Liberty Township

Liberty Township

PRICKETT AND SmITII GrANT - ElDER JeSSE D. ScOTT^ThE GARRISONS, William R. Hale and David Russell - Elder Henry W. I\IcPiiERSON - Elder John L. Stone - First Reugious Meeting and Organization - First Schools and Teachers - ^Marriage and Death - Liberty as Separate Township - T^^ Payers Mostly Voters - America Platted - Rise and Fall of America - Ashland (La Fontaine P. 0.) Laid Out - Additions to Original Town - La I^'ontaine Incorp(J1{ated - The School System - Center of Rural Trade - Local I^ank and Newspaper - The Christian Church - The ]\L E. Ciii:rch - The Baptist Church.

Liberty Townsliip ein1)races about forty-eight square miles in the southeastern corner of Wa])ash County, being substantially eight miles from east to west and six miles from north to south. It is, on the whole, a level and fertile region, depending for its drainage upon the headwaters of Treaty and Deer creeks, which flow northward into the Wabash and Salamonie, respectively, and upon the ]\Iississinewa River and its branch, Grant Creek, which meander through its central and south- - western sections. Josina Creek has some of its headwaters in the southwestern corner of the township, after which it takes a loop through nortliern Grant County and joins the Mississinewa River in the southwestern corner of Liberty Township. It was near its mouth that the Indian village stood Avhich was destroyed by Lieutenant Colonel Campbell in the War of 1812.

As intimated, much of the surface of Liberty Township is level or moderately rolling. Even in the vicinity of the streams, there is mostly an a))S('nce of the high blutTs and rocky banks which are so noticeable in many parts of tlie county. The only lar^^e watercourse in the townsliip is the MississiiU'wa Kiver in the southwestern part of tiie towiiship, and except Jiear tlie mouth of Grant Creek the banks are level or beautifully sloping, witli a gentle incline to the very stream itself. At this locality, where Grant Creek approaches within about a liundred feet of the river, is a narrow ridge called the Hoglnick. It is 100 feet high and makes a sheer descent to the bed of the jMississinewa.

Like much of AVabash County, the general surface of Liberty Townshi]) was heavily timbered, most of which has been removed and the strong and fertile soil which supported the forest growths is now cultivated to the grain crops and adapted to the raising of forage and livestock.

As has been l)riefiy narrated in tlie sketch of the early settlement of the county, the Grant family represented the fir.st permanent settlers in this section, making their homes on the creek which l^ears their name, on the eastt-rn edge of the Big Indian Reserve, near the present Village of La Fontaine.

William Grant entered the northwest (piarter of the northwest quarter of section 2'A. on the 16th of September, 1884, and sometime during that month is thought to have completed a log hut on the north bank of (Jrant Creek, tlu' lirst house built in Liberty Townshi}).

Daniel Grant, a second brother made entr}' of part of section 27, fui'tlier south and nearer the present site of La Fontaine, in October, 1N;j4. and may 1)e called the second permanent settler.

Mahlon Pearson arrived in November to take possession of the eighty acres which he had entered in 1832 - the east half of the northeast cpiarter of the same section (23) upon which j\Ir. Grant had located. His entry was the hrst of record in tiie township.

When j\Ir. Pearson came to take up his entry in section 23 he was in his thirty-eighth year, with a wife and five children. For years he had been "fiat-boating" down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, his home having long been in Eastern Tennessee where he had owned a farm of 100 acres. He was therefore well (lualified to make progress in the Wabash Valley, and was a strong accession to the township and the county. Pie lived to see six more sons and daughters added to his family, to prosper himself and enjoy the prosperity and good standing of several generations of descendants. Ilis death occurred in 1876, in his eightieth year.

The Grants and Mr. Pearson were the only residents in what is now Liberty Township, in 1834, but the "settlers" therein had been increased by one - through the good offices of ^lother Nature who had presented ^Ir. and j\Irs. William Grant with a daughter - IMalvina Grant, born a few days after the little caliin on the north bank of Grant Creek had been completed.

It is probable that Presley Prickett located not long after the opening of 18li5, as it is known that his son, Gabriel, was born in a camp near the Range Line Meeting House on Christmas day, 1834. At that time he may have been on his way toward the lands he had entered in April, 1833 - the east half of the southwest quarter of section 31, township 26, range 8.

