Foster Hall

Hiram Bacon, Sr., was born in Williamstown, Mass., on March 14, 1801. He was of English descent. He came to Indiana about 1819, and for about one year was a member of a government surveying party that surveyed land in this part of the State. He then returned to his home and married Mary A. Blair, and on the day of his marriage emigrated to Indiana with his wife, and settled in this township in 1821. He purchased two hundred and forty acres from William Bacon, who had entered it from the government. A portion of Malott Park ia upon the farm. Subsequently he bought one hundred and forty-five acres from Arthur Williams. He built his first cabin in the dense woods, and made the sash for its window with his pocket-knife. That was the first glass window in that part of the county. An Indian brush-fence surrounded his cabin, and within the inclosure was an Indian well. He operated not only the first, but the most extensive cheese dairy ever in Marion County. Beginning the business on his farm in 1830, he continued it for twenty years. He was a member of the first Presbyterian Church ever built in Indianapolis, and he hauled with his oxen the logs used in its construction. He joined the Presbyterian Church in early life, and was a consistent member of that denomination until his death. He took great interest in all church matters, and held various oflicial positions in it. His vocation that of a farmer. He was justice of the peace in this township for a period of twelve years. In politics he was a Whig, and then a Republican. He was one of the leading citizens of the township, and was noted for his strict integrity. His first wife died in November, 1863; he remarried, and in August, 1882, he died. Seven children survive him, viz. : Electa (widow of William P. Thornton), Helen (wife of Charles A. Howland), George, Hiram, Mary A. (wife of B. F. Tuttle), William, and Caroline (wife of George W. Sloan).

Passage source: History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, published 1884.

Hezekiah Smith, Sr., was born in Delaware, April 18, 1763. At the age of sixteen he entered the Revolutionary army, and was in nine battles. His eldest brother, Daniel, was killed in the Revolutionary war. His brother Simeon was also in the same war, and also in the war of 1812, and lived to enjoy the blessings for which he fought. The subject of this sketch married Mary Ann Rector, who was born in Virginia, Feb. 12, 1776. Her mother died when she was an infant, and she was raised by her uncle, Presley Neville, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Rector family was large, and many of them emigrated to Ohio, where a number of their descendants now reside on Mad River, in Champaign and Clark Counties. Hezekiah Smith was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; by trade he was a wagon-maker, and worked at that business in the Bluelicks, Nicholas County, Ky. ; but subsequently he bought a farm on Indian Creek, and partially quitting his trade, followed farming. The following are the names of his children, viz. : Betty, Susan, Deborah, Daniel R., Peter, Hezekiah, Nancy, Simeon, Miles C , Carlton R., and Marcus L. The seven sons all reached manhood and became sober, industrious, and useful citizens. But two of the children are living, viz., Susan Chinn, in Colorado, and Marcus L. Smith, in Argos, Ind. In 1820, Mr. Smith sold his farm in Kentucky and moved his family to this township, and settled in the woods Oct. 27, 1820, about one half-mile east of where Broad Ripple now is, and on the west half of northeast quarter of section 6, township 16, range 4 east. At that time there were but two or three cabins between where he settled and the donation, as Indianapolis was then called. Mr. Smith and his son Peter had came out to where the family settled and made an improvement, and raised a crop of corn the spring before. The family lived in camp for six weeks after arrival here, when a cabin was built, into which they moved before winter.

Passage source: History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, published 1884.

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Read the whole chapter on Washington Township - 15,135 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.