Beechwood (Isaac Kinsey House)

The earliest settlements in the township are believed to have been in the north part. Thomas Symonds settled December 6, 1811, about a mile north of where Milton now stands, having cut his way through the woods for 12 miles. There was no other settler near. His widow, still living, says, that, for six weeks after their arrival, she did not see the face of a white woman. Mr. Symonds was from IST. C, and had stopped a few months at Cox's settlement, where Eichmond now is. His family consisted of himself and his wife. They were much annoyed by Indian beggars, and by wild animals that approached their cabin by night and by day. In the spring of 1812, from fear of the Indians, they, like other settlers, left their home, and sought safety in the settlements in the vicinity of the present city of Richmond, where they remained until after the pacification of the Indians in 1814. They were obliged to go some 15 miles to mill, until Mr. Symonds himself built a mill, which was completed late in the autumn of 1814, or early in 1815. His wife once made one of these trips to mill, it being deemed safer than to remain at home alone. He died September 30, 1865. His wife is still living at Spiceland, Henry county.

Passage source: History of Wayne County, Indiana, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time : with Numerous Biographical and Family Sketches, published 1872.

In the fall of 1814, Benj. Beeson, from ]S"orth Carolina, settled 31 miles south of the present town of Milton, on land which had been entered in 1812, where he resided until his death in 1852, and where his son Benj. F. Beeson resides.

Passage source: History of Wayne County, Indiana, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time : with Numerous Biographical and Family Sketches, published 1872.

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 - 22,771 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.