A large number of arrivals is credited to that year. Jesse D. Scott, Baptist minister and subsequently elected associate judge, came in 1835. He was one of quite a colony from Fayette County. He was then in his thirty-second year and had worked for about a year on the - canal. ^Ir. Scott took up land in section 23, near what was afterward the Town of America, and during the following twenty years was prominent as a i)reacher in the Baptist and Christian churches, as well as in material and public affairs. About 1841 he took a claim on the Indian Reserve west of La Fontaine and cleared and improved a farm there. i\Ir. Scott and his good wife raised a family of fourteen children, two of whom died as soldiers in the Union army. He himself passed away in 1864.

Anderson, and liad six sons who all settled in Liberty Township in sections 23, 24, 25 and 2G. Elihu Garrison's entries were the southeast (juarter of the southeast ({uarter of section 23 and the southwest quarter of the soutliwest (juarter of section 24, which included tlie site of America laid out two years afterward. Of these brothers Elihu and William Garrison were especially prominent in the foundiiij^ and progress of Amei'ica.

In October, 1835, about a year after he had made his entry, William R. Hahi settled in fractional section 22, about a inile north of what was to be Ashland. He came in company with David Russell, already an old man, who had entered the east half of the southeast quarter of section 24, about two miles to the ea.st and beyond America. They were of the Fayette County colony. ]\Ir. Hale became a large land owner and a prominent member of the Disciples Church, being one of eight who formed the I^oundarv Line Church.

Tn 1835 Henry W. JMcPherson also settled north of Hale's place on the Indian boundary line, his entry (October, 1834) having been in fractional section 15. At first Elder jMcPher.son was the busy carpenter of the locality. In August, 1836, a year after his arrival, he joined with seven others to form the first Disciples Church in Liberty Townsiiip and in 1839 was elected an elder. For more than forty years he preached and worked, prospering both in grace and worldly possessions. When tile school system went into operation he was made treasurer of the tftwnship board and no one did more useful and faithful work in liehalf of the public schools. In 1876 he moved to Greene County, Missoui'i, to the universal regret of all with whom he had been in any way associated.

John L. Stone, another Christian preacher and Elder McPherson's brother-in-law, settled still further north along the Indian boundary of the Big Reserve. Some years afterward he became somewhat prominent in politics, and during the Civil war was elected a member of the lower house of the State Legislature.

ITaviiipr introduced u lew of tin; leading' first settlers of Liberty Township, it is lo^'ieal to note some "first things" eoiiiieeted with the eoinimuiities eoiuuieneing- to elustei- around the headwaters of Grant Creek.

Tile first religious meeting lield in Liberty Townsliip was at the eal)in of William Grant l)y EUU'r Daniel Jackson, the widely known preacher of the Disciples of Christ, who was living west of the Town of Wabash. These services were held in 1835. On the 4th of August, 1836, eiglit meml)ers of that denomination organized the noted Boundary Church. The organization was effected at the house of Williani Grant by I'^lder Jackson and Elder -Jefferson ]\Iatlock, in what is now La Fontaine, and consisted of the following: Henry \V. ^McPherson and wife, Lucas ]\lorgan and wife, William K. Hale and wife, AVilliam Grant iind Rebecca Grant, wife of Daniel Grant. The meetings were at first held in .Mr. Grant's house and afterward in the schoolhouse that stood on the site of the church finally built for the society, a mile and a half north of La Fontaine, at the east side of the old Indian boundary line and nearly at the geogi'aphical center of the township.

Although a room in William Grant's double log house is said to have been used as a gathering place for a few children, who were taught the rudiments. of learning some time in 1837, perhaps the first regular house dedicated to education was that mentioned as the meeting place of the Disciples. It was built lai'gi'ly by the supporters of the church, and the first teacher to hold forth \vas Jauu-s L. Dicken, afterward a practicing physi(-ian. Nathaniel iMcKimmey was also a teacher, as well as Miss Nancy IMcKimmey and David T. Jackson.

-Mrs. Jonathan Scott, whose motlu'r was a daughter of .Mahlon Pearson, claimed that the fii'st school was taught in a cabin ])uilt by Ferree, north of America on the old state road, in lH3()-37, by George W. Smith, and that she was one of the pupils. She added that the first schoolhouse Avas built at America in 1837, and that she attended it in the summer of that year. ]\Ir. Smith was its teacher also, and the Grant children were among his pupils.

