Decatur County Courthouse

This township is located in almost the exact center of the county and contains fifty-four square miles of territory. According to the census report of 1910, the entire population of the township, exclusive of the city of Greensburg, was one thousand four hundred and eight. The entire township is underlaid with a bed of limestone, which has proved of utmost value in the construction of highways.

Passage source: History of Decatur County, Indiana : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.

Talbott was an unusnally talented representative of a type that made its presence felt in each new community in the days of county organization. They were the seekers after office, and early records of Indiana counties show that it was a very common custom for politicians failing to land jobs, in one county when it was organized, to quit the county and try their luck again in the next one organized. Talbott, however, had not }et attained his majority when he came to Washington township. Talbott and Robert Murphy, who came with him, boarded at the Hendricks house. Talbott brought some goods with him and started a store, which may have been the first one in the township, although this distinction is also claimed for a man named Riley. The ne.xt newcomer was David Gageby, who had resided at Vernon. He started a cabinet shop on the northwest corner of the public square. He was later joined by his brother James. David then turned his attention exclusively to carpenter work, leaving the management of the shop to his brother. Other early settlers were Martin and John Jamison, hatters. In 1 82 1, William Lloyd settled on what is now called the Madison road, about two miles south of Greensburg. He brought with him from Jefferson count}', where he had stopped a few months, a number of hogs and cattle. Rattlesnakes killed off a good many of the cattle and a good share of the hogs wandered away into the woods and were lost.

Passage source: History of Decatur County, Indiana : Its People, Industries and Institutions, 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 Washington Township - 3,328 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.