott's neighborhood, being lured to Johnson County about 1837, by the memory of an old sweetheart, and remaining here, was elected to the office of County Treasurer, in 1844, and the " Scott lands" coming under his notice, he made the discovery that they had been entered by his old neighbor from Cheat Neck. William Y. Johns' brother was then married to Scott's only daughter ; and the widow, who was still living, and the daughter, came to Indiana. And although the " Scott lands " had long been sold at tax sales, they were partially redeemed.

Passage source: A Historical Sketch of Johnson County, Indiana, published 1881.

Warren Coleman. - The paternal ancestors of the subject of this sketch came originally from Germany, and settled in America in the time of the colonies. Jacob Coleman, grandfather of Warren, fought for the cause of liberty during the War of the Revolution, and his son, Jacob, Jr., served with distinction in the War of 1812. The family early emigrated to Ohio, in which state the subject's father was married in 1809, to Miss Elizabeth Thomas, an aunt of the late General George H. Thomas, who bore such a distinguished part in the late War of the Rebellion. Jacob Thomas farmed for a number of years near the city of Cleveland, and, in 1839, came to Johnson County, Ind., where he lived until his death in 1873. Flis wife survived him many years, dying March 25, 1883, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. They raised to manhood and womanhood a family of eight children, of whom three are now living: Mrs. Sarah Loyd, Mrs. Amanda Hammond and the subject of this biography. Warren Coleman was born near the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the 12th of July, 1816, and until his twentyfourth year, resided in his native state. He accompanied his parents to Johnson County, in 1839, anc^ until his marriage, which was solemnized on the 16th day of March, 1847, with Miss Lucy Gillaspy, he remained on the home place looking after his parents' interest. Shortly after marriage, Mr. Coleman settled in the northwest part of Nineveh Township, and from time to time purchased land until he now owns a farm of 123 acres, the greater part of which is under a high state of cultivation. He has been a very industrious man, and, as a democrat, served three years as commissioner of Johnson County, besides having held minor official positions. His wife was a daughter of Joseph Gillaspy, one of the early residents of the township. She died August 21, 1879. ^rand Mrs. Coleman raised a family of seven children, whose names are as follows: Francis M., William D., George W., Susan, Lucy J., Amos* and Jacob.

Passage source: History of Johnson County, Indiana : from the Earliest Time to the Present, with Biographical Sketches, Notes, Etc. Together with a Short History of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana, published 1888.

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