The first man to die in Liberty Township was Charles Seott, father of Rev. Jesse I). Seott and grandfather of ]\Iahlon Pearson. He died Hi Anieriea in 18:50, ajred seventy-five.

After the year 18;i5 tlie settlei's no longer felt very lonesome; in faet, the acet'ssioiis of poi>ulation heeame .so freciuent that the eitizens, who had been relying on the civil and judicial authorities of La Gro Township, asked for a separate organization. At the ?ilarch term of the l)oard of county commissioners for 18I3G, Liberty Township was laid off from the south end of La Gro with an area of sixty-four square miles, or eight miles sipiare. At that time its northern ])0undary was a mile north of Lincolnville ami a mile south of New Holland. Some years afterward two noi'thern tiers of eight sections each were cut off and returned to La Gro.

AVhen the township was set oft', an ek'ction was ordered at the house -of AVilliam Grant on tiie first Monday of April, 1836, foj- tlu; selection of one justit-e of the peace. William H. ITall was appointed inspector -of elections and William (Jarrison was chosen justice.

At that time there were nineteen voters in the township and the following were listed as tax payers: Daniel Grant, Jeremiah Garrison, ^Yilliam (J rant, Llilm (Jarrison, Moses Herrell, William li. Hale, Henry Kiser, John \V. ^hd^aniel, William Martin, Thomas Moore, John ]\Ianiiier, Henry W^. McPherson, Lucas Morgan, John Norman, Presley Prickett, John Prickett, IMahlon Pearson, David Russell, Charles R. Scott and Jesse 1). Scott. It would therefore appear that of the twenty tax payers, nineteen were voters. Evidently there W(ire few "stay-at-homes" in those days.

The town jilat of America was recorded October 16, 1837, Jesse D. 'Se(.tt and Eliliu Garrison being its proprietors. It was located on section 23 on the ^NTarion & La Gro road. Both of the proprietors were pioneers of the W^hite Water Valley, and were i)olitical rivals in county politics. Each especially wanted to be an associate judge, but Elder Scott, the democrat, was the successful candidate. Mr. Garrison, the

AVilliam Garrison, another brother, built the tirst house at America, completing it October 10th, six days before the town plat was recorded.

Being on the direct route along which much of the grain trade of North-Central Indiana passed for years to the Wabash and Erie Canal, the proprietors and citizens of America had great expectations for the future of their town. And for more than two decades their hopes seemed. to be founded on solid ground. General stores, sawmills, blacksmith shops, hotels, wagon shops, groceries, drug stores, churches and schools, with the usual frills of lawyers and doctors and other professionals, gave America (juite a standing even before 1850.

In 1850 the old Marion and La Gro road, which had already meant so much to the prosperity of the town, was laid with planks, which further emphasized America's prominence as compared with Daniel Grant's upstart (Ashland), a mile to the southwest. Prom 1850 to 1860 America reflected the even greater glory of La Gro, and Ashland was in almost total eclipse.

When, in the late '60s, it became evident that Ashland was to get railroad connection through the Cincinnati, AVabash & Michigan, America's sun commenced to set. The line was completed to Ashland in 1873, and in 1881 even the postoffice was discontinued at America.

Daniel Grant laid out the original Town of Ashland, recording the plat January 14, 1845. It was located in section 27, on the state road 'from Marion to Wabash, chiefly on the north side of Grant Creek and on the west side of the boundary line of the Big Miami Reserve. The site embraced twenty-eight lots, No. 2 being designated as set apart for the Church of Christ on Grant's Creek.

The postoffice at that point was called La Pontaine, after the Miami chief who became head of the tribe at the death of Richardville in 1841. The first house on the town site was erected by Jacob L. Sailors. In 1846 A. G. Wells opened both a store and an ashery, which marked the commencement of business at La Pontaine. A cabinet shop, a blacksmith's shop and a hotel followed within about a year, the last named being the enterprise of George Moore. B. P. Lines established himself at La Pontaine in 1848 and was for years among its leading merchants.

James Jackson also ai)poared among the solid business men and citizens in 1850. He had been the first postmaster of La Fontaine, and at different times operated a sawmill, conducted a store and invested largely in real estate. In 1854, with John P. MeKelvey, he made the first addition to the original town. Hiram Kendall made one the same year, A. Parker in 1870, John ]\r. Logan in 1878 and George T. Vandegril't in 1874. The last named includes the only considerable portion of the town which is not west of the old Indian boundary.

