Windfall, Indiana

Records prove that the first actual white settlers came in near the year 1845, and located near the north fork of Wildcat, in the northern part of the township. These were David Decker, Philemon Plummer, Robert Stephens, Ira Plummer and their respective families. Decker came from Madison county, adjoining, and erected a primitive pole cabin, around which a few rods of ground were cleared for a truck patch. However, the wet state of the country precluded a very bountiful living from the soil, so Decker was forced to depend upon his rifle for his main subsistence. Game was plentiful, and the meat used for the table and the skins used as a medium of exchange or for clothing. Decker lived on his original claim some five years, when he disposed of it and moved farther south, near the present site of Windfall. Here he became the possessor of a valuable tract of real estate, which he owned until 1871, when he sold all of his property and moved from the township. 1 le was a man of prominence in his community and was chosen a justice of the peace at the first election after the township organization.

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

Other early settlers who came a short time afterward were John Morris, James Hitt and a Mr. Forbes. Morris took out a claim on what was later known as the John Pumphrey land. He was simply a squatter, and did nothing in the way of improving except erecting a rude cabin and clearing a very few acres of land. His death, in the year 1846, was the first in the township. Hitt arrived in the spring of 1847. He settled two miles east of Windfall. He lived here for two years and then disposed of his land, only to enter another claim. Forbes located in the northern part of the township near Mud Creek, and proved a valuable acquisition to the community. His tastes, however, did not run in the direction of farm¬ ing, and thinking there were more easy ways of gaining a livelihood be¬ sides digging and grubbing, he procured a small stock of groceries and notions, which he kept at his house for the accommodation of the sparse settlement. In after years, he traveled about the country as a clock peddler, and when that occupation no longer returned a fair profit, he turned his attention to tinkering.

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

From 1845 until 1848 the development of the county progressed rather slowly, and in the latter year there were but forty acres of cultivat¬ ed land in the township. The settlements were confined principally to the northern and eastern parts, and it was not until the beginning of 1849 that any attempts were made to bring under cultivation the interior and southern portions of the township. In 1848 the settlers were: Avery Chase, who opened a claim in section 4, which he sold to James B. Fouch six years later; John Smith, who located on North Fork, where he lived five or six years, when he sold to Cyrus Holloway and emigrated to Missouri : Theophilus Calmut, who secured land a short distance west of Windfall: Elisha Pickering, who settled near the northeast corner of the township; Henry Yeakley, who secured land in the same locality; William Myers, who entered land in section 5, a short distance north of Windfall, and Thomas Legg, who made his first entry near Windfall. The last named was one of the promi¬ nent citizens of Wildcat, and a man of more than ordinary energy and in¬ telligence. He remained in the vicinity of Windfall a few years, when, be¬ coming dissatisfied with this part of the country, he moved further north and entered land, where a son had previously settled and died. Arthur, Benjamin and William, sons of Thomas Legg, came a few years later. They were men of rharacter and influence, and prominently connected with the progress of the township.

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 Wildcat Township - it names this place 12 more 12 times.