As has been stated, the completion of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan (predecessor of the Big Four) to La Fontaine was an assurance of a life of more or less strength. In 1880, seven years afterward, the town was incorporated, the board of trustees under the first election having been Judson Dispennett (president), Jerome H. Scott and William S. Poston. John W. Moore was chosen clerk and assessor, and William Lindsey, marshal. The town was divided into three districts or wards. At first there was an almost equal division of sentiment as to the advisability of incori)oration, and in ]\Iay, 1883, it was put to popular vote, the affirmative decision being carried l)y a vote of 49 to 45.

About that time the village also assumed independent control of school nuitters, under the trusteeship of G. T. Vandegrift, D. E. i\lc- N'icl and J. L. Dicken. Under the new arrangement, the La Fontaine school was created the high school of Liberty Township.

The Liberty Township graded school, as it is now known, occul)ies a fine building, which was erected in 1908 at a cost of $22,000. Thei-e are about fifty pupils in the high school department and 180 in the gramnuir grades. In proportion to its population and wealth, no township has better educational facilities than Liberty Township. Jacob Sailors, a representative of the pioneer family liy that name, is school trustee.

La Fontaine has always l)een the center of a sulisfaiitial agricultural district ami has especially controlled a good gi'ain trade. One of its largest and best flour mills was that built by 0. P. Logan in 1882 and long operated l)y him. At the present time its standingas a farming ccntrr is attested hy several iiiij)ieiiieiit depots whieh do a good husiness. Tiiere is also a large linnber yard in the plaee, and the power house of the Northern Indiana Traetion Company, which was completed in 1!)U5, gives constant employment to a mnuber of peo- ])le who I'eside in La Fontaine.

The La Fontaine Telephone Company, organized in 1!)02, has been of great Service to liusiness men, farmers and residents of the village and sun-ounding country. It has about seven hundred and fifty patrons and is under the management of L. U. Morris, who is also secirtary.

The La Fontaine Bank was established in 1893, with the following oflieers: Jehu Baiuiister, president; J. W. I{ar])er, vice president, and J. 0. Harper, cashier, ft has a capital of .+ 1(),<)0() and a surplus of $U). .")()(). T. 11. ^ilillcr is president, James S. ( 'I'ow, vice pi-esident, and A. 1*. Harper, cashier.

The tirst niunber of the present Herald, of I^a Fontaine, was issued by 11. R. Daiuel, April 24, 189G. S. H. Lee afterward assumed coidrol, and .1. S. DiUon was its editor and i)!-oprietor from 1!)()G to 1912. in -Mareli of the latter year, ]\Ir. Dillon disi)osed of the pai)er to Mrs. N'ivian Neal, now its editor and projjrietoi'.

The eai'ly history of the Christian Church has already been given, the present organization at La Fontaine being the successor of the old lioundfiry Line Church. The local society was formally effected about 18M0 and now has a memi)crship of some 300 under the pastorate of Rev. F. G. .Alyrick.

The i\lethodists were the second religionists to l)ecome estal)lislied in the La Fontaine region. Their tirst society was known as Bruner's Class, and was formed in 1839 at the house of Henry Bruner, a shoi-t distance southeast of the present village, liesides him were George Bruner, AVilliam Garrison, Elihu Garrison, Abram Bush and a Mr. Trotter, with tlieir wives, as well as Mr. liriggs, his wife and two daugtiters. The class was organized by Rev. J. II. Hull. For ten years tlu^

In the early day, the La Fontaine class was on the Marion Circuit. The conference of 1853 made America the head of the charge. From 1854-75 La Fontaine was the head of the circuit. The conference of 1875-76 placed La Fontaine with South Wabash. In 1877 La Font<iine was again put on the Marion Circuit, but in the following year was made the head of a circuit with a parsonage in the village. Thus it has remained The number of preaching places have diminished until there are only two - La Fontaine and Jalapa, five miles apart.

The old xVntioch Baptist Church originated about four miles west of "La Fontaine in a log meeting house which was erected in 1840. Its original members were: Hiram Kendall, Benjamin F. Lines, Thomas Lines, Reuben Sailors, John Bannister, Jehu Bannister, Samuel Stephens and their wives. In 1855 this society was consolidated with the one at America, and a church was afterward erected on the east side of the La Fontaine & Wabash pike, a short distance north of the village. In 1884 the house of worship now occupied was completed within the corporation limits. Among the best known early preachers of the Antioch Baptist Church were : Elders Thomas Lines, Jesse D. Scott, John Sparks, John Buckles, Abraham Buckles and Freeman T. Taylor. Rev. J. Harvey Daily, of Greenfield, Indiana, is the present pastor in charge of the La Fontaine Lai)tist Church, which has a member.ship of about seventy.

Fa:]. River and Its Trhjutaries - The Pioneer, Joiix Andersox - First Tnvix Industries - Jacob and Willis Bryan - First School - First Regular Church - The Jack Family - Joseph and Samuel L. Gamble - Albert X. Cox - Union op Gambles and Jacks - Stockdale, the First Settleiment - Roann Laid Out - The Present Town - Roann 's Fine School - Churches - Urbana - Church of the Evangelical Association - How the Township Came to Be.

Paw Paw is tlic smallest township in Wabash County, having an area of forty S(|uare miles which consists of five tiers of sections, each eight sections from east to west. It assumed its present form in June, 1873, and it is that political and civil portion of Wabash County to which the following chapter applies.

Eel River and its smaller branches drain the northwestern and northern sections of the township, while Paw Paw Creek and its tributaries water the central and southern portions. Bear Grass Creek, the largest northern tributary of Eel River, is noted for its luimerous living springs, and abundantly drains much of the northern area of the townstiij).

S(|uirrel Creek, a small northern branch of Eel River, rises in Pleasant Township, takes a sharp twist into Miami County, and reenters Wabash County through the northwest corner of Paw Paw Township, where it unites with the parent stream.

of 1S35 John Aiulerson, a)i Ohio man ^vho lived for some time near Logansport l)efore he came to Wabash County, journeyed along the north shores of Kel JJiver and, with his wife, two sons and two daughters, settled in a little shaek which they threw together oji Sciuirrel Creek about a nnle above what became, a few years afterward, the village of Stockdale.

About this time a young num from Ohio, Cornelius Ilalderman, came tlirough that region on a tour of exploration, and said long afterward: '-There was not a house from Anderson's to :Manchester. A man by the name of Helvy had settled east of Manchester. I stopped there and made my way fi-om that ( Helvy 'sj cabin through the woods to Mr. Anderson's, HI Aprd, IvS.io, being then a strapping youth of twenty years. I bought some Whitley County land on the same trip, traveling on horseback."

From all accounts :\Ir. Anderson did not even hew the logs which Aveiit into his first rude family shelter, hut he was not long in getting together a crude sawmill ui)on the banks of Sciuirrel Creek, as well as a ''corn cracker;" and the two usually went together in these primitive times and regions. The date of the erection of these tirst twin industries of Paw Paw Township is given as about 1836.

Both soon gave place to the more flni.shed plants of Thomas Goudy, who erected what might with justice be called a gristmill on Eel River on the site of the future Stockdale. Anderson's sawudll. however, endured for some years.

, But the next permanent settler after John Anderson was Jacob Bryan, liis wife, three sons and a daughter - most of the latter mature. They came into the Ed River region in September, 1835, and permanently settled in Paw Paw Township in IMarch, 1836. IMr. Bryan was a native of North Carolina, who had moved to Indiana in his '30s. The y(^ir before coming to Paw Paw^ Township and settling near Stockdale, the family had lived on a leased tract of land across Eel River from Stockdale (Squirrel Village), but in Miami County. In the winter of 1836 Mr. Bryan and his three grown sons commenced to build a cabin about a mile away in Paw Paw Township, west of Roann. They made a hewed log house, and the family moved into it on the last day of :\Iarch, 1836. In speaking of this period, AVillis Bryan, one of the sons - one of a dozen Biyan children, who in time became prominent residents of Roann and tlio tuwiishii) - said: "We began to clear land on tiie first day of April in the green woods, and got in six acres by the 20th of Way. Tlie clearing was <lone by entting 'eighteen inches and under' and piling and burning; ami no team was used. The whole thing was done by handspikes. The neighbors liflped and we helped them back. The neighbors were Robert Ralston ;iiid John lOllison, and there were eight men of us, which made (inite a gang at a 'log rolling.' AVe had no wlnskey, which was quite a wonder in those chiys, but there was none used in our gatherings from the v.'iy b.'ginning. There were Indians in the country, but they did not help us much, for they did not know^ how.

h;i(l a liood crop that 3'ear, and the next year we got ten acres more cleai'cd. heather sold his oxen in the spring of 1836; one horse ]-an away and the other, an old mare, Ave kept up. Our first year's crop we let stay in the ea.bin loft, hauling it or bringing it, hoAvever, as we needed it. AVhen \\e wished a grist of corn meal, sometimes one of us boys would go on liorsebai-k, get a sackful, lide two or three nnles to a (-nrn-eia(:ker mill thei-e was in that region, get our grist ground and go home again. In 1837 our bi'ead stuff gave out and Ave had none for about two \veeks, and the corn had not come to 'roasting ears' yet. For meat, Ave had venison in abundance, although Ave never hunted. For a mere trifle, an Tjidian Avould bring us all Ave wanted; and to their honor be it said that though they had to have their '(|uartci'' beforehand, the venison Avas surt; to come accoi'ding to promise." Jaco1) Urya.n di'xl in 1852 in his sixty-ninth year.

The first S'hool taught in Paw PaAV ToAvnship is said to have been conducted by I\lr. Bryan in one of the rooms of his double house. It lasted tiA'c Ave(;ks during the Aviuter of 1836-37. The school is reported to have h;id ten pupils, four of Avhom Avere from the Bryan family. The others Were from the Beckner and Ralston families, Avhose fathers (Joseph Becknei- and Robert Ralston) located about the same time as Mr. Bryan - Beckner oii the present site of Roann and Ralston beloAv Sto(;kdale.

The first religious meeting held in PaAV PaAV ToAvnship was a prayer meeting at the house of Jacob Bryan, conducted in 1837. Mr. I5ryan Avas a zealous Baptist.

There AA'-as preaching in the same year at the same place by Jesse D. Scott, then lately settled in Liberty Township near America. Sooii after- wai-d Ik' lornu'd u Baptist society, the leading nieinljers of which were Jacob l>ryaii, Sr., and wife, Moses .Martiiidale and wife, Peter Wooll)ei-t and wife, and Benjamin (iriflltli and wife. TIk; meetings were lield at JMessrs. Jirs-an's and Martindale's dwellings alternately, once a month at each. At tins time ^Ir. ]\Iartindale lived at Chili, Miami County. The society was kept alive while these two men lived, perhaps until 1860, when the organization disbanded.

Tlie .lack family canu' from Decatur County, Indiana, about the same time that the Bryans migrated from Miami County. James Jack, the father, was accompanied by his wife and numerous children, the emigrants making their appearance in the Wabash Valley as occupants of one of those huge "Pennsylvania wagons." The family settled just southeast of Roann, where ]\Ir. Jack bought 285 acres of land and entered 160 acres more. He lived on his homestead there until his death in 1879, at the age of eighty-four years. He had been an honest, industrious God-fearing farmer all his life, and was the father of nine children. Of his five sons, Andrew Jack became a Presbyterian minister, serving both as a missionary to Africa and preaching at Shiloh, north of Roann and in the West. Five of the Jack children reached maturity and married, all honoring the family name by their probity and useful lives.

Joseph Gamble was a Virginian, who settled with his family, in 1836, south of Roann. His son, Samuel L. Gamble, then a lad of fifteen, became a county commissioner and otherwise prominent in the township, and his reminiscences of early times are precise and valuable.

The tirst wheat that the elder Gamble raised in Wabash County was hauled to ]\Iicliigan City, by this son Samuel. That market was seventyfive miles distant, and the price received was 60 cents a bushel.

The youth attended school in a little log cabin, built about 1839 and situated a mile south of Roann. This was one of the first schools in the township and was taught by Ward McCleese, first meeting house of that denomination in the township was erected on his hind. Soon after coming to his new home, his wife presented liim with a daughter, Sarah, the first native child.

The first marriage was of John Gamble, a son of Joseph, to Margaret Bryan, daughter of Jacob, on January 11, 183'J ; thus were the pioneer families of Joseph and Jacob united.

It is said that the first brick house was built by James Jack about 1840. It was a long, one-story building, and stood on the family place for four of five decades. Mr. Jack burned his own brick. The first regular briek kiln was burned not long afterward by Jacob Bryan, the supply being intended chiefly for chimneys.

Stockdale, on the boundary line between Wa])ash and Miami counties, was the first settlement in Paw Paw Township laid out as a town. The date of its plat is October 26, 1839, but it was undoubtedly surveyed some time before that, Thomas Goudy, its proprietor, having both a grist and a sawmill in operation at that point. Mr. Goudy had also erected a dwelling for his family upon the town site. A resident of Eoann, writing nearly forty-five yeai-s afterward, says: "That (grist) mill was a good one, and for that day really a wonderful establishment, having four run of buhrs and doing work that might have done credit to an older settled region. The original structure was undermined by being washed in a great flood and was repaired ; but, after long use, becoming decayed, the present mill was built by Baker & Rancke in 1857, remaining until now. The esta])lishment has always been a good, serviceable mill, and it still holds the reputation of thorough, substantial, reliable work. The sawmill went down perhaps twenty-five years ago."

For al)Out ten years the mills and a few houses were al^out all of Stockdale, but in 1848 John Jones opened a store, and Thomas McKibben, and Joini IMcCrae followed him as merchants. Blacksmith and wagon shops were afterward established, other business houses came in, and in 1853 a postoffice was established. The gristmill continued to grind, through good and bad times, even after the Detroit, Eel River & Illinois Railroad was completed to Logansport in 1871, passing StO(;kdale by in favor of the newer Town of Roann, a mile to the southeast.

In l^.").-; 'Sir. iSiM-k'ner, who not only owned the town site but much lanil in tlie vicinity, sold his estate to Mr. Ilalderinan, who had moved to tbr loeality in 1854. Several years before tlie town had been projected, allliouuh not surveyed, but no business had been attempted until the advent uf .Mr. Ilalderman. In 1854, the year he bought the P>ecknci' estate, he opened a store at Roann and established a sawmill there. The mill contimu'd to be a busy institution of the village for nearly twenty years. A postoi'fice was created in 18G0, with John F. Baker as postmaster, but Roaun's struggle for existence did not seem assured until the railroad reached it in 1871.

Wy the eai'ly '80s the place had reached the standing of a brisk little village of GOO people and over a hundred dwellings, with several churches and a neat brick schoolhouse. To be more precise, the population of l^iann was 582 in 181)0, (331 in 1900 and 447 in 1910.

Within the past few years, there have been signs of considerable progress in the affairs of Roann, and its population will now exceed the last named figure. It has the trade of a good country district and has a well organized bank, several creditable stores, a grain elevator, a sawnnll, a cement post factory and a large yard for the supply of coal, lumber and cement. The grain, fuel and building material interests at Roann are controlled by T. J. Lewis & Brother.

The elevator dates from the year of the railroad (1871) and was erected by David Smith. The successive proprietors have been Gidley & Smith, D. Van Buskirk, Shillinger Lukens & Company, A. T. Gidley and T. J. Lewis & Brother. The first elevator w^as burned in 1884, the present building being erected immediately after by Shillinger Lukens & Company. The elevator came into the hands of the Lewis Brothers in 1000 and they became proprietors of the sawmill (which does more planing than sawing) in 1902.

The Exchange Bank of Roann was established in 1882 It has a capital of $15,000 and a surplus of $7,000, witli D. Van Buskirk as president and Dow Van Buskirk cashier.

The towiLship school at Roann is a large brick building, two stories and basement, and is a credit to the citizens and supporters of the system. The main structure was erected in 1900 on the site of the schoolhouse destroyed by fire. In September, 1914, a large addition was completed at a cost of $13,000, making the school building as a whole one of the most complete and modern in the county. There are about sixty pupils 111 the high school department and 175 in the grammar grades. The superintendent, J. Elmer Landis, and principal, Laura E. Lynn, are assisted by seven teachers. J. U. Wagoner is the township trustee.'

The local press is represented by the Roann Clarion, which is now controlled by the Wabash Plain Dealer. It has been established for many years.

The Methodists, Universalists and United Brethren have churches at Roann. The :\I. E. Church was formed some time before 1873, probably about the time that the railroad reached town, when everything, including the organization of religious bodies, was encouraged. The^'meeting house was built during the year named, and among the earlier pastors ^\^^re Ilosea Woolpert, J. J. Cooper, L. W. Munson, C. U. Wade and David IMcElwee. Rev. L. G. Jacobs is the present pastor of a flourishing church which numbers about two hundred and seventy members. -

The United Brethren have had organizations at and near Roann since 1859. Their first house of worship in the village was erected about 1864, at which services were maintained until 1878. The society was afterward revived.

There are now both conservative and progressive societies at Roann, the former being under the pastorate of Rev. George Swihart and the latter under Rev. II. 11. Wolford. The progressive wing, which is by far the stronger, was founded in Pebruary, 1881, and the building in which the 160 members of that society now worship was completed in

Althoujih till- IJiiiversalists have no pastor at present, they maintain an oi'^anization on the basis of a small endowment fund. They are also tlie owners of a liuilding whieh was erected and dedicated in 1875. Theoi'iginal or<ianization was fornunl in Miami County, just across the line, some years previously, and was transferred to Roann at a meeting held in July, 1875. Among the pastors of the church have been Revs. J. W. Eldridge, T. E. Ballard, John H. Blackford, AVilliam Tucker and Xathaniel Orarv.

The town plat of Urbana is located partly in Paw Paw and partly in La Gro Township, in sections 12 and 1, of the former and 6 and 7, of the latter. It was laid out by James M. Wright, William Richards, and Samuel Willman, proprietors; was surveyed by James L. Knight, Alarcli 5, 1854, and recorded on the 13th by AVilliam Steele, recorder of AYabash County. From 1872 to 1882 additions were made in La Gro Township by George Schultz and Daniel L. Speicher.

At the establishment of the town, Quick & Company built a sawmill and a j\lr. A'an Dyne opened a shoe shop. AVithin a couple of years, appeared a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop and two stores, but the settlement wavered between life and death until the Cincinnati, AVabash & Alichigan touched it in 1874. It then concluded to live and, although it has never been a flourishing village, as a rural town it has drawn its. share of trade from the surrounding country.

AVhen the railroad was completed in 1874, Charles ]\liller built a. depot for the Urbana people. He had been a shoemaker, had built a store and a warehouse, and at various times (sometimes simultaneously) was merchant, grain shipper and postmaster. Jn the early '80s the town had saw and grist mills, two resident physicians, two meeting houses. (Evangelical and United Brethren), perhaps thirty dwellings and one hundred and fifty people.

Urbana is still small, although its buildings cover considerable ground scattered over portions of the sections named in Paw Paw and La Gro townships. INFueh of its trade is conducted through the Bank of Urbana, with a capital of $10,000. and it is greatly facilitated by the operations' of the Ui-])ana lndei)endent Telephone Company. This organization was' incorporated in Septem])er, 1904, is managed by J. Jj. T^lrey and has; ovei- two hundred and ninety patrons.

'IMie Elyin CrL-aiucry Ooinpany lias a plant at Urbana, of wliieli Fred Maiircr is president, and there are other conclusive evidences of a growing' rural trade.

There ai't; many industrious and thrifty (jiernians in this portion ol" tlie township, and two prosperous religious orgain/.ations at I'rbana are devoted to their spiritual welfare. Of these the Church of the Evangelical Association is imtler the i>astorate of liev. A. A. Knei)])ei' and tiie KcfoiMiied Lutheran Church, under Rev. William Koch.

In December, 1850, about three years after the founding of Roann, I'^lihu (iarrison, of Libi'rty Township, and one of the fathers of America, headed a petition to the board of county eominissioners asking that a new townshij) be created from Pleasant and Noble. It was deferred to a meeting called for January 5, 1857, and in the meantime several remonstrances were prepared against the proposed action, as w^ell as any legislation which should change the existing townships. Four other petitions were also ready to be hurled at the reassembled commissioners, proposing as many l)rand-ncw townships. The result was the stampeding of the board against anything for or against, including Paw Paw Township.

Thus the infant sh'pt in embryo for fifteen years, wdien, in June, 1S72, Cornelius Tlahlerman, of Roann, presented to the boai'd three petitions, numerously signed, looking toward that end. Action was deferred until Sept(Mnber, when a strong remonstrance apfjcared; ])nt in Decern- l)er. 1872. Paw Paw Townsliip was created hy taking three miles in width from tile south side of I'h-asant Township ant! three miles from the north side of Xdhlc, making the new body six miles, north and south, and eight miles, cast and west. It appears that tliis decision was especially unsatisfactory to the inhabitants of the southern portion of the new township, and such an agitation was continued that in June, 1873, the southernmost tier of eight sections was restored to Noble, leaving Paw Paw with the forty square miles it still possesses. It was afterward suggested that Paw J^aw be distributed to Pleasant and Noble, as though it never had been created; but nothing came of that proposition, or of others having designs upon the township's present form or entity.